Wednesday, January 28, 2009

25 Random Things...

This little meme is currently circulating on Facebook. Thought it would be good blog fodder...

25 random things about me:

1. My favorite color is orange


2. I was on Romper Room when I was a kid... I still remember it

3. I wanted to be a Broadway star when I was little and would put on shows for my family. My favorites to sing were Barbara Streisand songs

4. I don't like the last bit of beverages in bottles or cartons. I won't finish the milk

5. I doodle on everything

6. I ran into Goldie Hawn when shopping at a specialty food store in Vancouver BC

7. I want to visit every Disney park... I have been to the ones in California and France.

8. I had a secret service pass for one day when the President came to the Baltics...I met the Clintons while in the Peace Corps

9. I love flowers...my favorites are peony, hydrangea & roses. My grandma had the most beautiful walkway with roses...anytime I smell one I think of her.

10. I frequently dream about tornados

11. I have over 300 "To-Do" items on my life/bucket list. I've crossed 24 items off since I made it two years ago

12. I want to learn how to kayak

13. My dad is one of 15 kids...I have a huge extended family

14. I don't know how to sew. Otherwise, I'm very crafty

15. I truly believe life is an adventure and you should spend your time doing what you love...life is too short

16. I would like to learn how to play the cello but can't read music...i've tried. I love all kinds of music

17. I have traveled in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, France, Monaco, China, Mexico, Canada and all over the US...I love to travel

18. I love to swim and used to swim on summer and year round swim teams growing up. I was always extremely tan and used to tell people I was Puerto Rican... don't ask me why. Must have seen a beautiful Puerto Rican woman at some point when I was kid. Might have just liked saying it?

19. when I was a kid, I loved to put on my mom's belly dancing outfit and hop around ringing her little bells

20. I have been on two whale watching excursions and have yet to see a whale in the wild...very disappointing

21. I love taking pictures but have so much to learn..I hope to have an exhibit of my photos someday

22. I love animals and wanted to be a vet until I realized I can't be around animals when they are in pain

23. Two of my favorite quotes are "Not all who wander are lost" J.R.R. Tolkien quote
"You must be the change you want to see in the world" Gandhi

24. I used to love to scuba dive... I haven't been since I ruptured my ear drum. It hurts to go in the deep end of the pool now.

25. If I weren't in graphic design school, I'd be in culinary school. Still might...it's on the list

I realize that many of you have probably already posted something similar (I hadn't yet) so I'll tag anyone who wants to answer this...

Dental update:

LB made it through AND we got x-rays. She's excited to be part of the no-cavity club. I learned on the way to the dentist that she is most afraid of the flouride treatment at the end because it's so sticky and yucky. Thankfully, they were able to use a different kind today since they were successful with using the little suction tube...last time it made her gag and vomit. The x-rays confirmed that LB's mouth is going to be too crowed and orthodontia is in our future....woo hoo. I don't know if there is enough "happy" gas in the world to get LB to relax for jaw surgery and/or braces.

wish us luck...

What did you say??? I'm going to the dentist?

Take that dentist...

We're two days into the new year and we are in need of some serious good fortune! I don't know any kids that like going to the dentist, but little bob REALLY doesn't like going to the dentist. She has a severe gag reflex and always vomits when they clean her teeth. You can see it on the hygienists' faces when we arrive...I'm not taking THAT kid.... you take her. LB is a favorite at the dentist office for sure.

X-rays? Haven't happened yet because they can't get her to open her mouth wide enough. The dentist hasn't pushed yet because she's been so young but today is the day they're going for the x-rays. She had some "happy" medicine last night and again this morning. I think she's getting some "happy" gas today too so hopefully this will happen. She has some friends that have already had to have teeth pulled from decay so I'm worried about what's going on in there.
Too bad daddy isn't around to partake in the dental office hyjinx. Such fun...wish us luck!

Below is my most recent photoshop project for school. We had specific photos to work with and tasks to accomplish. We had to create three versions and this is my favorite out of all of them. There are at least 8 photos combined and lots of modes, hue & saturation adjustments, adjustment layers and filters, etc.

A full dental report to follow soon...

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Xin Nian Kuai Le


Click Here!



Happy Chinese New Year!!!

It's the year of the Ox... People born in the Year of the Ox are the supremely self-assured, and as a result are noted for inspiring confidence in others. Generally patient and thoughtful, they measure their words, and will speak clearly and concisely often when it matters most. Our most famous Ox currently? And oh what a year of the Ox it is...none other than President Obama.

We have had fun celebrating Lunar New Year this weekend. A church in the area puts on the most amazing celebration every year. They have a huge Asian community and have tons of volunteers. It's so fun!



Little bob and friends coordinated outfits and had a blast. There were lots of martial arts demos...which,of course, LB is all about right now. It was Power Rangers live people - she couldn't get enough. I seriously need to find a karate class soon!

Lots of performances...









Of course there was a Lion Dance...





And then, there was this...





"Ummm...excuse me... I don't think my agent understood what this gig is all about...I don't perform with a group"

She stood there through 4 songs and did not sing one solitary note...just stood there clutching her purse. At the end... she took her bow. She is the cutest thing I have ever seen. Yes, she is in a kimono.

The Chinese are not the only ones who celebrate the new year now. It is celebrated in many Asian cultures and many were represented at the party. Good times peeps!
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If you have been by in the past few days, you have seen many versions of the blog as I play around with it. I'm just figuring out how to change things on the template so bear with me as I play. My new banner is a picture of cupcakes I made over the weekend with a friend as a trial run for her wedding. They are a little too pastel colored since her colors are hot pink and lime green so off to the cake decorating store I go for different coloring gels...but think they are still pretty cute. Her theme is candy and her colors are hot pink, lime green and brown. She has 2 candy tables planned as well as these cupcakes. We'll all be sick.

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Wishing you all much happiness, prosperity and good fortune in this year of the Ox!

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Running...running...

Huff...puff...huff...puff... breathing heavily... just a quick drive by to say... hi.... before I move on to my next task.

I knew 4 classes on campus this quarter would be crazy. I essentially don't have a free moment anymore and I so miss my peeps. I can't wait for the days of lounging with coffee, casually starting the morning reading blogs, not to mention seeing my family and friends again.

Before you start to feel too sorry for me, you'll see that I managed to find time to head out for the weekend. I'm doing a friend's website for her adorable shop in Waldport, OR. If you ever are in Waldport (about 45 minutes south of Lincoln City and 15 minutes from Newport) you MUST stop at the Flea Market. It's right on the main strip as you drive down Hwy 101 and is the only Flea Market in town. It's full of delightful goodies like this...

and she also has a little surf shop next door....

I went to hang out - we've known each other since grade school and haven't seen each other for several years - and take pics and gather info for her website. It's one of those friendships that always picks up right where you left off. I spent tons of time over at her house growing up and loved all of the activity and quirkiness that arises when you hang around a family of 8. Something was always going on in that house. Her mom would wake us up at the crack of dawn and throw us in the car and head out for the day with no real plans...we would just head out and follow whatever we fancied at the time. I think it set a pattern for me for the rest of my life. I love to wander and meander and see where life takes me. I love days like that.

We had just that sort of day on Saturday. We wandered down the coast and had a great lunch in Florence, went for a hike, took pictures, shopped... (my pics need editing but I'm too tired having just spent 3 hours finishing up my photoshop project)

We also stopped at the Sea Lion caves. I was glad we were able to do that for Little Bob. I have fun memories of this as a kid. I don't think she'll ever forget that smell... whoo boy. There are definitely some dead Sea Lions down there somewhere. This cave is one of the largest Sea Lion caves in the world. There were 200 down there that day just chillin and having fun playing in the surf. On the way home, got to stop and have dinner with the delightful SSG. I can give a first person report that her flower pots still look amazing! No signs of FKCNG but we did see his car.

Other happenings...

As with most of the rest of the world, I loved the inauguration yesterday and am feeling insired and hopeful.

Am enduring daughter's new found love for Power Rangers. I think I uttered for the very first time to my husband "your mother was right..." *gasp* She told me she never let her daycare kids watch shows like Power Rangers or other such action shows because they made kids act crazy. I used to think she was SO closed minded and overbearing and overprotective.. well, actually, I still do, but she was right about those pesky Power Rangers. Little Bob is running all over the house karate chopping everything in sight with an exclamation of "HI YAH." Without warning yesterday, she came up behind me and kicked me in the back of the leg. Apparently, I am the evil enemy...

Quotes of the week from Little Bob:

After prayers one evening... "how will God get my message? do I have to talk loud?"

In the bath... "my hands are getting rusty."

After swimming while looking at her chest... "daddy, my nipples are getting mad at you." and then proceeds to talk to her chest in high pitched voice. WTF?!? Where did this come from? I bet it's those damn Power Rangers isn't it? lol.... I can blame them for everything now.

That's all I got... hope to see you again soon!

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Welcome Back

Hello to all of you who haven't been able to read my blog over the past two days on Internet Explorer... for whatever reason, it did not want to work with my post from yesterday? Maybe it was because I mentioned things like Evil Cream Puffs and weight issues? Whatever the reasons, I played around with removing links, changing the wording, taking pictures out etc. and they only way to get IE to open it was to remove it... so there you go.

It's nice to hear some of you miss me... :o)

Nesting...

















Dreaming of new palettes for my home. Currently, I have lots of orange and red on the walls. I love both colors...orange is my favorite color...but I find that it's hard to accessorize. I like to change things seasonally so my pretty spring pastels don't always mix with the deep oranges and reds on the walls. I will say that one of my favorite color combination (especially for flowers) is orange, red, and hot pink. Looks good in wedding bouquets. Not so much on the walls.

I'm thinking of going to a more neutral hue for the wall color and then adding color in through the accessories and changing it seasonally. Another thought is to go to black and white with bits of color...love that too.
I also like the picture above of the white kitchen with the brown wall. Hmmm... still going to play around with it for a bit. Anyone have any good sites of designers they look to for ideas? Most of these pics are from House Beautiful, Better Homes & Gardens, and Country Living.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

random this and that

-29 days until paradise...yep, going to hawaii!!!!! need better weather!

-we've moved from snow emergencies to flood emergencies. our home is on a hill above a major flooding area. coming home from school tonight, i could see the hwy closed just after the turn off for our house. i also could see the light reflecting in the water across the hwy. poor people who's homes are being ruined right now...

-i've been changing things up a bit around here. going through the 1000's of bookmarks i have to favorite sites etc. as you can see i've added some over in my sidebar. if you are in need of a pick-me-up-and-instantaneously-put-you-in-a-good-mood site then go here now. i hadn't been for some time and spent 20 minutes yesterday bugging my school chums with my ooh's and ahh's over how "cute" everything is on the site.

-another fun distraction right now is TBTL... too beautiful to live. i have been listening to them on the way home from school since last summer. you can hear them through their site or through iTunes. there are some really funny bits if you need a laugh. their blog is fun too. they are on 97.3fm in seattle.

-working on some fun designs for cafe press and etsy. will have some things to share with you soon.

-working on designing a few websites...super exited about that!

-LOVE my classes this quarter!! i especially am loving my final cut pro editing class. i did a super quick little edit this morning for practice in class. got to put some shots together from seaworld and add music. look out Scorsese and Spielberg... gonna give you a run for your $$!

-forgot to mention that i saw Slumdog Millionaire a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it. don't think it was THE best movie i saw this year. it certainly was good though. saw one of the actors on jay leno a few weeks ago talking about how mumbai is just as it appears in the movie and what a strage juxtaposition it is to have one of the nicest hotels in the world right across the street from the slums. i don't know what my favorite movie of the year is. i can't really remember all that i've seen.

-spending WAY too much time on Facebook... i joined the Starblazers fan club today. please tell me one of you out there loved this show as much as i did growing up?

-redecorating is on my mind...much to my husband's dismay as it involves a large amount of painting. i have lots of bold colors on the walls and am ready to go to more neutrals and bring colors in in other ways. i think i can decorate more seasonally that way. i'm always changing things around.

that's it for me... how are all of you?



Monday, January 5, 2009

back at it...

i start school again tomorrow. i love the start of the quarter and my new books and notebooks and all the promise of what lies ahead. maybe that is why I keep going back to school? it's not really to finish a program... it's all about starting something new each quarter and getting a new notebook...lol.



i'm especially excited to learn flash this quarter and play with little animated things. i'm also taking acrobat, dvd editing, and photoshop 3. i miss my school buds and teachers so it will be good to get back and be on a schedule again. i do my best work under pressure for some reason. i have set myself up for total success then this quarter because i will be in school 4 days a week instead of 2. combine that with daughter's schedule of school, gym, dance, and speech therapy add one husband and his schedule and you have one boiling little pot of pressure. i should kick butt...


this weekend was super fun! took a great cooking class at sur la table with my sis and cousin. it was a bon appetite's brunch class and we made things like: super easy sticky buns, and spiced waffles with sauteed pears, an out of this world bacon, gruyere and swiss chard fritatta, oat scones with fruit and almonds, an autumn hash with squash, potato, beet, and topped off with poached egg and smoked salmon... can you imagine what the kitchen smelled like? I had never cooked with chard before so learned something new there. I'm not much of a poached egg person but it was good mixed in with the hash. yum-oh! of course, i had to buy a fritatta pan. i don't have a big non-stick pan to cook eggs in. i can use the new pan also to cook more than the two eggs i can cook in the little pan i have to make scrambled eggs for lil bob.(i'm rationalizing and justifying out loud here for you now...makes me feel better about it. plus i got a 15% discount and had to take advantage of that...right? ) i don't like to use non-stick really for much more than eggs. looks like we'll be having lots of fritattas in our future. anyone have a great recipe to share?

love how my husband is texting while rollerskating and supposedly supervising and guiding and lovingly enriching our daughter's skating experience...

yep, saw it coming...

but she jumps right up for more with her dad... look how she is gazing up with so much love and hope in her eyes... i don't know if there has ever been a daddy's girl quite like this one. he is definitely her hero. he's mine too...

hopefully, i'll be seeing you all still throughout this quarter. i might not be able to post so much but will be checking up on you my blog friends.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Goodbye 2008...

How does a whole year pass by in the blink of an eye? By a whole lotta....

dr's appts

princess parties...







trips to see friends...

haircuts..


participating in your first democratic caucus...

celebrations...


valentines with frosting...

walks in the park...



golfing in tiaras...


fixing things at your boyfriends cabin...

parties with green beer...

coloring easter eggs...and then making sure your nails match...


school projects...

girlz weekends...



geocacheing...

celebrating accomplishments...

4th of july parades in the rain...

catching firework smoke with butterfly nets...

celebrating retirements...

being adorable...

camping with buddies...

going to the fair...

learning how to float on your back...

playing on the beach...

trips to magical places...




birthday parties...



dancing lessons...

lots of sports...


and school..

and first ever trophys...

field trips...

more of this...

trick-or-treating with BFF's...


playing outdoors...


visiting the ones we love...


seeing Santa...

weekend playdates with friends...


and...least anyone has forgotten... being snowbound for two weeks!

2008 has had its ups and downs. I was ready to say good riddance, but looking back at pictures, it really wasn't THAT bad. Some really great things happened this year. Mainly, we got to spend lots of time with really wonderful people... and had some really fun times...and made lots of great memories. We're so blessed to have such great family and friends to share our lives with.

2009, I'm ready for you... and have big plans: More trips, more parties, a graduation, new job, remodeling/redecorating, a business, reconnecting with old friends, making new ones, Kindergarten, celebrating a new president, getting rid of crap, making each day count.
Oh yeah '09... you better bring it!