Color Rotation Challenge

I made this challenge up. (I hope. I did try to google it to see if I could find anything and I didn't so I still think I made it up.)

Ever since I did Kendi's 30 for 30 challenge, I wanted another challenge to keep me inspired. I have been trying to come up with a new creative challenge. I came up with a few ideas. I wasn't sure about them. Then I came up with this one.

Color Rotation means that you will rotate the colors of the rainbow plus a few neutrals. It allows you to wear a variety of things and helps you get out of a rut of wearing the same color all the time (currently I wear red half the time).

The plan is to rotate the colors. I will be starting with pink and continue with the following rotation: pink, red, orange, yellow (I only own one yellow shirt so I will skip this color in other rotations or buy more yellow), green, blue, purple, white, gray, black, brown. (The same order as my picture below.)

1. Rotate colors
2. Don't repeat clothes if you wore them for that color but say you wear black pants with a red shirt for red then you can repeat the black pants.  It also fits if you have cardigans and are wearing a few colors.  (This outfit would work for red or for black in the rotation as an example.)
3. You don't have to be monochromatic. Just make sure you include the designated color somehow that day.
4. Variations of colors work. Don't stick to colors in a crayon box. Coral, teal, turquoise, burgundy, sapphire, etc can all fit into a certain color. So make it work however you want. 
5. If you have something special, you need to wear a certain outfit for, you can skip a day or two. Really do whatever you want. It's just for fun.
6. Goals: Go through all colors 3 times. Wear a wide variety of things in my closet.

Who is in? If you want to join, place my banner on your blog and comment or email me so I can add you to a list of participants. I will make a post of participants once I have a few.  I'm excited. I hope you are too.

I'm starting October 1. That will give you time to get your ducks in a row if you want to start on the same day.

<center><a href="http://scrapandrun.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFe9Ps96jp0kor46ZgD0nRjO2f2Kb3ZWybxomWuJF1w64NvLGi0NOKgRbOKDB9UXwVuhtyXF7-9paGx2jzfbPRPzh3mLCXX0dzoiwoeLdKGj8Abmdeu2kai1khv_Yl2eY1dJvdRYP8n0Q/s1600/IMG_4546b-web.jpg" /> </a></center>

At the end of October I will, of course, have a follow-up post on what I learned like I did for the 30 for 30.

(BTW I made this banner myself. Aren't you proud? It's my first banner. I took pictures of my closet today for the banner. I had to do 3 photo shoots. The first time I had to remove the tank tops because seeing hangers was no good. The second time I realized I had yellow before orange.  I also moved brown from the left to the right and removed a few of my white and black things. They took up too much space.)

Update: I'm not counting shoes or necklaces and I did not mention that above. 

A Day's Worth of Twitter

08:33:31 AM - wow the great race is this weekend. i haven't been mentally preparing at all. My allergies are so bad.
04:26:52 PM - @iamoddd I always just put all my sweaters out flat one on top of the other and slowly remove the top one when it dries. takes up to a week.
04:27:12 PM - @iamoddd Also I don't have a clothesline and we aren't allowed to have them in our plan.
11:20:17 PM - watched a lot of TV shows tonight. It was nice.

You can find me as @smilincolleen on Twitter.

Chicken Parmesan Recipe

Before we cooked, I saw Poly resting in her new home.

This recipe is based on memory.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Get 3 bowls ready with flour, egg, and seasoned bread crumbs.
I used 2 eggs. The rest I had no amounts.
Pound down the chicken.  1 chicken breast.  Cut the breast in half and half again. In the picture above it's just after the first cut and the pounding.  I need a hammer of some sort. Using my palm to pound it down hurts by the end.
Heat the skillet on the stove on medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes.
Put 2 tablespoons of oil and 2 tablespoons of butter in the pan (note I had to add more butter by the end)

Put chicken in flower, egg, then breadcrumbs making sure to cover thoroughly.  Put in pan. 

Do not cover all pieces of chicken. Cover 1 at a time, adding them to the pan 1 at a time. 

After 2 minutes in the pan rotate them. (like the edge that is in the center goes toward the edge. do not flip)

After 2-3 minutes flip

After 2 minutes rotate

After 2-3 minutes, they are done (if you were not doing chicken parm you would have to ensure they were 100% cooked but you do not have to here. 

Get a 13x9 dish. Cover the bottom in sauce.
Place chicken on dish.
Top with sauce and mozzarella cheese

Put in the oven for 15 minutes

Then it's time for your helper to rest.

I started the water for the pasta maybe a few minutes before I put the chicken in the oven. It boiled a few minutes early so I would have been OK. I was making "cut spaghetti" which takes 7 minutes to cook.
Put the meat on to cook and the water on to boil. ( I prefer slightly under 1/2 lb of meat. 1/3 lb is perfect but Dave likes a little more. This time I used .6 lb. The guy rounded high instead of low.)
Stir the meat and season. I use a ton of garlic, pepper, and basil. I use a little bit of onion powder and chili powder.
Once the meat is cooked, drain the grease.

Add sauce.
Season (I use the same seasoning as above plus oregano.

And it is all done within 20 seconds of each other.

Enjoy

Yup that mound of spaghetti is mine

Look how beautiful and moist the chicken is

Then have some pumpkin roll for dessert that was purchased from Giant Eagle.

This is the first time I ever made chicken parmesan. Dave made chicken parmesan once last summer. That was a day he cooked while I was mowing.  I have a ton of leftover pasta and a ton of leftover chicken. Too bad Dave won't eat any of it. I have too many leftovers.
I have to say it turned out better than almost every single restaurant I've had it in.

PS I only cooked so that I could take pictures of the process and final product to post on here.

New Boots & Accessories (9.21.10)

Tuesday I killed some time at the mall. I ended up with 2 new necklaces and a new set of thigh highs.

Both necklaces are from forever 21. They are both long. They both cost 9.80.
Forever 21 was the first store I went in at the mall.
Shades of purple necklace shown here.
Elegant beaded necklace found here.

One of the last stores I went in was VS. I had a $10 off because it's my birthday month.  I bought a new pair of thigh highs even though my last pair from there got a runner after wearing them one time.  They were $14 but I got them for $4. I can't find the Satin top ones online. I only ended up with this style because they had nude in B. But here are VS hosieries.

The boots were $30 and are Etienne Aigner. I just found the link online to show the rest of you and they are $25 online! Originally 89.99.

Now It needs to get a little cooler for me to wear them to work. They are a 9.5. The 10 seemed to fit at the store but they were too big in the calf so I went with the 9.5. I had on knee highs at the store though instead of a regular sock.  Well when I went to wear these on Wednesday, a regular sock made them too tight. I have a thin brown pair of socks that I put on instead and they worked fine. I'll wear a thin sock to make them fit better in the leg. Also sorry the pictures of me in the boots aren't that good. Those were full body photos taken that I cropped down and my feet are rarely in focus when the rest of me is.

Now I own black boots and brown boots.   I think I need to wear them more often than once every other month.

Friend Friday: Dos and Don'ts

1. What do you think are some of the top fashion don’ts? (Things you would never be caught dead in and cringe when other people wear them.) Wearing multiple different weird patterns together.  I can picture in my mind what I'm trying to say.  But some people wear multiple patterns that are so crazy weird and don't seem to go together at all. I can't handle that...ever.  I also think really short shorts that are high waisted are no good. Open toed boots will never be understood by me. 2. What previous fashion don’t do you now wear with pride? A previous fashion don't FOR ME was open toed shoes because of my messed up toenail and now I wear my sandals that are open toed and love them.  I remember a few years ago commenting how I would never wear that and then noticing I started to. I just can't think of what it is. I remember a thought in 7th or 8th grade (or maybe 6th) about how Flares were crazy and I'd never wear them. Then the next year I started wearing them along with the rest of the class. The first year only a few people had them.  I had the same thought about Skinny jeans. I never thought they'd work. Now I try them on seeing if they'd fit (they never do, so I don't own a pair). 3. Do you think there is a universal fashion do? I'm not sure.  Little black dress 4. What items lately, either recently in style or coming in now, do you think should never make it off the retail shelves? I can't think of a single example. The more I think the more I realized at my last mall trip, how I hated everything. I can't pinpoint why though.  5. In your opinion, is there any blogger, fashion icon, celebrity who some how manages to pull off some fashion don’ts and still look good? Anytime I see a fashion don't and notice it, the person isn't pulling it off. Now maybe some people have pulled off a fashion don't but then I don't notice. Therefore I have no examples of this working. I have a lot popping into my head that I think about that the person should have never done that. I kind of feel bad answering these questions. I am no fashion expert. I didn't even know there was a Fashion Week or that it was happening if it wasn't for some of the blogs I read mentioning it. I saw some pictures from Fashion Week and hated everything I saw.  I shouldn't have even answered these. I didn't have answers to most of them.

A Day's Worth of Twitter

07:11:06 AM - I took my gowear fit off while sleeping. Weird.
02:53:47 PM - i look gutty in my dress today :(
03:58:43 PM - someone got cheez itz crumbs all over my dress. That someone was me when i ate a lot of cheez itz. yum.
04:13:51 PM - You don't want to have a panty line RT @briecs: I do not understand g strings and thongs. I don't think I ever will. @briecs
04:21:53 PM - VS seamless still had a "line" when I walked. RT @briecs: @SmilinColleen Seamless panties, though. I mean, Victoria's Secret and Soma sell..
05:46:34 PM - DiBella's service is very slow today.
05:48:42 PM - I think it is pants dependent a lot of the times RT @briecs: @SmilinColleen My Soma ones and my Sexy Little Things have no line.
05:50:03 PM - Now there is a long line. I'm glad I got my order in.
07:26:24 PM - Just generated a Tweet Cloud, my top words are: time, poly, kitty - http://w33.us/7tzj (http://twitpic.com/2raysx)
09:36:56 PM - a plumber finally called me back. we will have a hose bib next week.
10:35:16 PM - my calves are too fat for skinny jeans but too skinny for leather boots. :(

You can find me as @smilincolleen on Twitter.

A Day's Worth of Twitter

10:27:13 AM - Mine too RT @_Poly_Kitty: Telecommuting days are my favorite. http://yfrog.com/mwxxgpj
10:37:06 AM - She likes me RT @_Poly_Kitty: Who knew legs were so comfortable to nap on http://yfrog.com/n1gdzyj
11:22:00 AM - @DaizyCh Your earlier tweet didn't show up in chrome bird but this one did. The earlier one says it'st he Ustream thing.
12:32:04 PM - I'm hungry. I'm going to have to move Poly to get her off of my lap. I feel so mean if I make her move though.
04:23:25 PM - well i told another coworker about my calendar site. wonder if she thinks i'm crazy.
06:51:35 PM - Just did 30 min on the exercise bike. I took it easy.
10:33:50 PM - PB is making fun of my alarm times. http://plixi.com/p/46596184

You can find me as @smilincolleen on Twitter.

September 21, 2010

Shirt: Express (2008)
Pants: VS (March 2010)
Necklace: Sears (2010)
Shoes: Famous Footwear (2009)

I wear tons of red. I should probably wear my red skirt soon.

I had a 4:00 allergy and asthma doctor appointment. I took work to do while I was waiting. They didn't keep me waiting at all. I didn't have any opportunity to do it. The only time I waited was when the newer lady couldn't figure out how to get me into the system for the breathing test. I could barely handle the stupidity about that.  Since I was in Monroeville, I went to Johnny Carino's for dinner.  After my appointment, I called JD to invite him. He was able to make it.  I had 45 minutes to kill at the mall. That wasn't long enough. I failed at finding things. I didn't even use my $15 birthday coupon at Express.

On my way home, I went to Famous Footwear. I had a $15 off $75 coupon but I couldn't find enough of what I was looking for. I bought boots. I will post about those in a separate post.

Then all these shows are premiering this week so I watched some TV after.

I learned my asthma doctor is weird like me. This is why I love him.  He takes a picture of himself after he runs like I do. He then sends it to people. I do that too. He uses a Nike+. He runs. He runs races!  He one upped me by saying when he takes his picture, he puts his ipod in view so you can see his Nike+ data. I don't do that. I do take screen shots of iMapMyRun so that has the final time and distance. I include that data on my blog but not sure if I email that to people.   I told him how my face gets red when I run. He said that his one daughter's does too. I then get out my camera and scroll to find a pic of me after a run. I found one. It wasn't that bad either and he was shocked at how red.  People always do that. They know someone that's face gets red, they see my picture of my red face and they are shocked. I guess their friends don't ever turn nearly as red as mine.  Below is the picture I showed him.

A Day's Worth of Twitter

07:38:48 AM - Brrrr
08:52:06 AM - @fmeissner359 It is freezing when you wake up if you sleep with the windows open then later that day it goes up to 80.
09:34:22 AM - @fmeissner359 Extremely hard. I hit snooze for 50 minutes even though I was awake and under the covers for about 30 min of that.
10:44:32 AM - email to my department: use meeting invites for meetings instead of emails with the info. DUH. i can't believe this had to go out.
04:08:28 PM - @TENroaches omg. Just like that pic you posted awhile ago with old people and computers. Ack
04:18:57 PM - I don't even know why I come here; I never take the prescriptions they tell me to.
04:53:39 PM - Dr Asman is the best. I told him how @TENroaches forgot to use his inhaler today. He disapproves.
05:04:04 PM - I told dr Asman my face turns red when I run. He said his daughter too. Then I showed him a pic. He was shocked how red.
05:05:26 PM - Dr Asman takes a pic of himself after he runs like I do and sends it to his daughters. But he also gets his iPod screen in view with Nike+ #
08:52:26 PM - @TENroaches impressive 42 miles
08:54:31 PM - @TENroaches old person = the new lady at the dr's office. she can't do anything on the computer right.
09:39:35 PM - I want to eat but I am so full.

You can find me as @smilincolleen on Twitter.

Photo of the Day - Skype

On September 20, 2010, Poly was using Skype with my family.

A Day's Worth of Twitter

12:37:27 AM - I almost went to bed 2 hours ago. I got distracted trying to find races to run. I don't know why because it hurts to run.
08:57:28 AM - took 30 minutes to get my work laptop working this morning.
09:40:24 AM - @TENroaches "http://i.imgur.com/jQXPr.png So true about ice cubes." -- you're right you're right.
01:07:14 PM - I rush to get to a meeting only to learn everyone will be 10 minutes late.
01:50:50 PM - i just got a call about something for the lawn for 90 bucks. i said ok. i'm a sucker.
06:07:39 PM - wow the entire time i was at the gym, my screen savor never came on.
07:49:07 PM - I'm getting too hungry to still be at work. Time to head aht.
07:55:07 PM - I stood up to leave work and realized it's dark. How did this happen?
09:41:55 PM - I have been sitting on the floor for over an hour playing with my cat
10:16:34 PM - Poly is going to hurt herself the way she leaps for the ponytail holder while it's being thrown.
11:56:27 PM - Watching TV while in bed. Earlier did skype so my mom could see poly.

You can find me as @smilincolleen on Twitter.

Run - September 19

Pace:29:45 (min)    10:13 (avg)    05:56 (max)

Speed:2.02 (mi/hr) (min)    5.86 (mi/hr) (avg)    10.09 (mi/hr) (max)



I have had this post in draft for 1.5 months but I never typed up my splits to add. I'm just posting it without it.  I really need to go for a run again.  This was the last time I ran outside on my own.  Since September 19, I ran a 10k, ran for 5 minutes, and ran for 15 minutes.   I probably forget how to run it's been so long.

5 years

I have been taking my daily picture for 5 years. I was going to wait until my birthday to get my picture on my birthday for the last 5 years. I think I missed a year so I'm just going to do pictures from the last 5 years choosing 1 picture from the week.

September 21, 2005

September 17, 2006

September 23, 2006

This picture is still my default LiveJournal icon.

September 19, 2007

September 18, 2008

September 20, 2009

I don't think this one is fair but it was the closest to today. It was the only time I wore shots all last year.

September 19, 2010

How do you think I have changed?  Did I change more or less than you expected/guessed?

The only shirt I still don't have is the one from 2005 and I actually may still have that in the spare room.  The jeans from 2005 got so worn out they tore so I know I don't have those. 

The skirt from 2010 was purchased in 2008.  The shots from 2009 were purchased in 2005 or earlier.  I not only still have the shirts from 2007 and 2008 but I still wear them. 

The skirt from 2005 is sitting on my closet floor right now.

I tried on the khakis from 2008 just the other day and I put them back in the closet but I was unsure if I should keep them.

In the majority of my pictures from 2005, my shoes were not shown. I wish they were. I want to know what I wore with the skirt in 2005 so I could do it again.

A Day's Worth of Twitter

10:12:44 AM - i just jagged around for 1:40. I could have been done running by now.
10:30:39 AM - Uh o. It's gonna rain. http://plixi.com/p/46013753
11:17:34 AM - i checked the weather before my run. it was supposed to rain. i wish it did. it was too hot & too sunny. i only ran 3.76 miles instead of 8
11:25:06 AM - I thought it was kind of fall weather because every morning I wake up freezing. I wear a sweater. Then I'm dying later because it's so hot.
09:33:23 PM - @TENroaches I don't even kno where the closest Aldi is. @_Poly_Kitty is still in the blue bag.
10:32:42 PM - I wore red shoes 3 days last week and 3 days the week before http://colleen.akwire.net/_clothes/?year=2010&month=9

You can find me as @smilincolleen on Twitter.

Blogger Jealousy

1. How do you define jealousy? 
Wanting something someone else has

2. When do you find you experience a bit of blogger jealousy? When I go to someone's blog that has only been around a shot while and they have a ton of followers or when I go to a blog and their level of detail is much less than mine and yet they have a ton of followers or when I go to a blog and the outfits just seem crazy to me and they have a ton of followers. Also I post at least 1 post a day (2 if you count my twitter post) and most other people only post a few times a week. I don't leave out outfits. There were days I never made it out of my PJs and I still took my daily picture (This day I think I did get dressed at one point but didn't get my picture taken. That's my husband's hoodie. I love it.). 

3. What types of blogs or which bloggers are you a little jealous of? fashion blogs with lots of followers and that get lots of comments. Getting a ton of comments is my dream. Running blog that post about a race and get comments. Well really any blog at all that I read. They all get more comments than mine. Tons of them have been around for a much shorter period. Also I've been taking my daily picture for over 5 years straight now and most other "fashion" blogs have only been around a shot while. 

4. From the time we're little we are taught that jealousy is a bad thing, but it can also inspire us to be better. Have you changed the way you do things, the content of your blog, etc... as a result of what someone else is doing? I started posting my questions to readers in bold. I saw that on a blog. I actually used to just write about my day and include pictures from that day (pictures = pictures of me and pictures I took throughout the day), then I learned people wrote about their outfits. I didn't know such a thing existed. My friends have told me I'm nuts for what I do. I learned people are more nuts than I was and I then started to write about my outfits daily.  I started posting more than one daily picture. I always take 2 or 3 unless I'm in a bad mood. Some days I take 10. Yet I used to only put 1 on my blog.  I started including close-ups of my shoes, accents, or jewelry.

5. What is the best way to overcome jealousy in the blogosphere and in life? I have no idea.  That probably isn't a good answer.  Let me think about this.  Do your own thing and somehow be better or learn to be content with not having the most followers or the most comments.


(I love these questions, but I hate not posting pictures in blog posts. I may incorporate pictures I have taken in future posts.)

9/18 (Saturday)

Shirt: Ann Taylor Loft

Jeans: Express

Shoes: Famous Footwear (Nickels)

Necklace: Gift in 2006

Someone wanted to join my daily picture today. She looks better than me but she doesn't even wear any underpants..

I was going to go for a run. Then I decided that we should buy bagels and bacon for breakfast.  I had 2 bagels and about 12 slices of wonderful bacon. So I went from one healthy thing to something extremely unhealthy. While we went out to buy food we also went to Costco so I could pick up my photobook. I'm not sure how impressed I am by it. It is probably worth the money but I have to only do it for certain pictures.

Poly likes to hang out on the chair in the sun.

Poly started to become a lap dog. She's awesome like that.

I mowed the lawn while waiting for the pizza. I wish I could start the mower.  I almost finished mowing but the upper part (common ground) was too high and caused the mower to stall. It was too hard to get Dave to go start it so I just quit. At least the only thing not done was the common ground. I didn't have time to weedwack before it got dark though.

Dinner: Pizza Hut 

Snack; Fudge Stipes

Maybe I should stop clogging up my blog with pictures of Poly but she is just too cute. Here are more pictures of her.

Photo of the Day - Muffins

Yesterday, we bought muffins from McGuinnis Sisters.  They had 8 kinds.  Instead of picking the one or two we wanted, Dave got one of each one. He ate half of 7 of them.  Today I put the rest out on a tray and we had them for appetizer and then the rest for dessert for lunch today.

Chocolate Chip

Almond

Apple, Blueberry, Cranberry

Cranberry

I picked cinnamon and ended up with 1/4 of that muffin.  I don't think I got my fair share.