dear mom....

something good today....

i found myself a second job!!! wahoo! i'm going to be working at my favorite little coffee stand here in town called "maranda's." since all our car trouble, and needing to get a new car, we're a little short on funds. so i went in there this morning, ordered a coffee and asked if she needed some help in her shop. i told her i want to keep my other job, but could work from opening to just before 10 so i have time to get over and open instant cash. she said that's exactly when she is needing some help! I START ON TUESDAY!!! so excited. defiantly an answer to some prayers. :)

coffee land: here i come!! :D :D

Design Team: the result

so the first prompt over at THe CrEative TyPe was to take some sort of poster, like a concert or movie poster, and use it as your inspiration for a bit of a bio about yourself. i wanted to challenge myself and get a little out of my comfort zone, so i went to google.... typed in "concert posters" and went with the first one i saw. so not me... but i think i rocked it!! :)

my journaling reads:
this life...even as we are, we are becoming. i am becoming the woman i dreamt of being.

now...i can't get too uncomfortable here.... :P so i of course added 3 brads and inked the letters and edges of my page. i am loving how this turned out. :D

post #200

a milestone? i think so!!!

and to celebrate i've got lots of things to share! :D

first of all a few of my favorite group shots from when katie and kelly were here. i miss those girls already!

now for a couple layouts and "scrap-happy" things i've been doing the past few days! :D

i made this page about my little brother micah for the "so you think you can scrap?" challenge over at SFAC. you had to use their logo (a clock) and the word "time." this was a pretty emotional page for me. i really miss him soo bad.

these are my very first attempt at ATC's (artist trading cards) i'm in a swap over at SIS that's all about the sisterhood of the traveling pants! hence the jeans! :) lots of fun.

i did this page with a download from a couple of effer dare's ago.... i just had to use it! i printed out 6 of my favorite pictures from my trip to nebraska in september of 05. i love how it turned out.

this page was done for the effer dare "door" challenge. its an older picture my mom took of us when we were first dating. i also used mostly things from my recent SFAC kit. loving those chipboard pieces! this one is a little out of my element, but i love how it turned out.

header updated

(see top of page ;) )

so what do y'all think of my new header? i created it with scrapblog again. gotta love that place. they are always adding new elements and it so easy and fun to use. check it out sometime. :)

our new addition

meet dexter

he adopted us a few days ago. just waltzed right on in to our apartment and made himself at home. he is so friendly and well behaved and fun. he is part Siamese and i'm thinking Persian. white with light gray and beautiful blue eyes! i think i've fallen in love. honestly i think i really needed him. he follows me around the house, sits with me, and his presence is comforting. and he is funny! he chased this little girl out of our yard and right back into her house, and then came back all proud of himself. we've had him spending his days outside and then staying in with us at night. he's claimed one of our chairs as his own, and goes between it and our bed during the night.

cute eh?
oh yeah!

i've made up a "found" poster to hang up at the local grocery store and the post office. we've been asking around and no one knows where he came from. one lady said that if you find a cat around here...no one ever comes to claim it. i'm hoping she's right because i'm getting pretty attatched. and i don't even like cats!! :) he's good for me.

today...

• i'm glad for cool breezes and the feel of fall in the air
• i'm working on my ATC's for the sisterhood of the traveling pants 2 swap im in
• having a slow day at work
• enjoying playing with a new photo editing site i found called picnik
• wishing we could figure out what to do about our car situation
  
• drinking lots of water
• thinking about keeping the stray cat that adopted us a couple days ago (i've already named him dexter :D )
  
• worrying about my hubs and his job shtuff...
• planning on buying more nectarines and plums after work
• excited to watch the episode of project runway i DVR'd last night
• going to the library to pick up the book i ordered: understanding exposure by Brian Peterson and so looking forward to it
• missing my girls and their laughter already ( i have a bunch of photos from their visit, but i have to wait for KT to send me the right cd with them on it. can't wait to share more of their visit. it was so good to see them)
• listening to imagene heap on repeat on my cd player
  
• missing my mom
• hoping for a wonderful evening
  

***my big announcement***

i have been asked to join *THe CrEative TyPe* design team!!!
(click on the link in my sidebar to check out the site)

i am soooo excited about this! it is my first time as part of a design team, and i think it fits me perfectly!! it is a site dedicated to the long lost art of TYPE. we'll be experimenting with different styles of writing and journaling and creating art and uniqueness through letters themselves! the first prompt is up now.... run (don't walk) over and check it out. :)

thank you so much patty for inviting me to be a part of this! i can't wait to jump right in!

my hair: before and after

i managed to squeeze in an appointment for my hair cut. i'd seen these bangs on an episode of "what not to wear" on TLC and loved em. so i paused the show and took a picture:

and didn't my new hair dresser do a fantastic job?? i'm soo happy with them. now i'm feeling a bit better about myself now...perfect timing for a visit from kelly. :)

can't wait to see this girl!!!!

this girl....my best friend....
what could be better than time together? :)

something to make me smile....

i just ordered THIS:



an art journal from elise's etsy shop. she'd has some amazing ones before and i've always missed out...but i knew this was coming and was ready and waiting. i got the LAST ONE!!! brilliant! i'm so excited. elise's stuff is incredible. she makes all these letterpress items herself with these amazing quotes on them. can't get enough of her style and inspiration! check out what she does with these kits here. (browse through the photos) so excited about this. :D

sadly i did not create anything last night from my happy mail.... largely due to the fact that i'm out of adhesive and wal-mart was too. :( but it had been a rough day, so chris and i got pizza and watched a movie. i haven't had pizza in such a long time. it was sooo tasty, but my tummy is pretty upset now. oh well. i'm going with: "it was worth it."

happy mail addition.... an e-mail

*tears of joy*

i received an e-mail from a sister today that warmed my heart. it is such a blessing to be part of this world-wide brotherhood. here is part of what she said:

"Jehovah has promised us deep joy, but not always happiness everyday. Something that really struck a study that I had was the realization that no one comes to Jehovah unless he draws them first. He sees something that he likes and then draws you in. Jehovah has also obligated himself to take care of us. he has to. He said he would, and He cannot lie. These thoughts keep me going."

so thank you gwen. you don't know how much i needed that today.

so after all my happiness from the mail... i got a call from chris. one of our cars is dead. he's going to try and make it home and take it to a mechanic tomorrow. we'll see what happens. we really DO NOT have money for this right now....no matter what the problem is. so i'm going to do my best to just trust that jehovah will take care of us. i'm taking our other car to get the oil changed tonight after work. its been acting up lately too. hoping all it needs is a little attention. if we end up having to use just one car, chris will have to drop me off at work at 6 am every morning. that means i'll be at the office 4 hours before i even open. i guess i'll just have to bring some scrapbooking stuff and slam out some layouts! (that's me trying to be optimistic!)

man its hard to go from such a high to such a low all in one day....

HAPPY MAIL DAY

you have no idea how stoked i am right now. all the scrappy stuff i've been waiting for came in this morning....all in one day!!! hooray!

i ordered these off that etsy shop i posted about earlier: www.homestudio.etsy.com ... love them even more in real life! i got these matching charms for katie, kelly, and i. blue for KT, green for me, and pink for KellyGirl. i can't wait to see them. only 4 more days!!

this is my box of goodies i ordered from the SIS basement sale! wow... i got so much for not very much money. and it came with a great little goody bag full of wonderful embellishments. i can't wait to get started playing with all this!

and my Scrap For A Cure august kit came in today too!! so much great paper and the coolest looking chipboard flowers and flourishes. lots of good stuff. i'm so excited it all came in! just when i was needing something to get my mojo going!! :D

hoping you have a happy mail day soon!!!

here are a couple layouts i did last night too. chris was playing on the PS3 so i decided to spend some quality time in my scrap studio!

have a fabulous day...and hopefully i'll have some more to share with you once i get started scrapping with all my new goodies!

fun things i've found online recently.....

another great etsy store: ciao bambino

totally added these to my cart! how great are these little tags? go check them out! there are some really cute things there!

then i got a link to
this

totally go check it out! way too much fun. this is my first creation!!

i'm also finding so much inspiration from flickr!!!! (per usual) here are some of my recent favorites.

1. ps: i love you<3>, 2. love., 3. Be the student, 4. I see lights, 5. I've always liked the time before dawn because there's no one around to remind me who I'm supposed to be, so it's easier to remember who I am, 6. As the strings are pulled, 7. good morning, good afternoon and goodnight, 8. Things could be different, 9. Ephemera, 10. battling your flesh (032/365), 11. 7/17/08, 12. Gentle Summer, 13. Celina, 14. I am yours, 15. the final ascent, 16. "The Poet's Darling", 17. [107/365] Watching the World Go By, 18. 365*218, 19. Properly exposed, 20. :{D, 21. I'm on the top of the world looking down on creation, 22. To be quite honest, 23. Happiness is... THE FERRIS WHEEL!, 24. strike a pose!, 25. best*friend

then i found this site where you can create your own little avitar. here is mine:

lots of fun!


amazing things.
go have some fun. hope you enjoy!

all this...... 7 layouts done is one evening!!!

these girls were such a big part of 2007 for me...Salma and Summer. we were pioneer partners and became such good friends. i love these pictures so much. and our nicknames are from watching episodes of 21 Jump St. too much fun! i love how it turned out!

this page was done for the scrap mojo challenge. we had to use the quote: "say hello to my little friend" and a book page somewhere on the layout. i decided to do it about my puppy Tucker. how cute is this face?

this one follows the most recent sketch at pencil lines. it had a huge open space on the left to just go crazy creative with whatever we wanted. i seriously LOVe how this turned out. i miss kelly soooo much. but i should be seeing her in just a few days! can't wait!

this is for a new challenge blog i found called: the design experiment. lots of inspiration there! (link on my sidebar) the recent challenge was about what you see behind closed eyes. see my SIS gallery for journaling. this was a fun one!

one of the requests from AW's class i took. it was to write and use a bio-poem on a layout. i posted my bio-poem on here earlier when i wrote it, but this is how my layout turned out! i've had this picture on my phone for a long time and uploaded it and printed it out. <3 it.

Cara was ScrapJacked this go round and her page was awesome. it had this amazing quote from e.e. cummings from a poem that i adore... had to use it. and also i cut my picture out. haven't done that in awhile. this was a sad page (for reasons listed below when i first posted the picture) but it was good go scrap it.

this page is another one from my class. the request was to pint off an e-mail and use it. i printed off one of the ones chris wrote me while we were dating. his words played such a huge roll in my falling in love with him. god i love this man. the photo is an old one from the first time my mom took our pictures. isn't it great?

so that's it for scrapbooking stuff. i spend all of monday and tuesday home by myself and didn't create a darn thing. i think i just need some new photos. :D i do have something to start on soon though. i've joined my very first ATC swap over at SIS. its all about the movie: sisterhood of the traveling pants! so excited. so i need to get crackin on 20 of these little bad boys. i'm sure i'll post pictures when i get them done!

hello there....

been a strange week...

i don't even know why i keep my blog up. no one ever even reads it. that kinda makes me sad. :( i guess it just needs to be for me. i've had it for 4 years now. lots of memories and junk. i sometimes go back and read through all my old ramblings. good times.

i finished my ideas for derek and nina's wedding invites. they really like em! (me three!) but now they are waiting a couple extra months to get married. so there is no rush on the invites like i thought there would be. that's a relief!

i made a page last night. about chris....imagine that! (love that guy!) its from one the prompts from Ashley Wren's "unpredictable requests" class i've been taking the last couple weeks. we're not supposed to show anything till the class is over, so you'll have to wait! :D but i'm loving the inspiration i'm finding--for sure! its "brills."

so i had a few strange things happen during the week. one with a sister in my hall (that i don't even know) and other with the manager at the bank. i guess what happened with both of them has just really make it clear to me that my depression is noticeable. that it does more than just effect me.... i'm really struggling to work through this. i am just so not myself. my poor husband has lost the woman he married. more than anything i feel bad about that. i don't know what to do. its a good thing i work alone most of the time. ~ last weekend when we were in omak we went to the meeting in twisp with my parents. it was their CO visit (wasyl) and his talk was so powerful. made me cry. there was a whole section in it about depression and realizing that it is a legitimate problem...that i'm not just crazy. and most important...that i need to see myself as jehovah sees me: as i want to be. brilliant talk. wish i had taken notes.

on a more positive note: i have lost 25lbs!!!! my diet went really well. i, however, still cannot fit into my old clothes yet. partly because i'm bloated right now...partly because i need to exercise more. once the "bloated" time is over ;) i will do more exercising. but 25lbs is not too bad!! it was a rough few weeks, just getting used to the eating habits, which are not habits for both of us. chris lost 20lbs himself, just cuz we don't have junk at the house anymore. we're both feeling good about that!

i just found a link to the cutest little necklace pendants and wanted to share! next payday i think i'm gonna get a couple. and its awesome cuz you buy 2 get one free! wahoo!

and here is a picture to make me smile. just posting has helped. and the fact that april just brought me my first cup of coffee in a month!!! YUM. man did i need that!
feeling a little better already!

what became of my weekend....

this is one picture i got from gwen and anthony's wedding....and katrina, my littlest sister, took it. (guess it runs in the family? ;) ) it was an interesting wedding. kinda weird because after their wedding talk at the hall and their dinner/reception...they still were not really married! that happened on sunday afternoon in the US. and there was this big joke about having 24 hour chaperons and how they still had time to "run." rather strange. oh well. they're married now and safely in the US...what they've been waiting 3 long years for. happy for them.

chris and i performed during the reception. it went pretty good. i sang without music and i guess i paused to long in between the verses, cuz they all started clapping. a little embarrassing. oh well! chris did AMAZING! he sang the song he wrote and it was a BIG hit! so proud of that guy!

two of my bestest girls were there: jeana and kaelah. KK has been traveling the world for the past 8 months, and i haven't seen her since our wedding, so it was terrific to see her face again. and jeana and ben came from vancouver. she looked so beautiful in her dress. its amazing how long we've been friends. going on 6 years with jeana, and 4 with KK. lots of memories. we decided to make some more after the wedding and drove another hour up to penticton to go to "our spot" along the beach that we call "pedro's." just a tiny little mexican restaurant with a dance floor and great food and the kindest people working there. the owner knows us by name! so we went and really enjoyed ourselves and our time together.

here is the standard picture. i think i have 5 of these...us three @ pedro's!


it was however, a little bitter-sweet. i found out that kaelah is being disfellowshipped. it happened last night, actually. so this was our last time being together and talking for awhile. going to miss her so much. but i am proud of her because she has the correct attitude about her discipline, and i think she will grow so much.

so that was the weekend. already looking forward to our next one. just getting through the week! i've got a little project on my plate for today: derek and nina's invitations. i've got to have a couple samples to show them on saturday morning. going to go work on that now.

have a terrific day!