MIA

Can't believe I haven't Blogged since Thursday. Geez, that's pitiful. I have been kinda busy though. I have had to buckle down these last few days to finish the work for my two master courses. I will wrap up my last project tomorrow and be a free woman :-) It is sorta bittersweet though. For the last two years I have spent every week in a class (year round) because I wanted to get it done and not procrastinate or stretch it out. Now what will I do with my time? Of course I signed up to coach cheerleading again. My girls called me and begged me to come back. Since I was finishing up my degree, I obliged because I really missed them. In fact, they are the reason I started scrapping in the first place. At the end of my last season they presented me with a scrapbook they made documenting the entire year. I had no idea and really wanted to tear up. I had no concept of scrapbooking at that point. The power of photos and written memories combined is powerful. Here I am a year later with a scraproom, thousands of dollars in products, three mag subscriptions, an internet addiction, Adobe Photoshop, and in the process of buying a thousand dollar camera. Oh my goodness, think of all the money I could have saved if they hadn't. But I wouldn't have this creative outlet, online friends, or found my true passion. Gotta LOVE the kids :-)

I saw Elsie's book in Archivers for the first time and I will definately be buying it with my 25% off coupon. I heard it was good, but was hesitant because I am not really a freestyle artist. However, this book has various LO's, an easy format, and great challenges.

BEWARE: SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION

For my family and friends: some of you have been wondering what to get me as a graduation gift. I have decided to improve my photography skills and would appreciate donations to my camera fund :-) :-) :-) That Cannon Digi Rebel isn't paying for itself and I am not cheap normally, but dang lenses are expensive. Also, my birthday is in September, so combo gifts are accepted :-) I am doing what I can to make it easy on you :-)... Just Kidding...unless you were going to do it :-)Love you guys :-)

Another digi LO for my Book of Me. I really like this LO. What I love more is that it was created from freebies. Also, I am quickly developing a list of my fave digi artist. At the top: Gina Cabrera and Rhonna Farrer. I LOVE their stuff. I thought of this LO about 2 weeks ago, and only now felt free enough to scrap it. Something about putting your thoughts down helps you put things in perspective. I took this photo this afternoon by myself :-)

Other news: one more week till graduation (master's), which makes me happy except that I have two huge projects left to complete by Wednesday and no desire. I know I will have to force myself to get down to business, turn on some music, and get a glass or two of wine to help with the flow :-)

Thanks

Just want to say thanks for all of the concerned comments I received. It means alot to me. I realize I am lucky because there are those still in worse condition. God is good, and today is a new day.

Nomadic Lifestyle

Some of you may be wondering where I have been. I have not posted since Thursday. Well we had a big storm that knocked out power on Wednesday night (see story below). However, our house was fine. Friday morning we had another big storm, we were not okay this time. Our power was gone at about 10:30 a.m. We decided not to go to the graduation b/c of the poor weather, and other things. I was was somewhat comfortable with no lights while I waited for Rob to make it home. We tried to find something to eat and ended up waiting almost 45 minutes in a White Castle line (shows that there was nothing open for miles around), came home, lit candles, and played Gin on the floor by candlelight, went to bed with little on, opened all the windows, and put the comforter on the floor (wouldn't be needing that with the heat). We wake up Saturday, and no pwer, so we start our weekend of nomadic living. We drove to a mall about 30-45 mintues away. We walked around, ate at the Cheesecake factory (awesome place), drove to another mall 30-45 minutes away, went scrapbook browsing, went to the movies (Super Ex Girlfriend is absolutely hilarious, fun fun movie), ate dinner. We managed to stay out our warm powerless home all day. Wake up Sunday, still no power, so we left home again, ate breakfast at the Waffle House (very good), went to another mall, walked around, went to a bookstore and browsed for a while, looked at new cameras (trying to decide between taking the Digi Rebel XT leap or getting the Sony H5), drove to a college to use their internet, drove to the trendy part of town and people watched as we ate at a famous restaurant outside (Blueberry Hill). Called the house, which we had done nearly a hundred times (in hopes the answering machine would pick up indicating we had power), and high fived at the table when we heard my voice. Oh joy. We were so tired when we got home. Doing nothing can be as tiresome as doing something. Luckily, most of the food in the freezer was still good. We chucked everything that was in the fridge. Thank God we made it through safely and had the means to make it through with no hardships. Hopefully the rest of this weekend will be uneventful and I can finish all the work for my grad classes, which end in 2 weeks.

Oh yeah, I am a bad scrapper b/c I don't have pictures of us living nomadicly b/c the batteries in my camera died, and I couldn't charge them up :-)

Over Before it Started

I woke up this morning for a 9 a.m. hair appointment. Get to the salon and it is closed because they have no power due to a storm last night. I understand that, what I don't understand is the poor service. The manager didn't even bother to call and say the salon wouldn't be open. He/She could have come in early this morning and picked up the appointment book to make calls. Drove to the nail salon and they to were closed. So my day of pampering was over before it started. I was hungry and up early, so I decided to go to my fave cafe for a bacon souffle. Yeah, you know they were closed as well. So I had to settle for a bacon bagle from the donut shop. Hopefully, they will be operational tomorrow because I wanted to get my hair done before I went out of town to my husband's BF's graduation. I refuse to go with my hair looking bad :-(

Here is the third LO for my Book of ME. It is about combining two of my passions: Reading and Scrapping. I promised to do this album all digi and I believe that I will. I learned how to use templates with this LO. The more you play around with Photoshop, the easier it becomes. Who would have thought :-) If you want design info., e-mail me and I will send the supply list. Journaling:I have always enjoyed books for their ability to transport you to another world. Now the scrapbooking magazines and idea books don’t take me to another world, but they do inspire me and show me how far I can take this craft. I love the pictures, reading the how-to’s, admiring new products, and finding things to challenge me to grow as an artist. Rob sees it as an extension of my addiction. I see it as a way to combine my two loves: READING AND SCRAPPING .

Yesterday my hubby was a really good hubby. I am from Chicago, home of Deep Dish Pizza, which you really can't get in Missouri. So Rob drove 45 minutes to pick up the only good deep dish pizza in our area because I had been craving some the last week or so. It was good. Thanks babe :-)

Also I have been keeping up with my productive & positive initiative (see Sunday's post below). I do feel better for it.

Relaxing Outside

Rob and I woke up this morning and decided we wanted to grill. Went to the store for some ingredients and couldn't wait to get back. We both decided we would try a new recipie out on the grill. The menu: fresh homemade diaquiri's (sp), beef and veggie Kabobs (sp), grilled shrimp, grilled corn and the best part grilled mangoes, pears and pineapples w/ french vanilla ice cream. Oh my goodness the whole meal was fantastic. Spent some quality time preparing, cooking, eating, and relaxing. Pics below:

Deep Thoughts + A Calm Evening

Have you ever had one of those days when you wake up as usual, but 30 min. later you're not okay. That was me yesterday. I started wondering if I was good enough. A good enough wife, person, etc. (layout coming soon). I started feeling like I was wasting this gift of life and letting it slip by. Maybe it's the hormones, but the feeling wouldn't pass quickly. Luckily I had a good friend who listened. I am not normally the friend who complains and isn't satisfied, but it's nice to know that when I was someone was listening. Because of this day, I have decided to do something for me. Each day I will choose at least one positive and one productive thing to do, so I don't feel as though I am being wasteful with life. Yesterday: Productive-I ran 3 errands that were on my list; Positive-took some me time out of the house to just think about my life and relationship w/ my husband.


On a happy note: Rob and I went and ate at a Creole restaurant in the city and drove to a free India Airie concert at the Arch. It was very warm, but not overly crowed. We had our fold out chairs, so we were comfortable. We listened to great music, it was a great concert. If you have a chance to go see her, GO. Then they had this awesome fireworks show after the concert. It was a really nice evening (will upload pics later).

Feeling Scrappy

This is the LO for the photos from the winery I posted a couple entries below. Simpler than some of my other LO's, but I like it because of that. I just wanted to document the experience and I didn't want to overpower the photos. Going to the wineries always makes feel young and trendy , lol. Plus I really like this color scheme of blue, brown and orange. It says fall to me for some reason.

My First Paper LO this Week

My first paper LO this week. Had to give my fingers a break from digi scrap ping :-) I really like this LO and all the extra elements like the buttons in the middle of the flowers or the glitter on the stamped swirls.

My mom sure does love kids, which is why she works at a daycare center and has owned one in the past. I think it's the innocense they have or their ability to make you feel needed. For me it's the fact that they have a whole life of opportunities waiting for them. That's why I hang out (teach) with the older kids because I want them to realize that.

New LO...Weird Date

Had to share this one. So I decided to do the Book of Me digi style. I bought Scrapbook Quizzes and Shortcuts by SS, to help me through the process. It has lots of fun quizzes to get down to the nitty gritty of who you are, plus fun stuff you want to remember as well. I guess I could have used the Me Book I bought from Autumn Leaves, but that book inspires me to do traditional LO's. Ummm, could just be me being weird. Anyhoo, I don't mind living between two scrap worlds right now.

Monday I decided to take my husband on a date. We went to the movies first to see Pirates of the Carribbean. Good movie, very lively like the first, definately left on a cliff hanger. Half way through the movie, I noticed that the butter from the popcorn had left two stains on my tailored pants (too short to buy regular pants from the stores). Then I wanted to take Rob to eat at a steak house, but it was so late when we left the theater we decided on something lighter. Well the booth was dirty, the service wasn't top notch and surprisingly the food was only so so (usually everything is very good). I told him that if this was a real first date, it may not be a second one :-)

New Addiction :-)

This is why I can't get any work done. I am supposed to be writing my mid term exam. Instead, I spent the whole day digi scrapping or surfing. Here is my 2nd digi LO. Way better than the first one I did yesterday. The learning curve isn;t as bad as I anticipated. I used a few more techniques on this one. I might do a Book of Me using only digi LO's. Oh boy...a new addiction begins :-)

A First

I decided to give digital scrapbooking a try. For my non-scrapping audience, that means using a computer to create all the items on the layout. I was afraid to try b/c I thought it would be time consuming, and I wondered if I was tech savvy enough to figure it out. It is actually pretty fun. SHHHH...don't tell that to my scrapping supplies upstairs in my scrap room :-)

The Weekend

Went to see Superman this weekend. It is a great movie. Definately a must see. Rob and I drove to the wineries Saturday afternoon. It was a gorgeous day here and we just had to get out and do something. I remember the first time we went to the wineries about 3 years ago on Mother's Day. No I don't have kids, but he wanted to celebrate the future mother of his children. Husbands think up the cutest things when they are newly married (my husband still does things even though we aren't so new anymore). We had a ball. Who would have thought you could find great wineries in the midwest (Wisconsin has some great wineries also). We love the wineries because they have great views, it's outside, they have live music, we can just be together, and oh yeah the wine is good :-) Below are some of the pics I took.

Music in Your Soul

***Taken from the Blog of Ali Edwards, check her out. Her entry today really moved me...again. Ali also writes the Happiness Blog, which is linked on the right of my page. She is inspiring. http://www.aliedwards.typepad.com/

Made it & music.
On the way from Phoenix to Cleveland I watched a movie that brought up all kinds of thoughts and emotions. I wanted to share with you what I wrote after seeing the movie:
I am intensely inspired by people who make a difference in the lives of others. Those who bring out good and life and passion in those they come in contact with. On the flight to Cleveland I watched a movie called Take The Lead which is based on a true story of a ballroom dance instructor (Pierre Dulaine) who brought something magical, passionate and oh so very good to kids in NYC. (He is also featured in the documentary Mad Hot Ballroom that I hope to see soon.)
The music. The bodies of the dancers. How the music flows through their body. How it takes them away from the everyday into another realm entirely - the realm of flow and beat and cha cha cha. Movies like that make something well up inside me. I was totally entranced and inspired.
And I thought of Simon and how he was dancing to the live band on the 4th of July. The music was flowing through him big time. He is just a little boy and man, he feels the music. He is connected to something greater than what we see on the surface.
Then I thought of that video of Matt doing his dance all over the world. I wonder if Matt had music while he danced? Did he just dance to the beat inside himself?
In looking back at my life so far, college for me was such a time of music. There was always music pumping somewhere on my street. Parties were all about music. And I loved dancing. I remember what it feels like to move my body to the music - it has been way too long since that time. I have developed more inhibitions, gotten more self-conscious. I am missing that freedom of movement, that flow that comes through the body when you dance without worry of looking silly, or fretting about your body...
I want loud music in my life again. That pure sense of being alive that only comes from the rhythm and flow of melody. I want to dance. I want to love my body and feel the beat and move.
Peace and tons of music to you all out there.

What music moves you to feel alive???

Sisterly Love

Both these Layouts are about my sisters. Having a sibling is a very precocious situation. You are forced to live with people that under other circumstances you may not even like, and then you are told to love them unconditionally. Luckily I have sisters that make this love part easy :-)

Journaling Reads: I am not sure that I can say we were the closest growing up. Our perso-nalities, views on life, and goals were very different, so sometimes I felt as though I failed at the big sister thing. I even felt a little resentment against me because I was the oldest and you were the middle child. There were times we went months not even talking. However, we are older now. You still don’t share your deepest thoughts and emotions, but I know you are opening up and allowing me to see a little more of who you are. I enjoy the fact that we talk on the telephone at least once a week now. You are still my younger sister, but I now see the woman you are struggling to become while learning the roles of being a wife and mother. I love you very much and hope that we can grow to be best friends who just happened to start as sisters.

Quote: if you're alone, I'll be your shadow...if you want to cry, I'll be your shoulder...if you want a hug, I'll be your pillow...if you need to be happy, I'll be your smile...But anytime you need a friend, I'll just be me.


I really love this young lady, and it is so weird to realize that she is not a little girl anymore. She is growing up so quickly. Love how the angel wings on her shirt are on the background paper as well. Oh bubba :-)

New Layouts !!!

Look how great the flower looks :-)


Love the fountain shot :-)


They are so darn cute and loving, I hope they remain this way :-)The picture is a mosaic (I used Adobe).

Follow Your heart... it is bound to go home

Not sure what to say about this man. I took this picture last weekend of my step dad, my sister, and me. Scary how we all seem to look so much alike in these photos. I love him and all that he has done for me. I am lucky that my husband has so many of the qualities I admire in Gary. At my wedding we danced to this song by Beyonce, and I whispered the lyrics to him as we danced:

I want my unborn son
To be like my daddy
I want my husband to be like my daddy
There is no one else like my daddy
And I thank you for lovin me

Even if a man broke my heart today
No matter how much pain I'm in I would be ok
Because I got a man in my life that can't be replaced
His love is unconditional
It won't go away

This and That

The holiday weekend was nice. I enjoyed having my family come up. I also must say that Rob and I relaxed in the silence after they left as well. It is so weird because we realized how quiet our house and our life truly is. My neice and nephew definately bring with them a certain energy level. I love it, but I wonder if we or rather I am ready for kids in the future. I love them, but to be honest I love my time and space as well. I continue to have a new found respect for my sister and her husband. Two kids under three is quite the handful:-)

I have a ton of photos from this weekend that I will post later on today. Kids make for great photos.

I will be so glad when my grad classes are over. I am tired of school work, projects, due dates, and reading technical writing. A part of me is also afraid b/c what will I have to occupy my time next summer. I have never had an empty summer. I either taught summer school, took classes or did both.

This is a busy month. We have something going on every weekend except for this one. We haven't even taken a summer vacation yet and I am not sure we will be able to fit one in. But I guess this is better than having nothing to do :-)

Simple Pleasures (updated)

Having your mom, your two sisters and your niece and nephew come visit. Having your dinner turn out tasty (because usually when you cook for your mom something goes wrong). Going for a walk with three generations of women. Having a husband that rubs your feet b/c they are sore after your walk. Eating breakfast outside and watching your niece play in the grass. Watching your nephew run from the sprinkler. Realizing your youngest sister isn't so young anymore. A kiss goodnight from your mom. Realizing you have family that loves you and that you love. Life is good...