Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Wall Quilt

The highlight of the Stainbrook family Christmas was thanks to my Grandma, Wilma Stainbrook.

Grandma gave all of the grandkids hand-made Christmas wall quilts with "To Darcie from Grandma Stainbrook 2008" embroidered on them.



Apparently, Grandma made these in 2008 and forgot to give them to us for two years.

Darling.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Ball Gown

So I need to wear a ball gown to my uncle's inauguration in January...and my sister-in-law Cher, and I decided that long dresses are the way to go.

Which is awesome because long dresses are warmer and I won't need to shave (kidding).

However, not so awesome because I don't already own a long ball gown... I do have several short fancy dresses, but I'm nothing if not a follower of crowds, so I'll look for a long dress.

Here's something that popped up in a sale alert today....
Silk chiffon Taryn long dress

It's a little out of my price range, but I like that it looks comfy.  The Nanc-in-ator and I are going shopping over winter break, so I'll keep you updated.  My google image search of Gubernatorial Ball Gowns was less than helpful, so any help you can send my way would be amazing!

I figure I can wear pretty much whatever I want and I'm bound to top my Uncle Jim, who apparently bought a tux on Ebay.  The rumor is that it was $13.00, but we're not sure if it included shipping or not.  Bets are being taken about whether it's powder blue or comes with a bolo tie.  I'm banking on bolo tie.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Two Weeks

Two weeks with no posts.

I stink...even though I had a snow day last Thursday, I was still I bum.

Sorry.

At any rate, life has been rather dull.  General holiday craziness and baking has consumed me.

This past weekend marked the start of Christmas festivities in the Brownback-Brady household.  We traveled to Kansas and attended my Aunt Sue's 50th birthday party, the Stainbrook Christmas, and my Grandma & Grandpa Stainbrook's 60th wedding celebration.

And I only took pictures of animals.  I am a mess.

I got to see my Maggie-Roo for the first time since Thanksgiving.

Yeah, I know that sounds bad--it's her yearly "vacation" to my parents.  It's much easier on David during finals (and with all the holiday parties/etc), and Maggie likes it.

I also found another friend--this puppy is a stray that I named Cheese.  I've always wanted a yellow dog to go with Maggie so that I can call them Mags and Cheese.

I didn't keep Cheese, but if you want him, he's up for the taking.

Maggie didn't seem thrilled about a new household addition, and I listened to her :) 
Plus, Cheese shed like a maniac and the last thing I need is more hair in my house, especially in a contrasting color.

The non-pet related weekend was a blast--family and fun.  David and I stayed at Kyle and Cher's Saturday night because we needed to scoot back to St. Louis so David could finish his last paper.


On that note, at 9pm tonight, David is done with school.  

I think I'm happier than he is.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Lingerie Making Party

Friday night, Martha and I traveled to St. Charles for a lingerie making party... it was a nice mixture of interesting and uncomfortable :)

There were 3 other girls sewing with us, one of whom seemed really cool.  The other girls seemed weirded out by panties, so a party to sew underwear was an odd choice. 

At any rate, I decided to make the girls weirded out by panties even more uncomfortable.


Yeah, I sewed that :)  I'm not in love with the halter, but, hey, they didn't ask what fabric I wanted.  It kind of looks more like a swimsuit to me than anything else.  Or a superhero costume.

Speaking of swimsuits, the studio was connected to the owner's daughter's design studio.  She designed custom swimsuits for pageant-wear and lounging in sunny Florida.  Some of the suits were cute, but the cheapest one I saw started at $304.

A smidgen out of my price range, but I did buy some patterns for future sewing adventures.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Sewing

Sorry about the lack of posts lately... I took a sick day from work on Tuesday and have been drained of energy/playing catch up for a while...
Tonight, Martha and I are going to a DIY Lingerie-Making Party and Wine Tasting.  It promises to be...interesting.  I'm just hoping it's not us and a roomful of grandmas sewing for their granddaughters.  That could be awkward.  I promise to take pictures of my creations (note: not IN my creations.  This is not that kind of blog).

I'm not going to lie--I'm kind of excited.  I haven't busted out my sewing machine since I got on an apron kick.  Sewing might be a fun holiday project for me, in between family functions.