Wednesday, June 30, 2010

The Catwall Acrobats

Did anyone catch these guys performing on Ellen's "Somewhat Special Special" on June 27th? Absolutely mindblowing!

Painted My Daughter's Nails for Summer.


Yes, it was difficult to get her in this pose for the shot :)

LAIRE, LARP... Judge Judy?

It's 4pm on a summer afternoon. What does that mean to me? It means my daughter is napping, my son is doing whatever it is that 7-year-olds do, and I get to sit down and watch Judge Judy.

I've seen this show enough, and expected a battle over an unpaid loan, or bickering about an agressive pet. But today's topic is completely unique: two plaintiffs were suing a woman for failing to return armor after a Live Interactive Medieval Role-playing Reinactment!

I have some experience with LAIRE (Live Action Interactive Role-playing Explorers). I've seen (and love!) the movie Role Models, which has some pretty ridiculous LARP'ing (Live Action Role Playing) scenes. But nothing could have prepared me for seeing the game upclose! A few posts ago, I mentioned that my sister-in-law, Dawn, took engagement photos of Lyle and I last April. It was Easter, in fact, and we headed out to a public park in Everett, WA. When we first arrived at the park, I was stunned to see two men walking past in costume-attire.

Later during the photoshoot, we were able to get a front-row view.



I couldn't have planned this better if I tried!

Anyway, turns out Judge Judy determined the couple "gave" the women the helmet, and didn't "loan" it to her, so they lost their case. But the defendant won $2,500 after being crushed by the 300-pound plaintiff. Whatever the outcome, I think it just became one of my favorite episodes.

[Watch Judge Judy make her ruling HERE and HERE.]

Rosebud.

Lots of American families would consider their pet to be a "part of the family". Since my fiance and I are anti-pet (and love it), one might think that the above-mentioned statement might not apply to us. And they would be wrong.

About two years ago I gave each of my children a stuffed animal. I had no idea at the time that my daughter, Riley, would fall in love with her puppy, Rosebud, to the extent that she has. On that day, our family of four became a family of five.

In less than five days, our family is headed to Maui for 8 nights/9 days of pure bliss. I have been stowing away new books and little toys to occupy the kids on the flight (5.5 hours each way... oh lordy) and realized yesterday that I hadn't yet picked up something for my granddaughter (she IS Riley's daughter, afterall). And with that, THIS happened:


Yes, that is a coconut-bra and grass skirt for a stuffed dog. And yes, this photo was taken in my master bathroom. My daughter will be getting this surprise gift the morning we leave, so I had to kidnap Rosebud and take the picture on the sly. Since Riley won't let Rosebud out of her sight for more than a few minutes, this was the only place I could get some privacy!

I'd Like You To Meet My Sister-in-Law.

If ever you are looking for a photographer, crafting specialist, or all-around amazing lady, my sister-in-law (to be!) is the gal to meet! She was kind enough to shoot some engagement photos and family portraits for us back in April. Take a look:




Rumor has it, she is still offering a 2-3 hour portrait session with a CD of all of the pictures for only $50! (Greater Puget Sound area)

In addition to photography, she is incredibly talented at all types of hobbying-- scrapbooking, card-making, and more. Check out her blog HERE.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Animals.

I don't like animals. Common knowledge to anyone who knows me. I don't find them cute or cuddly, and I don't care to be around them for any period of time if I can avoid it. That being said, some animals do fascinate me.

Take the Alligator Gar, for example. What a terrifying "River Monster"! (It's true, I was first introduced to this fish by the TV show). I presume that most people have never heard of a Gator Gar, so let me catch you up:

Gator Gars are ray-finned fish with long snouts that resemble that of the American Alligator. Gator Gars have thick, diamond-shaped scales that Native Americans once used as arrowheads and jewelery pieces. Aligator Gar pups are believed to be born male and change to female as they mature.

Did you hear me, folks?! Gator + Fish... that can grow in upwards of 10+ feet long and weigh 365 pounds!



As you can probably imagine, Gator Gars have a monstrous reputation (though gars have proven again and again to be quite passive). In 1933, the Texas Game Fish Commission began a campaign of extermination, building an Electric Gar Destroyer complete with a 200-volt electric net to kill the fish. Extreme methods used to catch and exterminate gars over the last 70 years have caused a decrease in the amount of gars (large gars specifically) roaming the rivers. The nature-hater in me thinks of this as a good thing, but maybe, just maybe, we should learn to value the strange creatures we share our planet with.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Sia - Soon We'll Be Found

This is one of my favorite music videos by an Australian signer/songwriter that I love, Sia Furler. "Soon We'll Be Found" is a track from her fourth LP "Some People Have Real Problems" album which was released in 2008. Her her fifth studio album titled "We Are Born" was just released June 18th of this year.

One Man's Garbage is Another Man's... Hotel?

I really like the idea of making novelties out of recycled goods. I can't resist a good bag made out of juice packets, like this pink one I picked up on eBay that was made in a third world country to help reduce the amount of lunch waste in schools. Or this backpack by TerraCycle I picked up at Wal*Mart for $3:


I've had my eye on this Recycled Seatbelt Purse for awhile now. It was created out of seatbelts from retired airplanes:


I also have a nifty collection of these office containers created out of magazine scraps that I stumbled upon at TJ Maxx on the clearance rack:


So, you can imagine how amazed I was when I stumbled upon the following article. The "Save The Beach Hotel", located in Rome, was opened to the public earlier this month. Check out the story, and the photos, below.

Trash Artist Builds the World’s First Garbage Hotel
By Spooky onJune 9th, 2010

H.A. Schult, the designer behind the famous Trash People, has teamed up with beer-make Corona to create the world’s first hotel made of garbage.

The initiative to build the “Save the Beach” garbage hotel was started by Corona, in order to raise awareness to the huge amount of waste being washed up on our shores, every day. And who better that H.A. Schult, a designer who has used trash as art medium since 1969, to build a hotel out of the trash collected from various European beaches?

The doors of this bizarre hotel, made of garbage, have opened to the public, last week, in Rome and has already received the support of various celebrities, like Helena Christensen, the famous model, who agreed to spend a night in the Save the Beach Hotel.

H.A. Schult, the creator of the trash hotel said “The philosophy of this hotel is to expose the damage we are causing to the sea and the coastline. We live in the era of trash and we are running the risk of becoming trash ourselves. Do we really want this world?”

Sunday, June 27, 2010

This Lady Means BUSINESS



"DONATE MONEY AND I’LL TATTOO WHATEVER ON ME!

I’m raising money for Third World orphanages. For every $10 you donate, your name gets entered into a drawing. Your name gets picked, you choose any tattoo for me to get. I get tattoo, kids get help, you get the glory of knowing there is a human out there with a tattoo of your face on it. Everyone’s happy. DONATE, read awful tattoo submissions and submit your own HERE!

* REBLOG - FOR EVERY REBLOG UP TO 3,000 MY DAD WILL DONATE $2

GUILT TRIP ALERT: $10 will give a classroom of kids education for one day or buy you two drinks at Starbucks."

Everyone knows I'm a HUGE Anne Tainor Fan.

No surprise. I have framed artwork, and Anne Taintor checks. Probably $100 in refridgerator magnets alone. What I DON'T have is this 25th Anniversary Tote Bag... and now you know (hint, hint).



I also don't have one of these handy flasks. I think this one would go great in my purse, filled with Dr. Pepper:



Happy Birthday to me!

http://www.annetaintor.com/allproducts.html?sub=Shoppers&id=53999

One of my Favorite sites for Fonts.

THIS SITE is super cute, and offers an amazing selection of Handwriting fonts. Best of all, they are all FREE!


Also, check out THIS site. It features fonts from all of your favorite movies.

Welcome to BlogSpot.

About a year and a half ago, I decided to try out blogging as a way to chronicle the various amusements of my daily life. I was using another blog site, and recently decided to convert to BlogSpot. Let's see how that goes...

Friday, June 25, 2010

Bizairre find::


You’ll never feel lonely again with the Hug Me Pillow.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Bridal Fascinators


Wow, it’s been awhile. I thought it was time to give some love and attention to the ‘ol blog.

A lot has happened since my last post. I recently became engaged, and planning the big day has taken up a lot of my spare time. My newest obsession comes in the form of floral and feathered headbands, hair pieces and fascinators. Check out this collection I came across from the Ban.Do line for Brides. I love everything about these pieces, including the model.