Crafting Creativity

Growing up with four kids in one family causes a mother to get creative.  When a mother gets creative, she inspires her kids to be creative as well, if only to spare her household budget the tiniest bit.  We had a very crafty (in a good way) mom, sewing clothes for the dress code at school (before uniforms), teaching us how to make our own birthday gifts for friends' parties, pulling out odds and ends when we were bored and running all over the place...  I'm pretty sure she's the reason we kids have a artsy/creative streak.  My older sister knits things that would make my hands cramp for weeks (I await each Christmas eagerly for whatever she's made me, it's always so cute!).  My brother is incredibly talented at drawing, pottery, sculpting, painting, you name it, he's good at it!  My little sister has the best dance moves and can (literally) shake her hips anyway she wants; she also can dabble in just about anything she wants, cooking, sewing, music, etc...  I love to cook and see (and taste) art in food.  I'm finding more and more a love for sewing and making my own patterns.  Then there's these little wooden boxes you can get at any craft store and I have such fun painting them all kinds of different ways!  So today, I'm sharing some of my creative-doings!  I enjoyed making all of these and I have alot more currently in progress or waiting to be started.  FYI, I had cute "Titles" for each photo collage, but I'm not very technologically... adept.  In other words, I've no idea why they're not there!

See? Painted boxes!  I've made so many, starting from when my mom gave me one to paint for a gift for a friend when I was 12.  Since that one turned out so well, I  remember I wanted to make a box for the next three or four friends' birthdays.  The blue "lacy" one with the fabric lining is my most recent.  I made it for my ASL (American Sign Language) teacher last semester.  I really liked the class and adored the teacher, I can't wait to learn from her again!  On the inside of the lid I'd painted, "The Beautiful Song of ASL".  The yellow and blue striped one I made just for fun, no other reason.  Ramen Girl ended up liking it so much I gave it to her.  The pink one was for a girl in the youth group I used to help teach.  I have more already finished in my closet, I just don't know what to do with them...  Anyone want a painted box?

Hi, I'm Nicole, and I'm a food addict...  I love to cook.  I LOVE to bake.  I love Love LOVE to eat!  One of the great things about being a vegetarian is I eat very often (veggies don't keep you full terribly long), so I get to have wonderful food all day long.  The awesome thing about cooking is there aren't really any rules.  As for baking, as long as you understand the food science and what ratios are needed, recipes can be altered or discarded completely!  Excuse me for a second, I think this has made me hungry...

My mom taught me how to sew when I was younger, but I could never read a pattern well enough to actually make clothes.  Most of my sewing was patchwork pillows and other small things I could make without a pattern.  Having adorable nieces has made me want to actually make them something besides pillows, so I tried my hand at clothes without a pattern.  Actually, I made my own patterns.  I may dislike math, but I seem to enjoy working with measurements and figuring out how the pieces should fit together like a puzzle.  I'm not technical with my sewing at all, but I have alot of fun!  My older niece seems to be living in that purple dress, I never thought it would be that popular!  I couldn't find a laptop bag I liked, so I made my own.  Those pants are the first I've ever made and were intended for my younger niece, but I think they might be just a tad to small for her so I'm making another pair slightly bigger.  So now I have a pair of pants that I'll never wear...  I'm thinking I have a friend somewhere that has a daughter that these would fit!  I admit, I used a pattern for the blue dress, and I still have to sew the zipper (currently pinned in), but I added some details I wanted and changed a few things to make it more "me"!  Sigh, can't I just sew instead of doing homework?

I could have included this apron with the other pictures, but then you all would've been denied my cute older niece!  While sewing this apron, I discovered I LOVE the look of ruffles more than I thought I did (which was already a substantial "like").  Miss Niece loves pink and girly stuff, so she had fun in this little number, particularly since she got to make cookies while wearing it.  She was so cute!  She rolled out and cut those cookies on her own and frosted them in a myriad of colors her Aunt Buggy helped her mix. 

If I had time to do any of this alot more often, I don't think I'd have room in my apartment for Ramen Girl and The Ginger, but you know I'd be incredibly happy!!!  Next on the to-do list: finish the coordinated pink outfits for Miss Niece and Little Niece, make a long sleeved dress out of this delicious red wool recently acquired, work on the Nieces Easter dresses, sew The Ginger a black skirt for her performances, and more!!!!  Let the fun begin...

Joy, Time, and Possibly Randomness

I feel as if I have no time to post anything these days!  If I have time to write a blog post, I feel I should be working on my ten-page essay for English instead or do a chapter of Psychology homework or start studying for the next Biology test, even if I just took the last one...  The few times I pulled out the computer to blog, I blanked out...  It's not that I have nothing I'm doing or to talk about, I just keep thinking, "Oh, as soon as I get some pictures, I'll put that post up," or "I can't write about that yet because it'll be so much better after it actually happens." Meaning: I have a trip coming up next week that I'm super excited about, but I want to blog about it with all the juicy details. Also meaning: I have a craft-ie-y-ish post just waiting on pictures of the actual crafts (which I think are SUPER cute). I'm also toying with a post about my nieces cause I can never get enough of them (proud and obsessed Auntie right here) and I think a blog post full of their pictures would make me smile for a week! Oh, AND, I have a clean room... And a re-organized room... And a clean room... And my laundry's done... And a clean room! I know you all don't believe me about my clean room (I like saying that) and I did promise my mom to post the "after" pictures (apparently the "before" were that bad...) so that's on the list as well. I'm finding my biggest problem is time. Time and I are always just missing each other, kind of like Sleep and I are doing... No time, no sleep, but homework and I are becoming... very acquainted.  So now what? How 'bout this:

I love life! I'm not sure how many people are aware of that fact, but I do!  Even when my schedule consists of only work, school, and homework (as many BUSY weeks do!) I still find myself laughing constantly and taking joy in little things.  I have so much to look forward to, I feel it would be easy to rush through today hoping to get to tomorrow faster.  I'm so glad I don't tho.  Joys from today: Laughing with my co-worker over thoroughly silly and random subjects, making and enjoying a new recipe (Lemon Olive Oil Banana Bread with a Lemon/Brown Sugar glaze= SOOOOOO GOOD!!!!!), a delicious vegetable lasagna for dinner, a totally unexpected picture and text from dear friend that had me trying not to laugh (dang, Nolly!)...  What am I looking forward to? ALOT!

Besides the upcoming trip (seriously excited!!!!!!!), I feel I have a jam-packed, well, year! I have a Valentine's Day "date", kinda, sorta, ok, not really...  A co-worker and I made plans to go see "The Vow" the Tuesday after it came out, not knowing that would be V-Day.  Neither of us have or anticipate other plans, so we decided to keep our "date", we're even adding lunch to the movie.  Honestly, it's just a "Girl's Day Out" to us, so it'll be alot of fun.  For Spring Break, my older sister and brother-in-law and NIECES are coming up to stay for the week.  I'm quite excited, ecstatic, happy, delirious with joy over having family come to visit me for a week!  In June, I get to go see "Wicked" again with The Ginger (our Christmas/birthday gifts to each other).  In July, I'm going to San Francisco with Ramen Girl to go see "Les Miserable" (my first time seeing it, happiness!).  I get my nieces for two weeks this summer (both this time).  I apply for PTA programs in March and get responses in May.  If I get accepted, I start the program in August.  The most exciting thing to look forward to?  Drum roll please: In September, I become an Aunty for the third time!  :-D I think being an Aunty is the perfect job for me, I love being the crazy, eccentric Aunty and I adore my nieces (and possibly nephew?) sooooooo much!!!!

My goodness!  See why it's important to remember to enjoy today with so many wonderful things to look forward to?  And now I think I see why I have a hard time FINDING time!

My First Week Of... School

• The first week of school has come and gone and I'll never get back those 14 hours again it wasn't so bad. 
• I think my classes this semester will be the most homework-laden ever! challenging yet.
• My teachers seem determined to drive me to an early death to be passionate about what they're teaching, which always makes class not quite so boring a bit more fun.

• I was able to get my books quickly but they cost me an arm and a leg plus my firstborn so I can start on my homework now but I still have to get the rest out of my car.
• My classes are getting more ridiculously impossible advanced now, like the continuation of anatomy and physiology also known as death by memorization and sign language 2 which I know is going to be the only class I really prepare for my favorite class.

• I have so much dang homework already enough assignments due Monday that I thought a two-sided checklist might remind me why I want to finish as quickly as possible be helpful each week.
• The only thing carrying me through most exciting thing about this semester is I get to finally apply for PTA (Physical Therapist Assistant) programs and I killed myself finished my PreReq's and GenEd faster than the applicants who still have a life most other applicants!

~The end of my life for another semester End!

To My Wonderful Mother!

There's this woman I've known all my life and today is her birthday!  Happy Birthday, Mommy!  I want to share a little about my wonderful mother with you all:

She has taken on fears and challenges and come out on top!

She cherishes her family and her sisters are her best friends.

She gave up everything that got in the way of raising four children from young...

To grown ups (mostly...). Even to this day, we know she'd give us everything she is able to and work to get us more.

She's a wonderful grandma, not just once...

But twice!

She's encouraged our dreams from day one, never saying it's impossible or we couldn't do it.

She rests only after she knows everyone else is resting too.

To my wonderful mother, a beautiful woman full of love, encouragement and one of the most selfless persons I know: Happy Birthday! I love you!

A Quarter of a Century...

My birthday is officially over! I know, I sound like I'm rejoicing... Turning a quarter of a century is draining (just on the pride tho), particularly when I think back on where "teenager" Nicole thought "current" Nicole would be in life. Funny how it's NEVER the way we plan, huh? (I do believe there's a Bible verse about that...)

My day was very relaxed and I appreciate that particular aspect of it. I stayed up to greet my birthday the night before, so I slept in till noon (with the exception of my mom, aunt, and grandma calling to serenade me in the morning). My roommate had to wake me up (cause she was feeling guilty for sleeping so late as well) and we lazily got dressed as I went back and forth in my decision for which restaurant I wanted lunch at. I had a marvelous vegetarian sushi roll (I don't care that there was no fish- it was at least sushi-"styled") that I had been waiting almost a whole year to taste again. That alone made me very happy! Just when I thought we were done ans waiting on the check, two spoons and a dessert were brought out with birthday wishes. I honestly had not expected The Ginger (as she shall be fondly known) to tell on me, so I was mildly shocked until the deliciousness of the dessert made it all ok. There was many vintage shops in mid-town that we would've loved to explore, but The Ginger only had five quarters for the parking meter, so we had an hour total to get back to the car or else... We did have time to go to the vintage store right next door where I scored an amazingly awesome teal-ish waist belt for about $8. The Ginger has already informed me she's stealing it... Another friend dropped by after we got home and watched as The Ginger (I'm really enjoying calling her that...) and I cleaned some more of our room (still a work in progress, but oh-so-close!).

My other roommate (I shall call her Ramen Girl since she just might be obsessed with... ramen) arrived home after The Ginger and my other friend left. I was back to relaxing on the couch trying to figure out how to change the look of this blog (do you like the new look?) when she announced we had to go somewhere for my birthday. I was starting to thing people were conspiring against me staying home for my birthday like I actually wanted (The Ginger had originally planned to take me to San Fransisco, fun but I wanted to stay home), but they must've known better than me because I had more fun than I thought I'd have today. We ended up going to Color Me Mine.  I had never been before, but Ramen Girl had (I'm already plotting to go again, it's that awesome... for me...). It's a place where you can pick out a ceramic and paint it, they glaze it and fire it, then it's yours to keep, give away, lose, destroy, etc... I picked out a little plate that has a cupcake in the center, it's super cute and I think I did a marvelous job making it cuter (but you have to wait till I get it back to see the truth of my words since I didn't take any pictures at all today). Ramen Girl chose a mug that she painted these cute little characters on (from TokiDoki if anyone else besides her knows what that is). I finally figured out as we were driving home that she might be sneakier than I give her credit for since I concentrate more than I talk when I'm painting... Lucky her! We got home and had strawberry shortcake (delicious!) and watched totally ridiculous (but hilarious) videos on YouTube.

Such a silly, abnormal day for me, but I have to give a big thank you to both Ramen Girl and The Ginger for making this "turning a quarter of a century" thing not as bad as I had envisioned it'd be. Seriously, I just have amazing friends, what can I say? So, what are my plans for year 25? Besides more work and school and homework? I have grand plans!!! I just can't get enough of my friends and family, so seeing them and laughing with them and cherishing them more is so on my To-Do list, and growing closer to the One who cherishes me the most!

P.S-Just want you all to know I'm going to be tired tomorrow, especially since I have to get up in five hours...  That's what happens when you sleep till noon, even on your birthday!

P.P.S.- Although the room's not done yet, seriously MUCH better tho, I'll get pics up when we get everything rearranged (which is taking some serious math skills!). My mom is a true mother and wants to make sure I actually cleaned my room :-P I love you Mommy! :-D -THE END-

If Only You Had Children Like ME!

As I'm very good at procrastinating once I'm given the opportunity, I thought I'd share my plans for this week! The plans I'm currently not doing since I'm procrastinating... Thursday is my birthday and I wanted to give myself a nice gift since I'll only turn 25 once. I really thought long and hard about what I could use or what I needed. No matter how I looked at it, I really needed this one thing... Those who know me well might laugh since I'm sure they've heard this before, but I NEED and WANT: a clean room. Yep, one organized and one I can walk in and one that I want to be in instead of just sleep in! I was planning on taking pictures when I got home from work this morning, but one of my wonderful roommates actually de-messed the room... a little. She put together my new craft table as a much appreciated surprise and in doing so, the room already looks a little better since there's no 5-foot-long garish and huge table taking up a whole wall and floor space.

Do you want to see the pictures I DO have? They might be a little scary, please shield young or impressionable (or parental) eyes!


Yep... That's my room... See the huge table leaning against the wall, in between the closet and sewing machine? I'm starting to think that taking an axe to it might be fun... Anyone have an axe I can borrow?


These are some of the craft supplies I'm in the process of organizing... Remember the tornado known as "Nicole's craft mess"? Yeah, these are part of the culprits. They're actually pretty compressed into those bins right now...


My bathroom's not terrible, but could use some picking up, particularly my jewelry, which happens to currently be in a bowl... in my school bags... in my luggage... in my car... NOT in the jewelry box... Oops... Oh, I also have new pictures I need to find room for on that sink!


Ignoring the mess this time, I'm planning to not only clean but rearrange. I need a bigger bookcase as my bookcase is two books deep on each shelf and I currently use my car, closet and living room for extra shelves... Although you might not be able to see it, there are two beds there, the oak day bed and another bed on the floor with all the... junk... on it. I want to move each bed to it's own wall so there's walking space on the floor. That would be amazing!


Still ignoring the mess and also ignoring the bright light, I want to move the dressers, the (hopefully new) bookshelf and the craft table (seen in the very first pic and in this one from a side view) to one wall. The beauty of the craft table is it's on wheels and the part holding my sewing machine folds down so it becomes just a set of drawers! Genius, right? I'm also looking at new storage for the closet, which is where most of my craft stuff is kept. I currently have a dresser in there which is bulky and hard to access and not very space efficient, so Ikea and I just might be good friends this week. :-P

I know, I know, you're not thinking "how are you going to accomplish such a huge feat?" or "you've got a big job ahead of you!"... I know you're really thinking (especially my mom) "WHAT ABOUT ALL THAT LAUNDRY?!?!?!?" Yeah, I might get to that too...

So, now that you all know I am not embarrassed to put my messy room on the Internet, I'm going to stop my procrastination and get back to cleaning. My objectives for tonight is to finish getting the craft stuff sorted and tackle the monster...err..mess under my bed! Hopefully reason will return to me in the morning and I'll have to finish my room just to put up pictures of a clean and orderly room, like any 25 year old should responsibly have... (I'm trying not to laugh right now...) Have wonderful dreams tonight about your children growing up to own messy rooms! :-D

My Christmas Lists...

Happy Second Day of the New Year! :-D I had a wonderful Christmas (three of them actually!) and slept thru the "New Year" or the clock turning midnight... It's a tradition of mine to sleep thru it each year, I've only missed one or two years my whole life. Want to know what I got for Christmas? I know you do! Here's some of my favorite things:

-A Cake Pops mold and sticks (the good kind you actually use cake for!)
-A Shoe Cookie Cutter (Fashionable AND Edible, can it get any better?)
-The cutest apron (with shoes on it!)
-A Party Planning book (haven't had time to crack it open yet, but it's so on my calendar!)
-A small creative Cupcake book and a 30-minute Vegetarian book (both have GREAT ideas!)
-A marvelous and wonderful Craft Table (to save my room from the tornado known as "Nicole's craft mess")

And HERE'S my absolute favoritest presents of them all!

-Seeing my family and spending time with them!
-Hugging my nieces over and over and seeing their smiles meant just for me
-Seeing my brother in his Navy blue dress uniform walk down the stairs at the airport and feeling so proud of him
-Getting to tell everyone I hold dear that I love them at least one more time

I truly appreciate the money spent on presents for me, the fun stuff, the stuff I need, the stuff I want... The older I get, the more I realize the value of those tangible gifts are nothing compared to being hugged by my dad, laughing with my sisters, talking with my mom in the same room, having a conversation that no one else can follow with my brother or chasing my nieces and hearing their squeals of happiness.

As another year is heading my way (I'm turning 25 this week!!!!) I'm reminded more and more of my blessings and I hope to cherish them a lot more than I have been. I don't do "New Year Resolutions", and I don't plan to start. What I like to do is look back over the past year and take the time to thank Christ for my blessings. Here's some of my favorite's and biggest (or just the ones I remember...):

-My salvation thru Jesus Christ and His constant work in my life
-Another year of health insurance
-Making it thru my first whole year back at school
-The opportunity to see my family more often than in past years
-My job that allows me to go to school full time and work full time and have time for homework
-My co-workers who keep me sane during some days at my job
-Having my older niece for two weeks during the summer and being able to spend that time with her without other obligations
-Meeting new people and forming new friendships
-Having a car that is 10 years old, over 140,000 miles and still working
-The chance to see relatives I hadn't seen in years (anywhere from 2 years to over a decade!)
-Being able to attend my younger nieces first birthday
-Traveling to new places and out of state
-Keeping and deepening the friendships I have with my oldest and dearest friends (and now their husbands and some of them their children)
-My family
-My Mom
-My Dad
-My older Sister
-My younger Brother
-My younger Sister
-My older Niece
-My younger Niece
-My Grandma Penny and Donny
-My Grandma J and Papa
-My Aunts and Uncles and Cousins
-My best friend and my two closest friends in Sac-Town
-SO MUCH MORE!

I have so many blessings in my life! I'm slowly learning to take the time to enjoy them and rejoice in them as they are gifts from my Savior, but I still have a long way to go! :-P How was your Christmas/New Years?

P.S.- Believe it or not, this was not the blog I was intending to write! I was going to post pictures of my adorable nieces and tell about my holiday adventures... Maybe next time LOL