photos {sherry's birthday}

i'm behind on my photo editing...but this was the last batch from 2007! yay! my sister's birthday is a few days after christmas so we did a little mini celebration once my mom and sister were in town. spencer and i bought the supplies to make a whipped cream cake (literally just a cake pan filled with whipped cream). we did it as a joke because my sister absolutely loves whipped cream. it's crazy how much she eats. anyway...this picture is spencer and my niece presenting it to her. it's pretty blurry but i love the expressions on all three faces. more pictures on my flickr site.

{what i learned over the weekend}

1. dream dinners ROCKS! see photo below. i love having different stuff without the hassle of finding and making complicated recipes!!!

2. after having spencer for a full week, the house seems very empty without him

3. there is life in a coffee shop after the morning crowd goes to work

4. the mexican place in lake wylie is quite tasty

5. we still have a lot to do for the golf tournament

6. there are still plenty of genuinely nice people out there.

7. spencer is one super smart kid

8. pages for the school scrapbook go pretty quickly when you keep them simple

9. dispite edwards relentless attempts (3 calls to my house on saturday alone), obama still swept our state (in the democratic primary)

{365 challenge updated}

Last week's daily photos have been added to flickr. Check them out here.

Friday was report card day. Not only did Spencer get straight A's again, but he got better A's than last time!

{what i learned over the weekend - take one}

i got the idea from another blog (thanks rox!) of doing a monday post called "what i learned over the weekend", so here goes...

what i learned over the weekend:

• it can actually snow twice in one week in south carolina
• no matter how many clothes you put on to let the dogs out, 16 degrees is just plain cold…and unless you own a ski mask, your nose will go numb long before the dogs have finished their “business”
• snow is pretty as it’s falling but it’s just plain annoying when there is nothing to play in!
• you can vote without your voter’s registration card as long as you have your license (thankfully)
• even though i love FoxNews, CNN has the coolest interactive map for watching primary results
• your vote does matter, but it’s quite annoying when your guy doesn’t win!
• downloading digital scrapbooking elements on the internet is seriously addictive
• there is no better way to start a saturday than by sharing morning coffee with friends
• plenty of interesting things, firsthand, about having a child with autism
• when the store is 75% off, there is no such as “just running in to Old Navy to buy Spencer some jeans”.
• it feels really good to get some scrapbook layouts completed

365 challenge photos are updated through today.

layout {team captains}

miracles never cease...
i just finished another 2-page layout (total of 9 for january). this is from when spencer and a friend were "honorary team captains" for our local minor league baseball team. I created the title block with a photo i'd take of the field.

supplies: patterned paper - the paper studio; accents - k&co, 7gypsies & creative imaginations; fonts - cac futura casual (journaling) & team spirit (title)

{365 challenge}

i decided to take *the challenge* this year - one picture, every day, for the entire year. it's been a little tough to get into the habit of taking a picture on those days where not much is going on...but i'm getting better.

also, i have no intention of ever switching to digital scrapbooking. but i'm taking this opportunity to learn a few things to embellish these photos. each has a little something on it, along with some basic journaling. i will probably print these all in 4x6 and put in a regular photo album. i am not going to scrapbook these. i'm already behind enough.

anyway, i've added the first 17 days to flickr. you can check it out here, and visit as often as you'd like by clicking on the link on the left sidebar. i'll upload a few samples here, but certainly not all 17.

layout {the fourth}

just finished up this fourth of july layout. that brings me to 7 pages (and today is the 20th...still not doing too hot with that LOAD challenge!).

Supplies: chipboard - making memories; paint - decoart & plaid; diecuts - my mind's eye; ribbon - made for retail (target dollar spot); patterned paper - unknown; pens - zig writer (ek success) & permapaque (sakura); metal letters - die cuts with a view; rubons - making memories

{calendar pages}

i never got around to posting the last quarter of the year. here are the remaining calendar pages from 2007. the calendar was made by my sister. i simply added photos and filled out the lists. if you click on the photos, you can probably read the lists.

photos {heart day decorations}

after taking down the christmas decorations, i went ahead and started celebrating heart day. here are a few of the things we've got out...

layout {yum}

5th LOAD challenge...so sad. it's the 17th!

supplies: paper & chipboard - k&co; letter stickers - artic frog

photos {new year's eve}

After dinner, we headed to Brigitte & Strait’s house to ring in the new year. We hung out for a while, played a game of Apples to Apples, while the kids played outside (do they just not feel the cold???).

As it started approaching midnight, the men and kids headed outside to start up the fireworks. The ladies watched for a bit but we came inside to actually watch the ball drop. Then, a few more fireworks in the street.

Once we headed back in, we had New Year’s toast – kid style and adult style. The kids spent the rest of night (or should I say morning???) upstairs dancing & singing while the adults enjoyed more champagne and eventually breakfast & coffee. We didn’t leave until about 2:30 and the kids were still going strong! Pretty impressive! Everyone had an awesome time – especially Spencer who I caught (on film) singing and dancing to Taylor Swift! Great blackmail material when he’s older. If interested in seeing all pictures from New Year's Eve, click here.

photos {nye - japanese steakhouse}

Returning to our normal tradition, the family all headed to a Japanese steakhouse for dinner on NYE. Our friends joined us, as well. The kids had fun together and the presentation was cool, as always…and of course the food was good.

photos {christmas with holly's family}

My family opted to do our Christmas exchange on New Year’s Eve at lunchtime. We all gathered at Sherry’s house and had a lasagna lunch. After eating, we did our gift exchange. The kids all racked up with presents ranging from Under Armor & duct tape to games & make-up!



















Next, Mom and her three creative daughters did our inaugural homemade ornament exchange. We all made ornaments for each other – they could be out of anything as long as we made them. It turned out really cool and we are making it a tradition! Sherry’s ornaments all featured feathers (of course). Mom went way overboard and made us all about 5 ornaments!! So, the only rule for next year…only ONE ornament!








And following up on another new tradition…last year Michelle made us all calendars. Each month featured a list. We all brought our calendars (sort of) to share. It was funny how we all handled them so differently. Mom never even considered putting photos on hers, but brought her calendar with her lists all filled out. I had photos and lists completed for the whole thing. Sherry had some photos and some lists. Michelle didn’t even bring the calendar and only had some of her lists. But it was really neat and fun. No one had made calendars for this year so Sherry stepped up to the plate and offered to do so!

{top 25 most played}

i've recently seen some people listing their "top 25 most played" from their ipods, so i thought i'd do the same. keep in mind i've had my nano for about 2 years so some of these favorites might be from a while back. but overall, i think it's a good snapshot of my musical tastes...

there are a few totally random ones that mean either my ipod is possessed by a crack-smoking kindergartener, or these lists aren't quite accurate. i'm not ashamed of my younger tastes now - like jesse mccartney and hilary duff...love that stuff...but seriously, i can't even think the last time i've jammed to some little mermaid tunes!


though my country selections definitely still get their share of air time, lately i've found myself listening to more of what i consider alternative - fall out boy, maroon 5, plain white t's...stuff like that. i love music, and my taste varies and sways. that's just the mood i'm in now.


this ain't a scene, it's an arms race - fall out boy (other favorites include thnks fr th mmrs and i'm like a lawyer).





harder to breathe - maroon 5 (though my current favorite is wake up call)

bob robert's society band & prince of tides- jimmy buffett and piece of work by buffett & toby keith

are you washed in the blood - alan jackson

some hearts, before he cheats, and we're young and beautiful - carrie underwood

adalida - george strait

southern nights - glen campbell

tonight i wanna cry - keith urban

i never promised you a rose garden - martina mcbride

kerosene - miranda lambert

i can't take you anywhere - scotty emerick

mockingbird - toby keith & his daughter

part of your world & under the sea - little mermaid (no clue why this is in here???

accidentally in love - counting crows

you had a bad day - daniel powter

wake up - hilary duff

she's no you, beautiful soul & because you live - jesse mccartney

black horse and the cherry tree - kt tunstall

{ornaments}

this year, me, my mom and two sisters decided to do a homemade ornament exchange. these ornaments are the ones i received from them.
the first ornament is filled with feathers, which is perfect from that sister - her boys are always outdoors hunting, fishing..stuff like that. needless to say, it wasn't difficult for her to get authentic feathers around her house.














the second ornament was made with alcohol ink and glitter. it is so pretty in real life.


















my mom went a little psycho crazy and made us all a TON of ornaments. she did three felt stockings with some stamped images on that weird tinsel looking stuff (can't remember what it's called). she did two folded paper ornaments and then the cute tag snowman was actually on the outside of the gift.

layout {water everywhere}

and here is the last (#4) layout that i've done for the load challenge so far. i really busted out some old supplies for this one!
journaling reads: "maggie & michelle came to the beach house on friday. they spent the day on the beach and in the pool with us"


















supplies: patterned paper - rusty pickle; accents - fresh cuts by ek success; pen - "teal" zig writer; ink pad - ink it up

layout {our vacation}

this is #3 for the load challenge. these are random pictures from the same vacation that didn't fit with any of the other events that i was scrapbooking. that's why there is no journaling. this is also some more of that patterned paper that i liked but had a hard time using.

as you can see, i'm keeping the load pages as simple as possible in the hopes of finishing more (not helping apparently).
















supplies: patterned paper - scraps & scribbles; metal title - die cuts with a view; epoxy word stickers - miss elizabeth's

layout {beach vaca}

Here is the 2nd page for the LOAD challenge. This is a summary layout of our vacation for Spencer's album. To fit a large number of photos, I created a photo collage and printed it out. Strip journaling just lists parts and pieces of our trip. I bought this patterned paper a long time ago because I loved the look of it (and still do) but found it incredibly hard to use. I'm glad I was able to finally do something with it.
















supplies: patterned paper - scraps & scribbles; font - the blue cabin; letter stickers - artic frog

layout {fins to the left}

I found out about it a little late, but decided to participate in the LOAD Challenge (layout a day) at Big Picture Scrapbooking. Basically, you do a page a day for the month of January. Easy enough, right? Not so much. Today is the 12th and I have 4 done. Not going so hot. But, I was sick for several days and have been planning a 40th birthday party...so those are my excuses thus far :)

The four layouts that I have completed are all from our 2005 beach vacation (pathetic, I know...I'm so behind). This one is from our dinner at Margaritaville.
















Supplies: Patterned Paper - Rusty Pickle; Letter Stickers - Memories Complete (large), Carolee's Creations (small); Stamps - Hero Arts; Ink Pad - PSX; Rubons - American Crafts

photos {christmas morning}

spencer woke on christmas morning (#2) at around 6:15 (definitely the one morning i don't mind him getting up early). after stumbling downstairs, letting the dogs out and grabbing a cup of coffee, we got started. santa spoiled all five of us with super stuffed stockings. spencer helped rio and cooper open theirs. and of course, we all got tons of gifts and are so blessed.

just a sampling of our gifts: spencer got board games, video games, lots of baseball related stuff, books and his big gift was the playstation 3. matt got clothes, an autographed football, and a digital photo frame. i got shoes, clothes, a coat, and an iPod dock. even the dogs got plenty of toys and treats! more pictures are here.

photos {our christmas eve}

we celebrate *our* christmas eve with spencer on christmas night. so after returning from the party, we did our normal traditions: we all opened one gift (new pjs), put out some cookies & milk for santa, and something for the reindeer (lettuce this year). we always read a christmas book also, and this year spencer said we should each choose a book to read. and we did...great twist to our tradition and i hope we'll continue it! more pictures here. the current blog header is from this night too...not the best picture but at least it has all three of us in it!

life list {accomplishments}

i don't remember exactly when i started this, but earlier this year, i created my life list (things to do at some point in my life). i thought the new year would be a good time to see where i am with it. there are currently 117 things on my life list and so far i have fully accomplished these seven:

• find a site online to backup my digital photos (i'm using flickr)
• own a pair of red high heels (got these for christmas)
• light candles more often
• enjoy honey
• post more photos to flickr
• host a christmas party
• re-read some favorite childhood books

the ones below i've done partially or are in progress:

• participate in, and finish, the 365 photo a day challenge...decided to attempt this for 2008
• learn to make a few dishes well (in progress...i have a few, but want a few more mastered)
• make some fun crafts out of felt (i did some christmas ornaments but want to do more)
• buy a laptop and get wireless (i got wireless at home so i can use my work laptop, but still don't have a personal laptop)
• make more handmade decorations (did some for christmas but want to do more year-round)
• know more about politics so that i can be a more educated voter - in progress, but need to hurry with the primaries approaching, plan to work on this all year until november
• support DHF as it grows - ongoing
• send more cards and handwritten letters - i sent some halloween cards. i did christmas cards but there weren't personalized letters or anything...

that's it...not much, but progress. you can see the full list here. I guess the key to having a list like this is to use it as motivation but not stress out over not doing enough!