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........

Boring week....great weekend!!

Not too many adventures to report from last week. I put my nose to the grindstone in regards to the job search......and.......I accepted an offer today!! I'll give more details about the job in person, to those people interested. I don't want this blog and my work life to entertwine in any way, shape, or form. Anyway, it is a relief to have something lined up. It will make my last few weeks of freedom that much sweeter.

This past weekend John and I spent the entire weekend together. It was nice since he was out of town on business the previous two weekends. On Saturday morning we drove down to Santa Monica for John's rowing class, Indo-Row. The founder of Indo-Row is one of John's childhood friends from Manchester, MA. John takes the class every Thursday night and Saturday morning. When John is rowing, I usually hang out at a Pete's coffee, and see if I can spot any celebs. Unfortunately, no sightings this weekend:( After the class was over, we headed up north to Malibu for an afternoon at the beach. It was an AWESOME day at Zuma. John and I set up our stuff and managed to spend almost 4 hours just hanging out, relaxing, reading, and swimming in the ocean. The water was so cool and refreshing, I can't wait to go back. Funniest part about the whole afternoon? I was shat on by a seagull!! What are the odds? The reason why it was so funny to us was because we actually talked about it like an hour before it actually happened. I was talking to John and mid-sentence I felt some droplets on me, looked down and I had a present on my shoulder and thigh. Way cool seagulls, way cool.... Saturday night we had dinner at a restaurant close to our place called South Pointe, then hopped over to the movie theater to and saw Get Smart. Entertaining. On Sunday morning we headed over to La Crescenta to visit some friends who just had their third child, a little baby girl. She'll be a lucky girl with two big brothers to take care of her. Sunday afternoon John and I relaxed and got some stuff done around the house. A fun, mellow weekend!!

Sorry, no pictures to share this post! But I will definitely have some pictures to post after this coming weekend! Let's see...... I get to see a bunch of folks this weekend....... Gina, Demian, Atticus, Paula, Kim, Casey, Nic, Heather, possibly Emmy, Brian, and Naomi, and definitely Rik and Shelley. It should be a super fun weekend, and I can't wait!!

File under: thank you, stash

This past birthday was a good one for my scrap stash! When my sister came to visit, she surprised me with some scrap goodies she had found on Etsy. I didn't even know they had scrap stuff on Etsy. After talking with my sis and doing some investigating on my own, they have pretty much anything you could ask for on Etsy!! Chris got me some super cool paper and embellishments from Brambleberry Lane. They have so many cool stickers and metal trimmed tags. I am excited to make some scrap pages using these new supplies!!

Nic and Heather got me a gift certificate to Scrapbook.com. I managed to spend it with no problems!! I have been blog stalking scrapbooker Tim Holtz for some time now. He has a book published called "Distressables", where he shows awesome techniques for aging and distressing scrapbooks, cards, jewelry, and more. So I picked up at book, as well as a few other goodies by scrapbooker Heidi Swapp. I was first introduced to her stuff when she was a guest on QVC for one of their craft fairs. Last time I saw her, she presented a really cool calendar that you can decorate yourself. I also got some really cool ledger style journaling spots. Super cool!!

Gina got me a gift certificate to a scrapbooking store in Valencia called Remember When....Scrapbooking. I don't have a picture for the stuff I picked up because I want to use a lot of it in some pages I am going to make of Gina's baby, Atticus. So you will have to wait until I post some projects!!

Thank you Chris, Nic & Heather, and Gina for helping my growing stash of scrapbooking goodies!!

Happy Birthday, Lauer!!

Dang! There are quite a few birthdays in June! The last of which involves one of my oldest college friends from Western.
This shot was taken at the Foil's going away party back in May 2004. It is hard to believe that he has been making that same face 80% of the time I take pictures of him.
Ah, the cabin! July 3, 2004. I actually don't think I have been back to the cabin since that trip. Shame on me. Always a good time at the cabin! Sausage Fest 2004. With his wonderful bride, Heather. Hi Heather!! Again, the photo face makes an appearance. And I have no idea what Kyle is doing in the background.
Another shot from Sausage Fest 2004. Apparently 2004 was a good year for taking pictures of Lauer. Maybe I'll make it to Sausage Fest 2008? Who knows......
I'm pretty sure this picture was taken in July 2004. It was a great weekend at Emmy's aunt and uncle's house in Langley, Washington. The guys look like they are having a great time. I miss you guys!! Hope you are having an awesome birthday Lauer!!

Scraptastic!!

I managed to squeak out a few scrap pages last night. Yes, I was scrappin' on a Friday night! You'd think that I'd have an arsenal of pages finished since I moved here, being unemployed and friendless, but I have only finished three pages. Two of which are showcased in this post. I have made a commitment to myself to work on more pages, since the amount of supplies I have would indicate that I am a seasoned scrapper. Not so much.

The above picture is one of John that I took over his birthday weekend in December. We were at the Santa Monica Pier, just hangin' out. The weather was sunny and mild, he was looking off in the distance, and it is just a really great shot of him.
Frank is one of my favorite subjects to scrap (surprise, surprise!!). This photo was taken by my dad when they drove Frank down to California in April. The journaling style I scrap-lifted from one of my favorite scrapbook people, her blog can be found here. I stalk her blog on a daily basis, she has great style.