oh, brother.

For my birthday, my parents gifted me a new Brother sewing machine, my very first machine of any kind.  I was so excited that I started in on a new project right away.  Since my mom used to be quite the fabric lady, I thought I should take advantage of her knowledge and know-how, so she guided me in some sewing basics.  I chose a McCalls apron pattern for my first project (the pattern I used is here), since I've been fawning over those fancy aprons I see everywhere these days.

Of course, I couldn't be happy with following the pattern exactly and wanted to make some changes.  Somehow I always seem to get ahead of myself when learning a new craft.  Anyway, here's how my first creation went:

And Finally...

I added the waistband, and it turns out, it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be to just throw in a waistband! Good to know for next time. Fun project! I'm excited to try more!

~> Shauna

what's that you say? it's a viognier!

A few weeks ago, some friends and I went here and began the wine making process.  This weekend, we went back to bottle and cork our wine.  We chose to make a Viognier (for pronunciation, go here).

All in all, we made 27 bottles of wine!  It'll be a summer treat, when the sun decides to finally come out!

a trip to the vancouver farmers market.

While visiting my parents for my birthday weekend, we took a little trip to the Vancouver Farmers Market.  Here are some photos:

Captain George Vancouver with a fresh bundle of flowers:

My uncle and me visiting The Garlic Lady:

Gigantic skillets of paella:

While getting a refreshment from the local Starbucks, I found a hitchhiking bumble bee on our flowers! My dad took care of the hitchhiker outside:

Everyone's happy after a trip to the market!

note card bliss.

A couple of years ago, my grandma gifted me a photo organizer.  This was a thoughtful gift, she knows how I love to scrapbook.  Unfortunately, I don't print many photos out anymore! So this nifty organizer sat in my closet, sadly unused, for too long.

Recently I was attempting to organize the various note cards I have made and purchased over the years - and suddenly, light bulb.  Below is what I like to call Note Card Bliss.  I was able to use the nifty photo organizer to organize all of my note cards!