I Remember...

I remember being 18 years old, fresh out of high school, and working as a waitress to make ends meet while I was in school. I remember waking up that morning to the DJs on the radio announcing that a second plane had hit the second tower of the World Trade Center. I remember laying there in disbelief before hoping up to turn on the TV. I remember the image I saw and the immediate fear, shock, and uncertainty I felt. I remember calling my mom not knowing what in the world was going on but needed to talk with someone, anyone. I remember the announcement that a plane had hit the Pentagon, and feeling sick to my stomach. I remember rushing to get ready for work, not wanting to miss anything going on.

I remember calling my dad, who worked in downtown Atlanta at the time, wondering if he was going to be coming home. (I DON'T remember his answer) I remember driving to work with my radio on not wanting to miss any news. I remember walking into work and seeing all my coworkers sitting at the bar, glued to the TV. I remember sitting down just in time to see the South Tower crumble. I remember the gasp, and then utter silence in the restaurant. I remember fear, and shock, followed by tears. I remember hearing the news report that a hijacked plane had crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. I remember hearing that the passengers decided that enough was enough and fought back. I remember silently thanking them for their sacrifice, and praying for peace for their families. I remember sitting there watching the news unfold as the North Tower fell.

I remember my boss telling me that even though all of this was going on, we needed to get the restaurant ready to open. I remember the 4 customers we had in a 4 hour shift, and I remember not caring that I hadn't made any money that day.

I remember the days that followed, hearing of the death and missing counts. Watching people on TV begging for help finding family members. I remember heartache. Lots and lots of heartache and feeling helpless as there was nothing I could do.

I remember a few weeks later, the fire department near my house had firemen standing outside their station with boots, collecting money to send to the firehouses in New York. I remember the line of cars and the traffic it caused as people dug through their purses and wallets to give something, anything they could.

I remember President Bush standing up and telling us that as Americans, we needed to band together, and get the son of a gun that planned all this. I remember him saying that we had to keep going. We could not let this break us and we could not fall apart. That if we did, the terrorists would win. I remember the amazing patriotism that followed as party lines were blurred and everyone banded together. We were no longer Republicans and Democrats. We were Americans, and we were not going to let this happen to our country. I remember being so proud to be an American.

I remember the Christmas that followed, my parents decided to take a different route to so we could drive through Washington, DC. I remember driving down the interstate and my dad saying "Look guys. See that crane? That's the Pentagon." I remember how much more real all of it suddenly felt.

I remember this past January, Travis and I had an opportunity to visit the memorial in New York. I remember seeing the hole that is in the NY skyline where the towers used to be. I remember the chatter of everyone in line as we made our way through security check points to get into the memorial. I remember how everyone immediately stopped talking the second they walked in. I remember the quiet. I remember the spiritual heaviness that was here, the unrest and the pain that was still in this place. I remember looking at the two pools still unable to grasp that these had once been towering buildings. I remember not being able to speak for fear of bursting into tears the entire time we were there.

Eleven years ago today, the World Trade Center was gone in an instant. The Pentagon was damaged, and a plane crashed in Pennsylvania. Thousands of people lost their lives, and thousands more gave their lives trying to help. As I reflect on this day, I am forever grateful to President Bush, his staff, the firemen, the policemen, the paramedics, the passengers on Flight 93, the volunteers, and the soldiers, continuing to fight, who did their best to keep our country safe and protect my freedom.

May we never forget. I know I never will

One of the pools at the 9/11 Memorial

Cakes

I love those cake shows. Like Ace of Cakes (my favorite!) and Cake Boss. They're about the closest thing to a reality show I will watch. I've always wanted to make fancy cakes like that and never really knew just how easy it could be...and also how challenging. So when Penelope's 2nd birthday started to draw near, I found a picture on Pinterest (don't hate!) of an adorable butterfly cake that I wanted to emulate. Since then, I've done 2 more birthday cakes, and have been asked to do 5 other birthday cakes, and 2 wedding cakes. I have a friend who doesn't get on Facebook much (you KNOW who you are), and she asked me to post pictures of the cakes I've done so far. So, here they are:

Penelope's 2nd Birthday Cake:

 All the butterflies are made out of gum paste and 100% edible (although I wouldn't recommend it. Gum paste doesn't taste good once its hardened). The top tier was a 6 inch vanilla cake with chocolate ganache filling, and the bottom was an 8 inch chocolate cake with a raspberry filing. The cake was frosted with buttercream in pink and blue (Penelope's two favorite colors)


 LuLu's Bakery Class Cake:

 I got a Groupon for a cake decorating class for super cheap and after months of trying to get ahold of the lady, I finally got to take the class. And this is my little creation. It was a 6 inch half chocolate and half yellow cake with a buttercream frosting. All the piping was buttercream as well.



Travis Drummond's 31st Birthday Cake:

So my best friend had quite a summer this year. He turned 31 and got engaged to the most wonderful girl in the world (seriously, we adore her!). He is a HUGE University of Miami Hurricanes fan so I decided to do a cake in the Miami colors. His aunt (the party planner) expected quite a few people so I had to make a larger cake. This was a 10 inch chocolate cake with Miami orange buttercream filling. The cake was frosted with dark green (you don't EVEN want to know HOW MUCH green!) and the piping is the same color frosting that is used in the filling.


My husband's 30th birthday cake:

I've said it before, my husband is a total geek. So when we started planning for his big 30th birthday, I asked him what kind of cake he would like and how he wanted it decorated. Being the big geek he is (love you, honey!), he asked for a circuit board diagram cake. This one was quite a challenge and I studied circuit board diagrams for WEEKS trying to get them right. In the end, he was very pleased with the cake and so was I. The top tier was a 6 inch carrot cake with cream cheese filling. The bottom tier was an 8 inch chocolate cake with cream cheese and fresh strawberry filling. The cake was frosted with cream cheese icing, and the piping was done in chocolate buttercream. I also used candy pearls to give a little bit of dimension.

Since doing these cakes, I've been asked to do another birthday cake for the 8th, the 14th, and 3 in October. I also have a wedding cake to do on the 29th and a wedding cake to do in April. Not to mention that with the holidays coming, Bake Fest 2012 (see Bake Fest 2011) will be starting soon, and I will definitely be staying busy! Stay tuned for more pictures!

Today my Husband turns 30

Today my husband turns 30. I've been teasing him all week about it - "You're gonna be old! I can't believe I'm gonna be married to a 30 year old man! That's just weird!" etc. But amidst all the teasing (because, frankly, I just can't help it), lies a wife who is truly proud of the man her husband has become.

We met in high school when we were 16. We had a geometry class together and he sat in front of me. After our teacher finished the lesson, we usually had 15-20 minutes of time to work on our assignments. I, the ever studious student, would begin working on it while Travis would sit and talk to me. If you would have told me then that I was going to marry him someday, I probably would have laughed in your face.

A little over a year later, in November of 2000, our school had assembled all the seniors in the auditorium for the morning because the other classes were standardized testing. At one point, someone corralled us to sit down and talk to us. I really don't remember what was said, because my best friend and I decided to sit in the two empty seats next to Travis. He had a Popular Science magazine and we started to flip through it together. We began dating a few days later. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Five years later, on June 25, 2005, we got married. And life has been such an adventure ever since.

 

Now, 7 years later, my husband turns 30. And I've enjoyed every minute of watching him turn into the man he is today. Have we had our bumps? Of course. Every marriage does (and if you say you haven't, you're lying). But we have weathered every storm and come out stronger on the other side. And I've learned things about my husband, some that make me laugh, and some that still bug me ;-)

- Travis has an amazing sense of smell: To a fault, sometimes. He's got what we call a "super sniffer." This man can smell a musty smell on clothes that sat in the washer for an hour before being rewashed and then dried. What you and I think is clean, isn't to the super smeller.

- Travis is a crazy hard worker: He's had numerous jobs since we've been married, and every single one has been to help support us, whether he likes the job or not. He's worked crummy jobs, and he's now found a great job where he fits in with the crew and truly likes it. He works so hard that I have been blessed to be able to stay home with our little one.

- Travis is an amazing father: The man who had never held a baby until our little Penelope was born is the most amazing father in the world. From the second he walks in the door, Penelope is all over him, asking him to "Daddy, play you?" And ya know what? He does. Every time.

- Travis is NOT a morning person: This is one of those things that I always thought I would be able to change. Because that's what we women do. We marry a guy and then try to change him. I have accepted that this will always be this way. It's a miracle if he is up before 8:30 during the week and 10am on the weekends. And he usually emerges from the bedroom ala zombie.

- Travis has amazing faith: Even when I worry and start to stress about something not going right, Travis is right there next to me reminding me that we've been given a promise, we have favor, and as long as we trust in God, we will get through whatever "this" is.

- Travis is super random, goofy, nerdy, and geeky: The thought trains this man comes up with astound me sometimes. We can be sitting on the couch and he will get a bout of goofiness, look at me, and say "pigeons dance in an elephant moonlight." To which my response is usually a raised eyebrow, followed by uncontrolled giggles.

I think this about sums it up

The point is, my husband is the perfect husband for me. He takes care of me, supports me in any and all en devours (and there are quite a few!), snuggles with me when I've had a bad day, listens to me complain about anything, takes care of our daughter like a champ, gives me evenings off from Penelope's bedtime routine if I've had a tough day, gives me a couple of hours of shopping alone if I need it, and lets me relax and be myself. He is an amazing man, and I am so blessed to be able to spend every day with him.

5 years of dating. 7 years of marriage. 12 years together. 30 years old. Here's to another 30 years.

Happy birthday Travis. My best friend. My protector. My comforter. My silly-goofball-makes-me-laugh-on-a-daily-basis-husband. I love you

Mystery SAL: Page 1

I finished the first page of the SAL last night. Well, most of the first page. The LNS didn't have some of the supplies I needed (one or two braid colors, beads). Once I get my spending money next week, I'm going to order a large (read 20in) scroll frame, and the rest of the sparklies I need.

A New Project!

Ok. I know what you're all thinking - Does she REALLY need ANOTHER project?

Normally, I would agree with you, but this project is a very different type of project. This project is a year long mystery stitch-a-long (SAL)

The SAL comes from Passione Ricamo, an Italian based cross stitch designer who's site I have visited many times, but never purchased from. I've always loved Laura's designs, but have always been in the middle of something and haven't been able to purchase...until now.

I found out about the SAL from a friend on Facebook (thanks Irene!), and quickly went searching for information. Laura had originally closed the registration on the 30th of June. She had such a huge influx of people emailing her, saying that they missed registration, that she reopened registration until July 30th. I'm glad she did, because I was able to sign up..and I am so excited! I think a friend of mine mentioned that there are over 80 of us around the world signed up.

So, how does a SAL work? Well, exactly how it sounds. Everyone works on the same project at the same time. But this...this is a MYSTERY SAL. Which makes it a little more fun

With a mystery SAL, you only get part of the pattern at a time. In this case, at the beginning of each month, Laura will send us the next page and we have a month to stitch it. Based on the schedule on her website, we'll get the entire top row first, and then she'll start to deviate from that. So you never know what the full picture will look like unless you keep stitching. That's the mystery part of it all.

Some SALs are free, but this one is not, however it is far from expensive. For a mere 12,00 EUR or $15.10 US, you get the page each month for a year. That's actually a pretty fair price for a cross stitch chart, and the added fun of it being a mystery SAL makes it even more exciting!

I signed up last night and promptly got my pattern for the first page. I only have a few weeks to stitch before the next page comes out, but I'm pretty sure I'll get it done. This is me, afterall :-)

First section

As you can see, there are LOTS of embellishments and pretties in this pattern. One thing that really surprised me was the chart has directions if you want to use the pretties (beads, metallics, etc), and also directions if you DON'T want to use them, and just stick to DMC. I plan on using all the pretties because I LOVE the way they look.

Stay tuned, because I will DEFINITELY be posting pictures of my progress as I go! I can't wait!

Stitching Progress

I figure since the title of this blog is Stitching Momma, I should include some pictures of my current stitching progress! And a big hello to my About.com Cross Stitch Forum friends!! :-)


John Wayne:

  

Fractal 154:

Quietude:

Penelope's Quilt Center:

And finally, a completely unrelated photo of Penelope helping me bake, because its just oh-so cute :)

100 Days of Eating Better: Week 1

Travis and I are trying to start eating better, and are following a modified version of the 100 Days of Real Food that we created. (See original post here). We're hoping to remove most processed foods from our diet and just eat better in general. We're doing this over 14 weeks (roughly 100 days), and each week we add a new "rule" as we've come to call it. Here's the rules so far:

Week 1: No eating out - at all

We're on our (almost)last day of week 1 and so far so good. We really didn't expect this week to be too much of a challenge, but we figured it was a good place to start, and we did it with only one hiccup. A family emergency on Friday caused me to eat out for breakfast AND lunch, but it was due to circumstances outside of my control.

I have to say, I'm already feeling better. Now I understand this could just be a placebo effect, but I'm not complaining. Feeling good is never a bad thing. I also know that this "no eating out" rule is going to help our wallets feel better too. (That, and we're going to be able to refinance our house in a few weeks! SO EXCITED!)

So, on to week 2. We are compounding each week onto the week before so by the end of it, we'll have 14 rules to follow. Again, we are following these as strictly as possible at home, however, we are not going to force what we're doing on anyone. If we're at someone's house for dinner, we are not going to refuse food because it doesn't follow our rules. People who do that are rude, and we don't want to be those people. So here are the rules for next week:

Week 1: No eating out - at all
Week 2: Try a new food

I've decided that the new food we're going to try this week is kale. I have a friend over at Here We Go... (you should check out her blog, she's a great writer!) who's little girl (just a few weeks older than Penelope) LOVES kale. I've heard tons of good things about it, but frankly, I've been afraid to try it. I've always sorta considered kale one of those "weird things that organic-and-tofu-eating people eat." (Ok, I do like tofu, but only in my hot and sour soup). I've seen it at the grocery store a few times and have been interested, but still a little scared. Well, this week, we're going to try it. I've picked 2 recipes that I am very excited to try: Sausage and Kale Soup and Kale Crisps with Sea Salt and Lemon. (I HATE that they're both Martha Stewart recipes!) and I'm hoping that we end up liking it. I'll probably do a recipe review on either/both.

So that's the recap from week 1, and the game plan for week 2. Here's to a good week!