crossroads

This past weekend found me drained. More on that later...

I've decided to take a break from the big, bad blogosphere (yay for alliteration!) and re-evalaute my life. Priority management, my friends.

In the meantime, enjoy some fabulous artwork à la Aglaia Mortcheva. It's definitely on the fun side of weird. Naturally, I love it! ;)

And no worries, I'll be back. *B

what exactly is "project: BS"?

Between battling fleas, coping without a husband (curse you law school!), and fighting the z's, I've been busy with a little side project of mine that I lovingly refer to as BS. HA! Those are my initials though... funny sidetracking story: Brad and I had a window-washing company up at the 'burg called B.S. Window Washing. We thought we were pretty clever.

Anyway, back to the big news I've been holding over your heads. The fabulous miss Jenna Nelson and I have collaborated on a couple of projects. The end result: Baby Bee Good's "the Album"; AND, "the Bonus". Lots of time went into the creation of these beauties. Jbird's talents were poured into making her beautiful kit and I then turned around and spent lots of time (due to my perfectionism) working on the 8 paged quick album AND more than 60 total elements. And both are being sold in real live stores (ScrapDish and DragonFlaireStudios)!!!

In favor of celebrating the birth of the LBD and {B}dreamy team AND in an effort to honor all you birthday folk (there are a TON I've noticed, outside my family), I have a present for all you visitors: Yay, another freebie! This here is what you might call a super-mini kit: pretty pink and texturized paper, my first attempt at wordart along with the rest of the sample pack of the aforementioned "Bonus"! I am so excited with how this turned out and I hope y'all are too. Isn't it purty?

http://www.4shared.com/file/22738922/c8b8ce87/Basic_B_Goodies.html

So go ahead, get you some "Basic {B} Goodies" and "bee" good to you and yours! Enjoy! :) And don't forget to stop and say hi if you're dropping by... a little thank you note is always appreciated. *B

yet another one

HAPPY BIRTHDAY UNCLE KAKA!!!
Kory turns 16 today. Wowza.

This is currently my favorite picture. My tall (he's getting there), dark and handsome brother holding my sweet baby boy. Oh, and us Summers are the whitest family you will ever find in the state of California...

And tomorrow's the big (and not pregnant) day! Here's hoping at least. *B

the best a girl could ask for

I know I may be a bit biased when I say this, but I have the best husband (I'm truly spoiled)! It may not be my birthday, but I consider Brad one of the best gifts I've ever received, along with the son he gave me... the birth of these two main boys in the life of moi makes for a wonderful month, wouldn't you say? I think so.

Happy birthday honey. Thanks for everything. I love you.

PS- y'all might want to stay tuned these next few days, as there are some exciting developments coming this way... trust me, you'll want to be here ;)
And that's all I'm going to say about that. *B

i guess that's life

Will is now two (with a bike and everything!)
and Brad has embarked on yet another year of law school
(one down, two more to go).

Where did last year run off to?! *B

my very own baby boy

To this very day, in this very hour, Bradley William Summers decided to grace us with his presence. Well, more like the decision was made for him. I guess he really liked his warm and cushy home; he wasn't going to leave it anytime soon. It was a week before his due date and he had yet to descend and engage. A quick ultrasound later confirmed our fears: Will was not just stuck, he was just anywhere other than where he should be. My midwife and my doctor suggested we plan for a C-section. This came as quite the blow, seeing as I'd been setting myself up for a natural birth... needless to say, many tears were shed and prayers were said.

Two days later I showed up at the hospital. I had come to grips with it and was ready for my baby. The nurses strapped me up to the machines and started giving me grief because Will had decided to be head down that morning. So there I was, a half hour from being spiked and sliced, and I'm told that I'm making the wrong decision! You have no idea the kind of roller-coaster I was on; natural birth, C-section, back to natural birth?! I was probably hyperventilating. I decided to wait for my midwife and ignore the nurses. She came in and measured me, thoroughly. Apparently all the angles of my bones in that relative area were too small. Will had a less than 50% chance of making it out through my natural doorway. More tears and more prayers. We made our decision, chatted with Mom (so glad she was there, whew) and Adam (who was on his mission, recovering from a surgery of his own), waited for the doctor, and glared at the nurses.

My team of experts (minus the nurses) was a dream. I loved my supportive midwife, my sympathetic doctor and my super friendly anesthesiologist. I'm not going to lie and say that getting a spinal is a walk in the park. No, there would be no walking anytime soon. I was shaking so bad from nerves (I hate surgery and stuff) and I was freezing, but the warmth of the drugs was pretty awesome. But man alive, that first prick... I've never had such a deep and painful ache like that.

So there I was, on the table, about ready to pop, and feeling SO comfortable and warm. Weird. After a few nice words and glances from my dream team, we were all ready to get this party started. Brad gave me reassuring squeezes of the hand and play-by-play remarks throughout the entire surgery. If I wasn't the one on the operating slab I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall...

Fifteen minutes later, Will came out, feet first, crying and peeing like there was no tomorrow! On a side note, yesterday was the very first day he peed on me! I had such a great track record up until that point, sheesh! But I digress. Anyway, he was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen. And boy, was he big! It wasn't quite love at first sight simply because it was so surreal, and the drugs were really starting to work their magic. But I couldn't take my eyes off him and I was just so happy that he arrived here safely and it was all over; our lives together had just started.

And we couldn't be happier. *B

the Hoopes hookup

Have you ever thought how great family is? I mean really, they're awesome. My father always said, "Friends may come and go, but your family is always there." True that daddy-o. I consider every member of my family my best friend. A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of hanging out with all these said pals of mine. As mentioned before, it was awesome.

A group of us chillin' like the villains that we are. There I am, holding the cute Mr. Matthew, sandwiched between my two handsome brothers. Miss Sam, Dan THE man (aka. Danny), and Kate the babe are there lounging on the floor.

Toward the end of the reunion Aunt K tried to round up some of us girl cousins and came up with this rowdy (HA!) handfull of chicas. I look at this picture and think how lucky and cursed I am to have such related beauties. Bluck, I hate having pictures taken of me, especially in the midst of such beauty. At least Rob is covering up my chin for good measure, whew. I mean, look at these gals! They're always so hip and stylish (especially missy Meggie). And I wish I could still pass as the cute Catlin's twin, like back in the days...

And here's my father, with a face full of sun, pushing and swinging with my delightful son. Boy, did Monk have a grand ol' time running around. I couldn't sit still for more than two minutes, so I kinda missed out on some reunionating. *sigh* But still, I think good times were had by all. *B

why hello there stranger

Voila, my brother has returned! He's fresh meat; just home after 2-plus years from serving in the Great Kentucky Louisville Mission for the LDS church. We (us small Summers clan) were all able to be there to see him at the airport. Hopefully I will get those pictures off of my camera, one day... *grumble* But here's a candid shot of him from the recent Hoopes reunion (thanks Rob!):

He's as sweet as he is handsome ladies! And totally available. Although the hub only got to see him for basically one day, Monk and I were lucky enough to hang out with Adam for an entire week while he acclimated to the "real world". He's the same, but better. There is so much reverence and command in his person, it makes me marvel. I just love him. Oh, and I wish we could go to Disneyland. *B

credits: the wordart was a freebie, alpha by Michelle Godin, staple by ShabbyPrincess, arrow doodle and notepaper from Weeds & Wildflowers.

*gasp*

1. I ate one of these bars for dinner tonight
2. I experienced my "first" one of these last night
3. We were three minutes late to one of these at the grocery store last week
(an attempted one...)
4. We were 2 miles away from this, also last week, on the same day as #3

For reals my friends. *B

credits: label from Jenna Nelson

my poor birdie

Finger that is. I sliced it while making dinner. There was a lot of rosey red action going on, which made me glad that I wasn't married to a vampire. HA! And now it's in a splint so I can't move the knuckle and reopen the wound. You know how ridiculously painful a paper cut is? It's like that and then some.

Oh, and I can only type with my right hand and my left forefinger. Yeah, I thought y'all would get a good laugh out of that mental image!

So my book came to me yesterday, apparently arriving at 11 in the morning. I never knew it was out lounging amongst the mailboxes until 3 in the afternoon. But that was a good thing because I got stuff done (laundry, lunch, crockpot dinner, fluff for Jbird, and I even got some scripture reading in this time! I'm working on it :) So it's come and I've finished it. Now it's time to sit and wait for the renewal of my other obsession known as JAM...

and fret over the loss of my useless camera and my useful finger. *B

credits: wordart by Tia Bennett, frame by Angie Briggs.

random radness

No, dear Mrs. Mushroom, I have not forgotten you or your tag! I've been mulling it over and here it is, for all to see and ponder about {B}. I hope you don't mind me snagging your California bears to aid me in colorifying this here post. And I'm going to break the rules and just post these little random facts about me and invite all to join if you so choose! Enjoy, at your own risk (restrictions apply):

1. I have multiple ear piercings. Two in my left, three in my right, all with my mother's approval/encouragement... years ago, I stopped bedazzling the excessive holes and now I hardly wear any earrings at all!

2. The most rebellious thing(s) I did as a teenager was stay up past my bedtime (home alone, reading in my bedroom) and not clean my room, or make my bed. And if my mother commented on my shorts being too short, then I wouldn't wear them to school, and I wouldn't take them to change into at school either. A relatively tame teen, eh?

3. Surprisingly enough, I consider myself a good liar, when it's necessary... HA!

4. I don't like to talk much, or kiss much, in the morning before I've removed my retainers and brushed my teeth. I hate having morning breath.

5. My preferred method of expressing myself: writing. For some odd reason, ideas and thoughts come to me a lot easier when I'm writing. Especially if I'm typing, then the words just flow. Weird. Also, I feel more like an intellect and admittedly more hip when I write. However, I don't know how to diagram sentences. I know what a noun is, but that's about it. I couldn't tell you an example of a verb, because I don't know one. And you can tell me over and over again what the proper parts of speech are, but it goes in one ear and out the other. Weird. I always said that I felt like I could write by ear (which makes no sense). Basically, I know what sounds right... it comes from all that reading I did as a kid I suppose. Oh, and I'm a picky editor (my essays and papers were always trashed, by my own hand, several times over. Anytime a classmate would see my drafts they'd feel bad for me because they'd think I had a big meanie for a partner. Then they felt bad for themselves when they realized it was lil' ol' me who was the harsh one... but I did good by them. Haha!).

6. I think I'm dyslexic. I had a professor suggest it to me one day. He explained that it's a different sort than just writing backwards; my mind can't handle lots of options. So, I have a terrible time with multiple choice tests, ordering food, deciding what to eat if we don't already have something planned, etc. In fact, it's gotten really bad lately in that I can't follow directions or patterns. In fact, a simple purse pattern, or directions on how to make a proper apron, send me into panic attacks. I do better to just look at a picture or the object in question and figure it out myself. Everything I do or make is just me teaching myself (like digital scrapbooking, or my countless projects...).

7. I was once in a movie, in the opening scenes of a very bad (aka. lame) karate movie. No, I've never seen it. I don't even know the name. That's how lame it is. But I do have a high purple belt in taekwondo.

8. I probably whine "I want to go to Disneyland" almost every day. At least once a week, but more realistically about every other day. It's about as often as me saying, "I love CA!" :)

PS- don't have my copy yet. *sigh, sniff, sigh* I'm using every ounce of restraint possible to keep myself from going to the local bookstore and devouring it! I can wait until Friday, or Saturday. Maybe. But notice my new theme song. It not only reminds me of the book and the relationships found inside it, but also of my ridiculous bond with the work itself! Goodness! Good stuff. *B

vampires and teen romance?!

Uh, yes please!!! Obsessed much? Absolutely.

It's gotten me thinking, how much time I spend (or waste) doing unneccessary things. Some would argue that reading might be one of those things. I for one, am one of those people. Before you come at me with pitchforks etcetera, let me explain. When I read, I obsess. I read one book at a time, straight through. Drinking, eating and any kind of trip to the lady's room (singular lady, as I am the only one in my household) becomes a burden. And sadly, that carries over to the negligence of more important things like, er, my family... of course reading is fabulous, when done in moderation. It's something I need to work on. Much like my other projects and hobbies that end up taking over, leaving my home in shambles.

I don't think I purposefully try to be the alpha mom. I appreciate challenges and competition (minus making people feel bad). You see, part of the problem lies in my genetic makeup. No worries, we won't be talking about the birds and the bees here. But my mother is a creator. She makes everything. And my father? He's beyond driven. So combine those two qualities and you get an obsessor much like moi. It's who I am. It's a strength and a weakness. Definitely something which necessitates balance. But how?

I start to get down on myself because when I get in these zombie like trances, I can see myself from a third person's point of view; I can see Beth coasting. And while I'm aware of all this, I don't do anything to change it. I want to, but at the same time I don't. What's with that?! For example, why can't I bring myself to pour over my scriptures as though they were a stolen copy of Midnight Sun? I don't know! I know I should, and I know I can -- I've done it before, back in the days of college past. What's changed?

I don't know. But I do know that I'll be reading Eclipse in less than a few days when my copy comes to me, straight on through morning. I've gone for almost five plus years without reading anything but textbooks, and scriptures. Consequently, I've forgotten how much I enjoy reading. And how much of a distraction it is for me. Especially when I start thinking silly thoughts about how much I enjoy the written word and how I would like to not only partake of it but also contribute to it. Before I wanted to be a nutritionist (college), or a doctor (pre-college), I wanted to be a writer (pre-highschool, until that one class with that one teacher...).

Wowza, this is quite the rambelicious post (made up words included). Needless to say, I've been going through some soul searching for quite a while. Often that searching is disrupted by things such as my current obsession, which only throws me into an even deeper search fest. You know what I need? A "to do" list. Yeah, that's a good place to start, with the word procrastination towards the top, underneath balance, both in bold letters. Yeah, I'll get right on that... after I read Eclipse. *B

muchos gracias

I'm not even pretending to know Spanish, but one thing I do know is that I have GREAT family and friends! Wow, thanks so much for all your kind words yesterday. I have to admit, I was beyond surprised that such an innocent complaint on my part would elicit such a response from my loved ones. I'm feeling much better, thanks to all the virtual hugs and soup I've gotten. Oh, and check out Miss Maureen's card! Seriously, wow. So here is my thank you card to all you dear hearts:
My head feels like I've over-dosed on some cold meds or something, which is far from the truth (if you know me...)! But really, I'm doing well and y'all need to stop worrying about me being busy because I am nothing more than a lazy person with silly ambitions, HA! Hopefully my camera will decide that it's on the mend too, so I can get some pictures up here from the last week or two. Anyone want to donate one of these to me??? *B

credits: paper from In the Garden, MaryMaryQuiteContrary by SandeKrieger at 2Peas and henna frame from Angie Briggs at ScrapGirls.

home does not find us well

Well, I admit that we've been home for a few days now. But Monday found Monk sick. Sadly sick. After some baby drugs and a blessing, he was better the next day, albeit whinier... so needless to say, I've been going crazy these past couple of days and lo and behold, I'm the sick one now. Here I am, fighting off the shakes, with tons and tons of projects making me more dizzy than I already am from all of their whirling and twirling in my head (ones that need to be completed and started -- including one for Jbird), AND I'm trying to not go mental over my latest obsession. Oh, and I'm also thinking of doing another freebie. Someone tie me down and force some sleeping pills down my throat, I'm tired! *B