Happy New Year's Eve!

Happy New Year's Eve, folks!  It was pretty much a lazy day (that definitely was the theme this holiday season).  I basically parked myself on the couch to watch an NCIS marathon until Julie came over to help me prep for the New Year's Eve get-together.  Well, technically, I bought the stuff on Friday and Julie cut up all the cheese and veggies.  While she was in the kitchen, I used the bottle of hair dye that I bought yesterday to fix my greying hair situation.  I got the top part ok, but my sides of my head could have used some more dye.  Oh well, I'll learn for next time.  Overall, not too bad for a non-salon job and for a first time dying my own hair.  Robyn and Beth came over later for pizza, Men in Black 3, and the ball drop.  Onward to 2013...wow, that sounds futuristic!

New Birthday Card

Spin class: I almost didn't go to the gym for spin class this morning, but I'm glad that I did because a) I wanted to give Janice her bag of peppermint bark to show my appreciation for her doing awesome classes all year.  She seemed really touched and in turn, that made me feel good and b) I caught up with a gym friend and a coworker.  I also learned that there was going to be a 2-hour spin class held on New Year's Day.  I hope I can make it to some of it!

Coupons: I was so happy that I went to my parents' house yesterday to rummage through their weekend inserts and clip some coupons.  I saved $12 just on coupons alone on my today's trip to CVS.  One thing that I got was some hair dye.  The grey hairs are really standing out against my black hair, and it's making me a little self conscious, so we'll see how it turns out tomorrow.  I can pass for someone 10 years younger...well, until you look at my hair.  Time to fix that!

Card: Here's my card for today (I'm starting to get my mojo back, I think).  I was rummaging through some of the crafty goodies that I bought during last Christmas's clearance sale and found some cardbases, so that's where I started.  I picked a stamp that I hadn't used in a while.  You can't tell, but it didn't stamp cleanly in this middle, so I covered it up.  Hee hee.  The orange and brown patterned papers were already sitting next to my paper trimmer.  Easy peasy!

Card Specs: 
Card base: Recollections
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird, Deep Lagoon. Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Vintage Photo.
Stamp: Stampin' Up- Party Hardy (present), Studio G (sentiment, floral background)
Paper: American Crafts- Abode, Die Cuts with a View- Nana's Kitchen
Floral sticker: Basic Grey Bloomers- Pyrus collection
Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 4
White Gel Pen: Uni-Ball Signo Broad White Gel Pen

I have the day off tomorrow, so I'm planning to see what other after Christmas sales I can score before I have some people over at the house for pizza, movie, and NYE ball drop. :)

New Nails

New nails: I tried out a new bottle of nail polish yesterday.  It's called Cherry Cherry Bang Bang by Sally Hansen (2 coats).

Post-Christmas Blah: After roaming around the mall today, I went over to my parents' house and stayed for dinner.  Julie and I also took down the Christmas tree and lights.  It's kinda a downer because they look so pretty up, but they gotta come down sometime to prepare for the New Year.

Useful Christmas Presents: I tried out the new vacuum cleaner that my parents bought me for Christmas.  I love it!  My old one is still hanging in there, but you can tell that there's a difference between the two in terms of power.  I kinda like seeing the lines in the carpet left behind by the new vac.  I must get this obsession with cleaning from my mom.  Heh.

Post-Christmas Shenanigans

"At the office": Today's feature film in the conference room was Casino Royale (I brought it in, tee hee).  Gotta have me some Daniel Craig.  I still can't decide if I enjoy this movie more than Skyfall; they are both so good!

After Christmas Sales: I would have gone looking for post-Christmas sales on Wednesday, but with the wintery weather that came though, that would not have been a good idea.  I did hit up the mall after work today and found Christmas candy 30% off at Target (I got several packages of white chocolate peppermint M&Ms) and a top from New York and Company at 70% off.  I was going to get some lotion from Bath and Body Works, but the line was longer than I was wanting to wait in.  Julie informed me that curry rice was on the menu for dinner at the house, so of course, I did not want to be late!

Fall-To Layout #221

"At the office": I woke up this morning to sleet falling on the windowsill.  To be safe, I decided to telework.  Wow, I'm sure glad that I did because after the sleet came huge flakes of snow and then freezing rain to give everything a nice icy glaze.  I got more done at home anyway.  Everyone that was at the office, maybe all 5 of them, watched Wedding Crashers in the conference room at lunch.

Card: Here's my contribution to Fall-To Layout #221.  I guess since Christmas is over, it's onward to Valentine's Day.  I started out with the pink patterned paper and red metallic paper because they were sitting near my paper trimmer.  I wanted something to counter the pink, but not have it too dark that you wouldn't be able to see the birds.  After I adhered everything and stamped the sentiment, I thought it needed some dimension so I found some stickers in a pack that I bought from Marshalls recently.
Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird.  Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Broken China
Stamp: The Paper Company Studio- Greetings (sentiment)
Paper: Chatterbox, American Crafts- Hello Sunshine
Die: QuicKutz- Birds, Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 4
Stickers: Martha Stewart- Damask Embossed Bird Stickers
Other: Liquid Pearl in White Opal, Black Sharpie Ultra Fine Point marker

Merry Christmas!

Hooray, Merry Christmas, everyone!  Today started with baking some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies to bring to my parents' house for dessert.  Julie came over later to make brownies, and we got a cake from my cousin so we definitely got desserts covered tonight.  Dad went to get Chinese food take out so that Mom wouldn't have to slave away in the kitchen.  After we ate dinner, it was time to open gifts.  It's sad that we wait all year for this day.   The tree looks so pretty with all the presents under it, and then in a few hours, it's all over and we have to wait another year for the build-up.  I guess if Christmas happened more often, the feeling wouldn't be that special, so it's better this way.  Here are some pictures from earlier tonight.

Family

Cousins

Sisters

Time to work off all that Chinese food and dessert

Booze for the adults

Merry Christmas Eve!

Normally, our family celebrates Christmas on Christmas Eve, but since my cousin from California is flying in tomorrow (Christmas Day), we decided to postpone the celebration.  RJ and I hung out today and enjoyed the snowfall outside (you can't really see the snow falling in the picture, but I promise that it was!).  I made a pot of lentils and camped out on the couch to enjoy an NCIS marathon on TV.

Yesterday, I went to lunch with my family and some of my cousins from my dad's side of the family.  There were lots of little kids there.  It was funny to see them sing "Call Me Maybe" and do the Gangham Style dance.  Someone's been watching some YouTube, huh?