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Saturday, December 31, 2011

Just Breathe...

Day #7 and the last day of

Seems fitting to end this party with 
one of my favorite Pearl Jam songs...


I found the picture on the internet.
 The photo along with Eddie's lyrics,
(even tho' its technically a love song)
communicated exactly what  I wanted to 
say to my friend Esther 
when I found out her cancer came back last winter.
 
 My last words for 2011 are in fact Neil Gaiman's
...from his "official" tumblr...
Love it!!!
I couldn't have said it better myself!
heh!
(I had no idea he wrote Coraline.
I keep finding out all this cool stuff!!!
I'm still working on his book
Good Omens!)

Oh, and this is cool too!

Watch it!

Zeitgeist 2011:  Year in Review


Happy New Year!!!

Friday, December 30, 2011

Love Will Tear Us Apart

(12-30-11) 
 
Today, I worked with 
Joy Division's
 
Joy Division was one of my favorite bands in the 80's
(oooh there's that decade again!)
and I just read at Wikipedia
they eventually came to be New Order,
which is definitely on my list of my top 10 
favorite bands!
I should have known!
 
: .)
 
 

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Haven't Met You Yet!

(12-29-11)

I had a hard time choosing my song for today, 
my original song choice had some negative implications for me, 
and I didn't want to art that...
this blog is called Trying to Grab Some Happy for a reason!!!  
: .)

Instead, I went with Michael Bublé's

 His lyrics make me think of
hopefulness,

anticipation,
intention,
sigh...


 In other wonderful news, the Top 2000 has become 
a major event over the years in the Netherlands.
It's not only broadcast on the radio, 
but there is also television show that does an evening journal of the day's music.  
Marit received a call from a local journalist asking if they could film 
and interview her on Friday about her Top 2000 Blog Party!!! 
A.W.E.S.O.M.E!!!
I'm so excited for her!!!

Yesterday, I received an email from Marit and 
she said that two of my pieces, 
one from last year's party 


and my Ruby piece
were shown on the evening journal!!! 

eEeeeek!!!
So yeah!  I was on Dutch tv!!!
 Marit's beloved put together a video 
from a recording of the show! 
Supah cool! 
I think this calls for a celebration!!!

WE ROCK!!!

: .)

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Ruby

Day #4 of Marit's Top 2000 Musical Blog Party!
(12-28-11)

For today, I picked the Kaiser Chief's Ruby...
(I don't know this band or song, but I really wanted to do a(nother) red page!)
Must be my favorite color or something!!! : .P 
The word ruby made me think of dorothy's red slippers,
and 
"There's no place li!ke home..."
'cause there isn't
: .)




Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Pierogis!!!

 I finally made the pierogis!!!

I made the dough and filling the other day.
Tonight, I rolled, cut, filled, sealed, and boiled the pierogis!

 

After you cool and dry them, you can fry them in sauteed onions and BUTTER!


Yeah Baby!  And no, you do not see any vegetables on this plate!

Interesting that the color scheme is much like this meal!!!


I'm also watching Dirty Jobs.  

Mike Rowe is replacing a belt in a bowling alley/center lane.

I still want to marry him.

(And, OMG!  He just farted on TV!!!)

: .P

(You're) The Devil in Disguise

 Its day #3 for Marit's Top 2000 Musical Blog Party!!!
(12-27-11)

I chose to do
Elvis Presley's (You're) The Devil in Disguise.

I remembered that Lil Dubin's dad long ago
had sent me this great pix he altered.

It definitely refllects Lil Dubin's personality!
: .P


*     *     *     *     *

 I also finished my December Daily album... 
I have to admit, I am happy to be done!

 

Christmas ornament from my manager.
Its an upcycled can, twisted around a tree frame.
Awesome!
(I forgot to take a pix of it on the 16th, and
isn't it weird to see my thumb twice in the same photo???)


 A card from my friend Erik, 
the "magic" of Christmas!
yes!


This is my trainer, Rommell.
He must have been in a really good mood on training day
because he was FULL OF SASS
and gave me a hard time
the entire session!!!
All in good fun, of course!
(And yes, I gave it right back!)


On the 21st, one of the engineers at work threw a Festivus party.  
I made sour cream butter spritz cookies to share with the party-goers : .)


A spare page, I couldn't leave it blank!


My first day of vacation.  
I got a bunch of long term items checked off my to-do list!!!
I totally procrastinated on sending packages.
I dread the lines at the P.O.
It must have been my lucky day,
b/c I was in & out in TEN minutes!!!


As I mentioned in this post, P told me about this song, 
so I had to include it in my DD.


On Christmas Eve, I took a little jog.  
I woggled 8 miles, for the first time in a year!  
Wow!


December 25th ~ me & my tree!!!
Underneath this photo is another irreverent shot of me with tree, 
 South Park style ; .P


And the cover, tah-dah!!!

Monday, December 26, 2011

You might as well face it, you're addicted to...

I'm a little late to Marit's Musical Blog Party today!
(12-26-11)

I chose to use lyrics from Robert Palmer's
with a twist...
Back in the 80's, oh how I loved those Stepford rockstars
in their little black dresses
and their HOT red lipstick!
(and are any of those women wearing bras?!  LOL!!!)
Click on the pix to make it bigger...

I prepped & cooked food all day today!!!
I was inspired by
and I got together everything for pierogis tomorrow.

For tonight, I made
Lemon-Oregano Chicken with Olives, Artichokes, and Potatos
minus the oregano (I hate it!) 
&
Gwyneth Paltrow's

A glass of Asti rounded out the meal.

On the side there's a mini apple pie.
I was convinced by a lady at Safeway to buy Tillamook
Vanilla Ice Cream to top it off!
According to her, its the BEST! 
I don't know what I'm gonna do with the rest of the half gallon!  ; .P


I hope you had a great Christmas Day!!!

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Those who run seem to have all the FUN!

I got a piece done for Marit's Top 2000 Musical Blog Party!!!

Yesterday was a steller day in the Lindaverse!
I ran 8 miles!!!
My longest run in over a year, 
so the lyrics in Madonna's song Hung up
really felt appropriate!


: .)

Friday, December 23, 2011

When My Heart Finds Christmas...

 My heart told me once before,
To find my dream and search no more,
And when my heart finds Christmas,
I hope it finds you too
...

P mentioned this song to me this morning
when I told her that I was lagging in my 
Christmas spirit.




 I had to share!

Its absolutely lovely...

(As is Harry Connick Jr. so here's a pix of him too! Enjoy!)

(source

: .) 

Thursday, December 22, 2011

eEk!!!


Guess who's the design team member highlight on the Frantic Stamper blog today?!

Yep!  That would be meeeeeeeee!!!  

(Not really sure why my nose looks soooo LARGE in this picture, hummm...)

Happy!

: .)


Sunday, December 18, 2011

DD aka December Daily

after two other sputtering stops and starts, then deciding to abandon the project altogether, only to change my mind (I'm a Pisces, what can I say?!), I finally have begun my December Daily album.

all the cool kids are doing it!  LOL!!!

I bought Mr. Claus 6"X6" papers.  after cutting and stitching and making my own embellishments for my pages, I realized I wasn't a fan of the color scheme.  I finished 7 pages before deciding to change gears.

I then cut a bunch of red and green 6"X6" squares, stamped them with white ink and some swirly Basic Grey stamps, punched a bunch of snowflakes, and completed 2 pages.

that was when I decided to give up.  day 16 and basically no pages done.

I looked up on my craft credenza (that's such a great word...credenza) and saw a mini album I made when I took Vee's Style Files class awhile ago.  "hey, that gives me and idea..."

are you ready???  photo heavy...


my cousin Ann, pre-Disneyland road trip...she's so accommodating!


cc redemption card.  just know that I spent enough to have $153.00 Disney dollars 
that went towards my park ticket.


park ticket!


traditional Mickey Mouse icon head park bench shots.
done with my new Fuji Instax camera.
notice the different exposures?
sometimes its worth bringing the instructions along.


I gained 3#s, 4?  maybe 5#s while on my little holiday.
I mentioned to my friend Paul that it was the "Magic of Disney".
he responded "is it Magic or Voodoo?"
heh!


free Starbucks download!!!
She & Him


I took my very first bar method class.
this pix is of the "pretzel"
we did it. it hurt.
I will not be intimidated by gorgeous 20somethings 
who can bend themselves into pretzels.


note from one of my little girlfriends!
sweet!


this speaks for itself...
I admit that I have this attitude at work a lot lately.
one of last years lolcats!


faux bokeh, or fauxkeh as I told P!
done with my Canon G11, 
as I gave my DSLR to my DAD!
I took 89 shots to get some good ones!
see this link for a tutorial on bokeh.


on the 11th day, I helped Als decorate her tree!


on day 12, Als and I survived went to the mall.


Santa came to my office! 
shoot, I forgot to give him a piece of my mind for not bringing
what was on my list in 2008!


holiday gargoyle?!  heh! (@ my desk @ work)


department holiday luncheon.  ESTHER was able to come!!!
soooo happy to see her and Carmen!


I took this pix when I was about to give up on my dd.
that's my craft "area"  
my credenza : .) is on the right!

that's it for now.
Jack's on his way, were going to go see Breaking Dawn.
I wonder if I can convince him to let me buy dinner???

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Great News!!!

Scrapping the Music had gone live with its new look!  

Go by and check it out!!! 

: .)




Monday, December 12, 2011

I don't think I can do it!!!



A little disclosure here...

I love my daily Starbucks.

I am not kidding.

I get a Starbucks every.single.day.

And I don't drink coffee.

I either get a EGTL (earl grey tea latte - grande non-fat, no water, no foam), or

I get a soy chai.

My XSIL/friend mentioned her weekly food budget, its $25.

A few days later, it dawned on me that's about what I spend weekly on Starbucks.

$25 X 7 X 52 = $1274.00

That would pay for a nice little getaway.  I could go visit Patricia and Emma for instance.

Also, if I stopped drinking a daily Starbucks, I would save approximately 54,000 calories/year.

A little more if I exclusively drank soy chai lattes.

Since a pound of fat = approximately 3,500 calories, I could potentially lose 15 pounds/year.

So, for two reasons, I should give up my daily Starbucks.

The thing is to me, a Starbucks is more than a really expensive guilty pleasure.

Its my daily happy.

It represents a connection.

I know, those baristas get paid to practice great customer service.

But they are damn good at it.

I feel like we have a "relationship".

And in a time where it seems as if people care less and less about each other,

and it feels like less kindness is happening,

its really nice when your name is remembered.

When sometimes your drink is made by the time you walk in the door.

Or when you get a happy face drawn on your cup.

So, I don't think I can do it, you know...give up my daily Starbucks.

Not today.

Maybe not ever.

It seems too important.