warning: potential impulse shopping ahead

Jeff has the day off so we're heading to IKEA!! I love Ikea!!!!!!!!!!

one more with the white backdrop

Okay... I tried again yesterday with the white backdrop... this time I way overexposed but with Erica's help I was able to salvage the pictures. Here's a layout I did using one of my favorite pics....

Papers - Shabby Princess Popsicles. Flowers - Polka Flower Stapms by Shawna Clingerman. Fonts - Arial Black & Zapf Dingbats (the little flowers).

Have you seen...

the e-zine Amazing Month of Memories? I just got a sneak peek of the April issue and man is it inspiring! If you're someone who enjoys challenges for inspiration... this magazine is full of all kinds of amazing ideas for scrapbook pages. I have so many ideas running through my head right now about pages I want to do based on Katie's prompts.

Anyway... for the next 48 hours you can get April's issue for 50% off if you buy through the link on her blog. You really ought to check it out!

just one more....

Wow!!!

A big HUGE thanks to Erica @2peas who helped talk me through some photo editing issues I was having. I can't believe the difference her instructions made... below is a pic I took today of the boy with his new haircut and edited it per Erica's instructions... all I can say is WOW!

what to read, what to read..

I'm trying to decide what to read next... I went a little crazy in the bookstore over spring break so I have a couple to choose from. Any opinions on Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs or The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger? I also have a Carl Hiaasen book to read but it's not real high on my priority list, I just bought it because I found it at the 75% off bookstore.

So, since I've been trying to pick out my next book to read, I've been trying to remember what I've read so far this year... and I'm having trouble. My husband and I are in our third year of our own little book club. Each year at Christmas we each buy two copies of the same book for our club so we can read the same book at the same time. Its been really cool.... I've definitely read some books for our "club" that I never would have read otherwise.

Anyway - here is my list for this year (at least the ones I can remember)...

1. The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides - This was for our book club. Last year Jeff picked out Eugenides' book Middlesex and we were both just blown away by it. He is an amazing writer, with very unusual subjects.
2. Lamb by Christopher Moore - this was one of my picks for the book club. I have to start by saying the Christopher Moore isn't for everyone... but I love him! I think this was my fourth book of his (I've also read Fluke, The Island of the Sequined Love Nun and The Stupidest Angel). I really enjoyed this book and so did my husband.
3. The Tender Bar by J.R. Moehringer - Another book club book picked out by my husband. I'm usually not a big fan of memoirs but this one was incredibly written... I couldn't put it down.
4. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle - Okay... this was my pick... I like to mix in juvenile novels especially if it's a "classic" and I've never read it. My husband and I both struggled through this one... it was one we had to force ourselves to read.
5. Shopgirl by Steve Martin - I picked this up while we were at Disneyland. I enjoyed it and read it in one sitting - however it was while I was hanging out in our hotel room with the flu so I remember very little about it.
6. Hoot by Carl Hiaasen - I had to pick this one up after seeing the preview for the movie when I took the kids to see Curious George. Great read.
7. the perks of being a wallflower by Stephen Chbosky - Just finished this one a couple of nights ago. Very interestingly written book... the entire thing is a series of letters written to an anonymous recipient by a teen boy. Amazing... very real and with a good message.

Okay... I'm not sure that's everything... but it's all I can come up with at the moment. If I remember any more, I'll add them.

Yikes... I really need to shower and get started on my day!

the dreaded white backdrop

I've been avoiding this thing for over a year now... but this weekend I became obsessed with taking another try. However... it stormed all weekend and I had no sunlight (I only use natural light) so I had to wait until today when the skies cleared. I've still got a lot to learn but these turned out so much better than my last attempts.

the "gap"

The big news in our house is this week is that Alex lost his first baby tooth on Thursday. Below is the page I scrapped using MandaBean's Smurftastic Paper Pack.

Nothing else exciting here today... it has rained all day which was nice as both soccer games were cancelled. I love that my kids play soccer and they are both on wonderful teams with amazing coaches... but we're just not good *spring* sports people. I think we get spring fever too bad and have the itch to be doing so many things other than go to soccer games. We're much more dedicated in the fall. Oh well.

Oh... what we did do this afternoon was have the kids try on almost everything in their closets. When we were done we had TWO garbage bags full out of outgrown clothes to get rid of.... its amazing how much stuff that had outgrown!!

Well...it's dinner time and Alex is in trouble again so I've got to run!

SALES!!!

I'm over the HOF thing... now on to some retail therapy!!! FYI - there are two great sales going on!

1. The Digi Shoppe - is having a 40% off sale today, Saturday and Sunday - EVERYTHING in the store! Here's my latest favorite layout using digi shoppe products (beach babe by Janel)

2. MandaBean is having a sale on her Bean Bag Collection at The Sweet Shoppe - 25% off today!! Its a great collection - something for everyone!! Here are my current favorite layouts using kits from this collection...

Mud Puddles uses Fresh Fruitopia from the collection.

Mr. Blue Eyes - craft paper from the solids set in the collection and the paper and ribbons are from On the Wild Side also in the Bean Bag Collection.

Happy Shopping!!

HM calls have started...

... and my phone still has yet to ring. Hmph!

pity party

I'm having a little one of those for myself today. Calls for CK's Hall of Fame went out last night and, of course, my phone was silent. Seriously... what did I expect??? I'm new to this whole scrappin' thing and I only started my entry a few weeks before it was due (I swore I wasn't going to enter but decided to go for it at the last minute). The honorable mention calls should be going out in the next couple of days and that would be great if I got one... but I'm not too hopeful. Anyway... my little pity party won't last long... I'm already planning my entry for next year!! :-)

We're out of here....

We leave this afternoon for Missouri. We're going to spend Spring Break with my mom and dad. It all started last spring break when I rode to MO with a friend who is also from MO... now I guess its a tradition. Anyway... it should be a fun, action packed week. My mom has all kinds of things planned. The highlight for the kids is going to Branson and spending the night at a hotel with an indoor water park. If the weather is nice, I plan on taking them to the zoo and we're going to try to go to Bass Pro's Wonders of Wildlife museum... they have a shark tank and do feedings that you can watch... so since we've been studying sea life I thought this would be fun.

Well... I'm supposed to be packing (the reason why I stayed home instead of going to Alex's 8 am soccer game) but instead I'm here on the computer... perhaps I'm just trying to cram in as much computer time as possible before we're off to the land of dial-up!

I love this picture...

... from the park today... it just makes me happy!

2peas photo playdate

I know we had this a couple of days ago... but I'm just now reclaiming my office and my computer. Anyway... here are a few of my favorites from our photography playdate on Wednesday (oh... Brenda and Anne talked me through custom white balance and I can't thank them enough... it has made a huge difference!!)...