Apologies

I apologize for my lack of blogging over the past few weeks. I pretty much hate the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. One, as someone who does not celebrate Christmas, I find this season particularly annoying. Two, it always seems to fly by and I lose track of a whole month. Three, I've been trying to figure out this year why I feel like I have no time to do anything. After all, all I'm doing this year is working instead or work, school, master's essay, etc. Then it hit me, this year I have no winter break. No whole month with which to catch up on my crafting, reading, and socializing. It hurts people, the real world hurts!

Anyway, I was occupied making scarves, which I forgot to take pictures of before giving to their recipients so we'll just have to hope they send me pictures! I also have an extra special cool homemade gift to share with you all. But since that gift exchange with this special lady was put off until the new year, you'll have to wait in suspense. In the meantime, reast assured my friends, I have not forgotten about you and will get back to my regular, less sporatic, posting schedule soon. Happy Holidays!

I May Not be the First. . .

So I may not be the first to make a headband by hand (see here for a much more practical version made by a much more talented friend) but here is my version of hand crafted headwear:

From Blog Pics

Hope everyone had a happy turkey day!

Cars!

A few weeks ago I promised Marcus's little brother a birthday cake. Somehow I got it into my head that I could make him a car cake. Now, when I went to look for a car cake pan I could only find one kind. I was a little late in delivering, but today he received this:

From Blog Pics

Yes, a Lightning McQueen cake, as in the character from the kids movie Cars. I should disclose that Marcus's "little brother" actually turned 20, but he's into cars like my love so I thought it was appropriate. It took me a good two hours to do it, but I think it turned out alright. I also made Marcus's brother promise not to tell me if it tasted bad after I went through all that effort making it look cute!

Baby Burrito Wrap!

So one of the many friends (or just people I know) having babies this winter had a baby shower this past weekend. It was an interesting shower altogether. It had a Mad Hatter (yes from Alice in Wonderland) theme, and was a little out there in some ways. But, the mother and father to be couldn't be happier, which is all that matters. Anyway, I set out a few weeks ago to create a baby blanket to honor this event. However, when I finished I realized I was a little off in my dimensions:

From Blog Pics

Obviously not very practical given it's very wide but not very long, or vice versa. So, I thought, what if I just fold it here (and with some inspiration from my boy) keep wrapping around, sewing it together at every cross section I'd wind up with this:

From Blog Pics

a BABY BURRITO WRAP!!!! If I may say so myself, brilliant. And the mother to be loved it. Stay tuned in another 3 weeks (!!!!) or so for pictures of the actual baby burrito!

Home Improvement Part II

So in all the excitement of the election (!!!!!) I almost forgot about my promise to share the second part of my home improvement project. I'm sure I left many of you on the edge of your seat in suspense. To provide a little context, those of you who saw my place in Albany will remember the constant damage being done by Rascal to my plastic mini-blinds. That problem was eventually solved by putting a hand me down curtain up. Unfortunately, that curtain didn't cover the window immediately behind our bed that both cats like to climb into in the middle of the night making lots of noise and breaking the blinds. So, rather just spend the money, I give you my own blinds:

From Blog Pics

I know, making curtains is not that difficult. You just hem three sides evenly then sew down the top leaving enough room for the rod, check. The challenge here was the fabric I picked out. Needing something Marcus and I could both agree on (meaning not too girly) was difficult, and I wanted something dark enough that I didn't have to line the curtains. So, we picked out this really nice silk home decor fabric, SILK. That was the challenge. Oh, and these curtains are two panels, to make it easier to open them and easier for the cats to get in. Another challenge: making two even panels. Now all I have to do is get my behind in gear and make the matching set for the other window!

Soapbox

I'd like to take a break from our regularly scheduled (well more like sporadic) posting to be a little serious. I know that saying this to the people that read this blog is a bit like preaching to the choir, but here it is anyway: If you do nothing else today, please get out and VOTE.

I don't get patriotic and touchy feely about many things, but I do believe in this. We have not only a right and privilege to exercise by voting, but a duty. Not only did countless numbers die to protect our rights, but countless others have also died in other lands seeking the very opportunity so many of us take for granted. Honor all those whose voice has been taken, lost, or suppressed. Speak for them, VOTE.

Further, clearly we are in a time of turmoil. As a young women I know worry about things I never thought I'd have after growing up in prosperous times: will I be able to buy a house, send future children to college, keep a job, have health insurance, and someday retire comfortably? The decisions of a few have left the majority of us to figure out how to pick up the pieces, and I, my children, and grandchildren will suffer the consequences. Take charge of your future, VOTE.

Obviously, I have a strong preference of just who you should vote for, but that's not what this post is about. I still hear far too many people saying they just don't care, or just don't get it when it comes to elections. Maybe the end results won't be what I want or what you want, but we have a way to voice our opinions, and to throw away that opportunity is just a shame. Express yourself, VOTE.



To sum up, I leave you with a thought from George Bernard Shaw:

"Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve."

We deserve the best: intelligence, hope, protection from external threats, and help for those less fortunate. We deserve better than what the 8 past years have provided. No matter who you think will provide that society, VOTE.

We now return you to our regularly scheduled progamming.

Home Improvement Part I

So in an effort to personalize our anonymous ikea furniture I decided to add some pillows to the couch. Nothing fancy mind you, and I really only made them because I was too cheap to cough up money for all the expensive ones at Pier 1 and Pottery Barn. I also had to wait for some home decor fabric that I actually liked to go on sale at JoAnn's. So, once that happened I was able to produce this:

From Blog Pics

Now I know what you're thinking, anyone can sew a square and stuff an insert into it . . . very true. See, what I'm most impressed with here is something you can't even see in the pictures, ZIPPERS!!! That's right, I put zippers on the the bottom of the pillow so they're just like the ones you buy in the store. I can switch out the cover for others I make when I get more adventurous, find other fabric I like on sale, or just get bored. It was a minor feat, but I'd never worked with zippers before so I was pretty pleased with how they came out. It took a little navigating to figure out how to sew on the zipper so it wouldn't show and how to use the machine while there was a zipper pull in the way.

Stay tuned for Part II of Home Improvement!!!

Stampin' Party

So a few weeks ago I went to my first stamping event. I don't want to get too crazy here, but it's possible I may become a stamping addict. The only that will stop it from happening is that when I went through the catalog and picked out everything I'd want to start my new stamping enterprise it added up to around $700. Anyway, here are the results of my morning of stamping:

A pretty little box:

From Blog Pics

A pretty little bag:

From Blog Pics

Two pretty little cards

From Blog Pics

And a little booklet:

From Blog Pics

From Blog Pics

From Blog Pics

From Blog Pics

From Blog Pics

Kinda cool what you can do with just one stamp set, glue, paper, and then some cool special tools.

New Year Treat!

First of all, to my (probably non-existent) Jewish readership, I wish you all a happy and sweet new year! Now, here's a little treat for all of you to celebrate Rosh Hashanah with. Before I show you said treat, let me give you the recap of the conversation between Marcus and I when he came home on Sunday to my little surprise:

Marcus (from the bedroom): Sarah Elizabeth Shafer
Sarah (from the living room): Marcus Lamont Wilson
M: What is this?
S: What are you talking about?
M: Come in here.
S (walking to the bedroom): What's wrong babe?
M (pointing to the new pillow on the bed): What is this?
S: A pillow
M: I am neither white nor a shirtless firefighter.
S (bursts out laughing)
End Scene.

Now, for your viewing pleasure:

From Blog Pics

Memories

So I have done a little crafting in the past few weeks. I just couldn't display my work because I had to wait to see the recipients of my genius in person. Since I recently had a wonderful day in NYC with her and her I can now share this:

From Blog Pics

From Blog Pics

I couldn't think of a more appropriate way to show my appreciation and love for these two amazing young women then by documenting our two years of grad school in scrap book form! I hope they enjoy having them as much as I enjoyed making them!

Oh, and look forward to an upcoming post showcasing a project that came out of said trip to NYC.

Sorry for the Backlog!

I blame my complete lack of blogging on the fact that my life is very boring these days and I do nothing worth blogging about. Take, for instance, the fact that I had to attend a 3 day Adventures in Attitudes training at the end of August for work. And trust me, it was as cheesy as it sounds. The best part (aside from being able to wear jeans for three work days) was that they filled the tables with all sorts of toys and such. Perfect for someone like me who tends to get restless. Plus, it allowed me to do this with all the pipe cleaners:


Yup, you got it. A bouquet of flowers made solely out of pipe cleaners. I know, it doesn't get much better than that.

New Family Member

So, this post is bit delayed given my recent laziness, but I would like to introduce our new family member, Gremlin:



We've had him for about almost three weeks now, and after some growing pains with Rascal, we're one big happy family. Marcus's friend rescued a litter of kittens and Gremlin was the last one she couldn't find a home for. So, we took him. Personally, I just thought Gremlin went really well with Rascal. He's going on three months old now and getting bigger everyday! For my friends I'm trying to get to come visit . . . don't worry, he's MUCH quieter than Rascal. For more pictuere of Grem and Rascal (and even a few on the spider Max) take a look here.

Red, White & Blue I Do's!!!!

So many of you have heard me go on and on about the wedding Marcus and I were in that was both a military wedding and red, white and blue themed. The event itself was two weekends ago. I aplogize for the delay in blogging about it, but I needed a little time to seperate myself from the event. Anyway, after much anticipation I give you this:

Words (and pictures) really cannot begin to describe it all. I have done my best to provide a well-rounded view of the weekend via photos and captions and you can check them out here. Be sure to check back on that album in a few days because I'll be adding some of Jenny's pics when I get it to work. In the meantime, here's a list of things to pay close attention to while glancing over the pics:

1. The crappy quality of my manicure and pedicure (particularly noticeable in the pedicure close-up) and they were not cheap!


2. The bride's bouquet in addition to my own.


3. The flowers on the guys uniforms (and you are actually not supposed to put flowers on them)


4. My final hairdo - not what was expected and did not survive the night.


5. The setup of the Elks Lodge


6. And the many other random, wonderful, over the top greatness that made the event complete.

Working Girl!

So to prove to some wonderful friends back in Albany that I am making full use of some goodies I received I give you:



A big thank you to you and you for these wonderful gifts that are both practical and help me be environmentally friendly!

Also, to prove I haven't completely lost my creative now that I'm in the real world, I decided I couldn't live with the boring string I was given to display my name badge. So, I decided to reach back into the depths of my craft skills several years and made myself a nice little hemp item to show I'm a VA employee:



Oh, in case you're wondering it says I'm an "Administrative Officer" whatever that means . . .

Wedding Season

So, as most of you know, this is the summer of weddings for me: three in the span of five weeks to be exact. Two of these joyous occasions have already passed. I won't actually post pics of the happy couples on my blog (you know seeing as how that might be weird since it's not their blog and all). But if you're interested in seeing two of the world's most beautiful brides you can check out the Weiss-Spagnoli Wedding and the Jones-McTeer Wedding.

For those of you waiting on the edge of your seats, the most patriotic wedding happens just a week from Saturday. I know officially know how my hair and nails will look. All I can say is it's everything we've ever imagined. Don't worry, the event will be fully documented.

Oh, on a related note, two out of the three brides for this summer are pregnant for there nuptials (you can guess as to who). Combine that with the news that the wife of one of Marcus's close friends is pregnant and my cousin is expecting means the summer of weddings will be followed by the fall of baby showers. I hate being this age . . . all these weddings and babies. To all reading this not already in one of these scenarios, make the madness STOP!!!!!

New Place!

So with the exception of a few more pictures to hang on the wall and containers to put back in storage, Marcus and I are all moved into our new place. As I promised several individuals, that means it's time to see some pics. You can see the pre, during, and post move pictures here, but I figured I'd share my two favorite pieces of the new place:



our beautiful new tv and:



and the cubed bookcase thing. I love those! I will also point out that being the not so great photographer I am these photos do not do the new place justice. So, I am demanding that those interested enough to read this blog and look at the pictures MUST come and see the place in person. I mean come one, we even have an actual guestroom and comfortable couch!

Las Vegas

So as promised, I'm getting starting with my catch up blogs. Marcus and I spent a week in Las Vegas. I have family there, and Marcus had never been. Also considering Marcus's newfound love of all things dry and hot it seemed like a good place to go.

We spent about two and a half full days on the strip seeing the various casinos and exhibits. We made it to the Bodies exhibit (a little freaky but totally awesome), Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum (always fun), the shark reef at Mandalay Bay, and Seigfried and Roy's Secret Garden Habitat at the Mirage. We also went to two different Cirque du Soleil shows, Mystere and Ka. I've always wanted to go and they were well worth the wait. I can't wait to see more. Mystere is a good intro to them because you see all the crazy tricks. I thought Ka was beautiful because it tells a real story. We also saw an impersonation show (a Vegas must) at the Stratosphere. See below for us on the strip.



Aside from all the usual strip stuff we also made two day trips. We went to see the Hoover Dam (incredible impressive) and Death Valley (single-handedly one of the most amazing natural places I've ever seen in person). On the way back from Death Valley we even stopped at one of the three wineries in Nevada, which had suprisingly good wine. See below again for us at Death Valley.

From Las Vegas

Now we went a little camera happy (even for me) and took upwards of 300 pictures. For anyone brave enough to peruse them all here's the link.

Catch Up and New Purpose

Ok, so clearly I've fallen way behind on my posts since graduation. Things have been way too, but amidst all that crazy isn't much to blog about. However, I'll play catch up with a few blogs posts about such noteworthy thing as exploring Upstate NY pre-move, a trip to Vegas, and moving. Oh, and for those of you out there who know what I'm referring to . . . I've officially gotten my bridesmaid dress. It's currently being altered, but it's all we dreamed it would be.

To all my friends in Albany (bloggers and non-bloggers alike): seeing as how I now live with Marcus I no longer have to literally send him my love. I will be leaving the title of this blog the same, though. I'm know sending my love to you guys across cyberspace, and hoping this will help us all stay in touch. I miss you guys already, and thanks so much for the past two years!

Graduated!

Well, if you can believe it, it's finally over. I actually graduated with my master's degree. A big fat thank you to all my friends in Albany who helped me through it over the past two years! I couldn't have done it without any of you. Now, for a look at me in that ridiculous regalia (who designs this stuff anyway?):



To see all my graduation pics from last weekend, check them out here! Soon I'll be busy moving and vacationing. But in the meantime I'm reconnecting with two of my loves: crafts and reading. And speaking of crafts, check out the awesome graduation gift a certain sewer made for me!

Best Office Ever!

So, in addition to getting a going away party complete with really awesome earrings, I walked into my last day of work today and found this:


The ladies I work with have been listening to me talk about my participation in a red, white, and blue themed wedding all semester. This was there way of honoring that, personally I think it's HILARIOUS! I mean how often does a girl get to wear a patriotic tiara?

Essay, Tulips . . . it's SPRING!

So aside from my love coming home, you might ask why my posts have been so few and far between lately. Well, here's why:

What do suits have to do with blogging? Well, these suits were worn to present master's essays! DONE DONE DONE (although not totally done with school yet)! So now that's out of the way, I can start to sit back and enjoy spring. For instance, the tulip festival this weekend:

Stay tuned for some wonderful grad pics I'm sure to get this weekend as I officially earn that pesky master's degree!

The End!

It's over, it's really REALLY over! Maybe I can pretend it was all just some really awful nightmare. But here, I give you, the reunion:
It was pointed out to me, and I feel I should share, that the guy behind us has some truly hideous (or wonderful depending on your point of view) hair.

Fear not my blogging friends. My love's return does not mean the end of my short-lived blogging career. Right now he is decompressing and I am frantically trying to finish my classwork and find a job. When all that is over I will be back to the blogging world to document our fun trips, my move, all the great crafts I'll do once out of school, and all the other details of my not so exciting life.

I will continue to send all this love and more to you all via this here blog thingy!

PS- I want to send a REALLY huge thank you to all my friends (you know who are). I wouldn't have gotten through this past year without all your support!

Every New Beginning . . .

I hate to be all cheesy and quote the song lyric . . . but . . . comes from some other beginning's end. With that in mind, I give you my brand new car:

It's a 2008 Honda Civic Hybrid because ya know, I'm saving the world (and some money). However, that beautiful car is sitting in front of the house I grew up in. The house is about to be sold so the weekend I bought my car I also packed up my childhood home.

That pile is all that's left for me . . . while I'm happy it's selling it's also sad to say goodbye to the only real home I've ever known. Oh well, at least if I don't find gainful, post-graduation employment I can always live in my totally awesome car.

Happy Easter!

I sent off the last of my themed packages for Easter. So out of this:

came this version of the Easter Bunny:

What do you think would happen if that was what came hopping around the bend with the Easter baskets rather than that cute bushy-tailed bunny? I'll give him this much, he's a REALLY good sport!

The Joys of Sharing

It's nice to know that some of the candy I send ends up in some other deserving hands (aside from all the wonderful soldiers of course).

How unbelievably adorable is that? Now I ask you, how can I not love that man?

Mission Accomplished?

So as you may recall in my first blog post I gave myself the challenge of becoming the "world's greatest Army girlfriend." This is what I received from my love today:


He has apparently been the lucky recipient of 1 gorilla, 1 paddle, dvd set, hat, glasses, 25 cards, and 7 post cards all courtesy of yours truly (in addition to various packages of cookies, candy and other goodies). I am also told that the general consensus on his base is that i better be treated "like gold." Of course, I'm inclined to agree. So, does this mean I've achieved my goal and truly am the best Army girlfriend ever? I'm considering taking a poll. Anyway, little does he know, the package sending is not over yet. Stay tuned . . .

St. Patty's Day Comes Early

It's a truly wonderful world where this

can arrive in Iraq and produce this

in only 4 short days!!! I think the Post Office/APO deserves a round of applause for some quick work on that one.

I Digress

This blog is not supposed to be even remotely about politics (well at least except for that whole this war made my boyfriend go away for a year thing), but since I think I'm supposed to use a blog to share general thoughts and ideas too I suggest you take a look at the following. If you were an ardent fan of the West Wing like I was, or am a political fanatic like I am you'll enjoy it:




Please do not take this as an endorsement on Obama. I will withhold my personal views on him as a candidate. I will just say, in my opinion, he's no Matt Santos.

Have you ever wondered . . .

what 12 pounds of candy looks like?

Ok, well that's just a sample of it for the picture, but the actual box was 12 pounds of pure teeth rotting joy. I thought I'd provide an example of what my non-themed packages look like. I must say, BJs and Sams Club are an Army Girlfriend's best friends. If anyone is curious about the container of joy, they're the most scrumptious chocolate, chocolate chip cookies ever! Guaranteed to make any soldier fall in love with you. If anyone is interested in the recipe there's a chance I could be convinced to give it up, for the right price of course!

Wonders of Nature

There was this really awesome total lunar eclipse last night, the last until 2010. I was lucky enough to have the perfect view right outside my front door. While I'm not professional photographer, I think a managed to take a few pretty good shots of the coolness:

I swear that's really the moon. At least what the moon looks like flanked by Saturn and the bright star Regulus. I don't have a telescope so I wasn't able to Saturn's rings, but the view from the naked eye was still pretty cool. Things like this totally amaze me. I hope most of you were able to catch a glimpse too!

Reciprocation

So not only do I get to spend my days planning all the cutesy packages I'm going to send, I also occasionally get my own love filled care packages. In addition to becoming particularly adept at ordering beautiful flowers online you would be amazed by the other gems he comes up with. For instance, here are my Valentine's Day goodies:

In the background you'll see what is apparently a lavender hat box that the wonderful set of red velor pajamas came in, otherwise known as a pajamagram. Don't ask why a dreidel, especially in February, I'm really not sure, but the boy drew it himself so he gets major points. That adorable little bear is here to keep these guys company. The fireman bear was last year's Valentine's Day present and that giant camel was i my first care package.

Does anyone else find it odd that they sell all sorts of weird stuff with the name of the base on it? Is it supposed to be like going to summer camp or just marketing war?

Valentine's Day Pt. 2

Now, imagine getting this while living on an Army post:

Beautiful, isn't it? In case you can't see written on those two giant heart is "Marcus & Sarah" "Together Forever" I know, it doesn't get much more junior high than that, but that's kinda the point. Inside all the little gift bags are lots of sugar filled candy (candy hearts, M&Ms, Lindt chocolates). Also, the guerrilla in the ziploc bag is sprayed with my perfume. I was told that the smell was so strong as my love was walking back to his room with box people could smell is and were trying to figure out what it was. Kind of looks like Valentine's Day threw up on his camouflaged bed, doesn't it? And don't you just love it?

Valentine's Day Pt. 1

So while the focus is supposed to be on all the love I send overseas, I also try to show my friends here how much I appreciate them through love-filled packages of their own. Behold: some of my Valentine's Day fun. First, there was my foray into candy making and I think it worked out pretty well.


Those pretty treats were then decorated all nicely with some other goodies to be presented as such to some friends:

The female recipients had something a little extra in the their bags by way of some valentine's day socks. After all, what is Valentine's Day about if not rotting our loved one's teeth with lots of sugar??

Green Bags

One final glorious theme package to share. Thanks to the lovely folks at greenbagstudio.org I was able to send this:

Now I know it doesn't look like much there, but for full the story check out this post from the Green Bag Studio Founder/Master of the Universe. Trust me, it's worth reading the whole story.