Have You Tried These?

I keep seeing these at Wal Mart... Sally Hansen Salon Effects nail polish strips.  Have you tried them? I can't decide whether I would like having a pattern on my nails like this or not.  Some of them are particularly ugly, but some of them are cute.

I've heard that they're time consuming to apply. Please tell me what I should do!

Music I Love: Augustana

I randomly found this band on iTunes in the "you might like this shiz" section.  They're sort of indie but also remind me of country and mainstream Maroon5-esque crooners.  DH says its a mix between The Killers, Bruce Springsteen and "kinda country-ish"... if that helps.

Obviously its hard to describe them, so you should just take my word for it and give them a listen.

If you like it, totally download their self-titled album - Augustana

How to Train for a Charity Walk

Back in May I thought it would be a good idea to sign-up for the Weekend to End Women's Cancers.  I still think its a great cause and will be quite the accomplishment once its done.  The problem is that I'm not sure I'll be able to do it! Here's the lowdown:

What: 60 km charity walk to raise money for the Princess Margaret Hospital
When: September 8-9
Where: Toronto - Exhibition grounds to Downsview Park and back the next day
How Much: All two-day walkers (that's me!) must raise a minimum of $2000 in order to participate

Step One: Whine 

While I have my qualms with the "minimum" fundraising amount, I can understand that they have a very ambitious goal and if they didn't set this type of goal for everyone it would take a lot longer to raise the money.

The issue is that raising $2000 is hard! Once you've asked your family and friends, unless you have a number of other "circles" (church groups, sports teams, etc) you've pretty much tapped all of your sources.  My team and I have been holding a number of events at work, and I fear that soon we're going to exhaust that pool as well.

So - its time to get creative.

Step Two: Raise Money

First creative idea... bag groceries for donations!  I contacted a local grocery store and asked if we could do this and they were very excited to have us.  I'm thinking that if we create enough excitement and provide a service to the customers, we'll get some of their change.  Fingers crossed.

Creative idea number two... wear embarrassing shirts while training.  Think "Now Accepting Donations".  My two best teammates and I have been "training" (see: walking) long distances on the weekend, most recently along a lakeshore trail.  This is apparently a very popular spot and we thought that if we wear obnoxiously pink shirts and hats and plaster ourselves with info about what we're doing and a shameless request for donations, maybe people with throw toonies at us as they cycle/walk/run/rollerblade by. No?

Step Three: Walk... A Lot

Next to the raising money part, this is the hardest.  I'll admit that I haven't been walking during the week as much as I should BUT I've managed to get up to walking 17 kms in a single trip on the weekends.  Incorporating walks into my evenings on a regular basis has been the biggest issue and I'm not sure how else to train.

When we walked the 17 kms this past weekend it was BRUTAL.  At times I just wanted to be carried back to my car.  Maintaining a good pace seemed to have been the biggest challenge so that we could be done before the heat of the day (which we weren't).

Do you have any suggestions for me?  Have you done a similar type of event before?  What other creative fundraising ideas are there?

If you'd like to donate (and please do!), you can do that by clicking here.

Coffee Filter Flowers

I totally love this craft because it has the three most important elements - easy, cheap, impressive.  You could make about 20+ flowers for $5 or less and they're gorgeous.  Recently I made an "arrangement" of these for my grandmother's birthday using a vase from the dollar store and some snazzy-looking ribbon.  Talk about favourite granddaughter!

To view the tutorial where I originally got the idea, click here.

One modification I made for my flowers was to dye the coffee filters beforehand.  This is really easy (again, do you sense a theme here?) and I did it with water and food colouring.  Just stack some coffee filters on top of each other, fold them up and dip them in the dyed water... they will suck up all the colour they need - those thirsty little buggers. Play around with the intensity of the colour.  I found that they always dried lighter than they looked originally.

If you're impatient like me, you can use your blow dryer to speed dry them so you can get crafting right away.

Here are a few of the ones I made.  After a couple "peonies" or "roses" as I chose to call them, I varied the way that I cut the petals which resulted in different styles of flowers.  You can also cut off more paper on the ends to make smaller or larger ones.

Have fun!

The original peony

I think this one looks more like a rose

I'm calling this one a dahlia or perhaps maybe a water lily... you decide

One of my bouquets

Pesto Penne with Feta and Herbs

My husband is a great cook and, in fact, he does most of the cooking around our house.  If it weren't for him I would likely starve.  Or eat mostly apple sauce and cheese tortillas.  Either way, I'm grateful.

Here was our dinner tonight - another creation! I give you "Pesto Penne with Feta and Herbs"...

Ingredients:

• 2 cups penne, uncooked
• 3 tbsp pesto
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced
• 2 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
• 1 tbsp fresh marjoram, chopped
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup feta, chopped

Directions:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions.  Meanwhile, saute garlic in olive oil on low-medium heat.  After one minute, add pesto to pan and reduce heat to low. 
2. Combine sliced tomatoes with herbs and salt and pepper (to taste).  
3. Drain pasta and add cooked pasta to the pan with pesto and garlic. Add tomato mixture and feta and combine.  Serve and garnish with chopped basil and parmigiana cheese to taste.  Enjoy!

The final product... yum!

Some of the ingredients

Fresh herbs from the garden

Pesto and garlic sauteing in the pan

Tomatoes and herbs... I could eat this straight up

Creativity takes Courage

I love this quote