ten things going on around here

since i've been away for awhile i thought i'd fill you in on all the things that have been going on around here. some good news, some bad news, some things to follow up with in future posts. happy thursday and i hope everyone has a great easter weekend!

1. i'm still trucking along with my marathon training. i've been pleasantly suprised at how things are progressing. i completed 12 miles this past saturday - can you believe that?!?! me either! it's still hard for me to imagine doing twice that amount in one day, but two months ago i never imagined me completing 12 miles either. my fundraising efforts are going pretty good too. you can check things out here.

2. my friend trina is no longer is remission and her leukemia has returned. we are all devasted by this news but also very hopeful that she can still kick the $%@& out of the cancer cells that are taking over her body. she is participating in a clinical trail with the hopes of getting her back into remission so she can undergo a bone marrow transplant. please keep her and her sweet family in your thoughts and prayers.

3. while i was on my extended spring break here in blogland i celebrated my 40th birthday. more details about this coming soon!

4. daddy, aka paul, also celebrated a birthday during my extended spring break and the boys had a great time singing happy birthday and helping blow out the candles.

5. we also had a very exciting visit to the dinosaur trail at the museum of life and science in durham. we had perfect weather and the boys had a great time. the vist was two weeks ago and they are still talking about it! i'm sure a scrapbook layout will be coming here as i did get some great photos. this one might be my favorite...

6. as a birthday present to myself i got myself a new camera - the new canon t2i. so, so excited about it even though there is a hugh learning curve to overcome. i'm really looking forward to learning all about it!

7. during my extended spring break i also decided to purchase a large format printer. i decided to go with the hp photosmart B8550 and have been very happy with the results. i've printed both 4 x 6 photos and some full 12 x 12 layouts and would highly recommend this printer if you're on the hunt for a printer that can print up to 13 x 19. needless to say i've been busy printing out some of my digital pages - like this one, and these, and all of these.

8. i have definitely been keeping up with my project 365 album and am planning a 1Q2010 summary post for next week to share some of my favorite parts.

9. i have also been keeping up with my photochallenge picture taking and will be sharing my signs theme photos in an upcoming post as well.

10. and since tomorrow is good friday and the boys are out of school i'm headed off to two easter parties and two easter eggs hunts this afternoon. i hope the timings works out in my favor since i promised both boys i'd attend. and i've got my new camera ready to take some shots.

ten things thursday - totally random...

happy thursday! today's ten things thursday post is just a list of random things that have been on my mind lately - two online scrapping classes i've signed up to take, some interesting blogs i've come across lately, photography stuff, etc. enjoy!

1. so excited about this class at shimelle.com. it's a short one (daily prompts for three weeks), but it looks really interesting and i cannot wait to see how much of my stash i can go through!

2. i picked up the latest issue of artful blogging and man is it packed with eye candy and inspiration. great photos and interviews with artists who also blog. if you haven't seen an issue of the magazine it is definitely worth a trip to your local mega-bookstore for a peak. some of the links i mention below are right out of this issue.



3. so, so happy to hear that one of my favorite photographers - karen russell - is now letting people audit her ever-so-popular photography class. the wait list for one of her classes is up over 1000, so i'd pretty much given up on the possibility of taking one. but a couple of weeks ago she announced an auditing option for the class - you can view the details here.

4. i think this is a great idea and i'm currently on the hunt for a photo of myself that i can re-create. do you have any in your photo collection that you could re-create?

5. i've also signed up for this class at bigpicturescrapbooking.com. i bought the book a couple of months ago and it has just been sitting on my bookshelf, so when i saw this class was being offered i knew i had to take it. it should be interesting!

6. i really love this new blog that i discovered in the winter issue of artful blogging magazine (see #2 above). definitely a must see.

7. i'm also thinking about taking this class at bigpicturescrapbooking.com. tracey clark wrote about this new class here and it's been on my mind ever since i read the post. guess that means i need to sign up for it as well...

8. one day last week i stopped my one of my favorite inspiration stops. it's an old refurbished cotton warehouse that is now home to several local artists and photographers who showcase and sell their products. i saw these cool photo blocks in one of the "booths" and am now on a mission to reproduce them myself. aren't they awesome - vintage photos transferred onto block pieces of wood...



9. another blog i've bookmarked recently after discovering it in the winter issue of artful blogging magazine (see #2 above) - http://www.madelinebea.blogspot.com/

10. i am so tired of winter, cold, ice and snow and am so ready for spring. this past weekend i printed this picture on an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of cardstock and it is posted where i can see it while working in hopes that spring will be here soon!

ten things i gotta have - new scrapping stuff

anyone who follows the scrapbooking industry knows that a lot of new products were released/revealed earlier this month at the craft and hobby association winter show in california. i did not attend, but many of the bloggers that we all follow did and many of them posted photos of the new products and blogged about all the new things they were seeing. and many of the companies also posted previews on their own websites. for today's ten things thursday post i've listed ten of my favorite products i've seen around the blog world the past couple of weeks. there's some really great stuff hitting the craft stores very soon and these items are the must-haves on my list!

1. now i'm not a hugh stamp person, but i do have a couple and i know how to use them. and i love this new set by ali edwards from technique tuesday. i love, love, love that vintage camera stamp!



2. and i also love, love, love this vintage typewriter stamp from october afternoon. another must have!



3. now this 7 gyspies display letter tray is a steal at just under $20.00 and i've got to get this thing too! i have a perfect project in mind for this baby and i can't get my hands on one of these soon enough. here is a link to the entire 7 gyspies winter catalog and they have some really nice stuff.



4. this pad of stickers by the girls paperie looks like a really great deal. i really like letter stickers and word fetti and this pad has seven sheets of stickers including both letters and words. very versatile and for under $5.00. i think that's a deal.


5. There's been a lot of talk in blog land about this new artisan albums by pink paislee. they are canvas covered chipboard albums that come with chipboard pages. the available sizes are 4×8, 6×6, 8×8 and 6×12 and i cannot wait to see what they look like in real-life. if they are as nice as i think they are going to be i may just have to stock up! i've got at least one project in mind already for one of them!



6. i also really like these jenni bowlin journaling cards - love the butterfly one and the "read" one! probably be picking up a couple sets of these.



7. i'm also really drawn to these emphemera cards in the new melody ross line called artsy urban from gcd. i love all the bright colors and the messages on them as well! i'll definitely be buying a batch of these too!



8. also from the same designer and gcd, these chipboard albums are really nice. i especially like the one with the tabs and either would make a great mini album!





9. now there are some really amazing new lines of patterned paper out there and i could probably easily bring home two sheets of the hundred or so i saw online. but this set by cosmo cricket really jumped out at me. (you have to remember that i have two boys so the majority of my scrapping is male related! i have to pass on a lot of the feminine girly looking ones. well maybe not pass completely but i definitely use a lot less of it!)





10. and this last set of patterned paper rounds out my top ten list of must haves. this set is also from cosmo cricket and i love the bright colors and the versatility of these prints. love, love, love the tape measure patterned one and will buying a couple of sheets of that one!

p.s. don't forget to vote for me. see yesterday's post here for all the details. if i win i just might be able to get all this stuff from two peas!! how exciting would that be?!

i haven't talked much about reading here, but i spend a lot of time doing it. i love to read. and i just finished a book that really impacted me and the way i am starting to view my life.

actually i wasn't even planning on reading this book - it wasn't on my radar at all. now i had seen it on ali's blog at the beginning of the year but it wasn't a blog post specifically about the book. she mentioned it in the context of her one little word for 2010. you can read her post here.

fast forward to a week or so ago...i'm in my local barnes & noble looking for another book and i walk past a table in one of the aisle's in the store. i happen to look down and there is the book i saw on ali's blog. i was suprised that it was on a table labelled "spirituality/religion" so i picked it up, read the back and decided to purchase it. boy am i glad i did.



A Million Miles In A Thousand Years
by Donald Miller

this book is about a guy who has an opportunity to write a movie. this gets him thinking about his own life and the stories he's living. he takes the chance to edit his life into a great story and explains the meaning of the little stories we live in context with The Story. the stories we live define who we are and the good news is that we (for the most part) control the stories we choose to live. it is a great read!

it is my habit to highlight passages that i really like or that speak to me when i'm reading a book. needless to say i highlighted a lot in this one! some of my favorite passages are listed below as today's ten things thursday post. if any of them spark your interest, i encourage you to get this book.

1. "If I have a hope, it's that God sat over the dark nothing and wrote you and me, specifically, into the story, and put us in with the sunset and the rainstorm as though to say, Enjoy your place in my story. The beauty of it means you matter, and you can create within it even as I have created you."

2. "So I started listening to the Voice, or rather, I started calling it the Voice and admitting there was a Writer. I admitted something other than me was showing a better way. And when I did this, I realized the Voice, the Writer who was not me, was trying to make a better story, a more meaningful series of experiences I could live through."

3. "People love to have lived a great story, but few people like the work it takes to make it happen."

4. "I believe God wants us to create beautiful stories, and whatever it is that isn't God wants us to create meaningless stories, teaching the people around us that life just isn't worth living".

5. "The ambitions we have will become the stories we live. If you want to know what a person's story is about, just ask them what they want".

6. "a story is based on what people think is important, so when we live a story, we are telling the people around us what we think is important".

7. "As real-life protagonists we can control only what we do and say, what choices we make, what words we say. The rest is up to fate".

8. "The thing about writing a story, in real life and on paper, is half the effort is just figuring out what the story is going to be".

9. "the story of the forest is better than the story of the tree...[I] asked God to help me understand the story of the forest and what it meant to be a tree in that story".

10. "The point of the story is never about the ending, remember. It's about your character getting molded in the hard work of the middle".

this is why i scrapbook...

in preparation for the album i discussed here, i decided to make today's ten things thursday post about why i scrapbook. and you can also consider this a sneak peak at my mini album as well ;-)


1. to tell my story



2. and our story



3. and his story



4. and his story



5. to celebrate the past



6. and relationships



7. and the everyday moments



8. to remember the places we visit




9. and the moments that pass in the blink of an eye....



10. to capture this...




stop by again tomorrow to see my completed album!!

ten things from the web (inspiring things!)

1. this set of vintage keys from pottery barn. they range from 4 to 7 inches in length and would look great on my wall!

2. this felt heart wreath. it looks so easy to make and would make a great valentine's day decor! i might just have to give it a try....

3. this new website - beyond snapshots. i've been a big fan rachal devine's work for awhile now and am so happy to see her offering tips and tricks and online photography classes!

4. this little how to on making a magnetic organizer. it looks super easy and could be modified to work with all of your magnetic organizing needs!

5. this article in psychology today about creativity. very interesting.

6. reading elizabeth gilbert's new book - committed. she's the author of eat, pray, love one of my all time favorites! her new book is all about marriage.

7. this recent post by ali edwards. by now you probably know i'm a hugh ali edwards fan and i am so excited to see what she does with her one little word (story) in 2010.

8. this program sponsored by the leukemia & lymphoma society. i'm thinking about training to walk a marathon in honor of my dear friend and her couragous battle with blood cancer last year. wanna join me??

9. the photo site called aphotoaday.org. i'm checking it quite frequently these days for inspiration for my own photo challenges.....

10. the amazing eye-candy on this site. my favorites are the bird cages and the mushrooms.

what things are inspring you these days? found anything interesting on the web? leave a link in the comment section so i can check it out!!

ten things thursday is back!

i stopped these thursday posts during the holidays but have decided to bring them back!! and today's ten things thursday post is really a top ten list. i was looking through my photos from 2009 and decided to pull out ten of my favorites that i hadn't already shared here. now this was no easy task because i took and saved over 4000 pictures in 2009. so here they are in no particular order....enjoy!

this is a favorite for several reasons....i hardly ever get a photo of the two of them both looking at the camera at the same time....this photo reminds me of the horrible hair cuts we had to give them because one of them got lice and i couldn't handle the thought of little critters running around their heads and only being able to use the lice shampoo once a week....it reminds me of a time when they could both fit in a target cart....and it reminds me that i had just told them "raise your hand if you want to go to mcdonalds for dinner"....we always play that game....



sunflowers are my favorite flower and this one was grown in my aunt kathy's garden last summer. i love the details and the bright colors in this photo....



this is a favorite for obvious reasons.....i can't look at this photo and not laugh!



i took this photo in march 2009 when michael and i visited washington dc. we went to arlington national cemetary in virginia and watched the changing of the guard ceremony at the tomb of the unknown solider.



this photo was taken at the north carolina zoo in asheboro, nc last spring. michael, blake and their cousin kacey were watching the sea lions swim and play. i love the colors in this one too.



this is my hubby...sitting on the beach in south carolina during our summer vacation....



blake at the fair in october. he was so excited to be riding all the rides and i snapped this picture while we were riding one together. i love all the busy stuff in the background and his bright blue eyes shining with excitement.



another one of blake playing in the pool at our resort in myrtle beach. he loved the pool and could play for hours in the kiddie pool with his little cowboy horses.....



i snapped this photo of michael during one of our visits to the state capitol in downtown raleigh. he looks so grown up in this picture.....much older than five....



another photo i snapped during our trip to washington dc. i took this one as the sun was setting and we were starting out on a nightime bus tour of the city.....

ten things i'm "fankful" for right now

next week brings thanksgiving – a time to reflect on all the things that we are grateful for and to appreciate all the blessings in our lives. i was watching sprout with my littlest one last night and the topic was thanksgiving and what it means to be thankful. so i asked him what he was thankful for and without hesitation he said “my fankful for me (pointing to himself) and my fankful for dinner”. he’s three so i’m not quite sure if he really gets the whole thankful thing, but i thought those were some pretty good answers!! so for this weeks ten things thursday, i’m going to list ten things that i’m especially "fankful" for right now….

1. my two little ones. even when they are fighting with each other, arguing with each other, wrestling with each other, fussing about having to do homework, talking back and even yelling for me from across the house. so very thankful that they are happy and healthy.

2. my hubby. even though he yells for me from across the house too.

3. that i am an american!

4. the men and women in our military - past and present - who make such an amazing sacrifice for our freedom every day.

5. our home. even though the only time it is ever quiet is late at night when everyone is asleep.

6. my job and all the good people i work with every day.

7. the amazing strength and courage of my dear friend who is battling leukemia. she's working so hard to kick the @$%& out of all those cancer cells.

8. having the opportunity to spend quality time with my parents and watch them be grandparents to my little guys.

9. the rest of my extended family, all of which i know are only a phone call away if needed.

10. the fact that i'm happy and content and feeling like i'm right where i'm suposed to be right now.

so many blessings!!

ten things i'd tell my high school sophomore self

happy thursday! this week's ten things thursday post actually comes from an assignment i was given in an online scrapbooking class about documenting stories that celebrate growth, change and evolution. for the layout i decided to write a letter (of sorts) to my high school sophmore self. and then decided that this would make a perfect ten things thursday post.

so this is my official picture from my sophomore year in high school. i was 16 years old.

and if i could, i've love the opportunity to be able to look this young lady in the eye and tell her a thing or two. if given the chance, i'd tell her that....

1. you already know it’s important to keep studying hard. just don’t stress too much about the bad grade you are going to get in advanced algebra, because in the long run that one D will not mean anything. i know you cannot believe it now, but yes, you will get one D on your high school transcript.

2. all those cliques and popularity “contests” you're worrying about don’t mean anything in the real world. so don’t stress about not being in “the group” or wonder why you’re not “in”. don’t doubt yourself and wonder why you’re not good enough. because i know for a fact that “miss likely to succeed” will end up selling cell phones in a booth at a mall and that that title will not make her any better or any more successful than you.

3. your life will not end because you have to ride the school bus to/from school even though it feels like you are going to die of embarrassment.

4. your parents really do know what they are doing when they give you an early curfew and have to be all in your business. and believe it or not you will be thankful for their rules one day because you will understand where they are coming from and you will realize that they are keeping you out of trouble.

5. when you get to college stay away from credit cards. far, far away.

6. falling in love does not mean that you have to fall sooo far in love that you loose yourself and who you are. you’ll learn this one the hard way and it will take you awhile, but you’ll eventually figure it out.

7. you would probably be better off taking spanish instead of french.

8. the two jobs that you will hate the most will also be the ones in which you learn your biggest life lessons – a waitress job at a seafood restaurant during college and a high school teaching job right out of college.

9. when you get out of college and in your 20s don’t be in such a rush to figure everything out and get to the next stage of your life. lighten up and enjoy the journey.

10. you should not take art history in college. this will be the one D on your college transcript.

ten things i'm working on right now

another thursday so another ten things thursday post. this week i thought i'd list all of the "projects" i have ongoing at the minute. yes you can call me the queen of unfinished projects. it's horrible to say, but i have all the following at various stages of completion. oh i have my reasons for not having finished each one and a couple of them are current and truly ongoing in the sense that they are up-to-date. i'm hoping that posting them all here will motivate me to get the ball rolling and actually get them completed. after all, there are many more projects that i'd like to start.

1. disney album from our may 2008 trip to disney world. no...its not a typo...that is may 2008! this album is almost done except for the last day that we spent at epcot. i love disney as much as the next person, but honestly there is only so much disney magic one can take in one sitting....

2. twleve album for 2008. this was a project that i completed last year taking 12 photos on the 12th day of every month in 2008. i have the 12 photos for each month printed out and i even have the journaling for each picture done. i just need to put the last four months pages together.

3. three generations album i just started and posted about here. this one is almost complete too. just really need to wrap it up!

4. my grandfather's world war 2 album. i got a pretty good start on this one but then i ran into some technical difficulties with the story and some of the photos. since i've stopped i've pretty much decided i'm ready to go at this another way so will probably start back at square one.

5. my project 365 album for 2009. this is my photo a day project for this year and i'm actually up to date on my photos. i'm just a little behind on the journaling. i'm using becky higgin's project 365 kit for this one and its pretty easy to stay up to date. obviously this project will not be completed until the end of the year, but i'm pretty much caught up and current.

6. blake's month by month album from his first year. at the time i didn't like how it was progressing so i put it aside to think on it for a bit. but since getting it out to snap a photo for this post i think i've decided that i actually do like it. so perhaps this will be a quick wrap up!

7. i am taking ali edwards' yesterday and today class via big picture scrapbooking. i am really loving this class! we are on week six and i am proud to say that i am up to date on all the layouts we have been assigned to create. so technically this one really is a work in progress since the class doesn't end until the end of the year. yeah for me!

8. i also took cathy zielske's class via big picture scrapbooking called me: the abridged edition. the journaling is what is really holding me up on this one. that and the fact that the class described in #7 above started before this one ended. but its a really cool album that i definitely want to finish before the end of the year.

9. my favorite photographs album. it is dedicated to all my photos that i think are technically my best. my portfolio if you will. in terms of an album it is really a very simple design - 8x10 prints of the photos mounted on 12x12 black cardstock with details of title, date taken and location. it doesn't get much simplier than that so i'm not quite sure why it's not up to date. the photos are all printed and mounted on the cardstock i just need to catch up on the details.

10. one of my very best friends has been battling leukemia since the birth of her second child earlier this year. i've started a scrapbook for her with all the photos taken during her hospital stays, her online journal entries and her online guestbook pages. it's actually coming along quite nicely but it is still a work in progress too.