parting is such sweet sorrow

Whew, what a week! I'll write more about it later; I just wanted to pop in and say that I am back and I am indeed alive and well. It was so great to see her, and her, and them, and them, and them, annnnnnd them (AND plus some). Aren't families, immediate and extended alike, the best?! Yes, they are, in an effort to answer my own rhetorical question... But it is so nice to be home. *sigh*

PS-a HUGE thanks to all of the kind words and lovely support of my designing debut. After 410 downloads and 96 total comments, I feel on top of the world! Who knows what will happen next...

drumroll please

Here it is: my first attempt at digital designing!!!
Let me know what you think.

{Sorry, the link has been removed}

Go ahead, take it (click on the above link). Then leave me some love and spread the word. Just send them back here so they can get some! :) Have a great weekend folks (reading your Harry Potter...)! *B

scrapping shout-out: Gretchen Tripp

Round three of the digital scrap-booking CT slide shows!!! These are all of the layouts I did for Gretchen Tripp. I was able to use Monk as my subject matter in almost every page! I love scrapping that kid...

You can find the credits for all of these layouts in my designated Gretchen Tripp Designs album. Just find the page you're looking for and there you go!

PS- I leave Friday morning for the sunny AZ! My brother comes home from his mission this Saturday and I am SO EXCITED!!! But as promised, as soon as I get to a computer after landing, I will post my surprise; my very first..... wait for it: FREEBIE! No joke. I've dabbled a wee bit in designing some papers lately and I thought it'd be fun to put it out there and sort of test the waters. So make sure to check back later in the afternoon!!! *B

scrapping shout-out: Paula Duncan

Ready for round two of the digital scrap-booking CT slide shows???
Well then, here you go:

PS- You can find the credits for all of these layouts in my designated Paula Duncan Designs album. Just find the page you're looking for and there you go! *B

scrapping shout-out: W&W

I now have a total of 45+ pages since I started digital scrap-booking in January! Crazy. So I thought I'd share the layouts I've created for my past creative teams. And as a way to say thanks to everyone who willingly looks upon all these pages for these next few days, I have a surprise for y'all on Friday before I leave for a trip! I'll give you a hint: it starts with an "F", which in this case stands for more than Friday...

Anyway, today is a special day in the world of Weeds & Wildflowers because two of the lovely ladies are celebrating their birthdays today! So here is my first (or second, depending on how you look at it) shout-out to my scrapping ways and those fabulous designers of W&W:

PS- You can find the credits for all of these layouts in my W&W album. Just find the page you're looking for and there you go! *B

handicrafter heart-throb

So I still don't have my pictures yet from the holiday that's been over for almost an entire week.5. I also didn't take pictures of my homemade fro-yo because we didn't make it! Bah. But when I do, there will be pics, oh yes, there will be pics. Anyway, here are some photos of those projects my brother and I worked on a few weeks ago. Take a gander:

He is one talented teenager (and handsome too!)! Just be aware all you young ladies out there, he's not yet 16, so back off! And I mean that in the kindest way possible. Anyway, he created that snazzy t-shirt he's wearing above. And he designed the one featured on the left along with the four green spades on blue, all while he was staying here. The other ones he made while at home. He's got an amazing eye for design, wouldn't you say? And the name is "Anker". Custom orders welcome. :)

And I made these little onesies for her and her. Or should I say, for their boy babes who will be wearing them. The patches are a wee bit wonky but I just figured that added extra charm. That's what I tell myself to appease my nasty perfectionism. I still have a few finishing touches to do, but all in all, I think they're hecka cute!

I plan on making a handful of tees for Monk's birthday next month using the same technique. And I want to make him one of these too. Yes, his numero two bday is in a month! I can't believe it...

PS- I posted a very interesting article about a debatable topic over on my Mess...

yo-yo for yogurt

Let me start off by saying that I use curdled & cultured milk (aka. yogurt) in almost everything. It's my most favorite go-to substitute. I eat it for breakfast: in my beautiful bowl, with Kashi granola, rice milk, and sliced nectarines. Perfect. I eat it for lunch: black-bean chicken quesadillas (grilled corn tortillas) served with yogurt-salsa mixture. Excellent. I eat it for dinner: turkey meatballs with mushroom yogurt cream sauce and brown jasmine rice. Awesome. Obviously, I'm in love with the stuff.

And since moving to this fabulous golden state, I've discovered two divine froze-yo spots: Pinkberry and Barenaked Yogurt. Apparently the former is huge amongst the stars, but my eatery of choice is the latter. Upon first bite, Pinkberry dazzles. There's no lie, it's just plain yummy (and I'm dying to try the green tea flavor in THE worst way)! But it's super sweet, which means the last bite is a little much. However, I could eat 8-24 ounces (that would be upwards of three servings) of Barenaked Yogurt with fresh strawberries and chocolate chips, EVERYDAY.

Nonetheless, I don't. However, luckily I have a godsend: the Vita-Mix. I make my own frozen dairy treat. Only three ingredients (unless you count the chocolate chip topping, making it four):

1. 1 c. yogurt
2. 1/3 c. sugar/honey (unless served with aforementioned goodness... in which case, "less is more")
3. 3 c. frozen strawberries
   

Makes three servings. I have one, the hub has one, and Monk drinks a melted down version in his sippy cup. Voila! a Summers' treat. Enjoy (and I'll have pictures to show you tomorrow)! *B

one of those days

Where it's yet another cousin's birthday. Happy birthday to my hip and literate (that's what I'm calling her, forever.) cousin Robin! She's now a quarter of a century old, which sounds MUCH older than if I were to say she just turned 25...

I'm sure she'd appreciate some bday wishes from total strangers. HA! ;)

Love you Rob.

i never thought the day would come...

When I'd let my kid eat a hot dog and/or watch Barney. Yet he has done both in the past 24 hours. Kudos to me!

I'd like to take this time to publicly thank Costco and PBS/KCET for making these acts possible. I wouldn't have done it without you.

*photo from Robin. Hope you don't mind...

beth bemoans (near) loss of beard

Brad just shaved and I'm sick about it. Will must have placed the size 2 head somewhere; so the hub tried the #1. He asked me how I felt about it and after I said "I have no response to that", he went downstairs. I'm pretty sure I heard some buzzing down there. *groan* ETA: he didn't shave it all off. He was fixing the sideburns, apparently. Whew.

I'm still working on getting some pictures up in that last post. And we have some exciting prospects/developments happening right now that I'm getting antsy to report on... all in due time my pretties. :)

let freedom ring!

This here photo is a picture taken with the new and highly tooted iPhone. We stopped at the Mac store the other night and got to play with one in person. I took a picture of Monk with said phone, emailed it to myself with aforementioned gadget, all whilst my boy was playing with one! Fun times.

PS- For all you overly observant folks out there, John Appleseed is the pseudo name they must have set up for the phone. Those clever dudes! Also, I'll post some pics from the actual holiday of this past week in a wee bit... Expect an ETA!!!

*credits: everything is from Chere Edwards' Red Dye #3 kit that I mentioned before. Seriously, you need to go get you some! Oh, and click here for the entire list of credits, if it tickles your fancy! :)

have a jolly fourth

Happy Independence Day everyone! Don't you wish you were here??? :P

I'm looking forward to today's festivities... Oh, and happy birthday Jo!

*credits for temporary header: Paper from Erin Hooper of Chickypow Designs, brad and inked edges from Gina Cabrera, baby chick and leaves from Nancy Kubo.

AND the ribbon is from Chere Edwards' new Red Dye #3 kit
(perfect for all of those peppy pictures you'll be taking today!) Check it out!

all in the name of fun

Look at my handsome bro yo! He's gone now. It's amazing how fast a week goes by. We did a few things and I hope Kory was somewhat entertained. Good thing he's happy with a SpongeBob SquarePants marathon (as am I), or else it would have been a total bust of a week! But I do have some pictures to share of what we kept ourselves busy with (minus boob-tube profiles). I'll post them later though. However, I will have you know that a lot of MY time was filled with watching The Office (especially those last five minutes of the last episode of season two! Jim is dreamy, no?) and a fifth viewing of Ned's Declassified Field Trip. I'm a hook-up junkie!

Also, some fun things going on over at Heather's and Jenna's blogs, check it out! Some serious summer sport, such as an awesome acronym contest and a brilliant bottle swap! I repeat: check it out! Later gators!