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Monday, June 27, 2011

Like a Chicken...

...with it's head cut off...

hmm perhaps that's a little dramatic, I've always had a flair for that ;). It must run in my genes or something. Anyways I have been a little crazy busy trying to get ready for Girls camp, going to the dentist (4 times in one month, going for a record!! Still got one more to go), photographing weddings, helping my grandparents remodel their house etc... So I have been absentee blogger.

Tomorrow I leave for GIRLS CAMP!! This is my 2nd year going as a Leader and I gotta say, going as a YW was not nearly as fun as it is going as a leader. Seriously. My least favorite part of camp was always the certification and as a leader, you don't have to do any of that stuff, yippppy!! I just get to hang out with awesome girls and eat awesome food and have an awesome time. This year is a little different since we aren't going to the same place we've been going to for years but I'm super excited still. we are staying on a fun island in cabins (and tents) and we get to hike up to see one of the top 5 water views in the United States!! Last year was a good experience but I am so much better prepared this year and know what to expect and what do to and stuff.

We have our activities planned and ready, badmittin, thread for bracelets, nail polish, volleyball, swimming etc...
we have our snacks ready. cuz who can go camping without snacks? I'm pretty sure that's WHY people go camping...just saying ;) Have you ever roasted starburst? If not, try it. It's pretty legit. Not sure why it's so good but it just is.
We have the girls' small gifts ready. This year I am taming it way down. I went a little overboard last year so I gotta be more realistic this year. So We are giving them sour apple suckers that have a little saying on them (that goes with one of our devotionals), a long piece of rope to make these bracelets together, then their 'big' gift this year is a necklace we made that has a starfish, a pear, and a heart on it. Our ward's theme is Pearl of Great Price and our animal is the starfish. The heart was supposed to be an anchor because the stake's theme is anchored in christ but nobody had anchor charms!! GRR. We are giving the necklace to them with a fun little story.


{A young girl was walking along a beach upon which thousands of starfish had been washed up during a terrible storm. When she came to each starfish, she would pick it up, and throw it back into the ocean. People watched her with amusement.
 
She had been doing this for some time when a man approached her and said, “Little girl, why are you doing this? Look at this beach! You can’t save all these starfish. You can’t begin to make a difference!”
 
The girl seemed crushed, suddenly deflated. But after a few moments, she bent down, picked up another starfish, and hurled it as far as she could into the ocean. Then she looked up at the man and replied,
 
“Well, I made a difference to that one!”
 
The old man looked at the girl inquisitively and thought about what she had done and said. Inspired, he joined the little girl in throwing starfish back into the sea. Soon others joined, and all the starfish were saved. - adapted from the Star Thrower by Loren C. Eiseley}
 
So hopefully everything will go well this week and we'll be able to enjoy each others' company and have a good/safe/fun time. I'm going to bring my big camera so I can take some good pictures (last year they were horrible from my P&S) then maybe I'll post them when I return. 
 
My aunt and uncle are returning from their 2 year mission to Russia on Thursday (!!!!) so I might actually leave camp a day early to meet them at the airport, but we'll see. 
 
Be jealous!! 

Friday, June 17, 2011

Crafting in my Bed?

Maybe that title sounds funny...hmm oh well. I'll explain myself in a few minutes.
First though I'll share a few random things that have been going on!
First we've had aprox. 4 days of sun this SUMMER. So when it's sunny, I try to spend the day in the great outdoors. Right now I want to turn the heater on in the house in the middle of JUNE. So ridic. This was the hottest day we've had so we went kayaking then we laid on anti gravity chairs and I read Harry Potter!
speaking of Harry Potter...This is a shirt I made with my friend Michelle Chapin yesterday. We got a Tshirt from Michaels for $2.50 and a bleach pen for $2.50. Then we picked out what designs we wanted (michelle did I <3 Batman ) I decided on HP because the movie comes out in 28 days, the day before my bday!! If you want to make a shirt too, just put a piece of cardboard between the shirt layers then you can outline in chalk your design, we didn't have chalk so we just used the internet to help us create stencils. 
Then you leave the bleach on for 15-20 minutes, until you reach your desired effect then wash it off in the sink then wash/dry it and it's done!!
This was a project one day that turned out pretty delicious...it used to be a can of sweet and condensed milk (hahaha I almost said soup- that would be a miracle!). TO make your very own can, lightly boil the can for 2 hours (take label off first). Then wait for it to cool, or you can make an ice bath to help it along. Once it's cool, open it and enjoy!! I liked it better the next day after it had been in the fridge all night. It stayed soft and super good. I dipped apples in it (and my finger?) You could pour it over popcorn or brownies or ice cream or...you get the idea.

So this is where the crafting in my bed title comes from. Last night I was a little pin crazy and came across this fun idea. I've been looking for something to put over my bed to break up this obnoxious yellow wall. Luckily I have a canvas store downstairs in my house and had my pick of about 30 different canvas sized ;). I wanted to be warm in my bed though so I made them in my bed at 11:30pm last night. Here's how I made them:
I got embroidery thread and wrapped it around the canvas randomly lots of times. Then tied it in the back to finish it off.
Next I took half a sheet of black felt and cut out leaf shapes in different sizes. Then tucked them randomly into the string. I didn't use any type of glue or adhesive so they are a little vulnerable. If I had had glue dots in my room I prolly would have used a glue dot on each. Or if I had had a box cutter I would have made little slits into each 'leaf' and strung them on the string..but I didn't. So I made due.
It's soooo not perfect but that's ok with me. I was actually going to paint something similar on my wall so it would look like birds on a powerline but never got around to it.
Ugh this yellow looks so bad in this picture. Also I don't really like it in real life either and if it wasn't such a huge hassle I'd repaint it....with a lighter gray then do a quarter-foil stencil in white. But that might be too much gray...:( Also ignore all my random things that don't match anything, they were just thrown up on top of my bed for lack of space.

And that's it, you too can craft in your bed if you feel so inclined. But please don't make the caramel in your bed, that would get messy. Also I don't recommend using a bleach pen in your bed either.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Tom

Meet my new friend/s 
I suppose they're not really friends yet because they're still on their way here but I have a feeling we WILL be good friends. I'm sure everyone has heard of this company called Toms. Their motto:

I'd say that's a pretty legit motto. In fact, I'm fairly certain that's why I bought them. I was looking for some comfy, light-weight shoes and I hope I found that in these.
This company is pretty cool and they aren't out to make a buck, they are here to make a difference. Too many companies are just too greedy and don't do good with all their wealth. I know people who barely get by and live month to month but they still donate what they can and volunteer in the community. Those are the types of people we need and this is the type of company we need more of.

Now in addition to shoes, they are now selling sunglasses and this is the deal behind them:
If you buy one pair of Toms glasses you provide site for one person, in whatever capacity they need it. Ummm hello? Genius. The glasses are a little more expensive but for what they provide I'd say they are a good investment. I can't wear regular sunglasses due to my far-sightedness but if I did, I'd prolly save up for a pair.

They have factories to make these products in Argentina, China and Ethiopia and this is what they say about them,
"We require that the factories operate under sound labor conditions, pay fair wages and follow local labor standards. A code of conduct is signed by all factories. Our production staff routinely visits these factories to make sure they are maintaining these working standards. We also have third parties audit the factories at least once a year to ensure they adhere to proper labor regulations."

Since 2006 when they started they have donated over 1,000,000 pairs of shoes and I'm sure that number is growing daily. This company was started by a guy who was on Amazing Race, while on the show he ended up in Argentina and afterward went back there on vacation, he noticed many kids didn't have shoes. He was wearing authentic style shoes that farmers had been wearing for a loooong time and he had the idea to start a company that donated a pair of shoes for every pair that was purchased.

Anyways you can google it if you want more info. I just thought it was a really cool idea and what a great way to help the world. If you buy a pair right now they have a $5 off coupon (google it) you can put towards your order. I'm excited to get mine!!

Friday, June 3, 2011

The 3rd Day

Hands are the subject for today's photo challenge. There are many types of pictures I could have taken, old hands, new baby hands, gloved hands, knitting hands, steering wheel hands etc....but I chose to take it literally and take pictures of my hands, as they are now, straight on, no fuss nothing special, just my hands.

I have to say I have small-ish hands compared to lots of people so maybe I'm a freak or something haha but I do like my hands. I don't think they are necessarily handsome hands (can hands be handsome?) but they are able hands. A few facts about my hands (try NOT to get too excited)

1. They are double jointed and can cause people to cringe in horror amazement. (Perhaps causing early on-set arthritis? Possibly)
2. My fingers are almost always capped with some sort of polish. Fingernail polish is kind of like the bowler hat but for fingers, not heads.
3. My ring finger requires a size 4 ring---meaning I get rings from the KIDS section...again freakishly small?
4. My other fingers are more accurately proportioned and I can get rings from the regular sections.
5. My  fingers tend to bend backwards not on purpose, that's just how they are.
6. I can knit, crochet, roll out dough, take pictures, high five, smack others myself in the forehead, pick things up, write, play the violin (poorly), sanitize and open pill bottles with these hands.
7. I like the fact that I can craft with these hands, it gives me something to do instead of fidget. I can change a ball of string into a hat or blanket whatever I want with these hands.
8. My hands/fingers are mostly always cold. I guess I have poor circulation.
9. I have weird pokey outy veins or tendons? on my hands that freak me out
10. I have a few scars on my hands and fingers from various endeavors such as going to a cutco knife demonstration and slicing my thumb with their TABLE knife. Another large scar is on my right pinky from who knows what.
11. I write with my left hand.
12. But I do most other things with my right hand. It's what happens when your family refuses to acknowledge the fact that your left handed and are in denial about it so they don't buy you left handed scissors as a kid, then make you switch hands to throw a baseball or bat or brush your teeth...(longest run-on ever?)

And last but not least, I just typed out this WHOLE pointless blog about my HANDS with my HANDS.
I am thankful for my hands and what they can do!!

I apologize if you really just read a whole blog about my hands, it wasn't intentional.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Day número UNO

Day one is a self portrait so this is my silly self portrait. I'm wearing Sam's 'awesome' sunglasses and waiting for Shelley to get off work.I'm prettttty gangster...hahaha OR NOT.

I probably won't post all my photos of my June photo challenge on the day they happen but perhaps thru the month I'll post a few here and there. This is also for my project 365 where I take a photo every day with Instagram. Killing 2 birds with 1 stone holllla!

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