A Trip to Baltimore

This weekend I visited Baltimore for the first time and I was totally impressed. While I love almost everything about DC, I found Baltimore to be more calm and charming (thus, the nickname Charm City). It was a lot like the smaller New England cities of which I am familiar.

We went to Iggies for great pizza, walked around the harbor, and visited the amazing farmers' market. Fresh local strawberries and tall iced coffees marked the beginning of summer. We also tried pickles on a stick! Some photos below. Happy Monday!

 

J.Crew Swim Sale

For a few days over at JCrew.com, you can treat yourself to 20% off all swimsuits and free shipping. I know I'm going to take advantage of it. I need a pick-me-up with all this rain :)

I'm thinking of getting this one:

Photo via J.Crew

I hope it's a little less rainy and gloomy wherever you are. And thanks to the lovely Jenn for telling me about the sale!

Home Improvement

Today was very exciting for two reasons: it was my first day of nursing school (!!!), and we FINALLY put the finishing touches one some of the home improvement things we've been doing around our apartment.  This weekend, my dad built us a L-shaped desk that is very simple and exactly what we have been needing for our very small workspace.  Here are some pics (no before pictures, unfortunately, and sorry about iPhone pics!):

We gave the desk (which is a simple but nice looking birch plywood) a few coats of semi-gloss poly.  I thought it would take forever to dry, but we were able to put three coats of this water-based coating on in one day.

Here is Andy's gear-filled side of the room.  I ordered the rug at West Elm and it was SO cheap compared to every other rug I've seen of similar quality.  Plus, I love the cheery color!  It's bright and summery and contrasts nicely with the grey walls.   

Here's my sad corner of the room...a few pictures and my medical terminology cheat sheet.  I'm still looking for a cheap but comfy desk chair.  Suggestions?!

Since I have only been working part time the last two weeks but haven't been in school, I was able to cross some other things off my to-do list, including this.  I'll have more to share later on this week!

The Friday Find

Apologies that this is so late. Blogger was down. Not only could we not post, but we couldn't see any of your awesome comments from days past. Needless to say, it's been a rough day. TGIF, for reals.

But today's Friday Find is really awesome. Worth the several hour wait. And it's brought to you by Design Mom. She turned regular, outdated ties into trendy skinny ties. Andy and Ben, don't be surprised if you end up with some of these because Anna and I are ready to roll up our sleeves and get crackin - errr...sewing.

You can find the tutorial here. Five ties cost her a whopping $5. Compare that to $30-$60 for one store-bought skinny tie. This is a total steal. And I love how they came out.

If you mail me your old tie maybe, just maybe, I will mail you back a skinny one :)

Photo via Design Mom

Happy weekend!

Baby blanket project

Since my sister shared her exciting news recently, I thought I would share a project I've been working on for her - a baby blanket!  I used this pattern - it is really more of a play mat, but I liked it because aside from being warm and snuggly, it can be taken on picnics, tucked into a stroller, or spread on the floor with toys.  Here are some pictures of the work in progress:

After I had the play mat sewn together in it's basic form, I basted it to keep the layers in place while I quilted it.  I used this tutorial since I had no idea what I was doing, and it was very helpful!

Once it was completely basted, I marked the fabric with tiny dots where I would embroider tiny X's.  I used this ruler (SO HANDY!) to make sure the dots were evenly spaced.

Then, I embroidered a small X on each of the pencil-marked dots.  This means the other side has tiny knots on it, but I decided that's okay since they don't compromise how comfy the blanket is.

Finally, I trimmed the blanket with this (bottom right) fabric.  It made the whole blanket much more exciting to look at, and was still gender neutral.

Since I am sewing the trim on by hand, I'm not quite finished yet.  I'll post pics of the final product in a few days. :) 

 

Advice

Do you all read Joy the Baker? I learned about her from Ben's mom. Joy the Baker is a MASTER in the kitchen. I'm sure that every recipe she posts is amazing, but my absolute favorites are her Baked Curry Sweet Potato Fries and her Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread. UNREAL.

Turns out, she gives good, hilarious advice as well. Here is her advice for turning 21 (but I think it's good advice for anyone).

Some highlights:

"If your button up shirt is bulging at the boobs...wear another shirt."

"Chill out on the Facebook. Seriously. It's not real life."

"Look people in the eye and listen when they speak. Seriously. It's a nice touch. It's the opposite of Facebook."

I have taken Joy's lesson #4 to heart this year: "Learn how to sew something. Anything."

Here are two new throw pillow covers I made this weekend.

18"x18" throw pillow cover, Marimekko fabric

12"x20" throw pillow cover, Marimekko fabric

Go find some good advice in Joy's post too. Have a good week!

Friday Find (er...Saturday Steal?)

Happy weekend!  Sorry about the late post this week.  Liz has been swamped at work and I've been getting ready for school, which starts a week from today...eek!  Speaking of school, this week's Friday Find is about the new Amazon.com book buy-back program.

 If you buy a textbook from Amazon, they will send you an email around the end of the semester with a buy-back estimate.  I sold my books back for just $10 less than I bought them, which I consider a deal!  Plus, Amazon pays for shipping.  All you have to do is print a label, package the book up, and send it with UPS.  Totally worth it!

Hope you're having a relaxing weekend.  xoxo

See of Love Mother's Day Gift Guide

Haven't got your mom a gift yet? No sweat. Here are our top picks.

Happy Socks, to brighten her day (readily available on Amazon or at Nordstrom).

Images via Nordstrom

A fun melamine serving tray to get ready for summer and outdoor dinner and drinks. I like this one by Target.

Image via Target

A (dwarf) Meyer lemon tree, just in time to make pies and summer cocktails. (Thanks for the recommendation, Diary of a Locavore!)

Image via Special Magic Kitchen

To fulfill that guilty pleasure, a subscription to People magazine.

Or, if you're looking for something simple that you know she'll love, a beautiful bouquet always does the trick.

Image via Sawyer & Company

Don't forget a nice card telling her how much you love her!  :)

Babies Eating Lemons

Your Tuesday morning pick-me-up: Babies eating lemons. This video is hilarious (just try to disregard the semi-distracting music). The faces those babies make when they take a bite!