Dancing in the Sun Room...

Dancing in the sun room.  That's what we did.

For the past 8 months, my parents, Faustino and I have been diligently working on fixing up my grandma's ranch which includes her house that's been vacant for years.  My grandma was a pack rat and after she passed her children sorted through a lot of her possessions but there was still a lot of stuff (I'd like to think of a better word to explain what it all is but stuff just seems to encompass it - there are treasures, junk, and family memories all rolled together).  So month after month, the four of us (and sometimes my brother or a family friend) would work at the ranch - my dad outside working/playing on his tractor and my mom, Faustino and I inside the house.  We would go from room to room to room sorting, cleaning, painting.  And what do you know, because of all the hard work we put in we were able to have our first family Christmas at that ranch in almost 10 years.

The first weekend of January we were at it again and this time we had little helpers - my niece and nephew.  While my nephew was helping the property's "caretaker" my parents, my niece, Faustino and I were working in the house.  Now mind you, we would have liked to have been outside, but it was not possible - 20 mph winds made it unbearable.  This gave us the opportunity to finally do some decorating throughout the house and to finally get around to cleaning the quaint sun room which my grandmother had added on to her bedroom during my early childhood.

With music blasting, we were busy cleaning and rearranging the sun room.  I'm not sure what inspired me - maybe it was my grandmother's spirit that my mom said she could feel, maybe it was my loopiness that I felt after working so many hours getting the house back to the way I remembered it, or maybe it was just because I was so happy.  One thing is for sure - I was feeling the music and just had to dance.  It started off with me doing the dance from the Breakfast Club when Ally Sheedy, Emilio Estevez and the other guy are dancing on the railing and it quickly turned into 3 generations dancing to Donna Summers.  My niece was the first to join me, while my mother watched from the ladder.  But soon enough my mom climbed down and joined us.  We danced a mixture of moves for the next five minutes, laughing, singing and just enjoying the moment.

I can't remember the last time I had that much fun dancing - I just felt so alive and seeing my mom look so happy (and my niece having such a good time) brought a warmth to my heart.  I have to agree with my mom, my grandma's spirit was definitely alive in the room that day and it felt great to have her there.

Another year gone and another has begun...Enjoy!

Another year gone and another has begun.  In the blogs I follow the common theme is planning for the year including resolutions and/or goals.  Since we rang in 2012 (which was only 9 days ago) I've tried to think about what my resolution/goal would be.  Last year I knew what my resolution would be before the clock struck midnight.  This year it was harder - so many changes happening in the next 12 months that I didn't know if anything could ring true for the entire year.  But I thought and I thought, and surprisingly around day 3 of the new year I had my plan/resolution/word...and I have to thank Faustino for inspiring it.

On the 1st we were eating dinner and Faustino told me his resolution was "to not waste a single day" - it's easy for him to do when he sometimes works 12-13 hours in a day and then sleeps for 8 hours.  A day or two after our conversation, I realized "wow, thats a great resolution" and decided I could use that as a base for mine...

Enjoy.  Thats it.  My resolution is to enjoy 2012.  Sometimes I get so preoccupied by work, I get so wrapped up in life that I don't enjoy my life.  Essentially I don't stop to smell the roses and its a shame since I come from a family of green thumbs. ;)

This year will bring a lot of change, it will bring a lot of fun, but it has the potential for bringing a lot of stress and anxiety (which can cause me to have anxiety attacks which isn't healthy for 26).  I vow to enjoy this year.  I will enjoy my months in Spain and not stress about "what if" my plans at home are on schedule, I will enjoy our family vacation with 20 or so people, I will enjoy the planning that will be happening in 4 months between my return from Spain and my wedding in October, I will absolutely enjoy my wedding (no brainer) and everything that comes after.

So here is to your resolution and to mine.  Happy 2012!

Day 4 - I fell in love at the Britex

I fell in love with 4 full floors of different fabrics...now these weren't what WOW'd me but I love fabric in general. :D

Day 3 - The Hustle and Bustle

Public transportation.  Bart.  The every day hustle and bustle.  You'd hope with all the money you spend and increases in fare that they would keep the place a little nicer.  Just a hope...

Day 2 - You Gotta Do This!!!

Sign to let the people know they need to spend $29 to zip line above Justin Herman Plaza.  Last year it was free thus the long lines at all hours of the day - this year not so free and of course no lines. ; )

Zip Liners - Wish my phone had a better focus feature

Window Washer at the Building next to me

Oh the joys of working in a high-rise Building in San Francisco - seeing people crazy enough to work in a window washing rig 20 flights above ground.

Another project complete!

Yay!!!  It has been about 3 weeks since my last blog and since I started the tablecloth.  Now it wasn't a hard project, but as you know life can get in the way, so a project that should only take me a couple days at most, took a little longer than expected.

French fabric with beautiful colors

Like I previously mentioned, I found the beautiful fabric at my grandma's house.  I think she must have purchased it on one of her four trips to France.  The fabric has a variety of vibrant yellows, blues and greens.  Since its a lightweight fabric you can pretty much see through it.  To add a little thickness and to make it look "finished" I added another layer of fabric to the back.  The bottom fabric is again something that I found at my grandma's place (I have vowed not to buy any fabric for a while - I've decided that I would use as much as I can from my grandma's stash and that should last me a while).  Its a light blue fabric that matches one of the colors on the French cloth.

I also found a ton of great binding at my grandma's place, but unfortunately the one's I brought home with me wouldn't work.  They just weren't the right color and I also wouldn't have had enough to finish the project.  So last week I bought a pack of yet another blue binding from Beverly's Fabrics and Crafts in Alameda.  I brought it home and what do I realize as I'm starting to pin it to my tablecloth??  Its not long enough!!!  Ah, I guess I should have measured the tablecloth before I left - but I wasn't thinking.

Finally, on Sunday I made my way back to Alameda and bought another package of binding.  And while Faustino was out with his brother, I put the finishing touches on my first - yes that's right first - tablecloth. 

And three weeks after I started (okay maybe four now), I finished another project.  Now, I might not be going as fast as I would like to go, but I'm chugging along and I'm happy with the results.  And now I'm getting prepared to start my next sewing project.  This will be a little more difficult so it might take me a little while longer to blog about it.  In the meantime, I still work on taking photos and maybe even making a journal.

First time binding!  And it doesn't look too bad. :)

As always, stay tuned...