the haps.

Life has been crazy since the World Cup started in July.  I am crushed that none of my favorite teams made it through, but I guess there is always 2014.  I also had a COMPLETE fail with the brackets...I thought I would be a winner, and was already dreaming about what I was going to do with my winnings - scrap stuff? save for a new camera? clothes? - and then the downward spiral occurred (ENGLAND! BRAZIL! GERMANY! You crushed me!) and I went from 12th to 56th.  I stopped checking the bracket daily and boycotted ESPN for a day.  Or half of a day.  Speaking of, I've added ESPN's Page 2 to my daily web crawl.  The articles are short and usually don't get bogged down in historical trivia that I've never heard of.  I'm really sport illiterate (outside of soccer).  For example, when playing Trivial Pursuit, I have three stock answers: GOLF: Jack Nicholson, Baseball: Babe Ruth, Football: Steve Largent (sometimes I'll throw a curve ball in and answer John Elway").  Eventually, the answer WILL be one of these guys.  I'd like to keep it that way.  However, I would like to know the quick story to who the heck "Lebron" is and why it matters today.  Oh, and some days they have cartoons and fail videos.  Seriously, check it out.


Other fun stuff - I got a Kindle!!!! WOO!  I used Loren's to re-read Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, and Loved it.  I resisted at first.  I thought the Kindle would kill my reading spirit by eliminate the need to go to a bookstore (save magazines and such).  However!!!!  However, it is SO nice to pick up the darn thing and get a book ordered and downloaded in two minutes.  I'm five books into the Outlander series and am trying to finish up my "ANALOG" books so I can get even more electronic books!  Oh, and it doesn't hurt that I have a gorgeous purple leather-product cover and a matching skin and a teensy led book light to go with it.  :)

Rhapsody is my new music haven...I've found new bands to listen to, such as She and Him, Mims and the Pixies. And have added some old faves like Blondie, Tears for Fears and Garbage.  I uploaded the app for my iPhone and was able to listen to my mixes while working in the yard this past weekend.  It was great motivation to keep at it, even when it got to 90 degrees.  So, any good music suggestions???  So far I have a summer mix, a work appropriate mix and a classical music mix.  I must admit, tho, classical music is seriously lacking in variety.


I haven't been super crafty in a while.  First there was World Cup for four weeks, and then it got HOT (we have no AC, so our house is miserable), but as the summer winds down I plan on getting right back to it.  The first project I'm going to work on is the Sketchbook Project.  I saw a link on Christina Clouse's blog, and was hooked.  I was intimidated to select a topic, so I went for a random selection, and was given "Capture the Flag".  So far I have not had any serious ideas for it, but even so, I am very excited to get started!  OH!  And I saw in their email last week that Seattle will be one of the exhibiting cities this year!!!!

Loren has perfected the mojito, and I'll leave you with the image of a super Delicious raspberry mojito he made: