around here: may 2014

paraphernalia stuck to the fridge from greg's ragnar race // this is why our crazy brazilian neighbors keep me up at night // fruity flowers // my favorite new view {from charlestown} of the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge in boston  // home alone and doing 10 things at the same time // the backyard jungle // early am run, right after the rain // a good chunk of our kitchen stuff is older than i am // peach puree and cake vodka {yumm} // pattern testing and breaking in my new cover

currently: may 2014

wearing: jorts {see above...}

watching: Frontline: Prison State

reading: What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast by Laura Vanderkam

hearing: our party animal neighbors after 10pm on sunday nights {ugh}

seeing: blue skies again {finally}

enjoying: the breeze through our windows

spending: lots of time in the backyard {yay!!}

missing: running trails in michigan

drinking: mojitos with coconut rum {it's delish}

refusing: to wear long pants {hence the tall socks....}

making: progress on this month's goals

diy: super easy and reversible ironing board cover

remember back to that fancy pants cloth napkin tutorial? and the terribly awful {yikes!} ironing board cover i told you to ignore? well i finally got around to getting a new cover for it. unfortunately vintage ironing boards aren't the same size as new ones....boo.

in my many years of stitchin, i've learned that leaving your old covers/pads on your board makes for a very soft {but firm}, awesome ironing surface. when you make a new cover like this, it will be big enough to keep all of the old covers covered and under control ;)

you'll need:
2 yards of each quilting cotton fabric {4 yards total}
3 1/2 yards of 1/4" drawstring {rope/twill tape/ribbon} i used 1/4" satin ribbon

step 1: wash/preshrink your fabric

spread it out on the floor, right sides together, and lay your ironing board on top.

step 2: trace around your board

give it a 6" border and cut it out.

 

step 3: stitch around the edge

using a 1" seam allowance, leaving  4-5" open on the square end. then press both edges in.

step 4: add buttonholes
with the edges pressed in, add 2 buttonholes to one layer, on the square end.

step 5: turn it right side out
and press everything nice and flat.

step 6: top stitch
1/4" and 3/4" from the edge, all the way around.

step 7: drawstring time!

carefully open up your buttonholes and thread your drawstring.

tada!

ps, if you like it, pin it ;) please and thank you!

currently: the playlist in my head

i don't listen to music very often, usually my brain is occupied by a podcast or NPR, something that makes me pay attention and follow along.  unfortunately that doesn't stop {the most} random songs from popping into my head on a regular basis. this is also when greg walks in on me dancing like a crazy person, to the music i can only hear :/

so here's what has been playing in my head lately:
{oh yes, this is real life. i'm sorry AND you're welcome ;)}

off my butt: couch to 5k

via

so i joke {quite often} that if you want to run with me, be prepared to walk. a lot. which, lately, is pretty true. don't want to be a fast runner, nor a long distance runner, i just like to get outside and force some fresh {city} air into my lungs.

even though i'm getting out there pretty regularly now, the run/walk progress is pretty low and i'm not really pushing myself {mostly i'm too lazy to increase the intervals on my watch}. so, instead of using precious brain power to figure out what my run should be, i've given in to the c25k program.

to make it even easier on myself, i've downloaded an awesome app on my phone.  it does all of the math, the counting, and the buzzing all on its own. so now, all i have to do is lace up, turn on my crazy podcasts and go, wooohooo!

sunday i finished week 3 day 1, so {fingers crossed} by mid june, i should be able to cover 3 {turtle-slow} miles, non-stop. so follow along, cheer me on, start your own, do whatever you want, just get off your butt :)

hello may 2014

ugh, i don't even want to talk about march's goals {i did update them though} and let's pretend april never happened, mmmmmk? so without further ado, here's how may looks:

> this month {and it should be every month too} i want to have all of my posts pre-written for the week ahead. i feel so much better when they automatically post at 5am.  if i end up working on them that day, i put it off and get myself stuck in an awful mental tug of war. technically i'm already way behind with this post, but that's ok. you've gotta start somewhere, right? update: the first two weeks worked out beautifully, then kaboom! trying to write from my couch wasn't very successful, so back to scheduled library time

> i tote my work computer to and from work every day, {and far too many other places too :/} without any protection {yikes!!}. so in keeping with my new years resolution, i'm gonna make it a safe and snug case. update: too busy pattern testing and stitching other things ;)

> i've been kickin ass with sorting through my winter clothes and donating a ton of them {a girl really should limit the number of sweatpants she owns} but i still have quite a few boxes with random books and papers {and who knows what else} in them. so it's time to sort it all out and send at least 2 boxes to the curb. update: the official box count remains the same, but as i switched out my winter/summer clothes, i sent another 2 bags packin

> i've been systematically chipping away at my my debt using the snowball method, and now it's time for the final karate chop on my smallest student loan.  it would be tough {but do-able} if it were any of the other 10 months with only 2 paychecks, but this is one of the magical 3 bi-weekly paycheck months, so no excuses! update: success!! although i was super disappointed to log into my shared student loan/credit card account and to see no trace of my loan :( all i wanted was to see a $0 balance. oh well.

> we've been keeping some of our nearest and dearest looking pretty dapper lately, so in june, keep your eyes peeled for your chance to look like a stud ;) update: coming very, very soon!!!!!