Happy Birthday Bridget!

I have lots of thoughts about the election... but will share those in another post.  I wanted to share a creative project I did... something that I haven't done in a LONG time.  Wednesday was my good friend Bridget's birthday.  She shares my passion and love of office supplies.  We wanted to create something special for her birthday.  After trying to come up with something for weeks, I suddenly came up with the idea to create a cake out of office supplies... you know, like the diaper cakes made for baby showers...

So I wandered around Office Max until I could come up with some kind of an idea.  Came home and played with my goodies... I must admit I kept a few pens for myself.  I just couldn't resist!  :-)


I am pretty happy with the end result!

The bottom layer is post-its, rolled up into circles.  The top "layers" are made from pens and mechanical pencils.  Decorations include correction tapes and erasers.  Bridget is a math teacher, so the erasers and pencils are very appropriate.  She loves bright colors and purple... so this was a perfect combo.  I got an extra cake box from the bakery and placed it in the box to add to the overall effect.  She was thrilled with it... makes it all worth while!

Happy Birthday Megan!

Happy Birthday to my dear friend Megan!

Megan and I met through work- We both taught at CSMS until last year. Megan got her dream job at a new school and left us. I miss seeing her every day. She is a good soul and is my voice of reason. We've tried to talk at least once a week since school started. Today is her birthday and a few of us sent her a cookie boquet shaped liked birds... this is only funny if you know that she is terrified of birds. :-) Hopefully she will get a laugh and think of us all today.

Week in My life...

So I was all excited to be starting the Week in my Life project that Ali Edwards is running on her blog. She taught the class at CKU back when I went, but I chose another album track. I always wanted to do it, so when she had it posted on her blog this week I jumped on board. I haven't been taking many photos lately, and I haven't felt very creative. I needed a boost. I know that I NEED to take the creative time- especially when I don't seem to have the time. It keeps me grounded and makes my spirit happy.

So I got my camera all set for Monday so I could capture my day in photos. I charged up the battery and put in the memory card. The memory card acting a little funny at first (wasn't recognized by the camera) but then it was fine. I went on my merry way taking lots of photos. Last night I was just too plain lazy to come upstairs so I didn't "dump" the memory card last night. This morning I was running late, but I remembered to grab my camera and took photos on my drive in and throughout the day just as I did yesterday. I was so proud of myself.

I finished my homework for class tomorrow and decided to dump the photos onto my IMac. Put the card into the card reader....... AND MY MAC FROZE! It has NEVER EVER EVER done that. :( Had to reboot. So I put the card back in and everything appears to be fine.... until I realize that photos are MISSING... like 50 or more photos! Of all of the photos I took yesterday, only SIX made it on my computer. I could scream. From today, there are tons missing too. They aren't even all in order... it is a few here and there. I AM SO MAD! I was so proud of myself and now I don't have the photos I wanted. So what do I do? Do I try again tomorrow? Do I scrap the whole project? Is this a sign that I have too much on my plate right now to even consider this? I really feel that this will be good for me- it will let me see my life from the outside and reflect on what is going on right now.

Ok, whining over. Here are some of my favorites that did make it onto my computer...

These are the books/notes that I should be reading right now


My darling Patches.. whining to go out for the 100th time tonight. She has recently found some spunk and has found her naughty side. While I am happy to see her active, she is making me a little nuts with everything she is getting into. But then I remember that my days with her are numbered... she will be 13 in December!
Then there is this face.... how can you not let him walk all over you? Wait, it's me that he walks all over! Yes, they still have on their 4th of July collars... it's too early for the Halloween ones and by the time I was ready to switch them, I decided to just wait a few more weeks and put them in the Halloween ones.

Ok, I will try again tomorrow. I have a different memory card in the camera now and am charging up the battery. Maybe my camera is finally starting to go wacky... it is an original Digital Rebel from 2002 and I have been drooling over the smaller, more advanced versions... A girl can dream, right?

Off to do some reading... maybe I should have some idea about the content for class tomorrow!

Wordle

This is addicting... but look at the pretty things you can create!

Tagged

One of my closest friends from High School and I have reconnected courtesy of email and blogger. She just had the cutest little man in the world... who also happens to be named Christopher. Anyway, she "tagged" me on her blog.

10 years ago: August 1998
I was getting ready for my second year of teaching at Antioch Lower Grade School (now Antioch Elementary.... Lower Grade is a rotten name for a school, isn't it) I had a year under my belt and thought I knew it all! I think Chris was still working at Hastings YMCA, but I don't remember. We had one dog- Patches and one cat- Simba We aren't even thinking about having kids yet!

5 years ago: August 2003:
Getting ready for another school year... this time at Carl Sandburg where I have been since. Who knew I would fall in love with the middle school age group? I am so grateful I stumbled on this job in 2001. I work with amazing people and have made so many close friends. Chris was working at Leaning Tower YMCA in Niles. Long commute and things were starting to get ugly with the Metro YMCA association. We lived in our current house. Still only one dog and one cat! We were deep in infertility treatments. We were healing and going strong into another treatment cycle.

5 months ago: March 2
Hmmm... in the middle of ISAT testing I think. Chris was a the peak of his winter swim season and I had yearbook deadlines. I was preparing to run my first (and ONLY) 8k. We now have TWO dogs and a cat. Chris is coaching full time for Warren Blue Devil Swim Club and LOVES it. We've been on a "break" from infertility treatments for a year or two. We are healing from the failed adoption in October still.

5 things on my to do list for today:
1. Vacuum again. (Can I saran wrap the dogs to keep the shedding down?!)
2. Finish cleaning my studio
3. Spend some time with my friend Megan playing in my studio
4. Get the dogs out for some exercise if it stays nice and not too hot
5. Stalk the ISI Swimming Results page to track how Chris' kids are doing at the State Champs

5 bad habits:
1. leaving my shoes all over the house
2. eating anything chocolate
3. spending too much time on the computer doing NOTHING
4. watching train wreck TV
5. leaving shampoo bubbles all over the shower (Chris HATES that!)

5 places I've lived:
1. Round Lake Beach, IL
2. Houston, TX
3. Crystal Lake, IL
4. Bloomington/Normal, IL
5. Antioch, IL

5 things people don't know about me:
1. I am not a fan of birds. I am not really afraid, but I don' t care for them AT ALL
2. I once almost got into a bar fight with a little person (!)
3. I am a tad claustrophobic
4. I wanted to be a pediatrician or an interior designer when I grew up (can you say opposites!)
5. I can't watch scary movies... they give me nightmares. (My students make so much fun of me!)

5 people I tag:
I don't think I have 5 readers! LOL
1. Gloria
2. Kellie
3. Beverly
4. ???
5. ????

Library of Memories Update

One of my goals for the summer was to fully implement the Library of Memories framework. I took a class from Stacy Julian this spring and LOVED every minute of it. I wasn't able to keep up with all of the assignments at the end thanks to the end of the school year. The system just makes sense for me and I wanted to get it all set up before school starts again.

I spent most of today working on getting all of my finished Layouts integrated into the system. For those of you who aren't scrapbookers, I basically wanted to get my finished pages organized into categories so I could find them when I wanted to and others could look at them in a logical way. I decided that I would leave any pages that I did on Creative Memories pages alone... for now. I don't want to have to figure out how to separate them just yet.

So I started by taking all of the layouts out of their current albums. As a side note, whatever adhesive I used in 2004 failed miserably! I spent a good hour repairing pages with loose elements. So sad! I am hoping that my current adhesive holds up much better! Here is what it looked like when I pulled them all onto my dining room table:
The end result is the photo at the top of the post. I need to create a few more tags and actually need to get another black and red album to get things organized as I would like them to be. In sorting the layouts, I really started to see the patterns in what I scrapbook and what I really want/need to scrapbook in the future. I gave up chronological scrapbooking a few years ago, but I was never deliberate about what pages I did create. It was just whatever was closest to me. Now with this system, I can find my photos and really create pages that I want to create. I can create with intention. It is almost as if my love of the art has been reborn with this system. So that may be a little melodramatic...

I also did some cleaning in my studio before starting all of this. The side where I actually create is a MESS right now, but the rest of the room is in much better shape.These are the shelves in my "reading corner" The albums here are the chronological storage binders where all of my unscrapped photos are. I still have a few more years worth that need to get into binders. Right now they are in the triage area:The basket holds all of my memorabilia that needs to be filed as well. It is all starting to fall into place!

Here is the TV and table I have in the room when I have other people over to crop. It was our kitchen table in our last house! I would like to paint it white eventually and maybe even put on a glass top. The fan is necessary to keep the room cool. I have an OLD window air conditioner that has served me well up here! The fan just gives it a little extra help!

Here is my little reading corner. I would like to create a slip cover for the chair this week. We'll see how adventurous I feel. Sewing is really not one of my talents. :-) I leave that to my mom and sister!


I will probably spend most of tomorrow trying to get the other side of my space cleaned up. I really want to scrapbook now that I have most everything organized. I just need to have a clean space to do it in!

LOM Update

I have been busy working on assignments for the Library of Memories class I am taking at Big Picture Scrapbooking. I am so in love with my progress so far. I am already feeling so much more organized and connected to my photos.

One of the big elements of the "program" are category drawers for your photos. I finally got some time to work on this over the past few days and am THRILLED with the way they are coming into place:
I am busy going through my photos and adding them to these files. I also have photos waiting to be printed at Snapfish. I am hoping to get my digital photos printed so that I can also add them to my files.

Break is almost over! :-( I worked on cleaning out the closet tonight. Chris is off at a meeting so I had the house to myself. I need to do a little more tomorrow, but that was the one thing IO really wanted to get done over break.

We have a wedding tomorrow and a pizza party on Sunday. Looks like I am back to work soon! :-)

Spring Break... Day 4 :-)

Another uneventful day. Slept in and had a late breakfast. Had lunch with Grandma, which was a nice treat. I really need to make an effort to visit her more often. I need to make plans to go visit my other grandmother as well. Dad tells me she is not doing well.

Didn't make the calls I needed to... onto tomorrow's to-do list. :-) Nothing more really on the list at all other than continuing the process of sorting photos.

I did run today for a SHORT time. I just don't think I am really going to be able to finish the shuffle. Chris keeps assuring me that even if I walk, I will be fine. We'll see. I am getting bad shin splints and I don't think it is my shoes. I have only had them since September and I am not that serious of a runner. Who knows. I need to figure that out since it is really hindering my running at this time. I think I need to seriously consider finding a trainer to get my butt in gear. I really want to LIKE running and I am just not there yet. Hmpf!

One more share for today... Here is a recent LO I did for the LOM class:



Off to finish dinner... Chicken and Potatoes... which will make more dishes. Have I mentioned how many dishes I have done? LOL.

Spring Break... Day 3!

I am finally in the swing of Spring Break. We were off on Friday for the Easter Holiday, so Break officially started then. We had a good weekend. Chris and I went to the home of two of his assistant coaches on Saturday night for a coaches meeting. It was really productive and then we decided to celebrate the teams great season. Let's just say Chris and I aren't 20-something anymore. We tried to keep up with the young'ins and ended up paying dearly! :-) I don't plan on revisiting Goldschlager anytime soon! :-) We both paid dearly on Sunday... which was fun since we hosted Easter for my family! It was nice to spend some quality time with everyone and the day went off without a hitch. Chris and I even managed to get a little run in. The Shamrock Shuffle is SUNDAY... and let's just say I will be SHUFFLING for sure!

I've been working hard on my assignments for Stacy Julian's Library of Memories class at Big Picture Scrapbooking.
I have wanted to take this class the other two times it was offered, but the timing didn't work out. I am SO happy I did it this time. I am working hard to get all of my photos organized so that I can scrapbook the way I want to and WHEN I want to without having to dig through boxes. I have almost everything sorted and am now working on getting things into the storage binders she recommends. Her entire philosophy is also outlined in her newest book, Photo Freedom I am still trying to find it locally as a resource to the class. She goes over everything more in depth in the class as well as gives us assignments and DEADLINES which is what I knew I needed.

Today I:

1. Uploaded 2004 highlights folders to shutterfly. I will be ordering those prints as soon as they finish uploading. This was the first year that I was 100% digital and I really have only printed photos here and there. One of the big things is getting your photos off of the computer and printed. I have a LARGE order to set to go for 2004 alone.
   
2. Loaded the 2004 photos that I do have into the storage binders. 2002 and 2003 are already done and FULL to the brim. I was all film then. I am planning to go back and do PRE-2002 once I have everything up to 2007 done. 2002 and 2003 each have two binders, but I am hoping the remaining years will fit in one binder. We'll see.
3. Cleaned my main scrapbook desk area. It was a MESS! The rest of the room is still a mess thanks to the LOM class and gathering all of my photos. I really hope to have it back in order by the end of break. I need to find a place for the new storage binders as well as the category drawers I have on order. I will need to do some rearranging I hope.
4. Finally filed the Christmas cards from 2006 and 2007. Photo cards have been assimilated into the LOM storage. Loving that!

I need to start on my Spring Break To-Do list tomorrow... calling the vet, the furniture warranty company, and the Dr to make appointments. The other big plan is to clean out the closet in our bedroom. We just need more space and I know there are TONS of things that we are not wearing and/or we can't find in the mess.

Off to do some dishes. Being home for three meals a day sure increases the amount of dishes we seem to create!

It's HERE!

It's here... and I am in LOVE... LOL. Busy working on the yearbook on a 20 inch screen! So much easier than the 13 inch one~

Back to work!

Sisterhood Album

I've been working on this mini album for the last week. I don't even remember when I first bought this album, but have wanted to do something with it for a long time. These photos just seemed like the right fit. Each 2 page LO includes a photo of myself with one of my "virtual" sisters that I met this summer. These girls have all become a BIG part of my life, so I am so glad I finally got around to getting these pages done.

I will post more photos of the inside pages later.

Two LO's...

Here are two LO's that I have created for my scrapbook group:

The first one outlines my intentions for 2008.

The second was using a sketch and is documentation of my first 5k!

It's done! :-)

I am so excited that this project is done. Most of the pages are really simple, but I was able to capture the season in WORDS, which was my goal for the project. It's been so long since I finished a project for myself. Most of my projects are in a process eternally. My goal was to finish this project before returning to work. I am so proud of it! I decided to only include prompts through the 25th... that made it doable for me.

Back to work on Monday... just a few more projects that I would like to get done around here before I head back. I also have a basket full of grading... I think I will watch a pay per view movie tomorrow and get that all done. That's the plan anyway. We'll see!

More pages... :-)

So I have a few more pages done for the Christmas Journal. I have GIVEN UP with the scanner. After 45 minutes on the phone with HP, the tech told me that I needed to return the scanner as it is not able to scan any dimensional objects. Nice, huh? When I asked why my OLDER model was able to do this, I was told that the new technology does not allow for dimension on this model. Some new technology, huh? Wait till I tell Chris! YIKES!

Anyway... here are some not so great photos of some more LO's...