Making Hikes Count

I have my favorites in the blog world, we all do. In the area of photography, there is one woman who takes really beautiful shots of her family and Maine and benches and books. Oh, the book shot. It is stunning. Mainemomma does some amazing things with her camera, and I was delighted to receive an invite to join a FLickr group created to document walking. Simple as that. Walking.


Here at home we call it hiking and it elicits different responses from both boys. Owen gives it an enthusiastic "Oh, Yes!" while Mace glances briefly away from his current activity and says "Me no hike". Can't (t)win 'em all. Oh that was so cheesy.

The group has inspired me to bring the camera along and capture the hikes that we are getting to. And lest you think we are really hiking, know that most of the time we are stumbling, picking up things, avoiding horse poop and coyote scat and complaining about the uphill. But it is a start, right?


Here is my slide show contribution, here is the group at FLickr, and here is Mainemomma's stream and her blog. Please do join in the fun and show us where you hike or walk. I love seeing both the inside and outside parts of your lives so let me know if you do post a slide show.

Just to note :: This group is for slide shows, you can make an excellent slide show via BigHugeLabs and their slide show feature.


Though the weather outside your home might be cold, might be frightful, might be dry and dusty or might be a cityscape, I think it gives us all a jolt to look through the lens and see where we live. And find joy in the simple act of walking (and stopping)(and walking)(and stopping).

Sunday Sewing Post

Hi, blog friends. It feels like it has been some time since I have sat to write a substantive post, but I am happy to say this Sunday has been reserved for doing absolutely nothing. After a few weeks of endless somethings, today has been a do nothing. Better said that it has been a day of ::

- Bacon and Belgian waffle breakfast with family
- Pajamas until noon
- Park play with a bag of old carrots feeding the frisky horses
- Beef stew simmering in the pot by 4 p.m.
- And finally a post about sewing.

I have been wanting to post about the skirt pattern I stumbled upon a few weeks ago. It was at JoAnns, it was 99 cents on sale and it is a godsend. I seriously love this skirt. So much that I have sewed it three times already. Yep, three. I meant it when I said I loved it.

The thing about this skirt is that it looks a bit fancy but can be sewn in an hour. It does right by my curvy butt and my desire to wear everything below my waistline. It has a little flare and a good amount of shape. And it makes me feel good.

Tim once told me when I find something that fits I should just buy three of them, that way I am not so sad when the item I love tears or stains or disappears into the wreck that is our over-stuffed closet. The nice thing about this skirt is that I can have 100 of them if I choose. So far, just three though.

This is the first, a light corduroy print.

On my first attempt I followed the pattern but dropped the waist about 1.5 inches, I muddled through the zipper placement and eventually added the waist trim. The pattern calls for basting the waist, then using a fold over bias trim. I used fold over elastic to finish the waist and left it at that. The bottom edge is a double folded 1/4 inch hem with just enough weight. I love it so, but accidentally left it in my sister's rental car during our SF trip. So, I miss it but I had another.

Sorry for the picture quality, weird light in that one.

The second incarnation was using a heavier wool blend fabric in my stash.

The sewing took almost no time at all, the skirt consists of six pieces (called gores I think) with easy seaming instruction. I used fold over elastic again at the waist. I love the simplicity of the FOE for finishing as no one will ever see the waist line.



There is a great tutorial for FOE by Angry Chicken, I think I have mentioned it before. This one makes me happy because I can wear it with tights and some slouchy boots and feel dressed to the nines (for me).

I put this on when I realized that I should not be walking around SF on a Friday night in worn jeans and a Hurley sweatshirt. It has now become my 'going out'(fit) for now. Only negative is the wool is a little scratchy and catches the tights, but I am not ready for lined skirts yet. One step at a time.

And now number three is currently in progress.

This one is using some unbelievably pink, oddly stretchy fabric donated by Lori Z before she left to rejoin the Canadians. I know it might be a bit much, but it was calling me. I decided to embellish with a sashiko type design at the hem to tone it down (?) which might end up being a questionable decision.

The embroidery is in progress using some heavy thread and a cup to trace the semi-circles. It just might work out. I will be sure to let you know.


Simplicity 2520 has proven to be a pattern worth the 99 cents and I would highly recommend it to even a novice sewer (believe me, I place myself only a slight notch higher than that). I do think it might be better on a curvy girl due to the flare but I could be wrong. The thing I am loving about sewing my own clothes is that I have the final say on the fit. Clothes and I have never had an easy relationship so it excites me to start down the path of tailor. Next up, a pair of pants for me. Any suggestions for a 'boot cut with a generous booty' pattern would be greatly appreciated.

The thing about sewing was that it once intimidated me. I remember feeling the same way about knitting. I have found it is in the process that one learns the craft. I would highly encourage anyone reading that wants to sew to try it. I use a simple (and cheap) Brother and dream of the world of Cadillac machines and sergers, but I can do it just fine with what I have. Can you imagine being able to create pants that fit every time?

(Well, almost every time, I am sure there will be some f-ups when it comes to pants...the crotch, I am so intimidated by the whole sewing the crotch thing).

And just to clarify, I did not sew that stuff on this Sunday. But I did write this post up, which took all day, not sure why since we were doing nothing. Hmmmm.

Away and Home

A few scenes from our weekend. It flew by and left me with legs aching and bleary-eyed, winding down the road to the Coast, then inland for a straight arrow drive down the 5 South to make it home to my boys....all three.

It left me with a truly burning desire to dance again, to embrace movement that goes further than yoga. To find a Master teacher here in Los Angeles who can ignite that fire again, the joy that comes from challenge and loud live drums and other women (and some men too) moving in lines across the floor.

But home, well, that comes first. The hugs and laughs and cuddles. Witnessing Superboy and his prat falls. And giving the other one a big hug when he accidentally rammed his lip into the bench. Ouch. (But he was happy initially when he saw me).








Sometimes the best thing about leaving is the coming home.

So many things to get done but all in good time. First, a few posts about the latest skirt making. Best pattern ever. Then, some knitting, some weight loss and a great Interview Experiment. Shaping up to be a full plate. Speaking of full plates...Thanksgiving in 2 weeks? What?

Untying the Knots

The last 6 months have brought such a shift into my world, definitions and roles have changed and opened and grown. I feel like the me that resides in this person, in this body, is stretching out and unknotting parts I did not even realize had tangled.

It started with a return to work, a role I was initially hesitant to embrace. The change seemed so big, to be away from them for such a time, to focus on something totally separate from Motherhood that required skills that felt rusty and unused. I cannot say I have totally embraced the change or done a very good job at all times, but I have realized what it has given me. Returning to work, doing something I was trained to do and making some good money doing it, is empowering and gratifying. And although I feel that I miss things that I was once so used to experiencing when home on a daily basis, I also know I am getting out of a lot of the tedium of days home with children. I no longer have to prepare every breakfast or lunch, so I can embrace making dinner when I get home. I no longer have to be witness to the endless messes and mischief they can create. I miss the brilliant smiles and developing skills, oh, I miss them so at times. But I see Tim and his weary smile when I come home and I know I am escaping the down side too.

The summer brought my first trip away from them, a wonderful special time when I finally had the chance to see my niece on her turf and get to know the little love so much better. I cherished those days with her, my hands free to scoop her up or roll with her on my makeshift floor bed. But it was tough to be away from them and the moment I returned I felt so good to be close to them, the physical distance was almost too much that time.

Then Tim and I (finally) had a successful and peaceful few days away, the boys safe in my parents’ care. Days when we lazed about on the beach and made a great meal we ate sitting down, all those things you take for granted before your children enter into the fabric of your days. It was lovely and we did spend a good amount of time talking about the boys, but we also spent some time talking about or dreams and needs and thoughts…actually fully formed uninterrupted thoughts.

And now this week new opportunities came to us. A spontaneous trip to the Grand Canyon for Tim, four days with a close family member and his camera. A spontaneous trip for me to meet my sisters in San Francisco to be part of a West African dance conference. It feels odd, to be able to tell him go, to hear that I can go. The team that we always seemed to need to be from the beginning has shifted and we feel fine flying solo, for a few days anyway. I would not say it is easy to manage without my other half, but it is far from terrible.


(scenes from Tim's kick ass trip to the slot canyons)

I write this because it feels like each one of these things, these experiences has changed some part of me, revealed a little more of the person that was consumed by the Mother role for the last few years. When I took a class with a master teacher this morning, flying arms and stamping feet of dozens of women all around, I felt something break open and fly for an hour. When I lay in bed and giggled with my sisters this morning, I felt a reconnect with the younger me, the one who fell asleep and woke everyday to Amanda talking and talking and talking. Waking me from a sound sleep with her talking. When I leave the house for work or yoga class unencumbered by small boys that take forever to get in the car, get in their seats, get out of the car, I feel light.

I am not sure I like the feeling. It feels too free sometimes, as if it should not be happening, as if it in violates my role as a Mama. It feels scary, to reclaim the woman that walked confidently down city streets once in a sassy skirt and tall black boots. I wandered SF last night, waiting for my sister to get into town, alone and fairly well dressed. I people watched and had a beer and resisted the urge to pull out my huge camera and take shots of the city at night. It felt good, it felt odd, it felt a little lonely.


(scenes from our kick ass anime themed hotel room)

I am rather inelegantly saying that I like it and I do not, the untying and untangling of the Me that I am now. I know more of what I want, but I think what shocks me is that I am actually getting it. I would have never believed you in the beginning if you would have said I would have a weekend away in a trendy hotel hanging out with my sisters with no kids in sight. I know it is not wrong to do these things, to take actual real Me time, but it still feels like clothes that hang a little bit off kilter. I am sure I will get used to it eventually.


It is in the breaths between Motherhood that I realize how very much I love what I have become. Mama seems first and always, but it is nice to have those breaths.

Have a great weekends, friends. Now I have to go soak my aching legs that were just totally schooled by an insanely good dance class. And get ready for one more.

I know, I know, enough with the existential Mama posts..I do have some creating to show, including my new favorite skirt, glimpsed in the picture above. Easy peasy sewing for a lot of payback.