so soon...

i can't believe the end of january is here already. so many memorable things - both good and bad - have happened in the last 31 days (it's a shame i had to experience them all through a sinus infection, but hey...). the month has really blown by for me.

all of the documentation for my hall of fame entry is completed. now i just have to make copies and assemble. i have no idea when i'll squeeze that in.

i'm headed home soon - i took some sleep meds last night that did nothing but make me groggy today, and i just feel awful. good thing i have my dr. appt. tonight. by the time you hear from me again, i'll be all hopped up on antibiotics and on the road to recovery. can't wait!

happy monday!

back from the weekend... still sick, but back anyway. i can't believe how much we squeezed into the weekend - it was so great, and we were so productive!

we're nearly done organizing & purging from the garage - it feels so good to be getting rid of multiple carloads of stuff that we'd otherwise have to move (no plans to move yet, but why put off until tomorrow what you can do today, right?)

also got to spend lots of time in my studio - cleaned it up a bit so that i could work again and then finished off my HOF entry!! YAY!! i just have to do the color-copying of each layout, the supply & journaling write-ups (on just the last few entries), and then assemble it to their specifications, and it will be in the post! my goal is friday... i was planning to use Priority Mail, which is inexpensive and has a typical arrival time of 2-3 days, but we were warned today that something's up with USPS, and that even Priority packages have been taking an abnormal amount of time to arrive, so i might splurge and pay for expedited shipping... yuck...

had dinner saturday night with some people we'd never met before... our church just started this program called "Dinner for 8" as a way for us to get to know people we usually wouldn't encounter on our day-to-day activities at the church. in general, i find it in poor taste to talk about politics on the "first date", (not to mention, to broadside your dinner guests, asking them how they feel about about the national debt and lack of social security that their generation is leaving with us... sheesh.) but we had a nice dinner, met some new people, and it was a good experience for me... i sometimes have trouble sticking my neck out to make a new friend, so i need this kind of interaction.

sunday, after church, we had lunch with our friends dan & rebekah. dan is the children's pastor at our church, so we got together to talk about our new involvement in the children's ministry. we're all very excited about the direction we're heading. after lunch, they drove us up to the new church campus that we've purchased and are remodeling. we'll move in around Labor Day, if the permits and all go well. i can't get over how huge the new space feels, and it really looks like a great place for us to grow. i have no doubt that God lead us to this church because we'll need all of the space it provides. and i can't wait!

well, that's it for me... i'm currently waiting for a project at work to finish running so that i can get my hands dirty. hopefully this one will go better than the last. :)

happy monday!

a little more good news...

my first class (January) at PaperZone had to be cancelled last weekend because we only had one sign-up, even though we got tons of comments on the project (a versatile birthday layout and a coordinating birthday card). however, i just got a call that my second class (February) is full already, they still have people wanting to sign up - and would I be willing to teach twice as many students?

of course i said, HECK YES! :)

friday, again!

ok, i can't believe it's been a week since last friday... sooo much has happened this week - or at least it feels like it... i think i'll recap some of the details that didn't really get posted here:

1. i have a sinus infection. actually, i've had said sinus infection since christmas day, but i was in denial hoping it was just a cold. well, a cold doesn't last for 32 days. this is a sinus infection.
2. matt's sick too - poor guy. it's like sleeping next to darth vadar. (poor guy - who am i kidding? poor me!!)
   
3. PaperWorks picked up my favorite, favorite, favorite layout yesterday for their October issue which makes me super happy!
   
4. work has been unbelievably busy, mostly due to one work order that took about twice as long as expected due to a whole rash of unforeseen problems.
   
5. the videographer from our wedding (a family friend, which is why he's just now getting around to it a year and a half later) is nearly done editing our wedding video. i can't wait to see it.
6. i made a bunch (that's a relative term) of money on ebay in the last couple of weeks and am putting it directly into my Canon dRebel XT Savings Fund (sounds official. in the future, i'll abbreviate it i think. CdRXTSF. hahaha.)
   
7. we're having lunch with the children's pastor and his wife from church, who are both friends & mentors of ours, on sunday to discuss our new involvement with the ministry. can't wait - we're very excited to be involved again.
   
8. my HOF entry is neeeeearly finished, i just have to concoct one more freebie that is worthy. though i really wish i could re-do the 10 photographs assignment... i just don't have that many photos of a theme/event at my immediate disposal, and i think i'm too short on time.
   
9. in highschool, i had a nearly obsessive-compulsive dependence on anti-bacterial gel. i think i might go back to that. i'm tired of getting sick.
   
10. i'm not working out nearly enough, nor drinking enough water, nor eating right... my relapse is disturbing me, so time to refocus.
11. i need to clean my studio. again. maybe i just need bigger garbage & recycling bins... not to mention a better scrap-storage system. thoughts?
    
12. i don't know yet how i'm going to copy my HOF layouts, or how i'm going to affix them to the cardstock. i like that they've given examples this year - last year, the directions were kind of nebulous... but my current debate: do i take them to kinkos, pay $1 each, and lose about an inch of the layout on one side? or do i scan them myself, risk cutting off the edges myself, and imperfect stitch jobs, and then color copy them, or as i did last year, print them onto photo paper? i can't decide. tips anyone?
    

ok, i guess that's all for me. i'm sincerely glad the weekend is here, that i have a doctor's appointment on tuesday, and that my monster data import project at work is finished. now, to get caught up...

ok, last night's episode didn't "do much" for me, but if you're a Lost fan, you should check out this post on the Lost messageboard. it philosophizes about the reason they're on the island, and it's really fascinating... not exactly a spoiler, but if you hate spoilers in general, i guess you shouldn't read.

that guy is either super smart, or has waaaay too much time on his hands... or a little of both. i think he's on to something though.

practice makes ... better...

my vocal instructor in highschool always told me that the "practice makes perfect" idiom was incorrect. the truth is that there's no such thing as perfect in music - there is well-executed, there is good pitch, there is good rhythm, there is good emotion, but there's no perfect. so she always said "perfect makes perfect. practice makes better."

so, this is my mantra this week. the photography shoot went well on saturday - the lighting was great, my subjects were in fine form, but there are some "trouble spots" of my own technique that were my downfall. (don't worry, allie, we still got quite a few very nice photos... just not as many as i'd wanted, and none that are perfect to my all-too-critical eye...)

i've been majorly jonesing for a new camera - you know the one. last week, i had a little meltdown... kinda silly... really silly... but i just feel very restricted with my current camera - i can't function in low-light situations, which seriously bums me out, and if i ever want to go really pro, i need to have good equipment (but i can't afford good equipment until i am making money off of it). this is frustrating. very, very much so.

matt knows how important this is to me and was almost moping last night because he wants to buy me this camera, and yet neither of us are willing to do it on credit (i'll thank me for that later) and we don't have the cash (and if we did, we certainly wouldn't be able to justify blowing it on a new camera). so i guess i'm just mopey.

until then, practice makes better... i'm determined to master my camera, even if it is restrictive. once i have it mastered, maybe i'll be able to trade up. my first assignment is rocks - to capture the relationship of a rock in it's environment. sounds kinda dull, huh? eh.

matt said he wished he could do something to help me improve in the areas i want to improve. i told him he can let me practice on him. i told him he could buy me a bigger memory card (ok, that a was purely selfish request and had nothing to do with improvement.) i told him he could go hiking with me to a local stream so that i can take some pictures of some boring old rocks. but mostly, i told him, he should not forget how important this is to him right now - so that when we can afford it, i don't have to battle to get my camera. :D

boy i'm whiny today. sorry about that.

yay, for fridays!

the week has been a challenging one at work - just because i've been working on an excruciatingly long work order for a customer, and everything that could go wrong with his machinery did, and we're both very frustrated. i'm ready for a weekend, and to never, ever hear his name again...

i am very excited that i get to take pictures of my best friend's family tomorrow... ok, i'm also very nervous, but mostly excited. :) i've got bunches of ideas for pictures in their home, and if the weather cooperates {not likely - we may not have broken the record, but apparently we're still trying} i have some ideas for outside photos too. i was up late last night flipping through some photography books to get some ideas, and then promptly couldn't sleep because i had so many ideas swimming around in my head. i'm really aching to get out with my camera though, and take some non-people shots as well... speaking of non-people shots - i stumbled across this incredible photography team today that took some very moving images of the Katrina devastation {they're not painfully graphic - just moving}.

and i keep having dreams about babies! that's GOT to stop!! :)

simplifying...

i've lately been feeling the urge to simplify things at home. we are two young, busy adults with two very active cats living in an 850 sq. ft. 3 bedroom house, and things just barely fit. we're also always looking for ways to save money. we have some lofty financial goals that we want to meet before we have kids, and in general, we just want to improve our financial health.

so, we're paring down. we're getting rid of the things we've carted around, the clothes that don't fit, the shoes we don't wear, the dishes we don't use, the scrapbook supplies (GASP!) that we don't need. it's quite a project, but i am continually reminding myself that if i can find a new home for it now, we won't have to move it later - and moving is one of our lofty pre-kid goals, and i hate moving.

i've also come to the realization that i just don't need *things*. life is so good as it is, i don't need every color of Prima flowers, i don't need excessive quantities of ribbon, i don't need two pieces of *every* print that chatterbox makes, i don't need every stamp set on my Stampin' Up! wishlist just because it's cute - i probably won't use it anyway. i don't need 6 sets of bedsheets for one queen bed, i don't need CDs i haven't listened to in 5 years, i don't need books that i'll never read again or movies that i'll never watch again. simplification. purging.

if we can't use it, lose it. (well, sell it or give it away.)

and so far, i'm loving the results. it helps that i have a husband that is so committed to this that he'll make as many donation runs to value village as i want him to make, and parents that will gladly lend us their big ol' SUV for hauling purposes.

and the end product is fewer boxes, fewer messes, fewer cluttered closets. more space, more coziness, more cleanliness and tidiness. we just don't need all these *things*. *stuff* as our pastor calls it. the *stuff* you get wrapped up in, striving for it. a big house, a big boat, a big car, lots of *stuff*.

but my treasures are in heaven. well, ok, i have a few in my art studio too. ;)

hello again!

ok, so my blogging has been rather intermittent as of late, and i apologize. thanks to those who still drop by to read.

my grandfather's memorial was saturday, in kitsap, so friday we drove over to my dad's and stayed the night. dad & i put together several items for a memorial table - pictures, a train that grampa had when he was a kid, his childhood teddybear, etc along with several of my recent scrapbook layouts about him - and i wrote up little descriptive placards for the items that needed some explanation. it was a fun little project, and a great way to share more about his life to those that came to honor him. the service went well - not much to say other than it went well, i guess...

dad & i spent some time going through some old family stuff that i haven't seen before... my grandfather's report cards, a letter to santa, old jewelry, a postcard from my great grandfather to my grandfather dated 1942 that says "take good care of mums, or when i get back, i'll use both hands." i was reminded that my great-grandfather traveled to Hawaii to help with the cleanup after the devastation of Pearl Harbor - got to read many letters from him about his trip.

i have some fun preservation projects in mind for some of the things i encountered, which motivates me to finish up the scanning of the photos i already have and my slide organization project. now if only i didn't have HOF deadlines looming around the corner... looming, i tell you, looming.

a little thursday rambling...

i guess i have lots to say, but not really in any good cohesive format. i think i'll go with a list:

• my grandfather passed away about 12:30am Tuesday morning. it's been a rough couple of days, just missing him, thinking about how lucky i was to know all but one of my great grandparents in my lifetime, and wishing that my children could've known my grandfather. memorial service is saturday. i intend to post a tribute to him here, but am having trouble getting it together long enough to do so. but his suffering and pain are over, and he's at home with our Lord, and with his daughter. and for that, i'm so thankful.
  
• i'm wearing a pretty shirt my hubby bought me for my birthday, and it makes me happy. unfortunately, it's sheer, and in an office that typically has HVAC issues, i'm a little chilly.
  
• i haven't really scrapbooked this week, but i did get it together long enough to make a card last night while i talked to my dad on the phone. felt good to be creative. even submitted to a few calls.
  
• i'm reworking the gallery on my website, and planning to add to it over the next couple of months. offering discounts to clients who book pet, maternity or family photo shoots. i'll post a link to my gallery when it's all done. hope that will be today.
  
• for the memorial service, my dad is setting up a sort of memorial display which will show off several special things my grandfather owned and some pictures, including the mini-album i made for dad, and several scrapbook pages i've done with old photos over the last few months. he's asked me to make placards to note special items, so i'm packing up some scrapbooking supplies to haul over with me tomorrow. i'll have to make them at my dad's, but i'm thinking nice cardstock, and a good masculine patterned paper, text printed on white...
  
• i get to spend saturday evening and most of sunday with my bestest girlfriend. can't wait. she goes back to school in a week and a half, so i'm jealously hoarding her time until then.
  
• i really, really want a camera. as much as i love mine, if i ever plan to go pro, i need a fullly manual SLR. wish i thought i was capable of saving that amount of money from my own spending money.
  

ok, i guess that's it for me. happy thursday.

anxiety dreams...

when i was on atkins, i used to wake up in a cold sweat after having a dream (nightmare!) about indulging myself in chocolate and bread.

last night, i dreamt that i was going to Las Vegas to be on Wheel of Fortune, and to submit my CK HOF entry (because somehow, they were related) and after i'd already arrived at the airport, i remembered that while i'd packed my assignment layouts, i had not packed my "extra" freebie layouts. i desperately tried to figure out a solution, but i don't remember if there was one. i do remember the frustration i felt after spending all that time on those assignments, only for my entry to be made incomplete by the lack of the additional four layouts.

what relief i feel this morning knowing that it was just a dream, and i have at least a few more days. i have only two assignments left, and i'm confident that i have at least 4 layouts available for my freebies.

happy birthday to me!

today is my birthday. the big 23. seems kinda funny - i'm past the age of majority, i've been married for more than a year, i've held down the same job for 5 1/2 years now.

and i still don't feel like an adult! oh, well, i suppose that's a good thing... young at heart, or something like that.

the day was nice and relaxing. the message at church was fantastic, and left my heart soaring. i've been spending more time in my Bible lately, and it feels so good. after church, i sent matt golfing with a few of his buddies, and had the afternoon to myself. i started a huge batch of chicken parmesan (just the chicken part) to freeze individually for good meals on a day that i don't feel like cooking (after all, how hard is spaghetti & a little marinara, and voila!). anyway, feeling very martha, i baked a batch of sugar cookies and even cleaned up after myself (that doesn't happen very often.)

after my leisurely afternoon, we met my mom & stepdad, step-siblings and my grandparents for dinner at my faaaavorite sushi restaurant. oh man, i could eat sushi multiple times per week. mom & bob bought me the Making Memories Runway tote, in black - so CUTE! and gave me a hefty gift certificate to my LSS. guess what i'll be doing this week! ;)

also walked away with a gorgeous skirt and some yummy bath products from my grandparents, the Designing With Stamping book (love those girls individually, and now i'm hooked on their books!) from my best friend, and a Starbucks gift card. my dad sent me a soldering iron (he knows me so well) and a JoAnns gift certificate. i see much shopping in my future.

and of course, my hubby did QUITE well. ;) (and by that, i mean that he authorized my purchases). the cutest green & blue down coat; new jeans; and a black broomstick gauzy top. yummy.

i'll post some pictures a little later, but i have to share that my 3 yr. old nephew has figured out cameras. it helps that i've been blinding him with my flash since he was less than a few hours old, but after he was done dancing for me ("take a picture of me! now take a picture of me thinking! now take a picture of me making faces!") he decided that he wanted to take the pictures. hesitantly, and with a prayer, i handed over my $400 camera and he did quite a good job! it's fascinating seeing the world through his eyes. the pictures even got more amusing when he figured out to point the lens AWAY from his face, instead of towards it! ;)

hello, hello!

not much to say today. i have the day off for my birthday holiday (love that benefit) and i'm home lazing around - still in my p.j.s as a matter of fact. i've cleaned a little, scrapbooked a little, and now i think i'll go make me some lunch.

hope everyone's having a stellar week!

a new kind of "first"...

i discovered my first gray hair last night.

ironic, since my birthday is on sunday.

but i still maintain that i'm not old enough to start going gray.

oh well. whatever. as long as no one tries to tell me i have hair like my grandfather.

{he's bald.}

a list today, because i don't feel like much else:

• my grandfather's health is getting worse each day. we don't expect to have much time left, and he's ready to go. if you would, say a prayer for my dad. this has been very tough on him, and will only get tougher.
  
  
• my heart is broken for the families of the 12 West Virginia miners who died after being trapped as the result of an explosion. how horrible to have heard the rumor of good news, and then to discover the exact opposite was true. my heart aches for them.
  
  
• in good news, i took the sample for my first class at PaperZone into the store on Monday - it was very well received among the staff. i'm very excited knowing that they're behind me all the way.
  
  
• a little more good news: my lss is putting together a design team. can't wait to hear the details and try out for this one.
  
  
• i completed another HOF assignment last night. i'm pretty pleased with my entry so far, though i'm amazed that the assignment i thought would be easiest has actually proved most difficult. i've made three attempts, and while i like all three, i don't LOVE all three... none of them screams "I AM HOF-WORTHY!!". know what i mean?
  
  
• i made shrimp scampi for dinner last night, my favorite, and am thrilled to say that i'll be eating the leftovers for the next two days.
  
  
• today's wednesday, though it should be tuesday (i had monday off) and yet it feels like thursday (i have friday off). i love that.
  
  
• i have a bunch of Stampin' Up! stamp sets listed on ebay right now. check them out if you're interested. later this week, i'll also list a big lot of random stamps, and a lot of miscellaneous scrapbooking supplies.
  
  
• i have a cold. i've had it since Christmas day. and i'm sick & tired of it.
  

ok, that's it for me.

intentions for the new year...

i've been reflecting on the events of 2005, and focusing on the year ahead. instead of resolutions, which feel so fleeting for me, i'm focusing instead on intentions - an idea brought up by ali e. intentions don't come wrapped up in prophesied failure, they're simply things i intend to accomplish, and if it doesn't happen, that's ok - they can happen next year....

so here goes - things i intend for the year 2006:

• i intend to remain focused on "more exercise, more weightloss".


• i intend to be published in 4 (of the 11) major magazines.


• i intend to continue taking advantage of the teaching opportunities at paperzone.


• i intend to find a design team to work with.


• i intend to complete my 3rd year ministerial preparation studies, which makes me elligible for ordaination.
  
  
• i intend to draw nearer to the Lord, to pray more often, to seek Him more often.
  

i'm back!

and happy new year!!

our trip to portland was so much fun - i don't know if i can quite describe what a great time we had. we left saturday morning for the 3 hour drive, and arrived at the hotel too early to check in. instead of waiting around the hotel on hayden island, we decided to see if we could venture into town. after quite a bit of wandering, and then getting lost, and then finding ourselves again, we did discover beautiful downtown portland, and both agreed that if we were ever to relocate, portland would be the place. so much like seattle in culture, diversity and "coolness" factor, and yet, so much cleaner and friendlier.

anyway, we had a great dinner at a local restaurant called "shananigan's" (how often do you hear that word? now imagine the irony when you hear the lead character in the show use it on the very same night, describing the central event comprising the entire plot of the show... that was funny.) and headed down to the show - back downtown. i'm pleased to announce that we didn't get lost this time.

the show, Mamma Mia!, the whole reason we ventured to portland, was simply fantastic. they managed to squeeze 25 ABBA songs into the plot, and the cast was so great. matt and i both felt that this was better than Princesses, our most recent favorite, and we agreed that we wanted to put the entire cast in our pockets and take them home so they could perform for us nightly. so, so good. so good. i've been singing ABBA ever since.

we drove around the north end of portland a bit after the show, searching desperately for a house that was covered in christmas lights, which we'd seen aglow from the freeway. found it, then promptly lost all sense of direction (christmas lights will do that to a person) and spent 20 very frustrating, and very amusing minutes getting back to the freeway.

stayed up late for the countdown, of course. probably the first countdown i've seen in a couple of years (i'm not really a midnight person, unless scrapbooking is involved) but there was definitely something magical about counting down the final seconds of the "old" year, and celebrating the birth of the new.

sunday morning, we were up just in time for a leisurely breakfast. we packed up and headed out, determined to explore the area a little more before heading home. we didn't expect to stay until well after 3pm. but, after a trip to the local scrapbook store (how could we not), exploring a few local districts, and a stop at Lloyd Center, we were amazed to find we'd whittled the day away. headed home, and made a few stops along the way, so much that it felt like we weren't making any progress, but we did get in the door around 7pm.

i'm glad to be home. wish i could see that show again soon. untitl then, i'll just have to sing it myself.