A Couple More

Hello again! I know that Christmas was basically eons ago, but I wanted to show you two more of my holiday projects. I had so much fun helping a friend of mine make gifts for his kids.

The first was this car roll-up:



Cute, right? Wish I could claim this as my own idea, but I actually found the instructions here.

We also made the awesomest of awesome Santa presents...a tee pee for my little bud Charlie:



This bad boy was super-easy to make -- it only took us about three hours! You can find the full tutorial here.

Now that the holidays are over, I'm trying to get back to some of my own projects (I've always got heaps of them). This morning I finished a bathroom shelf makeover that I started back in July:



I found this shelf on KSL for $10 bucks. ugly, ugly, ugly! But I needed some more storage in my bathroom so I figured it was worth a shot...



Ba-da-bing, ba-da-boom! What do you think? A little bead board, a little paint, a little something-something to dress it up...I'm really happy with it -- and glad to be done! Time to mark that one off my list and move on to the next!

My Little Friends

It seems like most of my close friends now have little kids, and I love it. There's something about having them around that makes everything more fun....at least, I'm having a lot of fun. I love being called "Rachel H," love silly, twirling girls in tutus, and love knock-knock jokes with made-up punchlines that all contain the word "apple." Yes, apple. I've also had a lot of fun lately focusing some of my pent-up creative energy on little kid stuff. Here's a birthday cake I made a couple of weeks ago for my little bud Charlie:





And here's a little sneak-peek of some Christmas projects I just finished for Charlies sisters...



I can't wait to show you everything else I'm working on! But for now I've got to get some sleep. I'm off to Vegas tomorrow for a fun birthday weekend!

Halloween

I'd like to tell you all about my Halloween. Yes, I know it was almost a week ago, but let's face it -- that's just how I roll.

I had a super-fun holiday: I made caramel apples, went to the ward trunk-or-treat, visited with friends, and went to bed at 10:30.

But before all that, I ran my first half-marathon! See, I told you I would...

I heard about the Halloween Half on Facebook a couple of months ago. I'd been preparing for a race in November, but thought this one looked like SO much fun. I mean, you all know how much I love Halloween. I couldn't resist the opportunity to do something awesome while looking completely ridiculous...I mean, more than I usually do when I run.

My friend Scott wanted to run with me, so we went as Peter Pan and Tinkerbell -- a far cry from my originally-intended biker chick costume, but who wants to run that far in leather chaps? Yikes!




The race was awesome. There were over 2500 runners, so it was super-packed, but almost everyone was dressed up. It was so much fun. It was all downhill, which in some ways made it easier, but for a couple of days following the race I walked like an 80-year-old woman. I'd never run that far before, so I was happy just to finish...but I know I can do it faster. And I'm going to prove it as soon as I can.

How did you spend your Halloween?

Hello Again!

Well, I’m back. Back to life, back to blogging, back to my normal self again….I think. The summer was crazy and full of changes – some of them awesome, and some I hope never to endure again – but I feel like I’m finally catching my breath. And now I’ve got a lot of catching up to do.

I’ll start with the kitchen chairs.

Remember those ugly brown things I showed you a few months ago? Well, I’ve been busy gluing, carving, drilling, sanding, and painting, and now they look beautiful and brand new! Oh, how I love my Dremel, my cordless drill, and my friend Mr. palm sander.

And oh, how I love my new old chairs.

My table, too, received a very fortunate makeover. This little guy was a hand-me-down from someone in my parents’ ward. It used to be oak-colored with a white laminate top. Not very cute. But now? Now I gaze adoringly at it, my eyes dewy, whenever I enter my kitchen. I love it.

Don’t you?

And as an extra treat, here are some cake stands my sister and I made for her upcoming wedding reception:

You like?

Pooped but Proud

I did something awesome today, guys -- something I've always wanted to do but wasn't sure I could.

I ran the Provo Riverwoods 10-miler. 10 MILES! I've never run that far before!

I feel like the queen of the world.

Half-marathon, anyone?

Perhaps the best part of this is that I did it with my cute friend Andrea B. I told her about a week ago that I was chickening out and wasn't going to run, but she talked me back into it.....then using my unrivaled powers of persuasion, I convinced her to join me. We were both massively intimidated by the prospect of completing a 10-mile race, but we make good cheerleaders for one another.

This morning I WAAAAYYY overslept and it was pouring rain when Andrea came to get me. That almost did us in.

But we're not sissies. So we went for it.



And look how happy we are.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go ice my knees and sleep for a week.

Progress

I've had a project haunting me for months. I'm not sure what compelled me to take it on in the first place -- I guess I'm not happy without at least a half-dozen things to work on -- but now it's time to get a move on. It's as though I've left four old friends stranded in the kitchen, desperate for attention since October. Today, we played for the entire afternoon.



I can't wait to show you when they're done!

Fabulous Friday

Today I....

....embroidered a whole bunch of bags for tomorrow's primary activity....




....then spent the rest of the day with this girl, who's going on a mission to Brazil!




Together, we went here.....



Where, after an agonizing two-and-a-half-month wait, I finally got this...


Then we watched a movie and ate a whole bunch of these:



Today was a great day.