catching up.

this week:

1. i have been working photography and around the world camp. this week i have "visited" australia, china, and africa so far. it's so fun to watch the kids learn new phrases in different languages. fun and entertaining. next week is my last week of camps...it's gone by so so fast! 

2. i have enjoyed lots of catching up with friends. today i got to enjoy a yummy red velvet cupcake and a cup of coffee with my sweet friend elizabeth. she's at a "shift" in life and we had lots of catching up to do. one thing i love about elizabeth: her laugh. i left thanking god for her sweet laugh. 

this evening zach and i got to have dinner with our friend chad. i think i laughed for 95% of our dinner. chad is pretty indescribable but so fun to be around. 

3. i have prayed and thought a lot. recently a close family friend was diagnosed with cancer and the situation has gotten worse very quickly. over the passed week i have had this heavy feeling in me and i can't quit thinking about our sweet friend that is experiencing so much pain right now. i realize that all i can do is pray for her health, her family, and her sense of peace as she goes through this. i keep telling myself that we serve a god that is bigger than cancer. 

4. i have realized that summer has absolutely flown by. it's nearly august and i have no idea where my summer has gone. i am so not ready to start schoolwork yet...yuck!

5. i have had no time for projects. my project list is beginning to pile up, but between work, catching up with friends, and catching up on sleep, my little projects have had to take a backseat. but i have lots of ideas swimming around in my head that will hopefully soon be placed into reality. 

6. marks another week off of the wedding countdown. we're at 10 months to go!

7. i have missed a lot of my friends a whole whole bunch. and even though i'm not ready for the school work to start piling up quite yet, i'm so ready to see some of these cheerful faces on a regular bases:

fun with friends.

friday afternoon zach and i left out to meet some of our friends in branson, missouri. what a fun weekend of laughing, shopping, visiting, and relaxing!

friday night we enjoyed a late-night round of mini-golf. i was not so good at it, but enjoyed the quirky-ness of the mini-golf course. i was so impressed with how many people were out mini-golfing at 11pm! i was fading fast since it was long passed my bedtime. we stopped for an icee break on the way back to the hotel and settled in for the night...or so i thought. before i knew it, the boys had turned our room into circus olay.

 

oh boys...never a dull moment. 

saturday morning we woke up and made our way down the street to krispy kreme. yum yum! then it was off to the outlet malls where we found lots of fun deals, including pants from gap for our groomsmen! it's a huge relief to have that checked off of our wedding to do list. 

saturday evening we had tickets to the dixie stampede, a dinner/show that incorporates the audience in a civil war "battle". they bring you lots of yummy food that you are required to eat with your hands while you watch the show. we had so much fun! i got in trouble at the beginning of the show for taking pictures, so all we have are pictures afterwards. 

after the show, we drove around town looking for our next adventure and, of course, the boys found their way to the go-cart track. us girls decided to be the photographers for this little event. 

today we woke up and rushed to breakfast, did a little last minute shopping, and all headed out on our separate ways. 

what a fun weekend with friends! several times this weekend i caught myself feeling so thankful for the great relationships that i have been blessed with. relationships that are filled with joy and compassion. thank you God for sweet friends and fun weekends. 

and now it's time to prepare for the week ahead. i can only hope that a wonderful weekend leads to a wonderful week!

friday favorites.

1. birthdays.
this week i knew three people celebrating birthdays, one being my sweet fiance zach. so this week has consisted of birthday treats, presents, birthday dinners, and sewing gifts. i love birthdays! (pictures to follow later on...)

2. skirt and dress tutorials.
i struck blog gold this week. i found two blogs that are right up my alley: posts full of how to make sweet little skirts and dresses....yaaaaaaaay!! i was so excited i just had to share this with everyone here.

first off: ruffles and roses- www.rufflesandrosescrafts.blogspot.com 
i found this blog and right off the bat i saw a link titled "summer of skirts" yeeeeek! here are a few of her skirts that i'm loving:

i ventured out and tried my own version of the red skirt tutorial that she posted. it ended up turning out pretty well! 

next: grosgrain-  www.grosgrainfabulous.blogspot.com

i found this blog through a link on ruffles and roses. grosgrain features lots and lots of fun dress/skirt/shirt/etc tutorials. love it!

3. trips with friends. 
this afternoon zach and i are heading out with a few of our friends on a little weekend getaway. we're heading to branson, missouri which in only about 2 hours from where we live. branson is a fun, cheesy little town filled with shopping, shows, and music. the boys are super excited to ride go carts while us girls have plans of hitting up the outlet malls. i've been so excited to get away for the weekend and spend some time with sweet friends.

enjoy your weekend!

project skirt.

i'm always in this constant dilemma: i love wearing skirts and dresses but they're always too short. during the school year when i am in the classroom teaching, i'm expected to dress nice and appropriate. the problem with a lot of styles you find today is that they're not exactly appropriate...let alone classroom appropriate!

which lead me to drastic measures saturday night. zach had left for the weekend to attend a friends wedding reception while i was stuck back home due to the fact that i had to work. so saturday evening i found myself with nothing to do but surrounded by stacks of fabric. solution: make a skirt.

whew! now i've got the first one out of the way and can hopefully make a few more a little more smoothly. 

friday favorites.

1. rainbow cupcakes. 

ever since meg over at "whatever" posted the recipe idea for rainbow cake, i have been wanting to try them out! and with zach's birthday this wednesday and my new pyrex bowls at hand, i had no excuse not to go ahead and whip these little goodies up.

2. she&him.

she&him has been on my ipod playlists for...well, a long time now. individually i love both zooey deschannel and m.ward, but collaboratively they're 1000 times better. august 29th they will be at a music festival in st.louis called loufest. i would really really really love to go. 

3. project sneak peaks. 

my etsy shop is about to get lots of fun new additions. here are a few teasers of what's to come.

happy friday!

friends, fireworks, and fame.

bare with me...this post could get lengthy.

yes, yes, yes...i know that it's july 8th and i'm just now talking about how i spent the 4th of july weekend. i've been a little behind and "off" on everything this week, so it seems to fit that i'm 4 days late on posting about the weekend.

as i mentioned in my previous post, we began the weekend by visiting my grandparents. one of my favorite things to do is go to garage sales/junk stores/antique stores and rummage around to find little treasures. and saturday afternoon, we did just that. my grandparents live in a town full of junk/antique stores and i love it!

lately i've been loving old pyrex dishes. i think it's because it reminds me of going to my great-grandmas house when i was younger, but i just really love the look and feel of these little treasures. i found a few while we were out on saturday.

i also found a jade sugar shaker that i am so excited about!

did i mention that i really love searching for little treasures?

moving onto sunday...zach and i headed south to join a few college friends to celebrate the 4th. we got to see lots of our friends, ate yummy food, and had a great view of the fireworks. 

last week i won tickets to see kris allen perform on monday night. so monday afternoon my sister and i got to meet and greet with kris and listen to his sound check....fun! we had tickets for the show later that night but decided to skip since we already had our own private show and i wasn't feeling too hot. 

kris allen is super nice. i got all kind of nervous when we went to take the picture and couldn't think of anything to say that didn't sound dumb. i ended up blurting out "our mom is going to be so proud".  

and she was. 

items for sale and a happy 4th to all.

while my etsy page isn't completely ready yet, i've added a section to the blog title "the knotted needle store" located on the left. you can view some of the items that i've been working on to place in my shop. if you are interested in any of the items, email me at theknottedneedle@gmail.com or leave me a comment. i'm also available for custom orders, so if you seem something that you like but you think you might want a different color/pattern, just email me!

i have a few little ideas swirling around in my head for some new bags,  little pouches, fun earrings, and cute hair accessories. be sure and check back for new listings soon!

and last but certainly not least, i hope that everyone is having a wonderful fourth of july weekend. today zach and i tagged along with my parents to head south and visit with my grandparents. while the boys kept the fort down at the homestead, us girls decided to do a little antiquing. an entire post dedicated to my findings will be coming soon! tomorrow we are headed to a little celebration with some of our college friends. the fourth is such a fun holiday!

so, enjoy something off the grill, a piece of watermelon, fireworks, and time with family and friends tomorrow.