tiny things

My good friend Heathyr is going to be a mommy very soon, so I made these for her baby shower. Booties and a matching little hat. Aren’t they the tiniest things you ever saw?

final rehearsal

There’s something so fascinating about being privy to a final rehearsal. Maybe it’s just me because I love the theatre so much. Sitting in the dark, empty theatre, watching a show with a limited audience, hearing final notes from the director. Being a part of that is like being in on a secret.

Two wonderful things happened this week. I met a wonderful girl, Natiya. She’s a photographer and out of the goodness of her heart, leant me her Sigma 24-70mm fixed 2.8 lens. It’s fabulous. I’m thinking of fleeing the country with it.

And second was being allowed to come into the Alex for a certain Ballet Company’s final rehearsal to take pictures. They were very gracious. And look what I was able to come away with.

on growing up

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my goals and my future. It sometimes feels like I’m standing still and everyone, everyone is pushing forward. James and I still live in an apartment, we’re nowhere near to getting a house. I quit my job and no longer have insurance. All my friends are getting pregnant or starting families and the thought of having a child still scares me a little. I keep flip flopping back between these two ideals of the person I should be. The woman who should move forward and start a family soon, and the girl who is just too young to have a baby.

But the only person judging me is me. I always said I would wait until I was 30 before I have kids, and it just hit me that I’m going to be 30 in a year and two months! Yikes!

Well, I can’t solve this problem all at once. Let me show you a layout I made last night. I found this wonderful book, Scraptastic, at Michaels. It really is scrap-tastic!! I’ve decided that I’m going to go through all my books and just do all the samples. So I ‘lifted this one from her book.  “Let Go” lyrics by Frou Frou.  It’s kind of ironic, because the journaling is all about how I need to let go of stuff, especially in my scrapbooking. Don’t hold on to any rules and just make crazy layouts like this one. Except for the fact that I scraplifted it, so I didn’t let go at all.

*Sigh*

Friday Fill Ins

1. When I fell in love there was music in the air!
2. I know spring has arrived when the flowers bloom and it heats up outside!
3. Oh no! The internet connection is down, what am I going to do now?
4. Lost is the craziest tv show ever.
5. Cheese and crackers and grapes make a great meal!
6. I wish I had a garden.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to leaving the office and my crazy boss, tomorrow my plans include going to Disneyland (!) and Sunday, I want to meet the new dogs we are going to get adopted!

Friday fives

found this on Tina’s blog. I think I’ve done this before in the past, but they’re so much fun!

What were doing 5 years ago today:

I was living in the same place that I do now, about a year into my previous job. I worked as a receptionist and every day I told my co workers that I was quitting. Unfortunately I kept being promoted and I stuck with it for 5 years before finally getting out.

5 snack I love:
walnut raisin bread
chips (salsa optional)
scones
cookies
crackers & cheese

5 things on my to do list today (or things I did today)
listened to my audio book during the drive to and from work
had fish and chips for dinner
sulked (haven’t done that in a while)
updated the website at work
bought tickets for the Dresden Dolls concert next month
5 things I would do if I were a billionaire
travel
pay off our school loans
buy a house
donate to my favorite causes
help all my family

5 bad habits I have
biting my nails
eating badly
sulking
forgetting to take my vitamins
leaving the dishes in the sink

5 places I’ve lived
Ohio
The Philippines
Austria
Alaska
Las Vegas

5 jobs I’ve had:
Escrow Officer
Animal Adoption Assistant
Costume Shop Attendant
Hostess/Singer
Receptionist

I love etsy

Guess who’s going to be the proud owner of this beautiful bag? Me! I’m so excited. I have to wait 7-10 days while she makes the bag and then it will be mine. Sigh. I love etsy. I can’t imagine what would have happened if I had known about etsy during the wedding planning. I would still be buying stuff for it!

more layouts

I realize that I need to start blogging more. The days just slip away from me. And honestly, I’ve been too busy playing Jade Empire on the Xbox. Loving this game!!!

Here’s the rest of my layouts from my weekend at Michelle’s.

This is a pic of my little flamenco doll I picked up in Barcelona. She’s about 50 years old (or so I was told)

James and I being “shabby chic”. I usually hate being “twinsies” with anyone, but I thought this was funny. this was a lift of this fabulous woman

A pic of when we went to a Gomez concert. They are so fabulous. I think this was an old pencil lines sketch.

This was for the How Much is Too Much challenge. It was crazy. I had to use 7 brads, 7 flowers, 7 labels, 7 word stickers, 7 letters in my title. Super crazy. This is James and his dad bonding over tequila shots at Thanksgiving.

Just getting ready for Earth Day - is everybody carbon neutral yet?!! haha.

Scrapcouture ScrapFest

So, I’m back from my weekend of scrapping at my sister’s house.  I went to town on her scraproom. I made a total of 7 layouts, plus I finished my swap for this month’s WCTP.

First, here’s a layout I made about two weeks ago that I never posted.

Here are a few of the layouts I made this weekend:

My niece and nephews playing in the yard. This butterfly came up and was dancing in the yard, teasing them, till finally it rested on a plant and I had the kids blow kisses at it

My girls, Glenda and Heathyr. We get together about once a month and have lunch. We found these shirts, “Democrats have more fun” at Urban Outfitters. This was my first 6×12 layout and I loved it!

Some Holga Love

Rachel and I at one of our coworker’s wedding. Rachel is always my date when James can’t make it.

I’ll post the rest later. I’d forgotten how long this takes!

stay tuned

Ugh, these past two weeks have been just awful. My uncle passed away, so I had to drive to Vegas to be with my family and attend the funeral. Without going into it too deeply, I’ll just say he was a wonderful man and I will miss him so much.

Added to that, my boss was sending me about 20 emails a day! Asking me to do this and that until finally I had to just say, “I am attending my uncle’s funeral - can it wait?” Well, not in those words exactly, but she got the hint. She is the most stressful person I have ever met and it takes all my energy not to get sucked into that, but last week was tough. I would have lost my mind completely if James hadn’t been available for a crazed phone call. All I can say is thank God James knows computers and all that crap~

But I’m off again. Michelle is flying me out so we can crop all weekend. I’ll get onto the computer only to post my layouts as we make ‘em, but that’s it. Super excited!

Other than that, just getting ready for our trip to the Philippines. It’s my Lola’s 90th birthday in July and everyone is going back to celebrate. Have to pay for the expensive tickets (love you Large Tax Return - hate you Peak Season)

and we have some winners

Thank you to the people who played my little contest!! There were some great suggestions! I wish I could use them all. As it is, I’m torn between them. So here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to list my favorite names, and you must comment and tell me what you want. Some of you didn’t say whether you were a scrapper/knitter/crafter etc.

Thanks Ladies!!

My favorite names (in no particular order)

Oranginadreams (hehe)
Knitty Bitty
Scarves and Skeins
The Artful Scarfer
Strings and Things

Please comment with the gift you want!! (see the tab above: “Contest Contest”). And email me your address @ leslie_elaine@yahoo