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Sweet Tunes Thursday: JEW + HAIRRRRRRRRRR + Chobani Winner

chimes — Thu, 03 May 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Heather!

I’ll need your address so the good people at Chobani can send you your yogurt!

Thanks everybody … especially Chobani … for participating.

Also, Lindsay (one of the people who put together BLEND) from Lindsay’s List recently posted a Firestarter Workout, which reminded me of the awesome Jimmy Eat World cover of the Prodigy song. I love the Jimmy Eat World cover of Firestarter so much. Unfortunately YouTube isn’t letting me embed it. But there’s no video anyway. So click the link, and enjoy! Also, here’s the entire Firestarter EP on Spotify. You’re welcome.

It’s been so long since my love affair with JEW (and College Boyfriend) that I almost forgot about them. I was wearing my JEW t-shirt the other day in Marshall’s and the kid working was all, “Whoa, is that a Jimmy Eat World t-shirt? That is OLD SCHOOL.” And I felt really old.

Now that you’ve been yogurted and Jimmyed, I have to share a little secret with you: I CUT MY HAIR.

I know. I told you all I was growing it out. And I tried. REALLY I tried.

But, this is the face of a girl that cannot STAND to go one more moment with this ridiculous mess of hair.

I said if I get to the end of April and I can’t ponytail it, then I’m cutting it.

Guess what? It wouldn’t ponytail. Not without a LOT of cheating and a ton of bobby pins. DOES. NOT. COUNT!

So on Tuesday of this week (just in time for BLEND*) I decided it was time.

I created a photo collage of the two cuts I’ve been digging and brought it to my salon-ista.

And here’s how it turned out. I was expecting longer bangs … and I was having a hard time with the shorter bangs the night that it got cut, but I think I’m okay with it now. I reallllllly like how it looks from the side and back. Either way — so glad to have all that mess of hair gone.

Oh, and I decided to color my hair back to my natural color last weekend. That way it’s easier to keep up when it starts growing out. I also didn’t want to look like a leopard when I left the salon. And I had been mistaken for a college AND high school student several times in the last few weeks … the light blonde hair doesn’t help.

* I’m driving there right now … and typing this. I’m multi-talented — just kidding — I wouldn’t do that. I purposely scheduled my hair reveal for today so I didn’t have to hear whining about how I cut it all off again.

Have you ever gotten your hair cut on impulse? If so, how did that turn out for you (pix please!)?

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Post on Twenties Hacker today + Tu-tu-tu-Tuesday: Glitter Nails

chimes — Tue, 01 May 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Hey guys. Head on over to Twenties Hacker today to read my post about Jillian Michaels’ 30 Day Shred. It’s a good one.

Also, I have to share that I *finally* watched the Star Wars trilogy. The original one. Unfortunately the version with all the added crap, which even to a new person, is offensive. It’s so obvious what was added. And it ruins the magic of the original film — and all the tricks that they did to create the original movies. Boom — out the window. Here’s the most offensive one. If you dare.

This was how we spent our anniversary weekend: Cheap sparkling wine + Star Wars on Bluray.

We started watching on Saturday and I got through the first one and second one by Sunday evening. We started the third one and I fell asleep. As usual. It’s not like I’ve not ever TRIED to watch these. It’s that I always fall asleep.

But, I’m no longer a Star Wars virgin. And I think that means I can claim full nerd-dom.

Here’s something non-geeky and pretty.

I thought I’d share this quick nail tutorial I found on Pinterest with you today. I’ve become slightly obsessed with painting my nails lately. And I found this tutorial for glitter nails at Cupcakes and Cashmere, so I just had to try it out.

My nails never turn out as perfectly painted as photos online, but this was still a fun mani to have.

[ thanks to Kelly for the photos! ]

I need to update my mani / pedi before this weekend’s BLEND retreat. Maybe with glitter.

How do you feel about glitter?

That’s it. Really. How DO you feel about glitter?

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double trouble, er double date

chimes — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Oh, so in case you’re wondering what I ended up buying, in regard to the dress post from last week, I went with the white sale dress and the pink dress. The pink dress ended up being SEE THRU. And the waist was too long for me (did I mention I am all leg and no torso? I have less than 2 inches between the bottom of my ribs and my hip bones). In order for the bottom of the dress to cover my butt, I had to pull the waist of the dress to about my hips — the biggest part of my torso. No. Thanks. So I’m returning. I’m happy with the white dress, and it was definitely a good use of $24.

I did not, however, wear it on our double date on Saturday. Though I should have because Mark and I don’t get out much. Usually Friday nights are spent hitting the gym, making dinner, and passing out by 10. And Saturdays are spent running errands, getting groceries, hitting the gym and usually watching a movie or Netflix because we’re too tired to do anything else.

But, occasionally, we do venture out. We’ve been trying to go out more often because we’ve gotten stuck in an OMC (old married couple) rut. And what better opportunity to get out than to meet a friend and her new BF*? We met up with my friend Kelly and her man at La Fuente (where else? I need to get out of this rut!) and then we hit the lanes at Perfect Games for some (not-so) competitive bowling.

And I discovered that margaritas + bowling do not mix. I bowled a 64 and a 65. At least I’m consistent.

^ another classic Kelly/Calee photo. Not to be confused with this one:

[ Kelly's 26th b-day party ]

… this one …

[ my 21st birthday rock star party — Kelly was dressed as me and I was Courtney Love. Note the cigarette hanging out of my bra — prop only people. c'mon. ]

… or this one. From the time we could have been mistaken for twins. Or at least sisters. It was totally the hair.

[ sometime in the summer of 2007 ]

Kelly so thoughtfully took a picture of Mark and I …

… what was up with my hair? And what was Mark doing? Dorks!

And Kelly took a photo and her BF John, who I’m pretty sure Mark wants to steal from her now that they’ve met. She is awesome at taking group photos while being IN the group. It’s a talent. I know.

And we all bowled pretty terribly. But that’s okay. Mark still has a bruise on his hand from trying to be fancy and such.

^ Mark made fun of me for showing off my guns. He was pretty sure that I was doing celebratory dances that included flexing. Not true. I did, however, strategically pick out that tank top.

Fun times!

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Side note, those of you in Ames — we had a pretty crap experience with the service at Perfect Games. Our server started off the evening by asking, “Um, did somebody seat you here?” and when I said yes, she said, “Um, well I guess that’s okay,” in a snarky manner. She didn’t wait on us all night, except when she saw Mark go to the bar to get a drink. And when we went to pay, it was $40 (because Mark got drinks) and it seemed a little much, so I involuntarily blurted out, “40?” and she said, “Yeah, 40. Do you want to see the receipt?” All that was missing was the finger snaps and a “bitch” at the end of that statement and it would have iced the cake that was her attitude. He tipped her. I wouldn’t have. Or maybe would have left her a penny. And pointed it out to her. “A penny?” “Yeah. Would you like to see the receipt?” (the receipt being my middle finger … )

Also, they had a post-prom party starting at 11 PM. At 10 minutes until 10, somebody said over the loudspeaker, “We are closing at 11. Finish up what you’re doing and leave.”

Really? Yeah. I know there’s really no other place to bowl in Ames, but this place rubbed me the wrong way. Not to mention, they played the intro to Holy Diver and didn’t play the song. Instead it segued into some country song. Barf. On that principle alone, I will not return to Perfect Games. Never mind the troll of a waitress.

*Pronounced beef. I don’t know WHERE I picked that up from, and it’s annoying, but I’ve been saying “beef”.

Do you bowl? and If you get crappy / rude service, how do you handle it?

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I need your help!

chimes — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 16:00:00 +0000

I need your help with something very important. But first, a quickie recap of Easter weekend.

I hung out at home by myself on Sunday because I couldn’t find anybody to watch Barney, and he’s not a very friendly dog, so I can’t just take him everywhere with me. However, it turned out that I was in need of some serious ME time, so I couldn’t have asked for a better Easter. Not to mention, I didn’t have all that candy and junk in front of me all day (which in itself was totally worth it).

I spent the day watching old Doctor Who and working on some stuff for an upcoming craft show at Iowa State. Since nobody else was home, I moved my craft stuff into the kitchen / living room area for better lighting and so I could watch TV on Mark’s awesome TV.

I made about 12 zipper bags. I need to take “official” photos of them so I have them for my records. Since I make these from scraps, every bag I make is different and I like to see all the different ones I’ve made.

I used the improv block that I made during my patchwork class for one of these bags. And it was by far my favorite bag of the day.

I also used up the last chunk of this paisley fabric that my friend Adria gave me a long time ago. It’s not really my style. But she was sick of it after making her mom a quilt with it, so she gave it to me. And now I’m really sick of it. I made what is quite possibly the ugliest bag I’ve ever made. Not my taste. But somebody will like it.

And I made cookies for this month’s installment of the cookie of the month club. I used Martha Stewart’s recipe for flourless peanut butter cookies and omitted the chocolate and nuts (yes — I did GF because I knew I’d eat some, and I’d be less miserable if they were GF) and put Rolos in the middle. They turned out highly addictive, so I packed them up and took the extras to work today (sorry Mark).

I used the rest of my “me” Easter day to pamper and go to the gym. There was a bubble bath and pedicure involved. Obviously no photos of the bubble bath.

I didn’t even think about the possibility of the gym not being open because it was Easter until I posted a photo on Instagram and Janetha commented about me being lucky to have an open gym. Instead of panicking, I took the chance and biked there anyway. It WAS open. I go to the gym at Iowa State and they aren’t closed unless the university itself is closed. If they closed on Easter, they’d have to close for every other religious holiday (it’s a public school), so they don’t close on Easter. The only reason they close on Christmas is because nobody is on campus during that time.

Note: biking to the gym + leg day is not advised.

And now for the serious business.

So I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it or not, but I’m going to this little shindig — the BLEND Retreat — next month.

Did I mention that? I thought I might have.

I’ve got my bed and breakfast booked for the drive there and drive back. The drive there might just be my old roommate, Nick’s, new place in Omaha, but the drive back stay includes a whirlpool.

But here’s where I need your help.

I’m shopping for a dress for first night there. Everybody’s doing it, so I thought I’d join. I don’t NEED another dress, buuuuut I want one. I’m hoping to get some opinions before they sell out on sizes that could potentially fit me.

I found this lovely site called Nasty Gal. Yeah. That’s the name.

And I have my choices narrowed down to these finalists.

Right angled sequin dress — $16 on sale

This one I’m kind of worried about belly pooch and the fact that my top isn’t that busty. I might get it and if it doesn’t work gift it to my friend Steph, who is a little smaller and a lot less poochy than me. It’s $16.

But then there’s this one that’s got the same issues as the first one, but it only comes in a small. And it’s also only $20.

Metal Mania Dress — $20.40

I like this one for obvious reasons. It also seems a little less structured than the one above it. I’m just worried that small is NOT going to fit.

But this next one is only $24. And I don’t see any issues with it. Other than the fact that I don’t typically wear white.

Georgia Lace Dress — $24

Hrm. Out of these three I like the second one the BEST but I’m really worried about the size. I should be asking Steph which one she likes the best. Ha.

And there’s this one. It’s Calee pink. And it is going to show off my back that I’ve worked super hard on the last few months. So I’m pretty sure I’m going to get this one. But I want to know which other sale dress I should grab. Or if you hate this one. Because if that’s the case, I’m getting two of the sale dresses.

Racerback Wrap Dress — $48

I need all the help I can get. Comments are appreciated! Thank you.

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Instagram FINALLY + A Very Blue Bag

chimes — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Happy Friday everybody!

Got any big plans for the weekend? I have a full one ahead — tonight: Livefit day 59, hanging out with my friend Stephanie from high school who’s in town for Easter; tomorrow: getting my oil changed, helping a friend move, working on a TON of zip bags for an upcoming sale and potentially LiveFit day 60; Sunday: Drive home to hang out with the family for Easter. WHEW.

I have to tell you that I found out Android released an Instagram app. Finally. So yes. I’m on the bandwagon. And I’m not ashamed (Steph, I know you’re groaning at least just a little. don’t worry. no blue filters on my food).

I downloaded it. Stat. And I used it to finally capture this poster on Welch Ave. that I’ve been eyeing for a while. LOVE the design on this.

As I walked back to my office, I caught this random balloon man on campus.

I felt a bit stalkeresque running up behind him, but I had to catch it and use my newfound app to post it. I started a new tumblr account for this crap to go so I’m not spamming my twitter followers with all my photos and stuff. I’d like to post this stuff somewhere that’s easily catalogued so I can quickly grab for future use, but not spam everybody in the process. I tweet / facebook enough as it is.

~~I didn’t get in on this in time for this month’s photo-a-day-challenge … but maybe I’ll do May.~~ Screw it. I only missed a few days. I’m doing the April photo challenge. Because that’s what all the cool kids do.

[ image from fatmumslim ]

Also, one of my old coworkers from my previous life at Drake University recently asked if I could donate something to an auction that the marketing department was having to benefit a scholarship.

Why yes. Yes I can donate something to this cause.

Right before I left Drake back in October of 2011, my coworker had a great idea to fund a scholarship from our department — the funding could come from any member of the marketing department, past or present.

To kick it off, they’re going to have an auction / yard sale today to raise some funds.

I used one of my many Drake t-shirts and made a simple market bag with pockets. I hope to see somebody sporting this at Market Day this spring!

Lots of inside pockets. And only took me 45 minutes to create. Mostly because I HATE working with t-shirt fabric. I would bet that most quilters LOATHE it. But, it’s for a good cause and I wasn’t wearing this shirt anymore anyway. Somebody is going to really enjoy this bag!

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Patchwork + Hot wings

chimes — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 15:00:00 +0000

The patchwork class I taught Saturday and Sunday was a success. I even learned something. Two of the ladies in the class were hardcore quilters, but needed help figuring out how to pick fabrics and wanted a fresh look at things, which is why they took my class. I kept getting guff for not pressing my seams correctly, so finally one of the ladies showed me how to press and set my seams. You press to the dark side. Tee. Hee.

We made a hugetastic mess.

I brought my improv piece to use as an example for class and ended up finishing it. WELL, not completely finishing it. I want to do some embroidery on it. Then it will be finished. Mini quilt? Pillow? Wall hanging? Who knows.

We had a giant table and an ironing board area set up and we needed every inch of that space. The Workspace had two huge tubs of fabric, and everybody brought some of their own. There were some really interesting finds in the bins. I picked out some spiffy 80sesque fabrics for my first project. And went a little crazy with the quilting.

Seriously? I’m pretty sure this was somebody’s screenprinting project. But I cut it up and used it for the back of my potholder.

On Saturday I taught everybody how to make a wonky log cabin block. I wasn’t sure how long it was going to take the class to complete a block and turn it into a potholder, but it ended up taking up about one 3-hour class period. So on Sunday I had everybody throw caution to the wind and make an improv block — no planning, just creativity flowing. I gave everybody a piece of my fabric that they had to use in their improv block — just to spice things up and make it harder for those who were already well out of their comfort zones.

Letitia, The Workspace coordinator, took my class. Which kind of made me nervous because this class could have gone horribly wrong if super-hardcore quilters showed up and weren’t wanting to learn new ways to do things or break the rules. But it didn’t go badly [ other than the crazy amount of people working in the woodshop behind us being really loud ], and she had a good time too. Here she is stitching away.

I was really proud of her improv block potholder. The fabrics she chose were really great. And just look at that stitching! She should probably get a long-arm sewing machine and have people pay her to quilt.

And thanks to my new knowledge I learned from a master quilter, my seams are so much better in my second block that I made in class [ on the left ] than in my first block [ which I turned into a potholder ]. I’m so glad somebody finally showed me that pressing my seams properly makes a difference. I pressed the seam together to set it, then pressed to the dark side [ to the darker fabric ] so the seam doesn’t show through. I didn’t press to the dark side on seams that had a bunch of different seams within them — got too bulky and the newest seam wouldn’t stay put. But seriously? This little tidbit of knowledge is going to make all my pieces so much nicer.

Look how straight the seams on the left block are. Then look at how crooked and frankensteiny the seams on the right one are. I’m somewhat amazed at the difference that a little extra ironing made. And it really didn’t take any extra time.

Beautiful.

Gross.

In addition, I learned little tidbits about canning, sewing circles, and how NOT to pack your carryon when traveling — and to always put the things you actually can’t live without in your carryon. There’s so much we can learn from our elders!

Here’s one of the blocks done by one of the other ladies in the class.

She initially had some traditional pink floral instead of my bright pink and another brown / khaki instead of the teal. I pulled out the bright pink and she loved it, so I gave it to her, and we decided to add the teal to complement the teal in the bright pink fabric. I think she learned a little bit more about pairing fabrics and picking colors.

On a different note, about 2 hours into class I got a text from Mark that said: “Just butchered about 10 hot wings. I’m awesome.”

Huh?

I leave him home alone and he makes incredible food from scratch — usually not using a recipe. Bread on Saturday. Hot wings Sunday. Once I left for 3 days to go to my cousin’s wedding in Fairfield, and he perfected Chicago-style pizza.

About an hour later I got this photo. He’s been wanting to try to make hot wings from scratch for a long time. Now he’s succeeded.

He didn’t make about half of the wings he bought so I could do a run-through with photos for the blog [ see, he's getting better! ]. I will have step by step instructions because these are multitudes better for you than the flash-fried version. If they weren’t so salty and if there wasn’t butter in them, I’d give them a green light. I might have to see what I can do to lighten them up after the first go-round.

This was a pretty eventful Sunday for me. I usually try to sit around and do as much nothing as possible on the weekends. What about you? Do you try to cram a bunch of fun stuff in on the weekend? Or do you sit at home and relax?

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ugh. hair. and mini muffin tops.

chimes — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 15:00:00 +0000

It’s been rather warm here this week. In fact, I ended up previewing my super tiny shorty compression shorts from UnderArmour yesterday … LONG before I was comfortable cramming into them. Muffin. Top. Okay, it was like one of those mini breakfast muffins, but it was still happening. Not cool. But I ran 3.14+ miles in shorty shorts and a sports bra anyway. And then I went to the gym, which is our University gym, and I’ve been known to run into coworkers. In shorty shorts? This could be interesting.

Fortunately, it’s spring break. Nobody I didn’t want to see was there for my tiny pant preview. But it wasn’t that bad anyway. See?

However, there were some um, very helpful, men that were obnoxiously trying to help me set up my station for bench presses. No thanks. I can do it myself. Which I told them in a not-so-polite-tone. Nothing pisses me off more than boys at the gym thinking that women can’t lift heavy things. Why else would I be there?

Related [ to the shorty shorts ] question: Do you guys wear panties with workout gear that has built-in underwear or is made to not wear underwear with? I’m having a hard time NOT wearing underwear. It feels weird. And kinda gross. But it’s definitely more comfortable with gear that’s made specifically to go skivvyless.

So besides requiring me to wear super tiny shorty shorts to stay cool, this March heatwave is making me want to cut my hair off again.

Yes. I realize I just spent 8 hours blonde-ing it.

It’s really gotten to that obnoxious point. The point where it’s IN MY FACE and I can’t ponytail it. And it’s on the back of my neck. Making me hot.

Not to mention, my face is all broken out now. I blame the hair touching it. And the fact that I haven’t adjusted to washing my hair like a normal person again. I could get away with a week’s worth of no-washing with short hair.

Yes. I realize that washing my hair once a week might make me a disgusting person, but I have dry, curly hair and I need to wash it less or it starts breaking apart and getting frizzy. Short hair allows me to easily wash my scalp, so my hair stays grease-free longer. I always rinse my hair regardless if I shampoo it every time I get in the shower and condition it every few times. So it’s not totally gross. Right? Meh.

I’ve been trying to grow it back out, but … I loved this cut … sooooooo much:

Not only was it super crazy easy to style, it was adorable. And not many chicks can pull off this short of hair.

Right now … my mane is getting unruly and looks like this:

Oh, and it’s going to be 80° today. Spring break. In Iowa. Where’s the snow? The first time I’ve not had vacation during spring break since I was probably 5 years old, and it’s flipping beautiful.

Knowing how hot and uncomfortable I’d be with thick curly hair everywhere, I spent 20 minutes this morning trying to get all the little short ends pinned up and out of my face and off my neck. It didn’t turn out as cute as some of the pinned up styles I did / will be able to do when it’s long. And definitely not as fast. I don’t like spending 20 minutes on my hair … I’m leaning towards chopping.

All I want is for it to be adorably short or really long like this:

… none of this in-between BS!

Should I be patient and wait another month to see if I can ponytail this shiz by the end of April? Or should I just el-chop-o?

Because I’m seriously about ready to buzz it. RELATED: I’m in dire need of a touchup on the blonde. I’m going to to go one shade darker so it’s closer to my natural color [ in the long and short hair photos ].

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what is all this craziness?

chimes — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 15:00:00 +0000

oh hai dere.

You may or may not have noticed that my blog went from pretty bland to freaking screaming pink in about 24 hours.

Aaaaaand you might have also noticed that it’s not “chimesblog” anymore. It’s back to “life + running”.

Whaaaaa? Wait. What?

Exactly.

So this all started when I decided to go to the BLEND retreat in May. My friend Kelly, who goes to the Bloggers in Sin City event [ and holy freaking cow she won a free ticket yesterday ] was all, “Dude, you need to make sure you have biz cards for this shiz.”

And I was all, “Obviously. I’ve got a TON Of chimesdesign biz cards.”

And she was all [ in more words or less ], “Um … might want to consider making one that’s not for your etsy shop / design stuff and one that’s for YOU. A business card that encompasses what you and your blog and online presence is about.”

Aha! So hot pink?

After fiddling around for a bit, I ended up with this design [ and am contemplating letterpress because it's badass, and I'm a graphic designer ]:

So I have business cards [ in theory, they're not printed yet because I'm not sure about ponying up the $$ for letterpress ] … but what about my website? Shouldn’t that match?

Yes.

And I got into Fireworks to create a new header for my blog — complete with drop-down menus for ease of navigation because I blog about a LOT of random topics … whyyy Fireworks? Because I apparently was extremely lazy, when in fact, it was entirely possible to create what I wanted to create directly IN WordPress by putzing around for a couple hours with a theme. But nope, I decided to do this the “easy” way.

So. Wrong.

I ended up with this when I uploaded the HTML/CSS/Javascript files on their own [ not into WordPress ]:

My friend Steph graciously showed me how to put it on my blog … though I had already tried to do it that way, and lo, it didn’t work. Because Fireworks and Dreamweaver puke out shitty code. I know these things.

Instead of working with more pukey code, I downloaded a new theme and decided it would be best to just start from scratch. Found an awesome theme and pinked it up. AND I built my drop down menu using WordPress’s custom menu feature. It’s FANFREAKINGTABULOUS. I think. You be the judge (it’s at the top of the page … check it out!)

OH. And there’s another big thing: The name change back to life + running.

I realized that I’m doing all this work on an identity for something that was essentially a passive-aggressive stab at the fact that I had a running injury. My original blog, runningchimes.blogspot.com — life + running — was started when I decided to run a marathon. Marathon ran. Leg hurty. So I started blogging about my other interests, which you all know are crafts, food, geekery and ranting. So I made a new header and changed the title to “chimesblog … where there is no cohesive theme” [ because obviously bloggers ought to have a theme. my theme was non-theme ]:

And I have no clue why I thought that header was “cool” or decent design. Buuut, it didn’t last long because I moved my blog over here. And I changed my header to match my portfolio website and craft business because I mainly wrote about crafts, and, after all, my blog is hosted on my chimesdesign domain.

So I’ve seen my blog mentioned places and it’s “chimesblog” … obviously, since that’s the title I gave it. It’s weird and kinda stupid. So I racked my brain for something that fits, but nothing catchy really did, or was already taken. But then I remembered WHY I started blogging in the first place: life + running. Running is secondary now. But I’m still a runner. Or at least that’s part of how people identify me. I don’t consider myself a runner anymore based on my weekly mileage, but I still like to run, and am still competitive about it when I do [ Mark will tell you that I have to win at everything ]. And I am hugely into health and fitness, so why NOT life + running? I checked the internets, and there isn’t another one out there [ there's a Life Plus Running In Iowa, coincidentally ]. I added the tagline “a little bit of running + a whole lot of life” to better reflect the content of my blog nowadays. I can switch that if I ever become obsessed again, but I doubt that will happen.

Also, I’m about 95% sure that my old blog’s tagline was exactly the opposite “a whole lot of running and a little bit of life”. Unfortunately I can’t find any proof. But I’m pretty sure.

AND here I am! Well, also, I’m here too [ you can reach me from a redirect URL of lifeplusrunning.com — easier to put on business cards — didn't want to move everything over / buy more webspace, so domain masking it is ].

I got impatient and went ahead and switched to my new theme. It’s not EXACTLY where I wanted it to be when it went live, but the big things — the header + nav bar — are exactly how I want them. The rest of the bits and pieces are likely going to shift and become better-designed as I blog on. One thing — I’m not loving the hot pink links everywhere. I liked the idea of using ONE color + black so that way I can change the entire blog by doing a find and replace for that color. I could do holiday colors. Or change with the hot color of the season (tangerine tango??). How fun would that be? Or obnoxious? I’m not sure. The footer refuses to mutate to my CSS changes, so ignore the fact that the font is totally effed and that I’ve not actually written the stuff I want in the footer just yet.

Oh, and after the last 20 posts or so … there’s likely not going to be a preview image. I just can’t go through 700+ posts and pick an image for all of them. Well, I could, but I think that it could be a giant time-suck.

Hope you like it and if the pink is giving you seizures, I can tone it down a bit. This is the official “Calee Pink” (TM) as coined by Kelly sometime during our college years.

AAAND SPECIAL THANKS TO NIKI FOR ACTUALLY KNOWING WHAT SHE’S DOING WHEN I TOTALLY ALMOST FFFFED THIS UP.

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Super Prom Recap!

chimes — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 16:00:00 +0000

Hi there. I’m feeling … SUPER. Thanks for asking.

Ames Prom was this past weekend. If you’re new to my blog, Ames Prom is a charity event which involves a bunch of adults getting dressed up and silly for a good cause. This year we helped out the animals. I love animals!

I would also like to point out that while we were busy making final plans for prom, my friend Adria was giving birth. Things I’m glad I didn’t say 10 years ago …

My friends and I went as our super-selves. I’m The Chimenator. Which was hard to explain to other people, but I looked like a superhero and 30-40% of the people there were my friends and they got it. So …

And no Chimenator costume is complete without legwarmers. Seriously. I wear these suckers daily now.

My friend Steph came over for my pre-party. Which ended up being just the two of us, but we had fun anyway. Related: I’m really freaking short.

Also, I’d like to point out that my back is looking pretty good. Despite the fact that about 10 minutes before this I had an epic meltdown over bra buldge that I was getting from my miraculous bra. It looked like I was smuggling hot dogs. I decided having Super Boobs wasn’t worth having the back bulge that came with it. There’s only so much skin that can be pushed into those cups …

Also, don’t come to my place and expect a good shot. Just don’t.

We have vodka and bourbon. I have various small bottles of girlie liquors. Now I have a LARGE bottle of kinky. These were cake vodka + baileys. Sounds good? You can tell by the look on my face that it’s not.

So pre-party was successful. Apparently we took “official” photos at prom (I’m interested in seeing these) and there was some NSFW prop action.

I hope you get the reference to Dr. Horrible. If not, spend the next 40 minutes watching this so you get it. It’s Captain Hammer’s logo, and um, his fists are not the hammer.

[ source ]

And with that, now we get to the fun part: The costumes!

We had The Penguin …

… Wolverine — with more awesome claws than he had for Halloween apparently …

… uhm, Awkward Man …

… Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, BEETLEJUICE! And a Super-not-looking-happy-Chimenator

AND The 11th Doctor. Which is awesome because I’m currently obsessed with Doctor Who. And I’m on season 5 of the latest series, which features this Doctor. And fezzes are cool. Also, he brought his sonic screwdriver. Seriously? Seriously.

[ Photo courtesy of Kelly ]

AND even better? He conned his wife into dressing up as the TARDIS (or she conned him). She looked awesome and was a good sport when I asked her if “she was bigger on the inside.” I had a 50/50 chance of getting punched … I took it.

And finally, this guy cracked me up ALL night. There were various Wonder Women, but none quit so fantastic as Wonder WoMAN and his bright blue eyeshadow and chest hair.

I’m sure there will be more followup posts, but there ya go. My drunken prom adventure.

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hair-brained idear: or how I went blonde in a day

chimes — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 16:00:00 +0000

last weekend I got the itch to change my hair. yeah. that happens quite often around these parts.

I decided to go from brunette to blonde. In one day. Anybody who knows anything about hair knows that you can’t do this with box color (yikes) and that you really probably shouldn’t do this in a day, unless you have ultra-resilient hair.

Psh.

So I looked like this on Friday at work …

… and came in on Monday like this.

… I wish I wouldn’t have chickened out and gone ONE shade lighter.

Anyway, here’s how I did it. Mostly for those who are interested in the gory “inbetween” photos.

First, if you are going to damage your hair with color or bleach, it’s best to start with an unwashed mane. I knew this was going to be killer on my hair, so I may have gone a few extra days between washings. Yup.

That happened.

And so did this.

So here’s the equipment. I repeat, don’t do this at home unless you’ve had some experience with professional products or at least somebody with knowledge (thanks mom) to help you along the way. I, fortunately, did not have to call my mom on this one.

Clockwise starting with the kitchen timer we have:

- A PROFESSIONAL deep conditioner masque — I say professional because if you truly don’t want your hair to fall out when you’re bleaching it, professional products provide much more moisturizing than non-professional. Trust me on this one.

- Quick Blue bleach. Not sure if I’d use this one again. It took two bleachings, which was scary. It was recommended by the lady at Sally’s, and I’m not sure how much I trust that recommendation.

- Color mixing / applicator bottle (not for the bleach, sorry, that’s confusing)

- 3o developer … using non-box color requires a little bit of science and measuring, which is kinda scary

- color — which I ended up changing after 1 bleaching

- 20 developer — which I should have gone with another 30 on this, but again, lady at Sally’s said no. Result? the color is darker than I wanted it because my hair sucks up color, esp. after a processing treatment. This I know from experience.

SO let the games begin!

After one bleaching, I got this. Not as light as I had wanted. And I used the maximum process time. Plus, it was orange — which I had anticipated.

So I had a choice here. I could try getting a high-lifting blonde with a 40 developer (which lifts the most color out) and a packet of red-out … or bleach it again, get a neutral blonde and some red out.

I was kind of worried about the high-lifting + 40 because I’d not tried that before. So I went for option number two.

Side note, I used the deep conditioning masque after both bleachings and colorings. In case you were wondering. And I’ve not washed my hair yet, and have been using that masque in the shower daily. My hair was kind of sketchy after this, but has gotten back to normal in just a few days.

After the second bleaching, I had cotton candy hair. If the ends weren’t so red, I might have kept this color because it was kind of fun.

Holy hot roots, Batman! I was really worried that my roots were going to end up being noticeably lighter than the rest of my hair. They didn’t, well, except to well-trained professionals, but not to normal peeps.

Also, the damage is quite noticeable in this photo, but partially because I blow-dried it and it looks a little fuzzy / dry after a good blow-drying.

SO. Now the moment of truth. I was really worried. And while I had the color on I was pissed off because I didn’t get the 30 developer that I had wanted to get or the LIGHTEST blonde (next time). I was sure that it was going to come out as dark as it was before I started, but now with damage.

The result?

A somewhat believable blonde. Again, I wish I would have gone ONE shade lighter. But, I can do that next time.

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