10,000 steps

If you've seen Steve or I lately, you may have noticed that we have been wearing a pedometer.  We only have one, so we take turns wearing it.  I keep it clipped to my pocket and Steve clips it to his belt and it looks a bit like a pager. 

Wouldn't that be cool, if I had a pager in 2012?  Although sometimes I feel like admitting that I have a regular old cell phone without a texting plan is something akin to owning a pager. 

Our goal is 10,000 steps each day.  We usually make it.  We had read that 10,000 steps is appropriate for an active, healthy person.  We both strive to be active, healthy people. 

But Steve has an office job and only gets to walk on his breaks and I spend hours on end sitting at the sewing machine, so I was skeptical at first about how many steps we were taking. 

I have been pleasantly surprised at how many steps it takes to complete my regular weekly tasks.  On laundry and sheet changing day, I go up and down the stairs several times with each load.  Laundry is about 1,000 steps. 

Grocery shopping is about 1,000 steps as well.  I thought it would be more, but I'm obviously a very efficient shopper. 

Mowing the lawn is a big ticket item at about 4,000 steps.  It's super easy to reach my goal on lawn mowing day. 

And the walk that we usually take after dinner helps a lot.  Walking our neighborhood (about half an hour) is around 3,000 steps. 

10,000 steps is about five miles and I love the thought that I'm walking five miles each day!  Wearing the pedometer is a great reminder to be active, so I'll pace the house while I make phone calls, or park extra far from the store to get a few more steps in. 

I try to set mini goals throughout the day to make sure I'm on track.  It's almost noon and I've taken 3269 steps so far, so I'm doing pretty well.  Which is great, because I have yet to figure out a way to simultaneously walk and blog. 

something to celebrate

On what was possibly the least traditional Easter Sunday of my life, we moved plants around and dug beds until every muscle was sore, and then finished the day with Chinese food. 

Sometimes it's good to break from routine. 

The tradition is not the celebration and I was reminded of this early Sunday morning as I stared into the wide eyes of a five year old who asked me to connect the bunnies and eggs with Jesus on the cross. 

And I could not.  But I looked out at the crowd, more this Sunday than usual, and told them that because Jesus died for us, we celebrate.  Our celebrations may look like baked ham and biscuits, or egg hunts and candy, or bunnies and chicks.  Or they may look like dirty fingernails and wheelbarrows full of dirt and riding home from dinner with the windows down and the music turned up, holding hands. 

And while Steve took the older ones and offered the cracker and the juice, I gathered the youngest ones around and I told them about the freedom.  The freedom from sin that we all have now and the new life that is ours in Him. 

Later, I searched for signs of life in the yard.  I looked hard for bits of new life, poking up from the earth, seemingly back from the dead.  It still amazes me how they always come back. 

It still amazes me how He came back, for me. 

I thought about it all day and, in the end, it made total sense- life is the celebration.  Sunshine and spring rolls or hymns and ham- it's a heart full of freedom that makes a happy Easter. 

dreaming of

We're not hosting our traditional Easter lunch this year.  I've done so much cooking lately with all of our visitors (and we have round two arriving today!) that it just seemed like too much. 

BUT- if I were cooking for Easter, I know what I'd be making.  I may keep some of these recipes in the back of my mind for a fun, late-April meal. 

I'm dreaming of mustard glazed ham, baked onions (I'm obsessed with sweet onions lately), and maybe some biscuits and a salad with strawberries to round it out.  For appetizers, I'd make these lemon-dill chicken salad stuffed eggs- in fact, I may need to make those for lunch in the very near future.  I'm salivating just typing the words. 

And for dessert?  I'd like to have a key lime pound cake with some fresh whipped cream.  Or just a bowl of strawberries.  Is there anything better than strawberry season?  I can't think of it right now if there is. 

But instead of cooking all that, this weekend will be for relaxing.  We'll probably eat fruit and yogurt parfaits once or twice (yes those are chocolate chips- don't judge) and plenty of leftovers.  I've been eyeballing lots of plants in our yard that need to be moved and I just might get the motivation to do it.  I want to pack away the sweaters and unearth the flip-flops from under the guest bed.  I'm in full-on spring mode here.

And I'm mostly looking forward to spending time with this guy.  We've had a busy few weeks and there's nothing that sounds better to me than sitting in our back yard, chatting away the afternoon. 

Have a happy Easter!  Eat some ham on my behalf!

color craze

These days, I find myself dying for more color.  The brighter, the better.  I've come out of my winter gray hibernation. (but gray + color?  Perfect.)

I keep scanning my closet, hoping that something bright will appear.  I'll admit to wearing this yellow sweater a bit too often. 

This week I've been hard at work on a custom order for a set of eight reversible placemats.  I'm in love with them.  I am so excited to ship them off to their owner, to be used with their matching party kit.  That's my kind of party.

Even the lizards know what's up.  They were mainly brown over the winter, but this week we've seen lime green and electric blue. 



Now that I'm done sewing, I plan to spend the afternoon mowing the lawn and making berry sorbet.  I'm getting super excited about Easter, even though we don't have big plans.  Tomorrow I'll share some recipes in case you need ideas for your Easter meal!

how to use up two yards of burlap

Back in December, I bought two yards of burlap from Joann Fabrics.  I wanted to wrap it around the bottom of our Christmas tree bucket.  I loved how it looked all month and then, when January came and the tree was gone, I didn't want to put it away. 

So I kept it out, just waiting for another excuse to use it.  I finally found one when I had to make the flower arrangements for a friend's baby shower.  I cut little pieces off of the big one, but there was still a lot left. 

I continued to leave the burlap out, draped over the back of a chair.  I figured I'd be more inspired to use it if I could see it every day.  And then, last week, I was overcome with the urge to make a curtain for the shelf above our washer and dryer. 

I checked my fabric shelves for a piece that was large enough, but the shelf is 72 inches long and that would be a really long fabric scrap.  Then the burlap caught my eye.  I knew what I had to do.

I had never sewn with burlap before, but it's not unmanageable.  I learned that you can't sew too close to the edge, because it unravels, and you can only iron it on a low setting, because it smells like a locker room.  I wanted to add a little bit of color, so I cut strips of this coral-pink fabric about 3 1/2 inches wide and made a thick trim to sew along the bottom of the curtain. 

I made the actual curtain about twice the length of the shelf and then sewed gathers at the top before I hung it. 

Hanging it was tricky.  I attached five ribbon ties to the back and tied it to the shelf, but that wasn't enough to keep it taut.  I added a few clips along the back and that helped, but I am still brainstorming better ways to secure the curtain to the shelf front.

The nice thing about working with burlap (and gathers) is that you don't have to be super precise.  A little extra wrinkle here and there just adds to the charm! 

After this project, I have a medium sized piece of burlap left.  It is currently in use as a table runner, but I'm already thinking about what I could do with it next! 

when you can hear the walls creak

It's 3pm on Monday and I am still coming down from the weekend.  I am alone in the house, for the first time in five days, and it feels strange.  Nice, but strange.  I can hear all the regular house noises that are covered up by five people talking and playing guitars and embroidering things and generally having fun.

We spent a beautiful day at the lake, kayaking and picnicking.  I took off my shoes and reintroduced my ghostly white feet to the sunshine.  It was great. 

There are lots of places that I'd like to live, but on a lake is definitely in the top five. 

We showed Steve's family all of our favorite spots- the farmer's market, the view from Steve's office, our patio.  We also introduced some of them to self-serve frozen yogurt.  I think it was a hit, because we went twice in two days. 

Saturday night we went out for sushi and bocce ball.  We played on a big lawn right in the middle of the shopping center.  It felt kind of like we were in a movie. 

We had lots of fun with our guests.  We're always so thankful that people make the effort to come visit!

Today the lack of people has me feeling disoriented.  I've been wandering from room to room, staring at the piles of laundry.  Sometimes I move them around.  I ran the vacuum, both out of necessity and for a bit of noise.  I think it takes a few days to get back to normal, after a big visit. 

I'm working on some pictures of the laundry room curtain and will be back with those tomorrow.  Is anyone else getting excited about Easter?  I can't wait!

showing off

Steve's family is visiting this week and we are busy showing off our blue skies and spring blooms.  I love Charlotte in the springtime. 

I have an unfortunate habit (illness?) of making up household projects for myself right before visitors come.  Case in point: we have an unattractive shelf in our laundry room that has been covered with an old pink tablecloth for four years.  But, earlier this week, I decided that I needed to make a cute curtain for that shelf and get rid of the tablecloth.  I'm sure there was a better time to do that, but that's not how I roll.  The curtain is darn cute though- I'll share some pictures next week.

If you've been reading this blog for awhile (or you've been to my house), you know that I love to feed people.  Something that is really important to me is that we always have enough food for our guests.  So I may go a little bit overboard with the grocery shopping, just to be on the safe side.  The girl who was bagging my groceries earlier this week asked tentatively, "How long do you think all this will last you?" and I looked at her and said, in my most serious voice, "I'm just hoping it will get us through the weekend."  Then I cracked a smile and told her we were having several house guests for several days, which hopefully made my overflowing cart situation less crazy. 

We're planning lots of meals on the patio this weekend.  Spring is perfect for eating outside because it's not too hot and the mosquitoes aren't out yet.  Oh mosquitoes!  Why do you torture us so?

Hope the weekend is sunny and flower-y where you are!  I'll be back on Monday with lots of pictures, plus some Easter recipes!