Stage 1

So this weekend was more about starting things than having anything to show for it. I started some patterns for table runners for my friends' wedding. I started a hat for my friend, NAL and I came up with an idea to write a book (I didn't say "good" idea)

The hat is probably the most interesting thing namely because I taught a boy how to knit. (that should be the title of my book) He did pretty well actually. We only had to start over 3 times I think :) This hat or helmet rather is of the viking persuasion. My friend was looking online to buy a hat to wear snowboarding and stumbled upon this

Obviously he wanted it and called me to find out how this could be done. He asked if I could teach him how to crochet... I knew I would be able to teach, but I wasn't so sure about his really wanting to learn. So... I taught him how to knit a hat with my awesome knit quick ring.
After what seemed like a century in Michael's (He couldn't decide whether to be red beard or blonde... He is now going to have both so he can change them out as he sees fit) we finally purchased all of the yarn we needed. I showed him how to use the knitting ring and I crocheted a horn while he did that. I have no feeling in one of my fingers, but it should be worth it. All we have left are the beards and one horn and we will be finished. Amazing pictures to come...

I decided I wanted to write a book after the suggestion from my lovely mother and my wonder step mother and dad. My adorable neice offered many suggestions for story ideas including Justin Bieber, Spongebob and the Tampa Bay Buccs (I would never ever write about the Buccs... the other two were taken into consideration). I have a few ideas, but I need some inspiration. Aren't most books a "coming of age" story. Maybe I should speak with someone who is "coming of age" and then my idea will be clear.

So much to think about.

Bump in the Road

Oh bother. So I had a bad experience with the running. I ran for a few miles last week and went home. I took off my shoe and I thought I knew I had a bruise on my foot. It hurt the next day, but I went to the gym anyway and lifted weights because that is just the kind of crazy gym-goer I am. I left for Chicago that night and my foot was still bruised :( Friday night I tried P90X for the very first time. The guy on there is a geek, but it was a good workout. I had to take off the shoe instantly. It hurt on Saturday at the Winter Formal (luckily I had a few glasses of wine to wash the pain from my memory). It hurt on Sunday and Monday when I insisted we take a cab to get back home instead of hopsalonging it (lame sauce). I came home Tuesday night and ushered my limping self to the doctor tout de suite (Au Francais, s'il vous plait). I was supposed to get my X-ray results and the final say about my sad footsie. Home slice didn't call me to tell me what the deal was and I had to call 5 times today to talk to his office manager. I was pretty sure she was finished with me when she called me "sweetie". I could totally tell it was a "Bless your heart" kind of sweetie. Either way, finally, ol' girl the nurse called me and said "Oh by the way your X-rays came back normal and you have tendinitis!" My tendon leading from my metatarsal to my friggin foot phalange is inflamed. So now I have to take an anti inflammatory to fix my flaming tendon (hehe)

I should be back to running in no time. Win.

Back to reality

Home sweet home! I am back in the Big D after a wonderful wonderful weekend with boyfriend. (Not gonna lie right now... I didn't want to come home) This means we had an amazing time and I have all my own Cinderella stories to tell. Long distance relationship was definitely one of the things I could have left off my "I want to learn to do everything" list. I will however add princess for a day (done and done)

So we went to boyfriend's winter formal this weekend and it was more than fantastic! Pretty dress, pretty shoes, pretty boyfriend, pretty awesome.

When we first arrived at ballroom in the hotel I realized the flash on my camera stopped working. Blah to that. This is my reaction


Then I tried to take a picture of him... He was so much happier


I need to get some good pictures of us together. When the paparazzi only has one picture then you know it's not right. I need to get a new camera...


After the formal we went VIP... I'm like a whisk (I like to mix it up) Totally got the VIP treatment. YES!


Last, but not least, very important late night eats. Yum





I have some pretty sweet photo booth pics to show, but right now it is totally my bed time so another time indeed

Yippee... Chicago or bust

Time to go to Chicago. Going to a ball with boyfriend... kind of like Cinderella less the glass slipper and the evil stepmother and the mice and birds that follow me around and the step sisters. It's going to be all of the good things that happen to Cinderella without all the blah things. I'm especially excited as I usually am when I get to visit boyfriend. It's going to be a super fantastic weekend... Congratulations to me!


Obviously this is just how it will be

CindyLou Who, who?

I made Whoville worthy Valentine cupcakes. Totally Whoville worthy. I wanted to do something different for my work Valentine themed festivities. I decided to mix up the brownie and do something fun.

"Welcome Valentines, Come this way. Welcome Valentines, Valentines day" I can just see it now... All the Whovillers holding hands singing...Everyone wearing red or pink.

Ok... So I started with a brownie base. I really had to rack my brain (and my Mom's brain) on what to do with this brownie. I took out my trusty thinking cap and decided you couldn't go wrong with cupcakes... or cupbrownies.



Next I had to think about what else to do. It had to have a nice, festive Valentine's day theme to it because, well, that's how I roll. I had the most perfect cupcake icing once that my Step-mom's sister (my step-aunt) made *shout out*. I decided to go for it and add a little something something to the mix (pink Valentine's happy thoughts)


I fashioned my own bakers bag out of a gallon sized ziploc bag and a bit of paper plate. It is almost like fashioning a sled out of tree bark. (I'll save that for another day)

I added some red M&M's to the top to finish it out. They were just what I thought they would be and more.

So what did I do to finish out my themed perfection?!? I woke up not feeling super great, went to work and left them at home. :( To top it all off I got sick and left work early. I had the greenest Valentines day ever (Not a good happy feeling for my favorite color) The day was saved today when I brought them to work and they had their very own day like nature intended.


The End.

The curse is OVER!

I did some puppysitting for my Aunt and Uncle this weekend and usually when I watch their animals something happens that is no bueno. For instance, last time Darby's face swelled up . The time before that Callie went on an adventure when I took my cousins to the movies. Before that Darby ate a bird... (at least I think she ate a bird) There was no bird in site, but there were feathers EVERYWHERE and her paw was bleeding. Then there was the time that Louie the lizard jumped out of his aquarium and I just knew the dogs were going to eat him (luckily no one was eaten).

Either way, my weekend with Darby and Callie (lovingly referred to as Crazy and Lazy respectively) was uneventful.

I got some kid video of crazy in action:


She is relentless with that ball... she could chase it all day if someone would throw it.

This is Callie's usual position


Thus the crazy and lazy...

This is what I did this weekend.


I also went to the gym and worked out Woohoo... YAY me!!

Cake perfect

I was on the quest for the perfect cake icing... It's a little bit hard to create icing for a cake when you are limited to the contents of your kitchen pantry because you don't want to drive to the grocery store in the ice.
My quest began with this little beauty created for my friend's birthday

THAT is a cake! It looks like a Louis Vuitton purse!! But it is a CAKE!

This is why I should learn how to decorate them because that is incredible. So we didn't eat the Louis Vuitton cake because I am pretty sure that is some kind of blasphemy, but the sheet cake on the bottom was probably the best cake I have ever eaten in my whole life. Thus bringing me back to my quest... to find the recipe for the most amazing icing. Attempt one was good, but it was not perfect. Here is a little view of the steps taken




I may have forgotten to take a picture of the final product (Oops)

I would just take a picture of it now, but luckily for all my hard work working out I took the entire thing to work today. Maybe there will be some left when I go in tomorrow.

Phase One: Not the perfect icing.

No hablo espanol... yet.

I came home from the gym tonight and ate dinner and realized I lost my phone. So... I proceeded to look for it for the next 45 minutes. How does one lose their phone underneath the floor mat of their car you ask? Well, I can't say really. That is just the kind of talent I have I guess. Did I mention the fiasco the other night when I left my phone in the bathroom stall when I was out with my peeps? I am so lucky that my phone loves me so much and always finds its little way back to me.

I am still doing Spanish whenever I can. I am having the worst time with the pronunciation and the grammar and the remembering. My new favorite Spanish is la bicicleta. It took me about 3 days to finally be able to pronounce it and now I love it. I want every color... verde, azul, amarilla, blanco... you get the picture. Either way, I am just Spanishing all over the place. Spanishing my little gringa heart out.

My hat and UBS is done-zo

My last week at UBS was such a flop due to the uninvited snow and ice. They were closed for so many days, but I really feel that I got a good work out every single day I didn't go because of what I learned there. I am keeping up with the things I learned and pretty soon I really feel like I will be selling tickets to the gun show. Come one come all... hehe I am excited about the next work out adventure I am going to undertake. I think it might be something awesome. So many things to choose from...

While I was under house arrest because of the ice (day 1 I believe) I made a fantastic hat. I totally knitted it and it is fantastic. Technically I made two, but the other one is a little too short because I have a huge head

Even the most wonderful man in the whole wide world had to test it out...

I know what you are thinking, ladies, but he is taken. By the most wonderful woman. My grandparents are so awesome!

Now that I am an expert-ish hat creator my friend asked me to crochet one for him. It should be an interesting experience. I've never seen a hat with a beard attached before, but if you want to learn to do everything then you have to see everything so one step at a time I guess.

Also, today I went to the doctor and I thought they were going to irrigate my ears because all of the disgusting wax all up in there, but turns out I was way wrong. I have an ear infection in both ears. :( Funny how I didn't even know. I was really excited about the whole thing and finding out it was an old fashioned ear infection was such a let down.

Food, Football and a haircut?

I love a good Superbowl party just like the next person. We made some pretty awesome food. It's funny how many things with bacon show up at superbowl parties.


You can't tell what HBO is doing here, but she is painting a steak with bacon wrapped around it... a sirloin mignon if you will


I opened a bottle of champagne with a knife...(this is always impressive to me ever since I saw Cameron Diaz do it on Charlies Angels and What Happens in Vegas) (video of this awesome event coming soon)

As we were watching the news after the Superbowl and I saw the surprised Superbowl goers as they realized they were getting the shaft from Jerry Jones because of the unsafe extra seating in Cowboys stadium I started to feel a little support for ol' J.J. because he didn't put these people in danger. (I'm sure he didn't want to read headlines of 'Jerry Jones kills 800...' on the news tomorrow) I thought to myself "Way to go, Jerry, for putting the safety of the people above the sales and then realized... The fire marshall and the NFL probably had the most to do with that.

We have had a pretty crazy week here due to all the snow and ice. I have an appreciation for things outside my house and I must admit I had a bit of the cabin fever. I went for a walk the other day and fell at least half a dozen times because the ice under the snow was so unbelievably slippery. I made it to the gym every single day however and I am still happy about that. Yay me!


I also gave my brother a haircut tonight. This may not be too impressive to people who are hairdressers and coordinated, but I am neither of these things so it is a little brave for little B to even ask me to cut his hair. **Little B is 6'3" and I am not** I can't say I did a fantastic job, but I was a little bit impressed with my work. B wasn't as impressed as he could have been :)



I guess it is a teensy bit important to know what he looked like as a "Before" I wasn't actually smart enough to realize this until after I already cut his hair so... Here is a picture of him about 3 weeks ago

2 hours-ish on a stationary bike today

I left work at about 5:05 knowing I would need that extra few minutes to get to the gym on time. It took me 50 minutes to get somewhere that usually takes me 20-25! Jeez, snow and ice, you guys are uninvited. This is Texas for crying out loud! One of two things happened in the ten minutes from the time our workout session started to the time I arrived (late). One: They changed the website from earlier in the afternoon when I checked it and we really didn't have class tonight or Two: I was late and no one else showed up either so C left. It's hard to say if option two was a blessing in disguise or not. I could have had my very own personal trainer session, but it wouldn't have been any session. The gym was closed for two days which means C probably had some pent up muscle man trainer stuff going on and I would have been an out let for a work out beating. Dilemma: To tell or not to tell? So do I go in tomorrow and say I tried to come in today or not? If I say I tried to come in and I'm not sure if they were open or not then I am late either way. Late = push-ups. Tough decision.

I did work out tonight. I actually just finished a little while ago. I told myself I could watch Grey's Anatomy and Jersey Shore only if I rode the stationary bike so I rode through the whole thing. I don't watch a lot of TV, but maybe this is a good idea for the future. I am working out and doing something I don't regularly get to do. I guess it's a choice... I could A: make a skirt for my car (hehe) or B: watch television. This choice is obvious... Option A had a 'hehe' after it so it is naturally the correct answer. I feel like I biked right by my blah day at work and I am ready to step it up tomorrow. I need some new plans since Saturday is my last official day at UBS. Some fantastically fantastic plans...

I FIXED MY CAR

So Dallas was closed again today. Both work and UBS were closed today and I couldn't possibly be forced to stay inside all day again. The craziest part of that is I could totally spend two days at home and be just fine, but being told I had to by mother nature was just a kick in the throat.

So operation unfreeze car went something like this... I defied death by walking across the icy front lawn to my car. I started her up and let it run for about 20 minutes to try to let it warm up. That didn't do ANYTHING. I looked online at ways to defrost the parking brake cable. They said to do exactly what I did except you should pile the snow around the sides so the warm air won't leak from the sides. I don't have any snow however... only inches and inches of ice. Instead I put on my old thinking cap and thought about all of the things I could use. (Cue light bulb) Hello there, quilt lady. I have an abundance of extra fabric. I dashed inside (as quick as one can dash over a frozen yard) and grabbed some fabric. I rigged it in each door like so:



I waited another 20 minutes or so and did a little celebratory dance in the drivers seat when I realized it was no longer frozen!! I was free at last! YESSSSSSS

I decided to go gyming since my training session would be canceled again two days in a row (I worked out both days by the way). It took me about 20 minutes to get to my gym which is less than 2 miles away, but it doesn't matter because I made it!! I finally made it! Then on my way home I decided to stop by Target (bad decision). I went up a bit of a hill and got stuck. There I was in the middle of this teeny tiny hill, stuck. So unbelievably stuck. I backed out and got out as quick as I could. Luckily I made it to Target and home again.


ice skating, anyone?

Spinning (Not the day 23 kind)

I like a day off, but I like to be the one to choose the day. I don't like feeling trapped and trapped was what I was today. My car will not move. I cannot drive it even a few inches right now. I am stuck on the street in front of my house because my back wheels just keep spinning on the ice.



An added bonus is that I think my cable for my emergency brake is frozen because it will not disengage so I am pretty much stuck. Luckily, my work, my dentist and the gym were all closed today so all they things I had planned were unplanned pretty quickly. Tomorrow is a different story though. Right now my work is supposed to open at 10am. I guess we will see how that goes. I should do something good tomorrow now that I probably won't be able to get anywhere. I bet I could if I didn't live 30 miles away from work and my car wasn't choosing to suck it up. I'm seeing a girl in the street with an extension cord and a hair dryer underneath her car in the near future... (nah. too cold)

My aunt told me about some kids passing her house on ice skates with hockey sticks earlier. Maybe I could fashion my own ice skates out of ice... i seem to have a plethora of that right now. (time to get creative)

On a positive note. Dad is up in KC-K and there is snow starting to pile up on his windows on the back porch and boyfriend is in Chicago and he just watched a Hummer get blown around on the top of a parking garage by the wind. It can always be windier, colder and crazier.
At least the Packers could laugh at us while they got escorted by sand trucks to Cowboys stadium from their hotel in Irving this morning for Media Day!!