Thursday, April 23, 2009

Whoops!

So, I realize I am terrible at updating this thing!
#6 Make wedding programs will be my next task, considering I'm 9 days away! Whoops!

I've been so busy lately, I haven't been able to update this thing, and I feel so bad! I like to write about the random things in my life, and I think the few people that read this like it too! :)

#58 Get new pots and pans is completed! Joe's wonderful aunts and grandmother bought us new pots and pans as a wedding gift! Yay!

I told Joe he's not allowed to use them :)

Friday, April 3, 2009

Gah! Less than a month!!

I'm starting to get excited. We're less than a month away from the wedding, and everything is turning crazy!! It's already Friday, and I can't believe it! The week went by so fast, and I never wrote a new post!
I'm being kept VERY busy at work, because we have one event this month, my wedding is May, then we have 3 events in ONE week in June.

I'm going to start stressing, which I DON'T do!!

Please help me find some inner peace.

I will leave you for the day with this photo. Please laugh.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

38 days away

I can't believe I'll be getting married in 38 days (yes, I am counting).
Invitations went out last week, and we've already gotten responses. Only one "no" so far, and it's Joe's dad's aunt, so I don't think it's a big deal.

I made my invitations and my awesome sister printed them out for me. I went through 5 or 6 different designs before I settled on these:




Along with the invitations, I made little cards that invite our guests taking digital photos to upload them to our Flickr page. It gave them all a login and password, which we'll change a few months after the wedding so we can keep the flickr page for ourselves.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Death. How scary is it?

We all die. At some point in our lives, these bodies will cease to exist, and our souls will move on. Will we go to heaven, the mecca of all things good, or hell, the haven for those who've sinned their whole life. (Let's face it- we've all sinned.)
Or, do our souls move our, forever changing into a new creature and experiencing new life?
I'm not afraid of death. I don't want it to come now, certainly not, but when it does come, I won't be afraid. I'll invite the last breath to be sucked from my body and my soul will move on. My body will be used to save others (I have no use for it) and that will be the end. By body will live on through donate organs and my soul will live on in another place.
My fear is not being with Joe. I can't imagine my life without him. Sometimes, when he's sleeping, he breathes so quietly I will poke him to make sure he's still there.
I have dreams of him leaving, of him dying and I cannot STAND them. I do not want to be without him. He breathes a new life into me that I haven't felt in a long time.

That is my fear.

Monday, March 23, 2009

So close!

I'm so close to being married, but not yet.
I'm totally slacking off though. I REALLY need to choose my wedding music, Joe has said he could care less, but I haven't. And I have to leave in about 2 hours to drive to Saginaw! We have a meeting with out pastor TOMORROW, so I guess I need to do that now. Does anyone know any good, classical music for a wedding ceremony?

DIY Photo Frame Cardbox.

Supplies:
Drill
Screw driver
4 wood pictures frames (make sure they are all the same size, I used 8x10)
4 packs of L brackets (corner brackets) (1”/25mm) I got mine at Meijer. They came with screws.
1 pack of washers (I used these as spacers- you don’t need them)
1 foam board
Fabric of choice
Exacto knife
Scissors
Stapler
Pencil
Clear tape
Duct tape

Instructions
1. Start with your frames. Take out the glass, backing and interior packaging so you are just left with the wooden frames. Set the inside aside where you won’t break them (I put mine in a box).

2. I just eyeballed it, but you need to decide where you want the L brackets to go. I chose the put one per corner, alternating between top and bottom of the frame. You can choose to do two per corner, but it’s really up to you.

3. Mark the brackets with your pencil. I traced the inside of the hole.

4. Drill the holes into the frame. I didn’t go too deep; since using the screwdriver will make the screw go deeper if it needs to. I used the second smallest bit I had, but I think the packages suggest a size to use.

5. Once all your holes are drilled, you can start screwing your brackets on the frames and screw the frames together. I didn’t put my pictures in at this time, which I will explain later. I used the washers at this time. I put one on each screw before I secured the brackets to the frames. I did this because I was afraid of going through the frames. Using the washers, I didn’t.

6. Now, if you have cats like mine, they will be sitting inside the empty frames. While they are doing that, begin measuring and cutting the bottom. It doesn’t have to be perfect. My bottom is three pieces taped together. The opening at the top and bottom should be 8x8 (if you used 8x11 frames), which mine was, so I cut my board to be about 8x8. It didn’t really fit, so I shaved down the sides until it did. I did that twice, and taped the two together, giving myself an elevated bottom. I taped in on the frame, using the same L brackets. I added them to the bottoms of the frames so I could tape the foam board to them. If you choose to do the same thing, be prepared to shove them in, and shave the sides down around the brackets. (This is why I didn't add the glass and photos yet- so I could add the other L brakcets).

7. Then, I taped along the sides of the bottom foam board with the clear tape, so nothing would be able to escape (I was afraid of cards slipping out). I went onto the frames, but not enough where anyone would be able to see (unless they flipped the box over).

8. If you choose, you can add a Lazy Susan to the bottom to make it spin around. I didn’t, simply because I couldn’t find one small enough. If you do find one, just make sure it’s flat and secure it with rolled pieces of duct tape.

9. To make the top, you’ll need another piece of foam board, cut to size. I, again, used two pieces taped together to make a taller piece. Before you cover it with fabric, use your Exacto knife to cut the slot for cards. I guestimated and made some random size using a sample card I had sitting around.

10. Next, I took a piece of white muslin (inexpensive fabric) and used that to make my first layer.

11. To upholster the top, start in the middle of one of the sides. Use your stapler, and secure the middle. Continue until the whole foam board is covered. Don’t forget to cut a slit for the card slot and secure that with staples too!

12. Repeat step 11 with your nice fabric (mine was satin). I also used tape to secure my satin, since it frays pretty easily.

13. I used the remainder of my L brackets to create a space for the top. I moved them down a little, so the lid fits snugly inside the frames. If you want it to sit on top, cut the foam board larger to begin with.

14. Ta daa!! Now you should have a photo card box!! At this point you can insert your photos, if you haven't already. I had no trouble putting my pictures in after everything was assembles (with the lid off, of course), it really just depends on what size you use. After your wedding you can reuse the frames, since all you did was drill into th backside!


I will be posting photos later; I just have to get them! Comment with any questions, and I’ll be happy to help!

Another thing to add to my list

Something I've always wanted to do is write a story. I don't care if I'm published (although that would be awesome), but I've always wanted to write a book.
I guess now's as good time as any to get started. I can't talk, since I lost my voice (yay), so I might as well start.

It was a dark and stormy night.... No, I don't like that.
A cool summer evening... No, not that either.

I guess I shouldn't start it yet. But, when I do, I'll probably post parts to get comments on.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Top banned books

I have always had a really big problem with banning books. I don't understand why people want to ban books. I love reading, I have a room full of books. I really want my own library within my house one day. So I just don't get it.
Well, #9 is to read all top 10 banned books of the 20th century. So, here they are:

Top 10 Banned Books of the 20th Century
10. The Grapes of Wrath [1939] John Steinbeck
9. Lady Chatterley's Lover [1928] D. H. Lawrence
8. Slaughterhouse-Five [1969] Kurt Vonnegut
7. To Kill a Mockingbird [1960] Harper Lee
6. Fahrenheit 451 [1953] Ray Bradbury
5. The Catcher in the Rye [1951] J.D. Salinger
4. Tropic of Cancer [1934] Henry Miller
3. Naked Lunch [1959] William S. Burroughs
2. Ulysses [1922] James Joyce
1. 1984 [1949] George Orwell

They will be marked in bold once I've read them.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Movies and Books for my list

I wanted to post AFI's top 100 movies (the 2007 list) so you can follow along with my progress (or if you just want to count how many of these you've seen!). Any movie that I have already seen is shown in bold/italics. Any movie I see moving forward will be marked the same way, but with the addition of date that I saw it.

1. Citizen Kane
2. The Godfather
3. Casablanca
4. Raging Bull
5. Singin’ in the Rain
6. Gone with the Wind

7. Lawrence of Arabia
8. Schindler’s List
9. Vertigo
10. The Wizard of Oz
11. City Lights
12. The Searchers
13. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
14. Psycho
15. 2001: A Space Odyssey
16. Sunset Boulevard
17. The Graduate
18. The General
19. On the Waterfront
20. It’s a Wonderful Life
21. Chinatown
22. Some Like it Hot
23. The Grapes of Wrath
24. ET The Extra-Terrestrial
25. To Kill a Mockingbird
26. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

27. High Noon
28. All About Eve
29. Double Indemnity
30. Apocalypse Now
31. The Maltese Falcon
32. The Godfather Part II
33. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
34. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

35. Annie Hall
36. The Bridge on the River Kwai
37. The Best Years of Our Lifes
38. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
39. Dr. Strangelove
40. The Sound of Music
41. King Kong
42. Bonnie and Clyde

43. Midnight Cowboy
44. The Philadelphia Story
45. Shane
46. It Happened One Night
47. A Streetcar Named Desire
48. Rear Window
49. Intolerance
50. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
51. West Side Story

52. Taxi Driver
53. The Deer Hunger
54. MASH
55. North by Northwest
56. Jaws

57. Rocky
58. The Gold Rush
59. Nashville
60. Duck Soup
61. Sullivan’s Travels
62. American Graffiti
63. Cabaret
64. Network
65. The African Queen
66. Raiders of the Lost Ark
67. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
68. Unforgiven
69. Tootsie
70. A Clockwork Orange
71. Saving Private Ryan

72. The Shawshank Redemption
73. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
74. The Silence of the Lambs
75. In the Heat of the Night
76. Forrest Gump
77. All the President’s Men
78. Modern Times
79. The Wild Bunch
80. The Apartment
81. Spartacus
82. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
83. Titanic
84. Easy Rider
85. A Night at the Opera
86. Platoon
87. 12 Angry Men
88. Bringing Up Baby
89. The Sixth Sense
90. Swing Time
91. Sophie’s Choice
92. Goodfellas
93. The French Connection
94. Pulp Fiction
95. The Last Picture Show
96. Do the Right Thing
97. Blade Runner
98. Yankee Doodle Dandy
99. Toy Story
100. Ben Hur

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

60 of my 125 tasks

The Mission:
Complete 125 tasks in a period of 1125 consecutive days.
The Criteria:
Tasks must be specific -no ambiguity in the wording- with a result that is measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must be realistic and have some amount of work on my part.

Why 1125 Days?
This is my version of a bucket list. I don’t want to wait until I’m going to ‘kick the bucket’ to do things I really want. I’m also not good at resolutions. But, maybe with a realistic timeline (1125 days= 3 years) I will be able to do some of these things.

Start Date: Tuesday, March 17, 2009
End Date: Thursday, March 17, 2011

Bold - Completed Item

1. Print pictures for parents wedding gift (picture frames)
2. Create art for the living room
3. Create album of wedding photos
4. Create wedding shadowbox
5. Make ten invitation templates (0/10)
6. Make wedding programs
7. Make thank you card templates
8. Watch all the AFI’s Top 100 movies (2007 list) (28/100)
9. Read the top 10 banned books (1/10)
10. Attend a concert of someone famous I haven’t seen live before
11. Attend an open mic night
12. Complete NaNoWrMo (National Novel Writing Month)
13. Go to a movie alone
14. Find 100 things that make me happy (0/100)
15. Write a book that is no shorter than 50,000 words.
16. Take a cake decorating class
17. Try 30 different recipes (0/30)
18. Bake bread
19. Decorate a cake with fondant
20. Make homemade ice cream
21. Cook dinner at home, everyday, for two weeks
22. Take lunch to work everyday for 1 month
23. Backup all my music on my external hard drive
24. Clean off my computer’s hard drive
25. Learn how to use Illustrator
26. Upgrade to CS3 at home
27. Use reusable shopping bags instead of plastic when I go to Aldi
28. Rid my life of plastic bottles
29. Find a recycling center around my apartment and take all the cardboard boxes to it
30. Lose 10 pounds and keep it off (0/10)
31. Drink one more glass of water than soda everyday
32. Take a dance class
33. Wear a bikini in public
34. Work out three days a week
35. Draft a living will
36. Change my name
37. Organize the bedroom closet
38. Clean the litter box every other day or buy a self cleaning litter box
39. Get a new passport
40. Backup portfolio pieces on disc
41. Set up an Etsy store
42. Sell something on Etsy
43. Create a budget
44. Put $20 into savings account each month (0/160)
45. Get joint account
46. Get joint checks
47. Pay parents back for school
48. Donate old clothes
49. Make a donation to the Humane Society
50. Send an e-mail/letter to an old friend
51. Send Christmas cards
52. Go out to eat with husband at someplace new
53. Host a dinner party
54. Buy a house
55. Replace computer
56. Buy a new camera
57. Get new dishes
58. Get new pots and pans

59. Buy Beauty and the Beast
60. Go on a cruise
61. Go on an airplane
62. Go on a road trip
63. Go camping
64. Go somewhere spur of the moment

I am still working on the rest of the list. More will come, but this is my beginning.

My new direction

So, this blog started as a blog for my wedding. But, I've changed my mind. My wedding is less than 2 months away, so I won't have a lot to write about. Instead, I'm working on my list of 125 things I want to do in 1125 days (thus the name of the blog). That should be posted later today. Follow my movement as I try to complete my list!!