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12 December 2009

and they're off...


I'll be taking a break here, until mid-January and making memories with my family on our travel blog. We are off to Australia until January 14th 2010- follow along on the adventure at Traveling Is My Hobby.
Have a wonderful holiday season- wherever you may be in the world!

09 December 2009

speaking of maps

Steve O has been all about maps lately, dreaming about the book Maps As Art (while I have been dreaming about seeing the backs of my eyelids)
In all his visions and obsession with cartography, Steve O found Ian Hundley a Brooklyn based artist who makes really rad, inspiring quilts of maps. Watch a video of Ian Hundley here.
Perhaps we've been thinking of maps because in about 4 days we leave for a month long holiday to Australia. After a year of planning, saving and mapping- it's finally going down. All six of us, 1 RV, 30 days, a couple of holidays, and one giant continent. You can follow along on the adventure at the Traveling Is My Hobby blog.

08 December 2009

Atlas Shrugged


I've been spending lots of hours sewing these last few weeks- or months- I can't recall, it blends... Anyway, I've done some serious viewing- (really working my way through the netflix queue) and even more listening. I just finished Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged.
Entertaining, suspenseful and intriguing-perhaps now among my top ten reads ever.
Rand explores the philosophies of objectivism, liberty, altruism; objectivism meaning essentially having a objective reason and purpose for every action you commit. The book is the story of a railroad executive who struggles against the philosophy of not only altruism, but government enforced altruism. But the plot is about more than politics or business. The plot is also a great mystery, the reader gradually learning who is responsible for turning out the lights of world.
One need not agree with all of Rand's views to appreciate Atlas Shrugged, I believe it's meant to be compelling and thought provoking. Much is left up to you to interpret, to think through for yourself.
I just got a little happy flutter in my stomach when read that it's going to be made into a movie in 2011. Dagny Taggert played by Angelina Jolie or Charlize Theron, I vote for Angelina, she'd make a great Dagny- and Atlas Shrugged, if it's done right... an amazing movie. I wonder... who will be John Galt?

30 November 2009

a video about...

Noelle Olpin from thursday art on Vimeo.


me, can you believe it (I'm not worthy). My lovely spouse made this web spot about me. It's very funny watching yourself talk and do all the things you do.

28 November 2009

Beehive Bazaar video bio


Here is one of the video bios for the upcoming Beehive Bazaar featuring the art of Samantha Card. The video was made by my husband Steve and his partner Tim, they run the production company- Oi Documentary Services.

23 November 2009

all craft weekend

My craftiest ladies and I headed up to Bear Lake this weekend for and craft-a-thon. We started sewing/sanding/painting/cutting and knitting Saturday morning and did not stop until Sunday night. Lots of laughs, great food, too many treats- loads of rad crafts finished for the upcoming Beehive Bazaar. Good times all around.


Meet 'Rosie'- an experiment in simple hand puppetry by Stephanie. I believe she and others will be available at the Bazaar.... 'cuz I know you want one.

19 November 2009

an admission of guilt- fangs or fur?



I must admit, I will be seeing New Moon tonight at midnight- a little extra activity tacked onto book group tonight. But at least I'm not waiting in line overnight to be one of the first to sample a burger, shake and fries at the new In n' Out Burger in Orem. I mean Really!? The things some people will do...

16 November 2009

skirts & books



I've been making wrap around skirts for Beehive Bazaar all weekend, and listening to Hunger Games- my pick for our book group book this month. I watched my 13 year old devour it in days, then polish off Catching Fire (the sequel) in the few days after that. Needless to say... I got a bit addicted and finished off both books too.
Lots of sewing and listening to tales of adventure and romance in a post-apocalyptic world this weekend, not a bad mixture for a cold, snowy weekend.

13 November 2009

spoon me

















Why we love Pierre the Cat...
In case you might be asking, "What is that young man doing in a girl bed?" Well, bed switching has been very popular this week. You know, almost as awesome as sleeping on the couch or the floor of the family room.

09 November 2009

best SNL skit with Taylor Swift


This silly sketch had me doubled over laughing... hit a little too close to home I think.

06 November 2009

Holiday knick knacks


I sure do love every single stinkin' Christmas knicky-knacky item from Anthropologie this year. What's not to love?

BTW... the Urban Dictionary definition of knick knack is- "a small piece of worthless crap with little or no purpose." I'm going to try and remember that next time I walk into Anthropologie.

04 November 2009

what I am...


I'll tell you what I'm not.... a very good journal keeper. I just ran into a journal I started in 2007... and never finished. I always have the best of intentions, and I really like looking back at what was written/drawn/glued/cataloged. I suppose it just finding a bit of time here and there and not having any expectations whatsoever. As God my witness, I promise to do better.
Journaling that I admire can be found here.

03 November 2009

project 1000


Steve O's project/costume from Call's Halloween party: take 1000 pictures. By the end of the night- 2100 photos were taken on 4 cameras, edited down to 1000. Lots of good images, costumes and fun. Check out 500 pictures here and 500 more here.

View my favorite picture of the night here- remember the SNL skit when Justin Timberlake was a backup dancer for Beyonce's All The Single Ladies?

28 October 2009

Max the king















Costume parade today at school- I've been sewing non-stop to meet the early deadline.
We've got a smore, a Frida looking princess, and a 1958 housewife lady too.
Got to get some good pictures on Halloween day.

22 October 2009

Can I finish a project please? Now I've got some Halloween costumes to work on first, ahead of all these stacks. We got C talked into Max from Where the Wild Things Are after he saw the movie- yea! I can't wait to make that costume.

19 October 2009

weekend wrap-up

We spent the fall break weekend in Escalante with my family. My brother Adam's project is a wood fired pizza kitchen, soon-to-be restaurant as part of the Slot Canyons Inn. Adam was out of town at a wedding, but we gave the oven a test run- and fell in love. Steve O was in heaven and getting the hang of the peel after just a pizza or two.
Two nights in a row we fired up the oven and made pizza until our tummies ached. On night #2 we branched out and made little chocolate cakes in ramekins. The cake was best when pulled out of the oven early (about 5 minutes) left undercooked in the middle, with a scoop of ice cream on the top.
We are heading back down for Thanksgiving and doing some research on cooking a turkey (let's face it- everything for Thanksgiving dinner) in some wood fired oven bliss (and then building one in our own backyard).
This pizza was one of our favorites. The simplest dough recipe made the best crust. I ain't lying when I say pizza cooked in a wood fired oven is heavenly.
The pizza pictured here has a whole wheat crust, honey mustard sauce thinly spread on the bottom, caramelized onions, bacon, toasted pecans, parmesan reggiano cheese and apple slices on the top. Just thinking about it is making my mouth water.

We took an afternoon and went to Devil's Rock Garden- out on the Hole-in-the-Rock road. Gorgeous fall day, I took lots of lovely pictures. Kids and cousins ran amuck. The desert was perfect- about 70 degrees, not a cloud in the sky. More pictures here.

14 October 2009

some art

I am always willing to sew up whatever the kids desire in the way of costumes for Halloween. As you can see, I have my work cut out for me this year. Except when it comes to C, who want's to be Bob from Monsters vs. Aliens. If you've seen the movie, you would know that this is pretty much a blue ghost costume- not very exciting to make or look at. I've always wanted to build a Max (from Where The Wild Things Are) costume- but C won't have it. Maybe I should make a big Max costume for Steve O (the Daddy)- he's so excited about the movie- he'd wear it. ...And then make all the kids into the monsters, now that would be funny.
They are buttons, the button that holds your pants up... yes, I was a little worried, and I had to ask. I've been trying to encourage leaving the 'pant button' out of his work, but they keep turning up in all his art. (Perhaps now is the time to do some explaining to Mrs. Tanner, his kindergarten teacher.)

12 October 2009

18 wonderful years


It just occurred to me that today is our 18th anniversary. So, I sent my spouse a text acknowledging the date- I know, super romantic huh?
It sort of reminds me of year 5 or 6 when both of us completely forgot until about a week later. At least it was both of us that forgot that year. It may be a year without much fanfare on the actual date (Steve O is in Chicago) and that's just fine with me, because I wouldn't trade the last 13 years for anything (really, this is Steve O's joke not mine). I love you Tiger.
In the photo collage above: one of the pictures from the roll taken when we got engaged. I can't find the actual photo that made it into the wedding announcement- but you get the idea= toddlers.
And... a few of our accomplishments, or works in progress.

08 October 2009

Halloween garland

One of the upsides of collecting fabric- you don't need to go to the fabric store when a project like this pops into your head. I could have gone on forever- adding different fabrics, and ended up with about 10 feet of garland, but I stopped... probably to take someone to gymnastics or soccer.

These triangles were cut with regular scissors (this method makes you feel like you're back in elementary school) or a roller cutter (the easier and faster way). But, I think I like the look of pinking shears better, and the triangles fray better (after washing) with pinking shear edges.

The finished project- barely fits the mantle- good thing I stopped when I did...
I'm going to turn the piles of fabric in my sweat shop into piles of garlands for the Beehive Bazaar in December. I'll get a few Halloween garlands made up- look in my etsy shop.

05 October 2009

all pieced

As I was finishing piecing this quilt top, the silly saying that you see posted in quilters sewing rooms or quilting shops all over the place kept coming back to me. It goes something like this, "My husband asked me one day why I buy big pieces of fabric only to cut them up and sew it back together again." I think some version of this line rolls through every quilters head when piecing a quilt top. In the thick of it you can feel like you're going a little crazy. But I do love the finished product.

01 October 2009

working on a quilt



I know it seems like all I do is ride my bike and stuff, but, I promise- I've been doing lots of sewing too. I'm making this quilt for one of the rooms at the Slot Canyons Inn, my folks Bed and Breakfast. My Mom picked out the pattern from the Kaffe Fassett book- Passionate Patchwork. The design is called shirt-stripe boxes. I must say I'm always very impressed with the design decisions she makes. No doilies and frilly knick knacks cluttering the rooms at her Inn, it's all very simple and tasteful- hats off Grandma Jo (and thanks for letting me help you).
I love the abstract quilts, I've had fun putting this one together. With any luck, I'll have this all pieced and off to be quilted tomorrow. I might need luck and magic.

29 September 2009

fall colors

The wind blew my camera over as the timer was set to pop and accidentally snapped this- I love it.

Took advantage of the last day of good weather this week and went on a mountain bike ride in Park City. The colors were amazing. If you are in Utah and everything above 6000 ft. isn't covered with snow this weekend- you've got to get out into the hills and take a peek. The colors this year are outta sight.

25 September 2009

yard envy

Q and I stopped by the Checkered Umbrella Boutique in Springville today. We ran into a bunch of crafty lady friends and yucked it up a bit, did some shopping, and coveted this yard.
Here is the scoop on the Boutique:
Friday, Sept. 25th 10am-8pm
Saturday, Sept. 26th 10am-5pm
411 E 400 N
Springville, UT

If you know Springville, you have driven by this house on 400 E.- we know it by the tiny house in the backyard. Today we found out the tiny house used to be a shed, but is now 3 bedrooms (no plumbing).
Someday, I will build a tiny house in my backyard, with or without plumbing- mark my words.
This is a tiny chair too, by the tiny pond. You just can't tell from the picture. Gorgeous, very creative yard. I loved the upside down umbrella's handing in the trees for the boutique. Lovely.


Hey angel baby... get back to work.

19 September 2009

handmade runway



I love the paper flowers that make up this runway. Amazingly cool. For more inspiring images of the paper runway and 'super-fashion, mega-fashion' (as our friend from Barcelona once said as she struggled to find the proper english words to describe 'high fashion') look here.

17 September 2009

MB ride


Should have done a lot of things today- went for a mountain bike ride instead. It was wonderful.

15 September 2009

the state of health care


In general I don't like to rant and rave online- or read about people's gripes but, I just can't stand it anymore.
I just got off the phone with our health insurance company Humana One, in which I was transferred from department to department- then treated like crap. I do nothing but hand these people wads of cash every month and get very little in return. If this is how the healthy people who might need a trip to the doctors office for a strep test once every six months are treated, I can't imagine how you are treated when you have a serious medical condition.
Something has got to give. This country has got to change. Give Obama a chance. All I hear from friends and people around me is worry or complaint about their health coverage. So, what are we so scared of- can it really get any worse? Come on people, grow up. Black, white, Democrat, Republican- get over it- Barack Obama is trying to help you, he's trying to help all of us.

11 September 2009

happy prankery


I want this to happen to me, maybe for my 40th birthday- with Lance at the "finish line" to give me a kiss.

09 September 2009

3 days of peace, music (but mostly quiet) and water


The weekend was spent at Lake Powell, camping in Lake Canyon. The 77 Sea Ray worked like a charm this time- we got in lots of exploring, wakeboarding and hauling the kids around on the tube until they begged for mercy or rolled off into the waves.


We found this slot at the end of Annie's Canyon. We did a little climbing around thanks to some webbing someone left behind, but we needed more climbing gear to really get anywhere. Very beautiful- you couldn't have gotten to this spot at the beginning of the summer, the lake level has gone way up.

Long exposure super fun with a burning stick. The moon was nearly full and just behind the rocks when this was taken. Something about this picture is so beautiful to me. The water temperature is exquisite this time of year, perfect for taking a dip any time of the day or night. To see more pictures look here.

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