Possibilities

So this weekend started off a little rough as the head cold I've been getting seemed to fully settle in Friday morning, but it cleared up enough to not damper any of the awesome activities that Friday and Saturday held.  Friday afternoon was lifted with a delightful little experience at the City Market Coffeehouse.  I went in for my vanilla latte and in the process talked to the barista guy, also an artist, about some art stores and shows and how I do fiber art.  He told me about a great arts and crafts supply store that actually has some fiber art stuff: screen- printing ink, fabric, etc.  I will definitely be checking it out this week.  He also told me about a group show that will be happening next Saturday, and  when he wrote down the show info also gave me his number so I can give him some pictures of my work to possibly get into on of the shows sometime. I just thought it was so cool how open and supportive he was about passing along shop info, getting a card if I had one, and opening up a possibility to show my work here in KC.  I guess I should really start making some new stuff now. :)

Friday night only increased the awesomeness when Mike, Abby, Jason, Sarah and I went downtown to The Majestic for some live jazz.  The Majestic is a pretty nice restaurant, and downstairs is the underground jazz club.  You can still get dinner down there, but there is also a separate bar and little cocktail tables for those just there for the music.  It was pretty full when we got there, so we ended up crammed together directly in front of the stage.  Though it was tight, I enjoyed being so close to the musicians.  They were pretty good, and all had funny little quirks.  The piano player kind of curled  up his lip when he played, especially on solos, and the bass player made a lot of little faces and made the sounds with his mouth that he was playing.  It was like when jack black does air guitar only he was actually playing the bass too.  The trumpet player was the most reactive to the crowd, and stared down anyone who was talking too loudly while he played...Sarah at one point.  It was a pretty lovely evening, and I definitely plan to go back. 

Voice

So I really like 'The Voice'.  I love that the first part of the show is the blind auditions, and that the contestants are judged first by their voice alone.  I mean really, it is the music industry, so the first impression should be the music, not the look.  Every time I watch the show I find myself thinking about what it would be like to be a contestant.  Would I be able to steady my nerves and keep it together.  I think it would be a really surreal experience, and that I would be shocked if anyone actually turned their chair around and said they wanted me.  I cannot even imagine what it would be like to have super successful musicians like Blake Shelton or Adam Levine turn around and fight to have me on their team.  Let's be honest, I would probably cry and say things like crazypants.  :)

Slow and Steady

So I've decided to finally get serious about losing weight and getting healthier and more in shape.  I know I've said this a million times before, but this time I really want to do it.  A few weeks ago I started using this website, sparkpeople.com, which is kind of like weight watchers only free.  When I signed up it got all my info and calculated how many calories I should be eating per day (a range), as well as carbs, fat, and protein.  I enter what I eat and drink and it tells me the nutrition facts and how much I have left to eat to be within the range for the day.  There is also a fitness tracker to keep track of my cardio and strength stuff each day, and a weight tracker.  I weigh myself every wednesday and take measurements once a month.  I've been using spark people and working out for 3 weeks now, and really like it.  And I've already seen results!!  I have learned that I definitely need something like this to help me keep on track of things.  It has been really helpful to be able to really see how much everything is worth, and how much I can really eat in a way.  This has made me more conscious of what I'm eating, and want to not miss workouts. 

I also stole the jar idea off pinterest, so I have two little mason jars with stones in them, one for the pounds to go and one for pounds lost.  It's really nice to have another visual, and it feels good to get to move stones over.  Also, Craig and I figured out what would be rewards for every 15 pounds I lose, and when I should get there by.  I wrote those down and posted them on one of my corkboards so I can see them and look forward to the rewards!  I really want to do this the healthy way, so my goal is to lose 2 pounds per week.  Slow and steady wins the race.  :)

Finishing Touches

Hey guys!  So I wanted to show you the last couple things I've done to finish up my room.  I bought a couple framed cork boards that were black with white polka dots.  I sanded the frames down, and repainted them like this: 

I didn't like how light the gray was with the dark purple, so I added in some darker charcoal.  Then I hung them up to put my earrings on, and painted and cut out some of my older cork boards to hang necklaces.

The other cut out boards I hung over my desk to put cards, notes, inspiration pics, etc.

servin it up

I realized I never put up a pic of the finished tray with the tiles we painted for Abby's bachelorette party, so here it is!  I got a dark wood tray from Target and 1 inch tiles from Lowe's, then glued them in place on the tray.  Then I did the black grout and cleaned it up when it was all set and we have a tile serving tray!

Demos

Sorry, I know the pictures aren't very good, but I wanted to show you the things I've made at work this past week.  Every day we have a demo to showcase different products and techniques to customers and this past week I've gotten to do my first couple.  The first one I did was with Martha Stewart foil transfers, so I made a bunch of cards.  I really liked doing that one.  The designs weren't really what I would normally choose, but the transfers were really easy to use. 

The second demo was the pumpkin centerpiece.  This was one corporate had put on the calender so I just had to follow the directions to make it.  This one was to show off the versa- tool, which is a heat tool with all these different tips to do different things.  So i used the exacto blade to cut into the pumpkin, then another tip to wood burn the leaves into the base.  I had never done any wood burning before, so that was the best part for me.  So yeah, those are the demos I've done so far, and I'll keep you posted on any other cool ones I do.

Always

I'm pretty obsessed with this right now.  I love their voices and how raw it is.  Heartbreaking and beautiful all in one.