San Miguel de Allende

When you think of traveling to Mexico, you usually think of hot touristy ocean sites such as Cancun, or Cozumel.  Instead, think of mountains and cool weather in beautiful San Miguel de Allende.  Such a beautiful city and the cathedrals and old buildings are incredible.  

These bougainvillea grow like wildflowers. Such vibrant colors.

This beautiful cathedral is the main focal point of the city.  Unbelievable architecture and the inside is amazing.

School children.  Check out the stone streets.  I had to go buy a special pair of shoes just to be able to walk around.  Very tricky to maneuver.

 

Did lots of walking so I was glad to find a place to chill for a bit.





 

Beautiful flowers sold by the local vendors.

 

Every stucco wall is painted a bright cheery color.



 

La Casa where we stayed.  A dear friend owns this home and invited us to visit.

 

The courtyard.

 

This is such an unusual home.  Because the weather is so incredible, the house is partly open to the sky above.  One minute your in the living room, the next minute your in an open court yard, and then in the 'casita', which is the guest quarter where we stayed.

 

The fruits and flowers on my hat grow on the outdoor patio.

 

Beautiful markets.



 

Caballero! 

 

Beautiful children.

 

Recognize Doc Severensen from Johnny Carson 'Tonight Show'?  He actually lives in San Miguel.  We were lucky enough to catch him on a night where he and his band play.  He came over to our table and visited with us a bit.  He is still incredible.

 

Ahhh,,,I'd love to go back. 

Random Things I've Made

Every once in a while I get inspired to make things out of random objects.  Here's a sampling of some of the things I've made over the years.  I thought it would be fun for you to see how things can be transformed out of nothing.

I made this skirt out of an old pair of worn out jeans, and a couple of knit shirts that either were stained or torn.  I cut the top part of the jeans off and opened the middle seam.  I took the legs of the jeans and cut them in to squares and then cut the t-shirts in to random squares as well.  I pieced them all together and then stitched them to the bottom of the jean I had cut off.  Depending on how much fabric you have, you can make this skirt as long or short as you desire.

I had some t-shirt fabric and denim left over so I made a Cross pattern and used 'wonder-under' to adhere it to another t-shirt I had on hand.  I then did a zig-zag top stitch to attach it permanently and then glued some little beads along the edges.

 

Here's the whole outfit.  So fun and easy to make.  It sure made a pair of jeans go a lot further with a whole new look.

 

Here's a little 'evening' purse I made out of a cute cigar box.  You should walk in to a specialty cigar store sometime and check out all the wonderful boxes they sell.  They come in all shapes and sizes and are great quality.  I'm sure there are lots of things you can make with them.  This one was fully lined with felt.  All I did was attach a handle I purchased from a craft store. It's great for carrying a cell phone and lipstick for a night out.  It actually still has the aroma of cigars, but it's faint so it's not offensive.

I experimented with another old pair of jeans and upholstery fabric I had on hand to make this shoulder bag. I kind of made it up as I went and will probably go back and tweak it a little bit but you get the idea. It was super easy and fun to make.

 

I need to think of a way to add to the back side a bit.  It's a little 'plain' for me.  I guess I could add another pocket.  Any suggestions?

I got the idea for these shoes out of one of the tons of craft books I have on hand.  I had to cut out the sides, and tongue of the shoe and then line the inside with a coordinating fabric.  I just started adding things as I went.  I hot glued the beads on the toes of the shoes, but they didn't stick like they should.  Right now they're just sitting on top. Instead of shoe laces, I added animal print wired ribbon.  The shoes are awfully cute, but not sure where or if I would wear them.  They were just fun to make.  I get such a kick out of 're-designing' things.

Here are a few of the books I get my inspirations from.  I have lots more, but these are my favorites.  It's amazing what you can make from stuff that's just lying around in your closet.  If you have other ideas or things you've made, please share with me.  I'm always looking for new challenges.

Have a great day!

It's that time again...

Here I am donating blood at work again! It is so convenient when these guys pull up in their huge buses right outside the door. They visit our campus every 8 weeks and employees have the opportunity to sign up on-line for an appointment time, but of course there are a lot of walk-ins as well.  The whole process takes about 45 minutes from start to finish, which includes filling out paperwork, the mini-physical to check blood pressure, answer the questionnaires, then the little finger prick to make sure the iron levels are good.  The technicians go out of their way to make sure you are comfortable during the whole process.

Carlos was my technician today. Such a funny, high spirited young man. I never even felt the needle when he injected it in to my vein.  Amazing.  He did mention that he had 'done this a few times' before. 

As a special treat today, if you donated a pint of blood, in return you received a coupon for a pint of Bluebell ice cream redeemable at your favorite grocery store.

All done once again.  I always feel so energized after I've donated.  They loaded me up with granola bars, and bottled water and of course the usual T-shirt.  Pretty soon they are going to have a website set up so you can pick the size shirt you want, or other items to choose from.  Since I'm working on my 3 gallon donation to date, you can imagine how many shirts I have now.

Remember, every time you donate one pint of blood, you are saving three lives.  I encourage each of you to do this.

 

Here's a shot of the two-gallon pin they gave me today. 

Room With a View (Ladyfingers Project)

We have an extra bedroom upstairs that was always intended to be turned in to an office, but six years later, nothing had been done.....that is until this weekend.  I spontaneously went to Lowe's on Friday after work, bought some paint without any particular scheme in mind, and started painting. The original paint was an icky caramel color and I turned it in to a very nice chocolate brown.

Before:

After:

This room only has a very small corner window so I decided to take advantage of what little view there is and make it the area where I would put a desk.  In order to even see out, I was going to have to find a tall desk and chair. I had thought about trying to construct one myself, but I couldn't come up with any ideas so I checked out places locally to see if I could find something that would work.

 

After checking out places like Pier I import, Kirkland, and Office Depot,  I found this desk at World Market that was just the perfect height.  I also purchased a tall 'bar' stool to serve as the desk chair.  It's very comfortable.  Of course, some assembly was required, but it turned out to be very simple to do.  All I had to do was attach the legs.

 

I had this computer cabinet from years ago that had been sort of a 'catch-all'.  I moved it to the wall next to the window/desk so that I could store our printer/scanner next to our computer.  

 

Now it actually serves a purpose.  The printer/scanner are neatly tucked inside with the cords coming out the back.  All we have to do is plug in the USB cord which is within easy reach.  All the office supplies are stored away as well.  No more clutter.

I found this print a few months ago at our old office as I was rummaging
through some of the stuff that was left behind when the final tenants
moved out.  I've had it in the garage up until now and so I wiped the
dust off and put it on top of the cabinet.  It matches perfectly with
the color scheme.

I wasn't going to put any window treatments up, but when I found the table, I also found these really cute drapery panels for 20% off so I decided to add some color to the room.  I'm glad I found them. They really brighten the room.

 

I'm an avid Norman Rockwell fan, and I've had these prints for years.  With the new wall color, they really pop out. 

Douglas and Kathy will probably NEVER speak to me again, but I have to post this photo of them I've had in our 'office' forever.  Douglas 'insists' that he never really wanted to take ballet, but other relatives have 'insisted' that he loved taking these classes.  Aren't they adorable??  I love this photo.

 

Here are the changes I've made so far.  I'm working on another 'Ladyfingers' project that will go in this room, but it's still a work in progress and deserving of it's own post.

Douglas likes to listen to music while he works, so I bought this awesome IPhone/IPod player/charger.  The sound quality is incredible.  I placed it smack dab in the center of the desk, and since it has an acrylic base, it does not obstruct the view at all.

I'm very happy with the way the room turned out and surprised at myself for waiting so long to spruce it up. 

Have a great week!

Think C-O-O-L!!!

We've had many, many days of soaring temperatures of 100+.  I was scrolling through some of my photos and thought it would be a good idea to bring out these snow photos from last winter.  Makes me long for the cooler weather.  My laptop has been in the 'hospital' at work and I've had a loaner.  I'm back in business now and hope I don't have such a span between posts.  Laptop had some type of 'worm' that was attached to my scan-disk where I store my photos.

 


  
We're supposed to get a 'cool front' on Sunday.  Temperature is supposed to drop to a balmy 95 degrees.  I can't WAIT!!

Have a nice weekend.