Crafting a little..

I am excited to report that I am officially on Christmas break!!! Which means it's crafting time!! I will have a lot of time on my hands this break and will be doing my best to keep myself busy to make the time fly. I plan on making some craft shirts for the Barker kids, making stockings, and re-learning how to crochet. Let's hope I can do it all!

Here are a few crafts I have made while waiting for Christmas break to roll around.

These blubber gloves were made for mine and Becca's science unit during the semester. We taught the kids about adaptation. This particular day was all about insulation. The Blubber Gloves are made with Lard (smells DISGUSTING) , and ziploc bags taped together with duct tape. They kids put their bare hands in ice cold water and saw how long they could keep it in. Then all the kids placed their hand inside the blubber glove and then back in the ice cold water. This was a fun interactive ways for the kids to understand how blubber aka insulation works for animals. It was a pretty cool experiment and one of my favorites to teach!! 

 I made these two beautiful ladies matching aprons again this year! These aprons are for year round use. I have decided that I want to make them matching aprons for every holiday throughout the year. We really like to be matchy matchy in this house! In fact we are all matching for our Christmas program on Sunday. My sister and her hubby are coming into town and they are matching with us too. I am pretty stoked about the whole thing. Don't worry I will be posting an awesome pit cute of the glorious matching Sunday!

Running Update for 2013 ( warning it's long)

I have done 5 races this year before I had to give up running for the rest of the year. In Feb I was able to take the place of someone else at the last minute and participate in Mardi Gras Mambo 10K in Baton Rouge, LA. The Mardi Gras Mambo was by far the hardest race I have run thus far. It was a beast to run against the wind while running up the levee hill. It was so rewarding to finish though! I had a blast!

The next race was in the town of Hammond,LA. I participated in the Rotary's yearly Shamrock Run which I started calling the Hamrock Run out of habit! This race wasn't as exciting but still it felt good to just be out there running! The food afterwards was delicious! They had jambalaya, Raising Canes, and VooDoo Barbeque! I ate VooDoo. It was YUMMY!!!! I was scheduled to run a 5K in Baton Rouge again at LSU but I got sick and couldn't run :(

Next came the annual Crescent City Classic. Now for those who "follow" my blog this race may sound familiar. This was the very first race of my running goal that began last year. My goal this year was to beat my time last year, 1:13:32 which I did but just barely. It counts in my book though. I finished this year's race in 1:11:17. I was very fortunate to ride to New Orleans with some pretty great girls and we all finished within 5 minutes of each other. This year they gave out finisher medals too because it was the 35th Anniversary of when the Crescent City Classic began. As a result there were a ton of people at the race and it was really hot. We were all pretty exhausted after the race but we still had a good time.

Before the race (SELFIES)

KJ and I waiting to start

My few right before I finished.

Our Crew After We FINISHED!

Fat Boy 5K was a team run race! I went with my BF KJ, her husband, brother in law and their family friend. It was a new race for us that we had never heard of. We decided to do it because at the end of the race you got a chocolate donut medallion. Who wouldn't want a chocolate donut medallion after a little run? The answer is nobody so we all signed up. The cool thing about this race was that if you had a team of at least 5 people you could compete for a team trophy which is what we decided to do. This run took place in May. We called ourselves Team Panda so naturally the other teams were terrified by us ;) Thankfully the boys ran pretty quickly so KJ and I could bring up the rear without really worrying about our time. We were pleased to hear the folks announce Team Panda as 1st place in the 5 team division and 4th place overall! It was a fun race and it turned out to be a beautiful day in New Orleans! We also got these really cool mugs for winning!

Holding our "trophy"

KJ and Me before the race began. yes we are matching!

Team Panda All The Way!

My final run of the year was the GLEAUX Run race in Baton Rouge. It was a 5k race around downtown Baton Rouge. We ran down and around the capitol etc. I wasn't impressed with this race at all because the people in charge of it were rude and the cops were even worse. Not to mention according our individual Nike apps the race wasn't actually a full 5k race. It was super annoying to our group of people who ran it. However, the concept was cool. The object was for you to wear things that would glow in the dark while you ran. Well it was a summer race at the beginning of July and it didn't start to get dark enough to see our attire until after the entire race was over. Poor planning on their part but it was fun to get together with our little running group and just run for fun! This unfortunately was the last run I would run this year. :(

KJ and me 

My "normal" super hero pose :)

Jesica and Ashley afterwards...

My celebratory dinner! PANDA EXPRESSS

Before and After (some of the running gang)

I began training in August to run my first half marathon in October. I was stoked and so excited to finally be able to run a half marathon which is something I wanted to do since I ran the Crescent City Classic last year. Well in between training for the run, doing a workout program called Tap Out and trying to juggle school my poor little body decided to shut down. Every time I ran my legs would begin to cramp up and literally stop working. I would have to sit down or hobby until the feeling would come back in there. After consulting with my cousin, who is an athletic trainer, and my running friends I decided it was best to put running on hold. This meant not being able to compete in the half marathon in October. This to say the least was really upsetting for me and I had a hard time dealing with not being able to run anymore. Running was my way of relieving stress and letting go of everything that has/was bothering me. After some great encouragement from my awesome friends I was able to come to terms with it and just began doing lighter exercises so that my body would still stay in decent shape but not be so overworked that it shut down again.

Fast forward to last Monday when I decided since the school semester was basically over I would try running again. I decided to start off with just running 1 mile near the house so in case something happened Wendy would be able to come rescue me. I am pleased to report that I was able to run a full mile without any problems and I did it 11:32. Which to some people isn't an accomplishment but for me, because I hadn't run since August, was a great accomplishment to me. I plan to continue to work my way up to at least 5K status again and then we will see if perhaps after graduation I can finally run my half marathon. I already have a race scheduled for January 4th! It is a 5k so let's cross our fingers that my body can handle it!

PHEW! That was the longest post known to man. Thanks for sticking through it.. (if you did)

Craftiness at it's finest (4 months late)

I really stink at this whole blogging thing. I knew school would keep me busy but never realized exactly how busy. Luckily my body decided I had been working too hard and decided to get sick and stop working temporally which gave me time to lay in bed and stare at the ceiling. Or update this blog briefly with my random crafts in the year 2012 that I have yet to blog about. All of these crafts were made with the help of the ultimate crafter Brandie herself. 

My t-shirt Quilt

This, my 6x6 t-shirt quilt, was by far the greatest accomplishment of the year 2012 craft wise. I was determined to finish it before the end of 2012. I believe I finished like December 30th. Not a minute too soon. I LOVE IT! I sleep with it every single night. I love looking at the different t-shirts and remembering the good times and memories from each of them. Brandie helped me find the back fabric and how much batting to put in between and she graciously sewed the ribbon around it for me. It was a long process to make it but I am so glad that I did make it. One day after I graduate college I am going to make one for my little brother Jasson per his request when he saw mine. 

 This is what my living room looked like for several hours while I was cutting out the material. I used a 3-ring binder cover as my template for the size of my square.

 This was the layout before I sewed it together. 

 These two pics are the final product! Like I said it was quite the process and not the cheapest thing I have done but I am so glad I did it! I LOVE IT! Thanks to Brandie for helping me make it! 

My other random 2012 crafts

The rest of these pictures are just a few of the crafts I was able to make in between my Fall 2012 semester and my Spring 2012 semester. Again I must give credit where credit is due! The ultimate crafter helped me with all of these crafts. Enjoy :)

This was my old short sleeve wonder woman t-shirt 

that I made into a dress for Ms. Anna Claire!

 She loves it of course!!!

WONDER WOMAN!!!

Wendy loves to be matchy matchy so I decided to surprise her and Anna Claire with matching Christmas aprons. Anna loves to help her momma in the kitchen and Wendy loves that she loves to help. 

 Adorable no?

 They are making Santa's cookies here. 

That's chocolate dripping from AC's mouth :)

I saw on pinterest where you could make old t-shirts into workout shirts so I decided to do that with two of my old shirts that I didn't put on my t-shirt quilt. I gave one to my little cousin (the LSU) and kept the other one for myself. 

I will be donning the yes please shirt for the Crescent City Classic next weekend! I am very excited to beat my time of last year! Stay tuned for the update on my races in the Spring of 2013. I have done 2 so far. :)

I mustache you a question: Do you like this pillow case? 

I made this lovely pillowcase for my dear friend Becca as a Christmas gift! She moved to Utah in January and I miss her terribly. This pillow case for some reason was so hard for me to figure out! I actually made this and the exercise shirts by myself which was probably why it was so difficult but I enjoyed making it! There is nothing like working hard and seeing the final product! Definitely a sense of pride when you are done! I hope Becca is enjoying her mustache pillow case in Utah! 

WHEW!!!

I think that is all the pictures I have to share! I made three plastic grocery bag holders but for some reason I don't have a picture of any of them. Go figure! Oh well! They turned out cute. I have one more of those to make so perhaps when I finally get around to doing it I will have a picture of it to share with you. Thanks for making it through this very long post! 

Don't forget to:

GET YOUR CRAFT ON!

Playing CATCH UP to my RUNNING....

So I have totally done horrible at this whole blogging thing. I would like to say that I will do better in the future but I know that is not true. I have been busy with finishing up the Fall 2012 school seemster and taking a few end of the year trips. Before I begin to blog about my running/sewing I would like to toot my own horn by announcing that I got straight A's this semester! TOOT TOOT!! This was by far the hardest semester yet at school. However, I still have four more semesters to go :) I am elated to have made straight A's! I am excited for next semester to begin but I am welcoming my winter break with open arms. I was able to go to Vegas and California at the beginning of Decemeber! Thank you Champion Technology Services! My cousin Brandie's company always throws a Christmas party and this year it was in Vegas and they allowed her to bring one guest. Luckily that one guest was me! HOORAY! Tim, Ginny and Kaylor drove up to Vegas to hang with us for the weekend and then we drove back to Cali with them to stay a week. Let's just say the trip to Cali was quite eventful, full of laughter and Raising Cane's in one form or another ;). We went to Ikea, DISNEYLAND, California Adventure and celebrated Kaylor's 1st birthday with a good old Micky Mouse Birthday Bash! (Please see Picture This to see photos from her birthday bash.) While I was in California Tim, Ginny and I did Chino Valley's Reindeer Romp. Now begins my running updates:



September 22,2012 (Hammond, LA): I ran a 5K for my friend Wendy's dad George. He and I share the same birthday and for his birthday present he wanted us to join him in a 5K that his guard unit was participating in. Well pretty much the entire Barker/Coleman clan including George himself was unable to attend. However, I try to be a woman of my word and I ran the 5k as his birthday present. It was probably the most unorganized un-fun run I have done thus far. It started three hours late because they couldn't start the race without water and apparently the water supplier people were behind a wreck or something. I am not really sure of the details but needless to say by the time the race actually started I was over it and so not warmed up anymore. Not to mention my 30th birthday party was that evening. I can't remember exactly my time but it was around 35 mins. I am glad I was able to run it for George and hey I have a t-shirt to add to my collection for my t-shirt quilt that one day I will make. (Sorry I don't have pictures of this event)


Color Run November 17,2012 (UPDATE)

The Color Circle at the end!

I forgot to mention the color run I ran with my family (Mom, Sister, Brother in law, and Cousin) in New Orleans. My friends Beth and Becca were there as well but they went in the group ahead of us.  It was the first time the color run had come to New Orleans and it sold out within 2 weeks or something crazy like that. It was a huge success! There were so many people there. It was the first time for my mom, sister and brother in law to do a race. I am glad I got to do it with them. I think they enjoyed it :) Hopefully you will enjoy the pictures from it. We took a ton but here is a few.

My "Running" Attire

Becca and Me

My mommy and me!

The Family!

Beth, Me and Becca

Brandie and Me

Waiting to start...

A TON O' PEOPLE!

This happened alot. My poor sister..

The Blue

The Yellow

Reindeer Run November 30,2012 (Baton Rouge,LA): One my friends Jennie Kern told me about this race and of course was down for it. It was a night run in downtown Baton Rouge. They provide you with a long sleeve tshirt, reindeer antlers and jingle bells to tie on your shoelaces. I convinced my boss/friend Beth and her daughter (my friend), Becca to do it with me. Becca and I decided after some ideas back and forth with our friend Rebecca to make headbands with reindeer names on them. I was VIxen, Becca was Rudolph and Beth was Blitzen. It was fun to hear all the jingle bells while I was running before I put in my headphones to jam to music. I will say these two things about the race: It could have been mapped better because there were a ton of people who chose to cheat during the run because it was quite easy and two, I know that I most definitely need to listen to my heart rate monitor when I run. I may or may not have let my heart rate get to high and it wasn't a very good idea at all. I finished the race in 33.24. That is the fastest I have finished a race since I began my running this year. I hoped to be at 30 mins but like I said I let my heart rate get way to high which caused me not to do as well as I could have. I had a blast running the race though and that really is what it's all about. Here are a few pics from the occasion::

 Becca and Beth

Rudolph and Vixen

Reindeer Romp December 15,2012. (Chino Valley, CA): This is a 5k that I was lucky enough to do with my cousins Tim and Ginny while I was visiting them in California. Brandie stayed home and watched Kaylor for us. Thanks B! This race is the coldest one I have ran. The morning of the race we woke up to see snow on the mountains. Anybody who knows me even a little knows I don't function well in the snow. However, once I started running I warmed up fairly quickly. I finished this race in 35 mins. The lungs and high altitude didn't get a long. However, I am pleased with my time because of the difference in altitude and the fact that I had been sick earlier in the week. As you crossed the finish line you were presented with a bottle of water and cute little ornament that said Reindeer Romp Chino Vally 2012.  I enjoyed doing this with Tinny and look forward to many races to come. Here are some pics of the event below:

My view while running...

Clearly this is after the run back at the apt but we forgot to take one at the finish line! 

I have decided already that my goal for the year 2013 is to run a half marathon. My Uncle Victor and I have a little wager going on too. If I finish the race in under 3 hours I get $100! So needless to say I WILL be finsihing the half marathon in under 3 hours! I am really looking forward to the new challenge in my life and as always will do my best to keep you all informed of my progress. I have not yet found the half marathon I will participating in but I hope to choose one soon! Thanks for all your continuing support!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!