current state of my desk

Time for a bigger desk. I need more workspace! Sigh.

I participated in the gift exchange at Creative Collaborative tonight--so fun! Everyone brought five things to share. It was so fun seeing all the goods...music, prints, fine art, photography, handmade books...everything was amazing! I made this print last summer, and it's been hanging by my desk ever since: "live what you love." Maybe it's not so much of a print, per se, but I used my ever-so-handy Silhouette to cut out the phrase and backed it with some printed paper. More proof that I can be crafty!

On my desk:
• Silhouette
• Mixtape by American Crafts (love it!)
• Little mini Christmas lights (up in the left corner...I love having these in my room at Christmas time!)
• 20 windows open on my computer...oops
• Prints for Creative Collaborative
• some AC adhesive (ever so useful)

This weekend: Christmas shopping. Playing a two-person piano/organ duet at Church. Should be fun! Getting organized. Car upkeep things. Enjoying the season.

Claire, Claire, Claire...

Spent Friday afternoon being crafty with work peeps and made a little reverse applique shirt for Ms. Claire. Didn't turn out quite as planned, but it works, right? After work, I went to drop off the shirt, and she didn't want anything to do with it because it wasn't a "princess" shirt. (Me = fail!) Claire is convinced that Grammie (my mom) made the shirt for her, not me! Ha! (Doesn't Claire know by now that I do have a crafty streak in me? :)

Katie got Claire to wear her new shirt on Saturday--yay! But Claire got ahold of the scissors and did a good little whack-job to her bangs--no! Katie called in a panic, needing "help" with the situation. Claire was so proud of her new 'do, as evidenced by her sassy little attitude when I got the camera out. It was only a matter of time til it happened.

Family pictures next week should be highly entertaining! How can you be mad when she's loving it?! (I know, I know...if she were my daughter...yada, yada, yada...)

Just A Thought

via Pretty Zoo.

Floral Lane

Love, love, love the papers in the Floral Lane collection. Bright, fun colors; cute and simple patterns. The thing that makes this paper even more special is that it's printed on a textured cardstock, making it feel extra special, if you're into that kind of thing. (That would be me!) Click over to Facebook and "like" Pebbles and you could win a uge prize!

Yes, uge.

A Tip

I sooo need to do this.

Happy Weekend!

Take 3

Missy Loo-hoo is almost three! Yikes. I decided at lunch today that it would be a good day to take Claire up the canyon for birthday pics. It's crazy how many pictures are almost identical to the ones we took last year. Only a handful of slightly-blurry-this-will-have-to-do pictures and the rest are all of her throwing rocks in the ocean river.* The leaves were a little past their prime, but we still enjoyed jumping in and throwing all the brown leaves.

Claire insisted on a pink cupcake after pictures, but when we got to the Sweet Tooth Fairy, she became set on the blue funfetti cupcake. Go figure. It's all about the frosting with this girl. Claire was done with pictures and put her hand up and said, "ok Lindsay, no more pictures please!" I had to stop because she said please.

Love this kid.


*Claire is convinced that any body of moving water is the ocean.

'Tis the Season

For pumpkin! I could have taken a pretty picture of my pumpkin bread that just came out of the oven, but this picture is pretty much what it looks like. Less effort, right? I've been living off this bread for the last 3 weeks or so for breakfast and dinner. Add a little butter and it's heaven on earth! I'd even go so far to say that it's maybe even a little better than Great Harvest's Pumpkin Chocolate Chip bread.

Pumpkin Muffins/Bread Recipe

1/2 cup oil
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup pumpkin
1/3 cup water

Mix all ingredients together. Bada bing, bada boom. For small muffins, bake for about 17 minutes; large muffins, bake for about 25 minutes. For pumpkin bread, fill pan about 2/3 full and bake for about an hour (until a knife inserted comes out clean). Bake at 350º.

Side note: It's worth doubling this recipe...one batch doesn't last long! When you double the recipe, use one large can of pumpkin.

Oh--and chocolate chips are a good addition :)

Recipe credit: mamacita

Digially Distracted

So much to do, so much to be distracted by. If you love info graphics, this one's for you. Information Is Beautiful is a collection of beautifully organized info...I especially loved this one, except I'd put Pinterest at the top. For sure.

Just a random sampling from recent pins: 1 // pinterest. 2 // just be splendid tumblr. 3 // the good report. 4 // that's happy.

Life Lessons

(picture from 2005ish)

Meet Erin. Erin Carter (not to be confused with Aaron Carter, teen pop star). Erin and I met in our sophomore ward at BYU Idaho back in 2003. We pretty much did everything together--this pic is from when we worked for BYUI Event Staff and I think we were working on our "soccer pose."

Anyway, back to the point. I was just digging through my hard drive from school and found a file named "Life Lessons for Spencer" from November 2006 and had to open it. Just a few gems from the document:

Life Lessons, As Prepared by Autumn Winds Apartment #308


Lesson #5: Never swear girls off and say they are dumb.


Lesson #6: Ask out lots of different girls, but ask out girls that could potentially be compatible. Be sure to taste all the flavors of ice cream.


Lesson #7: Never call a girl "home-ly" and A) make sure that she dresses cute, but not too high maintenance and B) date girls who look cute in ALL situations.


Lesson #9: Ask out girls who have goals and aspirations, and who are motivated by things she is passionate about. Make sure she is confident in her potential.


Lesson #11: Don't ask out needy girls. It is good to have down time by yourself.


Lesson #12. Don't date girls that are dumb as dirt. 


Lesson #19: Date girls who have motherly qualities ie. cooking, cleaning, compassionate, first aid skills, etc.


Lesson #21: Never date drama queens.


Pretty profound life lessons, huh? Lesson #12 might be my fave. Oh, and the motherly qualities part. Erin and Spencer ended up getting married that next year. I like to think that Spencer did pretty well at following the outlined lessons :) Good times, sweet memories!

Lots going on these days...headed to Houston next week to spend some time at home. Lots to do between now and then! And our Cards just made it to the World Series! What-what! 

Dream Workspace

My workspace right now is looking rather...drab...especially next to this! The natural light, the organization, the colors. My folding card table will have to do for now :)

images via Little Green Notebook.

Give Away!

Yes, it's just a little early to have Valentine's Day on the mind, but Pebbles' latest collection With Love was just released today! I might be just a little biased in my opinion, but I think it's a pretty sweet love line! The paper is always my favorite part of a collection, and this paper definitely doesn't disappoint. Four of the papers are printed on kraft and add some fun variety to the line. I'm totally into making garlands for holidays these days (remember how I don't really scrapbook? oops...) and have a couple other cute ideas in mind for this collection.

The giveaway is over on the Pebbles Blog...trust me, the pictures don't really do the paper justice! Just leave a comment to enter to win the whole collection!

Too Slow!

Claire beat me at a game of "high-five" this weekend when she pulled her hand out from under mine and yelled, "too slow!" She asked me for an "iPad 2 for kwis-mas" when we had a sleep over last weekend. Claire teaches my mom how to use the iPad! (Right, mom?) Getting this girl to sit still to get a decent picture is nearly impossible...and don't even try to get her to look at the camera. Claire is practicing holding up 3 fingers for her upcoming birthday. It's going to be a sad day when she no longer says, "peace out!" when you ask her how old she is. I love being able to tease her and she teases right back. Asking Claire to sing for you is one of the funniest, sweetest things ever.

Love this kid.

Twinkle Lights

I don't think I've closed the window in my room for the last month or so because we've had such beautiful weather lately! It makes me want to go get some sparkly lights and put them out on my bedroom balcony and just enjoy the warm weather before winter sets in.

And dinner tonight consisted of a cookie, cupcake and milkshake. Wowsers. Yikes. No bueno. Gym tomorrow? We shall see.

Current fave song: I Would Do Anything For You by Foster the People. Love it!

Animated gif via From Me To You tumblr.

Distracted

Dang it, Pinterest! I (literally) put on a timer for 2 minutes, but kept hitting the snooze button and that two minutes turned into 10 minutes. But, I came across this kitchen in that extra 8 minutes. Perfection. Love it. It's pictures like these that make me want my own little house. Someday.

Image via House of Turquoise.

Just FYI...

If you get towed in Provo, it'll cost you $175 to get your car back. It should have been more, but the guy was "kind enough" to not charge me a "storage" fee. I picked up the kiddos to have a sleep over last Saturday night. We've learned (Katie and I) that it's easier to just switch cars instead of switching car seats. I parked my car in visitor parking at Katie's house, and apparently you'll get towed from that one parking spot if you're there between 2 and 6 am. Didn't know that. Expensive lesson to learn.

Oh, and in case you didn't hear, BYU lost last week to the U. Pretty bad. I'm listening to the BYU/UCF game on the radio right now, but I can also hear the crowd from the stadium--hoping they pull through this time around. UCF just scored again, making it 17-10. Yikes. It's kind of funny listening to the 13-ish second delay on the radio.

Monday was a sick day. I was at work for exactly 58 minutes, and had to come back home. Highlight of the day was when Katie showed up with a cherry limeade from Sonic, which makes everything better! 

Then I ordered my mom's birthday presents earlier this week, and had them scheduled to be delivered today, just in time for her birthday on Sunday. Forgot to change the shipping address, so my planning ended up not paying off. Sorry mom--be expecting a package next week! Promise it'll be worth the wait! :)

Enough of the not-so-good stuff. There were some pretty awesome things this week. Painting my nails a pretty shade of red always makes things better. Dole Whip from Farr's is pretty fantastic. Attending the lecture by the *crazy talented* Jessica Hische was pretty awesome. (She's a big deal. Love her.) Most definitely a highlight of the week. Finishing a collection at work that I love and starting another collection that I'm totally loving is always a good thing.

Life is hard, but it can be so good. I've felt so loved by so many friends and family recently. Notes, texts, phone calls, emails all seem to come at just the right moment. Our relationships with others are so important.

Ok, 93 yard-kick off return for a touchdown! Things are looking up!

Sure glad it's the weekend :) Oh, and it's the first day of fall. We've had the most gorgeous weather this week. I'm hoping to take a drive up the canyon this weekend. The trees are turning and it's just beautiful. I love, love, love fall!

Quilt Inspiration

A friend asked me to help him put together a quilt for his girlfriend (soon-to-be fiancee!!), so we spent a couple hours going to quilt shops looking for fabric and pulling things together. I found these quilts on poppytalk and thought they were so, so sweet. They're the inspiration for the quilt, so we'll see how it turns out!

images via poppytalk via comma workshop

Hi

via scout's honor co. 

Long time, no real blog. Perhaps this weekend? Loving the cooler temps and ready for fall. Happy Friday!

Lunchtime Fortune

Not so sure about this one...

Counting

via mattallen.com

Happy Sunday

Weekend randoms: Sunday morning = cinnamon rolls. Fun weekend with good friends. New roomie (Kayce!) all moved in--yay!! 400 blog posts. White glove clean check. Clean house. Getting caught in a downpour. Laughing. Makeup at Sephora. Temple with Katie. Marshall is back in the states! Can't wait to see him this week. Can't wait for Katie + fam to get back to Utah...so funny seeing pics of claire at the beach.

Happy Sunday

Almost Home

Crazy couple weeks, I tell ya. Lots of changes, all for the better. Life is good. Especially good this week because Marshall comes home on Thursday! Just sent him one last email. Can't wait to give him a hug! Thankfully he'll be back at BYU and close by.

So True

via wide open spaces

Before & After

I learned last night that the best way to start any weekend is to share a slice of Magleby's chocolate cake with your sister! And, naturally, if you order chocolate cake, you need a glass of milk to go along with it.

Happy weekend

Downpour!

Full Havasupai report coming soon. For now, know that it was pretty incredible!

We've had some impressive afternoon storms this week. Claire now knows about lightning and thunder and loves watching the storm from behind the curtains (because it's safer behind the curtains, of course). Love her.

Havasupai!

Mini vacation to Havasupai starts tomorrow! I'm trying to focus on packing right now, and it's not going so well. Good thing I have the morning to finish everything up. A few of us friends have been planning this trip for several months--I'm excited to just get there! It's going to be a crazy adventure, for sure. Here's to hoping the helicopter out of the Grand Canyon isn't full on Monday morning when it's time to leave...

...wish me luck!

the story behind the dollhouse

image via Sarah Jane Studios Blog

Project: turn the dollhouse into something presentable at Quilt Market. With Sarah and Ken's help, we did it! Never did we think it was going to take as long as it did, but the hours we put into that project paid off. It's such a charming little dollhouse! Ken's idea to light it up added such a nice, finishing touch. Check out Sarah's blog for more pics of the transformation!

The 4th: In Pictures

Good weekend. Good family, friends, food, fireworks, fun. Summer is finally here!

Claire Kitty Cat. She looks like a mad kitty, but I promise that as soon as she saw pics of herself, she lived it up. Best $5 ever spent.
Bubba and Sarah take a little break in the shade. It was hot. hot. hot. Bubbalicious takes his strawberries and swing time very, very seriously.
Pretty Sarah Jane. Crazy Claire. Yummy Katie. Boss Claire. Lemonade lovin' Claire. Another lovely Sarah. Stuffed to the max Bubba. (But there's always room for more food in that kid's stomach.) Captain dance-y-pants Claire. That girl sure loves to move.
The $10 roller coaster ride that lasted maybe a minute and a half. Claire tricked Katie into paying for it (she's good like that). Whenever Claire is in the car and we're driving up or down a hill, she throws her hands in the air and yells, "weeeeeeee!" til we've conquered the hill. I'd say her first roller coaster ride was a success. She may look terrified, but that's just how she rolls. She was slightly upset when she couldn't go again.
Proof that we were all together for dinner on Sunday! We headed up to Chris & Holly's place for a picnic dinner and had fun chatting and catching up. I love being together.
A few of us headed up to Pleasant Grove to watch fireworks--yay for good friends! Love me some time with Ms. Katie! (pic from katie)

Happiness

Claire + iPad (watching Mickey and Minnie Mouse cartoons from the 1930s) + Minnie Mouse by her side = one happy two year old.

Go Cards!

I'm not particularly the biggest fan of baseball, but we (my family!) have loved cheering for the Cardinals the last few years. Love me a good Jib Jab! :)

18 on the 18th

image via Katie Daisy

That little thing we call patience gets me every time. Ai yi yi. I used to think when I was younger, that by the time I was done with school I'd be a total pro at that "p" word. Nope. I guess I'll just keep practicing!

Randoms for today:
1 • It's already the middle of June...I don't think a year has ever gone as fast as this year has!
2 • I'm kind of--ok really--excited that summer is finally here!
3 • Happy hour at Sonic starts in a few minutes. I think that means I'll be getting a UGE cherry limeade in a few minutes :)
4 • I had grand plans to go to Sundance and ride the ski lift at night this week under the full moon. Didn't happen.
5 • 5K on the 4th with sister Sarah Jane. I know it's just a 5K, but I'm kind of nervous...it's been a while since I've been running, so we'll see how things go.
6 • Thoughts of Havasupai keep running through my mind. I'm going down with a few friends next month for a weekend and I'm so looking forward to it!
7 • This little 3-bun messy hair up-do thing has been a major time saver the last few weeks. Love it. Add a cute little headband and you're good to go.
8 • Taking a mini 3 week web design course at BYU starting next week. Dreamweaver has always been a mystery to me, but I'm ready to learn.
9 • Love the latest Martha Stewart Living magazine with all the red, white and blue. Excited for the 4th of July!
10 • Redesigning this little blog of mine is my next big project. As soon as that web design class is over, this blog is getting overhauled!
11 • Can't get enough of Pinterest. Love. Genius. Can't get enough. If you haven't signed up yet, do it. If you need an invite, let me know and I'll send one your way!
12 • Floral Lane is one of the newest collections I worked on, and is one of my faves to date! The images on the website don't do the paper justice--it's printed on a textured cardstock paper--it's amazing! Check it out and get some in your little hands.
13 • I thought I could handle a stuffy nose for a few days, thinking it was just allergies. Nope--fully on nasal infection. Gross.
14 • A friend came over the other night to help me with a project, and he pulled out my sketchbook to take some notes. He couldn't stop laughing when he flipped through the pages and simply said, "You think in totally different terms than I do." I like to think that he's just weird :)
15 • Strawberry Days rodeo tonight! Best part: Strawberries and cream. Delicious.
16 • Pinterest, pinterest, pinterest! I'm telling you, it's amazing.
17 • Father's Day is tomorrow, which means we'll have a 4-way Skype home to chat with Daddy-o. Just wishing that Marsh could join in the fun!
18 • Decisions determine destiny. Love this little article from 1979. "When the time for decisions arrives, the time for preparation has already passed." So true.

Happy, happy sunny Saturday.

DIY: Fabric Necklace

photo via cakies

Ever stumble on one of those blogs that you instantly fall in love with and wonder how you didn't know about it til just now? Cakies is sure to be a new fave of mine...I found her blog via a DIY fabric necklace pin on Pinterest (the tutorial here). I was totally hooked when I saw that she uses outdoor patio furniture inside:When I was back East, we stayed at my aunt's home and she refinished some old patio furniture and used it in her family room. I've wanted to refinish some furniture ever since then and bring the outdoors inside. Love, love, love how it's used in Cakies' family room and kitchen!

Anyways, I think I'll be making a few of these cute necklaces this weekend. Good way to use up scraps, and a perfect way to add a little extra color!

Happy!

Happy Saturday morning! My morning started kinda early for a Saturday (like 5:30 early) with a migraine, so I took some meds, went back to sleep, and started my Saturday over sans migraine. I love meds :) Forecast for today: sunny and nearly 80°!! I think it might be the best day so far in 2011. Lots to get done today, so I'm hoping I can enjoy the sunshine at least for a few minutes today.

Last trip home to St Louis was kind of bittersweet. Littlest sis, Sarah, graduated. No more high school graduations--yay! No more trips to Edwardsville--sad. For the last 6+ years, St Louis has been "home" for me, even though I never really lived there. The motto in our family is "the plan is, the plan will change." I wish I were good with change--I'm really good with change when others are involved in whatever is changing, but sometimes going through change solo is kind of hard. But that's ok! Life is supposed to be an adventure, right?

So the funny thing with my parents moving to Houston is this: I'm not sure what I'm supposed to say now when I'm asked where I'm from! Is my hometown where mom and dad currently reside? Where we've lived the longest? What state we've lived in longest? Where I graduated high school? (I went to three high schools, so that's kind of a trick question :) I've been in Provo for going on 4 years now, so am I from Provo now? Input, please.

Life is good, it's sunny out, and it's Saturday. Best day ever.

Snapshots

Katie and the kiddos headed to St Louis this afternoon to spend some time there before my parents move to Houston next month...and I get to meet up with them next week! (Slightly excited :)

listening to: adele, make you feel my love
feeling: anxious/excited/nervous/happy/scattered/focused (confused? me too!)
thinking about: katie flying to st louis by herself with the kiddos and hoping she survived
seeking: for some answers
looking forward to: being with my sisters and mom and dad
weather: cold, rainy (snowy in the mountains)
enjoying: my new little toy--an iPad--but...
wondering: if i should get the 64 GB
making: well, thinking about making this
enjoying: the last few days being 26!
dreaming about: the future

and one more smoochy pic. love these two.

Spring Quilt Market

image via Sarah Jane Studios Blog

Spent the weekend with the talented Sarah at Market--such a fun and amazing experience to meet and see and visit with and admire so many talented designers all in one place...and right here in Salt Lake! The last couple weeks were spent alongside Sarah wallpapering, painting, gluing, cutting, and all the little things that make a booth really come to life. I love this kind of stuff! The booth couldn't have turned out better--Sarah and her husband, Ken, did an *incredible* job. Such a good weekend.

Love, love, love Market. See you in Houston.

Puddle Jumpin

It was a good day today. For more than one reason, but jumping in the puddles with my Claire was one of the highlights!

Family Portrait, May 2011

My Family, Mother's Day 2011

We just had our last "phone call" with my brother, Marshall, before he comes home this summer from Brasil! Marsh was able to connect with us via Skype, and I think this was by far my most favorite and memorable call with him. It was a totally different experience to hear and see him! We all got a good laugh hearing Marshall talk...he has such a funny accent. He expresses so much happiness in his weekly emails, and it was fun seeing his happiness. I miss his huge, quirky smile. I think it's one of his best features!

It's still amazing to me that we were able to connect via Skype...5 different computers in different countries all communicating with each other. (And for free!) Simply amazing.

♥ Pinterest!

My new fave, fave, FAVE site: Pinterest! I've heard about the site for several months now, but didn't really "get it" til this week, when Sarah was kind enough to show me the basics, and now I'm totally loving it! I've had my little inspiration blog for almost two years now, but it's pretty time consuming to save a picture, remember where it came from, post it, link to the original source, etc. Pinterest is a virtual idea board, where you can organize and keep track of all your ideas. So simple.

Here's the quick run-down: When you sign up for Pinterest, it'll give you the option to add Pinterest to your browser toolbar. Add it; it'll make things so easy-peasy. Next, when you're browsing the internet and you come across an image on a website you want to catalog, click on the "Pin It" button in your toolbar.A window will pop up that has all the images from the page that you're on. Find the image you want to "pin;" click "pin this." Another window will pop up with a drop down menu. On your profile, you can set up categories for the different things you want to organize. Choose one of the categories and add a description for your image. Click "pin it" and it will be added to your pinterest wall. Done and done. Such a brilliant site. Oh, and the best part about Pinterest: it takes care of linking back to the original source of the image. Too often, I find an image with no link to the original source, but this takes care of all that. Gone are the days of "bookmarking" images! Have fun pinning!

It's Friday, Friday

Friday came soo fast this week, and I'm so glad it did! No work today, 3 day weekend! Party! Spending this weekend with friends, BBQ, spring cleaning, planning summer trips (!!!), Easter egg hunting, wishing I were in Houston with the parents and Sarah, working on projects, and checking things off the perpetual to-do list. Yay for being productive!

Just a few faves from blog reading/etsy window shopping/searching the web from the past few days...happy weekend!
1 • bamboo doily clock from uncommon 2 • birds on a wire paper clips from urban outfitters 3 • peep smores from poppytalk 4 • portable utensils from donna hay via oh, hello friend

Mindful Home

I sooo need to have this print in my room. That little reminder about the bed and hamper hit a *little* too close to home for me! :)
via the lovely blog, my happy little life.

(click to see larger.)

Neapolitan Cake

I think I need to make this. Tonight.
via Sweetapolita.