time flies.

just when you thought I might not be THAT weird - here's the newest office accessory. a fly swatter clock! isn't it FUN!? the second hand is a black FLY that goes around a real fly swatter.

i got this for christmas from my bro's girlfriend LISA. we must be on the same like-weird-objects-with-great-design wave. i learned about the designer, david dear, here including that the clock is AWARD winning!

missing sunshine.

yesterday it was almost 50 degrees here in the rochacha. even so, i'm missing that florida sunshine BAD. seasonal depression kicked my butt in gear to FINISH getting our trip photos online.

can i just say how much I HEART pictures?!?! going through them was like re-living the weekend all over again! i may get slack for taking a gazillion of them... but if that's what it takes to capture all our memories - I'll take the heat! you can check 'em out on my Kodak Travel Page.

my 'i love lucy' sand photo below is my desktop wallpaper at work. it helps get me through the long, grueling days. if you want to use any of the pics as your window to the sun:
- click on the image to make it bigger
- right click on it to save
- find the image on ur computer and open it
- right click on it 'save as desktop background'.

day brightener.

two happenstances that can brighten a MONDAY:

1. quick trip to the salvation army! I spent a whopping $6 at the VOA and turned my monday frown right upside down. what a score.... vintage christmas ornaments, green glassware that I'm addicted too and a glass apothecary jar!


2. receiving a hoops-n-yoyo card! Today I got their 'day-brightener' e-card from a friend which brought a big smile to my hazy monday. some of you know I'm addicted to these characters and if you haven't heard of them, check 'em out!

if they don't make you laugh, i'm afraid we just can't be friends.

anything brighten up your Monday?

game day.

i present you... one crazed SUPER fan.



let's go GIANTS!

vote for the cause.

my good friend and fellow junker SONDRA got quite the surprise over the holidays. her boyfriend whisked her off to Vegas for an impromptu vacation and POPPED the question. how wonderful is he?!

ok folks here's the deal - she is casting a vote on her blog for her bridesmaids dresses. since yours truly is blessed to be a part of their day, i'm selfishly interested in STACKING the vote ;-) (j/k - i think i'll look good in ALL of them)

i won't sway you with my favorites, but I will encourage you to go check out how lovely they are and vote for your favorite. i love ALL the styles and colors she picked out which go perfect with their fall wedding.

say it with junk.

ever since i joined the american junk club, i get these fun emails from the junk ladies. the theme to their recent emails is say 'it' with junk... 'it' being whatever you want for us junk-lovers.


this week they sent how to say 'love' by giving your honey jewelry made out of JUNK. i just HEART the vintage silverware bracelet! and i'm sure i know some folks who'd love wearing recycled flatware on their arm too!

check out the rest of their jewelry for sale. they even sell supplies to make your own for those of you who don't love HUNTING for your own ;-)

lucy update.

good news: lucy's hips and legs are great.
bad news: lucy's back.

x-rays revealed lucy has a bone spur in her lower back which is pinching on a nerve. although they can't confirm with x-rays, her vet suspects she may have a slipped disc which has caused the bone spur to grow. probably caused from an injury which has been aggravated over time.

unfortunately - there isn't much we can do. pain medicine for when she goes to the park and SPOILING her even more than we already do. thank you all VERY much for the kind and thoughtful words of support!

lucy-goosey.

keep LUCY in your thoughts and prayers today. she's at the vet right now getting x-rays on her hind legs because they've been giving her problems for the last year.

she's being sedated with anesthesia in order to get the necessary angles for the x-rays. which is great and all but i'm such a nervous nelly when it comes to this stuff. i'm hoping i don't chew off EVERY one of my finger nails before picking her up. we'll hopefully know more later!

colorful welcome.

look at the rainbow that greeted me when I landed in the San Jose, California airport. i think it is so cool - we never get RAINBOWS here in the rochaha!

my whole trip was quite a whirlwind, with no real time to take photos other than from my window seat on the plane. oh - and the stares i got from people! what's so wrong with taking photos of the CLOUDS?! apparently they haven't read my post on the Kodak blog.....

other shots from the skies:

buffalo chicken dip.

*warning* anyone who are on a diet, or happen to be lactose intolerant, close the browser quickly. if you don't, i'm not liable for any keyboard damage that may occur from your drooling.


yummmmmm. go giants!

buffalo chicken wing dip:
- layer of cream cheese (two 8oz packs)
- layer of blue cheese
- boil 1 lb boiled chicken and then shred with fork
- add chicken to 12 oz FRANK's red hot and 2 tbs butter
- layer mixture ontop of blue cheese
- layer with more shredded CHEESE of your choice
- cook for 20 min @ 350 until bubbly

serve with FRITOS scoops.

go 'cuse.

today we got decked out in our orange and blue to go to the SU vs Villanova basketball game. mc got the tix for free from a guy at his work and they were GREAT seats. thank you nice man i don't know!

'cuse stayed on top most of the game, but lost it towards the end. i was intensely watching on the edge of my seat most for so long... i didn't even have time for a dome dog with my nachos. maybe next time.

seeing stars.

for christmas each year, i try to make homemade gifts that people will enjoy. last month the main project was creating STARS out of sticks.


it all started when i saw them for sale at the rochester public market. i immediately fell in love with everything but the PRICE as one lonely star was going to cost nearly one hundred smackers. i thought i could make those easy-peasey for WAY less.

while visiting NOTL in early december, we got the entire king family involved in my crafting project! i hadn't done much research you see... so it was a day of trial and error. i'm happy to report the output of the day was magnificent!

Check out the pics on my Projects page!

boys and their toys.

mcallister got a rice cooker for christmas. this means i'm eating rice every evening while i learn the history about what new rice he is cooking with.

sushi every week? i really can't complain ;-)

the little sneak.

we spent all day sunday taking down christmas decorations. for about 25 minutes, i was certain i had already put away the xmas pooh bear stuffed animal i had up on the mantle. i thought i was losing my mind each time i picked it up until i realized that someone was purposely taking it out of the storage bin.

the DROOL clued me in.

i staked out in the hall with my camera and spied on LUCY. sure enough, she RAN into the room when i wasn't there and tossed it out of the bin! you can check her out below... pay attention to what she does when i catch her. she tries to make a run for it with him but decides she's better off without him. (forgive me for the blaring music... i'm working on my hip-hop moves)

smoothie snooze.

the first day back to work after a long holiday was MUCH easier when I woke up to a fresh strawberry smoothie. yummm. mcallister is really good at making them after we tried the Dole recipe at the LPGA last summer.

i wasn't even mad that he woke me up between snooze number 1 and 2 with the noisest blender on the planet. it's an old commercial one that my mom and dad used to have back in the day and it works REALLY well - but boy is it loud.

1000words.

today i'm on 1000words talking about ringing in the New Year with JUNK! Check it out to find some nifty, clever storage solutions that may be lingering in your basement, barn, garage, attic or any other JUNK pile!

Check it out and comment over there if you'd like! I'd love to hear feedback or other junk pile storage ideas.

out with the old backgrounds.

i finally changed the background pics on my phone and computer. my phone's had a pic that my little bro sent me from his phone that he took when setting up their tree. (note the thumb) he was lucky enough to score the only evidence of me sitting in santa's lap (or next too. somehow his lap wasn't big enough for me as a chubby child).

my computer background has held a sneak peak into our xmas cards that I ordered. lucy gets more festive with each and every year. i wanted to share the blooper pics from that photo-shoot, but I couldn't ruin the surprise that was hitting mailboxes!


poor lucy.

merry xmas.

merry christmas to all.

make your own christmas ornaments.

this holiday season i've been on the JIT (just-in-time) gift-giving inventory plan. this means i'm running around (ok - so no real exercise is occurring) trying to get EVERYTHING done but I'm really so behind I don't get to anything until less than 24 hours before it's required to be 'gifted'.

recent problem: it's 9pm, Grey's Anatomy is on (which despite BOMBING this season, I can't let go b/c of all the time invested from previous seasons), I have an 8am mtg (boo) & a holiday happy hour event which I NEED to bring a little something-something to for all the ladies.

recent solution: glitter balls. spend your commercials creating quick ornaments filled with holiday CHEER. (yes, there are still people on this earth without DVR) i found this idea on hgtv's christmas crafts countdown. click on the Nov 23rd date from the calendar and watch the quick video... she has lots of good ideas for glittering glass balls.

a few basic supplies are needed: christmas ball ornaments (i got some cheap ones at kmart and the dollar store), glitter (i HEART martha stewart glitter), glue (w/clean spout so it's easy to 'write' with), a small paint brush and ribbon.

you can follow tutorial steps here on my projects page, but the basics are:
1. using glue, draw SOMETHING on the ornament. (i'm really into MONOGRAMMING lately)
2. shake glitter over the glue, making sure to cover all sides.
3. tap the ornament to remove the excess and repeat until it the glue has good coverage.
4. let the ornament dry. (i set them all in shot glasses to dry overnite)
5. when glue is completely dry, use a small dry paintbrush to brush off excess glitter.
6. string ribbon color of ur choice and HANG from tree!

happi bday.

happy birthday to me. happy birthday to me. happy birthday to NICKY. happy birthday to me. what a celebration this Floridian weekend! i am so grateful to have spent time with family and i can't thank our hosts, Justine and Lauren, enough for letting us invade and take over their apartment. i was showered with love and presents the whole weekend long which was just fantabulous. i didn't want to leave!

among my presents - a pedicure, pink winter gloves, a bottle of wine from my FAVE winery, an ironing board and iron, the cutest crafting TOTE and craft supplies, a mini dressform, sewing supplies and a gift card to Joanne's to stock up on more CRAFT supplies! happiday.

let me give you a closeup of how adorable the giftcard was dressed.oh - and how could I forget the best present of all. 3 feet of snow to shovel on the day of our return!

3 hours.

it's crazy how 3 hours on a plane can take you from this:


to this:


pictures to come SOON!

igoogle themes.

new igoogle themes are here! pass it on...

my FAVE is the 'bus-stop'. this theme changes based on the weather here in the Roch. everyday i'm greeted by my friends at the stop and they give me a sneak peek at what's going on outside. if it's blustery and cold, they're all bundled up facing the snow. sometimes they're chasing their hats down the sidewalk after the wind gusts or have their umbrellas up reminding me I left mine in the car. i have such good friends.

doggie snow angels.

hey gang, lucy here.

after that cold trek in the snow picking out a tree, mom took me to one of my FAVE parks. i love going there b/c I usually meet one of my favorite boyfriends, Danny-boy, to play. boy he is a HOOT. i think he was trying to impress me big time with all those doggie snow angels he was doing. he's got the stop, drop, and roll down to a science! we were having a GREAT time getting our 'flirt on' until mom and Sondra starting taking MILLIONS of photos of us. sigh. i really hate POSING for the ball. then she put Danny's coat on me and ooh'd and aaah'd over how cute I looked. guess what's going on my xmas list now... sigh.

ps - go here to see the pics. u don't have to go far to see snow angels. i'm thinking a mini flip book of them would be a fun xmas gift for him...

lovin the lazy life,
lucy

christmas tree.

today we dressed Lucy up in her SANTA collar and headed to Wilbert's xmas tree farm to cut down the world's most *perfect* xmas tree. apparently we're a little rusty picking out trees from being gone last year. it wasn't until it was in the stand until we noticed it has curviest trunk ever. i'm just waiting to come down one morning and find it on it's side. (sigh)

check out some more pics on my gallery page.

a norman christmas.

i recently scored this HUGE book of 300+ norman rockwell magazine covers from the back of my mom's vehicle. it was on it's way to the salvation army when i RESCUED it. very coincidental b/c i had JUST been on ebay the week before bidding for a book of his xmas illustrations. (good thing i didn't have too much wine that night cause my bid-happy-buzz could have left me swimming in rockwell books) i cut out one of my fave illustrations and put in this frame for the holidays. me likey!