More 52 Cards

I've been meaning to post more of my 52 Cards all week....but I had yet to scan them in and sometimes, that's just more work than I feel like doing. So, today I've been a scanning fool and here are the next 4 cards in project "get caught up." I still have 4 more to go...

This first card was Andrea's prompt "Birthday," in honor of her birthday.

Here's the back, just some things I like to do to celebrate birthdays:


The next prompt came from Silvia and was to take a picture of something you love in your house. This was a no brainer for me...I adore my beautiful green bathroom:


Back of the card:


This prompt was mine and because I was still not feeling well and mostly hanging out at home on the couch or in my bedroom, I chose "what do you do when you feel lazy or sick?"


A few of my go to pastimes:


This last card was Jessie's prompt "summer fun"


Some of my favorite summer things:


Ok, I'm off to do some scrapping in between loads of laundry and other household chores.
Happy Sunday!

Oh how I miss you

So I went back to the doctor this week and I have been diagnosed with GERD. I'm back on medicine and have some diet and lifestyle changes to make. Since getting sick I've stopped eating a lot of things because I've been having such bad heartburn and acid, but I'm officially limiting several things now. So goodbye caffeine, onions, fried and fatty foods...not that I eat too much of this, but um bye french fries and falafel...goodbye spicy foods and tomatoes and alcohol...oh and the big one, goodbye dairy!!! Ok so really the dairy is an experimental thing. I've been noticing diary is not sitting well, so my doctor has suggested I eliminate it for a period of time and than slowly reintroduce dairy products back into my diet to determine how I tolerate it. This hopefully means I will just need to have dairy in moderation, but we shall see. Removing dairy will be hard for me as I eat a lot of it. I love my yogurt and berry breakfast and I'm not sure how I'm going to live without cheese...oh and lets not forget milkshakes.....argh! But like a 12 year old client told me this week "It's ok Miss Erin, it's just cheese!" I'm hoping that once my body settles down I will be able to have some of these things again, I may just have to limit how often I treat myself. In the mean time I'm having to readjust my cooking routines and spend more time figuring out what I'm going to eat and how I'm going to consume enough protein. I guess if this new diet becomes a long term thing I will have to find some new recipes and figure out ways to modify some of my old favorites. Here's hoping these diet changes make a difference and I can start feeling like myself completely again!

52 Card Catch Up

Because of being sick for so long, I have been way behind with my 52 cards. We're talking almost 3 months behind.....I'm slowly catching up. I've decided to break the posting of them up, because I'm not sure how exciting it would be to scroll through 12 cards front and back. So here's the first 4 for your viewing pleasure.

This one was my prompt: "What comforts you?" This prompt was given when I was feeling my worst and really just wanted some comforting. Loving using the wood grain contact paper on the cards...you may see this again...


Here's the back and oh so true...


This card came from our guest prompter, the lovely and talented Heather. You can see her card here. The prompt was "reality check."


Here's the back....something I really need to remember.


This prompt from Andrea was "What's inspiring you creatively?"


I used some of my many magazine tear outs on the back.


The prompt for this last card came from Jessie "What will you do this week?"


Since I made this card weeks after the prompt was actually given, I did more of a generic, what I'd like to do every week, response.


What I love about these cards is that I get to use up all the scraps on my desk and rummage through my stash for bits and pieces I've forgotten about. There are two of these cards in progress on my scrap space right now. I've got several more of these to post later, so stay tuned!

Happy 4th of July

Here's wishing you and yours a very happy 4th of July!

Shawn and I are enjoying a lazy day together. Well, us and Lucy, my sister's dog, whom we're watching this weekend. The rest of my family is off enjoying beautiful beach weather in Coronado. We stayed here in the heat. We have decided to stay in for the night and not to brave the weather to go see fireworks, but we did enjoy this movie this afternoon. Quite entertaining. Not a very traditional 4th, but we're enjoying our day.

Getting back into the swing of things

So it's been a long time since I blogged. It's just not been on my priority list. I'm slowly getting back to my normal routine. Feeling much better, but still not quite myself. Headed back to the doctor next week to discuss the possibility of GI issues and food intolerances. I am thinking a new diet is in my future, but we'll see what I find out. I'm also working on addressing my too full schedule--cutting back work hours, decreasing commitments and making time to return to yoga. It's been too long since I was consistently doing yoga or pilates and it's time to get back into it. Time to take better care of me.

So what have I been up to the past couple of months besides being sick? Well, a whole lot of nothing really. I've spent a lot of time in bed or on the couch. I've seen way to much daytime TV, got hooked on a few new (or new to me) shows, including reruns of Gilmore Girls and new episodes of Army Wives. I've watched a lot of movies, both old and new. I've read a huge stack of magazines and at least 4 books. I've spent a lot of time with my laptop surfing on the internet. I've had several good cries...not feeling well for so long is a bit rough emotionally. I've scrapbooked a little, but not until recently. I finished a scarf I was knitting and worked a bit on a blanket.

I also had a visit from this girl:

She came to cheer me up and we had a lovely lazy time together chatting, scrapbooking, watching movies, sunning by the pool and getting pedicures. I'm so glad she was able to come spend a few days with me and bring me some needed cheer. Nothing quite like some girlfriend time to make you feel a little better.

Because I've got nothing better to post....

So Miss Jessie informed me I needed to return to blogland and in an effort to encourage a new post out of me tagged me with this silly list of 5's. Since I don't have much else to post these days, I decided to oblige.

5 things on my to do list:
1) laundry
2) get caught up with 52 cards
3) new less stressful work schedule
4) slowly return to normal life and deal with the many things that have been neglected since I've been sick
5) studio calico reveal night tonight

5 jobs I've had:
1) Music Therapist
2) Coffee girl at PJ's Coffee in New Orleans--well actually River Ridge, LA near my lovely intern apartment
3) Temp worker...two summers in a row I ended up with great positions at Microtest, where I moved from the mail room to having my own cubicle, access to employee files and was offered a position in HR and at Charles Schwab the next summer where I graduated from copying and ended up answering customer email in the international department
4) Bistro cook at Willamette
5) Willamette Band office staff

5 Places I have lived:
1) Phoenix, AZ
2) New Orleans, LA
3) Salem, OR
4) Merced, CA
5) Tucson, AZ

5 Favorite snacks:
1) goldfish crackers
2) fruit, especially apples, peaches, and berries
3) peanut butter crackers
4) homemade cookies or some from a good bakery like LGO's apple oatmeal or better cookies
5) granola bars

5 things you may not know about me are:
1) I love tomatoes, but I can't stand ketchup...blah!
2) I love photography, but I'm not very good at it
3) I wish I spoke another language
4) I'm not a fan of horror movies
5) I sing all day for work, but I wish I was a better singer

5 things I would do if I was a billionaire:
1) Pay off all debts
2) start a school for kids with autism and hire all the best professionals to staff it
3) Buy a vacation house at the beach or near a lake
4) travel everywhere
5) indulge friends and family

5 things I love:
1) spending time with family and friends
2) the color red
3) trips to the beach
4) scrapbook stuff
5) good food and wine

5 people I tag:
I'm not going to name names here, but if you want to play along feel free and let me know in the comments.

Will the Real Erin Please Stand Up

I've been getting a few emails, so I know some of you are wondering about me. Without going into too much detail, I have been dealing with some health issues since the beginning of May. What started out as a nasty stomach virus, has developed into more symptoms and we are working towards finding out what's going on with my body. This week's adventures included two trips to a cardiologist's office for various tests. I do not feel like myself right now and have had little energy. I am not functioning like I normally would, have lost a lot of weight and have not been working my normal schedule or participating in my normal routine. So, if you haven't seen me around on message boards or commenting on your blogs or gallery posts, this is why. I am responding to email, it just might be a day or two. I'm here and I'm checking in, just not posting or chatting much. Hopefully we'll get this figured out soon and I will return to my normal self in the near future.