Mind Sprite

I am proud to report that the Sandango sand sculpture team took first place in the master level competition in Ocean Shores, WA last weekend!!! They did a fabulous layout of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. I did not get to carve, but was a member of the Sandango Bucket Brigade and carried LOTS of heavy buckts of water in support of the team. I will post some pictures when I get back home. And in future news, I will be an official carving member of the team in two weeks. I'm really excited about the opportunity but am intimidated to be working with master level sculptors, some of who actually do it for a living. I hope I do them proud!

Posted by Mind Sprite at 6/29/2005 11:37:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

I have no idea what wi-fi actually is, but if it means I can sit here in my hotel room at the coast watching the ocean and posting to my blog, I'm all for it. At least until the connection intermittently cuts out. Geez, I've used this technology for less than an hour and I'm already dependent on it and getting annoyed when it's not there!

Posted by Mind Sprite at 6/29/2005 11:36:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

If you're reading this, you are hereby forced to post your own "Get to Know..." post on your own blog! :P I got this one from Yankee Bob. 10 REALLY RANDOM THINGS ABOUT ME 1. I was a teenage missionary to Iceland. 2. I hate white cars. 3. I can roll my tongue and flip it over upside down. 4. I have no sense of distance. 5. I am naturally attracted to anything purple or fringed. 6. I grew bacteria in a petri dish from my back yard dirt in college. 7. I was a gymnast (vault was my specialty) 8. I don’t’ like mustard. 9. Monkeys make me laugh. 10. I won’t buy generic toilet paper. 9 WAYS TO WIN MY HEART 1. Make me laugh. 2. Treat me like a princess on my birthday. 3. Stop talking while I sing along to my favorite song. 4. Look me in the eye when we talk. 5. Get along with my cat. 6. Pass on the onions when we are on a date. 7. Read a book. 8. Don’t need me to be by your side at all times. 9. Surprise me with a small gesture, such as buying my favorite ice cream when I am coming over. 8 THINGS I CARRY/WEAR EVERYDAY 1. Clothes 2. My grandmother’s old wedding band 3. Clean underwear 4. My glasses 5. Blistex (I’m addicted, I admit it) 6. My sense of humor. 7. My purse 8. My diamond earrings (gift from high school boyfriend) 7 THINGS THAT ANNOY ME 1. People who talk incessantly when you obviously could care less 2. People who walk all over other people to get ahead 3. Those really loud car commercials on the radio 4. Commercials in general 5. Male chauvanist pigs 6. Getting up in the morning 7. Traffic 6 PLACES I'VE VISITED 1. Iceland 2. Scotland 3. Mexico 4. The Bahamas 5. Hawaii 6. Alaska 5 THINGS I WANT TO DO BEFORE I DIE 1. Find true love 2. Visit Ireland and Scotland 3. Learn an art form 4. Spin fire poi 5. Own and renovate an old house 4 THINGS I'M AFRAID OF 1. Dying in a fire 2. Failure 3. Spiders 4. Heights 3 THINGS I DO EVERYDAY 1. Oversleep 2. Talk to my hunny 3. Eat sugar 2 THINGS I'M TRYING NOT TO DO NOW 1. Work 2. Eat sugar 1 PERSON I WANT TO SEE NOW 1. My hunny

Posted by Mind Sprite at 6/23/2005 05:01:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

Today is my Friday and I am so very, very glad. Me and hunny are heading up to Ocean Shores, WA in the morning for a weekend of camping and fun in the sand. He will be on a professional team - Sandango - doing a big, awesome Willy Wonka scene. Unfortunately, I won't get to help with the team, but I'm going to take the carving lessons from the masters on Friday and will be watching and absorbing during the competition. I might have gotten a spot, but they needed some heavy duty shovelers and that is definitely NOT my bag! I guess I'll just be a good girlfriend/groupie and maybe they'll invite me next year.

Posted by Mind Sprite at 6/23/2005 04:34:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

I don't know what's come over me today.......I downloaded programs and posted pictures on my blog all by myself. Now I just went into the template and added a bunch of blog links. If this keeps up, I may have to relinquish my self-proclaimed title of "computer retard"!

Posted by Mind Sprite at 6/22/2005 05:02:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

Our mascot, Monkey, making friends with the octopus 

Posted by Mind Sprite at 6/22/2005 11:09:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

The tower and castle. The tower has a winding path up to the tee at the top. There was supposed to be a dragon on the path, but we ran out of time and the wind was blowing away the detail 

Posted by Mind Sprite at 6/22/2005 11:09:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

My friend the octupus 

Posted by Mind Sprite at 6/22/2005 11:08:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

The completed castle 

Posted by Mind Sprite at 6/22/2005 11:08:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

Here's me starting to carve the bridge with the octopus below (guess I'm not anonymous now....) 

Posted by Mind Sprite at 6/22/2005 11:07:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

Starting to carve the castle, where the tee off will be 

Posted by Mind Sprite at 6/22/2005 11:06:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

Setting up the forms and planning our golf course 

Posted by Mind Sprite at 6/22/2005 11:05:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

Our rag tag little team took third place in our division at Cannon Beach! I was pretty happy with that, all things considered. The first and second place teams had four people, where we only had three. We also thought we had until 2pm and we actually had to be done at 12:30pm, so we didn't get nearly as much detail in as we wanted. But my giant octupus under the bridge to the water hazard turned out cool. I figured out how to post pictures (yeah for me!), but I did them backwards, so start from the bottom!

Posted by Mind Sprite at 6/22/2005 10:54:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

I shamelessy stole this from Chicken, who got it from Nutshell Crack'd who got it from Mel Mega over at Incestuous Amplification Three names I go by: 1. Chicken Boo 2. Irish 3. spork Three things I like about myself: 1. My sarcastic sense of humor 2. Intelligence 3. Creativity Three things I don't like about myself: 1. I'm lazy 2. I have no willpower 3. Monumental student debt (this should really be something like not thinking before making a major, life altering decisions) Three parts of my heritage: 1. Scotch Irish 2. Norwegian 3. German Three things that scare me: 1. Dying in a fire (past life burning at the stake?!?!) 2. Heights 3. Failure Three of my everyday essentials: 1. Lots of sleep 2. Sugar 3. Talking to loved ones Three things I am wearing right now: 1. Clothes 2. My granmother's old wedding band 3. A smirk Three of my fave bands or musical artists: 1. U2 (always and forever a fan) 2. Sarah McLachlan 3. Clumsy Lovers (Ow! Sorry........) Three physical things that attract me to the opposite sex: 1. Eyes 2. Smile 3. Hair Three places I want to go on vacation: 1. Ireland and Scotland 2. Anywhere tropical 3. Vegas Three new things I want to try in the next 12 months: 1. Burning Man!!!! 2. Spinning fire 3. Ceramics Three things I just can't do: 1. Get up on time 2. Measure distances 3. Vote Republican Three things I want to do before I die: 1. Stand on the coast of Ireland with the wind blowing through my hair 2. Take a train across Canada 3. Own a house Three celeb crushes: 1. Ewan McGregor (just replace that girl with me) 2. Hugh Jackman (it was either this picture or in leather as Wolverine.......) 3. John Cusack (what girl didn't want him after this scene?)

Posted by Mind Sprite at 6/15/2005 01:21:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

I successfully talked my mother out of going to dinner with my visiting aunt & uncle at the Olive Garden and instead to go to this great non-chain Italian place in town. I am very happy about this! My aunt & uncle are foodies and they can go to OG anytime. I wanted to show off a little of our local cuisine. Hopefully my mom (the pickiest eater in the whole world & who hates to spend money in restaurants) will find something she likes. This is also where me and my hunny went on our first date, so hopefully my memory of the food isn't colored by the fabulous company that night :) Oh, and if you're ever in Portland, OR, you really need to try Mama Mia's............

Posted by Mind Sprite at 6/15/2005 12:32:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

Here is the link to the Cannon Beach Sand Sculpture site............ http://www.cannon-beach.net/cbsandcastle.html

Posted by Mind Sprite at 6/09/2005 01:30:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

This weekend, I will be doing my second ever sand sculpture. Unlike the last one, which was only an exhibition, this one will be a competition. My hunny and I will be working with another friend. Our design is a fantasy golf course. The bunker (where you tee off, I guess - I know almost nothing about golf) will be on the top of a castle. There are three holes. The first is in the middle of a sand trap that has claws coming out of the sand. The second is on a hill with a dragon encircling it. And the last (and the one I want to primarily work on) is on in island in the water hazard that is inhabited by a giant octopus. One of his legs will go under the water and the end will be sticking out of the hole itself. There will also be assorted arms and claws coming out of the rough and other areas with footprints ending in "drag" marks off into the forest. We're calling it Early Extreme Golf, or something like that. It's quite an ambitious design that we have to pull off in less than five hours and we aren't using any forms, so we will be packing everything in piles. The worst part is we are leaving Portland at 6:00am, so I will be lucky to be awake enough to shovel sand, much less carve the details on a maurading octupus!

Posted by Mind Sprite at 6/09/2005 01:24:00 PM | Permalink | Comments