Category Archives: family

mad men dress challenge

I’m finally getting organized and submitting ‘the red dress’ to the Mad Men Dress Challenge on Julia Bobbin’s blog. We seem to be pretty equally obsessed with the Mad Men era clothing so I’m glad to finally be involved in this sewing event.
Joan Holloway wears all her dresses so well, especially the red ones. We decided to give the ‘Joan in Red’ look a try, complete with an updo hairdo but sans the red hair. You may recall this dress from the Preference dance (a few months ago), chosen by my vintage-obsessed daughter Q:
Q’s looking just a good as Joan at the Sterling|Cooper|Draper|Price office Christmas party (Mad Men season 4) with- hopefully- slightly less suggestive dance moves throughout the night.

The back of the dress was a gorgeous cut, only missing a bow in a true look-alike contest.

I can’t recall where I picked up the pattern, but it was so easy, just like the pattern says. I can’t wait to make it again. The avocado green dress in the picture above is also from a 1950′s era pattern I made about a year ago, here are more pictures of that dress and pattern .

For the making of Joan’s red dress look here.
For the event photos go here.

For the Mad Men apparel obsessed, here’s my Pinterest board stash of inspiration.

And Julia’s got a great Mad Men Pinterest board too.

into the wild

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Our spring break story…
I took the kids backpacking into Coyote Gulch in Escalante Utah, one of the most beautiful places on earth, a spot I’ve been backpacking before- but not the kids, not yet at least.

We joined some friends and went into the canyon through ‘Crack in the Wall’, a new entry point for me. It took some lowering of backpacks with ropes and then shimmying through a narrow gap to get down to the canyon floor.

Beginning with Stevens Arch (I believe) there are beautiful arches every few miles, one of the spectacular features of this hike.

Jug Handle Arch

Jacob Hamblin Arch, the most famous of the Coyote Gulch line up.

Ohh and a natural bridge too.

The Escalante River meanders it’s way through the canyon, cascading over waterfalls.

The leaves were out on the Aspen trees and buds appeared on the other foliage. We were about a month too early to see all the desert flowers in bloom.

And a bit early for swimming, only about 70 degrees (air temp) for a high. We enjoyed the waterfalls from a distance, with just our feet in the water.

Ahh… sleeping in the sand, great for kids and the weary Ambien induced traveler. The star gazing was phenomenal with moon light casting shadows on the cliff walls.

Backpacking breakfast of champions- hot chocolate and oatmeal, on a rock shelf table.

Rock shelf table (1st night) better than sandy floor/tiny rock table (2nd night). But it’s-all-good, just happy to be camping along side a beautiful arch.

Teens, all in a row, heading back across the slick rock after a fantastic few days in the great red rock outdoors.

So, now it’s back to real life and work and lots of sand covered laundry. But we’ve got a head full of magical memories we’ll never forget!

teenager birthday time

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It’s birthday time once again in these parts, this month belongs to the Doodle. Thirteen wonderful years for me, the mother of the cleverest crafter, cook, good attitude gal and joker in the West. She’s the kid who asks, “what’s for dinner tonight?” the moment she walks in from school everyday.
Luckily, “Can I make dinner?” are usually her next words. To which my reply is nearly always “Yes!” Here’s my rendition of the cake she ordered off pinterest:
After making all those ruffles, my forearms were burning like I’d just led a 200 ft. 5.11b rock climbing route.

The Doodle and her girlfriends ready to dig in then run off and play hours of night games all over the neighborhood.

Love her new hipster glasses she just picked out for herself.

This is about it for decorations- but 5 banners- isn’t that enough?

Here’s Instagram and the Mayfair filter, making everything look better.

Process evident picture- iPhone, lighter, sharpie, Cheetos puffs as appetizer (another personal request, party essential) right out there in the open.

Three layers of chocolate and an extreme amount of frosting. Yum.

I don’t know how else to say it… they grow up SO FAST! Cherish every minute, even the tough ones because sooner that you think they’ll be heading off out the door.