Sara's Admirer

My sister-in-law Sara moved to Colorado Springs from Minneapolis about two months ago. She is a year younger than me and has just worked really hard to finish her bachelor's degree. She moved to Colorado because Colorado is the best place in the country to live and just for a fresh start. I am in awe of this amazing sister-in-law of mine! Here is what Sara has accomplished in two short months:

- She has not one but TWO great jobs!
- She has a place to live!
- She has friends she can call her own!
- She has been to a formal dinner at the Broadmoor!
- She has been to Glen Eyrie!
- She now has a somewhat serious friend who is a boy and more than a friend!

This is not typical for Sara -- she was not ever this settled in Minneapolis, and she was there for four years. It's been awesome to see how God has worked in her life, especially over the past few weeks as she's become a greater part of our lives (by proximity) than before.

I've been a big sister by marriage now for 8.5 years and I'm so, so proud and thankful for all three girls I get to call "sisters." Of the three people I know read this blog, none of you are females, so this is really hard to explain, but there is a really special bond between sisters. Even though I don't share Phil's sisters' passions for shopping, clothes, makeup and dad-gum shoes, we do still have an amazing, unexplainable bond. My real sister Erin is four years older than me, but we are extremely close. We shared a room growing up and even in college before Phil and I got married, and that always worked really well for us. Even now, our conversations are on a different level than my conversations with anyone else I know. I can and do talk with her about anything (and I do mean anything). I never realized how special that connection was between us until I got to play big sister to Sara, Amy and Heidi. I love them like we were raised together our whole lives and I'm so proud of who each of them have become!

Anyway, I'm getting sentimental because I'm getting to be a more-involved sister since Sara is now in town ... and I'm loving it. I'm so honored! When she was asking for advice today about this amazing guy she's falling for fast, I sent her my thoughts and her reply of, "I'm so thankful you married my brother! I love you!" seriously melted my heart. There's no greater compliment to a sister-in-law than that!

If you have great relatives, it's worth the effort to tell them that you think they're great. You might think they know it, but they might not. Take the effort and time to make sure they know it! Simple words like these can go a long way.

How Do We Pick Who We Vote For?

Okay, I'm sorry if this is a wrong or insensitive time to bring this up, but I was reading an article just now about the Virginia Tech horrors, and the article had a picture of the governor of Virginia, Tim Kaine. I don't know a single thing about Tim Kaine or his beliefs or background or politics. I also don't know a thing about VOA News, where I got the article. But, is this a standard picture of the governor, or is the paper trying to say he's an idiot by including an idiotic picture of him in the article?

I think I have kind-of an intuition about people when I meet them or see them. I know I judge a lot by first impressions and I almost always stick to whatever my initial impressions are. That means I'm either really judgmental or else I am very discerning. I'll say I'm discerning, of course. :o)

The bottom line is I would not have voted for this fella. He does not look trustworthy at all to me. I think some people look trustworthy and some people look like used car salesmen (or women). This dude definitely looks like he'd be asking top dollar for a four-cylinder car that has only three working. I do have to say to the paper, though, "Is this the best picture you could find?" Maybe the media propaganda is just working really well on me, but I'm not feeling so confident in this particular elected official. How about you?

Running (Wo)Man

I abhor running, but I know it's extremely effective. I'll dislike it less as I do it more and it becomes more of a steady pace for me. But I've not been running consistently for about the past five years, so it's really tough right now. I can elliptical on level 12 for over an hour easy, but running is a whole different animal in cardio world. Even though I have this love-hate relationship with running, I have discovered there are things I can do to numb the pain and make it bearable or even somewhat enjoyable!

As usual for me, the media at my disposal captures my mind and overrules any physical pain I would normally feel. :o) In other words, I realized this morning how significant it is for me to have great running music. Back when I used to run before, I'd run to the entire Linkin Park Hybrid Theory CD on my lovely discman, which would skip a lot and annoy me, but it was still better than silence. So, the past few times I've been running I've been listening to whatever I feel like amongst my favorite playlists or albums on my iPod. I've been running to Red or Switchfoot's Oh! Gravity. I even have a playlist with all sorts of loud, fast music called "Loud Workout Music" that I've tried a few times. These were okay, but not as good as the ol' LP pace I used to keep. So, last weekend when I ran, I put my Linkin Park playlist on shuffle songs (my default iPod setting). That was better, but still not quite the best. So, this morning, I listened to old school Hybrid Theory straight through, and it was an amazing difference. It felt like the old days with the good pace.

Even if you're not used to a specific album or playlist to help you keep pace, you still have lots of options for great running music these days. There are iMix playlists people have created in iTunes that you can download that have tracks with all the same BPM so you can keep a steady pace. A couple of people have even created free podcasts with mixes that keep a steady BPM for an hour. So, if you want to run an 8-minute mile (a pipe dream for me, but realistic or slow for most runners), the music will help you keep that pace. Or, even if you're a walker, there are similar tracks for you. I love technology that helps like this. To find this good stuff, just go to the Podcast directory on iTunes and do a search for running music, or something like that. You'll hit jackpot!

Modern Quilting Bee = Bitch 'n Stitch

About three years ago, my friend Sheri encouraged me to give quilting a go. Sheri was a textile design major in college, so I took her suggestion and judgment of my artistic potential as a huge compliment and decided to give it a go.

I immediately thought it would be really cool to make my first quilt on Phil's grandmother's old Singer I'd inherited when she passed away. So, I pull the machine out for the first time and decide I'll start "easy" with a full-sized quilt for my Mom and Dad for Christmas. It was November. :o) The only other time I remember ever using a sewing machine before I picked up quilting was in 7th grade home economics where I made an apron with Super Mario Brothers fabric (and I didn't even own a Nintendo).

So, Sheri helped me pick out fabrics that would combine to be my tastes of more modern and minimalist than the traditional country quilt, then I started plugging away on my ancient machine. I didn't have any training or classes, I just started sewing. Things were moving along nicely for a few days, then the sewing machine totally pooped out. It was going to cost a lot to fix and I didn't have time. So, I picked up the cheapest sewing machine I could buy at Wal-Mart. I finished the top of the quilt and started the hand-quilting long about Thanksgiving time. This is the part that most quilters either skip, hire others to do, or just do by machine, but the hand quilting part was my immediate favorite step. Hand quilting is really an art and just adds that much more personalization and care to the piece. It doesn't turn out a perfectly-uniform piece, but it looks more soft and special. It takes forever, but is well worth the effort.

I finally finished Mom and Dad's Christmas gift the March after that Christmas, but they really liked it and redesigned their bedroom so they could use it as the centerpiece. Since then, I've made a Cardinals-themed modern small quilt for my brother that he uses constantly, a monotone quilt for Phil and me that's not quite finished yet, and a few baby blankets for friends and family that are either used or mounted in their nurseries.

So, when Heidi got engaged, I thought the perfect personalized wedding present would be a hand-made quilt. She's definitely a Crate & Barrel type of girl, so I'm making a modern quilt that was designed by Denyse Schmidt. I'm not making the exact quilt in the picture above, but it gives you an idea of how beautiful Denyse Schmidt's work is. She creates her own designs and puts them together then hires Amish women in Minnesota to do the hand-quilting. I really want to eventually make amazing and beautiful hand-made art like hers with a modern edge. I really like the fact that I'm a modern, tech savvy girl with an age-old hobby that I can now call my own. Of course, I do it my own way -- in front of the TV. :o) Yes, I quilt while I'm watching Entourage and Extras. How many women in the history do you think quilted while f-bombs were flying? :o)

Regardless of how I do it, I thoroughly enjoy quilting and I'm always excited and proud of the final pieces. If I could make money quilting amazing pieces like this, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

Ketchup (or Catch Up ... Whichever You Prefer)

The past couple of weeks have been madness with an under-the-weather genius at home and an over-sized queen quilt that must be finished in time for Heidi's wedding in two months (or, ideally, for her shower in one month)! Ahh! Lots going on. But, let's get down to business.

As a self-proclaimed over-doser of media, I first need to catch up on movie reviews. We'll get into Sopranos and Entourage and 24 later.


Blades of Glory

In true form for Will Ferrell, Blades was over-the-top wrong, but still really funny at the same time. The characters were ridiculous. Jon Heder did a good job of not just being Napoleon and had a really funny part in this. People kept calling him a little girl, which was hysterical. I think I laughed harder than I would have if I were watching this movie by myself just because of the people in the theater around me. I laugh harder when Phil is laughing, and he did his fair share on this one. But, also, I was sitting next to a group of 20-something guys and the one guy next to me kept saying quietly, "What the f***?" in shock. He was cracking me up.

Bottom line, it's a funny movie worth seeing for an escape. Doesn't matter if you see it on the big screen unless you like seeing it with a crowd like I do. If Will Ferrell usually makes you laugh, you won't be let down by this flick.


Shooter

I wasn't holding my breath for the release date of Shooter when we saw the previews, but it turned out to be a good movie with an interesting plot and good characters. Ever since The Itailian Job, I'm going to have to say I'm more or less a Mark Wahlberg fan. He's a decent actor.

Movies about "professional" shooters are fascinating to me. I don't know how people can do that and not have it affect them. On one hand, I think I'd be an emotional wreck if I killed people for a living. But, I could also see how I'd have no remorse for taking out a mass murderer. Of course, as my skillz in Halo 2 (or any other first-person shooter game) show, I could never be a shooter of any kind anyway. I'm the kid running across the plains who gets taken out in the same spot 20 times in a row by the same sniper in the hills. Usually that's Phil. He'd be a great sniper.

Anyway, back on topic, Shooter is pretty decent. If you want to see lots of shooting, some napalm explosions, some pipe bomb explosions, and some revenge killing, this is the movie for you. Probably renting it is okay, but we saw it in digital at the mall and it was crystal clear. Definitely try to see it in HD if you wait until it's a rental. But, I say, "Go Marky-Mark. Tell Danny and Donnie 'hi' from me."