Peek at My Week (Nov 8-14)

How was your week? As for myself (and Pat), we started it still feeling a little off-kilter and needed a mood booster. So, we made a quick run down to Gulf Shores for some beach therapy.

The sun, saltwater, and sea air definitely helped us center ourselves a little more. 

Monday was mostly about going through the motions. Our new phones came in, and I couldn't wait to activate them so I could test out the camera.

Since it was evening, I got a great idea of how well night-mode worked! Seriously, it was pitch-black out when I took this photo. So cool!

On Tuesday, I worked on chores before heading to Mobile to meet my niece for her dentist appointment. I gave myself a little extra time to get over there so that I could wander one of my favorite antique malls before the appointment. Alas, I didn't find anything that needed to come home with me. On the way home, I was fortunate to catch the sunset along Mobile Bay.

After I put the chickens to bed (closed up their coops), I spied this tiny gecko that we've all been ogling for a few days.

The holes in that screen are pretty small if that gives you any kind of size reference. 

I knew I've been putting off making some jewelry for longer than I should. So, on Wednesday, I made it a priority to at least start pulling out materials that piqued my interest.

But, that was about as far as I got on that.

I did take a little time to walk around the yard with Zoe and test out the phone's camera more. 

This is just one of a whole series of pictures I collected. I'm totally smitten with my new "toy".

On Thursday, I worked in ernest on coming up with designs and stocking my bead box (I should have a reveal of the last one for you sometime this week!)

For the first time in something like eight months, we ate at a restaurant! A friend of ours was coming through town and met us at a local place for lunch on the patio. It was his first time at a restaurant since March too! In the afternoon, I craved working in an art journal, so I played.

On Friday (the 13th), I was up early, and ready to be creative.

I began the day on the deck with my doodle book and journals.

After that, I had a hard time focusing on the household chores as I really just wanted to keep stocking the bead box. It felt so good to have some creative mojo back after such a block. I even worked on another art journal page.

While there's still so much to accomplish out in the yard on the recovery front, I felt focused on working on tasks in the house, both cleaning and creative. So, I did what I felt driven to do. In the late afternoon, Pat and I enjoyed a few beers out on the swing together before the sun set.

I admired all the fall colors on my Japanese Maple tree.

I'm pleased that my muse may be returning and hope that you're finding some inspiration too. Here's some I found for you!

• This leather cord wrap bracelet tutorial inspired me so much that I've got something similar in mind stocked in the bead box now. 
• While looking at the monthly palettes from Halcraft Collection, I stumbled on the tutorial for this bright and fun juicy bracelet. 
• It's not too early to start on your Christmas projects. Here's a roundup of 150 Simple Christmas Decorating Ideas that mostly include repurposing items!
• Speaking of Christmas, I found these Free Embroidey Patterns for Christmas. 
• I've never made a rope necklace but this Rope Necklace Tutorial makes it look easy enough. 
• There's something really appealing about these DIY Faux Enamel Number Tags. I'm not sure how I would use these but am glad to have learned the techniques. 
• Somehow, I totally forgot that I was subscribed to the CrafsMan but stumbled on his Copper Patinas Tutorial. He's super entertaining. I've now got my husband watching his videos, and CrafsMan inspired me to patina a washer for the bead box!

And, that's it for this week. I hope yours has been wonderful and that you have a fabulous week ahead! Let me know what's inspiring you. 

Randomness at Its Best (TRT)

Sorry I missed ya yesterday, I was trying to catch up at work and then LOML and I went and looked at some property, had dinner out, went to the bookstore, and then lounged on the couch for a bit before bed.
The property- AWESOME!! On the river, over three acres, priced affordably. It's definitely an option. We've got a few others we want to see then we have to look into financing.
At the bookstore, I got Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. So far, I am really enjoying it. It's so my style. FUN!!
Lastly, tonight I'm heading out to see Better than Ezra at the Soul Kitchen in Mobile. G and I decided just last night that we would go. She's got the tickets arranged and I'm heading out of here in little under an hour to have dinner with her first. Very exciting!! I'm just so glad we're actually getting some shows in this area- finally.
Anywayz- I gotta start getting ready.

Here's some "Totally Random Tuesday" for ya:

• create a custom color pallete from a single image
  
• something about this fascinates me - you are what you eat series of fridge photos (click under portfolio then you are what you eat, then images) - descriptions of household below photos, check out the one with the snake in the freezer - kinda creepy, but interesting.
  
• 100 of the best movie quotes in 200 seconds. I was skeptical when I went to watch this about it just being some of the best known quotes (and it is) but it's not just the most popular movies, it covers a whole range of movies and is just awesome. Go on watch it - 200 seconds won't hurt you.
  
• list of iPhone apps (some I don't get, some are pretty funny)

So that's it for now- quick and easy.

Oops, I Messed Up

We've made it home and done some "around the house" prep for the storm. We probably won't have many problems, but who knows. I'm posting now because there's no telling of we'll lose power and internet and for how long.

Let me apologize for the problems with my site and picture posts from the last few days. Apparently, there were some complications posting from my iPhone when I didn't have much of a signal. More specifically - it continued to send the pictures OVER and OVER before recognizing that they were sent. As such, I had multiples posted on Flickr, and thus here, of the same few pictures. When trying to correct it, I only messed it up more. If you want to see the originals of the unviewable pictures, just go to my Flickr page (see the sidebar).

Please keep the areas who are about to be impacted by Gustav in your thoughts and prayers. May they all weather the storm well. I hope you do too!!

Shorty McShortPost (Bland and Blah)

Just a quick post to let you all know that I am still here. 'Cause I KNOW you've been worried and consumed with tragic thoughts of where I've been.
Nothing TOO tragic, just a bit going on right now. Nothing major. Let the panic or excitement subside, I've just been plain ole busy and tired.

I also got a new game for the Wii and biked 9 miles on Sunday. (Sooooo proud of myself) That would account for the tired. Anywho.... I hope all is well where you are and hope to get back to posting before the long weekend (yay!!) begins.

On a side note - I recently recalled that I was really excited about being able to post from my iPhone. So you may be seeing more of those sort of posts in the future. You have been warned!!

Tonight will be with the nieces. I gotta head on that way now.

Later Gators!!!

Getting Started on the Rest of the House and TT (including some iPhone tips)

MAN!! I feel like I keep missing Mondays or something (wishful thinking maybe). I just have so much to do after a weekend that I can't seem to focus on a blog post.

I said I was going to start working on the rest of the house, and I DID get some tasks accomplished yesterday. Yay me! I decided to start in the kitchen and was able to clear off a few counters, organize under the sink, and clean out the myriad of Styrofoam boxes from the fridge. Instead of rewarding myself with crafting - I looked through some magazines and watched the Olympics WHILE finding a condo in Gulf Shores for Labor Day weekend. I did cheat and reward myself during lunch by going to a thrift store. I'll share that loot with you later.

It is "Techie Tuesday" So here's some of the geek interest I've found"

• Check out this list of the 50 Most Influential Female Bloggers.
  

Now for those iPhone addicts (like me)

• Here are some new free apps for the iPhone.
  
• As well, try these iPhone tricks. I'm so happy to have found this one. It includes how to do some things I was wondering how to do. . . like take screen shots.

I'm not so much the chatterbox today. I'm gonna help with my nieces tonight and today was their first day of school, soooooo I may have more to say tomorrow.

Remember to TAKE MY POLL (in the sidebar.)

Made Me Smile Moday - Finally

MUST.POST.SOMETHING.TODAY.
It's been a few weeks since I put something out there for "Made Me Smile Monday"My list is HUGE, and it's my favorite topic. It totally brightens my Monday to go through the silly, funny, absurd, and crazy-fun items I find for the blog and post them.
Since it has been I while, I am going to post just a tad more than I have been to get some of this stuff off the list.
Check-check-check it out!!!:

• I live in Alabama, and this is something I can totally hear many of the rednecks saying.
  
• I stumbled across a t-shirt company, Busted Tees, with the most hilarious t-shirts I've ever seen. Here's a sampling of a few of my favorites. Check out the site to find your favs!!
• There are definitely some products out there that were poorly named or not properly thought out. Here are a dozen of these consumer product oddities.
  
• If you're like just about everyone else out there, you hate getting those calls. You know those calls, you're right in the middle of dinner or just about anything else and a salesperson phones you. One man found a tactic that I find awesomely funny. What tactics have you used?
• Here are a few quotes/statements I found amusing.
• I must confess, I was born at a very early age. -Groucho Marx
• Is it possible to be totally partial?
• If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to see it, do the other trees make fun of it?

• The one thing that has made me giggle uncontrollably all day is this hat that one of my co-workers is wearing.

I hope you can make it out. I think it is truly 'hat hair'. He says it keeps his head warm. Since he is balding and I've laughed every time I see him, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

Happy Monday y'all!!

Sunday Funday

This afternoon, I actually got away from the phone and LOML* & I went bike riding for several hours. This is probably my favorite form of exercise ever. Here where I live, there are quite a few very nice places to ride. We stopped on the way back to the car to rest and I took this picture to further test the phone and to show you what lovely views we have here. I hope this works!



LOML=love of my life

I Got It

I just want to make a quick post to say that I'm writing from the comfort of my NEW iPhone!! I've still got some things to figure out as far as blog posts from it go. I'm sure I'll get it. Anyway, before I procrastinate any more, I need to feed the wonderful man who paid for the iCrack. Later.

Whine Rant and the iPhone

CAUTION - Whining Ahead
I REALLY wanted to post yesterday. Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling so well, left work early, and vegged on the couch until LOML* took me for sushi. That made me feel better - until the dang TiVo didn't change channels to record Project Runway, and I had to wait an additional hour before Bravo re-aired it. Right now, it's the only show I look forward to all week. Earl (My Name is Earl) has actually come back on from its hiatus and Lost will be back on by the end of the month. So, there is more life to TV. Of course, I believe that there is more to life than TV. With the end of the reruns, I guess we need to move the exercise equipment back into the living room (dangit) since we moved it out for the ladies to come over several weeks ago. The whole idea of having that stuff in the living room was to promote us using it while our shows air. Yet, after a while, we forgot it was there. Maybe bringing it back out will inspire us to start using the equipment again. We can hope.
END OF WHINE

Besides the ball this past weekend, I got really excited because LOML* got an iPhone. He communicates with his co-workers mainly through IMs and e-mails and the iPhone works well for those apparently. He did research for several weeks to find a phone that would meet all his needs for work. We hoped he would find one on our current cell provider, but they didn't really have a phone with all the options he wanted. Now, we have to switch providers so we don't have two bills. We thought the contract was up on our current plan but apparently it's only up on his. Mine should be up in a few weeks. AND, he says he'll get me an iPhone too!!! I am super excited about this because it will make blogging a little easier. I saw a blog post from another crafter yesterday and she used her iPhone to take a picture, place it in her blog, and then post the blog. With an iPhone, I can capture all the smaller crafty projects I undertake so much easier. I am a bit worried because I am hard on electronics, especially phones. The iPhone is super easy to break so we'll have to check if they have insurance for it and a good protective case before I can get one. I've gotten to play with LOML's* and I like the ease of use. My current phone is simply used as a phone even though it also has a camera and games on it. The pictures are blah and I have a PSP and a Game Boy, so I don't really use those functions. Anyway, if you have an opinion on the iPhone, lemmie know!!

*LOML = Love of My LIfe