A Rainy but Productive Day

I thought this cold was on its way out, but alas, I was incorrect in my assumption. Sigh. Now the nose problems have moved on to a cough. Good thing it was kinda grey and rainy outside today, so I didn't feel like I was wasting a day inside. It was a productive day though.

• Went through three boxes that I bought from my parents' house and came out with three piles: trash, donation, and keep.
• Read Year of the Dog, a book that my friend Suzie got for me. I thought it was so cute and relevant to me because the author incorporated bits and pieces of Taiwanese culture (I'm Taiwanese-American. My parents are immigrants from Taiwan, but I was born in the States). In many parts of the book, I was like "I know what she's talking about!" That was a cool feeling.
  
• Baked banana chocolate chip muffins to use up the spotty bananas sitting on the kitchen counter. I had made a batch a few days ago, so these will end up in the freezer and I can take the others with me when I go on my business trip next week.

The pot roast that I made last night was awesome. I was a little afraid that it'd be too salty, but since I tossed it with some egg noodles, it was a very yummy meal. My freezer is very happy. It must have been fate that I found this slow cooker at a rummage sale a while back. I dunno why anyone would give it up because I think it's awesome! Maybe the original owner got a bigger one.

While I didn't make a card for my blog today for World Card Making Day, I did make some origami dress cards for my Etsy shop.

Song of the day: "Marry You"- Bruno Mars. Have you seen this marriage proposal with this song in it? Credit goes to Emily and Julie for finding the clip.

Fall-To Layout #160

Here are some pictures of RJ from today. This is the first time that I've seen him sit on his couch like a person. I think it's funny and weird at the same time. This pot roast recipe is cooking downstairs in the slow cooker. I've sneaked a couple of bits and I'm really liking it. I think it'd go great with some egg noodles. I had to adjust the recipe some because I have a smaller slow cooker. I also added some beef broth and water to increase the amount of gravy at the bottom.

Here's my take on Fall-To Layout #160. I started out with a piece of leftover kraft cardstock from yesterday's cardmaking session. I had stamped Antique Linen Distress Ink on it and then decided that the image didn't stand out enough. Instead of tossing it into the recycling bin, I decided to cover the whole card front with patterned paper. Crisis averted! :)
Card Specs:
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Warm Honey, Peeled Paint, Barn Door. Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird.
Paper: g.c.d. Studios- Chianti Collection
Punch: Fiskars Square squeeze punch, Fiskars Scalloped Sentiment border punch
Stamp: K&Company- AB Lotus Floral Stamps (vine, butterfly), The Paper Company Studio- Greetings (sentiment), Inkadinkado- Nature (flower)
Pearl: Queen & Co.- Pearl
Other: Black Sharpie Ultra Fine Point marker

Wee Memories Challenge #69

Sniff.

Sniff.

Snifffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff.

Ugh. :P

While I was able to escape the cold symptoms yesterday, I woke up this morning with a full blown cold. Achy, sweaty, nose issues. Mmmmyeah. Time to use a sick day.

Taking a sick day also translates to lots of quality time with RJ.

The rest of the day was spent doing one of three things: sleeping, eating and watching TV/movie. I borrowed Avatar from the library last week and since it's due tomorrow, I thought that this would be a good time to watch it. I dunno. I wasn't wow-ed by it. The story line was too similar to Pocahontas, so I didn't think that aspect of the movie was all that creative. The special effects, however, that must have been really cool to see in the theater, especially in 3D.

Wee Memories Challenge #69 put the spotlight on patterned paper. My thought process started with a kraft cardstock base and then a stamped floral scene that would be more tone-on-tone with the kraft background and then punched out butterflies using different pieces of patterned paper. In the first version of the card, I used Antique Linen Distress Ink for the floral scene, but after the ink started to dry, I realized that the images were standing out as much as I would have liked. In the second try (the one in the picture), I went with Chestnut Roan chalk ink. Ah much better. Now for the smaller details: letter stickers, faux stitching and brad. I kept the stickers inside the a and o in the sentiment so you could see the faded lettering in the alpha stickers. I thought it would add some texture and visual interest in that corner of the card. I wanted a brad in a color that would be a contrast to the red and brown to break that corner of the card up.
Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Chestnut Roan
Paper: g.c.d. Studios- Chianti Collection
Stamps: Inkadinkado- Nature (leaf, flowers)
Brad: K.I. Memories- Enchanting Epoxy Brads
Stickers: Lily Bee Design- Happily Lost Collection - 12 x 12 Cardstock Stickers

One-Layer Wednesday #66

This morning started out a little crazy with RJ playing with a huge spider that got in the house. I originally thought it was a cricket so I resumed getting the trash out of the house for trash pick-up day, but then the creepy crawly thing didn't move like a cricket so I screamed, picked-up RJ and put him on the other side of the room. He yowled, probably upset that I wouldn't let him play with his new toy. The spider was so big that I didn't have the guts to pick it up so I sucked him up with a vacuum. Blech, yuck!

I was in a meeting with the Executive Director this morning. He turns to me at the start of the meeting, "Do you want to lead this meeting?" What? Uh, ok, sure. That was totally unexpected. The other surprise thing that happened today was that I got a call from my former officemate who left at the end of June. It was nice to catch up.

Here's my take on One-Layer Wednesday #66: Get Inspired by Janelle. "Be inspired by Janelle's blog...anything on her blog, from her blog banner to her family photos, from her one-layer cards to her more elaborate creations. Doesn't matter." I had never visited this person's blog before, so it was cool to see her work. I decided to make a card inspired by this card that she did on September 21 with flowers and a sentiment in the corner. I liked that she used a lot of flowers, but I took a different spin on it by using different flowers. The flowers I used were solid, while hers came in two different parts (middle and petals). My card also wasn't square. I liked how the sentiment really stands out from the busy flower business in the background.
Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird, Maroon, Rose Coral, Warm Red, Yellow Ochre, Warm Green
Stamp: Studio G (sentiment), Inkadinkado- Nature (leaf, flowers), Autumn Leaves- Journaling (frame)
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper

Dental Peace of Mind

I paid the dentist an emergency visit today. I know, ugh. I've never had to do an emergency appointment before so that's how much the situation was freaking me out. Did I have a cavity? Is there something wrong with my filling? Do I need a root canal? How much is this going to cost? My left back molar has been giving me some trouble lately, and I didn't want the problem to linger and get worse so I bit the bullet and called the dentist this morning. The receptionist told me that they had an opening at noon today and she recommended that I take it because the dentist was going to be unavailable later on in the week with the upcoming Jewish holiday. Suh-weet, ok, let's get this over with.

The hygienist took an x-ray of the problem area and the dentist didn't find anything wrong with it. Whew! I told him that I had been clenching my teeth/jaw recently and that was probably the root cause of all this pain. He gave me some MI Paste to rub on the tooth and advised me to be more conscious of the clenching. I hope the M in MI stands for magic because I'm so ready for things to feel normal again.

I sat in the reception room to be checked out. The receptionist asked if I needed another appointment and I told her I didn't. "Oh, then you can leave."

Wait, what? A free visit to the dentist? That's too good to be true. "Wait, don't I have to pay?"

Receptionist- "Oh, I was just going to send the bill to your father." The guy at the desk, filling out some paperwork turned to me and laughed. "How can you pass that up?!"

No no. Being a "grown-up" means that you pay your own bills. Everything has a price, including a peace of mind.

I forgot to get my lunch out of the fridge when I left the office today. Thankfully, there was a Five Guys nearby so I calmed my nerves with a burger and fries. I hope I canceled some of that out by going to spin class tonight (Janice played Black Eyed Peas AND Lady Gaga for me!).

You know that saying "When it rains, it pours"? Well, after I got home from the dental appointment, I was starting to feel some cold symptoms coming on. I hope they'll be gone by the morning because I have meetings tomorrow!

A Day at Hersheypark

Today, Meg, Robyn and Robyn's friend Adriane went to Hersheypark. This visit was supposed to happen weeks ago, but Hurricane Irene kinda put a kink in our plans. But that was all for the best because we definitely had better weather today.

The drive there was a little interesting. We noticed two different drivers who had very strange driving habits as we drove past them. One guy was referring to his iPad while driving. The other guy was brushing his teeth.

Remember this quote: “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.”― Neale Donald Walsch?

Yeah, so I went on 2 rollercoasters today, which is definitely outside of my comfort zone. I don't mind driving fast, but at least in that scenario, I'm in control of how fast I'm going. I have to tell you that it's really difficult to have a death grip on the handlebars when your hands are so sweaty. The 2 rollercoasters that I went on were the Great Bear (thrill rating 5/5) and the Comet (thrill rating 4/5). By the way, the thrill ratings are the official ones given by the Park, not by me. The Great Bear's ride had your feet hanging...I thought I was going to black out at some point from the shear panic. After the second rollercoaster, we went to get some lunch and then we visited ZooAmerica and 2 other rollercoasters. I decided to sit out on the afternoon rollercoasters because my head and stomach started to feel funny after the ones from the morning. I was scared just watching the cars go up the track and then drop straight down. I can't imagine how it would have been just riding the cars. Yikes.

The day ended with going to Chocolate World and taking the chocolate making tour, which ended with getting 2 Hershey's Kisses. Yum! The end of the tour led out to the gift shop where there was an overwhelming amount of candy everywhere. Hoooorayyy! I got a Hershey mug and some chocolate candy. They had a 6 King Size candy bars for $6 deal going on, but I didn't want to buy so much candy on my own. Luckily, Meg, being the great friend that she is, was willing to split the deal with me so that we'd each get 3 bars.

Here are some pictures from the day. Notice that in the height requirement picture, I'm just barely over the line. Mmmyeah, so I'm short.

September 8K

8K: Whoo hoo, the day is here! I got to the race site early to ensure a parking space and I actually saw my Executive Director, his wife and kid walking by across the street when I parked my car. I honked my horn and he hesitated and waved. I opened the car door and stuck my head out, just in case he couldn't seem me clearly through the windshield. I can see how it'd be weird to be waving at someone that you didn't really recognize.

The 2 mile challenge was first and it was funny to see all the little kids just runnnnnnning down the street. The 8K runners lined up about 45 minutes later. My parents were there to see me start, and we actually ran into the dad of one of my grade school friends (I went to elementary, middle AND high school with her). It's probably been about 10 years since I've seen him, so it was good to catch up. The Executive Director and his kid did the 2 mile challenge and his wife did the 8K. It was cool to see him cheering on the course and at the finish line, and it was also nice to see my parents there as well. It was really cool to see the community come out to support the runners and the schools that the race was fundraising for.

The race went well. I was happy to see that most of it was flat. There were a few hills towards the end, but I managed. My final time was 51:35/10:23 pace, which was better than my March 8K time of (52:43/ 10:37 pace). Meh, better, but not by much. I've been toying with the idea of doing the 10K that's held on Thanksgiving. Hmmm.

Yard sale: After the race, I went to my parents' house to pick up some things and chat. I also went over to my cousin's house to say goodbye to my aunt who is leaving on Monday to go back to Taiwan. Then I went to a nearby yard sale, but didn't find anything that I wanted. I was too tired to go to any other yard sales today, so I basically went home to shower, eat lunch, and take a lonnng nap.