100 things

Other bloggers have been doing this list, so I wanted in on the fun. Well... I started the list over a week ago. I've been coming up with about 10 items a day. The general conclusion is that I must not be a very interesting person if this list is so hard to come up with! So for what it's worth, here are 100 random facts about me.

The photo is one of my least popular flickr photo, which I think is undeserving. I actually kind of like this one. It has nothing to do with the list, really. I just thought a bitter cold day is a good time to gaze (blurrily) at a hyacinth and dream of the warmer, brighter days that lie ahead.

Now, the list:

1. I have oatmeal with walnuts and cranberries every weekday morning for breakfast. (From my work's cafeteria.)
2. I have some sort of lip balm stashed in almost every room, purse, and coat pocket.
3. I've carried a purse since kindergarten and never lost one.
4. My sneezes are REALLY loud.
5. I cry over books, tv, and movies.
6. My favorite tv shows are Lost and Grey's Anatomy.
7. My extensive and eclectic music collection ranges from classical (Appalachian Spring by Copland) to hard rock (Disturbed's Down With the Sickness) and everything in between.
8. Most folks eat Ramen noodles or Kraft macaroni and cheese. Me, I'm a Pasta Roni girl. Mmm,mm... garlic and olive oil pasta.
9. I'm opposed to organized dancing. You know, like the chicken dance, the electric slide, and YMCA that they always play at weddings.
10. I quit gymnastics at 5 years old. Quit softball at 9. Quit basketball at 12. Gave up being a cheerleader at 14. Quit softball again at 15. Now I stay in shape with a workout class called HEAT (High Energy Athletic Training). What?!
11. Peanut butter & jelly sandwiches are a secret favorite of mine. I usually put butter on the PB side so it doesn't stick to the roof of my mouth... like my mom always did.
12. I'm always learning to eat new things. Some accomplishments: wine, olives, sushi, and coffee.
13. I don't like horror movies, they cause me nightmares.
14. Growing up I had a pen pal in Hong Kong and one in Connecticut who I met on vacation one year. I've since lost touch with both of them.
15. The number of new email messages in my personal inbox this morning. Only one was personal, the rest were mostly marketing stuff. (I subscribe to a lot of shopping-related junk!)
16. I went to college at Ohio University. I minored in European studies. Fat lot of good that did me.
17. My first car was a blue Buick Skylark.
18. In high school and college I scoured flea markets, yard sales, and antique stores with my mom, aunts, and grandma looking for treasures. People at work are baffled that I can wear a different elaborate and ornate costume jewelry pin every day for a month.
19. I use old Christmas cards to make gift tags. I ran out this this year... it was a near crisis.
20. Summer is my favorite season.
21. I have NO INTEREST in skydiving or bungee jumping.
22. I LOVE whitewater rafting and have sucked my husband into the sport as well.
23. I read food labels.
24. As a kid, I used to roller skate in the basement.
25. I've had the same bottle of perfume for about 7 years. I guess I don't wear it often.
26. The worst recipe I ever made was a shrimp, artichoke, and sun-dried tomatoes pasta.
27. My husband is my soul mate.
28. There is nothing like a roaring fire... especially if there are marshmallows to roast.
29. This spring I will be awaiting the arrival of many new bulbs in my flower beds: hyacinth, tulips, irises, and more.
30. I rarely watch movies a second time... even though I usually forget most of the story after watching only once.
31. My biggest regret is passing up a chance to learn to fly. It was in Scotsdale, AZ. I was supposed to take a professional exam that was offered at a small airport (no idea why, but this was the testing center). But the company had not uploaded my exam when they were supposed to. So the guy running the testing center said, "Well, while you're here, do you want to learn to fly?" And I said no. I said no. I still don't know what the hell was wrong with me.
32. I took an art class a few years ago that focused on color and composition. I took it as a way to improve my photography and scrapbooking. I LOVED that class even though most of what I produced was terrible and I was so intimidated by the artistic people in the class.
33. In school I hated gym class.
34. I love playing tennis. I played tennis in high school but never tried very hard at it. Now I've had a few lessons and John and I play for fun. (I always lose.)
35. I like to iron. It's peaceful and relaxing. I love a 100% cotton vintage embroidered pillow case that's been ironed. And starched if I'm really feeling crazy.
36. I eat at the same time every day. If I don't get my meals on time, I get cranky.
37. I love to travel. Some of my favorites are Seattle, Costa Rica, San Francisco, France, Yosemite, Ireland, Grand Canyon, New York City.
38. I get acupuncture on a regular basis to keep my chi flowing freely.
39. My favorite color is green. But lately I have an affinity for orange.
40. My favorite scent is orange and cloves.
41. Chipotle is one of my favorite places to eat.
42. I almost got braces a few years ago. If I had the extra money for it, it's the one thing I'd like to change about myself.
43. I've never had a cavity.
44. I've never been to a circus.
45. I've only been in love once... still going strong.
46. I have a collection of scarves (vintage and more recent) that numbers about 30 to 40.
47. Economics and political science were my most hated classes in college.
48. As a kid I collected stamps. It was a hobby I discovered from my Grandpa.
49. I was 29 when I got married... just barely not a 30 year old bride.
50. I got my driver's license at 17. Only slightly bitter about losing a year of driving when we lived in the country.
51. As a kid, my favorite vacation was camping at Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina. We always turned down Disney World.
52. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a cheerleader, an artist, a scientist, a lawyer, and a fashion merchandiser. In that order from 5 to 17. Pretty much none of them stuck
53. I hate cleaning out the fridge.
54. I know a little French and that's it for foreign languages.
55. The age at which I realistically think I will be able to retire. And then I'll find something else to do.
56. I like listening to audio books.
57. I drink water without ice. It's better for my chi that way.
58. I practice yoga.
59. I feed the birds in my back yard. The finches are my favorite. I keep them close to a window.
60. I love house plants. I have a philodendron, a Christmas cactus, and an African violet. (I had grown the African violet into a huge mass of leaves and just recently got it to flower - yahoo!)
61. I love the ocean. It's mesmerizing.
62. If I had to choose a new career and get retrained, I'd be a graphics designer. I'd also take more creative writing and journalism classes.
63. I don't dislike birthdays. Sure, I hate seeing another year pass, but overall I usually like myself better than the person I was the year before.
64. Time flies when I'm gardening. Pulling weeds, pruning, watering, transplanting... takes a while before I notice that I'm covered in grime and my back hurts.
65. I color my hair. Usually shades of dark brown, like it used to be. My true color is mostly grey... I am NOT kidding.
66. I'm not a big fan of music concerts. I love a small-venue acoustic show. I loved Chris Isaak at the Ohio Theatre. Not much else appeals to me.
67. I love outdoor festivals. The whole atmosphere appeals to me. If there is art and food involved... even better!
68. Last winter I learned to embroider. I wish I'd make more time for it. It's a beautiful craft.
69. That's how many spam messages I had last Monday morning.
70. I love Anthropologie for clothing and decor inspiration. Hate the prices and the anorexic models in the catalog.
71. I dislike talking on the phone.
72. Cap'n Crunch is my favorite sugary cereal. Anything nutty and honey on the healthy side is good.
73. I prefer silver over gold. But really, anything shiny and pretty is good to me!
74. I love thunderstorms and snowy days.
75. I quit wearing a watch a few years ago. My watch broke and I decided keeping time on my person was unnecessary.
76. I have the same birthday as my Mammaw.
77. My mom listened to 70s rock when I was growing up. I had a lot of 80s music to catch up on when I found out the 70s were over.
78. We got one channel on our 13 inch black and white tv. I also missed out on a lot of television growing up. (Well, I wouldn't say I "missed it" exactly.)
79. I'm really good at Seaquest and Centipede on Atari.
80. I've hiked Mt. Ranier. Ok, so not entirely... but I did a small day-hike around the base of it. Beautiful terrain... I recommend it.
81. I have two magazine subscriptions: Real Simple and Wondertime.
82. The last restaurant I ate at was Outback Steakhouse. They are the only people who prepare broccoli better than I do.
83. I photograph food. One reason to do it... have you ever looked back at recipe books from the 50s, 60s, or 70s?? People's ideas on food change rapidly. We should chronicle what we are eating here in 2007.
84. The last book I read was The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant.
85. The last vacation I took was in October when we went to Dunedin, Florida for a wedding.
89. I have seen two Cirque du Soleil shows - love them! I'm seeing another in May.
90. I dislike riding bikes.
91. I made the roman shades in our living room. They are very nice. Sometimes I look at them and think, "I really don't think I know that chic who made those a year ago."
92. I'm a pack rat. I've decided it's ok though. As long as I can be a neat and organized pack rat like my Grandma, I can continue. (I'm not there yet- eeek!)
93. The last new recipe I tried was a shrimp and spinach risotto. It was delicious!
94. I started going to church regularly almost a year ago.
95. I'm a Mac person.
96. I write in a journal almost every day.
97. My favorite ice cream is chocolate chip.
98. I would like to learn to cross country ski.
99. I took a pottery class once. I wasn't very good at it. We made cookie-cutter ornaments in the shape of stars that I still hang on my Christmas tree every year.
100. I listen to my iPod non-stop. All day long with headphones and over the speakers at home.


Oh my, you read all 100?! Now... take the challenge to write your own list of 100 things. To share or not... it's a fun exercise to try. Have fun. :-)

snow

Just a quick update, as it's past my bedtime!

We had great fun at the wedding of our friends the Snows!! You can see all the photos on flickr. I used this event as an opportunity to try my new flash that I got for Christmas. I'm still working with it. I feel like I barely have a handle on photography in perfect lighting, and adding the flash that I have to control adds another layer of complexity. Luckily for this event the whole setup was fairly idiot-proof, so I could just point and shoot mostly.

We danced the night away last night. Yes, even me! I managed to stay awake and drive us home after 11pm. The wedding was beautiful, dinner rocked (steak & lobster!), and the party was fabulous as we expected it would be.

Today we woke up to snow! It snowed the whole time we were at church and after we got back. I have to say - I LOVE snow. If it's cold, I want the white stuff!! So John had to shovel the driveway today. He also built us a fire to enjoy all day long while we putzed around the house.

Oh yeah, I also got my hair cut... it's pretty short! Ok, I'm out. Have a good week, all.

just an update

Here's a pregnancy update for ya:

Last time I yacked: Still only tossed my cookies once on Christmas day.
Last thing I smelled with my super-smelling abilities: My husband's morning breath. Ewww.
Last bit of food I snarled my nose at for no reason: Picked out a few pieces of chicken from my soup because they "just didn't look right."
Last thing I craved: Popcicle. I'm going to have a strawberry one in a few minutes. Yum. (I highly recommend Edy's real fruit popcicles. They're made with fruit and sugar, not artificial flavoring and unnatural sweetener or high fructose corn syrup - yuck!) I'm sooo over last week's donuts.
Pounds gained so far: 2.5
Last time I felt the baby move: Still waiting. I think I've felt some flutters, but not really a good swift kick, so doesn't count. (Also indistinguishable from gas, so who knows!)

I'm also reading the baby Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes at bedtime when I'm not too tired. And we are dancing like crazy on Wednesdays for exercise. He's either going to be (a) a good dancer, (b) immune to motion sickness, or (c) really sick of Ricky Martin, Fergalicious, and Shakira.

I have a new article posted on Crafty Places... might be worth a read for any of you who take photos!

Last weekend I scrapped a bunch with Theresa. But I haven't had any daylight time to take photos, so maybe I will post this weekend. Have a lovely week!

Seventh Annual Weblog Awards

Hey blog readers... It's time to vote...

Seventh Annual Weblog Awards

word of the year

Ali Edwards' recent scrapbooking newsletter suggests coming up with a single word that describes what you want for yourself in the coming year. My word for 2007 is

CREATE.

Considering that I'm bringing a new life into the world, I figured that is a good word with not too much stress attached to it. This year we are just planning for baby and letting each day be a learning experience that shapes our lives... rather than trying to force our life into any plan we might have in our heads.

I made some simple (and achievable) new years resolutions. Here are the resolutions (oh no, now I'm committed...eeek!):

• Gain no more than 30 lbs before giving birth.
• Lose that 30 lbs by December.
• Read more books.
• Put photos in photo albums (takes pressure off scrapping EVERY photo)

Pretty lame, eh? The fitness goals are actually going pretty well. I've been doing a few new workout classes, in addition to my weekly yoga class. Cardio Circuit and Latin Fitness Fusion. Oh my, the dance class is so fun. I have absolutely no skills in there, but it is a more entertaining way to ward off heart disease than any other!

X's

Ok... got this as a forwarded email. It kind of feels like I am in grade school passing notes with my friends, because you know I usually get these things only from my closest friends. And half the time I think, "Have I ever drank until I threw up?! Well, you would know, you kept handing me the drinks!!" Tee hee.

So anyway, for all the world to know my responses... here they are.

Place an X by all the things you've done, and remove the X from the ones you have not, and forward it to all of your friends (Including me).

( ) Smoked a cigarette
(X ) Drank so much you threw up
( ) Crashed a friend's car
( ) Stolen a car
( ) Hitchhiked
(X) Been in love
(X ) Been dumped.
(X ) Dumped someone
( X ) Been laid off/fired
(X) Quit your job (with notice of course!)
( ) Been in a fist fight
(X) Had feelings for someone who didn't reciprocate
( ) Been arrested
( X) Gone on a blind date
( X) Lied to a friend
( ) Skipped school
( ) Seen someone die
(X ) Been to Canada
( ) Been to Mexico
( ) Been to Hawaii
(X ) Been on a plane
( X ) Been on a train
(X ) Been Lost
( X ) Been on the opposite side of the country
( X ) Gone to Washington, DC
( X ) Swam in the ocean
( ) Felt like dying
( X ) Cried yourself to sleep
( X ) Played cops and robbers
( X ) Recently colored with crayons/markers
( X ) Sang Karaoke
( X ) Paid for a meal with only coins
( X ) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't
( X )Made prank phone calls
( X ) Laughed until beverage came out of your nose
( X ) Laughed till you peed your pants
( X ) Caught a snowflake on your tongue
( X ) Danced in the rain
(X ) Written a letter to Santa Claus
( ) Been kissed under the mistletoe
( X ) Watched the sun rise with someone you love
( X ) Blown bubbles
( ) Made a bonfire on the beach
( ) Crashed a party
( X ) Gone roller-skating at least once
( X ) Gone Ice-skating at least once

1. Any nicknames? Stacia, Pumpkin
2. Mother's Name? Peggy, aka Sparkles
3. What is your favorite drink? lately, milk.
4. Tattoos? No
5. Body piercing? Ears
6. where's #4? Don't have any tattoos
7. Favorite vacation spot? Costa Rica
8. Ever been to Africa? No

9. Ever steal any traffic signs? No

10. Ever been in a car accident? Multiple times.
11. A, B, C, D, DD cup size? workin' on a C.
12. Salad dressing? Olive oil, balsamic vinegar, fresh-cracked pepper

13. Favorite pie? Bourbon Pecan Pie (You can get it from Boulevard Grill at the Arts Festival.)

14. Favorite number? 3 (I guess because it's pretty.)
15. Favorite movie? Amelie

16. Favorite holiday? Christmas

17. Favorite food? Chipotle

18. Favorite day of the week? Saturday

19. Favorite brand of body soap? Oil of Olay
20. Favorite TV show? Lost
21. Favorite smell? Orange w/cloves

22. What do you do to relax? write in my journal, read, scrap
23. Message to friends reading this: HELLLOOO!!!! (I'll stick with Sarah's message!)

24. How do you see yourself in 10 years? Dropping JT and his sister off at Nana's for the weekend so I can get some peace and quiet! Haha.
25. Furthest place you will send this message? Australia? If you are reading this from Australia (or farther), you better leave a comment!
26. Who will respond the fastest? Becka

the pregnant lady goes bowling

Well, let's see... there is a lot to catch up since December 15.

We celebrated Christmas with John's family the weekend before Christmas. It was great fun. We did a few photos by the Christmas tree. See my favorite at left of John and his sister, Jen.

We spent Christmas weekend with my parents. Unfortunately I had a head cold all weekend long, so I wasn't feeling much like taking photos or doing anything besides trying to breathe. Not being able to breathe through your nose also puts a damper on overeating like I had planned to do. So much for eating for two...

New Year's Eve we spent with friends, lots of friends. It was a great time. If you were there and have been awaiting distribution of the group photo, find it here. (Personally, I like that we are all wearing matching shoes in the photo. You may never see that again.) It was a perfect way to ring in the new year.

We are looking more and more forward to the big event of 2007... JT's birth (or his sister). Things are going well. I haven't been sick, just really tired. That's why I haven't been blogging... just too tired after I get all the necessities accomplished. And since I spend most of the day on the computer, I try to give myself a break in the evenings. But I will try to keep you all posted on progress a little better. Here is a summary:

Last time I yacked: Christmas Day. Buckwheat pancakes. Otherwise I really haven't been sick at all.
Last thing I smelled with my super-smelling abilities: Donuts. In the parking lot at work. I have no idea where they are baking donuts near my office... but I will hunt them down, I will.
Last bit of food that I snarled my nose at for no reason: Chicken. Seriously, there is nothing wrong with the chicken.
Last thing I craved: Well now I'm freakin' craving donuts. And if anyone knows where to get a really good CHOCOLATE CREAM STICK, please let me know. And I mean a good one, like the ones my Grandpa used to get on Sunday mornings.
Pounds gained so far: 2.
Last time I felt the baby move: Haven't yet... being still and quiet waiting for it to happen though.

The ultrasound pictures are from yesterday. John is freaked out by the one of the baby's face. I have to say, it's not a very attractive photo of our baby. He (or she) sure was active though. I don't know how, even floating in amniotic fluid, a baby the size of a peach can bounce around like that. It is good to have a peak in there every so often though and see baby being so active and it's little heart beating away though!

Oh, and if you are interested in getting in the pool for when the baby is born, here is the scoop:

$5 per person, per bet. The person closest to the date and time of the baby being born without going over the birth time will win the cash. For example: J.T.'s Sister is born on January 30th at 02:15 and Stacy guesses January 30th 02:14 and John guesses January 30th 02:16...Stacy would be the winner. Does that make sense? All dates and times (please use military time in honor of John) must be submitted by May 1st, 2007 to be considered a fair game. You may submit more than one bet but each bet will cost you $5.00. You may not change your dates or times after they have been submitted, so think long and hard. If for any reason, the Brunners deliver more than one child this pregnancy, then the closest bets to the birth times will have to split the winnings. Due to Ohio gambling regulations, "little brunner#1" is entitled to half of the winnings at the age of 18, if you choose to split it with "little brunner#1".

You can send your entries to me or Jenny. As far as I know, I can answer questions. The due date is July 6. And with that... we are pretty much caught up. I will try to stay awake some more this trimester in order to update the blog more often. (It would probably be easier than a giant post like this one!)

Christmas Survey

This came from Allison... I'll answer here since it is so fitting to the season.

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Hot Chocolate

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
Wrap. But it certainly isn't any wrapping paper you've ever seen before!

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
Right now? Colored. I thought I was a white light girl... but I'm liking the colored lights. Don't tell my husband.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
Mistletoe is not native to Ohio, so no.

5. When do you put your decorations up?
December 2 this year.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish?
Can fudge count as a dish?

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child?
Hmm... there's a lot to love. Our family friend dressing up as Santa and coming by on Christmas eve... getting up before everyone else to check out the goods... opening one present on Christmas eve... etc.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
It sort of evolved. I still hate to think there's not a Santa.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
Yep.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
With collected ornaments and lights. Next year I'm toying with an idea for some garland. And I REALLY need to get around to sewing the tree skirt I have in mind!

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?
Love the snow. Everyone get where you're going and then bring it on!

12. Can you ice skate?
Yes, but I can't stop.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
Hmm, hard to say. I had a favorite doll growing up and I'm pretty sure she was a Christmas gift.

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you?
Being healthy and with family.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
Let's go ahead and use fudge again!

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Putting up the tree.

17. What tops your tree?
A gold star with lights.

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving?
Giving... I wish I hadn't slept through November so I could have made more gifts this year.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
Silent Night

20. Candy Canes?
They're awfully pretty and they taste ok, too.

21. What do you want for Christmas?
Relaxation.

do you hear what I hear?

So what are you listening to this Christmas? I have TONS of Christmas music. I LOVE it. I loaded it all back onto my iPod and have been jamming away since the first of December.

The first one I've listed is my favorite from when I was a kid. My mom had the record. Yes, a RECORD was my only source for this album until several years back when I found I couldn't live without it and got it on cd.

I'm also a big fan of the Nutcracker Suite. It's probably the only classical music I can actually hum along to. I won't be asking my husband to accompany me to the ballet any time soon, though. He went with me the first year we were dating and aside from it not being a great performance, he just didn't like anything about it. Oh well... I'll take Nana and our little munchkin in the future. We'll have a blast. I remember it being magical when I was like 10. And of course, the Ohio Theatre was nothing less than an amazing work of art... I couldn't believe they would even let people like us sit in their seats!

So here is a short list of what's playing on my iPod this Christmas:

• Favorite Christmas album ever: Merry Mancini Christmas by Henry Mancini, his orchestra and chorus.
• Favorite Album from last year: Martin Sexton's Camp Holiday.
• Favorite New Album this year: Sarah McLachlan's Wintersong.

What are you listening to? Anything new I need to know about?? :-)

Last night I got home from work and plugged in the Christmas tree.

tada!

Then I lit every candle and oil lamp in the living room. Next it was off to the kitchen to start dinner before John got home. Hamburger Helper taco something-or-other. (Hey, he bought it, not me.) So I made dinner and we ate. John cleaned up the kitchen and started the dishwasher.

We needed to work on a photo project for Christmas, so we sat down at the table in the dining room where I had the laptop and scanner set up. So we were plugging away scanning photos... when what to my super sniffer did I smell?? (Mind you, in pregnancy, I can smell everything.)

FIRE!!!! "John, something's on fire. Check the candles." He looks in the living room.... nothing. Gives me the look like I'm crazy and paranoid. I keep sniffing. "No, something is definitely on fire. I smell burning." I sniff the dishwasher. It's suspect. The dry cycle is on. I open the door and smoke billows out. Aaaah... the smoke alarm is wired to notify the fire department.... open all the windows and turn up the fan!

Turns out the bamboo spatula had fallen from the top rack and was laying on the heating element. Kids, don't try this at home... it's very dangerous.

But what are the chances that this would happen when we are sitting RIGHT next to the dishwasher? On a normal day we would start the dishwasher and he'd go upstairs to play video games and I'd go downstairs to scrap. The dishwasher seals pretty tight, so we might not have figured it out for a while.

Oh, and the spatula happens to be one of my favorite kitchen items. It's for the wok. It was a set of two - for left and right hands. How would you like to tell the left hand bamboo spatula his brother died in a firey accident in the dishwasher? It wasn't pretty, I tell you.

And about that super sniffer.... I got out of my car at the fitness center at work last week. It was the day that it snowed. I was getting my stuff out of the back seat of my car and thought, "I smell a chai latte from Starbucks." I start heading into the building and there he is across the parking lot with his holiday Starbucks cup. He's lucky chai has caffeine or I might have tackled him for it, it smelled so good.

Have a good weekend. And whatever you do... don't run your dishwasher unattended.

magical day!

Ok, maybe not unicorns and fairies magical... but a really good day anyway. I was excited for today more than Christmas. I know it's useless to worry... but when your symptoms are few, it's nice to have a peak in the womb to know that everything is ok.

This may not be the best picture to see JT (or his sister). But I like that you can see his whole silhouette. We're going to find out if it's a boy or a girl, but that won't be obvious until maybe February. In the meantime, I'm referring to "it" as "he". It makes my husband happy when I do that... so I go with it. We'll adjust later if he is really a she.

He was moving around like crazy this morning! John said he looked like the running man... Flailing his legs and arm buds (aka flippers). There are two arms and two legs. And I swear I could make out some toes! He's looking just perfect so far.

His little heart isn't much bigger than a poppy seed and it was beating away at 158 beats per minute. (For reference, my normal pulse is 60ish and my pregnancy pulse is around 70.) We got a printout of the heart rate and we got to hear it.

We are a happy mommy and daddy today. :-)

planting a seed

On Sunday Pastor Matt talked about being deeply thankful. He also talked a bit about what the pilgrims went through to start a new life in America. Later that day I watched a special on the History channel about their journey. Can you imagine what those people would think of what our country is today? They were a group of 100 or so people with a dream of living a better life. And they made it happen. And now there is a better life for MILLIONS of people. Now that is a seed for which we should be very thankful.

We had some warm weather here over the weekend. So I was out in the yard planting one last round of bulbs - the irises this time. We also put some topsoil and mulch over the other bulbs to help them out. Those are some seeds that should produce a lot of joy come spring. And I will be very thankful that I spent the time planting them and patiently awaited their fruit.

We planted another kind of seed recently, too...

We're having a baby!

We are really excited about it. We have known for years that we wanted to have kids... just had to wait until we really got our life together established. But talk about planting a seed and then having patience. There is plenty to do, but 9 months sure seems like a long time! And thankful... we are soo, sooo thankful for this. We just stared at each other in odd disbelief when we saw that blue line. WHY are we so lucky?!

So here's to planting seeds, having patience, and being thankful in the journey as well as the result. :-)

creative turkey leftovers... you know you're gonna need this

I'm not much of a cook, but last time I had some leftover turkey and was hungry for nachos, I improvised. So here is a recipe that is quick and easy and won't make you dread finishing those turkey leftovers!

Turkey Nachos

• Leftover Turkey, torn into small strips
• Taco seasoning packet
• Nacho chips
• Mexican cheese
• salsa

optional:

• can of pinto or black beans
• black olives
• onions
• tomatoes
• lettuce, shredded
• guacamole

In a skillet, heat the turkey pieces with a little bit of oil. It's been cooked, so you'll just warm it up. Follow the directions on the taco seasoning packet. In about 10 minutes, your turkey is spiced up and ready to go!

In a separate pan, warm a can of pinto or black beans. Very low heat, just want them warm. (Or you could microwave, but you risk blowing those bad boys to smithereens.)

Spread nacho chips on a plate. Cover with cheese. Microwave for 30 seconds, or just long enough to melt the cheese. Remove from microwave and add your turkey, beans, and salsa. If you are really feeling festive, add black olives, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, and guacamole (or if you are a cheater like me, just some avocado will do!)

catching up

The blog posts aren't quite flowing as freely as they were. So here's one to catch us up.

My latest article on Crafty Places is called "Scrap a Feeling." I had the idea for it back in May when I took the photos at Mammaw's house. I completed the 4 pages at the weekend crop in October. I love when I have ideas that come together. Since this layout was pretty well thought out, it was very easy to execute. Next time though, I will have my writing done in advance. I spent about 30 minutes pre-writing my thoughts.

I submitted another article last week, so I'll let you know when it is posted as well. It's the most recent layout I did. It's fairly simple, but I love how it turned out.

Are you ready for Thanksgiving? Are you hosting or travelling? John and I are hosting both of our families here again this year. I'm looking forward to it. I unearthed a couple fall table cloths I bought last year on clearance. I'm pretty psyched for it. Even though the house is a disaster... yesterday I was viciously attacked by a dust bunny in the hallway. I dust-busted his ass pretty quickly, but I heard the menacing threats of his buddies who are still in hiding. Don't worry... I'll get them.

Are you going shopping on Friday after Thanksgiving? I never used to be into it. But now that we are home for Thanksgiving and I live so close to the shopping, what the heck, I'm in. Last year I went to Target at like 5:30am. It is an experience, that's for sure. I have a little experiment that entertains me for hours in there. I go and stand in front of the most random thing. Act like you are pondering and pondering. Fill your arms as though you are trying to decide. Pretty soon... the people will swarm the aisle like, "Oooh, what's she finding?!" Really, try it with the lamest thing... like batteries or envelopes. Or head to an aisle in a remote corner of the store. And when you've attracted a crowd, move on to another random item.

Hehe. I'll let you know how it all goes. With any luck, by the end of the week I will have a turkey dinner and some early morning shopping behind me. And maybe on Friday I will get some work done on the Christmas gifts I have been hoping to MAKE.

Have a lovely week.

yo ho ho and a bottle of . . . Ron?!

Tonight was 50 cent movie night. The girls met us at Grinders for dinner and then we bought our cheap tickets for Pirates of the Caribbean 2. We got there a little late, but were lucky enough to find 5 seats together mid-center of the theater. Mind you, the 5 of us are slightly noisy, so the couple we snuggled up next to decided to put a seat in between us.

So halfway through the movie, some dude taps on AP's shoulder and says "Excuse me." What the heck?! All these single empty seats in the theater and you want THAT one?! As he makes his way across my 3 girlfriends and my husband, I realize it's Trucker Ron.

Amy had heard from him at Grinders saying he was 40 minutes outside the city. So he must have found us.

After the movie... our friend Ron took off. We looked all over the plaza for him and/or his truck but found no sight of him. So if you see our friend Ron out on the highway, tell him we said "see ya next time!"

camping w/McDreamy

Alright... who wants to go camping with McDreamy in Washington state?!!

My latest article is posted on Crafty Places. The article is about finding inspiration. It's mainly geared toward scrapbookers, but a lot of it could apply to any art, craft, or hobby.

Gotta go... still watching Grey's Anatomy. The people drama is nice, but I'm sure jealous of those guys at the stream... it looks so peaceful... aaahhh.

rekindled an old flame

I rekindled an old flame today. Tazo Refresh Tea. It's not really tea, but an herbal beverage made of peppermint, spearmint, and tarragon. It actually has a lot of body and flavor and doesn't taste like a tube of toothpaste, like you might suspect from the ingredients list. And I think the best thing about it is that it's delightful without sugar or any sweetener. Even the last cold sip is lovely.

good things

This weekend was chock-full of good things. I mean, it's not Florida... but it was a pretty good fall weekend in Ohio. Here's the list of good things:

Friday...

• Noticed that my Christmas cactus has a TON of buds on it. I'm pretty excited. Last year it had a couple flowers. Apparently even that is a good thing because sometimes they will look healthy and not produce any flowers. But we should have a good showing from this guy pretty soon.
  
• Pizza bagels and salad. I've never made pizza bagels, but I am apparently very good at them. Whole grain bagels topped with pizza sauce, pepperoni, black olives, baby bella mushrooms, and mozzerella. We may not get pizza delivered for some time!
• The Departed. I treated John to a first-run movie date for his birthday. It's an excellent film. Marky Mark has some BAD potty mouth though. If you do see it in the theater, get there early enough that you aren't so close to the speakers though... it is LOUD when they are shooting or yelling... which is often in this film.

Saturday...

• French toast. Whole wheat bread... can't be all bad, right?
• A long walk with my iPod around my neighborhood.
  
• European Papers... this week's artist date.
• Raking leaves. Ok... not a great aspect of the weekend. But we spent some time out in the sun getting exercise and the end result is that our yard once again looks very nice.
• A little TJ Maxx fix and Starbucks hot chocolate.
  
• Watched Amélie while I did some mending and catching up on reading.
• Some marketers somewhere think I am made of money. (At least they know what I like though...) We now get catalogs from Wisteria and Sundance. Seriously... if you ever want to get me a gift, just pick a page from either of these! ;-)

Sunday...

• Great message at church today.
• Another long walk with my iPod around the neighborhood.
• Made a great dinner - turkey breast, broccoli, and redskin potatoes. Good cool weather eats. And leftovers for the week ahead.
  
• Got a lot of laundry done. Oh crap... it's all over our bed. I'd better go put it away if I'm going to sleep tonight!
  

l8r!!

the Artist's Way

Whew. It ended up being a rough week when I went back to work. Between the weather, time change, and working my butt off during the day, I think I went to bed by 10pm every night this week.

While we were in Florida, I started reading The Artist's Way based on a recommendation on Melody Ross' blog. It seemed like the next right step in my artist process. I liked the "You Think You Know Me" class... still working on my book. It had a similar introspective approach. But this book takes it much deeper. Makes you think hard about all the negative and positive things that make you who you are.

The author, Julia Cameron, insists that you have to do "morning pages" and a weekly "artist date" to unblock your creative self. Morning pages are 3 pages of journaling every morning, first thing in the morning. The artist date is 2 hours every week that you spend doing something by yourself that feeds your artist soul. At first read... it seemed like a hefty commitment. :-)

But since I was reading on vacation, I figured I could start doing the pages while I had plenty of time and see if I ended up liking them. I wasn't so good at getting them done first thing in the morning on vacation, but I did them every day. So when I got home, I resolved to get up early every day and write my 3 pages. For the past week, I did just that. Talk about painful! That's another reason I've been tired and going to bed early. I have to get up 45 minutes before we go to the gym to get the pages done.

But I've found that I actually look forward to writing the morning pages. It's quiet and the sun starts coming up as I'm writing. It's a peaceful and calming way to start the day. I love it. And the words come fairly easily, too. I'm certainly not a great writer by any means, but I can use it as a chance to brain dump whatever's rolling around in my head. Which is exactly the point of writing in the morning, get the crud out of your head so you are unblocked for your day.

I have taken myself on 2 artist dates so far. The first day was in Florida when I went shopping around downtown Dunedin. It was like shopping with purpose. Looking at the things I liked in the sense of "could I make that?" Rather than, "oooh, I'd like to buy that".

Today for my artist date, I visited a local shop that I recently discovered on the internet. It's called European Papers. How perfect for a scrapbook artist! They have a gallery on the first floor and a store/workshop upstairs. They are currently exhibiting a travelling display of artist trading cards. There are 700 cards from all over the world. 700 fit-in-the-palm-of-your-hand pieces of art. Some of them had so much detail and others were a simple drawing and a few words that packed a big impact. Some were about beating cancer, others were comic. It was a fabulous display and the gallery is so quaint.... I highly recommend it. This display runs through December 9, 2006. And I learned today the next exhibit in the gallery will be handbound books.

So that's what's new with me... spending a lot of time unwinding and thinking about art, not really creating so much (although, tonight... it's on like donkey kong... as my husband says). Happy times.

fun times in Florida...

The hubby and I have just returned from a few days in Florida. Dunedin, Florida... near Tampa, Clearwater. We had a fabulous time. I *almost* have a tan! We did some relaxing and hanging out with friends. It was so refreshing. I have no idea why we don't do that more often. It's a short, easy flight and the weather is grand. Mid-70s to low 80s every day. It rained only one evening when we were there.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Dunedin. Call us crazy, but we love Holiday Inn. Continental breakfast every day and a USA Today at our door. We don't read the paper at home, but somehow this became a quick ritual. OH and internet access so we didn't have to go through withdrawal.

We loved Dunedin. It is a quaint little town. Small town feel with a great art scene. Our hotel was on the Pinellas trail, about .5 mile from downtown. We could walk out the backdoor of the hotel and take a short walk for dinner or lunch. We dined at Bon Appetit & Marina Café, Café Alfresco, Cappuccino’s Bakery Café, and Casa Tina. All are wonderful and recommended. They each have a great menu with fresh fare, including seafood. And the atmosphere is wonderful. Bon Appetit is at the marina. We dined after dark overlooking the harbor. Casa Tina feels like you stepped right into Latin America. And Cafe Alfresco has delightful indoor/outdoor seating.

The whole town was decorated for Halloween. Different merchants and organizations had each decorated a lamp post. There wasn't a single one that didn't look like someone had really put some thought and creativity into. I was loving them! I also visited a stationery store called Paper Players on my shopping day. I splurged in this place and bought "us" something that totally isn't "Florida"... but I left the store, thought about it, decided I couldn't live without it and went back and ordered. It's a self-inking stamper customized with a B and our address. How freakin' cool is this? I can't wait to stamp all kinds of stuff. :-) Oh... and I said it's for "us" because you know John is going to want to use it, too!

We spent one day beachin' it. We visited Honeymoon and Caladesi Islands. We parked at Honeymoon Island and took the ferry to Caladesi. On the way in, we saw a lady kayaking. *LIGHT BULB!* I don't know how I convinced him, but John agreed to kayak around the mangroves with me. It was awesome. Sure, it was low tide and we got stuck in the muck a bit... but it was definitely the way to see the island away from all the tourists. I am definitely getting better at kayaking and I find that I love being on the water as much as I expected to. The water on the Gulf of Mexico is perfect for floating around...

So besides maxin' and relaxin' and eatin' and shoppin'... the whole point of the trip was to attend our friends' wedding. John's Navy buddy Dan got married to John's friend Joe's sister. They met at our wedding 17 months ago. They got married at Clearwater Beach at sunset. It was really beautiful. And SO perfect for them. They're both tan and gorgeous and love the outdoors. We had a great time at the wedding and hanging out with them and their families the days leading up to the wedding.


Check out all the photos from the trip here.

10 things I enjoyed as a child

Well this is a totally random post. A few weeks ago I got one of the weekly emails from Ro @ Scrap Girls. She is doing a series called Bachelor's Degree in Me. She has been providing journal prompts for ... let's call it "finding yourself". One of the first prompts caught my attention: "10 things I enjoyed as a child".

I also sent the prompt to my mom. Now, mind you, the woman is NOT into scrapping. I thought she would be tempted even by digital scrapbooking, but no. So when I sent her the prompt, I pretty much expected her to say, "yeah, I'll get right on that." But she sent me back a 3 page Word document with links to definitions and pictures of things and fully detailed descriptions of stuff she liked to do. It is adorable... one of my most favorite "scrapbook pages" to date. It really has me fired up to "trick" the rest of my family into giving me tidbits about themselves.

Do you know what my brother told her after he read it? He said, "Wow, Mom, I guess I don't know you very well at all." Awwww.

But to be fair, I also journaled this prompt. Here are mine... (I got a little carried away and went past 10!)

1. Playing with dolls. Strawberry Shortcake, Barbie, etc. I wasn't huge into Barbie. And usually when I played Barbies, Strawberry Shortcake was her younger sister or kid. The husband/boyfriend was always either the bearded Star Wars guy or my dad's old GI Joes. Yeah, let's just say, Barbie was disappointed. Heck, she probably didn't like her house either... it didn't have walls and the furniture was usually scraps of wood from my dad's workshop.

2. Drawing, coloring, cutting paper. I have always loved, loved paper!

3. Playing with cars in the "dirt pile". We were too redneck for a sandbox. We had a "dirt pile" that was way more fun though. Just a random spot of ground my dad turned over with a shovel. We got our shovels, dump trucks, bulldozers and went to town reshaping that bit of earth into roads and stuff. My brother ended up a civil engineer, go figure.

4. Swinging. We had a kick-ass swing set my dad built for us. It had a couple swings and lots to climb on. It didn't have a slide, but I don't think we missed it. There was a bar for hanging by your knees and doing all sorts of dangerous tricks. One of the swings was the jumpy-horse converted from the spring base to a swing. It was also mildly dangerous... because if you went too high, it would flip in midair and dump you off. You have to be careful with those jumpy horses, they're tempermental!

5. Make-believe games. These were usually tactical in nature. My brother and I had a lot of ground for "military maneuvers". Although, it might have had something to do with having the perfect outfit and accessories for the game. Toy guns were always on hand. We also had my dad's old scout hats that really looked like army hats to us... so we were soldiers.

6. Roller skating. LOVED, LOVED, LOVED skating! In the driveway, in the basement, at the skating rink. At one point I had a purple sweatshirt that had a matching skirt of similar material and purple tights. It totally matched my purple & yellow skates... so of course I had to wear them together!

7. Riding bikes. We had an asphalt driveway (on a hill) and a large parking lot that was ALL OURS on the week nights and weekends. You had to be pretty brave to take on the hill... but we were used to it. We started taming that hill with the CHIPs big wheel. Probably not too many toddlers ride their big wheel until they blow out the tires.

8. Blowing bubbles after dark. Did you know, when the dew sets in, the bubbles will stick to the grass? It's magical.

9. Swimming. I could probably write pages and pages about swimming. We mastered the kiddie pool. It was a fixture at our house every summer. Set up on the asphalt near a shady tree, so it'd stay clean and cool for a few days. We also went to a local lake a few times a week. There was a slide and diving boards at the beach and an adjacent water slide that rocked! This was back before huge water parks were all over the place, too.

10. Reading books & listening to records in the basement... our "library".

11. Building stuff with Legos. We went WAY beyond what the directions instructed.

12. Rolling down the hill. We had a lot of grassy hills where we lived. You need a good bath afterwards... but totally worth it!

13. Tubing. Again... the hills. Great for tubing. Sleds, not so much. If only we had enough snow. We would also build ice forts and sculptures out of the snow drifts.

14. Exploring the woods. Always somewhere to hike... always something growing somewhere to check out. We spent hours and hours in the woods. Loved it.

15. Exploring the pond. We lived by a fish hatchery. The pond adjacent to our house was periodically emptied which definitely enhanced its allure. We hunted crawdads, tadpoles, frogs, snakes, fish... anything that moved really. And when it was drained... we loved the MUD!

So there you have it... Stacy's childhood in a nutshell. :-)

excited & creative

Tonight I tackled excited and creative. They seemed to flow a little more easily than some of the others that remain. I also realized that I kind of skipped sad... mainly because I am still trying to decide what to do for them.

I journaled on the back of the relaxed page. The embossed stamp area has "inhale. exhale. repeat." Seemed like a good way to summarize relaxation to me.

The creative page is actually a little plain. I did turn the journaling sideways on the back to change it up a bit. And I stamped the date of the journaling... I don't think there were any dates in the book yet.

For excited, this photo of me a Christmas is what comes to my mind when I think of excited. You know, I am not very good at hiding my disappointment when I don't like a gift. I should work on that... but now, excitement... you'll know for sure when I do like something.


That is plenty for today. I'm off to bed...

polaroid frames Kate Teague for 2Peas.

trick or treat!

Look who I found amongst the jack-o-lanterns at the zoo on Friday! Noooo... not an escapee from the primate exhibit... It's my husband! He was there volunteering w/his company to hand out candy. Some of his co-workers designed these phenomenal pumpkins. I thought they were all just fabulous. But the mummy absolutely takes the cake for me. Such creative people out there. We haven't even bought a pumpkin for home yet. :-(

photo frame Kate Teague for 2Peas

scared... and relaxed

Baby steps here. And I have no idea what order I am doing this book. I just do whatever seems easy and fun at the time. Tonight I did some journaling on the back of the "scared" page. I also did the photo part of my "relaxed" page. That's me along a creek taking photos... totally chilled out and loving life.

I have also been taking some time every evening to make notes in my workbook. It's getting some meat to it now.

Ciao!

They're real and they're FABULOUS

So I mentioned that my boss brought me flowers... (I work in the twilight zone, things like this happen there.)

Here is what they look like... Dahlias from her garden. Dahlias that aren't hardy in our zone and have to dug up and stored in cedar chips through the winter. Now that is love.

Don't you love the harsh contrast of this beautiful arrangement against the ugly monotony of my office?!

happy...sad...scared

Tonight I had a bit of time to devote to the "You Think You Know Me" project. The beauty of this small book is that a little will go a long way. Very nice to not have to devote an entire evening or more to a layout!

My "Happy" page is here. I may do a few more happy pages though. But for starters, I did the page about my husband and me. We have something pretty special and it makes me all kinds of happy.

I am wrapping my brain around "Sad". I added a few quotes about sorrow that struck a cord with me. That is all for tonight though... maybe I'll tackle sad tomorrow.

It might be skipping ahead, but I loved this picture of me being "eaten" by the alligator, so I did the "Scared" page. And really, I'm not genuinely scared in the photo... but that would be a pretty horrific scenario if it was real. (Luckily, I guess, not many scared-looking pics of me in my collection.)

Since the book is bound with a binder ring, I can pretty much add whatever I want to the book in any shape or size. So, as I was rummaging through some memorabilia tonight, I came across these quotes that I saved from past issues of O, the Oprah magazine. I knew I had saved all these quotes for a reason!

How about that 75? It's from a valet hang-tag I scavenged from my brother's car! And can you see through to the other side of the Pomegranate Starbucks card? It's a joker! haha!! (Ok, maybe that doesn't mean anything, but I think one side is pretty and the joker is hilarious.)

And here is a tidbit from my day... my boss brought me flowers from her garden. I have no idea how she still has Dahlias surviving the chill, but she does and they are SPECTACULAR. I put my camera in my to-go bag for tomorrow. I gave them fresh water at the end of the day today, so I hope they are still in good shape for a photo.

you think you know me...

Alrighty! I started my assignments for the class "You think you know me". Here is a pic of what I have so far.

Front cover, back cover, a few details inside, and a binder ring. Hopefully tomorrow I will have time to work on some of the inside pages. For now... tata!

sleepy... re-engergized

Weekend of scrapping... drank a lot of coffee, stayed up late. Had tons of fun.

Last night: paid for it.

After dinner, I told John to wake me up in 20 mins. He did. I kept sleeping... and sleeping. Got nothing done.

I did get a start on the cover for the book I'm doing for Shimelle's class though. Paint had to dry, so I will finish it tonight when I am back in my crafting game.

And here is a tidbit that re-emphasizes the need to get up and go to HEAT (High Energy Athletic Training) class every Tuesday and Thursday:

Aerobic exercise beats gentler 10,000 steps in health study - CNN.com

whack-a-mole!

You want the bad news first? Remember those bulbs I spent so much time planting this week? The bulbs I was so excited about? The bulbs I ordered last spring for mucho dinero? The bulbs I have awaited all summer? The bulbs for which I risked giant mosquito bites on my a$$?!

Well, the rodent that lives under our front porch decided to check out what I've been up to. When I went from the garage to the front porch to retrieve a package, the scene in the photo at right is what greeted me. That punk rodent, whatever it is (skunk, possum, raccoon), dug up 2 of my hyacinth bulbs! The only good news here is that it looks like he nibbled at them a bit but didn't like them. That was was goal of the chemical I treated all the bulbs with. My friend Jenny has recommended hot pepper wax on the ground where I've planted... but I can't find any!

So when I saw this, I text messaged my husband, "Rodent under the porch must die! I am going to home depot." I got some rodent repellent that has some kind of wax to it... but it's not a spray. We'll see if this works. I also got some smoke bombs. I figured at the very least, the smoke bombs would be entertaining. John read the packaging, "do not use under or around buildings". I said, "I don't care... bomb him." Um, yeah... all those symptoms they say you'll experience if you set that thing off under your house... they aren't kidding. We were watching a movie and I stood up and felt a little woozy. John said his throat was feeling weird and his eyes were burning. LOL. We are SO SMART. (We had the windows open and it has cleared out now. I'm sure we'll be fine.) You know what the genius part of this is?? The darn rodent wasn't even in there!!

So you know what the good news is today? The package on my front porch was this month's Scrapologie kit, Signet and Scribe. It's pretty darn cool. I can't wait to start scrappin' with it. (Just as soon as the stink bomb scent clears from the basement.)

And the movie we watched tonight? Scrapped. Yes, John even watched it! I ordered my own copy of it... it arrived in the mail today. You have to at least check out the promos. They are HILARIOUS. I expected the whole movie to be as much comedy as the promos, but it really wasn't. It's a docu-drama by a guy who knows nothing about scrapbooking. Which is a brilliant way to introduce it. He interviews all kinds of scrappers and starts his own scrapbook. The movie is actually really touching. And it applies to anyone who has a LIFE... not just scrappers!

It has been an eventful evening... I'm pooped. Just need to work on a scrap project for a bit and then I am off to bed. N-night.

thinking about scrapping...

My creativity is not in top shape this week. I did a bit of scrapping over the weekend, but mainly small layouts just for myself. Last week I finished a project for my mom. The article about the project is posted on Crafty Places.

Since my creativity is blah and the weather is so nice... I have directed my attention to planting some spring bulbs. Last spring I was so enamored with the Breck's catalog that I caved and placed a fairly large order. Now mind you, I have a lot of landscaped beds around the house... but they are FULL of plants. I really didn't NEED any more spring bulbs... I just WANTED them.

We are pretty lucky in our landscaping. Most of the plants are self-sufficient perennials. And everything is color coordinated. Mostly we have white and purple... with a little bit of pink mixed in. There is always something in bloom. It's fantastic... exactly what I would have wanted (and I would have had no idea where to start on my own). So now in addition to the daffodils that we already have, I have planted the following

• Really foofy frilly tulips - "Super Bowl" and "Blue Heron"
  
• English Iris mix
  
• Purple and white giant hyacinths - "Blue Jacket" and "Carnegie"
  
• A mix of grape hyacinths and white tulips - the "winter blues collection" (YUM)
  
• Lavender Mountain Lilies
  
• Mountain Bells mix

So that will certainly help to get me through the winter. I absolutely love spring... the earth wakes up from hybernating and comes ALIVE. Don't get me wrong... summer is my absolute favorite season. But spring is the host of the show who introduces the main act. And if we need a few cold days so the bulbs know when to bloom, then I guess I will get through it. (Really, winter is just a good excuse to stay inside and scrapbook to me!)

So I guess that brings this post full circle. I am regenerating my creativity like that winter freeze... I signed up for an online class to explore my creativity. If you want to check it out... it's called You Think You Know Me and it's hosted by Shimelle. $15 for a scrapbooking class is actually a great price, I think. But I'll keep you posted on how the process goes... and if it gives me some good inspiration.

I also wrote down some journal prompts from the Scrap Girls newsletter today. Here is one I have done for myself already: List 10 things you enjoyed as a child. The prompt continues to ask "Why did you give them up?" I haven't thought through that much yet. But maybe I will post my answers in a future post and let you know why I don't play with my Strawberry Shortcake dolls any more!

How about you? What did you enjoy as a kid?

NerdTests.com Fun Tests - Nerd Quiz

NerdTests.com Fun Tests - Nerd Quiz

weekend wrap-up

something is going on here...
Originally uploaded by brungrrl.

Friday: made kick-ass stir fry and a key lime pie

Saturday: returned some library books, browsed a church yard sale and got a cafe mocha at that starbucky place. Nothing at the church sale - NOTHING.

Did some yard work and cleaned my car a bit.

Got all dolled up and went to Becka & Jari's wedding. Had a TON of fun!
Took loads of pictures. A representative sample is here.

Sunday: Went to church, then Bob Evans w/the girls, planted some bulbs for spring. Painted my toenails. Lounged around an uploaded some photos.

How is that for deep thoughts?! What a beautiful weekend... I miss it already. Have a great week everyone!

love & prayers

I got this as a forwarded email... since I'm not much for forwarding... here it is. Good solid advice/inspiration to share...

St. Theresa's Prayer:

May today there be peace within. May you trust God that you a re exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith. May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.. May you be content knowing you are a child of God.... Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us.

... and a photo of the lovely Mr. & Mrs Jari. :-)

dark & twisty

doppler 4
Originally uploaded by brungrrl.

New meaning for dark & twisty... it's storming like crazy here. As I type this, a storm is coming our way. It was mid-80s here today - gorgeous day. I drove with the windows down at lunch.

NOW, I am at home and the windows are open. A storm had just gone through when I got home and it was cooling off. Now, the sounds outside are the crickets chirping and cars going by. The sky is getting darker and darker.

Look at the pictures they are showing on tv on the radar! Aaaahh! The pink is hail. The tv people are freaking out. They sent the weather guy down 71 into the worst of the storm - poor guy! Apparently there is some swirling in the clouds where the pink is. That has set off tornado warnings for the whole area.

Okie dokie... gotta go get ready to close windows and help the husband with dinner.

out.

Canaan Valley West Virginia

Here he comes....
Originally uploaded by pwhyte.

Hiking at Canaan Valley was amazing. The rain, the color, the light... sooo much atmosphere on this hike. Just look at this picture... I couldn't stage this if I wanted to. Raindrops on every branch, a rich red carpet of leaves, filtered light.

We are definitely going back. I want to see this place in snow and in spring... and certainly again in the fall. I could spend hours and hours looking around, just watching the forest LIVE.

scrap your walls!

Aaah, speaking of fall... it is thunderstorming like crazy right now! The back door is open, it feels wonderful! Not really much like fall though... Love thunder and lightning!

In scrapbooking news... I have another article posted on Crafty Places this week. Check out Scrap Your Walls: Love Always. Bill and Theresa and Bailey were this week's victims in my article. Muhaha! I am liking the weekly articles... forcing me to be creative. I want to be able to share more about what I do and how I do... I feel like I have mountains to learn, but I do know a few things that I can share already.

My husband was so sweet today. I asked him for a critique on the article since my mom is on vacation. I figured I'd get the usual: yes. no. that's nice. whatever. But he responded with a very SWEET email saying that the article was awesome and I really do have artist blood in me and it's so great that I'm passionate about scrapbooking. Awww... I love that guy.

And maybe I'm a praise junkie. So what. tee hee :-P

adventures in plumbing

Last Friday I visited my brother and sister-in-law. Friday night we had dinner at South Market Bistro. There is no such thing as a national spinach crisis here. Their food is purchased from local organic farms and prepared fresh. The menu is mouth-watering... and so much thought put into every dish. It was an experience. If I could have fit the place in my pocket (or at least in my ginormous trunk) to bring it home, I would have! (Especially the warm blueberry crisp with vanilla ice cream.)

On Saturday we went to the dump to get rid of the guts of their kitchen. They are in the midst of a complete kitchen remodel. Of course, the dump is like a smorgasbord to me. My brother practically had to hold me back to keep me from rummaging around. I did manage to scavenge a few of his drawers and cabinet doors that I am sure you will soon be seeing here as craft projects.

Then we did a lot of shopping. Lowe's, Lincoln Interiors (another mouth-watering place), JoAnn, thrift store (more rummaging!), and of course Custom Cut-ups. It was about 4 in the afternoon by the time I really got around to being helpful.

My brother had to re-work the plumbing going into his kitchen... so I learned how to sweat pipes! I could sooo be a plumber's assistant. I'm really good at holding things. (Seriously - these were HOT pipes... and sometimes I had to use muscle. Geesh.)

They're fun people... I'm glad we got to spend a completely random Friday and Saturday together.

bringing in fall

bringing in fall
Originally uploaded by brungrrl.

Fall was in the air this past week, wasn't it? The air is cooler and it moves more... the trees are starting to show the colors they've been fantasizing about all summer... things are changing!

I'm not a big fall person. Mainly because I'm not much of a winter person. And since fall ushers in winter, I really have no use for it. I shouldn't complain too much though, because each season really does have redeeming qualities. And as I learned in Phoenix, those long cold winters are THE reason we have such spectacular spring and summer. So I'll suck it up and deal for a few months so long as we have that.

My mums are not in such great shape this year. Not sure who was in charge of shaping and pruning them. But I did find a few to snip and put in this little flower frog vase. Mums are great in vases... I need to get to Trader Joe's for some more when these run out.

Happy autumn!

I'm "published".

A few weeks back, right after the Last Scrapper Standing, but completely unrelated to that contest... I found some of my flickr artwork on a site called Crafty Places. This was the article someone had written about my work.

So I ended up exchanging a few emails with the gal who runs the site and she asked me to be on her design team. It's a pretty new web site, so there is the opportunity to grow as it grows. And the requirements were not too bad... a handful of entries per month. I also have the freedom to craft what I want and write what I want. So that is pretty nice. I'm still working on my ability to craft-on-command. :-)

Last week I submitted my first two articles. The first is an anniversary card I made for a friend. I really did make it in a hurry. But I wasn't in such a hurry that I couldn't photograph it. (There is always time for a photograph - especially when the light is good!) Cards are a fairly new subset of scrappin' for me. I got into them when I went to a rubber stamping convention with my sister-in-law back in April.

Which leads me to my second article... a scrapbook layout about Jen. When she was at our house for an all-day crop, we both answered quiz questions from a magazine we got at the crop. I kept her answers to make a page about her and she took mine. Since I had it fresh in my mind, I went ahead and used this as my article submission. I love this idea of capturing quiz answers in family members' own words. It really adds heritage value to your albums. I can just picture our future children reading about their Aunt Jen!

Fisher-Price unveils T.M.X. Elmo - Yahoo! News

Fisher-Price unveils T.M.X. Elmo - Yahoo! News

Oh my... this has potential to CRACK ME UP. I mean the original was funny, but now knee-slapping and rolling over, pounding his arm. lol.

I can just laugh thinking about it. Go ahead, act like you don't think it's funny. I can give you my friend Jari's number if you want reminded of how funny Elmo is. :-)

photography weekend

a llama tending his wool
Originally uploaded by brungrrl.

It was a total photography weekend. It seems like I haven't had one of those in a while. I have been snapping on the weekends until the battery dies, the card is full, or I get bored... and not really ending up with anything great or special.

But this weekend rocked! I got to do "still life" and people pics at the wool gathering. And more people portaits & candids at my house on Sunday. Portaits and candid people shots are not my best works. I'm much better with nature and inanimate objects, usually. And I'm not sure that I learned anything new about pictures or the camera... but more photos is more photos, right?!

The wool gathering pics were sort of a challenge because of the tinted light in the tents. One tent had a red and white striped roof and the other was yellow stripes. EEeeek! And you know I couldn't just leave them, right? I played with some adjustments in iPhoto... usually that is enough to tweak photos into shape, but I didn't have enough control over the color there. So I brought them into Photoshop Elements and used their automated tools. The Auto Color Correction did the trick. It was actually pretty amazing how it figured out what the right color was. The pictures of just yarn were the hardest because it's so hard to remember what the CORRECT color was. And after you play with it for a while... everything starts looking off and you have no idea from memory what the real colors were. (And I have pretty good color memory, mind you.) Also, probably a good thing I edited the pictures as soon as I got home, or they could have ended up REALLY crazy-looking!

When John saw this photo, he wanted to know why I didn't buy the toy llama... because it's so cute. He was also totally ok with my threats to bring home an angora rabbit. He's an odd one, my husband. :-)

cornhole

the toss
Originally uploaded by brungrrl.

We had the gang over for grilled burgers, hot dogs, punch bowl dessert, and cornhole today. The weather was again gorgeous. Justin played his trumpet for us... so did Jari. Sarah and Jeremy later played beautiful music on blades of grass. I'm sure the neighbors were QUITE confused.

a wool gathering

finely knitted yarns
Originally uploaded by brungrrl.

Today I went with my friend Ellen, her mom, sister, and neice to a wool gathering in Yellow Springs. I resisted the urge to take up knitting... I have plenty of other hobbies, that's for sure!

But I did take plenty of photos. the wool is just gorgeous... alpaca, mohair, silk, wool, cashmere, angora. And in every color and combination of colors imaginable. Mixed in with ribbon and beads. Yum! It's inspiration for scrapbooking and sewing to an extent. I did find some very cool buttons and even a few ceramic pieces to use on a scrapbook page.

It's a friends-filled weekend. I had dinner last night with Jenny and Becka while the rest of the gang was entertaining Jari at his bachelor outing. John didn't get to go because his flight back from DC was all messed up. I picked him up at the airport in DAYTON late last night.

Tonight we celebrated Allison's birthday at dinner w/her, Sarah, Amy, Andrew, and Jeremy. And we have plans for a get-together tomorrow to play some cornhole and cook out. It's a beautiful weekend... so glad for this weather.

remember

September 11. A day for remembering.
Remembering hurts.

The stories and the pictures still make me cry. Big sobbing, get-a-paper-towel, cries. Tonight on the news they walked through the airplane hangar where they have saved much of the debris from the World Trade Center. There is a large "blob" of metal. Not sure how wide, but it was just over the reporter's head in height. It is 4 stories of the building where it got the hottest. It burned as hot as the Earth's core. Paper was instantly carbonized (you can still read the words on it). And surely there were people on those four floors. And this blob of metal is their grave.

Wouldn't it be nice if some of my tears could help alleviate the pain of folks who lost loved ones that day? I wish it could be that way.

It's amazing who I look like!

It's amazing who I look like!
Originally uploaded by brungrrl.

This is HILARIOUS to me! I'm either a Columbian bikini model, funny girl Goldie Hawn, or the oh-so French Audrey Tatou. OR... I could be princess Leia!! Natalie Imbruglia... whutever. Have you heard me sing?

Ok... find out who you look like and report back. :-)

photo contest

city of Detroit as seen from Windsor
Originally uploaded by brungrrl.

It's time to submit 2 photos to my company's photo contest. Every year they produce a 52-week calendar that is distributed to everyone in the company (and to the employees of the company that publishes it... just because they like it so much!)

Well, you all know how important photography is to me... not just for scrapbooking, but as a hobby in itself. So getting in the calendar is an annual goal of mine!

The only words I have to go by are to look at last year's calendar. They say, "Many of the photos have a very obvious center of interest or activity. Look for photos in your collection that are a little different and unique." Location seems important... world places. Some past favorites are a pig on the beach in Costa Rica and of course sunsets, mountains, people, and architecture are popular also.

I emailed the group to my family and friends already to solicit some feedback. I asked everyone to choose 2 photos. Right now, the photo of the Detroit skyline (pictured here) is in the lead with 6 votes. The next closest is the Poison Dart Frog bunny with 3 votes. So if you haven't voted yet... click here see the whole set and let me know what you like.

Entries are due by Friday, September 15. I should know by November if I made it or not. THANKS! :-)

what's next

lastScrapperStanding all
Originally uploaded by brungrrl.

Last Scrapper Standing was fun. It pretty much consumed all of August though! Poor John had to take over on laundry, housekeeping, and making meals. In the end, I didn't win, but I do have a beautiful bunch of scrapbook pages to show for the effort!

I spent the long weekend in WV with the fam. We ate good food, took some photos, sat on the porch, chased goldie at the pond, drove the tractor, and played Rook. It was relaxing and rejuvenating. Just what I needed to re-group and get my mind around everything I need to do this month.

September is the calm before the storm. We have a TON going on in October this year. So I am spending this month catching up on stuff around the house and hopefully getting a few Christmas projects out of the way in advance.

So that's pretty much my life in a nutshell. Now... I wonder how my girls in SCOTLAND are doing?! Did you get there? All is going well?