Full Month

Yay to me, and a full month of blog posts. A couple times there I had to play catch up and some were just random photos and others just my random thoughts, but still I did it. Plus that's what to me this is all about, just writing down whatever comes to mind. However, it really takes something to do this daily, I still want to go back and update/add some labels and maybe also make banner image for the top. We'll see... Oh yeah a photo :)

 

March 2004

2 of 12: Childsplay

Earlier today I was at the Tempe Center for the Arts. Me and a few other volunteers helped the Development Director for Childsplay, Melia Dunn, stamp and hand out a children's book to the attendees to the preview of musical of Peter and the Wolf. The musical runs from 01/30/2010 to 03/13/2010.

If you read either of the previous posts (Theatre for Everyone, Childsplay Brief ) where I volunteered to help with what I did today, then you know that this is one of the volunteer events I really enjoy. The volunteers get the opportunity to watch the play or musical afterwards. Everyone of the plays or musicals I have seen are just amazing. The actors are great, I specially like Michelle Cunneen.

Don't miss the chance to see any of their plays or musicals.

Posts with no Photos

As you saw, or didn't, the past several posts have no photos. I'm not a photographer by any means, but I always feel each post should have a photo, image, etc., and although I carry my Sony Cybershot camera in my bag the majority of the time, I still need to be more proactive in taking photos. So I will attempt to be more photoy(?) this year and hopefully there will be posts with photos rather than not...

 

This post was to also be a no photo post, but then I decided I should probably put a photo on it since that was the whole point of this post right? So I searched back to some fairly old stuff, memories.

This is a photo of when I was learning to use markers 1998 or 1999 I think. The outline was first made with pencil, then continued with markers, and a bit of blending with a paper stump.

Left and Right

I don't follow politics except for listening to left and right radio shows most mornings and evenings on my drive to and from work. The bottom line I get from the left is, let us help people by whatever means even if it means government helping. The bottom line I get from the right is, let us help our businesses however we choose and get out of the way government. Of course there is much more to get from each side, but it makes me guacala. I'll stick to listening to the crazies on each side, it's entertaining..

Rainy Days...

These past couple of weeks it has been cloudy and rainy. I really enjoy rainy days. Coffee tastes that much better on a rainy day. Although rainy days in Phoenix are nothing compared to the rainy days from Eagle Pass, TX, where I grew up in, and definitely can not compare to Seattle of Memphis, but still it was enjoyable. There are still a few clouds here and there with scattered "showers" however I wish it would last longer.

Labels

I read somewhere that blog labels should be kept to a minimum. So, I had narrowed my labels down to Family and Friends, Garden, Just Because, Photos, Reviews and Recipes, Travel, and Volunteer and Diversity. I think those are good main labels for what I mostly write about here, however I have found that I miss having the smaller narrow it down labels. Plus this blog is turining into sort of a timeline journal of sorts for me. I have found myslef coming back to reference old posts when I am trying to remember what I did and when. Anyways, this just means I am going ot update my blog to add or re-add  some of those narrow down labels.

Daily Blogging...

Blogging daily is something I am trying to do this year too. I have found that it takes true dedication to do. You have to really take and make the time for it otherwise it is not going to happen. Kudos to those who can keep up with blogging. Anyways hopefully I can keep up with it.

Car wetness

Yesterday's morning wetness on Car

 

Group Photo

Group Photo from the voluntering at/for the P.F Chang's Rock 'n'n Roll Arizona Marathon & 1/2 Marathon 2010...

Photo taken by volunteer, not me...

sometimes

sometimes me pregunto el porque seguir con este ya que casi nadie lo lee. Pero yo creo que es mas como undiario que no? Algo para deasahogar un poco de vez en cuando...

¡Pero Que Sera Esto!

¡Pero que sera esto! No, no es un UFO, es la Torre De Las Americas en San Antonio, Texas, United States. La fot es del 2004.

Una foto..

La entrada de la Iglesia de Guadalupe en Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico. La foto es del 2004.

Plastic bags...

Although I am making a point to carry at least one reusable bag wherever I go, I still find myself getting too many plastic bags. Even on volunteer events we get plastic goody bags. I wish I was crafty enough to re-purpose them, but I would just end up accumulating more than I would ever need and then get bored with whatever I attempted to make with them. So I'll just continue using the small/medium ones as small trash can liners and the bigger ones to put items that need to head to the Goodwill. And really, I should just use reusable bags instead of "trying" to use reusable bags.

Check out this photo of a dress made with plastic bags by an artist at the Roosevelt Row Harvest Festival 208. It's a bit fuzzy 'cause I took it really quick as I did not know if photos were or not allowed.

A Volunteering Bonus

A bonus to yesterday's volunteer event was getting a goody bag with coupons, samples, water tattoos, etc..

 

1 of 12 : P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon & 1/2 Marathon 2010

One down and eleven to go. This year, aside from being less hoardy, one of my goals is to volunteer at least 12 times. So hurray one down. Today I woke up at 3:15ish am to get to the water station our company would be manning for the P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon & Half Marathon 2010 by 5 am located at 7th Ave and Pierson. We were about 100 volunteers. We set up tables with cups of water to then give to the runners as they passed by while cheering them on. It was much colder than in 2008, but so worth it. The runners were very excited when they ran by our water station thanking us for being there, the water, and cheering them on. I didn't take my camera, so hopefully later I can get a copy of the group photos another volunteer took. If I do I'll post it later.

The back of the t-shirt we received.

Another Volunteer Photo..

At St. Mary's Food Bank in 2008 after helping sort out and weigh donations from various stores from around the valley...

Another Diversity Photo

From Thai Cultural Days in 2007...

 

Old Diversity Photo

2008 Photo from Native Trails at the Scottsdale Civic Center

Other things I like to do

Other things I like to do is go to diversity type events. From the music, food, culture, traditions, etc., there's always something new to learn.

Photo from Asian Festival 2008

Old Volunteer Photos

Putting fliers at the Chase Field for MDA. This was back in 2008.

Rocio was there.

and Aaron too.

Volunteering

Another thing I want to do this year is volunteer more often. I have always liked volunteering, and I have done it since I was in Junior High. However, the years 2007 and 2008 are the ones I was full force volunteering. This past year, 2009, I feel like I let it slide a bit and only participated in a handful of events. I should be able to at least volunteer once a month. That's only 12 times in a year of 365 days. If you think about it it's almost nothing. I'm not counting donating my hair to Locks-of-Love since that was a long time coming...


Photo from Light the Night Walk 2007

The Last ones

This is the one photo I took of the magazines. It might have been a more dramatic photo to have piled them all, but I might have not gotten ride of them if I did that. Best to have done it quick and with not much thought. The magazine even went through a name and format change from What's inStore to RED in 2005...

Little by little

Little by little I am making progress. I got rid of a huge pile of magazines that i have been accumulating for a little over 9 years. The magazines I got rid of are the monthly magazines that my work gives us.

At first I saved just the copy that I received to keep my own records of the times with the company. Then, I decided that two copies of each issue is what I should really keep in storage. So when I asked co-workers if they would give me their copy instead of tossing it, I ended up having anything from 5-30 copies of each issue. I thought to myself I will keep the two best copies of each and use the rest for crafts of some sort. I did babble here and there trying different crafts, but I am not patient enough.

So out they went in the recycle bin. Hurrah, progress! Although, I keep finding extras that I had stored in various other places, but their time has come...

Have a great weekend!!!

Documentary Weekend...

Yup, this past weekend I watched some documentaries. 

○ Wal-Mart The High Cost of Low Price - This one makes me want to buy less goods made in China, and solidifies why I prefer to not shop at their stores.

○ King Corn - This one makes me want to keep away on the lookout for products that contain corn syrup and avoid them. Also makes me want to avoid grain fed beef.

○ Welcome to Macintosh - This one makes me want to buy an apple product. I have none.

○ Maxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit, and the Era of Predatory Lenders - This one makes me think about the way I spend my money and better understand the nations debt.

Deb's Glazed Ham

Here's a recipe a friend game me. I typed it exactly as she wrote it.

Deb's Glazed Ham

               Boneless Ham
               Cloves
               Dijon Mustard
               Brown Sugar
2cans      Chunk Pineapple w/juice
1 1/2 c    Orange Marmalade
1c           Dark rum - Bacardi

Preheat oven to 350°. Cut all excess fat from ham then score the top and place cloves on ham. use spatula & spread dijon mustard over the top. Put brown sugar over the mustard. Bake for 1/2 hour.

While ham is baking mix the remaining ingredients in saucepan over low heat. Bring just to boiling then pour over top of ham. Bake for an additional 1 1/2 hours, basting frequently.

*Before pouring mixture on top of ham take toothpicks & stick pineapple chunks all over the top of ham.

Dia De los Reyes

Back where I was born(Eagle Pass, Texas, USA border with Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico) the X-mas decorations stay up until el Dia De Los Reyes. So I am keeping my holiday decorations up too. Should take them down this coming weekend.

No snow just ice

No snow just a bit of ice on X-mas Eve 2009.

My new short hair

Day after the cut...

maybe a little ocd

Over a year and a half ago, or maybe closer to 2 years, I decided to grow out my hair to donate it to Locks of Love. The original plan was to grow it for a year, however it did not grow as long as fast as I thought it would.

So I just let it continue growing with the intent of cutting it sometime in 2009. However, every time I thought I was ready to get it cut and send it to Locks of Love, I really wasn't. Turns out having long hair started feeling like a security blanket and something I could hide with. Weird.

I have a thing(maybe a little ocd) about keeping things longer than I need. Then I end up keeping stuff that just piles up. Not like those hoarder crazies that keep everything. It does not bother me or pain me when I do get rid of stuff; and I can do it in a whim without second thought.

Mine usually starts with an idea of how I can reuse, re-purpose, recycle, or up-cycle something. So I accumulate the things needed for whatever idea I had. Then, after having way too much stuff for that project. I start it, Get bored with it; finally tossing out the stuff I accumulated for it.

So this year my main goal is to be less hoardy. I needed to start somewhere, so the first thing to go was my hair A friend made pony tails of my hair, cut them and then used clippers for the rest. Felt so liberating once it was done.

I probably should have taken before and after photos.

 This is the hair.

Just a random photo

Welcome New Year 2010!

Welcome New Year 2010! Do you make new year resolutions? I don't know that I'll be making resolutions per say, more like keeping things in mind. Maybe just the typical stuff like being a little less whoardy, eat better, be happy, less credit cards, volunteering, etc... There are also things that I would like to do online and offline but then I get too many ideas that then I don't know where to begin. No matter what I am as ready as ready can be to ride the 2010 year!