Pant Rejuvenation!

Hey. What's up. It's April and I've got lots of plans. Nathan's dad is visiting us this week, our good friend Nate the next, then my friend Steph and I are going to visit our friend Michael in Olympia the last weekend in April. I'm making a new piece on seven dancers for a performance in May, and also performing in a friend's piece for the same show. I have a grant application due in two weeks, and I still don't know what I'm going to prepose. Meanwhile all my co-workers are traveling, so my work schedule's a bit crazy, but it will be good to get some extra hours in after the time I took off in February and March. I was motivated the first week after I got back from Colorado to get stuff done, which was impeded this week a bit by a cranked back (yes, injured again, but minorly) and Nathan having spring break which means he was around the house a lot and my normal productivity was reduced of course. We got to spend some time together though, and this weekend was 70 degrees and sunny, so pretty much couldn't be beat. We spent Easter eating and sitting on the sun deck facing the bay at my dad's cousin's house, I didn't take any pictures, but it was glorious and Nathan and I are both a little sunburned.

Ok, but this is what I did the other week, inspired by this tutorial that I found:
http://cottonandcurls.blogspot.com/2011/02/altering-pants-tutorial-refashioning.html
I kinda knew everything in this tutorial already, but it reminded me that I have a lot of pants, that are perfectly good, but don't fit me very well, and I have the power to change th
at.
These had a lot of extra bagginess around the thighs and knees, but I took in the inseam, and now they fit nicely!

On the Right is before, on the left is after. The pic doesn't really do it justice, but it's much more flattering.

Also these, which I call my beach comber pants. They are linen and very comfy...

But are much too large. The crotch is halfway to my knees, and the length hit my low-shin awkwardly.

I took in the outsides and now they are high-wasted, the crotch is where it should be, but they are still loose and super comfortable--perfect for my next warm weather beach outing...not sure when that will be.

And then these guys fit perfectly for the most part, except for some reason people like to make jeans long enough for a very giant skinny person. Since I'm not 6"1', the ends of my pants look like this:

Very Wrinkly.

Much better!

I even got inspired to take in some of Nathan's pants, which were "relaxed fit" which translates to baggy and sloppy.

Left leg "before" Right leg "after"

I took in the other leg of course too. I have more items to mend/alter. It's not worth having items around that aren't flattering. I like to think alterations can be a thrifty way to make the things you already have work better for you. With a refreshed item, it's almost like you just went shopping in your own closet.

Hope to get back to more crafting, sorting, and organizing. I already have six paper bags of things to give away/sell, but I have been putting off tackling the files and the bathroom, which are both in desperate need of organization.

news from the sick bay

Well, I'm starting to feel human again, so this is good news. This weekend was a busy one because of a very special person's birthday. That's right, our very own Nathaniel James was born 24 years ago!!!! A cause for celebration--so we had a little get together with some of his friends from school, Steph and Ben, and our old friend Staci and her boyfriend, Derek. And everyone actually showed up! A tax day miracle! I pulled myself out of a near comatose state to go to the grocery--twice--and make a boxed cake. That's love.
I made a Peanut Butter Cup themed cake. Here it is!

Ingredients

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix
• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
• 1 cup whipped topping
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Prepare and bake cake mix according to package directions, using a 9-in. fluted tube pan. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack.
2. In a small mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add the peanut butter and confectioners' sugar; beat until blended. Fold in whipped topping. Split cake in half horizontally; place bottom layer on a serving plate. Spread with the peanut butter mixture. Top with remaining cake. Refrigerate until chilled.
3. In a small heavy saucepan, bring cream to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Stir in chocolate chips; cook and stir until chocolate is melted. Refrigerate until spreadable. Frost top and sides of cake. Refrigerate until serving.

Here is the URL: http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/peanut-butter-chocolate-cake/Detail.aspx

I didn't use a tube-pan obviously, just baked half (or what I thought was half but in fact was not even close) of the batter in my 9" cake pan, then the other "half" and layered that way. And put PB cups on top. It was easy. The only think I might add to this is read the instructions on the "whipped topping" (which is cool whip.) I read "Keep Frozen" and so didn't realize before I made the filling that you are supposed to defrost the cool whip in the fridge for 4 hours before you use.

Nathan: about to blow out all 24 candles. That's a whole box. The cake is on fire basically.

Enjoying his first bite of cake.

The innards!

So that was a good time. I also hosted book club this weekend. We just finished reading The End of the Jews by Adam Mansbach. The title is misleading. It's about a Jewish family with multiple generations of writers who are immersed in Jazz music, graffiti art, photography, and hip hop. Lauren gave it to me for Christmas and so I suggested it for our book club. I don't want to write a book report here, but it gave me a very interesting perspective into writing and how it differs from dance and other art forms. Mainly that it seems like a very lonely, solo journey. Dance is so collaborative, it's reigning in a different animal. Pros and cons to both I suppose. Here was the spread for book club. I got totally out of control at trader joe's and so I didn't even put all of the food out.

I made bread again and macaroons. Both are recipes I've shared on this blog. The previous two books we read were White Teeth by Zadie Smith (which I enjoyed immensely) and War Dances by Sherman Alexi. All three books were modern, had huge casts, and dealt with identity/race/cultural blending. It made for a nice trio actually. Next we are reading Travels with Charlie by John Steinbeck to do something a little different. I am about halfway through The English Patient (not for book club) which so far is lovely and so dreamy. A really beautiful book. I haven't seen the movie, but would like to once I finish.

Also, last week we had a little home-improvement project, which was recovering our chairs! We have four--two gross, two not-so-gross, but not really our style anyways.

BEFORE

Recovering chairs just takes a little elbow grease if you've never done it. If you look at the bottom of a chair it is pretty self explanatory. You just unscrew the seat, and then remove the staples or tacks holding the old fabric on. Staple on new fabric, and re-screw. Of course there were about 80 staples in each red chair (someone got a little trigger happy) so that took forever, but now we have:

AFTER

Here is a close up of the fabric. Nathan picked it out. I couldn't decide what I liked and so I went with his choice:

So nice.