Moving my body, aka exercise... I think it's finally sticking.

Ok, so I think this exercise routine, or non-routine, I have going is finally sticking. I started off small. A 20-30 min walk 3 times a week, and I've gradually increased it. It also helps that I have a deal with a friend. We both have pedometers. We agreed to walk 10,000 steps a day.

Ok, so I've increased my walking to almost daily. I sometimes slip on the weekends and don't get anything near 10,000. I expect that every now and then, and don't get down on myself.

So now I'm walking a minimum of 5 times a week for 50-60 minutes. I walk at a medium pace for 5 mins, then at a brisk pace for 5 minutes, I then alternate between jogging and brisk walking for the next 30 mins. I follow it up with a cool down phase of medium/brisk walking for 10-15 mins. I got the idea from an article called The Couch-to-5k Running Plan. Recently the Zen Habits blog also posted an article called How to Go From Sedentary to Running in Five Steps. It's not nearly as hard as I thought it was going to be. I thought I'd be gasping for air, clutching my throat after each walk. But I'm not. I'm quite surprised. Do I sometimes wake up sore? YEP. Is it worth it? YEP. Overall I'm feeling much better. I do have to push myself, that's for sure. But it seems to be getting easier.

For the last two years I've worked on getting my cholesterol down . I was in the higher end of "normal", it's gotten a lot better. I'm now working on lowering and stabilizing my blood pressure. Hypertension and heart disease runs pretty high in my family. I realized if I want to live past 60, I need to work on it now. No more putting it off.

So that's what I've been up to. Nothing majorly exciting, but kinda life saving. :)

moving sucks.

Well, not the actual part of moving and change, but the boxing up of crap. How the hell did so much stuff fit into two small rooms? I swear, it's magic.

I'm moving things from two rooms into essentially 2.5 rooms, and we're running out of space. Serious. How is it possible to run out of space? Enough crap, er stuff, was tossed or donated too. I just don't get it.

My obituary will read...

"She ODed on Etsy"

How flippin' cute is this birdcage necklace? I want to eat it up, that's how cute it is to me. lol

Or what about this cute squirrel one?

I'm on a total jewelry binge. Especially necklaces. You can never have enough. Kinda like shoes.

Yum. Love the colors in this fused glass pendant. So pretty.

I've been in a tree kick lately too. I like the look of a solitary tree or flower. So that makes this tree pendant right up my alley.

I need a napkin. I can't stop drooling over this bracelet. I'm just in love with it. I love the vibrant colors, but I think it'll look awesome with a jet black background as well. Decisions, decisions. Oohhhhh... With a matching necklace. I'm so in trouble.

dental pain wimp and jewelry love

Geez. Who would have known I'm such a dental pain wimp. I feel like I'm constantly wincing from pain.

I ended up having my bottom two wisdom teeth, as well as an extra premolar extracted. Ouch. Pain wasn't too bad initially... Then the anesthetic wore off. It'll be a week tomorrow since they were extracted and the pain seems just as constant. Maybe not as severe, but just as constant.

Well, at least I no longer look like a chipmunk.

So what do dental wimps do to pass the time when they're supposed to be working? You guessed it! They go on Etsy. I swear, I should just hand over my paycheck to them and PayPal.

My favorite lastest finds:
"loved" sterling & quartz double strand bracelet
sterling & brass spinning ring
candy dot ring
aluminum spiral pendant
celtic budding spiral pendant
groovy flower pendant
spirals heart pendant
spring peepers bracelet
black pearl necklace

I need to stop. I want it all.

I need to stop. I need to stop. I need to stop.

What doctor is left?

I've seen my GP.

I've seen my Ob/Gyn.

I've seen an allergist.

I've seen my dentist.

I'm seeing an oral surgeon tomorrow.

I'm seeing a dermatologist in a couple of weeks.

What kind of frickin' doctor is left?

I know it could be *much* worse, but it feels like I've been living in doctor's offices as of late. I should also be thankful that I have access to all these medical people. I am, but it's difficult to smile and say "thanks" when your mouth is being stretched open.

the mother of all posts (so far)

I mentioned I was going to comment on a few activities a couple of posts back, but never got around to it.

Let's see...

I caught a sketch comedy show called All About Walken at Theatre 68 in L.A. That was an extremely fun show. If you're a Christopher Walken fan, keep your eye out for this show, you won't be disappointed. There were several highlights for me, from the improv part of the show to the chick that impersonated DeNiro. One highlight definitely wasn't my falling down a very short flight of stairs after I was "dragged" on stage. Oh, and did I mention, not only did I fall, I pretty much took a nose dive into the front row? But rest assured, the only thing damaged was my ego. All that was asked of me was to put on a "Walken" wig, walk out to the middle of the stage, and deliver my best "Wow!" ala Walken. The lights would then dim, a stagehand would run out to grab my wig, and I then was to walk back to my seat. Easy, right? Yeah. Uh. Not. Well, uh, it was very dark, and I was very clumsy. My heel clipped the top stair and I was airborn. The guys that stopped my fall, aka, the ones I landed on, were quite nice. They at least complimented my "Wow!" I guess situations like these make the best memories, and stories.

Next was the Santa Ana Art Walk. If you decide to attend, I recommend printing the Artist Village map, you'll definitely refer to it often. We had a fun night. Some very cool galleries to peruse. Some were extremely crowded whilst others stood unvisited. Various musical acts also set up along the alleys and building entrances. I loved the Cent Gallery. He had some beautiful fused glass pieces on display that made my mouth drool. lol So cool. Loved how he displayed the various stages of his glass artwork.

The Cherry Blossom Festival followed. We wandered around a bit. It was a much smaller festival than what I had imagined. We eventually wandered over to the Stage Plaza area and saw a taiko group perform. The group was mainly all women, I believe there was one male. Your chest vibrated from the drumming, kinda cool. We then ate at some Korean restaraunt at the Stage Plaza. It was ok, not great, service lacked. Oh, we did eat some Pink Berry though. I had been wanting to try Pink Berry for quite sometime. It was ok. Different. Much sweeter than regular yogurt. We walked around more afterwards. Kettle corn was delicious. Jeez, I love that stuff. I did get a very pretty blue, almost denim colored, glass pendant with looped sterling sliver wire inside. It reminded me of the fused glasses pieces we saw at the Cent Gallery.

I attended the America's Family Pet Expo at the Orange County fairgrounds. That was quite a bit of fun. Plus I gorged myself on kettle corn. Yummers. I think my favorite part was seeing Splash Dogs. Some of those dogs got some major air. Also realized that some people really love their cats. Some of these cats had mini-mansions set-up. Fifi has it good.

We caught a play called Rehearsal for Murder at Heritage Park in Santa Fe Springs. It was a community play alright. The main character was actually quite good. He looked extremely natural on the stage. The others... Well if you've ever seen Waiting for Guffman, you'll know what I'm talking about.

I finally got around to attending The Renaissance Pleasure Faire at the Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area in Irwindale. It's something I've wanted to do for years, but never found anyone interested enough in attending. I had a fantastic time. The weather was great. The people were all so friendly. I definitely want to go back next year, and hopefully for a longer visit. I ate one of those humongous turkey legs, seemed to take almost an hour to finish it, if not longer. Oh, I also got a henna tattoo of a faerie, she was purdy. It faded entirely too quickly though. All in all, I had a great time. I'm sure the "jug o' wine" we carted around contributed to the festivities.

This past weekend I went to the Juanes concert at the Nokia Center with my very dear and lovely sister, Socorro, aka The Sacster. She bought the tickets and wanted someone to go with her. How can I turn down free concert tickets? :) Concert was sold out. Crazy hyped up fans everywhere. What caught my attention was the various languages you heard everywhere. I figured I'd mainly hear Spanish and, of course, English. There were people speaking German, French, something that sounded like Czech, and Japanese. All seemed as enthused to see Juanes as their Spanish speaking counterparts. Note: If you ever catch an event at the Nokia or Staples Center and are looking for a convenient restaurant before the show, you should try Roy's Hawaiaan Fusion Cuisine or Morton's, both are on Figueroa, blocks from the Nokia or Staples Centers. You can park in the lot on the corner of Figueroa and 8th, walk a few feet to your restaurant, and then take the complimentary shuttle to the centers. They suggest tipping the driver about $3-5 a person each way. After dinner at Roy's Socorro and I had a stretch Hummer limo to ourselves on the way to the Nokia Center. Very cool. Then we caught a "luxury van" on the way back. It was all sooooo much easier than fighting traffic. Parking, plus tips, cost the same as parking near the center. If you ask me, that's the way to go each time. :)

Wow. This is an extremely long post. I guess it's time to stop. Ciao.

JGHS Class of '88 Reunion

Yep. You read it right. Yours truly has to finally admit her age. ;-) Unless you're really bad at math, you've figured out my age, or something close to it. lol

I was contacted by a few close high school friends asking if I was interested in being on the reunion committee. I figured, why not? I was supposed to be on our 10yr committee, but had to back out of the commitment.

I attended my first meeting last week. We met at a restaurant in Norwalk. Well the meeting was relatively short, but our chatting and drinking lasted several hours... Well into the night. As a matter of fact, we, Jeanette and I, were asked to vacate the restaurant as they wanted to leave. lol We had a such a great time catching up. The time literally flew by. Then we went outside, and continued to chat. It was fun.

I'm excited now. I think it'll be fun to see everyone I lost contact with, even though I probably won't stay in contact with them after it's all said and done. Well except, for a few people.

Want an 80's flashback? Check out our prom friend's photo, from left to right Marina, myself, and Jeanette. I had to swipe the photo from Jeanette's MySpace page. :) Check out my prudish peach colored lace covered sack, I called a prom dress. OMG. And marvel at my updo, decorated with baby's breath. Although, I must admit I received many compliments on my hair that night. That was a very fun night. Wowza, memories I hadn't recalled in a number of years just came flooding back. Fun times.

What are some your prom memories?

You know what?

Life doesn't suck.

I've been counting my blessings lately. I'm lucky enough to live in an area where you can walk down the street and not worry about major violence. Yes, violence can occur anywhere. I'm talking about non-stop violence.

When you can take a stroll down to the beach, stop at one of your favorite local restaurants for a quick bite, walk over to a local cafe and play pool whilst drinking your favorite alcoholic concoction while chowing on buffalo wings... Life doesn't suck.

Movie scoop.

Well it's been a few weeks since I last updated this little blog of mine, I guess it's about time for an update.

I've been to the movies several times since my last post. I've seen Juno, Persepolis, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, The Counterfeiters, and 21. I may have seen a couple of other films, but these are the only ones that come to mind right now. My favorites were Juno, and The Counterfeiters. Although, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days comes in close behind.

I found Juno to be quirky, yet still intelligent. Juno was excellently portrayed by Ellen Page. I enjoyed watching Michael Cera, cast as Paulie Bleeker, since his role in Arrested Development. Don't get me started on Arrested Development, that was a seriously funny show that was excellently acted.

The Counterfeiters was quite enjoyably dark, if that makes any sense. It's basically about a Jewish counterfeiter, Salomon "Sally" Sorowitsch, who's arrested and sent to a concentration camp. Sally's skill is soon discovered and he's "drafted" into making counterfeit currency to weaken the economy of Germany's allied opponents. Soon enough one of Sally's fellow counterfeiters, Adolf Burger, refuses to use his skills to assist the Nazi's. Sally finds himself in a moral dilemma. He has to decide between turning over Burger for sabotaging their counterfeit efforts, which means certain death Burger, or allowing the delay of the counterfeit ring, which will also bring death to everyone involved. The end of the movie was particularly hard for me to watch. Seeing the emaciated figures on the screen reminded you of the terrible things that actually happened.

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, like The Counterfeiters, makes you fully realize how lucky we are for living in a westernized country. This was a very stark, gritty movie that dealt with a late-term abortion. Otila's friend Gabita needs to receive said late-term abortion. Gabita seems to almost refuse, or shut down, to take on the responsibility of all the details. Soon Otila finds herself finalizing all the details, which means a much more active role in her friends abortion. All the while you realize what kind of risk they're both in. Definitely not for the faint of heart as some scenes are considered to be pretty graphic.

Besides movies, I recently also caught a sketch comedy show called, All About Walken at Theatre 68 in L.A. this past week. It was great. I finally got around to the Santa Ana Artwalk, and the Cherry Blossom Festival Southern Califormia. Also another trip to The Getty Villa, as well as wine tasting in Temecula. I'll go into those on my next post.

Ciao.

Another Etsy update

Ugh. Double ugh.

I need to block Etsy.

And maybe eBay as well.

I caved and bought myself a Princess and the Pea necklace, kind of an inside joke. I also purchased some cool magnetic steel cable chokers. I purchased some very cool individual stones a while back but had been searching for a necklace to put them on.

Then on to eBay.

I've been wanting a new phone, but I refuse to extend my current contract another 12/24 months for a measly $25/$75 off the phone price. After speaking to a friend and his want of a new phone as well. We started our eBay search. Good prices, at least compared to the carrier website. Now, I definitely want a new phone. Waaaa.

I want. I want. I want.

Etsy will be the end of me.

I can't seem to separate myself from Etsy. I just love, Love, LOVE so many of the artists. Ugh. My pocketbook is going to revolt soon.

I love Kelly Rae Roberts collages. I recently purchased In Her Hands and Heart by Heart, both are birthday presents for my sisters. Uh, hoping they don't read this.

Today I purchased some chic date tags, scalloped journaling circles, 2008 calendar tags, lined journaling circles, happy birthday/party tags, and some doodled heart tags. I'm hoping once I get these puppies in my hand, I'll be inspired to scrap more.

I'm really digging dazeychic's prints as well, very simplistic and clean. Her Little Trio, Be Still, Bliss in Red, Tickled Pink, and Anything But. All very pretty.

I'm contemplating 2 Beige, One Grey Flower by Heavens Earth. I figure if it's still there in another day or two, it was meant to be mine. If not, I'll just kick myself later.

On a side note:
I'm finding myself drawn to dandelion clock images more and more often.

Gotta jet, work calls.

Hoping everyone has a relaxing weekend!

All sorts of crafty goodness

So lately I've I'm been getting the bug to be crafty again, whether it's paper crafting, crocheting, looming, or drawing/painting. Also been wanting to break out my camera more often. I take this as a very good sign. I normally only want to creatively express myself when things are "on track" or I'm happy. I can honestly say, I'm happy.

I'm planning on posting my completed projects. I would post all my work in progress but there isn't enough cyberspace for them.

I was crocheting with a friend yesterday and I hopped from project to project. I started off by attempting to get a little further along on a granite colored scarf I started looming about 1.5 years ago, my sister has been waiting patiently. I then switched to a black beanie on another loom. Then to a brown and blue (earth & sky) scarf I was crocheting. I was about to hop to my fourth project a pastel (Buttercream Ombre) colored purse project, but decided that I should really concentrate on one project at a time. I went back to the black beanie and finished it off. Yippee! Yes, the beanie is black, but I had to tweak the contrast so that the details would show in the photo. That's what I get for using my cameraphone.

I also made my aforementioned friend a gift. I had seen Catherine Swan's paper butterfly works quite a number of months ago, then Ali mentioned her on her blog. It reminded me how much I loved them. So I gave it a try, but with the Martha Stewart heart craft punch instead. I really like the way it turned out. I think he did as well.

I've also tried my hand at drawing. I suck. Enough said about that. lol I'm going to keep at it though. I figure I can't get any worse, right?

The "D" word sucks...

And no, it's not Donut. ;-)

I don't believe I've mentioned this to anyone outside of my immediate family and/or work, but I'm getting a divorce. Shocked?

Ed and I officially separated July 31, 2007. Yes, 6.5 months ago, and you all are barely hearing about it. It's not something that's easy for me slip into a conversation. "I went to the Getty Villa the other day, it was such a nice day, oh and by the way, I'm getting a divorce." Or "I got a new car in September and I'm getting a divorce." Yeah, no easy way to say it.

Most of the time I see people and the topic at hand is so light and cheery that I don't want to bring it down. Ok, that's a bit of a lie. It's just that I don't like talking about it much, because then I feel I have an obligation to go into why the divorce had to happen. How my relationship with my soon-to-be-ex became a platonic relationship. The financial hardships we faced made communication that much harder. And the stbe's stubbornness led down this path. And no, all the blame doesn't lay on him. **Or is it "all the blame doesn't lie on him"?

I don't want to get to much into it here, if you're curious, give me a call or send me an email.

For some reason, we see divorce as a signal of failure, despite the fact that each of us has a right, and an obligation, to rectify any other mistake we make in life.

-Joyce Brothers

I decided...

I'm going to make every attempt to update my blog on a frequent basis. Well more than just one post a year. :) Let me start off by sharing some recent, or not so recent photos.


heart-shaped hydrangea flowerhead from my mother's garden
06/02/07, Nikon D100, aperture priority, 60mm, F/4.8, 1/320 sec exp


my niece Selena
06/22/07, Nikon D100, aperture priority, 28mm, F/3.5, 1/90 sec exp


a building somewhere in Los Angeles
12/02/07, Nikon D100, aperture priority, 85mm, F/5.3, 1/500 sec exp


a column at The Getty Villa
02/02/09, Nikon D100, aperture priority, 55mm, F/4.5, 1/800 sec exp


blue sky above The Getty Villa
02/02/09, Nikon D100, aperture priority, 300mm, F/6.7, 1/250 sec exp

I'm in love...with a French General. ;-)

Yep, you heard me right, I'm in love with a French General. Well ok, in love with the store French General. This tiny little store will overwhelm your senses with it's fabulous colors and scents.

We headed down to LA, I guess I should say we headed up to LA, Saturday for an afternoon of shopping. Our first stop was the above mentioned French General. First off, this is a total destination store, there's no way this little tucked away store can rely on someone just driving by. Unless you knew what you were looking for you'd never find this little paradise of a building. Oh by the way, you have a clear view of the Hollywood sign from it's entrance. The building is small; however, it has enough stuff to keep you looking for hours. Unfortunately we arrived just as they were closing their back room for a jewelry class. That was a major bummer since I was in the market for some unique chunky beads. We had a total of three minutes back there, not even enough time for a quick overview of the room. The rest of the store was lovely. The fabrics were so amazingly beautiful. I'm ready to take up sewing so I have a reason (i.e. excuse) to buy these fabrics. The textiles ranged from a linen color to deep reds. Gorgeous, simply gorgeous. The soy candles infused with esseantial oils smelled heavenly. I purchased the milk thistle one...yum! Can't wait to light it.
I also bought some clear glass flower buttons. Unsure what exactly I'm going to do with them, probably use them in a bauble bracelet.


Pam bought a tin of these vintage glass pearl beaded flowers. We all were able to buy one from her. Yippee.



Ellie bought a card of some sparkly clear buttons as well and let us buy some from her as well. Unfortunately this image doesn't do them justice.

I'm bummed I didn't buy some of the fabric remnants. I have a few LO ideas running through my head. that would have looked good with the fabric.

After visiting the Franch General we headed over to Sweetpeas and Snapshots..."where your creativity blossoms". A cute shabby chic scrap store that also has a room for crops and they host some uber cute tea parties. I was hoping to see some more vintage embellishments, per their website, but that was kind of lacking for me. It was also quite warm in the store, unsure if they don't have air con or if it was broken. I did find the Technique Tuesday's Funcuation stamps, something I had been wanting to purchase. Also picked up some cute black and white ribbon, along with some large chipboard flowers.

Oh wait, before arriving at Sweetpeas and Snapshots we were looking...for several miles...for a place to eat. It was quite funny. We couldn't find a place to eat that was on our side of the street. Ugh. lol We finally settled on a Taco Bell, as it turns out it's an outdoor Taco Bell which was quite noisy. But fun nonetheless.

Post Turkey Day Blahs

Well not all days were blah, just most.

Friday was a huge blur. My crazy ass sister and sister-in-law decided the were going to fight the mass throngs of Day After Thanksgiving Day Sale revelers. Yeap, they were nuts. My sister-in-law has two little girls, C & S. Since shopping on Friday was going to be utter chaos I agreed to watch my nieces while they went shopping.
(Tangent... How the hell can a 1 1/2 year old toss and turn non-stop for 4 freaking hours and wake up looking like a beauty queen with a halo of prefectly coiffed curls? I just don't get it. I barely turn on my side and I wake up with a frizz ball as a head.) I spent the rest of the day in a post tryptophan haze. z z z zz zzzzz Oh wait, I did bake 96, yes 96 pecan square cookies for a Christmas Cookie Exchange Party I was attending Satuday.

Saturday woke up rested and watched TV most of the morning. :) Gotta love cartoons. Attended the afore mentioned Christmas Cookie Exchange Party. It was ummm, cute. Got some awesome cookies and some not so quite awesome. As a matter of fact I think one of the cookie batches someone made was still raw. uugghh! I wouldn't doubt it because it's the same girl that showed p two freaking hours late!

Sunday was another blur of a day. I realized that I can't get much "work" done around the house when I watch tv. Watched six episodes of Inked. Each time I go to Vegas I plan on getting a new tattoo, but as you can imagine gambling and drinking always manage to keep me occupied. I love Inked, the cast is funny. I did manage to also watch a holiday craft show that inspired me to get my ass down to Michael's Arts and Crafts. I'm planning on making some cute tabletop sparkly snowmen.

just.me.

Thought I'd place a photo of myself on here. I really need to learn how to modify this page a bit more. I guess I have some HTML reading in my near future.