I Can't Think of a Title...

Yesterday Luke and I went with some friends to the river. We had a good time going off the rope swing and riding around in the boat. I even skied for the very first time. The hardest part was stabilizing yourself while sitting still in the water. It was actually pretty easy to get up and ride. I made it up my first time, but my arms got tired after a while so I just let go. My hips and shoulders are sore today from it.

I joined an ATC swap a while back that was an Alice in Wonderland mega swap. We had to make 9 specific cards that comprised of Alice, White Rabbit, Cheshire Cat, Mad Hatter, Red Queen, White Queen, Caterpillar, Eat Me Drink Me, and Tea Party. I used the Cheshire Cat that I made a long time ago, but the rest I will post.

I traced most of them on a light board, and Danni drew the bottle for me on the Eat Me Drink Me card. I printed off the caterpillar to trace it because I didn't like the picture in the book. When I got frustrated with tracing it I just cut him cut and glued him down. I'm unhappy now with the Queens. I made these before I understood that the Red Queen and the Queen of Hearts were different people. The Red and White Queens are chess pieces. The Queen of Hearts is a card. The first two are in the second book... Through the Looking Glass. Now I feel like I must share this knowledge with the rest of the world.

Stuck in a Rut

Before Luke drove home after the wedding I found a broken pot hiding under a tree in his back yard. Well... I took it in hopes of fixing it and giving it new life. A few days ago I remembered it and pulled the plastic bag of ceramic bits out along with some super glue. This is what I had before.

And this is the after. The pot is sitting upside down because that was the easiest way to fit the pieces together, and the glue was still drying.

Unfortunately, either I missed 2 pieces that were hiding in the dirt, or they were gone. So now the pot is incomplete and I don't know what to do with it.

What a bummer. I was so excited about the design, and as I was fitting all the bits together it dawned on me that something wasn't right. Any ideas on what to do with it?

Last week I cooked ropa vieja on Monday, Grandma Squire's potato soup recipe on Tuesday, and a Campbell's recipe for herb roasted chicken with vegetables. They were all easy enough to make and turned out pretty good. Yesterday (Monday) I decided to make Aunt Margie's goulash, and while it ended up tasty, I had a terrible time making it. It was just one of those times where everything went wrong. I don't know what started it, but my brain was so frazzled that darling husband had to swoop in for the rescue. It is honestly a very easy recipe. I just had a few loose screws when I started.

The past week before bed Luke reads Harry Potter (he is reading the entire series and is on book 2 now), and I craft in some form or fashion. Last night as I was folding magazine pages (to make one of those bowls) I announced, "I need a break." Luke stopped reading and asked, "From what?" With certainty I replied, "ATCs." He looked shocked! I love ATCs, but it is so hard for me lately to work on them. I hate to admit it, but I think I might be burning out. I am in a creative rut and just thinking about forcing myself to sit down and make one makes me resent it even more. I'm finishing out the swaps that partners have been assigned, and I think I'm calling it quits. BUT! Only until I'm out of my rut though. I'll stick to folding magazine pages until I find my groove again.

I'm going to keep posting my ATCs that I've made though. Here is one I made for a Bob Marley Lyrics swap.

Wands, Witches, Wizards... and Paper

We went to see Harry Potter in IMAX 3D last night, and it was amazing. Even though it barely followed the book, it was beautifully done. They stuck to the jist of the story, but even the scenes they included were done completely different. Aside from the book, I loved the movie. I was disapointed in the IMAX theatre though. I have been to a real IMAX before and it was increadable. This was more like a giant screen with intense surround sound. This one still looked better then regular 3D though.

Yesterday I went to my first scrapbooking class. These are the layouts we made. We followed the general pattern and then changed them up slightly however we wanted.


Today Luke and I are going to watch the women's World Cup final. Go USA!!!! We have been watching the games since group play, so it is really exciting to see everything that has happened. All the drama and the amazing plays. I've been looking forward to this since Wednesday.

Now for my ATCs. The first one I made for the lovely Yuzz, and the other for a color green themed swap. I think it is better than the first one I made like this for a different green swap.

Skateboards, Golf balls, & Onion Tears

Happy National Nude Day! When I looked up what today's holiday was on holidayinsights.com I had the choice between National Nude Day and Pandemonium Day. Nude Day sounded less hectic, but if you choose to celebrate it in public I would go to a place where is it accepted... or just stay home if I were you.

I started running on Monday so I was sore Tuesday. After I ran Tuesday the soreness meter went up a few notches. Wednesday morning was torture until I ran. After the run I started feeling better, but sitting down and going down stairs were still problematic. This morning I can see the light at the end of the "Time to start working out" tunnel. I think this evenings run will be much better. However... I'm not looking forward to starting weights. Then the process will just start over again.

A few nights ago Luke and Passen wanted to do something so they finally decided to deal with the pile of skateboards in the living room. They used scraps of plywood and 2x4s to build them a skateboard rack. It looks really good, and the living room is another step closer to being finished.

Yesterday we went to Funtasia and played put put golf. It was a lot of fun (even though I'm no good) and there was a cat there that I fell in love with. She was pretty young. I don't think even a full year old. She was completely black with green/yellow eyes, and so sweet! If our landlord would allow pets I would bring her home. I prefer dogs, but at this point in our lives a low maintenance cat would be better. Alas, it is better to not have to pay for all the other expenses that come with a pet while we are in college. Gosh I miss our animals!!!!!!!!

I guess I'll show 2 ATCs since I forgot to include one last time. I joined a swap where I had to make 20 ATCs and send them to 20 different people. This is what I made. Unfortunately the picture won't upload the correct way, so it is sideways.

This is all of them finished

This is the original one I made, but I didn't have enough of this paper to make 20 of them. This one actually loaded the correct direction.

I saw the swap as an opportunity to spread awareness on HIV/AIDS. Visit joinred.com for information about the campaign.

I almost forgot... I bought an onion chopper yesterday. No more crying in the kitchen! I imagine pepper spray to feel like onion fumes. TORTURE! I am more than pleased with my purchase.

Harry Potter and Honeymoons

Harry Potter marathon! We watched the first four yesterday and we are currently on the 6th one right now. Luke and I are looking forward to the 8th movie coming out. The theatres around here are doing midnight showings in all of their theatres. Every one of the showings are sold out. One theatre is even doing a double feature. They are showing the 7th movie and the the 8th right after. These two movies make up the seventh book. One of these double features starts at 9 and the other at 12. Not one of them at 9 and the other at 12. There will be a double feature at both of those times. Whoever goes to the midnight showing isn't going to be home until 5 in the morning! They must be crazy.

Luke and I had a lovely time on our honeymoon. We went to Lookout Mountain, GA. It is actually in Georgia, but halfway down the mountain you cross into Tennessee where everything to do is in Chattanooga. We went to Rock City Gardens which was amazing. There were trails going through insane rack formations and beautiful gardens. It was awesome. We also went to Dinner in the Diner. It is an old train car made into a restaurant. The food was delicious! The area was actually an old train station and all the cars were turned into different things. There were other restaurants, and some you could stay in like a hotel room. That could be a fun place to stay if we so choose to go back. There was lots more to do in Chattanooga. I hope we get to go back again sometime.

I have planned to make dinner a few nights this week. After we finish this HP movie I'm making Luke go to Walmart with me and get the stuff I need. Hopefully all goes well.

Tired of Coughing

Yesterday Luke and I were watching a firework show in New York on TV, and it was CrAzY! It made us wonder if other countries celebrate their independence day as hard as we do. Decorations everywhere, people inviting all their friends over to grill and play, firework shows that cost a fortune that are synced to music. There is so much preparation that goes into that single day. Here at the Beck and crew house we had fajitas and jumped on the trampoline. We scootered over to a spot on campus where we caught the finale of one of the firework shows off in the distance.

On Sunday we went with Ethan to the river and met Andrew and Adam. Adam had his daughter, Fallon, there, and she loved me. It was a really good time. I got to wear my big white hat and sit in the shallow water playing with Fallon. I also rode the jet ski a bit and played on the rope swing. I'm sure we will return before the summer was over.

Today Luke and I watched two women's world cup games. England beat Japan, and Germany beat France. Yay! USA plays Sweden tomorrow to see who has to play Brazil. Yikes.

The house is really coming together. Thanks to my awesome organizing powers each room is starting to look better. Our dresser that we stained looks good in our room... except for the spots we missed. We didn't do the strips between the drawers because we didn't realize the drawer edges didn't touch until we put them back and noticed the bright light wood shining through.

And now for my ATC of the day. This one is titled Song Bird.

Home With Hubs

I am happy to be back in Bama with Luke, but I had a wonderful seven weeks in Texas. I ATC'd my heart out with Danni, I'm sure we watched Moulin Rouge a million times, the wedding was lots of fun, Paige's wedding was lots of fun, I got the be Alice in Alice in Wonderland, and I was so happy to see all of my family that I rarely get to see. Now that I'm here I have been cleaning and organizing this house. I was sick the first two days, so I didn't do much. I rearranged the kitchen, so everyone is a little lost right now looking for silverware or a pan. It was honestly really bad. I thought I might go crazy. Everyone agreed to it though, so they can get used to the new configuration. After I was done being sick, Luke got whatever I had which is strange because Luke never gets sick. Someone at the camp passed it around because Frankie and Danni were sick too. I wonder who else got it.

As for the camp... I had a great time, and even though I was exhausted at the end of every day the performances were well received. The best part was the little girls that swarmed me after the show. One girl just kept saying Alice! and grinning really big. Another had her picture taken with me. I actually scared one little girl during the Jabberwoky scene. Poor thing. Now I can add my script to my collection of Alice books. There are 5 now and still working on it. They aren't all Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I have one very large book the Danni gave me. It is all of Lewis Carroll's works including Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and Through the Looking Glass. I have Alice in Zombieland which I'm reading now. Alice I Have Been which is a book about the real Alice Liddle, that Rev. Dodgson(Lewis Carroll) named the book after, as an older woman. My script of Alice in Wonderland. I also have another Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, but it had become my decomposition book. I want to get the Looking Glass Wars books because they are amazing. There is also a manga series of Alice themed books I might get. It will just keep growing because it is such a wide spread story. I like reading the original Lewis Carroll books and knowing all the words they are going to say. I have been saying lines from the play all week.

I have so many ATCs to post. I will add them one at a time. I painted this one with gouache paint.

Yesterday Luke and I stained our dresser. Once we finish it (hopefully today) I can finish organising the disaster of a room we have right now. Luke, Brad, and I went for a ride. Luke and I on scooters and Brad on the GoPed. Then we jumped on the trampoline for a while. Then we went to the mall and played black light put put golf. I won with the biggest score! Luke actually won with the lowest.

Luke and I are going to church today, so I guess I'll go shower and get ready now.