10 Confessions

{A list of confessions inspired by Kim.}

1. I tried a pomegranate the other day and did not like it. The texture was not what I was expecting and it was too much work to get into an edible form than was worth it.

2. I don't like coffee. At all. Some days I wish I did, but it makes me cringe involuntarily every time I try it.

3. I don't really get some of the bloggers out there who blog about getting drunk and what shoes they buy. Who reads those? If you want that stuff just look on facebook.

4. I wish society were more accepting of people getting up at 10am and going to bed at 3am. That would be my ideal day and I would be the most productive if I was living those hours.

5. I get irritated when people complain about how cold it is. Cold doesn't make much of a difference unless your heat is broken or you're a construction worker. Snow, on the other hand, is a bigger deal. You may complain about vast quantities of snow and I will understand.

6. I loathe gum. LOATHE.

7. I will never get tired of watching Scrubs... ever. Also, I watch the Disney Channel much more than a 24 year old should.

8. I could eat an entire jar of pickles in one sitting. They have to be dill though. Sweet pickles are evil.

9. I wish I could cook. Even more I wish I actually enjoyed cooking.

10. I know some people don't find out until they are much older than me, but I wish I knew what I wanted to do with my life, professionally. Personally I just want to scrapbook or travel all day, every day.

Ode to Bananagrams

Bananagrams is a simple game and SO MUCH FUN. We played it a lot when we were home in Vermont (I got it for my MIL for a Christmas gift because she loves games and loves having something to play with after all the presents are open.) For $15, this is a really cool game to be able to play on any flat surface, with any number of people. We even played with a large range of ages (6-48) and were even able to play in teams of two people. They also have an iPhone App (on sale for $0.99 right now! Go download it before it goes back up to $4.99!)

Right Now

Working on my resume and cover letter. Laptop in my lap and this Bruno-kitty is using my leg as a pillow and purring super loud. :-)

A Cute Mini Project

Just a peek... I'm giving out some valentine's this year. We don't really celebrate Valentine's Day but I'm having fun with this little project because it includes my favorite color... red! :-)


PS - Check out Rachel's Printable Roundup today to see my free printable event calendar featured! *squeal*

Makes Me Smile

Commercials usually irritate me to no end. I'm sure many of you feel the same. There are some that I see and think "how in the world did a conference room of people see the marketing pitch for that and think it was a good idea?!?!?" You know the ones I'm talking about (Droid commercials... seriously, what's up with that creepiness? Does creepy sell phones? Seriously?)

There are some commercials that I actually rewind to see again because they are terribly amazing. The Cinnamon Toast Crunch commercials are definitely in that category. They actually show you what the product is and make you remember what they were trying to sell. Also, they are amazing and hilarious and make me smile and want to meet the people who came up with them. Below are a couple of my favorites. :-)

Project 365 - v2.0

I think I have found how I am going to use the Project 365 concept this year, but not have to dedicate so much time to it. I recently found Jessica Sprague's project "A Year in Our Ordinary Life." (Please forgive me but I forgot which blog I found it on. I browse through so many!)

The project features a 2-page digital layout for every month of the year. Each layout features 15 photos (12x15=180, so it's actually 'Project 180') highlighting the month, and journaling in list format that supports the photos and tells the story of the month.

I feel like this project is perfect for me. I will be able to scrap all my photos together without feeling the pressure to scrap everything. I can get all my thoughts down for the month and then move on. I can complete the layouts anywhere (thank you digital scrapbooking!), I can be as creative with the template and digital embellishments as I was, or I can leave it plain and simple.

I am really excited for this project, and, that's what really matters, right? I feel that this concept can really work for me and am thrilled to find a process that works for me in 2010. I urge you also to check out Jessica Sprague's website and blog and get to know her better. She never fails to inspire and her site is especially great for someone just learning digital scrapbooking, or maybe a seasoned digi-scrapper who needs some additional inspiration.

I will be posting my monthly layouts here on my blog at the beginning of every month. I can't wait for January to be over so I can put together my pages for the month! :-)

Click here to download the templates (it's free!)

Template Freebie!!!

I made a template! This is my first template so please let me know what you think. Any comments welcome... I really enjoyed making this and hope to make more soon! :-D

I made the layout in the preview for Big Picture Scrapbooking's Tickle Monster Contest. The color palette was fun to work with and the photos made it a lot of fun to scrapbook. :-) Here's the layout:

Journaling: If you want some fun photos just give your 6 year old cousin your camera! Thanks Tori! xoxoxoxoxo

And, here's the free template! Click here to download from 4shared! Enjoy!

Oh, Baby!

It seems like everyone I know is either pregnant or just had a baby! Obviously, with all these friends expecting little ones, I needed to send them gifts and handmade cards (obviously!) Below are a few I have recently made. I have to say, even though I don't have my own kids and I don't scrapbook about kids, I really do enjoy making these cards. :-)

At a loss here!

I have not been neglecting my blog this week. Honest, I haven't.

I have about 18 draft posts started and not finished. My thoughts this week are incomplete. I have a bunch of ideas but they kind of fizzle away after a few minutes. I hope they won't live in my 'drafts' folder forever.

Hopefully I get my blogging mojo back next week. I miss it. I want some good stuff up here.

So that this post isn't completely useless, I figure I could make a list of random things that pop into my head as I write this. Maybe I will get some inspiration from that... :-)

- Scrubs is an amazing show. I am even loving the new 'Med School' spin-off.

- Jason and I have been playing the New Super Mario Bros. Wii game every night after dinner. It's not good for my blood pressure at all. I get too wrapped up in it and end up completely loathing certain levels. It's fun though and I'll be sad when we completely beat the game (we already did, kinda... those who have may know what I'm talking about.)

- I am kind of obsessed with beer lately. Not in a bad way, just in a "I-want-to-try-as-many-kinds-as-I-can" kind of way.

- For the life of me I can't figure out when Jeopardy is on here. We sometimes watch Wheel of Fortune, but we really like Jeopardy and it's just. not. there. How can a city even exist without Jeopardy? HOW?

- I'm currently planning a baby shower for a friend of mine and find it really difficult since she doesn't know what she is having yet. I just have to be patient. She'll find out at the end of next month, but, but... I wanna know now (said in a whiny voice.) I'm sure she's a lot more anxious to know than I am... :-P

- Every morning I wake up to find various cat toys on the floor on my side of the bed. My cat drags them there in the middle of the night. Every night! I bring them back out into the living room every day, but without fail they are back in my bedroom while I am sleeping. She does the same thing when I leave the apartment. She will get toys and dirty socks (no, really) and bring them to the door. When I open the door when I get home, there are a bunch of toys and socks.

- Jason's parents are coming to visit in February, my parents are coming to visit in March, and my sister is coming in April. I am SO excited about all this.

I suppose that's all for now. That actually did give me some ideas for posts. :-) Mission accomplished.

Craft Room Goodness

Rachel over at One Pretty Thing recently posted a "Crafty Room Roundup." Um, beautiful! It makes me want to spend 4 days in my own craft room reorganizing and decorating. Actually, I may do that soon... I could certainly use to spend some time in there cleaning up!

Below are some of my favorite craft rooms and what I like about them.

Melis' room is so neat and tidy and filled with vintage goodness she has found. I especially love the peg board and room color.

StudioGal's space is incredible. You would never guess this is a garage! I love the green and white colors.

Amanda's scrap room is simply incredible. If you go to her site you can scroll over certain drawers and elements in the room to see them all more detailed. She has a very good overview of all her organization techniques too. Definitely worth checking out.

A Layout

I did some digital scrapbooking the other night and made this page about how I miss my bestest like crazy!
{Click the image for a larger view.}
Credits: Template, Papers, and Embellishments from Composure Kit by TaylorMade Designs {find the free kit here. I basically love everything she designs!}

Journaling Reads: I’m not sure I could even tell you how much I am missing this girl lately. I enjoy everything about Minnesota except not getting to spend time with my best friend. I suppose this makes the time we do get to spend together much more important. It doesn’t change the fact that I miss her like crazy though! I MISS YOUR FACE KRISTEN!

2010 Printable Calendars

After sharing my Event Calendar with you, I thought that you may want an actual calendar with actual days of the week and such. There are many talented crafty bloggers out there who have created free calendars for the world to print and enjoy. Below are a few of my favorites for you to enjoy. {Calendars found via my own Google Reader and OnePrettyThing.}

LollyChops
This cutie is currently hanging in my kitchen. September (which happens to be my Birthday month) is my favorite illustration of hers, though it is hard to choose one because they are all so cute!

Cottage Industrialist
Amazing design where the focus is food! January-June currently available.
The Home Ec 101 Blog is even doing a recipe a month that features the (seasonal) foods listed on the calendar. Download the first recipe card here.
Living Locurto
A simple 2010 calendar on one sheet of paper for easy reference.

Creature Comforts
A Pocket Calendar with instructions for assembly. This is such a great idea!

One Little Word - 2010

{Necklace made by me. One of my very first metal stamping projects!}

The time has come yet again to pick a new word for the new year. I love this concept so much and feel that it's a good opportunity to set the mood for the year and to really reflect on what it is you want to get out of the next 365 days.

This year, I am not making any resolutions. Nope. Not me. I just feel that the resolution thing just isn't for me. Not right now anyway. Instead, I am going to focus on my word and let it help me to make the decisions I need to make.

My word for 2010 is balance. I want to find the balance that works for me day to day and to make sure I am focused on maintaining the correct balance in my life. I want to find a job, work on projects, be crafty, try new things, travel, be more adventurous, and be more at peace with myself. Part of this balance will include going to regular yoga classes (I recently bought a month pass to a local studio), being deliberate about the hours I am spending on each project, on job hunting, on sleeping, relaxing, reading, blogging, crafting, etc... I can't wait to find the balance between all these things that works for me.

So, what's your word for 2010?

{Check out my posts about One Little Word from last year for more information on this cool little project.}

Calendar FREEBIE for you!

YAY! I made a calendar just for you! It's a little bit different though... it's not your typical calendar. It's an Event Calendar. Just print it, cut it, and fill in all the important dates you want to remember. Easy, right? You can even put in fun dates like National Hugging Day (January 21st) or Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day (January 25th). {I originally got the calendar and fun holiday idea from Stacy Julian's blog last year where she did something similar.}

Download the calendar PDF here.

Just print the PDF onto white cardstock (6 sheets) and cut and bind. I used my Bind-it-All to bind my calendar and a ribbon scrap to hang with. I also included a wrap for the calendar in case you want to give it as a gift. If not, I recommend not printing the first page of the PDF. ENJOY!


Calendar credits: Fonts -Veteran Typewriter & Zachary, PS Brushes downloaded from brushesdownload.com
Unique Holidays list can be found here
Year 2010 Holiday List
--This calendar is for personal use only.--

Project 365 - 2009

{Project 365 album from the second week of January, 2009.}

I did it. I actually did it! I started Project 365 on January 1, 2009 and I have finished it! I am pretty much beyond excited about this! Check out my complete project on my 365 blog.

I started this project with every intention of finishing it. Of course, I start every project with that same intention (hello half knitted scarf sitting neglected near my couch). I got behind on this project often (life happens) and it required some catching up, but in the end, I finished and I am THRILLED with what I have documented.

At the beginning of 2009 we had no idea what the year would bring us. We made new friends, got closer to current friends, did more fun things in Boston, took a trip to California, and in October, we moved to Minnesota. Our first big move and I now have it documented day-by-day, along with all the little things that happened along the way that I treasure almost more than the big things.

Though I have not finished my physical Project 365 album yet (part of which is pictured above), I have all the photos and content finished. I basically have the fun part left to do! I plan to finish the album during various football games the next few weekends. :-)

Some tips for those who may be considering doing a Project 365 type of thing this year:
- Create a way for you to easily update your project and keep up to date with journaling. My method happened to be creating a blog where each post represents a day. Find what works for you, whether it is online or not, make it easy to keep up with.
- All you need to stay up to date is a photo and some journaling. After you have those, you are done for that day. Easy peasy. Don't make it more complicated than it needs to be and get yourself overwhelmed.
- Cheat. No, really. Haha... Some of the photos I used for certain days did not happen on that day. That's ok. Sometimes I want to show more photos of a certain day, or I forgot to take a photo one day. I'm ok with it being a little mixed up and I KNOW that anyone looking through my album years from now won't care that I cheated a little (and likely won't notice anyway).
- Modify the process to something that works for you. I'm really glad that I kept up with this project and that I completed it. I do, however, know that it's not realistic for me to do a project exactly like this every year. For 2010, I am going to be modifying the process to make it easier for me. I think I am going to switch the '365' to more of a '52' and do one layout a week for 52 weeks. I am also going to be doing the 52 layouts completely digitally so that it's easier for me to work on this project (anytime, anywhere, as long as I have my computer.)

So, there you have it. If you are hesitant to complete a project like this, I want to take this opportunity to urge you to try. It was a great experience for me and I completely recommend that everyone get a year of their life documented in 365 photos. :-)

Photobooth Friday!

Kristen and I were really excited to do the Shades of Summer Project this past summer. Unfortunately though, we never got the shades (tear). So, I improvised! I went to Claire's and bought two pairs of blue sunglasses so that we could do our own version of Shades of Summer. One of the last nights we were in Boston we went up to the SkyWalk at the Pru and I got pennies and we did this photobooth. It was so much fun! Even though we look like bugs (I know, the shades are not flattering) I love this photoshoot with my best friend.

Our bags are packed...

... we're ready to go.

Up at 3:00am EST so that we can catch a plane to Minneapolis and be
home around noon. Dad brought us to
Concord yesterday where we took a bus to Boston and stayed the night
at Kristen's (Kristen is not here though... Phooey. Good thing we got
to see her and Dane in VT a few weekends ago!)

This photo was taken yesterday when Dad was driving us. Jake (the
puppy in the photo) eventually moved to lay on Jason's lap in the
backseat, but before that happened he was using our luggage as a
pillow. Cute puppy!

I will be recapping the holidays soon, but until I do that, to all our
family and friends we got to see the past 2 weeks, we really had a
great visit home and loved getting to spend time with everyone. We
miss you already and SO wish you were all coming back to Minnesota
with us (though, the weather there is supposed to stay in the single
digits until further notice.) In any case I hope our Vermont friends
enjoy the ever-falling snow and we hope to see you all again soon!