Amanda Rose blog

Sooo...I MADE A KIMONO ROBE.

Remember back in April went I set out to MAKE A KIMONO-STYLE ROBE by the end of April?  
You kind of followed my journey when I posted my OUT TO SEWs // 1, 2, and 3.

Well, I finished just this past weekend.

It's kind of sad story.  It was supposed to go on for the four consecutive Saturdays in April, but on the third Saturday, our sewing instructor (who I absolutely adore) got sick.  Class resumed on April 27th, but that would mean the "finishing" of the robe would spill over into May.  Then, that first Saturday of May got cancelled because poor Pat was sick again.  When the class finally got together for our last session this past May 11th Saturday, we found out Pat had a severe asthma attack, was in a coma and on a resperator.  8|  I just can't believe it.  I hope the news on her comes back good soon.  It would be a nice deviation from all the saddness that seems to happen one after the other this past year.

Anyway, that Pat: she taught me everything I currently know about sewing.  Most importantly, she made me feel comfortable sitting in front of my sewing machine.  I now have the confidence I need to embark on other sewing adventures.  ...and my robe?  It's pretty sweet, even with it's many imperfections.  I love it.  

Get well soon, Pat!
I am so very grateful for the sewing skills she taught me, my new spring robe, and how my one little word {MAKE} manifested itself last month.

See March's here and here.
See February's here and here.
See January's here and here.

my DIY flowers in my hair

10 days of MAKING TIME FOR MEDITATION // {olw} for May

It's been 10 days since my intent shifted to MAY's use of my one little word: MAKE TIME FOR MEDITIATION.

So far...it's been HARD. Really really hard.  With this intention, I wanted to spend some time everyday living the Oprah Winfrey quote above.  However, I've been heartbroken from missing him & it being his birthday this week, stressed from several consecutive days in a row of Tasmanian devil teacher-tornadoes, and plain ol' EXHAUSTED.

Every time I try to sit up and focus on my breathing, focus on calming, teacher work enters my brain, what happened with the kids in class that day enters my brain, where are the cats, will my sister come home and interrupt me, I'm cold, I'm hot, is that a bug...

You get the point.

Then, on some occassions these past 10 days, my body called for me to lay down:

...and each and every time I've fallen asleep.

[Deep sigh.]

Also, to be honest, I haven't meditated the last couple of days.  Stress and work has been too much (but that's probably the time I need to meditate!)...soooo, in the next 10 days, I will try to be better. I will try to be consistent with at least 5 minutes spent meditating. 

This is more a challenge for me than I thought.

Do you meditate at all?
What are some of your tricks/approaches to it?

T.G.I.F.

olw for May // MAKE TIME TO MEDITATE

I feel like Fergie said it best when she sang:

"...I need to be with myself and center
clarity, peace, serenity..." 

This is the nature of my May one little word intention.

MAKE TIME FOR MEDITATION was not going to be how I was going to use 'MAKE' this month.  The intention came to me this past weekend, and it makes a lot of sense.  I've been having a hard time letting him go, and have been feeling tons of anxiety, loneliness, and sadness lately.

Enter this practice that I've always meant to try, but have never tried.  I find myself thinking "I should meditate through this" but then never do.  This month, I'm going to set aside at least 5 minutes everyday to sit and center and attempt to clear my mind.

Some helpful links I've found for beginners like me:

How To Meditate Properly
Four Good Times of the Day to Meditate
Advantages of Meditation

Ohm-kay. Let's do this. ;)

my one little word for 2013

April's intention

March's intention

February's intention

January's intention

OUT TO SEW // 1

In my APRIL one little word {MAKE} quest to MAKE A KINOMO-STYLE ROBE, I set out yesterday for the first Saturday sewing class out of four at Sew Right.  

I plan to come to you every Sunday after and give a little post about what I wore and the experience and etc.  

I wore: LOTS of layers.  Still my Uggs (blah). Still my beanie (boo).  The dress worn HERE and HERE. 'TIS COLD 'round these parts still. We get, like, an hour-and-a-half window of semi-warmness before ol' weather yells 'PSYCH!" and we're back to bone chilling winter winds.

The experience: was new and adventurous.  I rode my Schwinn bike (not my new Biria) because it has a basket.  I took my Amy Tangerine bag out for the first time, and it is perfect for sewing class and adventures like yesterday and spring.

The class is tiny, only seven of us. Six of the seven of us know nothing about sewing.  I can tell already, though, Pat is a good teacher.  She's a bald, less eccentric Oda Mae Brown.
I absolutely adore her.

I was drawn to the black&white fabrics (of course!) but ended up choosing a colorful print for the robe.  Something 'springy', light and floral.  

I learned (sorta) how to read a sewing pattern.  I learned "not to cut on the fold".  I learned the difference between a glass-top pin and a plastic one. I learned that Pat sews feathers when she's angry. :)

etc.: I need this new project.  It's been pretty tough lately, and I'm looking forward to zoning out behind the sewing machine.  

Hope you follow along!

olw for April // MAKE A KIMONO-STYLE ROBE

This is my monthly intention for April. ( Is it really the 6th already?! )

My sister saw it and said,
"You're going to make a kimono robe?! How the heck are you going to do that?!"

Haa haa! Well, sister, since you asked...way back in February 2012 I dropped some dough for a four-Saturdays-in-a-row beginner's sewing class to start at the end of March.  I mentioned it briefly in this post here.  On the first day, I showed up to...nothing.  The class was cancelled. Nobody told me.  I looked like an idiot. The place held my payment and now, a year later, I'm attending the class again this morning...

..and the next three Saturdays in a row...

...and by April 27, I should have in my possession a new kimono-style robe and a set of basic sewing skills.

LET'S DO THIS!

my one little word for 2013

March's intention

February's intention

January's intention

T.G.I.S.

Ways I MADE MYSELF SMILE. :)

With my one little word {MAKE} implanted in my head, I had set out at the beginning of March to MAKE MYSELF SMILE.  Heck, after February, I needed an intention that would upturn the corners of my mouth a bit.

Turns out...a lot made me smile in March, grin ear to ear, infact:

March 01 to March 30 - The 30 Days of Lists challenge made me smile from concept, to design, to execution, to guaranteed washi-tape play...this project was where March was at for me.

It was fun, creative, happy, and got me through from February >> to >> April.  I was so incredibly grateful for it.  It was just the right project at just the right time.  :)

Find out more about it HERE.

March 02 to March 20th-ish - Mission SKINS & PRITS, my March movement challenge.  

I started it at the beginning of the month with INSANITY and hardcore food-journalling.  In the first week, I lost over 7 pounds!  I mean, Hey! THAT made me smile.  Then, it kind of trailed off into ZUMBA on wii, etc...okay.  ...and LATELY, I've been sick, so it's be next to nothing.  I plan to get back to regular exercise and better eating when I kick this sinus cold crap.  

In the meantime, I got two adorable PL inserts from the thing.  That always makes me smile.

Saturday, March 23rd - There was little on this day that wasn't going to make me smile. For one, it was the first day of Spring Break (hello!); two: I knew I was going to spend it getting pampered and pretty...

This exact list was lived and lovely.

This was a good day.

 

Sunday, March 24th - I bought myself a new bike! What?!

It was love at first bike, for sure.  I hadn't planned on getting a new bike this month, but you saw the smile at the end of that video, right?  Holy smitten!

Thursday, March 28th - The wide open space of 'me time' that came with Spring Break on this day made my whole body smile.  Due to a homework prompt given to me from the blog course I was taking called Blog Boss, I spent a lot of that time on my Macbook doing some minor updates to this blog.  One of the most noteable was the NEWSLETTER feature I added to the 'ABOUT' page:

Everyday I want to get closer and closer to creating better design, and this, for me shows how far I've come...it's a possible promise of where I could go, and this truly made me smile.

Friday, March 29th - Deciding to wake up and do another round of Ali Edwards 'Day in the Life' documenting challenge gave an energetic and focused smile...and when it finally comes together in the form of a Project Life insert:

...my smile grows even bigger.

Saturday, March 30th - I woke up to find that the Everything Typepad blog listed my Easter egg post as one of the Spotlight: Hippity Hoppity Easter-themed posts to go check out.  This made my heart smile, especially when I read  

"...we've rounded up some of the best of
Typepad's bloggers for an Easter craftacular!
Click over and visit, stay awhile, and soak up
the atmosphere in these great Typepad blogs."

I'm the best of Typepad's bloggers?! Mine is a great Typepad blog?!

GET OUTTA HERE!

(I made sure to thank them in the comments for the ego boost.)

...and finally...

Easter Sunday, March 31st - I made myself smile by tossing some plastic eggs on the floor, and dressing my cats and myself in our springiest easter best, even though it was cold cold cold outside.  My cousin and I had a quickie photo shoot which I edited in a flash over a perogie brunch with my aunt, mom, & sis.

I will be coming to you tomorrow with my one little word intention for April.
See February's here and here.
See January's here and here.

Happy Friday!

Spring Fever = Bike Fever

Yesterday, I traveled some miles away because
"I had to see about a [bike]." -- Will Hunting.
I ended up purchasing this bike.

 I'm visualizing everything you see above along with it:
this helmet to be tied down with these bungees,
and this basket to hold this bag.

I have a dress similar to that one from Old Navy, and
I plan to wear it with brown boots that match the handle bars.

Spring Fever = Bike Fever

...and I'm burnin' up, baby!

Want some more? See my bicycleLOVE pin board.

olw for March // MAKE YOURSELF SMILE

This is my monthly intention for March.

Self-explanatory, really, and the fact alone that it's March has me smiling.

With this month is:
the end of Daylight Savings,
Spring,
a cousin's Sweet 16 party,
Easter Break,
...lots of happy things lined up.

I've also enlisted in this month's 30 Days of Lists, that I blogged about here.

I just want to smile. I want to try to NOT let external circumstances dictate my smiling and happiness. I will be MAKING smiles happen on my face. 

Let's see how this month goes.

Happy March!

my one little word for 2013

February's intention

January's intention

T.G.I.F.

MADE IT PAST.

Who am I kidding?  You can't make it past a break-up in 28 days.  29, maybe.  If it were a leap year, perhaps I could of achieved this monthly intention, but not this time around.  I feel that I will be trying to sort it out and get past it for a good bulk of this year.

However, I mourned and attempted to heal in different ways:

Lots of Sex and the City was watched.  The whole first four seasons.
Man, so sad Aiden and Carrie couldn't work.  

I also made a giant flower brooch a la Carrie Bradshaw.  It made for a very therapeutic Sunday.

...and speaking of making...

...making and wearing this heart sweater was a way for me to heal.

HEARTS in general helped me through this month:

See more about hearts here. 

Another way I attempted to mourn, heal, and make it past it all is by writing a letter.  Two, actually: one to Tomas, and one to his parents.  

It was all about how much I loved and missed him, but that I need this time to be by myself.  It was all about how grateful I was to them for their role in my life.  Those letters were my heart.  It helped me to know they knew how I felt Valentine's week. ♥ ♥

My #1 new favorite cat sweater coming in the mail was a big jolt of happiness.  Wearing it was most def a healing practice for me.

And so was a four-day weekend including a Friday afternoon bar party with work friends and a Saturday night into-the-city excursion with two girlfriends and my sister:

But, when all else failed, there was always my trusty weekday morning...

...bathroom prayers.

...and Saturday morning craft time. ...and watching movies with scenes like this one that so poignantly captures everything I'm feeling in the moment. ...and this song and this song. ...and baking cookies helped a bunch.

...and painting. Painting saved me a bit last weekend:

So there.  There you have it.  

I mourned (still am). I'm healing (slowly). ...and I'm not yet past this, but I'm here. Now.  

...and today's project: 'Day in the Life'.  Happy, happy distraction. Stay tuned for the recap of that.  

Happy March tomorrow!
I can't wait.

P.S. -- Shopping cute dresses: another great way to heal.

Oversized Flower Brooch DIY

I have been watching a lot of Sex and the City, people, and Carrie inspired me to craft yesterday afternoon.

I find that I like wearing pieces that are borderline ridiculous, so I plan to wear this puppy on Thursday for Valentine's Day...and maybe again out for drinks with my girlfriends on Saturday.

 

Past flower brooches can be found here and here.
(I like making them, and I love wearing them.)

♥ ♥ ♥

What are your Valentine's plans?

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