I Have Been Tagged

A - Available/Single? Married
B - Best Friend? DH, Robert
C - Cake or Pie? I like cake, especially Red Velvet :-)
D - Drink Of Choice? White Wine
E - Essential Item You Use Everyday? Lotion
F - Favorite Color? Red
G - Gummy Bears Or Worms? Gummy Bears (Black Forest Brand)
H - Home or Homesick? Home is whereever my DH and I are :-)
I - Indulgence? Cheese and Carmel Popcorn
J - January Or February? January- I like new beginnings
K - Kids & Their Names? None
L - Life Is Incomplete Without? God, Family, Close Friends and Scrapping :-0
M - Marriage date? November 29th 2003
N - Number Of Siblings? Karrie, Pierre, and Tiffany
O - Oranges Or Apples? Pears
P - Phobias/Fears? Failure
Q - Favorite Quote? Too many to name.
R - Reason to Smile? Unconditional Love
S - Season? Fall, I love sweaters and changing leaves.
T - Tag 3 or 4 people? They would kill me :-) LOL
U - Unknown Fact About Me? I wanted to be a professional cheerleader :-)
V - Vegetable you don’t like? Lima Beans YUCK
W - Worst Habit? Cracking my knuckles
X - X-rays You’ve Had? Teeth and Knee
Y - Your Favorite Food? Deep Dish Pizza
Z - Zodiac Sign? Virgo, I am true to my sign.

Anniversary Trip Photos

This was our second time staying in St.Genevieve and enjoying the wineries. We drove down in the morning and ate breakfast at the Tin Roof, which is where we enjoyed an early breakfast our first time visiting. We watched a Christmas parade and enjoyed the carolers. We stayed at a different B & B. It was great. The room was well decorated and the jacuzzi tub was on a platform. We visited our fave wineries and enjoyed some quality time together. We ate dinner at the same restaurant we visited on our first trip. I think we are starting to establish some traditions :-) It is a great weekend getaway. Fond memories each time :-)

Wine Party Photos

These are from the wine party my co-worker had at her house. Rob and I had a great time. Our wine didn't win, but it came in second. Her food was AWESOME. She is thinking about starting a catering business. Rob and I think she should go for it. Maybe she could ctaer our other co-worker's wedding :-) These are straight from the camera, no touch up in Adobe.

She Always Wants to Learn and Grow

You know what I like most about life...the fact that each day you wake up you can learn something new and different. This business venture has taught me so much. Today I learned how to make Blinkies (Thank You Fran for the super easy tutorial). I am very proud of myself. Now I can show support for my dream on appropriate message boards and other forums. Those who believe in my product can also show support by using the Blinkie. I am excited. The launch date is January 31st, which will be here before you know it. Without further ado...here is my Blinkie :-)



In other news, we are going to Shreveport, LA to spend Christmas with Rob's family. I haven't seen them in a while, so I am looking forward to it.

The holiday happy hour for my job was this past Friday and we had a great time.

I still have Christmas shopping to do (shame on me).

My Christmas break starts on Thursday, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Oh and my girls performed at the assembly on Friday and did a great job, so Kudos to them :-)

Fave Christmas Memory

On a message board I belong to, the question was asked about our fave christmas memory.

Here is mine:

My fave Christmas memory happened when I was in high school. My mom hid all of our gifts around the house and gave us a list of clues to follow. Each clue led to your next gift and each gift built up to your most prized possesion. It was the best. You should have seen us ripping through the house giggling and helping each other figure the riddles out. It is by far one of my fondest memories. My mom was/is super cool. Love her too death :-) Definitely somethign I would do for my kids. We had so much fun that morning. After we found all of our gifts we had breakfast as usual. Good memories.

What's yours???

Who's a bad Blogger...ME. Sorry, but I have been super busy. For my friends that I haven't called back, I am still alive and doing well. The Christmas party for my job was last Friday and it was nice. I have great blackmail photos of my fellow teachers getting it on on the dance floor :-) Good times I tell you. An open bar is guaranteed entertainment. I am just kidding we were still very respectable. Our anniversary weekend was nice. The B&B we stayed at was really nice. We spent some good quality time together. I love wineries and I love the coziness of B&B's. You gotta stay in one if you haven't before.

Business planning is going well. I think I am almost done putting the final touches up on the website. I have been ordering things like crazy and I am getting really nervous about succeeding. But that is life. I know I have done my best and with that I can be proud when I open my doors in late January. Time is definitely creeping up :-)

Christmas is around the corner and I haven't done any shopping lately. Will do so this Saturday. A friend is hosting a wine dinner this Friday night. I am looking foward to it. There is also a contest for the best wine, and I think Rob and I have a chance of winning :-)

I will post pics from the weekend once Rob gets the new computer up and running.

love ya,

Irony and a Bright Side

Irony is a concept that I teach the kids over and over again. They don't always get it, but I stress it all the time. For this past valentine's day, Rob and I decided to go out of town to a B&B in St.Genevieve. The day before we left was the coldest day of the year, and the worst weather. Still we trucked on and had a great time. We decided to go back to this same B&B to celebrate our anniversary this upcoming weekend (our anniversary was on Wednesday, but we couldn't get off mid week). Well, today we got the worst weather of the year again, the worst snow storm I have seen since I have lived here and I don't think we will be able to escape this time. Over five inches of snow, which is layered over ice. Total bummer and a good example of irony. The worst weather only happens when we try to travel to St.Genevieve.

Bright side.....I get to practice snow photos with my digi rebel for the first time.

Bright side #2.... I can make some of those business calls I haven't been able to get around to. Everything for the business is falling in place and I will be opening in February instead of late March. So excited it is actually happening :-) Our Ad will be in one of the mags that come out in March. Advertising is sooo important. I will start posting more info about what I am specifically doing later this month. I didn't want to put it out there and jinx myself or anything. But everything is going so well I just feel so blessed.

Do you know what I learned today ??? I learned that webpages are not very easy things to build or customize even after you have been given a template. However, I will not be beat by the computer. Not me, not today!!!! :-)

I had a very restful break. I think I can keep going for 3 more weeks (Christmas Break).

My mom and sis left safely. Always good to have them visit.

Saw the James Bond movie. It is long, but it is also action packed. I enjoyed it.

Can't wait for this weekend. Christmas party at work on Friday and then our anniversary trip on Saturday. Wine, fine dining, my hubby, and a whirlpool. Should be oh so nice.

Do you know what I learned today ??? I learned that webpages are not very easy things to build or customize even after you have been given a template. However, I will not be beat by the computer. Not me, not today!!!! :-)

I had a very restful break. I think I can keep going for 3 more weeks (Christmas Break).

My mom and sis left safely. Always good to have them visit.

Saw the James Bond movie. It is long, but it is also action packed. I enjoyed it.

Can't wait for this weekend. Christmas party at work on Friday and then our anniversary trip on Saturday. Wine, fine dining, my hubby, and a whirlpool. Should be oh so nice.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROB !!!!

I just want to say Happy Birthday to my hubby. He is the greatest. I am thankful that he has another year to grow, to become who he is destined to be, and another year to blessed and to be a blessing. Love you Babe :-)

Thankful

I am THANKFUL for:

my family
my supportive husband
my health
my friends
my financial security
my creative outlet
my dreams
my life
my God

BE BLESSED today everyone and remember to GIVE THANKS for all the things we have been given...

I have some scrap supplies I am selling on e-bay. Some is extra new stuff I had and some is extra old stuff that I never used. I decided to sell it in a little scrap holiday bundle. Check it out.
E-Bay:

NO SCHOOL on Thursday or Friday, so I am intensely thankful for that :-)

I am an official business owner as of today. Yea me. I can now buy and sell products legally. I am so excited. I passed the paperwork test and can now focus on the business development and creative process. I am excited. I read an article yesterday that was very sobering, but still I was inspired to continue, which to me means that this is the right path for me.

My mom and younger sister are coming down on Wednesday night. It will be nice to see them. I am kinda sad that my other sister and her family won't be able to make it though. I love them dearly.

On Thursday I think I will blog about all I am Thankful for this year.

I wish everyone a HAPPY TURKEY and FAMILY BONDING DAY

I found some of my mojo Friday night :-) Thanks to www.personalscrapper.com , they are having an online crop. I created two LO's and it felt good after not having made anything in two weeks. One of the LO's is gorgeous. A personal best and absolutely going in my HOF entry. 5/10 LO's are completed. Rob looked at it and said I love it, I don't know why, but I love it. This was my reaction as well. It all just blends so well.

I just got over a cold last week only to get sick again on Friday. I guess it is a price you pay for working with kids. I hope it doesn't take me almost 3 weeks to get over this one as well.

Oh yeah, I am completely legal now, since I changed my SS# on Friday. Now the government recognizes me by my married name. Tiffany, you need to make that switch as well. You feel like a new person, lol :-)

Looking forward to trying to get some nice family photos this week as well. I am never very good at photographing people other than Rob and myself. I think that may be a hinderance to starting a photography business :-) so you won't see me advertising for that anytime soon, lol :-)

Oh, one more thing... I applied for my business license this past week as well. Yeah, I am very proud of myself and excited. I only have about 10-20% more governmental paperwork to complete. This has to be the biggest hurdle :-) I start work on the website next month. Love the creative experience inherent in that.

I am THANKFUL for the right to DREAM...

Luv ya :-)

Continually Learning

Yesterday, I went to the starting a small business workshop. It was worth the money. I learned a lot of stuff, got some good resources, and walked away with a better picture of all that I will need to do. I learned a lot about the legalities, licenses, and taxes associated with owning your own business.

I will admit it is a little more than I anticipated. However, I think that is because I dream big. There are a bunch of ways I could scale down my business idea, but why should I. If I am going to be bold and take a chance, than I should be just as bold and give it my all. I want it to be nice, not simply sufficient.

Rob is great and has been super supportive. He listens to me babble on and on and lets me bounce a million ideas off of him. How did I get so lucky, I just don't know. But I do thank God for him each and everyday.













I just sketched out my Ad for the magazines. I need to take it into Adobe and play around with it. Here is my advertising tagline: Bring Your Memories to Life

Just a Simple Reminder

Just a simple reminder to appreciate the moments that make up our life (read this on Melody Ross's Blog):

"For most of life, nothing wonderful happens. If you don't enjoy getting up and working and finishing your work and sitting down to a meal with family or friends, then the chances are that you're not going to be very happy. If someone bases his happiness or unhappiness on major events like a great new job, huge amounts of money, a flawlessly happy marriage or a trip to Paris, that person isn't going to be happy much of the time. If, on the other hand, happiness depends on a good breakfast, flowers in the yard, a drink or a nap, then we are more likely to live with quite a bit of happiness." ~Andy Rooney

Confronting Doubt and Winning :-)

So I confronted my fear yesterday, took action against it, and came out victorious. In the past I think I probably would have let the doubt plague me until I decided it was a sign that this wasn't the path for me. It seems like chickening out in a sense, but when I think about it, if I was that easily discouraged than maybe it did mean I wasn't ready to move on and face the next challenge. Today I am ready to press forward and continue with discovering and carving a new road for myself. I was victorious yesterday and it felt really good. As women we need to believe more in the awesome power that we possess. We really are capable of anything.

I am getting my driver's license switched to my married name today ( I know it only took me three years :-) I have to in order to get my passport for our trip to Europe this upcoming summer. Also, I must say that this passport business is a rip off. Why on earth does it cost $95 to prove who I am ?????

Hoping to get some scrapping done this weekend FINALLY. I took some really great photos of Rob recently and I haven't scrapped them yet. I can't wiat for most of the new Christmas lines to come in my kit clubs or to come to my local Archiver's. LOVING the new CRATE and BASIC GREY paper lines. Just yummy stuff :-)

One of my action items today was to find out about advertising costs for scrapbooking magazines. The best way for a business to thrive is through effective advertising. I have wondered why more scrap businesses don't advertise in the mags and now I know. Almost $500 for a 4x2 ad space, for only one issue. Crazy I tell you. I have another big action step this weekend and next week. It is really coming along and I am glad.

In the book yesterday (Inside Every Woman), I read that if you begin to have doubts, you must conquer the fear or you will be forever frozen. I had a doubt earlier this week, and I plan to try and overcome it this weekend. Wish me luck.

It has been a busy week. Grades were due Wednesday in the computer and of course I was totally behind on my grading. For two and a half days all I did was grade. Fortunately I got it all done.

Congratulations to my hubby on his promotion and big pay raise. To celebrate we went to a steak house and had steak, lobster, and desert pear margaritas. Oh it was so GOOD. I am really happy and proud of him. His job has five levels and he has made level three in only five years. So proud of him and his talent and intelligence. You have to love an intelligent man :-)

We made plans for our anniversary. We are going on a two hour drive to wine country and staying at a B&B. We booked a limo to drive us to two of the wineries down there. I can not wait until the first weekend of December. I hope the room has a roaring fire place and a whirlpool. What could be more romantic? Someone asked if it has been a long or short three years and the answer is SHORT. Time is flying by, which I think is a good thing.

I haven't scrapped in almost a week and a half. I ran out of good pics and I am at a loss of what to scrap. This is the one time I wish I had kids :-) Hopefully I can get some good holiday pics this year.

I have felt lazy lately, like I wasn't utilizing my time well. The book I am reading has inspired me to be more productive with the moments of my day. So I started this new concept. I wrote down five areas of my life I wish I was more productive with (health, home, self, husband, work) . Each morning in my planner I write down one thing I will do to be productive or proactive in that area. Each night I cross off my list. It has been working well so far this week. I have done a lot and feel good at the end of the day.

Playing Catch Up

I have been a bad blogger :-( Sorry

I don't have long now, but I wanted to remind everyone to vote tomorrow. There are key issues on the ballot and you want to make sure that your voice is heard. Voting is a gift we need to enjoy when the time comes around.

Making progress with my new business venture. I am going to a small business workshop next week to gather information on taxes and certain licences. I think I have found a good company to host and create my site.

Work is work, it is going by quickly, which is always a good thing :-)

My third anniversary is coming up at the end of the month. Time has just flown by.

I have completed four of the ten LO's for the HOF contest. I am proud of my entries so far. I need more photos though, so I can finish up.

I am loving the book: Inside Every Woman. It is filled with inspiration and motivating me to make some key life changes.

I had Quiche for breakfast on Sunday at a cute cafe and spent the rest of the day watching football on the sofa with my hubby. Enjoyed both tremendously.

Saurday we went to a trendy cuban bar/restaurant and ate tapas for dinner and had mojitos. The mojitos were great and the cuban/caribbean food was tasty as well.

Be Blessed Everyone :-)

A Passionate Life

Today's Positive Thought:

Every woman is born with passion and has the right to live a passionate life (Inside Every Woman: Using the 10 Strengths You Didn't Know You Had to Get the Career and Life You Want Now by Vickie L. Milazzo).

I have always been passionate about:

1) Creating
2) Traveling
3) Learning
4) Teaching
5) Being of Service

Today I am passionate about figuring out how to combine them.


What are you passionate about right now?