Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Crafting

I made a trip to the bead store over Thanksgiving break. I had an urge to make a bracelet like one I saw on Etsy. Check it out HERE. It has been sold already, but I just love it.
These are the supplies I got at the bead store.
This is the bracelet that I made. It's not nearly as nice as the one on Etsy, but it's close. The artist ordered the owl bead from HERE, and so I ordered one too! I simply sent her a message asking for a bead with holes on the side. She let me choose my color too!
I also made this bracelet. I was going to use the big red bead (which is actually a button) on the owl bracelet, but decided it was just too busy. I simplified.

I also made this ribbon flower, and then sewed a button in the middle, and made it into a bracelet. Now that my craft room is nice and clean, I can get busy and make some more jewelry!

By the way, if you would like to see what we are up to in Room 24, you can find my classroom blog on the side bar. It's called Crossman Crew, and it's under Family Love to your right. We have an elf!

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Cleaning.

While the boys were at Disneyland, I used the quiet, empty house, to do some cleaning. I started in Riley's room. OH. MY. GOSH.
HUGE mess!! This boy does NOT believe in several things: garbage cans, a safe place to store his money, and the laundry room. I found so many candy wrappers, juice boxes and cans, and a whole, uneaten apple in his room! I also found TONS of dirty clothes (socks mostly) and $66 behind his bed!! In addition I found at least 5 DS games and ALL of the chip clips that I have been looking for! It was a big project, and my legs hurt for several days afterward!
BUT, it's clean!
Really clean, and vacuumed and dusted.
It looks so nice. It's even mostly still clean today! I did have to remind him to take the pile of clothing to the laundry room.
My next project was my side of our office. My craft desk had become a dumping ground for everything, and I had wanted to sort ALL of the boxes of craft items, and put like things together.
Success!! Everything is put away, and I know where it all is too!!

All of my boxes are sorted and organized!
Um, I think I have A LOT of beads.

Pictures from Thanksgiving, from my iPhone

You have to read the next post to get the full story from these pictures. Basically, we went to a restaurant in Capitola, for Thanksgiving. These are pictures taken with my iPhone.
Kevin and I, taken by Kevin's parents, with my phone.
The inside of Shadowbrook, before all of the people arrived. We were early!
Isn't that cute? I love the Swiss details inside.

The outside of the restaurant.

Thanksgiving in Capitola

The boys spent some time at Disneyland this week. They left Monday morning, with my parents. I had conferences at school all day Monday, and then Tuesday morning. The boys were at Disneyland until Thanksgiving, when they made the 6 hour drive home. Kevin and I, and his parents, decided to have our Thanksgiving dinner in Capitola, by the beach! It seemed silly to make an entire turkey for just four of us, so we opted to eat out. We went to Shadowbrook in Capitola.
Check out the view from Shadowbrook!
We parked at the top of the hill, and then made our way down a bunch of stairs, to the restaurant. We decided to take the little tram UP the hill after dinner.
The view up the tram tracks!
Look at how peaceful the water is!
Here's the restaurant from outside, in their little courtyard by the water.
After dinner we drove down to the little downtown in Capitola, and walked to the wharf. We walked past these cute condos on our way. I totally want to stay in one of these!
Aren't they cute? The ones at the front, facing the ocean, are all bright colors. Super cute!
See? I love this green one! It's two stories even! Although, they might not be connected. They might be individual units.
It was overcast, threatening rain, on Thanksgiving, but we walked onto the wharf anyway.
The views are still pretty spectacular.

We made a new friend. This pelican wanted the fish that people were catching. He was even trying to bite at people as they walked past him. Kevin got a little bit, teasing him. That's what he gets! To see the rest of my pictures, click HERE.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Stuff From Around

It's been busy around here, so here's a look at some stuff going on...
As you can tell by the large amount of paper, Quinn's been drawing a TON of pictures! He absolutely loves it!
Pokemon. Cute.
This is Quinn in Lion King version. Quinn is obsessed with Lion King. Just obsessed.
How adorable is this panda? I need to get Quinn into some drawing classes. We totally want to nurture his drawing skills-future animator? Pixar employee? Game designer? Lots of possibilities.
I made a sock owl, using THIS tutorial. Super easy. If the pictures in the tutorial are tiny (it looks like a long strand of pictures), click on them and they get bigger.
This owl bank was my anniversary gift. He's cute huh? I like owls.
Disney came out with smelly Vinylmation. I got all 4!! The gingerbread one is the best, followed by marshmallow. Yummy!
At the mall last week or so: cool lights hanging in a store window.

Run girls! Run to Target and get your Justin Bieber wrapping paper! As my friend said, "It's good for Father's Day too!" LMAO.

Now you are all caught up!

Sunday, November 13, 2011

We have really enjoyed our extra long weekend around here! On Friday a friend and two of her colleagues came over to work with Riley a bit, and to help me figure out what kind of accommodations will benefit him at school. We got to have Chipotle for lunch too! Saturday both boys had Scouting for Food activities. I went to JoAnn Fabrics! Saturday evening we took the boys to the Tonga Room, in San Francisco, for our anniversary. Oh, did I forget to mention that Kevin and I had our 16th anniversary on Friday (11-11-11)? I honestly do not know where the time has gone. Today was a home day. I powered through my report cards, finished a puzzle, cleaned out my closet, prepared dinner for tomorrow night! Yes, it was an awesome weekend!
The Tonga Room is in the Fairmont Hotel.

We had drinks and an appetizer, since we arrived at 5 and dinner wasn't being served until 6. Quinn loves to have a Shirley Temple. Riley tried a Strawberry Daiquiri (virgin of course, he's 13!), Kevin had a Zombie and I had a Pina Colada.
The Stanford. They had really cool lights along the side of their hotel. They flashed and changed too.
After appetizers and drinks at Tonga Room, we walked DOWN hill to Lori's Diner. Quinn enjoyed his Oreo shake. The Fairmont is actually only 4 blocks away from Union Square-down hill, which of course means UP hill when we headed back to the car. Oh my it was hilly!
The tree was lit up in Union Square when we arrived, but it was not lit up when we left. We think that maybe the lights were being tested, because I think the city has some sort of tree lighting ceremony.
The boys, acting like statues. Weird statues, but statues nonetheless.
Macy's entrance is all lit up. The puppies and kittens are not in the windows yet. I'm sure that won't happen until after Thanksgiving.
Disney Store fancy TV trees. Can you see Sorcerer Mickey?

One window display at Anthropologie. They always have the most interesting window displays.
It appears that all of San Francisco is ready for the holiday season. These snowflake lights are all up and down Market Street. I think they are very festive.

Busy week ahead, lots of meetings, and I am starting my conferences at school. The good news is that I will have another extended vacation, next week! I need to finish cleaning out my room, and then tackle my area of our office. Plus I really want to sew!!!








Sunday, November 6, 2011

Holiday Boutique

I participated in the American High School Holiday Boutique yesterday. I did it last year as well, and it was rather lucrative, so I thought I would give it a try this year. Another lucrative show! PLUS my entry fee went to help the Seniors go to Disneyland this school year, for Grad Night! Winning!
My table display-half of it. In addition to the button bracelets and rings, I made earrings this year-they are posted on the bulletin board at the back of the table. I wish I had taken a better picture.
I also made glass tile pendants-and glass tile earrings!
Here's a closer look at the pendants.
I put all of my button rings into black sand, which I got a Michael's. I used rice last year, but I like the black sand, it sets off the colors. They look so cute and colorful.
Button bracelets. I sold 18 button bracelets, and an assortment of earrings and rings and glass pendants. I am trying to decide: save for Disney World or buy a custom Blythe?

More button bracelets.

It was a fun day. I got to see lots of people that I don't usually get to see, and lots of people that I always get to see. Again, winning!