creative options, literally!

Sometimes unexpected doors open just when you least expect them to! I am happy to announce that I've joined the Amy Tangerine team and will be working with her. I've been around all my scrappy favorites for a few weeks now and it's been such a great feeling. I truly have missed it and am like a kid in a candy store, seeing all the new stuff I've missed out on! There will be pages to share in the future but for now, a little video that my girls helped us out on with the Creative Options systems! :)

August 20, 2014 2

fig + mascarpone tart

A friend gave us a boatload of figs from her tree and I was thrilled as they are one of my favorite fruits and they can be pricey at the grocery store! The kids aren't crazy for figs but I wasn't either when I was their age. So excited to be able to use a bunch of figs for this tart, guiltfree and still have a ton leftover for other ways of eating! Threw this tart together from this recipe I saw on pinterest. I decreased the honey in the filling from 1/2 cup to 1/3 cup and added a handful of blueberries and raspberries to the figs.

sigh. :)

August 15, 2014 2

hello :)

Last night I had a dream about scrapbooking. I'm sure it was because I happened upon a page of mine posted on Pinterest and that got in my head somehow when I was off in lalaland. (My favorite place to be) I don't remember what I was doing exactly, but I think I was at CHA and I was flipping through an album. I remember being SO happy. Like, it was fast forwarded to today and I was back scrapping and I was like, how did I ever stop? I know why and how I stopped. My children got older and I wanted to share less. I wasn't comfortable putting too much information online of them. Els was still fair game cuz she was a baby. But now they've all gotten even older, and I'm the mom who's looking back and reading her scrapbooks and thinking, I AM SO GLAD I WROTE THIS DOWN I TOTALLY WOULD HAVE FORGOTTEN THIS, THANK GOD! And oh wow, that's a nice design, and that paper- ohhh i loved that paper and those stickers! Oooh. My ❤ fluttered remembering the feeling of it all. A few months ago I realized I had some credit in my 2peas cart and bought a handful of things. I was so excited when I spotted that familiar box on my doorstep, the rush of ripping it open and feeling it all. Then I put it in my stash and haven't thought about it until last night.

2014 has been a great year for me so far. A new way of taking care of myself as my little ones don't physically need me taking care of them as much. I still am here for them 24/7 and care for them in other ways than chasing after them and taking them to the park like I used to. It's like a little spark fired up and with baby steps, I'm discovering me again. I hope that I will revisit that stash of supplies and get my thoughts on paper like I did before. It truly is such an amazing treasure that I am so glad to have. Here's to 2014 and baby steps.

March 22, 2014 4

that kind of day

where i am frustrated and grumpy and whiny and should not be writing a blog post. i should walk away. and plant something. or bake something. no, no baking, i've been eating way too much cake lately. just frustrated with life and the process of growing up. i should be so thankful that there are so many possibilities.. i'm just frustrated with me and my comfort zone and the need for it to expand and breathe and just get out there.

i saw this picture on my tumblr feed, i'm probably one of the very few who is actually still at tumblr, i've fought off every desire to start my pinterest account, i just know it's something that i will lose many hours of my life in. anyways. i want to go there. i don't know where it is or where it's from, but right now, it looks divine. could i just sit there with all that light pouring in and eat more cake?

February 3, 2012 5

and then felicity porter came into my life

–thanks for all the sweet comments on the post below, wow, seriously sweet you all 🙂

soooo this isn't about my kids at all. a total frivilous post for ME, wow. who knew.

13 years ago i heard about this show but didn't watch as i am the kind of person who needs to watch it from the start and not miss a thing. well cameron was born that year, so tv wasn't a high priority in my life. it's not even a priority now, we don't even have cable tv, we just watch online. to think how different tv watching is now, is just crazy. i can watch the 83 episodes back to back without commercials now, on netflix. and that's just what i did. in about a month, i did it. lol. it's kinda embarrassing to admit such a thing but oh well.

one time my friend and i were talking about how pumpkin pie lingers after thanksgiving and how you just want to eat it all the time, and she said, just eat it all and then it'd be all gone and you don't have to worry about it anymore. well i applied that to my felicity watching. it started out on my ipad, while i was working on my main computer, i could get through 3-ish episodes at a worktime. (i actually got a LOT of work done because it made me want to sit and watch and work! ha!) so once i was hooked in the first season, i figured, i just need to get through these 4 seasons and i could back to real life. well i sped through the first 3 and then realized that after 4, it would be done and all these characters that i grew to love would be gone from my life. so i savored 4. taking days to finally watch the series finale.

and now that it's done, i am going to try and get chris to watch it all over again with me. i doubt he will but he appreciates good writing and i believe that this show was written well! besides the switch of the opening title sequence, there isn't much to not like about the show.

i loved felicity. i loved new york. i loved javier and megan. i loved felicity and ben. i loved the letter she wrote to ben near the end of the show. i loved the first 2 seasons black and white photography opening title sequence. i loved all the music they played on the show. i loved the scene where she asks ben to write in her yearbook. i loved all the dean & deluca scenes. i loved her short hair. i loved how they said the word hey at least 10 times a show. i LOVED it all….hands down one of my favorite series.

do yourself a favor and watch the opening sequence 🙂

October 24, 2011 22

back at it

I miss these summer mornings of sleeping in. Each morning, I hit the snooze button and groggily get out of bed and make lunches like a robot. But it's good, life is good. Everyone is back into their routine, I'm surprisingly not crawling back into bed as the kid's all leave the house 🙂 I've got this year to really focus on what I'm going to do in the next few years. All growsed up. The kids and me. Haha.

September 14, 2011 2

my little corner

i spend a lot of time here 🙂

get lost print here. stay in bed print here. compassion print here. family photo by jonathan. cool print husband took from here. calendar by snow and graham, given to me by my lovely friend at dots. other small drawings/paintings/lego construction by elsie. 🙂 and even chris' high school graduation pic of him and i there too 🙂 the fabric covers all my extra harddrives and airport box and all that fun computer stuff 🙂

February 18, 2011 6

tea

morning cup.

and afternoon cup.

my tea essentials:
harney chocolate mint tea. i've moved from individual tea bags to buying it in bulk 🙂 i love it that much.

tea strainer. i actually couldn't find my exact tea strainer, chris got it for me as a gift from new zealand. but this link has some nifty looking ones, that srawberry one is too cute!

tea kettle.

tea cup.

i also recently printed this print that chris took at the marvimon and have it displayed temporarily above the stove. i love it so much i want to enlarge it for my kitchen wall 🙂

that's it. i have just been loving so much interior design stuff that i see on the internet, it really can suck up so much of my time. proof here 🙂

so i've been trying to be better at documenting my own home and learning to love it as it is 🙂 i am ever so grateful that i have a warm home to live in, a great neighborhood, etc. i am, i am.

January 27, 2011 8

mini cha visit

here's my little post from cha, super tardy. i know that these same sort of pics are all over the web already, ha!

studio calico's booth was awesome. i love their simple but totally amazing eye candy. every layout in that booth was AWESOME. they have such a great team!

cute japanese tape!

one of the lines i am most excited about. dear lizzy! her display was too cute. love seeing all the details in real life!

anna griffin butterflies!

making memories is coming out with a cool jewelry line with jill schwartz! i actually made a necklace and love it! i don't think i've ever done make and takes at the shows but this time i did a few! how could you pass up those cute little trinkets!? i'm hoping kira wants to do a jewelry making party this year for her birthday 🙂

more butterflies! (making memories booth) this reminded me of a jellyfish of butterflies. all made from the slice. i want that thing so bad! but apparently not bad enough to take a picture with the vespa 🙂

more tape! this is from pink paislee. love the cute designs! they have some pleated ribbon that looks just awesome too!

i want to do this 🙂 (doodlebug booth) next time i see cute wrapping paper, i want to frame it 🙂

i'm excited for margie's new line. you walked into her booth and could just see the hours she put into making the statement she wanted to. there were so many amazing details. i love the big pink lanterns the best. we know these convention centers are not pretty! i love how designers are trying to pretty-fy them 🙂

highlight of my day, spending time with my good friend, shannon and seeing her layouts in real life. i forgot to get a pic of us together, so her in her layout will do 🙂 there's something about seeing layouts in real life that just gets me. especially shannon's. there's always so much more texture in real life, like that pink flower- it's pop dotted. one of my favorite layouts of hers ever!

other company booths i forgot to take pics of but are totally worth mentioning:

october afternoon, jenni bowlin, KI memories, cosmo cricket,crate paper, hero arts 🙂

it was a good day for sure 🙂 chris told me that his day with the kids went fine and just as he was putting elsie to bed, she rolled over and started whimpering, mommy…. and guess who walked in the door 🙂 perfect timing 🙂

February 3, 2010 8

home

i had such a great time at CHA yesterday. i have to download my pics and i'll write up a little post. as usual, i look and see and talk and then i walk away and realize i forgot to take pics. or i just feel dorky whipping out the camera 🙂 i wanted to share one of my latest obsessions. tumblr. i know it's been around for awhile, but i recently turned mine into cool things I see online, in hopes to reduce my bookmarks on my favorites and just load here as i see 🙂 here's mine if you want to take a peek 🙂

January 27, 2010 3