I'm in love

After 13-1/2 years, I have new car. A NEW new car, first one ever, and only the third car I've ever owned. It's a Nissan Juke and It. Is. Awesome. Don't get me wrong, I loved my 1996 Civic.



I got it in 1997 with less than 8000 miles on it - practically new. It held up like a champ and has maybe two tiny tiny spots of rust.



The only thing really wrong with it is the radio. It's kinda busted. It works, but you better not want to adjust the volume because it's a crap shoot on whether it will go up or down – regardless of which way you turn the knob. And the left speakers are touch and go.

Actual miles! I don't get out much.

But you who doesn't care? My dad. He bought my old Civic and is as happy as a clam. Win - win!

I looked at a 2011 Scion TC, a 2011 Honda CRZ, a 2007 Mini Cooper and the 2011 Juke. I sort of shocked myself by not falling in love with the Mini. It's the car I've wanted since the first time I saw one, about 7 years ago. But until there's a dealer closer than 100 miles away, I'm going to wait.



I was getting ready to make a decision on a car when I saw the Juke commercial for the first time. You know the one with the guy that has to pick up the donuts. I tried to decide if I thought it was really cool... or really ugly. I immediately went online to check it out. The next day, I asked a friend that works at Nissan if she had seen one in real life. After her praise of the vehicle, I decided to add it to my test drive list.



A week or so later, the local dealer had one! So Dwight and I went by that night after work and I gave it a spin. I really liked it, so my decision was down to the Mini and the Juke. I thought long and hard about it and... well, you know the conclusion. I picked one from the list of Jukes the dealer had allocated, gave them a deposit... and waited.

Super high-tech dash. A far cry from the Civic. And, hey! The radio works–WOO!

By most standards, it was a short wait – about 3 weeks – but for me, it felt like an eternity. It was worth the wait, though. I LOVE it.



Can't you tell?

Guest Post at Culinary Covers

It's been almost a week, but I'm finally getting around to letting you know that I've written a guest post over at Culinary Covers. Run by Lori Lange (otherwise known as RecipeGirl), Culinary Covers is "a blog about investigating the cover recipes of cookbooks and magazines." When Lori put out a request on Twitter for people interested in guest writing, I jumped at the chance.

You might remember that I received David Lebovitz's latest cookbook Ready for Dessert My Best Recipes back in April, when it was first released. I poured over it the day it arrived, oohing and aahing over many of the recipes. As soon as Lori posted her request, I knew which recipe I wanted to make — the cover of Ready for Dessert.

Here it is — My reproduction of the cover shot

I've written about the cake over at Culinary Covers, but wanted to share some of the in progress photos along with images of the finished cake — since the cover image is only partially frosted!

Enjoy...













And here are some set up shots:

Shrug Pattern Roundup

Remember this?



Well, Annette over at Craft Stew compiled a comprehensive and fun list of all kinds of free DIY shrug patterns, and she included mine! You can check out my How To: Make a Shrug from a T-shirt here.

Head over the Craft Stew for ideas and inspiration, including a few "no-sew" tutorials. Thanks, Annette!

Halloween 2010

For whatever reason, my hometown decided to have trick-or-treating on Saturday the 30th instead of on Halloween. Turns out it was a great idea. The weather on Saturday was as good as you can hope to expect in the final days of October in northern Indiana and while Sunday's weather was decent, nothing beats having a relatively mild and clear evening for the kids (and adults) to have some fun.

We get our fair share of trick-or-treaters, and my sister and her husband take their kids around our neighborhood and have since we've lived here. I'm pretty sure this was the first time all of them stayed out until the very end. They had a great time.

M was dressed up as an M & M and C was a witch. 

I decided to do a quick "costume" after seeing the no sew ideas on marthastewart.com. 

Medusa!

I took a chance and stopped by Dollar General on my way home. Sure enough, I found what I needed—rubber snakes and fake hair. I bought two synthetic hair pieces—the quality you would expect for "hair" that cost $2—as the instructions suggested, but I ran out of time to braid and pin the second one to my head. So what you see is my hair, braided, plus a long plait of fake hair wound around the top, with 50¢ snakes scattered throughout.

It was so much fun. I got many compliments. And one girl (she was probably 12-years-old or so) wouldn't even come up to me, she was so freaked out by the snakes. Success!

I hope you all had a fun and safe Halloween and are now basking in the glow of a kickin' sugar high.