Home Improvement: Floor length curtain FAIL

This looks a lot like our kitchen/patio door area with the white cabinets, white backsplash, white trim, and dark floors. When I first saw this image, I loved the geometric print curtains, but after staring at it for awhile, I was hesitant. I just wasn't in love with the print (or any similar print).

(via HGTV)

Then I laid eyes on this photo:

(via BHG)

Bold, bright, horizontal stripes! Only I wanted them in royal purple (to pick up the bits of purple in our granite countertops). Unfortunately, my sleuthing skills failed me and I was never able to find premade curtains with horizontal stripes in purple.

DIY it is! They can't be that hard (I'd eat those words later). Since I'm making them myself, I have full control of the fabric choice, the finish, and budget. I wanted the look/feel of silk dupioni, but I didn't want the price that came with it. So I went cheap and just picked up some of that fake shit from the apparel section at Jo-Ann. What was I thinking? 

After procrastinating for a year, I finally decided to just sit down and knock them out as my first home improvement project of the year. Not to mention, finally sew something for myself. It took 3 days, a hell of a lot of fabric; 6 yards; 12 if you count the lining fabric, and a shit ton of cursing. Damn my perfectionist ways. They looked great and exactly like I had pictured it...until I threw them into the wash. 

Why, oh why did I think that was a good idea? I didn't prewash before sewing. And clearly, I hadn't thought about how cheap polyester does not hold dye well. Yeup, and in just 15 minutes, I had ruined 3 days of work. The purple dye had migrated and tinted the white stripes a pink/purple hue. The off-white that I had painstakingly picked out and matched the trim so perfectly was no longer white! 

Oxiclean failed me. I love the stuff when I'm cleaning my white dinner napkins, but it only made my curtains worse. The tinted white stripes turned completely pink! I tried Shout Color Catcher, but to no avail. I'm done trying to save these things. I'm just going do what I should have done in the first place; BUY the damned things.

Anybody want these?

Day 14: Giverny/Paris

I'm the worst! It's been 2 whole years since my vacation. 2 YEARS! But let's close out 2014 by finishing up with this final recap.

On the last full day of my stay in Paris, I woke up an hour late with a nasty head cold, but I dragged my ass of bed and down to the train station. First on the agenda: visit the Village of Giverny to see Monet's Gardens. Which was to be followed by catching the sunset from the top of the Eiffel Tower. 

Thinking that I had plenty of time, I made a quick stop at Poilane. The interwebs had told me that this was THE BEST bakery in all of Paris. It conveniently just happened to be down the street from my apartment. 

If you are planning on visiting the Eiffel Tower, buy tickets ahead of time. I made the dumbass mistake of just showing up. I stood in line FOREVER. And, only made it part way up. In my defense, all the signage at the base said that the top was closed. But what they didn't tell you is that you buy tickets to get access to the 2nd viewing deck. And once on the deck, there is a ticket booth where you can purchase tickets to go up to the very top. Just save yourself the time and hassle and purchase ahead of time. 

Monet's house in the background.

The famous lily pond.

The bridge.

Gorgeous blooms.

Perfect dahlia.

Colorful ivy in the village.

Gateau millasson (french flan).

See, "closed." Maybe I misread it?

View from the 2nd balcony.

Dear Paris, I love you.

In 2005, I sat at the end of the green and took pictures of the tower with my Minolta Dimage X.

Truth: I'm huddled behind a bus stop trying to get this shot.

And that my friends, is the conclusion of my 2012 European adventures. 

Previously:
Day 13: Paris
Day 12: Paris
Day 11: Versailles
Day 10: Edinburgh/Paris
Day 9: Edinburgh
Day 8: London/Edinburgh
Day 7: London
Day 6: London
Day 5: London/Greenwich
Day 4: London
Day 3: London
Day 2: Cambridge/London
Day 1: London
Day 1: London - prefunc

*All photos taken by me with Nikon D7000.
**Don't steal my photos. It's not nice and makes you an asshat.

Hello Kitty Quilt

Hello Kitty Baby Quilt

approximately 35"x44"

Top - wall hanging panel purchased from Fat Quarter Shop (no longer available).

Back -  Free Spirit Voile in Rose Pink purchased from Hawthorne Threads.

Binding - unknown cotton from my own collection.

Filled with 100% cotton batting.

Machine sewn with 100% cotton thread.

Machine washable (cool wash, tumble dry low).

This was my first try at whole cloth quilting. I'm not going to lie, I'm a big fan. Not having to piece the top together made the job go a whole lot faster. Although, really, I just ended up using the time to draw in the diagonal quilt lines. And even then I screwed it up. Luckily, I caught it before I started quilting. 

Technically, the quilt top is not considered quilt shop quality material (read: not soft). To balance it, I chose a voile which is  silky and soft. I love this stuff. Hey Free Spirit, please re-release the voile in Sky. Thank you! For the binding, I was able to pull a print directly from my stash (woohoo for making more room). I think it was a Riley Blake print I purchased from Pick Your Plum eyons ago. It was a subtle teal with green dots, a perfect complement to the green already in the quilt top.

My Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) experience

It's been almost 2 years since my RA diagnosis. Some days are better than others. And some days just suck. I haven't been able to figure out what triggers my flare ups. It's obvious when I do manual labor. But it's not obvious the rest of the time. I've had a sneaking suspicion that it has to do with my diet. When I cheat and eat dairy and gluten, I go hog wild. If I've had a little bit, what's a little bit more? 

Before, during, and after our tropical vacation (Caribbean cruise), I had a perpetual flare up that went on for weeks. It just would not go away. I made up my mind  to take care of myself. (Another deciding factor was that I may have eaten my weight in food during the cruise, woops).  Of course, I never just ease into things. I decided to go full boar start both Cross Fit AND the Autoimmune Protocol at the same time. More on Cross Fit another time. My hope with this "diet" challenge was to see if my RA could be managed through diet (whoohoo, no meds?). Let's see how I did, shall we?

Week 1: September 2-8
Piece of cake. I chalk it up to being a 4 day work week and having prepped enough food in advance during the work week. I ate the same thing for breakfast everyday and have yet to make AIP porridge again. I didn't notice any changes or major cravings. Although I could have used a chocolate chip cookie. Rookie mistake: not packing enough food on the first day. I was starving by the afternoon.




Week 2: September 9-15
I was very gung-ho about researching recipes and cooking my food in week 2. But at the same time, it began to feel like I had lost my life to working out, grocery shopping, and food prep. This is also the week that I cheated during one meal. We host a monthly dinner club, which happened to land during my challenge. I tried to give myself a free pass, but I felt SOOOO guilty about it. It made me stop and realize that I can't be so hard on myself; it's OK to cheat. I did notice that the morning after cheating (not like a ate a lot), I woke up with a minor headache. Tip: don't EVER offer to pick up fresh donuts when you are on a restricted diet. Just say no!




Week 3: September 16-22
This is where things start to breakdown. While I was still excited to find new recipes, I failed when it came to execution. I found myself making the same things as week 1. Frankly, I was tired of eating meat and salad all the freaken time.



Week 4: September 23
Yup, I didn't even make it through the first full day of week 4 before I finally gave up. I had been hemming and hawing about giving up through the weekend. I'd experienced flare ups every week so far and the bloated belly had returned. So when a box of Wondermade marshmallows arrived on my doorstep and I said to hell with it and promptly tore the box open and devoured the sugary treat. Tip: don't order yummy treats while you are on a crazy diet. Hell, don't even look at regular recipes or food blogs. It'll just kill you.


Final thoughts:

• Whole30 is hard. Whole30 AIP is really hard. If you are going to do it, be prepared. Have recipes ready and make time to prep food. 
• It is possible to dine out while on this crazy challenge. Sushi, if you eat that stuff, is really safe. But I was able to go to an American Bistro and have them customize a salad for me with no problem. My only complaint was that I asked specifically for no pepper on my grilled chicken and they didn't listen. Thankfully, black pepper is safe for me.
• With only salt and herbs allowed as seasonings, I learned how to properly salt my food. Previously, I had under salted everything. I have an irrational fear of over salting after an incident when I was 15. 
• I'm getting really good at cooking meat: sear it in a pan, throw it into the oven, but most importantly use a temperature probe! Don't be guessing at how much time you need. 
• Coconut milk is not my friend. Thanks to the reduced diet, I was able to figure out that drinking full fat coconut milk (steamers and smoothies) has adverse affects on me, aka bloating. 
• I think I may have figured out a trigger food: sugar! Raw honey, maple syrup, cane sugar, etc. I'm pretty sure that when I eat too much of it, my finger swells up and becomes tender. I need to experiment more with this, but for now, there are cupcakes to be eaten.

Oops, I did it again.

My poor HTC DNA.

Oops, I did it again. I dropped my phone one too many times and finally cracked the screen. Hmm, that photo kind of looks familiar, right?

Oh yeah, I broke the screen on my last phone in the same fashion almost 2.5 year ago! It was even the same corner!! Oy, I'm such a klutz.

HTC Incredible circa 2012.

Maybe I should stay away from phones that has the glass going to the edge of the phone. Better yet, maybe I should use a case on my phones. Oh wait, I have them. (I love the Seidio surface cases.) But for whatever reason (cockyness?) I remove the cases and thus end their lifespan prematurely. 

At least I leave the Zagg Invisible Shield on. After my first breakage, I swear by them. Unlike Bill Hader in the Tmobile commercials, I was able to continue using my phone while I waited for the phone I wanted to be released. 

And just like last time, I will continue to use my phone as is (I looked up how to replace the glass, and it's a pain in the ass) for the next few months and hope that the Google Nexus 6 gets released sooner than later. Maybe since the glass is cracked so badly, I won't reach for it so much. I'll take any reason to break my internet habit. 

I have the BEST...

I have the BEST in-laws. That's all. 

Christmas in July

I got new toys for our upcoming Caribbean cruise! It was an investment that I thought about thoroughly. I could have rented from Lumoid or BorrowLenses, but with a tentatively planned trip to Australia and New Zealand (2015!), it made more sense to just purchase. Maybe I can rent it out to friends =)

GoPro HERO3+ Silver Edition

GoPro LCD Touch BacPac

Sandisk Extreme 32GB microSDHC

     - as recommended by GoPro; I may try to use it in my dSLR later.

GoPro Tripod Mount Kit

     - will be using this with my Joby GorillaPod

GoPole Bobber Floating Hand Grip

     - I tried the Wrist Housing in Bora Bora and hated it. I had to hold my arm at awkward angles. I finally just took it off my wrist and hand held it. But I was constantly paranoid that I was going to drop it and owe my friend a new GoPro. 

With my limited testing to date, I've found that when the Touch BacPac is on, the GoPro HERO3+ gets pretty damned hot. Like, shockingly hot. Hopefully, it won't be an issue since I don't plan on leaving it on all the time. I just need it enough to see what I'm shooting. (When I used my friend's original GoPro in Bora Bora, it was a complete shot in the dark as to what was being captured.)

Turtles, dolphins, and fish, I'm ready for you! It's a damned shame that we didn't get into the ziplining excursions. *sigh*

Disclosure: The Lumoid link is an invite from my personal account. Sign up and I will receive $5 toward a future rental. Borrow Lenses link gives me nada. But I have rented from them in the past and highly recommend them. GoPro, Best Buy, Joby, and GoPole link are not affiliated. They have no freaking idea who I am.