I Must Confess, I Am Obsessed with Needlepoint!

Yesterday, I received my first needlepoint kit in the mail from Amazon.

After taking some time to wrap my head around the “continental stitch”, I spent the next few hours working on my practice kit and becoming more and more obsessed!

This morning I woke up jonesing to continue, but had to wait until lunchtime to satisfy the itch. And while I’m not at all ashamed of my newest obsession, I did decide to work on my kit outside in my car…you know, for the fresh air, ha!

And I got right back to it as soon as I got home tonight, though I did force myself to stop long enough to write this post…but my fingers are already itching to get back to work!

I don’t know about you, but I LOVE working with my hands…I find it so peaceful and satisfying. And I’m looking forward to incorporating my new skill into future products for my soon-to-be-open Etsy store. But you’ll have to wait to see how I do it!

Have you ever tried your hand at needlepoint?

My first needlepoint kit!

Almost done!

Petition for Cats in the Workplace

Inspired by recent viewings of American Ninja Warrior, Sami and Wylie were excited to hone their own ninja skills against the ultimate competitor – the GO-CAT Feather Toy!

P.S. Thanks again to Aunt Nicole for the bestest kitty gift ever!!

The Sami & Wylie Show: episode 8 from Jenn on Vimeo.

(featuring The Fray’s rendition of “Mahna Manha” off of the Muppets: The Green Album)

Batten Down the Hatches!

Miguel and I have been watching the Weather Channel a little obsessively since it became apparent that Hurricane Irene would indeed be making landfall along the East Coast.

While we won’t be nearly as affected as those directly along the coast, we are still taking precautions by filling our bathtub with water, clearing off the balcony, purchasing extra flashlights…oh, and cleaning the apartment.

Huh?? Yes, I said cleaning.

I’ve been so busy working on projects lately that I haven’t been able to get my regular cleaning done and it’s been driving me crazy as the apartment has been getting more and more out of control.

So with the threat of possible power outages looming on Sunday, I plugged in the vacuum after work today and cleaned this place like I’ve never cleaned before.

Yes, that’s right. I even vacuumed the window blinds.

After five years, my bedroom blinds were covered with a thick dust layer from constant cat shedding and a ceiling fan that runs 24/7. So embarrassment aside, I am posting this picture as a warning that this too can happen to you.

Picture does not do it justice but you get the disgusting point - dirty on the left vs. sparkling clean on the right!

I mean, when is the last time you checked the underside of your blinds??

Exactly! So the next time you take out your vacuum, I encourage you to put on the dust brush and wreak havoc on those dust balls!

Now it’s time to hit the hay and rest up for tomorrow and more storm preparation. I mean the bathrooms aren’t going to clean themselves – ha!

Can You Ever Have Too Many Lamps?

Have I ever mentioned that I’m a little obsessed with lamps?

Well it’s primarily because I hate the harsh glare of fluorescent lights, but I also love accessorizing my home with gorgeous lamps!

Which is probably why I have no less than 17 lamps in my 1,100 square foot apartment.

What?? I already said I was obsessed!

I even work by lamp light at work. As soon as I moved from a cubicle into an office of my own, I permanently cut off the overhead fluorescent lights and brought in 2 lamps.

It made an immediate difference and, aside from people occasionally teasing me about working in such a ‘dark’ space, I still get compliments on how nice my office feels.


What is your design obsession??

One of my favorite birthday presents EVER from my mom – a gorgeous red-corded lamp from CB2!

My newest lamp from Crate & Barrel – thanks to my sister’s keen eye!

The blue cording is what sold me …gooorgeous!

One of my bargain finds; I scored this lamp base on clearance at Urban Outfitters!

I moved this lamp to the top of the fridge when I brought home the new lamp and I love the added light in the kitchen!

This office lamp is actually the larger version of one I already had in my home and I love how it casts a glow over my menagerie of paper calendar animals!

Miguel and I made my second office lamp years ago after I couldn’t find a lamp I liked enough at a reasonable price! The base is actually a vase that I filled with acrylic pebbles in order to hide the cord. I’m pretty proud of it!

An Unexpected Day

Today the nation’s capital experienced something pretty unexpected and rare in these parts…an earthquake!

At about 2pm this afternoon, a 5.8 magnitude earthquake originated in Mineral, Virginia about 90 miles from DC and where I work outside the city.

Originally hailing from California, I remember running earthquake drills in school but none of the quakes I ever experienced back then were that powerful and I was never truly scared – being either too young or naïve to understand what was going on in the first place.

But as an adult, I can readily admit that I was a bit shaken by the one today. Fortunately, we are blessed by the reports of minimal damage and no injuries.

But it makes me wonder if DC is really the weather bubble that I thought it was?! In the past 18 months, we’ve experienced a blizzard that dropped 40 inches of snow, a snowstorm that shut down the city, the hottest summer on record and now the second strongest earthquake in recorded history (for our area). Oh and Hurricane Irene is headed to the east coast this weekend!

So I don’t know about you, but it really makes me want to live life to the fullest…and kiss my kitties even more!

I hope everyone in blog-land is happy and safe tonight!

Petition for Cats in the Workplace

One of my favorite moments from the weekend happened yesterday when I was working at the dining table with the balcony door open.

A lovely warm breeze was wafting through the door and I could see Wylie and Sami sunning themselves in the late afternoon sun.

It was such a beautiful moment.

I hope your weekend was just as lovely, relaxing and productive!

Wylie and Sami in their ‘duplex’

A Patron Saint You Don’t Want!

Has anybody else also had an unusually large number of never-ending projects on their plate recently?

Man oh man, I do not knowwhat is in the air these past few weeks but it seems like a lot of seemingly simple tasks have spun out of control. You know the ones that should be resolved with an email or two…that then turn into 30 over the course of a few weeks?

Yup, that’s what I’ve been dealing with at work lately…which is why Google’s tribute doodle from today made me laugh:

Well not so much the doodle, but the fact that it was in honor of Pierre de Fermat, a famous mathematician of the 1600’s who is also known as “the patron saint of unfinished business” after stumping mathematicians for 358 years with an incomplete formula.

While I’m not working on anything quite so complicated, it has started to feel as if some of my tasks may take 358 years to complete!

Ironically, I saw the doodle while helping my mother sort through a printing project that had spun ridiculously out of control!

While she’s a big believer in patron saints (constantly invoking St. Anthony – patron saint of lost things), I don’t think she’ll be requesting Pierre’s help anytime soon.

Here’s to a Thursday filled with peaceful resolutions!


P.S. Ironically this post messed up my blog template yesterday after I posted it! Thank goodness for Google so I could figure out what the heck happened...phew!

Petition for Cats in the Workplace

I can’t believe it’s already Monday again!

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend and enjoyed the same beautiful weather as we did – upper 70’s is absolutely heavenly in mid-August!

It was so seasonal in fact that I broke out Wylie’s favorite blanket on Sunday night to enjoy some quality time with the fuzzies…

Sami launches a cleaning attack on Wylie

…and then gets distracted

…which causes Wylie to reciprocate!

New Addition(s) to the Blog Community

My dear friend Katie – who you may recall from this post – just launched her own blog last week called bks-rule!

And then she went and had a baby boy yesterday!

Sooo I’m not sure when she’ll be updating her blog next, but I have offered my assistance to help keep the ball rolling while she has her hands full with the new little one.

But from the looks of her inaugural post, it’s going to be a fun and witty blog and I hope you will show her the same love that you’ve so kindly bestowed on me!

Congratulations Katie on your newest addition(s)!!!

Petition for Cats in the Workplace

Monday sure comes fast after a weekend, doesn’t it?

Especially when it’s such a lovely one filled with laps at the pool and games with friends!

And I also worked hard putting the final touches on another product for the Etsy store and I can’t wait to show you!! But alas, it’s not quite ready to be revealed…yet!

But what I can reveal are some more adorable pictures of my sweet fuzzy faces.

I hope your weekend was lovely and your week is even lovelier!

Wary Wylie

Sleepy Sami

Photo Album: Short Film Day Two

Here are the photos from day number two!

One of the highlights for the cast and crew was getting to play with Rex, our film mascot and the friendliest butterfly on the planet. It seriously kept flying from one person to the next…though I noticed it spent way more time with Miguel and the other boys as opposed to the girls!

Photo Album: Short Film Day One

Following is a photo collage of our first day shooting the short film! The highlights of the day included:

• Playing with Mamie, the sweet and heat-resistant Collie
• Designing the ‘sale’ tables in record time & loving the way it turned out!
• Spending some quality time in the country
• And enjoying the tree swing during some downtime!

Filmmaking Is Not For Wimps!

Even though I’ve helped out with Miguel’s documentary for the past three years, I'm still plenty naïve when it comes to filming actual movies.

Case in point: the first day of filming for the short film lasted fourteen hours. It was all exterior shots and did I mention the humidity made it feel like 115 degrees?

Yup, it was certainly one of the longer Saturdays of my life…to be sure!

The second day lasted nearly as long and was almost as hot but after you’ve been outside for a few hours you start to lose your sensitivity to the heat…though not that gross, sticky feeling that comes from the combination of bug spray, sweat and sunscreen.

Wow, I’m not painting a very pretty picture am I? Well let’s just say that I won’t be posting a lot of pictures of myself from that weekend – ha!

But all in all, it was an absolutely amazing experience with so many creative and wonderful people…and I’m truly grateful for the opportunity. I really proved to myself that I was up to the design challenge and everybody had such wonderful things to say about what I put together – it made me feel so great!

So while the weather didn’t cooperate exactly as we would have liked, it made the weekend that much more memorable! And while I joked that I may not help my friend out again with his future student films…now that I knew what was involved…I didn’t really mean it.

I’m definitely looking forward to the next challenge!

The movie slate…cool huh? And no, those aren’t their real names!

Petition for Cats in the Workplace

It’s the first day of August and my first post in some time.

The road has been bumpy lately and I’m looking forward to starting this month fresh and finally getting back on track with the blog and Live Love Life Now®!

And I figured the best way to do that was with a few of my favorite photos of the fuzzies…because they always make me smile!

Funny Face Wylie

Silly Sami