With A Little Help

Hey everyone!

After my Disney adventures, it was back to real life this week. I am so happy to have my love home, and I figured a little celebrating was in order.

That stuff is the bomb.com. We have the original, and the raspberry. I have the feeling this stuff will be making an appearance in out home often.

Shane and I took a trip to Michael’s yesterday, and so I’ve been in a crafty mood! I am in the process of making Christmas ornaments, upcycling those wine bottles, some tricks with canvas, and other crafts.

But this morning, I’m crocheting Shane a scarf, and somebody decided to help me out.

                      [What, Mom? I want to help make Daddy a scarf too!]

Anyways, I’m off to make some more stuff. Pictures to follow. <3

More Disney Joy

Hey guys! I’m having so much re-living my Disney adventures, and I seriously need to get to scrapbooking it ASAP. [Note to self, go get pictures developed today!]

I’ll start up where I left off. Saturday was the big day, when Akemi [my little angel of a goddaughter] was getting the Princess makeover at the Bippity-Boppity Boutique. Basically, you go, get your nails and makeup done, and you choose a hairstyle, and then you get turned into a Princess!

Akemi was going to be Princess Tiana [since she’s her mini-me!], though ironically enough, it seems her favorite Princess is Ariel. Smart girl. Ariel and Tiana are MY two favorite princesses! Haha.

Her appointment wasn’t until 1pm, so we hit up the Magic Kingdom for the morning, but actually split up, since we had minimal time to get the park done. Nana and Papa and Uncle Bobby took the wee ones on the little rides, and El, Shane, Ryan, Brandi, Mikey and myself all hit up the good ones. Starting with the Haunted Mansion of course.

Next we jostled over to Thunder Mountain, then Splash Mountain, ending the rides with Pirates of the Caribbean. That was all we had time for, but we were blessed in that we didn’t have any lines, and walked directly onto all the rides. We met back up with the rest of the crew for lunch.

Magic Kingdom

[In the stocks right before the Haunted Mansion]

[Waiting on Thunder Mountain]

[Right before the big drop on Splash Mountain]

                [Pirates of the Caribbean]

                                                   [On the Pirates ride]

Next went to eat lunch, then off to Downtown Disney to make Akemi’s Princess appointment. It was so awesome! She was a complete doll, and I can tell she is going to be a total diva. She ate the attention up, and I was starting to cry, honestly.

Akemi’s Transformation

After the wee one was transformed, we headed over to Epcot. I don’t know about y’all, but Epcot is my absolute favorite at Disney World, even though when I was a teenager I thought it was so boring. [“They, like, want me to, like, LEARN something? Like, where are the, like, RIDES?] I was slightly, um…. retarded? Epcot is the shiz, and it has something for EVERYONE. The countries alone are so cool. Plus, Mission Space, Test Trak, and Soarin’? Psssssssh. Anything but lame. It was so much fun, and at the end of the day we were DONE.

Epcot

                [Shots in Mexico. And Ryan being creepy, AGAIN!]

          [Channeling my inner panda in China.]

                      [Channeling my inner fat kid in Germany]

And thus completes my Disney recap. It was super wonderful, and I can’t wait to go back, and this time hit up Universal and Sea World [my FAVORITE]. I hope y’all enjoyed my recap. <3

Disney Shenanigans

Hey y’all!

As I [may have] mentioned previously we took a mini vacation down to DisneyWorld for my goddaughter’s birthday this weekend. She turns 3 on October 2nd, and she wanted to be turned into a princess.

I flew down on Thursday, and we immediately went out to dinner with the whole crew. My angel ran up to me shouting “Katy! Katy!” and made my heart melt with joy. Then she shouted “Go Gators!” and all was right in my world. Such a good girl. She also wanted to sit next to me. I love this little girl so much.

Dinner was super wonderful, with the exception of the service. It was awful, and we even had to complain to the manager. And I never complain about service. It was THAT bad. The server even came up to us to chew us out for speaking with the manager. I’ve never heard of that! I believe she was fired after that. It was a very dramatic dinner!

The next day the kids, Nana, Papa, and myself hit up the Animal Kingdom. The adults MY age slept in. I love my best friend more than 99.9% of the population, but that girl can SLEEP. But there was no way I was going to give up a chance at a free trip to a Disney park! [Ellie’s uncle works at DIsney and gets free tickets. They always join us when they aren’t working, and are a freaking BLAST to hang out with.] Animal Kingdom was pretty neat, but I wouldn’t pay full price for the admission, I’d definitely do the hopper. It was mostly a extravagant zoo, and we’re blessed in Jacksonville to have a WONDERFUL zoo that only costs $20. They are building an Avatar area to open in 2013, though, so I’m sure I’ll like it much more then.

[Me and Akemi. That hair lasted about 20 minutes before it was in a ponytail.]

[Twinsies]

We only spent the morning there, and then we went back to the condo to wake the others and eat lunch before heading out to Old Town, which is like a carnival, and where the Sky Coaster is.

[Akemi and Mommy on the carousel.]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Akemi, the biker chick.]

Next was dinner time, and we had reservations at Capone’s. It’s a dinner theatre show, like Medieval Times, but with a Gangster Prohibition theme. We got there early, and went upstairs to have a few drinks [only Cream Soda for me, since I had to miss the show to pick Shane up from his flight.] and hang out. At which we found these neat stairs. They didn’t do anywhere, but weren’t roped off, so I wanted a photo shoot.

 
[Me and the bestie.]

                                [Ellie and Ryan]

                                  [Me, Brandi, Ellie, Ryan, Mikey]

                                             [Me and the kiddos.]

I had to go get Shane form the airport, and that’s when the storm started. So here I am, driving around a town I don’t know, in pouring rain, and lightening striking in the road in front of me. NBD, you know?

So I find this airport, and Shane is waiting, but so is the rest of the airport. They grounded all flights, and wouldn’t allow any baggage off of the plane thanks to to the storm. Luckily, the Orlando airport is huge, and had a Macaroni Grill there for me and my love to eat dinner. I had a delicious scallop spinach salad.

After dinner, we headed back to the condo, and [after getting super lost and having a sort of breakdown!] hung out for a while before bed. Saturday was going to be a long day! I’ll drop off then, and finish the weekend tomorrow.

Needless to say, it was a blast, and I loved it!

Three Tangent Tuesday–Disney Edition!

Hey y’all! My trip to Orlando was AAAAAH-MAZING! It was so perfect, and my little princess had an amazing time. I’ll post about the whole trip later, for now I figured I’d do a TTT full of Disney fun!

Three Tangent Tuesday

+I free-fell from 300 ft in the air. Orlando has this Sky Coaster that is the highest one in the world. Basically, you get pulled 300 feet up in the air and then you pull a tab and down you go. And go. And go. And go. It was such a rush! And also the longest 70 seconds of my life getting pulled up there!

It was so neat! <3

+My best friend’s boyfriend wants to kill me. At least we always seem to catch him giving me the ‘stink-eye’ when I’m not looking. Case in point.

See that! I’m wondering what kind of demise he’s planning for me. I just hope it’s quick. :)

+Sometimes Disney is just too much for the little ones. Nah, she was out… for like 5 minutes and then she was back in full force. She had more energy than all of the adults. She’s such a bundle of joy.

I had so much fun, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t somewhat glad to be home with just my boy and my kitten. Now I just need to get off my booty and un pack and do laundry and all the rest of that “real-world” mumbo jumbo.

Have a great TTT everybody!

Off To Orlando!

Well, I’m finally ready to jet set out of here! Now I just have to hope I can find this airport on my own. :)

Travel outfit.

I’m just sad about having to leave this little one.

Like her ‘fat Playboy’ pose? I wonder if the Heff will take her……

Bye y’all! Have a fantastic weekend, and I’ll try to update from Orlando!

Tomorrow’s Agenda

It’s official. My house is a mess.

So I’m dedicating tomorrow to a full day of cleaning. Planning on cranking up the music and deep cleaning this nasty apartment.

I’ll also be packing, ready to go to the ‘Happiest Place on Earth’. And it so is. At least for me. I love Disney World oh so much. Plus, it’ll be even happier for me since I get to see my love, who has been out of town for two weeks.

So, now that is on the interwebs, I have to stick to it. WHOLE APARTMENT. Weehee.

Have a great day y’all!

Wine Glass Painting

Hidey-ho neighbors! [Did anyone else watch Home Improvement?! We were obsessed in my family.]

I have been busy at my little apartment, staying up all night [literally, I went to bed after 6 this morning.] playing my video game [beaten!] and doing crafty things. I actually have a couple of craft projects to blog about, but since they are a surprise for Shane when he gets home, they will have to wait until next week. <3

But this is one I really had so much fun doing! I got the idea from [what else] Pinterest, and I was like…. maybe I can do that?

Painting wine glasses!

So I ran out and bought supplies, really only needed the glasses though, since I have so much acrylic paint lying around.

Here are the items I used:

+Sharpie oil based paint pens
+ Painters tape
+Paintbrushes (any to be used with acrylic paint should be fine)
+Acrylic craft paint (regular kind, except for the Martha Stewart chalkboard type on one project)
+Gloss Glaze
+Plain, washed wine glasses

Instructions are pretty simple, also.

+Wash and dry wine glass.

+Paint wine glass as desired. It will take a few coats of acrylic paint to stop looking streaky/see through. I started by painting the bottom of the glass, then painting the top portion last. Allow to completely dry.

+Paint a gloss glaze.

+Put on a tinfoil covered cookie sheet and place in a cool oven. *DO NOT PREHEAT BEFORE PUTTING GLASS IN* Set oven temp to 350* F and set timer for 20 minutes. (This includes time for the oven to preheat.)

+Turn the oven off and do not remove glass for another 10 minutes.

+Remove from oven and allow to fully cool before use.

Pretty simple, huh?

Here are the designs I came up with! [Or ‘borrowed’ from online shopping.]

Tree Branch

This is by far my favorite. It’s really difficult to get a good photograph angle, but it’s so pretty. It also took the most time/work! I painted the bottom like stated above [under the glass] then used the black Sharpie paint pen to make the branches. This one I did NOT use a gloss glaze on.

 

Gators

You knew this was coming, huh? Haha. This one was pretty straightforward. Paint, gloss, done.

 

Halloween

My spiderwebs again! I sure do love to draw these. Definitely the easiest one to make.

 

Chalkboard Name

This one I found online and made a replica of [since I’d rather make it myself than buy it], and I used painter’s tape to portion off about 1/3 of the stem, and painted chalkboard paint on the TOP of the stem and bottom of the glass. Then used a white Sharpie oil based pen to write my name. No gloss glaze.

I think I might make more of these since they are so pretty and classy and simple. I have an idea to make one for the name of every guest that visits us, so we can end up with a nice little collection, and a cute way to hold on to memories. <3

Hope you like them! I;’m making more, but these are just the ones I’ve finished so far. I’ll probably post more as I do them.

Well I’m off! Have a great day everyone!

Motivation Situation

So lately I’ve been seriously struggling with some exercise motivation. And by that I mean, lack thereof. I’ve been having some self image trouble, and I am seriously unhappy with the way weight is.

Trouble is, every time I get into the gym or start running, it feels like I’ve never run before. Pushing out a mile is extremely difficult for me, and this is not ok, being as how I have to run 13.1 of those suckers at the beginning of January.

Basically all the progress I made while I was living in Africa is gone, and the worse it gets, the less I want to get out there and move. It’s like I’m stuck in this sick little cycle of ‘No Exercise=Feeling Gross/Feeling Gross=No Exercise’

Well, I guess I’m sick of it. So, while I’m still a little intimidated by running, I’m not sitting on my bum anymore. I have a lot of things coming up that I want to be in good shape for, and a half marathon I have been excited about for a long time!

Also, on a less mopey tone, I’ve decided to run from zombies. :) I found about this little gem – Run For Your Lives. It’s on March 3, 2012 in Atlanta, which just so happens to be the day before my best friend’s birthday. So we’re all gonna go run 3.1 miles trying to escape some zombies. :)

[In case you hadn’t noticed, I’ve kind of got a thing for zombies…]

I’m also looking up other races in the Wilmington area, just to get my butt moving. After all. I used to be able to run. So I know I can do it. I can. I just have to make myself.

That’s all for today. GO GATORS! Woohoo. I love Saturdays. <3

Crafting Roadblocks!

Hey y’all!

So yesterday I decided to get out from in front of my television and join the real world again. I needed to do a little grocery shopping and wanted to try out some crafty ideas, so I needed to hit up Michaels.

I seriously love Michaels. They always seem to read my mind! This is the second time I went into that store with a list, and everything I needed was on sale. For this broke girl, that is just amazing.

So I come home all refreshed and excited to make things, and I go out onto my balcony armed with some spray paint, ready to get down. Then I see this out of the corner of my eye.

Oh yeah. Deal breaker. The wind was blowing this guy dangerously close to me, and I ran for cover back into my apartment! Since Shane was gone, I had to call him and yell at him for not being able to go kill this monster. I could tell he was after me, and didn’t want to risk death and dismemberment.

For some weird reason Shane would not let me spray paint inside the apartment, so I had to venture back outside with bleach cleaning spray and slay the beast myself. I think I deserve a medal of valor, honestly.

So, since spray paint was out for the evening, I set to work on making another paint chip picture. Until I faced another challenge.

A random panther decided she wanted to stake claim on my project, and challenged me to cross her.

Woe is me. Haha. I did manage to persuade the jungle cat away from the superglue, and the rest of the night went by without incident. Today I am able to paint without the threat of arachnids, and all is well.

I’ll be sure to blog about my latest project. I’ve decided to do a lot of decorating while Shane is gone, and surprise him. :)

Have a great day everyone!

Addicted

Hey y’all!

I have been glued to my television playing a new game that came out, Dead Island. Basically, you just go around killing a bunch of zombies. Haha.

It’s kind of slacked my motivation off a little bit, but I’m still going to make sure my booty gets in the gym today for a treadmill run, and then some abs afterwards.

Shane is away on training, so my life is kind of boring right now. But! Disney in two weeks for my god-baby’s birthday! Yippee! :)

She’s so pretty!

Well I’m off to make some food and probably kill more zombies… Have a great day everyone!!

Thar She Glowz

Hey guys!

Just taking a quick break from college football [and by that I mean, I’m still sitting right in front of my tv watching games in HD] to show you guys the nifty thing I did today!

Have I mentioned how much I love Krylon spray paints? Because it’s a whole bunch. So far I have tried the Stained Glass version [for another post to come about later], the Frosted Glass version [ditto], and today I wanted to try this little gem.

Make something glow in the dark? Why yes. Yes I will.

And why not make it a mini hurricane candle holder [found at the dollar store!]? And while we’re at it, why not make some stars? Thank you felt stickers.

Just put some stickers on the glass and spray away. I did two coats, and I don’t think I would have needed anymore. Then you use a black cat as a background to really show off the shapes…

But does it glow? That’s really the question, and Bagheera was super curious to find out.

Score.

That was fun. It took about 5 minutes of actively doing something, an hour of waiting to dry, and you have a nifty little decoration. Now all I need is to go get some little candles.

I love this stuff! :)

Oh, how do you guys like the new layout?! I love it. Well, I’m off to watch my Gators. Happy Saturday y’all!

Swamp People and September Goals

Hey y’all! I figured I’d continue on with my Labor Day weekend posts, since yesterday got de-railed by my amazing gift.

First off, there is something you need to know about me. My favorite season isn’t fall, or summer, or spring, or even winter. It’s football season. College, more specifically. I’m obsessed. I do not miss a Gator game if it is at all possible. And if it’s not, you better believe I’m glued to the espn.com watching it in Gamecast.

It’s my favorite thing in the world, and my fall/winter is scheduled around orange and blue. So, you can only imagine what my emotions were going through when Shane took me to my first ever Gator game this past weekend. It was a little of this.

I got all decked out in my colors.

                               [From my purse]

                                                         [To my earrings]

                                 [To my clothes]

                    [To my hat and arm candy]

We drove down to Gainesville and I tried not to pee on myself out of excitement the whole time! Finally we were there, and I was trying so hard not to be the geeky tourist and refrained from taking a zillion pictures. After all, I will be a student there [insert prayers here] so I should hopefully have plenty of time for that later.

We got there, and our tickets were in the first row! It was amazing. We were behind the end zone, and I was afraid we wouldn’t be able to see most of the action. WRONG. Three touchdowns were run in like 25 ft from my face. It was so amazing. Here are some photos!

I got some of the players too, but I know most of my blog friends are Gator haters [I forgive you guys!] I will spare you. We kicked butt, and the final score was

                                                             [41-3]

Not too shabby. :) Anyways. On to the other part of my post, September goals.

September Goals

+Make my bed everyday.

+30 squats everyday.

+Read 5 books.

+Increase my running to 3 miles. Holy cow, I am starting from the beginning with running again. I’m not kidding. It’s awful. So, instead of being all upset [well, trying not to be all upset], I’m just going to have to work on it. I need endurance and leg strength again. I’ve only got a few months until the half-marathon, and I can already tell it’s going to be a long road. But I’ll get there. I will.

Anyways. I’m off. Hope everyone has a great Friday!!