Art in time for the Housewarming

So... although I don't have pictures (yet), my MIL (and FIL) threw us a wonderful housewarming party about 3 weeks ago. Daniel and I worked and worked to make the house look homey--and it did--but my main concern was this big bare spot of bricks above our fireplace. I purchased a really pretty red woodwork to hang above it, but it wasn't big enough, being only 2 x 2 feet. So, inspired by a couple of my sisters' recent projects, I embarked on making my own art... with the invaluable help of my new Cricut! (Thanks, Becky!)

Here is the Cricut, a 2010 scrapbooker's best friend:
Using different cartridges inserted into the front of the machine, it cuts out almost any shape or letter you can imagine, in a variety of styles. You choose the paper, so the possibilities are practically endless.

For my project, I played around with a lot of different ideas before deciding on a massive tree with a "Starry Night-Esque" sky above it.
That big yellow thing in my hand is the 2010 scrapbooker's second-best-friend: a massive double-sided tape dispenser, which after a few months of scrapbooking, pays for itself. The little adhesive applicators you buy at the craft store are PRICEY, and they don't last long. I'd had my eye on that yellow thing for over a year before finally spending some graduation money for it. It's awesome.

After I mapped out where everything would go, my supportive hubby helped glue down the tree part:

While I focused on the sky part:

And done!


And... bare brick spot is covered successfully! Just in time for the housewarming, the next day :).

Project for the boys' room

I made some paper-covered letters as decorations for my niece's room a while back, and now I'm going to do the same for my nephews' room. I love this project because it doesn't take much skill, and the end result is so cute!

Start by going to a craft store (Or Kohl's has them too) and buying the wooden letters you need. They come in several sizes and styles:
I bought the ones I needed for my nephews, James and Randall:
Next pick the papers you want to cover them with. I'm using greens for one nephew and blues and reds for the other. I think their room walls are dark blue, but the letters will still stand out because you only cover the front surface with paper and leave the edges white (they come painted white already).
Now just trace the letters, one by one, onto the desired papers:
And then just use scissors to cut them out:
So you have something that looks like this:
And then just use a glue stick to paste it on. I used the "wrinkle free" kind of glue stick you get in the scrapbook section with the adhesives.
And you've got a cute paper-covered letter:
So I did that for all the letters, and this was the result:
You can mount them onto a board like this (I'm going to paint the board black), or you can just hang the letters individually on the wall. Or if you have a girl, you can use cute colorful ribbons to hang them.

Snow Day!

Glorious, beautiful, white snow!

We woke up this morning to find about 2 or 3 inches accumulated outside, and I was immediately nostalgic for the snow days we occasionally had in school. I lamented to Daniel, "I wish there were grown-up snow days". And what do you think happened?

My very gracious employers and owners of the family practice clinic where I work called to tell me not to worry about coming in today! There is another PA at the clinic, who is part owner as well, and she handled the patients today so that I wouldn't have to brave the snowy streets. Amazing!Sister Ginnie and I building a snowman

Turns out building a snowman is harder than it looks in movies, and the snow wouldn't pack right. So this is how far we got when we decided he was finished.

The next day, it snowed even more! Check these out:


Happy Snow Day!

A Very Random and Fun Evening

So... I wanted to blog about this before, but it took me a while to get the proof. I mean... the pictures :). When I first heard we were having a dinner get-together at my grandmother's house, where my cousin would perform fire spinning, I was sort of confused. Like... wait--what?
But true enough!
My cousin from Austin, whom I haven't seen in a few years, came to Dallas and graced us with her fire-spinning talents!
Her friend, who also dances with fire, came to "breathe" out fire. My first thought, when I saw him spewing out fiery alcohol (I suppose it was alcohol), was WHAT AM I GONNA DO IF HE CATCHES HIMSELF ON FIRE?? I feel a moral obligation, since I have some medical training, to rush to some poor victim's aid whenever the time comes for it. Usually I'm not sure what I'd do. Anyways, he didn't catch himself on fire, and everything was peachy.

Again, my cousin with the fire-spinning.



Dad and Daniel


Who knew I had such talented cousins? What a fun surprise!

The Texas Half Marathon

This weekend I walked 13.1 miles with my mom and sister at the Texas Half Marathon! Training for this half marathon entailed weekly long walks together, and several individual walks during the weeks as well.

Although there were many occasions I wished we'd not committed ourselves to this--in the end, it was really fun to walk together and help each other achieve a goal.

This is us before we did our 10 mile training walk:

And here we are at the marathon!


Running up to the finish line (which was at the TOP of the hill):

Here is my lovely, supportive family--shivering in the cold.

It was 28 degrees when we started the race at 8:30... and 31 degrees when we finished 3 hours later. Cold like that stings more than anything!

Not the Typical Day of Rest

I love Thursdays.

For some reason the population surrounding the family practice where I work does not come to the doctor on Thursday mornings. It's not really clear why, but they don't. So in response to the small demand on Thursday mornings, the owners of the clinic decided to open late on Thursday, like 2 PM. I LOVE this about where I work. It means that every Thursday, I get to wake up a little later, in less of a hurry, and make something yummy for breakfast before Daniel heads off to work. It does mean working much later on Thursday evenings, but that is not the point.

Carrie's Karaoke Party

Well, the working life doesn't give me much free time for blog postings, but I have to share some pics my BIL took from my sister Carrie's awesome karaoke birthday party last weekend.

Here are all the sisters but one, rocking the song "Gangsta's Paridise," a personal favorite from my marathon running list.

"...Cause I been blastin' and laughin' so long that even my mama thinks that my mind is gone..."

Birthday girl Carrie is on the left, and her husband in the middle. On the right is Ginnie, another sister.

Me and my friend Erin:

Two sisters singing Amy Grant's "Baby, Baby"

What a fun time! I hope everybody's new year is off to a good start! Daniel and I are still trying to make the house look like a home... it's a slow business! I'm embarking on a fun new art project today, so I'll update soon.