oneplusoneequalsfive

birthday catch up #2

2011-08-20T06:18:00.000-07:00

This one ended up being a kit of the week, too…so go check it out at the store if you love it as much as I do!

Once again, mini letters and using my circle punches…love them!

I used a scallop circle punch, different sized circle punches and trimmed this little guy from the jillibean papers to layer up this fun custom embellishment. I LOVED how this guy turned out!

Kristen

birthday catch up #1

2011-08-19T06:15:00.000-07:00

Several months ago, I taught a birthday catch up class at GT with my girl Raimi. The participants got 4 double page birthday layouts done in 3 hours…so fun!

Here is the first layout I designed for the class…

Love catching up on my own birthday scrapping too!

These mini letters from Jillibean Soup are some of my favorites!

Journaling strips on Basic Grey woodgrain…love.

Pennants made with a scallop punch and scissors. Details on how to do the pennant here.

Stay tuned tomorrow for the other birthday layout…it’s all Jillibean…yum.

Kristen

catch up…june cards #4

2011-08-18T06:10:00.000-07:00

{You can check out the rest of the team’s cards here.}

Loved the simplicity of this one. I used a paper piercer to do faux stitching along side the green paper…

Whew…we’re all caught up now. Soon I’ll have the next kit to share! The kids are back in school…I’ll be working on how I’m spending my time now that things are changing up again. Hopefully I’ll pop back in here more often…we’ll see…

Kristen

catch up…june cards #3

2011-08-17T06:07:00.000-07:00

{You can check out the rest of the team’s cards here.}

I don’t know about you, but I find masculine cards harder…this was came together for my dad…I liked the combo of the stars.

Kristen

catch up…june cards #2

2011-08-16T06:06:00.000-07:00

{You can check out the rest of the team’s cards here.}

Loved layering those tickets and embellishments on another fun journaling card.

Kristen

catch up…june cards #1

2011-08-15T06:04:00.000-07:00

{You can check out the rest of the team’s cards here.}

Loved these vintage journaling cards…this one reminded me of a fun trip to Paris…seems like a lifetime ago (pre-kiddos!)

Kristen

catch up…june layout #3

2011-08-14T06:02:00.000-07:00

{See what the rest of the team came up with in June here}

More messy stitching and vintage accents. A simple layout with just blocking the 4x6s together with some patterned paper and the fun woodgrain vinyl.

I just kept layering accents…loved how it turned out!

I’ll share my cards from this kit starting tomorrow…

Kristen

catch up…june layout #2

2011-08-13T05:59:00.000-07:00

{See what the rest of the team came up with in June here}

Even with all the vintage goodness in this kit, I managed to do a bright layout. This one came together in 20 minutes…just poured right out of me. I loved circles and I just circled and circled!

My sewing machine got a workout…the messier the better in this case!

I didn’t worry about perfection or even near perfection…I just went with the flow. And I loved it!

I’ll share my last June kit layout tomorrow…

Kristen

catch up…june layout #1

2011-08-12T05:56:00.000-07:00

{See what the rest of the team came up with in June here}

You may have seen this layout as park of sneak peek week on the blog.

Celebrating the birth of baby number three for a good friend (that baby is now 2!!). I love getting together and celebrating life’s milestones with friends.

Lots of fun vintage-y embellishments in June’s kit! Loved the fun tickets.

I snuck in some computer journaling in there…haven’t done that in a while!

Layout #2 tomorrow!

Kristen

catch up…may layout #4

2011-08-11T06:50:00.000-07:00

{check out the rest of the team’s double pagers here}

Here’s the last layout I did with my May kit.

Documenting a fun preschool field trip. Looks so odd to see T-man in a big jacket…it’s in the 90s and higher here this week. But this was March of 2009…a bit colder. I love how the kits help me catch up on old pictures. Having all the coordinating stuff in one place is a real time saver!

A little monochromatic green title with some complementary color accents. I like it.

Tomorrow I’ll start sharing my layouts and some cards from my June kit!

Kristen

catch up…may layout #3

2011-08-10T06:45:00.000-07:00

{check out the rest of the team’s double pagers here}

In my lack of scrapping time over the last several months, I have opted for a lot of simplicity. I printed a whole bunch of pictures in 4x6 just to have them printed and sitting on my desk. Then I crop and go from there. Are you sick of seeing the 4x6’s in lines across the layout or groupings in the center? I am, a little, but here’s the thing. The layouts are getting done. The pictures are in albums to enjoy instead of sitting on my computer. I’m documenting life and that is a good thing. I’m learning to let go the perfect detail and newest thing. And I like it.

These pennants were part of the custom embellishments for May. It was super cute with a piece of fun striped twine, but it didn’t work for my layout. I cut the diamonds in half (it was designed to be more 3D by folding them) and I left the twine out. I opted for hand drawn details to add a little interest.

I utilized the graph paper for my journaling. This place was gorgeous along the American River…but the story behind five families and the cranky park rangers is funny. It wasn’t funny being reprimanded several times that day…but in retrospect it’s funny to me now. Life with crazy kids. Enjoy it!

Layout #4 for tomorrow…

Kristen

catch up…may layout #2

2011-08-09T06:36:00.000-07:00

{check out the rest of the team’s double pagers here}

I shared my first May layout here.

I loved the simplicity of this layout. Three boys. My three sons. A little bit of detail but I wanted the focus to be on my boys. Love them.

I used the sewing machine to make a place for the title to land. Loved the look of leaving the centers on the ‘e’ and ‘o’s too.

My circle punches are getting used a LOT these days. And a little bit of ink around the edges just adds that pop.

Combining several sticker sheets to document the date in a different way.

Looking back at this layout reminds me how much I loved the muted colors of this kit!

Stay tuned tomorrow for layout #3 from the May kit!

Kristen

august layout #4

2011-08-08T06:28:00.000-07:00

{check out what the rest of the PBD team came up with here}

The last layout for this month’s kit…and probably my favorite…

We are very blessed to have a family home about a block and a half off the beaches just below Santa Barbara, CA. My husband grew up on these beaches and I have been going there for 20 years (he brought me there when we first started dating…half a lifetime ago!!!). I really LOVE that my boys are now spending their summer playing on the same beach. Beach time is good for the soul…we are a beach family for sure.

Even the dog LOVES the beach! The sunshine circle was punched from the reverse of the striped paper.

I tried my hand at misting again…the flower is plain chipboard included in the kit that I misted with both colors…I like how it turned out! The ‘5’ is punched from the number strips in the Little Yellow Bicycle embellishment.

What a fun, bright kit…did you get yours yet?

Stay tuned tomorrow for a little catch up…my may layouts that I never posted!

Kristen

august layout #3

2011-08-07T06:22:00.000-07:00

{check out what the rest of the PBD team came up with here}

Do you scrap bad pictures? I did here. These pictures were totally out of focus, everyone had their eyes closed and one even got a wonky line down the middle (probably happened when my external hard drive died and I had to have all my photos recovered…whew).

Here’s the thing though…I still wanted to document the fun family afternoon. So who cared about the imperfect photos!

I used a lot of chipboard stickers…made it super easy to make groupings of coordinating accents!

Another super easy, quick layout…another memory documented for my family. Who says everything has to be time intensive and perfect?

Last layout for August coming at you tomorrow…

Kristen

august layout #2

2011-08-06T06:18:00.000-07:00

{check out what the rest of the PBD team came up with here}

Simple and easy…and I really like how it turned out!

T-man became obsessed with our crossing guard at school. She was also our across the street neighbor so that made it especially fun. He started carrying around a sign we had since J-boy was little on every walk. It certainly put a smile on passing motorists’ faces to see this little 4 year old with the stop sign at corners.

I loved this quote sticker, but I only had one piece of the dark blue to make it stand out. I tried pairing it with the yellow cardstock and I liked how it kind of color blocked the whole layout.

The layout was super simple and as I was playing with it on my desk I noticed the misted arrow masks from my previous layout. So I added them and loved how it looked and added movement to the layout. Fun!

Layout #3 tomorrow!

Kristen

august layout #1

2011-08-05T06:12:00.000-07:00

{You can check out what the rest of the PBD team came up with here.}

If you follow the kit club blog, you saw this layout during the sneak peek week. The whole team uses the same sketch to come up with layouts…super fun to see how different all the layouts are using the same kit and sketch!

I used a “4” strip from the Little Yellow Bicycle embellishment as part of my title. I also combined stickers and punched the star from other embellishments included in the kit to create my own fun accents.

Loved this journaling strip on the stickers sheet. You can also see that I misted using Tattered Angels mist. I have not spent enough time with mist to really be a pro at it. Not sure if it’s “me” yet. In the first detail picture, you can see that I used arrow masks included in the kit to create a sense of movement on the layout. Meh. You know, I’m not a fan of every.single.layout I create.

(Hi Amy and Luke peeking out in this pic :)

Stay tuned tomorrow for layout #2…

Kristen

long time no see

2011-08-04T09:04:00.001-07:00

I know, I’ve been a bad blogger. Here’s the deal…I’ve been trying to prioritize my time better and blogging gets pushed to the bottom of the list. It is what it is. I’m a wife and mama to three and that has to come first.

I’ve still been scrapping here and there (although that has taken a back seat as well). And I still am running (albeit significantly reduced miles). I’ve picked up lots of beach time, pool time and summer time with my boys. They return to school in 2 weeks (!!) so I’m sure there will be another shift in how my time is spent once again.

In looking back, I’m realizing that I didn’t finish sharing my May kit club stuff…nor my June…and I just finished up August layouts (kit club took a summer break in July)…so I have lots of sharing to do! Check back in tomorrow for August stuff…then I’ll work backwards to catch you up on my previous months!

Happy Summer!

Kristen

may kit club layout #1

2011-05-24T06:56:00.000-07:00

{check out the rest of the PBD team’s take on the may kit here}

Wow…where does the time go? I know you are all busy with end of school year/summer preparations like me. This time of year always sneaks up on me!

So I thought I’d share what I came up with for GT’s May kit. They still have them in stock if you are interested…

This was my take on the sketch for the month (included in the kit…and all the PBD girls did their own take…check out the blog to see those)

Fun vintage-y buttons and custom embellishments

Thickers, of course…and my signature stitching…

Stay tuned to see what I did with layout #2

Kristen

got birthdays?

2011-04-22T05:07:00.000-07:00

Do you have birthday photos to scrap? Green Tangerines is having a catch up class in May just for you!

Four layouts designed just for birthdays. You will complete two with me and two with Raimi…all in three hours! So fun!

Here are some sneaks of my layouts…stay tuned for the full layouts soon…

I told you those little mini banners would make a comeback soon…this layout is Basic Grey goodness…yum!

And then for some Jillibean goodness…love it!

Check out the class details here and go sign up!

Kristen

may is coming soon…

2011-04-21T05:00:00.000-07:00

The PBD girls have the May GTKC kit in their hands and are working hard on samples for you all.

Keep your eye on the Kit Club Blog for May layouts coming soon.

In the meantime…here are some sneaks of my first layout…

Some fun vintage buttons and a cool little custom embellishment or two…

Thickers of course…wouldn’t leave home without them.

I’ve been busy working on layouts for an upcoming Birthday Catch Up Class at Green Tangerines, too. I’ll post some sneaks of those as well. Go here to get information on the class…it’s May 22.

Kristen

runner-versary

2011-04-20T05:05:00.000-07:00

Just a little running update…

January 8th…my one year runner-versary. It was 01.08.10 when I finally took my first official step in the Couch to 5k program. I have been running (more or less) for over a year…wow. Seriously. I was one of those who thought running was dumb and why would I ever do it? What changed? I wanted something to mix up my fitness program and I found that I really like it. Who knew?

March 27th…My first Half…American River Half Marathon…I won’t rehash the nitty gritty, but you can read it here.

April 3rd…RunRocklin 5k. This was the first race my hubby and I ran last year. It was the race that after I finished it, I realized that I really did like running after all.

2011 Edition: So fun to be able to run (kind of) it again. My attitude towards my abilities have completely changed over this last year. Sadly, my knee was still annoyingly uncooperative so I was just going to go out and do what I could. My hubby had a friend running him to a PR and my knee wasn’t going to let me keep up.

{My husband is the kind of runner who runs when he feels like it. He has no interest in a training plan or speed work. In fact, he hadn’t really been running much this winter until about a month before the race. When my knee is healthy, I know I can kick his booty in a long distance race. I’ve done it before on a 4 miler we did together in January. But this race was about him hitting a goal he had.}

We lined up at the finish line together and they took off. I slowly started jogging and actually felt okay. But by about 5 minutes in my knee was talking. So I walked. And then ran. And then walked. Then at about 1 mile in I got smart and pulled out my iPhone. I had my C25k timer program on it and I set it to the 60 second run, 90 second walk timer. Then I was able to just enjoy myself and when the timer beeped, I walked. And then ran. 60 seconds was about all my knee could take.

Our pal who was pacing hubby kept texting me updates. It was hilarious. He would take a picture of hubby running or the mile marker and tell me their time. I loved that. And since I was taking it easy I was able to read the texts and respond. If I couldn’t keep up with them, I could at least be part of his race this way.

About .25 miles from the finish I could see the finish line and knew I wouldn’t want to walk to the finish…so I picked it up and ignored my screaming knee.

I crossed just under 40 minutes. I didn’t care. It was fun. The fact that never in a million years would I have pictured myself running a 5k a few years ago isn’t lost on me. It wasn’t a PR in any way. But it was a proud moment. I have more confidence in my ability to persevere when put to the test. And I have the intense desire to heal this knee!

Love my Lucy Propel Skirt and 10k top. Plus my lovely knee straps…

My hubby got a huge PR…just a few seconds shy of his goal. We celebrated our Runner-versary together. It was a great race.

And don’t we look like an advertisement for UnderArmour?

Good luck to those of you who entered the lottery for the Nike Women’s in October. Sadly, after much thought I decided not to enter this year and instead focus on strength and form in smaller distances…at least for now. Of course, this will be the year that all my sole sisters will get in.

Kristen

april kit club card #4

2011-04-19T07:27:00.000-07:00

{Check out the rest of April’s fabulous stuff from the team here.}

The last card of the bunch…

I saw this idea for banners created from a scalloped edge punch a few weeks back. I did not book mark the blog. I’m so annoyed. I’m pretty sure it was one of the Studio Calico girls. If you know what I’m talking about…please link in the comments. I do want to give credit where it’s due!!!

{ETA...I found it! It WAS a SC girl...I'm a big fan, Nicole! You can find her tutorial here.}

I loved the idea when I saw it and I love it even more now that I’ve done it. I see many more of these coming soon…and I NEED a bigger scallop edge punch now, too! LOL.
Kristen

april kit club card #3

2011-04-18T15:14:00.001-07:00

{Check out what the rest of the PBD team did here.}

Card #3…a quick and easy peasy use of leftover stickers and embellies…plus my sewing machine, of course.

I {heart} Jillibean!

Kristen

april kit club layout #3

2011-04-17T07:04:00.000-07:00

{Check out what the rest of the PBD team did here.}

I’ve really been into the monochromatic layouts lately, huh? At least I threw a little extra green in there for fun.

Fun calendar paper, buttons and thickers, of course…

I had this idea for stitched journaling lines…I love how it turned out!

And a different twist on my pennants this month…

I’ll be back with my final two cards of the kit…

Kristen

april kit club layout #2

2011-04-16T07:01:00.000-07:00

{Check out what the rest of the PBD team did here.}

Sorry for the blue cast…obviously didn’t have the right settings going on…

My iPhone…sigh. Two years later I still love it. Is that wrong?

Fun sueded ribbon came in the kit along with banana leaf paper…

Jillibean corrugated butterflies with a touch of paint for fun…

Layering the fun embellies…

Tomorrow I’ll bring you the last layout I made this month…

Kristen

april kit club layout #1

2011-04-15T06:20:00.000-07:00

{Check out what the rest of the PBD team did here.}

We have a lot of wide open preserves around here and the cities hire sheep farmers to have the grasses ‘mowed’. My parents live right next to one so we get up close and personal with it! So fun!

Couldn’t help myself…my sewing machine came out a lot this month.

Loved the Jillibean corrugated shapes this month….these banners were oh so cute!

Check back tomorrow for layout #2.

Kristen

april kit card #2

2011-04-14T06:16:00.000-07:00

Check out what the other fabulous PBD girls did here.

Here is my second card with this month’s kit…

Can’t say it’s my favorite card ever…was trying to get a bit eclectic and it turned into overkill. But I just love Jillibean so it’s all good! :)

Kristen

april kit card #1

2011-04-13T18:13:00.001-07:00

Considering I’m on my way to pick up my May kit…I figured maybe I should share my April kit stuff! Ha!

And to be different…I’m starting with my cards…

The large flower is actually the packaging from the Jillibean corrugated shapes. I loved it immediately and had to use it.

This card was featured over on the Jillibean Soup blog today in Soup Spotting…but I had sent in a lower quality photo…not sure what I was thinking. Oh well. Enjoy.

And don’t forget to check out what the rest of the PBD team did here.

Kristen

my neighbor

2011-04-01T15:27:00.001-07:00

One of my friends describes people she just loves as her ‘neighbor’, as in…she’d love them to live next door to her so she could get a dose of their goodness on a daily basis. This applies to celebrities, bloggers, speakers, authors…anyone who reveals enough of their character that makes you want to be with them.

I have a new ‘neighbor’. Kristin Armstrong.

It’s not because she has a famous ‘wasbund’ (but I do love that she uses that term). It’s not because she runs faster than I ever will. It’s not because she is a great author or blogger.

It’s because through her writing I see myself. I realize things about myself and my life. Through her stories I see what I want to be. What I can be. What I thought I wanted but realize I don’t.

Today, she blogged about her ‘sweat sister’ and disappointment and failure.

It hit a major nerve with me.

I’m five days past a really big disappointment. Not one that is life threatening. Not one that affects who I am to the core…but a disappointment none the less.

Her post today brought a lump to my throat and tears to my eyes.

This is why I want her to be my ‘neighbor’.

I told a friend the other day that my best hope will be to stalk her at a book signing. Or if the stars align, maybe we’ll be in Santa Barbara at the same time this summer. I know she goes there. And so do we. Coincidence?

All kidding aside, I thank God for providing me with moments where He is speaking to me through other people. And for me, Kristin Armstrong, you did that today. Thank you.

Kristen

p.s. I’m slowly reading through Kristin’s new book: Mile Markers: 26.2 Important Reasons why Women Run:. I’m LOVING it. A must read for runners out there (probably more deeply understood by runners of the female persuasion). I say slowly, because I’m forcing myself not to devour it so that it doesn’t end so quickly.

p.p.s. I’ll be back with my “march by the numbers” and some april kit goodness…

PR

2011-03-29T11:21:00.001-07:00

PR=Personal Record…it could be a new time or a new distance. I earned both on Sunday.

And I was pissed.

I feel much better today…but I’m still angry. And disappointed. And in pain.

But at least I’m in a place to tell the story.

(ETA: This is a long post. I’m using it as my journal to myself…if you need the quick version: I finished. It wasn’t as I hoped. I’m moving on.)

If you visit here often, you know that I have battled tendonitis in my knee. My left knee kept me from from what was to be my first Half Marathon in October. Thanks to rest, physical therapy and armed with new knowledge I confidently approached training for a Half again starting in January.

And then a few weeks ago on my 8 mile long run, I started to feel the tell tale signs of tendonitis in my knee again…this time my right knee wanted in on the action (or lack thereof). Because I knew the signs, I felt like I knew what to do to hold it off. The knee does what the knee wants I guess.

Last weekend I was supposed to do 10 miles. The weather had been HORRIBLE. And the forecast (at that point) for race day was just as bad. So mentally I made a shift. I had put in the miles and could confidently cross the finish line. It would be a PR because it was my first Half. I would try to enjoy it…rain, mud and all. I found a break in the weather last Sunday and enjoyed the first 5 miles of my 10 miler. I had planned on doing as much as I could and calling it good. But I was feeling good. Until 5 miles. Then the knee started barking again. So I slowed way down and walked. About 1 1/2 miles from home, my husband and kids were in the car ready to cheer me on (they were coming home from the gym) and I hopped in the car. There was no sense in pushing it further this close to race day. I scrapped my week day runs and just concentrated on being really good to my knee. I iced several times a day, cut my favorite class (which has a lot of plyometric jumping) out of my week and just did one spin class.

I woke up Sunday ready to go. I did everything ‘right’ as far as what works for me in prepping for a long run. I was so amped by the time me and one of my besties (hi Amy!) and our ‘chauffer’ (Hi Meg!) arrived at the start line. The weather, by the way was gorgeous. A bit cold, but beautiful. We had lucked out and while there were some changes to the race course due to flooded trails, for the most part, it looked like it would be a good day.

This race (mostly due to some flooding) was a little disorganized at the start of the Half. Very little parking and no drop off area meant for some frazzled nerves. Six portapotties meant a long line. And then they announced they would start the race in five minutes. No worries…we are chip timed. Uh…there’s no mat at the start…which means gun time is your start. Oh well…we decided potty time was more important and we had our Garmins so who cared?

We watched them announce (in loud voices) “Ready” “Set” “Go”…hilarious! We did our business and came out ready to run. The field was gone now. So we walked on to the course. Um…the ‘start line’ is back there…okay…so a few of us lined up and counted our start out loud…3…2…1…go. It was such a funny start. A quick check of our watches and a mental note to subtract 5 minutes from our chip time and we were off.

My buddy Amy is a sub 8 minute miler. I knew she needed to get going…so I wished her luck and told her to go. I settled in. My knee was tight, but we had just started so I tried to relax. About 1/2 mile in, we had to climb up a little embankment to avoid some standing water. Right after that, I notice that my knee really wasn’t settling in. I check my Garmin and see that I’m running kind of fast (for me). I can’t maintain 10 minute miles for the whole 13 miles…slow down sister. Then my knee really starting screaming.

At this point I’m angry. Seriously? A half mile in? No thank you Mr. Cranky Knee. You WILL behave…and I’ll run until you do. HAHAHA.

At about 1 mile I decide that making it behave is not going to work. So I give myself permission to walk the first minute of every mile. At about 2 miles it hurts enough that I’m not going to make it stick to a time frame but just run until I can’t…and walk until it feels good…then run until I can’t. By the first aid station (mile 2.8?) I’m walking more than running.

And I’m holding back tears.

It hurts, yes. But more importantly…this is my FIRST Half Marathon. I have been training for this. I’m ready for this. I’m not planning on winning any age group awards. I had a time goal in mind and I wanted to cross the finish line strong. The time goal is not happening. And crossing is questionable.

I argue with myself. I argue with my knee. I scream at God. By this point I’m walking. Picking up the speed to run causes my knee to buckle. Hello? I have TEN MORE MILES to go.

I decide that I have to cross the finish line. If that means I need to walk the whole dang thing…then so be it. But I’m not strolling. I’m walking with purpose. I was walking 12 1/2-13 minute miles. That’s some serious walking. I’m praying. I just want to finish. I want to celebrate God’s design of a body that could actually travel that kind of distance…even with a bum knee. (Yes, I was up. And then I was down. And then up again…very emotional)

I started pegging off other walkers ahead of me. Hello Lady in the Green Hat…you’re going down. And I’d pass her. Hello Lady in the Vibram Five Fingers (funny story…see below)…you’re next. Hello lady in the turquoise top…goodbye. I was walking with determination.

The race course was along the American River. A really pretty course for the most part (there are some really ugly parts too (hello traffic and construction)…and hilly (up up up, down down down…not fun with knee pain). I was so angry that I should have been enjoying it and couldn’t. Instead I was focused on my knee pain. I would spend time searching the side of the trails willing someone I knew to randomly show up so I could hop in their car and climb into my bed to sleep this nightmare away. No such luck. Keep on keeping on.

You two in matching shirts…you are next…and you up there, power walking old man…down you go.

It’s kind of funny…when I run I’m not usually pegging off people to pass…I’m just enjoying myself. But with the pain and the frustration I guess I needed to will myself forward and passing people was doing it.

Pretty soon, though, I passed all the walkers…and I was basically by myself. I was in that limbo land between the last runner (who I couldn’t see) and the first walker. I saw lots of people going the other way…Marathoners. And that made me angrier. They were on mile 13 of their marathon (they had an out and back) and I couldn’t muster it up to run my half. I would try to run and then realize that my knee wasn’t going to hold me so I’d walk again.

Mentally I was going through all sorts of emotions. There were times that I couldn’t see anyone in front of me. That was really hard. It felt like I was out for a walk on the trail by myself. Not super motivating to push yourself toward the finish line.

Around mile 4.5 I saw a bathroom and thought, why not? I stopped and did some business and moved on. In that quick 5 minute stop, a few of the people I had pegged off earlier then passed me. So I spent some time pegging them off again.

I am a rule follower. The race rules said no electronic devices. It was the first race where I saw them lay it out so strongly. I didn’t bring my earbuds. I did have my iPhone with me for safety reasons…that, and it’s pretty much my security blanket and I feel naked without it. But I had no way to listen to it. In looking back, I could have just let it play, I was pretty much by myself. LOL. But I spent a lot of time thinking about how I got there. What I did wrong? It was just as torturous as the pain my knee.

But, I did take out my phone and text my husband. He was planning on meeting me at the finish with our three boys. This is the text: “My knee is killing me. I’m averaging 13 minute miles. I want to cry.” I wanted to let him know that I wouldn’t be at the finish when I originally thought. And I needed someone to know that I was holding back the sobbing. Luckily, I sent the same text to my running buddy who wasn’t running the race (Hi Mandy!). I popped my phone back in my pocket and continued.

Vibram Five Finger lady was about my mom’s age. She was run/walking…kind of. She would pick up the pace for about a minute and then slow back down to a leisurely walk. I overheard someone asking her about her shoes…did she like them? Her response nearly made me choke on my gel. It was her SECOND time wearing them. LOL. I’m not super big on the minimalist shoe revolution…but I’ve seen enough on other blogs to know that you are supposed to work your way up in them. She had gotten them that week, wore them Saturday for a quick walk and then decided she would go out and do 13.1 miles in them. This made me giggle. And distracted me. I was able to focus on the soreness she would be feeling the next day rather than the pain I was having. I hope she didn’t really hurt herself. And I hope her soreness on Monday wasn’t enough to deter her from wearing them again.

I kept powering ahead, passing all the walkers again. Marathoners were passing me more and more…on their 20th mile as I was on my 7th. Several of them were so sweet in saying “good job” “you’re doing great”. I refrain from screaming…no I’m not! And I stop myself from sobbing out loud. I didn’t want to distract anyone.

My husband texts me back. Now before I tell you what he says, I will say that my husband is so supportive. He has been a great encourager of my new love of running. In his own way. My husband is a big, rough man’s man. He doesn’t always think before he speaks. But his heart is so big. He loves me. He loves our family. He loves God. More than you would ever know based on his gruff exterior, probably. His response to my text: “Ok”. It made me laugh actually. He was matter of fact. Ok, you won’t be there when you said you’d be there. Ok, I can’t help your knee pain. Ok, you didn’t ask me to pick you up on the course. OK.

Like I said, thankfully I had texted my running buddy too. Her response was more of what I needed. I wouldn’t normally quote her here…but her text was exactly what I needed to hear. And I’m tearing up just typing it: “You’re awesome! Who cares how fast the miles are? The race is the same distance no matter how fast you cover it!” I love her. She knew just what to say. And while I won’t say that it made all the pain, frustration, sadness and disappointment go away…it did pick up my heart a bit and carried me through.

At about mile 7 I came across a man walking his dog. He was cheering on people who would run past him. This is what he was saying “Good job, good job…you’re almost there!” He didn’t speak English real clearly but that phrase was clear. Um…we had 6 miles to go. We are not almost there. I was torn between laughing out loud and screaming at him to shut the hell up. I just smiled and moved on. I hope he was just ignorant and not really being a complete jerk.

Mile 8 brought us to a weird little part on the course. Run up the hill to traverse over to the path that leads under the road. Run up more hill to get to the road and run along side the busy road to get to the other side of the trail. And then run straight down to get to the trail again. Easier to follow than to describe…but it was a mental obstacle. Up, down, up, up, up…down down down. Um, cranky knees don’t like to go up and down…especially at the angle this trail does. Ugh. On a positive note, I passed another old man power walker. Well, it was interesting. I could see him literally above me on the road when I was down on the trail still. He had a running bounce…but he was barely going faster than me. It kept my mind off my knee for a while. And then I passed him. He had to have been about 75. Good for him. That’s awesome that he was out there doing it!

Now I’m getting passed by more and more marathoners. And it’s not like they are just passing me and staying in sight. They are passing and moving on. With the curves in the trail I couldn’t see many people and I still felt like I was doing it all alone.

At mile 10 my spirits raised a bit. Only a 5k left? I can totally do a 5k. Can I run? I tried. Nope. Back to speed walking. At this point I was so sore from the crazy fast walking that I was slowing down to 14 minute miles. And now that is making me mad. At that point my friend who was actually racing (who I knew was long finished) texted me to see if I was close. Her kids were going nuts. But she wanted to see me finish. I was ignoring the text beep and just concentrating on one foot in front of the other. But then I wondered if my husband had an epiphany of encouraging words so I looked. (Ha ha, just kidding…I’m telling you, he is great…just not that way). I didn’t want to explain over text, so I just told her to go…I wasn’t close. There was no way I was going to have her wait another 45 minutes with her kids when she had finished 30 minutes ago! I guess right about that time, there was an ambulance entering the course from the finish line. She jokingly texted that she hoped it wasn’t for me. That made me laugh but I was so focused on finishing that I didn’t respond to her. (Did you keep wondering, Amy?) I didn’t get to see who or what it was for but I did see the bike riding EMT packing his stuff up and the ambulance driving away in the distance. I hope it wasn’t too serious.

When I knew I was within a mile, I was shocked. I had just walked nearly 13 miles on a really bum knee. Shear desire to cross that line was the only thing that kept me going. I’m telling you, I seriously considered calling my husband to just pick me up when I crossed that road at mile 8.5. He would have been seriously annoyed at all the time I’ve taken for training. And I knew I’d be so mad at myself for not crossing the line. But here I was. There was a short up hill to the finish…seriously? And it was around the bend, so I wasn’t sure how far away it was. A race official said we had about 50 yards to go. I figured she knew what she was talking about so I picked up the speed. And then I ran. I was NOT going to WALK across that line. As soon as I ran, my knee actually didn’t buckle like it had been doing all along the course. It didn’t feel great, but it carried me. I ran around the bend and heard my husband. Then I saw my boys. I nearly stopped from the weight of the emotion I felt. But I kept going around the curve and pushed across the finish line. The timer was for the marathon and I knew my gun/chip time was off so I barely even looked at it. (I’m lying…it said just over 4 hours…but I couldn’t do the math for me right then and for some reason I didn’t look at my Garmin.)

My kids ran to me and hugged me. Hubby gave me a giant bear hug and I sobbed harder than I have in a long time. Then I remembered that I needed to go to the bathroom. I handed hubby my medal and did my thing. While in there I realized that I hadn’t stopped my Garmin. 2 hours 55 minutes 56 seconds. At least I broke 3 hours!

My running buddy was planning on being at the finish line, but I didn’t see her. Thankfully we saw each other before I left the area. She was so supportive and brought my spirits up. I knew I was smelly. And tired. And I needed to bawl my eyes out. So we hightailed it out of there.

I took an ice bath when we got home to try and hold off further damage. The minute my legs hit that water I bawled. The cold was a shock to my system, but really it was about letting out the pent up emotion from the past 3-4 hours. Sheesh.

I showered off, hobbled down stairs and enjoyed my kids. I hobbled a lot all Sunday. By Sunday night I was feeling better emotionally. My anger had subsided and my disappointment was at the forefront. Hubby and I talked a lot about whether Half Marathons are really my thing. 10ks were sounding really good.

I didn’t remember I had handed him my medal until nearly bedtime. I went and found it. Honestly (and I know many of you will try to talk me out of this thought)…it doesn’t feel like I earned it. Well, I earned it…but it’s not the way I wanted to earn it. I hung it up where we tack up our bib numbers and stuff. But I haven’t looked at it since. It really doesn’t feel like I reached my goal. Sad, but true.

Monday I woke up sore in places I am not normally. Walking that fast was not what I had trained for…I had run during my training. It think walking like that used more of my hamstrings and calves because they are crazy sore. Oh! And I’m just remembering my shins were killing me about half way through the race, too. Sigh.

My knee actually felt okay until I had to walk a longer distance than around my house. I limped around on Monday. But Monday night I hopped on the bike at the gym to try and loosen up that built up lactic acid. I just pedaled…no speed or tension…for 45 minutes while I cracked open the book Mile Markers by Kristin Armstrong. By the first chapter I knew it was going to be a book I didn’t want to put down. By the third chapter I was starting to cry and I had to put it down because I looked like a freak at the gym.

Today, I feel even better. I’m looking forward to figuring this thing out. I’ve got some quality time to spend building a strength training regime for my hips, glutes and core as well as exploring my other treatment options. And while I’m not planning a race any time soon (well…) I do think I’ll have a do-over some day.

And today I’m going to get out on the trail….and walk. I’m meeting my running buddy for some girl time. I’d love to run, too. But that will come again someday.

Kristen

p.s. I do have my “Runner-versary” 5k this weekend. I’m super excited for my hubby run a new PR. I’ll be doing what I can. I just want to be there celebrating this past year. I’m letting him wear the Garmin.

march card #4

2011-03-26T05:56:00.000-07:00

{Check out what the rest of the PBD team did here.}

Last one for the March kit…my favorite of the bunch.

Say a little prayer for me tomorrow at 8:15 a.m PST. My first Half Marathon is about to become part of the books. I’ve been so good to my knees this week and I hope it pays off. A break in the rain would be awesome too. ;)

Kristen

march card #3

2011-03-25T05:54:00.000-07:00

{Check out what the rest of the PBD team did here.}

Loved the Basic Grey flowers on top of their patterned paper with their mini letters. They are still one of my favorite paper companies!

Kristen

march card #2

2011-03-24T05:53:00.000-07:00

{Check out what the rest of the PBD team did here.}

Another long card…easy peasy with a bit of Hambly transparency.

Kristen

march card #1

2011-03-23T05:52:00.000-07:00

{Check out what the rest of the PBD team did here.}

I played with some March scraps this past week and came up with a few cards to add to my stash…

Basic Grey’s patterned paper was screaming to be cut out!

Kristen

april kit sneak peek

2011-03-22T17:15:00.001-07:00

April’s kit is in the PBD team’s hot little hands. You can check out our sneak peeks on the GTKC blog. Mine should be up in the next day or two. But to hold you over…here’s a glance at one of my favorite embellishments in the kit…Jillibean Soup corrugated shapes. LOVE.

Stay tuned tomorrow for some cards I made with the March kit…

Kristen

t-6

2011-03-20T20:09:00.001-07:00

In six short days I will be running my first Half Marathon.

Wow.

I have put in (most of) my miles. I feel (mostly) good. Let me explain.

Remember my knee issue the last time I was training for a half? That was my left knee. And it actually feels good. This time around my right knee is joining the party.

Good times.

Not.

I felt it a bit on my 9 mile run last weekend. I was really good to it all week. I cut back on some of my more intense cross training (my FAVORITE class has a lot of jumping). I iced it a lot.

On my mid-week runs it felt okay. I could feel it, but it didn’t stop me from running.

Today I had my 10 miler scheduled. If you are local you know that it has been raining. A LOT.

The race course actually had to be changed. The current finish is completely flooded (Discovery Park is under water due to overflow of the American River). The email from the race director also indicated that there is standing water on the course that is unavoidable. The weather report is rain for every.single.day. this week. So starts the mental shift.

Rain and wind today meant me deciding that I’ve put in my miles, I can cross the finish line. So whatever I got done today…I was fine with. I set out without rain and only a little wind. I figured I’d go as far as I felt comfortable and head home.

I was feeling good. Really good. I was listening to a book on tape (Sammy Hagar’s new autobiography…if you are a fan, or kind of a fan, or knew vaguely of him during his Van Halen days and like music…you’ll love this book. Fair warning…lots of bad language and rock and roll content…but you’d expect that from Sammy, right?) and just going with it. Before I knew it, I was at my 5 mile turn around. But my knee was also talking.

So I started to walk/run…and then walk more. Finally at mile 8.5 I saw my hubby and kids in the gym parking lot and I hitched a ride home. I did not need to push it further. I don’t even know what my time really was since my Garmin was dying and I plugged it in when I got home. I need to check it out of curiosity.

Here’s the thing. My knee hurts. I’ll baby it and ice it this week. But come Sunday…I’m popping a motrin and I’m running it. I WILL cross that finish line. And it will be a PR…because it will be my first Half Marathon ever.

I’ve thought about this injury and I know I need to work more on core, hip and glute strength if I want to keep running this distance. My body does great until about my 8 mile long run, 15 miles a week level. Then it starts to break down. I’m okay with that. I’m not ever going to be an elite runner. But I do enjoy it…so I’ll keep working at it.

The week after the Half I have my “Runner-versary” race. It’s a 5k so I’ll get through that too. Then I’ll take my body’s lead and take some time off, work with my right knee this time…and then I’ll evaluate what’s next.

It’s all good.

So think of me next Sunday. I’ll be PR-ing…in the rain and whatever that day brings. And I’ll be smiling while I do it. I can promise you that!

Kristen

move much?

2011-03-19T07:10:00.000-07:00

Remember when I said how lucky I was a few weeks back? I had won a Polar Activity Monitor from Kara at Mama Sweat?

Well, it arrived a few weeks ago and I tried it out and thought I’d tell you all about it.

(Disclaimer: I won this activity monitor from the Mama Sweat blog…so it was free to me. All of the opinions are mine and are based on my experiences only)

Picture taken Thursday evening…i obviously didn’t wear it at all on Thursday.

When I had found out I had one it, I immediately set out to learn more about it. I have to say, there isn’t much information on the website…but I did gather that this particular monitor was really designed for kids and teachers. For the teacher to use with the students to help educate them on their movement each day. That being said, I found it educational for me at almost 40 years old too.

As soon as I opened the box, I searched it for instructions. Yes, I’m a rule follower and had to know HOW to use it. Well, guess what? No instructions. So start pushing buttons and go with it. It was SUPER EASY to set up. In just under a minute it was on my wrist and ready to read my movements. It was about noon on a Monday so I set about my day. As I moved I noticed the little stick figure would get up and walk. If I moved faster it would move faster. It was super easy to see. The bar on the bottom would move, too, as I added movement minutes. A super easy visual.

That night I went to spin class and attached it to my shoe. I had remembered that Kara said it didn’t really measure movement during biking or other exercises where your arms weren’t participating.

Final count for a half day plus an hour long spin class: 16, 029 steps and 1707 calories. 1 hour, 34 minutes of moderate to vigorous+ activity. Not bad.

I wore the monitor all week and this is what I saw:

Tuesday: 2 hours, 23 minutes of moderate to vigorous+ activity; 23, 198 steps; 2713 calories. This was a day that I ran 5 miles and did a 50 minute strength training class. That class barely registered on the step/calorie count. It’s a class where you do 5 minute intervals of plyometric type activity with 5 minutes of strength training. So if my arm was resting or whatever, it wasn’t logging. As Kara says, you have to smarter than the monitor. But that still bugged me.

Wednesday: 1 hour, 26 minutes; 18,671 steps; 2554 calories with a 1 hour spin class. Hello? I wore it all day and had barely better numbers in less minutes of activity. Huh?

Thursday: 1:37; 16, 864; 2378…I ran 4.5 miles this day.

Friday: 1:08; 15,488; 2428 REST day.

Saturday: 1:55; 18,435; 2401 I ran 7 miles. Can someone explain why I burned more calories on my rest day?

Sunday: 1:59; 23271; 2756. Stationary bike for 45 minutes.

And the second week my numbers were similar. I did attach the monitor to my shoe for my runs and it up’d my numbers on run days. But overall…I’m a bit confused.

I will say that also records Easy and Very Easy movement…but it doesn’t count that in your totals for the day. So those calorie numbers are over and above what you just burn by being alive. It also has a goal for 1 hour of activity a day. Is that for a student or for me? I easily met that…even on a rest day. But I also don’t work at a desk all day.

So…overall it was a good tool to give me an idea of how active I am during the day. But after two weeks of wearing it, I have a good idea and I don’t really need to wear it each day. I had been curious about my activity level and obviously I’m doing fine.

Pros:

Easy to use. Way easy. I’m going to put it on my 6 year old next week. It’s going to be easy for him to use too.
Easy visual to see where my activity level is for the day. I liked making sure that my guy wasn’t sitting down too often.
Loved seeing my total steps for the day jump over 10,000. That seems to be a goal that people put out there.
Fun. It was a fun color so it caught people’s attention and I had conversations about activity with them. It was fun to see the guy move. I loved when it beeped at me at 10 a.m. telling me I had hit my goal of 1 hour of activity.

Cons:

Lack of detailed information. It looks like there may be more information available if I purchased a $50 tool to connect it to my computer and the Polar website. But I’m still unclear as to how much information it actually gives me.
I didn’t like that I couldn’t break out the calories burned for a new activity. I would love something like a lap button on my Garmin…something that had a start and stop button so I could measure a particular class or activity.
It bugged me that I had to put it on my shoe for activities. I’m not sure how else you would do it…but it still bugged me.
I would have liked to have a heart rate monitor factored in to get a more accurate reading for my activity.

Overall, I think the monitor is okay. I’m curious as to the conversations it will elicit with my 6 year old next week. But for me, I’m a pretty active person. After two weeks of wearing it, I don’t see the point of continuing to wear it. However, if I was in a period of not being as active. Or maybe if I worked outside of the home, sitting at a desk….I could really see the benefit of a visual monitor reminding me to get some movement in. For now, I have a pretty active workout schedule so I know I’m getting my movement it.

I loved this little experiment. I had been wanting some sort of activity monitor to give me a better idea of my calories burned vs. consumed. I’m not sure I have a clear picture of that still…but I definitely have more of an idea. And honestly, based on those numbers…I’m not eating nearly enough food!

I’ll be sure check back in with the 6 year old report in a few weeks.

How do you monitor your activity for a healthy life?

Kristen

march kit layout #4

2011-03-18T05:35:00.000-07:00

Check out what the rest of the PBD team did here. For more information on Green Tangerines Kit Club click here.

This was my favorite layout this month. I finally documented my journey to becoming a runner…

I typed up my quick journaling…basically taking the year by month with snippets of how I progressed as a runner…and printed it out on cardstock. A little trimming and adhesive…and there you go. (and there are those gorgeous mini letters by Basic Grey again).

And cute little flowers by Basic Grey…with some fun brads sprinkled throughout. You’ll notice I hand drew some borders around the circle photos (again with the circle punch!)…the messier, and more imperfect the better.

I still struggle with labeling myself as a runner. I’m no FloJo for sure. But I love my little 11 minute miles (and I’m getting faster all the time).

I neglected to take a close up of the transparency shape included in the kit…take a look in the full pic at the top…loved it!

Stay tuned for some fun cards I made with the kit…and I should have my April kit in hand soon!

Kristen

march kit layout #3

2011-03-17T05:31:00.000-07:00

Check out what the rest of the PBD team did here. For more information on Green Tangerines Kit Club click here.

A spring kit…used to make a fall page. Our annual trip to Bishop’s Pumpkin Farm.

I just used the one patterned paper by Basic Grey here…love me some monochromatic, simple action.

I cut the little journaling card in two pieces to add in separate corners for bits of interest. Went back to my go to straight stitching to add a bit of detail.

Bishop’s is a place that makes us happy!

Kristen

march kit layout #2

2011-03-16T05:28:00.000-07:00

Check out what the rest of the PBD team did here. For more information on Green Tangerines Kit Club click here.

A little “signs of summer” for these dreary days…

The cute little notecard for journaling was a lot of fun!

I deviated from my standard straight stitch to add a little bit of interest in a mini zig zag way this time.

Loved the mixture of brads in this month’s kit.

I have layout #3 ready to share tomorrow…

Kristen

march kit layout #1

2011-03-15T17:25:00.001-07:00

Check out what the rest of the PBD team did here. For more information on Green Tangerines Kit Club click here.

The March kit was full of blues and greens…lots of goodness for a boy mama!

Here is my first layout…I used the same sketch as the rest of the team. We all changed up the sketch a little bit differently. You can see their ideas here.

I used all my different sized circle punches here…I {heart} circles…

Loved the Basic Grey mini letters included this month!

I’ll be back tomorrow with layout #2.

Kristen

abc’s of me

2011-03-09T16:07:00.001-08:00

I’ve been watching this abc post float around the blogs and thought I’d jump in too. I’ve seen it here and here and here. I know I need to share some real stuff…but today this is what you get.

(A) Age:39, baby, and loving it. Really. I turn 40 in just over 3 months…bring it on!

(B) Bed Size: California King. We switched about 8-9 years ago and we had a tiny room…it took up the whole room, but we didn’t care. It’s time for a new bed but I know it will be a Cal King again.

(D) Dogs? 1 gorgeous lab. He is a really good looking dog. But he’s a hunting dog…which means he is very high energy. I do love him, but he’s hubby’s dog through and through.

(E) Essential Start Your Day: Brushing my teeth, checking my phone, throwing on the workout wear so I’m forced to get it done sometime during the day.

(F) Favorite Color: Overall blue…turqoise, navy, light blue, dark blue. I like blue. But Pink sneaks in a lot…

(G) Gold or Silver? Silver. I didn’t really discover this until after we were married. I wish I had gone the platinum route with my wedding ring.

(H) Height: 5’6" 1/2”…which is dumb…so I need to start embracing 5’7”.

(I) Instruments You Play: I did take piano lessons growing up…but I haven’t tried to play in decades…so no.

(J) Job Title: Wife, Mom…crazy train driver.

(K) Kids: Boy Mom in the house…9, 6, 4…woot woot!

(L) Live: Northern California…just about 30 minutes outside of Sacramento, CA…although our town feels worlds away from the hustle and bustle and other interesting things about the city. I love our sleepy little suburb.

(M) Mom's Name: Pamela…which, interestingly enough is my mother in law’s name too. Go figure.

(N) Nicknames: Kris, Missy Krissy (my grandpa has called me that since I was a little girl), wordo (which is a take on my last name and was actually my husband’s nickname forever…a friend attached it to me recently)

(O) Overnight Hospital Stays? 3 babies…that’s it!

(P) Pet Peeve: People who think the rules don’t apply to them.

(Q) Quote from a Movie: Oh gosh, I’m bad at this. First to come to mind is:

“How do you like them apples?” from Good Will Hunting

“I’ve loved the very idea of you, before I even met you” or something like that from The Firm

I know as soon as I hit publish, I’ll think of a million others that I love. I’m not quick that way.

(R) Right or Left Handed? Right.

(S) Siblings: younger brother…but thanks to marriage I have another younger brother and now two great sisters in law too.

(T) Time You Wake Up? 7…just in the nick of time. I like having boys, no muss, no fuss. I should get up earlier, but I don’t.

(U) Underwear: What about it? Yes, I wear it. I’ll leave it at that.

(V) Vegetable You Dislike: Gosh, I’m not a big veggie fan, but my husband is amazing in the kitchen and can usually figure out a way to prepare it so I’ll eat it. Raw tomatoes (aren’t those really fruits, though?) and mushrooms are ones I can’t get over, though.

(W) What Makes You Run Late: Um, I have three kids. I once read that you should add 15 minutes for each kid. I rarely am THAT late…but I’m rarely right on time either. It’s annoying to me since I was always early or right on time before I had kids. Sigh.

(X) X-Rays You've Had Done: teeth only until late last year…my first official non dental x-ray was of my knee.

(Y) Yummy Food You Make: I love to bake. I also make a pretty mean meatball.

(Z) Zoo, Favorite Animal: Hmmm…not a huge fan of the zoo. I go because the kids like it. I suppose the giraffes always catch my eye.

There you have it. I’ll be back soon with some run updates and some March kit layouts.

Kristen

february by the numbers

2011-03-02T22:22:00.001-08:00

Another month rolls by…

scrapbook pages: 2 + 2 nearing completion

girls’ weekends: 1 (and the reason the final two pages didn’t get completed on time)

calls from the fire department on my cell phone: 1…on my way to my girls’ weekend, my mom had an accident while caring for the boys. It was a tense 20 minutes while we figured it all out (I was 45 minutes away), but due to great neighbors, awesome close by family, smart thinking kiddos, amazing fire fighters—one who is a friend—and God, who’s hand was all over my family that afternoon…everyone is safe and sound. My mom has 60 stitches courtesy of a plastic surgeon but she’s feeling great.

miles run: 63

long run: 8…on the treadmill! Ick. Weather and kids meant that I ran 46 of my 63 miles this month on the treadmill…what??!?!

ski days: 1 (woot woot to date day with my hubby)

sick days and doctor days: 0 (yay! after last month I had to document the goose egg for this category!)

pounds lost this month: 5 (oh yah, baby!)

inches lost this month: 5.75” overall (nice!)

It was a short month…but February packed a wallop in our house!

Kristen

sneak

2011-02-22T15:40:00.001-08:00

I’m still here…working hard on some layouts with the beautiful March kit. You can see sneak layouts here.

Here’s a snippet of one of mine…loving the blues and greens.

Running wise, I’ve got 4.5 in the books for this week…I have another 12.5 scheduled for this week before I’m off to hang with my favorite girls in a wild snow storm! What do you have on tap this week?

Kristen

on a roll

2011-02-18T15:38:00.001-08:00

Oh My GOSH!

I am feeling so very lucky this week. Well, I’m lucky every day of my life to be healthy and living the life that God has given me…but recently, I feel especially lucky as in ‘I win stuff’ lucky!

First, I won a package of Nikki Silvis stuff from Write.Click.Scrapbook. I haven’t played with her stuff yet, so I’m eagerly waiting for it to arrive!

Then today I see that I won a Polar Activity Monitor from Kara at Mama Sweat! Yay me! I’ve been eyeing different activity monitors lately so I’m so very eager to strap this one on and get a more accurate gauge of my daily activity.

And throw in a little Kit of the Week surprise from Green Tangerines and I’m walking on air! When I design layouts for the store they are used however Kelly and the Creative Crew needs them. This time around they used it as the KOW. I love those kinds of surprises! You can click the link to see the details…here’s the layout that the kit is based on.

I’ll be sure to share my thoughts on my winnings above…can’t wait to try them out!

Have a great weekend…looking forward to my 7 miler (although it may end up on the treadmill…boo) and a ski date with my man (4+ feet in Tahoe, baby…skiing some freshies!)

Kristen

january by the numbers

2011-02-17T07:55:00.000-08:00

How did I miss this? I should have posted this at the beginning of the month. I didn’t. But because I like this series…I’m posting it now to get it recorded!

Scrapbooking Layouts: 7! Yes, friends, I did 7 layouts! You can see them here. Or click on ‘layouts’ on the side bar ----->

Cards: 9. Crazy. My creative mojo decided to join me this month! You can click on ‘cards’ on the side bar ---->

Miles Run: 57.6. Oh yeah baby!

Long Run: 6.2 On the treadmill. Ick. But I pushed through and got it done. I won’t be crossing that Half Marathon finish line if I don’t keep up with my mileage. And the weather can’t stop me…so inside to the treadmill it is.

Days stuck at home with sick kids: 10. Yep. TEN. Either one, two or all three of them were sick on those 10 days in January. I’m grateful that February has gifted us with healthy boys. And SO grateful that Mommy never got it! Knock on wood, right?

Doctor’s Appointments: 6. Between illnesses, follow ups, and previously scheduled appointments we were at one doctor’s office or another 6 times in January. Ugh.

Classes taught: 1. I LOVED this experience of teaching a group of 40 women at Green Tangerines. Can’t wait to do that again!

Ski Days: 1. Boo. The weather definitely cooperated, but our schedules didn’t. I’m currently trying to coordinate another day so we might get one in for February too!

That’s what my January looked like…how about yours?

Kristen

Running Wednesday

2011-02-16T13:49:00.001-08:00

Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve done a running post! Things are still going well…fabulous actually.

I feel great. My knees are holding up (using the straps and working on hip, glute and overall leg strength). And I’m over halfway into my training program. I had a 6 mile long run this past weekend and felt amazing. It’s 7 on tap for me this weekend. I’m up to 4.5 twice a week on my mid week runs. I try to cross train an additional 1-2 days a week and squeeze in 1-2 days of strength training too. I know. It’s a lot of gym time. I really like it right now though, so it works for me.

I ended up signing up for an alternative Half Marathon which is only two weeks later than my originally planned Shamrock. You can read what happened with that here.

I don’t think I ever did a by the numbers post for January, did I? Hmmmm…I’ll have to do that for tomorrow since I had lots of stuff to post! But since I’m talking about running I’ll tell you that I ran 57.6 miles in January…and I’m on pace to beat that for this month.

That is HUGE for me people. I celebrated my Runner-versary in January. I’ve been on this running journey for 1 year now. Wow. (In addition my Half at the end of March, I also signed up for a 5k the first weekend in April…it was my first race last year and I’m going to ROCK a new PR!)

In other running news…

I’m a huge fan of Kristin Armstrong’s writing. She is just so real and I dig authenticity in women. You can check out her blog for Runner’s World here. Anyway, she just announced that her new book is ready to Pre-Order. Yes, please!

Check it out here: Mile Markers: The 26.2 Most Important Reasons Why Women Run If you pre-order you can get it under $10. (BTW…can I somehow order the gams on those gals on the cover too?) Can’t wait to read this book with my Sole Sisters!

And then today I log onto Facebook and see my other favorite running authors post this:

“Some good news for mid-week: Dimity McDowell and Sarah Bowen Shea [will write] TRAIN LIKE A MOTHER, a follow-up to their RUN LIKE A MOTHER, which will comprehensively focus on how to train for a race and cover the importance of strength training and injury prevention, but with the same wit and tone as their first book. (From Publisher's Weekly)”

Yahoo! This book was the one that got me so pumped up at the beginning of my journey as a runner. It is a must-read for those mother runners out there. Actually any runner…but it will be funniest if you are a mom, too.

While you are at it…go follow Sarah and Dimity on Facebook. They post giveaways, mother runner stories and fun questions. It’s a cool community to be a part of. And I know you want to be one of the cool kids, right?

So how is your training coming along? Do you have a race scheduled?

Kristen

february cards #5

2011-02-14T07:29:00.000-08:00

Check out the flickr account to see what the rest of the team has done with this month’s kit!

And the last one that I did…five total! I told you I was card crazy this month!

The funny thing is, it’s a February kit and I didn’t even think to do any Valentine’s Cards with it! This one could pass…love the red and turquoise!

Kristen

february cards #4

2011-02-12T07:29:00.000-08:00

Check out the flickr account to see what the rest of the team has done with this month’s kit!

I liked the business envelope sized card so much I did another one.

I kept to the greens in the kit…that fun vintage-y lace is so cute!

Kristen

february cards #3

2011-02-11T07:29:00.000-08:00

Check out the flickr account to see what the rest of the team has done with this month’s kit!

I got an idea that it would be fun to create a card to fit in a regular business envelope. I don’t know why I didn’t think about it before…it was fun to break out of the mold!

That fun pennant is actually the extra part off of the Sassafrass Lass paper…I love how they include that extra bit with the barcode!

Kristen

february cards #2

2011-02-10T07:28:00.000-08:00

Check out the flickr account to see what the rest of the team has done with this month’s kit!

That polka dot Crate Paper paper was my favorite, I think!

Kristen

february cards #1

2011-02-09T07:28:00.000-08:00

Check out the flickr account to see what the rest of the team has done with this month’s kit!

I really was on a roll with cards with this kit!

Here’s the first…

I added those Cosmo Cricket tiny type letters from my stash. And can you see the pierced faux stitching around the edges?

Kristen

february layout #4

2011-02-08T07:27:00.000-08:00

Check out the flickr account to see what the rest of the team has done with this month’s kit!

This layout you saw if you perused the blog at all during Sneak Week.

It was based on an Allison Davis sketch. Did you know that all the sneak week layouts are based on the same sketch? We thought it would be fun for you to see how versatile sketches can be!

Fun Thickers and mini letters from Basic Grey

Lots of fun October Afternoon stickers and I punched out the 2 from a fun journaling card.

I pulled out my scalloped border…love that punch!

Kristen

february layout #3

2011-02-07T07:27:00.000-08:00

Check out the flickr account to see what the rest of the team has done with this month’s kit!

The ‘b’ side of one of the papers (the blue/yellow polka dot from Crate Paper) was a fun wood grain. I immediately pictured a picture frame in my head.

I hand drew the seam and added the fun brad stickers to simulate the nails.

Here’s that slick writer on the photo again!

Loved the Basic Grey mini letters this month, too!

Kristen

february layout #2

2011-02-05T07:26:00.000-08:00

Check out the flickr account to see what the rest of the team has done with this month’s kit!

This was probably my least favorite layout this month. Just wasn’t feeling it as I was putting it together. It’s not like I just admitted to loving one of my kids less than the others…it’s okay that I wasn’t loving this layout. The memory is documented and it doesn’t have to be perfect.

I did add some detail to the photos by hand drawing little frames around all the photos with my AC slick writer…love that it writes on photos effortlessly. It helped.

Loved this Basic Grey lattice paper…I still have half a sheet…saving it for a fun car layout. With three boys I’m sure to find a use for it soon!

Here’s another shot of those hand drawn details. Simple and yet made a big difference rather than leaving them plain.

Kristen

february layout #1

2011-02-04T07:24:00.000-08:00

Check out the flickr account to see what the rest of the team has done with this month’s kit!

Loved all the vintage colors and fun bits with this kit…

Did I tell you that I’m trying a different approach to my planning? I wasn’t feeling like sitting down, planning out layouts (and sketches) and then sitting on the computer to edit photos. It’s part of what was sucking the mojo out of everything. So I decided to just print a whole bunch of photos. I printed probably 150 photos from the last part of 2008 and 2009. All I did was choose the best of the bunch and only ones that didn’t need editing.

Then I sat down with a group of photos, found the event that best went with the colors I had in the kit and went to town. No sketches! This is quite the departure from me as I have been very sketch heavy in the last few years.

I think making myself look at things differently helped to bring me back creatively. I still am most comfortable with sketches, but for now, this is getting me going.

The kit had these fun sheer journaling blocks and an AC slick writer too. Very fun.

I liked my little departure from the pennants I’ve been doing. And can you see the fun pierced stitching? I’m liking this detail lately.

Kristen

February Sneak Peeks

2011-02-02T07:30:00.000-08:00

Kit Club is in full swing again! Yay!

Here are some sneaks of the four layouts I did this month…

This layout was part of the sneak week on the blog…you can see the whole thing here.

I hadn’t done a pennant in a while…and I did a square twist this time!

Sheer journaling blocks and AC Slick Writer…fun!

Loved the ‘b’ side of the Crate Paper included.

Keep your eye on the blog and flickr account for the full layouts as well as to check out what the rest of the PBD team did. I’ll post mine here once they are released over there.

Kristen

lesson learned

2011-02-01T07:04:00.000-08:00

So I haven’t talked much about my running lately…but I’m still doing it!

I’m in week 7 of a 12 week training program…working towards my first Half Marathon. It’s going great! I started to feel my knee stuff again a few weeks in. Boo. But this time I recognized the signs so I’ve been much nicer to it. Icing, foam rolling and stretching properly. I also had some conversations with my PT friend and she suggested a patellar strap. I just tried it last week…and what a difference.

You’ve seen them. Now, if you’re like me, you question their use. I used to think they were overused. And they probably are. I did not want to go the route of a brace or whatever…I guess it just seemed to me like I could get my body to do what it was supposed to do. But after several months of working on this issue physically and resting and then still having the initial pangs of pain…I was willing to try it.

Funny enough, as soon as I got the left knee acting good, the right starting acting up…so I now am running with two straps. I’m not going to let them be the complete answer to my problems and I’ll still be doing the other things (including some hip strengthening that I’ve been reading might be part of the problem, too)…but for now they are helping me run pain free. And the after effects of a run are less too.

So back to my Half Marathon. I’m on a roll. I just finished up a week where my plan has me running a 5k ‘race’. I didn’t want to actually look for and pay for an actual race so I just ran a local 5k course and tried my hardest. My legs felt like lead and I still PR’d. Go me! This is the same course that I ran for my first 5k back in April and I’ll be running again in April…I’m hoping to shave off even more time!

Then last night I get an email that says the race I had been planning on was SOLD OUT! What?! Now, this wouldn’t be a problem if I had signed up way back when. But, you guessed it, I didn’t. Not sure why…I’m a big procrastinator if you hadn’t guessed already. I’ve been training for it…just hadn’t gone through the motions. Sigh.

Luckily that same friend who delivered the news (who is also deep into her training schedule…hi Amy!) found an alternative just 2 weeks later. I’m looking at it…and I promise I won’t think about it too long. I’m just mourning the idea of my March 13th Shamrock. That and it messes up my April race plans. Not sure I’m really going to be able to run the 12k a week after my first Half. So I’ll probably go back to the 5k…I can’t NOT run in it since it’s my Runner-versary race.

So here’s my lesson learned. When you plan for a race, sign up. Simple as that. Luckily I have my June race paid for…now I need to get the March and April races paid for.

Stay tuned tomorrow for some sneak peeks at my February kit club layouts…

Kristen

cards #4

2011-01-31T07:19:00.000-08:00

Last card of the bunch. This was totally inspired by my blog perusing…just wish I could remember who did it. Boo.

This was probably my favorite of the cards I did this month!

HB = Happy Birthday…or if you are southen cal related then Huntington Beach. Ah…the beach…how I wish I could be laying on one. This winter gloom is getting to me!

I’ll be back soon with some running fun…and then the February kit should be coming up!

Kristen

cards #3

2011-01-29T07:17:00.000-08:00

These last two cards (one tomorrow) used my favorite parts of the kit…all Jillibean!

I punched out squares with a punch and then layered scraps behind the windows. The stitching is totally crooked and off…by accident and yet on purpose. I wanted it to NOT look perfect.

I’m not usually a fan of using a large sticker all by itself…but I’m digging how this one came out.

Kristen

cards #2

2011-01-28T07:14:00.000-08:00

Here’s another…very simple this time. And, yes, Jillibean filled.

I used a paper piercer to poke the faux stitching along all the edges. The Jillibean sticker was mounted on green paper and then pop dotted up just to make it dimensional.

I added the scalloped edge sticker on top of the same paper to give a subtle texture. I kind of like it.

Kristen

kit club cards #1

2011-01-27T07:12:00.000-08:00

I was able to bust out 4 cards with this kit. I had a few ideas saved to my iPhone so I just scrolled through and got inspired!

(I have the Google app on my phone and use it to read all my blogs through Google Reader. When a layout or something inspires me I just save it to my pictures. When I’m feeling like I need inspiration, I scroll through. The bad part of doing this is I’m not keeping track of where the inspiration is coming from. Which means I can’t give credit. I’m honestly not trying to steal your ideas…feel free to give yourself a shout out if you think I was inspired by you! I’ll try to do a better job at keeping track next time)

This one was inspired by a layout. The original designer did a much better job of spacing her circles. And she probably paid better attention to the order in which she laid the circles down so she didn’t have repeating patterns on top of each other. A fact I didn’t notice until it was all glued down. But I still like how it turned out.

You see some of my current favorite…Jillibean in there, don’t you?

Kristen

kit club layout #4

2011-01-26T08:07:00.000-08:00

Here’s the last of the layouts I did with Green Tangerine’s January 2011 kit. I’ll share my cards tomorrow…

This one was way simple. Just some strips of patterned paper and a few Jillibean stickers for good measure.

So what did you do with your January kit? We’d love to see it. Stop by the flikr account to see what else the team came up with!

Kristen

kit club layout #3

2011-01-25T08:02:00.000-08:00

And here is the third layout of the bunch for January 2011

I think this one was my favorite this month!

I love the Jillibean corrugated letters…and the fun mini letters that are on their stickers sheets now.

I did some machine stitching along the outside edges of the layout and the edges of the circles. The circles were tricky, so instead of using the pedal on the machine, I hand cranked the needle. Wow, my hand hurt…but I liked the shape of the stitching so much better when I could control it.

and some Jillibean sprouts too

This layout was a take off on a sketch posted on the CK blog in December.

Stay tuned for the last layout tomorrow…

Kristen

kit club layout #2

2011-01-24T07:50:00.000-08:00

It’s been so long since I posted my first layout that I did with the January 2011 kit…but I actually did three more! Here’s the first…

I was able to finally get some of the last sets of pictures I have from 2008 scrapped with this kit. See? I’m just as behind as a lot of you!

I scanned my hubby’s bib from that day to include on the layout. And who doesn’t love some Jillibean embellishment goodness?!

Quick and simple…or down and dirty I suppose.

Kristen

christmas layout #2

2011-01-22T19:34:00.000-08:00

Here is the second layout from the class I taught last weekend. It’s also based on a sketch from the CK blog.

We did another faux stitch on this…around the border of each piece of cardstock…just handrawn lines with fun little hash marks for interest.

Then we hand drew the ornament lines and used a piercer to poke holes…then stitched with DMC floss. We used a back stitch and they turned out great!

I can see that I’m missing a bow…wonder where that went?

This layout only used two sheets of cardstock, and one double sided piece of Basic Grey…and not even the whole sheet!

We’re kicking around the idea of similar classes for different seasons of the year…what do you think?

Kristen

christmas layout #1

2011-01-21T07:31:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I taught a Christmas catch up class at Green Tangerines. My cute scrappy friend Raimi and I both designed two layouts and then the Creative Crew gathered all the supplies (you rock, girls!) and we taught a group of 40 people the techniques on the layout.

What a whirlwind 2 1/2 hours…but oh so fun!

Here’s a layout from that day:

The techniques on this layout were the blinged out chipboard letters and the faux stitching.

We paper pierced the faux stitching around the journaling block and the edges of the layout itself. You can either use a thumb tack/paper piercer and a ruler or a straight stitching template (I have an old one from Stampin’ Up!) or the quickest way is to run it through your sewing machine without thread!

The journaling was done on the computer and then I cut it into strips and adhered it with glue dots for dimension.

The students in the class blinged out their chipboard letters with glittery embossing powder. Mine were painted and then a layer of red stickles applied…but in interest of time and drying, we opted to emboss instead. Turned out just as cute!

This sketch was from the CK blog…12 days of Christmas.

Kristen

christmas catch up

2011-01-20T10:12:00.001-08:00

Okay, I realize I’ve been missing in action…yet again.

Between the holiday hangovers and weeks upon weeks of sickness (why don’t three little boys all get sick on the same schedule…this one after the other thing is getting old) I haven’t even turned on my computer!

What I have done is scrap though! Shocker!

First up, I’ll share my Christmas cards from this year as promised.

You’ll remember I used the sides of my grocery bag as part of my design…

See? I kept it simple this year. I think I already have another simple idea for next year. I had just about convinced myself to just go with a photo card ordered from Costco and then a friend of mine sent an adorable card and a new idea popped into my head. So much for cutting back on holiday prep time.

When I design my Christmas cards, I always like to make thank you cards for our family. Traditionally I use the boys’ Santa photo and it coordinates with my Christmas card. I don’t know why…I just like that they go together. This was this year’s card…

The stamp is an old one from Stampin’ Up!

Stay tuned for some of the layouts I’ve been working on!

Kristen

remember these?

2011-01-19T19:28:00.001-08:00

Well they are currently still hanging on my wall! LOL. I did put away the nativity scene and all the other Christmas decorations, but I neglected to take these down. Now that it’s coming up on Valentine’s Day decor time…I’m just going to switch them out with heart themed stuff.

The cute lady who designed these signs has come up with an adorable piece of subway art that will look great in one! Go check her out at craftily ever after.

Kristen

another bucket list item

2011-01-12T17:13:00.001-08:00

So last night I got together with some of my sole sisters and watched this:

I love sports documentaries about interesting journeys and this one had it all. If you are unfamiliar, the Hood to Coast relay is a nearly 30 year old relay race that covers 197 miles from Mt. Hood to the Oregon Coast.

The movie followed 4 different teams as they participated in the 2 van, 12 people, 35 stage relay race. I was sitting next to a friend who did it last year (and is already in to do it again this summer) and it was so amazing to see a little of what she experienced. And the stories of the 4 teams…amazing. Inspirational. Hilarious. Tear-jerking.

I’m kind of glad that the lottery is over for this year…or else I’d be freaking out to gather a team together! I think this will have to be a running event that I put on my bucket list…but it also scares the crud out of me.

It was a one time showing all across the nation last night…but I’m sure it will make it’s way to DVD or the small screen soon. I laughed, I cried…and I wanted to get out and run when it finished. Of course, it was 11:30 at night so I didn’t.

Check out the movie here.

Kristen

p.s. If you are one to like documentaries about cool sporty adventures...and you are a skier (or fan)…check out The Edge of Never. It’s a few years old, but we stumbled upon it for the second time last week and got sucked in again. Emotional coming of age stories about 15 year olds tackling insane mountains with ski mountaineering legends (think Glen Plake) are our kind of thing. :)

christmas photo catch up anyone?

2011-01-07T12:18:00.001-08:00

Looking for a way to get FOUR layouts of Christmas photos finished?

Green Tangerines is having a catch up class on January 15th from 10-12:30. The cost is $25 and you have to call the store to sign up: 916-771-8010.

p.s. The cuties on the kraft and green layouts are mine. The other cuties are Raimi’s. :)

Kristen

resolutions...

2011-01-04T03:14:00.000-08:00

I’m not one to make resolutions. In my world, they tend to get broken or I forgot about them around January 15th.

But with my new found love of running, I have proven to myself that having a fitness related goal is necessary for me to make some movement in my life.

First, it was to start running using a Couch to 5k program. Check. First day was January 8, 2010. Next, complete that 5k. Check. Run Rocklin in April, 2010. Then…Half Marathon before I turn 40. Still working on this one. My cranky knee got in the way in October so it turned into a run-walk 5k.

So…this one is still my elusive goal. Call it a resolution if you want.

Are you hoping to run in 2011? It’s so do-able! Check out my posts on running in 2010 and you’ll see how I did it (and can check out the re-caps of my running journey). Just click running in my sidebar -------->

And go enter this giveaway. You can thank me later.

Then there are the jiggly parts. Honestly, I haven’t lost many pounds this year of running. A few here and then a few gained there. It all evened out for the most part. But I know I am stronger. And I know things fit differently and I have lost inches. But I still have a ways to go.

I’m guessing you might too. That seems to be the way we are in today’s society. But that doesn’t mean we have to accept it!

I’m trying to do it smart. Eat less sugar and processed foods. Eat more veggie and fruits. It’s a process…and my sugar addiction doesn’t like it. Too bad.

To help me jump start on this next step I’m thinking about joining a challenge at Green Tangerines. You can too! There are scrappy prizes and CASH to be earned. You don’t have to be local, but you do have to stick with it for 12 weeks..and document your journey. Check it out: biggestloserchallenge

Kristen

2010 by the numbers

2011-01-03T13:45:00.001-08:00

I thought I’d close out 2010 with a full year of numbers…

Miles Run: 391 (I started running on January 8th of 2010)

Longest Run: 12.5 miles…my knee gave out when I was on my 14 mile training run…and I never got to my Half Marathons…bring it on 2011!

Races: Six. Four 5ks, Two 10ks

Blog Posts: 85. Wow…didn’t even expect that.

Layouts: ?? I didn’t really keep track. I know I’ve done 11 since I started keeping track here. I’m pretty sure the beginning of the year wasn’t much better than that. I’m pretty safe in thinking it was more like 20 for the year. Not bad. But not good for this scrapbooking mom!

In 2011 I have the following already planned:

Running: 2 Half Marathons (Shamrock and Seattle Rock and Roll) and a 12k (RunRocklin…this was my first 5k last year but I feel like I want to tackle the 12k this year). We’ll probably repeat a 10k (Miner’s Ravine in September) and 5k (Turkey Trot) that we loved. We’ll see what else strikes my fancy. I also think I’ll top 500 miles…that’s a conservative guess.

Those are all the promises I’ll make. After a year of creative mojo missing and crazy life…I can’t make any scrapbooking or blogging promises. But I do promise to check in here and there.

Oh! One more thing…I’m turning 40 this year!!! YIKES!

Kristen

december by the numbers

2010-12-31T07:21:00.000-08:00

Wow…December 31st! That’s crazy!

Here’s my December by the numbers…

Miles: 31 (not the greatest month, but considering I didn’t work out at all last December…I’m happy!)

Longest Run: 4 at a faster pace than I have before…looks like it’s time to bump up my treadmill runs. I’m running much fast outside when I do.

Blog posts: 8, including this one. Lagger.

Scrapbook Layouts: 1 complete, 5 in progress…wow.

Christmas Cards: 125+ done. whew.

December was crazy…as I know it was for all of us. I feel glad to be out of it…but wondering where 2010 went.

What will 2011 bring?

Kristen

they’re back

2010-12-30T12:04:00.001-08:00

Yes, I know that I’ve been MIA. Sorry, holidays got the best of me this year. I’ll update some of my promised posts soon (final Christmas card included)

But first…Green Tangerines Kit Club is back! Go to their blog for all the details: here.

And here are some sneaks from my first layout with the January kit. You can see the full layout here. (scroll down and check out all the great examples…using the same sketch!)

Lots of Jillibean goodness in this kit!

Love me some striped goodness…and sprouts…and stickers!

But the corrugated letters are my favorite!

Stay tuned for more layouts from this kit as well as some sneaks from a new class at Green Tangerines!

Kristen

visiting santa

2010-12-22T06:40:00.000-08:00

Hey guys…let’s go visit Santa!

But first can we take a brother picture?

Uh, maybe not. Biggest brother is angry…he always has to be in charge and this really wasn’t his idea. Littlest brother is mad…he wanted to be in the middle. Middle brother just likes to smile his cheesy smile. Sigh…we’ll try again.

We get to the mall. It’s a weekday afternoon (last week) around 4. No one should be there right? Uh, wrong. An hour line. My kids are dressed, they are ready to tell Santa their wish lists. I decide to power on and try to keep them occupied. For angry 9 year old that means allowing him to walk laps in the mall, much to the annoyance of his brothers who aren’t allowed to leave the line. It also means an eventual $10 bribe (all I had in my wallet) in order to get said 9 year old to behave. Of course, I had to do this in secret or else I would have had to give THREE $10 bribes. Sigh.

A brother picture after 20 minutes in line…not too shabby. Love the guns little brother.

Thank goodness for the iphone and YouTube. Classic Christmas Cartoons anyone? Why doesn’t the mall have wireless for free? I’m spending a gagillion dollars on a silly santa picture. They could at least let me mooch off their network for a bit.

A maybe spend a little time posing. Not sure why…but it kept him entertained for a few minutes as long as I took pictures of every pose.

I’m eavesdropping to make sure that all the things they told me they were telling him were really what he told them. LOL

After all that? Success. Well, kind of. Not sure where they were all looking…but I’ll take it. It’s the first year they all smiled, no one was crying and they all talked to Santa.

Will we be able to do it next year? I’m wondering how much longer biggest brother will go with it (and I can’t afford a $20 bribe!)

Hope you are taking time to enjoy the magic of the season this week.

Kristen

the best sugar cookies

2010-12-20T07:37:00.000-08:00

Ever.

Ever. Ever. Ever.

Have you stumbled upon the show called America’s Test Kitchen on PBS? Or the magazine Cook’s Illustrated? Oh goodness…you must check them out. They are worth the price (PBS shows are free). And the online membership to access their recipes is so worth it too!

I was recently invited to a cookie swap. Bake 75 of your best holiday cookie and bring them in sets of 5. We then swapped cookies and I came home with 75 delicious cookies baked by other people. Best idea ever around the holidays!

There were several kiddos in the families that had nut allergies so I couldn’t share some of my favorites (I’ll have to share my all time favorite with you next week!). So I started thinking what I could bring.

In comes Cook’s Illustrated. Last month’s issue had Chewy Sugar Cookies. So I made a tester batch. Perfection.

BTW…loved making a tester batch. I was able to work out the kinks AND my family got to enjoy some while I worked on the actual bounty for the party.

Here’s the recipe with my notes:

Chewy Sugar Cookies

Makes 2 dozen cookies. Published November 1, 2010 in Cook’s Illustrated.

The final dough will be slightly softer than most cookie dough. For the best results, handle the dough as briefly and gently as possible when shaping the cookies. Overworking the dough will result in flatter cookies.

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups (11 1/4 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon table salt

1 1/2 cups (10 1/2 ounces) sugar , plus 1/3 cup for rolling

2 ounces cream cheese , cut into 8 pieces

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter , melted and still warm

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 large egg

1 tablespoon milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl. Set aside. (Kristen’s note: I did not use parchment paper, just my non stick cookie sheets. I also used both oven racks as close to middle position as I could get with room to use them both)

Place 1½ cups sugar and cream cheese in large bowl. (Place remaining 1/3 cup sugar in shallow baking dish or pie plate and set aside. ) Whisk cream cheese pieces in with sugar until finely crumbled.

Pour warm butter over sugar and cream cheese and whisk to combine (some small lumps of cream cheese will remain but will smooth out later).

Whisk in oil until incorporated. Add egg, milk, and vanilla; continue to whisk until smooth.

Add flour mixture and mix with rubber spatula until soft homogeneous dough forms.

(Kristen’s note: put away your Kitchen Aid for this recipe…it’s all with the whisk and spatula…and totally worth it!)

Divide dough into 24 equal pieces, about 2 tablespoons each (or use #40 portion scoop…I used a overflowing Tablespoon). Using hands, roll dough into balls.

Working in batches, roll balls in reserved sugar to coat and evenly space on prepared baking sheet, 12 dough balls per sheet. Using bottom of drinking glass, flatten dough balls until 2 inches in diameter.

Sprinkle tops evenly with 4 teaspoons of sugar remaining in shallow dish (2 teaspoons per tray), discarding any remaining sugar. (Kristen’s note: colored sugar is a festive addition during the holidays. Of course, I didn’t think about that until I was half way through the 75)

Bake, 1 tray at a time, until edges are set and just beginning to brown, 11 to 13 minutes, rotating tray after 7 minutes. Cool cookies on baking sheets 5 minutes. Using wide metal spatula, transfer cookies to wire rack and cool to room temperature.

(Kristen’s note: I did bake the two trays at the same time. I did only put 6 cookies on each tray so that I could space them…no overlapping of cookies on my watch. I swapped position in the oven at the 7 minute mark. Also, pay close attention because as soon as they are barely browning on the edge, they are done. Even a minute longer means a crispy, rather than chewy cookie.)

Next week I’m going to try their Classic Cut Out cookies with the boys. I’ll let you know how those turn out too.

Kristen

happy birthday

2010-12-19T07:38:00.000-08:00

…to you? maybe.

…to Jesus? well, yes, of course.

But a few weeks back was a friends birthday and I made a fun card and forgot to share it.

(Forgive the photos…wasn’t paying attention to the lighting and realized after I had already given her the card…too late!)

I used left overs from my Teresa Collins birthday layout here.

I cut the pennants from the patterned paper that had them already printed…convenient!

Then I pierced them and hand stitched using embroidery floss. Time consuming but I liked the outcome.

The shiny one is actually a transparency layered on top of the pennant.

Love those little letters by MLS!

Kristen

keep calm and…

2010-12-17T07:34:00.000-08:00

…decorate your house?

I’ve been quite calm about the onset of Christmas here in my home. Seriously, it’s taking me weeks to get things up. And I love the look after it’s done, not sure why I’m dragging it out so long.

I finally put up those adorable signs I talked about previously.

I bought cheap frames/mats from Wal Mart (hello, $5) and put them up. This previously was the home of a large canvas family photo. Not sure what it will hold after the holidays. I’m also thinking it’s time to update the little table…a bit dated, no? That’s okay, dated is my decorating theme apparently. LOL

After I took the picture I realized that I am missing the other set of stars…got to go look for those. And also after the picture, my boys were light sabering and the wise man on the end got the brunt of it…four pieces and some super glue later he’s no worse for the wear if you don’t look closely. Dang it! I LOVE my Willow Tree Nativity scene and haven’t had it up in a few years because of said three boys. I thought maybe we were safe this year. Oh well.

Ack! I just found that link to the figures and remembered that I didn’t get out the angel either! Sheesh! I have to go hunt those two pieces down.

What is your favorite piece of decor during the holidays?

Kristen

easy wrap

2010-12-15T23:26:00.001-08:00

Remember when I said I was inspired by the grocery store?

Well I did use them on my Christmas cards (post to follow next week)…and I also used them for some easy wrap for my teacher gifts.

I was able to get them coin purses and matching lanyards from one of my favorite stores. (on sale…sahweeeet).

I packaged them up in some old plastic boxes I had. I have had these forever in my stash. I bought them eons ago to hold notecard and envelope sets. I wish I could link you…but I have no idea where I got them.

I cut a strip of the paper bag and wrapped it around the box, tied a big grosgrain bow and crafted a quickie tag from the extra paper and prints left over from our Christmas cards.

After I took this picture I added a Thicker initial for each teacher.

Viola! Simple, easy and cute.

Are you ready for the holidays? I’m drowning…but it’s going to get done!

Kristen

october by the numbers

2010-12-01T15:33:00.001-08:00

(ETA...HAHAHAHAHAHA...is anyone else wondering where the year has gone? I'm so far off...this should be NOVEMBER by the numbers!!!! Ack! It's December 1st!!!)

Apparently I can’t start and continue anything this year (12 on the 12th anyone?) But this one is easy…so here you go…
Running:

Miles: 42 (with little to no knee pain…woot woot)
Longest Run: 4.7 on the treadmill
Races: 1 5k (with a new PR!)

Blogging:

Posts: 14 (5 Running, 5 Scrap related and 4 random…who says I don’t offer something for everyone?)

Scrapbooking:

Um, never mind. But December is going to be a good month…stay tuned for some fun stuff…as in a little birdie told me that a certain kit club is getting back on it’s feet…

That’s all I can think of to share…how was your ~~October~~ November?
Kristen

this made me laugh

2010-11-30T00:07:00.000-08:00

I just saw this here. It’s the first time I’d seen it and I loved it immediately. In a world where tiny little bodies are put on pedestals…I prefer bodies with some meat on them. How about you?

(Of course, that’s not to say that I wouldn’t prefer a little less meat on mine. But I prefer healthy looking, athletic bodies…just saying).

Kristen

enabling for free…

2010-11-29T11:59:00.001-08:00

I think I have my Christmas cards figured out…woot woot! I just need to do a little tweaking and printing and then assemble. SIMPLE. SIMPLE. SIMPLE. Yay me!

And I just found these…(via this blog—Celeste always shares the best free printables!)

(click on the picture or here)

and this one…my favorite…

(again, click on the picture to get to the download)

And I think she has a third one on the way. She does the CUTEST set of three frames in her dining room…see here…for the holidays. I just discovered her blog and you can be sure I’ll be wasting some free time there soon.

I’m thinking I might not do the large 8x10 but rather take a three holed 4x6 frame and set them on the entry way table. Hmmmm…we’ll see…

Kristen

turkey trot re-cap

2010-11-26T14:48:00.001-08:00

Let me just start with this: Woot Woot! PR, baby!

I’m so thankful for my parents…they are amazing grandparents and willingly took my crazy boys overnight AND cooked the turkey so that hubby and I could have a little date run on Thanksgiving morning.

I’m grateful that the weather was clear and sunny. No rain. BUT…man, oh man, this Southern Cal girl (and the boy too) was not loving the just shy of 40 degrees at start time. Thankful for my Nike Stay Warm Mock Turtle neck and a pair of knit gloves and an old ski headband. Obviously I need to up my game in cold weather running gear. I’m thinking long running tights might be in my future…my capris weren’t quite enough.

But once we started running I felt much better. And actually by mile 2 I was almost too hot. If I had been running the 10k I might have actually had to take the top layer off. Sigh…my body doesn’t like temperature extremes. LOL

The course was the same that we ran on Memorial Day. It has a few hills here and there. In May we both weren’t expecting the hills (even though I had run the course before I hadn’t thought about the hills for some reason). But this time we knew what to expect…so much easier to talk yourself through the mental low points when you know what is coming next.

Let me also remind you that I haven’t really run…without walking…in several months. I took the whole month of October off and November has been all about building back up slowly.

So I hit the pavement with a little bit of trepidation. I decided I would just start running…watching my pace carefully so I wouldn’t over do it. And if my knee balked, I would walk as needed. It was crazy crowded with families, dogs, strollers, walkers, kids, you name it. Don’t get me wrong…I was kind of sad I didn’t pack up the family and do it together. But at the same time…I didn’t. So I wanted to run. Once I dodged a few kids running crazy back and forth, I kind of settled into a rhythm.

At the water station I walked through and started running again as soon as I tossed my cup. My pace was where I was hoping. By about mile 2.5 I had a little bit of mental breakdown…like I needed a break…but really my body didn’t need one. My knee, while cranking out during the first mile was warm and doing fine. But I walked any way. After about 15 seconds I said ‘what am I doing?’ and picked up the pace again. When I looked at my watch and realized I was close to a big PR, I picked it up again. Then I walked. What is it with this mental game. LOL. Finally I picked it back up and booked it to the finish line, emptying my tank.

And my watch said I had a personal record! We waited to see if we could get the official results, but they were having trouble with their printouts so I had to check it out online. And later that day it was official. We both had new PRs for the 5k by over a minute each!

And my knee? No pain…it is kind of sore though. I’ve been very nice to it with stretching, foam rolling and icing. I’m supposed to start ramping it up for my Half Marathon in about three weeks…so I’ll be watching it closely.

But for today…I’m feeling that Runner’s High! LOVE IT!

Kristen

happy thanksgiving

2010-11-25T07:18:00.000-08:00

I hope you are all enjoying your day with family and giving thanks for all the blessings we have in our lives!

Hubby and I are running a 5k this morning. It’s supposed to be in the high 30s/low 40s at race time. I’m not so sure about that! Ack…that’s cold for this SoCal girl!

I’ll hopefully be back this weekend with some (iPhone) pictures and a report. It’s my first real run since my October 5k…I’ve been building back up on the treadmill, so we’ll see how this goes.

I have some goals in my head…but in reality I’m hoping just to enjoy the morning and cross the finish line without any pain in my knee!

Then it will be back home to get the house ready for family. We’re hosting…5 cousins under 9 get a little rowdy, so it’s good to have it at a house that is already trashed from 3 boys!

Kristen

math is fun…

2010-11-24T03:44:00.000-08:00

What? Math is FUN? Yep.

Many of you might not know that in my previous life, I was an elementary school teacher. I taught 2nd grade for 4 years and 4th for 2 years before having our firstborn and leaving the classroom to help primary grade teachers with their math program. I gave demonstration lessons and did staff development. I LOVED that job. But I loved my baby boy more and we decided that after 1 1/2 years of part time work, it was time to stay home with my boy full time.

What does that have to do with anything? I promise it wasn’t extraneous information but rather my ‘credentials’ for the following information.

Math can be fun!

And today I found a fun tool to help you make it fun.

Today at the Dollar Tree I found these Jumbo Foam Dice. So many possibilities for fun with these babies. Not the least of which is MATH.

Do you have a youngster working on one-to-one correspondence? (an important skill…rote counting is just counting 1-2-3-4-5 without attaching it to anything. One-to-one correspondence means they can point at something and count it one by one. This is a concrete skill whereas rote counting is just memorizing which number comes next). Have them roll the dice and count the dots.

Your kiddo a bit more advanced? Move on to addition…adding the two numbers from the dice together.

Next step…subtraction…subtract the smaller number from the larger number.

Need bigger numbers? Add the numbers from one roll and then add/subtract the sum of the next roll.

Third grader? Multiply the numbers. (Division is a little bit harder to work out using the limited numbers on the dice…)

The possibilities are endless. Well, you are limited to the numbers 1-6…but you get what I mean.

Math can be fun and the kids hardly know that they are working on automaticity of the facts (knowing addition/subtraction/multiplication facts without counting).

That was my public service for the day. :)

Kristen

p.s. I tried to find them on the Dollar Tree website, but they weren’t there. If you google them, you’ll see that all sorts of places carry them…but mine were only $1 a pack! Oriental Trading Company has some in packs…go in with a friend and get everyone some!

inspired…

2010-11-23T13:34:00.001-08:00

…at the grocery store?

My Christmas cards have been in the back of my mind for a few weeks. A lot of you already have them planned, executed and ready to mail. Whatever. Overachievers. :)

I’ve been handmaking our cards for over 10 years. Every year I wonder why I got myself into it. But 12 months later I’m planning the torture again. LOL. I can’t NOT do it.

So last year I attempted to simplify—and my simple design had way too many time consuming details. I couldn’t help myself.

(front)

I spent way too many evenings assembling them—while I could hear my family playing in the other room. It’s not how I wanted to spend my time during an already crazy, busy season. So I said NO MORE. I even blogged about it…saying I would order photo cards instead…gasp! (Not that there is anything wrong with photo cards. Photos are my favorite part of Christmas cards…but there is something in MY crazy head that says the cards coming from me just have to be a bit more. I know, get over it!)

(back)

After the craziness passed I knew I’d still do it in 2010. But I promised myself SIMPLE!

No stitching (a signature detail in the past several years)
No rhyming (I gave up on that several years back)
No detailed letter (does anyone really have time to hear all of that?)
No over the top cutting, piecing, piercing or hand drawn details.

So here I am…2010. My cards need to go out in the next couple of weeks. I’ve had ideas floating in my head…but I’ve vetoed them…not simple enough.

Then today, I’m pulling my groceries out of the car and the side of the paper bag caught my eye.

(if you’re local, these are the holiday bags from Raley’s/Bel Air)

Now, I still don’t have a design in my head…but these green dots got me excited.

I love kraft (as evidenced by last year’s card). And the simple green dots on the kraft? Yum.

So I cut the side panels off my bags and they are sitting on my desk for inspiration.

I’m happy because…

My color scheme is chosen.
They were ‘free’.
They are being re-used…how very green of me.
Re-using them makes up (a tiny bit) for the fact that I keep forgetting my re-usable bags in the car…grrrrrrr

I know they are going to have to be distressed somehow (probably crumpled) since there are creases and dents in them already.

But today I was inspired…at the grocery store!

Kristen

monday musings

2010-11-15T16:48:00.001-08:00

So I know I’ve been hit or miss with the ole bloggy lately. Sorry. I really have no excuses. I only mention it because I want you to know that I know that you know…

And what is on my mind this lovely fall day? Nothing too earth shattering…

I’ve been running on the treadmill lately…yay me! I’ve been keeping a training log at dailymile. My profile name is KristenW if you want to friend me there. I’m nearly up to 20 miles…no great mileage but pretty cool after being off for a month and not having put in great miles for over a month prior to that. Debating a 5k with the hubby for Thanksgiving morning. Looking forward to ramping up the training starting in December for my first Half Marathon in March. And thinking hard about taking a running getaway for my birthday weekend in June (it will be my big 4-0 so I want to make it something extra memorable!).

I’ve GOT to spend some time editing some pictures and planning some layouts. There are some fun things happening out there in scrapbook land and I am just watching from the outside…sigh.

Wondering when I’ll get the fire lit under my behind to start my Christmas shopping. First up would be providing the grandparent units with some lists. My boys have extremely generous grandparents on all sides…so grateful for that. But the level of “I want” this time of year in my house is driving me nuts. We are working on being grateful for what we have and finding ways to cut back on the level of STUFF in the house.

I just started reading this book. I have high hopes for improvement of my running form so that I can simultaneously make running even more enjoyable and avoid further injury breaks. Coming back to running after an injury is great…but I’m planning the mental game of not wanting to hurt myself again. I’ve heard great things about this book…and the first chapter has me very intrigued!

I’m also reading this book. It’s a daily devotional with great writings from the author coupled with related passages from the bible. It’s wonderfully organized for someone who thinks their day is ‘too busy’ to spend time with God. I actually have a copy of the book upstairs and downstairs

as well as the app on my iPhone, so there are no excuses. I highly recommend it…both the book and/or the app.

So those are my Monday afternoon musings…what are yours?

Kristen

heads up runners…

2010-11-05T18:58:00.001-07:00

Um…seriously…this is my favorite piece of running equipment:

And it comes in green too…want one?

Go here and enter in the contest to win one (ends Sunday). If I win…I would probably choose the green and give my black away here or choose the bike one he has as an option. Hmmmmmm

And if you are reading this on or before Saturday, November 6…head on over to Lucy. 30% off your whole purchase. Happy Birthday to us from Lucy!

This is on my wishlist…

And this too…

We have a busy, busy day tomorrow but I’m hoping I can pop in there and they will have my sizes! :)

Happy Weekend…

Kristen

october by the numbers

2010-11-05T14:10:00.001-07:00

I guess since it’s actually November 5th, I owe you an October by the numbers…

RUNNING:

So I hesitate to even put this in the mix. You know that I was taking a break due to my knee issues. But I did run a 5k at the beginning of the month. AND…I ran .5 miles at my last PT appointment (October 21). Since I got the all clear from PT AND that .5 miles produced no pain…I hopped on the treadmill the next day and did a run/walk (2 minutes/3 minutes) for an hour…3 miles later I was feeling sore…but not pain. Good sign. But I had promised myself to stay off of it for the full month of October. So I waited until October 30th for my next test. (I know, I have a hard time sticking to self imposed rest). Another run/walk hour and another 3 miles later. A good stretch, a session with my foam roller and an ice pack for good measure. Guess what? No pain. Yipppee! Long story to say… nearly 10 miles for October!

Race: 1 5k

Longest Run: 3.1

Physical Therapy Appointments: 4 and I was cleared…

SCRAPBOOKING…

Layouts Completed: 2 (I had 3 planned…one is still sitting there…completed layouts here and here)

Layouts in progress: 1…with some in my head…there are some things out there right now

LIFE…

World Series Games: 1 (yes, I’m still high from the experience)

and lots and lots of days with my boys. The hubs has been traveling a lot for work this past month…and the holidays are approaching, which mean longer hours for him. We just buckle in and enjoy the ride as best we can.

Pounds lost: 2…but I haven’t measured myself this month yet. I was doing really well with my eating and then Halloween came along. I have no willpower when it comes to sugar. I must get the rest of it out of my house!!

Here’s to November…cooler weather, more runs, less sugar and time with family.

Kristen

i play dress up too

2010-11-04T03:50:00.000-07:00

and to prove it…

When I was a teacher, we used to dress up each year. As a mom, I don’t do it that often.

One year, I was working in Jacob’s class so I pulled out one of my old costumes. He LOVED it. So I wore it trick or treating that year too.

Sorry, best picture I could come up with for 2007…Alice in Wonderland with my three little spidermen…

This year they asked again…so I told them I could be Alice in Wonderland or I had a Snow White costume in my closet too. The vote was Snow White.

(Side note…when I taught I was in Room 7. My school decided to have a themed Halloween…dress up the whole class as your favorite literary characters. My students chose to be Dwarfs…as in Snow White and the Dwarfs. I had a few talented moms help to sew boot covers and felt hats, we made cotton ball beards. It was so cute. As a surprise, I changed into my Snow White at lunch and went to pick up the kids after recess. It actually took them a minute to realize that I was their teacher!! We rocked the Halloween parade as “Snow Worden and the Room 7 Dwarves” Get it?)

This takes more effort since I have to actually put makeup on or I look like a freak with the black wig on!

And here we all are at the same house…three years later!

Sam doesn’t have to be carried anymore (although he begs for it…he’s such the baby of the family!! And by that I don’t mean that he is a baby…but that he likes to milk it!!), he actually says Trick or Treat and thank you (along with a long diatribe about who he and his brothers are dressed up as). My boys are growing up!

We started a new tradition this year. The “Switch Witch”. I know a lot of you already do it or something like it, but for some reason I hadn’t tried it. It worked like a charm…and my kids are already talking about it for next year.

Here’s the deal. I let them each pick out 20 of their favorite candies and pour the rest into a big bag. They got to pick out one more to eat that night. (Yes, they are totally satisfied with that one…didn’t even bat an eye or scream for more). The 20 favorites go in a ziplock with their name on it for after school treats over the next few weeks. The big bag of others are for the Switch Witch. I told them that after they were in bed and all the trick or treaters were done, we would put the bag on the porch. The Switch Witch comes and night and collects the candy and leaves them a present. My boys said “just like the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus”…exactly!

In reality Daddy took the bag to work so that Mommy and Daddy didn’t eat it while sitting on the couch at night. And so the kids can’t beg and beg for weeks and weeks for just one more piece of candy!

Of course, I had planned ahead and purchased $10 items that I knew they would love. J-boy (aka Harry Potter) got a Harry Potter Lego, T-man (aka Red Power Ranger) got a jumbo set of skinny markers and S-bam (aka Woody) got a Toy Story 3 Lego set. Nothing over $10. Now, I’m aware this just cost me more money…but it’s saving me on the sugar high and crappy feelings after inhaling it all.

I took their trick or treat bags and put the gifts in there and then hung them from the banister. When they woke up this morning and came downstairs, the big bag of candy was gone (in Dad’s car) and the gifts were there. They were over the top excited.

Totally doing that again next year!!

Kristen

framed

2010-11-03T03:19:00.000-07:00

By request…

A few years back, Kelly at the store wanted a few of us to make sample frames for the store. I had mine sit on my desk for a while…just couldn’t come up with an idea.

Finally I decided to just play around with my acrylic paints and Crackle Medium. It took me a while, but I loved how it turned out.

It was on display for a while and when she had to close earlier this year, I was able to put it in my living room! Now that she’s re-opened, she can’t get the frames anymore…so it stays on my wall. Yay me! :)

Here’s how I did it. I wish I had photographed the steps…but I didn’t think about it at the time…sorry.

The frame was pressed board…flat, no wood grain to it at all.

I painted the whole thing a dark chocolate brown…just using regular Apple Barrel or similar acrylic paint. Let it dry completely.

Then slather a layer of Crackle Medium. It’s in the same area of the store (JoAnn’s, Michael’s) as the acrylic craft paints. Let that dry completely.

Then I painted over it with a cream colored acrylic paint. Again, Apple Barrel or the like.

I wasn’t thrilled with it…so I did another layer of Crackle Medium and Cream.

Told you this took forever. You have to let each layer completely dry or the new layer starts peeling up the tacky layer.

Anyway, I still wasn’t thrilled it. So I took a hammer to it and started making dents and scratches to make it even more distressed. Still not what I thought in my head.

Finally I went and bought some water based walnut stain. I painted it all over the frame and rubbed the excess off with a rag. It was getting better…

The last step did it for me…STEEL WOOL! I rubbed the frame (after the stain was completely dry). It took off the look of the brush marks, smoothed out the roughness of the distressing and really polished it up.

Finally…

I have gotten so many complements on this frame! Just for the record, I don’t think I needed that second application of Crackle Medium and cream paint. It was the stain and steel wool that did what I wanted it to.

These are all old supplies: Jenni Bowlin stickers and polka paper, Teresa Collins notebook paper, October Afternoon stripes, American Crafts Thickers, spiral notebook and file tab punches.

The House Rules were from a friend of mine…here is the full list:

House Rules

Always be honest Proverbs 12:22

Count your blessings Psalms 34:1-3

Bear each other’s burdens Galatians 6:2

Forgive and forget Micah 7:18

Be kind and tender hearted Ephesians 4:32

Comfort one another I Thessalonians 4:18

Keep your promises Romans 4:21

Be supportive of one another Acts 20:35

Be true to each other Revelations 15:3

Look after each other Deuteronomy 15:11

Treat each other like you treat your friends Matthew 7:12But most important, love one another deeply from the heart I Peter 1:22

Don’t you love it?

Kristen

once in a lifetime, part 2

2010-11-02T03:01:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I shared about our Once in Lifetime World Series experience…

Forgot to share this one (also from the iphone) yesterday. Hubby kept neutral with a black shirt and a Long Beach Dirtbags hat…

Except it was our SECOND time going to the World Series. Yep, crazy!

Layout from 2002…probably a BH sketch…

In 2002 we were still living in the LA area. Hubby came home with tickets to Game 2 of the series. (He wasn’t the big boss back then and so it was a nice surprise when the CEO gave him tickets).

Our oldest was only 14 months at the time. All of the grandparents were out of town that day…what?!? So we decided it was something we would risk and brought him with us.

How many people can say they’ve been to the World Series? J-boy can say he has!

I told you how we were both raised huge Dodger fans. In 2002 it was the Angels. The ‘other’ team in LA. (Don’t be freaking out if you are an Angel fan…my family actually split their allegiance and went to both games…it wasn’t until I married that Dodger blue seemed to rule out).

Making Memories Rub ons and metal piece

Of course, we had to dress the part back then too.

And Angel’s stadium is pretty killer too. But they lost that night and we had a 14 month old with us…so our memory of the energy that night isn’t as electric as the Giants game the other night. It still was pretty exciting!!

Rusty Pickle Rub Ons…1 2 3, Making Memories rub ons

The visiting team that night?

The San Francisco Giants! How crazy is that?!? Now I’m starting to think maybe we were destined to be Giants fans.

(ducking the rotten tomatoes being thrown my way from LA!)

Kristen

once in a lifetime

2010-11-01T14:43:00.001-07:00

…and I’m still high from it!

Last week the hubs called and said he got tickets…TICKETS, people! That’s World Series Tickets, my friends.

all pictures are from my iphone…didn’t want to lug my big camera

He had been getting tickets to the playoffs through work, but being the good boss that he is, he was giving them ALL to employees. He promised me National League Pennant tickets…but then he was away for work for all the games in San Francisco. So when the Giants made it to the big show I just gave him the look.

Monday morning he wasn’t quite sure if they would even get Series tickets. (He works for a sporting goods store and the tickets come from vendors, etc).

Then Monday afternoon I got a call… “Let’s Go Giants!” Oh yeah.

After making sure that grandma and grandpa could help out with the boys and juggling the day…we were set for a Thursday evening in the city! (I’ll spare you the crazy details of the morning, but it included an early morning accident for Jacob that ended in derma-glue…thank goodness no stitches…suffice it to say, it just added to the excitement of the day!)

We drove about 1 1/2 hours to the BART station in the East Bay and hopped on. Seriously, best decision ever. Driving in the city can be a nightmare…and on a night like that, it would have been a big old headache. I found a GREAT app…iBART…and it worked like a charm in planning out the trip while we were still driving.

(I’ll leave out the details of forgetting my phone charger and realizing that I had 1/4 battery left…not good. Thankfully we needed to make a potty stop so I ran in and bought a new charger!)

Off at Embarcadero and they were so organized with a Muni table all set up to pay for round trip Muni train tickets to the stadium. It literally left us off right across the street from AT&T Park. LOVED it! (Side note…as we pulled up to the stop, there was a HUGE crowd…and we caught a glimpse why. Hello, Joe Montana…gotta love SF!)

We sadly missed the National Anthem (I found out later it was sung by Lady Antebellum…love them…so sad I missed it) and the jet flyover because we were in line at willcall. It was crazy to see people in line trying in vain to purchase tickets (even though the signs all said sold out…duh!). And then to hear the heartbreaking stories of people who had bought tickets off Craigslist only to find out they were bogus! Ugh.

Finally we got to our seats…Club Level. Woot Woot!

Yep, that’s me in Orange! My friends down south will all gag…my brother in law may disown me, but I wore a Giants shirt! When in Rome…

(If you’re confused, let me tell you…we were born and raised in the LA area…Dodger Town. My parents are diehard Dodger fans. Hubby’s brother and grandma bleed Dodger blue. Until now, we had never been to a baseball game that wasn’t a Dodger or Angel game. The Dodgers and Giants are big time rivals. Dodger fans are not supposed to be wearing orange and cheering on the Giants. Oh well…)

This was probably one of the best date nights of my life. The energy in the stadium was electric! AT&T Park ROCKS…it’s on the smaller side (in relation to what we were used to at Dodger Stadium and the big A in Anaheim) but that made it so intimate. The crowd was beyond amped and it wasn’t hard at all to get into the groove of cheering for Orange and Black!

At one point the Journey song “Lights” came on…when the lights go down in the city, and the moon shines on the bay…the whole crowd was singing…all of the sudden you look at the jumbo tron and Steve Perry was leading the crowd. He was sitting not too far away (albeit in a box). Such a cool feeling to be a part of that.

It only added to the night that the Giants ROCKED the house with incredible pitching and bats that were ON FIRE. The Eighth inning will go down in my memory as one of the most exciting innings I have ever witnessed.

Hard to tell with my iphone pic…but that’s Brian Wilson warming up…the Beard guy if you aren’t a big fan…you know, Fear the Beard. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, google it. LOL

We came home with Rally towels and cups for our kids (yes, we scrounged around for someone to leave theirs…we couldn’t come home with only 2…we even found a fourth to bring home to a big Giants fan I knew would love it. She did!)

And memories of a Once in a Lifetime Experience…or was it? Stay tuned tomorrow…

Kristen

p.s. Go Giants…they can WIN the World Series tonight! I’m a bandwagon fan and LOVING it.

all tricked out

2010-11-01T14:28:00.001-07:00

(ETA…I thought I had posted this last week, but I just checked and it never went through…so pretend this is the week BEFORE Halloween…LOL!)

Another Double Page Layout…look out!

This is last year…can’t believe how big they have gotten in 12 months! The extra kidlets are my niece and nephew…

A little American Crafts flair…

Pebbles sparkly dots, American Crafts Boo line, Maya Road trim,

American Crafts Thickers, of course.

You can see this layout up close and personal at the store.

This year I’ll have a Harry Potter, Power Ranger and Woody…how about you?

Kristen

a layout for you

2010-10-18T06:34:00.000-07:00

Here’s my middle guy at his 6th birthday. Lots of outdoor water fun!

All papers are Teresa Collins Celebrate Line…love it! Those stars are part of the chipboard pack. Letters are Thickers, naturally.

I combined pennants from the chipboard pack with pennants I cute out from one of the patterned papers. The ‘happy birthday’ printed one is actually a transparency layered over the paper.

I combined my own handwriting with little letter stickers by MLS for a fun journaling technique.

That’s two birthday parties scrapped from 2010…now to work on the one that happened in January!

This layout is on display at Green Tangerines if you want to see it in person…

Kristen

urban cow re-cap

2010-10-04T19:04:00.001-07:00

To get it out of the way…my knee…it hurts. It hurts a lot. But I ran through it. And then I hobbled my way back to the car. And today is better but not normal by any stretch of the imagination.

But the race? It was amazing!

p.s. my pink Lucy 10k top is one of my new favorite things

First of all, it’s the first race that I’ve really done with a big group of friends. From the start of my training way back in May until yesterday I had a group of Sole Sisters that were there to run with, laugh with and complain to. We didn’t all run together…but we checked in once a week to keep the motivation going.

When my knee took a turn for the worse they were upset along with me. But they are also the reason why I pushed to do the 5k still. I couldn’t bear to have run this journey this far and not be there to cheer them on to victory. Then I thought “I can run 3.1 while I’m waiting for them.”

And I did. I ran a lightening 11 mile pace. Then about halfway through I thought maybe I should give my knee a break and I walked. Right as I slowed, an older lady ran by. She was dressed in cow shorts. (Get it, it was the Urban Cow race?). She looked over her shoulder as she passed and she complimented me. It doesn’t really matter what the compliment was. Let’s just say it was nice to hear that all my running had made a difference in my body…so much so that a stranger made mention of it. Yes, I realize that (1) I was probably someone she had pegged as someone she wanted to pass so she had been eyeing me and (2) it may have actually been that she was hitting on me. But never the less, the compliment made me feel good. So good, in fact, that I picked up my pace and decided that I was capable of running the rest of the way.

And I did.

I kept checking in with my body…how was the rest of me feeling? The answer: GREAT! Everything except my knee. My breathing was awesome, my mental game was on. The best part about that, is I haven’t run consistently for 5 weeks or so. But I’ve been working hard at spin class and strength training…so I hadn’t lost much. If only my knee would cooperate.

At about mile 2 I realized that I could possibly PR. Now, remember…I am a slowpoke. SLOW. But a PR is just that…a personal record. So I picked it up and ignored my knee cranking out.

As it turns out, I missed a PR by about a minute. But I was faster than my first ever 5k by about 30 seconds. I was so stinking happy. But then I was mad…if I could do that on a cranky knee…what could I do with the healthy knee?

I will say that I had several emotional moments. Watching my girls take off at the start line for the 1/2 marathon was the first time. I was supposed to be at that starting line. This was supposed to be my first. Ugh.

Watching my girls round the corner at mile 12 made me emotional too. First of all, they were smashing their time goals. Woot Woot! Second of all, wow, they are fast. I was hoping to break 2:30 and they were hovering around 1:45…I’m slow. Lastly I was emotional because they were about to cross the finish line and it was the end of a long process that didn’t end the way I had planned it to end.

Final thoughts:

1. The Urban Cow is so much fun! A race with 5,000 people has such a fun vibe. And you can’t beat the lovely, flat course through Land Park. I’ll be back next year to conquer that 1/2!

2. My knee is not getting better with my little once a week tests. I need to rest it completely. That means no running for the month of October. I’m continuing physical therapy, which I know is helping. But I also need to give my knee some non-running love.

3. My new goal will be the Shamrock Half in Sactown. I’ve heard it’s just as fun as the Urban Cow and it’s in March which gives me time to heal up my knee and work back up to the 13.1 distance.

4. I love my Sole Sisters and am so proud of them! Allie and Heather…you ROCKED your first 5ks! Megan, Amy, Marsha and Trish…you guys inspire me and I’m in awe of you. I don’t know if I’ll ever go as fast as you…but you give me something to work towards for sure!

and 6. Those of you who keep saying that we’re inspiring you to start running…what are you waiting for? You know how you are (M! B!). Choose a race and start running. I’ll be there to cheer you along the way as I rest up my knee.

Happy Running…

Kristen

“Even when you have gone as far as you can, and everything hurts, and you are staring at the specter of self-doubt, you can find a bit more strength deep inside you, if you look closely enough.” Hal Higdon

september by the numbers

2010-10-01T17:13:00.001-07:00

Whew…it sure is a hot October 1 here in California! I love the heat…but I love it in the summer where it belongs. Bring on the cooler fall temps, PLEASE!

Last day of September, nothing better than checking out the gutter at dusk…dressed in a Pirate hat made of newspaper!

Here’s how my September turned out:

RUNNING…

Miles: maybe 15…thank you very much cranky knee…mostly on the treadmill testing out the knee once a week.

Race: 1 10k (time 1:21…I walked a lot of it and still only came out 5 minutes over my Fourth of July time! We had already paid for it and the whole family was participating so I just went for it)

Longest Run: 6.2 (see above)

Physical Therapy Appointments: 1

SCRAPBOOKING…

Layouts Completed: 2 (woot! woot! here and here)

Layouts in progress: 3 (so excited!)

Looking forward to in October…

Physical Therapy Appointments scheduled: 3 (one today was awesome! I got my butt kicked and felt so good…I’m on the road to recovery)

Urban Cow: While I’m not running my Half like I had planned (see physical therapy)…I am going to run the 5k. It will probably be more like a walk. I was planning on going to cheer on all my Sole Sisters and thought ‘what the heck’. It will give me something to do while they are gunning down 13.1.

Scrapbooking: Finishing those three (see above) layouts and working on some more. My mojo starting to eke it’s way out.

And of course, lots of soccer games, USC Football games, the pumpkin farm, halloween fun, and…

…the start of duck hunting season. What’s that you say? You didn’t know I was a hunter? I’m not. I’m a duck hunting widow. And gauging by my husband’s non-stop exciting rambling (along with the multiple emails and phone calls between him and his hunting buddies)…it’s going to be a very long season.

Kristen

p.s. Yes, they do eat all the duck they shoot. And he does take the dog so at least I don’t have to deal with Trigger along with my three crazy boys while he is off shooting innocent waterfowl.

p.p.s. This is payback for all the times he has had to deal with the kids so I could do long runs. I’ll get him back again when my knee heals…you can bet on it!

the lies…

2010-09-27T04:56:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite running blogs is written by the authors of my favorite running book. (Check it out here)…and once a week they feature a mom runner. I love Thursdays when this feature pops up on my Google Reader. I love to discover new blogs and new fellow mom runners.

This week it helped me discover a new blog to add to my list.

Real Mom Nutrition seems to be a great resource for making the food we serve our kids better for them. I haven’t read everything she’s written but what stood out for me are these…

Three big, fat nutrition lies:
1. You have to drink 8 glasses of plain water every day. So many people get hung up on this. Plain water is great, but all beverages count toward your fluid goal. And it you eat lots of fruits and vegetables, you’re getting a lot of water through food. So you can officially stop stressing out!
2. If it’s from the gourmet market, it’s good for you. Those $5 cookies may be made with organic fruit juice concentrate but they’re still cookies. Not saying you should never eat cookies, but don’t fool yourself about what you’re really eating.
3. High fructose corn syrup is evil. It breaks down into glucose and fructose in your digestive system, just like regular table sugar. Switching to a granola bar with sucrose instead of HFCS is a waste of time (and money, since these products can be more expensive, too). You’re better off just watching ALL added sugar in your diet, no matter where it comes from.

:source

These three lies resonated with me. #1 not as strongly…I’m a big water drinker and I prefer to get most of my fluids from water. I don’t think a big old Diet Coke is doing my body good like a large glass of water.

But #2 and #3 are big ones. I am so tired of people hyping the gourmet and organic foods. Guess what…Organic sugar is SUGAR. It’s not good for your body (and before you start commenting on how organic produce is best because of all the chemicals it avoids…let me tell you that I am mostly talking about the people who keep preaching that organic anything is better than regular….just because it has the word organic in it. If you are going to start an argument at least have some ‘meat’ to it…like the amount of sugar is lower or the type of fats is different. Just slapping the word organic on it or buying it from the natural foods store doesn’t not inherently make it better for you).

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest. Have fun checking her out…

Who are your favorite bloggers?

Kristen

my knee held up…kind of

2010-09-24T04:55:00.000-07:00

So I had told you that I was going to attempt a 10k last weekend to see how my knee held up. And it did. Kind of.

It didn’t matter because I had such a great morning with my family! (My parents came to help with the boys…these photos are courtesy of my dad using MY camera which is freaking out lately. hmmmm…a new one is on my wish list!)

First, the boys ran in the 3/4 mile Kids Run. They had so much fun! T-man took off ahead of daddy and J-boy. Daddy had to encourage J-boy along the way…but T-man just kept running ahead of them. He LOVED it.

S-bam brought up the rear with my mom and I. He actually ran a lot of it…probably up to 1/2 mile as fast as his little three year old legs could take him! He was smiling the whole way.

Then it was time for the 10k. I had set my watch for intervals…trying to be good to my knee. I started out with 2 minute run, 1 minute walk intervals and my knee felt pretty good.

After the first loop around the automall, we headed on to the trails…I run these trails a lot and knew the hills would kill my knee so I didn’t have great expectations and was just planning on walking when I had to. But the best part about heading out of the automall loop was my parents and boys were standing there cheering us on…they had realized they could stand there and watch us head out. Loved hearing them cheer for dadddy…

And then me just a bit behind him (I had already started my run/walk intervals…)

The first hill was an extreme downhill at mile 1.25 or so and I walked it. No sense in injuring myself further. From about mile 2.5 on I kind of broke out of my intervals and just went with my gut. Lots of up and down hills meant lots of walking. I just concentrated on keeping a good walking pace and then running when it was flat.

I was able to see my friends on the turn around and hubby just a bit behind them. By mile 4 I was walking quite a bit.

My knee just felt like someone had stuck a screwdriver into the side and would twist it when I picked up the pace.

In the end I finished just 5 minutes off my 10k time on July 4th. I felt great because I had walked so much. And I was super happy to have finished just before the skies opened up and downpoured…hubby and I hightailed it to the car, went to breakfast and headed home to relieve my parents. I took an ice bath as soon as I got home and stretched and foam rolled. Honestly, my knee wasn’t any worse for the wear the next day.
I even did a walk/run treadmill workout yesterday and although I can feel that it’s not 100%…it’s not too bad. It gives me hope.

I started physical therapy yesterday and am very pleased at the results. Here's to successful therapy!

Definitely NOT doing the Half in 1 1/2 weeks…was considering the relay but after Sunday decided it’s not worth it. I AM, however, going to run the 5k. I can’t stand the idea that all my friends are doing the event and I’ll just stand around. Plus this event has been on my mind since March!!! 3.1 is totally do-able with my knee’s current state. I might not PR (probably WON’T) but I’m excited to be part of the event anyway.
And the Half? I have a few on list for 2011…
Kristen