Holiday Music

I just found this song this morning. Christmas is my absolute FAV time of the year and this new version of an old carol is AWESOME! I think this might become an all time fav! And even if you don't celebrate Christmas, the theme applies. So enjoy your special times in the next few weeks and enjoy this video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7670CXvPX0

It seems that my link isn't working so you may have to copy and paste. But it's well worth it! :)

A Challenge to Alter Something

This is my first time trying to work with pictures of my beloved Zoe since she died nearly 3 months ago. I have to say I'm proud that I didn't cry at all and only started to choke up when I was going to read the journaling to Steve. He'll have to find his glasses if he wants to know what it says. :)
I want to thank Jessie for the album itself which she sent to me as a RAK several months ago. And I also want to thank my AWESOME Scrapdango Secret Sister (whoever you might be!) for the BEAUTIFUL Basic Grey Eva papers that I used to create this album. I did it for the November 1 Scrapdango Design Team Challenge to the members. Julie challenged us to "alter something". I spied this frame and then saw the papers and instantly knew what I wanted to do! If you're not a member of Scrapdango, go check it out and take the challenge to alter something yourself! It's tons of fun!
In the meantime, please sit back and enjoy my little slideshow in the post below and leave me some love so I know you visited.
Happy Scrapping!

Zoe Mini Album

I'm an Audrey!

My friend Terri had this quiz on her blog. Here's my results:

Your result for Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz...

You Are an Audrey!

You are an Audrey -- "I am at peace"

Audreys are receptive, good-natured, and supportive. They seek union with others and the world around them.

How to Get Along with Me

• * If you want me to do something, how you ask is important. I especially don't like expectations or pressure


• * I like to listen and to be of service, but don't take advantage of this


• * Listen until I finish speaking, even though I meander a bit


• * Give me time to finish things and make decisions. It's OK to nudge me gently and nonjudgmentally


• * Ask me questions to help me get clear


• * Tell me when you like how I look. I'm not averse to flattery


• * Hug me, show physical affection. It opens me up to my feelings


• * I like a good discussion but not a confrontation


• * Let me know you like what I've done or said


• * Laugh with me and share in my enjoyment of life

What I Like About Being an Audrey

• * being nonjudgmental and accepting


• * caring for and being concerned about others


• * being able to relax and have a good time


• * knowing that most people enjoy my company; I'm easy to be around


• * my ability to see many different sides of an issue and to be a good mediator and facilitator


• * my heightened awareness of sensations, aesthetics, and the here and now


• * being able to go with the flow and feel one with the universe

What's Hard About Being an Audrey

• * being judged and misunderstood for being placid and/or indecisive


• * being critical of myself for lacking initiative and discipline


• * being too sensitive to criticism; taking every raised eyebrow and twitch of the mouth personally


• * being confused about what I really want


• * caring too much about what others will think of me


• * not being listened to or taken seriously

Audreys as Children Often

• * feel ignored and that their wants, opinions, and feelings are unimportant


• * tune out a lot, especially when others argue


• * are "good" children: deny anger or keep it to themselves

Audreys as Parents

• * are supportive, kind, and warm


• * are sometimes overly permissive or nondirective

Take Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz at HelloQuizzy

Okay. Now anyone who knows me well knows that this is TOTALLY ME!!! It's amazing to me how two simple questions can do that! So what are YOU?

They're BACK!!!!!

Last year an online friend introduced me to Mint M&Ms. I think I must have gained 5 pounds just from eating bags of these yummy delights! I simply couldn't get enough of them! Thankfully the only place I could find them was at Target so I wasn't expecting to see them today while grocery shopping. But suddenly there they were! There was a lady stockiing the shelves with all this holiday candy and I said "Have you tried these yet?" She said she hadn't and looked at me like I was crazy because I was so excited. I said "They're AWESOME!!! You HAVE to try them!" By the time I finished, she was eyeing them too and saying "Really?! I'll have to check them out!" So if you haven't indulged in this new candy delight and you love chocolate and mint, these are an absolute MUST HAVE!! Happy Holidays!!

In Remembrance

On this Veteran's Day 2008, I would like to say thank you to each and every person who has served our country and fought for our freedom! I have several relatives who served in the past - my dad (Army WWII), my granddad (Army WWI and WWII), my Uncle Foster (Marines WWII, Korea, Vietnam) - and several who are currently serving - my cousins Matt and Marc along with a couple of Steve's cousins. We also have several relatives who fought in the American Revolution and in the Civil War. I am eternally grateful for the sacrifice of each and every veteran! Thank you and may God richly bless each and every one of you and your families!

It's Been a Quiet Weekend

After a very hectic few weeks, it was nice to come home and have a quiet weekend for once! I did a couple of layouts this week, but haven't done any all weekend (which is really unusual for me). But the last layout I did is one I'm VERY proud of! I designed it all myself - no sketch, no other LO to base it on or anything! The pictures are of Kim and I having fun in her dad's convertible a couple of weeks ago. The weather had cooled off quite a bit and very quickly. Then it warmed up again to our wonderful Florida winter weather. So we were enjoying the sunshine and warmth with the top down! Enjoy!

A Blog Challenge

Heather from Scrapdango posted this challenge yesterday. Here's my answers:
Okay, so it's my turn for a blog challenge. I thought about having you blog about things you're thankful for or about your feelings about the election tomorrow, but I decided to make it a bit more lighthearted and fun. I found this on another site and have yet to manage to fill mine out but will. I challenge you to copy this to your blog and fill in the 4 items in each category about you. This will help us all get to know each other a little more.

4 THINGS I WAS DOING 10 YEARS AGO
1) Living in Northern California
2) Not yet a grandmother
3) About 50 lbs lighter
4) Happily married to Steve

4 THINGS ON MY TO-DO LIST FOR TODAY
1) Vote!
2) Trip to Costco
3) Fix dinner
4) Finish the pages I’ve made while out of town

4 RANDOM THINGS I LOVE ABOUT MY HUSBAND
1) He’s cute
2) He loves me just as I am
3) He’s a hard worker
4) He loves God

4 JOBS I HAVE HAD
1) McDonald’s hostess (the one and only for a test)
2) Burger delivery person
3) Administrative assistant to a traveling ministry
4) Owner of a weekend scrapbooking getaway company

4 MOVIES I HAVE WATCHED MORE THAN ONCE
1) MASH (this is the first one I ever saw in the theater more than once)
2) Casablanca (DH’s favorite)
3) Lady and the Tramp (one of my favs as a kid AND as an adult)
4) The newest 007 movie – Casino Royale (Can’t WAIT for the next one on Nov 15!)

4 PLACES I HAVE BEEN
1) Nova Scotia
2) Bermuda
3) Alaska
4) Key West

4 PLACES I WANT TO VISIT
1) Australia
2) New Zealand (to see my scrapping buddies!)
3) England/Scotland/Ireland
4) Take a cruise to anywhere!

4 TV SHOWS I WATCH
1) Law and Order (the original)
2) Deadliest Catch
3) The First 48
4) Nancy Grace (I see a theme here! :))

4 THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT ME
1) I used to smoke 2 packs of cigarettes a day! YUCK!
2) I’m really not artistic or crafty outside of scrapbooking
3) I have a decent singing voice
4) I love Jesus!

And finally today was VOTING DAY in the US. Did you exercise your right to vote? I did! I live in South Florida and we decided to wait and go to our local precinct. It was a very long ballot (4 legal-sized pages) with over 16 amendments and propositions! I think it took me about 10 minutes just to fill out the ballot even knowing what my answers were! I don't know why people waited in line for over 3 hours because we were in and out in 45 minutes. But it was good to see so many people finally getting involved! Now we wait to see who our country elected. Either way, it's a very historic day becaus we've either elected our first black person or our first woman! WOW! Here's the sticker we got when we finished.

Home Again, Home Again

I finally came home again last night. After almost two full weeks on the other coast, it's good to be home at last. My friend Trish is doing better, but has a long road to recovery. We all really appreciate your prayers and thoughts! She's been through a lot and is ready to go home after all this time, but she's got another week or two in the hospital and then probably a couple of months in a rehab facility before they'll finally release her.
So in the meantime, I made a few new friends. One of them is a young lady named Kim with whom I stayed while I was gone. She's a crazy lady like me and we had great fun staying up and chatting into the wee hours of the morning. I took these pictures last week while we were waiting in a parking lot for her mom to arrive. She'd borrowed her dad's convertible and the weather was gorgeous. So we put the top down and had a great time. :)

The first picture I took of Kim wasn't very good so I just kept snapping. (I LOVE digital cameras!!) She finally said "STOP! No more pictures PLEASE!" It's one of my fav pics of her!

I really have missed scrapbooking while I've been gone. When I came home last weekend for about 48 hours, Shelley and I took advantage of a midnight crop. She needed a ride to the store, and when I arrived to pick her up I said "You're wearing my shirt!!" She said "NO. You're wearing MY shirt!" She decided she didn't want to change and since I couldn't without driving almost an hour, we went as twins. :) Guess that's as close as I'm gonna come to a costume anytime soon! Hehe! So we took advantage and had some fun pictures taken by an employee. Here we are being totally silly with each other.

And even though you really can't see our faces, I really like this one.

I did manage to take pictures for my "Week in the Life" project. Someday I'll get them printed and make a few pages about my crazy week. Meanwhile, I've journaled all about it in a document so I won't forget. It'll be fun to do those pics whenever I get to them.
My most recent project has been last year's Christmas pictures. I did take my scrappy stuff with me and got about 4 pages started, but needed a computer or another tool I didn't have with me to finish. So I'll get them done this week sometime.
It seems that the weather has finally changed too. I love South Florida at this time of year! The sea breezes blowing and the cooler temps mean I can open up the windows and air the house out. I get great cross-ventilation here so it's always a treat for me. I love the wind and always have!
So what's the weather like in your neck of the woods? (I think that's an old Southern saying.) Happy scrapping and thanks for reading!