Saturday, June 30, 2012

Sewing at Home

I was going to title this "Sister Sewing Day," but a more accurate title would have been "Sister Sewing Day Turns Into Sewing Marathon." Dylan and I spent a good two days sewing and working on various projects. Not surprisingly, I managed to fit in much less sewing than Dylan did. She is amazing!

The main reason for our sewing day was that I wanted to try my hand at sewing a cardigan. I didn't think I would be able to attempt it on my own, so I wanted her help. Dylan's been wanting to try some new projects, so on top of supervising me, she had to work on a few projects of her own (for me)! (I did manage to hem two of my existing skirts with minimal help from her, while she worked on these other projects.)

Dylan hard at work on my skirt.
Found the tutorial at Elle Apparel
but knew I could never make one myself.  
The nearly finished skirt!
(Photo of me in skirt to come ASAP)

I found this cardigan tutorial at the same blog.
Dylan agreed to finish the neck for me, 
so I can't wait to get it!
 Proof that I did most of the sewing!

We threw in a couple fun projects -
I didn't like the tank top tutorial,
I think I'll try a different one next time...

After our first long day sewing,
we needed some food from Greek Fest!!

We had so much fun sewing! I still have a few things to finish, and obviously need to take photos IN the clothing that we've made, but that will have to wait for another blog post. She's also making me a very cute wrap dress, so I can't wait to see how that turns out!

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Pensacola Adventures

In addition to totally spoiling Grayson, we were able to see some of the other attractions in Pensacola. On Monday, we explored the National Museum of Naval Aviation. We loved seeing all of the old planes and exploring the giant museum.
He loves his planes!

After the museum, 
we stopped by the Pensacola Lighthouse.
You can't climb the lighthouse in flip flops...
so I went barefoot!

On Tuesday morning, we woke up early and drove back to the base so we could watch the Blue Angels practice session.

After watching them fly all around, we went to spend another day at the beach. It was a beautiful day!
She is the cutest beach baby! 

We had such a great time in Florida. We miss those three so much already! We can't wait to visit them in their new home in Orlando - and have some new adventures!

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Meeting Grayson

Last Friday was our last day of school, so it was the perfect opportunity for us to take a much needed vacation. We left for Schaumburg as soon as I got off work. Since we needed to be able to drive the truck back east, we decided to drop Emma off with Uncle Nathan and drive the rest of the way to Pensacola.

On Sunday, we went to church and then decided to spend the day at the beach. It was great to celebrate Jeremy's first Father's Day with him! 
In our Sunday finest.

Beach baby!
 This is one of the cutest pics ever!!

After the beach, we got to spend 
some quality time with Graysie!


Our favorite little family!
(All Grayson wants to do is sit up on her own!)


Just relaxing at home!
(With one of my blocks!)


We always love going to visit Jeremy and Maggie in Florida, now Grayson is an added bonus! Even with the baby, it ended up being a very relaxing vacation. We were happy just hanging out at home and playing with her, but we managed to fit in a few fun things in between playtime.

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Our Latest Move

Right now, I'm enjoying a little vacation back home, before I head east to unpack a few more boxes and then go to class.
We have no more furniture in Boston, 
so we made Emma a bed out of an old sleeping bag...
She loves it!

We successfully moved into our new place in Webster. On the 8th, while I was at work, Amit and the movers packed the truck. I came back home, grabbed Emma, and hit the road! Dad met us in Webster and the three of us became moving machines!

My Navigator
Webster is 6 hours west of MA.
Emma slept in the weirdest positions throughout the ride.
I wonder what she is thinking...

We spent a little time on Friday night unloading the truck. Saturday we unloaded/unpacked/put things away literally all day.
Emma loves the landing.
(She's just super tired in this picture.)
This is her other spot.
She can get a tan and supervise the deck, at the same time!

It was one very busy weekend, but it was nice to have the townhouse all ready for Dr. Patel! He's started orientation on Friday and will be back with patients in no time!

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Sewing Break

After one very busy semester, I could hear the sewing machine calling me back. I have so missed my crafting! I keep pinning all of these different sewing projects to my Pinterest boards and needed to actually make one (or two) of them. After much debate, I decided to sew some baby circle skirts and baby blocks. I thought the skirts were so adorable, but the blocks would be a good practice project for me (sewing straight lines can be hard)!

It took me about four hours to make the first circle skirt, but after I started getting used to the elastic, the others didn't seem so bad!
Such a fun skirt!

Isn't she helpful?

The baby blocks were fun.
I followed the tutorial and it actually worked!
(Ignore the slightly mismatched corners.)

I am so proud of how my projects turned out!! I might actually be good at this sewing thing after all (that would be crazy)! Tomorrow we leave for Pensacola by way of Chicago (to drop off Emma), then it is time for some more sewing and crafts (this time with family), and then a long weekend back in Rochester with Amit.

Sunday, June 10, 2012

The Patels go Primal

So I totally had this post nearly ready to go before this weekend and kept meaning to add a few more pictures, so I could blog before we moved this past weekend. Despite my good intentions, it obviously didn't happen. So, here is my post, a few days late. We're home from NY and all moved in - one big moving post coming up! Now - back to the Primal topic...

What do I mean by Primal? No, we're not becoming cavemen (those jokes get old, fast), we're basically changing the way we eat. We've cut out the added sugar, processed foods, and grains. Being Primal means we're spending more time in the kitchen, but so far it's been a delicious adventure!

Here is what we've been making:
Leftover burgers, avocado salad
Our absolute favorite - pesto chicken
with sweet potato "chips"
Tacos in lettuce "shells"
Kale Chips
They are AMAZING!


We feel fantastic eating this way and love the other aspects of the program: get plenty of sleep, move slowly (i.e. hiking), and take time to play! We are energized and ready to eat locally in NY, while we go on hiking adventures in our new home state! (Although, as we get closer to being home, I am getting a little excited to follow the 80/20 rule. 80 percent primal, 20 percent of other treats - I'm thinking deep dish pizza and Italian beef!) 

Time to go back to being primal. My last day of school is the 15th. Then it's on to Pensacola and back to Schaumburg. We didn't eat that well this weekend and I can definitely feel the difference. I better get back to normal so we can get ready for all that fun!