Reconnecting...

I met Stacy for coffee today...it had been 10 years since we had seen each other...10 years!! I'm so happy that we have reconnected. We chatted for over two hours like no time had passed. I feel so happy and blessed that we have found our friendship again! Look at us in high school...so young and skinny!! LOL :) Although can I say how GOOD Stacy looks..she just had a baby 4 months ago!!!

Taking charge...

I just made a very important work decision (with a little help from my Mom).

No more being walked all over, letting myself feel inferior, having my ideas and decisions questioned. This week I'm going to take back control and remind myself of just what I'm capable of...a hell of a lot!!

And I'm not going to allow myself to apologize for going after what I want....and I'm going to try my hardest to not worry about what others think. If the fact that I'm exerting my strength bothers someone...well then it can just bother them!

Man do I feel better!!!!

Can't a girl get a drink?!

So I went out to lunch with my Mom today...kinda nice since I had been cooped up for so long.

I get iced tea...my favorite...and I get it at this place all the time.

We sit down, I take a sip.....UGH!! What is wrong with this tea?

Mom drinks hers....nothing...drinks mine...nothing.

OK...it just tastes like %#@* to me then.

I'm so exhausted that I just eat my lunch sans drink.

When we get ready to go, I asked the counter girl for another cup...I get Sprite.

We walk outside...take a sip...UGH!! No flavoring!! I just can't win.....

Better Together

This morning, Dan woke me up by putting one of the ear buds to his MP3 player in my ear. It was playing "Better Together" by Jack Johnson, which is one of our songs. What a sweet way to start the morning, laying face to face in bed, listening to Jack.

I'm finally feeling better today...feels soooo good to be back to myself again. I have so many things piled up that I want to do. Clean the house, pull weeds outside, go to Hobby Lobby, return some curtains I bought that are too small, and of course...scrapbook!

Guess its back to work tomorrow...but at least that means I'm better!

Life on the outside...

I want to be a part of it again!!! LOL :)

Hobby Lobby has some great scrapbooking sales this week...I have to get there before Sunday and stock up! AC and Doodlebug ribbon are half off...great deal. They also have the SEI scrapbook in a bag kits on sale...not sure if I need one but a sale is a sale, huh?? ;)

I'm actually watching Dr. Phil right now...a little Regis and Kelly earlier...and a little Ellen. I never get to watch the talk shows, so I guess being sick has its advantages.

Thinking about what I want to do for my birthday. I'm pretty sure we are going to go to either On the Border or Johnny Carrino's for dinner....yummmmmmm :) Mom is taking me to Rileybrook again on the 3rd...always look forward to our little yearly b-day tradition. Hopefully the weather will be nice that day so we can explore the gardens.

Dan ordered me an MP3 player...he reminds me that I can't call it an Ipod because it isn't, but it is basically the exact same thing, just not...does that make sense??? ;) Even though I told him I really don't need one that fancy, I am excited to get it and start using it.

OK...enough random thoughts for one day :)

Unhappy kidneys...

So after a weekend filled with awful back and abdominal pain and an almost constant fever, I was so happy to go to the doctor this morning. Turns out that I have a kidney infection and a slight case of the stomach flu. Not that I want to have these things, but I feel so much better knowing what is wrong and having the medication to take care of it. I'm slowly starting to feel better and the plan is to be back to work by Thursday. Dan has been so supportive and helpful...going to the grocery, getting my prescriptions, basically being my slave for the past four days. I am so blessed to be married to him.

I'm hoping I'll feel good enough tomorrow that I can scrapbook a little. I still need to do my design team layouts for Remember the Dayz, and there are a couple contests I want to enter.

My birthday is quickly approaching...2 weeks from today!! Can't believe I'll be 28!! AHHH! ;) It is going to be nice to have it on the weekend so Dan and I can go out on my actual birthday.

I guess that is about all of my random thoughts for today...feels good to at least be living in the cyber world again...hopefully the real world is only a day or two away. :)

Life is a rollercoaster...

andI'm riding one of the low points today...but I'm trying my hardest to get up the hill. I went to the doctor today and switched anti-anxiety meds. I was trying to wean myself off of Paxil, and turns out it is one of THE hardest to get off of. I've been having headaches, nausea, dizziness, back pain, and overall fatigue...not fun. I start my new medication today so hopefully I'll notice a nice change soon.

On a happy note, Dan and I are going to visit my Mom's parents on the 30th. I'm really excited about it. They live 2 1/2 hours away, so we don't see them very often. We're going to take them to their favorite Mexican restaurant. I am taking her a scrapbook, photo corners and a pen...she told me she really wants to start putting their photographs in better books (acid free ones). I'm excited to give her everything and look through all the fun old photos! :)

Guess that's all for now...but I may be back later today!

My 1st layout for the Scenic Route DT contest...

I'm really happy with this one...just decided tonight that I'm going to enter. I love their designs, so it would be such a blessing to get to work with them! 1 down, 2 more to go!

Playing with my new camera...

Dan took this picture of Melvin tonight with our new camera...sooo cute! :)

I'm so happy to have this new toy...I'll be even more picture crazy than before!!

I'm thinking about entering the Scenic Route DT contest. There is sooo much competition out there but I love their products and I need an excuse to start using the ones I've bought anyway. :)

Home improvements...

I was quite a busy bee last night...got our new dining room curtains up, did three loads of laundry and made a new curtain for our back door to match the kitchen ones. The dining room curtains were quite a project because they are from IKEA and come ridiculously long...over 100 inches, so I had to shorten them to 90 inches and iron on the tape to keep them from ravelling. Of course Chloe was having fun playing in the old curtains when I laid them on the floor. :)

We will be getting our new porch railing the first few weeks of August...I can't wait!!! Here is a pic of what it will look like (using my amazing design skills ;)

We're going to hopefully use the same guy to help us renovate our kitchen, which I'm even MORE excited about!!! I have so many ideas for things I want to do to the house...if only I could have a year off from work to get them all done! (and of course fit some scrapbooking time in there also!)

My new toy!

I ordered a new digital camera tonight! Yipee! :)

I can't wait to get it and start playing. Our current camera has really been holding me back from submitting my layouts for publication because of the poor quality of the pictures. My new one has 6 mp and 10x optical zoom so it will be a big improvement. I'll have to post some pics when it arrives!!

We went out to dinner with Joyce, Debi and John tonight at Applebees....it was fun to relax and be silly. We went to Fairfield earlier today and did some shopping...had a Panera smoothie...yummmmm. :)

I might get to help out with some classes at the Midwest Scrapbook Convention in September! It is being held at the State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis. Keeping my fingers crossed...it would be so awesome to be able to help out...and work with Kimber!

Gonna go now and make a card for a wedding shower I'm going to tomorrow...and maybe finish a layout I have sitting on my desk.

Playing with my camera

So I was inspired by Elsie's blog to try some self portraits...not too shabby if I do say so myself (aside from the awful quality of my camera). I need to do some more of these...it is fun to see how they turn out!

My first effer dare from 2peas....

I'm so glad I finally did one of these...although it was super hard to get it out of my brain! It took me for.e.ver to figure out how I wanted to do the journaling...ended up going crazy with the label maker. I love how it turned out. :) Here's the effer dare blog if you're curious what the heck I'm talking about!

Working through the scrapper's block...

I finally forced myself to scrap last night...used some older pics of Melvin so I wasn't afraid to mess them up :) He never fails to give me great scrapping pics!

The ABC's of me!

This was a blogging challenge on 2peas today :)

Always hoping
Baby fever
Candy craver
Dreamer
Empathetic
Faithful
Green-obsessed
Hip Chic
IKEA lover
Jokester
Keeper of memories
Laugh a lot
Minister’s kid
Not ready to grow up
Open minded
Project Runway fanatic
Quick to worry
Ready to be a momma
Sarcastic
True friend
Under my own microscope
Vanilla latte addict
Willing to compromise
X-tra creative
Yadda yadda yadda
Zzzzzz’s deprived

Starbucks is coming...

I read in our paper today that there is a Starbucks in the plans for the new strip mall being built in my town. I'm not sure if I'm excited about that or not really. We have a new locally owned coffee shop, Sacred Grounds, that is fabulous, and I really hope the Starbucks doesn't cause them to have financial difficulty. Don't get me wrong...I do enjoy a frappuccino every now and again, but for hot coffee, Sacred Grounds is sooo much better. Here's to hoping that corporate America doesn't kill the little coffee shop that could!

Chicago!

We had such a great time in Chicago...we both just wanted to stay and move there permanently. Every time we visit Debi and John we miss it more when we leave. They are so fun to stay with and the area they live in has sooo much to do and see (and eat...:)

Here are a few pics from the weekend!