abstract or not

Trying to strike a balance between abstract and detailed... still working on it

Work in progress, only the third watercolor in 5 years....

watercolors

I'm back at my parents for three weeks of vacation in the french country side.
I dug out my dad's forgotten watercolor box, a cute little black box with a bunch of square of colors and a golden brush. I love it I have the same. Mine is also forgotten somewhere in my painting bin amidst the chinese brush painting brushes and pigment.
I love painting supplies.
Anyways sitting in the garden looking at things around me made me want to take pictures. Unfortunately I packed my camera but forgot the charger.... So I have to try my hand at painting again.
It is rusty but here are a few of my first tries.... maybe when we settle in our new home my little black watercolor box will be close to me often....

Bike shed at my parents house in Burgundy.

Tried to recreate the dark gray skies above the golden wheat fields... 

4 cousins going horse back riding.

In the sewing department, I have made a pair of shorts using a Oliver & S boy pant pattern loved the pattern and made the picnic shorts a pleasure to sew. 

Interesting find

No sewing or crafting lately.
Last week end we were very busy and I will share why with you later this week hopefully. MAC had a birthday party to attend at 6pm on Saturday pretty far south from us. Not the most convenient location and time but he was really excited.
My husband and I really really don't have a liking for birthday parties whether it is for our own kids or attending others. We like the few friends we hang out with a lot and that's about it. I know very very asocial of us, actually probably more introverts.....
So we drop of Miles to this birthday party at Ultrazone a lazer tag thing and go run a few errands with MEC at home depot and then we are in need of a place to eat.
We are in the sports arena area which is not known for their haute cuisine, to make matter worse we are all hungry tired and cranky. B is also sick....

So we need to find a good place to eat and fast!

I pull up my phone and yelp a restaurant in the neighborhood which isn't too greasy or boring.

Taste of Himalaya a nepali/indian place pops up with lots of stars. We are a bit reluctant to try but decide to drive by and see what it looks like! Well it was kind of a hole in the wall but with a lot of people in so we decide to give it a shot!
I'm really glad we did it was delicious! B who went to India said the flavors reminded him of his trip there.

We had chicken tika masala and it was delish. It may not be the best place for kids especially if they are not super into spices. However they served us a complimentary dal soup that MEC found absolutely delicious!

All in all it was a great success!

Ultrazone is another great success of the night! MAC had an awesome time there with his friends. The moms were actually super nice and we had a friendly chat.

MAC wants his birthday party there and it is probably the first organized birthday party that I approve of. Now we just have to find the time to invite his friends and make reservation... especially since his birthday was yesterday!!!!!

Not much

Nothing creative is happening at this house! Unfortunately my full time job, the family and my interest in diverse books and shows are eating up my free time to sew booh.

I did start a pair of shorts for MAC based on the Oliver and S pattern Field trip cargo pants and some houndtooth fabric to make a statement!

I have to say so far I love the quality of the pattern and I learn to do things the right way! Win win right!. Unfortunately I won't be able to finish them for a while because I have to pack all my sewing things back in the garage for a little bit of time. You see my sewing room is the dining room and every once in a while we need to use that room for its intended purpose. To be honest we also need to have this room clean. I love seeing my sewing mess in display but not all agree with me!

We also have gone a lot to the mountain lately to do a little bit of this....

I wish but mostly this!

I have always loved the snow and mountain probably because I never actually had to shovel any of it ;) 

The kids are old enough to learn snowboarding and since we live by the beach, our big trips are taken to visit family in France (I know tough right). We decided that our family and friends vacation would be to go snowboarding! 

It is an amazing experience to see you kids develop and they both love it. At 6, MEC is going down blues saying Yeeeeeh and clapping her hand! MAC is tooling around having a blast!

Anyways the season is done for us as the summer is looming! 

Music Love

I thought I would take a minute off of work to list a few current music favorites:

• The XX is a group I discovered a several months ago with their no-lyrics piece "Intro". I have "The XX" radio station on Pandora. I heard Fiction yesterday on Suits (awesome show btw) and it's one of my Fav!
• Other new addition is Lana Del Rey discovered when watched MIB III. I love the song from Pitbull Back in time. One of the female singer has a similar voice than Lana Del Rey.
• Finally if you are into fun and corky lyrics I encourage you to listen to the latest album from Train "California 37". Favorites include "Drive By", "Mermaid", "50 ways to say goodbye".

If you come by my cube and see me rock in front my screen chances are I'm listening to this music!

Happy coding.

2013 Projects

One of my goal this year was to post more of my sewing projects. Unfortunately, I find myself more often than not at my desk to write a post and then scrambling to get the pictures of my phone etc...
So until I streamlined the process you won't have many posts.

However I thought I would share some of the patterns I have already purchased and some I'm planning to purchase.

A few month ago I bought a bunch of the Blank slate patterns and started making projects. I am almost done with a blazer for my son, I used her vintage tee pattern as a starting point to make fleece for the kids. I am using it again to make PJ top along with the PJ bottom from the christmas pj pattern.
Unfortunately I haven't mastered the neck quite yet.

Just a couple of weeks ago I have expanded my kids pattern collection.
First I purchased two patterns at Clever Charlotte. I chose the summery ones as we are exiting the cold here in Southern California.

Then, I splurged over at Oliver and S and bought the following 4 patterns, I would not be surprised if I have another one lurking in my inbox that I completely forgot about.

Next step I'd like to start sewing for myself and will shortly buy the following patterns from Wiksten, Sewhaholic and make it perfect, I saw a lot of versions of those tops on the various blogs I follow and I really like how they turn out. Now we will see how it works for me.

Now I have to finish the christmas pj I was supposed to give a month ago and maybe I will be able to start on some of those projects soon!

Also a lot of babies are popping around me so I think there will be some baby gifts as well.

Now if I could only figure out how to easily post the pictures that I take of the project I make along with the post that will be grand!

2013

So I'm one year older and wiser I hope! I don't have many new years resolution besides try to sew more for the kids, for the family kids, for the friend of the family kids and maybe for me ;)
Since I have decided to buy patterns, this has opened the door to more project for a wider range of people.

Another resolution is to be more diligent at posting step by step of my projects. This requires taking pictures and posting the pictures!

The other day I stumbled upon this quote which I love:
You can do anything not everything!
This will be my 2013 moto.