Saturday, April 30, 2011

Week 13: The Week of the Many Mini (& incomplete) Projects

My get up and go hasn't been around much this week. I've started several things but just haven't had the energy to finish them. Instead of finishing what I started, I move on to something else which is pretty much a defining statement of my life.

BUT, I enjoyed what I started this week. Here's that lengthy list:

*Read The Poisonwood Bible - I'm LOVING this book. I've been listening to it while driving. I think I'm probably missing a lot because I'm much more a visual person than this listening allows, but I'm definitely enjoying it. I expect to finish it in the next week or so but ran out of drive time to make it possible to finish it up this week.

*
Build a Sorta Pantry- We finally got a shelf to make our very oddly shapen kitchen a little more functional. It's not going to be super pretty, but it's going to provide a whole bunch more storage. I started putting the shelf together and put some pieces together the wrong way and then gave up for a bit. I might try to tackle that beast tomorrow...

*
Get Paid to Shop- I kinnnnnda wussed out on this one. But, there was a coupon/sale deal this week that made floss negative twelve cents at Wal-Mart. I got three of these and two bottles of water (which, with a coupon, were totally free). Had I stopped there, because my coupon for $1 off the .88 floss, I actually would've been paid .36 to leave Wal-Mart. I feel weird about that so I added a pack of gum. I can't remember the exact check-out price, but it was under the cost of the gum, so I did get paid to shop a little bit.

*
Make a Ruffled Skirt- I've been coveting these all over the internet. I've started one- cut and pinned all sorts of fabric and without sewing, it looks really cute. However, I'm 99% sure it's going to end up WAY TOO SMALL. I find sewing so stressful- I wish that weren't the case. I think an upcoming week is going to be "sew with a pattern." That would probably be a helpful step in my desire to really learn to sew.

The only thing I feel like I actually totally accomplished was trying a new Mexican restaurant. The food was pretty tasty but the experience was horrendous. I don't know if I would ever want to go back, and I'm pretty sure there is no way in the world that my husband would ever go back, so I probably won't need to think to much about that decision.

All in all, a good week...unfinished projects and all.


Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Week 12: Challenge myself.

This is a random one, but I'm proud of the accomplishment.

It's gross outside today, but I needed to exercise and didn't feel like doing a video so I decided to do something that sounded like a good workout: do laps on the stairs for 20 minutes. I knew it would be tough but HOLY MOLY.

It was both physically and kind of mentally exhausting. I was tired after ...err...the second lap. Going up stairs is hard work! I set the timer on the oven so I had no idea how much time I had left. I had my husband check for me and found myself very disappointed with whatever number he would respond with. I lost count, but I'm guessing I did at least 60 laps.

That's a lot of stairs.

I'm glad I did this because I seriously wanted to give up 4 minutes in. I thought, "you know, I could really just stop and take a quick jog outside instead." But, I finished. I didn't want to give up despite what felt like torture to myself.

I will likely not ever do this again, but if there was a badge for "walking stairs for 20 minutes," I could wear it proudly.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Week 11: New Obsession

Oh yes, I'm obsessed.

http://pinterest.com/angielivesay/

I've wanted a Pinterest account since I first heard about this website awhile ago but it's a little bit exclusive and so I had to wait and wait and wait until I finally got an invite. (Want an invitation? I've got some now!)

I've spent so many hours compiling photos from all over the internet to add to my style boards. Check it out at the link above. Fair warning: get ready to get lost in the wild world of the internet for ...a long time.

Enjoy!

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Week 10: Say Thank You

This week's accomplishment is something I've meant to do for probably 5 years, and one of the main reasons I wanted to start this blog.

I just wrote a thank you note to my high school English teacher. When I was in her class, I struggled, a lot. She made me work really, really hard. I'll never ever EVER forget her note on one of my papers: "Angie, in any other class, this would be an A. Not in mine." That sentence aptly summarizes my Advanced Placement senior year English class. I wrote, rewrote, etc... that paper...probably 7 times. In the end, after all those rewrites, I managed to get an A on the paper. That's what she wanted all along.

All of the struggling paid off. She, along with my Spanish teacher, prepared me for what would lay ahead in college. During my first semester of my freshman year in college, my professor was so pleased with a paper I had written that he actually put it up on the projector (do schools still even use those?!) for all to see "how to write a paper."

That felt amazing.

And I have one lady to thank.

So, today I did just that. She should be receiving my thanks in 2-3 business days.

(Mrs. Thompson, if you are reading this, please forgive the grammatical errors. I know they are there. Sometimes I just think they add character. And, I'm a college graduate now, so I'm doing alright!)

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Week 9: Make/Own/Wear a Locket

This week I assembled this locket. It was a quick project with a result with which I am pleased.

Inside, I adhered an I think, FUNNY, picture of my main squeeze and I'm happy to have him so close to my heart (AWW!). However, he hates the photo, so I told him I wouldn't show it to the world. I think it's fun to have such a funny photo inside. People would expect to see something sentimental, but it is much more US to have something silly.

In related news, sometimes I wear completely mismatched bright socks when I wear boots to work (most days in the winter), just because it makes me laugh on the inside when I'm talking to someone about something superserious and they have no idea that I have these socks on. Crazy? Maybe. But it gets me through the day. Now I can add this to my "you don't know what I'm wearing!" list.

I found this locket at Michael's and it was CHEAP! They have so many cute charms right now that I stocked up. Here is the photo in all it's sunny shadowy glory: