Click Here to Be Jealous

Part 1.

So we went to Hawaii. Just by the way. 

It was awesome, and this post is about to fill up with pictures.

Here we are, in St. George, ready to drive to California.

Which went just peachy keen until right before Death Valley. When the A/C went out.

Then we did fun things like stop at gas stations to stand in the freezers.

And sit on the floor of the Baker, California Autozone because the tile was cool.

Thankfully, my amazing husband is a car genius, and fixed it so we could have cool air for the rest of the drive. 

 So. Happy. 

We made it to Corona, stayed the night at my uncle's {he has a MISTER in his backyard!}, and then drove to the airport the next morning.

Where we saw this guy. Apparently he's a ridiculously awesome bad guy on shows that I am unaware of.

After a 6 hour flight, where we got to eat {non}awesome airline food and make fun of my mom,

 I got my first view of Hawaii.

We arrived and drove past skyscraper after skyscraper after graffiti {of which we took pictures like maniacs}, and then checked into our hotel.

The Hale Koa, "House of the Warrior." My military uncle {who I'm pretty sure coined the phrase, "I know a guy"} got us hookups there.

They put on this big luau at night.

  

They roast a pig in the ground and then feed it to you, and it is delicious.

Then there's hula dancing, fire dancing, and a lot of music.

The next morning, after doing a bit of exploring around some nearby shops, we stopped to eat at Hank's Haute Dogs. It's been featured on the food network; they're famous for serving lobster dogs. Of which they were out. Pfffff. But the Polish sausage with mango mustard and pineapple relish was still pretty dang good.

Hate crocs.

Then we drove across the island to the Polynesian Cultural Center.

Yup. He's totally asleep.

The guys did fun things like try to climb palm trees, and start fires with sticks.

We got awesome tattoos, took a canoe ride, and watched my brother get forced to play a giant drum in front of a lot of people.

Just as the sun was setting, we grabbed a bus and took a tour of the temple grounds. 

Absolutely stunning. 

And that concludes the first part of our week. 

Are you dying with jealousy yet?

{i mean, cuz you should be.}

Peasant Top Refashion

I have a disease. It's called "BWITA." 

For those of you unfamiliar with it, it stands for: 

BUYING WITH INTENT TO ALTER.

{har har.}

Getting into sewing has really changed the way I look at clothes in the store. Granted, its taken me a while to  learn how to put on my "lets-not-look-at-this-as-it-is-but-think-about-what-i-could-do-with-it" glasses, but I'm getting there.

The other day, I brought home this comfy top-

It was on sale, I liked it, but I didn't love it. BUT. I knew I had the potential to love it.

Its hard to tell in the pictures, but the neckline is REALLY wide. It was a balancing act to just keep it on my shoulders. So first things first, I came up with a way to take it in. 

I put on the shirt and pinned the neckline how much I wanted it taken in.

Then I created a box pleat out of the section I had pinned by flattening it and sewing it down.

The sleeves were next on the list. They were also wide and loose, and sorta made me feel like a bird flapping its wings every time I moved my arms. 

I cut off the lace on the ends of the sleeves and used it to tie a bow.

I turned the raw edges of the sleeves under and gathered them using a basting stitch. I gathered to just wider than the largest part of my arm, so that I could still slip them on and off. I sewed down the gathering using a zig-zag stitch for a little bit of stretch. 

You could also use elastic thread to gather the sleeves, but I seem to have bad luck with it. 

I took the bow I had made from the sleeve lace and pinned it on the neckline, right over my box pleat,{i am loving all the bows this season!} and hand-stitched it down.

Lastly, I took in the sides of the shirt just a tad. 

And voila!

It went from a top that I liked....to a top that I LOVE.

{p.s.-can you tell i'm too lazy to get out my tripod?}

{p.p.s.-i got a haircut. just so you know.}