Pieces and Scraps

Doh! How can the weekend be over already??? I've had a good weekend. Friday night was the Girls Night In. Saturday we went for a walk at the beach in Cardiff. It was low tide and you could see wide beach and the reefs right under the water. It was gorgeous. Then afterwards we ate pizza at Bongiornos again! It's becoming our weekly tradition! Then of course I finished our 2007 taxes (see previous post). Today I got a haircut. I have to admit it's okay, it's not the best. My hair stylist Jay quit styling hair because he started going to grad school and wanted to intern at a job related to his field. While I understand it, I'm totally sad I lost my "hair guy". :( So, since September I haven't gotten a haircut because I don't have anyone I trust anymore. Finally Todd went with me to Supercuts and I was supposed to get my hair cut with Mani. But Mani someone misunderstood the request and asked another woman to cut my hair. I should have protested but I thought, "what the heck, it's just hair and I haven't had it cut in 7 months. How bad could it be? Hair grows..." Well, it's not bad. But I had asked her to "texturize" my hair at the beginning and she totally didn't do it. I don't know if she forgot or she didn't know what texturize meant. If my hair doesn't get texturized, it will look more "choppy" and less smooth on the bottom. Lesson learned. Next time I'll make sure I get my haircut with Mani, whom Jay had referred us to when he "retired". I miss you Jay! After my haircut we had lunch at Panera Bread. Then we watched some March Madness basketball. Todd made the best BBQ chicken sandwich tonight, with pickles of course! Plus I watched "Oceans 11" again cuz it was on tv, and that movie is still so fun! I don't know why I watch it on tv though, cuz I have it on DVD! I also did two layouts for my creative teams today. This one for Becky Vosburg @ Oscraps:

Photo by Tara Whitney. Full credits can be seen here.

This one for Sweet Genevieve Designs @ Oscraps:

Photo by Melissa Koehler. Full credits can be seen here.

2007 taxes... check!

I'm so excited! I finally finished filing our 2007 federal and state income taxes! This had been a big burden for me in my little head, so it's GREAT to have it done! AND we don't owe that much Fed taxes, and getting a small refund from state. I think this is the best I've ever estimated our withholdings so that we pay a little bit taxes only. I don't like getting a refund because then it meant that I've lent the federal government money without interest for the whole year. I'd rather pay them a little without interest! Last night I went to an all girls birthday celebration party at my friend Patsy's house. There were about 12 girls there and we had a great time! Joanne brought her professional karaoke machine system and we sang and made fools of ourselves. Michelle the coffee girl from work became the bartender last night and mixed tequila lemon drops and appletinis. I only had a few sips because I'm just not a big drinker (the bitterness is yucky to me) plus I had to drive myself home. But the rest of the girls had their drinks and enjoyed themselves very much! Everyone brought great food too. I brought some mini quiches that I baked in the oven. Lauren brought her famous fried rice. Barb brought pancit (Filipino noodles). Kim brought veggies and dip. Michelle brought homemade sausa and chips. Then there was also teriyaki chicken and beef skewers, red sauce enchiladas, refried beans, and spanish rice. All was yummy! During the karaoke I sang "Standing Still" by Jewel, my infamous karaoke standby favorite. Then Lauren and I sang Shania Twain's "Man, I Feel Like a Woman!". Lauren and Kim sang "Friends in Low Places". All were hilarious! The song that got all the girls to get up and sing/dance was Sister Sledge's "We Are Family". All the sistas got up and sang and danced! (Everytime I hear that song though, it reminds me of the movie "The Birdcage".) I left around 12:15 am and I was tired but I had fun. It's been a LONG while since I've hung out with the girls. I didn't take very many photos, but Patsy did, so hopefully she'll share with me! :)

I made edible food

Yes I did. Last night Todd had an event to go to, so I made a baked ziti with marinara sauce dish. It actually turned out real well and I ate a bunch of it. Todd came home and ate some too. He was so proud of me! :) No pictures to show though, because I didn't think of it and dug into the food as soon as it was done. Yum! (Patting self on the back.)

I'm an Orange

I took a quiz at Blogthings.com on what type of fruit I am, for an introduction game at Elemental Scraps. It says I'm an Orange.

You Are an Orange

You have a zest for life, especially for anything colorful, wild, or dramatic. You have a unique take on the world, and you're not afraid to be a little funky. You are a bit reserved toward people who don't know you well. You have a thick skin, which can protect you from anything that goes wrong in your life. Once someone does get to know you, they totally get and appreciate you. Your friends see you as a bright person with a refreshing take on life.

What Type of Fruit Are You?

That's not a bad description of me. At least partially accurate I'd say! In other news, it seems that Japan has crowned its new ambassador of cartoon, and it's Doraemon. Now, I've known him by his Chinese name Xiao Ding Dong since I was very young, and I have many of these comic books. Love them. See the announcement here.

So funny! Photos courtesy of Yahoo.

The Rebellion

It started a couple weeks ago. I stopped updating my consistent activities list. It's a list of things I want to do consistently this year. Stuff like exercising, reading, writing in my journal, going to church, reading my Bible and praying, etc. I got tired of keeping track of my progress, or lack thereof in some areas. I started out so well too. Exercised 4-5 times a week, and felt so much more toned even though I hadn't lost fat weight yet. Then I fell off the wagon and got lazier and lazier. Sign. It's not defeat. I just need to come up with an action plan to get back on track. Last weekend I ran 3 miles on Sat and 5 miles on Sun. I was going to go to the cardio interval class at the gym on Tues, but it was my birthday and Todd took me out to dinner. Then I was going to go to the gym on Thurs, but I had to get up at 4:45 am for a 5 am conference call for work and felt too tired to work out after work. I've gained about 5 lbs since last July. I just feel more "puffy" and "doughy" than I'd like. Yes, most people would be happy with 120 lbs, but on my small frame I'm happier with 115 lbs. So I am going to be more consistent with exercising and hope to lose the 5 lbs healthily in 3 months. Oh, today I ran 3 miles at the beach, but then promptly went and ate two pieces of pizza at Bongiorno's. But it's my favorite and it's so close to where we run by the coast! I know I just need to make it a priority. When I used to work out in the morning, I did it pretty consistently. Now I work out after work and it's less consistent. Maybe I should go back to the morning workouts. Or maybe I need a goal, like training for a half marathon again.

Fisheye

Toot! Toot! My layout that I did last night, "Fisheye" made with Mirranda Reinhardt's new Earthy Papers and Earthy Elements got mentioned at DST's Gallery Standouts last night. Then this morning it got mentioned at GalleryStandouts.com! I'm so surprised and honored!

I'm the birthday girl

It was my birthday today! Well, it still is for an hour or so where I live! :) Thank you to all of you who sent me snail mail cards, emails, text msgs, Facebook wall posts, etc. I appreciate it all and I'm surprised by how many people remembered my birthday. Every year I always think only Todd remembers my birthday, lol! Todd took me to Nine Ten restaurant in La Jolla, which was really very nice. We had a ton of food and food pictures, but I am too tired to process them tonight, so they'll have to wait until tomorrow!

I have some exciting news to share! One of my digital scrapbooking layouts is going to be published in the Aug/Sep issue of Digital Scrapbooking Magazine! I am super-stoked about it! I received word on this yesterday and thought it was a great early birthday present!

My other exciting news is that I've joined the Songbird Avenue creative team. Songbird Avenue is owned by Jan Crowley and Meredith Fenwick. Each month they team up with an established designer and put out a mega kit full of goodness. All proceeds (minus the Paypal fees) go to the designated charity for that month. This month they teamed up with Kate Teague to create "Fresh Outlook" to benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Here's a preview of the kit:

You can purchase the kit here. Be on the lookout for pages from me using this WONDERFUL kit soon! :)

Well, I've had a full day today! Be back tomorrow with more!

Is spring here?

Wow, March is here! February flew by so fast, even WITH an extra day. I'm really enjoying the longer days and can't wait until we can go running at Miramar Lake again after work. We spent the weekend at my dad's house up in LA county. Because guess what? My dad got married! He married his girlfriend Shelly, whom he met in July. I'm really happy for him because I really don't want him to be lonely or alone for the rest of his life. And this was what my mom told me she wanted, two nights prior to her passing. They had their wedding banquet at the Hilton in San Gabriel. It was really nice. Joyce flew in from Dallas so I got to see her for two days, which was super-exciting! I also got to see a bunch if my dad's old friends and that was fun too. Of course, I got to eat a lot of great food, which is a huge bonus. I love Chinese banquet food. I took some photos but not many of them turned out very nice, so I'll just show this one for now, until I can get better ones from others at the banquet.

I also made a page of a picture of me and Joyce at the banquet:

Full credits can be seen here.

In other news: I was approached by the Jan Crowley/Queen of Quirk at Oscraps to be on her creative team! I accepted of course, because I like her designs. I'm really excited and delighted to be part of her team. :) Just wanted to share a couple more layouts I made recently. This one was for Sweet Genevieve Designs:

Photo by Melissa Koehler. Full credits can be seen here.

This one for Sherrie Piegdon/Pixel Gypsy Designs:

Full Credits can be seen here.

This one for Studio Mirranda (Mirranda Reinhardt) @ Scrapbook Graphics:

Full credits seen here.