'round here.....{cast a vote!}

hi all...

we've been so busy 'round here. {when is it not busy, right?}.
hubs had bad food poisoning over the weekend. fortunately, he has recovered quite a bit.

yesterday was GORGEOUS! 75+ degree weather. i took my daughter outside to go on the swingset and she nearly lost her mind with all the good fun we had on the swing and the slide.



i got to wear flip-flops. it was wonderful! what a tease though...we're getting a cold front and snow...or sleet...or rain...gotta love meteorology. you can be in that profession and be wrong almost always...and never really get in trouble for it.

so, bummer! must wait patiently for that awesome san diego-esque weather to finally arrive...before the humidity does. we rarely get a true spring...it'd be nice to have more days like yesterday.

on to other news...i'm trying to pick out a doormat. i'm pretty indecisive when it comes to most purchases, especially for the home...i stand there and debate whether or not the item would go with my home decor. then, by the time i decide it's something that would be great in my house...it's gone. or i wait and forget about it. well, indecisiveness has kicked in and i'm trying to pick out a doormat. i've found a couple and i may have a favorite, but why not put it to a vote?
i'd love to hear which ones you like out of all the photos posted below. i know it may not be your taste, but i'd love to hear thoughts...

i've been asked about style, and what kind of "style" we use to decorate...and i can't really pin it down. it's like pottery barn meets cottage/country living. not really traditional...not modern...not colonial...and not cutsey country. there's nothing wrong with any of those things. it's just not us. we love the beach, but it's not a prominent theme in our place.







i've always liked the thought of a pineapple accents here and there {not everywhere} as it has the "welcome" affiliation. i'm just not sure a pineapple doormat would be overkill with say, something like this:



so...do you notice how i'm already over-thinking this simple purchase?

my new layout is coming along. i love it already. it's just been pretty hard to sit down and finish. i don't know if i'll get to it before the weekend. but, i'll post it as soon as it's done. promise.

i'm also participating in a swap of music you listen to when you scrapbook. i've got the songs picked out...i just need to burn the CDs...and make the artcover for the jewel case. at this rate...it's going to have to be something cute & easy. there's not a lot of time left to get them done.

other stuff...the madness begins!!! my husband's family has a tradition of filling out fantasy brackets for march madness. i don't even remeber who i picked last night...and, i really didn't have time to read the dozens of articles written about the favorites, the sleepers, the cinderellas...i think i picked florida to win in the final championship games. yikes...? was this a good call? not sure!!! all i know is the insanity has begun...and i've got a lot of other stuff to do in the meantime. =)

have a great week!

you've got mail.

or i've got mail...
anyway, today was a great mail day. not overly heavy on the junk mail. no bills.
my april issue of bon appetite came in with a lip-smacking photo of a lemon meringue pie gracing the glossy cover. {must read that later...}. AND...and, and, and...
two fun, scrappy packages.
the first was from kelly, who sent me a bunch of scrapbooking goodies i won from her recent RAK drawing.


{unfortunately, the picture does not do the package justice}. thanks, kelly! this RAK was super generous and i look forward to putting these embellies to good use.

i also got my CTMH personal business order in. i plan on using a lot of their new spring items in a few layouts, including some sweet stamps, papers, stickers, ribbons and more. march is stampaganza month - buy 2 stamp sets and get a third free...so, it's a great time to grab a few sets and get some freebies too! awesome stuff. love their font stamps. =)



other stuff...whew! there's been a lot going on, so i haven't had a chance to update my blog with random stuff {until today} or scrapbook much. my husband was traveling last week and, unfortunately, the stomach bug relapsed on my daughter. she was sick friday, throwing up, and then saturday, with a high fever. now, we've got major teething issues going on...her eye-teeth are cutting and she's just miserable...chewing on everything you can name...chairs, her toy stove, stairs {yes, stairs}. i think this has been worse than when the molars were cutting and coming in.

we're running up to my inlaws tonight for dinner to celebrate my mother-in-law's birthday. i made a 4-layer {they're thin layers} dutch chocolate cake with whipped cream filling, milk chocolate frosting and a crumbly layer of chopped snickers {her favorite candy} to adorn the top. {let me tell you...cutting a cake layer in half is NOT as easy as it looks in the pictures, especially with no skewars to guide you!}.



hope everyone has a great day and hopefully i'll be posting more soon. =)

slowly....slowly....

just like the new year can start off slowly, so can projects. for anyone who's been following my blog, i started to renovate my dining room in january. here's just an update of the project. it's been a steady process filled with *sick* and *busy* breaks inbetween. but, it's getting done...slowly. and, it's been frustrating me recently because i want to see the finished project. there's just so much to do.



i have started taking down the lower portion of wallpaper though. hubs removed the chair-rail, which allowed me to start taking down the rest of the paper...but there's a sticky, gluey residue on the wall when the wallpaper comes off. UGH! so, i have to wash down the walls as well. {hmmm...maybe this will help me tone my upper arms for the summer...}. still have to spackle and sand after the wallpaper is off. and possibly re-prime. i really wanted to do this project, start to finish, by myself, but it's just taking too long. so, i've enlisted hubby's help. probably not this weekend, but hopefully the following weekend, the two of us can work on it a bit. in the meantime, i'll plod along with the remaining wallpaper.

in other news, i've been planning my next layout. not scrapping as much as i should be, but tonight i'll give it a shot. i think the title of it will be "little you". here's just a sneak of the things i've thrown together in preparation:

what really takes me the longest time in completing a layout is positioning the paper. some people breeze right through this. i just play around. it's sometimes a tough call because there are so many possibilities.
so, i'll be spending the last february evening of 2007 scrapbooking - with any luck or energy. hooray! tomorrow is march and we're that much closer to spring, cherry blossoms and things getting GREENER!

in anticipation of warmer weather {which is still a bit away}, i picked up this cute little outfit for my daughter at babygap.

i love babygap sales. =) i think it'll look cute. i don't know why but i have so much more fun shopping for my daughter than for myself. probably because the clothing is cuter. i mean, c'mon, who wouldn't want butterfly applique on their capris? =) if i had the extra time {insert laugh}, i'd love to learn how to make my own clothing, drapes, etc. i think it'd be so fun to make whatever you wanted to wear or do something decorative for the home from scratch. since that's not going to happen anytime soon, i guess that means i'll just have to be fairly dedicated in shopping the sales like everyone else.

cheers!

good things.

{nope, this isn't an excerpt from martha stewart living}.

just a rash of good things lately that have me, as my daughter would say, "happy, happy, happy!". i'm not a positive person, by nature. and, the past year has been a difficult one for us {so, it didn't do much to help me in my pursuit of being more positive about things}. we FINALLY sold our townhome. it's been on the market for almost a year. a very hot real estate market went cold on us just as we relocated to a new part of the state and moved into a new home. it meant 6 months of footing two mortgages. lots of fights. lots of tears. lots of frustration. we got the good news last weekend and locked things up early last week. yesterday we came out of attorney review. and, we will close in march. ::sigh:: my husband and i are exhausted from this experience. i think if we can avoid moving - EVER - again, we'll try.

i also received a lovely surprise on friday from friend, jillian, who sent me the sweetest valentine's care package. it was filled with hand-crafted goodies, yummy ribbons and even a "bitty bag o'fun", like stamps, pearl string, more ribbon and flowers.
here's a little piece of the fun:



a huge thanks to jillian for putting this package together. it was the last thing i expected, especially at the end of a long, drawn-out, emotional week. what a pick-me-up!

now that things are leveling off a bit, i want to dip back into scrapbooking. i've been experiencing this wave of exhaustion now that a huge stress has been lifted off our shoulders. i made some valentine's day cards last week...does that count? the picture on the top of this post is a quick shot of the detailing on one of my cards.

it's been fantastically warm today with temps in the 50's. love it! i'm sure we have more cold and snow in store before i can officially break out short-sleeve shirts and flip-flops, but i'll take what i can get now. all these thoughts of spring have me thinking of a swap i'd like to do towards the end of next month. anyone interested? it'll be themed...and fun. more details later.

oh, and happy chinese new year to all {which was officially sunday}. i have a feeling it's going to be a good year. or, is that just the luck 'o the pig talking? =)

sweet.

hi, all. i've been bad at blogging lately. there's just been so much going on. some good. some that has me in a funk. most importantly, though, the family is getting better. we were all sick...yes, again...last week; but, hubs and daughter had it the worst. DH was diagnosed with bronchitis last week and is getting better. DD had something similar, plus an ear infection, so she finished up the antibiotics today. it's so good to see them on the mend...
i participated in a fun ribbon, buttons & flower swap through the poppy ink boards and got my swap stuff yesterday. it was really a nice pick-me-up too. my swap "partner" was sarah rice and she was terrific at it. my swap package came all nicely organized in a little case with divided sections. sarah - what a terrific idea you've given me for future RAKs and swaps...

i felt badly that i didn't have a load of flowers to pass on her way, but oddly enough, it's like she knew that and i received a plethora of them.
when you get a chance, stop by sarah's blog. she's also a DT member for eye candy kits. so, stop by there, too, and check out her awesome layouts in the eye candy gallery.
anyway, sarah, thank you, again. this was such a sweet surprise. =)

cherish.

well, part of this post relates to the title and part of it doesn't.
what a weekend! my family has been hit by, as i have dubbed it, "the plague".
hubs came home on friday, complaining about the nausea he had all day at work. i manifested his symptoms and then some, so by saturday morning, the bathroom became my closest companion. fortunately, our relationship was short-lived...by saturday afternoon, we started parting ways.

amelia's been haunted by head and chest congestion and we took her to the doctor this morning after about a week of monitoring it all. turns out that she has a slight ear infection in one ear, so we'll be giving her amoxicillan for the next 10 days. hopefully, that'll help with the chronic coughing and congestion issues too.

even though he did get the stomach bug to full-blown proportions, hubs still has a body-rattling cough. if he reads this, i hope he has called the doctor's office like he said he would. =)

yuk...i really hate the winter. and its germs.

on a lighter note, i finished my latest layout. whew! this one took some work. i used the basic sketch from basic grey's january 2007 newsletter.



journaling reads:

"Moments, like the one in this picture, are meant to cherish. We went to meet your cousin, Sam, and we were all having such a nice time with all the family around...you were lying on Pop-Pop's tummy...and at 6 months, your hair still had a red tint to it. I love everything about this picture...your big, blue eyes...your sweet, paisley shirt...and, yes, the crazy, chicken fuzz strawberry blonde hair."

lots of work - stitching and the closest encounter of the exacto-kind.






i was on the fence about stitching around every circle, but i *think* i'm content with the end result - it's more freestyle for me this way.

thanks for dropping by!

the groundhog.

happy february! looks like the groundhog is giving us a reprieve from winter this yea by giving us a warming prediction of an early spring.
speaking of groundhogs, i may have to watch groundhog's day this afternoon. if you've never seen, it's a hoot.

yesterday was super-busy. cleaned, did laundry, baked banana bread, made chicken parmesan for dinner and somehow managed to find the time to start taking down the bottom half of the wallpaper in the dining room. sometimes my daughter's nap-time becomes the other extension of my day - i run around some days trying to cram as much as possible into a 2-3 hour window. today's been a bit different. winter colds have become a nemesis around here. after the stomach bug on monday/tuesday, amelia's now dealing with head and chest congestion. does it ever end? apparently not. poor thing. she was up so many times last night and she's been so needy today that i really don't have a prayer of doing more than holding her or playing games with her when she's up. thank goodness we're having leftovers tonight. i seriously do not thing i'd be able to get a meal together from scratch otherwise! i guess i'm counting on Punxsutawney Phil's prediction of an early spring. actually, i'm way past spring. i want summer. flip flops and tank tops. walks in the park. putting amelia on the swing. an evening dinner outside with a glass of wine. yeah...i'm definitely not cut out for winter weather or chilly temperatures.

on a completely different note...i'm trying to work on my next layout. did a bit of it on wednesday night. all the elements are there. now i need to piece it together...and do a bit of stitching. i thought i'd give ya a sneak peak:



i was inspired by basic grey's january newsletter and the layout sketch provided in it.

my scrapdesk is such a mess. once and awhile i think about the basement in our house. unchartered territory - it's basically housing boxes we didn't unpack from our move, a barely-used treadmill {*blush*}, a utility room and another storage room. lots of that lovely, dark, 70's paneling on the walls. i'm looking forward to the day when we can turn that area into something more - a rec/entertainment room and maybe make a craft room off to the side by putting up another wall. yeah - that'd be great...some room to sprawl. and maybe a nice block table in the middle for scrapping with friends.

i'll post my new layout as soon as it's finished! i've got ideas for my next one, thanks to the scrapjacked crew and ali e.
i thought i had at least through this weekend for the entry, but that's OK. i'm super-excited about a side title and some extensive journaling i'd like to do on it.

well, off to enjoy groundhog's day. =)