Running Again

So I haven't been around much but I am really hoping to change that. June 28th I went for surgery and as a result I was unable to run for several weeks. That was the hardest part. I would look longingly at my runners and running gear at the bottom of my closet and wish so badly to strap them on and take flight.

Well this week I went for my 6 week check up and was cleared to start running again!!!! Can you say awesome?!?!? so this week I got back into the groove. I started out wednesday with a short 2 Km walk/run. walking 3 mins then running 2 mins. It was nice. Today I went out for a longer run/walk and made 4Km. Feeling pretty good. I tried to run as much as I could, but man is it difficult to keep going when you muscles and lungs tell you that they do not want to keep going!!

My second step this week was to sign up for a running group with the local running room. It's a 5Km group- starting slow and steady. I am actually looking forward to working up to running and hoping to pick up some tips along the way as well.

The big challenge will be this May. I want to run a 1/2 marathon on May 27th. Check the details out here. I am very excited to be working towards this!! I will try to keep you all updated on my progress so watch here!!

Glad to be back and glad to be running again!!!!

Date Night with Hubby

Life is going faster and faster every day and year. When we first got married we barely had two pennies to rub together and were home a lot more. We indulged in tv date nights and even a walk around the block with each other. Now days we are both traveling more and more for work and that means a lot more nights where we don't see each other. It is definitely hard sometimes but we've gotten creative in the ways we connect.

Thank God for unlimited text messaging!! Seriously this is the primary way we communicate while one or both of us are away. The best part about both of us traveling so much is the intentionality and purpose with which we approach our marriage. It's fun to know that we have a definite date night planned when we are both around and the anticipation of speaking with each other and actually being in the same room is awesome! We no longer take for granted the times we are together and the stolen text messaging moments that we share. Although sometimes I text someone by mistake thinking it's Jeremy. My sister-in-law was the recent recipient of one of my wayward text messages about the blender I won in a silent auction! Ha, Ha!!! Sorry Jae!

So this week while we we were both away we had a skype date night. It was a little cheesy and totally geeky, but it was a date night none the less. The best part was that we got to actually see each other and make funny faces between dialogue on our days and the work we were both doing.

So what am I thankful for today? Well, today I am thankful for a husband that indulges his wife in Skype dates and for technology that enables us to "see" each other from the other side of the country! Here's to many more Skype dates.

Grandpa

Nearly a year ago I lost my Grandpa. This was really difficult for me as my Grandpa had been a part of my life since I can remember. He built us our first sandbox and helped me learn to drive. I even lived with my grandparents for a short time after highschool. His hard work ethic and his love of people are traits that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. My Grandpa was a man of character and the world is a better place because he was in it!

So as you can imagine I wanted to great a tribute page for my Grandpa that would be special. It took me forever because I wanted it to be absolutely perfect. This page was a labour of a weeks worth of love. I would do bit by bit when I was inspired and when I didn't know where to go next I sat the page down. I didn't want to rush the process. I also used one of Anam's amazing sketches from twisted sketches and a challenge from SkrapnChat.

Here's what I ended up with. Thanks for looking!

Procrastination and Pressure

I am continually inspired by my friends who seem to keep up a blog AND a hectic life. I am finding more and more that the hectic life seems to be bumping right along but it's the blog that seems to suffer in the day to day bustle.

This has got me thinking about why I am completely unable to tackle the blog world with the same passion I do in my day to day life and the answer is (drumroll please)..............PRESSURE!!!! I have put far too much pressure on myself to maintain this blog and will only post when I think I have something incredibly inspiring to say or if I have a layout that I've worked on that I absolutely love.

So no more! I am going to tackle this blog and ride it like a wild horse with abadon. Whatever is on my mind is what will come out on the page and I think I like it better that way anyways.

So today.....we purchased this fantastic vase for our hallway yesterday and some twigs to go into the top of it. I am in love with the vase. I love decorating but haven't always had the funds to do so as a student. Slowly I am starting to decorate and make our "house into a home" as my husband would put it.

So here's the picture of our vase. What do you think?

Altered Chipboard Alphas

I was inspired this morning to start creating a LO and then I thought I would get even more creative and try out something fun with my chipboard letters. Since this was something I hadn't tried before I thought I would take pictures along the way in the event that it turned out so I could share on my blog. Fortunately it did turn out so here it is.

I first took my chipboard letters and painted them white.


Then I gathered my versamark stamp pad and my dot stamp. The idea here is that I wanted a polka dot look but you could really use whatever shape you wanted here.


Stamped the alphas with the stamp and then poured on clear embossing powder. I wanted the white to show through.


Heat set the embossing powder. At this stage you will want to let the melted embossing powder set before going on to the next stage.


Then selected an ink, in this case I used brown and just started inking all over the letter.

Once you are done you will notice that you have some ink on the embossing as well. This is easily removed with a kleenex.



Keep going until all the letters are inked. and voila a nicely decorated title.

And then the really fun part- creating the LO to go with these alphas and attaching them!!



Thanks for looking!!!

Sweet Joys of September

Well I am back from a fantastic vacation to London, Scotland, and Ireland. We had a blast!! The country side was incredible and the people were so friendly. It was a fabulous trip and I cannot wait to do it again sometime.

So back to the grind this week, unfortunately I brought home a cold from Europe so I spent most of last weekend in bed but I am determined to make up for it this weekend! Last night I spent some time with my fantastic girlfriend...seriously we always have a blast together. In fact last night was so much fun that I was literally crying from laughing so hard!

This morning I got up early and got some dishes done and then headed into the kitchen to try my hand at some monster cookies. I have a nut allergy but have found this "pea butter" that works perfectly as a substitute for peanut butter. I am completely addicted!! Check it out here


And check out pictures of the yummy cookies I made! We have a family BBQ tonight so I hope they all enjoy them!

The Yummy Batter: I modified the recipe and added craisins as well!


And the finished product! YUMMY!!!

Cricut scrapping out of the box

So I just completed one of the August challenges over at SkrapNChat! I know I am a keener this month. I am trying to make up for my lack of creativity in the month of July! :) Anyway, the challenge was to scrap using white space. I like this design element although it is definitely not my "go to" and so therefore I typically admire it from a distance rather than actually use it!

So here is the LO that I created. The fun thing that I used to still keep the page open with white space was to use a stencil. I know what you're thinking, I picked up an expensive stencil and some glimmer mist at the scrapbook store that I am only going to use a few times and it may not be worth the money. If that is your conclusion I am happy to report that you would be wrong.....I used my cricut to cut a large star out and then held it down while I spritzed the shape with my spritzer tool I bought from Stampin' up and my markers. It turned out awesome and the benefit of the cricut shape is that I can cut out just about anything to use as a stencil!! WHOOO HOOOO! Also the spritzer tool from Stampin' Up! can be used with any of the markers so you really have unlimited color choices which is awesome and reasonably priced. Marker= $5 Glimmer mist= $10 Don't get me wrong, I am not giving up my glimmer mists anytime soon but at this point they are cost prohibitive to own in all the colors I would like so I am happy to be using my markers to fill in the color gaps!