The Color Run

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I think I posted a while back about me participating in the Color Run - Orange County.  I signed up for it with about 5 weeks to train.  I had the best of intentions of actually training for this.  I never did.  Between the kid, life, work and everything else under the sun, carving out 30 minutes a day to run/walk never happened.

As the day approached I kept thinking to myself 'I walk a lot.  All the time.  I can do this.'

What I didn't account for was the walk from the parking lot.  There was a looooong strip of parking that we didn't realize went down as far as it did.  So we parked where everyone else was parking.  It was about a mile walk.  Eh, no problem.  Except that it was blazing hot.  The sun was blaring off the blacktop of the old Marine airstrip.

I can do this.  I chugged water as we walked. that. mile.

I got to the starting line about 15 minutes late.  They do rolling starts and release heats of about 150-200 people so I was good.  I kissed my husband and kid goodbye like it was the last time I'd see them and set off for the starting line.  Men were wearing tutu's and other random outfits - there was even a bride and groom wearing some over the top white satin tuxedo and lacy dress.

My adrenaline kicked in and I knew I could do this.  I've always been bad at math so the 3 miles (5k) didn't seem that bad to me.  Each 1k was marked with a color station - a huge arched balloon with color stained people throwing powder at you.  Here is where I wish I'd brought an old camera or my phone in a baggie.  I missed out on some of the fun stuff they have along the way.  The encouraging signs, the views of the valley, the enthusiastic color throwers.  Next time I will take my camera.

As I neared the first color beacon, I was feeling pretty good.  But in reality, I'd only traveled a little less than 2 miles.  Then the math started to make sense.  I still had a long ways to go AND there was that mile long walk back to the car.

But I can do this.  I cranked up my special running playlist and kept going.

And then I reached the second beacon.  Starting to feel the pain. Maybe I should have trained a little.  

Third beacon.  Halfway there right?

This is when I started to drag.  I moved from the fast lane to the slow lane.  My legs hurt.  My feet felt great because of my new running shoes.  I was sticky, died three different colors and had powder in my nose.  

The fourth beacon seemed like it was lightyears away and as I made  my way towards it, it laughed at me.  I swear it did.  It was mean, laughing at me and backing away as I tried to run after it.  The heat and colored powder were starting to make me crazy.

As I ran through I knew I had one more to go and then I could collapse at the finish line and let my husband drag me to the car.  It was about this time I was thinking it might have been a good idea to time myself.  I really have no idea how long it took me except that I didn't listen to more than 49 minutes of music on my ipod.  So we're going with a time of 49 minutes.  And then there was my 5 year old.  Probably not a good idea to bring him.  Cranky little boy.  I thought there would be more for him to do/watch but there really wasn't.  He wanted to get his hands on color packets so I told my husband to take him to the finish line where he could be part of the final color throw.  

As I neared the finish line and 5th beacon I saw them.  They'd come to meet me.  They both looked as miserable as I did but with less color.

I should be embarrassed to share these pictures but I'm not.  I just ran/walked a 5k without any training and I was feeling pretty darn good.  I also want to post a shout out to Van Halen and their hit 'Jump' for getting me through that last section of the track.  I was pretty beaten up at this point and when the opening chords of that song came on I sprang into action.  I also think I pulled a groin muscle but thats neither here nor there.

So, those embarrassing photos.....

 On the way to the race.  The traffic was horrendous.  My kid stole my sweatband.

 Before.

 Walking across the finish line.  My kid joined me.

After.

Take a good look at this one.  Each racer got a packet of color to release at the finish line celebration.  My son wanted that packet so badly.  So we told him he could have it if he threw it up in the air.  He threw it at me.  My kid, the little athlete has got a good arm on him and deadly aim.  He tossed that packet right at me and hit me in the face!  My husband got the split second before it hit me.  I was bracing for impact.

I literally got a face full of green powder.  I couldn't see anything through my glasses.  Its a good thing I had them on.

Its a good thing I brought wipes and wet towels with me.  I was able to wash my face but you can see how much was left on me after I was 'blown off' as we exited.

Oh and don't forget I still had that mile walk back to the car.  At this point, I couldn't feel my legs.  Mothers Day was the next day and I spent the day not being able to move.  But it was all for something cool.  I would do it all over again - with a closer parking space.

I got my latest Cocoa Daisy kit that week and it contained the best paper.  I printed out these photos and popped this layout out last night.

 Sequins!

 Some {flair} and String.

And this paper I would NEVER use was perfect for this.

Nice relaxing Memorial Day

Just trying to escape the rat race a little bit this week.  Tired of reading negative things all over the internet and that work is consuming my life these days.  Taking a step back.

This boy turns 6 in July.  (Don't know where the time goes.)

(we went to the park before hitting the beach and I got a few decent shots with my iphone)

I'm going to be brave this year and do a photo shoot with him.  No expensive photographer, just me.  I have the camera so why not, right?  Right?  (I'm scared.)

I just don't think I know how to use this camera well enough to get the shots I want so I'm practicing.  I have a good month to play around with settings and PS.

I got a few decent shots at the beach today.

 Treasure Island Beach

 There are some awesome tide pools here but the tide was coming in so I only got a few minutes of time wondering around.

 This is one of my favorites from the day.  

 Obligatory name in the sand shot.

 We were stalking the lifeguard tower all day.  Waiting for the lifeguard to go home.  I'm usually a rule follower but this one time I broke it.

 Looking into the sunset.

 The beach is attached to the Montage Resort in Laguna Beach.  One day I will stay here.

 The tide pools I mentioned earlier are down there.  I wanted to get pictures of N in that little cave but its a popular spot.  Pregnancy photo shoots, proposals, engagement shoots - you name it, it was happening in that little spot.  So we skipped it for now.

 All of the little beaches/coves are accessible by these cute wooden stairs.

 A milestone we're looking at this year is learning to ride his bike without training wheels.  Its not happening.  He spent 5 minutes on the bike and after some tears, we put the wheels back on.  This kid can skate circles around most adults on two thin blades but he loves his training wheels.

 Playing around with the new Elsie Flannigan Instagram App.  I'm not one for these fancy things but I really like this app.  And I probably spent a few bucks on the add-ons too.

 A crab in the tide pools.  The one lone creature I came across.  Well, there was a sea snail but he wasn't as cool as the crab.

So now I'm editing the photos and having them printed to see how they look.  I just placed my first order with Persnickety Prints to see their quality.

Last of the Fair

I am tired of working on Fair pages - for now.  I'm sure I'll resume scrapping with that fabulous October Afternoon line.  I have a lot left and unlike some lines, I'm just not over it yet.  I don't want to use it right now, but I still love it.

And one more.....

 Washi tape!

 I used a couple of {flair} buttons on this one.  These are from the PhotoBooth set.

Shelley is offering FREE shipping this weekend from 5/25-5/28 in celebration of her birthday.  Free shipping is valid on orders shipped to US Addresses only.  No international shipping.

Use code HAPPYBDAY49.

Love for Picasa

I started Project Life last year and loved doing it.  After a few weeks the picture editing and printing got to be too much.  I bought a Canon Selphy but the quality was less than what I hoped for even for the project.

I gave up after 19 weeks because it was so difficult to get a true 3x4 photo printed without jumping through hoops for the programs that did offer it.  I gave up.  It just wasn't worth the hassle.  I researched different programs and options but nothing worked easily.  Or it wasn't compatible with a Mac.

I decided to do PL again this year but instead of a weekly 2 page spread, I focused more on the monthly type layouts.  I will not take 30 pictures each week and try to fit as many as I can in.  And with Picasa, I can get the true 3x4 printed 2-up on a 4x6 sheet of photo paper.  I read on a message board that Picasa has a template.  They sure do!

Took me 10 minutes to select the photos, upload them to Picasa and then print them.  I'm actually excited to work on my PL again and I love my monthly spread so much better!

A quick tutorial:

STEP 1:  Once you've downloaded Picasa, the program will import all of the photos on your computer.  (I have a Mac so my screen might look different than yours.)  I already have all of my photos sorted in folders the way *I* like them so I just ignore the folders in Picasa.  I have a Project Life folder for each month.  As I take photos with my camera or phone, I upload them here for end of the month editing.

STEP 2: Select two photos that you want to import to the 4x6 canvas.  To make things easier, I use the flip tool at the bottom to flip my pictures to the same orientation.  Hold your shift key down and click on each photo with your mouse.

STEP 3: Click the 'Create Collage' button.  You'll get the preview below.  This is where you can edit the photos as well.

STEP 4: Click the 'export' button to save the photo to a folder on your computer.

STEP 5: Save the photo and print!  I use my Canon Pixma to print once I've got all of the collages saved.

Final product looks like this:

 You can upload these to any online processor if you don't have print at home capabilities.

January PL Pages

And since there are virtually NO purple products out there I had to make my own.  Luckily, I didn't have to look too far.  Studio Calico just released a limited edition set of mini Mister Hueys which included this cool purple.  Now, the Kings don't have purple in their jersey/logo anymore but they will always in my mind.  Plus, these pages needed a pop of color.  I stuck with black/silver and white throughout and added the purple.  The hearts and stars are from Pink Paislee and the sticker letters are from Basic Grey.  I used some black and white ones (tinted purple).

To get the purple letters I used a small paint brush and dipped it into an open Mister Huey.  I used several coats to make sure I got the color I wanted.  I also have about 10 sheets of this font because I like to keep white on hand for projects like this.  If you use mists or any other water based color agent, you'll want to let the letters dry for a few hours.  Using them while they're went will cause them to rip.  Avoid using a heat tool to dry them quicker.  This seems to melt the adhesive.  I've attempted this several times and figured out the best way to do this.  Not all sticker letters will be the same but with these BG ones, this is the best method.  Air dry works best.  For this project, I laid everything out, planned my page and then colored the letters I needed.  While they were drying, I was washi taping, gluing and decorating the 4x6 cards.  The last step was adhering the dry mini letters.