A list of me, for me 2007

Some years seem like off years. I remember sooo many off years, that is until I turned 30 a few years ago. I think 33 will be a superb year!

Things I've accomplished this year:
1. Learned to solder and made some frame charms for some friends
2. Increased my business/clients
3. I became a dot com
4. I have REAL business cards
5. gave birth again successfully and w/o any drugs
6. Lost weight

Things to do next year (think mondo beyondo):
1. Get another camera body, preferably better, how about top of the line?! a Nikon D3!!!!
2. 2 family trips to Disneyland/CA
3. Whittle away at the clutter in my life...really get rid of the excess to focus on the abundance
4. Get out of unnecessary debt permanently
5. Triple my business
6. Begin accessible plans for my ideal studio
7. Finish house renovation
8. Finish home studio/movie room renvoation
9. All organic or natural, locally grown summer of eating
10.Increase my food storage and other preparedness areas
11. Live a more spiritual life by tithing, prayer, temple attendance, and testimony building activities for myself and my family

ack! Tomorrow is the first!

It was the last day of school for my year rounder children and the last day at their year round school. We'll most likely be switching them back to the regular district school after Christmas break...just not working out. But I did put together some yummy candy for their teachers (along with gift certificates for a free session and family photo.)

Tomorrow is the first! I will have my last scheduled photo session and hopefully wrap up all loose ends before the first week of Dec. is over. It has been a busy month for me as far as my photography goes!

I hope to have a productive, relaxed, fun, enriching month before Christmas gets here...maybe even get some more blogging in ;)

The Birth Story Part 1

It was September 19th, "Talk Like a Pirate Day." Argh! One day before my due date and the 40 week check up with my midwife, Ginger. Everything was the same at the appointment. Ginger showered me with compliments for a variety of things (I think they all do this.) She checked me and said I was at a 3, maybe a 4. Little B was with me and came over for a little peek, but not a full on exposed look. Ginger "moved things around" as she calls...everyone else calls it stripping the membranes, but she thinks that's a little off...it's not like they actually strip anything out of there you know. We chat, we hug, she schedule me to be induced a week later when she'll be there, but she says (as she has said for the last 2 weeks) I'll be surprised if I see you in a week ha ha!

After the appointment I have and hour and a half before I need to pick my kiddos up from school. So B and I head to target to walk around and waste time and drink soda. I started having contractions there. But I wasn't worried, anxious or surprised. I had been having a lot of false labor, especially after "moving things around." The time comes when I need to pick up the kids. As I am driving home (on a 15-20 minute drive) I realize I have had a couple of contractions. Watching the clock on my dash, I see that they are 10 minutes apart. I dropped off our cute car pool buddy and on the way home call up the hubs to see if he is heading home for the day. He is already home so I tell him the things he needs to do "Take a quick shower, put some clean clothes on, and brush your teeth. We might be headed to the hospital."

It's so funny when he opens the door for all of us as we lug in our bags and mess...he's ready to bound out the door and get going! But I didn't want to mistake this for false labor so I decided to take a warm bath first. But in the bath the contractions were 5 minutes apart. SO I figured it was time to go. They had gotten closer, the were consistent, etc etc. We got the kids all shipped off to where they needed to be and headed to the hospital.

I can't tell you how excited I was thinking I could have the baby on "Talk Like a Pirate Day!" Think of how cool the birthday parties would be!

I suck at blogging

I am terribly busy and haven't been doing any crafting. And on top of that I went to urgent care (the first time I've seen anyone in the medical profession for something not pregnancy or ankle related in about 10 years?!) I had back pain...what I thought might be a kidney infection...and the nurse practitionar who saw me for 5 minutes, never touched me, said they'd send my sample to the lab, and the lab would call me if it was positive, said I probably didn't have a kidney infection because where I was pointing at was too low.
Come to find out, the lab doesn't call patients at all. My midwife thought if it's not an infection it could be a stone but she ran a test too. 3 days later I start having fevers and chills in the middle of the night...but since nobody called me to say I had a kidney infection I thought maybe I caught a virus in urgent care. 3 days later I'm not improving so I decide I probably should go back to urgent care...but maybe I should call them first and see if they FORGOT to call the gal in pain who DOES have a flippin' infection...that could develop into something more serious if not treated!!! argh! ;)

The good thing is, except for the nights I haven't felt that sick, only tired. I had been taking ibprofin (?) to treat the head aches so the back pain was almost nil. I'd done Raesha's shoot, managed my kids, and even went to bunco tonight. I'm on antibiotics so all will be right soon.

50 Days to a Happier Christmas

Don't you wish that was a book on your shelf?! I do!!!

My house is a complete mess and I tell you, working (hours of sessions, editing, orders, ect.) are not helping me one bit! My list is huge: cleaning, decluttering, things to make.

In just a couple of days, there will only be 50 days left before the big day. I'm going to do somethign aout it!

I'm in

I try, but I can't!

T as Edward Scissorhands

I've been trying to givbe my camera a little break. With so much work and cuteness going on it's kind of hard. Go over to my photo blog to see more Halloween fun!

Sistas

This is my rock awesome sister "A" Aint she cool! She found that dress at the thrift store and made tissue paper flowers for her hair, did up her day of the dead make up. She rocks!

We went to our other sister's house for our neices Halloween/birthday party. That sister is an awesome host! She knows how to cook yummy things and is a great and funny hostess!

In case you're wondering,

our mom rocks too:

Blustery

It's so windy today, something that is pretty typical for a New Mexican Autumn. It's funny how the wind gusts through the trees really sound like crashing waves at a beach!

I've had scoop neck jackets on the brain since I saw this one on flickr and then saw this Anthropologie jacket and used the peter pan tutorial I posted about previously and got such a fun jacket! I did messs up when I made the pattern, making the neck too high. So when I made my collar pattern it was too small, but I didn't realize it until I had completely made the collar and had no more fabric left. After trimming down the neck on the bodice, I just attached the colar where it would fit and it ended up like this...which I think did end up looking mighty nifty!

Witchy

I finished B's costume this week. She wanted to be a witch (obviously) and I wanted her to be something creative, so we met in the middle and she's got a cute Halloween outfit that she thinks is a witch costume ;)

I was inspired by a talented boutique style dress maker and a cute little skirt in a pic taken by a fellow photographer.

Are you working on your copy crafts?

Just a little...

Wow! I was hoping baby wouldn't cramp my style too much! And really she hasn't. She hasn't cut into crafting or photography time...just into blogging time. She's so worth the sacrifices! ;)

edit: thanks to everyone for the congratulations and lovely comments!

Introducing ...

Eisa Emma
8lbs. 15 oz. 21 inches

Michelle suggested our winning name. It just seemed right for our unusual baby naming habits!

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions! Too bad this is it for us now that we have such a great list!

Expect better pictures and the whole story soon. Hopefully it wont bore you to death! or make you hate me ;)

ohhh and she has DARK BROWN hair! NOT RED!!!!

Because every baby needs a yo gabba gabba onesie!

One of my awesome sisters printed up yo gabba gabba iron-ons for me. I HAD to use this one for the baby! You can get yours here.

Still 'round

Yup, I am still here and still pregnant. Due date is Thursday, real convincing false labor a couple times a week (never had that before)...i dunno, LOL! I'll let you know ;)

3 Little Witches

I have this hat on my inspiration list, and even though I would still like to make one like it some day (soon?)I was feeling a little lazy and wanted to craft just for the sake of crafting. Do you ever do that? Really I don't know what I will do with these, except leave them on my door...maybe even take the embellishments off after Halloween and let my kids have at them with glue and markers??? I'm even considering doing them in fabric with all kinds of sewn on halloween goodness!

For now though, they are sittin' pretty and giving me inspiration every time I pass the door.

My Co-hort and I

Sorry no craftiness...maybe tonight since she ran her self into the ground today with help from my sister and 2 neices and a bunch of ducks and the proper amount of sugar and sunshine.

It's been a while

Since I got tagged :) From Kerry

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car)

Heidi Volkswagon

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fav ice cream flavor, favorite cookie)

Cake Batter Sugar Cookie (sounds like a g-rated cuss word!)

3. YOUR "FLY Guy/Girl" NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name)

M-Duk !!!

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)

Green Finch (?)

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)

Lanae Anaheim

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)

DUK-MO LOL!!!

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink put "The")

Pink the Green T

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)

Bob Lanell

9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne, favorite candy)

Eternity Caramel ;)

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother's & father's middle names )

Kay Lanell

Fun! I'm going the generic route and tagging anyone that wants to do it...let me know if you do it! I think it's a fun way to get to know more about people!

Inspired by...

Over on flickr I have been making mosaics of all my favorite crafty pics that inspire me to try some new techniques or projects. You can see the set here. The sweatshirt above left, is my favorite cozy jacket (good for wearing around the house i winter, maybe out on some errands with a t and jeans) but it was getting a little ragged...and stained. So Inspired by the sweatshirt on the right, I cut up some trendy apple/pear material and appliqued over all spots, logos, and worn areas...even added some ribbon to the sleeves.

Here are some other projects you've see and the originals that inspired them (click on the picture to get links to the originals

Just to let you know

False labor may or may not be starting again as I have had 3 contractions in the last 30 minutes.

Oh and I'm craving caramel, I can't login to my bloglines account, one of my sweet sisters took me out to Pei Wei's and I actually ordered something I like!, everyone is asleep thanks to the drama from last night, my car won't start, and I may not have caramel, but I do have pumpkin cookies ;)

I'll keep you posted

Update on me...no baby yet

Last night I started having contractions 10 minutes apart for over 3 hours. I called the midwife on call and she said to go take a warm bath to see if they would stop...well I didn't want to do that (get wet! have to get out of a bath! or stop labor! LOL!) So instead I called everybody and put them on notice and made sure all bags were ready to go, got everyone in bed, including hubs and me, had contractions in bed for the next hour and fell asleep. I didn't sleep well at all, my joints are achy, but my contratcions subsided! UGH! I don't mind waiting the 2 more weeks I have left, but I do mind having "false" labor. (I'm not a big believer in false labor...though I'm sure random braxton hicks get mistaken for labor...this was not braxton hicks...I had to seriously focus through a couple of them and knew I wasn't REALLY ready to go yet because they weren't getting consistently stronger or closer together.)

So maybe I'll be around for a nother 2-4 weeks ;)

YO!

WHY did I not know about Yo Gabba Gabba?!!! Created by one of my favorite music artists in the world!!!

No crafting tonight

Just proofing a client baby session.

Every night this week, when I do finally head to bed, I think about how I COULD go into labor during the night, but I remember reasons why it may not be a good idea tonight. You don't have to read the list, but it would be helpful if you did, in case I forgot something. My list:

1. The dishes aren't done
2. The laundry isn't folded
3. The kids' bags aren't packed
4. I haven't made my phone number list for the hospital
5. I need to buy groceries
6. I have a session tomorrow
7. I have to still finish proofing the session from today
8. I haven't learned to crochet mini-granny squares or found my itty bitty crochet hook so I have something to do in the hospital
9. No good t.v. on right now, must wait til week after due date to have good programming in the hospital
10. bills to pay
11. haven't dropped of pre-admin form to hospital!!!
12. Saturday is better than Friday
13. Pay day is tomorrow and hubs has to pick up his paycheck (and be at work for big boss's arival)
14. I want to make brownies


LOL what have I forgotten?

What I did tonight

Raesha and I went out to a cafe and got dessert. mmmmm I got a Cin-city cinnamon bagel and Raesha got a slice of cheesecake. yummers! It was sooo nice to get out of the house for an hour with her and gossip ;)

At home, I totally intended to go to bed by midnight, but one of the kiddos (B?) turned the drying cycle off on the dishwasher and I really needed to do the dishes tonight as our live-in colony of sugar ants could smell the BBQ sauce from dinner! (Am I weird that I think sugar ants are so cute?! They're so tiny! and named after sweet sugar! But of course I can't tolerate them on my kitchen counter.) OK so I turned the drying cycle on and worked on a new doll (found out they are only 50¢ at the dollar store!!!) I know C-bug will be so excited to see this edward scissorhands doll! Even if he is a little effeminate.

Not-So-Little Scrapper

Kerry is as you may know a fantastic scrapper! She put a challenge to her readers to scrap the most favorite moments of the year. I'm not sure I can meet her challenge number wise, but it really jump started my scrap-dead brain. I've got tons of ideas now for things to scrap, rather than questioning "What do I scrap and why?"

This one says: "This is about more than growing a life inside of me. It's about the collaboration betweeen husband and wife that ultimately creates a piece of art on film and within."

CLICK ON THE PHOTOS TO SEE BETTER QUALITY

I added music

Warning! I added a playlist to my sidebar...not sure how long it will last. You can go push pause on it, turn down your speakers or listen.

I am just UP LATE AGAIN!

Tonight it's heartburn. I read blogs, I cleaned the bathroom, I took some tums, I read some wonderful birth stories from Ina May's Childbirth Guide to get me all hyped up.

For those of you that don't know, I'm one of those crazy ladies that doesn't get an epidural! People always ask me why I don't, they question my reasoning, motives, and I suppose sanity. I can't REALLY explain it other than saying, unless you've done it and done it in a way you were okay with you just don't know. It's all really empowering.

tired and finally sleepy

Internal monologue is finally wrapping up. I'm craving some red vine licorice! Thinking I should have been packing my hospital bag tonight intead of playing around on the internet. The night was cloudy with a chilled breeze, much like autumn's nights. I'm reading a book of fabulous birthing stories and worried that all the positve experiences will cause me to accidentally induce my own labor. I will be so tired tomorrow. Even with all the housework the kids helped me with last week, the house is still a disaster. And this isn't even half of it...the monologue is much more eloquent and descriptive...my poor eyes and fingers just don't have the strength to type out it's prose!

P.S. It is officially Jess's B'day! Go wish her a happy day!

The News

So the news I have been waiting for! I entered a contest for a seat at Skye Hardwick's Business Bootcamp workshop in Salt Lake in February! Brrrrr! And I won! I'm so excited! If anyone needs to not be so dang soft in this business it's me! I hope I get my butt kicked!

I also had a nice(?) surprise last night when my sisters and friends covertly changed our girls night out into a baby shower! I even got some sweet presents sent in special from some great blogging friends! I have to take proper pictures and send out proper thank you cards! Dang it! LOL! I was completely embarrassed by the attention but soaked it all up for the baby's sake ;)

I'm Leaving

I'm leaving the house today! I swear! I don't know why I have shut myself up all week, but am wondering if I do leave the house today, what will happen? The one time I actually left this week was to get groceries, and the hubs LOST a decent chunk of cash...can't blame him really, he's been working every day (even when he had a day off this week he got called in to fix a problem!) So he's distracted, AND the cash was in too many small bills to fit into his wallet. We're still not 100% sure it even left the house with us, given that we have a 3 year old who likes to pick things up and stash them in grocery bags around the house...

And I've become a bit too obsessed with checking the internet. Mostly, checking for responses to various postings...oh and then there's the fact that I can't get to sleep at night! I finally figured out how to explain it! Initially, my body would be tired, but my brain kept going...but last night, it occurred to me that I have an inner monologue going on!!! AN INNER FLIPPIN' MONOLOGUE!!! No wonder I can't fall asleep! There's constant chatter in my head! I started to feel like Harold Crick! And like HArold, I'm not crazy. Unlike Harold, it's not a narrator...I'm just pregnant ;)

And if you've read through my woes this far, I'll reward you with some craftiness! ;)

I bought this dollar store porcelain doll last week ad made her into the most awesome witch! I removed everything (including hair) from the doll, painted her white (like a vintage porcelain doll) and got handy with the glue gun! I'm thinking aout making more! ;)

Housewife vs. the working man

So, while I'm at home, fretting over the things that need looking to, my hubs (The Admiral) has this kind of day...the guy in the black shirt is my hubs, the man who is talking to him is a well known actor in heavy make-up...did I mention I'll be changing diapers in about 4 weeks while he'll still occasionaly be brushing shoulders with celebs?

In the mean time

I am waiting for some news...and waiting for a couple of other things as well (the baby and all) and feeling a little restless, hence the second post today.

Last month I got to cracking a little on some home decor things I wanted to do, this is one of them. I've had the post cards around for a couple of years and realized they really matched the kiddos bathroom. The van was a recent gift from a friend that is always worrying about me. She's an all natural birth mom too, and we've been joking about having our babies this year in my van...someone told me VW gives your baby a scholarship if you do that...but I haven't found anything on it...Don't really want to clean up the mess anyways! LOL

For the Baby

So this nameless baby's mama, finally made something for "it" I had been putting off any baby stuff making because of not knowing what "it" is. But I just HAD to make "it" a blanket! Mostly because I know that after this baby finally comes out and shows "it's" big shiny butt the the world, I wont have time nor stamina for quilt making. Fortunately this one wasn't too much work anyways. Thinking of ordering more polk a dot material for a matching sling!

Hey! Don't forget to enter the Name our Baby" contest! Only about 4 weeks left. There's a link in the side bar ----->

More Halloween, if you don't mind

Good sweet Dawn is really helping me out BIG TIME with coming up with assignments for The School of Craft. With only 4 weeks left (officially) of this pregnancy, I barely have time to think about blogging...between naps, nesting, back to school time, my church responsibilities, and doing the best I can at getting some crafting and photography work done. (oooh I do have things to show you!)

Anyways, Dawn came up with this great assignment:

Let's do Halloween this month. You may work in any medium but you must include a pumpkin somewhere in your design (in honor of Moki and the cute pumpkins on her blog). The deadline for posting your work here at our Flickr clubhouse will be September 30, 2007 (I believe a month is a must in any serious deadline).

She even said there will be a prize!!!

The coolio thing to me is I "met" Dawn (and a group of other great artists) a couple years ago when Amy hosted a Halloween/jewelry swap...(right?) Can't believe how long ago that was!

So get going crafters! Join the School of Craft flickr group!

ohhhh and look at the details over on flickr for the mosaic above! Some of the pic owners have GREAT vintage collections!

Do you like Cake?

This video nearly sent the moki house spinning into a whirlwind of fury and brimstone last night. Hubs wanted me to stand around and watch it, while le bebe wanted me to go sit down and eat something. It's a bit funy though ;)

Is it too early for Halloween???

So craft stores are putting up all the holiday stuff...have you noticed? I've been everywhere this week hunting out Halloween decorations...waiting for Target to finish up the back to school thing so they can start unloading their bounty> Over at Michaels, Martha's got some new nice expensive things (you can make on your own for pennies but the packaging and such is like crack, so you know you just HAVE to buy it!) LOL!

Michaels also has black and white Halloween decor...some real neat-o stuff and I really loved the pumpkins on pedestals. But am in a money crunch right now, and definately can't JUSTIFY buying Halloween decorations in AUGUST!!! ;) So I picked up some candle holders at the thrift store for 50¢ (who btw has reorganized all their clothes by color instead of size!!!??! WHat the heck?!) and then picked up a couple of pumpkins at the dollar store (who also has Halloween going on!) cut up some fabric, pulled out the paint and hot glue turned on "The Matrix" (thanks teresa)and voila!

Perhaps the need for autumn is being manifested because of my disgust with summer. Going through the third trimester in summer is exhausting and of course hot. You'd think I'd go swimming to cool off more, but even the idea of getting wet doesn't appeal to me. Mean while, the baby has hiccups every night about 11, sleeping on the left emphasizes the bumping, sleeping on the right causes heart burn, so I usually wander away from bed to read a book (Mermaid Chair right now) or try to do something productive (which obviously from my posts hasn't been crafting ;) The truth is, I have had a pile of photography props, and photo boxes for client orders blocking my desk, and my poor pelvis prevented me from taking a step large enough to step over it. Since the rest of the house is falling to pieces (because these late night hiccup sessions cause me to sleep in so comfortably) I just moved props and boxes to another room...a girl's gotta craft what a girl's gotta craft ;)

Only 5 more weeks left...technically...but seeing as I have never had a baby on time yet, and do things as close to all natural as pregnantly possible, I probably have something more like 6 or 7 weeks ;)

Dear Mr. Moki

Dear Mister,

So, a weekend at the lake with your brothers and cousin...a weekend away without any kids...without any spouses...without any cares...sounds a lot like what I have been requesting for myself ;) Nope I don't REALLY hold any resentment towards you...just jealousy. But I won't let a weekend go to waste. We hit up only one yard sale and scored a bag of scrabble pieces, mickey mouse popsicle sticks, an old golden book and a big tacky welcome sign that will soon be soemthing even better, for only $1 total!

We also went to the library. T-man is like me...he is jonesin' for the next holiday to come. Sure it's still 3 months away until Halloween, but it doesn't stop a heart from yearning and a brain from planning. So we came home with a stack of Halloween stories and project books. Also in the stack were yummy books for me, like a Baja cook book and Rick Bayless's "Mexican Everyday." Of course I started craving shrimp tacos as soon as I took them off the shelf...so lunch:

was ever so yummy! Chile lime shrimp, pico de gallo, ripe avocado, and frech strawberries on the side...all chased down with cold lemonade...and none for you, you vacationing man!

(shrimp cooked in chile powder and lime juice. pico de gallo: equal amounts of yellow onion, tomato, avocado, bell pepper...and some green chile, garlic, salt and lime juice to taste served in warmed corn toritllas...mmmm I want more)

So have fun mister! Don't get a sunburn, don't get bit by mosquitos, don't get sand in your shorts, don't get in a fight with your brother and have to walk home ;)

Love,
moki

P.S. Don't forget about the Name My Baby Contest

getting a little bit crafty

I'm redecorating my front room table, I do it monthly or seasonally, and was looking for some nice pale blue and green striped fabric to make some matching pillows. All I could find was a BRIGHT and DARK striped cotton/spandex blend. At only $2 yard, it was hardly a gamble to buy half a yard and try to bleach fade it. It worked WONDERFULLY and I'm making the pillows today.

But it also got me to thinking about some of my other fabric. Maybe like me you have a stack of fabrics that just turn you off creatively. You wonder why you bought them to begin with. They're too bright, they're too busy, they're just all wrong. I threw all of these into a sink of bleach water and within half an hour oh so, they had faded to wonderful soft shades! Not sure what I'll do with them now, but they are nicer to look at ;)

Dont forget to enter my contest on the previous post!!! We need all the suggestions we can get!

The NAME MY BABY contest!!!

That's right! The mister and I want you to name our baby! We are stumped...not only do we not know the whether we are having a boy or a girl, we really are not sure what we will name the baby! We have aback up emergency name if it's a girl, but what if it comes out a BOY!??? What then, I really do believe I will leave the hospital with a nameless baby!!!

Here's the details:
+All of our kiddos have names that have something to do with dance. C-bug's even has a music implication. So this baby needs that too.
+All of the kiddos names are VERY unique and foreign...we've heard of one other person with C-bugs exact name, T-man's is genius! I love it!, and B's is a play on a word...this baby does not have to have a foreign name, but it must be unique! The chances of ever meeting another person with the same name should be highly unlikely.
+You may enter as often as you like!!! BUT only one boy and one girl name a day...don't want one eager person listing hundreds of dance names in one posting ;)
+The mister and I will choose our favorite boy and girl names and wait for the big day.
+In the end we may not use our favorite name, BUT will still award the prize to the name suggestor. If the baby is a boy then the boy name wins and vice versa, obviously.

+The prize is being put together. I have some things I've made, some things I've bought. and really want to beef it up before I show you...but I'm just anxious to call this baby something other than "it"

Remember to come back here and post your great ideas...oh! and don't forget to tell us what the name means, or any other coolio details!

Out

I am obviously out...of sorts, patience, energy, something...:) I'll poke around when I feel better...lets hope it's before this baby comes out in a couple of months ;)

Psuedo vacation update

Hubs was asked to stick around the whole weekend for some extra training! So we'll be extending our stay ;) I'll still pop back home to take care of our dogs and all that, but so far we've been enjoying our little break. We finally tried the cajun place Raesha has been telling me about...mmmm good. We played in the pool, B slipped in and took a "swim" before I ran over and rescued her...and she still isn't afraid!!! We watched t.v. real late and I slept in a whole hour and 15 minutes!!! LOL! Why do they always wake up at the same time???

So tonight we'll head back over for a free dinner and movie thanks to the boss man, sleep in a king sized bed, eat a yummy buffet breakfast (all for free...do I sound like I am bragging?) I'm just so happy this little wish for a mini vacation became a reality...next wish: $1,000,000!!! Talk to you all soon! Hope you find a mini break in your weekend!

Psuedo vacation

I was trying to come up with some way to get out of town. Hubs called and said he was going to stay in town over night because he'll be working really late and starting real early the next morning (big group in town he's taking care of.)

He invited us along to stay in his hotel room and use the pool and watch movies :) Then tomorrow I'll let C-bug skip school, we'll sleep in until 8 (LOL!) go to a park, maybe the zoo??? have a picnic, do a shoot at the hotel's courtyard...etc. etc.

I can't remember where I had read about psuedo vacations...maybe the super hero journal??? but basically, lets say you want to go to Paris...Unfortunately France is out of the question thanks to your budget...so what you do is plan a psuedo vacation...something to hold you over until you can take the big trip...your psuedo french vacation might be to eat breakfast at a french pastry place, visit the local art museum, watch a french flick, buy a baguette and some ooh la la cheese for lunch, etc.

We take psuedo trips to Disneyland all the time... Disney movies, clam chowder in bread bowls, mint juleps...unfortunately it does only keep us hanging, but it does help a wee bit.

Where do you want to go on vacation???

Downside: Tomorrow afternoon I have to get my rhogam shot in the butt though...not looking forward to that ;)

Notes to Myself 7/12

Top 5 Reasons I must leave town:
1. Different shades of brown just aren't doing it for me...I need color!
2. People are looking for me! ha! I like how "cloak and dagger" that sounds, but really it's exhausting.
3. I need some fun-my whole family does.
4. 5 + 1 = 6
5. Because "a change in your environment can spark a change in your perspective, creating a change in your life." - me

I'm so bad...

I am almost always late with sending things in the mail (or picking them up from my conveniently located mailbox across the street...it's a bit of a phobia...anyone know if there's a name for it???)

Swap lateness usually goes like this though: excitement> brainstorming> ideas> doubt> delays and interruptions> more doubt> better idea> more interruptions> finished> reasons I can't get to the Post Office> deadline date> one or two days + an apologetic email to very nice hostesses> in the mail...so dawn...let's just say it's in the mail ;)

Notes to myself

I've been feeling a little restless today, not in a bad way, just in a"nesting" way I suppose. I came across this sationary I bought a couple years ago, and wrote myself a note...because restlessness can make you do things like that...

I decided to journal this way in July, little notes, reminders, to do lists, art...to myself...use up the stationary stash ;)

School of Craft's first assignment!!!

Embroidery by Monique

Get Your Needles Ready!!! Dawn has submitted a great challenge and post for our first assignment! Go read it here! I'm off to do a little crafting...my mom took B for a couple of hours and T is obsessed with Lego Star Wars 2 AGAIN!

Crafty Friends go surfing

I don't mean to have the beach so on my mind...sometimes it just happens by accident...like when Raesha sent me this great craftster tutorial for making a men's shirt into an uber cute girls dress...and she knows I should be cleaning ;) but I end up finding an old torn thrifted shirt in my pile of fabric to make a shirt sized version for B...and while showing hubs how cool I am and showing him the vintage label that is now in the front of the dress...he says "Hey, that's Duke Kohanamoku...you know, famous surfer...Noni has a picture of him in "Lilo and Stitch," etc. etc." I'm always surprised by the random things in my hubs head...and yet he can't remember how I like the drinking glasses stacked in the house we've lived in for 7 years!!!

Other crafty friend related things: Jess is hosting her first swap ever! and it's all about embroidery and buttons!!! Go join fast!

And Dawn is submitting a wicked great challenge post for the School of Craft that will be up this week...cross my heart and hope to die! (I've been aching to find a time and place to use that old phrase ;)

What I do next...

"Decorate" the bathroom.

What to do next...

The kiddos are asleep, Hubs went to the dollar theater, determining next step...clean, orgnaize, or craft?