Travel Success

The Travel Gods were on my side today because I arrived safely in Nova Scotia, Canada. Woot! During my layover in Philadelphia, while waiting for my boss to arrive from her flight, I sat in a sea of high school girls engrossed in teen magazines, several of which had Justin Bieber on the cover. ::groan:: I did find their conversations amusing though.

We met up with my boss's boss after going through Customs, and the three of us shared a cab to the hotel. I noticed during the ride that the scenery was beautiful! Lots of evergreen trees with a little snow on the ground against a clear blue sky and bright sun. Love it.

After dumping our stuff in our respective rooms, we met at the hotel bar to wait for the other people from our party to get here for a pre-meeting meeting. The bartender asked us what we wanted to drink. I couldn't think of anything specific, so I said the first thing that came to mind.

"Can I have something fruity?"

My supervisors just looked at me. Well, that's what I wanted. I'm not big on wine or beer, but I really do like mixed drinks. The bartender laughed and fixed me a Singapore Sling, which was very yummy.

I have a long day ahead tomorrow, but I'm hoping that I can have some fun before I leave and of course, take some fun pictures!

P.S. I left my fun snacks (Sour Patch Kids and chocolate covered caramels) at home, and I didn't realize that until I was already at the airport. I ended up buying a bag of peanut M&Ms. Oh well, I got my chocolate fix, which allowed me to be a content traveller.

New Running Shoe Day

Today is new running shoe day! They were waiting outside the house when I got home from work today. Thanks, UPS man. I will try them out when I get back from my trip to Canada later this week. Check them out...they are hot pink! Well, kinda. I even have hot pink toes to match.

I hope the Travel Gods are on my side tomorrow. Anyone want to lend me some good travel juju for a few days? I'll give it back. Promise.

Just Run

9 AM: Oh, what a nice day outside! Great weather for running. I'll do that later.

12 PM: #$%* printer.

1 PM: Man, I'm stuffed from lunch. This sunny weather is awesome. Oh, look, Ginger is sleeping. I guess I could follow her example.

5 PM: ::groan:: I don't want to run outside. Blahhh. But the 8K is in 2 weeks. Crap. Ok. Sigh. Gear up and run.

For me, the fear of not finishing that race is enough motivation to go, so I did 4.85 miles around the neighborhood this afternoon as the sun was setting. New shoes should be waiting for me when I get home from work tomorrow, hooray!

My Wee Memories challenge #44 was selected as a Fabulous 4 this week. :) My personal challenge for today's card was to use some of birthday goodies. I decided to use some of these flower stickers that had pearls AND bling. I thought the bee theme of the paper went well with the flowers.

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Charcoal
Stamp: Studio G (sentiment)
Stickers: Jolee's Boutique- Cream Buds
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
White Gel Pen: Inkssentials
Ribbon: Sweet Petites from A.C. Moore
Paper: American Crafts- Dear Lizzy

Busy Bee Saturday

Today was quite eventful! I ended up not going to spin class this morning, which was probably for the best because I would have missed an important work related call (yes, on a Saturday...). I ended up making cupcakes for the family dinner tonight and hung out with my sister when she came back from her grad school visit. She gave me the other half of my crafty presents: more stickers and a set of clear stamps. :)

Two of my cousins came over to drop off birthday gifts because they wouldn't be able to make it to dinner tonight. They recently went to the Harry Potter theme park in Florida and brought us back a chocolate wand and a chocolate frog, like from the movie! So awesome.

This afternoon, I went to my friend Laura's bridal shower. It was hosted by her older sister, who had a lovely house and adorable toddler and giant (but gentle) Great Dane. Laura thought the bridal shower was next weekend, but little did she know that there was a secret plan to have it today. She looked genuinely shocked when she entered the house and eventually saw that it was filled with friends, family, and presents! The event was a tea party, and the hosts definitely hit the theme on the spot. It was nice to see some friends and meet some people in person finally. I caught some amusing moments with my camera: the baby trying on the bridal cap and the cat sneakily playing with the ribbon on the present. Bite, pull, boing.

After the tea party, I came home for the birthday celebration with the family. Mmmm, Italian food, yum! I had borrowed Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian from the library on Friday and watched it tonight with my sister and cousin. Meh, it was okay. I enjoyed the first one a lot more.

Card making will resume tomorrow. :)

Fall-To Layout #129

Mmm, monthly staff breakfast this morning at the office, woot! French toast, eggs, sausage, and potatoes. I was fueled up to work on formatting a 70 page document...ALL DAY. I give communications/graphic design people props for doing that kind of stuff for a living. Whew.

Here's my take on this week's Fall-To Layout challenge #129. I wanted to use the other stamp that my sister gave me yesterday. I suppose it could be used for a card to your significant other, but I wanted to put a baby spin on it. After assembling all the paper and ribbon elements, I thought Glossy Accents on the bottles was a nice finishing touch for added dimension without the bulk.
Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Charcoal, Prussian Blue
Stamp: K.I. Memories- It's a Girl (bottle), Studio G (sentiment)
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Martha Stewart Doily Lace border punch
White Gel Pen: Inkssentials
Foam adhesive: Thermoweb
Other: Glossy Accents

Crafty Presents!

My new running shoes have been shipped, yay! I love prompt customer service!

After a day of conference calls, I wasn't sure if I'd make it to the gym tonight for spin class, but I forced myself to go and got a good workout in return. Go me.

My sister made a pit stop at home before driving to a grad school visit and left me some crafty presents on my desk (the other half to be opened on Saturday at the family birthday celebration). 3 packs of stickers, 2 rolls of glue dots (I'm down to 3 glue dots...this was a necessity!) and 2 stamps, and each crafty item came with a little note written on a Post-It note. My challenge tonight was "to incorporate at least one of these items" in my cards tonight and tomorrow night. "Bonus points if you can incorporate more than 1 item. Glue dots don't count!"

Alright, I'm up for a challenge! I had a kraft cardbase already cut out so that's what I started with. Then I looked at the stickers: animal, fish, and floral. I really liked the cream colored flowers against the kraft cardstock. Then I chose some bright colors that would go well with the flowers. The stamp was one that she gave me, so I definitely get bonus points!

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird
Stamps: Studio G (sentiment)
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Martha Stewart Doily Lace border punch
Stickers: Jolee's Boutique- Cream Flower
Paper: Die Cuts with a View- Stack 7
White Gel Pen: Inkssentials

One-Layer Wednesday #42

Today was awesome...let me count the ways.

1. I wore one of the dresses that I bought over the weekend. I bought it, I might as well wear it right away! No sense in have it sit in the closet. It had a bright pink floral print. Hello, Spring! Are you here yet?
2. I went for a 4.85 mile run this afternoon after work, inspired by this running post by BenDoesLife. 4.85 miles used to sound daunting, but it's beginning to feel normal. Woot!
   
3. I got an Etsy sale today (4 cards!) from a repeat buyer (I love fans).
4. Related to 2 and 3, I bought new running shoes online on RunningWarehouse, and they let me pay via PayPal. I like how money from one hobby (selling cards) is supporting another hobby (running). I can't wait to give them a whirl when they arrive in the mail.
   
5. I made this yummy tuna pasta salad with peas that I found on Budget Bytes. I did my own spin on it by adding some mustard, one more can of tuna, and one whole diced orange pepper for some extra veggies. Yum.

I haven't done a One-Layer Wednesday challenge in a while, but I'm glad I stopped by tonight because it gave me an excuse to use my music score background stamp. Challenge #42 focuses on music. I masked off a little panel so that I could put the sentiment inside the music. I like the splashy color against the subtle background.

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird, Warm Green, Warm Red, Wisteria, Prussian Blue. Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Antique Linen
Stamps: The Paper Company Studio- Greetings (sentiment), Fiskars- Friendship Garden (leaf), K.I. Memories- Logo Sushi (red flower), Inkadinkado (blue flower), Heidi Grace- Paradise (purple flower), Stampendous (music score)
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper