Ward Hooper's Boise Rec Fest Poster & Rec Wall Unveiling

I realized that I haven't blogged yet about the Boise Rec Fest.  Basically the Boise Rec Fest is a festival being held in Ann Morrison Park on June 26-27 and is about all things recreation.  The hope is to fill the void left by the Boise River Festival.  I will definitely have to give a detailed post about the upcoming festival in another post.  For now, I just wanted to announce an exciting event happening tomorrow, April 1st, as part of First Thursday from 5:00-9:00.

Ward Hooper has designed a poster for the Rec Fest, and the poster unveiling is tomorrow at his studio - 745 W. Idaho Street (across from Old Chicago).  The first 40 visitors will received a signed copy of the Boise Rec Fest poster.

Also being unveiled is Ward Hooper's recreation themed wall mural on the 8th street side of 8th and Main.  The project is titles "Boise, Idaho - All Roads Lead to Recreation."

I hope you'll participate in this exciting First Thursday event!

...Check.

Clean both bathrooms including toilets... Check.
Clean bedroom and office... Check.
Do dishes and clean kitchen... Check.
Vacuum carpet throughout house... Check.
Sweep and clean hardwood floors... Check.
Dust all furniture throughout the house... Check.
File misc. papers... Check.
Clean out garage... Check.
Take 5 large garbage bags of stuff to DI... Check.

I'd say it's been a pretty productive day.  Think I'll relax a bit before I head off to the gym!

Garden Beds

As I mentioned in my post about staining my fence, I was able to have a second raised-bed garden built since my fence was moved and I now have more space in my backyard.  I am so excited for this extra space, although it does mean more work!  Yesterday, I got yard of compost and shoveled wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow full of compost into my new garden bed so that it is now ready for planting.  Hooray!  Now if the weather would just cooperate a little more (it snowed today!), then I can begin planting.

Also yesterday I was able to re-seed half my back yard (the grass died last year when I had a sprinkler malfunction) and transplant some raspberries.  My back is sore today!

Daily Vitamins

I have never been good about taking vitamins.  For some reason it's just never been part of my daily routine.  Well last month I decided I was going to start taking a multi-vitamin.  I went to GNC and told the salesperson I was looking for a multi-vitamin.  Not sure how, but I ended up walking out of the store with a box of vitamin packs.  So instead of taking one vitamin a day, I was taking SEVEN vitamins.  And let me tell you, they were DISGUSTING!  I couldn't stand the flavor, so would need to take them with an entire large glass of Crystal Light in an attempt to mask the flavor of the vitamins.  Needless to say, I stopped taking the vitamins.

I think it was Kris that suggested I try chewable vitamins.  I immediately said no way as I had flashbacks of those Flinstones vitamins.  I decided to head to Albertsons in search of ONE pill that I could take instead of my monster pack.  And guess what I saw there - One A Day Sour Gummy Multi-Vitamins.  Sour Gummies?  Those sounded great!  I bought a bottle to try them out, and they taste just like candy :-)  I bought four more bottles when I saw them on sale yesterday.  Basically I'm hooked!  I am now taking my vitamins faithfully!

Cook This Not That

For Christmas, my sister Mandi gave me a gift certificate for a free dinner once each month for a year.  I have really been enjoying my monthly meals!  This week Mandi made fish tacos.  I LOVE fish tacos.  A few years ago, I wouldn't have touched a fish taco because the thought of fish with a taco just didn't seem to go together.  Now fish tacos are one of my favorites.  Anyway, back to Mandi's fish tacos.  She tried a new recipe out of the book Cook This Not That, and it was amazing.  There was a fabulous rub on the tilapia and the mango avocado salsa completely tied the dish together.  So when I got a 40% off coupon in my email from Borders this week, I ran to the store and picked up a copy of the Cook This Not That book.  It is jam packed with great looking recipes (and lots of pictures!) and I already have my week's meals planned out.

Saturday Project

Each year I try to do something productive with my tax return money rather than just whittling it away.  Last year I did landscaping and got new blinds.  The year before that I put my tax return money toward a new motorcycle.  This year I had a major car repair and got a new fence on the side and front of my house!  I have wanted to get a new fence for a few years now... the wood was dull, there were several broken boards, and I really wanted the fence moved out to the sidewalk so I could enjoy the extra space in my backyard.  Before, I had a 5' wide strip of grass outside the fence that I wasn't able to enjoy.  Now it is enclosed in my backyard, and I had room to have a second raised-bed garden put in.  I'm excited to be able to double what I can grow in my garden.

Staining my fence once it was installed seemed like a daunting task, but I knew I needed to do it in order to preserve the wood.  I solicited help from my mom and dad, and we spent several hours yesterday staining both sides of the fence (one of the downers of living on a corner!).  We lucked out with absolutely gorgeous weather.  Thanks mom and dad for all of your help - I would still be out there working if it weren't for you guys!


I love how everything turned out.  I have extra space in my yard, a new garden bed, and I love the color of the fence.  I have learned over the last couple years that doing outside projects is a fun way to meet new people!  I had at least 6 or 8 neighbors (most of whom I had never met) stop by while I was staining my fence to say hi, to ask about who put up my fence, what color of stain I was using, who did my landscaping last year, or just to compliment me on the work I had done.

Sweet Compliment

I received a very nice compliment last week... one of the Boise State department chairs pulled me aside after a training and asked if anyone had ever told me I looked like Renee Zellweger.  I was flattered :-)  I don't really see much of a resemblance, but the compliment made me smile!

Mocktail Party

Last weekend, some girls from church hosted a "mocktail party".  We all dressed up and enjoyed a great assortment of drinks and some fun appetizers.  I thought this picture that someone posted on Facebook was kinda cute, so I decided to post it here :-)

Butterfly Cupcakes

My mom made the cutest cupcakes last week... just thought I would share!

New Toy

I broke down.  I got a new phone, this time WITH a data plan!  I decided the $8 more a month was worth it to be able to access my email and the web from my phone.  I've been having fun playing with my new toy all week.  I had initially intended to get an iPhone, but went with the new Motorola Backflip (droid) phone instead because I have the choice of a keyboard with buttons or the on-screen touch keypad.  I love it so far.

Trip to Texas

I spent this last week in Texas...  The first couple days of my trip were spent visiting my college roommate Jessica and her family.  I'm not sure why I flew into San Antonio instead of Austin, but I sure had fun with my rental car :-)  I got lots of waves, smiles, thumbs up, etc.

I love Jessica and am sad we don't live closer!  We had so much fun chatting, watching the Olympics, shopping at the outlet mall, eating delicious food (four words - creme brulee french toast), etc. that we forgot to take pictures!  This one was snapped just as I was leaving.

The rest of my week was spent at the Alliance Conference - where users from universities that use PeopleSoft from all over the world gather to discuss solutions to problems, present cool system modifications, make connections, etc.  This was my 5th year attending - I absolutely love this conference.  I always come away with a wealth of knowledge and wishing the conference could have lasted another day.

In the evenings after the conference, we enjoyed the San Antonio River Walk and some yummy food.  My co-worker Mark and I enjoyed BBQ at the County Line (where we got a kick out of how gigantic the water glasses were - the straws were at least an inch or two shorter than the glass) and had the best Mexican food at Rosarios... gotta love guacamole, fish tacos, and sopapillas.

We also had fun at the conference's closing night event - there was live country music, line dancing, photo ops, craps, etc.  It was definitely a good week...

Thank You 50+ Degree Weather

... Because of you I was able to take my motorcycle out for my first ride of the season.  I love sunshine and blue skies!

Olympics

Now that the Olympics are over, maybe I can get back to normal life.  I had fabulous timing with getting my TiVo, as I set up a season pass so I didn't miss any of the Olympics... and I loved fast forwarding through all the talking :-)  But I felt like all I did for two weeks in the evenings was watch tv!  My favorites were the ski & snowboard cross, snowboard half pipe, and the short track speed skating relays.  I also got into the biathlon and enjoyed the nordic combined.

My favorite night of the Olympics was when Lindsey Vonn, Shaun White, and Shani Davis all won gold!  I still have it saved on my TiVo and have watched it a couple of times :-)