Happy Halloween!

Awoke this morning to beautiful sun shine!! It's going to be a great Halloween. I love when it falls on a Saturday. So much more relaxed. We carved pumpkins after lunch today. The kids usually help with removing the guts and transferring the pattern, but today both tried their hands at actually carving. Yet another sign they are growing up! Can't wait to see them glowing tonight.

Last night we went to a party at our neighbors. Costumes were optional but I thought it would be fun to dress up. Richard and I went as Mardi Gras Royalty. :) It's good to be a queen every once in a while! Actually, everyone got quite a kick out of Richard's costume. Most said he looked more like the "King of Pop"! Such a fun night!!























The other thing that got me happy this morning was that my last layout is featured on the Studio Calico board today!! How cool is that.You can see it here.

I also need to share some photos from Emily's fall session.  She was feeling better and while it was not sunny. It wasn't raining and it wasn't too grey.  (Again, this isn't the best of the shoot.  Holding back in case the grandparents see.)

I hope to have some time to scrapbook tomorrow. It's already been too long!

Life is just life sometimes..

Surely that makes sense to somebody. I've been too tired, too blah today to make some grand post. Nothing exciting to report. Just busy doing this and that.

Oh, I do know this...I am so happy I listened to the recommendation I got to start watching this new show called, "Modern Family". It is really too funny. Richard and I have been watching episodes online and just laughing hysterically. Maybe that's what I need to do right now. I could use a good laugh. I don't watch much tv really. So much of it is such dribble and I find a waste of time. Now, this show is indeed dribble, but it has yet to disappoint me in delivering a few really good laugh out louds!!

Lots of goodness to share.

Yesterday was a beautiful fall day!!  I convinced Miles to do his photo shoot for his Christmas portraits for me.  I give them each year to the grandparents.  I now know to do them earlier than I used to so the kids don't have to freeze.  A few years ago they had to pose in the snow!! Poor kids. Anyway, got lots of lovely fall colors in these.  (I'm holding back the photo that will most likely be their present, unless of course they see this and HAVE to have one of these.)  This is my favorite!

I finally got some time last night to finish this layout of Tucker. I put all the elements together early in the week, but I've been too busy to actually assemble it.
This photo is just too sweet in pathetic puppy sort of way.

I won, I won!!

It's such fun to win something!!  I won a $5 gift certificate and totally cool Studio Calico journaling cards from Davinie's Project 12 Challenge.  And as happy as I am to be a winner, and as corny as this sounds, I totally felt like a winner each month I completed a layout for the challenge.  It's so neat to see each month summarized in one layout.  As a reminder, here's what the page looks like.  Yes indeed, it is my favorite so far.  Created with Studio Calico Yearbook kit, of course!

Emily is finally well enough to let out into the world today. She and I both are happy campers!  It was a beautiful fall day to be set free!!

At home...

Worked at home all day with the little sickie.  She's still got a fever. I'm guessing it's the flu of some kind. She's been so good really, until today. After four days of being sick, she extremely bored and has watched enough tv for a lifetime.  She did finish the first Harry Potter book today, so that's good.  Last night I told her that we could enforce her quarantine better if I just bring food up to her in the playroom.  She loved that idea. So, at lunch I delivered the grilled cheese she ordered and she was a happy, although puny little girl.

Knowing today was going to be busy and rainy, I escaped the house for a short while yesterday for an afternoon run. (I don't enjoy running later in the day, as I always have stomach issues then.)  I endured it because I knew the trail would be brimming with fall color. I was so right.  I do hope to make it back to the trail soon with my real camera. :)

Lunch with the laptop

So today's objective is to design another brochure for my client.  It's looking good.  I'm on my lunch break right now. A lunch break I was forced to take. Emily wondered into my studio and asked what she could have for lunch. (Of course, that's code for, "will you get off that computer and make me some lunch lady?")  I offered a few suggestions and she was satisfied. Only one problem.  I was in the groove. Things were clicking. It took me another 15 minutes to pry myself away from the computer.  Man, if I was home by myself I would have not eaten lunch until 1:30.  So that's what's been missing from my dieting....engaging work!!

I got her lunch prepared and she was happy. By the time my Boca chicken sandwich was ready, she had already returned to her sick cave (the playroom upstairs).  So I sat down and had lunch with the laptop reading the blogs I frequent most days.  It was good.  I thought this would be as good a time as any to do my own blog post.  Now unfortunately, I feel the call of the computer upstairs to finish where I left off...with Chai Tea in hand.

Hoping to hit the trail tomorrow with at least my iPhone. The fall color appears to be peaking.  (I run with my iPhone strapped to my arm and use the Nike+ in the phone. And I'll say this, it is so cool to take a call while you are running.) :)

Not so sure

SO remember how I said I'd know tomorrow if Emily had the flu or just a virus? Not so sure... fever is still hanging in there, unlike Miles whose fever was gone after a day and a half. She's still pretty puny. She did have one happy moment today. When I came back from the mailbox with the Jonas Bros "Rocking the House" Netflix DVD in hand. Good to see her smile.

In between some freelance work, I did put the final touches on my Project 12 Layout for June. I'm lovin' this layout and lovin' this challenge. It's so cool to see the months come together in our family album. I'm glad I've stuck to repeating this basic design. The continuity is really nice and it challenges me just enough to make it interesting, but easy enough to see the project through.

It falls out of the sky!

I had promised myself when we moved here that I wouldn't pursue my freelance graphic design business, because just as soon as I get clients, we move. So, I had been saying "work will just have to fall out of the sky." And of course it did finally. An acquaintance from Emily's school asked me to do some work for her business. They were really happy, had me work on another project. I quickly remembered why I chose to work graphic design... because it's fun! I have another client I'm going to start with tomorrow and hopefully the ball will keep rolling. I feel extremely blessed. Not many people can just have work fall out of the sky. Divine intervention, I'm sure. ;) Of course, it does have me a little worried...just going to take one day at a time and enjoy the ride.

This weekend was so good. We almost always go out for dinner on Friday nights. It's a family outing we all enjoy. First there's the debate about where to go. And then just good conversation time. We learned this Friday, that Miles has girls that sit at his lunch table everyday. Who knew? He says they are friends with some other boys that sit at his table, wink, wink. lol Always good when you can get information out of him!! Now Emily, she's the one who blabs it all the moment she gets home.

It was a beautiful Saturday morning on the soccer field. Well, maybe beautiful is not really the right way to describe it. The weather was cool but sunny, perfect really, but because of all of the rain we've had, the field was a muddy mess. Emily had a great game though. Scored once and almost scored another time. Loving this goalie determination! She rocked as goalie!


Saturday afternoon, I had my neighbor take our family portrait. The weather was nice and not too cold. Richard and I were getting dressed up for a dinner party, so I thought we'd take advantage of the timing. I won't show the best because they will likely be our Christmas card. I was kind of disappointed that the park we picked didn't have much in the way of fall color yet. Oh well, at least we weren't freezing like last year. (Being from the south, I think of fall photo time as mid-November, but by then it's really pretty cold here. Red noses and shaking bodies aren't great for portraits.) Here's one I'll share. Richard said he wanted this one for his office. :)



Sunday was busy with church in the morning and then it was our turn to prepare dinner for the Jr. High youth group. I'm pretty certain the beef and bean nachos were a hit. If you ever need to make nachos for 40 people, I'm your girl. I also made Texas Sheet Cake and unfortunately for my diet, there's a good bit left. I'd love to give it away to my neighbors, but Miles almost begged me not to give it away. I will just have to improve upon my previous feeble attempts at will power.

Today, I awoke to a puny, sad, little girl. She has a fever and a headache, pretty much like Miles had a week ago. I'm hoping it's just that virus and not the flu. I'm sure I'll be able to tell by tomorrow.

I'm off to fold a mountain full of laundry. I don't think a fairy is going to fall out of the sky to fold them. ;)

I got a really good email today!!

An email that compelled me to take this silly, completely nonsensical photo. It also required me to add the words at the bottom!!


So, I'm sure I'll gush all about the page when it finally comes out in Scrapbook Trends in March of 2010!! This is my first layout in Scrapbook Trends Magazine and am totally honored and very happy!

Busy week

I can't believe it's already Thursday. Man, this week has been busy. Lots of good stuff going on around here. Bible study, PEO meeting and some more freelance work! I was able to carve out some time to create one layout this week.

I realized recently I still have a whole slew of events and photos following hurricane Katrina that need to be scrapbooked. This one was kind of challenging in that I only have photos from one of Emily's soccer games. The season fell smack dab in that time of turmoil. If I remember correctly, we had several practices and maybe one game before the hurricane. Because the town was basically shut down for 3 weeks, those games were lost and then the poor park was a tangled mess of downed trees. If you look closely, you can see a down tree in the background of one of the smaller photos. Anyway, there wasn't much to say other than initially she was SO excited that her uniform was hot pink that season. Since there are no rules in scrapbooking I decided to make that my focus. It WAS in fact the most important part to her.

Beautiful Saturday

It's been a beautiful fall Saturday. Emily had a soccer game and I was worried it would be bitterly cold, but the sun came out and it was so nice! Her team was pretty spirited today with painted faces. Emily had a good game. She had a nice goal attempt, but the photo didn't come out. Her hair was covering her face by that time as she had stripped off her headband.:}



My Studio Calico kit arrived yesterday and I had an idea and sketch ready to go. Record time for a layout with a new kit! Yippee!

Courtroom drama

I feel obliged to tell the tale of my courtroom experience. :) I showed up Tuesday morning and waited around on "lawyer time" as the marshal explained. Immediately, I found our local court system to be pretty snazzy. After the marshals did their bit explaining how the day would progress, we watched a video showing the courtroom, giving history and how the system works. I was highly impressed. Not by the local TV celebrity who narrated the video, but at the care they had taken to explain every detail and the quality of every detail. Tax dollars put to good use I say. (I can't make myself watch the local news shows here. They are so lame, each channel for it's own reason.)

The jurors were questioned. I was questioned about a past experience and just knew I was off. Well, once we were brought back in, low and behold my number was called. Big shocker.

The plaintiff explained his case. Yes, you got that right, the plaintiff explained his case. No lawyer for him. Man, did that turn from bad to worse as the day progressed. The defendant was a little old lady who hit him in a parking lot of a local grocery store. (Which if you are local, you know there is one grocery store in town on a busy corner that has the most complicated and annoying parking lot.) Anyway, it turned out that it was a case of "he said", "she said" and he was completely unprepared and didn't do his part to prove or even believe his case.

It didn't take long for the jurors to come to a consensus that he just didn't prove his case and we couldn't give him anything. As we deliberated though, I was reminded of the movie "12 Angry Men". No one was angry or anything, but we still had some discussion on how much we did or didn't believe his case. Very interesting dynamics to say the least. From those who just wanted to vote and get out of their to those who wanted to discuss in great detail.

So, anyway I did my duty and now I'm good for two years. I'm so glad it wasn't any kind of heavy duty case. The jury instructions on our little case were so complicated and full of legal mumbo, jumbo that deciphering that took the most amount of time.

That afternoon, I came home shortly after Miles did and discovered he had a fever to go along with the congestion that had started the day before. He complained of a headache and I was so worried he had the flu. And although he is home sick again today, I'm fairly certain it's just a virus. His fever is gone, but he's still too puny to go to school today.

No real creative things to share today, but I do have a culinary bit to share. Through Cathy Z. I discovered Penzeys Spices and have become a new best customer! I can't wait until my whole spice cabinet is filled with these simple clear jars. I've placed two orders now and have bought their clear jars and nice sized bags of spices. Once I've filled the jar, I've put the rest in the freezer. The quality is phenomenal and the price seems good too. The little jar of greek seasoning was a free gift! Gotta love that!

The court is not in session, yet.

This week I was scheduled to have jury duty. When I called Sunday night, the recording said no court proceedings today. That worked out wonderfully for me as I had lots of "monday projects" to do. Laundry, mopping etc. I really am looking forward to serving in my civic duty. I've never been called for jury duty before and am anxious to see my 9th grade civics class played out in real life. :)

I do have some creative things to share. I spent most of the weekend dabbling on this layout. It's kind of my ode to distressing and inking. I wanted to create something special to commemorate this concert for my daughter. She loves it.

There's a lot going on in that layout, so I immediately, like I didn't even clean up in between layouts, I was drawn to create something with a cleaner style. (Actually, "my style" is probably somewhere in between these two.) I created it for the BASB challenge to use a combination of black and white and colored photos. These photos make me smile. They are from a LONG time ago, but I love how it shows their closeness and get a load of that scarf on Emily's head!! I want to say they were pirates or something. Unfortunately, I can't remember.

Fall is here.

Fall is here, but it feels more like winter today.

IMG_0702, originally uploaded by lesliedav.

Gone shopping...

Not to worry, nothing too exciting here. Just grocery shopping and hitting the "mart". And I do have to stop in at Michael's and get a birthday present for my daughter's friend. I think while I'm there I'll look for a few sheets of paper. I started a layout last night from the Jonas Bros. Concert and it is just not coming together. It was such a fun event and I want to create a special page for my daughter. It is very rare that I don't have something in my stash that will work.

Just a layout... (Edited)

Only thing I've got interesting today is a layout I finished last night. :)

Please look for this layout in Scrapbook Trends March 2010!!!