New Nails

At the office: A coworker complemented me in the kitchen today, saying that pink and other bright colors are definitely my thing. I thought that was funny because there was a time that I would never be seen in pink. I went to Marshalls today to find Meg a birthday present and I came back with a present for her and a present for me- a new pink purse. :D
 
New nails: Here's another bottle of nail polish that I got from a CVS clearance sale.  It's called Raisin the Bar (ha ha, clever) by Sally Hansen (2 coats).  I can't really decide what color it is.  It's kinda pink and kinda light brown too.  It's far away from my usual bright colors.  It kinda makes me feel older and mature (pfft...eye roll...bah ha). 

Song of the day: "Undefeated"- Jason Derulo.  Heard it at spin class tonight.

Chocolate Mug Cake

I've been craving chocolate lately. 

Pish, who am I kidding?  When have I not craved chocolate?!   

While it would have been nice to stop by CVS and buy a bag of M&Ms, I decided to try a chocolate mug cake recipe that I found online because this would be a single serving.  With a bag of candy, I could wipe that thing out like it was my job.  I can't say that I liked it more than a chocolate cupcake with cream cheese frosting, but it satisfied my sweet tooth at the end of work day and I would make it again if the craving came up again.

I countered this cake with a little Just Dance 4 at the end of the day.  Now, when I hear the songs on the radio, I think of the dance moves that I should be doing on the game.

Candy Puzzle, Day 3

I finished the puzzle that Meg gave me for my birthday...only to find out that I'm missing one piece!  It's a piece in the Good and Plenty section.  I looked everywhere for the piece.  Perhaps it's a manufacture's error because I've been doing the puzzle in my craft room and closing the door so that RJ doesn't mess it up.  Now I'm scared to vacuum.  I've emailed the puzzle company to see if they'd give me a replacement piece, but I'm not sure how likely that's going to be.  Either way, I'm feeling pretty accomplished.  999 pieces in 3 days isn't too bad!  I was determined to get it done tonight since I didn't go to spin class.  The rainy/windy weather was not optimal for driving in the dark.

Candy Puzzle, Day 2

I went to the dentist this morning and I'm happy to report that I had no cavities!  I spent the rest of the day working from home and getting the edits to my article ready for resubmission on Friday.  It's going to feel so good to get that item crossed off my to-do list at work!  I would find it difficult to have fun on my cruise in 2 weeks with that hanging over my head.

Here's the puzzle at the end of Day 2.

Candy Puzzle, Day 1

I got tired of watching TV tonight, so I took out the 1000 puzzle that Meg gave me for my birthday and started on it.  I got almost all the edge pieces and some of the ribbon/fabric pieces together.  It's been a while since I've done a puzzle and I almost forgot how fun they are.  I decided to do the puzzle in my craft room so that RJ doesn't play with the pieces.

Happy Birthday to Me, Part 3

Earlier tonight, Meg and Robyn came over for my third and final birthday celebration.  I didn't really want to go to a restaurant where it'd be crowded and noisy and you'd feel in a rush to leave so that you could open up the table for other customers.  Instead, we had a potluck: Meg made meatloaf, Robyn made cucumber salad, and I made some string beans and chocolate cupcakes and cream cheese frosting for decorating.  We watched Pitch Perfect after decorating and present opening (I got candy and a candy 1000 piece puzzle from Meg.  Robyn gave me the Skyfall DVD, origami paper, and some travel related stickers).  It was a good movie, but I could have done without the barfing scenes.  That was kinda gross.

Next up is Meg's birthday in early March where we'll be celebrating on the Bahamas cruise!

Meg and Robyn busy decorating the cupcakes while I opened presents.

Happy birthday to me!

Julie's Birthday Card

Spinning: There are these 3 new people that have been coming to spin class lately, 2 guys and a girl.  OMG, they talk incessantly throughout class.  It's so annoying.  Hello, if you want to socialize, go somewhere else.  Clearly, if you're talking through class, you're not working hard enough.  Move along.  I was torn between saying something and just glaring at them several times.  I wonder if I'm the only one annoyed by it.  BLAH.

Card: Here's the birthday card that I made for Julie.  She already opened it last weekend, so it's not like this post will ruin a surprise or something.  

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Yellow Citrus, Ocean, Dark Peony, Chestnut Roan, Charcoal
Stamp: Stampin' Up- Forest Friends, TPC Studio- Cupcakes
Paper: American Crafts- Abode, Die Cuts With a View- Bright and Basic
Die: QuicKutz- Nesting Lace Doilies
Punch:  We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper

Happy Birthday to Me, Part 2

Today, I celebrated my 30th birthday by sleeping in, shopping, and then going out to dinner with my family.  I also had the day off from work, which was an extra bonus.

I came back from the mall with two work shirts, one workout shirt, one neon shirt for the upcoming cruise, two pairs of flip flops for the cruise, and two pairs of earrings.  :D  For dinner, my uncle, 2 aunts, parents, and cousin and I went to Founding Farmers, where I got their crab cakes.  For dessert, we ordered red velvet cake, carrot cake, and vanilla bean cheesecake (1 slice each).  It was amazing food.  I got a fruity drink, but its name escapes me.  It was really good though...I drank the whole thing!  My last birthday celebration will be on Saturday when Meg and Robyn come over for dinner.  Gotta stretch the festivities out!

Last Day of My Twenties

 ...was spent mostly in the car.  This morning, Julie opened the birthday gift that I got her (a set of coasters, badges, and mug from the Simon's Cat store) and I opened the card that Julie drew for me.  After breakfast, we packed up the car with a bunch of Julie's things and then it was back on the road.  I stopped by my parents' house to switch cars (I drove my dad's car down), but noticed that my car was missing.  I wasn't worried though because I was pretty sure that they were at my house, taking care of RJ and trying to replace my peephole.  Background story: the peephole on my front door was not functional because the glass has been scratched so you can't really see who's on the other side very clearly.  I've been fussing with it the past few days and couldn't remove it from the door because it was painted over.  Since my parents had to check on RJ this weekend anyway, I asked them to give it a try.

About 15 minutes later, they showed up and reported that they didn't have any luck with the peephole.  UGH!  I drove to the hardware store on the way home and they suggested that I take a razor blade and try scraping the paint off the edges to see if that would help.  I tried it when I got home, but still no luck.  I decided to make another trip to the hardware store (this time I got a crowbar thing that would go across the two dents) in conjunction with going grocery shopping.  When I got home the second time, I took the crowbar, stuck it into the two dents, and turned counter clockwise.  It started to move!  Slowly but surely, I was able to unscrew and remove the old peephole and install a new one.  My door is a little scratched up from all the work from me and my parents, but at least I feel safer now that I know the peephole is functional.  Go me!

Clearly, Ginger is not as excited as I am about my homeownership accomplishment.

Happy Birthday to Me, Part 1

On Friday, I headed to Charlottesville, VA to visit my sister.  Since our birthdays are close together and she wasn't going to be at home for her birthday, I decided to make the drive down there to celebrate with her and also help her start moving stuff back home.

Julie made some red velvet cupcakes for me, complete with some cream cheese frosting.  Good stuff.  Once I had a sampling, it was off to lunch, where we went to Mellow Mushroom.  I got a small house special pizza.  Look at all the toppings!  I could only eat 1.5 slices and had to pack the rest up. 

For dinner tonight, we got carry out from Milan (an Indian restaurant): butter chicken and chick peas and naan.  This was pretty much a repeat from last year's visit to Charlottesville.  Because I forgot to bring movies and the local Redbox didn't have anything interesting, we spent this evening organizing and figuring out what items would come back to Maryland with me.  Yeah, a wild and crazy Saturday night for us!

New Nails

At the office: My office mate Sadira gave me a new bottle of nail polish for my birthday.  It's Nicole by OPI in the color What's the Mitch-uation?.  The label had Modern Family on it, so Mitch must be a character on the show.  I don't watch the show, but the color is pretty.  It's like a dark blue, but I guess it could be almost purple.  (3 coats)

Spin class: I wasn't expecting many people to be at class today, but I was pleasantly surprised that the class was almost full.  Nancy the instructor pulled out a platter of strawberries and chocolate at the end of class in honor of Valentine's Day, which was so nice of her.

A Crafty Balance

I participated in a Valentine's Day theme craft fair on Sunday, but unfortunately, it didn't get very much traffic in terms of customers.  I wasn't sure if it was because this was the first time the event was held or there was a lot of advertising or what, but I only sold 4 cards.  It wasn't even enough to cover my $20 table fee.  Of course, I was disheartened, but at least I got my name out there with the vendors that were there. 

While Sunday wasn't a profitable event, I got an Etsy sale yesterday.  This woman bought 20 cards in one order!  I was so happy.  I think that might have set a personal record. 

My PayPal account is back to being happy again. :)

T-minus 1 month until the Bahamas cruise!!

Happy Lunar New Year

Happy Lunar New Year!  It's the year of the snake.

I dunno.  Snakes kinda freak me out.

Is this supposed to be ominous?

Maybe I shouldn't think about it too much.

At least it's not like the year of the spider.  The ancestors knew what they were doing when they left those guys out of the zodiac.

Anyway, I went to my uncle's house for dinner last night for the big feast (noodles, duck stuffed with sticky rice, broccoli with shrimp, beef, marinated eggs, fish, chicken...and then a chocolate cake and a pudding/mousse pie for desserts.  This was the same day as Jessie's baby shower.  Lots of eating on Saturday!

My uncle, handing out the red envelopes to the kids.  Does one ever get too old for these?

Jessie's Baby Shower

Jessie (a friend from graduate school) and her husband Joel are expecting a bundle of joy in April.  They will not find out what they are having until the baby arrives, so yay, surprises!  Last week I purchased a blanket, bib, and burp cloths for them as a gift.  The baby shower was really fun.  I got to meet Jessie's family and Joel, people that I've heard so much about but never met in person.  Her mom finally met her daughter's "chinita" (Asian) friend, ha ha.

The food was amazing: tamales, some sort of marinated pork, rice, chips/salsa, etc.  The cake was even better.  It had a very tres leches feel to it, with cream filling that had fruit inside.  OMG, best thing ever!

Jessie and Joel had some games for people to play, but since there were like 100 people there, not everyone got to play.  Everyone was entertained though.  There was one game where there were two babies and then 2 people per baby and each person could only use one hand to change the doll's diaper.  There was a women vs. men pairing and the men actually won (see the struggle below).

There was a heap of presents for the happy couple.  I would have loved to see what she got and see the excitement on her face, but it would have probably taken the whole time to open all these.

The happy couple...

I was so happy to see a familiar face at the event yesterday.  Jenny, another friend from graduate school, was there so it was nice to chat and catch up.

Oldish Tunes

After finishing up that large office order a few days ago, I just have not been feeling very crafty these past few days.  Sometimes a break from things is not a bad thing.  I'm hoping to feel re-energized after Sunday's craft fair.

My friend Page sent me a picture of these old mix CDs that I made for her back in undergrad.  These CDs are almost 10 years old!  Apparently they are a mood booster for my pharmacy student friend, so I'm glad that I can help in an indirect way.

Beef Noodle Soup

IM conversation with my sister from tonight:
me: i woke up to a cat butt in my face. i was using one pillow and RJ was using the other.
Julie: his and hers
me: HAH yes!

(I know this scene could gross some people out.  I guess I'm used to it and have accepted that it's not going to change.)

Family/Food: My cousin is back in town and my aunt made some beef noodle soup for her homecoming.  My family reaped the benefits from this too since Mom's only 2 doors down.  I zipped to the house after work (didn't even stop at home to check on RJ, heh) so that I could enjoy the yumminess too.

Office Order Update

Office order almost complete.  Between last weekend and today, I made 100 of these cards.  Now all I have to do is wait for the envelopes to come in and then I can turn in my invoice.  Whoo hoo, vacation money!  35 more days until my cruise!

New Baby Card

New Neighbor: I met the new neighbor two houses down. She's been here for a few months, but this is the first time I've seen her.  She seemed nice.  Maybe we can be friends.  (That sounds very Lilo and Stitch.) I hope she didn't judge me on my outfit of yoga pants and a large athletic jacket...I was just stepping out to return my Redbox movie.  Just when you think you won't see anyone, you do. :P

Movie: I watched The Bourne Legacy this afternoon.  Unfortunately, I'm feeling meh about it.  I wouldn't buy it.  I would probably watch it again (hello, it has Jeremy Renner in it).  I guess Matt Damon set the bar high for these Jason Bourne movie.  The motorcycle chase at the end was pretty cool though.

Superbowl: I'm not much of a football fan, but I did watch to watch at least the Superbowl Halftime show with Beyoncé.  The part where the other two members of Destiny's Child popped up, that was great television!

Card: I forgot to mention that I made my friend Jessie's baby shower card yesterday.  I already had a card base where the image didn't stamp 100% on my desk, but I figured I could still use it if I covered up the mistake.  It was nice to work on something other than the office thank you card order.  I'm very close to being done, yay.

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Warm Red, Charcoal
Stamp: Hero Arts Four Leaf Grid, Inkadinkado- Round Frames
Punch:  We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
Paper: American Crafts Specialty Paper in Pearl
Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 8
Sticker: Martha Stewart Blue-Green Fabric Rocking Horse Stickers
Other: Brown Ultra Fine Point Sharpie

Busy Bee Saturday

Shopping: I was out and about for most of today.  I wanted to swing by Michaels because I've seen lots of haul videos on YouTube talking about 90% selected clearance items.  My friend Jessie's baby shower is next week, so I wanted to buy the gift today.  Michaels and Kohl's are right next to each other so (gasp!) how convenient.  I had some empty ink cartriges that needed to be recycled at Staples and (gasp!) CVS is next door.  That was so convenient because I just so happened to have some coupons to use.

At Michaels, I bought 2 stamps: Hero Arts Lace Frame (original price= $11.99, clearance price= $1.79) and Hero Arts Decorative Lamps (original price= $14.99, clearance price= 2.09).  Whoo hoo!

Jessie and her husband decided not to find out the sex of the baby until the delivery so I had to find something gender neutral.  I decided that jungle animals were gender neutral, so I ended up with a blanket and bib/burp cloth set from Kohl's (both items were on sale). 

Nail Polish: At CVS, I walked out with 2 more Revlon Lip Butters (Red Velvet and Lollipop) and 3 Sally Hansen nail polishes.  I bought Revlon Lip Butter in Sugar Plum last Saturday from Target and really liked it, so I wanted to get some more colors.  The Revlon stuff was buy 1, get one 50% off and the nail polishes were 50% off and I was armed with $8 worth of coupons.  By the way, the Cover Girl nail polish I bought last week lasted quite a long time.  I was very pleased with its performance. I had to try out one of the new polishes when I got home.  This is 2 coats of Sally Hansen's I Pink I Can.

It was definitely a good shopping day. :D

Recipe #2 of 2013: When I came home, I tried a new recipe: Skinny Chicken Pesto Bake.  I added some green beans on the side.  As a rule, anything with cheese is automatically awesome.

Family Dinner: I went over to my aunt's house for a family dinner to celebrate another aunt's birthday.  The blueberry cheesecake that I made last night was met with enthusiasm. :)

This is out of chronological order, but this was RJ this morning.  Spoiled lazy cat.

Blueberry Cheesecake

We are having a family dinner on Saturday to celebrate my aunt's birthday.  I asked what I could contribute, and the answer I got was a cheesecake.  I decided on a blueberry one.  Julie and I made this 2 Thanksgivings ago, but this is the first one that I've made all by myself.  We'll see how it turns out tomorrow!

Crust and blueberry topping from Martha Stewart
Cheesecake from Smitten Kitchen (without the brownies)