Just a slice, please

On the verge of summer...

The last bits of the school year are wrapping up...the high schoolers are in finals (although they have taken some of them already), we have the dance recital next week and weekend and the baby shower I am co-hosting with my sister wives (my husband's cousin's wives and my sister in law) will be wrapped up and then.. . Summer.

 I have decided that this might be the year that I am NOT going to complain about how hot it is.  I am going to enjoy the company of my family no matter the heat and we are going to LIVE.  This very well may be the last summer at home for Maddie.  Who knows if she will go off to Europe or travel next summer after High School...and for Jillian, we are probably facing her jaw surgery next summer.  So I feel compelled to make some memories. Nothing crazy or earth shattering.  The lack of funds forces me to be creative.  But somehow, getting those dreams down on paper is really exciting to me.  Many of these plans have been perkolating for a while and some are true "gimmes" meaning we have done them before and enjoyed them so much we will do them again. So thank you to Ali Edwards for giving me the gentle push this morning to create my SUMMER MANIFESTO.

1) Buy a bathing suit I actually like and will be seen in, no matter what.

2) Hit the beach every other week, more if possible!

3) Shop at the Farmer's Market.

4) Create a new meal with said Farmer's Market finds.

5) Plant and keep alive an herb garden.

6) Take the girls to Hearst Castle.

7) Visit at least 2 colleges of Maddie's choice.

8) Eat outside at least once a week.

9) Go to Sunday Concerts in the park- often.

10) Visit the Santa Monica Pier and Aquarium.

11) Visit Olevera Street.

12) Take the girls and the cameras and photograph our city.

13) Create a scrapbook project with the photos.

14) Play board games.

15) Go Camping.

16) Paint the coffee table.

17) Collect seashells and make sand candles.

18) Sew one project with each girl.

19) Go to a Dodger game with Fireworks.

20) Teach Cammy piano.

21) Take a one night trip with Eric.

22) Live in the moment.

I am excited about the possibilities of this Manifesto..this bucket list...there is a lot of goodness here.  And the best part is that I think I can do them all and that is SUPER exciting...we are going to have a great summer and we are going to live each moment!!

 

The CK Triple Toot!

So, my big news for the week is I had THREE layouts requested for the Nov/Dec issue of Creating Keepsakes!!  I am pretty darn proud of myself that all three layouts I submitted to them got selected...pretty darn proud!  This isn't my first go-around with CK but it is a HUGE milestone none the less!!  I've never had more than one layout get picked up for the same issue so this is very exciting to little old me!

I've been enjoying my work with Scrappin Sports n More...I love what a clean look I get when I use their papers.  It is old school scrapping at it's best for me, and I love the layouts I create for them.  Here's a couple I've shared on their blog but not here:

I've also been very busy with my new responsibilities as DT Coordinator at Little Red Scrapbook.  LOVE the girls on the new DT...everyone is settling in nicely and the board is hopping along once again.  Come check it out if you haven't yet...not only are our kits the BEST in the industry, we have some fun challenges and friendly faces, too. :)

on a personal note, the kids and I are all suffering from "senioritis" despite none of them being seniors in High School.  Everyone is pretty much "done" with the hustle and bustle and stress of the school year..sadly, it's only going to get worse before it gets better.  The bigs have finals coming up the week after next, then more the following week, just to be compounded with recital rehearsals, ending with the bang of the recital!  Then...ahh...a few weeks off for them while Cammy finishes up (yes their schools aren't on the same schedule this year).  I can not WAIT to get to that point.  Lots of fun to be had until then though...

This weekend is full of birthday parties and Mother's Day, the following weekend I am going to Inspired Journey, a smallish event hosted by my friend Ginger and Teresa Collins...two full days of creating and no kids (hopefully!) and a cheer banquet for Jillian. Throw in dress rehearsals for the recital and the actual recital followed by a family baby shower for which I am in charge of decorations and I will come up for air June 10th..so if I am a bit scarce until then..you know why!  Hope your days aren't as crazy as mine and you are getting lots of crafty "me" time!

Project Life

So I did it. I caved to the project envy... All the "cool kids" were doing it and now I am, too. Project Life.

It's a big commitment, one I hope I'm up to sticking with (other than with people I tend to be rather fickle!) and one I am actually SUPER excited about!! I couldn't wait for the Type A page protectors to be in stock- I figured if I waited for that it would never get done so I used the page protectors I had on hand and you know what? I love it. I still need to add my computer journaling on the top card but here is my first week-love how it turned out!!

 

Show of hands.. Who's with me on Project Life?? What have you found to help you with the process??

Bits of the Season...

We have been totally enjoying family time this week. Many years Hanukkah is early and the kids are still in school...this year we have been off and really enjoying family dinners and candles and time together...

Because I still don't have a camera (which I'm really, really hoping changes on Sunday) I have been playing with all the photo apps on my phone and getting artsy photos this year..lol...here's a few of my favorites from this week...

Lighting the candles last night at Grandma and Grandpa's house...

Tonight's candles....everyone is lighting their own Hanukkiah this year...this one happens to be Jillian's...

and mine...I love this Hanukkiah..it's spectacular on the last night!

and a little bit of our mantle...

and a little bit of what we were doing while we were waiting for dinner to bake...

The real fun will be had tomorrow afternoon when we decorate them...it's so hard to be patient and wait for them to dry!  LOL Then, tomorrow night we are headed to Candy Cane Lane on the double decker bus....it's so much fun!!! Saturday is the big family party (I will be helping cook tomorrow!) and Sunday is Christmas and our smaller Grandparent's party here...that will be a VERY exciting day!!

I hope all of you have been enjoying the holiday season and are either enjoying time with family already or ready to celebrate!!

xoxo

 

Sweet 16!

Today is my sweet little Shmoopie's Birthday!!  

Yes, Maddie turns 16 today- and I can't believe it.  This girl made me a Mama after 23 1/2 hours of back labor on 11/11/95 and  because she was the greatest gift of my life, I've forgiven her for that very hard labor.  She has taught me so much about unconditional love, unselfish devotion and has brought out (mostly) the best in me.  I didn't even know how much I'd love being a Mama until she made me one...and now it is my most cherished role.  

She was the sweetest baby, always smiling, rarely tantruming and has pretty much been just a happy, happy kid!  I'm not going to sugar coat and say there hasn't been bumps along the road, but overall, I feel so blessed that she chose me to be her Mama...and I think we've done very well together!! 

And so here we are, 16 years later...looking at colleges and cars and talking about careers and where to live...and it all seems like it went by too quickly.  I wish I could take back all the times I said, "I can't wait until she can ______"...because they all came true much faster than I could have imagined and now it's just a blur.  We will always have the scrapbook pages and the fleeting memories of childhood...and sitting on the precipise of adulthood I feel like hanging onto those moments like they are my lifeline.  Truth be told, she is a wonderful young woman with hopes and dreams of going away to college (but not that far away) becoming an Entertainment Journalist, having her own family and her photography and jewelry making hobbies on the side...she is creative and funny, outgoing and clever and I am so proud of the person she is becoming!  So I've baked three separate cakes (to create one Neopolitan cake) and 60 mini cupcakes for her celebrations which started last night.  Today she went off to BOTC (Battle of the Chapters), a BBYO Youth Group weekend event and was so excited to celebrate her birthday with her friends!  (Having a birthday on a legal holiday sort of blows since she has never gotten to share at school or with someone on her actual birthday!)  It's bittersweet that she is so happy to go celebrate with friends and leave the family but I know it's time and I'm so happy that she has such a strong group of friends that love her and are eager to celebrate with her!!

So Happy Birthday my Sweet 16!!!  I love you soooo much Shmoopie...

xoxoxo, Mama

 

 

 

Post October Blues...

As many of you know, Halloween is my most favorite holiday of the year.  I go all out, decorating the house (all the way down to a different sent of dishes, bowls, mugs and glasses) and the outside...I just LOVE it.  So when it's over, I feel sort of depressed.  I took everything down yesterday and put it all away and while the house is still decorated for fall, it just isn't the same.  Sigh.  So...to help boost my spirits, I decided to do a Post Halloween Wrap up...indulge me, lol.

October is always weird since even at 7am the sun isn't up...this would be my 7:15 sunrise a few days before Halloween...

Maddie had a First Annual Halloween Concert- the kids did SUCH a good job under the new director..he's amazing and really has the kids engaged and motivated.  Maddie had a few duets (she is 2nd Chair Clarinet) and impressed us all! She's never had a single lesson, just 6 years of daily Concert Band classes, so we are always in awe of what she's achieved. :) And in case you can't tell from my crummy camera phone picture, she's a vampire...Katherine from Vampire Diaries just so you know.  LOL

We hit up a pumpkin patch for a photo shoot...we didn't buy our pumpkins there, lol..they were like $12 for a small pumpkin...I mean seriously!!  What in the world?  I bought them at Trader Joes for $2.99.  Saving the cute pics with the pumpkins for some kit work so you'll see those later. :)  Click on it to see the whole picture, for some reason my blog isn't letting me adjust the photo sizes...

We started service with a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) that is benefitting our elementary school...our first box was full of so many yummy fruits and veggies..some of which we had never had before, like a persimmon.  The salad we made on the first night was AMAZING and the pears didn't even hit the bowl, we ate them right out of the box!

Halloween morning, the annual Halloween parade at the elementary school...so much fun...we only have one more...seems weird to see an end to that era as it's been 12 years of our lives we've had a Halloween Parade.  Here's our little Queen Bee...

 

After school we stopped by the "Spooky House"...wow..totally spooky!  And GROSS.  ick.

The Shulmans joined us for Trick or Treating and Dinner...Matt made a very scary (and cute) Werewolf...

Maddie and Jillie hamming it up before heading out...

and our carved pumpkins...Maddie didn't have time to do hers so only Cammy and Jillie did them, Jillie did the "boo" and Cammy the "jackolantern"...

So there you have it...the last week and a half in a nutshell...moving on....and back to the scrappy stuff....I posted this Dinner Party Invitation over at the Just Imagine Blog today...I totally LOVE their punches...go check out the blog for more info...

Soooo....that's it for now....we will be back to our regularly scheduled crafty posts now...(until the holidays make me crazy! LOl)...Have a great weekend everyone!

 

 

Crazy busy or just gone crazy?

Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference.  LOL  With all three girls back in school you'd think I'd have more time on my hands but somehow that hasn't worked out for me.  That's okay, busy is better than bored.  I have been working on a scrappy project that I can't share yet (or share the news of yet) so that has been part of why you aren't seeing much scrappy inspiration from me...it's all very hush hush!!  (and fun!)  And the day after tomorrow, Thursday, I leave for Inspiration Unlimited!!  Yay yay yay!!  This will be my 4th year in attendance...so excited to get away.  I'm sure my kids are actually looking forward to me *being* away, too, since I'm sort of on the cranky side with them.  Taking this little weekend is part of what keeps me sane in my real life.  Lucky me, I have another one the following weekend, too..this time to just scrap for myself...so even though we have a Jewish High Holiday in the middle there, and all the normal work/shelpping/etc. two weekends in a row, my friends!!  Woohoooo!!  So, you'll pardon me if I don't post again until October...I'm going to be taking a little bloggy break until I get back from the second weekend, and then I'll have lots and lots to share!!  Have a great couple of weeks everyone!!

I'll leave you with a layout I did a couple weeks ago for Scrapbook Express...

Make every moment count!! 

xoxo

Little bit of Little Red and a little bit of life...

I loved working with this month's Little Red Scrapbook kit..it featured Echo Park's Country Road line and SO MANY fun embellies.....it was hard to stop at 3 layouts..so I didn't...I did four.  :)  And I'm going to do more..the papers just sing to me and are so happy and bright!!

I loved how this one turned out...the restaurant we took these pictures at has red and white checkers in the front..the paper was SO perfect..and it's called the "Busy Bee" restaurant...soooo BEES!!

This was taken on the street in Santa Barbara...just a quick photo in front of our favorite jewelry store...I used my Instamatic app and I love how this one turned out. This was with the add on kit's paper and Mistable stickers.

The sunglasses sticker was screaming to be used..and what better photo than this one?

and you saw already the one I did for the sketch challenge...fun stuff, huh?  

I got bit by the organizing bug today and managed to clean out three junk drawers, cull my old magazines and completely clean and re-do Cammy's room.  Three bags of trash and a laundry basket full of giveaways later (oh, and another paper grocery bag full of books I gave to Juls) I think her room looks great.  I hope my little creature of habit doesn't freak out that I moved her furniture but it really works much better this way!  Off to rest my back and get some sleep.  That alarm clock is very early at 7 these days to drive the bigs to school!  Oh!  First day of school!!

Jillian started high school and Maddie started Junior year!  What a huge milestone in this house!!  I've been so focused on getting them the school supplies and the right planners and such I forgot to post a picture here!

Here's to a great year (and only two schools to drive to) this year!!  So far so good (although both of them seem to think they should stay up way later than I think they should!)  LOL  Those of you with high schoolers, what time do they go to bed??

 

Little bit of Little Red

I loved working with this month's Little Red Scrapbook kit..it featured Echo Park's Country Road line and SO MANY fun embellies.....it was hard to stop at 3 layouts..so I didn't...I did four.  :)  And I'm going to do more..the papers just sing to me and are so happy and bright!!

I loved how this one turned out...the restaurant we took these pictures at has red and white checkers in the front..the paper was SO perfect..and it's called the "Busy Bee" restaurant...soooo BEES!!

This was taken on the street in Santa Barbara...just a quick photo in front of our favorite jewelry store...I used my Instamatic app and I love how this one turned out. This was with the add on kit's paper and Mistable stickers.

The sunglasses sticker was screaming to be used..and what better photo than this one?

and you saw already the one I did for the sketch challenge...fun stuff, huh?  

I got bit by the organizing bug today and managed to clean out three junk drawers, cull my old magazines and completely clean and re-do Cammy's room.  Three bags of trash and a laundry basket full of giveaways later (oh, and another paper grocery bag full of books I gave to Juls) I think her room looks great.  I hope my little creature of habit doesn't freak out that I moved her furniture but it really works much better this way!  Off to rest my back and get some sleep.  That alarm clock is very early at 7 these days to drive the bigs to school!  Oh!  First day of school!!

Jillian started high school and Maddie started Junior year!  What a huge milestone in this house!!  I've been so focused on getting them the school supplies and the right planners and such I forgot to post a picture here!

Here's to a great year (and only two schools to drive to) this year!!  So far so good (although both of them seem to think they should stay up way later than I think they should!)  LOL  Those of you with high schoolers, what time do they go to bed??

 

A Week in the Life

project is underway...I sort of feel like my life is overall pretty boring..but I guess even the monotony of everyday should be documented every now and then.  Next summer will be very different with Maddie driving herself everywhere...so this will definitely be the last summer as we have known it.

Some of my favorite pictures from the last couple of days..as you will see, I am using my iPhone camera apps for most of my pictures.  The cool thing is that with a cool processing, even boring pictures look better. ;)

My washer on it's daily trip across the laundry room. :(

My high score so far this week on Bejeweled...pretty good..but not my best.

Self portrait of me on the phone...

My freshly painted toes...glimpse of a new dress..and of course, Angel..under my feet. :)

The stack of layouts I need to file...it's on my to do list and I keep ignoring it!

That's all for now...I'm headed up to the scraploft to work on some DT work while it's quiet. :)  

Have a great day everyone!