I’ve been feeling the craft bug lately. If I had my way I would let my kids destroy the house and gorge themselves on peeps while I sat happily crafting away. Luckily, Gideon will entertain himself fairly well, so I’ve been working on projects during Ashelyn’s nap time. Here are a few things I’ve been up to… 
Here’s a better view of the little flowers and the frame…. 
”So the resurrection of the Savior doesn’t call for a capital E?”
Honestly, I didn’t even notice until he said it, but now I sort of hate it because Easter certainly SHOULD require capitalization… What was I thinking?!
So now I’m trying to finish making Ashelyn a slip to go under her Easter dress, prepping all the stuff to dye eggs with the kids once Jake is home, and making lots of yummy Easter treats.
Happy Easter!!!
Alright, prepare yourselves….
Friday:
We arrived at about 3:00 NY time. We were appropriately greeted by a man (probably near 70) undressing himself on the subway and trying to entice tips. It was hilarious and disgusting. Also, I was glad we were on the other side from his as far away as possible so we could laugh at a distance.
We got to our hotel, got settled in and took a stroll around our little spot in Midtown East. We found a delicious pizza place with slices as big as your face…
So then we wandered around a bit more, grabbed some Jamba Juice and basically just got our bearings so we didn’t get lost every 15 minutes. I love the area we stayed in. It was so close to everything, but Jake says next time he wants to stay right on Times Square… crazy man!! Also, fyi… all museums are FREE on Friday nights! So we headed to the Museum of Modern Art (or MoMA) I was in heaven. Only bummer is that we had to pick just one! There was just so much to see!! Here are some pictures of what we saw… 
And after 5 fabulous floors of art, plus the sculpture garden and the walk back to the hotel, we were spent. 
More to come…
Last week we saw the first real sunshine we had seen in a long time. Beautiful, GLORIOUS sunshine! It was the first day in weeks that I literally jumped out of bed, excited for sunlight. There was nothing to be done except to fling open the blinds and stand at the window soaking it all in. Dreaming of the freckles that will dot my face as this never ending winter turns to spring and finally in to summer. I am totally affected by light. I NEED it. It makes me happy. So it was a happy day.
For a moment a cloud nearly spoiled my parade when I realized I didn't have any adorable yellow flats to match the sun...which makes me wonder what on earth has come of my wardrobe. But, that is another day entirely.So, I decided I'd make myself a flower for my hair. A red one. With polka-dots...
We were so excited to get outside and enjoy the weather. We spent most of that day running around and my car ran out of gas on I-35. (First time that’s ever happened to me. Let’s hope it’s the LAST!) We were rescued by a nice highway patrolman. Besides a little humiliation, we were fine! We came home and played. Gid rode his bike. and rode. and rode. Ashelyn played in the last bits of snow. I just sat back and soaked it in.
We’ve pretty much been playing since then. It’s been so nice to have things to do! To feel TIRED at the end of the day, not because of boredom but because you actually had a full, wonderful day. Thanks Spring for giving me a boy who is tired enough to stop moving and snuggle his Momma. I love it.
Around Christmas, I decided that giving up computer time (in the basement, out of "eyesight") was a necessary sacrifice to improve the state of my house and the amount of time spent playing with my two adorable kiddos.
But, I will say this....
There's going to be a new member of the Doan family...
(Did I trick you?!)
Anyways, I'm getting a shiny new laptop in the very near future so I can blog from the comfort of my cushy couch, or kitchen table, or (let's be honest) my bed.
Be back soon!
P.S. I have a new sugar cookie recipe and it is FABULOUS if you’re on the lookout for one, so I’ll share it with you!!! Be warned though, for best results it should chill overnight (or if you can’t stand to wait that long give it at least 2 hours….or just eat all the dough with a spoon… whatever you’re in to.)
Yummiest Sugar Cookies
INGREDIENTS:
1 and 1/2 Cups Butter (No Margarine folks)
3 Cups Sugar
4 Eggs
4 teas. Vanilla Extract
5-6 Cups Flour
2 teas. Baking Powder
1 teas. Salt
DIRECTIONS:
1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder and salt. Cover and let chill for at least two hours (or Overnight if possible.)
2. Preheat oven to 400F. Roll out dough 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick on floured surface. Cut with cookie cutters. Place cookies 1 inch apart on lightly greased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 6 to 8 minutes once oven is preheated. Cool completely. Decorate!
Just a note: this makes a ton of cookies. Last time, I halved this recipe and still got somewhere between 4 and 5 dozen. And if you’re like me, cookie cutters are only fun for so long and then you just want to lump the dough on the pan. Good luck and happy cooking!
So pretty much I'd given up on these bloggy-land giveaways. I forget that I entered them and mostly, I just never win. BUT... if there's a blog that I consistently read and they have a giveaway, of course I still enter... SO, with that being said... Remember that diamond giveaway I linked to at the top of my page? Yes? Diamonds. YES????
Well, thanks to SavvyMode, I WON. I won. I won.
I'm sooo excited! Thanks so much SG!
BEST. DAY. EVER!
I hope you had a wonderful Labor Day weekend! We sure did around here. Unfortunately, I now have to spend the EN.TIRE.DAY cleaning my house that was neglected over the holiday.
For a wrap-up: I bought something REALLY AWESOME... and we went CAMPING... and I have lots of great pictures to share after I finish uploading and editing.
Until then, here is my latest jewelry creation:
Out 'til Tuesday.
It's a pretty sweet deal as far as I'm concerned.
Did anyone else ever watch Kenan & Kel??? Man, this picture brought me right back to myself as an annoying 13 year old going, "I do, I do, I do-oooo!" (Either you get me, or you don't.)
The quality is horrendous, but oh you WILL laugh.
(You really only need to watch it from :30 on to get the FULL effect.)
You will not regret it folks.
Thanks Mindi, for the heads up!
I had this lovely scrap book paper. And that pretty mirror I had painted just sparked my need to craft SOMETHING. ANYTHING. So why not something else for my little princess? (Can you see where this is heading, folks?) After all, we moved into our house a day before she was born... Her room was never quite fit for a princess.
So, I bought some letters. A-S-H-E. Plain, white, boring letters. And with my handy pal Modge-Podge I made letter magic. Jake thought ASHE was enough. He thought they looked perfect. I told him he lacked VISION. :o) Another trip to the store was surely in order. L-Y-N just tumbled into my cart while I was picking up black craft paint to paint the edges. And so did this silly flower lei...
I think the store clerk thought I was a little silly buying just ONE "Girls Night Out!" lei. But, she probably didn't have any vision either.... with a few snips and some lovely black rhinestone goodies that also leaped into my cart (funny how these things happen. ALL. THE. TIME.)
Letter perfection my friends.
Apparently all of my whining paid off! On Saturday, in the midst of hunting down motorcycle parts (woo hoo! more on this to come!) Jake threw me a curve ball by saying, "Let's go to BestBuy and get you a camera." After I managed to pick my jaw up off the floorboard of the car I was SOOO excited to just have ANYTHING. Give me a tiny point and shoot that has more than 6 megapixels and I would have been the happiest girl around. So we went a hunting, and I was looking at the cheapies. Really, I'm not THAT hard to please. Then I found this beautiful Nikon L100.
A point & shoot with 15x zoom? Yes, please.
10 mp? Well, that IS more than 6.
Super easy to use? Check.
Vivid true color? You betcha.
Big mama LCD screen? Yes, ma'am.
$250? I'm sold and more importantly, so is Hubby.
I got the chance to really play with it this weekend and I've been thrilled with it. I was a titch worried that it only had 10mp but all my photos have come out fabulously even when I jumbo them up on my computer. My only dislike so far is that there is no rechargeable battery. But according to many reviews I've read and the Nikon website I should still get THOUSANDS of pictures out of each round of batteries.
On an even sweeter note, I just found it on Dell's website for $219.00, so I'm gonna comp that at Best Buy for some extra money back.
I'm a happy girl!
I know, you guys probably thought I was lying about all those projects I've been talking about. It's TRUE. I swear. I'm busy. I have STUFF. I have an addiction. An addiction to paint. Mostly of the spray paint variety, but any paint will do. So, a lot of the projects have involved that. Anyways, let me begin.
My mom was gifted this lovely antique mirror from my Auntie Lynn. (That's what I've always called her and nothing else will ever sound right. None of my other Aunts are AUNTIES. And go figure, she's not even technically my aunt. I digress...) It sat prettily, propped against my Mom's wall for quite a while.
"I love that mirror, Mom," I'd mention.
"When you gonna hang that up Mom?"
"Hey, wouldn't that look ADOOOOOORABLE painted black and hanging in my daughters room?"
ahem... so I have no tact. I conned my awesome Momma out of her mirror and I don't even feel bad. I loooooooove it.
But looooooooooook at it!!! It's just overflowing with potential! So, while sissy was napping one day, Gideon and I headed to the yard to tackle the project that started it all. While sanding it down to get rid of some runny spots caused by that greeny color, I discovered that this mirror had been on quite a journey. It had started out gilded GOLD, been painted over with SALMON PINK, and then covered in that foamy green color. As I sanded I tried imagining where the mirror had hung before. But, I was too excited about it's future....
So we taped it off.... and took a few more pictures because I had the most adorable helper around. Who could resist?
And painted it enamel black. I'm in love. The final reveal ties in with my BIG project... so you'll have to wait to see!
Isn't Hubby cute!?
Say "Hi!" Ashelyn!!!
Okay, so we might have got there a little too early! We thought it opened at 8, but it didn't. So we waited around for 30 minutes.
First, we hit the jungle. It was by far my favorite part. Tons of fun and there are animals just running around everywhere. It was awesome because everyone else headed over to the cat house, so we were like the ONLY people in there.
Can you see me and Ashe!? Ya. That's us. Way. Up. There.
I wish this picture would have come out better!! Me and that little monk were besties!
Hooray for the aquarium! Jake luuuuurrrrves him some fish.
AND Jelly fish. Anybody seen Seven Pounds??? Ya.... no thank you.
We had fun and have since been busy with shirt printing and family parties. Good times! If I had a camera I would have shared more of our excitement. But... I do not. Happy Saturday everybody!
