The Hunger Games Series

If you haven’t read this book series yet… you should!

I heard all the chatter surrounding these books by Suzanne Collins and it perked my interest, but I never picked up a copy.  Christmas came and I decided to put it on my wish list.  I was so glad I did.  The first day I started reading was also the day I finished the first book.  I literally couldn’t put it down.  I was captivated and drawn in with the story and the characters.  The plot is a little hard to explain, but it is set in North America sometime in the future.  Needless to say it didn’t take me long to devour the next two books!  I’m a little sad that I read them too fast.  I just couldn’t help myself.

The movie is coming out next month and I’m beyond excited to see Katniss, Gale and Peeta on the big screen.

” May the odds be ever in your favor! “

crafts gone wild!

I tried to blog every day, but that just isn’t working anymore.  Unfortunately.  For one I have that little thing called a job, which I have to partake in several hours a week in order to pay the bills.  Then, I’m at a home decorating break (read: lack of funds).  And so I’m trying to catch up with, complete, and even begin my list of “2012 to-do craft projects”.

After several debates, all which were held in my mind – though some thoughts trickled over to my poor husband who just nodded in agreement, I think I’ve finally got my craft projects under some control.

First on the list is our honeymoon scrapbook.  Yup, It’s been over a year and that’s still in the works.  The French Polynesian islands seem extremely far away *sigh* I got so involved with the reno and home decorating last year that my crafting took a back seat.  Now it’s payback and these crafts are here with a vengeance.  Completion for this album is at the top of the list, with arrows and stars and highlights.  Especially since I will most likely have another vacation album to start in a few months.

? 2011 ? 2011 ? 2011 ?

Second, is what to do with all my pictures from 2011?  I thought about this for several days – don’t judge me, I like to preserve memories : )  Maybe I would do a digital scrapbook, or start a Project Life book, or just leave them on a CD.  After finding the album I purchased in 2010 for my 2011 pictures, I decided that I needed to look forward.  Print out highlights from last year’s thousands of pictures, stick them in the album and call it a day.  Maybe I’ll be a little crafty and add title blocks, we’ll see.

Then there was my wedding scrapbook project.  I wasn’t lying when I said I took a break from all things crafty after the wedding.  I kept a lot of mementos from the planning process all the way until the after-party, not to mention all the pictures I received from everyone.  I’m using the Project Life plastic divided sleeves and 12×12 sleeves I already own to put together a memory book.  A “Project Us” album.  It’s a lot of backtracking, but I think if I can get a rhythm going I can slowly put it together.

And finally, since 2012 is here, what do I do this year?  I want to start NOW so I don’t have to backtrack like everything else.  I’m totally jumping on the Project Life bandwagon (basic album pictured above from Becky Higgin’s site.  I spent several hours searching online, looking at inspiration photos from others and debating whether I go paper kit or digital.  I’m weird, I know.  I tried putting together a digital album, but I didn’t like that text boxes needed to be just text and that you couldn’t add memorabilia.  I’m sure there are ways to get around the text thing and that you could always take pictures of the memorabilia and add it in, but it didn’t feel like “me”.  I may be singing a different tune after putting together the paper kit album this year.  I like the different options and sizes in layouts, the ability to add pieces of “life”… basically, it’s all-in-all versatility.  To have a visual journal is something that appeals to me.  So here you have it folks.

I would like to keep up with my blog, so do keep checking in.  Perhaps I’ll move on to blogging about my 2012 PL journey.  I will do my best to still add my Tuesday/Thursday travelogues and any other home improvement or decorating projects that come up. I’m not shutting down my blog again… not just yet.

project life

I’ve wanted to make a scrapbook of my life’s to-do list (known more recently as a bucket list) for some time now.  It’s been on my project list forever and now I think I’ve finally found a way to get it started.

Project 365 has shown up over the past couple of years in my scrapbook magazine.  It was always on my mind to purchase the kit.  It’s now known as Project Life – a scrapbooking made simple approach created by Becky Higgins.

It’s main purpose is to get you to focus on everything that happens in one year – whether big or small.  And to do so quite simply with just pictures and journaling.  This format should be a great way to log all my accomplishments and goals for the future.  Maybe I can even add pages and make it a memory book of my life.

I do have a milestone age coming up as well.  I’ve been considering making a Blurb book for that, but maybe another Project Life kit would work nicely.  Oh crafty decisions… decisions.

kitchen pinboard

Talk about pins and needles!  Ok, maybe I wasn’t THAT nervous about our latest project: a pinboard/message board for our kitchen.  While waiting for new tires to be installed in my car, I stopped by a nearby fabric store.  I checked out the discount bins and some fabric caught my attention.  Thinking it would be a perfect addition to our kitchen I bought a yard.

Corkboard: free – we had an extra one leftover (24″x36″)
Batting: free – also leftover from a previous project
Fabric: $15 – discounted home fabrics

Make sure you also grab some scissors, a staple gun and lots of staples.  For hanging, we used the provided hardware on the corkboard and some new nails.

Lay the corkboard, face down, on batting.  Cut the batting, leaving about 4″ of extra material.

Staple batting, every inch or so, all the way around.  Then trim excess.

 Our dog, Gizmo, wanted to help out with the extra batting.

Iron your fabric, if necessary, then lay the batting covered side on the wrong side of the fabric.  Cut the fabric a little larger than the board.  We left about 4 inches on every side.  Start stapling!  Start with one side and staple about every inch.  Pull the fabric tight and smooth the fabric as you go.  Also make sure you check that you staple into the wooden frame of the corkboard.

Finish all sides first, then go back and finish the corners.  No one sees the back so you don’t have to be extremely neat, but we cut the excess fabric – that way it wouldn’t bump away from the wall.

Pick your spot and hang!  Make sure you use your level : )

Don’t mind our “spot-saving” piece of furniture – I plan on re-finishing it and straightening/tossing the clutter.  Also we just placed a couple of items on top to give us a height gauge.  I can’t wait to find some cute push pins and hang stuff! So cute.

travel thursday : : switzerland

In January and then again in May of 1999, I was able to spend a total 34 days in Switzerland.  Family friends had moved out there and I went to visit.  I was definitely a “novice traveller” and I didn’t do as much wandering and exploring as I should have.  I did take one note: the best way I avoided jet lag was to sleep as much as possible on the flight.  We had left in the afternoon, but arrived the next day in the afternoon.  There was a lot of excitement being there and because of that I don’t think jet lag was too much of a problem.  Also the pictures had to be scanned, since my visit was pre-digital.

We stayed in the town of Lully (population: 794) which was in the district of Morges.  Morges was right next to Lake Geneva (Lac Leman) – pictured above.  The view of the mountains and Mont Blanc were also the same view from the community pool.

Lucky for the Americans there was easy access to a McDonald’s right next to the train station – oh the comforts of back home.  Next to that was also a bank where we did our Dollar to CHF (swiss francs) exchange.

The old world feel was amazing and I was just happy to walk down the cobblestone streets and take it all in.  We were also able to go ice skating at the Patinoir des Eaux Minerales and go shopping at the Signy Shopping Center.  We also walked past the Chataeu de Morges - a medieval and impressive castle on the lake.  When we returned in May it was warm enough to go swimming at the Piscine Communale.  I’m glad I knew enough French to get around.   We did do grocery shopping at hypermarkets – combined supermarkets and department stores.

The Château de Vufflens (The castle of Vufflens) was a nice bike ride from where we were staying.  It was built in the 15th century, and “represents the most outstanding example of a small group of Vaud castles dating from the Late Middle Ages, above all characteristic because they were built of bricks”. It was a beautiful castle on lovely grounds.

: : PLACES TO VIST : :

Gruyère, Switzerland
Mostly this town is famous for cheese of the very same name.  “Grue” in french means “the crane”.  It’s situated in the middle of the Fribourg green pre-Alpine foothills.  The castle, Chateau de Gruyère, is one of the most prestigious in Switzerland.

We took a tour of the castle and learned more about its history and culture.  The little town also had great warm chestnuts and a small shop that sold beautifully hand-crafted Coo Coo clocks.  Do you see Santa trying to make his way up a building?

Geneva, Switzerland
This is the second most populous city in the country.  It’s on the french speaking side.  We walked around the town, in and out of shops, and took pictures with the famous fountain in our background.

There were so many other things I should have ventured out to see and I blame my novice travel skills.  The comforts of fast food came calling and we had some King Nuggets at Burger King.  Food carts also spotted the streets around the lake, we had some crepes with chocolate as a yummy snack.

Neuschwanstein Castle (Schloss Neuschwanstein), Germany
We travelled through Austria and through the Great St. Bernard Pass to the famous german castle.  It was the inspiration for Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty Castle.  We opted to walk up the path instead of taking the horse-drawn carriage.  What a mistake!  It was quite adventurous.  The path was quite steep at points and we had to find a way to climb up some patches of ice.  A lot more difficult than we had originally thought.  All worth it… the castle rising up from the hill was an amazing sight.

Inside and out was amazing.  During the tour we were told the castle looked medieval, but it held every modern comfort: hot air central heating, running water, toilets had automatic flushing system and hot and cold water in the kitchen.  The Throne Room and Hall of Singers were beautiful.  We weren’t allowed to take pictures, but you can take a virtual tour online.  [ http://www.neuschwanstein.de/englisch/palace/index.htm ]  Fun discoveries: pink payphones and the WC “water closet”.

Monaco and Nice

We were lucky enough to visit during the Monaco Grand Prix (French: Grand Prix de Monaco).  It’s a Formula One race held each year on the Circuit de Monaco, where they close of actual streets for the track.  I even bumped into Michael Schumacher, who ended up being the 1999 winner.  The city was so beautiful and clean.

D’Annecy, France (Le Lac d’Annecy)

This lake is known as “Europe’s cleanest lake”, thanks to strict environmental regulations.  It was so clean, you could see all the way to the bottom.  Pictured above is le Pont des Amours – The Bridge of Love.  It is said that the bridge is a place where lovers find themselves loved and legend has it that two lovers kissing in the middle will be united for life.  The town had that old world feel and it was so nice to take in the culture.

I enjoyed both visits, not only to spend time with family friends, but also to be in such a beautiful country.  I was lucky to go twice in one year.  I experienced the snow right in the beginning of the year and then the rain and sunshine 4 months later.  Looking back I wish I went out to see more and I just hope that I’ll have another chance to.

temple run

If you don’t have an iPhone or have never heard of this game… Get an iPhone immediately (or iPad) and DOWNLOAD THIS GAME!  It is extremely addicting and I love it.  Besides the fact that it’s free, it’s awesome.

going backwards for 2012

Welcome to 2012 everyone!  The new year is all about moving forward… but I’m going to do one thing backwards!  Here’s a tip I’ve heard to get your clothing a little more organized this year.  Yes, I’ve tried it and it works.  Well for the most part – there are always those few items that are sentimental or “I know I’m going to fit into that again”.  Try and resist a lot of those temptations or this tip will get you no where.

Take all the hangers in your closet and turn them backwards (mid-season is shown above).  Each time you take something out to wear and eventually return it to the closet, turn the hanger forward – facing the back of the closet.  This will show you what you wear frequently.  Don’t force yourself to wear it just because the hanger is facing the other way though.  Clothing is usually split between spring/summer and fall/winter.  So, after 6 months take a look at your closet.  Take out those hangers that are still facing backwards and really think – “do I need this”?  Donate those clothes and you will save yourself some always-valuable closet space.