Random Update

My BFF asked for a blog post and it's been a while so I'm taking a bit of time to do a quick update for my dear buddy and fellow readers in the blogosphere. Before Christmas, I got really into crocheting and found that the Michael's crappy hooks just weren't cutting it so Jamie and I put in a big order on KnitPicks and I made a sweet hook holder for all my new toys using this pattern. 

We also made Charlotte's first Christmas ornaments using a simple salt dough recipe. It took a lot of tries to get her little hand and foot to cooperate. I'm glad that salt dough is very forgiving and easy to work with. I think they turned out adorable and I can't wait to hang them on our tree next year! 

I did my very first DIY RLR diaper insert strip because Charlotte got this terrible rash from having diarrhea and I thought it wouldn't hurt to strip the diapers just in case there was some ammonia build up. I absolutely love cloth diapering and have been very sad that I haven't been able to for the last 3 months because Charlotte's poor rash just isn't healing and I'm using all these non-cloth diaper safe products to try and protect her skin. She's got extremely sensitive and finicky skin so hopefully we can make our way back to cloth soon. 

We also picked up a bunch of picture frames from Ikea when they had a sale. I was envisioning this wall for quite some time and Ikea just happened to have frames on sale and a display conveniently put up that I fell in love with so we just stole the whole idea. Jamie didn't really have a choice but to put it up because we had no room to store the frames since we were hosting Christmas dinner for 20 people. Unfortunately, the frames are still sitting empty. Yet another project to tackle. 

With the amount of hoarding I do with crafting goods, I knew I wanted to make some tag blankets with the vast, VAST amount of ribbon I own. I managed to sneak away one Monday night to a friend's house and hunkered down for 2 hours. I think I used about 0.02% of my ribbon. 

We've been doing a lot more cooking since I started maternity leave. A new salad dressing that I've been obsessed with is this lemon garlic concoction. I don't remember where I found the recipe, but those who know me know that I'm not good with measurements so I'll just list off the ingredients. 

Kick Butt Lemon Dressing 
- olive oil
- lemon juice from 1/2 to 1 lemon
- salt and pepper
- mashed garlic
- oregano 
- a tiny bit of sugar if you want

It's seriously so yummy that it got Jamie actually enjoying salad! One thing to note though, the garlic is what makes the dressing so one must be okay with stinky raw garlic breath. Below are just some random shots. I attempted to make this White chicken Chili and although it didn't turn out like the recipe, it was still delicious. 

A few girlfriends and I are trying to get back into shape post baby so I've been doing baby barre class where you strap baby to you while doing ballet moves and strollercize (which is essentially working out while baby stays in the stroller). I've also managed to get in a couple walks with the warm weather we were having. Whatever little time that Charlotte is napping and I have my hands free, I'm trying to catch up on my Project Life. I'm only about 2 years behind now. Jamie is de-cluttering the basement and finally recycling all his university textbooks. Makes me sad knowing we both spent thousands and thousands of dollars on those damn things that we can't even use as firewood. They are literally worthless paperweights that are taking up valuable storage space, but yet I cringe at the thought of dumping them. How Asian of me. 

To end off this random update, say hi to the puppies! 

3 Months

I cannot believe how quickly time is moving. Little Charlotte is already 3 months old and my maternity leave is 25% over!!!  Our days are spent pumping, feeding, changing diapers, snuggling, and getting together with friends whenever we can. Jamie and I are both sneaking in some crafting whenever we can. He's the knitter and I'm the hooker, also known as the crocheter! Some projects we've worked on include a knitted poncho, some cute baby booties and a baby quilt to match my massive queen quilt. If you want to find some great patterns, Ravelry is fabulous. I love wearing Charlotte and although I might be breeding some bad habits of having her sleep on me, I relish all the chances I get to have her close to me. I know she isn't going to sleep like this with me forever.  

366 Photo Project - Photo 58: New Scarf.

I've always been a knitter and if you know my hubby, you'll know that he's a knitter too. Recently I picked up crocheting instead because Jinnee peaked my interest in it by showing me some of the items that she's made. I found a pattern on People Webs and it seemed easy enough so I gave it a go. It took about 5-6 times of undoing and redoing with a whole whack of fudging with the help of my sister-in-law, Jane, to finally get the hang on this darn pattern. It's actually called a Catherine Wheel so if you YouTube it first, you'll understand the pattern a lot better. I thought it'd be a good idea to use chunky yarn since it's a chunky scarf. Big mistake. The scarf is too chunky! I'm on my second one with regular weight yarn to see if it'll be better. If any of you crochet, I'd love to see some of your projects too!! Stay warm everyone! 

Wedding Planning or Crochet?

I chose crochet. My brain is getting a little bit overwhelmed with all this wedding planning business. The more poking around on the web I do, the more I want to DIY, the more I stress. So I've decided to focus on 2 things right now: the wedding dress and invitations. Instead of doing either of those two things though, I decided to learn to crochet. Penny taught me a while back but then I left it for so long, I forgot! So Jamie's mom and sister taught me how to do basic crocheting. 

I had no idea what I was going for. I just started a couple rows and figured since it was going well, I'd just continue! So about half way through I decided to make a dishcloth. 

I even finished off all the edges so it'd look more polished hehehe! I just realized that the colors look so different in the photos. The top photo is closer to the real color. 

I had no idea how to "pose" the dishcloth so Jamie told me to put it by dishes! Hahahah it looks a bit ridiculous but oh well! Jamie tried crocheting as well but he's more into knitting. I know, so manly. He's trying to make me a scarf! 

It's cabled on both sides so there's no right and wrong side. So the two of us are wasting time and doing needlecraft instead of wedding planning. Just great.