Sunday Sunset #9

Listening To: Been listening to the new Mumford and Sons singles lately. Very different sound, but I'm digging it.

Book finished: Y The Last Man Vol. 6-10; The Walking Dead Vol. 18-22; Insurgent; Fairest Of Mice and Men; Fables Wolves of the Heartland; Fables Camelot; All the Light We Cannot See

Reading: Four A Divergent Collection by Veronica Roth

On the Nightstand: Allegiant by Veronica Roth; Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz

Making Lists: Trying to list out all my upcoming craft projects for April and May. I always seem to forgot one until the last minute so listing them is very important.

Around the house: Back home means it's time to get back to cleaning, organizing, and decorating the house. While I was gone, J managed to hang some pictures and partially organize the garage. The downstairs is almost finished, but I need to add some color in a few places and figure out what to do with the area above the fireplace. there's a huge ledge there that I just don't know what to put on it.I would put some plants there, but i tend to kill any plant in the house, so maybe something else.

From the kitchen: I haven't made anything new this week, but I have a plan. While in Indiana I meal planned for April, May, and June. Yep, that's right, I meal planned for 2 1/2 months. I am so excited to try this new method. Along with picking recipes, I made a list of the nonperishables that I'll be using in those recipes. If I see something on sale, I'll buy it early. Maybe I can stay organized and excited about cooking while saving us some money. Next step is to list out the meat and possibly buy on sale and freeze. Just need to be careful about space. We don't have a standing freezer for overflow.

Watching: We got back into a few shows catching up on Children's Hospital, Last Week Tonight, Once Upon a Time, and Archer. We also watched a few more episodes of Agent Carter. I really want to watch Shield, but we need to finish Carter first.

From Nature: So excited about the sunshine at home! I really missed it. Arthur and I have been enjoying playing in the backyard. If only we had some actual grass...

Exercising: I walked all the way down to the stop sign and back up on Friday.  Doesn't seem like a big accomplishment, but the hill coming back up to the house is a killer.

Picture: View from the stop sign. Yep, that's the bay down at the bottom of the hill.

Sunday Sunset #8

Listening To: Curious George playing in the background. We're waiting to go to Easter dinner with the family but I have to occupy the baby until then. Hence Curious George.

Book finished: Yes Please; Y The Last Man Vol. 2, 3, 4, 5

Reading: Y The Last Man Vol. 6-10; Insurgent by Veronica Roth

On the Nightstand: Allegiant by Veronica Roth; All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Making Lists: Final checklist for the wedding next weekend. We've got most of the tasked assigned and some of them completed.

Crafting: I'm still working on Sarah's wedding scrapbook. I need to fill in the rest of the journaling cards and leave some spaces for the guest book cards.

Watching: Mom and I have been watching random shows on television. There is a lot of crap on tv right now.

Project: I guess wedding stuff. So much to do and it isn't even my wedding!

Picture: Sliding at the park with Grandma Heidi

Sunday Sunset #7

Listening To: Toto (the dog) snoring on the couch. He's so loud!

Book finished: First Comes Marriage;Then Comes Seduction; Y The Last Man Vol. 1; The Hedge Knight; The Sworn Sword

Reading: Yes, Please by Amy Poehler

On the Nightstand: Insurgent by Veronica Roth (so I can watch the movie); All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (book club); Y The Last Man Vol. 2-10

MakingLists: Starting a list of meals for the second half of April and May. Yep, I'm going to attempt to have a meal plan done before I got back home.

Crafting: Doing a bit of pre-planning for March Project Life pages. I won't have a chance to physically put them together until I get back, but I can pick my pictures and some of my insert and journaling cards.

Watching: My mom and I have been sucked into Secrets and Lies. I am totally hooked now and must keep watching to find out who killed Tom. My money is on the wife. Other than that, I've watched an episode of this or an episode of that, but not much television. We've been super busy and visiting with friends and family. I want to catch up on a few of my shows like The 100, Revenge, Reign, and Once Upon a Time. Maybe next week...

From Nature: When I arrived in Indiana last week, it was chilly but not horrible. This week it snowed! Argh! Where is spring? I really want to get back to my warm 70 degree days in California.

Project: Now that the bachelorette party and bridal shower are over, I can relax until after Easter. No big project in the works this week.

Picture: Baby boy sitting in the dog's bed.

Sunday Sunset #6

Listening To: My giant iPod list. I currently have the songs sorted alphabetically. I'm in the Fs right now. Just listened to "Fa Fa Fa" by Guster.

Book finished: Living History

Reading: First Comes Marriage by Mary Balogh

On the Nightstand: Yes Please by Amy Poehler; Insurgent by Veronica Roth

MakingLists: Packing list for Indiana. Only about a week and a half to go before I leave. I need to get start on actually packing.

Around the house: I finished Arthur's rooms this past week. Now to get started on the rest of the downstairs.

From the kitchen: I tried two new recipes last week. I made a pesto asparagus pasta that was amazing. I had to add black olives of course, but this was a great recipe. I also made a BBQ chicken salad that was pretty good.

Crafting: Most of my crafting time this week was spent making bridal shower invitations. I finally finished yesterday, so they are going in the mail tomorrow.

Watching: We caught up on Episodes and Elementary this week. On the movie front we watched Horrible Bosses 2 and Amazing Spider Man 2. Both pretty good, but I think Horrible Bosses 2 wins that battle.

From Nature: The temps went over 70 this week. Arthur and I enjoyed some lovely walks this week.

Project: Attempting to finish all of my in progress craft projects before I leave for Indiana.

Picture: Fun tunnel time!

Sunday Sunset #5

Listening To: Washing machine. It's the housekeeping task of the day.

Book finished: Remarkable Creatures; Ethan Frome; Seducing the Heiress; Never Trust a Rogue; Scandal of the Year

Reading: Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton

On the Nightstand: Yes Please by Amy Poehler; Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon; Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Making Lists: To do items before I leave for Indiana on the 17th. Sixteen days to get a ton of things done...

Around the house: Putting the finishing touches on Arthur's room this week. I still need J to hang the Enterprise mobile. Everything else is done!

From the kitchen: Nothing new from this past week. But I am listing a few new recipes to try this coming week.

Crafting: I have a few PL swaps to finish this week so I guess I'll focus on those.

Watching: We've been watching our usual currently airing shows. Really we've been staying away from most of television.

Wondering: What should I pack for Indiana? Yeah, I have no idea what type of clothes to pack. Indiana in March and April can have any type of weather.

From Nature: It's been chilly around here this week. By chilly I mean 50s and low 60s. Brr. It's also been a bit rainy. Missing my sunshine...

Project: Sarah's Wedding. She's getting married in April and I'm planning her Bridal Shower. I'm also a bridesmaid and generally helping her out. Lots of things to finish before I leave for Indiana on the 17th.

Exercising: I did our usual Shoreline 4 mile walk on Friday and it about kicked my ass. I was very winded by the end. I guess that weekend away really pushed me back on the exercise front.

Picture: My project yesterday. Cute boy themed project life cards.

Sunday Sunset #4

Listening To: The bees buzzing in my front yard. We have these flowering bushes right along the walk and the bees just love it there. Every time I go get the mail, I listen to the bees.

Book finished: Outlander (finally!)

Reading: Remarkable Creatures by Tracey Chevalier

On the Nightstand: Yes Please by Amy Poehler

Making Lists: Finalizing retreat grocery list and packing list. Only five days away!

Around the house: Yesterday I did a massive clean of the house. I did laundry, dishes, vacuuming (upstairs and downstairs), trash, garage organization, playroom cleanup, swiffering, bathroom wipe downs, and curtains hung (dining room, playroom, and Arthur's room). It was crazy, but now things are looking so much better.

From the kitchen: I tried another parmesan honey pork roast recipe last week. Decent but not the best recipe. My plan is one new recipe a week. Next week I'm going to try apple pie cookies.

On the Web: Trying to catch up on my blog roll. Slowly getting there and organizing my the blogs i follow in a better place.

Crafting: I finished up the retreat crafts before the week of the retreat. Woohoo! I am on top of stuff. I also finished my swap card and meet and greet packs. I've been a crafting machine lately.

Watching: The server went down this past week. We've been hitting up Netflix for our viewing selections. We started Star Trek: Enterprise this past week. I'm actually liking it...

From Nature: Very warm temps necessitated the buying of sandals for Arthur and a few summery tops for me. Awesome weather!

Project: Getting the house in order before I leave for my retreat on Friday. I've been slowing finishing the little projects here and there. It's looking much nicer now.

Picture: Finally popped in and got a library card. Now we can get more books!

I will be skipping next Sunday's wrap up post as I will be out of town at a retreat. Yeah for me! Sunday Sunset will be back in two weeks.

Sunday Sunset #3

Listening To: Arthur's laptop sing over and over and over again punctuated with his banging. Oh so soothing. It's not giving me a headache at all...

Book finished: None

Reading: Outlander (still getting through it, hope to be done before next week)

On the Nightstand: Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier; Yes Please by Amy Poehler

Making Lists: Making my usual weekly to-do list. I love my system! So easy, but actually keeps me on task.

Around the house: Lots of house projects in the works. Currently I'm attempting to finish Arthur's room, but I've also bought curtains and rods for downstairs and our bedroom.

From the kitchen: We tried a recipe for spicy black bean sweet potatoes. Extremely yummy and easy to make! Definitely adding this to our list.

Crafting: I had a great card class on Saturday morning. I have a few more coming up for the rest of February. It's going well.  On the personal craft side, I've been pulling items for my February PL pages and potential supplies for March and April classes. I'm thinking an all flower class and maybe a special occasions class.

Watching: We watched Trip to Italy the other night. Not quite as good as the first, but I still love Steve Coogan. We also watched Big Ass Spider last night.  Hee hee! Loved the cheese.

Wondering: Why won't these stupid curtain screws go in? Ugh, I am so over it right now.

From Nature: We've had some rainy and windy days lately. Nice change of pace from the relentless sunshine. Yeah, life's rough around here.

Project: Finishing up retreat prep... Getting so close to the weekend. I can't wait!

Picture: Rare rainy day in East Bay.

Sunday Sunset #2

Listening To: Nina Simone Pandora channel... Arthur really loves it.

Book finished: The Art of Asking

Reading: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

On the Nightstand: Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier; Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Making Lists: Craft projects to complete. I have a new system of keeping upcoming projects visual. This seems to be working well.

Around the house: Currently making a house punch list. I'm trying to make a list of every house project we want to do in the next few months. I've gotten a fair amount of projects done, but I need a master list to keep me on track

From the kitchen: We tried a stuffed buffalo chicken recipe that was alright. It wasn't amazing, but we'll keep it in Paprika for right now.

Watching: Catching up on our currently airing shows. Especially loving Episodes right now!

From Nature: East Bay is much much windier than South Bay. I'm loving the breeze, although I think it confuses Arthur.

Project: Retreat crafts and activities. We're three weeks away and I'm so excited for the retreat!

Picture: Zoo train selfie.

Sunday Sunset #1

Listening To: Ella Henderson new album. I am obsessed with "Ghost" right now.

Book finished: Lives in Ruins; Love Finds You in Hershey Pennsylvania; Midnight in Austenland; The Killer Angels; A Hundred Pieces of Me

Reading: The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer

On the Nightstand: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon; Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson

Making Lists: Grocery lists (yep, back to that), home projects (long and short term), boo club selections, and retreat to-dos.

Around the house: So many home project ideas floating around my head. I did get started on the playroom for Arthur this past week. Still need to assemble some furniture before taking pictures for the blog.

From the kitchen: I made some blueberry crescent rolls this week. Yum yum! Other than that, I stuck to old favorites. Next week I have a few new recipes I want to try.

On the Web: Attempting to catch up on my blogroll. I am way behind...

Crafting: I finally got my craft room sorted out. Now I can get down to the real business of crafting... Check out the picture tour on my craft blog.

Watching: Catching up on some of our currently airing shows -- Elementary, Once Upon a Time, Sleepy Hollow. Oh yeah, and Archer's back. Woohoo! Plus last week J had me watch the complete web series Video Game High School. It started out at a fun web series, become a proper sitcom, and ended as a drama. I loved it! Amazing series.

Wondering: How do I baby proof the electronics? J has a plan, but it will take a few months to complete. I need something for the interim.

From Nature: So excited to be back to the nice mild weather. We need to wear a jacket/sweater in the mornings, but the sun has been glorious. Our new house is in the clouds most morning. Very beautiful...

Shopping Scores: I made a huge trip to The Container Store and Ikea this past week. Lots of items for the new house. Love to organize everything!

Project: The house of course.

Exercising: I bought a Jawbone over Christmas. My goal is 10,000 steps a day. I've only made it to my goal once in the past two weeks, but I am being more mindful of how active I am.

Picture: I swear there is a very large hill somewhere in that cloud.

Sunday Sunset #34

Listening To: More One Bad Mother podcasts.  I am completely addicted.

Book finished: A Feast for Crows

Reading: None yet. I'm taking a break for Christmas, but will be back reading after the New Year.

On the Nightstand: Life in Ruins by Marilyn Johnson; Midnight in Austenland by Shannon Hale

Making Lists: Christmas break bucket list

Around the house: Mom's new house is finally looking put together.  The bar was put in last week meaning she now has a place for silverware. We're still working on some storage issues, but so far so good.

Watching: Daniel Tiger and Sesame Street... that's about it. Mom doesn't have cable and I just haven't been in the mood to watch anything on Netflix.

From Nature: Progressively cold temps this past week.  Brrr!  And they are forecasting snow for Christmas Day.  I love a white christmas, but the cold temps can stay away.

Shopping Scores: I finished up my Christmas shopping this week.  Actually I'm lying.  I have all the wrapped presents bought.  But after Christmas I always take the twins out shopping.  There's always something specific that they wanted and didn't get.  I don't really buy them presents ahead of Christmas.

Project: Finishing up my year end blog posts, getting ready to sign off for the year.

Picture: Best $0.50 I've spent in a long time...

Sunday Sunset #33

Listening To: One Bad Mother podcast.  It is my life!

Book finished: None (see below)

Reading: A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin (it is a monster at 1000 pages, but I'm working through it)

On the Nightstand: A Hundred Pieces of Me by Lucy Dillon; Midnight in Austenland by Shannon Hale; Life in Ruins by Marilyn Johnson

Making Lists: Never-ending to-do list. Being away from home has allowed me to take a step back and decide what I want to do in the coming year. I've got my new One Little Word picked out and a lot of projects to accompany it.

Around the house: I'm currently staying at my mom's house in Indiana and it's insane. The house was recently renovated, but there are still things to fix.  Just on Friday, the contractors finally finished installing the bar.  Now my mom has kitchen storage!  And they finished the flooring.  We we have to fix the ant problem (an exterminator is coming in next week) and an electrical issue (keep tripping the breaker when using the microwave.  Other than the chaos of recent renovations, it's a nice little house.

Crafting: Working on my December albums (all four of them!) and that's about it.  All of my recent crafting purchases have been sent home to California so no play time for me until after the new year.

Watching: Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood and Sesame Street in the morning.  As we are stuck indoors most days (Midwest cold!), Arthur has gotten to watch some tv during the day. I try to limit it to one episode a day, but on Friday it was a lot more due to the big house construction.

Wondering: Where we should go with our rental car this week?  I finally decided to rent a car for a week while here.  Arthur and I have been stuck at the house because mom's car is used as the delivery vehicle. I need to take advantage of the rental while I can.  I'm thinking the indoor playground, the coffeehouse/playground, the library (probably multiple visits), grocery shopping for mom, visit to grandma and grandpa, coffee date with friend...

From Nature: Cold, but not frigid yet.

Shopping Scores: I've grabbed lots of cute Christmas gifts for the boys and a few for my mom.  Plus I took advantage of some online sales for house goods and craft supplies back home.

Project: Lots of year end blogging posts, retreat planning, preschool planning, and general house ideas.

Picture: Arthur sitting in his car with the tv remote (not the real one, but he loves to pretend).

Sunday Sunset #13

Overall, a not very exciting week.  I did a ton of things with the boys, but nothing crazy or out of the ordinary.  Just spent time with Indiana people.  I do have a big announcement for the week:  I am pregnant!  I wanted to wait until I made it past the danger zone (because of last time) and to tell my family first.  I'm feeling very blech, but it seems to be getting better.  I just can't believe how tired I get...  Oh well, it's the price of growing another human.  Updates will follow.

Listening To: Local radio...  I completely forgot how much I hate regular (non-satellite) radio.  Unfortunately that's all we listen to in the car.  Blah!  I need my Alt Nation back.

Book finished: Kitchen Confidential

Reading: A Clash of Kings; Stardust

On the Nightstand: P.S. I Love You by Cecelia Ahern, The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Making Lists: Starting my Amazon baby registry.  Lots of basics and gender neutral stuff.

On the Web: I am completely obsessed with The Lizzie Bennet Diaries.  I know, late to the party...  but they are so amazing.  I have been marathoning through them this past week.  I finally reached the end on Friday and immediately wanted to go back and start it again.  Amazing!

Watching: The boys and I saw Oz while I was in Indiana.  I really enjoyed it, but thankful that I opted for the 2D version instead of 3D.

From Nature: It wasn't as cold in Indiana as I thought it would be.  We had decent weather, even some sunshine.  I lucked out.

Shopping Scores: The local Archiver's is closing so I took advantage of their storewide 25% off sale.  I snapped up a paper pack, some Washi tape, a cute dates stamp set, and some jewels.  I didn't go crazy but made sure to grab some supplies I can always use.

Now I'm off to drop the boys at their dad's and visit the casino with mom.  You'll find me reading my iPad by the horse track...

Sunday Sunset #12

Listening To: At work, I sit in the customer service area.  It can get a bit loud at times.  Therefore, I have been enjoying Pandora during my basic tasks to focus.  I've also been listening to The Nerdist podcast during lunch times and while traveling this week.  Lots of fun.

Book finished: Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

Reading: A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin (loving it!)

On the Nightstand: Kitchen Confidential, The Secret Garden

On the Job: I only worked half the week because of traveling back to Indiana.  We did nail down some great ideas and direction for the project.  I hope this continues...

Watching: My television watching has been limited this week with starting a new job.  I have really enjoyed watching The Lizzie Bennet Diaries during my lunch hour.  Really late to the party, but still loving them...

Wondering: How exhausted am I going to be at the end of this week?

From Nature: Thankfully Indiana is helping me ease into the cold Midwest weather.  I went from 60s in California to 50s in Indiana.  At least until Monday, we had beautiful weather.  Not looking forward to the cloudy, windy high 30s this coming week.

Shopping Scores: Took the boys shopping for their birthday.  They scored a ton of Pokemon gear, comic books (Sonic the Hedgehog), and Apple cards.  I think they're happy with the haul.

Sunday Sunset #11

Book finished: The Doomsday Vault, Coraline

Reading: Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

On the Nightstand: A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin, P.S. I Love You by Cecelia Ahern, Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Around the house: Cleaning in prep for book club.  J took over the dining room table last month to get our taxes around.  There are still piles...

On the job: It's a new topic!!!!! Because I got a job.  Sorta out of the blue, J's company hired me as a project manager.  I'm not going to go in depth about the project we're working on (it's a bit of a secret), but I will say that it has to do with digitizing quality curriculum.  I started on Friday and boy was it a jumping in with both feet kind of day.  I arrived for an intro, a tour, and a bit of meeting of with my supervisor.  It turned into a full day's work of trying to wrap my head around the project.  Plus, I met with both the CEO and CTO, my boss's boss, and some of the people in the technical team.  All this without having a desk or a permanent laptop.  It was quite a day, but I'm so excited to get back on Monday and really starting to tackle the problems...

On the Web: With the eminent demise of Google Reader, I finally decided on a new rss feed and switched my blogroll.  I decided to go with Bloglovin'.  Feedly is nice, but too busy for me.  And none of the other choices even caught my fancy.  So far, it's different, but I'm liking format.  Of course, now I am way behind with my reading and don't know when I'll catch up.

Farmer's Market Finds: Just a quick trip to pick up some mixed greens for book club this week.  We decided to do a potluck salad bar.  I'm bringing the mixed greens, obviously, and the market has a vendor who sells a 1/2lb mixed bag for $3.  That's cheaper than the grocery store and this is quality organic greens.  So yummy!  I also grabbed an almond croissant to eat before going shopping with a friend.  I tried the French bakery.  Pretty good, but I really want my other bakery to come back to the market.  Maybe once summer hits...

Crafting: Monday was stamp club.  We made three cards and a 3d project.  The extra card (on brown cardstock) was my version of our homework.  I particularly loved the whale card.  I don't plan on buying the whale clearlit, but I love the play of circles.  I'm debating about whether or not to get the banner framelits next order.  I didn't like the coordinating stamp set, but the framelits are cute.

On Saturday I acquired a ton of new card supplies.  I had to try them out, so I made 10 cards, 5 color/designs with 2 options.  Some of these are sticking around until April stamp club as they are my interpretation of our homework.  I'm really loved the blue vine embossed cards with the polka dot flowers.  The colors look really nice together.

Watching: For television, I've been working through V (newer series, not the old miniseries).  I finished S1 and started S2, but don't when I'll finish with the new job...  For movies, I grabbed a couple of Redbox movies while J was still out of town: Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 (better than I thought it would be) and Pitch Perfect (amazingly fun!).  Pretty light on the watching front this week.

Wondering: How I'll have enough hours in the week to complete my big work project?  Insane amount of work.

Shopping Scores: I was hostess this month as stamp club.  I bought my $50 of products to get the Sale-a-bration gift.  With everyone's combined total, I earned $50 of free products. Holy cow!  After searching through the catalog, I finally narrowed it down to a few great finds.  Our order arrived on Friday.  My scores: Four Seasons stamp set (hostess), Sweet Essentials stamp set (hostess), Wacky Wishes stamp set (hostess), Stacks of Wishes stamp set (hostess), 2011-2013 In Color Markers set, Secret Garden Bundle (framelits and stamp set), Glimmer paper (hostess), Vine embossing folder (sale-a-bration), Perfect Plum Ink pad.

A crafting friend clued me into the big clearance sale as a local craft store.  She picked me up early Saturday morning so we could get there before the rush. Tables upon tables of new and used card making and scrapbooking supplies.  People can sell their supplies on consignment.  We dove in, but the crowd was intense and the aisles small.  After about 1/3 of the way through the tables, we decided to call it quits.  But I did find some awesome supplies: 3 stamps sets from Stampin Up, 1 stamp set (manufacturing unknown), 1 double sided circle stamp, 1 square punch, 3 Stampin Up ink pads (basic gray, real red, and tangerine tango), 100 sheets of various paper ($5!), and 1 mini scrap pad ($0.50).  Such a great shopping trip!

Project: Prepping for trip back to Indiana.

Sunday Sunset #10

Listening To: Amanda Palmer and the Grand Theft Orchestra "Theatre is Evil" -- I'm a bit obsessed with this album this week.

Book finished: Girl of Nightmares; Let's Pretend This Never Happened; London Eye; Valley of Silence

Reading: Choosing my next book from the listed below...

On the Nightstand: Next by Michael Crichton, The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa, Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, P.S I Love You by Cecelia Ahern, The Doomsday Vault by Steven Harper

Making Lists: Possible book club selections.  I am hosting next Sunday and have started to gather some possible books together.  Of course, those books are coming from my TBR shelves, but I want to pick a variety.  Also thinking about what food to buy for book club...

From the kitchen: I actually cooked this week.  I've been craving grilled chicken and steamed veggies.  I want to try and make more of the same, but I do so hate cooking.

On the Web: Evaluating my options with the announcement of GoogleReader's demise.    I imported my blogroll to Bloglovin'.  I'm going to try it out for about a week and then reevaluate...

Farmer's Market Finds: Slim pickings this time of year unless you are searching for lettuce or root vegetables or overpriced strawberries.  I'm waiting for the spring produce and a bit of lower prices.  I did pick up a nice bunch of mixed greens, a fruit tart, cheese danish, and ham and cheese quiche.  I plan on making those ingredients my meals for today.

Crafting: Nothing.  I did reorganize some of my supplies and reevaluate my plan.  I'm thinking about switching to Project Life style scrapbooking by the end of the year.  Still thinking about it...

Watching: Randomness this week.  We continued our season 2 of The Walking Dead and some of our currently airing shows.  I finished S1 of Hart of Dixie, but have to wait for season 2 to be finished so I can start.  And I started watching V season 1 (newer series, not the original).  I remember watching the first two episodes when it aired, but never finished it.  So far so good.  Now I need to go get S2 from the library.

From Nature: The temperatures are gorgeous and it's almost always sunny.  With the rise into the 70s, I was hoping to restart my daily swim.  But I just got notification that the complex is closing the pool for 30 days for renovations.  Guess I will have to wait until the end of April.

Sunday Sunset #9

Book finished: Morrigan's Cross, Death: At Death's Door, The Ghost and the Goth, Queen of the Dead, Dance of the Gods

Reading: Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake

On the Nightstand: Valley of Silence by Nora Roberts, Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

MakingLists: Packing list for Spring Break.  I'm headed back east to see the boys and family for spring break. Of course, I am the uber-planner and must start packing weeks ahead of time...

Crafting: I had a fun card class on Monday using some products that I actually own.

At class, I received my February Stampin' Up order.  So lots of fun new toys to play with.  I got inspired...  Lots of butterflies.  Using my new stamps and embossing folders.  And a couple of birthday cards for the boys.

Watching: For television, we watched lots of currently airing shows.  Thank goodness the new episodes are back.  I was loving new Castle, Community, and Psych.

Movie selections for the week

• Seven Psychopaths -- Hilariously dark comedy.  Loved it!
• The Raven -- Cheesy fun.  Much like Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter.
• Machete -- Very cheesy fun.

For my birthday week, I had a zombie movie marathon.  Lots and lots of fun.

Shopping Scores Birthday Gifts: A few, but such good gifts.  After a few months of poking, J bought me a Big Shot and a few embossing folders!  Mom sent me some great blossoming teas.  Crafting friends gave me some random supplies.  And with the check grandma and grandpa sent me, I bought myself some fun patterned coloring books.

Sunday Sunset #8

Book finished: The Beekeeper's Apprentice, Complete Hans Christian Anderson Fairy Tales, Crossed, Locke and Key Volume 5, A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel, Princess of Glass, Princess of the Midnight Ball

Reading: Morrigan's Cross by Nora Roberts

On the Nightstand: Neverwhere, Death, Beautiful Creatures, Let's Pretend This Never Happened

MakingLists: March blog posts.  I am loving Evernote to organize my future blog posts.  I'm planning on a Zombie movie marathon for my birthday and multiple posts about my boys for their birthday.  If I didn't make lists, I would never have blog posts...

On the Web: Reading lots of interesting parenting websites.  I find the different lifestyles to be good reading.  I think I am obsessed.

Watching: Along with watching ST:TNG S4, I started watching Hart of Dixie S1 on Netflix.  And we started watching S1 and S2 of The Inbetweeners.  Freaking hilarious!  Must keep watching.  And we caught up on currently airing shows: Archer (Hello Anthony Bourdain!), Learning Town, Once Upon a Time, Community, Castle, Modern Family.

The end of New Movie February:

• Magic Mike (NMF #24)
• Hysteria (NMF #25)
• The Bourne Legacy (NMF #26)
• The War Bride (NMF #27)
• Star Trek: First Contact (NMF #28)

Wondering: How did I make it through almost 30 crappy weather birthdays?  I am loving the great California weather to bask in on my birthday.

From Nature: Hello!  Beautiful!

Project: Gearing up for spring break back in Indiana and summer with the boys.

Sunday Sunset #7

Listening To: Lots of Arctic Monkeys.  A few bloggers I follow have mentioned them in the past week and suddenly I had a hankering for some AM.  One of the new songs I instantly fell in love with ("Cornerstone"), I didn't actually have.  So I have some new-to-me AM music to enjoy this week.

Book finished: Garden Spells, Matched, Thin Air

Reading: The Beekeeper's Apprentice

On the Nightstand: Wrapping up Fantasy February with... Matched, Neverwhere, Stories of Hans Christian Anderson

MakingLists: Stampin' Up order for February.  Every month I change my order at least three times before committing.  This month is no exception.

From the kitchen: Nothing.  I've been unable to keep a ton of food down, so I've eating lots of sandwiches and salad.

Crafting: A great crafting class on Tuesday.  All the stamps were from the Sale-a-Bration catalog.  I've got some great new ideas.  I love the new chalkboard technique of the first card.  I changed my order to get the white craft ink so I can replicate!  The last card is actually from Pam as a thank you.  I just love the colors of that card.

Plus I had a free crafting night at Panera where I worked on our scrapbook.  I completed multiple pages and made some great headway.

Watching: Legit (on FX, hilarious!), S3 of Star Trek: TNG; Raising Hope (finished the series).

As for New Movie February:

• The Warrior's Way (NMF #18)
• Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus (NMF #19)
• Love's Kitchen (NMF #20)
• Explorers (NMF #21)
• Special (NMF #22)
• Battlestar Galactica (NMF #23)

Wondering: When will this nausea abate?  Because I'm really getting sick of it! (mild chuckle)

Shopping Scores: A plane ticket for Spring Break, finally.  All set to visit the family and spend time with the boys.

Sunday Sunset #6

Book finished: Windfall, 300, The Forgotten Garden, Terror by Night, Firestorm

Reading: Garden Spells

On the Nightstand: Velveteen, Matched, Crossed, Stories of Hans Christian Anderson

MakingLists: I have stamp club in two weeks and I need to start thinking about my monthly order.  It's so hard trying to narrow down all my choices.  I'm sure I'll change my order at least three times before club.  That's just reality.

From the kitchen: On Monday I made faux egg mcmuffins and they are friggin' delicious!!!!! Other than that, I'm feeling really crappy this week so no more cooking or recipes.

Crafting: I had a bit of fun with my new butterfly punch this week.  I love the simplistic look of colored butterflies on a white background.  For the two polka dot cards, I wanted to play with repeating background images.  I stamped the same simple dot flair stamp in a yellow, light pink, and pink to match the designer paper (DSP stack from Stampin' Up).  In real life, the colors work much better.  Plus, I love the repeating colors.  I want to play around with the idea some more.  Lastly, I used another sheet of the DSP for the background of the "Bloom" card.  I tried to bring out the green of the paper with green ink, but it doesn't quite work right.  Maybe layering of stamps is a bit much.

Watching: As for television, we’ve been watching Star Trek: TNG S2-S3, Wonders of the Universe S1, Learning Town, Archer, and Raising Hope S2.

Movies watched for New Movie February

• Urbanized (NMF #10)
• Centurion (NMF #11)
• Life Happens (NMF #12)
• Angel (NMF #13)
• The Black Hole (NMF #14)
• Seven Samurai (NMF #15)
• Immortals (NMF #16)
• Aziz Ansari (NMF #17)

From Nature: Gorgeous.  If I wasn't feeling bad, I would have dove straight into the pool yesterday...

Picture: My pretty arrangement from J for Valentine's Day.  Every once in awhile, he really surprises me...

Sunday Sunset #5

Listening To: Spotify and 8tracks.  My mom sent me a link to an 8track playlist of Doctor Who music.  Love it!  It's been on repeat all week.

Book finished: Chicks Dig TIme Lords, Fables Vol 17 Inherit the Wind, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Gone Girl, Cowboys and Aliens

Reading: Windfall by Rachel Caine

On the Nightstand: The Forgotten Garden, Garden Spells, 300, Velveteen

From the kitchen: Nothing exciting this week, but I do have plans for the next couple of weeks.  To make meal planning easier, I am going with a two week rotation of types of food.  For example, every other Monday is breakfast for dinner and every Sunday is slow cooker for dinner.  I am not a fan of cooking, but this just might lessen the difficulty.  We'll see...

Crafting: Somehow I only made one card this week.  Just one!  But I did use some of my new products. I love my new butterfly stamps and punch.  This is the small one, I have yet to play with the larger butterfly stamps.  And I got to use my new Sale-a-Bration stamps ("Oh happy day" and flowers)  I love the simplicity of this card.  I even like the pastels (not usually a fan).  Hopefully next week, I will be more inspired for crafting.

Watching: As for television, we've been watching S1 and S2 of Raising Hope, S1 of Star Trek: TOS, S1 and S2 of Star Trek: TNG, and catching up with some of currently airing shows (Castle, Modern Family, Parks and Rec, Portlandia, The Guild).

Movies watched for New Movie February

• Transformers Dark of the Moon (NMF #3)
• Objectified (NMF #4)
• Moonrise Kingdom (NMF #5)
• Wizards (NMF #6)
• Pizza My Heart (NMF #7)
• Helvetica (NMF #8)
• Moon (NMF #9)

Project: Summer plans.  I grabbed a few California travel books to list some great summer activities.  I want to explore more of our area.  I started an Evernote notebook with some ideas.  Love it!