Countdown to Christmas!

I have been really pining for the Christmas season lately! I can't wait to bust out the decorations and the gift wrap and spend time in crowded malls! I would say I'm excited for the music too, but I listen to that year round - nothing like a little "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (Ella Fitzgerald style) to keep me breezing through a summer workout :) Haha! I know I should just be content with the summer, but this is totally the way I am. I always need to have something to look forward to if I want to enjoy the present moment. Sounds kind of backward but it's how I roll :)

Also, I have really been loving iTunes lately. I go through music-buying phases where I'm on it everyday and then all of a sudden I abandon it for weeks at a time. Nothing better than finding music that you LOVE and keep hitting the back button so you can hear it just one more time.

So today is my day off from work and I am loving the freedom. Last night while shopping -ahem, working at the store- I snagged a few new things to play with and now I'm so excited about them! The buttons were such a great deal (shown above): you fill up a mini-Gladware container with as many buttons as possible and it's only $5! If you want to buy an individual button, it's 15 cents. So being the mathematician I am (ha! I wish!) I determined that $1.00 would only equate to 6 buttons...not good enough for me. So the Gladware it was!

I love the American Crafts Remarks pack - I think bold letters always tie a page together so I'm excited to dig into those. And the cute little girl icons actually came from a keychain of about 7. They're acrylic and I already painted two because I love them so much! The mini tags are just too cute. Even though I could make them myself, their minature size was just bowling me over so I caved and bought 4, haha.

Last night I came home from work and John was making orange chicken for us - it was so good! What a guy ;) He's become quite the Emeril lately and I sure as heck do not mind!

Today I'm going to workout, pick up some groceries and lord knows whatever else catches my eye at Target, and play with my new scrap supplies! :)

Always thinking...

I'm always thinking about what's next, where I'm going, what I'll be doing, what I'll be wearing, and most importantly, where i'll be living. I don't feel much of an attachment to San Diego. Don't get me wrong, I think this city is fabulous. There are so many awesome things I love about this place, including the swap meet, the weather, Fashion Valley, and even touristy stuff like Old Town and Seaport Village. But I don't know if this is where I want to plant my roots, so to speak. Come graduation, when it's time to make some real decisions about careers and real estate, I want to start fresh and move somewhere new. I have so many ideas: Mission Viejo, Carlsbad, Redondo Beach, Irvine, Agoura...the list is endless! I even think it might be fun to move up to Mammoth Lakes for a short while and experience the mountain life. But then again, that would take me away from my beloved D-Land and lord knows that would be pushing it (hahaha):

So for now I'm staying in SD. Actually I kind of have to if I ever want to get my degree (ha!). And I'm gonna live it up while it lasts :)
This past week I spent some time at home with my family (another reason why I want to move out of SD - 3 hours is too far away!). I got some scrapbooking done which made me feel happy. I'm into using old photos right now that I have had tucked away for too long.

In other news, I won a contest on Kristina Contes' blog! Woo! I was so psyched and still am! Alright, I'm off to workout before I work tonight. Have a great day ;)

Estoy aqui.

Oh my goodness, why am I so bad at updating? I'm always putting it off like it's a ten page paper or something...not quite sure why I do that? So anyways, I have been super busy, working all the time, making money to support my hobbies, haha. In fact, I actually work at a scrapbook store! It includes a LOT of restocking and pricing and doing things you don't normally associate with the glamorous world of scrapping, but it is money in the bank nonetheless. AND there just so happens to be a sweet discount on all merchandise for employees, which I am ever so pleased about, haha. And every once in awhile, when I return home from a long day in the scrapbook world I actually find the time and energy to create!

I was thinking that another one of my friends needs to get married STAT because last summer was so much fun with all of Heather's bridal festivities. And no, it won't be me, hahah! I was going through all my old photos yesterday, just looking for something new and excting to plan scrapbook pages around, and I found so many fabulous things! I love when I forget about what I have and then rediscover it in all its glory - its like finding money in my pocket! Yessss! Tonight I am heading home to Simi to see my family which I am so excited about. It's funny how when you move away, you suddenly feel so nostalgic for home and all the things you took for granted for so long. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, perhaps?

Hmm...

So here we are, back in San Diego, job hunting, scrapbooking, working out, sleeping, etc. This past weekend John and I went hiking over at Mission Trails which was a lot of fun. First we started out on a "real" trail but then we heard a snake rattle so we booked it outta there! Then we decided we could walk along the paved road, which would be the safe alternative to hiking, haha. We like to think we are nature savvy, but maybe we're just better off enjoying it from a nice distance :)

Of course, my scrapbook addiction is alive and well. Actually right now I think I'm not as motivated to whip out pages, but I know I'll get back into it.

A few days ago I downloaded a trial version of Adobe Illustrator and it has been so much fun! John - the former graphic design major- is already a pro at this program so it's nice having my own little tutor to help me work out my computer challenged-ness, haha. I've made a ton of tags and circle journaling spots and little designs that make me feel super excited! Making your own embellishments is fun! But I must say the most exciting part has been my obsession with making "faux" photobooth strips. I just make a photobooth template, resize my photos and drop them in their little slots and wa-bam! Instant photobooth gratification, minus the three dollar fee!

My mom and I really do have a thing for Pottery Barn - it is just so fabulous and their bathrooms are always the best! This particular one in Pasadena was two stories - always a bonus! kinda reminded me of the ones in Santa Monica and South Coast Plaza. See how we are addicted? Haha.

So recently I feel as though my style has been evolving at a rapid pace. Things that used to inspire me no longer do and things I never thought would inspire me have set my mojo on fire! Haha, I always think it's funny how creativity ebbs and flows. Kind of annoying when it ebbs, but I think Ali Edwards is the master of explaining how it is just part of the process. I think Ali Edwards is really just the master, period.

Alrighty, more later! Have a great day :)

Living the life.

I am SO enjoying my time off of school. It has been absolutely great, I get to scrapbook, read about scrapbooks, look at scrapbooks online, and basically live in my own scrappy world. And I also workout and take the dog for a walk somewhere in between all that scrappiness. Haha, I wish I could always be so free! I was flipping through channels on the TV yesterday and came across a scrapbooking segment on the Home Shopping Network. Holy moly, pure velveeta! I swear, these people were just so cheesy and over the top, it makes me wonder who would actually buy things from such goofballs. But anyways, I need to be nicer so I will just zip it :)

Today was amazing, I got to meet up with two of my bestest friends for coffee and catching up. We had such a good time reminscing and sharing our lives as of late. I forget how good it feels to be in the company of those who know you best! Val and Christina, I do love you both! We took some ridiculous photos as well because I am a demanding friend who needs photos for her scrapbooks, hahah. I love this one of us in the reflection of Val's car. I touched it up in Photoshop because I wanted to give it a cool campy, 70's vibe and I love how it turned out. The more yellow and funky it looks, the more I like it!

More "head trauma" photos, haha! When we were in junior high we used to smash our heads together in photos (lord knows why) and we lovingly refer to it as "head trauma." I guess you had to be there, hahaha. Sometimes I think back on all the strange, neurotic traditions we created over the years and all I can think is we were so ODD!!! HAHA! But I love all of my friends, every last one of them...

Mini Vacation

John and I decided to go home for a week to spend time with our families before he starts summer school and I start working full-time and we never see them again. So of course, on my way to Simi, I had to stop off in Irvine for some Scrapbook Oasis loving. Here's my latest loot. So fun! I can't wait to get in there and play around with all this goodness! I also stopped by South Coast Plaza to check out Paper Source. Holy frick, that place is FABULOUS! I can't wait til we get one in Leucadia! They had all types of fantastic-ness, including American Crafts, Jenni Bowlin, Hambly...geez louise! I was hyperventilating, but I was also watching the clock knowing that I had best hop on that 405 before traffic set in for good. Well, it still took me two and half hours to get from Irvine to Simi Valley, but it was worth it. And what a busy weekend I just had! My family came down to stay with John and me for my uncle's wedding. They're all about the free lodging, I tell ya... :) It was a good time, we had fun, I drank everyone's champagne glass at our table and then took two bottles home with me, thanks to the help from my accomplices (i.e. boyfriend, brother, brother's gf), hahaha! Good times were had, as you can see from Andy and Ashley's faces below:

Family portrait right after the ceremony. I don't know why we all chose black (well, Andy and my dad were part of the wedding, so they had no choice!). Apparently we like to offset our albino skin tones... hahaha

Ashley, me, and Mom sweating it out in the Santee sun:

Aww, we just love my aunt's and uncle's dogs so much, especially this little guy named Spud. John is the dog whisperer, they all flock to him and run away from me, haha. I think I love them too much for their liking.

Alright well I'm off to Michael's and Target, just because!

Life, it's so good to have you back

Ahh yes, school is out and I am a free bird at last, thank god! Sheesh, this was the semester that just would not end. It sort of felt like Groundhog's day where I just kept reliving the same monotony day after day...but now it's behind me and I feel so excellent! Lots of new changes in this past week. The biggest change of all would be my decision to switch my major from interior design to multimedia. All semester long as I would begrudgingly do my drafting, model-building, etc. and feel like life just plain sucked, I would ponder other routes to take in terms of a major and ultimately a career. As much as I love interior design and decorating my own personal surroundings, it just was not working for me. Not only that, but it was going to take me at LEAST another FIVE SEMESTERS to finish up NINE classes! Hello, that is just plain ridiculous. I'm already a senior in college! What a waste of time and open units. I could easily squeeze that curriculum into two semesters if only they didn't set absurd prerequisites that set you back unnecessarily. So anyways, one day John calls me at school and tells me he had been looking into other majors that we both could switch to (he was originally graphic design) and says that multimedia would get us out of college in one year (YESSSSS) and we would take awesome classes for it. I was SOLD. As of that day, I checked out of ID mentally and was ready to tackle multimedia with great fervor. So here I am, a multimedia major, doing exactly what I want to do and feeling great about the future... So, ever since I got out of school on Wednesday, I have jumped right back into the wonderful world of scrapping! SO. MUCH. FUN. First order of business was to create these "kits" so to speak, where I pick out a limited amount of supplies and work only with those items. It definitely makes my scrap time super enjoyable and less overwhelming (especially when it comes time to clean up). So I plopped everything into the bag I made (shown above) as well as into my old interior design supply holder (I knew ID was good for something!) and have been loving life ever since!

Also, I entered a challenge sponsored by Jamie Waters on NSD at 2Peas using this layout:

and won this fabulous prize! Talk about excitement over receiving mail! Yessss!

I also started a new scrapbook using this awesome ID binder I found in the trash of the ID supply room closet. From trash to treasure, just how I like it.

And in other news, I made some new decorations for our apartment using fabric stretchers. So fun and easy and a great way to use up fabric scraps and jazz up boring white walls.

Finally, I must say the Office was so great last night! Go Dwight! hahaha, love that surprise ending...

Annnnd, I recently discovered two new blogs from scrapbookers with the most awesome style! I can't get enough of Michelle and Jennifer . Oh how I love discovering new and exciting things :)