I Love My Cats

Last night I finished up the 2nd book about Mister Dewey Readmoore Books and it was almost as touching as the first one. While the first book was all about Dewey this book is a collection of stories about other cats who have impacted the lives of their "owners".

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I will admit to the fact that I cried after reading every single story in this book (except 1) and while I enjoyed the stories I was left with that feeling of dread. I know that one day (in many years) there will come a time when I have to say goodbye to my cats and my dogs and it makes me sad. I know it may seem silly to worry about that now but my pets are my kids and I don't ever want to say Goodbye. If I could have these 4 pets for my entire life I would.

Despite the feelings of sadness this book was a very sweet book and nice set of stories of a variety. I did feel that at times she kind of droned on and repeated herself when telling a person's story, but authors have to fill up pages right?

Overall grade a B, as I didn't enjoy it as much as I LOVED the first book and this one was filled with heartbreak at the end of each chapter, where Dewey's book had one ending of sadness. And even with a B, I don't think I'll read another one of these books by the two authors. I just wasn't impressed with her storytelling as I was in the first Dewey book.

Happy Trimming

If you can stand it I have one more Christmas layout for you! And this time around I did another custom made die cut (courtesy of the awesome Cricut) and it didn't take me two hours!! I was able to put the die cut together and scrap 4 pages in 2 hours!

I love this paper and you probably can't tell but it sparkles!! YAY!

See my super cute embellishment?

Just in case you can't haha - here's a close up! I even added some Stickle to make the snow sparkle and what's a house in Christmas without some lights?

It's hard to top that super embellishment so I didn't even try. I stuck to basics for the rest of layout!

And our tree trimming! Thank god I have these pics of me cause hello Chubby - just keeps my weight loss motivation going :-)

Isn't Chuckle's so cute in his South Park tee and new sweats! He's just like a little kid when it comes to Christmas - which is probably why we like Christmas so much!

I've included some cute little pins throughout these layouts but I think they are just so adorable!

Okay I think that's it for Christmas for right now! I still have a few more to scrapbook but I'll give you all a little break from Christmas for now! :-)

It's All About the Magic

This past Christmas I had the pleasure of getting some amazing photos of our Tree (courtesy of my friend Alycia) and one of Chuck and I in front of our beautiful tree (courtesy of Mom)!

There was no way these weren't making it in my scrapbook! And really isn't the Tree the best part of Christmas?? (Don't worry I've never forget the music, the decorations, and the general jolly atmosphere)

I used my Lyrical Letter's Cartridge to make the title! And I am now in LOVE with this new font! It's so pretty and elegant!

Aren't these pics super awesome? I love how pretty our tree looks!

Defnitely digging all the Christmas scrapbooking I've been doing lately! I just pop the Santa Claus into my DVD player (yeah I'm aware that it's june - so what?) and get to crafting! I even close the blinds and pretend it's crappy out haha! It's a sickness really - my love of Christmas - and there is no cure!

Murder on the River

Yesterday I finished reading Mystic River by Dennis Lehane, yup the same Mystic River that was turned into a movie starring Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, and Kevin Bacon!

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Since I'm a lover of the movie it should come as no suprise that I also really loved the book. I was worried that since I already knew the "Who Dun It?" part from the movie that I wouldn't be able to get wrapped up into the book. Boy was I wrong! Even though I knew who the murderer (or is it murderers?) was and how the crimes had happened I still was able to trick myself into "not knowing". How is that possible right? Well Dennis Lehane made it possible with his awesome writing skills! I loved it!

For those who don't know this book revolves around 3 boys lives from when they are younger and an unfortunate incident happens which alters all of them. Flash forward a few years where they are grown with kids and another incident happens, this one involves the murder of one of the guys daughters and how all three of their lives once again intersect! A must read book and a must see movie! Plus if you love Sean Penn like I do you get to see him throughout the entire movie as he plays the murdered girls father!

Overall grade - A+, I loved it and I loved Dennis Lehane's writing style, while sometimes he can write too much detail I really enjoyed it this time around and I was able to get wrapped up into the lives of all three guys!

Unfortunate

Krazy Fun

Back in 2008 Mom and I went to an overnight crop hosted by a local scrapbooking store! I've been having troubles scrapping this beause I really didn't know how to incorporate a scrapbooking theme while still having it turn out super cute! I finally settled on a layout by Storyteller's because it was fun, colorful, and my scrapbooking embellishments wouldn't get lost!

First things first - our Pre-Retreat Shopping trip as well as our gorgeous hotel room!

I am so happy we got these cute pictures of us at their store, especially cause they have now since moved!

Our room was super awesome and super comfy - it didn't really matter much though cause we spent all of our time scrapbooking!

And finally the main reason for being there - we were SCRAPBOOKING!! I still laugh when I'm scrapbooking us scrapbooking but I just can't resist!

Working hard!

Mom even did their make n take class and put together this super pretty mirror.

There you have it folks - our overnight retreat from 2008. Unfortunately when we went the following year we didn't have as much fun and the price has gotten a little steep for our liking. But I hope they are still successful as we really like both the hosts/owners of Krazy Kreations!

Drinking Downtown

Another Storyteller's layout another super awesome page!

I just finished up another page for my 2008 album (can you believe I only have 4 more layouts to do before it's finished - YAY) This one was just of three pictures from a night out at Tex Wasabi's with my Sister, her friend, and my Honey! I love these pics so I had to scrapbook them!

I just LOVE this paper from Storyteller's. It's super cute and very retro!

I can't believe it's been 3 years since these pictures were taken! It seems like it was just last year cause it was such a fun night!

Some days I really miss going out to the bars but then I realize that not only at the bars do you have to put up with annoying people, but add in drunken annoying people and I'd much rather stay at home and hang with friends and family! Sadly I think this is one of the last bar pictures I have to scrapbook! I may have 1 or 2 left but my bar days were short lived!

Happy Holidays!

It's official I'm crazy - I spent two hours working on a 1 page layout. Yes you saw that right 2 hours!!

But those 2 hours were spent wisely and were worth it!! I had only one picture to scrapbook but it was Christmas so I had to scrapbook it. I started at my wonderful cricut station and begun cutting out a bunch of die cuts! Here's a quick snapshot of some of the pieces I had the cricut cut out.

And the final product! I was so pleased and proud without this page turned out! I put together Santa and his sleigh, the Reindeer and the trees!  

I think I may go back and add some glitter cause you can never go wrong with glitter. But this is the first die cut I've created with some many pieces! Now I am officially on a roll!!

So what do you think? Worth the 2 hours for one page?

Making Space

Last week I had the most brilliant idea - CREATE MORE SPACE IN MY SCRAPBOOK!!

It would seem obvious but nope I'd been working in cramped corners for awhile. I really didn't want to give up my lime green sewing table but I realize it was not functional for me and I really wanted to create space to put my computer up.

I bought two book shelves and dug out my old tabletop out of the garage and voila! Now there is a huge space walking into my room and I've got not only a sewing table/computer table but I've got enough room to set my pages that need to dry!

A view from the top!

This space is so much better. It created storage under the desk that doesn't have to be seen (Goodbye clutter) and it actually created a better spot to keep my radio as well as my boxes of specific themes.

I can also keep my stash of girlie movies that I watch over and over while scrapbooking! I am so happy with the space I've created and now if I ever want to have Mom come up and scrapbook she will have a decent size work area, all I will have to do is move my Monitor and sewing machine which is easy peasy!

Anyone else updating their rooms?

A Little Taste of Heaven

Last night I had the great pleasure of finishing up Chocolat by Joanne Harris. If you recall we read another one of her books for book club last year and I just thought she was a great writer. I googled her books instantly and when Chocolat came up I knew it had to be part of my 2011 reading goals.

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As much as I love the movie I was pretty skeptical of the book. Books are almost always changed in the movie setting and I really wanted the book to stay true to the story. Overall the main theme is very much the same as the movie! And I really liked that I had images in my head already cause I think I'd have a hard time picturing it. Not that the author didn't give details but I was happy to have the movie scenes playing through my head, even if Johnny Depp's character is nothing like the one in the book - wait maybe I should reverse the way I said that - the character in the book is nothing like the movie version of him.

I will defnitely be watching this movie again and soon cause I want to see how many differences there are in the book, but regardless if there are a billion I still loved this book. The way she describes the chocolates and how they are put together is amazing. As well as the "Is she? Isn't she?" battle as to whether or Vianne is a witch! Two big huge thumbs up for this book and an A grade! I cannot wait to get started on the book The Girl With No Shadow which is somewhat of a sequel to this one.

Fabulous 4th!

Who here loves 4th of July?? Not ME!! Well I love that 4th of July is all about America but I am not a fan of fireworks! In fact I've never enjoyed them that much cause of the noise and of course I'm terrified of something going terribly wrong and getting burned! But I do love Scrapbooking pictures from 4th of July!

I just finished up my last 4th of July layout, can you believe I'm all caught up on 4th of July events? YAY!! I used another Storyteller's Layout!

Oh and for those of who don't know what Storyteller's is they are an AMAZING monthly scrapbook layout kit club! EEK Did I just say layout kit?? Yes I did but I am at peace with it. I normally frown upon layout kits but I can't seem to get enough of Storytellers!! I love that you get 4 layouts a month, it's auto charge, auto ship, so I have nothing to do but check out my goods 7 days before they are released! It's really a wonderful life. But if you are interested in joining or finding out more here's a link - Storyteller's Club.

And no I am not in any way connected to them other than that I'm in love with the club! Anywho back to the goods! Here's my layout for a 4th of July we spent at Chuck's Sisters house in 2008!

I ended up finishing this page after I thought I finished it haha! I felt it needed some cute embellishments so I went out and found the most amazing 4th of July Stickers!

Lots and Lots of Fun!

Check out the cute stickers on these two pages!

That top picture is actually of all of us after Lynn got hit in the head with some big firework debris! See what I mean the 4th can be dangerous! No one was hurt but I'm just saying it could happen!

And last but not least!

We had such a blast that year and of course we are saddened that we won't ever experience another 4th liket his with them as his Sister and her Husband have divorced. But at least we've got the memories and the layout to prove it right?

Happy Scrapping!

Pumpkin Pickin'

Another great fall layout! I had such a blast scrapbooking this one, using yet another Storyteller's Layout!

Chuck and I love Halloween time! We go all out and decorate the entire house, we even have our little Halloween village we put up, so of course we had to go to a local pumpkin patch.

Unfortunately we haven't been able to go the last 2 years on our own so scrapbooking this was somewhat bittersweet! Hopefully this year we can go again!

It was so hard narrowing down pictures but I had to include one of that cute sign!

Aside from the Storyteller's layout I also used some random fall stickers I had!

And of course the carving!!!

Chuck was hungry so he decided to eat some pumpkin guts :-) JK!

We had a little Halloween dinner that night with just our sisters and us! It was so much fun!

Looking at those cupcakes is making me hungry :-) I think I might be running out of fall layouts to scrapbook! Anyone else all caught up on a particular season or holiday?

Murder and Religion

Another one down and boy was this one interesting. I just finished reading our June Book Club book, Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult.

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First off - this book is extremely religious. I swear that you can't go one chapter, let alone one page without the mention of religion. In fact one of the narrators is a priest - Father Michael, one of the narrators father is a Rabbi, and another main character in the book is performing "miracles".

Now I won't knock anyone who is religious, more power to you for finding something in life you believe in so much. But I am not at all religious and I was never brought up to be religious. I wasn't hidden away from religion by any means, in fact I know part of my family is religious. But for me reading books that contain a lot of religion is like reading a Calculus book. I don't understand and I don't really care enough to try to understand it. But since this was Book Club I knew I needed to power through.

This book centers on religion as well as a murder, well I guess you could say 3 murders. Inmate Shay was accused of killing a 7 year old and her Policeman Stepfather. His sentence was to die by lethal injection, but while imprisoned something in him tells him he needs to donate his heart to the dead childs sister who will die without a heart and will die soon. The main driving point in the book is a lawyer fighting to have her client killed in a way that his heart will be available as a donation.

The book is interesting, I can't say I hated it because I love murder mystery and I have to say there was one twist that I saw about halfway through the book. I made little connections that in the end meant nothing which was somewhat annoying but I liked that I got to get into a little bit of a legal atmosphere. My secret shame - I DVR Dateline, Dateline Mysteries, Snapped, and I love Law & Order, yes I should have gone into some sort of legal career.

All in all I give this book a C. It was well written despite all it's preachiness and I did like the legal proceedings in it. Unfortunately I am just no the right audience for this book.

Next up Chocolate by JoAnn Harris.

Spending Time with G-Ma

Boy have I been a scrappin fool the past few months and it feels AWESOME!! I could shout it from the roof tops! Not sure if I've ever mentioned this but I took quite a break from scrapbooking. I wasn't doing it ever at home only when Mom and I went to a crop. I knew I wasn't ready to throw in the towel I just needed a break. Granted I didn't take a break from shopping so I had plenty of supplies :-)

But it's been great to start with Storyteller's again and it's been great to work in my room on a consistent basis. Has my reading suffered a bit? Yes but I am still working towards my goal!! It's just so much fun to be creative that I'm having a hard time balancing out my cooking, reading and scrapbooking. I promise more recipes and book reviews to come!

But for now - here's my layout I put together for a day that Chuck and I went into San Francisco to visit his Grandma. Doing this layout made me a little sad as his Grandma is no longer with us, but I am so happy to have this picture of Chuck and his Grandma, as we don't have many.

You guessed it - another Storyteller's layout. I promise I don't own stock int hem (not even sure that's an option LOL) but I just love how easy they've made scrapbooking and I don't even feel guilty about not doing layouts from scratch because I still do. I just had an abundance of Storyteller layouts so why not use them right?

Isn't his G-Ma so stinking cute!! She reminds me a little of my Grammy with how small they both are :-) 

I actually had a problem with filling up the layouts. I didn't have any embellishments other than what Storyteller's provided for this layout and I had a bunch of pictures of the Seals at Pier 39 but not much else. I still think it turned out cute though and I was happy to have Chuck's Grandma in my scrapbooks :-)

I've Got the Blues!

Another one down!! I have no finished my 24th book of this year and boy do I feel behind!! But I'm still working to achieve my goal!!

I just finished reading Mary Kay Andrews book "Savannah Blues"!

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I gotta be honest this book didn't have me interested until the main character Weezie opens a closet door and out pops a dead body! When I started reading it I had completely forgot this one was going to involve some murder mystery so I was pretty pleased when the story took a turn from it's light fluffy-ness!

I really got into this book about halfway through but before the murder and before you got to play a "Who Done It?" role it was alright. It's defintely a light summer read, but if you love Antiques or you are an Antique Picker this book is perfect for you. Weezie is a picker and the whole story revolves around her wanting to get some pieces off an old Savannah Estate that holds many fine and expensive furniture selections.

It's funny as I was reading last night I just burst out laughing. This book is the perfect cheesy light hearted comedy/romance/mystery. It's not quite Lifetime material but it could have a feature on Oxygen! The way the characters interacted and the town it takes place would really make for a cute little cheesy movie. Once I got to that point it was so much more enjoyable because I read it like a little movie in my head!

Overall grade - B. It wasn't an A cause it took me awhile to get into it and I wasn't a huge fan of the main character, however I LOVED her best friend Bebe (pronounced Bay-Bay in a southern accent) and the sequal to this book centers around her so I'm pretty excited to get that one!

Enjoy this cute little beach read while you get your tan on :-)

Sweetness

Another layout down my friends! I just finished up working on Chuck and I's 4th Anniversary layout!

Normally I don't like celebrating these types of things that much. We usually do gifts but just cook a nice meal at home! I'm kind of romantically-challenged, but in trying to be cute and lovey I set it up for us to go to the Melting Pot and really celebrate our Anniversary! It helped that my friend Alycia told me they really make it special!.

I am so happy I remembered my camera, even though we got our picture taken by them and put in a frame I still wanted pictures of the super yummy food. Get ready to drool!

Aren't we so cute?

Working on these pages really made me want to go back, but it's kind of expensive so I think only special occasions can jusitfy the expense.

Check out the cute die cut! I used the Sweetheart cartridge for the Cricut and had a great time putting this together! I am just so loving the Cricut and I don't think I scrapbook without it now :-)

The second part of the layout, which really is the best part!! It showcases the amazing dessert we got to eat, and we didn't even finish it! That's right, we were so full from the amazing app and entree that we left about half the dessert there.

Is anyone else like me and loves the look of raw meat. I'm not sure where I inherited this gene but when I walk into a nice butcher area I'm in heaven. Our local Whole Foods has the most amazing butcher section and even though I don't buy meat there I always walk by it just to see the Butcher in his whites and all that beautiful red raw meat. It's weird I know but I can't help. I appreciate what that meat will turn into!!

And the finale! The best dessert at a restaurant EVER!! If you have a Melting Pot you must go, and then of course you must scrapbook it :-)

I'm happy this is scrapbooked cause really it turned out Adorable! Thanks Storytellers :-) and another reason - I don't have to scrapbook it again and drool all over my desk :-) Note to self - keep chocolate on hand at all times :-)