snow day

Aaahhhhhh

So it's 10:45 am on a Sunday and I am sitting in front of my computer in a slightly disorganized room listening to Christina Aguilera. Nothing is quite as satisfying as being snowed it. :)

It's not that I'm even snowed in. We have maybe 4 inches on the ground. The wind is really intense though, creating blizzard white-out conditions, therefore making it dangerous to drive, therefore making us SNOWED in. Most people would probably be pissed off, but honestly, I couldn't care less. It's the weekend which means I usually try to pack about 7 days worth of errands and chores into 2 days, and on Sunday night I usually end up cranky and tired and generally pissed off that I have to go to work tomorrow and yet I still feel like I never got any "rest."

A snow day changes ALL of that. I can't go out. It's so sweet. I actually think my car may be covered by a tarp held down by bricks. So even if I wanted to go out, it would take too much effort. ha. SO so far I've only been awake for like, an hour, but I already feel like I've accomplished a lot of stuff. I took Lily out of his cage and danced with him to some hip hop and reggaetone, which I think he enjoyed because he whistled the whole time we were dancing around my room. I also went through my cross stitch projects so I could see what was what. I have been cross stitching so many gifts lately. I would post them here, but that would ruin the surprise. So far, I made a baby gift for my cousin:
I was really happy with the way this came out. The colors are a little softer in real life than they are in the picture, plus I didn't know what they were naming the baby yet, so I adjusted the picture so I didn't have to stitch a name. Also, I stitched it on the most gorgeous light blue fabric, as I knew they were having a boy. I even framed and matted it myself, with a dark blue mat to compliment the text and a white frame. It was sweet and simple.

Next weekend I am heading to NYC to see my supah-hot boyfriend (who is texting me right now bragging about all the snow in NYC, hahahah watch out, NEW ENGLAND'S right behind you...actually 22.5'' might be overkill) and to Long Island to go to my friend's cousin's birthday party (we have all become pretty friendly this past year, there's a group of us) ANYWAYS my point is is that I've stitched her a picture as well. Since she is going to school to become a teacher, I figured she'd need a little inspiration on her desk, especially if she has one of those really bad days. I am going to mat and frame this one myself too. I have blue paint and an unfinished frame as well as these really cute little star charms that I'm going to glue onto the frame. I also got the "Michael's Book of Crafts" out of the library for painting tips. I know I want to use crackle medium on the frames of two other pieces I've made for other birthdays, but I don't want to use that on this. I am leaning towards trying to antique the edges, like they have in this frame, but from what the book says it's a shitton of steps, and I'm not sure I'm in the mooooood for a shitton of steps, especially when I have a shitton of other projects to work on! The great thing that I have discovered since resuming my serious cross stitch addiction is that I'm very very fast. Especially when some of these pictures require less detail, though even the baby picture that required a thread color change every five seconds was completed in about 4 days. SO I am stitching up a storm. I actually went to a cross stitch shop yesterday with my mom, where I foolishly bought a $48 piece of hand dyed fabric thinking I would use it to stitch a picture for a charity auction. Yeah right. I got home and stared at it and thought "no way. I love FosterParrots, but this is insane. I am not make them a 28"x36" cross stitch masterpiece only to have it go to silent auction and have someone bid $25 on it and have a net loss. That would be insane." Now I'm not sure if this would actually happen, but it's the first year they're having this huge benefit and all the "what-ifs?" are going through my head. Like, what if no one shows or no one comes willing to spend money, or has the money to spend? Therefore, I have decided to go to plan B, which is a series of smaller parrot pictures. SOmeone else can decide how they will be sold. Also, some things I know for sure that I'm making are lovebird towels. I got a free lovebird pattern online. It's for a standard peach faced, but I think I will adapt it to have several variations, especially since the parrot people can be such drama queens about their birds. I have time I think I should make several sets of these. The pattern is pretty small too, so I may have to adapt it, but this should be a pretty straightforward design, plus it's the only parrot pattern I have thus far. I would upload the image but my computer is being a super bitch. Bitch.

SO I have the benefit stuff to do, but have til September, various wedding and birthday and baby stuff, plus I really want to try and do something fabulous for graduation, especially for Kristen who made me a QUILT which I love and adore. I know it won't be as cool as that, but if I could make something fairly original and of COURSE, Smith themed that'd be awesome. I was thinking of a "memory pillow." I swear I saw one once, but I googled it and google was like 'yeah ok, see that doesn't exist." It's a pillow with this little pocket on the back that you can slip memories into......I'd really love to do that, and have a cross stitch Smith thing on the front. I designed a saying with the Grecourt gates for the class of '03, but then never finished them (which is not such a bad thing considering, LOL) so yeah, I have til May to get on that.

Today I'm also gonna try out my MTV yoga DVD's, my resistance bands and research the New York Half Marathon I want to do. As well as scan my Africa PICTURES :)