oh, baby, my show is on

dancin', dancin', dancin'

whoo weee am i happy and clapping my hands!! shaking my booty to the boogie woogie beat!!
my favorite show comes back on tonight. i love, love, love So You Think You Can Dance. Season 4 starts tonight and i can hardly wait to be on the couch watching. So, do you, think you can dance? tell me.

ode to the talented rebecca harper

i finally tried the technique rebecca challenged us to try (on the great mdw blog). i had this idea in my head that i did not want to do it all one color so i painted in one color and embossed in another color rather that clear embossing powder. it looks pretty sloppy and not very cute, but i think i am gonna just deal with it, make it cute somehow and make a book about me. so that is my ode to rebecca the awesome artist who always comes up with the cutest little touches that just make a project stand out. she has a great class coming up at mdw, the cutest father's day book you will ever see anywhere, ever. it is so great. you must check it out here http://www.mydaughterswish.com/calendar.php

and here is my prima embossed chipboard album cover painted in kaiser kraft candy paint (thanks daniela, did you know i used your paint on saturday night?) and ranger stream colored embossing powder, oh yeah and the chipboard letters are heidi swapp.

looks a little crazy doesn't it? well, it is an upside down u for an n and i think it does look pretty weird but like i said, i am just gonna deal with and make it cute someway or another. i will post it again after i cute it up. someone please, post a challenge to finish whatever project we started with becky's technique challenge!

Some like it HOT

I love, love, love this hot heat. I know some might say I am crazy and they are probably right but I love the heat, the hotter the better. I am so happy it is finaly HOT. I am so sick of flannel pajamas and jackets and socks and blankets and cold and wind and gloomy skies. Hooray for summer, it is on it's way. It was even nicely warm in Berkeley today when I left the office for lunch. I had a great lunch with my boss, his wife and my co-worker Brigitte at Filipos on College. I work on Ashby three blocks down from College so we walk up there for lunch a few times a week for lunch. Great paninis and salad at Filipos and a few doors down is my favorite Mediterranean food place. Yummy. If you are ever in Berkeley and you love hummus then you must go to http://www.lamediterranee.net/pages/lamedberkeley.html La Mediterranee, you will love it. Well , I haven't done Rebecca's challenge from the MDW blog yet but I am really itching to do it. I have no idea where my heat gun is though. I think I lost it. Then I think maybe I replaced it with a new one, but then I don't know where it is. Crazy! So I will probably go to MDW and do it there, borrow the heat gun while I am there. But all you girls who know where your heat guns are better get on it and post the link to your submission so you can win that great prize. Rebecca is so great at little touches and techniques that I don't think anyone else does. She is awesome. All hail Rebecca. Happy Heat Wave to all.

embark on embossing

wanna have some fun and maybe win a great prize? head on over to the My Daughters Wish blog http://mydaughterswish.typepad.com/my_daughters_wish/ and read the post from my wish sister rebecca. she posted a really great challenge and she is offering a great prize. i can't wait to do this challenge. check the MDW blog often for posts from the design team members and a new challenge once a week. we are gonna have some fun, and we all know that GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN!

what does it take to be a great mom?

happy mothers day to all the moms i know. i hope you all had a wonderful day. i had a great day.

i got up at the crack of dawn to drive to sonoma to pick up my favorite mom in the whole world, of course that would be my very own mommy. then we drove back down to pleasant hill and went to breakfast with my kids and their kids. we were also joined by my future son-in-law's mom and my daughter-in-law's mom and our friend kathryn who was here for the weekend from santa rosa. we had a fun time and good food at smokin' okies. they have live music at breakfast/brunch time on the weekends too, so that was nice too.

so, what does it take to be a great mom anyway? i think it takes a lot of things starting with faith in God and then add in things like patience, acceptance, and an ablility to remember what it feels like to be a little kid at all ages, and then you definitely need to know when to let go. i have three wonderful kids who amaze me everyday. i love who they have become as adults and parents.

i want to share the words that made me cry today when i read them in the card my daughter cheryl gave me. she told me "this card is simple but it says it all" and here is what it said:
"Growing up, I always felt safe and happy because of your love. And I know that the very best thing I can do as a parent is simply love my children the way you loved me." What a sweet card.

she also put a gift certificate to MDW inside the card. now that even made the card sweeter!!!

(that's the scrapbooker talking, not the mom). i read some more exciting words in the card from my daughter nicole and her boyfriend cory. these words were written by cory "you are such a funny mom and i can't wait to be your son-in-law". now that excites me! they are not engaged but have been together for several years and have lived together for the past few years. even though they talk about their wedding all the time, they are not yet engaged. i am dying for a wedding in the family so i am hoping that these words mean he is getting ready to pop the big question! so, what's your take on what it takes to be a great mom?

here are some pictures of my great mom's day including one of cory kissing nicole!

Happy Saturday

I love Saturday, don't you? My friend Kathryn came down from Santa Rosa today to spend the weekend. It is also my wedding anniversary today. My husband and I were cracking up this morning because neither one of us could say off the top of our head how long we have been married or what year we got married. It has been 11 years. But we have been together for 21 so I think that is why we just never remember the # of years we have been married. Too funny.

So, I spent my day today sleeping in, going to the halfprice bookstore and babysitting my grandkids Gabe and Lily. What a great way to spend the day!

Last night Daniela and I scrapbooked at Scrapbook Territory in Berkeley. Our girlie Liz joined us for a little while. We love to crop there on Friday nights because we love Meredith, she is the girlie that works the crops there. For those of you who don't know her, you are missing out. She is one great girl. She is so funny and fun and we always have a ton of laughs. Here she is a few weeks ago when she was working on an easter egg thingy.

Daniela and I both made a wall hanging for a mothers day gift out of the same paper. I made some more gifts today. Here they are. I hope the Mom's I made them for like them.

Happy Mothers Day to all of you Mom's out there.

sweet pain from the addled brain

On my way to work today my mind went into deep thought mode. I was thinking about why we as human beings tend to set ourselves up for heart ache and disappointment. Do most of us do this or is it just people like me? In particular, I am talking about my pursuit of "emotionally unavailable" people. I have this terrible knack for finding people who are just so dam hard to get close to, and then I can't stop myself from trying. Why is that? Why do we continue to do things that we know in the end will only cause us pain? Is it like playing with that loose tooth you just can't stop wiggling around even though it hurts? On the flip side, I am so grateful to God for having so many great friends and a sweet husband and my wonderful kids, who are all "emotionally available"!!! Well, it's Friday! I am so happy. I love Friday. I will be scrappin' tonight with my girlies. How 'bout you?

informed consent and who do you blog 4

well, here i am. i created this blog 'cos my good pal laura, whom i fondly refer to as la la, told me i needed to have a blog. so, i did it. i really have no idea who would really want to read the everyday thoughts of a crazy person like me, except those who already know and love me, and....
well don't they already know all about me? i mean, honestly, a person like me who talks pretty much non stop to whoever will listen pretty much tells her life story and all her thoughts to all her friends all the time. well, anyway everyone else i know has a blog so i guess it is time i got with the program.
i will do my best to entertain my readers but i want to warn you ahead of time, i tend to write like i talk and may bore you or make you crazy. you have been warned and therefore if you choose to read my blog you will now proceed with what we in the medical field call "informed consent".
thank you to all my friends and fellow design team wish sisters who have blogs so now i can try to fashion my blog by the inspiration i have gotten from looking at all of yours. so tell me, who do you blog for? friends and family? people that don't know you but want to? your arch enemy?
yourself?