Splendid

wanna swap???

i'm super excited to see the atc swap ally hosted last month. the theme was transparencies which i found super fun.  i did mine with a cupcake theme. she so graciously asked me to pick another theme and do a atc in my honor. yay! thanks ally! i picked glitter as the theme, so contact ally ([email protected]) if you want to sign up.  you'll need to make 12 atcs and mail them to her by september 10th. she'll in turn mail you back 12 different atcs. mail her a SASE along with your 12 atcs. so fun, huh?

here's mine again from the transparency swap...

 

and these are the two layouts i did late last night...

summer kiss

if lovin' is you is wrong, i don't want to be right...

i loved this gnome and deer picture. i took it last winter in philadelphia in our front yard. cracks me up. awwww...conflicted love...

and here's some pics of the little bit of the home decor...i'm crossing my fingers that my husband will take me shopping on thursday for plants and more furniture. we still have no pictures on the walls, very little furniture and not one house plant in the whole place. that kills me. although i do buy fresh flowers each week from the little hombres on the corner.

in the cocina, some things i brought with me from philadelphia...

new flores...

the view from my kitchen window, it doesn't look like it, but we're 17 floors up.

poor frida, so sad...i know, i'm not too impressed with the home decor either...

hope you're having a wonderful week. anything new in your life?

 

so i'm trying to get a little mojo back...

moving always throws me for a loop creativity-wise. i guess it's the new place, things not put away, unorganized paper and ribbon chaos that leaves me feeling less than creative-spunky? is that a word? anyhoo, i decided to just plop down on the bare wooden floor and make a couple layouts.

as i told my friend heather, i need a DESK, heard of one of those hubby??

and counting down the days until i'm back in the loving arms of these chicas...

...so super excited!! chicago renegade craft fair, cocktails, shopping=bliss!

you should totally come along!!!

happy birthday cricket!

i can't believe she's 9. where did the time go? everyday we spend together i fall more in love with her. everyday i spend with her i'm so glad she's mine.i love seeing her happy and exploring and seeing the world around her. i want to help her experience so much and see so much and learn so much. but i want her stop stop growing up already. doesn't she know how expensive a 2 bedroom apartment off of campus will be for us, because i'm following close behind. yep...

so we went to acapulco for her birthday. it was a blast. we stayed at the fairmont aztec princess on the beach.

we rented horses for a little horseback riding on the beach...

we played in the surf...frida was scared at first, then she loved it...

we swam in the lovely pool...there's a waterfall with a bar behind the waterfall. the young lady and i had daiquiris together, her's was a virgin of course.  there's also a toboggan/slide that the girls went down about 785,457,980 times. and then caves to explore. 3 fun days!

cannonbaaaaaaall!

if you like drinkin' pina coladas, or gettin' caught in the rain...

as always, no matter where we go, pixie is forever the junior naturalist!

our good family friend joined us as well, Tio Troy is always good for a piggy back...

here's the resident parrot...he says, hola, padre and madre...

and flamingos...

and besos from little sis <3 <3 <3
 

her birthday we asked the mariachi band to sing to her... 9, i can't believe it...

happy birthday sweetness!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

life is not so bad....

We spent the weekend in Cuarnavaca. It's about an hour and a half drive from Mexico City.  It looks like a movie set from the streets; wild bulls walking around, old men with old, tattered hats riding donkeys, women with aprons on and leather-like skin from years of outside work selling tacos or handmade items, colorfully painted walls lining deteriorating streets, spanish graffiti and church bells ringing, we pulled up to massive iron gates.  Once we drove through the gates it was again like a movie set. Beautiful gardens, sparkling pool, large grass-ceiling cabanas...

We are blessed with kind friends who invite us to spend the weekend with them at their home, relaxing by the pool, sleeping with the windows wide open listening to crickets and birds unknown, eating some of the best food I've had in awhile...

my Frida girl kickin' it poolside

mi caliente esposo...

muy alto, no?

loving it here, exploring as always...

at dinner we had all traditional Mediterranean foods, mostly from Israel.

beautiful sunset, games of domino's and poker...

the 4 little amigos...

quieres un limon???

on Sunday we were invited to Gerard and Terry's AMAZING home. They are from France, but have lived in Mexico for work for close to 10 years. They bought this property and have renovated all the grounds, along with the main house and it's (count them) 4 guest houses...I'm bringing my bags and moving in... They served cocktails by the pool and made an amazing traditional French lunch for us.

this is a 200 year old chapel on the property...

the cabana where we had lunch and great conversation...

the virgin de Guadalupe

not too shabby...

the 4th guest house is an old stone tower, just amazing...

life is not so bad...

yep...

our weekend...

playing at friend's...down on the little "farmette"...

now don't freak out, this is a rescued squirrel my friend found when it was only a day old, it has no rabies, has been to the vet a couple times and is very sweet and tame-ish.  he's being released into the wild next week since he's now 3 months old...his name is mr. skimbelshanks, however he might drop it once he's back with his homies...

then over at ana's pool party...

pool party with sparklers

would ja like a cool one?

or skate a bit in the garage?

me remembering the good 'ol days...i won a hoola hooping competition in summer camp once...yep...

 

yummm...blueberry pie!

a little rock band...flash forward 10 years and these 2 will have a girl band...

happy birthday erin!

ana...always the life of the party!

today; more packing, cleaning and then bbq with friends before we head out for mexico in 2 days...hopefully life will return back to normal in the next couple weeks.  i feel like we've been shot gunning all over...hope you had a nice weekend! all the american friends out there, happy independence day! did you do anything fun?

SisCon '09

While I do admit I love scrapbooking and all things crafty, I never thought I'd actually spend money to fly somewhere to scrapbook.  But I did and I'm so glad I did.  I met the coolest chics around. Many of them I've already been emailing and blogging with, but to meet them face to face, hear about their interesting lives, have happy hour, laugh so hard we had the front desk tell us to shut it, getting lost everywhere we went, talking in southern accents, spending way too much money here and here and here, not getting enough sleep, food or scrapbooking in (but made it up with margaritas), totally worth it all!!! I can't WAIT for next year!!

Patty and Sandy, I just adore them!!! 

love me some Big Dinners.  Here's BP/BD and me, we made each other Sis yearbooks.  She's the sweetest tart ever!

Here's a picture when Heather kept rubbing up against me...but I sort of liked it...Okay, I loved it...

Patty, we just couldn't keep her out of the bushes...she loves to bird watch...

Coolest gang

Hey! It's Jen Renee, Amy (so talented) and Sandy (Paper Poopies,I mean Poppies!)

here's the layout I did for Amy (her picture-long story). She did one for me, I'll have to take a pic and post it. It's super cute!  The funniest thing is I only had 4 photobooth strips at Sis, no real pictures...Who goes to a scrapbook convention without pictures??? Did I mention we had margaritas though? 

me and Vanessa, the PA girls!

Me and Martha, here's the layout she did for me (she didn't seem to remember the restraining order against me, so that was cool...)

Amy doing her Beyonce dance, so cute!

(stolen from Jen) doesn't JJ look thrilled to be there with me?

Yes, I take scrapbooking VERY seriously, people! "Now, should I put poop head or poop face, what did Amy tell me????"

me and amy=me happy!!

I stole this from Mandi, my newest idol! Man, she can jump!

 Vanessa, AW and Mandi

What did I tell you? I had a problemo,pero nada no mas... 

Mandi and Michelle

 

as Patty said, the 4 Georgia Peaches...

holy crap Big Dinners, put 'em away now!!! Oh, I LOVE her!!!

SHHHHHHHH!!!! Pillow fights in undies happened right after this!

well, right after this, I mean...

do not try this at home!

then it was nighty-night time...

I pretty much spent the entire weekend attached at the hip to 3 of my newest favorite girls (Sandy, Patty, Jen), and totally fell in love with a few more (Big Dinners, Mandi, Vanessa, Amy and Heather). We all mentioned doing another girls weekend sooner than later and I'm totally ready!  I can't imagine only seeing these chics once a year!

The last day the fab 4-some went shopping in Nashville at Anthro,

 

ate lunch and then headed to the airport where we sat at each person's gate, saying good-bye one by one until we all flew off into the sunset (insert sad violin music here)...

This is my famous "deer in the headlights" look, feel free to use it...

Bye Jen!!! And Patty!!! And Sandy!!! Hasta Luego! Until we meet again...soon, oh, yes, verrrrrrryyy soon....

I'm a little bit...and a little bit...

I'm uploading the Sis '09 pictures right now and will post them tomorrow. I've totally enjoyed looking at everyone else's and reading about everyone's experience there.  It sounds like everyone had a great time and will go again next year.  I concur.  I want to do it quarterly!

Scrap Mojo is back, the newest challenge is "I'm a little bit...and a little bit..." and the second part of the challenge is to use dots, anyway ya want, just use them.

Here's mine, "I'm a little bit good... and a little bit evil..."

 

she says, "she had not yet decided whether to use her powers for good...or for evil..."-HA! My motto...

I went and saw the new Johnny Depp movie tonight, Public Enemies.  Pretty good.  He's lookin' pretty good still...in the words of a wise friend, Meat Fest...plus Christian Bale (Chandra, I should tell your story about him?) yep...

I'll do my best to get the Sis pictures up tomorrow! Gotta get to bed now!