My New Favorite Show!

I have been so excited for this new Fall season of TV to get started. I heard some buzz about a few new shows and I was anxious to see if they were any good. Plus I couldn't wait for my favorites from last year to return. Heroes, Project Runway, So You Think You Can Dance and Castle were among my returning must sees. The new shows I wanted to watch were Glee, The Forgotten, Accidentally on Purpose and Flash Forward.

Glee is so funny and I love all the song and dance routines. Accidentally on Purpose was cute but they crammed so much into the first episode it was like a race. I'm hoping a slower pace will ensue over the course of the season. The Forgotten was really good. Lots of mystery, clue hunting and crime solving. Plus it has Christian Slater in it. For all of you girls who loved "Heathers", "Pump up the Volume", "Robin Hood", "Bed of Roses"... you know you loved him at one time. I guess I always kind of digged the bad boys. :) He had a new show last year called "My Own Worst Enemy" and I really liked it, but of course the network axed it like a bunch of other good shows with potential last year. Don't even get me started. So I'm excited to see where this show goes.

Now for my new FAVORITE! "Flash Forward" was so awesome!

It was a killer of a pilot. It totally reminded me of when I saw the pilot of "Lost" and I knew I was going to love the show. "Flash Forward" has lots of characters which lends itself to lots of good and interesting stories. The premise is that the entire world blacked out for like 2 minutes at exactly the same time. All this mayhem happened because of it. Think of all the car accidents, people falling, doctors in the middle of surgery, planes, helicopters, ... you get the picture. While everyone blacked out they all had a vision of their future. This show is part drama, action, sci fi, mystery, conspiracy theory, a lot of what I love in "Lost". So if you are into this kind of stuff I highly recommend the show. Does anyone else have any new favorites?

Curtains, Curtains, and More Curtains

So I have been spending quite a lot of time in my sewing room lately. Usually this would be a time to rejoice but not this time. I have been working on a project for my husband for the last month. I am making curtains for this new office building that he is doing the flooring for. A lot of the walls inside of the building are windows. They want to be able to pull curtains over the windows when they want a little privacy.

Now I first heard about this project in May. My husband said he wanted to give a bid on the curtains for this new building and he wanted to know if I wanted to sew them. They didn't need to be done until the end of October. There were 36 curtains in all and they were all about 9' tall.

The pay was good and I had all summer to work on them so I said Yes! Well, I didn't hear anything about them after that so I assumed the builders had gone with someone else.

In August my husband told me that he needed to order the fabric for the curtains so I could get started on them. What?! He then told me that they needed to be done by the end of September. What Again?! I told him there was no way I would be able to do them. Then his business partner said I would have until the end of October. Mike figures I can sew all day while the kids are gone, but I've got a 2 year old at home. I don't know about you, but I don't really think plunking your 2 year old in front of the TV all day is considered good parenting.

So now you can all see why I haven't been blogging much lately. I haven't been doing anything much lately except sewing. The fabric is kind of sheer and it has little horizontal stripes running through it. The fabric is almost 10' wide so it is a bear to work with. Luckily Mike and I have figured out a pretty good cutting process. We get it all squared up and then we use a chalk line, you know the kind you can snap (think Home Depot here), and then cut it. It probably wouldn't be too bad to work with but it has those darn stripes that I have to match up and it is pretty slippery. So that means lots of pinning. And don't get me started on the endless hours of pressing!

Here is my newest enemy, snap tape.

I have to sew this stuff on to the top of all of the curtains because they are all going on a track system. This stuff is all wonky and pretty thick. I have to wrestle it to lay straight. And then there is the problem of having to cut it and piece it together so that there are snaps at both ends.

Here is my stack of finished curtains.

Luckily Mike found another lady to help me out with the sewing. Hopefully she will work out. We just sent home three curtains for her to sew.

Well, I'd probably better get back to sewing. I just needed to get some of that off my chest. Now you won't hear another complaint out of me about these curtains again! I've got about 3 more weeks of curtain making ahead of me and then I will have more time for some fun projects again. (Oh yeah, I have to have them done by October 15th now.)

Yesterday Hunter was watching me and he said, "It must be boring to sew all day." That made me so sad. I replied, "Actually sewing all day is usually really fun. Like when I get to make cool costumes for you guys, or cute skirts for the girls or fun stuff for the house. I usually love to sew!" He kind of looked at me like I was crazy. Then I wound a new bobbin and he thought that was pretty cool. :)

Textures

Megan, my SIL, has been doing these weekly photo challenges for a while. Her photography skills have gotten so good! You are supposed to take a picture a day that goes along with the challenge topic of the week. I keep meaning to join in, but my good intentions don't seem to ever come to fruition. When we were down in Zion's the challenge was textures. What a perfect challenge for our trip. I kind of cheated though, all of these textures were taken in the two days we were down there. Here are some of my textures.

Ever since I took the Jessica Sprague photoshop class a month or so ago I've been in love with textures on my photos. I took some pictures on our trip just for this purpose. Here are the steps to putting texture on your pictures and these are some of my favorites I did today.

First you create a new document, then you drag your photo in. Next you drag the texture photo in on top of your picture layer. Then you change the blending mode on the texture layer to whatever you want. I really like Soft Light, but Overlay adds a bit more contrast and gives the picture a little more punch. Lower the opacity to your liking and if there are people in the picture I suggest erasing the texture on their face, any skin that is showing (you don't want them to look like a lizard or something) and maybe lightly erasing it on some of their clothing. And there you have it!

This beautiful rock texture

+ this adorable picture of Aria

= this unbelievable picture. I love the rough texture, which makes it look like an old picture that has been kind of beat up over the years. I also love how her smooth baby skin contrasts with the texture. And the warm glow is fantastic!

The texture of the red rock sandstone in Snow Canyon

+ a picture of Ponte Vecchio in Florence

= this warm and antique looking photo.

For this one I used two textures: One of the bark on a tree

and one of a grassy bush on our hike in Snow Canyon.

+ this desaturated picture of the kids at the pumpkin patch

= this fun and funky picture.

Some more beautiful red sandstone

+ a picture I took of my kids walking in the fall leaves

= this warm and glowing picture. I wish I had known how to use textures last year so I could have this version hanging on my wall.

This texture of a gravel road

+ this picture of the Flat Iron building in New York

= This awesome picture. I used the Hard Light Blending Mode and it ended up looking like a painting by Surat. Such a cool effect, don't you think? What kind of textures can you find in your photos?

Zion National Park and the Hike of a Lifetime

So, last weekend my SIL Megan and I went on a little Girl's trip down to St. George. We had lots of fun shopping, eating and laughing, a lot! It was so much fun to get away for a couple of days with no worries or hassles. Unfortunately my two other SILs, Sara and Mindy, weren't able to come along. I guess we'll just have to drag them along next time.

On Saturday we woke up early and drove to Zion's. The park is so beautiful. I love all the red rock against the green trees and bright blue sky. First up on the agenda was hiking Angel's Landing. Our destination was the peak of this mountain.

The night before I left my sister and I were talking and I was telling her what I would be doing that weekend. When I mentioned Angel's Landing she said, "You know, some lady died there a couple of weeks ago. She got too close to the edge on the Angel's Landing hike and fell like 800 feet." Thanks for telling me this right before I was leaving! Actually is was probably good because it made me extra cautious. It's funny, when I was younger I was pretty fearless. But after I started having kids I thought, "I can't go jumping out of planes! I have kids to take care of who need their Mom. Plus Mike would kill me if I went and died on him and left him with kids to take care of by himself. " :)

The hike first starts off with a nice and easy stroll along the river, then it hits the side of the mountain and a whole mess of switchbacks. Here's a picture of them when we got to the top.

Next you hiked through a little canyon, which was a nice rest, before you got to the next set of switchbacks. Yikes! We came out on a little lookout area and the view was so beautiful. Then we saw the sign that said, "Angel's Landing- .5 miles". Now I had heard about the last half mile of this hike. Basically you are either rock climbing, pulling yourself up the hill while holding on to chains or walking across a narrow trail with like 1200 foot drop offs on either side of you. We started up the chains, you can see them in this picture.

A little ways up Megan decided she couldn't do it anymore. The idea of dropping off the side of the cliff pretty much freaked the heck out of her. I asked her if she wouldn't mind if I kept going and she let me go. I didn't want to have come that far and then not have made it up to the top.
Well, that half mile ended up taking like 45 minutes. It was pretty scary at times, but I just kept telling myself to look at my feet and to just take it one step at a time. The saddle was probably the scariest part. The trail was only about 3-4 across and it was cliffs on either side. There was a chain to hold onto, but it was still kind of freaky.

When I finally got to the top the view was breathtaking. You could see almost the whole canyon of Zion's. I think the peak of Angel's Landing is about 1400 feet up. Here are some pictures of the view.

And here is a picture of me up at the top.

Coming down wasn't as bad, after you'd already gotten up, it didn't seem quite as scary. Though I didn't appreciate when people coming down behind you got too close. I wanted to turn around to this one guy and yell, "would you give me some space please. If you go, I don't want you taking me with you!" This is a picture of me coming back down. I'm a little bit behind a tree, right under the group of people with the white shirts.
Megan told me I was crazy when I got back down. She couldn't even handle watching people looking over the edge. I felt so proud of myself for doing it. I kind of felt like my old self again.
Here I am pointing to the peak. "I went there!"

After Angel's Landing we drove the shuttle up to the River Walk that takes you to the River that runs through the Narrows. The hike through the Narrows is pretty much a hike through the River the entire time. The cold water felt so good on our tired legs and feet. It's pretty funny watching everyone navigate the river and the round slick river rocks that line the bottom of the river. It was pretty slow going but also a lot of fun. Here are some pictures of the Narrows and Megan and I taking a snack break.

Here we are wading through the river. It was waist deep in a couple of places. I remember the first time we got in deep the water felt so cold! Megan was trying to take my picture and I told her to hurry and take it because I wasn't going to stop moving!

What an awesome weekend we had! I would love to go back there sometime and do some other hikes and maybe Angel's Landing again. Maybe we'll just have to make this an annual thing. :)

A Little Bit About Me

I haven't blogged in a while and I was reading one of my favorite blogs today- luvinthemommyhood and she had a little get to know you question thing she had filled out and wanted everyone else to do one so she could get to know her comment posters. So since I don't have a lot of time to download pictures and stuff I'll do this for my post today.

Making : digital scrapbook pages for my 2008 family album.

Cooking : hopefully nothing for dinner. Tonight would be a great night for pizza!

Drinking : water

Reading: "The Summer Kitchen" by Lisa Wingate. Such a good read.

Wanting: some cool new jersey material so I can make a cute wrap dress.

Looking: at the beautiful sunny day outside.

Playing: on our new play ground that Mike designed.

Wasting: time blogging when I should be sewing.

Sewing: 36 9' long drapes for this new office building Mike is doing the flooring for. I'll blog about that another time.

Wishing: I could go to my brother's wedding next month on Kauai.

Enjoying: the quiet of the older kids being at school. No fighting!

Waiting: for the kids to get home from school. I do actually miss them when they are gone, I just don't miss the arguing.

Liking: my new sewing machine.

Wondering: how long the beautiful fall weather will last this year.

Loving: the trip I took to Zion National Park last weekend with my sister in law. Gorgeous!

Hoping: Mike and I can have a night out with friends tomorrow.

Marvelling: at how quickly my children are growing up. I'd like to freeze them right now!

Needing: to lose a few pounds.

Smelling: the carpet cleaner from Michela's science project.

Wearing: my workout clothes.

Following: Project Runway!

Noticing: that each day seems to be going by faster and faster.

Knowing: that I am so blessed and I am so thankful for such a wonderful family, friends and home.

Thinking: of how I can keep the house in order while I need to be sewing all day. Do you see a recurring theme here?

Bookmarking: all of the awesomely creative blogs out there.

Opening: my bag of Bear Naked peanut butter granola for a post workout snack.

Giggling: whenever Aria comes in wearing a new princess dress or while she twirls around and makes up her little songs. She is so cute!

Feeling: worn out.