Sweet Summer Memories

Home Leave #6 just ended. Sigh.
Randy gets one month home in the US a year. He just left for Mongolia early Tues. morning. Sigh. But what a month we had! We started with 10 days in Spokane (the 1st few nights to ourselves--nice surprise after 3 months apart :) . Then on to Denver for more family & friends--lots of family & friends--and getting our house in shape for 2 people rather than the 5-7 the poor thing has accommodated for the last 6+ years. I must brag LOTS on Randy who worked tirelessly around the place doing everything from installing new kitchen plumbing and appliances to re-venting the dryer. Lots of door action, too: he put in the new storm door, fixed the noisy sliding pantry doors, new shower doors. He was hanging curtain rods the night before he got on the plane for Pete's sake!
PLUS he was working tirelessly in Wagner Asia's behalf regarding an oil lab in Mongolia and recruiting as many training instructors as he could find (willing to go to Mongolia--what a hoot to eavesdrop on his conversations..."no, not Arizona, Mongolia." What a man. Never a complaint about all the fix-it's, mind you. Definitely want to keep him. For sure. OK, will quit before I get mushy and embarrass all. Anyway, I think the last picture sums up our feelings on the matter of Randy's leaving.

However, the real highlights of the summer were times spent with our loved ones. Enjoy a peak at a few of our memories! Nikki finally figured out why my new camera was taking blurry shots. She worked her magic in the settings, so I can face the future with sharp shots ;)

Comments

John and Marnie said…

Thanks for sharing the great pictures and memories with us. We miss you here!

August 10, 2010 at 9:14 PM

Much Needed New Winter Robe - Vogue 9232

Last spring I chucked my 20-year-old bathrobe, giving me no choice but to replace it come winter. Granted, I never took it to Mongolia, so it only got worn when I was home in the US. But still. For summer I made several light weight robes, but I knew I liked the style of my old RTW one. When I saw reviews for Vogue 9232--on PR (all 3 of them), I knew I'd found my pattern. Interestingly enough, the pattern is actually for a caftan-type dress; but all 3 reviews were done up as a robe. Sham's review in particular had great tips. On a trip to Colorado Fabrics in early summer I spotted a beeeuuutiful pink sweatshirt type fabric. The outside is more like a thick knit and inside is dreamy soft. And it's baby pink! Which is hard to tell in the pics as we in Colorado have had lots of rain and no sunshine. And OK, I'm no photographer. But seriously, this is like stepping into a pink cloud. ...

Travel Duds

As I've probably whined/stated before, the trip to and from Mongolia involves about 30 hours of travel spread over 3 flights, Incheon Airport, South Korea the long leg being 11-13 hours. For almost 10 years I've resisted wearing anything closely resembling sweats. I know, I know. Call it an anti Ugly American thing. About 5 years on, I had to ditch jeans with any kind of buttons on the back. Finally, the knobby seam joint of the back yoke got to me. Never mind having to unbutton midway through. Sigh. I finally caved into wearing comfy pants (hereafter referred to as Happy Pants) on the long leg of my international flights last September. These were made up in my favorite yoga pants pattern, Laura Lounge Trousers (I'd made 3 pair for Pilates already :) by Maria of Denmark (her Kimono Tee pattern is another one of my go to's!). In purple stretch velour. Still, I couldn't bring myself to hang out in the airpo...

A Stitch Sisters Kimono for Dubai

My husband had meetings come up quick in Dubai and of course I tagged along! We were going to be there a week and I wanted a lightweight kimono-type pullover for the pool and getting out of the shower. I had snagged a gorgeous white linen/cotton (guessing on this) here in UB that was perfect. My inspiration came from Lisa's over at Lisa's Carolina | Handmade . I'm not good at pattern drafting and this was a quick FREE measure and cut tutorial of Stitch Sisters--find their Patternless Pattern Link here . I'm so happy with this! It basically took me an afternoon. The directions are great--and they include 5/8" seam allowances--yay!--as I wanted to turn under and top stitch them since I don't have a serger here. I left off the ties. Shapeless worked for this. I also raised the neckline by about 1.5" The neckline was a little trickier as I didn't have any bias on hand and there is no "running out" anywhe...

Scenic Route

Search This Blog