Pages, Cozies, and a Phone

In an effort to move forward with this blog, i've added pages to the top. Ooh... All the cool blogs do it.

I have crocheted a bunch of colorful cozies in the past week and just had a photo shoot with them. Will be adding them to the ol' Etsy soon!

Doesn't the green and purple one look like a flower? Even if it doesn't, just tell me it does.

Oh, and i got a new phone! It's a Samsung Galaxy S Blaze, which is funny because the phone i had before Lefou, the Blackberry, was named Blaze. He's a touch screen, and he's very handsome. I can finally play Scramble with Friends and Draw Something on my own phone!

Now i need to name him. Since the last phone was named Lefou, my iPod is named Lumiere, i may go with that theme (Beauty and the Beast, if you're lame and didn't know). Mayhaps Gaston or Philippe? I'd love to hear ideas, anyway.

In his new jacket.

What I've Been Up to

In two weeks, i will be headed to Texas for 3 weeks of hot, hot heat with my pregnant sister. Let's just say, i am not shorts weather ready... So, today i had a date with Tony Horton and Robert Jones. And now i'm "treating" myself to this beautiful-looking protein shake:

Don't get me wrong. I love a good protein smoothie. My mouth waters when my fitness blogger heroes post their green monsters and tropical smoothies. I just do not have the right powder. Or the money to buy the right stuff. So, i'm stuck with this.

While i've been away from blogger, feeling uninspired, i did quite a lot of baking. Which is probably why Tony and Robert were so angry with me today and thoroughly kicked my butt.

I made some chocolate chip cookies for my brother, who just came home from college for the summer. They've got vanilla pudding in the dough. So good, y'all.

With all the baking, i've neglected the apples. They always look so good in the store, and i know they are my favorite fruit... but when i'm home, and there are cookies... why would i go to the trouble of washing and cutting an apple when i could just pull out a cookie? Instant snackification.

I put the neglected apples out of their misery and made the most delicious apple crisp ever.

Oh, and then that wasn't enough. So, i made my grandma's molasses krinkles. I never know what to answer when people ask what my favorite cookies are, but secretly, i think i've always known it's them.

I haven't only been baking. I've been reading.

Yesterday, it was so sunny and beautiful, i was forced to spend time outside. I read a book called The Siren by Kiera Cass, which is so interesting.

And then i checked out my itchy, splotchy sunburn. Because that's what happens when i spend any amount of time outside.

Thank you, necklace. That was super cool of you.

I read the Hunger Games trilogy. And now i can't stop doodling bread and tridents. Even on myself.

Honestly considering this as a possible tattoo...

And i've spent the last few nights, staying up for hours, googling Josh Hutcherson on my phone and sending pictures of him back and forth with my friend. Because we're adults, and we can.

So, that's what i've been up to.

Silver, Blue, Orange

I've been 25 for 7 days now.

Guess what i found 2 days ago.

A grey hair.

I was getting ready to head to my brother's house when i looked in the mirror and saw this shiny, silver string on my head. Except i knew it wasn't string. It was a hair.

Which is fine. I think silver hair is beautiful. But right after my birthday? I mean... the timing...

Anyway...

I went to a birthday party on Sunday for one of my favorite little girls, Miss P. She loves me, but she'll never admit it out loud. She shows her love through the stink eye and pushing me away.

A while back, i made P's mom a huge bag out of some really cool shark flannel i'd found.

When she asked me to make P a matching purse, i checked my stash to see if i had any left. Lo and behold, i had a small piece. Perfect for a P-sized purse.

I love mixing colors, and right away i wanted to line the purse with hot pink. It was for a little girl, after all.

Then i was thinking about what i could do for the straps. I didn't have enough of the shark material, so i went back to my flannel, and the orange just jumped out at me. I don't know if i've mentioned my current obsession with blue and orange together (it reminds me of String Thing)... but i had to do it. I could not get it out of my mind.

Luckily, P's mom is super cool and loved the idea.

I'd never put a zipper on a purse before, only on small pouches... which i'd sewn all by hand. My bags are usually kind of just tote bags... so putting the zipper in was a bit of a challenge, but i'm glad she asked for a zipper. Because now i can't stop.

It's my birthday, and WeeWee will cry if she wants to.

That was not originally going to be the title of my birthday blog post.

I was going to start with a picture of a quarter because i am now a quarter of a century.

I know. Super clever, right?

We were having such a good morning. Kalia woke me up with a card she'd made for me. We went downstairs and had breakfast. She ate Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and i made some maple brown sugar oatmeal with cinnamon. We love our cinnamon.

We went upstairs and finished a fairy tale movie we'd started yesterday. She pulled out Pay Day, and we played for three months.
I no joke, landed on every single mailbox in the second month. And got bills every single time.

Merry freakin' birthday.

When we finished, she said she was hungry for applesauce. "Can i have cinnamon?" Yes. Of course i will put cinnamon on your applesauce. I realized it was lunchtime, so i asked her what she wanted for lunch.

Then the pouting started. She didn't want lunch. She wanted applesauce. And it just went downhill from there. She started crying. I couldn't calm her down.

That's when i heard, "I'm sad because i ruined your birthday!"

You hadn't, but that little outburst almost did it. Thank goodness for nap time.
I took some time to exercise a little bit (i love the fitness section ondemand. I think i'd like to marry Robert Jones.)... which is when i realized how matchy matchy i am right now. Matching stresses me out.

This was a mistake.

After my date with Robert Jones, i sat down to watch a little Doctor Who...

Did you know today is also David Tennant's birthday?
We were meant for each other. <3

Guess who else also shares our birthday... That's right. Conan O'Brien. The true love of my life.

Maybe you'll remember a few posts back, i mentioned having something to share, but i was saving it for our birthday? Well, here we are.

I was invited to swap with the super cool hgddm over on Craftster, and we share a love of things yarn and Conan-related.

Specifically, Ice Cream Conan.

I'm by no means a master crocheter. But i do kind of know my way around a hook. So, i set out to figure out how to make an Ice Cream Conan.

Not terrible.

Let's just say a lot of trial and error went into this little guy, but i'm pleased with the results.

Oh, and here he is with his best friend, Fat Yeti.

Ice Cream Conan + Fat Yeti = BFF

Time to make some birthday cake! If all goes well, birthday cake will be purple with marshmallow filling and maple brown sugar meringue buttercream. Good thing i worked out. Kind of.

Happy birthday, Conan O'Brien.
Happy birthday, David Tennant.
Happy birthday, me!

Jack's Baby Palace

My sister-in-law had some acupuncture done a couple weeks ago, and the acupuncturist (really have no idea if that is a real word) kept talking about chi and turning her uterus into a baby palace.

And i will never think of a womb the same way again.

My sister, Mindy -- the pregnant one, came home to visit this weekend. She could not have chosen a better weekend. It was gorgeous. As we drove home from church on Sunday, i just sat there soaking in all of those beautiful spring colors that can only happen in nature. Beautiful blue sky. Bright green grass. White buds on the trees. Bright pink, yellow, and purple all over the ground. It was amazing.

Two weeks ago, i babysat both WeeWee and Poopy. Which, in small increments, is fine. But all day everyday for a week is a bit overwhelming with two highly-energized little balls of fury.

I honestly do not know how my mom handled six children.

To keep the little girls busy -- in a productive sort of way, i let them paint a maternity shirt for Mindy. They each took one side and painted and painted and painted.

This is WeeWee's side.

WeeWee is a little more abstract than her older sister. She just doodled a whole lot. I helped her draw the heart. The green dots reminded me of Hawaii. And as soon as i pointed that out, Poopy needed to add Hawaii to her side.

And Poopy's side.

Kaiya's drawing skills are a little more refined. The people, from right to left, are: Mindy, baby Dunkaroo, Justin with a mohawk, Dunkaroo when he/she is 4, and Dunkaroo when he/she is 5. Above that, she wrote "I <3 Mindy" and drew Hawaii.

Their shirt is in a league all its own. The shirt i painted for Mindy comes nowhere close.

Look at that sweet Nitro font.

Aww... Aren't pregnant girls adorable?

Since i call the baby jack, i kind of wanted to write, "hi! my name is Jack" on the shirt, but i'm pretty sure Mindy prefers Dunkaroo Big Bird Nitro.

Whatever.

That's okay, though, because it was an excuse to find a super sweet Nitro font.

Because i'm obsessed with knitting two-toners, i made one for Jack. I was going to wait until whenever the baby shower is, but then we were in the car on the way to the airport, and i just threw it at Mindy. Who wraps gifts anymore? Just throw them at people.

And a couple hours later, i got a haircut. Is there a better feeling than getting a haircut? I'm not sure.

25

For the first time a few days ago, somebody asked me how old i was, and i answered, "Almost 25." 25.

I know 25 isn't old. I know that. But... this is a landmark birthday.

I don't want to think about that right now. Instead, i'll just let you all know that i've made up a coupon code for  bananaleg designs! Until April 25th (which is one week after my birthday, i didn't choose that day because it's the 25th), use the code BANANA25 to get 25% off (that part was on purpose) your purchase.

Once more without the parentheses.

Until April 25th, use coupon code BANANA25 to get 25% off your purchase at bananaleg designs.

In other news, i started a facebook fan page. I don't like that it's called a 'fan' page. But if you are on facebook, and you feel compelled to check it out and 'like' it... i would like that.

In other other news, look at this elephant i made!

Isn't he super cute?

I used this pattern on Lion Brand's site. Easy peasy.

 

His lopsidedness adds character.

bananaleg designs and @bananalegdesign

My new etsy is up and running! You should probably check it out and buy something. Just joshin'. But, really, please go have a look. I've named it "bananaleg designs".

Oh, and i'm on Twitter. @bananalegdesign
That's right. That last 's' was just one too many letters... Whatever, Twitter. Whatever.

For now, my shop has four hats (i call them Two-Toners) and five ovarian cancer awareness coffee cup cozies.

As you can see, these are the cozies. Because there are five.

 And these lovelies are the Two-Toners! (Future band name. Dibs.)

Black and Grey.

Grey and Blue.

Gold and Crimson. Uh, Gryffindor. Am i right?

My absolute favorite: String Thing.

I just like this shot.

So... that's all for now. I've been on this computer for too long. I need to go make something now. Check out bananaleg designs and let me know what you think. (If you're awesome with banners and things, i would love a real, professional-looking one. Wink.) Oh, and follow me on Twitter. I'm sure i'll be posting lots of fun and exciting things.