super saturday & visit to the dorffs

I started a new job yesterday!  I am doing the same thing - activities with the elderly and those with dementia - but now I am working at Mt. Diablo Center, part of Rehabilitation Services of Northern California.  Instead of a home where people live 24/7, this place is a day-care facility where families or board-and-cares can drop off their loved ones for a day of activities from 9:30 to 3:00.  This means that I won't have to work evenings, weekends, or holidays . . whoooo hooooo!!

But before I started this new job, we had a fabulous weekend!

Ben went on a long bike ride on Saturday while I went to ballet class.  Then I had Super Saturday - a many-hour-long Relief Society event where we craft, eat dinner, and do service projects.  Apparently everybody knows what Super Saturday is, but I'd never heard of it until we moved here.  The theme this year was Super {Slumber} Saturday so I got to craft, etc. in my sweat pants!  Best.  Here are the two cute things I made - 

On the left is a wreath made out of paper flowers made out of old book pages.  Let's be honest - Shelley made most of my flowers because I am not that talented . . but I glued them all to the wire-hanger-turned-wire-circle!

On the right is a Christmas advent calendar made out of/on to a 24-count mini muffin tin!  Each muffin space is covered with a square piece of cardstock, with Christmas patterned scrap-book paper glued on top.  Then we stamped numbers on and added any embellishments we wanted.  To secure the cardstock, we cut sticky magnet strips really small and stuck them on each corner.  To count down to Christmas, I will put candy and/or a Christmas-related task like reading a scripture, watching a Christmas movie, etc. in each square.  I'm excited!  It turned out way cuter than I imagined!

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Some of our very best friends, DJ & Laurel, moved to California to attend Stanford Law and we are so stoked to live nearby again!  We spent all of Sunday after church down in Stanford with them.  What fun!  We enjoyed a lovely lunch, a delightful walk around campus, and some good old catch-up chatting.  Oh, and let's be frank - little Lincoln was terrified of Ben, but he sure loved me!

 We also discussed what personality types we are according to the Myers-Briggs test and how they match up to the Harry Potter characters' personalities charted using the Myers-Briggs test.  If you're trying to figure out what I'm trying to mean, look here and here.  Well, Ben & I hadn't taken the test so we did, and it turns out that I match up with none other than . . . Neville Longbottom!  HA!

a few of our favorite things party

A couple of weeks ago, one of the girls in our ward threw a little party titled "A Few of Our Favorite Things."  Each girl brought one of her "favorite things" and we exchanged them white-elephant style.  It was totally fun to get together with all the ladies and see what some of the favorite things were.  I thought it was such a great idea that I wanted to record it for future reference and ideas!  

These are the things that were "favorites" - 

~ pedicure gift card

~ latte bowls from Anthropologie

~ lip balm from Anthropologie

~ candles from Anthropologie

~ Tigi Bed Head hair products: After Party, Head Rush, Dry Shampoo

~ more candles from Anthropologie

~ Cover Girl mascara

~ Argon Oil from Sephora

~ Zoku Slushie Maker from Williams-Sonoma

~ Urbio products

~ See's Candy (that's what I brought)

~ Urban Decay make-up setting spray

~ Essie nail polish

~ scarves

~ toasted coconut chips

~ Australian licorice

~ a Silpat (silicone baking sheet)

~ Popcornopolis

halloween garlands di-myself

Okay so I had so much fun over General Conference weekend crafting some Halloween decor for our apartment.  I don't even like Halloween, but the crafting was fun.  I will say this though - they would definitely all look better and cuter if we lived in a nice house without ugly walls and with a mantle - but, I made them and I think that on their own, they're totally cute.

The first one - Fabric Halloween Banner - you can find the tutorial HERE.

It was so fun picking out these fabrics.  Because you only need 1 yard of fabric total, I picked out 1/8 yard of 8 different fabrics.  That way, I got to pick out lots of patterns and it was really cheap - about $6.

This banner is so cute, it may be my favorite - I call it "little ghosties" - and you can find the tutorial HERE.

I didn't follow the tutorial exactly.  Instead of doing a one layer ghost with a straw on the back for the string to pass through, I did two layer ghosts and glued the string in between each layer of felt.  This way it can be seen from both sides if needed.  I also didn't embroider the faces because I don't have that kind of talent or patience; I drew them on with a black Sharpie.

The two other garlands are way cute, too - you can find the tutorial for the googly eye garland HERE, and the other is a simple paper chain and we all know how to do that.  

For the googly eye garland, I didn't use fishing line like the tutorial instructs.  I saved my money and used the same string I had used for the ghosts.  It's pretty simple - just glue two eyes together with the string in between, and make sure that the string is towards the top of the eye balls or else they will hang horizontally and no one wants that.

When I made the paper chain garland, I used 4 different Halloween papers - one with a pattern and three without.  I also cut the strips a lot thinner and shorter that we did when we were kids - it's a little bit cuter and more mature-looking.  I laid them out in a pattern before using a hot glue gun to secure each link.

I made a good investment for all of these crafts: a low-temperature hot glue gun - it saved my fingers lots of pain!

So now I'm really struggling to make all of the garlands look cute together.  It may be too much with all four.

I have one set of garland on a blank wall that I am pretending is a mantel over a fireplace.  Ha!

The other set of garlands is in between our kitchen and living room.  It looks like a lot in this picture, but I like these 4 together here.

To help with my pretend-mantel-wall, I made some Halloween artwork to go above the garlands.  Just simple canvases with painter's tape in abstract design.  I used the colors from the fabric, also just Halloween colors, and when the paint had dried, the tape peeled right off.

I'm still playing around with all of the garlands here . . I keep taking the paper chain off and putting it back on and I keep rearranging.  Oh, if only I had a mantel!!  I'm sure it would look good then.  Right?

I think I'll do it like this.

Anywho, it was fun.  Happy Halloween in this household!

lately in september

Sooo, even though I may have quit my job at the end of August, September was a busy month!  I had jury duty for three drudgerous days, I've had lots of doctors appointments because my body (for which I am grateful) is often a silly thing, and then we spent a weekend down the coast at Ben's (totes impressive) triathlon.  Later in September I had some time for myself and I made this way cute wreath.  I'm totally proud of myself.  Every time I come home to this door I smile.

I also tried my hand at flower arranging.  Unfortunately it was for a funeral I was helping with, but it was neat to (kind of) learn a new skill, order flowers in bulk like a real florist, and spend an afternoon working on the arrangements.

Now I'm working with some puff paint and some pumpkins for my next craft and I'm excited. 

I also signed up for ballet classes!  Hahaha ohhhhmygoodnessss - I took my first class in 4 years on Saturday and I am still SO SORE.  I told Ben that after the second exercise my quads were quivering and I couldn't make them stop.  Then he asked me how many exercises there were in the whole class and when I said "like 50!" he died laughing.  I prepaid for 10 classes so I have to go back . . but I'm not sure my body can do it anymore!  I sure am not very graceful, and none of my leotards fit me.  Ha!

Ben's New Year's Resolution was to become a Yelp Elite, and he did!  You'll have to ask him what that is all about.  One of the perks of being a Yelp Elite is free admission to events throughout each month, and last week we got free tickets to the California Shakespeare Theater.  We saw Shakespeare's "The Winter's Tale" and it was totally fun - it's outside so we got to bundle up and cuddle, and the theater and surrounding area are totes gorg!

The next night my parents came up to the Bay Area and took us out to dinner and then to the San Francisco Symphony.  It was really fun and we so enjoy every time my parents come to visit us!  I love them!

 Then, I went home Sunday - Monday to babysit my siblings.  Mostly they behaved themselves and were really awesome.  ;)  They are so cute and so grown up these days!  The highlight was getting to see Tommy's final cross country meet.  He finished in first place and ended the season undefeated (so proud!!).  Here he is with his gold medal.

Things are good here in the Myers household and I honestly can't believe that it's October.  Sheesh!