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May 2008

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...and we have a winner!

Thank you everyone for stopping by and leaving a comment!     I love it!   With the help of Missy Two Shoes.....we picked a winner tonight to receive a big bundle of stuffs from Details and my big stash of stuff!  Congratulations...

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Elizabeth!!!   I will email you.  Hugs to all my friends.  Thanks so much for leaving such wonderful Mother's Day messages!!!    I loved them all.... xo

Hope you had a.....

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I had a lovely Mother's Day Tea at Ella's school.  If this wasn't the sweetest little tea party.  What a treat.   Certainly kicked off the weekend on a huggable note.... whatdaya think of my groovy hat?  handmade by Ella, of course ;)

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ETA:  I had to add this pic that was taken today (mother's day) after Alex's lacrosse game.  He came up to me and said "Thanks Mom, I love you" and gave me a rose.  ohhhhhhhhhh.  it killed me I tell ya.  What a sweetheart xoDsc_0321_2                                                              So, in the spirit of Mother's Day,  I'm going to a do a little blog give away!!   I've been wanting to do one for a while...and what better time than Mother's Day!      

So leave me a comment!   That's it.   Just say hi :) ...tell me about your Mother's day, or link me to your blog.   I'd love to hear from you.....  and, on Tuesday, May 13th at 7pm, I will pick a random name from the comments left to receive a nice big bundle of gifts & scrappy goodness (from Details and from my mega stash!!!)     p.s. everyone is welcome to join in...international too!

Happy Mother's Day, friends!

...and she scrapped.

I got to dress up as a guest designer this month for Scrapmagie !  There was lots of Prima stuff in the kit so I was even happier.  I have been so behind on the scrap scene that I was thrilled to get a little double wammy/credit out of the kit :)   gotta love that.

Here are the pages I made.

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....and with all the kit stuff I decorated an 8 X 8" Prima gift box to put all the wonderful and thoughtful cards that many pea's over in the Pub made for Trudi.   She is home from the hospital now, but her cancer has spread and she is facing a tough road ahead.  Keep her in your prayers.  I know I am.   Thanks for stopping by today and hugs from NH.

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We're moving back...

Kidding.    But we always like to think about it.  Especially after such a fun week visiting N CA...

Our outbound flight was overbooked so they were looking for 4 people to give up their seats on the 6am flight in exchange for 4 free round trip tix's, breakfast AND guaranteed seats on the 8:30am flight direct to SF.    um, Hello!

Like an episode right out of the Simpson's,  we were yelling "ooo...ooo...pick us" falling out of our chairs trying to get to the counter first... stumbling, pushing, yah.  that's us. bwa.    Anyway, they picked us.  So before our trip was over, we were already dreaming about where to go next....for free! 

So when we arrived in San Francisco,  my husband was feeling a bit like he had won the lottery (I mean, we did get free breakfast too :P ) so he surprised the kids by upgrading our rental car to a convertible.... well, when you have a 9 year old boy & 5+ year old girl,  nuff said.   It was pretty cool.  Dad got some good points for that one :)

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I took the kids up to have an overnight with Margaret and the boys in the Sacramento area.   The kids got to go swimming, play all sorts of games....and Margaret and I got to catch up, laugh, reminisce, cook dinner and drink a wee bit of wine....ahhh, the good 'ol days.    Here is Ella swimming with Liam.  Sweet, fast (old) friends :)

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My husband celebrated his birthday while we were out there.   It was nice spending time with his father, sister and brother (who was visiting from Germany).    We had a couple nice dinners and visits together. Dsc_0291_2   We also got to join all our friends for a day in San Francisco...site seeing and having fun.   We took all the kids to the aquarium at Pier 39 and walked all over Fisherman's wharf.    It was a beautiful day.Dsc_0243                                                                                             

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Of course, I also took advantage of the down time, beautiful weather and gorgeous parks and such to get some pics of the kids.

Coming soon to a scrapbook page near you   ;)

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Oh, I also have to share how happy I was to see that SF artist,  Virginia Travers still has a cart on Fishermans Wharf, selling her amazing paintings and prints.  I love her whimsical style and was so happy to add this little number to our growing collection.   Sf_in_fog_painting_2 

Well, thanks for stopping by and letting me share a bit of my vacation holiday with you all.   xo

Off to CA....

We are leaving this weekend for our trip to CA to visit family & friends.  Can't wait!   The kids are so excited.   I found a few new goodies to take along with us. One, I'm wondering, how I ever traveled without?Il_430xn_23159499_2 I mean, really? Can you imagine taking photos without this fabulous creation attached to your camera?  I didn't think so.

I found it on Etsy , of course.  From this lady who calls her shop "I Believe".  Cute, huh?

I also did a little shopping for the kiddos here.   I must say,  I miss the toddler sizes   :(     Ella can still fit into 5T, but is just about moving up to a 5/6.  There is SUCH a difference in the styles moving from the *T*'s to the non *T*'s.   You know what I mean?   Not sure I'm liking the low rise/ belly showing things for this age?   yah, I'm really not.       There is always Janie and Jack that I'll visit when we land in CA.  I just adore their childrens stuff :)  so darn cute!

Before I leave, I had to finish up a few scrappy projects.   One of them was to come up with a project for Prima that recycled some of their adorable packaging.    So I thought, with Miss Ella Bean loosing her first tooth, I would make a little set of "baby's firsts" treasure boxes to hold the First tooth,  Hospital bracelet and first lock of hair.   I'm so happy I now have a place to put these tiny treasures for her to keep forever :)  The second photo is to show you the tops of the bottles.  All supplies are Prima (alot from their baby girl collection).

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Have a great weekend everyone and if you're heading out for spring vacation,  safe travels to you!  Thanks for popping by :) 

Busy Week!

First of all, guess who lost her first tooth?!  big face comin' at ya.....

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It was pretty much dangling on Friday morning before she went to school.    We were hoping it would hang on until she got home that afternoon,  but sure enough,  it came out during morning kindergarten.   It was so exciting for her,  'cause she got the cool "tooth box" from the nurse...and of course, all the attention from her classmates and teacher!       The tooth fairy was very good to her and left her $2 under her pillow.... good gawd, I remember .25/tooth!  am I getting old?  Don't answer!  hahaha :)    Exciting stuff :)

I did get my craft room painted last weekend (love that green!) and yesterday, started organizing my stuff into baskets (was totally inspired by how Donna Downey organized her stuff, not that mine will ever look like that, but kudos to inspiration :).   These baskets will eventually (maybe today) go into my new bookshelves that still have to be put together.    My husband set up my new worktable that we bought from a friend. As of this morning here is what it looks like.    Now, mind you,  this may look like a disaster to you....BUT, it is looking SO organized to me!   I cannot wait to pull it all together over the next few days...

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This past week I got an email from Jenni Bowlin who asked if I'd be interested in doing a little design work for her site each month?   Huh?  Of course I would!!!  So anyway,   here are a couple of pages I made with her droothworthy April kit .    Fun Stuff!

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There is a scrappin' friend from 2peas,  Trudi who is facing a battle with cancer :(   We are joining forces here to make handmade cards for her.  If you'd like to join in,  we'd love it!  ...and so would she :)   Thanks for stopping by.

Crafty Room Inspiration

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Lately, I have been planning and preparing to finally do over one of the front rooms in our house as a craft room for Ella and me to play in.   I am just so tired of my dining room overflowing with paper, ribbon and scraps.  It is time.   

I've been slightly obsessed lately with the "research" part before attacking the project.  Man, there are some AWESOME rooms out there!   I started by buying this book (which is very inspiring I must say!):

Orgnaized_scrapbooker_book_2 I've also found a ton of inspiration recently on this blog I came across,  Crafty Storage .  She has so many links to awesome room and storage ideas.

On Monday, I cleared out the room so I'm getting ready to go.   I'm really liking this pear green color from benjamin moore.  I'm going paint shopping first thing tomorrow morning & hoping to start painting tomorrow afternoon.   I have been tucking a few things I purchased for the room into the garage...so maybe it will come together more quickly than I think.  C'mon, it will right?  Be nice and at least tell me so.  There, I feel better.  hee.  I'll post photos as I progress....  Wish me luck!   

April 1 = Fresh Motivation

Spring has sprung.   Well, not here, but somewhere  *sigh*.  Anyway,  it may be cold outside here with mounds of snow still on the ground,  but darn if I'm gonna let it drag me down anymore!     That's it.

So my mother & I joined a local ladies gym here in town and are going to go 3 nights a week after work, and I am committing to walking on my treadmill at home the other two nights while I watch my favorite guilty pleasure on tv.    I started following the ww plan a few weeks ago,  just need to step it up a little.    I must say, our friend, Christy has been a huge inspiration to me.  Have you seen her new avatar?   With as much stress as this girl has been through,  I admire so much how she took control of her life.  and lost a lot of weight!   Girl, you rock.  :)

My husband just booked us tickets for April vacation to go to CA to visit with these guys.   It's been just over a year since we've seen them and needless to say,  I can't wait!   Another little motivator for the above mentioned paragraphs ;)

So, I've been scrapping, but mostly pages for that little book project I told you about a while ago.   We just had our first round of deadlines with the next one coming up.   Not  a big "deadline" fan,  but, whatever.    I'm not sure if it's legal,  but I'll share just a few little sneeky peekies with you...  *shhhhh*......  ;)

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So happy April Fools Day.   Did anyone get you good?   My son got me this morning with saran wrap on the toilet.  gross.  He and my husband couldnt stop laughing.  boys!!  I'm such an easy target.  sigh.  Thanks for popping by.   :)

I just have to say....

What happened to my lonnnnnng thought provoking post  that I just made last night?   ack!!!  This is not the first time this has happened to me

Anyway,  I thanked the wonderful Janine , Iris , and Christiane for making my day by naming me on their blogs recently and giving me this (and I'm sending it right back at ya!)

Day_award  Oh, I'm so bummed,  I went on to name so many of my peeps who make my day and listed lots of reasons why, etc....  and now I am just going to have to tell you who they are 'cause I don't feel like typing it all up again.   Basically,  I love each of these girls so much and their blogs make my day when I visit.  For so many different reasons too.   So,  in no particular order, thank you to DarcyAmy, michelle , jennifer, Christy, Peg, Sara , Paula, Keisha, Revlie, and Gabby for making my days happy when I check in with you.   You all inspire me creatively and personally and I love your great big hearts.    There are so many more talented peeps that do the same,  how can I list everyone?  I love you all!  I hope you know that.  xo

So, guess what?  It's snowing here today.  March 30th.  Blizzard last night.  No school.  Ice.  yup.  Nice.   When is this New England winter going to end?   I am just SO ready for spring.  I cannot wait to rake up my yard, wear capris pants and sandals, watch my bulbs pop up and bloom,  take long walks, etc. etc.   You get the picture.   So, please, send me some good "Spring Vibes" today!    We need it to melt this (even though it does look quite lovely, ey?)  At least the sun is shining now.  Have a nice day peeps :)

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Random stuff on my mind

Getting organized and finally tackling my craft room.

This adorable cake pan that I bought for my sister.  I think I need one too.

Having our windows professionally washed this year before summer (I'm such a bad window washer.  5pm with the sun shining through is making me cringe these days).

Investing in new patio furniture for our deck.

This spring coat and this ruffley blouse.  (Kinda cute in a Seinfeld way)

Hoping I get the contract to sell this new line in my shop.

Sneaking away with the hubs for a relaxing long weekend here

Having a new mantel made for our fireplace

and, finally,  didn't the kiddos look great (if only for a minute or two) in their Easter bests?  It was all I could do to get Alex to tuck in his shirt and put on a belt.  He said to me "Mom, I'm not going to a prom"   <snort>    I hope you all had a wonderful Easter Sunday filled with blessings.  xo

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     I know, I know...the mantel.  *sigh*