Since I am going to have a little extra free time this summer I plan on doing some sewing. So today I ordered some fabric for some projects I want to do.

With this fabric I am planning on making a tunic top that ties in the back w/some contrasting fabric (that I have yet to buy) for banding on the sleeves, waist, and other edges.

I love this black and white print and think it looks perfect for a retro dress. Anyone have an opinion on whether or not I should make a black sash for around the waist? (I know you can’t see the dress, but imagine with me :)

I ordered just a little bit of this fabric to make a purse out of. It is a fairly neutral fabric, but still summery and fun. Maybe instead of a purse I will make a small beach tote… Hmm, what do you think?

I love this bright red fabric (go figure, me like red :). I thought of making a whole dress out of this fabric, but thought it might stand out a little too much for my taste. So instead I am planning on making a purse with this. It will go great with my cherry ballet flat shoes. :)

If the fabric arrives in time, I will probably do a little bit of sewing when my mom visits.

So I know that not everyone has a ton of free time this summer, but I am sure some of my friends and family have some plans for their free time. What do you plan on doing this summer? Anyone going on a cool trip? Or just staying home and sitting out in the sun? I know I am not always great at emailing and stuff, but I would love to hear what everyone has planned for their summer!

Wow it is definitely summer here! Yesterday was in the high 90’s and today is pretty warm again. Central a/c is definitely a good thing! Although I do enjoy getting out in the heat a little and riding in the car with the windows all down. In fact, if we had something that resembled a yard I would probably sit outside reading a little. Unfortunately all we have is a little patio that looks nice from inside, but actually sitting out there… (well there are bugs to be considered people!).

My birthday is fast approaching! Last night Ben ordered my birthday present (he told me about it because he needed to know which size I wanted). I seriously have the best husband in the world! He is getting me the L.A.M.B. victory sweatshirt that I have been wanting for months. I didn’t expect to actually get it for my birthday! So I am super excited now & amazed by my very cool husband. To top it off, I also get to choose a treatment from the spa in town for my b-day. Pretty cool! Did I mention that I have an amazing husband? Cuz I do!

So today is my second day work free! I think Pounce and Axel may be enjoying me not working even more than I do (and that is quite a lot). I went with Ben to get him some lunch a little bit ago, and I had already been out once this morning before that. On my way out the door Pounce gave me a look like “Hey I thought you were supposed to be home with us all day! Traitor!” Okay so maybe I imagined that was how he was looking at me… Anyways I haven’t been imagining that every time I walk in the same room and pet him or Axel they start purring up a storm. So yeah I think they are enjoying seeing me a little more:)

It is encouraging to know that I have people reading my blog. It makes writing even more worth it, although I probably would write either way. It is kind of refreshing to get my thoughts out, and writing blog entries is a great way to do that.

Today I got to see kittens being born. Nobody actually knew that the cat was pregnant until she started having her kittens… Still it was amazing to see the miracle of life against the backdrop of everything else that clutters the day.

Last night I made a purse (okay random jump from kittens being born to sewing I know). It was pretty fun and only took me a few hours. Here it is…

The outside fabric is a pretty fun brown/ tan/ bright green pattern and the inside lining is a bright green. I put a pocket in the inside and also a magnetic clasp. I have some leftover fabric, so I think I may sew a little pouch or something to keep stuff organized more inside the purse. I am pretty happy with how it turned out, but still plan on trying a couple things different next time (of course that is half of what sewing is about, learning and trying new stuff).

I wrote about us getting an ottoman for in front of our couch (and even promised pics), but never showed what it looked like. So here it is, complete with Pounce and Axel hanging out around it.

Of course, this blog entry would not be complete without some adorable pictures of Pounce and Axel.

They were standing on the counter watching me microwave my lunch and I couldn’t resist snapping a picture:)

Yes, Pounce is drinking out of the milk glass (and no Ben did not drink his milk after Pounce got ahold of it.) If you click on the picture to look at it closer, you can see Pounce’s little tongue licking his lips. Adorable if I might say so myself!

Oh, Axel learned how to open our cupboards! So we had to invest in some child-proof locks for the cupboards (in our case, they should be called kitten-proof). Of course, first we had to get a picture of cute little Axel poking his head out and then joining the rest of us in the kitchen!

That’s all! (Ben wants me to put “and then I found five dollars” because he thinks it is a good way to end my blog entry, but the thing is I didn’t!)

Sorry if the formatting of this entry shows up a little weird… I couldn’t quite get it to work & I am getting tired. :)

Just two more days of work left! I can’t wait, but at the same time I will miss all the animals… Still it is going to be great to spend more time with my own two kittys. That and I will finally have some free time to sew and maybe work on other stuff I have been wanting to do. I am going to try to have a goal of still getting up at a decent hour so that way I actually do get stuff done. I think having had to get up early every day will probably help as long as I can keep myself in that habit.

This morning I was going to sleep in, but unfortunately my work pager went off. (Maybe I really am destined to continue on this waking up early thing.) One of the girl’s who fosters through the shelter had not so great news and so I had to go into work a little before 8am. It was actually the first time since I had the pager that I was paged, still I will not really miss carrying that thing around.

While all that wasn’t too fun, Ben did go with me to work and on the way home we got doughnuts (or do you spell it donuts?). Tonight we are going to eat Italian food. Can you tell I don’t pay too much attention to my allergies anymore? Oh well, I think that they are definitely way less severe than they use to be, which is good.

Just ten more days till my birthday!! I am pretty excited, even though I am getting old;) (That was just for my dad who doesn’t think old is until you are 75, oh and apparently the medical term for over 85 is old old, who would have thought.) Anyways… My mom is going to visit me for my birthday which is pretty cool.

Wow, I didn’t think I actually had that much to say! I guess I had more to say than I thought… Although most of it is just random stuff, but that is usually the way it goes. Now I am going to go enjoy the rest of my evening! :)

I am so excited! When you google chara michele, my website is the very first result. Go ahead and try it, go to www.google.com and type in chara michele. How very cool is that! Okay, well maybe I am a little silly for getting excited about that, but I still think it is kinda cool.

Other exciting things… ordering subscriptions for real simple and better homes & gardens. I finally decided to subscribe to my own copies of these magazines. Now my mom doesn’t have to save her better homes & gardens magazines for me to look at (although I don’t mind if you saved them from the last time I saw you, since mine won’t be here for a little while…)

Tomorrow, we get our ottoman that we ordered for our living room. It is bright red to go along with the pillows & everything. I think red just might be my favorite color to decorate with…

The weekend is almost over…. oh well!

I was going to write a blog entry yesterday, but blogger was down for maintenance. Let’s see if I can remember everything I was going to say….

Pounce’s birthday was yesterday, and he is now 1 year old! To celebrate his birthday, Ben stopped at the grocery store on his way home to pick up some Fancy Feast chunky chicken in gravy. Pounce and Axel each got their own little dish of it and they absolutely loved it. It was their first time eating wet cat food, and the next time will probably be two months from now when Axel turns one. It will remain a special treat in this household, since it isn’t exactly healthy or all that cheap if you have to feed it for each and every meal.

Pounce is definitely getting over his kitten stage, which is kind of sad in some ways but cool in others. Now when Axel is all silly and kittenish, Pounce will just kind of watch like he is too old to join in. He still has his moments, when him and Axel will tear through the apartment like crazy little kittens, but it isn’t quite as often as it use to be. Still it is nice to be able to cuddle him more and just have him chill and be relaxed. Axel is still definitely a kitten in many ways and we still have to watch him to make sure he doesn’t get into too much trouble. It is fun though and neat to watch all the stages they go through.

I ordered some sewing patterns of hotpatterns.com a little while ago, and received them in the mail yesterday. I am pretty excited about getting to sew them, the patterns they have are a little more trendy than a lot of the bigger pattern companies which is nice. I got four patterns total (sailor pants, cropped pants, tunic top, and hippy dress).

On the topic of sewing, and having time to sew. I quit my job. Shocking I know! Actually I gave my two weeks notice, so I am not quite done with work, but will be soon. I will miss working with all the animals, but I am planning on volunteering and going in occasionally to get my animal fix:) I just felt like I needed some time to get stuff done. I still have some to finish up on my classes in order to get my diploma, I would like some time to do some stuff for myself (like sewing), and I think Pounce and Axel will enjoy having me home.

School in the fall…. I think I am probably going to try it, but still not 100% certain. It does seem like a lot of work and time, but I also think I would like to learn more about animals. So we will see, I guess I probably should decide one way or another pretty soon but life has been so busy lately it seems easier to put it off:)

Well I think that was about everything I was going to write last night (and maybe a little more). Dinner is going to be ready soon, Ben is making homemade pizza. Yummy! Earlier he was tossing the dough and I couldn’t watch, for fear that he would drop it. Of course he didn’t, and I get to enjoy the work he put into it pretty soon. I hope everyone else has a wonderful night & weekend!

Pounce is almost one year old! His birthday is this thursday (june 8th). It seems like just yesterday we met him and I wanted to take him home! I never thought I would actually get to keep him. Thanks Sari for making it possible for us to take him, and Ben for saying yes we could have him. In celebration of Pounce’s soon to be birthday, here are some recent pics of him & his little brother, Axel.