A Kayak Adventure

Way back in my life before a child, I used to go places. (I know that sounds silly, but it's reality.) One of the memories I have of my childless days was a vacation taken in the San Juan Islands. To me, that vacation was a bit exotic and definitely outdoorsy, something I'm normally not, lol.

One of the adventures (among many) I had on that vacation was kayaking. I had never ever been kayaking in my life, and here I was, faced with a chance to do so in a beautiful environment. I swallowed all the little fears and said, "Yes!"

Thankfully, since this was before I even had a decent digital camera, there are a few photos (taken on film) from this experience:

Kayaking Adventure by cyranoscrap for Heather T.

Credits:
Camping (Heather T.)
Fonts: Shelter Me (date)

Camping, Heather T.'s newest release, is now on sale as part of Pickleberrypop's 11th Birthday Celebration. You can purchase this new kit for just $5 through August 5. Here's a quick preview:

Camping - Elements courtesy of Heather T.

 

Camping - Brushes & Overlays courtesy of Heather T.

Camping - Patterned Papers courtesy of Heather T.

Camping - Retro Papers courtesy of Heather T.

Camping - Arty Papers courtesy of Heather T.

Camping - Word Bits courtesy of Heather T.

Can you believe it? All those really cool elements - too bad I wasn't more of a camper! - THREE packs of papers, brushes and overlays, and word bits...ALL for just $5! I think it's a real steal for that price since there are so many ways to use this kit besides camping!

So if you're itching to get your outdoor adventures captured, pick up Camping before the sale is over on August 5!

Super Bowl 50: Who's Your Favorite?

I'm not a football fan. However, I do feign some interest when it comes to Super Bowl time. In fact, I'm even usually aware of who is playing. :D  Let's just say that I appreciate the commercials and the food when it comes to Super Bowl!

For Super Bowl 50. which is taking place this Sunday at 3 pm, Pacific, the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos will go head-to-head. What does this have to do with scrapping, you ask? Because LJS Designs released two football-themed kits in colors for each team: Orange Crush and Sweet Carolina. These two add-on mini kits are currently priced for just $1 each.

Courtesy of LJS Designs

Courtesy of LJS Designs

So if you love scrapping and football, or maybe you just want to commemorate Super Bowl in your memory books, jump on this sale. And if you are looking for a football-themed kit in general, check out Football Fan-Addict, also on sale for $1!

Courtesy of LJS Designs

The Happy Challenge: Days 84 & 85

Days 84 and 85 of 100 Happy Days Challenge.

The BIG happy for Day 84 (June 3) is...the toddler asking to use the potty and actually using it! Now, to just get him to use it consistently...

Happy stuff for Day 85 (June 4):
1. Watching a small race for National Running Day. One of the companies in the area sponsored a race today, and I accidentally got caught in the traffic. I enjoyed watching the runners go by - made me yearn for my own running days.

2. Finding a brand new pint of Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey hidden in the freezer. I totally forgot I bought this when it was on sale!

Carpe Diem!

One of the challenges at The Lilypad is the One Word challenge. This month, the challenge was to use the phrase "carpe diem." I've always loved this phrase, and I try to remember to live it as well. 

So, in completing this challenge, I thought about moments in my life, trying to remember when I actually lived by the phrase and had a photo to back it up. One of those moments happened to be the very first time I went kayaking. I was vacationing in the San Juan Islands, and the moment came up, so I went ahead and grabbed it. It was one of the most memorable days of my life. Granted, it's not like jumping out of a plane or ziplining, but it was still a big deal to a non-swimmer. I'm just glad I did it.

CREDITS

Papers: Talk to Me and Heart Light (Allison Pennington); Chirpy Solids (Micheline Martin); Cleaning Bug (Pink Reptile Designs)

Elements: Primavera (Gina Miller); Wanderlust and I Am Not Perfect (Pink Reptile Designs); February Facebook Freebie (Sabrina Dupre); Vagabond (One Little Bird); Project Mouse Elements (Sahlin Studio)

Brushes: Misty Paint (Lynne-Marie)

Fonts: For the One Hundredth Time (title); KG Seven Sixteen (journaling)

Template: Page 4 Pops (Our Misadventures)

Adventure Challenge

Who doesn't like adventure? I haven't met a person yet who doesn't! Adventures can be big or small - it's all in YOUR mindset!

Today's Get Real Challenge at Real Life Scrapped is all about adventure! I scrapped a quick page on a little bike adventure I took many years ago...

CREDITS:

Papers: Love Me Tender, Handmade With Love, Friends Will Be Friends, Noted, I Want Candy (Pink Reptile Designs)
Elements: Bike Ride mini kit freebie, I Am Not Perfect, For You Mom, Owl My Love (Pink Reptile Designs); Make It Easy Edgers (Rachel Young)
Alphabet: Mark My Words (Pink Reptile Designs)
Fonts: Courier New (journaling)
Template: Shaped Up Triangles Mini (Amy Martin)

When I thought more about the word adventure, I realized I had a bunch of other layouts I could create. Now, to find the time...lol!

The Quest to 26.2

Today's page is for the Jan. 5 color swatch challenge (purple and gray) for TLP's Month of Challenges. I dug into the photo archives for a marathon picture since I knew I would be wearing purple in some of the photos.

It's interesting to scrapbook different feelings about my marathon experience. It's taken me long enough to get some pages done about this topic, lol!

CREDITS

Papers: Stitch Em Up (Jacque Larsen); Sugar Rush Solids, All Time Low and A Little Damaged Vol. 3 (Amy Wolff); Noted (Pink Reptile Designs)

Embellishments: Botanical Elements (Amy Wolff); Scenes From Real Life (One Little Bird); The Weekender (Paislee Press); Simply Chic, Booked For Life, I Believe in Miracles, Right Here Right Now, and Sing to the Moon (Pink Reptile Designs); iRun (Jacque Larsen);

Fonts: Vaguely Repulsive (title); Traveling Typewriter (journaling)

Template: Uber Mega Bundle (Amy Martin)

The Finish - DigiDare Challenge #289

The DigiDare Challenge for this week was about sports - hating them, loving them. I thought about this challenge for a few days, trying to decide what point in my life to tackle. Considering I'm not an athlete, I don't have a lot of sports photos. But then I decided to go ahead and try the dare anyway, focusing more on capturing feelings. I'll admit most of my effort went into the journaling for this particular layout.

The journaling reads:

"I've always disliked running. Yet, at 30-something, I suddenly decided to train for a marathon. I have no idea what I was thinking. All I knew was that I wanted to get in shape, and the only way I would ever run a marathon was if I trained with a team. So, in April 2008, I took my friend Elaina to a Team In Training meeting held on the Nike campus, and we ended up signing ourselves up for our first marathon in San Francisco in Oct. 2008. 5 months to train to run 26.2 miles (gulp!). That was one of the craziest moments of my life.

On the first day of training in May, I almost quit because I couldn’t run half a block. I was in tears by the end of the first block. I felt like a failure. But Elaina kept me from quitting. We trained for the next 5 months, in rain and unbelievable heat, up and down hilly streets in Portland and Vancouver, across flat stretches that went on for miles and miles. About 2 months into training, when we were starting to run half marathons (anything over 13.1 miles), I developed pain in my left foot. I went to a chiropractor, used inserts in my shoes, did special exercises, and iced, but the pain kicked in every time I ran over 13 miles. Yet, with the encouragement of my teammates and my own determination, I kept at it. The longest training run we had was 21 miles, and I didn’t even complete it since my foot was hurting so bad, the coach pulled me off our training course. 

When it came to race day., I was so scared I wouldn’t make it to the end. But somehow, even with the pain that was unbearable around mile 21 and had me in tears, I couldn’t give up. I had come so far to do this, trained for so many months, and I was going to finish, even if I had to crawl across the finish line.

And I did finish. I even ran across the finish line."

CREDITS

Template: Flight Plan 5 (One Little Bird)

Papers: Scenes from Real Life (One Little Bird); Here There (Studio 68)

Embellishments: That Unforgettable Moment (2am Designs); Here There and Today (Studio 68); Scenes from Real Life (One Little Bird)

Fonts: KG Seven Sixteen (journaling); Capture It 2 (title)

Celebrating...

Yesterday, we celebrated my birthday in big style - the Summer Olympics kicked off! (It was so nice of them to start festivities on my birthday!) And to commemorate the Olympics, we had fish and chips for dinner. (And the plastic sippy cup is the little guy's - not mine! LOL)

Let the celebration continue - you gotta love Friday birthdays! :)

Timmmmberrrrr!

I'm not referring to falling trees here. Instead, I'm referring to our local soccer team, the Portland Timbers!

Elaina invited me to the last home game of the season last night, so I got to experience soccer for the very first time. I've never ever watched a soccer game before--not even one of the kid soccer games on Saturday mornings or any of the ones on TV. I was confused most of the time, but it reminded me a lot of basketball, simply because the ball was moving constantly. I think I could actually take an interest in soccer, if I could understand the game a bit more. But, I had fun just watching what was going on, soaking up the environment surrounding me. I also experimented with sports pics on my camera. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my telephoto lens, so I couldn't really get close-up shots from where we were sitting. So, here's just a sampling of what I caught last night...

The team warming up before the game... The team's fan section, located on the north side of the stadium...
Some action from the teams (home team in burgundy/red)...
The chainsaw dude, aka the team's mascot (the chainsaw noise kept reminding me of The Chainsaw Massacre for some reason, even though I've never seen the movie)...
The largest attendance at a home game this season!

Training - Day 3

Sundays tend to be lazy days. I like waking up, reading the paper in bed, then slowly moving along with my day. Fortunately, this past Sunday was one of those!

However, Elaina and I had committed to run on Sunday, so we did, even though both of us really didn't feel like it. This is the good part of having a running partner! We both know how easy it would be just to slide and not do it, but by committing to one another, we feel guilty when we don't. So far, this mindset is working for us.

About 5:30 pm, we hit the course at Nike, just like this past Friday. But this time, we decided to go the opposite direction since on Friday we seemed to be going against the stream. Funny thing for our training yesterday--we were still going against the flow of traffic. Go figure!

We also decided that going the way we did seemed more of an uphill climb than the run on Friday. So, when we got to the top of one of hills, we were both pretty winded. But, here's the good part: we're both spurring one another along, especially when you feel like you're going to collapse. "Just up to the hill, come on, only a few more steps...we can do it!"

Hey, you have to have a cheerleader sometime, especially this early in the game. I finally took a look a the team training packet online, and wow--there is A LOT of stuff to read. They definitely try to prepare you for this marathon in all ways--physically and mentally, although most of the info in the packet is about training and nutrition. Now, if I can just remember all of it...LOL!

If you want to find out more about this marathon, go to the Nike Women's Marathon site. According to Team in Training, the marathon is now closed to the public, so the only way to actually participate is to join TNT. That's what basically got Elaina and I to sign up--well, she also had the Tiffany necklace to drool over...

Still going...hope we can make it!

Running & A Taste of Korea

Mike and I found ourselves on NW 23rd Friday night after work after a whim to go to a specialty running store. Believe it or not, I was actually fitted for a pair of running shoes after finally deciding that I'm going to try to make running a marathon a goal. (Now I have no idea how long it will actually take me to train to do a marathon, but I'm hoping to at least try a 5K later this year.) Anyway, it was pretty cool to see how one gets fitted for running shoes. The store had cameras set up to track how your feet land when you're running on a treadmill. First, you try running barefoot to determine the necessary support for your foot, then you try out several pairs of shoes to see which work best. The guy at the store also showed me a way to tie the shoes so my heel didn't feel like it was slipping.

Afterwards, Mike and I tried out the Korean restaurant next door. Mike's never had Korean food, and I had real Korean food back when I visited Korea in the 1990s. (I am familiar with bulgogi, though--good stuff!) So, after perusing the menu, we decided to try the traditional Korean meal, which came with 7 courses. That was a VERY good idea on our part! The presentation was quite striking, but the food was fantastic! Very, very tasty. Good thing I'm planning on hitting the gym more--I'll definitely need it!

I tried out the new running shoes on Saturday afternoon at the gym. Not bad, I guess. Of course, I can't run more than 3 minutes straight without my lungs feeling like they're going to collapse. Guess I'll be working on getting my stamina going for the next few months! I can see why I LOVE the elliptical so much more than the treadmill. I'll just have to get past the burn to the "thrill" that you're supposed to feel about running after 20 minutes or so...hmmm...

Sunday was a great day to be indoors (can you believe there were snow showers on Saturday and hail on Sunday in LATE April?). Of course, with a newsletter deadline, I was definitely indoors and working. In the background, we caught the Pope's mass at Yankee Stadium. Wow--almost like going to church, but not having to leave home to attend! (And, you can talk and have lunch at the same time, LOL!) If the Pope had been closer, I might have actually tried to see him in person. After all, it's not every day that the Pope visits the U.S.

The other thing for the weekend: watching Lars and the Real Girl on DVD. (Did this film ever hit the theater???) It stars Ryan Gosling (from The Notebook--one of my favorite books!), who did a terrific job of playing the title role. This film is definitely not mainstream. If you watch it, be sure to remember "independent flick" in the back of your mind. Essentially, it's about a guy who gets a girlfriend--who just happens to be a doll. Now, after that storyline, how can you miss this flick??? ;)

Anyway, the weekend definitely flew by. Is it Friday yet?

Oh, last comment on a surprising news item: the Midwest had an earthquake back on Friday! It was a 5.2, and today, there was a big aftershock (lots of little ones over the weekend) of 4.5. It's a little amusing to me since a lot of people are so adamant about not living in California or on the West Coast because of earthquakes. Just goes to show you that an earthquake can happen anywhere--even in the Midwest!

Have a good week!