Happy Monday!

Lately I've been loving Mondays. I'm not sure why, maybe it's the weather, or the beginning of a new week, a chance to start fresh, I'm not sure. Whatever it is I like them and so does Jenny. I noticed last Monday and today she's been in a great mood, so excited and energized. This morning as I finished putting my bags in the car and turned to get her, I saw her standing like this. I just had to grab my camera and snap a pic!

I had a great weekend, and I hope everyone else did too. Mine was very productive. I finished reading a book I've been reading for a few weeks now. I also did a few loads of laundry, decorated for fall, and finished making Jenny's halloween treat bags for her class. We also went to the patch on Saturday and after we went to Olive Garden for dinner with my parents. Shane worked, so it was just Jenny, myself and my parents. It was nice spending some quality time with them. I worked on Sunday but still had the evening with Shane and Jen. And of course ended my Sunday night with an epicode of Army Wives. Oh how I love that show. I'm sad that there's only one more episode for the season. :(

The C word

CANCER... it's a word I know too much about. I wish I didn't have as much exposure to it as I've had. I've lost many family members to this horrible and hated disease. October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and I just wanted to share this with everyone. I had my annual checkup today. I am always concerned about cancer, and those of you who know me, also know I'm actually kind of paranoid about it. I drive my family crazy always thinking something is wrong with me. For the past couple of weeks I've been hearing about this blood test called BRACanalysis on the radio. I asked my doctor about it today, and he told me he recommends that I get it. It helps you find out your risk of heriditary breast and ovarian cancer. I was actually really excited about it. It's kind of costly, around $375, but worth it. I did it today and am waiting on my results. I have a feeling it might come back positive, but that will just reassure what I've known all along. It will also help me to prepare myself for it and work hard to prevent it. I'm also having a mammogram today. I know I'm kind of young but I say you can never be too cautious with the C word, So I just wanted to share with all of you that this awesome blood test is out there and it can help us especially in early detection. To learn more about the blood test go to BRACnow.com I hope that we will all take every measure to keep up with our health and always get your yearly checkups to safeguard yourself from this disease. I'm happy that I've done this in honor of my loved ones, because I know early detection will make a huge difference in the battle. Thanks for reading.

Change is good...

For as long as I can remember I've been a procrastinator. I've also been unorganized, which I thinks comes from me being a procrastinator. I finally reached that point where I couldn't take it anymore. I've slowly began changing all of that about myself and I'm so proud of it! I'm managing my time better and making time for the important stuff like spending time with Jenny, our friends and family, and most of all scrapbooking. I love the idea of never having to worry about deadlines or not having time for the fun stuff. I'm planning ahead more and enjoying it all. I am so happy with myself, so I had to share! Sorry if I bored anyone. Here's a couple of layouts I did a few weeks back. I've been meaning to post, and finally got around to it.

A Layout

I'm on a roll tonight. After making the cards with my scraps, I decided to make a page. Everything here is scraps I challenged myself to use. I'm usually one to stick with a coordinating line of papers, but this was a complete mix. I'm pleased with the result. I'm playing with my style, still trying to get a feel for what I like.

Scrappy stuff...

Just wanted to share. I hardly ever make cards but I saw that pink paislee flower on someone's blog and it made me pull my piece out of my scrap drawer. I made these really quick and using only scraps! I love when I do that. It justifies my over abundance of C R A P. Oops I meant S C R A P!

So it's been a while...

I wish blogging was something I did more of.
I wish scrapping was something I did more of.
I wish I had more time for me.
I wish life wasn't so hard.
I wish I had more time with my family.
I wish I had more time to clean my house.
I wish I had more time to read.
i wish I made time to exercise.
I wish all these piles of laundry would go away.
I wish I could stay awake all night so I can catch up on my life that seems to be passing me by...

I've been so overwhelmed lately. It's been one crisis after another around here. We're just trying to get past losing Shane's grandma two weeks ago. Things are slowly getting back to normal, or as crazy as it was before all of this.
It's funny how when someone dies, our lives seem to be put on hold for a few days or so and then once they're gone we have to get back to our lives.
Losing Shane's grandma has made us realize just how important our family is to us and just how much we cherish the relationship. I'm so lucky to have not just my own family, but Shnae's as well. I'm lucky to have been blessed with such wonderful in-laws.

Well I have some catching up to do on here so I will be posting more soon...

My Lil Preschooler!

Ok so I've been having anxiety about today all weekend long. I could hardly sleep last night. I had her outfit picked out and most of her lunchbag packed since Sunday. When we got to the school, my stomach had butterflies. WEll Jenny couldn't wait! She was so excited, and so anxious to go inside. While I was filling out the paperwork she was overly anxious and started making her way down the hall. I kept thinking, just wait you'll be crying soon. Well as soon as we walked into the classrooom her eyes lit up! She had such a smile on her face. Her teacher, Ms. Crista welcomed her with a hug and a kiss, and then Jenny was off and running! She started playing with the toy kitchen in the corner and didn't even have time to say bye to me! Well she had a blast all day, never cried once. I was the one crying when I left this morning. At least she's in the same plaza as I am. I was able to walk over and sneek a peek at her. I felt better seeing how she was playing and having a good time. I'm so glad it went so easy, I just hope it will be so easy the following days.

It's Finally Happened...

Up until now I've been very fortunate to have my parents take care of Jenny. She's 2 1/2 years old and has never been to daycare. I know I'm lucky that way, and very appreciative too. Recently my mom has gotten a full-time job and is no longer able to watch her during the days. Well my dad made the sacrifice to stay with Jen all week so I could work and then he would work on weekends. Since the real estate market has been so slow, it's forced my dad to look for a job. So he's been looking for a few weeks now, and he finally found one. On Friday he called me at work to let me know he starts this Monday!!! So I racked my brain trying to think of options for Jenny and realized the only one I had was daycare, or preschool. Whatever, I"m not even familiar with the school terms for her age. Anyways, there's a center in the same plaza as the Paper Niche. I've been asking our customers who take their kids there and they love it. I've only heard good things about it. So, Friday I went to register Jenny. :( So she starts on Monday. I can't believe it. I know she needs the outside interaction, but it's so hard for me. Well I've been trying to prepare her by telling her all the fun things she'll be doing, making new friends, etc. So today we're off to buy a lunch bag and lunch for the week and other school "stuff," whatever that it. Wish me luck!

Finally a layout!

I know it's been a long time since you've seen a layout from me. And this one is definitely not my normal, but I'm proud of how it came together. I wa busy working on some deadlines last night and when I was finished, I wanted to scrap something of my own. So at 12:45 am I was flippin through a magazine and saw a similar layout to this one. I thought it was cute and simple to scraplift, just to get inspired. But I realized i needed 3 coordinating patterned papers, so started hunting through my stash. And there it was, after less than a minute i found these papers next to each other. That never happens to me. Now for those of you who know me, I HATE to use old papers. I feel like they're too old and I don't want to use them. It's my worst habit, because all the papers I have are "old." (as long as they came out more than a few months ago) Anyhoo, this layout came together so quickly after that. I was finished by 1:30. It was outside my element and that's what I'm proud of. The fact that I almost completely scraplifted the entire layout, I used old papers, and I used stamps on patterned papers. These are new clear stamps from Making Memories that I got as a sample from CHA. I even stamped it on the back of a piece of left over patterned paper. So I just thought I would share my proud moment with you.

A great weekend

It was so nice to just spend the weekend at home, not having to travel or doo something. It was a wonderful weekend. Shane came home so that's always nice. I feel so relieved when he's here to help me out with Jenny and the house. It's a welcomed break. On Saturday we decided to head to the beach because Jenny has been wanting to build sand castles for weeks. I'm not sure how she even knows about them, because we've never built any with her. Over the fourth of July I bought her a pail and shovel with intentions of taking her but of course it got rained out that whole weekend. So anyways, we went to Dania beach for all of an hour, but it was nice. Shane and Jen had time to build some sand piles, nowhere close to a castle, and time to play in the water. And mommy had time to lay in the crazy hot sun and get frustrated. I don't understand why people do that to themselves, when we have such nice air conditioned homes. Why?? I've never been much of a beach person. I know, I know, wierd, I live in Florida. I just hate the thought of the sand sticking to you and the yucky salt water and seaweed and sweltering heat,yucky. Anyways it was a nice time for Jenny and Shane so that's all that matters. Jenny loved it and didn't want to go home.
We also went to the movies, to see Kung Fu Panda. I've been wanting to take her ever since it came out but wouldn't because of the snake character. ( I know, don't laugh) So since Shane was home, perfect. Well he didn't want to go but he ended up loving it, and so did Jenny. She feels like such a big girl sitting on her own seat with her own popcorn and soda and candy. It's really cute seeing her like that.
After the movies, we were going to go to dinner but it was after 9 and Jenny wasn't gonna make it through, so we ended up at DQ for ice cream. Ice cream is always a nice ending to a good day!
Sunday was also a nice day. We all slept in, which is always nice. Then i made french toast for breakfast. I also made spagetti and meatballs for lunch. ( I cooked-Whoo hoo! ) We cleaned aa little and spent some time together before Shane left. After he left Jenny and I took a nap and then we went to the park to feed the ducks. We had promised her earlier so I had to take her. We only spent a half an hour there because we were being attacked by the ducks! We took bread to feed them and once they all caught on that we had food, they started crowding around us from all sides. Jenny kept saying, "scared mommy, scared!" So we had to get out of there. Lol, it was cute.
And of course my Sunday night ended with a great episode of Army Wives. I love that show. I'm such a fan. It's the one show I can actually keep up with schedule wise, and I love every minute of it.

Just another Thursday

Well last Thursday, July 24th, was my 26th birthday. I had to keep reminding myself it was my birthday. What is it about birthdays? I always feel depressed, as if it means nothing to anyone. I know it does, but I just feel like that. I guess I like making a big deal about them, but the more you have the less important they are I guess! Anyways, considering it all, I did have a pretty good day. I worked, which wasn't such a bad thing. My day started off with flowers and a present (perfume) from my BFF Krista. A bunch of phone calls from my family. Then yummy Cake Batter ice ceam cake from Coldstone (a Paper Niche tradition) Then my sweet mommy made a wonderful birthday dinner for me, Charlene and Krista. After dinner we headed back to my house for margaritas and scrapbooking, the perfect ending to a great day.

More pics

So there's still more. Lately Jenny has had a fascination with ice cream. Before now, we could not get her to like it, no matter how much we pushed it in her face. Now she loves it. She will eat it almost anytime it's offered to her. She also knows when the ice cream truck passes by. Everytime it does she goes crazy. I love it though because she hardly eats junk food, or food for that matter so anything is ok with me. We love Ritters in Coral Springs. This was the first time Jenny ate their ice cream. We've been going there a lot longer, but this was the first time she actually wanted the ice cream. She was so excited, she ran up the stairs before we could catch her! I think her favorite flavor is vanilla, like mommy, but daddy wishes it was chocolate, his favorite! My two cuties enjoting their ice cream. mmm...yummy


We also went bowling and Jenny loves that too. She was able to lift this ball all by herself. It's the lightest one they have. It was so cute! she would just drop it on the lane and it would roll a few feet and stop! Daddy helped her out though and she stayed awake until 1:30 am bowling with us. What fun that was.

Finally some new pics

Ok so i'm just getting around to posting a real post with pics and all. I do have other things i should be doing, but this is more important:) so for the Fourth we went to a bbq at one of Shane's friends. Here is a pic of Shane and Jenny, and Me and Jen, and one of the guys. These are all guys he's at the academy with. They're a nice group of guys.

He's Official!

My husband, the Federal Agent. I like the sound of that. I also love a man in uniform. My beloved Shane just graduated from the academy in Georgia yesterday. An awesome accomplishment for him, who has been training so hard for the past three months. Not to mention being away from his family the entire time!
Myself, Jenny, Shane's parents, my nephew and Shane's close friend attended. We were all so proud of him yesterday. It's been a long journey and quite an experience but well worth it. I didn't get to take many pictures because Jenny was quite fussy during the ceremony. But here's one of the three of us. I'll have to get copies of everyone else's so I can scrap them of course. He looks so different in his uniform. I can't wait to see him all decked out with his gun belt and everything else. They were only allowed to wear just the uniform for their graduation.
He still has five more weeks of spanish class there before he is home for good. I can't wait. We love you babe.

Oh so Busy

Just when I thought things were slowing down around here. I was really looking forward to some down time so I could relax. Well on the fourth, my cousin died in New York. It was a really sad trgedy as he was only 27 and he drowned. So on Tuesday I flew out to NY and back home on Wednesday night. Then tonight I drive to Orlando and from there I head to Brunswick Georgia for Shane's graduation. I come back to Orlando on Monday night and drive back home Tuesday morning. As if that wasn't enought I work Wednesday and fly out to Chicago for CHA on Thursday! I Come home on Saturday night and get one day with my husband on Sunday before he flies back to Georgia. I'm excited about the Graduation and CHA but Whew!! I can't wait for all the traveling to be over.
I have new pics to post. Will do so soon.

Catching up Cont...

Here are some more pics i've been meaning to share. These are from our girls weekend a couple of weeks back. I had such a great time. I hope we will be able to do it again soon. We had dinner at Thai Thai in Plantation Saturday night and then went to see Sex and The City afterwards. The last pic of the martini glasses were our gifts from Krista. Of course mine was the New York one, and Krista had the Sex on the Beach one, and Charlene was the leopard print or whatever print that is. Oh what fun!

Doing some catching up

I guess it has been a while since i've posted. I know i've been cheating with the mini blurbs and no pics so i decided to get caught up on the pics. So many things went by lately. It seems like things are finally slowing down areound here. Besides the stress, i'm pretty much ready to get back to normal. Been itching to scrap all my new pics! Okay i just realized i can only post like 5 or 6 pics at a time so i'll have to do a couple of posts.
The first two pics are of a diaper cake i created for my cousin's baby shower in NY last weekend. Then there's me and Jen on the 3rd pic, looking cute and matching of course. The fourth pic as you can very well see is a bridge, but not just any bridge. It's the Throggs Neck Bridge in NY. The very bridge i used to drive over back and forth every day to go see my sweetie Shane when we were dating. Man i miss New York. And lastly another one of my NY faves, Mr. Softee, the best darn soft serve ever. I think this was Jenny's first Mr. Softee experience. This was a time honored tradition when we lived in NY. Waiting on the ice cream truck every afternoon. Shane's Mr. Softee guy knew us my names! Man i miss NY!