gocco baby shower invites

my sister carrie is hosting a baby shower in a few weeks, and i had the opportunity to design and create the invites using my gocco. the mom-to-be likes baby elephants, so i doodled the little dude on the invite. i played around with fonts and was going to use the "boring joined" font for the whole thing (it's the font i used for their names), but it looked better to split it up with the helvetica. the picture doesn't really show the colors too well - i used 4X6 single-panel cards in light blue, light green and a few in white (just in case...) with the dark blue/navy gocco ink. i blurred out pertinent info in case carrie has any stalker-ish ex-boyfriends that happen to visit my blog (ha ha).

to veg or not to veg

i am debating going vegetarian. i've been a proud meat eater all my life. i love hot dogs and my dad's meatloaf, meatballs, and beef stew. but a few weeks ago, i ate a greasy cheeseburger at rotiers and haven't touched red meat since. i know those burgers are supposed to be greasy - that's what makes them good - but i just felt pretty horrible after i ate it. the past few weeks, i've had a bit of chicken and some turkey sandwiches from subway, but i (think i) could happily leave those behind with no problem. (i'd miss bacon more than i would chicken). so now i'm grappling with the decision: go full-on with vegetarianism, or don't label myself as anything, and if i want an occasional turkey-bacon-avocado sandwich, i'll have one?

kind of related: i'm involved in a "biggest loser" competition at work. it began the first of the year, with official weigh-ins once a month, and i've lost about 10 lbs. For the first time ever, i feel like i'm approaching weight loss in a healthy manner. i've never had an eating disorder or anything, but i've tried the south beach diet several times and it ends up doing more harm than good. i realize i'm not willing to choose to have the will power necessary for maintaining such a strict diet:
do phase one --> lose 6 lbs in a week --> follow diet for a few weeks --> stop diet --> gain it back + some.
now it's different. i've been consistently (well, 90% of the time...) using www.thedailyplate.com, entering the foods i eat and the exercise i do/calories i burn. it makes me think twice before eating an oreo every time i pass by the package on the coffee table. BUT, i've also allowed myself to indulge in pizza & sweets, as long as i stay within my calories for the day. it makes me look at the big picture - if i know i'm going out for mexican food for dinner, i'll eat salads and other healthy food that day. or i'll walk on the treadmill for an extra 30 minutes. i've become more aware about just how bad most (restaurant and package) food is, with all the high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils.

last thing i want to do is become preachy though. but i can tell the habits i'm picking up now are the right ones. and the weight loss (as slow as it has been) that has resulted is only an added bonus. i didn't enter the contest at work to win a lot of money (there's monthly $ to be had, as well as the overall grand prize in june). if so, i'd have been on the south beach bus weeks ago, depriving myself of bread and pasta and sorbet. no fun. i'm actually enjoying exercising. now that the weather is nice, i've been taking daily 2 mile walks around my neighborhood. went back to yoga tonight for the first time in weeks (schedule conflicts and that regrettable ingrown toenail kept me from going for awhile).

i'll try to update the blog with my progress over the next couple months. until then, i may post some recipes and stuff...

almond joy

almonds and almond-related products rule. lately, i've been enjoying:

• almond milk with my cereal (corn flakes + muesli)

• trader joe's spicy & tangy almonds (flavored with tabasco sauce and lemon juice. it's weird that i like these so much, because i don't really like the flavor of tabasco. go figure. but these nuts are good.)

• 

i haven't tried almond butter, but i'm sure i'd like it. i'd also like to get some almond flour and try baking with it.

hooray for almonds!

Find the Common Link

what do these five movies have in common?  find the common link!

if you said "movies you've watched in the past two weeks", you are correct!  our normal dvd viewing consists of a constant rotation of 'freaks and geeks' and 'arrested development'. together, rollum and i never romantic comedies. rarely action movies. 'darjeeling' is the only "regular" one out of the bunch. here's what i discovered though: i can watch all the romantic comedies i want as long as i rub rollum's feet while doing so.  and i'll watch action movies as long as we eat oatmeal cookies while doing so (but seriously, mel gibson does a fine job in that movie!  that scene in his trailer when he's about to...you know...totally oscar-worthy!)  other thoughts: 'dan in real life' is really lame.  'flashdance' is an inappropriate film for a 6-year-old (my dad co-wrote a song in the movie, so i saw it in the theater when it first came out. i recall there were no open seats so i had to sit in the aisle). 

ps: we combined christmas money gifts and got a new 32" flat screen. hence the increased movie viewing. that, and my 2-week vacation from work. 

2008 in review

it's been a heck of a year, and i can't say that i'm sad to say it's over. a lot of people i care about experienced various forms of weirdness, illness and death in their lives. it created an air of negativity for most of the year. i don't want to get into it anymore than that.

but some good things happened too. rollum & i took a much-needed vacation to barbados. the features released their album. obama won! and so did my dad, as secretary treasurer for the nashville musician's union. we checked some things off our house to-do list (painted the bathroom, hired mark to paint the living room). got to spend another week in california. so...not all negative.

it was also the year of weddings. i attended SEVEN in 08. they were all lovely!

favorite albums of the year:
-the walkmen 'you and me'
-the features 'some kind of salvation'

i only remember seeing one movie this year - the batman one. maybe i saw more, i just can't remember...i also can't remember if i read any books? i know i read the new david sedaris one. and 'life of pi'.

i suppose i could share my resolutions for 09, but i haven't quite thought about them yet. yes, the typical eat better/exercise more. get out of that mountain of debt. spend more time doing creative-ish things. i'm also in the process of becoming a 'big sister' for big brothers big sisters, so i am excited about that.

i wish everyone health and happiness. here's to 2009!

gocco projects

my two readers (hey carolyn & kim!) have both nudged me to make a post, so here i am. perhaps i can resolve to write something at once a week in the coming year.

anyway, i have finally created something(s) with my gocco!

i made this one a few months ago - the text is from a card that my mom wrote me in november 1996. i was living in the dorms at mtsu at the time, and even though i lived just 45 minutes away from her, she constantly sent me cards, notes, pictures, letters, etc. after she died, i sorted through all that stuff and came across a card - it had this fairy-looking thing on it, and inside was the text you see below. i kept that card in my night stand for the past few years. and i decided to turn it into my first gocco project, so i could share those words with my family. i photocopied her message & then sketched what i imagined an 'elf attendant' would look like. (i ran into a problem with the green ink - when i squirted it onto the screen, some clear liquid came out with it and messed it up a little. so the "this" didn't come out well AT ALL. instead of burning a new screen, i just decided to fill in the bare spots with an ink pen afterwards.)

and on to my 2008 christmas card. i finally figured out how to download a bunch of nifty fonts and stuff, and i instantly fell in love with this one. as for the drawing ... just a little sketch.

the walkmen - 4 members + the privates - keith + luke =

"thinking of a dream i had" live at the basement, nashville, tn. the 13th of october:

eh?

i ran into food lion last night to pick up a few ingredients for chili. the man in front of me at the checkout lane didn't have his food lion card, so he used mine. he thanked me and i made a joke that we could call it even if he paid for my groceries. ha ha ha. based on those few words i spoke, the cashier was like, "are you from canada?"

no.

"you have a REALLY northern accent."

i told him i've lived in tennessee for 20 years.

"where'd you live before that?"

i said california.

"what part?"

"southern california, near los angeles."

"my step brother lives in torrence. do you know where that is?"

"yes"

"you're only buying ONE jalapeno pepper? that's really funny."

really northern accent?!? i realize little hints of mid-western-ness may sneak in every once in awhile, but really northern?!?

kicking, birthdays, carbs and soccer

i just returned from a 'cardio box' class at the ymca, and my face is as red as a beet. i tried a beginning kickbox class a couple months ago and thought this class would be more punching-oriented (because the description said "just want to punch? this class is for you!"). but that was quite misleading. this class should be called 'advanced kickboxing for coordinated, in shape crazy folk'.  my feeble knees don't do so well with all the side kicks. or forward or back kicks. bad news for katie. i plan to stick with my monday night yoga at the smyrna rec center from now on.

yesterday was rollum's 29th birthday. i didn't get him any gifts, because that scooter should take care of any and all gifts for the next 10 years. i'm only slightly kidding. instead i fixed a cheesecake with cherry compote topping and a vegetable lasagna (filled with eggplant, squash, zucchini, broccoli, carrots and onion. and lots of cheese and sauce). i feel like i spent the entire weekend in the kitchen.  but the meal was good and rollum seemed to enjoy it.  and i broke my semi south-beach-ish diet to enjoy the fruits (or in this case, carbohydrates) of my labor.  

saturday afternoon, i attended elliott's soccer game.  here's a picture of the little dude in his uniform, because he looks so darn cute in it.  he scored the only 2 goals for his team that day. (carrie & jason decided his team's kinda like the bad news bears. the other teams all seem to have a better grasp on the concept of soccer. they set shots up for each other and stuff. elliott's team kinda chokes whenever they have the ball. but i think he's having fun, so that's all that matters, eh?).  go e-moon!  

china hutch

i spotted this china hutch at an estate sale more than a month ago. i couldn't afford their asking price, so that was that. i left my name/number in case they were willing to let it go for less. over the next few days, i COULD NOT STOP THINKING ABOUT IT. i found the craiglist ad for the estate sale and contacted the lady to see if it was still available. it was! and she'd come down on the price! i told her i'd have to wait for a break in rollum's schedule (and for my neighbor's truck) to pick it up. he's been so busy that finally, her husband offered to drop it off. so i got this bad boy on monday. I LOVE IT. we took our ikea table out, brought the our vintage metal table back in (and covered it with this rad tablecloth my friend liz gave me for my birthday) = kitchen makeover! now i have to fill the hutch with goodies, which will require a big cabinet sort-through - i will display some things that have been hidden and whatnot. we may be looking to get rid of the ikea table, so if you know of anyone...
isn't it funny how much the color changes depending on flash/no flash?