Gramma Cindy's Sweatshop

Gramma Cindy's Sweatshop Doll Clothes Shop

My niece, Ava, is currently into American Girl Dolls and my mom found actual American girl doll clothes patterns and adorable fabrics at a local quilting store and has been sewing up the cutest outfits.  Ava's "Just Like Me" doll, Alisa, is going home with a new wardrobe!

New top, pants, & matching head bands

New dress

New nightgown

(+ book from Auntie M and glasses from Uncle J & Auntie D)

When Gramma Cindy isn't sewing, her knitting needles have been flying.

Alisa's new sweater/hat set with matching hat for Ava

(this was before the brass buttons were added)

(this was before the brass buttons were added)

I have to hand it to my mom~making such tiny little things actually takes a lot of time! And now she's gotten so cocky that she make the fancy nightie free-hand: no pattern at all! I'm so impressed!!!

Wear Pink for Cora

Wear Pink For Cora

Today is July 30th...8 months since little Cora was born.

In honor of their beautiful daughter, her wonderful parents launched
Wear Pink for Cora.

On the 30th of every month people around the world wear pink to honor Cora but this day isn't just about wearing pink. It's a day set aside to do acts of kindness, perform good deeds, show compassion, express love, and much, much more.

To read just a sampling of what people did today, click on the

Wear Pink for Cora link above.

To read the story of Cora's brief but beautiful life and her legacy, visit Cora's mommy's blog.

Once you read her story and see what has been done in her name, you'll find that Cora will grab your heartstrings and suddenly you want every day to be Wear Pink for Cora day~your life will be changed for the better and you'll want to reach out and

touch someone else's life for the better too.

Sending love out to Ben & Kristine on this special day.

That Face

Lake Washington

This was the first time I've been to Lake WA...it's about 20 min from our house to the park. And it was gorgeous! Grassy knolls sloping down to the water. Beautiful water. Little coves of water with trees reaching into the lake. And little copses of trees for picnicking. (One family actually had a picnic with real teacups & saucers and a delicious looking homemade carrot cake...I was tempted to ask them to adopt me!) Anyway~it was a perfect day: hot but with a great breeze. A delight!

Ava's Rose...

...has finally bloomed!

(The yellow rose is from Van's rose bush)

Crescent Lake & First Beach

Just wanted to share some of the incredible pictures of the Crescent Lake area here in WA. It's a huge glacial lake that has the most incredible colors imaginable! From light aquamarine to deep cobalt blue. It was breath-taking!!!

Seriously thinking of renting a cabin here (if we can find one) for my birthday! It was so peaceful!!!

We also visited First Beach, in La Push. This is on the Pacific Ocean...the drift wood was incredible, more often than not they were huge trees & branches versus small sticks. Even the rocks were worn smooth. It was gorgeous~the fog was just starting to roll back in...

The ocean was so gray after the blues of Crescent Lake...and everything seemed a bit more savage~imagine the force of the waves to push an entire tree up onto the shoreline! Yet just around down the road was a peaceful creak that was running out to the ocean. I loved the contrast.