(diva)logues

"... and yeah your body looks so sick, I think I caught the flu..."

A new challenge has been posted on the Nikki Sivils' blog.  This time it's all about creating a page using a size other than one you would normally use.  In my case I usually create a standard 12x12 page, so I chose the 8 1/2 x 11 size and used a combination of School is Cool and My Lil Monster.  The ticket stub on my page wasn't for the same game as the photo was taken, but it was the only one I could find.  And let's face it... 20 years from now, no one will know the difference anyway.  Right?   

 

Post your projects here using at least 75% Nikki Sivils' products for the chance to win a new collection of your choice.  The deadline is October 29. 

And speaking of baseball... looks like the Cardinals managed to make their way into the play-offs!  Will wonders never cease!

Off to pick up my friend, Jodi, from the airport and then it's time to have lots of FUN with the girls this weekend... some food, wine, Zumba, inappropriate conversations and LOTS of laughs!   (And maybe we'll let the boys join us for a bit, too!)  Cannot wait! 

Have a FABULOUSLY FUN weekend, everyone! 

"You know, I don't care which dress we get. I just need to get off this white carpet..."

Just a quick post today with a few random things...

• I'm loving this list of 50 Rules For Dad's of Daughters.  It made me cry.  So what else is new? 

 

• I made a quick page using a design I use often, but what can I say?  Little scene... lots of photos... journaling...  completed page.  And you know why the bat is on there, right?  Yep... the baby bat named "Oscar" that she saw in the mud cave.  So gross. 

 

• The movie Bridesmaids... have you seen it yet?  Umm... laugh out loud to the point of crying... in one scene anyway.  Because I had food poisoning once, so I can totally relate.  Funniest movie I've seen in a LONG time. 

 

• And the Cardinals are playing again tonight.  Are they going to the play-offs, or not?  We shall see...

"I TRY to say goodbye and I choke... TRY to walk away and I stumble..."

Well.. Bryn's back home from 5th grade camp.  And I came VERY close to missing her arrival on the bus.  There was a really bad (fatal) car accident between our house & school that closed down a major road for over 3 hours.  I hadn't been out that afternoon & didn't realize that traffic was being rerouted.  So what would normally take me 3 minutes to drive to school... left me with a 20-minute drive (to go less than 1 mile) in the opposite direction, where I parked my car at a gas station & took off at a fast clip on foot to get to school in time (wearing flip flops & a maxi dress).  As I got close to school I saw the 3 school busses driving in, with all the kids yelling & cheering out the windows, so I started running.  There was NO WAY that I was going to miss this!  Bryn would later tell me that she saw me running by the fire truck & police officers and thought I was in a car accident.  LOL... what a mess.  Thankfully Bob was already there waiting for me, so I knew that if I didn't make it in time, he would at least be there to greet Bryn at the bus.  He had come from the Cardinals game & was driving in the direction that was still open, opposite the road closure.  In fact, he had told me to just stay at the gas station & they'd come pick me up, but I said HELL NO.  This mom wasn't missing the arrival no matter what I had to do!  

 

She had a great time at camp & only had one complaint... that she was cold when she was sleeping.  I asked why she didn't tell someone, as I would've been happy to send out something warmer.  She said she forgot she could do that... ie... she's shy.  Oh well.  Lesson learned I guess.  Hopefully she learns to speak up in the future. 

She stayed glued to my side or on my lap the rest of the evening.  And we had to sing every single camp song from the week.  It was a good night.  I was one happy mommy. 

We had a "girls day out" on Friday, since the 5th graders had the day off school.  Had lunch & did some shopping.  We also did some more chatting about camp.  She told me about one of her cabin-mates that she had thought was a good friend, but during the week even her counselor was calling this girl "a little diva."  She told me, "Sometimes she acts like I'm her best friend & other times she's just mean to me & ignores me."  I said, "They call that being two-faced.  And even when you're an adult, you'll meet people like that.  The trick is once you figure it out... you decide not to hang out with those people and stick with the ones who are nice ALL the time."  Apparently all the girls in her cabin, counselor included, were fed up with this girl by the end of the week.

I think the week was one big learning experience in more ways than just academically.  Love that.

And if camp wasn't exhausting enough... she competed in her second TRYathlon at the YMCA on Saturday morning.  It involved 100 yards of swimming (4 laps of the pool), 2 miles of biking and 1/2 mile of running.  My parents & one of her friends came with us to cheer her on...   
          

 

 

 

She did AWESOME.  So proud of her.

So glad she's home...

A little snail mail...

 

The 3D glasses (minus the lenses) photo shoot a couple weeks ago was her idea.  She's just a bit goofy.  And I will admit, she gets it from me.  Her & I have always spent way too much time together.  And in just 3 hours, I will finally get to see her again.  It's been a long 4 nights of 5th grade camp for me.  And I FINALLY got a letter from her today...

 
 

How exciting that she got to see a baby bat in the cave.  Or... not.  

I probably would've run screaming out of there myself...

5th grade camp is RUFF for me...

... but I'm just sure that Bryn is having a blast!  There was a big thunderstorm on the night we dropped her off at camp, so I know the opening night bonfire didn't go off as planned.  And hopefully she wasn't too freaked out by the storm.  But aside from that, I'm sure she's having fun with all the camp activities & especially being able to hang out with her friends.  I can't wait to hear all her stories that I know she's going to come home with... 

 

 

 

 

 

I miss her SO much. 

C'mon... Thursday night.  Get here quick! 

SRM Stickers + Bella Blvd...

Check out the SRM Stickers blog today for the continuation of their "Paper of the Week" series.  Each Monday a different manufacturer is in the spotlight.  It's my turn today using SRM Stickers + Bella Blvd.  They were very generous when they sent me the Family Dynamix line to work with, so I made 7 projects. 

Here are just 2 of them...

On this page I used one of the new SRM mini calendars + a couple random sentiments...

 

And on this page I used the Faith sentiment stickers...

 

Head over to the SRM Stickers blog to see all of my projects AND for a chance to win the Family Dynamix line + some brand new SRM Stickers! 

Have a GREAT week! 

"Now go. Stop. Drop. Pause..."

Did I ever mention that Thursday is my favorite day of the week?  It may have something to do with Zumba in the morning.  Just sayin.  And I love that some of you have started taking Zumba classes because I talk about it on here all. the. time.  You are cool girls.  ;-)   

 

Just another page today using lots of Bella Blvd.  Since this birthday party was held at the horse race track, I decided to make a horse using my Cricut and the Create A Critter cartridge.  Or... I guess I should say that Bryn made the horse for me.  And of course, I had to add some google eyes.  Love those.      

There was also a Kentucky Derby theme going on... thus the hats.  I didn't wear one, but by the end of the evening Bob did...

 

He's kinda dorky like that.  And I can say that, because I'm never dorky.  Not at all.  

And speaking of Bella Blvd... I'm going to have a boat-load of projects going up on the SRM Stickers blog on Monday for their "Paper of the Week" series that's been going on for the past 2 months.  So stay tuned for that with a chance to win some Bella Blvd goodies! 

And thanks for the fun comments yesterday.  You guys always make me laugh. 

• No, I'm not selling the Missoni I scored.  Ok... well how much is it going for?   
• Yes, OF COURSE, I have an outfit planned for the reunion.  Now I just have to figure out how I'm getting home that night since all the other party people are spending the night at the hotel.  But, hey... at least I have a dress.  I have my priorities you know.
• And as for Zumba... I wish you ALL could make a road trip here to try it out.  I promise you it would be the most FUN workout you've EVER had.  It's like you're at a party in a nightclub... minus the booze & lurking men... and a LOT more sweating!      

Whassup...

Just some of the random things going on around here lately...

• I guess I'm not the only one around who had the new Missoni for Target collection on my calendar yesterday so I'd remember to go on the day it debuted.  Evidently Target's website crashed from the madness of people trying to get access to it.  While the 2 Target stores I visited yesterday didn't have the entire collection for sale (or if they did, it must've sold out prior to 11am), I did pick up a couple things.  I got this black & white sweater dress that I'll probably wear with black leggings & booties... 

 
 

... and I picked up this travel valet...

 

I'm kind of obsessed with all things chevron right now.  

• Aside from shopping, I got certified to teach Zumba last weekend.  I don't think there's any surprise here how much I LOVE Zumba.  I went with my bestie/Zumba instructor for the training.  Had a blast.  We're still laughing about some of it...

 

 

• I'm loving this debate that was started on the Crafty Pod blog the other day.  A friend in the industry sent me a link to it and I have to say, it really got me thinking.  More so than I had already been thinking, I might add.

 

• Had a deep tissue full body massage on Monday at Massage Envy that rocked my world.  Went in with a pulled muscle in my back/shoulder blade area.  Cannot believe how much better I felt afterward.  During the massage, it hurt like hell though when she was working on that area.  Have no clue how I even pulled the muscle, although my all-day Zumba training certainly did not help.  Needless to say, I joined their monthly program.  Will be going once a month now.   

 

• New favorite song... "Sexy and I Know It" by LMFAO. 

  
 

• I have my 25-year high school reunion this weekend.  How did that many years pass by already?  Seems like a lifetime ago.

  

• Oh... and Bryn leaves for 5th grade camp on Sunday night & doesn't return until next Thursday night.  She's looking forward to it.  I'm not.  Why exactly do they need to spend 4 nights away from home?

 

Have a great day everyone! 

"He's a cold-hearted snake... look into his eyes..."

Well, Labor Day weekend has come & gone.  Ours was just a typical weekend, but we did manage to take a trip to the zoo on Monday.  And while the weather that day was phenomenal... one word sums up the day.  CROWDED.  We kinda knew it wouldn't be a great idea to go on a holiday, but seriously.  I think everyone in St Louis was there.  It took us almost an hour just to park. 

And I may have had a minor panic attack when I saw a lady carrying around a snake in the children's zoo.  So, I yelled to Bob that I was leaving the building & would meet them outside.  He & Bryn came out a few minutes later & asked why I left so fast. 

He said, "Was it because it stunk in there?" 

LOL... yeah, wasn't so fond of that either, but ummm, no. 

Told them about the snake, so they ran back in because Bryn wanted to pet it. 

She's not my daughter.

I believe Bob took a photo of it with his iPhone, but I have no desire to see it thank-you-very-much.

Moving on to happier thoughts...

I created a new page about my niece's recent birthday.  Just a mix here of Amy Tangerine paper + some Doodlebug Designs embellishments I received in a package of goodies from Scrapbook Trends Magazine when they published one of my pages, plus a few other random things....

 

I was out of yellow S stickers, so I pieced mine together & added a flower on top to disguise the handiwork...

 

And a special thank you to my friend, Erin, who emailed me about today's Scrapbook Steal because she thought it was something I might like.  And I guess I did, because I bought it.  Because I really do need more scrapbooking stuff...   

 

I do loving having friends that are enablers...  LOL!  I hope you bought it, too, Erin!  You KNOW you need more stuff, too! 

Have a great day, everyone! 

If you change nothing... nothing will change...

 

HEALTH:

• Drink plenty of water.
• Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
• Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
• Live with the 3 E’s - energy, enthusiasm and empathy
• Play more games.
• Read more books than you did in 2010.
• Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
• Sleep for 7 hours.
• Take a 10-30 minutes walk daily. And while you walk, smile.

PERSONALITY:

• Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
• Don’t have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
• Don’t over do. Keep your limits.
• Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
• Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip.
• Dream more while you are awake.
• Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
• Forget issues of the past.
• Don’t remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
• Don't hate others.  Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. 
• Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
• Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
• Smile and laugh more.
• You don’t have to win every argument.
• Agree to disagree.

SOCIETY:

• Call your family often.
• Each day give something good to others.
• Forgive everyone for everything.
• Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
• Try to make at least three people smile each day.
• What other people think of you is none of your business.
• Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

LIFE:

• Do the right thing!
• Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
• However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
• No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
• The best is yet to come.
• Your inner most is always happy.  So, be happy. 

Found this on Pinterest today & wanted to share.  When I tried to find the link to the original post (krisatan.tumblr.com) it came up "page not found."

Happy Labor Day weekend!

 

That might be me.  ;-)

Have a safe weekend everyone!

School days...

 I spent awhile last night going through all my digital files of photos and realized I have a lot of events in the past year I haven't touched yet.  I used to consider myself a chronological scrapper.  And while I do still put everything in the scrapbooks chronologically, I'm getting worse at scrapping everything while it's still fresh in my mind.  I think it's because I'm working with product that's sent to me, so I'm always trying to find the right photos & topics to go with the right paper & products.  I decided I really need to go back to my roots & create more pages for the sake of getting them into the books, rather than to always be holding off for the right paper to match it all.  With Bryn back in school... I have more time to accomplish this goal. 

Thus, this first day of school page.  I picked up 2 sheets of Kaisercrafts' "Class of '87" collection (the year after I graduated from high school ;-) the other day at Archivers and used some of it on here.  I also added some "Midterm" from Bella Blvd, some "School is Cool" letter stickers from Nikki Sivils & even an SRM "school days" sticker sentiment.  The lined paper that I printed my jouraling on is Imaginisce's "Geek Is Chic."  The coating on the paper kinda made my journaling a bit smeary, but I did my best to not touch it when I was adhering it to my page...   

 

The school bus is another Jolee's Boutique score.  Every once in awhile, I kinda dig their stickers.  LOL  I printed a contact size print of Bryn's photo & cut it down to put her face in one of the bus windows...

 

And speaking of school... today is an early release day!  So I'm off to pick up Bryn & we're headed to the mall... her favorite thing to do. 

Not sure where she gets that from...