Call me Crafty: Placemats

My friend Catherine and I made these placemats. We bought 3 yards of burlap from Joann's Fabric. I used a plate, remote, beer bottle, and scissors to determine the proper size (very professional and precise). I used her stencils and a giant paint pen to write EAT on them. I made sure to have newspaper underneath for bleed through and ended up doing more of a dab method than a draw method. Catherine ended up with 8 placemats and wrote "Eat" in different languages on each one, very cute.

I'm FREE!

A few months ago I first got the idea of wireless headphones in my head. I saw some on a blog and got jealous. I don't mind running with headphones. I can keep my phone in my pocket or on the treadmill and the headphones mostly stay out of my way. But when I try to do cross training or weightlifting that wire really gets in my way. I'm not someone that always needs to be listening to music, but doing the NTC app workouts at the gym can be difficult when I can't hear the lady tell me what to do or I have to battle with a wire. So after a less than stellar day on Tuesday I made the split decision to see if Radio Shack sold bluetooth headphones. 

They had three different styles, but the salesman was really pushing the Quickcell headphones. He was wearing them and I asked him how much he jumped around in them and personal questions like how much he sweat (he said ALOT). They were also the cheapest option at $39 (but I see you can get them online for $29). So I went for them. 

So far I'm really happy. They are light and completely stay in place through running miles, burpees, squat jumps, push-ups, and every other workout activity I've thrown at them. I don't really notice them much when working out, but when I've worn them while just chillin' I notice the pressure a little bit. Also they don't fit as well or stay in place as well when I have my hair down (but I have a lot of hair) or when I try to put on a stocking cap or sunglasses.

The other downside I hadn't really thought about, but comes along with all bluetooth headphones (I assume) is that they need to be charged (another cord!). These say they have 5 hours of music playback or 6 hours of talking on the phone. I haven't had them die on me yet. My phone displays how much battery they have left and they use a pretty common charging cord (the same one my eReader uses and Android phones).

Call me Crafty: There is an Elephant in my Window

I'm not claiming this one as my own, but I wanted to share this elephant wonder. My sister Kristen, the CraftyRunner, painted this elephant and turned him in to a plantyderm (see what I did there?) by cutting a hole in his back and a drainage hole in his belly. I threw a baby cactus inside and love him. What should I name him?

A few more...

So this morning I woke up tired and thought maybe I should sleep more, which lead to why isn't that a resolution? So I thought I'd add a few more.

Sleep more during the week. I'm an all-star sleeper on the weekend, but during the week for some reason I think I only need 7 hours of sleep, but I think I'm naturally more of a 9 hour type of girl. The fact that I like a few shows that run 10-11pm and that if I work out in the morning I have to get up by 6:30 is going to make this challenging. I'm going to start by making sure I'm in bed by 11, not that I just start thinking about it at 11. Also saving longer workouts for after work or speeding up my morning routine will give me a few more minutes in bed.

Learn more about money. I'm just not that interested in investing and funds and stocks and retirement stuff. I do it, but I could do it better. I decided I'd start listening to Suze Orman's weekly podcast (baby steps right?). Any other suggestions of fun/easy/interesting resources?

New Year's goals/resolutions/to-do list/ideas

I wasn't really planning on doing a New Year's list, but my fan(s) (maybe?) have spoken (Hi Kristen) so here are a few things I hope to accomplish this year. I've broken it down into Year goals, monthly goals, and some things I'm working on for January.

First though lets reflect on last year's:

1. Run the Marine Corps Marathon with Kristen- Didn't happen, we tried to sign up, didn't get in and decided to do the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Half, which then got postponed and I ended up running it alone.

2. Volunteer- SUCCESS! I helped organize the bicycle accessory contest at the DC State Fair.

3. Get outside more- I'll call this a SUCCESS, I ran outside a lot this year and dined outside whenever possible.

4. Continue to make an effort to see my scattered friends in scattered places- SUCCESS! Phoenix, Missouri x2

5. Take my lunch to work once a week- Pretty much a SUCCESS, I didn't do it every week, but some weeks I took my lunch several days.

6. See a play at Studio theater and or Kennedy Center- FAIL all though I did see the musical If/Then at the National Theater (it left for NYC, GO SEE IT!)

7. Spend time with Gretchen- I say a SUCCESS, several trips to Missouri and she made one trip to DC.

Now on to 2014!

Year goals

Blog more consistently (I need to keep my parents happy)

See something at the Studio Theater (for real this time)

Monthly goals

Craft/Sew something new

Go somewhere new

Eat somewhere new

January goals

Run at least one mile a day

Do the Nike Training Club App Get Lean Advanced Program

Organize my photos and backup them up and print some

Crafting at Christmas

While I was home for Christmas as always we decided to do a project. Since I had recently learned how to arm knit I taught the rest of the family how. I got everyone started pretty quickly. My oldest sister, Kristen, picked it up right away and was the first one finished. After one false start my other sister, Beth, got going good and was done in no time. My Aunt Betty arrived late, but was a natural at casting on (from her regular knitting experience). She wasn't as much a natural at the rest of the process and restarted a few times. My mom had a few hiccups as well, but after taking a break for dinner they finished up and we all had beautiful scarves.

Mom in the middle of a big tangle

Aunt Betty arm knitting

My finished product

My mom also had an idea for the place setting, which I implemented

Family at Christmas

My family doesn't really like to get their picture taken. Nor do they really like to take photos. I like both so I don't know what happened with me. I tried to get some photos this Christmas because I realized both my apartment and cubicle at work was bare of anything but Gretchen photos and Kristen and I looking sweaty. 

I messed up from the start by forgetting my nice camera in DC. I was left with my iPhone. I decided to play with one of my apps with a photo timer. Gretchen, Travis, and I tested it out with balloons. From this exercise I realized that my brother is fairly photogenic and people think a yellow balloon looks like a crown.

toss it Gretchen!

On Christmas Eve on a whim I convinced Gretchen to sit in this tub for a photo. The light is terrible, but she was really on board with the idea.

I also caught this one with my Dad, his arms block his face, which is perfect because he usually closes his eyes in photos.

On Christmas morning the cows are just as much a part of the family as the rest of us as they get  Christmas first. Growing up we always had to wait for our Dad to feed the cows before he would come back home and we could open gifts. Back then it felt like an eternity (and it felt like he was going slow on purpose). These days my brother helps and I can easily still be in bed when they get back to the house at 9 am.

We went over to my aunt's house for Christmas Brunch. While my sisters were cuddling in the big chair I snuck in for a sisters shot.

Further brother photogenic evidence

We played the game Heads Up for awhile, which allowed me to capture my uncle blocking his face.

After we got back home and opened the rest of our presents I tried to get a group shot of all of us. My niece posed the first shot, saying that we all needed to hold hands (yes we do most of what she tells us to). She really has great ideas, if only my Dad had more than just his hand in this picture… Christmas card quality I think.