Thursday, December 19, 2013

Third Thursday Scrapbook Stories: December 2013

Katie to the rescue!  In all honestly, if Katie hadn't been on the ball with her Third Thursday post I would most likely have been MIA through the holiday.  It has been a little rough this season, but never fear....this too shall pass.  She, as always, is on top of it all.  She is rockin' an amazing digital December Daily, she is winding up her 2013 Project Life and still scrapping everything in between...yep, she is my scrapping hero! If you are new around here, you should definitely check out all of Katie's crafty goodness here.


Photobucket

******************************

Happy Weekend Eve everyone!

Wow, I cannot believe this will be my last post here in 2013!

Knowing that the year is ending, and a new year is beginning has really given me a big burst of Project Life energy. I am so excited to finish up my documenting for this year's album, and begin my 2014 album (with my new honey core kit!) soon.

Of course, finishing up the year means I have lots and lots of Project Life layouts to share with you all!


This layout is from the week after our honeymoon. We spent this week trying to get used to being back home. And I spent a lot of time grading! I also legally changed my last name this week! Even though I still sign my old one sometimes still!


The next week was Halloween. I went all out food wise for Halloween this year - candy corn colored waffles, ghost pizza and jack o'lantern quesadillas! (Not all on one day!) We also had a blast with my last minute costume witch's hat!

Its the last day of classes here today, so I am hoping to catch up on Project Life up to last week, so after Christmas, I am almost ready to start my new book!

Do you have any crafty goals during the holiday break?

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Tuesday Tunes: David Nail Style

The ladies from Tuesday Tunes have decided this is the last month for this fun link up, so I am going to do my best to participate all month....despite the fact that I appear to be on one of my many breaks.  If it matters at all, I am desperately trying to finish up some scrapbooks before 2013 comes to a close, so hopefully I can share those soon!   Let HolliLauren and Leslyn (and me, too) know what you are listening to....I love knowing what is on "Repeat" in everyone's brain!

Leslyn's Lovely Life

Maybe it was around 2009...not really sure, but I fell in love with this song by David Nail.  Red Light - It just grabbed me - can't explain why.  It was my ringtone for a long time.


Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago and he did it again.  Another one that there is no rhyme or reason to why I love it, but I do.  Catchy and fun and right now, I just can't get enough.  Oh yea, like so many of those country boys he is a stinkin' cutie.  Enjoy and Happy Tuesday!

Friday, November 22, 2013

How Is He 13???

They say that patience is a virtue....and although I wholeheartedly believe that, it just doesn't happen to be one that I have.  I have mentioned on more than one occasion that Zachary gets birthday pictures taken every year.  Once they are taken, the waiting is brutal.  Last night....OH HAPPY NIGHT!!!!  There was goodness in my inbox.  Jesse of Jesse Leos Photography never disappoints!  He captured some incredible images of Zach....I keep wondering where in the world my little boy went, and how in the world he is 13?!?!?  These were all taken in the arts district in downtown Dallas and Klyde Warren Park.


I am not ready to share the bulk of them yet....still deciding on Christmas cards...but here are a few that made me smile.  Jesse always takes a few just for fun, and years from now I am going to love looking back at them and everything else he captured!




I imagine that I am not going to be too popular when Zach sees this post!  If you would like to see more of Jesse's work, you can see his galleries here: Jesse Leos Photography.  Have a great weekend and stay warm....it is actually in the 30's and raining here in Texas today....say what?????

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Third Thursday Scrapbook Stories: November 2013

It is my favorite Thursday of the month....when Katie takes over and shares some of her scrapbook genius. I am sure that I have said it before, but besides the fact that Katie keeps pretty much on top of everything that she has going on, I most love her scrapbooking style!  Like me, she likes to make the most of her layouts and use a  lot of pictures as opposed to focusing on just one.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with either style and I admire both...my preference is just a lot of pictures.  Here's Katie....


Photobucket

******************************

Happy Weekend Eve everyone!

Can you believe Thanksgiving is in just one week? I can't!

I'm a little sad though, because it means that my absolute favorite season, fall, is coming to an end.

This year, in honor of my favorite season, I decided to do a fall list. Its exactly like the summer lists that are always popular, but for autumn instead!

And if I'm going to go to all the trouble to make a list, I'm going to scrap it!


For this layout, I wanted to include lots of pictures of things we did this fall, including:

drinking Blue Moon Pumpkin Harvest Ale
making apple cheddar muffins
decorating our door with a new wreath
sitting by the fire on our honeymoon
walking by the lakes
watching our favorite Halloween movie
lighting way too many candles
getting married

I printed out my pictures two per page and trimmed them down to 2.75"x3.75" so I could fit all of them onto this layout :)


I love all of Bella Blvd's papers, but I really love their Thankful line. I couldn't get enough of these adorable stickers when putting together this page. Fortunately, there are still a lot left over for a few Thanksgiving layouts as well!


This was our whole list...we didn't get to everything. Making s'mores, enjoying caramel apples, picking pumpkins and baking oatmeal bread will have to wait for next year! But I'm very happy with everything we did get to do this year.

Now I just need to come up with a Christmas list! What would be on yours?

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

A Little Sneak Peek and Tuesday Tunes

Happy Tuesday!  I think the four days at my scrap retreat caused  crafty overload and I have yet to get back to it, but I am determined to have the Disney album done before the end of the year, along with my Cabo scrapbook from 2009 - that one is about 90% complete.  Usually once I set a concrete deadline for myself, things get done...so I am feeling confident.   I did want to share a few sneak peeks though.  If you follow me on Instagram, I apologize for the repetition.  Even though there have been a lot of changes in my life...not to mention my weight, since this trip - I am so happy to be getting it documented for Zachary.  He deserves it and down the road it will be a great keepsake for him.

I am going to get better pictures of the entire album once it is done, these were just pictures that I snapped at the retreat, amidst a very messy work station.





For those of you wondering, I did do a fair amount of Project Life style layouts,.  Honestly, not near as many as I had thought I would do.  I had a lot of fun doing the traditional layouts and just kind of ran with it.  I hope to have the complete album posted before we see 2014....bare with me!  

Way after the fact, I am linking up....
Memory Keeping Monday

Finally, in honor of Tuesday I am linking up for Tuesday Tunes:

Leslyn's Lovely Life

My country kick doesn't seem to be fading....and I am loving this new song by Keith and Miranda.  In my opinion, you can rarely go wrong with Keith Urban and the two of them together, well just pretty close to perfect!  Enjoy and have a great day!

.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

WOYWW

For the first time in quite awhile I am linking up with Julia at Stamping Ground for:

What's On Your Wordesk? Wednesday
With my departure now just under 24 hours for my first scrap retreat, the last couple of nights I decided that I better get my rear in gear and start getting organized.  If not, I was afraid that I would spend the better part of my first day simply getting my ducks in a row so that I could get started....NO BUENO!!!!

This little love enjoys it when I am down on her level so I decided to move my workdesk to the floor.


The trip that I am working on at the retreat is a Disney Cruise from 8 (yes, 8) years ago.  I was definitely struggling to remember the order of things and luckily I saved every one of the "Navigators" from the trip. For those of you that haven't cruised before the night before each cabin receives a newsletter of everything that will be going on the next day....these have been a lifesaver for me for getting my pictures at least somewhat in order.


Over the years, I have also been collecting Disney themed paper and embellishments.  Luckily, I haven't gone near as crazy as I could have.  I am not so much into decorating with the characters, so many of my Disney touches are more subtle.  Between my collecting and little mementos I collected on the trip....I have plenty to work with.  I am hoping for a very productive 4 days....wish me luck!


I think this is it from me for the week, but hopefully I will have some fun layouts to share next week.  Have a great weekend and I will see ya on the flip side!

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Tuesday Tunes

Just a quick post today.....I have a million things on my "to-do list" at work since today is my Thursday, not to mention a growing list at home as well, trying to get ready for my scrap retreat this weekend.  It seems like I signed up forever ago and I can't believe that it is FINALLY almost here!

It's Tuesday, and I am linking up with these lovelies: HolliLeslyn, and Lauren for.....

Leslyn's Lovely Life

I have a confession to make.  My Spotify has been on a continuous loop of Luke Bryan for well over a week and I am not thinking that there is any end in sight.  And although I love so many of his songs, I figured that this one would be the most appropriate, since all I seem to be doing is "playing it again".  Oh yea, he isn't too rough on the eyes, either.  Have a great day, everyone!


Monday, November 4, 2013

Weekend Shenanigans...Including a New Addition to the Family

Week 2 for Weekend Shenanigans and this time I am actually on time! What I thought was going to be a fairly quiet weekend with very little planned besides housework and getting organized for my scrapbook retreat this coming weekend, turned out to be anything but...

Sami's Shenanigans

Back in September, I fell in love with a dog....(you can read about it here).  I came home from Orlando dying for a Yorkie, but once I did the research and saw how much they were, I kind of put that out of my mind.  I though the chances of me finding one at the shelter were virtually non-existent.  I have always been a cat person and based on the fact that I currently have 2, I figured that it was probably for the best.  Fast forward to Thursday of last week...my friend Jan sent me a text telling me that she had found my dog.  Long story short...she and I made the 2+ hour drive to Paris, TX Saturday morning to pick her up. The previous owners had just had a new baby (2 months old) and the dog was not adjusting well, apparently. Their loss, my gain!

Gracie....formerly known as Buffy - I think not
She is such a sweetheart!  She is doing much better with the cats than they are with her....so far they are not fans!!  So much so that Jessi, went kind of bananas yesterday morning.  I let her out in the side yard (which is fenced in) and turned my back for about 2 minutes and this is where she ended up....


followed by here....


There is still a lot of hissing going on - Jack is the worst,  but I am trying to think positive and hope that with time everyone will adjust!  Last night, all three of them slept with me, so there is hope!

Saturday, was also Zach's 13th birthday...yikes!  Although his father and I have been divorced almost 7 years, we still celebrate his birthday together every year.  We take him out to dinner - just the three of us. We switched it up this year and went to Fireside Pies in Ft. Worth....


We had an hour wait for a table and of course had to snap a couple of pics.

Zach and his dad

With mom...I love this one!
Zach got his favorite Fireside appetizer.....calamari!


We finished the evening off with dessert from Sweet Sammies.  Homemade cookies sandwiching Blue Bell ice cream...so yummy.


Not the weekend that I had expected, but a great one none the less!  Now I am panicking because I am nowhere near ready for my retreat....uugghhh.  Have a great week!

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Some REALLY Late Link Ups

Disclaimer:  In my defense, I did start this post on Monday when these link ups would have been MUCH more relevant....better later than never, right???  Sorry, not sorry!

I will apologize in advance if you are sick and tired of me and my links up, but hey if it gets me to post...let's just roll with it, shall we?  And, this will be a fun post...packed with pics and yes, I took them ALL with the big girl camera which may or may not be totally obviously!   OK, here goes....for the first time, I am linking up with Sami for:

Sami's Shenanigans


You know how sometimes your eyes are bigger than your stomach?  Well I am not sure what to call my weekend, but it was the activity equivalent to that.  I crammed way too much into my weekend - most specifically one day of it.  My Saturday morning started with a catch up breakfast with one of my besties....6:00 AM no less...our schedules are killing us, but we made it work!  I ran home to pick up Zach and we hit the road.  Wortham, TX bound to be exact.  It is about an hour and 45 minutes from home and the site for Tough Mudder Dallas 2013.  

If you don't know about this obstacle event, click the link and learn about the insanity that is Tough Mudder.  It was crazy....there were people of all ages and sizes - some were wearing costumes.  


It is an obstacle course like no other and before you start wondering how the chick that can't even RUN a 5K got herself into this pickle, I was just a spectator and picture taker.  Three guys from my office were participating and I volunteered to try to get them some photos.  In my opinion, the best part of TM is that they stress that it is not a race, it is about supporting each other and getting through it.  Over the course of the day I saw countless times when Mudders were helping other Mudders complete an obstacle whether they were teammates or not and I loved that.  Tough Mudder is also a huge supporter of the Wounded Warrior Project.   I don't know how anyone could argue with that!  Two of these guys were Tough Mudder virgins....the one in the yellow - this was his third!

Here is just a big photp dump sampling of the pics that I captured Saturday....I wish Zach and I would have made it to more of the obstacles....but I will do better next time.  I am already seriously considering volunteering for 2014.


First obstacle
Arctic Enema....no, I did not make that up


Prior to the Cage Crawl

Cage Crawl....scary if you are claustrophobic

The guys giving each other a boost - Berlin Walls....yep there were two

Funky Monkey

The final obstacle - Electroshock Therapy
THEY DID IT!!!!!!!!


I loved this sign....and this day was definitely release form worthy!

And I can't forget this guy....he was a trooper!


Zachary had a soccer game at 8:oo PM that eventually got rained out.....crazy weather blew in.  By the time we got home it was about 9:30 and the last event on our list was my dear friend Holli's Halloween party.  We were exhausted and add to that the the wild weather and I made the decision to stay home.  I felt terrible and know that I missed a great party!

Sunday morning we were up bright and early for Zach's annual birthday pictures.  We went to Dallas in the arts district and managed to squeeze the session in even with the threat of rain looming.  This was our fifth year having them done with Jesse.  We are thrilled with his work and I only wish that I had started taking these side by side photos the very first year we started with him.....Zach was only 9 then. :(


We got to meet their new son, Ollie (I wish I had taken a picture).  They recently adopted him from Uganda.  He is precious and so obviously an incredible blessing to Jesse and Rachel. Congratulations to this new little family!  By the time we got home from Dallas, we were pretty spent and managed to get a little resting in on Sunday afternoon before gearing up for another week!

Even though it is really late for it I am linking up with my girl Holli for:

Leslyn's Lovely Life

Just for Holli and in honor of Halloween tomorrow, I am going to the spooky side.....seriously, who doesn't love a little "Thriller"????  Love you, Holli!!!