Vikings, Readers and Wall Decor Phobia

Okay so still no photos of the new place, but you can forgive me right? I'm hoping to get some night daylight photos this weekend, even if we still have things all over the floor.

Our first weekend settled in was jam packed: a relaxing night in Friday night and early to bed, since we both had to be up early the next morning. Chris for work, and me to go to the Nordic Symposium up at California Lutheran with my parents. It was really very cool and totally worth the $40 (or whatever it was for the day), but excepting the college students I was the youngest person there! Which was kind of depressing, because it meant people weren't able to get their kids/grandkids interested in their heritage. Being a first-generation I'm much more inclined to be interested, but still it made me wish more people were clued in on their heritage! The speakers were really great, especially this woman who is the director of an archaeological project at Avaldsnes, which was the seat of the Viking kings of Norway for about 500 years. The best part is that it's not far from where my family is from (and where we always stay when we go home), so we're definitely going to spend a day exploring up there during our trip this summer. :)

Sunday was spent hanging out with Nikki and indulging in Chipotle, some scrapbook shopping, manis & pedis, and finally finishing Heavenly Sword. A super awesome day, indeed.

Some other things going on right now:

• Crazy-ass weather. It's been pretty chilly, then it started warming up this weekend and was near 80 on Sunday, then yesterday it started getting cloudy and chilly again, and drizzled overnight. And now today it's back up in the 70s. What the blank??
• Boo Time Warner Cable. I was *this* close to getting DirectTV. It's been almost 2 weeks (without internet or TV at home!!!), and they're finally getting their act together. Every time we called it was one excuse or another, and then when the guys (subcontractors, no less) finally showed up it turned out that the connection had been cut somewhere in the neighborhood. So then they had to send out their construction guys to run our cable line to the main box or whatever it is, and they finally came today. Thank Thor!! All I have to say is this: Quit acting like the monopoly you are, and behave like a regular business and hire more employees to meet the growing demand. As my old boss would say, "it's that simple!"
• Google Reader=making life easier. I've really gotten into reading people's blogs in the last year (it all started with digital scrapbooking ones where they would give away freebies, but you really can learn a lot from what people share these days!), and now I have quite the list going. So rather than go to each one every couple of days, I now use Google Reader, a free program that tells me which ones have been updated since I last checked. Super cool timesaver!
• The last week of Jessica Sprague's awesome "Now We're Rockin' With Photoshop" online class. I've seriously learned many cool tips and tricks - not so much how to do a certain thing, but more how to do it quicker and better! Plus I just love seeing her at work. :) I've created some really lovely pages, but more importantly learned how to be faster and better at this craft.
• Ali Edwards' super cool idea for a punch collage. Well, when doesn't she have a super cool and gorgeous project idea? But I was really drawn to this one, will have to start collecting the materials for it.
• Wall decor phobia. I have all this gorgeous framed stuff that I know I want to hang, and we're at the point to do that in our new space, but now I'm terrified I'm going to start hanging things and hate where I put them/how they look. Or that *gasp* I won't have enough wall space for everything! It's such a bother to get them up on the wall in the first place that I would hate to have to re-hang stuff (especially since that means more holes to fill when we move out). I know we'll get there - thanks in large part to Chris' eternal patience with me - because I hate the sight of bare walls, but am I the only one on the planet that worries about something like this?

That about does it for me...I'll have to share a cute hybrid project I've been working on as soon as it's finished (since I now have internet at home, thankyouverymuch).

~Trude
Quote of the moment: "All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality." ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

Christmas Is Upon Us...

Does anyone else feel like this week is totally dragging? Well, it goes fast once I get home and work on all the stuff I need to do personally, but at work it's just creeping ever so slowly...

Today's Funny

At any rate, Jessica Sprague, scrapbooker extraordinaire and one of my fave bloggers, posted an especially funny blog yesterday about how her very young son has managed on more than one occasion to make calls using her iPhone - and not just random ones, but to dad and grandpa! :) It just cracked me up; if you have a few minutes its a great read!

It got me thinking too - my generation is one of the first to really grow up with computers (c'mon guys, Oregon Trail?)(not that it makes us any better at using them!), so we consider ourselves pretty savvy. But my brother, who is seven years younger than me, grew up with what are considered "modern" (read: not-DOS) computers and is a true whiz. Granted, he's a total geek and incredibly smart, but still he and his friends all type faster than anyone I know and can figure out any gadget in 2 minutes or less. So maybe Jessica's son represents the next generation - the ones that can easily use an iPhone to make a call (which takes 4 distinct steps, mind you) by the age of 3? It's an interesting thought. Imagine what my kids might grow up with!

Scrappin' Stuff

The reason I haven't posted much lately about scrapbooking is due to me working away at a top-secret Christmas thing which has taken a lot of my mojo and desire to even discuss scrapbooking! However, I was totally inspired this week to use one of Bree Clarkson's new templates to make this page, entitled "Christmas Cookies":


And now, come to think of it, I never "officially" announced the other creative team that I was asked to join! Geez! I'm terrible.

This one is for the awesome (and aforementioned) Bree Clarkson, who, like Penny, also recently joined Sweet Shoppe Designs. She primarily does scrapbook page templates (and other templates, like cards and hybrid projects, etc.), and she's awesome at it! What's really great is that they provide "mojo" when you want to make a page but don't know where to start, and they're totally customizable (you'd be surprised to see how many different variations the CT can turn out using the same template!). At any rate, it's a great CT to be a part of and I'm loving it! If you want to check out her products, you can do so here. And here is where you can see pages done using her stuff.

...And More Photos

More than anything lately I've been playing around with my camera and the awesome photos it's turning out. I'm finally starting to feel like I'm capturing what I was seeing at the time! I'm even thinking of taking a class at the local JC. Next thing on my list I think is Adobe Lightroom, which can do some amazing effects with just a few clicks, such as this. (And don't gasp at the price! If you're a student or a parent of a student you can get it here, for MUCH cheaper.)

So last Saturday my girlfriends and I spent the most of the day in old town Orange, drooling over antiques we couldn't afford (although Nikki and I both bought vintage 50s clutches, for a whopping $15 each) but would totally go into debt for. My only problem is lack of space! Eventually, when I'm grown up, I'd like to have more antique furniture than new in my house, but that's going to take a while!

They dutifully posed for a few photos for me in the Orange Circle, which has this great fountain in the middle (click for larger):
And I love this one - they were waiting for me to take some photos of this awesome building in old town, and right as Mindy turned I snapped. I just love how her face seems to say "Oh for Christ's sake..."On Sunday Chris and I went over to his parent's house for a photo session on the beach with his family, which his mom is having put on canvas for Grandma Kaye (Chris' dad's mom). We froze our asses off, but I'm hoping they turned out well! We were supposed to do it the previous weekend, but the death in the family bumped it. When we got back to the house I decided to do a few photos of my own up on their balcony since it was pretty sunset light:
I know Chris looks kinda evil in this one, but I still love the intensity of his gaze. Plus Jacopo was actually paying attention too! :)Then after that it was up to Whittier to have dinner with Grandma Kaye for the family December birthdays (Chris' dad and brother).

Monday night we finally had a chance (since we just got our Christmas tree on Sunday morning!) to take some photos for our Christmas card. That was a trial! Luckily I also got a remote for the new camera (only $20, I highly recommend it!), otherwise I think I would have been sorely tempted to smash it, or anything within reach, really. Trying to frame it just right (in front of the tree, of course) and get the right aperture and shutter speed settings, and then getting the puppy to stay still long enough on top of that proved to be just a bit too challenging. But we wound up with some pretty darn funny "outtakes"! :)

Such as this one, where the camera seemed to love Jacopo more than us:Or this one, where I was just taking test shots before finalizing the settings. Pretty intense, que no?And then there's this one, where Chris was like "Honey, quit fiddling with your camera and take this damn photo I set up for you!" You're the best, babe. ;-)
I made my traditional Christmas fudge last night - so hard to not get into it right away! But my recipe calls for it to sit for 24 hours, so tonight: watch your back, fudge. I'll be picking at you in between the gift wrapping!

~Trude
Quote of the day: "A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy people enough to make it worth the effort." ~Herm Albright

Need Nice Tenants?

Wow, it's been hectic. The big thing that's been taking up a lot of my time and energy has been The Great Search to Find a New Place to Live. We're hoping to be done with apartment communities and find a nice duplex or guest house with some yard, but it's been difficult thus far. I don't know if it's our budget or the market or having a dog or what, but I've only found a few decent leads. But I'm keeping positive! And if anybody knows someone who has a rental in the OC, get in touch!!

New Pages

Man, I thought I did a lot of scrapping last week, but jeez! I've done four layouts since Saturday! I must have too much time on my hands...yeah right.

After hanging out with the girls the Friday before last and watching "300" at my place, I was pretty tired, but still managed to drag my butt out of bed the next morning (admittedly, Jacopo helped get me up, as he apparently really wanted to play). Saturday I spent almost all day cleaning like a psycho to get ready for Nikki to come and stay with me last week. There's no better motivator than company! :) It was good to check things off my list, though. Cleaning can be theraputic if you let it! Thus, by Saturday night I was too tired to go anywhere or do anything, so the puppy and I just hung out and I was suddenly inspired and stayed up late doing two layouts in a row.

First, there's "Tough Guy:
You can view credits and details by going here.

I also finally did a layout with my new all-time fave photo of Jacopo, and I'm pretty pleased with how it came out. I know it's kind of girly, but I'm always doing boyish pages, so too bad!

"So This Is Love":

As always, credits and details are available here.

Good times! Guess I was in a brown mood. :)

New (Temporary) Roomie

So Nikki and I finally got to play at being roomies, and it's was so awesome! She's such a trooper, parting from the fam to come and keep me company (only 11 more days until Chris gets home!). Sunday night we actually went out and had dinner at Red Robin (mmm Whiskey River chicken burger...), and Monday I made us chicken salad melts and Nikki chopped up a salad. Then we stayed up nice and late watching The Devil Wears Prada (can you believe I actually hadn't seen it yet?) and gabbing before bed.

I think the highlight of the week had to be going to dinner at Honda Ya (see previous entries for details on the awesomeness) Thursday night with Katie along too! After stuffing ourselves to the brim, Nikki had the brilliant idea of going for some Thrifty's ice cream. Rather than get a cone, I got a pint of their Rainbow Sherbert to take home and I made us Sherbert Coolers - takes me right back to my childhood! (Except we didn't used to put vodka in along with the ice, sherbert and 7-Up!) :D

And More Scrap Pages...

In her absence I was seriously inspired again (and there was nothing on TV), so I did two more scrap pages! They're some seriously cute photos I've been dying to do something with.

Here's "So Sleepy", which was inspired by a layout by Lynn Singers/Grieveson, who is a designer too (with seriously cute products). You can view her awesome gallery of work by clicking here.


Isn't Ted E. Bear so cute?!? I absolutely love this photo of him - totally classic Teddy. He's lying in Keiko's lap, by the way, who was visiting just two weeks ago and always showers him with love when she and Roger visit. :) As usual, credits and details can be found here.

I also churned out this page, with one of my favorite photos of the kitten and Jacopo. They really are turning into partners in crime, and I had to document it!


Credits and info for "Double Trouble" can be found here.

"Daily Something"

So I initially read about this idea of doing a "Daily Something" over at Cathy Zielske's blog today, and it really struck a chord with me. It was started by Ali Edwards, (whose blog is super inspiring, definitely one to check out!) and basically it's trying to daily record some kind of everyday story. It's about doing something quick and easy, rather than trying to churn out a scrapbook page a day (exhausting, much?). So here's mine for today (and I'm going to probably use the blog to tell the story, rather than her cute little notes that she does):

Basically, my highlight today was Jacopo doing "down" on command without a training collar/leash on (clearly not this photo, but you get the idea!). I was just so excited! It's the one command he's really resisted and been troublesome about...why, I couldn't tell you, since he loves to do it on his own. I can get him to do it easily enough now with a leash, but I still have to pull his legs out half the time. But today he just obeyed! Woohoo! (Now, granted, I had a treat in hand, but that's besides the point!) :)

The "daily something" brush is by Ali and you can download it for free from her blog, and the heart is from the Highlight Brushes set by Jackie Eckles. (Wish I had a link for it, but it's from when she used to sell her stuff at Designer Digitals, and I don't see anything like it at her new store. Poo!)

So I'm sure I won't do this daily, knowing me, but I'll definitely be going with the idea of finding the funny/interesting/inspiring in the everyday. It's something I've always admired when others do scrap pages about it, but I'm always so focused on using my time for family stories and photos that I never get to that kind of scrapping. So I think this will work better for me. :)

100 In 10

Speaking of cool inspiration, definitely check out the "100 in 10" list that Jessica Sprague has compiled over at her blog. Basically, she posted 100 ideas/techniques/prompts for scrapping in (nearly) 10 days, and also asked for readers to post their ideas along the way. And now she has compiled both her ideas and her readers' ideas all together in one document that you can save and keep when you're in a slump! The final total came out to almost 300! SO cool!


I think that about does it for me...more to talk about, but my eyes are burning and it's time to try and get some sleep, despite the heat!

~Trude

Quote of the moment: "Force without wisdom falls of it's own weight." ~ Horace (65 BCE - 8 BCE)

Good Reads, Top 10, and More

The summer is just flying by - I can't believe it's almost August already! But that's good, because I'm much more of a spring and fall girl, anyways. Although I did finally buy a pair of shorts from Old Navy, Nancy would be proud of me. :)

10 Things

So Jessica Sprague did this on her blog again, and I think it's time that I did another list of 10 things that are good/amusing/happening in my life right now!

1. GoodReads.com ~ Actually found out about this site through Jessica too, and since I am such a bookworm I just had to join! There are several of you that I know read at least as much as me (:cough:NikkiMindyMomNancy:cough:), so join up and add me as a friend! I always like to hear reviews from "real" people. Here's the link to my profile: click here.

2. (Nearly) 4 weeks down, 5 more to go ~ Chris has been gone for just under four weeks now, and it's really starting to get old - for both of us! I wish he was back already. Right now he's in the middle of a 12-shows-in-12-days stretch, and exhausted already. If it's even possible, I think he's going to come back skinnier. For those of you that know him, that would mean a walking skeleton. ;-)

3. My new Back to Basics conditioner ~ I got the Vanilla Plum Fortifying type (at Costco, of all places, meaning I nearly break my toe every morning because half the time the ginormous Costco-sized bottle slips out of my hand) and it makes my hair sooo nice and smooth and smells like cotton candy - muy delicioso!! And I've actually noticed that fewer hairs get pulled out when I comb through after showering. :)

4. My parents ~ Because they're just freaking awesome, period. And I'm feeling extra grateful that I live so close because they can puppysit for me, like they did last Thursday night to Friday night, since I had my work's "Day at the Races" event on Friday and wouldn't be getting home until late. Plus, they still let me do laundry whenever (like the loser and cheap bastard that I am), and have been putting up with me and the puppy quite often since Chris has been gone, as it's a comfy place I can hang out where they feed me for free and Jacopo can run around 'til he can't stand up anymore. :D So cheers to them!

5. My new cordless keyboard and mouse that are currently in transit to me ~ Hurry up, goshdarnit! Don't get me wrong, I'm seriously in love with my Mac, but even the Mighty Mouse can be found to be seriously lacking. It's one of the few areas that PCs have way more options and choices than Macs do, and I miss having a mouse that forms well to my hand and has easy forward and back buttons right where the thumb rests (and they're not just for web browsing either! Those buttons help when you're trying to find where you saved a file). The difference is especially drastic when I use a nice set all day at work and then come home to do scrapbooking or something. With all the time that I spend on my home computer, the mouse and keyboard had better work well and against the encroaching carpal tunnel I feel!
**Update: I got the set today, and I LOVE it!! I don't know why I bothered with anything else. Especially since when I was a PC girl I always changed to some kind of Logitech product from the stock keyboard & mouse, so why not with a Mac? Anyhoo, they're all installed and working perfectly, and I especially like having a "cleaner" desk with fewer cords running around. :)

6. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ~ I'm not even going to bother linking to it, because you shouldd already have a copy. And if you don't, run to Barnes & Noble now. Don't walk. I pretty much got nothing done this weekend (besides hang out with the girls Saturday night) because I had to finish it.

7. This new photo of me and Jacopo~I love it so much, I'm almost hesitant to try and scrap it, because I want the page to be perfect! I'm sure inspiration will come to me soon...I hope!

8. Jacopo finally healing ~ We've been dealing with skin issues he has pretty much since we got him, and I finally got fed up with the vet that we were going to originally (not seeing the same person twice, not really addressing our concerns, overcharging, etc.) that two weeks ago I decided to start taking him to the vet my family has gone for many years in Placentia. They had always treated my parents' menagerie well, and they were nice and small, and I felt I would get a fair deal there. I couldn't have made a better choice! Not only did she (yup, the vet is this woman that probably should have been a model) truly address my concerns about various skin problems he was having, but they charged me just over half of what the same thing cost at the other place and the new pill and ointment she prescribed actually worked. And right away too! Its so amazing, I had been using this other ointment from the old place for weeks and didn't see anywhere near that kind of result. So, long story short, that weight is off my mind and I'm sooo happy. And you can tell he's happy too! :)

9. My best friend Nikki ~ We hung out last Wednesday (like we've been doing pretty much every week since Chris left, and now I don't think I can make it through the week without at least one night of hanging with her!) after work, and I just have to give her huge props for being willing to go with me to the pet store to get more of Jacopo's food, and then suggesting we go to the Lazy Dog cafe (small local chain of restaurants that welcome dogs - on their patios, of course) instead of our fave sushi place, which really worked out since we already had Jacopo in the car with us. It just made my day that she totally understood how much guilt I felt leaving him alone even more than he had already had been that day, even though I was perfectly willing to leave him for an hour or so for dinner. And the restaurant turned out to be pretty good, and the service was great, although they didn't have any signs up as to how you were supposed to get seated if you had a dog and couldn't go inside. Might be helpful in the future. ;-)

10. Dreyer's Slow Churned Light Ice Cream Bars ~ Need I say more? And they were on special at Albertson's....it was fate! :)

Randomness

Other than that, just hanging out and getting through the week. Nancy came over the Friday before last to catch up and have her first official lesson in digital scrapbooking - another convert! Hopefully I helped her some...I can get so indecisive (which is really not like me) when I'm putting together a layout, mostly because I have so many options! Between all the different layouts I've seen, and tricks I've learned, and products I have, if I don't know exactly what I want to do it can be a tedious process sometimes. But we persevered, and together made this page:Cute, huh? I really liked how it turned out. For credits and more info you can go here.

Friday I'll be hanging out at my family's house, hopefully my uncle and his girlfriend will come over as well as our old family friends, the Brinkmans, since they're all going to the Pageant of the Masters in Laguna the night before. They're all so much fun! :)


~Trude

Quote of the moment: "If someone thinks that love and peace is a cliche that must have been left behind in the Sixties, that's his problem. Love and peace are eternal." ~ John Lennon

Did You Notice the New Banner Yet?

Hope y'all like the new banner! :) Gotta love Jacopo and Puss when they "play" together. Lots of things going on right now, and things that I'm finally getting to sharing...I've decided to mimic Jessica Sprague's ususal blog format of using topic headers, since I've been ignoring that basic design principle for long enough. So that way it's easy for you guys to skip to what interests you, if anything. ;-)

Reunion T-Shirts

One wee project I've been working on, and which is now finally finalized, is a t-shirt design for my mom's family reunion this summer. Luckily they just wanted something simple and that would translate easily to a t-shirt, so it wasn't a huge project. But I think it came out particularly cute so I had to share! (As you can probably tell, they're very proud of their Scandinavian heritage...even though I can't resist reminding the uneducated that the Vikings never actually had horns on their helmets. But we go along with the joke. And someone always brings the silly plastic helmets for everyone to wear. Witness exhibit #2.)

They always have it at her cousin's farm, which is in Union, Maine. One of the most beautiful parts of the US that I've ever been to!

Exhibit #2: photo of me at the reunion the summer before last, courtesy of my auntie.

So that was a fun break from the usual photo editing and scrapbook-page-creating.

Jessica & Me

Also have to share a photo from 2 weeks ago now (already?!?!) of me with one of the coolest scrapbook ladies out there, Jessica Sprague, that I mentioned I was helping assist in her classes at the Creating Keepsakes University event. Well that event turned out to be really amazing, and I had a ton of fun helping all these women understand the gloriousness that is Photoshop! :) And I have to give Jessica some major props - you can't even tell in the photo that she was terribly sick that day with a stomach flu, but still managed to push right through those classes and impress everyone (and I duly apologize to her for not being able to get the glare off her glasses without her looking crazy-eyed!). One of the other volunteers, Nami, told me that she regularly taught seniors how to use PSE. How awesome is that?? Definitely something I wouldn't mind getting into. Jessica also gave us volunteers a little gift set from Bath & Body Works (yummm) - so sweet! I came away from the event feeling all creative-y.

Dog Obedience

Speaking of classes, Jacopo's obedience class officially started this week, although the first class is dog-free so the instructor can give basic information. I'm SO glad I signed up through the city rather than anywhere else! The park is literally 5 minutes from our place, the cost was half of what it is for the same amount of time at Petsmart, and the instructor has been doing dog obedience training for 30+ years. I can't wait to see the results of this! Especially after the demonstration the instructor and a few others gave at the end of class.

It's not that the pup is that ill-behaved, but I'd like to get him to stop jumping (cuz he's like a jumping bean and will use your chest as a springboard!) and to walk on the leash better. And just to be more calm and obedient in general. The cool part is, once you've taken the class you're able to come back for a refresher class anytime for free! If he does really well in this class, I'd like to sign him up for more advanced classes with the goal of him eventually becoming a therapy dog. He's such a people-lover, and after seeing what they can do for seniors and people in hospitals I would love to be able to give back in that way. Plus he fits easily into laps. :)

Departure Time

So it is officially Day 1 of the Warped Tour for Chris, although he's not actually leaving me until tonight. The first show is in Pomona, which is pretty close to us, so he drove himself up for the day, and late tonight I'll drive him back up and drop him off since the bus leaves for the next show at some ungodly hour tomorrow morning. Of course we'll be missing each other like crazy, but this is a great step in his career and (fingers crossed) will lead to even bigger things. So, for those of you living near me, please feel free to stop by anytime!

Seriously, anytime. Pretty please? Entertain me? Anybody??

But in preparation we got a fancy new video camera that he could take with him, because I can't bear to be without a camera. And because we've been wanting to get one for a while...and he can write it off as work-related.
How cute is that!?!? And tiny. Seriously. Chris can palm it. It made me giggle when I thought about my dad's old trusty video camera from when I was a kid. Seems like Chris made a good choice with this model, though, seeing as I figured out how to use it and review video in like 2 seconds. Plus you really can't go wrong with a Canon.

So what did we videotape first? What else but Jacopo at the dog park? LOL I was really surprised at how great the sound was - no wind blowing super loud into the mike or anything, despite the good breeze that was going. So hopefully when Chris gets back I'll have some cool video to link to - hopefully contraband performance vids. :)

Speaking of Shopping

Speaking of which, there have been a few recent purchases. We went out on a shopping expedition Monday night in preparation for his departure, and managed to squeeze in Target, Circuit City, Off Broadway Shoes (his old Converse finally died, so sad), Barnes & Noble, Beth Bath & Beyond and Chick-Fil-A for dinner. All in under 3 hours! Yes, I'm very proud.

Most of the shopping was for him, but I finally got a really nice fan for our bedroom, since between him and the puppy and our lack of a central a/c makes for very hot nights in the summer. We got away with not having one up until now since we didn't move in until mid-August last year, but even then it was pretty damn hot. The best part is that it has a remote, so when you wake up frigid in the middle of the night because your body has finally cooled down, you don't have to get up. :D And its extremely quiet, not that I have any trouble getting to sleep these days.

I also couldn't resist the sale racks at Barnes & Noble, and picked up some new reads since I'm almost done with my latest book. We also signed up, finally, for the membership club through B&N, which meant I wound up saving $25 this time, and the damn thing only cost that much in the first place for a 1-year membership! Gotta love a good deal. It's totally worth it too, considering how much we read (and yes, Nikki, you can use it when we go book shopping next time, it'll do you some good!). Out of 5 new books, the funniest title award has to go to There's A (Slight) Chance I Might Be Going to Hell. How can you resist a title like that? Anyhoo, I'll let you know how they turn out.

The Weekend

So, since Chris won't be around to amuse me, and Nikki's parents happen to be going out of town, I'll be heading over there Saturday to have some good ol' fun with the girlies. I can't wait! I'll be bringing Jacopo with me, of course, and that means he gets to play with Spikeus Maximus (aka Spike) - aka their American bulldog, who looked like this
once upon a time. Now he's just a weeee bit bigger. :) But still so cute! I think they'll have a grand ol' time together, barrnig any accidental squishing or something. But we'll keep an eye on them for sure.

And tomorrow night the consensus seems to be to see a movie, but we'll see how that turns out. I might wind up just sleeping in, at this rate! Haven't been sleeping all that well (surprise) the last two weeks.
But I do want to see Evan Almighty! It'd be nice to get out and about.


Next Week
Now all I have to do is figure out what I'm doing for the 4th! If a friend of ours is throwing a BBQ, I'm definitely there, cuz he's a great cook, but if not I might just have some people here. I'm so used to being out of town/the country for the holiday that I can't even remember the last time I had to make plans! And how much does it suck that it falls on a Wednesday? Oh well, at least it's one day off...

What are you doing for the holiday? Hmmm?

~Trude

Quote of the moment: "Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." ~ Groucho Marx

Its About Time For An Update...

So in keeping with my June goals, I am proud to report that I have definitely been scrapping at least 1 page per week. In fact, I was so inspired last week as I was looking forward to volunteering at CKU on Friday that I did two pages - and one of them is the featured layout for this week over at Jen Wilson Designs!! EEEEEK!!!! I've never had anything featured in any way before, so I'm feeling very accompished right now. :D

Here's the page that is currently "Layout of the Week":

You can view credits and details about it here (and, as always, you can click on the photo for a larger view).

I'm actually very pleased with how this one turned out. Doubly so cuz I got to take the photo using my dad's Nikon D40 - such an awesome camera!

Speaking of photos, I finally uploaded the ones from the Castle Green open house/tour that my mom and I went to a few weekends ago (that's where I took her photo, in fact), now that I had some time to play with them and fix them up. Several just needed some brightening, since I was trying not to be too "flashy". Although this one I took thinking I would do something fun with it, and then when I sat down at my computer it was just screaming for a cool action:

I've also uploaded a bunch I took of Jacopo and the kitten (mainly) while I was at my parents' this past Sunday....again using my dad's camera. I can't help myself - its just so damn awesome! I can't wait until I can afford a digital SLR for myself... *sigh*. Poor deprived child that I am.
;-) (That was for you, mom, since I can read your mind!)

You can go straight to admiring the wondrousness that is a digitalSLRcamera-photo by clicking here (if you haven't already bookmarked my Flickr page!).

But back to scrapping - the other LO that I did last week makes me laugh every time I look at it, because its so completely true.
Damn puppy is such a cuddlebutt. Even this morning while I was getting ready, he wound up curling up at my feet, just barely touching my foot, after he realized that it wasn't playtime. Poor thing is the biggest mama's boy (and daddy's!), and spoiled to boot. But at least he doesn't bark or pee on people, right?

Plus I also love seeing how my photos convert so beautifully to black and white now that I invested in the Pro Black and White action from Photoblast a few months back (as well as some others - I highly recommend them!!). Nothing I did before by myself looked half as good, and its a million times better than the basic "Remove Color" function in Photoshop Elements. Yeah...I sound like a commercial, I know, but I'm being honest!

You can view credits for this LO here.

And as for my June goals, I also checked off signing the puppy up for training class, although it means doing it without Chris. But we don't want to wait any longer to do it, because as with humans the earlier you start the better your chances are of success! :) So I still have a few more goals to work on...including updating my damn blog header, which I've been meaning to do for weeks now. Maybe this weekend.

This week has been pretty insane until last night, since I was getting ready for a big event at work. Although I had help, it was basically all on me if anything went wrong, and thank Thor nothing did! I think it might have had something to do with the fact that we fed everybody In-N-Out so they couldn't think negative thoughts, but one never knows. :) So now I'm just trying to rest my poor feet and walk as little as possible at work today.

Other than that, Chris and I are just trying to plan for his departure on the Warped Tour next week, and Nikki and I are scheming for at least one escape from the OC within those 2 months that he's gone. Woot! :) And tomorrow night my mom is coming down my way so we can shop til we drop, and then have a girly night together. Good times!

~T

Quote of the moment: "If man does find the solution for world peace it will be the most revolutionary reversal of his record we have ever known." ~George C. Marshall (1880-1959)

Best Boys, OCD and Being a T.A.

I have the best boyfriend. When I got home from work Monday night, all exhausted from the weekend, and just wanted to take a nap, he took Jacopo to the dog park so I could sleep peacefully. And then after seeing what I wanted for dinner, he went out and got yummy sushi and had it all ready for us (including drinks) when he woke me up. Soooo awesome to be taken care of like that!

I noticed yet another OCD-type behavior when I was making a snack Monday night. I was making saltines with peanut butter, and I realized as I was "buttering" that I couldn't butter the saltine unless it was right-side up...you know, the one side where you can tell they did the graph-like impression. I found myself doing all these weird wrist-twists just to get the saltine right-side up. I had to laugh at myself!

So now I wonder, what obsessive behaviors do other 'normal' people like me have? Little things that don't control your life, but that you can't stop yourself from doing? Or am I the only one and now you're all just quietly backing away? ;-)

Cool news for the week is that last Friday night I answered Jessica Sprague's call for volunteers to help her out in her Photoshop classes at CKU this weekend in Anaheim, and so I totally get to go hang out and help her on Friday! Definitely a cause worth taking a vacation day for. :) She is, like, the coolest. I've been reading her blog since January, and I've learned so much and been so inspired by her "Photoshop Friday" lessons that I can't even begin to thank her! Plus I'm totally looking forward to hanging with other digi-scrapping geeks like me, since most of my friends just look at me with confusion when I start talking in more detail than "I made a new page today." Nikki and my mom usually understand, but they would probably never squeal over something like Anna Aspnes' new Doggie brushes like I did when I saw them! :) And then there's the teaching aspect of it, because I just love to help people get to that "Ahaaaaa!" moment.

And if you're wondering: yes, I've come to terms with the fact that I'm just a little obsessed by digital scrapbooking. But what else can a girl do when she stumbles upon something that finally gives her a creative outlet, pushes her artistic boundaries, gives her another way to use the journaling bug she's always had, and helps to improve her photography skills hand over fist? Exactly. And usually having some spare time at work to keep up with tutorials and blogs and such definitely helps!

Hmm...three blog entries in four days...I must not have enough to do. ;-)

~Trude

Quote of the moment (for all you fellow historians out there): "The past is a source of knowledge, and the future is a source of hope. Love of the past implies faith in the future." ~ Stephen Ambrose (1936-2002)