Jovan's Dress

Jovan made this dress from scratch. She even used an old bed sheet as the lining. She explained it to me by saying, "sheets are meant to be up against your skin for 8 hours a day. They're soft and always easy to wash."

It all makes sense to me now. I'm going to be looking at sheets in a totally different way from now on.

And, how sustainable...? I thought this was a fantastic idea I wanted to share.

Plus, she goes to Scrap to get fabric and patterns.

Here are a few more projects she's been working on.


Plus, it never hurts to have a puppy in the picture ;)

And, it's super sustainable to make your own clothes - especially if you can figure out a way to use old sheets.

Breaking Dawn - Movie Review Monday

It was a holiday weekend - so one of our family traditions held out - we went to see a movie: Breaking Dawn.

I'd read the book(s) and that helped understand some of the scenes. Such as
Rosalie wanting to help with the baby - I don't think that was developed fully in the movie. In the book, she resented the fact that Bella would willingly give up her life and the chance to become a mother (things Rosalie never wanted to miss) to become a blood thirsty monster.

Breaking Dawn had some good moments. BUT, and that's a big but, it was super slow. I felt they drew out the wedding scene and the honeymoon waaaaaaay too long. It could have been done in a couple of minutes and then they could have moved on to some action. There was only one scene with some real action in it.

Things I really didn't like:

1) The sloooooooooooooooooooooowness of the movie

2) The vampires being out in the daylight!!! No disintegrating, no sparkling, no nothing. Explain that one to me. They could have gotten married at night. It would have made so much more sense. Vampires can't go out in the sunlight - even in the earlier books: Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse, the Cullen's didn't venture out into the daylight in front of humans. So I have no idea how they just skipped right over that fact...or fiction.

I don't usually like stories that play havoc with lore - and vampire lore is pretty well settled. But, I overlooked some "havoc" in the books; however, that doesn't explain how Edward and the Cullens managed to have a daylight wedding with no one noticing the sparkling or anything out of the ordinary at all.

3) How thin Edward and Bella were from the very beginning of this film. It looked like they had lost 20 pounds each since the last movie (maybe more). I thought they looked unhealthy even before Bella was starving from the pregnancy.

Things I liked:

1) Jacob. I think he looked much more like the character in the book in this film than the others. He worked hard to "become" Jacob and I think he did a great job.

2) Seeing the softer side of Edward. He didn't have a continually pained look on his face.

3) Bella looked beautiful at the wedding.

Overall: I wouldn't recommend the movie UNLESS you've already seen the other movies and if you'd read the books. I do think the second half of Breaking Dawn will be better and you should see the first half of the story if you want to see the second half.

But, at least on this one part of the story, I prefer a little more action in my movies.

Turkey Trot 2011

It was only a 4 mile run but. . . it was uphill a lot of the way and I mean straight uphill through Washington Park. It's a tough run but it was also a lot of fun.

What better way to burn off that pie and turkey than starting out your Thanksgiving morning with a challenging run? That's what my hubby and I did. We met my sister at the Zoo and took off together for the run. And, it wasn't even raining!!!

A wonderful way to start a day...plus I didn't feel guilty eating that second slice of pie :)

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing you all a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Hope y'all will have a fantastic day filled with family, friends, and good food ;)

ThanksGIVING

With Thanksgiving on our doorstep, I wanted to remind everyone that while we're feasting with family and friends others aren't always so lucky. At any time of year, but especially during the holidays, we should take a minute to think about Giving...

Every community has organizations that can help stretch your donations. Here in Portland one great organization is the Oregon Food Bank (OFB) – it is at the center of a statewide network of 915 hunger-relief agencies.

OFB serves all of Oregon and Clark County in Washington. Oregon Food Bank recovers food from farmers, manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, individuals, and government sources. OFB then distributes the food to 20 regional food banks across Oregon. And there are plenty of ways to donate: 1) give canned goods; 2) give dollars; 3) donate time.

These are ways to really celebrate the season.

Sasha Suit

Check out Sasha's home-made hoody

My Run

We were running through the forest.

In Forest Park. Portland's Forest Park is the largest wooded city park in the United States. With a 40-mile loop, there's a trail for every level: from walkers to runners. And there's something for everyone to see.


It wasn't a fast run but maybe if I show you a few photos, you might understand.

When you're running with a crew, you have to take a little more time and just enjoy the journey.

Not all the girls run at the same pace but it was a beautiful trail - although it had leaves all over the path, which made us slow down even more (slippery - so we had a good excuse).

Still, it was a beautiful morning on the Leif Eriksen trail.