One to Nothin'

As The World Falls Down

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That’s right, folks. For Halloween Austin and I dressed up as Sarah and King Jareth (aka Jennifer Connelly and David Bowie) from “Labyrinth.” If you have never seen this movie, stop reading this blog right now and watch it. Seriously. It’s on Netflix. Go.

And if you’ve already seen it… Read this. It’s hilarious and true. There are many reasons why I love this movie and the majority of them are addressed in said article.

I grew up watching this movie and just assumed everyone else did too.. but apparently I was wrong. Many people have no idea who the Goblin King is, or why Hoggle sprays fairies like mosquitoes, or who the “babe” is that you remind me of, but I’m here to bring it back. This movie is not just for comic book convention lovers – it is a masterpiece. Which is why I spent way too much time making this costume.

After finding this wedding dress at Goodwill (for just $30!!) and getting a few undeserved “Congratulations!” from checkout ladies… I had to figure how to transform this size 10, 50-mile-long-train into a size 0, suitable-for-dancing-and-partying dress.

Then came all the details. I love details.

Look how great the necklace Austin made turned out

And the final product looked a little something like this:

If you have any questions about how we made any parts of the costumes, please feel free to leave a comment or e-mail me at MackensieG@gmail.com … and don’t forget to watch this movie!

Ommmm

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Photo from 6dollarshirts
As I’ve mentioned before, I have Patellar Tendinitis in my left knee from running, and after my half marathon the doc said to spend the next 6 weeks resting. It may sound weird, but a month and a half of no running is honestly a huge bummer. One of the main things I need to do in order to get better is to become more flexible. I used to be a dancer and do splits like it was no one’s business, but these days I reach for my toes in a way I imagine is comparable to a 5’4″ football player. I learned lots of stretches and strength building exercises through physical therapy, but I’ve come to realize I really dislike doing cardio at the gym if it’s not on a treadmill. The thought of spending 30 to 60 minutes on the elliptical machine is enough to make me not even want to put on my work out clothes. 
It’s a problem.
I have always been intrigued by the thought of yoga, but I always get discouraged by how slow-paced it is. It seems like I could be getting a much better work out by running during that hour instead of stretching, balancing, om-ing. Since I don’t have that option lately, I’ve decided to give it a try.
I would love to be in an in-person yoga class on the regular – I tend to do much better when I have a schedule to keep me in line, but they also cost some serious mula which I am definitely short on these days. I came across the website Yogadownload.com on a blog I like to read, and I am obsessed.
They have all different types of yoga for beginners to advanced yoga-ers and the best part is each class only costs about $2. I have done three different ones now, and I have really enjoyed streaming the videos from my computer (connected to the tv via HDMI cord) in an empty, peaceful house with the lights dimmed. It’s super easy to follow along, even though I have no idea what I’m doing, and for those with more experience, there are even cheaper audio-only sessions. 
There’s even a Halloween discount going on right now – just type in “Spooked” at check out between now and Halloween to get 30% off your purchase! You can opt to stream your video once, or for about $4 to $6 (depending on length) you can download it and watch it over and over again.

So lately I have been skipping the gym and workin’ on my fitness flexibility in the living room and I’m really, really hoping that these sessions will help my knee recover quickly. If not, however, it is definitely doing something awesome for my shoulders. They.are.so.sore. Chaturanga, you are one powerful move that’s ridiculously fun to say.

Namaste!

PS: I am going to be participating in the Halloween weekend blog hop hosted by Casey Wiegand, Much Love ILLY, Changing Lanes and Boho Baby Bump. Check out the badge at the bottom of this post to check it out!

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Scrap Life Part II: A 10-year-old Scrapper

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“Fall Poem”
by MacKensie Gibson, age 10

The beautiful colors of fall, red, yellow, orange and brown,
bring joy to male and female large and small
The light crisp breezes blow children’s hair
Who yearn to see the day when their relatives will be there
Soon it will be Halloween
When the children dress up in costumes so they can be seen
They ask for candy by repeating the words “Trick or treat”
Until someone gives them something good to eat
When the tricks and treats are over with,
The children go home and ask their parents if their treats are OK to eat.
When the approval is over, they eat what they think might be nice,
But won’t cost twice the price
After they have had their fill, they play games like tag, hide-n-seek,
dodgeball, bob for apples and more.
When the exciting day of October 31st has past,
the children don’t gloom or pout,
they look forward to the rest of fall without a doubt.

I started this scrapbook in fifth grade when I took awkward class photos like the one above, complete with big, wirey braces, played soccer for the Hurricanes, stayed up all night for the new Harry Potter book in Marathon Key, wrote poems with words like “dodgeball” in them and made pumpkin costumes for my bird named Furby. 
It was the year I went to Washington D.C., started my very first journal (shown above) – I’m on my fourth one now and was completely obsessed with the Powerpuff girls.
It was also the year my first nephew was born. Isn’t he adorable?
And I dressed up a lot (But what else is new, right?)
I spent a lot of time in Cedar Key (wore really stylish headwear and socks), earned lots of Girl Scout badges and got a wonderful baby dog I named Merlin (he went to doggy heaven about four years ago, but we’ll discuss how awesome he was at a later date).
I starred in “Annie” and eventually I graduated from middle school (wearing converses, plaid and lots of Avril-inspired ties).

…and wrote another poem.

**I’m the little baby throwin’ up a peace sign – I’ve always been a dirty hippie at heart

Scrap Life Part I: “Littel BooBoo”

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The earliest of my scrapbooks I can find documentation of is an actual story book written, illustrated and literally made of scraps by the 6-year-old version of myself. It is surprisingly legible (to me) and insightful.

This is the story of Little BooBoo.

Once there was a girl named little BooBoo but they call her Boo for short. She did not mind, she liked it actually. It was an usual name and she liked it. Kids would say, “Hey Boo, what are you doing?” and that made her feel proud and everybody liked her… everyone but Shony, a boy at her school.

He thought she was a show off, but she was 5 and she did not know what that meant so she asked her teacher Ms. Morgan. She said it was when someone does stuff like, “Hey Boo watch this, I can spell cat and you can’t, so ha! C-A-T! Ha, ha, ha!”

“I can spell cat, C-A-T,” (said Boo)

“I know,” said Ms. Morgan, “but as (an) example. Did someone say you were a show off?”

“Yes,” said Boo.

“That’s OK if you’re a show off.”

“It is?” said Boo.

“Yea, of course,” said Ms. Morgan, “It’s fine as long as it does not hurt people’s feelings. Now go to the bathroom, wash your face and go outside to play.”

“OK,” said Boo.

She went to the bathroom down the hall and washed her face and went outside to play.

She went to the flower patch and picked some flowers. They were beautiful. They were for Ms. Morgan. She gave them to her. She loved them. They smelled so sweet and good. Ms. Morgan said they smelled so good she could swallow them!

“That would not be good for you,” said Boo.

It was time to go. “Bog Bog” went the bell. That meant it was time to go. Her mom was at the gate. “Good bye!” she said. “Thanks for the flowers, bye!” and she had a good day.

The End.

Now I’m not saying this story has any epic symbolism or awesome metaphors that apply to adult life, but I think it does give some insight into my personality. First of all, I specifically remember there being a boy at my school who did not like me. He was a bully (he probably called me a show off or insulted my Barnie sweatshirt) and one day I spent all of recess sitting at the corner of the playground crying because of him.

On the other hand, I don’t think this story was about bullies. It was about me being the most sensitive child in the universe. Not only did even the slightest stern voice change set me into hysterics, but I was also the shyest child to want to be in the spotlight. Even though I was terrified of strangers, rarely talked in front of my extended family, teared up when the teacher called on me, I wanted to be center stage – hence the show off comment.

The next bit of insight comes from the way this book was made. No, my family wasn’t living in a cardboard box at the time, I had full access to notebook paper, printer paper, construction paper, and yet I chose to use paper towels, string, tape and packaging material to create my masterpiece. I positioned pieces of masking tape of each paper towel where I wrote the story and drew the illustrations right onto the napkin. Then I hole punched it and tied yellow string through it for the binding. I have always loved making things, especially in a unique way. I am constantly amending recipes or mixing paints to avoid a trip to the grocery or craft store. I like to do it all with what I already have. Perhaps it’s laziness or creativity or a challenge, but it’s definitely me.

Lastly, this book is the beginning of the tell tale signs of my love for story telling. This blog is the most recent one.

Stay tuned for Scrap Life Part II: A Scrappy 10-year-old.

Pumpkin Carving

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For the past four Halloweens, Austin and I have carved a pumpkin together every year. The first two were poorly planned, fairly generic (minus a few super heroes) jack-o-lanterns. Here, for instance, is Cotton Eye Joe – our pumpkin from Halloween ’08. As you can see, we didn’t even stick to the plan drawn directly on the pumpkin.

Last year we took a little more time deciding how to decorate our pumpkin and chose to make a “themed” pumpkin if you will. We spent a lot of time making matching “Nightmare Before Christmas” costumes and ended up carving the pumpkin to look like Jack Skellington. Check out our costumes (it’s okay to be jealous.)

This year we may have stuck with the costumes-correlating-with-pumpkins theme, but I guess you’ll just have to wait to find out if that’s the case or if I’m just letting people in on my David Bowie obsession (as if naming my dog after him wasn’t cluing you in enough).
Happy Halloween!

Put On Your Pink Bra

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It is absolutely perfect outside and that’s exactly where I’ll be blogging today. I have spent the whole day looking up at this cloudless sky and I’m not ready to give it up yet. It’s one of those days where you get to wear a tank top because it’s nice and warm in the sunshine, but you also get to wear boots and a cute scarf because it’s chilly in the shade. I really do love Florida sometimes most of the time. To top off this wonderful Saturday, I got to do two of my very favorite things: races & festivals.

I got up bright & early to walk (because I still can’t run) the Strides Against Breast Cancer 5k in Ocala with my sister and nephew. This 5k was particularly special to me because for one, the theme was “Put on your pink bra” meaning decorate a fabulously flamboyant pink bra & wear it on the outside of your shirt as you walk through Silver Springs (I think we know how much I love decorating & fabulously flamboyant things!); and two, because it was for a cause very important to me; and three, it was the first time my nephew has ever run an entire 5k (3.1 miles) without stopping. He is 10 years old and I am SO proud. Then I met up with Austin at the McIntosh 1890’s Festival.

We ate shaved ice and Italian sausage while Ziggy ate the corn dogs people dropped. I found another awesome ring and Ziggy sniffed a dog statue’s butt. It was awesome.

We even got to hear some rad live music, complete with mandolin picking & Florida centered lyrics. I’m off to enjoy the rest of this gorgeous day.

How did you spend your weekend?

Pumpkin Soup & Stir Fry

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Do you remember that episode of the Magic School Bus where the kids travel through the boy’s body to figure out why his skin is turning orange? This is the only episode I remember, also I’m pretty sure that this bright orange skin is bound to be my fate if I keep up this pumpkin obsession. Sure, the reason for the boy’s discoloration was eating too many carrot snacks, but surely it works with pumpkin too.

I’ve decided to embrace it though. It’ll be a great conversation starter at Gator games — “Cool wig, bro..too bad your SKIN isn’t orange!” Also, I could always switch my Halloween costume to Snooki! (Or was that my costume all along? Mwahahaha)

Also, a package of extra firm tofu was calling my name from the fridge, so in the spirit of Thai food (& not letting food expire..) I whipped up this peanut tofu stir fry using this recipe (except for a few minor alterations of course — love me some red pepper jelly!). As for the pumpkin soup, I mixed and matched from these two recipes: one & two. The result was a somewhat bland pumpkin blend, so I added hot sauce, soy sauce & cayenne pepper. It was still somewhat disappointing, but it wasn’t terrible. Hopefully it’ll taste better later on today.

For the past couple of days I have been scrapbooking like crazy. I love scrapbooks. I started my first one during Halloween of my 10th year, documenting my fifth grade trip to Washington DC, school dances, soccer teams & awkward elementary school class photos. Then in high school I stepped up my game and managed to document all the major events except graduation. So four years later, I finally documented high school graduation and I truly hope that I get around to scrapping college graduation before an additional four years have past. I’m excited to show off my progress with you all very soon!

Cedar Key Seafood Festival

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This weekend my family and I went to the Cedar Key Seafood Festival. For those of you who live in the area and have never experienced the wonderment that is Cedar Key, I suggest you get on it. My parents honeymooned there and we’ve been going at least once a year ever since.

Now if you have been to this tiny fishing town before, you might be surprised to hear of a couple choosing to spend their first married night together in this place, where the locals drink beer at every meal (and rock bellies to prove it), spend all day fishing & never drive anywhere – it’s easier to just walk.  But on the other hand, it’s really relaxing and beautiful in its own way.

One of my first driving experiences ever was on a rented golf cart in Cedar Key followed by a wicked sunburn, a root beer slushee and grilled cheese sandwiches at Annie’s cafe. I also got my first pet hermit crab here and consequently my first hermit crab pinch (I still have the scar to prove it). It used to really bother me that the kids who lived here had not a single mall to shop at. It doesn’t bother me too much now.

(Photo credit: My mom)

The festival was pretty great. I have never seen so many people in Cedar Key at once before. There were vendors selling all sorts of jewelry, spicy jellies, art, sculptures, antiques and, of course, lots of fried seafood. My sister even got me this sweet vintage-y ring & delicious Popsicle.

So despite our incredibly disappointing football game that night, I had a good weekend.

A girl & her dog

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Every year on Easter, I look forward to searching the house for hilariously bad clues hand-written by the Easter Bunny. This scavenger hunt eventually leads my siblings and I to our candy-gift-filled baskets. (And yes, I am the youngest child, meaning the rest of my sibs are in fact older than 22 — just another one of our awesome family traditions.)

The Easter before last, however, I got something much better than a basket full of jelly bellies, Swedish fish & Cadbury eggs.. I got Ziggy Stardust.

I begged my parents to let me get a dog for months. I was obsessed. I swooned over every cute dog on Petfinder.com, forced Austin to look at pages and pages of googled puppies and even watched parts of the puppy Superbowl. Somehow I convinced my parents to come with me to a pet rescue ranch in Ocala to see the litter of Beagle/Cavalier King Charles Spaniel mixes I saw on Petfinder — I swore up and down that I just wanted to see them and we didn’t have to get one that day (they wanted me to wait until I lived at home for the summer so the pup could be house-trained in a non-deposit-sensitive environment).
But then we saw her.

She was the only completely blonde puppy in the whole litter. She was also the only one crawling toward me on her belly instead of jumping frantically on the fence. She was perfect.

She puked on me five minutes into the ride home.

I named her Ziggy Stardust after this song and within a few days she became best friends with our older & wiser blondie dog, Scout. They cuddle, play tug-of-war & wrestle constantly.

The ranch owner told me Ziggy would be 20 pounds max, and if I was a runner like I said I was, it would be wise to get the rambunctious black lab pup chewing on my flip flops instead — this baby beagle is not a runner, he said.

She currently weighs over 40 pounds, usually has one ear flipped up and has run up to 8 miles in one trip. She is quite the athlete.

Maybe that’s why she loves the Gators.

Just like her sister.

We brought baby Zigz to the beach at an early age…
And quickly learned that she hates water with a passion.
We also picked up on some of her favorites, like licking everything, burying bones, eating human food, playing with other dogs..
 ..sleeping in human beds on human pillows..
spread eagle style..
..and modeling.
She even made it into my graduation announcements.
This creature has brought me more joy in the past year & a half than I ever could have imagined. In other words, I love this dog & now you know how she came to be my sweet little baby dog.

Breakfast of Champions

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I think I had forgotten how much I love oatmeal until I made this here peaches ‘n cream number. I’ve been incorporating oats into my smoothies lately, which is delightful, but sometimes nothing beats the cozy feeling that warm, creamy oatmeal induces. I added a teaspoon of maple syrup & Truvia sweetener to make it extra sugary without lots of sugar, & as you can see, I sipped my coffee out of my super cute new 13.1 coffee thermos. 
As far as exercise goes, I’m feeling pretty bummed about not being able to run (real cool, patella), but I desperately need to stretch and strengthen my legs to make it go away, so I’m thinking about trying power yoga. I really like the idea of it, but I’m not sure how I feel about spending $10 for every class (especially when I spend $10 for a month of gym access at Planet Fitness). Yesterday I found an old Pilates dvd for legs and abs. I did the 25 minute leg work out and I hope to try the ab one today — which has never even been opened. I also got four miles on the EFX in (which still doesn’t even compare to running..) and a couple of leg strengthening machines at PF.
Do any of you yoga fanatics have any tips for a novice like myself?
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