Soul Searching

I've recently slumped back into my funk. I had a fabulous vacation with the hubs...and now 4 weeks later I'm mopey and depressed as all get out. So I've decided to stop being a negative Nancy and change my views of life and things. I've decided to make some goals for my lifestyle and my life in general. I'm going to work on a bucket list so to speak as well. So I have things to work towards, to let me know that I'm moving in life, and not just standing still while everyone passes me by. But First I'm going to work on me, and change a few things that I've been wanting to change, and maybe become the person I want to be. Starting with...

Loose the weight I put on after having Kaylie.
- Exercise daily
- Take Bailey for one extra long walk a day
- No more take out!

That is a huge daunting task for me...so hopefully I can at least get in a routine of exercise and eating healthy.

Work on my photography.
-Take pictures of something at least once a week.
- Get to know my camera better.
- Look into classes you could take.

Spend more time with my husband.
-this ones pretty self explanatory.

Well thats it, those are my goals for now. It's time I started enjoying life, and moving forward, instead of dwelling in the past and letting it drown me.

Kennel for Bailey

My weekly AGC challenge was SUPER hard this week! We had to use 10 buttons, 9 stitches, 8 brads, 7 flowers, 6 stickers, 5 papers, 4 rub ons, 3 coloration items, 2 photos, and 1 journal block. No more, no less! All week I'd been thinking about this and thinking about it. Finally I just sat down and found some papers that went together and tried to work with it. It all came together really nicely I think. I'm not too fond of the rub ons, but I had a limited supply to work with. I used some paint this time too. I really really really like how it turned out. I painted the edge of the LO, as well as one of the paper strips, and some of the flowers. I also inked quite a bit. I inked 3 of the papers. One I did the whole thing in red. It really helped mute it down a bit and match the other papers. I really love the effect it had.

The LO is about my puppy of course. We bought a kennel for Bailey to use while we are out of the apartment. She was just chewing through everything! Chuck got in the kennel with her to show her it was her spot and so she wouldn't be afraid of it. She loves it now. She sleeps in it all the time. The hardest part is keeping the cat out of it!

Rainbows and Love

Well it's been awhile since I have posted. Work has been insane! We are getting to the busy season and they still can't get another CSR to help me out! We have gone through two so far in the last month. The first just did not work out, and the second, my friend Jessie, injured herself so she had to decline the position. My manager had some interviews today so hopefully he talked to some good candidates! Luckily I go on vacation in two weeks! So every time it gets hectic I just remind myself in a matter of days I will be on a boat in the Caribbean.

We have been having a ton of rain and windy storms here as of late. The other day there were beautiful rainbows in the sky. It's hard to see in the picture but there is actually a double rainbow. They eventually progressed into two full rainbows. I just love rainbows! :)

Now on to scrapping! I've never tried a vintage style LO until this one. I found this photo of my Grandparents. My mom has a smugmug.com site that she keeps lots of her pictures on, and sometimes I like to just look through the old ones and see what I find. Anyways! I love this picture of her parents. My Grandfather, PaPa as we called him, was probably the best man I knew. I know I'm slightly partial to him, but he genuinely was a good man. Something I always was amazed of was my grandparents love for one another. They always seemed so in love. So I wanted to make sure I did this photo justice. I printed it out and it sat on my desk for over a month until I finally had an idea of what I wanted to do. I did lots of distress inking around pretty much every edge. I threaded the ribbon through the paper twice, it seemed too thin threaded through once, and then I put those cute metal brads in to cover up where I threaded it. The lovely peach flower is a prima, and one of the layering pieces is from it's packaging. I really like how it turned out!

BoBo

I have been so tired from work lately that I have hardly had time to scrap! I finally got a LO done last night about Bailey and her favorite toy. She carries it around with her all over the house, and it is much bigger then her. We are also on our third one of this particular toy lol!



The layout is really simple. I punched out a ton of squares with my old creative memories square punch. I used a ton of scraps I had in my scrap box. I inked each individual square with Tim Holtz's Black Soot. It's my favorite color to use! Then I just layered each square on top of each other a bit. It took a long time but I had fun using all the different colors. Plus I got to use some of the pp that I really loved! I'm such a paper addict!

Hopefully tomorrow night I get a few LOs done. I need to meet my goal for the AGC and I'm very far from my 2010 Volume challenge goal. I need to get scrapping!

A Yummy Scrappy weekend!

This weekend was all rainy and yucky outside! So of coarse I got lots of scrapping done! I got caught up on a few of my AGC LO's even!
Chuck and I took this pic on New Years Day this year. Our first pic of the year! He does humor me with my picture taking sometimes haha! For our weekly AGC we had to go to random.org and have it choose 5 numbers for us, and then use the corosponding tecniques! Mine were to use pink and orange, some type of distressing, use buttons, doodle, and have a family member pick something to use. I asked Chuck of coarse and he came up with beads. So I used a string of block beads I had in my ribbon box. I love love LOVE that background paper from Paper Studios! Thats where I got my pink and orange from mostly, as well as the buttons are pink and orange. I crinkled up the orange paper matting the photo and inked it. And then doodled dots on the big red bracket. I had a lot of fun with this LO, all the bright colors and such. I did find it challenging to use so many techniques at once, but then I guess that's why I joined the challenge, to push myself!

On a completely unrelated not, Chuck and I are trying to eat better and exercise more. Exercising is easy with Bailey needing lots of walks. But Chuck is pretty bad about his eating habits. So I looked up some new recipes and tried a few. Last night we had Gorgonzola and hazelnut chicken with endive salad. It turned out really well surprisingly. It was a Rachel Ray meal and it was super easy to make. Tonight I mad cod with couscous and fresh vegetables. Chuck loved it. So far it seems we are on the right track. We got some scallops and lamb to try cooking even. Although I have no idea how to cook lamb haha! Guess we'll see how that goes tomorrow!

Baily LO

I finally was able to sit down and scrap tonight after such a hectic start to the week. I just did a few simple LO's. Sometimes, the simple ones end up being my favorites.

My sweet husband Chuck got me the best gift ever for my birthday last month....a puppy! She is the cutest thing! He name is Bailey and if you haven't guess, the LO is about her! The LO is also for my Anything Goes Challenge, where we had to use 10 circles, 4 brads, and 4 shape stickers exactly. The butterflies are the shape stickers, and I used the circles to make the two lolipop flowers. After I hand cut the circles I stickled the very outside edge of them. I love how they turned out! I also used stickles on the title, the butterflies, and well just about everything! you can never have too many stickles right?



















I so can not wait for this weekend as I actually have it off! Of coarse it is supposed to rain though. Oh well... guess I'll be stuck inside scrapping all weekend! :)

There Goes Our Hero...

Last week my husband and I went to the last home game for the Dallas Stars of the year. We were playing the Anaheim Ducks and we managed to get center ice seats behind the stars about 9 rows up. It was a particularly speacial game as it was possibly the last game at American Airlines Center for 3 beloved players. Mike Modano and Jere Lehtinen will most likely retire, and Marty Turco, my personal favorite, will probably be signed to another team. The energy in the areana was amazazing. It was unlike any other game I have been to.

Every time a play stopped they would show some sort of montage on the jumbo tron and the crowd would cheer. Modano has been the face of the Stars since they came to Dallas, and is without a doubt the most loved player. Near the end of the third period, during a particular Modano montage, the crowd stood and cheered. Clapping and screaming. All the hockey players, including all the Ducks, stood and hit their sticks against the ice. Even the refs were clapping. This went on for what felt like 15 minutes, although I'm sure it was about 5. Modano fought back tears...biting on his lip, but eventually they came. After trying to compose himself with no success he eventually stood and waved to the crowd, causing them to erupt in louder cheers then I thought possible.

The game continued from there. With variations of cheering and chanting for all three players. Modano tied up the game in the last two minutes and we went into overtime to a shoot out. There Lehtinen and Modano scored winning the game, while Marty let in no goals. It was the perfect game for all three men.

Even if it truly wasn't any of the guys last game, I will always remember it. For the emotion, the true die hard fans, the perfect plays, the awesome center ice seats, and for seeing tears an so many men's eyes, including my husband's, as they watched their hero for probably the last time.