Busy Season

During this busy Christmas season I'd much rather be sitting at home knitting some last minute gifts and getting the house in order than working 9 hours a day. I've got a few knitting projects going [secret b/c of Christmas] and I REALLY wish I had more time to get them done. Of course I didn't plan ahead and knit things in advance, but who is that prepared!?!

I'm also drawing a blank for gifts for some people...like my parents. Parents have everything they need, what do you buy for them? We have a few things for each of them, but I wish I had some more cool gifts. I love giving gifts, especially well thought out ones, but I just can't think of cool stuff. Any ideas out there? Extended family can be hard too. We've got lots of aunts, uncles, and cousins, and I wish we would just pick names already, but each year I try to get us to do it and no one wants to. So now we're stuck trying to figure out gifts for way too many people. It ends up feeling like exchanging money, we should just not exchange gifts.

Alright, back to the knitting and cleaning! Hope the season is treating you all well.

More Knitting Fun!

Two baby showers in one weekend made for a busy knitting fall season. I love the little sweater I made for one friend, it was super easy but so cute. The cable detail is fun and I can't wait to see it and the hat on this little girl. I will probably make this sweater again in a different color, it was just so easy and fun. Now if only I could knit myself a sweater so fast.


The baby booties were made with some yarn my mom had as extra in her stash. They only took a few hours total and were really easy. I will definitely be making these again in various sizes for all the girls that are being born this year.

It's just way too early

Now, I went to Home Depot today to get some fly paper [we have a fly issue...it's icky] and when I was there I noticed that they have Christmas trees, lights, and ornaments out already. ALREADY!!!! It's September 21st, over three months till Christmas, it's not even October, Halloween or Thanksgiving yet. Now, I don't like to see Christmas stuff really until after Halloween, or even Thanksgiving all that much. This is just insane.

Later in my errands I had to go to BJs to get bulk everything. One thing was 2, 42lbs bags of cat litter. I can barely lift these things over the edge of the cart to get them in, let alone, back out of the cart, into the car, out of the car, and into the house...but the first bag I picked up apparently had a big hole in it. As I heave it up towards my cart, a huge stream of litter pours out...right into my shoe.... Super. Sadly, these bags don't last that long. I would have bought more but it's just not in me to lift 42lbs repeatedly.

Those kitties had better catch a bunch of flies and earn their keep!

J/k. They both gave me super cuddles while I worked today.

2 things

So I tried that Chobani greek yogurt everyone is raving about. 1- when I checked the expiration date right before I was going to eat it [b/c once Giant sold me expired yogurt :-( ] the date was October 10th or so, and I was like- wow, this is some super long lasting yogurt! October! Then I realized that was basically just a month away. Where did summer go?

2- this stuff tastes like eating straight up sour cream. Seriously, it's soooo thick. I got one w/ pineapple on the bottom, but the sweet pineapple didn't do much to help the yogurt. It was good, but I don't really think of it as yogurt. And it so was so thick, I couldn't even eat it all, it was too much! I have another one I haven't eaten yet, it's a honey flavored one, I'll give it a try, maybe it's better.

Ok, still on the food track, so maybe "3 things"- I'm making a Bolognese sauce today. It takes like 4.5 hours...so far it's been 20 mins. I'm browning a puree of onion, celery, carrot, and garlic. Then you add meat, brown, tomato paste, brown, red wine, brown, water, water, water water, brown it, brown it....you get the idea. It's apparently a labor of love, we'll see if we love it when it's done. Andrew is going to make home made ricotta gnocci. I'm excited! Pictures to follow :-)

My First Raven's Game

Andrew got tickets to a pre-season game through work and asked if I'd like to go, usually with the big games he and some friends go, so it was really nice of him to ask. I've never been to a Raven's game so I thought it would be fun. I'm not a big football fan but I know it can be a lot of fun to go to games. I bought myself a cute t-shirt for the occasion and all! The weather was great and I ended up having a really nice time. I did find myself letting my eyes wander around the stadium during the game and then I'd miss whatever play was going on...but it was still fun.

I'm not sure when the season starts, but I really want to attend some Capitals games this year. Last year was the first year I really watched games and it was a great year to start. I think I would enjoy watching in person too. Hopefully we can get tickets to some games this fall.

What is your favorite sport to watch in person? On TV?

Beach Trip Highlights

We had a great week of relaxing, drinking, eating, beaching, pooling, cooking, reading...good times. Here are some pictures of the fun:

Here is our beach fort, it was pretty great, plenty of shade, which I took full advantage of. Also used my beach umbrella bag which worked great!

Me, under the umbrella, big floppy hat, sunglasses and SPF 50! I'm not getting burnt!

Best beach game ever, "Kubb". Google it. You set up wooden blocks and have to knock them down w/ wooden dowels. Everyone that walked by stopped to watch for a while, since most people have never seen this game before.
Pool pong. Harder than you would think. Andrew improvised a speed version which worked out pretty well. Having a pool was actually really cool. You would think it is superfluous, but we really enjoyed having another place to relax and cool off. The ocean was a little rough the first part of the week then filled w/ jellyfish the last few days.
Artsy photo!
Would love to be able to go back to the beach w/ friends and family asap, but will have to wait till next year :-(

beach trip #2

4:45 wakeup
5:30 depart
11:00 arrive in Duck
2:00 beach
4:00 check into house
5:00 poolside
10:00 bed

That was day 1. Down in the Outer Banks again, this time with friends. We rented one of those houses w/ 8 bed rooms. So far it's been pretty great. Haven't seen what the beach is like near our house yet, but the pool in the back yard is pretty awesome. This place has three refrigerators! Pictures and updates to come. Gonna test out that umbrella carrying thingy!

Ready for the beach!

I just finished my first independent sewing project, a beach umbrella bag! We are headed back down to the Outer Banks in a week with 4 other couples. When I was down a few weeks ago I had our only umbrella, which had no carrying case and was kind of a pain to carry. I also bought another umbrella knowing when we were both on the beach we would both want our own shade. To solve the problem of carrying two umbrellas I figured I could made some sort of bag. I looked up patterns for yoga mat bags and based my project after them. I wanted a draw string top and a round bottom and a strap. I sort of fudged the pattern and just did my best. The hardest part was sewing the round bottom into the tube, I didn't really know how to do this and it's got some kinks and wrinkles. So if I were to make something more refined I would have to learn how to do this correctly. But as a first project, I'm pretty proud of the result! It fits both umbrellas and looks cute :-) I'll be sure to take some pictures at the beach too!

Two Down

Finished New Moon today on the beach. These books really are easy reads, and the story keeps you interested and wanting to keep reading. Despite that, I am going to take a quick break and read something else before moving on to Eclipse. That is, if I don't miss the characters and story line too much. H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds is next on my list. I always love heading to the "classics" or "summer reading" sections of the library. There are always soooo many books that I know are going to be good or have at least stood the test of time. Tons of books I feel like I should have read in school but never did. I've read Dracula, Rebecca, Journey to the Center of the Earth, The Three Musketeers...and so on. It's also funny to see some of the stuff that makes it onto that list these days too. I've really come to enjoy the library system the past few years. What could be better than free books and movies???

Oh, and since I was going to be in the car for 8+ hours I decided to try a book on CD. I got A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseni. I should be about half way through, its at least 11 cds. It is very interesting so far. Easy book to listen to and pay attention even while driving. The fact that the drive is really easy helps I'm sure. Who knows if the book would be the same if you were reading it yourself. But so far I'd recommend it. The few minutes I was in the car today to get bread from the store I turned it on again, and sort of wanted to sit in the car back at the house to finish the short chapter...but I'll have plenty of time on Sunday.

One Book Down

I finished Twilight last night. At about 3 am to be exact. Not that I stayed up late to read, I went to bed at 10 or something lame, but a thunderstorm woke me up so much I knew I couldn't fall back asleep so I just read. I got so close to the end I couldn't just stop with a few pages left so I finished it all. I think I started it on Wednesday or something. Pretty quick read. On to the next one.

Twilight was good, not obsessively good, but I can see how they are appealing [and I'm still reading aren't I]. Even though I'm not the target audience, which is probably 12 year old girls, not 29 yr old women...the romance is still interesting. It has all the usual vampire stuff, along with some characteristics the author made up [different from standard vamp lore] so that the storyline could work. At times that was a little annoying but it works well so far. The most interesting parts were the back stories, or creation stories, how the characters became what they are. This is my favorite part of other vampire stories, Interview With the Vampire, True Blood...I wish there was more of this, maybe there is? I'm about 1/5 or so through New Moon, I'm sure I'll finish it before I leave on Sunday. Thanks to the library and C, I have all the books so I won't be left waiting for more. Definitely good beach reads.

I'm here

Left Elkridge yesterday at about 7:30. Stopped in LaPlata to help the parents finish packing and then we headed south. This is the first time I've driven any distance by myself. The trip was supposed to be about 8.5 hours and we got to Avon at about 4:30 I think. I followed my parents advice and steered clear of 95 and the usual beach routes. So even though it took a little longer it was a nice scenic route. Driving by myself was easier than I thought, though the familiar route helped.

I'm off to suntan lotion up and head to the beach. It's sunny and a little windy and though it's warm, it's much cooler than back home.

It's Official

I've broken down and am reading Twilight! Shhhhh, don't tell my husband, he might just disown me :-) Actually, HE'S seen the movie...but only so he could trash it and be well informed. I figured plenty of other adults have read them and liked the books so why not. I need a good beach read for next week anyway. [more on that to come].

Have a great weekend!

Next Project

So, it's time for a new knitting project, and this time for me! There's a lull in the due dates of pregnant friends so I've picked the "Cherry" cardigan. It has a cute little cable pattern and is a kind of retro fitted sweater. I picked the yarn on the above. It's somewhere between moss and lime green.

Oh, and here's a cute picture of the Betty:

Just doing my part

The husband and I are planning to get healthy this summer, hopefully get a little more fit by beach time. And I just took the first step, ate a bowl of ice cream. He has mandated that we can't have any sweets or unhealthy snacks in the house, but that we are allowed to finish what's here. So, in an effort to clear out all that unhealthy stuff I had a yummy dish of Andes Mint ice cream. Mmmmm.

Eventually we will eat all the good stuff and the next step will be much harder, but the point is to be doing it together, which I guess will make it easier. My problem is I'm a snacker and I also like to have treats every once in a while, rewards for doing well...I'll just have to enjoy all my rewards in advance :-( Hopefully we can stick w/ this and eat better and work out more over the next month or so and see some results. Here goes!

Project Updates!

Two projects done in one week! Finished the scarf for my friend Sara's bridal shower on Friday [only took one week!] and finally broke out my sewing machine for its first test drive to finish the Snow Mum Pillow.

First things first, Penobscot Scarf: my first attempt at lace, pretty happy with how it turned out. I had to block it after I was done b/c it wanted to curl at the ends and throughout the length and after I was done it looked so good. I hope it keeps its shape. This was pretty easy to make in a week w/ some serious knitting time.


The next project is like 6 months in the making. The NWC got together to make this back in the winter and I bailed early b/c of the snow [which amounted to nothing]. I finally got my own sewing machine [thanks Grandma!] and set about to finish it this weekend. Now, this is a pretty forgiving project, the wool felt hides my crooked sewing and it still looks ok. The hardest part was sewing the petals on since my presser foot didn't really get up high enough. I learned that I don't know a lot about sewing and need to work on my technique...like remembering to put the presser foot down before sewing...but it's done!


I love the way it looks on our new-ish bedding. I have our summer chenille spread on w/ the shams from our duvet cover and the mum matches perfectly. I love the look. Now we just have to work on making the bed up more often so we get to see the full effect.


Now I just have to find my next project :-) Any suggestions...?

Baby Sweater Machine

Tomorrow I'm headed to my cousin's baby shower. She's having twin girls in September. She's the sixth friend/relative I have that either is having or had a baby this year. So I've been pretty busy knitting, which is actually pretty fun. Baby clothes are way easier than adult size and you can try out different yarns and patterns. I stuck w/ the same baby shrug for the twins as for another friend's girl since it was easy and I needed to get two of them done asap. Looking forward to the next project...but I need to know the sex of the December baby first. I'll pick a new pattern this time to try something new and hopefully perfect some skills. So, here are the baby shrugs I've made recently:
I've also started another knitting project for a friend. It's the wrong season for a scarf, but the name of the scarf reminds me of this person and I thought it would be a special gift. It's the first time I've done a lace pattern but so far its easy. I need to finish by Sunday though...so I'm on overdrive. I think I can do it though! I'll post the final when I'm done. Now I'm off for a knitting break!

I've joined the land of the sewing!

I'm back! And I'm gonna learn to sew :-) My mom dropped of my grandma's sewing machine today. It's a 13 year old Singer and it's basic but just what I need. Mom taught me how to thread it and we took it on a test run. Works fine, I just need to get some thread and get sewing. I'll finally get to finish my Snow Mum Pillow...at last. I won't have to borrow other New Wives machines and we can all sew together :-)

I'm looking forward to the project Beeps has proposed, a zippered clutch w/ a wrist-let. Can't wait. Now I have to start amassing large quantities of fabric and queue up some projects.

The only bad thing is now I have to choose between sewing and knitting, between the two the possibilities are endless!

Big Week

So, tomorrow I have a presentation to give at a conference, I'm a little nervous but finally to the point where I almost don't care, and if I could just give my presentation right now at like 8:30 at night I would. Then Thursday and Friday I head to anther conference out in Easton, MD. I have a presentation that ends at 3:45 Friday afternoon. At 4 pm I hope to be in my car and headed to Ocean City with some friends. I'm not quite done preparing the second presentation and it will need some practice- but I can hardly wait till I'm done and can finally relax. The past month or so has been pretty busy w/ a big work meeting and then preparing for these two presentations. I can't wait till work is back to normal for me.

So, just four more days of work, two presentations, and some stressing out, and I'm at the beach for three days! Don't even care if it's not that warm, I just want to relax, read a book, and have some drinks with friends.

One more craft to obsess over!

So, I'm falling to the pressures, I'm getting a sewing machine! My grandmother is graciously giving me hers. It's not quite as old as Beeps' machine though. My mom will have to re-teach me all I learned in middle school home economics class, but hopefully I'll be on my way sewing up a storm soon! I can finally finish my Snow Mum Pillow project...it's been sitting in a corner waiting for months. Then I'll have to look to my buddies [Beepsnrays, My Better Half, and cobble cobble] for some project ideas.

I'll be posting the recent fruits of my knitting labors soon [as soon as I finish]. A cute baby shrug for a friend who is due in July. Just found out another friend is expecting and due in December, and my cousin is having twins in October...so there are plenty of options for fun projects.

Kitty Post

This is what happens when I tried to put the clothes away the other day. First Betty settles in, then Meatball. They stayed there for hours. So cute.



Whenever I'm working at the computer Betty likes to sit between me and the computer. No matter how much room there is she squeezes in. She sits there at first and kinda lets me hug her. Then she eventually settles down and lays on my arm...making it a little hard to work. I usually just let her stay there though because she's so dang cute! She'll sit there till I move her or get up. Usually my arm falls asleep. While she was there today I had a little one armed photo shoot.

Newest Addition

So, our dryer broke back in February and we've [hah] been just air drying the clothes since then. Which, while very green, is not very fun. Takes too long and all my clothes feel crunchy afterward. And did I mention I HATE ironing? So, we finally decided to get a new set of washer/dryer a week ago b/c the washer finally crapped out too. Well, sort of. Months ago my husband 'fixed' the washer-the little switch that flips when you close the lid, so that the tub will stop spinning if you open the lid, broke and the wash would always get to the same spot in the cycle and just stop. So, in ultimate frustration we went and bought these:


So far so good, the clean and dry my clothes in a reasonable time, and that's all I can ask. We didn't shell out the $ for super efficient or front loading types, figuring it just wasn't worth the $. Now if I could just find someone else to do all the laundry....

Um...I thought I said 'seat save'

Trellis Baby Sweater- Complete!

So my friend's baby shower was this past Saturday and I finished knitting the last part of the sweater on Friday and mom and Aunt Jane helped me sew on the buttons Saturday before the shower. I'm super happy about how it turned out. I modified the pattern some according to advice on some websites and I'm happy about how it turned out. I think I made it easier to knit than the pattern was originally written. I didn't have to do much 'finishing' like sewing up seams and whatnot. There are things I wish were a little better but overall I'm happy with the finished product. It was well received by the mom-to-be which made me really happy. I can't wait to see it on the new baby boy.

5 years later

And I still miss you, think about you often and hope to see you one day again.

Freezer Mystery

I am working from home. I made ice this morning for my tea. Went back to get fresh ice and saw this:




Someone please explain how this happens to me, because it is a mystery.

Back to work.

Shopping Win

Last week I spend the whole weekend with my parents. It was nice to be home and just relax. Saturday Mom and I were on Kent Island for a meeting she had so we hit the outlets on the way home. Boy did we win big. First stop LLBean. Mom got me some early birthday presents, a Wool Blazer and Wood Pea Coat. The blazer was originally $149 and she got it for less than $25, the Pea Coat was $189 and she got it also for $25!


I also got this cute little lunch bag and a summer white chenille bedspread. Pretty good haul.

Trip Highlights

Husband and I went on a trip a few weeks ago to Tampa FL for a friend's wedding. The weather was a little cold but the wedding was nice. We stayed an extra night and then left the next day for a five night Caribbean cruise with Carnival. As our first cruise we were pretty excited. I'd say that it was a good time and I would go on a cruise again, but a longer one for sure. Also, even knowing this going in, having to pay for your drinks is rough. The last trip we went on like this was an all inclusive resort, and that spoils you. Now if they would make an all inclusive cruise...

So, here are some picture highlights for your viewing pleasure:

Us on the beach before the wedding [kinda cold out...even for FL]; the married couple, so cute and happy :-)


Our boat- Carnival Inspiration- our room was allllllllll they way on the end, lowest deck of rooms, very comfy and nice. Bathroom was pretty ok- except it is virtually impossible to shave your legs in a shower the size of a linen closet. Different towel animal towel animal every night, seal, dog, elephant, bunny, and sting ray.
The town of Hell in Grand Cayman, we visited the town post office, you could send mail from Hell which was very cool. The rest of these pics are from Cozumel, Mexico. Very pretty, don't need to go back. Shopping isn't all that, and they hound you so much [in a nice way...] but it really puts you off to actually shopping- too much pressure. We did enjoy a mile or so walk down the road, stopping for increasingly expensive beers as we got closer to our ship. $1.50, $2, then $3, still cheaper than the boat.

Good trip, hard to come back to reality. Still felt like I was on a boat for a few days, especially when getting out of bed for some reason.

Housewife?

I'm starting to miss my short foray last week into being purely a housewife. This working stuff is no fun, especially when you have 5 million emails to catch up on b/c you were out for a week. But... I think my dreams of sitting at home watching daytime reruns of Law and Order, NCIS, Gilmore Girls, and Bones while knitting and constantly checking Facebook updates are not quite going to pan out. This life can only be supported by a double income...my part would be sorely missed...maybe we should all ban together to start selling our knitting, baking, quilting, sewing, artistic creations to somehow support ourselves so we can run away from these other jobs...any takers?

Going to a wedding this Saturday followed by a 5 night cruise of the Caribbean...totally not going to help my desire to not have to work...oh well, that's what vacations are for right, to unwind, relax and make work seem possible again.

Next Project- Trellis Sweater

The thing about craft and home projects, is as soon as you are done one [or even before completion] you are ready to start a new one. So the next project is the Trellis baby sweater found here:
http://knitty.com/ISSUEspring05/PATTtrellis.html

And no, this is not my veiled way to tell you all I am pregnant, we're friends, I would at least tell you on facebook :-) No, I've got two friends who are expecting this year, and baby sweaters are fun to knit and go quick! I think this is going to be really cute and I hope it comes out right. I'm not too good w/ the 'gauge' which is where you make sure you are making it the right size by doing a test swatch of the pattern and switch needle size if it is too big/small. I did it twice and just decided to go w/ what I've got. So, hey, if it's too big, kids grow right? It will fit some time...

So, I'm even trying to make some changes to the pattern to make it easier to knit. I joined this cool knitting/crocheting web group where people post projects and pictures and tips and stuff called https://www.ravelry.com/account/login It's great b/c you can browse all kinds of projects and get ideas of what to work on next.

This website also helped me realize that I didn't know how to read graphic charts for knitting. I worked on the project for a few days and it just didn't look right and while looking over someone else's comments realized that I was doing it all wrong...so I had to start over which is never fun, but now it looks great and much better so I'm happy. I'm hoping to make some major progress on this while snowed in...for the sixth day! I had a flex day Friday so I didn't work and now we are going on 3 snow days...I'm not totally bored or cabin crazy yet. It helps that we were able to make a path to the neighbor's house to go have some drinks and enjoy some company. We even made it over there for the SuperBowl- a snow blog post to come soon!

Alright, back to the knitting for a while. Good luck to all you other bloggers/readers out there w/ your snow projects and enjoy the time off.

Finished Projects!

So here are the final "final" pictures of my sweater. I got buttons from JoAnn's that match really well though you can't see it that well in the pictures. I took the pictures w/o the flash b/c it comes out better but then you can't see the colors as well. Now it's all ready for me to wear out! I'm excited.


Next I finally completed this afghan I started at least 4ish years ago. It's the first real complicated thing I started but it wasn't that hard to make. The hardest part was seaming all 15 squares together, ugh. I've probably taken a year to do that, but now it's finally done. It's technically a baby blanket, my mom made one for me before I was born. I thought it would be fun to make b/c each square is a different pattern and you get experience trying out 15 different patterns and the squares are small enough you don't really get bored. I'm glad it is finally done and I think I'll go cuddle under it on the couch and watch our snow hit at least 2 feet by noon!

house envy

I love visiting other people's houses. I love to see how people decorate and what their tastes are like. And I inevitably go home wanting to do something with my own house. Whether its feeling like, ugh, I realllly need to get new carpet/kitchen/bathroom/deck/ you name it, or wanting to try some new decorating ideas, I always feel inspired to improve. The other night we went to dinner at our neighbor's house. It was really nice. They are another young couple, and have a 2 year old boy. The little one was put to bed as we got there and we had a nice dinner. It was really nice to be able to hang out w/ our neighbors. I've lived next door to them going on 4 years [!] and I'm glad to get to know them better. We all realized we live in a good neighborhood, nice neighbors overall, kid friendly, safe feeling. It's nice to interact more than the wave and hello when you pass in the yard. I hope we continue to spend time with them.

So, it was fun to see their house b/c it's kind of the slightly larger carbon copy of our own. It is laid slightly different but overall they are similar. So, on top of the list of home decorating improvements is put up wedding pictures!!!!! It's now been over a year and we don't have any pictures printed and hung up. I'm so indecisive that I know it will take me forever to decide which ones to print and then how to arrange...I just need to dive in.

So, on this snowy [?] weekend, I think I'm going to work on completing my afghan that I started long ago and just tidy up the house. That's an achievable goal I think. Beyond that, anything I get done is bonus.

Have fun in the snow!

Workout Update

I finally [like 5 days later] made it to the gym. And I ran 1.5 miles!! Now my legs feel like jelly, the good kind, not the kind you feel like when you are nervous or something. Hopefully this is me finally getting back on track and getting to the gym more often. Only tomorrow will tell :-)

High Hopes

Why is it that I'm super motivated to go work out in the middle of the day, thinking, 'oh man, today is going to be great, I'm going to work out once I get home, I'm excited, and it will be great for me....' and when I actually get home after a 1.5 hour commute and usually an unsatisfying nap on the train [that only leaves me more tired] I just can't get the motivation to get to the gym. I'm sure part of it is that it's winter, and I've been out of the habit of going to the gym for months. But, man, I just can't seem to drag myself there anymore. And really, I just want to get in better shape, tone a few squishy bits and not get winded walking up the 5 flights of stairs to my office every day. I mean seriously, I get winded EVERY DAY. That's sad, but maybe I'll never get used to it...? Maybe I need to use the stair machine at the gym.

Alright, so the plan is to go to the gym w/ the husband tonight...lets see if we make it :-)

Fun with Picnik

So, I finally played around w/ www.pinnik.com to make some collages here are the results. All pics taken w/ my new camera Christmas present. I haven't totally learned how to use all the bells and whistles but it's been fun playing with it and taking tons of pictures of Meatball and Betty. They are constant subjects of my photographic experiments. And they are always doing cute stuff that I just NEED to take pictures of. So, as a round up of the last month:
This is the anniversary dinner VAP and I made for ourselves. Big ole steaks, huge shrimp [which we had to devein, ewwwwwwwwww] and some yummy mushrooms and onions go on top.


Meatball likes to get inside bags. He just crawled into that target bag and decided to sit a while. Betty can come off as a little aloof, but she's a cuddler at heart.
My dad made these AWESOME Cats Meow type things for Christmas. He made the house I grew up in, where VAP and I live now, and the church I grew up in. He took photographs and spray glued them to wood then cut them out w/ a band saw and then sanded and painted it. They look really professional, all they need is the little black cat in all the pictures. I was really impressed with the 'secret project' he was working on. I had to send him a picture of the house, I figured he was doing some sort of collage or something, this was way cooler.