Fabulous Adventures of Listgirl

Monday, October 22, 2012

Little Joys

Once again I’m trying to catch-up on blogging. Life got hectic again in October. I seem to be singing the same tune lately. Work has been busy. We’ve had some fun times with friends, which is so important. And last week I caught a cold, which turned into sinus pressure issues. I thought to myself, how can I blog about a couple of weeks all in one post? Well, I decided to pick photos that bring me little joys when I look at them.

Coming home from work and finding Todd and Noodle snuggling on the couch together.

My Blurb photo book I made from my Instagram photos.

Having a week night dinner out with Todd at a hole-in-the-wall Indian restaurant.

Opening a favorite bottle of local wine with a home cooked meal.

Guest posting at Write.Click.Scrapbook.

Going to AJ & Meera’s house on Saturday 10/6 to watch Ohio State vs Nebraska football. Making this dinner for them (since we invited ourselves over!).

The boys hanging together.

Me and my favorite girl Meera. (My shirt says Peace, Love, O for Ohio State.)

My October Studio Calico kit, all unpacked into my tray and ready to use.

Going to dinner with Cassi, Dan, and Madison on Sunday 10/14 at Blue Ribbon Pizza, a new restaurant to us. Trying the Heirloom Wisconsin Black Seed Popcorn with Truffle Salt & Parmigiano Reggiano.

Hanging out with Cassi & Dan is always so fun.

Americana Pizza: Tomato Sauce, Fresh Mozzarella, Artisan Pepperoni & Gaeta Olives

Local Pizza: Tomato Sauce, Mozzarella, “Meatmen” Handmade Spicy Pepperoni & Salumi

My Father’s Pizza: Tomato Sauce, Mozzarella, Fennel Sausage, Pepperoni & Red Onion

Madison playing it cool with pink sunglasses, so cute!

So thankful for the little (and big) joys in my life.

In September…

I cannot believe how much time has flown by this year. It’s a bit scary actually. Here I am doing a September Month-In-Review, when October is almost over. It sounds like a cliché to say time has flown by, but I’ve never felt it fly by as fast as this year has.

I only ran 30 miles in September, which is barely the number of days in the month. My goal is to run 366 miles in 2012 and I have run 330 miles at the end of September.
Walked an additional 10 miles. I think it’s great how 5 minute breaks at work can add up to 10 miles a month.
I spent only 8 hours and 8 minutes exercising, which is my second lowest month this year.
We took 468 photos. Not bad, but it is the least number of photos taken in a month in 2012. I didn’t have nearly as many photos to pick from for my collage!
Watched the movie “The Help” after reading the book. Really liked it.
College football started again! We love waking up on Saturday mornings and turning on ESPN College Gameday!
For the Buckeye first game of the season against Miami, we went to Dejah & Roby’s house and watched with them.
Noodle was the San Diego Humane Society’s “Mr September”.
I did 30 Days of Lists. Finished the lists but did not finish making my mini book yet.
Made good progress on my crochet chevron afghan.
Totally cleaned out my closet and gave a bunch of clothes and shoes to Goodwill.
Went to breakfast and then Balboa Park to read under big trees on Labor Day.
Watched the first VA Tech game with Anne & Gilbert at their place.
Went to Sea World for Todd’s company’s picnic. So fun to see otters and dolphins and sea lions!
Painted my toe nails teal for Ovarian Cancer Awareness.
Endured a few days of over 100 degree heat!
Took the class “Pop Off The Page” at Studio Calico and really enjoyed it.
Went to visit Sally & the twins.
Took Madeline out to dinner in La Jolla.
Todd went to Dreamforce in San Francisco and got to present his project in Developer Theater. AND he got to see a private concert with Barenaked Ladies, our favorite band.
Drove up to LA for cousin Bertha’s movie “Almost Perfect” premiere. Saw Bernice for the first time in quite a few years!
Melissa sent me an American Crafts Christmas roller date stamp. She’s so awesome! I don’t have a Hobby Lobby around here, so she grabbed an extra for me when she found it.
Todd made Princess Leia cupcakes for the Star Wars themed Toastmaster’s speech contest.
Todd completed 102 miles of bike riding in the Tour de Poway on 9/30. We celebrated by going to Phil’s BBQ with Cassi, Dan, Madison, and Shannon came too.
Work started to get really busy with the 2013 budgets. I had to work a lot of extra hours.

102 Miles, Check.

Todd has been training for a century ride for a few months. Every Sunday morning he went on really long rides. Towards the end of his training, he had to find routes that were 80-90 miles long! He would ride for 6 hours during the hottest month in San Diego. Now that’s some incredible dedication.

Sunday 9/30 was the Tour De Poway. Todd got up really early in order to make it to the start line and start at 7am. I didn’t go see him at the start, since he was going to be riding for over seven hours. I wanted to be at the finish to take photos of him.

He texted me his progress at aid stations. When I saw that he was about half an hour from the finish, I jumped into the car and drove to Olde Poway Park to catch him at the finish.

And boy was it hot there. I think it was 90 degrees. I waited for a while and then I saw his orange jersey from far away. Yay!

Just a few feet from the finish line. I couldn’t be more proud of him!

102 miles of bike riding? Check.

After getting home and showering, we drove up to Phil’s BBQ in San Marcos and met up with some friends to celebrate Todd’s achievement. Here are Dan, Cassi, and Maddie.

And Shannon came as well.

Todd would tell you that eating Phil’s BBQ is the best thing ever after riding your bike for 102 miles. But he also made sure everyone else got a treat too. He made homemade banana bread the night before, so that he got to enjoy some on his ride during breaks. And we gave some to all our friends who showed up at Phil’s.

I would say that both Phil’s BBQ and the banana bread were highly deserved! After all, he did burn 3,500 calories in one day.

So you might ask, what’s next for you endurance sports enthusiasts? Both Todd and I are signed up for the Krispy Kreme Challenge in November! If you don’t know what that is, you can see photos from the event in 2010 and 2011. This will be my first time participating! And before you shout at your monitor and say, “That’s so gross!”, I signed up for the new-this-year 6-donut division. Well, not that eating 6 donuts and running 4 miles is not disgusting, but it’s less disgusting than eating 12. :p

Princess Leia Has Oreo Hair

Todd did a speech at the Toastmasters speech contest on Friday 9/28. They needed someone to do a speech so that they could hold a speech evaluator contest, so Todd volunteered to do a speech about flexibility and stability. But really, the best part of this whole speech contest thing? It was really a guise to have a Star Wars party.

Todd googled around and found these Princess Leia cupcakes and decided to make them. Here they are with some hair but no face yet.

With the addition of eyes and mouths.

Pretty cute huh?

We had them in the fridge overnight without the hair buns, because they would have taken up too much room and we already had to make room for them.

Todd found some fudge-covered oreo cookies, which proved to be perfect for the hair buns on the side.

At the contest, there was a storm trooper head cheeseball.

Some fruit-rollup pretzel light sabers.

Dark side biscuits.

And proper signage, in case any Jedis have to use the restroom.

More signage.

Todd during his speech.

The Star Wars gang, I mean, organizers of the event.

They always have a theme at every Toastmasters speech contest, and the Star Wars theme was the best one yet!

Project Life | Let’s Get Back Together

Hello Project Life.

It’s been a while since we decided on a trial separation at the end of June. Our first 2012 album was full, so it was a good time to quit you.

We went our separate ways for over three months and I was glad to be free of you for a while. I played with other crafts. I dated digital layouts again. I hung out with 12x12 paper layouts. I even went outside in the sunshine and played. We said we would re-evaluate our relationship after this trial separation. What do you think?

As for me, I’m surprised that I’ve missed you quite a bit.

I miss printing out photos and putting them into your pockets. I miss taking more daily life photos because I knew that you existed. I miss having a place to put my memorabilia. I miss date stamping and sticking fun embellishments and journaling next to my photos. I’ve missed you, but there are some changes that we need to make to our relationship in order to go forward.

The major reason we separated was that you were unyielding and rigid in your format, and you demanded too much of my free time. You left me no time to do anything else creative. I’ve come to realize that you don’t get to dictate how I want to go forward with you. I want a more freeing relationship. I don’t want to HAVE to stick photos and journaling into your pockets EVERY SINGLE WEEK. When I have photos that I want to print, you will be there for me. And do we ALWAYS have to do the two-page spread thing? I mean, really? Doesn’t that get old? I propose that your new album be filled whenever and however I want. I know it sounds like I’m calling the shots, but this is for the best if we want to continue to have any kind of relationship at all.

I’m tired of the guilt you made me feel when I fell “behind” on you. I want to enjoy our time together. I want to see you when I feel like it, not because I feel like I HAVE TO see you. I don’t’ want you to dictate rules such as no missing weeks or printing out photos just to fill the spots up. We just need to be more open to other possibilities, such as sticking other scrapbooking formats right into your album next to Project Life pages.

And last of all, I’m not going to feel bad about not documenting the time when we were separated. That time has passed. If I feel like printing some photos and date stamping them? Fine. If not, then we will just have a gap in our relationship and we’ll both be fine with it. It happens.

So it is with joy that I welcome you back into my life. :)

I just want to remind you that rules are not accepted going forward. Especially the “all-or-nothing” rule. You’ll just have to deal with the fact that I’m doing my best, and I want to enjoy life with you in it.

Sincerely,
Me