I've Been Nice!

Okay. So, I'm not quite sure how entirely true that is.
I do always try hard to be nice (most of the time, anyway), but I'm not always successful.

Anyway. . . Lately, some things have happened that make me think I must be much more nice than naughty.

Today the mailman left me an absolutely amazing package from the fantastic Greta. She is my swap partner at Studio Calico and is definitely in the running for the coolest girl of 2007 competition.

I could not possibly capture all the fabulousness in photos, but that did not stop me from trying.

As if the package from Greta were not enough. . . yesterday the UPS man left me a totally fun box of goodies from the ever-amazing, Christmas-loving Josie.

Do you see the cupcake spatula? And the lipgloss? And the fantastic red ornament? THANK YOU, Josie!

And, if that wasn't enough to really get you in the holiday spirit, I am proud to present to you (drumroll, please). . . the beginning of my Christmas Journal.


We're leaving in just a little bit to pick up Miss Stephanie and her hubby for a dinner date with Angie and Mike followed by a ride on the Christmas Bus. It's a Christmas-light cruise on a double-decker bus featuring adult beverages. I've been calling it the Griswold Bus. More details about that tomorrow. . . I promise.

I leave you with one last gigantic thank you to Greta and to Josie. Thank you for knowing me well and taking the time to find the perfect goodies just for me. I am so very fortunate.

December Goodies

My DT work for Scrap-tastic for December.
All were created with the Fun and Festive kit.





I haven't scrapped in about two weeks. It's killing me. I need to find time to make something. ASAP. I have an increasingly bulging plastic crate of Christmas goodies just waiting to be made into my Christmas Journal. The pile includes these. I'm especially excited to use them. Must. Scrap. Soon.

All 28 of My Years. . .

. . . thank you.

Seriously. I had just about the best birthday ever.

(There was a surprise party when I was in first grade that my parents got me a piano. That's tough to compete with.)

But, honestly.

I was showered with birthday surprises from the most creative people I know.
Someone shared these fantastic pictures. Maybe the best birthday gift of all!
Topped off by kind words from a great friend.

And, when I finally got home from night class, there were plenty of cards (and a few gifts) from friends and family. It is even possible--quite possible--that I enjoyed a little Cold Stone Creamery. :)

There was one little wish that didn't quite come true and the fact that Heidi did not break up with Spencer on The Hills. (I haven't watched the whole episode yet, but she hasn't broken up with him yet.) Oh well! There's always next year.

Okay. One more birthday-related thing. I've had a major "I'm officially a grown-up" moment last night. The B.'s came for dinner and cupcakes (promise to post the recipe later). Natalie could not grasp that it wasn't her birthday! We actually had to sing happy birthday to her after we sang happy birthday to me. And she blew out my candles (and spit on every single cupcake). I'm grown-up; I've learned to share.

So. . . if I still owe you a thank you for the birthday wishes or haven't returned your call or email yet I promise to get to it soon.

Thank you, everyone. Thank you.

P.S. I have pictures of all of this. . . Natalie spitting on the cupcakes. Me at Coldstone. All of it. I just don't quite feel like hooking up the camera.

Loads of Goodness

Lots going on.

Enjoyed a fabulous par-tay at Angie's on Saturday night. Despite the snow and wind and cold, the drinks were plentiful, the food was fabulous, the conversation was great, and the decor was festive.

Brad shoveled snow this morning while I went to the grocery story.

Remember how much I love these? Well. . . today I found these at the grocery store. HOORAY! I bought two bags. . . one for now and one as an emergency stress.


Am making turtle sundae cupcakes (a little something I invented this morning) and planning to share a pre-birthday dinner with the B.'s tonight.

Patience is a virtue. . .

. . . I so do not possess.

As if the post about premature fa-la-la-la-ing was not enough to convince, today I will reiterate the fact that I really have no patience. I offer two examples.

Example 1:
I think the reason I've been in such a bad mood for most of the week (at least since Tuesday) is that I'm super-excited for Saturday.

Miss Angela is hosting an ultra-fabulous holiday cocktail party. I can't wait for the food (the onion, brie tarlets!), the drinks (a DIY martini bar), the decorations (the Christmas tree to end all Christmas trees and the martini shaker display), and the company (even Angie's little brother is going to be there!). I even sent Angie and Mike a card to tell them how excited I am.

The truth? The part that I am most excited about is my outfit.

I'm totally going with the vintage 1950s Rat Pack cocktail party theme. I ordered a vintage cocktail dress from eBay. I even rented a crinoline to give it a little flounce. I bought a belt and found some shoes. I just need jewelry and a retro hair style. I cannot wait to get dressed up on Saturday. I'm so excited that it's tough to think about other things. I have no patience.

For now, a close-up. I promise more pictures of the dress (and Brad in his get-up) after the big party.


Example 2:
Monday is my birthday--my 28th birthday. (That reminds me. I need to decide on what kind of cupcakes I want to make.)

I've had my birthday present from Brad since Saturday.

I knew what I wanted, and I whined and hinted and whined and hinted and whined and hinted until he went and bought it for me.


I so wish that I had managed to find a chance to use it. It's killing me. The mess--the giant mess in my craft room--is also killing me. It's a total disaster. In fact, it's quite possible I haven't scrapped much lately because it is such a mess!

Again. No patience.

Holiday Cheer: Spend it Wisely

The holidays are a notoriously stressful time of year for me.

I just came to realization that perhaps the stressfulness is caused by misappropriation of holiday cheer (or maybe irresponsible use and/or wasting of holiday cheer).

Quite simply, I use up my holiday cheer too soon. It's gone by mid-December when the full stress of the holidays (i.e. work parties and shopping and mailing packages and mall traffic and cards to send and road trips) is really building up. I really need to learn to more carefully budget my cheer.

As evidence of my premature fa-la-la-ing, I present a photo montage of Sunday's Christmas tree adventure.

Miss Katelyn was not allowed to come - even though she had the perfect hat for the occasion.


No Christmas adventure is complete without red cups (a traditional en route to tree farm stop). Mine is the grande non-fat, no-whip white chocolate peppermint mocha.


Natalie had a blast! She was Christmas Story bundled up. You know what I mean? The kind of bundled up where the kid can't hardly walk and doesn't stand a chance of getting up on their own in the unfortunate event they tip over.


We brought Memphis, of course. He has never in his entire six years as a dog missed an expedition to the Christmas tree farm.


I love, love, love this picture. I do wish, though, that we could have somehow gotten Memphis to jump with us.
Yup. Don't they look cute? (There are plenty of pictures of them jumping, too. I thought I'd spare them the humiliation, though.)

The tree decorating was accompanied by plenty of Christmas tunes and some festive beverages.


Your eyes are not deceiving you. There's no way that star is going to fit between the ceiling and the top of the tree. Where's the saw?


The bubble light (along with the Barbie ornament) is totally our signature Christmas tree decoration. They were always on our tree when I was a kid, and I love having them on my grown-up tree.

See? You're exhausted by the amount of holiday cheer I've already used up. Aren't you?
And it's not even December 1st!

Now, since my new favorite thing to do is tease you with blog posts to come, I share this picture. For now, let's just say that there is, in fact, a dramatic difference between Dusty Trail (the color of my living room walls) and High Country (the color with which Brad painted over the spackle on my walls). Hmmmmmmmmm.

Turkey and Catch-Up

Love that title!
No worries. I did eat any ketchup with my turkey.
I did, however, eat lots of other goodies--but, I'll save that for later.

Let me kick off with a little pre-Thanksgiving goodness.

I got a package from my Secret Santa. Hooray for Hambly and velvet Thickers and Noteworthy and Fontwerks and Bazzill!


I also got this package of fabulousness from d. Reeves. I've been lusting after these albums since I got my first one in the August Cocoa Daisy kit. I couldn't resist a few more. I know. I went overboard. (If you are looking for one, I suggest you go right to the source. Diane was awesome to work with!)


And, last but not least, Thanksgiving.
Angie and Mike cooked up a fabulo-so bird.
My contribution to Thanksgiving was the monkey bread. It's this great bread covered with dill and garlic and butter that you break off in tiny little hunks. Delish! Well. The bread was officially the only catastrophe of Thanksgiving. I was perilously close to starting an oven fire as all of the butter from the bread flowed freely into Angie's sparkling clean oven. Smoke filled the house; the smoke detector did not go off. The bread was partially raw when we finally removed it from the oven for fear of flames. Brad cleaned the oven after dinner. Sorry, Ang!


My plate. Notice the lack of gravy and the abundance of rutabaga. YUM!


Brad's plate. Notice the abundance of gravy. YUCK!


The pie.

And a little ping pong to burn off some of the Thanksgiving calories. Despite my crazy faces, strange sounds, and over-all lack of ping-pong ability (I am certainly no Forrest Gump when it comes to ping-pong), I do believe Brad and I were victorious in a 2-1 defeat. It is possible, though, that Mike and Angie were distracted by laughing at my ridiculous ping-pong skills. I think a Christmas re-match might be in order.


Friday I did just short of absolutely nothing. Figured you didn't need to see any pictures of that.

Yesterday we did The Target Run. I know I've asked this before, but how does one spend $85 at Target and not buy a single fun thing!??! I do have enough toilet paper, paper towel, and dish soap to carry me comfortably into 2008, though. Figured you didn't need any pictures of that, either.

Then, I worked my tail off writing a paper (the same paper I've been threatening to write for at least a month now!) about the legality of school vouchers. It's in rough shape. So, if school vouchers (or citing legal sources) is your area of expertise, let me know. Said paper could use some serious assistance.

Today. . . .we are going to get our Christmas tree. I have a new outfit to wear, including a fabulous red puffy vest that will nicely compliment my fantastic new boots. I'm stopping for a White Chocolate Peppermint Mocha. Natalie (and her parents) are coming along. I'm all set with a Curious George does Christmas book for her to read in the car. The iPod is charged and filled with Christmas tunes. I have to go plug in the camera battery. It is going to be some serious Christmas fun.

Thanks for hanging in there for my lengthy holiday-weekend play-by-play.

Stay tuned. There are some exciting things coming in the near future:

It won't be long before I will tell the story of how I got Brad to get me my birthday present nearly two weeks early! Bwahahahahahahaha.

And I so need to tell the tale of the vintage holiday cocktail dress purchased on eBay.

And I'll probably need to share a picture (or two) from today's holiday festivities.

Sniffing It All In

It would not be a lie or an exaggeration to say that I am sitting at my kitchen table just inhaling.
Yup.
Just sitting here.
Sniffing it all in.

I just baked a pumpkin mascarpone pie.
The best part?
It's snuggled in this adorable dish.

(It's my main contribution (besides the sparkling company) to tomorrow's Frie-mily Thanksgiving Feast. I normally make a totally delish pumpkin cheesecake but was forced to make a traditional pie this year because of the incredibly cute above-linked pie dish.)

It smells like a delicious combination between pumpkin and cream cheese and cinnamon and ginger and cloves and vanilla and nutmeg. It smells warm and fall and fantastic.

Am I making your nose water?

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
Gobble, gobble.

Brad Rocks

So. . . Brad has been off prowling the woods looking for deer to shoot.
He's been gone for a long time.

I called him tonight to whine about how very much I wanted him to come home.
I so did not think he would oblige.

But. . .

he was already on his way home.

Hooray!

He'll be here really soon.

The night could only get better if Heidi dumps dumb Spencer!

Happy Randomness

Lots of good things going on.
A list is in order.

1. The turkey is purchased. Ang and I spent Saturday running crazy errands (that included buying the bird for Thursday's feast), devising beautiful decorating schemes, making lists, eating pizza, and having some all-around fun.
2. Super, ultra fun crop with the fantabulous Miss Stephanie at Archiver's last night. I'd like to formally thank Al Gore for inventing the wonder that is the Internet for it brought Stephanie and I (who really only live about 10 miles apart) together. I spent most of the night working with the Scrap-tastic December kit. Fun stuff!
3. I am ready for Christmas music. I picked up the Christmas album from Starbucks (it goes well with a white chocolate peppermint mocha) and downloaded a few tunes last night. (Stephanie pointed me towards the Barenaked Ladies Christmas disc. Perfect! Thanks!)
4. I am loved! This time by Scrapbook Trends. They requested one of my mini albums for their April 2008 magazine.
   
5. I had breakfast this morning with the B.'s. Natie and I had on matching pajamas. For the record, it was Nicky and not me that pointed out that it was a great photo op! I'm making quite the photographer of her.
6. Last night, I experienced 3 a.m.--wide awake. I cannot remember the last time I stayed up this late. I've been a bit of an insomniac this weekend, though. I'm hoping that it does not continue into the work week. (Okay. I realize that this is a happy list and that this item was not particularly positive. Sorry.)
   
7. Exactly two months from now, I will be enjoying some Fried Green Tomatoes in the company of some like-minded, crazy-creative gals. HOORAY!

Have a great start to your week!

That's What Friends Are For

(imagine the title sung in as a totally fab 80s song)

I do realize that I've been absent from the blog-o-sphere for quite awhile for a variety of reasons including: night class, parent teacher conferences, and a wide variety of other commitments.

But, tonight I'm back, and let me tell you why.

I want to brag about my uber cool, scrappy acquaintance turned real-life friend, Em.

Why?
Why am I bragging about Em?

It could be any number of reasons:
she's funny.
she's creative.
she's a musician.
she's a teacher.

Because she was one of 15 - yup. 15 - finalists in the Last Scrapper Standing contest.

Check this out.

Em in all her fabulousness.

And, Em? You should also know that I had a beer - a Spotted Cow - in your honor tonight.

I also did something else in your honor today, Em.

I wore hot boots today - totally hot, brown, knee boots. I dropped a big chunk of brownie on the floor in my office and stepped on it. Turned out the brownie was very slippery, and I fell right on my big ol' but in my office. Luckily, it was in the sanctity of my own office and not in the middle of the hallway. But, still. I do have to admit that as I was flopping around on the floor hoping to God no one saw me, it did cross my mind that this is one of the reasons we're friends. We both do things like slip on brownie and fall on the floor. (Not that Em has ever done exactly that, but a lack of coordinated-ness is a trait Em and I share.)

Congrats on LSS, my friend!

BIG News

Sssssh.

Hear that?

If you listen really close, you can hear Scrapbooks, Etc. calling me.

Know what they wanted?

One of my LOs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For this call.

My first publication.

Sssshh.

Twice a year my work works out in a way that I get three pay checks in a month.
Seriously. An extra pay check just for doing the same ol' regular thing I do every day.
Twice every year.
Free money.

Need I say more?

I've always wanted one of these.I couldn't resist.
My aunt is a bad influence, very bad influence. But, I've heard it's going to snow soon and a girl needs to keep her feet simultaneously warm and cute.
And, in case I haven't mentioned it, I'm going on vacation in January! I'm so stinkin' excited to hang out with these fun, crafty gals.

Switching It Up

Have done many things outside of my routine lately.

• I've eaten out tons!
• Last night we went to the movies. Saw American Gangster. Even went to the late show.
• Grocery shopped on Saturday night after the movie at about midnight. The store was empty. It was great!
• Did have our usual Sunday breakfast, but we shared it with Nicky & Co..
• We're having meatloaf for dinner - not something that's in our usual dinner repertoire, but I'm really looking forward to it in a 1950s kind of way.

Did not complete my normal Sunday studying. Did some scrapping instead. Used up pieces of the totally fun October kit from Cocoa Daisy and a Scrapbooks, Etc. call as inspiration.