Friday, August 31, 2012

happy five, my Majlinda!


It was five years ago today that I began sponsoring Majlinda in Albania with World Vision!


Here you can see the first ever photo I received of her, at age four, along with the most recent, age nine, from just last month. I had sent her family a gift notification, and she is standing with some of the grocery items that they were able to purchase. 





Majlinda, you have been such a blessing to me. I hope and pray that one day soon, we will be able to meet! I will give you the biggest hug, and I will probably cry, but it will be one of the best days of my life, I just know it. 



Thursday, August 30, 2012

oh Krakow, you have my heart


Ten years ago yesterday I flew to Krakow, Poland, where I stayed for the next (almost) two years, where I was in grad school. I just came across this gem, the first email I sent, after I arrived, August 2002- 



-----Original Message-----
From: lexilooo
Sent: Thursday, August 29, 2002 4:01 PM
Subject: 
Hello everyone~~
So here I am in Krakow. I wanted to say hello and give you my address as 
well! I can't quite believe that I am really here, I think I never thought 
the day would actually come! The flight was uneventful. I actually met a 
girl at Logan Airport who was coming here as well. Random, yes, I know, but 
random is my middle name! The in-flight meal on the way to Zurich was 
chicken with some sauce, but I felt like a grown-up when they served me 
wine! We had a long layover in Zurich, waiting for nearly six hours. Finally 
the connection to Krakow was made, and we got here about 3pm. That in-flight 
meal was some kind of stroganof, which was interesting. We were picked up at 
the airport along with four other girls who had arrived from Chicago. They 
are all nice. Jessica, the girl who flew with me, lost her luggage, so that 
wasn't such a nice thing to have happen. Hopefully they will find it soon. 
They brought us to the dorm, which is hardly East Hall! It should do though, 
for now, I suppose! My roommates name is April, she seems very nice. There 
may just be internet connections in the room...we are trying to figure it 
out. You know how happy that would make me! Haha. After that, we went on a 
tour and saw some places, like Cloth Market Hall and many churches. It's so 
pretty. I'd been here before, of course, but maybe I forgot how magical it 
is. We went to dinner, and I had keilbasa! It was marvelous. Then we went 
and sat outside at this outdoor restaurant, and listened to some live music. 
The atmosphere was excellent, lots of people around. Everything seems to be 
going well so far. We have our own bathroom in our suite. There are two 
other girls, one from Philadelphia and one from Australia. The four of us 
share a bathroom. We have a window that overlooks the road, and I have the 
bed next to the window, with a windowsill for my picture frames! Yay. 
Classes begin next week. Well, the Polish classes anyway. The other main MA 
classes don't begin until October. The people seem very nice. As it turns 
out, I do have a phone number, but I don't know what it is. I will have to 
send it out at a later date, but I will give you my address now. There will 
be more updates to come...I'm sure you all remember the emails from 
Luxembourg! I miss you all, and let me know what you are up to.
Love, Lexilooo
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
two years of great fun, great friends, great vodka.
oh, and a Master's degree too. 
adventures of a lifetime, they most certainly were.
Krakow, I'll love you for always. 

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

a marvellous weekend indeed

I was home in NH this weekend, mainly for a Doobie Brothers and Chicago concert, which was tremendously good. I've loved Chicago since middle school! Yes, I was born in the wrong decade ;)

I spent time with family and saw my godson Jackson, which was wonderful.

FYI ;)



NH corn!




A butterfly bush! There were monarchs everywhere! I really want one for my yard!








We had club level seats at the concert, with table service!




Doobie Brothers!




Chicago!!!!!!!!!!!!













At the end, both bands played several of their songs together, including 25 or 6 to 4, one of my all-time favorites.








My daddy makes the best omelettes in the world!




Me, doing some reading in 1982 ;)




Jackson and I built a lego ship!




Lovely Lake Winnipesaukee




My view at dinner Sunday night








A frozen blackberry mojito!





Lobstah corn chowdah ;)





Lobstah roll!!!




Steve too!





How was your weekend???

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

strawberry infused vodka!

Over the weekend, I did this-







I'm making strawberry infused vodka! I saw it on a blog and thought it sounded so good. A pint of strawberries, a bottle of vodka, and a big jar to hold it in.

Two weeks in a cool, dark place, and voila!

I'll report back on how it comes out ;)


- Posted using BlogPress from iLexi

Monday, August 20, 2012

Scarlet Threads Song!



This is one of the newest aprons from Scarlet Threads, called Song! Don't you just love her? She's so whimsical and lovely, and the colors are just wonderful.


Would you like one for your apron collection? We're giving one away! Yes! Scarlet Threads is hosting a giveaway and you could win a Song of your very own!






Go here to the blog, and see how to enter, and who knows, the Song could be yours!


Also, if something else catches your eye in the shop, use "Lex10" at checkout for 10% off!


Sunday, August 19, 2012

a sew-tastic Sunday!


My quilt group met yesterday (the DC Modern Quilt Guild!) and I spent the time working on a baby quilt for baby Connor, who is already four months old! Eeek!

Since today is rainy, it seems like a good time to carry on, and maybe even finish it....






Fingers crossed!




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Thursday, August 16, 2012

Thrifty Thursday with Scarlet Threads!


Scarlet Threads has recently introduced a new feature called Thrifty Thursday! Each week, a different item will be on crazy sale! This week, the deal du jour for you is the Summer Joy- the "big sister" of the lovely Poppy! Just $9.00 for this week - that's the best deal yet!


The Poppy dress, for infants was on sale last week, so we thought Summer Joy would be a great deal to follow.  The Summer Joy has two designs! One is the paisley (and I'm a sucker for anything paisley!), and then the floral design, like the Poppy. The darker colors in the paisley are a great ease into fall...add some leggings and a turtleneck, and your little doll will be the best dressed in class!

Need an inspiration? Check out these photos of Boikokobetso, the little darling I sponsor in South Africa with World Vision! I've posted the photos before, but here's a refresher-




Isn't Boikokobetso fashionable?! Straps up or straps down! Pink pants and shoes to match! For a bit of reference, I sent her a small/3T, and she just turned five this month. I don't have any children of my own yet, so I had to guess, and I think I did okay. Having room to grow is a good thing, eh?

So! This week, grab a Summer Joy for just $9! Best deal! Hurry and grab one today!


Go here to buy a dress, and use the code lex10 when you order  :)




Wednesday, August 15, 2012

{almost} Wordless Wednesday: Albania

Yesterday's mail brought THREE letters from Albania!





One letter was especially touching, and contained a new photo of my Majlinda, which I will share soon.

Love my World Vision babies so, so much.




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Thursday, August 9, 2012

happy birthday Boikokobetso!

Happy 5th birthday today to Boikokobetso in South Africa- one of my sponsored children with World Vision!






Isn't she just darling?

I received this photo last week. In it, she's wearing a dress that I sent, and holding another. I mailed her a birthday package several weeks ago, hope it arrived on time!

Happy, happy birthday dear Boikokobetso - sending you lots of love and hugs!




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Wednesday, August 8, 2012

oh that dress, that store! can't stay away.

My knack for finding and falling in love with a dress or two from Anthropologie is well documented, and I know that nearly every girl swoons whenever stepping foot inside the store, and I am hardly an exception to that! I recently saw this dress, the Primary Blooms Dress, and as always, it was love at first sight. LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT!

I have a wedding this Friday for a very dear friend from high school, and I knew that this would be the perfect dress for the occasion. I wanted this dress like crazy.


Also, recently, Steve had surprised me with a gift card to Anthro, to buy myself a pretty frock.
 Love him!





The problem was that I saw it online. I couldn't find it in any of the three DC stores. Of course. It was also sold out in my size online. So, I forgot about it, and tried to move on. A few weeks later (this past Friday), I was in Chinatown, and popped into the Anthro there, just to see if they had it. They didn't. The sales girl told me that they could order it for me, but could not guarantee that I'd have it in time for this coming weekend, for the wedding. Since the wedding is Friday, we are leaving Thursday right after work, as the wedding is just outside of Philadelphia, and just a few hour drive from here.


Again, I decided to forget about it. I went home empty-handed. When I got home, I decided to look on their website, to see if they had anything else that I liked. Low and behold, it had been restocked!


They had ALL sizes, including mine! HURRAH!!!!!!!!


Also, it was on sale!!!!


HURRAH!!!!!


It was marked down to just $89.99, and I decided it was worth it to pay for overnight shipping, to ensure that I had it for the weekend. It arrived today, and I LOVE it! It fits just perfectly! I will admit, I was a bit nervous, as some of the reviews indicated that the fit was a bit funny sometimes, as it was a bit high-waisted, but it wasn't on me! Perhaps because I'm tall? Either way, it's perfect and I love it, and am so, so pleased. I'll be the second prettiest girl at the wedding....after the bride, of course ;)


I noticed just now, when I went to include the link to the dress, that it's marked down on sale even more! Of course, now I am mad that I paid $40 more than its current price, but oh well. This means that you should go grab the dress now too, and we can be twinsies  ;)


Any bargains for you lately???



Friday, August 3, 2012

a new apron- Ava!


Scarlet Threads has some new aprons!






This is Ava, and isn't she lovely? I don't often wear half-aprons, but I think I may need her, despite that. I love red, black and white. Such a sharp combination.


This week, Ava is part of Scarlet Threads Thrifty Thursday deal, and is just $11- normally she's $22!   It's a steal!  Go here and grab her while you can!  Tell them that I sent you!




Wednesday, August 1, 2012

A Spot of Tea


Last Friday, I met a friend for tea after work. She had been in grad school in Poland with me, and lives here in DC, and I hadn't seen her in a while. It was warm, but we sat outside anyway, to people watch!





Toast points with goat cheese and honey! Amazing!





Then we went back to Ten Thousand Villages, where she works, and I tried on some lovely fair-trade bracelets.





I bought the colored one- bone and brass bangle, it's called, and it goes well with the other bone bangles I have! Also, Orly nail polish, color called Gumdrop ;)




....and what's new with you?



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