Easter Blessings

Ok, I got a little flack for saying Easter was the next holiday when I posted my last card. Seems I forgot about St. Patrick's Day. In my defense, I am neither Irish, nor Catholic, and I can't even indulge in green beer at the moment, so I'm going to pretend that one doesn't exist. *wink* It's easier than admitting I might have made a mistake. hee hee.

Here is a quick SNEEK PEEK (!!) of a new set from Sweet n' Sassy Stamps that is going to be released in March. The set is called Easter Lily, and yes, I know these flowers are traditionally white. I have not yet perfected the art of shading a white object, so I opted to go with more of a daffolily. HA! Hey, it could happen. Want to see more sneek peeks? Check out the recent round-up post on the SNSS blog. You can also see some cards made with their new line of digi-stamps.

Guess what else I have to share? You are not going to believe this, but I actually read another book. I know! Crazy, right? I started yesterday morning, and finished all 200 pages in the span of about 24 hours.

Albom has written three books to my knowledge (also The Five People You Meet In Heaven, and Tuesdays With Morrie), and I've read them all. I did't care for Tuesdays With Morrie (and yeah, I know I'm in a minority there), but I loved Five People, and I also LOVED this one! It was such a touching and heartfelt story, I was honestly sad that I got through it so quickly. I passed it on to my Mom tonight, and I'm hoping she enjoys it as much as I did.

Enjoy the day!

Wednesday Weigh-In #6

Well, we're already at week 6! Can you believe it?! I can't believe I'm still trying to lose weight, to be honest. So many times in the past I've started something like this only to get frustrated and give up about a month into it. I'm really trying to make this a doable lifestyle change rather than something drastic, so I'm trying to stick with it as much as possible.

That said, I knew this week was going to be difficult with Valentine's Day. My goal was to maintain for the week, and I did a pretty good job. I gained 4/10 of a pound. Saturday night we went to see the musical Wicked, and had dinner at one of my favorite restaurants before hand. When I started this journey, I promised myself I would not deny myself any food, and Saturday night I pushed that philosophy to the limits!

I had a yummy dinner that started with french onion soup (hello sodium!), then salad, then chicken alfredo with garlic bread (my favorite!). We even splurged for dessert and had these amazing cast iron cookies served while still warm with ice cream over the top. It was DIVINE! I couldn't even finish the whole thing, that's how rich it was. I also polished off a half pound box of my favorite chocolates this week. Oye. Like I said, I knew it would be a bad week, but I think I handled it pretty well. I continued to exercise daily and tried to stick with my water and eating earlier, etc. Now I'm putting my nose back to the grindstone for another month before my next big weekend which will be March 21. :o) Overall, I'm pleased with how things went.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, Wicked was AMAZING! Hands down the best musical I've ever seen (and I've seen pretty much all of them!). Highly recommended if you're ever able to get tickets. I wish I could go see it again before it leaves our area, but they're sold out for the rest of the run. Dang!

One last thing... One of my friends and blog readers is wondering if anyone has any use for some older VHS aerobics tapes? From what I understand she's just looking to get rid of them, not looking to sell them. If you're interested, visit Debby's blog and leave a comment there with your comment info and let her know. Even if you aren't interested in the tapes, it's worth a click over just to see the amazing work Debby does.... but make sure your speakers are low. Debby likes to rock it out on the blog. ;o)


Enjoy the day!

Hoppy Easter

Hoppy Easter!!! Can you believe Easter is the next holiday?! CRAZY! Wasn't it just Valentine's day like, last weekend? Oh... wait... ;o) HA! Anyhow! This is a cute little card I whipped up with some of the yummy papers and accents from i {heart} papers. Isn't it adorable? I used SU's Soft Sky and Certainly Celery for the base colors. The eggs are all cut with my oval Nestabilities using the papers Isn't She Lovely/Little Lady (that's the first, third, and last egg) and Oven Door (second and fourth egg). The cute little Easter Bunny comes in a pack of four, with four of those little beaded flowers that I used for his tail. The other little flowers were from my stash, but I just noticed you can buy more of those beaded flowers separately, and they would have been perfect too. The sentiment is from the same set I used on the last card (scroll down to see it), and it's called Spring Fling. I am absolutely in love with that set. And there are only four left in stock right now, so don't hesitate if you are interested!!

I also want to share another book with you. As I mentioned before, I've cut back on blogging so that I can get back to some of my other favorite hobbies, and reading happens to be one of them. I picked this book up at a used book store recently on recommendation from a friend. I had mentioned that I loved Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons, and he suggested that I read this. Of Brown's four books (the third being Digital Fortress, which was also very good), this was his favorite. At the time I didn't even remember hearing about it, so I bought it.

By about 20 pages in, I realized I had read it before, but couldn't for the life of me remember how it ended.... So I kept reading. All 723 pages of it. Though I will say it was a very quick read, and hard to put down like all of his other books. The synopsis is a bit long, so I'm not going to post it here, but if you want to check it out, you can read it HERE. I would highly recommend any of his books if you haven't already read them, but I have to say Angels and Demons is still my favorite of the four. It will be released as a movie starring Tom Hanks on May 15. I hope it's good. I wasn't too crazy about the DaVinci Code movie. It wasn't nearly as good as the book was.

Anyhow, that's all for today! Have a good one!

Joys and Blessings

...it is springtime, right? Come on. Pleeeease? Please let it be spring! Ok, so that didn't work. I guess technically it's still winter, but I can still think spring, right?!


Look at these yummy spring images and colors! WOOT! Seriously, how stinkin' cute are those flowers? And I love that you don't have to color anything in. Don't get me wrong, I love my copics and I love to color, but sometimes it's nice to not have to do it, ya know?

Everything you see here is from i {heart} papers. Kate has some awesome new spring papers in stock, so be sure to take a gander when you get a chance. I think you'll be happy with what you see! The stamp set I used for the card is called Spring Fling. It's super cute for spring or Easter cards. There are even eggs in the set, and a cute little chick, too. :) The DP you see is actually both sides of the same paper (flowers on one side, stripes on the other) and it's called Pinstripe. I used some yellow stickles in the center of each flower, and cut the flowers and sentiment out with a Labels Two Nestability.

Like I mentioned yesterday, there is a little sale going on over at IHP this weekend, but you have to stalk SCS for the banner to find out the details! Think of it as a little shopping scavenger hunt. ;o)

Enjoy the day!

Not Fat, Just Fluffy

NOTE: If you stopped by for today's Bellaholic's Sketch Challenge, scroll down. You'll find it in the post below this one...

I thought with all of the Wednesday Weigh-in's we've had lately, and my low loss for this week, that this card was perfect to lighten things up! :) heehehe. The penquin is from the Sweet n' Sassy Stamps set called Penguin Hugs. Isn't he just adorable? He reminds me of that little guy from Happy Feet. :)

The background paper is SU's basic grey stamped with their old Paisley Print background stamp in basic black. On top of that I layered some of their shimmer silver, and a star DP that was a gift from a friend - sorry I don't know what brand it is. The penquin was colored iwth my copics - C1, W3, W5, W7, and 0. The beak is a color called "Atoll", but I don't recall the number off hand (I want to say YR65 maybe? or Y65?). The ribbon is from Hobby Lobby, and I used an oval Nestie to cut out and emboss the sentiment. I drew in the ground, and added some dazzling diamonds down there where the snow should be.

Do you have any big plans for Valentine's Day? I'm going to see Wicked tomorrow night! I can't wait! :) If it weren't for the show I'm sure we'd be staying in with a heart shaped pizza. lol!

Hang In There

It's time for another Bellaholics Sketch Challenge! Here is this month's sketch:



And here is my interpretation of it:

I used some different DP's to create a sort of floor/wallpaper look to put around this little yogabella (I actually don't know if that's her real name, as I don't own the stamp - it was a gifted image. Sorry!). I just love the colors I used on her clothes. I'm pretty sure that's YG99 on the pants and E..... SHOOT! I can't remember the top color. It's an E though. E09 maybe? A nice earthy pink. I like to use it for lips and mouths too. The hair is E39. That I remember. :)

Anyhow, I hope you like it!

Have a great Friday! I'll be back tomorrow with an i {heart} papers card. Speaking of i {heart} papers, there's something going on over there this weekend. Stalk Splitcoast and look for their banner ad to figure out what it is! :)

I think my next project will be to get this dang snowflake out of my signature. lol! I'm ready for spring!

Wednesday Weigh-In #5

Well, I have to be honest... this weight loss thing is getting old. LOL! Seriously, it is so much easier to just be over weight and eat what you want, and not deal with the guilt of bad decisions. This reminds me of a quote that one of the gals I chat with on the Toddler Mom thread on SCS has in her signature. It reads, "It's HARD to be overweight. It's HARD to lose weight. It's HARD to maintain weight loss. You just have to pick your hard!" And really, it's so true. All of these things are hard, but for very different reasons.

I've lost 2 cubes of butter this week. *sigh* That's only a half of a pound, but it's still something. The good news is that I've done a good job of exercising almost daily, and therefore my water intake is up where it should be as well (I drink more water when I'm exercising). With this .5, my totall weight loss is 12 lbs in just over a month. When I look at it that way, it sounds pretty good actually. It's just when I think about working out all week only to lose a half pound that I get a little discouraged.

Before I go, I want to share a website with you. Are you familiar with Dottie's Weight Loss Zone? It's primarily for people who are doing Weight Watchers, but the information is beneficial for everyone really. Although I'm not keeping track of points, I do use the information on Dottie's site to gauge what foods are better choice than others, especially at restaurants (she has a HUGE list of restaurants, all broken down with meal options and point values). Check it out!

So, how are you doing? Are you still with me? I've noticed that the comments on my Wednesday Weigh-in posts have declined since we started this five weeks ago. Are you still losing? Or do you feel like you've fallen off the wagon, much like my good friend Jenn who left this comment on last week's post (LOL!):

Leave me a comment and let me know how you're doing, and hang in there!

A Sweet Little Notecard

Here's a quick little notecard Iwhipped up with some of my yummy papers and ribbon from i {heart} papers. I paper pieced the cupcake with Love Dots for the frosting, and Diamonds and Pearls for the paper cup and background. The stamp is from Inkadinkado's Birthday Cupcake set, and it's tied off with some of the lovely brown/pink satin ribbon. I just needed a blank notecard today, so I opted not to put a sentiment on this one. Oh, and I used an old TECC sketch as well. I hope you like it!

I also want to share another book that I finished recently:

Here is a brief synopsis of the (non-fiction) book:

Michael Patrick MacDonald grew up in "the best place in the world"--the Old Colony projects of South Boston--where 85% of the residents collect welfare in an area with the highest concentration of impoverished whites in the U.S. In All Souls, MacDonald takes us deep into the secret heart of Southie. With radiant insight, he opens up a contradictory world, where residents are besieged by gangs and crime but refuse to admit any problems, remaining fiercely loyal to their community. MacDonald also introduces us to the unforgettable people who inhabit this proud neighborhood. We meet his mother, Ma MacDonald, an accordion-playing, spiked-heel-wearing, indomitable mother to all; Whitey Bulger, the lord of Southie, gangster and father figure, protector and punisher; and Michael's beloved siblings, nearly half of whom were lost forever to drugs, murder, or suicide. By turns explosive and touching, All Souls ultimately shares a powerful message of hope, renewal, and redemption.

One of reviews listed on the back cover says something about how if you loved Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes, you'll also love All Souls. Before I started reading the book, I thought that was a pretty lofty claim. I've read (and loved) Angela's Ashes... I can't imagine anything coming close to it. By the second chapter though, I was totally engrossed, and now that I've finished, I have to agree. The two memoirs are very similar, and equally enthralling. I was amazed at what all I learned about South Boston, and the things that were going on there in my lifetime - things I didn't even realize were happening. Granted I was miles away in Wisconsin, but still. Things were sure covered up well to not be sprawled all over the front pages of the country.

Anyhow, if you enjoy reading non-fiction/memoirs, I would highly recommend it!

Enjoy the day,

Your crib or mine?

The boys are starting to interact more, and Henry is saying "NO!" a lot less when he is placed next to his brother. lol! He never has really shunned Jack per se, but has always enjoyed having a little distance between them. After nap time, I usually grab Henry first and then he runs into Jack's room yelling, "Bee! Ha-woah Bee!" (say it outloud, you'll get it.) For whatever reason I decided to get Jack first this particular day, and set him in the crib with Henry while I put some clothes away and cleaned up in Henry's room. They played nice for a good 10-15 mins before it got old. Hey, I'll take what I can get!

And yes, before you ask, my almost three year old is still in a crib. Could he be in a toddler/regular bed? Sure. Will he be in one by his birthday? Maybe. Right now he's content in the crib, and I'm happy as long as he is. ;o)

Betcha Didn't Know...

....That I crochet, too. ;o)

One of my toddler mom friends on Splitcoast had a baby yesterday (WOOT! Welcome Luke!), and this is the blanket I made for her. Don't ask me what got into me. I haven't crocheted in AGES. I didn't even make blankets for my own kids, much less any other my other toddler mom friends (Sorry girls!), but for whatever reason decided to go ahead and whip out the yarn for this one. She had been posting pictures of different bedding sets that she was considering, and all of them had a sage-y green in them, so I picked the closest thing I could find to that color in a soft yarn, and went for it.

It took me about three months to finish. I used to be able to whip a baby blanket out in about three weeks, but that was b.c. (before children *wink*). Here is a close-up of the card I attached to the blanket. I swear to you, it says "Happy Snuggling"... not "Happy Smuggling". LOL!

And here is the "real" card that was also included. Just a quick one layer card using SU!'s Wild About You set:

She has mentioned in the past that she likes elephants, so that was my inspiration. And I wanted to keep it simple, because I spent enough time on the dang blanket. HA. Kidding. :) Actually, I had been wanting to try a one layer card forever, so I did. I think it's kinda boring, but it works! Plus, she'll be all doped up on pain meds for a few weeks, so she'll never notice. hee heeeeee.

Enjoy the day!