I was coming back back from a morning run this past weekend and as I ran past our new rose bush, I noticed the awesome dewdrops on our beautiful yellow roses that just bloomed. Our gardener scored us this rose bush for our side yard because he saw that someone was going to toss it. Instead of leaving it to die in someone’s pile of lawn clippings, he brought it over to our house and planted it by our fence. I was sure the thing had no life left; it was brown, wilted, and looked simply pathetic. After a few weeks of water and sunlight…
Over Labor Day Weekend 2011, I made Oreo-stuffed chocolate chip cookies. This is the fourth time I’ve made Oreo-stuffed cookies; the first two times were with Mini Oreos. Regular-sized Oreos definitely have a better taste to them. The Oreo-to-chocolate Chip cookie ratio is just better. These are now one of Christian’s new favorite cookies. My challenge for the next time I make these is to make them look prettier…
At least they tasted awesome! I will be making them again
Last weekend, Christian and I headed down south for a few days to attend a baby shower and visit a few of our L.A. friends. While we were down there, I made two toy drops.
First toy drop was at the Promenade in Santa Monica. I left it next to a triceratops sculpture.
An hour after dropping it off, I went back and noticed that it was picked up (yay!)
Later that same day, I dropped off another crochet cupcake in a geocache* on the beach by the Santa Monica Pier:
This one was picked up the next day and the receiver left this comment on my blog (on my toy drop #2 post):
“I found this cutie-pie in a geocache at Santa Monica Pier, CA on May 16, 2011 (if you don’t know what a geocache is, go to www.geocaching.com – it’s very cool)! As soon as I saw its pink sweetness I knew it was special and immediately knew what I would do with it. Just 2 days previous I had witnessed the birth of my good friend’s first baby, Ruby Rose. My friend had made and brought to the hospital pink cupcakes, to celebrate the birth of her baby girl. This sweet toy reminded me of those celebratory cupcakes and the wonderful event they represented. I gave this crochet cupcake to my friend, as Ruby’s first geocache. Thank you for such a special commemoration of a baby girl’s birth-day! ”
How cool is that?!
*Geoocaching is my new obsession. I LOVE it. Don’t know what it is? www.geocaching.com
Special thanks to Justincomedy for turning me on to this awesome new hobby!
Made my second toy drop this past Friday (this was before the aforementioned creepy lurker incident when life was simpler and times were happier). I tied a cute little cupcake to the side door of a tutoring center in Sunnyvale, CA across from Fremont High School.
Hope someone takes this little one home and sends a snapshot of its adoption…
Thanks to a posting by a Facebook friend a few days ago, I made my way into joining The Toy Society (www.thetoysociety.blogspot.com) and made my first drop today. Read all about the purpose and how it all works on the Toy Society page. See below for the handmade bunny I made this weekend and dropped off today. I tied the toy to the doorknob of a kindergarten classroom at a local church that was hosting a great event called the Empty Bowls fundraiser to raise money for helping the homeless. It was perfect. Now to hope that my lovely bunny finds its way into a loving home.
It was fun and it made me feel good. Great way to end my weekend
Christian and I recently shot some publicity and production stills for our friends who are putting on the comedy “You Can’t Take It With You” at Broadway West Theatre Company in Fremont. Here are a few from my camera:
Broadway West Theatre Company, 4000-B Bay Street in Fremont, presents the Pulitzer Prize Winning comedy, You Can’t Take It With You, by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, July 16 – August 14.
One of America’s best-loved comedies, this is the tale of Alice Sycamore, who comes from a family of free-thinkers who prefer having fun to having money. When Alice falls for her boss, Tony Kirby – the son of a conservative bank tycoon – she insists on introducing their two very different families before agreeing to marry him, which leads to hilarious results. Winner of the 1937 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Performance times are 8pm on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. There are three Sunday matinees: Jul 25, Aug 1 and Aug 8. July 25 and Aug 1 performances begin with a continental brunch (included in price of ticket) at 12:15 pm, and the show begins at 1 pm. The Aug 8 performance starts at 1 pm with theme-based refreshments during intermission (included in price of ticket).
Regular ticket prices are $22 general and $17 for Students, Seniors and TBA members. Thursday, July 22, 29 and Aug 5 performances are $15 for everyone, with a bargain Thursday held on August 12 – all tickets $10. Sunday performances and Opening night are $22 for everyone. All ticket prices include refreshments.
For reservations and information, call 510-683-9218.
I am starting to catch up on some photo processing and here are some cool ones of the bicycle diaper cake I made for a co-worker’s baby shower back in May (whose daughter was just born – yay!)
First bicycle diaper cake I’ve ever made
Here are the favors I put together for the party:
Everything turned out great and I was really happy with the cake, favors, AND pictures.
Today was a crazy, whacked-out kind of a day. I went walking with my good friend Kat this morning and when I came home, our dog Lily was acting strange. She was crouched over and ran around the kitchen that way for a bit, ran into the blinds for the sliding glass door to the backyard, then scurried under the kitchen table. I thought that she maybe needed to do her business, so I opened the back door and let her out. She darted out and headed for the grass. I could see that as she was heading out there, she was trying really hard hold her stuff in until she hit the grass. After she did what she needed to, she came back to me at the back door but was still doing the weird crouch walk. Figuring that maybe she wasn’t quite done yet, I coaxed her back out to the grass. Once she got back out there, she started walking around really strangely, then lost her balance, toppled over on her side, and kept trying to get up. It was as if the back half of her body was no longer in her control. She was shaking, kept trying to get up, but then just kept toppling over. She did this a few times until she managed to limp her way onto the concrete part of our patio and puked her guts out. Once she finished, she walked around a little more and headed back to the grass. I had no idea what was going on and was in a panic. Not knowing what to do, I yelled for Christian to come out so I didn’t have to watch this alone. I asked him to try and contact the vet as I watched her collapse in the grass. Her legs were bent funny, her body was shaking, and she starting whining. I could tell she was as freaked out as I was. I remembered that I had the vet’s number in my phone which happened to be in my pocket, so I called. I got a vet tech on the phone and told her everything that had happened and she said that Lily might have had a seizure or stroke. !!! The office was closed today, but she suggested that I take Lily’s temperature and if the episode persisted or if her temperature was over 102.5, that I take her to the emergency room (which she mentioned would be pretty expensive). While I was on the phone with her, I was able to get Lily to come off the grass and lay down on the concrete where I sat. She was shivering and weak. She laid her head on my lap and was drooling excessively. Her back half was still shaking and seemed a bit out of her control. I started crying on the phone because I didn’t know why this was happening and how I could make it stop, but the tech really helped talk me through everything and helped to map out my next steps. After I was done talking to her, I let Lily rest there for a few minutes and just rubbed her belly. There was nothing else I could do but wait it out!
After a little while, I was able to get her to stand up and walk back into the house. The episode was over and now she was just really weak. She went straight for bed and laid down. She still had some drooling issues, so I grabbed a towel and wiped her down. I sat with her for about an hour while she just laid there. It was so sad to think about all that had happened and watch her lay her, so weak. I couldn’t help but check her breathing every few minutes – I know, I’m crazy. At this point, she seemed tired but okay. I brushed her teeth and left her alone and she recovered some of her energy as the day went on.
Poor Lily had a hard day
Our friends Jason & Sharon stopped by so Jason could get a quick tutorial on some DVD functionality from Christian – nerd-type stuff. Our friends Justin, Natalie, and their son Jacob came by not to long after to drop off some things and catch up. It was a full house and I wasn’t sure how Lily would do with the troubled day she had. Little Jacob is 14 months old and is the cutest little boy! He has so much personality and such a charming little face.
Jacob being cute
He took to Lily right away and she let him chase after her until he tired himself (and her) out.
Jacob & Lily
Once everyone left, Lily was out like a light. She’s still out as I type. We’re taking her to the vet first thing tomorrow morning to get her checked out and make sure she’s okay. We still aren’t sure what happened or what caused it (which totally freaks me out) but for now she’s resting.
#1: I entered an art contest at work about a month ago by submitting 5 photos that I had taken. Two of them were just selected to be displayed and I was notified today!
This one is called “Black & White”:
And this one is “Serenity”:
They’re going to display them along with other winning entrants’ pieces in building C – the training/meeting/cafeteria building mezzanine for about 3 months. After 3 months, they will be moved to different locations in Sunnyvale or Santa Clara campuses.
Now I am desperately trying to get these printed and mounted in time to submit before the gallery opening. Yes, there’s a gallery opening! Here’s the info:
The official Gallery Purple opening will be on August 6th from 3:00 pm. – 7:00 p.m. in the Mezzanine area of Building C. Friends and family are invited to attend the event. Live music, food and beverages will be included.
#2: A show called “Forbidden Broadway” is playing at the San Jose Repertory Theatre through Sunday. Christian & I were able to get tickets from our friend Emily and went tonight. I had known about this show for a long time, having owned several volumes of “Forbidden Broadway” for years now. It was pretty awesome to see it live. It’s musical theatre parody at its best and I recommend to anyone who enjoys musicals; It’s a great laugh!
After the show, Christian and I went for froyo at Penguin Froyo in downtown San Jose. The froyo was great, the service was great, and the seating was great. Overall, I would also recommend hitting this up.
Thanks for reading about my awesome Friday Have a great weekend, Everyone!
I’m doing a quick blog update while the boys are out shopping for nerdy computer parts (by boys, I mean Christian and our friend Kevin who is visiting from L.A.)
I baked my cinnamon bread last night. Yum again. Cross one off the list.
I had crocheted a few things that were not on my list before I created my actual list, and wanted to mention them here:
Moonfruit – for a contest that moonfruit.com was having:
Cheetos Giant Cheese Puffs for a Co-worker as a thank-you gift for my free iPhone case (Giant cheese puffs are an inside joke):
A slice of bacon for my manager who gave me a WWBD (What Would Bacon Do?) Spinning wheel from Kentucky:
2 Cupcake Scarves that friends of a friend wanted to buy (they look indentical, I know):
And finally, sushi (maguro, to get specific) that I made for Kevin (our friend in town): (JK – I hope this wasn’t disappointing. Glad I already had this one cranked out to show you!)
I’m currently working on some bookmarks, but also trying to re-read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince before the movie comes out Wednesday, so I might be a little slow in my crafting this weekend/coming week. We’ll see.
I keep looking at my notebook every few days and come so close to finishing up my Scotland blog experience, but then I look at the amount of stuff I wrote down and it totally turns me off. There have been multiple occasions when I have found myself wanting to blog about something not Scotland-related, but then decide not to because I don’t want to “interrupt” the flow of my blog. I’ve decided to say “screw it” today. Why torture myself when I don’t have to? I’ll come back to the rest of the Scotland trip someday. Just not today.
So many things have happened in the past several months, I don’t even know where to begin…
I got an iPhone. It’s super-fantastic and maybe I’ll blog from my phone one day. We waited for it at 5AM at Valley Fair. They opened the doors at 6 or so (they were originally scheduled to open at 7) and we had our new phones before breakfast. I had some phone number porting issues, but that’s all squared away now. WOOHOO! Oh, it was also the day after my birthday. Great birthday gift to myself (well, technically, the Vander Wals made it happen since they picked me as a winner of the iPhone for a work contest
Speaking of birthday, I went to work on that day and we went to St. John’s for lunch – great turkey burgers! Christian took me to Straits for dinner and then we went to Frozo for some froyo after. It was a great birthday! We took Friday off and lined up for our new phones. We pretty much spent the day setting up apps for our phones. Nerds, I know.
That evening (we’re on the evening after my birthday here), we and a few friends went to a Filipino restaurant called The Intramuros in South San Francisco. A former chef at Yahoo! is co-investor in the restaurant and we dined with him and his wife that night. They are such wonderful people and the restaurant is AWESOME. The atmosphere was so classy and the food was SOOOOO good. Please please PLEASE get out there if you have a chance. It doesn’t look like a whole lot from the outside, but the inside will knock your socks off. I can’t wait to go back.
We hosted a nacho party that weekend to celebrate my birthday with a few friends. It was delicious and fun.
This past weekend, Christian and I shot engagement photos for some friends. It was our first engagement photo session ever, but I think we did fairly well. We went to Golden Gate Park and got some fun shots. We posted some on our Flickr for preview. Depending on when you view the following links, you will see either a few samples, or the entire collection (his and mine are separated, so you’d have to look at both links.) http://www.flickr.com/photos/remfan/sets/72157620756053296/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/sleepyeve/sets/72157620792948846/
That’s all I’ll blog for now. Promise to have more soon since I’ve been keeping myself busy!
I stopped by many booths at WonderCon in SF today. Lots of cute and creative things up on display and for sale. Cute fleece hats and creature ears were popular this year. I was intrigued by one booth that was selling pairs of furry clip-on cat ears for $10. They were all hand-made by the lady running the booth and her mother. I really wanted a pair… wasn’t sure what I’d do with it, but they were really cute. I decided to study the ears and make my own. Just so happens I have fur, felt, and a pair of hair clips in stock at home. So I made these guys:
Cute, no? I might even be brave enough to wear them to the Con tomorrow
Soo… I spent a few hours last night and today making these:
I was inspired by a project that was posted on a blog that I was very recently introduced to and totally ran with it. Ended up with 20 fabric bookmarks… Anyone like to read?
