Friday, May 20, 2011

Friday Mishmash - With a Bonus Review!

My gosh, it's been a busy, busy week.  Tuesday afternoon we arrived back at my house, and we've been going 90-to-nothing ever since!  Some of the highlights include a walk to Academy, where we shopped a bit (you will see the results on Monday), my mom and I saw the movie Bridesmaids (loved it - and there were parts that I was laughing so hard I was crying) (yes, the food poisoning scene) (yes, I have the humor of an adolescent boy), shopped for a new microwave oven to go with our stove (woohoo, thanks Mom and Dad!!!), and then came home from yoga to find said microwave installed (again, thanks Dad!).
Every major appliance in the kitchen is now stainless - after 11 years, it was time.  Nice to have good-looking, working things (fridge and oven, I'm looking at you).  Watch us move soon now (lol).

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A while ago I was offered the chance to have a canvas picture made from any photograph of my choosing - Easy Canvas Prints is the company that does this.  I hemmed and hawed about which photo to pick, and finally decided on my mom's favorite picture of her and my dad from their Hawaiian anniversary trip.  I have to say, this was an incredibly easy process to follow - I just uploaded the picture to the website, decided on the size and how I wanted the canvas "wrapped" on the frame (thickness, mirror image, solid color or the actual photograph), and bam!  It was done.  Easy Canvas Prints does offer a retouching service, and you can also have your picture printed in black and white or sepia, but I didn't choose to do any of those.  The picture came in just before I was leaving for California - I was really impressed with how it turned out.  As it was a gift for my parents, I had to wait to do this review until they got the picture, which was a few days ago when we all arrived here after the graduation.  They were quite pleased with it:
The picture was taken on the plane ride to Hawaii - they got lei'd on the plane, as my dad likes to joke.

You can order your own canvas print by clicking here...thanks, Megan and Easy Canvas Prints for this great gift!

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I forgot to tell you my chicken taco story from when I was at Barbara's house.  One day she said she'd cook chicken in some enchilada sauce and we'd have chicken tacos for dinner.  Sounded good to me!  I played  Project Runway on the Wii with Theresa while she prepared dinner (btw, that is a fun game - you get to create wild fashions and have Tim Gunn chime in with his sweet encouragement).  Time to eat - we all grabbed plates and made our own tacos.  I followed Barbara - she put some chicken from one pan onto her tortilla, and then put some square chicken from another pan onto her tortilla.  I did the same, although I wondered why she diced some chicken and shredded the other.  Anyway, I ate my tacos and they were good.  While we were sitting at the table, Barbara made the comment that the tofu was good.  It dawned on me that the square chicken was, in fact, tofu...and I said "I ate tofu?!?" - which cracked Theresa up.  She has a pretty sophisticate palate for a 9-year-old (heck, for a 29-year-old!) and teases me about going for sushi and eating seaweed and all sorts of things I don't like.  So I learned two things that night - one, I like tofu, and two, I can make a 9-year-old laugh without even trying!

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I want to give a shout out to Road ID - the latch on Jeff's Road ID broke, and he emailed them about it.  Within a couple of days a new latch came in the mail at no charge.  I've always been impressed with how well they did with my two orders, but this raised their customer service to a whole new level...thank you, Road ID!

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Sam was dorm roommates with Jimmy and Other Sam, as I called him, for their first two years at college.  Other Sam graduated in December with his Electrical Engineering degree, same as my Sam.  He came to the graduation and afterward, they were making me laugh with their special "engineer-nerd" handshakes:
Clockwise from top left:  Posing, mugging, creating an electrical current, embarrassed.  I'm so glad that Sam has such a good friend in Other Sam.  Jimmy came to the party afterward, but being a business major, he doesn't know those special handshakes.

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And now it's time for a Fashion Friday quickie.  On Wednesday I wrote about buying an outfit for yoga - this is it:
 Paco was watching a bird and wouldn't turn around for the camera!

Please note the sleeveless top - I've come a long way in body acceptance!  Two summers ago I wouldn't think of showing my flabby upper arms to the world, but you know what?  There are certain circumstances where I don't care.  And comfort is key with yoga; I get warm while doing it, so by golly, I'm baring my arms!  Anyway, this is my one and only yoga outfit...soft and comfy, it is!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
 

25 comments:

  1. Yay for Yoga and Tofu and sleeveless tops! Oh, an stainless appliances.

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  2. Great post as always Shelley, it's been a pleasure reading it.

    I love the yoga outfit.

    We have several companies where you can make canvas prints from pictures. I had one made of Roussy after she died and it turned out very beautiful too.

    Hope you will have a wonderful weekend too.

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  3. I am with you on the stainless. I love my oven. It's not as clean as yours though :)

    So when are you having tofu again? Funny story.

    I like your new yoga outfit. The top is very pretty.

    Thanks and have a good weekend :)

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  4. Love the new stainless! Maybe someday my kitchen will grow up and be just like yours.

    Now I'm truly worried. My yoga outfit isn't nearly as cute and coordinated as that. I'll definitely have to shop before we yoga together. In any case, I'm with you - when I exercise it's about comfort and if that means things are exposed then, oh well, don't look if I'm offending you in some way ;-)

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  5. Congrats on the all stainless all the time kitchen. My daughter's kitchen is stainless and full of little hand prints all the time. Your's will be much easier to keep spotless. Not so many grubby hands.

    Yoga wear does look comfy and kudos to you for the "gun show". You rock!

    Enjoy the weekend.

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  6. You're a fashion maven even for yoga...I really need to install you as my role model! (and for lots of other reasons, like weight loss for instance!)

    Love the pics of the boys - I just love early 20-something boys! They're mostly men, with elements of basset hounds and "Arrested Development".

    Dying to see Bridesmaids - this weekend. I also have adolescent boy humor - my favorite scene from Dumb and Dumber is the Turbo-lax! I crack up thinking about it.

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  7. Your "mish-mash" today was quite interesting. I probably would have thrown up the tofu after I knew what it was. :)

    Love the yoga outfit! Congrats on your confidence. That's a HUGE step!

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  8. I loved Bridesmaids! And so did my 83-year old dad. He laughed so hard at the gross-out scene while my sister had to get up and leave before she had sympathy, um, reactions.

    Flabby armed women of the world unite! If beer belly men can walk around so proudly then we certainly can wear sleeveless garments when sweating our butts off!

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  9. You know,while I was reading your post there was SOO much I wanted to say. About the stainless steel, the picture, the roadID, the freeing of the arms....so much.

    But I just want to focus on one thing. Your post just 100% filled me with this incredible feeling of happiness. It just came through loud and clear.....and totally made me smile. THANK YOU!

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  10. I love seeing your arms Shelley - good for you!! Love the yoga outfit too.

    I am glad you like tofu - it really just absorbs any flavor you put with it - some people don't like the texture, but I like both firm and soft kinds.

    Love the picture of your rents - its a nice gift to give someone who already has everything.

    Happy Friday my friend!

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  11. Love the picture of your folks! It's great. I've got so many pics that I'd like to fix like that.

    Arms!!! Let them hang out. You know me about that already. The public should be thankful and grateful that we don't let our asses hang out.

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  12. Cute pic of your parents. I think you look great in that blue yoga shirt, sleeves or no!

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  13. Janell's arm comment made me LOL.

    LOVE the yoga pants. I told you already I love mine. We look great in them. I think if we get together again, we should take a picture of us together in our yoga pants..eating froyo of course!

    I love the idea of the canvas prints. Great idea for a gift.

    And tofu--I've only ever eaten it in one of Vicky's creations, but I like it a lot.

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  14. Yay for the cute yoga outfit and the canvas print for your parents. And go you on baring your arms; your "flabby" is not nearly as visible as you think. It's like when you thought your middle was too flabby and then you looked back and realized it was more about seeing what used to be there than what really is. What I see are strong, tanned arms ready to lift the world. (And the swimming will make them even stronger, trust me.)

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  15. I think your arms look just fine. I totally get the avoidance thing but they do not look bad at all my friend! At all!

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  16. LOL at the tofu!

    I hear you on the arms. I let them out now, but there is still a little bit of being acutely aware of the loose skin, but knowing I am rocking some biceps underneath!

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  17. LOVE the stainless microwave AND the yoga outfit. However, the yoga outfit IN the microwave probably wouldn't be a good thing! (silly!) Have a great weekend!!

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  18. Love the outfit. You look great. I thought about you today when I took my cute pink bike out for a ride. :)

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  19. Nice on the kitchen!! EEEKKK! on the tofu! What a surprise!

    Nice outfit!! You look great! :-)

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  20. Darlin', you look gorgeous. I hope I look that good when I'm your age. Oh wait. I am your age. Oh crap.

    Did I miss your birthday? I've been on the road, and haven't been keeping up like I should. If I did miss it, then may I sing HB to you? Oh. Okay then. Never mind. You've obviously heard me sing before ;)

    I repeat: you look gorgeous! And clearly, this runs in the family :)

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  21. Hope yoga was great - love your yoga outfit!

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  22. I love the picture of your parents - so cute!!

    I agree about being comfortable while exercising - I think your outfit is awesome Shelley!

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  23. So I'm just now catching up.

    You ROCK that yoga outfit.

    YAY for matching appliances!

    Great pic of your mom and dad.

    Square chicken made me laugh too. :)

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  24. The first time I had tofu I was also "tricked" into it. But live in Hawai'i for more than two weeks and you learn that, yeah, it IS good. I used to know a girl that would just bring a block of soft tofu to work, pour peanut sauce on it, and eat it with a fork. I thought she was crazy but it's actually pretty tasty!

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