so thankful...

with Thanksgiving coming up, i thought i would share some of the people and things i'm thankful for... God has blessed me in so many ways, and i can't be thankful enough! so here goes a completely UN-COMPREHENSIVE list in no particular order:

• music! i really really love listening to music. i think it can change a mood right away. currently i'm totally digging Christmas music (and have been for at least a month), but the current favorite i just bought on iTunes is "Pennies from Heaven." hehe, so fun!
• my family--love them so much. my parents are awesome and supportive, and my brothers are super sweet and they never fail to make me smile. Peter and Joey still live close to me, and getting to see them brightens my day. AND! everyone will be together for this Christmas. Cecelia is coming from D.C., Lincoln will be jetting in from PA, and my grandma and my aunt are coming from NY. who knows when the next time me and my siblings will all be together like that again. it hasn't even happened yet, but i'm already thankful it's going to! :D
• Christmas! i love celebrating the birth of Jesus, and i love everything that it entails. i'm a fan of traditions, but i'm so totally excited to decorate in my own place in just my style. since i have a pink living room and bedroom, i'm thinking of going with a sweet and girly tree and decorations (aka pink and green!)--of course i'll be making some handmade decorations, and i'll have to share them with you :D
  

this one i found HERE was sooo pretty!

friends. this includes so many people. the ones that care about how i'm feeling and how it's been going, the ones who pray for me, the ones i get to meet up with and we don't skip a beat even though it's been ages since we got together, my sister, my daily best friend, my co-teacher, my crafty buddies... they help me in so many ways. i only hope that i'm half as reliable or steadfast as they are. i just seem SO lucky. actually, BLESSED.

sandwich grills. addicted and about ready to give them as Christmas gifts to everyone i know. they make grilled perfection every single time no matter what the contents! *LE SIGH*

scrapbook retreats--i counted up the actual 'completed pages' and even though not all of them are 12x12, i still had a record productive weekend: i completed 82 pages!!!! w00t w00t! :D

bursts of ingenuity when teaching or planning for school--it helps so much! i love doing something that makes students think!

coupons and sales. these make me so happy. good deals MUST be endorphin boosters, would you agree?

diet coke. helplessly addicted.

laughing--i am so thankful for laughter.

water polo with all its challenges and physical demands. i think what others say is 'insane' actually keeps me 'sane.' oh, the irony.

and YOU, my precious blog readers... you are a constant source of encouragement that i feed off of. i am blown away by your support. i love reading your comments!

oh, and you thought i wasn't going to share a card? hehe--nope, i've got one here:

i used tons of Sassafras papers that made me think 'vintage' so i de-hoarded a length of vintage lace trim and then inked up the edges, and finally i added a fun swirl stamp i picked up from Impress a year ago. i also added a few BG felt stickers--they're perfectly wonderful texture-wise on this acetate card. oh, and i used an EK border punch for the inside edges. fun stuff in sort of fall colors--what do you think?

so, what are you thankful for? i'd love to hear what has blessed you lately :D thanks for stopping by!

Christmas music makes me smile...

wow, i have to say, that participating in the DeNami Blog Hop yesterday was so much fun... if you missed it, then check out my card HERE. i seriously LOVED reading all your comments on my non-traditional Christmas card.

they made me smile. and they made me feel really special. :D

and then i thought, 'why don't i do this more often?'

because, you see, your comments are the fuel that makes me want to post... so here i am again!

this card makes me smile, and it's so simple. it has some Sassafras goodness on it, and features a PTI sentiment from Dawn's Signature Greetings... and it's so NOT a Christmas card--in fact, it's a birthday card!

so yeah. another thing that makes me smile is listening to Christmas music on the radio. see, i've been listening to my holiday tunes via CD in my apartment and in the car, but NOW one of the local radio stations is playing 24/7 Christmas music.

ah, be still my heart!

i will be happily dancing around to "Jingle Bell Rock" all the way through January :D

thanks for stopping by, you're the best!

DeNami Christmas Blog Hop!

welcome to the DeNami Design Christmas Blog Hop!

you should have arrived from Michele's blog. but, if you didn't start along with us, head back to the DeNami Design blog and follow all the way from the beginning. and, if you plain just don't know what's going on, check out the info below:

When: The blog hop starts on November 14th at 8 AM, PST. However, you have until November 15, 2010, 11:59pm PST, to leave comments on all the blogs (to be eligible for a prize).

Why: To be inspired by stunning DeNami Design Christmas creations and also the chance to win mini shopping sprees on the DeNami Design website!

Prizes: We are giving away THREE $20 gift certificates to our website! We'll be giving away one gift certificate to a random participant (DT members not eligible) and then we'll also be giving away TWO gift certificates to TWO people who comment along the hop!

so it sounds like fun, right? i agree :D right now i'm actually enjoying a weekend of scrapbooking in Seattle... fun stuff, and i'm actually being productive too!

anywho, on to the blog hop card i made. this one features a non-traditional take on Christmas, but i love this DeNami stamp and glitter :D

you all know the Bing Crosby song, Meli Kalikimaka? yeah... that song is one of my favorites of the season, and truth be told, i've actually been playing Christmas music for a long time. now, i'm not usually one of those 'forget Thanksgiving people' and move to Christmas, but this year, even though i'm not forgetting Thanksgiving, i am really excited for Christmas. like, a LOT.

the above is a close-up... the rhinestones (love 'em!) are from my stash, and the letter stickers are from Making Memories that complete the sentiment. i love that hibiscus flower stamp... seriously so fun and cute, so i shaded it and glittered the center.

hope you have fun checking out the rest of the ladies along the hop--they have some seriously awesome projects to share.

next on your stop is Angela! you'll totally want to see what she cooked up for the Christmas blog hop!

have fun, and thanks for stopping by! :D

what's for dinner?

i'm currently pondering the answer to this question on this lovely November day.

i could quite possibly be leaving you soon for a little bit of take-out, or maybe i'll be inspired by my fridge selections. who knows?

anyway, i hope you have been enjoying some of the fall things happening now... i feel a little out of sorts with the season changing, because today in WA we had 70 + degree weather--totally record breaking! so different from our normal downpours :D

the card i made has a really simple design--the main sentiment panel is a Cosmo Cricket label from "early bird" collection, i believe. the yellow heart patterned paper is Sassafras, and it's perfect. i tucked a doily and a Bazzill flower behind the upper portion of the label, and added vintage buttons topped with pearls--so pretty, huh?

this card would be perfect for a busy mom or grandma who's always running around getting things done. do you ever feel like that? hehe, i KNOW you do. anyway, i really think that's it for today, other than to say that...

1) i'm still doing NaNoWriMo, which makes me crazy, and busy, together.

2) i got my own internet!!! *yay* this happened one day ago. i should be commenting more, and posting more too.

3) i go on a scrapbook retreat for 3 days on nov 12-14... so super excited for dedicated craft time!

and i hope you all have a lovely night! XOXOX

all shapes and sizes

still posting some of the older projects from my computer. today's comes from an afternoon when i made some zuchinni bread and muffins to share with other teachers at school. this tag was for the cheerleading coach and the home ec teacher... (and it was actually in the shape of a triangle flag--a leftover that i had from a banner project for school.)

this little baggie was for my co-teacher, and it housed three of the muffins i made. i used a group of papers from my 'red scrap' pile. since i've been in love with banners lately, i thought that one would be cute to put on this bag with some bling in between.

oh, and another thing, i'm in love with doilies. like, hardcore in love. so much it's almost sick. i love how this doily looks with the Cosmo Cricket "hey there cookie" panel. i just do.

and that's that for the zucchini bread. i love making bread. especially banana bread. i have some bananas waiting to be transformed that i've been saving in my freezer... maybe i'll dig up some free time this weekend to work on a loaf or two :D

thanks for stopping by, and also for leaving your encouraging comments! they mean a lot to me. btw, i think that you'll like some of the projects i have coming up. at least, i hope you will! ta ta, have a lovely day!

you are special...

you really are. i can't believe you stop by and read my blog. it makes ME feel special. but really, we're still talking about you here. (how do i get off on tangents sooo quickly? it must be a disease *le sigh*)

today's card comes from the vaults and crannies in my computer.

i am reorganizing my craft room which is sort of out of commission (making way for a bigger table, which means i'll now have 3 work surfaces to crowd with paper, etc!) and i haven't posted a lot of the projects i have on my computer.

this card was made specifically for a teacher that had to leave our school because her military husband was moved to a different base across the country. i was originally going to give her a smaller card, but realized it wouldn't hold all of the signatures/ well-wishes that my staff would be writing, so the card is HUGE (i used a whole 8.5 x 11 sheet)!

and that's it. i have a proverbial pile of projects that need to be posted, so look for them later.

thanks for stopping by, i hope your weekend is fabulous!

the new busy

**EDIT: as i look at the 'scheduled date' on this post, i notice that it's about three weeks late. and since i figure you deserve to know what i was {{GOING}} to say, i'll just publish the old post part in RED. so then just look for the regular 'now' stuff in black at the bottom. cool? good.**

oh hey. yeah, so i think i owe you an apology. i've been absent from the blog as of late.

it's one of those things... school started, swim coaching continued, practice times got changed, the internet i'm mooching off of someone else in my apartment complex has been UBER splotchy and sketch lately, and then there's the fact that i've been doing more baking and cooking recently which has to do with a budget crunch in my world... should get better after October (which is still a long ways away!), and i just haven't been around.

so i guess that's my excuse? which, i hate getting as a teacher, but i figure you all should know what's been going over here.

moving on.

i made a quiche on sunday night! (this was after i made three homemade pizzas... crust and everything to have as a lunch option this week.) it was lovely. i didn't follow a recipe really, but i looked online at a few places to give me a starting point for portions. i took a picture. i know it's cheating to just show you a picture and not the recipe, but frankly, i'm too tired to link it up.

so how 'bout you search 'quiche' in Google-land and do what i did and make it up? i bet it'll taste awesome! i mean, it has eggs and CHEESE, right? right. so yes, we're good.

oh, and random fact #23: i still have sand in the front pocket of my hoodie from a trip i took to the beach this summer. VERY recent discovery, btw. i've even washed this thing a few times (well, maybe just one). so, i put my cell phone in there to keep it toasty (well, actually, more like to keep it handy) and i pulled it out a minute ago and it had all these little specks of sand on it. grr. annoying! (said like Gru from "Despicable Me" would say, "LIGHTBULB!!!" hehe... makes me smile every time!) just thought you should know.

fun fact #57: a little seventh grade boy cut his hair because of me and what i said in class. i felt bad. for about a minute. and then i realized it was beneficial to both of us that he could now see out of his eyes instead of swiping them to the side every 3 seconds.

that is all.

so back to the regularly scheduled program. ha! so swimming ended yesterday--we had our last meet of the season, and now all that is left to do is have an end of the year banquet and send out the lettering certificates, etc.

i have a project for you (well, kinda a project). i made a whole bunch of fall leaves from my Cricut. i used the "Stretch Your Imagination" and "Wild Card" cartridges. i cut a HUGE pile of leaves out of a HUGE stack of paper (patterned and sort of matching). they're now hanging around my apartment making my place look more fall-like. i went to the thrift store the other day and picked up all the ribbon/ bias tape that is holding all the leaves together.

doesn't it make my curtains and blinds look awesome? i thought so.

oh, and did i mention? i'm participating in NaNoWriMo again this year.

you might remember from last year how i took on the challenge of writing 50,000 words in 30 days (about 1,667 words/ day). this year is going to be bigger and better! i'm getting a lot of students involved at school, and they're super excited about it... so great to see young minds trying something 'new' and 'hard.'

oh, besides the leafy garland, i've been doing some prep for a scrapbook retreat i'm going on in Nov. i went last spring with my co-teacher Jen, and we had a BLAST, and i got sooo much work done, and i'm totally looking forward to it this year. we're leaving school to go straight up to the Hilton in Seattle a few weeks before Thanksgiving to get productive (or not! :D hehe!) last year, i totally loved getting to know some new girlies and getting a new nickname 'Tonic.' ha! i think that all crafters have a magical bond, don't you?

anyway, that's it for today, sorry again, and please feel free to harass me next time i'm gone so long... i DO succumb to peer pressure in that regard! :D