Quote of the day

Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint you can on it.

— Danny Kaye

Thanks, Danny and I also think you should add patterned paper and embellishments, too.....

Bella Blvd

To be honest, I had never heard of this company. I followed a link posted over at Memorable Seasons in the thread about CHA sneak peeks. I am in love with the sweet celebration line. I really really want the cupcake paper and the candle paper and that heart paper. Aren't they adorable? Go take a look right here.

This month's Design team kit

This month's kit was overflowing with the most beautiful paper ever! Jill sent several sheets of the Sei Jolie Chocolat paper plus stamps and ribbons and brads and buttons. This paper has got to be seen in person to be appreciated in all of its glittery, foiled, embossed glory. I had the worst time deciding which side of the paper to use cause it is all so pretty. Get over to Memorable Seasons as fast as you can because she had all her valentine's day supplies on sale for 35% off.

What I have decided

I read this quote and it certainly made me think.

" Don't underestimate the power of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering."

from Pooh's Little Instruction Book, inspired by A.A. Milne

This year I am going to relax, enjoy each day, slow down. I am not going to do project 365. I will take pictures but not every day and not just for the sake of taking pictures. I will take pictures when I want to. I will keep those I like and delete those I don't. I did this project last year and it was cool but I just did not have time to do anything with those pictures. There are pictures cluttering up my hard drive with no real value and no real meaning to me. The one goal I am making for myself this year is to go through the three years worth of pictures on my computer and organize them. Right now, they are filed by the date they were taken. I want to delete the bad ones and duplicate ones and tag them so I can pull up what I want. I still want to take photography lessons and learn how to use my camera out of the automatic mode. I want to read more books. I want to give Curtis more attention. I want to declutter my life, be more organized. I want to just be.

Some new layouts

My new favorite song

Journey - After All These Years lyrics

A faded wedding photograph
You and me in our first dance
Our eyes are closed
We're lost in one sweet embrace
Since those days the world has changed
Our love remains the same
God knows we've had our share of saving grace

And I'm proud of all the blessings
You have given me
The mountains we have climbed to get this far
You learn to take the laughter with the tears
After all these years

You make it feel brand new
After the fires that we walked thru
Against the odds we never lost our faith

In a house we've made our own
Where our children all have grown
Precious moments time can not erase

Make a livin' up and down the gypsy highway
Seasons that we've beared to share apart
Somehow in my heart I always keep you near
After all these years

After all these years
You stood by me
The days and nights that I was gone
After all these years
You sacrificed, believed in me
And you stood strong
Cause with our love there's nothing left to fear
After all these years

After all these years
You stood by me
The days and nights that I was gone
After all these years
You sacrificed, believed in me
And you stood strong
Cause with our love there's nothing left to fear
After all these years



Lyrics | Journey lyrics - After All These Years lyrics

I am a published author!

Okay, it is only six words but they will be credited to me and they are in a real book that will be on bookstore shelves! Do you remember this post? Six Word Memoirs is putting out a second book and this one is about love stories. They chose one that I submitted. I will tell you what it is so you don't have to buy the book. However, I'm thinking it will be a really cool book and is available at Amazon.com and your local bookstore. Are you still wondering what my story is?


" He makes me laugh everyday."

Would you like to be a Guest Design Team Member

at Memorable Seasons? We are looking for someone for February. You will get the same kit as the regular Design Team. Just upload 5 layouts to the gallery between Jan 5 and Jan 15 to be eligible. We will choose from everyone who has uploaded during those two weeks.

http://www.memorableseasons.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=1850

How I spent my day

I am embarrassed to admit that I have been stacking my layouts into two boot boxes for the last two years. After Michaels quit carrying the Pioneer D ring albums, I was lost. I began my search for the perfect album and just wasn't finding what I wanted. I bought three D rings from Hobby Lobby but they sat on the shelf mocking me with their emptiness. Several months ago, Jill at Memorable Seasons offered us a deal where we could preorder albums and page protectors from American Crafts for half price. I bought 8! Still, all eleven of my empty albums just sat on the shelf and taunted me. Today, I decided, was the day I was going to do something about it. By now, both boot boxes were full and I had been putting layouts into a laundry basket, too. I brought all of the layouts into my dining room and separated them into piles. I had a pile for each of us individually and a pile for our immediate family and one for extended family. This was a total of seven piles. I did not think to take pictures until I only had two piles left. Believe me, though, the table was covered. Of the books you see in this picture, only two of them has room for more layouts. The rest are full. I only have three empty albums left. I have ten albums full in the closet, too. I'm going to need to build an addition onto the house in a couple of years. LOL I hereby resolve to put my layouts into the album within a reasonable amount of time after they are done from now on. You'll notice that I said reasonable. I am not making any promises that I know I won't keep! Happy New Year, everyone.

Some more Christmas photos

My two beautiful girls
My mother got Seth and my two 3 year old nieces these cool capes. The girls got pink ones.
My little family of Santas
My mother with her adult granddaughters