Journey - Arnel Pineda

Okay, so John told me the other day that he saw Journey on Ellen and the new lead singer sounds incredibly like Steve Perry. I really didn't think very much of it. Then, a couple days later I got an email from my BFF in AR saying that she actually saw Journey in concert and sent me a youtube link to check 'em out. I guess I wasn't all that interested because I never took the time and actually forgot about it. Then, tonight as we're going out for supper John grabs this Journey Revelation CD and puts it in. We listened to it on the way to supper, then as we're on our way back home John asks if I noticed anything about what we're listening to. He tells me we've been listening to the new singer. Now he's got my attention. I thought he was joking, so I looked at the CD case and low and behold... not only does this singer sound incredibly like Perry, but he's Filipino... and kind of hot. I just wouldn't expect to hear that voice coming out of his body. John's watching the DVD right now and I hear it in the background. Man, it amazing how a song can bring you back to a different time and place. Right now I'm back to high school having a blast with my friends. Driving around singing at the top of our lungs with the radio as loud as it can go. Most people I talk to hated high school, but I loved it. I can tell I'll be listening to some Van Halen, Scorpions, Triumph, Rush, etc.

Procrastination Over

I started this layout on NSD weekend at my LSS. Over 1 month later and I finally finished the layout. (I told you I'm a very slow scrapper and rarely bring a layout to completion). I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Especially since I'm going to be able to put pictures from 6 years ago in an album. Gotta love that. That makes 3 layouts completed so far in June, and today is only the 7th. Gotta love that, too! Let's see if I can get a 4th done tonight...

I'm 2 for 2 - Got Sketch 101

Wow, I'm actually being productive with this class. I'm 2 for 2 of posted pre-class sketches. Hot Dog! Hopefully the up-coming sketches keep getting better and better.

Got some scrapping done...

Yeah me! I got some scrapping done this weekend. It took me 5 hours Saturday night/Sunday morning to do this layout... AND it was FROM A SKETCH. (I swear it takes me just as long, if not longer, to scrap using a sketch). I've got to be the slowest scrapper on Earth. The sketch was from Valerie and Janna's Got Sketch class I'm taking on-line. Gotta love sketches. Class doesn't officially start until next week, but Valerie hooked us up with a couple of pre-class sketches to get us going. I'm going to work on completing the 2nd pre-class sketch tonight and take pics tomorrow. 2 layouts (almost) in 1 weekend. It's been too long. I miss scrapping. I've GOT to make more time to scrap. I guess I should have more time now that all my shows have finished. Pretty much the only thing I'm watching at the moment is "So You Think You Can Dance". I started watching it last season and I love it, especially Mia and Wade Robson's choreography.

A new addiction?!

Okay, I think I am officially addicted to taking on-line scrapbook classes. www.bigpicturescrapbooking.com , www.nycscraps.com , and now I get an email from my pal, Valerie Salmon, that she and Janna Wilson have teamed up to offer on-lines classes. Woo Hoo, I am so there! The class doesn't even start until June 9th (Samantha's 11th birthday). We're having so much fun and the class hasn't even started yet. They posted a blog roll in the forum and the people taking this class Rocks. I am in awe of soo many of these people. Can't wait for class to start so I can enjoy looking at everyones work. I am so in need of motivation and inspiration and I just know this class is gonna give it to me. I'm taking another on-line class at this very moment and I've been yet to be inspired. I'm a bit disappointed this time.

The ROCKER Wins!!!

It's about time a Rocker wins American Idol, and I'm SOOO glad it's David Cook. This guy is amazing. LOVE his voice. My, My, My. Can't wait to watch (and listen) to his career. I was a big Bo Bice fan, an even bigger Chris Daughtry fan, but I'm an even bigger David Cook fan. Love this guy. Wow. America got it right. Hmmm, I wonder if there will be an even bigger rocker on AI next year?!

Which TV Mom Are You?

Which TV Mom Are You?

My Result: Roseanne Connor

You are Roseanne Connor from Roseanne. You've probably got a sarcastic streak, and you may take some pleasure in embarrassing your brood. But ultimately, your kids know that when they really, really, really need to talk about something, you will listen...eventually. Truth is, you tend to see things from their points of view; you just don't like to let them in on that until necessary.
That's your little secret. And while it may not be your style (or fit your schedule) to compulsively whip up a batch of chocolate chip cookies, if your kids want to microwave some popcorn and watch TV with you, there's always room on the couch, and even on your lap.

What are you?
http://web.tickle.com/jumpto?test=tvmomogt&c=50652

Apocalyptica Baby!

I am SOOO frickin stoked. I'm going see Apocalyptica tomorrow night (actually Sunday morning) at House of Blues in New Orleans. I have loved these guys for about 12 years. I can't begin to express the emotions their music stirs in me. John has asked me to go see bands at House of Blues before and I've always told him No and that it would have to be someone pretty amazing for me to go there since there's no seating. When he told me Apocalyptica was going I immediately said YES! I honestly can't think of anyone else at the moment that I would stand up all night to see. I sooo can't wait. If you've never heard of them, please check them out. 3 cello players (not sure what happened to the 4th guy) from Finland who frickin' rock.
http://www.apocalyptica.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbTozgoj9OQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqUXDdJ3C-c&feature=related

NSD 2008

Sheila, Michelle, Teri, ME, Rebecca, and Lacey having dinner at Casa Ole Saturday night. One of my favorite things about getting together with friends to crop is the food. I love eating out with my scrapping buddies. Also, I love that Simply Scrappin' is right next door to Fresh Market. I went to Fresh Market for the first time Saturday night and I can't wait to go back to Fresh Market for more of those yummy Almond Pillow cookies. I think I'm the only one actually looking forward to getting an even bigger "Fresh Market Cookie @$$", as Teri likes to call it. Life's too short to not enjoy great food.

I actually completed 2 pages this weekend (Thanks Lacey!). That's 2 pages more than I normally do. I like the way Lacey scraps and I think the next time I crop I'm gonna have to try things her way. Simply Scrappin' had an awesome crew cropping at the store. There were some ladies from Mandeville and Lake Charles that were so much fun. Can't wait to crop with these ladies again. Lacey, Teri, Rebecca, Ali, Leanne, and myself were there representing the local girls. What a fun group. Hopefully everyone had as great a time as I did.

Oh no he didn't?!

Well, that'll teach me to leave my little stinker alone in my scrapbook room for a minute. I walked out my room for just a minute and when I returned, this is what I found. Benjamin in the process of taking all my CTMH and SU stamp sets out of their cases. (The iris carts in the back ground contain my wood block stamps). Gez, like my room isn't messy enough without him dumping out my stamps. What a little mess maker. Like I always say... it's a good thing he's so cute and lovable.

Say What?!

A conversation with Samantha as I was bringing her to school this morning...
Samantha: I bet you were good in Social Studies.
Me: Huh, what? I'm sorry I was thinking. What did you say?
Samantha: I bet you were good in Social Studies.
Me: I guess. I liked Social Studies.
Samantha: Yeah, I bet it was easy. You didn't have as much to learn.
Me: Samantha Jane! Get out my car!

Conversation: 4.23.08
Photo: 3.25.08

New Do

John had enough of my David Cassidy hair style and has been asking for me to go short. I went to Robert M's and had him give me a nice short cut. Here are some before and after shots. The after shot isn't very good. I was outside at the end of the day. It's actually cuter than this. I wasn't sure about it at first, but it's been a couple of days now and I'm enjoying it much better now. Seems like when my hair is long it's always in a pony tail anyway. I'm sure I'll be really happy with it this summer. It's already in the 80s here.

Long time no post

Okay, so I've been a bad blogger, but I've been busy. Let's catch up on April, shall we.
Friday, April 4. Met up with 4 remaining Lafayette DHS employees at Tampico's for food, drinks, and catching up. Had a nice time... Yes, ma'am.
Saturday, April 5. Garage Sale at Simply Scrappin'. Sold for $110 smackeroos. Yippee.
Thursday, April 10. Benjamin turns 4 years old. Oh my.
Friday, April 11. Texas Roadhouse and my little buddy didn't want to sit in the saddle. Missed photo op. Brought remaining garage sale scrappin' supplies to best scrappin' buddy, Teri, to bring to another sale in Baton Rouge.
Saturday, April 12. Decided to go to Baton Rouge with Teri and Lacey to drop off garage sale stash and shop at 2 BR stores. Got some great scrappy supplies.
Saturday, April 13. CTMH Stamp class.

I've been having very busy work weeks, in addition to the very busy weekends. Seems like I haven't had a day to just do nothing.
This Saturday I am going cut my hair, going get a mani-pedi, going take a card class and catch up on Creative Cafe projects. So, I will probably have another busy weekend. man-o-man. With all this busy body stuff going on I haven't had a chance to scrapbook. I haven't done any scrapping yet this month and I definitely have a couple of things I have to do. Yes, I have to. Why, do you ask? Because I am Simply Scrappin's Guest Creative Designer this month! I also need to get some photos of me to give to E. I'll probably post some before and after hair cut pics here, too. I've got so much to do and definitely not enough time to do it in.

New addition to the family

Samantha has been asking for a guinea pig from a while. We made a deal with her that if she brought home all A's and B's we'd get one for her. Well, 3rd quarter report card came out and our little girl made honor roll. So, it was off to the pet store to check out the guinea pigs. I had no idea what they were. I had no idea they looked like rats. Ewww. (Also, have no idea when I became such a sissy). To make it worse (I think) Samantha wanted a white one. I couldn't help but think about lab rats when I saw it. I wanted nothing to do with it for the 1st couple of days, but then I heard it. They actually make very cute sounds. Our cat, Ramone, seems to get along with Fluffy pretty well. He's definitely curious.

No, Steve Gleason, Say it isn't so...

John just called me to say Steve Gleason is retiring. Noooooo. I loved watching this guy play ball. When John and I had season tickets a few years ago I had no idea who he was. But, as I watched I noticed #37 always seemed to be in the action. This guy was fast, and he had curly hair sticking out of his helmet. I asked John who #37 was and he said Gleason. I pulled out the program and said Hmmmm. He's a cutie. Since then, my eyes were always on #37 when he was on the field. He seems to be an amazing guy off the field, too. He grows his hair long, then cuts it to donate to Locks of Love. He was also very active in giving back to New Orleans after Katrina. What an amazing guy. You will be missed, buddy. Best of Luck to you. Watching Saints football will not be the same.

Another SB Store Bites the Dust...

I received emails from Valerie Salmon and Julie Scattereggia this weekend that Dave decided to close the doors in 2 weeks of Memoirs in Carmel, IN. This is the store that I'd order some of Valerie and Julie's class kits. The girls there were sooo lucky to have 2 "celebrity designers" there to take classes from. They also decided to cancel DWE4. Bummer. Originally it was planned for this weekend and I couldn't go because of my nephews wedding, but then it got pushed back to April 26th and I was still on the fence about going. I was still leaning towards it, but was waiting to hear what the projects were going to be. It's always sad to hear of a store closing. Even ones 950 miles away. I guess I won't be needing that Customer Appreciation Card anymore.

Date Day

John and I went back to Baton Rouge again today. We had bought a few used cds and dvds from FYE and one of the CDs I bought was a 2 disc set and it had 2 disc Ones in it when I opened it. So it was back to Baton Rouge today to exchange it for another set. John had heard about another great restaurant he wanted to try. We went to P.F.Chang's. We were not impressed. When we got to my sisters to pick up the kids, they had decorated cookies. Looks like everyone had a great weekend. At the moment, Life is very Good.

To Matthew: Thanks so much for the wonderful photos!

Date Night

My wonderful sister, Susan, offered to babysit the kids tonight so John and I could have some alone time. (Have I told you how much I LOVE my sister)? John and I went to Baton Rouge to eat at Superior Grill. He had heard great things about it and let me tell you... it was Fabulous. Everything was Amazing, especially the Margarita. Mmmm. Half way through I couldn't feel my nose. That's the sign of a good Margarita in my book. :-) Then we went see Jumper. It was okay, I guess. I was still a little buzzed, so don't hold me to it. After the show we grabbed dessert at Marble Slab and I had yummy Strawberry Shortcake. It was a great date. Thanks Susan. You're the Best.

We're Back...

and it was horrible. All 4 of us were sick. We tried to make the best of it, but just couldn't do it. Benjamin started running fever on our drive up. Samantha still hadn't totally recovered from being sick the week before. A day or two into the trip, John started running fever too. Then it was my turn again. How miserable, to be at the Happiest place on earth and to be sick. We weren't too happy. We even cut our trip short and canceled on meeting my Dad at Anna Maria Island and decided to just head home instead. We got back Thursday night and tried to get to the doctor on Friday. He was leaving early and suggested we go to the hospital for flu tests. Thankfully it was negative, so evidently we all just picked up some super bug. Can't wait until we're ALL feeling better. We all still have a lingering cough and are still congested. I guess the fact that it's 40 degrees 1 day, then 80 degrees a couple days later isn't helping. We're running the heater one day, then the AC, then it's back to the heater. It drives me crazy.

Here's a couple of Disney pics. Looks like we had a wonderful time, huh? I will say this, every time we go the number of pictures we take is greatly reduced. I only took 184 Disney pics this year. I'd love to go back to 2001, 2002, and 2003 to see just how many pictures I take each time we go. I would have thought I would have taken more being this was Benjamin's 1st Disney trip. I guess the fact we all felt like shit didn't help. Oh well. Also, this was the 1st Disney trip that I had a digital camera. It's a shame to think I took waaayy more pics back when I used film.

And we're off...

to Florida for Mardi Gras break. Blog at ya next week. Off to play with Mickey Mouse and spend a day or two at Anna Maria. Later.

Man, I need this...

Looking through pictures to add to my blog I came across this one. Man, I miss this. This was Summer 2006. My BFF since grade school and I left our kids with our husbands and headed to the beach. It was Wonderful. No responsibility, no fighting, no bickering, just us, the beach, and a few adult beverages. Man, that was the life. I long for that again...

Photo of the day

Okay, I've been working on updating my blog. I'm gonna try to update it more often. (Hope you like the music option I just added). I'm trying to add a daily photo log, but I'm having a hard time finding one to use for blogger. Hmmm. I'll have to keep looking into that one. Until then, here's a photo I wanted to share... I was doing laundry and when I came back into the living room, what did I find? Samantha sitting on the hamper with Benjamin trapped inside. Don't worry, he was enjoying it as much as Samantha, I think.

6 layouts in 1 night!

Wow! I can't remember the last time I was so productive in 1 evening, AND they were all done before midnight. Woo Hoo for me. Basically I'm now all caught up on Halloween. I completed 3 layouts for Benjamin's book and 3 for Samantha's book for Halloween 2005, 2006, and 2007. The layouts are even in their books. Finis. Here's a couple of them.

3rd Birthday - Layout time!!!

Okay, John and I were talking the other day about how fast Benjamin is growing up. We just registered him for prek next year. Our little boy is going to be 4 in April. Amazing. That got me to thinking... I haven't scrapbooked any of his birthdays yet. Not even his 1st birthday. Isn't that horrible?! So, it got me motivated. I went in my room and got his 3 birthday pics together and picked one to scrap. Figured I start with the most recent and go backwards. So, here's his 3rd birthday layout. Sorry for the bad scan. One of these days I'll get better at photographing my layouts (that or I'll have John start scanning and stitching them again). Probably didn't help that I reverted back to my old standing on a chair ways and getting on top of the layout. It's been very rainy and gloomy (and cold) here, so I couldn't go outside to take it in natural light.

Heath Ledger

Oh no. how very very sad. i Love this guy. he's handsome and so sexy. love the voice, the smile, the hair. he was such a tall drink of water. I first saw him in 10 things I hate about you and couldn't think of I thing I didn't love about this guy. i can't believe I'll never see him in another movie. hopefully they still release the dark knight, although I'm not sure I want to see the movie that troubled him so much he couldn't get it out of his head. he'll be so missed. I know I will. God Bless.

Nooooo

Okay, this may sound silly, but I'm so upset. Yesterday I was feeling very sluggish and just down right exhausted, (and cold). I went to make a cup of something warm to drink. I grabbed the cappuccino to see if it had caffeine and OMG, what did I see? My fricking cappuccino has trans fat!! WTF? How did that happen?! i LOVE this stuff. It's not supposed to have fricking trans fat. What am I supposed to drink now?! Silly, I know, but this totally bummed out my whole day. I guess I'll have to switch back to my hot tea, and international coffees. Oh, and it's not just a little trans fat (family doctor says no such thing). It has 1.5g of trans fat. Heart disease is just too prevalent in my family to allow for any trans fat. I can't tell you how many of these canisters I've gone through. Now I'm off to mourn my favorite cappuccino.

You make Me... SO Very Happy.

I really love how this layout came out. Completely out of my comfort zone with this one. I painted a blue sheet of paper with blue and green paints and kind of blended them all together. This is my first painted background layout. This is also my first layout journaling directly on a photo. Also used Heidi Swapp chipboard letters. The page is 12x12 although it's cut slightly on the left hand side to hide blocks holding page down. The photos are also a bit curled up causing the black shadow, but I wanted to get this page copied and blogged as soon as I could. I believe this is also the 1st layout I've ever done for my husband. Lots of firsts on this one. Guess that's why I'm loving it.

Graffiti Stamping in Paint

Okay, I love love love how this came out. Used multiple colors of paint with acrylic stamps.

I never would have thought to use paint on my acrylic stamps. Especially a stamp like this that had a lot of detail. Background is dry brushed, then acrylic stamped (Technique Tuesday) with purple, pink, then orange colored paint. I so badly wanted to put a picture on it and call it a layout. LOL. But, this is for my 6x6 Art Journal. I can see me duplicating it for a layout when I come across the right photo.

6x12 layouts

I've recently started playing around with 6x12 page sizes. I like the smaller work canvas. It's much more doable for me. It was hard for me to get started so the first 2 layouts were basically a 12x12 that I split in half. Not sure why the color in the 1st layout is off. The colors should match the 2nd layout. The 3rd layout is a layout I did for Emily's Got Paint class using Graffiti-stamping with multiple stamps. It's also an ACOT January challenge layout (write a letter and use note paper).

Got Paint?

I'm taking Emily Falconbridge's BPS Got Paint class and I'm really liking it. I've never really painted before, except to paint chipboard, and I'm really liking it. I even went out and bought a nice assortment of brushes. Here's a photo of 4 of my favorite techniques.

Blue is color wash, pink is acrylic glaze, white is gesso with circles, and orange is etched. I really getting out of my box and loving it.

It's a sad day...

Okay, I was thinking about going in my newly somewhat cleaned up scrapbook room (at least my table has been freshly cleared off and cleaned, go Me!) and was looking for some inspiration to get my butt in my room. I realized I hadn't checked out Kristina Contes blog in a long time. I just love her funky style. This girl rocks! Well, to my diappointment, her blog has been made private. I can't really say I'm shocked. I can't begin to imagine what she has been going through and the comments that have been made about her. So, off I go to check the DARE website www.efferdares.com in serach of some KC layouts. The first layout of hers I found has broken my heart. http://www.efferdares.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/dear-kc.jpg

Hey KC, stay strong and stay tough. There's a world out there who loves you and those who don't are just jealous. Try not to let them get you down, sweetie. And please, keep rockin' those layouts.

Altered HS playing cards - LSS swap

Elizabeth at Simply Scrapping is having an altered Heidi Swapp playing card swap. She got the idea from Heidi Swapp’s A Year to Remember class at Big Picture Scrapbooking. We're each altering 10 cards using your favorite quote. Keep 1 for yourself, one for the store, and the other 8 will be swapped. I had a hard time picking 1 quote, so I picked 4. Here's my cards. Enjoy!

Got some scrapping done!

I've been taking a lot of on-line classes, and purchasing class kits from out of state stores. (I can't wait until my new LSS opens next month!) I finally finished a layout that has been sitting on my crop table for about 3 weeks. Can't believe how long it took me to finish this layout. I'm still not that happy with it, but I am so happy I can call it done. Not to mention I've been having these photos for almost 4 years and now they are finally scrapped. Gotta love that. I even had the smaller photos cropped into the smaller sizes, and when I saw the sketch I immediately thought of these photos. Samantha was 6 yrs old and so sassy. Gotta love that spirit.

Scrapping Goodies

Woo Hoo! I won a pack of Scrapbook Goodies from a new LSS that hasn't even opened yet. (Thanks Elizabeth!) Can't wait for the new store to open. Seems like it's been a year since I heard rumer of a new store opening in town, and it's finally getting close to opening. I so need a crop night away from home.

Happy Halloween

Samantha has long gotten over wanting to be something cute for Halloween. This year she was a Skeleton Rocker Grrrrl. Benjamin was a pirate (Captain Jack). Samantha also bugged John and I into dressing up this year, too. John took the kids and went as a very disgusting Davey Jones and I dressed up as Sally from Nightmare before Christmas. We had more fun dressing up, than the actual event. Since Samantha started a new school this year, we decided it was important to stay home and be more involved in our own neighborhood and community, instead of going to John's aunts house in Lafayette. Boy, were we ever disappointed. I only had about 6 sets of Trick or Treaters, probably about 12 kids total. The kids came home with such a sparse amount of candy. Not that they needed a lot, since I now have so much left over, but it meant they didn't really get to do much trick or treating. Benjamin seemed to have a great time regardless, but it was a bit disappointing for Samantha. John said they were the only ones walking. Everyone else trick or treated via automobile. How disappointing?! Well, at least I got some awesome photos this year and I'm looking forward to doing a layout for each of the kids albums. I had even planned ahead and already have papers and embellishments ready to use. Gotta love the skulls that are so hot and trendy right now.

Sushi anyone?!

A couple of Friday's ago I had an envie for sushi. John went through a phase of eating it at least once a week a while back. Well... now it's my turn. I gave him a call and asked him if he felt like sushi. Of course, he was all for it. Mmmm, it was sooo good. The kids ate left over pizza, and John and I were left to enjoy some wonderful takeout Sushi. Pictured are 4 different rolls and a side of edamame. What a wonderful treat!

Who Knew? Me and Coffee?

You know the saying, "you think you know someone"? Well, sometimes I think we don't really know ourselves all that well either. I always thought one of my biggest quirks was that I LOVE the smell of fresh coffee brewing, but I can't stand the taste of it. I've made numerous cups of coffee only to be poured down the sink. I occassionally drink a cup of coffee in the winter just to warm up my insides, or occassionally with a piece of pie for dessert. Coffee and pie just seem to go together, I'm not sure why. Well, I'm finding out that maybe I really do like coffee. After dropping Samantha off at school this morning, I had the desire to swing by Sonic to pick up a frozen coffee drink. I wanted something cold and it just seemed like the thing to do. (No Starbucks, CCs, Caribo Coffee's, etc here). I ordered a Hazelnut Java Cooler. Mmmmmm. Talk about good. I've been finding myself getting hot Carmel Apple Cappuccinos at the corner store, Starbuck frappucinos at the grocery store, and now Hazelnut Java Coolers at Sonic. Am I developing a taste for coffee?! I've even been thinking about pulling our coffee maker out from under the cabinet (a wedding gift from 15 years ago that we kept because you never know when we might have company that wants a cup of coffee (huh?!?)). Very strange. Very strange, indeed.

Anyway, it's been a while since I've posted an entry. I was in Minnesota last week and I guess my trip got me out of the habit. Gotta jump back in it. Hopefully I'll get in my scrap room this weekend and do some scrapping. TGIF everyone.

Got a layout done tonight

Okay, this layout came together really quick and easy. Basically I just used an exacto knife (yes, I really did) to trim around a few lines of the paper and tucked pictures inside the slits. I added a few sequins to the layout to add a lil bawda bling. Used some KI Memories Creamy Broccoli acrylic letters and finished it off with a strip of HS tape. So quick and so easy. Okay, the photo is looking a little over-exposed, but I wanted to share. I'll retake tomorrow in natural lighting and hopefully get a better shot.

Edited to add layout particulars. Paper is Sandylion - On the beach. Acrylic letters KI Memories alphabet soup in Creamy Broccoli. HS tape - Born Free. Sequins are from a Portafolia Summer kit I got at Sams.