Category Archives: Entertainment

What keeps me entertained? Sensory inputs such as movies, TV, music, books; generally, sitting on my ass staring passively at some sort of screen. But there are other things too, like hobbies such as dance, sewing and photography.

A Rare Peek at Me in My Service Uniform!

Posted in Art, Career, Entertainment, Me Me Me! by

Wow, I almost forgot to post about this – I guess that goes to show how far down blogging has been on my list lately! But I thought you’d enjoy a quick look at me in my VERY UNFLATTERING Fish and Wildlife Service official uniform. I ordered the cargo-style pants, thinking that they’d at least be more stylish than the women’s regular pants that tend to gather up near my boobs and taper towards the ankle. However, I did not realize that the cargo pants are actually made of cardboard. And I checked the label on my shirt – 10% polyester, 90% potato sack burlap. So I was itchy and scratchy and very hot the entire day!

Oh yeah – where was I??? A couple of weeks ago I volunteered to help out with the Junior Duck Stamp contest at the San Diego Zoo. Which was cool, because this is the first year in the 20-some year history that the contest was held outside of Washington D.C. It’s like the regular duck stamp contest, but school kids (hence the Junior designation) submit paintings for the stamp. And I must say, many of the entries (one from each state) were AMAZING. I couldn’t believe that these were done by kids – it almost made me want to paint again! You can read more about the contest and see the winning painting here; the money from purchasing a duck stamp goes to conservation, so pony up, people.

During the contest I got to be a Vanna – that is, I paraded one of the top five finalists in front of the audience and judges. I believe the painting I was holding came in 2nd (probably because of my excellent presentation). But enough talk – we all know that a picture is worth a thousand words!

The judges, reviewing the top 10 entries.

Go Vanna, Go!

These are actual ducks, not a painting, that were clamoring around the polar bear exhibit.

All that TV watching is finally paying off!

Posted in Entertainment, Humor, Movies and TV by

You guessed it – I’ve been chosen as a Nielsen family! Today I received my Nielsen Ratings TV Viewing Diary, and $30 cold hard cash. When they called to inform me of this honor, I thought I’d be getting a check for $30 or some form that I had to turn in with the diary in order to get $30, so you can imagine how surprised I was to see $30 in cash tucked in with my TV diary package. Woohoo!!! Thirty bucks to watch TV???!!! I have to track all my TV viewing for a week, starting this Thursday. I hope the TV diary has enough paper…

I know you are jealous.

Gettin’ Crafty

Posted in Entertainment, Hobbies by

Last Saturday was my third week in another series of sewing classes. I was originally going to sew up a little bag to match the skirt I sewed during the first two weeks, but on the spur of the moment I decided to whip up some Yule stockings for the kitties and doggy. I had some coordinating fat quarters that I used for the cats’ stockings, and leftover fabric from my skirt for Teddy’s bone stocking. The skirt turned out very well – my first zipper! – but I need someone to take a picture of me wearing it before I can show you what it looks like. Anyway, here are the stockings – too bad I won’t be here to watch the critters enjoy them! Oh well – at least they’ll get some treats while I’m visiting up in Portland/Camas.

Koski Reunion at Lake Tahoe

Posted in Entertainment, Friends and Family, Hobbies, Me Me Me!, Travel, Vacations by

A couple of weeks ago I took a few days off from work and flew to Lake Tahoe to meet up with most of the Koski clan. It was the first time I got to use my new camera (woo hoo!) and I’m sad to report that it appears that I, too, have been inflicted with a genetic disposition to take vast quantities of photos. This sickness has been further enabled by the fact that my new camera has a 2 GB storage card – you can only imagine how easy it was to snap off a few hundred pictures. At any rate, click here or on the picture below to see the top 50 photographs from this mini-holiday; just remember, there are plenty more where these came from, and if you don’t see a photo you were expecting to see, there may be good reason (i.e., future blackmail material, so stay on my good side, please). Enjoy!

D’oh! I’ve been Simpsonized!

Posted in Entertainment, Humor, Movies and TV by

Look at me – I’ve been Simpsonized! If you go to http://www.simpsonizeme.com/, you can upload a picture of yourself and undergo a yellowing process that will transform you into the newest Springfield citizen. Once the initial yellowing is complete, you can tweek things like your eyes, hairstyle, clothes, colors, and backgrounds. Here is the photo I uploaded and my final Simpsonized result:

Cuteness

Posted in Animals, Cats, Entertainment, Hobbies, Non-cats by

I recently purchased Photoshop Elements 5.0 so that I could start digitally scrapbooking. I’m kind of behind in my scrapbooking and part of the problem is that I’m so perfectionistic and making pages using paper and adhesives and cutting stuff out and all that takes so long to do – I haven’t started any pages recently because it’s just too much of an undertaking. So I decided to go digital and have my pages professionally printed – it’s actually quite cost effective, and is fast and easy to do. Plus, since I’ve been using my digital camera exclusively, I don’t have to print photos out and cut them up – one more step I can skip.

Anyway, that’s not what I wanted to write about. I purchased Elements and have been trying to learn how to use it. And the best pictures to start practicing on, I’ve found, have been pet pictures! So here are pictures of Zoe, Jesse, and Teddy – I’ve lightened and warmed them up, increased the contrast, and used a glow filter. Cute, huh?

Fabulous Teddy Wear

Posted in Animals, Entertainment, Hobbies, Non-cats by

I think Teddy Bear is going to benefit the most from my sewing classes. I used the last bit of yellow flowered fabric that I had to make a nice poofy Easter bow for him. Doesn’t he look nice? Awwwww… He can be sure to look forward to many fashionable clothing items in the future: a vest, booties, maybe a tail warmer. What a lucky dog [insert evil laugh here]!!!

Anne, you’re very proud of me, right???

Posted in Entertainment, Hobbies by

Ok, so I know all these posts are about sewing, but that’s my current kick so you’re just going to have to like it or lump it. About a year ago I bought some fabric from reprodepot.com, that’s pink and has tattoo images on it (skulls, hula girls, hearts with knives sticking through them, snakes, etc.), that I had wanted to sew a tote bag with. It was going to be my knitting bag, since I’d found the pattern in a wonderful book called Stitch n’ Bitch. Well, after my first sewing class I decided to break out on my own and do a project all by myself – hence this here fabulous tote bag. It turned out pretty well, the only weird thing about it being that the pattern was rotated 90 degrees from the selvage ends of the fabric. So, in the end, the pattern is sideways on the bag, but I guess every project is a lesson learned, right? I’m going to bring my bag in next week for a little sucking-up teacher’s pet session; the two other girls in the class (ages and 13 and 14) just really have no idea who they’re dealing with!!!

First Class Project: A+

Posted in Accomplishments, Entertainment, Hobbies, Me Me Me! by

In light of the fact that I was never going to learn how to sew without some serious help, I decided to sign up for a month’s worth of sewing lessons at Baker’s Sewing Center. Baker’s is located in historic downtown Escondido, and like most businesses there, has been around since about the 1940’s. Mrs. Nancy, my instructor, informed me that the class would be sewing pillow cases during the first two classes, so I headed down to JoAnn’s Fabric and Crafts store to pick out fabric for my first project. I chose a nice yellow cotton with small white flowers that would match a quilted bedspread that I have. Let me say that JoAnn’s is completely mind-boggling – there’s so much, too much really, to choose from. Anyway, by the end of my first class, I had completed one of my pillow cases, and was almost done with the second, which I completed about 15 minutes after I got home that afternoon. Yesterday was our second class, and I sewed up a “decorator” pillow to match the pillow cases that I sewed the week before, complete with an envelope back so that it’s easy to pop a pillow form in and out of. So voila! Here is my completed set – all the yellow items are the ones that I did. By the way – the quilt hanging above my bed was made by my sister Tyleen, who is a quilting genius.