{happy halloween!!!}

Wow, I guess blog updating has not been high on the priority list! However, now that things are getting a little more organized around here (phew!), posting should be a more regular occurrence from now on.

I love Halloween! In fact, I think I love it more as an adult than I did when I was a kid. I love to start decorating the house with pumpkins, leaves, and other fall items. I also have my little Halloween town (The Spookytown Collection, available at Michaels) that I put up as soon as October hits. I really, really don't like the Christmas villages, but I just ADORE these little Halloween ones for some reason! Maybe because they're funny and playful :) This year we had to add the pub. Well, yeah, I mean it's a BAR :) Don't you love those little drunk skeletons in the front? They rock back and forth!



The kids and I also made some banners (instructions here) and hung spooky spider webs all over the house.









I also printed out some of my skeleton paper (from the Mysterious Melancholy kit) and pasted them on to little mini canvases:





So everything is set for trick-or-treating tonight! I even have a CD of spooky sounds that I play while kids are coming to the door! Alex has decided to be a cowboy this year. Helen will be a mummy, and Jessie will be Scarlet O'Hara. Morgan opted for Alice in Wonderland (I let her dress up, but I think 15 is a bit old for trick-or-treating). I can't wait to take photos!

I have plenty more pictures to share, but I think this post is long enough! Next time :)

shoppe talk

Our DigiScrap Day festivities are going on all weekend over at After Five Designs. Lots of new products, and everything's on sale! I have two new glittery kits, there's a new lottery ticket, and we have added another designer! Come check it out :) Oh, and be sure to stop back by this ole blog tomorrow, as there might be an extra goody to pick up ;)







Also, ScrapBlog, in partnership with Digital Scrapbooking Magazine, has created a challenge just for DSD! The theme is centered around "Scrapbook Your Holiday Greeting," because it is a timely project and one that is simple enough for paper scrapbookers to jump in. The prize is 50 prints of your own customized holiday greetings! So be sure to stop by there to participate.



Here's to Halloween! Cheers!

{progress}

such is life

Last weekend, we went to Target to purchase a storage solution for the mess on the dining room table. Now everything has been moved into a fairly stylish, *almost* perfectly designed cabinet. We got the modular cubes that you can mix and match to fit your needs. Fabulous theory, but a bit time consuming to assemble, and overpriced for the quality. But, overall, I'm very happy with it. We got two cubes with 2 drawers each, 1 with shelves to hold two little fabric bins, and 1 cube with a hinged door. We just stacked them on top of each other to make a tall, narrow cabinet in the corner of the office/guest room/craft room. Everything just *barely* fit! But now you can see the top of my dining room table!



I did a tiny bit of autumn decorating while I was at it:



The weather on Saturday was perfect for the zoo, not too hot but nice and sunny, so we took the kids for a family day out. We like to go at least once a year. Memphis has a pretty good zoo, and we like to take advantage of having cultural things like that so close. Alex was old enough to really enjoy it this year, and I had an excuse to snap photos all day! Here are a few of my faves:

Morgan wanted a picture with the giraffes:



The kids in the "bubble" with the sea lions:



How can you NOT love this photo? LOL



The zoo is great about having photo-taking props spread around, like this canoe:



A totem in the polar bear exhibit:



Helen was resting up during lunch:



Family portrait time!



I managed to catch Jessie for a second:



Alex's favorite part: hanging on all the rails!



Minus the short-lived kid pouting moments, it was a wonderful way to spend 5 hours!

latest layouts

Some fun ones with the latest LilyPad goodies:







I did this one for the Prima October sketch (please excuse the bad bad photo!):



Here's to progress! Cheers!

Happy Hour Thursday!

Be sure to stop by today! The mixologists have some great new products for you, and my grab bag is now revealed and available!

{next...the dining room table}

Dude. Seriously. This is unacceptable. I blame Prima :D You can't even see the beautiful shiny woodgrain of my formal dining table. And it's huge. Seats 12, with 2 leaves in. And they're both in. Ugh.

{organization}

such is life

I am no domestic goddess, and I don't pretend to be! I wish I were more like Monica on Friends, but alas, I hate cleaning. It's a shame too, because I'm rather good at it when I do it. It's motivation and organization I lack. So, in an effort to become more domestically adept, I am trying to get my home, my kids, my office, my LIFE organized. I'll let you know how long that urge lasts ;) My first attempt: cleaning out the fridge!



I took a photo for several reasons:

I'm a dork.

evidence that I did it before it gets messed up.

an example to show the little people (and not so little people!) in the house what it's SUPPOSED to look like.

So if I can organize my fridge, who knows what else I can do! Watch out world! LOL

latest layout:

I've been so busy with the opening of the new store, that I haven't been doing much scrapping lately. So it felt so unbelievably good to sit down and create a page! It came together quite easily. Probably because I haven't done it so long, and probably because I was using fabulous LilyPad Goodies!

Credits are right here.



Here's to organization!
Cheers!

{something different...}

such is life

It's way past time for a change! What do you think? Better, huh? It's so nice to change things up once in awhile.

Thank you for all the birthday wishes! We had a great one! Alex is finally at the age where he understands birthdays. For weeks now he's been watching TV and saying "I want that for my birthday!" at every toy commercial he saw. Too cute. He ended up with these faves:









And here's the big boy on his big day:





i got some fun toys too!

The kids have been playing this more than I have:



I've been wanting to try this one!



This was something I spotted while in Florida, at Anna Maria Island. My parents were sneaky and picked it up for my birthday!

shoppe talk

We have some very interesting things going on over at After Five Designs, now that we're open!



We have a storewide sale, a chance to win my entire store, plus more things coming this week! Check out the blog this week for some wonderful freebies!

Hope to see you during our week-long celebrations!

Cheers!

{it's my birthday!}

So...I'm 33 today. But even better, it's Alex's birthday too! He was born on my birthday 4 years ago. My plan was that his birthdays would replace mine from now on. Surely no one would want to take attention from a kid, right?? Well, unfortunately, it hasn't worked out quite that way. I received 4 happy birthday texts on my phone before I even got up this morning! My mom is already arguing about buying me a present, even though I told her I don't want anything. Seriously, I don't. I have everything I want. How many people can say that? I'm perfectly happy right where I am.

Life is good :)

Welcome 33. You don't scare me.

Cheers!