Archive for August, 2008

« Older Entries

The Fruit of my Labor

Sunday, August 31st, 2008

We look good together.. right?

On July 2nd, I took my last CPA exam, and now I can finally celebrate the completion of this six-month long torture adventure. We were going to be responsible with my bonus, but then Cale suggested that I reward myself. So I did. I bought my very own Digital Rebel Xsi. I am using the kit lens, and I just ordered the “nifty fifty” lens to complement it. In the end, we are being about half responsible. And in life, isn’t that the best way to be? Responsible enough, but still allowing yourself some fun. I have definitely been having fun with my new camera. This past Thursday night I was the amateur photographer for my company’s softball game, and the pictures were distributed to our whole San Jose tax department. It was a ton of fun, and a great way for me to get to know my camera.

I am looking forward to learning more about photography and to capturing life’s moments in higher quality. I can definitely say that photography is my hobby now. How awesome is that? I have a hobby that does not consist of painting my toenails because that was about the only other thing I used to be able to think of that I could describe as a hobby. So now how about a bombardment of the past few days’ pictures? Yes?

The very first picture with the fresh out of the box camera

Not long after, the first self portrait

We had fun posing for the new camera

Oh aren’t we just so sickeningly sweet?

Mae Mae

While at softball, yeah there were over five hundred pictures from that hour. Next time I’ll lay off the burst mode.

The sky was just beautiful

Handsome Brodie

Maisie and her huge tongue. Huge.

A small sample of what is to come. But I better head to bed. I have to wake up early because the hubby and I are making a day trip to Fresno in the morning. I may be having tea with these lovely ladies. So I’m pretty darn excited. Bakersfield folks, don’t get your panties in a bunch; we will be coming to visit soon. Another weekend very soon. We’re just looking forward to being able to visit Fresno without the dogs in tow. I am super excited to spend some time with my good friend and new friends! I hope you all have exciting Labor Day weekends planned.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Those Corwins | 22 Comments »

23 going on 60

Thursday, August 28th, 2008

Twenty-Somethings. We all have our issues. Quarter-life crises. Pregnancy (for some, not me. Calm down!). Weddings. Careers. The common denominator: stress. And through all that we may forget the most important part of ourselves that we present to the world: our face. Sure you may wear makeup, but what about skin care? Washing your face in the shower is not all you need anymore ladies. We are just one step away from sixty. (Okay maybe a little dramatic, but seriously. We’re getting old).

Morgan‘s declaration of her love for Philosophy yesterday reminded me of my lonely jar of night cream in our medicine cabinet. During college I was religious about putting eye and night cream on after washing my face every single night. Then I got married, moved, and my routine is all our of whack. Thanks to Bare Escentuals boasting that it will not ruin your skin if you forget to wash your face at night, I forget every single night.

Well last night I opened up my blessed jar of night cream and even slathered on some eye cream. Among the many things I want to improve about myself, I can now add to the list being better about caring for my skin. Here is iVillage’s list of what us twenty-somethings should be doing. Just as an example I am going to share some of my favorite products:

Philosophy’s When Hope is Not Enough is so rich but doesn’t leave your skin super greasy

l’Occitane’s Immortelle eye cream. Does anyone else adore l’Occitane as much as I do? Love.

Am I the only person terrified of what my forty year old face will look like? Well maybe it’s just because both the hubs and I are notorious for our forehead wrinkles. Oh our poor future children.

ohh the wrinkles….

Tags: ,
Posted in Those Corwins | 15 Comments »

Okay they’re pretty cute

Wednesday, August 27th, 2008

The other morning I was getting ready for work when I realized it was abnormally quiet in our house. The dogs had been fed and were outside, but where was the cat? I turn around to grab my makeup bag out of our linen closet, and oh there he was, just taking a nap on the scale. He didn’t get out until I started blow-drying my hair. I thought it was pretty cute.

Then there was the day when we gave the dog their bones, and Maisie was doing a lot more growling than normal. She usually does this play growl that we all get a laugh out of, so she does it fairly regularly for the extra attention. Of course I was only able to catch a little bit of it on camera. Basically the whole video was a mess, but it cracks me up because yet again I fail at videotaping. Oh yes and Brodie is licking his bone instead of eating it. Which is just weird.

Note: In human world, I got my camera, but am too lazy to edit pictures besides the two I’ve uploaded to my flickr, so that’s all you get for now until I can give it a proper post of its own. It’s unfortunate that the new lappy is not arriving until Friday because this one is being stubborn and making uploading pictures harder than it should be. Which just proves that it’s a good thing we’re replacing it. (Hear that computer.. prove me wrong… act really nice for the rest of the week and maybe we’ll keep you around for more than just acting as a “slave” or whatever Cale has in store for you….)

Tags: ,
Posted in Those Corwins | 7 Comments »

Eco Cleaner

Tuesday, August 26th, 2008

When we got back from Tahoe, I took the day to recoup. Well I intended to. Then I remembered a project I had been meaning to complete for quite some time. I had always wanted to make my own house cleaners, but after we moved into our house, we found that we had about five different bottles of cleaners. We weren’t exactly needing any more. So I held off. But this day, we had just run out of our last bottle. I did a little dance and then marched myself over to Walmart (gag, yes it was the worst trip ever, and I’m not sure the five bucks I saved was worth the headache I left with).

I ended up using two different sources to figure out what things I need to buy at the store and how I was going to put the cleaners together. I figured I’d share my methods for any of you who want to save a buck on your cleaners.

To Buy at the Store:

  • White Vinegar
  • Distilled Water
  • Lemon Juice
  • Ammonia
  • Borax
  • Baking Soda
  • Rubbing Alcohol
  • Hydrogen Peroxide
  • Optional: Liquid Castile Soap. I could not find this when I went the first time, but recently saw it in Target next to all their bath products near the makeup aisle
  • Optional: Essential oils to fragrance the cleaners. I passed on this just because I was exhausted and did not have a clue where I could find some
  • Funnel
  • Labels
  • Spray Bottle: I reused empty Method Shower Spray bottles. The labels are easy to take off and the rubbing alcohol takes off any of the sticky stuff left on.

A lot of these products are basic and many of you may already have them around your house. I didn’t, and did not know that white vinegar would be in the food aisles. So there you go, you now know how completely inept I am around the house.

Here are some uses for your new household products:

  • General Cleaning:
    Just mix half and half cheap white vinegar and water in a spray bottle. I added some lemon juice thinking it would make it smell like lemon, not so much because I don’t think I put in enough, but if you add 7/8 drops of your choice of essential oils I’m sure you could make it smell really yummy.
  • Glass Cleaner:
    Mix half rubbing alcohol and half distilled water with a couple teaspoons of white vinegar in a spray bottle.
  • Bathroom Cleaning:
    Okay to be honest, I haven’t done this yet because we still have two half bottles of bathroom cleaners, and I just hate wasting things like that. But apparently you use baking soda and for stubborn grime, pile together baking soda and water, and put a little white vinegar on top for some bubbly scrubbing power.
  • Laundry: I use a concentrated laundry detergent, but I’d always had issues with getting our sheets clean clean. So I washed them in hot water (normally I wash everything in cold water) with a 1/2 cup of Borax. They came out so fresh and non-sweat stained!

It was all so easy and I just love having my own bottles of cleaners. It’s like I have some secret potion. The following are the sites I used and between the two there are formulas to clean pretty much any surface in your house. The Green Guide and Green Home. Do you have any household cleaning tricks you can share?

Tags: , ,
Posted in Those Corwins | 24 Comments »

« Older Entries