Jess and Josh (but really it's just Jess)

I made a skirt for Jaclyn a few days ago (see photo below for a photo of the fabric) and she sent me this in my thank you email and it makes me smile:

I was feeling a bit down and out
To my mailbox was the route

Small and brown, I did see
A package waited there for me

Carefully I cut a rift
My eyes beheld a glorious gift

A luscious sheath, ahoy ahoy!
Reminded me of Ode to Joy

Next time my spouse is in a nap
I'll play the tune that's on my lap!

I've actually completed a few things, which in my book is pretty darn good.  The shirt's fabric is way more awesome in real life.  It looks a little silly in the photo.  I learned how to shirr last night, which turned out to be super easy.  My other long dress is finished, but doesn't look really flattering.  Not sure how I'm going to manipulate it yet.  I might just make it short.  Last but not least, I finished up Ella's dress.  She came to visit us in Texas for two weeks (with her parents) and she couldn't be more adorable.  Yea for finishing things!

I've been thinking a lot about this lately, or always, so I thought I would post some of it here.  I feel the pull more strongly all the time to make things, to support the local community (what little there is of it here, that's a post for another day) and to support other independent designers and makers.  Our budget doesn't exactly allow a lot of extra spending these days, but I hope to be a better supporter of other Etsyians in the future.  We have talked more about starting our own family, and with that comes discussions about things that we want our children to find important as well as things we'd really like to steer clear of.

That being said, I've challenged myself to not buy any new clothes for the time being and to make them.  I'm not a very good seamstress to say the least, so just the act of making myself do it and get better is a good exercise I think.  Our local hobby store was having a huge sale on patterns and I got a bunch for only $1 each - this should last me for awhile.  I'm also collecting fat quarters so I can quilt a duvet cover with brighter colors.  Our bedroom is so boring.  We both really like natural colors - green, blue, brown but I'm starting to realize how blah it makes everything look. 

I've also decided to truly start an inspiration board.  I wrote a post for a friend's blog and it was such a great exercise.  After you get started, it can be hard to stop. 

Last, but not least, Josh has just a little over a year left.  This has been a pretty rough time for us to say the least, but we still believe that in the end it will be worth it.  We have no idea where we will head next, and a lot of it will depend on the kind of firm Josh wants to work for (and the kind of city we want to live in), but it's exciting.  I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. 

Here is a set of a few pictures from the trip.  I'll be processing more and adding them later this week.  

After what seemed like days in the car, I have finally returned from my camping trip.  We spent the last 5 days in northern New Mexico at a campground called Cimarron in the Valle Vidal.  I first went to this place 19 years ago with my dad and brother, and my dad and his friends have been going at least once a year since then.  We spent every day from sun up to sun down fly fishing, and I would occasionally sneak off to take some pictures.  I didn't sneak far though, as there are mountain lions and bears around.  I've fly fished occasionally but had never caught anything until this trip.  Needless to say, I was very excited the first time it happened.  All in all, I only caught 4 fish, but I'm proud all the same.  Of course, my dad caught about 30 to 50 a day (it was strictly catch and release) and the rest of the guys weren't far behind.  Next time. 

The trip was uneventful in the way of wild animals - no bears to speak of in our campground and I didn't even get to see elk this time.  Let me tell you a book to NOT start reading while laying in your tent in the middle of nowhere - A Walk In the Woods by Bill Bryson.  He talks about freaking himself out reading a book called Bear Attack and of course it in turned freaked me out and I barely slept that night.  You might think that I am a wuss, but two years ago one of the men woke up to a bear sniffing his face through the tent.  Not a comforting thought.  I'll be uploading the pictures sometime later this week, and I'll post the link here when I'm done.  It's time to do laundry!

So Ike came through late Friday/early Saturday and we escaped any real damage in College Station.  We were very lucky.  Even towns 45 minutes east of us are still without power and have extensive damage.  This hurricane is the first one to hit an area that I'm pretty familiar with - it's completely surreal to see the images of the places that we visited only 6 months ago.  We stayed at a place on the western end of Galveston called Escapes and a friend of mine (thanks Spencer!) sent the google earth images from before and after and I'm going to post them here.  It's incredible to see how much closer the shoreline is now and how much sand is covering everything (on the whole though, it looks like it held up pretty well, at least judging from above).  If you are interested in seeing a few more images, you can find them here. The devastation is completely overwhelming to me.

Last night Josh and I went to do laundry and the place was totally full of people from Houston (some people drove an hour and half just to do laundry) so we had to wait until about 9:30 just to get in.  Apparently the grocery stores are packed with people from down south as well.  It's weird to think we are living life so normally here and people just 80 miles away are still without power, water or sewage. 

I really love Galveston and hope that it isn't going to be as bad as they think it'll get.  I wanted to show this pictures for reference - although - they don't show the sea wall as well as I'd like.  I took the first two about a year ago in Galveston along the sea wall (it's 17 feet high).  The other one was taken a few hours ago by the AP.  It might give you a little more appreciation for how high the water is already around there.

August has been a whirlwind of fun and work - I can't believe it's almost over.  I'm feeling incredibly thankful and blessed to know the people I know and have the work that I do.  Our trip to DC (and the little places along the way) was exactly what I needed and gave me a fresh perspective on things.  Mainly it reminded me that good friends are worth holding on to and hard to replace. 

This next section is mainly for me, but if I write it down it means I have to do them right?  So, a few goals for the fall months:
1. Start exercising more regularly (not just for my health....photographing weddings has shown me just how out of shape I am - they can really take it out of you).
2. Start writing more letters.  I make stationery for crying out loud, it's not like I don't have an ample supply at my fingertips.
3. Try my hand at cooking something other than pies and souffles.  Good food (excepting TexMex of course) is a rarity in this town but who says I can't make awesome curry at home.
4. Learn how to knit socks.  I have a few started but I freaked out and put the needles down.  I am queen of not finishing projects, and this needs to change.  I just bought the book 2-at-a-time Socks, maybe it will help.
5. Finish my freaking Paper and Ink website.
6. Actually catch something while fly fishing.  I'm going with my dad and his friends to northern New Mexico in September for a five day camping trip.  Most of the time I flake out and just wander around while everyone fishes, but I really need to show all the men up on this as I'm the only female.  I really hope to photograph a bear or two while I'm there too...but we'll see about that.   I just don't want to see any mountain lions, those scare the crap out of me.

Okay, I need to edit photos now.  Pandora on my Touch is really helping though.  I am so in love with this little machine.

This past Saturday I threw Josh a surprise early 30th birthday party (his birthday isn't until the 22nd).  I didn't know if we could pull it off - but we did and it was actually a surprise.  My brother and dad took him golfing during the day while I took someone's newborn pictures.  Josh assumed I was there all day, but I lied a little bit.  He knew that my family was meeting at his parents for a dinner, but he didn't know that 30 other people were coming.  He walked in their front door with a bag of laundry and quickly realized what was happening.

I decided to have it at his parent's house in Fort Worth (we couldn't fit that many people in our apartment and no one wants to come to College Station anyways) and we had jalapeno burgers with a bunch of sides and homemade sangria and three different kinds of homemade ice cream.  Their yard is really beautiful - what a great place to have a party.  Unfortunately I picked the hottest day of the year to throw an outdoor event, but with a little ice and sangria people soon forgot the 100 degree temperture.  Hopefully.

Some pictures can be found here. 

Later I'll post some pictures of the invitation that I made.  It had a detachable postcard that had space on one side to do something creative.  I'm going to take a group picture of the ones we got back later - I wish we had done that for our wedding.  It was so much fun getting to look at them all.

I love parties.