This is just a bit addicting. My beautiful child has gone through the yard and plucked all of the beautiful flowers now. Apparently photographing them draws attention to the fact that they're there. At least I have my seedlings though, which are kept way out of reach of little miss Marilyn. I learned my lesson the hard way last year when I had to have an emergency planting of morning glory before the soil was ready.

I bought a macro lens! Now we all know I'm not a great photographer, but playing with this thing is a lot of fun. I also learned how to use the manual focus feature on my camera. I must say that I'm loving my camera (a canon A570). It's an inexpensive point and shoot, but it has so many fun features and options (like lenses). I've still got a lot to figure out, but here's my favorite shot from this morning.

I made this layout using Deena Rutter's Prudence kit. The colors in this kit are so fun to work with! I'm actually really liking this layout too, so maybe I'm getting my scrapping mojo back!

When I was growing up, at least for the first little while, we'd get together with some friends and make a bunny cake for easter. It's really quite simple. Bake two round cakes, and then cut the ears out of one of them. The remaining shape then becomes a bow tie. We'd go all out sprinkling the cake with colored coconut (which then made the cake inedible), and decorate the face with candy.

I made my first bunny cake when I was pregnant. Any excuse for a cake, right! I've slacked off for the past couple of years though. My mother will be happy to know that I made another bunny cake this year. Except, it's a pretty sorry bunny cake. First of all, I think you're supposed to frost the second cake before you cut it up. And I was just having major frosting issues. At one point I decided to throw in the towel and just eat the dang bow tie because it was just a clob of cakey frosting. I also spent a total of 2 minutes of the decorating of the face. There's not a shred of coconut on it, or color. I'm sure Marilyn will think it's cute though, and next year I'll do better.

This project started in 2004. I got the idea one day that I was going to refinish my table and chairs. They were in pretty good condition, but the paint was chipped in a few places. I went to home depot, bought some stripping supplies and went to work. Within an hour I realized this was not going to be an easy project. For one thing the stripping supplies weren't stripping the project, and secondly, the chairs had a lot of surface area to strip!

After one week of full time sanding I finally removed the finish from the top of the table. I was so tired of the project by then, that I stained it and painted it terribly, and I've been wanting to redo it ever since.



That brings us to last fall. I decided then that I would start working on the project. I would spread the work out over months though, so I wouldn't get burned out. I worked on a chair for a total of maybe 3 hours, and then didn't work on it again. This week though while Marilyn has been playing outside I decided this would be a good project to work on. The table top is starting to show some wear because I didn't put enough coats of polyurethane on in. I think once I get this chair finished, the table will be next.



This is where I'm at with the first chair now.



Eventually I hope for a nice chocolate brown set. This will be my finish. I was originally going to use danish oil, but I realized I would never be able to get this thing perfectly sanded, and this finish will hide more mistakes, I think. Also pine absorbs stain really unevenly, so this will help create an even finish.

I started this layout back in December and it sat in my "works in progress" folder for months. Finally at the crop at Natalie's house I figured out what kit to use with it, Tammy Sherman's latest kit, Kathryn. Of course when I got home I couldn't find the completed layout anywhere on my computer. I was a little high on cupcake, and I must have done something funky while saving it. It was easy to rescrap though. Maybe I'll even post a template for it :)



This layout was created using Melissa Shupe's latest kit, Love Chocolate. It seems I never have enough brown and pink, so I'm loving this kit.



And this is my latest layout. I scrapped it on Sunday, and I'm just loving it. Tinkering Ink is going to be selling their digital lines at pclayers, and this is their first kit, Covent Garden. It will be available tomorrow!

I seriously had no intention of even looking this early, but I happened to google if a certain company had any openings. They did, and the position is seriously my dream job. I will be dropping off my resume in the morning, so wish me luck!

Eight years ago today I left for NYC. I had decided a few months before that I wanted to be a supermodel, so moving to New York seemed like a natural step. It was a learning experience for a young and naive Utah girl. You see, I had a friend back then, who wanted to be more than friends but I was a bit clueless. I actually can't remember his name, but by the end of my adventure I was affectionately referring to him as Psycho Ghetto Boy. He had just graduated from USU that December, and was going home for a bit before the graduation ceremony in the spring. He invited me to come along, and seeing how I didn't really have anything else going on at the time, I accepted his offer.

I met Psycho Ghetto Boy (PBG) while I played pool with the USU billiards league. I don't really know how we ended up on the same team, but we built a friendship over the course of the semester. He was also a very accomplished martial artist, and because I had just started karate, I thought it was pretty darn cool he could break baseball bats in half with a one inch punch. It was pretty clear, at least I thought it was, that I wasn't romantically interested in PGB. I had been in a relationship with Flint for almost 6 months, and it was pretty obvious my cross-country journey wasn't going to end that relationship. Also, PBG was just not my type. I go for the skinny nerdy types, and he wasn't especially intelligent or skinny. I asked a few people about their impressions of him, our billiards coach, and my karate teacher. They both said he seemed like a nice guy so I figured all would go well.

and in a pioneer woman sort of way, I'm going to end this with a "to be continued..."

Well, today I started spring break, and the weather cooperated too. I decided it was time to get the backyard cleaned up a bit, and I also got some more sand for Marilyn's sand box at home depot. I really don't know who likes the sandbox more, me or Marilyn.



When I poured the three bags of sand into the box Marilyn was soooo excited about it. It definitely was one of those moments I wish I had on video; so cute. She kept telling me it was cool, and thanking me. Once I spread it around in the box she went to work right away too.



Eventually she got a little cold though, and went inside and turned on the space heater. She's developed a new sense of independence lately I'm just not sure of. She has mastered switching out DVD's in the player and operating the remotes, and now the space heater. Very scary indeed.



Another sure sign spring is in the air is my neighbor is out windexing his rims. I'm really not sure what to think about this to be honest. I'm sure if the truck could love something, it would love a weekly detail. On the other hand, don't they just get dirty the very next time he drives down the street?

I just got back from a wonderful week at my parents house. I've said this many times before, but every time I get to hang around with them, I'm reminded of how cool they really are. My mom has a little issue though-- you know those people who are wonderful hostesses and always make sure you're well fed with delicious meals including dessert? My mom is one of them. A week with her mixed with 3 weeks of barely working out, meant that I gained back this week all of the weight I've lost since January, and from my measurements, it's seems to have attached itself to my behind. Since we all know parents can be blamed for everything that goes wrong in life, I'm sticking all of this on her. She'll argue that she didn't make me eat cake for breakfast yesterday, but if it's there, I will eat it. She's knows that. I also hope she's knows I really don't blame this on her, and I'm just messing with her. I'm sure my little hiccup also has something to do with the cupcakes at Natalie's, the cupcakes I made when I got home from Natalie's, snacking on potato chips, the pizza I ordered last night, the return of Dr. Pepper, and the sudden distaste of my friend water. Yep, it's time to recommit and get rid of those whopping 3 pounds again. I wouldn't consider myself on a diet because I really hate that term. It's just a little behavior modification. Don't snack while studying, drink water instead. Don't make deserts because they will be eaten. Exercise.

Now that the important business is out of the way, the rest of my week. The purpose of the trip was to go the career fair on campus. Because I haven't worked in years and I have no idea what I want to do, I figured talking with a hundred different employers would be a good thing for me. I don't really have any prospects, but I'm feeling like I'm hirable now. Except when I make up words like hirable of course. Most of the employers I talked to really aren't looking for someone with a specific major, and even those who were, like engineering firms and the IRS, need other people to work in support positions. I also learned what questions I need to have really good answers for, like "What is a liberal arts major?". You'd be surprised how many recruiters thought this was a fine arts thing. My little suit thing was a success and I even got complements on my shoes. I got some wows when I handed over my resume too. Apparently graduating cum laude isn't as common as I thought, go me! My little blurb on being the vice president of the USU sailing club does raise some questions though, like where does one sail in this land locked state of ours?

Next on my agenda was homework. I had a couple of papers due, and some tests. Well, I finished one paper, and I got an extension on another. I took one test and one quiz, and my others aren't due until Monday night. It's officially spring break now, but I really don't want to get out of school mode, so I planned some work for myself this week.

Yesterday my mom and I went to Dream Dinners. It's a place where you can go assemble all of the ingredients for a month's worth of meals. We spent 2 hours working on them, and it will be so nice to have dinner planned for the next while. I really hate planning dinner. I ran into a couple of people I knew in high school too, that was cool. For a while I didn't think I'd want to go to a reunion, but now I'm kinda excited. It's so fun to see who has kids, who's still in school, who's made it big. This year will be 10 years; time's flying by.

A few years ago when my mom, sister, and me went to Paris we had a long layover in Minneapolis. Well, because my mom and sister are the shoppers they are, we went to the Mall of America instead of waiting in the airport. That's when I discovered DSW shoes. I bought a pair while I was there, but because I didn't have room in my carry-on, I had to throw away the pair I was wearing. That's how much I loved the shoes.

Anyway, yesterday while I was on my way to Natalie's for a digicrop, I happened to see a DSW shoes right by her house. (I should add a little tangent here that I had a wonderful time. My neighbor Rachele watched Marilyn for a few hours so I had an evening of child free fun. Natalie made a gigantic cupcake, and Becky brought some gourmet ones. I think I'm going to jump on the cupcake train, because they were not only beautiful, but delicious too! end of tangent) Today I decided to go find some shoes for the upcoming career fair. Now I'm not a clothing person at all, and I definitely hate shopping, but I love shoes. Marilyn does too, so I actually thought it would okay. Nope.

For the first 5 minutes she was an angel. She stayed right with me, and just tried on my rejects. She even put them back in the boxes (sort of) when she was done. Then she decided to branch out a little bit. She first removed the cushions from the benches and started jumping on them, then managed to remove an entire rack of handbags from the wall, next she started throwing the display shoes, and started mixing up the shoes in the boxes, loosing her own shoes in the process of course. There was a tantrum of course every time I told her not to do something and suggested she try on a pair of heels. She loves heels, but obviously just wasn't feeling it today. Eventually she discovered that when you open the door to the store in the wind, it doesn't automatically shut. Luckily it was cold enough to keep her inside the store because I really didn't want to chase her out of the store in only one shoe. Finally I made my selections and took them to the register, and she was struck with the idea of flinging handbags. At this point I was about to loose it, so I picked her up for the duration of my transaction. She's throwing a tantrum of course, kicking and screaming, and it's taking everything I've got not to drop her. This is when the sales woman asks me if I want to join the rewards program. Now I'm sure she wasn't a mom, because otherwise she would have just handed me my receipt and said "good luck". Instead she gave me a form to fill out. I tried to decline as politely as possible using the "I've only got one hand excuse", but she insisted she could just enter the information directly into the computer.