I apologize for not posting very regularly over the past month. I felt like I should mention it but I don’t have a lot to say.

I’ve had a string of bad luck lately that’s left me feeling a bit defeated. First the Sparkler Bag pattern took way longer than I anticipated, which kept me from working on anything else, which hurt me financially. Then I lost my camera, which means I can no longer make tutorial videos (luckily I have a separate camera for photos). And now my car is undriveable due to a transmission issue that I can’t afford to fix.

I’m really, really, really stubborn when it comes to asking for help so I’ve just been laying low. That’s how I deal with things. I’ve been working my butt off. As soon as I got the Sparkler Bag pattern sent out for testing, I immediately started working on the next pattern. I was working on getting a second job but now I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to deal with not having a car.

Please bear with me if my posting is a little erratic for a bit. I’m just quietly working hard, trying to figure things out.

It’s fair season again! One of my favorite things about Summer! I almost wasn’t going to share these pictures because really, how many pictures of me petting cute animals do you want to see over the years? :P But there was a yarn bombing exhibit this year so I couldn’t not share!

How rad is that?! Apparently anyone was allowed to participate (flyer here), and I totally would have had I found out about it in time. Aw well! It was still cool to see!

Ok, so now on to the cute animals!

These poor little pigs lost their mom the day after they were born. :(

Why is it so adorable when goats are jerks?! I love it! This is the perfect opportunity to show you a video (not from the fair) that I can’t stop laughing at!

It never stops being funny! :)

Obligatory photos of me feeding cute animals in the petting zoo! I don’t care that I’m almost 30. The animals will always be my favorite part of going to the fair!

Have you been to your local fair yet this Summer? What’s your favorite part?

I’m sorry for the lack of crafty posts lately and hope you’re enjoying all of the local stuff I’ve been posting while my cousin has been visiting. I took her to this hiking spot that I love because I wanted to show her the pretty ocean view! I really enjoy being in the mountains and hiking but we don’t really have that super close by. So this is the next best thing! There are lots of trails, a beautiful view, and it’s fairly close to home!

Here’s the view from the top! We hiked down, further than you can see in the picture, and then back up! (click the panorama to see it bigger)

About 1/4 of the way down. (click the panorama to see it bigger)

We saw SO many bunnies! There were times where we came to a fork in the trail and if there was a bunny on one trail, that’s the way I’d go! :P

There were also tons of lizards and I also saw a king snake.

At the bottom of the hiking trails, there’s a quiet residential street where wild peacocks hang out. We saw quite a few but they weren’t being very photo friendly. I found a feather though! It feels more special than buying them. :)

Then we met this kitty who attempted to eat my feather. I almost allowed it because he was so cute. I love it when cats walk straight up to me wanting to be pet!

Afterwards, he walked us to the trail so we could start our hike back up to the car.

I made a trip to Knott’s Berry Farm with my family, to take my cousin there for her first time! We spent the day going on new (to her) roller coasters!

This is a swing ride that goes 300 feet up. It’s exciting about half way up and then becomes terrifying. And I never even thought I had a fear of heights!

I want one of these lanterns for my yard!

This was a failed attempt at a roller coaster pic with my mom. She’s not a roller coaster person and only went on one ride with me the whole day.

Afterwards, we ate at Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant, which is suuuper popular, but I’d never been there before. Let’s just say, I can see why there’s so much hype over it. Best chicken ever.

My cousin is visiting for a month, from Atlanta, and I’ve been showing her around. For her first full day here, we went on a long bike ride along the beach! We had churros (the best ones ever!) for lunch while sitting on the pier, watching dolphins.

She also got to see pelicans up close, and sand crabs for the first time.

I got a new iPhone app, called Panorama, that I’ve been obsessed with. Click on any of the pics below to see them full size.

Boats in Redondo Beach.

Redondo Pier / Where we ate lunch!

Redondo Beach, the view from the pier.

Manhattan Beach.

This was just the first of many beach days to come for us in the next month. We have plans to go kayaking to see seals, tide pooling, and many more bike rides!