Peace out, unemployment!!

Today was my first day at the new job! It was an orientation day, but still a work day nonetheless. Let's just say it was quite the shocker when the alarm went off at 5:45am. Yikes. I haven't been up that early in a LONG time. The orientation was in Pasadena, and I am not familiar with traffic from Santa Clarita to Pasadena, so I wanted to give myself plenty of time to get there. Little did I know that there isn't really bad traffic to Pasadena, so I managed to get there super early. WAY too early. Like over an hour early. I tried to take a snooze in my car, but I was too antsy pantsy for anything restful to occur. Orientation went well, and tomorrow I head to the actual worksite for a couple weeks of on-the-job training. I'm really excited about this new company! I think it will be a great experience!

Top 5 things I will miss about being unemployed:
5. Feeling free as a barn swallow
4. Blowing through multiple works of fiction each week
3. Working on my goddess like tan
2. Hangin' out with Frank upwards of 24 hours a day (he follows me around like a dog, it is awesome)
1. Rolling out of bed whenever the mood strikes......why, hello 10am, so nice to see you!

Top 5 reasons why I am happy to go back to work:
5. Less time to think about missing my friends and family back in Washington
4. It is about time I started to use my brain for other things besides figuring out what lame television show I'll watch next (I actually watched "Camp Rock" the other day.....seriously! what is my deal?.....although, if I was a 13 year old girl my walls would be plastered, I repeat, plastered with BOP magazine pictures of The Jonas Bros)
3. Feeling like I am contributing to the greater good, as opposed to feeling like all I do during the day is contribute to the destruction of the ozone layer, global warming, and my size 10 carbon foot print
2. I don't want to look like a leather bag by my 35th birthday.....less pool time = less damage to my precious epidermis (it is your largest organ, ya know!)
1. I am thisclose to be briz-oke as a jiz-oke fool!! Me no likey that feeling......

Peace out, unemployment!!!

SoHo shelves.....revisited

So here are the shelves, all put together and at the top of the stairs. I finally emptied all my boxes full of CDs (hard to believe I'm still working on unpacking).
Before moving down to California, I had purchased these CD holders by Discgear. They are super cool, and a great way to store CDs if you are looking to save some space. Each one stores 50 CDs, and it comes with a companion album where you can store all the written materials that are included with the CDs. Buh-bye jewel cases!

New gadget

This past Christmas, John got me a gift certificate to Bose. We finally ended up using it over the weekend for the 3-2-1 GSX DVD Home Entertainment System. It arrived yesterday and we hooked it up last night. It is pretty much awesome. It holds up to 200 hours of music, so I need to start downloading some of my CDs onto it. The sound quality is incredible! John and I popped in the first Lord of the Rings movie and were blown away. We will finally be able to compete with our neighbors when they blast their music on the weekends (they are super nice, and we actually really like them, but they seriously pump up the jams at times). Up until we got this system, all my CDs were still in boxes on the bedroom floor, so that motivated me to unpack those bad boys. I'll post a picture of my finished music bookcase later.

Almost legal!

Goodbye Washington license! You've been punched! Ah, I am sad to see my Washington driver's license go. I really liked my most recent license picture too! Who knows what my California license photo will look like, I didn't get a chance to see it at the DMV this morning. Hopefully I won't look like a zombie. I always try and over smile in the pictures because I had one license photo in my early twenties that was just horrendous. I looked like I just woke up, I wasn't smiling, one side of my face looked numb, my eyes were barely open.....and can I get a side of double chin with that? Ugh. Then I had to live with the stupid thing for 4 years. Not cool. And the answer to your next questions is: Yes. Yes, I am vain. The license I got when I turned 16 was like the best license picture I have ever seen. I was so happy to pass my driver's test and get my license. When you looked at the photo it was like you could hear me say "Hells yeah! I just got my license!!" in the background, I looked so freakin' happy. If they would have let me throw up the rocker hand and stick my tongue out in the photo, I would have. Now, 15 years and 40 additional pounds later, I'm just hoping my photo looks decent and my chin-chin-charoo doesn't multiply in said photo. I'll keep you posted......

I got skills, yo!

It is not a secret that I love Cost Plus World Market. I could spend hours in that store looking at everything from furniture, to rugs, to knick knacks, to greeting cards, to strange things from other parts of the world. I have been compiling a list of some furniture items that I'd like to get once I start working again. Yesterday I bought the Soho bookcase and put it together all by myself. It ended up being a lot less confusing and time consuming than some of the furniture I've put together in the past (I'm talking about you IKEA, yeah you!).

Jig-saw puzzle stage. I had to bring those pieces in one at a time from the garage, they are not lightweight.
So far, so good.
Alright, not bad, just need to stand it up at this point. Note to self: lift from the knees, not the back.
And voila! Now how am I going to get this upstairs?........

Next on the list? The Lugano dining table. I don't think I'll be putting that one together myself:)

More pages......

The layout above is a technique I scraplifted from a layout I saw in the August 2008 edition of Creating Keepsakes magazine. I modified it a bit though. I made the tree out of patterned paper and epoxy buttons. The picture was taken at my parents house in May 2008. Left to right: Dad, Mom, Chris, Mike, Uncle Tom, and Aunt Judy.
Close up shot of the tree. I had a great time making it. The quote at the bottom of the layout: Other things may change us, but we start and end with the family (Anthony Brandt).
"Frank Loves Grandma" is my first attempt at using my sewing machine on a layout. I am happy with the results! I stitched around the patterned paper and around Frank's photo.
Close up of "Frank Loves Grandma", you can see the stitching a bit more clearly in this shot.

Scrappin' por mi madre

My mom is turning 60 in August, and for her birthday I am surprising her with a scrapbook. So far in my scrapping adventures, I've only scrapped for myself. This will be my first attempt at making something for someone else. If you know my mom, then you know that this here scrapbook will produce some serious waterworks. She loves homemade stuff, and has the crafting knack herself, so I know that she will really appreciate the gift. Here are a couple pages I have made so far:
This page I named "Lucky Me"....the pictures were taken when my parents came to visit at the end of April 2008. My dad took these pictures while we were at the beach in Ventura.
More of a close up shot of "Lucky Me".
"Love You Mom" features a picture of my sister and I at a birthday party we went to at the Capitol Club in Seattle, circa fall 2005.
Close up of "Love You Mom".

"Peggy's Cove" is my first attempt at a two-sided page. The photos were taken on a trip my parents took to visit relatives in Canada. Sometimes I really like simple pages, with not too many embellishments, especially when the pictures are great. This is one of those times.
Close up of the left side of "Peggy's Cove", my Dad and Uncle Guy.
Close up of the right side of "Peggy's Cove", the lighthouse at sunset.
The scrapbook store in Valencia, called Remember When...Scrapbooking, puts together a page each week called "Page of the Week", surprise surprise. Anyway, this layout is from one of their pages of the week, for Mother's Day. The pictures were taken in Seattle, Christmas 2007.

Bed head and other stuff.....

Sunday morning, John went to Western Bagel and bought us some bagels and lox for breakfast. While he was there he also picked up some chocolate milk. After breakfast, John crashed out on the couch and slept for another hour or two. I was upstairs fiddling around on the computer and I heard him climb the stairs. I met him, and his insane post-nap hairdo, at the top of the stairs. He looked crazed, I tell ya! Part confusion, part post-nap haze, it was glorious. As well as hilarious. And the first thing out of his mouth? "I shouldn't have had the chocolate milk." Like the chocolate milk did this to him.......awesome.

The rest of the weekend was fun! Saturday we packed a picnic lunch and spent the afternoon at the beach. Have I told you how much fun I am having living so close to the beach? I love it. The water is so incredibly refreshing, and it is super fun to just hang out and let the waves crash over you. Saturday evening we met up with some new friends at a pub in Santa Clarita called The Londoner. We hung out, dranks some beers, and watched a great cover band called The Grizwalds play. Sunday afternoon John and I drove down to the Venice Beach area for a baby shower for one of John's friends from childhood, Josh, and his wife Amy. I was able to meet a few of the people that John rows with, which was nice, names to faces, plus the weather was just gorgeous. Sunday evening we walked across the street to the movie theater and saw Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Entertaining for sure. Lots of the interesting looking creatures. Lots of action.

Move over, Chihuly......

While John and I were at Rik and Shelley's house over the holiday weekend, we spent an afternoon blowing glass. This was my first experience making anything glass related, and it was pretty cool. I made two glasses (with lots of assistance and wisdom from Rik, Shelley, and John!).
The clear glass on the left was my first attempt, it is what I am making in the top photo. The red speckled glass on the right is my second attempt. I knew the skills involved with glass blowing were fairly intense, but I had no idea how difficult it was until I actually tried it. It was really cool, and it will be fun to try it again at some point!

If you'd like to check out some of Rik and Shelley's work, click here.

Crazy cat lady.......

As most of you know, I can't get enough of the cat lovin'! John and I went up to Rik and Shelley's place in Sedro Woolley this past weekend for some rest and relaxation. One of the many reasons I love it up there is they have 4 cats and a dog. Some of their cats have multiple names. Let me introduce you to one of them........
You can call this little lady Mishka or Greg. She has the softest fur and sweetest face of any cat I have ever met. We sat down on the lawn together Saturday afternoon and just chilled out. She let me scratch her belly and play with her in the taller grass.
Mishka mostly lives outside, with her just as adorable son, Frax. I couldn't get a picture of Frax, but he looks quite a bit like his mother, except a bit larger. He is quite the hunter, which I was able to see first hand when he brought back a dead bird from the field.
How could you not want to take her home with you? She wins the prize for runner up in the most awesome cat in the world contest. #1? Frank, of course.

Atticus.....visit #2

Before the holiday weekend, I made a quick trip to Seattle to visit Atticus, Gina, Demian, and Paula. It is hard to believe that Atticus is almost two months old now! He has grown quite a bit since the last time I saw him, packed on the ounces, and now officially looks like a chubby baby. Paula was able to hold him while he took a nap, and I got some pics of them together.

Look at the dimps on his elbow!! Adorable!! You can see a better view of his face in this picture. He looks sooooo much like his father. Gina showed me pictures of Demian when he was a few months old, and they look almost identical.
He is totally crashed out on Paula. I love those pudgy cheeks!
Such an amazing child! It will be so much fun to see him grow and change. Until next time Atticus, I will miss you......

I don't drive fast.....I fly low......

Have you ever seen a license plate frame that makes you wonder what kind of person is driving the car? Seriously people, a lame license plate frame is just inviting people to make snap judgements about you. I saw one today that said the following: "Every bad girl needs a good spanking." Really? Do you really want to announce that to the world? Come on people, reel yourself in a little. Save that kinda stuff for your sweetie. What am I supposed to do with that information? I really don't feel comfortable finding out the nuances of your personal life while I'm stuck in bumper to bumper traffic rolling home from Pasadena. Then I see the woman that is driving the car, I get visuals in my head, ugh, my drive home is ruined. Another one that manages to get under my skin: "I'm not a brat! I'm not! I'm not! I'm not!" One word: why? Why do you feel it necessary to let other drivers know you are high maintenance? A couple months ago I saw one while I was driving in to Los Angeles, it was on a low rider truck...."No fat chicks, my dubs will rub." Okay, so I'll give the dude creativity points for the "dubs" and the "rubs", but come on! What if your own sweet, dear mother is packin' a spare tire or two? Is she banned from said truck because she might tarnish your dubs? I had seen a variation of that one on another meat-head driven low rider back in my high school days circa 1994: "No fat chicks, they make my truck scrape." Awesome buddy. Call me in 10 years so we can talk about the quality of the chicks you're dating. A few more phrases to leave off your vehicle: "Keep honking, I'm reloading", "0 to bitch in 3.5 seconds", "In case of emergency, administer chocolate", and "Out of my way, I need a latte". You're next bumpersticker, I've got my eye on you........