Happy Halloween!

Here's hoping that you had a wild and crazy all hallow's eve just like mine - tea and pumpkin bread, after tacos, on the sofa with friends and Big Bang Theory repeats.  It may not have required costumes, alcohol or candy, but I thought it was the best yet!

                   Happy Halloween!

Friday Five

1. Lists.  I happen to love lists.  I'm not saying I make them all the time, or even follow them when I have made them.  But they have this strange quality of making you feel organized and put together, even if the sky is falling around you.  Not that mine is mind you, I just think a list would help if it was.  Currently, I'm ignoring the fact that Christmas is in 2 months.  In about a day or 2, a list will be the only thing that saves me from the panic of knowing there are 3 billion and 32 things that need to be done before December 25...

2. Supernatural "Baby" - I've never seen an episode of television so perfectly suited to its fan base in all my life.  The boys have a beautiful car that's been with them for 11 seasons now. Why not write an episode completely from its point of view?  Through Baby, as Dean calls his Impala, was the absolute best way to see just what the Winchesters do on a daily basis.  It was sweet, and laugh out loud funny.  It was heart-warming and I'm sure to thousands of fan-girls, squee-inducing.  And I loved every minute of it!

3. Crappy video but awesome study!  While I'm not convinced that all crafting is completely unstressful, I will admit there's something to working with your hands and creating something from scratch.  It's a great feeling!  What's even better is the satisfaction that if you're giving that craft as a gift, that the person receiving it will hopefully cherish more than some store bought bauble. 

4. As a Marylander, you can imagine what a big story the crash of the JLENS blimp was this week.  For the last 2 days, we've heard nothing but the jokes of a confused population and the questioning of reporters into why a blimp might cost 2 billion dollars.  Anyway, as ridiculous as this story was, you had to know the Internet would find ways to make it better. My favorite was a story headline that read something to the effect of "Blimp breaks tether and goes on the Lam in Pennsylvania."  This was my second favorite : )

5. While I've been going back and forth on where exactly I want to travel to this spring, I have to admit the mere thought of travel is getting me through the doldrums of the week.  It might have something to do with the list love, but the more I focus on the flight plans, and possible hotel reservations, the more excited I get about getting out of dodge - though not too excited. I don't want to rush Christmas!

Caution: Scrap in Progress

Over the last few weeks, I've been in a seriously scrappy mood (see what I did there? : ) I've been Pinning, and searching and dreaming and list-ing.  So I've also been stealing some seriously cool ideas - well, stealing is a harsh word, more like scrap-lifting - to make my scrappy ideas just as cool as theirs.  I've also been focusing on what my personal style is.  

I've realized, the major problem with making myself scrap is that the things I've been finding are too intricate so I get burned out quite quickly.  My personal style is more simple.  Pretty much every design I've loved on Pinterest, are ones that are simply a few stickers and some cute cards. So with this in mind, I purchased an actual Project Life core kit, and an awesome 9"x12" album by A Beautiful Mess and will be attempting Project Life yet again in 2016.  The goal is to make it way past March this time - all the way to December 31 if I'm lucky!

With Project Life, the main idea is to scrap at least weekly - more like daily.  That's hard to get in the habit of doing.  So, with that in mind, I've planned 2 projects for the next 2 months in an effort to be:

1. More positive
2. More crafty
3. More prepared for Project Life
& 
4. More organized.

For the month of November, I'll be using this gorgeous kit - not as personally crafty, but I love the design and honestly, I don't think I could make something better - to create a 30 days of Thankful album.  I whine a lot about what's not right, but in all honestly there are TONS of things that are in my life.  How can I not celebrate them?

Then after 30 days of Thankfulness, it's time to start 31 days of Christmas - otherwise known as December Daily.  I have to say, I'm a little out of my depth with this one.  I'm not even entirely sure what most people document during this process - but I do know what I plan to. I started the fun part of getting that album together tonight.  Thanks to scrapbook.com, I got a great little kit a few months ago for $2 - gotta love a good sale.  So far, I'm LOVING it. Let's just hope the photos will be as lovely as the daily pages are so far : )

Cyber-y

So after spending the entire day at a cyber conference, I've mad a few observations.  First being, that even though I attended last year and "manned the booth" I some how got 
worse at it this year.  I'm not sure how this happened.  Last year I had a whole shpeel  about what we did and how good at it we are.  Today more than once, I had to stop from talking because I was tripping up over all the cyber-y words.  

Then there's the whole subject of social awkwardness.  Honestly, I would say I'm pretty awkward around people.  I'm shy and not a big fan of engaging people I don't know if they haven't spoken to me first.  However, I ain't got nothing on some serious cyber heads I met today. I'm not sure they're used to talking to people that aren't inside a computer.  So striking up a conversation when neither party knows exactly what to say makes things just a bit difficult. 

My last observation is that sales people - not all of them mind you, and most definitely not the really good ones - are often quite, how should I put this as nicely as I can, jerk-y.  They sort of run right over you with how important they are and how you'd be stupid not to partner with them/buy their product/sell them your first born.  I understand you have to be confident to get the sale, but does that also mean you have to be a butt head while doing so? 

Overall, there were some absolutely lovely people there - People I'd love to get hired at our company or to work with.  And there were definitely some not so lovely people that I'm so happy I only have to see once a year.  But overall, cyber conferences are just about as exciting as they sound - in other words, not much.

Oh and also, paying $30 for parking and $15 for a crappy grilled cheese, is really not my idea of a fun day. 

Rant officially over : )

Trivia Tuesday

~ Apparently, even when you have a whole table of Catholic School students, you can mis-hear a question regarding a religious movie starring Charlton Heston based on a book, and you can all agree that, yes, The 10 Commandments must be the book that was written in the year 1880...Oops!

~ Blue shots of something that looks like chlorinated pool water is un-surprisingly awful!  (PSA: I only took a sip - darn you stupid "try everything you're offered" rule!)

~ There are 4 famous people mentioned in the song "It's the End of the World" by REM.  One of which is Leonid Brezhnev which for the record I said, and no one believed.

~ Apparently the movie "The Lost Boys" starring Corey Feldman was about vampires.  And now, Corey Feldman dressed as a vampire on an episode of "Psych" finally makes sense.

~ Even though that horrible human being that raised the price of the life-saving drug from $13 to $750 has been in the news for weeks now, there's no guarantee that anyone is going to know his name aside from the usual "awful excuse for a human being."

~ Apparently "only" 9.25% of the world's population is living in extreme poverty which is the lowest it's been in years.  Of course, if you think about the world at about 7 billion people - that's still almost 70 million in extreme poverty.  And in case you're not sure of the definition of extreme poverty - it's living on less than $1.25 a day!  I'm not sure anyone felt good about getting that one right.

~ Assuming a Heisman winner from the Naval Academy would be some unknown was totally the wrong assumption on my part.  Roger Staubach was a HUGE player and apparently was a grad of the academy.  Way to go Roger!

Let's at Least Try for a Win!

As everyone knows, the Ravens are having a rough season.  That's actually quite the understatement.  What they're have is the worst season they've ever had in the 20 years they've been a franchise.  Needless to say, Sundays aren't nearly as fun as they usually are. But even with all that, I'm still pretty happy with who we have on the team.  Out guys know how to have fun and that just makes them more lovable - not as lovable as they'd get some touchdowns, but it's a start.

First up is Justin Tucker pretty much just being his amazing self.  Seeing as he's the only one that's been putting points on the board, the fact that he does all of this too, makes him my personal favorite right now - which usually means we'll trade him in the off-season, just before I've bought his jersey...

Then there's our fairly overpaid QB, Joe Flacco.  I love the guy, I really do. But honestly, making $120 million, he should be so much better than he is.  But, possibly, when this football thing doesn't quite pan out, he might have a future in comedy - as the very straight man.
           

As I'm writing this, the Ravens are up by 3 points but they've also just fumbled the ball.  So there's that.  Fingers crossed, we can manage the win.  If for nothing else than to cheer up the city of Baltimore...

Deja Vu All Over Again...

As I was simultaneously finishing up my Supernatural Con album and my mom's last page of the birthday album, this evening, using new supplies I had just purchased, I realized that I've been to 4 craft stores since Friday night.  I do believe I might have a problem.  A few weeks ago I was blathering on about downsizing and using up the supplies I have, but this weekend I've apparently forgotten all about that mantra.

I'm sure - at least I hope it is - it's the same with other crafters.  The pretty of all the paper, and stamps, and albums, and embellishments is just too much for us.  Once we see it, we begin to imagine some lavish project for using it, which usually leads to the need for more supplies.  It's sort a cyclical process, you see. In fact that was most definitely the case this weekend.  I went to Hobby Lobby looking for an album.  They didn't have the one I wanted, but what they did have was page protectors for another sized album I was working on for a good price, so I bought them.  They also had super cute knee-highs for Halloween which I had forgotten I needed, so I bought them too.

Then we went to Michael's to find the original album, but they didn't have it either.  But they did have stickers on sale, so I bought them.  Then, it was a trip to a different Michael's on Saturday for the album as well - this time I stood my ground.  Actually, they didn't have the album but they had a super long line, so I didn't let my desires get the best of me.  Today it was AC Moore where they had the album - woohoo!  But since I finally got the album, I needed paper for it, and additional paper protectors.  Oh and alphabet stickers since they were on sale, and a scarf that I've been looking for for Halloween. 

See?  It's a slippery slope...

Reader Girl

I'm loving this book!  I'm a pretty big fan of the Lonely Planet books to begin with.  I've read tons of them in the last few years.  But it's difficult to find them around here for some reason.  I think it may have something to do with Lonely Planet being a British company - so what other place to find it than in a little shop in Oxford England (have I mentioned just how awesome the book shops are in England, lately?)  

I'm so hooked on it that I haven't much to say this evening. Basically, I'm totally ignoring the blog tonight in favor of getting back to reading my wonderful book and hopefully finishing it in the next hour or so : )

Friday Five

1. Friday night chat sessions with the bestie - Dinner, Craft Stores, Ice Cream, then hours of chatting, gossiping and laughing.  The perfect ending to a long week.

2. Not gonna lie, I'm pretty excited about this.  It's a Marvel show where David Tennant is a main character.  What's not to like?  Of course, it looks like David is the epitome of evil so I'm a little worried about seeing the Doctor as evil.  But it's David, so I just have to watch!
              
3. Saw a quote from Kim Rhodes this week that I'm so in love with: We're all perfect in imperfect ways.  How fabulous is that!?  I want to make it into a giant poster and hang it in every school in Maryland.  Such an uplifting, wonderful thought!

4. Foraging for Flavor - a new must-read blog of mine.  She writes about food and family which was great enough, then I realized she's from the Maryland area, which made it even better.  She writes reviews of places in the area to travel and great restaurants to try.  Loving the style too.  She seems like a fun person to hang with - which is always something you want out of a blogger : )

5. I've been in awe of the Tiny House concept lately - I think the lack of mortgage payment sort of sealed the deal in my head.  Anyway, after coming home from Texas, I settled in to plan the next trip.  While doing so, I came across the most perfect hotel I've ever seen: Caravan in Portland, Oregon.  The hotel is made up of multiple tiny houses.  You get the cute and the practical all at the same time.  I LOVE it!

Currently...

Watching: Bones, Rosewood and San Francisco be destroyed by the Seahawks (seeing as they beat us on Sunday, I'm secretly quite pleased with this game!) Also, the Nationwide, Peyton Manning commercial - LOVE IT!

Wondering: Why in the world some people can't just be normal.  I'm not saying I want everyone to be absolutely the same (so the opposite actually!), but it would be nice for some people in particular to just do their job quietly and kindly.  It would be fabulous for the rest of us, if those people didn't flip out for no reason whatsoever or for those people to actually understand business in general, seeing as they're making twice what I'm making.  I'd really like to just do my job, and not have to do theirs as well. (Yes it was one of those days and it's super frustrating!)

Resisting: I'm trying desperately not to fall asleep until after I finish this post I've been avoiding since about 7:45 when I sat down in front of this laptop.  This is why this post is fairly boring - it has to be said : )

Annoyed With: The ridiculous Maryland autumn weather patterns.  It was quite chilly earlier this week.  I had the heat on and I was bundled up in a jacket each morning.  Today? Today it was 82 degrees.  Seriously dudes!?  I'm ok with the 80s but if you're going to get cold again next week, I'd rather you just get on with it.  It'd be much easier to decide what to wear to work each morning.

Quite Happy With: My Austin album, which is done within a week of me coming home, I might add. That's gotta be a new record for me in regards to scrapbooking.  And seeing as the new album for 2016's attempt at Project Life arrived this week, I'm feeling pretty good about the prospects of actually finishing this time around. 

Great Scot!

I have a confession to make.  I've never actually seen Back to the Future - any of them.  Sure, I know stuff.  And I can pick up quotes and nods to the movie, but I've never really sat down and watched it.  Apparently, to the people I work with that makes me insane.  So you can imagine how today - Back to the Future Day! - went.  

But seeing that I get things here and there, I was able to enjoy all the fun, companies and social media-ers were having.  People are so creative!  I love the ways movie lovers have chosen to honor Marty and Doc.  In a million years, I never thought the media world would make this big a deal about a movie that was made in the 80s, but I'm so glad they did!

First thing this morning, I was treated to the cover of the USA Today - an almost exact replica of the paper Marty read in the movie.  How fantastic is that?!  The article with a bigger version is here.  You really must read it. The newsline on the left is what really got me.  Also, so help me god, if the Cubs manage to lose tonight, I'll be crushed!  I have no stock in Chicago sports, but it really would be something if a 30 year old movie, predicted them going to the World Series!

After the newspaper, the Ayrshire Police in Scotland (which I'm sure lots of police stations also did this, but this was the first one I saw) facebooked a very important public service announcement to keep their residents safe. As you can see, it was very important that these men were found. 






Then it was Nike, with their very important announcement that they clued Michael J Fox in on yesterday with a mysterious tweet that had movie and sneaker lovers talking.

Apparently, that had something to do with this, which hasn't been officially confirmed yet. But honestly, how can you not love a company that waited this long to release something cool, just because it's a meaningful date?!  And then there was this.  What a wonderful letter, idea and company!

Anyway, I'm sure there are tons more awesome and creative homages to it today.  Everyone seemed to be having a blast thinking of new and innovative ways to mark the date.  All of which are telling me 2 things.  Michael J Fox is still the king of great movies and I really must see it sometime...

We're #1!

I have like zero competitive genes in my body.  When I was younger, I would often cheat to help the other team.  Apparently you're not supposed to give the other team answers to help them win.  Who knew?  However, I do have to say, coming in first in Trivia this week, was pretty darn fun.  It's happened a handful of times, but I've never actually been there for it. Until this week.  

Of course, when you're number 1 in a sea of 4 teams, it sort of takes the shine off of it a bit. But we're still number one so...take that. 

In our search for trivia gold, we learned a few things this week.  Though, not as many as usual, because I'm feeling the questions were easier for some reason.  Maybe it's just that they were suited to our unique and ridiculous specialties.

~ A random out of the ordinary psych diagnosis, you may have gotten wind of by watching an old episode of ER, can come in handy when needing to decipher some strange condition, which also happens to be the final question.  (Of the 4 teams, we were the only ones that got it right, I might add...  yay us!)

~ Vietnam is a country that borders China and is also the last country in the alphabet that borders China.  Sometimes you should go with your gut. I didn't think I was right, because I swore Vietnam was an island nation.  Oops!

~ Spock from Star Trek was a fan of logical philosophy which is a thing.

~ An obsession with Broadway and Nathan Lane, may help you answer a question on Samuel Beckett plays (Let's not mention I thought Waiting for Godot was the ONLY play he ever wrote...)

~ A yearly pass to Disneyland is only $1000 which is seriously not that expensive.  I would have thought Disney would have emptied our pockets way more than that. 

~ Sometimes Trivia may lead to new ideas. For instance, developing a fantastic idea for a non-profit.

~ Other times, trivia leads to expensive ideas.  For instance, flying to Georgia for New Year's just because you love it there, and you want to see some singer play at an Irish Pub. 

Art - Scape

My absolute favorite part of Austin, and one of the things I was most looking forward to were the murals dotted around town.  They are one of the major things that keeps Austin weird.  They're also beautiful pieces of art and probably took a lot of time and energy.  I've read loads of articles on the most popular ones, but what I noticed is that there are others that aren't really listed anywhere.  

They sort of just pop up out of nowhere. You'll be driving down first street and our of nowhere, you'll see Rodney Dangerfield on the side of a building.  Or strolling down Congress, when you notice Mr. Rogers on the side of a Pizza joint. What I wonder is how exactly one chooses to put Rodney Dangerfield or Mr. Rogers on the side of your property.  I'm sure there's a complicated train of thought...

Anyway, I had planned on just sort of finding them along the way.  But I learned that while most are sprinkled around in the open, some of the other really cool ones are nestled back into little neighborhoods which would have never been found, had it not been for a great post about them. Thanks to this post, GPS and a free morning, we were able to find the cool ones. 

What a cool way to decorate an already too cool for school city!

Ugly...

If it weren't so sad, it would almost be laughable.  It's like the Ravens are the bad news bears.  They can't do a single thing right.  They throw interceptions.  They can't tackle to save their lives.  The defense lets players come right through with the ball.  Even Justin Tucker missed a field goal.  The Justin Tucker that has the best record in the league and yet, managed to miss.  Of course, the 3 points would have been nice to have but it wouldn't have won the game.  They still would have lost by 2 instead of 5.  Ugh!  How can one team go from winning the Super Bowl 2 years ago to having the absolute worst record - 1 and 5 - in the entire league? 

But hey, at least there's always good food to be had.  Thank goodness my dad's a great cook or Sundays would be way too depressing!

Currently Coveting...

For months now, whenever I read about Broadway, I read about one particular show: Hamilton.  It's pretty much all Hamilton all the time on every single theatre related website. Now for the first few months, I had no idea what it even was.  I saw a few pictures of actors in revolutionary era dress.  That certainly didn't appeal to me, so I sort of just ignored it. Then I heard Lin Manuel Miranda wrote the show and starred in it, which made me a little more interested.  He's pretty amazing!

But still, it was set during the American Revolution.  That couldn't be fantastic.  It just had to be boring.  Then I heard that while it was the story of American Revolution, and it was period costuming, it certainly wasn't what you expected in regards to music.  The entire story is told in rap and hip hop.  Odd, I know.  It's sounds ridiculous, but it's one of those things that you sort of just have to see.  Also, every major theatre reviewer has raved about it.  That helps too.

Then you add to that, the fact that people, famous and non-famous alike, are flocking to it in droves, and I realized I really must see it.  Unfortunately, it took a little longer for my friends to decide it was going to be awesome.  Now that they're ready, I think it might be too late. As of yesterday, tickets were sold out until 2016.  What's worse is price of the tickets, even in 2016.  The cheapest ticket I could find, was $798, and that's in the rear mezzanine - basically the nose bleed seats.  Seriously?! Ooh, I want those tickets!

Friday Five: Austin Edition

1. Tiny Pies! - In 6 days in Austin, we visited them 3 times.  I'm usually more of a cake girl, but I'm in love with these pies.  Whether it was the Chocolate Cream or the Coconut Cream, I was swooning after each bite.  Not super sweet, but super delicious!  In all the sweets I ate in Austin, these pies were my favorite. 

2. The Murals! - It's well known that Austin is well known for their murals around town.  There are some very famous ones, and some not so famous ones.  Each and every one is beautiful in its own way.  These murals are just one of the things that makes Austin weird and wonderful!

3. The HOPE Gallery - Another artsy installation that makes the city beautiful.  Instead of hating and outlawing graffiti, the people behind the HOPE Gallery understand that graffiti is actually artwork that should be celebrated.  So they made the walls of concrete on castle hill to allow these artists a safe place to work.  What's even cooler is that you never see the same works twice.  The walls are always changing.  Such a creative idea!

4. Sunset Bat Cruise - I'm a big fan of the sunset.  It's beautiful over the city.  I'm not such a fan of the bats.  It seemed like a cool idea at the time, but thousands of bats screeching over head in the dark when you can't be sure what they're going to do, is actually terrifying...

5. Tacos!  I estimate that I ate about 15 tacos in my 6 days in Austin.  I think I might have a problem...

ACL Lessons Learned

Austin City Limits was my very first music festival.  Somehow, I've gone 30 years without attending one.  And quite honestly, I was ok with that.  Now that I've attended, there were a few lessons I learned.  Also, now that I've attended, I can mark it off the bucket list and be good with never attending another again.

1. I am not a "festival" person.  I don't like crowds, smoke, porta-potties or the heat.  I also know next to nothing about music produced in this decade.  In the photo below, I was only about 20 minutes into the first day, and I was already skeptical about this weekend.

2. Texas Heat doesn't mess around.  Now, I'm usually ok with this.  However, even I was more than too hot sitting in the middle of 50,000 people in a park with little to NO shade.  Thank goodness for free water stations - however, would it have killed you to provide ice?

3. At music festivals, it's perfectly acceptable to dress like hippies, in Native American Headress (offensive, BTW!), as Santa Claus, or in the case of the super cool dude below, a banana...

4. While the name Nate Ruess, doesn't sound familiar to anyone (well, not me anyway, I'm guessing not everyone lives under a rock), he is in fact, the lead singer of Fun; which means he sings some of my favorite songs.  Thank goodness it was too darn hot to leave our spot after the McAbees, or I never would have recognized the voice and the tunes.

5. Two years old, is the appropriate age to attend your very first music festival.  It's also a great idea to let said 2 year old wander around while 50,000 people are walking around not paying attention to little people possibly getting under their feet.

6. Music festivals attract a whole darn lot of people.  Those ridiculous numbers of people descend on the city and make getting around, and getting a restaurant table next to impossible.

7. This particular music festival's saving grace was the ridiculous amount of food from awesome vendors and chefs.  Thank goodness for delicious food!  Since I wasn't feeling the music, at the very least I could stuff my face. 

8. Hozier is awesome!  I may not have known anyone else, or cared if I saw any other act, but thankfully I managed to see Hozier.  Not on purpose mind you, my friend really wanted to see them so I followed along because in a sea of 50K people, where else was I going to go? I'm so glad I did, because his music was amazing!  He even covered "Blackbird", which is an all time favorite of mine.  

While music festivals may not be my thing, I have to say, Austin most definitely was.  Can't wait to go back  minus 50K of my new acquaintances, of course... : )

I {Heart} Austin!

I had the most fabulous time in Austin!  It's up there in the top 5 of my most favorite places. I ate... A LOT!  I saw a lot.  I sweat a lot.  And most importantly I enjoyed every minute of it.  So much so, that I'm already secretly planning in my head a return trip soon. I'll have loads more to say in the very near future.  For now, I'm working on organizing all the photos (600+!) and wishing I was still there.

 Austin, I {heart} you!