[Fitness, Health and Happiness]

Ready for the Holiday Season

It always starts with the red cup!

Last weekend I had my first "red cup" of the season and now I'm ready for the holidays. Planning. Projects. Decorating. House guests. Family. Trying to remember what radio station plays the 24/7 holiday music.

The plans...

Thanksgiving menu

Food Network's Thanksgiving Made Easy.

• Pear and Blue Cheese Salad
• Roast Turkey with Apple-Sourdough Bread Stuffing
• Oven Roasted Red Potatoes with Rosemary Garlic
• Canned Cranberries
• Sauteed Wild Mushroom with Spinach
• Orange Scented Green Beans
• Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle

and for the centerpiece something like this (can't remember where I found this idea)

Christmas ideas

for the tree (Pottery Barn)

projects...

instead of our altered Starbucks advent calendar Alec and I are going to make one of these

make something for Alec and Alyssa for winter break

still on my to-do list

• design and make Christmas cards
• do another family photo shoot this weekend
• plan Christmas menu
• finish Ali E's 25 Days of Christmas before 12/1

I think it's doable :)

Friday Fill-Ins

1. My favorite food seasoning is cinnamon.
2. Silence is music to my ears.
3. Lucky is my life.
4. Being a mom is something I take very seriously.
5. Many people are not amused by sarcastic humor.
6. Groceries were the last thing I bought at the store.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to having friends over for Halloween, tomorrow my plans include cheer practice and I'm not sure what else and Sunday, I want to take a lot of pictures at Alyssa's first cheer competition and later in the day take more family photos (not happy with what I took last weekend).

And 2 Projects

Time has been a scarce commodity lately. So the one way I manage to get it all done and scrapbook too is to use the ideas and inspiration of others. Like the upcoming Jessica Sprague Stories In Hand class and the never fail to inspire ideas of Ali Edwards.

My photos for WeekIntheLife came in the mail yesterday so I can finish that project...

And for my December Daily 2008 album I decided on an album from my stash (I have a small collection of albums that I find here and there, on sale or just because). I decided to use some of MM's Fa La La Christmas line. Other than the MM pattern paper I'm using what I have on hand. Nothing new. Keep telling myself to keep it simple.

Excited about my current projects and even more excited that I'm able to find time (albeit limited) to create.

A race and a recipe

Quick road trip to the Columbus Marathon...

Alyssa's Race

She finished in the Top 10!

We thought the military presenting the medals for the kids' race was very cool!

My Race

Early (and very cold) morning starting line. Me and 11,400 runners.

The finish line! I beat my personal record!

This was on the main street of the marathon route.

And as requested a recipe...

Easy Pumpkin Spice Muffins (or Cookies)

1 box spice cake mix
1 can pure pumpkin (15oz. can)
Non-stick cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350. Spray cookie sheets (or muffin pan) with non- stick cooking spray.
In a large bowl mix together the cake mix and the canned pumpkin.
Drop cookie dough onto cookie sheets and then bake for around 10-12 minutes. Or use a mini muffin pan for around 20 minutes.

FYI: Makes 48 cookies at 1 WW point per cookie or 24 mini muffins at 2 ww points per muffin

an amazing and inspiring athlete...

I can't imagine accomplishing something of this magnitude. It inspires me to be better. Run faster. Run further.

"Phelps swam into history as the winningest Olympic athlete ever with his 10th and 11th career gold medals -- and five world records in five events at the Beijing Games."(CNNdotcom)

"No wonder his competitors realize they're merely swimming for second."(CNNdotcom)

a really good book (the latest from one of my favorite series)...

 

creating...

journaling reads: After our first snowy and very cold winter in Ohio, something as simple as riding bikes outside is a joy we took for granted when we lived in California (3-2-08) 

my favorite way to use HS ghost shapes is to add rub ons. cool effect and endless possibilities.

tried stamping and layering with rub ons. can you tell rub ons are a scrapping staple?!?

and a great mother/daughter with lots of popcorn movie...

add...

• finished and submitted my Chatterbox submission
• a no boys, shopping, eating out, movie weekend with Alyssa
• a few work meetings (am I sure I want to go back to work?)
• gifted testing for Alec (an interruption in summer break)
• Alec's oral surgery
• and all the day to day life stuff

and you have my last week. Hard to believe next week I go back to work and in a few weeks Alec and Alyssa go back to school.

Oh and the little detail of celebrating my birthday! Still pondering how I feel about this.

Thoughtful Friday (link in sidebar for more TF info)

Maybe we should develop a Crayola bomb as our next secret weapon. A happiness weapon. A beauty bomb. And every time a crisis developed, we would launch one. It would explode high in the air - explode softly - and send thousands, millions, of little parachutes into the air. Floating down to earth - boxes of Crayolas. And we wouldn't go cheap, either - not little boxes of eight. Boxes of sixty-four, with the sharpener built right in. With silver and gold and copper, magenta and peach and lime, amber and umber and all the rest. And people would smile and get a little funny look on their faces and cover the world with their imagination. ~Robert Fulghum

Happy mail day when I received the Chatterbox product for the next design team submission. So cool! The photos do not do Happy Day justice. The colors are vibrant and all the textures and dimension are a personal favorite.

and not that I don't love it all but my favorite product to play with so far has been

the Happy Day Clear Stamps (dd love these too)

and the Splendid Treasures in Willow Green

so, for the last 48 hours (or so) my studio looks like this

One last thing. I've been invited to be a guest designer! So, totally unexpected. I don't know if I can say anything specific at this point so I won't but I had to share my exciting news :)

15 years!

On July 24, 1993 I married Chad Conyers.

He has given me 15 wonderful years of...

Chad and Jill

chatting and hanging out at Starbucks

hours at Barnes & Noble

constant unwavering support and encouragement

Love

Just-Because flowers

Laughter

not expecting me to do all the cooking and cleaning

Little things

(He left me this note-on-a-plate after I got so frustrated with trying to get stainless steel clean.)

(He sent me this text after I had a really good training run.)

Joy

Difficult times we got through together

Friendship

an amazing father to Alec and Alyssa

hearing Chad call me "Beautiful"

(he has called me beautiful since the day we met)

and a never ending patience for us-portraits  

a belief in forever

Happy Anniversary Chad. I love you.

playing with digital

I've been wanting to play with hybrid scrapbooking for quite some time. To be able to take advantage of what seems like endless options. But I find myself easily overwhelmed by all the ideas, kits, products, and tutorials and eventually give up.

So, I decided to take a very basic approach. Digi photo collages.

With the help of Scrapbooks Etc. I was able to create this...

which will be used like this for a layout.

How cool is that!?!

Scrapbooks Etc. provided a video tutorial and a how-to pdf. You can download 16 collage templates here  Collage Templates 100 Series and 20 more templates here 200 Series.

I will never give up traditional hands on scrapbooking but I can't resist wanting to learn more for hybrid scrapbooking. Next? Photo overlays and brushes!

Celebrating my new job! So excited. Ready for the new challenges and opportunities. I interviewed on Tues. They called on Friday and I expect my Letter of Intent this week. I'm not sure if I'm celebrating my new job or the fact that I don't have to interview any more :)

As promised a few web sites to check out:

Amazing photography.

josh de rox  take a second to get past the intro (it's worth it) and click on experiential galleries at the bottom. Totally amazing!

If you like to read fiction.

Fantastic Fiction endless information on authors and books.

A heartbreaking story and the strength of a dad.

matt, liz and madeline life and death. all in a 27-hour period. what you read here is what follows.

and if you haven't been here before.

What happened?

And lastly. Alec finished Science camp last week. Such a cool concept. Gotta love anything that teaches children this...

Wonderful childhood memories! Hours at the rollerskating rink!

Last weekend Alyssa's new cheerleading squad hosted a Meet the Team at a rollerskating rink. I begrudgingly agreed to go thinking there were so many other things I'd rather be doing. Little did I know. First, I was kicking myself for not taking socks so I could skate. I went not particularly interested in skating and I have this thing about wearing something that has been on other people's feet. Like bowling shoes and skates. As soon as I got there I regretted my decision not to skate. Rinks have not changed one bit. From the disco ball

To the DJ booth

and even the images on the walls. It was all reminiscent of childhood.

3 hours later we decided that summer break will include skating and that mom and dad will bring socks!

The Flying Pig Marathon weekend was awesome!

Starting with the Health and Fitness Expo on Saturday to pick up my race packet. Huge crowd. Excitement. Energy. And of course dozens of flying pigs.

At the starting line at 6:00 a.m. Nervous. Anticipation. Focus. The atmosphere surrounding 16,000 runners is unlike any other.

It was so amazing. I think this was about mile 7. Imagine thousands of spectators cheering you on to the finish line. Wow!

Our personal cheering section waiting at the finish line.

We did it! I met my goal of a 10 minute mile. With 3+ miles of uphill it was the hardest course I've ever run. My best run ever! Teary eyed in the beginning and at the end. I still can't believe I'm doing this.

 

What next? I'm taking 3 days off from running. A precaution to avoid re-injuring my knees. Then register and train for my next race, the United States Air Force Marathon,  in September.