Packaged Smiles

One of the best things about knitting is that I can send crafty presents to people, and this here's one of 'em.  My ex, Will, is up at 4-H camp right now a few hours north, and I thought I should send him something, because everyone loves mail, right?  Last year I sent him an elaborate care package, but since we're not together anymore it's not really my place to shower him with packages.  So instead, I whipped this up the other afternoon with a brief (read: one sentence) note.  I think I must note that I am not being a creepy, stalking ex by doing this -  we remained friends after the split, so it's okay.  :)

Will and his family own a sheep ranch, and so that's where the sheep come in.  Aren't they so cute?!  I used yarn for their fleeces that is partially mohair, so it's all fuzzy.  :)  This was also my first go at embroidery, and I had so much fun with it!  I mean.. can you tell?  ;)  I love using play-on-words, especially when it comes to sheep (since I'm a wool addict).  And if you're interested, you can find the post I did on the ranch last summer here.  While on the topic of his ranch, I included a picture I found of Will's grandfather when I was at the fair last week.  It was taken in 1930, and what's really cool is that Will and his family are still on the same property that's pictured.  :)

My cousin Andrew (next to me in the picture) just sent over pictures of my family a little bit ago that we took at my sister's grad party, and I just had to share one!  This is the first picture taken in years of my entire mom's family, and I was totally blown away by how beautiful (inside and out) everyone is.  I think it's safe to say we lucked out in the gene department.  I mean, just check out how adorable Cannon is!  He's the toddler in red.  :)

P.S.  No takers on my blogiversary proposal..?  :(

currently listening to.... Another Me - The Cab 

Happy 4th! (& blogiversary to me!)

I'm not trying to brag or anything, but isn't this one of the most spectacular pictures you've ever seen?  It reminds me a lot of forming stars in a galaxy (thanks astronomy!), and I've been gazing at it for hours, entranced.  I took it last night at the county fair, and I'm thinking about turning it in for the photography contest through the fair next year.  ;)  I took a lot of other firework pictures but don't want to share them because, although good pictures, none are as beautiful as this!  I don't want to taint its image.  ;)  (Btw, did you catch the moon?)  These are some of my favorite pictures from the fair - this year's theme was "Celebrating Marin Agriculture," so a few of them revolve around that.  Others I took just for fun.  ;)

And you did read this right - as of today, I have been blogging for exactly one year.  It's so hard to believe!  I was watching a few vlogs on YouTube that night, and all of a sudden I thought, "Writing a blog could be fun."  Before that night, if you had asked me if I would ever write a blog, I probably would have scoffed at the idea.  Now, I can't imagine my life any other way.   Blogging gives me a purpose to share my thoughts, ideas, projects, and photographs in a way I was never able to do before.  And although I've gotten my fair share of weird looks ("Can you take a picture of me for my blog?"), I wouldn't trade it for the world.  It's truly amazing to look back at my first few posts and realize how far I've come - in my style of writing, how much HTML and coding knowledge I've gained, and the people I've been lucky enough to "meet." Not to mention my knitting! Wow, that has changed for the better by leaps and bounds, all thanks to Ravelry. Without them, my eyes would never have been opened to the truly vast array of knitting patterns and techniques, not to mention the community.

So, in honor of this anniversary, I'm going to field any and all questions you may have for me (do you secretly wonder if I sleep with my socks on?  Or are you dying to know my favorite knitting technique?).  Knock yourselves out. And I mean that - anything goes!  Leave a comment, or email me (megancooper13@ymail.com) and I'll put together some answers in the next few days.  :)

To blogging year #2: here's looking at you, kid.   xx

currently listening to.... Adulthood - Jukebox The Ghost

How I came to look like a rockstar

Here's the lowdown:  I now officially look like a rockstar.  How?  My hair is now a lovely shade of reddish-purple.  Key word being purple.  And the sad part is that I am not even kidding.  Below is my inspiration for dying my hair, and what I wanted it to come out looking like, and the "before" picture.  My hair was a nice, neutral shade of light brown/aubern.

And now it's purple.  Although, I did forgo bleaching it first because I didn't want my hair to be the color of a fire truck.  Now I wish I had done it, so it would at least have turned out red like I wanted..!  Oh well.  The way I see it, you only live once.  And why not have purple hair once in your life?!  Although it's not what I wanted, it is kinda fun and very different - can one ask for any more in life?

Any other hair-dying horror stories out there?   xx

currently listening to.... Marchin On - OneRepublic