A Walk in the Woods

Yesterday I felt like I needed to get outside, and I'd been wanting to go on a hike for a couple of weeks now so I decided I should go (even though I went alone and got a lecture about how I shouldn't do that - but I did take my phone). So I went to York River State Park which I've hiked many times before, but enjoyed being outside and having some time to think. It was really nice. No one on the trail. Didn't hear much except for birds and the sound of myself walking. I enjoyed it a lot so I thought I'd share some pictures.

The trail starts off going along Taskinas Creek.

I got to see the marsh lined in ice from higher tide earlier that morning.

Some some wild blueberries along the way.

Then, the trail goes uphill and into the woods.

And then almost at the end, this is one of my favorite parts of the trail. It is almost like you are surrounded by trees, they are really close to the trail and it winds through them for a while before popping you out back on the creek where you head back to the top. All in all a very nice hike.

That afternoon I decided to check out the Ansel Adams exhibit at the Pfac (Peninsula Fine Arts Center) in Newport News. The collection is his "museum collection" and it was pretty amazing. I would suggest checking it out if you're nearby or if the exhibit is ever near you. :) I wish I could take pictures like that! Check it out here.

How Exciting!

This could be great news for Virginia if it's passed!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/21/AR2009012103538.html

Girl time at the Russo's

In celebration of our day off of work on Monday, Jes, Amber, and I decided to have a girl's craft day. Amber and I drove down to the Russo's and after sharing a delicious (but stomach ache inducing) Moe's lunch with Rob in tow too, we got started with our craft. I got the idea watching the Today Show one morning and it looked like an interesting project. So we tried it out!

http://www.truveo.com/Turn-your-Tshirt-into-a-bag/id/1237709950

First, you take your old t-shirt and cut the sleeves off, turn it inside out and start covering it in strips of duct tape. **Tip: for three tshirts we used up an entire giant roll of duct tape so you may need more than you think.

Second, you cut the edges and neck line to look like a tank top.

Third, staple the bottom edge, leaving a 1" seam or so.

Our only casuality - I broke the mini stapler from the Dollar Stop. **Tip: Use a full size one that's not from the Dollar Stop.

Fourth, fold the bag so you have the edges in the middle and staple the corners. This part is a little tricky and it would have helped to have the actual book in front of us instead of just the video but we made it work!

Finally, turn the bag right side out and voila you have a new bag! Looks like vinyl on the inside. If you want a regular flat tote instead of the corner thing, you just staple flat across and that's what Jes did. Both turned out really well. Can't see it really well in Amber's but the seam is not along the front where the logo is, so it makes the bag wider. I'll have to post a picture of mine later b/c it's at home.

Of course, I have to put a little Ellie love on here too b/c I did get to hang out with her some. :) She's eating some regular food now (sweet potato, yum!) and loved reading one of her books. She's sitting up too! We even made cupcakes for her 1/2 birthday celebration but when we got almost to the end she started crying. I think our singing voices all together must have scared her. All in all a fun girl's day (plus Rob some of the day) at the Russo's!

Break

I need a break from the crazy prep work for the lab tonight so I'm giving myself a few minutes and I felt like a survey so here goes...

Did the last person you kiss have tattoos? yep - four of them

How did you get your last bruise? can't remember...but i cut myself today at work on something.

When is the last time you cried? sunday watching some sappy stuff on tv

What was the last movie you watched? I think Indiana Jones, the new one. Although I watched part of You, Me, and Dupree this weekend and the Notebook but just parts of them.

Do you hate anyone? no

Have you ever liked someone older than you? yep

Is there a person of the opposite sex that means a lot to you? of course

Who's in your profile picture with you? well on facebook it's me and some kelp. on myspace it's me and a blue crab. sensing a theme?

Do you like Red Bull? eww no

What are you doin tomorrow? working and then having a night with amber and the boys playing Planet Earth the DVD game, ooh yeah we're dorks!

Ever broken a bone? nope

Last time you had pizza? Sunday night - my roomie's the best

Is there something you need to tell someone? not that I can think of right now

How many days until your next birthday? a little under 6 months

What have you eaten today? free chicken biscuit, some chex mix, subway sandwich, and some m&m's

Is your hair naturally curly or straight? wavy

Who was the last person you took a picture with? ellie

Who was the first person you talked to today? the lady at the chick fil a drive thru

Are you currently sad about anything? not really other than we didn't get snow

Are you tired? kinda

What color is the shirt you are wearing? brown

Where were you at noon yesterday? hanging out with the girls at jes's eating some moe's

Would you hug the last person you hugged again? definitely

Do you have trust issues? yeah somewhat but trying to get over them

Who is the last person who wrote a letter to you on paper? hmmmm...probably a note from andrea

Have you ever taken medications that were prescribed to someone else? no that's scary

Name something that made you frown today? when i woke up and looked out the window and saw.....no snow

Do you find the opposite sex confusing? definitely

Is there anyone you want to come see you? no b/c i need to get back to work after this and finish up the lab for tonight.

Are you in a good mood right now? fairly

Have you ever been a gymnast or a cheerleader? a took gymnastics when i lived in pa - i would not call myself a gymnast. and i was definitely NOT a cheerleader. EVER.

Do you take compliments well? no

Has a boy/girl ever called you babe or baby? yep

Do you hate it when people smoke around you? yes!

Do you like to take walks? yeah and i really wanted to go on a hike the other day...maybe this weekend.

Do you have anything that belongs to a boyfriend/girlfriend? no

Who was the last person you had an argument with? hmmm....i don't know.

Has anybody ever given you butterflies? yes

Where is the shirt you are wearing from? life is good

Do you mind being cold? yes especially when i'm inside and the heat is on and i'm still freezing

Have you held hands with anyone in the past week? yes

Who was the last person to give you a ride somewhere,not family? Amber or Shawn, not sure

What's something you really want right now? it to be 8pm

Are you okay with making a total fool of yourself? no, that's why i wouldn't go with Amber and dance while ordering at California Tortilla tonight to get free tacos- she said she'd do it if I did.

Do you have any piercings or tattoos? just my ears pierced. i'm boring.

Andrea tagged me

The things in bold are things that apply to me. () added for clarification. I tag Jes!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo (not in front of a crowd but maybe to some friends)
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris (one day)
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke (only at home)
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Gotten flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check (thank goodness for overdraft protection)
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House (just the front, not inside)
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous (seen someone famous, not sure if i've actually "met" them)
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

Things that make me happy

So yesterday's blog was far too depressing, so I figured I should do a more upbeat one! Here's a list of things that make me happy:

office supplies
Green Drinks
martinis
roomie time
seeing the marsh all frozen over b/c it's just so crazy looking
Boogie Shoes by KC and the Sunshine Band
emails from friends I don't get to see enough
catfish grappling videos
the beach
talking to my brother
hugs

:) Hope everyone has a lovely Friday/weekend! :)

Thursday Thoughts

I feel terrible this morning.

Why is it so cold?

My shoe has a hole in it and the cold air is sneaking in through it.

Free chickfila breakfast is awesome.

I wish it was Friday at 5pm. :)


.....maybe I'll add more later. I swear I'm happy just having a bad few days...

Advil is a wonder drug.

People are idiots and should not dis the education system when they wouldn't be here if it wasn't for that.

Seriously?

Australia is offering up what they say to be "the best job in the world". Basically you get paid $105,000 (plus airfare to get you to Australia) to live on Hamilton Island, a tropical island in Australia for six months! And get this - these are the job responsibilities -

• stroll the white sand beaches....CHECK
• snorkel the reef....CHECK
• weekly blogs, photo diaries, and video updates....CHECK

Where do I sign up? You get to live rent free in a 3 BR house, with a pool and golf cart, have to be a good swimmer, excellent communicator, and be able to speak English. Seriously??? It's an effort to increase tourism by doing something out of the box to attract attention to the island. And it's for real!

Applications are due Feb. 22nd - I'm thinking I should apply......

To the Ladies...

I warn you that this blog may not be suitable for guys.... :)

Isn't it amazing how much we change during the week of "partytime"?

Sidenote - For those of you not in the know, partytime refers to that time of the month, and it's a phrase that has been in usage since high school I believe and has now spread to many girls that I know and even their mothers and boyfriends! Partytime is the perfect word for it b/c a) it's nowhere NEAR being a party so it's just funny that we call it that and b) you can refer to things you might need during that time of the month as "party supplies" instead of calling them by their actual name, therefore when you are in public not letting the entire world know your personal business.

But back to what I was going to talk about - partytime. It's just amazing to me how much girls go through during that month. Amber and I were listing all of the symptoms that can/do occur and it's a lot that we have to deal with - cramps, bloating, mood swings including crying at anything, change in self esteem, stomach issues, tiredness, crankiness, and even clumsiness. I don't even know if I listed them all but yeah it's a lot. But the one that amazes me the most is just how much you can change in how you view yourself. One day you just wake up and think "oh my god, is that how my chin looks EVERY day?" and then after a few minutes of freaking out you realize that it's partytime and probably part of that reaction is just that you are hormonal and in a bad mood and bloated and yeah, it sucks!

I did some research on wikipedia this morning about pms and they say there are over TWO HUNDRED symptons related to pms. That's insane! Men have it so easy! I guess we have it easy too in this day and age compared to back in the old days when people thought pms was imagined. At least now people recognize it as something real. But still, women have it rough!

And as I wrote this and screamed at my computer twice for deleting the picture that I was trying to add, I just say "watch out!".

Scorpions and Mummies: What I learned from Indiana Jones

Amber and I embarked on watching the latest Indiana Jones movie last night, Legend of the Crystal Skull. Let me first start off by saying....whacko movie. I mean it was weird. But at least we did learn some things, or at least some things piqued our interest and prompted me to do some internet research this morning in between planning my summer camps! **Note, if you have not seen the movie and do not want to read some details that don't really give away anything about the movie, you may want to stop here - this is for you Jes, don't want to spoil your Indy movie!

Lesson # 1 - Smaller scorpions have stronger venom and therefore you should watch out for them more than big scorpions!

Research says - Very small scorpions such as the bark scorpion found in Southern Florida can sting and the sting is painful -- but, like a bee sting, goes away with little more than localized swelling. The issue with very small scorpions is they literally cannot inject enough venom to affect a large human. Think of dropping a single drop of red food dye into a big bucket. There's so much water you won't even see the color.
On the flip side, very big scorpions tend to rely on their pincers more than their venom to neutralize prey as pincers are not as costly as venom and don't require them to constantly replace them. Therefore, their venom is weaker and not nearly as potent.

So, sounds like there might be some truth to this but also that the smaller ones can't produce enough venom to really hurt a human so really not what the movie says.

Lesson # 2 - Mummifying someone can preserve them for thousands of years in the same state as the day they died. And then the moment you open the mummy and expose it to air, they disintegrate.

Research says - Still not quite clear on this one, but it looks like mummification does preserve them in their current state and exposed to the air, the body will disintegrate but just not to the magnitude shown in the movie.

Lesson # 3 - Big ants can eat you alive.

Research says - There are giant Peruvian ants (where the movie takes place) called Dinosaur Ants, but they are only 3 cm long, much smaller than in the movie. And while they do eat mammals including mice, and other animals such as birds, amphibians, and fish, I doubt there is truth in this part of the movie. Although it was gross and Amber and I had to turn away during that part.

Interestingly, Blondie has a song called "Attack of the Giant Ants" and the lyrics are kinda crazy. "They eat your face, never leave a trace."

At least I can say that we finally finished that movie. It's been sitting on our tv since November 14, 2008. Two months later, it's finally going back to Netflix!

5-minute shower

In an effort to continually increase my level of "greenness", my good friend Andrea got me something to try out. It's just a little hourglass similar to the one below that helps you be aware of the time that you are in the shower and how much water you are using. Not only will this help me save water but also will help cut down on our water bill too, which is always a good thing.

Since I did a lot of cleaning up yesterday, and trying to get organized, I finally got it in my shower and so this morning decided to try it out. And I made it in under 5 minutes! I got a little quicker at the end trying to get the conditioner out of my hair so that I wouldn't go over, but I think for the most part I usually do a good job of taking pretty quick showers. So try it out. You can get a shower timer at a ton of places, but here's a link that I found this morning for one that's only $4. Or you can just take your kitchen timer in the bathroom with you too. At least when those 5 minutes are up you get an alarm to jolt you awake in the morning!

I found a quote in The Green Book at work, saying that Jennifer Aniston takes only three minute showers. That's pretty amazing b/c I took up almost every second of that 5 minute timer this morning. But the quote she said was thought provoking "I found out that every 2 minutes in the shower uses as much water as a person in Africa uses for everything in their life for a whole day - drinking, bathing, cooking, and cleaning...everything!" That's pretty amazing. So yeah, try it out and see if you can cut your showers down to 5 minutes or less. It's a small thing, but still every little bit helps!