3.13.13

13 totally random things for March 13th, 2013...

The last time I went to the Grand Canyon was in 1993.

Most of the family went...you may recognize Ashley since I've been posting about her a lot. The other girl is our niece from a different brother. She's getting married this year, too.

This "House on the Hill" is in the desert town I grew up in. It was built by the founder of the town. My mom was employed by the founder as a housekeeper and nanny and actually worked up there. The property, which is in extreme disrepair but includes 22 acres is for sale for $750,000. Any takers? {no.}

This is the church I went to every Sunday until I was 14.

My best friend from elementary school through high school also got married on March 9th. But 6 years go.

Her twin boys from a previous marriage graduate this year. I can't believe they're already 17. They were only 13 in this photo.

I miss my wisteria tree in San Jose.

I also miss my kitty.

Spring!!

Sometimes I still have to pinch myself to make sure that we really do live in this amazing city. In one of those buildings.

Ashley is with her beloved on this same island right now. Photo from 2006.

Anyone watching House of Cards on Netflix? Or Homeland on Showtime? Great shows that are based in Washington DC. Photo from 2005.

Ashley's husband is from Chicago. And it's almost St. Patrick's Day. Chicago does St. Patrick's Day right. There's definitely Irish blood in her husband's lineage. Her new last name, after all, is Mrs. Kelly.

-Out!

Movie Tour: Alamo Square

Next stop on our movie tour was at Alamo Square.
Alamo Square is a park in the Western Addition neighborhood and is famous for its picturesque view of downtown and the "Painted Ladies".

The Painted Ladies are 7 Victorian houses built between 1892 and 1896 that survived the 1906 earthquake and fire.

from wiki: "This block appears very frequently in media and mass-market photographs of the city and its tourist attractions and have appeared in an estimated 70 movies, TV programs, and ads, including in the opening credits of the television series Full House."




Here's a video of the Full House theme song. An addition to the family having a picnic in Alamo Square in front of the Painted Ladies at the end of the clip, it showcases many of San Francisco's landmarks.

As Old As My Tongue and a Little Bit Older Than My Teeth {December Daily 6}

Busy day today but not too much happened that's Christmas related. So I wanted to share this screen shot I captured this weekend. I was watching Miracle on 34th Street and this is Kris Kringle's employment card for Macy's when he was hired to be their Santa Claus. I betcha in 1947 when the movie came out that they didn't foresee being able to stop the film like this and be able to capture a crystal clear image of what's being shown on the screen.

Here's another funny screen shot. I have to admit that I"m surprised that a film this old has completely relavant text in this newspaper article.

Jimmy and I have developed a habit whenever we watch TV to stop the video to read any headlines or articles the show presents. Nowadays, most shows are really good about making sure the text is relavant. Older films and shows weren't as fastidious. They'd run a couple of semi-relavant sentences and just repeat them over and over again to fill the space.

** Just noticed that in Santa's list of "next of kin", it say's "Donder" instead of "Donner". I thought that was a misspelling but when I did a little google search, I found this out:
"Two of the reindeer names, Donner/Donder and Blitzen, are often the source of confusion, misspelling, and misinformation. The short facts are these: Donner/Donder and Blitzen were named ''Dunder'' and ''Blixem'' (the Dutch words for ''thunder'' and ''lightning'') in the original printing of "A Visit From St. Nicholas." In reprints of the poem, the names became ''Donder'' and ''Blixen,'' then ''Donder'' and ''Blitzen'' (the latter being German for ''lightning''). By the time Johnny Marks wrote "Rudolph," it was ''Donner'' and ''Blitzen'' (possibly because ''Donder'' was musically awkward)."

Sue Sylvester: You have enough product in your hair to season a wok.

Fun nite at Kristina's making a couple of cute projects:



Got home in time to watch the new season of Glee!

HI-larious!!!
Sue Sylvester is the snarky cheerleading coach in Glee and glee club's nemesis. She's also the star of this video.
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I love the Olympics!

The Olympics start tonight! Yipee!

I am not a sports enthusiast.

But I LOVE the Olympics!
love love love it!

Snowboarding is my favourite (have to add that "u" since the Olympics are in Vancouver, one of my favourite cities in the whole wide world); then skating - both figure and speed, then skiing - freestyle, jumping and alpine; then bobsled and luge. I'll even watch curling 'cuz it's just so Canadian and I love Canada!

Then when they have the cutest mascots ever, I am nearly giddy with delight.

Looking forward to going to the Bowen's tonight to watch the Opening Ceremony!
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GleefullyLine dancing obsessed

You may have clued in on one of my personality traits - that I can be a wee bit obsessive. If I find something I enjoy or like, I'll become so focused on it that it consumes my every waking moment.

My current obsession is line dancing. And the TV show Glee. And posting Youtube videos.

I found this song through various website jumping and realized I could dance the "Cruisin'" dance to it quite nicely.


And if you haven't seen Glee, here are a few other videos with some fun snippets.



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commencing december freak-out

The countdown is on and there are only 14 more days till Christmas. I'm a little bit in freak-out mode right now, because it seems like I'm spending much of my days running errands but adding more to my to-do list than I'm crossing off. I suspect this sounds familiar to many of you, too.

I suppose taking a class shouldn't be a priority during the busiest time of the year, but when an artist whom I've admired for a few years comes to the Bay Area to teach, I'll drop all my Christmas errands and pause for a few hours in the day. Marah Johnson taught 2 classes at a local scrapbook store yesterday and she is such a high-spirited, soulful and edgy artist.
The morning class, she taught us this beautiful Christmas mini-book.Great techniques, lots of glitter and each page alternating pulls up, or pulls out.

The evening class, she taught this wicked accordion pull-out album.I have a friend who went to the Africa last year, so I'm thinking about giving this to her. But not until I make my own nearly exact replica using either Marah's Rock Star collection or her Heiress Collection.

This is a layout I did last year using Marah's Love Struck collection. There was a meme going around last year that had you list a few random things about yourself and I decided to do a layout on it.

Phantom of the Opera was great. The music is amazing and really sticks with you. So much so, that during the 2nd Act, I actually cried! OMG, i don't think i've ever cried during a theatre performance before. Sure, at movies all the time, but not at the Theatre (make sure you say it with a snooty accent, lol). I have to admit my eyes got a bit droopy in parts of the 1st Act, but I would definitely see it again. Coincidentally, the movie was on TV the next day, so I TiVo'd it, but haven't watched it yet. I'm so behind in TV, here's my list of what I need to watch:

Ugly Betty (3)
Oprah (5)
Ellen (5)
Reeves, Keanu (7)
Pushing Daisies (1)
Eli Stone (3)
Funniest Videos (2)
My Own Worst Enemy (5)
Heroes (1)
Big Bang Theory (3)
Jon and Kate (2)
Brothers & Sisters (2)
Phantom of the Opera
Lipstick Jungle (5)
Ghost Whisperer (3)
Sanctuary (5)
Grey's Anatomy (2)
What Not to Wear (6)
Twins, Twins and Sextubplets
Life on Mars (1)
Ryan, Meg (4)
Extreme Makeover Home Edition (2)
Tim Gunn's Guide to Style (1)
Hepburn, Audrey (2)
Californication (5)
And really, a whole lot more.
I say I watch a lot of tv, but the truth is I record a lot of tv. Then I watch in 5 hour marathons. Like Heroes, I had 6 unwatched episodes, but decided to spend a few hours watched 'em all. Same with Grey's, Pushing Daisies and The Mentalist. I may never get to Lipstick Jungle. Anybody out there watch it? Should I invest the time in it?

I really should update more often again instead of doing these long 'ol posts once a week. We are staying local this weekend. Baking on Saturday. Sunday a GTG and cookie exchange with some friends. Maybe finish up those cards and get 'em in the mail by next week (does that sound like a repeat from my last post?).

Have a great merry cheery weekend!
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Fall's weekend appearance

Couldn't have asked for more beautiful weather. It rained Friday night into Saturday then the sun peeked out in the afternoon. Sunday the air was clear and crisp thanks to the previous day's rain and the cool breeze.

Saw Nights in Rodanthe with my MIL and SIL. It was good. Not great, but better than just ok. At the very least, entertaining and a workout on tear ducts. If you're susceptible to that. Did you see Diane Lane and Richard Gere in Unfaithful? So different from this one.

I've been learning how to make a basic potholder.I got the instructions here. I didn't know how to do a blind stitch but I easily learned after watching a tutorial on youtube. I love the internet.

Since the weather is cooler, I felt like making comfort food. Have you had heard of Mulligatawny soup? The first time we had it was at the Spaghetti Factory. It's served every Thursday at lunch. I needed to find a recipe and the one I finally ended up with is a combination from one I found on allrecipes.com, one I found in Cooking Light magazine and making substitutions that suit our tastes.
If you like chicken & rice soup and curry doesn't turn your stomach, I recommend it. At the very least, try it the next time you see it on the menu at a restaurant. It's fun to try something different. Here's how I make it:

Chicken Mulligatawny

1 onion
4 stalks celery
2 carrots
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoon curry powder
8 cups chicken broth
1 apple, cored and chopped

3/4 cup white or brown rice
2 skinless, boneless chicken breast half - cut into cubes
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 cup milk - nf is fine and what I usually use but use whatever you want including 1/2 and 1/2 if it suits you.

Directions

-Puree all vegetables
-heat oil in large stock pot and add veggie puree, cook for a few minutes.
-add curry powder and chicken stock. Mix well and bring to a boil. Simmer about 1/2 an hour.
-Add rice, chicken, salt, pepper and thyme. Simmer another 1/2 hr or until rice is done. -or- Simmer 2 hours for rice to thicken and become more 'hearty'.
-Add milk and apples, simmer 5 minutes. Serve.

Notes:
If you'd prefer your veggies chopped instead of pureed, then sauté veggies in oil for 5-10 minutes. Add 3 T flour and the curry powder to the veggies and sauté 5 minutes. Then add the chicken stock and continue on with step 2 above. You'll need the flour to thicken the soup. This makes a lot. You can 1/2 the recipe, but we like the leftovers.

And I leave you with snippets of the famous Seinfeld soup nazi episode:

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Hee Haw

I totally stole this from Ragged's blog, so it could be a re-run for a few of you.


It just proves that I was influenced by Hee Haw when I wrote about this outfit last month.


Thanks Ragged for the flashback to a mighty fine variety show of the past!
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getting my craft on

I'm taking my first sewing class tonight. Looking forward to it, but also wondering...do I need another hobby?

This is what's been keeping me occupied while I've been enjoying the new fall TV schedule.
I just made this whimsical layout using last year's photo. We're missing a brother and his wife, a niece and a nephew. Big family, right?

I made this a little while ago but this is where we're all going for Thanksgiving this year.

I've been on a card making frenzy lately.
I made these during one of my craft nights at a friend's house. 4 or 5 of us get together on the 3rd Tuesday of every month and work on our own projects. I'm getting ready for next year's birthdays.

Some of you might see one of these in your mailbox in the next few weeks. Email me your address if I don't already have it! :)

When you watch tv, do you usually do something else too or watch intently? For me, it depends on the storyline. I can't do anything else when I'm watching anything action or intense like Heroes, Fringe or Law and Order. But if it's a home improvement or reality show, I get a ton of crafting done.
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Reality not my reality

I've been addicted to Jon and Kate plus 8 . I can't even tell you how much I've watched lately. I'm usually not the reality tv type of person, but this summer, I became the reality tv junkie. I think my fascination with their family is how they do it with 8 kids. So impossible for me to put myself in their shoes. Firstly, no kids. Secondly, I was an only child. If you're not familiar with the show, it's a family of 10: the mom and dad, plus a set of twins and a set of sextuplets. The twins are 7 and the sextuplets are 4.

This is me when I was 7:
What's up with that hoe-down outfit? I donno, but I loved it. I remember watching the tv variety show "Hee Haw" all the time. Maybe that's why I loved this outfit so much.

I can't wait for the regular fall tv schedule to start. Maybe I'll stop watching all this reality tv. What shows are you looking forward to? I heard about "Fringe" and I recorded it, but haven't watched yet. Aside from that, just looking forward to my old standbys: Grey's, Heroes, Lost, Pushing Daisies, Ghost Whisperer, etc. Since I fast forward through commercials, I don't even know what new shows are coming out. I need any recommendations you'd like to share.
_

Watching What Not To Wear wondering what to wear.

Next weekend we'll be in Anchorage.
This is not Anchorage. This is Glacier Bay circa 2004.

We're going to my brother-in-law's wedding on July 7th. Yep, that 7/07/07. And can you guess what time the ceremony is?
7:07pm, naturally.
Living in the lower 48, one might think: 7:07pm? Oh my. That's so late.
But in Anchorage, the sun does not set till 2am. So that'd be like having a wedding at 2pm.
BTW, the sun rises around 4am. Whoo hoo. a whole 2 hours of nighttime. Have I told you I like me my sleep?

Ok, there are a lot of other thoughts filtering thru my head right now, but I'm still thinking about what I'm going to wear. It's a very casual wedding. My soon to be sister in law says 'come as you are' and 'jeans are perfectly acceptable'. Quite a difference from the wedding I went to in March where the bride doesn't even wear pants on a daily basis. Get your mind outta the gutter...what I mean is she only wears dresses or skirts! LOL!

So, I'm thinking jeans and a pretty top. Or black pants and a sweater. What would you wear if you were going to a casual outdoor wedding in Alaska?

Recreating a commercial, and a meme

Have you seen that paper towel commercial where the son is in the kitchen and he opens quart of orange soda and it sprays all over his mom and she yells at him and says "BILLY! What are you thinking?" then proceeds to have a water/soda fight with her son?

Well, this was my attempt to recreate that scenario: except my story isn't as fun as a water/soda fight with a family member. My story is just plain stupidity. Let's just say that I don't recommend mixing club soda with Crystal Light then shaking it in a cup with an insufficient lid.

Since I'm on the topic of what a Dumass I am (another commercial reference. You wouldn't think I had TiVo, would you?), I thought that now would be a good time to catch up on a meme I owe to Jodi who tagged me last week. I figure that whatever else you learn about me that you don't already know, along with the pink Crystal Light all over my kitchen, won't really be that surprising since I continue to prove time and again that I am a Dumass. Or at least prone to a good dosage of dumass-ness quite frequently.

Ok, so here goes. This time, I'm gonna follow the rules, which are:

Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to write their own blog with their 7 things as well as these rules. You need to tag 7 others and list their names on your blog. Remember to leave a comment for them letting them know they have been tagged and to read your blog.

1. I'm guilty of using exclamation points in excess. I can't help it. I like to do it in 3's!!! But will often think, oh, that's going to annoy someone, and will tone it back to just 1 or 2!! Also, I think about using air quotes a lot, but try to resist since I know it annoys people.

2. I'm extremely near sighted. My eye doctor says that she only has one other patient who has worse eyesight than me.

3. I rarely get motion sick.

4. Names of pets I've had: Mork, Pixie (of Pixie and Dixie cartoon), Getty, Lucy, Joanie and Chachi, Bill and Ted.

5. I got sucked into the Beanie Baby craze in the late 90s. I gave most of them away when we moved 4 years ago.

6. When going down stairs, I almost always have to lead with my right foot.

7. My currently overused words are "Freakin", "Curses" and "HI-larious". But I try to say them without the air quotes. ;)

_
Now if Phin, Ragged, Lilli, Rook's Nest, Cate, Zann and Susan D would like to play, that'd be cool. If meme's aren't your game, then that's cool too. :)

now watching

Craft in America on PBS.

Freaking amazingly talented people.

Currently drooling over:
George Nakashima
Jan Yager
Tom Joyce

I love having a laptop so I can watch tv, look something up then blog about it at the same time.

photo taken at the Celebration of Craftswomen last November.

Success.

Saturday home alone, events as planned. :)

I'm happy to report that the tv works. Hurray. I'm hesitant to admit that it was merely dead batteries. Yes, I am a loser. But to my defense, the remote acted like it was working - the screen was on and the transmission signal was going "whaa-laa-laa" because that's the noise it makes if you had extra sonaristic hearing. Which I do. So I recharged the suckers and the remote worked like new.

Well, I didn't spend any time watching the glowing tube on Friday because I went to Tracy with Doris for a class with Ali Edwards. We made these cute "Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, Always" mini books.The enameled covers were made by putting a flower mask over the cover, covering it with embossing ink, removing the mask, pouring ultra thick embossing powder over the entire thing, then melting the powder with a heat gun till it glazes.

This is the inside of the book.
Lot's of fun!

I didn't get home till 11 so really didn't watch tv. My poor kitty wasn't feeling very well, so I spent the rest of my waking hours comforting her and making sure she was ok. I did wake up once in the middle of the night in a panic because she wasn't in the room with me (unusual) but I found her asleep on my desk. She's totally acting normal today so maybe she just ate a bad bug or something.

I decided to do a few errands before plopping in front of the 36" for the rest of the day. Went to Michaels to get some artwork framed.I spent over 1/2 hour there deciding on mat color and frame. The guy helping me was actually quite helpful. It's hit or miss sometimes at Michaels. It'll be done in about 3 weeks.

When I got home, there were packages for me! Ok, there was one for Jimmy, too, but he's not here, so no point getting excited about a box I can't open, right?The top package is a cool tshirt from my SIL in NY from Magnolia Bakery. It says "Cupcakes Make People Happy". Love it! I can't wait to visit her and get cupcakes from here. The 2nd package is from my girl Danielle and has some fun pamper-me stuff in it.

After opening my packages, I soaked some beans to make ham and bean soup then skillfully plopped on the couch for marathon Joan of Arcadia viewing.

Yikes.

My tv won't turn on.
I.don't.know.what.I'm.going.to.do.
My IT guy is gone till 11:30 Sunday night, and that tv is so complicated, i can't diagnose what's wrong with it.
And believe it or not, we're a one tv household. No crawling into bed and watching re-runs in there.
And did TiVo record Grey's Anatomy last night?

This is really gonna screw up my weekend plans of doing absolutely nothing except watch dvd's.

Well, hopefully Jimmy can talk me thru fixing it. And I'm not gonna be home till midnight tonight so really, it's only 2 days that I might have to go with tv. Two.Long.Days.

Pathetic, isn't it?

I'm chillin'

I'm also illin'. It's raining and I'm sick, but I'm resting at our hideaway, which is a good place to re-coop. There are few distractions to pull me away from taking it easy and resting and not infecting a bunch of other people, aside from my husband (hopefully he's drinking enough oj and staying clear enough so he won't get sick either).

I was surprised at the lack of pukey cute romantic comedies on TBS/TNT etc. this weekend before Valentine's Day. I would have figured I'd have a plethora of Meg Ryan movies to watch. So I settled on watching a few home improvement shows and What Not To Wear's. and napping a lot.

We've had a severe lack of snow this winter though. It's been raining all weekend, but that's not enough to fill all the reservoirs that count on the snowfall. Hopefully we'll get more precipitation and can avoid a drought this year.

Hiding from reality

I'm back! I've been back for 4 days but having a hard time adjusting back to reality. So I've been escaping to TiVo and the zillion season premiers I recorded while we were gone.

Men in Trees: A near copy of Northern Exposure including the bar. Could retain my interest for a while if it proves to be as quirky as NE.

Six Degrees: I'll give it 2 more episodes to grab me. Otherwise, it gets the ax. I can't watch this much tv.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip: lovin' this one. Good, fresh change from Aaron Sorkin's West Wing, although I was very sad to see that one go. But boy, do they talk fast!

Ugly Betty: Oh, I had hopes for this one. But so far, really stupid. Should be a 1/2 hour sit, not an hour, if that could even save it.

The Class: kind of reminds me of Friends. I'm a Friends junkie, so we'll see if it actually holds up to the comparison.

Jerico, Heroes and The Nine: haven't made the time to watch these yet but TiVo's diligently recording.

Watched the season premiers of The Simpsons, Grey's Anatomy, Law and Order and South Park. Still need to watch Lost.

It's kind of (!) gross the amount of tv I've been watching.

I guess in my attempt to not get back to reality, I've been distracted by this evil source of mindless escapism.

Kauai, here we come!

In less than 36 hours, Jimmy, his sister and I will be on a plane to Hawaii! We're meeting our niece there who is flying in from San Diego, arriving 5 minutes before we do. I'm totally excited and love travelling with them. In 2004, I went on a 12 day cruise to Alaska with my SIL, and in 2001, Jimmy and I went on a motorhome trip with our niece to Vancouver with the parentals. It's gonna be a blast. Our niece loves to take photos as much as I do so I'm sure we'll get a lot of goofy shots of us being...goofy.

I've been concentrating so much on my race that I really haven't taken the time to think about this trip. I'm a last minute packer, too, so I'm counting on Jimmy to remember everything. I have stamp club tomorrow night and won't get home till almost 10pm. I know myself well enough that I won't start packing till after I get home. I'll be too excited to sleep anyhoo! Besides, I have a 5 hour flight to sleep, right?

I think part of the reason I haven't been able to accept autumn yet is because of this trip. Hawaii is such the summer environment that my mindset is still in summer. Plus our temperatures are still in the high 70s and 80s. The Bay Area is known for its Indian summers and it often doesn’t feel like fall till the end of October - just in time for Halloween! Fall is one of my favorite seasons, it’s definitely in the top 4. Ha! I can’t say what my favorite season is because I love a lot of elements of all the seasons. But Halloween and Thanksgiving are probably my favorite holidays. Weather wise, fall and spring far exceed summer and winter. I enjoy the rain and snow, but I’d rather be boating on the lake.

Another fall tradition I love is the fall lineup. I’ve programmed TiVo to record the interesting series premiers that I’ll miss while we’re in Hawaii. The ones on my radar are Heroes, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The Class, Twenty Good Years, Jericho, Ugly Betty, The Nine, Brothers & Sisters, Men in Trees, Notes from the Underbelly and Six Degrees. And then there’s the returning shows: Lost, Grey’s Anatomy, Ghost Whisperer, Law and Order and Gilmore Girls to add to that list. TiVo will be working very hard!

We’ll be gone for 9 days. Lots of time for relaxing as well as playing. The condo we’re staying at has wifi so of course, laptops will be brought. At least 2. Along with 4 iPods, a PSP, GPS (geocaching!), 3 digital cameras, 4 cell phones and I’m sure a lot more electronic gadgets. Obviously we are not roughing it. We’re also bringing books, magazines, Sudoku puzzles, hiking shoes, bathing suits and possibly purchasing snorkel gear when we get there.

...ah...well...for those times that I had little to say, I think this post has made up for it! I was a little (!) long winded and rambled on without direction. A sign that I cannot concentrate on anything in particular because too much is flittering around in my head. I guess I succeeded in wanting to spill open more! :)

Photo taken at the Kalalau Lookout of the Na Pali Coast, July 2005.