What A Day!

I had a wonderful day today. Virginia slept til almost 8:00am, which is a super treat for me. Then as soon as I put Virginia down for her nap, I headed out the door to have lunch with some of the CPM moms at Zack's Place, which is a great little place in Concord. The people are super nice to us and great with the kids. I was the only one without their child. But it was pure paradise for me to not have a toddler climbing into my lap or trying to jump out of the seat and run around the restaurant like a crazy person. I was able to enjoy the conversation and the time so much more.

After lunch I decided to go to the Memorial Garden off Spring Street in Concord for my first letterboxing adventure. Just the other day I discovered the hobby in the monthly Macaroni Kids newsletter. The hobby is a lot like geocaching in many ways. Basically, people add Rubbermaid boxes in different locations across the world. Then they post clues and directions on different websites. Next people go hunt them down and stamp the planter's stamp in their log book and then stamp their own signature stamp in the planter's box. Then they nicely hide the box again for the next hunter to find. How awesome does that sound? Yes, I am a major dork and this whole hobby excites me to no end.

Just thought this part of the garden was beautiful.

The Memorial Garden was beautiful. I would have never guessed such a lovely place was hidden in the city. Once I walked into the garden, I started to follow the clues. At first it was going pretty easy. I was finding all the clues fast. Then I hit a road block when I had to find a certain tombstone. I walked in circles for awhile but then figured out my error and found the tombstone which led me further down the garden to the first box. I could have done a happy dance right then and there. I quickly opened the box and stamped my book and then stamped my signature stamp in his book. Well I stamped my finger print in his book. I still have to go buy the stamp I want or carve me a stamp. I did make a rookie mistake and didn't bring along a ink pad. So I had to use a pen as my ink pad. The best thing about this hunt was the first box had a clue that led to a bonus box.

Part of my journey to the first box.

The bonus box clue was "Look to high ground, L'Heure L'Amitie Passe Reste (The hour friendship passes remains)" I was very stumped for awhile thinking about the clue. I thought at first look to high ground must mean I need to go to the highest spot in the garden. But the whole next phrase had me totally confused. That is until I found a path that led to the top of the garden. I won't tell the rest just in case someone is hunting this spot. Once I reached the spot, I looked everywhere. I was just about to give up and head home when a light went off in my head and there was the box. My heart was racing with joy. I think I called my mom like four times during the whole hunt, just to be able to tell someone of my adventures.

Picture of the inside of a letterbox.

I ended up finding two boxes at the garden and heading home. I got home and did some cleaning and then just hung around the house with Virginia and Reiggin. Later I had to go to the grocery store to pick up some wings for dinner. Again, being the dork that I am, I knew there was a box hidden in a park near a Harris Teeter that isn't too far from our house. So I quickly begged Reiggin to let me make a quick pit stop along my grocery run. Being the sweet heart that he is, he agreed. So I got to find my 3rd box at Dorton Park in Concord. This one had a super nice stamp in it.

The path leading to the third box.

So now I am excited about my new hobby and the fact that some of the CPM moms want to come along the next time I go on a hunt. Reiggin thinks I am crazy or just one big dork. But hey, to each their own. I figure I am having fun and getting exercise all at the same time. My Saturday turned out to be a pretty exciting day. Now if I could only convince Reiggin to let me do some letterboxing while we visit his parents tomorrow in Statesville.

Here is the links to the clues for the 3 boxes I found today.

My first stamp in the first box I found.

One of the stamps a boxer left in the book that I thought was looked really good.

Me leaving the Memorial Garden after finding the boxes.

Repurposed XL T-Shirt

Today after I put Virginia down for her nap, I had a crazy idea. Instead of napping, I decided to take a XL Wicked Shirt that Lisa Harland gave me as a present and repurpose it into a shirt for Virginia. I found a tutorial on how to repurpose a t-shirt into a dress for a toddler.

I was going to make a dress, but when I laid out a dress of Virginia's it was going to cut off the Wicked logo. So I changed plans and made a t-shirt instead. I believe later I will take the bottom half of the t-shirt and make a skirt for Virginia. That is after I regain my sanity. Making this shirt I believe took a few years off my life. Sleeves are not easy to make.

First off I have to say this was my first attempt at making a shirt. I learned that I have to work on making sleeves and figure out how to complete a collar. I am happy that the end product did fit Virginia. I believe once I master the sleeves and collar that this will be a great project. I have tons of t-shirts that would be fun to repurpose into outfits for Virginia to play in. So for now I may have to wait on that call from Project Runway.

Oh the best part of this project was trying to take Virginia's photo. She was not a very good model today. I chased her all over the apartment trying to get one good photo of her in the shirt. I believe towards the end she thought we were playing a game of chase.

Easy as 1..2..3

I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend. Mine was awesome, our first birthday party invite and a day with the folks, Susan, and Samantha. I also spent most of the weekend searching though tons of sewing and crafting blogs looking for a new project.

I came across a simple tutorial on how to make bean bags. I knew this would be a winner. Virginia loves the small bean bag that came in a burger king happy meal. Also Mom pointed out that bean bags would be a great teaching tool. I could make multiple bean bags in different colors. There is just endless options to how I could use my home made bean bags. Oh and the best part is that it only took me about 5 to 10 minutes to make them. Instead of filling them with beans I used rice. Rice was the only thing I had in the house.

Also Lisa, I thought you would be happy looking at this cute pink with white polka doted bean bag instead of the scary, I mean beautiful sock monkey cough...HATER!

Sammy...

Yesterday I woke up and was in the mood to do a new sewing project. After searching though the new site Susan Roberts sent me. I found a great pattern for a sock monkey. After running some errands and picking up some new fabric for my purse project. I searched Reiggin's and my sock drawer for a good sock monkey choice. I ended up using one of Reiggin's socks and two of my old socks. I believe next time I will try to go buy a real sock monkey sock.

I have to say that the process took a little longer then what I expected. But it didn't help that I had a 2 year old that was very curious of what mommy was doing. I learned what a whip stitch is and also learned that I need to improve on my hand sewing skills. I also found out that working with a sock and sewing on a sock can be difficult. I thought I was going to lose my mind sewing on my old yellow toe sock. It was not wanting to work with me or my sewing machine.

But overall, the project turned out great. Best of all Virginia loves her new sock monkey and really that is all that counts. I hope to improve and maybe be able to make more fun stuffed animal characters in the future.

BUNCO....

Last night I finally got to go play bunco. I had heard a lot about the game from my friend Katie. I also had gone to one bunco party before, but didn't end up playing bunco. So finally when I saw that the CPM mommies were playing bunco on Thursday. I jumped on the rsvp list quick.

This bunco night was a themed one. The theme was wear it again. Basically we all wore an outfit that we had brought for some special event and told ourselves that we would wear it again one day. There were a lot of bridesmaid dresses and a few Christmas party dresses. I choice to wear the dress that I wore two years ago to the Avett Brother's New Years Eve show. I thought about wearing my wedding dress, but thought Reiggin may not like that idea. I couldn't find my shoes that went with the dress so I just wore my flip flops. It was a good thing since I parked at the bottom of the driveway and it was a hike to the front door.

There was 16 women at the party. I always feel a little nervous going to the CPM get togethers. I know a few women now, but not like super great. I am still the new mommy. As always we all gathered in the kitchen and had some snacks waiting for everyone to arrive and then we split off to each table. Let me just say I was a little overwhelmed at first. I am not sure why, but I wasn't expecting the game to be so fast paced. But I loved it overall. It was alot of fun and I got to know some of the moms better. I didn't do great, but at least I can say I have played bunco now.