Friday's 10 - Things To Do This Weekend

This Friday's post is all about my "to do" list this weekend:

#1 - Leave work in 45 minutes and go home to pack up my scrapbooking stuff! YEAH! I'm going to crop with my church buds tonight. It should be a fun time! I haven't scrapbooked with them in 2 months! I will miss you Jinny! I will also be creating a card for my challenge that I posted in my last blog entry!

#2 - Drive by Sonic on my way to church...I will need a Diet Cherry Limeade for this event that will last until midnight! (I wish I still drank caffeine! Darn!)

#3 - Clean up the clutter around the house on Saturday! It's seriously a pit! Hope to get up and get going on that in the morning hours.

#4 - Watch my netflix movie, Georgia Rule. I'm excited about it!

#5 - While I watch my movie I will be updating and buying music for my iPod!

#6 - Catch up on all of the TV that I have missed watching this week due to our new obession with playing RockBand!

#7 - Practice my mad drummin skillz on RockBand!

#8 - Going to the drive-in on Saturday night to see Wall-E and Kung Fu Panda. Kinda excited...I can't lie!!!

#9 - Watching the little kiddos in the nursery on Sunday morning after we attend service. Gotta love those little 1 year olds!

#10 - Make a cake for my Father-in-law's Birthday/Father's Day celebration on Sunday afternoon. Can't wait to go swimming in their pool!

So what are you doing this weekend?

Updates and a Challenge

Hello Faithful Readers! I just thought that I should give you an update on things in my life currently.

It has been exactly 18 days since my last Diet Coke and I'm still alive! Can you believe it. I am not drinking any caffeine! (On a side note...did you know that Sunkist/Diet Sunkist has caffeine in it? I tried that as an alternative in the beginning and was reading the label and there was caffeine on the list of ingredients. Just a note to those of you who have kiddos. Not all orange sodas are created equal!) But I am not without a carbonated beverage...I just like the fizz! I am currently drinking a Fanta Zero orange flavor, ZERO calories. It's actually very yummy and tastes just like the real deal to me! I am also started drinking Minute Maid Light Cherry Limeade. It's not cardonated and at only 10 calories per can, it's a refreshing beverage as well!

Guess what Sam brought home last night?

That's right...we now have RockBand for Wii! We spent last night playing away. We started a band, The Rydenz (yes...with a Z). I really enjoyed playing drums at first a lot and then I started on guitar and I really like that too. If I knew any of the songs, I would sing but I'm still learning! We played for about 2 hours last night. It's a lot of fun!

Now on to the STAMPING CHALLENGE!! Your next challenge is to create a card or scrapbook page that must:
*Contain stars and stripes.
*Use a tool that you haven't brought out in a while (or that is new to you)
*Use brads
*Use ribbon or twine
You will have until the end of the day on Sunday night to send me your creations. Just a reminder that there are no colors mentioned so don't think that you have to use red, white, and blue just because I said stars and stripes!

Happy Stamping!

Yesterday = Bliss!

So the day started just like any other Sunday. We went to church here...

We did not have to work in the nursery today! It felt kinda weird! We volunteer there 2 Sundays a month and it feels like lately with vacations and stuff that we were always going to church and then working in the nursery. Today it was nice to be headed home around 11am.

We then went to Chipotle for lunch! YUM!

After lunch we got home and took a 2 hour nap (the dogs joined us)!

We then woke up and headed here...

The Gardner Aquatic Center! We chilled in the pool for about an hour.

We then headed home to take another 2 hour nap (the dogs joined us). It was then 7pm! WOW!

We spent the rest of the night watching The Office on DVD and I did get to spend some in my craft room too!

It was just a nice relaxing day with the family!

Craftiness

Hey everyone! I just finished being crafty this weekend I just wanted to share my card and scrapbook pages with you! It felt good to be crafty and I can't wait until Friday when I get together with my church buds to scrapbook again.

We had a 1st birthday party to attend on Saturday afternoon. It was a frog themed so I just had to use the Unfroggettable stamp set! You can't really tell from the picture that I took but I put googlie eyes on the frog. The tiny ones fit perfect!

Then on Saturday night I scrapbooked at my house with Colette and Margie! It as so much fun. I started our cruise scrapbook. I got this really cute patch and adhesive ribbon and appied it to the front of the album. It turned out really cute!

Here is a close up!

Here is the title page. I didn't had much...just a picture and some chipboard letters. Love it!

Layout 1 of the trip. This is our plane ride out to LA. I haven't rounded corners of pictures in a really long time but I have to admit that I like the way it looks.

Check out that cute little paperclip. It has an airplace on it!

Layout 2 of the trip. These are the pictures as we leave the port in LA! I still need to journal. Sometimes I leave journaling blank and take a day down the road where all I do is journaling. I need to have one of those days soon!

This is my favorite layout that I made last night. I just love this paper combination! I'm lovin the circles lately!

I love the simplicity of this layout. I wanted to go simple with the great pictures that I had!

Close up of the letter tiles.

This is the first layout of Day 2 on the trip. I love the Stampin Up In Colors. Too bad we will be loosing them soon!

Don't you just love the close up of my flip flops?

So I'm hoping to get some more scrapping done this week! I will have more pictures to share soon!

Cute Puppy Pics and Crafty News

On Thursday, we had another storm. So after the storm I noticed that the sun was shinning and there was a pretty rainbow in the sky. I went in the backyard to take pictures and of course the puppies followed me. So I got to take a few pictures of them as well. Here are the best ones!

This is Gus. He is afraid of my camera but for some reasons today he wasn't that bad. So I finally got a really cute picture of him! Isn't he just adorable?!

And here is Chloe. She is more likely to stand still for me long enough to snap a great picture but I just love the lighting on this one! The sun was still shinning bright after the storm and she paused before going down the deck stairs. Isn't she cute?!

I have noticed that I have posted anything crafty for a LONG time! But you are in luck because today my freinds are coming over to scrapbook with me. I should have a few things to post tomorrow! So come back and see what we have created!

Right now I have to go clean my craft room so that we have a space to scrapbook tonight! HA! I will post before and after pics of that as well! Hope you have a great day!

IL Wedding Trip

First of all I would like to say congrats to my cousin Christopher and my newest Cousin-in-Law, Hillary! You make a beautiful couple and I'm so happy for you!

Here are a few pictures of the bride and groom. They look tall because they are! Probably around 6 something! They met at a basketball clinic in college.

Here is their first dance.

This is my sleeping sister, Erica, my mom, and me in the backseat of the CR-V while we were headed to Greenville, IL. It was a cozy fit but not too bad! On the way out there we watched "27 Dresses"...such a cute movie.

This is Sam and Me in the town of Greenville, walking around the square. We ate lunch and did a little antique shopping...there were tons of places. My mom and I found a shadow box each because we both want to do this. So excited to get started on that!

Here is a fun picture that Sam and I took while waiting at the reception for the bride and groom! I love it!

Here is my HOT husband. He's trying to be tough in this picture. Is it working?

This is me and my Aunt Julie. She is my dad's sister. Aren't we cute?

A family picture. You can't tell that we are family at all, can you?!

This is my cousin Caleb. His dad is my dad's brother. It was fun to get to spend time with some of my cousins!

Here is Sam with Rachel, Mary, and Ruth (3 of Caleb's sisters). Aren't they adorable?!

Ruth and Me. I think that we look alike. Our dad's are brothers so it's likely that we look like our dad's! Don't you just love her long hair?!

This is Erica, my sister. I love this pic of her. I think Sam took it while I was in the bathroom. There were a lot of other pictures that he took but you won't see them here. He was shooting things like sugar packets! HA!

And...it wouldn't be a wedding unless there was a crazy dance picture of my husband and mom! Some day there will be enough pictures for me to make a scrapbook of just the dancing pictures! FUN!

All in all it was a good trip! :)

Friday's 10 - Road Trip!

This Friday's 10 has everything to do with all of the things I'm excited about this weekend when we road trip to Greenville, IL for my cousin's wedding!

#1 - We will be road tripping it in our CR-V! My Mom, Dad, Sister, Sam and Me in one CR-V. There are bound to be some great pictures from this trip. Stay tuned for Monday's post!

#2 - My sister and I bought a AUX cord so that we can plug my new iPod (and her old iPod) into the CR-V and listen to our music. Can't wait to use it!

#3 - My mom had this great idea to bring the protable DVD player with us so that the girls (the back seat riders) can watch some movies. So my sister and I purchased a splitter so we can all wear headphones and the boys don't have to listen to our girlie movies! Well one of the movies that I'm bringing is "Enchanted"! I'm excited to watch it!


#4 - My sister is bringing "27 Dresses". I've seen it but can't wait to watch it again!

#5 - One of my family's favorite roaptrip snacks is Twizzlers! YUM!

#6 - I have had this book sitting on my shelf for a long time waiting to be read. So when I'm not watching movies, I will hopefully be reading this!

#7 - I just got the new issue of Creating Keepsakes this week! I'm sure my mom and I will be looking at that and talking scrapbooking sometime on the trip!

#8 - When my sister and I were younger my mom used to plan a new activity in the car for every hour that we had to drive. So on the top of the hour there was always something new and entertaining. It could be a snack or a new toy. Well...one time when going to Colorado, she pulled out some pipe cleaners. We must have played with those for hours! Those were a favorite. So to remember those fun time, we bought some to play with in the back seat!

#9 - I just got the new issue of Real Simple this week too! YEAH!

#10 - And the new issue of Fitness has been waiting to be read for a while now too! (Yes, I have entirely too many mag subscriptions but I ask for most of them for gifts and then get others from kids of the people that I work with...funraisers!)

I hope that you all have a great weekend! I will update you when I return on Sunday night or Monday!

Weather and Challenge Results

So I looked outside today when the weather broke into one of the TV shows that I was watching and this is what I saw. So pretty! Mom what do you think?! (I know how you like your clouds.)

Jess...there's your house!

I just realized today that I never posted the results from the last challenge. Well I had 2 people participate (gotta love your moms)...so here they are!

This first one was hand made by my Mother-in-Law, Jean. It uses one of her new stamp sets, So Much! I just have to say that I love it so much!

And this one was hand made by my Mom, Kathy. What a great layout idea! So very, very cute!

Hope you all have a great night!

Yeah for Wednesday!

Anyone who is in love with reality TV (like I am), knows that tonight is the Top Chef Finale! YEAH! I just have to say...GO Stephanie! GO Richard! Anyone but Lisa can win! WOO HOO!

Note: Isn't this picture funny! I have a feeling that there was a lot of editing going on in there! HA!

Friday's 10!

Hey everyone! I thought that it was about time for another Friday Top Ten. So here goes. It's just going to be about the First 10 things I can think about...here goes!

#1 - I am very glad that it's so nice outside these days. Today to work I am wearing capris and flip flops! I love that! And when I go home and get ready to head to my in-laws for dinner I will put on a tank top! YEAH!

#2 - The wind has been too much this year! I don't remember it being nearly as windy as it has been in Kansas these past few months. We have had to stake every one of our little trees down because they have either (a) fallen over OR (b) looked like they were going to fall over. We planted them about a year ago and I just feel so sorry for them. They are just trying to survive!

#3 - I wish I was on Deck 10 of the Vision of the Seas, laying in the sun!

#4 - Who wishes that Lisa would have been kicked off of Top Chef instead of Antonia. I can't believe that Lisa was so rude and said to the other two contestants, "I know that Antonia was your freind and everything but it would be nice of you both to congratulate me for making it to the finals." Ummmm...HELLO! I liked how Richard put it in his private interview, "Ummm...congrats on getting the bronze medal and coming in 3rd?" News flash Lisa...Stephanie and Richard beat you, you should be congratulating THEM! But who cares...one of them will win anyway!

#5 - Only 2 hours left of work today. I'm leaving at 4:30. I have to get out to the in-laws to swim and make smores before it rains! YES!

#6 - Speaking of smores...my healthy lifestyle begins again on Monday! On the cruise I gained 4 pounds! But it was totally worth it. I have lost all of that since being home but I need to get back to the gym so it doesn't come creeping back! You just eat so much on a cruise! There are points when I was like, "I'm not even hungry but this looks so good." I think I said that once right before I ate Keylime Pie! YUM!

#7 - Speaking of healthy lifestyle...I regret to inform you that I will no longer (or very rarely will) be drinking Diet Coke as of Monday, 6/9. Cutting pop out of my diet will help me to lose another few pounds very quickly and it's not great to have all of those chemicals in there anyway. So it will be water for me! Lots of Crystal light probably! I'm going to limit to one a week right now or maybe I can go cold turkey! This will be hard. Support will be needed!

#8 - When I got home from vacation I had about 20 stamp sets to cut out for customers! I still have 3 waiting for me to cut out before Sunday morning and one of them is an alphabet set! The things that I do for my customers that I love!!! My hand hurts! (just kidding)

#9 - I have had the most unproductive week every at work. I think I'm still in vacation mode. Atleast today I did manage to get a report sent to a customer. I need to get my butt in gear! Hopefully Monday will be a new beginning!

#10 - I'm excited about next weekend. My family: Mom, Dad, Sister, Husband, and me, will be heading to IL for my cousins wedding. We will be riding in one car...to conserve gas. We will be leaving early on Saturday morning and will drive up there, spend the night, and return on Sunday. It should be FUN! There is already talk about DVDs, games, snacks! WOO HOO!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Can't wait to stamp with you soon!

Color Difference...

As Sam and I were going through our pictures on our camera we flipped from the very first picture that we took (featured below)...

To the very last picture that we had taken at the time (featured below)...

And were surprised at the color difference! What do you think? Don't worry mom's we used sunscreen everyday!

Ocean + Sun = Great Pictures

Well we got back from the cruise last night and I finished my first offical day back to work. Booo... But we did have a great time and over the next few days I will share that great time with you. But today as I was uploading all of the 397 pictures from my camera, I found that "Ocean + Sun = Great Pictures". So I thought I would share some with you. Here are the top ten where I really love the lighting and you can see the ocean too!

#1 - This picture of Sam and I was taken as the ship was leaving the port in LA. It was a self portrait with my SLR. I don't just hand it to anyone to take our picture. I kinda scope out if there is someone else who also has an SLR so that I know they will have respect for my camera! Anyone else do that?

#2 - As we were exploring the ship on the first day, I spotted this just off the pool deck! So beautiful!

#3 - I think that this was the first sun set that we caught on the ship. We were headed to dinner and I spotted this on deck 5 and just had to step out to take a few pictures. I love how it looks like the sun is just resting on top of the clouds!

#4 - Sam was the photographer on this one. This was on the second day, our first full day at sea! We were just exploring in the morning before we decided on what we wanted to do and Sam stopped to take this very good picture of myself! I love the color of the picture! Everything is so bright and crisp!

#5 - This picture is of Land's End in Cabo San Lucas. This was on Day 3 of the cruise. These rock formations were formed by the water and this arch is a big highlight in Cabo. The water around these rocks and the lighting just makes me love this picture so much! The water seems to be about 4 different shades of blue and green all blended together. Love it!

#6 - This picture was taken on Day 5 in Peurto Vallerta. This guy offered to take a picture of us and he wasn't actually in the ocean with us so I let him use the camera to capture this great picture. At the end of our excursion we got to visit a beach and swim a little. This is as far as I got in but Sam had fun swimming a little.

#7 - This is another picture from Day 5 on the beach. That is Sam in the bottom of the picture. I just love the ocean, the sun, the man...everything about it!

#8 - On Day 6 (an at Sea day) we left the theater on the way to another activity right before dinner when I saw the sun setting in the distance and I just had to stop and take in that moment. It was much better than attending "Battle of the Sexes" anyway!

#9 - I had fun playing with the setting on my camera to get just the right lighting as the sun was setting and taking that light away from me. I love this picture...mostly because that is my hot husband...but for other reasons too. I like how the image is soft around the edges but sharp when it comes to his suit.

#10 - This was also on Day 6 while watching the sun set. I love the levels of color! So great!

There will be more pictures and memories to come. Also...I only recieved one card for my challenge while I was gone. If you still have one that you haven't submitted yet please do so and I will post them later this week! Thanks.