Jenn's Spot

Check this out! Keep in mind THIS IS NOT MY PHOTO...but rather one I ran across on this little thing we call the world wide web.


There is a whole set of these pictures which you can view on Flickrhere. (There's also a short description of how the photos were made and a link to more in depth "directions".)

I bet shooting these is a blast...messy...but let's be honest, a lot of really fun things have a messy side to them. Enjoy the view!


peace

I have a confession. I'm obsessed with making hand-warmers. Fingerless mitts. Whatever you call them, I just can't seem to get enough of them!

Actually this whole knitting adventure started because I wanted a pair and I figured why buy some when I could learn how to make them myself. (I'm sometimes stubborn that way.)

It started with these:


Which lead to these:


After some design changes (additions of thumb gussets and an actual row/stitch plan), I'm currently working on my 7th pair...with yarn in queue for pair number 8. (Certifiable obsession I tell you.) How can you not love em. The knit up quick, are super portable, and so cute on hands of all sizes. What's not to love?

My husband laughs at the fact that so far it seems I knit kinda like I cook. I'll often consult a recipe or two for a basic idea and then venture forward with my own little twists. I have yet to make a pair of hand-warmers using an actual pattern. Even the pair I'm working on now I've take…

No yarn or yoga talk today. Just some love for my (as of Sunday) 8-year-old.


(Who is learning to knit! There we go...I snuck in some yarn reference.)

How quickly they do grow up!


~namaste~

Sometimes the pictures tell it best.









peace

Driving to Pella last night for a night out with friends, I couldn't help but stop and take a snap of the sunset. Just one more reason I love fall here in Iowa.



peace

Grandma Peg and Grandpa Bob were in town this weekend, so Lexi got to celebrate her birthday a little early with them. Lunch out at our favorite birthday restaurant, Casa Margaritas, and the surprises of gifts.

This year's stash:

A new winter coat.


Much needed since she won't stop growing!

And...


an "empthree" player! (AKA an iPod shuffle, but I couldn't resist sharing how she spelled it on the wish list she gave me earlier in the month.)


I helped Grandma and Grandpa out by charging it and putting a few of her favorite tune on it before she unwrapped it so when she took it out of the box today she could plug and play right away.


Big hugs of thanks Grandma Peg and Grandpa Bob!


peace

So many years together (17 years and counting) and this smile can still make my heart skip a beat.


peace

This past week was Homecoming week here in Grinnell. Thursday evening the town gathered to celebrate with the annual Homecoming parade and pep rally downtown.


The girls are quite proud to be tigers. (In fact, after Thursday Brea has decided that for Halloween, she wants to be a tiger...grrrowl.)




This year Lexi got to enjoy the parade as a participant...twice! (This is one of the parts of the parade that I love. You see kids going through, maybe with the band, or with a team, and then at the end of the route they dash to the start to go through again another time with their other involvements. That to me is SO COOL.) Lexi's first trip through the route was on her elementary school float...



And then we ran through the park to hook her up with her new 4-H group. This will be her first year as a 4-H Clover Bud, and we are all so excited to be involved with such a fun group with so many familiar faces!





peace

I can't remember where the girls got these bug glasses...but they crack me up! I just had to share the cuteness!






peace

Tiny Circus entered an animation in a competition through Aniboom earlier this month. The competition, titled The People Speak, was sponsored by The History Channel and utilized historical words, spoken and sung, that have helped shape our nation. (You can read more about the competition here.)

The exciting news of the day...the animation submitted by Tiny Circus is one of 5 finalists who will have the next 7 weeks to polish things up to compete for $25,000 in prize money and a spot on The History Channel!

I can't tell you how exciting this is having had a small part in the creation of this particular animation (I finally have full feeling back in the tip of my right pointer finger after HOURS of exacto knifing out little paper people) AND having watched the Tiny Circus project grow and mature over the past 18 months. (Not to mention so many of the people involved are like family to me.)

Take a peek at the Tiny Circus submission...



Watch more cool animation and creative cartoons at An…

Health is such an interesting multifacited thing.

Is it just a headache, or is it a tumor?

Am I just tired, or have I become anemic?

Do I simply have indigestion or is it that pesky ulcer?

Admit it, your laughing because as silly as reading those worries may sound in your head, at some point and time we've all had a similar question run though our mind. It's ok...I think it's normal...I don't think I've ever met someone who hasn't "self diagnosed" themselves with some catastrophic illness/condition. (Including my physician friends.)

For the most part my family (immediate and extended) has been blessed with great health. Just like any other family, we have had our run ins with heart disease and cancer. Diabetes and obesity. But we've also been blessed with long living ancestors whose minds have stayed sharp even as their bodies have started to slow. My Great Grandma (who is in her mid-nineties mind you) recently agreed to at least move to a cottage in a…

Our fall weather has been BEAUTIFUL. I love fall. It's about this time of year my creative juices (after having hibernated during the hot of the summer) start flowing again. Already I've been browsing my favorite knitting sites in preparation for winter creating. I also have fabric flowers that need to be made just as soon as we have a less than favorable weather day.

Today after running over the lawn/leaves with the mower, I treated myself to some bonding time with Remy...my camera. My friend Jenny lent me her Lens Baby for the week...so of course I had to go test it out. And since I was going out with a "play" lens, I grabbed my fish-eye lens too.


Lexi was both intrigued, and a little embarrassed, that I was laying under our laundry taking pictures. (Probably because we're still using the neighbor's clothesline since we haven't replaced ours yet.)


I love shooting trees with the fish-eye. I love how the curve of the lens welcomes the WHOLE tree into the sho…

The Barbies (and any other Barbie like dolls) have been getting a lot of play time in our house lately.Maybe on occasion, a little too much play.


(Though, the Polly Pockets probably still get the most face time. It still perplexes me at times how I ended up with two GIRLS.)

Don't worry, no Barbies were harmed in the preparation of this blog.

(Unfortunately)

Bride Barbie's head has been re-attached...though the fix resulted in a shorter (more realistic) neck.

Tonight when I walked in to the living room after making dinner, I was greeted by this:



According to Brea, they're waiting for the start of the dance show...followed by a movie. You know...at the theater.

(Crap. The Barbies have a more exciting social life than I do. Nice.)


peace

Last winter as I would knit away on whatever project was keeping me occupied, Lexi would sit and watch. Which would always lead her asking "When can I learn how to knit?"

After stalling her through the winter (because as a newbie myself I wasn't quite sure I was ready to teach a 7 year old), and then through the summer (because I just don't enjoy knitting as much with sweaty palms), I finally decided it was time to make time this past weekend to get her started. We ventured to the store for her very own bamboo needles and a skein of inexpensive yarn (in blue, apparently her new favorite color) and came home to cast on.

I'm very proud of how well she is doing. Despite the fact we have now cast on (and un-knit) her practice piece twice, her stitches are quite even. She simply has a bit of a problem increasing the number of loops on the needle when she turns at the end of a row. A common mistake for any beginner, regardless of age. But otherwise she's got the basi…

We've had a busy Labor Day weekend around the Mavin house. Yesterday we headed outside to get caught up on some yard work. My focus, I decided to fit the whole summer's worth of weeding into one day. I figure better to get some of it out of the way now rather than leave it all for fall clean up come early November. I really do need to be more diligent next year!

As I was weeding I ran across a pair of garter snakes. The one corner of the house seems to be good shelter for them and is the most common place I find them when working in the garden. Over the past 6 summers I've learned to watch for them as I work, as not to be startled, and we coexist rather peacefully. In fact a few years ago we had affectionately named one "Lucy" (because you know, naming things makes them more like pets and less like creepy crawlies that spook the girls) and enjoyed keeping watch for her until that one fateful day when she decided to wrestle with the mower. Well, you know how that e…