Reunited ♥

Alright, here's the tale of my adventure as promised!  Yesterday was Guide Dog's Fun Day, which is the annual event in which puppy raisers from the eight western states (the only ones in which Guide Dogs for the Blind has puppies) convene at their headquarters in Marin County for a day of events, demonstrations, games, and of course socialization (for the puppies)!  It was a lot of fun and something we've never been to (since this is my first GD puppy, and it wasn't around when my mom raised puppies), minus the blistering heat.  There are more than 800 puppies currently being raised in those eight states, with more than 450 in California alone.

After the festivities, we had a barbeque dinner with the family who raised our dog, Heloise, and who are currently raising her son, Zorba (born Halloween 2011).  We will be raising her daughter Omaha (born April 2012) but are not quite "certified puppy raisers" yet, so for the time being she's being fostered by the co-leader of our puppy club.  We were able to have her over for a few hours yesterday though, since the fam would be all together.  :)

I know there's a lot of pictures, but I promise, your heart will melt.  You'll be glad I didn't narrow these photos down any farther!   xx

 

currently listening to.... New Tomorrow - A Friend in London

Hello loves!  Just wanted to share a few songs that I've been playing on repeat lately - I'm a little obsessed.  :)  Especially with Temporary Bliss;  I recently discovered The Cab and I'm head over heels for their music.  Turn up the volume for this song of theirs - it's one of those ones that's best heard loud.  ;)  I love blasting it with the windows down on the highway! Elanor always includes super pretty pictures in her Mixtape Monday series, so that's what inspired me to dig out this picture from my archives to include.  :)

 

I also got a bit bored, so I kind of had some fun with some of my favorite lyrics from The Script's Science and Faith track.  :) I'll be having a bit of an adventure tomorrow, but don't think I'll be able to put out a post on it until Sunday morning, so keep an eye out for it then.  Enjoy your Friday!  xx

 

{original source}

 

currently listening to.... Look After You - The Fray

This & That #8

Wow, I just realized it's been a really long time since I did a This&That post.  Here's to getting back to old traditions!

This //  A PB&J sandwich with homemade jam, and a little blogging/netflixing!  After doing an hour of weight training this afternoon at the gym, I need a little veg time.

That //  Working on some Etsy orders.  This hat (and another on the needles) is for a friend of a friend.

How was your Monday?  It's been pretty bleak here today - the fog rolled in early this afternoon, and since then it's been in the 60s.  No fun when you lifeguard at an outdoor pool!   xx

currently listening to.... Seven Nation Army - The White Stripes

DIY Tutorial: Embellished Bulletin Board

Alright friends, here is my first DIY of the summer!  To be quite honest, I'm absolutely jazzed about how this came out.  My bulletin board was a little tacky and awful-looking before (as you can see), but now it's chic and worthy of admiring!  Writing lyrics in stickers on the edge was my idea of "sprucing it up" when I was fifteen.  Not sure what I was thinking...  Anyway, here's a super easy way to restyle your bulletin board in a "grown-up" way.  ;)

So here's what you'll need:

1. //  A bulletin board

2. //  Enough fabric to cover your bulletin board

3. //  Spray adhesive

4. //  Upholstery tacks (I used about 220)

Simple, right?  Yes!

First off, iron your fabric.  After it's been sitting rolled up on a shelf for who knows how long, those creases really work into the fabric.  And you don't want a creased-looking bulletin board, do you?

Spray your bulletin board with the adhesive.  Technically you're supposed to spray the fabric (as is the case with the bottle I have), but it seemed easier to do it this way, so repositioning the fabric is a breeze.  Once it's sufficiently covered with adhesive, throw your fabric over that puppy.

Run your hands over the whole thing, using some weight, to make sure the fabric really "adheres."  My adhesive is 'heat-activated' so I ran the iron over the board.  Seems unconventional but it seemed to work!

Begin to place your upholstery tacks along the edge.  Go slowly.  It takes a while to learn to spot the distance needed between tacks, so take your time at first.  And if it's not already, a screwdriver will become your best friend.  Use the back end of it to push the tacks into the board (trust me, your fingers will thank you!), and use the screwdriver end to pull up any tacks that need repositioning (your nails will thank you).

Continue in this manner all the way around.  Once you're done, flip the board over and spray adhesive onto the leftover fabric and apply it to the back of the board.  A glue gun will work just as well, but I couldn't find mine, so I used the spray.  You'd be surprised to hear that it worked like a charm!

That's it!  I told you it'd be easy.  ;)  As you can see, I started to work on creating some magazine art for my new bulletin board.  I'll definitely be devoting my evening to doing some more of this, and finding a new home for this guy!  It doesn't quite deserve to be on the floor anymore.  ;)  If you do this DIY, be sure to share links to your pictures in a comment!  xx

currently listening to.... Secrets - OneRepublic

Hot Pink on a Hot Day

I just have to say this: I'm not a pink person, but I am in love with this infinity scarf.  I mean, come on.  It's hot pink.  Who doesn't love hot pink?!  This scarf was a custom order for... an extended family member.  Too vague for your liking?  How's this: it's for my aunt's ex brother-in-law's wife.  Confusing, right?  Yeah.  Hence extended family member.  ;)  This is my third brioche stitch cowl (1 and 2), and I'm so in love with it!  It showcases a beautiful yarn so well, and so easily.

This is just a quick post to let you admire the prettiness.  :)  I'll be packaging this up and dropping it off to its new owner later on, and then tonight I'm meeting two of my oldest friends for ice cream to catch up!  Definitely promises to be fun.  Enjoy your day!  xx

currently listening to.... Risky Business - The Cab

Who steals a sweater in 90º weather?!

Two baffling things happened to me yesterday.  Number one, someone stole this sweater I have on.  Number two, they did it outside while it was about 90º.  I wore this outfit on Monday night on a movie date with a boy, and ended up staying the night at his place (I've known him for years and years, I didn't just meet him), and yesterday afternoon we walked to Starbucks for something cold to drink.  I had draped this sweater over my purse so I didn't have to carry it, and less than five minutes later of walking, I realized it had disappeared.  We doubled back, but it was already gone.  This was my first item of mine to be stolen, and I'm really upset because this sweater was my favorite.

Not only that, I just can't comprehend why someone would steal a dark-color sweater while it's sweltering outside.  I mean... it's the middle of summer here, people.  Does this make no sense to you, too?

  

If you're curious about how I did my hair, I have included pictures just for such an inquiry!  Although it's extremely hard for me to like the way my hair looks curled, after banishing curls for the last eight years with flatirons, I am in love with this technique, and finally gave it a go after reading about it months ago.  Instead of clamping down on your hair and giving the curler a twirl, you hold the clamp open, and semi-loosely wrap your hair around the barrel and hold it there for a few seconds.  It gives you loose, beach-y waves instead of spirals.  Definitely going to try this out again soon now that I have worked my way through trial-and-errors!

Anyhow, I hope that you are having a much better week than this one is turning out to be for me.   xx

currently listening to.... Remain - Tyrone Wells

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