Feeling Nostalgic...

On the way to the airport today, I saw a billboard for a bakery that I hadn’t thought about in years.  This particular bakery is no longer open in my hometown, but it has another store about 40 miles away.  Why did I happen to think twice about this sign on the interstate?  Ever since I graduated from school (a week ago :D), I’ve been thinking, this is it, I’m an adult now.  And a doctor to boot!  (Not trying to be cocky, I just can’t believe it myself).  Well, since I’m an adult now, I guess I’m allowed to fondly remember my not so distant childhood.

Picture from: www.roadfood.com/Forums/ Route-66-roadtrip-m39...

The town I grew up in is a fairly small farming community.  I remember being very excited when my family would go to the movie theater.  Here’s an idea of how small this town was/is: movie tickets were $1.75 circa 1990s.  Now it’s a whopping $4.50 and people complain about the price hike!  Anyway, the movie theater is on the town square and there used to be a lot of ma and pa shops there before Wal-mart came and ran everything out of business.  I loved going to the movies because we’d look in all the shop windows before or after the movie started.  My favorite window was (no not the jewelry store Mom!) the Jubelt bakery window because they always had the most beautiful and elaborate wedding cakes I could ever imagine on display.

Back when I still thought all weddings, love, and marriages were as simple and perfect as my Wedding Day Midge and Alan made it seem, that bakery window was my inspiration for the future!  My parents would practically have to pull me away from the four tier sugary confections decorated with buttercream roses and real working water fountains!  My favorite cakes were the ones with plastic staircases that ran from the middle cake to matching cakes that sat nearby.  How beautiful to a young girl who used to be so naïve she didn’t realize that buttercream roses and porcelain painted bride and groom statues.  Sadly, now that I’m an adult, I realize how tacky my sucrose dreams were. 

                                                             picture from: www.carolynssweettooth.com/ Photo%20Gallery%20...

Jubelt’s had a signature cookie: the iced thumb print cookie.  You couldn’t go to a church potluck or kid’s birthday party without a box of those showing up on the buffet.  The cookies fit in your palm and were made of some kind of crumbly sugar cookie that tasted like sand.  To counteract how terrible they truly were and entice you to consume them despite your better judgment, the cookies had pastel pink and yellow sprinkles on the edges, and a dollop of rock hard icing in the middle.  I remember they tasted like crap!  But you couldn’t eat just one, because come on, they were from Jubelt’s and they were so pretty they had to taste good, right?  Ahh, the good old days!

Picture from: http://www.manbehindthedoll.com/ALLAN.htm

Some closing thoughts:  Why don’t those painted brides ever have red hair?  Why do people insist on forcing kids to eat cookies that taste like crap?  Why didn’t I stop on my way to the airport and pick up some of those damn cookies?  Or at least look at the cakes in the window…

I'm a doctor now!

Wow, it's been awhile since I last posted!  A lot has happened in the past 2 weeks so my postings got delayed a bit.  It basically went like this: drama drama work drama moving across the country going back to school drama party GRADUATION! and back home to take it slow for awhile.

On graduation day, I thought I was really clever posting this on Facebook... I woke up this morning and decided, I think I'll become a doctor today!  And it actually happened.  I still don't believe it.  I think the only change I've made so far is to wear mascara more often when I go out in public :)

I'm taking a mini vacation from vacation this weekend and heading to New England, so who knows what I'll craft in the meantime.  Right now I'm focusing my attentions to building the Vermont Farmhouse Jr. dollhouse from Real Good Toys.  This is the third dollhouse I've started (notice - started, not completed) and I must say it's the best so far!  I picked up my exterior paints today from Sherwin Williams.  They have an excellent color combination tool online called the Color Visualizer if you're looking to paint some walls.

Well, it's time for me to get the brushes out and start painting!

Meet the Lovebirds

This weekend one of my sewing projects was to make these lovely little birds I found while perusing flickr.  The pattern is from Spool sewing blog and the inspiring baby mobile from Sew Girly is what I aspire to make.  

I made two from some of my vintage sheets and cut up shirts laying around.  Aren't they sweet?  When I get my fat quarters from the vintage sheet swap I was in, I'm going to make more and complete a mobile.  I love how they perch just so on top of my mom's sewing machine!

That reminds me, my lovely mother told me she went sewing machine shopping for my graduation, and we like the same one!  I can't wait to have my very own Bernina :D

Orton Plantation outside Wilmington, NC

Last Thursday was my day off and I had the idea from a friend of mine to visit an authentic Southern plantation (by authentic I mean not a subdivision or golf course).  The closest plantation to me is called Orton Plantation, and the gardens are open to the public.

As soon as I drove through the eagle topped gates to the plantation, I knew I wasn't in Kansas anymore...  The road was bordered on both sides by what I would call a swamp.  I noticed there were signs posted in the water, and when I slowed down to read them they warned under no circumstances were you supposed to get out of your car or feed the wildlife (whatever they might be)!  

When I got to the parking area, another visitor started chatting with me, asking about my out of state license plate, yada yada, and told me that the gardens were beautiful and they saw 3 alligators floating along in the river!  Now, there are no gates or fences or anything like that around that I notice, so I slowly creep through the gardens.  

The house is a private residence, so you can only see it from the front while you're walking through the gardens.  The original part of the house was built in 1725 by Roger Moore (no, not the second most handsome actor to play James Bond :P)  The plantation was a rice plantation, one of the largest and northernmost rice plantations in the South.  During the Civil War, the house served as a hospital and that's why it probably survived destruction.  The area that used to be the rice fields is now a wildlife preserve.  

When I got to the end of the parks, I saw another ominous sign that warned, "This area is reserved for the snakes and alligators.  Please give them their privacy."  At this point, I'm practically tip-toeing around, desperate to see a gator but not wanting it to bite my leg off!  By now, I'd seen several white and grey egrets flying around, a couple huge turtles, minnows in the water, a few friendly squirrels, but no gators.  Sadly, I decided it was time to go even without seeing the elusive alligator.  

I decided to drive at the pace of a slug on the way out - my last chance to see one!  Well, a miracle occurred, and out of the corner of my eye I saw a slithering like motion in the water.  Aha!!  There, in the middle of the picture, is the head and upper body of the alligator that seemed to be in quite a hurry to get away from my pitiful digital zoom.  I assure you, it is in fact a gator, and it was moving when I saw it, and I have really poor judgment of size, but I'd guess this was at least 4 feet long.  Tastes like chicken, right?

Nautical by Nature Give Away!

Be sure to check out the awesome give away at Nautical by Nature.  The items are from this great shop called Outer Banks Trading Group.  I have coveted one of the recycled sailcloth tote bags for quite some time now!  They also have lovely sea glass jewelry, among other home decor and clothing/accessory items.  Check both of these places out!   The give away ends Wednesday, May 12.  

Green Coffee Sleeves

For my sewing project last night, I decided to try something new - coffee sleeves for your hot coffee cup.  They're green for a couple reasons: 1. It's reusable.  2. It's made entirely out of scraps i.e. recycled material.  

My overflowing box of shirt scraps!

I have a lot of scrap material from making my aprons (see my etsy shop!) and the vintage sheet swap I participated in, plus I still have that "found" lime green polar fleece, which I used for batting/insulation.  I tried out two different methods, and I'm not really sure how I feel about these prototypes.  The blue one is made from men's shirt scraps and the yellow one is made from vintage bed sheet scraps.  I was hoping more of the flower print would show, but I think I made it too small.  I did try to quilt the yellow one a little bit with triangles.  After sewing these, I think the polar fleece will be fine insulation, but I didn't like sewing with it and may switch to insulated fusible batting if I pursue these as a potential money maker.  I'd also probably leave it open with Velcro or elastic and a cute button on the end to make it mutli-sizable.  

coffee sleeves (sorry, no coffee cups to fill them with yet!)

Happy Derby Day!

While I'm wishing I were at the Kentucky Derby, alas, I'm working instead :(  But, I am wearing my newly purchased Lilly Pulitzer dress as a tribute!  You're going to hate me when I tell you I bought it yesterday at Goodwill for $5...  After a little searching on eBay, I discovered it's the Kiera dress circa 2003 in "The Everglades" print.  Hopefully after work, I'll find a nice place to watch the race while sipping an official Maker's Mark mint julep.  Bliss!

 At work today (I didn't realize what a mess I looked like!)

With friends sipping Mint Juleps & Mojitos before the race.  That's my Lilly graduation dress (unfortunately NOT $5)!