Tent Project

After many days of having my living room taken over by an unsightly blanket fort I  decided it was time to upgrade our tent fun. I had seen this tutorial on Pinterest a few weeks ago and thought it was such a cute idea.

I showed the page to Miles and he confirmed that he did indeed need a new tent in his life. So we made our way to the hardware store for the necessary wood pieces and Ikea for some fabric and got to work building a dream tent for my little boy.

It was a pretty easy project. Home Depot had all the wood I needed already cut to size. I just had to use my drill (I love using power tools!) to put some holes in the wood.  Can't get much easier than that. The sewing part was equally as easy. Just pressing some edges and and sewing some really long straight seams.

Here is our finished product

I tried to get some pictures of Miles enjoying his tent but whenever the camera comes out he turns into a wiggly blur. 

New Stuff!

It's been a while but I finally got back to sewing this week and even updated my shop a bit. I am feeling pretty productive check out the shop and find these new goodies and more.

Wendy Dog!

For the past year I have been working hard trying to convince my husband that we needed a puppy in our life. I used every argument I could think of in an attempt to convince him. Miles needs a puppy friend, I need a running buddy, and I may have even tried to tell him that our kitty Eleanor needed a new friend.  He was very resistant. Every time I heard about a litter of baby labs that were available I would give him the information just in case he wanted to surprise me with a new puppy dog. He never did.

I had just about given up and then when we were in the process of moving my husband sent me a text that said "I want to get Miles a dog when we move". Yes, puppy time!

A few weeks ago we were out to brunch with are good friends and while standing outside a restaurant for like an hour waiting for a table my friend Stacy mentioned that the shelter they got their cat from was just up the street. Shelter? Puppies and kitties for us to pet and cuddle just a few minutes away? Somehow I convinced the husband to go to the shelter "just to look and see what the adoption process was like". I am still amazed that he agreed to go. So after our meal we headed on over just to look. I had gone in looking for a large dog like a lab mix. I someone I could run with and someone that  could handle my burly 4 year old.  We went in and met a super cute pup named Cholula. Cholula was a little thing a hound / terrier mix (whatever that means) and my first thought was she was just too small and then she stood up. This little pup had legs that went on for days and resembled and little deer more than a dog.  We ended up staying at the shelter for over and hour cuddling and getting to know this sweet little pup and I quickly grew attached and couldn't stand the idea of going home without her. So instead of just looking and researching we adopted a puppy.

We brought Cholula home and as  much as we love our hot sauce we decided to change her name to Wendy. So far Wendy has settled nicely into our family and she is in fact a great runner. I am still training her but she is running 4 miles 3 times a week. She is a little slow because she is constantly stopping to chat with other puppies but she is improving.

Alright, now it is time for me to attack you with too many puppy pictures.

Ok, that is enough for now. I am sure this is not the last you will see of Wendy though. 

Born to Run

Bruce Sprinsteen

  

In the day we sweat it out in the streets of a runaway american dream

At night we ride through mansions of glory in suicide machines

Sprung from cages out on highway 9,

Chrome wheeled, fuel injected and steppin out over the line

Baby this town rips the bones from your back

Its a death trap, it's a suicide rap

We gotta get out while were young

`cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run

Wendy let me in I wanna be your friend

I want to guard your dreams and visions

Just wrap your legs round these velvet rims

And strap your hands across my engines

Together we could break this trap

Well run till we drop, baby well never go back

Will you walk with me out on the wire`cause baby Im just a scared and lonely rider

But I gotta find out how it feels

I want to know if love is wild, girl I want to know if love is real

Beyond the palace hemi-powered drones scream down the boulevard

The girls comb their hair in rearview mirrors

And the boys try to look so hard

The amusement park rises bold and stark

Kids are huddled on the beach in a mist

I wanna die with you wendy on the streets tonight

In an everlasting kiss

The highways jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive

Everybodys out on the run tonight but there's no place left to hide

Together wendy well live with the sadness

Ill love you with all the madness in my soul

Someday girl I don't know when were gonna get to that place

Where we really want to go and well walk in the sun

But till then tramps like us baby we were born to run

Where oh where has Petals been?

Where have I been? That is such a good question. It feels like it has been years since I last pasted on my blog. Life has been crazy busy the last few months and sewing has taken a backseat.
In the beginning of the year I decided to run a marathon which I mentioned here (in a post with a title similar to this one). Running a marathon and training for it kind of took over my life for a few months. I am thankful for how seriously I took it because on June 3rd I finished my first marathon with a smile on my face.

I was somewhere in that crowd freaking out about to run 26.2 miles. Looking at this picture gets me pumped and makes me want to go run. It was such an amazing experience.

Here I am about to cross the finish line with my good friend Brenda who went though the whole amazing process with me. She was an amazing running buddy for me because we run at the exact some pace.  Don't we look happy? Goofy maybe?  Happy we are almost done!

And here here is a picture of  my awesome race bling.

This was my first marathon. Actually it was my first race ever. My goal was to finish in 4:30 but around mile 18 I decided I would be happy just to finish in under 5 hours and I did it in 4:55. Woot!

I am kinda of obsessed with running now and collecting more medals (it's so addicting!). I just signed up for 2 half marathons in November and December.

As if I didn't have enough on my plate, a few months ago we decided to move. Just a year after moving away from the bay area we decided that we missed it and needed to find our way back. So we have returned to oakland.  We have been in our new home for almost 2 months and we are settling nicely. I am sure I will be sharing some home decorating posts in the near future.

One more bit of newness! Meet the newest member of our family Miss Wendy Dog.

Isn't she the cutest little pup? I will have to write a Wendy devoted post for tomorrow so I can share more pictures and gush about my little girl.