HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

I have worked 24 hours in the last 2 days...

... and this is what I have learned:

Obnoxious Mailboxes would be a good name for a rock band.

(Back to 'normal' posts when my mind can articulate content beyond work and sleep.)

Rnadom Friday

Random Friday just got a lot more random!

~ In my humble opinion, bacon does not belong in cookies.

~ I apologize for the short post and the incredible randomness of it.

~ Been sick most of the week. Went to bed at 8 last night (10 hours of sleep) and I'm still exhausted today.

~ Symptoms include: headache, sore neck/back, really sleepy, weird-crazy dreams, the inability to spell the word "random" (see above.)

~ A truck driver had us roll down our car highway on the interstate this morning to tell us we had a flat tire. Nice guy.

~ The photos to the left (or above, depending on where you are reading this post) were taken on our car window this morning. It didn't snow (still hasn't) but it's been super cold and this is the closest we have come so far.

~ Pics to the left (or above) remind me of researching Snowflake Bentley in Elementary School.

Waffles!

me: waffles ok for breakfast on sunday?
Kristen: oh my god
Kristen: are you even serious
Kristen: lol
me: haha
me: yes, of course!
Kristen: i'm never going to leave your house
Kristen: you realize this, right?
me: haha
me: that's totally ok...
me: the commute sucks though, just so you know :-)
Kristen: haha, true
Kristen: alright, so maybe not

(Waffle made by Erin, eaten by me - July 2007)

Honeymoon Layouts

What? I'm posting scrapbooking pages on a scrapbooking blog? This is almost unheard of! (For me at least!)

Alas, I scrapbooked with Amanda this past weekend and I am able to show you the outcome! (I have finished Jess' wedding scrapbook but I can't show you yet because I haven't given it to her and she reads my blog and I don't want to spoil the surprise! Jeez Sam, run on sentence much?)

PS - Sorry about the glare... it was too dark in my living room last night to take photos without the flash.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm not sure how it came up, but I mentioned to Amanda that she should just throw things onto her page and glue them where they land (maybe in an effort to make the process faster?) Well, when I said this I threw that white flower into my page, literally tossed it in the air, and it came down in that spot. So, I glued it there. :-)

This page still needs journaling, but the first version of it looked WAY different. Amanda helped me with this one. You can't see it in the photo, but some the the words from the patterned paper are cut out and raised with foam tape.


Jolee's stickers = adorable

And when you lift the tab...
(I outlined all the Iguanas in Photoshop with red and printed two versions of the photo. Love how this turned out.)

Amanda had the stickers I used for the title with her. They were PERFECT to use on this page! The arrow was also hers and the tack sticker (how perfect is that?)

December Daily Album

Just ask Jason how much I love my December Daily album... I keep pointing at it and saying "cute." To make the pages, I used 5x7 papers (Sizzix brand from a while back) and bound them all together using book rings and chipboard covers on the front and back... I was happy with it. I went to Target the next day and I was in the dollar spot (one of my most favorite places to be, ever) and it hit me. Inspiration with a capital "I" just came along and whacked me right in the back of the leg. (If you have been hit by Inspiration in the past you know he is very short and if he could hit you in the head, he would... the little bugger.) Anywho, I just had to have this felt wine bottle bag and decided to bring it home with me.

When I got home I cut apart the bag (while laughing with glee) and glued the pieces to the front and back covers of my album. Because I couldn't figure out how to cut off the handles without destroying the felt, the handles stayed attached. And, guess what? I L-O-V-E the handles! My album has handles! How cute is that? I can't wait until December when i get to fill it with awesomeness!

Amazing quote...

"Aerodynamically, the bumble bee shouldn't be able to fly, but the bumble bee doesn't know it so it goes on flying anyway."

The weekend...

Went to an all-day crop with Amanda on Saturday. We literally scrapbooked from 10am-11pm! I got 8 pages done; 4 to finish Jess' scrapbook and 4 for my honeymoon scrapbook. I love how they all turned out. I will post pics soon.

Sunday was a lazy day. Spent some time on the couch with the kitties...

Jason went to the gym on Sunday morning. He felt so great about it that he lifted up this truck on the way. What a show-off. ;-)
This week so far:
- It's SO cold
- I love my heat blanket (thank you Grammy and Grampy!)
- Getting a cold... throat and ears are killing me... not good timing at all... hot chocolate is my friend

- Craft weekend with Kristen on Saturday!

- Dane is coming too... Jason needs someone to play Wii with afterall :-)

- Haven't talked to Erin in forever... Haven't been to VT in forever... :-( Miss everyone very much

- Planning thanksgiving... Amanda is coming and we are going to watch football all day and I'm going to make a ham (I know, I know, but I don't like turkey)

- Amanda also requested that we have peas

- Sweet potatos with maple for Jason

Creative Souls

If you haven't been there already, I encourage you to go check out Stephanie and Lara's new blog "Creative Souls." These two ladies are doing something WONDERFUL together and you should definitely join in! My blog is on the "blog roll" on the right and I am SO excited to support their new blog! :-) Add them to your reader, your favorites, or a shortcut on your desktop because these ladies are about to provide you with a great resource for creativity (Stephanie from the United States and Lara from South Africa!)

Yup indeed, it's random Friday again!

~ Cute candy wrapper downloads from Rachel Ray... they are free too!

~ Apparently my cat is trying to kill me.
I took the quiz and these are my results (for Baylee.)



Like I didn't know THAT already.

Loved this one too:

~ SO excited for the Twilight movie next weekend!!! EEP!


~ Stephanie has a free doodle font on her blog...

~ Made a red velvet cake last night with buttercream frosting. What's up with red velvet cake anyway? I had never had it before, it looks SO yummy, and when I tasted it was like it was a chocolate cake but someone forgot to add the chocolate. I am not a fan.

~ Been listening to the Harry Potter Soundtrack at work. I love it!


~ That's all for now... Original plans were to go home this weekend but I am going to the crop with Amanda on Saturday. We haven't been home since September 6th though. We will come up soon enough. I have a car waiting for me in West Burke that I can't wait to drive! Erin named him Leo. :-) (He's no Hank, but I still love him.)

So, to be honest, I searched Google for my car and this is what I am imagining it to be. Erin does my car shopping for me. The car we have now (Jason's car, who hates me) Erin saw and then we bought it and got to see it after we bought it. This car (Leo) Erin test-drove for me and said it's nice, so I am going to buy it, but I haven't seen it yet. Easy, right? :-)

Real Quick...

Work is busybusybusy lately so just a quick post today. Yesterday I went into Boston for an appointment and took some photos at Copley Square. It was a beautiful day, as you can see. I love that area and when I visit it makes me miss living in the city... hee hee.

Boston Public Library:

John Hancock Tower (old one is on the left and new one is on the right... in front of the old tower is the Trinity Church):


Excited about some things:

- Jessica Sprague's class... of course! I'm thinking of starting a "supplement" blog to record all the stories that I write for the class! I can't wait to just sit down and start remembering.

- This weekend I am going to Laconia to an all day crop on Saturday with Amanda! Can not wait to get some pages done!

- Next weekend Kristen is coming over and we are going to have an UBER Crafty weekend! Among the list of awesomely awesome things we are going to be doing is something like this:




And, if I was really really talented... this one:

'Relaxing' Weekend!

Just a few things about this past weekend... in bullett form because that's just how my mind is working right now. * smile *

- Denise wanted the weekend to be relaxing because she has been UBER stressed lately!
- I was totally into the weekend being relaxing for everyone but me (because everyone deserved a relaxing weekend!)
- It wasn't that relaxing
- Jason and Real worked on cleaning and moving the last bits of crap stuff from our old apartment
- We then went over to help them clean out the old place
- It got old quick
- Denise is a master bathroom cleaner and made our bathroom (which, I'm not going to lie, was disgusting) shine
- I was in charge of the kitchen and after one Twisted Tea which I found in the fridge I was pretty useless
- I found 12 paintbrushes that Booger had put under the stove (she plays with them and they all end up under the stove... I bet there are 5 under Denise's stove right now.)
- So, to recap - relaxing weekend = cleaning apartment and moving crap stuff... yeah, not so much

- Denise ended up doing dishes at one point too... I tried to yell at her but she wasn't having it

- I did do most of the cooking, which was a huge change for me

- I take it as a compliment that we had waffles Saturday morning and I planned to make omlets on Sunday morning but everyone protested and said they wanted waffles again [grin]

- Real is a master and packing things... this is what the second trip (which I am told was less impressive than the first) looked like:
- (Funny side-note... This is Denise's car, so it has VT plates. Someone stopped and asked them if they were looking for someone when they were driving over from the old place. I can only imagine what was going through the guy's head.. "look at these hillbillies from VT with all their worldy posessions hanging out the back of the car!" Hahahha.)

- I said "go pose with your craftiness" and this is the face Jason made. I don't know either.

- As you know, I started (along with MANY other people!) the Stories in Hand class yesterday. Here is the first peek of my album before I glammed it up! :-) Today's class provides "sparks" for remembering stories... I don't think I have been this excited about homework in a long time!

New Header!

If you get my blog posts through a reader or email you may want to go to www.allsamsidea.com and check out my awesome new header! Yeah, I made that. How cute are those little birds? I know! I got all the digital elements to put it together here.

Stories in Hand starts today!

I am UBER excited for Jessica Sprague's Stories in Hand class to start today! Good news for you if you haven't registered... she extended the deadline so you can register up until TONIGHT! So get over there now and register for this awesome FREE class! Here is a pic of the uber-cute binder we are going to be keeping everything in:

When you sign up, you can add yourself to the map of all the people all over the world who are also taking the class... I zoomed in on me to show you just a SMALL portion of the US and how many people there are already signed in! (Sorry the image is small... Blogger and I are not cooperating today.)

Andie's Pumpkin!

Ok, so our friend Andie works at a really cool place and I'll tell you why. For Halloween last week they had a pumpkin carving contest... at work! Yeah, that's awesome. Hold on, it gets better. Andie saw this post on my blog and decided to try out the "Cannibal Pumpkin" design for the contest. The winner of the contest got a $50 gift card. Guess who won!! Yup, Andie did! How cool is that? Here is a photo of her prize winning pumpkin all lit up! :-D

Roll....

Omgosh... I almost forgot the FUNNIEST quote from moving last weekend!

Dane: "I like my furniture like I like my hot dogs... on a roll."


Seriously, hilarious! :-D

Halloween - Moving - Election

Some pics that I would like to share:

Not sure who took this picture, maybe Erin. I love it though. It's Bruno doing what he does best.

Gave out full-size candy bars and Play Doh to Trick-or-Treaters. :-) The Play Doh was the hit of the night (or so we were told by numerous 4 year olds!)

Erin and I carved pumpkins Friday night. Erin carved her entire pumpkin without touching any of the guts inside... I don't get how she did it. (Check out my awesome knife block next to me... love that thing!)

Erin making some yummy pumpkin seeds!

Finished pumpkins! (Mine is on the left and Erin's is on the right!)

Moving on Saturday... Kristen and Dane came to help (we owe them BIG!) I can't tell you how SORE my legs were the next day. We brought everything down 3 flights of stairs and then back up 3 more flights... ugh. The boys did most of the larger furniture... they are awesome. Dane loves to roll things... if he could have rolled the dining room table down the stairs I think he would have. :-)

Kristen has my Christmas tree!

Coloring in our map on Tuesday night.

Our new president! YAY! :-)

So, Jason and I have been unpacking boxes and I have been doing a lot of crafty things... It stinks actually because most of the scrapbooking-related things I have been up to I am planning on giving as gifts this Christmas. Of all the people reading right now, how many of you are family/friends that I usually celebrate with? Yeah, that's what I thought. Even the things I have done for myself I looked at after and said "wow, I could customize that for (insert name of person here) for Christmas!"

I've been playing with my Cricut lately and started my December Daily album last night. I will post pics of that soon, since it is not a gift.

Excited for Jessica Sprague's class to start on Sunday! I got my album yesterday and added some 6x6 page protectors I had laying around. :-)

If you haven't registered for Jessica's class and are hesitant to do so, do it anyway! It's going to be fun and it's FREE! :-D

2 steps forward, 1 step back

2 steps forward -

1 step back -

I am honestly in shock by what happened yesterday. This nation, with a record voter turnout, elected an African American President into office the same day California banned gay marriages. I feel incredibly lucky, not to mention hopeful for the future, that Obama is our new President Elect, but in the back of my mind I feel that there is still work to be done for our nation to really live together harmoniously. Like I said, 2 steps forward, 1 step back.

Oh yeah, and the girls are getting a puppy... how wonderful is that? :-)

VOTE!

Get out there and vote people! It's important... you know it, I know it, so go!

(A bit of election day humor provided by me.. hee hee.)

Photo from Bakerella. :-)

Download and print your own map to color tonight here.