Find out what founder of GiftScrap, Kim, "gives a scrap" about today. Discussions about life, dating, food, trends, scrapbooking and whatever else comes to mind!
Scenario… You met a guy at a bar. It’s football Sunday so you order your normal light beer and turn to see what he’s drinking. Cranberry juice. You think he probably went out hard the night before so he’s taking it easy today.
You ask if you could buy him a beer and he politely turns you down but offers you a stool seat next to him. Conversation starts flowing, and so does his cranberry and sprite.
He then tells you he does not drink alcohol. He doesn’t like the effects of it on him or anyone at that matter. You respect his decision, but you’ve never been the “main buzzed” one in the relationship.
Can he be your little sober honey bee or should he buzz off?
Possible Outcomes… 1. You begin dating him. He tells you he’s a comedian and invites you to one of his shows. You quickly realize you have to be drunk to attend this…he’s awful! You decide it’s hard enough to date someone that doesn’t even enjoy a sip of wine from time to time, but someone that isn’t even funny?! You dump your not-so-funny man for the bouncer at the door. (Desirability: LOW; Reality: MODERATE)
2. You begin dating him. He brings you to a nice restaurant and the waiter takes your drink order. As the word “cosmo” comes out of your mouth, you can see a dirty look from him coming your way. You ignore the initial dagger, but as the “why you shouldn’t drink” speech starts, you get annoyed. You aren’t judging his sober stance, why should he be so opinionated about your favorite “Sex and the City” cocktail? You decide his raised eyebrow nature is not going to work for you. You flush him out of your life, just like that nasty white zinfandel that has been in your fridge for ages. (Desirability: LOW; Reality: MODERATE)
3. You date him. He opens your eyes to new places and you are loving it! Who knew you would love the ballet? Or the museum? Or even jazz music? You progress with your relationship and he begins to say really sweet things. You love how he treats you and for once, you know it’s not the alcohol speaking. It’s him. (Desirability: HIGH; Reality: MODERATE)
4. You don’t give him your number. You know the kinds of places you like to hang out at, and most of them are loud, rowdy bars. Instead of even giving him a shot, you take your shot, and scurry along. (Desirability: LOW; Reality: MODERATE)
5. You give him your number. You hang out a couple of times, but you realize you are probably better off just as friends. Not necessarily because he doesn’t drink, but because he’s a Boston Red Sox fan and you love your NY Yankees. A true romance would never work. (Desirability: MODERATE; Reality: MODERATE)
The Lesson… Bottling Up Your Feelings is Never Good. Give it a Shot.
Scenario… The scar that breaks the perfect curve of his eyebrow reminds you of Dylan McKay on your favorite show back in the day, Beverly Hills 90210. Rather than taking you on long rides on his motorcycle, he likes to delve into his past boxing stories and how he lost that tooth in the back of his grill that you didn’t notice the first few dates.
At night, he invites you over to his apartment only to leave you on the sofa to watch reruns of “The Family Guy” while he goes off to workout with his buddies at the gym. Just a one time fluke, right? He doesn’t really mean to leave you all alone in his dark, dirty, smelly, sketchy basement apartment so he can buff up with some mates?
The once “I’ll be right back, 30-minute workout†soon becomes the daily “two-hour gym escapade.†You soon realize that you are dating Conan O’Brian more than your own boyfriend.
Conversations circle around the best new muscle book on the shelves and how many protein drinks he had that day. You know more about his little black book of workout routines better than anything else. Is this normal?
Possible Outcomes… #1 You sit in his apartment. He may be gone for a couple hours at night, but he’s working on his body for you, right? What’s a few hours versus one hot bod? (Desirability: MODERATE; Reality: HIGH)
#2 You offer to go with him to the gym. He says “no,†this is HIS time to be with his friends and he doesn’t want any distractions…ie YOU. (Desirability: LOW; Reality: HIGH)
#3 You offer to go with him to the gym. He says “yes†emphatically and your body becomes hotter than it has ever been before. He realizes the amazing woman he has and walks along with you proudly. (Desirability: HIGH; Reality: MODERATE)
#4 You dump him. You use your new found time to go to a gym near your clean apartment and start to date a hot trainer, who has nights off. You run into your gym-obsessed ex months later, with your new killer bod and hot man by your side and you ask, “ooh, have you been slacking at the gym? You are losing your tone.†(Desirability: HIGH; Reality: MODERATE)
#5 You confront him. It’s either the bench press or you. He chooses to drop all 125 lbs of you. (Desirability: LOW; Reality: HIGH)
The Lesson… “Don’t be a treadmill and let him walk all over YOU!â€
I talk amongst my girlfriends everyday, discussing the scenarios that go along with any relationship. In our group of friends, we first started off with manners and compassion, trying to say the right thing and be as supportive as possible. Our faces full of sympathy and our ears open to any situation; we were there for each other. However, in the back our minds, we always knew that our friends were going to do what they wanted to do no matter what.
After years of dating ups and downs, such as animalistic passion turning into brotherly love, the “it’s not you, it’s me,†and everything in between, we have changed our tame tune to a more “in your face†approach. Instead of playing the “I’m here for you, no matter what you decide†card, we have decided to play a different hand and just lay it all on the line. Now, this doesn’t mean that we don’t care about our friends’ romantic woes; we are just shooting straight to the point. So, for all of you out there who feel that you are better off if you “learn from your own mistakes,” get over yourselves. Take this opportunity to learn from some of ours.
From time to time on the “I Give a Scrap” blog, I will give dating/relationship scenarios and possible outcomes. Think of it as a mixture of VH1′s “Tough Love” mixed with a dash of “Million Dollar Matchmaker” meets “Dear Abby.”
All these situations will be rated with a “Desirability” and “Reality” score. “Desirability” meaning what you want to happen and “Reality” being what really is going to come of it.
Feel free to suggest scenarios or topics of discussion.
One of my best friends is English and she always talks about the infamous “Sunday Roast” that she used to have at home. For those of you who are unaware, a Sunday roast is a traditional British main meal served on Sundays (usually in the early afternoon for lunch), consisting of roasted meat, roast potato together with accompaniments, such as Yorkshire pudding, stuffing, vegetables, gravy, etc.
Yesterday was my turn to experience the Sunday Roast.
She made turkey, parsnips, carrots, and roasted potatoes. And from dessert – straight from the aisles of Tesco in England, was Christmas Pudding. Yum.
Of course our Sunday Roast would not have been complete without a proper cup of tea.
Overall, I was quite impressed. It was a perfect meal for a cold Sunday and am definitely going to inquire about implementing a once a month roast!
What about you? Do you have a traditional Sunday meal?
Are you British and live in the US? Have you brought the Sunday Roast stateside?
So, when I received my first “circle scarf” for Christmas from my cousin I was very excited.
I broke it out for the first time today and to my delight I do not feel too strangled and I am remarkably warm. Especially from the neck up.
Besides scrapbooking, I have been known to crochet a few things in my day. I am actually excellent at normal scarves, and now have dedicated my weekend to conquer the circle scarf.
I was thinking it would be fun to give away my first circle scarf to one of my lucky readers. The only catch is you will have to take a picture with it on and I’ll post it.
So who wants the chance to win a beautiful, FREE, hand made by Kim, circle scarf? Comment here or email me at info@giftscrap.com. It can be worn by anyone – so guys – feel free to enter too. I promise I won’t make it too girly.
My colleague thinks it is hilarious every time he walks over to my desk and takes a peek at my computer screen. I always seem to have over 15 internet tabs on my screen. He’s always asking, “Kim, why do you need so many pages open? Just close some things out.”
I think to myself, he’s probably right. Do I really need so many tabs on top of my screen? Am I too lazy just to bookmark something? Or retype the web address in? Maybe I am.
The little tabs are comforting in a way. I always know that facebook, twitter, yahoo, gmail, interesting articles, scrapbook ideas, poignant blogs, and others are just a click away.
Perhaps I should delve deep and try to figure out my need for multiple tabs and my website line up. Maybe it goes back to my childhood and how I always had to have my stuffed animals lined up on my bed a certain way. Or, how I prefer a long wallet where I can see all the tops of my credit cards lined up instead of a smaller wallet where everything is bunched together?
Am I the only one who keeps a million tabs open in my browser? Please shed some light!
So for some odd reason I have an obsession with fonts. Always have, always will. I know that some of my previous colleagues understand my fascination with them…others never will. Anyway, I found this great article with the best fonts of 2009 http://www.youworkforthem.com/blog/2010/01/02/top-fonts-of-2009-ywft/
I would have to vote for “Hannah.” I always have liked the light, hand-written looking ones. I might have to incorporate this into some of my upcoming scrapbooks!
I have started doing something new with my music choices. I decided that each day I will focus on a certain letter of the alphabet and that’s the only music I can listen to for the day. I know, a bit crazy but let’s just go with it for a minute…
For instance, the other day was “A.” Grabbed the subway and listened to “Addicted to Love.” And, this even meant that while I was on the bike at the gym later that night and “All Cried Out” and “Against All Odds” came on, I listened. I have to admit, that those “A” songs in particular were not the most “gym pumping” choices, but I kept them all despite that fact.
Today, is “B” Wednesday. I might get anything from Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” to Lionel Richie’s “Ballerina Girl.” You just never know what “B” song Wednesday will bring.
This “ABC” concept made me think about a new idea for my scrapbooks. Create a book for your family and friends in alphabetical order. For instance, think about your mom. Does she make the most amazing apple pie? Boom, there’s your “A” page. Cut out a delicious picture of an apple pie and paste a picture of your mom baking. Does she always blast the Beatles in the car? Tah Dah – George, Paul, John, Ringo, and your mom on the page.
Perfect gift? I think so!
If you are interested in a gift like this to give to someone, let me know! I would be happy to create it for you. Email me at info@giftscrap.com
I’m sitting here at my desk, deciding what to write for my first official post on my new GiftScrap blog.
Living in New York City has it’s perks for sure, but I often wonder why I don’t live somewhere warm? Maybe it’s because of the fast paced nature of NYC which is hard to find somewhere else. Or is it because in one 400 square foot store I can purchase fresh flowers, a bag of flour, lottery tickets, orange juice and a cactus all in one trip? It also could be that in a 5 block radius, I have over 20 restaurants to choose from. I don’t have to spell it out any further – we all know that NYC is an awesome city and I couldn’t picture living anywhere else at this point in my life.
So, instead of complaining about how cold it is here, I invested in a Snuggie. For those of you who live under a rock and don’t know what a Snuggie is, here is a funny clip from the Ellen show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOhrsLEozZs
Laugh all you want, I love my Snuggie. And it actually does keep me warm and my hands free! Without my Snuggie, which I am actually wearing right now, I would have a hard time typing this blog…and even creating a scrapbook or two.
For those of you who are also wondering what “GiftScrap” actually is, it’s my new scrapbooking business. http://www.giftscrap.com I started the company after giving a hand made scrapbook to one of my best friends for her birthday. It took me weeks to complete but it was so worth it when she opened the book and started to cry. I had pictures of her from her early childhood, all the way up to her current life in NYC. She said that she had never received such a thoughtful gift, and after hearing that I realized that I would love to create these books for more people.
Thus, GiftScrap was formed!
Ok, I think this is enough for my first post. I am signing off for now.
Why limit yourself to just scrapbooking? Step out of your comfort zone and try creating something else, like a guest book! Incorporate scrapbook pages into the guest book and make it really unique. For more ideas, contact GiftScrap.
