primarily the sandbox

Tonight's post primarily stars the sandbox. :) The other day (was it yesterday?), Erin came to visit with Micah. He is huuuuge. So big and cute and funny. There was lots of sandbox action that day, so I made sure to take pics.

Isn't that just the cutest darned expression ever. Erin was peeking around the pillar at him and he'd noticed and just smiles all adorably at her. 

Oh oh oh oh! We finally tried making ranch dressing from scratch! Here is the recipe. It turned out very good! Make sure to wait that 30 minutes before serving. 

I helped my best friend Jordan move out of her apartment a few days ago and may or may not have enjoyed wearing some ridiculous things, including a pair of high-heeled, camouflage shoes, this shiny metal mask, and a felted cowboy hat. 

See, the sandbox is back. This time it's another baby. You know, there should be a gender neutral word for "niece" and "nephew." You can say grandbaby, you can say sibling, but when it comes to nieces and nephews, you have to pick a gender! It's annoying! I'm going to start calling them "sibbabies": Siblings' babies. Or maybe "siblinglings." Which one do you think?

Anyway, Sara brought Lucy and Henry over today and Lucy was being hilarious in the sandbox. She was growling and throwing sand everywhere - you'd never know that she was such an odd kid by how she looks.

Okay, now my back really hurts so I'm off to bed. I learned how to play backgammon last night after downloading a free backgammon game to my iPod. It's quite fun, really.

'Night!

- caroline

livin' the life

Today I:

Finished my Poirot book - it was really good.

Washed my quilt for the first time.

Also washed my hair, but that's only normal for me.

Had breakfast outside, before it was too hot, alone with my book, but in a good way.

Discovered some tiny daffodils.

Took pictures of my art, which amounts to much less than it should.

Watched Ugly Betty and knitted my Ugly Betty blanket.

Unfortunately, my UBB won't be finished by the time we finish UB.

We are on the fourth and final season. 

It's quite good.

I know that this is shallow and lame, but I don't feel like thinking about anything other than tv and photos. I'm beginning to hear a voice telling me to study for the SAT. And there I had thought that the voices were gone... But that's life. There's always a voice. And now that I have no homework to do, college doesn't seem so disgustingly useless for me. Or maybe that's just Ugly Betty making some remote corner of my brain all inspired. There's definitely a little part of me who wants to be a colorful spunky girl with a zest for life going all out on her dream. I'm not too sure that I have a dream, though, and it makes it so much harder to do when you like where you are and what you do, even if it doesn't include accomplishing things or learning things. I guess I've gotta think it all out again.

I'm hungry, but I think I'll make some lists instead of eating. Hate brushing my teeth twice. And let's face it, who wants to go downstairs in the wee hours of the night to get food?

Good night!

- caroline

p.s. I know this really is petty, but I want to say, for the record, that I hate the way the air conditioning kills my sense of hearing. I can't hear anything with the stupid thing on, not to mention I wake up with my eyes glued shut from being dry. 

my quilt, finally

Today's breakfast consisted of left-over tart, an English muffin and Poirot. It was nice. :)

I finally took pics of my quilt! It is very hard to take interesting pictures of a blanket. They are so flat and such. This was the best I could do - I was on the computer, looked out the window and saw the beautiful light and had to do something in it, so the quilt was my perfect candidate. 

For a little back story on the blanket... I was inspired to make it when I found a box of scrap fabric in the attic - really old stuff, some of Mom used to make clothes for Sara, Logan and Griffin, and the like. They were very, very small scraps, so cutting them into 3x3 squares was my only option. From there, I simply decided to make it an alternating pattern of color and muslin, and added more fabrics, though all of which are used in something else. I bought nothing for the sole purpose of my quilt. There are fabrics used in our stockings, aprons, quilts, baby quilts, curtains, etc. And then I hand stitched around each colored square for about four months. And voilà!

Oh yes, and Christina! I love my hula hoop. It is lovely! I actually took that image while hooping. It was tricky! 

We ended the evening with some choco ice cream and then watched Sherlock! It was very good! Have I mentioned how much I adore Steven Moffat?? He's bloody brilliant. I was very uncertain about the idea of putting Sherlock Holmes in modern day, and not changing the names or anything, but it is working. I really liked it.

I started using my Flickr account again today. I think I'll be posting more pictures on my blog than on Flickr, but if you'd like to check me out or follow me: http://www.flickr.com/photos/streamofviolets/

Now for some more Poirot!

- caroline

after the storm

Last night it stormed like mad. As if the flashing creepy alien light wasn't enough. It seemed as though it stormed from 3:00 am to 7:00 am. I don't know the actual times. But I was lying there in bed, with a window near my head and a window to my left, seeing the crazy flashes of lightening and then waiting for the crashing thunder... and fearing for my life.

Seriously, I shouldn't be scared of storms. But it was so loud and bright! And if you asked Henry, he would tell you that he found me in my parents' room when he came to visit this morning.

He was really cute. We went out to put my second to last exam in the mail, let the chickens out, and play in the puddles. He pulled around his rope for no apparent reason, but it was cute. :)

Oh oh oh, and guess what? Not only did I finish high school today, I also finished my quilt!! So exciting! Though, now I'm going to have to find some new things to fill my time with.

I decided to sign and date it with embroidery. It's a bit sloppy, but I don't mind. :) 

The interesting thing about quilting is that there are so many steps. Cutting, patterning, piecing together, layering, basting, pinning, rolling the edge, and finally, quilting the squares. And, like when I am drawing a time consuming sketch or doing a time consuming graphic design job - I tend to relate my entertainment to my task. For instance, Head Automatica, the band, makes me think of designing Christmas cards for SWP. And The Last Shadow Puppets makes me think of my UGA drawing class.

And my quilt makes me think, first and foremost, of Avatar: The Last Airbender. I sewed all of the squares together, layered the blanket, basted and pinned and rolled the edge while watching Avatar. But I quilted to other shows, like Friends (second round) and Ugly Betty. So now I've sort of sewn these connections into my blanket, and it's nice, because whenever I look at the fabrics, I think of Aang and Joey and Marc, and all of the other characters that I love. :) It makes me happy. 

Oh, and by the way, Avatar is such a great show. I would recommend it to anyone and everyone. Seriously, if you haven't seen it, go buy a Netflix account and watch it. It's instant, and you'll never forget the sweet characters and epic story.

--

Okay, enough chit-chat. Time for bed. :) Hehe, I'm still giddy about finishing school. I really hope I get a good grade on that essay... Wish me luck! 

Goodnight!

- caroline

luxury

A long walk outside in the glorious weather, wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Then dinner while watching the first episodes of Brothers & Sisters. And when you start watching Brothers & Sisters, getting up and doing other things just doesn't feel like a priority. Wink wink.

I'm halfway finished with my quilt! Halfway! I've decided not to post pictures of the full quilt until I'm all the way done. 

Brothers & Sisters is a great show. :) Mom started watching it while I was on a homework kick, but when she started it, she SKIPPED the first three episodes. O.O Crazy. So we went back and watched those - of course, only they introduced the fundamentals of the show. Well, I didn't get to see the first or second season, so one episode led to another... :) I wanted to get a picture of Kevin, because Matthew Rhys is my new favorite person. And not just because I found out he's Welsh (the real reason is because he's awesome and Welsh). But Kitty/Calista will have to do.

Its so late, but... should I work out? Hmm.