Gettin' By

Still pinching myself.

Earlier this week, I received an email asking me if I'd be interested in joining the Jenni Bowlin Studios design team.  I couldn't reply fast enough with a resounding YES YES YES!  I have been a fan of Jenni's products for a long time, and meeting her (and seeing her completely amazing booth & products) at winter CHA just confirmed all the admiration I have for her. Heck, I would have curled up and LIVED in a corner of her booth if she'd let me. It just had that wonderfully homey, comforting appeal...like I'd just stepped into a page of a Sundance catalog.  She has such a flair for mixing vintage with modern. So I am thrilled (and feeling like one lucky girl) to get to be able to work with JBS.  I should have my May kit in a few days, and can't wait to create some pages with it!

You can check out the official announcement here.  Happy Thursday everyone! :)

Definitely the best thing about baking brownies...

...is not the lovely, warm aroma that fills the house on a rainy day.

...or the mixing beaters that have to be licked clean of the all that chocolate-y goodness.

...or the leftover brownies that make an excellent (if not completely nutritionally void) breakfast!

Nope, the best thing about baking brownies this weekend was watching these two girlies and their animated enjoyment while eating them:

 

 

(Riely & my niece, Ava, thoroughly enjoying their desserts.)

Happy Tuesday!

It's Monday. Where are my snowboots?

It's Monday and it's snowing.  Crazy schitzofrentic Colorado weather.  Friday was simply lovely and warm  - perfect for the neighborhood garage sale.  Then Saturday (just in time for our school fundraiser golf tournament), this nasty cold sleet moved in.  Accompanied by icy winds.  And more sleet. Mike and his friends, who were participating in the golf tournament, only made it through seven holes before they called it quits.  Yesterday was sunny again - shorts & sandals weather. Then this morning, we wake up to 4 inches of snow.  Apparently Mother Nature is experiencing some significant mood swings.  And I thought I was bad.

So anyway, for those that asked, the garage sale was great.  Lots of people out looking for bargains.  My scrapbook stuff wasn't selling too well until one lady customer called all her friends to let them know about my stash.  About 10 minutes later, they all showed up at once and in a flurry of grabbing and squealing MINE! MINE! they cleaned me out. They were concerned that I was quitting scrapbooking (I did have a crapload of stuff to sell!) but I assured them that, no, I was merely paring down and making room for new stuff.  I sold pretty much everything by early afternoon on Friday.  There were a few things I thought might still sell, so I set everything back up on Saturday morning, but the crappy weather kept people indoors.  After about an hour of freezing my hiney off, I called it quits and just donated the remaining items to charity. I figured a few lost sales were better than coming down with pneumonia, in the long run. :)

Hope you had a great weekend and are enjoying a warmer Monday than me!  I'll leave with you a few pages I did with an old Studio Calico kit, Fountain Square: 

The Garage Sale Monster Ate My Post.

I had a cute little story to tell you involving Riely and also had some pages to share, but the last 48 hours of my life have been consumed by the ever-growing entity I shall only refer to as the Garage Sale Monster.  You remember last weekend when I spent all that time going through our house, room by room, to find crap (er, I mean LOVELY TREASURES!) for our community garage sale?  Well the only room I omitted was my office.  Which, though it's footprint is small, holds more than any other space in the house.  (Due in large part to my scrap supplies, which seem to multiply like rabbits every night.)  I've been putting off the project of organizing the whole mess, because, well, there's just other stuff I'd rather do.  Like pull off my toenails with pliers or listen to a Rush Limbaugh show.  There was also the hope that maybe, just maybe, if I ignored the problem, it might go away on its own.  Hope springs eternal, no?

Well, no more.  I just spent the last two days going through every nook and cranny in my office, ruthlessly sorting, organizing, and most importantly, PURGING things I will never use, don't like, or is just plain old.  (Can you say Paperkins, people?)  I priced it all to sell, and if it does, I will probably have enough to buy a Route 44 Limeade during Happy Hour at Sonic.  But heck, it's not about the money.  It's about having a clean, organized work space that would make Martha Stewart beam with pride.  Can I get an AMEN?!

I'll leave you with a few cards I made a while back.  Think of me today as I spent my time in the driveway hawking my wares.  It's almost 6 a.m. - I expect the bargain hunters to be knocking on my door any minute. :)

(supplies from Studio Calico kit, Fountain Square)

Short & Sweet

Just a quick page post for today! Have a happy Tuesday!

wood paper (Pink Paislee)
patterned paper & stamps (Studio Calico)

Weekend Realizations.

• When a recipe for Risotto with Lemon Zest & Edamame tells you to add liquid in increments and stir constantly, it does not mean dump the liquid in, grab a glass of wine, and go play a game of Jewel Quest.  Unless you are trying to make Wallpaper Paste with Lemon Zest & Edamame.
• Our house holds way more crap than we will ever need.  This becomes glaringly apparent when the task of  "gathering a few things for the community garage sale" turns into a 12-hour spring cleaning marathon, resulting in an entire garage full of stuff to sell.
• 13.1 miles is a long way to run no matter how hard you train for it.  Especially when the first two miles of the race include an 8% grade.  But the promise of a New Belgium draft beer at the finish line can motivate a person. :)
• Eight words my husband finds impossibly sexy when uttered from my lips:  Honey, I think I'll wash my car today!
  
• You can get a surprising amount of pages complete if you just
  turn over the Jewel Quest game to your husband and actually scrap instead:

 


 



(All supplies for these pages are from the Studio Calico kit, Jack & Jill)


Happy Monday!

Don't forget your daily serving of beans.

I was so busy shopping yesterday I forgot to mention that you should hop on over to the Jillbean Soup site, yes you should! So get your daily serving of protein, Jillibean style, and check out the card and layout I was inspired to make with these yummy products.  (And I NEVER make cards, so that's saying a lot.)

And that's all.  Happy Thursday :)

Summer Shopping

It's tax day...are you getting a refund?  Our is already spent on the oh-so-exciting.....wait for it.....window coverings!  Thrilling, I know.  We've avoided putting anything on our first level windows for almost three years now, and because we had no neighbors, it wasn't really an issue. Plus we are BIT indecisive about decorating decisions like those.  And when I say "WE" I really mean ME.   But last weekend, the house next door sold, so now we're being forced to find something to cover the view, lest our new neighbors find out how we REALLY live.  And that's a whole 'nother post altogether.

Though I really don't want to be spending money on something as boring as blinds, I'm keeping myself happy by doing a little online browsing for some new summer wardrobe items.  (Don't freak out Mike, I'm not PURCHASING, only browsing, I promise!!)  And here's what I'd love to be wearing this summer (if I wasn't buying window wear, that is!)

 

 

    

1. Bobbin Lace Racerback, anthropologie.com

2.  Plaid Ruffle Tank, gap.com

3. Fair Skies patchwork skirt, shopruche.com

4.  Bandolino Elmont wedge, piperlime.com

5.  Medallion Lattice top, jcrew.com

6.  Twist Bow Tank in Goldfish, gap.com

7. Concord Grapes bib dress, shopruche.com

8.  Aquaculture sandals in Lime, anthropologie.com

9.  Pintucked Jacket, gap.com

10.  Fujara pants, anthropologie.com

11.  Citizens of Humanity Denim Burmudas, nordstrom.com

12. Free People Embroidered Cami, nordstrom.com

So what's on your summer wardrobe wish list??  Link me up! (And have a great Wednesday!)

Easter Candy Hangover.

I can always tell when Easter is over at our house.  There's assorted candy wrappers strewn everywhere, kids are bouncing off the walls, and I have an overwhelming urge to brush my teeth. Often. Needless to say, the Easter Bunny was very generous and left us plenty of malted eggs, assorted chocolates, and my personal favorite, Peeps.  Most of which have been consumed (though I am saving a few to make Easter s'mores... nothing better than roasting those little chickies over a roaring flame and serving them up with a side of chocolate!)

We spent Easter weekend up in the mountains for one last ski trip before the season is over.  Mike and I made the executive decision to skip ski school and just take the the kids up the mountain with us for the day.  Which worked out fine, except that we forgot to figure in how sore we'd be the next day from chasing speed-demon children down the hill (and serving as tow trucks when they were stuck on any uphill inclines).  So we probably looked a little funny at church on Sunday morning, limping and lumbering around with our various achy muscles.  Good times!

I didn't get any photos on the slopes (I correctly figured I'd have my hands full keeping Riely from running over slower skiers) but here's a photo from the weekend of my mom and her three grandkids - Hayden, Riely and Lilly.  This was right before bedtime, which was just slightly delayed thanks to the aforementioned Easter candy:

Today I'm tackling a few scrap assignments and attempting to learn PowerPoint to help a client with an upcoming presentation. Due to my extreme distaste for all thing Microsoft, I undoubtedly have a challenging few hours ahead of me. (And probably a few choice words for Mr. Bill Gates.) Here's hoping that whatever's on your agenda for the day, it's a great Monday!

And now I'm off to brush my teeth. For the third time today. Cheerio!

An Open Letter to the Wind.

Dear Blustering, Blowing, Relentless Wind:

I'm not sure if you realize, but the area you have chosen to torture with your recent activity is not Oklahoma (where you are more than welcome to go sweeping down the plain) but is, in fact,  Colorado.  Where I live.  And I do not have the slightest bit of appreciation for your talents.  In fact, they are driving me batshit crazy.  I fail to see the point of your gale-force tactics, except for maybe creating a wall of tumbleweeds against our back fence that a small child could get lost in.  And knocking over our trash dumpsters so we can spend our weekends collecting stray litter from our yard. 

When you are disguised as a gentle breeze, I am more than happy to have you around.  In fact, I rather enjoy this version of your personality.  But when you are blowing so hard the earbuds on my iPod won't even stay in during a run, and our metal patio furniture is flying through the air like confetti, then I've had enough.  Please go away.  Because quite frankly, you BLOW.

Kindest regards,

Lisa