A group of us at work decided to have a team for the Relay for Life this year in Marion County. We named ourselves Aaron's Team to support our co-workers' son, Aaron Riley, who unfortunately passed away before the event after a short, tough battle with leukemia. It was the first year most of us had participated, or even attended the event. We chose to decorate in a circus-theme and had a bowling game, a ring toss, a fish pond, face painting, balloons, popcorn, peanuts, and glow necklaces for when it got dark. Malissa graciously agreed to dress up as a clown for the evening. I think she looked cute and not at all like a creepy clown.
We really didn't know what to expect, but were pleasantly surprised that our tent was definitely a hit, and were kept busy the entire evening raising funds for the cancer society. We doubled what we had raised prior to the event in just a few hours exceeding our team's goal of $1000.
After the evening was drawing to a close, we decided to treat ourselves to some mustaches. I think we all look very distinguished....or something like that! Pictured are Miranda, Michelle (team captain), and myself!
This year for Easter I received from my loving, albeit smart-assed husband, a Snuggie. We have laughed at the commercials for hours on end as well as the remixed version on YouTube. I swore that I would never wear something so ridiculous looking, but as you can see I've had to eat my words. The weird thing is that it is actually a pretty cool little hybrid. Yeah, I realize it's just a backwards robe without a belt, but so what? The crafty part of my brain is already thinking of ways to improve upon this fantastic invention. The fleece is a bit on the thin side, and the sleeves are waaaay too long for me. JoAnn fabric just might need to watch out for large purchases of cute print fleeces in the near future with some snuggilicious Christmas gifts!
I love elimination dinners. I realize after all of my Vegas posts and now 2 elimination dinners, I probably look like I have a gambling problem, but we really don't do these things often. It's just been a banner year for gambling! Just in case anyone reading does have a gambling problem...please follow this link.
For those of you that don't know what an elimination dinner is, let me explain. Usually only 200 tickets are sold for the event. You pay for your ticket which includes dinner and drinks for two. There is a board with all 200 ticket numbers posted and then throughout the evening numbers are drawn and....yep....eliminated! If you are the last number standing you win a major award. Going rate around here is $1000. Also included in the dinners are various other schemes to milk any extra dollars you have hanging around right out of your wallet. Tip boards (also called fish bowls in some places), 50/50 drawing, 200th ticket raffle, chances on donated prizes, really just about any gambling gig you can dream up can be run at these things. This most recent dinner was to benefit the local Lion's Club. My husband, Lion Jeff, is a member and I know it's for a good cause so I don't mind spending the extra dough!
The most fantastic prize of the evening, hands down, was the gift certificate that the Nelson's received in their prize pack from a raffle. I guess spell check doesn't pick up on things this hilarious! Apparently, there's a new gig in town. Not only is the restaurant name spelled incorrectly, but the name of the town is Sabraton.
A few of my latest projects for my Etsy shop have been stand mixer covers. It might not be a hot "it" item, but it is something that is needed if you plan to leave your mixer setting out on the counter and don't plan to wash it weekly. It also fits in with my growing theme of household items in my shop.
I had to search high and low when I wanted to purchase a cover for my beloved silver Kitchen Aid mixer. When I did finally find a store that had them in stock the only color choices were black and white. How boring! Well, now I have found a pattern by Random Revelations that has solved that dilemma. So far I have 2 for sale in my shop, but plan to do many more. I just think they are so fun! I want to make a zillion for my own mixer and "dress it" in different outfits. Yeah, I'm a little off if you haven't already figured that one out!
This will be my last Las Vegas post...awwww! If you've been following my previous posts, you may have asked yourself if we actually did any gambling and your answer is, YES! We had fun playing little bits here and there. We would lose a little, win a little, nothing big. Then the last evening we were there, Jeff finally hit on his number 8 playing roulette and won about $200. We figured we just about broke even as far as what we spent on gambling. We didn't go to win, we went to have a good time and that was accomplished.
We did A LOT of walking while we were there. Taking a cab anywhere, even a few blocks, was a minimum of $10, so we used the feet God gave us and pounded a little pavement. For lazy people like ourselves this was quite the task. It did give us a great opportunity to take pics here and there and all over Vegas. Sigfried and Roy's tiger tried to attack me while walking on the strip one day.
We stayed at the Paris hotel and casino and it was beautiful inside and out. It features a miniature version of the Eiffel Tower, if you really want to call it that and a large replica of a hot air balloon. The restaurants and shops inside and made to look like the streets of Paris with the ceiling painted like the sky. It was a really cool atmosphere and felt very relaxed.
We ate at a lot of great places; the little patisserie in the hotel; La Brassiere, where Jeff experienced a Kobe beef burger for the first time; the ESPN zone; and Stack at the Mirage. The one place we ate that we did NOT enjoy was Ah Sin in our hotel. It was supposed to be great sushi/Japanese steak house. We did enjoy the sushi we had, but the service was terrible, the atmosphere was hot and noisy, and the main courses really weren't great. We entertained ourselves instead by coming up with a fictional character whom we named Soy Frog. I know, original!
For part two of my Vegas series, I decided to feature my favorite hotel/casino we visited, the Bellagio. While I have seen all of the Ocean's movies, this is not why I loved the Bellagio so much. It was simply gorgeous! It is also home to a Tiffany's, which is any girls' favorite store. The fountains out front "perform" every 15 minutes from 8pm to sometime around midnight, and every half hour or hour during the day. We saw a show during the day, which was nice, but nothing compared to how beautiful it is at night. The show was just starting in the picture above.
The decor inside the hotel was unlike any other we visited while in Vegas. The picture above has to be one of my favorites that I took during the whole trip. They are floral umbrellas suspended from a domed ceiling along the halls leading to the lobby. The picture below is what the view behind the check-in desk looks like.
Just beyond the lobby and check-in desk was a huge indoor garden area. The floral scent was intoxicating. There were various water fountains, hundreds of tulips and spring flowers in bloom, a zen garden, an all-glass greenhouse that contained all sorts of flowers and butterflies fluttering around. There were also sculptural pieces using flowers, like the snail photo below.
Jeff had to take a stab at his take on an artful photo. I think he did a pretty good job with the unusual lighting that was being cast onto this patch of cosmos.
I commented that the next time we go to Vegas, I definitely want to stay at the Bellagio. I'm sure it's not cheap based on its' enormity and beauty, but I'd sacrifice some other luxuries for a chance to stay at this gorgeous establishment.
Jeff and I took our first trip to Las Vegas this year at the beginning of March. It was absolute sensory overload! So much so, that I don't think I can even cover it in just one blog post, so prepare yourself for a Vegas series. Not to mention that I took tons of cool photos that must be shared. I have never been in a place where there was so much to see and do!
Jeff had originally wanted the trip to be a surprise, but he is historically a horrible secret-keeper, so before the day arrived, he had given in and let me "guess" where we were going. It wasn't hard to guess since we had both said we'd like to make Vegas one of our next trips. He did maintain that he had a surprise planned, which turned out to be the Cirque du Soleil show "Love" featuring the music of the Beatles. If you ever make it to Vegas, and have the means, definitely see a show.
We also got to tour the Bodies Exhibition at the Luxor, which I thought was really interesting. I think Jeff could have done without seeing fully preserved skinned humans in various poses, but it was a truly educational and unique experience. I would not recommend this activity for the weak of heart, or more particularly, stomach.
The other show/exhibit we attended was the Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay. This activity would be great for all ages from baby to gramps. There were all sorts of aquatic life to watch. They give each person a handheld listening device and each exhibit had a number that you entered that explained what types of fish/mammals you were looking at and a little bit about them. It was nice not having to stop and read a placard at each tank. It allowed us to just enjoy watching while learning a little bit too. The high points for me at the Shark Reef were the room that had the jellyfish tank and the touching pool, and the final shipwreck underwater room to view the sharks. The jellyfish were just indescribably beautiful and graceful, although they did not photograph well. The touching pool looked like a lot of fun for the kids. I did reach in and pet a stingray and then wondered what to do with my wet hand. Thankfully they had some hand sanitizer and papertowels available. The underwater viewing room was a little trippy, especially for anyone who has watched the scene in Jaws where the shark busts through the underwater glass walkway, but it was all good. We managed to escape unscathed!
Here is my latest tasty, yet non-edible creation. This was fashioned from a pair of "magic gloves" into an adorable chocolate bunny. He is my newest listing in my shop. I'm very ready for nicer weather; a chance to get outside and do some digging in the ground. I can only tolerate rain, wind, sleet, and snow for so long!
I had a bit of a shock today when I arrived home in my email. After a weekend of creativity, I had posted my 3 newest towel designs on Etsy with 2 of them featuring designs of something that resembled a beloved Easter treat made of white squishy fluff covered in colored sugar in the shape of a woodland creature (see pic in post below). This email stated that Etsy had been contacted by an individual regarding these 2 aforementioned items and due to copyright infringement, they were removed from the site. I searched for other similar items on Etsy the night I listed, and there were a few items that featured these yummy treats, but all of those listings were gone today! How rude! I never in a million years would have thought that something that has been around for so long would cause such a stir. I guess I thought wrong!
Valentine's day has flown past! I hope everyone had a great day with their sweetie. Mine got me a gorgeous onyx-tipped crucifix on a silver chain. It definitely was quite the surprise. I got him a rockin' tie from Cyberoptix Tie Lab on Etsy. Their tag line is "Ties That Don't Suck" and I'll tell you that that is certainly true. With Jeff's new job at the university, he has cause to look dashing each and every day, but I felt this would remind people that he is still a young 30something. I spent part of the day working on some new creations for the spring/Easter season. Marshmallow peeps are for most people a love/hate relationship. I personally don't like to eat them, but they are quite adorable, which is why they are featured on 2 of my newest towels. I also had a need to make some little chickees with funky hair-dos. I think I have accomplished that with this towel, but I'm thinking that each and every one that I do is going to have to have different coifs. I'm thinking an Elvis hair, bald on top with hair on the sides...you get the idea.
After the evening was drawing to a close, we decided to treat ourselves to some mustaches. I think we all look very distinguished....or something like that! Pictured are Miranda, Michelle (team captain), and myself!
