OOTDs: A Little Bit of Late Summer.

Day: Sunday, August 23, 2015.

Where:  Church, Elevation Burger for lunch, and Bowling with some friends.

Ease of Wear: (4.25 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.) I almost sold the Barbados dress, but because I had plans to wear it on an upcoming cruise, and because I didn't get back to the blog reader early enough (she found it on ebay!), I was able to hold onto it for longer.  I am so happy it worked out since re-wearing it and matching CW has reminded me of why I fell in love with it in the first place.  It is super lightweight, very cool on a hot day, and made in a silhouette that is super friendly to my pear shape.  :-)

The Cole Haan sandals have been in my closet forever and I love them so much, they give height without being too uncomfortable. 

Outfit Details:  Dress, J. Crew; Shoes, Cole Haan (similar here at amazon.com); Necklace, J. Crew; Sunglasses, Anthropologie.

Anecdote of the Day:  We saw some good friends at mass and when we mentioned that we were going bowling, their ears perked up.  We thought, "hey, let's invite them the next time we go," but they could come that afternoon.  I love it when plans fall into place so easily.  It was awesome.  :-)  I did okay, but I want to always do better.  BTW, I am not joining the bowling league this year (sad) since my new job means I don't have enough spare time to make it happen. So I really will need these outings to keep my bowling skills up.

INSTAGRAM HERE.

INSTAGRAM at bowling HERE.

Day: Wednesday, August 19, 2015.

Where:  Winesday at Whole Foods.

Ease of Wear: (4.25 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.) The dress features buttons that gape a bit at the back, but other than that, seersucker in a bright yellow in a pear shape friendly dress style?  Yep, a winner.  I sometimes wonder why I bother to wear trousers and shorts.  Ever.

Outfit Details:  Dress, J. Crew; Birkenstock Madrid Sandals, this exact pair can be found here at amazon.com (amazon.com also has the shade in these sandals and J. Crew still has some of the mirrored Madrid available); Necklace, J. Crew; Sunglasses, Anthropologie.

Anecdote of the Day:  So the week before I had seen my ex-roommate at Whole Foods at Winesday.  I am happy to report there was no sighting of him this time.  :-)

INSTAGRAM HERE.

Day: Friday, August 21, 2015.

Where:  Swimming Pool.

Ease of Wear: (4.75 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.) It's a ruched femme swimsuit from J. Crew, my favorite swimsuit style ever, hands down.  It even beats out the iconic Speedo one piece styles with the racer backs that I wear for swimming laps.  The only reason for the slight ding is that this particular version of the ruched femme ran a bit longer in the torso than the other ones in the past.

Outfit Details:  Swimsuit, J. Crew (my version is only available in d cup or long torso, but the pretty fern print one is still around in a regular length).

Anecdote of the Day:  I did nothing but laze around with my kids and my dad at the pool that day.  I was glad I took those moments, though, since the next week was an endless parade of school meetings and classroom work.  I was exhausted from all the teacher prep I did.  (I will do those teacher type outfits later this week, fwiw.)

INSTAGRAM HERE.

Day: Saturday, August 22, 2015.

Where:  Rex's baseball tryouts, Stella and Dot party, and a dog fair.

Ease of Wear: (3.75 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.) Like I said above, I don't even know why I bother ever wearing anything other than dresses or skirts and tops.  I find shorts and pants a bit uncomfortable, except when they are made by me OR when they feature an elastic waistband and stretchy material.  And since that's not always appropriate everywhere you go, I suck it up and do the "real" thing with proper closures from time to time.  But I can't help the feeling of "I want something better!"  :-)  These are fine, and really, they aren't nearly as bad as I know they could be, but unless I feel super thin (which is almost never), I feel very conspicuous when wearing pants and shorts.  

Outfit Details:  Tee, Madewell; Shorts, Boden (this year's styles here); Shoes, J. Crew (in navy here); Sunglasses, Anthropologie; Necklace, gift.

Anecdote of the Day:  My friend, A., mentioned there was some kind of fair near us when I was at the Stella and Dot party.  Initially I was supposed to walk three miles home from the party, but instead I went with her to the dog fair.  In the end, snuggling cute puppies and then only getting 1.5 miles seemed to be a fair trade.  Right?  ;-)

INSTAGRAM HERE.

Okay, I hope you all are doing well!  Have a great last few hours of August and happy early September!

OOTDs: Grey Casual.

Hi, all!  Happy mid-February!  It is quite a time here in our household, what with the continued healing of Rex (it's working, yay!), his eighth birthday (today!), and Mr. Dina's bday yesterday.  I also *just* finished a rather labor-intensive sewing project involving rayon challis and a button-up shirtdress for Fabric Mart (that post will be at their blog Saturday morning).  I am definitely looking forward to a yummy margarita tonight.

Since it has been so long since I have haunted here (barring a few comments back to questions left at posts), I figured it was high time I get something written.  :-)

Very little in the way of text, since I have the birthday dinner to get to, but will add bits and pieces where needed.

Date: February 9, 2015.

Details: Tunic & Scarf, J. Crew; Leggings, Madewell; Shoes, J. Crew Factory; Glasses, Bebe.

This was the first day that I convinced Rex (in his tiny wheelchair) to go on an errand with me to the grocery store so we could pick up his medicine and some random items we needed.  I had to put Angus in the Ergo (still fits him!), and Rex and I navigated the store the best we could.  He even got the sweet fishmonger to sign his cast.  :-)

These are my *fancy* glasses.  Now that I have frames that look decent on me, I am wearing them more than I did before.  I was surprised these were from Bebe, since their clothing line is not really my style (go on and open that link, haha).

Date: December 14, 2014.

Details: Top & Pants, J. Crew; Shoes, Urban Outfitters.

I went pre-bowling that day.  The whole time I noticed there was this boy (probably 20 years old), walking around and kind of looking at me.  Based on how well he was bowling, I figured it was because he was just horrified at my bowling.  Well, no, turns out he may have been sweet on me, because as I was leaving he asked me so nicely, "are you leaving?"  And then proceeded to converse with me for a long time.  Or he was just really lonely.  Or he wanted to push me for info on how this woman could be just that bad at bowling.  Hahahahaha.

Date: December 16, 2014.

Details: Sweater, crewcuts (size 16); pants & necklace, J. Crew; boots, Vince Camuto.

I was substitute teaching that day. ;-)

Date: December 17, 2014.

Details: Coat, Boden (here); Pants, Pure Collection; Sweater, Wal-Mart; Shoes, J. Crew.

Another day of subbing!  I have to say, considering this sweater is from Wal-Mart, it's pretty darn cute and fun.  A bit sheer, but nothing horrible.  Definitely 100% acrylic.  LOL.

Date: January 4, 2015.

Details: Top & Pants, J. Crew; Necklace &; Shoes, Boden.

Don't remember anything from this day, but I remember really liking this outfit.

Okay, you all have a great day!!!  Should be back soon, less going on for the rest of the month (thank goodness).

Made by Me Files: Vogue 8915 (Neon Tropical Print Shift Dress) and McCall's 6875 (Enchanted Tea Party Dress).

First up will be the Vogue 8915 Neon Tropical Print Shift Dress, followed by the McCall's 6875 Enchanted Tea Party Dress.

After a few fairly intense sewing projects, I wanted a dress or skirt or top that I could easily sew up for myself, made from a summer friendly fabric.  I ended up deciding on this dress made from Vogue's 8915, which is for a simple shift dress with no facings, and no set-in sleeves.

But because I am me, I made this project take at least three times as long as it should, because I can't ever just be satisfied.  ;-)

What you see above should have taken a day *tops* to create, but with me fussing over every detail, it took me around three days of pattern alterations, choosing pattern layouts on the fabric, sewing the underlining to the main fabric, basting the pieces together for fitting, adding an invisible zipper, finishing the sewing, facing the neckline with a rayon binding instead of just turning and stitching, hemming the armholes and hem, and finally finishing off all the seams with a zigzag stitch.

Having said all that, I wouldn't do it any differently, since I quite like the end product. There are tiny things I would change in retrospect, but I think the extra time was worth it.

Side view.  Do not think for a moment this dress is meant to be anything other than a very easy dress that has little in the way of shaping.  For summer, I don't mind a fitted dress, but sometimes owning a dress that sits away from the body in a breathable fabric is even better.

The length is great, I am happy with where it fell on my body.  I think they had a pretty generous hem allowance, but at 5'8", I knew that making a 3/4" inch hem would be fine (I turned the hem up 3/8" and then again an additional 3/8" so that the linen would be fully enclosed and wouldn't ravel).

Originally my plan was to have those black leaves be at the hemline as a cool border print effect (bonus, the selvedge edge runs below it which would have meant that I could have had a touch longer hemline since I don't have to turn it up as much since the selvedge edge doesn't unravel).

I was sent this piece of fabric from Fabric Mart in one of their "craft bundles," which means the biggest piece you will receive in any bundle will be around 1.5 yards.  This one came at 1.25 yards, which would have fit round my body and been long enough to place the pattern pieces from selvedge edge to selvedge edge (or the straight of grain arrow perpendicular to the selvedge), but because of the kimono style sleeves, the pattern pieces were just a bit too wide to place them that way.  Sad!

So I placed the pieces the traditional manner, with the straight of grain arrow placed how it should be, parallel to the selvedge grain, and noticed that even that way, I still didn't have enough fabric to place both pieces on the fold.  Sigh.  So I cut out the back pattern pieces as two separate pieces with a 5/8" seam at the center back so I could insert a zip.  Don't cry for me, though, since the zip is genius and makes getting in and out of this dress SO easy.  :-)  I don't know that I will ever place this pattern's back on the fold again since the zip is perfection.  (Well, okay, if it's a knit I will since a zip in a stretchy knit is overkill.)

The print looks kind of odd on the back, but it does look intentional and kind of arty, so I'll take it.

Sizing is important here, I went with a small through the shoulders, bust, and waist, but tapered out (using my hip curve ruler) to a size medium.  That still felt a touch too tight at 5/8", so I went ahead and made all my side seams below the waist at 3/8".  I was worried that I chose the wrong pattern size for my skirt, but the medium's ease was more than generous for my pear shape.  Next time I may cut an extra small in the neckline, it felt a bit big there, especially through the back neck.

Belting helps with the shape, but raises the hemline.  Since I was going to Mother's Day mass in this, I wanted to have a bit more coverage.  Will definitely belt this the next time I wear it to give it a different look.  Not going to belt it every time, because it is so comfortable without!

The pockets are fab and placed in a perfect position.  I found myself using them to place my hands all evening.  They are deep enough for a phone and keys and change if that is what you use pockets for, but I carry a bag with me at all times, so I rarely ever use my pockets for that purpose.

You can find the Tropical Riviera Linen Print fabric here--last few yards, though--and since I wasn't super sure that it wouldn't be see-through when wearing it, I underlined it with a Kaufman handkerchief linen I found at fabric.com (you can see it here).  Both fabrics are a cotton/linen blend, so they worked very nicely together.

There was a little bit of wrinkling in the skirt, but minimal compared to what I have seen in linens in the past.  The print helps disguise some of it, too.

I hand-hemmed the armhole hem.  The stitching here is attached to the underlining so it doesn't show on the main fabric.  You can see the original stitching line where I attached the underlining fabric to the main fabric.  It ended up being a great hem marking (roughly 3/8") for the armhole.

Detail of fabric and invisible zip.  You can see where the neckline looks a bit generous.  I mentioned sizing down to an extra small in the neckline next time, but I may also end up deciding to keep the small but adding darts to the upper back, which I have found help me with fit in other patterns, and also look quite posh.

You cans see the rayon seam binding I used as a "facing/support" in the neckline.  I hate wavy necklines, and I felt like if I just turned and stitched the neckline as instructed in the directions, I would have ended up with a wavy, gaping neckline, and since I find most necklines are too big on me anyway, I didn't want to exasperate this issue by not properly finishing the neckline.  Plus the orange rayon binding (vintage like these from an etsy dealer) looks really pretty with the fabric.

You can see how the zip's seam is from the selvedge, so bonus there, no need to finish those seams!

All in all, I can highly recommend this pattern, but bear in mind that if you do it my way it goes from being Very Easy Vogue to somewhere a bit less easy.

This is the dress I made for CW for Easter.  I had chosen the fabric back in December (Riley Blake's Enchanted Tea Party in Lime, here at fabric.com) specifically for Easter since it features a darling little bunny having tea with Little Red Riding Hood.  I didn't know which pattern I would use, I just knew I would make her a dress from this fabric.

After all was said and done the dress ended up being even more perfect for CW since the dress was used again for her school's Manners Tea, where her class read the play "Red Riding Hood."  Umm, hello?  Red Riding Hood was at the tea table with the bunny on her dress.  LOL.  Serendipity, people, serendipity.

The pattern I ended up using was McCall's 6875, which features two styles of  "traditional" girls dresses.  I went with the plainer version, and even after making it up made it even more plain by leaving off the hem band (would have been made from the same fabric as you see in the waistband) and by not adding a long extended tie back to the waistband.

This pattern also has a pattern for a doll dress (same size as all her American girls), but I have yet to make it.  I do have enough fabric, though.

I made this dress in a size 7 (like to size up for a bit more wear, this will fit her until she is 7 at least).  I ended up making the skirt with the size 7 length but the size 5 width since the pattern piece for the size 7 was too wide to fit on the quilting cotton's width of 44 inches.  Whatever.  The skirt was to be gathered and full, so ultimately the size matters very little, unless you really really want to gather that extra two or three inches of extra width.  I frankly am not the biggest fan of gathering, since it takes. SO. LONG, but I love the results, so I am always willing to do it.  Anyhow, you can tell the skirt is still plenty full and very gathered at the slimmer width, so I suggest you do that, too, especially if you are using a fabric whose width is under 50 inches.

The waistband is meant to sort of be a bit more free (you aren't supposed to topstitch it down to the bodice--I only topstitched it to the main fabric, not the lining, fwiw).  I think the deal is you would use the tie end to get the waistband to fit nice and snug, but since I wanted no tie end, I needed the waistband to fit properly from the get-go.  Figuring out how to make that work when the instructions where telling me something else was a bit of a mind-bender, but not totally out of my skill set, either.

I think it is really important to make sure the back waistband lines up properly if you choose to do what I did, since it would be really obvious if the pieces didn't line up.  I managed that, and in my first attempt with a plaid, I even managed to get the plaid's pattern to sort of line up at the seam junction.  (Not intentional, really, pure luck.  LOL.  I'll take it, though.)

Close up of the gathers, waistband, and the adorable print.

I was asked by McCall's at my Pattern Review review of this dress if I would be okay with them publishing this version of the pattern at their Facebook page, and of course I was all, "umm, yeah, of course!"  I can't believe that they noticed my version.  I am pretty excited! UPDATE: It made it on the facebook page. Yay!

BTW, if you want to try the girls pattern, I suggest going over to As Reasonable As Can Be Expected.  She has a lot of versions of this dress, and I found her work to be very helpful to me in the early stages of sewing this up.

Okay, that's it for now.  Anyone else give these patterns a go?  

My reviews of these two patterns at Pattern Review can be found here for the Vogue dress, and here for the McCall's dress.

OOTDs: Marled Colorblock Loveliness and Some Truly Awful Pants.

Hey, all.  I have been meaning to get to posting my ootd posts more frequently but I have been a bit busy with the usual, you know, constant needs of children, and the unusual, the complete drafting of my first pants block/pattern.  Last Saturday I spent four hours at G Street Fabrics working with an instructor who had us take very specific measurements of the lower half of our bodies (there are seven of us in the class) and then carefully draw precise lines and shapes from the measurements on pattern drafting paper.

This week we are meant to take the pattern and make a muslin of it with two inch seam allowances, and I don't about you sewers out there, but I am struggling to get those two inch seam allowances on there, even though I have a curved ruler and a very large clear straight ruler.  It's probably my inexperience, but I also bet a few people who have more experience than me might hate adding seam allowances to patterns, too.  ;-)

But--for all of the hard work I have to do to get the pants block ready--I so want this pattern to be done and asap, since I am at the point where I absolutely LOATHE 90% of my regular pants.  Leggings, fine.  Ponte trousers, great.  Actual physical pants with a waistband, pockets, and a zip/button closure, ugh.  I now weigh less than I did a year ago, but I guess since my sewing journey has started, I realize just how horribly pants fit most people.  It's like a tic...no matter what, I look for how pants fit people when looking at a photo of someone's outfit.  I even noticed that freaking J. Crew models have poorly fitting pants, all saggy and wrinkly and crotch-whiskered, too (at least nine offensive pairs of pants in the February 2014 issue, fwiw).  My *brother* has fitting issues, his crotch had massive amounts of wrinkles in the fabric in the pair he wore tonight.  So what to do?  Well--sew your own freaking pairs and sell the rest.  I think by the time I am done, I will have in my closet exactly three pairs of non-handmade pants that is how vile I think all of my purchased pairs are. 

Or it could just be that I am tired of pants because it has been too cold to wear anything but pants.  Darn you Arctic Blast.

So below are three outfits with pants in them.  Fortunately for the pants, they were at least topped by sweaters or tees that I just love, including the Marled Colorblock Sweater, which I recently acquired in one of the 40% off sales (although I think I may have bought this one at 50% off if I am remembering correctly).

I am going to not bother with any of the extra details tonight, but if I can link to a product page, I will.  :-)  I will add a few words about the pretty Marled Colorblock Sweater, too.

Okay, these pants are okay.  Bit short, but it wasn't too cold that day.  Plus it has a ridiculous amount of stretch in them, so they really don't count as "real" pants anyhow.  ;-)

You can find the Arrowstack necklace at Madewell.  The Embellished Ballet Flats are in clearance over at Boden.  

I made the sweater using the Crewneck Sweater pattern in Burda Magazines August 2013 issue.  Again with the tracing and adding seam allowances.  Worth the effort, though, I am a huge fan of this unusual shape and the fabric since I have NOTHING like it in my wardrobe.

You can read more about the process here at Pattern Review.  I won't be turning this project into a "made by me file" post here at the blog.

Close up of the fabric and the stretch lace trim I used on the sweater.

These stupid jeans.  They are too baggy at the waist so I had to keep hitching them up all day but oddly too tight in my upper thigh.  Sigh.  They look way cuter in the photo than they felt like in real life.

You can find the Metallic Snowflake Tee here at J. Crew Factory.

Close up the tee and the darling bow cardigan.  The tee fits well, I sized up to a small and like it a bit bigger and longer.  Works well with the silhouette I chose yesterday.

Does anyone recall the name of this coat?  It is from 2006 and it is so warm (probably made from stadium cloth fabric).  Anyhow, I pull it out when it is bitter a$$ cold out and that is what it was yesterday.  Bitter A$$ cold.

Sorry about the color, the shot was taken a bit underexposed and in attempting to get the lighting brighter, it turned the whole photo a bit green/cool. 

Those pants are the worst offenders in my closet.  I only wore them out because I literally put them on four seconds before leaving and because I knew that I would be wearing that grey coat (in the last photo) over it.  I think the pants being made from a horribly wrinkly cotton sateen make these pants extra wrinkly and saggy looking.  They are just so bad.  I shouldn't even give them up, I should just turn them into work pants and be done with it.  They fit, that's what makes the whole situation even worse.  They feel so comfortable on...what a pity that they look like UTTER crap on me.  LOL.

Color is a bit better here, but still a touch cool.

The Marled Colorblock Sweater is still available, and I have seen this color pop back a ton in both shades in all sizes.  I sized to an extra small based on Gigi's review, and I think I chose well since it feels comfortable without being too baggy or loose.  This would look really cute with a pencil skirt, if only it warmed up enough for me to want to wear a skirt.

The necklace is a stunner, and I am so glad I bought it way back in 2009.  I only wear it a handful of times a year but it never fails to make me smile.  It suits the coloring of the knit, especially the light purple shade of the yarn.

I personally love the tiny specks of neon threading but if that is not your thing stay away.  :-)

Okay that's all for now.

If you are a Boden fan, the "Spring Trim" of the day ends tonight and tomorrow starts another two day "trim."  You can read more about the current trim here.

Valid 1/26 - 1/31. 6-Day Promotion: 20% Off Selected Items; 10% Off Everything Else + Free Shipping & Returns!

OOTDs: Random J. Crew Outfits.

Hey, everyone!  We are in NYC this weekend (there's a Saints game so my dad, my hubby, and Rex are going), and with all the Halloween craziness last week (it included me making a Glinda dress for CW--glad that's done, btw), I haven't updated in almost a week. 

Since I have a few minutes this morning (woo daylight standard time!), I thought I would publish a few of the outfits I have had in backlog.  A couple of these are pretty old, like a couple of months old, but a few are fairly recent, including some from the past few days.

Since there is a lot here, I am going to not do the typical "ootd" type posting with lots of words, instead I will just give the ease/cool numbers on a scale of five, and only add anecdotes to outfits I can remember an anecdote.

Day: Monday, August 5, 2013.

Where: Somewhere, apparently.  Probably dinner out. 

Ease of Wear: (4 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.)

Cool Factor: (3.5 of 5 stars--5 being the coolest.)

 

Day: Thursday, October 17, 2013.

Where: Little Gym with Angus/Mint Condition Consignment Shop.

Ease of Wear: (4 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.)

Cool Factor: (3.5 of 5 stars--5 being the coolest.)

Anecdote from the Day:  It is possible to attend a "jump around the room" class in tights and a sweater dress.  Not ideal, but better than wearing too tight jeans and a silk blouse.  :-)

Day: Friday, October 25, 2013.

Where: The park. 

Ease of Wear: (3 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.)

Cool Factor: (3 of 5 stars--5 being the coolest.)

List of Items (forgot to edit them in the photo): Top & Shoes, J. Crew; Jeans, Johnnie b. (review here); Necklace, Target; Cape, Blarney Woolen Mills.

Anecdote from the Day:  The kids had the day off, so most of the day was spent at the house, chilling out.  By 3, it was apparent they needed to get out *already*, so I took them down to the stream, crossed the newly constructed bridge (yay, no in water stream crossings for this family anymore), and went to the park across the stream.  It was a lovely time and just what the kids needed.

Day: Tuesday, October 22, 2013.

Where: School Pickup/Dinner Out.

Ease of Wear: (2.5 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.) Not the clothing's fault, I was having a fat day and the jeans felt constricting.

Cool Factor: (3 of 5 stars--5 being the coolest.)

List of Items:  Jeans & Bag, J. Crew; Necklace (review here) & Shoes, Boden; Sweater, Crewcuts.


Anecdote from the Day:  I witnessed an accident the Thursday before this Tuesday on the school pickup.  The lady pulled out in front of me and another car, I braked with enough time to not hit her, but the other car wasn't so lucky.  I stayed so I could make sure she was properly blamed, since I wasn't sure it was fully obvious to the police officer.  The lady didn't just stop where hit, btw, she ended up going fully across the other lanes of traffic and ended up driving into the PARK across the street through the park's entrance.  Good thing no kids were at the park when she pulled that move.  Gracious.  Someone probably shouldn't have been given a license, huh?

I was grateful that on that Tuesday I made it home without having to witness a second accident.  After we safely made it home, I randomly took the three last photos.  My kids crack me up.

Day: Wednesday, October 23, 2013.

Where:  Dentist Appointment for Rex. 

Ease of Wear: (4 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.)

Cool Factor: (4 of 5 stars--5 being the coolest.)

List of Items: Jacket, Boden (review here); Top, Self-Made; Pants & Bag, J. Crew; Shoes, Naturalizer.

Day: Saturday, October 26, 2013.

Where: Rex's last teeball game for the fall and his awards ceremony.

Ease of Wear: (4 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.)

Cool Factor: (3 of 5 stars--5 being the coolest.)


List of Items: All J. Crew.

Anecdote from the Day:  It was SO cold that morning.  It is just weird playing baseball in weather that seems more suitable for ice hockey.

Rex received the superlative "Wild Thing," which is a good thing according to his coach.  Hmm.  ;-)

Day: Monday, October 28, 2013.

Where: Sitting at home, updating the blog, and deciding which skirts to keep and which to sell.  I only chose this outfit because I liked the way it looked in the photograph after trying this skirt as part of the process.  I definitely think this skirt is a keeper.  :-)

Ease of Wear: (3.5 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.)

Cool Factor: (2.5 of 5 stars--5 being the coolest.) Desperately needs accessories and makeup.


List of Items: Skirt & Top, J. Crew; Shoes, Target.


Okay, that's all for now.  If there is time I will update again before I leave NYC, otherwise, I will grab some moments next week when I am back home.