$3.60

Well, I had a booth at the Farmer's Market by my house last night for the first time. It was quite a week of preparing, sewing, borrowing and all-around stress to prepare. It was a lot of fun to be there with the other vendors and have a chance to display my cards and banners. However, it was a s-l-o-w night at the FM. It was a little cold, which I think kept people away. But I will not be deterred! I'm going to be at the FM every Wednesday until the new year at least. I'd like to give it a real "college try".

I'm dying to be able to make enough money a week selling cards, that I won't have to get one of those "real" jobs. Although, I'll tell ya, I put in more hours this week for the FM than any normal job.

In the end I sold one card. $4. After paying my 10% fee to the FM for having a booth, I was left with $3.60. It's a slow start, but a start nonetheless. I'm still selling stuff on etsy and actually get orders. I figure that's a much more competitive market, so I still think my cards stand a chance.

Anyhow, with a new booth design for next week, I'm going to shoot for selling 2 whole cards! If you live in the area, come stop by and say hello! It's the FM on Appian and Nieto (by Marine Stadium Park) from 3-7pm. Hope to see you there!

Nieces

These 2 little cuties are a source of so much joy in my life that I thought I'd share some pictures with you. I hope you'll share my opinion that they're the cutest kids ever =)

Above is Madeleine in her Halloween costume. She's a lion. That lady holding her is her super-amazing mom and my sister-in-law, Julie.

Below is Heidi, and her baby Josephine. Josie gets those eyes from her father, but all her other good qualities come from me ;). They're Angels fans, but we love 'em anyway. Oh, and Heidi is quite a stupendous mother as well.

1 Year Anniversary!!!

We made it one whole year. Everyone told us that the first year is the hardest, but this was not our experience at all. Sure, there's adjusting and the realization that marriage is different than you thought, but overall, we had a great time. Below is proof of that from our trip to San Francisco and Lake Tahoe to celebrate.

First thing we did in San Fran was go to Ghirardelli square and get free samples and a shake!
This is breakfast at Sears (not the department store). Delicious tiny pancakes and lingonberry jam!
Hans was so proud of his ice cream waffle, his favorite snack from any Asian market, that he made me take a picture. But he's cute, so I didn't mind.
This is my favorite picture from the trip. This heart is of course from the song "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" and sits in Union Square.
The Golden Gate bridge. We took the long way to Tahoe so we could drive over it. We had amazingly clear days the whole time we were there, so it was a spectacular view.
Here we are in Tahoe. We met up with many of Hans' family members there and had a great time relaxing, riding in the boat, and eating.

17:11

Oh brother. I've missed 2 days of running. My legs were cramping in protest last night!

Screaming and Running

Last night Hans and I had a wonderful Friday night date at Disneyland. I went on Tower of Terror for the first time. I've avoided it for as long as possible, but it was actually tons of fun, and rewarding to overcome my fear.

Ran 2 more miles tonight! What should my treat be for myself if I make my goal? Ideas?

2 Miles

That's right. I just ran 2 miles. I can't really see, and I think I'm going to throw up, but I did it! Hans gave me 2 high fives, one for each mile. I deserved it.

Happy Birthday Madeleine

My oldest niece turns 1 today! However, we celebrated on Saturday. Here''s a few pics from the fun day watching Maddie experience her first birthday. (Also, I made Maddie a birthday banner out of vintage reproduction fabric, so she can use it every year!)

Happy Birthday!

I turned 27 on Thursday! I feel pretty good . . . not much different. Here's a picture of the hubby and I at Disneyland. Heidi and Caleb joined us for a while too! It was blazing hot, but still a lot of fun!

Days: 8 Miles: 3

So I'm not doing "great" on reaching my goal, but I am doing it and I've stayed determined. Thankfully, my schedule this week will hopefully allow me to do some catching up. I've realized that if you stick with something that is painful, yet rewarding, the painful part gets to be less and less each time you do it! I'm actually enjoying my mile run each evening. Hopefully, I'll learn to enjoy a 2 or 3 mile run as well.

Day 4 - Oops

I'm already behind on my running! Today is day 4, and I've only run 1 mile! Argh! Hans and I went to Disneyland on Monday evening, and then I got something akin to the stomach flu early on Tuesday, so I had no time. I'm hoping to run tonight, although I have a Geschenk meeting. No wonder people run in the morning.

30 Day Challenge

Typically, my only reason for running was to get away from something chasing me, or to catch the ice cream truck. With no one after me and very few ice cream trucks, my tush has become accustomed to the couch. Well, now it's starting to look like the couch. So, tomorrow that ends. I have come up with a challenge for myself.

CHALLENGE: 30 miles in 30 days.

Think I can do it? For you runners, this isn't much, but I've NEVER been a runner, so this will be quite a challenge. But I think I can do it. So, Sunday, August 23rd through Tuesday September 22nd, I will run 1 mile every day, or 2 miles every other, or 3 every third, you get the idea.

Feel free to post some encouraging words, I could use it! And good luck to me!

More Invitations

Stokke update: Let's see here, Hans' trip to Bali was cancelled due to his buddy's knee bending in the wrong direction (ouch!), and so I took him to Disneyland on Tuesday and we renewed our passes (anyone else have passes and want to go?), Hans' car was broken into on Tuesday night, and my birthday present was stolen along with Hans' wetsuit and his change (seriously? change?), Anna and Eric came over last night and we played some scrabble along with a bottle of wine, which made for interesting words like newt, ici, and ofus (only one of which is a real word), Brianna and I are moving towards having a big Christmas season with Geschenk (order early!), our apartment manager sprayed down the walkways which means puddles for at least a week since we have no direct sunlight, I made really good pasta last night and I haven't been running in too long. That's the update amongst many other things like, inheriting a new computer and typewriter, sewing a birthday banner, seeing fun movies, and the list goes on.

I must say though, that through adversity, like having your birthday present stolen, I realized that I don't really know what adversity is. Not that my trials are small to me, but it helps to remember that in comparison to a large portion of the world, my birthday present being stolen goes in the bummer category and no further.

Also, I've learned that my husband has a very cool head on his shoulders. The broken window and missing items from his car hardly ruffled his feathers. He figured that once in 4 years in the LBC isn't too bad.

So I apologize that my blog has become my bragging spot, but I'm just having so much fun creating! Here's 2 more invitations I've recently created.

Invitations

I have a new-found hobby! Lately, I've been creating invitations for family and printing/emailing them out. I've really enjoyed learning more about design programs, and I feel like I have a knack for it. There's nothing like the feeling of being creative and then being pleased with the outcome! It's a unique and newer feeling for me. Although, I need to give up some of my perfectionist tendencies. I spent more than 10 hours on the last invitation and that's pretty conservative compared to some of the others. Anyhow, you can check out the invitation below. And family, if you see this and somehow didn't get an invite, just let me know and I'll send it to you!

If you need invitations made for something, just let me know! I'd like to build up my portfolio and I can give you a great price!

It's Friday!

As a working woman (part-time still counts), I have a new appreciation for Friday afternoons. I get all excited thinking about all the trouble I can cause over the weekend. I'm thinking a double-feature at the theatre tonight with my super-cute husband. Tomorrow I'm going to do some work in the morning (but it's technically work I enjoy, so it's still weekend worthy) and then my mom and I are going to the quilt show in Long Beach. I always like to see what other people can do with fabric. Then Sunday Hans and I are going to catch some awesome waves (ok, just Hans, but I'll watch) down in San Diego. San Diego has become our new favorite weekend getaway, and with a huge swell coming, we couldn't resist. Plus, I get to see my adorable and fun niece, Madeleine. After all that, I still get Monday and Tuesday to goof off a little, get some other work done, and perhaps even laundry!

Phew! Hope you enjoy your weekends like I do!

I felt bad having no pictures, so here's one of me and my newest neice, Josephine. She's wearing an outfit I picked out. It matches in true "Amy Style".

Dates and Cards

Tonight Hans took me out on a date. We went to one of my favorite restaurants (Macaroni Grill). It was such a treat.

On a completely different note, some of you know that I sew cards, but I've never pictured them here. The images kind of suck, but you get the idea. I'm having lots of fun making them and I'd like to find enough time to make enough to sell.

LIFE

Well, life has been quite abundant this past week. Hans got a promotion! Yay! He's got his own store now in Palos Verdes, so if you're ever out there, go visit him! My grandfather got married. Yes, he's 84, she's 83, so there's no wasting time! We had a small, family-only ceremony in my folks backyard this weekend. Then we celebrated my sister-in-laws birthday and had a baby shower for my cousin! Needless to say I was asleep by 9:30 last night! Here's a few pics:

In celebration of Hans' promotion, I took him out to play miniature golf. This is his hole in one shot.
Me and the man at Grandpa's wedding.
Me and Maddie Jo. She's the smiliest kid I know!

Pictures

As many of you may have noticed, I'm not big on writing, so here's a few pics from recent events in my life! (Apparently, my camera comes out the most when my niece is around, but can you blame me?)

Me and Hans at the Dancing with the Stars wrap party on Tuesday night. Yep, it's over already! Congratulations Shawn Johnson!
Madeleine and her Granny.
For some reason Maddie opens her mouth really wide when you try to kiss her. It's cute now, but someday it might need to be stopped. (maybe she's part bird? ewww, regurgitated food)
She loves me!

Ok, I look a little freaky in this pic, but it's just so cute of Maddie Jo.

SO Overdue

Ok, some of you have had two haircuts since last I wrote. Anyhow, Hans and I just went on a fabulous excursion all the way to Memphis, Tennessee. We visited Mom and Dad Stokke and Elvis' home. Below are a few fun moments.
Here's Hans with the King. Our camera ran out of batteries at our trip to Graceland, so this is as close as it gets. Thank you very much.
Ribs. We ate a LOT of ribs. mmmmmm
Here we are on Beale street. Not a lot to do unless you want to get drunk, which many people (and goats) were.
This is where Martin Luther King Jr. was shot. It now has an adjacent building that is the Civil Rights Museum. Very interesting, but also very lengthy.

Camping!

Hans and I got a chance to spend some time in the great outdoors this week! We pitched a tent and everything. I've been wanting to get away for a mini-vacation for a while, so Hans took Wednesday and Thursday off and away we went to Jalama Beach. Just about 30 miles north of Santa Barbara. We played cards, read books, threw horseshoes, surfed, walked, drove, cooked hot dogs and had an all-around fabulous time!

Life's Little Updates

Life has been busy with the little things. Here's a few wee updates. Brianna and I finally had a photo shoot for our delicious cookies! Below is one of my favorites of the lemon cream cheese cookie.

I finally got a frame for the Scotchbake recipe my grandmother wrote me before she died in July last summer. She wrote this for my shower and it's one of those forever treasured things. It reminds me of her every time I cook.

After 6 months, I finally got a bedside table for Hans! He claims he has no need for it, but I'm sure one of these days he'll put something in the drawers and on that day he'll be thankful for me and the bedside table. (Got the table for $15 and fixed it up for another $15! Impressive, eh?)
Lastly, I chopped off all my hair. Well, to be fair, Tiffany chopped off all my hair. She had a great time cutting away while I watched in horror. However, after it was all over, it looked pretty cute. Plus, it takes me all of 8 minutes from start to finish to get it looking cute!

Update

Right now life is moving at a pleasant pace. I enjoy working back at Dancing With the Stars, and with my cousin, Brianna. Hans and I have really begun settling into a fun and joyful marriage. We're enjoying our apartment. Hans is enjoying work (and we're just thankful to both be employed right now. Tom Bergeron was saying the other day that keeping your job is like the new raise.) We're also looking forward to spending time with Mama and Papa Stokke in Memphis in May. (Just bought our tickets last night.) And we're thankful for family that lives close by to enrich our daily lives.

All in all, I'd say life is really great. And mostly, this reminds me that God is great. There have been so many things to adjust to in my life lately, and yet, I've been enjoying every one of them, and that is the Lord showing me the good.

Happy Birthday Hans

Ok, I know it's been a while since I've posted anything, and for that, I apologize. Since I last wrote, much has happened. I started working part-time with my sister at a financial planning office and I've started back at Dancing With the Stars. Both are an answer to our prayers for a job and something for me to do to keep me from absolute boredom. PLUS, yesterday was Hans' birthday, and in our family you get a whole birthday week, so we've been celebrating all week long!

This is the watch my parents and I got Hans. It tells the tides of 200 beaches! So now he can surf any time, any place and know when the best time is to paddle out. He was really excited about it.

Hans went on Splash Mountain without me. Amy likes to stay dry on cold days, call me crazy!


On Sunday night, Hans' grandparents treated us and Hans' uncle Lars and family to dinner at our favorite restaurant, Walts Wharf. Earlier that afternoon we celebrated Hans' birthday with lunch at my folks house, of which, I have no pictures for some reason.
Thursday night, Hans went to a 12:01 am showing of The Watchmen with some buddies from work. What I didn't realize when he told me these plans is that he was dressing up as one of the characters in his bathrobe! Suddenly, I was glad I wasn't going . . . He had a great time and got home around 3:30am!

On Hans' actual birthday (Friday) we spent the day at Disneyland. Since we're already annual passholders, he got a gift card to the park. What we didn't know is you can't use this giftcard for any food items, only Disney merchandise. We should have assumed there was a catch. But Hans found some really nice board shorts at one of the shops, and he bought me lots of delicious candies! It was a great day!

200,000

Hans' car reached it's own personal goal of 200,000 miles yesterday on our way to Disneyland. What an accomplishment! We decided that to celebrate, it was time for it's first cleaning too! ;)

(I apologize for the fuzziness of the images, but you get the idea.)

Fair Trade Music

This is my new favorite website! You can download music for free by sending the link to 5 people, or you can just pay what you want. Great idea for new artists to get their music heard. Katie Herzig is one of my new favorites. (Thank you, Caleb!) Enjoy!

Amy Stokke Goes to Washington

I flew early Thursday morning up to Seattle to visit with my brother and his wife. They recently moved to a little town about 1 1/2 hours north of Seattle, called Lynden. It's a charming Dutch town with windmills and perfect lawns. As you all know by now, I prefer telling my stories through pictures, so below are a few highlights from my trip. Enjoy!When I first arrived in Seattle, David took me to Pike's Place. Kind of a tourist trap, but we had good seafood. Anyhow, we wandered into a curiosity shop, and in said shop was a small machine that claimed that behind the curtain was a scene made in 1880 about a famous murder. Well, me and my 25 cents had to know what happened. I dropped my quarter in the slot, the curtain rose, and this is what I found. A few barbie dolls moving around. The murder is taking place on the right, and on the left is someone happening upon the bones 17 years later. Gasp! I was had.
The needle. We didn't go up. $16 on a cloudy day seemed like kind of a big rip-off.
However, what turned out to be the biggest rip-off was the monorail. David and I wanted to explore Seattle a little more, so we parked by the needle and took a "ride" into downtown. However, the monorail took approximately 45 seconds start to finish. We could have walked the distance in 10 minutes. At least we got a round-trip ticket, so it was a minute and a half of pure, unadulterated fun.
Vancouver, B.C. Yep, Saturday night we went into Canada. The border is about a 10 minute drive from D&R's place. It was cold. Like cold cold. Long underwear cold. Anyhow, we had really good Italian food and walked around downtown for a while. Not much to do unless you want a Gucci bag or Prada shoes. And in case you haven't caught on, I'm still upset about the $4 monorail, so I wasn't in those stores for anything but warmth.
I taught D&R a new card game. Turns out Timber already knew it.
Yep. 25 degrees. This is the morning of my departure. What we didn't know at this point is that a snow storm was coming to dump all night.
Chuckanut Drive. Fun word, eh? David and I drove down the Chuckanut from Bellingham for about 15 miles. It was beautiful. A perfectly clear day on a road by the ocean is always a good day.
Here I am at Snoqualmie Falls. This waterfall's power has been harnessed since 1890 into enough electricity for 16,000 homes. Pretty impressive. David and I hiked to the bottom and almost missed my flight. Thankfully I didn't since it was delayed an hour and a half. And then I really didn't want to get out of my seat after landing in Long Beach, so luckily we got to sit on the tarmack for 45 minutes while we waited for some stairs. Thankfully, knowing I was closer to my husband was all I needed. Plus, they left the tv's on so I watched Seinfeld.