Tuscaloosa, Al...

Apartment Complex

I am sure by now everyone has seen the devastating pictures of the carnage in Tuscaloosa from the tornado that hit Wednesday. A number of students have lost their lives. There are local relief efforts taking place here in the Jackson, MS area. Diapers, formula, shoes, toiletry items are being trucked to Alabama. I have been spreading the word here but wanted to extend to opportunity to all those in the blogging world.

Elementary School

I have a personal connection with this town. I went the the University of Alabama and it is a place that develops deep roots and takes hold of your heart and never lets go. I would love to do something else, but I am afraid I do not have enough followers or readers to even warrant a request of action to help those affected. If you have any desire to help, sending donation items or money or getting some quilts together, I am ready to do my part. Please let me know so that I may contribute even if in just some small way!
Roll Tide Roll.

Sewing Machine Woes

My new sewing machine is acting up. It seems the thread coming from the bobbin is not clearing the bobbin case for some reason. About every third stitch it gets caught and stuck with the needled down. HELP!!!!

New Design

I am going through some blog boredom lately. I had a background and cute fonts a while ago that I really loved. But one day, they were no longer there! I have no idea what happened. Ever since, I have been trying to figure out what to do. I had help the last time, but I would really like something simple, cute and easy this time around. So pardon the construction mess!
As for the quilt, it is still going, but school is crazy lately. Next week is spring break. I will be going to California for the week. So no quilt making over the break.

Just a Thought

Isn't it funny that we trust God with our soul, our eternal life. However, when it comes to simple worries, we think the problem is too great. Or it may just be that we don't really believe or trust that He will take care of the issues we have going on. It may be that he don't think He will do what we think is best for us, or handles things the way we want them to be handled. Isn't this ironic! I trust God to be the Saviour of my soul, my Redeemer and my Lord. But I must remind myself to trust Him to sell my house or car or even keep my family safe. Crazy.
Lord,
I trust you.
I know you value me and have a plan for me.
I know that your plan is what is best for me.
Thank you for giving grace and mercy to me, despite my many flaws.
I love you and I thank you for Your unending love.

What is this?!!!!

Look what I had waiting on me when I got home from school today!

I have the best husband in the world to send me these for my birthday!

Sneak Peek

Here is a sneak peek of what I am working on for Trae. I am so excited about it all. I am loving how all of the fabrics are coming together. Some of these I happened upon very randomly and unexpectedly and they are some of my favorites.

Here are other pictures from our drive to California this past time. All of these pictures are in Truckee. We love it there.

Bella loves the snow just as much as we do.

New Projects

I have two new projects I will start on soon. The first is a baby blanket for dear friends of our in California. I will be doing a simple design so I have time to wait to find out the sex of the baby.
The second is one for Trae. I am really excited about it. I am not doing a single collection or even really trying to match colors. I am choosing fabrics that remind me of him and all of his passions. Since he might read this, I am not going to mention what the fabrics are or show pictures. I have ordered a few prints online and am just waiting for them to come in now. I am very excited about all of them and I am loving how they are turning out so far. I will show you this is pattern I will be using for Trae's quilt.
This is what I want the baby quilt to look like, although I can not find a tutorial anywhere, I will just go for it on my own.
Classes start back tomorrow. I am ready to get it going. The sooner it starts, the sooner it will get done.

Over the past few months, I have been cooking some great things also. Chocolate souffle with peanut butter pastry cream in the center, puff pastry ham and cheese, coconut cake, cream puffs, garlic cheese biscuits, chocolate chip cookies, and lots of good stuff.

It's a Handmade Holiday at my house!

I made most of the gifts we are giving this year. I'm pretty happy with most of them. I just hope the recipients are just as excited to get something I made rather than something I bought.
For Trae's niece and nephew we may have gone overboard. We bought them both something and I made them both something special. For Trae's nephew, I made a pillowcase from a panel of Cars fabric.
I attached it to an extra pillowcase I had from a previous project. I found a checkered flag patterned fabric and made a border for the top of the pillowcase and then I quilted a few sections of the picture to make sure the 2 cases stayed together. I hope my favorite 2 year old boy loves it!

Side 1:

Side 2: 

This is the only decent picture I got of the quilting: 

For Trae's niece, I made her a tutu! I have been planning on doing this since her and her mom came to visit us this past summer. She is such a little girly drama queen and loves to play. I chose bright pink and purple tulle for the tutu and gathered it at the elastic waistband. It definitely does not look professional, but it is only for playing!! I also sewed a really pretty soft ribbon at the top to cover the sewing. I really like this and I hope she does too! I also hope her mom doesn't mind if I encourage the girlyness!

Yes, it stands up on its own!! I hope that is the sign of a good tutu!

Sorry for the fuzzy picture. 

Porch dog?

Who knew?!

We have recently discovered, Bella wants the front door open, all the time. She likes to be able to go outside and come in whenever she pleases. She also likes to be inside with which ever human is here with her and look outside to enjoy this beautiful warm fall weather we are having. Normally, she just sleeps on the couch or bed all day. But she has decided she likes to be outside whenever she can. Its cute.

If I close the door, she wants to go in and out every 5 mintues. But, if I leave the door open, she is perfectly happy. I like a perfectly happy dog.

Back to Food

Since my quilt is done and I am getting more inspired to cook really good food, I will discuss my latest indulgent find at our local grocery store. Sometimes you buy the store brand item trying to save money and it just is not the same as the name brand item that you are craving. Then there are other times the store brand knocks it out of the park! This is one of those times.
Our local grocery store chain is Kroger. Out west, Smith's is the same company. I love Kroger. Good prices, good produce and meats.
We love ice cream. We love good ice cream with great mix ins too.
Kroger has recently started selling upscale ice cream from their own brand. Because Trae loves peanut butter almost as much as he loves me, I picked up the triple peanut butter flavor to try.

It is amazing. Peanut butter flavored ice cream would be really good. But they put large ribbons of peanut butter and huge chunks of peanut butter cups in it. Delicious! If you like peanut butter, get this.

Look at all of that delicious peanut butter goodness! I know I didn't make this concoction, but I'll take grocery store help any day to have deliciousness!

My mom got the New York Style Pumpkin Cheesecake flavor. It is equally legit and delicious in its own right! Get that one too.

 

Is that what I think it is?

Yes, that is my finished quilt. After only 19 months of working on this thing it is now complete! I am so excited to be done working on it. It is not hanging over my head just waiting to be finished. The fabric is Heather Bailey's Pop Garden. The backing and binding is all Paisley blue from the Pop Garden line. Since I am without a big fancy quilting sewing machine and sending it to a long arm was entirely too expensive for my budget, I hand quilted in simple straight lines. I like the simplicity of the quilting and how it does not compete with the variety and business of the fabric.
I am really happy with the way it came out. I may not do another hand quilted one for a long time.

Please enjoy the pictures!! I worked so hard! Yay!

Masters Research Project

Yes. I will be beginning my master's research project this semester and will be working on it until I graduate. Lots of work, but I have the opportunity to have our research published at the end of it all! That is actually pretty enticing to me. I am not sure what our specific topic and direction our project will go.

In other news, Trae and I will be starting P90X in the next few weeks. We are both extremely excited about that. Of course, that might dwindle after day 1. Trae wants to bulk up and I would love to loose a little softness. We have family that has had success with this particular program. I an interested to see if Trae and I can really do this program together. For this program, we have purchased 3 sets of dumbbells, and pull up bar, and push up handles. More to come on how this goes.

Summer

I have two more weeks of school for the summer semester, followed by 1 week of break and then back to the grind for the fall semester. I have a few projects for the break. I am absolutely determined to finish my quilt over the break. My sister has commissioned my sewing skills for a large body pillow cover for her apartment at school. I am ready for a break. This semester has not been bad at all. It has been a nice change from hard core nose in the books to paper writing and research of journal articles.

Trae in Mississippi!

He made it! He has a job now in Jackson. And he is registering for fall classes tomorrow at a local 4-year school! YAY to all of this! I can not tell you how amazing and complete I feel with him and Bella here with me.

Three weeks ago, we had professional portraits done for our 5th anniversary! I am so excited to see how they come out. It rained and we got in the lake, on purpose! Really really can not wait to see them!

Other than this great news, our life is great. We are being so patient on God. I don't think we have ever been this patient waiting for God's plan and direction for us to be revealed. I also think we are being blessed tremendously by it! There are a few things yet to be worked out, like a place to live, which is a major thing. Somehow, we are at peace and feel that we are where we are supposed to be and letting God lead.

School is good. I am so thankful for this semi-easy and non-stressful semester after the previous 2 crazy intense semesters I have had.

New Design

After trying to fix my blog title font problems, I decided it was just to difficult to fix it. I tried this for several hours before giving up. Oh well. This is so much simpler and less fun, but oh well. I really liked the old design, but I guess this is a little more grown up.

Trae is in Jackson! YAY. He is applying and interviewing for jobs here in the area.

Our house went on the market this past week.

We are trying to decide if we can afford to get another place here and where that might be.

I am super stoked about all of these things that are happening.

Please being praying for a enjoyable well paying job and for the house to sell!

This house thing is really getting old...

I mean it this time. It is not looking good for Trae to work in the southern area for his next contract, like we were hoping, expecting and needing. This is getting bad. I need to sell a house. NOW. And I need prayer. Someone in agreement with me about this house ordeal and just lifting me up to be strong so that we can both get through this period without going incredibly insane.

On another note, summer has not arrived in the California central valley, so the beautiful pool right outside my door eludes me. The sun shines, but the cool wind, not breeze, dares me to test it and try to enjoy the warm weather. I tried, I was brave. I failed and returned outside fully dressed determined to at least enjoy the brightness of the sun. I haven't been in the pool once.

I am still enjoying being with my husband here in California. I fly back Sunday to return to school. I am excited about getting to the summer in Mississippi so that I can start skiing! I am also terribly sad that I will not be bringing my love back with me. In the mean time, Bella and I are walking every day, and trying to enjoy ourselves.

Sunning and Resting

I am in the middle of a three week break from school. I am loving it!! Back in California for the break.
I did great this past semester. Hopefully from here on out, my classes will be less studying and more projects.
Great news: Trae's last day in California is June 4! Woo hoo! That means he will be back in the south working from now on. I am so excited to live with my husband again on a regular basis.
This week, Trae and I went to Berkeley for a certification course for him. This was our first trip to Berkeley, and most likely our last. I must say, I was a little wierded out when we first got there. A totally different vibe in that city than I had ever experienced anywhere else. I like to think that I am a pretty well traveled girl for my age. I have been all over the south, up to the Northeast, Colombia, South America, and we have been in California for a while now. I have never felt more uneasy about my surroundings than I did when I was in Berkeley. I can't even say it was due to what I saw or what the people were like. The uneasy feeling simply came from the spirit of the place. The harbour was more my pace, so I spent most of my time there instead of in town or on campus. One incredible event I did take part in while in Berkeley simply made the trip worth it. I caught the mobile cupcake bakery!! I saw this big line of people waiting near a small truck. As I got closer, I realize this truck is selling gourmet cupcakes. Yes, I believe this truck was parked on the same street that I parked on was God's perfect plan for my day! Yummy!
I did get to see the Golden Gate Bridge for the first time while I was there. I saw it from the harbour. Overall, the trip to Berkeley was ok, I am sure Trae, and myself, prefer Tahoe for short trips here in California.
I have been taking advantage of the pool and sun while Trae has been working. Very relaxing with Pina Coladas! This is probably what my next two weeks will be like as well. I am very excited about this.
On that note, let me get back to my magazines, sunshine and cocktails!

Crawfish Boil Time!

It is a beautiful Saturday in Central Mississippi. I have been inside studying Neuroanatomy this morning. But now, I am headed to a Crawfish Boil!! Yay! In case some of you do not know what a crawfish boil is all about, I shall explain.

This is not just a meal experience, this is a social event. A very large pot of boiling water gets mixed with crab boil, a blend of spices and flavorings that makes shell fish delicious. To this pot, live crawfish, potatoes, corn on the cob, sausage, mushrooms, and pretty much any variety of food that sounds good. This all cooks down and is then strained and poured over many newspaper covered tables. Droves of people then stand around these tables and shells the crawfish tail to devour the tail meat. Scrumptious! Some, as crazy as it sounds, suck the head of the crawfish once the meat has been removed. Inside the head is a dense concentration of the spices of the crab boil. I can't really tell you what I love about a good crawfish boil. Whether it is the people you meet and get to know while standing and shelling crawfish, the actual food itself, being outside, the combination of all of these things makes for a fun time.

So I am off, to eat crawfish, have a beer, sit in the sun, and hangout with good friends! I hope you all have experienced this crazy thing and if not, take the next opportunity to do so!

By the way, Trae hates crawfish. So I will not subject him to this when he is here and makes me not feel guilty about going to one while he is not here!

Happy Easter

I watched the Passion of the Christ today.

Humbling.

Overwhelming.

Undeserving.

Loved.

Inadequate.

Ahhhh! Spring Break!

After 3 weeks of nose to the grind, unending studying of neuroanatomy, pediatric case studies, and 18 pages of task analysis, I finally have a break! But don't worry, I will have plenty of school work to keep me busy during my "break". I have 4 group projects to work on, a book report (I know, a book report in grad school, not quite what I expected), and an individual project to work on. Trae flies in on Wednesday. We will drive to North Carolina for his sister's wedding. I am very excited about seeing his family. It has been a long time since we have been up to the mountains.

Tomorrow, I will help clean house. Amazingly, I am almost looking forward to cleaning. I haven't been a part of the cleaning for a while. I have been a bad tenant. Looking forward for a short reprieve of tests. I think I will make chocolate waffles Sunday morning! Yummy, I can't wait.