12 in 2012!!!

What does that cartoon to do with today's post? Well, (1) running with my coworkers is giving me speed envy, and (2) I can't make a blog post without at least one picture, lol... Anyway, my friend, Jill, is encouraging runners to join the challenge: 12 half-marathons in 2012!
We (yes, I did say "WE") have decided to take up the challenge... sort of...

Chris used to run in high school on track and cross country. He decided to just run on his own in college and not run with the college team. He thought that running when, where, and how long he wanted, instead of pushed by coach and team would be more appealing to him. But, he found that he lacks motivation and misses racing.

Cheryl is a Senior at Cal Poly Pomona, but she won't graduate this year because she can't get the classes that she needs. She wants to get back into shape so that she can try out for the Cal Poly soccer team next summer. Athletes get priority registration!

So I'm running with two kids who haven't run since last Spring. I think it's best for us to start slow... start with 5K's and work our way up to a half-marathon! Here is our schedule so far for 2012:

January - Neverland 5K(1/27) - this is a night run
February - either China Town Firecracker 5K (2/12) or Timberwolf 5K (2/18)
March - Coaster Run 10K (3/25)
April - still looking... can't find a local 10K in April yet
May - OC Half-Marathon (5/6)
June - Rock and Roll San Diego Half-Marathon (6/3)

That is as far as we have planned... If all goes well Cheryl will make the soccer team and will probably stop racing in June. So that will leave Chris and me to finish out the rest of the year.

Unity Friday - FWF

This month's Unity Kit Challenge started with a wonderful poem about Fall. I took from the poem an inspiration of fall colors. I started with the little tree from one of the first KOMs and started adding colored "leaves." So how did blue leaves end up in my Fall colors? Well, they matched my PP... that's artistic license :oD I added a big drops of Diamond Glaze to give it some shine; and I have a gift card holder to send someone a special pick-me-up.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Halloween!

It's Halloween... and time for the annual Halloween Bash at my brother's and SIL's house.

Since, Jim had to get up early the following morning for work, he decided to stay home and hand out candy. He reported a total number of 3 trick or treaters! Oh, well, more candy for us!

Chris and Cheryl went out walking with the kids... not Trick or Treating. At 18yrs and 21yrs, they've decided that they're too old for that. BUT They are not too old to dress up! My mom isn't either :oD

I found Waldo!

Here's the whole BOO Crew!

Here are a couple of the CUTEST witches I ever did see!

Here are some girls... dressed up as.... uh, girls....

Here are a couple of photos that Chris took during Trick or Treating...


I hope everyone had a SAFE and FUN Halloween!!!

Happy Fall Y'all!!!

I know some of the country is buried under snow, but here, our Halloween-eve is bright sunny and warm. In fact, it's a great day for the BEACH!

... and for throwing sticks...

... and for catching sticks...

... and for digging holes...

Jena is so proud of herself when she saves a stick from the waves!

We hope everyone has a safe and fun Halloween!

Friends with Flair - She Art Girl

I put this up for the Unity Friday share. I love using Unity stamps for background patterns in mixed media art. This month Unity release a new Mixed Media Stamp kit just for me! Well, me along with the thousands of other Unity mixed media fans :oD

Here is my share for the day:

The thing about mixed media is that sometimes the stamps get buried under layers of paint or other stamps. Here are the Unity stamp sets that I used:

I really love the "It's All About Today" stamp. It goes perfectly with the quote, "She made Today Count."

Jena the flying frisbee catching dog!

The kids and I went running this morning in the Arroyo. It's been a while since we've been down there. Since we weren't sure what it would be like, we left Jena at home... poor Jena... she was so sad... It's a good thing we left her home because part of the trail was flooded. We tried to find our way around on a different trail, but we got lost and had to turn back.

After we got home, Cheryl went to her little girl's game, and Chris and I took Jena to play frisbee. Jena is a champion frisbee player!

Here is Jena in action!!!

BTW, Cheryl's girls TIED 0-0 today!!! YAHOO!!! This is the first game that they didn't lose! Hopefully, they are on a roll!

Engineers without Borders

Last weekend I competed on the Panasonic Engineers without Borders team! I was the last person asked to join, making up our team of 13 engineers. I'm one of the oldest people on the team! {sigh} When did I get OLD?!!! Anyway, here we are! Panasonic's Engineering team!

Engineering without Borders isn't so much an athletic event as it is a team work event. Our first event was a series of relay events which included a balloon toss, pass the water down the line to fill a bucket, and pass a hula hoop down the line and back again... We also had: putting...

A walk the plank to the end of the field and back:

In this one we were supposed to find little foam blocks in a bin of packing foam, without knocking any foam outside the bin (points deducted if we get any foam on the ground). It's not as easy as it sounds!

Our two basket ball players were enlisted to throw the balls into the bucket... they didn't say we couldn't use a couple of our BIG guys as a backstop, lol! Riding on the edge of the rules kind of set the tone for our team, which you will see later...

In this one we had to get everyone to fit on one a small square. More points were given for the smallest squares.

We got a little messed up because we couldn't use the same people in each event (they should have told us that before!) Miriam and I were supposed to run the maze, but we had just done the plank walk. We had a bit of confusion as we tried to figure out who could take our places in the maze. As a result, we lost the relay event.

And here is my dodge ball debut! We had to field three teams. I was in the first team. I didn't know that dodge ball had so many RULES! I'm so proud that I wasn't the first one out... I was the second.... A ball that I threw was caught by the other team, so I was out. My team lost. Our second team fielded won. And our third team lost. So overall, we lost...


Then there is the infamous ropes course! 8 people go up the ropes course and race to the end. The rest of us are on the ground building as tall a structure as we can before the ropes people finish the course. Points are award for the first team finishing the ropes, and for the tallest structure.

Here is the ropes course... I would have loved to go up there, but there was a height requirement.


So I was part of the ground crew (actually I spend more time taking pictures than building the structure). We were handed a gallon zip bag of popsicle sticks and paper clips. We were told that that was all we could use to build our structure. So, our interpretation was that we could use the bag too...

The plan... split the bag open, roll it up, and build on top of it. BRILLIANT! Well... The other teams complained, and we were disqualified.

We also had a tug of war 5 rounds of 12 people each side. Since we had 13 on our team, we had a tug off between all the women to see which one would sit out. Guess who lost? But I took a lot of great photos! Hahaha!

So overall, Panasonic came in 6th out of the 10 companies competing. Kind of a dismal finish for our team of runners, basketball players, and weight lifters.

It was still a FUN time! Here we are waiting for lunch after the competition was over... FIRST in line! At least we got first in something! LOL!

Unity Stamp Challenge

Here's my entry for the Unity Stamp Challenge. I used BG paper and Unity Stamps. I love the typewritter stamp. In fact I bought that kit just for that one stamp. The "It's a great day!" stamp is one of my favorite sayings for thinking-of-you type cards. I threw the messy butterfly in the corner, for no reason other than I felt like using it :oD

Thanks for looking!!!

She Art #3

Here's my last She Art girl... or at least the last one I have in progress. This one has a patterned paper background, which makes it more colorful than the other two. It was hard for my to work with such a colorful background.


I decided to make this one a brunette. I think the brown hair is easier to work with than the black and the blond.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend! Jim worked today... he'll be working Saturdays until the end of the year. Cheryl's girls had a game in Palm Springs... they lost again. Chris, Jena-girl and I went for a run. I'm excited! We did 4 miles in just over 31 minutes. I'm finally back in running shape after our trip followed by that pesky cold.

Tomorrow, I'll be competing with the Panasonic Team at the Engineering without Borders challenge. Wish us LUCK!

She Art #2

Here is another girl from the She Art class by Christy T. on mixed media canvases. This background is layered with tissue and stamped. I used my Unity Stamps: Distressed Dots, Worn Grid, and Time of your Life (my favoirte clock stamp). I LOVE how Unity stamps are perfect for mixed media projects!

Brown really isn't my color, but nothing else seemed to stand out from the background for her dress. I gave this girl a black bob, and I think she came out CUTE!


I have one more girl in the works! She's going to be very colorful! Wait until you see her!

Just me being random....

As I sit here contemplating the mass murder of every ant living in the walls of our house, I changed my blog header...