A weekend with my brother...

I love that my brother was willing to make the 280 mile journey to spend the weekend in Rockford, Illinois with me.  First of all - I love my brother.  Second - whenever we get together, there is gobs and gobs of laughter.  Not just normal laughter but the kind of laughter that hurts your sides and stomach. 

My place of employment provides me with a holiday day on Good Friday.  I began my Easter weekend with coffee at Meg's with Trudy and her dear mother.  It was 2.5 precious hours with two Godly ladies who were such an encouragement and quasi-therapists.  We parted ways with a promise to get together again SOON. 

The spring weather was another wonderful blessing on Friday.  The sun was shining and the temperature was delightful. (By delightful, I do mean around 50-ish.)

A denim skirt, purple top, brown flats, and a floral scarf made up my scampering-about outfit.

After departing Meg's, I phoned my crafty friend Nancy and informed her that her chariot was on its way.

From Nancy's, we made our way to Randall Road.  First stop - JoAnn Fabrics, where I purchased brown (with a faint background pattern) fabric to make skirt "F" on my pattern and I, also, purchased fabric to make a skirt for my friend Leah. 

The trouble with JoAnn's on Randall Road is it's twice the size of our JoAnn's in Rockford...therefore, there are a gazillion more bolts of fabric...AND they have Starbella Yarn at Randall Road.  I was telling Nancy that I have emailed JoAnn's about carrying Starbella in their store...apparently I need to be a more specific, "Please carry Starbella in your East State Street store in Rockford, Illinois!"  All my emails must've been interpreted as "carry Starbella in all the other stores!" 

After finding Leah-ish fabric and my 5 for $5 Simplicity patterns, I made my way to the check-out where I found my friend perusing craft books.  She was comfortably perched on a step ladder.  Had I not been finished shopping, I believe she would've spent the better part of the day reading about different crafting techniques.  This is one of my favorite things about Nancy -- she loves crafts and not just one particular type of craft.  She paints silk, stamps cards, alters art, etc.  Her brain is over-flowing with creative juices. Whenever my juices are squelched, I call her and we discuss the subject and she always has some craft epiphany to help me out of the depths of my crafting dilemma.

Fabric and patterns purchased.  We, then, made our way to Caribou Coffee.  Funny story -- you know that I love coffee, right?  If not -- HELLO!!!  DON'T YOU KNOW ME AT ALL????  Anyway...I heart coffee.  Well, on our way to JoAnn's because I was sooooooo (or could it be "SEW"!!!!!) excited about getting more fabric to make a skirt for my friend, I, Angela Good, drove past Caribou Coffee without so much as a tap-tap-tap of the brake pedal.  (GASP!)  Tragical, I know.  I mean - for realzies - can you even believe that you are reading this on MY blog????  I will give you a minute to recover.

(Humming the Double Jeopardy theme.)

Ok.  Time's up.

We went back the 2.5 or 3 miles to Caribou Coffee where I purchased a gluten-free (said "gluten-free" kind-of SING-SONGY...because I was delighted!!!) iced dark chocolate mocha, hold the whip cream.  Now -----> before you remember that I had already been to Meg's that morning and now here I was at Caribou getting cracked-out on coffee again...at Meg's, I had a decaf white green tea.  I have limits.  And as far as coffee goes, I pretty much know my limits.  Soooo the Caribou gals made my iced coffee with half the caff.  Nancy wanted me to go full-caff because she was on a sugar high from a scone.  :)

Iced mocha in hand, I steered Rosie back down Randall Road (from whence we came) and pulled in to find 2 things......front row parking at Archiver's and (drumroll please...) A BRAND NEW HALF PRICE BOOKSTORE TWO STOREFRONTS DOWN FROM ARCHIVER'S!!!!!!!!  The sign on the new bookstore said, "Opening April 25th" too which I told my passenger, "Awwwww...LOOK!  THEY ARE GOING TO BE OPEN FOR MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!" 

Have you ever been to Half Price Books?  Truly, their prices are half-price if not 3/4 of the price...but I think the sign would be weird and lengthy if it read, "1/2 and 3/4 priced books."  Their marketing department might not like my fabulous idea...thus another reason why I am not designing store logos.  Plus you read my blog, you know what I am potentially capable of.

Do you know that I've missed you?  Seriously.  I've missed blogging in this random-Angie-ish sort of way.  I don't know what has been "off" about me for the past couple of months, but sitting here tonight, I'm thoroughly loving pounding out the keys and putting down my random favorite weekend moments. 

Where was I?  Archiver's.  We perused the crafting supplies.  I went and meandered through their journal stuff...gathering ideas...hoping my journaling creative juices would surface.  The trouble is -- now that I am officially sewing (like a crazy person!), I want to take time and work on my sewing journal.  I'm leaning toward the title:  "My Sew-Called Life."  It's not my own title.  I Googled sewing journals and found that title.

Not wanting to buy a bunch of crafting supplies, I picked up a small pad of sewing related things to add to my soon-to-be-made sewing journal. 

It should be noted - for the first time ever (EVER!) - Nancy left Archiver's without a single purchase.  I was amazed and rendered speechless.  When I say "speechless" - I mean, I was speechless from the time it took me to walk from the store to Rosie.  Remember - we had front row parking.  :)

Trader Joe's grocery store was our third and final stop.  (I kinda feel like a flight attendant.  "Please buckle your seatbelts and return your tray to the upright position.  We are quickly approaching Trader Joe's.")

Trader Joe's was the main reason for our trip to Algonquin.  Hahahahahahaha!  Who am I kidding?  The main reason was to visit the HUGE JoAnn's store.  Silly me.  :)

My purchases at T.J.'s included various gf snacks and my brother's favorite snacks -- cashews, dark chocolate-covered almonds, TJ's honey Greek yogurt, and some gf oatmeal. 

With groceries and sewing supplies, we headed home, arriving back in town at 7 p.m.  The sun was still shining - although it was beginning to set.  The air was still warm with a hint o'spring.  We were still chatting and laughing.

After dropping Nancy off at her house, I arrived at the cottage and threw the newly purchased fabric in the washer.  I made some dinner and enjoyed some light reading.  I received word from Bryan that he had left later than he originally intended, so I decided to work on Leah's skirt.  This reminds me -- Nancy wins the Quote of the Day.  "You are making skirts that are going to be seen across the ocean!!! You are going to be famous!!!"  :)  Leah later told me, "You are going to be an international sensation!" 

Not having Leah here to try on the skirt made me more cautious.  I read and re-read the pattern sizes.  Upon determining what size I would need to cut, I ironed the fabric and then re-read the pattern.  I must've read the back of the pattern atleast 6 times.  I compared the numbers and everytime, I came up with the one particular size.  I pinned the pattern and then did my 7th check of the back.  And then I cut the fabric.  I held up each piece and attempted to picture in my head how the skirt would look once stitched together.  Of course, it was going to look fabulous...but would it be the right size? 

After threading my machine and popping in chick flick DVD which I have watched a gazillion times, I began sewing.  I read and re-read each sections directions to make sure I would not need to take a stitch ripper to this lovely skirt. 

A couple hours later, I held up the finished skirt.  I took the tape measure and re-measured the circumference of the waist and then I measured the length. The waist was a smidge smaller than the number Leah sent me.  I decided not to freak out and I threw the skirt in the washer.  Worst case scenario:  I would need to make another skirt for Leah and post on Facebook that I have a skirt with such-and-such measurements.  Who wants it? 

Well...it turns out that the size I made will work.  A couple of texts back and forth with Leah confirmed this and made my heart soo happy.  I do intend to get some more fabric and make her a skirt with an extra inch in the waistband so she can wear it, as the pattern states:  "One inch below waist."  I'm dreaming of a day when A-line skirt patterns will read, "Sits at waist."  Although -- as I type this and think about my monstrous pile o'spring and summer skirts, many of my skirts sit an inch below my waist.  Hmmmmm...

By the time I finished Leah's skirt and got the other brown material pressed & the pattern cut-out, Bryan arrived.  Due to the fact that the clock read circa 1 a.m. (and well, I'm not -- nor is my brother -- a night owl, we went to bed!!!) 

Saturday morning, Magsters woke-us-up bright and early.  No worries, she got over her feline-self and went back to sleep when she heard her name spoken in an angry tone. 

9ish, we arose from our slumber and prepared for a fun Saturday!!!

First stop -- JoAnn's.  I know, I know...AGAIN!!!  Actually -- what happened is -- Bry asked me to make him some flannel jammie pants.  He wants me to sew him something delightful.   Soo far, I'm really good at skirts...however this won't work for my brother.  I made him sit down and thumb through the Simplicity catalog to find a pattern he liked.  He did.  We bought it.  We didn't have a coupon for the material so we decided to wait to purchase it.  Our time in JoAnn's reminded us of our childhood...except instead of mom holding a tape measure to get our measurements, I was holding a pink tape measure trying to get Bry's jotted down.

After JoAnn's, we went to Barnes and Nobles to spend my VD gift card.  Bry perused the "boy" books and magazines and I found the Sew What? Bags I saw on line. 

Since we were already at B&N and I had a free cup of tea from Teavana, we made our way up the escalator to the top level...all the while, reminding each other why we don't appreciate the mall on the weekends. The place was swarming with teenagers.  Now -- before you think I am anti-people, I'm not.  It's just that now that I am older, I appreciate not going to the mall on the weekends.  Plus it was Easter weekend and people were trying to bring their fru-fru dressed children to see the white bunny.

Teavana tea is fabulous!!!  We had strawberry mixed with something else.  The price is a little steep for a cup of hot tea...but we did get one of the cups for free AND I got to see a former student's big sister. 

From hot tea to RED MANGO!!!!!!  Bryan loves Red Mango...and what kind of sister would I be if I did not treat him to one of his favorite Rockford treats.  We put our hot tea in Rosie in the cup holders and hiked over to Red Mango where we filled our small bowls with peanut butter (in mine I added dark chocolate;  Bry added the original plain).  We enjoyed our chilly snack and Bryan said, "Sis, we are going to freeze outside!!!"  I reminded him our hot tea reward if we made it to Rosie.  The tea was enough of an encouragement for our outdoor-kind-of-chilly hike to the car.

With hot tea in hand and sugar in our bloodstream, we headed to the Rescue Mission thrift store on Harrison.  I hope you are sitting down -- after perusing the thrift store for about 45 minutes, we left without a single purchase.  For real!!!!  I don't joke around about 3 things:  coffee, the thrift, and good books. 

At this point in our day - it was approximately circa 2 p.m.  We were on a sugar-high and hungry for real food.  (Confession:  Bry and I are kind of foodies...as in, we function best, like the animals at the zoo, when you feed us on schedule. LOL!)  We headed to the cottage for my faux Chipotle recipe.

After a filling lunch, Bry worked on my printer.  It was his neighbor's printer and she had issues with the blank ink not working.  After several attempts to fix it and after reading message boards, Bry declared the printer deceased.  I've not had a printer since my college days so this doesn't really break my heart.  It was a nice thought, having a printer...but it's ok.  I will recycle this printer when Keep Northern Illinois Beautiful has their electronics drive in May or maybe it's June.  I can't remember.

While he worked on the printer, I got permission (from him) to work on sewing skirt "F" from my New Look pattern.  After getting the whole thing put together, I realized that I don't like skirt "F."  It's too full.  It reminds me of something you would see on Little House on the Prairie and I don't mean that in a good way...I mean that in a oh-dear-Angie-Good-is-wearing-THAT (add a slow shaking of the head!).  Not wanting to give up on my LHOTP skirt, I decided to chop off about an inch at the hem.  I re-ironed the hem under and then re-stitched it.  Once hemmed, I left it draped over the kitchen chair while Bryan and I ran to Target to get Easter Skittles for my Sunday School kiddos.

Target was kind of busy as many people were grabbing those last minute basket stuffers.  We found a couple bags of Skittles and some cute chick baggies and vacated the store.  We paid for the Easter candy.  We didnt' just vacated without paying.

Arriving back at the cottage, Bryan said he would like to watch You've Got Mail. I do not need to be told twice when it comes to this delightfully charming movie.  I popped in the DVD and opened a Noosa Honey yogurt - which I split with Bry - and we watched about 45 minutes of the movie.  I noticed Bryan sound asleep on the loveseat.  Since we didn't sleep our normal pattern the night before, we opted to go to bed early Saturday night.

Sunday morning - poached eggs on toast and half a Greek yogurt.  We were up with plenty o'time to lollygag around before having to be at church early for a quick choir-run-thru.  The choir special had several "Hoe-zahhhh-ha-na"'s which Bry was blessed with hearing while getting ready for church.  :)  I'm the kind of sister that shares.

Resurrection Sunday -- I love sharing the Easter story with my Sunday school kids.  My favorite part (and I do love the WHOLE story) is when the women come to the tomb and the angel tells them (Angie-paraphrase), "He is not here!!!  He is risen!!!" 

After church, we ate Chipotle leftovers and Bry got on the road.  He did take his fabulous sister's advice and stop at Red Mango for a berry smoothie sans sweetener on his way out of town.  He said it was the bestest!!!  Add smoothies to my list of things that I don't joke about.  :)

5 hours later, he was home in Hudson.  After church, I received a text that he was cleaning his apartment and doing laundry.  What a guy!!!  Drove home from Rockford and then began tidying up the mancave.

I love my brother.  I love that we can look at one another and pretty-much know what the other person is thinking.  I love that we can laugh about memories.  We were laughing about the amount of Little Debbie Nutty Bars we consumed as children.  Good times.

What a wonderful weekend...began with friends and crafting...and then my brother's visit...and Pastor's amazing Resurrection Sunday message.  I'm blessed.  My cup runneth over...