Shimelle sketch

For the first time in a couple of weeks, I actually scrapbooked a real page! I used Shimelle's sketch for this week, which I really liked. I love using 4x6 photos, and she is makes awesome sketches for those.

I also used my recent studio calico kit. The background papers are two sides of the same sheet of paper. I also used the border stickers and cardstock from the kit. The cards and tags are all very random that I grabbed from my stash. Some are pretty old, which I love! I cut the little house out of a 12x12 piece of paper, so glad to finally use that cute paper from Pink Paislee.

Weeks 11 and 12 (caught up!)

WEEK ELEVEN:

In summary: lots of cooking and health food this week. Lattes! Lots of visiting Pippa. Saint Patrick's Day! James and Josie visited me!

I added a gas receipt this week because I paid FOUR DOLLARS! Ah!

Pippa is so cute at three weeks old!

I also added my ferry ticket from Whidbey Island back to Seattle.
James and Josie visited me and stayed two nights! I cooked for them a bunch, and even broke out the old espresso maker to make lattes. I hope to start using that more often again. I french braided Josie's hair on Thursday night, so of course I added a photo. :)In the last slot I put a white and green striped paper and wrote on it diagonally. I LOVE that technique and I learned it from Elise Blaha. I thought the color was fitting and I had a lot to say about our St. Patty's day, so that pattern paper was very fitting.

WEEK TWELVE:
This week was nearly the opposite of last week, in that instead of cooking and eating healthy, we went out for most of our meals and ate TERRIBLE! It was a lot of fun and I took a lot of cell photos. I added a baseball card page protector in the center to place all my extra photos and a few business cards.

In the first slot I added a "Fabulous" journal card that I got from Renae. Its from a Smash pad. Isn't that photo with the latte and pastry amazing? Just look what they did to that powdered sugar!
Here is the back of that baseball card page protector. Unfortunately the photos aren't very bright or exciting, so it really doesn't add much color to the spread....but I guess it tells the story!
This whole page is about Saturday in Ephrata. I took a lot of photos and had lots to say!

Project Life Week 10

This week was three weeks ago! To summarize, my week was full of girl scout cookies, using my new instax camera and taking photos of new flowers arriving at Green Lake.

I just love the little note I got with my two boxes of thin mints. How cute! I had to include it. I also grabbed a photo of my crazy expensive tiramisu from Palominos.
It was fun using my Fujifilm instax to take some random photos around the house this week.
I added part of the thin mints box since it was such a big deal this week. I also put that photo in of Amy and Orlando because she sent it to me. The other box has the key tag to my car and a little reciept with the battery test....just love it when the car needs work!I keep recording my daily work outs on a little card each week. This week I added a note from my mom from a Starbucks gift card that she sent me.

Thanks for looking! Not very exciting scrapbook wise...mostly just photos and writing. I did sprinkle a few Martha Stewart products throughout! Can't live without those. ;)

I am taking it easy today...

...I just ran a half marathon this morning and I am dead tired!


I am so glad I finished and did fairly well. The official results haven't been posted, but I know I finished around 1:52. Not a complete PR, but still five minutes faster than last year's time.

And boy did it hurt. Now I know why I train up to 12 to 13 miles before the race. This time my longest run was 10 miles and I pretty much faked it for 10 miles. Three miles is A LOT to run by sheer will. I hit a major wall around mile 9 and pretty much convinced myself to run step by step after that.

But now its over! I made it! My body feels good, only my toes are a little sore. So overall it was a success, I must say. :)

Here I am at the beginning of the race:
I wont share my finisher photo because I am making a super ugly face. (Couldn't help it!)

And now that I see myself in spandex I am even more motivated to LOSE SOME WEIGHT! I don't like carrying those extra pounds with me on those long runs!!

Thank you everyone for your support. :)

My week in cell photos

I have been neglecting my Project Life book for the past couple of weeks. I am going to order photos soon and hopefully update within the next few days!

Lately I have been using my cell phone a lot of capture little details of life. I usually leave my SLR at home so I've had a hard time taking pictures when I'm out and about. But now that I've made the effort to whip out my cell phone, I've been able to keep track of lots of little stuff.

The past few days I have been eating out a lot! Its just so easy. That's probably putting a slight delay on the good health/weight loss, but what the heck! I am having fun.
1. Eating dinner at the Allens. 2. Matty holding Pippa (cute!) 3. awesome rose on our table at Thai Ocean. 4. Yummy kale/spinach soup at Grateful bread. 5. Top Pot old fashioned (ha!) 6. massage bed after my massage on Wednesday (amazing!) 7. leftover Thai food. 8. Chai latte at work. 9. Spring rolls at Thai restaurant.

Its been a pretty good week so far, and its only Wednesday. I am glad I can appreciate the little things.

Crazy week

Here I am eating Irish Soda bread (don't worry...counting these calories!), watching Crossing Jordan on Netflix, and uploading photos from my week!

Its been a little nuts around here.

Over the weekend Matty and I were on Whidbey Island cooking for a high school church retreat.

We stopped for a little clam chowder and fish and chips on our way...
It was a fun and different experience cooking in an industrial kitchen! I got to use an enormous mixer to make biscuits...
The photos I took were few over the weekend, but I did manage to capture a few fun details. The first photo is a blurry shot in the reflection of the window, just shows what the kitchen looks like. The people around me were like "what is this crazy person doing taking a photo out of the dark window?" Ha. ;)
(See that awesome cheesecake and Martinelli's? We got to have some too. :) I guess you saw that other photos. :) )

We had so much fun at the retreat, but we were crazy tired when we got home. The time change has completely NOT helped.

We got to see Pippa a couple of times. She is sure cute. 4 weeks old today!

James and Josie visited this week! It was super fun to have them around! I loved cooking lots of meals at home and we sat at the table to eat...something rare in our house.

I made carna asada and pica de gallo...Matt's favorite meal. He gobbed it up. ;)

I got the chance to break out the old espresso maker and made lattes for my bro and sis. I am totally going to use that more often.

We went over to Josh and Ellen's and James got to hold Pippa for the first time. He looked so cute with a little baby!
We finished up the evening last night with a fun fairy tale show and I braided Josie's hair...a good way to end their visit.

Well those were all the juicy details of my week! Not exactly the most exciting in the world, but its been fun and definitely busy. I am so glad J and J are back in Washington!

Happy almost St. Patty's Day!

Health Update

I have been working on my health for about a week now, and honestly I can say it was a very soft start. Sometimes its hard to quit eating junk food RIGHT AWAY, especially when there are thin mints involved.

Last week I started food journaling. But I ended up eating girl scout cookies almost daily and eating some ice cream on Thursday night. I just wrote down what I ate, and didn't pay attention to the calories. My weekend was spent cooking for a church retreat and I ended up eating WAY TO MUCH food.

See? Here I am eating delicious cheesecake with berries and cool whip. NOT a smart choice.

So now I start again.

This week I went to Costco and Trader Joe's and spent the big bucks buying healthy food. I precooked healthy food for the week, such as chicken breast and hard boiled eggs. I bought LOTS of veggies that would be easy to add them to salads.

My fridge is now packed with healthy foods! (and looks like it needs some organizing! We don't use the bottom two drawers because then we forget about our veggies and they go bad!)

Starting yesterday I counted calories again, something I haven't done for over 6 months. I truly, truly hate counting calories, but it is honestly the only way I have ever lost weight. Sad! Yesterday my calories were 1695 and I did one hour of exercise (spin class/weights).

Today so far my calories have been great and I did an hour of exercise.

I made myself an awesome salad this morning for my lunch and I just had to photograph it! Its so handy having healthy food available! I love those mini oil and vinegars. I got them last year at the Seattle marathon in my goody bag and I keep refilling them.

Today I have been snacking on healthy things like almonds and an orange. I have been trying to pare fruits and nuts together.

Tonight I took a cell photo at the gym...just for fun. I did the Step Mill for 20 minutes after 30 minutes elliptical, which is my cross training work out (running tomorrow). It was actually pretty hard and now I feel exhausted!
So far I'm doing well. Can't wait to continue this healthy way of life and hopefully shed a few pounds!!! See you later. :)

Bike Collage

This collage makes me so happy because it really summarizes our summer 2011! We had so many bike races and Matt did a couple of triathlons. I'm glad we are an active couple that has access to so many fun events. Its been a blast. I can only hope that summer 2012 will be just as fun. :)

Project Life Week 8 and Week 9

Week 8!!

This was a couple of weeks ago.
Some highlights: Taking food photos again! I love eating raw oatmeal with my yogurt. Added a few text messages from friends. I got a lot of those this week. I ripped an address off an envelope where Matt's name was spelled completely wrong. Because we have an obscure last name, people often spell it wrong.I didn't take as many photos this week as I usually do, but I ended up doing a lot of writing. The top photos are taken at a Korean restaurant on Capitol Hill, one of my favorites! I got my mom hooked on Bi bim bop.I love the photo of Matt and Pete in the back seat of my car. Even though it was taken on Sunday the following week, I wanted to add it in here (for lack of other photos.) They looked so funny crammed back there!

Week 9:

(Now, just a warning, this week contains personal miscarriage information. I am totally okay with sharing but if you will be grossed out or disgusted please don't zoom in and read.)
Thai food. Anne-Marie in town. Watching the Oscars. 14 Carrot cafe.

Receipts kept. Notes from the doctor kept. Matt's new gun (for PS3). A St. Patricks Day cupcake. The way-too-much-information journal card. A note from my boss. Recording my exercise again. Eating lots of quinoa. Leap Day!

These weeks were hard. Lots of ups and downs. I'm glad each day is getting better and better.

A mountain bike collage (my favorite) is on its way!

Project Life Week 7

I have been hesitating to post my Project Life pages for the past few weeks.

I was inspired by this post to just be honest about life and talk about the good and the bad.

Week 7 of this year I got a positive pregnancy test (yay!) after two or three negative ones. Unfortunately this last week I had a miscarriage. I know this may sound way too public and exposing, but I am not upset that I documented and will remember this little short term pregnancy. Matty and I were pretty attached to the little poppy seed growing inside me.

I don't think there is anything wrong about talking about it. I am glad I told people that I was pregnant because I had so many people to lean on when I found out it wasn't going well! I am so, so grateful for my awesome girls (You know who you are.) :)


On a positive note...at least this week 7 was full of fun and exiting things! Valentine's day! Froyo! A valentine made just for me by my awesome husband! Mom came to town.

On the title card I used one of the foldable journal cards to write down some more personal thoughts and then I secured it with a cute paper clip. One of the journal cards I made by myself...its the aqua one...and I love that I placed the lines vertically. I think it adds some fun to the album. I used a lot of Martha's labels this week!
In the second part of my week, the highlights were my new instax camera (LOVE THAT!) and the arrival of Elle's new baby Pippa. We were so excited to be at the hospital when she arrived and meet her in the first few minutes of life. Also, as you can see, I ate a wonderful Pink Cookie! I also did some organizing with my mom and including the business card from Storables. And yes, there is that lovely pregnancy test for all to see.

To end this post on happy note, the gal who wrote the blog post that I linked is now pregnant again! She is 11 weeks pregnant now, even though she lost her first in December! This is very encouraging news. :)

Soon I will post weeks 8 and 9, as soon as I get them photographed.

For the Love of Dessert

I'm glad everyone liked my collage from yesterday. I truly do love coffee and take every opportunity to to snap a photo, especially when beautiful latte art is concerned!

Maybe I should also mention that almost all of these photos are from the last year of my life. If I went back farther, I would probably find many more. :)

That said, here is my second collage!

Its all about dessert! There is quite the variety...cake...cupcakes...chocolate. I had no idea that I was so regular at whipping out my camera and taking photos of my dessert at restaurants. I use my cell phone a lot, but as my friends can attest, I often tote my SLR to any random restaurant for dinner.

Collages like these make me very, very happy that I take tons and tons of photos. :)

I got so addicted to collage making last night, that I also made one for Matt that depicts all of his biking from last year. Again, so glad I have photos!! I will share the biking collage soon! (We should call this collage week...ha!)

For the Love of Coffee

I had a great idea inspired by this blog:

(If you click on the collage, you can see it larger!)

When I look through my Picassa albums, its pretty clear that I love to take photos of certain things! I have another collage I will share soon. This is so much fun, I might just keep doing this!

Since I'm in a lot of these photos, I know that I handed the photo to Matt and said "Here take a picture of me with this coffee!" What a good sport. ;)

New Health Goals

I need to lose weight!!!

This is a common phrase that's heard around our house. Unfortunately, at the moment, its true.

I am not extremely fat. But I have gained a few pounds recently.

I am a huge believer in getting those pounds OFF before they become lots of pounds.

Lately I have been brainstorming how I am going to lose a little weight. I'd like to use some of the principles from the Paleo diet, but not ALL of them. I'd also like to eat "Clean." I definitely need to incorporate more veggies into my diet, THAT is clear.

I am also back to the gym full time. Its been a little while since I've been a 7-days-a-week work out-oholic. Now its time to get back into that groove! When I exercise more, I am a lot more happy!

Another goal is to spend more time walking. So far this week I have walked around Green Lake three times, and plan to walk again on Thursday. Its wonderfully relaxing exercise, and a great way to get outside when I normally would just curl up on the couch and drink cocoa. I love to start my day with a good (preferably sunny) walk!

An idea is churning around in my brain. That idea is RUN A MARATHON! I haven't committed or signed up for anything yet, but the idea is getting more and more inspiring. My half marathon is in a few more weeks, so I would just continue the training and should be ready within a couple of months. The problem is finding and PAYING for an expensive race, especially with all the late fees that incur when you sign up within a couple months of the race. The Rock&Roll marathon is $140! Most other races are cheaper, but they are destination races that would require some $$ to get to. The San Juan marathon is sounding pretty inviting...wouldn't mind hanging out in Friday Harbor!

Anyway, I know this post is long winded. I just wanted to get out a few thoughts. I hope to update here once a week about my health status and progress! Wish me luck!

Pattern Paper

Today I sorted pattern paper. I LOVE pattern paper. Its a true love and addiction! These pattern papers that I sorted are all from past Studio Calico kits and they are all WHOLE! I also have a ton of other paper so I was surprised to go through all these kits and find and sort the whole papers from the kits.

Aren't they pretty?
These are the papers of a girl who certainly doesn't need to buy any more scrapbook supplies EVER.

Some of the papers I never used because they are too "special." Some of them I just lost track of or never found the perfect place to use them. I hope that organizing them by color will help me cut into them and use them at last.

After all, beautiful pattern paper is more beautiful in an album than sitting in my lap in a row. (Hmmm...maybe they are equally beautiful!)

Here are the backs in the same order. Interestingly, some of the patterns are still somewhat look like a rainbow.
Thanks for looking! This is the highlight of my day. :)