The Princess Is In

I've Moved!

2007-08-02T05:38:00.000-05:00

I've moved! Please come for a visit at my new blog home:

http://www.xanga.com/Tanya1968

Quirky!

2007-07-03T08:19:00.000-05:00

Here's the layout for my June BOM (Book of Me) class. I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but I teach a monthly BOM class at a local scrapbook store. The class itself is about 2 years old and was started by my friend Kimberly. I took over as the instructor last November when she moved to Colorado. It's a fun group. Some people have come and gone but the core group has stayed the same for almost the whole 2 years. It's strictly a BOM class so all the layouts focus on ourselves. The theory being, that regardless if we scrap for family or ourselves, often our layouts focus on others and we are left out of the picture, literally. A couple people in class have children so they are doing this as something to leave to or share with their their kids, so they can see who Mom really is/was. The rest of us do not have kids and are simply doing this for ourselves. And what better reason is there? :)

Anyway, the theme for June was Quirky. All the little things or idiosyncrasies that make you... You! It was funny because none of these things seemed quite so quirky until I started putting them down on paper. LOL I'm not sure if the journaling will be visible... but that's okay. Not sure if I necessarily want my quirks out there for everyone to snicker at, anyway. Hee hee!

Father's Day card

2007-06-19T07:39:00.000-05:00

Thought I would share a photo of the card I made for my dad for Father's Day. The journaling block, important message and original stamps are all from the Stampin' Up Office Accoutrements set. Love that set! I used the Doodle Alphabet to stamp Daddy, and "best" was from the Everyday Flexible Phrases set. Oh, and I used the spiral punch that I just got last week... I can tell that one is going to get a lot of use. :)

Shane

2007-06-13T09:20:00.000-05:00

My friend Danni posted a great Friday Night Challenge at our Scrap101 group last week but unfortunately I wasn't able to get to it. The challenge was to create a layout using a pocket (or envelope). I still wanted to do it so I did this layout Sunday night. The photo is my nephew Shane when he had just turned a year old. Hard to believe he is now 11! Most patterned papers are by Crate Paper but there's some Foofala in there, too. The chipboard "X" is by Lil Davis, the white rub-on's are Making Memories, the flower is Heidi Swapp, the polka dot brad is either Making Memories or Bazzill (can't remember which), and the stamps are from Ma Vinci. Really happy with this one. :-)

Tuesday, June 12

2007-06-12T10:40:00.001-05:00

I just walked into my boss's office (where there is a wall of windows) and it is pitch black outside. I do believe it is about to POUR. I just went and checked the local weather and radar and there is a severe thunderstorm warning in effect. The National Weather Service is reporting that hail up to 2" in diameter and wind gusts up to 70 mph are possible. Sheesh. Wish I was at home with a good book.

Friday thru Sunday

2007-06-12T10:37:00.000-05:00

A little weekend recap...

I did some scrap shopping Friday night and had fun doing it. My Yahoo scrapbooking group, Scrap101, has a monthly "Diva" and everyone sends her gifts throughout the month. This month the Diva is none other than Danni! I had so much fun picking out what I wanted to get for her... and of course I couldn't help getting some goodies for me, too. LOL I still have one other item to find before I can box it all up and ship it to her but I plan on looking for that during my lunch hour today.

After shopping, Robert and I stopped at The Loop for a late dinner. Oh my goodness, was that ever tasty. I'm not much of a burger fan (not like Robert... he could live off of them) but once in a great while nothing beats a good burger. And that's just what I had Friday night. A Loop n' Bleu with fries and a side salad. So, so good.

Saturday morning I met my mom and my two sisters for breakfast at Village Inn. We usually meet for dinner the first Wednesday of every month but we decided to do breakfast this month instead. It worked out really well. I love our Wednesday dinners but it does make for a very long day. I get up at 5:45am, at the office by 8:00, rush out at 5:00 to make it to dinner, and I don't get home until after 8:00 that evening. Long day. We all had a good time Saturday morning and spent two hours chatting, laughing, and catching up. I love our monthly get-togethers.

After breakfast my younger sister, Terri, asked if I wanted to stop by the scrapbook store on that side of town... and of course I couldn't resist. I ended up spending $60 (ouch!) but I got most everything I will need to put together my London album. I'm going to use the Love Elsie Toby Collection for the London album... I love the colors. Can't wait to get started on it.

While I was out Saturday morning, Robert took my car to the dealership to have the oil changed and then took it to a car wash for a thorough inside and out cleaning... $35 later it looks wonderful. He's such a sweetie. Later in the day he took his car back for the same treatment (not the oil change... just the wash and cleaning). Saturday evening we went to an early dinner (I had skipped lunch since I'd had a big breakfast) at Smokey Bones. We started with some barbecue chicken nachos and oh my goodness were they ever tasty! Even better than my dinner, I think. LOL

Sunday was more low-key. We left the house once to go by Wal-Mart for a couple items and then stopped by my parent's house to help them. They were changing ISP's and needed some help getting set up. Other than that we stuck close to home. I did one layout Sunday night. Used a photo of my nephew Shane when he was a year old (he's now 11). Love the way it turned out... I'll have to get it scanned tonight so I can share it. Then I watched Music & Lyrics (again!) and called it a night.

It was a good weekend... just HOT. Sunday it hit 95 degrees and was humid... just miserable. I think we're in for a long hot summer!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

It Could Be You

2007-06-12T10:35:00.001-05:00

I just recently finished this one. I had high hopes for it as I really enjoyed everything else I've read by Josie Lloyd. For the last several years she has co-written with Emlyn Rees (now her husband) but this was her very first novel (from 1997) and she was still writing on her own then. It was pretty good... although not as good as the later books. I really got into it about two-thirds through the book when all kinds of things started happening and had high expectations for the rest of the book. But then it reverted to sappy romanticism in the last two pages and that left me disappointed. Not that I don't like a happy ending... I do. And not that I don't like romance... I do. But this wasn't a romance novel. And to have everything end up all neat and tidy and sappy there at the very end was something of a disappointment. I'm so glad this wasn't the first thing I'd ever read by her... I might not have given her a second try. LOL The novels Come Together, Come Again, The Boy Next Door and We Are Family were much better and just really great reads.

Next up is Breathing Room by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. I've never read anything by her before so we shall see.

Do I Need This?

2007-06-12T10:30:00.000-05:00

According to Google this is what I need...

Tanya needs anti-nausea drug Zofran - actually I'm feeling quite nicely today, but thank you all the same

Tanya needs a new battery - well, I never!

Tanya needs a new home - um, no, not really... I love my home

Tanya needs to be the one to reassure Whitney she does not want to take her daddy away from her - hey, I don't even know Whitney... and I certainly don't want her daddy

Tanya needs to be a critical thinker - yeah, I'll work on that

Tanya needs a way to get rid of her fat - okay, now you're just being mean

Tanya needs the money - well, who doesn't?

Tanya needs to be created - uh, hello? I'm right here

Tanya needs to get her ass across to the UK and rock the house - um, I was just there but I did not rock the house... sorry about that... maybe next time

Tanya needs this information - that's right... so spill it

Tanya needs to be at the table to smooth things over - well, if I don't have my Zofran you probably don't want me at the table

Thanks for a good laugh, Google! :-)

Cards

2007-06-04T14:30:00.000-05:00

I must preface this post by saying I am not much of a card maker. I scrap myself silly as often as possible, but cards... not so much. I've made maybe... 5 total. LOL So keep that in mind as I share the two that I made this past weekend. For the past week every time I went into a store I looked for cards for my two nephews but nothing seemed to be appropriate. I finally decided that I would just make my own. The reason for the cards:

Jackson (age 8) - Jackson ended the school year (second grade) with straight A's. Also, he is a real star player on his baseball team (they won the Atlantic Beach championship) and he was chosen to be part of an All Star team (for the second year in a row). Jackson is such a reserved little guy and to see him excel both academically and at sports is so great.

Shane (age 11) - Shane also ended the school year (fifth grade) with straight A's. He is such an exceptional student and has been in the gifted program since he was in first grade. He was honored week before last at a ceremony at the University of North Florida for being in the top 5% of all fifth graders in the city. (To give you an idea of how many kids we're talking about, there are 105 elementary schools in Jacksonville.) To be in the top 5% of all fifth graders in the city is just incredible and I am so proud of Shane!

So, I just wasn't able to find appropriate cards for Jackson and Shane so these are the cards I made for them. Robert and I also included $20 in each card so they can do a little something fun with their money. :-)

Note To Self

2007-05-15T13:41:00.000-05:00

I think I'm behind on sharing layouts from the Book of Me classes, so I thought I would put one up today. I think this was from February's class. I really loved the patterned paper on this one. Unfortunately I can't remember what it is so I'll have to check when I get home. The chipboard accents are from the Basic Grey Undressed Chipboard Hardware, painted with acrylic paint, and are not as bright blue in real life. The "note to" letters are Making Memories rub-on's and the "self" letters were cut from my Cricut. And the library pocket and insert were made using a Coluzzle template. I've yet to go back and add any journaling (shame on me) but I was really happy with how this one turned out.

London Pics

2007-05-11T09:29:00.000-05:00

The whole write-up about the trip to London is in the previous post, but I thought I would also share some photos from our time there.

Our hotel in Notting hill:

Robert outside of a typical British phone box:

Piccadilly Circus:

Outside of Harrods:

Buckingham Palace:

Me and our friends Kev and Nicky on the London Eye:

Robert crossing Abbey Road... his homage to the Beatles :):

Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding at a pub:

At Kensington Palace (former home of Princess Diana):

At Her Majesty's Theatre to see Phantom of the Opera:

Me and Robert in front of Buckingham Palace:

Welcome Home

2007-05-08T14:01:00.000-05:00

Ah, there truly is no place like home. After spending the last week in London I have come to the conclusion that I am truly a very spoiled American and I am so thankful to live in this country. I do not say that to mean that I did not enjoy London, but just that I quickly found out how much I take for granted all the little things that make my life easier/nicer/more pleasant on a day to day basis. All the things that I didn't even consider throughout the course of my day... I now have an appreciation for. As much as London was a vacation, it was also an eye-opener in that regard.

We set off on Saturday the 28th, flying from Jacksonville to Atlanta (of course... I swear, the Queen herself must have to go thru Atlanta LOL)and then on to London. The flight to Atlanta is a quick one (roughly 45 minutes) but the flight to London was almost 9 hours. Unfortunately, I do not sleep well on planes so it was a looong flight. Robert and I amused ourselves with movies and games (lots of Bejeweled and Zuma for me). :) Once in London, we took the Gatwick Express into central London, then the Underground to Notting Hill and checked into our hotel. It was early and our room wasn't ready so we checked our luggage and went around the corner to the Bagel Factory. That was our first taste of the expense of dining out in central London. Robert had a ham and cheese bagel and a Coke and I had a raspberry muffin and orange juice. Eighteen dollars. (Eye-opener #1) We were so exhausted that we went straight back to the hotel instead of walking around and checking out Notting Hill. Even though it was almost 10am in London, it was 5am to us and we had been up for almost 24 hours. I actually fell asleep in the hotel lobby. Luckily, our room was ready by about 11:00. We took the tiny lift up to the second floor (actually the third since they consider the first floor the ground floor) and let ourselves into our room for the next week. The first thing we noticed - no air-conditioning. (Eye-opener #2) Silly us, we didn't even think to ask about air conditioning when making our reservations. Unfortunately, as everyone kept telling us, it is the hottest spring on record in London for the past 200 years or some such insane number. Lovely. LOL When it came to unpacking, we discovered there was no closet. (Eye-opener #3) Instead there was a wardrobe for hanging things, but no shelves or dresser for folded items. So we resorted to stuffing things in the little tiny desk drawers. LOL Who knew?! :)

Once we were settled, we hit the streets and started wandering. We explored Notting Hill, taking in the beautiful old buildings, the tiny little cars, all the traffic, people walking everywhere, the shops and restaurants and cafes. We quickly became old pros at using the Underground... which was a good thing since you really have to use it to get almost anywhere. We had purchased 7-day Oyster cards for travel on the Underground so we just scanned our cards as we entered a Tube station and scanned again when exiting a station - no money or tickets needed. Made it easy! On Monday we did the total tourist thing and went on a red double-decker bus tour. You could hop on and hop off at various stops and it was a fun way to see a lot and start to get our bearings around the city - figuring out which sections were where.

On Tuesday, our friends Nicky and Kev took the train into the city and spent the whole day with us. (They live 2-3 hours north of London in Grimsby.) I think that was my favorite day. It was wonderful to see the city with people who knew it so well... not to mention it was great to see them again. We walked miles and miles that day and saw and did so much: the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, a boat cruise on the River Thames, the London Tower, a fish and chips lunch at a pub near the Tower, the London Eye, the exclusive shops on Bond Street, and much more. We ended the day with a delicious meal at Bella Italia. We saw and learned so much more with Nicky and Kev than we ever would have on our own.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we were on our own again and spent our time shopping, sightseeing, and just taking it all in. We had tickets to see Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty's Theater on Thursday evening and that was a real highlight for me. I adore Phantom of the Opera. We were way up in the balcony since we had only bought our tickets about 3 weeks previously but it was still absolutely worth it. On Friday, our last full day, Robert was determined to see Abbey Road so we figured out which Underground connections we needed and managed to ourselves there. And, yes, I took a photo of Robert walking across Abbey Road. :)

Then our time in London was coming to a close. We flew out of Gatwick Saturday morning, back thru Atlanta (of course!), and then back to Jacksonville. Unfortunately our luggage got hung up somewhere in Atlanta and didn't make it back to Jacksonville when we did but we tried not to let that put a damper on our homecoming. It would have been much worse if we had arrived in London without luggage! Thankfully, everything came in later that night and they were delivered at home late that night.

It was amazing to see so many of the places that I had only read about in books or seen in movies or on television. To see things like Buckingham Palace or even the red double-decker busses in person was such a thrill. It was truly a trip to remember and we have some amazing memories of our time in London.

Tagged

2007-04-23T12:05:00.000-05:00

I was tagged recently by my online friend Dianne to come up with seven random facts about me. Hm, this should be interesting... :-)

1. I like even numbers. Or multiples of five. If I'm adjusting the volume on the radio or television I would never leave it or 9 or 11 or 17. Always an even number or a multiple of 5. Don't ask me why... I do not know. ;-)

2. I'm a major list maker. It appeals to my sense or order. I have lists for almost everything. Lists of the DVD's we own (we have so many that I keep a list so we don't buy something we already have - that's my excuse, anyway), a master packing list for anytime we travel, to do lists, lists of the Stampin' Up stuff I have (and that really *is* so I won't duplicate)... and it goes on and on. I've been known to invent reasons for lists. It's a sickness, I tell you.

3. Robert and I have been married for almost 8 years (May 1 will be 8 years) but have been together for more than 15 years. When we started dating I had just turned 23 and he was 37. Now I'm 38 and he's 52. I adore him and get positively giddy when I see him at the end of each day.

4. I read magazines from back to front. Again, don't ask me why... I do not know. ;-)

5. I have two sisters - one older and one younger. My sisters are my wonderful friends and are each very different and special. Tammy is 44, married, and has two little boys - my nephews Shane (age 11) and Jackson (age 8). Terri is 34 (well, she will be tomorrow) and is married with one step-son. I wish we all spent more time together but we, along with Mom, meet for dinner on the first Wednesday of every month and I always enjoy that.

6. I have a love of teddy bears. One I have had since I was approx. 4 years old, named Ted (yes, I was an imaginative child - lol). Over the years, Ted had developed a nasty tear in the back of his neck and his innards were spilling out. I ended up stuffing one of my father's handkerchiefs in there. Not long after Robert and I started dating, he came over with medical supplies in hand and actually gave Ted sutures (stitches) and made him good as new. I fell a little more in love right then. :-)

7. I have worked for the same company for 15 years. I started off as the receptionist (at age 23) and am now the executive assistant to the Board of Directors. (There was a short stint in HR but that last only 18 months and I try not to remember it at all. That was a bad period.) I simply love my job and the three men I work for. They are incredible people, I love what I do, and know how wonderfully lucky and rare that makes me.

So there you have it... 7 random facts about me. I don't want to necessarily call out 7 people by name and "tag" them, so if you're reading this and want to play along... consider yourself tagged. :-)

It's a Wonderful Life

2007-03-28T15:16:00.000-05:00

Thought I would share another layout today. This was from the December Book of Me Class. Obviously I have yet to add photos. LOL We tend not to do holiday themes in the BOM class (it's a book of ME class, after all - hee hee!) but I thought this was a way to add a little holiday flair to December's class... the whole "It's a Wonderful Life" thing. (Confession time: I've never actually seen the movie. People usually give a gasp of horror when hearing that. LOL) Anyway, I was pleased as punch with how this turned out. Lots of different tool and techniques that we played around with.

Layout ingredients are: Bazzill cardstock, Basic Grey Blitzen and Fruitcake patterned paper, Coluzzle ("wonderful life"), Quickutz ("it's a", brackets, paisleys), ribbon, staples, photo anchors, brads, photo corner punch, distress ink

Speaking of the BOM, the March class is tomorrow night. Now ask me if the sample layout is ready? Bwahahahaha! It's close, though. What's ridiculous is that I actually got an early start this month. I got about two-thirds done and then got side-tracked. And there it has sat on my work table. Guess what I'll be doing tonight... :-)

Essentials

2007-03-19T14:39:00.000-05:00

Thought I would share a layout today. This is one I created for the Book of Me class (November 2006). The idea was to reflect what is "essential" to your day. Mine being: books (I never leave home without one), Black Cherry Vanilla Diet Coke, my raspberry glacee Clinique lipstick, and (of course) a dose of scrappy stuff. There is hidden journaling behind the top photo which chronicles why I chose what I did. One thing I really like about this one is the little butterly in the top right of the layout. It was made using a photo corner punch for the wings and buttons for the body. The antenna were just drawn on with a black Zig pen. Oh, and the stamps used for the title are from Ma Vinci. Awesome site for unmounted stamps!

Yeah... He's Mine

2007-03-08T13:27:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted any layouts since January (what's the matter with me?!) so it's well past time to share another. This is one I did a couple weeks ago. It's actually for one of the Elsie Challenges (challenge #2) which was to enlarge a b&w photo and make it the focus of your page. This is what I came up with. I'm especially proud of heart, which I drew and cut myself. I'm usually too much of a freaking perfectionist for something like that but it seemed to work for this page. :)

Monster House

2007-03-06T10:21:00.000-05:00

There is an article in this week's Jacksonville Business Journal titled Building a Monster House. The house, which should be completed this summer of fall, has been under constant construction for the past two years and has been mistaken for both a hotel and an apartment complex. The "super custom home" is 22,661-square-foot in size. Can you imagine?! Nine bedrooms, 11 bathrooms and a 14 car garage. The window coverings are operated by remote, the chandelier in the foyer can be lowered for cleaning, the master bedroom has a "morning kitchen", and the family room has 30-foot-high ceilings. Outside there is a children's swimming pool, an adult swimming pool, a crossing bridge, an half-court basketball court and a dolphin fountain. I mean, this sounds like something out of Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous. LOL I might have to drive by just to see it in person. It might have to be seen to be believed. Wow.

Buddies

2007-03-02T10:12:00.000-05:00

I am so not one of those who oohs and ahhs at puppies and kitties and babies. I just don't turn to mush over kids and animals. But I do have to admit that this picture and the accompanying story are pretty darn cute. Reading it made me remember that as a little girl I desperately wanted a monkey . I wanted a little girl monkey to dress up and carry around. I had seen people on TV with monkeys and I always liked the way the monkeys clung to them. :) Anyway, this pic really makes me smile. Thought I would share.

Rules for Living in Jacksonville

2007-03-01T10:59:00.000-05:00

So many of these float around for almost any city or state. A co-worker sent me these for Jacksonville (my home) and I got such a laugh from some of them. Thought I would share:

You are either a Gator or a Seminole. You have no choice. If you abstain, you will be assigned a team. There are no other schools. It's better to learn this sooner than later.
Forget the traffic rules you learned elsewhere. No one pays attention to them here. Merging, yielding, and right-of-way are completely foreign terms.
To find anything in Jacksonville it is required that you know where The Avenues Mall is. It is the Alpha and the Omega; the beginning and the end.
The morning rush hour is from 6am to 10am. The evening rush hour is from 3pm to 7pm. Friday's rush hour starts Thursday morning.
If you actually stop at a yellow light you will be rear-ended, cussed out and possibly shot.
East Rd. meets West Rd. on Beach Blvd., but they both run North and South.
Normandy Boulevard, State Road 228, Cecil Field Road, Maxville Road and Post Street are all the same road.
Construction is a permanent fixture in Jacksonville. The barrels are moved around in the middle of the night to make the next day's driving a bit more exciting.
The minimum acceptable speed on J. Turner Butler Blvd. is 75 mph. Anything less is considered downright sissy. This is Jacksonville's version of NASCAR.
Never honk at anyone. Ever. Seriously.
If you are in the left lane and only going 70 in a 55 zone, you are considered a road hazard and will be treated accordingly.
If it's 100 degrees, Thanksgiving must be next weekend.
There are really only two seasons here: Summer and January.
If you choose to live in Orange Park, or, God forbid, Middleburg, plan to leave for work at 4am and return home around 11pm. Otherwise you may get caught in what can only be described as "the world's longest left turn lane."
You can buy a million dollar condo downtown on the river but you have to drive 10 miles for a loaf of bread, and never after dark.
The Landing is an interesting place. Every time you visit there will be a whole new set of restaurants and fewer stores. And less parking.
North Phillips Highway. Don't go there. Ever. Unless, of course, you are looking for motels that charge by the hour.
Convenience stores are literally EVERYWHERE. Unless you live in a million dollar condo downtown on the river.

Gotta Love It

2007-03-01T08:59:00.000-05:00

Florida weather, that is. Yesterday was sheer perfection. Temps in the mid 70's, sunny, breezy, blue skies. Felt positively delicious outside. Spring fever is starting to run rampant with this kind of weather. Hard to be cooped up at the office when it's so perfect outside. Makes me wish I was at home with the windows open, getting some fresh air in the house, and feeling that yummy breeze. Hopefully this taste of spring will last through the weekend!

You Give Love a Bad Name

2007-02-27T13:39:00.000-05:00

I have a little sideline as a book reviewer for an online company. It's voluntary... no money exchanging hands... and I'm "paid" in books (as in I keep all the books I review) which is fine by me. The books are often ARC's (Advance Reading Copies) which means I get to ready the book before it is actually published. And many times I am able to discover a wonderful book or author that I otherwise might never have known about. Some books I have liked more than others, some reviews have been easier to write than others, but overall I really have not read/reviewed a book that I truly disliked. Until now.

I just finished one with a plot so wretchedly bad that I have no clue how I am going to write the review. It was a historical romance with a heroine who was a courtesan but had just left the city to start a new life. She is kidnapped by her former "benefactor" as he is obsessed with her. He spirits her away to his remote hunting lodge and begins to engage in forcible sex with her. Imagine my surprise when it dawned on me that this was the "hero" of the novel. Silly me - I was waiting for someone to come save the woman. Now imagine my utter disbelief when, in the span of three week, the "hero" begins to soften, the heroine begins to fall in love with him, and yes, at the end they wind up together. Spare me! The "hero" was nothing more than a felonious, overbearing, self-centered, kidnapping, rapist. And I, as the reader, am supposed to eventually feel empathy for this character and cheer on a happy ending? I don't think so!

Let me say, that I have nothing against historical romances - or the romance genre in general. Many of them are very well written and great reads. But it is trite, no-really-means-yes, regurgitated plots like this one that give romance novels a bad name. Now I'm off to figure out a way to review this book without completely decimating it.

Grown-up's Need Naps, Too

2007-02-27T13:32:00.000-05:00

I am deep in the post-lunch slump. Tired, sleepy, sluggish, even fighting to keep my eyes open. It's official... I need a nap. It's not even like I had anything heavy for lunch. Greek chicken salad, left over from last night's dinner. I might need to indulge in a bit of sugar to get me going. My sugar rush of choice? Not cookies, not chocolate, not candy... Coke! Fully leaded, heavy duty Coke. Yep, definitely need a Coke. Otherwise my head will be hitting the keyboard at any moment and all you would see would zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Oops! LOL :)

Three Degrees of Separation

2007-02-16T10:47:00.000-05:00

Okay, everyone has heard of the whole Six Degrees of Separation thing, right? Well, I just learned that I'm a measly three degrees from Heidi Swapp. LOL Allow me to explain: I have a friend/co-worker named Kathy. She has a son named Chris (who I have met many times) who works for Advantus. They're the people behind Cropper Hopper, Tim Holtz and Heidi Swapp products. I've known for a while that they are headquartered here locally and that Chris works for them (heading up their consumer show division) but I just never put two and two together. A few days ago Kathy came over and told me to pull up Heidi's blog. There are several pics from the CHA show including one (about midway thru her post) of several people posing in Heidi's booth. The guy standing on the far left is Chris... kneeling in front is Heidi! He's even mentioned by name in her post. Kewl! Chris told Kathy he'd get me an autographed 'something' next time he sees her. I can just feel the Heidi Coolness surrounding me now. With a connection like this... we're practically sisters! LOL

The Weight of the World

2007-02-07T10:49:00.000-05:00

I'm a "fixer". And a peacekeeper. Always have been. I don't know if it comes from being the middle child (I've read these are common traits to middle children) or if it's just how I am. I definitely have a tendency to take people's problems on as my own. I worry over it and try to fix whatever is wrong just as if it was my own issue. In many ways this goes against my nature, because I am so not a worrier and tend to have quite the sunny outlook, but there it is just the same. All morning I've felt like something was slightly off, just quietly niggling at me in the back of my mind. And I finally figured out what it is. One of my sisters is skipping tonight's monthly dinner (me, my mom and two sisters meet for dinner once night a month) for a reason that is hard to understand. I won't go into details... because revealing things about myself is one thing but I don't have the right to reveal details about someone else's life. But it's a long standing issue and one that is not likely to change. And it makes me sad. Simple as that. It's something that weighs me down from time to time and I wish I could simply shake it off with the knowledge that it is simply not something I can control or change. But... it's my sister. There's no shaking that off. When something is bothering someone I love... I want to fix it. Can't help it... that's me. But this one - I'm going to have to find a way to set it down and stop carrying it with me.

LON*DON

2007-02-01T14:56:00.000-05:00

It's official! Come late April Robert and I will be jetting overseas for a week in London. I am simply beside myself with excitement! I am such a total Anglophile and have wanted to visit England (London, specifically) for 20+ years... since I was a teenager. Whoo hoo! We started talking about it seriously around the first of the year when we started knocking around this year's vacation plans. When we started looking into airfare and itineraries we realized that it wasn't quite as expensive as we had anticipated. So, after comparison shopping through the Internet, travel agents, etc., we ended up booking through AARP (no old age jokes, if you please - LOL). We'll be gone for a full week and will actually celebrate our 8 year wedding anniversary while there. How cool is that? :-) As an added bonus, I've done some checking and Phantom of the Opera will be playing while we're there and I think we're going to go ahead and buy tickets. I mean, does it get any better? (In case you can't tell, I'm quite a Phantom fan.) We'll be staying in Notting Hill and I've already started a list of things I want to do and place I want to go: Harrod's naturally, Waterstone's, Marks & Spencer, Boots. And, yes, I've already done a search for scrap stores in London and you can be sure I'll be checking those out. LOL There's so much to do in the next 3 months (passport is already in the works) but I can't wait. This is truly a dream of mine come true.

Makeover, anyone?

2007-01-31T14:05:00.000-05:00

Don't ya just love makeovers? I decided it was time for a blog makeover. I've used the same template since I started (over a year ago - wow!) so it was past time, actually. Of course, I didn't realize until after I changed the template that I would lose all of the customizing I had done (like the links section on the sidebar). I've managed to add a couple links back in but since I can't even remember what else I had in the sidebar... that'll be all for now I guess. LOL

Once Upon a Time

2007-01-28T09:30:00.000-05:00

Some of you might know that I took over the monthly Book of Me class back in November when the previous instructor (my friend Kimberly) moved to Colorado (miss her!!!). I enjoy it - putting together layouts with free goodies (lol), getting together with the regular group every month, sometimes sharing a new technique - but coming up with a new theme and layout that wows me every month can be challenging! I have such perfectionist tendencies and can set such high expectations for myself... I really need to learn to loosen up and just enjoy more. LOL Anyway, here's the layout from January's BOM class. I went with a childhood theme and titled it Once Upon a Time. The photo is me at about age 3 and there are tabs that list my favorite things, toys, clothes and books from childhood (not just at that particular age). It was great to see the other ladies in class make a few changes here and there on their own layouts to really make it their own. I love that. I'm so not about copying something down to the smallest detail. Use it for inspiration and then make it your own! Some of the ladies used pop dots to pop up the word TIME, some changed the favorites to tv shows, friends, etc. The January layout seemed to be a big hit (huge relief)... and now it's on to planning next month's layout. The pressure's on! LOL

Lucky Girl

2007-01-28T09:11:00.000-05:00

I'm so lucky to have a husband who not has the ability to make/fix/repair things (he is so beyond "handy") but is also more than willing to take on new projects. From big things - like installing new French doors - to small things - like making me this awesome base to hold my Quickutz Squeeze. He even painted it pink for me. :) I'm so thankful for Robert and all that he does for me, for us, and for our home.

Tag, I'm It!

2007-01-26T10:16:00.000-05:00

A-Available or Taken: quite taken

B-Best Friend: Robert, my sisters

C-Cake or Pie: ummm, cake I guess (not much of a sweets eater)

D-Drink of Choice: sweet tea (house wine of the south)

E-Essential Item You Use Everyday: Clinique raspberry glace lipstick

F-Favorite Color: purple

G-Gummy Bears or Worms: gummy bears

H-Hometown: Jacksonville, FL

I-Indulgence: getting my hair highlighted every six weeks or so

J-January or February: um, both... love that cold weather

K-Kids and Names: no kids (by choice)

L-Life is Incomplete Without: Robert, my parents, my sisters

M-Marriage Date: May 1, 1999

N-Number of Siblings: 2 sisters

O-Oranges or Apples: apples, I guess

P-Phobias or Fears: heights

Q-Favorite Quote: Women are meant to be loved, not to be understood. - Oscar Wilde

R-Reason to Smile: being married to my angel of a husband

S-Season: winter

T-Tag 3 or 4 people: Dawn, Cami, and Shirley

U-Unknown fact about me: If I tell it's no longer unknown!

V-Vegetable you don't like: green peppers (ack!)

W-Worst Habit: not staying in touch with family/friends better

X-Xrays: teeth (can't think of any others)

Y-Your fave food: potatoes (in any incarnation)

Z-Zodiac: virgo

Picture Time!

2007-01-04T20:21:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I've posted any pics so I thought I would share some tonight. Most people already know that I'm a step grandmother. And for those that didn't... surprise! LOL Yep, at the ripe old age of 38. Actually, I've been a grandmother for years... Robert's oldest grandchild is 13. Robert has 4 kids and, as of just a couple weeks ago, 5 grandchildren. And one more on the way! My stepdaughter (the one who lived with us for several months and now lives in the Atlanta area) gave birth on the 16th of December. He is named for Ashley's husband, Migel, but they say they will call him Mikey. Here he is:

We also have a nine month old granddaughter named Jazmyn who is too cute for words (not that I'm biased - lol). Here's a photo of her that was taken at 5 months:

Lastly, here's a pic from this past Thanksgiving. The whole family was milling about in the kitchen at my parent's house and I managed to get an impromptu group shot:

Catching Up: Dec 16 - Dec 31

2007-01-03T11:33:00.000-05:00

Almost caught up... but still have to get thru the end of the year and all that entails.

Time Off - It worked out that week before Christmas was rather quite at the office so I decided to take a couple days off. Friday the 22nd and Tuesday the 26th. Made it a nice looong holiday weekend! Loved it! Robert was off that Friday as well so we had a good day just being together, taking care of last minute errands and gift wrapping. And the Tuesday after Christmas was good... just a day to myself. I love those.

Road Trip - Robert found some truck accessory on eBay that he had to have (some kind of topper) and it was cheaper to go get it than pay for shipping, so on the 16th (a Saturday) we drove down to Boca Raton (just above Miami). We had hotel reservations down around Ft. Pierce but by the time we picked up the topper in Boca and got back up to Ft. Pierce it was only 3:00pm and it seemed crazy to spend the night when we could be home in another 4 hours or so. So we drove straight on back, thru road construction and hellacious rain, and got home just before 8pm. Looong day... and I'm not the best little traveler. But Robert is thrilled with his new topper-thingy, so it was worth it. :-)

Christmas - Christmas Eve at my parent's house was a lot of fun... as usual. We all meet over there around 6pm or so, hang out, have dinner (it's always something casual and easy) and open gifts. Very low-key. It's fun to see my two nephews get so excited over their gifts. :-) Sometimes I try to remember what it was like before they were here... boy, it must have been boring! lol I received several wonderful gifts from my parents and sisters... a gorgeous Liz Claiborne bag (I have a real weakness for LC purses), a to-die-for red cardigan with a fur collar, two gift certificates to a scrapbook store, a cashmere scarf in a beautiful shade of pale purple, an altered box and a glass storage jar with a lid that is personalized with "Tanya-san." (Terri and I have been calling each other Tanya-san and Terri-san for years... don't ask.) That had to be one of my favorites. It was just so personal and obvious thought went into it. And I think of Terri and smile every time I see it. :-)

Christmas morning at home was quiet with just me and Robert. We had a nice time exchanging our gifts... and Robert definitely surprised me with one of mine! For the past 5-6 years we've put a limit of $100 on what we spend on one another. Simply because there is absoltely nothing we need (and we're hard pressed sometimes to come up with things we want!) and also because the buying was getting out of hand. Hence the limit. So imagine my surprise when I opened a package to find an ipod video! I'd been kicking around the idea of getting an ipod for the last couple months and figured that after the new year and I might get one. But probably the nano - which I could get on base at the Exchange for $149. ;-) Before I could protest the expensive gift, Robert explained how he had won it in a United Way raffle at work. Very cool! I'm so loving it and have been having a blast loading it up with all my favorite music. In addition to the ipod, Robert got me my favorite Clinique lipstick (raspberry glacee, for those of you who are dying to know), a Liz Claiborne purse (did I mention that I love those?), two clear stamp sets, and a gift certificate from my Stampin' Up! rep (who also happens to be my friend and the previous BOM class instructor). Can't wait to put that to use! Anyway, we went back over to my parent's for lunch, and then out to my sister's house at the beach to see what Santa brought my nephews, and then it was back home. Another wonderful Christmas with family.

BOM Class - The Thursday after Christmas (the 28th) was the monthly Book of Me class which went really well. I was so loving my layout and I was excited to share it. It seemed to go over well and everyone had a good time. I'll have to post a pic of it later. Now to come up with an idea for January's class... the pressure's on. lol

New Year's Eve - Well, this should be short. Because I am so not one of those people who feels the need to be somewhere at the stroke of midnight. Other than home, that is. Robert and I went out for a late dinner then it was back home. He read and watched tv while I worked on a layout for a Scrap101 challenge. I was uploading the layout at 11:58pm just as all the fireworks in my neighborhood started going off like crazy. Pretty cool. By 12:30 I was in bed... and I only made it that long because I'd had a nap that afternoon. lol

So, that brings us pretty much up to date. And now that the holidays are over I hope to get back into the habit of regular blog postings. I've been missing that.

Catching Up: Dec 1 - Dec 15

2007-01-02T16:19:00.000-05:00

December came and the pre-holiday craziness was in full effect. So much to do! List of gift ideas and errands to run, decorating the house, holiday functions, gift wrapping, wondering who you've forgotten and living in fear that someone will give you a gift and you have nothing for them. ;-) The recap continues...

Scrap Nite with Terri - My younger sister and I love to scrap together. For a while we were getting together fairly regularly at my house but that started falling by the wayside. It was in December that we decided to make it a monthly thing and it goes on the calendar... not to be missed. And we'll alternate her house/my house. On Friday the 8th I drove out to her house and we had a great time. We munched on some Wendy's take-out before we got started (scrapper's need sustenance, of course!) and then hit the scrap room. She worked on a couple pages and I worked on a 2007 calendar/planner. One thing I remember is that it was so incredibly cold that night! When I left her house around 11pm to head home the temp was hovering right around the freezing mark. And for all of you who are wondering what the big deal is: for Florida in early December... that's COLD! :-)

Robert's Birthday - We tend to not make a major deal over birthdays... but of course they still get recognized. Robert's birthday is December 13th and I took him out to dinner and gave him a bottle of Polo (that's all he wears and he was all out - I love that stuff!). He turned 52 which is hard to believe sometimes... he's such a big kid. LOL

Lab Work - I had to go for glucose intolerance testing on the 14th. Ugh! I'm not one of those who is squeamish over blood work or needles, but I must say that I didn't do too well with this one. I had to fast before the test so by the end of the 4 hours or so at the lab it was going on noon and I'd had nothing to eat or drink since roughly 6:30 the previous nite. I was doing okay until the last blood draw. By then I was so queasy and light-headed. Plus I was getting that fuzzy, everything's far away, going to pass out feeling. Yuck! The lab techs kept asking if I needed to call someone to come get me but I said no. In hindsight it was a foolish thing to do, but I drove myself to the office, stopping for something to eat on the way. I stayed until about 3pm and finally went home. That really took more out of me than I thought it would.

Holiday Luncheon - My company holiday luncheon was on Friday the 15th and that turned out so well. It was catered by Sterlings (a local upscale restaurant) with traditional holiday fare: turkey, ham, cornbread dressing, etc. Dee-lish. Service awards are prsented every year at the holiday party - the company recognizes employees for 5, 10, 15 and 20 years of service. This being my 15th year with the company... I was recognized, too (along with several others). Instead of being given a token gift, everyone receives a small catalog of items to choose from (with different options for 5 years, 10 years, etc). I haven't decided on what to get yet... but I'm eyeing a pretty silver ring. :-)

Those were the highlights (although I don't know if almost passing out after lab work can be considered a highlight - ha!) from the first half of December. More catching up from the end of the year to come...

Catching Up: Nov 15 - Nov 30

2006-12-29T11:41:00.000-05:00

Okay, since there was a six week gap with no posts at all I thought I would do a little mini recap of the last several weeks. I'll do this in sections to keep from having War and Peace-length posts (as well as to keep anyone from dozing off - lol).

Thanksgiving - another wonderful family holiday. Everyone gathered at my parent's house which is the norm. It was a nice, relaxing, low-key day... just the way I like it. We had a big lunch around 1p.m. and then hung around for the rest of the afternoon. The girls talking or goining thru the sales papers, some of the guys watching tv (football, of course). Later on a group of us camped out in the family room and played Scattergories, which has become something of a tradition. As has defending some of our answers to the death. LOL

Day after Thanksgiving - for the past 3 or 4 years me, my mom and my two sisters have met up early the morning after Thanksgiving and hit The Avenues mall. We usually meet at 7a.m. , some of us armed with lists, start at one end of the mall and work our way to the opposite end, then go up to the second level and work our way back. We don't hit every store (not even close) so we're usually ready to call it quits by noon. It's amazing how much you can get done in that amount of time! Sometimes we'll see something we love for ourselves and Mom will end up buying our Christmas gift right there. Ha! Afterwards we have lunch together and then go our separate ways. I love this tradition that we've started. It's not even about the shopping so much as it is just spending some time together.

Book of Me Class - November was the first month of me taking over the BOM class. The class started more than a year ago with my friend Kimberly as the instructor. Some people have come and gone but the core group of us (me, Terri, Patti and Deb) have remained fairly constant. When Kimberly learned that she would be moving to Colorado (whaaaa!) she asked me to take over the class. Or, actually, she told me I was taking over the class. And announced it to everyone before I had agreed to do it. How's that for having a decision made for you? LOL At the same time we made the decision to move the class from the scrapbok store where it had always been held to a different scrapbook store. The store is smaller, with less stock and less room to crop, but the ease of working with the owner, Lina, infinitely makes up for it. I was not relishing the fact of having to deal with the oners at the other store... they could be less than accomodating. So it was a great move but I was still nervous about my first class. I didn't need to be because it ended up being just me, Terri (my sister) and Lina (the store owner). Ha! How's that for a kick in the old ego? LOL Deb did show up about midway thru the class but only to say hello. In hindsight it probably worked out for the best. I got thru my first class with a nice, small audience. ;-)

Big Sigh of Relief

2006-12-29T11:19:00.000-05:00

The reason for my big sigh of relief? The holidays are almost over! Now, before you go thinking I'm some major Scrooge... I'm not. Really. But I am really, truly looking forward to things returning to normal. Enough of the Thanksgiving-thru-New Years holiday madness. I can't wait to have more free time to get caught up on things that I have had to let slide (like, sadly, regular blog entries) and to get back to enjoying little things that make me happy. The past month has been a whirlwind of working and shopping and planning and decorating and gift wrapping and card sending. It's tiring and overwhelming... and I'm ready for my normal routines back, thank you very much. So here's to ringing out the old and ringing in the new... and getting back to what I love.

More To Do

2006-11-15T14:44:00.000-05:00

The To Do list just keeps on growing but I love it. I'm such a major list maker anyway... it so appeals to the obsessive tendencies I have. Plus, what a feeling of satisfaction to keep crossing items off! Here's where I stand today:

send November RAK (mailed on 11/14)
buy birthday gift for Shane (done - mailed on 11/13)
send card/gift to Stephen in NC (done - mailed on 11/14)
place order from Green Grass
submit layout for CP Mix & Match contest
send Bingo prize to J. (done - mailed on 11/13)
send WWC prize to S. (done - mailed on 11/13)
email T. re: crop on Saturday (decline) - done
send D. check for book (done - mailed on 11/14)
call Kari to make appt. for Thursday evening - done
email Linda @ CP again re: problem with order
complete layout for BOM class
catch up on layout challenges for CP contest
email participants re: next BOM class

I feel like I'm getting a lot accomplished... now if I could just finish that @#*! BOM layout so I can send that email to all the class participants! =p

An Evening with Nora

2006-11-15T14:24:00.000-05:00

Last Thursday I spent an evening with Nora Roberts. Me and about 400 other people, that is. She was making an appearance at UNF (University of North Florida) for a question and answer session and a book signing. She's mostly known as a romance/women's fiction writer, but she's currently promoting her newest book - part of her "In Death" series which has a futuristic/sci-fi setting. I don't read the series (not a fan of sci-fi) but I have read several of her other books and thought it would be fun to see her in person. Me and my mom went together and really enjoyed it. The Q&A sessions was moderated by a popular local news anchor, Donna Hicken, and all of the questions came from the audience (they had been submitted earlier and Donna read them). Nora is very personable and interesting... and has a wicked sense of humor! =) Afterwards, mom and I debated about whether to stay for the book signing. Our line numbers were 212 and 213... ack! We decided to stick around and thankfully the line moved quickly. We got to meet her briefly and each got a book signed. Wish I'd had my camera with me... but I hadn't had time to run home and get it after work. It was after 9:30pm by the time we left... and after 10:00 by the time I got home. I was so exhausted - it had been a less than fun day at the office and I had even considered not going - but I'm glad I went. Nora Robert is an author I enjoy and it was a treat to see her in person.

The Growing List

2006-11-08T14:42:00.000-05:00

Several of us at Scrap101 have decided to make and post our weekly goals as a way to motivate ourselves to accomplish more and have a bit of accountability. I posted my last night (actually in the wee hours of this morning) even though it's already the middle of the week. ;-) Once I got started listing my goals that kind of morphed into a To Do list that I started scribbling on a sheet of scratch paper. And here I am 15 items later...

mail out November RAK's
email D. re: appointment
reply to M's email
check with Tammy re: gift idea for Jackson
buy birthday gift for Shane
follow up with Dawn re: weekend crop
mail card/gift to Stephen
create/submit layout for CP Mix & Match contest
place order from Green Grass
pay for recent eBay win
file complaint at PayPal
email Terri re: crop with Joey
finalize layout for next BOM class
email BOM class with date/time
meet TS for dinner on Wendnesday

Only 4 items have been taken care of (those in blue) but it's a start. I don't anticipate getting much accomplished tonight since I have dinner plans but better luck tomorrow!

My Life

2006-10-27T21:28:00.000-05:00

The August layout from my Book of Me class. It's a kind of "Day In My Life" theme. So the photos show my average day... from my vanity where I get ready each morning, the inside of my Explorer where I spend time driving to work, running errands, etc., my desk at the office where I can be found a good 8 hours a day, restaurant menus (meaning that Robert and I eat out a lot - lol), my home computer where I keep up with my scrappy friends and family, and my comfy bed (complete with Max the teddy bear) where I start and end each day. There's also a page of journaling in the library pocket... but I won't bore everyone with the details of a day in my life. LOL

You Can Overcome

2006-10-27T21:19:00.000-05:00

This was September's Book of Me layout. Love how it turned out. I've basically had it finished since last month's class, but didn't finish the (hidden) journaling until tonight. So now I can officially call it done.

Reflection

2006-10-27T21:13:00.000-05:00

This was from a previous Book of Me class... July, I think. The top "layer" lifts up (where the tab is) and there is another self-photo there. Then the second layer lifts (where the round eye is) to reveal a third photo and some journaling. Basically just words that I feel describe... a reflection of me. The layout doesn't have a lot going on (that can be seen, anyway), but I still love all the elements - the half-circles, the stamping, the ribbon. Love it.

Coming Out of a Funk

2006-10-09T10:17:00.000-05:00

Well, not a funk, exactly. I mean, I haven't been sad or depressed. More like... apathetic. Over the past couple weeks I've been feeling rather overwhelmed. Like everything is going a mile a minute around me. Life was going on at lightning speed and was passing me by. Too much. Too much to keep up with. And I couldn't even work up the interest to take care of any of it. Just small stuff, really, but it's like I just couldn't be bothered with any of if. Didn't care about it. And that's not like me. Finally, several days ago, I decided to force myself to start taking care of a few things. My thinking was that even if it was forced at first, maybe that would get me back into the swing of things. So I made myself do things. Respond to some emails that I'd been ignoring. Clean up my scrap room. Make that doctors appointment. Little things... but things that I couldn't seem to be bothered with before. I don't know if my theory worked or if whatever it was had run its course, but I seem to be coming out of it and feeling more like myself. Thank goodness. I hated that "can't be bothered" outlook. It was foreign to me and I hated it. I'm getting a grasp on everything now... things are looking up.

2006-10-08T05:32:00.000-05:00

The Communards - Don't Leave Me This Way

I'm feeling a little 80's nostalgia this morning... so here's a dose of one of my favorites. =)

35 Things I Dislike

2006-10-05T06:21:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday

2006-10-04T13:24:00.000-05:00

Today is my dad's birthday as well as one of my sisters. I've always thought it was so cool that they shared a birthday. It sounds so bizarre to say that my dad is now 67 years old. Sixty-seven sounds so old! I mean, geez, it's almost 70. But I so do not think of my dad as old. He still works every day (and we're talking physical work... not sitting behind a desk) and is for the most part very healthy. And handsome, too, if I do say so myself. Tall and slim with silver/white hair. I need to post a pic of him soon.

It's my older sister who is also celebrating a birthday today. She turned 44. The six years between us that seemed like the Great Divide when we were kids hasn't mattered in a long time. She's such a good person and has so many amazing qualities.

So, my thoughts today are with my dad and my sister. One I'll see tonight, one I'll see this weekend. But to both today I say: Happy Birthday Daddy and Tammy!

Finally

2006-10-02T15:02:00.000-05:00

After almost two months since I posted about doing some design work for a local scrap store... it's finally happening. I had come *this close* to writing it off, actually. I followed up a couple times with the store owner but it seemed that nothing was coming of it. I would be told, "Oh, I have a new shipment coming in. I'll call you to come pick some stuff up when it gets here." But the calls never came. And I didn't think it was my place to constantly follow up and "hound" her. She either wanted some help or not. My friend, the one who kind of set this up, told me Friday night that I needed to go in and see the owner again. Apparently she'd been having a rough time. Delayed shipments, slow business, and family problems on top of it all. So, back I went to see her on Saturday. She was quite emotional and told me that things weren't not going so well (business really is slow) and that she had not called me earlier because she could not afford to pay me. Well, it was my understanding from before (and from talking to my friend) that I'm getting paid with products. I mean, whatever is left over is mine to keep. Hey, I'm cool with that! While I was there she also talked to me again about teaching some classes. Ack! Now, that would actually paymoney. But I'm so uncertain about teaching. It goes back to my worry of: is my stuff good enough? Are people going to show up and wonder "why am I paying to make this garbage?" :-/ I'm thinking about it... but for now I'm definitely designing the sample layouts for the store. Which I'm going to try and get done this week. I so hope her store doesn't go under just as I'm getting started. (How's that for selfish thinking?! Shame on me!)

It's Scary Out There

2006-10-02T14:48:00.000-05:00

A check at the CNN website a few minutes ago showed a breaking news report of an execution-style shooting at an Amish school in Pennsylvania. At least three female students (and the gunman) are dead. There is also mention of two Las Vegas schools that have been locked down while police search for a teenager with a gun who had been spotted on a high school campus. Last week it was a hostage situation, and ultimately a death, at a school in Colorado. It makes me so thankful that I'm not a kid in school today. What must that be like? I'm also glad to not have children that I would have to send off each day to who knows what. It's a different world than when I was in school 20 years ago. It's a different world from even 10 years ago. Not to say these things never happened back then... but it certainly wasn't three in the span of one week. All I can think is... it's scary out there.

For Terri

2006-10-01T19:15:00.000-05:00

My younger sister has had a reoccurence of an illness that is really hard on her. Nothing life-threatening... but definitely life altering. When this was at its worst - six years ago - she would listen to this song a lot to help get her through the bad times. So, even though (thankfully) this is not as bad as last time, and the "bad days" are fewer, she could still use a little lift now and then. So, Terri... this is for you.

Music Video:GOTTA GET THRU THIS (by Daniel Bedingfield)

Music Video Code provided by Video Code Zone

Tagged again...

2006-09-02T08:13:00.000-05:00

I was tagged by Bobbie this time… here we go again! :)

If you could build a house anywhere, where would it be? in a gated community
What's your favorite article of clothing? denim capris
Favorite physical feature of the opposite sex? eyes
What's the last CD that you bought? oh geez, it’s been ages… probably one by Michael Bublé
Where's your favorite place to be? wherever Robert is
Where's your least favorite place to be? doctors office
What's your favorite place to be massaged? shoulders/neck/scalp
Strong in mind or strong in body? strong in mind
What time do you wake in the morning? 6:00 a.m.
What's your favorite kitchen appliance? microwave
What makes you really angry? intolerance
If you could play any instrument, what would it be? um, never thought about it… piano, I guess
Favorite color? purples/greens
Which do you prefer, sports car or SUV? SUV
Do you believe in afterlife? not really
Favorite children's book? the Beatrix Potter Peter Rabbit stories – my Mom used to read them to me :)
What is your favorite season? winter
What's your least favorite household chore? washing dishes
If you could have one super power, what would it be? fly :)
If you have a tattoo, what is it? none for me
Can you juggle? nope
The one person from your past you wish you could go back and talk to? drawing a blank here…
What's your favorite day? Saturday
What's in the trunk of your car? an umbrella… yeah, I know, doing me a lot of good in the trunk, right? ;)
Which do you prefer, sushi or hamburger? hamburger

Now, if you're reading this, consider yourself Tagged, too. Copy and paste the questions into your blog :)

Tagged

2006-09-01T06:54:00.000-05:00

I WANT: to live a looong happy life with Robert.
I HAVE: a husband who adores me (and I adore him), a job that I enjoy, family close-by, Type A tendencies, an obsession with list-making 
I WISH: my local scrap stores were open 24 hours, some of my “online friends” lived closer, the dealership would fix the rattle in my Explorer’s a/c once and for all.
I HATE: being hot, paying so much for gas, intolerance in any form.
I MISS: watching television before there was such a thing as ‘reality tv.’
I HEAR: Sirius radio playing on the computer and the hum of the ceiling fan.
I WONDER: why some people are so judgmental and determined to spread their discontent.
I REGRET: very little.
I AM NOT: maternal, good with numbers, a drinker or smoker.
I DANCE: like a total doofus. What can I say… I have no rhythm and dance like it’s still the 80’s. 
I SING: only when alone at home or in the car. But I amuse myself endlessly with my off-key warbling.
I CRY: very easily. Sappy commercials, injustice, romantic gestures, cruelty… it all gets me going.
I AM NOT ALWAYS: in the mood to be sociable.
I MAKE WITH MY HANDS: scrapbook layouts that make me happy.
I WRITE: all the time. Whether it’s a letter, a blog entry, fiction, doodling… I love to write.
I CONFUSE: ‘affect’ and ‘effect’ all the time. I always have to stop and think about which one to use.
I NEED: to buy a new pillow, to write several book reviews, to buy a birthday gift for Jayson.
I SHOULD: call/see my parents more often.
I START: eating chips and dip and don’t want to stop. LOL
I FINISH: most projects with little time to spare.

I was “tagged” by someone else with this one so now… Dawn and Cami, if you’re reading this… consider yourselves tagged! *insert evil laughter here* lol

Pet Peeve

2006-08-25T07:28:00.000-05:00

Okay, here's a pet peeve of mine: when scrap magazines/websites/etc. refer to "product." As in, "We have lots of new product to share with you." Ugh, I hate that! It seems so affected and pretentious. No, you don't have "product" to share, you have productS. Plural. What can I say... I know it's a small thing... but it gets right under my skin. Every time I read it.

Okay, who told?

2006-08-24T10:18:00.000-05:00

You know those blog things? The little quizzes you take and then you copy the results into your blog? Well, I don't mind taking the quizzes but, in case you haven't noticed, I never upload the stuff into my blog. It seems messy and cluttery to me and I'm so borderline OCD that it drives me crazy. So, long story short, I took a little quiz this morning and while I won't upload the graphics and stuff here, I will share the results because they were so dead-on. The topic was "How Do You Live Your Life." Here's what it said about me:

You seem to be straightforward, but you keep a lot inside.
You are always tactful and diplomatic. You let people down gently.
You tend to have one best friend, as opposed to many aquaintances.
Some of your past dreams may have disappointed you, but you don't let it get you down.

The first two, especially, are so me. As for the best friend thing... I don't know. I mean, my best friend is actually Robert. He's the one I talk to about everything and prefer to hang around with. =) Otheriwse, I have a couple friends, but I don't have one "best friend" girlfriend that I am super close to and tell everything to. Anyway, the results of this particular quiz were actually pretty accurate and not something goofy (like, what is your porn star name *lol*) so I thought I would share.

Sailing, takes me away....

2006-08-23T06:20:00.000-05:00

Saturday afternoon was spent on the St. Johns River. Charlie (my boss) was moving his boat to a new marina and Robert was going along to help. Pauline (Charlie's wife) decided to go... so I tagged along as well to keep her company. There was next to no wind that afternoon so we never even put up the main sail - just motored. It took a little over an hour to get from Whitney's Marina to the Rudder Club (Liberty Call's new home) and it was a leisurely sail. Afterwards, despite our appearance (lol), we all went to dinner together and had a great evening. Had some dee-lish mahi... yum yum! While I don't necessarily miss crewing on the boat on the Wednesday night jaunts and the races (the heat absolutely does me in), it was a great afternoon out on the water. (Photo from left: me, Robert, Pauline)

ROTFL

2006-08-22T15:31:00.000-05:00

I read this today and cannot stop giggling:

"A woman always has the last word in an argument...anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new one."

Yeah, Baby!

2006-08-06T06:55:00.000-05:00

I received such a great compliment yesterday, not to mention a major stroke to the old ego. My friend Kimberly, an amazingly talented scrabooker/stamper, spoke to me about the possibility of joining her on a design team for a local scrap store. I tried to remain relatively calm on the outside - no turning cartwheels or doing the Snoopy happy dance - but on the inside I was definitely going spastic. =) I mean, how cool would that be? Not only is it a little piece of validation (what can I say, I am highly critical of everything I do and it always shocks the heck out of me when someone likes it) but being given free goodies to create with... one moment while I try to think of something better...

Nope, couldn't think of anything. =) But, back to reality for a moment, there's a chance this won't happen at all. The store owner hasn't decided for sure whether to go that route. But, even if that falls through, there is a second store that Kimberly teaches at that might also be putting together a DT... so there are actually two possibilities floating around. I'll be fine even if neither of them happen, but to know that someone thinks I'm at that level is pretty awesome. Kimberly gave me some great feedback and told me she totally thought I was ready for something like this. It definitely made my day. And I'm one happy little scrap girl.

Shoppy

2006-08-04T09:56:00.000-05:00

Anyone who knows me knows that I do not particularly enjoy shopping. Well, except for scrappy stuff... but that's different. =) Otherwise, I'm just not a 'hey, let's go to the mall' kind of girl. Even with clothes. I tend to do a lot of catalog shopping. Or, if there is something specific I need, I go out, find it, buy it, and that's that. Lately, though, I've been in the mood for a few new pieces... nothing specific. Didn't even care if it was for work or casual. Just wanted something new to wear. So when my sister mentioned to me that Stein Mart was having a great sale... I saw that as a sign. =) For those not familiar with Stein Mart, it's an "upscale off-price specialty store chain." Does that clear things up for ya? ;-) I went yesterday during my lunch hour (yeah, so I stretched it a bit - lol) and was very shoppy indeed. There were several rack of summery type stuff that were 30-50% off. I tried on a lot and ended up with three pieces: (1) a pair of dressy-ish black capris with white swirly embroidery, (2) a pair of very casual black capris in a flowy/gauzy material, and (3) a lovely stretchy pullover top with a swirly white/orange/black pattern (will look great with the dressy capris). I also found a too-cute pair of flip-flops with multi-colored sequins on the tops at 50% off. Cha-ching! Gotta love those sales!

Felt Like Sharing...

2006-08-02T05:58:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted a layout in a bit so I felt like sharing this morning. This one isn't particularly new... from April, I think... but I figured, why not. I actutally did this one for a Scrap101 challenge - using an arrow on a layout. The pics are of me, my step-daughter Ashley, and my sister Terri (from left to right) in my scrap room... my favorite place to hang out. =)

Feelin' Some CHA Love

2006-07-28T06:18:00.000-05:00

I'm seeing sneak peeks of all the new goodies from CHA and I'm definitely feelin' some CHA love. I've had to start keeping a list so I don't lose track of it all. It'd be a shame to forget something when it starts showing up in my local scrap stores...

Basic Grey - loving the gyspy collection... and all the new rub on's... oooh la la!
sei - um... pretty much everything
Chatterbox - guest room, gazebo and sunroom collections
Daisy D's - love, love, love the gypsy harvest line!
American Crafts - papers and alphas and rub on's and ribbon...
Urban Lily - doodle daisy collection, pinkaliscious collection, chipboard coasters, rub-on's
Chloe's Closet - rise and shine collection
Gin-X - no clue whatsoever line, party on line, scientifically weird line
Center City Designs - Little Italy collection, Midtown collection
Technique Tuesday - big timber line lower tall, calamity jane lower large,
3 Bugs in a Rug - rhapsody pp and monograms, tickled pink pp and monograms, cardstock alpha stickers, rub on's
Cosmo Cricket - uh, everything here, too
A2Z Essentials - artbox collections, party collection, vintage collection, giggle collection
7 Gypsies - naked journals, accordian purse kit, portfolios, outback collection
Wordsworth clear stamps - too many to mention
Crate Paper - gotta have it all
lil davis - the new chipboard alphas are deee-lish

Ouch

2006-07-25T14:02:00.000-05:00

My feelings got hurt. It wasn't on purpose, but it happened just the same. And it wasn't even so much what had been said as who was saying it. People I love and who I know love me. That's what made it hurt.

I'm not one of those hypersensitive people who gets bent out of shape over the smallest thing. Quite the opposite. I almost feel like because I am usually happy and upbeat and rarely complain about anything that it may seem as though nothing bothers me. But that's not true. Everyone has some things they might be sensitive about. Including me.

I won't dwell on it... it's not worth it. But, still... ouch. =(

Ix-Nay on the Op-Cray

2006-07-23T21:49:00.000-05:00

Saturday was supposed to be my all-day crop day. Didn't happen. I was literally walking out the door when the phone rang. Actually I had already got in the car and was about to back out of the driveway when I remembered one last thing that I wanted to take. Ran back in the house and that's when my friend Kimberly called to tell me that she had to cancel it. Lame. I'd been planning on it for over a month. And, believe it or not, after 4 or 5 years of scrapping, it was going to be my first crop. To tell you the truth, I'd much rather just stay at home and scrap here. I've got all my stuff around me, I'm comfortable, I can just do my own thing in my own time. I just don't do crops. But I made an exception for this one since it was being hosted by my friend Kimberly. My sister was going, too, and I figured it would be a fun day. But, it was a no go. I was bummed at first but it turned out okay. Robert said he would buy me a scrap goodie to make up for it... what a guy. =) I've been lusting after the new Elsie Flannigan book but calls to my 3 local scrap stores came up empty. None of them had it in yet. But, the little shop down in Palatka did. So we decided to hop down there (about a 30 minute drive). I found a few things I had to have (some papers, some Doodlebug flowers), Robert bought the book for me, and even a few things for himself. =) I am so loving the Elsie book... but I won't even let myself go through the whole thing yet. I'm being stingy. I'm savoring it. I get to enjoy it longer this way. Yeah, it's goofy, but it makes me happy. =)

I'm In Love

2006-07-14T12:52:00.000-05:00

Can I just say that I am head over heels with Elsie Flannigan? I am so not one who follows all the celeb scrappers and just love every little thing they do. Sure, I know who they are - most of them, I guess - but I'm not necessarily 'on the bandwagon.' Take Ali Edwards and Cathy Zielske, for instance. To tell you the truth, I don't really care for their style. Blasphemy! LOL But it's true. Yes, I appreciate what they do... but it just doesn't curl my hair, you know? But Elsie Flannigan... love her! Her style is so artistic, so freestyle, so vibrant, so fun and eclectic. Elsie is a DT member for KI Memories, a 2Peas Garden Girl and a contributor to CK magazine. She is just so flippin' talented... not to mention cute as a button. There's a link to her blog over to the right if you want to check out her and her work. All I know is, I think she's the bees knees. =)

Subway? Yes, Subway.

2006-07-14T11:39:00.000-05:00

Okay, where have I been? I just had a lip-smackin' sandwich from Subway. I probably haven't been there in a couple years or more. I'm not a big sub eater to start with, and if I do get one (as a last resort) it's probably going to be from Firehouse or Larry's. Subway has always seemed like the bottom of the barrel to me when it comes to subs. But today I need to stay in the office and stick close to the phone (bosses are calling in for info) so I just dashed to the nearest spot for some lunch and that meant Subway (within walking distance - but I was in too much of a hurry to walk it). Anyway, imagine my surprise when I saw all these options: a half a dozen different kinds of breads, toasted sanwiches, awesome new (to me) toppings and condiments. Yeah baby! I was contemplating the Chicken & Bacon Ranch but ended up with a toasted Subway Melt (turkey, ham and bacon) and added lettuce, mayo, spicy mustard, cucumbers and black olives. I am so groovin' on this sandwich. Thanks for the good chow, Jared.

One of Those Days

2006-07-11T08:59:00.000-05:00

Okay, I rarely use this as an outlet to vent... because, thankfully, I so rarely feel the need to vent... but yesterday was an exception. In a nutshell, it sucked. I really love my job and I enjoy what I do, but yesterday had me ready to pull my hair out in big chunks and run screaming from the building. I got nowhere yesterday. I kept encountering problems and hitting dead ends no matter what I was working on. Plus, it seemed that everyone had a problem... and they landed right on my desk for resolution. It was almost 9 hours of spinning my wheels and getting nowhere and feeling more overwhelmed by the hour. I won't go into detail and explain exactly what/who I'm talking about, but in the interest of just 'releasing' this lousy day, allow me to vent:

The new COR G.B. questioned something in the June cost report and asked that it be done differently. Which is, of course, the exact opposite of how it has always been done with H. and C. I wish they would set him straight.

The 0013-07 TMP is so hosed that there’s no telling how long it will take to revise it. I started requesting info from C.B. in APRIL. Then again in May. Now I’m finally getting a couple of the timelines that I need and… they’re wrong. I give up.

I was tasked with tracking down my least favorite person, J., and could not find him. HR does not have a home number for him, I left a message on the cell # someone gave me and but still no call back. Like I even cared if he was found.

E. from purchasing/contracts was apparently cleaning out the supply room and kept coming in here for judgement calls from me/CJ on various items (old coffee cups, old party invitations). Like I had time for this!

Okay, that's it. Vent offically over. Today is a new day and here's to hoping that it will be a vast improvement on Monday!

Altered Lunch Box

2006-07-09T03:39:00.000-05:00

Here's an altered metal lunch box that I did last month and am just now getting around to sharing. I love how it turned out. Not even sure what I'll end up using it for... but it sure is cute. LOL This was actually done at a class at my friend Kimberly's house. Kimberly teaches the monthly BOM classes that I've attended for the last 10 months or so and we have become friends. She is so amazingly talented and an absolute hoot. Full of personality and such a fun person. She's starting to have some classes out of her home and at the clubhouse in her community. I never miss a BOM class (we have a great group of regulars) and I sometimes sign up for other classes she has... just a good excuse to hang out and have some fun. I mean, it's not like you need a class to alter a lunch box. LOL But it's fun to get together and have some laughs while doing it. Robert actually signed up for that one with me and made his own lunch box. He such a riot... and a great scrap buddy. =)

A New Favorite

2006-07-04T07:00:00.000-05:00

My favorite layouts change almost as often as I complete new layouts. LOL I have a few that really rocked my world when I did them and, happily, still continue to do so, but for the most part my favorites are ever-changing. Here's my most recent favorite. This was for the design challenge at S101 (use KI Memories). The style is not my norm but one that I love. Kind of Elsie Flannigan-ish, who I just adore. The pic is of Robert, taken this past Christmas. Ashley got him an Atari game system... hence the "old school" title. =) Atari... geez, we're showing our age. LOL

Random Questions

2006-06-28T08:46:00.000-05:00

I saw this on a friends blog and I love these things so I decided to play, too.

1. First name? Tanya

2. Were you named after anyone? a character in the movie Doctor Zhivago

3. When did you last cry? Week before last when my boss's sister passed away

4. Do you like your handwriting? eh... it's okay... I wish it was better

5. What is your favorite lunchmeat? turkey

6. Do you have kids? nope (by choice)

7. If you were another person, would you be friends with you or not? sure, I like me =)

8. Do you have a journal? yes, but entries are few and far between

9. Do you use sarcasm a lot? yes, but in a funny (not mean-spirited) way

10. Do you still have your tonsils? yes

11. Would you bungee jump? not a chance

12. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? not usually

13. Do you think you are strong? yes, most of the time

14. What is your favorite ice cream flavor? eh... not a big ice cream fan... if I had to choose it would probably be mint chocolate chip or cookie dough

15. Shoe size? 7.5 or 8

16. Red or pink? I love both! =)

17. What is your least favorite thing about yourself? my apparent inability to cimmit to a healthy lifestyle for the long-term

18. When and where were you born? in Jacksonville, FL in 1968

19. What color pants and shoes are you wearing? black pinstripe pants, black shoes

20. What is the last thing you ate? eggs and toast

21. Favorite smell? cinnamon

22. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? the bank to cancel my check card that is apparently lost

Phil and Libby

2006-06-16T15:08:00.000-05:00

For those that know me (or have read certain blog entries), you know that I am quite close to my (3) bosses. They are wonderful men, I've been to their homes, we have great relationships. My boss, Phil, is an amazing man. He is a retired Navy Captain who accomplished some pretty incredible things during his Naval career. I respect him and think the world of him. For the past 2 years his sister Libby has been battling cancer. At age 54 she is the "baby" of the family. Libby went through surgery, chemotherapy, countless medications and treatments... and all the while maintained the most positive, upbeat attitude. She was an absolute rock. She was the one encouraging the rest of her family and admonishing them to stay positive. Over the past several months, the prognosis grew bleak and it has been a steady decline over the the last few weeks. Libby passed away at her home in Mississippi Wednesday morning. Phil received the call while we were at the office and, while is was not unexpected, it was still heartbreaking. He was in a daze as he sat at his desk and began to make the calls to family and friends. Today he is in Mississippi preparing for the funeral tomorrow. My heart is with him... not as an employee, but as a friend.

I was reading a friend's blog today and there was an entry about attitude and perception. It hit home with me and I immediately thought of Libby. This lady, despite what she was dealing with on a daily basis, possessed an attitude that was inspiring. Libby is very much in my thoughts today. I never had the opportunity to meet her, but, through Phil, I feel as though I knew her. And I hope to remember Libby's attitude as an example to myself.

Alberto

2006-06-13T15:01:00.000-05:00

So the 2006 hurricane season isn't exactly staring out with a bang. Which is a good thing. Alberto never even made it to hurricane strength which it had been expected to do - instead it stayed a tropical storm. We've had lots of rain and wind since Sunday night but that's it. Nothing major. There have actually been some benefits... we definitely need the rain. We're about 7 inches below average for the year. Plus, all the rain did a lot to aide the firefighters south of here who have been battling wildfires for the past six weeks or so. And... I love rainy weather. Despite the fact that all the moisture in the air means an instant bad hair day the second you walk out the door. Lame. Anyway, hopefully the rest of the season will be as mild. We definitely don't need a repeat of last year.

Do You Hear What I Hear?

2006-05-29T02:40:00.000-05:00

Songs that I am still loving despite the radio stations playing them every 12 seconds:

SOS - Rihanna
Unwritten - Natasha Bedingfield
Hips Don't Lie - Shakira
Bad Day - Daniel Powter

Songs that make me want to cut myself with dull objects if I have to hear them one more time:

Temperature - Sean Paul
Unfaithful - Rihanna
Breathe (2 AM) - Anna Nalick
Run It - Chris Brown

Disconnected

2006-05-29T01:48:00.000-05:00

Today (okay, technically yesterday since it's the wee hours of Monday morning) was such a strange day. I woke up at a usual time for a weekend (seven-ish) but I felt so sluggish that I went right back to sleep. Slept until 9:30 which is so unlike me. Once I got up Robert and I had some breakfast and I got caught up on Scrap101 emails, I decided to do some scrapping. Finished a layout for the current quotation challenge, had my bath, puttered around, watched part of a movie, puttered around some more, decided to read a bit... the day was just getting away from me. By the time I sat down to read it was after 5:00. Within minutes of opening the book I could hardly hold my eyes open. Robert and I both decided to take a nap and I was out in minutes. He eventually got up when the doorbell rang (which I never even heard) but I was out until 7:30 (!). I think I woke up once or twice but felt positively drugged... like it was physically impossible for me to get up. After that I just really felt out of sorts. The day was almost over, I'd done basically nothing, I felt so disconnected from the day - if that makes any sense. We idly discussed dinner but came to no decision, I messed around on the computer and started working on another layout and around 9:15 when I told Robert I was feeling blah he suggested we go out for a drive since I hadn't been out of the house all day. What a breath of fresh air... literally. A heavy thunderstorm had come through earlier and the air just smelled so clean. We put the windows down and just drove aimlessly - talking, listening to the radio. Just what I needed. We were gone about an hour and went to bed a while after that... but here I am up at 3:00. Nothing at all to do with my two hour nap, Im sure. ;-) We have no real plans for Memorial Day... but I need to make some before the day gets away from us again. Even if it's just going over to my parent's house to get in the pool. I don't want another day like today... I hate feeling so out of sync.

Phantom

2006-05-27T07:30:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday Robert and I went to see Phantom of the Opera again. What is it about Phantom that fascinates me so much? In the final scene my heart is breaking and I'm in tears every time. The Phantom is such a lonely, tortured soul. When he allows Christine to leave his lair with Raoul and resigns himself to his fate of utter aloneness and loneliness... oh, it's heartwrenching. Seeing it performed live is so involving. The actors who played Christine and Raoul were good, but it was the Phantom who truly impressed me. He received a rousing standing ovation. I hated to see it end.

Robert surprised me with tickets to the show for Christmas. I knew we would go see the production, but when the tickets went on sell back in December I told him it was a bad time to lay out so much money for theater tickets right at Christmastime. I figured we would buy our tickets later... unfortunately, once all the best seats were sold out. And then Christmas morning... surprise! I was thrilled! We were down in the Orchestra section... just seven rows from the stage. Fabulous. It was a perfect gift and made another wonderful memory.

Recent Layouts

2006-05-21T17:30:00.000-05:00

We're having a Scrap From Your Stash contest at Scrap101 right now. A fun little competition where you create as many layouts as you can from the supplies you have on hand, while not buying anything new, for a period of two weeks. I'm not exactly playing to win (I'm a slooow scrapper), but I definitely need the no-buy... and it's fun to play along with everyone else and get some layouts completed at the same time. These are the three layouts that I've done so far this weekend... all three for my BOM.

Just for Fun...

2006-05-11T09:52:00.000-05:00

Three Movies I Could Watch Over and Over:
Peter's Friends
Love Actually
Steel Magnolias

Three Places I Have Been on Vacation:
Las Vegas
Boston
Orlando

Three TV Shows I Like To Watch:
House
American Idol
Gilmore Girls
(it was hard coming up with 3 because I really only watch the first 2 regularly)

Three Websites I Visit Daily:
Scrap101
CNN
see blog links on side bar (plus others not listed)

Three Books I Could Read Again:
Jemima J (Jane Green)
the Outlander series (Diana Gabaldon)
the Tales of the City series (Armistead Maupin)

Three Favorite Foods:
potatoes (baked, mashed, French fried, au gratin... you get the idea)
pasta (spaghetti, lasagna, fettucine, tetrazzini, etc.)
broccoli-cheese rice
(note: all three items are ones that I have had to kiss goodbye since South Beach *sniff sniff*)

Three Places I Would Rather Be:
at home taking a nap
hanging out/creating in my scrapbook room
anywhere with Robert

NE FL Scrapbooking Shop Hop

2006-05-07T10:04:00.000-05:00

I've spent the last two days shopping at 10 different scrapbook stores and let me tell ya... it's exhausting! LOL The local indepenent scrap stores in northeast Florida got together and organized a Shop Hop. You purchased a "passport" for $5 and had from Wednesday thru Saturday to visit all 10 stores, getting your passport stamped at each stop. Shop Hoppers also got a 15% discount on their total purchase at every store. Cool, huh? Your passport got turned in at your last stop and they'll be drawing for the grand prize - a $50 gift certificate from every store. Whoo hoo! Second and third prizes are gift baskets. In addition to those, each individual store is having drawings for prizes and gift baskets so that's pretty cool. Several stores gave away goodies bags or had refreshments laid out for the Shop Hoppers. Some really went all out.

My sister and I took off work Friday so we could have two days for the Shop Hop... I just wouldn't have wanted to cram it all into one day. We were both exhausted as it was. Some stores were definitely better than others, but it was still fun to get out and see them all and check out what everyone had. The store in Gainesville was pretty great. I could see myself going back don there now and then. One of the stores in Palatka was pretty good the other had next to nothing. The store in Starke was pretty lame. I totally admit that I tend to be a "name brand scrapper" but her selection was so generic. I spent a whopping $5 in that store - a page kit for the Shop Hop that they had put together. Terri and I agreed that while we really liked a couple of the stores that we'd never been to before, none of them matched what we have right here closest to us. The three stores that I shop regularly - Pictures In Time, Scrap N Stuff, and Scrapbooks. Awesome stores - all of them.

So, now for the fun stuff... here's what I bought:

3 Bugs in a Rug papers from the Jovial line
Chip Chatter - Hip/fuschia
Junkitz papers from the Shabby Chic line
Junkitz papers from the Flower-ful line
Wild Asparagus paper
StazOn ink in cotton white
StazOn cleaner
Heidi Swapp credit card slides
Autumn Leaves/Rhonna Farrer papers
Autumn Leaves/Rhonna Farrer rub-on's - Enchanted
KI Memories papers - My Girl collection
a few sheets of Bazzill
a Shop Hop board book kit (my single most expensive purchase - $30)
8x8 Chester (MAMBI) page kit (I am *addicted* to the Chester line)
Scrappy Glue by Magic Scraps (have heard great things about this stuff)
Scrapbook Trends magazine
MAMBI Chester papers
Crate papers from the Kate Collection
Crate papers from the Taylor collection
small acrylic block (for my clear stamps)
Bazzill Really Big Chips
Bazzill Chip Toppers
Lil Davis Vintage Wood Alphabet
WUBE papers (very cool - had never seen these before)

I think that's it... as I type this I am surrounded by bags and papers and other goodies in my scrap room. It's great. LOL Now I'm off to get everything organized and put away. Can't wait to play with everything!

Wish List

2006-05-03T15:15:00.000-05:00

With the NE Florida Scrapbooking Shop Hop coming up I'm thinking ahead about certain things I want and will be looking for as me and my sister hop from one scrapbook store to another (10 stores in all) on Friday and Saturday. In no particular order:

- Rhonna Farrer Flourishes clear stamps
- Rhonna Farrer Swirl clear stamps
- Rhonna Farrer Word Art clear stamps
- Rhonna Farrer Splendor Word Art clear stickers
- 3 Bugs in a Rug Spicy Collection
- 3 Bugs in a Rug Sugar Collection
- 3 Bugs in a Rug Groovy Collection
- KI Memories Hopeful Collection
- KI Memories Alphablox cardstock stickers
- Autumn Leaves Bohemian Rhapsody Collection
- Daisy D's Sidewalk Chalk Collection

"___lations"

2006-05-01T06:48:00.000-05:00

Journaling: 04.30.06 - For some reason this weekend we decided that every sentence needed a word ending in "___lations." You started it while in the car on Saturday and we've been having fun with it ever since. Yesterday we had a napalation, went out for lunchalations and today we're working on scrapalations. I (heart) being silly with you!

Sharing My Joy

2006-04-28T08:49:00.000-05:00

Robert.
He is my joy.
I adore this man.
There is no other way to describe it.
He has been in my life for almost 15 years and they have been the happiest years I've ever known. He is like a ray of sunshine. He brings out the absolute best in me. He makes me laugh like no one else can. He can cajole me out of a blue mood. He's the one I want to share everything with. It simply isn't as fun or interesting or real or important if I can't share it with Robert. We spend more time together than most couples I know... and still it's not enough. I miss him during the day. We call each other at the office just to say hi. Thirty second conversations that make me smile for the rest of the day. After all these years my heart still beats a little quicker when he comes through the door. Our anniversary is just three days away... on May 1st we will celebrate 7 years of marriage. Seven years of loving him every single day. No, he is not a perfect man... but he is the perfect man for me.
We live our love story every day.
And I adore this man.

Why Do I Scrapbook...

2006-04-27T14:08:00.000-05:00

The scrapbooking "community" is a large one. And, like any community, there are cliques and celebrities and playing favorites and trend setters and on and on. And I see people get caught up in it all. Their focus becomes Getting Published. Using only the "hot right now" products. The biggest name brands. Keeping up with the Joneses. Following every trend. They scrap in order to submit... or so it seems. Thankfully, I have avoided that. Yes, I can be a name brand scrapper... yes, I have my favorite product lines... but I know why I scrapbook. And it's not to get recognition or to get published. I scrapbook for sheer enjoyment. For the absolute pleasure of it. I love being creative and this is my outlet. I love presenting photos... visual memories... in a way that's fun and interesting and as simple or as elaborate as I want. How many people see my layouts? Not many. My husband, my sister, the people at my monthly Book of Me class, my online scrappy friends. But that's okay because they are for ME. I do this for ME. Who am I going to leave these scrapbooks to when I am gone? That seems to be a dominating force behind why people scrapbook. "To preserve memories for future generations." Are someone else's memories more important because they have children? Who will I leave these books to? I have no children. To me, it's not about leaving these behind... it's about enjoying it now. And I do. I enjoy every little thing about it.

I Love My Job

2006-04-27T05:48:00.000-05:00

I definitely won the job lottery. I'm one of those rare people who loves their job. And, believe me, I appreciate it. I've had bad jobs... worked for bad employers... I know how good I've got it. I simply love what I do and who I work for. How many people get to say that? I've been with the company for more than 14 years (October will be 15 years). I started as the receptionist, did a short stint in HR (enjoyed the work, hated the HR Director), and have worked for my current bosses since escaping from HR - the Chief Executive Officer, the Chief Financial Officer and the Chief Corporate Development Officer. It was like I landed in heaven. =) The four of us work so well together and are such a great group. Yes, they are the executive officers and yes, I am the executive assistant... but we're also friends and socialize outside the office on occasion. Robert is a crew member on Charlie's 30 ft. sailboat (www.libertycall.net). I've been to their homes... Charlie has been to mine (for Robert's 50th birthday party). Life is good!

One day this week is (or was) Administrative Professional Day (not sure when exactly). Even though I am "techinically" not an admin, I was still recognized and appreciated. My three guys took me out to lunch on Tuesday to one of our favorite restuarants, The Brick, even though it is hardly convenient to the office. We ate outside and had a wonderful, unhurried lunch. Later that afternoon I was surprised by a large gift basket that was delivered (pictured above). It was from one of our Directors who I occasionally assist. What a nice thing to do! The basket is filled with fresh fruit, chocolates, cheeses, crackers, nuts, and all sorts of specialty items. We've been noshing on it since then.

These three men never fail to let me know how happy they are with me and the job I do. And I never let them forget how much I love my job and appreciate working for them. We're a perfect fit and I hope that never changes.

Artist at Large wink

2006-04-21T06:42:00.000-05:00

Last night was my Picture Perfect class at a local scrap store... scrapping on canvas. I must admit I was a little lukewarm about taking the class. I was basically tagging along with my sister. But - wow! - what a class! The techniques were actually rather simple but the results were amazing. I felt like quite the artiste. LOL I plan on hanging the finished product in my scrap room.

My Scrubby

2006-04-18T06:49:00.000-05:00

Thought I would share a layout I did a couple weeks ago. It's my current favorite. As a fluke, Robert altered an item (an AOL cd case) for my friend Michelle after a visit with her last month. He must have enjoyed it because shortly after he started an altering frenzy. He even joined my wonderful online scrap group (Scrap101) and has been RAKing his creations to other members... his 'specialties' being ribbon organizer boxes and clipboards. They're quite the hit! =) One afternoon while we were both in the scrap room working away he announced, "Hey, I'm your scrap hubby... that makes me your scrubby!" I loved it and just had to scrap it. =)

My Latest Obsession

2006-04-07T04:54:00.000-05:00

Black Cherry Vanilla Diet Coke. It's my latest obsession.

I've always been a sweet iced tea drinker. Have been since I was a child. I was raised on it. Sweet tea is practically a religion in the South. I grade restaurants on their sweet tea and have actually driven out of my way to go somewhere because the sweet tea was better. Fast food tea is the worst (won't even drink it). Barbecue joints have the best (Sonny's in particular). A local sandwich shop chain (The Sheik) has the ultimate sweet tea. They use a simple sugar syrup instead of granulated sugar. It's perfection.

So you see... I'm something of a sweet iced tea connoisseur. And if I wasn't drinking tea (which was rare) I would go for a Coke. Fully leaded, please. None of that diet stuff. Blech. Of course, that was all pre-South Beach. Back in the day. Now sugar is evil and I had to bid a fond farewell to my beloved beverage. I have managed to replace my sweet tea. A friend (a fellow South Beacher) told me that a local grocery store chain carries gallons of pre-made sweet tea that is artificially sweetened... but doesn't taste fake (now that's the clincher). So now I go through about a gallon a week and it's ab-fab and I am in heaven.

But I also got turned on to the new Black Cherry Vanilla Diet Coke. When I started South Beach back in January I did start drinking Diet Coke and while I did get used to it and over time forgot what "real" Coke tasted like... I've never *loved* it. It's good. I like it. I enjoy drinking it. But that's all. Then, about six weeks ago, I gave the Black Cherry Vanilla Diet Coke a try and flipped out. It's fantabulous and I love it. It's to the point that I want to sart hoarding it in case they stop making it. Sad, no? What can I say... it's my latest obsession.

Props

2006-04-07T04:31:00.000-05:00

Some people are always so quick to complain about poor customer service but never offer up compliments when they receive really great service service. That bugs me. 'Cause today I'm giving props to Shoebox Trims. They're a great little outfit that offer a good variety of ribbon, fibers and fabric. I love getting the Shoebox Stashes. They're little baggies of coordinating ribbon and fabric strips. (You can get just ribbon, just fabric, add fiber... whatever combination you want.) The prices are right, shipping is cheap (if your order is $15 or over shipping is free), and you get your goodies fast. Always a plus. Just yesterday I received my latest order and the ribbon and fabric are so yummy that I could just eat them with a spoon. I got the January 2006 Fabric Strip Stash (all shades and patterns of pink), the February 2006 Fabric Strip Stash (greens and purples... my two favorite colors), the April Fabric Strip Stash (lovely neutrals in creams and tans and greens) and the April Ribbon Stash (gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous... loopy ribbon, twill, grosgrain, rick rack, solids, check, polka dots, patterns... love it!). If you've got a ribbon fixation (c'mon, raise your hand... you know you love it), check out Shoebox Trims and the monthly Stashes. Love 'em!

Goodbye March...

2006-03-31T15:50:00.000-05:00

Wow, this month has really flown by... and now tomorrow is April. The past month has been a whirlwind. It started with the passing of Robert's grandmother and our subsequent trip to North Carolina for the funeral... and ended (today) with us making plans for another trip to North Carolina for the birth of Robert's (our) third grandchild. In the middle were five birthdays (my mom, my step-daughter Ashley, and three friends), lots of scrapbooking (I seem to be on a roll - lol), several sailing races for Robert, my monthly BOM (Book of Me) class at a local scrapbook store, hectic days at the office, Ashley moving to Georgia to be with her boyfriend, and my continued efforts toward better health and weight loss. It's passed in a blur.

Tomorrow starts a new month.. one that will see Robert and I settling back into our normal routine now that it is just the two of us again. It's funny how I missed the little things. Just the two of us chatting over dinner about nothing in particular. Wandering around the house in whatever state of dress I please. Quiet in the evenings while we do our own thing (no sound of cell phone conversations and giggling in the background). Going out to dinner by ourselves. Little things... but I missed them over the past six months.

Here's to a peaceful, positive new month...

10 Things I Can't Live Without

2006-03-14T15:46:00.000-05:00

Robert - my sweet, loving, wonderful, angel of a husband. I simply cannot be... without him.

My parents - I'm so lucky to have the parents I do. They're such good people. They've changed over the years and become more easy-going. I love that they're my friends.

My sisters - one older, one younger. I'm crazy about them. They're both such incredible people in their own ways. They're so different and have many unique qualities that I love.

Food - okay, I don't mean 'can't live without food' because it is necessary energy for the body. I mean it as: I really love food! LOL Even though I am 're-learning' how to eat and have made significant changes to my diet... that doesn't change the fact that I really love food!

A comfortable home - I tend to be a real homebody, so home is definitely my haven. I've spent time picking and choosing how I've decorated each room and I love my home. I'm so at ease there and love to be at home.

Books - I admit it... I'm a total bookworm. I was one of those nerdy girls at school who spent her lunch period reading. I've had a lifelong love affair with getting lost in a book. My choice of genre may change now and then, but I'm never without a book of some kind.

Music - if books are one constant in my life then music is the other. I'm always surrounded by music: at home, at work, in the car. My taste in music is vast and varied (and sometimes quite cheesy - lol), but it's always in the background in some form.

Paper - hey, don't look so surprised at this one! lol I've loved paper since I was a kid. I wrote, I drew, I scribbled, I doodled. When I had pen pals as a child, I decorated my own stationary. When I discovered scrapbooking it was as if an entire world of paper opened up to me. I now have more patterned paper in my scrapbooking room than I could possibly use in a lifetime... and I keep buying more. Must... have... paper.

Teddy bears - I love my teddy bears. Adore them. They are everywhere... my bedroom, my scrap room, the reading room. I'm choosy when it comes to my bears. Some of them just jump in my arms and plead to be taken home. How can I resist? I do have a soft spot for Boyd's bears (plush). But the little bear at home (whom I have endowed with a major personality and ego) named Max came from Books-s-a-Million several years ago. So, you see, I'm not a teddy bear snob. =)

Air conditioning - I live in Florida... 'nuf said. =P

Fan Club

2006-03-14T15:30:00.000-05:00

I had an appointment with my doctor last night (she has appointments all the way up to 10pm on Mondays). At first I saw the same nurse I always see. I just love her. She's always so happy and upbeat. Makes going to the doctor a little less wretched. =P The first thing they do is toss you on the scale (figuratively speaking, of course - lol) and my goodness was she ever surprised when she noted my weight in my chart. She was so excited for me and asked me what I'd been doing. Really cheering me on. What a great feeling! A few minutes later, when Dr. C. cam in the room she first commented on my blood pressure, which was considerably lower than normal. Then she saw the weight notation and heaped on the praise, too. I truly am doing this for me... but a little pat on the back never hurt. =) I left there feeling a few inches taller. And like I had my own personal fan club. LOL

According to their scales, I'm 18 pounds lighter since my last appointment, which was in early December (I started South Beach in early January). One thing I'm pretty proud of is that we (me and Robert) didn't blow it while we were in North Carlina week before last. It would have been so easy to make excuses. We're away from home, we're out of our normal routine, we'll get right back on track... But, apparently we did just fine. I'll admit, I made a few questionable choices, but now even my "slips" are minor. It's not like I'm eating a half-gallon of ice cream or downing french fries. While in NC, I had two bites of mac and cheese at one dinner and a couple hush puppies at another. Not exactly a disaster. Both times I did it conciously and didn't feel bad about it. With the mac and cheese, I put a little on my plate (I l*o*v*e macaroni and cheese) with the knowledge that I would limit myself to that one small spoonful. But I took two bites, realized it wasn't all that great (what a letdown - ha!) and decided not to eat the rest. For me, that was a real defining moment. I didn't eat it just because it was there and I could. I chose not to because it wasn't worth it. Wow. That might sound elementary to some people, but that's big for me.

The weight is coming off much slower now, but that's to be expected. I'm in no rush. I'm making better choices, I'm doing the right things... the weight loss will follow. It feels incredible to be moving in the right direction.

Live and In Person

2006-03-11T06:08:00.000-05:00

There was a bonus to our trip to North Carolina last week... on the way home we stopped in Georgia and visited my friend Michelle. Michelle is an "online friend" from my scrapbooking group and we've known each other for probably 2 years or so. It was so neat meeting her in person. And what was interesting was that it didn't feel like I was meeting her for the first time. I've "known" Michelle for quite a while so there was no awkwardness, no initial getting-to-know-you stuff. It was just Michelle! =) Even though the visit was semi-unplanned, Michelle invited us to her home, we met her sons and her husband, we chatted and laughed a lot, looked through her scrapbooks, checked out her scrap room... it was just like visiting a friend you've known for ages. Out of all my online scrappy friends, Michelle lives the closest, so I hope that means we'll be able to meet again sometime. With her wicked sense of humor, I know we'd laugh ourselves silly. =) Thanks for having us over, Michelle!

American Loser

2006-03-09T15:52:00.000-05:00

Okay, I have a confession to make... I am one of those people who made fun of my friends for watching American Idol. For two whole seasons. When they would discuss the show around me I would roll my eyes and scoff at how they could get hooked on such a silly show. Well, they've had the last laugh this time. Because it's official... I'm an American Idol loser. I'm so addicted to this show. For three seasons now. And it's not because I want to sit back and make fun of all the deluded wannabes in the auditions. No, I actually get into it and really enjoy the competition. I question their song choice. I wonder about their stage presence. I question whether they have "it." I'm so lame. I'm an American Idol loser.

I'm so surprised that I fell for this because I watch so little reality tv. I just don't get it. And television is positively flooded with reality shows. But I'll just stick with American Idol... and now I'll just mock my friends for watching Survivor. ;-)

Family (Re)Connections

2006-03-06T07:10:00.000-05:00

It's amazing how so much good can come from something bad. Last Tuesday night we got the call that we had been expecting for almost more than 2 weeks. Robert's grandmother had passed away. It can't be a shock when someone who is 101 years old passes away... but it's still a loss. We left for North Carolina Wednesday morning - calling Robert's two older children (who live in NC) while in route. Shannon told us that she wouldn't be able to take leave from work with such short notice (which was totally understandable). And at first, Jason told us the same thing. But he called back later to say that he had managed to get Friday off and he and his wife Kristin would be driving over after work on Thursday night. Robert was just thrilled.

We got a call from Robert's brother Andy on the way inviting us to a gathering of their church group that night. His son James would be speaking about his mission work in Pakistan over the last 5 months. We got into Fayetteville and had just enough time to check into our hotel, change clothes and get to restaurant. It was held in the meeting hall behind the restaurant. Little did I know that it was practically going to be a church service. Not that I wouldn't have went... but it was still a little odd. Dinner was catered (good ol' North Carolina barbecue) and James gave his presentation. He just got back from Pakistan two weeks ago and was leaving in a couple days for a year in Cambodia. I don't necessarily understand that kind of commitment, but I do respect and admire it.

On Thursday Robert and I did a lot of running around. Just by ourselves, though. We found the Fayetteville Mall and did some shopping and did a lot of driving around seeing how much had changed since Robert lived there (many moons ago, before he joined the Navy). That evening was the viewing at the funeral home. We were the first ones there. Robert's father and his wife were on their way from about 2 hours away and we didn't want them to be there with no one else around. Over the next couple hours I met more people that I thought possible. What a huge family... I had no idea! Her obituary stated that she 27 grandchildren, 50+ great grandchildren and more than 10 great great grandchildren. And I think they were all in attendance... and then some. And I met more people with two names than I have in my life: Etta Mae, Cora Mae, Donald Ray, Gary Lee, Eva Joyce... it was getting almost comical. The shock of the evening came when Robert's sister-in-law (Andy's wife) came over and said there was someone he needed to see. Two young women were standing there. Robert broke down as soon as he saw them. I guessed who they were... David's daughters.

Robert is/was one of three sons. Back in 1979 (I think it was '79) his brother David was murdered. At the time David was 26 years old, married, with two little girls - Shelley and Jamie. Over the years, after David's death, his widow eventually met someone else and the family slowly lost contact with the girls. Robert has not seen them since his own mother's funeral, almost 18 years ago. But Robert recognized them immediately. He said Shelley looked exactly like David. It was just heartbreaking to see them all together. So happy to be reconnected, but also feeling such a sense of loss. I think it brought a lot of his feelings of loss for David back to him.

We spent the rest of the evening with the girls - they're both married and one of them has 3 children. Later on Jason called to say that he and Kristin were in town so we left to go meet them and take them out to a late dinner. But not before making sure that we would see the girls the next day at the funeral and would swap contact info them. Dinner with Jason and Kristin was just wonderful. It was my first time meeting Jason and I liked him immediately. What an incredible person. And it's obvious that he is crazy about Kristin. What a great couple. She is expecting their first child in April. We gave them the baby gifts we had bought that afternoon and they both seemd thrilled with them. We had dinner at Smithfield's (more North Carolina barbecue) and it was fun to sit back and watch the banter between Robert and Jason. I see so many similarities. Not in their looks, but in their personalities. Incredible.

Friday was the funeral. Robert had been asked to be a pallbearer and I know that wasn't easy for him. He's such a softie and wears his heart on his sleeve so much of the time. After a service at the church and then a brief service at the cemetary it was over. We took pictures with Shelley and Jamie before everyone left and made sure we exchanged phone numbers and addresses. They had also brought copies of a couple pictures of David to give to Robert and that meant the world to him. We then took Jason and Kristin out to a late lunch before they headed home. Had a wonderful time with them and also got a great photo of Robert, Jason and Kristin outside the restaurant. We let them know that we would be coming back up to North Carolina when the baby is born.

That night we had a late dinner (one more chance for NC barbecue - lol) before heading home Saturday morning. We both woke up at dark-thirty and decided to go ahead and hit the road. I think it was just before 5:30 when we got on 1-95. We'd had an amazing visit but were ready to go home. The circumstances for us being there were sad, but it was just fantastic to see all of Robert's family - especially meeting his son (and his wife) and his nieces for the first time. I'm already looking forward to when we will see them again.

2005 In Review

2006-02-23T06:58:00.000-05:00

I am so loving this layout that I just had to share. I started it last month at my January BOM class and just finished it on Monday by adding photos and journaling. My friend Kimberly who teaches the BOM class is so freakin' talented and I am just in awe of her. The girl has been published and that just impresses the heck out of me. =) I love the idea of the year in review page. And it was fun doing a mental recap of the year and deciding what events and happenings to include in the layout. It was quite a year we had! =)

Regroup and Refocus

2006-02-22T14:58:00.000-05:00

We put our regular Sunday night weigh-in off until Monday night this past week. Got home late on Sunday evening and just didn't bother with it. Monday's weigh-in results: a 2 lb. weight gain. I wasn't particularly surprised. I knew it had been a rough week. I made a few allowances here and there but my main issue was overeating. It wasn't even that I was eating "bad" or off-program foods. But I was eating too much and I knew it. Even too much of the good stuff can be a bad thing. Calories are calories, whether they're coming from ice cream or celery. :-) So, I can't even say that I was too upset by it. I expected it. And I did it to myself. So there you go. Instead of wallowing in misery (lol) I decided it was time to regroup and refocus and make this week a better one. I'm drinking lots more water (I also slacked on that last week - too many diet black cherry vanilla Cokes). And I'm watching portion sizes. It feels good to know that I caught that little backslide quickly and got back on track right away. Yea me. :-) Apparently I really have developed some new habits. I do so many things without thinking now. Drinking water, ordering diet instant of regular soft drink at restaurants, eating mid-morning/mid-afternoon snacks (cheese, veggies, sugar-free Jello, etc.). It's a good feeling. And I need to remember these "small victories" that are making a difference in my health even when the scale doesn't show it.

Mixed Emotions

2006-02-11T22:03:00.000-05:00

Ashley talked to us last night and let us know that she wants to move to Georgia to be with the boyfriend. That certainly didn't come as a shock but I do have mixed emotions about it. On one hand, I truly feel that it would be a mistake at this point. It's too soon. Yes, this "relationship" has been going on for six months or more, but it's a long distance relationship. The visits are few and far between. It's not the same as truly dating someone for six months and knowing them. Because of the long-distance aspect, they're constantly in the"honeymoon phase" every time they see each other. And, not to sound unromantic, that's not real life. Just being practical. There are scores of reasons why her moving up there at this point would be a bad idea. Scores. And we shared our thoughts with her while letting her know we were not trying to be negative and "rain on her parade." Nor do we want this fail. We are just trying to be the voice of reason since her lack of age and maturity seem to be behind her decision-making process at this point. To her credit, she did seem to listen. I doubt it will sway her one iota, but we had our say.

All that being said, my feelings of concern over what I am sure is a catastrophe in the making are tinged with a little relief. I have to be honest and say that part of me thinks, "Yes! I will get my life back!" Selfish, I know... but I'm being honest here. It's been over four months now with Ashley living with us and for the most part I think I adjusted very well. And quickly, too. But God knows there are times when I just want things to be the way they were before. The way Robert and I always have been. Just the two of us. I miss that... I really do.

I guess we'll see what happens. She stopped short of saying that this was definite. She just said that she was 'seriously thinking about it.' I'm sure it's more than thinking, though. That was her way of setting the stage for her exit. This is a fait accompli. And I definitely have mixed emotions.

Week 5

2006-02-08T10:35:00.000-05:00

Monday started Week 5 since my weight loss/get healthy plan started and I'm trucking on along. Sunday night (the end of Week 4) was weigh-in night and I was down another 2.5 pounds. That's a total of 15 pounds! Yea me! =) Robert and Ashley are doing well, too (losing 16 and 13 pounds respectively).

You know, I was kind of wavering last night on whether or not to get on the treadmill. I had done 30 minutes on Monday night and really didn't feel like doing it last night. Yesterday was a grueling day at work (not bad just insanely busy and exhausting) and I really just wanted to kick back last night. Look at a scrap magazine... watch American Idol and House... go to bed early. So I decided to skip the treadmill. Later in the evening I started feeling a little guilty thinking I really should have been exercising instead of slacking off and being lazy. And then I had one of my little 'moments of clarity.' I tend to be so hard on myself. I often get frustrated with anything that I perceive as 'lacking' or 'less than perfect.' And I really need to stop every now and then and give myself a pat on the back for all the things that I'm doing right! Because goodness knows I'm quick to beat up on myself now and then when I feel like I've screwed up. When I stop to think about it, I've made some pretty awesome changes over the last month. I never exercised before... and now I'm on the treadmill several times a week at 30 minutes a pop. I rarely drank water before... now it's almost all I drink throughout the day (I do allow myself to have diet Coke at dinner). I used to truly overindulge in all those yummy but less-than-nutritionally-helpful carbs like pasta, potatoes and rice. Now I focus more on lean meats, veggies, and some fruit and when I do have bread it's a whole-grain sugar-free bread. I'm doing a lot right! Every day I'm making choices that are having a positive effect on my health. And many of these choices aren't necessarily conscious ones since (apparently) they have become habits. Even better! So I'm going to make a point to remember all the good that I am doing instead of focusing on the few things that still need a little work. With 15 pounds gone... obviously I am doing something right. =) And I need to remember that.

Bye-bye Pounds

2006-02-01T09:34:00.000-05:00

I just realized that I haven't updated on my weight loss efforts since January 15th, which was the end of Week 1. Time for a recap...

Week 2 (which ended on the January 22rd) was just as good as far as eating and exercise go but none of us had a loss. In fact, two of us gained. Ashley stayed the same, Robert gained half a pound and I gained 1 pound. Robert and I definitely took it in stride but I think Ashley was a bit discouraged. Robert and I had such significant losses the first week that we expected very little if anything that second week. Plus, the two of us have been workout fiends on the treadmill and that can make a difference. We’re building muscle. And since muscle weighs more than fat… there you go. Plus, we’ve done this before and we know that weight just naturally fluctuates sometimes. You can follow your program to the letter and sometimes the scale just won’t budge but the next week you’ll drop 5 lbs. So, we were rather prosaic about it. We tried to be very positive and say that we all weigh less than when we started so there was nothing to be discouraged about! Anyway, that ended Phase 1 (the restrictive sugar-detox phase) and we moved into Phase 2. We were able to start adding the “good carbs” back in. I was so excited to be able to have a sandwich for lunch (on whole-grain sugar-free bread, of course). How pitiful is that? =) But I really love sandwiches and hadn’t been able to have any bread for the previous two weeks.

This past Sunday the 29th ended Week 3 and, just as Robert and I predicted, the losses caught up with us. I dropped another 4 pounds for a total loss so far of 12.5 pounds. Whoo-hoo! I tell ya, I’m not even particularly struggling with this. Like I said previously, something has clicked this time and I’m just “in the zone.” I’m not truly tempted by anything, I don’t have the urge to “cheat.” I just made up my mind that I was making these changes and would be eating better and that was that. I can’t tell you how proud I am of myself. =)

This Is What It's Come To... ?!

2006-01-28T15:08:00.000-05:00

It's 3:10 on Saturday afternoon and I am at the OFFICE to avoid going home. Yeah, you read that right. I can't even believe it myself.

We (me, Robert and of course Ashley) were planning on driving down to Gainesville this morning to go to the Hoggetowne Medieval Festival. That's right up my alley and I was looking forward to it. But, when I got up this morning, I started feeling rather ambivalent about it. Especially (and I know this sounds horrible) when I realized that it would be an entire day with Ashley. Eight hours of giggling, complaining, phones calls to and from Mr. Wonderful (the boyfriend), and never-ending stories chronicling the most miniscusule details and events of her day to day life. Can you tell I'm not mother material? Well, I never claimed to be. And never wanted to be. Kids were never in the picture. Just not what I wanted to do with my life. And while, technically, Ashley is not a "kid" (she's 21)... I beg to differ. It's like living with a giggly teenager 24/7. And today I just couldn't do it. I truly felt that the urge to put my hands over my ears and scream "shut the **** up!" might overcome me. So I nixed the Medieval Festival and very casually said that I thought I would have a little afternoon to myself. To Robert, I explained somewhat and said that I really needed some "me time." Which, of course, he was fine with.

So I left the house around 11:00 and went to a local scrap store. I wandered through there for ages - taking my time and enjoying myself. (Used the gift certificates I got for Christmas which made it even better.) From there I took myself to lunch (Arby's where I had my newly-discovered turkey-bacon-ranch wrap which is to-die-for. My 4th one this week - ha!). Then it was on to Jo-Ann's where I endulged in the house brand (Scrap Essentials) embellishments that were all 50% off and used my 40% coupon to get a CK 8x8 album. A little shopping therapy never hurt, right? Around the time I was thinking things were cool again and that I might mosey on home... it happened. Three calls in quick succession - two from Robert and one from Ashley. Can I disappear for just one afternoon? Just one? I'm not some working mom juggling 3 screaming kids who needs Calgon to take her away, dammit. I'm a 37 year old professional woman who should have no issue stepping away from time to time for a little mental health break. I'd been gone for less than 4 hours, for God's sake.

Well, that did it. I was no longer in the mood to "mosey on home" but couldn't figure out where to go. I didn't want to shop any more... so no stores. I'd only eaten lunch an hour before... so no restaurants. The office! It's less than 3 miles from home so it's convenient and I could have some peace and quiet and be alone. But as I sit here I think, "Is this what's it's come to?" Is my own home no longer my refuge? The place where I can close the door behind me and get away from it all? I'm sure these feelings are temporary. I imagine by tomorrow I'll be fine again. But all I can say is that right now, today... I want my life back.

Back to the Beach

2006-01-17T16:09:00.000-05:00

I've known for quite a while that I needed to get on the ball and get serious with my health goals/weight loss efforts again. I've let it go for too long. Robert and I both had real success with the South Beach diet last year - before we got lazy and lost focus. And before we knew it old habits were creeping back in and the pounds were creeping back on.

I will admit that I was skeptical of South Beach when it first came out. The name alone sounds very fad-ish and made me wary of it. I don't get fired up about a whole lot, but I really despise all the "lose weight quick" gimmicks. So many people seem all to willing to take a pill or drink a shake and wait for the pounds to magically disappear. Come on! Get a grip. The weight didn't appear overnight... and it's not going to disappear overnight either. Whatever happened to sensible eating habits? Healthy changes in diet and exercise? No, it's not easy, but it works and it's what's going to work for the long haul. Okay, off my soapbox now. :-)

Back to South beach... as I said, i was skeptical at first, but when I read up on it I was impressed with the 'science' behind it. It made sense to me. It's not about cutting out all carbs and eating all the fat you want. It's about learning to eat the right carbs.

Anyway, after my doctor's appointment last November and the results of my blodd work were discussed, I made a deal with my doctor. Let's take no action now. No meds, no tests. Instead, give me 3-4 months to lose some weight and then we'll do more blood work. If the numbers come down, I'll continue on with my healthy eating/weight loss efforts. If not, we go from there. I know Dr. C was skeptical but she went with it. She even suggested that I drop in periodically to weigh on their scales so they can track/cheer on my progress. I think she imagines I did not take her seriously and that I will blow this off. And, boy, is going to feel great to prove her wrong. I even plan on sending her notes periodically to update her on my progress. :-)

I'm not even doing this alone, which is a bonus. Robert said he was getting back on track, too, and Ashley said she wanted to lose some weight as well so we all three started together last Monday (January 9). That weekend we went over the plan basics again, I made up menus and we all went grocery shopping together. I really wanted to get everyone involved and get both of them to take an active part in this. Not just sit back and count on me to know the plan, decide what was okay to eat, etc. They have a stake in this, too. Then on Sunday (the day before we started) Robert and Ashley went out and bought us a treadmill. We were all ready to go!

Since last Monday I followed the eating plan almost to the letter, have been drinking a lot more water (goodbye to my beloved sweet tea – sob sob!), switched to Diet Coke (but drink a lot more water than Coke), and got on the treadmill 4 times. And I actually did 30 minutes on the treadmill each time! Now, thsi may not sound like much to most, but I am sooo out of shape and I honestly thought that I would be lucky to make it 5 minutes my first time on the treadmill. I told myself ahead of time that I would just do what I could and not feel bad about it. And I would slowly work my way up as I increased my stamina. But I jumped right on the very first time and did 30 minutes. It's amazing what you can do. Even when you think you can't.

This past Sunday night (January 15) was our first weigh-in. Ashley lost 6 lbs. Robert lost 7.5 lbs. And me? Well, I was the “biggest loser” for Week 1 with a loss of 9.5 lbs!!!!! Wow! I was sooo thrilled and was happy dancing all over the place. LOL I really think it’s the exercise that is putting me over the top this time. I am so pumped and so ready to take on whatever comes. Something has just “clicked” this time and I’m rarin’ to go. I have a long way to go but I’m off to one heck of a start!

...and so this was Christmas

2005-12-29T15:07:00.000-05:00

Another Christmas come and gone and, as Mom says every year, this had to be the best Christmas yet. The to-do list was getting long and yes I was starting to feel slightly overwhelmed there at the end, but Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were just wonderful. The whole family was at my parent's house Christmas Eve and we spent the evening talking and eating and laughing and opening gifts. At one point, about midway through the evening, Ashley got rather emotional and started crying and she and Robert went out for a short walk. I had assumed it was something like she was missing her boyfriend and was wishing she was there (the Atlanta area). But when I talked to Robert later I learned it was nothing like that. She was crying because she was so happy to be there. Because she was seeing first hand what a "normal" family Christmas was like. She saw people who obviously cared about each other. I think it was tinged with a little sadness over the absence of any real relationship with her own mother, but for the most part she was just happy being where she was. What a good feeling to be able to share my family with her.

Moments like that definitely temper my ever-growing concern (and frustration) at her lack of initiative. Lack of maturity. Lack of independence. I believe she has become quite comfortable in her current situation (living with me and Robert) and that has made her complacent. This "temporary" situation has no end in sight. This was meant to be a way to help her get on her feet but she's making no effort. That's going to change very soon. Robert and I have talked and decided it's time for the three of us to sit down and set some goals. She's had three months of living like a teenager (and we definitely feel as though we are living with a teenager) but the fact is - she is not a teenager. She's going on 22 and it's time to start making an effort to establish herself and make her own way. I think the current situation only reinforces the "teenage mindset" of carefree, responsibility-free living. Dinner appears on the table every night, the household bills are paid, the groceries just magically appear in the pantry... No, it's time she takes some real steps to getting on her own. We gave her the time and opportunity to make those first steps and show some initiative but she didn't step up to the plate. So now it's going to have to be put down for her in black and white. Her are your goals, here is a timetable, and here's how to make it happen.

When Robert and I first discussed Ashley coming to stay with us I envisioned an adult coming to stay. A twenty-one year old yound woman her had, for all intent and purpose, been on her own for the past several years. I certainly did not expect to be in a parental role. But, we jokingly say that we have a teenage kid living with us. Well, only half jokingly because sometimes it's not all that funny.

Movin' On Up

2005-12-28T16:37:00.000-05:00

It's been a long time coming and it's almost here. The ESOP transaction will be finalized next week. The company owners will sign off on the final documents and as they move on to other things the company becomes employee owned and my bosses become the executive officers. Lots of changes coming. Yesterday my boss Charlie (currently the COO who, after next week, will be the CEO) called me into his office and handed me my offer letter making my promotion official. As of next week my title changes to Executive Assistant and I will work for the three executive officers - Charlie (the Chief Executive Officer), Phil (the Chief Corporate Development Officer) and Warren (the Chief Financial Officer). I've worked directly for Charlie and Phil for the last two years so that won't change. And I've known and worked with Warren since I first started working for the company 14 years ago. Yesterday I received my offer (promotion) letter, my annual evaluation and the paperwork for my raise/merit increase. Today Charlie told me that he would like the two of us moved completely into the Executive Suite by the end of next week. Phil and Warren will follow in the next few weeks as the renovations are completed. It's very exciting! I've got to start cleaning out my desk, tossing/shredding whatever doesn't need to make the move with us, deciding what to take and what to leave. I'm definitely keeping my own chair, phone and computer. The one in there now is a dinosaur. Anyway, big changes are coming and I'm excited to see what the new year will bring as the 4 of us (Charlie, Phil, Warren and myself) move on up!

Thanksgiving

2005-11-27T03:08:00.000-05:00

Wow, what a good one this year.

After not being sure if my sister Tammy and her family would be able to make it, it all worked out and the whole family was there. It made for such a great day. Robert's daughter Ashley and her boyfriend Migel fit right in and there was no awkwardness. Everyone welcomed them and they made themselves at home. Perfect. Terri and Will left mid-afternoon to go to his family's celebration and the rest of us played several rowdy rounds of Pit - a family favorite. Ashley and Migel left a short time later and the rest of us stayed on. After a few rounds of another game (Scattergories - another family favorite) we all heated up leftovers for dinner before heading to our own homes. It was such a perfect day and I was so thankful that everyone was there. It wouldn't have been the same otherwise.

I finished up the tags for my Thanksgiving paper bag book the night before and took them all with me. I thought there might be a few who would grumbled about it and wouldn't participate (like Will or Brad) but they surprised me. Every single person took a tag and wrote down what they were thankful for. Some were very practical, some funny, some heartfelt. (Jackson's tag, with his big, croooked 7-year-old handwriting, is just precious.) I will forever be grateful that everyone took the time to do this. Once I get the pictures developed and added to the paper bag book... what a keepsake it will be.

Mom, Tammy, Terri and me met for our now-traditional day-after-Thanksgiving shopping. We met at The Avenues mall at 7 am and went for just over 5 hours before calling it quits. We were starting to drag by then. :-) After lunch together we said our goodbyes. And, I couldn't believe I did it (as tired as I was), but after dropping Mom off I actually stopped at Target on the way home. I had got less done at the mall that I expected so my trip to Target yielded a few more gifts. I can't wait to start gift-wrapping. I love getting creative with it and giving a pretty package. I like the presentation as much as the gift. :-)

You know, in trying to get everyone to sit down at some point on Thursday to write down what they were thankful for, I never wrote out my own 'thankful tag.' So, I'll do that now. I am thankful for:

Robert - husband and friend doesn't begin to cover it. I adore him and words cannot do justice to my feelings for him. My life is filled with love and laughter because of him.
The health of my family - we are all so lucky and blessed to be as healthy as we are. Yes, there are 'issues' here and there, but nothing life-threatening.
Ashley - having Robert's daughter come to live with us back in September was a pretty major adjustment. And I wasn't entirely sure how it was going to work. It's been over two months now and it some ways it's already starting to be hard to remember what it was like before she got here. She's such a sweet girl and I'm so happy we were in a position to have her come to us. We are providing a loving, stable environment where one was desperately needed.
My job - I am sooo thankful for my job and for my bosses, Charlie and Phil. I love what I do. I love who I work for. I simply could not ask for more.
My home - After so many years of apartment-living, buying a home of our own really was a dream come true. It's going on 3 years and I still marvel that this beautiful home is ours.

For these things, and more, I am thankful.

Ready for the Weekend

2005-11-04T06:44:00.000-05:00

It's been an incredibly busy week at the office. There are big changes coming and things are coming to a head. Basically, the two owners decided to sell (back in August) and my two bosses (the Chief Operating Officer and the Corporate Vice President) along with the Chief Financial Officer presented the owners with a plan to, instead of selling to an outside source, basically sell to the employees as an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Program). This has been going on behind the scenes for the past 3 months and almost no one has known (except for a few company officers). A few people have asked me (over the past few weeks especially) if something was going on, but I just downplayed everything. Charlie and Phil (my bosses) know they can trust me completely and discretion is a big part of my job. I would never betray that trust. Anyway, the announcement was made yesterday in a meeting with all company officers and directors and now news will spread quickly through the general population. Informational meetings will start next week for all employees. Everything should be done by December 31st. So... with all the preparations for yesterday's meeting, this week has been hectic to say the least. Just gotta get through today. I know there will be lots of talk and people will be asking a zillion questions... but I've got work to do. =P

I would love nothing more than to come home after work and collapse, but Robert and I have to attend a stupid surprise party for his boss. Lame! He definitely does not have the same relationship with his bosses that I have with mine, so it's not like he enjoys socializing with them. But, this is something of a command performance. An absence would definitely be noticed. Maybe we won't have to stay long... I hope!

Late yesterday the winners were announced for the 8-week online scrapbook contest that I was in. I didn't place in the top three. Yeah, it was a little disappointing. I really felt like I was on my game this time. I was even feeling a little mopey last night. :) But, does it really matter? No. I don't do this to win contests. I do it because I love it. And that's enough.

Hitting My Stride

2005-10-30T06:40:00.000-05:00

I'm taking part in an 8-week online scrapbooking contest and uploaded my eighth and final layout last night. I have so enjoyed this. I took part in the summer series as well (this current one is the "Fall series") - and if they do one for winter I'm there. Last time, I felt like my layouts were kind of hit or miss but this time around something clicked. I just feel like I'm hitting my stride or I found my groove or something. I've been really happy with all eight layouts that I've entered... and that's really saying something. I am definitely my own worst critic. I also spend too much time comparing what I do to what some others do - and often find my work lacking. When will I learn? But, for the last eight weeks anyway, I've been happy with what I've done... and that's a good feeling. (This is the final layout that I posted to the contest site last night. The theme/challenge was: Ahh... Life Is Good.)

The Princess Is In

I've Moved!

Quirky!

Father's Day card

Shane

Tuesday, June 12

Friday thru Sunday

It Could Be You

Do I Need This?

Cards

Note To Self

London Pics

Welcome Home

Tagged

It's a Wonderful Life

Essentials

Yeah... He's Mine

Monster House

Buddies

Rules for Living in Jacksonville

Gotta Love It

You Give Love a Bad Name

Grown-up's Need Naps, Too

Three Degrees of Separation

The Weight of the World

L*O*N*D*O*N

Makeover, anyone?

Once Upon a Time

Lucky Girl

Tag, I'm It!

Picture Time!

Catching Up: Dec 16 - Dec 31

Catching Up: Dec 1 - Dec 15

Catching Up: Nov 15 - Nov 30

Big Sigh of Relief

More To Do

An Evening with Nora

The Growing List

My Life

You Can Overcome

Reflection

Coming Out of a Funk

35 Things I Dislike

Happy Birthday

Finally

It's Scary Out There

For Terri

Tagged again...

Tagged

Pet Peeve

Okay, who told?

Sailing, takes me away....

ROTFL

Yeah, Baby!

Shoppy

Felt Like Sharing...

Feelin' Some CHA Love

Ouch

Ix-Nay on the Op-Cray

I'm In Love

Subway? Yes, Subway.

One of Those Days

Altered Lunch Box

A New Favorite

Random Questions

Phil and Libby

Alberto

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Disconnected

Phantom

Recent Layouts

Just for Fun...

NE FL Scrapbooking Shop Hop

Wish List

"___lations"

Sharing My Joy

Why Do I Scrapbook...

I Love My Job

Artist at Large *wink*

My Scrubby

LON*DON

Artist at Large wink