Happy Birthday, Ellen!

Today is my sister's birthday. I won't tell you how old she is because that's not important. She is my older sister, the one I hung on to growing up, the one I wanted attention from, the one I bothered the most. I guess form her I learned how to be an older sister for my younger sister, only I didn't complain as much when my younger sister wanted to hang around me! Just kidding.
I always have good intentions, I wonder what I can buy her or make for her that will let her know how much I love her and appreciate everything she's done for me throughout my life. When it comes down to it, there is nothing in any store that I can buy to show her those feelings. So, I am sending her these wishes and hope, after reading, that she believes in her heart what a great sister she truly is.


After cake, there's presents:

I wish for you:

laughter until tears run down your cheeks
lovely memories
a big hug
a heart full of love
tea and cookies at your favorite bakery
lunch outside in Santa Barbara
meeting a favorite friend unexpectedly
a teddy bear
a brand new magazine before anyone else reads it
a tea party, complete with goody bags

Happy Birthday, El. I hope it's one of your best.
With love,
Mare

Birds and Owls

Thinking here about what kind of craft goes well with a birdhouse? Of course, a bird. Now to make 200  of these lovely birds I just volunteered myself for. Why do I do it? Well, I am a co-captain in the Home Depot's Kids Workshop once a month and my partner and I like to do something extra for the kids each month. January workshop kit is the birdhouse, and aside from giving out cutely (?) wrapped cups of seed, I would like a small birdie to go along with it. Something like this:

I like it rustic, it's for boys and girls alike, and all age groups. (Thank you Me Making Do for this pattern).
I need to get my sewing fingers going for this to be ready by January 5!
In the meantime, I will count off the days on this new, FREE, printable and customizable Owl calendar that you can get here:My Owl Barn. Here is just a sampling of some of the beautiful artwork you can choose from to customize your calendar.


Are these not the cutest owl art you have ever seen. But don't take my word for it. Folks, two words, Owls and FREE. Download it now and enjoy your new year month after month. Why not give them as gifrts? You can print for all your friends.
So have fun, and take advantage of the lovely art that people are willing to share. And spread the word!

Page 3, Sundance catalog

I received the Sundance catalog today, opened the cover, and there on page 3 is my new coat. It's called the 'Boulevard Peacoat', a retro 50's plaid with an urban vibe' and I love it. It's also $198.00 so I won't be buying it. But a girl can dream, can't she?
My sister and I, when we were much younger, would sit together with a catalog and pencil or marker and
'pick' something from each page that we really wanted. We were dreamers. We never went so far as to strategically place the catalog inside one of my Mom's magazines, a la Ralphie in A Christmas Story. Picking seemed to be enough to carry our dreams of ownership  until the next catalog came in the mail. We weren't particular about our catalogs. We would continue the routine with furniture catalogs, clothing, jewelry, toys, etc. There was nothing that we wouldn't dream for.
The funny thing is, we never longed for any of these items. We never coveted the insides of these glossy publications. I think it made us dreamers and thinkers. Possibly good shoppers; we could tell you the price of anything and how it compared to any retail store at the time.
Our dreams weren't big, but they were plentiful. We dreamed of someday having a house to put these things to good use. We dreamed of different floor plans for those houses. We dreamed about what we would wear and what would look better on me or her (geez, she's so much thinner, everything looked better on her!)
The new Sundance catalog brought back a lot of memories, not to mention my deep love of all things plaid!
Maybe I'll never get that coat (I live in the desert, not a chance of it getting below 90 degrees anyway), but I know it would fit me perfectly and would cool with a faded pair of jeans. The catalog I'll keep for a while. Maybe I'll forward it to my sister with a post-it: 'See page 3!'


And dream...

How do I say this...

I had a terrible week last week. You know the kind where everything goes wrong-and in three's! Car broke down, really bad work week and my birthday basically sucked. What I wanted to do was go back to bed and hide under the covers! Oh wait, I did do that. How mature of me. There were small footsteps coming into the room to see if Mom was 'okay'. DID I LOOK OKAY! There, now I'm the grown up. And then the inevitable happened. I had to go back to work. Nothing like being depressed and having to spend all your time smiling in front of people (retail beast). But you know, something happened that surprised a miserable synic like myself. After pulling myself out of bed by the bootstraps, believe me, no small feat, I decided that, or told myself to forget about everything that happened. I could take the bus to work ( I actually enjoy public transportation), the holidays are coming, and (hopefully) people will be happier when they shop, and my birthday's done. So what, right?
Let me tell you, so what. My car got fixed, yeah, I can drive around at lunch and not get stuck in the breakroom. The San Francisco Giants won the World Series! Yes, I'm still screaming. I won a raffle from a blog I follow. How cool is that! (and way more on that later when I devote an entire page to this lovely lady at Simply Kierste (what, right click not working?) And, I received a Fossil watch form the company I work for because of my customer service skills.
Good things happen in three's too!
All I had to do was relax, get out the bad mojo, and go on. This is proof that it all comes back to you. So simple. Appreciate the little things that happen to you. Do something nice for someone else. You think I'm gonna pay this forward? Oh, you betcha. I've already started. It's not because I want things to come to me )well, I do, but who doesn't?) It's because this world is so hard to live in all by itself without having to fight against stupid stuff in our lives. Yes, I will pass it on, and on, and on...Will stupid stuff happen to me again, probably. I'll be ready for it next time and realize that it's just stuff. There's always Plan B.
Here's hopinng you get the next nice thing!

Baseball Is Over-For Some!

Yes, I love Cody Ross. Always and forever. Although he is playing on my least favorite team, I cannot but say to myself that he needs a job, too. I forgive him. How could I not?

Boston uniform

I haven't written about Cody in a while because I am knee deep in the SF Giants post season activity. Watching the Giants, however, reminds me of the little skip Cody does after hitting a home run, and that makes me smile. I need to smile after tonite's game!

I wish Cody well. I hope he enjoys the off season and I look forward to seeing him in the Spring. If anyone wishes to become a Cody Ross fan, please enjoy his website Cody Ross. I hope it updates more during the break. Reading about the 2012 season is good too.



Figuring it Out

This is what I've figured out so far: I like candy, I mean really like candy. And I don't know if I will give it up. I may at some time in my life. For now, I'm goog knowing that if it's there, I can have it. That being said, I am not going around swallowing Halloween candy by the bagful, albeit tempting. This is the interesting part. When I eat food high in fat and sodium, I crave sugar. Example, a lunch of a spicy chicken sandwich, fried zucchini with ranch dressing and a diet soda (I know, right?) makes me crave sugar about an hour after the meal. Every time. I also know, for myself, that diet soda makes me crave something salty. My substitute for that is iced tea.
I find it fascinating that I can read my body and it's cravings. I am beginning to see the effects of certain foods. At the same time, I am seeing that foods that I eat are not really my favorites. I go to lunch now, not just choosing the closest fast food restaurant (and I use that term loosely) but I think first and ask myself what I feel like eating. What does my body need right now.
It is a start kids and I am new at this. It's a learning process. It's not a diet out of a book or magazine, although I still read all of them. It's what is working for me.
And I'm good with that.

Change One

I've read that to lose weight you should eat like a thin person. Sounds reasonable. I know several people from work who are thin and decided to study them, while they weren't watching, of course. The results weren't that surprising. This is a very thin woman who rarely eats. Her diet consists mainly of cigarettes and coffee. Her breath is horrendous, but she's thin! If that is my ultimate goal, I thought to myself, then all I have to do is develop a taste for coffee and cigarettes, of which I like neither. Second person, again with the coffee, but she breaks it up with chips mid-day. Then back to the coffee-lunch is one of those coffee creations that you spend half a paycheck for. Don't have the money for that, and still not a coffee fan. But she's thin! Third person, and I'm beginning to wonder if thin is truly my goal, eats one meal a day, which consists of a gigantic sandwich loaded with everything. He is very thin and I asked him why he only eats the one meal. It turns out his hours at work are so that he goes to bed very early because he is up at 3 am to get to work the next day. He really doesn't have time to eat more than that. No coffee, though, thank goodness. I think all that caffeine has a huge affect on their bodies. My sister also drinks a million cups of coffee every day. She eats, well, she orders a lot of food. Then she picks at everything. Also, she never eats fruit. But she's thin!
To lose weight, you should eat like a thin person. I'll stay the way I am for now until I figure out what is best for me. I can be thin, at what expense? Or I can 'shop' around some more until I'm comfortable with a lifestyle change that will work for me, not one that I have to struggle with. Thin at any cost? Not for me. Alive and healthy is now my goal.