Sunday Crafts: Melted Crayon Art

Preview:

I absolutely LOVE Sundays.  Why so?  Well, for one, I don't have to go into lab (most of the time) to check on my cells and it's usually my day of relaxation.  Recently, my only obligations seem to be my morning long run.  I fueled up with pb toast and bananas and headed out for a 12-miler on what just happened to be a gorgeous day in San Diego.  It actually got into the 80s today, but luckily I finished by run when it was only in the low 70s.  Warm, but beautiful.  I was also feeling good because this was my last long run before the half marathon next weekend!  I scoped out a majority of the course and besides a gradual hill from mile 8-10, the rest of the course is flat and the last 2+ miles are downhill!  (today's run, 12 miles: 9:56 min/mi 1:59:14; took it pretty easy, but legs feeling refreshed)

View on my run, via Instagram

Onto the important things!  Sundays are also great because I have time to do things I normally don't: CRAFTS.  If you're currently breathing and especially if you're a girl then, more likely than not, you've heard of Pinterest.  A lot of my crafting inspiration comes from Pinterest and one of my favorite finds is melted crayon art.  My favorite ones I've seen are one using blues and grays to look like rain and another using greens and yellows to look like grass and then with flowers added for embellishments.  There are many other ideas and color schemes, but I chose to replicate those ones.

Supplies:
2 boxes 64-count Crayola crayons
2 canvases (I used 11 x 17)
Hot glue gun
Hairdryer
Newspaper or something to cover floor/wall
Black marker/paint
Floral embellishments

Directions:

• Get your supplies together

 

• Choose your colors and set them up in your chosen pattern.  Optional:  Stencil on a picture you like with permanent marker or paint.

• Use hot glue gun to glue down crayons.  My personal preference is having all the crayons symmetrical with the "crayola" side showing.

• Let crayons dry for ~20 min. to make sure they're firmly glued to the canvas.  In the meantime, grab your favorite beverage and drink up!

 

White wine for me on a nice sunny day.  You can bet I bought the wine purely for the name and label

• Set canvases up against a wall with something covering the floors and wall in case wax spashes.
• If you drew or painted something on the canvas, make sure to cover it with masking tape.
• Plug in hairdryer and put on high setting.  Crayons may begin to melt at different rates and you may want to focus the heat on certain area more than others.  Play around with the settings and movement of the hairdryer to get the crayons to melt the way you want it to.  It may not be perfect, but that's the beauty of this art.
  
  
  
• I let the crayon melt further down the canvas on the "rain" one and made the crayons melt together more.  I wanted the "grass" one to look more individual, like stems, and still have room to put flowers.
• Turn the "grass" canvas over and apply flower embellishments
  
  
  
  Overall it can be a little time consuming, but it's the perfect craft for a free day.  Can't wait to hang them up!
  
  

Roommate Reunion: Cruisin' and Boozin' and then some

I'm BACK!

after a glorious weekend reuniting with my wonderful/beautiful/amazing college roommates!

we cruised...

   ...and we boozed

we also ate, made friends, watched football, danced, and just plain enjoyed our crazy company!  (I even ran 3 miles on the treadmill on the cruise ship on Saturday!)Ensenada Papas&Beer, you did us good.  We may have spent 4 of the 5 hours we were actually in Ensenada at Papas&Beer.  My eyes have seen things they wish they hadn't and we went through numberous beer buckets.  The cruise overall was a success!  Just being with these girls made it such a great experience.  We're already planning our next reunion/trip!

When I got back home Monday, I crashed and burned.  I haven't felt so exhausted and sleep deprived in a long time.  With good reason, I bet...I was sick in bed all Tuesday and Wednesday with body aches, chills, headache, and fever.  I caught it in Mexico?  Well I'm all better now; finally made it into work on Thursday and feeling 100% today.

One of the bummers of being sick is that it definitely threw a wrench into my workout/training schedule.  Besides my running on the ship on Saturday, today was the first day I've felt good enough to run all week :(  I hopped on the treadmill and gave it a go, just to see where I was at.  5 miles later and I was feeling better than I expected.  I must confess that it was probably because I watched Moneyball  while I was running and movies seem to make the miles fly by.  

As for tonight: Sushi at FishAttack (my favorite Sushi house! Try it if you're in San Diego!), a little baking, some wine, and t.v. with my better half.

Cheers!

Stem Cells, Baseball, and Wine. Oh My!

So it's been a few days over a week since I've last blogged. My bad. But this time I actually have some good excuses and fun things to share with you. I've basically been living out of a suitcase and hotel for the past week and half and simply haven't had the time!

It all started Labor Day weekend when I went up to Shaver Lake with some former roommates, old friends, and new friends. It was a quick trip (got there late Friday night and left Sunday afternoon) but it was well worth it to relax and enjoy the weekend with great company! Had fun in nature with jet skis, the spa, delicious food and drinks, and some of the most hilarious people I know. Unfortunately, no post-worthy pictures because I was too busy being one with nature!

When I got back from the lake trip Sunday night, I headed straight down to downtown Pasadena, where I would be staying in a hotel until Friday. Why, you may be wondering? Before I start my internship I had to take an Advanced Stem Cell Training Course at USC! I felt like I learned a lot and really enjoyed my time there. It also wasn't bad getting to stay in Pasadena with great shopping, food, and bars!

View from hotel window in Pasadea, Eli and Edythe Broad CIRM Center (Source), Dissection mouse embryo

Luckily, I got the weekend free and was able to spend some time with my favorite people.  I went to an Angels vs. Yankees game at Angel Stadium with two of my former roommates, Jessie and Shannon, along with Jessie's current roommate Melissa and a few of Jessie's high school friends. Beer + Baseball + Friends make for a great night.  Plus, the Angels won!

Sunday afternoon I had a sort-of "last hoorah" planned at Malibu Wines with some friends because it was actually my last free weekend before the big move!  Malibu Wines is one of my favorite places for many reasons; they have excellent wine, the atmosphere is laid-back and fun, and there are always good people-watching opportunities.  I have Shannon to thank for introducing me to this wonderful place this summer and I can't thank her enough!  I think I was a little spoiled going to school at Cal Poly and living it up at the nearby wineries in Edna Valley or Paso Robles once I turned 21.  This winery goes above and beyond though!  They have live music on Friday nights and the weekend, extended summer hours, and on Thursday nights during the summer they have showing of old/classic movies!  About two weeks ago I went to go watch Singing in the Rain and it was great way to spend a night with a bottle of wine, blankets, and a movie, all under the night sky.   Let's get back to the weekend at hand though...I invited some friends + my mom to come with and bring something delicious to eat (another great thing about Malibu Wines is getting to bring in food a la picnic style).  Let's just say that everybody did there part and that there was more than enough food.   Spent the afternoon tasting, eating, drinking, and just spending quality time with some of my favorite people.

Fun Fact: If you watched Bachelor Pad at all, on one of the dates they drank one of the wines from Malibu Wines.  They two labels they sell are Semler and Saddlerock.

Malibu Wines
31740 Mulholland Highway
Malibu, California 90265
818-865-0605 

Top Left: Adam, me, Cat  Top Right: Allie, Me, Shannon  Bottom Left: Nikki, Andi  Bottom Right: me, Shannon

Oye, then I had to go back to USC for two more days of training on Monday and Tuesday, followed by class yesterday.  Now, Shaun should be here any minute!  We're leaving for San Diego tomorrow morning to do some apartment hunting!  Wish us luck!