2012 East Coast Trip, Pt. 1

We just arrived home after our 12 day east coast excursion! We spent 4 days at Messiah Conference, at tge end of which Emma got a chance to hang out with her fav singer, Sharon Wilbur, then road-tripped it up to New Jersey where the whole family got to spend some time with Matt's grandma. On the way to Long Island we hit some classic New York traffic...and loved it, believe it or not! On Saturday we attended Shuvah Yisrael, and on Sunday morning Jake, Matt, their parents and the kids went to the beach while Heather and I scrambled to set a surprise 60th party for Helene. She was very surprised and it was a great day. On Monday Jake and Heather had to drive home :( and Matt and I went into the city (Manhattan) to celebrate our 10th anniversary! We went to the 91st Street Garden in Riverside Park, where Matt proposed and then we walked around The Village, got cupcakes from Magnolia's, shopped, took a pic with Mike Tyson, people-watched in Washington Square Park, and met an old friend, Ben, for dinner. It was an amazing day.

Ty's Birthday

Today is July 4th, Ty's second birthday!!! He is so stinkin' cute and a joy to have around. He has been saying lots of new words lately, but still using conversational babble, and his cheeks jiggle when he runs! He catches on to things really quickly and his latest trick is saying, " My name is Ty." In their room last night I could hear Emma and Siri telling Ty to say "poop" and "pee," so he's getting lots of education these days!

Traveling to the East Coast

Yesterday we journeyed to Pennsylvania! We are staying until Friday at Messiah College for a conference, and Emma woke up this morning and exclaimed, "It's so sunny here!"
The kids did great on the flight, and Ty made fast friends with Indian grandparents who had traveled from Mumbai to take an Alaskan cruise! We had a flight from Seattle to Philly, then a 1 1/2 hr layover for a 40 min flight to Harrisburg. Our second flight was delayed and so we rented a car and just drove because that got us there faster than waiting for the flight!
Now, we're so excited to be with family (all Rosenbergs except Avi are here) and friends!

Catch Up

I have been contemplating the whole blogging thing for a while now, wondering if it's for me. It's funny to basically write to "the void" (to quote "You've Got Mail," but I'm guessing that I can write to even the few people out there who want to know what the Rosenbergs are up to!
A few things that have happened:
Siri chipped a front tooth! It's not the corner, kind of straight across, but her tooth still may discolor.
We spent a rare sunny, warm day at a college friend's (Johny B) house-sitting house on a lake. Here's a picture of Emma and Siri with Layna, another college friend's daughter (Jess and Kimi).
Emma replaced her rockstar hat with a pink sequined fedora-so cool!
And Emma finished kindergarten! The pic below is from field day.

Scavenger Hunt

Tomorrow Matt leaves for a week, so we're trying to fill today with fun family activities.  It's sunny, and we had to go to the Apple Store to replace a cord, so we had a scavenger hunt with the girls around the outdoor shopping center.  They both had the same list, but Siri's was all pictures, since all her reading skills have not yet blossomed :)  It was really fun, and the reward was frozen yogurt at Menchie's!

Tulip Festival

Matt's parents are here to visit for 10 days and it has already been such a fun time. Ty warned up to them really fast probably because he skypes them so much! (Funny, that sounds like he's got his own iPhone!)
We ate at Twirl Cafe on Tuesday; it has good sandwiches and a big play area, went to the mall yesterday where the girls were treated to Build-A-Bears! And today we drove an hour north to Tulip Town which is part of the tulip festival that is for the whole month of April. It was chillier than expected, but we powered through and had a great day!

J. Crew City mini in linen - a Tutorial

This tutorial is for a skirt that is currently in J. Crew stores.  It is a lined linen mini with pockets and elastic waist.  My friend and I saw it, both liked it, and the first thing I noticed was how ridiculously simple this $79.50 skirt was!  So, here is how I reproduced it!

I roughly measured a small size, while in the store, (using my iPhone) and it worked out pretty well.

• You will need 1 yd of outer fabric, 5/8 to 3/4 yd of lining fabric, and one package of 1 1/2" elastic.
• The seam allowance used here is 1/2".
• I made a pattern for the skirt piece, 25.5" tall by 23" wide, with a fold line at 18.5" to cut the lining.
• For the pocket pattern I traced a dress pocket, but if you want to try to draw it it is 8.5" tall and 7" wide with the straight part being 5.5" long.

1.  Cut 2 skirt pieces and 2 pocket pieces out of the outer fabric.  Cut 2 lining pieces and 2 pocket pieces out of lining fabric.

2.  With right sides together, sew lining pieces together, along the edges.

3.  With right sides together, pin outer pockets to one of the outer fabric pieces, laying them inside, 7 3/4" from the top edge, on each side.  Sew along the straight edge.  Do the same with the lining pockets and the other outer skirt piece.

4.  Press pocket pieces away from the skirt pieces.

5.  With right sides together, pin the outer skirt pieces together, pockets out, pinning around the pocket edges.  Sew.  *Leave a 1 1/2" opening 1/4" from the top of one edge.

*You may want to finish your edges with a serger or zigzag.

6.  Slide the lining over the outer skirt, wrong sides together.  Match up the seams and pin the lining 5 3/4" from the top edge of the outer fabric.  When pinning lay the pockets and seams towards the front of the skirt, which would look like the outer fabric is on top.  *Make sure the pin heads are away from the top edge.

7.  Press 1/4" around the top edge of the outer fabric, and 3 1/4".  Press folded edge over.

8.  Sew 1/8" from the edge of the 1/4" hem (bottom fold that is touching the lining.)

9.  Sew 1 1/2" from the last stitching, approximately 1 1/8" to 1 3/8" from the top edge; for the elastic.

10.  Cut elastic to fit.  I cut my exact waist measurement, but ended up taking off about 4".

11.  Insert the elastic in through the 1 1/2" hold that you left when sewing up the sides.  Overlap the edges 1/2" and sew elastic together.

12.  Adjust the gathers on the skirt so that the side seams are even when held up.  Stitch in the ditch on both sides of the skirt over the elastic to keep it in place and prevent rolling. Slip stitch the hole in the skirt closed.

13.  Press hem of outer skirt fabric to desired length.  

14.  Press hem of lining at lease 1" shorter than the outer hem and sew.

15.  Slip stitch the outer hem.

16.  Press the whole skirt, specifically pressing the pockets flat, towards the front so that they are virtually invisible.

17.  This is what the inside will look like and the whole skirt!

Just like this one!

J. Crew