may flicks

this month was pretty decent as far as movie watching goes.  i would have to say i filled my netflix account with pretty good choices (of course, i'm the only judge of that!) looking through my list, i also see that it was another very "nicholas sparks-y" kind of month.  one was recorded on my dvr, one was a netflix rental, and the other was a big screen adventure for jenny's birthday.  i'm hooked, not going to lie.  though, i think i've gotten to the point where i've seen all the movie versions, and it's down to just reading the books.  i will have to double check with my two resident nicholas sparks authorities though.

the only let down of this month of movies?  charly.  i had such high hopes after loving the book, and hearing good things about the movie.  but it was just... really weird at parts.  it left me feeling like i need to reread the book to see how much of it actually did happen.  can't see myself adding that one to my movie collection though :/

stand by me (1986)
nights in rodanthe (2008)
charly (1968)
no reservations (2007)
dear john (2010)
the lucky one (2012)
mamma mia (2008)
you've got mail (1998)
the last song (2010)
one for the money (2012)
big fish (2003)

may reads

i feel like this month i finally got back on my reading game.  after finishing the hunger games book 1 last month, i  stumbled across one of those "if you liked __________, consider these" lists.  i read the book uglies awhile back, and thought it was okay.  i decided to give it a second chance this month, as well as the sequel to it.  i would say they were a pretty adequate read.  after i finish my current book (which will start the list for next month) i will probably be working my way through finishing the uglies trilogy, as well as hopefully getting my hands on "mockingjay" just to complete my hunger games read.
and on a side not, not related to trilogies & sequels, i absolutely loved how real jodie sweetin got about her past in her biography.  it's crazy to read the sad truths about the faces you watched growing up on tv, but very empowering to see how they overcame their struggles.  it's definitely a book that i would buy to add to my personal shelves at home.
uglies - scott westerfield
unsweetined - jodie sweetin w. john warech
catching fire - suzanne collins
pretties - scott westerfield

the past few weekends

i'm realizing now that i had a whole bunch of blog worthy things that happened, but never posted them... the month of may's weekends have already been crazy so far, and they're about to keep coming through june.  well, i guess things have been crazy since mid april, but we'll just start from may as far as this post goes.  here's a little bit of everything that has gone on the past 2 weekends
kelcey's dance performance at CRC
let me start off by stating who this "lovely" group of people are. left to right you'll see ben, stephanie, andrea, kelcey & me.  we've dubbed ourselves "benny & the jets" after our first friday night dinner out together at mels where benny & the jets was coincidentally playing on the jukebox.  the five of us are the tag team of dance & gym coaches that do the friday night classes out at natomas & have bonded together over random meals & other amazing things, like my beautiful drawing of lion king on "draw something".
the first friday of this month, kelcey had a school performance at CRC, & "guilted" us all in to going.  haha, i kid.  but she did give us a hard time if we were thinking about going & didn't actually commit. anyways, andrea & i jammed out to wherever the heck that school is after we got off to meet with the other two, to watch kelcey's show.  now, i've danced with kelcey for YEARS. she's perky, bubbly & full of energy.  well, apparently CRC decided to change that. this show she was scary, dark, & downright creepy. well, she got kidnapped during one point (where i was "concerned" for her being in the audience, and got kicked for yelling for her.  haha) and when the kidnapper "slit" her neck (creepy, right?) they actually gave her that lovely scratch we're all pointing at. as you can see, benny & my fellow jets aren't as concerned about her as i am.  don't worry kelcey, i've got your back!
erika's bridal shower #2

this second bridal shower was a lot less stressful, that's for sure!  this time, all erika & i had to do was show up & enjoy.  her mom jenny & her friend jennifer did an excellent job!  it was on may 5th, so there was a cinco de mayo theme to it, complete with chips & salsa & build your own taco salads. YUM. i even managed to win a prize at this one! haha. oh, & after the crazy baby shower sunburn experience from the week before, i remembered to put sunscreen on. big plus.
we then headed through town in to penryn's finest of bars (pretty sure it's the ONLY one) and hung out for awhile with her mom's friends & future mother in law... and her 15 year old sister. haha. which is funny, because i'm pretty sure the LAST time i was at the VC i was 15 or 16, having world's worst carwash for colorguard.  emily just sat there reading the hunger games.  real party animal, that girl. oh, and if you ever go to the VC... their seasoned fries are AMAZING. erika got the ones with garlic on them, & they were SO good!

jenny's early birthday semi-surprise
yeah, it's only a semi surprise.  i wasn't going to tell her until the day of, but i caved, and figured she should know what we were going to be doing. thanks to twitter, i saw that wayne brady was coming to sacramento the weekend before jenny's actual birthday.  i bought us tickets, & proceeded to tell her what was going on when we were doing our march of dimes walk. this past saturday was the big night, so we got all "fancied" up for a night on the town.  dinner at pluto's eatery, made a return to kohl's (classy, i know) and then we found our way to punchline, and sat on the floor in line to get in.  we got there an hour before doors opened, which was superb, because we got great seats! the show was fantastic, wayne was just as hilarious as expected.  and then this happened: before the show, there were 4 slips of paper on each table.  2 of them were to write song suggestions down, and 2 were to ask questions.  we filled the song ones out first, leaving the other two for the couple that was at our table with us.  well, they weren't touching them, so we took them (after asking of course) and both of us wrote something along the lines of it being jenny's 24th birthday, can we have a picture with you?  well, our songs didn't get picked, but my question did!  at the bottom i wrote a stupid back up question of "if you were to write a sitcom, what would it be about" and he turned it on me and made me choose something for them to act out.  first thing that came to mind, as dumb as it sounded when it came out of my mouth, was dueling wedding photographers.  well, they acted out "oh snap!" the new tv show apparently coming this fall, and promised us a photo.  after the show was over, and after people made their way out, once of the bouncers took us to the back to wait for him to be ready.  we shook hands, thanked him, and he was so kind & down to earth.  got out photo, big grins on our face the rest of the night as we headed to denny's, for what else than oreo sundaes!
so there is the first two weeks of may in a nutshell.  coming up in the second half of the month is jenny's actual birthday & a dance demo for work (next saturday), erika's first dress fitting (the week after that), and then june is here!  bachelorette party, wedding & dance recital.  3 weekends in a row.  hopefully i'll remember to share some more :)

baby jam's eeyore quilt

i'm finally getting around to updating, the last few weekends have been pretty action packed, with the next few to keep up with that trend!  no joke, my saturdays are packed clear through in to june, with only one weekend off in the mix.  party hardy!  about a week and a half ago, i was at jessica's baby shower for baby jam, who is due to appear in just a few short months!  when i first got my "facebook invite" for the shower, i knew i had to make something good.  i went through my fabric box and looked at everything pink, but nothing jumped out.  i wandered the aisles of joann's for anything, but nothing.  it was on that trip (while texting lisa) that i got my brand new idea for the quilt.  i rushed home, hopped on ebay and typed "eeyore fabric" in to the search bar.  if you know jessica (well, if you don't, you will in a second) you know how much she LOVES eeyore.  i remember her room growing up was covered in eeyore stuffed animals.  EVERYWHERE.  her first tattoo (at least i'm pretty sure it was her first ones) was an angel/devil eeyore duo on her back.  so of course, i HAD to do something eeyore for her little girl.
the front was based off a pattern i saw on pinterest, which was originally comprised of a bunch of little triangles pieced together. i decided to keep the middle pieces "whole" so that eeyore would be better featured throughout the quilt.  the triangles were sewn to the top left and bottom right, in order to keep the lines straight for the next step.  i sewed the columns together, and then sewed the five rows to make the quilt top.  the last part for the top was the side pieces, which were just created from half hexagons connected by triangles in between to finish the shapes.
the back was pieced literally from what i had left. half was the blue dots from the outer hexagons, and half was the purple leftover from the triangles. the top and bottom edges were pieced together with eeyore, so he would be seen on the back as well.  my grandma did the quilting for me, this time in diamonds around the eeyores & side triangles.
the pink binding came from my box o' fabric collection, and i think it tied it all together quite nicely.  i later found out that the baby's room theme is purple and brown... well... at least there is a hint of purple in there with the dots!  needless to say, i think jessica was a little excited about it, just from her reaction :)
pinterest link to original pattern: click here
hexagon & triangle template by: quilt sense
and if you head on over to my photography blog today, you'll also see jessica & adam's maternity portrait session

wordless wednesday

april flicks

i'm pretty all about instagram-ing things these days... can you tell?  anyways, this month was pretty much a good month for movie choices.  there were a few odd decisions i made (case and point: xanadu) but other than that, they were all pretty dang good.  21 jump street was down right hilarious, message in a bottle was pretty romantic, and of course, bridesmaids & crazy, stupid, love made for an EXCELLENT girls night with betsy & jenny.  the movie that stands out to me the most from this month?  i am sam.  i don't know how or why i didn't see that movie sooner, but the entire storyline behind it is just so sweet and adorable.  if you haven't seen it, i highly suggest it.  it gets a "will hunt this movie down at dimple records" rating on my personal movie enjoyment scale :)

21 jump street (2012)*
garden state (2004)
the object of my affection (1998)
bridesmaids (2011)*
crazy, stupid, love (2011)*
he's just not that in to you (2009)
some kind of wonderful (1987)
footloose (2011)
i am sam (2001)
xanadu (1980)
war horse (2011)
must love dogs (2005)
message in a bottle (1999)
little black book (2004)