making | foldover clutch

Sometimes I get the urge to make something.  For example, when I'm out shopping in an upscale village I fall in love with a gorgeous Clare Vivier clutch that is approximately $200 and then realize that it's basically two pieces of fabric and a zipper...  And I'm thinking "I got this, how hard can it be?"

Famous last words.

Anyway, I googled a tutorial (this one), locked myself into the sewing room the other night(s) and emerged victorious.  Nevermind the fact that I had to sew, re-sew, seam rip, sew, re-sew, do and redo a zipper, and get a headache during the whole process.  

It's been a long time since I've sewed something and I'd almost forgotten how good it feels to have a project turn out exactly how you imagined it in your head.  Combined with the fact that I absolutely LOVE fabrics and color and crazy combinations (sewing allows me to put anything I want together!), I need to do this more often!  

(understated on the outside, wild & crazy on the inside!)

Just a warning, the next thing on my list is a tulle skirt.  I just know that I'll end up with tulle up to my pearls and wonder why I didn't order one online.  But what's the fun in that?!?

thoughts | sub-zero temps & visiting the grandparents

I’ve never talked about the weather so much in my life as this past week.  And rightly so, with the entire mid-west stuck in an arctic chill-zone, or what ever that technical term is that meteorologists use, it’s been too cold to speak about anything other than how cold it is.

Talk of weather is one of my biggest pet peeves, usually reserved for the most uncomfortable of situations, I tend to avoid it.  There is no avoiding talk of temperatures that dip below negative 25 degrees.  I’d heard that the local weather report ran out of colors to use for temperature zones, so they had us labeled as “orange”, usually reserved for “balmy, 70 degree” days, it apparently now means “be sure to bring your penguin indoors tonight”.

I happened to spend part of last week several hours north of home doing some training at my dad’s factory.  And by part, I mean, the coldest part.  Negative 25 was the temperature, not including windchill, in the middle of the day, with full sunshine.  With rumors of an Arctic Owl sighting.  Is there no balm?

My grandparents live 5 minutes from the factory & I was able to stay with them for a few days.  I absolutely love spending time with them.  Not only are the some of the funniest people you will ever meet, but they are the kindest, most generous & most loving ones too.  I’ve especially loved the past few years of life with them, as I’ve grown up, they've begun to truly treat me as an adult and a friend.  Our conversations have been very real, and they're are lots of valuable lessons in all they have to say.  There are so many stories, the hilarious ones, the family lore, some stories end in tears, and some stories are still unwritten.  

There are few things in life as sweet as hearing your grandparents telling you their life story.

Combined with the fact that my Mimi and Boppa (pet grandparent names are the best!) have been Christians for decades, they have the amazing ability to tie things back to the goodness of God.  And a good amount of laugh til you cry "church stories" (I love those ones!).  I can honestly say that my grandparents are two of the biggest blessings in my life.

Mimi, me & Mom | December 2013

photographed | monopoly

It's been ages since I've played a game of monopoly.  I played until my bedtime, which was incidentally the same time that Brooke started to buy hotels & sent the rest of us into bankruptcy.  I had entirely forgotten how much fun board games can be, popcorn, coca-cola & a good amount of smack talk.