Kansas, Day 2

The meeting today was productive, and I think everyone came away from the assessment feeling satisfied (or relieved, depending on who you were). Afterwards, my boss, a colleague, and I headed back closer to the airport and went to dinner in the hotel restaurant. I had a pulled pork sandwich with fries. Holy moly, I haven't eaten this much meat in a long time (lunch today was beef brisket, potatoes, and green beans), but I figured since I don't eat much BBQ at home, that I had better just enjoy it while I could. I snapped this picture of the Kansas capitol dome when I woke up this morning. I wish I had time to walk closer to it to take some better pictures. Oh well, back to DC tomorrow, yay!

P.S. The NCIS and NCIS:LA season finales were soooo good, but there won't be another new episode to watch until the fall. WAHHHH! I hope there's some good summer TV this year.

Kansas, Day 1

Whew, I made it. I was a little worried there for a second. The plane was really delayed this morning getting to the gate at DCA and then they were doing maintenance. Oook, well, do whatever you gotta do. I would much rather wait for a plane that works, above anything else. I met my boss and another colleague at the Kansas City airport and we took a rental car to where we needed to be in Kansas.

The drive was very...flat. I saw a sign that said something about "Townhomes...starting at $114K" and I actually laughed out loud in the car. I had to make a comment about it because you could probably buy several Kansas townhouses for the price of 1 in the MD/DC/VA. Sigh. Location, location, location.

Driving around the town that we're staying in was...weird. There were no people around! Many of the shop fronts were closed, so that was kinda a sad sight. Fortunately, the restaurant that we went to was bustling. So much to the extent that they had only 1 menu left, so we had to share. The food's got to be good if there are lots of people inside, right? The restaurant/bar was called the Blind Tiger. That name sounded more appropriate for an Asian restaurant, but they served a lot of BBQ there, much to my surprise. I had the pulled pork plate with fries and veggies on the side. I really liked the BBQ sauce that they had there too...it had a little bit of a kick.Long day ahead tomorrow...off to bed soon.

Capitol Hill Classic 10K

Today was the Capitol Hill Classic 10K, woot! I hung out with my friend Meg last night and stayed over at her place so that we could leave for the race together this morning. Since the Metro opened at 7 AM today and the race start was 7:30 AM, we didn't want to chance it so we took a cab instead. The cab driver was super nice. He was an older gentleman who talked about the exercise regiment from when he was in the Marine Corps and quitting smoking.

The start of the race was at an elementary school, and the restrooms were hilarious with curtains instead of doors (probably to prevent children from locking themselves in the bathroom) and the tiny potties. While Meg and I were waiting at the start line, I saw a former colleague of mine. She had left my organization last August. We gave each other big hugs and caught up on what we had been up to lately. And then not too long after that, the race began. There were no pacers, so all the runners were in a big clump. The fast people were definitely fast! As I was approaching RFK stadium, the fast people had already made their way around it. We cheered as they ran by. Around Mile 2, I was thinking "Why on earth did I think this was a good idea?! Ugh, another 4 miles? Am I going to make it??" Well, Meg did. She's in the teal/green shirt in the middle of the picture. Oh, me? Yeah, I made it too. Can you tell how happy I was to see the finish line? I have my arms up in the picture below, in black/black. Julie is so clever, "What are you, a ninja?" I saw Meg and Julie standing on the sidelines and I was like "Whoo hoooo!" Like, literally. Of COURSE, the race was a good idea! You work hard to make sure you get across the finish line. And it was an awesome feeling, especially when my knee wasn't hurting (like it did when I did the race in 2008) and I made it up the ginormous hill at around Mile 5 without walking (I had to walk it in 2008 because my knee was killing me).2011 time: 66:14 minutes (10:40 pace). For reference...2008 time- 75:55 minutes (12:13 pace). Hooray, improvement! This was great news because my pace for the March 8K was 10:37, so I wasn't that much off.

I am eyeing the Kensington 8K as my next race this year. The HR Director at work was super nice and offered to draw up a training plan for me this summer. She is an avid runner, does marathons, and coaches so I'm sure she's very knowledgeable about how to get my pace down. It would be wonderful if I could get closer to a 10-minute/mile pace. Onward! :)

Wee Memories Challenge #56

Here's my take on this week's Wee Memories Challenge (#56). I was originally planning to make a card for the CARDS Magazine challenge where you have to use all pink supplies, but then I realized that my finished card had some white and kraft cardstock. Fortunately, this card works for the Wee Memories challenge because it incorporates sticky things (the alphabet stickers and the rub-on).

Card Specs:
Paper: American Crafts- Dear Lizzy, City Park
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Martha Stewart Doily Lace border punch
Stickers: American Crafts Fabric Thickers in Patchwork
Rub-on: American Crafts, Mini Marks, Accents, Book Three (dots)
White Gel Pen: Inkssentials
Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 8

Song of the day: "The Edge of Glory"- Lady Gaga (heard this at spin class this morning).

I'm running to the Capitol Hill Classic 10K with my buddy Meg early Sunday morning. Full report to follow. Send happy running thoughts...please. :)

At the Office Dilemma

Card makers out there: what do you do with cards that you don't want anymore?

When my box o' finished cards gets filled up, I usually keep the ones that I totally love and can't seem to part with (like this one, this one, and this one) and then bring the rest to the office to leave in the kitchen for any interested co-workers. While I have been giving them out for free, I am struggling with if that's such a good idea anymore. I enjoy making cards, so I'd be making them anyway, regardless if I was making any money. On the other hand, I feel that a lot of time and effort and love went into each one that giving them away for free seems...wrong? Even if I don't receive any money in return, I feel that the effort should be credited in some way. I was thinking of leaving a tip jar next to the card box, and my co-workers can decide if and how much they'd be willing to donate. The money could go towards the Red Cross or the local animal shelter or my craft fund so that I can continue to make new cards. I ran that idea by one of my colleagues yesterday, and he was very supportive of that idea. I guess he's kinda biased because he has always been willing to pay for the cards. The receptionist came by my desk yesterday afternoon and said that she had a tip for me. For some reason, I thought she meant "tip" as in "giving advice" and I was confused as to why she was reaching in her purse. She handed me some money and said "Thanks for the cards. Here's a tip." Ah, I see the word kinda got out. I'll have to talk to the leadership to see if they'd ok the idea. I just don't want anyone to make a stink about it. I guess if anyone does, I can stop bringing cards to the office all together and donate them to Operation Write Home (or a similar organization) to help them with a worthy cause.

Thoughts, suggestions?

Tonight is the last episode of Smallville ever. :'( It's the end of an era. Instead of making a new card tonight, I'm going to veg in front of the TV. I'll share the one that I made yesterday but couldn't share because Blogger was going through some maintenance. I'm still lovin' the DCVW Mango Frost paper, so I wanted to make sure that my ink color scheme was jiving with the papers that I selected. I was inspired by a Dawn McVey card I saw online. I wanted to mimic her waves using a border punch. I love the raspberry, yellow and blue together. It has a summer feel, don't you think?

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Chestnut Roan, Blackbird, Dark Peony, Prussian Blue, Yellow Ochre. Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Wild Honey, Broken China.
Stamps: Inkadinkado (birds), K.I. Memories- Garden (sun), Martha Stewart- Toy Transportation (boat), Fiskars- Just Between Friends (sentiment)
Punch: Fiskars Upper Crest border punch
Paper: Die Cuts with a View- Mango Frost
White Gel Pen: Inkssentials

Rough Morning

Oh, Ginger Ginger Ginger. She had a little accident this morning...on my bed...at 5:30 AM. Sigh. Oh well. What can you do? While I was waiting for laundry to finish, I made a card. I know. I'm nuts. I suppose I could have gone to the office earlier, but I had a meeting this afternoon, so I would be leaving the office at the regular time anyway.

I'm glad that I made it to Janice's spin class tonight. I felt bad that I didn't go last week (because of work travel) or this past Sunday (because I overslept). Unfortunately, I won't be able to make it to next Sunday's class (because of the 10K) or Tuesday (because of more work travel). May's just not a good month for Tuesday night spin class. Once the Annual Meeting is over in June, I'm FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. :)

Today's card turned out a bit busier than I had envisioned. I wanted to use the white chalk ink on the kraft cardstock and then I built the card from there. I also dug up supplies that I hadn't used in a while: a glitter chipboard element, a button, and a pearl brad. I like the card base and I like the teal panel, but I don't know if they work well in combination. I might have a different opinion about it tomorrow. It might fall under my "24 hour rule," where sometimes things like food and cards taste/look better the day after, once I've had some time to step away.

Card Specs:
Embossing powder: Stampendous! in white
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Chestnut Roan, Warm Red. VersaMagic chalk ink in Cloud White.
Stamps: K&Company- AB Lotus Greeting Stamps (sentiment), K&Company- AB Lotus Floral Stamps (flowers)
Paper: Die Cuts with a View- Mango Frost
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
Buttons: Bucket Red from Michaels
Brad: Recollections
Chipboard: American Crafts- Fieldhouse- Glitter Blue Skies
White Gel Pen: Inkssentials

Dual Purpose Card

It was really nice to go to spin class tonight and work off some of the cheesecake that I consumed this weekend. :P

Tonight, I wanted to find a use for a fabric flower that I had on my desk. Initially, I was going to submit it for the CARDS challenge this week, but then when I finished the card and read the challenge more carefully, I realized that you were supposed to use the tutorial that they referenced to create the fabric flower instead of creating any fabric flower. Oops. I guess it pays to pay attention to these types of details. I used my hot glue gun to adhere some felt and a pin on the back of the fabric flower to create a brooch. Now the card can include a sentiment AND a present. Check out them multi-tasking skillz! Next time I want to try creating a similar card with a fabric flower magnet, instead of a fabric flower pin. I think the recipient might damage the card in an effort to detach the pin. There must be a better way to do this. But I think it turned out nicely for a first try. Oh, I used some mini glue dots to temporarily stick the fabric to the card so that brooch didn't wobble around.

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird, Prussian Blue, Warm Green, Wisteria. Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Antique Linen.
Stamps: K&Company- AB Lotus Greeting Stamps (flower, butterfly), K&Company- AB Lotus Floral Stamps (leaves), Fiskars- Friendship Garden (sentiment), Stampendous (music score)
Paper: American Crafts- Merrymint
Foam adhesive: Thermoweb