MM Blog

I love to read the Making Memories blog for inspiration. They have a little contest going on where they are going to choose a few scrapbookers to feature on their blog in March. I just had to post a few of my MM layouts here:

So there, I did! Wish me luck.

anna sali!

while shopping and running around in downtown boise on saturday, denise and i discovered an amazing artist! we popped into the grape escape for some wine and cheese and this beautiful young gal named anna sali was performing. her voice is unbelievable. we both loved her instantly! she writes her own music and plays acoustic guitar (which i love). she is going to be huge!

you can hear full versions of her songs here. check out her myspace if you are a local here in boise to see where she will be appearing. i am going to see her this saturday night! so excited! if you are an itunes person you can also find her there!

friday...

denise arrived very late on thursday night (11:30!) so we got home and exchanged our valentine's day gifts. i got to be her valentine this year since jason is over in iraq. she gave me the most fabulous loot from bath and body works. they have these little lambie slippers and and eye mask to match. she also gave me the whole sleep collection which is lavender/vanilla scented and so relaxing! i will take a picture of the valentines banner she made me and show you tomorrow when i have lots of "me" time! i have to get this post done in five minutes!

we love to shop at boutiques that have beautiful unique things and we found this one:

on glenwood in garden city. sheri the owner is so sweet and she has amazing stuff so if you are local in boise, stop in and say hi! then we hit archiver's (of course!) for the latest and greatest in everything scrapbooking. my talented and sweet friend kim was teaching this make and take project:

we changed it up a little bit by adding RED stuff and a little bling. cute, huh? we then headed to the cheesecake factory for my favorite avocado eggrolls! tried a new cocktail called the georgia peach. so yummy! next time you are there you have to try the most delicious pasta dish in the universe, the bistro shrimp pasta! the lunch portion yielded four portions for us. we sat at the bar with a very nice lady named bev who shared her turtle cheesecake. to die for!

we burned a few calories by running around the mall for a couple of hours, denise buying more pairs of shoes in one day than i even own! then we spent the whole night scrapping and watching episodes of our very favorite show, ugly betty! the best day (until the next day!)

night y'all!

my little sister...

(from another mister!) flew in on thursday night. this is why none of you have heard from me in a few days! well, denise left today and i am exhausted but i can't stop smiling thinking about all of the fun we had this weekend. here's a few photos. i'm off to bed early but i can't wait to tell you all of the fun things we did. i'll post manana!

smooches
xoxo

talking with my kids...

my older boys, joe and nick love to talk to me. it always happens to be at night after they are supposed to be in bed, much to my dismay, but i am grateful that they love to talk.

tonight we had a long talk about what it means to be a republican or a democrat. we also had a long talk about racism and about how their dad and i feel about it. the boys hear lots of jokes nowadays, lots of them inappropriate about sex, religion and politics. i do not want them to be swayed by comedians they hear on tv. yes, they are often funny but i so DO NOT like racist, sexist or political humor. i immediately delete emails i receive of this kind. i think it is so important for my kids to know that is it is okay for everyone to have their own beliefs and we need to respect them for it, even if we do not agree with them.

this got me thinking about this quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. which always touches me deeply:

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

i hope that my children will always live by this.

expectations...

Life is largely a matter of expectation.
If you want to succeed, you must expect to succeed.
Expectation energizes your goals and gives them momentum.
When you believe something good can happen, it will happen.

Author Unknown
But Greatly Appreciated!

Ok, I believe someone is going to make these Red Velvet cupcakes for me! YUM!

 

14???

how can it be that my oldest son is 14? time flies.

 

joe, you are so loving. i don't know what i would do without you. love you SO much! happy birthday, son.

happy birthday...

to that wendy girl!

 

 

 

love you my sweet friend!

friday night...

what a crazy busy week. so glad to just stay home tonight and go to bed early. well, after this post i'm hitting the hay! i finally scrapped a couple of layouts tonight. it had been a couple of weeks and i was going crazy wanting to create! i watched bridget jones's diary on bravo while i scrapped tonight. love that movie. i could watch it a hundred times. oh man, as i am typing this the sequel is coming on so i just may have to put toothpicks in my eyes to stay up and watch it (even though i own it on dvd!) this is just really good stuff! this is going to be a crazy weekend here. my son, Joe is turning 14 and invited 5 teenagers over to play video games and eat and eat and play video games and then go see a highly inappropriate movie. good times.

we've had lots of snow as of late and one of my favorite past times is to sit in my living room with a steaming cup of hot coffee and watch my husband shovel the driveway. i have a few neighbors who actually feel guilty when their husbands are shoveling and they come over and borrow an extra shovel from us and join their man in the task. i don't get this. i mean the guilt thing. what is up with that?

i no more get that then i get how some people do not like chocolate. how do you not like chocolate? what is not to like?

i will leave you tonight with a quote my children say everytime i correct them or "pick" on them:

"well excuse me for having enormous flaws that i don't work on!" -homer simpson

shout out!

Just wanted to give a shout out today to one of my favorite guys, Jason Dunning! He is the husband of my friend Denise and an all around awesome guy. He left on January 17th for deployment in Iraq. Before he left, I asked Denise to tell me 10 things she would miss most about him when he was gone so I could do a layout for them about it. Here it is:

It got me thinking that this would be a great idea for a challenge. Think about someone who you miss or who you would miss if they were no longer around. Write down 10 things. Do a scrapbook layout if you want but at least write these things down. I am going to do this for Kirk (my husband who is definitely still around!) and my Mom who passed away. It's a great way to recognize and appreciate the little everyday things.

By the way, Jason, even though your wife is extremely culinarily (is that a word?) challenged, your kids are being fed well on a regular basis so lay off! xoxo

sad, sad, sad...

Super Bowl Sunday is always one of my favorite days of the year (next to baseball's opening day!) especially when my Patriots are in it! The whole season was amazing with the Patriots going 18 and 0, undefeated. That is until yesterday! I am still in shock that they lost to the NY Giants! I still love my Pats and it was an incredible season. Only two more months 'til baseball starts! Yeah baby!

 

 

 

 

Surprise!

Okay, so all week I thought I was going to have to go to the Blue Man Group show last night. I was none too happy about it but Kirk said he wanted to go and he got tickets for us and our friends Bill and Loni so I agreed to go and pretended to look forward to it. Little did I know that Kirk, Bill, Loni, Pam and Jerry were plotting to throw me a surprise party! I can't believe how many lies Kirk and my friends have told me this past month! I was so shocked. Did not expect it at all! It was so fabulous! It was a Red Sox and Patriots themed party. Everyone wore the gear. Half of it was mine!! Imaging me showing up and seeing everybody wearing all of my clothes! LOL. We had a champagne fountain, a chocolate fountain, amazing food, music, karaoke and lots and lots of dancing. We got home at about 2 am and Nate was ready to boogie himself. I got about two hours of sleep last night and I am dead tired. I spent tonight at a dance performance for Pam's daughters. They were so adorable!! I gotta go get some shut eye because tomorrow is SUPER BOWL SUNDAY!! Woo Hoo, Good Times!! Here are just a few pictures from my AWESOME birthday party!