Keepin' busy

Not much going on around here - summer is (gasp) winding down, and I have no idea what I have been doing for the past 2 months.  The weather has been unbearable.  I am glad to get up and ski at 6am because it seems to only be 85 degrees at that hour.  I recently went through a lot of my crafting things (translation: Brent made me clean out my space in the laundry room), and found a ton of beads that I had never done anything with.  I was almost embarrassed, but happy for some motivation to do some indoor, free projects.  You might spot me sporting any of these beauties sometime soon:)

I love this one.  The beads are huge, and a beautiful bright grass green.  The picture does not really capture the color.

I bought this link strand from Michael's on clearance for $1.99......not sure whether to make it into a long necklace or cut it into several bracelets.  

These red coral beads are actually from Pottery Barn - I saw them at the beginning of the summer on a long strand and wondered "weird find for PB, but could be a cute necklace!"  They are probably supposed to be vase fillers, or something decorative like that.  I think they will pair nicely with these cotton ball pearl beads.

I promise not to wear all these at once, although the temptation is there!   Round beads paired with smaller spacers in various colors are so cute, and you can layer them with other things.

Hope everyone else is taking advantage of fun things indoors!  I am headed to Florida later this week, and believe it or not, the weather there will be much nicer than here - go figure!

House guests

This past weekend, Brent and I hosted two sets of house guests....and loved every minute!  Saturday night, the one and only, Tommy James, decided to stay with us while skiing at at tournament in Smithfield (hey - it was the only place close enough that would have him!)  Brent and I were so excited since Tommy is always filled with hilarious stories and instant entertainment.  The night proved to starting out right when Tommy requested Mike's Hard Lemonade as his choice of beverage.....no manly beers or hard liquors for him!  Our neighbor, and good friend, Daniel also came over - as his wife and daughter were out of town.  He lovingly referred to it as "batcheloring it up."  Scott, and his girlfriend joined us, and we spent the entire night laughing!  I have no pictures - although it would be great blackmail.  If you were lucky enough, you might have even seen some somewhat inappropriate facebook status updates when my phone was hijacked.  Thank god I know how to delete, and delete fast!
Sunday morning, we booted one guest out with 30 minutes to spare on the next set.  Marcus and Lilly are dear friends, and we were so glad they were coming to stay with us for the night.  They left Davis at home, so I only got to see little Livi - who is precious!  God, please let me have a girl child!  She went straight to my jewelry - trying on everything and prancing around like the princess she is.  It was adorable.  Lilly, an extremely talented yoga instructor, convinced me to take a class at Triangle Yoga with her.  I agreed - how could I say no?  How do you tell someone you respect that you're really kind of lazy and don't like to workout...at all.  I can still hear her words now "It's a Level 1-2 beginner class.  You'll do fine!" So. not. true. The class was NOT a beginner class, and I struggled the whole way through.  I looked like Chris Farley - sweating in places I didn't know existed, huffing and puffing, glaring at the clock to see how much time was left.  Keep in mind I had not done yoga in over a year and a half.  I used to go quite regularly, but the instructor I liked left our gym, so I did too.  Honestly, it was not as bad at I make it sound, and I really enjoyed it...especially after the 90 minutes was up:)  I was so motivated that we went for a pilates/yoga mix class the next morning - now pilates is much more my speed and I plan on going more often.  If you live in the area, Triangle Yoga was fantastic - anyone want to come with me?
We ended the day with some shopping (hey, when you live in Washington, NC...you
 don't pass up a Southpoint trip when in town!)  I proved that parenting will never be my strong suit at Urban Outfitters when I let Livi climb all over the display bed that, as the rude saleslady referred to, was "ONLY for display."  Well, I didn't see a sign, and if she (who was all of about 17 years of age) had ever been shopping with a 4 year old, then she would understand why the bed was such a glorious source of entertainment.  So there.

Livi is much better at yoga than me...show off:)

The infamous bed at Urban Outfitters - beware parents: you will get called out if you even think of letting your child play on it.

PF Changs...so delic!

Notice Livi's jewels!  She would have rocked all of my collection of Lilly would have let her!

Skirtin' around

Life has been pretty boring here at the Talley household.  The house has seemed soooooo quiet without Daisy here, but we are adjusting.  The cats sleep pretty much all day, moving from comfy spot to comfy spot in every room.  I have cleaned and organized my entire house, and all the laundry is clean, folded, and put away.  I think there were some clothes in the dirty laundry bin that I haven't seen in year - somehow getting lost at the very bottom.  And now that all the laundry is done, I have found that I really don't have enough room for all the clothes, towels, sheets, etc... that we own.  Ahhh...sigh...such is life.  I guess there are bigger problems.

When Daisy was sick, I spent a lot of time at home with her in the last week.  I didn't really want to go far, because I felt bad leaving her, and I was never sure what I was going to walk into when I returned.  I decided to finally tackle some sewing projects.  My dear friends, Katie Skeen and Stefanie Almond inspired me at a tournament to start sewing some simple skirts, because everyone knows if I can wear it, I will find a way to get it done.  They were super easy, much easier than I thought.  And I'm really not sure why I hadn't started doing them earlier.  I did make a few mistakes on the first one, but they were not noticeable and I made sure to not repeat myself with the next.  The first one took about 2 hours, and the second less than an hour.  At this rate, I could have a skirt for every day of the week in no time. (because I am clearly running out of clothes...)

They are simple rectangles, with a drawstring waist.  I am sure a cuter ribbon would jazz them up more, but it was all I had in the house (forgot to buy that peice, whoops).  The drawstring waist works perfect for girls like me, with....uh....curves.  Because my rear is so much wider than my waist, I have a hard time finding things that fit in both places.  These are perfect and I think the drawstring creates a little ruffle effect - which I love.

Love Amy Butler fabric!

Excuse the mess in the background...and the self portrait via mirror.

I took a trip to Wish Upon a Quilt, and picked up these two fabrics -

The carolina blue and white is a must for our Carolina games this fall.

I think the true test of my skirts was when I walked into Charlotte's at North Hills wearing one.  Immediately, the girls working there were oohing and ahhing over it.  I just let them wonder what high priced boutique I bought it from:)