Matt's favorite bday present

everyone knows that Matt is a star wars neeeeeerd, right?

well he's been asking me to make him a star wars stuffed animal for a long time and then he got the idea that i should make him a bantha stuffed animal.

what's a bantha?

this is a bantha...

some type of mammoth looking freak animal that little men in cloaks ride around on and shoot people.

he got the idea when he saw this picture...

and i actually thought the little stuffed animal looked much cuter than the real thing so i gave in and said i would make it for him.

he knows i can't resist a cute stuffed animal.

so i started studying this cute little guy and Matt actually found the website that goes with it.

the website was good for pictures and to start me out but it had one major flaw, it didn't say anything about what size to cut your fabric out to make each little piece!

that caused me to do a lot of trial and error.

anyway here's what i ended up doing...

first i went out and bought some tan fuzzy fabric, white fuzzy fabric and brownish colored fur fabric.

then i bought some new fabric because Matt didn't like the first ones i picked out.

i always try to get my fabric in the remnants bins and i was so lucky to find just what Matt wanted at Joann!

then i had to figure out how big to make this guy.

Matt said he wanted him to be BIG so i decided he should be about a foot long.

i made a cardboard cutout to measure all the body pieces out of the tan fabric so they would be just slightly bigger than 6in x 12in so after they were sewed together they would be perfect.

after cutting all four pieces i had to sew them together.

after sewing all the sides together i had to cut out the two end pieces.

i didn't make a cardboard piece to measure these i just made them a little larger than 6in x 6in and then sewed one end on by hand.

then came time to put some fluffy stuff inside to make him nice and cuddly!

and i sewed the other square piece on the end to finish off his body.

then i had to make his short chubby legs.

those were about 6in x 4in of the same tan fabric and i sewed them into cylinders.

then i measured 8 circles with a diameter of 2 1/4 in. to be on both sides of each leg and sewed one end on each of them, stuffed them but before i put the other circles on i had to make sure they were sturdy enough to support the big bantha body i made.

they were!

i decided before i sewed his legs to his body i better make his horns so it's not so hard to handle him.

the horns were 2 pieces of fuzzy white fabric that measured 6in x 4in.

i sewed the two long sides together and then stuffed them with fluffy and put some wire inside so i'd be able to shape them the way i wanted and then i sewed up the bottom part.

then it came to sew it to his head.

i just put the horns on the very front corners of his head and did some fancy hand sewing work to keep them there.

after his horns were done i went back to sewing his legs on.

this took FOR-E-VER!

first i had to make sure i put them in the right spot and then i had to do some funky stitching to sew the cylinders onto the flat belly.

i guess it was worth it because he stands like a champ but i really need to think of an easier way next time.

after what seemed like hours of putting his legs on i realized he was almost done!

only eyes, mouth and fur to go!

i got two black buttons and sewed them on so he could see.

then i measured piece after piece after piece of fabric to try to find the perfect size mouth and finally settled on 4in x 3 1/2 in.

it sounds big but you need to fold the two long edges in so they meet in the middle and then fold the fabric hotdog style and sew it together and then hand sew it on his face.

i know it sound confusing but that's what i decided was the best course of action when it came to his mouth.

that way you can open his mouth a little bit and pretend he's eating that mean old tusken raider that's always sitting on his back making that annoying sound.

now all i had to do was the fur!

it was a very messy part of the project because fur fabric always sheds.

i hand stitched all around his body so the hair would hang all the way down by his feet.

then i cut a piece to fit across his forehead like little bangs.

then came his goatee and after 5 straight nights of slaving over my sewing machine, getting blisters on my fingers and having crazy headaches from getting frustrated...he was FINISHED!!

Matt was a little excited.

okay he was psyched out of his mind!!

and then he decided that his new bantha friend will live here...

where everybody can see him!

it was a lot of work to make Makachu, that's what Matt named him, but i'm so glad i did.

i can't wait for my next sewing project now.

i'm quite the seamstress ya know.

birthday week part 2

so of course the next round of birthday week fun was AMAZING!

i mentioned before that my in-laws were taking us to get shrimp wrapped in bacon for lunch on saturday and ohhhh man, they did!

delicious little cheese filled shrimpies wrapped in crispy bacon dipped in garlic butter sauce with a side of spicy dirty rice.

mmm it's like eating a tasty heart attack.

we also ordered coconut shrimp because i love coconut shrimp anywhere but this honestly, truly, really, no doubt in my mind was the best coconut shrimp i ever had!

one day when we're feeling like taking the long drive to phoenix we'll go to that restaurant again!

later saturday night we met up with my family for a pizza party but Matt and i couldn't really eat because we were still stuffed with shrimp.

the family was swimming which i would've loved to do but we had a wedding reception later that night so we couldn't. sad face.

on sunday it was sunday dinner week at the Mason house and we received the most amazing birthday cake known to man!

my sister-in-law Natalie makes ridiculously incredible birthday cakes for the kids in the family and by kids i mean the kids and me and Matt.

last year she did a cookie monster cake that was amazing and a couple months ago she did a dinosaur cake for her son that looked like a stuffed animal.

so she asked us what we wanted this year and Matt said an ewok which made me think "whoa that's a bit much Matt" but i figured Natalie would come up with something along the lines of an ewok cake.

i was blown away when she walked in with this!!

a 3D ewok cake!! how adorable is that?? and it looks exactly like an ewok!!

Matt was in heaven!

we keep telling Natalie that she needs to get in the cake making business but she said no.

i think we should secretly spread around some business cards for her to show her how many people would want her to make cakes for them.

heck, i want her to make me cakes when it's not even my birthday!

we even tried telling her she could have a show on TLC like CAKE MOM!

i would watch that show!

this past tuesday it was finally Matt's birthday.

he went to work and sent me a text telling me he "forgot" his lunch so i went to pick him up and we went to Barros pizza and his dad met us there.

i told him he didn't have to fake forgetting his lunch because i wanted to take him out anyway but he's still claiming he really did forget it while he's making his lying face at the same time.

silly boy.

then it came dinner time and we decided to go to Benihana for dinner since last time we were there we signed up for their little club and got $30 off for Matt's birthday.

we invited all his friends and it ended up being a group of 8 of us that went.

it was so much fun!

that place is 100 million times better if you go with friends!

plus the cooking thing looks cool with everyone's food all spread out across it.

and after hearing the staff sing the birthday song 7 times they finally got to Matt.

now, nothing embarrasses Matt more than having a restaurant sing happy birthday to him but by the time they got to him there were only like 2 other tables of people in the place so he was a happy camper!

so that's the end of birthday week right?

heck no!

birthday week NEVER ends!!

this sunday we still have my family's birthday dinner and Matt is still finishing his present for me!

HOORAY FOR NEVER ENDING BIRTHDAY WEEK!

mtv 2010 movie awards

last night i remembered why i don't ever watch award shows.

we watched the mtv movie awards only because Aziz Ansari was the host and my biggest question ended up being "why the heck wasn't there more Aziz?!"

i guess by host they really meant he'd be in the beginning, introducing like 2 things and then in some super funny skits but honestly, you can never have too much Aziz.

i especially loved him as Taavon the swagga coach for Zach Gilifianakis!

and when he did the avatar song!

and his opening jokes were pretty dang hilarious!

and...actually, i especially love him all the time!

can somebody say celebrity crush??

Matt actually has a friend who knows Aziz and told us we should go hang out with him sometime but i think i'd be so nervous i wouldn't be able to talk and then Aziz would make some joke about me and i would laugh and cry at the same time and it would just be no bueno so i'll just keep watching him on tv and pretending we're buds.

ANYWAY...

so the movie awards overall sucked for one reason...twilight won EVERYTHING!

by the end of the night i was so sick of seeing Kristen Stewart i almost threw things at the tv.

and if you think she's just a horrible actress think again, she's also a horrible public speaker and i actually cringe when i watch this video of her and Robert Pattinson winning the best kiss award.

painful, so very painful.

so once you understand that twilight is taking over the world and wins everything you can move past that and you'll see one of my fave actresses won the generation award.

Sandra Bullock!

i just can't help loving her in every single movie!

i have a definite girl crush going on with her.

i'm a bit of a celebrity slut today aren't i?

she had some very nice things said about her and gave a great speech but are people going to remember that?

HECK NO!

they're going to remember her and Scarlett Johansson kissing it up!

scandalous!

so in the future, i will probably not be watching the mtv movie awards.

i will however keep laughing/drooling over Aziz and my girl crush on Sandra Bullock will probably only get worse as time goes on.

birthday week part 1

this week has been a crazy week of fun!

my birthday was on tuesday and Matt's birthday is exactly one week from mine so basically that's the most amazing week of the year for us.

every day is a celebration!

so far this week we have eaten amazing food including...

tuesday = red lobster's most amazing steak and lobster dish

wednesday = homemade brazilian food that was incredible

thursday = chilis with the fam including free dessert (mental note for next year's birthdays)

friday = neds and mesa fro yo raspberry tart

and tomorrow Matt's parents are taking us somewhere where they apparently have jumbo shrimp wrapped in bacon and everyone knows how much i love shrimp, and bacon, and shrimp and bacon together. mmmmmmmmmmmm!

basically i LOVE this week and how FAT it's making us!

and as far as presents go everyone has been showering us with greeeeen!

everyone knows that birthdays aren't as cool once you get older but one really cool thing about them is you get money instead of clothes you won't wear and toys you won't play with.

it's pretty much the best!

i've been talking Matt into buying me things all month by saying that they count as my birthday presents like my wooden hootie, a rainbow brite t-shirt and a swimsuit so he only gave me one more present on my actual birthday.

what was it?

he moved his laptop to his desk in the office and says he's going to keep it there for good.

my jaw dropped and all i could say was "really?"

this is HUGE for him!

this boy has not successfully kept his laptop in one spot since i've known him.

he constantly has to have it by his side on the couch, the kitchen counter, the bathroom, in bed, on vacations, i mean this thing is practically glued to him and for him to give me that as my gift was better than anything anyone could've given me.

i can't wait to actually watch a movie with him on the couch and not look over to see he's on his computer instead of watching the movie.

also, i'm interested to see how long he can keep his sanity when he's separated from his best friend.

i mean he's going to have to actually walk upstairs and sit at his desk to use his computer like every other normal person.

he's not going to make it.

JUST KIDDING MATT!!!

i love my present! thank you thank you thank you!

so since Matt and i had all that bday money burning a hole in our giant piggy bank and we are big big spenders we decided to go thrifting tonight.

we hit up some new spots today rather than our usuals.

first we went to a vintage store in chandler that a lady at work told Matt about and i got this bad boy!

BEAR HUG!

i looooooooove it!

but as a whole the store was pretty grossy gross.

it was painfully obvious that the clothes hadn't been washed before being put on the racks and that made the germaphobe Nikki come out.

all the clothes were wrinkly and had big nasty sweat stains and stains that i didn't even want to guess what they were and basically i panicked in the car trying to find my purell when we got out of there.

ask matt. it's true.

but after that we went to buffalo exchange since we were already way on that side of town and since it's one of Matt's favorite places to shop for clothes.

he found a cool t-shirt and a pair of jeans that i'm sure are his new favorites and i will soon have to sneak them away from him in the middle of the night just to wash them.

me, on the other hand, buffalo exchange is not my friend.

it never has been.

i find absolutely nothing that i like there or if i do find something i like it's not my size.

that store is a terrible tease.

next we headed to DI and found nada.

it let me down big time and i was starting to think my thrifting luck ended with my bear hug shirt but then we went to goodwill, our last stop of the night, and found this incredible retro bread box for 5 buckaroos!

i'm madly in love with this bread box, so much so that i might run away with it and leave Matt behind.

Matt's family does an odd thing instead of using a bread box, they use the microwave.

now i didn't grow up with a bread box in my home either but we certainly didn't put bread in the microwave where it's in the way every time you want to eat something!

it doesn't sound annoying until you've tried it.

seriously, try it. you'll know what i'm talking about.

so once i realized how much i hated the microwave being the bread's house instead of the place where i heat up my taquitos i've wanted a bread box.

and this one is PERFECT!

Matt promised me another bday present which includes cleaning, sanding and painting this little number so our bread can move into it and i can have my microwave back.

HALLELUJAH!

i'm so excited to see this thing on my kitchen counter!

it so belongs in our house with its retro style and funny glass and it's basically the perfect size.

okay...this love affair with me and the bread box has to end.

in other news...it was a historic day for me.

i paid off my car loan today!

that's right, after almost exactly 4 years of being a slave to monthly payments i now 100% completely totally OWN my car!

feels good!

feels liberating!

feels like i'm going to jinx myself and get in an accident tomorrow if i don't stop talking about it right now.

EXCITED FOR THE REST OF BIRTHDAY WEEK!

slip n slide

who says you need to be under the age of 10 to enjoy the amazingness of a slip n slide??

definitely not me!

every summer we have a giant slip n slide party and yesterday was the day!

my nephews got to start out the fun and they had a BLAST!

(Sammy's reverse army crawl move)

(this is my favorite picture! sammy loved talking to everyone!)

(getting soap in his eyes...again)

(washing soap out of his eyes...again)

(watching uncle Matt's slip n slide skills!)

and videos for some extra fun!

(each boy is laughing on the way down!)

(it may look like Matt is cruel in this video but Sammy was cracking up!)

(even mommy went down!)

(not wanting to go home)

after the little kids left the big kids got their chance to go wild and crazy!

(Matt getting everything soapy)

(getting soapy...i think)

then we brought the crazy stuff out, boogy boards, yoga mat, ice blocks.

we were even joined by some drunk strangers that made us do this to them.

yet again, the giant slip n slide was a HUGE success!!

the only bad part is the sunburns/scratches everyone now has.

totally worth it!