Happy Halloweenween!

It's official. Today is the most un-Halloween, Halloween, in the history of all hallows eve.

Ben and I barely had enough time to carve a pumpkin.

No costumes. Two bags of candy [for the record, Ben ate 1.5 bags.] No real Halloween decorations except our one pumpkin. We got a total of 3 trick-or-treaters. Womp Womp.

Here's my deep thought of the day--There are four periods of your life that matter: 

• Age 0 - 12ish: Halloween is awesome. Mom buys your costume. Walk around neighborhoods collecting candy from strangers. 
• Age 12-17: This period doesn't count. Halloween sucks for you. Too old to trick-or-treat, to young to get away with wearing scandalous costumes. These are the lost years.
• Age 18-22: Halloween is awesome. Costumes are a big deal. Parties galore. Halloween is celebrated for an entire week with two weekends. You have about 5 costumes--one for each party. Your liver recovers for all of November just in time for Holiday parties.
• Age 23 - 30ish when/if you have kids: Halloween sucks. Another period of lost years. Too old for Halloweek. No kid to dress up in a super cute plush Hippo costume. You spend Halloween passing out candy to the 3 kids that live in your apartment complex. You may be able to get away with going out for one night--but let's be honest. Your liver cannot handle more than one day of Halloween.  You wrecked that train in your last life-period.
•  30ish - until your kids reach age 12: Halloween is awesome. You have a mini-me to dress up every year. Hopefully said-kid is deathly allergic to something like nuts and you get to eat all their Snickers and Reese's. You ration their candy out: they get one piece per day, you get 15. You also get to walk around the neighborhood and have people tell you how cute your kids are

 Tonight we did have a lot of fun. Ben and I made 'Dinner in a Pumpkin'--delicious! It's a semi-tradition in the Reese Household...since we've done it twice now.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• One 5ish lb pumpkin
• 1-1/4 pounds ground beef
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 cup chopped green pepper
• 1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cream of chicken soup
• A bunch of mushrooms [6 big ones?]
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 cups hot cooked rice
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

What you do:

• Wash the pumpkin; cut a circle around stem. Remove top and set aside; discard seeds and loose fibers from inside. Place pumpkin in a shallow sturdy baking pan; set aside.
• In a large skillet, cook the beef, onion, celery and green pepper over medium heat until meat is no longer pink and vegetables are tender; drain. Stir in the soup, mushrooms, soy sauce and brown sugar. Cook for 3-4 minutes or until heated through. Fold in rice; spoon into pumpkins and replace tops. Brush outsides of pumpkins with oil.
• Bake at 350° for 50-60 minutes or just until pumpkin is tender. Stick a fork in it, if it goes in easy, you're golden. 

Sewing Class, the wrap up!

Today, I had my last sewing class.

We made an actual project in class today. And not to brag or anything [totes bragging] MY PILLOW CASE IS AWESOME:

and super wrinkly.

In fact, my pillow case was so awesome, I HELPED other people make their pillow case.

I know, total brown-noser.

We made a 'burrito' pillow case:

This is the part that looked like a burrito.

I totally gained a bunch of street-cred with the quilting ladies. Especially when I fist-pumped after every seam.

Oh yeah, awesome!

Next, I have to master cutting. I've never been good at cutting. I actually sneakily convinced the teacher to cut all my fabric for me...

I can't wait to show you this week's homemade gift--coming up on Thursday. You're going to scream/cry/laugh at how easy it is and how awesome it looks.

Hint...it's not a burrito pillow case.

Hey, Pretty--an update.

[Totally un-blog related: Everyone on the East Coast--hope you're doing OK. Stay safe. As I finish typing this, I realize you don't have power. So take this as a message to the Universe. ]

Is it really the end of October?

Two months left before we say goodbye to 2012?

Time for a reality check?

I've been working fast-and-furious getting all things running for Hey, Pretty [design co.]

In the past month I've taken care of a lot of the nitty gritty details that come along with starting a new business (business licenses, lots of documents, contracts, blah blah blah.) Now, I'm finally starting on the fun stuff: branding + parties!! WOOO!

I finally finished my business cards, woo!

So I did a little bit of tweaking on the logo...much better now.

This is the business side.

Look a little familiar? Yeah, I kind of never want to ever change the blog design again...sigh.

One thing that I can't show on here is the gold-foil effect...eee! Imagine some great embossed gold foil in a super surprise place. Yeah.

I'm also planning on painting the sides of them. Gold, of course.

Also, notice my totally awesome web addy? Heypretty.co isn't going live until January 1, but I've been rapid-fire learning how to create an awesome multifunctional blog + portfolio space that will be ready at the first of the year. I'll try to share little screen shots as I move forward. 

I'm also finalizing some deals and locations for my launch party in Winter 2013. There will be one party in Portland, OR and one in Seattle/Tacoma, WA. 

Tomorrow I have my final sewing class, I'm super excited. I also can't wait to show you this week's homemade gift. When I finished it, it felt a lot like this:

Goodnight, all. Here's to another great week.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Sorry for the late/sporadic posts lately. I've been feeling very oddly under-the-weather lately. If anyone has a cure for frequent migraines that don't involve dopamine/serotonine-blockers...I'm all ears.

But, today is a very important day:

Yes, you guessed it. It's my Dad's birthday.

At least once a week, I hear from my mom, "You are so much like your Dad."

Then, the next time I see my Dad, it's usually followed by a, "You are so much like your Mom."

Well, I guess if I am a perfect hybrid of the both--not too shabby.

My Dad is my constant reality check. He brings me back to Earth when my ideas are closer to Mars. I never tell him that he's right, and I never will.

My Dad is able to keep up with five [Bella counts] women pretty well. He always knows he's wrong.

Ben is totally obsessed with my Dad [he'll readily admit this.] "Your Dad would like this, right?" is a common phrase in this household.

This is my Dad's side of the family at the wedding--so awesome to have everyone together.

My Dad has spent countless hours over at our new place, raking cubic tons of pine needles, trimming rhodies, cleaning metric tons of pine needles out of the gutters, and eradicating the forest of mint growing in the back yard. A beer never shows the amount of gratitude we have for everything he's done.

This was from the father/daughter dance.
We danced to Johnny Cash, a Bob favorite.

He even put my mail-box flag up yesterday--he noticed I forgot when dropping some bills in the mail. Thanks, Dad.

My Dad is a true caretaker. Something only those close him get to see. He cares so much for those around him. Something my sisters and I got to see at the passing of our grandmother.

Those of you who know my Dad, know how cool he is. 

This is when my Dad and my sister won a beer pong tournament at PLU.
They went about 12 rounds. 

Happy birthday, Dad. Love you.

Twelve Weeks of Homemade GIfts: [Week Four] Reusable Cup Sleeve

OK. I'm so excited about my brand new hobby, I made about 14 of these today:

Why yes, that is a reusable sleeve with a cute gold button.

Oh, and the drink? Dirty chai.

So, I know there are probs a million tutorials for this exact project around the web. Mine is going to be very tailored to those of us that started sewing two days ago.

If you want to get started sewing, I highly recommend taking a 'let's get oriented to our machine' classes at your local sewing shop. I don't recommend taking a class from Joanne's or Michael's--they're typically geared toward buying product/supplies and typically have too many people in them to really get a good orientation. If you're in the Portland, OR area, I highly recommend going to A Common Thread in Tualatin/Lake Oswego area. A lot of these shops will also offer 'machine rental' where you can sit in their shop for hours and work on your project [and get help from all the super talented folks that work there.]

There area  ton of 'no sew' projects out on Pinterest--typically they're way more difficult than just learning how to sew and don't stay together very well. So get over your fears [I had to] and hop on a machine!

This is a really good starter project. It involves a lot of basic skills; sewing in a straight line, turning corners, and turning things inside out.

Alright, let's get started!

Here's what you need:

I'm going button thrifting tomorrow for awesome buttons.
$2.50 for 3 buttons is highway robbery, Joanne's.

• Two strips of fabric (you need two strips that are about 4inches x 12 inches)
• Fusible batting (I used Fusible Fleece, it worked really well. You could also use batting and two sheets of iron paper)
• Starbucks cup sleeve and a piece of paper
• A hair tie
• Cute Button
• Scissors
• Sewing Machine
• Needle/thread

[I spent about $12 on materials and have enough fabric to make about 20 of these things. So...]


Step One: Set up your machine. There's lots of YouTube videos on threading different models of machines. The newer machines also typically have little diagrams in their manuals. This will be the hardest part of this project. Seriously.


Step Two: Iron your fabric (not your batting) until it looks really pretty.

Step Three: Now we need to make our pattern. Take your Starbucks sleeve and un-attach the seam so it lays flat. Get a piece of paper. Trace around the sleeve leaving about 1/2 inch space between your tracing line and the sleeve [think in terms of, 'OK I want my finished size to be the size of this sleeve, but I need to leave myself enough space to sew a seam around and turn it inside out.']

Pretty, right?

Step Five: Pin your pattern to your fabric and cut. You'll need one strip of each fabric, and one strip of your batting.

I cheated and cut them all at the same time.
This may be a cardinal sin of sewing...but...

Step Six: Cut your hair-tie in half.

Step Seven: Grab one piece of your fabric [doesn't matter which one] and pin the hair-tie to the flat side of the fabric design-side up.

Step Eight: Stack them. First, your hair-tie attached fabric, then your other piece of fabric [design side down], then batting. Pin together and prepare your mind to sit at your sewing machine.

Super blurry, but you see how they're stacked. 

Step Nine: OK, deep breath. Sew around the edge [about 1/4 inch away from the end] Leave 2 inches at the bottom open so you have plenty of room to turn it inside out. Sew right over the hair-tie ends, for good measure, reverse your machine and sew over them twice.

Oops, sorry. Too excited. Forgot to take a picture. 

Imagine a curvy fabric thing with a nice stitch around the outside.

I left about 2 inches of an opening at the bottom. 

Step Ten: You did it! Now trim the corners and turn your project inside out.

Oops, sorry. Again...way too excited. 

Imagine a curvy fabric thing with a nice stitch around the outside 

with the corners trimmed.

Step Eleven: Iron it. If you are using the same batting that I did, get a super hot iron on the Steam setting and press for about 15 seconds each spot. This makes a huge difference. Make sure when you iron the bottom edge [the part you left open to turn it inside out] that you tuck the edges in so it looks just like the rest of the edges.

Yeah, I know what you're thinking.
"She forgot to take a picture of the most confusing step,
but took a picture of this?"
Yeah....sorry. I'll try to update later.

Step Twelve:  OK, second deep breath. Back to the machine. Carefully sew all the way around the project again [1/4 inch away from the edge.] Looking awesome, right?

I gave two fist pumps when this came out.

Step Thirteen: Button time! Loop your project around and measure where your button should go by taking a pencil and mark where your hair-tie ends. Like this:

You have no idea how difficult it is to hold an iPhone,
take a picture, and hold this pencil there.
You're lucky I kept breathing.

Step Fourteen: Sew your button [really tight] on your pencil spot. If you are using a button with holes that go through the button [regular button] put a toothpick under the button. This will make it so your hair-tie will have plenty of room to fit behind the button.

Four fist pumps, way high in the air, YEAH!

Step Fifteen: Force your husband to take you to Starbucks to test out your new creation.

Oh, yeah!

Simple, right? The most difficult part [besides setting up your machine] is remembering to take your cute sleeve off before you throw the cup away.

Make these in bulk for your warm-drink loving buddies, include them in a cute hot chocolate gift package, or give out to your kid's teacher!

Sew what?

Last night's sewing class was AMAZING.

We spent 90% of the time learning about how to not be afraid of our sewing machine. And that is exactly what I needed to start my sewing career.

I learned things like:

this is how it's supposed to look before you start sewing;

and this is a bobbin. Yeah! I threaded a bobbin.

 It was awesome! We had two wranglers ready to help at every sewing machine crisis. They even made us solve our own issues [with a little help, of course.]

Then, I made this:

A pin cushion!

I have one more class left [next Tuesday] and we're making a pillow case.

The class really helped me get over my fear of breaking my sewing machine every time I touch it. I got to bring my own machine, so I rapidly learned how to thread a bobbin, thread my machine, and the list of 'things you should never ever do.' That list was probably the best thing I learned.

I have about forty projects slated now that I know how to thread my machine properly, including finally putting my window seat together! Wahoo!

Stay tuned tomorrow for 12 Weeks of Homemade Gifts...it'll involve a sewing machine!

OOO. Boy.

 

 

I've been feeling a little overwhelmed lately. Probably mostly because I've put in bookoo (sp?) hours at work lately and haven't had a second to recoup.

Beyond stuff at work, I've been feeling a little overwhelmed with...boredom. Not boredom in the way that I have nothing to do--believe me, I have more to do than myself plus two assistants. This is the boredom in the, 'EVERYTHING IS ALWAYS THE SAME' way. This blog has become a little to...routine...for me. Way too comfortable. Must. Get. Out. Of. Comfort. Zone.

So I'm taking this back to its roots. I am committed to trying a couple new things to end this year of creation. So tonight, I'm taking....A SEWING CLASS! WAA!!

How this came about: I was talking to my mom about wanting to learn how to sew [my mom is a great seamstress, but I don't think I can let her teach me how.] I looked into a couple classes at a couple locations--most of which had month-long classes on Saturday mornings. Unfortunately, I can't commit to a whole month full of Saturdays until about April...so...no. Then, one day, like a sign from above, I get an email from my mom about an amazing Living Social coupon for 2 beginning sewing classes plus $25 worth of fabric at A Common Thread for...get it...$35!!!! Obviously I snatched that up before you could say, "bobbin." Ffull Disclosure: I don't know what a bobbin is. Probably find out tonight.]

I'm having dreams of all the wonderful projects that I can do once I learn how to sew in a straight line..yes! So, unfortunately, tonight's regular post of 12 Weeks of Homemade Gifts is going to be postponed for tomorrow, because tonight I'm headed to that class.

So get ready for a bunch of easy, beginner sewing tutorials in the near future. Here's a couple of projects that have my sewing scissors trembling:



Cosmetic Case
Idea Tutorial Here.

Roman Shades
Tutorial Here.

A Christmas Tree Skirt
Idea here.

That'll get me through next week. Can't wait!

Hey, awesome [installment one]

I'm burning some more midnight oil tonight catching up at work, but I want to start a new series I call: Hey, awesome.

Basically it's things that I think are awesome.

If you've been following this blog for a while, you have probably noticed how much I love living in Portland. It's the best city ever. And no, we don't have any room for more people. [ok...just kidding...]

One of the many things Portland has to offer are awesome bumper stickers about living in Portland.

There's the famous:

here

And it's more awesome counter-part:

here

And we have other ones like the famous "I got VD in Portland" from Voodoo Doughnuts. We're witty people down here.

But this one takes the cake:

Portland's area code is 503. Get it?

OK. Let me explain why this bumper sticker is perfect:
(1) It can only be understood by people living around and/or aware of Portland;
(2) It shows our love of tall green plants;
(3) It is super witty; and
(4) It's totally an inside joke that everyone in Portland is in on.

Someone was handing these out at a Blazer game last night and Ben brought me about 9 of them home because he knew I would love them.

Five-oh-tree...I love you.

Twelve Weeks of Homemade Gifts: Week Three - Wreaths

Heading into week three of...

yahoo!! Today's gift: Wreaths.

Wreaths are awesome because (1) they are easy; (2) they are really hard to screw up; (3) you can make them out of almost anything. Seriously.  I'll show you two easy ones using a couple supplies I had around my house [and a couple things I had to go out and buy.]

I have a bunch of ribbon, some burlap, two wreath forms [one cardboard and one wire.]
I also used some scissors, hot glue and rope.

Let's start with mr. burlap wreath.

Started with a cardboard form:

Took hot glue and started the burlap on the form.

Now, twist and wrap:

Don't forget to fluff. The fluffing part is very important. I was going for a cowl-neck-y wreath. Finish it with hot glue on the end. 

Now, embellish:

and that's it. Seriously. 5 minutes. Looks awesome. Yeah. 

Now, wreath number two took a little longer, but took zero brain power.

Start with your wire form. Cut a bunch of ribbon about 7 inches long.

Now, do this:

Now, just keep on doing that forever until you make it all the way around your form. 

Full disclosure: I wanted to do the entire thing out of the red reindeer ribbon, but I ran out.
Craft store closes at 9...soo....

Candy!

Wreath no. 2 looks way better hung up because it's got this flow-y thing going on.

There you have it. Week three of Twelve Weeks of Homemade Gifts.

Here's the other two weeks for reference:

Week Two: Rope Bracelets

Week One: Quote Vase

A little dose of real life today...

Programming note: I'm post-ponning our regularly scheduled 'Twelve Weeks of Homemade Gifts' for tomorrow. Read on for why...

In addition to celebrating Ben and I's first year of wedded bliss, we had a large dose of sorrow in our family. Last night, my great-uncle Joe passed away. Joe was truly the center and patriarch of his amazing family in Buffalo, New York and beyond. Huge amount of prayers go out to the Meyer Family and everyone traveling to be together during this rough time.

Joe was also my mom's godfather, in all senses that someone could be a godfather. I'm really happy that she is going to be able to be with her family in Buffalo this week to say goodbye to Joe and be with her family.

Tonight I'm going to burn a bit of the midnight oil to finish a couple things...don't worry...it's creative stuff. Here's a screenshot of what I'm working on:

 Back to work! See you tomorrow, the gift is definitely worth the wait.

Alright, here it is.

It's incredible what can happen in one year.

Just one year ago, I was doing this:

Ben and I were surrounded by our friends, family and loved ones and had the most incredible day we could ever ask for.

On the outside, we were married in a church that was under construction with nothing but a tarp over the roof to keep the rain out. The only bathrooms were port-a-potties. We had about 30 parking spots for over 250 people.

There's usually a really beautiful organ under that tarp...

On the inside, we were married in front of 250 of our closest friends at our wonderful home church. We got a ton of awesome pictures of people coming out of the port-a-potty [I won't share, you're welcome] and had an incredible whirlwind of a day.  Suck it, wedding blogs.

Our wedding wasn't really a surprise to anyone--except for maybe me. Ben and I have been committed to each other for a decade--seriously. I think I was the only one floored when he asked me to marry him on my birthday. Every other person's response was, "Well, duh."

This day meant a lot more than us getting married. [don't get me wrong, getting married was awesome.] But, it was the dozens of friends and family members that traveled across the country [and as far as Palestine] to be with us as we made this commitment to each other.

You'll notice that I haven't shown you any pictures of the 'details.' Those measly little things that wedding blogs say you 'need' to have a successful wedding. You spend months planning for that picture of the row of mason jars strung beneath a triangle pennant banner. I got caught in that trap too.

Here I sit one year later thinking back about that incredible day, and the incredible 365 days since October 15, 2011; these are the moments I remember and treasure:

Ben and I caught a glimpse of our wedding guests taking our picture through the big windows inside the Portland Golf Club.
That was hilarious.

I think my hair almost caught on fire.

This is my cousin Logan. He has the best moves...seriously.

Marcus has the second best moves.

Beautiful, Hailey!

Gettin' down.

My family has a theme choreographed dance. Get on our level.

My mother-in-law and brother-in-law.

Breakin' it down to 'Shout'

My aunt and uncle, all the way in from Cody, WY.

My grandma and grandpa--one of my favorite pictures of the whole day.

My mom and Ben's mom gettin' down.

Megan and Boo Boo doing a a terrifying dance.

My dad and I's dance. We did Johnny Cash singing 'You are my Sunshine.'
It was a big tear-jerker.

In the middle of Trevor's Best Man speech, Ben and him did some impromptu
World War II bomb sounds. It was incredible.

My aunt and uncle all the way in from Texas.

Oh, and we totally did a football-style tunnel as people were leaving the ceremony.

So here we are, a year later, looking back on all that has happened. Ben and I are having more fun today than we did yesterday. We are more excited about tomorrow than we are today. And we are reminded every day the people that make us who we are.

Today we celebrate the day that everyone saw us commit the rest of our lives to each other. We celebrate the ups, the downs, and even the details. We remember the incredible moments that lead up to the wedding, and the incredible moments that have happened since.

Thank you to everyone who truly made this day one for the record books.