being 30 and some truths

We had a super fun party for my 30th last night, but I'll be honest and say that the photos really suck. We had family photos taken that one person or another was rolling their eyes in and/or looking dead, or a child was ruining or something or other and really I just couldn't share them. There is one of me that nicely shows of one of THREE new necklaces I received as gifts. This one is from Aley and I love it. Interlinked silver odd-shaped circular-ish bits on a chain. Gorgeous!
And of course we had to re-create the now infamous tongues all-out. Not quite as cute, but we're all 10 years older so maybe we're not as flawless, but we're all wiser and richer. Or something. We definitely still love eachother. Rhi's back decided to spasm out so after decorating and preparing basically everything for the party, she spent most of the rest of the night on the couch. Poor thing. Aley got drunk and we decided today that she really should have eaten more. I, on the other hand, kept nice and busy and chatty and made awesomely strong martinis for everyone all night (even though we were supposed to only start with one or two and then move on to something less deadly). The bathtub was filled with fine beer and Janice bought me white crocs. I wanted to murder her, but I managed to give them away to our flamboyant friend John (or maybe one of my neices absconded with them...not sure).

PS on that shot. Notice other gorgeous necklace. 2 necklace changes and 3 costume changes for me. I was the birthday girl, afterall...

The truth about turning 30 is that is IS actually kind of a big deal. I've been excited rather than dreading it, and I denied being at all scared/anxious/upset about it. However, I did spend the early part of the week in tears. I'm not sure if this is because of turning 30, or the fact that I'm changing jobs, taking a pay cut and starting to be a self-employed contract employee, or the fact that I was totally PMSing...but I think perhaps a combination of all three. Needless to say, The Gratitude Project has been on hold as, well, I've been feeling slightly less than grateful lately. But I'm trying. Definitely trying. The whole cognitive behaviour thing...I do believe in it, and I think it works. The Gratitude Project will resurface as soon as I've had some time to settle into a new work routine, the fall/winter routine and lifestyle, when I'm feeling less of a creative funk, and of course when I'm feeling it again.

This I know for sure: 30 is going to be a year of change and a year of trials. It's going to be satisfying and hard. I want to work hard and feel success. The truth is, I'm really excited about being 30. Woo!

xog

birthday/datenight

just got home from an awesome night. christina gave us tickets to the hockey game and we had SO much fun. dren and i have been spending a bit of time together lately (go figure) and it's been refreshing and nice. a crazy, emotional, busy, tiring day that ended with the perfect thing. sitting at the game, watching our canucks go into overtime and then a shootout (we lost, but it was super exciting and still very fun), i thought about what it all boils down to. being able to be out with him tonight meant so much. happy birthday to me. i'm lucky, i'm blessed, and i know it.

gratitude:

for you babe.

Dishwashers and Five Year Olds

I'm still here! Buried under endless piles - in my head. I just wrote this whole big thing about wondering if I'm going crazy because I'm approaching 30 and went on and on and couldn't stop thinking crappy thoughts about everyone and everything and honestly, I just didn't want to think about stress and busy-ness or anything negative. Amazing how a girl can bring herself down. And what's the point of that? So. While I near 30, I will instead work again (hard) on the gratitude thing.

Speaking of gratitude, a couple of months ago Dren and I bought a dishwasher from our friends above us who were moving into a new house. This is one of the best decisions we've made in a LONG time. Amazingly enough, the dishwasher=cleaner kitch=more time=happy people. Yep...definitely a thing to not take for granted.

I'm finding Jaxon's age right now funny, delightful, trying, tiring and exhilarating all at the same time. He is totally learning to read. He constantly gets his "b"s and "d"s mixed up and sometimes he has fun with it and we totally laugh together over the mistake that sometimes ends up being quite hilarious. But sometime he gets upset and frustrated. I think he's got his mother's personality, quite frankly. Especially these days...oy!

I've been working on lots of scrap-related stuff...The Dare site, of course. Trying to problem solve and research and figure out the gallery but we'll see how that goes. Then there is Canada's Scrapbooking Crop for Kids, which is such an amazing event this group of women across Canada
have put together. Getting kits ready to go for my first ever teaching experience. How nerve-wracking is that!? Scrapologie's September kit, which of course is as divine as ever. Yum!

And then there's the cleaning...which I'm extra behind on so off I go!

xog

some stuff that's popped up over the last little while...(i got a bunch of old pix printed because my printer's been on the fritz)...

piles

It's typical. I'm always surrounded by piles. Piles of paper, piles of books. Piles of clothes, piles of scrap supplies. But my favourite pile right now? My wood pile. While on Saturna last weekend having a visit with my dad, seeing the latest gorgeous house he's built down @ Saturna beach, I asked him about spare wood. I've been painting a lot lately on wood...collage stuff etc. It's a great medium - a wonderful surface that looks good even when it's bare. Not only did he send me home with a bunch of spare bits and pieces - 1/4 inch plywood, hardboard, thin veneers and bits of skinny plywood perfect for either art pieces OR covers of books, but two days later mum brought back to Vancouver a pile of 32 6"x8" wood book covers - pre-drilled with 4 holes perfectly to spec.

So grateful for my pile of wood. Fireplace not required.

PS! Sign-ups for LSS are extended to this Wednesday, midnight EST. If you haven't yet signed up, go do it now! First challenge will go up late Thursday/early Friday!

xog

drumroll please!

we're back!!!

yay!

Just because I'm in a "yay" kind of mood. It's 10:30 and I'll be reading my book in bed in a few minutes. Work is still crazy...efferdares is still down BUT I'm seeing a light at the end of the tunnel! (yay!) The domain name transfer is official today and so I *hope* that means we'll be up and running before too long!! 1 day? 2 days? SOON.

YES we will still be accepting sign-ups. For ONE MORE WEEK. No challenge this week because, well, people still want to sign up and weren't able to at the last minute last week, and we want to give everyone a chance and then of course have a good amount of time to set up the first challenge and give props to all the amazing wonderful sponsors. Seriously...the winner is going to get a ROCKIN prize package.

AND I've been making stuff. A sneak of my gratitude project beginnings (from way back when?) and the cover of the Saturna album.


Ahhh...and it's Wednesday. That means tomorrow is Thursday, and THAT means that the day after is Friday and THAT means it's the weekend!

Gratitude: For seeing the light at the end of what seems like a very long, dark tunnel. Phew.

hellloooooooo

woops. just published blog post with only heading "hellllooooo!". that's interesting.
efferdares.com is STILL down.
i want to scream and rant and shout.
instead, i choose not to.
(i'm still thinking all of it though)
if you really want the technical details of all going on out of our control, feel free to let me know. trust me, they're dull, and knowing them doesn't help because we can't do anything. some reports are 24-48 hours, some reports are 7-10 business days. WTF. LSS will go on, ASAP!!! as soon as the site is up, you can bet your booty that all of us will be mad-posting on our blogs. so please have patience, like you have been, and please stay tuned.
i got away over the weekend, and i needed it SO bad.
it was gorgeous, wonderful, amazing, relaxing, rejuvenating, and weird all at once.
(first time visiting mum & dad separately on saturna - bizarre).
ohhhh, but how that place holds a huge piece of my heart. i love it.
and i'm starting an album tonight!!! just printed 81 photos from the weekend and going for it! my dad builds houses and he hooked me up with all sorts of wood to use for art, including thin plywood to use for book covers. oh yeah.
sorry for being such a sporadic blogger lately. when life gets busy, somethin (or several somethins) gotta give.

gratitude:
saturna. one of the most beautiful places i have ever seen. it makes my mind calm the minute i'm there.

LSS

Just a quick pop-in to let you all know that we are extending LSS sign-ups for another week because of the site being down for the last 3 days. Thanks for your patience...now you have another week to get mentally prepared! :)
xog

uh...yeah

SO apparently the universe doesn't think I haeve enough on my plate: anyone notice how the effer site is down again? Yes. Major hardware crash on the server yesterday. Working on it! OK...at work...gotta fly.
xog

aack!

So sorry that this took so long to post...I had fantasies of printing out the comments, cutting them up into little strips (this would be on scrap paper already printed on one side, doing my part with the Three Rs and all...) and getting Jaxon to throw them gleefully into the air and choose a totally random winner. Buuuuut...it didn't happen that way. He's a busy lil man, you know! He's got peeps! He's got obligations and commitments with various 5 to 11 year olds! He's got movies to watch and toys to play with and big Crayola murals to colour, you know. So we did a scrolly trick. Totally not scientific, but random enough. And the winner is! Da-da-dummmmmm!!!!

ugusti_73 / Anna said...

Yey, how exciting!!! I'd love to get one!!

Something inspiring: YOU! and the rest of the Dare-girls,
and
Flickr.com & scrapinstyletv.com
are two of the most inspiring sites I know.

1:28 AM

So send me your addy girlfriend! And when I place my next Dare Book order, I will most certainly do this again. It was fun, as always. Thanks for playing, and thanks for all the fun comments and inspiring places and thoughts.

Gratitude:
Planning a trip to Saturna to see me mama next weekend. Yay!