I love creating and I love to support people who are creating!

A friend from college alerted me to the fact that there was a FB contest for free hand-made earring  from a OC hand-made jeweler.  And let's get real, Who doesn't love free things?  You had me at Free and Handmade!

So I did what I needed... a post, a like, a share etc.. Then I spent some time looking through Raptor Jewelry's Site.  If you venture over there/// beware and be ready to have your socks rocked off!  There are some amazing pieces in here! It will be extremely difficult NOT to drop my paycheck on this loot!  You've been warned:





Drum Roll please...

These beauties are what I will be receiving for my participation in their giveaway!  I'll post again as soon as I get them in!


Looking through all their amazing things, I've been inspired to to my hand at some feathers.  And who wouldn't be inspired by this amazingness????   It really has pulled me off my couch and forced my to get back into creating again!!!!

Even though I originally entered the contest purely on the hope of the off change that I might win a prize, Raptor Jewelry has found themselves a fan for life!

I'm back! It's Been a while....


More to post later!

Holy Cow, its already March!

AS an update,

Reading:  Since my impressive 4 books in one month passed, I followed up with a big fat zero for February.  I sorta forgot how busy teaching can be!     I am in the middle of about 5 paper books that I pick up and put down at different times.  I'd like to get all my paper books out of the way so that I can move 100% to my kindle.  So I assume that by March or April I'll have another huge x4 books read!

But -   I did complete 4 Meals!  
   Cooking 1: We did BBQ shredded chicken sandwiches!
  Cooking 2:  I followed up the night with Tacos! Yum!
Cooking 3: Was more like breakfast than dinner, but boy was that good,  I made bacon (which if you know me know that this is essential.)  and spinach and broccoli scrambled eggs.

Cooking 4: I also was able to throw together another favorite of mine: Chicken Stir Fry with veggies.  I assume I'll make this again and photograph it!

   So this makes my unofficial cooking count to : 5!


Creating!

Well...  I did do a lot of this!  Again i can't believe a didn't take any photos!!!

 It all started at bunco last time.  We all place dimes in the cup every time someone rolls TRAVELERS (al twos) and then the winner takes all the dimes home. We all started talking about needing a little bag to carry our dimes from table to table.  One girl said she thought she saw one on etsy. I said, oh i think i can make a few...  So when i got home I decided to make a  BETTER version of this only smaller with corners so it'll stand on a table!   I think I made around 10 of them and I brought them to our bunco for March.  Instant hit!  I sold just about all of them.  I'll try to get a picture of the last one left over that I'll probably mail off to someone...   So thats crafting x10.


February Connections:


I had a few great connections this month!      I'll speak of two:

1 - My father in law was in town from outta state and Tad and I went to dinner with him a few times as well as with Tad's brother and his wife.
2 - My girls from bunco are also some of my closest friends from high school.  We all went to BJs Pizza and had a wonderful time reconnecting and expressing how glad we are that facebook brought some of our greatest friends back into our lives!  Really, I could not be more thankful!  We even had another old friend be our waiter and he got us in ahead of the saturday crowd!
3- My mommies birthday was toward the end of the month, so the night after my girls night, We all went out again to celebrate my mom's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

So there was my February in a nutshell.   I"ll be back on to update some pictures.

Before I created a goal for myself I was already reading a lot thanks to an early Christmas gift of a Kindle from Tad's parents.  I finished off The Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens & Battle of the Labyrinth, the 4th book in the Percy Jackson Series in December.


Then - In January - I picked up the following FOUR (WOW) Books:


{1} The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson and the Olympians; Book Five) - What a great end to a fantastic series.  Though my personal favs would be the first (Lightning Thief) and fourth (Battle of the Labyrinth) this one wasn't as bad as Sea of Monsters (book 2).  Most of the story focuses around the final battle.   I was so surprised that hundreds of pages were dedicated to one marathon day.  There were plenty of flashbacks/dreams/visions to answer the  "finally, I know what happen to...  "How so-in-so came to be..."" who ____ is... " That I didn't feel like I was kicked out with so many questions (I can appreciate that).   I felt that some things were a little pushed together and slightly unbelievable, but hey - its about Mt Olympus being on the 600th floor of the Empire State Building, so talk about unbelievable.   Rick Riordan has already published a second series about more demi-gods loosely associated with Percy and his buds (and the second of that series due out this fall).  Rick, you have my soul. And my money.


{2} The Hunger Games -   My girl-friends got me into this and THANK GOD!  This whole series will consume you and take you on an original journey about a post-apocalyptic country in the former U.S. (we never really hear the year).  Every year to prove to the Districts that the Capitol has complete control, they select two children from each district to fight to the death in The Hunger Games, the future of reality TV.  No really, I'm serious.  And this is a Young Adult Fiction.  And its amazing.  The imagery puts you RIGHT into the middle of it, with cliff hanger chapter endings (or last sentences) that will literally keep you up all night until you finish.  There were parts SO EXCITING that I read at super human speed  that can only be attributed to the type of adrenaline rush that allows mom's to lift cars off of their kids.  I read so fast that I had to go back and reread pages just to make sure I didn't miss anything. Just wow.  Its a great look at how far we will go for entertainment, freedom, and autonomy. Just go read them - really.


{3} Catching Fire (Book two in the Hunger Games)  I can't say too much about this book without spoiling book one, BUT I can speak to my favorite character: Katniss Everdeen.  She is a FAR better role model for young women than the waste of literary space named: Bella Swan. Her devotion to her family and her friends shows more character than Bella ever did.  I am constantly in awe of her amazing ability to think on her feet and analyze every moment in real time. You can't help but root for Katniss.


{3} The Mocking Jay (The Final Chapter In the Hunger Games Trilogy) - This is probably my least favorite of the three, but only in comparison with the amazingness of the first two.  What I did love about this book is the look at the extreme sides of the political spectrum, and how sometimes even though ideas may start as being beneficial to society, they can become terrifyingly restrictive and oppressive if pushed to the extreme of either spectrum.  Once again, I must say -  Katniss Everdeen has more depth in her pinkie than Bella Swan's whole presence (plus the whole Cullen Clan).  Team Peeta.   

Ahh coooking.   I LOVE IT!  But I never have time for it.

This may not be the most amazing thing since french toast... I just happened to have the time to put together a meal.  With me coming home at 6pm from work, and two of nights filled with prior commitments The Tad and I don't get a lot of time to cook.

Here's my first cooked meal of the year that I decided to post.


-Buy these amazing pre-cooked all natural sweet caramelized onion with peppers and gouda cheese chicken burgers from costco,
-Defrost two of them, throw 'em on the skillet/grill/heating device and brown for a few minutes,
-At the last minute add a slice of pepper jack cheese.
-While you are doing that: toast up some buns & slice up some tomatoes and romaine.

 There you go!  Hopefully Next time i'll have a better recipe for you.

No, haven't forgotten that I pledged to create something once a week.  Ok, i kinda did.  I'm thinking that FRIDAY will be my deadline for a new creation.  And Friday came and went and no new creation.  ::smacks forehead against wall::   BUT, i have a very reasonable and valid excuse scapegoat explanation.
There will be a post about this later: but I have been completely consumed with a certain book series that my dear friends have been baiting in front of me for weeks.  Lets just say I've read MORE books this month then objects I've created.

MOVING on, Since today is a vacation day, I've decided to quickly whip something up.  I wish i would have thought about this more, and taken my time, because As you'll see...  well, i wonder if you can...  

For now though
Cute right?

So, someone's been reading my blog, and to get me out of my little lair called Tad and I and arranged a long over due connection!

So last weekend we planned to have dinner,  What a great excuse to cook a lot of food!  Tri-tip, Mashers, green beans the works!    We talked about baseball, little house on the prairie, the Hunger Games, unwatched movies, stealth bombers, how the office is doing downhill,  life, just everything! And we played wii!

Then we sent a picture text to my sister since in an odd coincidence it happened to be on her birthday! So we were celebrating her birthday together without her! (and before you get all, "that's mean" on us, she lives 4 hours away.)


AND now I have finished one of my connections!  Thanks You guys!

(and Josh, please note the restraint it took NOT to rub the giants victory in your face.)

Alright.  As Briana may have already suspected, I already had my weekly creation already complete and ready to post since monday.  You can call it cheating, i call it being prepared:  It was done in the first week of new years, in fact most of this some completed on new years day.


Briana's sweet sister is having a sweet little boy, and her nursery is all about little baby woodland creatures.  I love me some owls so when she approached me to make some gifts for her... my wheels started turning!


Here's what I came up with:

Well, i'm not a fan of these.





In the past:
 - I've tried to take a picture a day for a year, 
-  i've also tried to stay up on my blog .
- I've tried to give up Mt dew
- I've tried to set up a work out schedule 
-I've planned to cut out take out and cook at home each night.


All of these i have HAD success with for a WHILE and then over time I either lost interest and it faded or I just failed miserably all together.


So in 2011, I'd hate to set myself up for failure.    


 Instead of "resolutions" and "promises" and "whatevers"  


I've been thinking about what I love.  I love to to create.  I love to read. I love to try out new things. I love to cook.  I love to connect & bless others.  (not in that order, and a lot of those overlap.)


I wanted to stay away from professional goals, only because work stories are boring, i spend most of my time at work, and  I need to be refreshed.


So i've created some "goals" Things I'd like to accomplish, things that will refresh my mind, my spirit and my soul.


1. For my crafting:  My goal is to get more things into my shop. Its not a priority, My priority is to get back to that feeling of accomplishment I have when I complete a project! - but I'm going to challenge myself to CREATE something each week.  I think I owe it to myself.  I love making things to much, it can be something for lovealisa or it can be a gift to someone else, or it can be a fun thing for myself.  Whatever the case nothing makes me happier then with i'm sewing/glueing/painting/beading/crocheting/designing.


2. For my reading:  Recently I received a kindle for Christmas, and I HAVE BEEN FLYING through books! That said, I AM on vacation from school, and i'm sure once I go back I'll lose a lot of time.  So I think I"m going to set a goal of reading ONE book each month. 


3. For my new things:  Since I've shown Tad how cool etsy is for my little teeny shop, and how many people make a living off of their small companies, I have turned him away from a "Fox Books" type and into a more "shop around the corner."  We've been trying out small businesses in town (We're not like LA, but there are a lot of places i haven't been to.) I'd like to make it a goal to visit ONE local or family owned business/attraction in town a month. This could be food, shop, theatre, etc.


4.  For my cooking: This is simple.  I'd like to be sharing a recipe/meal... twice a month.  I'd like to do once a week - but... we're being realistic, not pie in the sky.


5. For my ministry to others: This is an interesting one. I think i'd like to challenge myself to connect with someone or some group twice a month.  This can be an encouragement, coffee with an old friend, volunteering, donating time, money resources, gifting.  This one i'm sure will morph over time.  I'll take ideas on this one.


_______________________________________


This hope is that as I accomplish these things, i will start documenting them on here. My blog will be overflowing with posts, I will be proud of all i can do, and you will get to rejoice with me!   So really its like a win-win-win.