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Write Christmas letter...check
Send out Christmas card....check
Feed, walk and play with Skeletor everyday....check
Max out part-time hours at the Hallmark store...check
Buy all Christmas presents...check
Mail all Christmas presents...check
Update blog...
Oh crap.
I'm really embarrassed that this is only my 4th post for December. Yeah, it's been a busy month, but that's not really an excuse. My problem is that I really want to keep my blog updated, but I don't really want to do the updating. This writing part is hard for me. I love looking back and reading what I've written, even if it's not always perfect. I get really frustrated writing, though. My thoughts don't really come out in a logical stream. I'll start in one direction and then jump to the end or go off in another direction entirely.
I'm trying to just accept that that's the way it is, and stop avoiding it. I've found recently that lots of things that I dislike doing are the things that end up giving me the most satisfaction. It's like running. It's tough while I'm doing it, but that's why it feels so good to have finished it.
Considering that this is generally the time of year for making resolutions, I suppose I should now declare my intention to dedicate myself to tackling more tasks that I don't really like in the new year. Here a few related intentions and goals for 2010:
- continue to blog (shoot for at least 2x per week)
- tackle some big projects around the house (like cleaning out the garage or extra bedrooms)
- keep in touch with people (log on to facebook once in awhile, etc.)
- continue job search
- keep a positive attitude (How can I ask for more when I've already been given so much?)
- get credit card balance under control
- take a trip back to DC
- ADOPT A NEW PUPPY!
Can you tell I'm excited about that last one? The breeder where we got Skeletor is no longer in business, so we don't really know where to start, but there are plenty of puppies in need of good homes out there. I'm sure we'll be able to find one that fits into our little family OK.
I think I'm going to try to work on a couple scrapbook pages before I head to bed, so I'll leave it here for tonight. I'll try to take some pictures of pages tomorrow before work. I'm struggling to come up with a new/better way of organizing my pictures on my computer, but I'm kind of stuck because I print all of my pictures at home and so I have to work with it's organizing software at least to some extent. Sigh.
Yup. I finally saw it. :) I liked it more than the first movie, which is interesting because I didn't like the book as much. It was actually my least favorite of the books. Even James, who said his friends at work were all making fun of him when he said he was taking me, ended up saying it was very entertaining. The awkward teen moments are absolutely my favorite part. It put me in the mood to start rereading the book tonight (I just finished Atonement - amazing), but I can't find my copy amidst the unpacked book boxes in our "office." :( Both the books and the movies are absolutely the definition of "guilty pleasures." You know while you're reading/watching that they're cheesy/corny/melodramatic, but you can't help but be drawn in.
In other news, I totally s-ed the b at the post office today. I forgot to bring Adam's address with me, and I knew I was going to use flat rate boxes there, but I didn't bring anything to pad the items I was shipping. Now I just have to go back tomorrow. And again at least one more time (probably several) to ship out the rest of my Christmas presents. I'm setting myself an absolute deadline of next Monday to have everything I'm shipping taken care of. I might need more time for my mom's gift, but since I'm taking it with me, I don't have to have that finished until the last minute.
I did have an awesome score today, though. I had to pick up a few things at Wal-Mart after the post office. While I was there, I decided that our money was looking OK for the rest of the month and that I could use some Christmas money from Adam's mom to buy a set of punches I've been wanting for awhile. They're $20, but that's a pretty good deal. Except when I went to the register they rang up as $2 instead. Ummm....I went right back and picked up another one for that price! I don't know if it was because they're going to clear them out or if it was just a register glitch, but I know that I was very lucky today! I took them home and started playing and I LOVE the look. They'll both get a LOT of use.
Speaking of scrapbooking goodness, I do have a couple pages I did yesterday to share. The light was not quite so perfect today, but I think we've officially moved past the shameful indoor nighttime pictures.
There's not much to say about them. They're good but not great, but overall, I'm pleased. I used the button they gave Adam when he tried out on the American Idol page and I found a photo of the Power Rangers logo to use as my title for that page. That was definitely the best character picture we got all week, and we didn't have to wait in any line.
Yay! I didn't have to go in to work yesterday until the afternoon so I remembered to take some pictures of my latest scrapbook pages with actual daylight. They turned out MUCH better. I made two more tonight, so I'll have to make sure get them photographed tomorrow in my (way too) short window of daylight.
This page I actually laid out awhile ago and just hadn't glued it all together. I like the simplicity, and that it doesn't look boring because of the patterned background. The picture is our last day in our Park Bethesda apartment in 2007. I can't believe that was just two years ago.
This one is really simple, too. I guess there may be a pattern/style emerging. I love the way the title looks and that was really just making do with the letters that I had left in that alphabet. And you've just got to love that picture of my Mr. Strong. :)
I don't think there's much else going on to share. I've been watching football and getting Christmas presents ready for most of the day. My fantasy team is getting beaten badly right now, and I'm sulking. I still have hope since my quarterback and #1 running back are playing tomorrow night, but right now it's ugly. I'm going (hopefully) to see New Moon tomorrow as long as I can get a hold of my friend James. I've been able to guilt him in to taking me since Adam's not here. Also, it's been COLD here (as in my car was iced up last night when I left work). WTF? This is not what I moved to Florida for. I think the weatherman said that it would get a little warmer tomorrow, but we'll see.
Sigh. I still have to finish my Christmas letter tonight so I can start mailing those tomorrow. Can't I just slip in a note to come visit my blog instead?
I think last week fell into a black hole somewhere. There's really no other explanation for how it could be Saturday already. And Christmas less than 3 weeks away? Not possible. Overall, I get the feeling of running around but not really getting anywhere. That's why posting to this blog helps. It makes me step back and take stock and to realize that I HAVE accomplished quite a few things.
I have a plan for my Christmas spending and an idea of what to get most people on my list. Now it's just a matter of executing that plan. I have my Christmas travel plans under control (as much as I can control them). And though I don't have any of my Christmas decorations out yet, I do have a fairly clean house and time off tomorrow and Sunday to tackle that task. I just have to hope that next week doesn't get swallowed up by the same black hole.
I did manage to squeeze a few crafty things out of the black hole last week. BUT, part of my whirlwind of activity was buying 2 new albums and organizing my piles of pages, so a couple of the things I made got swept up and into the new albums before I took pictures. I might go back and find them, take them out and get good pictures. But probably not. I'm not very interested in disturbing the impressively tidy row of albums now on my bookshelf. I also worked on my first photo-less project with my scrapbooking supplies, but I can't share that either. It's going to be a Christmas present for someone who might check this blog before then, and I don't want to ruin the surprise. I'm really proud of it, though, so I'll take a picture before I wrap it up and try to remember to post it after the holidays. I do have a couple things from last week to share, so it's not a total loss.
I knew I had a lot of good pictures from the Kilimanjaro Safari at the Animal Kingdom, so I decided to go with a two-pager to get more on there. I used a page in a special issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine (that my mom generously got for me while she was visiting) for an outline of the design and then I found some zoo/safari stickers I had laying around and it came together really quickly after that. Obviously, my photo of the page is horrible, but I've already apologized about that several times.
I'm so glad my dad took these family pictures of me, Adam and Skeletor. I didn't have much to say about the photo, so I kept it pretty simple. I should have cropped the photo a little closer, but oh well.
Right now I think it's time for some lunch and then some work on my Christmas cards. I'm considering still farming out the writing of our yearly letter to Adam since he seems to have so much free time on his hands. I'll write him an email and see what he thinks about that. :)
I know most people hate Mondays, but since tomorrow is my day off I'm very anxious for it's arrival. I knew that working Black Friday would be hectic, but I wasn't really ready for Saturday night. Since the mall was open until 10 (which it really didn't need to be, but that's another story), and since there were about 10 extra figures I had to tally and call in to the district manager, we didn't clock out until 10:59. I didn't get home to my Skelly until 11:40. That may sound lame to some people (or a lot of people), but that's past my normal bedtime. I was wiped out.
Needless to say, I'm not super excited about going in today at 1. But I am super excited about keeping my job and making money, so I'll go do my best to make "genuine" connections with our customers. Overall, I really do like my job and know that there are a lot worse ways that I could be earning a buck. I shouldn't complain.
I've still got Thanksgiving and thankfulness on the brain, and I just have to say that there's not really much to complain about in my life at all. I am extremely blessed and I know it. The things that do bug me are the little things. The big things in my life are great: Adam, Skeletor, our families and close friends, our home, our jobs, our plans.
OK, that's about enough sappiness for one post. I'd better post some scrapbook pages quick to change the subject.
Sidenote: These photos are only slightly better than the last batch I posted. My photography skills seem to be regressing somewhat recently. It might have something to do with the constant battle over batteries I've been having with my camera.
OK, the colors came out a little weird in this photo, but I really like this page overall. It's a funny picture of Adam and the other seniors in his ROTC detachment on their last day of LLAB. I used my new FaLaLa design card to make the title. I like that it's definitely good for more than holiday pages.
I wish this picture was better because I LOVE this page (or 2 pages, I guess). I found just any random picture from every year that we've been together and the page just kind of fell into place with some scraps I had.
OK, time for lunch and then I'm out of here. Only one more day til Monday!
I have a lot to be thankful for today:
- I got to talk to my husband, so I know he is safe, (relatively) happy, and well-fed.
- I'm currently curled up on the couch watching football with the cutest puggle ever.
- Earlier this morning I made some delicious cranberry oatmeal white chocolate cookies.
- I talked to my parents, who are on their way to enjoy Thanksgiving with my brother and his wife.
- I am leaving in 5 minutes to spend the rest of my Thanksgiving with some friends here. Skelly will not be coming to dinner, but is invited to hang out with one of his best puppy friends, Jack, while we're gone.
- I've got pages and pages of scrapbooks to look through and help me remember all the other little things I'm thankful for everyday.
I promised Adam I would take a lot of pictures for him today. I also have a couple new pages to share, but work will be pretty nuts for the next 3 days, so I'm just hoping to make it through taking care of myself and the Skeletor. THAT, I know I can do. And I'm thankful.
I did not realize how horrible these pictures were until I started edited them. Unfortunately, they wouldn't be any better if I retook them today since I spent all my hours of natural light walking the dog, getting ready for work and working. Sigh. Obviously, that means there's not much of interest to report. I guess I'll just upload some new pages and cuddle in with Skeletor. We got Bolt from Netflix; I think he'll like it. :)
This is the other page I made with sketch 36 at The Scrappiest. I made this one a lot more linear and blocky. I don't really like how it turned out as much as the McGuire's page I posted yesterday, but I think it has more to do with the papers. I was trying to use up some older paper, and you can kind of tell that it's made with "leftovers."
I REALLY like this page. It's what I want my style to be more like - simple and straightforward. It's also a story that I've been wanting to tell for awhile, about how good we are at taking long arm photos. Mostly Adam, since he has a longer arm.
Now whatever impression you have of these pages, imagine them 10 times better, because that's really how much better looking they are in real life.
OK, so maybe I was outside with the dogs in short-sleeves today, but I'm still getting affected by the changing season. It's not the weather, it's the light. It's SO DARK already (5pm)! It makes me feel like curling up and doing nothing since it feels so much later. For some reason it seems a lot more sudden and jarring this year. I just can't seem to get used to it. I'm fighting it, but not very effectively. Maybe I'll try to vacuum around here a little later. Or maybe I'll just watch the football game...
I did accomplish the one big errand I had set out for today: I returned the wheelchair we rented for my dad to the medical supply store. And BONUS, I found a big Jo-Ann's craft store in P-cola that I had never been to before. DOUBLE BONUS, it's only about a block away from the Hobby Lobby in P-cola. How convenient. :) I showed remarkable self-restraint and didn't buy ANYTHING. Money is a little tight for the rest of the month until we get paid. It's OK though, our Disney vacation was totally worth it.
As soon as I got home Skelly and I took a drive over to visit Lauren and Jack. The boys had a great time running around and rough-housing and Lauren and I had some nice girl time. I fact, we made another play date for Wednesday before I have to go to work. I'll probably have to make my pumpkin chocolate chip cookies to bring for Thanksgiving while they're here, but that should be fine.
Now...I still have some older pages I haven't posted here yet (I just hate posting more than 1 or 2 at a time because I feel like they can make a post super long), but Adam has requested that I try to post my newest ones. That way he can see what I'm working on while he's gone. So here's my first batch of the pages I made this week while he was gone. Love you, baby! (Oh, and I REALLY apologize for the horrible quality of these pictures. I took them no tripod in my extremely poorly lit living room. Yet another annoying side effect of early nightfall.)
I was trying to catch up on my blog reading yesterday and I finally saw this post (from Oct. 28) on the Mosh Posh blog. I loved the look of the page in progress, so I decided to try a rare 2-pager. I like putting more full-size pictures on a page, but I always feel like there's SO MUCH space to fill up. Having an idea to borrow made it a lot easier.
This is my attempt at mixing and matching papers for a monochromatic layout. I love these pictures at McGuire's (and I wanted to document this location tradition), and I printed them that size so I could mix in the "Official Irishman" card from the restaurant, too. I used this sketch from The Scrappiest because I liked the look of a grid on top of a grid. I made another page that I'll share a little with the same sketch that came out very different. It's cool when that happens.
Yay! This is my 100th post on my blog! I'm pretty proud of myself for keeping this up for so long (even if sometimes I only post once a week), and I really love looking back at old posts. They're really funny sometimes.
Unfortunately, I don't have a lot to report on today. I've been working steadily and training at work to be a keyholder. I finally have a full day of nothing in front of me today and I'm pretty excited about it. My fantasy football team has slipped a little bit in the past two weeks, but I' pretty OK with my team for today. I'll be half-watching the early games today while I clean up and make some scrapbook pages, but tonight when the Bears are on I'll be super-psyched up and ready to go. :)
I've still got some pre-Disney pages to share, so I'll just post those and keep this short. I've got a full day of relaxing I need to get to. :)
I've had these pictures of Adam's homestay room in Brussels printed for awhile, but I haven't known exactly what to do with them. They're just not super-compelling, you know? Anyway, this is what I finally came up with. I also used up some travel stickers I've had for a long, long time, so overall, I'm pleased with it.
This is pretty much one of the girliest pages I've ever made. Which I guess is ironic if you think about it. If most of the pages I make are not girly, why would the page about the place where I make those pages be girly? I think the answer is because scrapbooking is a pretty girly hobby. And that sometimes I like to try different things.
OK. That'll do it for me today. Let the football begin!
But that's a good thing.
I've been running around pretty steadily since Adam left, and it's made the time in this first week fly by pretty quickly. Now I have about an hour until I have to leave for work (with a quick stop at base on the way), so I thought i should at least start writing an update here.
Keeping in touch with Adam has been better than expected. We can write emails back and forth really easily and we've even webcammed to see each other face-to-face twice already. Skelly has been doing a good job as the deputy man-of-the-house, especially yesterday when I had to leave him for 13 hours while I was in Panama City for Will's graduation and didn't make any messes or have any trouble.
Speaking of Will's graduation, it was a really nice time. I got to meet his parents and his cousin and we all had a good time just hanging out and going to dinner. Adam was there in spirit and on a stick. Unfortunately, in my rush to get out the door on time I forgot my camera at home so I'll have to rely on the kindness of Will's mom to forward me some of the shots that she took. They'll be in town for another few days, so I might get a chance to see them again later this week. That would be nice, and I'm so glad I have friends like Will close by to keep me from being a social hermit.
I have managed to start a couple of new scrapbook pages with my Disney pages but I don't have pictures taken or edited yet. Did I mention that I've been busy lately? Well anyway, I've got some pages that I finished up before my parents' visit to share first anyway.
This is one of my recent favorites and is hanging in a place of honor on my curtain rods right now. It took about 10 minutes to put together with just a couple pieces of paper and stickers. I love when they're easy but I still love the finished product.
This is a great picture of Adam's Mom and Grandma. We had a full day of walking around Fort Walton Beach and Destin and it was HOT that day. Our relaxing dinner at McGuire's was especially welcome that night. :)
Well, how about that? I actually managed to finish this post before work. I'm quite proud of myself. Now I just have to feed the dog and head out the door. :)
Well, mostly.
It's been a pretty crazy few weeks, with visits, vacations and last minute preparations for deployment, but now that's all over. Things were a lot quieter today. Both my parents and Adam's mom called to "check up" on me, but I have to say that I'm really feeling fine. Maybe it just hasn't sunk in yet, but I'm not feeling especially sad or lonely. I cried a little at the airport, but the rest of the day has been pretty OK.
It also may have helped that I had to deal with my garbage disposal breaking this morning. At first, I just had to laugh. Literally the very first moment I was on my own, I had a major breakdown on my hands. I tried what I could from troubleshooting tips I found online, but eventually I had to call for service. Unfortunately, they can't come until tomorrow morning. And you know what kind of sucks? Not having a working kitchen sink. Sigh. It might even be worse than not having a husband to cuddle at night. Nah, I take that back.
For the next few days I'll be busy at Will's graduation and working, so I don't know if I'll update details/photos of our vacation, but I will definitely be working on pages about it. In fact, I just finished gluing a new one I out together during football tonight. At least there's a little silver lining in so much time alone. I expect to get A LOT of these vacation pictures scrapped. :)
I've been all over the place in the last few days with Adam coming home, ironing out all the last-minute details for my parents' visit and, oh yeah, did I mention that our fridge died and we are now waiting for a new one to be delivered on Wednesday? Sigh.Despite all that, I'm excited and up early today (daylight savings time certainly helped). There's just a few more things to do around the house (change out linens and vacuum mostly), and I'd really like to go out and get a few things at the store. Objectively, we are running low on a lot of stuff (food-wise) and with guests coming I feel like being understocked is even worse. I wish things were more perfect in a lot of ways for this visit, but more than anything I'm excited that they're finally coming.I don't know how much I'll remember to update in these next two weeks, but I'm sure I'll have lots of memories and pictures at the end. Happy stuff to keep with me when Mom and Dad go home and Adam leaves for his deployment. That makes me feel better. :)
I am a fantasy football machine! I am NUMBER ONE in my league. My poor husband is still hanging out in the bottom half, but I am on my way to sweet, sweet victory. I don't know what it is, since the last two years I played fantasy I ended up pretty low, but this year has been awesome for me. The first few weeks I thought it was just luck, but my guys have been consistently good. My draft strategy of absolutely no research until an hour before has really payed off.
Gloating aside, the only other semi-interesting news I have to share is that I got a haircut yesterday. Once again, I let it get WAAAYY too long in-between cuts. Well, part of the problem was that it was so long last time I got it cut that they didn't quite cut it short enough to begin with. That is NOT the case this time. It's shorter than it's been in a long while, and I really like it. I still have to hop in the shower and really style it today, but when I do, I'll come back and post a picture. I'll just have to figure out a way to secure it while I am running since a ponytail is pretty stubby and silly-looking now. (And on the subject of rain...please stay dry until noon so I can go out and run today before work. Please.)
Finally, even though I'm beginning to lose hope that I'll ever get updated on track, here are a couple more of my scrapbook pages. (I'm thinking that if I'm still this behind at the end of the year - which is definitely possible with lots of extra time to scrap while Adam is deployed - that I'll just have one gigantic post with all of the leftover pages so I can start fresh in 2010. I can dream at least.)
The papers that I used on this page are not very thick or strong, so it kind of ended up a little battered. Overall, I still like it because I think it complements the picture of Adam in Cyprus pretty well. Again, the title is a little rough because I handcut it, but that's OK.
I used this sketch from the Bella Blvd. blog (say that 3 times fast) for my 2nd Christmas page. Looking at it now, the white shape looks kind of plain and the title looks a little disconnected from everything else, but I'm just my own worst critic.
This page and these photos make me smile every time. My journaling reads, "It's very difficult to get a good picture of us after Adam has been drinking and popped some popcorn." So true.
So, Adam left early this morning for a week-long TDY. Football Sunday just won't be the same without him. At least I've got some people from work coming over in the evening, so cleaning up the house and making up some food will keep me busy. For the rest of the week, it'll be more of the same since I'll be cleaning up for my mom and dad's visit (they'll be on their way this time next week, whoa). I also have to keep up my running and enjoy the quiet time/scrapbooking time since I probably won't have a long stretch like this until Adam leaves for his 2 month deployment.
Not much else to report because all I did last night was work one of the most boring shifts ever at the Hallmark store. Nothing to do, no customers, and Toby and I were both deeply tired. It's a miracle we made it to 9pm.
I've got a couple more pages from August (before the move) to share before I head out the door to walk Skeletor. He'll be much more willing to just chill with me on the couch and watch football later if we go out for a walk now.
This page is not actually as crooked as my photo makes it seem. The rest of its flaws are, however, real. I mean, I like the photo and the idea of that title, but I feel like nothing on the page goes together really well. But I'd still rather put this in my album than start from scratch again.
I'm pretty happy with this simple page about Adam's Grandma and Grandpa Borla from Christmas last year. I think I used a sketch, but it's been such a long time I can't remember where I got it from now. Maybe from this Canadian website? 
I like to end on a good note, and this is my favorite of the three pages. I loved this page when I found it online, and I pretty much copied it exactly for my page about Adam's fraternity. The white, gold and blue are the fraternity's colors, and I added the red for just a little bit of "pop." The only thing I don't like is the roughness of the letters in the title because I hand-cut them. I wish they looked more smooth and sleek.
If I could control the weather, I would ask for about a million more days like today. Except for maybe the crazy rain in the morning. After that, it was simply amazing. I had a great time walking Skeletor in the afternoon and running in the evening was SO pleasant. Well, the weather part at least. The running part was a little rough, but that's what makes it so satisfying when I'm finished: that it was hard and I did it anyway.
Beyond the walk and the run, I didn't accomplish much today other than finally watching Step Brothers with Adam. Apparently we were the last two 24-year-olds on earth who hadn't seen it. It was better than I expected for a movie with such a ridiculous premise.
All-in-all though, I'm going to have to say it was a great day. Adam is leaving for a TDY exercise for the next week and I'll miss him and days like today. So now it's time to brush my teeth and snuggle him in bed. I've got some layouts to post, too, since I realized these are still from my August folder of pictures. I'm not sure I'll ever get caught up.
This is a fun page from our trip to Las Vegas in 2006. Not a whole lot of patterned paper, but the bold colors are more than enough. I love Uncle John's face in the first picture.
I'm pretty positive I used a sketch for this one, but I can't find it in my bookmarks right now. All off the paper came from a coordinating stack (how easy is that), and I cut the "$8" with my Slice. The story of Adam's wooden sword from Budapest was too priceless not to document.
Here's another (relatively) old picture: me on our honeymoon in 2007. This was the longest zipline we rode and the only one that Adam had time to take my picture after he was already unloaded at the back end. That was a really cool experience.
If you've made it this far, congratulations and thanks for looking. Good night.
I had begun to lose hope that this day would ever arrive here in Florida, but finally it seems like autumn has arrived. I'm currently curled up in my desk chair wearing sweatpants and hoodie while Skeletor is cuddled in the blanket on our bed. Yes folks, for the first time in God only know how many months, we actually needed something more than a sheet overnight. I'm excited. Fall is my favorite season. My biggest hope would be that the weather stays like this until April when it warms up for spring and just skips over winter. That's not that outrageous in Florida, so we'll see.
Running in the cooler air is something new for me though. I started my Couch to 5K program in April, so it had only been warm and then HOT before. I might have to look into more cool weather gear, since I'm definitely getting excited for my 2nd 5K in November. Adam said he would come out and run with me before the football game tonight. :)
I'm off today so I'm taking it easy, but kind of tidying up the house since hopefully we'll get to hang out with Briana tonight. She is coming to Pensacola to do her water survival training Tuesday-Thursday, and we're hoping to spend most of the evenings while she's here together. Yay! I think James is going to come over tonight, too, so it'll be a mini-reunion. Ahhh...college memories....
Anyway, I'm about to go search for some lunch, but first I'll upload some pages I've still got clogging up my computer.
These pictures are from WAYYYY back (you know, Christmas 2007). I LOVE pictures of baby Skeletor. I think I used one of the sketches at Pink Sketches, but I don't have it bookmarked so I don't remember which one.
See? I told you I love pictures of baby Skeletor. This one is funny because he's wearing a t-shirt that we couldn't resist buying (it said "naughty" on the back - too appropriate), and it was the first time we realized that our cute little puggle was a little too thick in the middle for dog clothes. Since then, his wardrobe has mostly consisted of the occasional bandana.
I used a bunch of scraps I had left-over on this page. I like it, but it's a little matchy-matchy. I really like the picture of Mom and Dad wearing headsets in Adam's SIM complex, though.
Alright, tummy is growling so I guess I'd better get in the kitchen.
Extremely weird night.Adam is on his way home from Logan's bachelor party. They had to cut the night short because some of the guys they went out with (on a converted school bus turned party bus no less) got too drunk and sick. That left only 4 guys in the expensive bus. At least that's what I know right now. It should be interesting to sort all of this out in the morning when people are (hopefully) more coherent.I had a good night anyways. The guys started the night grillling out and drinking at Mike Pierce's house, so his girlfriend Lauren and I met two other girlfriends and had a fun night out just hanging at TGI Fridays. It's good to spend some time with girls and talk about our silly boys and the way things are in the military. Lauren, Beth and I are all gearing up to deal with our first deployment, so it's good to know that other people are in the same boat.
Tomorrow's going to be a full day. I plan on running the morning (race training, woo!), then I have to work from 12-6:30, and finally, I have to watch my Bears beat the crap out of the Falcons on Sunday night football. Hopefully I'll be back with an update on Monday and maybe even a couple scrapbook pages.
Cheers.
Ok, I am SERIOUSLY behind in posting layouts here. Since I only have a few little things to report about, I'm going to upload quite a few today.
First the news:
1. Adam's deployment date has gotten moved up again. Things should still be fine, unless they move the date up again. So, keep your fingers crossed.
2. Adam is going to hear the First Lady speak at Eglin today. I couldn't go with because I have to work tonight. :( At least I sent him with the camera.
3. I'm pretty sure I'm going to sign up for another 5K on November 21st. Adam will be gone, but Will said he would come to town and run with me. Yay for races! Now I just have to get back in race shape. If I was ever in race shape....
Now to the layouts!
This is Adam cutting his birthday cake. I used this page as my inspiration, but kept it simple and I like the way it all came together. Adam's face in the second picture is priceless. And I'm pretty proud that I got away with using flowers on a page about Adam. :)
I love the way this page came together with just a few scraps. I usually don't think far enough ahead to match my papers to the colors in the photos, but I think the red of my shirt and the peek of yellow from Adam's undershirt really bring the whole thing together.
I shared this picture on the blog a few months ago and I finally got around to making a page about it. The page is not perfect (I don't like the crooked title), but I'm glad I saved this memory anyway.
This one took some work, since I seem to be so low on red, white and blue stuff, but with this sketch and the punch-out stars I think it came out well. The labels were a free download I found somewhere online and printed on red cardstock.
Well, I think that'll about do it for me today. I'd better hop in the shower and pack up my dinner for work. I have more pages to share, but they'll have to wait for another day.
Even when you're not having fun. Even when you leave for work just when your husband is coming home from work two nights in a row.
It's not really that bad, but it's not really that fun either. In any event, time definitely appears to be flying. We've been in the new house for more than a month and we're already gearing up for Adam's mom and grandma to come visit next weeked. I feel like I JUST updated the blog, but the truth is it's been awhile.
On Tuesday night after work, Adam and I went out and RAN for the first time here in our neighborhood. It had been altogether TOO LONG. I only ran 15 minutes total in 3 intervals and was still sore the next morning. And the next morning. I wanted to run again Thursday, but since I still felt a little stiff, I decided on a walk instead. I walked to the library and back (it's about 1.5 miles from the house). It felt really good to be outside and to be doing SOMETHING instead of sitting around inside feeling sore.
I was going to maybe go out running for a little bit tonight, but Adam wants to head into Pensacola to pick up some stuff (a book for his grad class and the tennis racquet he had re-strung). I am supporting this change in schedule because there's a good chance we'll stop at Office Depot and maybe buy a desk to be my scrapbook desk. Hooray for clearing off the mess I've made on the coffee table!
Anyway, I've got just a couple older pages to share before we get in gear and get out of here. Enjoy!
These are funny pictures of Adam and Skeletor with Skelly's head buried so he looks headless. There's not much to say about the layout, it's pretty basic.
This page is simple, but I like the way it turned out. I think it all works together since the picture is simple, the words I wrote are simple and the design is fairly simple. It's based on an older sketch at 52 Sketches, 52 weeks.
Yep, Adam has to work at the squadron duty desk tonight, so I'll be rustling around for some dinner and watching the game all by myself. Once I get a few more things knocked off my to-do list I'll settle in and hopefully do some scrapping during the game with the big coffee table all to myself.
I went to my local scrapbook store today (it's more than 30 minutes away, so not very local and I've only been about 3 times since we've lived here) because they had 40% off everything but cardstock today. It sounds like they're having trouble staying open, so I hope this wasn't my last trip there.
With all my new goodies and my free time tonight, next on my list of priorities is hooking up my printer somewhere so I can print a few new pictures to use. Since I can't think of anything else to report, I'll just upload some more pages I had finished before the move.
I like the way this simple page came out. The sticker with the Pledge of Allegiance came on a sheet of stickers I bought a while back and was one of those that looked really cute in the stores, but then when I got it home I thought, "When am I ever going to want to use a sticker with the Pledge of Allegiance?" It still may be a little weird, but I like what it adds to the page. I went with using it in a general patriotic way instead of specifically on a page about the Pledge or something.
I used this sketch at Pink Sketches for this page, but it's not my favorite. I DO like how the pink border on top of the blue kind of looks like cake frosting and kind of ties into the page. I made cakes for a dessert to serve during the Super Bowl and Briana and I decorated them for the teams playing. Her cake was clearly better since her team, the Steelers, won. That meant we dug into that one first.
First off, WOOOO! Football! My Bears pulled it out and the end AND I'm officially 3-0 in my fantasy league! I love it!
We went out Friday to McGuire's for a CSO get-together and that was fun. Mostly the later part hanging out with Brian and his girlfriend. I had to work last night, so it was less exciting. I did finish the new Dan Brown book The Lost Symbol that Adam bought last week. It was definitely entertaining and I liked it. Very similar to The DaVinci Code, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
I've been doing a little bit of scrapping and gluing while watching football today (I'm not glued to the TV since neither of our teams were being shown here in Florida.), AND since now I know where my camera cord is, hopefully I'll have some new pages to share soon. All I need now is my printer hooked up and my long-term furniture solution and I'll be a happy, scrappy camper.
Until then, here's the other half of the pictures of our new furniture: our bedroom!
This is the view when you walk in. (Sorry for the crappy lighting.)
Here's a good look at the QUEEN-SIZED bed. :) No, the sheet set didn't come with the puggle, but this is his new favorite spot to be found. Or more accurately, his new favorite spot is directly in the middle of the pile of pillows. He's a sucker for anything soft and cushy.
A close-up on the sheets and the puggle. We still need to find a lightweight blanket to match for when it gets a little cooler.
This is my bedside table to the right of the bed and the new location of Skelly's bed (AKA our old sheet set's comforter). He's doing pretty well getting used to sleeping there.
A shot of my dresser. I LOVE the big mirror.
This is the media console and our SECOND HDTV. 32" is so awesome in the bedroom. And I really love the way the furniture looks in our bedroom. It looks really good and just makes sense in the space.
Finally, here is a view over the bed to Adam's chest and bedside table. The drawers aren't quite as deep as our old furniture, but we have extra drawers in the media console so it's all good. This morning, Adam and I were hanging out watching the news a little before getting out of bed and he said, "I love our grown-up furniture." I totally agree.
I can't resist sharing this picture. First of all, I love how his toy matches our sheets so well. And second I love his coy little look with his head facing away but his eyes still looking at me. I just love my little boy.
That's about all for now. I think it's about time to fire up the grill for some cheeseburgers to enjoy before the night game.
