Sarah’s wedding weekend

Last weekend I drove to Spokane to participate in a friend’s wedding! I grew up with Sarah in my hometown of Greeley, Colorado and she was also in my wedding, along with two other girls we grew up with. Now that Sarah’s hitched, we’ve all been in each other’s weddings! Megan got married in 2006, I got married in 2008, then Breanna in 2012, and now Sarah in 2013. It’s the end of an era for us; I joked that we needed to find some more marriageable friends because the weddings have been a great excuse to get together. After all, who wants to be the one girl of the foursome who can’t make the wedding?

Sarah’s wedding was pretty convenient for me because Spokane is drivable – about four and a half hours from Seattle. I took the day off on Friday to make the drive and arrived at the venue just as everyone else was getting there to start setting up and decorating. After the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, I went to the airport to pick up Megan. We shared a room in Sarah’s apartment for the weekend and it brought back such great memories of sleepovers from middle school and high school. At one point I told Megan I felt like we were in her old room in Greeley and there should be glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling… and we should be listening to Sarah McLachlan. She asked if I remembered the hammock she strung up in her room and I had to confess I’d forgotten until now! As soon as she mentioned that I could remember a lazy summer day where we laid in the hammock and watched a war movie on her computer. Rough life, am I right? I miss summers.

The view from the Davenport.

I feel this picture perfectly captures Sarah's beautiful, loving spirit.

Saturday was a wonderful day spent with my friends. Sarah treated the bridesmaids (all 12 of us!) to brunch at the Davenport Hotel, a beautiful landmark of Spokane. If you’re ever in Spokane, you should check it out – the hotel has a ton of history behind it and had an interesting walking tour. Breanna, Megan and I explored it for a while and then went up to get ready with the rest of the girls. The wedding went off without a hitch and before I knew it, Sarah and Tom were getting ready to leave! My phone was in my purse most of the time so I didn’t get any good pictures of us – I know that Tom got a picture of all four of us on his phone though so we need to track that down. The wedding ended early enough that Breanna, her husband Johnny, Megan and I could go out afterward for a drink. We ended up at a bar called Fast Eddie’s, which seemed like a really popular place to be on Saturday night. We saw at least two limos drop off or pick up groups of people who looked like they were having way too much fun.

Breanna and Johnny

Me, Breanna, Megan

The next morning I woke up way too early (4 a.m.) to take Megan and two other girls to the airport. Someone asked me if I was going to head to Seattle after the airport run and I said, helllllll no! Heather’s got to get her beauty sleep! I think I would’ve been amped up for the first hour of that drive but might have had to pull over after that. Plus I’d already made plans with Breanna and Johnny to meet at Frank’s Diner for brunch. The restaurant is located in a converted sleeper car – really cute! Plus the food was great. And there was a ton of it!

Frank's Diner

This guy was my booth-mate. Yeah… kind of creepy. Funny story: we told the waitress we were in Spokane for a wedding. For some reason, she turned to me (the alone one) and said, “Oh congratulations!!” Which led to an awkward, oh not me, hahaha, our friend! Isn’t that weird? I mean, did she think I had left the new groom at home?

After brunch it was back on the road again. My visits with the girls always go by so fast!

New running shoes

I think I’m finally at a point where I can favorably offer an opinion of my new(er) Brooks running shoes. I recently bought a pair of Brooks Defyance 6 (and YES it bothers me that they spelled defiance this way – really, is anything gained by intentionally misspelling a word to use in a product name?) These are the newest iteration of my previous shoes and I’d liked those well enough to stick with the brand. I used my Defyance 5s for about a year until I started noticing the signs that they were wearing out – unusual aches and pains that I was reasonably sure I couldn’t attribute to normal exercise. To be honest, I was disappointed the shoes didn’t last longer but we all know how hard I am on clothes and such. Well, maybe only I know that – but take my word for it! For the record, I logged 297 miles in them before I switched over.

But when I did switch over, I thought maybe I’d made a mistake. The nagging pains continued and forced a weeklong break from running to figure out what was going on. My feet felt heavy and the shoes didn’t feel as I thought they should – we were not one with each other! However, six weeks after buying them and 13 runs later, I finally feel like they’re comfortable. Maybe it just took me that long to break them in? Whatever the reason, I’m relieved. I really didn’t want to have to try out another pair!

Space cadet

I don’t know what’s with my brain lately.

I locked myself out of the house on Tuesday after my run. But let me back up. Mark left for his soccer game around the same time I was leaving for my run and asked if I wanted him to leave the key to the house. Nope, I said, there’s one under the mat! I watched Mark leave as I stood there psyching myself up for the run. Then I decided I needed my hat. So I took the key from under the mat, unlocked the door, and grabbed my Mariners cap from downstairs. In case of rain. Without thinking, I left the key inside, locked the door and left. It never even dawned on me that I’d forgotten to put the key back until I returned from the run and picked up the mat for the key! Cue the sinking realization that I was stuck outside. On a positive note, our house is pretty hard to break into. Because I tried.

I didn’t have my phone or I might’ve called Mark’s sister for the spare key. I thought of going over to our neighbor’s house to wait inside but… let’s just say I wouldn’t wish post-run Heather on anyone besides immediate family. Plus it’s not like it was raining or anything. So I sat outside for 45 minutes waiting for Mark to get home from his game. And when he did, he said, “Why didn’t you walk over to Ingraham?” OF COURSE. I’d completely forgotten he told me his game was at a high school a 10-minute walk away. Come on brain, you’re really letting me down!

You know what the hardest part was? It wasn't the cold. It was the lack of entertainment! Speaking of someone who is addicted to her phone, being without my blogs/Pinterest/Facebook/Words With Friends was devastating. So I sat there and listened to my Caedmon's Call anthology playlist (yes... I have every Caedmon's Call album ever released and put them all into one big playlist) and quietly sang to myself. True story. Now I'm the weird neighbor.

Roll with it.

Sometimes you just can’t control it all and you have to let it go.

Last Friday I got off work at 2:15 so I could get home and hopefully be out the door and on the road to Vancouver by 3:15. We were going to a wedding at 7 and I figured (hoped) that would be enough time to make it from here to there. As the day would have it, Mark got off work late and we didn’t get out the door until closer to 3:45, which would’ve still been enough time had traffic been good. But no, traffic turned out to be awful. We ended up missing the ceremony altogether and arriving just as the wedding goers were moving to the reception area. We blended right in. ;)

Some lady in the bathroom as she and I were washing our hands: “Wasn’t that just a beautiful ceremony!”

Me: “Um… yes, yes, it sure was!”

When in doubt… agree?

I was originally upset when it became apparent we were going to be late. But hey, sometimes you just have to roll with the punches and accept the situation and move on! And I’ll be honest, I was much happier when I accepted that we were going to be late and heck, it was going to be all right. The wedding police weren’t going to be fining us at the door for missing the first 45 minutes. We got there for the cake and that’s a win in my book.

A shot at sewing, part 2

Last time we chatted, I mentioned I was taking in the sides of this blazer. I’m proud to report that I finished the other seam, re-hemmed the jacket, and it’s now as good as new! The second seam was easier to complete than the first, which boosted my confidence a little. I’ll be the first to say that this isn’t quality work by any means. I wouldn’t want anyone with experience to take a close look at the seams but I can at least say that I didn’t ruin it!

I’m still unsure on whether I’d do this again. I didn’t fail so that does help my case, but obviously a tailor would do a much better job. I definitely wouldn’t do an alteration on a full-priced item. Though actually, I wouldn’t buy a full-priced item that needed alterations anyway. Or even a full-priced item!

The cost of the alteration was pretty low, especially considering I’ll continue to use the tools I bought.

• Mini seam ripper: $5
• Dressmaker’s white pencil: $3 (DON’T BUY – it didn’t work for me)
• White and blue marking pens: $5

Total: $13

And I think I had coupons so it was less than that. Win.

Taking a shot at sewing

I don’t know what possessed me to think I was up to the challenge of taking in the sides of a blazer but that’s what I’m currently trying to accomplish. I do own a sewing machine and know enough to be dangerous. Meaning I know enough to get myself into a mess but not enough to get myself out of one. HOWEVER. I’m halfway through my little project and can report that I have successfully taken in one seam without too much damage done!

I didn’t go into this without research but I’ve been struggling to find good tutorials on what I specifically wanted to do. I tried searching for videos and blogs with detailed instructions and pictures but couldn’t really find much. If anyone knows of any tutorials or good sewing websites, please show me the way! I tried to take pictures of how I took in the seam but I’ve been working on it at night and the lighting is terrible for pictures. Believe me, I tried. I’m hoping the second seam will go smoother than the first now that I basically (marginally) know what I’m doing.

It’s SCARY to take out a seam. Once you cut it apart, there’s no going back. I actually had to look up a video on how to use a seam ripper because I’d never used one before. I thought taking out a seam was straightforward but there are multiple ways to do it. I learned to be very careful because at one point I actually ripped through the delicate material (the jacket is made of crepe fabric). Luckily it was on the part of the fabric that was already taken in and hidden on the inside. Like I said… I know enough to be dangerous.

I’m on the fence on whether I’d embrace this undertaking again rather than taking my projects to a tailor (whom I now have MAD respect for). But I know if the rest of the jacket turns out positively then I’ll have more confidence to take on other alterations myself.

Here are some general observations on what has made this project easier yet also somewhat complicated.

Black fabric: The dark color is more forgiving when it comes to mistakes. I ran into some difficulty with my first seam when I got up to the top, where the sleeve attaches to the bodice. Obviously the seam had been sewn first, followed with the attaching of the sleeve. I was too scared to detach a portion of the sleeve so I tried to finish the rest of the seam by hand to avoid further unstitching and reattaching. I’m sure pro sewers would flinch if I showed them my work but since the jacket is black and the area is in a more hidden spot, no one can really tell. The disadvantage to black fabric is that the stitches are much harder to see. My sewing area must not have been lit enough because I was really struggling to see the tiny stitches I needed to remove.

Thinner, unlined fabric: My jacket is thinner than most blazers because it’s made of a light crepe material.  I had no problem feeding the material through, but the delicate nature of the fabric was more prone to ripping. One of the reasons I wanted to attempt this alteration myself was because the jacket is unlined, making the seam much easier to access. Linings are awesome but they do complicate things!

Tips are appreciated if you have any!

Curtains: to make or not to make?

I had grand plans of making my own curtains for all of about 48 hours. I had done SO much research on how to sew them, add a lining, or even make a no-sew version if I wanted. I was in a crafty mood and I knew I had a short window to take advantage of it, or I’d move on to other grand plans. That’s kind of my M.O. I know now to take advantage of my moods because who knows how long they will stay! So I went to Joann’s in search of fabric and with a 40% off one item coupon on my phone. There I had the depressing realization that fabric, especially the home décor kinds I was interested in, is certainly not cheap. Even at 40% off, making my own curtains wasn’t a bargain. Especially when you consider that you can get pretty cute curtains at Target or West Elm for equal the price or even less than what it would cost to make yourself. But Heather, you may ask, can you really put a price on something you make with your own two hands? Isn’t the accomplishment worth something? Sure, it can be. But I think it depends on the cost difference, especially when you factor in the time spent.

I realize it’s a little unfair to make comparisons to Target prices, but I want to be realistic in that Target is one of the first places I would go to search for housewares like this (and no, they’re not paying me).

Take these curtains from Target, currently on sale at $23.79 per panel.

I knew I wanted something similar to this color scheme -- a little cream, a little yellow. Neutral, if you will. So I went to Joann's to check out fabric. I can't remember exactly what print I was looking at, only that the brand was Waverly and that the colors were similar. Something like this, which I found on Joann's website: 

How much do you think this would cost per yard? Naive Heather would've thought, what, $10 a yard? Try $59.99. PER YARD. And fine, it was on sale for 40% off. But that'll still run you $35.99 per yard, and I needed about five yards per window. $180 curtains were not in my budget, especially when it would've taken me at least a couple hours to iron and sew everything (and that's highly optimistic).

I know you can find cheaper fabric. But isn't the point of making your own curtains getting to choose exactly what you want? And apparently my tastes run expensive. But don't worry, my hopes were dashed for all of about a minute. I flew the white flag and ended up at Target, like I usually do.

And done.

They took a while to grow on me (all patterns do) but now I think I love them. I don't know what it is about me that finds it so hard to commit to housewares. I just keep thinking that something better will come along (a cuter pattern, a better sale) and it keeps me from pulling the trigger. But sometimes I find that you just have to bring something home and put it up for a while to see how it melds with your space. As I like to say, you can always take it back!