Closet Clean-out

Last weekend I spent all day Saturday sitting on the couch working on a difficult group assignment for 8 straight hours! Saturday we had the most beautiful weather and I missed it completely because of school work. Argh. Sunday was much better. I refused to work on the paper any longer and decided to instead do something fun....Clean our my closet! With the hot weather it was time to switch out my winter clothes for summer clothes. Of course I hadn't been in the back of my closet in months and months and knew a lot of stuff wasn't going to fit anymore. So I started by pulling everything out and puting it on the bed so I could start with a clean slate. Next I tried on every item that was in the closet. Greg was there to give his opinions and also to laugh at some of the articles that looked ridiculous now. Plus I love telling him the stories about why I bought certain things. In addition to finding lots of stuff I had shrunk out of, I found lots of favorites that I have shrunk in to. A fun surprise! Some things even had tags on. I had intended to return them because they were too small and now they fit. Things not going right back into the closet went into 2 piles. The donation pile (above) and the alter pile (below). The donation pile looks small but it ended up being 2 leaf bags worth of clothes. The alter pile included stuff to wash and dry on hot in order to shrink them a bit. This technique actually works very well for knits. What was left in the pile I had intended to try and alter with my sewing machine but it was a huge pile. In all honesty I am not good at alterations and knew I wouldn't have time to work on that much stuff. So I went back through and kept only things that would be fairly easy to alter, items I really loved, or items I had spent a lot of money on. Those (pictured) are now in the studio waiting for school to let up so I can work on them. Here is my closet now. It was crammed full before. A lot of stuff ended up folded in my dresser like short sleeves tops that were hanging over the winter. That is a big reduction. I also made a list as I went of items I want to look out for when I go outlet shopping next month with the girls from work.

An example of the fun. I pulled out these capri pants and tried them on. Last summer none of my capri pants fit. I had grown out of all of them and since I live in capri pants I had to go out to the gap and buy a pair. I bought these size 16 and wore them a lot. This weekend when I tried them on I could get them on and off without unbuttoning them! But even better, I found my old favorite pair of olive green capris. So beloved that I refused to toss them even though they stopped fitting at least 2 summers ago. I tried them on and they fit great! Gotta love that!

In-Law Visit #3

Sunday: Brunch, Apollo Theater tour, Harlem.

On Sunday we were going to head to a cute little brunch place in Sunnyside but at the last minute we switched to Pete's Grill, a diner, for brunch because it was right next to the hotel where my MIL & FIL were staying. They were really concerned that a fancier place would take too long and we would be late. To Pete's Grill's credit, it was a nice clean diner with friendly service and huge portions. We had never been there before but our neighbor Corey loves that place.

Then we were off to Harlem to tour the Apollo Theater. My MIL had requested we go to the theater if for nothing else than a photo out front. Luckily they do very limited private tours and had a large tour group (like with a tour bus!) coming through and agreed to let us tag along for $20 each. The tour guide was excellent. He works for the Apollo and has for the last 45 years, since he was 14 years old and was an errand boy for the performers that worked at the theater. He had lots of funny stories and had the crowd singing old time songs during the entire visit.

Then when we were in the main auditorium he held an "amateur night at the Apollo" contest and had tour members come up on stage and perform little jokes, poetry, songs, etc. Greg and his mom went up and sang a couple lines from a song! So brave! They even rubbed the "Tree of Hope" that real Apollo contestants rub when they go on stage. Everyone who performed was declared a winner.

After that we all got to walk across the Apollo stage and saw a wall they have famous visitors sign (just over the last 7 years) including the President who came through while campaigning. His signature is next to the white piece of tape on the upper right. Then we headed down below the stage to an area that is newly renovated. It has the green room and the dressing rooms and bathrooms and some storage rooms where we could see the old original Orchestra Pit.It was a great tour and my In-Laws enjoyed it a great deal.

After the Apollo we went next door to Jimmy Jazz where my MIL found some new sneakers and then headed home for homemade pizza and a little R&R and chatting about funny family stories Greg and I had never heard before. They left the next morning. It was a great visit, their best so far I think.

In-Laws Visit #2

Saturday: 9-5 the Musical and 5 Napkins Restaurant

On Saturday we celebrated my MIL's birthday which was in March. We had purchased her tickets to see a Broadway show while she was in town and we chose 9-5 the Musical, written and produced by Dolly Parton and staring Allison Janney from the West Wing. It was great! Smallish theater, total cute show, great songs, elaborate sets, and lots of laughs. We couldn't have asked for more! The curtain down. It was covered in spirally phone cords and receivers. The family. And a shot of Greg and I. Sorry it is a little blurry, we weren't using the flash. I bought a new dress and little cardigan to wear to the show and felt so cute in it! I will have to get a full length shot soon.

After the show we walked over to 5 Napkins for some upscale burgers and yummy fries. Greg had mac and cheese and halfway through we switched (I had the veggie burger) so I got a little of both which was perfect! The restaurant is a busy place but worth checking out if you are in the area.

When we got home we ended up watching the movie Run Fat Boy Run. It just happened to be what we had in our NetFlix and it was really cute and funny. Everyone enjoyed it.

The Purse!

What was I thinking not posting a picture of the bag. Here it is. It is hard to show properly using one hand to hold it up and one to take the photo but you get the idea. So cute!

In-Law Visit #1

My Mother and Father in law (MIL and FIL) were in town for a long weekend recently. They come roughly once a year so we are always hard pressed to think of new things for them to do but Greg and I really put our heads together and came up with an itinerary that was both fun and at their speed.

Friday: Bead shopping, Macy's Flower Show, and lunch at Otto.

I am lucky that my MIL is way into jewelry making and I have found a solid 2 blocks of bead and jewelry making supply stores. On Friday we rode the bus into the city and went to several of the stores. I of course found lots of things I needed too (mostly earring wires).

The bead stores are right near Macy's in Harold Square and by total coincidence the Flower Show was going on so we swang in to check it out. This visit to Macy's was great. It was the least crowded and crazy it has ever been while I was there. We were able to fairly easily manouver around the ground floor looking at all the different "gardens". It is pretty impressive to see. The whole time I walked around reminding myself that those are real plants....indoors! Then to make it a truly awesome day I found a Nine West, green patten leather bag in the clearance bin. I thought it was going to be $60 and trust me it was worth it, but when she rang it up the price was $26!!!! I was in heaven.

Lastly we headed down to my work 'hood for lunch at Otto. I thought they may enjoy a little upscale Italian food at one of Mario Batali's restaurants. They love the Today Show and he is always cooking on it. Well I am not sure they loved the pizza and pasta but we convinced them to stay for gelato and I think that won them over! It was wonderful long lunch.

Easy Cupcake Topper

Last Friday in addition to Good Friday activities at church in the evening I had to throw together a going away party for a co-worker. A co-worker (graduate student who finally graduated with his PhD after 7 years) who's only request was "I want pizza, nachos, and rum". Hmmm. That is not a lot to work with. I made my famous nacho dip (Velveeta, Chili, and salsa heated in a crock pot till bubbly, then poured over chips) and we ordered pizza. Someone else bought the rum and I worked on some easy and cheap decorations. I went with a new favorite technique, which is to take a photo of the person, open it in Photoshop and crop out everything but their head. I usually print it out a bunch of times, cut the heads out and put them on balloons or hang them around the room with signes. We did that too but I got an idea for easy cupcake toppers that are cute and impressive looking. Photo shop the head and resize to about an inch high. I put multiple heads on the page so I could print all 20 at once. Print them out and then punch them out of the paper with a 1.25" paper punch. Next gather some other simple supplies. I punched out some large ovals with a new punch my mom sent, along with some stars, grabbed my glue gun and picked up some party toothpicks at the store. The toothpicks are bigger so you can use them on larger foods and they work well for this project. Put a dab of hot glue on the oval. Add the toothpick and a bit more glue (the large size of the pick is good for gluing). Add one of the punched heads to the top of the stick. This not only hides the end of the pick it also gives the face a little dimension you wouldn't get it you glued the stick to the pack of the oval. Lastly apply a little glue to the back of the stars and attach to the oval. Repeat 19 times! Add picks to store bought cupcakes for a little personalized pizzazz! Unfortunately the cupcakes at the store were easter colors so they clashed with my toppers which would have looked dynamite on white and brown cupcakes but whatever. Can't get too picky when you have no time to bake something perfectly color coordinated. These were a big hit. I had to leave the party really early to get to church in time but I heard the party was a success and today some people found little heads at their desks with post-it note voice balloons added containing little messages to them. I thought that was hilarious.

Weigh-In Thursday

In an attempt to talk about something besides jewelry I thought I would give an update on my weight loss efforts. I weight in on Thursdays so today seemed like a good day. I am finishing up my 6th month on Weight Watchers (roughly) and am slowly approaching my second weight loss goal (to be the same weight I was on my wedding day 8 years ago). As of today I have lost 32.4 pounds! I am of course delighted with my progress. Overall, following the program has been relatively simple and I rarely feel deprived (I make sure to have an ice cream sundae every night!). I would venture to guess that Greg has been very happy with the program too considering all the crazy diets he has lived through my trying. I still have a way to go to my "lifetime" goal as they call it in Weight Watchers but at this point I am so happy where I am I wouldn't care if I never made it any further.

That being said, I realized a startling thing. When I was this weight 8 years ago (and for many years before that since I was about the same weight for almost 10 years) I was MISERABLE! I was always scheming and planning ways to lose weight. I always wanted to be 20 pounds lighter and because of that I LOATHED my body. Now here I am back at that weight and I love my body for the first time in 15 years and so delighted to be where I am. I can't help but think, if I had just loved myself back then and exerted a tiny bit of effort to MAINTAIN my weight were it was I could have saved myself 8 years of weight fluctuation and drama. Isn't that always the way!

Another thing I have noticed is that because the weight has come off so slowly (some weeks I lose 0.2 pounds or 0 pounds) I hardly notice the difference. I mean sure, I have been buying smaller clothes and occasionally I pull an old shirt out of the closet that I used to have to stretch to close but now I am swimming in it. And yes, people often make comments that I look very different but sometimes I look down at myself and think, did I really lose 30 pounds? I don't FEEL that different. So I keep photos on my computer at work that I look at to remind myself how far I have come and to encourage me when the weight loss seems to be taking forever or I want to go in and eat half the birthday cake in the lunch room. Since I LOVE before and after photos I thought I would put together an example. This week I actually gained .4 pounds. Not a big deal since I know it is PMS related but a little sad since it is my first gain in 6 months, so this photo is extra encouraging today. The before on the left was taken last March I think (that is one of Libby's cute twins in my arms). I was not quite at my heaviest wearing a size 14/16. On the right was the photo taken two weekends ago wearing a size 10/12. I like this comparison because I am in the same position so I can really see the difference. I look at this photo and think, yeah its working. Don't get discouraged!

Etsy Jewelry Finds Part 6!

SORRY! I know you are all probably sick of looking at earrings but I have just one last post. These came in the mail yesterday all the way from Israel from Etsy seller Schlomit . I really love so many of her designs and was really torn between the pair I bought and these. I just loved them both so but am really happy with my choice! Maybe I will have to become a repeat customer or maybe Greg will suprise me with these for my birthday (hint hint!). Anyway, they are really cute on and I also loved the adorable packaging. This seller has definietly invested in a little marketing.

Etsy Jewelry Finds Part 5

Now for the more unusual finds. I got this idea one day when feeling really frisky that feather earrings could be really cool. I picked these up after an Etsy search from seller Captured Imagination for $18. I have not worn them yet to work but I like them a lot. I went with a small sized feather so that they wouldn't be over the top. I plan to put them into rotation next week. You can imagine they are very lightweight.


I was drawn to this pair by Etsy seller Blond Chick Studio because of the unique shape of the metal body. That is something I surely can't reproduce. These are a very unique style chandelier earring. The best part is that I really wanted clear beads but the version she sold with clear beads was substantially more expensive. Even with my limited jewelery making knowledge I can easily swap out the beads for clear ones when I tire of the green beads. Love that added versitility. Sorry, Greg didn't get a good shot of these on. Of all the earrings I have shown, these are the only ones that are a tad on the heavy side and the post part that goes in the ear is very wide so they are a snug fit (which does feel a little odd).


Lastly is this pair I received for free from Etsy seller Tuscaloosa in The Sampler some time ago. These earrings are cute and earthy but mostly I liked getting them because I love to look at Tuscaloosa's site and plan items I want to make that copy her's (terrible I know!). I bought one of her rings at Christmas time so I could copy it for my family members but didn't get the time to complete my project. No photos of the ring so that there can still be surprises.

Etsy Jewelry Finds Part 4

I saw these earring months and months ago featured on a blog I read and I ran over to Etsy seller Kelly McCaleb right away to snatch up my own pair in turquoise for $12. I love these little studs because they offer a little flash of color when my hair blows about. Turquoise goes great with brown too which I love to wear. They are made from vintage molded flowers. I have actually seen similar items including the plain flowers all over Etsy so feel free to shop around or even make your own. Glue an earing post to a couple and you can make these really cheaply.

These earrings have been so fun I often found myself wishing I had a similar item in a necklace. I love this bold color and the flower shape is cool too. Imagine my delight when I stumbled accross this AMAZING necklace a week ago. This comes from seller Rachelle D and cost me $27. I have only worn it once so far since it only just arrived but it is another new favorite. Definitely bold but come on, so so cool. The little birds make it even cooler! It was a huge hit at work this week.