My Favorite Time of Year

I love Autumn. I love the colors, the smells, the coolness, all of it. Davis is so beautiful in November. I was inspired by the changing fall colors and decided to change my hair. I am now a redhead :) I've never been one so it is definitely different but so fun! Matt and I also celebrated the new season 

with a trip to Apple Hill last weekend. It was gorgeous (and tastey) as ever. It is my favorite place to take a day trip this time of year. I've been snapping photos of the trees around here with my phone and I took lots of lovely pictures in Apple Hill too. I've gone a little crazy with my retro camera application on my phone, so excuse the abundance of them. I think they're rad.

There's something about being in nature, especially in the spring and in the fall that makes me feel closer to God. It makes me feel like no matter how many doubts, confusions, struggles, and unanswerable questions I have in my search of purpose and meaning in life, there will always be this wonderful simplicity and peace in marveling over the beauty that God has created.
 

Inspiration

The weekend is almost over. I'm so bummed :*( Our weekend has been wonderful, made even more wonderful by the rain we got today and also by the ultra delicious pumpkin chocolate chip bread Mona made us!! Ah finally fall is in the air. Here in Cali it has been hot and dry and summery up until today. 

Anyways, back to why I'm here. I have been literally obsessed with a blog you may have heard of. It's called New Dress A Day! Matt actually heard about it on a podcast and ever since he told me about it I've been checking in everyday. This lovely little lady named Marisa decided she was going to make 365 dresses in 365 days for only 365 dollars! She is my quintessential creative sewing inspiration. The stuff that she finds and turns into the cutest outfit ever, well, I can hardly even believe it. Here's one of her latest creations that I loved:)

Isn't this fun?!

I've been feeling somewhat lethargic on the creative front lately. With school work, work work, family, friends, cats, husband and everything else I just haven't had time for much artistic expression. Today I decided to take some inspiration from Marisa and her pretty blue dress and make something fun for myself! I found this old blue dress that my mom got me years ago shoved in my closet. I picked it out because I loved the color so much but I've only ever worn it once because it fits me weird. 

I cut the sleeves off and used the material from the skirt to make a flowy and cute top that I actually (surprisingly) love on me! I didn't even use a pattern, which I am very proud of because Lord knows I am not the greatest sewer in the world. I sewed some vintage lace on the front and I was done! An easy and cute top for free! Hooray!! I will have to post a photo of it on me because it looks a little frumpy on the hanger, but it is much cuter on. I am going to try to make a few more things out of some more unwearable items in my closet soon so keep an eye out for that :) 

Here's a close up of the lace:)

Oliver even got creative and used the scraps as a blanket! He takes after his mom ;)

Things That Make Me Happy

triple berry jam made by amazing husband and wife duos (aka Matt and me)

seeing a sweet little deer family

hot air balloons floating around on gorgeous days

curling up in the sun with Charlie

& Oliver

happy weekend :-)

Knit, Read, Love

I don't think I've said anything yet on my blog, but I started back to school this semester:) I went to a community college right out of high school and ended up there for three years... I kept changing my mind about what I wanted to major in and ended up slacking off and taking more classes than I needed. You know how that goes (well, maybe you do). Then I decided to stop going because I was just confused and tired of school. Sometimes I start to let myself regret it and then I remember that without my decision to delay my education and move away from home to try to find out what it was that I wanted to do with my life I would have never met my husband. With Matt's motivational push and support I signed up at a community college here in Davis to take the remaining three classes I need to move on and take major courses. I have decided to study English. I'm not exactly sure what I will end up doing with it, but I know myself well enough to know that I would be miserable studying any other subject. Literature and writing are the only academic things that I have any passion for. 

The classes I am in now have nothing to do with English but nevertheless I am really enjoying them. Now that I'm a grown up I can actually absorb and appreciate learning without just impatiently trying to get through a class, with my mind constantly on the next social event or how to do the least amount of work and text reading and still get a good score in the class. I am especially loving my women's history class. 

Anywho, I have been a busy busy bee. I work before and after my classes almost everyday. I'm out the door before 7 and I don't get back until after 6 so I've been pretty tired. Last weekend Matt and I decided to just take it easy. We didn't go anywhere or see anyone. We just stayed at home and slept in, read, watched movies and vegged out. Most of my time was spent working on Matt's sweater while he read Anna Karenina to me. Those three days were just what we needed to recharge our batteries:)

Here's how far I've gotten with Matt's sweater. I completed the back, the right front and I'm almost done with the left front! There's no knitting in the round on this bad boy so stitching this sucker up is going to be a pain in the butt! 

There's my sweet boys:) Charlie is almost as big as Oliver now. People always think I pose them for these pictures but I honestly don't at all. They really cuddle this hard. I don't think there are two cuter kitties on this planet but I'm biased:)

This is the only tomato that we've had turn red thus far.... It's a grape tomato. We got really excited and split it. Isn't that just the saddest, most pathetic thing you've ever heard? We have a ton of green tomaters but I'm guessing it's getting a little late at this point for them to turn red. Well, we tried! Matt says no more porch gardens. We will just have to wait until we have a back yard I guess :*(

I liked what my tea had to say. Tea sayings are insightful and popsicle stick sayings are funny. I like food and drinks that talk to me:)

August Fun

I have really been neglecting my blog :( Well, actually I've been neglecting all my creative activities. My knitting, sewing and even my exercise routine have been kind of on the back burner this month. Matt was furloughed for a couple weeks this month and Kiddo went on a vacation with his dad so we had some time off together. It was the longest stretch of time we have just been together in... well ever! We spent the time relaxing and reading and just generally enjoying time together. We went to my parent's for a couple days to celebrate my grandma's birthday, which was a lot of fun. Most importantly though, we bought a new car! After a lot of test drives, debates and some serious research we decided to get a new Honda Fit. We absolutely love it! Right after we got it we took it on a day trip to Petaluma with Mom-in-law:) 

We had so much fun in Petaluma. If you live in California and you love antiquing you absolutely have to plan a little trip there! There is the most darling and wonderful yarn shop in downtown Petaluma. Of course, Mona and I were like kids in a candy/toy/ice cream shop once inside. I wish so badly there was something like it around Davis! The shop is called Knitterly (click to check out their website) and it is as cheerful and charming and cozy as any place I've ever been. My pictures don't do it justice, but you can get an idea:) We had a great day with Mona and a great time in our new car, which I also included an internet photo of.

This month we also went to Dillon Beach, which is right outside of Bodega Bay to camp for the weekend! It was a weekend to celebrate Matt's birthday because Matt likes to have extended birthday celebrations. Matt's dad, brother and sister went along with a bunch of friends and my little brother and his girlfriend. We had a blast. It was a little cold, but such a gorgeous beach and such a cool campground for big groups. It was nice to have everyone together like that. It's not often we get to be with any of Matt's family and my family at the same time:) It got a little crazy, a little wild and it was one of the most fun camping trips I've ever been on. Granted I'm not much for camping either, but this was definitely a good time. Here are just a couple of the pics from the weekend...

Here is Amy (my brother's gf), Katie (my sis-in law) and me:) Oh, and of course, Rouzbeh made it in the photo :/

Matt and his family minus Mona, who doesn't really do camping:)  

My brother aka Arnold S.

This is Matt's friend Eugene and his dog Joe Gold. I had to include this picture because it is just bizarre and weird. What's even stranger about it is how cold and misty it was at night lol! He just tied his mattress up to his truck...

Obviously I had to include a picture of Laura who made it on the last night! Yay!! ;) 

So when I say we camped for a weekend it was a three night four day event. Matt wore this the entire time. He said he got to be dirty for his birthday. So gross. Stripes galore. He's an odd sort of guy.

A couple weekends ago we went on another exciting outing. My best friend Andrea's dad Ted has been white water river rafting since 1982. She invited Matt and I to come along to raft the American River with both of them and her boyfriend Gus. Neither Matt nor I had ever done this before so we had almost no idea what to expect. Boy were we in for a total surprise! I'm not sure what I had been thinking it was going to be like, but certainly I wasn't prepared for quite the adventure that it was. It was so incredibly awesome and frightening. Ted was an amazing instructor and we paddled our hearts out through all the crazy rapids. Apparently if you go in earlier summer the water is much higher and thus much faster and more intense than right now. I'm so glad we went when we did because I don't think I could have handled faster waters. It was so peaceful and beautiful and was such a gorgeous day. The last big rapid we went through really pushed my boundaries. I'm a big time scaredy cat as you may know. I don't swim in the ocean, jump out of planes or climb mountains. I very rarely drive at night and I am even afraid of sleeping next to a window (weird, I know). So this was out of my comfort zone to say the least. I was really proud of myself at the end of it all and I would love to go again. It gave me a rush and made me want to try other things that I've been afraid to try. Nothing too crazy though... I'm not going to start sleeping next to windows or anything:)

There was a photographer posted up on a rock near the last big rapid (which was called Trouble Maker by the way). When we were leaving we stopped by the photo stand and bought the disc of photos she took. They were so hilarious and cool. Here's a few I took of the day and a few of us in the midst of the chaos:)

I snapped this photo of the morning sky on the way up there. I just thought it was so beautiful:)

There's Matty, Ted and Gus.

It's funny because when I'm terrified but also having fun I laugh hysterically. I did this the whole time we rode rides in Disneyland. I think it's my way of keeping myself from crying lol. So although I look completely collected I am scared for my life at this point:) After it was over I realized my terror was needless of course. Well people do get hurt so maybe not entirely needless...

Goodbye Andrea and Ashley...

I love this one of Andrea. She got a mouth full of water. 

This is a great shot. As much as it appears that we're posing for the camera, none of us knew where the photographer was.

And we did it!! I was still holding on for dear life... 

I'm sorry this post is so long. I'm playing catch up:)
Yesterday was Matt's actual birthday. He turned 28. It's hard to believe he was 24 when I met him. It feels like such a short time ago, which I guess it is in some ways. We had a little party at his parent's and Mona cooked chicken divan with rice. I had never had it before and it was so so so so so tasty! YU-UM! I made a peanut butter cake because Matt loves peanut butter like no one has ever loved anything on earth. It was a Paula Dean recipe and it turned out pretty well. I wasn't the biggest fan of it (I don't love peanut butter all that much. Unless it's with marshmallow fluff or jelly, that is.), but Matt said it was the best cake he'd ever had so that's all that matters!
I don't know if I've told you all this before but Matt and our oldest kitty-son share a birthday:) We didn't know until we got Oliver's adoption paperwork in the mail after getting him that they were born on the very same day. Cute eh? :)

There's my Birthday boys! Oliver doesn't look too excited. I promise Matt isn't choking him hahaha:)

Well that's all I'm going to cram in for now:) 

Have a fabulous weekend!