Science Olympiad, School, and other things that keep me from having the time to blog...

Wow...it's been a long time.  I'll jump right in.

1.) Science Olympiad--I've been heading up our school team this year.  They've been passed from teacher to teacher and I stepped in with the hope that I'd enjoy it enough to be their sponsor for more than one or two years :)

Well, the year is nearly over, and I do LOVE this team.  If you're not familiar with SO, it's a competition that involves a team of 15 competing in 20+ science and engineering events (Anatomy,  Boomilivers, Robot arms, Chem lab, and Experimental design to name a few.)

Here we are at States with our 1st place trophy!!!

They did so well, and I'm so glad I can be there to support them.  At dinner, they went around the table and thanked me individually.  Apparently the things they appreciate most are my organizational skills, care and concern, and my cookies (I'm not surprised they like the cookies...who doesn't love cookies?)

Now we're headed to Nationals next weekend.  SO exciting and overwhelming!  I helped design our t-shirt and am in the progress of working on a banner.  Any tips on easy ways to finish off the edges?

2.) School.  The life of a teacher...let's just say that Teacher Appreciation Week falls in May for a reason.  We need it.  Personally I'm trying to deal with some ethics violations (cheating).  It's really unfortunate and very disappointing and is totally NOT my favorite part of the job.  Overall, I LOVE this new job and TJ and know that next year will be so much easier.  I can't wait to be able to focus on adapting my lessons instead of creating new ones. (Actually, I should be typing up a new "body systems" project right now.)

3.) There are some fun projects in the works.  I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.

John took me to Needle and Thread in Gettysburg for some shopping therapy just this weekend.

Jumping back in time, we went to my cousin Emily's wedding in Austin, TX.  It was SO great to see family and they had the most hilarious photo booth.  Steph and the other bridesmaids were beautiful.

Over spring break (in March) we also went to the George Washington Hotel in Winchester.  If you can catch a Living Social deal like we did--it's an unbelievable deal!  That was the same weekend we went to the quilt museum. 

Then Mom came to visit.  Here we are on a House tour.

Somewhere between spring break and now we went to Greenwood, SC for a wedding.  It was a short weekend trip, but we had a great time!  I'm always amazed how many people I still haven't met in this very small town.  They all know John and have great stories from his childhood. :)

I also got to spend an afternoon at the zoo with Cynthia.  It was my first time at our National Zoo, and I'll definitely be back.  We had a great time.  If you haven't, be sure to check out their Amazonia exhibit.

I have had time to get a few projects underway...

 

Over spring break I finished the charity top (finally!) and made this "Sweetheart Chic" apron.

Started the cosmos sampler to get some practice at embroidery.  I believe I took this picture while I was quarantined in bed with some kind of vicious bronchitis...winter in a room full of sick kids with unfamiliar germs was not kind to me this year.

Spent one morning rearranging fabric.  Now I'm ready if our guild hosts another scrap swap ;)

And finally started a project with a beautiful jelly roll Mom bought for me in Florida.  More of this to come as soon as I can get back at the sewing machine.

For now...I'm going back to fixing fajita bowls (YUMMM) for dinner, studying up on immunology, and grading the statistics part of the kiddos' research papers.

A successful weekend...

John and I wrapped up our weekend with some dolmas (wrapped grape leaves...it's a Lebanese dish).  He found a great brand of grape leaves; they were so fresh they tasted a bit grassy.  I'm still working towards the perfect recipe, but I think I'll keep doing at least one thing I tried today--add lemon zest to the filling to increase the tartness!

I started off the weekend at a DC Mod Quilt Guild meeting.  I always have so much fun with the group!  They are such welcoming people; it was only my second time and I feel like I belong.  Plus you learn such great stuff!  Elle shared a great way to make half square triangles.  You trace a big grid on two pieces of fabric, then sew a scant 1/4" seam on either side (follow the arrows), then cut all the triangles apart (on the dotted lines) after setting the seams. 
Here's the note I made to myself:

It was a 100 quilts for kids sewing day so I decided to try a wonky log cabin that would suit a teenager (maybe even a boy?).  I pulled all the brown, cream, tan, orange, and green prints that I could.  I don't have much of a stash yet and was surprised how much I found once I started looking.  Sort of scary to think how much I'll have when I feel like I have a substantial stash. :/  How do you feel about your stash?  What do you stash? (for me it's both fabric AND yarn)

Here's some pictures of the progress...

But now it's back to grading! :)  Hope everyone out there in blog world had a good weekend too!

Aubrie

Deliciousness...

Dinner was so good I had to keep a record of it so that I could reproduce it later...

...okay, so I started eating before I took the picture...if you could've smelled it you'd understand!

Recipes used:
French Potato salad with mustard vinaigrette
(I used more lemon because we had too much potato...also accidentally bought russets.  I don't make potato salad--ever--and was shopping without the recipe)

Lemon Coleslaw by Kay at The Church Cook
This is delicious!  You know it's good when your husband requests it a second time in the same week and it's a vegetable!  I halved the mayo (healthier!) and used any onion we had laying around (green onion and red onion thus far).  Also, I just used a bag of pre-shredded coleslaw mix.

Slow Cooker BBQ Ribs
Oh my goodness, it's better than being back in Texas because it is cooler in VA and the beef tastes the same!  I used 16 oz of barbeque sauce instead of the ketchup and 1 c. ketchup instead of the chili sauce.  We bought beef ribs (2 lbs)--boneless and short ribs.  Cooked overnight, refrigerated all day, and then did 1.5 hours on high to warm back up for dinner!

Our stomachs are full, and we're happy after long days at work.  Pretty good day I'd say.  Goodnight all!

Basted and Ready to GO!

The quilt back got finished this morning and spray basted together with the top:

As you can see, the only space in the apartment big enough to lay the quilt out is our generously sized bathroom. (I LOVE our bathroom.)  It's perfect for a 60"x60" quilt so that will probably be my max (or quilt-as-you-go) while we live here.

 I pin basted it more than usual too, I know this will be a work in progress for a while.  I'm thinking these designs from Leah Day's magnificent 365 Free motion quilting designs will make an appearance:

So now I'm ready for my first quilt guild meeting ever (with DC Modern)!  I'm looking forward to meeting Katie and Anjeanette and many others!

In other news, since going into work on Wednesday I've been in studious hyper-drive trying to prepare.  I'm going through a Chemistry for Biology Students book and designing six versions of four different quizzes to go along with the book.

Hellooo school year!

I also managed to roast (or over-roast) my first chicken and give the Kitchen-Aid mixer its inaugural run making early-birthday cupcakes for Cynthia.  I used my grandmother's old secret recipe: one can of cherry pie filling, plus devils food mix, plus two eggs.  Makes a really light cake with a texture like Angel food, and it's oh so good!  I prefer to food process the cherries so they "hide" in the cake, but this time I just blended them in the mixer.  Still tasty, but the cake looks like a cherry chocolate cake.

Well, more chemistry awaits...

Aubrie

A whole mess of random...

There are SO many things I've been wanting to blog about so I guess I'll use my iPhone photo stream as a guide and go stream of consciousness style...

First: A reminder to myself that I need to do a tutorial on these cool, colorful pieces to adorn classroom walls.  I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture before my students took down all my sentimental drawings and notes that were pinned to these.  One kid liked them so much that he jokingly tried to sneak two out under his shirt :)

 Second: the quilt for Krystal was going strong through Friday when it ground to a screeching halt.  But I did make all the squares and tear off all the freezer paper...

 Then I laid them out various ways and got stuck...should I go with the way the book does them:

 Or this:

 Or maybe this: (update...this is what we chose)

 Or perhaps this...

 All the quilting stopped and prep for the bridal shower began Saturday.  By far the coolest, most unique gift was this from Aunt Cate.  It's so that we never forget starting our lives in DC...

We had a great time at the shower!  The two alloted hours flew by and then most guests stayed late.  So fun!  And Mom's lobster dip and melon bowl were huge hits!  Oh, and she made perfect peanut butter fudge on her first try.  She's amazing.

Some color inspiration arrived in the garden...then Roxy had to investigate.

 Then, after the shower and having free time to work out (lots of cycling with Dad...I'm SO sore!), I could no longer fight the urge to plan how to decorate our new living room in the apartment.  After many trials of suggested palettes, I chose this:

 The green will be the accent wall and I'll use the coffee color and white for this:

It's a four part wall hanging that will sit over our couch in the living room that currently looks like this:

I was inspired by a picture on pinterest that I'm sorry to say is not linked to anyone's blog.  The best trace I can find is here.

I think that about sums up the random...until tomorrow that is...

New Apartment, New Beginnings

I spent my second weekend in Alexandria this weekend.  The first weekend was last month and it was the CRAZY move in weekend.  This weekend I got to spend time unpacking my craft area.  (And I have more yarn than I'd remembered.)

There's still an open spot for my SewEzi table and room in the cabinet for my fabric.  But here's how it looks now:

 And our spiffy new IVAR cabinets from IKEA.  Dear fiance says they were designed by the devil...but he did a great job constructing them!  Note that his is FULL of modeling supplies while mine is a great mash-up of knitting, quilting, and scrapbooking--my great loves.

All the fabric inherited from his grandmother has found a home:

 And my favorite yarns did too (at least the DK and worsted weight). 

It's an absolute feast of color!  I can't wait to have leisure time...but for now it's cleaning and organizing mode for me!