Tuesday, January 3, 2012

about the authors...

When my sister was little she was a prolific author of short stories. They were rather unremarkable stories, sometimes only two or three sentences long, but they were always followed by a long and detailed "about the author" postscript. Birchwood and Almond is intended to be a craft blog, so I feel like I am following in my 6-year-old sister's footsteps when our first post is about ourselves.

We are two friends, Christina H. (me) and Elizabeth P. (Whom I usually call Lizzie.) We met in Organic Chemistry class in school. However, we did not really get to know each other very well until 3 years later when my husband and I made our first post-college move and Lizzie and I found ourselves attending the same church.

One thing that I really admire about Lizzie is that she is a project-finisher. I, on the other hand, am a project-starter-and-sometimes-finisher. As an example, a couple of years ago, I had a grand idea that we should run a marathon together. Yippee! I bought new shoes. That was easy and fun! When we went on training runs together, Lizzie carried on most of the conversation, and occasionally I added a panting "Uh Huh!" or "Yup." The training runs were not so easy, but because of Lizzie they were fun. When marathon time rolled around Lizzie ran the marathon...and I cheered her on from the sidelines. (I know...what a dud friend! Although in my defense, I did have poison oak and a bum knee.) The cheering was easy, but I know that the marathon was not.

Lizzie makes homemade toys and gifts for children's birthdays. She follows patterns; she tries new recipes. As a result, she is a fantastic cook and seamstress. In addition (but not necessarily related) to that, she is a wonderful friend, tender hearted, and funny as heaven. She sees projects through, which, for the author of a craft blog is a very good quality. It would not be so interesting to read a craft blog that only consisted of half-finished projects. (How would you like to try a recipe for Minestrone-Soup-but-I-got-bored-half-way-through-so-I-made-a-chicken-pot-pie-instead? No? Perhaps you might like my pattern for baby boy's pants? They only have fronts...but think how easy that will make it to change diapers!)  I promise, sometimes I do finish projects. But I am not sure what strengths I bring to the table other then the ability to run off at the mouth.

But back to the "about the authors." Lizzie and I have many similarities. We went to the same University. Our fathers have the same birthday.  We both married men named Jon/John in the same summer. We have sons who were born 8 days apart. We both have brown dogs. We both drive Camrys. We like camping, buying fabric, running, sewing, talking, and crafting.

In my humble opinion, I think you should read this blog. I hope it will be entertaining. Even if it is not entertaining, you might come away with some neat craft ideas, and maybe the strange desire to buy a Toyota Camry. Just in case I scared you off earlier, there will not be any patterns posted here for baby loincloths. Seriously, who needs a pattern for that? It is just a square of fabric attached to a belt!
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3 comments:

  1. Ha! This is great. I love you girls.
    -Sadie

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    Replies
    1. Yay! Our first comment! We are so excited that you win a prize, not sure what it is yet but you'll be getting it soon, and it'll be at least a little crafty :)

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  2. Yay! I love your writing Christina! (But it's a sorry substitute for your company.) And Liz I love your traveling matchbox toy! I'm so excited to read all your posts!!! (I hope you understand my excitement, I tried to use a lot of exclamation marks.) Love, Laura

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