Race for the Cure and Tie Dye...

This weekend was the Komen Race for the Cure 5K.  I was the team captain and since I have such a passion for t-shirt decor I decided to go all out on my team t-shirts.  I wanted something awesome with no puffy paint so I decided to go for tie dye.  Fortunately AC Moore did not have all the sizes I needed in white so I ended up buying gray t-shirts.  The gray t-shirts ended up being awesome once they were tie dyed.

How To Make Awesome Inspirational 5K T-shirts....

1-Buy shirts

2-Wash shirts

3-Tie Dye shirts with a tie dye kit from the craft store

4-Wash shirts again

5-Stencil shirts with stencils, a stencil brush and fabric paint (I stenciled a big T and G on each shirt)

6-Write on the shirts with a fabric marker (I wrote out the rest of the team name in fabric marker)

7-Let the shirts dry for 3 days and then wash them again so your friends get tie dye all over their bodies while running.

Now here are some pictures.  It was a great event.  There were thousands of people there.

harassing Hobie at 6 in the morning

pre-race

look at all those people and look at the starting line way up there

post-race, looking good

doesn't B look great in tie dye?

post race team pic

riding the shuttle back to the cars

My time for this race was 55 minutes.  I know what you are thinking.  That is really slow.  Well it took us 15 minutes to get to the starting line and about 10 more minutes before we could actually start jogging.  There was so many people there...which is good.  My team ended up raising over $1300!  Thanks to everyone who ran with me, raised money and donated money.  Go Team Gumby!

The Graduate and/or How to Make a Graduation Present Out of Old Emails

This week is a big week for Beezus5.  Yesterday she graduated from grad school and today is her 30th birthday.  But she has a birthday every year so let's focus on grad school.  Three years ago, she decided that she didn't want to spend the rest of her days "making copies and moving commas around in documents", so she decided to go to school for Speech Language Pathology. 

This was a long and trying road for both of us.  For her, it was because she actually had to go to school and do homework and take tests and do projects and stuff.  For me, it was because I had to constantly inspire her with witty emails, quotes, and pictures.  At some point in the Fall of 2008, I decided to start sending her inspirational emails.  At this time she was taking undergrad pre-req classes in order to get into the graduate school program.  She was also still working her day job.  My inspirational emails included....

Song Lyrics......
such as, 'I Believe I can Fly' by R. Kelly.

Pictures.....

Inspirational Quotes

"Once you say you're going to settle for second, that's what happens to you."

John F. Kennedy
"The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary."
Vidal Sassoon
"It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, just as much to stand up to our friends." Dumbledore

Quotes from TV Shows....
I won't bore you with these but The Office, 24 and Lost all feature their fair share of inspirational quotes.  I even typed out the "Live Together, Die Alone" speech from Lost one day.  I really think that got her through some tough tests.

You might be wondering why I felt it necessary to send these types of emails out several times a week.  It was mostly because Beezus5 went all Hermione (Harry Potter reference) on me and started acting mildly crazy for a few months.  This mostly occurred during 2009 when she was waiting to hear if she was officially accepted into the graduate program.  Here is some background info...she made straight A's in all her pre-req classes,  all her teachers jumped at the chance to write her recommendations, she did volunteer work, she is fluent in Spanish (which made her a hot commodity in the SLP field), etc.  However, she convinced herself she wasn't going to get in based on the following reasons....

"If we are annoying and have bad personalities, they won't let us in"
"I talk a lot in class.  Maybe too much.  Maybe they think I'm a kiss ass"
"I turned my observations in really late"
"I got an 84 on a test"

Amazingly, in mid-March, B5 got the glorious news that she had been accepted into the program and was also offered a Graduate Assistantship (aka money).  I'm pretty sure they only give those to the smart kids.  After that it was semi-smooth sailing.   There was still lots of work (for her) but I stopped having to send the inspirational emails every day.  I guess if I had to add it up, she gets 90% credit for her degree while 10% goes to me.

To celebrate the occasion, I printed out a bunch of our old email correspondences and gmail chats and turned them into a memoir.

I also ordered her this owl picture from Etsy because she likes owls and because owls are wise, like her.

So congrats B5 and oh yeah, Happy Birthday!

PS-And congrats to my brother (who I'm pretty sure does not read this blog) who is graduating from grad school today also!  I never had to send him inspirational emails so I can't really take any credit for his degree.

British Food and the Royal Wedding

In honor of the Royal Wedding, I decided to British it up a bit this weekend.  I wanted to make a Shepherd's pie so I browsed a few recipes on the Internet and they all seemed complicated so I  decided to make one up.  I knew Shepherd's Pie was a meat pie with mashed potatoes on top so I based my recipe on that.

Easy Shepherd's Pie

1/2 small onion, chopped

1 lb ground beef

1 8.5 oz can of corn

1 8.5 oz can of peas

1 8 oz can of tomato sauce

1 tablespoon of tomato paste

salt, pepper, garlic salt, Italian Seasoning

mashed potatoes (I used the pre-made kind from the refrigerator section because they were on sale)

Cook the onion until it is tender then add in in the beef.  Once that is cooked, add in the veggies, tomato sauce and tomato paste.  Add whatever seasonings you want.  Then let it simmer for a few minutes.  Place that mixture at the bottom of an 8x8 pan and then top with mashed potatoes.  Cook for about 30 minutes at 350 or until the beef mixture is bubbling and the potatoes are starting to brown.

Remember that Friend's Episode where Rachel tries to make an English Trifle but accidentally adds "beef sauteed with peas and carrots"?  Yeah.  That is what I was thinking about the whole time I was making this.  I wanted to make a Trifle but without actually having to look up a recipe.  So I just mixed a few things together that I thought would taste good.  I think trifles normally have jam in them but I didn't have any jam.

My fake English Trifle (also this is low-fat)
fat-free pudding mix
milk
small container of Cool Whip
carton of strawberries
a couple spoonfuls of sugar
pre-made angel food cake


Make the pudding according to the package.  Then add half of the Cool Whip to the pudding mix.  Save the rest of the Cool Whip.  Cut the strawberries into small pieces and add a little sugar and water.  Layer small cubes of the cake with the strawberries and pudding.  Then add a layer of Cool Whip to the very top. 

We needed a beverage and I did not feel like making hot tea so I went with beer.  I found this Oatmeal Stout at the grocery store and it said 'product of England' on it so I knew it would be the perfect compliment to my meal.

Overall, my English meal was really easy and pretty tasty, if I do say so myself.
Now on to the Royal Wedding.  My favorite fashion from the Royal Wedding was obviously THE DRESS.....I thought it was perfect for a princess.  Very classy, simple, elegant, awesome.  I liked Pippa's dress too and also the name, Pippa.

pic from people.com

I also love these hats.  Yes, they are crazy, but when else would you have to opportunity to make such a fashion statement?  I think they are kind of awesome.  Curly J's going to love it when I show up at her wedding in one.

pic from people.com

Did you watch the wedding?
What did you think?
What is your favorite British food?

Hobie and JM's Crafternoon

I had many crafting projects to catch up on yesterday.  There were wine charm orders, 5K t-shirts, and bridesmaid jewelry to be made.  So I asked Hobie to lend me a paw (I am hilarious).

He was worried about accidentally dyeing his fur (like I dyed my hands) so he didn't really help with the t-shirts but he did come sit outside with me for awhile so I could try to get a little tan while beading some wine charms.  I don't want to be the palest bridesmaid in Curly J's wedding.

After going to the beach for a few days followed by binge eating 2 kinds of ham at my Aunt's house, I spent the rest of my Easter break on crafts and reading.  After much thought, I decided to go ahead and finish out the Hunger Games Trilogy this weekend.  I'm almost done with the third book.  I'm still planning on getting the Tina Fey book soon though.  I have also convinced B to read them, which is kind of hard because they are all downloaded on my iPad and I'm not that good at sharing.  He has to steal it from me when I'm napping and read what he can as fast as possible (but he's a speed reader so that works out for him).

What did you guys do for Easter?

Bachelorette Party T-Shirts Round 2

If you make your friend T-shirts for her bachelorette party, she will love you.  And it's not that hard.  Come on people, let's do this.

1-Buy some t-shirts when they go on sale.  (This time I bought mine from AC Moore and they were on sale 4 for $10).
2-Then con your friends/co-bridesmaids into t-shirt making craft day. 
3-Bring some puffy paint and anything else you have on hand.
4-One of your friends will have much better handwriting than the other two.  Get her to write the theme or slogan on all of the shirts.  Go for something simple, like Team (insert Bride's Nickname).  The other two bad handwriters will then decorate the shirt with drawings, quotes, and designs.  Be sure to draw a life-like picture of the bride on her t-shirt.  Include any accessories that the bride can't live with out.  For example if she is really into texting, then include a drawing of her cell phone.

5-If the bride's sister is prego and will be attending the shower be sure to make her t-shirt say something like 'Baby Mama' with an arrow pointing to the belly area.  Very classy.

6-If your friend lives in Las Vegas and can't attend, then make her a shirt too, but make it more inappropriate than the others since she won't actually be wearing it out with you to the nail salon.  I "lost" the pics I had of Mo Young's T-shirt.   Ooops.

So that's pretty much it.  You can make the bride put on her shirt as soon as you arrive at her house to kidnap her for the evening (that's what everyone does, right?)

Sororities and Baked Goods!

When I was in college, the closest I came to joining a Sorority was watching the hit MTV series, Sorority Life with my senior year roomie Mo.  ("Who wants to be ordinary in a crazy mixed up world."  I still remember the theme song like it was yesterday).  There was also that one sorority party I went to Freshman year.  I have nothing against sororities especially since today I'm joining one.  Ok well not really, but I am going to College today to help my sister's sorority with their fundraiser bake sale.  My sister organized her Sorority's Relay for Life team and they are trying to earn a few extra bucks to donate by selling baked goods during lunch on campus and tonight at their Relay for Life event.

B and I will be delivering baked goods made by both my mom and I (mostly my mom, who went crazy with the baking) to add to the baked goods that the sistas are already making.  (Side Note-I get a little mad when my sister refers to her sorority Big Sister as her Big Sister.  I'm like, "uh I'm your big sister, hello?") 

Here are some pics of the baked deliciousness that my mom and I made....

 My favorites are the mini pies...

 And here is my attempt to bake in my new shoes so I can get used to them...

OK.

So, sororities?   Yay or Nay?
MTV's hit reality show Sorority Life?  Yay or Nay?
Baked Goods?  Yay or Nay?

Pasta (bread, salad, beer, and handmade craftery) for Breast Cancer!

I signed up for my next 5K!  It's the Komen Race for the Cure which benefits Breast Cancer.  Several people I know have been diagnosed with Breast Cancer in the past year, including my mom (she is doing well though-thumbs up), so I thought this would be a good one to do.  As the captain of my team, I started receiving tons of emails and even a personalized letter about how important fundraising for this event is.  I am pretty much the worst person at sales and fundraising.  I hate asking people for money.  I sucked at selling Girl Scout Cookies.  When I worked at the salad bar in college, I was always in trouble for not up selling enough fountain beverages as opposed to the free water. Anyways, I decided this was worthwhile, so I decided to have a fundraiser at my house as opposed to just asking for money.

I have been doing some crazy couponing for the past couples months and have managed to stock up hardcore on pasta noodles and spaghetti sauce so I decided that would be a nice cheap meal to make for my friends and then ask for $5-$10 donations for the Race.  I also decided to give away some of the earrings I've made.  I was hoping to raise $100 at the most.  But guess what.....I made over $300.  I was amazed.  When I went to tally up the money there were a bunch of $20s in my jar and some people who couldn't make it sent me checks in the mail.  So, yeah I guess I'm pretty good at fundraising after all.  Plus my sister came with two of her friends from Kollege and they sent me an Edible Arrangement.  It was awesome.  And Beezus5 made a stellar Banana Pudding Pie.  Plus people brought handmade items like headbands and mittens for me to giveaway as door prizes. 

And since this blog is about Making Stuff, here is a quick recipe for dinner parties that's usually a hit.  Buy one of those refrigerated packages of tortellini or ravioli and cook it per the directions.  Then mix it with marinara sauce, top it with cheese and bake it until the cheese is melted.  People like it and it's easy.

I forgot to take a lot of pics but here are a few.

Baked Spaghetti with Pepperoni for the non-vegetarians
before I added the cheese

B and Hobie were in charge of bread and beer.

An Edible Arrangement=Awesome.

Banana Pudding Pie!

Headband door prize.  This is my look after I went running
so I may not be showing the headband in the best light
because it's a pretty awesome headband.  (Yeah I'm
wearing my Bayside High T again; it's my current inspirational
running t-shirt.)

In conclusion, people are nice.  Sometimes I forget that (like when I'm complaining about people chewing too loudly or clipping their nails in meetings).

And if you want to check out my team page or info on the Race for the Cure, you can click that big pink square on the top right of this blog.