creative findings

Okay so I know I am not the only one out there who has a problem in Target. You go in to buy one thing and walk out with everything but that one item, so frustrating! My biggest weakness is that glorious Starbucks right inside the door as soon as you walk in. Naturally I had to make a Target run a few weeks ago and was forced to get a slice of banana bread and a hot chocolate on a rainy day. The only benefit of this is that Starbucks ALWAYS has an "app of the week" from the Apple Store. Sometimes they have a featured artists that will give you free downloads to their music, and sometimes you get luck with a awesomely useful app. I happened to pick up the card for the Postale app, in which you can share your travel highlights. 

The culprit card!

In all honesty this app is pretty awesome if you travel, love to take photos, and scrapbook...but without all of the hard work. Here is a sample of one I put together after our family trip to Gettysburg last year. The biggest disadvantage of this app is that it only allows for one photo per postcard. The coolest part is it's finished look. 

Postale sample from Gettysburg

While I was stuck on the couch a for a few days, just watching someone sleep, see previous post here I stumbled across this great product, Project Life. As you can see from my blog I love to live in the moment, but I also like to keep the memories because that's all you have left in the end. This is such a great way for lazy people, like myself, to scrapbook and keep name cards form weddings or maps from vacations with loved ones. This is my next big thing I have my eyes on, and can't wait to get some of her products in my hand. Currently some of her Project Life products are sold at Michaels, but you can also order them online. She has a great selection of designs, papers, and layout styles for just about any creative mind out there.

baby showers and surgeries

I will start this post off with a catch up on my life from the last few weeks...shocking I know. Always behind, but that's because I am too busy living in the moment! 

A few weeks ago I planned and surprised a very dear friend with an incredible baby shower. It wasn't immaculate and it didn't have party favors or crazy weird baby games. The fact that she was surrounded by friends and family who already loved that baby is what made it incredible. She was worried that she would have to buy everything for this baby since it is her second. She told me early in the pregnancy "no one throws a shower for the second child because people already assume you have everything you need." Even though I am not the youngest child I felt bad hearing that and it made me realize that just because its your second or fifth child, you never love them any differently. Needless to say she was surprised beyond belief and was overjoyed by the amount of love and compassion people showered her with that day. 

Mommy-to-be again 

Nursery gifts I made for the mom-to-be

The cake was just as delicious as it is beautiful.

I also took a trip home to see my parents and I enjoyed every minute of it. Once again we didn't do anything "special", unless you count brunch on Saturday, it was all about just being together. We sat around and watched TV, and some of us napped on a sunny Saturday afternoon, but that's what life is about. I also got to see my adorable puppy, aka my thirteen year old dog, before his second ACL surgery. 

pre-surgery

post-op

As you can see he is doing well and doesn't seem to care that he just had his second major surgery in a year. What a tough puppy. I also had to play nurse for my boyfriend after his surgery. It's too bad you can't just put a cone on them and walk away to finish sending emails or make a quick call. It was definitely a learning experience and made me realize what I would do for love, like sleeping on a leather sofa in a freezing basement. Even though it was difficult to balance a medication schedule, meal prep, conference calls, and a mountain of emails I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. 

bonus picture of my "adopted dog" aka Cam's dog Carlos

day in the district

I am once again very much behind on posting. I swear I am eventually going to get good at this whole blogging thing. Just a quick update based on the last few weeks of my life...

My brother and I share a birthday month so we have done joint "parties" before, and now that we are older we tend to celebrate together since we are only separated by a week. This year we took a weekend trip to the capital to do a little drinking and a little sight seeing. It was great to have my mom and my brother there, along with Cam. Here are a few photos from the trip and the hockey game.



starting the day with drinks at the Red Line



on Capitol Hill

rocking the red as usual

Library of Congress

With hockey season coming to an end, baseball season is now underway. This year I will be rocking the red for the home team and also the orange for the boys in Birdland. Stay tuned for more posts about my crazy simple life

hockey games and new technology

It has been a busy couple weeks at work since February marked the end of the fiscal year. This weekend I was in Winchester since Cam was taking me to a hockey game for my birthday! He bought me center ice seats for the Caps vs. Flyers game on Sunday. I loved the seats and recommended that everyone experience it at least once in their life. 



View from Sunday's game

I finally got my tax return back and spent it on myself for my birthday... and don't feel bad about it at all! I bought myself a new tablet that will double as a work machine while I travel and commute. The Surface Pro 2 has tons of awesome features for just about everyone and their preferences. I am an adamant Apple user (iPhone, Mac, etc.) but I have fallen in love with the Microsoft tablet.

Another hockey game this weekend so stay tuned! 



the national zoo

The highlight of the week was my trip to the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington D.C. They are big on species conservation and animal education. There is quite a lot of activity happening at the zoo right now. From Bao Bao the baby panda, and the new lion cubs that were born a few weeks ago. You can find the link to the zoo here National Zoo. Below are some photos I took from the zoo, and the quality isn't the best since I used my iPhone. 

This was an anaconda from the reptile house

One of my favorite photos form the zoo trip

Hermit crab in the invertebrate exhibit

Mama panda

The main point of the trip was to see Bao Bao, the new panda cub. We waited in line for about 30 minutes and while in line we could watch the 24/7 live panda cam. The entire time we waited she was active and playing around in the den. I checked back to the cam about 5 minutes before we walked through the door and she was still active....how lucky right?!? Right as we walked through the door to the enclosure she waddled to her closed door den and fell asleep immediately. SO FRUSTRATING!

Even though I didn't get to see Bao Bao, the trip was still a great success. I also found my absolute favorite animal while I was there....the oriental small-clawed otter! So adorable 

snow day

This is the first day of the massive snow storm that hit the entire East Coast this week. As you can see from the map I reside in one the "heavy snow" areas....joy. I don't mind the snow when it comes with a SNOW DAY from work! 

Earlier this week I stocked up on the essentials to survive being snowed in for a few days. Essentials include bread, milk, spaghetti o's, pop tarts, and cheese crackers. Now, I know that they predicted 8"-12" but I never thought in a millions years that we would actually get all of that snow. I am taking this snow day opportunity to get some cleaning and cross stitching done before Valentine's Day weekend, but not before I went outside to shovel a little and assess the damage. Here are some of the photos from my apartment complex. 

Taken at about 6:30 on 02.12.2014

just for some perspective

24hr stomach bug

Just a quick post about my eventful weekend. The 24 hour GI bug decided to hit me like a freight train at about 4:00am on Saturday. It woke me up from a dead sleep and just kept coming. I spent most of the day on Saturday posted up on the couch. I finally started to feel better late Saturday, and was able to sleep through the night. 

By Sunday I was feeling 100% and Cam and I decided to go to an early movie, totally recommend seeing the LEGO movie. It was great! By dinner time on Sunday Cam started to not feel very great, and then BAM, the bug hit him as well. He spent the entire night in the recliner and was up about every hour, which means I was up about every hour as well. Needless to say, couches are not the most comfortable place to sleep for most of the weekend.

We have officially survived the disgustingness of the GI bug together, which I think is a milestone in any relationship. If you can survive a weekend listening to each other throw up, buying ginger ale, and all while sharing a bathroom it's safe to say it's a real relationship.

Now back to sleeping in a bed, and getting into a routine of things.....oh an wiping EVERYTHING down with Clorox wipes and bleach.