Birthdays!

So, not only was yesterday my 26th birthday, but it was also my blog's first birthday as well! I started my blog a year ago on my birthday (goes to show just how bored I was on my birthday last year!) But no fear- this year was MUCH better! My morning started out pretty odd, but it was all made up for when I showed up to the house where I watch two sweet children. I was greeted by this super colorful, amazing sign that I could spot from a block down the street.



When I walked in the house, I was greeted by the 6 year old boy with hot breakfast, and coffee! It was definitely a fabulous way to spend the morning. In the afternoon we went to the Beach Boardwalk and rode some rides. It was really wonderful.


My birthday gifts are a real testimate to how well my family knows me! My gifts are classic, and super wonderful. I was really stoked!


I'm a total purse hound, so this big leather bag from my mom was a score! It's from a local Santa Cruz company, and I love it! And yes, that is indeed a Snuggie. I couldn't be more excited! I have been wanting one of these bad boys for a really long time, and was giddy with joy when I opened it! This one is even better than I was thinking, cause it has a pocket on the front!! SWEET!! The Snuggie, and the little box below are from my boyfriend.

Heres whats in the little box...



My guy sure does have great taste, and I absolutely adore both these earrings!

And, whats a purse without something exciting inside it? My mom stuffed the bag full of new yarn! I opened this at the restaurant during dinner, and the waiter happened to come over right at that moment. I was so happy, and the guy kind of looked at me like I was crazy. When I told him it was full of yarn, he was nice enough to say "Oh, WOW!"





So now I have all this new yarn,
and then all my "old" yarn...




I'm apparently going to have to come up with some more storage... I have quite the collection now!

Crochet Art

I love this new little piece! I just randomly started doing some little crochet motif patterns, and practicing some different stitches, and next thing I knew, I had a bunch of these wonderfully colorful gems! So, I thought about what to do with them, and decided that I was going to use them for an extra splash of color in my bathroom.

Heres how it turned out...



I really liked the idea of putting them on the frame, instead of inside it. It felt different and unique to me, and I thought it added some extra interest.

I had thought about doing this project for a really long time, so I was fully committed to it. I really struggled with how I wanted the pieces to attach to the frame, and finally decided the only way that was going to work for me was glue. So I busted out the trusty hot glue gun, and once I felt like I had the placement perfect, I got right to work.

A tad small for that particular space in the bathroom, but oh well! I still really love it, and it will look great in any place I stick it!

What do you think?

Hors D'oeuvres Party

Lately, with a group of friends, we have been having cook off parties, and all make something specific. This week was an Hors D'oeuvres party (aka appetizers!).and we all made a different dish, and shared with everybody. It was a blast, and we had some super amazing dishes that people cooked up! I love to see what other people come with cause it gives me some inspiration for my own cooking which I lack sometimes!

While our idea was to have everybody bring their dish already done, that didn't happen. Which I actually liked a little better. In the beginning, everybody was cooking, cutting, and preparing all at the same time in the kitchen- made for some fun dancing with one another ;)

This was only half of the dishes that we had! It was a schmorgisboard of food, thats for sure!
Maple breakfast sausages. These tasty treats were gone pretty much as soon as they were set down on the table!

Stuffed Mushrooms. I'm not a mushroom person, but I promised my friend who made them that I would give them a try. I wasn't too keen on them- that was a little too much mushroom for me! But everybody else was going gaga over them!



Yes, these are gushers...
When a text when out to friends, they didn't know how to spell everything correctly, so they settled for saying bring or make something stuffed with something else. I wasn't aware of this since I didn't get the text, so when somebody showed up with gushers I laughed and was thoroughly confused. When he explained how it perfectly fit the described criteria, I understood completely. Who brings gushers to an hors d'oeuvres party?!?! I must admit though, I was really excited about them. They were devoured quickly, and it was fun to eat something none of us had had since we were kids.

This was my dish. Its biscuits, with a cream cheese-onion spread, hummus, and then a mixture of veggies- cucumber, tomatoes, klamata olives, green onion, and feta cheese. Super tasty!

Little chicken bites- one of my favorites of the night! They were super tasty!


Caramelized onion, mushroom and goat cheese on toasted bread

Despite there being lots of mushrooms on these, I still gave them a try and loved them. I even went back for more!

And here is everybody with full bellies, and some good laughs. It was a much needed rest to digest our food! Good times with good people!

Crochet Beach Bag

I have been working on this bad boy for way too long now! But, I was really happy to finally be done with this spiffy new beach bag. I loved the colors of this yarn, and was digging a pattern I saw. I really tweaked it, and eventually just made it my own, but thats another reason why I love crochet so much!

This bag is the perfect size for the essentials to the beach, and it is done in a looser mesh pattern so the sand easily falls out of it, instead of getting stuck to the bottom and all over your stuff.

The zigzags sure are cool looking! I didn't even really see that until I was all done and was looking at these pictures! Worked out for the best though!


A part of me felt like the straps were a little too small, but once I tried it on, and stuck something in it (to weigh it down) I realized they were fine, and worked out quite well.

See? It fits over my arm and onto my shoulder with no problem, and once you put things in the bag, it helps to stretch out the straps a smidge.

The whole bag was done with the same color yarn from Sugar 'n Cream, and in a super simple chain and single crochet pattern. This one is officially on sale right now for $35, so please let me know if you are interested! I can do other colors as well!

Beaded Crochet Necklace

So, a couple weeks ago, I was looking around at a bunch of different beads at my local Beverly's and fell in love with these wooden beads. They are what inspired this necklace...


Last weekend was super hot and sunny here in Santa Cruz, and I took that opportunity to lay out by our new pool (more on this later) and I got a little burnt. But, the dark color really made the necklace stand out!

I'm definitely a symmetrical kind of gal- if it isn't symmetrical, it really bugs me...


I know, kind of a strange pose and shot, but for some reason I really liked it... Pardon the cleavage...

At the bottom of the necklace there are these super cute little charms which, in my opinion, are the cutest part of the whole thing!

Black Julia Cuff- A sweet surprise...

A dear friends birthday was in June (Shout out to you Kelly- who kindly urged me to update my blog!) so I made her one of my favorite cuffs. I did this one in light blue a while ago, and decided to make one for Kelly in her favorite color!



I love the different color of the buttons. They are a light blue, and look super adorable with the black cuff!

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Since this was a birthday gift, I needed to wrap it in something cute. I didn't have any bag around, and I didn't have enough time to go to the store to get one, so I improvised and used something I already had on hand.

I made this sweet little envelope as another project for my honey, and thought it would be a super cute little envelope to stick my gift in.

It fit perfect in there! Not to mention the fact that it is a cute two presents in one!