What I Miss…

Posted on | July 25, 2010 | 3 Comments

We love this place. You all know that. But there are a few things from Missouri that I miss…

A jam packed scrapbook store full of new goodies, either a local shop or Archivers
Jo-Ann, Michaels, and Hobby Lobby
Great Sushi, Dimsum, Thai, and Chinese
Kansas City Plaza
Outlet Mall by the lake

It’s not a bad list… not super long, right?

There are two places to get scrappy stuff, both on base, but they’re spendier. You’d think the Arts and Craft store on base would be cheap, right? NOOO!! Thickers for $5.49 when it’s $3.99 in the U.S.! They do have a nice collection but goodness, $1.50 for a piece of paper is a bit much for me. Thank goodness for online shopping!! BUT, for crafty goodness, it’s just more fun to shop in person don’t you think? Suckering my husband to drive to Archivers each time we go near it and buying new release items was always a joy (he rarely goes in with me, he’d either read in the car or go across the street to a tire shop, if he does come it it’s to fetch me). And carrying that 40% off coupon into Jo-Ann and deciding what to buy was always a lot of fun. MISS MISS MISS!!

Food… we’ve had great British food and I personally think they’re really good but we haven’t found great places that serve the food listed above. Despite the fact that I’m not the most awesome cook (I am trying to be though) I do have really good taste buds. It kind of sucks because it makes me very picky about where I want to eat out at. I can eat anybody’s cooking but if I have to pay for it the place has got to be REALLY good… unless we’re traveling and we have to eat.

In terms of shopping, the shops here are really nice. I loved walking through Cambridge’s towncentre. Little beautiful shops everywhere. The only thing that turned me off was how busy this place was. I love the Plaza because not only does it have a great selection of stores it’s also a nice place to just take a stroll. It does get busy, esp. close to Christmas, but on a normal weekend and especially a weekend, it’s pretty quiet. It makes shopping enjoyable. My favorite store’s Ann Taylor/the Loft. They have petite sizes for shorties like me and I can buy pants on sale without trying them on. I have a hard time with pants because of my height. I LOVE a lot of stuff at JCrew, Anthropologie, or Banana Republic but they’re always too long and I really don’t want to pay somebody to shorten them when they’re already spendy. BR shortens for free BUT if you pay full price. I never buy clothes that are not on sale. I’m a tightwad {::SMILES}.

I’ve heard of places that sells cute T-shirts for little girls for cheap here but from what I heard it can’t beat the Children’s Place outlet: $2.99 T-shirts AND 40% coupon for the total purchase!

So yes, just miss a few of my favorite things from back in MO!!

Have a great Sunday!! Next post I’ll share photos of our London excursion!!

Page details:

I did this page the other night but just got to journaling it tonight. I used the Paislee Press kit again that I got the other day. It’s a wonderful wonderful kit and I was just trying to use more stuff from it. I have a bad habit of buying and then just using the kit for one layout. So I challenged myself to use a kit for 2-3 pages, this way it makes the purchase worthwhile!

My Behind

Posted on | July 23, 2010 | 23 Comments

When we were walking to the Bury market last weekend:

M: Mommy, me, Jovie and daddy, we’re skinny.
Me: Whoooa, what? How about me?
M: No, you’re not skinny?
Me: Why?
M: Because you have a fat butt
Hubby: Emma, mommy doesn’t have a fat butt
M: Yes she does, she needs to work-out
Me: {grumbles} Oh ok…

After we came home I secretly ran upstairs and looked at myself in the mirror — or my behind to be more exact. I twisted my head and flipped my pants size out and it said size 2. So I’ve outgrown my size 0/1 — I swear giving birth made my hip wider — and I’m no spring chicken but I really think M needs to get her eyes check {::SMILE}.

M’s first day out of school and I’m taking her to a doc’s appointment, ha! Laters!!!

Page details:

This page was inspired by the Play Date Cafe challenge #39. Check out the muted neutral and elegant colors! I LOVE and perfect for this photo that I printed out a few weeks ago. The page is pretty simple. The main pieces are from My Mind’s Eyes, a Halloween kit from last year but if you don’t use the witch and things that reminds or say Halloween this kit makes a lovely man page. I added some stamping too, the air balloon that was stamped on a pattern paper.The flower, tag and the two pieces on the right side of the photo came from a sheet of flock stickers. I don’t remember what company.

The photo is of my super adorable husband (I hope he’ll miss this blog post today… he’s not too fond of me advertising him as adorable, he he…). He was reading a magazine, so nothing mind shattering there, but he really does love to read and he reads anything. He can go from stupid to classic. From fiction to non-fiction. Sometimes he reads more than I do which bugs me because I love to read too and I do want to read quite a bit but sometimes I got to pick and choose what I want to use my time for. That’s why I love this guy. He’s very knowledgeable and it’s really fun to talk to him about anything and everything. There’s just something extra hot about a guy who reads {::SMILE}.

Seriously the Sweetest Thing

Posted on | July 22, 2010 | 5 Comments

Life is short, life is an adventure, life can be selfish and/or giving, life can be hard and it can really suck to not know what the future will hold or if things don’t go our way, but life is full of sweetness if you take a moment to feel, hear, and look. I had a very sweet moment today, a few actually, but this was the most profound. A moment I want to always remember forever…

Journaling: “I have to share this story with you girls… today you were very sad little M. Tomorrow will be your teacher’s last day, retiring after 27 years, and you wouldn’t be seeing here again next school year. You cried and cried on mommy. Despite only being her student for three months she made a huge impact on you. Your sister, who was once playing, realized how sad you were. So she scooted over and she patted your back. Then she came closer and held you. You turned around and Jovie reached out to give you more hugs. You two held each other. Jovie then pulled back, but not to be done, but to give you some sweet kisses and then more hugs. I’ve seen many sweet moments between you two but tonight was the sweetest thing. I know how much you care about Jovie, Emma, it shows from the photo above… overly protective big sister… but tonight we both saw how much your little sister loves you. You two make me so happy! Always cherish the little moments like this!!”

I’ve been truly blessed in this lifetime but having these two in my life really completes me.

Page Note:

This is a digital page, digital Kit by Paislee Press: Storyteller, but you can easily recreate this using the traditional paper and glue method. Grab those rub-ons that you haven’t used in ages and try using your own handwriting… or grab those sentiment rub-ons that you got forever ago. Do be careful when using white gel pens… a lot are terrible. They just don’t run smoothly. I usually don’t journal much on a traditional scrapbook but I do on a digital just because it’s so easy and tidy. But again, not something you can’t do on a traditional page.

Under title: “there were two sisters who loved each other very much.”

Font used: Mistral

The Hubby and I

Posted on | July 21, 2010 | 14 Comments

We have chickens running around our garden (or yard). This conversation happened a few evenings ago. The sun was just setting and the chickens were all in bed.

Hubby: I wonder how long chickens sleep
Me: I don’t know, why don’t you go out and sleep with them so that you can find out
Hubby: {glare} I hate you
Me: Ha ha ha….

Hey, that was a legitimate answer don’t you think?

Sometimes I feel sorry for the guy. He met me at a dance club — I was on the dance floor. Before last week I thought I was a decent dancer and waaaay better than Elaine (Seinfeld). But I guess not. Remember the BBQ I went to at M’s school? They had music there and M and her friends were dancing around. Jovie wanted to join but she couldn’t of course and so I danced around with her. Two ladies, two separate occasions, walked by and asked if I was ok.

After the BBQ I asked hubby this:

Me: If I am such a terrible dancer how did I attract your attention?
Hubby: Beer goggles, I had beer goggles
Me: What’s that?
I can’t remember what he said exactly but the point of it was
Hubby: Things look better when one’s drunk
Me: Whatever

Seriously though, if one’s drunk wouldn’t an Elaine kind of dance make one throw up?

Here’s a fun little card that I created using Clear and Simple Stamps: Circus Fun and Practicing Creativity: Live Up! Have you seen Moxie Fab’s Trigger Tuesday? Thought this card works well with the theme.

Ok, short and sweet. I’ll post more later!

Materials:

Cardstock: Clear and Simple Stamps and Stamin’ Up!
Pattern paper: American Craft
Stamps: Clear and Simple Stamps and Practicing Creativity
Ink: Stampin’ Up!
Accessories: Marta Stewart ribbon, Prima flowers, CB embossing template

Almost…

Posted on | July 20, 2010 | 8 Comments

M’s school break. Tomorrow’s her last day and she’ll be done with her year 1 aka kindergarten. My baby is growing up!!! Waaaaaaaaaay too fast!! I think this is why Jovie’s not growing up. I keep telling her to take her time and she might actually be listening to me!

I’ll be busy the next few days planning our outings amongst other things. I have a few projects I want to finish too that’s work related. They’re all fun stuff, just need to find the time. Speaking of work, I’ve been asked by our neighbor to help him here and there with his project… the computer stuff. I love it. I haul the kids to his place, let them play with his girls and I chit-chat while I do my thing. Awesomeness!! I’ve been taking photos too but haven’t been happy with the end results. I am either hard on myself or I totally suck.

Hubby’s going to be gone too for a bit. Usually I don’t share this stuff until he returns because we used to live in the middle of nowhere but now we’re smack in the middle of civilization and if there were no walls the neighbors would be here all the time chit-chatting. They’re just all super friendly and the neighborhood watch is tight… so tight one of them told me exactly where my package was when I myself couldn’t find it (couldn’t read the delivery guy’s hand writing too… I thought it said: left in road — ended up being the shed).

I did a card last night. It’s a simple card but it was soooo hard to do because I was trying to incorporate a few different challenges. This card is based 2Sketches4You sketch, two SCS Dirty Girls challenges: this, this and this (sorry can’t tell you exactly what, it’s part of the deal, you have to be an SCS paid member to play along), and WPlus9 All Eyes on: Embossing.

The card is VERY simple, just run it through an embossing template, I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder, crinkled a piece of ribbon. On this particular one the ribbon I used has a piece of thread going through the middle. I just pulled it and pushed the ribbon back. You can have more or less crinkles. Up to you really. For the edges I just used fabric glue and then I fabric-glued everything to the card. Last but not least I stamped, trimmed, and used dimensionals to adhere the fishes. Oooh, sentiment and bubbles, yes, those were the very last pieces I added.

Ok, that’s that. I did this post fairly quickly!! Yes me! Sometimes Jovie doesn’t mind playing by herself. This afternoon we’re going to M’s school to listen to her sing with her class/the whole school. Laters!!