days of...

watching legend of the seeker mixed with scrapping, snuggling with my two cuties, watching movies and the snowfall mixed with some scrapping. tonight is reveal night at cocoa daisy! it starts in an hour, stop thru for some games and chattin'! :) here are some peeks at my feb. gallery. off to grab some dinner before jumping on the boards, hope you will come thru and say hi, while you are watching the grammy's!

xo

happy friday and....

(images via giveme-a-reason)

AND FOUR DAYS UNTIL LOST begins!!!!! Who is as excited as I am? I can't wait to see what happens, now wishing I had rewatched the last five seasons so I can be on my A game, oh well... here we go! Have a great weekend!
xo

LA in photos

Happy Thursday! I fall in love with California more and more everytime I visit...except for the time change! I am still trying to get back on east coast time but feeling less alien like today, lol.  I really had a fantastic time and it was totally what I needed to recharge my soul and mind.

Jen in  photo booth blissdom, we spent a lot of time taking strips of love and fun! I srsly. wish I could have one in my house, sigh....

Our hotel rocked, cool things to photo at every turn, not to mention their marketing is pretty much the coolest I've seen in a while.

We were only at the show on Sunday and I didn't get to see a lot of you but hopefully we will meet up in Chicago! Liz was the sweetest ever and we had our girl Tina in the mix for a bit, yay!! Always fun to chat with Allison and finally meeting Julie, she is such a doll!

On Monday we had to say goodbye to Jen :( then Jamaica and I headed to Santa Monica. Of course we hit up Anthropologie but also went to Urth Caffe, which was everything I thought it would be! It was on my list of things to do while in CA, food there is delish

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lattes almost too pretty to drink....

but I did...yum!


Now back to reality and getting thru the rest of winter. We are expecting snow this weekend and my dvr is overflowing with shows to catch up on! I am also itching to create...maybe a mini or two!
xo

the products: CHA

I know photos are everywhere, but here are some of my favorite products from the show. disclaimer* totally jetlag so I will try to avoid typos, but can't make any promises,lol.

jenni bowlin studio
You know I am a JBS junkie! I always fall in love with her products and use them tons! These buttons are the cutest!!

as well as these self adhesive butterflies, want them all...especially  the yellow ones!

 

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the stick pins are gorgeous as well!!

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basic grey

basics line is totally drool worthy. I love every piece of product in this line! It is classic and can tell it will be awesome to use.

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7gypsies

I totally squealed with delight when I saw this vintage receipt holder in the 7gypsies booth! I want at least two, it is amazing and such an awesome way to put atc, photos and memorobilla on display!!

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these stationary notebooks are the cutest and have tons of possibilies, super cute!

studio calico

the anthology line is totally amazing (always a huge fan of their papers and stamps) but seeing the rub ons in person was the best and chatting with April and her husband too (super sweet southern people)! If you loved home front this line will be right up your alley as well!

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hambly

I want all of the these, omgosh! I love the lace border rub ons!  the heart, peacock,embroidery, and antique doily papers and overlays do not disappoint either. We made an awesome make+ take with allison too, super cute bracelet with doily rubons! Hambly poducts always inspire me!

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dear lizzy

You know I was super excited to see this line and it did not dissapoint at all! I love all the flair in this line! It is all super cute: paper, fabric paper, thickers and ribbon...double check! I am also in love with the i do line from american crafts, lots of greys and soft tones....swoon!
 Plus it has flocked thickers in it, shoot should have taken a pic, sorry, promise it is a must have for your thicker collection!

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her booth was the cutest, you can see some of the paper in the garland!

I also love loads of other stuff (crate paper, cosmo cricket, jillibean soup) but between being tired and mind swimming over the ipad (apple's latest and greatest) info... my brain is pretty much mush, lol. What are some of your new favorite products? I loved reading about your loves in last Thursday's post...you all have some great lists!
xo

what is a friend?

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What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies. ~ Aristotle

I have met so many amazing people that I am so happy to have in my life because of scrapbooking. It is so crazy and cool and I love it. It was truly amazing to finally meet Jamaica, Jen and Tina finally... to giggle, chat, brainstorm,take loads of photos, hug them and just have so much fun together. I hope next time we all can hang longer and for it to be with all of the dare girls. It was also so much fun meeting so many more awesome girls at cha on sunday. I wish I could have seen more of other scrap pals and talked more but I always feel like that. :) promise to post a better post later today with my cha favorites, thank you for letting me share...
xo

addiction, passion loves

okay, finally getting a chance to write this blog post,  had it open for over two hours,  but kept getting sidetracked. Dare 156 went up yesterday..... i'm addicted to my ______________.

I love this one, so many things I could put into that blank, like:
tv
design blogs
web
shoes
photos
apps
cardigans
coffee
spray ink
rubons



really the list could go on, but for right now, my current addiction is painting my nails every week. My sister has always been big on this but I go through it in phases. I am in that phase currently and these are my colors in rotation. It used to be only dark colors but now I am feeling a little more daring and chinchilly is a new favorite color (the cement/gray color).

So glad it is almost the weekend, yay!!! What are your current addictions loves?

could drink, breath and play dress up here...

(apartmenttherapy)

I could live here ( jenna lyons' closet, creative director for  j.crew), having dreams of finally redoing my closet and having some sort or order in the pit I currently call a closet. :) On my to do list after cali. I don't know if I am brave enough to show you the before pictures, okay going to keep it real and share when the time comes, not a pretty site. stay tuned....

xo

proof i am still scrapping!

I am still scrapping just a little behind with blogging. :) I am trying to be a better blogger this week, promise! We had a great weekend:tried out a new cupcake place (the fam gave it a 2/5 stars), worked a special olympics basketball tournament, caught up on some shows, watched the globes and finally got caught up on laundry. Here a sneak at one of my layouts from  the feb. cocoa daisy main kit.

Tricia is doing a fun giveaway on the daisy blog.  If you leave a comment about your favorite CHA sneak peek you could win the goodies above by American Crafts!
enter here

                        

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my favorite product thus far is the dear lizzy line from American Crafts, what is yours?

observing...

some of my all time favorite quotes by MLK,Jr.
"A riot is the language of the unheard".
"Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better".
"At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love". 
"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase".
"I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear".

have a lovely weekend

source

this makes me smile, you know my love for polaroids. :) Sorry for the lack of blogging as of late, trying to get back into the groove. this post is what I needed to possibly make the winter months a little more endurable and fun! have a lovely weekend! xo

getting over the no more holidays blues....

Who else feels like January is a little less glittery than December? I always go thru a bit of a funk after the holidays are over. Not feeling taking down decorations, no more 24/7 Christmas music, I guess I just miss the spirit of the holidays. Okay moping over, lol... I am sure the weather has a lot to do with but half of this month is gone and I am getting more hopeful for spring, family events,summer plans and good tv. How could I forget to add watching the Golden Globes to my list on Monday? I love award season, can't wait to see the pre-awards shows and everyone I mean the actresses, lol. :)

still working on the dec. daily, but it almost done, yay!!
day 21: some of the items on s2 list for santa, they still believe in santa even though the kids at school told them he wasn't real. I asked them both what they thought and they said, he is real.Okay, but get this Saadiq knows the tooth fairy isn't real and the easter bunny! lol, he divulged this little knowledge while we drving home one weekend from a trip to nana's, my sister and I had the hardest time keeping a straight face when we asked about santa claus, bingo...oh he is real, oy! so the fantasy continues...


day 22: one of my favorite things about the holidays is the baking, we love to bake for the holidays in my family. s2 helped me make these as part of our cookie tradition. I love these corrugated letters by jellibean soup! I sewed them together and then adhered them to the page, simple page but it is one of my favorites.


The daily is getting harder to close, three pages to go! I have some sneaks of my projects for the  feb. cocoa daisy kit tomorrow to post. hang in there we are almost there...happy hump day!
xo

a call for layouts...

Passing on some good news to those looking to be published and such, Memory Makers Books are awesome!

Memory Makers Books is currently looking for layouts, which will be published in an upcoming idea book!


This new gallery book will showcase fantastic layout ideas on all kinds of themes like family, holidays, special events, vacations and more. The new book will feature more than 500 layouts, so they’re looking for a variety of pages, highlighting all sort of styles, skill levels, colors, products, photos and techniques.

Click here to read more and find out how to submit your layouts.
The deadline for submission is March 15.

eh monday!

hello, hello, hope you had a wonderful weekend! This weekend was a totally blur,a happy one but a blur. We drove down to Richmond on Saturday to have dinner with our mommy. She is so much fun and we had the best time giggling, talking + the food was great...bonus.  Sunday, pretty much lounged around, watch tv, played and did very little else, yep that means my christmas decorations are still up. My promise to myself is to take one thing down a day so it is a little less painful. Check back with me on Friday to see how it went, lol.

I am looking foward to the following this week:
-season 7 of project runway premieres on Thurs and it is in NYC again, praise the lord!
-long holiday weekend and celebration of MLK
-warmer weather is finally going to make the dmv not feel like the artic, small victories ( temps in the 50's)
-working with the feb. cocoa daisy kit and posting some sneaks
-putting clothes together for cali trip



Another page in my dec. daily, slowly but surely it is nearing completion!
journaling reads: time is moving on but the memories are what we have mixed with paper.

xo, have a wonderful day and blissful week!

on the fly.

Patent Crocodile Carry On Bag, $35M·A·C Plushglass - Gloss - Bloomingdales.com, $18 IPOD Touch, The Sartorlist,$15

happy friday!! We awoke this morning to a  bit of snow that closed the schools in my county, for about two inches of snow. lol, snow days are the best but that didn't apply to mommy! But it didn't put a damper on my day because its FRIDAYYYY! :)


I am getting all my ducks in a row for my trip out to LA in two weeks. I love to travel especially by plane! I love to people  watch, chill while waiting for the plane and the swiftness of air travel. I am a light traveler even with kids I do not like to carry a lot of bags, on our summer vacations we carry one main luggage and the children have their on little bags for toys that they carry and are responsible for.  But when I travel I like to travel light and with only a carry on and a purse.  These are some of the things that are a must have for me.


1. I hate to say, well no I don't leggings have become a staple in my wardrobe. They are comfy and easy to dress up or down and a key element for travel in my opinion.


2. Must always have gloss, this is a new favorite that I gited to my sister for Christmas.


3. Compact travel bag, I love this bag. It holds a lot when especially if you roll your clothes, has wheels and  has mutiple pockets.


4. Gum, to assist with ears popping and got to keep the breath fresh :)


5. Scarf, easy way to keep warm on the plane and avoid the airline blankets ( certain those are not washed on a regular basis) and to add a pop of pattern of color to an outfit.


6. Oversized tee, for me their is nothing worse than being uncomfortable while traveling for  x amount of hours. I like to wear semi-chill (lounge) attire.


7. An ipod or mp3 player is a stable to drown out that snorer to the left or loud eater to the right. :)


8. Great reading material for when the flight seems to be never ending, you know that part of the trip where you are almost there but you feel like you should be there already. A book  or magazine is a good way to get your over that hump!


9. I always put on my suns to mask  dragon eyes, lol.


What are your travel essentials or tips to traveling light? Have a terrific weekend!
xo

determined

brrrr.....it is so cold, we are on day six of this artic blast weather front, is to early to say I am already over winter?!...thought so, some how I don't think it is going to get any better. I am finally getting into the home stretch of catching up and uploading the remaining pages of my december daily album.  I am so excited that after four years of doing a dd I am finally going to finish one! :) It feels good and I think the reason I stuck with it this time is that I didn't get bored with creating pages and just rolled with the flow of materials that I loved adding to each page.

day 16: Added a piece of an 09 letterpress calandar for this page. We had so much fun the last weekend before christmas, journaling strip by October Afternoon.

day 19: We had so much fun playing in the snow during the blizzard. We made snow angels, hadn't done that since we were children. The funniest thing was that Saadiq and Synai had played while we shoveled snow and had gone back in to dry off so we decided to play a little, so fun!

it's almost the weekend, yay!! hope you are staying nice and warm, off to drink something hot!
xo

the silver lining

supplies: paint: Heidi Swapp, Making Memories; pattern paper: Basic Grey ( Lemon Meringue Pie); Studio Calico (Home Front),Sassafras; rubons:Hambly (doilies) and staples; misc: label (paper-source) ribbon, overlay (Hambly) and sewing

I know that life isn't always roses but it is important to document the moments that have a silver lining or if you are in the process of trying to figure out what the silver lining is... dare 155 is up today. One of my silver linings in life is my family, especially my children.
My life is enriched daily because they are included in it.

srsly. obsessed pt. 2

i know i said i loved sherlock but this movie right here....knocks it out of the box! I am so obsessed (like pirates of the caribbean obssesed) with it, it is beyond beautiful and totally magical. You must go see it and in 3D if you can. I don't know how I am going to stand waiting for it come out on dvd.  James Cameron please make it happen sooner rather than later....
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it makes me want to be a Na'vi female warrior and ride a mountain banshee!
...if you like movie triva and have seen the movie, check out some trivia about the movie....here.
lol

back to reality and the start of a new year!

Woah, back to reality and the hussle of everyday living. I love the time off during the holidays but very ready to get back into the swing of things. :) First day back at work for 2010, children were very excited to get back to school, as was I to get back to the normal habits of our weekday rituals. I even sat down to create this moring, very determined to finish my dec. daily this year and to also work on some cha assignments.

This morning I took the time to review the guidelines (last year's post) I had set for 2009 and I am happy that I did take more pictures and even photographed a friend's wedding! I have set a few for this year that I can't wait to implement personally but really want to continue to live and love in the moment as I try to do daily and to just enjoy the opportunities that life presents.

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Took these pictures from my phone, bit grainy....december daily,15: remembering there is 10 days left until the birthday of christ.

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day 18: documenting synai's excitement for pj day at school. :)

Hope you are having a fabulous start to the New Year!
xo