Fonzi say: Aaaaaa

so as i mentioned in the previous post, i made a little personal gift for us last night for Valentine's Day.  actually, we both made it.

i was inspired by a post earlier this week from Dina at Honey & Fritz.  the original post can be found here.  originally it was going to be a surprise, but my usual procrastination brought me to a better idea.  Nacho & i love to do puzzles, especially at Christmas time, so why not use a puzzle we'd actually done & why not have BOTH of us contribute to this little art project?  so Nacho pitched in while also managing dinner.
i started with a trip to HobbyLobby & bought an 8"x8" frame & a couple of pieces of white card stock for backing (i always buy an extra in case i mess up).  then i tried printing out a large lowercase "A" from MS Word.  that was not going well.  i know, i should not have used a word processing program to begin with, but it's what i know most.  i never could get the sizing or vertical spacing right.  when i got the letter the size i thought i wanted, it would not print on a single piece of paper.
enter, OpenOffice Draw!  i love OpenOffice.  1 because it's free, yes, but mostly because it doesn't have all that heft that the MS products have - nothing against MS products, i just don't need all the bells/whistles at home.  so in Draw, i just created a lowercase "A" using the text tool & was able to size & position it perfectly - Arial Black 24 btw!  i did practice runs with just an outlined A (like Erin's "M") then thought to color the "A" in (like Erin's "A").  after playing around with a couple of blues, i found the one i thought worked best with our puzzle pieces as a whole - blue8 in OpenOffice Draw.
the smartest thing i did:  i printed the color "A" out on regular paper & played with the layout.  glad i did this because i was waaay too anal about this.  i have no idea how Erin laid hers out, but it didn't need near as much attention as i was giving it.

tip:  you do not have to, nor do you really want to, cover every square inch of the "A" in puzzle pieces during the 1st layer.  as a matter of fact, some of that color showing through is nice!

and then i was off!  here is the official "a" printed on sturdy card stock so any glue would not warp the paper too badly (that's another tip!).

i'm not sure what Erin used to secure hers, but Mod Podge worked great for me & allowed me to brush it on instead of the strings that a glue gun can leave.  
another tip:  i actually MP'd a few pieces to one of my paper print outs just to get a feel for how it would brush on the puzzle pieces.  since this was going to create a useless puzzle that i'm not willing to donate anyway, might as well practice!
and so Nacho & i created the 1st layer!

i let it dry for a few minutes & held it up to make sure all pieces were secured.  success! then i just repeated with layers 2 and 3 - Erin has a lot more layers than i do, so use your own judgement!
the next 2 layers were a little less straightforward.  at times, i brushed the MP onto the back of the puzzle piece, at others onto the pieces that they would be sitting on.  it just depended on how the "standing" test went & if they held or not.
and in about 30 minutes i had a work of art!

and i am happy to say i don't think this will make it to the Pinterest Fail site!

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Happy DayAfterValenties Day!

so how was your VD?  wait, that's probably not something i want you to answer!  but mine was great thanks!  we typically buck the tradition of going out to eat because, well, i hate people & you can be sure to encounter them at dinner on Feb 14th!  instead, we stayed in & cooked for each other - i prefer that anyway!  i had planned to do a pork loin from my Ina Garten recipe book & Nacho was completely on board.  so on board, that he simply took over!

so i did what i do best.....i made cupcakes!

and ate half the batter - SALMONELLA BE DAMNED!!!
but also while Nacho handled most of the cooking, i worked on a little VD gift (hehe).  no not that kind, but this one does keep giving back!

not much to it but i'll give cred & some very abbreviated steps in a separate post!
and then we ate!

mmmm twas delish!  another excellent job by TheMan.  and then we exchanged gifts.  Nacho got me one of my faves, Fanny May DARK Chocolate Covered Cherries.  yes, i said Dark, not the regular stuff.  i could eat these til i puke!  romantic huh?  and i got him

yep!  those are 2 hair combs you see there! there was a 3rd blue one, but it went with Nacho to hockey practice this morning at which point he FINALLY RETURNED MINE!  i don't do anything without an ulterior motive! and finally, "Nacho made me" (aka i made a gift to me from him) a very special flower arrangement.

that there is nothing but Cherry Blow Pops!  my absolute favorite sucker.  normally you cannot buy a bag of just the Cherry, but apparently at Valentines you can and i jumped on it!  so the local hardware store can sigh a bit of relief that i won't be cleaning them out for a couple of weeks!

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Paper Chase

if it's not obvious to anyone but me, let me tell you, this office remodel is going to take a while.  the first place to start in any redo, is to go through what you have & get rid of what you don't want/need.  in the kitchen, that was easy!  the office?  not so much! 

yesterday Nacho & i committed to spending 1-2 hours going through as much of the paper as we could (without losing our minds) & getting rid of unnecessary stuff.  how do we accumulate so much when we do so much online?  what you see above is an ordinary recycle bin, a typical office garbage can, and an 8-gallon bucket full of paper from mostly 2 places:  our investment notebook & our 1 file cabinet/box. 
we started going paperless years ago.  we've differed about what to keep & what to throw away & we know the prevailing guidelines out there but we battle one important concept that most households probably don't:  Nacho works in Environmental where they live "cradle to the grave".  that means he throws NOTHING away at work.  we've spent the last 2 years debating how to handle this at home - we considered buying an all-in-one scanner/printer/fax so we could scan it all. but i have convinced him that we can just box it up & store it.  no need to purchase yet 1 more piece of technology that (a) takes up space, (b) we won't use after that initial scanning job, and (c) i'll be responsible for throwing in the river after the 1st time it doesn't work - I HATE TROUBLESHOOTING PRINTING DEVICES!  word to the wise:  your printer doesn't work....get rid of it & commit to saving a tree.  it may save your marriage!
so that is round 1 of sorting through the paper clutter.  i'm pretty sure there will be a round 2 and 3 at the very least!  who knows?  there might be an office under all that paper!

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A New Year New Projects

anyone want to guess what our next project is here?  WARNING:  this is not staged!  it really does look like this!  GRAPHIC PHOTOS AHEAD!

makes your eyes bleed doesn't it?  and this is after i've done a little cleaning!  seriously!  they say it gets worse before it gets better.  it's about to get WAAAAAY worse people!
our office was the first room we tacked when we moved in back in 2001.  hard to believe that looking at it now.  but once upon a time, this room had cotton candy pink walls, grey-purple carpet & a purple-ish ceiling.  i know! why on earth would i ever get rid of it?
it's time has come around again.  oddly enough this is right in line with some of the design blogs I frequent.  the themes in the last week have been about bloggers getting their office spaces organized.  i'm right there with them.  mine will be no small feat!  you know how some people have that counter top or drawer where everything seems to get dumped?  you are looking at my counter top/drawer.
i would never imagine blaming it all on Nacho - okay i can imagine it!  but i am just as much to blame as he is.
after redoing the kitchen in 2011, we made a decision to completely revamp it this year - wow, it does not seem like it was really that long ago!  for the safety of our marriage, i gave us 2012 off so we could take a break from decision after decision & decide what we wanted to do with this room.  as per usual, we still haven't made up our minds & i've pinned waaay too many ideas.
ugh!  so now I have to put Nacho's money where my pins are.  i may need to be committed after this one though!  so i'm off in search of some easy online room layout tool.....and gathering a few more pins! shhhhh

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text-perimenting

okay, so i'm trying something a little crazy for January:  NO TEXTING!!  crazy! i know!  and by crazy, i mean according to someone who keeps trying to text me, not getting me & is super frustrated.  well, that will just have to be for Jan & perhaps they should try medication meditation for January.
this has all been born out of a progression of dissonance i have for technology.  i work in technology & it pays the bills, on time & in full most of the time.  however, when i walk out of the office, it's the last thing i want to deal with.  this is not unheard of for lots of people & their professions.  i do, however, know plenty of people that don't mind doing off the clock what they do on the clock.  i am not one of those people.  perhaps it's because THEY chose their profession & mine kinda chose me.  i don't know.  but i also spend 10 hours a day doing nothing but installing, configing, & troubleshooting stuff that either doesn't work or doesn't work quite right.  so when i go home I JUST WANT IT TO WORK!
in addition, technology was not my chosen study.  i actually got my Masters in Interpersonal Communication.  i studied communication and relationships between H-U-M-A-N-S not machines - although some days there doesn't seem to be much of a difference!  i have always been, and still am, completely amazed by human behavior & communication in particular.  so it should come as no surprise that i have an opinion about technology and interpersonal communication.  boy do i, but will keep the bulk of that to myself for now.
so this leads me to my current experiment!  while i appreciate the convenience of texting, i despise it at the same time.  3 main reasons:

1. i'm finding more often that people are engaging texting conversations with me that really would be better served if they would just pick up the phone & call.  anyone who works in an office environment has probably experienced the "enough emails, i just need to go talk to this person face to face".  after a while, the technology just gets in the way.
2. and people are texting me personal stuff (info, requests, etc.) that should be handled in person, if for no other reason, than simple common courtesy.  that is a WHOLE other topic people!  
3. and finally, if you are soooo busy that you can't even pick up the phone anymore to call me, well then, you are just toooo busy for me!  

did i mention i majored in Interpersonal Communication?  not Impersonal Comunication!  and how's it going 2 weeks in?  

I FREAKING LOVE IT!!!!

did i say that right?  let me check!  hells yeah!  it's amazing how liberating it is to NOT be tied down to a stupid phone all the time.  i'd already been weening myself off in the last couple of months by not taking my phone with me into restaurants.  Nacho & i go to breakfast (just the 2 of us) every Sat morning & i took notice one day of how many people where on their phones probably either texting or facesmashing.  then when i went home at Thanksgiving, i really took notice of people that were on their phones every minute during Thanksgiving dinner.  wow!  

don't get me wrong, i too have been a slave to that stupid little device!  i too have sat in a restaurant (across from Nacho) and texted.  and i don't like it!  oddly enough, part of what finally pushed me into this was a reprimand i got at work for checking my phone during a meeting.  i was not even aware i was doing it.  so when i noticed how often i would pull my phone out during the day to check messages, etc., it made me sick!  so here's what i did:

• researched & downloaded an app to auto respond to texts from anyone that i'm not checking texts & they need to call or email me.  i'm currently using AutoSMS & am fine with it.
• emailed certain people, mostly family, to let them know what i was doing so they would not be caught off guard.
• disabled text ringtone notifications (which was no biggie since i keep my phone on mute anyway) & my status bar notification.
• removed my texting app from my home screen so i would not be tempted to check it since it has a visual notification on the app icon that i cannot see where to disable.
• commit to not using it!

okay that last one wasn't too hard but i admit, like any addict, i did slip the other night during the BCS game when i texted my brother cuz i knew he would be watching & would not want a call interrupting him.  but i have sworn to make that my only text.  and you know what?  this has been easier than i thought!  i actually get tickled that Nacho now calls my work phone if he needs me during the day & we use our Google Chat instead of text.  now some may say that's not different, but i say yes because this is Chat via our computer browser No Phone and not Google Talk!  i cannot explain it though, it's just so nice not caring about that phone anymore.  the amazing thing is, it's bled into other areas that i'd normally use my phone for:  blogging, twitter, even email.  i'm noticing that i'm starting to use the phone for this 1 UNHEARD OF function......PHONE CALLS!  oh skittlefarts!  what's happened!

want to see if i'm serious?  go ahead!  text me!

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Traditional New Years Day activity

Mmmmmmm

home made cheese raviolis

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i made a pie

the unheard of happened!  get your parkas people because hell just froze over....a little.  I BAKED A PIE! and almost from scratch!  i found the recipe in the November issue of Better Homes & Gardens - and i would gladly link to it if BHG's website wasn't so awful!  am i alone in this experience?  doesn't matter!

Update: i did finally locate a link to a very short video on how to make this pie. hope the link works cuz i never know with their site!

at many points during the process, i could have taken photos, and there were some good ones to be had, but i was too busy trying to get it right so i only have a few.
first off, i didn't take photos of the cherry compote simply because i didn't think about it.  it was the first item that i did not make completely from scratch. who knew you couldn't get cranberries in December? well, i couldn't at least.  so i had to substitute Cranberry Sauce from the can. i'll be interested to see how this taste when i make it with the real thing next time.  i was able to mix my own Cherry Valley hand picked cherries with said sauce so i felt like that was a draw.
what you see here is the apple filling. i've never cored and apple before so i took a little shortcut: using 8 Granny Smith apples, i just cut both ends off, then peeled them, then cut them in a block fashion, much like you do a pineapple. this allowed me to skip the actual coring process & that was nice since (1) i don't own an apple corer & (2) have no idea how to core an apple.

OMG this smelled soooo wonderful cooking!  apples + lemon juice + dark brown sugar + flour. D-Lish!
skipping to the almost end...here is another shortcut i took.  i chose not to make my own crust. i figured baking a pie was way more than enough so why kill myself. if there was anything i was certain i could mess up, the crust was it! i elected to by the pre-made kind you find in the biscuit & cinnamon roll section. next time i will try the frozen pie crust as advised by one of my swimming girls!

but check that, and the next photo out will ya?  those leaves on top? oh yeah, i totally cut those out myself. since the recipe was for November and, thus, Thanksgiving, the theme was to top the pie with "leaves". hard to believe, but i don't own a single cookie cutter and, therefore, no leaf cookie cutter.  i started out cutting out leaves with a small pairing knife & then realized i should have done Christmas ornaments.  so i attempted to change gears half way through & cut out some MCM ornaments & round ornaments - wish i'd thought of the stars in time though.

and the most shocking thing of all?  this thing is not only edible, but actually pretty good!  and i have the testament of the swimming crew to back me - that's a collection of aunts, great-aunts, moms, grandmas  & great grandmas!  all that experience cannot be wrong!

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Merry Christmas

our Christmas took on a personal theme this year.  after Nacho's very generous anniversary gift last year, we promised not to buy each other big gifts for at least another 5 years.  it's been the best thing we've done because it's challenged us to get a little more creative about any small gifts.
1st up, this adorable Laura Berger print i picked up for Nacho at the One of a Kind Show Chicago a few weeks ago.  i love it & so did Nacho.

i made a promise to myself that in 2013 i would put more stuff on the walls.  stop living like a college student.   i do like it when people create personal "galleries" in their home.  also, i wanted to give Nacho something representing him & his Favorite Girl = Cookie!

i LOVE this photo!  of all the ones i've ever taken of Cookie, it is by far my favorite.  Nacho got pretty choked up over this.

while framing this i learned that i need to start shooting in a large format because this could only be printed out in 4x6 without having to "stretch" it & i didn't want to distort the photo.  i have since changed the setting on my camera.

i'd been looking at this frame at Target for some time but didn't pay attention to the fact that it was for a 5x7 photo.  i discovered that when i went to put it all together.  thank goodness for the college years - i worked in an art gallery for 3 years & did all custom framing.  so it was a simple matter of cutting a mat with a 4x6 opening for the photo & just taping it to the back of the mat that came with the frame.  in the end, i think it looks much better double matted.  

while Nacho got all choked up over that photo, i completely lost it over this one!

this is THE ONLY photo of us with Butterz at Bark in the Park.  i framed this & gave it to Nacho's mom for Christmas several years ago.  i made it very clear to him last year that it was the only thing i wanted back.  i was fine with even a copy. i didn't have to have the original but it was the only photo of Butterz that i did not have.  i was a bawling mess people!  i could not have been more floored.  and check out that frame!  that's a custom welding job by Nacho himself.  pretty impressive!

and while we got so busy this year that we did not do our usual pre-Christmas puzzles (aka 12 Days), we figured it's never too late to start.  so we broke out the puzzle this morning.

and no Christmas would be complete without a little cuddling boxer style!  Cookie cuddling of course with her favorite human!

and Baxter cuddling with his favorite bunny Jessie!

hand made or store bought, hope you had a very personal Christmas too!

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migration

we're a little like geese when December rolls around.  we migrate.....to Summit County, C.  and last weekend was no different.  although it was just Nacho, Korby & I (aka family vacation).  we did our usual snowboarding rounds - Copper Mountain on Friday and Beaver Creek on Sunday.

Beaver Creek

Beaver Creek

we got really lucky at Beaver Creek & it snowed all day Sunday.  yippee!!
but we mixed it up with a little cross country skiing on Saturday at the Frisco Nordic Center.

this was a first for Nacho & Korby but i'd taken lessons back in Feb at Winterpark.  here's a little gratuitous photos since i never did post about that trip.

i liked it so much though, i have since bought my own skis & poles.  it was nice to get back into a lesson & realize i'd actually remembered more than i thought & didn't do too bad.  i'm really looking forward to this as a winter supplement to my running.  that is if we ever get any snow to speak of!

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Let the tradition begin!

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