"It's brutal. And there's a trophy." ~Bobby Flay

Okay, so in Bobby's family it's for trivial pursuit.  In the Halsor clan, it's for fantasy football.
Last season, Rob started a family league to include a couple of branches of his paternal family tree.  We had a 10 team league.  Rob won.  I, ailing from a season ending Jamaal Charles injury in week 2, and unwisely choosing Peyton Manning as my starting QB, finished 2nd to last.  But, as they (losers) always say, that was last year, and this is a new season!  We've added 2 more females to the mix, doubling our previous count.  (we now have 4 girls & 8 boys).

So, anyways, Rob wanted to get a fun trophy for this league to pass around each year to the winner.  I told him that instead of buying one (which wouldn't be cool at all), I would take a stab at making one!  YEAH!  So, i put my craft hat on & started thinking.  I knew I wanted a football theme & came up with a few decent ideas.  Here are the pieces & progress so far.

A wooden base from michaels. Also worth noting: as I was standing in line to pay for this, the woman in front of me was taking FOREVER to pay because she had a bunch of coupons.  As I was standing there gritting my jaws together & being annoyed, she turned around and handed me a 40% coupon and told me I should use it on the wooden base.  Thanks (and sorry) crazy coupon lady!!

(and spray paint to paint it green - which i had to show my ID to buy- thanks a lot crazy strung out kids)

A golf set from target - for the astro turf.  I cut it out to match the top edge of the base.  I'm hoping to draw some yard line markers on it, but I feel like drawing straight white lines on astro turf will be a challenge.

I guess, it doesn't look that different from this angle, but IMO, the astro turf on top of the painted wooden base looks pretty cool!

and, the piece de resistance - the goal post.

I bought small steel pipes, connectors, and fittings and made a little (and incredibly heavy) goal post.  So heavy, in fact, that rob & i decided to drill a little hole into the wooden base for some extra stability.  Gorilla glue ain't gonna hold this sucker by itself.

Here's the goal post after a few coats of gold paint.  It might need a couple more.  But, I'm starting to get excited.

More to come on trophy making progress. :)

how do you catch a cloud and pin it down?

perhaps with a lens?

I've always loved cloudy & rainy skies.  They're so beautiful to look at.  This image struck me walking out of Waldorf walgreens about a week ago.

I guess I have a thing for taking pictures of the sky ... and of my feet. :)
Here are a couple more, for the cheap seats in the back:

(Granada, Espana 2009)

(La Alhambra - Granada, Espana 2009)

(Granada, Espana 2009 ... I promise we went to different cities while we were there, I guess Granada was just the only cloudy city we stayed in during that trip??)

My tootsies in the Mediterranean Sea

My tootsies - they're on a boat! in my flippy floppies!

food truck! what what?!?!

Rob & I met a couple of friends at the DC fairgrounds - right next door to the Nats ballpark for the (lets see if i can get this) DC Funky Fresh Foodie Fest (possibly???).  Anyways, it was about 15 food trucks and 15 craft beers for us to try!
How awesome? you say.  Yes, it was.  Totally!
It rained a little during the day, but all in all it was really fun.  My favorite item might have to be a little sandwich from the "Pepe" truck called the jamon serrano y queso manchego - SO GOOD!  a totally simple little sandwich with some serrano ham, manchego cheese, and olive oil on a crusty little baguette style bread


Here were some photos from the day:

This was the first annual DCF4, so we'll hopefully be back next year.  Get ready PEPE.

10,000

Yay! I did my first race here in MD/VA area.  The Women in Defense, Chesapeake Bay Chapters 5K/10K
Location: NAS Pax River - Cedar Point Golf Course
Date: 18 August 2012
Weather: SUPER WINDY! overcast, chilly before we started running - but the cool wind felt great! when we were running
Distance: 10K
Time: 72 minutes
Mission: Accomplished!

So, i know it's not a great time, but I felt great doing something for a change. 
And, I actually jogged the whole time.  Which was a mental feat.  I don't have any issues with run/walking but, it felt good to settle into a nice slow pace that I knew I should be able to do & stick to it, even at miles 4 & 5 when my legs were starting to kind of hurt and my mind was getting a little bored.  I pushed through and tried to sing along with my ipod to pass the time.  It felt grrrrrrrreat!
I signed myself up for the Marine Corps Marathon 10K in October :)