MORE(no) MUSIC!

It feels like it has been forever since I have done anything crafty because I have been swamped with teaching, school, running, and organizing Donate Life events in town. Usually I would have had multiple meltdowns by now, but I've only had one and I'm pretty sure that it's because I discovered the music of Reynaldo Moreno. Every time I listen to one of his songs I feel the creative vibes that I have been missing. I have been loving the YouTube videos and they keep me company during my many hours in front of the computer. His messages are so positive and that's my main focus these days. One of my favorite quotes is by Leo Tolstoy and it states, "If you want to be happy, be." Creating is obviously something that makes me happy, but in the last year (after my dad's lung transplants) I discovered that what makes me truly happy is meeting people and living life with them. When I reflect on my life this past year, I am in awe with the people God has brought into it and how they are the ones who make my outlook so positive.

This past weekend I ran my first marathon in Arizona! About a year ago I set a goal to run a marathon in Arizona (St. Joseph's Hospital) and in LA (UCLA) where I would dedicate a mile to people who have helped my family during this journey. For part of my training I ran the Vegas 1/2 marathon in December. It was there we met the creators of One Blow K.O. who live in Arizona. They invited my mom and I to an event at The Lab this past race weekend and we got to meet Reynaldo Moreno, Ben Henderson, and Efrain Escudero. FYI... my family loves MMA (Ben is one of our favorite fighters) so this was pretty amazing for us. We also got to enjoy Bueno Burgers with such down-to-earth people. I'm pretty sure fate is the reason we connected with these people and I am beyond thankful.

So... I'm here to spread the love by sharing all these great people with you!

I'm in LOVE...

with the music and videos by Gotye and Kimbra! I’m calling it right now, I discovered them! So, when they get big this blog post is record that I that “I told you so.” I first heard “Somebody that I used to Know” on January 5, 2012 around 9:00 pm when I was taking my dad home from a UCLA appointment. From the moment the song came on all I could think of was who are these people?!? I had to google what lyrics I could remember and when I found the video for the song, I lost it. I love it! It’s artistic and simple and perfect. I then proceeded to listen to the rest of Gotye’s songs as well as Kimbra’s songs and I love them all. Some of my favorite classes in school were literature classes where we had to analyze different pieces to death and when I saw Kimbra’s video for “Settle Down” my mind started to race. Oh my goodness, you could pick that apart for days. Anyway, just wanted to share them with you all and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Here are the YouTube links:

Gotye Music

Kimbra Music

* The videos are great, but the live stuff is amazing as well!

Also love Lana Del Rey. Her sound may not be for everyone, but give it a try. First heard her at

Brandy Melville... of course!

Here are some BM inspired hangers we made. All you do is take fabric scraps, tie them together,

and twist them around a wire hanger.

The Hammer!

We have been to LA a million times in the last few years and not once have we gone to The Hammer Museum. This needs to change, especially now since I have my student ID and I can get in for free! :)

Anyway, during this last LA trip I got to meet up with the coolest people ever, my super artistic friends... Amanda and Jorge who were checking out The Hammer!!! It was a short visit, but it was so good to see them. It’s been years and I miss them terribly, but they are doing amazing things! In college I had some art classes with Jorge and met up with Amanda in ceramics and the art studio. I would seriously be in there until the wee hours making art and I loved every minute. I was given this button from Jorge and it’s perfect! I wear it on a jacket and my students always comment on it.

Here’s the famous button and some others that I made from pictures taken when I went to Ireland!

Santa's Sweat Shoppe...

is over... boo! :( We had so much fun! Thanks Empty Space for letting us have our arts and crafts in your gallery and thank you to everyone who supported us! When we went to pick up our art, there was an extra special surprise for us. Artist, photographer, and fellow crafter, Michelle Guerrero Tolley, left us one of my most favorite pieces of hers. I have seriously LOVED this piece for about a year and now it's hanging in my room!

2012 Donate Life Rose Parade Float!

This was our second year of helping with the Donate Life Rose Parade Float and every year it gets better and more meaningful! I love the people and the message; and it’s such a honor to be a part of something so amazing. Decorating the float is one of the biggest collaborative art projects I’ve ever worked on and next year I want to experience it all. I’m going to clear my schedule and go spend more than just one day decorating. My birthday is on New Year’s Eve and it would be so special to see the Parade and experience the day with some wonderful people. This year was no exception... we met so many great people. We got to meet one of the float riders who was only sixteen when he gave his kidney to his twin brother. And... we got to meet an ULTRA runner who came out last minute to help our team decorate. We had never met prior to this, so it was very cool that he came out to support this great cause. He was also pretty amazing at carnation placement. :) THANK YOU, THOMAS!!! Also, got to spend the day with my mom (who has worked on the Rose Parade when she was my age) and Kathy (a mother who gave her kidney to her son). So many inspirational stories. We love Donate Life!!!

We have a Donate Life Kern County facebook page now!!! It's new! Go find us and come to our Blood Drive! It’s tonight!!! Be there!

Donate Life Blog!

Push Pins

I’m pretty sure I will have a meltdown on January 9th when I have to go back to teaching and online classes, so when I’m crying in my car just ignore me. Even though there are still a few days left of vacation, we already got an email from one of our professors saying we should start making notecards! So, being the procrastinator that I am... I made push pins instead! I will never make these again because they took FOREVER, but maybe that was the whole idea of making them in the first place. How could I possibly start studying before these were made? I have to pin my note cards up with something, right?

School Craft: Christmas

Okay, here’s what my class made for Christmas. Wreath... easy, scarves... super easy, snow globes... not so easy.

Wreath: form a wire hanger into a circle, tie a million sandwich baggies around it, add a bow

Scarves: cut a rectangle, fringe the sides, tie knots

* For about a week, my “teacher’s desk” was covered with fleece!!! I loved it!!!

Snow Globes: glue a figurine to the lid of a jar (which will pop off), add distilled water (which will spill everywhere), add a little Karo Syrup (which will make everything sticky... for the rest of the school year), add glitter (which will get into the carpet and never come out), put the lid back on (which will leak), go back and take off the lid to add teflon tape (the jar will still leak), add hot glue around the seam of the lid and the jar (the jar will still leak), add more teflon tape (pray the jar does not leak)

* You can’t really see the full effect of the glitter in the snow globe, but trust me... it’s in there and it’s pretty magical!
* I also added a picture of our class Christmas tree, complete with fire extinguisher present.

Movember!

Ahhhh.... we missed it, but we’ll be ready next year with little guys. You can make your Movember mugs right here! My SLP BFF and I took a road trip the other day to finally see where and who we go to school with (we take online classes). It’s been a semester and we decided it’s about time we get ID cards, so we could start getting discounts at movie theaters. Really, I think we wanted these just so we could walk around Bakersfield and flash Northridge identification. :) I still think we should have used these mugs for the picture. The whole trip took us about eight hours and we laughed pretty much the whole time. I’m sure people were looking at us and thinking... “These guys are Grad Students???” We had so much fun and met two of our wonderful classmates! I'm so happy and thankful to be a part of this great group!

P.S. We made a flower one too, so it looks like you are smelling the flower! Not as much fun as the mustache ones though.