Give-Away

One of the talented instructors of last year's fabulous scrapbook retreat "Inspiration Unlimited" is having a wonderful giveaway on her blog. I instantly fell in love with the creations she is showcasing. Go check it out : Tammy Mitchell's Blog.

Been busy starting more blog posts, but not finishing them. Now that the volleyball league is back to semi-regular hours I do not have the urge to blog at midnight any longer. What's a girl to do?

I will try to squeeze in some time between my workouts, Christmas decorating & shopping and all the other crazy stuff that's been happening in my life.

Hope to see you soon.

November Round Up

What books and/or magazines did I read this month?
I must say I am starting to feel the withdrawal of not receiving my usual scrapbooking magazines in the mail. I really miss Simple Scrapbooks. What were they thinking when they discontinued this magazine? Really? I have also read a few books this month. Seems like it's been quite a while since I've had one that was noteworthy... But I did squeeze in the fairly new Nicholas Sparks entitled "The Choice" which is his usual twisty turny style but on top of it this one really makes you think... I also read a couple which I really had to force myself to finish. You know when you get past the point of no return and have to know what happens next? They were "Spandau Phoenix" by Greg Iles and "The Black Path" by Asa Larsson. I look forward to the release of Dean Koontz's new book "Breathless" next month.

What movies, television shows, plays, etc. did I watch this month? Seems that with the holidays approaching, work picking up with the temperatures dropping, the start of football season and just being a lot busier we are not watching as much TV this month as we have in past months. We are still loyal viewers of "Survivor", "The Amazing Race", and my personal favorite "The Biggest Loser". I have been waiting to watch "True "Season 1 since I've requested the first two DVD's from Blockbuster, but have not found the time to do so. We did watch some BlueRay movies on our new player, including "The Taking of Pelham 123" which I thought was quite good. I would have to give a so-so rating to "Angels & Demons" since I am a big fan of the books, and the movies just don't live up to the books. I also wasn't thrilled by Sandra Bullock in "The Proposal", it just seemed a little contrived.

What fun things did I do with my family and/or friends?
I started going back to the gym to work out regularly this month, but this time with the help of a personal trainer. Her name is Charity and she works at THRIVE Fitness in Ferndale. I know it's a drive to go all the way out there for a workout, but it's worth it. The first week she worked me out, I was at the gym on a Wednesday and by Saturday I was still sore and hurting. Grace took a class through the local YMCA that she lovingly referred to as a "dance" class but was actually more of a "keep-the-kids-moving-till-they-wear-out" kind of deal. I tried to get her enrolled in a ballet class with some neighbor friend's kids but the class was unfortunately full. We'll try again next year...

Well, as you all know November is the time for turkey, family and all that. Even though we had two invitations from friends to join them for Thanksgiving we decided to forgo that and instead have some friends, family & neighbors over to our house. My parents even drove down from Canada to celebrate American Thanksgiving with us. Canada has their Thanksgiving early in October. Grace had a blast dressing up in her new sparkly dress and dancing around the house. We are still finding glitter in the most interesting places.

Did you take any trips or vacations or did someone come and stay with you at your house?
Martin & I had a weekend away without Gracie in Seattle this month. I had surprised him with tickets to see the "Trans Siberian Orchestra". Which neither of us really knew much about. Our seat mates at the Key Arena were raving on about it and highly recommended it, saying this was their third time there and they planned on going again next year. We were both pleasantly surprised and thoroughly enjoyed the fantastic show. I even managed to shoot a few decent photos, despite the lasers & strobe lights.
We stayed at a boutique hotel in downtown called the Max and had dinner at the Space Needle Restaurant. Despite horrible rainy & cold weather we had a great weekend away.We also had Chris & Verena come and stay at our place for a night. They came out for dinner and then helped us stain the shop & apartment floors the next day. It was a lot of work but worth it in the end.

What special or unusual purchases did I make?
We took a trip to IKEA in Renton on a Wednesday to purchase our kitchens for the apartments & the shop. I believe we broke a record for most items purchased at one time. The cashier actually had to check out the first part of the order because the till quite working at a certain number of items. We ended up with 2 receipts and a total of 129 & 113 items combined, and about a dozen carts of stuff. This still left us with numerous out of stock items which we had to get on a second & third trip. What a nightmare. But it all resulted in three beautiful kitchens.

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?
About mid-way through the month Martin called and made me an appointment at the Doctor's office for my insistent headaches. It was getting to the point where i had a standing headache for a week, and couldn't function properly any longer. They drew about four vials of blood and did a bunch of tests without any results. Now they are wanting to send me in for an MRI...not sure about that.
We all managed to stay away from the flu, including H1N1. **Knock on Wood**

What were my accomplishments this month?
I accomplished some clean-ups around the house, not that you'd notice. But it did feel good to get rid of the Halloween decorations before Thanksgiving. LOL

What Does One Do...

when the hubby and kid are asleep and you just came home from a very late volleyball game to find them both spread eagle in my bed?
Update my blog of course. LOL

I know I have been horrible with keeping this puppy updated, but when I looked at it tonight I noticed that I had no less than 5, yes FIVE, posts that were started and some even ready to post. I have no excuse as to why they did not get published earlier. I guess I've just been avoiding this blog ting... Well tonight I took the blog by it's horns and added some photos. So please enjoy the update. I promise to do better....but don't hold me to it. You know it's Thanksgiving this week and I don't know yet how many people I will be feeding...much less have I gone shopping. Aaaaahhhhhh the joys of the holiday season.

See you around!

After the FAIR....

We did visit the fair this year, twice. Once with Martin who stupidly booked a fishing trip during them time we had planned to attend a concert at the fair. Men! What more need I say?
So we took Grace to the fair so she could fleece Dad out of some cash before he left. We saw Ben's trailer that his old shop teacher had entered into the fair and it had won two blue ribbons. Too bad he wasn't there to see it...pretty cool. Of course the fair wouldn't be the fair without some good ole' junk food, rides and some cute animals.

Miss Grace was lucky enough to get to go to the fair a total of three times this year, as her auntie Michelle wanted to have her along with some other kids for an evening there. And then I took her along with Oma & Opa who had come down to enjoy the Foreigner Concert with us. Apparently this is my mother's all time favorite band and when I heard that they were playing at the Lynden Fair I bought tickets right away. since Martin was away I ended up with three extra tickets and had our friends Bob & Sabrina tag along with Sabrina's sister. We had a blast.

Back from our Family Vacation

We spent a week on a family summer vacation in the Roeboat cruising around the San Juan islands and Vancouver Island. This time there were no major injuries, although we had issues with the boat again... This time it was a pump/electrical thing and we took on some water. Nothing too bad but Martin did rig something to pump out the water before replacing the faulty ones. I guess part of the deal was that the battery drained and we ended up pulling up the anchor by hand due to this problem.

Of course we picked the worst week to do this, weather wise. I was hoping for some sun and packed a ton of tank tops, bathing suits and cute sundresses. We did manage to go swimming at Poets Cove with Gracie followed by some dancing at the pub there.

We also stopped in Nanaimo again and lucked out this time. They had a scheduled showing of the Snowbirds over the harbor, so we took our dingy out and had front row seats to the show. It was awesome, and I even managed to snap a few good photos of the whole thing.
For the last two nights Martin decided that we had enough of roughing it and booked us into the fabulous Majestic Inn & Spa in downtown Anacortes.

We cleaned up and relaxed, Martin & I had massages at the spa, we had some wonderful food and took a walk through downtown, checking out all the little stores and boutiques. I highly recommend the restaurant "Adrift" downtown. We had some salad there the first night, and both Martin's & mine were fabulous. As a matter of fact we were so amazed by this little restaurant that we returned there the very next morning for an equally fantastic breakfast.

Playing Around with Digital Pages

I am a paper scrapper through & through. I don't think that I'd ever quit totally and become a complete digi scrapper. However, the process intrigues me and I love playing with digital images and putting stuff together.

Here is my latest:

It's a freebie layout from Jessica Sprague, who's starting a free digital photo editing course on Monday and I can't wait...

Following in the path of greatness...

scrapbooking greatness that is.
Both Ali Edwards & Cathy Zielske have recently used this format to blog, and since I am way behind again, I thought I may just steal the idea and run with it.

TODAY June 23rd, 2009

Outside my window... It's sunny but windy, I'll have to remember to grab a sweatshirt.
I am thinking... about all the stuff on my to do list, and how none of it is getting done, cause I'm blogging.
I am thankful for... having a beautiful house to call home.
From the kitchen... tonight will be some kind of fish with veggies. I'm trying to empty out the fridge & freezer.
I am wearing... blue shorts and an old volleyball tee with the sleeves cut out.
I am creating... more work for myself...oh well.
I am going... to pack up Grace in a bit and head into town. Have a few chores to do before heading to the park for some volleyball.
I am reading... the new Dean R. Koontz novel "RELENTLESS".
I am hoping... that we can work out our vacation schedule so we can go camping with my family this year.
I am hearing... the background music to Hidden Expedition: Amazon, a game I have paused on my laptop, and my daughter humming and bouncing around all over the house.
Around the house... things are clean, but there is laundry waiting to be folded, a bed in need of clean sheets and a scrapbook studio that is slowly emerging from the "STUFF". (Beware of "STUFF" it tends to grow like a weed and cover every surface, nook and cranny. It is hard to get rid of)
One of my favorite things... fresh fruit in my turquoise bowl on our new dining room table.
A few plans for the rest of the week... maybe a date night with my hubby, a crop and Saturday I have a bridal shower to go to. It will be my first ever, I have no idea what to expect. HELP!