Mini Pip

Vacation: Part 2 (San Diego)

After our quick trip to Arizona, Drew's vacation pick was next. We originally planned to go to Napa Valley but because neither of us are too interested in wine, he thought San Diego would be better.

The first night there we decided to order room service and stay in the hotel and sleep. After the adventure of Arizona and all the traveling, we were exhausted.

The first day we went to the zoo! This was my favorite part of San Diego and it was clear why this zoo was so popular. I think we vacationed at a good time because it wasn't very busy but it was hot!

After a long day at the zoo, Drew picked the restaurant, Fogo de Chao. This was the most unique dining I have ever experienced and the service was phenomenal! It was similar to a buffet style with a salad bar but the main part of the meal was the meat. There were 16 different meats to choose from, each one brought to your table by a server. It was up to you what meat you wanted and how many "rounds" of meat to be brought over. I highly recommend this restaurant.

The next day we went to one of the beaches for a hike. The view was beautiful but we didn't prepare for any beach going so we didn't stay long.

There were a few fabric stores I wanted to stop in since we were in the area. The first, Beverly's, was incredibly disappointing. It was another version on JoAnn fabrics, without the huge amount of sales and coupons. The next Discount Fabrics, was great and I bought a vinyl remnant and two yards of this stretchy print.

We ended the trip with a visit to Old Town, which was cute and worth the stop but very tourist oriented.

I know this post seemed 'short' compared to Arizona but I just didn't have the same feeling about California. While we had a good time in San Diego, I don't want to go back anytime soon. My problem is that you have to really plan your trip. It's a little difficult to just go off and explore and most activities are expensive. We chose not to do Disney or Sea World because we didn't want to spend the money and since we didn't pack for the beach, activities were limited and there was only so much hiking we wanted to do.

The trip as a whole was much needed and I'm so happy we had time to get away but I'm excited to be back because I have so many projects coming up! Fall is here and that means I need to add some new apparel to my wardrobe and my etsy needs a MAJOR update (shop will remain in vacation mode for a bit longer) so come back and visit for some new sewing adventures.

Vacation: Part 1 (Arizona)

It has been pretty quiet around here and I apologize for that but I went on vacation! I've been wanting to visit the Grand Canyon for years and Drew and I finally got the opportunity to. We left early Sunday morning and landed in Arizona around noon. We booked a hotel two hours from Phoenix so we would get a chance to see more than the canyon. We stayed in Flagstaff and that is where I first fell in love with Arizona. I was amazed how the state went from mountains and cacti to pine trees and flower fields so quickly.

Our first night in Flagstaff was perfect. We went into town and stopped in a bunch of shops viewing their local and handmade crafts. What really caught my eye was the effort each shop put into their displays. When I go to some stores here in Jersey, I can tell the owners just don't care but in Flagstaff, there was clear passion in each shop. One store in particular stopped me in my tracks, Sage Brush Trading Co. had a truck on their wall and vintage pieces displaying their items.

The next day was exploring the canyon. We wanted to hike but because of the limited amount of time we had, we could only take a short hike. We chose "Ohh Ahh Trail" which was said to take 1-2 hours. After just that little bit, it's on my bucket list to hike to the bottom. I can't explain how amazing the Grand Canyon is and no picture can do it justice.

Drew's sister told us to take the Sunset Tour so we hopped on a bus right before the sun started setting and saw some incredible views. We stopped at a few main sections of the canyon then watched the sun set at one point.

On Tuesday we had our flight to San Diego at night so we spent the morning in Sedona. It was about a 40 minute drive to Sedona from Flagstaff and again the landscape changed. We were still driving through trees (although a little more woodsy this time) but then these beautiful mountains were added in making the drive spectacular. I will admit that the population seems pretty low on these drives but I would move there in a heartbeat.

Sedona had a very quaint town, a little quiet because of the time we went but cute shops and gorgeous scenery make it a very pleasant experience. We looked up activities in Sedona before going and saw it was a pretty active town with many hiking trails. We decided to do one of the easier trails, "Devil's Bridge". We weren't prepared for the 3/4 mile walk just to get to the trail (because our rental mustang couldn't get to the start of the trail) so it took much longer than expected. But the view was amazing.

Right now, my heart is still in Arizona. My mind is slowly coming back to New Jersey.

 

 

Photos from the Farm

I mentioned in my previous post about getting a new camera and taking quite a few pictures of the farm. I finally sorted through them and picked my favorites to share! All photos were taken with my Nikon D3300.

I love this camera so much. It's my first SLR and it took some time to choose the one I thought worked best for what I needed. The other basic SLR's were very movie\video focused and that isn't what I'm interested in. This is such a great camera for the closeup shots I love to take and I already want to get another lense for it.  I can't wait to take my new camera on my upcoming trip! But I do have to make a case for it...just another project to add to the list.

A Long Weekend Home-Photos From the Farm

As I mentioned in my last post, I was home these past four days. I stayed Monday and Tuesday because today my mom and I went to the New York Gift Show. I'll be sure to post more about that later (lots of fantastic things coming out on the market!). One of the reasons (besides working) I went home this weekend was to help my mom with pictures of the farm. We are trying to incorporate a lot more images in the farm newsletter and on the website so this was a good opportunity to take them. Here are some of my favorites from the weekend.

There are many more pictures that I took but they are specifically for the farm. Some field shots, etc, just photos that aren't as fun to share. I love photographing the farm because of all the different subjects you can focus on. My dad was cutting hay so that made for some fun shots and the garden is a great place to get some close ups.

As much as I've been enjoying city living, going back to the farm is a nice change, even if only for a few days.

**If you want to learn more about my parent's farm, check out: www.minimacfarm.com**

 

A new challenge & June Update

Now that the challenge is over, I wanted another goal to achieve. I've been thinking about this "challenge" for over a year now, and decided it's a good time do it! It's called Project 365 and what it really is, is taking a picture of your life everyday for a year. With moving to Hoboken, getting a new job, and really focusing on my sewing, life has been changing and I've been documenting with my iPhone but want a more concrete way to show my year.

Yesterday I downloaded an app called "Collect". It's free and is basically a calendar that lets you put in a photo per day. It's a great way to organize and you can upload to all types of social media. Since blogging just a photo a day seems tedious, I've decided to post every Monday with photos from the past week. (I know, today is Tuesday). This schedule will still allow me to post about regular sewing projects without posting overload!

I will be posting my daily photos to twitter, you can follow me @trish_mcl

For now, I have a couple pictures I want to share from the past few days:

The handmade earrings I bought on vacation in Anguilla perfectly match my Mata Traders fair trade top. I've talked about this company before, after seeing them at the New York International Gift Fair, and love them so much. Fair trade fashion at its best (and most affordable!)

I worked on the farm over the weekend and had to wash 4 baskets of eggs. It's a super simple job but very time consuming.

Picking snap peas is the best way to get a tan.

Carnival in the town next to my hometown. It gets boring the older you get, until you are finally old enough for the beer tent. I still got carded.

 

The last picture I want to share is my updated "June List".

Clearly some thing's I accomplished, others, not at all.

I finished most of the bags I started.

Designed and made the bowling bag.

Did sew a few more aprons but didn't work on pictures or packaging.

Made two items of clothing: Shorts and Skirt.

Blogged "everyday" in june (missed a few).

Posted bags on etsy, ALMOST every week.

Tweeted a lot.

GOT A NEW JOB AT ANTHROPOLOGIE.

Posted and commented on Kollabora.

Did a little more organizing in the apartment, did not finish.

Started my half marathon training.

Did not make the inspiration board and did not stop biting my nails but did start drinking more water!

Day 9: Crafting for men & 9/11 Memorial

This is one day I was not necessarily looking forward to. Today's topic is to talk about who your favorite crafter is or craft something for a man. Like some of the other challenge participants, I don't really have a crafter I look up to. But I'm also not in the mood to craft so I'm going to share some past things I've made for Drew.

I've showed the iPad pillow before...

But I've never shared the bow ties I made him last Christmas. I've been trying to get him to wear bow ties for the past year. He is tall and skinny, the perfect body type to pull a bow tie off. Now this was my first attempt at sewing these, so I knew he would never wear them but I hoped it would encourage him to buy some. It hasn't yet.

 

I also wanted to blog about what Drew and I did today! We went to the 9/11 Memorial in New York. We can see the new Freedom Tower from our apartment, but it is just so beautiful close up.

Then we walked around looking for my Grandma's Brother's name. He was in the north tower when the plane hit.

If you ever have the opportunity to go to the memorial, go. It is so beautiful.

Beer and Blogging: Photos from the week.

I've been trying to take more photos...of just about everything. Here are a couple on my phone.

On the way home from LBI Sunday night, we saw the Empire State Building lit up for Memorial Day, bad picture, but the best I could do driving in the car.

I made Drew go on a run with me Monday morning. I have to start training for my next race!

This was the dress I was too embarrassed to post the other week. I hate how much the bottom looks like an apron. I'm working on turning it into just a top but need a longer zipper so I can actually get into it.

I had a fat quarter of this fabric from Monaluna and thought some mini bags and a mini-mini would look cute out of it. I'll be photographing these tomorrow for etsy.

I want to start working on goals to work towards so I made a Month of June List. I'll probably be updating this throughout the month.

And this is where I am now.