(diva)logues

More scrappies...

...because I was at Disney all last week & next week we're in Scottsdale... so I have to get my fix. 

 

And my first attempt at a wall-hanging... used store tags & receipts to make a quick collage.  I think I'll stick to scrapbooking...

Heaven for your feet...

I have a bit of a sore heel, although it does seem like it's on the mend.  I'm ok if I'm either wearing high heels or tennis shoes... but flip flops are totally out.  I didn't take Sally's advice & wore flip flops the entire first day at Epcot.  But in my world tennis shoes are for working out only... not for wearing around otherwise.  However, once you have a sore foot, you're willing to break fashion rules... albeit feeling like a complete idiot the whole time. 

   

These shoes were thrown in the trash after this because I had found some Mickey Mouse flip flops that felt better (for about an hour anyway).  Why I thought Mickey was going to solve my problem at that point is still a mystery.  Let's just say I wore tennis shoes to dinner that night, ok???!!!  And I'm still mortified!

So anyway, I get home & immediately start searching for "comfortable" sandals on Zappos because we leave for Scottsdale on Saturday & I'm just not going to wear high heels or tennis shoes with my swim suit.  So I found a shoe that wasn't totally ugly & claimed to be comfortable by people that had purchased it.  Said it had a padded footbed, etc.  Well, I received them today (free overnight shipping... love that!) and can I just say that this shoe is the single most comfortable shoe I have ever worn in my entire life.  Seriously... I feel like I have pillows under my feet.

 

I know they aren't the cutest shoe ever, but take my word for it... they are worth every single penny!

Fun with the BFF's...

I just have one question... when are we performing again??

I scrapbook...

Well, aside from my Hip Hop class, grocery shopping, buying a birthday gift, picking up photos at Walgreens, doing laundry & making dinner... that pretty much sums up my day. 

Glad to be back in my scraproom...

Now I need a vacation...

Well... we're back from Disney!  And while it was a VERY FUN trip... it was totally exhausting!  We were on the move from the wake-up call in the morning 'til we went to bed each night!  We had the Park Hopper passes... so we hit Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot & MGM in 4 days.  Will post some photos as soon as I get out from under the mountain of laundry we have!  Bob & I both agreed that we need a vacation now.  And in 8 more days we're off to Scottsdale... where we plan to do a whole lot of just laying around at the pool! 

Shop 'til you drop...

Been doing some shopping this week.  What else am I supposed to do for 2 hours a day while Bryn's at Bead Camp all week?  Getting a lot of good deals on end of summer clearance items... which I wanted for Disney.  I really don't have a lot in the way of shorts & amusement park clothing.  Found a white jean skirt & a kahki cargo mini skirt at the Gap in lieu of shorts.  I must've tried on at least 20 pairs of shorts at many different stores this week.  I found 1 pair of denim shorts  that looked good.  I just don't have the legs for shorts... unless they have kind of an a-line flair to them.

Also hit the Anniversary Sale at Nordstrom today to buy some things for Fall...

this cream colored coat  and this eggplant colored handbag.  

Everyone is really showing a lot of purple for Fall.  Fall & Spring are my 2 favorite times of the year... for weather & for fashion! 

I want to get these Guess shoes but I think I'll wait until after Disney & Scottsdale and see if by chance they go on sale!

In the meantime, I'm spending the evening packing for a very HOT trip to Disney, so for now the Fall fashoin will have to wait!  The good news is... I have a handfull of new summer clothes to put in the suitcase & that's always a good thing!  Should be a VERY fun family trip & I'm sure I'll have a LOT of photos when we return!

debee *JACK*

Been wanting to use a photo for the background of a lay-out since I was inspired by this one.   Also been wanting to use a photo cut-out in some kind of interesting way, too.  So when this JACK was posted, I came up with this...

Used some scraps from some left-over kits, cardboard for the tree & roofs that I inked to give more dimension, lace ribbon for the "grass" and the butterflies (2 different sizes) were punched out of a shimmery yellow cardstock.  The background photo is one I took of the sky on the 4th of July (minus the fireworks!)  Just trying out different techniques lately... so much inspiration out there!

It's a good thing...

Well, boys & girls... it's my 100th post.  So in honor of turning 40 a couple months ago, I'll list 40 "good things" about life right now (in no particular order)...

1. Hip Hop, Zumba, Spin & Step classes
2. Smoothie King
3. 100 hugs & kisses a day
4. New clothes for Disney from Forever 21
5. My Canon Rebel XT
6. Big BFF's & little BFF's
7. Chocolate (ice cream, candy... anything!)
8. Travelling
9. Good health
10. Date night with my love
11. A good Chardonnay
12. Popcorn on "Game Night"
13. A nice home
14. Tina Turner  in October & Journey  in September
15. Listening to Bryn read
16. Shopping
17. Scrapbooking
18. High heels
19. Not winning the SCRAPJACK challenge, but making the "favorites" list with my "Go Fish" page
20. Laughing until my stomach hurts (especially with my little "mini me")
21. Self-tanner
22. Our home-away-from-home in Scottsdale
23. Whole Foods
24. Facials
25. This inspiring blog
26. My new scrapbook room!
27. Upcoming training for the 1/2 Marathon in January '09
28. Hanging out with Bryn for the summer
29. Purple for the Fall   
30. Family walks/runs/bike rides @ Barat Haven
31. Bryn & Syd having fun together
32. My new Tahoe
33. Reading magazines
34. Chicken Fajita Bowls
35. Leaving for Disney on Saturday
36. Going to new restaurants
37. Attending fashion shows
38. Throwing parties
39. The annual "Anniversary Sale" at Nordstrom
40. The love of family & friends

And in the same theme... a recent lay-out on my current GOALS...

You might even be a rock star...

Attended my neice's "friends" 7th birthday party yesterday at a pottery painting store.  The girls got to pick out something to paint... Bryn picked a bowl

& Sydney picked a turtle.

Sydney picked out an ice cream cake with cookie batter chunks on top that looked like hamster food, not very appealing at all (and I could live on ice cream!)

We gave Sydney a Webkinz Chihuahua (she asked for that) and Webkinz outfit... she was quite happy to say the LEAST! 

 

Then we continued Friday night's party at Stephanie's house with Rock Band... my first experience EVER with Wii. 

 

Let's just say I'm much better at singing... than the guitar or drums (95-99% baby!)  I believe it's all my Top of the World by The Carpenters karaoke practice....

... or maybe just one too many Sangrias?

Ummm, yes, pretty sure Sangria had something to do with our incredible performance.  Although we do look constipated in some of the pictures.  We did rock Blitzkrieg Bop, though.  Eat your heart out Joey Ramone.

Now, if we can just get some time to perform when the girls aren't begging us to let them play... we'll be 3 happy rock star wanna bees!

Girls Rule...

Had a lot of fun with the girls last night!  The little girls spent most of the time in the craft room, while the big girls sat upstairs & drank wine & chatted! 

 

They pretended like they were fashion designers &  made us some new outfits.  Sal said hers looked like something she would really wear! 

Then they became rock stars & put on a show for us.

Girls rule & boys drool...

 

... unless you're a dad.  Dad's rule, too!  Missed you Scott! 

TGIF...

Just finishing up getting ready for the girlfriends tonight!  Had a fun trip to Whole Foods after Hip Hop class.  Just need to clean 2 more bathrooms, take a shower & let the party begin! 

Made a layout about Bob last night... his current likes/dislikes.  I like the texture of the corrugated paper with the new Passport paper from Making Memories.  Was going for a masculine feel... hopefully I achieved that.  He likes how it turned out... so that's all that counts! 

TGIF!

BFF's in da house (well, almost anyway)...

Just getting ready for my girlfriends to come over with their little girls tomorrow night.  Cleaning the house today... Bryn said she wants to help with the vacuuming (can't WAIT 'til she wants to help with the bathrooms!)  Tomorrow we're going to Whole Foods after my Hip Hop class... to get goodies.  Doing wine & appetizers for dinner.  I'm sure we'll have lots of laughs.... always do! 

Always something "to do" around here...

To Do's:

• Miss soccer camp this morning due to rain
• Step class at the Y
• Attend the Book Fair at the Y
• Ironing
• Finish laundry
• Call Stephanie G. to invite her to dinner
• Register for the 1/2 marathon
• Reconcile checking account (5 month's worth)
• Call Aunt Doris to invite her over to teach me to sew
• Reorder checks for home account
• Touch up the outdoor furniture stain job
• Finish my annual letter to Bryn
• Meet family for dinner to celebrate Mom's birthday today

A WHOLE day of family fun...

Did our family work-out yesterday.  Bryn did 4 miles with me... she was on her bike.  Toward the end she said, "My butt hurts."  She was a trooper!   Bob did a little over 3 miles.  We all ate lunch, showered & headed for the new Whole Foods.  Um, wow... huge store, so much to look at, so much to buy!

Let's just say... $200 later... we had a good dinner last night.  Will be making this store a regular part of my routine.  Christa said we need to make a date to go there together twice a month.  Dangerous! 

 

So, we spent the rest of our day outside enjoying the beautiful & out-of-the-ordinary-for-July weather.  Bob BBQ'd salmon for me & ribs for Bryn & him.  The rest of our dinner was a bunch of different yummy stuff we picked up at the deli area of Whole Foods... dips, veggies, antipasti, etc.

 

After dinner, Bryn & I ran around the yard with sparklers.  The funniest part of all was that she was still wearing my old apron (from a craft fair that I did) that Bob made her wear for dinner so she didn't get BBQ sauce all over her clothes!  We were cracking up about that.

 

After dinner we played Sequence, one of our favorite games, as we finally bought the adult edition... after all these years of playing the kid's version.

 

We only played until dark, because we had about 100 more sparklers to play with, of course!

Still have figuring out my Canon on my "list of things to do," so the fireworks & sparklers shots aren't the best...

 

...but still kind of cool! 

Love those two so much!

Happy 4th of July & some "KITS"...

Very thankful today for the service of our men & women serving our country.  Plan to sit on our deck tonight and watch fireworks.  We are very lucky because the entire horizon behind our house is filled with fireworks from several different shows + we also have fireworks going off all around our house in the neighborhood.  It's very convenient to not have to drive anywhere when you have great "seats" right in your own backyard! On the search for sparklers today... hopefully we can find some somewhere!

Went to lunch yesterday with Gamma & Sydney and then to see "Kit Kittredge" (the American Girl movie) yesterday.  It was SOOOO good!  Made me cry several times.  I don't know, maybe I'm just emotional or PMSing, but it was REALLY good.  I told Bob that not only did it have great messages, but it was very informative historically.  (Which is good for me, since I could've cared less about History when I was in school!)  I'll probably buy this movie.  Such a great movie to see... a positive, uplifting FAMILY movie... so out of the ordinary these days!  And Kit... such a good role model for little girls!  Just can't say it enough... love, love, loved it!

Really loving the new Pink Paislee stuff... specifically the "Pop Fashion" line! 

Off to do a family walk/bike/work-out, then to the new Whole Foods store & doing a little family planning for our upcoming trip to Disney.

Have a fun/safe 4th!

candimandi *JACK*

Original LO found here.

Credits:

Hand-made paper by Provocraft, Scenic Route & Cosmo Cricket patterned paper, word bubble was a freebie download from the SIS slumber party, fabric & heart came from June Sweet Spuds kit, stapler, typewriter, bubble wrap, K & Co Amy Butler die cut & Jenni Bowlin journal tag.