I've Moved!

I've made the great leap over to Squarespace - come and check it out! (And update your bookmarks!)

~T

Featured Again!

Woohoo this time one of my pages is (somewhat) featured over at the Weeds & Wildflowers blog. Their products are truly gorgeous, so I suggest you check them out!

In case you don't feel like clicking through, this is the page they featured:
One of my new faves, in fact. :) You can see credits here.

Some other new pages feature my favorite blonde (outside of my family), and oh yeah, my brother:
Yes, I realize I used the same photo twice, but how can you not use that adorable photo for all it's worth?? :) Credits are here and here, respectively.

In other news, had a very enjoyable weekend, although the 90+ degree weather we had here was enough to wipe out anybody, let alone us ladies (me, mom, Roseann and Lisa) who marched around old town Fullerton on Sunday for their annual Garden Tour. Super fun, but ridiculously hot. Photos will be posted later this week!

Oh, and my dad is in China on business for a week, so keep your fingers crossed he doesn't get caught up in some protest march and wind up in jail or something! ;)


~T

Tag I'm It!

But only because I want to be. Saw this questionnaire on Britgirl's blog, and thought it was time I did another one - plus this could so easily become text for a scrap page. ;-)

Four jobs you've had in your life
Receptionist
Ad writer/copy editor
Bridal abuse-taker
Executive assistant

Four movies you've watched more than once
The whole Indiana Jones series (Woohoo can't wait 'til May!)
Bedazzled
For the Boys (What? Its been on TV a lot lately.)
Sabrina

Four placed you've lived
Norway
San Diego
Westminster, CA
Placentia, CA

Four TV shows you watch
Ghosthunters
Dirt
What Not to Wear
Heroes (when it finally comes back...)

Four places you have been
London
Norway
The Grand Canyon
Boston

Four favorite foods
Churros from Del Taco
Chris' cooking - particularly fish dishes
Mom's spaghetti
Scampi and chips from the Olde Ship

Four places you'd rather be
At home!
Norway
At the beach - today was gorgeous
Monterey

Four things you're looking forward to
Going home
The dogs' training classes
Kissing Chris
Going to Norway in June

For a Friday Funny

I just have to share this! Overheard in the Office is my savior during Friday afternoons that are just draaaaaaginnnng....

4PM You May Know Them As Blue Man Group

Professor: People never say half the things they are supposed to have said. I mean, just ask Jesus -- 'It wasn't me, it was my flippin' disciples.'

Queens University
Kingston, Ontario
Canadia

via Overheard in the Office, Mar 28, 2008

From My Blog to Theirs...

Your Thinking is Abstract and Sequential

You like to do research and collect lots of information. The more facts you have, the easier it is for you to learn. You need to figure things out for yourself and consider all possibilities. You tend to become an expert in the subjects that you study. It's difficult for you to work with people who know less than you do. You aren't a very patient teacher, and you don't like convincing people that you're right.

What Kind of Thinker Are You?

I did this quiz for an easy Sweet Rewards point over at Sweet Shoppe Designs, but I was super surprised at the answer I got - it's so me! :D It was only 5 questions - I highly recommend taking a minute and answering them here.

My New Favorite Photos

Admittedly, I have a lot, but this series that Chris took of me with the boys last week is just...awesome. (You may have noticed one in the new blog header.) I'm so glad I have someone to hand the camera over to sometimes! Oh, and these totally weren't posed, I swear - I sat down on the ottoman at the end of the couch to chat with Chris when I got home from work, and the pups (of course) had to jump in my lap and compete for attention.To give them a bit of pop, I used a Lightroom preset from Traci Reed's Pop Starrs bundle - I use this set all the time! (Honestly, not getting anything from that promo, I really do love them!) :D

And, of course, I've already used one of them in a scrap page - how could you not??
Credits for "New Life" can be found here.

Weekend Possibilities

Hoping to see Leatherheads tonight with Nikki while Chris is at work - hopefully we both won't pass out early like we did last time! What is it about Friday nights that the older I get the more tired I am by then?? Especially looking forward to seeing George Clooney, considering I had this crazy dream last weekend that I was related to him, like a cousin or something, and was hanging out at his house with him and his fiance. (I know he doesn't have one in real life, but that was the dream! So if he gets engaged anytime soon, I'm psychic. You read it here first, kids!) Yes, I'm weird and can usually remember my dreams, if not all the details. It sucks.

Tomorrow my mom and I (and hopefully Roseann!) are heading out to Palm Desert to heaven the mecca that is the outlet center there for some shopping. The forecast is 85 degrees and sunny. Woo!

Then to do penance for my shopping, Sunday will be filled with vacuuming, washing dishes, and whatever other types of cleaning I can think of. ;)

~T

Quote of the moment: "Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great." ~Mark Twain

I've been featured!

So flattering! The Gallery Standouts blog featured my "All About the Eggs" page this past weekend! :) You can check it out here.

Oh, and here's the page they featured:

Details for the page can be found right here.

~T

Some Faves

Time for some more Flickr enabling! :) Here's a sampling of current photos I'm in love with over there:

1. reflections of a pug, 2. Grandpa Lenin, 3. True Love, 4. My House in Moonlight, 5. Saksun: Winter vs Summer, 6. Built Ford Tough, 7. That "Shrek" moment again, 8. The art of coming and going, 9. Springtime Slumber, 10. Stella Beauty, 11. the ring, 12. Big Hugs from a Kid to Kids..., 13. Grindin', 14. Can ya hear me now?, 15. On the line, 16. fun with Lightroom

Click through and leave these talented photographers some love!

~Trude

Meet Dante.

The newest addition to our little family. :)
(Photos taken by my dad.)

If you read my previous post about our search for a new brother for Jacopo, you know we've been looking through the IGCA. Well, we found this poor little guy at the Seal Beach Animal Care Center, after hearing from Chris' family (his sister volunteers there) that they had gotten in a male Italian Greyhound. They found him wandering the streets of Seal Beach with no collar, just skin and bones! So on Saturday we went over there in between various errands in preparation for Easter, and just completely fell in love with him. He's extremely relaxed and a total love monkey, and he must have cost someone a pretty penny, because he's even more purebred/breed standard than Jacopo! We weren't planning on bringing him home that day, but the shelter said that they had already had one other application for him, and recommended that we act now before someone else does!

So we did. And he's the best dog ever (excluding Jacopo, of course!). He jumped right in the car with us, and handled being at my parents house with other dogs and a bunch of other people without a problem. I think he and Jacopo have settled their pecking order, and they slept together in our bed last night without a problem. They're a really great match - once Dante fills out, he should be roughly the same weight as Jacopo, although a little shorter. And he was just fine going in and out through the new doggie door we installed last week - hopefully he'll make Jacopo better at using it! ;)

More photos to come, once I "develop" mine tonight (I've started shooting in RAW format, so can't share immediately!). And an Easter post for sure! We had so much fun this weekend!

Did I mention I cut my hair?

Um, yeah, I suddenly realized I got this life-changing haircut this weekend, and never took a photo! So here you go.
(Yes, that would be me in my car, on my lunch break. I so rock.) (Oh, and the frame is by Katie Pertiet over at Designer Digitals.)

I clearly cannot style it anywhere near as well as my friend Angie did when she cut it, but I'm working on it. :) It was one of those spur-of-the-moment things, and after admiring how well she cuts Chris' hair since the day I met him, I decided it was time to try her skills for myself. And she did not disappoint! I chopped off about 7 inches, and I am soooo happy with it. She totally listened to what I was thinking, made some great suggestions, and even kept me from going too crazy with the chopping, reminding me that we can always cut more later! If you're in the area, she works out of Underground Salon in Long Beach, which a super cute salon that also exhibits/sells original art pieces.

P.S. One of my digital scrapbook pages is featured on the Sweet Shoppe Designs blog today! Take a peek here to find out which one. Go me!

~T

Puppy and Photo Madness, With a Touch of Materalism

So our puppy guest Fred went home safely on Monday night, although there were a few times he came close to not being able to do so (if you catch my drift). Poor guy is a very smart dog, but his owner hasn't really made the time to train him yet! It must be like when parents watch other people's kids - makes you appreciate how good yours are! ;)

New Puppy?

Well...getting there. Chris and I decided it's time Jacopo had a brother, for a number of reasons.

1. We love dogs.
2. Italian Greyhounds typically do much better with at least one other dog around, just because they're such a social/pack breed.
3. We've been talking to other IG owners at the dog park, who ALL recommend getting another one.
4. Peace of mind - if he has someone to play with, he'll leave us alone more. :) And I won't worry so much when I have to leave him home alone during the day.
5. We love dogs.

At first we thought we'd have to wait due to finances, but then we discovered the Italian Greyhound Club of America, which runs an extensive rescue program in pretty much every state. And all they really charge is about $250, to cover expenses while they were fostering the rescued dog! So not only would we be able to afford it, but we'd be giving a much-needed home to a grateful pup. So now we've gone through the application process with our local IGCA rep, and she came and inspected our place on Saturday, so we're now approved! Woo!

Now is the wait-and-see part, because they only have a few IGs right now in the area, and none of them are really what we're looking for. We could adopt from any of the other states, but we'd have to actually drive or fly out there to get him, because they won't ever ship a dog. One of the coolest parts is they'll post all their available IGs on Pet Finder (at least the ones that weren't immediately taken by a waiting approved family, like us), a website devoted to adoptions. That way you can see photos, and read all the details on how they came up for adoption, what their temperament is, how trained they are, etc.

At any rate, we're very excited, and can't wait to find just the right guy to be Jacopo's new brother!

March Photo Madness

Speaking of Jacopo, been taking more photos lately, all of which you can see on my Flickr here, but I wanted to share some highlights:
I just love the light on that last one - he usually doesn't curl up all by himself, but maybe he's finally getting more independent...ha!

Family Sunday

So we (and by "we" I mean my dad, my brothers, Roseann, Jacopo and I - in one car!) headed down to Karl and Donna's house in San Diego on Sunday to hang out with the family, especially because my auntie Elissa was in town for the "Women in Aviation" conference. (Chris stayed at home with Fred.) We had a great time! My cousin Sarah and her boyfriend Jim came over, Donna's mom, brother and sister-in-law came over too, the weather was gorgeous (if a bit cold for our part of the world) and the dogs got to play together. Plus we got BBQ...yum! Here's some highlights from the day:

The gorgeous weather
Roseann and Sarah cracking each other up
Sarah and Jacopo having a moment
And this photo reminds me of the funny of the day that day - Elissa was like "Take my picture kissing the camera, like you did!" And I said "I did that in the mirror!" And she got this surprised look on her face and said "Really?" And mom and I just craaaacked up. Definitely indicative of the pre-Myspace generational divide - the self-portrait-in-mirror has become a mainstay for my generation. ;)Mom and Jacopo cuddling (jeez, who doesn't he cuddle with??) - the wind got really cold! Like below 50! :)All in all a very nice day. :)

Materialism Alert

Just had to share some new things I've added to my hoard lately (have I mentioned I love to shop? Maybe once or twice?), to get in the mood for spring...or whatever excuse works for you.

First, I finally bought a new swimsuit. I don't go swimming that often, but I purposely ruined my old one last season in the mud baths at Glen Ivy because it was already three years old at that point. So with the weather warming up like it has been around here, I figured it was high time I finally got a new one. And being that I'm no longer 18 and would really prefer to cover my slowly-but-surely-expanding backside (no pun intended), I decided to go for a classic retro look. Thanks to Ms. Vintage herself, Katie, I was able to find this awesome one from Esther Williams Swimwear - yes, THE Esther Williams of Hollywood golden age fame. :)
But in red, of course. Super cute, huh? I might actually have to find an excuse to wear it somewhere besides a jacuzzi! :) It's not the cheapest suit out there, but it's also not nearly the most expensive - and it has a tummy shaper built in!

Another product I'm now in love with is Smashbox's O-Glow. It's a new cheek color that comes out clear, but starts adjusting to your skin tone once you put it on, to give you a really natural blush color. I had read about this stuff in In Style and thought it was a load of you-know-what. But then I got a free sample at Sephora last week, and I have to report that it really does what it says! I loved it so much I also got their lip gloss that does the same thing.

Also have to give special mention to Bumble & Bumble's "dry shampoo". Another product out there that's making women's (and men's) lives easier. It's like a hairspray that sprays powder to absorb that day-after excess oil at your roots. Awesomeness - 'nuff said.

We'll, I'm spent. Hope you guys are all doing well!

~T
Quote of the moment: "A picture is the expression of an impression." ~Ernst Haas

Been "catching up" on scrapping lately, so to speak. More like making sure I properly promote my two designers that I CT for and take advantage of the creative urge I've had! ;)

First up is this one with a super cute photo mom sent me - apparently she's started taking Ted E. in her basket when she rides her bike (since he couldn't keep up if he tried!):
Sooo funny! Credits can be seen here.

Next up is "Crazy Boy". Of course I couldn't resist using this awesome photo of Chris!
I just loved using the new kit Penny released last weekend, which you can find here, in combination with a gorgeous set of templates by Bree, available here! Credits are here.

I was also inspired by the "Cookie Decorating 101" challenge over at the Sweet Shoppe to create this one:
Been meaning to work with that photo since I took it! ;) The journaling and credits can be seen here.

Last but not least is Cherish, which I had to do after playing around with these awesome Lightroom presets by Nick Tsakiris, which I got through the Lightroom Killer Tips blog.
Came out nicely, I thought! Credits are here.

In Other News...

We had Chris' birthday/housewarming party last Friday, and can you believe it? I didn't take ONE photo - not one. Guess I was so relieved to finally have everything in place and the apartment all cleaned that I just relaxed! Plus I kept going around to everybody chatting and catching up, so hardly had a chance. But I think everyone had a great time, and it was definitely our best party yet! So cool to finally get different groups of friends in the same place together, I knew they'd all hit it off. :)

I'm looking forward to seeing my Auntie Elissa this weekend; she's coming into town (well, San Diego to my uncle's house, which is close enough around here) this weekend for a conference! So we're all going to hang out down there on Sunday - should be a good time! I'll definitely have my camera then.

Our Guest for the Weekend

Meet Fred.
He belongs to our friend Chris and his girlfriend Brittney (well, mostly Brittney), and we'll be puppy-sitting him for the weekend while they go up to San Francisco. We already know he's in love with Jacopo (they chased each other around for hours at Christmas), so should be fun. :)

Hope all is well with everyone!

~Trude

Funny of the Week

Happy birthday to my main man! He's finally caught up with me at the big 2-4. Can't wait to share what I got him, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. :)

So to celebrate, the funny of the week comes straight from his mouth:

"I'm not turning 42, honey."
-Said when he noticed the "2" and "4" birthday candles I got for his cake sitting on the kitchen counter.

Hardy har har, baby. Hardy har har.

Photos, Parks and Surveys

So been taking more photos lately, now that things have calmed down a bit at home...

Love how this one turned out of Jacopo sleeping (thanks to my nifty-fifty lens); he never sleeps sitting up! He was just really tired that day and passed out next to Chris. :)
And this one of Puss (my parent's adopted kitten). I was trying to give a sense of scale as to just how huge he really is - that's a normal cable TV remote! And he's not quite a year old yet! But I think I'm just going to have to get a shot of me holding him or something, because it continually baffles me as to how huge he's become, especially when I think back on how small he used to be.
Then Saturday after taking Jacopo for a shot, we took him down to Irvine Park, which was gorgeous and sunny until the clouds started rolling in around 1ish. But we were totally lucky to go there in between rainstorms!
Gasp! A survey!

Because I was tagged by the talented Ms. BritGirl (well, sort of, because I secretly stalk her blog for digiscrap inspiration!). :)

You have to use 3 words to answer each question. No more, no less. It’s harder than you think.

1. Where is your cell phone? In my purse

2. Your girlfriend/boyfriend/hubby? Is at work

3. Your hair? In a pony.

4. Where is your father? At work too.

6. Your favorite thing to do? Too many now

7. Your dream last night? Back in school

8. Your favorite drink? 7up & vodka (ha)

9. Your dream car? Lexus RX hybrid

10. The room you’re in? Lots of light

12. Your fears? Not fulfilling dreams

14. Who did you hang out with last night? Pup, BF, me

15. What aren’t you good at? Math, science, patience

16. Muffins? Make me hungry

17. One of your wish list items? Calvin Klein purse

19. The last thing you did? Use the copier

20. What are you wearing? Cute work clothes

22. Your pet? My curly-tailed shadow

23. Your computer? Mac needing upgrade

24. Your life? Always getting better

25. Your mood? Up on coffeeeeee

26. Missing? Being at home

27. What are you thinking about right now? Eating Honda Ya

28. Your car? Needs a wash

29. Your work? Um...ah...uh...

30. Your summer? Is coming soon!

31. Your relationship status? Almost three years

32. Your favorite color(s)? Black, green, red

33. When is the last time you laughed? Few minutes ago

34. Last time you cried? Last weekend, man

35. School? Going back soon!

This weekend should be nice and quiet, and I can't wait to see some of you next weekend at our house warming/Chris' birthday party! :)

~T

Happiness Bearers

Lots of things making me happy right now, so it's time for another round!

1. Our new place. Seriously, its just a gazillion times better. Not perfect, but much better. And I'm of the opinion that for the location, area and quality, you couldn't find a better place to rent (damn, that's my old real estate advertising job kicking in). And one of the biggest differences? The pup is most definitely happier - eating more, jumping over the back of the futon sofa with ears flapping (which he wasn't able to do the way we had it before), hanging out in the sun on the patio (when we're home during the day we just leave the sliding door open so he can go in and out to potty, and now I catch him just sunning himself. Will have to invest in a doggie door) and, as of last night, FINALLY sleeping in his crate...just because. I think going to puppy day care at Petsmart all day had something to do with it, though. And this photo is also good proof of the better lighting we have! :)
2. I love lamp. I apologize for the murky photo, it's straight-out-of-the-camera. And it's solid red, but because of the reflection looks like it has white on it. Anyways...I got it at Pier 1. Mostly because we clearly needed something to fill the space between bookshelves, and I'm totally in love with it! Also got these awesome storage bins to go in the third bookshelf (not pictured) that are made out of recycled magazines. How cool is that? I would link you to them but Pier 1's website kinda sucks and clearly doesn't have all of their merchandise.
3. Geeking out because Cathy Zielske mentioned yours truly on her blog! Just go check it out while I try and hold off a panic attack. I love her approach and books so much, I'm thrilled she even responded to my question.
   
4. iLife '08. It's about time we upgraded! For those of you I share my photos with, the cool part about this upgrade is I can publish my photos to a web gallery that lets you download them at full resolution. Way easier than clogging up email accounts!
5. Seeing comedians live. Just went and saw John Pinette, an old favorite, again Sunday night at the Brea Improv along with the entire Glowin gang. So much fun! His opener was really good too, so it was a solid 2 hours of laughing. Our cheeks hurt afterwards. Hurt so good. And I'm also planning on seeing Wanda Sykes when she's there the weekend after next with the family. Woo!
   
6. Petsmart's Doggie Day Camp. They make it oh-so-easy! Jacopo was there yesterday and today since Chris is down in San Diego (not on my list of happiness-bearers) most of the week and I'm at work all day. We figure it's only fair that he get to go and play instead of get locked up for 8 hours for at least part of the week (never fear, SPCA, I do go home on my lunch hour to let him run around and eat lunch). Plus today while he was there he got a bath and nail trimming. Oh, the luxury. :) But after our experiences last summer, now any time Chris is away during the week he makes sure the gig pays enough that we can afford to do day camp at least a couple days.
7. Cool siblings. Five years ago I probably wouldn't have believed it, but my brother (the one that is only two years younger) and I can now say we hang out regularly - as friends. Crazy, I know! Admittedly it has a lot to do with the fact that his awesome girlfriend Roseann and I are total buds now, but they're just fun to hang out with! Last night they came over to just chill with me while Chris out of town, and the good company was mucho apreciado.

What's floating your boat right now? I'd love to hear!

~Trude

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.

RIP Hershey

My family's beloved first dog, Hershey (a chocolate lab), passed away today at the ripe old age of nearly 14. My mom would call her "my fourth child", and she was a wonderful companion and mother hen to us kids.
She was in great pain at the end and could hardly walk, so at least she's at peace now.
She will be greatly missed.

Mission: Completed

So we FINALLY finished moving Saturday night. My arms and legs and back still hurt, and I know Chris' do too! I think we'll be going for a couples' massage in the near future - we earned it! It took us two full days to do everything, in part because for half of it we were by ourselves, and also because we didn't bother packing everything in boxes because it was "just across the street". Well that meant many many trips carrying handfuls...you get the idea.

Major props go out to my ogre of a brother, Eirik, for helping us with the big heavy stuff on Friday (especially since Chris' friend that was supposed to help got really sick) and also to the rest of my immediate family for helping us out Saturday night with all the little things. We couldn't have done it without you guys, seriously! Well, we could, but that would have entailed calling some movers and paying big bucks.

Our new place still looks like a bomb went off, of course, but I'm loving it already. It's a million times better than the old place! (Which they already started gutting, interestingly enough.) Not only for the better floorplan and new amenities, but the fact that I can do laundry right then and there! :D Can't wait to get everything finalized and have some people over to christen it!

Speaking of which, Chris and I met up at Ikea after work last night for a hot date of furniture shopping. Definitely had to get him this dresser (like the one I already have, except they discontinued my finish, those bastards!):
And because of the serious downgrade in closet space (I can hardly fit all my stuff in the bedroom closet, and that's after pruning it with no mercy for Goodwill!), we also got this little cheapy wardrobe, which I'm planning on sprucing up with some paint:
And I wanted to get this desk chair, but we didn't think we'd have enough room in our respective trunks for everything, although in the end it turned out we did. :( (I'll be back, Ikea!) But we definitely need something smaller-scale; the chair I brought home from work is just too ginormous for the space, and not comfortable for me at all - whereas the Ikea one is surprisingly so (especially when you consider the price!). Plus it doesn't hurt that it's totally cute and not your run-of-the-mill desk/office chair. ;)

And as if we weren't already exhausted from this weekend, the poor puppy was totally traumatized by the whole event. Any time we left him alone in the new place - even just for a few minutes - he would start crying so loudly you could hear him from the bottom of the stairs! He'll settle in eventually (at least he's okay when we're there and isn't cowering by the door or something), but I just feel terrible that I can't explain things to him!

Hoping to finally get some art on the walls tonight! Oh and that reminds me - you guys have to check out this company that does wall decals. They'll even do custom words (like poems or company names)! SO pretty! Been eyeing them for the better part of a year, and I think it's time to finally get some. :)

~T

A Quick One...Sorta

We've been in the midst of dealing with our property management company, getting everything set to move into a newly upgraded unit in the same community. It's a total pain, of course (even though they're much better than the old company), but I think it'll be worth it. We finally move tomorrow! So exciting, I'll be posting pictures of the new place soon. One of the best things is we get a washer/dryer combo actually in our apartment. You never know how much you'll miss something until it's gone, right? ;) Luckily the one we liked is literally just across the street, so moving should go pretty quickly. Thank Thor for friends with big arms who are willing to help with the heavy pieces!

I just love the chance to start fresh like that, wipe the slate clean. As much as I'm a person of habit, changing my environment every so often is a must. Even if it's just something small, I have to do it otherwise I start feeling...I don't know, antsy. At any rate, I'm also looking forward to having more wall space so that I can hang more of my own work. Yay! And redecorating, always feels good to do that. Speaking of which, have to share a few things I ordered in anticipation of them move from Urban Outfitters. Like this lovely jewelry tree:
And to go with it, a necklace stand too (I have a lot of necklaces just screaming to be let out of the bottom of my jewelry box!):
And to round it out, an earring stand:
All three for about $65! Not too shabby!

A New Way to Indulge

In other news, a much-anticipated new web store has officially opened its doors today, called Prima Hybrid. It's one of the first of it's kind to offer traditional/paper, hybrid and digital products all in one place. In the last year or so the two "worlds" have been coming together more, and even personally I've started branching out into the hybrid world, like making custom composition books (by creating a cover using digital products, printing out, gluing and trimming) and actually buying stamps and ink! *gasp* Crazy for me, I know, but I'm actually getting into it. For a girl who loves her office supplies so much, it's a miracle this didn't happen sooner.

So to celebrate the grand opening they're having a big ol' sale, and I indulged myself since a bunch of my fave designers have been recruited to sell there, and many created brand new products only available there. Such as Weeds and Wildflowers, I'm so in love with this kit:
I also couldn't resist these buttons, they remind me of the jars we inherited from my grandmother!
Also couldn't resist this gorgeous collaboration kit by Gina Marie Huff (aka part of Weeds & Wildflowers) and Vera Lim. Here's Vera's papers for the kit, soooo stunning:
Between the two of them its a huge kit, and totally worth it!

New Pages

Got a few more pages done (luckily the mojo is sticking with me), including the following two page spread - my very first!
Don't know why I never tried a two-pager before, but Penny's templates honestly just made it so much easier. Plus it's a great way to scrap a bunch of photos from the same event without making things seem overcrowded. Anyway, credits for them can be found here.

Here also is one using this awesome photo of Chris' parents that I couldn't pass up using!Credits are here.

I also started Jessica Sprague's "Now We're Rocking with Photoshop" online class last Monday, and it's proving to be one of the best investments I've ever made! Only $50 for a four-week course, where you have a walk-through online "lecture" (video) and assignment each week. Plus she emails you encouragment, tips, coupons, etc every day! So worth it. I've been doing digiscrap for a year and 1/2, but it still pays to see exactly how an expert does it. You never know what you're doing the "long" way!

Thus far I've done three pages - two assignments and an extra challenge. I love how the challenge page turned out, using a free kit that the Sweet Shoppe Designers made special for Jessica's students!
Credits for it can be found here.

And last but not least, I love how this page turned out. I made it as part of the Saturday Scraplift challenge over at Designer Digitals, because I couldn't pass up the chance to blatantly copy such a gorgeous design! ;)Credits are right here.

Well, that just about does it - now off to do more packing!

~Trude
Quote of the moment: "Learning to live in the present moment is part of the path of joy." ~Sarah Ban Breathnach