Scrapbooking!

Anyone remember my post from last December about American Crafts' a-mazing warehouse scrapbook sale? Yes, I was kind of obsessed. :) Well...I was thinking I was just getting addicted to BUYING scrapbook supplies but not actually USING them. Seriously, I've done a little here and there but nothing to even make a dent in my newly stocked scrapbook supply. But no worries...I've been doing a bit lately and wanted to share! (Especially for those in the pictures and the previous scrapbooking buddies!) I just took some quick pictures, so sorry things aren't the best quality—and, yes, they are just on my carpet! I've also linked them to a Picasa album if you want a closer look.

First up,

GRADUATION:

Yes, it's been two years and I still hadn't done these pictures. I managed to narrow things down to three pages—we all know I'm somewhat picture happy. Although after I finished I saw a picture I had put in a frame but didn't have a double of. ... don't you hate that? I started out really liking the first page of the series, but in the end after everything was glued on, I think I like the "inside" pages more. I think these colors kinda define me. I LOVE black and white patterns and LOVE darker red/maroon accents. Uh, remind anyone of my bedroom? It's EXACTLY like that :P 

Graduation 

Graduation Inside

21st BIRTHDAY DINNER:

Don't you love finding pictures from years ago that you never got around to scrapbooking? (haha, for you scrapbookers out there :)) I actually have had a plan in mind for this page for a while: the"Funny Faces" part. Yes, I believe I have a million of those type of photos. I wanted to feature them all somewhat equally so before getting the photos printed, I sized them in Photoshop to fit two to a printed photo. Some are more zoomed into the faces than others, but there wasn't much I could do about that after the fact.

Funny Faces

HIGH SCHOOL DANCE:

OK, now this would be a more accurate example of finding pictures from years ago. Yes, this is from, I think, my senior year in high school. Ah, crazy! I think I got extremely behind during my last year in high school and my first couple in college. These are just two pages of the four-page spread. Again, I'm a picture addict. I always have problems completing the journaling on my pages. But...I leave a space for it anyways. Haha, I used to NEVER personally write on my pages. (But note that I actually DID in "Funny Faces") I'm a perfectionist and couldn't stand any mistakes or even just how my handwriting looks. So I always plan on typing something up later and actually printing it. I just recently FINALLY got a printer so I'm hoping to go back to several pages with blank spots as shown in this one and actually finish them. (Because, yes, journaling is important.)

Stars are pretty much my favorite shape and I love incorporating them when I can. Some of the dance's decorations were stars, so I love that aspect of these pages. I also like the repeated style of squares at the top left and again in pictures on the bottom right. Oh yes, this also shows my recent fascination with incorporating RIBBON! 

High School Dance

NERD FEST:

I've mentioned how I have lots and lots of paper and supplies that often sit for months without use. BUT having supplies on hand, specifically supplies that fit a page PERFECTLY, provides an awesome satisfaction. I loved using these polka dot and argyle papers to feature these pictures from our nerd dress-up party. Again, sorry for the poor cropping! :P  

Nerd Fest

BABY WESLEY/FRIENDS:

I did these next two pages because I love when I see layouts and examples that feature just one picture. Sometimes it's hard for me to completely focus on one moment because there's so much else I also need to scrapbook. But I wanted to play around with some options, and I loved doing it. Another random note: I'm just barely getting into using lettering like Thickers and other lettering products. I used to ALWAYS draw my own letters and just cut them out of paper. (Note the differences from the first examples to the later ones.) I actually used to have a binder of stencils that I'd use. Sometimes I'd even make my own by printing out every letter of a font I liked on cardstock and then cutting the letters out. 

Baby Wesley

Friends

Education Week

Wow, this past week has been CRAAAZY. First, I signed up to attend Education Week classes in the evenings after work. That only gives me four possible classes per day...and when I do something, I have to do it full out. So of course I attended four classes everyday—except Friday when I did two (but we'll get to that later.) So far my schedule would HAVE to have me get to work earlier (around 7:50 so I could leave around 3:50 and drive straight to BYU campus and hope to find parking so I could make it to my 4:30 class in time. Then I'd go to the 5:50, 7:10 and 8:30 classes and finish up around 9:25. My original plan would be to go straight to the gym where I was gonna try to run 3 miles everyday. Please note that that did not happen. :)

PLUS this week I got the AMAZING opportunity to complete a writing/editing sample assignment which I was really excited about. So, because I didn't have much time this week. I'd try to work on that for a few minutes after my classes...and before I got kicked off campus because the buildings were closing.

Then I'd head home, go to sleep and get ready for another craazy day. :)

Eventually I'll try to summarize some of my notes and thoughts on classes I took. There was a lot of good stuff.

Some lectures I attended:

Ronald Gubler: I have a plan for you—Do you trust me?
Kevin Miller: Stress OUT—Managing Stress in a busy life
*John Hilton III: Improving your scripture study
Lawrence Stevenson: 6 Perfecting Principles
*Randal Wright: Acquiring the self-discipline to succeed.
Brad Wilcox and John Bytheway: Raising ourselves to the bar
Michael Allred: The 8 values—an inspired pattern for building your inner self.
*Anthony Sweat/John Hilton III: WHYs and Personal Worship

*Some of my favorites

Good things about attending just evening session
There's plenty of parking. Everyone else is leaving!
There's usually room in any class
It can fit in with a working schedule

Bad things about attending just evening session
There aren't as many options
You might not catch some of your favorite speakers
You can get tired more easily :)

Let's Dance!

Any of you remember my "Dancing the day away" or "Dancing toes" posts? Probably not...but those posts helped remind me that last weekend was the THIRD time I've attended the all day workshops at the Rose Wagner Center for Arts up in Salt Lake. I got the e-mail about the workshop a couple weeks earlier and even though they raised the price to $10 this time, haha, decided to still attend. I actually really wish I lived closer because I'd totally take classes there when I could...Anyone know of anything similar in Utah County???

I won't bore you with the details too much because apparently I've done that twice already. But as always it was fun. I left my house in the morning at about 9 a.m. and was hoping to get there in time to attend the 9:50 modern dance class. However...traffic wasn't on my side that morning and after moving along the freeway very, VERY slowly, didn't get to the place until about 10:30—almost double the expected travel time. So I read my book ("I will teach you to be rich.") in the car for a little while then went and signed in. I warmed myself up by joining the last few minutes of the ballroom class (They were learning the cha-cha and just doing the basic steps over and over and OVER again :P ... oh and they introduced some cross-over breaks. Good times.) Then I did Brazilian, African, and jazz/contemporary classes. (Yes, I'm still fostering a secret crush on the jazz teacher.)

Last time I developed huge blisters on the bottom of my toes and I could feel them coming on after my first class. Maybe you have to be a dancer to appreciate the crazy things you put your feet through...So of course I took pictures of my toes. I'll save you from seeing the bottoms but please note my lovely toe-painting job. Yes, I did spend a lot (that's stretching) of time painting them only a few days earlier.



Side note: Yes, the different feet have different colors. A day after I first painted them, I decided the color was too bright for me (my normal one is now missing after my move), so I painted over it with a neutral, almost clear tan to see if I could tone it down...I didn't like that either and then didn't fix either :) Now I have, for the first-time, a French pedicure. Again, I didn't like it at first, but it's growing on me—plus I have no other options!!!



Me, exhausted after four hours of dancing!! But loving it, of course.

Not this month

OK, you probably figured out that I will not be doing a daily post this month...it kinda snuck up on me and the first several days of the month I found myself without Internet—first at my sister's house (Yes, they have access, but I have to hook my computer up to it and that seemed like a lot of work when I could instead play with my nephews...oh and my niece) and second at my new apartment. (Yes, it also has Internet but I don't yet know the password and keep forgetting to ask since I've just been unpacking and unpacking...and more unpacking. 

I did think about maybe starting in the middle of the month and going for 30 days instead of a month, but it didn't have quite the same appeal. I'm now shooting for September and now have lots of time to prepare myself. I'm going to work reaaally hard at not just putting off posting so I can count it for my month of blogs...haha. We shall see. 

With that, I'm off. I've been working on freelance stuff (and personally getting caught up online) all night and am heading home to my Internet-less world. To unpack. 

Happy August 1st

I feel like I've been waaay too busy lately. But that's usually the way I like it. I love when new things come my way and usually get bored doing the same old thing for too long. Life is full of unique opportunities and there are so many things to learn, do, and experience. There are lots of things, of course, that don't interest me at all, but I don't want to ever have to say that I never took an opportunity I wish I had taken, just because I didn't want to step out of my comfort zone.

My last apartment contract ended officially as of yesterday, July 31st. At this point in my life, where you live really affects so much. So when the calender turned from June to July, and I realized I needed to make another decision soon, I really had to evaluate so many different parts of my life, which I let become entirely too stressful. I think I tend to be more of a go-with-the-flow type, but when I feel tied to a decision—and all of the other things that it affects—I analyze everything a bit too much....as most of you know who talk to me or read this blog regularly. Even though I might be fine and content where I am, I always want to weigh my other options and make sure I'm doing what I should be doing and am where I should be. Sometimes that's hard to entirely figure out. 

In short, the last month has been like my own episode from HGTV looking at dozens of apartments, weighing what I like against what I don't like, deciding if the area is a good fit for me...and on and on. But I am happy to report that I've found a new apartment I'm excited about. Unfortunately, I have only spent about a half hour there total so far. I ended up having to take Friday off work at the last minute, successfully moved all of my stuff and cleaned my old apartment, then took off on an hour and a half drive to my sister's house where we have a baby blessing this weekend. Add all that to my normal schedule with my job, the gym, my twinternship, plus some new freelance jobs, etc. It's been busy but that's OK. :)

I wanted to write today because well, it's August 1st, and though this date definitely snuck up on me, I've been thinking of trying an experiment of posting a blog every day for a month—inspired by my friend David Garcia's same tactic in June. He did great! (FYI, we both worked for the Marriott School at BYU at the same time, although on different floors.) I tried to post three times a week for a while...but haven't done so well. I'm not committing myself to doing this for August as of yet (I will definitely try another month for sure), but wanted to start off on the right foot just in case. I've been brainstorming dozens of posts that I want to write so I'm excited about building content. I just need to dedicate myself on the weekends to write several posts to get ahead for the week. (I never seem to have enough time to write a hour post in the evenings—I get distracted so easily. :P) 

So stay tuned, and we'll see what happens.