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!

good news everyone

The stolen/lost/misplaced items from the swap have returned! I found them today. So I'm sharing them with you so y'all can find some closure. I have. Ah, sweet relief.

In other news, Jenna is drawing the winner tomorrow for the set of quick pages! Hurry your cute little butts on over there! And I know I've shared my QP already, but I just wanted to show you my first two page layout! Exciting, eh?

Truly, life is good.

these are a few of my favorite things

So those of you with sharp eyes may have noticed that the Favorite Things Swap banner has been replaced with another project. That's because, my friends, the aforementioned swap is over (and much thanks to Kelly for putting it on and pulling it off!). Sadness. But not really, because it was lots of fun! So I wanted to share with you the trinkets that I sent off to my dear partner (on their way, actually) and the lovely goodies that the sweet Christie gave me:

Awesome? HECK YES! So fun huh? Apparently we have a lot in common because I loved everything I got! Especially that she, a self proclaimed scrapbook snob (aka. the hard copy kind), gave me some "crappy" stuff annnnnnd a digital scrapbook magazine. How thoughtful! But here's the sad part: I can't find two of my gifts that she sent me! Christie also gave me a wooden "B" that is begging for a coat of Mod Podge, etc... but it has gone missing! I know I saw Will admiring it and carrying it around the house... hopefully I will find it soon and share the pics, because it really bums me out not having it. My partner also sent me a mini Sharpie pen, but my husband used it and now I can't find it either! Boys, grr.

And what do we have here? Here's a little peak of what I sent to her, wrapped. Poor thing, she just barely moved! That's right, she participated in all of this while moving across the country!!! So this little package is on its way to its new destination at her new home. I hope it will brighten her day:

And if you happen to be my swap partner, cease reading now!!! I want to show everyone else what is underneath all that pretty (and inventive ;) wrapping:

And this is what is inside the tin:

I hope she likes it...

that's uncle with a k

"K" stands for Kory, the handsome devil of a brother in the above picture (the one holding Monk, who calls him KaKa). He's coming to visit me today!!! I mean, he's coming to visit US, for a week! I'm so excited! So I thought I'd introduce him and let you know that I just might be a little MIA for a few days. We've got big plans.

You see, both of my brothers are extremely talented. Brother #2 (Elder Adam Borgia, at least that's what we'll call him for another 3 weeks!!!) is a fantastic artist and writer. Don't get me wrong, Kory is also talented in those areas. But where he really shines is in creating _____. That's right, he can create pretty much anything (hence the blank spot). He just finished up his Eagle Project last week and needless to say, I wasn't surprised with what he put together:

So this week my brother and I will be crafting side by side. We've got big plans. Last time we were together we made these. So yeah, I'll see him in 4 hours. Yay! And I think we'll start our adventures this week here. We'll be sure to take lots of goofy pictures of ourselves, our adventures and our creations. I'll keep you posted.

*credits coming

are you a goober too?

I was inspired by my Heather to do yet another photo shoot of myself. But this time, as the real me, the nerd that I am. And I decided to make it a tag! Yay, my first made up TAG, how exciting! Anyone and everyone can play. So here's what you do: Have a personal photo shoot that shows who you are, normally (even if you're not normal...). For example, I'm normally in my pajamas which mainly consist of a t-shirt from the high school days (most of them I've stolen from my brother) and yoga capris (No, it's NOT because I work out in them... I'm lazy. For reals.). My hairstyle of choice? A pony tail of sorts. In these pictures I also have my bangs pinned back in a poof (Yes, I have bangs! I feel another shoot coming on, shoot!). Also necessary: glasses. Yes, I have contacts, but I choose not to wear them. And if anyone would like to purchase me some new chic pink glasses from Michael Kors, you're more then welcome to.

Now it's your turn! It's profile time.
HINT: you may want to wash your mirrors...

credits: they'll get here, eventually. *B

swamped in scrapping

>>>

Take it slow
Take it easy on me
Shed some light
Shed some light on me please
Take it slow
Take it easy on me
Shed some light
Shed some light on me please
-- Feist*

*new theme song (top right)

CHECK IT OUT: Miss Jenna Nelson of Littlebird Design is having another blog contest! Let me hear ya say woot-woot! Hollaback girls and go get ya some!

it's a daily thing

We watch this movie at least once a day. It's Monk's favorite. He dances around excitedly as he waits for it to play. And we faithfully watch the show on PBS/KCET every morning (8:00AM sharp). George is Will's long lost twin, birthed from another mother...

PS- I'm in love with Jack Johnson. We all are, really.

update on the ruminate

I think we have kicked the habit. The bink habit that is. I'm a little afraid of being so optimistic, but I think Monk is seriously done with the thing. He did manage to find it one day and sucked on it quite contentedly until I noticed he had it. But with the pulling of that plug, then and there, I believe it is over. For reals. *grin*

Also in the works is getting Will to eat like a proper adult. Yes, I realize he's almost two, but now is the time to teach him, right? Right. I always get comments (from the grandparents or land lady) that he doesn't look like he's suffering from any want of food, accompanied with a warning to not make him fat (pllllllease!). It's just those tricky cheeks of his because he really doesn't eat that much. And ever since the weaning of the bottle and such I always worry about what kind of nutrition he's getting. I'm sorry, but animal crackers, gold fish and gummy bear vitamins don't make the cut in my nutrient dense category. And he's not a cow. He needs to sit down and have a meal with the rest of the family, non-grazing like.

Anyway, what I've been trying to say is that now with the pacifier out of the picture, we've moved on to the next step of growing up (which is sad, him growing up and all *sniff-sniff* But I am his mother and I have been given the task of mentor...). And that step is sitting at the table and eating the food that is placed before you. A few days ago it wasn't going so well. We had to bribe him with chocolate chips. For each bite of chicken/pasta/peas he was awarded a chip. Whatever he didn't finish he had for breakfast paired with the aforementioned bait. And we are happy to say that we haven't had to pull out those big guns since! No more bribery, no more tantrums, just some "quiet" family meal time. *sigh*

He's getting used to the fact of feeding himself, which is somewhat ridiculously frustrating (it's not like he hasn't done it before, countless times previous!). So for now me and the hub tag team him. Most of the time if you were to ask Monk if he wanted a bite he'd say no, but he will still open his mouth and take a bite when we tell him to. And we're starting to give him his food on "grown-up" plates with matching forks so he can eat just like mom and dad (why is it that he wants to eat what's on our plates but not his???). Tonight he did actually take a few bites sans parents, hallelujah! It's still a work in progress but we're definitely moving forward. And I must say, it really is nice to have us all sit down together. It's something both Brad and I grew up with and something we both value and deem necessary to teach our children. And seeing as Will is on the forefront of the rearing process, it's just nice to see some responsiveness.

PS-No, I haven't given him sushi since the picture. Although he does now eat close to two bananas a day, in the style of wandering, no less (we do allow him to snack on fruit and such. It's just a different story come meal time). But notice the dishes? Aren't they so cute? Thanks Target, oh how I love thee (and the Easter Bunny *wink-wink*).

credits: Ribbon from W&W CCC Obviously Orange, staple and frame from KSKdesigns, SP ScallopedBorder, "Yum" chalk sign from Scarling_dinnerparty (also found at Shabby Princess).