This is it...

I'm not posting for the rest of the year. I'm taking a break blogging. I'm also not going to shower again this year, eat breakfast or lunch the rest of this year or paint my toes. That's it. I'm done. For this year anyway.

Happy New Year's Eve everyone! :)

Disney Mini-Album

So here it is. I'm SO excited that I finished all of my Christmas projects & can now start working on the pile of projects I've set aside to do for me. This was the first one. Next I want to finish my "All About Me" album that I started with Andrea last year. And after that, I'm going to do a BIG LO to go in my new 12x12 American Crafts book - thank you Mom & Dad. So excited...I'm loving this scrapping time!!

Here it is - we went in March but hey, better late than never, right? I like how it turned out. Here's a peek at a few of the pages. If you'd like to see the rest, come visit me & I'll show it to you (& I'll let you pet my cats).

Ahhhh...

That's how I feel right now. I've had a great combination of a restful/productive day.

I may have *accidentally* slept in this morning past 10 (gasp, I know). To my credit I did stay up until 1:30 am scrapping. I now have an adorable (if I do say so myself) mini album from our Disneyland adventure. I'll try to take pics of it soon & post it. Okay, back to what I was saying....Then I did the drawing. Announced the drawing & went back to bed. Okay, just kidding. Then I took a much needed shower, we ran some errands & ended up at the mall to impulse purchase. What fun that was. I ended up with a Hello Kitty hoodie sweatshirt (hoodies are my new fav) & some adorable shoes. We also picked up a shirt for my sister (at her request - she claims she'll pay me back...) & a new toy for my cute nephew that's coming to visit soon.

When we got home I started laundry. I am happy to say that all bed linens have been changed including duvet covers, & shams, all towels are folded, all clothes are put away & the last load of sheets is in the washer as we speak. It's the little things - ya know?

Then I took away Christmas. I know, so sad. My OCD got the best of me & it had to go. I vacuumed the floors & decorated for Valentine's. Yes, I serious.

Tim made a delish dinner while I made peanut butter blossoms. And Andrea, guess what? I remembered to freeze 1/2 the batch - so I only made 12 tonight & when we have company later this week, I'll break out the rest of the dough & make more - I'm so excited!! Thanks for the tip.

After that Tim & I & the kitties settled in to watch Pirates 3 which he just got for his b-day. What a lovely day.

Ahhhh....

And The Winner Is...

AnDRea t.

A S.B. gift card will be on it's way to her soon. I *think* she likes those...
Congratulations Andrea & thank you to everyone who played along!! I really enjoyed reading your comments. Maybe we'll do another contest again soon...stay tuned.
(And yes Amanda, you snuck in just in time...you were also in the drawing). :)

Happy Saturday!!

Surprise Contest!!

This is post 200...well actually 201, but we'll call it 200. So, if you post a comment between now & Saturday morning at 10 am PST you'll be in the drawing!

Yep, it's that easy. Just post a comment & you'll be entered to win. Cool.

52 Card Scrap-Up Week #11:

Here is this week's card, prompted by me. The prompt was: 'your favorite moment from Christmas Day'. My favorite moment from Christmas day was opening the Christmas Crackers & playing the carols. It was so much fun...something we plan to do again next year.

Front:

Back:

Christmas Day (Part 2)

Here are a few more photos from Christmas Day.

Christmas Cracker fun with conductor Jessie...

Mark doing his best as '#4'...

Grandma playing in Nellie & Mia's new kitchen

Christmas cracker

Christmas Day!! (Part 1)

Christmas Day we were invited to come down to the Wagner's house. We joined my sister & her family & her in-laws. We arrived in the morning while they were finishing opening presents. We ended up staying until almost 10pm! We had a wonderful day & were delighted that they once again welcomed us into their home.

After presents, which included some birthday gifts & a Christmas gift for Tim from Mark & Laura - and a plant for us from Bill & Martha, we had a Mexican Christmas dinner. It was wonderful - so tasty.

Then it was off to finish setting up the kitchen that the girls had gotten for Christmas & naps. We lounged around for a few hours, played the Wii, Laura & I ran to the store for an emergency cookie ingredients run, & returned so she could make some delicious 7 layer brownie bars. Yum.

Later in the evening we had fondue. After we had all stuffed ourselves with as much goodness as we could hold, we broke into the Christmas Crackers. No, no, not more food - crackers as in presents. They were great! We found a box of them at Whole Foods & they held little whistles in them. 1 person was the conductor (can you guess who that was?) & the rest of the people played their flute when the conductor pointed to them. Together we played tons of Christmas carols - it was a blast! We will definitely get those again next year. And, they came with A CROWN!! What more could a girl want? :) Here are some photos from our wonderful day.

Mia & her new bear

Sleeping Beauty (yes, she asked that we call her that & would not respond when you called her Nellie...so funny)

Mark & Laura with their whistles & crowns from the crackers

Tim & I (as soon as Nellie (aka Sleeping Beauty) saw the camera, she ran to get into the photo)

Christmas Eve

Here is post #1 of a two part post for Christmas. The night before Christmas Eve, Laura & the girls had stayed the night so when we all got up Tim made waffles. Then Laura & I ran off to the store for some last minute items & errands. We grabbed Starbucks and headed home after several quick stops. The rest of the day was spent relaxing, getting my hair done *thank you Warla!!* & hanging out with the girls. Tim started dinner preparations, then we headed off to church for our candlelight service. It was a very nice service & the girls did really well sitting through it - they even sang the songs with us - so cute. After church, we came home & had a delicious dinner - thank you Tim!! Then we opened presents. Tim's family always opens presents on Christmas Eve, so we have incorporated this tradition into one of our new traditions. Melia loved helping me open mine. Everything I opened she would ask 'Is this for Ally?' . Or she would ask, 'Is that for the kitty?' It was too funny. Nope, sorry baby, it was all for me...none for the kitty this year. They left around 10 pm to go to Corvallis where we met them the next day. More on that in the next post. Here are some photos from Christmas Eve.

Laura & Mia at the candlelight service

Nellie & Mia in front of the Christmas tree at church

My sister & I

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! I hope your day is filled with lots of love, laughter & joyfulness as we celebrate this Christmas with friends & family. Merry Christmas!

52 Card Scrap-Up Weeks #9 & #10

I'm on a roll! Both with the blog & catching up on my favorite scrapping activity, 52 Card Scrap-Up.

Week #9 prompt was issued by Andrea F. It was your favorite Christmas tradition:

Week # 10 prompt was issued by Erin-O. Her prompt was your favorite Christmas music. Being a music geek I can't choose just one...& I stopped at four. I'm not sure if you can read the list, it says: Carol of the Bells, Silent Night, Joy to the World, & Breath of Heaven.

That's two posts in one day! Maybe my ratings will go up... :)

I'm Back...

So I'm a few days behind on my blog...& my 52 Card Scrap-Up...I'm going to spend part of this evening making up for some of my 'slackerness' these past few days. Here's what we've been up to:

Wednesday was my 1st day of freedom. I went for a massage in the morning - then went to a friends house for the afternoon/evening to scrapbook & work on Christmas projects with her. We had a great time & were also very productive!!

Thursday was Tim's birthday. Poor Tim didn't even get a birthday post this year. It was also Matt & Andrea's 10th anniversary. They also did not get a post. Hopefully this will count for something?! :)
Thursday night I threw a party for Tim & we had about 15 guests. It was a great party filled with Hummingbird cupcakes, homemade sushi, sugar cookies, salads, & other delicious goodness.

Friday I cleaned up the house from the party & took a LONG nap. I think these past few days that I've been pretty lazy & taking naps almost everyday to catch up on the sleep I've been lacking from school & concerts the three weeks prior to this break. At least that's what I'm telling myself. Friday night we went up to the Portland City Grill with our good friends Ben & Amanda. We've decided this will be our new tradition - it was the 2nd year that we've done it & we all have such a wonderful time together - that it was decided to continue with the tradition. Dinner was absolutely wonderful, beautiful view, & the couple at the table next to us got engaged, so that was fun to watch too.

Saturday I ran some errands with my new friend Leslie. We got some last minute stocking stuffers at Target & World Market. Always fun to shop in those stores - thankfully the lines were not bad. Last night we went to a Christmas Party with Ben & Amanda & some other people that we just met. We had a nice time there - great food - lots of food... - & several hours of girl talk, which was fun.

Today was filled with church, naps, wrapping presents, & catching up with friends over the phone. Ben & Amanda called - so we went to dinner with them - then to Circuit City to get a new camera for Amanda. So this marks evening #4 of Ben & Amanda time. Over these last few days we've become very comfortable with each other - it's been lots of fun.

And so here I am, finally catching up on my blog. 52 Card scrap-up is next on the list. I'm waiting for my sister & the girls to come over so we can play tonight & tomorrow. I will be productive until they arrive (or at least that's the plan).

Here are some pictures from the last several days. Hope your days spent getting ready for Christmas have been restful, fun, & filled with joy!





















The t-shirt I made for my friend Victoria. She loves the word 'Rad' so I thought she needed a shirt that said just that. Of course my fabulous husband designed it - & I ironed it on. It was a hit, she liked it.















Hummingbird cupcakes that I made for Tim's birthday...yummmy!!















We broke out the Wii & Guitar Hero during Tim's birthday party - everyone took turns rocking out.















Here are the 4 of us at Portland City Grill on Friday night - what a wonderful time of year to celebrate with friends & family.

Check This Out...

This is my new favorite uTube video.  Enjoy!  (In case it doesn't work, here's the link):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fe11OlMiz8

Until Wednesday

...so this weekend was FILLED with rehearsals & concerts for the choir we sing in. While it was wonderful to be singing for Christmas - I'm exhausted. Tomorrow I have a concert with my kids, & Tuesday is the last day of school. So how about I join the blogging world again on Wednesday...

Thanks for being patient with me - have a great first 1/2 of the week!!

Here He Is...

...In all of his glory. My beloved Red Reindeer. For those of you still interested...

52 Card Scrap-Up

Yes, I'm still doing 52 card scrap-up. I'm just a few days behind...

Here we are with week #8 - I think. Wow! Anyway, the prompt issued by My Andrea was 'your favorite ornament'. Mine is my red reindeer that I made out of salt dough in Kindergarten. Thank you Mrs. Powell...

The sad part of the story is that when I was in high school, we moved to a house where my mom stored the Christmas ornaments in the water heater closet. Apparently moisture & salt dough don't mix, because the red reindeer (did I mention he had sparkles all over him too?) fell apart. Into many, many pieces. My mom was so sad. I was so sad. The poor red reindeer was even more sad.

A few years later, my thoughtful mom painted a ceramic red reindeer - added glitter - & gave it to me for Christmas. I love it. It's like the water heater incident never even happened. Ever.

Front of the card:

Back of the card:

New Post, New Post, Move Down...

Here I am again - posting a few days later than I meant to. Ah well. :)

This week/weekend has been interesting. For starters, this week I took 75 students to sing at the capitol building. The next day, I had a dress rehearsal for a performance with 93 4th graders. The day after that, I did two performances with those 4th graders for their program. Whew! Then Friday came & not a moment too soon.

Tim surprised me & came home early on Friday - very sweet of him to pull all of those strings to make that happen. Yesterday we meant to be a low-key day, but instead it turned into errand day. We spent most of the day in the car running about town & out of town but at least we were together. Last night we went to a local pizza place that I've always wanted to try. The food was good & afterwards we played Pirate mini-golf. They had black lights, 3-D, & sound effects as we made our way through the course - it was pretty cute. We earned 12 tickets for our golf game (yes Tim won by 3 points) & took them to the kid area to play some games. We had a great time with ski-ball, & various other 'kid' games. We redeemed our tickets for a ninja, army man, & some pirate stickers with a pencil. It was a very fun, carefree evening.

Then, my body decided it had had enough for the week & I started feeling crummy. That has lasted through now - where I sit still in my jammies. We missed church, I wasn't able to go with Tim to help with a fund raiser for our choir. The good news is that I'm starting to feel better. I think my system was just telling me 'ENOUGH' & so I listened.

I don't know what the evening holds for plans, so maybe I'll check in again later & provide you with some pictures...happy Sunday to all!

Yuuummmm...

Look!! A parade of Christmas Animal cookies wandered onto my counter...what is a girl to do?!?

Yummm....

Christmas Decorations...

...they're up!! This weekend we 'Christmasized' our house.

Here's the tree...Do you see the Christmas kitties?

The mantle

Entry-way table. Notice the Christmas pumpkin!? :)

52 Card Scrap-Up Week #7

Well, I'm only 2 days late. For the record, the card was done yesterday - making me only 1 day late (for those of you keeping score). :)

This week's prompt was issued by me...'What is your favorite fall drink?' Here's what I came up with:

Front:

Back:

It's SUPER cold, windy & rainy here today. A perfect day for an Eggnog Latte - if only I wanted to go out in the elements to retrieve it . Does Starbucks deliver?

Can You Hear Me Now?

So tonight as I was driving home from work, trying to talk to my husband hands free - my headset died. This was the last straw. For the past several weeks I've been having issues with my phone. 6 years ago, I wouldn't have thought anything of this, but because I dated & then married the man that I did - I've become a gadget girl. I love gadgets. Before I met Tim, I had the same cell phone for 7 years. Since we've been married, I've had 4 new ones...here is #5...

It's so pretty. It's the same phone that Miss Erin, her mother, & sister have too. I'm not trying to be a copy cat in this situation -I just really liked the phone & of course the color is lovely. So all evening Tim & I have been taking turns playing with the phone. I think he enjoys getting new gadgets for me almost as much as he enjoys getting them for himself. He's currently trying to upload my 'Cliff Hanger' ring tone from the Price Is Right. And of course I'll need 'Manamanah' back for when Laura calls...

Ladies Craft Night...

I've just returned home from ladies craft night at our church. This is the first Christmas that we will be at our new church & I'm excited to see all of their traditions. Apparently this is one of them & I'm a fan!! You come, eat some lovely treats, & make crafts! My good friends Amanda & Victoria joined me & we had a blast. We ended up making 3 crafts. Victoria decided it was like 'speed crafting' - which totally fits our evening. Look what we did:

We each made a rustic sign - I chose to hang mine in our entry way from the 'Joy' mirror.

We also made live center pieces. I LOVE this one - it's my favorite.

And since we had extra time & they had extra supplies we made a snowman. I'm not sure where to put him. Any ideas?