dj

ho hum.

I've spent the weekend on the couch. Reading blogs, finally responding to emails, all that kind of housekeeping. And of course now I'm restless. Tomorrow it's back to work! The hip is feeling a lot better for this, and I get my report from the chiropractor tomorrow so I'll have a little more insight into it. Thank goodness I have True Blood to give me a little excitement tonight!

If you're interested, one of my layouts was featured in a Simple Summer Pleasures post over at Create Well... Create Often. I was thrilled to be asked, and enjoyed quite a bit of time browsing that blog. 

Can you tell I've been having a blog design crisis lately? I don't know what I want... and what I don't. It's driving me crazy. Hopefully I settle on something soon.

Got a couple of blog awards recently:

The first, from the supersweet Mizarwen,



(I think that's such a cool one!)

and from Marit:

(also very cool!)

Thanks ladies - for these and for just reading my blog.

Anyways... not much going on... so I'll leave you with some links I can't quite seem to take off my browser yet:

- Patty Van Dorin's art journals on Decor8.

- Free Fonts at Creature Comforts.

- Utterly Engaged Wedding E-zine. (I have a crush on anything wedding these days.)

- Creative Things to do with Moo Cards.

Alright.... back to emails.
Happy Sunday!

Izze.

we can only sit on the floor of our balcony right now, as I still haven't bought any chairs. I'm being picky. I don't want new. I want old.
And I'm torn between finding the perfect old wooden slatted chairs or buying a chair and table set made from that black wrought iron. But I will find what I'm looking for, I usually do. We all do don't we? Even if it's completely different that what we thought it would be.

I love Izze. I'm not really a soda person at all, this is sparkling juice. I like to grab this mostly if we're going somewhere where there will alcohol or for new year's. That kind of thing. I found two new flavors at the health food store, Ginger and Birch. Seemed like the perfect reason for a treat.

Hip Update: (ha) I went to see the chiropractor yesterday. It was a very cool experience, and I had a little hesitation here and there but this man has been working with various members of my family for years and I trust him. I love new experiences, and this did not disappoint. What really surprised me, pleasantly, was how he picked up on my stomach issues when he was feeling around my abdomen. We had discussed it a bit before then, but as soon as found some tender spots he knew what they meant. Which, I didn't even know were a problem,  I just assumed that it was better than how miserable I was a couple years ago. Anyways, very informative, very cool. I feel like my hip is starting to get better, but it will definitely take a little time and more visits.

Alright, I need to hobble into the kitchen and fix up some dinner. Roasted red pepper sausages anyone?

The transformers hang out with the stickles.

 
I should add... I'm not a toy collector. I'm not really a toy person actually. To be honest, let's also add in that I'm not really a collector either. In fact, large groups of things that sit and collect dust make me twitchy. I just love these little guys so much and they came with a dvd set my husband got me for Christmas back in 2007.
So they sit on my paint shelf. And sometimes I will find that Neil has put them into odd combat positions. It's the little things in life you know?

Seeing Revenge of the Fallen was day #2 of Neil's four days of birthday celebration. I bought tickets a few days ahead for the IMAX showing and surprised him. He's all about the IMAX. I should be honest, I loved this movie and I loved the first one. I totally geek out about them. But that movie was one of the most stressful experiences of my life. Top ten at least. The action never ever let up and I get way too emotionally invested in these types of things. I wanted a long nap afterwards.

Day #3 was pizza at Spin, which was a treat because it was dinner out and we havn't been to Spin in awhile because I'm trying hard to avoid the gluten to avoid the headaches, stomach aches, overall sense of wanting to drop on the floor. That said - I just noticed a status update from Spin on facebook that they've got gluten free crust now. That is very good news. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if you're in the area, check them out.

Finally, Day #4 was probably the most hilarious of them all. The actual birthday. I woke up without much of a plan for the actual day, after all, Neil would be at work for most of it. We were having dinner with his parents later... and yet, I still wanted to do something more than the typical "happy birthday!! I love you! xxxoxo love love blah blah" text/call. And then I came up with the most GENIUS plan ever.
I posted this message on facebook:
"Neil is 25!! Text him @ xxx-xxx-xxxx - ha!"
Thank goodness my facebook is friends only. But I was thinking, this boy really truly deserves some love. And this is hilarious. Perfect.
And I get this text in the middle of the day "NOT FUNNY."
I was dying.
I don't remember how many texts he got, but it was a ton, some from people he hasn't seen in years. The best part was he was working in a tunnel that day, so he would lose service when he went down, and when he came back up his phone would just blow up with texts.
Goodtimes.

Anyways.... I need to get my poor hip (and everything attached) into the shower so I can see the chiropractor later today. I'm just happy to start figuring out what's going on. It's getting worse each day, this morning I woke up to it just throbbing. I had to medicate right away, which I loathe doing... but sometimes you just have to I guess.
I'll be checking back in tomorrow.

you can replace these things right?

 
 
So, somehow I hurt my hip. I didn't fall, I didn't run into something... I have no idea at all what I did. But last week it just started bugging me, it hurt a little when I walked. I thought, no big deal, I just slept on it wrong, it will feel better in the morning.
Yeah, no.
So it's been like this almost a week now, getting worse every day. Especially if I've had to do some walking or even just sitting up for awhile. By the 4th it was too much and I wasn't much up for going anywhere. Neil elected to stay home with me, which made me feel pretty terrible since the 4th of July is his very favorite holiday, and his family throws a huge party every year. So yeah, we stayed home. He lit off a few last minute fireworks in the street (like every other yahoo in this town - seriously this town was lit up and blowing up like whoa.) and played xbox with my brother, but still, I felt pretty awful.
Yesterday morning I woke up feeling better, which tricked me and I should have known better but after cooping myself up for the past couple days I wanted to get out! Neil and I wandered downtown to a couple random walls for photos - my intention was just to get some of him freshly 25, but we found a couple walls that screamed americana so it worked for that as well.

 
I really do have a fondness for kitchsy, folksy, americana type decor - still, it's a bit too dated for me. I'm going to try harder next year to decorate though... found a few etsy storque posts that had me swooning.

oh! anyways. after the photos I was still feeling good and we went to breakfast and out shopping with my brother, aunt and grandma. it was FUN, but yeah, I was in some pain by the time we got home.

Insanely long and distracting story short - I have a funky hip, I missed out on the 4th of July (and dragged Neil and my brother down with me!) and I will be going to see a chiropractor on Wednesday.

It's slowing me down a bit, which is why I suddenly stopped my blogging spree - I'm getting behind trying not to overdue it. ugghhhh. I'm not really the resting type.
I am the rambling type though... and I should end this post.

Happy Monday. :)

July 2nd? that can't be right. can it?

I'm the guest team member over at Twisted Sketches for this week's sketch.

I don't know why but I'm diggin' the sketch thing lately!

The subject of this is based off of a conversation my therapist and I had a few weeks ago. About giving myself permission to live a good life. Allowing myself to create the life I want.

I did a bit of a blog post about it awhile back as well.

Go play. Because it's fun. And fun is good.

(AND in case you weren't already aware, there is a new prompt over at Scrapmojo which I totally and completely forgot about until about the day before. I know, I'm a bum. So, go check it out and see what the other lovely gals have done. I'll be sharing mine soon!)

She's my cherry pie... ummm. no, wait.

I don't really even like that song.
Anyways.

Vintage Plum's July Kit - Cherry Pie is here! I've called kits yummy before. But when I say this kit is yummy, this time I'm quite serious. It's just the best way to describe it!

I fell really head over heels for this kit - it was just screaming: summer, july, the 4th, Americana, good food, road trips, diners, and just classic, vintage fun.
Yeah, I got all that from this kit.
And you would too if you would stop reading this and go buy it already.

So yeah, I'd been meaning to share this photo of some blueberries but I hadn't yet. I'm not kidding you - I buy three pints of blueberries from the market each time and they are gone in 2-3 days. About a pint a day. I can't stop myself. Addiction. Delicious.
I used one of the cupcake liners as a mask and I also played around with my own distress ink for the first time. That stuff is very good stuff.

Again using the cupcake liner as a mask. I also cut it in half after it was all pretty and sprayed up to embellish with it.

We are lazy snackers. So our fridge is set up like a healthy buffet. Yum.
I love die cut papers like this. And as someone who hardly ever uses chipboard for anything, I have a new appreciation for it.

I used one of the coin envelopes that came in the kit to make a quick little gift card envelope for Neil's bday:
(ignore one of the stickers popping up, I had to hide it from him in my purse and my keys weren't very kind to it. I had a stern talk with them.)

My petunias - which despite many scares are still going strong. I'm figuring out how much attention they need in between "none" and "smothering". Next year my goal is to plant a whole balcony garden. I'm reading up on it. Check in next year...! But let's not talk about my tomato basket right now... I have no idea what is up with it. That's the other half of the cupcake liner up there as well. And I'm very much in love with this Jenni Bowlin paper. Perfect stuff.

So - this thank you card ended up with a bit of a western theme going on. I don't mind but didn't even notice until after I finished it. That's Vintage Plum's own menu paper peeking out in the background. Loved it.

Lots and lots of fun things going on at Vintage Plum right now too. Leave a comment on this VP blog post for a chance at some lovely etsy goodness. Be in the first 10 customers to buy 2 or more kits (any of them, July and all past kits included) and you'll get a cute prize pack from Midnight Oil Scrapbook Designs.
Plus - the Art Card challenge is still going strong, already a couple adorable entries in there.
There is another awesome post about ATCs, along with a free download and a giveaway.
*phew*

That may be all?? For now?
If you're not craving something sweet or at least something that smells like paper then I have failed miserably...!

Happy Wednesday.

" i always love a good "dude." :) "

That was Katie's comment moments after I posted these on flickr. It cracked me up. I'm all about sharing the funny.

(you can see these a bit larger and more detailed here.)

For this week's challenge over at Vintage Plum. If you play with us and share what you've created, you're automatically entered into a drawing for a $5 gift certificate. Very cool.

So come play. I'm in the mood for art cards of all kinds so these won't be the last for sure.

I hear fireworks popping all over town. Ahhh... the 4th. The pyro inside my husband will soon be bursting out of him I'm sure. Insanity.

The chat for Dina's new class over at Get it Scrapped just finished up. It sounds amazing. I'm so excited. I've got plans for it and the other classes I never finished up from last year. My own little summer school... more about that later.

For now, blog reading. One day I will master the art of blog reading balance. One day.