APHA, Day 1

Today didn't start off the way I wanted to, but the day got progressively better as it went on.

I got a 4 AM wake up call from RJ, complete with bouncing on the bed, licking my hair, sticking his wet nose in my face, and messing with the dirty clothes bin. It got so bad that I shut him out of the bedroom, but then he proceeded to scratch at the door and carpet right outside the door and yowl. ARGH! I think I forced myself to fall back asleep because the next thing I knew, the cell phone alarm went off at 7:30. The automatic feeder went off at 5:45 AM, so I wasn't in a hurry to check on the him. I heard some crinkling noises downstairs as I was getting dressed for the day and didn't think much of it. I went downstairs to pack up and go to the Metro and I saw that the little terror had chewed a small hole through my plastic snack bag and sneaked a few nibbles of my oatmeal cookie. RAWR!

The world must be in balance today because while the Metro rides yesterday were a pain, the ones getting to the Convention Center today for the American Public Health Association conference today were smooth sailing. I didn't have to wait for trains very long and I got seats both trips. You'd think that with such a large conference, you wouldn't know anyone there, but in fact, I ran into many people from my previous job, former co-workers from my current job, and professors from graduate school. I went to a session this afternoon on work place wellness programs and one place did a Biggest Loser-like competition. The individual that lost the most percentage of body weight would win $500! The before and after pictures of the winner were rather dramatic.

The other thing I like about this conference is the freebies that exhibitors give out. Check out my loot below! 1 water bottle, 1 container for hot drinks, hand sanitizer, pens, tiny flashlights, a letter opener, and stress relievers. One thing that wasn't for free, but I had to buy because it was so cute was a "I heart guts!" stationary pack. I'll have to use it when I send my next letter to Suzie. I was surprised to see so much candy at a public health conference, but I guess everyone was in the Halloween spirit. I even saw a few people wearing costumes. One guy had fake spiders attached to his shirt and pants. It reminded me of that scene at the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark when the person has all the tarantulas on his back. Gross. One of my co-workers told me that some kid came up to him and asked him to guess which Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle he was. My co-worker guessed correctly and the kid was reportedly sooo happy.

This is my first Halloween at the new place, and while I didn't get many trick-or-treaters, I had enough where they took all but 5 pieces of candy (Almond Joy and Mounds), which I'm saving for myself. :) Even though RJ was acting crazy last night, he didn't try to make a dash for the door when the kids came for candy. I guess it all evens out at the end of the day.

Marine Corps Marathon 2011

The day has arrived for my friend Meg to run in her second Marine Corps Marathon. My other friend Robyn and I went over to Meg's place where Team Meg members (Meg's parents, sister, brother-in-law, niece, cousin and aunt) all had a big pasta dinner to wish her good luck in her race today. Meg's niece was especially cute. At first she was shy around me and Robyn, but quickly warmed up to us when Robyn started to read her a stack of books. In a Maisy book, I wanted to see how she would react to some of my trick questions. For example, I would point to a penguin and ask "What noise does a penguin make?" Her answer was "Waddle, waddle, waddle," complete with her doing a waddling motion. Freakin' stinkin' cute. Robyn and I camped out in the living room area for the evening and watched Big Bang Theory, while Meg went to bed early to get ready for the big day.

It was a very early and chilly start to the day today. I have to say that I'm glad that the race wasn't yesterday because there was legitimate snow going on. And with the wet snow on the ground, it made today's walk to the team tent very muddy. I'm glad that I decided to make a last minute switch-a-roo with my shoes- taking an older pair instead of my nice white running ones. Robyn and I walked with Meg to the start line and then parted ways so that the two of us could meet up with the rest of Team Meg.

There were some interesting things that happened as we were waiting for the race to start. We saw some cool parachuters and special Marine aircrafts flying by. The wheelchair races started first and one guy crashed his bike not too long after he started. It was really scary to see all the other bikers turning to avoid hitting him. Some Marines rushed over to right his bike and off he went. We were able to catch Meg a few points during the race. She wore a shirt that said Meg on it, so it was easy to spot her. With the race so close to Halloween, we also saw many costumes: the devil, Batman, a shark, several butterflies, and Thing 1/Thing 2.

Meg's goal was to get a time below 4 hours, but we found out later on that she took a spill at Mile 7 while probably slowed her down just a tad. Her knee was badly scraped and I'm sure the impact jolted her. But, at least it's all bandaged up, courtesy of the First Aid tent, and she completed the race and we are all so proud of her! Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Fall-To Layout #164

I decided to make some cookies for the Team Meg dinner tonight. I decided on oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and branch out from the usual peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. Maybe then I can pretend that they are healthier because I put oats in them. I used this recipe, and they were yummy. I already had a few for quality assurance purposes. I did cut down the sugars to 3/4 cup each, but other than that, I followed the recipe.

I continued working on my inventory of fabric flowers for the holiday crafty show season. I was running low on gems to put in the center, so I experimented with putting large buttons instead and they still look cute!

Here's my take on Fall-To Layout #164. I wasn't so sure about the paper pieces that came in my ScrapbookSteals.com order, but I love them as an embellishment for this card.
Card Specs:
Embossing powder: Stampendous! in white
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Ocean, Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Antique Linen
Stamps: Hero Arts- Cling Classic Fabric Design (background), Studio G (sentiment), American Crafts- Majestic
Embellishment: American Crafts Botanique Paper Pieces
Other: American Crafts Stamp Marker in Red

Meg's running in the Marine Corp Marathon tomorrow! Pictures to follow :)

One-Layer Wednesday #70

Yep, I gave in.

Gave into what, you ask? The Halloween candy? Oh, pish, I did that a long time ago.

I gave into turning on the heat in the house. Blah. I was hoping I could make it to next week to turn it on, but alas, it's just gotten uncomfortable in the house. Meh, I'll pay the money for the heat so that I can be comfortable in my own house.

Oh, yeah, and there's snow in the forecast. Before Halloween. Yep, I know, it's nuts. I hope this doesn't impact the Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday. That would really be unfortunate for Meg since she's running and for the rest of us that are cheering.

Crafty review: In the spirit of efficiency, I bought a rotary cutter to cut the fabric for my kanzashi fabric flower pins. Since I got a 30% off coupon in my email inbox the other day, I figured I could justify the cost. I ended up picking up an OLFA 28mm roatary cutter. I was looking for a Fiskars one since I was familiar with the brand, but they didn't have any at the fabric store that I went to. It works just fine and it definitely sped my fabric cutting process. I wanted to add these fabric flower pins to the inventory that I'm going to be selling this holiday season. I think it's a good idea to offer a variety. Even if one doesn't want to buy a card, perhaps they could be persuaded to buy a pin to accent their winter coat.

RJ: Another purchase that I made today was an automatic feeder. I don't want to keep depending on my parents to feed RJ when I'm gone overnight. I put some food in there already, and the cat promptly wanted to break in. I couldn't be mad at him since I'd probably do the same thing. I put one of my hand weights on the lid to keep it secure overnight. I will be both horrified and amused if he manages to get food out of there by tomorrow morning. Maybe this'll help with the 5:45 AM "I'M HUNGRY" wake up calls.

Card: Here's my take on this week's One-Layer Wednesday challenge #70: using only red and white. I grabbed two different shades of red chalk ink. I wanted the sentiment and accent butterflies to stand out against the flowers, so the darker red really helped with that.

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Warm Red, Maroon
Stamps: American Crafts- Herbs (all)
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper

No Sentiment Card CARDS Magazine Challenge

At the office: We had an Oktoberfest event at work today, complete with beer, bratwurst, sauerkraut, German chocolate cake, cheese and crackers. While many of my colleagues enjoyed the beer and brats, I was very content with my cheese, crackers and cake.

Card: This week's CARDS Magazine challenge focuses on cards without sentiments. Ooo, this one was a toughy for me since I very rarely make a card that doesn't have a specific purpose in mind. I decided to try out the Cosmo Crickets Glubers that I got from ScrapbookSteals.com. They are like giant glue dots, and while they are very sticky, I still used my glue gun to make sure that the fabric flowers didn't unravel.

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Warm Green
Stamps: Hero Arts- Cling Dots (background)
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
Rub-ons: American Crafts Rose Accents
Buttons: From Tuesday Morning and Michaels
White Gel Pen: Uni-Ball Signo Broad White Gel Pen

Baked Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

I actually made an effort to go to the gym today to work out on the cardio machines and not for spin class. I can't remember the last time I did that. I just love spin class THAT much. However, they don't have one on WED evenings and I was feeling very guilty about all the Halloween candy I ate recently. I was going to go with a co-worker, but he flaked on me. I still went, woot.

An empty fridge is a sad one, which also makes for a sad Tina. I went grocery shopping tonight after going to the gym and stocked up on some vegetables. When I came home, I made a batch of baked pumpkin pie oatmeal. I wanted to try to make something for breakfast that wasn't a muffin, so I thought this was a great healthy alternative. Nom nom nom.

Fashion Forward

The dress that I bought from Target over Columbus Day is still getting compliments and I still laugh on the inside on how much of a bargain was.

Anna the spin instructor shared with us on Monday night that she was taking the exam to become an American citizen today (she's British). And tonight, Janice announced that she passed the exam. Yay for her!

It's been a while since I've done my nails so I did them tonight with some Konad stamping. I went with a dark grey with dark red images. I started with the fishnet patterned, but then I thought that the leopard print would showcase the red nail polish more. So all the nails don't match...no biggie! Red: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Cinna-Snap. Grey: Wet 'N Wild Black Diamonds. Konad plate #57.