Nana's influence

Good Afternoon!! Keshet over @ Ella is talking to various scrapbookers about how their scrapbook styles influence their home decorating. Today was week two, in I think a series of five. So it got me to thinking about it myself, I don't think that my scrapbooking style has influenced my decorating but there are items that I have decorated with that inspire how I hope to scrap one day. Currently I scrap in a very clean, straight line way. I wish I could take more risks, I want my pages, when appropriate to be more whimsical.

This is why; my Nana is an amazing crafter...one could say she is an artist. It doesn't matter what it is, she ROCKS it. A few years ago the local symphony (of which she volunteers for) played a concert, my Nana was in charge of the floral arrangement. Needing a theme, my Nana and I looked over the playlist, the last piece had to do with fairy tales or Cinderella ( I wish I could remember what it was). I said it would be really cool if she could use that as a theme and she did. She made two arrangements, for one she used a old beautiful shoe ( it was sparkly) and the flowers over flowed out of it and the other had flowers spilling out of an old garden boot. Amazing.

So back to home decor, my Nana made me these.

They currently hang in my bathroom. There are actually 6, my sister Patti has the other 3. She painted them on leftover bathroom tile. I remember that tile, even though her bathroom has gone thru a few transformations since she made them when I was a little girl. Can't you feel the whimsy? I have no idea where she got the idea from but it wouldn't surprise me if she saw something a tiny bit similar in a magazine and ran with it, making them completely her own (something I'm still trying to learn). She does this all the time, she once saw homemade knitted Christmas stockings in a magazine and thought "What a great idea" and that year we all got stockings for Christmas, with Christmas trees and snowmen on them, all of them different. She had no pattern, it was all out of her head. When it comes to crafts and art she has no problems taking risks. My sister Patti, is like that too.

Keshet's article got me thinking about these tiles and how I wish I would take more risks. So, when I come back from Punta Cana with my vacation photos, I'm going to take more risks when I scrap them. I'll keep you posted on how I do.

Laugh out loud and vulnerability - what I learned from Boy Meets World and Shawn Hunter.

This week I re-visited my adolescence( something everyone should do now and then) and watched the 3rd Session of  Boy Meets World. I know, I know it's a big jump from The Vampire Diaries to Boy Meets World but I survived the transition. I watched the whole season in one week, and laugh, did I ever laugh! Like right in my belly laugh. I can't even really remember the last time I did that. Maybe when I was reading PS I Love You last year (way way way way better than the movie, sad sure but laugh out loud hilarious, and I did, in a crowded Dr's office). But the truth is I take life way too seriously sometimes, I needed to be reminded to laugh. To remember the care free times of my life. Boy Meets World was defiantly a care free time in my life. Every Friday night my whole family would sit and watch it, Mom, Dad, Patti and Danny, even the twins when they weren't babies anymore. Family night, I miss that. Something I hope I can continue when I meet the right guy and have a family of my own.

As any pre-teen can tell you, some of our very first crushes come from TV. I can remember my very first one, Jerry O' Connell My Secret Identity, I was maybe six years old at the time. Anyway Boy Meets World was not lacking in crushes. Both my sister and her best friend Alie -our next door neighbour - loved Shawn Hunter aka Rider Strong. If pressed I would maybe tell you I was on Team Cory but in truth I had a soft spot for Shawn Hunter. Even at 14 I wanted to bring him home, feed him a nice meal (French onion soup b/c that's all I knew how to make) and save the poor boy. It's still true. I love checking in with actors I haven't seen in awhile, so yesterday I googled Rider Strong.

And I found this blog http://strongbrothersmagicshow.blogspot.com/ written by himself and his brother Shiloh.  I read the would thing. Do not let his Shawn Hunter good looks fool you, this guy is smart, talented and funny. Again laugh out loud funny! I was captivated by both Rider and Shiloh's blog posts. They were real, genuine (same as real right?) and vulnerable. And while vulnerability makes me sad sometimes when I see it in old men, particularly sick ones (it makes me feel sad b/c they use to be these strong young men and now their not), it shows great strength in two "cool" young men. It takes guts to show that. It occurs to me that vulnerability was lacking in my past relationships, neither guy was able to be vulnerable with me and b/c I had been so burned by the first guy b/c I was maybe too vulnerable, I couldn't be vulnerable with the second - he wouldn't have been able to handle it anyway but this is not the point of this blog post. I wish I could be more vulnerable sometimes, particularly surrounding my faith. I'm very shy about it and I shouldn't be. It's a huge part of who I am and where I'm headed.

Back to the Strong brothers, I think you should check out their blog. I promise you will laugh and you might even learn something too. I bet you'll go back b/c I know I will.

Ten on Tuesdays

I decided to play along with Kim over @ It's a crafty life and share my ten on Tuesday. The object of the game is to share ten things - anything, as long as there are ten things.
So I decided to share ten random thoughts about my week so far.

1. I am all caught up on my scrapbooking (which is why I'm playing Ten on Tuesday). I wont have anything to scrap until I go away in 17 days. What ever will I do?

2. Last night the phone rang; "It's Alex Adair calling." My five year old cousin. He asks me to donate money for James' half birthday. Then James gets on the phone and gives me the details. James is shy and Alex is not, which is why Alex called and James didn't, even though James and I had a conversation about his half birthday @ Christmas. You see James is a great kid, very aware of other people and he likes to do good but then he gets embarrassed about it, when he gets praised. I can relate to that. Anyway to the point...a few years ago for his actual birthday, he really wanted a DS and some games and my aunt and uncle told him that they would get it for him, if he asked the kids coming to his party to donate to the local Animal Shelter, instead of getting gifts. He collected money and pet food and was even in the paper. Anyway this summer his grandma died from esophageal cancer. It was quickish.....from diagnosis to heaven but it was a long summer for my aunt and her family, my uncle and the boys. So in order to help James cope better, gain some control and in the interest that James likes to help other people they are having a small half birthday party for him, no gifts just donations to The Canadian Digestive Health Foundation http://www.cdhf.ca/main.php . This is an amazing web site and a great cause. I can guarantee that everyone knows someone who has a digestive disorder be it constipation, Cohen's, cancer, whatever. If you think you don't know anyone, it just b/c they haven't told you. So when Alex asked me for money, this was an easy yes.

3. I'm still reading Roots. Is it bad that I'm having a hard time getting through it? But I'm determined to finish it, all 900 pages.

4. My brother got me the 3rd season of Boy Meets World for Christmas, kinda as a joke. So funny! I'm enjoying watching it again.

5. My future sister -in- law has been put on bed rest. Five weeks to go until Jumanji is due. I'm a nurse, so I know that if she were to be born now, she would be okay. But it would really be better if she can wait a couple more weeks. I can't wait to meet you Jumanji but I want to be able to hug and kiss you when you get here, so you need to get a little bit bigger.

6. I'm getting really excited about my trip. And nervous, even though I've done it a bunch of times the airport part always makes me nervous and security. Even though I have nothing to hide, security freaks me out.

7. I have the best Dad, he is going to re-cock my bathtub and shower while I'm away. He's also going to feed my fish and bring in the mail.

8. My CPR class that I missed in December b/c of the weather, is rescheduled for Friday.

9. This weekend my church celebrates 100 years of the building. I love this building, it always feels like home.

10. Sometimes finding ten things to share is very difficult.

Thanks for visiting!

Creative Scrappers - 139- Christmas Elf

Yesterday I played with this sketch from Creative Scrappers.

This picture of my step-niece was taken the weekend before Christmas @ my Dad's house.

The holly leaves were a failed attempt of a snow flake (it was actually too large for the LO). The holly are actually little gold snow flakes that I cut from a Christmas card.

Let's Capture these Sketches - 67 - 4*1 Christmas Party

Hello! I hope everyone is enjoying their snowy Saturday. I would love nothing more than to stay in today but I have a mission, to find sunglasses for my up coming DR vacation. I also have a retirement party to go to this evening.
Anyway here is a Christmas LO. The ball embellishment I cut from a Christmas card I got this year. I like that it isn't your typical red and green combo, I think the purple looks really nice.

I used this sketch from Let's Capture These Sketches.

Whatever you are doing to day, enjoy it!

Sketchy Thursdays - 1.13 - Fall 10

It's Thursday!! And you know what that means, another fab sketch from Sketchy Thursday.

Just finishing up my garden pics, only some fall and winter ones left. Here's my take.

In other news, my tickets for my trip to Punta Cana in Feb arrived. So stoked! I really need this vacation, can't wait. Then shortly after I get home I'll be getting a new niece. Yep Feb is going to be awesome.

Pencil Lines 220 - Remember?

Hello all. This week I played along with Pencil Lines again.



Here is my take.

It's a LO about some tree ornaments I have been collecting when ever I travel. It appears I have spelt remember incorrectly....I better go fix it before the glue drys!














In other news my oldest friend Carrie just had her baby boy on Monday. I can't wait to meet him.

Vampires, sunshine, the civil war and Pencil Lines.

What do these have in common, one might ask?
Well that is how I spent my Sunday, in between watching Vampire Diaries and working on a LO based on Pencil Lines 219th sketch I went for a walk. Aside from beaches and sunsets there are fewer things more beautiful than the sparkling snow on a sunshine filled winters day.

There is something you should know about me, before it was cool to be "into" Vamps, I'm talking pre-Twilight - heck pre-Buffy even, I've loved vampire lore. And aside from that and Stefan and Damon of course, the Vampire Diaries has something else I love. The fictional town of Mystic Falls has a rich history surrounding the civil war..something else that I really love. I became interested in the civil war after reading a book in the sixth grade called The Root Cellar by Janet Lunn about two Canadian girls who travel to the US to try to find their friend after the war is over and bring him back to home to Canada. Since then I have always liked reading fiction set in that time period and that has lead me into my interest of slavery. I love that the town I live in was one of the last stops north on the underground railroad. Funnily enough, I'm also reading Roots right now. I love when everything connects!

As for Pencil Lines I created a LO based on this sketch.

It's called "I am what you see, I am not what they say but if I turned out to be, would you love me anyway?" It's a song by Tyler Hilton, who if you didn't know played Chris Kellar on One Tree Hill (some thing else I love). I think everyone feels this way sometimes. I know God sees the real me and I wanted to make a LO for my faithbook to remind me of that when I forget it.

I hope everyone did something they enjoy today....I know I did!

Sketchy Thursdays - 1.6 - Grand Dad's Cookies.

Today I played with this sketch from Sketchy Thursdays.

Here is my take.

The sketch worked perfectly to tell the story of Grand Dad's Cookies. Since it is probably difficult to read here is the journaling in a nutshell. These are Granddad's cookies, they are called that b/c they were my Grandpa's fave. Recently my Grandma told me the story behind Grand Dad's Cookies and why they have no name. When they were courting during WWII my Grandma worked @ a bank. One of her co-workers had a brother overseas. She told Grandma about how she and her mom made these cookies for her brother and sent them to him. He always looked forward to getting them b/c they never arrived stale and they were always intact when they got to him, unlike cookies the other mothers sent their sons. My Grandma told Grandpa about them and he insisted she get the recipe and they have been his fave ever since. My Grandma never learned what they were called and that is why we call them Granddad's cookies.

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!!

Welcome 2011!

Happy New Year!! I hope everyone enjoyed their night last night. I can't honestly say I'm sorry to see 2010 go. While it started off pretty great, with the best party ever...Matt and Emma's wedding, it kinda went down hill from there. I spent the first half of the year dizzy everyday before finding out they were stress migraines and then the last half of the year with joint pain (rheumatoid arthritis). On the bright side though,while neither one of these is going away anytime soon, they are both being treated and I am learning what I need to do to cope with them. People that I love have lost people who meant alot to them, my step-brother and step-sister lost their dad, my Nana lost one of her best friends and her uncle (not to mention she was also still settling an estate for a neighbour who had passed the previous year), and my Aunt lost her mom (my cousins lost their Grandma). We also lost two of the ladies that go for lunch with us on Sundays to the Boot and Blade.

Not to be one who only sees the negative though, there was some good in 2010:
Matt and Emma's Wedding.
Miranda Panda was born (she is for sure a child of my heart...Fez jokes that she could actually be mine...apparently after she was born, both Fez and her mom looked @ Randi and said "she looks like Christa").
Ollie was born.
Camping with the whole family.
My sister got engaged.

I'm really looking forward to 2011. Lots of amazing stuff is happening, my oldest friend is due with her first any day now, Jumanji will be born, I'll get to spent my 30th with my new niece, Punta Cana for Jenn and Darryl's wedding, then their recpection here and April's wedding.

I've also thought about my New Years resolutions. This year I will drink more water, I did this a few years ago and was successful. You might ask why if I thought I was successful am I doing it again...well I was successful @ drinking more water @ work but not so much @ home, so my goal is to drink more water @ home. My other resolution is to pray more...with intent. I live alone, so I talk to GOD all the time..but rarely pray with intent, so I'm going to do that more.

I also like to make wishes for the future every year but instead of wishing to be a wife and mother someday (as I said I talk to GOD alot..I don't need to wish it...he knows), I wish to be an amazing Aunt, a great sister and a wonderful friend. I wish to love more, laugh often.

I hope everyone has a laughter filled 2011.
Cheers.