Cupcakes for the Upgrade; Are you going to SPR weekend Chicago?

This weekend we upgraded software package we use for tracking grants. There are four parts to my job; testing for the upgrade is one of them (documentation, training, and running the help desk for the software in question are the others).  The first release took 18 months; the second 7; this one took a little over 3 months.

I like to celebrate our releases with my coworkers, as many of them help me test. Here's how we celebrated yesterday:

The "picture" is from microsoft.com's free clipart.   I searched for cupcake, then selected "photo" as the type, and the image above was perfect.  I use a program called Snag-It to do annotated screenshots, and I used it to add the text to the invite.  Very easy.  I use microsoft's photos all the time for the covers of the documentation and for my training slides.  I try to add some humor; the last round I had my "small rodent" series (think squirrels, chipmunks); this time it's tropical islands, beaches, and palm trees.  It's a way for me to use my creative self in my work life.

So anyway, I bought 24 cupcakes from House of Cupcakes.  I wish you could smell them; they smell SO GOOD.






I had fun selecting them. Unfortunately, there were 11 left over.  Many are on a diet for new year's resolutions. :(    One of my resolutions is to eat better, but I'm not eliminating a daily treat! 

Hey, SPR weekend is Chicago this year!  Are you going??

Does the equivalent of Pattern Review exist for cookbook receipes?

I didn't do any sewing this weekend, but I did some sewing related things...
...cut out vogue 8534 in navy fabric (the bow shirt), this time in size 16. I can always take it in...

I think the navy color will give it that nice sailor vibe.

Bought a longer lipped ruler with Christmas money.   The 18" one got tons of use but is too short. This 24" one should do the trick.   Lipped rulers are great because they "hook on" to your cutting mat and don't move while you cut with your rotary cutter.


I also bought the revised edition of the Singer Photo Guide to Sewing. This one seems much more expanded compared to the version I already own.  The lapped zipper instructions and pix are exactly the same as the edition I own, but it looks like instructions for lots of other things I'm interested in have been added.  Yeah!

I haven't reviewed 2010 goals nor written my 2011 sewing goals, but one goal is to do less sewing so I can devote more time to improving my health to get rid of my back pain. Along those lines, a goal is to cook once a week (to those of you who read this blog and cook tirelessly for your families every day, this idea of cooking once a week is probably giving you a nice laugh!  Cooking for one does last for days though.) I don't know how long I will keep up this part of the resolution, but, we'll see. Here's last week's dish, cheddar potato soup. This is a TNT recipe that I used to make quite a lot a few years ago.  It's from a book I got for college graduation called "Help!  My Apartment Has a Kitchen!"  It's vegetarian.


This week, I took out a cookbook from the library called "Skinny B*tch" and I thought it was adorable and cute and whatnot. The recipe I tried is corn chowder. Here's the result:

It doesn't look anything like corn chowder to me. While I'm a novice at these things, I think there's a mistake in the recipe. It calls for 4 cups of vegetable broth, and I think it meant 2. (Also funny was the conversion to metric: it listed 4 cups as 960 liters instead of milliliters!)      As it stands, this has way too much liquid.  Tomorrow night I plan on straining it to get the potatoes, corn, and celery out, then throw a little of the liquid on top.  Also, this dish is vegan!  Antoinette, my first vegan dish!  It uses almond milk instead of real milk.

The huge amt of liquid got me wondering--is there a site out there like sewing pattern review, for cookbook recipes?   I would definitely use it if such a thing exists. (I googled and found allrecipes.com, but it didn't seem to cover cookbook recipes?  Just recipes members contribute, and then everyone else reviews them?) Also, while many recipes in the book had pix, this one did not.  It's the equivalent of a pattern only having drawings and not a real photo. 

Oh, and it snowed again, but not much accumulation:


and Elvis turned 76. Did you wish him a happy birthday? Sure you did!  This photo is from 2005, with Ron Short, my favorite Elvis impersonator.  He is so nice!


My great-aunt Iris turned 95 on New Year's Day. Here's me, my Dad, and Iris at her surprise party:


Good night!

My sewing hits and misses of 2010 & the evolution of my hair

New Year's Eve snuck up on me!  How did that happen??

Thanks everyone for your comments on my last post: the snow, the proper way to use FOE, the leaf shirt. I actually went against my word and wore the shirt to work, under a polar fleece, so just a hint of it was shown where the fleece was unzipped. I washed and dried the shirt and the part with the FOE is all wavy and wrinkly. Since the knit was so stretchy, I probably should have interfaced the sleeve at the edge first, before applying the FOE.

As for shoveling snow, my back slightly flared the next day and day after. Then I woke up at 2:30am this morning with brand new rib pain (this time it's the muscle between my last two ribs, according to my chiro, away from the spine, which is different than the rib pain in Oct 2009) and it is really painful to lie on my back. Sleeping on my side is ok, though it feels best to be upright (no pain at all, unless I laugh a certain way, ha ha!). I reminded myself, it was 2 weeks ago that I hurt my foot (which I didn't blog about because who wants to read about pain all the time?), and now that is all healed up, so hopefully the same goes for this rib issue.

I've really enjoyed reading everyone else's "2010 Year In Review" post. So I have 3 hours (eastern time) to squeeze in my own.

I surprised myself--I made 42 (magic number!) things this year: 10 shirts, 6 pj tops or bottoms, 2 jackets, 3 pieces of gym wear, 2 bags, 3 "cardigans", 13 dresses, and 3 pieces of underwear.  I've made some pillowcases and aprons for my mom which I  haven't counted.

My 2010 sewing hits (and the evolution of my hair):
1. The Burda (Oct 2005 pattern) shirt. I *love* this shirt. The fit is great, the color is great, and I've figured out how to drape the collar the way I want. Recently someone I don't know asked me where I bought this shirt, and said it's a great color for me. Made my day! This is also the shirt where I learned twin needle stitching, my big big love. And it's my first (and only) Burda. I wear this shirt almost weekly in the appropriate seasons (spring and fall).

2. Simplicity 2508 corduroy jacket. I just love this jacket and wear it a lot during the appropriate spring and fall seasons. I love the bias detailing on the back tab and sleeves.  If you want to make a lined jacket but are afraid to try it, this is a great one!  It's mostly straight lines, and the sleeves are raglan, so no sleeves to set in.


Love the lining too:


3. I made a lot of dresses but this is my favorite, Simplicity 2473, a Project Run(a)way dress.  You can tell it's a fav 'cuz of the smug look on my face:

But I'm also a fan of NewLook 6069, Mad Men dress:

Simplicity 2766, the Superman dress:

and Vogue 8379, which I made in black but I prefer the red:

Also love NewLook 6922, Audrey Hepburn dress. I made it in three colors but like the black version the best:

4. Favorite bag: the Simplicity 8331 Santa bag inspired by Gwen. I've had two different people at two different places ask where I bought it. When I responded that I made it, one of them asked if I was selling them because she'd buy one "in a heartbeat":

5. I branched out into making underwear using Antoinette's make your own undies tutorial. So much fun!



Misses of 2010:
Well, nothing tops the Star Trek dress of 2009 for failures in my book, but here goes:

1. Wow, this looks better in the picture than I remember in real life, but this picture is deceptive. When I sit down, the top opens up and my chest is totally on display. I think I might give up on cross over tops like this one. Plus it needs a serious swayback adjustment, and is too tight around my butt.   However, it was because of this dress that I found MushyWear, a blog I adore!


2. Looks ok in the photo, but after washing it, the neckline got very weird. I had preshrunk the fabric; maybe I needed to preshrink a few times.


3. I made this dress twice in two different sizes and it still doesn't feel comfortable in the chest.  It's so funny how on some styles my small chest is an asset; in others it's a bust (ha ha!  pun!)


4. I hate the cowl on this, the V seems to be getting lower with each wearing. I think my expression says it all. Plus I just folded the SA over and sewed on the armhole. It actually flips out to the right side, sigh.


5. New Look 6748. I hate it. It's too big, I think it's frumpy, and  I feel like the tie is like apron strings.


If you want to, check out my Epic Win of 2009 post from last year, and my Epic Fails of 2009 post (includes the Star Trek dress) as well.  I was much, much funnier then.  :)

I'm going to review my "goals" and "what I learned" this year separately in the new year!

Happy New Year everyone and thank you for reading, commenting, and encouraging me.   I've learned a lot from you.   For many I feel like you are a friend even though I've never met you!

Wishing you and your families your happiest and especially healthiest year ever in 2011.  See you in the New Year!