Cool Like Dat

I'm usually self-conscious taking photos of strangers, but this time I couldn't resist. These 3 guys were so freakin' hip and I can only hope to be cool like dat when I'm their age.I know it's hard to tell in this photo, but both of the guys on the right are on their laptops. Sharing not only photos, but other miscellaneous technical information with each other. Sweet.

Jimmy and I finally celebrated our anniversary last weekend. We went to dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant in Palo Alto then headed to San Francisco for ice cream at...Ghirardelli Square, of course! We drove around the city for 4 hours, going to miscellaneous "Points of Interest" on the GPS, which included the Grateful Dead home near the corner of Haight and Ashbury, Billy Goat Hill Park - a park on the side of a high hill, new-to-us vista points in the Presidio, Alamo Square and the Painted Ladies, Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park and a lot more, finally getting home just after 2am. But if any of you notice the times I usually post my blogs, after 2am isn't late for us.

While we were in SF, we stopped by AT&T Park.We'll be back there all day Saturday to watch Supercross races. It'll be fun as long as it doesn't rain. I'm bringing my Kindle because I'll be interested for 5 of the 10 hours, but my mind will wander a lot, that I know for sure. I'm reading "The Lovely Bones" because I considered going to the movies to watch it, but decided to read the book first.
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Valentine's Heart Wreath

I saw this idea at The Paper Source a couple of weeks ago and knew that I had to make one for myself. Sure I could have bought the kit, but I knew that it was simple enough for me to make it with my own supplies.

The basic ingredients are a wreath base and a bunch of hearts. 12 large hearts form the base of the wreath, 4 of 3 different colors.

I did buy the wreath base from the Paper Source. But I want to make more than 1 of these, so I also bought a package of 12" cake circles from Michaels. I used the wreath base as a template, and penciled in the inner circle so I could cut it out...


like this.

Then all you do is start gluing your big hearts your wreath base. There are 12 hearts, so just think of a clock and glue one heart per "number" so they're spaced equally. Glue all of the same colored hearts opposite each other.

Keep working around the base. You may have to do a little adjusting in your overlapping so your base doesn't show.

Before you glue on your last heart, wrap an 18"-20" (eyeball it) ribbon around the base and center it between 2 hearts. Glue it in place then glue your last heart on top of it to hide the ribbon.

Voila! In less than 10 minutes, you've got your heart wreath!

Gather a bunch of smaller hearts in 3 different sizes. I have 12 hearts per color here, but I didn't use them all. You can either freehand cut them, or use a printed template as a guide that you printed from your computer, or punch them w/ various heart punches.

I used my Cuttlebug and a Tipsy Heart Sizzix die to cut all my hearts. I lurve all my crafting tools.

I used 3D foam tape on all of the hearts. On a few of the hearts, I doubled the foam tape to raise them even higher. That's the bottle of glue I used to glue the hearts and ribbon to the base. My favorite liquid glue.

Then it's just a matter of adhering all the hearts in a random way all around the wreath.

Make your center dangle just by gluing a piece of thin ribbon to the back of a heart. Layer another heart on top of it, just because you can. Then glue it to the back of the wreath, directly on the main ribbon so when it hangs, it's centered below your hanging ribbon.

And your done! A super cute paper wreath finished in 30 minutes or less.

And of course, I'm gonna have to make one with lots of glitter too because doesn't Valentine + hearts = sparkle?
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The Boring Life of a Sicko

We've had a deluge of rain for the past 5 days, which is good as long as there isn't any flooding. However, there's been quite a bit of flooding in the Bay Area. There was even a tornado warning in South San Jose. Ok, I can deal with the earthquakes but I'd really rather not have to worry about tornadoes, too. I don't like driving in the rain, but the plus side of that is I've been a sicko since Sunday and didn't leave the house for 4 days. I finally had to go out today, despite the rain, because groceries don't magically appear in my fridge unfortunately. On a normal day I dislike grocery shopping so on a day when the weather is wet and I'm still not quite feeling right, I dread it. But I must admit that getting out of the house was nice because I was getting a bit of the cabin fever so there was a bright side to the re-stocking of our bread, milk and cheese.

On Tuesday, Jimmy and I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary. 19 on the 19th. It really is hard to believe that we've been married that long. We celebrated by eating Campbell's Chicken Soup and staying in pajamas all day.

We're headed to the hideaway tomorrow. We haven't been since right after Christmas and it'll be a cold snowy wonderland. But before I got sick, we spent some time picking out stuff for the new bathroom. It was a whole lotta fun!

This isn't the vanity we're picking. We were all happy with this choice, but it's going to be flush against one wall. But see how the detailing of the wood on the bottom comes out about 1/2"? That's gonna be a problem if it's against the wall. So hopefully we'll find something very similar to this that's flush. And it won't be a double sink, it'll be a smaller vanity, 36" instead of this pictured 60". And we're picking a different counter, too.

This is the mirror that matches the above vanity. Since we're not getting that vanity, we won't get this exact mirror, but it's the style we're looking for.

We'll also put a little cabinet above the toilet.

Above the mirror we'll put up these light fixtures with...

these bells. I lurve these bells. It's hard to tell in this photo, but there are very very subtle pink, blue and green hues in the glass. It's mostly a honey color with those cool scallops, and the different colors might not even show with the bulb, but I think it's beautiful. Jimmy was the 1st one to notice them and I fell in love with them as soon as he pointed them out.

The vanity counter top will be made of Swanstone and will look like this but in a different color. We picked "Cloud White" which is mostly white with very subtle tan or off-white granite-like marbling throughout.

This is the vanity faucet we picked. We wanted a high faucet head because it bugs both of us when we wash our hands and we hit the back of the sink.

We'll have a full shower in the new bathroom and it'll also be made of Swanstone in the same Cloud White color. We haven't picked shower doors yet.

But we did pick out the shower faucet.Pretty basic.

We'll also add a solar tube in the new bathroom. Basically, it's a small skylight. The new bathroom doesn't have a window so adding this small skylight will bring in a tiny bit of natural light in.

So far, this has been the funnest part of the remodel. It's so cool to be able to design everything ourselves. I'm surprised at how easy it is. It's fun to go out with Jimmy shopping for this stuff and amazingly agreeing on everything and surprisingly not even coming close to any...um...creative arguments. lol.

In other boring news, I gave in and read the 1st Twilight book. I give it an "eh." But I'm intrigued enough to want to see the 1st movie before wasting spending several hours reading the next saga. Mostly, I want to see how the movie translates how Edward is effected in the sunlight.

I hope you read all that right before bedtime. I'm sure it will help you fall asleep.
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The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over The Lazy Dog

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Let the Good Times Roll

Tonight we had a fun New Year's GTG with the Purple Magma group which now consists of 10 adults and 9 kids. It's so much fun watching the kids grow up and play whenever we all get together.
And it's also fun to hang out with good friends who we've known for over 15 years.
I love how this group organizes our meals. Gotta give kudos to Whitney for this one b/c I think she's the one who started it this way and we've just stuck with it every time we get together. There are 5 families so we always split up the "pot luck" with someone bringing a)appetizers, b) main entree, c&d)2 sides and e)dessert. The host family usually does the entree and beverages then the rest of the families pick which part of the meal they want to bring. I think its brilliant. We had veggies, cheese and crackers for appetizers; a honey baked ham, mashed potatoes and green salad for our main meal; then a choice of mini-cupcakes, chocolate dipped rice crispy bars or peanut butter and jelly bars for dessert. Good friends and good food!

If you'd like to see all the pics, they're here.
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To-Do Dry Erase Board

What a fun project we did at stamp club this week!Kristina taught us this supah kute "To-Do" dry erase board.

Super simple but packs a great impact! Just make sure that you buy a frame with real glass then decorate it as you wish.
Here's a link to Kristina's sample.
And here's a link to our friend, Chris' sample.
Everyone's turned out different even though we started with the same format and idea.
A fun project that will actually get used!
And don't you think it'll be a great gift, too?

During club, one of my crafting friends gave me this really cute desk calendar that she made:
Too cute!! It's a little over 4" high and 7" wide so will fit nicely on any desk.
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Remembering a Favorite Teacher

I've mentioned once or twice that I was part of the auxiliary unit of my High School Marching Band. I was in Tall Flags and I'm still best friends with one of the girls from our unit.
Photo from Victorville Christmas Parade 1984.

On December 27, our band director, Mr. Robert Nygaard, died. I've thought about him so many times in the past 20+ years. He was that beloved teacher who pushed you beyond your limits and the rewards were worth it. Because of his direction, we worked at being the best and took pride in our accomplishments. When we failed to perform, he did not sugar coat the discipline. But we were the greatest (subjective of course, but backed by lots of trophies!hee)band in our division (AA) and won not just 1st Place trophies over and over again, but Sweepstakes, consistently, year after year.



I have lots and lots of favorite memories, but this one stands out because I remember how proud I was after I overhead it. We were at a field competition, just marching from our buses to the field and I overheard a woman telling her husband "Their band is huge! I thought Apple Valley was a small desert town." We made a big impression to those who never heard of us. We were the biggest competition for the other bands who tried to follow our lead.



There's been an amazing rally of people on Facebook getting back in touch and remembering the great times we had and the amazing values Mr. Nygaard instilled in us. Our closest friends in high school of course were part of the band. But inevitably almost all of us lost contact with each other. But Mr. Nygaard is still bringing us together, like the family that we were.

This one is from the Apple Valley Pow Wow Days Parade.

There have been so many great photos and videos that people are sharing on Facebook. Watching some of the videos made me bawl like a baby. Especially the one with the performance of "Only Time Will Tell". I still get goosebumps whenever I hear that song. Unfortunately, that video is only on FB, but here are a few from Youtube that I found:

Here's one from a parade in Chino. Let's see if you can spot me. LOL! It's probably impossible because the video is grainy, remember that was 1986. But I can pick out my BFF cuz she's tall and was always front and center. This year, I was usually on the left, 3rd row, but really, it's impossible to tell which one is me.


I wish I could find a video of a field competition from my, eh hem...era. But here's one from 1990, still under Mr. Nygaard's direction.


And another one from the Hollywood Christmas Parade in 1990. We were invited to this parade every year. Good times, good times. You'll see Mr. Nygaard marching in his suit lookin' all serious next to the band. What a man.
Part 1:

Part 2:

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Christmas Prank

This is awesome in the silliest way.

I hate wrapping presents, so I can't even imagine the work that went into this. There's a link to Louie's reaction at the end.

Pretty clever those pranksters!

Twenty Ten

Happy New Year!!! It's so hard to believe that it's 2010! Doesn't it seem like just a moment ago when so many people were fearful about the 1999-2000 changeover? That Y2K panic? Well, not only did we survive that transition, we survived the past 10 years. And there's always something to look forward for the next 10 years, opportunities to make changes for the better, to continue growing and learning.

Well, Jimmy and I couldn't have rung in the new year any better. It's awesome to be able to start a new year with the dearest of friends.

We went to dinner at the Bowens and stayed till the clock struck midnight.We played several rounds of Apples to Apples - so fun, especially when I was the judge and my word was "Spicy" and someone put down "Keanu Reeves". So funny! Miss A won that green card, heehee!!

It was the 1st time Miss A stayed awake all the way till midnight! So exciting to be able to celebrate with her. Sweet Prince W almost made it, but fell asleep while we watched tv and was out cold around 11:40pm. He got so close!

How did you ring in the New Year?

Growing up, my mom had a few New Year's traditions/superstitions. The 1st was to always make sure the house was clean then your house would be clean the whole year. Um. I so did not follow that tradition. Ever. Right now, I have shipping boxes piled in the living room that need to be cut down for recycling. Dishes in the sink. Piles of paper everywhere.

Another one of her traditions/superstitions was to not spend any money on New Year's Day otherwise you'll be spending money throughout the whole year. This one I'm pretty good at following. Mostly because I just like staying home on New Years Day.

She had another tradition of eating rice or beans or leafy greens. I can't remember which, but I think it's suppose to bring you luck and health. I don't adhere to any food related traditions today. I'm making turkey tacos for dinner...there can't be any significance to that.

Do you have any New Year's traditions?
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Goodbye Aughts!

Happy New Year's Eve everyone!

I got this idea to reminisce about the past 10 years from my cousin. How do you summarize 10 years? 3650 days? Plus a couple of days to account for leap years. I don't think it's possible in a short post, but I'll give it a go! Of course, there were lots and lots of challenges and losses that happened along the way, but I try to keep it positive here, so I might gloss over those, but they certainly won't take center stage.

(click on image to enlarge if you wanna read text)

2000
-1st year at the hideaway
-emotional trip to the Philippines after my mom died

2001
-celebrated our 10 year anniversary
-vacations to Kauai and Vancouver
-Jimmy went blonde for a few days, then purple
-1st nephew graduated high school, 4th nephew born, BFF Jeff got married, BFF Bowen Couple had their 1st baby - the 1st in our closest friends
-a heightened awareness of how important family and friends are after 9/11

2002
-fractured/cracked rib while snowboarding
-Jimmy did a motorcycle adventure in Baja, Mexico
-Jimmy = too many hand surgeries
-BFF Monica had baby, SIL Lauree got married in Catalina, 1st niece graduated high school

2003
-evicted from condo in Mountain View, moved to San Jose
-Jimmy = knee surgery
-Chancey couple had twins, BFF Danielle got married, 5th nephew born, Shy SIL got graduate degree

2004
-Yuen Wedding, Cousin wedding, 2nd niece and 2nd nephew graduated high school, Bowen baby 2 born
-vacation in New York & Boston, Alaska cruise




2005
-BFF Danielle's 1st baby born, 6th nephew born
-vacation in Seattle, Washington DC, Kauai
-Bye-bye Fangboy Kitty

2006
-Yuen's 1st baby, Cousin's 1st baby, Brewer's 1st baby, 1st niece graduated SDSU
-vacation in Dallas, Seattle, Kauai
-start of annual Camp Retzlaff @ hideaway
-walk/jog 1st 5k at Disneyland
-Cross country road trip w/ SIL Molly

2007
-1st nephew graduated UCSD, childhood BFF Bridget's wedding, BIL John's wedding in Alaska
-vacation in Alaska for wedding, Seattle x2

2008
-Yuen's twins born, Cousin's 2nd baby, Brewer's 2nd baby, BFF Danielle's 2nd baby, 2nd niece graduated Claremont College
-vacation in Chicago, NYC, Sedona
-Jimmy and I celebrated our 40th birthdays
-cabin chimney remodel
-fractured right foot

2009
-Bye-bye Billy Kitty
-vacation in Chicago, Seattle, Phoenix
-Rhino adventures
-wow, no births, weddings or graduations in 2009

Reminiscing like this is a good way to remember that it is a wonderful life. Ya take the bad with the good, but focus on the good and life will just go so much smoother.

Jimmy and I wish everyone a very happy and safe New Year's Eve!!
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