Nostalgia: Garbage Pail Kids

Posted by random olio

I was a child in the 1980’s. One of the things I enjoyed (I think with lots of other kids of that era) were Garbage Pail Kids. I had not thought of them in ages until I came across them on this website. You can order an iPhone case in the Garbage Pail Kid of your choice. I hear the cards are also making a comeback.

I remember my grandma saying: “Seriously, Tami those cards are raunchy. Why would you spend your money on such filth?” (said with a flair of disdain for the choices I made). I always laughed. She did not get it. Although, I do not think I ever was truly enamored with these cards, I think it was just the rage at the time. You purchased them, collected them, traded them, and eventually lost interest. I have to admit, looking at them now many years later, they are creative, but yes raunchy and a bit pointless. If you think about it, a kid collects a baseball card, because of the talent, batting average, and amazing career of a specific athlete (for the most part). What amazing intrigue is there with a Garbage Pail Kid?

It even looks like folks are paying quite a lot for these ‘raunchy’ cards. Ebay lists 22,919 results when you search: Garbage Pail Kids. Shocking. Well I got a few chuckles out of myself as I scrolled through to remind myself of the different cards. Although I could not for the life of me remember any of them. I am surprised that kids today would find them remotely interesting. They have so many other toys and games to interest them and keep them constantly plugged into technology. Is it just the gross factor?

Ah well, I am done contemplating the future of Leaky Lindsay and Drippy Dan.

Happy weekend to all!

Weekend Recap: Relaxed and grateful!

Posted by random olio

I had another good weekend. Chris is finally feeling better (he was out most of last week)! I love going to bed on Sunday night with the laundry done, fresh sheets on my bed, the house cleaned, and as much crossed off the list as possible. Yesterday we put a bunch of items on eBay to sell, and got through some things that have been on our list for weeks. It felt great to end the weekend with some relaxing time spent together. I got a couple of good runs in, and I feel ready to tackle the week ahead!

It made me think, how do others approach the end of their weekend and the changeover to a new week? How do you make sure you are relaxed and you get some rest before your week starts?

On Saturday, I was waiting for an elevator to go into a building for an appointment and I had this overwhelming sense of gratitude and appreciation for life. The thought that came to me was to not take any of this for granted. I then went over many large things in my life that I am grateful for – what a humbling experience.

Since it is Monday, and I had my humbling moment on Saturday, I wanted to share a bit of inspiration with you. I have included the quote from David’s blog here, but be sure to click to also see the great painting he included (Thank you, David Kanigan):

“You can be fully satisfied with where you are, understanding that you’re eternally evolving. When you get into that place of feeling appreciation of where you are and of who you are, and appreciation of what you are, and you accept that you are a never-ending, always unfolding Being, then you can stand in that delicate balance of being optimistic about what is to come, without being unhappy about where you stand. Find a way of eagerly anticipating future changes, while at the same time you are in love and satisfied with who, what, where and how you be.” —- Abraham

And a not so serious post from David. For those of you that do not click on the link it says:

“I do 5 sit-ups every morning. May not sound like much, but there’s only so many times you can hit the snooze button.”

Happy Monday!

A weekend of favorite things…

Posted by random olio

Happy Friday! So it is ALMOST the weekend. What do you have planned? I am looking forward to the weekend, to relaxing, spending time with my hubby, sleeping, some good food, and getting caught up on a few things. I recently blogged about the book: “All the Money in the World: What the Happiest People Know About Getting and Spending” by Laura Vanderkam. She talks about how we can have better weekends with just a bit of planning. Some weekends could be on the frugal side and some weekends we could splurge a bit. What would your ideal weekend look like? Here is an excerpt on this topic in her book:

“What would it be like to fill a day, or even better, a whole weekend, with one’s favorite things? How would one do that? What are those favorite things? And most important for the sake of this book, what would that cost?” page 109-110

So my ideal “frugal” weekend with my favorite things: It would start with sleeping in, then getting my run in, showering and heading into Portland for a yummy breakfast. If I were to pick my favorite place in Portland for breakfast it would be VQ (Veritable Quandary). Afterwards, going with my hubby to explore new boutiques in town. Exploring new boutiques gets my creative juices flowing and inspires and encourages me to look at design, patterns, colors, and then when I come home I want to paint, write, and explore what has interested me on our boutique adventures. In the evening, I would want to snuggle on the couch and watch a movie. Just a top of mind ideal weekend.

I thought I would also share a few photos that we found while out exploring recently. This we found in Santa Barbara, California. It is a fun way to grow plants, using an old or used wine rack.

planter idea in Santa Barbara

This chair (I cannot imagine how much it weighs) we found at Anthropologie. I love it. Not at all comfortable, but just a clever design using old radiators!

chair in Anthropologie

What would your ideal weekend look like?

Happy weekend to you – hope you have some sun!

Dance Naked!!

Posted by random olio

Happy Monday to everyone! How was your weekend? There is sun here in Portland which is making me a bit giddy, maybe because my iPhone says rain for the rest of the week. I had a full weekend. We spent much of Saturday running errands around town and Sunday cleaning. Yes, cleaning again. Due to the rain and slightly warmer temperatures, our house became the home of ants in many of our rooms. We are used to it, we have lived here a few years, and they always come out in armies this time of year. It always gets old chasing them down. Ants are ants, I do not mind them, what I do mind is when they are crawling on my counters, or get anywhere near my bed. So after chasing them around the house, we usually always clean a ton, in hopes that they will not come back, and maybe just to clear our head of all the ants we have seen.

In honor of giddiness, sun, and that it is now April, I wanted to encourage you to: DANCE NAKED this week!

framed print on our wall

I love this print. I purchased it at the Lake Oswego Art Festival a few years back and framed it. For a long time it was over my desk and I would look at it while I worked. Now it is in our hallway. It reminds me to not work so hard, to get up and dance to music, to play, be free and have fun! On occasion, I get right to the point and dance naked!

Go enjoy your day, be playful, and if you feel so inspired – then DANCE NAKED!

Triple C weekend – (Cleaning/Creativity/Cookies)

Posted by random olio

I had a great weekend! Chris and I randomly started cleaning out the garage on Saturday. We purged, took items to Goodwill, organized, found items to sell on eBay, and then headed into the house and thoroughly cleaned. Ah, spring cleaning! It is almost as though spring cleaning should be done spontaneously. We even did all the laundry. It felt great to accomplish so much together. At the end of the night I made Chris’ favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies.

mmm...chocolate chip cookies

I have been making this recipe for years, but rather than type it up, I also found it recently posted here. My notes on how I alter this recipe: I use 2 cups of chocolate chips. I bake both cookies sheets at the same time and switch which rack they are on at about 6 1/2 to 7 minutes in to the baking time. I also make smaller cookies (use 1 Tablespoon) to form each ball. Mine look chewier (and are chewier) than the picture on the recipe link.

Since we worked so hard on Saturday, Sunday felt laid back, AND while we had moments of snow flurries, what we also had is SUN. Gosh how we Portlanders fill with glee when the sun comes out. It was perfect. For most of the afternoon, my studio had sun. It was bright and I was inspired. So, between yummy brunch and my run, I painted for quite a few hours. I finished a painting and have almost finished another.