And a couple of running photos thrown in.
Third and last everyday life update today.
I’m slightly (definitely) obsessed with all things camera. I bought these cute little camera stamps from Plaid Barn and they arrived a couple of weeks ago. I’m excited to use them in my Project Life later today… 
I won a $10 GC from Jetpens for submitting a photo of my pens that they liked and are using on their blog. So what did I do? I bought more pens! It’s truly an addiction. But one that has lasted since grade-school! 
I don’t know why, but when I print out photos for my Project Life album, I love to see them all together before I cut them apart to put into my album. 
Another strange fascination is my craft table surface. It gets messy when I’m doing projects. I usually take a photo of it afterwards, you know, after the tornado has touched down onto my workspace. I usually post these to Instagram and other crafters seem to be just as much fascinated with crafty workspaces as much as I am! This one from 5/21. 
This one on 5/28. 
We went running at Miramar Lake last weekend. I don’t get tired of this view. 
Or this view. Noodle sleeping on my desk while I’m on the computer in the office. 
He also likes to be on Todd’s lap when Todd plays Diablo. 
Occasionally, there’s a confluence of crafting and the cat. Noodle likes to hang out on the smaller craft table by the window. He said he likes the pink and peach papers from the Studio Calico kit. They go well with his grayness. 
I found these paper tapes in the children’s art section at Target. They were $6.99 for 9 tapes! They’re made of paper and are not semi-transparent and thin like real washi tape, but at this price I’m not complaining! 
I got the new John Mayer CD on Wednesday. It actually is really good. I heard the NPR Music interview with him and was fascinated by it. He has been rumored to be a jerk in recent years, but I’ve never stopped liking his music. I can separate the music from the man. But in this interview he seemed to have matured a bit. 
Oh and who still buys CD’s? Apparently I do.
I made a birthday card for Todd’s dad. It was super easy to make. Clean and simple and masculine. 
I added a few rows to the chevron afghan on Friday night, while watching TV. It was awesome and relaxing. 
We went running at Mission Bay yesterday after visiting Sally. It was cloudy over there. But I still liked this little island. 
And still grateful to run in this environment. 
Noodle napping on his perch yesterday. I LOVE it when he sleeps like this, all curled up and on his side. I call it “sideways sleeping” and he’s just so cute! 
And yesterday my Hambly order showed up. In case you didn’t know, Hambly is winding down operations and closing up. So no more awesome Hambly clear overlays. I stocked up.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Craft & Cat
Sunny Dayz
When you live in San Diego, you pay a premium for living here. Your mortgage is huge. Gas is $4.59 per gallon. But you deal with it, because on most days of the year, there’s blue skies, sunshine, temps in the 70’s, and the ocean is just a short drive away.
Sunday (5/27) was one of those days. We made reservations for dinner at Pacifica Del Mar to celebrate Todd becoming Advanced Communicator Gold at Toastmaster International. Oh, I didn’t talk about that yet? Todd has been a part of Toastmasters since 2006. He’s given over 50 speeches and he has many titles. His last project that would earn him the coveted Advanced Communicator Gold title was that he needed to lead a seminar about mental flexibility (critical thinking). So on Tuesday (5/22) after work, I drove over to Todd’s work and participated in his one-hour seminar, along with various coworkers and fellow Toastmasters.
Todd was awesome. We all learned a lot about mental flexibility and not jumping to conclusions, and thinking in different ways. 
So to celebrate Todd becoming Advanced Communicator Gold, we went to dinner at Pacifica Del Mar on Sunday 5/27.
The view from our table. 
We had to wear sunglasses during dinner because we were sitting on a patio and the sun was super-bright! 
Todd got a house salad but of course he forgot to tell them no cheese (he hates cheese) and had to pick them off. 
I had a beet salad. 
Todd had steak and garlic mash potatoes. 
I had Szechuan Fiery Shrimp with Pasta. 
It was delicious but I had to leave some pasta behind. Sniff.
Pacifica Del Mar is located in a plaza with ocean view. So pretty! 
After, we walked over to the beach. It was nearing sunset and the lighting was glorious. We brought our tripod for some photos with our big Canon, but also took photos with the little Canon and our phones. 
Many selfies with the phone. Loved the golden light on these and I can’t wait to scrap them! (Or, I did use a couple on my Sunny San Diego layout already, LOL.) 
This one was cool. I set up the tripod with Todd on the rock, then we used the self-timer on the Canon T2i and got a few silhouette shots. 
Another tripod shot. 
The cutest thing about these photos? That Todd set up the tripod shots and said, “we can get some good new photos for you to scrap”. Yes, he did!
Couple more sunset photos. 
And a couple using Hipstamatic on my iPod. 
Glorious sunset at the beach. Check.
Life Is Full, and I’m Full!
Real life has a way of getting in the way of blogging about it. The last couple weeks has been a whirlwind of activities for us. Thus I’m in need of doing several catch-up posts again. Besides working, crafting, and scrapbooking, we’ve been cooking, eating, and hanging out with friends. I was going to apologize for the number of photos in my post. But no. I’m not sorry one bit. Life has been awesome and full, and I’ve taken a lot of photos!
Dinner with Ashley: On Saturday night 5/19, we met our friend Ashley for dinner at Amaya. She came in town for the weekend from Austin. She moved to Austin a couple of years ago, after living in San Diego. Todd met her through Toastmasters. Our meal at Amaya was amazing, but then again meals at Amaya has been known to be amazing. 
Ashley is an incredible athlete. She has done the FULL Ironman Triathlon. That’s 2.4 miles of ocean swim, 112 miles of biking, THEN 26.2 miles of running! She was one of Todd’s inspiration to start doing triathlons three years ago. And she was Todd’s “Muddy Buddy”, his partner in the race a couple of years ago. Here they are, just for old time’s sake. They were about to finish the muddy bike/run race. 
Dinner with Dan: Dan was in town for a conference and we got to have dinner wit him on Wednesday 5/23. We’ve known Dan since 1995. We met him and April through work, then they bought the house two houses down from us and we became neighbors as well. Dan is an awesome guy and we were very excited to get together with him. And when friends come from out of town, we usually take them to Mexican. After all, this is San Diego! So we headed to Fidel’s Little Mexico. 
The food was really good. Dan and I both got crab enchiladas. 
I forgot what Todd got, but it was good too. 
It was so much fun to chat with Dan. I love getting together with old friends and catching up on life. I love old friends because of the history we have between us. Here’s a photo of all three of us after dinner. 
Pete and Cass and baby Kate came over for dinner: On Thursday night 5/24 we had Pete & Cass & baby Kate over for dinner. Todd met Pete through the San Diego local music scene about 8 years ago. They moved into our neighborhood and now we’re neighbors too! Pete and Todd hope to get a couple of other guys together and form a Barenaked Ladies tribute band called “Fully Clothed Men”. I for one can’t wait for that! For those that don’t know, Todd is a very accomplished piano/keyboard player and has played in several rock bands. Pete has done the same, and as a solo artist with his own songs.
Todd made Pan-Seared Chicken with gravy from America’s Test Kitchen. 
And Brussels sprouts. All was yummy and we couldn’t stop eating. 
But we did stop eating for a photo! 
Todd also made Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies from America’s Test Kitchen. When a recipe claims to be perfect, he has to check it out. He’s been making these for three years and everyone who has had one has never forgotten about it, LOL. 
Dinner with Yaiza and Karsten: on Thursday 5/31 we went down to Pacific Beach and had dinner with Yaiza & Karsten at The Fishery. We had never been there before. It was a short walk from their place, so it was very convenient. They just had baby Nyack in January, and Yaiza’s mother is in town from Spain to help out with the baby. Of course, we all had seafood at The Fishery. 
Food was yummy, but the conversation was even better. We don’t get to hang out with Yaiza & Karsten very often, but it’s always fun when we do. 
Lunch with Sally & the babies: yesterday 6/2 we drove down to visit Sally and her twin babies, and to have lunch there. I hadn’t seen Sally in about a month, and Todd had never seen the babies yet!
Sally holding John. 
Nina being cute in her carrier. 
We brought ingredients to her house and Todd made one of our favorite vegetable recipes, Roasted Asparagus with Balsamic Browned Butter. SO so good! 
Sally had some salmon burger patties from Costco and we grilled those up. 
It’s tricky to hold a baby while eating, no? 
I thought I had more baby photos, but no. So you’ll have to settle for a photo of us. Sans makeup even. Sally has been a friend of mine for 30 years. Yes, we were merely babies when we met, ha! 
So yes, after this post, my tummy is very full, and so is my heart! ♥♥♥
Friday, June 1, 2012
Scrapbook Layout | Sunny San Diego
It is on sale for 20% off through 6/7/2012. And if you subscribe to either one of their newsletters (go to their blogs linked above to subscribe, if you haven’t already), you get a coupon code to receive this set of coordinating 3x4 journal cards for FREE.
I made a digital layout with it.
And then I worked some print & cut hybrid magic and made a paper layout with it too. Does it look the same??
I adore the woodgrain texture on this white cardstock. ADORE.
More details.
So run on over to Oscraps and grab “For The Record” now. Be sure to subscribe to both their newsletters to get the code for the free-with-purchase journal cards!