{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!

{almost done....}

such is life

with Breaking Dawn.



I waited and waited for Audible to get it, even though my teenage daughter had the book in her hands the day it was released. Call me weird, but I'm attached to the voice of Ilyana Kadushin as Bella. I really wanted to hear the finale in the voice that has now become the voice of Bella. To me, anyway.

So they finally got it, and I'm about 3 hours from the end. I predicted a lot of it before the book was released, but I'm really happy with all the little twists and turns I didn't expect. I haven't been able to put it down long!

As for all the Midnight Sun drama, I'm really disappointed. I'm refusing to read the pirated copy, with the hopes that she will change her mind and finish it. :(

shoppe talk

I've posted the first of the sneak peeks on the a5d Blog! I will be introducing each of the new designers with a little peek of their products every day until we open (on Friday!). So go check out my post on Amanda Resende! She will be amazing :)

Cheers!