26 Random Acts of Kindness

After an afternoon filled with shopping, one of my girlfriends informed me about her decision to participate in the "26 Random Acts of Kindness."  She told me that a cousin of hers has been doing it, and proudly posting pictures of all of her good deeds on Facebook.  This whole movement started after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.  26 acts of kindness to remember the 26 victims who lost their lives in such a terrible way.
The next day, as I was watching the news, I heard about it again and how it is becoming such a wonderful, inspirational thing.  Well, you don't have to tell me more than twice as to what I need to do.  I needed to commit to doing this, not only for others, but for myself.  So, that is what I'm doing!

For my first act, I donated some money to St. Jude Children's Hospital through one of my favorite clothing stores.  It helped that it came with a coupon for $20 off any purchase of $50 or more.  It still felt good.  The check out lady told us that it cost millions of dollars a day to operate the hospital to help save these children's lives.  What can feel better than helping save a child's life?

For my 2nd random act of kindness, I helped a blind man and his older mother get into a restaurant.  Usually, I try not to step in and help because far too often it can offend some by taking away their independence.  But it looked as if this man was newly blind and his mother seemed to be having difficulties getting him where he needed to go.  They had a service dog with them, but the dog didn't seem completely trained as he was far too interested in me instead of helping his owner.  After I helped guide them inside they seemed extremely grateful, which makes it all worth it.  Obviously, I did not take a picture out of respect.

I have been trying to come up with ways to keep this going, because I do think there needs to be more kindness in the world.  My girlfriend, who is doing this, was telling me about all the items she bought in amounts of 26 to donate to a local shelter.  She bought 26 cans of food, 26 boxes of Mac n' Cheese, 26 scarves, 26 gloves and 26 hats.  I thought that was such a great idea that I'm going to steal it, but modify it just a little.  As most of you already know, I am a huge animal lover!  There is nothing better than a dog who loves his owner.  So, with my next check, I plan to go buy some dog food, both dry and canned to donate to a local dog shelter.  Buying 26 bags of food might be a little too out of my price range, but I'll feel so good doing something.

My next idea is to go through my whole closet to find items to donate somewhere (I still need to do some research).  So far I have 7 pairs of jeans/capris that I honestly don't believe I will ever fit in again.  And if I do ever become successful in my weight loss goals I can always go buy new jeans.  I still have shorts, skirts and shirts to go through, but I honestly think I might be able to get together 26 items to donate.

My hats off to whoever came up with this idea.  You truly are an angel!

Are you participating in 26RAK?  Would you like to?  It is never too late to do a good deed!

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My heart is overwhelmed with pride for my country. 

Roasting Those Seeds!

Truth be told, I don't love carving pumpkins.  I don't enjoy getting my hands dirty and cutting out shapes hurt my hands, which I think might have arthritis.  However, I love the aftermath of having carved pumpkins that light up my front porch.  I love even more the seeds that you can roast when your done!
My parents were never that into Halloween and many times we would only carve one pumpkin, and very quickly because I suspect that my parents didn't like doing it either.  So it's fair to say that roasting pumpkin seeds was not something that happened in my household.  In fact, the first time I got to try roasted pumpkin seeds, I kid you not, was my freshman year in college.  After carving a pumpkin with my roommate she suggested we try roasting the seeds with our microwave (we did not have an oven and were not allowed a toaster oven).  Although it didn't get the full roasting effect, they were still delicious and it was hard not to eat them all in one sitting.  From then on I was hooked.
Almost every year since I make a point to carve at least one pumpkin for the seeds.  And this is how I do it!

First, I gut the pumpkin and get all the seeds, and goo, in a bowl.  After that's done, I add cold water to the bowl.

At this point, most of the seeds had been removed.

I get a baking sheet pan and add oil on top and then spread it out.  Once that's done, I start fishing the seeds out of the bowl.  The cold water really helps to separate the seeds and the goo.  Once all the seeds are on the baking sheet I add some seasoning.  I really like seasoned salt.  Then, I put the seeds in the oven at 325 degrees and let them sit for about 10-20 minutes.  I suggest stirring them every 10 minutes to keep them from burning.

I personally like my seeds a little softer so I don't roast them the full amount of time, however, when you make your own seeds you can choose how long to roast them.

One of the great things about pumpkin seeds is how great they are for you!  They are filled with high amounts of protein and good fat.  Also, because they are a seed and not a nut, they are great for people who are allergic to nuts.  They pack about the same benefits without the allergic reaction.

I encourage everyone to cut into their pumpkins and roast those seeds!  It's a great activity whether your bored at home, having a romantic night in with your love, or having a fun night with your kid.

Enjoy!

"Becoming van Gogh" Experience

Today, I got to go see the "Becoming van Gogh" exhibit at the Denver Art Museum.  I truly believe it was a once in a lifetime experience because once the exhibit ends, all the artwork goes back to the owners.  They will most likely never been seen by the public again.

To start the day, my mom and I went and had lunch at Palettes.  It was a fairly expensive and fancy restaurant located in the art museum.  A lot of my co-workers recommended it, and let me say they were completely right.  The food was amazing!

They even had a custom menu in honor of the van Gogh exhibit.  Although, we ended up not ordering off of it.

 While we sat and ate, I couldn't help but love the art around me.  It reminded me of Alice and Wonderland with so many beautiful colors.

 

"Attack, Attack" yelled one boy

Once we finished lunch, we had some time before we could go into the exhibit, so we walked around the rest of the museum.  There, we found an interactive art that you controlled by pushing certain buttons.  I honestly don't know how to explain it, you really do have to go see it for yourself.  But it was a lot of fun!

When it was finally time, we got in line to get in.  Because my mom is a member, we were able to skip the line and get in before everyone else.  It's so good to be VIP, just kidding!

Very crowded at times!

Going through the exhibit was very interesting.  To start, they had items in order from the start of his career to the end of his career.  Surprisingly, he started off his career hating color.  He liked to use dark bold colors in his art.  As he evolved and moved to Paris he began to experiment with more colors and even took on more of an impressionist type style. 
As I walked around, I was amazed at how utterly beautiful some of his later pieces were.  They were filled with such color that it actually looked as if a black light had been shining on it to help bring out the colors.  Seeing the art in person and seeing it online in pictures is completely different. 
One of my favorite pieces was his "Grass and Butterflies."  The colors were amazing, and although I couldn't actually take a picture of it myself, for fear of being kicked out, I was able to find one online, but again.  The picture doesn't do the colors justice.

"Grass and Butterflies" by van Gogh

The tale of his life was interesting, although they never mentioned his little incident with his ear.  He was an artist for only 10 years of his life.  Surprisingly he managed do more art in those 10 years, than most artists do in their whole life.  At the end, they told us that at age 37, he was accidentally shot and later died in the arms of his brother. 

I only had one complaint, I didn't get to see my favorite piece.

Despite not getting to see "The starry night" I still had a great time.  I remember being in 6th grade and trying to replicate his work.  Although I don't love art like I used to, this was a great experience and one I won't likely forget anytime soon.

Do you plan on going before its gone?

Tis the Season!

Tis the season of political debates, both official and non official.  Tis the season of political outbursts on Facebook and Twitter.
This is the time that everyone is allowed to have a say in their country's future.  Of course there are many decisions to be made, but the big decision on everyone's mind is who our next President should be, whether we stay with Obama another four years, or choose to change the path by making it Romney. 
I just received my Mail-In-Ballot yesterday and although I have already made my decision of who I will be voting for, I realize there are still American's out there that are still not sure.  For those who are still struggling with the decision I encourage you to check out this website!  It's a great website that asks you a series of questions to see which side you mostly belong to.  This is a great way to put aside the person and get to the main issues.  All too often I see people make their choices based on the candidate, the candidates past, and comments the candidate might have said. 

I encourage everyone to get out and vote!  Please, take part in our future!

Picture from: http://watchusplaygames.com/2012/08/24/romney-ryan-wins-election-2012-with-320-electoral-collage-votes-to-obama-bidens-218-in-prediction-says-new-university-of-colorado-denver-study-analyzing-state-by-state-data/

Which candidate would you like to see be President for the next 4 years?

Shellac it up!

For the last month I have been really trying to take good care of my nails to help them grow.  I have horribly brittle nails.  Combine that with my labor intense job and you get impossibly weak nails.  They look bad, they feel bad.  They are all around bad. 
I started to paint my own nails to help them look better.  Having paint on them really helped me not bite them and I was also more conscious of how rough I was with my nails.  They began to grow really nicely.  The only problem is how quickly my nail polish would chip.  I felt like I was painting my nails every single day.  I even tried to buy good nail polish in hope that I could go a couple more days before repainting.  Well, the good stuff was just as bad.
After talking to a couple co-workers, they recommended that I try Shellac.  It's a gel like nail polish that not only helps keep your natural nails stronger, but the polish is guaranteed to not chip for up to 2 weeks! 
After a long time thinking about it, I finally headed to the salon with a girlfriend of mine, and here are the results:

I think they did a great job!  I love the color, I love the last minute flower I added and I love that the whole process was painless.  My friend did acrylics and she walked away complaining of the pain.  She even admitted that she wish she had tried the Shellac too!
I love that this won't chip and I love that it doesn't ruin your natural nails!

Of course, no nail salon visit is complete without a little pedicure pampering!

Have you had success with Shellac?

Mud, Be Gone!

This summer, we tried really hard to get the grass regrown after the last tenants neglect, but we could only get half the yard green again.  And lately with the changing weather, we have had a horrible mud in the house situation with the dogs.  Unlike people, they don't care that they get muddy as they play in the back yard, and they care even less that they drag it into the house, on our couch and all over our bed.  If you have never laid on a dirt filled bed, be happy, it's horrible!    
After talking it over with my dad, he came up with a great suggestion.  Place some hay on the mud and then place chicken wire on top to keep the hay in place.  Genius!
So first, I had to start by finding out where I could buy some hay.  At first, it seemed really difficult, until I realized that it's October, and with October comes hay for hay rides and fall like decor for your front yard.  So lucky for me,  Home Depot ended up being my one stop shop.  I went in, and with a little help from the staff, I was able to find everything I needed.  I even threw in a thing of grass seed to place under the hay in hopes that I'll find grass come Spring.
Loading up the hay in my car was frustrating, not only because I bought 4 bales and was worried it wouldn't all fit in my car, but because it ended up being extremely messy and my car is brand new.

It Fit!

Once I got it home, John came out and helped me get it all into the backyard.  Since we bought grass seed, we started by racking the muddy spots in the backyard.  All the advice we had been given was to rack those areas to help the seed take.  

Before

As you can see, it was pretty bad!  Once we got the mud racked we began to place down the seed. 

We started getting all the hay placed down over the seed and then began to cover it with the chicken wire.  

I do believe that we solved our problem!  I'm so happy to not have to deal with dirty floors, dirty sheets and a dirty couch anymore!  I know that we need to put more stakes down to make sure it's completely secure, but other than that the project is done!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to vacuum out my brand new car!