Thanks for all the prayers and thoughts! The surgery went fairly well but there's still lots of stuff to happen in the future.

I spent some time yesterday hanging out with my friend, Leigh. It was the first time we've met irl and it was SO AWESOME! We've been emailing back and forth since before Christmas and have become good friends. It was just so nice to give her a hug and hear her voice and talk!

Tomorrow I get to go to Banff and Lake Louise for work! I don't think I've mentioned lately how much I love my job. I really, really do! We're doing some training stuff with some of our guides so I get to tag along, enjoy the scenery and take lots of photos!!! Afterwards, we're having a BBQ. I can't wait. It sure beats fighting with our new accounting program. I won't even get into that. I have to say, I wish I could spend all of my Mondays like I will be tomorrow!

I got some scrapping done this weekend. YAY! It was all stuff with the May kit for Scraptivity, which is released tomorrow. Cute, cute kit!

I hope you have a great start to your week!

Please say a prayer...

some one very near and dear to us is having a pretty serious surgery today. Unfortunately I can't give you any more details than that but I would appreciate your prayers.

p.s. I would load my projects from the weekend but alas, I haven't finished any of them. I'm one of those slow scrappers and so of course, when I take a class, that doesn't change! LOL! I hope to finish a couple of them this weekend though and I'll share then. :)

B'bye!

So yesterday after work, I said good-bye to 6 inches of hair! Wow, does my head ever feel lighter! I LOVE that it takes less time to blowdry and uses less shampoo!
Jonathan took this photo of me after I came home. Of course, it looks different today because I don't spend as much time styling it. I am really happy with it. I was rather uncertain yesterday because I'm never crazy about the way they style it at the salon. I always need to do it myself to see if I like it or not! HA! That's the real test. And yep, it passed the test - I can blowdry it and go, exactly what I wanted!

Weekend Update

So the first class of the day for us was with Donna Downey. This woman is amazing. She is so funny, so full of energy and so down-to-earth and friendly. Her class was this mini envelope book - it's from one of her books and is really cool. The best part of the class was when she shared her mantra, "you are perfect just the way you create" and then she said "so for the next 2 hours you are perfect. There is no such thing as a mistake, it's a creative opportunity." Holey cow! It was so liberating - just what I needed to hear. I've been putting so much pressure on myself to be perfect and she totally freed me from that.

Our next class was the Cactus Pink class with Candi Higley and Kristy (can't remember her last name). They are the two girls sitting in the front row of our class photo. It was a little all about me album. It was an 8x8 piece of chipboard with 8 4x4 pieces attached to it that flipped open - super cool and their paper is GORGEOUS! They also have the coolest matching brads, rub-ons and rubber stamps. These ladies were awesome and I LOVE their product.

Then we took the Heidi Swapp class taught by Janet Hopkins and Kara Wylie. We made this super cool fold-out frame book using their pink and brown frame kit. It was such a cool idea and I've eyed those frame kits so many times but never knew what to do with them. HA! Now I want to go and buy them ALL!!!!! So yah, those classes definitely sell product, that's for sure. Janet was a riot - so funny! This class was really cool, they just guided us along rather than telling us what to do so it gave us lots of room for creative freedom. And yep, this photo is on my mom's camera.

The next class was with Becky Fleck from Basic Grey using the new Urban Couture line = drool = gorgeous! We used one of the Bazzill accordian albums that comes in a cool holder. It was awesome! And that Becky is a hoot! She is totally hilarious! She tells the funniest stories and she made me fall in love all over again with BG! Yet another photo that is on my mom's camera.

Then the final class was with Danelle. WOW! I have been a fan of hers for a long time but this class just blew me away. Her product is SO AMAZING. I want ALL of it now. I can't even express how much I loved it all. And she is so sweet. We made a travel tag book using her canvas tag book, transparencies, papers, rub-ons, and stickers. She had those bags jam packed full of stuff. It was like Christmas. We also did an altered clipboard in her class too. YUM! I think product-wise this was my favorite class.

Whew, it was quite the weekend. It was just awesome to hang out with so many amazing ladies who love scrapbooking as much as I do. It was especially awesome to hang out with Mary and Claire. The three of us teach classes at Scrapbooker's Bliss in Calgary.
We did lots of shopping and I am itching to use my new stuff. Of course, my mom SPOILED me again. She bought me the Designing with Digital and the Designing with Greetings books!!!! EEEEKKKKKSSSS!!! So happy about that. She also got me tonnes of other treats. Love her so much!
And we stayed at my great aunt's house while we were in Edmonton. This woman is incredible. She is one of the happiest, sweetest people I know. She generously let us come and go as we pleased, eat her food, and use her bathroom and bedrooms. I am so blessed to have her in my life.
I can't wait until the next one! ;)

An amazing weekend!

Wow, what a fantastic weekend! Why do they always go by so fast and it's suddenly Monday morning though?! Sigh...
I haven't had a chance to download my photos yet so when I do, I'll do a little explanation of the classes but it was absolutely, totally and completely AWESOME! I am finally feeling inspired to scrap again - that is a good thing!
Now to catch up on that sleep I missed on the weekend...

A quote

I read this quote on Ali Edwards' blog today and absolutely LOVE it so I thought I would share.

"The majority of us lead quiet, unheralded lives as we pass through this world. There will most likely be no ticker-tape parades for us, no monuments created in our honor. But that does not lessen our possible impact, for there are scores of people waiting for someone just like us to come along; people who will appreciate our compassion, our unique talents. Someone who will live a happier life merely because we took the time to share what we had to give. Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have a potential to turn a life around. It's overwhelming to consider the continuous opportunities there are to make our love felt." -Leo Buscaglia

This is the kind of life I want to live.

My next class

So here is the layout I finished up last night for my class. It was too late (and I was too tired) to scan it last night so I photographed it today. The green isn't that 'yellow' irl, it's more green, a nice green. I used the new American Crafts paper and a Heidi Swapp mask. The photos are of a friend's little girl. I just have to add a brad to the center of the flower by the title and I want to add her initial to the center of the other flower but I gotta pick those things up at the store. I did the mask on a transparency for both the title and the big part, that way I could just put it wherever I wanted it on the cardstock, just in case I messed up! Hehehe! Oh and if you click on the layout, you can see a larger view!
TFL!!!

Apparently...

I haven't been updating my blog enough lately! My mom was wondering why I haven't been around here much. Sorry everyone! To be honest, I'm struggling with what to write about the whole 21 day art journal challenge. I'm just not sure what to say. So I guess I'll just do a little update...
We had a very quiet, low key Easter weekend. I think it was the first weekend ever that we have not spent time with our families. We stayed in Calgary and just relaxed (well, at least I did). I made a ham dinner on Saturday night and we went to church on Sunday morning but other than that, it was quiet.
Jonathan's been asked to teach a spring course at Rocky Mountain College (the school he did his undergrad at) so he has been madly trying to write that. It starts next Monday and I'm sure he's wishing he had another week to complete it. He's definitely feeling the strain of working 2 full-time jobs right now. I'm trying to be as supportive as possible by doing lots of cooking and cleaning and helping out but I must say, I'm kinda looking forward to him being finished so I can have my husband back again. I am VERY proud of him though for doing this and starting to live out his dreams (he would LOVE to be a professor some day).
I haven't done too much scrapping lately. I've been feeling pretty burnt out after entering HOF and then doing the 21 day challenge. I'm still working on some stuff for classes (which I hope to finish and scan tonight to share) and I entered the Maya Road contest. But other than that, I haven't done too much.
Instead I've been reading lots. I don't usually let myself start a book when I'm super busy because I have this problem where I can't put it down until it's finished. So because of that, I haven't read much for months and months. My mom gave me a whole pile of books at Christmas time and I finally got through them all. Yesterday I started the Chronicles of Narnia, at the beginning with 'The Magician's Nephew'. I read 'The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe' right before the movie came out but that was my first exposure to the books. I figured it was high time I read them all so that's what's on my bedside table right now.
This coming weekend, I'm heading up to Edmonton with my friend Mary for the Urban Scrapbook Convention. We're meeting up with my mom and aunt and a whole bunch of other ladies to take some classes with Donna Downey, Danelle Johnson, Becky Fleck from Basic Grey, Candi Higley from Cactus Pink and Kara Wylie from Heidi Swapp. I am VERY EXCITED!!!!!! I'm sure we are going to have an amazing time!
And that's about it for right now!
Happy Monday everyone!

Hmmm...

I've been in a real funk lately with pretty much everything in my life. Just kinda blah about stuff but thankfully it's coming to an end. I think I've realized the solution: warmer weather! Spring is in the air! While we are far from having green grass and leaves on the trees, I did manage to see some pussywillows and a couple flowers that have popped up in the backyard. Hmmm... photo op?! Definitely!


I absolutely LOVE this time of year. It feels like the earth comes back to life and so do I!

Day 21 - FINALLY!

Whew! I finally finished the 21-day challenge. It was a lot longer than 21 days BUT I did it and I'm really proud of myself for doing it. I'm printing off the comments left on each day of the challenge and putting them in a pocket on the back of the page of the day they go with so I will always be able to read them and be encouraged by them. Thank you ALL of your kindness and generosity and for sticking with me on this journey. I wish I could give you all a big hug!

So here's the final day...

The journaling reads: The 21-day challenge has taken me on quite a journey, a journey of self discovery, healing, awakening and change. It definitely has not been an easy journey but it has definitely been worth it. I have started to see myself in a different light, a new light, a good light. I have started to allow myself freedom, which is something I did not do before. Freedom to be myself, to express myself, to start to love myself, to find joy, and to start to dream. I have always been afraid to dream. I am afraid of failure and rejection and hurt and because of this, I have squashed who I was created to be and have actually hurt myself even more. So while I think I will continue to struggle to love myself, I believe I am finally on the right path, moving in the right direction, taking the right steps, doing the right things to get to the place where I am confident in who I am and not afraid any more.
(I printed the journaling on a transparency and used one of the HS masks on the back of the transparency.)

Happy Birthday Mom!!!!

She's beautiful, amazing, strong, generous, caring, kind, thoughtful, warm, giving, energetic, talented, loyal, and she makes THE BEST cheesecake! :) I love her and am so blessed that she is my mom!!!!!
Wishing you a year filled with so many reasons to celebrate, Mom! Happy birthday!

Dear Faithful Blog Readers:

My apologies for not posting Day 21 yet. Life has been SO busy lately. I know what I want to do, I just haven't had the time. And now I am in the middle of another accounting course this week (just an easy 3-day course) but of course, it comes with over 100 pages of reading each night. HA! So my guess is that I won't have a chance to work on my entry and update my blog with it until Friday. It's coming, I promise!!!!!! Thanks for your patience!