Ten Things..... "Post T-Day, Pre-Christmas edition"......

Wow, haven't done this in awhile.......

1. Urban Craft Uprising was the first weekend in December.  My sis and I fulfilled our tradition of hitting it up for holiday gift ideas for one another.  I don't want to spoil her Christmas surprises, so I'll just talk about some of the items / vendors we saw there that I thought were pretty cool.  I bought myself a cute little necklace from MOSS Handmade. I believe this was her first time at Urban Craft, I don't recall seeing her there in the past few years.  Here is the necklace:

Although I didn't buy anything from this vendor (yet!), I totally dug on his work.  Check out Manticore Stencil Art.  Fell in love with this Angus Young piece..... possible inspiration for my next Halloween costume?  You know I keep talking about being Angus Young, but I never get my shit together in time.  Also loved the Chunk Truffle Shuffle piece.  I just watched Goonies for the first time with friends a month or so ago, so it was awesome to see the Truffle Shuffle represented.

Loved this plum leather snap belt from Steel Toe Studios.  I didn't buy the belt at the show, but I did end up buying it off Etsy earlier today!  So excited to get it, I'm in love with the color.

For all you crafters that may be reading this blog, there is another craft fair coming up this weekend.  Handmade Holidays Craft Fair on Saturday, Dec. 18th, from 12:30 to 4:30pm at the Richard Hugo House on Capitol Hill.  I think I'm going to check it out, although I'm pretty sure all the vendors were at this year's Urban Craft Uprising.

2. I have been on the hunt for a cool locket for a couple years now.  Well, I wouldn't really call it a hunt.  That sounds like I've been scheming, planning, making lists, actually making strides in the direction of actually buying a locket.  Not really the case.  Let's say I've been casually looking for a locket for a couple years now.  I finally purchased one off Etsy earlier today.  Enchanted Royal Immortal locket by The Enchanted Locket.  Love it.  You know what I also love?  This Brass Pocket Watch Necklace I impulse bought while I was checking out The Enchanted Locket's shop.         

3. Have you heard "MoneyGrabber" by Fitz and The Tantrums?  Highly suggest it.  Catchy as all hell.  Currently on iTunes repeat.  Probably a one hit, I'm just sayin'. 

4. OMG, I'm Twitter obsessed.  I remember Chris and I's most recent trip to see Kings of Leon at the Gorge.  Chris was checking Twitter on her iPhone every couple hours.  I decided that it must be pretty cool if Chris is all up in it's business.  So I joined Twitter, and I've been hooked since.  I thought my social networking was maxed out at Facebook.  Not so much.  I follow mostly comedians, musicians, scrapbookers, and a few friends.  If you are on Twitter, let me know!  I'd love to follow you!  BTW, Donald Glover from NBC's Community is HILARIOUS!

5. Kim suggested I read The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare.  Yes, I bought them in the Young Adult section at Barnes and Noble.  And yes, I'm hoping they come out with a movie before I'm a 45 year old woman looking forward to a teen novel movie.  I still feel kinda creepy getting giddy about the Twilight series.  Which, BTW, I just bought Eclipse last week and it was awesome!  Anyway, I just finished the first book, City of Bones, last night, and I'm already totally engrossed in the second book in the series.  Good stuff.  If you're looking for a light read, check them out!

6. Casey and Kim had their annual White Elephant / New Jack Wienie / Ugly Christmas Sweater party a couple weekends ago.  This year they set up a photo session with Santa, pretty sweet.  Check out my photo with Santa:

And my sis and I's photo with Santa: (yes, we both got our ugly sweaters at Fred Meyers, brand name "Shenanigans".....)

I managed to score these awesome "Animal" slippers from the Muppets.  Although I may have damaged Gina and I's 20 year friendship when I stole them from her, they were worth it!!

While I was at Alderwood Mall last week, I found this ridiculous "Animal" belt buckle.  I shall now be able to rock it since I bought that super cool new belt.

 
7.  I have officially reached responsible adult status.  How?  I just bought my first washer / dryer set. They are going to be delivered this weekend.  I managed to wash every towel and bed sheet I own today, just in case something goes awry and they don't get delivered on time.  Other signs I am a responsible adult?  My car insurance went down $100 every 6 months.  They probably found out I bought a house, I rarely drink, and I like to scrapbook.  All signs point to me not being too much of a nuisance on the roads apparently......knocking on serious wood here.

8. I took my first Zumba class last week with Corey, and it was super fun!!  I'm totally going to do it again this weekend.  I saw signs outside the dance hall across the street from where I work, and decided to check it out.  It was a sweaty hour, let me tell you!  And surprisingly not very expensive.  If you are interested in checking it out, I'll gladly go to a class with you, let me know. 

9. I've never taken an online class, but that is about to change.  I've decided to take an online workshop by one of my favorite scrapbookers, Ali Edwards.  It is called "One Little Word" and I'm pretty excited about it.  I haven't chosen my one little word, but I'll let you know when I do.  Other classes I'd like to take in 2011?  Digital photography and ceramics.  We'll see if that happens :)

10. Cookie Fest 2010 with Gina and Paula is coming up this weekend!!  I am going to make three different types of sweets.  Two of which are determined.  Any ideas for a third?  Pictures to come next week.                         

What the frack have I been up to?!?!?

It seems the frequency of these posts are stretching farther and farther apart.  My apologies, but that is just the way it might be for awhile.  Why?  I'm a little preoccupied with a boy.  Don't get too excited, I'm talking about Frank.  My little boy Frank is wasting away to nothing, and I'm trying my hardest to keep him from blowing away.  I'm trying to stay positive, but it is difficult when he continues to eat like Kobayashi, but still looks like Kate Moss.  Luckily, Frank has a great veterinarian.  But when I heard him say "desperate times call for desperate measures", I knew things could be better.

 

Frank started taking a drug called Leukeran last week.  It is a chemotherapy agent used in the treatment of a couple possible things that could be going on with Frank..... intestinal lymphoma or inflammatory bowel disease.  I could put him through more testing to figure it out for sure, but it would require surgery, and I don't want to put him through that, he's an old man and doesn't need to be going under anesthesia at this point.  The gist of it is this, he's eating like a champ but not putting on any weight.  In fact, he's losing weight.  He weighed 7.5 pounds in September, and he now weighs 7.1 pounds.  Poor kid.  So he's back on prednisone twice daily, and leukeran every other day for the next week or so.  Hopefully he'll start to put on some weight, or at least maintain weight.  He goes in to the vet next week to get some bloodwork done to check his red and white blood cell counts.  No one wants a neutropenic or anemic kitty.  Especially me. 

So say a little prayer to the god of your choosing for my Frankie.  He needs it right now.       

Scrap-tastic Weekend!!

I have scrap fever folks!!  Seriously.  In early November, I went to my first ever scrapbooking retreat!  Approximately 48 hours of uninterrupted scrap time.  I had an absolute blast, and am definitely planning on going next year.  My friend Colleen had told Gina and I all about her experience at the retreat in 2009, so Gina and I made plans to attend the 2010 retreat.  It was held at Camp Huston, which is in Gold Bar, at the base of Wallace Falls.  Gina and I met up with Colleen on Friday morning for some breakfast and a little scrap shopping before heading to the retreat for check-in.  We checked out a brand new scrapbooking store in Snohomish called Scrapville.  We were all really bummed when Lasting Memories closed in Lynnwood in June 2010.  Although Scrapville is a wee bit off the beaten path for this city girl, it will definitely be a stop for me when I'm in the Snohomish area.  We also made a pit stop at the Ben Franklin in Monroe.  After I purchased of few unnecessary scrap items, we made our way up to the Camp to start our weekend o' scrap!!

Colleen's mother-in-law, Mary, works as the bookkeeper at Camp Huston, and was able to secure us an area to scrap near her and other members of Colleen's extended family (Hi Mary!).  We each were assigned a 6 foot table where we could unload all our scrapbooking treasures and get to work.  Our scrapbooking space was a large room with table space for approximately 36 people.  There was also another room in another building dedicated to other scrappers, not sure on how many people were in the other space, but it was probably over 20.  Exclusively women.  The only men I saw all weekend were the ones that help out at the camp.  There were some crazy scrap ladies there!!  Lots of hard core ladies that seemed to bring ALL their scrap gear with them.  It was obvious that many of the women had gone to numerous scrapbooking retreats in the past, and they were definitely prepared for whatever scrapbooking shenanigans might occur.  The lady that was sitting behind me brought her own shelving for her table, I was impressed.  One of the best perks of the event was the sharing of supplies.  Everyone was really great about letting others use their tools.  Between different members of Colleen's family, there were 3 Cricut cutting machines available, as well as a variety of Cricut cartridges for different shapes and fonts.  I am absolutely sold on the Cricut!!  It makes cutting letters and images unbelievably easy.

We all had a great time hanging out and chatting, trying out different tools, getting page ideas from others, it was so much fun!  The camp provided our meals, which were quite good.  We spent the majority of our time scrapping though.  When we weren't sleeping or in the dining hall, we were scrapping.  And little time was actually spent sleeping and eating!  Friday night we went to bed about 1am, and got up at 8am on Saturday, had breakfast, and got right back to scrapping.  Saturday night we stayed up again til 1am, got up for breakfast at 8am, and scrapped until lunch at 12:30pm.  By my count, we spent close to 30 hours scrapping.  Pretty incredible!!

I didn't have any idea going in to the weekend how many pages I would actually get done.  My goals were to finish a few Milo pages, a few Frank pages, a few Pearl Jam pages, a few Getty Museum pages, and a few pages for the scrapbook I have been making for my mom over the past few years.  And you know what?  I did everything I set out to accomplish, I'm pretty pumped with myself about that!!  I recently took some pictures of the pages I created at the retreat for my own scrapbook.......

Furry Friend: This picture was taken after we returned home from our trip out to Vashon Island in May.  Milo was so tired after our big weekend, it took him 15 minutes to make his way out of the car.  I think I finally picked him up, he was so exhausted, he didn't make a peep.

 
Basset Bash: These photos were taken at Woodinville's Annual Basset Bash & Brigade, held back in late March 2010.  Milo, my sister, and I didn't really know what to expect.  Lots of Bassets in different costumes apparently!  I had so much fun, and although he was tired at the end of the day, Milo seemed to have a great time too.  I like this layout because I was able to fit in a lot of the random Basset pictures I took doing that grid technique.  So many cute Bassets!!

Keeper: This picture was taken of Milo during the first few days after I adopted him.  He was hanging out on the couch pretty much whenever I was home, getting a little shut eye.  I scrap-lifted this layout from one of scrapbooking magazines I subscribe to.  It says...."Can I keep you this way forever?  You were to sweet, friendly, lovey, cuddily, and curious.  Every moment with you was a treasure."

Drive by Milo:  These photos are just examples of the majority of the iPhone photos I took of Milo.  He was either afraid of my phone, or just plain wanted nothing to do with it.  The best pictures I could take of him are what I called "Drive by Milo" shots.  Lots of blur, and mostly fur.  Stubborn little basset hound :)

Handsome Boy: I took a lot of photos of Frank before he lost weight, when was still filled out and fluffy.  Now, he's a bit skinnier, and most times his fur just looks greasy and mangey.  I'll have to document that part of his life too though, even though he doesn't look as glamorous! :)  I love the color scheme in this layout. 

Faces of Frank:  This layout was also scrap-lifted.  I wanted to showcase Frank from all his angles.  There is a picture of his cropped ear, his white striped chin, and his beautiful eyes.  Still loving that square grid technique.

 

Freedom: I have some great pictures of Frank starring out the window from when we lived on NW 83rd Street a few years ago.  Frank loved to hop up on my book shelf and look outside, especially if the window was open.  The journaling on this page says: "Frank loves to sit on the windowsill and survey his domain. He loves it even more if the window is open. He can smell everything outside, hear the birds chirping, and feel the wind ruffle his fur. If only that pesky screen wasn't there, then he'd get to experience sweet freedom..."

spin the black circle:  I had received a really cool kit from Freehand Scraps a few years ago.  The kit had included a vinyl record.  I didn't really know how I was going to incorporate a vinyl record in to one of my layouts.  I finally figured it out after I had a bunch of Pearl Jam pictures that Kim and Cass had taken at the 2009 fall tour printed.  A couple Pearl Jam layouts were definitely in order!  PJ does a song called "spin the black circle" ..... enter my vinyl record.  End of story.

 
hello my name is: Crazy Pearl Jam fan is right!  Kim and Cass took some great pictures from their 2009 tour, so I decided to do another layout to commemorate my love for them.

Getty and Cactus:  During my very short time living in California, I went to the Getty Museum like 5 times.  It is such an amazing and gorgeous place.  The grounds and architecture are spectacular.  My sister Chris came to visit me and we of course went to the Getty Museum.  The first layout just highlights some of the gardens, and buildings.  The second layout is of their cacti garden.  Pretty cool place!

 
Life is a Journey: The journaling from this layout tells the story: "This picture was taken during my very brief life as a Californian. Mom, Dad, and I took a drive to Ventura for the day to visit Uncle Ken and Aunt Irma's old stomping grounds. Although this was a tumultuous time in my life, I will always be grateful for the experience. It brought me back to Seattle and all that is important to me....Life is a Journey!" 

Sooooo looking forward to the retreat next year!!                

Halloween 2010....Breakin' it down!!

The past month has flown by!  It is hard to believe it has been a month since my last post.  What have I been doing?  I had a week of vacation, then Halloween, then a scrapbooking retreat, Built to Spill show, and now Thanksgiving is swiftly approaching!  Also been missing my little guy Milo quite a bit :(  I'm not going to lie, it has been a hard month and a half.  I miss Milo so much, everyday.  But it will get better in time, I know that.  Not to get too depressing, but I didn't do a whole heck of a lot on my week off at the end of October.  I pretty much just lounged around the house mourning my sweet Milo.  As well as organizing my house, putting the last minute touches on my Halloween costume, and preparing for my weekend scrapbooking getaway with my lady friends.

Let's break down Halloween 2010 folks!!!

Why hello my friends!  What is that filling my fridge you may ask?  Why, it's the latest banned alcoholic substance....Four Loko!!  Apparently it is all the craze with the college kids, putting young whipper snappers into the hospital.  Whatever happened to a good ol' fashioned beer?  Now they have to be all charged up with caffeine and taurine?!?  I'm too old for this shiz.  Seriously.  I think my heart would explode on impact.  So why did I buy 5 of these bad boys?

Jello shots, obviously.  What Halloween party wouldn't be complete without a couple trays of caffeine soaked malt beverage gelatinous shots?  I found an entire website devoted to different Jello shot recipes, did some quick alcoholic substitutions and there you have it....Four Loko Jello shots.  Admittedly, they weren't half bad.  On to my costume.......

My plan was initially to be a witch, and things went down an entirely separate road when I went to Display & Costume with the Hayes'.  Kim found her taco costume, and bam!! A few costumes down was this gem.....a Whoopie cushion.  Although the costume spells it Woopie....which is correct?  Whoopie or Woopie?  Either way, it was fun to ask "Who farted?" all night, and light up my remote control fart machine.  AND!  I won the coveted "Most Offensive Costume" award!  Well, all I can say is at least it wasn't the Worst Costume award.  A couple other costume gems....

Casey and Dan came as Hall & Oates, and managed to stay in character about 2/3rds of the night.  Ridiculously funny.  They even had a little Hall & Oates playlist playing at all times.  Is your kiss on their list?  You should probably check the list.......

Who is inside that Hall & Oates sanny?  It is Stu Ruebens, International Vacuum Salesman.  A little bit creepy, a little bit pervy, and a whole lotta smarmy. 

And this little lady?  It's the Tooth Fairy folks!  Cynthia nailed her Tooth Fairy costume this year.  Little did I know that the Tooth Fairy survives off of baby teeth and tears.

Heyyyyyyy yoooooouuuuuu guuuuuuuuyyyyyysssss!!!  It's Sloth from The Goonies!!  Jonny definitely deserved the award for Best Costume.  We watched The Goonies a week or so later, and his Sloth is pretty much spot on.  Although I would have liked to have seen someone do Chunk's Truffle Shuffle at the party.  Maybe next year.

Sloth's lovely bride Ashley, came as a badass roller derby chick!!  Check out the guns on that girl!  Nothing says "your ass is grass" like a barbed wire arm tattoo.  I'm steering clear of her roller rink.  

Brett Favre and Jenn Sterger also made an appearance late in the evening.  Brett kept trying to show me an inappropriate picture on his cell phone.  Who invited that guy?  Hasn't he retired like 12 times?  And what woman actually wants to receive a grainy cell phone shot of some guy's business?  Not even Jenn Sterger.  Come on!!

I had a fantastic time this Halloween!  Already planning my costume for 2011!  Well, not really, but I have some ideas mulling around upstairs.  I'm going to end this post with my favorite picture from Halloween 2010...... Taco Time!!!!!

               

All moved in.....almost......

It has been really fun moving in to my new place....unpacking, organizing, decorating....all of it.  It has been a slow process, especially while Bailey was crashing at the house those 5 weeks.  When my parents came to pick Bailey up a few weeks ago, they dropped off my secretary's desk. 

I've had the desk since my Great Aunt Grace passed away over 15 years ago.  My mom had it refinished a few years ago and it looks awesome.  I have it in the living room.  My parents also brought over a box of stuff from my Grandma Ila.....tea cups, measuring spoons, a jam jar, sugar and creamer set, various dishes...opening the box brought back A LOT of memories of growing up.  We lived right next door to my Grandma, so I was over at her house on a daily basis.  I remember using those measuring spoons to help her bake.  And the tea cups in her hutch in the kitchen.  She was a huge part of my childhood, and I think about her often. 

Also in the box was a number of vintage napkins and doilies.  I put the jam jar and one of the doilies on top of my desk.  One of the things I love about my house is the chandelier in the dining room.  Check it out......

When the sun is shining through the windows, the crystals make little prisms appear on the walls.  As you can tell, I'm still obsessed with the ShakeIt app for iPhone.  I pretty much use it always.  I picked up these funky skeleton bridesmaids at a little boutique in Ballard, Romanza, yesterday.  Trying to get in the Halloween spirit.

You know who is also loving the house?  Frank.  He has made himself quite at home in this place.  He is like my little guard cat.  He's constantly surveying his domain, when he's not sleeping of course.  It is pretty amusing to get out of the shower and see him standing guard in front of the bathroom door.  I don't think he misses Milo much, but that is okay.  He's always been a solo cat.

     

Inspirational, to say the least........

I do not attempt to hide the fact that I am a total blog stalker.  I check like 15 blogs every day.  Even if a new post doesn't appear on my Blogger dashboard, I still check their blogs just to make sure Blogger didn't miss a post.  I know, crazy.  With that said, you'd think I'd be a better, more consistent blogger.  I'm sure some people have given up on me after checking my blog every day for two weeks and finding nothing.  For that, I apologize, I'm trying to be better :) 

During my usual daily blog stalking of one of my favorite scrapbook pro's, Elizabeth Kartchner, I stumbled across the blog of a friend of hers, Stephanie Aurora Clark Nielson.  Her blog is called Nie Nie Dialogues.  Her story is quite inspiring.  I'm not a religious person at all, but her video makes my scientific brain ache for some sort of faith.  Faith that all of "this" isn't for nothing.  Check it out......


   

It's time for some new music..........

It has been awhile since I've bought new music, so I decided to indulge with a few new treasures.  Fistful of music?  More like two fistfuls.  Here they are in no particular order..........

I have been totally digging on Florence + The Machine lately..... "Dog Days Are Over"...... such a great song.  Her album "Lungs" is awesome.  It has been on repeat since I picked it up, granted I bought it like an hour ago, but still.  All signs point to this album being a 2010 favorite.  Her performance at the VMAs?  Amazing.  Track 5 -- Kiss with a Fist...... love it. 

Next up, The Posies "Blood / Candy"...... I love me some Ken Stringfellow.  I remember seeing them in Bellingham in the early 90's, still one of my favorite shows of all time.  Plus I got one of the coolest t-shirts ever..... a graphic of a lunchbox with flies buzzing around it.  It's in a box somewhere, waiting for my rock t-shirt quilt to come to fruition.  Favorite song on Blood / Candy so far: Licenses to Hide.  Check it out.

Onward.  Kings of Leon "Come Around Sundown"..... It is no secret that Kings of Leon are one my favorite bands.  Love love loving this album.  Loved their show at The Gorge in July.  I'm so obsessed with them they could probably shit in a box and I'd find some excuse to love it.  There are just some artists that really do it for me, and Kings of Leon definitely are one of them. 

The Black Angels "Phosphene Dream".... I loved their album "Passover" from 2006, so I thought I'd give their newest a shot.  I haven't fully explored this album yet, but I heard some female vocals on one song and welcomed the change from their usual dark tones. 

Also not totally explored yet.... Sufjan Stevens "The Age of Adz".  It is in the car, just waiting for me to take a leisurely drive. 

In other music news...... Last night's Glee episode makes me want to bust out my copy of Rocky Horror.  Such a great movie!!  One of these Halloween's I'm totally going as Riff Raff. 

His humpback is unrivaled.  Oh oh oh.... speaking of Halloween..... I have my costume all dialed in.  It requires a 9 volt battery and some sound effects.  Any guesses?      

Bangs!!

I've been wanting to do this for awhile.  It was time for a change. 

Around here.......

In the wake of losing Milo, I've been trying to keep myself busy and occupied while I'm at home.  The last thing I want right now is more tears!!  My friend Cyn lost her precious pup a few months ago, and we talked about how our eyes were 10x their original size from all the crying.  Seriously, I woke up Sunday morning and my eyelids looked alien in their puffiness.  I've been doing more organizing around the house, trying to get settled and comfortable into this new home.  One of my special decorations that means a lot to me are these tea cups.......

They are vintage and lovely and heirlooms from my Memere Ila and Great Aunt Irma.  Now that I have my own home, I am excited to bring all the cool family stuff I've been keeping at my Mom and Dad's house to my place.  Including my vintage secretary desk from my Great Aunt Grace (my namesake).  My mom had it refinished a few years ago, and it looks awesome.  I'm going to put it in the living room.  I'll post pictures.  I picked up this fun little Halloween decoration a few weeks ago when I worked at my cousin's pharmacy in The 'Ville.

Its an old witch boot, pretty cool huh?  I put some orangey / red berries in the boot to give it that Halloween flair.  Speaking of Halloween, I really need to figure out what I'm going to be this year.  I think that will be my project for my day off tomorrow.  I think a trip to the costume shop is in order.  Something that is a game changer this year for the costume?  The fact that I have contact lenses.  Why a game changer you may ask?  Because it means that I can wear a mask.  This opens so many costume doors my friends.

Other things going on around here that I'm excited about?  Bailey is leaving on Friday!! 

Don't get me wrong, she is super sweet, and a great comfort right now after Milo's passing, but she is definitely putting a crimp in Frank's lifestyle.  Since I have to keep Bailey and Frank separated, I haven't been able to put together my office / craft space.  I'll be super excited to get that done so I can start scrappin' again.  Especially with my scraptastic weekend planned in November, I need to start planning for that as soon as possible, it is going to creep up quickly.

Who couldn't love a face like this?  I'll tell you who. Frank.  That's who.            

Saying goodbye to an old friend.......

It has been an emotional few days here, to say the least.  Milo's condition kept getting more grave and complicated, ending with the discovery of metastatic pancreatic cancer.  It turns out the pneumonia was due to his body shutting down from the cancer.  My poor little sweet boy.  I only had a year with him, but he brought so much joy to my life.  He was an incredible comfort for me, and I will miss him terribly.  I said goodbye to him Saturday afternoon.  We were placed in a room together, with a blanket on the floor.  They took the cone off his head, and he laid down in between my legs and fell asleep.  So comforting.  We spent some time alone together, me bawling my eyes out quietly as he rested next to me.  Later, the vet came in and he was set free.  Free from pain and suffering.  It was peaceful, and I am grateful his life ended in my arms.

I love you Milo, always.