Valentines

And also, #2 of 12 of my "make things" resolution.  Using an iota of my craft stuff, I made a few valentines for my girl and her cousins:

Besides stamping the front, I used my Zink hAppy to print pix to wish them kisses and funny faces inside.  Then I adhered a vintage valentine for some cute sentiment:

Here's a close-up of one to our nephew:

I included a little fruit wrap (though the girl got a Dunkin Donuts gift card) to give them something sweet but didn't bother going overboard since I'm sure they are going to get inundated with sweets by friends and schoolmates. And it doesn't hurt that it kept postage down to one stamp too.  Just a little sweet something from their Auntie!

Another run

I tagged along on another trail run--about 4 miles, which isn't nearly as hilly as the one I'm doing on Valentine's Day.  It was about 30 degrees and yeesh, it felt like the freezing temp that it is.  I still struggled and still feel like I was gasping the whole run.  For what it's worth, it would be awesome if I could maintain this 7:25 min/kilometer pace (it's about 12 min/mile pace) for the run on Valentine's Day so I could meet my goal to do a 5K under 40 minutes, but the extra hills on the actual course may wrench that up a bit. 

We'll see...in less than 7 days, I run that 5K.

I love my Zink hAppy printer

During the lost years of trips up to NJ to help take care of my mom, a great friend gave me a great gift in 2013--a Zink hAppy printer:

Printing photobooth strips from Pocketbooth app

As a scrapbooker, I was often yearning for instant gratification of the photos I took with my iPhone, which made it so easy to take photos of everything: food, friends, moments. Like I said in this post, I love my Instax cameras but there is an unpredictability that is both its charm and weakness--there is definitely magic about the moment you captured but every once in a while, you know the pic that you want in your hands and can't necessarily keep capture with an Instax the way you can with a smartphone.  I was craving a portable photo printer that was compatible with an iPhone and my wish was granted with the production of the Zink hAppy printer.  Some apps, like Pocketbooth, are instantly compatible and I can print my photostrips directly from the app.  For other apps, I can save pix to my camera roll and just use AirPrint to print out pix.

Compared to printing at home, my Zink hAppy prints a little lighter than it looks on my iPhone while my printer at home prints them a bit darker compare to my iPhone:

On top are Zink hAppy prints, on bottom are printer prints

But overall, I'm happy with the prints.  Here's one of the pix from my phone for comparison:

Another detail is that the largest roll a Zink hAppy prints is 2 inches.  So maximum width is 2 inches.  Zink offers a free app, Zink Big, where one can print out a big picture by printing it out in 2 inch tiles.  But for my needs, 2 inch width pictures are not a limitation at all.  On top of that, I LOVE that the Zink rolls are adhesive so when I scrap or craft with the pictures, no glue or tape needed.  I get the 2 inch rolls (for printing out pix, including Instagram pix) and 1 inch rolls (for photobooth pix).  My only quibble is that the rechargeable battery pack that makes it completely portable (like "drop it in your bag and print wherever you want" portable) is available as an accessory and I feel like it should be included with the printer.

I know that there is an Instax Instant Film printer that recently came out, which frankly I totally dig (I love Instax!).  Both are portable and print directly from an iPhone but the film required for the Instax Instant Film printer is usually about $1 per print.  Zink rolls are about $30 for a 19 foot roll--so depending if printing a 2x2 Instagram pic or a regular portrait pic (2x2.75) comes out to 25-40 cents per print.  And bonus, they are adhesive!

I've been really enjoying re-discovering my Zink hAppy--printing out pix and maybe even some crafting will be happening!

A hard run

For one of my supporting goals of my resolutions, I'm aiming to run a 5K under 40 minutes. I ran locally in the streets today and ugh, I was dying. My time wasn't terrible:

But I felt like I was gasping from the get-go and my legs felt like I was shuffling lead.  At one point, I'm shuffling up a hill and gasping so loudly that I can hear myself above the music in my headphones.  I pass a lovely human blonde gazelle as she was running down the hill, her golden ponytail bouncing joyfully above her headband that covered her ears.  She gave me a smile that was a mix of sympathy and encouragement like one gives 4-year-olds when they exclaim they are going to win the Olympics in mud-pie-making.  I tried to reciprocate with a smile but I'm sure it was just a desperate grimace of agony.

Ugh, kind of need to improve by the time of the 5K on February 14th, since it will be a trail run and I'll have to worry about not tripping over sticks and stones and slipping in mud patches on top of the hills and distance.  Fingers crossed...

One down

Okay for January, I'm on pace with my resolutions. Even though I technically started this book in 2014, I'm claiming reading credit for "In the Woods" by Tana French in 2015:

It was a good mystery read though I'd have a tough time recommending it. I'd be like, "the set up is great, the journey is gripping, but ugh, unsatisfying ending."  I'm embarrassed that I'm one of those readers who needs things resolved at the end and I get "in real life" one doesn't get all answers, but come on, when you've got a mystery, isn't that the point?

Okay baby steps with the crafting--pulled out the Spirograph and made a card, which I mailed to a friend:

On a side note, Spirographing is kind of harder than I remember (or takes practice), I had a number of times when I couldn't keep the cog on the track if my pen was in a hole farther from the center of the cog and I'd have these sudden jagged lines where my pen just veered across the design.  A tad frustrating.  Or maybe I need smaller hands.

And voila! I found out a local girl scout troop would take craft stuff so I got motivated to purge some of my stash, knowing it would be put to good use:

Okay, 1 out of 12 done--now on to the next 11...

Super Bowel Sunday

If you didn't know, only official NFL sponsors get to use the trademarked phrases "Super Bowl" and "Super Sunday" in their advertising.  So a lot of commercials who just want to use that day as a reason to have sales (like the way we have President's Day sales), resort to using words like "the Big Game" or "the Big Championship".  I didn't think I could have a favorite until I saw this:

Way to go, Vitamin Shoppe. I thank you for Super Bowel Sunday.

New Year's Resolution: Lean in 2015

Here we go, 2015.  It's a new year and we're cleaning up.  It's been almost a year and not much progress since I last blogged.  Still at about 170 and ready to kick off the new year right with some simple focused goals.

To start with I have this goal sheet from my gym of reaching 5 pull-ups in a row by the end of 2015.  A few years ago, I was able to do my first unassisted pull-up and got up to 2 in a row.  Now, at 15 pounds heavier than that time, I can't even do one.  Besides some exercises that build up to pull-ups (vertical rows, horizontal rows, etc.), I was advised that weight is a factor as well, so a supplemental goal is getting rid of excess weight.  So starting off by not eating after 9pm and increasing cardio with its own goal of doing a 5K under 40 minutes.  I've signed up for a 5K trail run on February 14--fingers crossed!

Additionally, it's time for other parts of my life to get lean, so decluttering is in order.  And I want to focus on creating and producing, instead of consuming (in my case, hopping around craft blogs, saying how much "I should make that!" and then on to another craft blog).  So less internet, more making stuff.  The exception is reading.  I feel like reading a book is working out my brain, unlike say, surfing the internet.  So here are the rest of the resolutions for 2015:

- Reading 12 books

- Getting rid of 12 boxes of stuff

- Make 12 things

Originally these were all going to be once a month goals, but I didn't want to restrict myself if I'm on a roll (especially the decluttering).  Deep breath.  Okay here we go!