P365 - Day 21

21/365 = cozy delight

this is a hand knit scarf that my brother's wife made and sent to me all the way from New Hampshire.  i called them to thank her for the scarf and my brother said she's made like 3 for everyone in their family. and that it only takes her a day to make one.  makes me want to pick up my knitting again.  i attempted knitting about 5 years ago and ended up making a 4"x4" square. lol

today was a really lovely day in houston.  temperatures in the 70's, sunny, and just gorgeous.  what a shame to have to be inside an office for most of the day.  except during lunch when one of my sweet co-workers took me out for a belated lunch :)

i did manage to make one card tonight.  i purchased a new black ink pad which really impressed me with it's non-smearingingness (yeah - i just made that word up).  it's made by Ranger and i hope it lasts awhile b/c it's a rather large ink pad:

this picture makes me want to invest in a good desk lamp.  my pics are just dark. (and i'm just not a big fan of using a flash when taking pics)

and here's the card i made using the stamps i got yesterday...and then i colored in the cupcake images with regular felt tip markers but i really am curious to try out the Copic markers.

okay - that's all for now...i'm super sleepy. what a surprise. not.  maybe it's the weather?  i dunno.  i  hope i get my energy back soon.

P365 - Day 15 - 20

looks like i've got a bit of catching up to do with my P365 pics.  i've been pretty good about getting them up on my shuttercal calendar....just haven't had much to blog about i suppose.  anyhoo...here are days 15-20

15/365 = Vanessa's beautiful baby belly

Vanessa and i have worked together for the past 3 years...have traveled to Napa together, spent the night at the Sacramento airport with our hubbies together, enjoyed many lunch/shopping outings together.  needless to say, i do heart her :)  and i'm going love that little baby that she's expecting in April.  she has refused to take any baby bump pics...but was gracious enough to let me take this picture for my P365 :)

16/365 = scraproom reading

i mainly took this picture b/c i kept forgetting to take any other pics all day on saturday!  so this is a pic of some books i have in my scraproom :)  finding a pic of something to take every is apparently harder than i thought!

17/365 = a nice reminder

this placard thing i received as a thank you gift from Inspire Women for being an ambassador for the Inspire Luncheon/Conference this past November.  i have it on my desk and it's a lovely reminder to read often.  on another day, i'll have to take a pic of the other side. :)

18/365 = old and new

yes, that's my pink Motorola Razr that i purchased for myself on 2/14/06...and i still use it to this day.  next to that oldie but goodie is my pretty red blackberry that is actually my work phone.  it's really starting to become cumbersome to carry both of those phones around (even with the very cute pick pouch that i received as a gift from one of our pastor's wives).  so that being said...i think we'll be retiring my pretty pink phone soon.  :(

19/365 = late night craving

DH has dropped subtle hints about brownies lately....so late on tuesday night, i finally made him a batch.  yes, he is a lucky guy ;o)

20/365 = new stamping goodies

yep!  i picked up two new stamps sets tonight.  cute, huh?  can't wait to make some new cards with these!

but that won't be tonight.  i'm actually pretty pooped. and i was really pooped last night too.  i thought working out was supposed to give me more energy.  but alas, i'm just more tired! :(

you may be pleasantly surprised to know that i did get my 3 workouts in last week and each workout lasted for about 45 mins.  yay me!  so far this week, i've gotten two of them done...just need to squeeze in one more!

our weekend was short but full...saturday DH and i headed out in the morning to IKEA to help John and Grace bring home their new Expedit.  our friends are lucky that we have a large truck :)  afterwards, we all went to Kim Son in Bellaire for some YUMMY dim sum.

after lunch said bye to our friends and then headed to the Chevy dealer that was sort of on the way home.  after we got of our car, a sales guy approached us, introduced himself and we then inquired about the 2010 Equinox to which he responded "we are sold out of them....actually all of Texas is sold out.  i'm just trying to help you save time and gas from driving all around town"  to which DH said thanks and then we got back in our car and headed to another dealership that we had passed that morning.   where there were about 5 on the lot.  :oP  do sales people take us for utter FOOLS?  whatevs.

so i got to test drive the Equinox and it was sooo nice.  really nice.  felt very sturdy and obviously heavier than the CR-V.  had lots of bells and whistles...that were standard on the model we were looking at.  they just didn't have the exact one we were looking for...so the search is still on.  we're still interested in the CR-V too.  i guess it'll just be a matter of time for either Chevy or Honda to get in a model with our exact specs. in the meantime, my 10 year old Honda Accord and i will cherish the time we have together :)

okay - this was a longer "brief" post than i had expected....my eyelids are like half closed now. sorry for any grammatical errors. ;o)

TTFN!

P365 - Day 14: Barganza!

14/365 = a BCBG dress I found at Marshall's today during lunch...

or maybe it's a long top - but in any case, i got it for only $10!!!  Barganza, I say!  here's a closer look at the cute bow on the top and the cuter $10 price tag :)

i LOVE a great deal.  so i'm thinking for winter (Houston winter anyways) - i'll pair this with some black leggings and a black cardigan....and for the summer with just a pair of cute sandals....yay!

okay - i didn't go work out today b/c 1) DH ordered sushi for dinner (yum!  and one can't leave sushi sitting out waiting while one tries to work out!) and 2) Grey's Anatomy season premiere was tonight and finally 3) I ended doing housework for about 2 1/2 hours instead for my work out.  cleaned all the floors, did 2 loads of laundry, cleaned the kitchen, cleaned the garage enough so that i could put my car back in it, dusted everything, and switched out over a dozen hangers in my closet.  i happened to have also grabbed a package of skinny hangers like these (except mine are pink) for about $13. love them...may have to go back for more.

oh and i also caught bits and pieces of the new season of Project Runway in the midst of my cleaning madness.  hopefully this season will inspire me to finally open and use the sewing machine my mom got me for Christmas ;oP

and finally I did happen to quickly make two little cards whilst i was synchronizing my iPod (i downloaded that Genius tool on iTunes yesterday so I wanted to get that feature working on my li'l Classic)....and here are the cards that i made and used the stamps I purchased earlier this week.

 

simple and sweet.

Happy Friday folks!

P365 - Day 13

13/365 - where we had picked dinner up from tonight...one of my fav places:

i just realized i've taken a lot of pics at the end of the day for my P365.  i should try some day shots huh?  and today's picture was taking with me holding my camera while driving away - through my closed car door window. my skills amaze me - lol.

and believe it or not...i did make it to the gym again today.  so much for that 45 min work out...i think it got negated by my chicken burrito bowl. :P

also, today i made it to the office at 9:04AM.  i would've been on time or even a bit early if i didn't stop and fill up gas...but you gotta do what you gotta do.  in this case - avoid running out of gas.

which brings to mind the fact that DH and I are on the search for a new car for me.  since my dear Honda's transmission went kaput during Christmas week and my husband's recent realization of how much driving i do everyday...we decided it's probably a good time for us to get a new car.  so we've narrowed it down to two cars, i think.  the 2010 Honda CR-V or the 2010 Chevy Equinox. 

 

i actually test drove the CR-V a couple of weeks ago and quite rather liked all the new features.  well, new to me anyways.  i was flipping the back seats all over the place, pushing every button i could find, looking in every nook and cranny.  and enjoying that new car scent.  it was so fun :) 

we were supposed to go and test drive an Equinox last weekend, but never really got around to it.  i did find out today though, who at the office had just gotten a new Equinox (i had spotted it in our parking lot just after the new year).  anyhoo - the gal at the office that owns the Equinox shared with me just how much she loved her new vehicle - even offered to let me drive hers to try it out. (sweet girl).  we peeked into her car after lunch today and it really is quite nice inside.  so now i'm even more excited about going to test drive it :) 

we're really not in any rush to get a new car just yet...since my '99 Honda Accord has just had the transmission fixed and i'm able to get from home to work and back...so we will likely be taking out time on this year's major purchase for the Parks.  that's okay by me.  i haven't had a car note in 4 years...so i'm not in any hurry to get a new one now.

i really like the Honda...mainly b/c i've owned a Honda for the last 10 years.  but then i really like that you get more bang for your buck with the Chevy.  and i drove a Chevy for 5 years before i got my Accord so I like Chevy too.  plus it's the "heartbeat of America" :) 

what are you thoughts between these two car choices?

P365 - Day 12: YAY - I DID IT!

12/365=that's right people - I made it to the gym today!

yep!  i made it to the gym today. spent 30 mins on the bike (as pictured above)...then 15 mins on the elliptical.  then i drove home and walked off the last 5 minutes by walking down to the end of our street to check the mail.  i felt a wee bit stiff...but that's probably b/c i have used my leg muscles in MONTHS!  hopefully i won't be in too much pain tomorrow - lol!

and you may have noticed that I got my Shuttercal account back up and running thanks to FIREFOX!  how come no one ever told me about that before.  why does my web surfing seem so much FASTER?!

oh and another success for today - i made it to the office this morning by 9AM!  Right on the dot folks!  i was at my desk and i even had time to stop by Starbucks this morning....woohoo!

all in all a good day...yay me! ;o)

P365 - Day 11

11/365 = new mags in the mail

I have about 4 issues of InStyle i need to catch up on.  i don't know why i resubscribe to that one sometimes b/c i almost feel like i never have time to read them....then again... i am supposed to start working out again starting this week (hopefully) so maybe i can catch up on them in the gym.

I also got a new stamp set today, which I hope I'll get a chance to make some new cards this week...

cute huh?  it's the Whimsical Birds clear stamp set from TPC Studio.  stamps are 40% off this week at Hobby Lobby and I couldn't resist treating myself :)

tonight, DH and I started a 13-week bible study at our church called Transforming Life Bible Study.  The bible study itself I think was created by Pastor Chai and it incorporates Richard J Foster's book Celebration of Discipline.

at first i wasn't too keen on the idea of taking it right now.  we meet every monday for the next 13 weeks...i was thinking this just wasn't the best time of the year since work is sooooo busy.   but DH was really encouraging and said that he would help me to not get too stressed about it and that we would be blessed by our desire to grow together in our spiritual life.  so i decided last night that i would joyfully take this class.   and i'm glad i did...

because after tonight's first class...i'm actually really excited about it! it's a small class but i feel like everyone is already so willing to be transparent and real. plus i think we have some pretty blunt and straight forward folks that will definitely help us to challenge one another to focus on our "spiritual assignment".

what is a spiritual assignment, you may wonder?  It's "one bad habit or pattern in your life that you would like to chagen because it is repeatedly hindering you from growing spiritually" and it "could be changing of your character, life pattern or a bad habit."  it has to be something with a measurable goal.

my spiritual assignment is that i wanted to take better care of my health and body by working out 3 times a week for 45 mins.  how is that spiritual?  well, according to His word in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body." 

ahhh....i've have been bad to my body.  i have not treated it well.  and i think that has really hindered my spiritual growth.  i pray that i can really tackle my spiritual assignment.  with the Holy Spirit on my side, how can I not succeed? :)

another plus to the class...we were all assigned a prayer partner and mine is someone that i'm not close to but would really get to know better. God truly is good - i love how His plans are always the best  for us.

okay - my goal of getting to work by 9am hasn't panned out too well so far this year.  i need to go to bed so i can wake up at a decent time tomorrow morning!  g'nite!

P365 - Day 9 & 10

Hi, all!  Well, I'm sad to report that I still cannot get my Shuttercal account to work :(  So I think I'll likely be posting my P365 on here going forward.

9/365 = Dennis' bday dinner at Churrasco's

Dinner was really nice and it's always fun to celebrate a friend's bday :) 
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10/365 = bday gift from Huong...a new scrapbooking tool to add to my collection ;o)

Apparently this is Huongie's new favorite tool.  The Martha Stewart Screw Punch.  Allows you to EASILY punch 3 different sized holes ANYWHERE on the project you're working on.  The yellow card in the background is a sample that Huong made to show me (in the upper right side...that's supposed to be a banner design...the other random holes are from what I did when I first tried it out).  It's really easy to use so i'm going to have to find some fun things to make with this nifty new tool.  thanks, Huongie!

today was a pretty full day and i'm pooped now.  but i didn't want to all too behind in my blogging and P365 pics.  okay - hope you all have a wonderful Monday!