xoxo... t

Last December Daily post!

2011-12-29T08:00:00.000-08:00

Phew! I feel so accomplished. No matter how much I prepared, I still had doubts about whether I could complete this project, so I'm pretty happy that I did. So glad we'll have this to look back on every year.

I ended up deciding to end it with Boxing Day. I was just losing mojo over the whole thing, which meant lazy pages that I wouldn't want to share anyway.

Here's some of the final pages (forgot to take a pic of my Boxing Day)

Thanks so much for taking the time to look and comment over the last month! Off to go check out all of your DD entries :)

xoxo... t

December Daily Days 15 - 17

2011-12-22T10:50:00.000-08:00

Rolling right along here! I still haven't decided if I'm going to stop at Christmas Day, or go straight through to New Years Eve. When are you all stopping your DD?

That would the the upside down page (15) :s

You know, sometimes I really hate blogger. Page 17, no matter what I do, no matter how many times I rotate it, is uploading on its side. I've tried everything, including closing my browser and starting again, so that is just how it's going to look on this blog. Annoying!

Merry on! :)

xoxo... t

December Daily Days 8 - 14

2011-12-20T13:41:00.000-08:00

I'm catching up! My theme is keep it simple and don't fuss over it like I would normally. Here's Days 8 through 14. Except for 13, not sure what to do there yet.

And behind page 14? I did complete page 15 (haven't taken pics yet), but it's upside down. Always look before you adhere, is the motto for today. Oh well!

TFL!

xoxo...t

December Daily Day #7

2011-12-19T09:36:00.000-08:00

I am sooo behind... but I'm behind, with a plan. I've got little things to add here and there, it's just getting energy to put it all together amidst all the crazy. You know how December is...!

Here's my Day 7. It was a super easy way to document day 7 and our new Christmas Tradition

How is your Christmas coming along? Are you finding time for this project?

Thanks for looking!

xoxo.... t

December Daily Day #6

2011-12-07T08:32:00.001-08:00

Can't believe I'm actually keeping up with this blogging thing. I better not speak too soon though, I've got a busy couple of days ahead, and I'm out of town most of next week, so we'll see how it continues on. I'm bringing this project along with me to Regina, Saskatoon and Calgary, and am excited to add some different elements to the book.

Here's Day 6 - my wish list for this year

In posting this, I realized I typed "2012" on my wish list, instead of "2011". Oops!

Very excited to decorate the tree and the rest of the house tonight for Christmas, it's one of my favorite evenings of the year!

Thanks for looking :)

xoxo... t

December Daily Day #5

2011-12-06T07:17:00.001-08:00

I'm skipping Day 4 for now, because I'm waiting on some embelleshments to come in - so right along to Day 5! It's pretty simple, which I like. Remember those snowflakes I talked about loving? I decided they should be the subject of my Day 5:

How is your December Daily coming along?

xoxo... t

December Daily Day #3

2011-12-04T13:55:00.001-08:00

Day 3 done today... I had a rare day at home yesterday. I literally didn't know what to do with myself! So I found some things that were being neglected around the house, and then got the bare bones of the tree up. Even some wrapping!

Here's Day 3

We're off to Johnny's family gathering and then to Portage La Prairie for a Christmas party, but for now, here's what it looks like outside my house today. I love big snowflakes!!

Happy Sunday!

xoxo... t

December Daily Day 1 & 2, and a realization...

2011-12-03T10:50:00.001-08:00

I've come to the realization that posting this daily is not gonna happen. Too much pressure, and that's not what this project is supposed to be about. So I think I'll just go with posting as often as I can - and hopefully at least once a week. I originally posted Day 1 last night, but I had to make some changes this morning while working on Day 2, so here's my first two days:

Day 1 talks about my hopes for the album.

Day 2 documents Jaiden writing, and mailing, his letter to Santa Claus :)

Loving seeing what everyone has been coming up with, and I'll be back soon to continue on!

TFL :)

xoxo... t

December Daily 2011

2011-11-30T11:14:00.001-08:00

It's that time of year again - and I am doing Ali's December Daily to document it. I did attempt this project last year, but I was not successful (I blame PL 365). This year, I purchased Marcy Penner's December Journal Kit and am determined to keep it up.

I am planning on blogging my pages daily, I think it will help keep me accountable. I know there will be days I miss from time to time, but I am so inspired and passionate about this, that I am confident a few busy days here and there won't set me back.

Here is my cover.

I plan on taking cues and inspiration from the many, many other scrappers out there that I know are doing this project. Can't wait to share with you, and I will be back on December 2nd with my first entry.

Thanks for looking!

xoxo...t

"We were on a break!"

2011-11-15T12:22:00.001-08:00

Do you know what I did last night, while Johnny was at the Jets game? I came home, ate, cleaned up (but only a little ;), took a bath, all while watching Friends. And when I was done my bath, I took the computer into my room and laid in bed and watched Friends. Seriously, I watched Friends until 11:30. It was the epitome of a lazy night.

A few more things I made with Handmade. I'm having a lot of fun with this kit! I bought the add-on patterned paper this month, and am very glad I did.

I bought a really great day planner for 2012, but the cover was awful. I couldn't have that, now could I? So I made this :)

This next one came to me because I wanted to try weaving paper. While it was a bit tedious and challenging, I was really happy with what I ended up with.

Hope you're all having a great week!

xoxo... t

Handmade...

2011-11-14T10:58:00.001-08:00

Played around with Studio Calico's Handmade kit all day yesterday... my fave pieces were the exclusive AT Leaves and the Add-on Patterned Paper I got. I ended up with 4 layouts, but only was able to photograph one of them before the sun went down.

How was everyone's long weekend? We didn't do much. It was awesome.

Have a great week!

xoxo... t

Pinterest Inspiration

2011-11-07T09:13:00.000-08:00

I spend a lot of time on Pinterest lately... it is so chock full of inspiration. Not just for papercrafting, but for LIFE. I saw this one not too long ago, and pinned it without even thinking. I just love stripes!

... and it inspired this layout of our engagement pictures (that, and my shirt in the picture).

I also had some Classic Calico from Studio Calico sitting on my desk - kept staring at it lovingly, but thought it was time to put it to use.

I'll be back soon with a weekend update!

Thanks for looking :)

xoxo... t

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T18:15:00.000-07:00

My baby :)

xoxo...t

Paper goods make me happy...

2011-10-23T17:34:00.000-07:00

When I was in Steinbach a couple of weekends ago, I got some pretty paper by Authentique. I've been staring at it sitting on my desk for the last little while, and I still don't think I did it justice. Those flowers were just itching to be cut out :)

And I also got my hands on this December Journal from Marcy Penner's shop. I played a little with the cover today and was so inspired by it, but it was bittersweet, because I can't continue much more until December 1st. The idea is to take a daily note of all the extra special things that happen in
December... maybe Christmas shopping, or baking, or going to see all the Christmas lights. Doing this using pictures, or notes, receipts, etc, you end up with an album!

Thanks for looking, hope you had a great weekend!

xoxo... t

30 Day Photo Challenge

2011-10-20T13:37:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

Just wanted to post a little bit of the progress on my 30 Day Photo Challenge.

I hope to get more up soon.

Thanks for looking!

xoxo... t

Pretty much a perfect weekend...

2011-10-16T18:31:00.000-07:00

Friday night, it was just us three - Shyan was in Kenora for a hockey tournament. Saturday after bringing Haley to dance, we went to Polo Park mall, lunch, then St. Vital mall and the Farmers Market. Love getting my pumpkins there every year! Sunday, had a nice breakfast and then scrapbooked all day, while J watched his Sunday football.

I have a busy week ahead of me, so I'm going to hang onto every last second of these last few days :)

Here's what I did yesterday. LOVE the exclusive Sass papers that came with my Studio Calico Field Guide kit.

Hope you all had a great weekend.

xoxo... t

Got some stuff done...

2011-10-12T14:42:00.000-07:00

...this past weekend! I went to a 2-day crop in Steinbach that was put on by Sharon at The Scrapbook Cottage. She put on a great time for all of us, with lots of little perks, and I'll definitely be going back! We had 90km winds on Friday, I felt like I was going to be blown over on the highway on the way there.

Anyway here's what I got done. And the moral of the story is that I need to take straighter photo's of my LO's.

Hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving!

xoxo... t

30 Day Photo Challenge

2011-10-02T16:38:00.000-07:00

I saw this challenge awhile back on Amy Tan's blog, and knew I wanted to play along - and decided October would be the month! I saw this lovely in Marcy Penner's shop and thought it would be perfect. I got it a couple weeks ago and played around with the cover a bit.

Here's what I came up with!

Even though today is October 2nd, I am making it Day 1, because there is 31 days in October. And also, because my friend Kim took engagement pics of us today and it would be a really good way to start with my self-portrait :D

Thanks for looking!

xoxo... t

Scraplift Challenge

2011-09-30T08:12:00.000-07:00

I recently participated in a Scraplift Challenge over at The Scrapbook Nook. There were three teams, and each team had a leader. The leader provided a sketch and their take on it, and forwarded it privately to the person next on the list. Once that person completed their LO, they would forward to the team leader, who would then forward that onto the third person, and so on (I don't know if I explained that very well).

Team #1 (my team), won! We got through our whole chain and it was so fun to see how every person's take on the last transpired.

I was number 6 on a team of 8. Here's my take on the LO I received from person number 5:

So fun! Can't wait to do it again.

Thanks for looking :)

xoxo... t

Using things I buy...

2011-09-27T16:45:00.001-07:00

A novel idea. I've started putting anything new in a pile on my desk, and I constantly go back to it in an effort to reduce waste and put my hard earned dollars to work. A good thing for my new stuff... not such a good thing for the stuff I'm hoarding ;)

Here's a LO I completed on Sunday, and might I add in less than an hours time. That's pretty much a record for me! And I used all new stuff. Most of it is new Studio Calico that I got in Minneapolis last week, some Stampin' Up Ribbon and if you're wondering where I got that pretty badge, it's from Marcy Penner's shop :)

Thanks for looking!

xoxo...t

Amy Tan Big Picture Classes

2011-09-25T16:05:00.000-07:00

I decided last week to sign up for Amy Tan's latest Big Picture Class. I love taking her workshops because I get so much from them. This time around, there's one lesson a week, which is perfect. Class began this past Thursday and lesson #1 was to learn the reverse applique technique she uses to make her sweet t-shirts.

Here's my first try!

I already have a million other ideas for gifts for my family/friends :)

Have a great Sunday!

xoxo... t

Cropping - online and in person

2011-09-11T09:42:00.001-07:00

Had a pretty productive weekend as far as scrapbooking goes :) I went to a fundraising crop in Cooks Creek yesterday, as well as participated in the MSS Online Crop.

I made this LO for Challenges 4, 6 & 9 (challenge #4 seems to be missing, but it was to use a technique you've been wanting to try - mine was to mist over those letter stickers and then remove the stickers)

This LO was for challenges 3 & 5

Hoping to get some more done today - thanks for looking!

xoxo...t

Today...

2011-09-09T07:30:00.000-07:00

Loved this post I saw on Sherri's blog this morning, so thought I would try it myself.

Today -
Today I went to McDonalds. A serious fave.

Today I hoped to get happy mail (I did)
Today I dreamed about the things I know I can accomplish, but haven't yet.

Today I forgot to reschedule a dentist appointment

Today I heard a lot of singing in my house
Today I read some tweets from Laura about our upcoming road trip to Scrapfest in Minneapolis!
Today I watched actually nothing, for once.

Today I said I would scrapbook (didn't happen)
Today I believed that time spent with the four of us is sooo important and not done enough without busy-ness

Today I felt sad about staying up last night to watch the Passionate Eye - they played phone calls that people trapped in the World Trade Center made to their loved ones and to 911. Feeling sad for those people today.

Today I wondered when our house will sell and we can move back to Winnipeg.
Today I bought some milk for my tea at work.

Today I cleaned up a hairball

Today I created a spreadsheet at work

Today I was me

And now, I shall leave you with this. HA!

Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo...t

Currently...

2011-08-26T16:08:00.000-07:00

Currently...

Drinking: a cup of tea in my fave NYC Starbucks mug

Eating: nothing yet, but have fries with a side of gravy coming to me from Chicken Chef

Reading: Tara Whitney's blog - really thought provoking!

Wearing: my new Wicked hoodie.

Feeling: annoyed that we are out of milk and I have to walk to the store.

Weather: best summer of life, can't even remember the last time it rained.

Wanting: those fries to get here and milk to appear magically in my fridge.

Needing: to be up early tomorrow so that Haley can go to an outing to Fun Mountain with one of her friends

Thinking: that I have a pile of new scrap stuff and that I want to get it used.

Enjoying: birthday week!

TGIF everyone!

xoxo...t

p.s. everyone vote for Brooke Gorrell's Bulletin Board in the 2011 Creating Keepsakes Teen Talent Search! Voting is unlimited until September 5th! Help her to win a fab prize pack and publication in the mag - vote now!

http://ck.upickem.net/engine/Details.aspx?p=V&c=38463&s=10435272&i=1

Yesterday was my last day of being 28...

2011-08-24T08:36:00.000-07:00

...and I did this LO to document it :)

I've since thought of three new "faves" on the drive to work this morning, so I will have to add them when I get home.

Thanks for looking!

xoxo...t

It's been too long...

2011-08-21T19:05:00.000-07:00

... and I for one, blame summer!

I haven't scrapped, at all, nevermind blogging. I just spent the last week catching up on Project Life 365, which I was behind on from MAY. I am now caught up to August 2nd, so I am pretty pleased with that. My official end date is September 28th and while I will be very happy to have this project for the rest of my life to cherish, I will be equally as happy to have it off my shoulders.

Anyway, all that catching up allowed me to actually do that thing I like called Scrapbooking. Here's a LO I created for a challenge on The Scrapbook Nook for their Virtual Crop (Challenge #4). I've only recently joined the forum over there, referred by my friend Sherri. Looks like a great group of ladies over there!

Enjoy these last few weeks of summer! TFL!

xoxo...t

Day at Double L's

2011-06-22T22:09:00.000-07:00

It's been a loooong time since I posted - I'm in beautiful Vancouver for a conference for work, and thought I would post on my blog before heading to bed :)

We had a wonderful day last weekend at my friend Lora Leigh's - she and her husband just built a beautiful new house in East St. Paul and invited us over for a day of scrapping! She fed us amazing food and we had lots of laughs. I pretty much worked on Project Life 365 the whole day, but I did get one LO done using a few things from my latest Studio Calico kit.

Hope everyone has a great week and thanks for looking!

xoxo...t

Currently...

2011-06-06T19:23:00.000-07:00

Currently...

Drinking: Diet Coke

Eating: Fries... my fave meal when I'm home alone

Reading: My Facebook news feed

Wearing: PJ Pants from Target, black tank

Feeling: incredibly happy

Weather: Summer is finally here!

Wanting: my Studio Calico kit to get here

Needing: to do catch up on Project Life 365

Thinking: that I need to pinch myself

Enjoying: life

Wondering: how my Dentist Appt will go tomorrow - I hate the dentist!

Lazy Sunday

2011-06-05T18:48:00.001-07:00

This weekend was the online crop over at MSS. I only got one challenge done, but I still managed to get three LO's done today. On days like today, I bring the Mac into the craft room and stick my Friends DVD's to have on in the background. Pretty much perfection, for me. Add in a cup of tea, and I'm the happiest.

Here's what I got done:

Hope you had a great weekend!

xoxo...t

Scrap into Summer Event!

2011-05-29T14:06:00.000-07:00

Just had an AMAZING weekend at The Scrappin' Studio's "Scrap into Summer" event! Kim organized this 2 day crop and it went off without a hitch! I had a great time, and it looked like everyone else did, too!

Here's Kim organizing her Friday evening snack - popcorn in sandpails! Brilliant!

Me at my table :)

A few of the things I managed to get done while running the very-busy garage sale!

For the Sketch #2 challenge:

Thank you Kim for putting on such a great event for us, yet again! I can't wait for next time :D

xoxo...t

Currently

2011-05-26T20:19:00.000-07:00

Currently:

Drinking: water. There's a first.

Eating: a popsicle.

Reading: Not even kidding, Bridges of Madison County. It was a recommended book on my Kobo and was on sale. Since it got seriously rave reviews, I figured I would try it.

Wearing: White and Blue PJ Pants from Joe, and a Blue Tank from Garage

Feeling: Tired, a little overwhelmed, but good overwhelmed. Just need to sleep.

Weather: Sunny, but not that warm yet.

Wanting: a Reece's Pieces Blizzard

Needing: to turn off this laptop and go to bed.

Thinking: that I'm really out of the loop on Twitter and Pinterest lately. Facebook, not so bad.

Enjoying: the fact that both my kitties are snuggled up against me :)

Wondering: when my house will sell.

Have a good weekend, everyone :)

xoxo...t

Vegas Crop in Miami...

2011-05-22T21:03:00.001-07:00

Alright, well we weren't in Miami, Florida OR Vegas, but we were in Miami, MB for a Vegas themed crop. A great time was had by all, lots of food, scrapping and socializing. Love is in the Details put on a great weekend for us all!

Here's what I got done!

BFF's:

A Week off of Life:

Summer Fun:

Valleyfair:

Take Note (using my scraps from KP Sketch #12)

Had a GREAT time, can't wait to do it again next weekend - Scrappin' Studio style!

Thanks for looking!

xoxo...t

KP Sketch Day 12

2011-05-10T20:35:00.000-07:00

FINALLY! I'm about a week and a half late, but I finally caught up and finished #12, which was the last sketch. This has been an incredible learning experience for me, and I've met lots of cool people along the way! So thanks, KP, for an awesome class :)

Here's #12

Thanks for looking! Be back this week with an update on life.

xoxo...t

KP Sketch Day 11

2011-04-30T22:34:00.000-07:00

KP Sketch Day 11!

Thanks for looking (I feel like a broken record :)

xoxo...t

KP Sketch Day 10

2011-04-30T22:32:00.001-07:00

KP Sketchbook Class Day 10!

Thanks for looking!!

xoxo...t

KP Sketch Day 9

2011-04-30T22:29:00.000-07:00

Here's Day 9!

Thanks for looking!

xoxo...t

KP Sketch Day 8

2011-04-25T07:16:00.000-07:00

I fell a little behind this weekend... I still have Day 9 to do, and another one is coming today! I've been good at keeping up with it until now, but it was a long weekend and J was off (which is rare) and scrapbooking took a major backseat to hanging out, watching movies and looking at houses.

Hope you all had a great Easter weekend!

Thanks for looking :)

xoxo...t

KP Sketch Day 7

2011-04-19T19:27:00.000-07:00

It's a short week, it's a short week! I should've made my LO about that ;)

Here's my Day 7 of KP's Sketchbook Class!

I'm a day late working on this, so Day 8 already tomorrow!

Thanks for looking :)

xoxo...t

KP Sketch Day 6

2011-04-17T15:49:00.000-07:00

Finished up Day 6 on Friday, but didn't get around to uploading until now. Not my fave one so far, but I wasn't feeling my groove on Friday night.

Hope you're having a great Sunday, thanks for looking!

xoxo...t

KP Sketch Day 5

2011-04-13T19:46:00.000-07:00

Day 5 done, 7 more to go!

Thanks for looking!

xoxo...t

KP Sketch Day 4

2011-04-11T20:13:00.000-07:00

Good evening everyone! Just wanted to post Day 4 of KP's online sketchbook class. Today's subject is our proposal story :)

Thanks for looking!

xoxo...t

KP Sketch Day 3

2011-04-08T23:18:00.001-07:00

Hey all!

Well, it's late and I just got home from Kim's crop - but I wanted to quickly post Day 3. This October Afternoon "fly a kite" line is one of my faves of all time, and although I've used it on a lot of mini projects, I've never really dug into it for a LO. When I saw the sketch today, and all the opportunity to show off different patterned paper, I knew this was the one.

Thanks for looking!

xoxo...t

KP Sketch Day 2

2011-04-08T07:19:00.000-07:00

Hi all! Here is my version of Day of KP's sketchbook 3 class

Have a great weekend everyone!

xoxo...t

Kelly Purkey Sketchbook 3 - Day 1

2011-04-04T20:33:00.000-07:00

Hey all!

Today is Day 1 of KP's Sketchbook Class - and I got right down to work as soon as I got home. I won't be able to show you the sketch, but here's my take on today's assignment.

I couldn't resist MME's Stella and Rose while at MSS yesterday :)

There will be a new sketch every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so here's hoping I can keep up!

Thanks for looking.

xoxo...t

Calgary/Banff Mini!

2011-04-04T11:46:00.000-07:00

Hey all :) Back from our trip to visit my SIL, BIL and Niece in Calgary. We were there from Sunday the 27th until Friday the 1st. We had such a great time, even went for a night to Banff! Does anyone else love Banff as much as I do? Skiing was a disaster for J and I... but man did we rock that bunny hill!

Anyway, I did a little on-the-go mini... here's just a few pages. I had gotten this book with my class registration for Amy Tan's online workshop back in the fall, so I thought I might as well use it up!

Very excited that today is Day 1 of Kelly Purkey's Sketchbook 3 Class. I am off to go work on the first sketch right now!

Thanks for looking :)

xoxo...t

Oh ya, I like scrapbooking!

2011-03-06T11:15:00.001-08:00

Scrapbooking... it's this thing I like to do in my free time. It seems I have forgotten that lately, caught up in keeping caught up on Project Life. I was very glad to spend a nice day in Cooks Creek yesterday with my scrappy friends and get some LO's done.

This one was just for the fun of pink. I think I need to make like Thelma and have a bag FULL of pink :)

And this one was for the MSS online crop... the challenge was to use 4 or more photos.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Thanks for looking :)

xoxo...t

Exciting News!

2011-03-01T10:04:00.000-08:00

My first publication!

Page 94 of Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine features the Road Trip Kits I made for the kids last year when we traveled to Wisconsin Dells for a Summer Vacation. I was very excited to learn I would be included in the Spring issue! Check out the pic of me below at the mall - seeing it on stands.

Ignore the fact that I had literally just rolled out of bed ;)

Thanks for looking!

xoxo...t

Currently

2011-02-11T08:59:00.000-08:00

Listening: Maria Aragon singing Lady Gaga's new single "Born this Way"
Eating: a frozen Lindt Chocolate (white chocolate, to be exact)
Drinking: Good ol' H2O
Reading: my Facebook news feed
Wearing: PJ pants, a tank and my Hollister hoodie

Feeling: giggly
Weather: the groundhog said spring was coming, so I choose to believe him.
Wanting: five cent candy from 7-11 and Studio Calico's February Kit
Needing: to work on my Mexico album for Kimmy!
Thinking: of how I will miss J this week while he's in Toronto

Enjoying: a nice evening at home with the family - my favorite place :)

Wondering: at what point tomorrow I will get to nap?

Have a great weekend!

xoxo...t

This is where I wish I was today.

2011-02-03T07:02:00.001-08:00

Playa Del Carmen, Mexico

Anyone going somewhere hot this winter?

xoxo...t

I left my heart in NYC: Part 2

2011-01-25T08:24:00.000-08:00

This is the mini I worked on. It was supposed to be more "doing-it-as-I-go" than "after-I-got-home", but I quickly found it was difficult without the portable printer... I learnt alot doing this one and love love love having all the momentos in one place!

Thanks for looking!

xoxo...t

A few December Daily shots

2011-01-25T07:43:00.000-08:00

I apologize for the bad lighting... just thought I would throw a few shots of my DD up here. I don't have any real shots of the actual pages because a) I am SO not anywhere done this and b) I am not happy with it. I am on the fence about whether I should have done it in the first place... actually, I'm pretty sure I shouldn't have, but you know how it is when you're inspired, right? I do take one real positive out of this. I used up SO MUCH of my stash. And I also learned alot, so that's great. But trying to do this, on top of Project Life 365? Not smart. I'm already documenting each day. My thought was that I'd keep this one festive, and the other one more of the "everyday". It didn't work out quite like I planned, and I ended up feeling sooo overwhelmed.

That said, I am already SO excited to start December Daily next Christmas. By then, Project Life 365 will be complete and I will have nothing else hogging so much of my time. I can't wait to really delve into this Christmas 2012

Here's a few shots of what I considered to be the funnest part - assembling the album

xoxo...t

It's in the bag...

2011-01-23T15:47:00.000-08:00

Thought I would participate in this fun after seeing it on Sasha's blog on Friday.

It's in the bag! It's amazing what women have in their purse's at any given time. When I was selling Tupperware, we used to play a game and one of the questions was "what is the WEIRDEST thing you have in your purse?" You wouldn't believe some of the stuff women had! The definite weirdest item one lady had was pancakes in a ziplock bag.

Anyway, check my stuff out:

Here's a shot of the purse before I pulled it all out (missing of course, the camera)

The goods:

1) Tupperware (of course)

2) Sweats (are you really surprised?)

3) Wallet

4 and 5) Pouches to hold little things

6) Low Fat Banana Muffin

7) Blue Medium Papermate pen - the best

8) USB Chord for camera

9) Ponytail

10) Lipgloss from Bath & Body Works

11) a Menu from Santa Lucia (which claims to be the best pizza in the province, and can I just say? I hate it. It's not good.)

12) Anti-Bacterial wipes

13) Advil in a T-ware smidget

14) Pictures

15 & 16) Bath & Body Works Lotion and Anti-Bac gel

17) My fave thing I got at the mall at Christmas time FOR MYSELF. A makeup bag of the British Flag

18) my Blackberry

19) my journaling book for Project 365, so I can keep track of my daily activities

So... what's in your bag??

xoxo...t

I am currently...

2011-01-13T13:49:00.000-08:00

Listening: Defying Gravity from Wicked
Eating: Nothing, but thinkin' about that last drumstick sitting in the freezer :D
Drinking: Hot Chocolate made using our sweet new Tassimo
Reading: my notes from NYC keeping track of what we did all day
Wearing: Sweats (do you really have to ask?)

Feeling: a bit under pressure, but like it. I produce better work that way.
Weather: snow, snow and more snow!
Wanting: it to be Friday. Pretty close, but we're not there yet peeps.
Needing: the details from Mick's trip to Cabo
Thinking: about what I always do this time of year - Palm trees and the sunny Playa beach

Enjoying: this time in my life

Wondering: if I'm going to reach my bedtime goal tonight

Have a great weekend all!

xoxo...t

I left my heart in NYC.

2011-01-09T20:25:00.001-08:00

Literally!

Here is my Mini Album I'm working on... just the cover so far!

I got the surprise of my life while in Central Park. He pulled off without a hitch and I was shocked! It was one of the happiest days of my life :)

Of course I said yes!

The ring :)

Times Square

Happy New Year!

xoxo...t

As requested...

2011-01-09T20:22:00.001-08:00

... here are the results of cookie class! Funnest thing EVER.

xoxo...t

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-27T11:24:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to all of you and your families :)

What is your favorite Christmas memory? Mine are my Mom's stocking's. She always did the best stockings. They were always so personal and everything was picked out with care :)

What's yours?

xoxo...t

Currents

2010-12-09T15:04:00.001-08:00

Loved the idea of posting all my currents. Got the idea from the fab Amy Tan. Check me out.

Listening: Grenade (Bruno Mars) and If I Die Young (The Band Perry)
Eating: Boston Pizza Chicken Caesar Salad
Drinking: diet coke with a FULL glass of ice, thank you very much :)
Reading: the Dessert menu
Wearing: jeans and my cozy Aritzia wool sweater
Feeling: like I always do when I'm out for dinner with girlfriends - like laughing my head off!
Weather: snowing like nobody's business, but super warm!
Wanting: to go Christmas shopping
Needing: to make a list for said shopping
Thinking: about how excited I am for cookie decorating class tonight :D
Enjoying: working downtown again
Wondering: what it's going to be like to watch Snooki wrangle her way out of the dropping ball in Times Square in NYE. I'm thinking it should be a real treat!

xoxo...t

December Daily Cover...

2010-12-08T09:36:00.000-08:00

Haven't been able to photograph all the pages (if I'm honest, it's because I am catching up on it on Friday!), but I hope to near the end of the month.

For now, here's my cover!

Are you doing December Daily? How are you finding it?

I've added an "Attitude of Gratitude" portion to the album... hoping it will keep everything in perspective for me in this busy month :)

xoxo...t

I love you, Saturday

2010-11-07T06:52:00.001-08:00

Johnny and I went on a little road trip to Winkler yesterday, and when I say road trip, I mean the 35 minute drive from Morris to Winkler. We had some errands to run and decided to go for lunch to Boston Pizza. I couldn't leave Winkler, of course, without making a stop at one of my fave scrapbook stores, My Scrap Shoppe. I picked up a few things and once I got home, got straight to work.

Hope you all are having a great weekend!

xoxo...t

MSS Challenge

2010-11-03T21:12:00.000-07:00

Marcy's Challenge

My take on it:

And, since I love to kill two birds with one stone, it also doubles a cover page for the Halloween Festivities in my 365 Project! Woohoo!

I apologize for the not-so-professional shots of my LO's. I'm hoping Santa brings me the new camera I have my eye on this year ;)

Thanks for looking!

xoxo...t

Ya? And?

2010-11-02T16:49:00.000-07:00

So I'm still so enthralled with the Johnny Reid concert, that I made a LO of it at Sketches class! That's right.

I love Sketches class. You should all come to it, too! Just contact Kim for dates!

I should mention that at this particular class, you actually leave with THREE completed LO's, but I am not finished my other 2 yet.

Off to finish that and get to work on 365!

Oh ya, how many kids did you all get for Halloween? We got 86!

xoxo...t

Johnny Reid = the Michael Buble of Country.

2010-10-26T08:36:00.000-07:00

Went to see Johnny Reid Monday night at the Centennial Concert Hall... WOW. I've never seen someone so capable of making 40-something women go SO crazy before (ahem, cough cough Mom). The show was spectacular. The guy is funny and a great story teller - and then there's the music! He's in the country genre, but what a mixed bag. His back-up were two soul singers, and along with his fiddle and guitar players, he had a sax player, trombone player - and let's throw in a few bag pipers to boot. He was born in Scotland, but immigrated to Canada sometime in the 80's - and the accent hasn't faded a bit!

It was a great show and I highly recommend seeing him if he comes around your parts!

This pic stolen from his Facebook fan page, since my pics weren't this good.

And a pic of my Mom, Sister and I! What a nice evening :)

xoxo...t

Added some pics to my Hand-Stitched mini!

2010-10-25T10:06:00.000-07:00

Our shopping trip to Grand Forks was the theme for this little mini that I stitched as part of Amy Tan's workshop!

Now all I have to add are my "ABC's of the trip" to the middle pages and it'll be good to go!

Thanks for checking it out :)

xoxo...t

Amy Tan Workshop Tutorial 4/5

2010-10-19T20:44:00.001-07:00

Tutorial #4: Hand stitching a Mini Book using your scraps (and what to pack for on-the-go scrapbooking!)

Tutorial #5: Using your Mini's for on-the-go Travel Scrapbooking!

I don't have pictures or momento's in mine yet, but I plan to use it for this weekend's shopping trip to Grand Forks with Grams and Jennifer!

Thanks for looking!

xoxo...t

Amy Tan Workshop Tutorial #3

2010-10-19T20:33:00.000-07:00

For this tutorial, Amy had us stitching titles onto our Journals or LO's. This is something Kim has had us doing at Sketches class forever (she even pulls out the nerf gun if we resist!) - but I'm quite certain that this is the first time I have attempted actual words... I just love the way it looks and think I will try it more often. They're not exactly even, and it took me literally almost an hour to stitch 2 words... but I was really happy with how it turned out!!

This layout is something I came up with in 9x9 format for my Mexico album... when my good friend Tracy saw it, she asked me to recreate it for her album! She was on the same trip with me.

Can you tell I've got a thing for the Tropics?

Thanks for looking!

xoxo...t

Amy Tan Workshop Tutorial #2

2010-10-13T20:23:00.000-07:00

Tutorial #2 was to create your own WASHI TAPE! How fun is that? Considering you cannot get this stuff anywhere in Winnipeg, to my knowlegde. Amy had us using regular old masking tape and Sharpie Ultra Fine point pens to create our own doodles and drawings.

They're great because you can use them to adhere goodies in your mini's (or for plain ol' decoration) and you can peel them off and use them somewhere else if you want.

Check mine out! Click on the picture to enlarge...

xoxo...t

Amy Tan Workshop Tutorial #1

2010-10-13T17:58:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I signed up for Amy Tan's first online workshop - like I said in my last blog posting, her work is crazy cool... so when I saw her advertise the workshop, I jumped at it!

Lesson Number One: Scrap Paper Journal

Here's my travel one:

And here's my second one... Amy posted this manifesto on the first day and I thought it would be cool to put it on the transparency for my cover...

Thanks for looking!

xoxo...t

Ali Edwards is like some kinda Goddess or something.

2010-10-08T09:08:00.000-07:00

Seriously. Ali Edwards rocks. Check out her December Daily project:

I'm ALREADY working on her 365: Project Life... now THIS?? How will I ever keep up? It's not like I can just sit here and let this project go without doing it!

Thank you, Ali - for keeping me inspired, and BUSY!

While on the topic of inspiration, I am thrilled to be participating in Amy Tan's online workshop from October 11-22. Her on-the-go travel mini's are crazy cool.

And finally, here is something that inspired me today :)

It is Thanksgiving here, so I am planning to eat a wholllllle lot of Turkey this weekend. I'll be wearing my eating pants!

xoxo... t

Grrr.

2010-09-29T19:11:00.000-07:00

I can't get the below post to format properly for some reason, so the captions I wrote for each layout don't exactly go with the one it's actually next to. I've tried three times!

Grrr.

Some Layouts...

2010-09-29T18:42:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd post some LO's of a few things I got done this weekend - I just love when I get work done... we had a scrappy weekend here at my place and as always, it was blissfully full of food, scrapping and more food.

Wisconsin Dells LO using those sweet 8x10 collage prints you can get off Snapfish.

A sketch from one of Kim's awesome Sketches classes that I just got done this weekend (I had to leave class early that night)

My little nephew, Jaiden :)

And finally, the products of Kim's Sketches classes this past Monday! Love the LO's, as usual!

Hope you're all having a fabulous week!

xoxo...t

Happy Birthday to me!

2010-09-09T08:51:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it was my birthday a couple of weeks ago... I received some gift certificates to Amazon.com and cashola from my family - so I couldn't resist. It was between this and a Kindle. But oh, the possibilities are endless with this thing. 4x6, B&W, wallets, wallets with border, calendars, frames, text... AH!

So clearly, this won. Check it out!

It's the Canon Selphy ES40 Photo Printer. Totally portable and yes, it will be joining me on all crops. The real seller for me was that you don't have to buy ink. You just buy the paper packs, and it comes with the ink cartridges. So for 50 4x6, it cost $14.99 (including ink). Black & Whites and Wallets came in 25 packs and we're around the same price. I guess a touch pricy, but it COMES WITH INK. And the convenience?! Worth it.

And it's not like I'm going to print every photo on here. This is for those times when you don't quite know yet what size or picture you need, or are in a bind. Now I can really flow with the creativity.

I'm trying to convince my good friend Kim that she needs one of these. Earth to Kim, you need one of these!

Ok, I'm done. Sorry. I'm just so excited!

Ok what else... everyone is back into the swing of school... including my little nephew Jaiden, who started his very first day of Kindergarten today! Check out the little guy decked out in his new backpack. I love this kid!

Hockey has started for Shyan, Haley is very excited to be getting back into Dance - and I am happy that everyone is busy! It may be hectic, but it keeps everyone productive (ie off the computer/TV).

Fall is here, and I can't wait to decorate for Halloween already!

xoxo....t

It's time.

2010-08-13T12:22:00.000-07:00

The dreaded diet. The fitness routine. I have been putting it off for months. Probably a lot longer than that, actually.

This is what I made to help keep me motivated. So what, I'm supposed to spend 4.5 hours on a Food Journal and not use it? I don't THINK so. Pat on the back, Tara. You have found the answer for all of the women in the world who want to shed a few pounds. HA!

Some of the recipes...

This is the section where I actually keep track of what I eat

Wish me luck!

xoxo...t

My very first blog award!

2010-08-12T07:38:00.000-07:00

Well THANK YOU to the lovely Polly for awarding me with my first ever blog award! The "super comments" award! Woot woot! I always try to leave a comment when I read a blog because I know how much I appreciate it when people leave me a comment to show they've been there and to acknowledge the post that I likely worked hard on!

Check out Polly's blog for her witty encounters with life, motherhood and my favorite part - book reviews!

Thanks again for thinking of me, Polly!

Alright, here goes!

Why do you blog?

Well, I first started blogging because I wanted a means to get my scrap work out there (even though I still consider myself very much learning!) in the hopes of eventually being able to design team for my fave manufacturers and be able to do it as a part time job! I've also always enjoyed writing, so it really went hand in hand. I don't blog as often as I've intended to in the past - but I plan on improving that!

What are your three best memories?

Well, I haven't given birth or had a wedding day yet, but I have had some very special moments with my family all the same! It's hard to pick one, so I'll mention a few important ones: Trips to Edmonton and Wisconsin Dells, our very first camping trip in St. Malo and their rallying around me for my booth in a few major Manitoba craft shows, taking shifts to help me at my booth or carry tables, shelving and product up and down three flights of stairs, to helping me price things, wrap things and offer their own suggestions - proud moments for me!

Going for ice cream to Lockport with Johnny and the night he made me a pizza and then cut it into a heart :)

Traveling as a kid to British Columbia on road trips that took at least a month with my Grandparents and whole family... stopping in Banff, the Enchanted Forest all throughout B.C. where my Grams would always give me her change purse to get myself a few treats. I loved it so much I horned in on my Grams and Grams anniversary RV trip back to B.C. a few years later! HAHA!

I added a fourth: GIRLS TRIPS to the States with Jen, Grams, Mom, Laura, Alyssa, Leah and Libby!!!

If you could change your name what would it be?
Elisabeth. Spelt with an "S", so people didn't call me "Lizzy or Lezzie". It's such a timeless name, I love it.

What are 5 things you can't live without?

In no particular order...

1. My family. All of em'.

2. My friends. They keep me laughing everyday

3. Steeped Tea from Tim Hortons.
4. Travel. I want to see everything.

5. Internet. Obviously!

Okay, I added one more: Scrapbooking/Crafting. A genuine love and passion I have.

Four best books;

Those that follow my blog know that I am an avid reader - so this is not that easy....Ill try!

1. Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer. Sorry, can't help it. Couldn't put them down, still love them.

2. Any book written by V.C. Andrews, although particularily the "Flowers in the Attic" series.

3. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

4. Night by Elie Wiesel

A unique and interesting fact about yourself:

I am pretty obsessed with history... particularily European History... the Holocaust, the British Monarchy (especially the Tudor era!)... I could go on. I with I had gone to school to be a history professor. What could be better than history all year and then April-September off??? NOTHING. What do you love best about yourself?

It's hard to pick one thing I love best about myself... so I'll just say my LOVE for my family and friends!

The best movie ever made?

Um hellooooo! Sister Act 2?? Best movie ever! I have seen tons of other great movies (ahem, The Hangover is only the funniest movie of all time) but the funny ones tend to stick out with me. I have seen plenty of dramas where I can't take my eyes off the screen and love them too.

If it was freaky Friday who would you change with?

I don't know what freaky Friday means, but judging by Polly's answers, I am going to guess that it would be someone you could go back in time to trade places with for a day. My gosh, this is a hard one. My first thought was Anne Boleyn, but I actually would like to trade places with a famous singer I admire, just for a day. Like, Celine Dion or Carrie Underwood. Glam, glam, glam!

I hope I got that question at least partly right :)

Whats the best thing about being a woman?

Common sense! Smarts! HA! Also, I love being able to get dressed up and go out on the town!

So now to pass the award on:

I would love to pass onto:

Kim at The Scrappin' Studio (because she is amazing and a true inspiration, in so many ways) KA at KA: My Life is only slightly neurotic (because she is hilarious and I definitely feel a kinship to her ways) Leigh Penner at to the full (because her work is very inspiring and she's a really nice person!)

This was a pleasure!

Week in the Life

2010-07-27T08:15:00.001-07:00

Finally! Here is my "Week in the Life" album. This was truly one of the most time consuming, yet rewarding, projects I have ever worked on. I can't wait took look back at it five years from now, mainly just to laugh and think how crazy we are to be so busy all the time! So much life passes by while we're in the car, in the drive thru, at this or that game... It has made me realize how much I am enjoying this summer. I have been home in the evenings most nights and have already been on a road trip, the beach and two pool days! Not bad, for me :) It helps that the weather has been fabulous, too.

I am not as organized as everyone else I know doing this project... they were blogging their "days", every day! Kudos to them. I will just settle for pictures of the book.

My original color scheme was not red... it was Aqua Blue, Soft Yellow and Gray. Once I couldn't get my WRMK 8.5x11 album in any other color but red though, it had to change. I downloaded Ali's journaling templates and off to work I went!

I apologize for the quality of the photos... I'm still saving to upgrade from my digital point and shoot!

*Click on the picture to enlarge*

Where we're at now...

Monday:

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

Pretty self-explanatory that this would be Thursday:

Thursday/Friday:

Friday:

Saturday:

Sunday:

Final Page: A Wordle!

I really encourage you to try this project! Honestly, the hardest part was remembering to take pictures of everything. All day, everyday, for 7 days. But the end result is so worth it. What a great gift to leave your ancestors 50 or even 100 years from now... while they are wondering what you were like - you can give them a firsthand account into what an entire week was like in your life.

Wouldn't it be nice to have that for our ancestors from 100 years ago? I think so!

Thanks for looking everyone, hope you enjoy!

xoxo...t

Road Trippin'!

2010-07-20T09:07:00.001-07:00

A quick blog update!

The fam and I just got back from a whirlwind trip to Wisconsin Dells, ending with a stop in Valleyfair in Minneapolis! What a BLAST that place is. It's like Vegas, for kids! Endless Waterparks and Theme Parks...

I have waaaaaaay too many pics to post them all here - but most of you have me on Facebook, so you can check out my album here. Here's a couple of my fave photos for anyone that can't see the album - and if you can't see the album, add me on Facebook!

My plan is to make a road trip album and I am soooooo inspired by this one that my good friend Kim directed me to:

Amy Tangerine

Check that out! I looooove posting things on my blog that have inspired to me and when Kim showed me that, I was SOLD. I kept most receipts for everything that we bought, ate and did - and even kept a gas log! Can't wait to make something of my own :)

I realized a while ago that after I talked about the "Week in the Life" album, I never did post pics of my completed project. That will be one of my next blog projects!

Also, for this particular road trip, I made Road Trip Survival Kits for the girls... I will post pics very soon as I am going to try and submit them to Cosmo Cricket and October Afternoon, since I used their paper lines for the Activity Mini's. Wish me luck!

How's your summer going, so far?

xoxo...t

Oh so inspired...

2010-05-06T07:16:00.000-07:00

Check. this. out.

http://www.aliedwards.com/week_in_the_life_/

I am so inspired by this project. I check out Ali's blog regularly but haven't been on the computer much lately. A couple of weeks ago however, I noticed Leigh Penner following suit and just absolutely love love love the idea. I think it may be partially because I'm also so pumped about the We R Memory Keepers Multi Packs. And please, if anyone can tell me where I can find these in stock, wow would I love you. They're hard to get!

So the decision has been made. Starting first thing Monday morning, I am going to document everything. Should be interesting to see what really is involved in a week in my life!

Disclaimer: I don't know about posting it on here everyday, like Leigh and Ali did... that just feels like setting myself up for failure. Have you seen when I last blogged???

Soooooo, life has been a little crazy lately. We are officially putting our house in Morris up for sale and moving back to Winnipeg... I am SO stoked about this! We move quite a bit for Johnny's job, which I am always happy to do. Honest! We always refer to it as a new adventure in our life... I am one of those types that wants to see and do everything and I love all the spontaneity. The only part about it that I don't care for is all the money it costs us to be obtaining new digs every few years. Yeah yeah, why don't we just rent, right? Well, what a waste, don't you think? And maybe we would have if we had lost... but so far we haven't lost. We also haven't gained, really... but the real estate market is hopping enough to keep us afloat.

Anyway the "for sale" sign is going up tonight and please pray, meditate, cross your fingers - whatever it is that you do, that we have a quick sale. Right now Johnny is commuting an hour and a half each way to work and back until we move. Not cool.

Here's a few scrappy things! The Christmas layout using the Pink Paislee Misteltoe line is one I did around 2 months ago while enjoying a lazy Saturday in the Craft Room...

These two were done at the MSS Super Scrap Day in Winkler with Kim and Tracy! It worked out really nice. I went to work with Johnny, Kim and Trac picked me up and off we went. Had a great lunch (as usual) at Twisters, got some shopping in and back to work. Lots of laughs and meeting great new people that day!

And finally... to update you on my Cake Class progress.... check out my Level 3 final cake project! Also known as my little niece Kali's birthday cake! Thankfully I have a very flexible teacher who doesn't make us follow the lesson plan exactly... she let us do whatever cake we wanted, as long as she approved it! Thanks Les!

I had SO much fun with it!

Who wants to join me in my "week in the life" challenge next week?

Have a great day everyone!

xoxo...t

Something Scrappy!

2010-03-31T06:56:00.000-07:00

I know! Finally!

I haven't been doing a ton of work lately, but here's one I did a couple weeks ago at LL's crop...

It was inspired by a layout I did a few months ago with the scalloped paper... sometimes you look at work you've done in the past and say to your self, "self, it would have looked alot better if you had done this". That is exactly how this layout transpired!

Hopefully more scrappy posts in the next few weeks as I am attending Kim's Scrappin' Studio Gimli Getaway III in two weeks - hope to get alot done there!

Off to bed, I'm trying to fight off a cold!

xoxo...t

Hola! Cerveza por favor?

2010-03-22T17:48:00.000-07:00

WOW it has been a long time! You know, I had every intention of blogging before Kim and I left for Mexico, but with all the hustle and bustle, it just wasn't happening! I had so much going on in February and believe me, my packing suffered because of it. You wouldn't believe the stuff I forgot. Not quite as much as the time I got all the way to Grand Forks for a shopping weekend to realize I had left all my luggage at home, but not my most stellar performance, either. Who forgets their hairbrush when they have as much hair as I do???

First I will catch you up on the month of February... I started taking the Wilton Cake Decorating classes. It is something I have always been interested in, but the time was never right. Well I guess I can't say that about February either, but I was waiting no more! Also taking the class are my BFF and Mama #2 - talk about bonus girl time together! It's been great meeting up once a week for dinner and class! So, there are 4 levels and 4 classes to each level. Level 1 saw me learn how to make a Rainbow Cake using the star tip, edible icing clowns, alllll sorts of flowers and of course, the Wilton Rose! I learned soooo much in those 4 classes. Level 2 started March 2nd and for this level, there isn't any cakes (in other words, I'm getting alot of sad faces at work and at home on Wednesday mornings, hee hee!)... Just alot more learning different flowers and of course, Royal Icing! I am most excited for Levels 3 & 4 - FONDANT & GUM PASTE. Yippeeeee! So pretty much, I will be the Cake Boss.

My first cake: The Rainbow Cake

My second cake: The Clown Cake

Aaand my final cake for Level 1: The Rose Cake!

Also in February was another amazing show with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra for their Pops Series. The show we participated in was a tribute to Queen! No, not THE QUEEN. Queen! Three shows over the weekend had us all belting out faves like, "We are the Champions", "Bohemian Rhapsody" and my personal fave, "Somebody to Love". What a great time we all had! Unfortunately, the Sunday afternoon show was poorly timed, being that it started at the same time as the Canada-USA Olympic Gold Medal Game, but I got to a TV with 2 minutes left in the 3rd Period... after USA tied up the game with .24 seconds left on the clock, we pulled it together in overtime and won the gold! And by we, I mean Sydney Crosby. HA!

And finally... off to sunny Mexico. Kim and I decided to stay at the 4 Points Sheraton at the Airport. With me living out of town and it being winter, you just never know. Plus it only added to the fun, so that's what we did! Also, since I only wear flip flops to the airport when on the way to a sunny destination, it helped that they had a walkway to the airport and I didn't have to walk through the snow in my sandals ;)

After leaving Winnipeg at 8:55am with a connection in Toronto, we arrived in Cancun at 5:05pm! Quite a bus ride to the resort but I gotta tell you... when we finally got there and dumped our stuff in our room, I got the craziest and most awesome surprise! BRAT was there! Yes, that's right - the bee-otch herself, in the flesh! Her and her husband Robert (aka Poncho via) booked a trip at the same resort and everybody knew BUT ME! What a wonderful way to begin a vacation! It was so great having them there with us and we have so many memories and things to laugh about!!!

It would take HOURS to post every detail of the trip... we spent hours lazing beside (and in) the Caribbean Ocean on the powder white sand, visited Playa Del Carmen (my personal fave), Cozumel, lots of shopping, Xcaret, Tulum and another new amazing spot, Akumal! Akumal would be where Kim swam along side Sea Turtles! Talk about amazing. We all got awesome tans and I am now shedding skin worse than a snake ;) Here's some of my fave pics of our adventure (out of order, as per usual ;):

The amazing Akumal beach

The Jaguar hamming it up for us in Xcaret

I spent an entire walk down 5th in Playa devoted to finding a Sombrero to wear on the plane home that was under $10. After 10 shops and seriously 2 hours of this, I wheeled and dealed someone down to $8.50 and what do I see not 2 minutes later? HAHA! That's what I get for being CHEAP!

Just a funny pic that Kim took of me.

The beach just outside our Villa at the Gran Bahia Principe Tulum

Brat, Kim and I at the a la carte Steakhouse

How perfect that this was floating around in the pool

Sigh...

Again, sigh...

Three words: SWIM UP BAR.

So sad to be leaving :(

What an amazing time... just the R&R we both needed! Thanks Kim for such a wonderful, relaxing and memorable time and remember - no more bus rides at 11pm in Playa Del Carmen! HA!

The weather has been fabulous ever since I got home and the other day, we actually spring cleaned. I'm serious, this actually happened. Aside from washing the floors (we ran out of Swiffer Juice) and the garage, we're done! Perhaps we could organize the storage room a bit, but other than that? We're good to go! Now, if it snows again, I will have a real head start on spring ;)

Have a great day all!

xoxo...t

18 Pages... FRONT AND BACK!

2010-02-16T13:42:00.000-08:00

So, as I was contemplating my next blog post, I thought to myself... "what would be funnier than a post chalk full of 'Friends' quotes???" And the answer? "NOTHING. NOTHING WOULD BE FUNNIER."

I didn't post allll of them... just the 30 that I found to be particularly hilarious - so please, leave a comment with your fave 'Friends' quote that I missed!

...........

1) Ross: Shame on you! Ugly baby judges you!

2) Joey: Hi, I'm Chandler! Could I BE wearing anymore clothes?

3) Joey (watching old videos of Monica): Some girl ate Monica!!!
Monica: Shut up, the camera adds 10 pounds.
Chandler: So how many cameras are actually on you?

4) Ross: You know what? I'm gonna go out on a limb and say no divorces in '99!
Rachel: But your divorce isn't even final yet.
Ross: Just the one divorce in '99!

5) Monica: Fine! Judge all you want to but, married a lesbian, left a man at the altar, fell in love with a gay ice dancer, threw a girl’s wooden leg in a fire, livin’ in a box!!

6) Monica: This is my husband, Chandler. Chandler, this is Will.
Chandler: Hey, I'd shake your hand but I'm really into the game. Plus I think it would be better for my ego if we didn't stand right next to each other.

7) Ross: Every week a TV Guide is delivered to Joey and Chandler. What is the name on the magazine?
Rachel: Oh it's Chandler Bing! Him! Right there!
Monica: No!
Ross: Actually the correct answer is "Chanandler Bong"
Chandler: Ms. Chanandler Bong.

8) (After observing a short fight between Rachel and Ross): Phoebe: That's it? "We were on a break! No we weren't! What happened to you two?"

9) (Mona doesn't know that Rachel is living with Ross)
Mona: Listen, Rachel, I appreciate your situation, but it's Valentines Day. So, if you don't mind, would you please just go back home?
(Ross enters with his gift for Mona)
Rachel: But Mona, I live here
Ross: (nervously holds out his gift for Mona)
Happy Valentines Dayyyyyyy!
(Mona stares angrily at Ross)
Ross: Or, something to remember me by...

10) Monica: And Ross, people in high school didn't even know who you were. Rachel put you on the MAP.
Ross: Yeah, as a romancer of the Elderly...

11) Ross: It would be so cool to live across from you guys!
Joey: Hey, yeah! Then we could do that telephone thing! You know, you have a can, we have a can and it's connected by a string!
Chandler: Or we can do the *actual* telephone thing.

12) Chandler: From now on, I have no first name.
Joey: So... you're just Bing?
Chandler: I have no name.
Phoebe: All right, so what are we supposed to call you?
Chandler: Okay, for now, temporarily, you can call me... Clint.
Joey: No way are you cool enough to pull off Clint.
Chandler: Okay, so what name am I cool enough to pull off?
Phoebe: Um... Gene.
Chandler: It's Clint. It's Clint!
Joey: See ya later, Gene.
Phoebe: Bye, Gene.
Chandler: It's Clint! Clint!
Joey: What's wrong with Gene?

13) Joey: Rach, you gotta find out if he's in the same place you are. Otherwise, it's just a moo point.
Rachel: A moo point?
Joey: Yeah. It's like a cow's opinion. It just doesn't matter. It's moo.

14) Ross: Years and years ago there were these people called the Maccabees...
Chandler: MY favorite part was when Superman flew all the Jews out of Egypt
Ross: The Armadillo was actually not so thrilled about that part!

15) Parker: I'm sorry if I put a good spin on everything. It's who I am, I'm a positive person.
Phoebe: No, I'm a positive person. You're like Santa Claus... on prozac... in Disney Land... getting laid!

16) (Chandler and Joey got two lawn chairs, a chick and a duck)
Chandler: Could we BE more white trash?

17) (in Richard's apartment)
Chandler: Oh, my god. Look at this tape! It says Monica!
Joey: So?
Chandler: Think about it! Ex-boyfriend's apartment, videotape with her name on it...
(Joey looks thoughtful)
Chandler: Get there faster!
Joey: Ohhhh!

18) (Monica thinks that Chandler has a shark fetish)
Monica: Do you want me to get inside the bathtub and thrash around?

19) Chandler: Here's something I hope I never have to say again. My dad called, and he asked me if he can borrow one of your pearl necklaces.
Monica: Oh, I don't have anything like that. I'll go see if Rachel has one.
Chandler: Yes, include more people in this.

20) Ross: Uhh, excuse me. If I could have everybody's attention. I'm Ross Geller.
Jack Geller: DR. Ross Geller.
Ross: Dad... please. Anyway, as I was saying, I'm Dr. Ross Geller...

21) Mona: Thanks for showing me your pre-fossilized rock collection. You've got 300 of them. It was fascinating! So, we still on for tonight?
Ross: Sure!
Mona: Ok, bye.
Ross: Bye.
Chandler to Ross: Wow, you must be great in bed.

22) Joey: You two were having s-e-x!
Monica: No, we weren't!
Joey: Yeah, you were! I can see it by the back of Chandler's hair! (to Chandler) You are so lazy, can't you get on top for once?

23) Chandler to Ross: Three failed marriages, two illegitimate children... The personal ad writes itself!

24) Chandler: Yo, paisan! Can I talk to you for a sec? Your tailor is a very bad man!
Joey: Frankie? What are you talking about?
Ross: Hey, what's going on?
Chandler: Joey's tailor... took advantage of me.
Ross: What?
Joey: No way. I've been going to that guy for 12 years.
Chandler: Oh, come on! He said he was going to do my inseam, and then he ran his hand up my leg. And then, there was definite... cupping.
Joey: That's how they do pants! First they go up one side, they move it over, then they go up the other side, they move it back, and then they do the rear.
[Chandler and Ross stare at him]
Joey: What? Ross, Ross, would you tell him? Isn't that how they measure pants?
Ross: Yes. Yes, it is... In prison!

25) Chandler: I'm not so good with the advice... Can I interest you in a sarcastic comment?

26) Ross: I love marriage.
Phoebe: Seriously? You?... Divorce-O?

27) Ross: If you're going to call me names, I would prefer Ross, the Divorce Force. It's just cooler.

28) (In a Scottish Accent, on the phone)
Rachel: Oh Hello Dr. Geller. This is Professor McNulty from the fake accent University. We'd like you to come on board with us full time.

29) Phoebe: (sitting down at blackjack table with Joey and Hand Twin guy) Hello. My name is Regina Phalange. I'm a businesswoman in town on business. Would you like to see my card? Oh, what did I do with my file-a-facts? I must've left it in conference room B.

30) (Ross and Rachel enter the museum planetarium)
Rachel: What is this? What are we doing?
Ross: Shh. Do you want cran-apple or cran-grape?
Rachel: Grape.
Ross: OK, now, sit. OK. (spreads the pelt on the floor and starts the music system)
Rachel: Oh, God.
Music System: BILLIONS AND BILLIONS OF YEARS AGO...
Ross: Sorry.

The end! Now post your fave quotes!

xoxo...t

Embarrassing Moments

2010-01-26T09:03:00.000-08:00

Embarrassing moments... we've all had em'. You know what I mean, right? That moment where you ask yourself, "did that actually just happen to me?" I thought it would be fun to post my own absolute most embarrassing moment ever-in-life, and in return you have to leave a comment and tell me all about yours!

It's like a modern day slumber party, people! Jump on board!

Okay, here goes. (p.s. I am cringing right now at the very thought of reliving this)

Picture this. I'm barely 19 and "dating" this guy. The reason I use the word "dating" in quotations, is because it was pretty much on his terms. There should be a future blog posting about why all girls are so so stupid when they're young. Okay anyway, "dating". Naturally, the less he calls, the more I like him. Since, like always, it was all dandy at first, I don't get what the problem is and keep calling him (it's okay dude, I get it now... much like my good friend Kelly Clarkson, I do not hook up). Luckily, while I may be in "young, stupid girl" mode, I'm not that THAT stupid. So after about two weeks of these games (read: see him at the club after the unreturned phone calls, he looks like a deer in headlights, "oh hiiiiiiiiiiii, uh, soooo sorry I didn't call you.... it's been, um, sooo hectic at work". Hey buddy, do me a favor and tell me you like my friend better than me, okay?

Anyway. A month or so passes and I've all but forgotten about the guy. Life has moved on from the drama. Hallelujah.

About this time, my good friend Kathryn and I decide to go for a drink at Moxie's before heading out somewhere else. THANK GOODNESS we were going out and I had put some effort into my look (read below post about black fleece pants). There's nothing worse than seeing the guy that blew you off when you look like you just rolled out of bed. Of course, you want to make him pay, right? HA! Someone paid, alright. So Moxies. Kathryn and I walk in and see a friend of hers whilst waiting for our table. We stroll over and are chatting it up when all of a sudden, my phone rings. I dig it out and look at the call display. It's the guy. So of course, in true 19 year old stupid girl fashion, I am jumping all over the place, thrusting the phone in Kathryn's face, pointing to the call display using very large and grandeur gestures, the whole 9 yards. It's very loud at Moxies, so I DASH out of there to get into the mall so I can answer the phone (casually, of course). I get outside and I'm all, "hello?". And what do I hear on the other end?

"You don't have to run for me."

Oh, the horror. The absolute horror. I think I may have blacked out during that moment in sheer disbelief. It was like, trying to press rewind on your life. "That did not just happen to me, that did not just happen to me, make it go away". Of course at this point, there's no recovering. I try and act all cool and collected. "HELLO???? I CAN'T HEAR YOU, BAD RECEPTION". Meanwhile, he's totally watching me do this from the restaurant window.

GAH. I have never wanted to swallow myself whole more than at that moment in my life.

Kathryn and I ended up sitting there for a few minutes to TRY and save face, but the damage was done. I never wanted to see that person again in my life, and I haven't.

Isn't it nice when you "grow up" and settle into family life and you can look back on these moments with hilarity (and again, cringes)?

Okay, let's have it.

xoxo... t

Random Thoughts.

2010-01-21T13:45:00.000-08:00

A few of my other fave blogs were posting "random thoughts" last week, so I thought I would follow suit. Here goes!

- I spend too much money at Bulk Barn. Hey, you never know when you're going to have to have enough sprinkles to make 300 cupcakes!

- I am one of the 1,546,542 women that wishes Edward Cullen were real (random stolen from BFF Mickaela)

- I am also one of the 773,271 women that is on Team Edward but actually, and briefly, considered switching teams after seeing Taylor Lautner's performance in New Moon (added by me). So, he's 17... So what?

- I heard Facebook is going to start charging people $14.99 per month starting in July. If that happens, I am OUT.

- Last week, I fulfilled my lifelong dream of mopping up water from an overflowed toilet.

- 4 words: Pants on the Ground.

- On Monday night, I observed the following on my stairs at home. A pair of underwear (clean) that the kids decided to throw at each other. Also a dirty rag that had no doubt been used to wipe up the floor I had just washed after someone dirtied it (which believe me, I appreciate - I'll take the dirty rag any day) and then thrown down in the general direction of the washer and dryer.

- Ever notice a couple walking by and think to yourself, "I wonder how that happened?"

- The winter weather has been unusually mild for awhile now, so over the weekend, I remarked how nice it would be if we still had our hot tub (long story about why we don't have our hot tub anymore). Johnny told me that I could take a regular bath and he would use a straw to blow bubbles in the bathwater if I would like.

- I've been having dreams lately about being a stay-at-home Mom and design-teaming for a few rocking scrapbook manufacturers! Say what????

- Last week when we picked Johnny up from the Airport, Haley spilled her entire drink from Tim's on the backseat of the car. Johnny swoops in and saves the day, tossing (once again, clean) underwear out of his luggage towards Haley. "Here, use these". HA! "um, thanks Dad".

- When the kids and I leave the house in the morning, we often discuss what the cats are saying while we are away. Yep, that's right. We talk about our cats like they're people. In our imagination, Shadow (an emulation of a 90 year old man) generally has a pair of reading bifocals on, with a stack of Encyclopedia's beside him. p.s. we don't actually own encyclopedia's. We haven't decided on Mittens exact personality yet, but we imagined all the time that Simba would be waiting for us to leave so he could pull out the inflatable pool, whip out his sunglasses, invite all his girlfriends over and exclaim "PARTY TIME!". Simba was a stud. Okay?

- Speaking of cats, the following actually happened the other night: WARNING: if cat poop makes you gag or you're about to eat, don't read on. So, let me paint you a little picture here. I've just gotten out of the bath, and am scrunching my sopping wet hair in the hopes it will wake up to some kind of fabulousness in the morning. Johnny walks in the room and asks me why it smells like cat poop. "I don't smell anything", I say. So he asks me to join him in the Dining Room. Well, as soon as I walked out of that bedroom, WHEW! It seriously smelt like our house was suddenly a giant toilet. Not even a litter box, just a gigantic toilet. We're looking around baffled (and almost out of breath) when we see little Mittens under the kitchen table with a very long string-like object coming out of, yes, her little bum. The shock and horror that followed cannot be accurately portrayed. Long story short, after actually catching her, because she's freaking out and trying to chase this thing coming out of her (much like she would chase her TAIL) Johnny caught and held her while I tried to pull it out. She screamed. He tried to pick her up three more times for me to cut it, but she's got claws people! Finally, Johnny put on some heavy duty gloves and I managed to cut most of it off. I purposely left some because I thought she could get it out since she was cleaning it to death down there. WOW. So upon further inspection, we realize that this mystery object is actually RIBBON FROM MY CRAFT ROOM. What kind of dumb cat eats 2 feet of ribbon???? So Shyan comes up somewhere during these memorable events to witness all the commotion (read: exclaim repeatedly how gross this was because yes, the ribbon was covered in you-know-what). So she starts downstairs and almost immediately comes running up that there is "poop everywhere!". "Oh for the love....", I say. I follow her downstairs where I observe "pieces of it" on the wall, floor and other random objects. Since Shyan is laughing too hard, and Johnny can't even submit his own "fluid sample" to the house insurance guy without ralphing up three meals, I had the dubious task of cleaning this up. Luckily, it was easy (ie solid). After putting the pieces together, I guess she had tried to go to the bathroom, was all of a sudden passing her lunch special, and was scared and ran all over the place with this thing whipping around behind her with every corner turned! In the end, she went to the bathroom again and all was well. No more dangly things and the craft room door shut. ALWAYS SHUT.

Okay. so I could have just made this random: "my cat ate 2 feet of ribbon and then tried to pass it last night." But this was way more entertaining, don't you think?

Update: I was freaking out last night because Mittens wasn't going to the bathroom. Her appetite and spirits were fine, but she wanted nothing to do with the litter box. I'm happy to report that this morning, Johnny observed a poop with about 4 inches more of ribbon which means she has successfully passed the rest of the ribbon! Yay Mittens!

- Um hi, Tim Hortons. Please don't give me coffee after I've very specifically asked for a Steeped Tea. Thaaaaaanks.

- There is nothing funnier than "Friends". WHY have they not done a reunion??? There will be a blog posting in the very near future with the top ten friends quotes.

- Contrary to popular belief, I am NOT an 80 year old woman because I like to scrapbook and drink tea.

- If I could wear black fleece pants every minute of my life, I would. I have three pairs and sometimes, I even wear them to work, change when I get there, and then change back into them before the drive home. I totally wear them shopping. A girl's gotta be comfortable when she shops and they don't look like pyjama's, so they're acceptable.

- I make a mean bacon breakfast sandwich on an english muffin (or bagel, if you prefer)

- I am rarely happy with my (scrap) work. I'm always comparing it to people way out of my league wondering when I'm going to get that good!

- I love love love my job

- I miss my Simba J. everyday.

Have a good weekend all :)

xoxo... t

Blog Bling

2010-01-14T17:39:00.000-08:00

You may have noticed the change in my blog background. I decided that blog backgrounds are much like purses to me. As much as I may love them when I get them, it isn't long before I want to change it up.

Why not?

xoxo... t

Get me to Mexico. Stat.

2010-01-13T13:12:00.000-08:00

Good evening folks! Hope the last week has gone well!

Here in Winnipeg, we're experiencing unusually mild temperatures for January. I just checked my Blackberry and it's -3!!!! Stop the music. Goodness knows, you'd think we'd be out there enjoying it. Nope. Winter is winter, right? The only difference today is we don't have to start our cars.

Check out this pic of us picking up Johnny from the Airport on Sunday night:

Can you tell he's arriving from sunny Punta Cana?? My name for him this week is Leatherface. The above tan has now turned into peeling, bubbling and the occasional bleeding scar on his lip. ie: PAIN. Self inflicted, of course! We will be stocking up on sunscreen next time. By the way, I don't know what's with the face Haley is making, but I liken it to being nearly blinded.

Kim, Grams and I had a scrappin' weekend in Morris this last Saturday night. I didn't take pics of what I was producing, but I felt the need to post about it because I felt SO accomplished! I got 1 layout done, a animal records keeper for my BFF's new Kitten, started the album for my "I Believe" stuff and mod podged the box for that as well. I also started an album that I named "memorable moments" of 2009. Kim is having a class for this album this Friday, the 15th, and I can't make it so I worked on it this weekend. Check out her blog for pics and details:
www.scrappinstudio.blogspot.com
I will post pics of my finished product when it's, well, finished!

I cannot believe it is almost the middle of January. You know what that means... a month and a half until we are in glorious Mexico! Ooooh, Playa Del Carmen here I come!

An update to my below post about vacationing separately from your spouse: all the comments I received, both on here and through various other outlets all agreed. What the hell, so you go separately one year. Breaks are healthy and it's nice to miss each other. You sometimes lose that in this thing called life. I am happy to report that missing him was an understatement. I missed him a TON. By Wednesday night, I would have given anything to have the guy hogging the TV (ie hockey football hockey football hockey football) or draping his clothes all over the place. It was nice. I like these epiphanies of perspective. So all in all, it was a success. He had a great time and I missed him to pieces.

:)

During the week whilst he was gone, it was rather busy. I spent Tuesday and Wednesday night with Haley and it was not uneventful! The child had a "cavity" (this is what we thought it was) and was so painful, it was bleeding! Upon further inspection at Children's Dental World (which is a really cool place people, and I'm not sure I would have gotten her in the door had we not gone there), it became clear that she needed a baby root canal. BAM, one root canal and two crowns later, we have a very upset 8 year old! She is a trooper though and got through it well. A bit of irritation and soreness with her Mom for the rest of the day, but it wore off and she's back to normal. What a brave kid! I did take some pics, but I don't know how thrilled she'd be if I put them all over my blog - so I'll just settle with scrapping them ;)

That's all I've got for now, but I anticipate getting some work in the Craft Room done this weekend - stay tuned!

xoxo

- Tara :)

It's 2010!

2010-01-04T07:43:00.000-08:00

Wow, does time ever fly... I was catching up with my girlfriends last night, and we were discussing how crazy it is that we graduated 10 years ago. 10 years??? Where did the time go? It definitely does not feel like 10 years. In saying that, I am feeling a lot of gratitude for where life has taken me since 10 years ago. What a great family I have, both immediate and extended. I am lucky to live in a beautiful home surrounded by great neighbours (okay, so I have one creepy neighbour, you can't have it all folks)... a great job where I am happy to be everyday and amazing friends. Yes, life is good...

I have come up with a few New Years resolutions for this year, rather than just the one. My first one is to continue in and do better with my change jar. I actually did really good last year, up until the Tim's went up at work here and I started cheating. So my plan is to always try and have cash in my wallet (less debit transactions) and then to throw every coin I get my hands on in that jar. I have a goal in mind for the change jar, but I don't want to post it here because if I can make it happen for that person (who reads this), it will be the surprise of a lifetime. I hope, anyway.

Secondly, there's the obvious fitness and nutrition goals... what really knocked me over was the 32 year old woman in the United States that died of a heart attack a month ago. 32? Female?? REALLY??? This stressed me out a bit. I've always had minor chest pains. Everytime I ask my Doctor about it, she brushes it off as nothing saying that at my age, coupled with my gender, it couldn't be possible that it would be heart related. Fine, I say. But my eating habits, while not absolutely terrible, could be better. Could be ALOT better. My exercise factor is zero. I hate it. I hate it more than pretty much anything (see Facebook status about shovelling). So this will be a tough one for me, but as aforementioned, I like my life alot and want to prolong it as much as possible ;)

Another goal? Don't sweat the small stuff. I am a serial worrier, and 98% of the time, it's totally unfounded. I will one day undoubtedly have an ulcer over a) things that have nothing to do with me and b) I have zero control over.

So that's that folks - those are my goals for 2010. What are your new years resolutions?

I dropped Johnny off at the Airport yesterday morning at about 5:45... he was off to the Dominican Republic with his good friend Brett for a sunny vacay. I have gotten a few funny looks when people asked about our winter vacation plans and we tell them we are vacationing seperately this year.... hahaha... the "I wonder what's wrong" looks. HA! It's priceless... It was kind of a fluke, actually. It started with me and the fact that I have wanted to go on a Scrapbooking Cruise FOREVER. How fun?? I should mention here that I also get some funny looks when I tell people about the concept of a Scrapbooking Cruise. As in, "why would you go on a cruise to SCRAPBOOK?" "Why not go on a cruise and scrapbook when you get home?", is the general vibe I get from the look on their face, and the odd, "I wasn't aware I missed your 80th birthday". So for all you naysayers out there... the only scrapbooking one does on a cruise like this, are on the days that the ship is at sea. And even at that, it's a couple classes. An hour here, an hour there. By no means are you scrapbooking when you are at port. But the idea is connecting with all the other people out there that love the hobby so much, and learning from awesome, talented and decorated teachers.

Okay ANYWAY... so finally this one comes up and I figure "what the hey"... Even though I know the prospect of a Scrappin' Cruise automatically means Johnny will not be a part of this trip (haha, "honey, can you pass me the glue dots?"), I am going to go SOMETIME so what am I waiting for??? So we decided I was going and everything was all ready for booking. Since I had planned this glorious 7 day Caribbean cruise and since Johnny hadn't gotten to go last year either, we also agreed that he would go on a boy trip. Enter his friend Brett who seriously could almost (almost) outplan me... within 2 weeks they were booked to Punta Cana, swimming with Sharks and all.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand then my cruise falls through. BAM. I won't go into the details as I don't want to openly offend anyone, but let's just say our dear Kim deserves much better than THAT! So, we decided that since it fell through, and since Johnny had already planned and paid for his trip, we would go on our own scrappy trip anyway! So two months later and a lot of searching for a good place, we booked it! I wanted Kim to have the best experience possible, since this will be her first time to a hot and sunny destination... I think this will suffice!

Enter the Gran Bahia Principe Tulum! Yeehaw! We got a great deal for this 4.5 star resort... I can't wait to bask in the sun and like Kim says - we can finally say we are going THIS YEAR! Ha! March 4th, and we are off for a week! I can't wait to show her around the area and all the amazing sights. And of course, to drink a cold Corona on the beach in Playa

Well folks, that's it for now. I know I promised something Scrappy, but I haven't done a stitch of work since the beginning of December. I plan to rectify that this week. I have a few sketches that I want to create layouts out of. Here's one of them by Anna Bowkis, provided on this website: www.pencillines.com

I love how simple it is. I think we (or I, anyway) tend to complicate our layouts. So my theme for this one is, "less is more". I'll let you know what I come up with!

Have a great day all!

- Tara :)

I'm baaaaaaa-aaaack!!!

2009-12-28T10:25:00.000-08:00

It is soooooooo good to be back!

Today is the first day I can honestly say I feel caught up. Too bad I didn't feel like this BEFORE Christmas! This was definitely a "frazzled" holiday for me this year! I am usually organized to a tee... but this year overwhelmed me... oh well. You win some, you lose some.

I guess it started when I woke up Christmas Eve to find that Morris and most of Southern Manitoba was about to be dumped on BIG TIME with a storm. Our plans were to go to my Aunt's for my family Christmas, and then on to my BFF's parents for our annual tradition, coming home that night. But since we were set to receive between 15-20 cm's overnight, we made the decision to stay in the city, JUST IN CASE we got snowed in on Christmas Day. So that also meant packing up for my SIL's Christmas as well... Hectic! I frantically ran around the house packing every gift I could find, ever morsel of food I had planned to bring... you get the idea. It's a good thing Johnny was coming home after me from work to change and shower, because I forgot ALOT. HA!

Christmas turned out to be great, as per usual. No matter what, that Christmas spirit always rings true this time of year. Amidst all the frazzle-ness, I still felt as happy as I always do. Watching the kids open presents, no matter how old they get, is always thrilling... And my two "little" cousins turned 18 a few days before Christmas, too! Exciting!

From Johnny, I got a trip to VEGAS! YAY! What an amazing gift! He also got me a bottle of my fave wine and a huuuge scrapbooking set, which I plan on putting to use after I'm done this blog post. I also got a ton of Olympic Gear so I will be all decked out for the games in February. New Moon stuff (of course), a beeeeeautiful expresso mirror for my living room, some super comfy PJ's, Slippers and Robe, a beautiful scarf and SO CUTE cupcake magnets... I got spoiled! And as much fun as all that is, I had SO much fun planning and picking out everyone's gifts this year...

Isn't giving always funner than receiving? I guess it's a little cliche, but I think it is.

So two questions for today's survey... what did YOU get for Christmas and what was your favorite Christmas moment this year?

I'll post later this week with scrappy stuff and Christmas pics!

Happy Holidays everyone!

- Tara :)

Who was I kidding?

2009-12-20T14:39:00.000-08:00

Okay so I thought this weekend would be a good time to update my blog. WRONG. It is Sunday, I have been chipping away at all things Christmas ALL weekend (with a bout of laryngitis mind you) and about 5 seconds ago, I just panicked. Like, panicked. The amount of things I have to accomplish before Wednesday is truly crazy. I am NEVER this unprepared. What's going on??? Maybe it didn't feel like Christmas because we didn't have snow until Mid-December? In any case, I am going to have to get my you-know-what in gear and put on my superwoman cape. Wish me luck and I'll be back after Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Lots of love...

- Tara :)

I totally suck.

2009-12-18T09:41:00.001-08:00

I have been getting a few emails... "are you MIA?", "where's da blog postings???"... and happily, no death threats ;)

I will be back this weekend, I PROMISE. I can't remember a time when life has been busier but I will have some free time this weekend to be BACK IN BUSINESS.

SORRY.

xoxo

- Tara :)

Catch up!

2009-11-25T17:53:00.000-08:00

It has been awhile! This has been the busiest month in as long as I can remember. Those who know me well, know I'm rather organized... but I can't even hold it together in that department this month! Oh well, such is life.

Alright well first... New Moon. I was fully prepared to say it sucked, if it sucked. After all, Twilight was a bit of a disappointment compared to the book. Thank goodness for those great actors to make it decent ;) Haha! Anyway, as I said, I was going to be honest about it. But you know what? It was really, really good. Firstly, you can tell the budget is pretty much tripled. Haha! It's just done so much better. Of course, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner help! Having said this, I can see how someone who is not a fan of the books could feel differently? In some parts, you can tell they took for granted that the person watching had also read the book and therefore, knew the backstory. New Moon is actually my least favorite book in the series, so since I loved this one so much, I'm really expecting great things from Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. How can I wait until June 30th???

Check out my lovely one and a half year old car... I hit a deer on Saturday night. Shyan and I were about 5 minutes out of Morris, it was about 10 at night. We were totally fine, thank goodness! Just a little shaken, of course. And I was so proud of the way Shyan reacted. As soon as she saw the deer coming, she put her head in her knees and covered her head. That's textbook! MPI says that November is the worst month of the year for wildlife claims.... since Johnny hit a deer with HIS car only about two weeks ago, I believe it! It came right out of the median, I swerved and it hit on my side of the windshield and then somehow bounced off my side of the car. Both doors on the driver side cannot be opened. So off I went to MPI on Monday and they towed it directly to the repair shop. So my new car for the next month is a lovely Toyota Corolla! Can't wait to get my car back!

See the nice tuft of fur caught in the door? GROSS.

And some layouts I thought I'd post...

This Saturday morning, I plan on getting the Christmas stuff up. I like to do it Grey Cup weekend... when are you putting your tree up?

- Tara :)

Am I 15 again?

2009-11-17T18:35:00.000-08:00

Alright, so I had plans to get some work done in the Craft Room tonight, among a whole host of other things... but I am having trouble concentrating.

In a word.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!

3 more sleeps!

- Tara :)