Snow's Poconos Trip

I shared Gadget and I's adventures in the Poconos from this past weekend already... but what you didn't see was all the fun and excitement from the one other family member that went - Snow! And honestly, if you follow this blog, you should have known that Snow was going to make his appearance!

It all started Friday. I took off from work, initially thinking we were going to leave for the Poconos around noon (but it turned into late evening before we left). Since I had most of the day to do whatever - I took Snow in to my job to meet some people... and get him out of the house. Let's recap that shall we... I took off of work - and still went TO work.

Snow thoroughly enjoyed the short trip to my job - especially being able to sit in the front seat!

Then we finally left for the Poconos - we arrived late Friday night and he proceeded to run around like a mad man - he got to see so many people and places, all in one day!!

But on Saturday, he got to go on a nice long walk and roll around in the grass most of the day. (I do have some pretty hilarious video of this too!)

On Sunday, he was worn out most of the day. He relaxed with me on the porch for a while (and got to enjoy some yogurt), and then went off exploring with Gadget's father.

I've never seen the pup so tired before. When we got home (at 4AM!), he barely made it out of the car. He made a slow b-line for the house and waited for us to open the door and went upstairs, right to bed. He was exhausted! I'm so glad he had such a great time.

Also...
Not Snow related... but how cool is this bird that we saw while we were in Forever 21?! He was just chillin' on this guy's shoulder. His name was Willey.

Weekend Trip & Sky Diving

We went to the Poke-Your-Nose!! I joke of course... we did go up to the Poconos to visit some of Gadget's family. Friday was his birthday and Sunday was his sister's birthday, so it was a little family get-together. There were 10 of us - which, for his family, should be categorized as a TEENY TINY family get-together.

His father has a house in the Poconos that I love visiting because the house is gorgeous and is FULL of art from his travels around the world. There is so much natural light in his house, it's pretty spectacular.

We left Friday evening, picked up our nephew and were on our way - it was a 4 hour drive. I was shoved in the backseat with Snow and tried to sleep as much as I could. Everyone else arrived Friday evening and Saturday morning. Once everyone had arrived (and everyone else was awake), we goofed off outside for a bit - well, mostly Gadget. Side note - you see that awesome Deadpool shirt he's wearing, I got him that for his birthday - it's a pretty badass shirt!!

Never a dull moment in this family, Gadget's father decided a great family activity would be to go sky diving (or as my mother-in-law would say, "plane diving"). The airfield was right down the street, and the planes actually pass overhead of the house as they climb and every once in a while you can see a parachute from the porch. It's pretty cool.

There were four of us who did NOT jump. I was perfectly comfortable on the ground, taking pictures and video. They had a blast though! I did get to really get a lot of use out of my 10x zoom lens on my iphone, which was really cool - it's really the only reason I was able to get some of the shots that I did. The picture of the plane below... that's WITH the 10x zoom lens. That plane was really high, and you could barely see when people jumped out - they were as small as a pinhead in the sky. It was pretty crazy.

Don't they look like astronauts!?  I'm so unbelievably proud of Gadget - next time, maybe I'll join in... MAYBE.

A Case of the Giggles

I've been in a bit of a funk recently - mostly because of financial reasons... so what better way to bring a smile to my face than to search tumblr & the interwebs for animal gifs?! I'm going to share some of my favorites that I've been collecting. I definitely was giggling out of control with a couple of these!


Pretty jellyfish!


Adorable sleepy kitty!


Pitbull giving a bunny a kiss! Oh my gosh!


A cat... in a shark costume... riding around on a Roomba... chasing a duckling! Too funny!
Click for full video on YouTube!


Red Panda gets scared by a zookeeper. How hilarious is his facial expression?!
Click for video on YouTube


I love Otters! And sorry for the language on this gif, but I laughed so hard!
I also found the original video on YouTube!

Apologies for the loading time - but I hope they made you smile and giggle like they did for me!
Also, I hope to have some artwork posted up here really soon! I've also been doing a TON of design work recently, so I'll share that too!

Putt Putt, Drinks & Pies, Oh My!

This past weekend was full of excitement! It's a shame I'm still "gimpy" because of my back, but I don't remember the last time I've had so much going on in such a short period of time!

I went to the Chiropractor again on Friday, and then right after work, I was invited to Putt Putt with a couple of coworkers. I've never played putt putt in my life, and I surprisingly wasn't terrible - I even got a hole in one! It was a load of fun, and we all definitely want to do that again. After putt putt, we went into Arlington, and went to a bar/club... it was more for singles to mingle, so I didn't stick around long. Besides, my back was killing me and it was getting super super late.



Saturday, I went out galavanting - picked up some stuff for work, some new dresses, and random groceries. As my back was still in quite a bit of pain, I relaxed for the rest of the afternoon... in preparation for Sunday!

On Sunday, I got to see some High School friends that I haven't seen in 8-ish years! They've lived relatively close to me for the past 3 years, and our schedules just never worked out to hang out. One is about to move, so they had a Pie Potluck (a Pieluck?). I had a blast, and it was so great to see them again!

2012 Crafty Goodness

Through the course of October - December, I was actually pretty crafty. I got a lot of random, small projects done. Below are some instagram photos:

In preparation for my galaxy-print dress, I painted an old clutch. I really love how it turned out.

I painted a thrifted pair of boots.

I altered a bunch of clothes.
(For some reason, I didn't take before and after of most of them...)

Made my own laundry detergent (which is AWESOME).

I crocheted... a lot!

And tried tons of awesome new recipes!
(I won't post pictures - there were just so many.)

And I actually did some painting. I wish I had gotten more painting done - I was doing these for a book in preparation for a con... but I gave up the week before the con, cause there was going to be NO way they'd be printed and shipped to me in time. I'm still working on them though, cause I still want to make the book. And... I like mermaids! >shrug<

Stay tuned for painting previews...

Baltimore Aquarium!

When I found out my aunt and cousin from Ohio were going to the Baltimore Aquarium with my aunt (who lives close to the aquarium) I immediately asked off from work and worked out a way to get up there. I don't say no to an aquarium trip! I probably should have this time...

Back in December, I went on a Friday all by myself. It had been my first visit since I was young. Gadget dropped me off on his way to work and I got there 2 hours before it opened. I was in the aquarium from 10am to 6:30pm. There were a couple families and school field trips there, but overall it was relatively quiet. And when big groups did come by, I could just sit back and wait for them to continue on.

I couldn't do that today. What were we thinking going there at noon in the middle of the week in June!? It was mayhem. Luckily my december trip made me very familiar with the place and we got through in a short amount of time - but not unscathed. I got stepped on and poked in the eye... It was an experience.

1 - The 'shark' in my Aunt's pool // 2 - The harbor // 3 - The Right Whale skeleton

1 - Blue Tang // 2 - The Porcupine Fish that I like to stalk // 3 - My Aunt...
4 - Two resting Nurse Sharks // 5 - Red Tailed Catfish (probably my favorite fresh water fish)

I was playing with different settings on the camera... So most of my pictures came out blurry. And they canceled the dolphin show (which was lame anyway) but what made the whole trip worthwhile was seeing them play - without being forced into a routine.

1 - Dolphin playing with a ball // 2 - A Pirate Ship in the Harbor! // 3 - The roof of a building on the way out of Baltimore.
4 - Giant Panorama that I put together

I had fun - but I won't be going back to the Aquarium until... October at the earliest!