I need your advice!

Warning: The following post is just dribble about my boring unacomplished life.

It is dead! My beloved car is dead. I was the proud owner of a 2003 Toyota Matrix and now I am just a bitter owner of a 5 yr old piece of junk and I find myself needing to resist my urge to call Toyota customer service and tell them what they can do with my car and where they can shove it and how (with a slight twist to the left, thank you).

Because I don't know all the technical babble about car parts it will be sufficent to say that the engine is beyond broken and I need a new one. A fresh brand new engine with Labor is a pretty penny to the tune of$6,700. Thankfully, very thankfully my dirty construction worker of a husband's cousin convinced his dad (did you get all that?), who is a mechanic to take my car on as a side project and do it for a wonderful price. Which is pretty awesome considering the amount of money we will be saving. We owe them.

So, here is the delimma. I own my car free and clear, nothing is under warranty anymore and right now is the right time to sell the car if we are going to do it and buy another car. We are not kidding ourselves and thinking that it is financially the best option. But before our lives get tied up with a mortage, a sweet little baby and everything that comes with the two is now the time to get ourselves into a new car and exercise the impulsiveness that is characteric of our age? Our rational brains and our 23 year old brains are having a hard time hashing out this decision. So, what would you do? Would you sell your old car, put a decent deposit down and suck it up with car payments for the next three years or would you keep the old car, save like a mad couple and get going on your dreams of owning a cute warm home and having that child? How do you integrate the young and implusive with the reason and rationality of being an adult?

More importantly, how do you resist the urge to zip around in one of these? Hey, it gets good gas mileage......

Summer is here! A Shortie

Sorry! I have been bogged down with various sun drenched and charcoal infused family activites, which can only mean one thing

IT'S SUMMER TIME!

Product Interuption

On the plane ride from Los Angeles to San Jose, Costa Rica I picked up one of their inflight magizines and while I could only understand part of the information due to it (rightfully so) being in spanish there was one thing that I did understand.

I NEED THIS!
This cuff, designed by a company called Tivi is crafted out of multiple types of wood such as ebony, zebrawood maple and walnut and then they are silkscreened and coated to keep them tough. Honestly, such a perfect bracelet for the summer! And, if we are being honest it isn't that I want one. That fact is, that quite simply, I NEED ONE.

Oh, and while we are at it. I will take one of their clutches as well. Please.

A Goal For Costa Rica

I am still trying to avoid all the boring, final, last minute tasks required for travel, so I thought I would hide out here for a bit longer.

Recently the husband bestowed upon me a new lens for my camera as a graduation gift. I am pretty sure when he handed it to me I literally squeeled with delight. It is just an entry level telephoto lens, but I had been lusting after it for awhile so getting my grubby little paws on one for the first time was a thrill, and I have been having fun with it ever since.


See? That grasshopper (it is a grasshopper right?) didn't even know I was there. Thanks to the new telephoto lens I could be far enough away so that he was completly unaware of all the photography sins I am sure I was commiting when I took this picture. SUCKER!

For the most part my bags are packed, and I double, no, tripple checked that the new lens was packed and ready to go in my carry on. My goal (I am reaching here folks) in taking the DSLR to Costa Rica is to get enough decent pictures, so I could order one of these. For those of you that are too lazy too click on the link A) I don't blame you, I am lazy too and B)I will just tell you - They are MOO mini cards and quite frankly they seem like a neat little creation for only 19.99 AND more, if not most importantly they seem like an easy, fun, clean way to keep all of your photos together. Also, it encourages me to get some of these pictures off of my computer and into print. So, I highly doubt that I will come out of this trip 100 photos...

.....but here is to a valiant effort!

Exciting New Things

It is not big news, it is not super exciting news, but it is really fun news for me and it helps me put off packing for Costa Rica for a few moments longer. Also, currently, writting this is keeping my mind off of Alma. The tropical depression that is hovering over the region I am supposed to be flying into tomorrow. But that is neither here nor there and it has nothing to do with my super fun news (for me, remember?).

I have joined the daring bakers group! I have been poking around various cooking and food photography blogs (which all made my mouth water) lately and came across multiple bloggers who participated in the group, and month after month post something new and exciting was created. Yesterday I saw all the posts go up for their latest challenge and decided to get off my tush and join. My first challenge won't be until the end of the month (I think), but I am so looking forward to it.

A little about the group can be found here.

This should be a fun adventure and I look forward to my first challenge. Oh! And the best part? This counts as an attempt at #5 on my list and maybe I can fatten up that construction worker of a husband 'O' mine.

But It Is Tripple Milled!

It's what's on the inside that counts...

...but sometimes the outside is a huge factor in making a decision.

No, finding lovely smelling soaps in fun wrappers is not a hobby, but I felt the need to share this find with you.



I found these soaps at Old Navy while searching for a decent pair of shorts that don't cling to my thighs and flash a lil butt cheek. The price is right ($5 for 2) and the packaging is amazing. The designs on the outside are funky, fresh and clean looking. So, I stocked up and have a few out on the counter for decoration.

Not only are they fun on the inside they smell as good as they look and they can get the grime off the husband's dirty construction wrecked hands. What more could a gal ask for? Island lime (the one pictured) is the husband's pick. My pick, you ask? Sparkling Green Tea.

It is Sunday, get off the computer and go get some!

Everyone Needs To Start Somewhere

Alright,

I figured it is time for me to make an attempt at one of the 6 items listed below instead of just whining about being bored and not having any hobbies. #1 was to get a life and I am not getting a life, so I figured should try being crafty and/or creative. I don't know if I did either one of those things well but I gave it a shot and hey, it was better than oh, I don't know being gouged in the eye. So that right there has to count for something....right?


right?

So, what did I make?

Let me show you!

Because pictures are always better than words (what can I say I am a product of the MTV generation...books? What are those?)
I made this!


What the heck is it? Don't be so rude! Hold on to your pants and I will tell you, because you are in for a wild ride (or an obscenely demure explanation of what it is and how I did it. Either way though, you are in for a good time....right?.....right?)

It started out as a plain old cork board that I was using for hanging up various things such as exciting pictures of our cats, or an idea for a recipe. It need a little more pizazz so it got a cork board make over today.

I started by
1) Taking ~1 yard of fabric and making a little pocket at the bottom and then I used my handy dandy sewing machine to sew a straight line down the middle to make the one giant pocket, into two more useful pockets.
2) Then I took the fabric, pulled it nice and firm and stapled it to the back, because, what the heck? I am fancy like that!

I didn't feel like the board and enough pizazz and it most certainly didn't take up enough time to count as a hobby so I went to town making these adorable fabric covered push pins using a button cover kit from Joann's.




To make these I used the button cover kit but I had to get rid of the pesky metal button hole loopy thing on the back, so that is exactly what I did!

Cripes! I have man hands!

I just pulled that sucker out!



Then, after that pesky button loop was out of my life once and for all I used these helpful tools

(A glue gun, thumb tack and the pliers I used to pull the button loop out of the back of the button with to turn my once very lovely button into an even more beautiful push pin.)

So I



Then I


Until I had



Which ended up looking great on the board! Not the best picture, but I promise I will do better next time.


And that my friends, is how I got off my tush and got started on finding myself a hobby!