Star+Flower

cough cough

I'm sick and I hate being sick because I can't get anything done. I spent two hours watching this movie and it was killing me having to just sit there. I kept thinking about how I could've been burning some calories on the treadmill. So to keep myself busy (because the movie wasn't that interesting) I decided to make a happy list.

1. My "Melancholy" playlist in iTunes.

2. My current favorite song there: Somewhere Only We Know by Keane

2. One of my favorite blogs: Posie Gets Cozy

3. The 7Gypsies Revolving ATC Holder sitting on my desk right now. I'm excited to make some ATC's!

4. New favorite font found in MS Word: Futura Lt BT

5. Fruit-flavored beef jerky

6. Hawaiian papayas

7. Looking forward to watching Elizabeth: The Golden Age

8. The backyard is clean.

9. Online shopping

10. Maintaining my weight. After so many years of yo-yo dieting I can see a little light at the end of the tunnel. And I feel like I've been at a rest point for too long so it's time to get up and go again...after I'm not sick anymore, that is.

Found this at the One Good Bumblebee blog. Thought it would be fun to do! You should try too!

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) -
Flower Sequoia (Flower was a hamster)

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) -
Vanilla Sugar

3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) -
M-Gur (doesn't sound very fly!)

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) -
Aquamarine Unicorn

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) -
Alcantara La Union

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) -
Gurmi (totally sounds like a furry alien)

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink) -
The Green Diet Pepsi

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) -
Porfirio Alberto

9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy) -
Stargazer Truffles

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ) -
Dismaya Alforque

11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter) -
Kerschner Kansas (City)??? I can't think of another city that begins with K!

12. SPY NAME/BOND GIRL: (your favorite season/holiday, flower) -
Spring Jasmine

13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”) -
Papaya Pajamie

14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree) -
Milk Cherry

15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”) -
The Scrapbooking Rain Tour

And here's two of my lo's using Story Of My Own's September kit :) The gallery link at the site isn't working right now but hopefully it'll be back up again soon!

Cleaning time yet again...

I spent the last few days dealing with lower back strain. I'm pretty sure it happened because I was digging holes in the backyard for our new plants, but it was weird because I didn't feel it until the next day. After Aidan's TKD class was over, I got up from my seat and all of the sudden there was pain. I couldn't stand up straight and I had to walk real slow. I'm still not at 100% but I'm so happy it's getting better. I haven't exercised for a week and I can feel my tummy bulging.

I'm still waiting for the SOMO August kit so right now I'm taking advantage of this bit of free time to clean my desk, but I always get so distracted. The computer is right in front of me so I'll check on all my favorite crafty blogs or browse through Etsy. My desk never ever gets really clean. My current banner is a great example of me being distracted. I thought, "Hey, I'll just put all these little things together and see what I can make out of it since I never know what to do with it all!" Really, I have baskets full of things that just don't belong anywhere.

Here's a couple layouts. The first is one I did for mR aka flyingmichelle. It was really suppose to be a swap but I didn't have any pics to give her at the time! Her family is so cute and Mia likes looking at this page because she's big on Dora and Diego.

And here's one for SOMO's July kit. Always handy with the camera now, I took this picture from our first time seeing Mia after coming back from CHA. It was so sweet how Aidan missed her.

And another thing about Aidan...at the end of his TKD class the Master will call out the kids who did well and they get colored tape put on their belts. Aidan was 3 for 3 this week. Not only are Allan and I proud, but he gets real excited too. We hope he sticks with it until he reaches black belt because that would be a sight to see.

Thank you to all my friends who commented on my previous post! I really, really appreciate it!

The First Happy Thing Today

I can finally reveal my latest! And this really is happiness...

Click me!

No scrappy for a whole week!

Allan and I have been on an organizing/cleaning frenzy and we've realized that we have alot of clutter. Baby gear, furniture, clothes, toys...our house is bursting with stuff so in two weeks we're planning to have a garage sale. (Aidan's really excited about this. He thinks we can make ALOT of money.)

I had a bit of free time so I thought I'd play around with my collage items. I'm so interested in collage but I haven't had time to delve into all the cool techniques I've read about in books and magazines. I recently purchased the latest of Somerset Studio though and it was really inspiring. Here's what I came up with...

I really didn't have a purpose or even a working title to this and I realize now that that's the first thing I should have thought about, just like a scrapbook page! I was just working around that main picture and trying to make the page look romantic. Oh, well. I also need to collect more items for my collage stash.

I got a great e-mail and I will share about it soon.

I also had to make a trip to Target because of the 300 movie and I snagged the last deluxe edition DVD that they had. Yay! Or should I say, "HA-OOH!" I can't wait to watch it again.

So...who wants to be on the design team for October Afternoon with me? Click here for the details. In case you don't know, it's a new manufacturer that just debuted at CHA. Their products which include paper, rub-ons, and acrylic stamps are just wonderful. Really...you have to try out for this!

My Mother's Day

After Allan and I got married, we didn't give a thought to having children right away(at least, I didn't). I was immersed in school and work and it was like that for 3 years. Then we had friends visit us in San Francisco and they brought their babies with them. I didn't realize until that time that I had such a soft spot for babies. I saw how they took care of them...dressing them, feeding them, pushing them around in their strollers...and all of the sudden I felt like something was missing in my life. I don't remember how our conversation went, but it was after that fateful visit that Allan and I decided to have a baby. A month later, I was pregnant.

When I had Aidan, it was then that I realized that my purpose in life was to be a mother and I am so thankful that I am able to be just that. I'm thankful even more so now that I have two children to call my very own. When I think of them I feel as if my heart has grown too big to be contained within my body. That's how much I love them.

Flowers from Allan. My favorites...lilies and roses. They make the house smell gorgeous.

We had lunch at Max's of Manila at West Covina with Dad and Mom G., Lee and Marie, and my Mom.

If I didn't get anything today except these two shots, I'd still be one happy Mom. I snapped this one just before we left the restaurant. I just thought that that was the prettiest blue to have ever been painted on a light pole and Aidan's smiley face always gets to me. I clutch my hands to my chest and sigh. I can't believe he'll be seven years old next month.

A flower amongst flowers. I printed out this picture and I can't stop staring at it. And I just placed an order with Kodak Gallery for 16x20 posters of these pics.

Thank you to our Moms for everything!!

Random 7

I'm so late on this, but I was tagged by digi-extraordinnaire, Cathy, so here it is! (Thanks, girl!)

1. I came to the U.S. from the Philippines when I was almost 7 yrs. old. I had to learn English pretty fast because I went to school only a month after I got here.

2. I was a melodramatic, angst-ridden, poetry-writing teenager and I use to cuss alot, but Allan cured me of my potty mouth.

3. I love to hum/whistle/sing.

4. I was a huge anime fan. Robotech was/is/always will be my favorite.

5. My favorite manga was Crying Freeman. Mark Dacascos portrayed him in the live-action version and I'm upset that he's now playing the "Chairman" on Iron Chef America. That just ruins it.

6. I love McDonald's french fries.

7. My first job was working at Arby's and after that I vowed never to work with food or at a restaurant ever again.

So let's see...I tag The Girlahs (if any of you guys haven't done this yet)!

Also, Happy NSD (National Scrapbook Day)! I'm headed out the door soon but to celebrate I did buy some more scrappy stuff. And I know she won't read this but thank you so much to the wonderful Jen Harrison for THIS. How awesome is it when you get an e-mail from someone who you've long admired and for them to say that they like your work? Pretty awesome, I say! And I saw alot of people whose work I adore featured too. Needless to say, my BOS has gotten bigger just from today.

random

I am so behind. I've got some e-mails to answer (I haven't forgotten, Jenny!), laundry to put away, bills to pay. Lots of catching up to do plus I'm working on April's SOMO right now. Another thing I need to do is take more pictures. Maybe I'll be even more inspired when this arrives.

It was busy last weekend! I went to Gigi's baby shower and it was great to finally see her preggo belly in person :)

Then Allan and I took the kids shopping at Toys 'R Us on Sunday for some fun outdoors-y toys. We got Mia a sandbox and a car that we push her along in. She loved it at the store so we couldn't resist getting it. I can just picture her riding in it while taking late afternoon walks with the family. We got Aidan a new scooter since his old one is rusted. He's also waiting for the Pokemon Diamond DS game. OH, and we bought Mia 4 Teletubbies DVD's. Now she can watch them over and over. (insert sarcastic cheering)

I made a new banner! So I must give credits: Rainbow paper and cloud by Audrey Neal at The Lilypad. The radio is a font called Deejay Supreme at dafont.com. Other fonts are Velvet, Arial, Arial Black. Swirls brushes by Rhonna Farrer, plus I'm so happy I learned something new from her rounding corners tutorial at 2Peas. Stardust brush is from a site that's no longer available. Lyrics are from "Starry Eyed Surprise" by Paul Oakenfold.

I took this photo 3 years ago. I'm craving flowers right now.

Ten (#1)

1. The movie, 300. It's been added to my list of "best movies ever".

2. Tropical tea from Curry House.

3. Versafine ink for stamping.

4. My shorter hair and the stylist who talked me out of cutting more off because I know I would've regretted it.

5. Being outdoors.

6. Trying to eat out less and cook more often.

7.  Mia's purple faux crocs from Babies 'r Us.

8. Our ceiling fans. According to the calendar, spring hasn't arrived yet it feels like summer.

9. My never-ending quest for the perfect bag.

10. And these two always....

   

the sked

wow. It's the end of the week already! Allan finally returned today from Minneapolis and I'm really glad he's back. The hours just fly out the window when he's gone. I've been subsisting on frozen White Castle burgers because I don't really care too much what I eat when I'm alone. It only takes a minute to heat two little burgers. Add an ice cold glass of Pepsi and I'm good to go. I know...that sounds totally bad! This is what it's like when he's gone:

Wake up at 6:30 a.m. - fix Aidan breakfast, make his lunch, feed Lola, sweep the floor, wake up Mia and get her ready.

7:20 a.m. - drive Aidan to school

8:10 a.m. - back at home, breakfast time for Mia and me

9:10 - 10:30 a.m. - clean up time/craft time/play time

10:30 a.m. - naptime for Mia and sometimes me when I've stayed up too late the night before

12:00 p.m. - All My Children

1:00 p.m. - make/eat lunch, usually takes an hour

2:20 p.m. - pick up Aidan from school

3:10 p.m. - back at home, rest/play

4:00 p.m. - help Aidan with his homework, 30 min - 1hr

5:00 p.m. - make dinner

6:00 p.m. - eat

7:00 p.m. - Aidan's bath time

7:30 p.m. - Aidan's reading time

8:00 p.m. - Aidan should be in bed, Mia and I hang out a little more or I give her a bath.

9:00 p.m. - Mia's bedtime but it takes her between 20 min. - 1 hr. to fall asleep

10:00 p.m. - Take a shower

After all this I already feel depleted. I don't know how Moms with more than 2 kids handle everything. Anyway, so when Allan's home he usually brings Aidan to school which helps me more than he knows.

   

This picture was a random shot from my desk yesterday and I love it. The Fontwerks stamps. I love the message on the "relax" one. I love that starflower stamp because...well...it's called starflower and it's pretty. The M stamp which is a new favorite (thanks, Jenny). The create. mug I bought from Paper-Source. My Uniball pens. Paint. All that stuff was out because I was working on the new round of CJ's for my Girlahs. Woot!

iTunes has been very helpful to me in the past few days to get my energy up...way better than caffeine. 4 In The Morning by Gwen Stefani and Want It by Danity Kane have been on repeat.

I did this page after being inspired by this awesome scrapper. I bought some fabric last weekend and I made some flowers with them. I couldn't resist using one on a page.

Speaking of flowers, Prima has a new contest going on! Check out the blog for the official rules!

February 12

I woke up this morning to a horrible crashing sound and I thought, "Oh my God, Aidan fell down the stairs!" I ran out and found him in the bathroom getting ready to brush his teeth so I asked him what happened. Already he starts crying and says he didn't want to tell me but he was just wanting to see if he could climb up with it. And then I look down and see the towel bar on the floor. Crazy kid. I couldn't get mad at him because it was just so silly but we decided not to let him play with his video games for a couple of days. 

Then afternoon came and I had such a wonderful mail day. My Stampin' Up order arrived. Two junque boxes (the flower and Valentine ones) and journaling cards I ordered from Jenni Bowlin. And my secret Valentine gift from sweet Amber C. who I will forever love because of all the wonderful things she thought to give me. Thank you so much, Amber!!

I stayed up late again just so I could play with some of the new things I got. I've been wanting to scrap this picture for a while now. The background paper and the journaling card with the birds are new MME (Tres Jolie line) that I scored at CHA. The tiny ricrac and lined journaling card are Jenni Bowlin. And the pretty toile fabric and puffy hearts are from Amber. (Really, I just can't over the cool stuff from Amber.)