Kew Gardens

Kew Gardens...woah. Amazing. 

Kew Gardens were originated in the exotic garden at Kew Park but was extended by Augusta, Princess of Wales. It is quite amazing. It is HUGE! There are acres and acres and a pagoda and a japanese shrine and the worlds largest Glass houses and a Lily house and EVERYTHING! It was amazing and gorgeous and beautiful! We spent ALL day there and saw so many things but we only got through about half the gardens! These are my favorite photos from the trip!

I will be moving in this house with Mr Darcy after our wedding. :) 

These water lilies are HUGE. I'm not kidding. Apparently they are so strong they can hold a baby on them. They grow them every year from seed. 

London's Amazing Architecture

London is full of Palimpsest Architecture. Buildings that were built upon which were built upon which were built upon! That includes Westminster, Parliament, and so many others! 

This is what I saw when I walked out of the Tube station! I wanted to cry, it was amazing.

I snapped this as we crossed the street. I just can't get over how beautiful all this architecture is! What art!

First Glances at London

My trip to London was quick and pleasant. My layover in NYC included a brief visit from my best friend, Kristi, who brought me some NY pizza! Then I continued on to London, sleeping most the way, especially since I lucked out to have my own row to myself. I got to London and took the tube to our stop, Gloucester Road, in South Kensington. 

Kensington is amazing. It was once the neighborhood not only of royals and nobles, but of the ladies in waiting as well. These people wanted to be out of the city, but not too far from it.

I walk through this neighborhood every day!

Our first night there we went to see "Clybourne Park" at the Wyndham theater. The play was really amazing, and thought provoking, pushing the idea that sometimes the idea of being politically correct is in itself very damaging. It was great, tense, and hilarious. ALL AT THE SAME TIME! 

But the theater was AMAZING! It was built at the turn of the century, and it's beauty and workmanship is phenomenal and has housed many amazing talents including Sir Alec Guiness.

Anyway, I'm here and Loving it! More photos to come!

Getting Left Behind

Somebody does NOT want me to go to London without her.

And I'm really really going to miss her!

A few Wee sewing projects!

I leave for London in the morning, and I've been cleaning and throwing out and packing and getting ready. I have also been sewing a bit and I just wanted to share some of the fun projects I did for my travels~

Camera Bag!

I made a padded insert that nestles right on the bottom of my miche bag! It's padded to absorb shock on my camera, and I picked a fun bright patterned canvas to be out of the durable fabric!

 I used Red piping (I love piping) and I also used red velcro. I have velcro on the sides so you can remove the dividers to fit whatever I put in my camera bag for that time. 

This is the miche bag I'm taking with me, which will double as a camera bag! And I measured the insert I made so it nestles right into it snuggly, but still allows me access to the side pockets so I have a place to stow my wallet and passport and Burts Beeswax Chapstick!

 Just one more pic/look at the finished product. It was unlike anything I'd ever worked with and the foam padding really tested my patience, but I think it turned out pretty nifty.

 Tripod Bag

The next project was a tripod bag that wasn't boring or ugly that would allow me to haul my tripod around in style, slung over my shoulder. I wanted it to be padded so it didn't clank and bump around. 

The fabric was leftovers from Jacki's birthday. There was barely enough to make it, but I did it. I lined it with a fun, durable red, added a red strap, red drawstring cord, and red piping along the bottom. And it turned out pretty darn cute if I may say so myself...and I do say so. I won't mind hauling this around the U.K.

Looking inside:

Slung over the banister 

My tripod nestled inside:

Piping again. I just love the extra finishing touch it gives.

Scripture Cover

Since my scriptures were stolen right out of my car, I had to recently buy new ones, but I don't like scripture bags. I'd much rather carry my scriptures in my purse, but I don't want it to get scratched or damaged, and they don't sell them with the snap closure anymore. I grabbed some of my quilting fabric that I've been wanting to use for SOMETHING lately, and sewed up this little number:

I LOVE the way it turned out! I even did a button hole! Of course, with my Viking sewing machine, doing button holes is easy as tying your shoe, BUT, I love the way it just wraps snug around my scriptures!

I love the inner fabric too! Such fun swirls, and I know you can't tell, but the fabric is very metallic!

It's awesome. I was way pleased the way it turned out and made me very excited to take my scriptures to chuch on Sunday, much the way a child who gets scriptures for their baptism feels. Anyway, I guess I'm ready for London on those ends, but I leave in 12 hours and I'm not done packing. :\

Jacki's 40th Birthday Palooza!

"Right brained people are difficult to order around, but when the spotlight is on them they know just what to do."
That is a quote that I feel describes me and my sisters. When we put on a party, we PUT ON A PARTY! We believe "You'd better go big, or go home!"
So Jacki, my oldest sister, turned 40 this year and we (the sisters) decided that we had to put on the biggest party for her we could come up with! :) We love putting on parties. So at the first of the year (maybe sooner) we started planning her party, giving out assignments, etc etc etc. And as always, when we five get together, Magic happens. We start brainstorming and after a facebook feed of about 100 emails which the ideas snowballed and grew, we all finalized on a carnival themed party with bright colors and lots of fun!

Jacki and Sharla run on the same brainwaves, even dress alike.

Pregnant Lady with a Giant Pickle...too perfect to not capture 

Isn't Celena such a cute preggo lady!?

Kaniela wanted me to come play in the bouncy house with him!

Only mishap of the whole day. I'm so lucky to be part of a family where in a situation where one sister spends a whole night and day making the birthday cake, and another sister accidentally knocks it on the floor, it doesn't cause drama. We all take a minute, feel sad, and wait for Kendra to figure out what she's gonna do. And we move on. No fights, no drama, just love to have fun together.

Celena and Mom made this gorgeous garland and Jacki had me print off some of my photography really big (about 16x20) and she painted vintage frames fun colors and hung up my pictures I took of carnival rides at a fair. 

Candy Bar! We had tons of bright colored Candy in glass containers with little plastic bags so people could take home candy. Celena also made Caramel Corn and Cotton Candy. It was the perfect favor for This Carnival Party!

I made Cake Pops! Some I made to look like striped popcorn boxes, the others I covered with Fun Sprinkles! The cake inside was Red (red velvet), Orange (orange cream) and Yellow (lemon)!

Look at how amazing the cake turned out! Kendra really did a phenomenal job with the carnival cake!

 Sephra had us try out their new product  in our chocolate fountains. It's a fruit fondue and we tried strawberry and Mango and it was absolutely delicious and the colors looked great!

 The food was incredible! We had Sliders, Dodger dogs, and our Nana's potato salad was a huge hit and went the fastest! Sharla made adorable layered serving plates for the condiments! And we even made delicious Sweet Potato Fries which I couldn't keep my hands out of!

 We had three kinds of lemonades that ALL tasted delicious! 

Look at all the fun!

And a look at the "circus tent" patio and the jumpy house! 

More amazing decorations!

 The birthday girl (Jacki) with her two girls, Carly and Roxy

 Me taking a break from the photography to take a picture with Carlyanna

It was a great party. And Sharla tried to lead everyone in the birthday song. She said, "Alright! Everyone on the count of 3, ready go!" and everyone started singing, but all of us sisters just laughed at her!