August challenges

I decided that August is going to the month of Pam. Some of my goals are:
1. walk at least 3 times a week
2. Lose some pounds!
3. Beauty treatments.
4. Not spend money on unnecessary things.
5. Be more creative-get back to my old self
6. Hang with the girls
7. Date night with Mark

I know I have more but this is all I can think of right now.

I could never be mad at you cupcake

Sorry Angie....I have to do it. I went to St. Cupcake today. I couldn't resist! I was looking up recipes for buttercream frosting because my next adventure is baking and I got a craving for the best cupcakes in Portland. Seriously-I have friends who come from Vancouver BC for these wonderful things. They even have vegan cupcakes! I got Mark three of his favorites (so Mark if you are reading this-SURPRISE!)

Now for some crafty news. Some things that I am currently working on: Tea towel for the candy/sweets swap. Pillow cases for the auction. I need to start on holiday stuff and a business plan. I get so scared and nervous that if I try to sell my stuff, no one will buy it. I know I'm a dork.

In other crafty good news. Craft Mafia (which started in Austin) is now in Portland. Once I get the business up and running I may join.

I am also working on personal challenges for August. More of that later.......

cool finds and cool tattoo

As Mark was saying....We found some super cool stuff. A set of bamboo glasses that we have been drooling over but were too expensive in town. A weird Witco sword and this....I love outsider art and love sad eye painting. The combo of the two.


More work done on my girl. The crow and small details like OMP and KLJ for Kato, Lola and Jujube. The flower inside the loop-if you look real close you can see the little stitch lines.

Invest in a map

Mark and I went on a little adventure yesterday up through Mt. Hood. We got a little lost and were on a dirt road for about 15 miles until we found the highway. I was getting a little worried. Before we made it to the mountain, we stopped in a small little town. The first place we stopped was at a yard sale. What drew us to the sale was a huge velvet Elvis blanket (the guy wasn't selling that) but the weird thing was that you had to park around back. Here is the entrance to the sale. I'm surprised we didn't end up as jerky. Yeah, totally creepy. Then we go into the small town and jump out to see this really cool bar that use to be an awesome tiki bar. This was right next to me. A yellow ribbon that looked like caution tape that says, "Until our troops come home" with a little girl's shoe attached to the ribbon. Bad juju going on there. We left at 2:00 and got home around 7-the majority of that was trying to find our way home. Note to self....buy a map.

Things to be thankful for

Dude~ Don't marsh my mellow...I say this because someone I know is really a downer and really gets to me when they shouldn't. It bugs me that it bothers me so much.

Anyhoo, I decided to make a list of things I am thankful for.
Mark
my dogs
my job
my house
My dad
my friends that read this blog and comment
that we made it out of Mt. Hood today without getting too lost and confused
I am crafty and pretty smart
I am street smart
I have awesome taste in movies and music
I have all my body parts

There is a ton more but I'm sure you get the picture.

UGH! Wait, let me rethink that.

I can't believe I missed last night but I had a good excuse. Mark made a romantic dinner and I just couldn't bring myself to the computer. I'm sure you understand. It's Saturday, 10:00 and I'm working. Good times. Luckily it's been really slow. Okay, first I wrote that I was down but then I turned on my MP3 player and started dancing around the office to "I'm not gonna teach your boyfriend how to dance" and I feel much better (luckily I am by myself to spare the dancing embarrassment) Plus I just realized how silly it is for me to be down when there is a lot of worse things in the world than my pity party. So, I'm gonna blast my music and dance.

Looking for new music

I'm so bored with my music lately. Got any good suggestions? I've been listening to The Black Kids and think they are cute. I'm a big fan of rockabilly, indie, world music. I love old new wave and punk and French music.

What are you listening to on your music source of choice (Ipod, mp3 player, computer, tv)

Our backyard

I love our backyard so much. All of the flowers are blooming, we have a little garden on the side. The fish are happy. Every sunny day I want to be in our backyard-sipping on drinks, playing with the dogs. It is such a paradise in the city. The upper picture is of our tomatoes. I can't wait to make salsa! The color of the flower is so amazing. I love the pink with the blue center. Our banana plant is so huge! I hate that the leaves rip because of the wind.

Movie review

I saw Hellboy 2 today. I was actually surprised how much I liked it. I LOVE Guillermo Del Toro (The Devil's Backbone is one of my favorite movies) and I could see a lot of his wonderful images in the movie. It was like Pan's Labryth that was action packed. I want to go see the new Batman movie-maybe this weekend.

On another movie news. I started watching Hairspray the musical and again was plesantly surprised. I also love John Waters so I was really skeptical about the musical but I think it did him proud.

I have Persepolis to watch also and The Spiderwick Chronicles. We shall see how they hold up.

Others that I have seen: Semi-Pro: OK, I really like Will Farrell so if you like him, you'll like the movie. A lot of good one liners.
In Bruges: Really good. The trailer does not represent the movie at all but still a really good flick. Pretty sad.
Be Kind, Rewind: Again, the trailer did not do the movie justice. I really liked the way it was not a typical American movie ending. It was a very sweet movie. I would recommend it.

Let's see...have I seen any bad "B" movies lately? I really haven't. I am always a sucker for the ScFi channel movies but I've been too busy to watch any. I did find out that they are remaking Creature from the Black Lagoon and I'm pretty pissed about that. They are also making a Tekken movie. Really, Seriously? What next-a Tetris movie? Leave it alone people!

I'm on the hunt for a Death Race 2000-so if anyone has one. Send it my way!

Wanna do something good for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault?

I work for a domestic violence crisis line and unless you are living under a rock, you know that there is zero funding for non profits (thank you Bush!) Each year, we have a fundraiser (Safety in Numbers). We are doing a silent auction and it would be great if you wanted to donate a craft or supplies to the cause. I am currently working on some cute pin up girl and flash tattoo pillowcases. Last year, Jenny Hart and Sublime Stitching gave some wonderful patterns. If you want to read more about it, check out the blog on www.pwcl.org. I know there are a ton of amazing crafty people out there who are just dying to help. I would need donations by the end of August so that would give all you wonderful peeps plenty of time.

Can't craft anything-how about a cash donation? Every little bit helps.

Thanks everyone!

A few projects

I have been embroidering like crazy the past couple of days. I wanted to try bibs so I did a quick Sublime Stitching squirrel. I am still trying to work on covering up the stitching in the back. I also used Sublime Stitching to make a Thank You gift for Leah for showing us around Boston. I have another gift for her and her husband. I really like the tattoo heart. I may have to make one for myself. I am also posting a picture of the prizes for the Craftster needlework challenge. If you haven't thought up your quote yet, you should do so and enter!

The Tic Toc drive in.

Today Mark and I went to the car show and anniversary of the Tic Toc drive in. Lots of super cool cars. It was so sad to see such a cool drive-in gone, to see a part of history gone because of progress. I love just about anything mid century and drive-in culture. The pink car is so me! I loved this car. I could see myself driving it with the puppers and Mark riding along.

12 hours

12 hours at the crisis line. Brain is crispy. Going to bed.

Scariest cookie jar ever!

Mark and I collect Pixieware and we found this scary ass thing over the weekend. Seriously evil! I love it! It has freaked me out a couple of times in the morning before I am totally awake. Enjoy!

Burnt buttcrack

*Really slow news night*
I pulled weeds today and burnt my buttcrack from bending over. I'll spare ya a picture. (LOL).

I do have to say that I have a near perfect life. I have a wonderful husband who I love and who adores me. I have a wonderful house, a meaningful job, great friends. Life is pretty grand. Sometimes I think if I actually enjoy life, I will jinx it and everything will fall apart but ya know, I'm gonna give myself a chance to be happy. I've worked really hard to get here and have done some dumb things in my earlier years but right now-I wouldn't have it any other way.

Some of my favorites

I have ever told you some of my favorites. No,,,,well here ya go (slow news night)

Favorite movies
1. Big Lebowski (no more needs to be said-best.movie.ever.)
2. Any Beach Blanket Bingo movie. How can you not love Frankie and Annette?
3. Creature from the Black Lagoon. Universal monsters are the best.

Favorite TV shows.
1. The office (both versions)
2. The Simpsons
3. Flight of the Conchords

Guilty pleasures
1. America's funniest videos. I love the ones with cute puppies and kittens
2. Bad 80's hairbands. Since I lived through it I can actually enjoy them for the camp value
3. Suntanning. Yes, I know it's bad for you, I know it will make me look old but there is something so "Coco Chanel" about laying out by the pool, sipping a drink, listening to music.

Favorite foods
1. Sushi
2. cupcakes
3. potato chips (I'm so healthy)

Favorite people in the world
1. Mark
2. my dogs
3. all of my friends -I can't pick one. I love them all

There, now you know a little more about me. What about you?

The Tattoo part tres...

Yippee! I got some more done on my arm. Hopefully I have one more sitting and the completely done (I keep saying that but I hope this time I mean it!). I think it is coming together so well. I love it so much!

Angie's baby shower

Today was my friend Angie's babyQ. It was so much fun hanging out withe my friends, seeing turkeys and baby goats. The weather was nice and the food was yummy. The best part of the day was hanging with my friends.

Relaxing on a summer night

It was such a wonderful summer night. The weather is perfect (nice 75-80) and we sat outside on the back porch playing with the puppers. Lola and Jujube were playing ball and Kato sat by Mark and just chilled. Mark made us some yummy drinks and we sat and watched the birds and Koi. I love my husband, my backyard,my puppies. My life is really great.


Tomorrow I get to see Angie and Amy for Angie's shower. I can't wait to hang with my friends.

Dinner date

Mark had a party to play at tonight so I made dinner. I can't believe I actually cooked. I made stuff salmon, aspargus, bread with mango sorbet for dessert. I decided to make it a romantic dinner and

 have it outside in our back yard. I had wonderful french music going, candles and a nice breeze. Wonderful wine and conversation.

Proof that I can cook (yes, the apron proves it) and the dinner table before we ate.

Featured Project on Craftster!

I'm a featured project on Craftster! YES! That was one of my goals! The pillowcases I made for AlwaysInspired got picked. I am SOOOOOO happy and proud! Yippee!

Let's see, what else is going on. I got more work done on my tattoo but I am still waiting for the redness to go down before posting another picture.

I had Mark take this picture today of a flowering plant we have in our front yard. I am 5 feet 4 inches and this plant is a good foot taller than me. It's crazy!



Mark and I went out to lunch today. I don't think he wanted his picture taken. My OMP!

Mod Squad meetup 2008

In June a bunch of us mods from Craftster got together for our annual get together. This year we met up in Boston and Leah and her husband David were the best hosts ever! They wore us out. As a surprise we gave sweets4ever and Mr. Sweets4ever a babyshower. It was so much fun. My wonderful friends also surprised me with a wonderful birthday party. Here are just a few pictures from the trip. I can't wait till next year to see my friends again. I miss them so much. (Missing from the group shot is Rackycoo and Emilyflew. They met up with us later that day. I need another group shot with them.



We saw so many amazing things. The Kowloon is a Tiki bar in the middle of nowhere. It was so random.


This is a liquor store we saw in Salem. It cracked me up.


Last but not least, OMP and me in the airport with Little Amy having some sushi.

Crafts, Koi and stupid computer!

I tried and tried last night to get online to blog and ofcourse my crappy computer took a nosedive and decided not to get online or work at all. Stupid computer! How dare it! So, I will do some blogging today with some crafty goodness. Here is a pillowcase that I made for the Invite Your Partner Swap. I made it for AlwaysInspired. I hope she likes it. I am making another one so she will have a set.





In other news, our pond is finally clear and we can see and play with Pucca and Garu, our Koi. We have been reading about how Koi bond with their owners and have they pick humans. They are like cats.

Not much to report

Not much is going on today. I wish I had more. Since I am not working 2 jobs I feel like I am on vacation. I really need to get back on a schedule and back into gear. Yeah, so, nothing new going on. My computer is being crappy so I am not going to write much and watch a movie and do some embroidery.

Yippee! Fireworks! Let's blow a limb off!

Okay, so I'm not being very Pro-4th of July when I say that I hate fireworks. Not all fireworks, just the kind that Mr. and Mrs. Stupid down the street can get. The ones that scare animals, can cause bodily harm. Sparklers and those little snake things. Those are fun. Not causing any problem, you can write your name in the air with them. Fun. The ones that make loud noises that for some reason make a 15 year old zit face boy think he's a man-those are the ones I hate. They freak out animals and small children and are not pretty. The kind that your local govt. put on or that you see at Disney-I really like those. They are beautiful to look at, you have a trained professional doing it. So, please for the love of God, if you are one of those people who like to blow things up-think about how much harm you are doing to animals and little kids everywhere.

Summer Craftster Challenge

Come one, Come all! Sign up for the Crafster Summer Needlework Challenge! There will be prizes! The theme this season is: Your Favorite Quote Sampler. There are examples on the starting page. You have a month to do it so get going!

Here is the link.
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=255123.0

Craftster Needlework swap

So, I put together a needlework swap on craftster. My view behind it was, who better to know the time that it goes into doing needlework than the needlework craftsters themselves. The response to the swap was HUGE and people received some amazing work. Here is the overview of the swap and the participants. I wanted to give a shout out to them. They are an amazing group of people.


1. doo_leroux, 2. Sewphie, 3. Joolz, 4. Kitten Wrangler, 5. Pearliepie, 6. kittykill, 7. rectangel, 8. stargardener, 9. Lovely_Gangster, 10. EOcrafter, 11. Accountantbyday, 12. Lilyvanilli, 13. cupcakeguru, 14. Harvey, 15. goatgoddess, 16. Amyracinrose, 17. onthinice, 18. hngoodlett, 19. Purelectricity, 20. Sewsew-a-Gogo, 21. Dinosaurus Meg, 22. AlwaysInspired, 23. Amphripodgirl, 24. Sew~Amy, 25. therisa, 26. beefranck, 27. ritapizza, 28. Malina, 29. kook-a-loo, 30. Craftycat, 31. AlwaysInspired Angel, 32. Nannetta

Pin up girl and other ramblings.

So, I am going to try this "blog a day" thing again. I hope I can do it. I have a lot of material for the next few days.
First off, I just finished this totebag for the craftster 50's B movie swap. I think I might add some more stuff to her but I'm not sure. Not my best but I still like her. She is inspired from the movie Beach Blanket Bingo. I got the image from a rubber stamp from Asta stamps.

Today was my first day not working with abusers. It was such a wonderful day. I got up, ate strawberries and chocolate chip waffles, walked the dogs, had lunch with a few old co-workers and then came to work at the crisis line. It was an amazing first day. I loved being at home with the puppers and have all sorts of projects I can't wait to complete. I am so happy right now.