plush 'staches

Craft time!

My friend Lauren is getting married in October.

For her bachelorette party, we are going pink and black glam... with mustaches!  Ashley and I took it upon ourselves to make the mustaches for the event.  We expected this task to be easy and fun, since we both like to craft... little were we wrong.  

Foam board is the bane of our existence.

We bought felt, glue gun sticks, embroidery floss, dowel rods, and foam board (to support the flimsy felt).

We hadn't really thought it through, because once we were home to start the project, we didn't realize how insanely difficult it is to cut foam board.  Foam board is paper on both sides, but a layer of styrofoam in the middle.  Whoever created this madness should get punched in the jowls. 

After cutting through the foam board (I swear my hand is sore from this task) the project went a lot easier.  

We just cut the mustaches out of felt, hot glued 2 layers of felt with the mustache-foam board skeleton in the middle, hot glued a dowel rod in between the layers, and then used embroidery floss to finish the product. 

They turned out so well!

This picture doesn't do them justice.

And every mustache is different.

monies and vacays in my future.

I came to the realization at work last night (as I was looking at my pay stub online) that...

1) I do not make as much money as I thought I did.
   ...  When I originally got my job I thought I calculated my yearly salary correctly, but I guess not! I was about $5,000 off! That's a whole semester of grad school money! Luckily, my salary is a perfect amount for my current life. I am able to pay my bills (cell phone, car insurance, health insurance, dental, vision, gym membership), pay my grad school tuition bills (no debt yay!), and still have money for playtime and savings.  Hopefully all the hard work I am putting into being a full time student and full time nurse will pay off and I will make almost twice as much as I do now.  Although the nurse practitioner I want to be probably gets paid on the lower end, since I want to work for the public... public health... Planned Parenthood... instead of at an OBGYN type of setting.  I need to remember money isn't everything... but having enough of it makes life a whole lot easier! I swear I am not that materialistic. I just want to afford a nice house, reliable cars, and enough to go on sweet trips all over the world every year like I have already been doing since I was a kid.

2) I need to take vacations!
   ...I  have accrued 103 Paid Time Off hours since last September! I need to use them! In one year of work I will have only used 12 hours of Paid Time Off for my friends' wedding coming up in October. Other than that, I have not taken any official vacations days! Mostly because I only work 3 days a week, so I just schedule my mini vacations around my work days.  And... because for my trip to Ireland, I was lucky enough to have someone switch shifts with me and then I didn't have to use any vacation days.


... To remedy my need to vacation... I have already planned two trips for next year... 

FEBRUARY: a trip to Oregon to visit two of my favorite people who are moving there this month.  Katie will be moving to Corvallis and Manda will be moving to Eugene.  I plan on being in Oregon for an entire week! Yay. That means lots of snowboarding.

MAY: a trip to VEGAS with as many ladies as I can gather.  All my friends are excited! While I know not all of them will be able to go, at least 5 of us are a definite yes, which is a party all in itself!  Every additional lady added to the bunch will just be a bonus.  My one requirement is to see Beatles Cirque du Soleil.

I am thinking I need to take a small trip this fall or winter... South Carolina to visit Justin, my marine biologist friend, and Christina & Peter my nursing school pals? Perhaps? :)

Baby JD

My cousin, Joelna, and her husband, OJ, had a baby boy on July 10. 

His name is Jacob Dylan. 

I will call him JD.

He was born 4 lbs, 9oz.  17.5 inches.

He was 5 weeks early.

When we visited him he was 3 weeks old.

Technically, he still should have been inside the womb.  

He is teeny tiny.

And precious.

And makes funny noises.

I love him.

 baby JD

he looks like a doll.

i couldn't stop staring at him. he is beautiful.