Oh HI there. I have more recaps of last weekend — but hey, thanks for sticking with me if this doesn’t interest you. I know that a good portion of my audience is into the crafty stuff. There will be more of that next week after I get back from Renegade.

Also, this [...]]]> #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; }

Oh HI there. I have more recaps of last weekend — but hey, thanks for sticking with me if this doesn’t interest you. I know that a good portion of my audience is into the crafty stuff. There will be more of that next week after I get back from Renegade.

Also, this is going to be a long post. I just looked and the gallery for this post has 46 photos. FORTY FREAKING SIX. I hope you like pictures. Long day = long post.

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Upon returning to Iowa after last Saturday’s bootcamp and hike, and Sunday’s bootcamp — all in high-altitude, I feel a little like this:

[ source ]

For realz. I did 4 rounds of my circuit for LiveFit on Wednesday after the retreat along with a bike ride. And ran up a hill at Ledges State Park on my way back to Ames from Colorado on Monday.

Why?

Because the gals who put together Blend had 3 ass-whoopin’ activities on the agenda for Saturday, along with one for Sunday (with an impromptu yoga class by Fitmixer that I wish I hadn’t forgotten about). And we were on top of a mountain for some of it. OXYGEN. Please.

The day started off bright and early at 6:45 AM with some Fitmixer Amino — which apparently is like crack for fit people. It keeps your muscles from eating themselves while working out and they give you MORE ENERGY to fuel your workout. Stay tuned. I’m giving some away next week.

You might notice that my Hello Kitty sweatshirt definitely had some threads on it from crafting a few weekends back.

Yesterday I mentioned that I wasn’t feeling the altitude. I think I texted Mark 900 times about how I might die. I woke up a few times during the night. I even had a dream that I called Mark and had him pick me up (you know, from 10 hours away) and that I got mad at him because he didn’t bring me back in time to hang out on Saturday night.

Fortunately (for Mark), none of that happened. I got up and my roommates were all ready to head to bootcamp. And apparently we discussed our wardrobe choices because damn we are matchy matchy in this photo. Left to right: Patricia (Vanessa’s friend — she brought a bunch of friends from her gym — so cool!), me, Vanessa and Gina (if you like food, go to Gina’s blog. Her photos are food porn.)

[ photo from Vanessa of Fit, Savvy and Haute ]

Bootcamp was lead by Lindsay and Tina and started off with two laps around the field we were going to use for our workout. Which proved to be a pretty damn long 2 laps because of the altitude. I was huffing and puffing. But I was still at the front of the pack. You know, because I’m competitive. Even when it comes to warm ups.

[ photo from Janetha ]

After a quick warmup, time for dynamic stretching. Note: I look ultra-dumpy in the front row next to Janetha and the Fitmixer gals (the one on the other side of Janetha is who’s doing my nutrition plan for Fitmixer bootcamp, come to find out!) The shorts I wore proved to be wedgie-inducing and not appropriate for being in the front row of a workout consisting of 60+ girls with cameras and blogs.

Tina started the party with some resistance band training. One of the moves caused the bands to slip out from underfoot if you weren’t careful. Which was kind of entertaining. Also, I may have purchased the pants Janetha is wearing in this photo. In purple. Contrary to popular opinion on instagram.

[ photo from Lauren ]

After Tina and Lindsay had their way with us (Lindsay did some great kickboxing moves!), we got to play a game. This was my favorite part — it brought out my competitive side. let the real me shine. We split into teams, and got in a big circle. Tennis balls with various exercises (including BURPEES, which thankfully we didn’t get) were placed in the middle. Each round, one person from each team had to sprint to the middle and grab a ball with an exercise for the team to complete. The faster you got a ball and got back to the team, the more reps of the exercise your team could complete. The team with the most reps at the end of the game won.

Our team didn’t win, but I discovered I could do 72 pushups in a minute. And I was kicking ass on all the rest of the moves. Except one. I can’t remember what it was but it was probably the last one.

TEAM FIVE. We were winners for sure. (Left to right: Nikol (sp?) — one of Vanessa’s friends, Katie, Sarah, um, I feel terrible because I didn’t catch her name, Kim and Jessica)

After bootcamp, we were served a fantastic spread for breakfast (sponsored by Xagave). But of course everybody had to get photos of the balls before leaving for breakfast.

So many girls. So many cameras.

[ photo from Janetha ... sorry about the drop shadow. it's not really my thing #designsnob ]

I had 2% plain chobani and a whole bunch of fruit and nuts with some xagave on top.

After breakfast, we quick snapped a few photos (really? yeah. we like photos) and ran back to our cabins to get ready for the Royal Arch hike.

[ Heather, Jessica and me ]

I don’t think I knew what I was in for. Lindsay said the hike was challenging. But she had also hiked it with a child in tow earlier that week. So, how bad could it be? I mean, it started off pretty tame.

I spent a good amount of time talking to Lauren at the beginning of the hike — LOVE her — but I fell behind quickly (she is kind of a hiking pro). And it didn’t help me much to have a fear of heights. I am proud to report that things that used to seem high are much LESS scary now that I’ve conquered Royal Arch.

I’m so glad I made the climb. Look at these gorgeous shots I got!

I made it! And so did my camera and phone (thank goodness … one of the girls almost lost hers)

[ Roomie pic: Gina and me ]

And so did the 70ish girls that were in our group. Yeah. We were those people.

[ photo from Lauren, who's on the left, then Lindsay, Heather and me ]

At the top, the crazy dog people (including myself) in the group got a special treat. Little dog. At the top. She climbed all the way! Seriously. She’s about half the size of my dog.

[ photo from Tiffany ]

After the hike, Gina and I decided to join a group of girls (and one husband) at Mountain Sun for lunch. I already recapped the glorious sandwich that I ate. So I won’t do it again. Here’s a group photo from Lauren.

[ From left: Kelly, Lindsay, Gina, Me, Heather ]

And the whole table, courtesy of Lynne, who is on the far right in this photo.

This place had some pretty awesome decor. And bumper stickers.

[ photo from Tiffany ]

After lunch, we dinked around on Pearl Street for a while and headed to Avery Brewing company, where we got a special tour.

[ Laura and Ashley ]

I tasted a couple of Laura’s beers and decided to order a couple of my own. Including the Beast. I want this. Again. Now.

A few hours went by and we all decided to head out for dinner. So back to Pearl Street. Gina, Heather and I spent a little while trying to find the restaurant at which a big group was convening for Cinco de Mayo (or Cinco de Drinko as it was coined later by Janetha). We caught sight of this Hippie Taxi.

We made it. And everybody was doing free shots of tequila. But I wanted food. So I went to the tables where people were eating.

[ photo from Ashley — top — Ashley, Gina. Bottom — Ashley, me, Katie ]

Ashley (in the bottom photo with me) and I split some fantabulous mahi mahi tacos (<=== I am a little concerned with my spell check because “fantabulous” didn’t get flagged, but mahi mahi just did).

Seriously. Yum. And it was on Fiestaware, which I unfortunately couldn’t fit in my purse seriously want at my house.

I’m getting tired just writing this post. It was a long day. Hence the long post. We were all ready to crash, though a bunch of the girls were Cinco-ing it up.

[ what I looked like at 10 PM when everybody else was probably doing body shots or getting frozen yogurt ]

So you can pretty much guess that my plans for this weekend include: Sleep. Sleep. More sleep.

Have any big plans for the weekend? Ever gone hiking? 

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To the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2012.

Have a safe and fun evening. I’ll be at the bash Mark’s brother’s friends throw annually.

Here’s a shot by Justin who took a shot of us doing shots (I hope it wasn’t Scotche) and ringing in 2011. It might have [...]]]> #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; }

To the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2012.

Have a safe and fun evening. I’ll be at the bash Mark’s brother’s friends throw annually.

Here’s a shot by Justin who took a shot of us doing shots (I hope it wasn’t Scotche) and ringing in 2011. It might have been because if you notice, I’m not drinking any … and Mark’s sister has a terribly disgusted look on her face.

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My friend, Steph, had a cookie decorating party yesterday. I got pretty stoked about this because I LOVE DECORATING COOKIES — as long as I’m not baking them or making the frosting.

I brought my sprinkles and my gel food coloring and we got down to business with some mulled apple cider. [...]]]> #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; }

My friend, Steph, had a cookie decorating party yesterday. I got pretty stoked about this because I LOVE DECORATING COOKIES — as long as I’m not baking them or making the frosting.

I brought my sprinkles and my gel food coloring and we got down to business with some mulled apple cider. Oh, and Mr. Barnabus Stinson also joined us for some fun. He was pretty entertaining in his adorable holiday sweater.

And, of course, the first cookie I finished ever-so-meticulously was absolutely perfect.

Here’s a collection of the rest of our cookies. I really like Elizabeth (Steph’s sister-in-law)’s tie-die ornament. Very cool!

I ended up with a whole plate of snowflakes. And the broken cookies were decorated like they were maimed … as you can see with the reindeer and gingerbread man.

And my gluten-free cookies weren’t roll-outs, but they were delicious. They were pretty sad looking, but tasty nonetheless.

This reminds me that I didn’t ever blog about the cookies I decorated a few Christmases back. I think this was a blog only for running at that point. Here are the awesome cookies I decorated with the random frostings I whipped up (there was sour cream, cream cheese and anything that was available in the fridge in that frosting).

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It’s SewMamaSew’s giveaway day today.

Check out all the super sweet giveaways (in addition to mine) on her blog today.

So what am I giving away? I’m giving away one of my little zippy pouches. My Classy Lady Lacey zippy pouch to be exact.

How do [...]]]> #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; }

It’s SewMamaSew’s giveaway day today.

Check out all the super sweet giveaways (in addition to mine) on her blog today.

So what am I giving away? I’m giving away one of my little zippy pouches. My Classy Lady Lacey zippy pouch to be exact.

How do you win? I’ll make it simple this time because I’m sure I’ll get many more comments than usual.

How do you win? Just because I like reading interesting material, you’re going to have to answer a question instead of just commenting below. Also include your e-mail address so I can follow up with you when you win (FYI you don’t have to type it in the comment section … just in the part where it says “e-mail” in the form).

The question? Who/what is your favorite fictional character and why? Your answer can be a character from from literature, movies, TV, music, comics, etc.

My answer to that question? I guess I’ll go with the obvious and say Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Why? Because she is badass and I love the fact that she’s witty and always goes for the bad boys.

Good luck! I’ll be picking a winner on Friday the 16th — just in time to get the zip bag in the mail in case you want to give it as a gift. I’ll post the winner on the 18th and will ship ASAP so you have before Christmas.

PS I’ll ship internationally!

Want to enter more giveaways? Check out the full list of giveaway day giveaways

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self-manicure, inspired by something I found on pinterest.

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It’s been a VERY long time since I’ve done a giveaway.  (In case you’re curious, I did one at the beginning of June of 2009, another in the middle of June 2009, one at the #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; }

It’s been a VERY long time since I’ve done a giveaway.  (In case you’re curious, I did one at the beginning of June of 2009, another in the middle of June 2009, one at the beginning of July 2009, one in the middle of July 2009, one in July 2010, one in August of 2010 and one in September 2010).

//EDIT// I posted this giveaway and realized that today is also Giveaway Day on Sew Mama Sew. I’m featured on the handcrafted items page.

Last time I did one, I had a trivia question. But I’m going to make this one really easy.

First — the prize?

A teeny tiny wallet of your choice — one of these two:

What do you have to do to win, you ask?  Simple.  Just comment on this post with which one of these you prefer if you win. Make sure your e-mail address is correct when you fill out the comment box or I will have no way of contacting you if you win.  Want another entry?  Tweet or facebook about the contest, and leave a comment on this post with a link to the tweet or post.  Want yet ANOTHER entry?  Follow me on Networked Blogs (check out the sidebar over here on the right).

Contest ends on Memorial Day (Monday, May 30). I will randomly choose a winner by using random.org’s generator. Good luck!

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My friend Matt found this really odd personality test while stumbling online the other day. There are no language cues. Just weird shapes. You have to pick A or B on all of them. And it’s so weird because all three of my friends that took it had analysis that pretty much fit them to [...]]]> #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; }

My friend Matt found this really odd personality test while stumbling online the other day. There are no language cues. Just weird shapes. You have to pick A or B on all of them. And it’s so weird because all three of my friends that took it had analysis that pretty much fit them to a T.

Here is mine:
Fond of tradition, but attached more to the joy of human interaction, you are often a beacon of hope to those members of society who have lost faith or who are in need of succor. You are often emotional, and this emotionality is rarely held in check. Kind and helping by nature, when affronted you will explode, and just as suddenly when the pain has passed return to normalcy again. On occasion this quick and vibrant emotionality is translated into a life on the stage or screen. You have a strong sense of right and wrong, but can sometimes be left confused and uncertain in times of stress or when tough decisions must be made. You avoid conflict, tending to stay out of trouble in hopes that the group will benefit most from this behavior. Because you have trouble putting your own needs first, you will be put in much stress if you find yourself in an unequal relationship, one in which your partner is not as giving as you are.

Curious? Take the test and when you get your results, post them! Or e-mail me.

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My friend Kelly posted her pix from Prom 2011 on facebook. And here they are … note the amazing dancing skills. Mostly honed from the MJ Dancing game Mark got me for Christmas for the Wii.

My friend Matt recently introduced me to a web comic that is written by a 5-year-old and illustrated by his 29-year-old brother.

The story is about Axe Cop — a cop, who was a regular cop, until he found the perfect axe — and Dinosaur Soldier — another cop, who used to have a flute (thus named “flute [...]]]> #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; }

My friend Matt recently introduced me to a web comic that is written by a 5-year-old and illustrated by his 29-year-old brother.

The story is about Axe Cop — a cop, who was a regular cop, until he found the perfect axe — and Dinosaur Soldier — another cop, who used to have a flute (thus named “flute cop”) but was bitten by a dinosaur, which turned him into Dinosaur Soldier.

[ source ]

Just trust me on this one. It’s awesome.

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I’m not going to do a year in review like so many other people have done. Instead, I’ll tell you what I’m looking forward to in 2011.