Patches

My beloved Patches is more than 14 years old.  She is our first child, and has been a life saver for me over the past decade of infertility treatments and failures.  I fear our time with her is coming to an end soon.  She still has so much spunk, but her hips are starting to fail her.  I hope and pray that I will not have to make the call and that she will just slip away.  I don't know what tomorrow will bring, but for now she is still getting around and eating.  She has her moments when walking is hard or her hips just give out.  But I don't feel that she is in pain.    I pray that I will know when she is in pain and have the strength to make her comfortable.

So for now, I am going to cherish each moment we have.

Happy Birthday Chris!

Today is my beloved husband's birthday.  He's never been one to make a big deal out of birthdays, but I always try to make it at least a little special.  He went and ordered himself an iPad as a present, so I just bought him a few little things.

We've come a long way from the teenagers we once were.  We are now to the point where we have been together for more of our life than we haven't.  It hasn't been all a walk in the park, but I honestly love this man more today than ever.  He is the "lighter" side of me and always makes sure that we have FUN in our life, even when it is the LAST thing I want to do.  Happy Birthday Chris!

Maybe I will just blog in photos...

Here are some cards I made for a silent auction. One of the amazing women who subbed for me when I was in Colorado is good friends with a woman who is battling a rare form of cancer. I wanted to do something, so I made these cards for the silent auction. Rumor has it they went for $25. Every little bit helps I am sure. Here is a link to the site: Team Kelly I think they are planning more fundraisers in her honor.

I used Fancy Pants papers and My Mind's Eye cards as well as an assortment of brads and flowers. The box is actually a Godiva Chocolate box that I recovered. The cards went together so well that I have actually made a few more sets!

Chris and I also got the window boxes and planters planted this weekend. It's early for the midwest, but I figure we can bring them in if it looks like frost and they will be in full bloom sooner. It just makes the front of the house look so much nicer. Please excuse the "rustic" paint on the house...

Left Flower Pot- I am in LOVE with these daisies. I hope they keep blooming!

Hope that everything in this drapes down nicely!

Right side of the house Fresh mulch but nothing much in the beds yet. Might be doing some construction this summer, so don't plan on doing much in the beds. Might add a few more planters instead.

And one final photo... this is one of my good friends and coworkers and I. She has been such a source of strength for me over the past year. Photo was taken at our annual trip to Miller Park to see our Cubbies take on the Milwaukee Brewers.

Just a quick update

I promise a much longer post is coming.  But for now, I will share a few of my favorite photos from our AMAZING trip to St. Lucia.

Our first day in Paradise!

Waterfall at Botanical Gardens

Sunset Cruise... with lots of Rum Punch!

View of Marigot Bay after sunset

Our own private cabin... our little slice of HEAVEN on Earth

Project Life

Thought I would share my project life album that I have been working on.

The goal is to take a photo a day and journal about it. The album is a kit from Becky Higgins. You can find it at Amazon now. There are divided page protectors so all you have to do is slip the photos and cards in.

I am actually all caught up except for the journalling for last Sunday. Still not sure what I want to write that could sum things up.

So here it is:

Long time NO Blog

It has been some time since I last blogged, hasn't it?  I have been using twitter and facebook religiously and sadly my blog has been neglected.  Thanks to Beverly for giving me the nudge to finally post something!  :)

Summer is nearly over... but I am THRILLED to have several more weeks thanks to a construction schedule at school.  We are getting central air in all of our classrooms which meant taking out all of the ancient plumbing and vents.  We are also getting new shelving along the outside wall.  Can't wait to see it all put back together.  However, I am so grateful to have the few extra weeks this summer.

Our summer has been full of swim meets as always.  Chris loves his job and has been so very busy!  I have tagged along for a few of the big meets.  He is currently one of the coaches for Team Illinois at the Central Zone meet.  After this weekend, he is finally done for the summer and has a break just about until I go back to school.  Usually he gets done just as I have to go back to work.

We did get to sneak away downtown for our anniversary.  We saw Mary Poppins and also took in a Cubs game with GREAT seats.  I used priceline and we got a GREAT deal on a hotel downtown.  We stayed at the Hilton on Michigan Avenue for $79 each night!  (Of course parking was $55 per night!)  It is hard to beleive we have been married 13 years.  We've been together for more than half of my life at this point!

I just returned from a wonderful weekend in New York with my virtual sisters.  The group of us met 6 years ago on AOL through the Scrapbooking message boards.  We've remained close and try to get together every other year.  It was nice to see them all in person and be able to give each of them a hug.  I was able to see New York and Vermont over the weekend and even took a trip down the Alpine Slide.  Ate lots of chocolate, did some shopping, and had some great laughs.  Looking forward to seeing them again in 2011! :)

My newest obsession involves my hair.  I have had a love/hate relationship with my natural curls for my entire life.  I can say that most of the time I currently lean towards the LOVE side.  Yesterday I went and got it cut short again, and I really am happy with the cut.  I was ready for something new.  I have a great stylist that really knows her stuff and always talks me out of doing anything outrageous.  As I was researching the cut I wanted, I visited naturallycurly.com a site that I often check.  I started to read up on the curly girl method of hair care.  I kept reading, and the more I read, the more it made sense.  I won't bore you with all of the detials, but here is a great link: How to Go Curly Girl.  I have been having a horrible time with my scalp in the past few months and I really think my products are to blame.  I have been using the same products for almost two years now. So as of today, I am now sulfate/silicone free.  It is going to take some time until I find products that I love.  It is my hope that I will have it all figured out before school starts!  :)

Grad school is almost done... November 4th can't come soon enough!  I have one more session in my current class and then two weeks off.  Of course I have several assignments I should be doing right now for that class.  :)  Better go do that now...

Creativity Project

So I am trying once again to participate in a challenge... you can find more information about the Creativity Project by clicking on the picture on the side of my blog. It will take you to Lisa Day's blog where she explains all about this project.

I have learned that I *need* creative time in order to be healthy and happy. Yes, scrapbooking and paper crafts are my hobby, but doing something creative is essential to my health. I know that sounds a little dramatic, but it is really true. Creative play time is my stress relief, my energizer, my fresh air, and so much more. Too often, I let the day to day stuff overtake my life and I don't make the time to be creative. I recently asked a friend to hold me to being creative every Thursday night. I am happy to say that I have been doing that MOST Thursdays. I am taking this challenge one step further by doing something creative EVERY day for the month of March. It doesn't have to be something big, or even paper related.

So today is the first day and I am happy to say that I have finished a baby gift for a good friend and have made a birthday gift for my assistant. I have realized that one of the greatest joys I find is creating things for other people. Creating the baby gift was actually therapeutic for me in a way. I needed to do this. I hope that the mom to be likes it! I am not going to post a photo here until I have given it to her. Wouldn't want to ruin her surprise. :)

So.. check out Lisa's challenge and try to bring some creativity into your day to day!