Petco

Whenever we go out, Natalie likes to go to PetSmart or Petco. It is the closest we get to the zoo this time of year. We walked by this tarantula and he was so creepy, I wanted her to take a picture next to it...this was the closest she would get. :)

It is almost like he posed for me, ya? He would move after the flash went off, hope I didn't blind the spider. Gross he is really gross and furry!

Xmas Eve and Xmas

Natalie got her Diego stuff, "It's what I've always wanted!"

She had to put this dress up fairy dress on last night, too cute! She is just now starting to dress up and like girly stuffs.

Oh how she loves McQueen! "It's what I've always wanted!"


Merry Christmas Everyone!
This has been a great year, and I know 2007 will be even better!

Chuck E. Cheese Xmas

Today we met Jo Ann and Alan for our annual Xmas exchange at Chuck E. Cheese. It was good that we got there early because people sure piled in about an hour after we got there. Natalie and Alan had a great time, I have more pics, if you want to see, check them out. They sure enjoyed hanging out and opening presents. Natalie got home and tore into her Ariel bath doll and gave her about 6 baths. She loves it! Thanks Alan! Alan loved his motorcycle dude and safari remote car too. I hope he has fun with those. I know the kids get so much stuff, but it was time to clear out all of Natalie's younger toys and bring in the new ones.

Ok, I am totally excited about this. I received my December kit from sei and it was 2007 calendar to just add photos and embellishements and you are done. Mine came out great. It only took about an hour or so to print out he pics and put them on the page. In the back of the calendar there are tons of tags and stickers. I guess I'll take it to work, I don't have room for a double long calendar in my studio.
Everyone have a happy and safe holiday. It is going to be great this year now that Natalie totally gets it!

Natalie's Nap 12/19/06

When Natalie naps everyone naps.
Talula sure loves to find the warmest spot in the house. She sure found it today!!! Natalie has been falling asleep in the couch these days, I guess no more sleepytime.

Stockings were hung...

on the chimney with care.

WeeCare Xmas Party and an {Oopsie Daisy}

Well, what I busy day I had, then to come home and bake cupcakes, woweee! Aren't they cute? The best part was that I took the frosting and put it into a plastic bag and piped it on each cupcake. This was sure easier than frosting each one, prob because when I frost each one has to be perfect, so it takes a while.

Oh also, Natalie bopped her nose...so sad...she will have 2 black eyes tomorrow for sure, we'll take more pics to share. Can you see how the light reflects on that BIG OL BUMP on her head?

Feeling Groovy!

Wow, what a rush feeling good is. Job is good, family is good, I am good, so that makes me feel balanced and happy. When I get home at night I am energized to hang out with family and do what Natalie wants me to do.
"look at the presents"
Every night about 3 times, she just wants to sit in front of the tree and talk about who the presents are for.
Oh gotta post a pic of my tree, the biggest yet, 9ft tall. The cats love it too :)~ Tony is replacing bulbs like crazy so he is good for that sorta maintenance.

Hey, I am taking a Donna class (Portfolio Album) and an Ali class (Perspective) at Youngplay Memories in Tracy in Jan and Feb. Totally excited about this, join me if you can, she can hold 100 people in each class. Still not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing. Good for her $, but then we get a less personal experience with Donna/Ali. I am going to bring my books to get an autograph and a camera to get photos with these ladies, LOVE EM!

{ my workspace }

Top 10 Things I Love

Ok, I just love SEI. They are the coolest company ever with the greatest designs!! I joined Club SEI and now get kits every month in the mail. You can preview the next month's kit and opt out if you don't like it. So that helps.The Dec kit is a calendar kit, I am all over that.
So, today I was able to sit down and fill one of the albums with photos. I think this was the October kit. Cute eh?

Got stuff today!

How exciting! I got some new stuff today from Oriental Trading. The new Fiskars 12" trimmer is way cool! The stores don't even have it yet, and it cuts straight. How cool is that? Oh and the clear stamps are amazing. These retail for about $20 each and OT has them for $29.99 for 3. I love flourishes and any kind of swirl, twirl, or curl!
Other things I got are some gaffer tape and blank 8x8 board books to do some digital scrapbooking and paste the pages inside. Too cool!!!!

Another great day!

"Happiness Walks on Busy Feet" - this is definitely ME right now!

Finally, I'm home!

WHOOHOOO!! Today I started my new job! It was a great day. I got aquainted with the people there and I feel right at home. Thank goodness! I was thinking back on my first few days at my previous employer and they were terrible. The second day there I wanted to quit. I don't feel like that at all here. I feel at home.

Santa Already?

Today my Mama, Natalie and I went to the outlets and it was great! Santa was outside asking kids what they wanted for Xmas. Natalie said she wanted a Diego Car, and a Rescue Pack. I thought Natalie was going to be really scared of Santa, but she wasn't. She wanted to tell him what she wanted for Xmas. What do you want for Xmas?

New Era = New Hair

Whooohoo! I got my hair cut yesterday...yes all of them. Tony took some pics. I feel like a lady now ready to start a new life era. Are you with me?

New Job Start 11/27

Well, I start Monday 11/27. New job. Curriculum Manager at Frontrange Solutions. This will be great because they are a CRM company, they are in Dublin, and they are a smaller company (pre-ipo too). What is most exciting is that I will actually have an impact on the direction of the training. So totally excited about this. But first....Thanksgiving.
Natalie has her first WeeCare Feast tomorrow and I am so excited about it, I will post pics tomorrow night. Then the rest of the week, it will be Thanksgiving with both families in one day. Yahoo!!
As always, a pic of Natalie in her holiday jacket. :) Enjoy!

I Resigned Today

Today was another day in my "life plan." I have resigned from my current position to start another job with amazing opportunity and growth. I have been at my current job for about 15 months and decided (my second day there) that this was not the industry for me. I needed to get back to the techy world and be a part of something bigger and faster and better.

I've accepted my new position as Curriculum Manager and today I announced that I am resigning. If I could only write the details of the day, I would, but this blog is 'public' sooooo. Teheheheeee So anyways, overall, it was a good day. I start my new venture Monday 11/27, please send well wishes and good thoughts my way.

BTW, the comments are open to ANYONE, so please, be my guest, and comment. See it right there, right down there, ya, there, click it, type and you're done.

Mall Trip Today

Natalie and I went to the mall today with Jo Ann and Alan! We had a great time. For some reason when we get these two kids together they just laugh and laugh. It is so great to see them enjoying eachother so much!
We had lunch at the new Cheesecake Factory and wow was that amazing! I got the Chocolate Tuxedo Cheesecake and it was amazing....can I just say heaven....I brought half of it home because I couldn't finish it. Can you just see the layers? It goes like this (from the bottom up)....fudge cake, chocolate cheesecake, vanila marscopone, and topped with chocolate ganache and tons of real whipped cream....ok, ya wow.

School Portrait

Well, I can't believe it, but it is true. Natalie's got her first school portrait. They take these at WeCare and I love that. She looks so big!!!! Cute eh?

What is Natalie into these days?

I often get asked...so what is Natalie into these days? So....today - Natalie and I created Natalie's Christmas Wish List . We went through the big book of toys and added everything that she could possibly ask for. You don't have to purchase from Amazon, these are just ideas.
Check out the graphic over there under the LINKS section, it will always be there, even when this post is not.
I don't know how I get anything done around here with two cats all over my desk and a booboo girl who loves to play on the computer!!

Halloween Layout Done!!

Here are her school pics and more!!

Happy Halloween!!!

It was great this year! Went to Gammas and Papas and hit lots of houses in a short time! What a beautiful Tinkerbelle Natalie was (Jadyn too)! I'll post some pictures from her day at school tomorrow.

Natalie's World - her view

Wow talk about creative confidence. Natalie was shooting pictures with my camera today and dang, some of these came out pretty good.
I was cracking up when I saw this close up of her face, you can tell she is smiling, just didn't quite get the full face. But, that is what is too cool about it. ~CRAZY EYES~
Here are a few more. The world from Natalie's point of view.

Glad she found this sticker, I need to take it to our 15 year high school reunion next year and stick it on someone's back. Remember this Anne?

Pretty good lighting and framing of the subject in this one. Eh?

See her feet??

She took a few of her toys, put them on her lap, and took pictures of them...and her. So darn cute!

Note: none of these images have been 'photoshopped.' These are all the raw creations of the great Natalie-poo.

Are you Creatively Confident?

This is something I ponder. Ali Edwards, who I really admire, has a newsletter that comes out and in this latest issue, she talks about Creative Confidence. It helped me a lot to read this and try to let go of my walls that block me from being creative sometimes. I always want this to be perfect and that to be in the right place too. But sometimes, I just need to create. Natalie and I do projects and she gets to a point where she says...I'm done. I think....umm the top of the paper is entirely blank and she randomly placed all of the lil photos at the bottom. Then I step back and think, wow that does look great actually. She knows when she is done with something and she says, 'I'm done' with so much confidence, I need to learn from this.

I was thinking that it was a creative block-type thing going on, but it is actually moreso the push to do something bigger and better each time. Ali talks about this feeling too. If you did something and you liked it, then why not repeat it...?

The one question I do have for her is: Can design be learned? I sorta think that if you can draw, you can draw and if you can't well..you just can't. I often meet people that are 'designers' in one way or another, and they just exude a unique style, presence and aura about them. I want to get there with my creativity, but not sure how. I have some of Jim Krause's books and try to learn as much as I can about design, but is it something that you either have...or you don't?

Ok, I'm Done!

Things to ponder....

Clearance - Pairs Well With Spare Change
I saw this at Starbucks this morning and thought it was a cool little quote. Often they feature a new drink like the Pumpkin Spice Latte and they always say, "pairs well with the pumpkin scone" or whatever the treat may be. So kinda cute.


Love Is My Religion
This is the name of the new Ziggy Marley CD, but it has been in my head for a few days. I think that Love is really all we are and all we need. In the end, it is all about Love.

"You Are A StoovieLovieLove!!" -Natalie
Ok, Natalie what is a StoovieLovieLove? (pronunciation:in LovieLove the 'o's say Oh) She won't tell me....She says it is from a show, but I can't figure it out yet. She sure thinks it is funny too when she says it. I do too. One day it will makes sense, it always does.

Those are my things to ponder for the day. Thanks for reading. :)

Dream Dream Dream

Ok, call me crazy, but the new CRV sure looks good. I love to go to the honda website because you can build and price your own car. I added everything I would want, the spoiler, the fog lights, and the sunroof visor. I like to drive with the sunroof open, but it makes a lot of noise. The sunroof visor pushes the air UP. Kinda cool. So, maybe one day....trade in the Esca? trade in my car? who knows what the future holds....

One thing I love to do is dream about things to come. I am always excited about the future and wonder about what tomorrow will bring. I often feel like I am waiting....waiting for things to happen and I am trying to learn (not doing well as you can see the yearning for this car above) to live in the moment with what I have. Why do we all want stuff? Stuff is really overrated, but for some reason, it helps. It brings about the excitement of something new. That is my thought anyway. So today is today and tomorrow is the unknown.

Did you hear about the Scrapbooker of the Year? Can you believe it? You gotta read the press release, she won TONS of stuff including a two-year agreement to represent Creating Keepsakes at upcoming events. Interesting. Seems good, I am happy for her. Just a little indifferent about contests. We scrap for your families and lives. I don't really think competition is good in this industry. But for CD, I bet it is great.

I'm Back

Well, today I was able to sit down and make something great, I call it "Our family is..." Lately I have had a bit of creative block and haven't really sat down to create. Today, although, I did. Check it out.

Ok, so you know that my dream job is to take photos of products, right? I had fun taking these pics and posing my project. Inspiration? Where does it come from? Well, this morning, I was completely amazed at this Doodlebug ad in my new CK magazine. I swear I was staring at it for at least 10 minutes. It is completely made of paper, except the fork.:) So I decided to sit down and be creative, and it sure is a stress reliever for me too. I ordered a ton of these heart tins from Oriental Trading and they had matching inserts too. They are sturdy and cheap too. I am hoping one day Natalie can do these as a project for her b-day partie or I can teach a class with Twig soon. Who knows, leaving life up to the stars these days taking it day by day.

This is one side, this is the other. You can click on the photos to see a bigger photo.

Pretty good eh? I am going to start taking pic of the things I do too. Tiny projects like this are great for me, I feel great when I am done because I accomplished something today, in a few hours. Natalie made one too, but she is not done yet. She would rather go outside and help dada wash the cars. Well, one day she will be able to scrapbook with me, I can't wait!
Have a great weekend and relax and enjoy the cooler weather that is upon us.

Pumpkin Patch Trip

Wow, life just keeps getting better and better. We went to the Pumpkin Patch today with Natalie's class and she LOVED it.

She got to see some animals, run through a hay maze, pick some corn, and pick her pumpkin for Halloween. I asked her how she wanted to decorate her pumpkin and she said she wants it to be pink with a silly face, so that must mean that we are painting the pumpkins this year. We got a good one for a silly face too.



Here is a pic of her class too...jadyn is on the far right side, she was a little grumpy today, Sean said.
Totally excited about Halloween this year, it is going to be great!

What a Week!

Well, it sure was an interesting week last week. Natalie got sick, then I got sick, then Tony got sick. This was a bad virus that got everyone in my family one way or another. We are all better now and just trying to re-coop.
We are totally excited that we are going to see Disney on Ice Nov 4th at Arco. It is going to be cool, Sean's family coming too, Natalie loves to hang out with her cousins. So this is the next big thing to look forward to. I'll defintately post pics when we get back. Usually all the kids dress up in their princess dresses and disney stuff for the show. Hey, good use of the Halloween costume again! Me like that!
Life is good, just trying to get back into the swing of things. Sold my desktop, returned my 19' monitor, so we have a little money this month, but unfortunately it is gone, bills bills bills.

We finally made it!

Texas Roadhouse baby! Tony, Natalie and I finally made it. It was the first week this place was open and it was PACKED! We did the 'call ahead' thingy and called from home, waited 30 min, then checked in at the restaurant and got called 10 min later. It worked out really great. Looked like people had been waiting there for over an hour.

Natalie seems to enjoy it too. She liked playing with the peanuts. Tony likes eating them too. They gave us some fresh baked bread with cinnamon butter and it was awesome, tasted like a donut it was so sweet! I had a salad first and the ranch dressing was so fresh, it was really thick. I ordered prime rib and tony got the ribs, he said they were ok, but not as good as my Dads ribs!!! Oh ya! Natalie got these really cool chicken strips, she didn't like em, but I did. They were dipped in the same stuff the awesome blossom is and it was light, flaky and tasty!

We did have a rookie waiter tho, he was a little slow with things, but we were trying to cut him some slack because it was the first week open. He did bring Natalie some extra cherries. She loves to eat those things. :) Whoohooo!! I am sure it will slow down in a few weeks, whoever opened that place is guaranteed success!!!

Her First Week of Preschool :)

I am amazed, what a great week for her. She is now a preschool girl. The first day was kinda hard taking her there, but Gamma was there, so it made it a bit easier. She jumped right in and is such a good girl in class, she listens to the teacher and sings and sings. She is so ready for this and really enjoys the kid-to-kid interaction.


The best part about school is that she has her cousin Jadyn is there too. As soon as Natalie saw her she gave her a big hug!!

The second day of school she went back with Gamma and she dropped her off. I knew she was in good hands and now love to hear all about her adventures at school. Today was great, Landon's Daddy came and showed the class their FIRETRUCK. Natalie got to sit in the truck and she is still telling me about it. I crack up at this pic of her and Jadyn with their hats on!!!

When I picked her up today, all she could say was, "I want to go to school again and again and again and again." We really want her to have a positive outlook in school and know that it is fun and a place to listen and learn. We will see how far that goes. :) This is a great time in her life and I am glad to share it with all of you.

Natalie and Alan

Well, today Natalie, Alan, Jo Ann and I all went shopping. We went to the outlets and to the Halloween SPIRIT store. It was fun, they had a lot of cool things in there. They had this skeleton-like grim reaper thing that would slide across the floor and bump into things and turn around and move again when something walked in front of it. It was kinda scary so I was trying to keep an eye on it. I knew it was behind me...and Jo Ann told me it was there, but when I looked over my shoulder ...AHRHHHAHAH!!!!! I jumped 3 feet off the floor, even the dude working there laughed at me.

From then on the kids were even more freaked out in there. There are some scary things, heads, skeletons and creepy brides hanging from the ceiling. Natalie made me hold her a few times, and when we left she shouted out, "I don't like scary things!!!"



We liked this pic of Alan, his facial expression was tooooo funny!