hipstamatic

Just installed a new app for my iPhone called Hipstamatic that gives photos a more vintage look by changing just a few settings (lens, film, & flash). Charlie was very patient with me tonight as she was my model for trying out the new app. Fun, fun!

eat like a pig

We are sitting in Famous Dave's on Saturday afternoon for a late lunch (we love the Texas Beef Brisket!) and I look above Nate's head and there is a very fitting sign for my husband: EAT LIKE A PIG.

When Nate eats he practically shovels the food into his mouth and is always done with his meal before I've barely touched my plate. Sometimes I have to remind him to slow down and enjoy his food.

cancer beds

Now I'm not one to usually promote tanning beds ("cancer beds")... but I think it is ridiculous that the new health care bill is going to impose a 10% tax on indoor tanning services going into effect July 1.

Well I'm getting my "tan on" this month before our vacation because this Northwest girl is pasty white! I don't normally go tanning due to the fact that I don't like wrinkles and I'd like to look my age and not look 80 when I'm 40... and I really don't want skin cancer. 

However, I have gone a few times for special events such as my wedding & vacations, and it really does make me feel better (must be all that Vitamin D I'm lacking). My hope is that I'll have a good base tan so that I don't blind people with my white legs and to hopefully prevent looking like a lobster from that Caribbean sunshine. 

It came!

My Blurb book came today! and I love it! I'm very happy with the quality and really glad that I spent the few extra dollars to get the image wrap cover instead of the dust jacket. It's a very nice matte finish without the cover flaps.

I'm already trying to figure out what my next Blurb book will be. hmm? Maybe I'll have to make one on our cruise/Florida vacation... less than a month to go!!!

Doodle Jump

After almost a year of having an iPhone, I have finally found an application worth buying. Doodle Jump! Nate has had it on his phone and got me hooked. It's so addicting for such a simple and silly game!

happy spring!

The weather was beautiful today and we were welcoming the first day of spring with open arms! While our day was not the most exciting of Saturdays, we were very productive and spent some time in this amazing weather. 

Our day in a nutshell...

* Slept in.

* Nate made a delicious smoothie for breakfast.

* Prepared our dinner in the slow cooker (we are kind of in a Crock Pot kick right now!). Our house smelled yummy all day!

* Played Frisbee with Charlie in the park across the street.

* Washed both of our cars, they needed it bad! So shiny!

* Lunch. Leftover tacos and guacamole.

* Yard work... blah! I weeded and Nate worked on the lawn. Oh the joys of being a home owner.

* Laundry. Enough said.

* What's for dinner? Slow cooker sweet and spicy Asian pork with bok choy and rice. Recipe found here. Very tasty, and spicy! I think next time I will only use one tablespoon of the chili-garlic sauce, but that's only because I'm a wimp when it comes to spicy food. 

* Now we are going to settle in and watch the movie Precious which won 2 Oscars and had a bunch of nominations.

lap dog?

My dog Charlie seems to think she is a lap dog...

Blurb

A couple of years ago I made a Blurb book of our honeymoon and I really liked the quality of their books. 

Recently I decided it would be cool to make a Blurb book of my blog for 2009, so that I would have it in print. I think it will be really cool to look back on it someday kind of like a scrapbook/diary of sorts. Plus, it was super easy to make! Blurb has a easy to use program that automatically plugs in all of the blog posts and very user friendly editing. Tonight I finished my Candid D book and it should be on it's way this week! Can't wait to see how it turns out!

perfect snack

My favorite snack (was my breakfast this morning) this last week has been low-fat vanilla yogurt with grapes and a little bit of cinnamon. 

About a cup of halved red grapes, cup of vanilla yogurt, and about a tsp (or 2) of cinnamon to taste

mix it all up...

and enjoy!

what's for dinner?

Lately we've been trying to use our Crock-Pot more, and my mom gave us a pork roast from Costco (comes in frozen 4 packs) so we decided to try it out. We used taco seasoning and left it in the slow cooker for most of the day. The pork was nice and tender and delicious! We made more authentic style tacos with some avocado (a little green for St. Patricks Day). Plus we have enough to make our taco casserole later. I love that the slow cooked meals usually go a long way for left overs. Mmm mmm... 

The Crock-Pot website has a lot of recipes that I want to try that can be found here.

faux bois

faux bois: (from the French for false wood) refers to the artistic imitation of wood or wood grains in various media

Lately I've been spotting faux bois print everywhere in crafting and decorating, and I'm kind of diggin' it!. I've seen it on pillows, rugs, candles, pendant lights, painted on furniture, scrapbook paper, etc. 

Well... good old Martha Stewart has some pretty cool faux bios DIY projects on her website found here and here.

I'm inspired! I think I'm going to try and tackle this old dresser that came home with us the other night.

This old dresser was in my sister's old bedroom that is now my mom's craft-room.  My dad wanted to keep it in the family because it was his dresser since he was ten, then my dresser growing up, and then my sister used it for a few years. It definitely needs to be re-painted, but I think I will keep it white and then try to do the faux bois effect on the drawers. Add some new drawer pulls to it and I think it will be an adorable dresser/changing table to put in a nursery someday.

handy-man Part II

My sister moved out of my parents house about a month ago, and my Mom didn't waste anytime turning Kelsey's room into her craft room. She put my Dad, the handy-man, to work on a nice wrap-around desk for 2 of the walls. It looks great! 

My Momma asked me if I could spend some time organizing her craft-room (apparently I have the touch, or so she says) and so I spent a few hours on Friday trying to get the room organized. I spent most of the time organizing her stamps by category (holidays, occasions, nature,etc.) and all of her paper. That woman has way too much stuff! There is still more organizing to go, but we are making great progress.

 Today we decided to make a trip to...

We came back with an Expedit shelve for the other wall in the room, cute woven baskets for the Expedit, and some cool wall brackets to hang all of my Mom's paper-punches. As soon as we got back we were excited to see if the brackets would work, and my mom interrupted my Dad's car project (he's got some mechanic skills too! What a guy!). Dad kindly hung the brackets, and it worked out just as we had hoped!

Of course I couldn't leave IKEA without getting something for myself. I came back with a couple cute things for my craft-room...

Loving this chair! It sure beats the old office roller chair I had (wheels on carpet don't work so well).

And this funky little lamp for my desk.

handy-man

We had my parents over Thursday night for a lovely slow cooker pot roast made by my wonderful cook of a husband. Usually there is some sort of mini-project that we need help with when my Dad comes over. He is my handy-man! We've had these bamboo roman shades (from a JC Penny sale) for about 5 months now just waiting to be hung...

and we finally asked my Dad if he could hang them for us. Yay! I think they look great!

Also, I found this idea for a monitor stand here.

I asked my Dad if he could make me one with some scraps from a project he was helping my mom with (stay tuned! post to come tomorrow about that project). I love that I can push my keyboard underneath to work on other things on my desk and the fact that my monitor is eye level now. My Dad rocks!

Grillin'

My man loves to grill. All of this nice weather we've been having has given him grill "fever". hehe. Last week he grilled up some burgers and tonight it was BBQ chicken. Mmmm... Not only is it delicious but it's less mess for me to clean up after the meal.

And this little guy was found under the grill cover... we get lots of little frogs around here. What a cute little guy.

brilliant!

I found this new design magazine called Lonny Magazine that is on-line only. The coolest part about it is that if you scroll over something that you like in the photo it will show a link to where that item can be found or purchased. How cool is that? Even though I like real magazines (something about flippin' through the pages), I could probably get used to this. Not to mention it's free and saving a tree!

skydive videos

I had Nate post our skydive videos onto YouTube, the first 3 minutes are just the company's advertisement so I would just skip that to get to the good stuff.

Note: 

*If we ever go again, I will make sure to wear pants and long sleeve shirt (it was cold that high up) and not short shorts and tank top. haha! The harness totally rubbed my skin raw. Ouch!

*Notice how much Nate and his instructor look so much alike? They could almost be twins! or at least brothers! 

purse talk

So I'm the type of girl that likes quality vs. quantity. I've had the same coach purse since October 2006, and it has really been my "everyday" kinda purse since then. Of course I have a couple cheaper little cutesy bags that I'd tote around every once in a while but my coach purse has been very reliable and goes with everything. 

 

Well in the last few months I've really been feeling the need for a "change" and update in my everyday purse. So guess what I got for Christmas and my birthday? Coach gift cards!!!

We have a Coach Factory store about a half hour away, so we headed out that way after happy hour at Stanford's and I got myself a new purse and wallet! And better yet, they had a 20% off entire purchase deal going on! I thought about buying the matching wallet, but I thought it would be too matchy-matchy, and I thought the wallet is cute enough to tote around if I don't want to carry a purse.

 

close up (I love the pink lining inside)

After my gift cards and discount, the purse ended up being free ($120) and the wallet was $88. Ahh! Over a hundred dollars for a wallet?!! I still don't know how they can charge that much, but I didn't care so much since I got the purse for "free". Plus, with my record I won't be buying another purse until 2013. haha. 

While on the topic of handbags, I picked up this adorable one at Target the other day for $10. I thought it would be cute to bring along on our cruise and trip to Florida. Very beachy/tropical like! Love it! 

solemn promise

(stunning photo by The Pioneer Woman)

I love rainbows! It's such a great reminder of how much God loves us and his promise of salvation and eternal life through Jesus.

Genesis 9: 12-16

12 And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generation to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on earth."

Adrenaline Rush

"The greatest risk in life is not taking one" - author unknown

Tonight we went to OMNIMAX at OMSI and saw the film Adrenaline Rush: The Science of Risk. It examined the physiology and psychology of taking risks while showing extreme sports such as base jumping and skydiving. We've always loved seeing films in the neat dome theater (we went a lot when we were dating) but tonight was even more awesome because we both know what it's like to take risks. I'm not talking everyday risks. I mean like BIG risks! Huge! Like jumping out of an airplane huge!!!

Almost 7 years ago (Nate's 19th birthday to be exact), we went SKYDIVING! Don't believe me? I have pictures AND even videos to prove it. See for yourself...

Some scrapbook pages I made shortly after the dive... (nice hat and goggles, right?)

 

  

 

The journaling reads: "After an hour of preparation on ground and signing our lives away, we were harnessed to a professional tandem instructor. The turbine aircraft took us up 13,000 feet! Freefall was at 120 mph for nearly one minute before opening the parachute. We enjoyed the 7 minute parachute ride and the spectacular view of Mt. Hood and Portland". 

Now some people might think we are crazy, but it was amazing! and we both can't wait to go again, especially after being reminded tonight of how exhilarating it is!