sick

I never thought I'd be able to say that I injured myself from coughing too much...until yesterday. The bronchitis that I've been sick with for the past two weeks has caused me to get costochondritis. The doctor told me that it basically feels like the equivalent of breaking a rib. Now, all I can do is lie around like an invalid because it hurts to breathe, cough, move, laugh, or lift anything. Luckily, I am well stocked with pain killers, inhalers, antibiotics, anti-inflammatories and cough syrups with strong narcotics. I've never been on 5 prescriptions at once before! They're starting to learn my name at the drug store because I'm in there so often.

Jon is out renting the next disc of House and we've been catching up on episodes we haven't seen before. I'm so glad he's back home so that he can open and lift things for me and keep me company while I sit in agony. He's very good with appropriately placed, sympathetic "awws."

laser

My mom and I went shopping yesterday and she (the finder of all good finds) spotted a laser kit. She asked the clerk how much it was and it was only $2.50.

I was so excited that she found this laser. Jon has been searching for a cheap laser to use as a cat toy for ages and I got to beat him to it.

My mom and I tried it out on the cats yesterday afternoon when we got back to our apartment. Shinji wanted nothing to do with it and completely ignored it. But NukuNuku fell for it hook, line, and sinker. I've never seen her run so hard or fast in circles before.

I surprised Jon with the laser as soon as he walked in the door and he spent the next fifteen minutes cracking up as NukuNuku chased the pointer around our apartment. In circles, on the couch, on the floor, up the wall, up the door...it's the most entertaining toy for her.

This morning, Jon finally got Shinji to respond to the laser (ever the cat-whisperer he is) and he started going crazy too.

Thanks for the great find, mom! This will keep us all entertained for days!

my new quilting buddy

Well, I officially have a new hobby. I was stuck inside all weekend over Labor Day and was able to cut, piece, quilt and finish my first project. I used a modified Turning Twenty pattern with 12" sqaures instead of 16" squares because I bought the wrong size fabric cuts (1/4 yard pieces instead of fat quarter pieces). The fabric is from the Free Spirit Bohemian line. As with all of my sewing projects it looks better from a distance. I really enjoyed the free motion quilting that I did on it and found it to be very relaxing. And the great news is now that fall is coming I can use it all the time to keep warm while I'm relaxing on the couch.

I enjoyed my first project so much that I bought some more fabric and have started on another quilt. Good thing I have such a helpful assistant!

my husband went to New York City

and all he brought me back was this newspaper.

That's right. This morning he tells me "Oh, yeah, I got you this newspaper. Well, it's from yesterday, but I got it free at the hotel so I wanted to give it to you."

He cracks me up sometimes most of the time. : )

new projects

The catalog was sent to the printer on Friday and I'm officially sick of all things Adobe Creative Suite related.

After much research and comparison shopping, I bought my very own sewing machine on Friday night. I've created a sewing monster...been researching lots of projects and things to make with my new tool. I had my first sewing machine lesson on Saturday morning and now I'm getting used to setting it up and sewing with it. I bought the machine at a sewing machine store inside the coolest fabric store I've ever seen - Haberman Fabrics. Seriously, everyone needs to see this store at least once - even if you're not into sewing or fabric or anything of the sort. You can get a small taste of what the store is like by taking this tour, but if you're able to check it out in person, it is so worth it. Jon even agrees that it is one of the most inspiring places he's ever seen.

I made a "quick trip" to Joanns after picking up the machine on Friday night. In typical Rebekah fashion, I walked into the store to buy a pattern for a purse and walked out with 10 non-purse patterns and the fabric and supplies to make a skirt instead. Oops. In my defense, the store had all of their patterns on sale for a $1 each, as opposed to $14.95 for one pattern. I am almost finished with the skirt and so far it looks like it should fit well...a plus for me, because I'm not so good at sewing clothes.

I found the coolest quilting book ever, The Modern Quilt Workshop, and would like to make some of the quilts featured in the book. The authors have a great store in Oak Park, IL and have created many unique and beautiful quilts.

In the meantime, I discovered a quilt shop in Berkley and picked up a really cute bundle of fabric to make a simpler quilt for now. The quilt shop was amazing, definitely better looking inside than out. Tons of cool colors and interesing designs and thousands of bolts of fabric - kind of like the patterned paper section at a scrapbook store or the card selection at a great stationery store.

And, on a different note, I'll leave you with the funniest picture ever from my weekend.

"Erica with a blow torch" You should all be very afraid!

vintage joel

Because he's moving tomorrow, Joel emptied out his pantry and gave Jon and I a big bag of Japanese food that he can't use while he's gone. Lots of rice spices and cooking liquids and things like that. As Jon was putting everything in our cupboards tonight we came across this gem:

I'm assuming this is the Japanese equivalent of a ketchup packet.

As you can see by the photo, not wanting to waste any of the contents, he used a binder clip to seal in the freshness. Jon and I had a good laugh about this one. You see, this is coming from the same guy who saved all of the plastic bags from each and every store he went to in Japan. He not only saved them, he used and reused them and threw fits when someone accidentally threw them away. We're talking ratty, crumpled 7-eleven bags with tears in them here. You defintely can't get on his case about recycling!

fallingwater

Jon and I took a slight (coughthreehourcough) detour on our way home from the wedding in State College. It's been a while since I've had a Frank Lloyd Wright fix and I knew Jon would love his architecture and design as much as I do. We had difficulty finding the place...actually we gave up too soon. We took a good hour long detour down some back roads in the mountains all the while telling each other "that's crazy that they don't even have a tourist sign for this place. I can't believe that we're the only people touring it today. It's fallingwater for goodness sake!" After stopping at a diner on the side of the road to ask for directions, we realized that we had turned around too soon because we were fooled by the low address number. We both laughed when the giant Fallingwater sign appeared on the side of the road and we saw that the five cars behind us were going there too. Imagine that?!?

We took an hour long tour through the inside of the home. This place is amazing. Just like every other Wright house I've toured, there are so many details to take in and the pictures just don't do the homes justice at all. Wright was just so ahead of his time. This house was built in the thirties and is still so incredibly innovative and modern for even today's standards.

He uses the space so well and has great control over the flow of the home. No basements or extra closets for this house - Wright was not a fan of clutter or collecting useless stuff. Dark hallways with low ceilings - don't waste your time in a hallway when there are open rooms and expansive terraces to explore. The natural light cascading into each room was spectacular - I was bummed that photographs weren't allowed inside the home. One cool feature of the living room was a walkdown staircase to the water where the original homeowner could wade in the water or just dip their feet in.

Wright was a big fan of incorporating nature into design and this home is the perfect example. The home was built on top of a waterfall and the main foundation is a large boulder that appears both inside and outside the home. And, because the outside walls of the home are non-load bearing, Wright was able to add tons and tons of corner windows.These are no ordinary corner windows, because once you open up the storm window and the screen, the corner of the house "disapears" - it makes for incredible view.

We're so glad that we were able to make this little detour on our way home. Such a great design inspiration to feed off of for a while. Jon and I were inspired with lots of little ideas to incorporate into our home whenever we buy. Jon especially liked the design of the planters on the terraces, so we'll definitely be making some of those when we've got the extra space.