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Friday, December 30, 2011

Hello, Cool Phone

Shopping: Hooray for a four day weekend! I went to spin class this morning and felt great leaving. Afterwards, Julie and I went to the Verizon kiosk at the mall. I've been wanting an iPhone for a while, but didn't feel comfortable shelling out the $30 data plan until I got my promotion. Since my promotion is effective January 1st, I figured this would be a good time to get it. I was debating on getting a Silhouette cutting machine as a post-promotion treat to myself, but I've survived this long without it, I'll survive a while longer. I debated between the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, and the differences between the two wasn't enough to convince me to spend an extra $100 for the newest version. I was impressed that the iPhone shipped a few hours after I left the kiosk. Hooray for good customer service. Buh-bye, clunky old phone. Hello, future cool phone.

Nails:
After a few days of bare nails, I decided to try on another new nail polish color. This one is a glitter polish, and while I foresee it being a pain to take off in a few days, the color is pretty so it'll be worth the hassle. This color is Ulta in Tink-Her-Bell (after 3 coats). It came in an Ulta Quake Nail Polish duo set with a black crackle polish. In the future, I might put this over a base coat of another color.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

RJ's Twin

From what I heard from people at the office, today's movie selection was Backdraft. I didn't see it though because I was enjoying my teleworking day in my pajamas.

When I went to my parents' house last night, I picked up 2 boxes of my old stuff and went through them today. I found this black and white stuffed cat that I got as a present back in college. I was very amused because it looked very similar to RJ.

I was going to do a scrapbook page of all my movie stubs from this year, but that project will have to wait until later. Julie came over today, and we made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies to bring to the neighbors. And now we're being lazy, watching episodes of Big Bang Theory.

Whoo hoo, four day weekend ahead!

The end.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Movies at the Office, Day #2

Cookie success: I gave away all the cookies that I baked yesterday! I brought some to the office and left with an empty container and then the few extra that I had at home, I took them to my parents' house. This afternoon, I was camped out in one of the offices that has a large window in it. I had the door closed because I was on a conference call, but I saw the big boss walk by. He paused at the window, pointed at me and then the cookie, as if to ask me if I brought the cookies in. I finally got what he was trying to say while trying to also pay attention to the conference call and nodded my head. He then gave me a "sooo good" expression. Ha ha. Spreading cheer with cookies, yep, that's what I do.

At the office: Today's movie selection at the office was Fletch. I came into the movie about a third into it because I was on a conference call with my boss. I had no idea what was going on half the time, but at least being in the conference room with my co-workers was better than sitting in my office. I decided to move my teleworking day to tomorrow since the office is closed on Friday, my usual teleworking day. Of course, I'll be missing the last movie day at the office, but I'll enjoy working at home in my pajamas instead.

I also heard from a co-worker about some baby news, and I'm SO excited for her! :) I was so ready to blab the news to my boss so that she would be in the know, but I stopped myself as this is not my news to tell.

Shopping: Armed with some coupons, Julie and I went to Bed, Bath & Beyond and Michaels tonight. My goal at BBB was to get a scale to put in my bathroom (used my 20% off coupon!). I'm not really too happy with myself with recent bouts of overeating, and I figured a way to get my weight situation under control is to hold myself accountable with the numbers on the scale because it's an objective way of tracking my progress. Losing 10 pounds will put me back in the "Healthy" BMI category, so that's my current goal. According to FitSugar, the best time to weigh yourself is in the morning, so the official weigh in will be tomorrow.

At Michaels, we got some frames and mats to use on some prints that I got from trafalgarssquare. I also got an EK Success postage stamp border punch on clearance. They already had Valentine's Day stuff out. Craziness.

Card: I had a piece of green cardstock that I had left over from when I was die cutting leaves for this card. I figured that since the piece was big enough, I could use the negative in another card, as not to waste any crafty supplies. I die cut another set of leaves and covered the space with some American Crafts patterned paper to add some visual interest. Then I used the other spool of washi tape that I got for Christmas. I thought about stamping a sentiment, but then I thought some Thicker alphabet stickers would give the card a little more pop and texture.

Card Specs:
Paper: American Crafts- City Park
Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Foliage
Stickers: American Crafts Fabric Thickers in Patchwork
Washi Tape: from Container Store
White Gel Pen: Uni-Ball Signo Broad White Gel Pen

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Movies at the Office, Day #1

Today started off kinda rough because I got into bed last night around 11 PM to start Nicholas Sparks' latest book Best of Me, and I got so into it that I didn't put it down until 12:30 AM. This resulted in me struggling to get out of bed. Fortunately, because of the casual dress code this week, I didn't really have to put so much thought into what I was wearing. As long as it was clean, I was outta there. I went so far as to forgo the make up because, really, who's gonna care?

The a/v technology in the conference room was a little wonky today. By popular vote, we decided to watch the movie Fletch, but for some reason, the music in the movie was working but the dialogue track wasn't. We tried the Inglorious Bastards DVD to see if the same thing would happen, and it did. Finally, we tried my Toy Story 3 DVD (ha ha, I win) and you could hear enough dialogue to figure out what was going on. The IT guy came into fix the a/v settings so I'm hoping that it'll all be good for tomorrow's movie watching session.

I promised to bake some cookies to bring into the office tomorrow, so I baked some peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. There was no space for the last cookie, but I plopped it on the cookie sheet anyway. It turned into a square cookie. Guess which ones are going to my family tomorrow? Heh.

Monday, December 26, 2011

An Experiment With Washi Tape

Spin class: I had a long conversation (20 minutes?) with Anna the spin instructor after spin class today. She asked me how my Christmas was (I told her I hung out with family) and then the conversation went to my family background and Taiwan and work and school and her son's decision on where to go to college. I've been going to her class for almost 3 years, and this was the longest conversation that I've had with her. It's not that I don't want to talk to her, but usually there are other people in the class that strike up a conversation with her right after class starts. Because there weren't that many people in the class today, this was a good opportunity to chat. :)

Card: My cousin got me two rolls of washi tape for Christmas, so I decided this would be a perfect opportunity to try them out. I've never worked with washi tape before so I did some Google research to get some ideas before I got started. I had some die cuts on my desk that I was going to use for another card, but then didn't, so I wanted to make sure that I used those too. I'm not sure if I get why washi tape was all the rage this year in the crafting world, but I am happy to have a new embellishment option to use in my crafty stash.

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Charcoal
Paper: American Crafts- City Park
Stamps: Studio G (sentiment)
Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 4, Spellbinders Nestabilities Standard Circles Large
Washi Tape: from Container Store
White Gel Pen: Uni-Ball Signo Broad White Gel Pen

I'm bringing my Iron Man 2, Toy Story 3, and The Blind Side DVDs to the office tomorrow so that we have something to pick from when we begin our movie-in-the-conference-room tradition. I'm curious to see if anyone else is going to bring in something from their collection.

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas!

Christmas was pretty uneventful since I celebrated with my family yesterday. Julie came over last night to watch some movies that I got from the nearby Redbox: Source Code and The Adjustment Bureau. I thought both movies were good, but not to the extent where I felt like I had to run out and get the DVDs.

RJ definitely got some cuddles during the movie watching.
It's definitely going to be difficult to go to the office on Tuesday, but I am thankful for this little break.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Merry Christmas Eve!

Hello out there! If you are celebrating Christmas, I hope you are having a merry one so far!

On Thursday night, I went to ZooLights with Meg, Robyn, and Beth (a girl that we all met at the charity dog washing event a month ago). The weather was rather mild, so it was pleasant to walk around in.

Yesterday, I went to spin class in the morning, went to the library to check out some books to read during the holiday (The Help, the new Nicholas Sparks book, and some James Patterson books) then spent some time at my parents' house so that I could hang out with Julie, who's home from school. Well, I guess not much hanging out happened because I ended up taking a really long nap instead.

Today, Julie and I went to see Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, which was pretty good. It was action packed, so much so that there were parts in the movie where I could feel my body tense up from all the suspense. And, of course, Tom Cruise and Jeremy Renner were nice to look at. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing Mr. Renner in the Avengers movie coming out in 2012. We came back to my place where Julie made some use of my craft supplies and made some of her own holiday cards (see picture below). I got my fill of NCIS reruns as she was being crafty upstairs.

Tonight, we had a big family dinner at a Chinese restaurant and then came back to my parents' house to open gifts and eat custard for dessert. I think it's safe to say that everyone had a Merry Christmas :) Ginger was happy to personally check out all the gifts before we unwrapped them. Mom was happy to get a new mixer (because I took hers when I moved out). Julie and I got each other Threadless t-shirts. I also got her some prints from trafalgarssquare.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Culinary Success

Nail stuff: I got a comment recently to do a tutorial on how I do my nail stamp art. Since I don't have a very good camera to show the details and I don't have a good handle on my video editing software, I thought it'd be best to refer folks to existing nail stamp art tutorials. I learned how to do it through Kristina Werner in this blog post. Yeah, I mean, this whole nail stamp art might take a little bit of time, effort, and practice, but to me, all that is totally worth it.

Culinary success: I went over to my parents' house tonight to drop off presents to put under the tree as well as some chicken marsala (I did it on my own this time, without my sister's help!) that I made earlier today. Dad immediately opened the plastic container and dug in and said that it was pretty good. Yay! Mom complimented me on my red/white nails.

Snail mail: I saw a Christmas card for me posted on my parents' refrigerator. It was from a former supervisor (he gave me my first job out of undergrad). Inside, he wrote "Are you still at home? Call me!" Ha ha, no, I finally left the nest! Even though I sent him a Christmas card, detailing all the major events this year, I think I'll give him a call tomorrow morning.

Card: Almost everything about this card is out of the ordinary. a) new sentiment stamp, b) haven't used those swirl stamps in a while, c) almost never use the color purple in my cards, d) I think this is the first time I've used this particular stamp pad.

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Charcoal, Sour Apple
Stamps: Studio G (sentiment), Me & My Big Ideas- Sassy Icons (flourishes)
Brad: Making Memories Brad Value Pack- Chelsea's Place collection
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
Flowers: Prima
Other: American Crafts Stamp Marker in Violet

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

New Red and White Manicure

Spin class: I spread some more holiday chocolate cheer after spin class tonight. I was able to give away the last two packages because both Janice and Nancy (TH night instructor) were in class tonight- Janice was teaching and Nancy took the bike in front of me. There weren't many people in class today (maybe it's because of the holiday season?), and I felt badly for them because they have to maintain a 10 person class, otherwise they risk getting the class canceled. At least I'm there to do my part and be present.

RJ: Continues to make my life interesting. Last night, I saw him very amused with something in the corner of my bedroom. I went to investigate. It was a bra. Lovely. ::eye roll::

Nail Polish: I wanted to try another nail polish color from the haul a few weeks ago and a new Bundle Monster image plate. The white isn't as opaque as I would have liked but I think that look is hard to achieve. Maybe at some point I need to invest in some of that Konad special polish. Base coat: Revlon in All Fired Up. White: Revlon in White on White.

Monday, December 19, 2011

A Bright and Merry Card

At the office: I had a new homeowner form that I had to fill out, but wanted to get some advice before I clicked the submit button. I went down the hall to my boss's boss's office. He was finishing up a conversation with another co-worker. "So, what can I do for you?" me- "Well, uh, this isn't work related..." and then I proceeded to launch it what the form was about and how I needed a grown up's advice. I felt really silly the second I finished that sentence. I've done quite a lot of growing up this year, but somehow I still don't feel like a grown up. Fortunately, he has a sense of humor and told me that I was in the wrong office, but he helped me anyway.

Spin class: I gave Anna a bag of chocolates as an end-of-the-year thank you gift after class was over tonight. She smiled, "Let me give you a sloppy hug. Happy Christmas." She's from England.

Bummer of the day: I went by my parents' house after going to the gym. Mom says, "I have bad news for you." My heart sunk a little. Did someone die? Is someone sick? "You got zapped by the speed camera again. In the same place as the last one." #$%@! Both times, it was in the same area as the craft show that I did earlier this month. I'm never going by there again. Ever. UGH! I guess I really need to control my "need for speed." (10 points if you can identify the movie reference)

Family: Today's Mom and Dad's wedding anniversary. Dad got Mom 30 pieces of Godiva white chocolate. Of course, I convinced Mom to open the box and share. 30 pieces is a lot to consume on your own, right? That's why you have family...so you can share! Mom liked the card that I made for Dad to give her. Yay.

2012 Race?: I got an email about the 2012 St. Patrick's Day 8K and its discounted race entry fee of $25 through the end of the year. Maybe this is a sign that I need to get back on my running legs.

Card: I'm not quite done yet with making all my Christmas cards. I think I'll send this one to my boss tomorrow. The white band was originally blue, but then I didn't think there would be enough contrast between the blue and kraft cardstocks. Thankfully, I was able to remove the blue cardstock without having to create a whole new card base.

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Warm Red, Deep Green
Stamps: SEI- Winter Song (fern), Studio G (sentiment)
Paper: My Mind's Eye- Countdown to Christmas
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 4
White Gel Pen: Inkssentials

Sunday, December 18, 2011

A Ribbon and Brad Thank You Card

Nothing exciting to report from today. Went to spin class this morning and then went grocery shopping in the afternoon and then camped out on my couch for the rest of the evening. A blanket + a warm kitty = a cozy nap.

I also got a bunch of holiday things done today in the form of writing Christmas cards, wrapping up presents, and preparing packages for mailing tomorrow. I hope to be able to get to the post office right when it opens so that I'm not in a huge line.

Best thing about going to the office tomorrow? We get to do casual Friday wear from now until the end of the year. While I don't mind dressing up for work, I like being able to pick out a random t-shirt and shlep off to work. Last week, I asked the big boss if we could continue the "watching movies at the office the week between Christmas and New Year's" tradition and he said yes. Yep, he rocks.

Nails: I took off the forest green nail polish I was rocking all week so that I could try this Ulta Quake Duo set that I got 50% off yesterday. I think it's their attempt at a crackle polish. The right hand crackled more than the left for some reason. The base coat polish is called Ruby Slipper (so festive and pretty!). Ulta has similar duo sets: black crackle + gold polish (gave this to Robyn for her birthday this year), black crackle + pink polish (have this, need to try it out), silver crackle + green polish (have this, will keep it as a present to give away at some point).
Card: Here's my card for today. I had intentions of making a flat card so that I could have it on hand for when I need to mail a thank you card, but these fabric brads that I bought a while ago caught my eye instead.

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Charcoal and Yellow Ochre
Stamps: Studio G (sentiment, heart)
Brad: American Crafts, Large Brads- Dandelion, Recollections- Rhinestone Brads, Tapestry by C.R. Gibson- Ruby Lemonade.

Song of the day:
"What Christmas Means to Me"- Stevie Wonder. I was boogie-ing to this song in the car on the way to the grocery store. Sure, I probably looked silly, but I was in such a good mood that I don't really mind if people saw me.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

New Year CARDS Magazine Challenge

Yard sale find: I went to a moving sale today and found these two storage units that would be perfect to put on top of my craft table. I've been looking for something to put my full size chalk inks in, where they would be easily accessible and visible. The lady originally said $12 for both, but I convinced her to bring it down to $10 for the both of them. They were a little dinged up, but that's okay with me. With a few swipes of a Lysol wipe, they were ready for my office. The lady had some animal print memo boards for sale as well. I had them in my hand, but at the last minute, put them back because I didn't think they'd go well with my yellow office.
Food: I tried this new baked oatmeal recipe tonight (baked peanut butter apple oatmeal), and yep, it's yummy.

RJ: I caught RJ in the closet again. He showed no shame.

Random thought: I'm glad that the Christmas season only come around once a year. Driving around with all the shoppers and extra cars around is really nerve wracking.

Card: Here's my take on this week's CARDS Magazine challenge featuring New Year cards. I decided to make a cone hat with confetti flying around. I originally was going to have confetti flying out of a cone, but then it didn't look right. Fortunately, I was able to turn the yellow triangle into a hat!
Card Specs:
Paper: My Mind's Eye- Countdown to Christmas
Punch: Recollections
Stickers: Basic Grey Micro Mono Stickers from the Basics collection
White Gel Pen: Inkssentials

Friday, December 16, 2011

Fall-To Layout #171

At the office: I am so proud of myself.

I guess the awesomeness of the accomplishment depends on who you are, but for me, it's BIG.

What did I do?

I was actually SOCIAL tonight!

Ha ha. I know. That's kinda lame, but for my usual hermit self, going to an office happy hour was a nice change of pace and whaddiya know, I actually had fun and I had a beer! Us gaggle of girls gossiped for about 1.5 hours before I said good night, went to Potbelly, picked up a roast beef sandwich, and headed home. I also went to a 1-hour spin class this morning (and last night), so I'm feeling like I've done a good job of burning off all the cookies I ate yesterday at the cookie exchange. Along with all the cookies that were available, a partner sent us a huge box of popcorn (caramel, chocolate, peanut butter, etc.).

After the happy hour, I came home and noticed that RJ was not at the door and not on the couch. I went upstairs expecting to see him on my pillow, but instead, found him in my closet, sleeping on top of a sweatshirt. Lovely.

Bummer of the day: I got some mail saying that I got zapped by the speed camera. There goes $40 down the drain. Sigh.

Card: Dad asked me to make a card for Mom for their 30th wedding anniversary, which is Monday. Since Mom's got a green thumb and loves to garden, I thought that a flower would be a great focal point for the card. I folded an origami rose from paper that I got for Christmas last year, die cut some leaves and found the appropriate stamps and letter/number stickers for the sentiment.
Card Specs:
Ink: StazOn in Jet Black
Paper: Die Cuts with a View- Nana's Kitchen
Stamps: Fiskars- Romance (sentiment)
Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Foliage
Stickers: American Crafts Dear Lizzy Christmas Glitter Chipboard Thickers in Sparkling
Other: American Crafts Stamp Marker in Black

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Bad Chew Toys and Cookies

RJ: Has been a little terror lately. I saw him chewing on my coat Monday night when I was watching tv. I told him to scoot. Then yesterday, before I went to work, I went to get my coat and noticed that the gem in the center of my fabric flower pin was gone! Oh. No. So that's what was keeping his attention the other night. I frantically looked around for the gem. Thankfully I found it on the carpet. Otherwise, this might have resulted in an emergency trip to the vet. Hopefully adding some Glossy Accents will do the trick. :P

Food: These Rolo cookies will be the star of tomorrow's office cookie exchange. Just sayin'.

Monday, December 12, 2011

CPS #248

Eye appointment: I have one pair of contacts left, so I made an appointment with the eye doctor for this morning. Thank goodness for insurance, that's all I gotta say when I went up to the counter to pay my bill. The surprise at the end of the appointment was that I got a free pair of sunglasses for the wall. I'm not sure if they were doing that with every customer, but that was totally unexpected, but cool. I picked out ones with plastic white frames (I have sensitive skin and some metals make me itch). Very retro.

Spin class: It was a good workout, as usual. However, there was an added bonus of a cute guy in the class. ;) Maybe I'll get the guts to talk to him. Ha ha.

I dunno what my deal is. I mean, if I have to talk to someone at work or for work, I have no problem approaching them. However, I can't seem to channel that part of me when I'm trying to talk to people socially. :P

Nail polish: Currently rocking OPI's Cuckoo For This Color. Plain. No image. I hadn't given this bottle of nail polish any love this year. The last time I wore it was last December.

Card: Here's my take on CPS #278. I dug out a set of brads that I hadn't used in a while to put in the center of some paper flowers. I felt like I needed to take a break from the Christmas-themed cards.
Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird
Paper: Die Cuts with a View- Mango Frost
Stamps: Savvy Stamps (sentiment)
Punches: Fiskars Scalloped Sentiment border punch
Brad: K.I. Memories- Enchanting Epoxy Brads, Recollections- Silver Circles
Flowers: Prima, Recollections
White Gel Pen: Uni-Ball Signo Broad White Gel Pen

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Fall-To Layout #170

Reunion: Tonight, I went out to dinner (Copper Canyon Grill) with a girl I went to high school. It's been 10 years since I've seen her so there was a lot to catch up on. She had gone to the 10 year reunion a few weeks ago, so she updated me one some of the people she saw there. It was very nice to reconnect.

Feeling fashionable:
I was walking around DSW waiting for my friend from high school, and a little girl in a stroller commented on the yellow soles of the shoes I was wearing. "They're cool!!" I laughed and said thank you. Good thing I'm fashionable in the eyes of a 3 year old. While I was walking around outside, a woman stopped me to ask where I had gotten the pullover I was wearing (Old Navy) because she had bought sneakers for a relative (niece, granddaughter, daughter? Can't remember) and I guess the color of the pullover matched the sneakers so she wanted to know where she could get it.

Card: Here's my take on Fall-To Layout #170. I went for a flower theme on this card with Christmas colors, using buttons as the flowers and die cutting leaves from a recent Nestabilities acquisition. I used some green chalk ink on the edges of the leaves for a distressed look, but I think it came out a lot more subtle than I would have liked it to. Next time, I'm going all out with some Distress ink instead for a little more pop.
Card Specs:
Embossing powder: Stampendous! in white
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Warm Green
Stamps: Studio G (sentiment)
Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Foliage
White Gel Pen: Inkssentials

Craft Show #2

I am totally flabbergasted about how different today's craft show was from last week's craft show.
  1. There were definitely fewer vendors at today's craft show, and we were spread between the front and back of the high school building. This was my third year in a row doing this show, and in previous years, there were definitely more vendors.
  2. There were fewer shoppers at the craft show. I'm wondering if the attendance of vendors and shoppers was because of the change of date or people going Christmas shopping elsewhere.
  3. I made more money at this 1-day craft show than at the 2-day craft show last weekend! People were more willing to buy more cards to get the discount, and no one made a stink about my prices. There was an older lady that came by and bought 4 cards and 8 fabric flower pins. She said that her husband had asked her to get some presents for the ladies in his book club, so I offered the fabric flower pins at a discount if she bought multiple ones. I wasn't about to let a sale walk away!
  4. I think it also helped that Robyn split the table with me to sell her catnip mice. If I had to make up the table fee on my own, this would have been a different story, so I'm glad that we decided to share. The table was big enough that we each had enough room to show off our items. Also, it was nice to have the company.
I had some visitors come to this craft fair: Mom/Dad brought snacks, a co-worker came by to say hi, and Meg came by at the end to help us pack up and go to dinner. The original plan was to get Mexican food, but the restaurant hadn't opened up yet for dinner so we got Red, Hot & Blue instead, which I was totally fine with.

Today ends my 2011 craft show season. Thankfully, it ended on a profitable note ;)

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Trying Out Bundle Monster Image Plates

I have been really enjoying experimenting with the Konad image plate that I got a while back. My only issue with Konad is that the image plates are a little on the expensive side. I went back to Amazon.com to check out any knock-off brands that would have the same value, but at a cheaper price. I read the reviews for this Bundle Monster 25 pack of image plates and decided to give them a try. From what I understand, this set is better than the first one that they have on the market, so I'm glad they listened to customer feedback to make some improvements. Each Konad plate is about $7. The Bundle Monster pack was $21.99 ($0.88 per image plate).

My French manicure from the weekend was looking a little beat up, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to try out one of the nail polishes that I bought recently and a Bundle Monster image plate, specifically one that had the fans. I didn't notice any difference between my Konad plate and the Bundle Monster plate, but I'm not sure if that's the case across the board yet because I've only tried one image so far. If I run into any problems, I'll be sure to report on them. Pale blue: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Blue-Away. Dark Blue: China Glaze in Little Drummer Boy. Bundle Monster plate #215 .

On another note, I need to find a better top coat. I currently use the OPI one, but I find that it sometimes smudges the image on my nail. Maybe I'm putting it on too thick? Does anyone out there have any recommendations? I've heard that the Seche Vite one is good, but it has one of those warnings on the packaging.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Tuesday Trigger: Deck the Halls

Friends: I met up with my former boss for dinner tonight to catch up. It's been about a year since the last time we had dinner together, so it was nice to hear how she's doing (and, of course, gossip about people at work, heh.)

Random act of kindness/weather: It has been raining pretty steadily the past two days and the rain has made the earthworms come out. When I was walking around outside today between buildings, I noticed a crowd of people looking at something on the ground. As I got closer, I found out that they were all looking at an earthworm that had crawled out of the ground. One of the ladies was in the process of picking it up to "rescue it."

Card: Here's my take on this week's Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger Challenge. The paper already has a little glitter on it, but I used my finger to spread some silver glitter glue on the green ornaments to make them
Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird
Paper: Die Cuts with a View- Nana's Kitchen, My Mind's Eye- Countdown to Christmas
Punch: EK Success Photo Tags Large
Stamp: Studio G (sentiment)
Other: Brown Sharpie Ultra Fine Point marker

Monday, December 5, 2011

Good News and Fall-To Layout #169

At the office/goals: I am able to cross off another thing off my goals for 2011 list- I got a promotion! It was officially announced at the all-staff meeting this afternoon and will be effective 1/1/2012. This has been over a year in the making. Given the recent staff and budget cuts, I wasn't sure if this was going to be possible, but somehow everything lined up and the necessary people who needed to sign off on this advancement said yes. I am very lucky to have my boss, because she could have easily found another way to move around the program money. She chose to give me the promotion, and that's going to really make a difference next year.

I actually found out about this news a few weeks ago. I printed the official email and went by my parents' house before going to the gym to tack it on the family refrigerator. It had a similar feeling to posting a good report card or good test score.

As predicted, Dad thinks the extra money should go to retirement. What a typical parental thing to say. I can think of funner things to spend money on. Like some crafty goodies or hey, even a kitty buddy for RJ. There's an idea! ;)

Card: I'm glad to be back to making cards for the blog. The card production for last week's craft show kinda exhausted me, and I felt like my mood for creativity was just not there and I didn't want to force it. With that said, I decided to tackle Fall-To Layout #169 tonight. I wanted the tree to stand out against the card, so I took out some of my green buttons and arranged the buttons into a tree shape.
Card Specs:
Paper: My Mind's Eye- Countdown to Christmas
Stickers: Basic Grey Micro Mono Stickers from the Basics collection
White Gel Pen: Uni-Ball Signo Broad White Gel Pen
Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Floral Doily Motifs

Song of the day: "Faster"- Matt Nathanson. I heard it at spin class a few weeks ago...and I forgot the lyrics so I couldn't find it when I got home. Nancy played it again tonight, and I repeated a line in the song in my head over and over until I got home so that I could Google it.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Craft Show #1, Day 2

Craft show: Today was better than yesterday in that I was able to cover my table fee AND make a little extra money. Cristina, my friend from grad school, came by to visit my booth and her purchase helped put me in the black (as opposed to red). There were some new vendors today, to take the spots that Saturday-only vendors occupied. The treasure box lady that had the booth next to me was replaced by a woman who sold these beautiful colorful wreaths. I wish I made more money today because I would have definitely bought a wreath and some of the photography that was being sold. The grandma that bought 15 tags from me yesterday made another appearance. She was sporting the necklace that she purchased from another vendor and showed off yesterday. She was a cute lady.

I'm so glad that I stayed for the whole time because there was a lady that came by at the very last minute and bought 6 cards from me. Patience pays off I guess.

Books: Just so that I would have something to keep me occupied at the craft show, I brought The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks. I started it yesterday and finished it today, with about an hour left of the craft show. It was something that was already sitting on my bookshelf. I had read it before when I borrowed it from the library so I knew that it would be a good quick read.

RJ: One of my goals tonight was to wash my bedsheets because of all the cat hair that's accumulated over the course of two weeks. RJ obviously didn't mind taking a break on my bed, even though it was sans bedsheets. I honestly can't let the guy out of my sight. What a little terror.

Friday, December 2, 2011

Craft Show #1, Day 1

Craft show: I had my first one of the season today. I got many customers that said "Ohmigosh, that's so cute (::touch cards, pins, tags::)" and then walk off. Such a tease! However, there were some very nice customers. This one grandma almost cleaned out my origami ornaments, an item I don't get much business on usually. She wanted one origami shirt or dress ornament for each of her grandchildren, and since she took 15 ornaments, I'm assuming she has 15 grandchildren.

Nail polish: The crackle nail polish from Thanksgiving came off yesterday. I decided to do my first DIY French Manicure, using Kristina Werner's tutorial on YouTube as a reference. Tip of nails: Essie in Walk Down the Aisle (3 coats). Over top: OPI in Sweet Heart. I think it's a subtle French manicure, not like the ones you see on acrylic nails. Not too long after this picture was taken, the manicure got messed up because some parts were still not completely dry, so I took it all off. The 3 coats of the while tips might have had something to do with it. WAH.

Nail polish, take #2: I went out to dinner with a girl that I met at the dog wash event a few weeks ago and then afterwards, I went to Ulta with a coupon to check out nail polish on clearance. I cashed in on the Buy 2 Revlon, Get 1 Free deal and some clearance Sally Hansen Insta-Dri nail polish (5 bottles total). With the coupon, my total was $6.86. Mwah ha ha. I tried the French manicure again. Hopefully this'll stick this time around. I'm absolutely shocked that my right hand turned out better in tonight's manicure. Usually it's the left hand because I'm a righty. Tip of nails: Revlon in White On White (2 coats). Over top: OPI in Sweet Heart.

Craft Show Eve

Ahhh, a day off! :) I was able to go to the DMV Express to get my address updated on my driver's license. I dunno why it's called the DMV Express. I was there for like an hour! How is that Express? :P

Mystery solved #1: I found out who the mystery chocolate came from at the office. Since I knew who the sender was, I felt that it was safe enough to eat.

Mystery solved #2: I ran into my neighbor this afternoon and she said that she noticed that I had fixed the handle on my trashcan. The bungy cord that used to be there because of some random act of kindness somehow fell off, so I had to replace it with some string. She said that she was the one that put the bungy cord on my trashcan, but we were both disappointed that it mysteriously disappeared.

Here's my craft show inventory. Look at all the cards! I hope that by the end of next Saturday, most of the inventory will be gone, which would translate to profit! ::fingers crossed::

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Unrelated Ramblings

Goals: I was able to cross off another item on my list of things I wanted to accomplish in 2011- "Reach 625 Etsy sales by January 1, 2012." This morning, a woman from Israel bought 6 of my origami cards, which brought my total number of Etsy sales to 626. (check, woot!) I'm already thinking about what to put on my list of things to accomplish on 2012. A part of me is a little apprehensive because, as I'm looking at my 2011 list, I'm going to be able to cross off most of the things on my list. I know that I'll have to step it up a notch in 2012 to really challenge myself.

Interesting links
: 10 Things 90s Kids Will Have To Explain To Their Children. I think the one that I can identify with the most is #7. ::shudders at the thought::

Important message about equality, human rights, and family that another one of my friends posted on Facebook. I thought the student in the video was very articulate, and I hope his message had an impact on his audience.

Good customer service report: About a month ago, I bought an Aerobed. With this purchase would come a $10 gift card to Bed, Bath and Beyond. I got an email saying that the card had been mailed, but it's been a month and I haven't received it. I contacted customer service yesterday to tell them my problem. After some research, they found that the address they had on file for me was incorrect. I got an email today, notifying me that the new gift card has been reissued. ::applause::

At the office: At a meeting today, we were talking about stuff we had to do. I mentioned "well, cookies around here definitely speed things up." A director replied, "No, Tina. YOUR cookies speed things up around here." I think a part of teamwork is to find what motivates people. If the "carrot" is cookies, I make sure that I'm on those people's good sides.

Family: My cousin recently upgraded his iPhone, and he was nice enough to let me have the old one to use as an iTouch. I have never had an Apple product before (I know that's kinda shocking in this day and age), so this was a new adventure to me. I love it! I'm able to do so many things from this little handheld thing and not have to turn on my computer- email (both personal and work), monitor my Etsy shop, Twitter, facebook, IM, etc. I have finally caught up with the world! Here are two pictures that I took with it. Julie and I were talking about hummus, which is why tahini was brought up.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Food Surprises

Surprise #1: When I got to the office this morning, I saw that there were 2 pieces of chocolate on my desk, near my monitor. However, there was no note. I had no idea where the candy came from! Tips: when you give surprise gifts to people, leave a note so that a) the recipient can properly thank you and b) so that the receiver can actually eat the gift, if it's edible. As tempting as the chocolate was, I didn't think it was safe to eat it unless I knew who it came from, even though both pieces were wrapped.

Surprise #2: I opened up a container of hummus that I bought last night at the grocery store and there was a clump of mold in it! Gross. I went back to the grocery store before spin class and was able to exchange it, even though I didn't have my receipt.

Spinning: During class today, Janice was like, "I noticed that some of you have been losing weight. What is your secret?? Did you not have pie? Tinaaaa???" There must have been something wrong with her eye sight. I'm still burning off all the food that I ate that one meal!

With all this talk about exercise and trying to get food consumption under control, I asked the HR director if we were going to have a cookie exchange this year at the office. Why do I torture/sabotage myself?! UGH!

My card making mojo has sorta taken a vacation. Maybe I'm in a creative funk. I hope it comes back after the craft shows this weekend.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

A List Summary of Today

Good things that happened today:
  • I woke up to an Etsy sale after a 2 week drought.
  • I didn't have to wait in line at all at the grocery store. For once, I picked the right line.
  • My sister came over to help me make chicken marsala so that I could try a new recipe and have some thing to eat for dinner this week.
  • Because the USPS guy stopped by, I was able to cross off 2 names on my Christmas gift-giving list.
  • I ate dinner with my family and watched several episodes of Big Bang Theory and laughed. A lot.

Semi-bad things that happened today:

  • I dreamt that I was pregnant last night. I have no idea where that came from. That was not a welcomed dream. Therefore, I didn't get a good night's rest.
  • I witnessed some bad manners from a grown man at the grocery store. He snapped at me because I got in his way in the vegetable section. Oh, dude, I can snap just as hard as you can, but I choose not to, mkay?
  • I went all the way to the DMV to get the address changed on my driver's license, only to find that the office was closed for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Sometimes, you just gotta take the good with the bad. And the good definitely outweighed the bad today. No complaints here!

Friday, November 25, 2011

Fall-To Layout #168

Spinning: I was so lucky this morning at spin class. I made sure to call the gym this morning to secure my seat in the class, but was put on the waiting list. Being that today was the day after Thanksgiving, of course there would be a lot of people that would be there to work off all the goodies they ate the night before, myself included. I was number 2 on the waiting list, but was able to get a seat, whew! Working out on the cardio machines would have have been the same.

Food: Since my parents' house was on the way home, I stopped by there to eat some Thanksgiving leftovers (mainly a slice of apple pie that I didn't have room for last night). Oh well. At least I worked out, right?

Shopping: I didn't go out for any Black Friday because the crowds and parking lot traffic kinda freak me out. I'm sure there will be other similar deals after Black Friday. I did manage to cross off a person on my gift giving list, so that's success to me!

Card: Here's my take on Fall-To Layout #168. The center piece gave me an opportunity to try out some new dies, and I love how the circle fits perfectly into the red piece. The finished size of this card is 3.25 square.
Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Ocean, French Blue, Warm Red
Stamps: Studio G (all)
Paper: My Mind's Eye- Countdown to Christmas
Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Standard Circles Large, Floral Doily Motifs

My goal tomorrow is to go to the DMV and get my address changed on my driver's license. That shouldn't take too long, right? ::fingers crossed::

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope that those who are celebrating Thanksgiving today had a wonderful holiday! :)

My parents are hosting Thanksgiving this year, but the meal was actually cooked in 3 separate houses: Mom/Dad's house, my cousin's house, and my house. It's really convenient when your family lives close by! My contributions this year were a green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, rolls, and stuffed mushrooms. Yum!

My cousin brought over some of her nail polishes so that we could do our nails. I decided on OPI on Collins Ave. as my base coat and then OPI black shatter as the crackle top coat.