Splendid

instaweek

It was "Take your Child to Work Day" and Dave was out of town so I took the girls with me for the day.  We ran errands and then decided to stop by Aruba Beach Cafe on the beach.  It was such a pretty day we thought walking along the beach and enjoying the blue ocean views was a great way to spend some time together. Little sis commented once however, "This is what you do every day while we're at school?" Ha!  I wish!  No, I do not go and have virgin pina coladas on the beach with friends, but it sure sounds like a nice life.  Later in the week the adorable Kelly Purkey came to town and we picked her up and went to Shake Shack for dinner, always nice to see her.  Other pictures are dinner another night at a fun little place we go to on the waterways with lots of fish and wild turtles just a few feet away from us while we eat. South Florida this time of year is beautiful.  I will say I think I will miss it when we move in May. 

it was a good week. 

instaweek.

Well, we had a nice spring break...Las Vegas wasn't very warm so we didn't swim or hang by the pool like we'd hoped, but we were busy house and school hunting anyways.  Anyone who knows me either in person or through this blog knows we are a family of gyspies.  My husband is a corporate gypsy and he has a great opportunity within his company that he couldn't refuse, so we're moving again...Us, you say, that's weird... but yes, it's true.  Las Vegas was pleasantly better than I thought.  We'll live in the outside suburban areas, with more greenery and nice outdoor spaces.  So come May, after the girls' finals, we'll be moving westward.  I hope you'll bare with me through the moving process and my absenses. 

Thanks. 

Stay lighthearted

and free spirtited...

   

Using the Studio Calico City of Lights kit, I love this picture of my little one.  She is one of the sweetest and funniest person around, and I hope she always stays that way, light-hearted and free spirted. 

Currrents

Tina had a currents post on her blog, I needed something to put on my blog while I edit Europe pictures and a few pictures of scrapbook pages. Hopefully I will get them done tomorrow :)

Loving: having a long weekend

Drinking: water with a splash of green tea

Wanting: another couple days to this long weekend

Loathing: the cleaning that this house needs

Eating: nothing, already ate dinner (pizza and salad)

Needing: a good night's sleep, my internal clock is still on Europe time

Making: progress on the pile of dirty laundry

Thinking: I should go to bed

Wishing: another couple days to this long weekend (did I already say that?)

What about you? 

these pictures are oldies, but still goodies

Hi there, I know we're in the winter months, many of you up to your eyeballs in snow, but I am still back in 2012 with pictures to scrapbook, so please forgive me. 

These pictures are from our annual Halloween party last year.  Themed foods and Halloween songs, trick or treating and fun costumes. It's really my favorite holiday, so little pressure, just plain goofy fun. ( Big sis went as Big Bird and little sis went as Dorothy, I was a possessed doll and Dave was a devil as you can tell).

2 more days and we're off to Europe!!!  A week in London and a week in Amsterdam!  Whoop!

hello January...

Hi all!  I know, it's been awhile, but a new face lift of this sad old blog and maybe some frequent blog posts and this baby might revive itself? I don't know about you all, I find it really hard with just all of life's things to keep up with blogging, or looking at others blogs, and there's so many good ones out there, too. For shame...

This is us today, and I have pages for later, too. Gulp, I may even have more later in the week, too. What??

Hello January...

Dearest Heart

Pictures from our Labor Day weekend celebrating little sis' 9th birthday at the beaches around Bonita Springs on the Gulf. Loveliest beaches around Florida in my opinion. 

Related articles

Paradise Coast

Where is Bonita Springs, Florida?

countdown

to the Twilight Saga's Breaking Dawn 2.... 

For my bday last week my kids and hubby bought me the iphone5 and since I have found this funny app Finger Faces and couldn't resist doing a couple.  (I need a life.)

it was a frightful night...

We had our annual Halloween party last night.  Themed spooky foods, spooky music and trick or treating. It was so fun.  We love our new neighbors, the girls have become fast friends and we had two other families join us. I also included a couple pictures of the girls and Dave carving pumpkins the day before Halloween. The last picture is the girls and I, big sis is Big Bird, little sis is Dorothy (don't you love how her hair kept falling out...) and I am a forgotten doll from underneath your bed, hair matted, dirty faced...and I am angry you have forgotten about me...very angry. 

It was a good time. 

pumpkin patch

Another autumn spent here in Florida, our second, and I think this fall festival was better than the last. We went up to Boynton Beach/Delray Beach to this cute farm stand that had quite the nice fall festival. The wind was out so it cooled it down a bit, making it feel almost fallish. Hurricane Sandy is heading up the coastline so we've had little humidity and I can tell you I LOVE IT!!!

Apple cider donuts, pumpkins and scarecrows, corn mazes and crafts, reminding us of the northeast or western US fall festivals, it was a good day. Any good fall festivals around your area? 

secret woods

Living in south Florida in my opinion is not easy in the summer months.  I do not love the heat and we're used to getting out and about and get to know our city or nature areas, however here, 7 months out of the year it is so freakin' hot unless you are submerged up to your eyeballs in water, it's just too stifling. Living here now a year and a half, I can see come October it does start to cool down just a bit.  Last weekend we decided to see a nature area, little sis is 100% naturalist in spirit. She loved walking through the mangrove trees and acres of ferns, tiny creepy crabs scouring across the path, butterflies landing on delicate daisies, Secret Woods Nature Area beautiful place. 

What a lovely place and a lovely day!

F + M

What an amazing performer!! Dave and I went last week to see Florence and the Machine. I have loved her since she became popular a few years ago and I think she has probably one of the prettist voices of any singer today.  She is dramatic and beautiful and opulant.  She seems so very grateful for her fans when she often spoke to the crowd and seems to really love what she does. 

 

If you have a chance, it's a show well worth the money. 

getting back to scrapbooking, maybe.

I don't know about you, but life seems more hectic since the girls started school? Is it me? I made this late last night.  (From the Bon Iver concert a few months ago down in South Beach). 

 

So excited, in a couple weeks we have tickets to Florence and the Machine!

Paradise Coast

Hello there!!  Are you still talking to me even though I have been absent?  This past couple months have been awesome, full of loads of great adventures and travels, but I have neglected crafting, blogging and keeping up with regular life... But now back to reality, the girls are back in school and last weekend was our last summer hoorah in the beautiful Paradise Coast ( Naples and Bonita Springs, southern Gulf coast really). We went for the 3 day weekend to celebrate little sis' 9th birthday (today!! Happy birthday big girl!!) and enjoyed days at the beach, mini golfing, jet skiing, shelling and lots of yummy food. 

It was a good weekend.  Happy birthday my little one, I love you so much and am so proud of you. We wish you a year full of lots of love, safety and good times. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

the glades

Yesterday we spent the day in the everglades for Father's Day.  The girls thought it would be a fun outing with their dad to do the whole airboat thing and see an alligator show. We've lived in south Florida for a year now and haven't ever been on an airboat or seen an alligator show, so it sounded like a good thing for dear ol' dad. The everglades are huge, and as beautiful as it is, it is also very dangerous. 

The weather was beautiful, not as hot as it usually is in June, and the captain of our airboat gave us a great tour of the beautiful everglades. We saw 3 alligators and many different species of wildlife. He explained about the exotic vegetation that grows there (most of it is dangerous), the insects that live there (most of them are dangerous) and to never put any body parts over the edge of the boat or in the water (also extremely dangerous). The alligator show was interesting, although it's not a career I'd fancy,it was pretty cool. The show on Animal Planet Gator Boys is shot there and our gator show entertainer J-Mart is on the show. We held a small baby alligator, and while it used my hand as a diaper, the little gator dude was pretty neat, too.  It's crazy to think all of this is literally in our backyard, like our house was the everglades at one day long ago. We often have gators found in residential areas, and it's not strange to hear about people finding gators in the small lakes behind their homes or even in their swimming pools. One thing is for sure, the everglades are beautiful, mysterious, and for sure someplace you do not want to get lost. (or run out of hand santizer). 

PL week 16

Moving along...

It was a good, but busy week. Are you doing a PL?  Are you loving it?

green

Just a few pictures from yesterday's St. Patty's Day.  The leprechauns left a bunch of gold chocolate coins, some glittery, rainbow colored pencils and some minty chapstick for the girls.  They also made a mess in the kitchen, poured flour and cocoa powder all over the floor and counters, geesh... Then we took the girls to the town center to listen Irish music.

Later just the adults went to the town center for a band and a wee bit of Guinness drinking with our pals from the Scotland and Ireland ( oh, and Panama, but whetev.)  It was bloody good time.

PL week 8

A good week.

I used the slim American Crafts 3 pocket sleeve. Then next is a Becky Higgins page.

Renaissance Faire, Tom Jenkins BBQ and Ft Lauderdale beach, new blog design, started a new photography class, walked and did yoga 3x. Yep, it was good.

hear ye, hear ye...

We went to a large Renaissance Festival this past weekend in Deerfield Beach.  It was very well organized and had a ton of fun things to see, eat and do. Having lived the last couple years in Mexico City, where Renaissance Festivals and Faires are not popular, we missed these types of fun and quirky events.

and Kiss?  Who knew they were around in the 1200's???  Well, whatev. ( P.S., look at the tongue on little sis, givin' Gene Simmons a run for his money...)

Turkey legs, henna tattoos, bountiful bodices, sword fighting soldiers, cackling wenches, throwing tomatoes, men in tights.  It was a good day.  

skater nerd

 

I love this girl.

PL week 7

week highlights:

-Valentine's Day, I got a dozen long stem roses and the girls got daisies and Roses from Dave. -Little sis had her second grade Olympics, she won 2 first place ribbons and 1 second place ribbon. She also had the Second Grade Hero Show at school with singing and poems. (so cute!)  -Ladybug Release Day at the Science Museum, the girls were handed about 20 ladybugs to take out to the garden and release.  The new otters were there, too. Dave got another tattoo, his right arm is a full sleeve now (oy vey...)

PL week 6

This week is more than half over and I am still remembering last week like it's right now. Agh, I wish life would slow down just a bit........

PL week 5

week 5.

and page 2 of week 5

Weeks highlights;

-we spent a lot of time outside, nature walks, skateboarding, playing soccer, etc. Got my nails painted pink to get ready for Valentine's day, I painted an xo on my ring fingers. BBqed and watched the Super Bowl (Hello Madonna!), Dave invited a well-known MMA guy to his jujitsu school, little sis got another A on her spelling test. Yep. It was another goodie of a week.

PL: week 4

I am loving this.
 
( liftable sleeve I made)
This past weeks highlights;

Little sis ran 2.5 miles for her school's Fun Run to raise money for technology. Big sis made some rad duct tape crafts, she is really into it! Dave came home Sunday from London with gifts from our favorite city. We made paper crystals for little sis' door at school, they were the Crystal Kids for the Boosterthon Fun Run. I taught the second grade Matisse art lesson. Big sis was asked out by a boy at school (middle school), she kindly declined. Selina (my fur baby) also declined the advances of a couple dogs at the dog park.

Project Life; Week 1- 3

Okay, I was a little behind starting this, but I'm ready to go with my Project Life album for 2012. Here's weeks 1-3, I can't believe how much has already happened in 3 weeks, agh, I'm exhausted...

week one  (front first, then below back) ) (I used the 3 long sheet insert )

week 2

 

week 3

 

and close- ups of week 3, I copied my friend Vee with her liftable sleeves ( thanks Vee!)

I've already started week 4, so I'm finally ahead of the game... I've seen some awesome PL albums out there, but I'd love to look at yours, too, let me know if you're doing one!

she sells seashells by the seashore

We went for a little picnic on the beach today in Naples.  Dave had to fly to London for work, feeling rather bummed we couldn't go with him this time, we decided a beach day was in need. On the way down we drove through Alligator Alley and I'm not joking that we easily saw 100 alligators on the side of the road in a canal and on the shores. Crazy!! Then we were star-stuck by wild dolphins swimming along the shore at the beach, it was lovely!





It was a good day.

Happy new year!

Hello all and happy new year! I hope you had a smashing time ringing in the new year! 2012 is going to be a great year!  It's the year of the dragon in Chinese astrology (starting January 23), which means it will be a year full luck, passion, excitement and new accomplishments.  What are your hopes for 2012? I am hoping for many things; exercise more, eat healthier, learn to bake better, get better at photography (like take some classes and get the right photo editing software), make more dates with my hubby, keep traveling, keep practicing my Spanish before I loose it. And there's more, but that's just the first layer...

Here's my The Creative Type layout for January, all about what else, resolutions. I wanted to have a picture of the stockpile of fireworks we bought for our New Years's Eve party.  Everyone wrote down a resolution, wish or goal for 2012, then I taped them each to a huge firecracker my hubby purchased at the Indian reservation ( like, totally scary and unsafe... but a great way to usher in 2012!) It was so cool to see each person's firecracker explode in the sky, sending that wish out into the new year!

We have the amazing Revlie as our guest designer, she is one of my favorites! She is also donating a pdf of one of her lovely classes as the prize this month, soooo, check it out!!!!

Tall tree...

Last week we had to stop to climb this tree. The pictures do not do it just, it was a massive beast of a tree.  So many long strands of branches and willowy vines dangling down, it beckoned my girls to come up for an investigation...

I am so thankful for my girls!

thankful...

The other day I glittered some fallen twiggy branches to make a "thankful tree." We made one of these a few years ago when we lived in Philadelphia, and the girls loved it.  It's nice to have an activity that reminds us to remember what we're thankful for. I also wrapped a G (for Grateful or the first letter of our last name) in burlap and made a burlap flower with a nice yellow organza ribbon middle.  I hand cut some autumn-inspired felt feathers to go along with it.

And I decorated a bit for Thanksgiving...My Mayflower...

Do you have any family traditions?

October Afternoon, sketch thursday

Another lovely sketch by October Afternoon, so I had to use it.  I had these 3 pictures laying around staring at me these last couple weeks, so I decided this sketch would be perfect! Oh, and almost all is October's Calico Studio kit, Field Guide, too.

and here's the sketch;

Hope you're having a great weekend!  Any plans?

my pumpkins

This time of year is my favorite time of year, I love fall!!  This past week it cooled off considerably, and I felt renewed.  South Florida summers are humid and hot, and I felt like I might just freak out as I don't really love the heat...but since this past week or so has been mild, I may just stick around...We went to the pumpkin patch with friends and got a couple pumpkins, walked through the butterfly garden and enjoyed some apple cider...

It was a good day.

black and white with a speck of orange...

Halloween is my favorite holiday!  I love all the holidays, but there's something about Halloween; the goofiness of costumes, mummy dogs and trick-or-treating, plus the magical, mystical and aura of the unknown, I must admit I find it captivating!  I pulled out my decorations last week, mostly sticking with a black and white palette, but adding some orange here and there.  I love the old, retro decorations, too.  Most of my decorations are vintage-inspired by artists like Bethany Lowe, Wendy Addison or Lori Mitchell.

I still have a bunch of ripped cheesecloth to hang up over windows and drape across tables, as well as a cemetery to build in the front yard.  We're having a Halloween party here, with themed foods, games and trick-or-treating around the block. Can't wait!

Flipper's home

Yesterday we went down to Marathon, Florida to the Dolphin Research Center for a "dolphin encounter" as they call it.  Little sis had said she wanted to swim with dolphins for her bday gift from us, and after asking around about places that have safe, clean and humane dolphin experiences, we found out this place was the best.  The DRC is the original home of Flipper and they currently do rehab and house dolphins that other aquariums cannot keep.  It's a beautiful little place and you can tell the staff really love these flipper-ed guys and take really good care of them.  What a beautiful afternoon!  The girls loved it as much as I did! Bear acted as photographer and took pictures. 

 

Little sis started it off with a hand shake, so cute, they come up and stick their little flippers in your hands.

Then they gave us each a kiss on the cheek!

 

 We got a dorsal pull ride and got to do hand signals for them to show us their favorite tricks!

 

The DRC also has small water park area and some beautiful waterfall and gardens.

    

After we grabbed lunch at this neat little place on the water (the ahi tuna nachos were delish!). The windows are all open and while it was warm and humid, it was also relaxing. We watched the boats pull up and dock in the back, people coming to grab a piece of key lime pie or a cold beer from the bamboo-covered bar. (And while there was a lot of Tommy Hilfiger tropical shirts going on, but it was still nice...)

          

  
(Pretty sure she cheated here...)

and finally, had to laugh and snap a photo of this beauty. I just about peed my pants at this billboard, so fab-u-lous!