Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Chicken Bacon Autumn Chopped Salad for Dinner


This is what I made for dinner tonight. It was SO good! Even the little kids cleaned their plates!

My menu contains a lot of Pinterest recipes. What's on your menu?

Monday, June 25, 2012

Mini Album Monday. Spend a Week with US!

Hello, welcome! I'm so excited to share this mini album today. It's one of my all time favorites.
Previously, I posted about being inspired by Kelli Crow's class at True Scrap 3 and creating a new collection of mini albums.
The first stack of photos that came to mind when I went to create a mini album was my stack of photos that I took for "a week in the life" last year. I pulled the photos out along with all the ephemera I collected that week. It had been sitting in my closet collecting dust because I had never really been happy with what I had captured that week. Some days I took 50 photos some days I only took 3. I just didn't know how I wanted it put together and honestly I didn't think that there was enough significant information that needed to be recorded.
As I looked through the pile of things that I had collected I realized that even less than a year later our lives were very different. I wasn't feeling well and the things that made our home operate were done by different people at different times and my kids had changed so much! So, I collected all my supplies and in a couple of days this is what I came up with:
 

I love how this album turned out...it's not the fanciest thing I've ever done or the best designs but it is already one of our family favorites!

Thursday, June 21, 2012

A layout to share: Mission Impossible 2

If any of you've had a two-year-old (especially a boy) you know how impossible it is to get a good photo of them sitting still and smiling. Most of my photos turn out as a blur. This layout documents a particular Sunday morning when I was trying to get a good photo of Austin. As you can tell....it didn't work. I did want to document these photos to tell the story and it turned out that I couldn't be too disappointed when I saw those big blue eyes!

Thanks for stopping by today :)

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

What's on Your Nightstand?

I'm always looking for a good book, especially in the summer! I've found a few good reads this summer. I just finished rereading this:




The Hunger Games
I wanted to read it again before I see the movie. Hopefully I can find some time for a Girls Night Out to see the movie before it's out of theaters.

Anyway, here's what's currently sitting on my nightstand:
The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection: No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (13)
I love the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. It's light easy reading that always makes me smile. These are great books to listen to as well.

I also have this sitting on my nightstand:



Imagine: How Creativity Works
I'm only a couple of chapters into this book but it's so interesting. I have it sitting on my nightstand but it's one that I have to read when I'm a little more "awake" than I am right before I go to bed. I try to sneak in a few minutes to read during the day but it doesn't always work out....

So, I'd love to hear what's on your nightstand or some of you're favorite books. I'm headed to the library tomorrow!

Monday, June 18, 2012

Mini Album Monday

Back in March I was thrilled to win a spot in True Scrap 3 from the amazing Jen Gallagher. I came away from the two day event with lots of ideas and the itch to get creating again. I still wasn't feeling great and
I was having a hard time creating projects that I was happy with. Kelli Crow taught a class titled, "Just Get it on the Page." That class was a huge light bulb moment for me. At the time I wasn't able to create beautiful detailed scrapbook layouts like I usually do BUT I was able to just get some photos on the page. So, I started creating and as it turns out most of my photos that I was "just getting on the page" ended up in Mini Albums. Sooo.....I now introduce you too : "Mini Album Monday!" Over the next few weeks I'll be showing you some of my favorites from this collection of my most recent mini albums.

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Happy Father's Day



I've been working on a special project for Father's Day. I'll have it coming up soon on one of my Mini Album Monday's. (You'll learn more about that tomorrow.) But for now here are some of the pictures I've been working with.

A collection I really didn't want...

Yes, that is a pile of hospital bracelets. On February 24th my life turned upside down. I got so sick! I spent lots of  time going to dr's and, unfortunately, emergency rooms. On the 4th of March I had my gallbladder removed and for a short couple of days felt better. After that I quickly went back to being really sick. I'll spare you all of the details and make a VERY long miserable story short. About a month ago I started treatment for Lupus and have been doing very well since then. I'm slowly building up my strength and enjoying the things that I love the most....being a mommy, a wife, an aunt, a daughter, a sister, and being creative again. I'm grateful for my illness in that I appreciate the little things so much more. I actually appreciate the fact that I'm able to take care of my kids by myself again and do all the little things...trips to the grocery store, baseball games, and just being a mom!
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