Beach Day

We are lucky enough to live close the ocean. Less then an hour away. Since Friday was my last day off for a while, we decided to take a beach day. I LOVE the beach, always have. One of my favorite spots here in MA is Plum Island. My BFF from highschool lives here. So anytime we want a beach day, we just drive to her house. We can walk to the beach from there and the parking is free. Gotta love that! Just as you go over the bridge you see this quaint little 'New England-y' sign welcoming you to the island. Though I, myself, have been here hundreds of times, I pulled over to get a picture of the sign:

Here we are enjoying the beautiful day:

We are here...YAY!

The water was actually warm, if you can believe it:

Cutey, just a posin':

My BFF was actually working on Friday, so we missed her, but we had a great time. The weather was nice and it was not crowded. Probably our last beach day for a while.

Got Sketch 102

Anyone that knows me, knows that I LOVE Janna Wilson . She is definately in my top 5. She ROCKS! Okay, so ya get the point. Anyways, when she and Valerie Salmon offered Got Sketch 101 this past Summer, I was all over that. If you love sketches, hanging out with friends (and even meeting new ones) and being totally 'WOWed", then you definately do not want to miss out on the next chapter: Got Sketch 102 . It starts September 1st and I know it will not disappoint. So check it out and join the FUN! You will be glad you did. You will get so much scrappin' done! Did I mention that I LOVE all things Janna? :-)

Oh the 1st day...

Just a quick post to say, Bryant's first day of 3rd grade went good. He likes his teacher. He got to see his friends. He even had Phys ED on the 1st day. He was lovin' it. He was a little nervous the night before and in the morning. I stayed home with him in the morning for a little while and went into work late. I still remember how nervous I was every year on the first day. Now we will be back in our routine and all will be fine.

I mean really, how CUTE is this kid? Even if I am a little biased...

I can not wait to scrap his 1st day pics!!

1st Day of School

Tomorrow is Bryant's 1st day of 3rd grade. He is nervous. I know he will be fine. We met his teacher tonight. She seems nice. I made this LO last year, actually documenting his 1st day of 1st grade. He was not a happy camper. He cried and I cried and it was lightly raining. It was tough, but we made it through. Just look at that little face...

I still need to scrap last years 1st day, which was way better. (He looks much happier here, doesn't he??) along with this years 1st day pics.

Hopefully I will have some good pics to share soon....

Still enjoying...

...a little birthday happiness! This just blows my mind and waaaaaaaaaaaaayyyy makes up for last year! Maybe I should have turned 40 this year. Wow, did I just say that out loud? 41 is only a number right? I am still having a great time! I wanted to share some very "Happy Mail" from two of my favorite Texas gals. Okay, not true Texans, but Texans for now. I got this package of goodies from the FABULOUS Liz. How cute and colorful are these flowers. I LOVE this Liz! Thank you so much!!!

Even though I knew that this card was coming (eventually-LOL!) I could not wait to see it in person. OMG! It is so BEAUTIFUL in person. No Picture can do it any justice! Thanks so much Aleida. You are an AMAZING talent my dear friend!

I can not say enough, how the friendships I have made out there have affected my life, in such a possitive way. I am so glad that you are all a part of my life. Thanks for the inspiration, the laughter, all the "chats" and all the amazing 'Happy Mail" that I have recieved. You gals are the BEST!!! :-)

Our Day at Fenway Park

I LOVE Boston. I have spent a lot of time there over the years. I LOVE everything about city life. If I could afford to live there, I would be there in a heartbeat. It is not far from where I live now, but I just do not get there enough anymore. This past weekend Steve and I had the 'once in a lifetime' opporunity Red Sox game experience. Through his part-time job he won tickets to a Red Sox game. Not just any seats, club seats. Special 'suite seats'. These tickets are so sweet that they are not available to the public (only companies) and do not even show the price on the ticket (though our waitress-yes a waitress-told us they were $300+ a piece). OMG!!!

'Nuff said:

It was a beautiful day for once! It has rained everyday for 3 weeks!!

This is a view of the street on our way up:

Here is a picture of us...don't mind the sweaty close up faces...just drinking some beers and having fun!

This GORGEOUS guy was supposed to be the pitcher for our game, but the night before it rained (and that game was cancelled). So the guy scheduled for that game pitched and Josh pitched today. Josh pitching would have made it perfect for me...

Here is our view (in the daytime) while the guys were warming up:

The Red Sox dugout:

This was a night game. Here was our view once the game began:

Okay, so they didn't win. They lost 4-1 to the Toronto Blue Jays, but this total star treatment was, to me, the COOLEST! I LOVED living the 'high life' for one evening. :-)

I Love...

My Birthday, (GOOD) surprises and Happy Mail. This was ALL 3! I came home yesterday to a package containing ALL these goodies:

It was a surprise B-day gift from my sweet friend Judi . Look at all this BEAUTIFUL goodness. Lots of gorgeous papers (perfect for late Summer and early Fall pages), stickers, tags and (Oh Yah) Bling! A gal LOVES her bling, right?! Though this pic doesn't do them justice, there is some mighty fine bling from Prima AND Doodlebug. So Pretty!

Thank you so much Judi! I LOVE surprise, Birthday, Happy Mail!! You definately made this gal very happy with your sweet generosity!!!

What a GREAT Day...

....for ME!! It started with this:

Yummo, right??!!! This is a late B-day gift from my co-worker friend Heather. She is a Food network junkie and I (we) love Rachael Ray and her 30 minute meals. Look at all this cool stuff: an AWESOME oven/grill mitt, a new cookbook, a paring knife and some yummy broth. Just waiting on the EVOO...LOL!!! Thanks Heather!! LOVE this stuff!!!

And my day ended with me coming home to this:

YAY!! My Paris (Studio Calico) kit was here waiting for me. I was so excited!! Thanks to Kelly Goree and Scarlet & April. This is a BEAUTIFUL kit!!

So...considering it is raining (again!) It has been for weeks now! I still have a lot of sunshine in my life! Have a wonderful evening...

Time of My Life

Here is my entry into this weeks Scrapping the Music challenge. This challenge combined not only two, but three of my favorite things. That being scrappin', great tunes and David Cook. Yes, this weeks song is by the very sexy (OH and talented!) David Cook, "Time of My Life". This is a great song with a great message. My LO is about the 'time of my life' that I had at CHA last month. It really was AMAZING for me! I used a bunch of SEI 'Poppy' paper and big brads. Love these colors! TFL!!

I am off to try to sneak in a little nap. It has been a long week! Have a wonderful weekend! Happy Scrappin'!! :-)

Electric Avenue

YAY! The new (August) kit is now available at Paper Jam Studio. It is called 'Electric Avenue' and I LOVE it! It has to be my FAVORITE so far! So much cool stuff. SEI Poppy paper, Love, Elsie chipboard frames, a huge Glitz rub-on, KI lace numbers paper, those cute little sticker alphabets from Adornit and much much more. Check it out:

This kit is really great for boy pages (yay!). I wanted to share some of the LO's that I did. This is my nephew Zach. I really can not believe that he is 12!

A little close up of the cute Adornit letters:

This one is just a cute pic of my son and me having fun with all the goodies from the kit:

There is actually a little round chipboard minibook in the kit. I broke it apart and used the clock hands that come with kit, to make this cute LO of my nephew and my son:

Made this little pocket minibook with one sheet of paper and some of the ribbon, paint and chipboard. This is the cover:

And this is what it looks like when you open it up:

Again, LOVED this kit. You can check it out here and you can check out my projects here and here .

Have a GREAT day! I am going to a pre-season New England Patriots game tonight. I am psyched, but I will be so tired tomorrow. So worth it tho!! Go Pats!!! :-)

Circle Journal Group 1... #2

On Saturday I received my second journal. It is Anne 's journal and it is is GORGEOUS! Her theme is 'Finding joy..in everyday'. LOVE this theme! Here are my pages:

She has given us a choice to pick chipboard or acrylic for our second page. Here is a close up of my first (chipboard) page:

I chose acrylic for the second page. It is also my title page:

I got a bunch of samples of paper and bling from the Kaiser booth at CHA. I used the 'Esperance' line for the LO above. You can check it out here. LOVE Kaiser!!! It is quickly becoming my new favorite!!

Also, wanted to share a very COOL surprise I got today. You can check it out here . I LOVE Kelly Goree. I met her at CHA too, at the Basic Grey booth (and got to chat with her shortly), but I did not get any pics. Bummer! AND WOW... I am getting the Paris kit from Studio Calico . ROCK ON!!!

Who LOVES a Handmade Card???

I most definately do! I treasure them! I know the (work) that is put into them. I am very appreciative. I just wanted to share a few beauties that I recieved for my B-day. This first one is from the very talented Tami Rowden:

This cutie is from the awesome Greta Baksa :

AND...well this one looks so pretty...though I have not seen it in person...yet! Hint, hint is from my good friend Aleida Franklin :

Love all cards, simple or detailed. Just knowing it was made for me means more than I can say. :-)