Wedded Bliss

It's not my wedded bliss. I'm not engaged yet. lol. It's my trip to Colorado last week.

For the past week I and my brother, Eric, have been hanging out in Colorado. It was so nice and relaxing. We drove there in my car. We drove there on Wednesday. And I, primarily, went for my high school best friend's wedding which was Thursday afternoon/evening. Eric came to parkour and just hang out. I went with him to a few places. But mostly we just had a good time hanging with our host family and each other. I always have fun when Eric and I go on road trips together. (Which I think we have done a couple of times. Going to/from Utah and Colorado.)

Like I said this trip was for a wedding. I had tons of fun at the wedding on Thursday. It was up in Estes Park and it was gorgeous, if slightly warm, weather. Kristine and Tyler both looked awesome. They were emotional and it was perfect. They are SO cute together. After the ceremony there was a dinner and then dancing. They ceremony started at 4:30pm and I didn't leave until 11pm. I was having so much fun dancing and being with Kristine. We really need to stay in touch. lol.

While I was at the wedding Eric went to Boulder to hang out and parkour at a gym over there. It's also one reason why I stayed so late at the wedding. He had the car and didn't get back to Estes Park until we all were going home.

On Friday and Saturday Eric and I went and parkoured. Well, he did the parkouring. I filmed and took photos. It was insanely hot while we were in Colorado. I am pretty sure on Friday and Saturday when we were outside walking around it was over 100 degrees. Surprisingly, I didn't get sunburned at all. I got kind of irritated on Saturday probably because of the heat and I wasn't drinking enough.

We had late nights but since we didn't have any plans we were able to just sleep in the next day. I did bring two books because I knew I'd be finishing the first one while we were there. But I didn't read as much as I thought I would. I probably read less then ten chapters total. I had to have read at least five. Because I read the last three chapters of Eragon and then I read a couple in Eldest.

Eric and I brought a cooler for some water and snacks to have in the car. We ended up bringing it in the house during the night/morning because our frozen water was thawing out and then in turn the candy was getting soft. We brought a box of candy bars, a bag of trail mix, granola bars, and a bag of Skittles and Starbursts. With the Starbursts I got a lot of wrappers/links for my chain. It was awesome. And there are still more candies to eat.

Our host family was very nice and let us stay with them the whole week. We were planning on staying with five different families, one for each night, but due a tragic accident we ended staying with one family the whole time. Well, Sunday night we did stay with another family for the night.

(Tragic accident involves a canoe capsizing with three kids who weren't wearing their life-jackets. One teenage kid going missing while the other two were able to get back okay. People looked for him all that day and finally found him the next morning. He drowned. He was 17 and I knew him when we lived in Colorado.)

While we were there we got to see 'Brave' with some friends. That movie is so cute. I really liked it.

The High Park fire right near Fort Collins made some days smell smokey. I was having flashbacks to the Cerro Grande fire that I was a part of. Fires suck. And there are so many that are burning right now all over the west in the USA right now. It's not cool. We need rain. Everyone, pray for rain. I got some cool pictures of the smoke and sunsets though. lol.

Smoke and the Sunset

Other cool photos I took were on the way to Colorado.

Rambling Day

Not much happened today at all. I started my day by sleeping until noon. Then I went to the library with Lauren. That was fun. And I have been playing games all day on Facebook and on Armor Games. And I haven't read a play today like I said I was going to. But that's okay. I think tomorrow I will add some more links to my Starburst chain. Maybe I'll bring it to church and work on it there while I am listening to the speakers. I have to look extra hard for a job next week. Because after next week, if I don't have a job, Dad said he was going to sell my car. Which isn't cool because it is my car. *sigh* It's late. I should go to sleep.

Spelling M-I-C-E

I had so much fun doing the Starburst tutorial it got me thinking of others I could do. I could teach you how I fold my paper cranes. Or how I fold a box. Or both. But I'll be doing more tutorials as I think of them or do projects because it was fun.

Lately, I have been spelling because with the a and u switched and it's annoying. It happens all the time. Thank goodness the red squiggly line let's me know it's wrong. lol.

I fed Satine tonight. Ammon and I went to the Dollar Store and Target to look at some things and we were bored. While I was out I decided my baby needs some mice. So our last stop was Petco. I got two mice and Ammon was kind enough to chip in a couple of bucks so I could get two. :) Then we came back home and fed her. She always seems to be so happy after I feed her. Maybe it's all in my head. lol. But Satine does act happy. I know her personality and it's a cute one. :)

Time and Starbursts

Today was the first time in a week that I have been walking in the mornings. Lauren went on vacation and I didn't walk while she was gone. It'll be nice to be able to going walking in the mornings again. I like walking and talking with her. And it also forces me out of bed earlier. :)

After I looked and applied for lots of jobs, I finished putting together the Starburst tutorial. It was fun. One of the small chains at the end of the post I put in my time capsule jar. It's a fun little reminder of something I did this year.

Have I told you about my time capsule jar? I don't think anyone knows about it. lol. It's a small-ish jar that I put small trinkets in throughout the year. I found the idea about two or three months ago and thought it was a fun idea. Right now I don't have much in it. And I have a feeling there won't be much in them but ticket stubs. lol. Apparently, I go and see lots of movies throughout any given year. I haven't taken a self-portrait yet but that is going to be there too. I want to write the year all fancy and cool on my small whiteboard and have that in the photo. (I saw this today and it reminded me I still need a self-portrait photo. Because that's sort of what I had in mind. Only I'm 22 years older then that little guy so I won't look as adorable if I decide to gnaw on the board. lol. The whole post that the photo is from is adorable. Note: time capsule idea not from here.)

Starburst Chain Links

I have various sized jars filled with Starburst wrappers. Some still have candy in them. Others just flat. Others folded into tiny "V" shapes. Jars with Original flavored wrappers and every other flavor that makes it's way to me. See, a long time ago, back in 2008 or 2007, I decided I wanted to learn how to make those Starburst paper chains that people make. (I remember a friend in junior high school who would fold them in class in between taking his notes.) So I learned how. And I started making a chain with the original flavor wrappers. I have a pattern of three pink (strawberry), two orange (orange), two red (cherry), one yellow (lemon), repeat. The chain is over six feet long. It's fun to make. With these new colors I am just going to chain them together however they want. I won't have a pattern. I plan on just pulling one out and adding it on. It's going to be really colorful and fun. I think I will not put two of the same colors next to each other but that's my only rule for this second chain.

I thought I would share how to fold a link piece and how to connect them into chains. Complete with photos. I photographed every step so hopefully it all makes sense. If any of the steps don't quite make sense leave me a comment and I'll see if I can explain it better. (Click on any photo to enlarge it.)

PS. If you ever eat a Starburst and the wrapper is in good condition you are so welcome to mail them to me. Especially the original pink (strawberry) wrappers. I seem to run out of those quicker then the others. :)

PPS. This a really long post because it has lots of pictures. I hope you enjoy as much as I did while I was making it. :P

...

Key Tips For Folding

• Flatten wrappers before you fold. No turned in corners or rips.
• Always fold straight and to the edges of the wrapper.
• Crease well.
  • The "V" links work best when there are crisp clean creases.

How To Fold a Starburst Wrapper

1. Flatten. ... Yes, this is the first step. To get a clean "V" a nice start is key. No folded corners. No tears. No puckers.



2. Fold long way in half. Match edges and crease.



3. Unfold.


4. Fold into center line. Crease.



5. Fold the same on other side. ... or more simply, fold outer edges into center. Leave in center. Make sure you have nice crease and the edges match up.



6. Fold long way put the center line creased again. (It's really hard putting into words without physically showing you. Try it. Maybe this will make more sense as you are folding the "V".)



7. Fold, long way, in half. Crease. It should be a skinny piece.



8. Fold in half to form a "V" shape. Match ends well. Crease well.



9. Fold into that center. ... Hold the "V" fold (the left in the photo) and fold both ends, one at a time, into the center. Crease well.



10. The end result.



11. Repeat to make lots of them.

...

Key Tips For Connecting

• There is a clean side and a dirty side to every "V". If you learn the difference it will help when connecting them together. Linking through the clean sides, the links won't snag on each other as it goes through the loops.

• Clean sides are clean looking. They have one edge to them.



• Dirty sides have many edges when you look at them.

How To Connect The Links

• For the sake of ease, on you and me, I will be numbering the links. To help explain what is going on.
• From left to right: One, Two Three, Four, and so on. Purple, lemon yellow, hot pink, green, orange, burgundy, yellow, pink.

• To Start ...

1. Take two "V"s ... One and Two.



2. Hold the One link by the "V" point ... clean side up.



3. Take Two in other hand.



4. Insert Two going in the clean side of One.



5. ... Note: Two should rest at One's "V" point. ...



6. They should form a larger "V" with One's clean side out and Two's clean side in.

• For the rest of the links.

1. Insert Three into the clean side of Two. With Three's clean side going down.






2. ... Note: Three and One's clean side should facing the same way. ...



3. Repeat previous step (Three into Two) until a long chain is formed.

• Remember: continue connecting links through the clean side. When linking through the clean side you will not have problems getting link B through link A. If you try and go through the dirty side you might snag in the folds.

...

And I'll end this post by updating you with pictures of the Starburst chain that started it all. I measured it too. It is 86.5 inches long (7 feet 2.5 inches). You can see more photos on my Flickr account.