Look What I Made

Home to Chicago

I flew home to Chicago Tuesday night for work. I'm happy to be home and staying with my parents. I am not happy about having to trudge through many inches of snow and slush to get to the office. The snow is so pretty and peaceful before the rest of the city gets up... and then it turns to dirty, brown slush. No bueno. Also, wet socks? Not fun. Don't you wish you could bottle up nice weather and use it in a pinch? Me too.

And for the record, this is the snow that shut down the city of Austin last week.

San Antonio Photo Diary

Over the weekend, my parents and I drove down to San Antonio to see what it was all about. We loved it! It's a great town. Our first stop was The Alamo! You have to go there in San Antonio.

We stayed right near the River Walk so we were able to walk around and explore all the little shops & restaurants. Friday night was crazy. We happened to be down there during the annual Holiday River Parade & Lighting Ceremony. I'm sure that is cool but we were not prepared at all for the crowds and mayhem.

Saturday was a little more our speed. We walked down to the San Antonio Museum of Art and caught the River Taxi back up to Commerce Street where we noticed a ton of restaurants and shops. 

It was a quick trip but we had so much fun! I know that Billy and I will go back there sometime soon.

All photos taken with my Nikon D3200 | See past travel photo diaries: here, here, here and here.

Project Life 2013 // Week 36

Week 36! This was the first week of September and also my birthday week! This feels like sooo long ago.

Here is the left side. I quickly settled on a color scheme of red, pink and lime green. It fit with my photos and I found a great 6x6" paper pad from Target with the same colors. I realized I also had some yellow going on so I added little yellow details (like the star confetti above on the left and the yellow paper clip below) to make it all flow together.

I kept and envelope in my purse since I knew I was going to get super behind on my album during the move. I just stuck everything in there - like that reciept. Then, when I was ready, I just went through the envelope and found things to add to my weeks.

Here is the right side. We went to Vegas this weekend to celebrate my birthday and our good friend's birthday. It was super fun. I needed just a few more pockets so I cut down a Design F page to add those 4 (actually 8) 3x4" slots.

Here is the back side of that insert. I had a good time at the pool!

And the other 12x12" spread.

I couldn't find any letters that I wanted to use as a 'title' for our Vegas trip, so I (kind-of) made my own! I painted these Thickers with acrylic paint in the colors I wanted. They turned out bright and exactly how I wanted. I converted the palm tree photo to black and white to make the colors pop even more.

Here's a few more details from our trip. We went to a show at a night club and it was super fun. Billy took the photo on the left and I love how colorful it is! 

Slowly but surely I'm getting my weeks finished. Feels good!

Supplies Used: Simple Stories Gray Striped Paper, Ormolu Custom '29' Flair, Dear Lizzy Polka Dot Paper, October Afternoon Mini Market Letter Stickers, Project Life Honey Core Kit, My Mind's Eye 'Wowza' Sticker, My Mind's Eye Enamel Dots, Studio Calico Atlantic Glitter Stars, Project Life Kraft Core Kit, Freckled Fawn Red Stripe Washi, A Flair for Buttons Sunglasses Flair, Amy Tangerine Yes, Please 6x6" Paper Pad, Amy Tangerine Vellum Sticker, Pebbles Fabric Thickers, Liquitex Acrylic Paint, Dear Lizzy Red Stripe Paper, Dear Lizzy White/Gold Letter Stickers, Studio Calico Heart Wood Veneer, BasicGrey Star Stud

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See all my Project Life posts here.

I tried to link the product sources (that I could find above) but, as always, if you have any questions, please ask in the comments or shoot me an email!

New York City Marathon!

Last Sunday, I ran in the ING New York City Marathon! It was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. I completed my fourth marathon, and definitely the most difficult one yet. Why was it so hard? My training sort of fell off when we got word that we were moving to Austin. I had to make some choices and running 17 miles rarely made the top of my list. But the course was difficult too! There were bridges, and hills and gusty winds. Not good things when you're trying to run 26.2 miles. But, I did it! In 4 hours, 50 minutes and 44 seconds. Not my best time by any means but it was the best I could have done that day.

It was a LONG day too. I left my sister's house in Manhattan at 5:00 in the morning. I hopped in a cab and headed to the Staten Island Ferry. I took the 5:45am Ferry to Staten Island and waited around for 4.5 hours. Yup, four and a half hours. I was avoiding the cold. Then at 9:45am, I took a shuttle bus to the start line, which was about 3-4 miles away from the Ferry. All that and I hadn't even started running yet!

The course awesome. I saw the entire city, and there were people cheering everywhere. There was also police everywhere, on every single block to be exact. Security was tight after the Boston Bombings. The course was tough. I think the worst part was running over the Queensboro Bridge around mile 16. Actually, yes, that was the very worst part.

I was thrilled to see my mom, sister and niece at around mile 22. I was hurting bad at that point. I was in a lot of pain, especially my back, and had been looking forward to seeing them. I stopped for a quick hug (maybe a couple tears) and then I was on my way to the finish. Yay! (Except... I was still very far away from the finish line).

I don't really have any after pictures. I was so dead tired and cold and just wanted to go home to my sister's and eat cheeseburgers. It was a grueling day but so worth it! Even with the seemingly endless inconveniences, I am really happy I did this race. It was a very challenging experience but I made it through. (I think that's the whole point of these crazy things.)

My mom and I celebrated on Monday morning with a big lunch and some afternoon cocktails at Red Rooster.  Then, it was back to Chicago for her and back to Austin for me. THAT was weird. Flying back to Austin... still not used to living in a different state. 

Project Life 2013 // Week 17

Week 17! I pulled my color palette from the events during the week. We were in Washington D.C. - so obviously I used red, white & blue. Plus, the race color scheme was lime green & teal. I added touches of green & teal to keep my spread from becoming too themey or patriotic. 

Having a colors scheme really helps me keep all my pockets cohesive and helps me make decisions on which products to use. I'm at a point where I have a lot of stuff, so I need small little challenges for myself to make good design choices.

Here's the left side. This side pretty much sums up my week before we went out of town for the weekend. Truthfully, we didn't really have anything happening. I included a photo from my photoshoot with the moon, and a drawing I made for the blog when we went to D.C. 

Here is the first of two inserts. I used a 6x12" American Crafts page protector with three 4x6" slots. 

I added a second 8.5x11" insert (just a cheap one from Staples) to hold my race bib and a cool course map we got in our goodie bags. I'm happy to have a place to hold these types of things. I am kind of sentimental about things like this.

Here is the right side. I used this page to document all the sightseeing and touristy things we did in D.C. 

Instead of writing down every little detail of our trip (which I started to do) I wrote a few highlights on a piece of Dear Lizzy paper. It sums up the trip, and tells the story of things that aren't included in the photos. That's really all you need.

And just a little moment here to profess my love for these Maggie Holmes glitter thickers. They are awesome.

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See all my Project Life posts here.

I am more than happy to share what products I've used, so if you have any questions, please ask in the comments or shoot me an email!

 

Our Trip to D.C.

Billy and I went to DC 2 weekends ago. We went because we love taking long weekends away and because I ran in a half marathon. I sadly forgot the battery to my big charger in the wall at home, so I only had my iPhone to take photos of the adventure.

Highlights from our trip:

• The pefect weather – sunny, not too hot and a little breeze. The best. We tried to spend as much time outside as possible.
• Our hotel. We stayed in Arlington, VA near the Pentagon. It was really nice and we got a super good deal.
• Finding my new married name (3rd photo) on the wall of runners at Nike Georgetown. I'm still not used to having a new last name.
• Dinner with friends on Saturday night in Old Town Alexandria.
• Finishing my half marathon with a time of 1:51:49. Not my very best time but I was very happy with it! I felt like I trained hard for it, my main goal was to finish in under 2 hours.
• The looong nap I took after the race. I love taking naps after long runs.
• Sliding down the ramp next to the steps at the Lincoln Memorial.
• Walking around eating street food with Billy & seeing all the sights.
• Eating tapas & drinking sangria and mojitos together on Sunday night in Georgetown.
• Billy & I playing a guessing game at the hotel bar.
• Finding the perfect half marathon treat. I buy myself something for finishing my training and the race. Normally it's something from Lululemon, this time it was these shoes.

All in all, it was a really fun trip! We tried to pack in as much as we could without putting too much pressure on ourselves. It was my first time in D.C. so I knew I wanted to see the White House and the memorials, but other than that, I just wanted to spend some time with BP, eat food and drink wine. 

MDW ---> IAD

Our weekend in D.C. is finally here! I'm really excited to explore a new city. Our plans include meeting friends for dinner and my half marathon on Sunday. We aren't really "planners" when it comes to vacation, so we're pretty open for adventures. I keep hearing how great of a city Washington D.C. is, I can't wait to find out for myself. Have a great weekend!

LA, in Photos (Part 2)

Here's part 2 of my long weekend in LA. As you can see, we did a lot of lounging. I am so glad that we got down to the beach. My friend, Beth, was very adament about doing things we cannot do right now in Chicago. Going to the beach is definitely one of those things. It wasn't bathing suit weather by any means, but it was nice to just sit by the water. 

Although it was a great weekend, I am glad to be back in my normal routine. I have a few things to catch up on, but left California feeling very inspired. It was like getting a quick burst of Spring a little bit earlier than everyone else.

LA, in Photos (Part 1)

The photos – A 6am flight out of Midway got my to LA by 8:45 PST // Hank // Succulents everywhere // More green plants // Lots of catching up and hanging out with the dogs (and wine) // Downtown LA // Saturday morning hike // BFFs // Post-hike lunch and post-lunch cocktail // Classy bar that engouraged patrons not to use water because the sink was clogged // But they had a photobooth so all was forgiven.

Over the weekend, I flew out to LA with a girlfriend of mine to visit another girlfriend of ours. So much fun. The flight is long, but it's worth it. I started to finally understand why people live in LA. We did sooo much in 3 days. We ate, we drank, we talked, we laughed, we talked, we watched Burning Love, we hung out with the dogs (not the cats), we had a dance party, we went to a hilarious bar, we relaxed in the sun, we went to the beach, we made Moscow Mules. It was such an easy, relaxed weekend.

The best part of having good friends for 15+ years is that we can just pick things up right where we left off. The last time we hung out togeter was 6 months ago at my wedding. We always just fall right into a comfortable flow with each other without skipping a beat or even noticing the 6 month span between visits. It's awesome. 

I have a lot more pictures to share but haven't quite finished going through them. I will share tomorrow! 

MDW ---> LAX

I'm off to Los Angeles for a long weekend.

So excited for some girl time, sunshine and fancy cocktails cheap wine.

See you next week!