2020 has been one of the worst

2020 can go away and never come back. What was suppose to be the year I paid off debt and saved for a house turned into the year I worked 2 1/2 months because of COVID-19 and am looking for work because I have no idea when/if we’ll ever return to my grants job. The stress is unreal and I know I’m not alone in this. At the time of this writing, California’s unemployment rate sits at just over 11% so I’m in good company but as the savings runs out and EDD runs out, the worry sets in.

But I’m lucky, I still have a roof over my head, electricity, heat/air conditioner and food on the table, so I have to remind my self that in the end I’m better off then some.

How’s 2020 been treating you?

goodbye 2014…

2014 is now 5 day in the past and somehow I still can’t quite believe that we are in 2015.

2014 was full of both good things and bad; I went back to school to finish my Master’s, we added a new fur friend to our family and sadly, Ryan’s grandmother passed away just after Christmas.

I thought long and hard about how I wanted to approach this and finally decided I am not doing year- long resolutions. I suck at keeping them plus half the time I forget about them. So instead I’m going for weekly/monthly goals.

This week, sadly is all about funeral wear. I have only a couple of black dresses in my closet and sadly, non of them are very winter funeral appropriate. Although I am not sure that I would necessarily wear them to a funeral during the summer either. Somewhere along this though line, I decided that I had very little in the way of outerwear that was funeral or super professional looking and so along with a dress to wear to the graveside service, I will be making another coat.

A little late But…

for my birthday at the beginning of the month, we took my two favorite fur people to Mission Bay in San Diego. It was Doubtfire’s first time with us to the water and I’d say she had a fun time if not a little unsure of the water at first.

Happy wet puppies

I’m not sure about this…

Are you sure its cool?

Pup x 2

So after much debate, Ryan and I decided to take the plunge and seriously look for another Bella-type dog. After months of searching we finally found the perfect addition to our family. She is an 18-month old havenese mix name Doubtfire (yes, like the movie and yes, we plan on keeping the name, it is after all the perfect name for a Havanese puppy).

For my birthday yesterday, we took the puppies to Mission Bay, well Fiesta Island but still. They seemed to like it. Bella’s never been a fan of being wet hence the less then happy look and the desire to sit on Ryan’s mom and dad’s laps as soon as the arrived and Doubtfire…well she got in, played a little fetch on the beach and then took a nap in the warm sun.

 

Bella and Doubtfire after Doubtfire’s first bay trip

Purple!

I think I bought this material with the idea that I’d make a dress but somewhere along the line decided I needed more interview/work tops.

The first one obviously goes under my suit jacket when I know I’m not taking it off, like in an interview. It started off as a skirt but I decided I didn’t love it, let alone like it so I turned it a shirt.

I might un button it but it’s not necessarily coming off. The second one can be worn with my jacket or by itself.

I fell in love…

With this pattern. And was in a kinda skirt/dress sewing mode. I did start with a pattern but realized I bought the pattern too small :(. So I improvised. The purple is off another project. I think it gives it a fun vibe. It’d be a perfect summer work outfit. Forgive me if it looks a little wonky but nothing ever fits quite the same on the dress form as it on me.

Little brown skirt

In an effort to wear more skirts and dresses, I whipped up this little brown skirt out of some jersey like material, although it could have been dance/athletic wear. Either way it works for this skirt. It’s a fairly simple circle skirt with an elastic waist and a waist band that’s not sewn down but tacked in a few key places so that it doesn’t get all crunched looking like elastic waists often can. I didn’t hem it as the material didn’t really need it.

Our first dog coat

Our very first dog apparel is now available in our Etsy shop. Check it out here!

Its a light blue lined coat that will look great on any dog medium or small. 

Real simple spiced chicken with couscous salad

If you are anything like me, you struggle with not only eating the ‘right’ stuff but also making easy healthy dinners. In fact, I’m making a change in how we are eating and though much like this blog keeps me on track with my sewing (even though I’ve kinda fallen off the wagon) I figure I can use it in the same way to keep on track with healthy eating.

Here’s tonight’s meal:

Spiced chicken with couscous salad from Real Simple. I used green beans because I didn’t have snap peas but it’s still yummy. Check it out here.

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