Wordless Wednesday

[Book Review]

One For the Money by Janet Evanovich

I had seen the Stephanie Plum series before. Mainly when the newer books came out because of the fancy cover art. (I judge books by their cover, shh!) To be honest I might not have picked up this series if I hadn't enjoyed the recent movie release so much. The movie was great. I've loved Katherine Heigl ever since Grey's Anatomy. I was so sad to see her go! I've still loved the movies she's been in since then though. I think she did a great job in the movie adaptation of One For the Money. As soon as Melissa, Tamara, and I got out of the money we went to Hastings and I bought the book.

I've been reading it off and on since then and finally finished yesterday evening. I really enjoyed the book. Funnily enough I kept reading in a Jersey accent... Janet Evanovich's writing is quite good. She has introduced a character (Stephanie Plum) and you immediately get an idea of who she is. I enjoyed Stephanie as a character because she's not wimpy or whiny (at least not any more than the standard woman, ha) and she's not in-your-face-bad-ass-chick-in-stilettos. Somewhere in between Bella Swan and La Femme Nikita you'll find Stephanie Plum. The lingerie saleswoman turned bounty hunter.

Since she receives 10% of the bond for bringing in a FTA (Failure To Appear) obviously the higher the bond the higher the check. Unfortunately, the higher the bond the more dangerous the suspect is. When she picks her first FTA to apprehend it's because of the $10,000 she'll receive if she's successful. When she finds out the man she has to bring in is a boy from her younger years, (Joseph Morelli) it will make the apprehension even sweeter!

Janet Evanovich takes you through Stephanie's first time in the field as a bounty hunter while adding suspensful moments as you realize this apprehension is growing increasingly problematic. Stephanie gets in much deeper than she planned. The murder surrounding Morelli turns into much more than she bargained for and she finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time under the hand of the wrong person.

I would highly recommend this book to my friends or anyone for that matter! I'm excited to see what happens along the way and what other character are introduced. I don't currently have the second book Two For the Dough. I might get it this weekend but I've been wanting to read this Dean Koontz book I picked up called Velocity. I'll keep you guys updated!

Hope you enjoyed my little tid-bits. Thanks for stopping by!

Manic Monday

Hello all! Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Currently:

Reading: One for the Money by Janet Evanovich

Feeling: Happy because of the chocolate shake I'm having for lunch

Needing to: Update my "goal list for this week"

Listening to: Fix You by Coldplay

Working on: A new crochet headband

Wishing I was: On an extended vacation :)

Weekend Wrap-up:

This weekend turned out pretty darn good! My friend Shari asked to pick up a book for her at Hastings so of course I did! However, I had a big question mark on my face when I saw the cover wondering what on earth she was going to be reading!! But after looking into a bit I might have to borrow it once she's done!

 I got to go see The Vow with Marta and a couple of her friends. (Not my kind of movie, good thing I'm not rating it!) I also got to go see my dad in C-town! It had been entirely too long since I had a chance to go down there. We ate at this new Mexican resturant and it was really good! Although it was really difficult to not eat any chips and salsa! Sunday I was able to go through all my clothes and my little one's clothes. I bagged up all the clothes she and I can't fit into anymore. I also separated out the clothes I'm going to use for both of our "t-shirt quilts". I got one of my new bookcases put together which was nice. I still have some more cleaning to do but it's coming along nicely.

Coming up: (I hope)

I'm pretty close to being finished with One for the Money. I think I'd like to do a little "book review" on here when I get done with a piece of literature. So hopefully I can finish this evening and give my review tomorrow!

Thanks all!

Convertible Cowl Scarf [Pattern Included]

Hey Everyone! I can't believe it's already Thursday! Well, as you could see I wasn't able to get pictures up Tuesday. Things became a little crazy at work! Thankfully it's almost the weekend so I'll have lots of time to come up with my next project.

I started this a while ago, well before I decided to redo this blog so I don't have any step by step pictures. However, the stitches I've used are pretty basic but you can find instructions for almost any stitch on you tube! Also, this is my first pattern so please forgive me if something is a little off. Please email me capturetheimages{AT}gmail{DOT}com if you have any questions or comments!

Convertible Cowl Scarf Pattern

Hook Size: N

Yarn: Bulky (I used Lion Brand Wool Ease)

Amount: I ended up using 2 skeins of the yellow, 3 of the gray (the 3rd skein was only for the last three rounds and didn't use much)

Working in rounds (Do Not Turn)
Chain 70; sl st in first chain to join
Rnd 1: ch1; sc in same st and in each ch around; sl st in 1st sc; ch3
Rnd 2: dc in each sc around; sl st in top of ch3; ch2

Rnd 3: hdc in each dc around; sl st in top of ch2; ch3
Rnd 4: dc in each hdc around; sl st in top of ch3; ch3
Rnd 5: dc in each dc around; sl st in top of ch3; ch3
Rnd 6: dc in each dc around; sl st in top of ch3; ch2
Rnd 7: hdc in each dc around; sl st in top of ch2; ch3
Rnd 8: dc in each hdc around; sl st in top of ch3; ch3
Rnd 9: dc in each dc around; sl st in top of ch3; ch1

Rnd 10: sc in each dc around; sl st in top of ch1; ch3

Rnd 11-19: [Repeat Rnd 2-10]

Rnd 20-28: [Repeat Rnd 2-10]

Fasten Off

* I switched back and forth from Gray to Yellow every 4th row (not including the chain) but you would do as you please of course*

Let me know if you have any questions and I'd love to see your versions/variations!

Thanks for stopping by!



Wordless Wednesday

Mardi Gras

Happy Mardi Gras!

To anyone celebrating today/tonight have fun and be safe!

The Wednesday after Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) is known to many people as Ash Wednesday. It also marks the beginning of Lent in many religions/cultures. My dad grew up a traditional Italian Catholic New Yorker. (contrary to popular belief, No, we do not live in Arkansas because he is in witness protection :) ) Every year on Lent I would always give up something with him, be it chocolate, soda, or fries. I've continued on each year giving up a little something even since moving out of the house. The last few years my friend Tamara has been gracious enough to tag-a-long with me and give up something as well. Last year we gave up fried foods which wasn't too bad until we went to the baseball game and couldn't have funnel cake... sad day.

This year we are going all out! On our list this year is:

*No deep fried foods

*No caffeine

*Must use stairs when applicable

*No parking in the first 10 spots of parking lots

It's going to be a toughy! I usually can't go a day without a diet coke (or 4) . But it's a good sacrifice. Tam and I thought we should have a constant reminder of what we're giving up so I doodled a little something and took a picture with my camera phone to set as our background. Of course I couldn't leave it normal, I had to add a little effect to it to make it pretty. :)

Not too shabby if I do say so myself :)

I'm getting seriously close to finished on my cowl scarf. I might post the pictures today if I get a chance. If not I'll make sure I get it up Thursday with the pattern.

Thanks for stopping by!

Manic Monday

Hello dear blogging world! My name is Amber and I'm making a fresh new start! I've followed so many blogs for quite some time now and have been inspired to do so many things because of these brilliant crafters. So I'm starting here, creating my own place for different crafts I've made or things I'm trying out. It will definitely not be all rainbows and butterflies. I have my fair share (and other peoples fair share) of creative block and some "Craft-tastic Failing" that I can't wait to share as well.

A few things you should know... I do not discriminate against a method of crafting and love to try new things! I was big into scrapbooking for a long time as I worked in a scrapbook store for quite a while. Photography is a big passion of mine. I don't really have a fancy camera (yet) and most of my pictures are taken with my phone since it's always with me. But photos just have a way of getting to me. When I look at things, the first thought that usually runs through my mind is "What a great picture this would make". I also enjoy sewing and my newest skill crocheting. I've been having a lot of fun with this recently.

So without further ado... let's get started!

Currently...

Reading: One for the Money by Janet Evanovich

Feeling: Excited about starting this blog

Needing to: Remember to go to Walmart after work

Listening to: For What It's Worth by Buffalo Springfield

Working on: A crochet convertible scarf

Wishing I Was: At home working on my scarf

Weekend Wrap-Up

This weekend was great! Saturday I got to spend most of the day with my best friend Tamara. We went to a couple antique malls around town. I was able to find a key ingredient to a project I've been wanting to make since I saw it on Pinterest.

My little girl LOVES to draw and color and as you're probably find out along the way, if I'm making something it is probably for her or about her :) And I'm perfectly okay with this! The best part about finding the cabinet door?? It was only $5! Big thanks to Tamara for seeing it!

After that we went to Hastings for a white chocolate mocha and to charge our cell phones. Good coffee and good conversation were had! After that we went to see The Woman in Black starring Harry Pott.... I mean Daniel Radcliffe.Very good movie! However the teenagers that continued to laugh, after screaming worse than my three year old, did get annoying.

Sunday I put together some "Goal Boards"

These were so easy to put together and I really think they're going to be great tools for me to keep track of everything! The fact that they're bright and colorful helps too!! I actually sat down and came up with plans of action for cleaning/organizing/crafting and so much more. I felt very accomplished and it was only 2pm!

So as a reward I went to my friend Shari's! Her husband made us some Sangria with some wine he got for his birthday from Marta's parents in Spain. Marta is the foreign exchange student Shari and Kelly are hosting for the school year. The Sangria was lovely! Marta also wanted me to help her start scrapbooking her trip to Amercia. So after dinner we went and printed off pictures and got her a little box to store and organize them. I explained a little about scrapbooking and told her I would bring her a good book I had next time I stopped by (which would be soon since I'm over there a lot).

Needless to say this weekend was a major success!

Well, I think this is about it for today! Thanks for stopping by and I hope you stick around to see what's next!