my bio-poem:

shaina christina lee-ann
*who is memorable, vibrant, and kind
*who is mrs. to wonderful husband, chris
*who loves white mochas, brads, and reality tv
*who feels that true love is possible, that the future is bright, and that real strength comes from God
*who needs lots of human contact, a shoulder to cry on, and inspiration from real life
*who gives knowledge of the truth, love with all her heart, and scrapbooks as presents
*who fears people forgetting about her, not being a good enough wife, and over-thinking things
*who would like to see “so you think you can dance” live, her parents finally happy, and paradise
*who shares smiles, long distance relationship advice, and lots of pictures
*who used to think she’d never find her own true love, feel at home anywhere, or laugh for real again
*who loves her new little hometown: soap lake, Washington
*who knows that life is not perfect, but is worth living anyway
longstreet

the finished product!!

today i finished jennifer and derrik's wedding scrapbook. here is how it came out! hope you like it! :D

and again!!

i had a really nice past few days. the surprise party for jon and mercades was awesome! we all so pulled it off. they had no idea! i love it when surprises work out. :D i'm really hard to surprise. kinda wish i wasn't.... oh well. :(

monday i went home to omak to visit my parents for a couple of day. my dad needed some computer help and we got to spend the afternoon together. it was really nice. i've been missing them a lot lately. we will be going back up there on friday for the weekend, so i'm looking forward to that.

i signed up for another class over at SIStv. its ashely wren's class called: unpredictable requests. lets just say that so far its pretty much awesome! can't really share anything till the class is finished, but i so getting some great inspiration! :D

i'm hoping to finish jennifer and derrik's scrapbook today so that i can give it to them this weekend. we're all gonna be around for gwen and anthony's wedding. so that's what i'm off to do...

have a great day! :D

a couple more....

i'm having too much fun i think!!

the layouts even i've been looking forward to! ta-da!

here they are ladies and gentleman. and what fun did i have making them. lots of mixing patterned paper and some very personal journaling. i've got all but one done for the challenge prompts i'm working on. :D

hope you enjoy.

for TAIF. the challenge was to use notebook paper! :D

just one i did for fun...i can't get enough of the pictures lisa took of us!

for "the story matters" we were supposed to scrap: me--right now. so i did.

this is for scrapJack. the page we're working off of was debee's. it had this great quote on it i just had to use! also used some of my SFAC july kit stuff! too cute! :D

for OLW. "IF" i did my page about my grandparent's recent struggles.

so there you go! loving getting back into this full force. i made all these layouts in the last 24 hours! wahoo!!! :D

now i'm going home to throw the football around with my hubs....our favorite exercise together. have a great friday night! :D

things i'm looking forward to....

• this weekend is my friends jon & mercades 10 year anniversary and we're going to their surprise party on sunday
• next weekend is another friend's wedding in canada and chris and i are singing at their reception. its a song that chris wrote called elapse.
• i will be done with the strictest part of my diet on the 4th. wahoo!!! i'm doing pretty good though. i've already lost 15 lbs. :D
  
• there is another surprise anniversary party in spokane on the 9th. it will be nice to visit with everyone. been awhile since we were back there. i can't believe we've been in soap lake for 6 months already! crazy!
• my sister shelby is getting married in september and i am (as of this morning) their photographer! so excited about this. i've been scouring flickr for some ideas and inspiration. i took her senior photos, so she liked my style and wanted me for this special occasion too!
  
• my best friend growing up, derek is marrying nina (pictures below! we were there for his proposal) in November and they've asked me to make their invitations for them. i'm loving getting to use my scrapbooking skills to help my friends. i am soooo happy for them. can't wait for this wedding!
  
• august is chris' bonus and raise at work time.... :) we're thinking of going on a little trip. and chris wants to buy me a new camera so bad. we shall see what happens! that would be such a nice gift!
• my two best galls kelly and katie are planning on coming to visit me in august. i can't wait! i miss them so much. its been quite awhile since we got to see each other. its so hard to live so far away, but we do our best!
  
• chris and i are thinking of going to the so you think you can dance tour this year. we've been addicted to the show, and the tour is starting in tacoma. how cool would that be?
  

that's a pretty good list! and i thought i had nothing going on..... :P

my talk on tuesday night went really well. my little householder did such a good job and pulled off her "roll" as a snotty girl. turned out cute.

chris was sick yesterday....there is a bug going around at work. i just wish he would get sick on days i don't have to go to work so we could spend the day together. he's feeling better this morning.

so that's about all for now. still haven't finished my lo's for the current challenges. been a little "scrap-blocked" lately. i think its just how i've been feeling about myself. but most of them are due tomorrow, so i've got get cracking!

'till later!

that hubs of mine....

could chris be any sweeter....seriously? working today and i got kinda cold. called him and asked him to bring me a sweater on his way out of town. .....

now i think i need to tell a bit of an older story.....
when we were first dating and falling in love i would just swoon at one sniff of his cologne. it was just the perfect scent for him and i love it. he would write letters to me and spray it on them, like a teenage girl. too cute. i've always just been about scents, ya know?

....so back to today. he not only brought me my sweater, but sprayed a little cologne on it. :D so i get to sit here all day smelling like and thinking of him. cruel and unusual punishment, but a sweet sentiment none-the-less.

what a guy!

could this guy be any more stupendous? seriously...wow. what a performance. chris and i made it to the midnight showing of the dark knight, and boy was it worth the sleep deprivation. heath ledger was an incredible actor. there are rumors he is going to win some awards for this roll, and i wouldn't be surprised! awesome job! and i just can't get enough of christian bale! wooohoo! he is probably my favorite actor, like....ever. :D great movie! rather violent, but stunning performances.

tomorrow chris is leaving me for the day and going to a baseball game that his work bought tickets for. so i'll have the afternoon and evening to myself. i have a talk that i need to write still for the meeting on tuesday, so i'll do that. and then scrapbook like crazy!!! can't wait!

till the cows come home...

yeah, no real reason for the title on this... just wanted to say something other than: "update" LOL.

i realize its been a week already since i posted. a lot happens in a week. and most of it i don't really want to talk about...

the convention was spiritually filling...lots of wonderful information, per usual, and two new fantastic books! :D i've already started reading the one. i'm not going to name them here for fear i would spoil the surprise for others who have not had their convention yet. other than spiritually the weekend was really hard for me.
kinda beyond words. nothing big i guess, just me...inside my head....

so lets focus on the future!!
tonight chris and i are going to the midnight showing of the new batman movie!!! so excited! and i've never gone to a midnight movie before, so this should be fun. we're going to eat dinner, nap for awhile, and then go. i love doing spontaneous things like this together. i love my husband!

so far my diet is kicking my ass!!! i have never been so hungry in my entire life!!
ok, probably an exaggeration, but that's how i'm feeling. doing pretty good though. lost a few pounds already. nothing visually noticeable, but that will come with time. i just hope i can stick to it. chris is seriously so supportive. he even said we should smuggle in some tea and lettuce into the movie tonight! :P silly boy. but he is trying to help.

i guess that's all for now...i've got some scrappy projects i'm working on. a couple pages done, and some new ideas floating in my head. hoping to finish jen and derrik's book now that i have my blades for my cutter! :D

till later then....

this weekend.....

starting tomorrow chris and i will be in kennewick for our Guided by God's Spirit District Convention. 3 days of talks, interviews, scriptures, notes, knowledge and holy spirit! i am so looking forward to this!

originally we were going to go last weekend to the one our old congregation in spokane was assigned to, but we changed our mind and we're going to the one our new congregation is going to be at. i'm kinda nervous because i won't really know anyone there...kinda new for me...to go to a convention and not know 4 out of 10 people walking by. but i guess it will be a new adventure and a chance to meet people and make new friends. :D chris and i are signed up to help with cleaning and watching the contribution boxes.

it starts tomorrow morning! so excited!

we are staying with a couple in kennewick that are part of the sign language group there. we met them in april when we were down there visiting. they are so sweet and fun. i'm excited to spend more time with them and get to know them better.

in other news: i'm starting a new diet soon.... i.e: saturday! i know it seems silly to start a new diet on the weekend of the convention, but it will actually work out perfect! the first two days i'm supposed to gorge myself before i start 20 full days of only 500 calories. there are a few sisters in my hall that are on this diet right now, and are doing soooo well. loosing stored fat and dress sizes left and right! i so need this. i know its usual to gain weight right after you get married...but its about time to put a stop to it.

i have been debating on whether or not to post about this on my blog....its pretty personal and hard for me to deal with, but i decided that if i "go public" with it, maybe it will be the extra incentive to keep going and loose the weight. i have gained about 40 lbs since chris and i got married. i am squeezing into my 1 pair of size 15 jeans, and that's the only pants i have to wear, aside from my sweats. :( i am feeling so bad about myself. there has been a lot of contributing factors to my weight gain: having a husband who loves to cook and who is AWESOME at it, a fairly sedentary job (with lots of snacks sitting around), a good bout of depression and none of that is helped by my PCOS (poly-cystic ovary syndrome). but one sister in my hall in-particular, Lisa, has kinda taken me under her wing and is helping me plan out and start this diet. i'm so happy to have her as my friend. question: should i post before and after pictures?? :P might be fun! lol.

so that's what i've got going for this weekend. i would love to hear what's up with you! and maybe even some thoughts about weight loss and how to keep going when it gets tough.

thanks. :D

OneLittleWord
now&forever

here is the page i made for OneLittleWord challenge this time. the word was NOW. i used some of my favorite pictures from our anniversary photo shoot. i had to be pretty creative to make a whole layout without using my fiskars paper trimmer. :P but i got it done! i really like how it turned out. can you tell i love basic gray paper? seriously folks!! great stuff!
maybe this time they will post mine on the blog in the slideshow. that would be cool. :D

scrapbooking love
<3

since i can't really do more scrapbooking till i get my refill blades in i figured i would post some older layouts that are my favorites! hope you enjoy!!

i'm also going to take mandi's advice and try used just an x-acto knife to make something for my OneLittleWord entry for this go round. the word this time is: now. thinking about maybe one of our anniversary pictures or a special one about grandpa. although the grandpa one might work for another challenge! so loving the online scrapbooking community!

for more delail about these layouts check out my SIS profile or Flickr. i have them on both! :D

hope you all have a great evening!!

pouty face

the blade on my paper trimmer is so dull the paper looks distressed already.... not good.
and my LSS doesn't have any in stock. its the old fiskar's trimmer, and its harder to find the blades that fit it. i've had it ever since i started scrapbooking 5 years ago and its my baby. i would be sad to have to replace it.

gonna do some searching maybe online to see if i can find a supplier.
till then, there is a slight pause on my scrapping.
:(

ENGAGED!!!

my best friend growing up, derek, proposed to his girlfriend nina on the 4th during the fireworks!! he invited us down to kennewick to share the weekend (and the special moment) with them. so fun! we had a great time just hanging out together. she is so great. i *heart* her. <3

she is so perfect for him. i truly believe that there is one person out there for everyone. and this girl is his!!

thanks for letting us be a part of your memory!! luv you guys!

great day....awesome memory.

so whatcha think??

of the new look of my blog. got some crazy awesome inspiration from the girls over at SIS who introduced me to the world of scrapblog.com. (all digital images from them) . it was so easy and fun to create and then upload to my blog.

so let me know if ya like it. i would love to hear from ya!!

looking up
* for Ms. Kara *

this picture is dedicated to kara, a wonderfully amazing girl i am getting so much inspiration from lately.... in life and in scrapbooking. she reminds me so much of myself at 16. i just wish that i had found scrapbooking as a creative outlet then... and that i was even half as brave as her. it is a powerful thing to really share yourself with the world, and she does that through her blog. i have loved getting to know her though her words and her art. so i took this picture with her in mind. i know she loves pictures of the sky...

so kara, this is for you. to thank you and to let you know that you're on my mind.
here's to wishing life could just be about paper and glue...