July 12, 2008

Haven't been up to much this week, but I did just upload 183 zoo pictures to our Flickr album. Go and behold the wonders of our new camera at the zoo!

The other night I learned a valuable lesson, just because the ATM machine doesn't charge a fee doesn't mean the transaction is free. We used one of the ATMs at the zoo, which didn't charge a fee. However, today when I look at the credit card statement online I see that the dear, sweet, loving credit card company charged us TEN DOLLARS for that transaction. Next time I'm using the bank card. They only charge $5, I think. What a flippin' rip off!

Anyway....enjoy our zoo pictures!

July 5, 2008

Happy Day After Independence Day!

We were lucky enough to both have the day off yesterday, so we decided to go to the zoo. It was very hot outside and there were a lot of people who decided to do the same thing we did, but we had fun and took a ton of pictures. Here are a few of Jamie's favorites.

We took over 400 pictures, and so far I've weeded them down to just over 200. I hope to get them on our Flickr album soon, but in the meantime take a look at some new pictures I uploaded to Flickr of our Backyard Critters and of our trip to the zoo last November.

July 1, 2008

Maybe I should have my own HGTV show. Take a look at one of my weekend craft projects.

We've had the iron sconce over our bed for about a year now, but it always looked so lonely on the big bare wall. During my Friday afternoon trip to Michael's, I found a bin of silver letters that were only $1 each and some very pretty embossed gold scrapbook paper for $1 a sheet. On Friday, I bought an H (I have a thing for monogrammed stuff ever since we got married) and one sheet of the gold paper. I had no idea what I would do with them until talking to my mom and working out the idea of putting the letter in the middle of the gold paper and putting them in a black frame. It worked! We haven't put the H up yet, but Jamie is going to put it over the computer desk.

The H was so elegant and rich looking that I decided to go to Michael's on Sunday to see if they had a J and a B. I'd also received a 25% off coupon on Friday. Luckily, there was a J and a B in the bin. Huzzah! I put them together and then Jamie helped put them up over the bed. Now our sconce doesn't look so lonely on the big bare wall. We have a mix of gold and silver frames in the room, so the silver letters on the gold paper helps bring everything together.

Of course...just before going to bed last night the B fell off. And, this morning after we woke up I noticed that the J was missing too. Jamie said it had fallen off sometime after I fell asleep. The letters are currently on the bedside tables waiting for me to figure out how to better attach them to the paper. But isn't it nifty looking?

Last night, we also finally bought a subscription to Flickr so we could upload more pictures and better organize them (the free account only allowed 3 different albums). So head over to our Flickr Photo Album 1 to see some new pictures, including the full set of pictures from our trip to Reynolda Gardens. We have tons of pictures to add. I hope to add a new album every few days.

June 27, 2008

Jamie's at work tonight and I knew I'd be bored. So I browsed Michael's (right next door to Target) for some weekend craft projects. Here's what I found and made tonight:

What is it you ask? It's a brooch for my bodice.

I think my outfit is finally finished. I did some work on the sleeves from the previous picture and semi-sewed them to the armholes of the bodice so my shift doesn't show as much. Plus, I sewed a partlet (i.e. Renaissance dickie). Let me list the stuff that I put on in the order that I put it on.

• Shift (complete with blackwork embroidery around the neck)
• Corset
• Farthingale (hoop slip)
• Partlet
• Bumroll
• Underskirt with forepart
  
• Overskirt
• Bodice with sleeves and wrist cuffs
  
• Necklace, rings, earrings, neck ruff
• Beaded cap
• Pocket watch on a ribbon hanging from overskirt
  
• Pomander for warding off nasty Elizabethan smells, also hanging from overskirt
  
• Feather fan

Maybe one day I'll to wear the outfit out of the house, if I can drag Jamie to the Ren Faire in either Charlotte this fall or Raleigh next spring.

June 20, 2008

I made it back to our blog before letting a month go by! For the last couple of weeks we've been spending a lot of time together because Jamie hasn't been scheduled to work often. We've taken lots of trips to Kernel Kustard/Brew Nerds for coffee and frozen custard. We went to the movies and saw the Incredible Hulk. And, we finally made it over to Reynolda Gardens. It was a very warm sunny day and the flowers were very pretty! We both took some pictures with our new camera.

Work is going very well for me. The instructors are very happy to have me there. Apparently I do a bit more work faster and more efficiently that what they were used to. I've adjusted pretty well to working until 5pm. Luckily, the campus closes at 3pm on Fridays so the weekend starts two hours early. YAY!

Since we moved into our new apartment over a year ago, we've had six different bird feeders, and they've all bit the dust thanks to the squirrels. Well, actually the beautiful glass and silver one my mom bought us for Christmas was felled by a fat cardinal one afternoon. Anyway. We are now on our seventh birdfeeder.

The squirrels can't chew on this metal one. They can't easily get to the seed either. I filled the feeder with seed last week and it still has seed in it! YAY! Of course, the squirrels have found a way to get their revenge. They've started digging up the flowers in my flower pots. Meh.

May 24, 2007

Oh. I forgot to mention in my last post, though most of the folks who read this already know, I am now the full-time permanent secretary for the Nursing Department at FTCC. YAY! I officially start on Monday, June 2. So I have four more days of coming home at 2pm, which I will miss a lot.

That's my staff parking sticker. Hehe.

Yesterday I was finally able to get a picture of a robin at the bird bath. Other birds don't seem to mind me standing there taking pictures of them while they bathe, but the robins have been very jumpy.

And, here's a random picture of the boy. He was explaining something about the camera to me and I snapped him. Hehe.

He got the bandaid on his thumb by gallantly helping the repair man repair our washing machine. We went to wash clothes several Saturdays ago only to discover that the spin cycle didn't spin. So we called out a Sears repair man who came on the following Friday. He assessed the problem -- motor wasn't working. He ordered a part, which came the next week and then he came the following Friday. He put in the new motor, but nothing happened. Turns out the warehouse people put the wrong motor in the right box. So he had to re-order the motor, which came on the following Monday but he couldn't come back until the following Friday -- the day Mom and Aunt Gloria came up for the race. Needless to say we had piles and piles of clothes around the house that we couldn't wash. We did a few loads at the complex's laundry room, but at $1.25 per load to wash, we didn't do many. Anyway, Jamie split open both of his thumbs on something sharp in the motor when he helped the repair man slide a belt on. His thumbs are fine now. Thankfully the repairman didn't charge us extra (we got a service agreement from Sears for $215 that covers repairs up to $500 and our repairs/labor were going to be a bit more than $500).

There was so much stuff going on before the last post that I forgot to mention half of it! Hehe. I think that's everything that's happened since our anniversary.

Miraculously, we both have Monday off. Hopefully I'll be feeling better by then, and we can go to Reynolda Gardens and a movie. Last night was rough for me while Jamie was at work. I developed a cough because of all the draining icky stuff, and all the snot gave me a really upset tummy. I'm much better today compared to last night, but still have no voice.

May 22, 2008

It's been a while, and quite a bit has happened in the mean time. On Thursday May 8, I got to help decorate the Health Technologies reception room for FTCC's graduation. It was lots of fun. Later that afternoon I went to orchestra rehearsal over at Salem. And even later that night we had tornadoes and spent two hours in the dark. It was a very active day.

Just this past weekend my mom and Aunt Gloria came up for us all to go to the All-Star Race on May 17. Jamie took tons of pictures with our new camera. Here's a pic my mom took of us:

And here's a pic I took of mom and Aunt Gloria:

We ended up very beer soaked by the end of the race. It was pretty gross, but we had a good time. Kasey Kahne, a fellow Washington native, won. YAY!

The following afternoon mom and Aunt Gloria got to hear me play in a concert for the Moramus Chorale. It was their new director's first concert. He is one of my favorite conductors -- I've played in his church's Christmas cantata for the past few years. He does an awesome job with a choir and orchestra.

Jamie's back at work tonight for the first time in over 10 days. He asked for this past weekend off because of the race and last week some of his dear co-workers took over three of his shifts because he was sick. Lovely people! He has mostly gotten over the bad cold he had that lingered for over a week, but now he has an earache. I finally caught whatever it was he had and have been battling a low-grade fever for a few days. Plus, today I have absolutely no voice whatsoever. Loads of fun.

Here are a few pictures I took with our new camera several days ago.

I added a new picture to the NASCAR inspired page under Stylishly crafty and a new picture to the jewelry page.