Catching up with the Crafty Stuff!

Wow, I haven't shared my scrapbook layouts on here since October - oops! Totally got behind! :)  Let's catch up!

Playing with digi scrapping and favorite fonts!

Published on October 22, 2010 on Examiner.com.

Published on October 30, 2010 on Examiner.com.

Published on November 6, 2010 on Examiner.com.

Details here.

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Published on November 21, 2010 on Examiner.com.

Published November 26, 2010 on Examiner.com.

Published on December 1, 2010 on Examiner.com.

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Published on December 17, 2010 on Examiner.com.

Published on December 24, 2010 on Examiner.com.

Published on December 29, 2010 on Examiner.com.

Published on January 2, 2011 on Examiner.com.

Published on January 15, 2011 on Examiner.com and more details here on my new crafty blog!

Published on January 21, 2011 on Examiner.com.

Published on January 26, 2011 on Examiner.com and blogged here.

Published on February 2, 2011 on Examiner.com.

Published on February 12, 2011 on Examiner.com and more details soon here!

Published on February 18, 2011 on Examiner.com and another one with details to follow here!

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Whew!  I was behind!!  Feels good to be caught up. :)  Product details and more info about the layouts and cards can be found by clicking on the links beneath each photo. 

Have a great weekend!! :)

Wordless Wednesday: Totally Addicted

♥ Iced Unsweetened Passion Tea ♥

yum.

January was a blur!

Between a back injury, working two jobs and, generally, running in circles..... I haven't had much time to write here. I want to, I just have no time left at the end of the day and, let's face it, I'm so not a morning person!   I wanted to make sure I wrote something so I'd have something to look back at for this month... so here's some random tidbits from January!

Work sent me to Sacramento round-trip one-day for a grant application.  I was happy to go cause it meant lunch with my parents and these three:

In case you don't know, that's my sister and her two kiddos, my most favorite nephew & niece!

My favorite little nephew who's growing up too fast:

Walking, talking, ABC's, numbers.... spoon balanced on his nose?!  Sweet!!  I'm so proud!! :D

And this cutie who I got to feed lunch:

Already growing too fast for me - thankfully, my sister sends me text message pics a couple times a week!

My kind of work day! :)
Countless layouts and cards... I'll share those soon.

Watched my amazing husband speed through a remodel of our laundry room which I will also be sharing soon -- he's almost done!  I'm so proud of him.  He's the best -- I'm such a lucky girl!! ♥ Then it's my turn to hang pictures and all that fun stuff. :)

Suffered a bad back injury -- inflammed illiopsoas muscles, inflammed left hamstring, irritated siatic nerve on my left side.  No fun.  Finally feeling better, but makes work a challenge.  Contemplating one of those crazy chairs for work... no joke.  Sitting = no good.  Walking, standing, yoga = good.  I want to start running again on a regular basis.  SOON.  I tried last week and my back immediately flared up.  sigh.  A little fearful of trying again and hurting that much again.

I miss my hubby.  He's been such a trooper with my crazy schedule and when I'm home, I'm dead tired or working on the computer.  I appreciate that he feeds me, loves our pets, loves our home and loves me.  He's the best! :) 

This year, I'm trying to just take everything as it comes at me -- no goals for the year, no word.  Just living.  this is a big change for me! :)  This month I've just been hustling and trying to normalize my sleep schedule. So far, so good.  I'm getting to bed around 10-11 every night and up between 6:45-8 depending on weekday/weekend.  Next month, I'm hoping to settle into a better schedule.   By that, I mean I'm hoping to get to bed a little earlier, get up at 6 to workout every weekday, with serious exercise in some form 4 days a week and plan an evening a week for my hubby -- no computer, no phone, just us.  Hope he'll cooperate with that one! ;)

Wordless Wednesday: Lunchtime = Playtime!

What can I say, this is my normal routine at lunch...  check mail, come in, puppy kisses, then fetch with a tennis ball.  :)

This was supposed to be wordless.  I'll have to work on that.  Just wanted to pop over here and say that I think about catching up here all the time.  Life just got even busier on me.  I'll be back soon.  At least for now, I'll try these to force me back into something regular. :)

New Year... New Stuff....

New Niece....

New laundryroom (I hope)....

We tested ten of these colors on the wall. No decision once the new washer & dryer got here. Back to Home Depot for some more colors.... :|  The paint testing fun continues...

And new blog...

to go along with my new side gig... :)

So if you like making cards, stamping, scrapping... any of that crafty sort of stuff, please come be one of my first followers over there!  I'm also booking workshops if you see anything on that blog that you want to make. :)

I've been having fits with the html coding on that blog.  For now it's working in Internet Explorer, but no other platforms.  Going to have to recode it in a different way this weekend.  Wish me luck... I think I may need it!!

Hope you are enjoying the new year... I can't believe we are already a week into it.  Yikes!

December got away from me...

Heck, the whole of 2010 did!  What a busy year!  The past few weeks have been busy with getting ready to start a new adventure for 2011, hosting a cookie exchange party, attending a holiday party for work, a visit from my parents, our niece born on December 21st, time spent at the hospital with my sister + new niece, lots of time with friends and family, time spent playing with my nephew, last minute Christmas shopping, traveling to do 99% of that, renovation of the laundryroom is now in full swing and, on top of all that, I'm trying really hard not to go crazy! 

More on all of that soon.  Promise. :)  As a random side note, I actually have over 65 posts in draft form.  Most just waiting for pictures.  Scary, but true.  I think I'll be resolving to fix that problem in 2011!

In the meantime, here's our Christmas card for this year, which made it into the mail extremely late (sorry everyone... they will be there soon, promise!!)

Better late than never though, right?!  Anyway, happy new year everyone!!  :)

I...

AM happy.
WANT to have more hours in the day.
HAVE the best husband!
WISH that I could have a more creative career.
HATE cat fur all over the couch this time of the year.  I swear I find a new whole cat everday in shed fur!
FEAR the last day I can have an eggnog chai latte at Starbucks this month.
HEAR the dog and cat snoring.
SEARCH for missing socks too often.
WONDER where the heck do they vanish to??  Seriously.
REGRET nothing.
LOVE my life.
ACHE for my husband.  Wait that sounds... well... I miss him.  He's gone for work a lot now...
ALWAYS take on way more than I can handle and love it!
USUALLY do not have enough patience.
AM NOT perfect and I like it that way.
DANCE when no one is looking or everyone is drunk!
SING in the shower and the car.
NEVER imagined my life would take me to this point ten years ago.
RARELY get sick.
CRY when I get angry or frustrated.
AM NOT ALWAYS awake before 10 am... I'm not a morning person.
LOSE the cords and battery chargers to my camera far too often.
AM CONFUSED BY ummm.... not much.  I don't let that state of mind persist for very long!
NEED to spend more time with my husband.
SHOULD workout more.
LAUGH every day.
DREAM that my life will continue to grow and flourish... I'm a lucky girl!

Saw this "quiz" on a scrapbook layout by Amy LeJeune in the new Scrapbooking Everyday Memories by CK.  Love the concept!!  Now just to make it into my own layout.  Thanks for the inspiration Amy!!

This Busy Life....

I could quote poetic.... "when it rains it pours"... but I won't do that! :)

Things were hectic in the last couple of weeks.   To say the least.  So rather than talk about that right now.... I'm just going to pick up and move forward for the moment -- I'll come back to the rest of that later!  Some random thoughts....

*I ♥ Eggnog Chai Lattes.  This is a new favorite addiction this year!  Between that and the Cranberry Bliss Bars....
*I want to run or go back to spin class.   Like yesterday. I'm just fighting my lengthy to-do list to make time for it.  Well that and....
*Sleep.  Which I love and need more of.

So, I took almost no photos of all the fun time I spent with my nephew over the Thanksgiving holiday week while we were in Sacramento.  Which is kind of a bummer.  But in my defense it's hard to remember to take photos when you are running in circles chasing a 2.5 yr old and playing.  But I did manage to take this one with my cell phone.  Which I love.  LOVE.

We were watching Mickey Mouse Playhouse.  They were going to Mars and he was totally getting it.  He's such a smarty pants.  I'm also loving our newly discovered conversations about all things boy.   Including his binoculars from Uncle Brian.  Which, by the way, is the most hilarious word to hear him say!  I will definitely be capturing that on video in a few weeks at Christmas.  :)

So there's my random mind download for the moment... I'm back and I hope I will be posting more frequently.  I hope!  I have way too many draft posts waiting for photos!! :)

Oh and I'm way behind on reading the blogs I follow, but I'm catching up on that too!

Laundry Room Inspiration

Been looking around.....  and found some fabulous laundry rooms!!

1. Laundry room, 2. Laundry room, 3. Serena's Laundry Room, 4. Serena's Laundry Room, 5. Laundry Room, 6. dear laundry room....., 7. Laundry room, 8. Laundry room, 9. laundry room, 10. laundry room, 11. laundry room, 12. Laundry Day, 13. Handmade button photos, 14. laundry room, 15. Laundry Room Remodel: After, 16. Laundry room, 17. Laundry Day, 18. Parade 2007: Laundry Room, 19. laundry room, 20. Domino_Laundry_room_2 bright, 21. laundry_room_1, 22. laundry room DIY, 23. Laundry room, 24. laundry room.

Been looking a lot actually.... and it would seem that there are several things I keep returning to....

• Front loading appliances
• White cabinets
• A vintage laundry sign of some variety
• Black & White photos and/or kitchsy laundry-esque art, including a fun clock like #1 above
• A counter (totally on the dream list falling in the category of someday... way down the line! Would be amazing to have a counter like #14.... it's an ironing board counter!!)

And yesterday we went looking at tile for the floor.  It wasn't too hard for us to agree that we both liked natural stone.  I went in wanting a versallies pattern, but came out wanting a venetian pattern.  Mostly because of the scale for the room.  The versallies pattern's biggest tile is 16" x 24" and in a room that is roughly 8' x 7' with a 5' x 2' cutout area for cabinets, it would be too big for the room.  sigh. 

But the venetian pattern is perfect for that scale of room.  Here's a photo of what the pattern looks like:

Image via here.

It's a 12" x 12" tile, the smaller sizes are the same tile cut in half or quarters.  We really liked it in dusk travertine.  It was tumbled.  And gorgeous.  Much like the photo above.  And $14-20 a square foot.  Now, if we lived in a custom house or in a different area and we were in our forever house?  We would totally do that option.  But we do not and we do not want to overbuild for our neighborhood or overspend for our unplanned laundry room renovation.

We loved the tumbled, hand polished look, but have decided not to go that route this time.... it makes it more expensive!

So instead we will be getting:

A natural stone...
Darker in color...
With natural veining and/or some interesting details. 

We have settled on a choice... I think. :) I'll be back to share a peek at it soon.  (And it doesn't cost $14.95 a square foot either!!)

I also really liked these blog posts I found as I searched for ideas.... go check them out too:

• A happy vintage laundry room -- I must find some cool spray bottles like that!!
• A gorgeous laundry room -- Seriously, I'm in love with the ironing board counter...
• Organized cupboards -- Great inspiration for reorganizing the pantry portion of our laundry room!  isn't the vinyl background fabulous?!

Got an inspiring laundry room you think I should see?! I'm still on the hunt... :)

I'm still alive...

Picture I took at Pariaso Winery, Soledad, California, July 2010.

Just been crazy busy working!  I'll be back here this week and get this place updated!!

In the meantime... just a quick poll.  What's your favorite holiday Starbucks treat(s)?!  Me?  I'm partial this year to my grande Chai Eggnog Latte and my continuing addition, the Cranberry Bliss Bar.  Both reasons to workout and/or run more.  Lots more! :)

30 Day Blog Challenge | Days 21 to 30: Finishing up!

What a crazy month so far! Just taking a break to finish up this challenge.   So here goes....

Picture of Yourself
Here is a recent photo of my sister and I at her baby shower a few weeks ago:

I chopped off almost five inches mere hours after this picture was taken too!
Favorite City
I must say, though I've been to a lot of great cities, I'm partial to San Francisco. :)

Favorite Vacation
This is actually a really hard question - we've had so many great vacations!  One of my favorites was our trip to Vermont:

Something You've Learned
hmmmmm..... I've learned lots of things in my life.  Reminded yesterday of the day I learned that I believe in love at first sight nine years ago:

Put your iPod on Shuffle, first ten songs:
Currently, I have 1,875 songs that would take 5 days to play continuously.  Yikes!  Here it is on shuffle... not bad.  A little old, a little new... some country, some pop, some rock.  Pretty typical!
1.   If it Makes You Happy ~ Sheryl Crow
2.   Nearness of You ~ Chris Botti
3.   Jump Around ~ House of Pain
4.   Good Enough ~ Evanescence
5.   Dani California ~ Red Hot Chili Peppers
6.   Already Gone ~ Kelly Clarkson
7.   Are You Ready ~ Creed
8.   Cold Day in July ~ Dixie Chicks
9.   All the Right Moves ~ One Republic
10.  Then ~ Brad Paisley

Picture of my family
Taken on my 30th birthday by my Dad earlier this year... breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen. :)

Pets
We have three of them... Scarlet, Darby and Nala.  Up first, our puppy Scarlet!

And the kitties.... Darby the troublemaker:

Good thing she's pretty. :)  And, of course, the gray one... Nala:

She's an old lady now, so she sleeps a lot. :)

Something that stresses me out
The usual suspects.  Work and the house being torn apart!  :)

Three wishes
Three in one... a long, happy life with my husband!  Yep that's my three.... long life... happy life.... both with Brian. :) 

And last but not least.....

A picture
I seem to take a lot of flower pictures.  Here's one from Hershey Gardens I took back in May.

That's all I have for today!  Hope you enjoy your weekend. :)