food + finance = fun

I don't know about you but I always seem to have a pile of stuff set aside to let my friends go through, send to my nieces or give to the Goodwill. Sometimes I change my mind (tsk tsk) and so my procrastination pays off! 

Fast Forward....A good friend of mine gave me the cutest apron. 

So cute, it actually hangs on display in my kitchen and rarely gets worn. Silly I know, but I just love the way it looks. When I think about gifts for other people I try and think about the things I have that I really love and imagine if said recipient might want something I find useful or awesome too. Well.... who doesn't need an apron? 

(I tend to wipe my hands on my pants or whatever I'm wearing, terrible habit, so I know I need one, and apparently so did my friend.)

The other day I was having a hard time cutting some of my favorite fabric in hopes of turning it into an apron.

 (this is common... and stupid I know)

When I spied the Goodwill pile I took a closer look. It turns out an old dress shirt was already scalloped on the bottom, with cute buttons down the front and so the idea hatched. 

Cutting the shirt apart was by far the hardest part. I didn't want to have to go back and sew what I had already undone. 

 (because I don't have a sewing machine which means all sewing would have to be done by hand with a needle and thread)

Here's where being a little smarter would come in handy... I probably pondered and imagined each and every way to make this work with the least amount of work. 

Some people have said I'm so simple I'm difficult. 

It's true. 

I even tried using the sleeves as the part that you tie around your waist. But you know what that looks like? and old shirt tied around your waist :) lol

Terrible. 

Well after a lot of agonizing, and screwing up one shirt that wasn't particularly cute (white), I cut the beloved purple shirt. 

I used the collar from the white one and sewed it and the ribbon by hand and voila! 

Reincarnation? 

I think a mens shirt wouldn't mind living it's next life tied around a little ladies waist... especially when it's helping to make some food :) 

Swim Cap Dress

So my official start date for this project is June 1, but I was thinking about it back in May when I made this dress... Thought i'd share anyway

I like to make things from nothing. Well not, "nothing", but you know what I mean... As I was working at the TriRock triathlon in San Diego last fall I saw a box of "extra" swim caps. They looked so colorful and exciting as they sat under the box beneath my table. I wondered what happened to those extra swim caps, and so I inquired. They were in case people forgot theirs, or had the wrong color, one broke, etc. After the triathlon was over and everyone successfully finished and the swim caps weren't needed anymore - I asked if I could have some of them. My co-workers have learned better than to ask why, they just figure I'm crazy and it's better to just smile and nod. Taking the box of swim caps home that night I immediately sat down and started planning. In my "craft"/junk drawer I found some ribbon. Leftover from a present presumably, it was neon green. Perfect. I started laying out the swim caps to figure out how they could fit together and a few hours later... i had a skirt! I ran into the other room to hold up as I looked in the mirror, and was disappointed. It didn't look right. It needed more oomph. A few days later I headed into AMVETS and bought a poofy underlayer for a wedding dress. Cutting it up and making a tutu out of it would surely make it pop... nope. now you could only see the tutu and the swim caps were lost in the ruffles. I eventually settled on a very simple skirt, not gathered, no tutu. I packed it up and headed to TriRock Annapolis where it would have it's debut. I wore a TYR swimsuit underneath (official sponsor of the race), and running tights (it was cold and rainy) and my signature crazy socks. Luckily I had found this awesome old school bathing cap that really made the outfit come together.

To everyone else, it was a hit. But it wasn't what I had originally envisioned... A few days after the race I ran into the CEO of our company. Someone asked him what he thought of the swim cap outfit... he looked at me and gave me his honest opinion... he thought it was going to be "more". He was disappointed, and so was I. I went home that night determined to turn that frown upside down. 

It's a little heavy, and smells a lot like rubber, but it finally became the swim cap dress I had wanted...

The smell of latex and the disbelief in everyones eyes... proof that "disappointment" was dead. 

Mental Shift

I was unpacking from a trip about a month ago, when I realized that almost every hanger in my closet was already doubled up. Looking at the baskets on the shelves, they too were at capacity.

 Thinking back, it dawned on me that I had recently purged quite a few items, sending a box to my nieces, and a big bag to the Goodwill... and I'm not even a big shopper, in fact I think most people wouldn't call me a "shopper" at all. It seemed however, I had accumulated more than my closet could hold. Upon unpacking my 4 oz liquids from the clear plastic bag, it was overflowingly clear that the basket under my sink was also busting at the seams with half used bottles of lotion, hairspray and various other toiletries I had accumulated during travels, trips to Target, as presents, etc. Like many people, I hope, after half of a bottle of one kind of lotion, I wanted a new scent. Unfortunately, or fortunately I also hate to be wasteful so I just pushed the old one towards the back, surely I would like it again and use it up... those were my good intentions anyway. 


Well, enough is enough. I recently saw a video of a family who strives for "zero waste". They bring glass jars to the grocery store for meat and cheeses, they even make their own toothpaste! I'm not sure I can go that far just yet, but I definitely need to do something.  Growing up in Iowa I was raised to be resourceful. Not living near a big city, it just wasn't always an option to go out and buy the things we needed or wanted and so we were resourceful. Want a slip and slide?... head out to the garage, find that tarp and turn on the hose! Looking back on those days it makes me glad that we didn't have a lot of money because it forced us to be innovative and resourceful and not so wasteful... something I've lost sight of...


And so it has begun. 365 days of no new purchases. Use up the lotions sitting under the sink, and the grocery items before they go bad. Repurpose the stack of wedding cards, extra swim caps, paper bags, and ribbons I have so diligently "saved" for years. And more importantly, resurrect the creative spirit that comes when you challenge yourself.