color me beautiful

happy birthday to my aunt kim, sister: sarah who is 13!!!, and my "charge" who turned 1 today!

journal entry/ collage: "color me beautiful"

we won't have internet connection while in idaho (*gasp*) so you may not see me again until monday or tuesday. i trust you'll survive. ;) until then a contest is in order! the first loyal blog reader to answer these questions correctly will win a raindrop stationary flat set:

1. when is my birthday?
2. what day did the shop open?
3. where did we go on vacation for alex's birthday?
4. what was the last book i read?
5. where am i located?
6. link your favorite blog entry of mine.

try to answer as many as you can. have fun + good luck! :)

uh...procrastonation.

So we are supposed to be packing for our trip to Idaho. We're driving and we're leaving directly from work tomorrow. It's almost 10 pm and I haven't packed a single thing. Oh, but I had time to spend an hour sorting all of my buttons. Uh.

self portrait tuesday- hiding

This week's self portrait was a bit harder for me than the others have been. I've done so many shots of "part" of me. This week I struggled with what to focus on for my portrait. I'm in a bit of a funk regarding my weight and a shot of anything more was out of the question. I've never been a skinny girl but I was comfortable with myself + my weight when I graduated high school and the few years after that. I maintained my weight for several years. After Alex and I got married in March 2004 I gained twenty pounds in five months. That's a LOT to gain in that short of a time. I started Weight Watchers and lost twelve of those pounds. Losing weight for me is a full time job. Seriously. It's incredibly hard. I feel like I become obsessed with what I am eating and working out literally every available moment. Then, as suddenly as I began to lose weight, I stopped. In the eight months that followed I've gained those twelve pounds back plus an additional five. I am currently at my highest weight ever and I feel so depressed about it. I feel tired just thinking about what I have to do to lose the weight but I feel sick to see myself like this. I am sad that I don't feel comfortable showing you "ME" because I have such negative feelings right now. I am hoping that this will change. I am hoping to get the courage to do what needs to be done so that I can become a healthier, happier ME.

i ♥ american made

Well, gosh, it's been the month of "New", hasn't it? New laptop, new shoes, new car!! That's right folks, a new car! My Neon has been quite faithful (most of the time) for the last 5 years but it is way past time for something new. A car that won't over-heat on the way to work everyday. A car that fits more people. So here she is- my new (to me) 2004 Chevy Tahoe. :)

blingin' zapatos nuevo

The way the "bling" on my new shoes caught the sun absolutely cracks me up!

I buy shoes on a semi-regular basis- mostly sandals + flats as I usually end up barefoot anyway. I bought these beauties to go with a new outfit for my charges first birthday party + christening which takes place tomorrow. Here is another photo. :D Aren't they just gorgeous, darling? Simply marvelous. ;)

project me

This is a reflective project I decided to do for myself. It's a mini book which I intend to keep a reflective journal for every day there are pages. I will use a writing prompt for topics. The prompts are basic but often things we don't think about + reflect upon often. I spend much of my free time on collaborative projects, my shop, and gifts for other people. This project is for myself. I hope it's insightful and helps me to grow as a person as well as creatively.

PS- Look whose on today! (I didn't think about them resizing the image so ignore that it's slightly pixelated, k?) :D

self portrait tuesday

I don't really care for my hands- they're chubby, childlike, and boyish IMO. My mom and sister, Aimee, have "woman" hands. I want woman hands...

Question #1: Who actually started "Self-Portriat Tuesday"? Was it Kath?

Question #2: What was it's original purpose?


Question #3: Is there a flickr group for it? Thank you, Joy, for creating a group for us! It'll be fun to keep a "database" of people's portraits. Go here to join in!

Collaborative Journal

I have invited a bunch of new people to join our Lending Talents flickr group and you are all invited too! A larger group should mean more contributions to future projects. If you weren't already a flickr contact of mine just go here to join the group.

I haven't had any feedback/suggestions for our next charity cause but if there is no objection I'd like to raise funds for Girl's Education. I think a collaborative journal would be a wonderful way to involve everyone!

I need help with a theme for the journal! It doesn't need to be related to the cause & should be a topic everyone can participate in.

contributions

click image to view larger

Here are the "Coming Together" chunky book contributions + cover. Not as many contributors as we had hoped but put together the book is AWESOME! It's a great "chunky" thickness and so lovely on the eyes! It's a beautiful tribute and I hope it'll make lots of money for Unicef! I plan on having the book bound this week. Auction information will be posted soon. Check here or on the Lending Talents page for updates. Also, any collabortive ideas for the next project? This or a favorite cause would be a great contribution in itself. Thank you!

♥ my tim

Guess who will be seeing Mr. Tim Mcgraw at the Hollywood Bowl on October 8th. Yep, that'd be me! :D

laundry day

Geez Louise!!... 4.5 hours and FIFTEEN loads of laundry later- We've washed, dried, and folded all of our clothes and are going through them for the BIG purge. My God, I cannot believe we own this much.

IT CAME! :)

IT CAME, it came, it came!! My Stampin' Up! order has arrived and I can get to havin' fun! Woohoo!!!

To Do List?? What to-do list??

teeheehee!

no fun

I do not know what just happened. Today is my day off and I woke up at 8:15. At around 9:00 I was so frustrated with blogger not letting me add an entry that I laid down for a minute. For about 120 minutes, actually. Man, oh man, oh man. I have a laundry list of things to do this weekend!

• meet alex for lunch
• gather + sort all laundry
• do laundry
• put clothes away
• take out the trash
• clean upstairs craft area
• organize closet
• clean (with chemicals) bathroom
• vaccum
  
• finish going through boxes
  
• organize all craft supplies
• clean living room
• clean out dude's (turtle) tank
• clean kitchen counters + floor
• do dishes
• empty fridge
• order groceries to delivery saturday (LOVE delivery bc they carry them up 3 flights of stairs, not me)
• buy scanner/printer
• finish photographing + doing write ups for july shop update
• go to the bank with proof of name (from name change a year ago)
• pay car registration
  
• deposit paycheck
• balance checkbook
• completely package stationary flats to get supplies down to one box
• finish packaging remainder of trades to go out this next week
• update promo swap spreadsheet
• photograph trades to post
• work on scrapbook if there is any time (ha!)
• purchase airline tix to idaho for family reunion at the end of the month see below
• we've decided to drive to Idaho- work out details
  
• pay bills online

christmas in july

Oh dear, I've totally gone mad. It's July and yesterday I had a brilliant idea for our Christmas cards this year. Christmas. As in half a year away. Yeah, if only I was so prepared. Ha!

This photo was taken back in March in Colorado on our drive to Kansas. Love it!

photography

I can be such a camera hog. Every now and again Alex manages to pry it out of my hands to snap a few shots. He took this photograph sometime in 2003 or 2004 when we were living in Los Angeles. Its from the top of a parking garage overlooking Santa Monica near the Promenade. It's such a beautiful black + white shot but I fell in love with this purple tint. :) Here is another favorite of mine.

I fear this will be a dead giveaway of who the scrapbook is for that I've been working on but there is finally a photo I can share. You can find it here. Speaking of photographs, check out Tara's blog entry yesterday! What beautiful photographs and what fun memories for that family.

keep it in your mouth or in goes in the trash

Oh my goodness- IT happened. We were in the car and I gave her a piece of gum. When we were getting out I saw she was playing with it and in that split second, without thinking + right on cue I said, "Keep it in your mouth or in goes in the trash". In the same tone. The same matter-of-fact manner. I swear to you it was my mom that said it, not me!

My mom is probably basking in the sun right now in Hawaii so there is a chance she won't read this and take offense. If you do read this mom, you know what I mean. :D

self portrait tuesday

This self portrait was actually taken feb 13, 2004 in my old l.a. apt. I just started playing around with editing software and thought I'd share this for self portrait tuesday. I haven't uploaded photoshop to my new laptop yet, hence the distracting towel bar. doh! ;)

• red current has a pretty comprehensive list of "self portrait tuesday" bloggers, here. enjoy!
  

monday madness + migraine

oy! today was one of those days. it wasn't a bad day by any means but i had one of those migraines that sneak up on ya in the morning and go well on into the night. the good thing is that after two doses of 800 mg motrin, food, + a bath, i am feeling much better! i also got to visit the chiropractor today. i say "got to" because the last week has been absolutely unbearable. i called my husband from the store saturday crying, my back hurt so bad. the good news is, i survived my first visit and was feeling much better today!

balance

My sister has so graciously lent to me a watercolor painting I made in February and gave to her for her birthday in March. I plan on making prints of these to go in the July shop update. I am planning on the update being the 15th!

at a stand still

I've been scrapbooking for most of the day and have completed twelve 6 x 6 pages. I have am picking up more photographs tomorrow and have enough right now for four or so more layouts but am sort of at a stand still until my Stampin' Up! order arrives. Grrr! You know how awesome it is when you're "in the groove"? It just makes me antsy with anticipation of it's arrival. I think you'll like the pages I've done. :) For now, I leave you with some of my ribbon stash. Yes, some. It's an addiction.

pool play

Oh my, a third post in a day! I really am making up for the neglected week, aren't I? :) Okay, I have to tell you about the funniest thing that happened when I took the kiddos to the community pool this afternoon. It was me with my five charges in tow (one under the age of one). There were two other groups there- a papa with his grandaughter and grandson and a father with his two little boys. It was really quite amusing for me to see them try and tell the kids to get out of the pool. I heard the papa tell the youngsters "last jump" about 15 minutes before he got out himself. Then, he stood there helplessly watching the kids swim and play for a good half hour. I was so tempted to go up to the wee ones and say, "Okay guys, time to get out. Your papa was nice enough to bring you here to play for a good long time and now it's time to get out." That, or physically drag 'em out but I didn't think either option would be appreciated. Meanwhile I hear "dad" tell his boys "Now, remember the boy who called woof..." for his brats (I mean kids) to go on and on yelling "HELP!". I felt bad but it was hard to stiffle my smiles. When it was my charges time to get out of the pool and dry off I simply said, "Okay, out!", and they did. :D

scrapbooking mania

It's a double-post Friday!

Thanks to a big fat idea I had for someone's (to remain anonymous at this time) birthday I have been shoved full force back into the wonderful world that is scrapbooking! I've been stocking up on fabulous specialty papers, fun + funky ribbons, stamps, markers- the whole shebang! Stampin' Up! just came out with the BEST catalog/ idea book yet, seriously! I mean it's prepare-to-go-broke good. My mom is a demonstrator so if you're interested in getting one of these yummies for yourself, leave me a message or email me for her info.

Image Copyright of Stampin' UP!

I've been browsing the net for inspiration and let me tell you- you don't have to go far! I remembered a gallery/forum I used to lurk and it's absolutely the best site to go to for scrapbooking inspiration. Forget the magazines, check out Two Peas in a Bucket! They even have a shop and blog.

And speaking of blogs, check these out:

• Cathy
  
• Donna
• Jamie
  
• Joy
• Rhonna
• Tara
• Tracy
• Wendi
  

chunky book update

We are so very overdue for a chunky book update! Which is no one's fault but my own. I was incredibly busy last month with the shop's grand opening, which is why I had the pages originally due in May. We didn't have enough pages to create the book so I extended the deadline to June. Unfortunately, I am now without a scanner/printer to share the fabulous pages we've recieved just yet! I will try to get this done somewhere (a friend's or kinkos if I have to) so that you can see the pages before the book is bound. I'd like to have the book together by the end of the month so that we can get the word out about the book and have it auctioned in August. I am SO appreciative to all of the people that have contributed to this great cause. If there is anyone out there that said they wanted to participate or hadn't heard about it until now you have about a week to get your page to me before the pages are scanned and bound. Thanks!!

PS- This is my first post with my brand new (purchased Sunday) Toshiba laptop. :D Yay!

the ribbon jar

Do you like ribbon? Do you like to embellish your sewing projects? Do you use it on your scrapbook pages and handmade greeting cards? Well, if you're anything like me, of course you do! I have to tell you about this amazing ribbon-by-the-yard online shop I found called the Ribbon Jar. It's perfect for your projects that don't require an entire skein/roll. The owner, Amber Lee, is super friendly and the customer service is great! Join their mailing list for updates, ideas, and discount codes!! If you're interested in being a guest designer and sharing your creative and innovative use of ribbon, you can find all of the information you need here. The website design is fun, colorful, and creative. The checkout process an easy one! Now, go have fun! :)

little earthquakes

Wow! How did a week pass without a single post? I've been busy being busy. :) We had a wonderful fourth of July and holiday weekend. It's been quite a while since I've sat down to read a book since I've been so busy with the shop. This weekend I read a great book called, "Little Earthquakes" by Jennifer Weiner. You can read the first chapter of the book here and if you like that (which you will!) you can purchase the book here and here. Enjoy!