360/365

360/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

I sent this picture to a friend just so it would encourage me NOT to blog about it. Maybe if I show it to someone, I won't feel the need to use it late tonight when I have absolutely nothing else to show for today? That's what I thought.

Today I was babysitting the most fun kids ever, and I made this contraption. That's what I called it. Really, I just put the ball of yarn in my pocket, threw the scarf around my neck, and ta-da! I was able to easily watch/follow the kids. Also, have free hands at any given point. I work on it every once in awhile because I think it's funny that one of the kids always asks about my "ball of scarf," not my ball of yarn.

If I'd have planned on posting this picture today I probably would have at least showed my face and smiled. But at least you can tell that I was having a pretty great hair day. It'd be a shame to let that go to waste, I guess.

Totally living it up 'til I'm 26!!

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346/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

My night involved this. My day involved baking sugar cookies with some really cute kids. My afternoon involved re-runs.

I think tomorrow I'll spend some time outside.

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337/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

Have you ever been so broke that you made your own envelopes with glue and paper?

It's a good thing I'm resourceful. And besides the ghetto tape on the back (not pictured...) I think they look pretty swell.

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222/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

A while back I posted a picture of some buttons. This is why!

These are prayer bracelets I made for RU4 Children. Each one has the name of an orphan from Haiti hand stamped on the band. Buy one and the money goes towards sponsoring that kid! They'll be sold at an event this weekend then added to the online store once it launches.

My hands and my eyes are tires but it's cool to know that the work had a good purpose.

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301/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

I like knitting again. I learned in college and I taught a lot of girls in college. We were sort of crazy at first, knitting ugly scarves for Christmas presents and naming our balls of yarn "Nathan". One day, I finally learned to pearl which has, up until now, been enough for me.

But I figure it's time to step it up so I don't get bored. I started looking for knitting patterns and found this one that is rated "Easy +" (mmmk) on the Lion Brand website. Which features a TON of free patterns, by the way.

I did pretty great at first. And then you can see where I stopped paying so much attention to the knitting and more attention to whatever else was in front of me. This isn't the sort of thing you can just do while you zone out in front of the TV or get lost in some wild day-dream. That's why I like knitting - you can do something productive while your totally relaxing. It makes relaxing more appealing to me.

But in order to make something really cool, you have to pay attention to what stitch you're on, and then you have to remember how to do it. Normally I'm a perfectionist about this kind of stuff, but it drives me a little crazy when beginners start all over when it comes to knitting. The only way to learn is to push through, see your mistakes, and know the difference between the right and wrong stitches.

I figure this time around every mistake will just remind me of a funny joke, or a wondering thought, or a suspenseful moment.

Right?

Or...maybe I'll just look at it and see the entire thing only for it's mistakes. And it will drive me crazy and I'll constantly and absentmindedly mess with the wrong stitches.

I just wrote an entire post on the intricacies of my knitting practices. Wow. I'm sorry.

Here's something different! During my time at the RU4 Children offices I've started gathering my thoughts and writing about my trip. I'm getting to share my stories with a lot of people who might be thinking about travelling themselves. If you'd like to read my first short, entertaining, really awesome post (!!) then by all means, CLICK HERE! And check out all the cool stuff RU4 is doing for orphans around the world while you're at it.

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175/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

You should know that I DID take a few pictures today. But I can't show you yet and you'll understand why tomorrow. So I'm not cheating, just circumventing.

I took these pictures yesterday, but I thought it'd be worthwhile to post them now that I'm home with my computer.

After some insane work, my mom and I sewed 22 aprons between us. We started out a bit outside of the Peach Festival. You have to pay to have a booth in there, but a friend of a friend let us set up and catch traffic going in and out at this cute little place:



We had some people come by, but traffic was a little slow. So my dad scoped out the inside, made a few calls, asked a few bold questions, and a few hours later we found ourselves set up inside the Peach Festival:


I'd like to thank Alison for pointing out the sign over our heads. That made my day! I'll believe it!

But honestly? Business was slow. Not just for us. For all of the vendors. People in this town are more...perusers. Although, they did enjoy peach ice cream and fried-whatever-I-can-get all day. But I don't blame them. Gotta eat...don't necessarily gotta cook. Or wear a t-shirt.

I sold five aprons...3 to her:


My Mimi. She's awesome and I love her.


We also got a good amount of donations and money from selling bottled water.

In the end, we walked out with about $235 a piece. I'm not complaining because I can just post these babies on my website and sell them to my amazing friends! And Amy isn't complaining because she made more money selling her t-shirts after church today than she did for six hours yesterday, weathering the heat and the rain.



But we did receive a lot of encouragement yesterday. And we got to share our hearts with plenty of people. All in all I'd call that a great success.

If you'd like a shirt for $20, e-mail me! (brittanyrosewhite@gmail.com)
If you'd like an apron, look for a site update soon.

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173/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

Welcome to crazy town.

All week my mom and I have been sewing up a storm in efforts to get ready for the Peach Festival tomorrow. Our goal was to sew two aprons each for five days. Some of these things take a good three hours to sew. With no breaks. It's enjoyable, but it's work.

We ship out tomorrow at 6:45 AM to set up. Tonight we finished a few up, took inventory, made lists, crossed things out, added things, and then we went a little insane.


Lauren stayed sane. She priced all the aprons and took pictures of them on the mani.


Mom, don't hate me for posting this...but I had no idea you took it and to find it on my camera just now kinda made my night.


I AM wearing shorts...but I have no excuse for the rest of this photo.

Deliriously yours,
Seamstress Extraordinaire.

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170/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

Guys! We have a mannequin in the house! She's pink and pretty and she's my new model.

If you noticed, my Red Apron shop has had minimal updates lately. That is because I am working to stock up for the Peach Festival in Weatherford this Saturday. Mom says last year 30,000 people showed up, so I want to make at least that many aprons.

My mother has been working just as, if not more, furiously than me to get these babies out the door. She made this one and I love it! Apples and pears, what could be better?

I'm hoping to bring in another $1,000 in apron sells. That's a lot, but it's a good goal. And one I think I can meet. As long as I can make them, I can sell them. That's because all of you guys are awesome and snatch them up.

So over all I'm really excited. Only thing is I'm sure there is a scary movie about mannequins, am I right? I mean, here's hoping I don't sleep walk or go for a midnight snack because I'll straight up freak out.

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157/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

I saw this a few days ago on my friend's blog. Sarah was trying to decide between Snow White and the giving tree but I FLIPPED and bought this within minutes.

You will not believe how creative this girl can get with vinyl decals for your Macs. I'm normally such a clean and bare person when it comes to electronics and things, but I couldn't deny the brilliance.

Also, we have four MacBooks in the house. This makes things easier on all of us.

You must at least peruse her site (I love the Iron Man one and the Lost one, of course): Crafty Gal Decals on Etsy

PS - I love Sarah Kim.

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130/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

It's been awhile since I posted something sweet.

This cupcake is from the Cook Yourself Thin cookbook that I picked up from the library. I love any dessert-turned-healthy that still tastes-like-it's-not-healthy.

It's a vanilla cupcake with ground up almonds and shredded zucchini and it's pretty great....but the frosting is what makes it. Seven minute frosting is where it's at! My mom grew up eating this stuff. It's like marshmallow cream, basically.

(Note to Tricia Gilchrist: if you ever make this frosting, please use your KitchenAid to beat it for seven minutes and don't use your arm to beat it for seven minutes.)

And if you haven't heard...


The shop is stocked! Albiet briefly...you lovely people are snatching them up. Sure love you guys.

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119/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

Well, the amount of support and encouragement I've gotten since I opened The Red Apron has been enormous! I'm now in a place where I could be constantly busy and not be able to catch up. But oh, what a blessing it is. And...that's what I get for opening up shop a little prematurely.

I bought some more fabric today and finished a new full length apron that I'll post tomorrow. Hoping to have the store fully stocked to a steady stream of 10 by the end of the week!

I love LOVE having this creative outlet and knowing it's actually getting me somewhere. I feel very productive and excited. Every last apron I finish is my new favorite...it will be tough to part with them.

If you haven't yet, you can join The Red Apron Facebook Group. If you decide to purchase one, you're more than welcome to post pictures of the apron being put to use!

Alright, blah, blah, blah, self promoting....finished.

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95/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

Remember that random day I got crafty and decided to paint some frilly chandelier things on a big gray thing?

That painting sat on my floor...along with some clean and dirty clothes...until today. I'm embarrassed to admit it.

But I have my reasons. I wanted to hang the canvas next to these three frames I bought at Ikea during the Austin trip. Only, I couldn't decide what to put in the frames.

First I thought black and white. Then I thought blue. Then I thought yellow.

Finally, I got so tired of waiting, I decided to print some photos of flowers I took in Africa the first time around. Real quick: my computer fell off a top bunk shortly after I moved to New York, taking with it the thousands of pictures I'd taken from my first trip to Africa a few months prior. It's the reason I have credit card debt. Apple employees convinced me to buy a new one, saying old one was dead. Years later, we get it refurbished for my dad. ALL MY OLD PICTURES AND DOCUMENTS ARE STILL THERE. I actually found that out the day Knox was born. SAD because I could have saved money. HAPPY because I have visuals for my memories.

Anyway, this picture is from that trip. I decided to alter the colors to fit all the random moods I had in the process:



I'm still not convinced. It's okay, but it's not quite there. If anyone has an eye for design, give me some tips.

Ooooh how about some pillows that compliment the wall scheme? Or just taking away the blue pillow? I love that pillow, though. Maybe once I get my bigger bed this will work better?

I'm rattling now. My eyes are crossing. I gotta stop posting so late. G'night!

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70/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

I was hoping I'd be able to show some restraint and not blog about this/finish this project until tomorrow when I could get a nice photo in the sunlight rather than with my harsh flash.

But, man, I just couldn't do it. Self-control. It's a fruit I sometimes lack. And the only other photo I have to show for today is of the Statue of Liberty riding a motorcycle through a wall and carrying a humungo burrito. Who needs to see that?!

So yes, lack of self control. ESPECIALLY with this particular project. Somehow, I came across this blog called Little Miss Momma (I do NOT know how - really, can't remember - I'm more of a Big Miss Single girl) and she has all these tutorials and I just saw this one and I reeeeally really wanted to do it. So I went to Michael's one day and checked out the painting supplies. I held them in my hands. I put them down. I picked them back up. I walked around a little bit. Then I put them back down.

I don't need this. I don't need this. I don't need this. Goodbye, paint supplies. Hello, self control. Nice to see you now and again! I'd appreciate if you'd appear more often on my chocolate indulging days, but I'll take it.

Yeah that lasted a DAY. Next thing I know I'm driving back to Michael's. I had thirty minutes - I'd go in and out without time to think about what I was really doing. And then I realized I didn't have thirty minutes. I had zero minutes. I was late to my next appointment.

That doesn't happen to me often. This painting thing seriously had a hold on me.

But I decided to give up until the next day when I casually mentioned it to my mom and asked about her education discount she gets at Jo-Ann's. I didn't even know if Jo-Ann's carried paint supplies. I figured if they didn't, I'd REALLY give up this time. Even though canvases were 40% at Michaels. EVEN THOUGH!

Guess what. Jo-Ann's DOES have paint supplies. And guess what else? They're canvases were 40% off TOO! AND GUESS WHAT ELSE MY MOM GETS A 20% DISCOUNT BECAUSE SHE TEACHES KIDS HOW TO BE MOMS AND COOK AND SEW AND STUFF!!!!!

I just had some chocolate. I'm so sorry. Let's just move on to the pictures.


STEP ONE: Paint the canvas a color. Yeah yeah! Gracey likes to get high off the fumes. She and I had a nice jaunt through some fields of spaghetti noodles and shared some pistachio ice cream seconds after I grabbed this shot.

Can you tell the kind of weather we've been having by the shoes strewn all over my floor? All kinds of weather. That's the answer.


STEP ONE: Paint the canvas a color (in case you were distracted last time).


STEP TWO AND/OR THREE: Paint some stencils with some stencil paint that's super thick.

STEP THREE AND A HALF: Musical interlude.

"You know, grey's my favorite color
I felt so symbolic yesterday
Pass me a bottle, Mr. Jones..."
-Counting Crows (those are the words, right?)


STEP FOUR: Be finished before you know it.

I'm figuring how/where I'm going to hang this thing. I think you'll like it more once it's on the wall next to some new Ikea frames I got!

So now I think I'm going to get some tea and calm down a little bit and you can feel free to read the REAL tutorial (and a few more tempting projects) by the much more stable Little Miss Momma right here. Cheers!

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38/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

I like this. I think it's cool and beach-y. I made the whole thing for $2, which I spent on twine and white spray paint.

But everyone else in the house?

"Cool...what is it?"

"Is that a paper bag?"

"Cool."

"Who is that? Jesse or Joel?"
My dad really said that. Jesse and Joel are my tall, full grown male cousins. He didn't have his glasses on.

But I really like this thing I put on my wall. Then again...I also painted my entire room spearmint gum green with navy trim in high school and I liked that, too.

Let's take a closer look.

Isn't it beautiful? This is a card that my Brooklyn forever and ever roommate, Kate, gave me. She is very classy and she is crazy about art. And horses. And kids and dancing and music. And books. The world around her just moves her. She is constantly inspired by it.

Sarah Kim gave me this card. She has a thing for Monet. Like that girl in 10 Things I Hate About you who was "involved" with Will Shakespeare? I imagine Sarah has moments like that with Monet.

This is the inside of that card. This represents one of my most favorite New York moments: Dinner with Sarah Kim at Serendipity and she hands me this card and says "I'm going to read it to you right now out loud," and she did. And it was AMAZING and I loved that moment. Sarah Kim...I don't want to talk about it. Come to Texas.

And this.

Her.

My aunt, Monica, sent me this card when I was a freshman in college. It struck me. I wanted, and still do, to be her. Look at her!

I have made up many stories for her. I won't share them all, but she just looks so happy and so completely at peace. And...okay a little bit Jane Austen-ish. I can't help it. I project Jane Austen on to everything.

For some reason, I only have this side of the card. But it's a great side. All five kids (not so much anymore) signed it in their own interesting way. Monica, this card made my day back then and it still makes me so happy every time I see it.

If I ever find myself in a field, with a flower, and a house in the background, and I'm incandescently happy (movie? er...book?), don't be surprised if I re-create this moment.