Five little things.

Five things I currently love are...

1. Amazon's Wishlist feature. I just discovered it a few weeks ago, and I love it! Now I can have all of the things I would *eventually* like to buy all in one place. No more searching through Amazon because I forgot the name of an author or a book title. No more trying to remember my favorite items so I can check often to see if prices decrease. Everything is in one place. :)

Today I told my mom about it so she will have lots of options for my birthday coming in April. :) I also saw that the Cranford/North and South/Wives and Daughters DVD set went from $54 to $38! Hmm...

2. Books. And making books. (Not writing them, making them.) I made this little leather book for my dad (today's his birthday) to keep track of important info about the farm, animals, etc. I love this style and want to make lots more like it. It's very small- about 3x5 inches? Maybe 4x6.

And as for books...I will soon be doing a post about books I read in January. And I'm so excited about this book! It makes me want to go and read all of the Little House books (I just added the boxed set to my wishlist :). I don't think I ever read all of them, though I did have a very worn copy of "Little House on the Prairie."

3. Feeling inspired and successful. Yesterday, I made up my muslin for the swing dress sew along. My first time ever making pattern fitting adjustments and a muslin. Okay, so I went a little overboard and didn't need to take that much length off the bodice or do a SBA, but that's okay. So the bodice was a little snug. That's okay! I think I know how to fix it. If things keep going this well, this will be the first dress I've ever made that actually fits me! :) Making alterations to the pattern caused an odd mixture of feelings of fear and empowerment. If the swing dress is successful, I might reward myself with the Ceylon pattern.

4. Musicals. In fact, I'm planning a whole post declaring my love for musicals.

5. Things that trigger memories. Earlier, I was looking through a cabinet for CDs to put on my dad's new iPod shuffle (a birthday gift for him). I found a dusty stack of old N*Sync and Backstreet Boys CDs. I probably won't ever listen to them again, but I can't get rid of them! My very first BSB CD still has my personal touch- on the cover, I drew big pink hearts on my favorite guys (Nick, Kevin, and Brian, I believe :) and big pink circles on the rest. Those CDs were on constant repeat on the big, black boombox I got for Christmas somewhere around 2000. I was a serious fangirl. I had the posters, the t-shirts, the notebooks, everything. Those ridiculously cheesy songs are still in the back of my mind.

You made it through all of that randomness where I actually wrote about the Backstreet Boys on my blog? :) Good, because now I'm going to announce the winner of the book/DVD giveaway.

Thanks to random.org, the winner of the giveaway is comment 6, or Charity! Congrats. I'll send you an email so you can get me your info.

Thanks to everyone who entered! Also, thanks for all the kind words about my new blog layout. :)

Until next time,