Picture challenged

As someone who scrapbooks and loves photography, I'm not so good with the daily photos. I tend to take pictures at events or gatherings, when I have a project or page idea in mind, or randomly as the mood strikes me. I don't typically take my camera everywhere I go. This "Week in the Life" challenge has been a good push for me to take more pictures, practice more photography skills, pay attention to the details and capture the everyday. It's been a bit rough the past few days getting in to the swing of constant photos. I must admit, I haven't taken nearly as many pictures each day as I should. I'm hoping as the week progresses I get more natural at whipping out the camera for random "life" photos and become more creative with the images I'm capturing. In the mean time, here are a few shots from yesterday, my fun and exciting day off. Really, I cleaned and puttered around the house most of the day, so nothing to captivating to capture on film, but I did my best.

Here are a few shots from today:






Now for my "Notes from Today" section.

events:
up at 7:45
Today show, computer time
put away dishes from drying rack
cereal
paid bills online
put away laundry from drying rack
putter in the scrap room, organizing and finishing up sleeve mini album
photograph mini album
SRG billing
talk to Shawn
create new blog header
new look for blog
shower and get ready
charge camera batteries
pack lunch
work on 52 Card
talk to mom briefly
off to work
eat yogurt and berries while driving
session with L.C.
drive and eat apple
session with M.P.
drive and NPR
session with M.P., chat with his Dad about reflux issues
drive
CVS for dental floss and snack
session with A.S. and A.S., home with raisin challah from their mom
drive home
chat with Michelle
unpack lunch bag, go through mail
talk to Shawn
feed koi
make dinner
eat and computer
upload photos
blog

Eat:
cereal
kashi cereal bar
yogurt and berries
apple
wheat thins
veggie sandwich
slice of challah

Thoughts:
I love having late start to work and enjoying my mornings at home
just getting motivated with my 52 cards and time for work
is my car invisible today?
eating the world's most perfect RED apple
missing Shawn
24/7 financial reporting is starting to really stress me out
good tv tonight

Tonight:
watch House and Fringe (new favorite)
talk to Jessie again?
knit
read

Thanks for bearing with me....not the most thrilling blog post I know, but helping to keep me on track with this project.

Glitter Glitter Everywhere

Yesterday Kellie and I had a little crafty afternoon. She wanted to make glitter pumpkins like I made last year and I decided to pick up the Martha Stewart glitter chandelier...totally silly, but a fun addition to my Halloween decor. As you can see, Kellie got a little messy with her glitter, choosing to use her hands to spread it around her pumpkins. She glittered three pumpkins and got more and more glittery with each one:


more glitter (and jazz hands):


Full on glittery fun:


Here's one of Kellie pumpkins and the fun orange walls in the dining space of her place:


And my chandelier, which looks so cute with Kellie's orange walls:



Saturday after work I hung out with Stephanie and brought Amelia her pumpkin hat. The hat is too cute and looks adorable on her.


We accidentally woke her up when we put the hat on her and she didn't want to go back to sleep. She looks a little sleepy in this picture:


I finished another baby hat last week for my cousin's baby shower. I decided to try stripes and a new style. It turned out pretty cute I think. Seems I'm obsessed with knitting again, especially with baby hats. They're just so darn cute!


In other news, I'm attempting to participate in Ali Edwards' Week in the Life challenge. I think I will try to blog everyday this week and include bits and pieces of my day so that I have a running log of the week. This is mostly for my record, but it will give my blog readers a glimpse at my daily routines as well.

Today:
computer time and breakfast
talked to Shawn
cleaned the house
did 5 loads of laundry
shredded mail
shower, dressed
recycle and garbage out
lunch
pulled out and put up Halloween decorations
one make-up session
bank
home again, snack
cleared dining table and new tablecloth
uploaded photos
checked in online and posted some layouts
dinner
blog updating
talked to Jessie

Tonight:
timsheet
Heroes
clean sheets
knitting
read

Eat:
cereal
hummus, pita, veggies
popcorn
veggie fritatta, apple

Thoughts/Observations:
My to do list for today was too long...wishing I got more of it done
hoping it cools off, even just a little bit, soon
wanting to scrap, but other priorities
wishing I had time for some decor/remodel projects right now
enjoying my last week being 30

Life in the fast lane

Where does the time go? Seriously, it seems like August was just a few days ago and I look at the calendar and see it's almost October. Craziness! Seems like the days are just flying by....

Time definitely flew by this weekend and I'm having a hard time grasping the fact that tomorrow is already Wednesday. I had a pretty busy weekend. Friday night was supposed to be date night, but Shawn had a migraine, so we stayed in and had takeout and laid around watching random tv. Saturday I worked all day and than headed to a crop at Debbie's house. I had a great time with the usual scrappy girls and got to meet a few new ones, including the amazing Tara Anderson. There was tons of food and lots of chatting and laughing. I did manage to get a few pages done, including these two:


Still working on using up older kits. I have too many to handle these days.....ok, not really, but my stash is getting a bit ridiculous.

Sunday I helped Kellie move from a one bedroom condo to a two bedroom condo in her complex. It was pretty much me and Kellie and a dolly working away for a couple of hours before my parents arrived to help out. We pretty much spent the whole day carting things from one place to the other. By the time I got home that evening, I was tired, achy and ready for a hot shower. Another take-out and tv night....

Monday I had lunch with Michelle at Pita Jungle, which is always delicious, and than headed to Aloosions for a facial. It was lovely. I left feeling nice and relaxed. Too bad I had to stop for groceries on the way home....I'd had enough take-out though!

Today, before heading to work I played a bit with projects from Wilna's class. We are making some really cute projects and I can't wait to get them finished. Having fun playing with watercolor, fabric, collage, and sewing.

Oh yeah, I was tagged by the fabulous Heather the other day. Thanks!



I'm supposed to tag 7 other people with blogs I love, so consider yourself tagged:

Jessie
Andrea
Choir Prez and Sound Guy
Silvia
Nicole
Stephanie
Dina

here are the rules:
1. if you've been tagged, you can put the logo on your blog.
2. link the person from whom you received the award.
3. nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. put links to those blogs on yours.
5. leave a message on the blogs you've nominated.

Ok, Shawn is waiting on me to watch Fringe...such a good show.

Time Suckers

So I once referred to video games (old school Nintendo specifically) as a "colossal waste of time." I still stand by that decision, although there are a few video games I can get sucked in to playing. For me the darn computer is such a time sucker. I easily get lost in blog land, often linking from site to site and getting sucked into sites recommended by others. I love to look at other people's art, scrapbook pages and crafts, so online galleries and scrappy sites suck me in as well. These days I'm finding lots of knitting sites I'm hooked on too.

Here's a few of my newer time suckers:

• facebook
• goodreads
• domino magazine's deco file
• My Commitment

Some of the old standbyes:

• etsy
• itunes
• you tube

Than, of course there's Studio Calico and SIS and other scrappy sites, blogs galore, my favorite stores, knitting sites, craft sites, cooking sites, green living sites, political links, autism sites, kiddy music sites.....the list is long, my friends and time is not so......

What are your "time suckers?" Because, clearly, I need more...

Terrific Ten

It's been awhile since I've done a Ten on Tuesday, so here goes. Ten things right now.

1. The arrival of fall...even though it's still close to 100 degrees here today, I'm getting excited about fall. I love fall, especially October, which is crazily just around the corner.
2. Working on the cutest little mini album in Wilna's "Coffee and Cupcakes Class"
3. A late start to work today and a cancellation, so it will be an easy work day
4. This adorable little hat, which I finished this weekend, for Miss Amelia's Halloween costume.


5. Checking things off of my to do list
6. Jessie finally making her big news public, so I don't have to watch what I say and can be "officially" excited!
7. Needing black ink so I can print some photos...guess I'll need to go to Target!
8. The arrival of my 8.5 x 11 2 up photos sleeves from scrapbook.com so I can finish my England album
9. New knitting patterns to try
10. This page, which I'm thinking I'll submit for the final round of "So You Think You Can Scrap" unless I make another about me page that I love more in the next couple of days.

Weekend O' Fun

I'm back from a quickie little trip to visit my Oregon girls. The lovely Nicole (see above) picked me up at the Portland airport on Friday night and we headed to Tim and Jessie's house, arriving just minutes before they got home from a wedding. We spent the rest of the evening chatting and catching up with each other. Saturday morning Tim made us pancakes and we enjoyed a lazy morning. We eventually rallied ourselves and headed out for some shopping and lunch. We hit the usual spots...Target, where I found some summer clearance in the clothing section while Jessie and Nicole loaded up on the household necessities...Michael's, where I made a yarn purchase for yet another baby hat...shoe shopping, where Jessie got these lovelies:

I too love these shoes and decided I really wanted the chocolate brown ones...I know, not the RED ones you say, but seeing as how I have like 9 pairs of red shoes already....so my dear Nicole bought them for me as an early birthday present. Nice, huh? She was excited because she got to check something off her to do list and saved on shipping to me.

After our shopping adventures we returned to Jessie house for some knitting (Nicole and I) and napping (Jessie) before Nicole had to head out to a work function (hence the orange sweater and OSU bling in the above picture) and Tim to a gaming party. So Jessie and I settled in for the night to eat our fancy gourmet dinner, watch a movie and knit. I managed to finish the most adorable pumpkin hat you ever did see (I'll post later this week) and start a new baby hat before Nicole returned. More knitting and chatting and snacking .....

Sunday morning we (well, except those with church choir commitments) had another lazy morning before heading to lunch at the Roadhouse, where I received some photography pointers from Tim, who took this cute photo:

Jessie was kind enough to be my test subject during my photography lesson yet again. You like a moustache (pronounced moo-stawsh)?

At my request we headed to Aspinwalls after lunch for milkshakes, where we enjoyed the warm weather and yummy treats.

Seriously, who can resist milkshakes made with fresh fruit? I always have a hard time choosing between peach and strawberry...peach won out this time, but luckily Jessie had a strawberry one for me to taste!

Sunglasses are the key to pictures with me and Nicole....guaranteed one of us will have our eyes closed...we didn't need 8 million shots this time!

After a brief stop back at Tim and Jessie's house, Nicole and I headed up to Portland for some shopping on NW 23rd St and a visit to the brand new Paper Source. It was heavenly, lots of paper goodness, one of my favorite little areas in Portland, beautiful weather, great window shopping and people watching and it was nice to spend a little one on one time with Nicole too. Sadly, I had to head to the airport by 6pm on Sunday and return home. I miss my girls everyday, but am so glad we squeeze in some girl time whenever we get the chance.

Baby Love

On Tuesday I went to visit Stephanie and my "niece" Amelia to bring them the hat I knitted. It's a little bit big on her, but looks cute none the less. We also later rolled the brim up past the ribbon and button and gave her a cute little "popeye" looking hat that doesn't fall over her eyes. I can't wait to see her in her pumpkin hat, which I am hoping to finish this weekend. She's the cutest!





I will be enjoying lots of girlie time this weekend with this girl and this girl. Hope you have a lovely weekend!

Crafty goodness

I've returned to knitting almost nightly the past couple of weeks. Here's my first baby hat project. Made this one for little Amelia and am totally hooked on baby hats. I think I'm going to add "obsessed with knitting baby hats" to the growing lists of reasons why I have baby fever. I've already started another baby hat. I'm working on the "Pumpkin Hat" (as modeled by Ethan here) for Miss Amelia's halloween costume. She's going to be the cutest pumpkin around.

As promised, here's another mini album I made recently. This one is a simple one. An ode to my scrapbooking stash and love of scrappy products. I've almost used up my stash of these Collage Press papers too. Bummer, there some of my favorites!

Mini Album Mania

I've been making lots of mini albums lately. I've made 3 in the past couple of weeks. Today is the deadline for my 2nd round entry in Scrap for a Cure's "So You Think You Can Scrap" contest. The challenge was to lift a project from one of their design team members. I was inspired by Meridette's mini albums. She uses lots of sizes, shapes, textures and embellishements, which I love. Here's my lift of her gorgeous minis. An album about my life and my thoughts "right now." I used the fun Teresa Collins album and papers, plus lots of Collage Press and other bits and pieces of red/white and cream goodness from my stash. I love how it turned out....makes me happy!