iPhone photo of the week

I meant to post this yesterday. I noticed the star on the ceiling while I was doing my morning situps. Definitely didn't see any light reflecting into my apartment this morning, but the sound of rain was sort of relaxing. 

I'm not going to move my blinds, because I'm pretty sure I would never be able to get everything just right to have the light reflect in that way again. 

Grabbing my iPhone, I laid back down and shot the picture. Then, I went to plug the phone into the computer to download the picture (and also sync my phone). Nothing happened. Not when I pushed the buttons. Not when I unplugged it and pushed all the buttons. Not when I plugged it in to the wall and pushed all the buttons. Not when I pushed all the buttons on the phone in random combinations throughout the day. So, I went to the iPhone store thinking one of two things would happen a) they could give me a new 3G because I had the extended warranty or b) I'd be leaving with a new iPhone 4. I didn't think it could be fixed because it seemed beyond the grave. The sales clerk plugged it in to one of their computers and, lo and behold, it starts to power back up. This phone is on notice - one more bit of refusing to work and it's going to be replaced by the newer model.

Heart garlands

Instead of your traditional valentine card, I sent a bit of home decor. It was fun talking to everyone I sent one to and hearing where they hung up their garland. I'm selfish - I kept two and put one in my apartment and one in the window at my office at work.

It was a very simple process:
1) Grab a stack of magazines from one of the many overflowing piles. The Anthropologie catalogs were definitely my favorites
2) Pull out all the pages that had pretty designs
3) Create heart templates out of card stock. This helped me group the hearts on to the page and make the best use of pretty patterns
4) Start cutting. I freehanded some hearts as I got more comfortable
5) Lay out the yardstick and start putting rows of hearts together
6) Start up the sewing machine and run the hearts through. I found that it was easiest if I kept the hearts spaced only a couple of stitches apart. You can see in the picture above what happened when the hearts weren't propped up by their neighbors
7) Stick in envelopes with a note for friends and family. I put aside a few to share with etsy friends, too