How To Be a Lover of Animals

Let me preface this by saying, we love animals. More specifically, dogs and cats. If we won the lottery, one of the top things on the list would be to open an animal shelter/home. I feel so awful about the many animals that are brought into this world unloved. You can give the same argument for unwanted babies, but there's something about puppies/dogs and kitties/cats in shelters that tugs at my heartstrings. Not sure why, maybe it has something to do with this book this lady named Pat gave me when I was born, maybe it's because I used to have to moo at the cows when I was little, maybe it's genetic (my mom's family is known for taking in strays and my dad has a big soft animal-loving heart too). Who knows. I just love animals.

I grew up with Midnight (cat) and Sandie (dog), which were both rescues. Midnight passed and in 8th grade we rescued four cats from our church. And when I say we, I mean my dad found a yellow male cat (he had always wanted one) at church and brought him home. Once we found out there were more that had been dumped there, we traveled to the church to gather up the rest. We found four more. One was taken by someone else, so we took the remaining three. Two of these cats went to Dad's shop and we kept Nectar (yellow male) and the runt, which we named Hallie (short for Hallelujah). Note: Hallie is where my zoo starts.

After Sandie (best dog ever) passed, we wound up with Ellie (who was cute but is probably the worst dog ever). Nectar also passed, and I thought it would be a good idea to bring home another yellow male cat from school. This one was named Chester (from Manchester). Big mistake on my part as he is pain in the arse. Also at school, a couple of my friends had adopted a part-Siamese cat named Oscar. He was too much to handle and I couldn't bear him going back to the shelter, so I said I would take him to my Dad's shop. And that's where I dropped him off at. Only to come home and find him at my parent's house. When asked why he was brought home, Dad replied, "He feel asleep in my arms and looked so cute. I couldn't leave him at the shop." Ah! Maybe this is where I get my need to bring animals home?

My last year at school, I brought Hallie to live with me and she became my cat. She lived in Manchester, Castleton, and Downtown Indy with me. She's a good little (I use that term loosely as she's 16 pounds) companion.

Hallie cat

After Al and I started dating and later became engaged, he decided it was time for a dog. I was apprehensive at first (thinking about how Hallie would react), but warmed up to it. That's where Daisie comes into the picture. (I'll give the background on all the pups at a later time; each would be a separate story in itself). We got Dodger because we thought Daisie needed a friend. It took a minute, but they eventually became buds. Most recently we've added Diego, who is so small in comparison that's it's hard to even call him a dog. Wow, three dogs and a cat! I never thought I'd have more than one of each at a time. Just call us the Animal Kingdom! 

Lots of love to my animal friends and friends of animals!
--Am

 

from left: Dodger, Daisie, Amber, Diego, Hallie

How To Be an Artist

I really wanted to call this blog "How To Be an Artiste," but then I looked up the difference between the two. An artiste is someone that is trained and skilled in the arts, while an artist is someone engaged in the arts. I don't even want to claim being skilled in any way, shape, or form in the area of arts. I don't use that side of the brain…I'm an accountant, remember!

On Monday night, I, along with my mom and sister, partook in a Wine and Canvas event at Stone Creek in Greenwood. We used the Living Social deals I had purchased that got us in for only half price (only $17). I arrived first and was able to get us a seat near the front, which I discovered later was helpful. Mom and I ordered a glass of wine, while the pregnant one (Em) had water. We each got an appetizer that I thought we would share, but nope. Well not entirely no, as Emily shared her calamari, but mom did not share her delicious-looking beef crostinis.

I had consumed more wine before the food arrived, so I started off a little tipsy. We began painting by following the easy instructions given by the artist. The instructions were perfect for people who don't have an imagination…like me! I need direction and don't do well when I'm told to be creative or to draw/paint freehand pictures. So, the step by step, hard and straight instructions worked wonders for me.

We painted the background first, which was a sunset. I must say that mom had a beautiful sun and Em had a fabulous reddish sunset. Mine on the other hand was just so-so. After that dried, we were ready for the tree. I must say that my tree was phenomenal! I had thin branches that curved beautifully. This is not to say that mom and Emily didn't have nice trees (because they did), I was just partial to mine. :) Oh, and I cheated a little bit on the tree by moving it closer to the center of the painting instead of keeping it to the left. I can be creative!

After the tree, we basically put swirls all over, as many or as little as we wanted.  Em went for a lot, and I went for a little. I mainly had little because I don't do well with random and get a little OCD making sure that there aren't two of the same colored swirls within a so-many-inch area. I'm a freak like that. Also, my swirls ended up looking more like e's, but oh well. I must say that the end result is pretty awesome. Even Alex (an artiste) said it was pretty good, and I was worried he would have criticized it.

All in all, it was a lot of fun and have signed up for two more trips (at full price)! I can't wait to get my drink and paint on again.

Color me proud!
--Am

painting by Amber

closer-up of painting by Amber

How To Buy a Coffee Maker

On Monday morning, our coffee maker went out. It sounded like it was brewing, but there wasn't any coffee in the pot and all the water was still in the water basin. Alex's goal when he arrived home was to clean it out and see if he could unclog the pump (because I was sure that was the source of the problem). Well, the pump was just plain broken. I guess that's what happens when you purchase a Mr. Coffee coffee maker from Wal-Mart for $29.99. When I bought  this maker in July 2008, I remember thinking it was a great price for a quality coffeemaker. (Side note: Coffee maker can be written as two separate words or as one word; I will use both). Who knows, maybe it was a quality coffeemaker since we used it almost everyday.

Anyway, goodbye old coffeemaker! Off to Bed, Bath & Beyond to get another one. Oh, but which one to get? We must have stared at the different kinds for 45 minutes. Did we want a Keurig (single-brew) or a traditional coffee maker? I played Devil's Advocate a little bit with Alex. He has wanted a Keurig for some time now, and it always seemed a little uneconomical to me. However, during this trip he was hot on the traditional coffeemaker. While we were talking over the pros and cons, one of the sales associates stopped by and gave us a little tutorial on the different brands of the single serve makers.  There's the Keurig, Tassimo, Breville, etc. And most of these come in a "mini" size.  We were interested, but not enough to buy one. 

We settled on the Mr. Coffee Thermal Coffeemaker. It was $90 and had a gold filter (yeah, no more paper filters). We had a 20% off coupon and a $50 giftcard, so we only paid around $25. We thought that was a pretty good deal! At home, Al cleaned it and got it ready to brew the next day. One thing that sucked right off the bat was that there was no warmer (with it being a thermal), so Al would have to pour the coffee back in, set the delay and re-brew it for me (he gets up about 3 hours before me). Oh well, if that's the only thing that's wrong, it's not so bad. As we got in bed, Al began looking at various reviews online and could not really find a good one. Now we have it in our head and are looking for proof for it to be a terrible coffeemaker. Well, it was. The coffee was watery, which we assume is from it brewing quickly (something to do with the gold filter maybe?), and it was only lukewarm. We decide to give it another try and use a paper filter the next day. Nope, still watery! And still not very warm for me...way to go thermal! 

On Wednesday night, we pop in BBB after dinner with my fam. This trip was a little different because we had done our research prior to arriving.  I know, research for a coffeemaker seems a little ridiculous, but Al put it best when he said it was like buying a car. Too many different gadgets and whatnot. We decided that the Cuisinart DC1200 would be the one. We look it over and ponder about the KitchenAid model, but decide to go with the Cuisinart ($80). As we're walking toward the check out, we see a sign that says $50 mail-in rebate on Tassimos. We ask someone to explain the differences between the various models, but decide it might be a little bit too much and maybe we should ask for one next Christmas. 

Bright idea! We can get a cheap-o coffee maker and get this one for fun. We'll spend a little bit more, but not too much (giftcard and rebate). Wow, we're an easy sell. We run back, get a cheap-o coffee maker, grab a Tassimo, select some T-disc flavors, and nab a quick gift for my sister. The grand total (including rebate and giftcard) came to about $100! We got one coffeemaker, one Tassimo, three bags of T-discs, and a birthday gift for one hundred bucks...FANTASTIC! To give you an idea, the Tassimo was $169 to start with. 

We are so stoked from our fab deal when we get home. Oh but we're about to be taken down a notch. Al starts to take out the coffeemaker and notices that it's taped up with scotch tape.  That's not right.  Then, water poured out of it when he took it out of the box, and there were grounds caked on the filter basket. Of course, we picked up a return that wasn't properly checked! We call BBB, and they have one waiting for me when I get there. This one is in it's original packaging and doesn't have scotch tape on the bottom of the box. It's good to go! Take it home, set it up, clean it, and delay brew it. 

The next morning, the coffee tasted great and reached our expectations. We also tried out the Tassimo, which was good, but not the best thing in the world. For Al, it tended to make the drink too strong, and for me it was too milky.  Both of those things can be adjusted, so we're going to keep it! It will be good for single brews, lattes, and entertaining our fancy friends. :)

All in all, I say go for the cheap-o coffeemaker. Happy brewing!

--Am

Mr. Coffee 12-Cup Coffee Maker ($40)

Tassimo - front view

Tassimo - side view

 

 T-discs - these are only 35 calories!

chai tea latte T-discs

   

How To Poorly Polish Your Nails

How often do you paint your fingernails? If you're a dude, it's probably not often (unless you're into the goth scene). And if you're a chick, it could be anywhere from never to every week. Some of us are fortunate enough to get our nails done at a salon or at least one of the Vietnamese places. Not me, however! I only get my nails done for special occasions, which really only means weddings that I'm in. Also, I have a terrible habit of biting my nails, so they are never long enough for me to get a manicure. Instead, I would have the fake ones "installed". There was a place in Manchester (that's IN, not England), where the nail tech would actually build the nails. Hard to explain, but pretty cool.

My nails are finally getting to the point where I could actually manicure them! Somehow I haven't bitten or tore them off, which usually is done because I'm stressed. Guess I just don't have much stress right now--I'll take it! It drives me nuts when I can see the dirt gathering underneath the nails, so that sometimes causes the biting. Needless to say, I rarely have long nails. So, I hardly have any practice when it comes to painting nails. But this time, I decided I wanted to keep the nails growing long. The best solution to that is to polish them so I can't see the dirt collecting underneath them.

It's winter, so I grab the most wintery color I own. I can't remember the name, but it's a deep eggplant color. I also gather up my polishing kit (which is really for pedicures, but it works for hands). I slather on the cuticle oil, let that dry, which takes for-freaking-ever, and yell at Alex to see if can help me when it comes time to paint the right hand. Then I remember the last time we tried to do that and decided I didn't want a big purple stain on the carpet or a yelling match about not being able to have anything nice. I'm better off doing it myself--BIG mistake!  

I start with the base coat. Oh, I should also mention that I'm lying in bed trying to paint my nails. I'm lazy and couldn't fathom getting up. Base coat is applied and dried, so it's time for the eggplant. I do one coat on each hand. Terrible…streaky and all over my skin. So I paint another coat because that will help with the streakiness (and it does), but it's still all over my skin. Ah, I can wait and wash it off in the shower tomorrow morning (thanks Sarah Nolan!). Once the eggplant is applied and dried, I dab on the top coat.  I can't remember if I did one or two coats of this. I'm sure it was only one (lazy again). And would you know it? Right when I think I'm done, I smudge the heck out of my left ring finger. Instead of taking it all off that finger and starting from scratch, I decide it would be better just to add another coat of eggplant and top it off with some top coat. Classy!!  

I'm sure you're shocked when you hear me say that about three days later the polish started to chip. And when it starts to chip, I start to pick.  It's even worse when I'm bored or frustrated. Oh great, now I'm that kid with the dodgy nail job. So, I did the big kid thing and painted over the nails when I got home. What a great idea! Nope…two days later it started to chip again. Ah the heck with it, time to come off. I grab the nail polish remover, soak a cotton ball, and rub away. Now the nails are back to normal, and I'm wondering if I should hurry up paint them in the next five minutes, or risk biting them off tomorrow. Oh well, they were nice while they lasted!  :)

Perfect Polishing!
--Am

PS--Eiffel for this color (would you have guessed that was the color eggplant?).
PSS--And thanks to Claire and Regs, I tried very hard to single space after each period. Oh save me because I didn't do it right once the first time around!    

Part 1 done!

I passed the first half of my paramedic test in beautiful Dayton, Ohio. Yeah!
-Alex

How To Get Lost in Dayton, OH with a Garmin

As some of you may know, Al and I ventured to Dayton, OH today.  Thankfully, we have such a caring, trustworthy friend to watch over our babies while we're away (thanks Brie!).  But first you might ask, "why would you travel to Dayton?"  Oh, we wanted to get away and figured Dayton had a lot to offer...Uhh No!  The reality of it is that Al has his practical (hands-on) exam for his paramedic license tomorrow. 

We left around noon and stopped for Wendy's before we hit the road.  Boy, do I love those Spicy Chicken sandwiches!  And the new fries are delish, but I only had a few (stole from Al) as I opted for the healthier side salad.  Back on the road, I started to test Al.  I would name a procedure (V-Tach or Medical Assessment or Duel Lumen something or rather) and he would have to go through all the steps.  We were so caught up in reviewing that we almost missed the exciting crossing over into Ohio!  Oh, but no, we got to see it.  A little bit more and we were in Dayton.  What a drabulous city!  I've been here many times, but must have been so hyped up for guard that I never realized how blah it is. 

Anyway, we were following the Garmin to our hotel.  We had been on interstate the whole time, so when our lady voice tells us to exit at Exit 51, we must have got confused.  And it's easy to get confused when the exit isn't marked except by a tiny sign to the left of the ramp.  No sign above it or before to warn you that it's ahead, that's too easy.  So, we had to get off at the next exit and get back on the interstate to exit at Exit 51.  From there, it was a hop, skip, and a jump to the hotel. 

We arrive, check in, search for places to eat, study (Al), play stupid games on the computer (Am), and look up directions.  It was between Mexican and Thai for dinner.  Al chose Mexican, I chose Thai, but decided to go with Mexican as he was the one with the big day tomorrow and would need his stomach to be settled.  Plus, we went to Wendy's for lunch because of me, so it's a fair trade!  Anyway, on our way to dinner, we wanted to drive the route to the testing site to know how long it would take and whatnot.  It's about 6 minutes away.  Then it's off to Elsa's. 

As we're walking into Elsa's, we notice the "Bad Juan."  Of course, we picked a restaurant that my friend Chris has talked about many time before.  He's had a couple of experiences with the Bad Juan!  :)  Dinner on my end was yummy, Al's was so-so.  Note to self: Avocado and ranch blended together is a tasty combination. 

Now starts the drive back to the hotel.  First, we miss the exit on the right to get onto 35.  We cross over the interstate and turn around in Rallys.  Before we cross over the interstate, the lady voice is telling us to turn right.  What the heck?  I thought we needed to go left?! Confused now, we drive over the interstate and get on the original ramp.  Apparently, you could have gotten onto the interstate from either side.  The only times I remember seeing anything like that are when there's a divider in the middle and you can't perform lefthand turns.  Anyway, we're going on 35 and it tells us to get onto 75.  That was easy.  The first exit is ours: Exit 51.  We don't miss it this time.  But we do miss the fact that if you stay all the way to the left, it puts you right back to interstate 75.  Of course, so now we are back on the interstate.  I start cracking up.  Not sure why, but it's hilarious.  The next exit isn't until after we get back on 35.  We take the exit that the lady voice tells us and follow her directions.  Too bad the Garmin didn't have road closures in it.  We hit a road block and can't get over the river.  Of course!!

So, we start driving back the way we came and are completely mad at the lady voice.  We don't turn where she says until we hit some road (Veterans maybe?).  We start driving down this road and it's sort of creepy.  It's along the river and looks like there could be many a homeless people living there.  It also looks very deserted.  Ahhhh, then we see the bridge with the terrible lighting underneath it (looks like something from the 80s that used to be cool).  Woohoo!  We made it back to Edwin C Moses (street on which the hotel sits)!  Hopefully, I'll have better luck tomorrow when I'm driving around alone.  :) 


Good luck to Al!  Safe travels to all!
--Am 

How To "BE"

I must apologize to all of you because this is an extremely long blog, but I didn't want to leave anything out.  Some of you may know that I have been at a life coaching seminar for the past five days.  Before I say anything else, I will tell you that I did this at the request of my boss.  It was explained to us by this coach that the training was of a leadership nature.  Leadership?  Ok, that can't be too bad.  I was a bit apprehensive when it was first mentioned, but thought I would try to make it a positive experience.

It occurred at a location on the northside of Indy.  Meeting times were as follows: Wednesday 6pm to midnight; Thursday 6pm to 11:45pm; Friday 6pm to 12:40am; Saturday 10am to 8:25pm; and Sunday 10am to 5pm.  That alone makes it enticing, right?  I can barely stay up later than ten, so it's going to be a challenge at that.  In addition, we had to sign a waiver prior to starting the class.  Basically, if you are pregnant or have physical limitations, then you shouldn't take this class.

On our first night, I'm driving up and thinking that if there are only 15 to 20 people, I'll be ok.  Oh no, there were more than 70 people at this training.  Are you kidding me?  I was a nervous wreck.  I'm not a fan of big groups, and I hate talking in front of people, especially people I've never met.  We sign our waiver and get to gettin'.  We start with the ground rules: 1)Be on time; honor your word.  2)It is encouraged to talk about your experience (to gain more "followers"), but you cannot talk about other's experiences.  Makes sense, since it's all confidential. 3) And a whole bunch of other stuff I don't remember.  It all doesn't seem to bad, we start with a lecture and do some trust exercises.  The main goal of the evening is to learn about core values and trust and how you can bring it to every relationship.  Ok, I'm not sure I agree, but I'll play along.  We also create small groups (with a coaching leader), which can't contain anyone you know.  I really feel comfortable in my group and able to talk to people.  I would love to tell you about the rest of my group, but I can't (confidentiality).  They are awesome in their own ways!  After group, we get our homework and set up a time to call our leader the next morning.

Second night we talk about being the cause vs the effect and being a victim.  We discussed the difference between having to do something vs wanting to do something.  It's all about perception and the opportunity that's created by looking differently at a situation.  Oh yeah, all situations/events are neutral.  We bring our own feelings and focus our thoughts on the situation, meaning we can determine if the experience it to be positive or negative.  We talked about playing the victim, and it's really forced me to look at how I tell stories and why I tell them.  Do I tell them to get a response (payoff) or do I tell them with the straight facts and don't try to get someone to feel sorry me?  Some food for thought.  Again, this is more stuff I can apply to work and my personal life.  I gather more homework and have another call.

Now it's Friday.  Oh what was Friday again?  I remember doing an exercise where we had to get from point A to point B in a different manner than anyone before us.  Don't remember what that was supposed to teach us, but it was fun.  Loved looking for different ways to get from A to B!  Oh, I think we may have also talked about intentions this day.  Don't get me started on intentions.  Apparently your results are what you intended.  I don't agree, but there were a lot of people that jumped right on it.  Later in the evening, we split into 2 teams and played this game called "Through the Looking Glass."  It was frustrating.  I found myself giving up pretty easily when my thoughts weren't being heard.  Oh, but what does that tell me about myself.  I don't care!!  Since no one figured this game out the first time, we played it a second time.  This took us to later than midnight (approximate end time).  And after a discussion on what it meant if you were playing to win or playing not to lose, we were forced to listen to two random songs.  Our homework was to sit in silence back home and reflect on something or rather.  Are you kidding me?  I need to sleep!  So, I slept.

Saturday, Saturday, Saturday.  Talk about the day of visualizations.  Now that I think about it, there was one on Friday about walking in a field and tearing off armor.  Yeah, I thought of the movie Gladiator, my parent's cabin, and this game I played on the computer once.  I didn't think about tearing off armor.  But Saturday was worse!  We had to find a partner (I cheated and worked with someone I knew).  We had to yell, "What matters?" at the other person while they yelled back what mattered to them.  This went on for way more than it should have.  It felt like it lasted 45 minutes.  We reversed roles.  While all this was going on, the coaches were walking around yelling, "What matters?" so LOUD…talk about obnoxious. This was supposed to get down to the core of what mattered to us.  Yeah, good luck with that.  Yelling just makes me shut down.  We switched partners (again I cheated and worked with someone I knew).  In this exercise, we had to pretend to talk to our parents, then pretend to be our parents and talk to ourselves, then be ourselves and ask for forgiveness.  Oh, that's a lot of role play that I was not signed up for.  Now, I love my parents and have forgiven them for things that might have happened in the past (long ago or recent).  I don't feel they didn't love me or anything for which I would need to make them aware.  This was awful.

Additionally, we had a visualization that we were looking at film (past memories) and discarding those.  Then, we were on a sailboat that somebody else was supposed to be driving.  This somebody was supposed to be the one that had power over you.  And who was that person for me?  It was me!  I'm assuming that to mean that no one has control over me and that I am in control of my life.  We also sat one on one with someone and picked a story to retell to that person and ask for forgiveness to the person that we were angry/upset with.  I didn't cheat in this one because we could meet with someone that knew us.  I did, however, cheat by using a situation for which I had already forgiven myself.  I couldn't think of another one.  We had lunch with our small groups.  That lasted for about two hours.  This was a great lunch because I hadn't eaten a real meal in about four days.  (I only ate breakfast and one other meal for each day we were in this training.)  After lunch, we had to tell people what we thought was unattractive about them, and not by their looks but by what we've experienced with them.  When you only talk to people you know, it's difficult to tell someone you don't know something unattractive (or attractive) about their soul.  We also got to tell people what was attractive about them (agin via experiences and not looks).  Then it was on to the hugging.  Lots and lots of hugging…big people, small people.  I didn't mind it (even though I was slightly caressed by an extremely large man).  I did mind that my neck was about to break or my calf muscles cramp up for too much time on my tippy toes.  There are lots of tall people in this world…and by tall I mean 5'8 or taller.  :)

Sunday was our marketing day.  It started with a bunch of people sharing and then with the push to get everyone to sign up for the second level and to have their friends sign up for the first level.  Most everyone was eating this up.  I felt like I didn't belong in this group.  I wasn't ready to drink the kool-aid like so many others.  I felt betrayed, duped, exhausted, and ready to be done.  Oh but wait, there's one more exercise.  We had to get in a group (this time it actually had to be with people you didn't know) and tell them about your vision (which is the ultimate goal).  We also had to assign three of the members a limitation to this vision and choose one as a coach.  I must say that I got to be a coach twice (I'm that awesome or that good at giving advice).  The limitations were yelling at you and you had to yell back at them how you were going to overcome that limitation.  That exercise was somewhat fun.  At the very end was the celebration, where you friends and family could come and congratulate you (if it was a big deal to you).

I don't want to make it sound like this is not a good thing or a something that someone could get something out of, because there were people getting things from it.  However, it's not something I felt I was ready for.  Much like a person with an addiction has to want to be helped to actually be helped, you have to want to BE there and experience it whole-heartedly to get a life-altering change out of it.  If you'd like to join an expensive cult (thanks Tim) or a pyramid scheme (thanks Regs), then this is for you!  If not, keep on truckin'!

Happy BEing who you are and loving it!
--Am

How To Style Your Hair Like a Flock of Seagulls

You know when you go to your hairstylist and she styles your hair perfectly and in a way that you will never be able to replicate?  Last thursday, Andrea Heine-Donahue cut and styled my hair.  She's fabulous!  Not only is she super cool and fun to hang out with, but I trust her with my hair.  I love my hair and I don't trust easily, so that right there should tell you how awesome she is.  Anyway, this particular Thursday she had styled my short hair up and to the left in a sort of rockstar, hip way.  Lots of twists, product, and blowdrying it just right.

This morning as I woke up, I decided I wanted to wear my new mustard tights (thanks Em!) and these tights would require rockstar hair.  I start my routine: shower (in which it goes hair, face, body), remove earwax, remove eye make-up I didn't get in the shower (yes, I should wash my face at night, but I'm really lazy), put on toner (new step that I don't even know if it's doing anything), lotion body, get dressed, dry and style the hair, brush teeth, put on jewelry, apply make-up, lotion face, and spray on perfume.  And that's my morning routine.  I'm an accountant, so I never (ok, rarely) stray from the routine.  Oh but today was different.

I was taking forever to find an outfit for the mustard tights, so I decided to start on the hair so that it didn't dry out.  Shouldn't have strayed from the routine.  I started by blowdrying it at an angle.  It now looks like a skateboarding ramp.  It's ok, I can fix it with some twisting and product.  I grab the Aquage transforming paste and start with the molding and twisting.  Too fluffy under the ramp, so I put more paste there.  It looks a little better, but is not quite there.  Bright idea!  Put some hairspray on it…that fixes everything.  Everything except for this.  Shouldn't have stepped outside the routine!  I'll remember this for next time.  

It now looks like hair that my sis and I would make fun of.  It's what we would call Flock of Seagulls hair.  From The Wedding Singer: Airline Attendant - "You like Flock of Seagulls?" Robbie Hart (aka Adam Sandler) - "No, but I can tell you do!"  In fact, we just made fun of some guy at House of Tokyo because he had total Flock of Seagull hair.  I mean, it was WHOA Flock of Seagull hair (wish I had a picture of that).  So, my hair wasn't totally Flock of Seagulls, more like a skateboarding ramp.  There's always next time!

Happy Hairstyling!
--Am  

the true Flock of Seagulls hair - picture here

 

the skateboard ramp (please keep in mind that this was after a full day of work)

who am I kidding?  looks terrible!

How To Make a First Grade Birthday Card

Tomorrow we are celebrating my aunt's and cousin's birthdays.  Instead of stopping to get a card, I got the bright idea to create one using some leftover card stock and ribbon, glitter, and gel pens that have been inactive for about ten years.  And by leftover, I mean from making my wedding programs just over a year ago.  I also remembered I brought home some stencils from a recent visit at my parents.  Yes, I still have a closet full of crap that I need to figure out what to do with.  And no, mom and dad, I don't know when I'll get to cleaning it out.  It will probably come when I finally get to changing my last name.  Love you Alex Markov!  Anyway, these stencils are about 20 years old, if not older.  


I gather the essentials: a cutting board, exact-o-knife, and this new paper cutter thing Em just gave me. My idea is to cut out balloons from the card stock and use the ribbon for the string.  I was a little nervous at first to start with the exact-o-knife because of the last time I used it (making the wedding programs).  The programs looked liked flowers and a bunch of my fabulous friends and family helped me cut out each petal and glue them to the center.  Before anyone had arrived, I began cutting out the petals.  About four petals in, I knick my thumb.  It bleeds for a bit, but nothing serious.  But you know how when you bite the inside of your mouth once and then you always happen to bite that same place not very long after?  And it hurst like a mo-fo?  Well, I sliced a big hunk out of my thumb not too much later.  Blood begins pouring out and I can feel my heartbeat pulsing in my thumb.  Awesome.  About eight paper towels and three bandaids later, it stops bleeding.  So, you can imagine my hesitation with the exact-o-knife.


Fortunately, I didn't have any problems this time and was able to make plenty of balloons.  I cut the base paper to size using the paper cutter thing and and stencil on happy birthday.  I next place the balloons appropriately and glue them on.  Of course, some of the glue leaks out the sides and you can totally see the dried glue (first grade).  I put the ribbons on to look like string and later Alex asks, "what are those lines there for?"  Guess they don't look like string.  Anyway, I write a little message on the inside to my cousin and call it a day.  


But I couldn't call it a day because I have all these leftover balloons.  I tried putting them on the left side of the card, but couldn't find a way that I liked them.  Then I remembered the stencils.  I knew there were some animal ones and hoped that there would be something birthday related.  Woohoo…there's a birthday cake!  I stencil it onto the card and glitterize it.  No spray glue this time.  :)  I then arrange the remaining balloons around the cake and am now waiting for it to dry.  I must say that it doesn't look half-bad…for a first grader!  


Happy First Day of the Year!
--Am

the paper cutter thing from Em

the supplies

 the front of the card

the inside of the card

Hallie--my helper

Daisie & Dodger--my supervisors