Fonts Fonts Fonts!

I found a link on the Creating Keepsakes site to a site offering 20 free fonts! If you haven't looked online for fonts to add to your collection, now is the time! I love love love downloading new fonts! (So much so that it's hard to find Times New Roman on my list because there are so many others to choose from!) There is one in particular on the list called DB Circles - Travel that I am in love with! These cute little circles are definitely going to show up in my travel journal I am taking with me to California next month! Check out how I used them on a photo from my honeymoon:




Here is just a sample of what is included in this font set (did I mention it was FREE?)

Check out the fonts here. All you have to do it register for an account with scrapNfonts.com and you are good to go! :-)

Also check out their $1 sale here! There are some great fonts there! (I may just have to go shopping later... shhh, don't tell Jason.)

Hi Honey!

'Boy Howdy!'

I don't have much to say today... I'm just REALLY excited that it's almost the weekend! After almost a year I still haven't lost the college student gene that allows me to sleep until 11 in the morning... so I'm looking forward to that!

Just to brighten your day, here are some of my most favorite Garfield comics ever:

This is my most favorite one:


This one is just for Jason:

Lots of photos!

Howdy all! I actually completed two pages last night! Woo! I stayed up until 11, which I now realize was not the best idea. (Those of you who know me know I hate Thursdays and it's not a good idea to be over-tired on a Thursday.) Anywho, I scrapped another page about our trip to New York City, to go with the first from last night which is shown on the left, as well as a page for my wedding scrapbook. They both turned out ok. :-) The photos of Jason dancing for the garder are pretty hilarious and I can't help but smile when I see them. Here are the layouts (click on them to see them larger):

I wanted to share with you a sneaky little technique I often use when I am journaling. I often write my journaling in pencil to make sure I like it before going over it in pen. This is mainly to avoid weird spacing of words, especially in this case when I wanted my text to be right aligned.

Here is the journaling in pencil:

And here it is written in pen:

Once the pen dries I will go over the journaling with an eraser to get the extra pencil marks off. Some pens dry quickly but this white pen of mine requires a little more time. If you have the LePen pens (I totally love them, they are awesome!) then you can erase right away because they dry quickly and won't smudge all over everything.

I also wanted to share with you what I have been doing with my scrapping space (AKA the loft!) I have the closet half full of scrapbooking supplies plus my desk. I put up and started filling my cork board the other night. Notice how messy my desk is... it pretty much always looks like that. Hee hee.

And also filled up my board. This is a piece of pegboard stores use to hang product and my Father-in-Law was kind enough to give me this piece and mount it in my closet. I'm incredibly spoiled... I'm not sure you all knew that. Haha. But really, it's like having a store in my closet! I can see everything really well and can group things anyway I want. For example, all my beach/honeymoon themed stickers and embellishments are together because I will be working on those pages soon. I also grouped a lot of different wedding stickers together as well as chipboard shapes, alphabets... the list goes on.

Also, here is the photo of my sister and I which is hanging on my bulletin board (I mentioned this photo in my post from yesterday):

(How great is that?)

And I couldn't resist taking this photo of Bruno right before I went to bed. As my Mom would say "he obviously has trouble relaxing."

Randomness should be my middle name...

I really want to make some of these:
(found on this blog)

I scrapbooked last night! I will take a pic of the page I completed (from our trip to NYC) and post soon.

I also put up my cork board above my desk and started filling it with randomness that I love. This includes a photo I took during Christmas-time where I perched my camera in my Mom's Christmas Tree and set the self-timer. I then grabbed my sister and made her look at the camera. I said that it would be cool because it's like the Christmas Tree's perspective of us! Haha, too much fun! (I will have to post the pic here now that I am talking about it, haha.)

I found this when I typed "pictures that make you smile" into Google (I think I fall more and more in love with the Internet every day):

In other news: Work is crazy. Life is crazy. People are crazy and my arms are still sore from Wii Boxing. I. Love. It. 8^)

Meet Elroy!

This is Elroy:

He is the newest member of our little family! He is a lot of fun and encourages us to play virtual tennis, baseball, bowling, and even boxing (I kick Jason's butt in boxing and now my arms are REALLY sore!) Hee hee. This is Jason playing his first game of tennis with Elroy (and Baylee watching wondering what the heck he's doing):

When you set up the Wii you get to pick your "Mii" (pronouced 'Me') and design him/her to look like you. This is your avatar in the games. When you choose your Mii you also get to choose your favorite color.

This is what Jason's screen looked like:

And this is what it looked like to him:

How confusing is that? He choose black just to be safe! (Haha, for those of you who don't know, Jason is color blind. Not quite THIS bad, but he jokes that his favorite color is grey, or in this case black.)

This is Jason's Mii:

This is my Mii:

How cool is that? I know... awesome! For those of you who live in the NEK, you can count on us bringing Elroy home and playing with you. He's too much fun to just keep cooped up in our apartment all the time!

In other news, I actually got some scrapbooking done this weekend! WOO! I cleaned (and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned) the loft on Saturday so now I have my desk and everything is UBER organized! It's too cool to actually have a "scrapping space." Here are two layouts I created for my Grandparent's scrapbook we are making them:

I'm loving the beach one. The main photo of my dad holding the crab is hilarious to me! Ewww. All the photos are of my sister and I when we were small. How cute were we? Really... we were cute kids (with really cool hats!) That's probably why we were so spoiled... no one could say no to us because of the extreme cuteness! (And really, who can now that we are older?)

If they are sugar free... what are they???

Rainbows and Glitter

Is it true? Am I really going to get to scrapbook this weekend? I think it is! We have no plans for this weekend (for once!) and I am going to move my desk upstairs and actually (really!) scrapbook! There have been so many creative ideas in my head lately and I haven't been able to implement them. I have a lot of projects to work on for different people, plus my own projects to do. My Mom sent some old photos down last week that I haven't been able to play with at all! My Grandparent's 50th Wedding Anniversary is the beginning of August and we are all working on a scrapbook for them. Also, my other Grandparent's 50th Anniversary was last year and my sister and I are still working on their scrapbook! It's hard to scrapbook without journaling though. Erin and I both agree that the reason we scrapbook is to tell a story... without the story there are just pictures on a page! So we need to sit down with my Grandmother and get some of the story from her. I am also waiting to receive a CD CHOCK FULL (chock!) of photos from Jess' wedding so I can start on her scrapbook! I bought it the other day (8.5x11, which I am totally excited about!) and started sketching pages and brainstorming ideas about how we could work on it together while living 4 hours away from each other. I have some GREAT ideas and some AWESOME sketches... it's going to be SO EASY once I get the photos and sit down with her for a little while. Weee!

In other news:

Melissa Frances (a recent Breast Cancer survivor!) has come out with a new 'pink' line called Thankful. I can't wait to get my hands on some of this stuff!

Amanda and I are doing the Walk for Austism in Boston on October 19th! (Yes, we are at it again... there are just so many causes we are passionate about!) If anyone wants to join us you can find more info here! Don't worry, we are only walking 3 miles this time, so you don't have to be scared that you will be covered in blisters by the end of the day! Also, we are taking sugggestions for team names if you have any ideas!

Also, today is Grammy's Birthday! None of you will see her today because she is probably lounging on the deck at camp dreaming of the possibility of another Red Sox Championship this year! HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRAMMY! :-)


Birthdays remind me of a quote I saw last night in a magazine:"Be happy! So happy that rainbows and glitter shoot out the top of your head!"
(If you don't immediately understand why I like this quote, just imagine walking down the street and seeing someone with rainbows and glitter shooting out the top of their head onto everything. You would think to yourself "wow, that guy is REALLY happy!" That would be great, wouldn't it?)

Rose Kennedy Greenway Tour

For a few months now I have been a member of a professional organization called WTS (Women's Transportation Seminar). I recently joined the Programs Committee, which organizes the monthly luncheons held throughout the year. In the summer they hold a "Summer Tour" and this year's was a tour of the Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston. This is the mile-long stretch of park that replaced the Central Artery portion of I-93 when the Big Dig relocated the highway underground. I used to work in Boston in 2005 and walked through this area frequently because it was near my building. Oh boy has it changed! It's incredible! They are far from finished with the project but it is beautiful and holds so much potential for that area of the financial district. There are new businesses, cafes, condos, restaurants, and even a new Fine Arts Museum planned for the area. If you would like to learn more about the project you can visit http://www.rosekennedygreenway.org/ (check out before and after pictures too! Crazy!) Ok, enough talking, check out the pics I took on the tour! :-) (If anyone wants to come to Boston to hang out and play in the fountain with me, let me know, I will clear my schedule!!! It's funny because you think I'm kidding...)





These girls were having SO MUCH fun! I wish I could have joined them. I asked my friend if I could and she said it may be "unprofessional." I'm not sure I want to live in a world where people would look at me weird for coming back from my lunch break soaking wet. "No it's not raining, I was playing in the fountain for a hour!"






I pretty much HAD to take a picture of this! How hilarious is that? HAHA! Poor silly little fat pigeons... 8^)

More Layouts

As promised, here are a few more digital layouts I completed over the weekend. (Click on the image to see it larger.) Amanda was so funny when I was creating the first layout below. I was typing the journaling in my "Chica" Handwriting Font Jason made for me. I told her to check it out and as I was typing she looked at the screen, looked at me, looked at the screen, looked back at me and said "HOW are you doing THAT?" Haha. It was priceless.

The last layout I actually completed the day after I took the photos. How cool is it that, with Digital Scrapbooking, you can complete a layout with pictures you took the day (or hour, really!) before? :-) Lovin' it.

(PS - I am in the process of cleaning out my designated "scrapping space" and making it more functional. So fear not, I will get back to traditional scrapbooking SOON! Like, this weekend! *fingers crossed*)

Weekend in Maine

We spent the weekend at "camp" with Jason's family... I say "camp" with quotes because said camp is Jason's Grandparent's summer home in Maine, complete with a 40" flat screen, Satelite TV, High Speed Internet, and DVR. (It goes without saying that there is also power, a flushing toilet, shower with hot water, and a telephone.) "Camp" is more convenient than my apartment in the suburbs with the exception that the water comes from the pond and not the City of Wilmington (the vote is still out as to which tastes better.) This place is one of the best places to spend a weekend (or a week, month, year, lifetime, I'm sure.) The property is on a pond and is great for swimming, boating, reading, relaxing, and making s'mores. We lucked out and had some nice weather on Saturday, while Sunday was a little less cooperative with some wind and clouds. We got to swim a little though, and watch the Sox game with Grammy and Grampy! (Grammy has become a HUGE Red Sox fan... knows more about the game than I do and I have been watching for 5 years...)

Regardless of the weather, a wise soul once told me that "a bad day at camp is better than a good day anywhere else." I can't help but agree! I L-O-V-E it there! I even got some digital pages completed! I'll have to share later... For now just pix:

*sigh* and all the stress melts away


View from the deck overlooking the pond


Played Cranium Saturday night

Lots of Cranium family fun!


Acting out "Fly Fishing" (which, after a glass of wine I was convinced was "fishing for birds"... the girls won anyway!)

It's a SASQUATCH!

A little background information for you...

Every day Jason and I travel home on I-93. On the side of the highway just after Exit 38 there is a "figure" (two trees) on top of some ledges. From a distance it looks like a particularly furry person about to jump onto the road. Whenever we go by this we shout "oh no, a Sasquatch!" or Jason will make an unnerving "Sasquatch" noise (If I could attempt to spell it it would be something like BWABWABBAWBABBABWBA!) After passing the "Sasquatch" we exclaim to each other "Oh, wow, don't worry, it's just some trees. Wow, that was close." Seriously, something like this happens every day! (Jason has also told me that he makes the noises when he alone in the car... Haha!) I even took a photo for you. Seriously, it looks like a Sasquatch! We have showed other people before and they agree, so we are totally not crazy!


So, the other day I was looking at some articles online and saw this ad:

Could it be? Is this the same Sasquatch we see everyday? Could this be a relative? We always wondered what he did during the day. Of course, I had to click on it! It brought me to this site. A game that TAUNTS Sasquatch! I don't know about you, but considering that I see this dude everyday I don't really want to make him mad! (He's known to enjoy eating cars, after all. I don't want to be in one of the cars when he eats it!) So, after my complete disgust I clicked on Sasquatch Journal on the bottom. Maybe the journal would lead me to something that explains his whereabouts during the day? It lead me to THIS PAGE! CLICK ON IT! SERIOUSLY! SASQUATCH HAS A MYSPACE PAGE! I couldn't believe it either! Here I am close-mindedly thinking that Sasquatch eats cars all day and hangs out on the side of the highway... I am very mistaken! Sasquatch knows how to use a computer! He even has a blog! Friends, my world has been turned upside down! I think I need to lie down...

How cool is this?

I saw this today on Jennifer Stewart's Blog and thought it was cool. Browsing the FLICKR site is so much fun and leads to SO MUCH inspiration! There are so many cool ways to use this feature! Imagine uploading a bunch of photos and printing the mosaic... insta-scrapbook page! :-) I will definitely be messing around with this feature more! (Although, I am still a Picasa girl, so no worries there!)

A FLICKR mosaic all about YOU. (Well, me, actually.)
Come on...try it on your blog!
Directions are below...



The photos above answer the following questions about me:

1. What is your first name? Samantha
2. What is your favorite food? Dessert
3. What high school did you go to? North Country Union High School
4. What is your favorite color? Red
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Zach Braff
6. Something you collect? Squished Pennies
7. Favorite dessert? Strawberry Shortcake
8. Favorite flowers? Gerber Daisies
9. What do you love most in life? Family & Friends
10. One Word to describe you. Random
11. Dream vacation? Italy (all of it!)
12. Your favorite holiday. Labor Day

Here's how you do it:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions above into Flickr Search.
b. Pick an image you like of the ones that pop up.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into the Mosaic Maker.
(make sure your mosaic is 3 columns, 4 rows)
d. Right click on your mosaic and save it to your computer.
e. Share it on your blog! The mosaic maker gives you the html to put under the mosaic on your blog so all of the links will show up.

PHOTO CREDITS:
1. Samantha, 2. mini chocolate cupcakes, 3. VT Orleans Newport 07 224 , 4. A Nice Drop of Red Wine, 5. Zach Braff, 6. Mission Rules, 7. 1:1 Strawberry Shortcake, 8. Gerbera, 9. The Calvo Family - Holidays, 10. random green leaves, 11. Aurorus Reflectus Colosseo, 12. Balloon Classic; Labor Day

You may be a Gemini, Minnesota Twins, but the Boston Red Sox are having the best week ever!

Jason and I took Erin and Zack to the Sox game on Tuesday against the Twins... Before we went I warned Erin about getting too excited: "Now Erin, just because the first game you went to was really great, that doesn't mean this one will be as well. It may rain, Papelbon may not pitch, and we may not win." She assured me she would be ok with that. Well, guess what? It was beautiful out (hot, but clear), Papelbon pitched the 9th, and we won! On top of that, it was an AWESOME game! The only part that wasn't as fun as the last game was that Erin now knows that they play "Wild Thing" when Papelbon is coming out to pitch, so she was less surprised (but still just as excited) to see him! :-) Also, they ended up sweeping the Twins and winning yesterday 18-5. Woo!






I got (stole) some ideas from Ali Edward's Blog last night and created these overlays. I am loving Photoshop lately and really wish I knew more about it. I also created some journaling blocks using the same type of overlay. If I wasn't so exhausted last night I would have played more, but we ended up going to bed at 9:30 to avoid d-r-a-g-g-i-n-g our butts today. I am ready to welcome a relaxing weekend in Maine with open arms.