Gratitude

I decided today I would post 10 completely random things I'm grateful for - it's been a while since I've posted one of these. I've had a bit of a bad attitude ("poor me") since I haven't been feeling well lately so I needed a way to have an attitude adjustment. :)

Here we go:

1) My planner - I like to be organized and see what's coming up on my schedule. I've always been like this.

2) A clean kitchen - There's just something about having the dishes done and put away and the counter tops wiped down that makes me happy.

3) A cool summer - Normally this time of year I avoid going outside because it's hard to breathe. The weather has just been abnormal for Iowa this summer. We've had maybe 2 or 3 really hot days but the rest have been gorgeous!

4) Chocolate chip ice cream - That's the flavor of the day for me! I love ice cream so much that I had two small bowls last night! (See introduction for "poor me" attitude!) :)

5) Dunkin' Donuts French Vanilla coffee - Found this coffee at our local grocery store and I am in LOVE!

6) Many, many great authors - I've been a reading sponge over the past few months. Although I've read a lot during the day over the last weekend, I usually read 3 or 4 chapters a night before I go to bed to unwind. I'm a speed reader too so that enables me to finish a book fairly quickly. I've been a regular at the library this summer and plan to keep it up. I have so many books on my to read list. My problem is that I'll get almost obsessive about finishing my list!

7) the Olympics - I've really enjoyed watching all the events the past two weeks. Last night, two of the gymnastics mama's were crying - which made me cry! :) I love hearing the personal stories of each athlete and how they've overcome obstacles and challenges to make it to China.

8) Shoes - I admit I have somewhat of a shoe fetish. I have quite a few pairs as it is but I could definitely buy a lot more.

9) Quiet moments - I enjoy social events and hanging out with other people, but I've always been a person who has cherished her alone time. My husband is the same way. We love being together but sometimes we just need some space. He'll go into his studio and I'll go into mine.

10) Contacts - I've worn glasses since the 2nd grade and I was so thankful my mom and dad let me get contacts before my freshman year of high school. I wear my glasses at night but I'm so glad that I don't have to wear them during the day. Of course, I grew up in a time of fairly ugly glasses so I don't like looking at pictures of myself back then. Someday (if we ever have the money) I'm going to get Lasik - I'd love to not rely on contacts or glasses at all.

That's it for now! Have a great day! :)

Choose us! :)

I've been busy organizing and editing photos tonight for our adoption scrapbook. These are just a few of them that I'm planning on using in the book. My good friend Stephanie helped us out by taking these photos a few weeks ago. I really feel like she was able to capture the essence of who we are as a couple and as individuals. It was my idea to take the photos in our yard - I really wanted to show that we are fun-loving people. Glen complied even though he was grumbling about it, but these photos turned out to be some of my fav's! :) We still have some more photos to take of us "doing" our hobbies and I also need to dig up some family photos. Other than all that, I'm ready to start putting it all together! It should be about 20 pages when I'm all done. I'm planning on sending a good chunk of photos to Sam's tonight and then I'll start on it all tomorrow. So....do you think we look like good parents????!!!! :) It's been pretty funny doing our photo shoots - we've had to stage a lot of photos. We took some with our friends at church and we told them all to act like they REALLY like us a lot - HA!

Anyway we've had a pretty good weekend. The weather has been beautiful! I've been out walking, reading and taking a few naps! I'm finally starting to feel better although I do have a cough. I was really craving some comfort food on Saturday so I made a huge pot of soup. It was a new recipe I tried for Cheeseburger soup and I LOVED it! I'll definitely be making it a lot this winter. We've been watching more Olympics of course and also watched the movie, 21 = good stuff! I also watched the movie The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (the first one). I really liked it...I've been reading the books and I would definitely recommend them. I'm waiting for the 3rd one to come in at the library so I read it and the 4th one. I would really like to see the second movie.

Well, I better keep moving tonight. Have a good one! :)

Summer Sickness

Well, I somehow managed to pick up a nasty bug this week. I managed to go to work okay but I haven't felt the best especially in the past two days. I have about the worst sore throat I've ever had and I ache all over. I hate being sick in the summer! I just hope I don't have strep throat. Yesterday was not fun at work! If you didn't know, I write and voice radio programs for a living. It's a little difficult to be on the radio when you can barely talk or swallow but I managed okay. I rested a lot yesterday when I got home and plan on doing the same today. I do have some things to do but I just feel like laying around reading or watching TV.

I've been glued to the TV watching the Olympics since they started last week. Michael Phelps is just incredible at swimming and I have always loved women's gymnastics. I can remember watching Kerri Strug in the 1996(?) Olympics when she had to stick her vault landing for the gold. Fun stuff! Also it's really exciting that Shawn Johnson is from right here in Des Moines, Iowa - LOVE watching her compete!

Also just wanted to share a fun little shabby winter card using mostly supplies from My Mind's Eye.

Have a great weekend if I don't check in sooner! :)

Hello again!

I know, I know...I've been a bad blogger! Life has been so busy lately! First of all, Breaking Dawn was absolutely wonderful! I ended up staying up until 5:30 in the morning reading it. I slept until 11 and then got up and finished the book. I was so overwhelmed by it that I've already read it again. I'm working on a review of it because I just need to get my thoughts about it on paper. There's been a lot of mixed reviews about the book. The people that hate the book have made me so angry and frustrated because they have been bashing parts of the book that I absolutely loved. Sigh. I love it when I find a book and characters that I can feel so passionately about. Anyway, as soon as I get the review done I'll be sure to post here.

My sister has been here helping us paint our house. I think we're just going to paint the south and east sides of the house. We've been working on the south side for the past week. It's been slow going. I haven't been doing much creating lately because I've been working on the house. We went to the Iowa State Fair yesterday - it was actually beautiful weather. Glen got free tickets and we went to a private Wynonna Judd concert for people from his workplace. She was actually really good and sang a couple songs from when she was singing with her mom. I danced to "Grandpa, Tell Me 'Bout the Good Old Days" with my grandpa at my wedding so it's a special song to me. I'm so glad I got to hear that one.

Anyway, I better get moving today. I have a mountain of laundry to attend to. The card above is just one for fun using Melissa Frances supplies I had from a past Jenni Bowlin kit.

Enjoy your day! :)

FINALLY, the big day is here!

AAAAHHHH! It's Breaking Dawn day!!!! I am beyond excited for tonight! I have never been the "groupie" type but I truly feel like a Twilight saga super fan after what I did last night to "prep." We went out to get some house paint so I ran to Borders and picked up their exclusive Twilight movie calendar - my favorite month is November! - and then ran to Hot Topic and got myself THIS.

And I'm totally wearing it tonight!!!!! So there! :) My poor hubby just rolls his eyes at me but I don't care. And if you're in Des Moines and want to hang out with me, I'll be at the Borders store on University for the midnight release party! And if you're not local, I might just be on yahoo messenger if you want to chat while you're reading tonight! I also decided to spin off my blog and post my reaction to Breaking Dawn here - Twilight Saga Thoughts. If you don't want to view any spoilers, don't visit until you finish the book!

So now I need to find a way to pass the time today - I really should go to the gym to work off some of this nervous energy! I'm also wanting to read the last few chapters of Eclipse. I could work in my scrap room and I have some books to take back to the library. I'm also hoping to tune into a Twilight Series Theories podcast live from NYC where Stephenie's first book signing is tonight. And I think I'm going to church for an event tonight before I head for Border's. I'm just hoping the day flies by!

Enjoy Breaking Dawn day! You KNOW I will! :)

HOT!

Kay, I forgot about this post yesterday so I'm obviously blogging on Thursday instead. It's going to be a scorcher in Iowa the next few days. We've been really lucky so far this summer as we usually have weather you can wear most of the time. Like the type where it's hard to breathe as soon as you go outside...yuck! I'll be staying inside as much as possible!

Still way too excited about Friday night. I'm the type of person that can't stand surprises and I'll do as much sleuthing as possible to ruin the surprise. I keep trying to avoid the spoilers online but it's like witnessing a wreck...I can't look away! Absolute confession time here...whenever I start reading a book, I read the first 3-4 chapters and then flip to the end to see what happens. Then I go back and read to the end. EVERY SINGLE TIME I read a book....not kidding! I'm just hoping I'm not the only person over the age of 20 at the midnight release party Friday or I will feel silly! :)

Here's another Upsy Daisy Designs project using the Cupcake line. I also used a dimensional sticker from K & Company (the cherries).

Have a great day! :)

Seriously. excited.

Here's a new Upsy Daisy Designs project for you using the Vroom line. Such a fun line for little guys!

I've been busy the last few days. I ended up going back home to see my grandma in the nursing home. She looked really good and seemed to be in good spirits. We'll be going back to see her on Sunday. Saturday, I went to Adventureland (the local theme park) with my mom and sisters. It was fun but I'm not a huge ride person so I only went on about 3 rides. I can't stand rides that spin in circles continuously - makes me sooooo sick! My favorite ride is definitely the Tilt-a-Whirl! We did a little shopping too. Sunday my in-laws came to our house so we have been busy entertaining them. They go back home tomorrow morning. I've been itching to get into my craft room but I haven't been able to do that yet with all our company around. I'm looking forward to some time to create on Friday.

I am seriously freaking out about Friday night when I FINALLY get to read Breaking Dawn. As in I can't even stand it and can't even think about anything else. I have never wanted the week to fly by more. It's been a while since I've pulled an all-nighter but I am way up for it. I've had Friday and Saturday blocked off on my calendar for MONTHS just so I can read this book. I'm already anticipating me crying through the book. CAN'T WAIT!

More to come later this week! :)