onwards, forwards, & scrapping

Thanks for your kind comments & support. The woman probably does belong in a loony bin somewhere, and yes, many people who have heard the story suggested punching her. Let me tell you that at the time I just barely resisted. Next time I'll be sure to put some phone calls in to my best SCRAPPIN buddies! God I love you guys.

SO...onwards, forwards and yay for scrappy goodness in the form of my monthly kit from Memory Creators (aka MC)!

You know, when I first started on a DT for a kit club, I struggled. It was difficult for me to scrap my style, without being influenced by the "matchyness" that is a kit. Tons of people love that...and kudos to them. Me? Not so much. I'm not a matchy scrapper...to say the least. But for many months now, I have relished the little box of goodness that comes to my door step and opened it with artsy anticipation...wondering and imagining what possibilities it might hold this month. I like using the supplies in different ways...using bits and pieces in my OWN way. I've learned to take it as a creative challenge...how can you use this kit to make layouts and projects that are YOU? I love it.

So here's what I did last night with the September kit from MC. Lots more to come. Yipee!

what went down

ok. So "life-altering" may have been a bit dramatic and misleading. But, I do hope that what happened will help change my life and I really do believe that's possible. At the wedding this weekend, I had been (quite lovingly) roped into doing the bride's hair and makeup AND taking photographs. I am by no means anywhere even remotely so a professional, but Dee says that she likes the photos I take and that they just couldn't afford a professional, especially on such short notice. I told her there were no guarantees and that she best be telling every Tom Dick and Harry to bring their cameras too. But honestly, I had SO much fun.

We got to the hotel where they had a block of rooms reserved at about 12:30. We chilled for a bit, did some sudoku (i GET it now!!!!), ironed our clothes and that sort of miscellaneous stuff. Around 2:00pm, we headed up to the bride & groom's room. Gorgeous, looking out over a harbour (I think it was a harbour, anyway) and started the preparations. Bride's hair into rollers, lingerie tried and altered just slightly with a needle and thread. Dress, wrap and shoes shown off. Champagne popped. There were 5 of us, including the bride. It was just FUN. Enter maid of honour. Hmmm. Same stiff appearance as when I had met her on Thursday. Oh well, it's all good...we'll get her warmed up.

3 of the girls left, and I and the MOH (maid of honour, from this point forward) stayed. The MOH was getting herself ready...doing her makeup and primping. I was getting the bride's makeup done as well as my own, and jumping into my dress at the last minute. The bride had a minor panic attack and I helped her through that...calm thoughts, breathing, "woooooo-saaahhhh" (Bad Boys, anyone?). Brother and Father of the Bride appear to drive us to the house on the lagoon (also known as house of Mother of the Groom and Stepfather of the groom). MOH leaves to go back to her room; she will go with her husband to the ceremony. We arrive at the house on the lagoon. Still as gorgeous as I remember. Photos galore, bride still in curlers, dress goes on, hair comes out, girls come visit, makeup gets touched up, shawlwrap thingy goes on. We're ready.

It was a beautiful ceremony. I took hundreds of photos. I need to, because I take lots that are blurry (see freestyle blog challenge lol). Fast forward. Everyone was having a blast, including me. The food was yummy, but I didn't eat quite enough.

Later in the evening, things went a tad south. The MOH figured a way to literally get me cornered in the bedroom where the girls had been getting ready before the ceremony. I didn't even realize until later that it really was something she PLANNED. The conversation that ensued was one of the most bizarre that I've ever had in my entire life. Without going into all the minute details, she had come to the conclusion that I was mad at her and jealous of her because she was the MOH and not me. I did try to tell her that I understood perfectly well that they had known eachother for 18 or so years and that she was one of Dee's dearest friends and that I was totally fine with that. She didn't buy it.

I did pretty well during the "conversation", which was really more about her bringing up topics to have me say something that she could then argue with me about or put me down or dig into me with a comment. I realized that she was obviously a miserable person herself, that she obviously has issues that I'm not even aware of, that somehow she thought that not getting along with me would serve her in some way. I stayed calm, rational, and pleasant.

We were interrupted by a very nice young family member and I was ever so grateful. She left the room, and I spoke with one of the groom's younger cousins for a little while. Then, I proceeded to spill red wine onto my makeup bag, which was closed, but happened to be sitting on the groom's mother's bed. On that bed? An heirloom-ish type quilt that "Aunty Nancy" had made. The whole family has one. OH. MY. GOD. In walks the MOH. OH. GREAT. She pretended at that point to be VERY helpful, trying to find mineral water for me and the like. I dabbed and prodded, but the majority of the red wine would not budge. In walks the groom's mother. She quickly pulls the quilt off the bed and says "my Aunty Nancy made this for me!" and whisks it out of the room and away from me.

I took a few deep breaths, gathered my belongings from the room into one bag (just in case I had to make a mad dash for the exit), and went to go find the groom's mother. I couldn't find her. All of a sudden, with all that had happened, in such a short amount of time, a feeling of totally sadness overcame me. I was tired, I had tried so hard to do my best and make this day special for my friends, and I was just sad. I went to find Dee who was dancing, and quickly spit out how I had spilled wine on the quilt, and the tears came. She had a slightly astonished expression on her face. Totally understandable. I could have handled either of those situations...NO PROBLEM. But not both of them one right after another, and not on that day. And especially when one involved someone just being so incredibly mean and rude without any reason whatsoever. Through the tears that would not stop by that point (and I mean, I really really tried), I told her the story in short format. Another friend had gone to get the groom's mother to tell her that I had been looking for her and couldn't find her and was really upset. She found us, and although I could tell she was upset, told me not to worry and to come and have a good time. We left the MOH and the bride talking. Unfortunately, I just couldn't really get it together after that and we ended up leaving.

The next day (Sunday) was travel day back to the mainland. We missed our ferry due to me screwing up our reservation. Go me. Yes, I almost cried as I begged them to let us on. We had to wait one sailing, but at least we got home that day. We hung at the terminal with two other friends that missed the 12:55 sailing as well and laughed and joked about the evening before and I got a ton of support for what had happened.

Monday, I felt a case of the Mondays for sure. No friends around, hadn't talked to Dee yet, and was back at work after a very emotionally up and down weekend. I got home and Dee came knocking on my door with a glass of red wine. "I just came to bring this...and also to say I'm SO SORRY for what happened on Saturday". We talked, and I felt soooo much better. I was glad to hear about how she had not let it affect her night. I was appalled to hear that the MOH's behaviour all night towards everyone who crossed her path was totally awful. She made poor impressions all around. I felt sad for that and for Dee, who had trusted her friend to stand up for her.

It really hurt that someone could just be so MEAN. I do not claim to be a saint...I get angry, I yell, I might gossip from time to time. But I do not intentionally want to make people feel uncomfortable, upset, or sad. And THAT is what I mean by life-altering. Having something like this happen TO me, completely out of my control, reminds me how important it is to understand what human beings can feel. Reminded me to not assume you know something about someone...not assume you KNOW someone, without getting to know them. Yes, it sucked to have my feeling hurt like that. But I suppose it was worth it to get that reminder and re-learn a lesson we learn as children.

I know this post went on and on (and on) but it did feel good to get it all out. I won't re-read it just yet...and so I can only hope that it's somewhat intelligible and that I didn't leave out a plot-altering scene...;) And yes, parts of this are already appearing somewhat funny to me...and will probably get funnier as time wears on. Especially considering the gift that came from ME (and 4 other people, but forget them!) SCRATCHED the CRAP out of their dining room table!!!!

Be kind. As best you can. To those you love, to strangers....to human beings.

what matters

i had an insane weekend.
insanely fun,
insanely sad,
insanely tiring,
insanely life-altering.

i will post more. absolutely.
i have decided i do want to share about everything i experienced.
but for now, i really want to share what matters the most.
the weekend trip was about these two friends.
amazing friends.
amazing people, both of them.
i'm happy to know them,
i'm happy to have shared this with them.
i'm happy to have been there,
and lots of other people feel the same way.
the love was SERIOUSLY felt this weekend.
i'm happy about that.


and wow. were they ever gorgeous.

off we go

on a...


in the car and on the ferry
with...


and...


to see these friends get married...




it will be wonderful.
it will be beautiful.
it will be fun.

may everyone reading this have a great weekend. do something...*anything* ...just for you. something that makes you smile inside your heart and your belly. even if it can only last for 5 minutes.

q@28

i took a bunch of pix of the newest addition to the mini-album family.
they mostly suck. they're mostly blurry.
i hate that.

i'm going to take more, but who knows when i will *actually* get around to it, and at least this gives a pretty good idea of what i got up to.

last weekend, i had the opportunity to meet the creative genius behind this company at ruby dog's 2nd birthday event. even the name of christina's company is cool. (and it just so happens to be part of her last name)(oh, and she's super sweet as well as talented and smart)(and their revamped website kicks butt...so much going on). i got some goodies to play with...2 lines of yummalicious paper, and brand-spanking new chipboard tags. oh me oh my be still my beating heart. they SCREAMED mini book (of course, hello!!??) but i look forward to having fun with all the shapes for some time to come. fun fun FUN.

for this book i used almost all (maybe all!?) the tags in the set to make a multi-shape, multi-size fun cute mini tag book. at first i wasn't sure how it would turn out because of the fact that the shapes are so all over the place, but i ended up loving the result. i've also used bits from both lines of paper, and to be honest, not a whole lot else. i chose a bunch of quotes that i'm loving right now to fill the book with. the "title" is q@28 which would stand for Quotes at 28. imagine that!!

here's what i've managed to photograph so far that is actually legible. more to come if i can ever photograph it when there's enough light and not fool myself into thinking that the pictures i'm getting are good and decent and in focus when they're actually totally not. alright then. over and out.

sneak a peek

of what kept me up til 1am...
but still isn't finished...

love/hate

getting inspired and feeling scrappy at work!
makes me wanna go HOME.
but i can't. gotta work.
it's 12:53. 3 more hours.
then home.
get scrappy.
yeah babies.
yeah.
can't wait!

inspo found up close and personal

here we go!
[be warned: there are a ton of pix: i couldn't help it]
**eta: they're kinda huge and going over the sidebar thingy but i have to go make dinner so i don't really care and i'm not going to fix it. so there. :P

if you want specifics on any of the product or whatever just lemme know...it's a bit much to list everything :)











































uhm...did i already mention that i LOVE mini albums?

inspiration found

i just managed to read a few blogs for the first time in what feels like forever. now i wanna scrap. but i can't because my eyeballs are on fire from being on the damn computer all day. i'm going to read j a story and i'm SURE pass out while reading, but i just wanted to come and post something scrap-related because well...i'm in a scrappy mood!

this is the project i did for this month's dt inspiration challenge at MC...i had WAAAY too much fun with this (ie: it took me a long time...several appointments with myself and it at the scrap table over several evenings...but wow did i have a blast) and i love the idea of having a little book i can add to for all my little found bits and pieces that inspire me!

i want to try to upload some larger pix and some close-ups of detail, etc., but for now, here is the way it was presented on the site:

MINI ALBUM (the first i have *actually* completed i think!), FOUND SCHTUFF, TRANSPARENCIES GALORE....FUN!

busy no time

you know when you feel like every waking second is taken up with something, but then you also seem to have a million things still to do and you feel like you don't have time to get anything done and it's almost depressing because what you really probably need is a minute to download the poor brain? yes, well...that's me these days.

self talk #?:
remember to check in with yourself. amazing...even just writing a couple sentences on my own blog about my current state just makes me more aware...and probably way more able to change things to suit myself. right?

and ps.
thank you again for the heaps of advice on migraines. i think i nipped another one in the bud the other day. for those of you who have them, did you always get them or did they start at a certain point in your life?

oh yeah!

i have a blog!
no, really, i haven't forgotten...just been sidetracked (and busy).

thank you all SO much for your advice re: migraines.
seriously helpful.
such a common problem, which just sucks!

LSS (aka Last Scrapper Standing) is kickin my butt. It's taking a lot of time, but WOW are there some awesome pages coming out of it! It is a pleasure to be looking through them, becoming inspired, reading journalling and seeing some really unique and crazy ways to journal on photos. Love it!

Work is going to be a bit wacky for the next week or so. We'll be short-staffed, which means yours truly gets to pick up slack. Unfortunately, being here for 6ish years means I'm the only one who knows how to do everyone else's job. GREAT. In other words, I will be looking forward to the weekend with all my might.

Speaking of the weekend, I'll be visiting the Vancouver Art Gallery with mum on Friday evening. I'm really looking forward to it. Haven't been spending nearly enough time with her, and well, the art gallery? hello! It's a show that I've wanted to see for a while, too.

And I shall leave you with a funny tale. Well, hopefully you'll find it as funny as I did.

I'm not a huge fan of slang and swearing. Whoa...wait a second. Back the bus UP. I AM a fan of slang and swearing *but* I'm not a fan of teaching it to my child. I totally respect the English language (like, totally). I love to read, I did very well in English in school, I love to use big words when I fight with Dren (kidding, sort of...really, they just come out), and I want my child to learn the language properly. Dren: not so much. He gives everything nicknames, he's constantly mis-pronouncing things, doesn't make spelling a huge priority, sings when he should be talking, and reads stories in totally bizarre tones (and we're not talking giving characters voices of their own...we're talking really random and odd inflections and running words and sentences together when they shouldn't be and emphasizing in strange places). So. Enter "winkler". Yes, "winkler" is the sometimes name for the penis in my house. Since we have had issues with Jaxon's winkler (I won't go into details now) that make it necessary to talk about it daily...well, we talk about it daily. OK then.

Last night, we are reading "Up, Up, Down" by none other than the fabulous Munsch-meister. There is one part where the daddy falls on his bottom. The picture *kinda* looks like perhaps his pants might be pulled down since the "painful" area is highlighted in a slightly fleshy tone. WELL. 4.75 year olds think bottoms are VERY funny, and of course this leads into an interruption of the story and a small spelling lesson.
J: awwww (smile, giggle, kinda-growlish-embarrased sound)...how do you thpell BOTT...
no no no!!! how do you thpell WINKLER!???
me: you mean penis?
J: ya! how to you thpell penith?
me: P-E-N-I-S
J: awwwww (same kinda sound...giggle, laugh...snort).
then:
"The penith ith a very important part."

you got that right buddy!

sick

anyone get migraines?
i think that's what happened.
if so, i've NEVER had a migraine like that.
this headache got worse and worse...
went to bed, up in the night sick to my stomach.
mixture of waking and sleeping and puking from 10:00pm last night until 1:00pm today.
i think i'm on the mend now.
i've been wanting to scrap all week, but can't seem to get enough sleep.
maybe i just had a bug?
dren of course has been wonderful
totally ON parenting (ie: i have had to do NOTHING)
went to see about special migraine pills from pharmacy
fed me toast & water & pills
brought my cell phone the bedroom so i could call if i needed anything
(he was in the living room and didn't want me to have to yell)
brought me a face-cloth to the bathroom
helped me up
tucked me in
loves me always.
such a good guy. i'm very very lucky, i know.
my plans for the rest of today:
1. take a shower
2. drink tons of water
3. clean/organize scrap stuff
4. scrap
totally layin' low. love weekends.
and it's a three day one!
here's to hoping the rest of it is sick-free.

news & stuff

1. the dares. august contest. goooood times.

2. a new kit club dt gig. sadly, leaving memories is closing. it was where i was first ever introduced to the whole online community thing and how amazing it can be. i will now be working with the monthly kits at memory creators! this is a FINE and FUN bunch of ladies. i'm SO happy to be joining them and can't wait to get my hands on the first kit!

3. i am currently fascinated/obsessed with mini books. i have been for a while, but i've only up til this point been sort of well, collecting the ones you can buy blank and decorate yourself. i just haven't done anything to them yet. well! on the weekend, i MADE one. it was super duper fun. the cover is done, and i stuck some paper on one other page inside, and now I'M stuck. but it's really cute and i love it. i just have to figure out what it's for. and i started another one (obsessed means i'm going to do this repeatedly, afterall) for a project coming up @ MC (see "memory creators" above) and i can't WAIT til it's done and i can share it.

4. i am also currently fascinated/obsessed with transparencies. like the office supply store kind. see #3 above for a hint about where you might start to see some of this transparency obsession surface in my scrapping.

5. i love white space. white space on a scrapbook layout (not mine - ha! - but other peoples') .totally catches my eye these days.

6. wondering "what's next?" for the scrapbooking/papercrafting/rubberstamping/mixedmedia/altering world. what will the next trends be? thinking i need to do a little fashion and home decor research (europe, anyone?) to see if i can see into the future a tad.

7. i need to get some stuff done, so i'm going to go do it now.

8. bye!

thinkfilm

holy smokes.
i have watched some incredible films over the past little while.
all made by thinkfilm.

last week, watched

totally incredible.
before the film, there was a trailer for

so i watched that over the weekend.
SO SAD. but incredible. amazing. informative. moving.
and in a trailer on that dvd, was reminded of a movie i've been meaning to see for ages...since before last year's oscars, in fact...


what a gorgeous wonderful amazing sad heartfelt happy crazy movie.
i'm loving this company, that makes such important documentaries.
people should see movies like this.
they make you think, and make you want to be a better person.

after going to the website today, i realize there are two other movies i've seen by the same company "murderball" and "spellbound"...also great great films.

totally busy at work and trying to get the suite in our building filled (TODAY), but life is fairly good. more to share...soon.

more good

sushi and sake were SO good. i took a business card and chopsticks so i could scrap it, since i forgot my camera. the restaurant was packed and the owner was treating us very well since 3 of the girls we were with are industry people and knew him. sake and edamame in the "lounge". just a little tipsy by the time we got out table (an HOUR and FIFTEEN MINUTES after arriving). but we were able to preorder the food while in the "lounge" and it came with quickness. the atmosphere of the place was so awesome - totally contemporary asian...dark wood, lots of rice paper and clean lines. great vibe. we then went and shook our booties for a little bit at another restaurant to an awesome mixture of house, latin and hip hop beats. i haven't been out dancing in AGES...felt so so good. i can't believe at one point in my life i was going out 2-3 times a week. yikes!

today we had a lazy morning (slept in til 8:00ish) and then made our way out to chuck-e-cheese in langley. the boys (jaxon and carmichael) had so much fun playing, and colleen and i brought more than enough reading material. they do this cool thing where they give the parents and the kids in a group a numbered stamp, and they don't let kids leave without an adult with the same black-light-inked stamp. so you can somewhat relax and not have to worry about whether your kid has left the building at every moment. so we took turns tending to them, getting food, drinks, etc. and relaxing. very good.

now i'm home, and scrapping is definitely on the agenda for the evening.

and last but definitely not least, we posted the new dare today. seriously cool...i hope that a lot of people take the time to think about it, journal about it, scrap it if you've the time and the motivation...but at the very least think about it for a few moments.

what does scrapping mean to you?

we all have different reasons for why we take part in this hobby/passion/craft/whatever you like to call it. it was really nice to take the time to reflect on my reasons. and i will like to see if and how those reasons change over the years.

good good stuff

day off.
hot coffee.
new restoration hardware HOME catalogue in the mail.
cold case files on A&E.

this email from a customer yesterday:
"I really struggle with forms, computers, regulations,
and official stuff sometimes... (most times) -j-"
it made me laugh :)

girls' night out tonight.
sake and sushi.
yum.

so lucky

i love him.
and it's my friday :)

heat wave

it is HOT here!
not supposed to be this hot on the Pacific Coast...crazyness!
i don't want to complain too much, but i have been a bit lethargic.
today will be a crazy day at work, trying to get all caught up for the trainee coming in tomorrow and covering for me thursday and friday. tomorrow is my friday. can't wait!

albums + cha(less)

i have been thinking so much lately about making "albums". Not like mini albums, but albums, that are open, and on-going. For things that are currently happening in my life, and seem to be ongoing(ly) repeating themselves in my life.

such as:
-self-talk (i was doing this for a while, then stopped. i shouldn't stop this. ever)
-gen-isms or such. things i say. recently inspired by the dares and having SUCH a hard time coming up with something. uh. hello!??? there are a TON of Things I Say.
-pain. yep. it's there. and it needs to get dealt with.
-my journey through depression and anxiety. yes. it's there too. it's what i talked about briefly, have hinted about (and majorly put OUT there in Freestyle when I did the page "Panic"). what better way to get through it, live it, deal with it, and...well...who-knows-what it than to scrap it?
-things i want you to know (or some such seblance of these words as a title)...i want to give advice to jaxon as i learn lessons in life.
-what i want you to know. i want this album to be stuff that i think of...small or large, that i want dren to know. stuff i think, feel, or do....that he might not have any clue about otherwise (men can be pretty clueless sometimes, you know...)
-childhood memories. i recently did a project where i thought a lot about my childhood. i want to remember those years. REALLY. i want to be able to look back always and remember them, but i also want jaxon and his family and/or future generations to be able to look back and learn about me. maybe i can even get dren in on this one.
-favourite wines. YES. i ALWAYS try a wine...go "OMG that was SO good" and promptly forget the very complicated foreign language name (i suck at french, italian and chilean, to be exact). whatever...that's just an excuse. my memory sucks and i never write them down. so this is my new plan. wine is a wonderful thing.

speaking of....

tonight, i had dinner at my mum's house with two amazing friends, colleen and shelome. she made lamb, straight from saturna island. shelome made a sauce, using some of the red wine. we also had grilled vegies, salad, yummy breads & crackers & dips as appies...potatoes, bean salad...and yes, gorgeous wine, chosen especially to complement the food.

tonight, i feel lucky and blessed.

wonderful weekend. i'm looking forward to my 3 days of work, and 4 day weekend, starting this coming thursday.

oh right! and i'm feeling a teeny tiny twinge over seeing photos of some awesome friends having fun @ cha...kinda wishing i was there, but kinda enjoying the sideline action as well. i hope you all have SO much fun!

love!

yipee yi yo

it's friday!
i'm a happy happy girl.

ok.
a few people have asked about the stores i visit.
it's true, there aren't many in my area.
but a good not-so-local scrap store is worth a little travel time right?

my all-time favouritest store ever is in washington. yes, that's right. across the border. depending on border lineup (go with a friend...you won't even notice...right renee?) it takes about 1.5 to 2 hours give or take from vancouver.

Treasury of Memories
while all scrap stores make my heart skip a beat, this store makes it flutter.
i LOVE the environment. the staff are friendly and helpful, the sheer volume of product is amazing, but best of all they carry the latest and greatest of what i love, plus tons of unique and interesting stuff. yep. love 'em.

the others that i visit are:

Precious Memories in langley (which is the store i was at earlier this week with the kick ass paper sale)...and may i just mention that tonight and tomorrow they are having 2 for 1 idea books AND 50% off EK success (and they have some super cute stickers!)...yikes! i might have to go back!

Photo Express in Maple Ridge (they have an awesome abundance of product...like seriously AWESOME). also a photo developer & camera store. dangerous :)

Making Memories with Scrapbooking...a teeny tiny little store on Hastings in Burnaby that is packed with goodies. Super friendly staff here too.

and

Scrapbook Warehouse. although i don't visit this store very often, it's nice to have a store that is close by if i'm in a pinch for adhesive, and their selection of bazzill is rockin. they focus more on traditional scrapbooking and not so much on carrying the latest and greatest product. and that is understandable...there is a market for that! it's not me...cuz i'm wild and crazy and i have a shopping problem with a passion for anything new and delicious...but hey, it's totally for some!

and i think that's about it!

oh...and it's dare day. you might recognize the photo on my page from my blog post a while back. i had printed one out and then i spilled coffee on it, so it landed on a piece of cardstock that i had cut out the zig-zaggy edge from to use for something else, got paint and glue on it, threw in the garbage, and then pulled out to use for table protection while painting something else, then used as a plaything/experiment because i just felt like spreading some gesso and paint around...and voila! it was fun.



oh and another thing...
i've been thinking about colour. rather, lack thereof in a lot of my projects. i've realized i'm a pretty neutral, monotone kinda girl when it comes to art. that said, i LOVE colour and i want to start experimenting more and using it more. last weekend i was playing around and used a bit. loved it. felt so good to just play around...no pressures, no assignments, just playing. felt so good to use BLUE ink for stamping instead of black or brown. felt SO good.



i guess i kinda had a lot to say.
thanks for hanging out!
sending tons of love out to all of you.
mmmwah!

i love surprises :)

so, we have some focus issues here, but oh well right!? i think the names are readable...
jaxon was quite willing to participate in the drawing, but not quite as willing to sit *still* for it :)
(oh, and please excuse the snot and dirty fingernails, k? thanks.)

the freestyle books will go in the mail tomorrow if i get your addies (email me!) and the others...WELL...it's a surprise...and i'm just waiting a smidgen longer to see if it will work out...

and the winners are...




jodi & tami email me your addies!
wendy - YES i know i know i have to email you!!! and i WILL.
missy - hee hee. you'll be gettin email too.

thursday that feels like a friday

so, you can imagine my disappointment each time i realize it is actually only thursday!

random good stuff:

went scrapbook shopping.
first time in MONTHS (not kidding)
can't beat 40% off all paper/cardstock
AND a 3 for 2 rubons sale. hello!!!?
now all i want to do is scrap
cannot WAIT to dig into those delicious brown paper bags.

sunshine

chai tea lattes.

old goodies made new again via re-discovery.

kind people/good friends.

inspiration and motivation.

a garden bouquet in a mason jar from my sister.


keep posting for goody rakness...mail love drawing is tonight!

i suck

at getting to the post office.
i really really really just do.
BUT
i am now driving to work every day because

DREN GOT A NEW JOB!!!

he is now a bus-driver-in-training.
awesome, awesome, awesome news for him, for us...awesome.
he's so happy :)
and he rides the bus free. i can too, but hey...the car is available, so i drive it.

what does this have to do with getting to the post office you ask?
i can drive there. hee hee. on my lunch break.
yay! i love being able to do errands during the day.

sooooo......

i finally sent the books out yesterday...for that uhm freestyle drawing i did like 5 billion years ago. (insert blushing smiley here) i'm sorry it took me so long.

but i think now i'm on a roll. and i HAVE to go to the post office again this week, so i want to send off some more love. if you DON'T have freestyle yet, post here :) if you DO have freestyle, post here :)

it's RAK time lovies.

***ETA: REMEMBER TO TELL ME IF YOU HAVE IT OR NOT, OK? I'LL BE GIVING AWAY 2 FS BOOKS & ONE OTHER SOMETHINSOMETHIN ;)

oh and also i just have to say as september and kindergarten (he's SO excited) get nearer, i'm thinking more and more about how big he's getting.

sigh. love this boy.

happy birthday sweet & crazy nisa

nisa.you.just.rock.

and kirsten is the sweetest to include me in your suprise-o.
what an awesome idea.
and i LOVED doing this page for you.
i don't know if i'll give it to you or not.
i want to keep it.
is that bad?

love ya girl!

fun friday

thanks for the kind words...you are wonderful.

a fun one for today...

thinking, reflecting and processing.

Today, i read in ali's life artist newsletter about melody ross's blog. I checked it out, and was impressed with the open direction she has taken. Talking about the real, the raw, the difficult stuff, right alongside the good stuff. Well, hey...really, it's all good isn't it?

Since reading, I've been thinking. I don't want to leave out the mad, bad and sad (to quote Melody). I rarely journal these days, except for here and in my scrapbooks. Although there are people reading this (and that's what makes it different from a book that I keep in my underwear drawer or wherever), I do feel a certain sense of anonymity. I don't always know WHO is reading...and while I totally appreciate when people leave comments...(it is part of why I do this online instead of in a private notebook)...I am really doing this because I get something out of notating my life this way. I am so happy to be keeping a regular journal of any kind. It's easy to do, and it's fun. But I do want it to be a true reflection of who I am, not just the latest project, photo, or cute thing my kid did. I want to look back at my archives and remember TRULY what was going on...what I was thinking about life, and what I was feeling.

Not only do I want to look back and remember the truth...I want my family to know the truth about me.

I do have a story to share...a burden in my life that I haven't shared completely (there have been hints along the way, mind you) and I think I'm getting closer to writing it down. I'm a procrastinator, you see...and so I can always find an excuse to leave it for later. But really, I'm just scared. I'm getting closer though. Definitely. And honestly...I think a huge weight will be lifted if I can just figure out what to say and how to say it.

onesday, twosday...

Must scrapbook this, but for now i'll document it quickly here so i don't forget. This morning Jaxon and I are talking, and it takes me a minute to clue in.

J: "is it Tuesday today?"
me: "yes"
J: is it show-and-tell day today?
m: yes
J: you know what (insert some unintelligible garbled words here) call it?
m: what?
J: ONESday
m: huh? who said that?
J: me.
m: sorry...what did you say?
J: onesday...
m: OOOHHHHH....ONESday, TWOsday...
J: (smiles) yeah!
m: THREESday, FOURsday, FIVEsday...
J: SIXday...SIXday is SATURDAY.
m: you're good...that's really good!

and we have a little giggle.