Hi.

My name is Steph and I have neglected you once again, but I see you have been awaiting my return.

That's nice of you.

Big things are happening here in the land of sunshine. 

While over half the world is in the snow appololypse, 

we in California are in a heat wave and an official drought. 

A little ironic, huh?

I don't think you'll here anyone really complain about it, 

But it does get a little (a very tiny bit) old.

Well, that's all I got for you right now.

Sorry, I know I let you down again.

Balance

“Never too old, never too bad, never too late, never too sick to start from scratch once again.” -Bikram Choudhury

So balance, it's a thing that we all struggle with. 

Some more than others, myself included.

Lately.. life has been jumbled up in a fast paced mess.

In the last month I have moved 2000 miles, started a new job, a new derby team, found and moved into a new apartment, have a new-old relationship with my husband (we have not lived in the same city for 2 years), and moved closer to my family. 

Either way you slice it, it's a lot of juggling and balancing to keep everyone happy.

I don't even know how all the mom's out there do it. 

I have also been feeling so much guilt, in which ver way I split it and it's been getting to me. 

Not being able to do everything and be everywhere all at once. 

Just what I have been struggling with lately. 

I know to most I have nothing to complain about, but I need to get it off my chest.

How do you do it all?

Christmas cards

Big ones, little ones, bright, ones, snowflakes, houses, santa, reindeers, ornaments, lights, and trees

Yup, christmas cards have so many varieties and say so much about your personality and your year.

In the crafting world your christmas cards are admired by so many through all the media services. 

I know that I start looking for inspiration in August, I usually use Pinterest (duh!) but there are plenty of other sources such as the the paper source catalog

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These were this years contestants..

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So as you know from my previous post here that I got inspiration from the latter 

and.. here it is. 

I love the simplicity and cuteness of this card. It was pretty simple. Just cut out the house and glue to a background. I used card stock for the house so it was a little thicker and than a gray background. I like gray and I like neutral holidays. I used a red envelope and it is a good card no matter what you believe. 

Are you making your christmas cards this year?

Oh the christmas house(s)

This year by accident, my christmas theme is houses. Weird.. I know, but that’s what happened. 

We moved into our new home this past weekend. It’s a one bedroom apartment that we are currently making comfortable. (More pictures to come once all the boxes are unpacked and such.) As a side note, I hate moving, even though this experience has been rather pleasant.

Coincidentally the christmas cards I started in October (yup, you read that right and they are barely getting finished now) also  have cute little houses on them and I kinda love how simple but cute they are. Are you making christmas cards this year?

Lastly, our ornament this year. If you missed the post last christmas on why we only get one ornament a year go here. I found this cute little light up house at joann’s in November and knew I wanted it because we sold out house in Illinois and we never had an ornament that signified our living in that house.

So there you are, my house themed christmas. Pretty ironic it all came together by accident. Are you working on anything right now? Christmas related?

Ipad this and Ipad that

                  After a poll on facebook, I was convinced to run not walk to go get an ipad

mainly for traveling, well I soon discovered that its small size is so convenient for much more that that.

Well, I have been busy DIYing as much as I can as I prepare to move into a new (to me) apartment. 

As I was perusing Pinterest I found a lot of inspiration for christmas gifts and gifts for myself.

I found this Ipad stand/chalkboard

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I fell in love with it instantaneously and convinced my Dad to help me make it 

along with some other gifts.. which I can't spill just yet.

We took some extra wood he had laying around and cut it to size. 

We used the exact measurements in the tutorial except added a ledge on the back for easy moving of the stand. The ledge was created by nailing a piece of rounded trim to the back. 

I love it and I am not as worried about spilling something on the counter and it ruining my lovely ipad. 

It is also great for baking and following recipes easier.

Do you something like this? Do you just love your ipad?

Oh, the sounds of roller derby

Note to reader: Last night I went to a local derby bout and fell in love all over again, resulting in a  derby high.  These are my thoughts, feelings and what not from this bout and my derby experiences.

 If you have never been to a roller derby bout (or game), you are missing out.

As most of you know, I have been playing roller derby for almost 2 years as Lucille Hardball.

Roller derby is not only a sport, but a new culture that is being unleashed into urban areas and taking the public by storm. Roller derby can be seen in current films, TV shows and even some magazines, commercials and local newspapers.

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This is not the roller derby from the 60's, but a new generation of rules and attitude from the unique names, that some may refer to as crazy, to the booty shorts with fishnets.

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While watching a bout you will be overwhelmed by the different sounds around you as well as the fierce scrambling of players throughout the pack (the area with the most amount of players not counting the jammers, stars on their heads) finding anyway within the rules to knock down or knock over players from the opposite teams. During the bout you hear the whistles, the yelling, the skates on the pavement, and the sporadic thuds of body parts hitting the ground followed by oohs and ahhs of the crowd.

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In most cases, if you are not familiar with the strategy or how the game is played you will be confused by why the girls are moving that way and also mesmerized that you can accomplish "that" on skates. You will wonder how or even why someone skates and believe me everyone of those women has a story to tell that will inspire you to do the same. 

As I sat and watched this game that I have become so absorbed in, I talked to my neighbor who played in the 1960's. The sport, attire, attitude, rules and aesthetic have all changed that she asks during a practice drill she asks if it has started yet. She is unaware of the new crazed hobby and what it all entails. She remembers the hay day of practices 6x a week and when falling meant the jam was over. It's amazing that people have come to know this ever evolving sport.

Have you ever been to a bout? Did you love it? Have you ever wanted to try it?

My trip across the U.S. .. again PartI

So as you know, I just recently drove across the U.S. again to find a home again in California.

This series is just about that journey.

First, I came up with a route. 

There are two (main) routes you can travel to get to california

1. the upper and 1. the lower

The decision:

I have never been on the upper route, so I decided that would be it.

It also happens that I have friends/family that live on this route.

Decision made, this would be the route.

So, on day one we made a short 6 hour trip to Des Moines Iowa to see our friend Brian

(who had the honor of marrying us)

The first challenge of the trip was the Cat, Daliah 

She does not like her crate so we thought that letting her out and rome around would be best, turns out not. Here's her after 2 hours of meowing and finally finding a comfortable spot

When we got into Des Moines, Brian decided to meet us at  Zombie Burger

They had an extensive unusual burger menu with alcoholic milkshakes 

Us. After dinner and good company. 

She called it a night at the hotel. Thats how we all felt.

So that was the first day of our journey.

Have you been traveling or moving your life across the country?