Nay-sayers

New Website!

2012-02-10T18:27:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone! I have a new website....Go check it out! This blog is no longer going to be used.

www.haynaydesigns.com

{Week 4} Project Life: 2012

2012-02-07T11:24:00.000-08:00

Hello World! I hope all of you are doing well.
I've had the best weekend/beginning of the week. My in-laws came in and left this morning. Heath and his dad went hunting. Molly and I scrapped and played all weekend...but you'll have to see that later this week in my Week 5 PL! I'm almost done with it (only Saturday left!)

I love Project Life.

I just wanted to say that! I have enjoyed looking back at the previous week, evaluating what we use our time doing, reliving our fun memories/moments, and seeing my life through a different set of eyes. I'm so thankful for my life. I just feel so dang lucky!!

I'm still struggling through a couple of things...how simple do I want this project? How do I add my own little touches to it. I feel like Week 4 is very "white"...and I am NOT a "white" person...neutral maybe, but not white! I LOVE color. L.O.V.E. So, I'm trying to figure out ways to add some more color to my weeks. I think it's a process that I'll enjoy! How are all you PL ladies feeling about this? Do you strictly use core kit stuff, or are you adding your own touches, going out on a limb to do a few things different?

So, let's take a look at my completed Week 4...which is the goal right!!!

{the spread}
Is it too white?

{Verso}

Working on more a scrappy look for my date cards

I did something a bit different this week...{one} I had the back of the 4x6 horizontal protector. {two} I did a picture, then journaled under it to go more deeply using one of the Everyday Life prompts. {Ali's prompts.}

Madysen reads every night. I love this picture of her reading on the floor of the office. I also found this fun Top Ten card. I used it to "run down" our day! Under that...I kept some things from Wednesday...Heath and my day together. He built 5 book shelves for our new office.

Here is the list I made for everything that needed to be done for our office this week. Plus, our fortunes from our Chinese New Year {a day late} lunch!

{Recto}

Madysen started reading her FIRST chapter book on Thursday!!! "Mercy Watson to the Rescue"

I got my package of Instax film today...you'll be seeing more and more of these fun fantastic Polaroids. I included the package list and the first picture...which I took of my PL corner! :)

Saturday, I hosted a Speed Scrap at MouseScrappers.com I included my handwritten instructions...plus made my son take a picture of my while chatting and hosting! FUN!

And, here is our paint chip for the office paint....and a picture of the new walls and desk!

My journaling and weekly review.

Oh! And on Sunday, as I felt so horrible and laid around, I did decide to "design" our new office...and the kids tv room. Here is the "blueprint" that I included with an insert! The back has the tv room design!

{Week 3} Project Life: 2012

2012-01-28T11:51:00.000-08:00

I've finally gotten around to blogging about Week 3!

{Verso} I decided to scrap a little using the Week 3 "title" card! I want to figure out how to feel more scrappy on my pages. This was my first step. I think it will be cool to watch how this project evolves through the year...as I figure out how to bring my scrapping style to the project.

My Week in Review card and Sunday's journal. I kept a coupon that M won at Pappa Rollos and attached it to the journal card.

This picture is from Sunday. Heath wanted the entire family at Memaw and Pawpaw's for lunch. I had to leave early b/c I had my last lesson from my writing project to complete, but my mother in law sent this to me for my book. Monday, I hung with my sister, we ate Newk's for lunch. YUM!

Here is my nephew playing. He had 5ths disease when we were home. I held him a lot..and ended up SICK later in the week.

Heath with his grandparents before we left for home on Tuesday.

{Recto} page...I decided to try a different page protector. It was good but a bit challenging to figure out how to journal and do pictures in the 4x6 slots.

During the second leg of our trip home, Heath was stopped. Here is his citation from the Texas DPS. Awesome!

Here is Wednesday night's happenings. M pulled her tooth...the first one she pulled on her own. She then placed it in the little box her Nini brought her from England. It's a little box commemorating Prince William and Princess Kate's wedding. I thought it was so cute! She also wrote the tooth fairy a note, which I kept...I attached it to the back of this. I placed the "Pull Here" tab to show it's attached to the back.

Here is the back...the note from M to the tooth fairy!

Thursday, Hunter went out to hit a bucket of baseballs. I got this picture without him knowing from the kitchen window. I love How this journal/picture card ended up.

As I mentioned earlier, I was SICK last week. I had no voice at all, and did everything I could to NOT talk. Friday, I sat around all day, drinking tea. I was doing good to get a picture Friday. I had no journaling b/c I had no words at all on Friday! I figured it was fitting.

I was still feeling bad on Saturday, but we have season tickets to the Broadway, so I drugged myself with Advil and joined our friends, Hank and Kelly for the show. I did forget to take a picture and totally journaled about that!

That is my Week 3! I didn't have an insert this week. I was feeling so bad, there was no extra picture taking. That was consumed with naps!

Project Life: Set Up/Organization

2012-01-28T10:52:00.000-08:00

Hello world!

Heath and I have been working all week on our new office. We share an office, and about 2 months ago I decided we didn't have enough room and something had to change. On one side of our house was our office and the kids' tv/play room. Last month, I decided that we needed to switch the rooms. The kids' room was a bit bigger than ours and we needed more room than they did.

Heath's schedule worked out this week that he was off Mon-Fri, and we took this time to tackle the "switch." But, of course, I added something to the mix. We were going to do it right...paint, build a craft table, etc. We are almost finished at this point, still working on the desk/office stuff right now. Next week, I'll tackle getting the kids' new tv room set up. I'll also share both of those at a later date.

All of that to say....one of the first things I decided I wanted in our office was a Project Life space...a space specifically set aside for PL all the time! And, I got it! YAY!

We took the doors off our closet, no need for them. I needed the space! That was a lot of extra space...for Project Life! :) So, I put this fold-out table (I bought it from Wal-Mart years ago) in the closet space.

I had some space to the left and decided on these pull out drawers to hold some page protectors and other every day supplies. I also have a plastic storage bin under with all my PL page protectors (extras) and 12x12 paper, etc. Oh, and my sewing machine. (I'd like to find a permanent space for it, but haven't yet.

Some closers views.

In the little green flip top box, I keep all of my pens and markers.

Here are my "extras." I bought this fun chevron printed storage container at Target. (My accent color in the office is this awesome lime/apple green.)

Here is my Making Memories tool holder. I got it a few years ago at Target on clearance. It sits on the storage drawers to the left.

And here....is my find of the week!! I got it at Target, of course. (I'm thinking I might need a Target intervention!) Okay, back to my "find!" It's a canvas organizer. And fits the Project Life Core Kit cards perfectly~the middle row is 4" wide .

In the outside spaces, I put stamps, office supply store finds like labels and tags, my date and letter stamps, tape, post it notes, etc!

Here is my work area up close again!

I'm so excited about my new space! I love having everything in one place, but not out in the middle of the house!

Project LIfe...update

2012-01-26T09:30:00.000-08:00

I'm totally caught up on Project Life. I have even taken pictures of my Week 3 spread, but Heath is off this week and we are swapping our office with the kids' tv room. It's almost finished...or at least the bones. Who knows how long it'll take to get my scrap crap organized! I took off the closet doors and am putting a table in there that is solely devoted to Project Life!!! I'm so excited! So later tonight or tomorrow...or this weekend. I'll post my week 3 pages!

{Week 2} Project Life: 2012

2012-01-19T19:10:00.000-08:00

I finished up my second week of Project Life today!

I had an internal debate on whether to include hard family moments. But, that is part of our life, so I have included them. Heath's Memaw got sick last week. Heath is super close to Memaw and was torn up over the possibility of losing her. I included it through words on Monday and pictures of them when we arrived in Waco late Thursday night.

2 page spread:

Verso:

A few things about this page: Heath took the kids skiing on Sunday (I got my first week finished that day!) and my Tuesday list was my "to-do" list for the day. I just cut it down to fit the page...leaving the ripped part at the bottom just like I had it that day, running around!

I like the week in review below the date card. I asked Heath, Hunter, and Madysen what their favorite thing about Sunday was on the journal card:

I also liked the extra journal space for Monday with the smaller picture.

I used the Whole Foods' Grocery bag as the background for Tuesday.

Recto (right page):

A few things I like about this side...the sewn down alpha (which I got in the $1 at Target!) (and the one I forgot to rotate!) That picture is fun, taken from the perspective of above my kids. We were measuring height using string...which I attached to the insert!

This is the picture I got when we got to Waco last week....Heath with his Memaw and PawPaw. Plus, the basketball tickets...that Hunter saved for me (I was late to the game) and gave to me to put in the scrapbook! Love him!

Here is a picture my brother-in-law took with my iPhone while we were playing Phase 10 on Friday. Love it! the 6 is for the 6 players/adults playing the game!

The insert is (an 8x11.5 page protector bought at Office Depot) are a picture Mady drew for me and a game board from Family Math Games night (and picture of the kids playing!)

Also, Memaw is much better. She's an amazingly strong woman!

{Week 1} Project Life: 2012

2012-01-18T21:11:00.000-08:00

I'm tackling Project Life (also known as P365) this year. We are two weeks into 2012 and so far it's successful for me! LOL One thing that is working is the my son (11) is totally into it, saving things for me and asking to help me out!

My One Little Word for 2012 is moment, and I feel as this is going to let me embrace MOMENTs of my life in a different way than I would have otherwise!

I've started following many many scrappers who blog their project life stuff, it helps keep me motivated! :) (I should say I am following them on Twitter too!)

I am going to have to decide if I'm going to work each week on Sunday or Monday. So far, the first week, I did Sunday; second week, I did Monday. We'll see what happens...maybe whatever works for that week! I also want to keep up here, but you know how good I am at that! LOL

So, maybe on Tuesdays I will post my PL from the previous week. Although, today is Wednesday, and I'm late! I was trying to finish my title page before starting posting, but that's not done! One day...

Okay, here is what I've done so far!
Here is the entire spread

The writer in me is now going to show you the "verso" page...also known as the left page. (My brain is still on writing mode b/c of the freelance project I JUST finished! I did take a picture of me working...bottom left!)

Now, to break down the page:

Date Title Card: I realized as I was starting this week, I wanted to date each week. My title page, I settled on a "banner" 2012, where I made the flags in photoshop and printed them on presentation paper. I decided to continue that theme each week, to label the week. So, I bought some of the digital products that Becky has at Jessica Sprague and went full swing into hybrid! Of course I made it more difficult! LOL Take a look at how it turned out...i really like it! I used photoshop to make the flags and then date each on. I made the entire year at once and then printed/cut/sewed the first quarter. (I also printed the months on the title 4x6 cards using photoshop.)

I also read somewhere (please forgive me b/c I've forgotten where) of the idea to add a "week in review" summary to your page if wanted. I LOVED this idea and did it in the first small place. The next one is our hotel key from Jan 1. I just journaled on it with a sharpie!

"Recto" or the right page...which covers Wed-Sat.

Here is my Starbucks cup wrapper from when M and I went on the way to gymnastics. Then the picture is from our trip to the scrap store after to buy my papers for One Little Word. I also am using my "Instamax" that I got for Christmas. They are just so fun!!!

Here is the second side of the "recto" page...I love the top. Heath took me to Chipolte and I stole the burrito wrapper for my "background!" How fun is that! I also included a receipt for our movie night and the score sheet from game night that night!

Multiple Images: On Friday, I didn't get a "picture" but decided to make one myself. I googled movie posters for the 3 movies that Heath and I watched that day and made them into one "picture" for my book and think it is so fun! (please note, we don't do this often, but he was off that day and I was working while watching! LOL) H saw it, LOVED it, and asked if one day this month, if I would make one for tv shows he watched. I really love this idea and have every intention of doing it! If you want to learn how to put multiple images onto one picture, Ali Edwards has a good tutorial. I already know, but am proficient at photoshop, but YOU too can do it!

Insert: The kids and I had fun making cake pops Saturday afternoon. I love my husband, who grabbed the camera to take pictures of us....he's so sweet! I LOVE these! I used the 4-6x6 pocket page. But, I cut it in half. I saved the other half for later use! (no i didn't just throw it away!)

Here are a few things I still am needing to decide:
1. Will i ever make it look more like a traditional scrap page? Or will I continue with a "smash album" look. I love the smash look. My thoughts are, I'll continue to scrap, paper and digital, and maybe I should just let those be my "scrap pages" and this be my smash journal. I guess we'll see! Who knows!
2. How else can I incorporate digital and hybrid. I'm sure I'll keep hybrid, digital is just in me!
3. I seriously need to figure out the dang title page.
4. Do include struggles of my life too? That is life right? But, how deep?
5. I'm sure there are tons of things I also need to decide on...I'll figure them out one at a time.

2011 is over?

2011-12-31T21:30:00.000-08:00

How does this happen!?!? It goes so quickly. I'm going through facebook and twitter. Everyone giving New Years greetings, etc....makes me want to reflect on 2011. So, here I am...reflecting! ;)

2011 Top Eleven list:
11. Seeing my sweet friend Syl at another friend's wedding! I hadn't seen her in a couple of years. She went to med school with Heath and is truly an amazing friend!
10. Italy: I was so fortunate to go to Italy this year with my mother in law and sister in law. I got to meet some AMAZING people who I consider my friends! There is something about a group of scrappers...when you have something in common like memory keeping, you have an instant special connection! Thank you Jim West and Ali Edwards for making this trip possible!
9. Spending several days with a dear friend doing my best to take care of her and give her moral support during a difficult time....just us. (and her husband) I truly treasured this special time.
8. "Family Ranger Nights" as Madysen named them. We watched the Texas Rangers a lot this year...mostly in TV since we live out of state but we able to go to two games at the Ballpark! We had a fun time watching them make it to the World Series! Go Rangers!
7. Disney Cruise! How fun it was...it was one of our all time favorite family vacations!
6. Kanakuk: I was elated to pick Hunter up from Kamp this year! He got the "Starburst" award for being the encourager of his cabin.
5. Hosting my family at Thanksgiving. Living out of state away from our families means we go home more than they come to my house. It was fabulous having my sister, brother in law, mom and dad at my house for Thanksgiving. It seems that most of the time we have to travel if we want to see our families during the holidays so it was a special time to host people at my house and not have to travel to see my family at the holidays.
4. Being in Waco when my sweet nephew Avery was born! Heath made it possible for me to come home when Robyn had him. We were all here together. Such an amazing time when a new baby is welcomed into the family
3. Baylor...I've grown up loving Baylor. My dad graduated from there in 1969 (I did in 1998). I was raised going to homecoming and maybe even another game during a football season. Then, we moved to Waco when I was 10. My dad and I went to nearly every game...football and basketball, and later baseball. I LOVE Baylor. Love. Anyway, it has been a magical year for Baylor athletics. We started the year off hosting a Baylor alumni watch party for the BU/TCU game in Albuquerque. We celebrated BIG was when Robert Griffin III won the Heisman trophy and cheered them on to a 10 win season which concluded at the Alamo Bowl this weekend. Now our men's and women's basketball are both in the top 10...about to both be in the top 5! So fun and amazing to be a Bear! Sic 'em!
2.One Little Word: I adopted my OWL this year as "Create." I've been challenged to take a couple of creative risks and look at things a little differently. I've loved this experience, and can't wait to get started on my OLW for 2012! What I've done with Create: started a Photography business, started back with paper scrapping, continuing digital scrap design, done my best with creating some new experiences and memories with my family, learning to create a website right now! LOL
1. 15 years...yes, this was Heath and my 15 year anniversary! I can't believe it, but I have to say, this was the highlight of my year...it helps that it was just a few days ago! LOL I LOVE YOU HEATH!

Happy New Year! (and don't forget to eat your Black Eyed Peas!)

December Daily: Catch up till Dec 16...

2011-12-20T10:59:00.000-08:00

I'm still going, just having issues getting them here!

Dec 12: Started wrapping presents!

Dec 13: Made some Texas Trash!

Dec14: Snowing outside...beautiful behind the twinkling lights of the Christmas tree!

Dec15: Madysen wanted a new Christmas shirt for her party at school. We found one at Target.

Dec16: Hunter took cookies to his school party. Madysen performed her Reader's Theatre at her party! (In her new shirt!)

December Daily: Catch up till Dec 11...

2011-12-12T07:26:00.000-08:00

I'm behind on blogging. I was behind on putting my pages together, but at least I had the photos...or at least all but one day! Here are the catch up photos.

Dec 7:

Dec 8:

Dec 9:

Dec 10:

Dec 11:

December Daily: Dec 5 and 6

2011-12-07T11:18:00.000-08:00

I'm keeping up so far...and it's been a week. That's very exciting to me! I just hope I can keep it up!

Dec 5: SNOW DAY for the kids-no school! We decided on popcorn and movies all day! We had tortilla soup for lunch. It was a great day to relax in front of the fire!

Dec 6: Today I went with Hunter and his 5th grade class to the Little Theatre to see "A Christmas Story." It was a great play and got both of us excited to watch the movie on Christmas Day like always!

December Daily: Dec 3 and 4

2011-12-04T17:09:00.000-08:00

I got both of my pages done already today! I'm on my way to a party and don't have time to sum up the journaling, but at least they are finished in my album!

December Daily: Dec 2

2011-12-03T10:55:00.000-08:00

Here is yesterday's page!
Journaling:
Today was a day full of work and trying to keep warm! We also spent the day waiting for it to snow! While at dinner with the Ashcrafts, it FINALLY began to snow!

December Daily: Dec 1

2011-12-02T08:53:00.000-08:00

So, here is my page for Day1!!! I'm going to do my best to keep up with posting these here!
Inside cover with our tree and stockings...which is the first sign of Christmas at our house every year.

Dec 1:
{journaling} The Elf on the Shelf made his appearance today. He is new to us, so the kids got to name him! "Scout" even surprised M by changing positions while she was at school! She can wait to look for him tomorrow!

(I've decided to take pictures of each day's spread with my "hipstamatic" app on my phone. Then I THINK I might make a digi page of all the pictures!)

December Daily!

2011-11-30T21:04:00.000-08:00

I have given in...I'm doing December Daily! Ali Edwards does this every year. I tried last year and made it about 10 days in...but with no pre-made album. It didn't work for me. I've been debating this for a month and REALLY wanting to for the past week. I've talked myself out of it every day b/c I'm too busy...until today. Ali totally gave me some awesome encouragement, and I was avoiding work. So, I took about 2 hours to make my album!

I used 7gypsies 6x6 book board and cosmo crickets' christmas paper...I had a 6x6 pad of paper! I also used some page protectors cut up for the photos. Here is what I have so far!

Cover

Inside Cover

Day 1

Bathroom Remodel!

2011-11-30T12:50:00.000-08:00

I'm slow on blogging in general, but the bathroom remodel is finished!!! YAY!!!

Here are a couple of awful photos before the remodel! I have some others from when we moved in, but I think they were lost when my EHD crashed last year.

And the before of the walls in my bedroom!

How much do you just love that black and pink swirled granite tiles! I didn't realize how DARK this made the bathroom...oh and how lovely is the carpet in the bathroom!

So, we kept the exact same layout as before to save money and because the layout was good and worked for us. (We did have a budget b/c of the insurance pay out.)

Here is what we did do.....hope you like!

The new vanity area...we replaced the vanity, sinks, etc. Everything but the mirror is new!

And the new cabinet in the wc...

New tub area...we replaced the tub, all the faucets and tile.

And the shower...we replaced tile and put in a niche for our shampoo, etc. Also replaced the faucents...Heath loves his new sprayers. I went a bit more simple!

Look how cool our tile is! So much better than that carpet!

And finally, my favorite thing we did...the DOOR!!! Remember when I talked about it here. Well, I STILL love it, probably always will. I will say, Emma (our black lab) has learned how to open the door with her nose so she can drink out of the toilet...yes, she totally does that! Doesn't your dog?

See that outlet that isn't finished on the wall? We had a niche there, but had it filled in and am currently looking for a cool sconce to go in the space over my picture. You can't tell here, but we had our bedroom painted too. This boring color is one shade darker than the bath...it's not nearly as pink as the original color. (Plus our back wall was this sponge painted burgundy color...not my style at all!)

Well, that's it! I'm so excited that it's finally finished and I LOVE it!

European Escapades: San Gimignano and the winery!

2011-11-14T19:38:00.000-08:00

Seriously, San Gimignano is my favorite Tuscan city....it was when I went with Heath and it still is. It's beautiful! The views...OMG!!! Here is what it looked like when we got there...a bit foggy! Still so cool tho!

Wait a few pictures to see how it looked at the end of our visit!

Here is Holly, Molly, and Ali as we got off the bus.

And the COOL wall that surrounds the city.

And a picture that Poalo (Ali's travel buddy) took of us at the wall.

Once inside...we were the last of the group. (this is no surprise today, as we were in Lucca also. One man stopped us and asked if we were part of a photography tour...b/c there are too many big lenses us there!) We stopped almost as soon as we entered the city walls b/c I spotted a cool little alcove with stairs...I wanted to stop and play with the self-timer on my camera. Here is the fun result!

Now, my favorite thing (or one of them) in SG is the World Champion Gelato place. I LOVE this one...starts with a Z and is some sort of wine gelato...(it's not Zinfandel), but way more Italian in name! LOL

My first 2 scoops...

And my last 3...YES, it was a FIVE scoop day!!! Seriously, it's SO GOOD!!!! (with 2 Z scoops and 1 pistaccio aka pistachio)

And, just a few of my other favorite pictures of the day...

a sidewalk cafe

my change and receipt for gelato

a cool little side street

my lunch (artichoke and tomato pizza)

an amazing view...with laundry!

another cool side street

a fun set of doors

a cool archway near that door

me eating my lunch (don't ask me why this is out of order, but I can't get it back in order!)

me taking a picture of a side street...holding my painting under my arm!

Oh, i just L.O.V.E. this little Tuscan city!! I want to go back and stay near here or HERE with my family...maybe one day...

And, here is the beautiful view ...from almost the same spot as when we got there. Now, the fog has lifted.

After SG, we traveled just a few miles to a winery--San Donato.

walking up to the winery

the group learning about the winery!

wine...this way....I'm just sure that's what is says!

The bird next to the W.C. I used.

How cool are these wine bottles!

the table

the food

Jim West, Molly, and I (this is his normal picture face, seriously.)

After 4 attempts, he finally smiled!

cheers with Birute, Heather, and Jamie

Statue posing...I'm the dog if you can't tell

Molly posing

Holly...the sleeping Lion

Molly...the roaring Lion!

Holly taking pictures

the big oak barrels of wine

The Canadians in the bathtub! Love you ladies! You are so much fun!

Us, in the bathtub! (can you tell who'd had more to drink?!?!?!)

Looking out the bathroom window!

It was a good day! (that ended with a nap!)

European Escapades: Lucca and Pisa

2011-11-11T06:55:00.000-08:00

Our first full day on the Bella Tuscany tour took us to Lucca. It was here in my first trip to Lucca, that I took my one of my favorite picture of the "bikes"...take a look...

So going into the trip, Holly, Molly, and I decided we take "collections." (bikes, doors, door knockers, food, signs, etc.) So, keep your eyes open for them!

We didn't have a goal in Lucca, but just hoped to walk around and soak up Italy. We tried to stay with the group up to the Church, but somehow we got separated by shopping! Oops...we did run into the Stahl sisters b/c I was SUPER jealous of Jamie's fabulous orange coat (I totally saw it in the window and didn't go in b/c I didn't have room in my suitcase for a coat!!! LOL)

Fabulous right!?!?

Here are just a few other pictures that I LOVE from this day...

In the church, we discovered that St. Zita is the patron saint of Lucca. This was especially intriguiging because Molly's mom's name was Zita (my kids' great-grandmother).

Lucca was the hometown of the great composer Puccini (Madame Butterfly). This was in a square near his home. Yes, we totally posed with the statue and cutout!

Good stuff, right!
While in Italy, Amanda Knox was acquitted. I found a paper...which was a goal for the day!

Here are a few other pictures...of our first slice of pizza, etc.

It was a good first day.

We then went to Pisa and took the regular pictures that the twenty thousand other people were doing....holding up the tower.

And, this is one of my favorite statue posings that we did the entire trip.

European Escapades: traveling thru Italy

2011-11-07T16:04:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the delay on my European Escapades...I believe I left you last when we got to the train station in Venice! We took the train to Florence that morning, my first ride on a European train...I wouldn't say it was fast like I've heard. I'm sure those are somewhere else. When we got to Florence, we headed over to the airport to meet the rest of the Bella Tuscany tour group! We boarded the bus and took off for the resort town of Montacatini Terme.

It is such a neat little town...originally a resort town because of the hot springs. There are spas in town, and I need to return there so I can go to one. Didn't quite get there this trip! Here are a few pics around MT.

Here is Ali Edwards...taking pictures herself! LOL

Molly and I at the taxi tree

A bike...lots of bikes everywhere, you'll see more of them in my posts I'm sure!

The train that we were supposed to wait to pass every time the bars went down...except the bars would go down for 10 minutes before the train was visible...so we often ducked under the bars...always very cautiously. (The train moved SLOWLY too!)

And here is the Papa Smurf window display...it was our landmark to turn left when we were walking back to the hotel.

After the little tour Jim West took us on of MT, we went back to the hotel for our welcome dinner.

Paolo was pouring Holly some juice....she didn't drink champagne like the rest of us!!!

This was the beautiful view from the hotel restaurant! I love Tuscany!

Halloween...

2011-11-01T21:19:00.000-07:00

I should be finishing up my European posts...and I have every intention of doing so...but I'm behind in life. I just keep adding things to my life and getting busier!!! Oh well...I still took time to enjoy my kids and friends on Halloween. Here are some of my favorite pics from last night...aren't they cute!
Madysen was a scarecrow princess. Hunter was a hunter. (Please note this is only a beebee gun. It is not loaded. My friend Syl called tonight and was wondering why the heck we were letting him carry a gun around. He DID not carry it trick-or-treating. He only had it during these photos! LOL)

European Escapades: Venice, Italy

2011-10-23T20:29:00.000-07:00

We flew to Venice late Sunday night....arriving at our hotel at 1am...after a taxi, then a water taxi. So TIRED!!!! We decided to sleep in Monday morning so we wouldn't kill ourselves. The hotel (Hotel Flora) was quaint and fun. We had several pictures of it, but I decided on one....to show you HOW SMALL the elevator was! Truth? We could only ride one person with our suitcase/carryons when coming and leaving the hotel. With no luggage, the three of us could barely fit. Awesome!

We had so much fun in Venice...but since we got up late, it was already too crowded to tour St. Mark's and the Doge's Palace....but, we did get a few pictures outside.

The one thing Holly wanted to do in Venice was go to Burano. It's such a cool island with all the colorful houses! But, as we walked up to the water-bus area, we learned that they were on a 24 hours strike. Yes, the 24 hours we were there. Lovely! There was one place you could catch a water-bus, but it was on the other side of the island! Only a 25 minute walk!!! LOL Yeah, right...if you knew the way. Now, I'm a good map reader, but Venice is insane!!! Let's just say, we had a fabulous time getting lost in Venice on the way to the water-bus! it took us about an hour, but we had some fun photo ops!

Now, I must tell you the story of this picture. This lady, in the boat, with the dog...we saw her like 4 times on our journey through Venice!!! If only we'd knows she would eventually end up near the water-buses, we totally would have asked for a ride!!!

So, we FINALLY got our tickets and onto the HOT water-bus ride to Burano...we ate lunch and roamed the streets. I just love this little island. I loved it when Heath and I went, and I loved it again this time!

When we returned to Venice, it was nearing sundown. And with the perfect light, Holly captured this amazing photo...one of our favorites of the entire trip.

We were actually on the way to the Rialto Bridge....where we got these pictures.

This last one...was right before I fell down a couple of steps on the bridge...I was quite embarrassed, and still am not sure exactly how I slipped on the marble and concrete steps! EMBARRASSING! (I was totally okay, didn't hurt at all, outside of my pride!)

We were SO tired at this point...but had to wonder through Venice to find St. Marco Piazza...it was just around the corner of every turn...right!?!? We walked so long, we had to find food before we got to St. Marco's! And eventually made it back to the hotel!

Tuesday morning, we woke SUPER early so we could catch our private taxi to the train station! (we were taking the train to Florence to meet the ScrapMap group!!) This pic of me is riding through the canals of Venice....to the airport!!!

Yes, you read that right...the taxi took us to the AIRPORT...we needed the train station!!! Luckily, we left SUPER early b/c of our bad luck in transportation so far...so we had PLENTY of time to get to the station. Here we are happy when we got there!

European Escapades: London, pt. 2

2011-10-20T19:45:00.000-07:00

Did I mention how hot London was? When people ask how London was, my response is "hot"! Probably not a normal response, but it was my experience.

On to Day2 in London....

We started the day by sleeping late, thank goodness!! We then took the tube to Westminster and went to the Abby for the 10am worship service. Molly wanted to hear the choir boys, so we did. I SO wish we could have taken pictures there, but sadly, we couldn't. It was much smaller than I realized. It looks lots bigger on tv. After the service, we did take some pictures around WA, like in the courtyard, etc. Here is one of my favorites:

Then we hopped back on the tube, aka the Underground, back to Buckingham...because remember, we were trying to make the Changing of the Guard! (my #1!) I took this picture while waiting for the train. (the only one we waited for more than 1-2 minute!)

Now, also remember how empty outside of Buckingham was on Saturday? Well, not so much on Sunday!

Holly and I couldn't get close to the fence to see anything or take pictures. There were some police on horseback telling the people walking in front of BP to "keep it moving"...there was a walking lane that we found. And, luckily, one of them told someone to move to the other end...there would be guards down there soon. So, of course, I told Holly we should go down there. AND....on the way, we discovered there were openings in the crowds, and we could see the guards!! The only problem? We had to "keep it moving" back and forth, and back and forth. We did it so many times, I'm pretty sure the police woman was laughing at us, I KNOW we were laughing at us. We would make an immediate U-turn as soon as we got to the other said of the gate. We took pictures with our super fast cameras and got several shots like this...

Truth is, I saw very little, but had a blast doing it! What I did see reminded me of a band performance during halftime at a football game! Love it! When we decided we had walked back and forth enough, we headed down to the left end of the palace. It was here we got lucky. The crowd was only 2 people deep, so we found a decent spot and within 1 minute, the people in front of us left and we were on the front row! And, within another 3-5 minutes, we saw this...

This was good enough for me...we had to get to the tour gates because we had 12:00 tix to see Kate's Dress!!! YAY!! It's so amazing that everything worked out like it did. Even though Saturday was a mess schedule-wise, we still had a good time tour London. Now, I'd love to show you an amazing picture of Kate's Dress...something like this:

people.com

But, we weren't supposed to take pictures of it. And, I, of course, didn't. But, Holly did...with a point and shoot, no flash, it was just amazingly...AWFUL!!! LOL

It looks like a ghost right!?!? But, we had a good time totally breaking the rules. And have laughed every single time we've looked at this picture. (you can also see how pretty the walls of the ballroom are!)

We also toured all the state rooms and some beautiful places in the palace. After, we headed to Harrod's for some yummy lunch and because you HAVE to go to Harrod's! It was also fine, but I was super tired and couldn't truly appreciate it. Then we had to get back to the hotel, purchase our kids some London 2012 gear and head to the airport for our flight to Venice...what a crazy time...the taxi, the train station, the luggage, the school kids returning to school, the stinky boy sitting next to Molly. It was the worst part of the trip so far.

But, truly, when I think of London, I'll think of this...straight out of the camera...

Venice is next!!!

I had to share...

2011-10-19T10:35:00.000-07:00

...this photo. I love this hat. I found one similar to it in Crested Butte, CO last summer...for $60 US!!! This one that I found at Portabello Road was only 10 pounds. I HAD to get it. Now that I think about it, I should wear it Friday. I'm not going to Thursday b/c I'll probably be sporting some Texas Rangers gear (Go Rangers!!!)

I'm just joking...It's hilarious though, right!?!?

Here is the real hat that I bought.

I'll be back later to post about Day 2 in London...for now, I seriously need to go clean my office. Heath is hunting this weekend with his dad so I think I'll be scrapping! :)

European Escapades: London, pt. 1

2011-10-18T19:49:00.000-07:00

It's been a week since I got back from my trip to Europe. I have a few friends who travel and like the next day, they have pictures posted and adventures blogged about! They are amazing people. I have barely recovered from my jet lag, and it hasn't helped that I have a sinus infection too! Anyway...I wanted to get going on my European Escapades!
The first weekend, Holly, Molly, and I spent in London. I had never been there before and talked them into taking me! I was so hoping it would be all rainy and cold, you know, like it supposedly is in London in October. But, NO!!! Of course, it was a 118 year heatwave in October. It was like 80-85 degrees F! That's hotter than at home. Oh well, outside of the sweating, I had a marvelous time!
We arrived at Heathrow around 3 hours late, but we were so excited...and tired!

First thing after checking into the hotel, we visited the House of Parliament and Big Ben. Well, not really visited, but totally took the Underground to see it from the outside. It was right at sunset and just beautiful!

After we grabbed a bit of a supper (we were STARVING), and adventuring to Picadilly Circus, Holly and Molly satisfied my NEED to visit Platform 9-3/4 from Harry Potter. It took us forever to find P9-3/4, which was actually at Platform 1--outside of Kings Cross Station!

We promptly returned to the hotel and went to sleep.

We woke up SUPER early the next morning to go to Portabello Road's Outdoor Antique Market. So fun and cool! I bought a couple of fun things: a hat, scarf, letters, etc. FUN times!

My scarf...how fun is it!?!?

The #1 thing to see on my list for London was the changing of the guard. Holly researched this and learned they would only change on Saturday, not Sunday. We had to hook it over to Buckingham Palace--which was HUGE and gorgeous! Here is Molly saving our place while Holly and I were taking pictures of other stuff---like the cool taxi cabs. (please notice the LACK of any crowd.)

After we waited and waited, no guards were showing, etc., I decided I needed to investigate what was happening. Did we have the time wrong? It turns out, there was a sign at the other end of the palace that said the guard changing was moved to Sunday! GREAT! We would somehow re-arrange our schedule to try to make it back...since it was my #1 and all. It was then we decided to go ahead and take the tour at Buckingham b/c Holly's #1....seeing Kate's dress. (Why does she spell her name Catherine with a C, but we spell Kate with a K? Sorry, I know it's random, but it's seriously bothering me!) Guess what? We didn't get to go...the tickets were sold out for the day. So far, we aren't having a very good scheduled day! We totally had to shuffle everything we were doing on Sunday to Saturday so that we could HOPEFULLY get to see the changing of the guards and Kate's dress!
We went on to eat the WORST hamburger I've ever had in my life...at Bag 'O Nails Pub. Worst people. WORST! Thank God for the Chips and Malt vinegar! The good news? After BON, I got to take a picture in one of the fabulous red telephone booths!

We then went on to the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge...very cool. Love this perspective of the bridge.

Oh! And I forgot this top photo....it was one of the first "copy-cat" photos. We really did this the rest of the trip with statues. We would pose in front of statues, mimicing whatever it was posed as. This is our "Underground" mimic. Awesome right?

Next was St. Paul's Cathedral (no pics were allowed--tho I do believe Holly ILLEGALLY took a picture there---no flash people. It's all good since there was no flash, seriously. right?!?!?) Did you know that inside St. Paul's there is a memorial for the US soldiers who died during WW2? Intriguing right? I'm going to research and read more about that now that I think about it again. The exciting thing that happened on the way to St. Paul's was we found a ticket broker for the Buckingham Palace tour and were able to buy tickets from there...means we didn't have to show up at BP BEFORE 8am the next day--thank God!!

We then had tea, went back to the hotel to drop off our purchases, etc. We even ate a super late dinner, and as we returned to the hotel on the tube, we got off at Baker Street to take pictures.

You see, Baker Street is where Sherlock Holmes' home is, if you will. When I was a little girl, we used to play this game 221B Baker Street. It was solving mysteries as if we were Sherlock Holmes. Every time we passed Baker Street I thought of it, and my mom...who is a sucker for a mystery! So, I had to get a picture of Sherlock's profile in honor of my mom! So fun!

Stay tuned....our final day in London will appear next!!!

I have a goal...

2011-10-14T16:05:00.000-07:00

It's to actually blog!

First, I want to blog the trip I just got back from. I went with my mother-in-law, Molly, and sister-in-law, Holly to Italy. We went on a ScrapMap tour of Tuscany with the fabulous Ali Edwards. It was amazing. So....I have a goal of blogging some of my photos.

Second, I am SO ready for my bathroom remodel to be finished! We are so close I can taste it. I want to show you guys pictures of the remodel. Here is the first photo to show you...We got a new door to our bathroom. If you look, there is an archway that leads to our bathroom. Since Heath works nights, he really needs to room darker so that he can sleep longer and better.
Anyway, I found this door on Pintrest MONTHS ago and knew it could be perfect for our archway issue!

Cool huh? So, we found a door-maker who would make the door to our dimensions (which are LARGE!). Today, the contractor hung our new barn door in our room. It's not the greatest picture, and as soon as the bedroom is redecorated and the bathroom totally finished, I'll post more pictures, but I'm so excited about this. I NEEDED to share this coolness with you!!

WOW...this is so sad

2011-08-13T12:41:00.000-07:00

I'm embarrassed that I haven't blogged in 3 months!!! Seriously embarrassed.

I'll do better getting things on here, but I wanted to give you a bit of a recipe. This summer I've fallen in LOVE with Starbuck's Passion Tea Lemonade. But, it's $3 a pop!!! That adds up quickly.

I went on a mission to make my own! And, guess what!?!? I did!! Here is a picture of the ingredients:

SO easy people!

I found the TAZO passion tea bags at Target, but they are also probably at your local grocery store too! (Just $3 or so!) Then, I used the calorie free lemonade (Crystal Light will probably work too). While the tea was hot, I added a bit of Truvia sweetener. (You could use any sweetener you want, but do it while hot so it melts properly!) Then, I did a 50/50 mixutre of the tea and lemonade and pour over ice! You can play with the percentages, but this is so yummy for the summer. My kids absolutely love it and it's so much better than soda!

Happy Sipping!

A Picture of Something Beautiful

2011-05-04T20:11:00.000-07:00

I've posted a few prompts for this month in the SM forum...go check it out!

Today is a picture of something beautiful. I took this on April 19, right before I went to Texas. Did I mention I got a new camera for my birthday. OMGoodness, I LOVE it!?!? This is what I took of my kids that day, I think it's beautiful!

A Picture, or two, or twelve

2011-05-03T11:56:00.000-07:00

I totally lost all ability to blog while I was in Texas. My sister had a new baby....Baby A. He's ADORABLE!?!? as is his big bro J! Here are a few pictures I took of them while I was home.

From the day of A's birth:

A's Newborn photo shoot:

The worst movie I've ever seen...

2011-04-20T09:05:00.000-07:00

Shark Boy and Lava Girl....hands down. It. was. awful.

My favorite Spring activity is...

2011-04-19T11:43:00.000-07:00

BASEBALL!?!? This is such an easy one. (Altho, I could also say my birthday....love my birthday!?!?) I love to watch baseball on television (and watch the Rangers often). I LOVE to watch my kids play; I even keep score for H's team! Plus, its just so much for to go to a live game...I'll watch college, AAA, and pro...I don't care. I just love baseball!

H and I at the Isotopes game. (sorry about the horrible lighting!?!?)

H before his game on Saturday.

M before H's game, which was before her game on Saturday!

If I had a three day weekend, with no other obligations, I would...

2011-04-18T15:16:00.001-07:00

spend time with my favorite women in life!?!? This includes my sisters, mom, mother in law, sister in law, cousins, Krewe, high school friends. I would have them all to my house, we'd cook together, laugh together, cry together...and we'd all do it stressfree, not worrying about our kids/husbands, etc!

My favorite flower is...

2011-04-17T08:37:00.000-07:00

My favorite flower is...

a gerber daisy! They are so bright and cheerful! They just make me smile looking at them!

My favorite kind of {Easter} candy

2011-04-16T07:48:00.000-07:00

My favorite kind of {Easter} candy is seriously Peeps. I remember as a little girl eating them at my grandmother's house. I loved them, and even though I try not to eat them often, I do melt when I taste them!

Okay, now I may have to go buy more.

Share my latest photo that I took on my PHONE!?!?

2011-04-15T08:32:00.000-07:00

So, here I go with my April Blog Challenge...

Today's prompt is Share my latest photo that I took on my PHONE!?!?

Hold on, I need to go get it...Wondering what it is, and if I EVEN took it ;)

Oh, this is from a couple of weeks ago when the family went to hit golf balls! The course is so beautiful with the perfect view! (I can't believe that this was the last picture from my phone!)

Tag, You're it!

2011-04-14T08:56:00.000-07:00

I've been tagged! I've never been tagged before, or at least not since playing Tag in Elementary school!?!? ha! My baby sister's BFF Adrienne (31 flavors) tagged me!?!? She's got a great blog if you haven't read her before!

Places I Go:
1. Target (too much, seriously)
2. Altamont Little League Baseball fields
3. my kids' elementary school
4. Chili's (it's the closest restaurant and we eat there lots!)

Favorite Smells:
1. a Fresh baby!?!?
2. my mom's pot roast
3. rain (seriously, you can't smell rain like you can here in Albuquerque or West Texas, probably dryer places versus humid places)
4. Vanilla

TV Shows:
1. the Good Wife
2. Castle
3. Friends (still)
4. Hawaii 5-0

Movies:
1. Up!
2. Giant
3. The Proposal
4. Dirty Dancing

Recommendations:
1. Have a laugh fest...with your friends and family, just start laughing, you won't be able to stop!
2. Enjoy the everyday, small things!
3. Make a small to-do list so it's easier to mark everything off!
4. Take a picture of someone you love today!

Favorite Things To Do:
1. Cook and eat (I also like to eat things other people cook to)
2. Play Craps...yes, i love to gamble
3. Watch a baseball game
4. Take pictures!?!? (Sorry I had to steal this Age!)

Dislikes:
1. Being sick
2. Waking up in the middle of the night for any reason
3. Rude, self-adsorbed people
4. Repetitive noises.

Friends To Tag: (This means you answer these same questions on your blog!)
1. Emilee at More Love More Joy
2. Sarah at Life {Sweet} Life
3. Tracey at Knitting with Pencils
4. Amber at Am's Jamboree

Bad Blogger!?!?

2011-04-13T11:39:00.000-07:00

I've been a bad blogger, a very bad blogger!?!?

I have started a new blog challenge, with 15 prompts! Here is what I'll be talking about for the rest of the month...trying to post every day starting 15th! (Might be hard since I'm heading home next Wed. to be with my big sis as she has her new baby boy!)

Here are the prompts I made up!
Prompt 1: Share your latest photo that you took on my PHONE!?!?
Prompt 2: My favorite kind of {Easter} candy
Prompt 3: My favorite flower is...
Prompt 4: If I had a three day weekend, with no other obligations, I would...
Prompt 5: My favorite Spring activity is...
Prompt 6: The worst movie I've ever seen...
Prompt 7: Take a picture today and share it
Prompt 8: Today I wore______ (with or without picture)
Prompt 9: What is on my DVR list. (If you don't have a DVR, netflix or what you watch regularly)
Prompt 10: When I'm frustrated, I just want/need...
Prompt 11: My favorite Disney character
Prompt 12: The last book I read...and review it if possible
Prompt 13: My signature color
Prompt 14: My go-to decoration item/color (pictures please?!?!)
Prompt 15: My favorite thing that happened this month

Would love anyone and everyone to join us! If you do, please post in the thread at SM or here in my comments! I want to read your stuff!?!?

Prompt 2: When you need reassuring or comforting....

2011-03-22T10:05:00.000-07:00

You've had a bad day, are just tired, or woke up on the wrong side of the bed. What do you need when you reassuring or comforting? I have one thing that will always make it better...a hug.

There is nothing better that a hug from my daddy--I'm sure this goes back to my childhood. But, a hug from Heath runs a very close second!?!? My wonderful son, H, has even learned that if Mom is in a bad mood or hurt somehow, a hug from him can change my day!?!?

What do you need to make your day better?

Monday's Moment: M's 6th Birthday

2011-03-21T14:05:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it, but M turned 6 last week. I can't believe she's already 6 years old!?!? She was one lucky girl, she had her birthday while we were on the cruise ship! And of course, she got to wear a fun "birthday" button all day and everyone greeted her with "Happy Birthday!" Fun times! Here are some pictures we took at dinner that night...we had a great time!

The cake:

The family

the birthday girl (with the cute headband her Aunt Holly made her)

Aren't they fun and great!?!?

Six things I love about Madysen:

1. Look at that smile...she brightens a room when she smiles and her laugh is contagious!

2. Creativity...I can't explain how creative and artistic she is. I love watching her draw, color, scrapbook, etc.

3. She is persistent...Although, there are times it seriously bugs me, I love that she doesn't give up. Later in life, it'll be great!

4. Fashionista! Oh yes, she is...she loves fashion, even designs outfits using her Project Runway sketchbooks. It's amazing.

5. Enthusiasm...she is ethusiastic about anything she cares about! And, it's contagious.

6. Confidence...wow, she just knows she can do anything and everything she wants to do. I hope her confidence never is squashed!?!?

Copy Cat Blogger

2011-03-20T10:13:00.000-07:00

I'm coppying this from my online friend Christine. (We actually did get to meet IRL!?!?) I thought I'd copy so I'll get back into the habit of blogging!

A. Age: 36
B. Bed size: king
C. Chore you dislike: cleaning, any type, I don't discriminate!
E. Essential start to your day: waking up...very important to actually get out of bed
F. Favorite color: lime green and purple...for different reasons.
G. Gold or silver: Silver.
H. Height: 5' 3.5"
I. Instruments you play(ed): i took piano lessons as a child..was never any good
J. Job title: Home Engineer (that is what my friend Syl calls it)
K. Kids: 2--H is 10; M turned 6 last week!?!?!?
L. Live: in Albuquerque, but grew up in Texas
M. Mom’s name: Kreta...unique and original. If someone called the house and couldn't pronounce it, they didn't need to talk to her!
N. Nicknames: Mom, mommy, Heether, dork
O. Overnight hospital stays: gal bladder, babies, pneumonia when i was 7
P. Pet peeves: repetitive noises made by other people....uuuggg! people talking on cell phones while driving and not paying attention to the speed or their surroundings! People don't text or talk w/o bluetooth while driving!
Q. Quote from a movie: "AAAssss yyyOOOOOuuuu WiiiiiisssshhhhhH!" (princess bride) or how bout "Wuv, Wuv is what bwings us togeder today." awesome.
S. Siblings: two sisters: Robyn and Amber (love and miss you gals!)
T. Time you wake up: 8:00 am (kids don't go to school till 8:50!) I'm not a morning person!
U. Underwear: cotton? not sure how to answer this!?!?
V. Vegetables you don’t like: chick peas, english peas...okay, peas in general!
W. What makes you run late: getting distracted while I'm trying to leave the house...I hate being late, and am not late very often to anything.
X. X-rays you’ve had: chest, teeth, gall bladder...
Y. Yummy food you make: Texas Trash, Pork Tenderloin, sausage balls, mac and cheese (trust me), I won't bore you, love to cook!
Z. Zoo animal favorites: giraffes

Exhausted...

2011-03-19T23:08:00.000-07:00

We just landed and drove home. The Disney cruise was just absolutely fabulous. FAB.U.LOUS!?!?!? LOVEd it! And we are sad it's over. The kids have already asked to go on one next SB!?!? We traveled for over 16 hours today, and each of us were thankful to get to bed...our own bed!?!?

So, I'm gonna make this quick...
listening: to the movie "In the Line of Fire"
watching: see above...watching it out my peripheral vision
eating: notta
drinking: notta
wearing: tank top for pjs
feeling: absolutely exhausted
weather: warmer than when we left! sleeping with the windows open tonight!
wanting: to sleep in till noon!
needing: to sleep till noon! and needing my kids to sleep till 10!
thinking: Sic 'em Bears....the Lady Bears play tomorrow for their first round of the NCAA tourney!?! Wish I were in Waco to cheer them on!
wondering: if I have food in the house for the kids to eat breakfast in the morning.

One more sleeps

2011-03-10T17:41:00.000-08:00

We leave tomorrow for Florida. We embark the Disney Magic Saturday afternoon!?!? I cannot wait!?!? I have a few more things to do tonight, but am currently syncing my iPhone so my book, music, and movies are on there! I thought I'd try something new today on here...it's a list thing I got from someone....I think Cinna from SM! So here goes!

Today's List:
listening: to M hum a song from The Little Mermaid (we are all Disney around here this week!) while taking a shower
watching: Heath put a screen protector on his new camera
eating: nothing right now, but ate Chili's for dinner (my kitchen is closed till after Spring Break)
drinking: margarita for dinner
wearing: hoody (tshirt weight) and cargo capri pants
feeling: EXCITED and anxious
weather: not a cloud in the sky, low 60s today, beautiful!
wanting: to go to bed and sleep all night, but I won't because I never sleep well the night before traveling
needing: to finish packing
thinking: we're going to have a BLAST!?!? WOO HOO!
wondering: how I'll do without watching March Madness this week!?!? YIKES I wonder if I'll catch a game or two on the ship!

Oh, and number 2...I'm wondering/pondering...how the HECK the NCAA could suspend Perry Jones III!?!?!? but let Cam Newton play after his dad wanted six figures for his son to play!?!? WHAT!?!? If you need to know more, here is a great article. It's bull I tell ya!?!?

Favorite piece of technology

2011-03-07T18:40:00.000-08:00

I'm not doing a good job blogging...truth is, I'm not doing a good job of doing anything I need to do regularly! My house is a WreCk! I've been trying to catch up on laundry all weekend, but am still doing load after load. Let's not even talk about my diet. Ya know, I guess I don't NEED to blog regularly, but I'd like to!

Anyway, I'm not doing a great job of blogging with the general prompts, I have the goal of doing better, but today, I've decided to blog one of my five specific prompts of the month.

My favorite piece of technology.

Hands down? My computer...my sweet MacBook Pro-15 inch...her name is Fiona...this weekend, I found some computer bling that I bought for her in NYC in November. Pitiful really that I forgot about this cool purchase!

Here is Fiona... Please excuse her dirtiness...she's got some finger prints! They belong to every member of my family, I'm sure.

How fun is her bling? I bought this computer sticker/decor...there are several more "stickers" that I'm saving, but I loved this one...as "Create" is my One Little Word!

My mother-in-law teases me often about how addicted I am to my computer. Seriously, I could live without my iPhone---don't get me wrong, I love Olivia too (Olivia is my iPhone--I name every piece of technology...you must love your technology if you want it to love you back.), but Fiona...she has PHOTOSHOP!??! I can run actions on my photos...Fiona has Excel...oh how I love a spreadsheet. Oh how I love my Fiona. I should write a poem about her...here goes...seriously, this is totally spontaneous!

Oh Fiona, my love
you complete my day.

Oh Fiona, my love
you give me access to Facebook, ScrapMatters, and all things Haynay.

Oh Fiona, my love
you are the sunshine to my soul

Oh Fiona, my love
YOU make me whole.

I hope everyone has a great night! Oh, and name your technology too...it'll love you back! ;)

{Tactile Tuesday}

2011-03-01T17:15:00.000-08:00

I have a problem...I've started. Yip, I've been paper scrapping + Digital scrapping = HYBRID scrapping!

I have taken over the kitchen counter/bar. I have so much crap all over, it's making me HAPPY! This was Saturday, now I have four times as much scrap scrap!

Here is a hybrid card I made last night using WM[Squared] Design's Je t'aime Kit.

So, today is Tactile Tuesday--bit of a play on words...you can chose to blog about how you FEEL about something, anything....or how something feels (like through touch)...those are the "rules" I made up.

You wonder why I'm talking about scrapping on Tactile Tuesday. Because it makes me FEEL great!?!? I have been able to relax, only thinking about creating...which goes back to my One Little Word! Awesome huh?

Guess why else I'm choosing it? yeah, you got it, I have glue, stamp in, and glimmer mist residue ALL over my fingers!?!? that glue FEELS sticky!

{Sit-Around Saturday}

2011-02-26T16:30:00.000-08:00

So, our prompt for Saturdays are the everyday things around the house or in your life.

Today, it has been a lazy Saturday. I slept late, thank you Heath! And, after Heath took H to baseball tryouts, I did a Speed Scrap at SM...here is my page:

I'm working on a book for M and my cousin's daughter from our trip to American Girl Place in Dallas last summer. Fun times!?!? Then after surfing a bit on the net, I did my project for the weekend for my Mouse, Paper, Scissors hybrid class at JessicaSprague.com. We've been doing observations. (See Thursday's post) And, this is my observation notebook.

Isn't it cute!?!? Thank you Heidi Swapp for the cute design!?!?

Tonight we go to a watch party of Baylor folks in Albuquerque! Hope we get to watch them win!?!? Sic 'em Bears! Gotta get dressed now!?!?

{Thoughtful Thursday}

2011-02-24T18:03:00.000-08:00

I rarely have deep thoughts-i'm not philosophical. In college, Vanessa and I used to leave Deep Thought messages on our answering machine...my favorite:
Why do they call him a cowboy when he rides a horse?

I am taking Mouse, Paper, Scissors class at JessicaSprague.com. I'm enjoying it so far. We are doing observations of our lives. Here are a few that I have this week:

Day1
When I am stressed or having a bad day, I'm much harder on my kids
Teaching selfless behavior probably requires modelling.
I find comfort in just the idea of being creative.
H has an intuition when I've had a hard day--he always comes to snuggle.
There are few bad days that a Disney movie can't fix!

Day 2
My day goes much better when I have a to do list. A list for everything I need at every place I go. I'm a list girl.

Day 3
I have best friends and good friends, but as I thought about my relationship with each of these awesome ladies, I realized, I'm still only a part of myself with each of these persons. I tend to leave out one part of myself with each of them...different parts with each of them. I am truly only my whole and complete "self" with my husband, Heath. He IS the love of my life, my best friend.

{Wacky Wednesday}

2011-02-23T09:25:00.000-08:00

Like I said in my previous post...we've started an Extended Blog Challenge, with a general prompt for every day of the week! Plus, I am providing 5 prompts that can be used at any time during the month.

Since today is Wednesday, the prompt is "Wacky Wednesday." I'm kinda of out of brainpower today to think of something wacky, silly, or funny, so I just found a couple of pictures that fit the bill.

The first is of M. We just finished eating at Chef Mickey's in the Contemporary resort. And, she was playing around, being silly...and I snapped this shot.

And this next one was of M and I sledding at the beginning of the month. At the end of the hill, we both fell off the sled, H captured it best he could on film.

Did I really do it!?!?

2011-02-22T19:15:00.000-08:00

Did I really do 30 straight days of blogging!?!? I can't believe it. I've really enjoyed it!

I'm setting up a new blog challenge at ScrapMatters. Go HERE to read about it, and join us!!!

I'll hopefully start it tomorrow!

Have a wonderful night (unless it's daytime where you are...then have a great day!)

Day 30-a picture

2011-02-22T19:11:00.000-08:00

A picture...from this weekend...i ran 2 actions from My Four Hens on this...1st Delicate Color and then Chocolate Sprinkles I think...

Day 29-3 Wishes

2011-02-21T21:35:00.000-08:00

Three wishes...
1. I wish someone would come to my house every day and clean it, plus do my laundry. (yes I'm trivial.)
2. I wish that everyone I love would have no pain, no illness, and I could see them any time I wanted.
3. I wish for world peace because I cannot think of anything else to wish for.

Why was this prompt one of the hardest for me? I think maybe because I don't "wish" much...except for someone else to do the dishes! ;)

Day 28-Something that stresses you out

2011-02-20T09:20:00.000-08:00

I'm a stress-er, I can't help it...I come from a long line of stress-ers. Although my mom doesn't think she is....but she is. :) Love you mom.

Let's see what am I stressed about today...
1. M woke up 4 times last night...more than she did when she was a baby. She doesn't have a cold or isn't running fever. Her Daddy Doc thinks it's allergies and made her go to ski school. I'm stressing that she really is getting sick and we sent her out in freezing temps and snow. Now I'm stressing that i'm a bad mom. (but, I'm enjoying the time without her so I can blog and scrap!) Oh I really am a bad mom!
2. I'm stressing that I'll forget to post a new challenge in the SM forum tomorrow...it's pitiful really.
3. I'm stressing I haven't eaten healthy enough this weekend and have gained a pound or two back!

In general, I will always stress out about
1. money...if we have enough, if we are spending too much, how much more should we hold back for taxes, etc.
2. are we messing up our kids? We are doing the best job we can or know how to do...we love our kiddos more than life itself, but PLEASE let us not mess them up too badly!
3. what I am doing with my life. I love education, but am not doing much with it right now...I want to write curriculum, but no freelance jobs are out there. Am I doing enough as a person to contribute to society?

See, those are just a few that I can think of off the top of my head...I stress about everything...I guess that's why i need to lose weight...I'm a stress eater...oh jeez, I have issues!!

Day 27-Pets

2011-02-19T20:38:00.000-08:00

Pets...pets...we have two dogs. And, that is all.

Emma is our 5 yo black lab...and is a dream. I bought her for Heath when he graduated from medical school and we named her Emma since he was doing his residency in Emergency Medicine. She's a trained bird dog and LOVES to go duck hunting with Heath. She's an absolute dream, except when she gets food off the kitchen counters. Here is a recent picture of her...

Then, there is Cappy, he's our 4 year old Yorkie...I love Emma more than Cappy. That is no secret. Heath brought him home for me for Mother's Day a few years ago. He's Emma's best friend...so that makes me love him...and M loves him a lot too! :)

These two dogs are absolutely hysterical together. Cappy very often lays on top of Emma, and they play often. He doesn't know he's 5 pounds and Emma is 80!

So, those are my puppies. Aren't they cute in their matching sweaters?

Day 26-Picture of your family

2011-02-19T08:26:00.000-08:00

See, I told you I'd be back!?!? I really am mad at myself that I didn't post yesterday....I guess I did post, but got off track for the challenge. Maybe I'll post later today for the next one.

So, my family...Here we are this morning...makeupless for me!?!? That is not a common occurrence, but it's not too awful!

The kids have now left for ski school. M wanted to stay home and scrap with us...I promised her after ski school she could. I'd let her, but we'd already paid for it! H on the otherhand, was itching to get on those slopes. He loves to ski...he's a double diamond black skier...guess he's pretty good!

I feel as though I should talk about the rest of my family too. You've met my mom and dad. But, "my family" also includes my sisters! Here we are this Xmas at Disney together!

Robyn is the oldest, then Amber--the baby, and then me!?!? We all have the same eyes, nose, and chin...I look just like Robyn when I am with her, but just like Amber when we are together. I love my sisters and sadly we live in three different states! But, we get together as often as possible!

we interupt this challenge...

2011-02-18T20:38:00.000-08:00

I cannot do it...I am so tired I can't even look through my pictures to find a picture of my family....that is Day 24...a picture of the family...
I'm cheating and going to have my mother in law take a picture of the four of us first thing in the morning....before the other three go skiing.

We are in Crested Butte this weekend. I'll be paper scrapping...I'm excited!

See you tomorrow to start on the challenge again.

Day 25-Put your iPod on shuffle, first 10 songs

2011-02-17T13:52:00.000-08:00

This is fun, and shows, I like Country and Top 40s Pop...
1. Rain is a Good Thing (Luke Bryan)
2. Lessons Learned (Carrie Underwood)
3. Sober (P!nk)
4. Hillbilly Bone (Blake Shelton)
5. What Would You Say (Dave Matthews Band)
6. With Arms Wide Open (Creed)
7. Candle in the Wind (Elton John)
8. Clocks (ColdPlay)
9. Eight Second Ride (Jake Owen)
10. Sweet Caroline (Dave Matthews Band)

Day 24-Something you've learned

2011-02-16T08:42:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about this, but I'm seriously not sure what to write about. Does the prompt mean life lessons? Lessons I've learned in school? I'm just not sure how to attack this topic.

I am pretty sure no one is interested in the academic things I have learned through my bachelors and masters in elementary education, though, i can seriously get on a soap box about some things....but that is not why we are here!

Life lessons has to be what it means.
1. Treat others as you want to be treated...maybe even better!
2. My mom told me many years ago, don't pray for patience, you WILL be tested!
3. Take time to enjoy the little stuff. (I did this yesterday, then took pictures. I am hoping to blog about it later today before the "freshness" of the experience escapes me.)
4. Hugs make everything better. Hug and hug and hug the ones you love!
5. I am not a pleasant person if I am hungry or tired. So I need to eat and sleep regularly.
6. If you smile at someone, it's super hard for them not to smile back eventually! In medical school, we would drive to the school together. (H had a preschool there, and I would study for my masters in the library while Heath was in class.) There was this one security guard who was just angry and NEVER smiled. We made it our goal to make him smile by the end of the semester. So every time we'd drive on to campus, we would stop, say hi, smile. It only took a week, but he greeted us each morning with a smile...I'm pretty sure we were the only ones!
7. You might not have a tons of friends, and you will be lucky to have a handful of GREAT friends.
8. Love is a choice you make each and every day. I might not like Heath every day, but I do choose to love him every day. Marriage might be started with "love" but it is maintained by good choices.
9. It's easier to do the dishes right after a meal, the food doesn't stick near as bad!
10. Laundry never, ever, ever stops. EVER.

I'm so boring today. I'm sorry I have no "epiphany" for all of you...these are just small lessons that have come to my brain as I type.

Thank you all so much for keeping up with my blog for 24 days! Hope you all have a great day!

Day 23-Favorite vacation

2011-02-15T09:55:00.000-08:00

Favorite Vacation...
This is hard. My favorite Vacation ever? Can I have Categories?

1. Heath and I alone...ITALY! I think I said that earlier in a post on places I've traveled. But, this was so awesome! Many things went into it being the best Vacation ever! It was after kids and without kids. It's hard to get away just the two of us after kids. And, I'd dreamed of it since college. I loved it. Here we are in St. Mark's Square in Venice. We really liked Venice a lot.

2. The Best Family Vacation....DisneyWorld, 2009. In the fall of 2008, Heath told me he wanted to plan a huge trip, the perfect trip to Disney with the kids. He wanted a "reward" for all of us for making it though med school and residency and all the sacrifices our family had to make. We were there for 10 days....it was perfect. I spent a year planning every detail. (If you are looking to plan the perfect vacay to DisneyWorld...please see Tour Guide Mike. I swear on his methods and advice!) This is the cover to our Disney book...which I finished about 2-3 weeks ago. I can't wait to get it in the mail! I used My Magical Place for this page.

3. The most frequented Vacation Spot...outside of Texas...Crested Butte, Colorado. We love CB! It's so fun and quirky, and oh the food!?!? Oh, and the scenery! The Rocky Mountains are fabulously gorgeous! The kids and Heath love to ski, I love to scrap with some hot tea at my side! We also love to sled when there! We (along with my in-laws) leave Thursday night for CB, a long holiday weekend here! I think we promised M a snowman this time (hard with powder, but we'll get it done somehow!) Here is a picture from our trip in January. Credits

I am so very fortunate to be able to vacation! We love love love to travel. We have tried to decide where we want to go on a family, or as a couple next...H and I are trying to talk Heath into Australia. Maybe when the kids are a bit older. I would also love a cruise to Alaska.....a girl can dream right!

Day 22-What's in your makeup bag

2011-02-14T09:50:00.000-08:00

My makeup bag...It's pretty boring! In fact, I don't have a "bag" per-say...I keep it in my drawer. I don't carry makeup in my purse, outside of my lipgloss. Which I totally just remembered, I didn't include in my picture! YIKES!

Okay, so here it is...my make up "bag"

Let's start with the foundation...I use Merle Norman's Luxiva Lasting Foundation. And, seriously, it LASTS...like through swimming in a pool. You get it off with make up remover only. I only wear in on vacations and if I know I have a big long day and I need my make up on at the end of the day. I love this stuff. I wear it at Disney, through water rides and all...never moves. Love it!

On a daily basis I wear Merle Norman's Luxiva Ultra Powder Foundation (Ultra Cream). I also wear it as a powder over the above on big days!

Blush...Mac! Color is Margin (frost).

Eye shadow...OMGoodness...remember this photo? It makes my heart skip a beat!

Okay, So I have 6 eye shadows I wear regularly! They are all Mac...because that is the BEST eye shadow ever. My two "base colors" are... Rice Paper and Jest. The darker colors are Sable, Corduroy, Trax, and Sumptuous Olive. EEEK! I have the 4 pack compact for traveling purposes (and space), but have the goal of expanding tot he 15 pack one!

I also wear Mac eye liner...Duck and a green one that I can't remember the name of.

And, it's important for me to wear mascara! I've worn L'Oreal Voluminous waterproof Black for YEARS! I won't change. period.

I also wear Mac lip gloss...I have about 6 colors, I'm an addict.

I'm sure this information changed each and every one of your lives, but it was fun! :)

Day 21-Picture of yourself

2011-02-13T09:42:00.000-08:00

A picture of me...
This was in the NYC Public Library....we were on our way to the Children's section to see the original Winnie the Pooh stuffed animals. So cool.

My SIL, Holly, took this picture. I'd just bought this head wrap thing...and i love it. I should wear it more!

My Four Hens Actions: Vintage Toner, Silly Nilly, and Wild Mushrooms

And, Pioneer Woman's Quick Edge Burn (with a change of mask color)

Day 20-Nicknames

2011-02-12T09:23:00.000-08:00

Should I be writing about my nicknames or nicknames I have for others? It's about me, so I assume (you know what assuming does? I shouldn't type that on the Internet! LOL)...I assume it should be my nicknames.

My dad has always called me Sweets...he might call both of my sisters this too, so maybe it's just a term of endearment, but I always thought it was a nickname!

My friends in high school called me "HEEther" (who knew I'd later marry someone named Heath?). In fact, we still call each other Koriseetra, Vaniqua, and Heether!?!? Funny.

My sister in law often addresses me as "Haynay."

And truthfully, I think that's about it. Altho, I do get called Mom a lot, but I'm not so sure that is a nickname! ;)

Day 19-Something you miss

2011-02-11T15:50:00.000-08:00

Something I MISS?!?! Really?

I could start with the someones I miss...Every. single. person. in. my. family. Please see this post for pictures of them...we all live around the country...from South Carolina, to Texas, and we are in NM. I miss all of my family so much. I miss my grandfathers too! Each of my kids are like them...Grandad Clyde would have LOVED H! He does things and I think...Oh I wish GC would have seen that! And then M...who was named after my Grandad Wink (her middle name is his last name)...did you know she winked on her first birthday? She was born right after he died, and she totally whistles like him! Isn't it amazing how our kids are like people in our family they never got to meet? (I digress.)

I miss going to all the Baylor football, basketball, and baseball games as a family, but at least we watch them on TV!

Then, we could start with food I miss. OMFoodness!?!? Texas: Pappasitos first and foremost. Waco, Texas: El Con, Leals, Uncle Dan's BBQ, La Fiesta (hello Margaritas!); New York City (brooklyn...bay ridge) Mambo Italiano and the pizza...oh the pizza!!! Arkansas: Larry's Pizza (a completely different type of pizza.)

I also miss my waistline before kids, but even just before Madysen!?!

I miss the carefreeness (pretty sure that is not a word) of my childhood in Bronte, Texas. We had so much fun, running around with no cares in the world except were those dogs going to chase us on our bike ride to school!?!? Oh the fun time as a little girl in a little bity West Texas town...and I mean LITTLE!?!? (900 people or so) But it was full of life!

I miss playing volleyball in high school with Kori, Anne, Michelle, and Angie! We had some good times friends.

I miss long talks with Vanessa! We had some doozies...and still do when we are able to connect!

I miss seeing my Krewe and eating second breakfasts EVERY SINGLE DAY in NYC! I also miss going to Penn Station and getting my coffee, but not have to order it b/c they knew what I wanted.

I really miss the kids going back and forth from our house to the Phillips' in AR. Wow...really miss it. I miss picking them up and meaning to stay for 3 minutes, but spending 3 hours talking with Karen! I miss our Christmas Caroling and the snow days playing outside!

I miss the smell of H and M when they were babies! They were GOOD babies! I miss them also calling me "Mommy;" they have both progressed to Mom.

I seriously could go on and on, but I don't want to bore you!??!?!

I'm now in tears missing everyone!

Day 18-Something you regret

2011-02-10T09:23:00.000-08:00

I truly try to not live with regrets...Things happen for a reason.

I am usually filled with regret with things I say to the ones I love the most. If Heath and I have a fight, I have regret with how I treated him or things I said to him.

Or when I lose my temper with the kids...I usually regret not having self control.

Those are my kinds of regrets. I don't have regrets in my life, except for maybe the regret that I should have studied harder in college!?!

Day 17-Something you're looking forward to

2011-02-09T08:09:00.000-08:00

Something I look foward to...is a long list. Heck, I look forward to tonight to watch Baylor Basketball on tv! LOL...

Here is my list off the top of my head--I just realized (after proofreading) that all of these are travel related!

Presidents Day weekend, my in-laws come and we are going to Crested Butte...my kids and men will ski while Molly and I scrap the days away!?!?
Spring Break Baby! We are headed on a Disney cruise! And, my baby girl turns 6!!! WOW!
Heath and I are going to Vegas for my birthday!
April 21 or 22, I'll head to Texas to welcome my new nephew into this world!?!?
June: Hunter goes to the greatest camp in the world! Kanakuk!

Those are just the ones for the next few months. I live my life looking forward to things, and seriously, some things are super silly and small....like taking a picture of one of my kids! Or a Science Fair project being finished! Or a weekend that Heath doesn't have to work. I'm simple to please, seriously!

Day 16-Dream house

2011-02-08T08:41:00.000-08:00

Dream House...well I have a dream house...and it's in Arkansas. Heath and I found it his first year of residency when we were driving around looking at houses one Sunday afternoon. (Please tell me other people do this!) At one time did have pictures...That was two computer crashes ago, so I need to see if I still do...be right back...

Well, it doesn't look like I have them any longer, but truth be told, I have it ingrained in my brain! We went back over and over to look at it because we loved it so much.

The problem with finding a dream house, you compare every house you look at to it! In fact, when we look lots here in NM, I actually place that house in the lot, will it work here? What is so special about this house that you don't even get to see?
-the KITCHEN!?!? OMGoodness! It was HUGE and beautiful! Dark cabinets, granite countertops.
-the hardwood floors
-it was two story, but the bottom floor was where all the kids bedrooms and extra living area was.
-the top story was the living, dining, kitchen, laundry, master, guest room.
-from the front of the yard, it looked like a 1 story house! From the back it was two story. It was super super cool.

I won't complain! We have an awesome house here in NM! I love my house....and have you seen my views? How about waking up to this every morning...I AM BLESSED!

Day 15-Bible verse

2011-02-07T07:10:00.000-08:00

Exodus 14:14 The Lord will fight for you; Just stay calm.

I figure I don't really need to comment about it. It's self explanatory.

And a second one...
Galations 5:22-23 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-controll.

Day 14-A picture you love

2011-02-05T19:47:00.002-08:00

Well, we already did favorite pictures...not sure what the difference is, but I'll pick the most recent one I took, that I love!?!?

We took this on our second snow day this week, right after sledding!?!? I even did a page with the pictures on Thursday night at a speed scrap!!

Publish Post

Day 13-Goals

2011-02-05T19:47:00.000-08:00

I've got to tell you...and maybe you already know this...I'm not one to sit down and "set" goals...even though I am totally a planner! Maybe I have goals, but since I don't write them down, I figure I don't have them!?!? I think I have short term goals more than long term goals.
1. "Create" is my One Little Word this year...I do have a goal of "Creating" moments, and memories, and scrapping things.
2. I have a goal of getting the house cleaned every Thursday for the weekend! (doesn't always happen)
3. I want to replace the ceramic tiles and carpet with wood floors in our great room. Oh, and the tile on the counters with granite...not looking promising any time soon!?!
4. I want to play golf well...like so that my dad takes me golfing when I visit and isn't embarrassed by my play. Maybe we can enter a mixed tourney one day even!
5. I want to visit Australia and New Zealand...oh and take a cruise to Alaska! It's a goal...not just a want! he he.

How's that!?!

How he's grown!?!?

2011-02-04T15:18:00.000-08:00

Day 3 of the Joy of Love challenge was "How they've grown and changed."

And now for some background...
H just finished the entire Harry Potter series. I'm super proud because he's only in the fourth grade and hates to read. So even though, at times, it's been like pulling teeth to get him to read, he finished the entire series...and that's no little feat! Heath and I both love HP!??! I've even stood in line at midnight for new releases...we were at the Universal Studios on opening day for the Wizarding World of HP...though that was luck in timing. :) But, needless to say, we love Harry Potter!

Yesterday, I had already planned to take some kind of picture of H with all the books...and then I got this assignment. I remembered right after I took the pictures that I had this picture of him from a trip to Barbados with my little sister WITH a HP book when he was just like 18 months old!?!? How lucky was I that all of this would happen on the same day! And, that 8 or 9 years ago, that little picture that I just happened to save, would come in handy for this assignment...some would say fate! LOL

Anyway, here is my assignment for Day 3. I really love it!

OMGoodness he was a cute baby with that near white hair!??! Makes a Mommy tear up a bit! Tonight is a super special treat...b/c he finally finished the books...Heath and I are taking H and a friend to see HP7 the movie!??! I'm so happy he finished it before it was out of theaters! Of course, Heath and I have already seen it, but we're happy to see it again!

Day 12-What you believe

2011-02-04T14:41:00.000-08:00

What I believe...I only know one way to answer this.

I believe in Jesus.
I believe He died for my sins b/c I'm far from perfect!
I believe He forgives me and loves me unconditionally. (and everyone else.)
I believe I'm supposed to live by the fruits of the spirit such as gentleness, kindness, love, patience, etc.
I believe I'm supposed to treat others as I want to be treated.
I believe in I'm third (Kanakuk's motto)

God First
Others Second
I'm Third

I think this just about sums it up. I have no idea how else to answer this. I DO Believe!

a new favorite quote

2011-02-03T13:56:00.000-08:00

I had to share this...I just heard it from Marlee Matlin while watching the end of The Talk .

Courage + Dreams = Success.

I love love love this quote, and I had to share it. It is so very very true...Apparently, I am into repeating words for emphasis today!

Day 11-Favorite TV shows

2011-02-03T08:57:00.000-08:00

I love TV, we have 2 DVRs and use them both...I saw someone else's post this morning, and she did it by day of the week. I'm sorry that I can't remember who at this point. But, I'm copying her!?!?

Sunday:
NFL Football
Brothers and Sisters

Monday:
Chuck
Hawaii 5-0
Castle

Tuesday:
NCIS
NCIS-LA
Good Wife (this is one of my top favorites! The script, acting, actors, awesome!)

Wednesday:
we don't watch much, sometimes basketball and others Minute to Win It
Survivor...it'll be on soon. I've watched it for years, love it!

Thursday:
Big Bang Theory (I've just discovered this, but am about to watch on Netflix so I can catch up)
Mentalist (I LOVE Simon Baker! L.O.V.E.)
Grey's Anatomy
Private Practice

Friday:
The Defenders (love this new court drama!)

I guess we don't watch any shows on Saturdays. ha! (Outside of College Game Day during football season)

Nearly Daily I watch: (when I catch them, not religiously)
Today Show (love Hoda and Kathie Lee the most)
The Talk
Young and the Restless
Jeopardy
Wheel of Fortune

I have to tell you...I MISS my favorite show, probably of all time...Friends. Every once in a while, I will catch it on rerun, and it just makes me sad because I miss it!

Joy of Love

2011-02-02T13:29:00.000-08:00

Is it crazy of me to take on one more thing? Of course!?!? But, I'm working on "Create" as my One Little Word, and I've been drawn to all these different ideas so I can create!?!?

I love photography. I'm getting better and better too. So, I'm taking another challenge, just for the month of Feb. My commitment is the photos, not posting here every day, but it might happen!?!?

On my friend, Sarah's, blog, I learned about this. You can learn more about Joy of Love if you want to, but essentially, I am sent a "prompt" every day of Feb. Your photos are to focus on who you love. So, who do I love? Well, that's an easy question!?!? I L.O.V.E. Heath, H, and M!?!? They will be the focus on my photos. Some days might be just one of them, some two, and if I'm lucky....all three!?!?

So, day one's prompt was "What they do" and day two's "How they look."

Day One: I got lucky. We have so many pictures of what we did yesterday with the snow! So, I'm going to choose a photo of something from yesterday!?!?
I HAD to run an action on it--mostly because I just bought some fabulous new actions from My Four Hens and they make me swoon!?!? I used "Vintage Color" on this one...SWOON!?!?

I love this picture because it shows the kids drinking their Chai tea after we built our snowman. Though they might not drink Chai tea every day, they do eat their snacks right there at our counter/bar! I love that!

Day Two: I read about this just minutes before Heath was heading out the door for work. He won't be back till after midnight (Please pLease let me be asleep!). Here are my three loves...well four, that chair is absolutely fabulous!?!? (Dang it, I just downloaded it from the camera and sadly only H is in focus!?!? What do you do? Use it anyway b/c it shows my flaws and growth!)

Well, I guess that's all for today!

Day 10-Something you're afraid of

2011-02-02T08:07:00.000-08:00

I was raised to live without fear...as much as possible. Don't get me wrong. I get anxious about things, and I truly am scared of snakes, but I try not to THINK about and harp on things that I'm afraid of. I was the sister who checked the closets at night to make sure there wasn't a monster in them...I guess I've always been this way. So maybe I wasn't raised this way, maybe I was born this way.

More than anything, I am afraid of something happening to any of my family...but especially Heath and the kids. It's as simple as that.

And, I really don't want to burn in a fire or drown. Those both make me a little queasy.

I guess other than that, I try not to think about bad things happening that make me afraid.

Oh, but I am very conscious of someone not liking me...I'm afraid of rejection. So, there you go! I am afraid. :)

I interupt this challenge to bring you....

2011-02-01T11:16:00.000-08:00

a SNOW DAY!?!? We have snow...and the kids are at home. I even got to participate in a Speed Scrap, where I made this page of our snowman building experience!?!? (It is hard to build a snowman with dry snow!)

credits

Day 9-A picture of your friends

2011-02-01T08:01:00.000-08:00

Once again...a picture? Am I supposed to have all of my friends together in one place? There is no possible way, none! They don't live in the same place!?!?

Okay, So we'll go in order of time...

This is Kelley, also knows as KK! We became besties in Jr. High!?!? Sadly, she moved in 9th grade, but we've always stayed in touch! (I can't find a picture of us together.)

Next is Vanessa (middle) and Kori (right)! This is us at dinner this summer. We get together when I go back to Texas, unless one of is sick like Xmas! Altho Kori and I did get together, V was just sick.

And, I am sad that I don't have a picture of all of the Krewe...those are my friends that I had in NYC. We all worked together, but can't all seem to get together at the same time!?!?

Here is most of us...only missing a couple. Here we had rented a house in upstate NY. I lived in AR then, I think most everyone else still lived in NY area except Jenny. I can't remember. It was 2008, weekend of the Super Bowl when the Giants beat the Pats!

(from left to right...me, Sara, Geren, Amy, Karen, Jenny, Tracey)

And this is the Pod...we all worked in the same pod at McGraw Hill. We were loud. very loud. Amy, Geren, and I are godmother's to Tracey's son, A...he's adorable! Maybe there will be a post where I can include him!

(me, Geren, Tracey, Amy)

And finally, one of my favorite friends from our time in Arkansas...we are hoping that we will be inlaws one day when her youngest son marries M. M is already planning the wedding, I kid you not! Karen and I had many a talks while the kids played and swam. I was so lucky to meet her the first day that we were looking at houses there! We were instant friends. Love her!

(Karen and H...M's future hubby!)

I guess that's about it!?!? I'm a lucky lucky girl!?!?

Day 8-A place you've traveled to

2011-01-31T16:29:00.000-08:00

Travel...well, I do love to travel.

I guess today I'll follow the rules. A Place I've traveled to...my dream vacation that Heath took me on? Italy!?!?

My picture on the side bar is of us in Assissi.

Heath promised me, when we were in college, that he'd take me to Italy, and 15+ years later he did! We went in April...and I loved it! Here are a few pictures of our trip...

The Colosseum

Lucca

Pisa

The Pope

The Spanish Steps

Trevvi Fountain

The Vatican

Assissi

Florence

Venice

Day 7-Favorite movies

2011-01-30T09:52:00.000-08:00

I love movies. Heath and I play movie trivia with songs and quotes. We watch at least a movie a day through Netflix, Directv, or iTunes! ha!?!? And, of course, I have a handful of favorite movies. I like nearly every type of movie, but NO scary movies in our house! I just don't get why people like to be scared.) And to actually name and identify them is a bit harder for me!

I'll start with movies that came to my brain immediately..because I watch them over and over again with no hesitation:

The Holiday (I own this movie and watched it at least 5 times over the Xmas holiday season. Kate Winslet is one of my favorites!)

Sense and Sensibility (I think it has something to do with a love story with three sister...and guess who plays the middle sister?!?! LOL)

And, I have to include Disney Movies!?!?

Sleeping Beauty

But, I REALLY fell in love with Princess and the Frog and it's music! LOVE!

The Blindside (I just love this story!)

Remember the Titans (I told you I love football!)

Giant (My mom was in this movie as a little girl and I've always loved watching it!?!)

And, the last one I'll pick is...

Fried Green Tomatoes

I really do not like having to pick favorite movies...because I like a lot of movies. It might depend on my mood!?!? If I posted this tomorrow, it might be a different list! Heath and I just saw "No Strings Attached" and I laughed till my sides hurt-great movie, not suitable for kids tho! I also like mystery type movies...I watched Sixth Sense again the other night and forgot what a great movie it was!?!? So, please know...these movies just scratch the service on my love of movies!?!?

Day 6-A picture of something that makes you happy

2011-01-29T09:40:00.000-08:00

A picture? A PICTURE!?!? I'm gonna have to have more than one b/c I love pictures. I take tons of pictures and can't just pick one!?!? That's insane!

I have limited myself...I really could do so many more, but I used my Photo Cluster template and chose 7 photos! these are the first seven that I came across from the past year and thought...oh I LOVE that picture!Please note, I needed about 30 more just from the past year!

(Going from top to bottom, left to right)
1. The kids waiting on Mom and Dad's stairs to see what Santa brought them Christmas morning 2010.
2. My nephew LG at the Christmas Eve service...he wanted to collect the candles and light them all.
3. Mac eye shadow (taken my SIL Holly). I LOVE Mac. This picture makes my heart go pitter-patter.
4. Heath, H, and M skiing in Crested Butte last Spring Break. Love this picture!
5. Lucca, Italy...I loved these bikes lined up in the street.
6. M and LG at the Suspension Bridge horse sculptures in Waco. I love this photo, especially with this photo action!
7. H and M taking pics in their Rangers jersey. We did a special photo shoot after they made it to the World Series. So fun!

LG made it twice...he took some great photos for me this Christmas. Sorry to my other nieces and nephews...I probably had some, just had to limit myself! See, and now I'm feeling guilty...please refer back to #13 in Day 1!?!? LOL

And now since I'm feeling guilty, I've decided to post two of my favorite pics from each side of the family from the past year. Jeez, I'm ridiculous!

Lee family at Disney minus Heath and my BIL Jay.

Nay family at Downtown Disney minus Sam and Molly!

Until tomorrow...

Day 5-Your favorite recipes

2011-01-28T12:45:00.000-08:00

Oh jeez, this is hard. I cook a lot. I love to cook, and I love to try new recipes!

Since we are working on eating healthier, should I post healthy recipes? Should I post family favorites? Easy ones? The pressure of a recipe!

I'm starting with my mom's trash...Texas Trash! I'm not sure why this went to my brain first, but it did. Here is a picture of it...when I made it for Xmas. (M took this picture!?!?)

So, I guess you'd like the recipe.

1 box each: wheat, rice, and corn chex cereal, cheerios
1 bag of straight pretzels
mixed nuts (these can be left out b/c of allergies or hatred of nuts)

mix all of this together in two large pans. (this is my turkey roaster.)

Sauce:
1 lb. margarine (yes that is POUND)
1 c Crisco oil
3 teaspoons Worcestershire
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon red pepper
1/2 box accent
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon of seasoning salt
2 teaspoon Tabasco

Mix and heat sauce until margarine melts. Pour over cereal and stir well.
Put in oven heated to 220 degrees. Cook for 2 hours, stir every 20 minutes!

YUM!?!?

Heather's Famous Chicken (well, not so famous, but my family totally loves it and ALWAYS eats it. It's my go-to recipe in a pinch.)

chicken tenderloins (frozen or fresh)--not breaded.
Olive Oil (or grapeseed)
Balsamic Vinegar

In a nonstick skillet, drizzle olive or grapeseed oil. Place chicken in pan and drizzle balsamic vinegar over it. Cook on medium heat, turning chicken so ask not to burn.

I serve it with a wide array of green veggies and even mac and cheese.

And my grandma's Chili

1.5 pounds of ground beef or turkey
28 oz. can of diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
5 Tablespoons flour (if turkey, only 2)
3 Tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt

Cook meat, drain fat, then add dry ingredients. Stir well. Add tomatoes and sauce, plus one can (tomato sauce size) of water. Simmer till warm.

Serve with fritos, rice, sour cream, cheese, or anything else you want. It's not spicy, if you like spice, add cayenne pepper or Tabasco!

Let's see...another one that is way more healthy. And, you may have already seen it on here.

Cilantro Lime Chicken

I guess I'll stop here, though I could go on and on!?!?

Day 4-Your parents

2011-01-27T08:50:00.000-08:00

My Parents: Ronnie and Kreta

This picture is from our trip to DisneyWorld in December. It was so cold!?!? We were at Rope Drop at Epcot on the first morning!

What can I say about my parents? I'm not sure if I'm supposed to tell you about who they are or just about how great they are!?!?

I gave a couple of hints about my parents in Day 1's 15 interesting facts. I'm more like my dad in my overall personality. When a situation is tough or stressful, we both decide joke telling is the best solution! My dad was the perfect daddy for 3 girls. He's sweet and understanding, and a cuddler. I love a good hug from my daddy. He taught us all about sports, maybe to his annoyance now!?!?

My mom and I are both middle daughters of 3...which brings certain "birth order" resemblances. My two sisters are more like her in personality traits, but I get my stubbornness from her!?!? And, my "I only like to follow rules if I don't think they are stupid." She has an incredible work ethic...has the #1 consignment store, Another Season, in Waco!?!? (voted by the readers of the Waco Trib) She's also a perfectionist, me not so much!

Anyway, there are some awesome lessons that I learned from my parents.
1. Live by the fruits of the spirit. If you live with love, gentleness, kindness, patience, peace, self-control, etc. you will be living like Christ. And, people will be drawn to you...and that will be your witness. Not that I am good at any of these, patience is a weakness for me...and I'm not always gentle! But, I do try.
2. Love unconditionally. period.
3. You CHOOSE to love your spouse everyday. There will be days you don't like them very much, but you can choose to love them.
4. Family first...you sacrifice whatever you need to for your family. Family time together is the most important to build relationships (even if it's just lying on the bed laughing together!).

Thanks Mom and Dad for all you've done for me and how much you've loved me! So thankful you are MY parents!

Day 3-Your first love

2011-01-26T07:53:00.000-08:00

This is an easy one!?!?

My first love is my only love...I know I'm lucky.

Heath and I in Italy (our dream vacation) in April

At the age of 18, I had just graduated from high school, was getting ready to go off to college at Baylor. That summer, my family headed to DisneyWorld for a family vacation...it was a great summer! In August, like 2 weeks before going to school (I can't say off to school b/c Baylor was 10 whole miles from my parents.), I met Heath! You won't believe where...well, I say where, we knew each other in high school--or knew who the other was. We were country dancing...you know Texas 2-stepping, good stuff. We ended up talking most of the night. I can't even remember is we danced, but I'm sure we did. We met at Elk Hall. I dare you to go look up Elk, Texas. ha!

And, I swear, it was within a week, that I knew I would spend my life with him.

We were married 4 years later, not out of college yet. Yes, we were young! We've gone through half of our lives together and wouldn't change that fact! We've gone through ups and downs....moved all over the place, etc. But, I can honestly say, I love him more now than ever! I was blessed the day I met you, Heath!?!? (i hope you are reading this since I just spoke to you directly! LOL)

5 reasons I love Heath...
1. He loves me no matter what I do. He has unconditional love.
2. He modeled one of the most important character qualities to our children...perserverance. He has shown them an incredible work ethic and commitment through medical school and residency.
3. He loves to have fun and get silly with me and the kids. We love to laugh together.
4. He wants everyone around him to be happy, and usually makes sure they are, before he worries about himself being happy.
5. He helps me reach my full potential and ready my dreams and goals.

Day 2-Meaning behind your blog name

2011-01-24T23:35:00.000-08:00

Yikes!!!
I should start off that I am ever-evolving. So, in order to tell you the meaning behind my blog name, I need to tell you the story of How I got here!?!

First, my design name is Haynay. That name came from teaching 2nd grade. I had this sweet student, William. One Spring day, he was standing in the bus line, and I was walking by. He yells at me "Hey Nay!" I turn around and say "Hey William!" He looked completely astonished, like you could push him over with a feather! "Why are you surprised?" I asked. "I've wanted to say that to you all year! I love that your names rhymes with HEY! But, I thought you'd be mad." was his response. Needless to say, he said it to me every single morning for the remainder of the school year. It stuck for so much longer than that school year--my sister-in-law, Holly, actually calls me Haynay as opposed to Heather most days of the week. I will remember him always for courage. (I did change the spelling for more continuity!)

So, my first blog was haynay...but it turned into my design blog, where I didn't really want to SHARE personal information.

Last year, 2010, I desired to start a new blog for my P365..which obviously didn't make it through the year. That blog then turned into to me just sharing personal stories and events. I've been wanting to revamp "2010 with the Nays" or "The Nays in 2010" to something different b/c it's obviously not 2010 anymore!?!?!

I left the URL the same, but changed the "title" of the blog to "Nay-sayers!" HA!?!? What would you put with Nay...it's so negative and depressing of a word--not a name!?!? I decided to go with Nay-sayers to represent what I am saying to the world.

Jeez, I talk way too much!

I forgot an important fact

2011-01-24T14:05:00.000-08:00

Can I add 16?

16. I hate cleaning. I'm the worst housekeeper ever. That is all.

(and if I needed to delete one of the above so I can add this, it would be #12. I hate cleaning more than i love chick flix. Well that was easy.)

Day 1-Introduce, recent picture, 15 interesting facts

2011-01-24T09:07:00.000-08:00

Howdy! I'm pretty sure that is the official greeting from the state of Texas! LOL...I no longer live in Texas, but was born and raised there and am definitely a native Texan! :)

An introduction...
...my name is Heather! I am wife to Heath, mom to H and M, WAHM (work at home mom--I design digital scrapbook products and when jobs come, freelance write elementary curriculum!), friend, sister, daughter, and overall Big Fat Dork! Like I said in my first paragraph, I am a native Texan, but live in Albuquerque now. I have no idea what else i need to include in an introduction b/c anything else I include would take away some of the interesting facts below!??!

A recent picture...a few days ago I posted a picture of myself for my OLW album, I won't repost it, but I had another picture taken that day as we were playing in the snow in Crested Butte, that picture is the one I decided on!?!?

Isn't it fun!??! I used the Hipstamatic app on my iPhone. Love that app!

Seriously, I have no idea how I'm coming up with 15 interesting facts about me....that is going to be crazy hard!?!? And sadly, I'm not sure if I'm a creative, funny enough writer to hold your attention to get through all 15!?!?! But "Here we GOOOOoooo...." (think Peter Pan here!)

1. Heath and I met right after I got out of high school and got married during college...can I say our GPAs went sky high. We've been married for 14 years and 27 days. I can't believe he still puts up with me.
2. Since 2000, I have had 2 babies, lived in 2 countries and 4 states, put my husband through med school, and residency, got my masters in education, started 2 new careers, and learned how to take pictures with my Canon EOS 20D in manual settings!?!?
3. For some reason, I function at a speed that at least doubles most people's natural speed. I get things done at a rapid rate, though not always perfect, it's usually correct! I have learned to slow down on many things I do. Because of this, most of my friends I get a freakishly large amount of things done in a day.
4. I have a serious addiction to Dr. Pepper. Please don't suggest I drink diet, it's gross! Since I am on a diet now, it's been 6 days since my last drink. I look forward to one at a later date.
5. I am not a girly girl, but not a tom-boy. I nearly hate the color pink, but birthed a little girl who thinks pink is the bees knees. I even painted her entire room pink a few months ago, nearly vomiting the entire time!?!?
6. Speaking of colors...I love color. I think, well, I'm pretty sure that i see colors differently than many people, most really. I have color memories...where I can match a color without having it with me, even weeks after seeing it. I am very color sensitive and when combinations are put together that are not pleasing to my eye, I almost have a physical reaction...and always a verbal one!
7. I love office supplies...just ask anyone who has ever worked in an office with me. I can hoard post it notes and sharpies if I don't watch it. It's all illness I'm certain.
8. I have 2 sisters...I'm the insensitive one. Just ask anyone. I'm also the funny one- get that from my dad. I'm much more funny in person than on the computer. Sarcasm is my comedy of choice-which doesn't come across well through digital media. Robyn is my older sister...so glad she's pregnant right now instead of me!?!?! She's also BRILLIANT and totally in tune with everyone around her. It's quite amazing. Amber is my baby sister...so glad she will have a baby sometime after Robyn to keep my baby holding needs in check so I won't want another one! She just got married in June, so it's coming someday. She is super SWEET, has not one mean bone in her body. She just finished her MBA, completing the masters trifecta that my parent's raised. All three of us girls got our masters!?! She also just started a new job...and lives in Charleston where Southwest is starting to fly to! WOO HOO! Oh my that was a long one.
9. I have also "adopted" two more sisters...Holly, my sister in law, is like a sister to me. Love her so much, she makes me laugh often, though not as much as I make her laugh!?!? The second is my only girl cousin, Jenni!?!? I LOVE me some Jenni! We are those cousins who would visit each other for a week at a time during the summer, and play and play and play. We are very much alike and I just enjoy her company.
10. Sports...I love sports. I love football the most, specifically college ball...I am a Dallas Cowboys fan! Even though we stunk up the field this year, I still love them!?!? It was watching them on Sunday afternoons with my dad that I learned all about football. Also, I love watching my Baylor Bears in any sport! This past year, I was fortunate enough to take the kids to Houston to watch them play in the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight! So proud...we also went to the Texas Bowl...our first bowl game since I was a jr. at Baylor! WOW!! Also love me some college baseball, and the Texas Rangers. We had a blast watching them get to the World Series this year! I also know more than most girls about sports in general...I love watching ESPN and obtaining crazy stupid facts. I love personal stories of athletes too. I'm a sports nerd. (In fact, we have Direct TV for NFL network and the ability to get all games of March Madness.)
11. I come from a long line of work-a-holics--on my mom's side. These women are also STRONG, which i love. I was raised knowing that I could do anything in the world that I put my mind to! My mom was an incredible example to me on working hard for what you want. I think my problem is that I don't always know what I want!
12. I love chick flicks. LOVE. My favorites are: Ever After, You've Got Mail, the Holiday, the Proposal, Hope Floats, and so many more! Love them!
13. Are you bored yet? I totally am one of those people who wants everyone to like me and approve of me. I do not want people to be disappointed in me, or not like me. I have a joke with my mother in law "I just want people to like me!?!?" I like helping people...so if you need help, let me know, just give me some notice...which leads to 14...
14. I need time to adjust. I can be flexible, it's just not immediate. I need time to come to terms of my plans not working out or needing to change. I might need to complain about it to. But, once I get over my own issues, I'm happy to change plans!?!? Prior Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance....This is actually my father-in-law's motto, but I have embrased it. It was natural for me to adopt. I like to plan my days, planning my errand "route" around the city to make the fastest possible time, we wont' even talk about my obsession in vacation planning...i'm a planner, I can't help it!
15. I love my family. Like LOVE my family. I would do anything for them, give anything to them. Although, because I'm not super affectionate and am "insensitive" it's not super obvious. But, overall, I would give a kidney to any of them...and probably any of my friends too. I am super loyal and a mama bear. Don't be hurting anyone I love because it won't be pretty what comes out of me if you do!

See, I told you I was boring. Those probably aren't the facts that you were looking for. They are weird and crazy, but I guess, that's who I am. I can't wait to get deeper into this challenge! I hope you enjoyed reading about me...I really do...see number 13!?!? Have a great day and I'll see you tomorrow!??!

Tomorrow's the day

2011-01-23T12:05:00.000-08:00

Okay, I think there might be several ladies joining me for "30 days!" Tomorrow is my first post! So excited to get started.

We have done very little this weekend, but this is the big thing that happened:

Heath had a small wreck in my car; luckily, no one was hurt! He was in the car by himself, so that's good! Monday, I'll probably be getting a rental car until we figure out what's going to happen with "Eve."

Eve was named after Eve on Wall-E. I teased Heath when I got to the accident sight that she's gone from Eve to Wall-e!?!? LOL

Hope you all have a great day! I'll be watching some football, relaxing on the couch, scrapping some pages, folding some laundry, and who knows what else!

I'm late to the party...that's nothing new

2011-01-21T12:09:00.000-08:00

I've been totally enjoying Adrienne's 31 Flavors Blog posts in January! Age is my baby sister's BFF from high school. So, I've known her for a while now! And, she's inspired me to...wait for it...

CREATE a better blog!?!? Ha ha!

So, the first thing I'm going to do is "30 Days!"

Here is a bit of a run-down...now let's see if I can actually get this done! LOL

Day 1-Introduce, recent picture, 15 interesting facts

Day 2-Meaning behind your blog name

Day 3-Your first love

Day 4-Your parents

Day 5-Your favorite recipes

Day 6-A picture of something that makes you happy

Day 7-Favorite movies

Day 8-A place you've traveled to

Day 9-A picture of your friends

Day 10-Something you're afraid of

Day 11-Favorite TV shows

Day 12-What you believe

Day 13-Goals

Day 14-A picture you love

Day 15-Bible verse

Day 16-Dream house

Day 17-Something you're looking forward to

Day 18-Something you regret

Day 19-Something you miss

Day 20-Nicknames

Day 21-Picture of yourself

Day 22-What's in your makeup bag

Day 23-Favorite vacation

Day 24-Something you've learned

Day 25-Put your iPod on shuffle, first 10 songs

Day 26-Picture of your family

Day 27-Pets

Day 28-Something that stresses you out

Day 29-3 Wishes

Day 30-a picture

Age started on Jan 1, so thus me being super behind, but I've decided I can start whenever I want! ;) I'm starting soon, very soon....let's say Monday. (My reasoning is I have to take the kids skiing on Sat, football on Sun, so Mon. should be okay!?!? Plus maybe I'll be feeling better by then!)

So anyone want to join me? Just put your blog addy in the comments and I'll follow you too!

My January Project for OLW

2011-01-19T15:10:00.000-08:00

We went to Crested Butte this weekend, where Heath sat around the cabin sick as can be! (And now, I'm sitting at home with the same sickness. uuugggg)

While in CB, I worked on my January project assignment for One Little Word with Ali Edwards! Take a look at my picture...to signify the beginning of the year. I took this on Sunday with Fiona...my Mac! (using Photo Booth!) Then, I ran an action or two on it, and added the border Ali supplied us with.

Then, I finished my "create" introduction....I defined it, gave a quote, used a thesaurus to learn more about my word. And, I also did a couple of "creative" boxes!

I'm so excited to CREATE this year!

Creative

2011-01-16T08:41:00.000-08:00

So, I found this quote yesterday on Paint the Moon.

"To be Creative is to be in love with life. You can be creative only if you love life enough that you want to enhance it's beauty, you want to bring a little more music to it, a little more poetry to it, a little more dance to it." -Osho

I wanted to save it for my "One Little Word" book so why not share it with you and save it for me! Have a blessed and creative day!

One Little Word

2011-01-13T14:20:00.000-08:00

I decided to NOT make New Year's Resolutions this year...

What I AM doing is "One Little Word." I learned about this from Ali Edwards. She a scrappin' guru that I adore! I want to be like her. She's such the "Everyday" kinda gal! Very cool...anyway. She offers a "online class" with One Little Word too. Truthfully, I haven't decided if I will take it yet, but am leaning toward doing it.

My OLW is "CREATE."

Create? you ask...don't you create all the time. And, my answer is, sorta. I feel as though my creativity is just touching the surface! I think there is so much more out there for me to reach.

I was telling a group of friends today about it and wrote the following...but am expanding it more for you...or maybe for me!

I always create, but I want to really take it to heart! I want not only to create scrapbook stuff, but really want to create this year!

I want to create a warm home, decorated beautifully, where everyone is comfy and accepted. I want it to be a mirror to Heath and my personality. To really reflect who we are and what we love.

I want to create happiness for myself. I can only worry about my happiness, not
Heath's, not my kids', not my sisters', my parents', etc. I am responsible for mine. I believe happiness comes from within. And, I need to focus on making myself better...and there are many places for me to start!

I want to create a healthier me. I need to lose about 15-20 pounds. Don't we all!?!?! I need to start working out regularly, no matter how much I truly hate it! I am going to start cooking much more healthy for my family, etc.

I want to create memories for my kids that they will treasure always...even if it's teaching H long
division. ya know? I want them to remember the everyday...in fact, I need to focus on the every day more and not so much on the BIG stuff!

I want to create photographs....really good photos. And, I want to look through my camera lens in a
different way. I want to take pictures of everyday happenings around my house, even if the house is a mess!

These are just a few things. I wanted to share with the world I guess!

What a weekend!

2010-12-05T21:55:00.000-08:00

We had a great weekend in Crested Butte!

We had a great dinner once we FINALLY got there! Long long drive...

{credits}

Then Saturday Heath and I took the kids to ski school...then we went to McGills to have Eggs Benedict. It was great relaxing around the cabin all day! But first...I had so much fun playing with my camera and all the settings I have learned about in my Photograph Classes at Jessica Sprague. Anyway....here is my page.

{credits}

We drove home tonight after Heath, H and M skied this morning. We are blessed to have a place to go!

6 weeks later!?!?

2010-12-02T21:09:00.000-08:00

What have I been doing for 6 weeks (besides being a stinky blogger!)...outside of going to Texas for Baylor homecoming, being in charge of Digital Scrap Day at ScrapMatters, releasing several new kits and products, being a mom, going to NYC with my in-laws, cooking T'giving dinner, and watching football and now basketball!?!? OMGoodness!

I cannot believe it's the last month of 2010!?!?! Where has the year gone?

Well, I have started a little project for December. Altho, I'm not sure why at all, seriously!?!? But, I'm doing Daily December. I learned about it from Ali Edwards. And, then some gals at ScrapMatters were doing it, so I jumped on board! Eeek...the good news is...I'm 1/12 of the way done...give or take 1 day! Daily December is a record of 25 days of Christmas...in my house. I want to appreciate the season! There gets to be so much going on...it makes you slow down and appreciate Christmas!?!?

So, I started yesterday by giving the kids their advent cards and reading the Christmas story together. Here is my page. {credits}

Today, Heath and I finished putting up our tree...we did most of it last night, but hadn't gotten the angel on top....which by the way, was on one of the trees at our wedding, so it's super special to me. She's so pretty! And, my page today. {credits}

I'm going to try to do my best to get this album done....which might be hard since the kiddos and i leave in 11 days to meet my family at Disney!?!? YIKES!

The Laundry Room

2010-10-18T18:20:00.000-07:00

So, i've had the goal for weeks of getting my laundry room back in functioning order. I've been stacking things in the "lockers" and on the counters...it was sick really. So, today, I worked on it. I even bought a rug, a cool container for my laundry detergent, and little "chalkboard" place cards that were on clearance to label each of the coat hooks in the locker area. I think it's cute, or at least for a laundry room!

Seasonal Decor...

2010-10-17T19:33:00.000-07:00

Am I the only person in the blog-world that doesn't do Halloween decor? I mean truth...the only thing about Halloween I like is the dressing up and pumpkins....oh, and the candy corn! I'm not into skulls and skeletons, witches and brew, gravestones and ghosts. Am I the only one that doesn't want this depressing stuff around my house to look at all the time?

I don't let my kids dress up in scary costumes, no witches, gremlins, not even the "black" spiderman costume! I like the cheerful stuff around here!

My fall decor this year consists of a basket on my coffee table with some fall veggies like pumpkins and squash...and the truth is, I'm completely hapy with that! (and this isn't a great picture of it either!)

I'll save my re-decorating my house for Christmas...and that will happen before T'giving! LOL

What to do on a sick day...

2010-10-14T10:03:00.000-07:00

So, M is still sick. She has a throat infection, and I cannot get her fever to go away! So for two days, we've snuggled in the big chair, watched tv and movies...gotta love it. I probably should get the dishes done, but instead, I did a speed scrap this morning. I love the page that I ended up with! I used JennCk's Everyday Wishes. She's guesting this month at SM and I love this kit! So beautiful! (oh, and my fav templates...WM[Squared]'s Got Curves V2)

I took these pictures of Madysen last week at the park. I am taking this photography class at Jessica Sprague and wanted to play with the manual setting. I think they turned out okay, might be a little dark, but I'm loving this page I did with them! Thanks for looking!

What a day...my mom's birthday!

2010-10-12T21:14:00.000-07:00

Goodness, the past couple of weeks have gone quickly! I'm not sure what exactly happens! LOL...football, cheer, football, watching football, school, practice, shopping, scrapping, tv watching, football, oh, and BALLOON FIESTA! Love that!

How 'bout some of my favorite BF pics...

This one might be all time favorite...especially with the app I used on my iPhone4...yes, I took this with my iPHONE!!

This picture I took Tuesday morning from the Target parking lot...

This was from the first Saturday morning....right as they started taking off!

And a few other from the first Saturday (I haven't made the others web ready yet!)

We had a great time, it's one of my all time favorite things I've done seriously! Over 500 balloons...so cool....

Oh, I've had an interesting day! I might as well talk about it...
1. I forgot to take Hunter to school an hour early for Spanish class...oops.
2. I found out my baby sister (the one who got married this summer) is getting to come to Texas next weekend...while we'll be there...and later that I get to finally take pics of my little gal in her flower girl dress with AJ in her wedding dress!
3. I bought a new computer!!! I got a MacBook Pro! Her name is Fiona. She's beautiful.
4. I volunteered at school for both kids today. It was fun spending time with them at school. Totally fun and amazing how different 6 Kindergarteners and 6 4th graders are...not sure which I prefer! They were all fab!
5. Between 2pm when I left M's class and 3:40pm when I picked her up from school, she started running a fever. lovely.
6. Forgot H's snack before his Robots class...loser mommy.
7. stand still traffic on the way to pick up H from Robots class and was very very close to not getting there before Explora closed. jeez
8. I got home to put the pork tenderloin in the oven...it took twice as long to cook than the directions said. Outta control.
9. I had to pay an exuberant amount to change platforms from Windows to Mac for my Adobe Creative Suite. Not good at all.
10. THE RANGERS WON!!! So happy for a team that I've cheered for YEARS for! WOO HOO!
11. I'm about to go play with my new Photoshop 5.
12. (As in Oct 12...) My Mom's Birthday! You are amazing, even though I don't think you read my blog..you are too busy being a small business owner of the best consignment store in Waco! Awesome! I love you mom!

Later people!

Football/Cheer/FB/Cheer

2010-09-29T19:07:00.000-07:00

I feel like I do the same thing, over and again. I take M to Cheer on Mondays, then H to Football on Wednesdays....then I'm driving both of them over to the field on Saturdays. Has anyone noticed that when you have a routine, the weeks go so much faster?

I can't believe October 1 is Friday...but what's good about October? A couple of things...fall is in full swing....cooler weather, pumpkins, etc. Football...and here in Albuquerque, we have Balloon Fiesta! WOO HOO! Here's a picture from last year!

I can't wait to go on Sunday! And, at least on Saturday, as I drive the kids to cheer/football, I'll get to see them ascend into the ABQ sky!

Picture of the Day

2010-09-27T15:33:00.000-07:00

When we went home a couple of weeks ago after Heath's Memaw fell, I was lucky enough that my own grandmother came to town for my nephew's fifth birthday.

I had just gotten a new lens for my camera and was playing around with it...with no flash...and came up with this picture. It's a treasure...M and Grandma.

Just priceless!

I'm taking "Oh Shoot! Photography class" at JessicaSprague.com I'm so enjoying it and want to put more of my photos on here...keep your eyes open. I'm very much enjoying learning more about the settings of my camera!

{two days in a row}

2010-09-23T21:16:00.000-07:00

I wonder if I've blogged two days in a row since I started this blog...well maybe once.

Truth is, I'm not even sure if I have anything meaningful to share with you...do I ever? probably not, but I'm a talker, so I usually can come up with something to talk about!

I recorded/dvr'ed 5 premier's tonight. Outta control. And, I should say, I'm not sure when I'm going to watch all of them. I have 5 other shows that I've recorded this week...i've watched one...only because my family insisted we watch "Chuck"!

I'm trying to decide, if there were only ONE show I watched per week, what would it be? used to...it would have been Lost. But, it's over now.

This week? I think I'd have to chose "Brothers and Sisters"!! Who else watches this show? So awesome.

If there were only one show you could watch this week, what would it be?

I will say though, I'm super excited to watch Grey's, Private Practice, and the Mentalist.

H and I have been catching up on "Castle" too...anyone else watch this? I know my SIL, Holly does. She introduced me to it...H and I love a mystery show...I love watching detective shows with H; it reminds me of my childhood, watching detective shows with my mom...can you say Remington Steel? Eek!

I think I might watch too much tv. oh well, what do you do?

I lied...

2010-09-22T13:38:00.000-07:00

My last post I promised I would do better. I lied.
I also said I'd get pictures up. I lied.
I thought once the kids got into school, I'd have so much more time to do things....I lied about that too.

Why can't I get it together? I guess it's because I'm a wife, a mommy, a designer, a scrapper, a sister, and the list goes on!

I just can't get it together this fall, but I'm trying harder! Two weeks ago, Heath's grandmother fell and broke her hip/pelvis. We flew out to Texas to see her...we try to live a no regrets life. By Saturday night, it looked bleak. But, Sunday morning, she made a miraculous turn for the better. Memaw is still in pain, doing some rehab...she's a little spitfire though. There is no give-up in this lady's body! She's amazing, seriously. (I'm pretty sure it's because she's the middle of three girls...just like me ;)

Last week, mom and dad came to ABQ to see us for H's birthday. I can't believe he turned ten...10!!! TEN people!!! Are you kidding me? I can't be a mom to a ten year old...a kid in double digits!?!?! Okay, enough of my panic attack, please forgive.

We had a FUN party on Saturday for him...pictures will hopefully come at some time or another! He had 10 kids over, and we set up a "Tailgate" party in the backyard. We had a a college football game on, little flag football, a football toss, beanbag toss, and the swimming pool was open for fun! BBQ was had by all, but the most popular thing? you'll never guess it...well, maybe...cheetos. Cheetos. gag. I can't stand them, so many better options in the chip department. But, I guess everyone but me like Cheetos!

Mom, Dad, Heath, and I also took a few trips to the casino. FUN TIMES! I might be able to either buy my new dishes or my new dining table with the winnings! It was a good weekend for us.

I so enjoy my family. I am so blessed to have been born into an amazing family...my mom, dad, amber and robyn (and extras) are awesome. But, I married into one amazing family also! Even though Sam gets into my personal space on purpose, I still LOVE hanging out with Sam, Molly, Holly, et al!!! And, I can't say enough about Heath, H, and M....I am one lucky lady.

Guess what people? It's pouring rain...I'm thinking a nap in our amazing chair and a half might be calling my name! (i just realized I used amazing too many times today. My senior english teacher would be mortified...I do know other words for amazing...fabulous, extraordinary, fantastic, wonderful...see, I could also get more with a thesaurus, but why?!)

Eventually....

2010-08-11T19:07:00.000-07:00

I'll actually have pictures available, but at least I remembered to blog!

This week has been a whirlwind of marking things off my to do list! I've gotten a flat tire fixed, an oil change, seen my mom during a 3 hour layover at our airport, gone to the bank, taken shoes back, cooked 2 brand new recipes, and even cleaned the house. Yeah, I still have a stack of bills to pay, go back to the bank, buy Hunter some new shoes for school, clean the kitchen, do some laundry, and so much more! LOL! Welcome to being a mom and a home engineer!

But....I've also played "Go Fish" with my kids, had a slumber party with M-along with a few hands of "Old Maid' and Sorry Sliders. I've taken the kids, plus a friend to see Cats and Dogs: Revenge of Kitty Galore and eaten lunch with Heath at the hospital! Sometimes it's fun to be a mom!

I guess I should stop blogging and start the dishes. I need to get H to feed the dogs and put a load of laundry in! Have a good night!

a few layouts

2010-08-08T17:04:00.000-07:00

So over the past few weeks, I've been scrapping a lot. I'm working hard on my Disney album from our fall trip. I wanted to share a few with you.

Camp Minnie-Mickey Credits

Expedition Everest Credits

Lovin' Minnie credits

JoBro credits

Welcome to my castle credits

Garden Grill credits