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date: december something
unloading grocery bags.
me: and then tomorrow we can make the pom pom garland.
anna: the what?
me: the pom pom garland.
anna: garden?
me: garland
anna: garbage?
me: the garland.
anna: garlic?
and then starts laughing and so does everyone else.
i have failed miserably as the guest designer for SIStv this month.
failed.
miserably.
it has nothing whatsoever to do with ashley's amazing collection. hand drawn designs and funky finds. but entirely to do with the fact that i am just not that into scrapbooking anymore. and its painful to attempt. and i have ended up hating it, and everything i create.
which is so unfair to ashley, who has always been funny and sweet to me. i wanted to give back to her by doing this. and i feel terrible that i havent been able to pull it off.
this is the one measly layout i pulled out of my head. look beyond the pathetic attempt at the super cool stuff used to make it. that date stamp paper is my favorite thing ever right now! and her label stickers have phrases that feel like home to me. i used the orange chopstick to break the page up and for the title. adhered with a line of glue.
my love for the stuff hasnt waned. i love this stuff!!! its the love for doing it that is the problem.
and just to help make it up to her, a public proclamation of my love: I LOVE YOU MISSUS ASHLEY WREN! BURNER OF COOKIES AND LOVER OF RAINBOWS! (forgive me?)
another repeat customer, who wanted to one-up the location from last year and do something different to boot.
pretty much the entire time we are together we are all laughing really really loud. their family is so fun and crazy they make mine look amish. and i know lisa will totally crack up reading that.
can you guess where we went?
miniature golf!
LOVE THIS
making out at the arcade.......just like the good ol' days
check out dads (wayne) skate company: muerto skateboards
1. pick out the perfect cake combination (in our house its yummy moist chocolate cake and cream cheese frosting with sprinkles of the birthday persons choice) make the cake the day of the birthday so the birthday person comes home from school smelling their chocolate cake goodness in the house. if said birthday person (from here on out "BP") is not in school that day, bake the cake while they nap, so they wake up to the smell of chocolate cake goodness wafting under their bedroom door. (i so felt like pioneer woman setting up this shot)
2. decorate the house while "BP" is asleep so they can come downstairs the morning of to an exciting little surprise.
3. take advantage of your re-writable kitchen cabinets and cover them with birthday salutations. (yes, what you see is a chia pet. the turtle.)
4. take BP wherever they wish for dinner. this BP chose chuck e cheese. (we chose not to have photographical evidence of this tradition - we took the flip instead.) be all squishy inside when the other kids decide all of the tickets they win will be given at the end of the night to the BP. and get more squishy inside when the BP finds out and lights up like a chandelier.
5. OPEN PRESENTS! and EAT CAKE!
6. oh and one more thing, slightly out of order: be perfectly freaking adorable in every single way.
we are so happy, that you were given to us, so that we are the lucky humans who get to party with you every year on january 24th. forever. dont you dare even TRY to get out of it.
he is snuggly and squeezable.
stubborn and sneaky.
freckled and friendly.
aware of right and wrong.
and gorgeous.
and the laugh that came out of his mouth as i snapped the second shot is a sound that fills my heart with glad.
this boy makes me feel all kinds of glad.
doesnt bother me that the second one is out of focus.
big share. :)
return clients and friends who had to one up their ultra sweet location last time, so we chose crystal cove beach. we walked all around, through the tunnel, explored the cabins, and headed to the beach. super cool place. beautiful night.
still catching up with sessions for the blog-more nov sessions to come.
having almost two months off work has given me a lot of time to think. i think it is good to be able to slow down sometimes and re organize your thoughts, your life, your days. i saw some things that needed to changed and am doing my best to work on those changes.
something i really want to do is to fall back in love with my house. HOME means everything to me. my home is my life. it is a direct representation of who i am and what i love. my family, music, colors, relaxation, laughter, blankets, painted wood, photographs. i want to connect to it again, and so this month especially, i have been nesting.
the top of my dresser has been a catch-all pretty much since the day we bought it, but now it is pretty. and i love waking up and falling asleep to it.
the wood frames were found at various flea markets. black box is my jewelry box. the photo with the three girls is from the black apple. the next photo is from delong ceramics and the hot man is mine.
i got this granny necklace thingamabob from urban outfitters and that gorgeous fun little necklace from mood swing. it is my favorite piece of jewelry.
this delicate little lantern is what im most in love with currently of all the goodies on my dresser. i have been eyeballing these for months and had them on my christmas list. needless to say they werent under the tree. when i came home from target happy as a lark, thrusting my new lantern in jeffs face and rubbing it in that i got one anyway (and for $14.99)
he said, "see babe? THAT is exactly why i didnt buy them for you. i knew you would be MORE happy to find them yourself."
and because he is such a smart ass, and makes me laugh even when i want to hit him, that is why i love waking up and seeing him, too.
this morning i took my photo for the challenge on the overlooked blog. oh, here is the flickr group too.
the idea behind this challenge blog is to photograph, jot down, and possibly journal/scrapbook the little big things in our lives. right up my alley. the first challenge was your favorite coffee mug. i dont drink coffee very often, so mine is my hot tea with milk and sugar mug.
and while i was in my kitchen this morning, i finally took photos of my kitchen cabinets with the new black paint and chalkboard paint insets. a few of you have commented/emailed that you'd love to see the results. here is a before photo:
(this is all i could find, a photo that is almost a year old-look at my four year old girl! she has changed so much this year. you can see the cabinets used to be typical oak.)
and what they are now:
to be honest, it was a fight to get this done. jeff did not want chalkboard at all. but i think he now secretly loves them. our friends and family leave us notes, (see j. lewis and associates? that is our friend who has his own law firm in riverside-he wanted some free advertising) the kids love to climb up and draw things, and they are AWESOME for me to jot something down so i dont forget. plus, they make the austere blackness of them a bit more playful and not so formal. i highly recommend. unless you are a neat freak. the chalk dust will settle on your countertops.
on another note, i was window shopping online last night and i stopped in at pottery barn. they have a new thing "whats your style" and one of the ones listed was "urban nest". i LOVE that. here is the description: "a little modern. a lot of warmth. and enough personal detail to make you feel at home." that is totally what my home is to me. what my style is. im kind of on a home kick right now actually......
so if you come over, you will be expected to get some chalk on your hands. please leave your mark.
ashley wren and i have had a pretty funny if i may say so myself back and forth email friendship for a few years.
when she asked me to be the guest designer for her collection at SIStv, even though scrapbooking is not my best friend right now, i agreed, because i dig her.
i got my very own rainbow sushi collection last week and i will be digging into it tonight and tomorrow. i will show the fruits of my labors as soon as my cold, dry, chipping little fingers whip 'em out!
and if you are a SIStv member and have any questions or comments for me, go here!
