Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Wordless Wednesday

I guess it can't be completely wordless because I have to explain the picture.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is an acid burn.
Nitrous acid to be specific.
Across my middle finger on my right hand.
Trust me, you don't want one.

Link up here

Thursday, September 23, 2010

30 Day Challenge

Here in blog land we all most of us experience blogging-block. For those of you who don't, who happen to always have something interesting or inspiring or creative etc etc etc to write about, who never experience "it's been days or weeks since my last post because my life is boring" well... congrats. I however, am not one of those people.

That all changed when I happened to stumble across a solution. Renee at Closed on Sunday wrote a post sharing the 30 Days of Truth challenge. The way that it works is that there are 30 (yes, what a shocker I know) post topics for you to write about. From what I understand, they are supposed to be answered/responded to on consecutive days/posts. But I thought I'd change it up a little bit.

I don't want to feel like I am forced to follow a strict schedule when it comes to this list. Therefore I have decided that while I will blog about the topics on the list in order, I can't guarantee that there wont be other posts in between. If I have something real to blog about, say a medical school interview (please please please please please) then I'll have the freedom to write about whatever that situation may be. Because who knows, maybe writing on these topics will spark something else to write about.

So here then, is The List.
  1. something you hate about yourself
  2. something you love about yourself
  3. something you have to forgive yourself for
  4. something you have to forgive someone else for
  5. something you hope to do in your life
  6. something you hope to never have to do
  7. someone who has made your life worth living for
  8. someone who has made your life hell, or treated you badly
  9. someone you didn't want to let go, but just drifted away
  10. someone you need to let go, or wish you didn't know
  11. something people seem to compliment you the most on
  12. something you never get compliments on
  13. a band or artist that has gotten you through some hard days
  14. a hero that has let you down
  15. something you couldn't live without, because you've tried living without it
  16. something you definitely could live without
  17. a book you've read that changed your views on something
  18. your views on gay marriage
  19. what do you think of religion and/or politics
  20. what do you think about drugs and/or alcohol
  21. your best friend is in a car accident and you two got in a fight an hour before. what do you do?
  22. something you wish you hadn't done
  23. something you wish you had done
  24. make a playlist for someone and explain the reason for each song
  25. the reason you believe you're still alive today
  26. have you ever thought about giving up?
  27. what is the best thing in your life right now?
  28. what if you were pregnant today?
  29. something you hope to change about yourself
  30. write a letter to yourself
I am not going to start today so keep an eye out for day one. I hope to be able to link back all the posts together so that someone who's interested in finding out more about me will be able to. Plus it'll be a neat way for me to reflect on and change my opinions etc. I'm hoping that this can be a creative outlet for me to think about parts of my life. I plan on being brutally honest for each topic but promise that I'll try to make it as interesting as possible. So stick around if your interested or feel free to join me for the whole 30 days, or even just one.

I am off to a hopefully very productive day but first, some play time with the pup. Happy Thursday.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Art Dealer Teal-er


Did you know that September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month?
Did you know that the color teal is the awareness color for OC?
Did you know that you should paint your toes the color teal right now, I mean after you finish reading this, to help bring awareness and save lives?

Well now you do.

To show my support I decided to paint, not only my toes but also my fingers in the traditional bright teal color. Realistically any shade of teal will do (OPI has an awesome Ski Teal We Drop color that is a little more subdued) I just figured Go Big or Go Home right?
So I picked up my new teal nail polish and painted away and I hope that people notice. Because that's the point.

Friend: "Oh I like the color of your nails/Wow your nail polish is bright/etc etc"
Self: "Yes, thank you. It's to raise awareness of Ovarian Cancer. Teal is their color."
Friend: "Ovarian Cancer huh?"
Self: "Yep, let me tell you about it...."
* OC effects over 25,000 women in the US every year and is the 5th leading cause of cancer in women
* 75% of OC cases are diagnosed too late, the cancer has already spread and treatment is unlikely to help
* 93% of OC patients that get diagnosed earlier are able to survive it
* There is no test or screen to detect this form of cancer (not even a pap smear) so you must trust your instinct and see a doctor if you have persistence of any symptom

Symptoms
- Bloating
- Pelvic and/or abdominal pain
- Frequent or urgent need to go #1
-Having a hard time eating
-Feeling full quickly

Remember, you MUST see your doctor if you have any of these symptoms daily for more than a few weeks because early detection is crucial to the treatment of the disease.

So go out there and help save baby makers and the lives of women around you.
The information I have listed here as well as more can be found at the Teal Toes website.
And they even have a huge list of teal nail polishes in many brands incase you don't know which one you want to use.

Monday, September 20, 2010

My First Award

I feel horrible that I haven't taken the time to thank A Girl In The Sunshine yet for giving me my first ever blog award! I've been envious of all the blog awards I see floating on the blog-sphere and I'm so happy to be part of the club now.

So now onto the award rules.

1. Thank the blogger who gave you the award....

Thank you thank you thank you Sarah!

2. Sum up your blogging philosophy, motivation and experience using five words....

My happy and full life :-)

3. Pass this on to 10 other bloggers you feel have substance in their blogs....



PS- If you haven't stopped my Mingle Monday you must!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Life of a Pup

I've learned to love being outside on our porch except when the screen is shut on me and I can't get back in. There's always people walking around and cars driving by for me to watch and I love the cool fall breeze that's just started in the evenings. Maybe some day I'll have a bigger porch to play on.
A few weeks ago we took our first family trip to DOG BEACH! I was a little scared at first because there was a lot going on that I wasn't used to. Tons of people, lots of dogs running around/at me, sand, water, waves, etc etc. Mom and Dad were very excited to bring me but also a little nervous that I'd freak.
Luckily they had nothing to worry about! I loved it! I'd run through the water and jump over the front of the waves. I was so entertained with the ocean itself I didn't even need a toy to chase. I was soaking and sandy in no time. I have to admit though, I'm not a fan of going completely under the water. A couple times I was caught off guard by a huge wave and had to actually swim.
Sometimes Mom drives me up north during the day to meed Dad for lunch from work. I'm a great car rider still, I just sit in my seat and look out the window. I love going new places because I get to see to many new things, I'm very curious you know. We sit outside while I try to eat their Panera and all they'll give me is ice cubes.... Really though, I can't complain.
If there's ever a pinch and we're out somewhere and I'm bored without a toy, I'll be easily entertained for hours with an empty water bottle. Just please remember to take off the label because soon I'll shred it anyways. My jaw is getting much stronger now and I can completely flatten any size water bottle now.
I also like to chew on the end of my tail. Sometimes I'll chase it in circles which makes Mom giggle. But sometimes I just want to chew it so I'll roll around getting tangled with my legs. Don't worry, it doesn't hurt me, it just makes my tail a wet whip for a good while afterwards. Dad doesn't really like it very much but I think he's getting used to it.
Speaking of Dad,we love to wrestle. (Most of the time I win, but don't tell him that.) Mom likes to wrestle too but I'm getting a little to big now for her so we usually just cuddle. I think hats are fun and I try to take off his when he gets home from golf. Dad loves it when I climb all over him.
I also learned to climb into this chair. It's much smaller and less sturdy than the other furniture I climb on so I was a little hesitant at first. But once I was up in it, I didn't want to get down. And aren't I just the cutest thing in the world? Now if only we had a campfire to sit around.
I am officially 16 weeks old (about 3 months and 3 weeks) and I weight a whopping 42 lbs now. Mom struggles to pick me up but luckily I'm more independent now so she doesn't have to very often (only when I want up or down from the bed). I eat about 4.5-5 cups of dog food a day and am pretty much housebroken at this point. I'm a very happy, mellow, sweet dog and I know my family loves me.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Freezer Paper & Go Broncos

I stumbled upon I Am Momma- Hear Me Roar recently and absolutely fell in love with so many of the neat projects she does. She is super helpful and shares all her tips so you can try them yourself if you're so inclined. My first crafty idea from her website that I decided to try was her "Freezer Paper Stenciling." You can find the full video tutorial here but I'll explain what I did too.

Supplies
Shirt or other fabric item
Tulip brand fabric paint
Freezer paper
X-Acto knife or other razor cutter
Pencil or pen
Iron
Extra piece of fabric

1. Decide what image and/or lettering you want to put on your shirt. Either print it out or draw it onto regular paper. For my shirt I drew out the 4 parts but for J's shirt I printed it since it was more complicated. I didn't take a picture of this part because it's pretty well... easy.

2. Place your image underneath a piece of the printer paper. Make absolutely sure that the shiny side of the freezer paper is facing down. This is essential for the rest of the project to work (explanation to come). Now trace your image onto the paper.
3. Once your done, it's time to cut the paper to create the stencil. The best tool to use here would be an X-acto because of it's small size and sharpness. I used a different razor we already had and it worked just fine. Try to be as careful as possible at this point and avoid as many ragged edges as you can (they'll show up on the finished product.)

Helpful tip: Avoid overshooting any line junctions (example at sharp corners) because if you over-cut you'll have more places the paint can bleed later on. Also make sure to keep the pieces you cut out because you might end up needing them (see step 5).

4. Place an extra piece of freezer paper inside the shirt to take up any extra paint that might bleed through. Iron your stencil onto your shirt. This is where the shiny side down part comes in. The paper is coated with plastic (aka shiny) and it creates a seal between the paper and your shirt. So make sure to really go over all the edges where you'll be painting to make sure they're set.

5. For my design, I needed to make sure I kept the inside piece of the bow. I just wanted an outline of the shape so I had to make sure to keep this one piece. Other instances where you might need the cut out pieces are: the inside of the letters D, O, R, B etc etc or any other images that have inside details. You'll see a lot more of this on J's shirt (all the letters had inside pieces.) Iron in your extra pieces, again making sure the edges are sealed.

6. Paint! There are many different varieties of Tulip paint (matte, pearl, etc) that add interest to your final product. The heart on my shirt was painted with pearl orange paint and it's nice and sparkly, perfect for a girl's shirt.

Helpful tip: Paint from the paper onto the fabric, edge to center of the letter/image. Even though you should have a pretty tight seal on the paper, you might want to be careful of pushing the paint under the edge just incase.

7. Let the paint dry slightly before peeling off the freezer paper. It isn't crucial that the paint is completely dry before this step, just be careful not to touch the painted parts too much. I took mine off after about 5ish minutes from finishing painting. Let the shirt dry overnight.

8. The next day, you'll need to set the paint onto the shirt. To do this, take a piece of scrap fabric/old t-shirt/dish towel and place it on top of your painted images. Run your iron thoroughly over the whole thing. When you take the extra fabric off you'll actually feel it sticking to the paint just slightly. You don't want to overdo it and pull off the paint but you do want to make it stick a little bit. And with that, you're done! You now have an awesome, home-made shirt.
My Shirt
J's Shirt
For J's shirt, each letter had an extra piece I had to save and iron in not to mention the different pieces of the Broncos logo.

Helpful tip: The paint suggests waiting 72 hours before washing which I recommend too. But it doesn't say anything about not wearing it ;-)

So now it's your turn to create something! Have fun!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Top 2 Tuesdays

Today I am too unmotivated/tired/have nothing interesting to say/have way too many other things that need to be written to write my own creative post. So instead, I thought I'd give you a quick update on things in my life and then play along with "Top Two Tuesdays"

1. Ollie isn't growing quite as fast as before but he's definitely turing into the best little dog. He's much darker than his original white puppy fur and his paws are large and awkward. He's learning his manners and is totally chill just hanging out with us in the evenings.

2. I spent the weekend getting stuff done around the apartment. I wish I could say that I got out and enjoyed the day
off yesterday but, sadly, I didn't. J took me to see Eat, Pray, Love on Saturday night so I was very happy about that. I really appreciate it when he does something specifically for me. I knew he wasn't stoked on seeing it but he did anyways and that's why I love him.

3. I have officially received four, yes FOUR, secondary applications for different medical schools that I have applied to. That means I've gotten replies from all but one school and to say that I'm excited is an understatement. I can't believe this is all happening so quickly and that I'm fortunate enough to get so many. Getting them finished and sent off is my top priority for the next few days. Now I know that it doesn't mean I'm actually in anywhere yet but hey, it's the next step in the process.


Top Two Favorite Things About Fall

1. Starbucks:

I love the variety of the Bucks all year but I specifically love it in the fall. Fall means Pumpkin Spice Lattes, cuddling up in a cozy chair with a good book and a grande hot drink, knowing that it's soon acceptable to order Peppermint Mochas with all their calories, and the best.... RED CUPS! It's so hard for me to walk by the two locations on campus, not to mention the three or four I drive by to get to campus, and not stop in for something that'll warm my heart. A good latte has a surprising effect to make classes fly by or help me pay attention when I just want to be somewhere else. Oh, red cups, where are you?

2. Thanksgiving: And not just because of the food. Okay, well the food is definitely up there on the list. I'm a sucker for a good stuffing, turkey with lots of black pepper and pie. But not pumpkin pie, no thanks to that. Give me a warm slice of apple pie with a little whipped cream on top, sigh.... my stomach is growling at the thought. But more importantly, I love Thanksgiving because we get to see our families. For me that means a good trip back to CO and a lovely, much needed, break from the semester. Plus Thanksgiving time means that Christmas is just around the corner and it's appropriate to put up the tree!

Hope you all are enjoying the changing seasons and the start of fall.
(even though it's technically still summer, oops)

Friday, September 3, 2010

Ollie and His Tail

School started this week which meant I was way more busy that I've been in a while. But that's actually okay. I like having a routine. However, I am not looking forward to textbooks, practice problems, reading assignments, and the like but I guess it comes with the territory.

Because of school starting I have been seriously lacking in the blogging world but I promise that once the "newness" of the semester wears off that I'll be back more frequently. With all of that said I'll leave you with a video of the pup. He's just getting so big and doing so many new things.

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