home trip

mom often asks why i don't go home to visit that often. 1) the rents always come to philly. 2) bunks hates the car ride. here he is hating on me:

3) i get exploited for child labor!! 2 weekends ago, dad ripped out the light blue carpeting in the master bedroom, and he and i installed new oak hardwood flooring! my job was to lay out a random pattern and to hammer the boards in place while he followed with the nail gun. this world needs "28-year-old" child labor laws! isn't the floor pretty though??

squash soup

i'm quite the fan of soup, in particular squash soup. mom left me a massive acorn squash,

so i decided to make myself some squash soup! i garnished it with some of bunks' parsley!(these pics are actually from this past winter... darn teaching! it takes over my life!)

a summery peach pie

sadye (sarah from high school's other name- we will use this for her from now on, so that you don't think i'm talking about wee sarah from brown!) invited me over for dinner 2 weeks ago so i brought dessert! a basic peach pie!

the perfect blend of tart and sweet! i carved bunks' name on top, since carving "helen" would seem narcissistic! i forgot to take a pic of the finished product. oops.

happy 4th bday, bunks!

bunks turns 4 today!!

may you have many more years of mischief-making!

jimmy's xmas socks

oops, i never posted a pic of the finished product! unfortunately the 2 balls of yarn didn't knit out in the same sequence of colors, although they're from the same color batch. hehe. jimmy looks like he has duck feet!

pittsburgh and a new dress!

this sunday we went to pittsburgh to visit the jimster. jimmy took us on a bike tour through ridiculous hills for 2 hours, we went out for really authentic thai food, and jimmy gifted bunks a mini carrot from the garden he started in his backyard. i often bake jimmy some goodies when i see him, so this time, he got black bottom cupcakes!

mom wore her bday shirt from her bday last year (although, as you may recall, i only got around to finishing it for this year's mother's day). it was hard to snap a pic of her front-on as she is wildly impatient.

here she is, looking not too thrilled that i succeeded! cute outfit isn't it?

the dress that i wore to pittsburgh actually was cut out a year ago; i was dreading the completion of the project because it is from the same pattern as lan's dress from last year, although i used a different neckline. not really a fan of repeat projects!

i got the fabric from my visit to durham last year: it is a thicker coral fabric with japanese flowers scattered throughout. i made a grey pleated trim for the midsection to break up the coral and to pick up on the grey flowers.

emily and sarah consulted on whether i should line the pockets with trim (yes, this dress has pockets! see above!): both agreed that i should not.

even bunks joined in on the process by messing with the fabric on the mannequin while i handsewed on the trim! bad boy!

the inside is lined, as the coral fabric feels a little scratchy.

here's the final result! thrilled it's finally done!!!