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.

Blog Challenge Day 4

For my last "What inspires me?" I'm going with what I've got on the brain right now. I watched the Mavs game tonight, so I thought I'd show you what they inspired me to make.

They are 3 games into the finals right now, but only have one win. It's okay though. I believe in my team!!! Beat the Heat!

I'm going to sleep now... We are leaving at 5 am tomorrow for San Marcus. My sister has freshman orientation!

Blog Challenge Day 3

I can't decide if today was really long, or way too short. Time seems to have then effect sometimes. It is full of tricks and illusions that make you wonder things like, "How long was I asleep," or "It's already over?!" I found out a few days ago that June is the official "birth month" of AIDS. This wicked disease turns 30 this month. 30! That doesn't sound very old, but when put into perspective... It's not as young as you think. Today's medicine is so advanced it really blows my mind when I think about the crazy things they have accomplished. Improved methods for surgeries that were potentially dangerous in the past, having a better understanding of how to help someone rid of the microscopic killer that is destroying their body, and even knocking out many vicious, life claiming diseases all together. With HIV/AIDS there is no cure. It is easier to keep people alive longer these days, but it is such a complicated disease that any person who has it is promised death by it. It is like the perfect virus. The doctors come up with one drug, and it mutates to help it avoid the drug and stay alive. It is impossible to create just one drug because it changes and gets stronger with every new person it infects. This brings me to what inspires me...

Causes

Even though we are not all as rich as Magic Johnson and have the best medicine money can offer, there are causes out there fighting to help make life better for those with illness. I'm not just talking about HIV/AIDS though. The American Cancer Society, Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, The National Marrow Donor Program, and Living Water International are all amazing causes that will never give up hope. They raise money and awareness to help create a better future. Every time I eat Yoplait and the lid is pink I save it to send in. I play games on Free Rice to help send food to hungry children in other countries. Reading the stories of others and seeing what I can do to help is inspiring because it bring hope into a place that fosters so many hopeless and broken soles. Even though the cure for HIV/AIDS seems to be so far away, researchers have found that children born via C section to mother who have the disease are born free of the virus. There is a new goal of having every child born AIDS free by 2015. Tell me that doesn't get you Inspi(red) too.

Blog Challenge - Day 2

This morning when I woke up at 7:30 I decided that I didn't want to go back to sleep like I usually do. Instead I got up and had a small cup of coffee. I just love the mugs at my house. There are so many different ones, but the one I used this morning is one that I remember us having a long long time ago... in a galaxy far far away. I remember when I was first old enough to understand it, and it still cracks me up today.

Anyways... before my tangent, I was talking about waking up. After I got a bit of coffee, I grabbed my decomposition book and a pen, and went outside. I sat on the concrete and watched the sun climb up the sky. It was beautiful and the weather felt so amazing. Here in Texas, this is the only time it will feel this amazing in the summer. This is what brings me to "What inspires me?"....

The Morning

I love the morning. I can think more clearly and something about it makes me feel more alive. I sat there for a while and wrote in my decomposition book. It wasn't really anything important or interesting. Just whatever thoughts came into my head. I'm sure they will get painted over later, but it felt nice to just write. Then I took a few pictures. I love the long shadows that the low sun casts, the sparkling dew, and the gentle brightness that seems to sharpen my mind. Once I went back inside I was ready to create.

Blog Challenge Day 1

Here I am... procrastinating as usual. Between the wedding and Danni's grad party, I had a very busy 2 weeks. This week has become very lazy because of that. I have barely crafted all week. I guess I will get on with the blog challenge now. The topic is... hang on. I'm still trying to decide.

Okay... I've got it. Things that inspire me. Today I will start with someone that is a musical genius. My sister and I watched an interview with her yesterday and then one of her concerts.

Lady GaGa

Watching her wild concert was just amazing. There wasn't a dull moment! The interview was great. Her story is truly inspiring. She was the kid that got thrown in the dumpster because she was different. She played classical piano growing up, and when her dad gave her Bruce Springsteen sheet music it changed her life. I was amazed by the whole thing. Afterward I was able to go get some ATCs in. I read on Talk2TheTrees that if you watch, listen to, or even look at something that inspires you in any way, it will spark your imagination and get you out of a creative slump. Today I started my ATCs for the Alice in Wonderland Mega Swap. I'm now finished with the Cheshire cat, and the white rabbit. Only 7 more to go. Sorry... no pictures today.

Wedding Countdown: 3 days

I forgot to mention on the last two posts that the flower ball I made is slightly larger than a golf ball. I realized it is hard to tell just by the picture.

Now for my creation of the day. This ATC is for the Cuban half of me. For this swap I had two partners, but I had to make an extra for myself.

I can't wait to see my husband tomorrow! I am so proud of him... he is going to nationals in the pole vault for the third time. This time, however, there will be 4 more of our team mates joining him. The first time he went, he was all alone. The second time it was him and Latrice. This time it will be him, Latrice, Jennifer, Andrew, and Will. Good luck to all of them next weekend in Turlock, CA!

I Love Vanilla Coke!!!

Today I went to my mom's PreK classroom to help out. The kids always do something funny or tell me something amusing, but today took the cake. I found myself with an admirer, and he made me these

I also have a few crafts to show you. After my failure with the twisted cloth flowers the other day, I decided the next day to try again. I used the same piece with glue on it for my first try just in case I messed it up again. Of course I had another glue mishap, but I ended up finishing it and then making one more. They aren't that great, but here they are.

Today I made a few ATCs, and I just now realized I forgot to take a picture of one of the Zentangle flower. Oh well. I'll just have to show you my very first fabric ATC. I used a tiny sewing machine! The border is the leftover from the Crown Royal bag that I used for the flower. The blue is a screen cleaner. Not too shabby for my first try.

Craft Creations

The craft blogs I looked at yesterday inspired me to start trying a bunch of different tutorials. Yesterday I decided to make a paper flower ball. It took forever! but I was pleased with the end result. I used a piece of 12x12 scrapbook paper and went to work ripping it into a little larger than 3.5 cm squares. Then lots of origami.... lots and lots of folding. I had to make each petal, use 5 petals to make 1 flower, and 12 flowers to make the entire ball. 60 petals! I think I might have lost my mind if the folding was complicated at all.

Today I made this flower I found, but it's lame. I didn't want to use my scrapbook paper so I cut out of a magazine.

So I decided to try making one of those fabric flower. The first method I tried to follow wasn't working for me, so I looked around for a few more. I used a Crown Royal bag for the purple cloth. I wound it up and liked how it looked, so I went to get some glue to put the thing together. I found the hot glue gun, but no glue sticks. Then I found the mini glue sticks, but now mini hot glue gun. After searching and searching I got really annoyed and decided to find something else. I found a tube of Scotch Maximum Strength Adhesive, but I couldn't get the stupid lid off!! I considered Gorilla glue, but there were too many warnings on the label and I didn't want to deal with it. As I was considering super glue I saw a can of a spray on adhesive, and fabric was on the label's approved list. To keep from making a mess in the house I went outside and sat on the concrete with cardboard to work on. Of course... I MESSED IT UP!!! I sprayed it on, but made one wrong move and the flower popped open and unwound. I made a desperate attempt to fix it, but the damage was done. Now my fingers are sticky, purple and fuzzy. I am done attempting to craft today. I'll stick with my lame flower and move on. Maybe I'll watch Tres Caballeros to make me feel better.

Wednesday Whatday?

I feel like a bum! I started out on Stumble Upon, which led me to some craft blogs... then somehow an hour and a half passed me by and the thoughts I had about working out have grown smaller. I need someone to work out with. I did find some awesome blogs to follow though.

This morning around 7:53 I gathered all my papers and got ready to register for Fall classes. If you get on the Banner system at 7:58 it will run like clockwork. The moment 8:00 rolls around the system bogs down because every single person who is eligible to register that day is on at the same time trying for dibs on the best teachers. I logged on a few seconds after my computer clock changed to 8, and what should have take me 20 seconds to type in the course codes and submit them took about 3 minutes. Lucky for me this has been the easiest semester I have ever had signing up for classes. In the past I have been wait listed, the school Internet flaked out because I was sharing it with everyone else trying to register, or I got error messages that forced me to call my advisor to get an override. Needless to say I was extremely pleased with how this morning went. In the Fall I will be taking Hydrology, Structures 1, Thermodynamics 1, and Theatre Appreciation. I'm looking forward to everything but Thermodynamics. Everyone says it's pretty difficult.

Wedding planning is going well... It has also taken over the kitchen table. Between the work-in-progress flower arrangements, the gifts that need to be finished, and the pile of papers used to keep track of all the madness, there isn't any space to actually sit at the table to eat.

There is also a large pile accumulating by the door of wedding "stuff". At least it isn't taking up my entire closet anymore.

Finally I will show you my attempts with gouache paint and India Ink. These are the ATCs for the number series on Swap-bot. The picture of the 9 is terrible, but oh well.