Proud mama!

On Saturday night we went out on a family date night. It was awesome! At my local Starbucks, I ran across a flier earlier in the week on their "share" board and knew we had to go. It was local, San Jose Civic Auditorium, and fairly inexpensive ($20 a person) which made it that much better. Where did we go, you ask? We went to Battle Fest Live 360!
As Justin says, "Sick!"
It was!

Battle Fest Live 360 was an exhibition of local HipHop/Dance crews. It was actually held over a couple of days with dance classes you could sign up for. But the last day, which was Saturday night, was the exhibition and competition. It was 4 hours long but didn't even seem like it. The dance crews were amazing and the music was banging!

There was a short 15 minute intermission at the two hour mark. That's when things got REALLY good! Of course some people headed to the bathrooms and concessions, but some of the dancers started to freestyle out on the dance floor. Pretty soon, a small circle had formed and anyone left in the stands naturally started to watch.
As we did.
Until, Justin looked over at dad and said, "I want to go down there."

Off they went.

I was expecting to see them emerge from a certain area in the auditorium, but when all of a sudden a little blue plaid fedora popped out from the rim of the circle and into the middle of it, I was up out of my seat as fast as my body would move. I grabbed the Flip Video and started videoing. The crowd did a couple cheers when he busted out his signature moves. Around me, in the stands, I did hear one couple say, "Who is that little boy?" I so wanted to turn around and say, "THAT'S MY BOY!!" But I didn't, I kept that video poised and focused. I couldn't believe the guts on my little one, he blew me away!

After, when we were just watching the rest of the performers, a few random dancers and audience members spotted Justin and told him what a great job he did. I was beaming!

I bet you are all dying to see the video!? As we are, too. Alas, in my haste to make "Mom of the Year Award" for capturing the most exciting moment in Justin's life so far (okay, maybe a bit dramatic... ) I did not hit the start button.
Yea.
I know.
Don't go there.
: )

Fowler Update

When my hubby graduated from High School ('91), a close family friend (Thank you Dorothy!) gave him this wonderful hand painted sign of our last name. And in case you were wondering, yes, I was there when he received it.

At the time, my mom and I took it and immediately had it mated and framed. Mind you, it was 1991. Hence, the lovely colors.

Hubby and I proudly hung it in our first little place. This I know because my mom just ran across some old pictures of our first "apartment". I put apartment in quotes, because it was really two rooms and a bathroom built into half of my parents garage. I LOVE them! But I digress.

After moving two more times before this house, the frame eventually got put into our stock pile of "wanted-but-can't-use-it-right-now" items. It sat there for a good couple of years, to tell you truth, I really can't remember the last time we had it hung.
Not anymore.

A little DIY cleaning and sanding, some black spray paint and this baby was ready for a new home.

New and Improved!

I love the look that painting both the mat and frame black gave to it, made it look like a nice chunky frame, instead of the thin 90's frame it is.

Here it is in it's new home.

Wha'dya think? : )

~nic

Got Vinyl?

So I've noticed a trend out here in blog land.
Vinyl.
Vinyl letters cut with Cricut machines.
It occurred to me, I have both items.
In fact, I have the original Cricut and my mom has both the original and the Expressions.
I have vinyl.
TONS of vinyl.
Why won't mine work?
Here's my vinyl:

Here's more vinyl:

Here, I'll show you what I'm doing, maybe you can help.
I'll choose this one:

I know my Cricut works, and I know this is Quality Vinyl, why won't it fit?

I even went down the street (yes, my mom and dad live two blocks down), to see if it would work in the Expressions.
I got this:

Am I doing something wrong?

Hehe!

~nic

Gossip Chair

About a month ago, my parents and I went on a little garage sale shopping spree. Amongst my other finds, I think my best treasure was a little "loved" gossip chair. They were asking $25 for it, but I overheard the homeowner mention that she just wanted to get rid of the furniture and would take anything for it. A few other people were looking at the little chair as well, but kept passing it up.
I almost did too.
My mom was the one that talked me into it.
She really didn't have to talk to hard or long, I really wanted it already.
So, I asked if she would take $10. The homeowner didn't even hesitate, sold!
Sweet!
Not only did I get a fantastic bargain on it, but when my daddy was loading it in the back of the truck, we found a little mechanical device. We didn't know what it was until we got it home and started messing with it. A lot of the old gossip chairs have a hole drilled in the top of the desk for lamp parts. Mine had the hole but it had a death trap of a note holder rather then a lamp or even phone, like I've seen some. Well, after removing the death trap and removing the mechanical device we did a little searching online to figure it out. That device turned out to be a rather old school lamp wiring system that when you sit down on the chair, it pushes on the device and lights up your light. I was floored!
How super awesome is that?!
I even had the PERFECT lamp for it.
So...here is my darling $10 Gossip Chair, all done up for the ball.

Isn't she a beaut? I just used a left over pillow sham and covered the seat with the front of the sham, and used the back of the sham to cover the front of the desk area. I even used the edge of the pillow sham to give the seat cushion a little skirt. I think my total for this whole project was:
$10 chair from garage sale
$0.50 Pillow sham from Salvation Army
$3.99 for the wanna be crystal lamp from Goodwill
$4.99 for the lamp shade from Ross
$0.25 for the handmade doily from garage sale
Left over trim from another lamp project, maybe $2.00 worth??
FREE paint from Craigs List
My time and effort. : )
Less then $25.00 for the whole project. The original cost of the chair. I love that!

I can't wait for you to gossip with me.

~nic

More Manly, please

So here I was, blogging away, watching the snowboarders in Vancouver. Just minding my own little blogging world, when along came a lurker. My words caught his attention and he wanted to be sure that I actually did not take a picture of him in the bathtub. The conversation went a little something like this:

Hubby: You didn't really take a picture of me in the bathtub, did you?

Me: Of course not, I actually took these this morning.

Hubby: But you call me hubby?

Me: Yes??

Hubby: It sounds a little feminine.

Me: Oh, I'm sorry. *hitting the delete button and retyping* There, is that better?

Hubby: *Laughing until tears rolled down* Yes! From now on, I am F$@#face!

He wanted to sound more manly, hubby wasn't cutting it. F$@#face, apparently makes the cake.

I love you F$@#face!

From Blankie...to Swanky!

I've had this chair for years. It was left behind by a friend (Thanks Teresa!) and I had covered it with some tan material years ago. My son at one point took a marker to the tan material and the poor chair has been neglected ever since. Well...not anymore. A little free paint (Thanks C.L.!), some new material from another friends unwanted baby blanket (Thanks Val!) and voila!
A new love!

Before:
(I had to crop the picture from another picture after I realized I hadn't taken a "formal" before shot)

After



It doesn't exactly fit in the entryway, but for now, I love walking in and seeing it. My hubby has even taken to it, as well as his computer bag. I tried to throw this on it to detract the bag from landing on it, but it still seems to make it there.
Oh well.
I suppose it's better then tripping over the bag with one eye closed pretending to trick my brain into thinking I'm still sleeping while trying to make my way stealthily through the living room in pitch blackness because I'm so parched from the heater being left on all night that if I don't pour liquid down my throat I'm sure cotton will come out and stubbing my toe on the what's-supposed-to-be-padded corner protecting the laptop inside, it can rest on the chair...oh, did I just type that out loud?

I love this pillow, it reminds me of a record which ties into my honey's whole DJ thing. You can't tell from the picture, but the swirls are actually raised fuzzy velvet strips. Don't know if I like the combination with the seat material, though. And since it doesn't seem to keep the computer bag from resting it's bum on it, I'll end up finding a better home for it. Sorry wanna be record pillow, I don't think this adoption will work out. Consider it your foster home for now, don't get too attached. : (

~nic

Lil' man's Fourth Grade Science Fair Project

After much thought...okay, let's be real.
After much searching of the internet, I found the perfect Fourth Grade Science Fair project for the lil' man! Our family is heavily saturated with music and dance. Daddy has been a DJ now for 17 years, and when I was in my younger years, the dance studio was a second home to me. That will have to be another post...on to the project. I wanted something different, that we hadn't seen at any of the previous science fairs. It took some searching but I finally stumbled across it. I quickly downloaded all the info and brought it home to show Justin. He loved the idea! Whew! Score one for mom. He's decided to title it, "Behind the Beats." Here's a sample video I did of Justin explaining:

Valentine bunting

I wanted to make a quick and easy Valentine bunting. So, I pulled out some supplies:



I didn't get a picture of the two sheets of scrapbook paper and large frilly circle punch I used, but you'll get the idea. I first decided on what I wanted the bunting to say. I found my letters and numbers, I used my anniversary date, and set them aside.



I punched 5 circles each of the scrapbook paper and then lightly inked the edges with my pink ink. Then I ran them through my Xyron and placed them in the center of my doily's. I took my sparkly letters and dabbed some glue on the back and placed them on top of the punched circles, alternating the paper patterns for each letter/number.





Then I simply took a length of tulle, pinched it along the way and stapled my doily's at each pinch. I randomly cut a length of my ric rac and sequin ribbon and tied them between some of the letters. I didn't have enough of the ric rac to do each side of the letter, otherwise I would have. But I still like how it turned out.





And Voila! Super easy, super quick but full of love!







I hope you enjoy!

Nic~

New here...

Hello All!
Well I finally did it. I got myself this here blog. I don't really know what I'll be posting about...Oh who am I kidding?! I know exactly what I'll be posting about! Crafty things, decorating things and my sweet little family! So here we go...I hope you enjoy the journey!