Memories of 2002: Winter Olympics pins

Watching the current Winter Olympics has been so fun--come on, how awesome was Shaun White last night? I was jumping up and down like a fool when he did that crazy trick on his second run, weren't you? And between Lindsey Vonn, Julia Mancuso and the Austrian girl that medals podium looked like a shampoo commercial or a Charlie's Angels promo, what with all the toothy white smiles and gorgeous long hair.

I've been reminded of when my hometown, Salt Lake City, hosted the Winter Games in 2002. I will admit that up until 2002, I wasn't too thrilled at the idea of the whole world showing up and seeing what a good thing we had going, and messing it all up. I thought having the Olympics in SLC would prove to be a BIG mistake.
Boy, was I wrong. The 2002 Olympics were like having the most amazing party ever in your own backyard for two solid weeks! The city was beautiful and as cliche as it sounds, there truly was excitement in the air. I even got to attend a biathlon competition--I don't particularly care about the sport, but at least now I can say I've been to an Olympic event.

My big regret is that I wish I could have volunteered. Thousands of citizens volunteered and many had amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experiences. I had a full-time job when the call for volunteers went out so I didn't bother to apply. By the time the Olympics actually rolled around, my job was gone and I would have been free to volunteer, but by then it was too late. Rats!

One of the fun things about any Olympics is the pin trading. Hundreds of pins are designed for each Olympics and we had fun searching out those that were funny and significant to us. Compared to the amount available we bought only a teeny handful, but I thought I might share them with you (and my Utah & Mo friends will get a giggle out of them, I'm sure). The Fry Sauce pin was one of the most coveted for collectors. It was sold only at Arctic Circle, a Utah fast-food chain that claims to be the inventor of fry sauce. I tried to get one but they sold out quickly, but somehow Quin was able to get his hands on one and that was when I knew I should marry him. Okay, I was going to marry him anyway (we were engaged at the time) but that certainly confirmed that I'd made the right choice! In addition to the fry sauce pin, there were a green and a red Jello pin that were coveted and rare as well.In addition to the pins, one company made a series of special Utah-themed charms. I'm a big ol' sucker for charms, so I bought a whole bunch and made a bracelet: (click on the photos to enlarge so you can read the writing)It's been fun to look through my charms and pins and remember the fun we had in 2002. It reminds me that I need to get my pins framed or put in a shadowbox or something so that we can enjoy them more than every four years!

REDnesday: Cute baby edition

I hope you'll indulge me...(photo-heavy post ahead)

Today this little monkey is five months old!

Here are some things about Porter at five months:

He's such a happy little guy. People remark all the time at how pleasant he is and how little he fusses or cries.He adores his big sister Maren. She's the only one who can make him belly laugh! (she's also who he was looking at when was taking these photos)He's a chow hound and eats like he's starving every time. He's just started eating rice cereal and seems to really like it.Mommy calls him Porter Pie, Daddy calls him P-Mac, and Maren calls him Goo Goos.He is starting to sleep better through the night (BIG sigh of relief from Mommy!) He usually goes to bed around 10:30 pm and wakes up around 5:00 am.
He still has big hands a feet, just like a little puppy. :) Looks like he may follow the rest of the Morgan boys and be TALL!He can roll both directions now and wants desperately to be able to sit up.Porter is a joy to have in our home! It's so fun to watch him grow and discover new things. I look forward to learning more about who he is and see his personality.

To see more RED things, visit Sue at It's A Very Cherry World for her REDnesday party every week!

Coffee filter ruffle heart box 'wreath'

Last week at the commissary I happened to be in the coffee aisle (I say happened, because we don't drink it so I never go down that aisle) and saw the coffee filters on the shelf. I've seen them used in cute crafty endeavors all across blogland and they're CHEAP, so I threw both a large package of brown and white filters in my cart and knew I could figure out what to do with them later.Later in the week I came across this Coffee Filter Ruffled Heart Box Wreath with a fabulous video tutorial over at the House of 3 blog and I knew just what do with my coffee filters! I had some empty candy boxes in my Valentine decor so I used the bottom of one box as the base for my wreath. I followed Rhonda's tutorial pretty closely, except I didn't do the altered chandelier crystal and the piece I stuck on the front is different. For that I used a doily and an image cut out of Victoria magazine that I have been hanging onto for probably 15 years--no lie! Pack-rattery at its finest.

Now that my wreath is finished, I honestly can't say that I love it. In fact, it may not even make the cut to be held over until next year's Valentine decorations. However, it was nearly free (I might have used 50¢ worth of coffee filters; only a small portion of the package) and it provided several hours of mindless crafting enjoyment, so I'm counting it as a WIN.

Oh, and Valentine's Day around here was delightful! Major Hottie simply outdid himself this year: beautiful flowers, a sweet card, a handful of my favorite British candy bars, and he signed us up for DANCE LESSONS (shut up, I know)--did I win the lottery or what? He's amazing. Also, my cute brother proposed to his Lovely Girl atop the Empire State building and she said YES! I couldn't be happier for them and I'm so excited to have her as a sister-in-law. Good stuff, I tell you, good stuff indeed.

Valentine's craftiness

A few more peeks at my Valentine decor. Here's my muffin tin table, dressed for the holiday. I'm really tickled with how it turned out for Valentine's so I'm going to leave it this way for a while.
I'm a big sucker for tissue honeycomb decorations, so when I saw these at Michael's I knew I could do something fun:
The package included three honeycomb medallions and a plethora of glittery white hearts, which I gave to Maren.
For the centers I created pleated pinwheels from old dictionary pages and topped them with 4" doilies and glass-glittered hearts cut from vintage bingo cards. In the center of each heart is a K & Co scrapbook embellishment from a few years ago. Then I hot-glued the pinwheel to the center of each medallion.
I bought a package of cut dowels at Michael's as well and hot-glued one to the bottom of each pinwheel.
They're stuck into a piece of floral foam in a vase that held flowers from The Mister a few years ago. They were easy, inexpensive and fun to make!

Speaking of lollies, there's a great video tutorial over here at House of 3. Rhonna's lollies are made using paper rather than tissue honeycomb and there are some good techniques for making the pleated pinwheels that were new to me.

I'm still doing Valentine crafting--a little late to the game, I know. In process is this coffee filter ruffled heart 'wreath', also from House of 3. I've also started a project involving vintage prize ribbons. My hot glue gun is calling me....

REDnesday: Valentine edition

A peek at the display for Valentine's Day atop my china cabinet this year:
Proud to say that nearly everything in my display was purchased from a thrift store or on super-clearance from a retail store!

--The three largest mercury glass candlesticks are from 75% off post-Christmas clearance at Target, as were the four smaller votive holders.
--The other four mercury glass candlesticks were purchased at a thrift.--The silver bowl with silk roses was purchased at a thrift store, 50% off just before Christmas.
--The large silver champagne bucket was thrifted as well.
--The red tinsel tree was bought several years ago 90% off post-Christmas clearance at Target.
--The red candle holder was purchased years ago after Christmas at Target but was probably only50% off.--The antique beveled-edge mirror was thrifted a few years ago.
--The striped ribbon on the candles was after-Christmas clearance from JoAnn's, and the grosgrain and organdy ribbons were thrifted.

Not too bad! The jeweled vinyl frame on the mirror is from House of 3. They won't stick to my heavily-textured walls, but I love how they look on mirrors! I got my inspiration for the ribbon & heart ornaments on the pillar candles from Joy at Joys of Home.

Another bit of RED in my house this week:My first RED lipstick from MAC. Russian Red, to be exact, which the salesgirl told me was originally developed for Madonna back in the 1980s. I think I'll pair it with my shiny red heels for our Valentine's date. Look out, Major Hottie! Woo-woo!

Every Wednesday is REDnesday at Sue's place! Visit It's a Very Cherry World to see the rest of the players. Andie (my fellow RED-lover and my MAC lipstick idol also has great red stuff on her blog today, including a quilted carry-on that I COVET.)

Military Ball

So here's where I wore the second pair of red shoes from my last post:
And here's what I wore with them:
Red and turquoise, my favorite colors! Shoes from DSW, purse on 75% off clearance from Target, earrings from Kohl's. This was my dress, in case you're interested (only I got mine for half that price! Ha!). I even got my first-ever spray tan, which was gross in process but I loved the results. I'll definitely be doing that again. (I had intended to wear my sari but changed my mind when I realized going to the bathroom without a helper to re-wrap me was completely impossible--how on earth do Indian ladies do it?)

The Major Hottie and I got to attend a ball celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the formation of the Colorado National Guard. It was fun--kind of like prom for grown-ups, since all the ladies were in formals and the guys in their fancy uniforms. Heck, we even got a keychain as a favor (did anyone else's high school give keychains as favors for all the dances?)It was a pretty big shindig--attendance somewhere around 900, including the top general for the Ntl. Guard bureau for the whole country and a Jordanian prince. The governor of Colorado spoke as well.

We rarely--okay, never--have an opportunity to dress up like this and do something fancy, so it was such fun. My shoes were gorgeous and didn't even hurt as much as I had anticipated (although I got smart and brought cute leopard-print flats for the long walk from the parking garage to the venue). We left Porter with a babysitter for the first time that night and he did great. It couldn't have been better!