diva loca

ANOTHER blog address change...

2010-02-20T11:53:00.002-05:00

Hi kids!

I just had to slightly modify my blog address yet again now that our business has an official web site.

Here is the new address...

http://blog.cestlaviestudioanddesign.com/diva_loca/

Be sure to update your links!
Thanks,
Laurie

I'VE MOVED!

2009-07-08T01:15:00.001-04:00

DIVA LOCA HAS MOVED...
YOU CAN NOW FIND ME @

http://www.cestlaviestudioanddesign.com/diva_loca/

DON'T FORGET TO UPDATE YOUR LINKS!

'NIGHT LOVLIES

Jessica Sprague - Class 1

2009-07-07T22:07:00.002-04:00

Hi lovelies.

Super fast post.

I'm doing the Jessica Sprague photo editing class this week and who knew her first lesson was exactly what i needed to learn to spruce up my NEW blog!

yahoooo

here is what i did with assignment one - is she a cutie or what????

...been slackin'!

2009-07-04T21:26:00.004-04:00

Hi lovelies

Mea culpa. I haven't been the best blogger of late I know. Life is much different here in the 'Peg than what we are used to in Ottawa. It's busy. Well busier I guess.

There always seems to be something going on.

It's Saturday night and I'm chillin' with my main man. Nope, not Denis. He went back to Ottawa last Monday :(. Fortunately we snuck away for a romantic weekend for two at a nice lodge in the Whiteshell Provincial Park.

but I digress

Tonight I'm hangin' with the cutest of little boys - my nephew Hayden. We have been playing Wii and watching Pokeman and he's eaten enough peanut butter toast for a small army. He's been SO MUCH FUN today!

We went to Rylee's birthday party and watching Hannah Montana. "Poor" guy was surrounded by a bunch of little girls and ohhhhhhhh he loves the girls!!!

I'm actually working on a new blog on typepad so I've had less motivation to post on here. I should try to post more often in the meantime.

We are still waiting on some results for my dad. This limbo is tough. Some days we are totally optimistic and others it's not as easy to see the positive. Hopefully this week will give us more answers.

I've been wanting to do this fun little blog thing for a bit. I've seen it on a few different blogs...most recently on Dorrie's (OH HOW I MISS MY DORRIE LAURIE CATCHATORIE)...

here we go!

Outside my window...the sun is setting and the rain can't decide if it should fall...

I am thinking...it has been so much fun chillin' with Hayden today and I hope Jodi comes over tonight.

I am thankful for...my Denis...he makes this life so much better!

From the kitchen...peanut butter toast for Hayden (it's a miracle he hasn't turned into peanut butter) and leftover pizza for me with a diet grape crush!

I am wearing...COMFY CLOTHES! Yoga pants and a pink shirt.

I am creating...not much for myself lately. Did some creating with the kids on Canada Day - Rylee made pom pom creatures and I helped each of the kids decorate clipboards. SO FUN.

I am going...to get Hayden ready for bed soon.

I am reading...Lauren Conrad's new book. I think it's written for about a Grade 3 or so reading level! Ha!

I am hoping...My dad gets good news about his health.

I am hearing... Hayden playing Raving Rabbids and laughing A LOT. no better sound than children's laughter (not sure why it is underlining)...

Around the house...mess mess and more mess. but the mess can wait. i've got a hot date with a 7 year old tonight!

One of my favorite things...my new iPHONE. why the heck did i wait so long???? I heart it and i'm already SERIOUSLY addicted.

A few plans for the rest of the week: not too sure. Hopefully meeting up with Lesley and Eric at some point tomorrow...they are in from Ottawa. I'd like to see the movie Up and have asked Hayden to be my date! If it's nice there will for sure be some swimming in the mix!!!

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

Hayden and I were having some fun with Photobooth earlier. You can sort of see my new haircut. I need a better picture of it. It's short. VERY SHORT. and It's blond. I love it! It's fun and sassy for the summer and much less upkeep!

Well lovelies, I better get back to my date. Although he's enjoying himself so much (keeps repeating "THIS IS AWESOME") that he may no longer need me. :)

'night lovelies

Some more photos from the Vicki weekend...

2009-06-14T23:03:00.005-04:00

Hi lovelies.

We are more or less settled into life in Winnipeg. It has been a whirlwind week so far between driving for 3 days and trying to help out as much as we can around here. Yesterday we spent the day helping in the yard. We're going to have to rename Denis "donkey" or something because he has been a total workhorse. Seriously. The running joke he has when my mom thinks up a new project for him is "make a list."

I don't know that they will allow him to return to Ottawa.

We are still in limbo as far as my dad is concerned. The next step in the process is to "stage" him. If he's in Stage 1 or 2 there is reason for hope but Stage 4 is quite grim.

His spirits are up and he's taking time to enjoy life and the people around him. Denis and I had an amazing day with him on Friday...he was really down in the morning so I offered to help him with his errands and D wanted to come along. We hit so many places looking for parts for the pool and everywhere we went he ran into friends and spread many hugs.

Denis and I even convinced him to join us for lunch at the Olive Garden. He was in his glory and really spreading his joy. We were definitely able to turn his mood around.

We also celebrated Rylee's birthday on Friday night so he had more fun there!

I'm finding it hard to keep on top of my blogging/e-mail/facebook/life. I rarely have time for television if you can believe that! We're really trying to spend as much time as possible helping out.

I'm adding a few more pictures from the Vicki weekend tonight and I'll maybe put together a collage or something of some Winnipeg pics so far because there are SO MANY of them!!! I must put a disclaimer on these pictures...although it may appear we had had SEVERAL pitchers of beer, we only had 2 drinks each...blame it on Smiths Falls...

LOOK! even mama is a rockstar...

Well - off to bed. I have my first day at our Winnipeg offices tomorrow. The staff there is great so I'm actually looking forward to it. My parents are picking up the kids from school so we'll have supper with them and then I have a HOT DATE with my Jodi (so very excited) to watch the Bachelorette and I FINALLY get to see her new house...

I'll try and post more often, I promise

'night lovelies...

Katie...this one's for you...

2009-06-10T09:46:00.003-04:00

The first few seconds were accidentally cut off this video...the part that was cut off is "Katie, this one's for you..."

Hayden went all out just for you! Hope you like it...

Well, we made it safely to Winnipeg yesterday after three days of driving. I didn't mention anything on here because it was a surprise for most of the family (other than my parents)...

My niece and nephew were SO VERY EXCITED when they saw us and the feeling was DEFINITELY mutual.

I'm going to be working from Winnipeg for a while as we figure out my dad's health concerns.

I am off to get ready. We're going to run some errands and then D and I get to pick up the kids from school and I think we're going to take them to the Blue Bombers training camp.

We took some pictures last night that I'll try to post later. I'm so behind on posting. Rylee and Hayden BOTH shot AMAZING shots with our cameras. I think we have found our little assistants!

Have a great day lovelies...(hopefully it is MUCH warmer where you are - I'm pulling out the woolies)...

This one time in Smiths Falls...

2009-06-07T10:01:00.003-04:00

Hi Lovelies

I don't have long to write...Janet and Dorrie have already headed to the store and I haven't even showered!

Just wanted to pop in quickly and say what an ABSOLUTELY AMAZING weekend we've had yet again in Smiths Falls. I have not stopped laughing since Friday night. Seriously. It feels incredibly amazing for the soul...I am so grateful for this weekend. I swear. There are no words.

And I just have to throw this out there...the weekend was 100% DRAMA FREE. ohhhhhhhhhh that feels so so so good. Just lots of creativity, laughs and wonderful friends.

Oh jeez. I think there might be some drama now...I just stole the title of Dorrie's blog post. OOops. Don't tell her ok?

Well I really must run and get cleaned up for a last little bit of cropping.

I have SO MANY STORIES TO TELL but there is no time now so I'll just leave you with a quick photo and this...we met the lead singer, he gave us a couple CDs AND he even autographed mine with a sharpie...I'll fill in the blanks at a later date!

I think this weekend just may require a mini album of its own!!!

Just one question...why do I look like the only crazy in the photo???

Thank you thank you thank you Janet and Dorrie. I seriously can't thank you enough for this weekend. SERIOUSLY.

Now move over I have four songs to listen to...

Shopping spree...

2009-05-24T20:51:00.006-04:00

Hi blog friends

I've been MIA this week. To be honest, it has been a tough one. On Tuesday we got word that my dad has cancer. We know it is an aggressive type but other than that we don't have much more information. He is seeing his oncologist this Thursday so we should get more info then... please keep him in your thoughts.

Denis and I headed to the States yesterday for some good bargains. We wanted to check out the Waterloo Premium Outlet mall along with a few of our fave stores in Syracuse and the surrounding area.

Although we went to bed later than planned/hoped on Friday night, we did manage to wake up by 5 yesterday morning and we were on the road by 6.

Traffic was great, there was no line at the border and we reached our destination by just after 10. The outlet mall was HUGE and the deals were amazing. We both got some great stuff at a great price.

I think out biggest score was at the Nike store. We both got ipod-enabled shoes for RIDICULOUS prices. I also got the little ipod thingy...D already has one.

Here are my new shoes...(they are purple on the inside...tres funky)

After a few hours at the outlet mall in the VERY HOT SUNSHINE and crazy crowds (man it was gorgeous outside yesterday) we made our way to Fayetteville to hit the Joann's and Super TARGET. What is is about Target? I can't explain it but I sure do LOVE IT.

At Joann's we found a few fave fabrics for photoshoot backdrops...

And this Eiffel Tower wall decal - not sure where we're going to put it yet...(note, the stars and Je t'aime Paris are separate. Still not sure if we'll be adding those - they are a bit cheesy for my liking)
I hit three different Targets yesterday - did I say how much I love Target? Here are just a few of my yummy Target finds. I also managed to pick up a bathing suit, shirt and a few other odds n' ends...

A new lunch bag and purse - for some reason I TOTALLY thought of Katie when I saw this purse...

Is it just me or is YELLOW the new pink? This purse ALSO has a purple lining...

I also picked up a new green spring coat. This one made me think of my mumsy...

Next we were off to Carousel Mall where I picked up some new clothing...a few of the ones I could find online...

This jacket worked well with everything I tried on but I was a bit hesitant b/c of the price. Once D saw it on, he encouraged me to pick it up...the bonus, when the girl rang it in, it went from $89 to $19...WOW - what a deal!!! Add on a few pairs of jeans (also on clearance), some underwear, a new bathing suit and maybe an unmentionable or two, a new pair of shoes and my mall shopping was complete. I did pop into Bath and Body Works but having just stocked up in Guelph I resisted the urge...
Our next destination was D's "toy store" - Gander Mountain. I dropped him off to shop for hunting gear while I hit another Target and a Wal-mart. I was much less successful in those two but at that point we were pretty pooped from all of the miles we'd covered in "speed mode" and the lack of sleep. Something very funny/scary did happen to me while at Target. I was just wandering trying to kill some time and I ended up in the toy section (where I did find a little surprise for my friend Helene) and as I turned into an aisle ABOUT 15 DOLLS started making noise in unison. I nearly jumped out of my skin!!! It was the creepiest thing in the world. And also quite funny...

I swung back to pick D and all his new gear up and then we made our way to Watertown...

We had just enough time to hit ONE MORE TARGET (thank goodness b/c I found that yellow purse) before closing.

It was time for some supper and we hit one of my FAVOURITE restaurants...Applebees! We tallied up our expenses and our big big savings and then made our way to the border. The ride back was VERY stressful. I really hate the stretch of highway from Syracuse to Ottawa at night. I HATE IT. There are so many animals, particularly on the American side. I should have had a few drinks with supper to keep my nerves down. We did manage to make it home safely shortly after 1 a.m. (so if you are keeping track, that was nearly 24 hours) and by that point both of us were totally exhausted and spent.

We definitely managed to find some amazing deals but by far the best part of the day was the time spent together. We had great talks in the car with all the driving and lots of fun just being together. We were in great "sync" with each other's time and we both got to see and do everything we wanted to. It was just what I needed after the week I've had...

Thanks sweets - you really ARE the best.

Well, it looks like Monday is nearly here again. Yet another weekend that flew by at lightening speed. I'm looking forward to week 2 of my photography class tomorrow and of course THE BACHELORETTE...(and yes Louise I'd be happy to discuss with you ;))

I hope you all have a great week lovelies. I'll try to pop in once or twice.

'night lovelies,

Today feels just like Christmas...

2009-05-18T18:28:00.006-04:00

I've been looking forward to today for probably close to two months now.

My excitement involves two women.

1) Maggie Holmes
2) Jillian Harris

Denis need not be afraid. I'm not switching teams so to speak. I mean these women are beautiful and all but I'm not trading in my hunka hunka burning love anytime soon!!!

I started my much anticipated online photography class today. Maggie Holmes is pretty well known in the scrapbooking world and she is also an AMAZING photographer! I have already completed all of my assignments for week 1. Yes. In the first day. Mom - pick yourself up of the floor - it's true!

I can't get over how what she writes just "makes sense." I had that same feeling when I took Kathy's class at Scrapfest.

I don't have any incredible shots to show off just yet. This week's lesson was all about ISO and how the different settings give you different pictures. I am SO PUMPED for the next six weeks...

The "other" woman is the bachelorette - Jillian. She was my absolute FAVE on the last season of the Bachelor so to know she has her very own show now...oh yeah! If only Jodi was here to watch it with me...

The countdown is on - only 35 minutes to go until showtime.

It has been a wonderful, busy, relaxing, fruitful weekend.

Friday night we ran a few errands after work and spent some time together. I got to spend lots of phone time with my girls Chris and Cawi. It was heaven.

Saturday we celebrated Kyle's first birthday. What an awesome little boy! He's such a little sweetheart and he's super easygoing and well behaved.

We bought him a Little Tikes car - at least I think it's Little Tikes. Keith sat him on the box before opening it and he kept rocking back and forth and laughing. I think he liked the box more than the car!!!

An added bonus was that we may have created some business for C'est La Vie. We put together a video slidshow of pictures of Kyle's first year set to music together. It turned out pretty good considering that we didn't start it until a few hours before the party. Talk about TEAM WORK!

We were the last stragglers at the party so we got in a nice little visit with Tanya and Keith as well - after all of the craziness!

Here are some pics...

Note to self - before having children must do some serious Michelle Obama arm work. I could barely move my arms at all and I was in EXTREME PAIN on Saturday night from lifting Kyle repeatedly over my head. Ha! D had a really good laugh at my expense...

We spent ALL DAY SUNDAY learning CS4. The primary focus was Photoshop. I am so lost but fortunately D has a much better understanding of it all and was able to help me.

We've been taking life easy today doing a bit of this and that. We read my class material and we both did the homework (seperately - I'm not cheating!!!).

We worked on our CS4 course material as well. All I can say is that Illustrator is MUCH HARDER than Photoshop!!!

This evening we've retreated to seperate areas of the house...me in the bedroom, D in the family room. He's watching the 24 Season Finale and I'm watching Dancing with the Stars and the Bachelorette. It was a tough call to determine who would get the HDTV for this evening. I mean yes 24 has high action and all that jazz but COME ON - 25 BACHELORS. I think I'M THE ONE that needs the HDTV in this case!!!

Well - 10 minutes to show time. Must be all focused and ready.

I hope you all had a wonderful and safe long weekend....

'night lovelies!

i told you so....

2009-05-14T19:56:00.002-04:00

i knew it
i knew it
i knew it

none of you believed me but i knew it all along.

and now we have proof.

Heidi wants to be my BFF.

SO THERE.

What the world needs now...

2009-05-13T20:20:00.004-04:00

is less...

and a little more...

In trying to find the flair I have to admit, I came across my new favourite piece of flair - this one is dedicated to MISS THANG (I swear I didn't create it sweets, I SWEAR)...

i DID it...

2009-05-06T21:36:00.003-04:00

I did it
I broke down and I did it....

I've been a total amazing prostar when it comes to spending in the past few months. I really have.

I mean let's be serious. Less than $20 on scrapbooking supplies since January. LESS THAN $20. NO WAIT.

I lie
I forgot about scrapfest.

So really it's less than $40 in the past few months. That's pretty much a record for me. I used to spend more than that in a week.

But tonight I did it. I broke down. I've been hemming and hawing (mom please don't critique my spelling - D and I have had a bottle of wine tonight so it really doesn't count) and I FINALLY broke down just before the deadline and I ordered these....

I so heart these. I was ready to give my right arm for these. Not my left arm b/c let's be serious. I need my left arm to write. And to eat. But not to play sports b/c I play sports with my right arm. So reallly - I've traded my ability to play sports for a few wall decals. But these aren't any ordinary wall decals. These wall decals COME WITH BLING. Yes folks, you read that right...BUILT IN BLING.

Does it get any better than that? In my next life I WANT TO COME with BUILT IN BLING. Is that too much to ask?

COME ON. I'M A DIVA. A DIVA LOCA - I DESERVE TO COME WITH BUILT IN BLING in my next life.

Are you with me?

So the long and the short is my new fave online scrapbook joint (notice I said "online" Jenn so that you are not offended) is House of 3. Seriously. It does not get any better than House of 3. Well maybe it does. Maybe D and I living on a beach outside of Barcelona is about as good as it gets but I digress...

Now I just have to wait for these beauties to arrive in the mail. I believe these are the "finishing touches" so to speak on my studio. Plus - HOW FUNKY WILL THEY BE as a backdrop for photo shoots?

Too cool.

Too cool for school

'night lovelies!

this and that...

2009-05-05T21:39:00.007-04:00

Hi blog friends

Long time no speak

I have made a few posts lately but do they really count when I'm simply sending you over to Katie's blog?

First things first....

Do you like the new blog makeover? I have Katie to partly thank for the ultra-divaesqueness of my blog! She treated me to a HOUSE OF 3 background and banner on Saturday to celebrate National Scrapbooking Day. The timing was perfect because I took a blog design class last week so I got to put it into action!!!

It's not perfect. I still have some things I'd like to tweak but it'll do for now.

I'm having a hard time remembering everything I wanted/needed to say so I'm just going to jump around a bit...

For starters the D man and I treated ourselves to new runners last week. We've both been in dire need of new runners for a while now and since they are actually being put to use, it was well worth the purchase. I tried out my new babies for the first time tonight and they are FABU. Wow - what a concept to actually have support in runners!!! They are also Nike chip enabled so I'm going to pick up one of those too so I can track my workouts.

Do not adjust your screens. These are actual size. They may look like skis but they are not...

Dorrie tried on D's size 15 men's runners (size 17 women's) on Saturday. It was quite hysterical. I think they were the size of her entire lower leg. She looked like a circus clown!!!

Speaking of Saturday, I celebrated National Scrapbooking Day with Katie, Dorrie and Steph. Unfortunately Rach could not make it because she's a sickie right now. We totally missed her but did manage to have a great, wonderful, awesome day. They are fabu girls and I'm thrilled to have them in my life!

We did a potluck and Dorrie TOTALLY WENT NUTS. She made several mexican treats (to die for) for lunch and a banana split cake thingy. OH MY GOSH. I could barely move I was so full and the food was so yum.

Katie learned the hard way that one should wear gloves when cleaning out jalepenos!!! It was well worth all of the pain and lost sleep though...her bacon wrapped jalepeno poppers were AMAZING.

And Steph hooked us up with a yummy, fresh and healthy salad to go with the lasagna and garlic bread (both store bought not homemade) that I cooked up.

Ok so get this...I took a ton of pictures of the banana split but very little else. Hmmmm. I know D and Dorrie took a ton of pictures as D gave her a crash course on photography!

Group shot at the end of the day....

And last but not least...here are my creations. Some are from Navcan and some are from this past Saturday. I even have one from Scrapfest.

I have to say I TOTALLY LOVE the scrappin' groove that has found me of late. I can't really explain it and I really don't want it to go away. I'm taking risks. I'm not second guessing my work. I'm enjoying. It's an amazing feeling.

I think the classes I've been taking lately, particularly with Vicki Boutin have really brought me out of my box. Yeah Vicki. I fight you all the time but somehow all the icky dirtiness (with and without peni$ straws) is doing the trick!!!

Katie made these oh so cool flowers - I LOVE THEM. So can't get enough of their yumminess!!!

Ok - look at all the new techniques. FABRIC for starters. On my pages. I completely crystal lacquered the damask sticker on the left. AND I SEWED. Forget adhesive. I SEWED THE DARN PICTURE ON THE PAGE. yeah baby!!! With my hands. Sewed. Did you hear me? s-e-w (oops - i almost wrote "x" instead of "w")

I must thank Miss Rach for the fabric - she treated us to fabric swatches at Navcan...they were EXACTLY what I needed for my pages...

Now I want to put fabric on EVERYTHING! I added beads to my fabric on this page...

The sticker says "freeze: i want to hold this moment in my heart forever"

a page on speeches...

sticker says "cherish: this is the good stuff"

Once again - lots and lots of crystal laquer

I really really heart this page. I love how it came together....

I still use clean lines but i'm "divafying" my pages now...

I used my absolute favourite scrapping supply EVER...(on a couple of these pages actually)...FLAIR. How great is flair?

Hearts courtesy of my Slice!

I did this page in my simple design class at Scrapfest with Kathy Thompson. Love her!

I totally scraplifted this layout from a magazine. love the way it turned out. Once again - totally out of my zone. Lots and lots of "messy" (but intentionally messy) sewing. Yes S E W I N G. This time with a machine.

I used RAFIA. Isn't that a blast from the past....

That's my dad with my nephew Hayden by the way...

This layout was tricky. I had a great idea to do a heart in buttons. easier said than done because i made a TOTAL MESS with my glue. so i had to "hide" the mess with ribbon and an acetate overlay. Steph put the ribbon down for me before I cut off my glue-filled fingers and threw the page in the garbage!

My dad always says to the kids "papa loves you" hence the title for this page...

a yes - more flair! I also managed to organize my buttons on Saturday with the handy button container Janet gave me. Thanks J - i LOVE IT. Perfect storage solution for buttons!

Well my lovelies. That's it for me. It's been a rather productive evening and yet not nearly productive enough to cross off all things I have on my "to do" list...

'night lovelies,

Sending you back to Katie's blog...

2009-04-28T20:54:00.004-04:00

So maybe I'll just quit writing this blog all together and send you over to Katie's blog everyday from now on!!! Not only does she have a super cute new blog layout, but she did another post that relates to "us" - more specifically C'est La Vie Studio & Design - our photography business.

I read the post and immediately started crying (tears of happiness) at knowing how just a photo shoot touched one family so much. NO A GOOD IDEA when you have just applied self-tanner to your face!

So if I'm walking around with white streaks down my orange face...BLAME KATIE!

In the meantime, check out her blog here!

'night lovelies,

me

Navcan (through Katie's creations)...

2009-04-27T20:34:00.003-04:00

Hi lovelies

I'm pooped. I had a blast at Navcan with the girls and I'm just too exhausted tonight to even write about it. I need to take pictures of my creations. I will say I was in a pretty cool creative zone.

In the meantime, I'd like to send you straight to Katie's blog to see her creative genius. Two of her pages feature pictures with her sweet Kasey and I...man do I love those pages...and a few others feature pictures from the photo shoot.

Not only is Katie crazy creative, she's FAST. Don't be expecting that many pages from me :)

Have a great night lovelies,

Enjoy this weather!

Scrapfest Recap and Navcan

2009-04-23T21:13:00.004-04:00

Hi lovelies!

*before I forget the lovely teacher in my last blog whose name I couldn't remember is Tracey Paul! We are so rocking her class at the next Scrapfest - she made AMAZING clay embellishments...*

So I'm totally supposed to be packing for Navcan but I hate packing more than you can imagine so instead I'm procrastinating. Well, that's not entirely true. I'm mostly packed and I seem to have mastered the art in minimizing my scrapbooking supplies. It really is quite amazing. I can't be bothered lugging a ton of stuff around anymore.

And after Kathy's class last week I'm learning that you can have a page with a lot of punch and very little supplies. Yikes. If that's the case it'll take me roughly 27 years to use my stash.

So I'm hitting the road tomorrow afternoon and setting the GPS to the NAVCAN conference centre in Cornwall. I'm spending the weekend with a great bunch of girls. I suspect there may be some crazy times on the horizon but there is a cute soldier or two to keep us (and by us I mean Rach) in line!

Let's all send healing vibes to Katie's little sweetie Kayleigh so Katie can enjoy her weekend and not have to worry about little girls with sore tummies...

I made this video last night while playing on my Mac. I'll warn you - some of the images may be disturbing to young children or mothers. Not all mothers. Specifically my mother. Sorry mom. Chris and Cawi made me do it. All of it...

I felt so emotional last night while making this video. It's incredible how much I miss my girls already. They are more than friends, they are sisters to me. They are also beautiful, wonderful women...

have a great weekend lovelies

see you on the flip side!

I love my girls...

2009-04-20T21:29:00.003-04:00

Hi lovelies. I'm home from yet another A M A Z I N G weekend with Chris and Cawi. They seriously did not disappoint. We took Kitchener by storm... Scrapfest was equally A M A Z I N G.

I absolutely LOVED the photography and simple design classes given by Kathy Thompson. She is an incredible teacher and something about her teaching style TOTALLY clicked with me in a way I've never felt. She's also a darn sweet and fun person.

As usual Vicki's class was a blast. I loved seeing Mama Sheila again. We had many laughs and made some new memories.

I have to admit though four days is a long time to be away from my incredible man. He greeted me in the garage with a bunch of orange tulips...MY FAVE. It's so nice to be back in his arms...

I will be posting pics in the next day or two (hopefully). It's going to be yet another busy week because on Friday I'm off to Navcan for yet another scrapbooking weekend away.

I've missed you lovelies. It's great to be back in blog world. 'night

ETA - I saw some of Chris' pictures tonight on flickr and I couldn't resist uploading them. She caught some fantastic moments. I know I'm posting quite a few pictures of myself. I couldn't resist. I don't generally like pictures of myself but she caught something in me this weekend and I have to admit - I REALLY like these ones...Can you tell how happy I am when I'm around my girls? Even D found I was glowing when I got home!!!

This is hilarious - apparently Kathy and I were both rather perplexed!!!

My new fave pic of me. Chrissy you are ROCKING the photography girl :)
AND HOW COOL IS THIS SHOT - love the sky and tree...

My Cawi girl...No wait...THIS is my Cawi girl. Showing her true colours :)

Can I get any happier???

Miss Vicki

Another Cawi pic...she gives the best hugs. Seriously. I gave her this really big hug the other day when I needed energy and I LITERALLY felt the energy flowing into me. She said she was doing Reiki (but I didn't know it at the time)...

Sweet Sweet Mama Shiela...I heart her...I think she ROCKS the B O A

We survived another Vicki class...

Are these girls beauties or what???

Group shot with our fabulous teachers Vicki and Kathy and another Scrapfest teacher (name escapes me right now)...

Scrapfest weekend

2009-04-15T22:30:00.002-04:00

Hello lovelies!

First things first - HAPPY BIRTHDAY KASEY. She's the sweetness from the photoshoot below and she turned 1 today! YEAH KASEY.

There's more to celebrate...

I'm hitting the streets tomorrow after work and making my way to Kitchener for a girls' weekend with my Ukranian "sisters." I'm so excited that it really feels like Christmas Eve right now. We don't see eachother NEARLY enough.

We're spending a good chunk of the weekend at SCRAPFEST! This is my first time attending and I've heard great things so I'm super pumped.

We're taking a photography class and two scrapbooking classes. One of our classes is with Vicki. I'm so pumped to see Mama Sheila again. Yeah Mama!!!

Let's hope we all survive the weekend...

Well I'm off to bed so I can get an early start at work tomorrow and hit the road!

'night lovelies!

it's a beautiful life...

2009-04-11T01:43:00.010-04:00

Well, we've literally been at it all day long but i'm happy to report that the photos have been edited...there may be a few final tweaks left to do but we're happy to debut the Squires family photo shoot...

I sure hope you like it as much as we enjoyed making it Katie...thanks again for being our "guinea pigs" - you've been one patient girl!!!

I have to say now that i've watched this youtube video i'm a bit disappointed in the quality of the pics...we spent all day editing and you can't even tell from the video...oh well - you get the idea :)

The Easter Bunny works for Apple...

2009-04-09T19:40:00.003-04:00

Hello lovelies!
Easter came early in our household this year...

The easter bunny brough me an Apple Macbook Pro!!!

My old laptop has been around the world a few times and is quickly going kaput! I get battery warnings and it's not powerful enough to be doing everything we need it to do for the photography business...

So, we bit the bullet and picked up matching Macbook Pros (yep, D got one too) and a 24" screen for me - perfect for photo editing!

Here are some pictures...I'm off to play with our new toys!!! Denis is patiently waiting for me to open my box.

Happy Easter everyone!!!

This is what my set up will look like (I also got the wireless keyboard and mouse)

The keyboard is backlit so I can even see the keys in the dark!

I'm FINALLY a Mac owner!!! Now I can ichat with Katie and Rach!!!

Hair pieces...

2009-04-08T19:52:00.004-04:00

I put these babies together quickly the afternoon of the Squires photo shoot. I thought they would look precious on the girls. They did. The only problem is I need to perfect my technique...hot glue isn't necessarily the best medium to use...

I do LOVE the way they turned out though...very cute!

I made this one with a yo yos of Rachael's...love her yo yos!

This one is actually a flower to decorate a flip flop. I just clipped it onto a giant elastic. love it!

That's all folks!

D and I are just sipping a nice Shiraz after supper. We made amazing red curry with lots of vegetables and shrimp for supper. I highly recommend it!

I feel like the weekend is already here. Tomorrow is going to be rough (especially since D just opened bottle number 2)...

Most of our weekend is going to be spent working on the business and editing pictures. We're headed to Perth on Saturday to visit Grandmaman and Uncle Gil. Hopefully by then their wedding album will be ready and we can give it to them...

That's all for tonight!

'night lovlies

Girlz night turns into girlz weekend!!!

2009-04-05T21:29:00.008-04:00

Wow wow wow! What a weekend. Is it REALLY Sunday night already??? Not only is it Sunday night but it's 11 p.m....Yikes!!!

It's been a very girls' weekend.

Friday Katie and I went to Rach's place for some girl time. Literally. Her poor hubs John was the only guy in the place!!! He made us some escargot and an amazing fajita/enchilada casserole. So yum. We had many beverages and many laughs. John (aka Juan) treated us VERY well - cooking for us and making sure our glasses were always full. Steph was able to pop in for a quick pit stop/desert after her class. Unfortunately my camera battery was dead so I didn't get a single snapshot from Friday. Maybe that's best...there were a few bottles of wine consumed.

I sooo didn't want to go to sleep. We were having such a great time. We had a good ole' fashioned sleepover...all passed out in the living room while watching Sex in the City!

I totally hit it off with Rach's girls Alexa and Angelina. Angelina and I were instant buds...so much so that I ended up taking her home with me on Saturday for a sleepover. She's such a little sweetie and an absolute charmer. She took to Denis immediately.

Angie and D played some Wii while I finally showered and got ready for dinner at Mom Turpin's place.

Tanya and Kyle joined us too. Angie was such a little "angel"and was a very well-behaved little lady. She took to Mom immediately too.

*i feel like this is the LAMEST written blog post ever right now - i guess that's what i get for writing this late on a Sunday night*

Here are some pics...

Angie and Mom Turpin

Kyle's first crush???

Hanging out with crazy me

This moment was classic. We were having fun playing some Wii at mom's place and all of a sudden Angelina looks at me and says "I don't even miss my family, I'm having too much fun!!!" A few minutes later Rach happened to call to check how she was doing and this was Angie telling Rach that she didn't miss them!!!

Having fun playing Wii...

After a yummy dinner at mom's we headed home and Angie had a My Little Pony bubble bath in the giant tub. Then it was story time and bed time. I offered to read her more stories but she said nope, she was ready for bed (at 8:50)...So well behaved!

I think she was ready for bed because she loved her car bed for the night...

Are those the most amazing eyes or what???

I offered to let her call home to say goodnight but she said she didn't need to! Ha!!! What a card...

We all had a great sleep and then had to get up this morning to go here...

We nearly cancelled last night because it was SO CHILLY and it had been raining and even snowing (a bit) all weekend. Fortunately there was not rain this morning but there was...COLD.

Brrrrrr.

Good thing I grabbed my winter jacket at the last minute. I thought I was done with it!

We waited in line for nearly an hour to get in for breakfast and other than the cold, nobody minded! We kept ourselves occupied...

Kayleigh taking a load off and trying to warm up!

Sweet baby Kasey

Kasey and I - I nearly kidnapped her - the only thing stopping me was that Katie would know exactly where to find her!!!

Kayleigh wearing John's mitts!!!

Playing in the "bush" while waiting for breakfast...notice I'm not in the picture??? It was definitely out of my element...there was LOTS OF MUD. Yikes!!!

The "sugar shack"...also a great place to warm up!

Kasey and I warming up near ALL THAT SYRUP!!!

Kayleigh wearing my mitts (too funny)!

After our delicious breakfast we headed off onto a hay ride...

The girls landed some prime seats!

Kayleigh (aka burrito girl)

Getting off the hayride - (almost) the whole gang)...

We got off halfway through the hayride and there was a little petting zoo with a playground and LOTS MORE MUD!!!

By the time the hayride was over Katie's girls were exhausted so they headed home and the rest of us stuck around for a little syrup on a stick and maple flavoured cotton candy...

Angie thoroughly enjoying the treat!

Alexa having fun!!!

Getting ready to roll....

I think Rach likes it...

And so does D!

Of course D needed the crash course on understanding the cotton candy machine!

D and I headed home and decided to have a quick cat nap...it turned into over FOUR HOURS!!! Haven't had a nap that long in a very long time! We've just been working on some photography stuff this evening. D has done his Grandma's wedding album and I have to say it is AMAZING. I'm totally blown away by what he's done with it. So blown away that I'm getting scared he's doing to dethrown me as the "creative" one in the relationship. I think it's the most incredible gift he can give to them...

I really need to head to bed because I have an urgent text to work on tomorrow but I'm going to leave you with some exciting news...

I managed to get into a photography class with Maggie Holmes. I have been admiring her style for a while and I am BEYOND THRILLED that I managed to get into this class because space was very limited. I'll be starting in the middle of May.

I'm looking forward to a short week this week and looking forward to the very long weekend even more!!! April is going to be a very very busy month for me but the good part is it's busy with lots of fun stuff!

'night lovelies...

Squires Family Sneak Peak

2009-03-30T22:01:00.004-04:00

Hi lovelies

Well I've caved with all the pressure and I'm going to post a few UNTOUCHED sneak peaks of the Squires family photo shoot.

I started my photo editing class tonight and so far I'm LOVING it. It's come at a perfect time.

Denis and I "played" with pictures from the photoshoot on our flat screen tv for a few hours tonight.

So here you go...

Our makeshift bedroom in the basement...

This is what it really looks like...

This is what things looked like a few hours into the shoot...

Family shot...(we made them kiss allllllll day long!)

A little monkey swinging away....

Denis calls this one our "money shot!" - how precious is Kasey??? I made a bunch of flower headpieces to be used in future shoots. Unfortunately I didn't make them too well because I need to fix them!!!

Funny story - After we took some pictures of Kasey in these flowers we popped Kayleigh in there. She got a bit distracted and wanted to play with the fur carpet instead of the flowers so I asked her if there were any bugs in the flowers...BIG MISTAKE! After that she wasn't interested in being within 10 feet of the flowers!!! Denis kept teasing me later that night saying "couldn't you have said butterflies instead? what were you thinking saying BUGS???"

live and learn!

Weekly ramblings

2009-03-29T10:58:00.005-04:00

Wow! Another week has come and gone. Katie and I were saying yesterday that time generally seems to fly but lately it's REALLY flying!!!

Unfortunately a cold bug has found me so I'm taking it slow today. I was supposed to meet some girlfriends for brunch but I've opted to keep my germs to myself and stay under a blanket with some meds!

I finally got around to uploading my card from Grandmaman Turpin's wedding last week.
Denis took hundreds of pictures but I only took a few. We're planning on making them an album as a wedding gift.

It was a lovely day. Grandmaman was simply glowing and Uncle Gil was like a young, excited groom! It was great spending time with D's aunts and uncles once again. There were so many laughs and good times all around.

The ceremony was at their home and then we went out to a wonderful little restaurant in Perth called The Stone Cellar. The food was amazing.

The bridal bouquet

Grandmaman Turpin (D's dad's mom) marrying Uncle Gilbert (D's mom's uncle) and D's Uncle Marcel (his dad's brother)

Doesn't Grandmaman look like the queen - Mom Turpin pointed that out...

Sealed with a kiss

Officially married after 25+ years together...

Celebrating with some bubbly
D's Aunt Jo made yummy appetizers!

Signs of spring - flowers in the restaurant

More smooching. We thought poor Grandmaman would pass out from this one!

Check out the legs on that wine...

I am starting a five-day online class tomorrow with SIS TV. I have been wanting to learn the art of photo editing for a while and this is my first attempt at it.

Lucky for me, Denis and I did a photo shoot with Katie and her sweet family yesterday. Denis ended up taking about 97% of the pictures and I was the entertainment. It was hilarious and we had SO MUCH FUN.

We even set up a fake bedroom in our studio in the basement to get some relaxed family shots. Kayleigh and Kasey were such troopers because they are both sick and didn't have the best sleep. I would like to thank our giant blue exercise ball for serving as the entertainment of the day. Kayleigh spotted it and we were able to get many smiles and giggles out of the girls with that ball!

I plan to post a few sneak peeks in the upcoming days once I've "played" with the shots in my class.

I so can't wait!

Enjoy your Sunday lovelies

an e-mail to friends...

2009-03-22T19:36:00.001-04:00

I just sent the following e-mail to my girlfriends who happen to enjoy antiquing (sp???) -I'm sure my mom will correct my spelling if it's wrong...

_________

Don't you ever and i mean EVER ask me if i'd like to go antiquing. ARE WE CLEAR???

EVER
i'd take a root canal anyday over frickin antiquing. it was TORTURE

the only thing worse than antiquing was flea markets. we went to a few.

HAVE I MADE MYSELF CLEAR????

dirty
gross
disgusting
bad
evil
old
dirty
ewwww
hate it
hate hate hate it.

St. Patrick's Day 2001

2009-03-18T20:11:00.003-04:00

Hello lovelies!

Happy belated St. Patrick's day!!! Did you have a good one? Ours was fun fun fun. We went to our local "suburban" pub for some green beer and eats! There was a live band playing and the ambiance was fun.

I have to say though...it was MUCH tamer than my St. Patrick's Days past. MUCH TAMER.

By far my best St. P's day was in 2001. I was much younger, much wiser and much more unattached!!!

On Friday, March 16 I was sitting with two of my friends, I"ll call them girl and boy (they were a couple) in a bar in the market. It was shortly after 8 p.m. and we had just ordered supper. As we waited, we tried to plan what we should do for St. P's day. Everything we came up with seemed to "typical" and then boy said "where's the best place in North America to celebrate St. P's day???" Why Boston of course!!! We made a spur of the moment decision to go. Literally. SPUR OF THE MOMENT.

We called the waiter over, asked for our meals to go, drove to my apartment where I packed an overnight bag then drove to Kanata to their place so they could pack their bags and we were on our way.

We left Kanata at exactly 10:30 p.m. on the 16th. We had a long drive ahead of us and so many unknowns. We had no idea what we would do and more importantly where we would stay. We finally agreed that it wasn't likely we would find a hotel room on the biggest day of the year in Boston so the decision was made to sleep in the car.

As we got just past Montreal boy shouted "oh my gosh i totally forgot...my sister is in Boston this weekend with her husband, she has a conference." WHAT A FLUKE. Boy called his mom for contact info and we called sister. There goes there romantic weekend, but fortunately they were more than happy to have the three of us stay on the floor of their room.

On the Friday night we made it as far as Magog, Quebec on the Canada-US border. We were exhausted by that point, found a TOTAL dive and got a room for the night. We woke up nice and early and continued our drive to Boston.

We met up with sister and brother in law and spent the day touring with brother in law while sister was at conference. we were pretty tired so it was pretty low key.

After supper we went back to the hotel room and sort of vegged out while watching fight club. Before we knew it, it was about 9:30 or 10 and we were ready to fall asleep. I finally said "this is ridiculous. We came all the way here, get ready we're going out."

We decided we'd try the hotel lobby and take it from there. Oh, I forgot to mention one important point...We weren't at ANY hotel as it turned out. We were at one of Boston's most popular hotels - the Park Plaza! Somehow we went from sleeping in a car to total luxury!

So down to the lobby we went and ordered a round of beers. Truth be told we were exhausted and BORING. But it was totally eating at me that we had come all that way and we weren't doing anything so i told boy to set a timer and we had to have our beers done by the time the timer went off so we could party.

We chugged our beers and went out to find a bar. Luckily there was a totally happening pub right next door so we went in there. Before we knew it, we had all gone our seperate ways and were working the room. The place was a single girl's dream! It was FULL of men in tuxdeos. FULL. It turned out they were from the Clover Club of Boston (I think that's what it was called) and they were all millionaires. I had the greatest time talking with so many men (and a few girls). I happened to meet a guy who invited me to a party he was hosting at the hotel. He said it was in the Presidential Suite. Naturally I thought (to use an Irish expression) he was takin' the piss. I told him he'd regret it if he was lying and asked who I could invite. He said "as many people as you'd like."

NEVER SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT TO ME...EVER.

I spent the next few hours going around the bar and inviting EVERYONE. I made friends with the manager of the bar, got free booze and free shirts and then Mr. Party Host came over and told me it was party time. I started rounding up the troops and I kid you not, I had an entire entourage following us into the hotel.

He wasn't lying. HE HAD THE PRESIDENTIAL SUITE. It was totally absolutely amazing. There were a few fridges and they were all FULL OF BEER. Like PACKED FULL. So we spent a glorious evening with so many cool people with an incredible view over Boston. I remember sitting chatting with people on the window sill with the window wide open. Someone played the grand piano. It was the craziest experience I tell you.

Here are a few pictures of the suite I found online...(you can see the piano in one of them).

As it turned out the guy I met at the bar had the suite because he was part of the Young Republicans of America and they were trying to find a location for their next convention. The Park Plaza was basically "wooing" them...

The later part of the night got a bit fuzzy. I remember meeting an Irish guy and finding this private lounge room and hanging out in there for a bit with him and boy and girl. The problem was we weren't supposed to be in there and nearly got caught so we had to hide out. Then we had to go find this group of girls who had been at the party because there was drama happening. I never quite understood what was going on there.

I finally packed it in for the night when I could take no more but Irish boy came looking for me and pounding on the door. Weird. Funny. Crazy.

The next day we drove back to Ottawa with oh so many stories to share!

See what I mean? It's going to be pretty hard to beat that one...

'night lovelies

Good friends, great times!

2009-03-15T21:24:00.012-04:00

It's Sunday night already. I swear it feels like it was just Friday afternoon. Once again - where did the weekend go???

It has been an amazing weekend. It would be nice to make it last a bit longer...

Friday was girls' night with my former work team. They are the only part I miss about my old position and I LOVE getting together with them. Unfortunately Ginette was far too sick to join us. It always seems to happen that someone gets sick for all of our get togethers.

Nathalie had a great idea for us to try something new this time. We usually go to a restaurant and she suggested we come over to her new house instead. What a FABULOUS idea. It made the evening last MUCH longer and we could really let loose without distrubing anyone...except the rest of the neighbourhood of course!

Sylvie and her hubs picked me up at work on Friday afternoon. We had to wait for the rest of the crew to arrive at Nathalie's place so it gave us a nice chance to catch up before the chaos began!

We started with a tour of Nat's gorgeous new home and then got to meet her little kids...her pugs! Diva (a girl after my own heart) and Rocko. Oh no. I think it's Rocko. Now I can't remember for sure -am I just confusing him with Chris' dog???

Here is one of the silly dogs with a funny tongue - the tongue stays like this all the time...TOO FUNNY!

And then we had a little (ok maybe A LOT) of this...

And Francine's claws came out...

Nat and Francine...

Imitating the dog...

And Helene imitating the dog...

And having some delish appetizers...

(I bet she'll love me for posting this one...sorry sunshine :))

Our main course was Raclette (sp?)

SO AMAZINGLY YUMMY

Cheers to good times and great friendships...

Sylvie likes her forks apparently...

Sweet (albeit blurry) Sylvie...

Best friends...Francine and Sylvie

Dinner was wonderful. It was great to catch up on life and love. We have really amazing chemistry as a group and I miss having them in my daily life. We laughed so hard and a few of us even cried...It was just an all around great feeling to be reconnected.

And then we put our seriousness aside and Francine broke out the karaoke.
These girls LOVE to sing!
Helene getting warmed up...

Sylvie resting her injured back but having a great time all the same...

The three amigos taking their karaoke very seriously...

They even had the dance moves to go with it!

I felt sorry for the neighbours at this point!

Unfortunately the microphone wasn't working so they worked the remotes!!!

Is it just me or is it impossible to sing karaoke without a "microphone"?

Helene was so reserved...

oh so serious...

She switched her remote for a glass...

Flamenco?

Chicken dance?

Seizure???

Then it was time for Helene's big, intense INTENSE solo...

And I mean INTENSE

Did I mention it was INTENSE?

Nat's honey Jean-Michel (aka our cook, cleaner, waiter, helper) getting into the action...

Nat keepin' it real...

Self portrait with my sunshine...

The gang (minus Gi)...

Self portrait with Francine - my slut on the floor (don't ask)...

Our lips were a little stained from all the red wine...

Free massage!

And more singing...

I love how they are making the same faces in these pictures...

And our own personal red nose service...Francine's husband Marcel offered to be our designated driver! Such a sweetie to put up with so many drunk women! Denis took the ferry to the Quebec side and picked me up at Francine's place...at about 3 a.m.

We were having so much fun we literally lost track of time. I didn't want the night to end!

Let's just say Saturday was quite rough! I'm too old to be partying THAT hard, THAT late! I didn't get to bed until 5 a.m.

We had supper at Tanya and Keith's on Saturday night and we did a photo shoot with baby Kyle. More on that in a later post with a few sneak peaks. We're working on building our business portfolio right now. Yahooo.

OK. I'm watching the Quebec equivalent of American Idol right now (Star Academie) and I FINALLY got a joke from Friday night. Talk about delayed reaction eh???

Sorry for the wacky formatting - it's a Blogger issue, not a Diva issue. Blogger has a mind of its own sometimes I find.

Head over to the lovely Katie's blog to see a few layouts she did with pictures of me...SHE ROCKS MY SCRAPPIN' WORLD!!!

Good night lovelies and enjoy your Monday morning!!!

GIRZ GONE WILD

2009-03-14T12:05:00.000-04:00

SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
too loud

very
hung
over

went to bed at 5 a.m.
too very old

incredibly
amazing
fun
night

h A p P y D i V a

2009-03-11T22:03:00.003-04:00

i'm so happy tonight

happy for no reason and every reason all at the same time.

nothing big has happened

no reason to feel so giddy

but i can't help it

great big smile

joy in the little things

squeezing D's hot butt

time with friends

photos

life

love

exciting trips

i hope you have something making you happy tonight too...

cReAtIvE jUiCeS fLoWiNg

2009-03-08T21:06:00.007-04:00

Hey kids! If you haven't watched the video of Katie below you absotootly MUST. I have lost count of the number of times I've watched it and it keeps getting more and more hysterical!

I cannot for the life of me believe it's already Sunday night. ugh. I wish it was Friday all over again.

I have to say I'm having a hard time adjusting to the time change today. I think it's early to bed for us.

It's been a busy and relaxing weekend all at the same time. I got many odds n' ends done that I've wanted to get out of the way. Denis and I worked on the business last night for several hours and that felt good. We actually had our first "official" meeting. We've found a few "models" to get our portfolio going so now we just have to make arrangements for shoots.

I spent some quality time in the studio today - I had to start by CLEANING IT ALL UP. And that cleaning led to some organization. It felt SO GOOD and it is so much easier to create wtih a clean and organized space. I'm slowly getting into sewing so I had to find room for all of my fabric and supplies. Here is what I've been up to...

We made these cards with Vicki last weekend. I ended up making two so I can sent Rylee and Hayden each one. I wrote them a little note and gave each of them a movie pass to celebrate spring!

This one is for Ry...

And this one is for Hayden...

I started making a pin cushion a few weeks ago and finished it today. I needed quite a bit of D's help with this one. For some reason the words on the pattern were not processing in my brain!

I used Heather Bailey fabric and even splurged on pink pins :)

I just love these colours together...

I have been searching for one of these for quite a while and happened to score one while in Smiths Falls last weekend. I love it!

I need to jazz it up with some accessories...

I decided to frame this layout. It's my fave EVER!

I popped into Home Sense yesterday to get ideas for props for photoshoots and I happened to find this. It is PERFECT for the studio and we'll be able to use it for shoots too. I have to say it's a darn good thing we've put ourselves on a budget because I could have spent thousands at Home Sense yesterday. There seemed to be SO MANY THINGS I loved!!! Fortunately I still had a gift card left to put toward it!

In keeping with the Heather Bailey theme...I made myself a travel mug! I picked up one of the clear mugs from Starbucks a few weeks ago and couldn't resist using some Heather Bailey paper. I even added "diva loca" - it was rather challenging to get it in. Once again D's help was required!

I now have the prettiest mug on the block for my tea. Ironically I also managed to find another travel mug at Home Sense. It's kinda funky, pink and white and it has an "L" on it!

Two weeks ago I had a sewing marathon and I sewed a bunch of these camera straps. They fit Nikon straps only unfortunately...I just LOVE THEM. So pretty. Each strap is double sided.

And last but certainly not least...

Rach bought us clear rings by Theresa Collins. Rach, Katie, Steph and I decided to have matching rings so we're all using *surprise surprise* Heather Bailey paper for our rings. Here is mine...I LOVE IT!

So there you have it. My latest creativity. We have a busy week ahead (hopefully overtime free for me) and next weekend is going to be even busier. I'm having a raclette dinner with my old work team on Friday night and then Saturday we're off to visit Tanya, Keith and Kyle.

Well, time for bed to start Monday off on a great foot!

'night lovelies

I think I just burst a blood vessel...

2009-03-08T01:33:00.005-05:00

I stumbled upon this tonight while blog stalking...

I'm in pain from laughing and my face is COVERED IN MASCARA...

I haven't laughed like this in years!

A very Vicki Boutin weekend...

2009-03-04T19:59:00.010-05:00

Helllllllllllllllllllllooooooooooooooooooooooooo lovelies!

It's Wednesday night...how did that happen? Time is just a flyin' but I swear I'm not complaining!

Time for a weekend recap - grab a cuppa java I think this may be a long one...

I managed to get on the road at a decent time Friday morning. It was easy to get off on an early start because I hardly packed a thing! I swear it was some sort of miracle. I only had one tote of scrapbooking stuff and my tool bag. I have NEVER EVER managed to do that and I think it's my "new way." It's so much easier on the back!!!

I had to run a few errands before heading to Perth to visit with Grandmaman Turpin and Uncle Gil. I popped in at the care home where Grandmaman is now living to drop off some prezzies and then we hit the road for some lunch. I should say the drive down was BRUTAL. It was pouring rain (hovering somewhere around zero) and the wind was so strong I thought I was going to get blown off the highway!

We had a great lunch together in town. I haven't been down to visit so it was nice to catch up. Uncle Gil took this picture of Grandmaman and I. I've always felt this crazy bond to her but I wanted to hug her so tightly when we stepped outside and she started singing "oh what a beautiful morning." My grandpa used to sing that ALL THE TIME and it was like he was telling me he's around :)

We got some very big news about Grandmaman and Uncle Gil on Monday night. I should say Grandma is from D's dad side and Uncle Gil is D's great uncle from his mom side. They have been "dating" for 26 years and on March 21 we are headed to Perth for their WEDDING! Yes this lovely lady is a blushing bride...

From there I made my way to Smiths Falls where I ran a few more errands and got checked into the hotel while I waited for my girls. It gave me some time to rest and redo my hair...it went from really curly to poker straight with all of the rain!

Friday night we had a crop at the store. SO MUCH FUN. Way too many laughs!!!

Here are a few pictures...

Katie just THRILLED to have a weekend away - does it show???

Steph working on her ATCs...

Katie and Steph

Rockstar Rach and I...we were table mates and roomies - HAD A BLAST with her and she didn't even bite my head off pre-coffee!!! She did bring her Tassimo and yep...I'm hooked!

Working hard...

Friday night we hung out in our room having some bevvies, snacks and lots of laughs!

Saturday it was down to work. Vicki cracked the whip! We did an AMAZING Chatterbox mini album and a few Sassafrass layouts. I didn't really take pictures of that...

Here are pictures of crazy Vicki...

Everybody stick your chin out to avoid 34 chins!

You go girl...lucky for you your daughter is the cover model!!!

Hmmmmmmm

Katie and Steph on Saturday...

An attempt at a serious picture...

Vicki and the girls!

Beautiful Katie...

Me with my mini book - mid-day fatigue...I can feel the "dirty" coming...

Katie's amazing mini album - I wanted to steal it!!!

Steph and Vicki

And now for an attempt at a group shot..

Vicki doing her Paris Hilton profile pose...

Katie didn't realise we were posing...

I think Katie tooted...

Not sure what we were doing here - I was following Rach's lead...

Katie taking a dump...

Laughing at Katie!

Late night snack...

The new face of Best Western Hotels...strike a pose!

Mama Sheila - I heart her...

Trying to take a picture of my "double AAs"

Karen and I

Karen and Steph

So there you have it. there are far too many stories to tell!

It was such a great time and I can't wait for the next time we go away together...NAVCAN IN APRIL BABY!

I was such a good girl and hardly spent any money SOOOOOOOO I'm headed to Kitchener in April for Scrapfest with Chris and Cawi. I am so darn excited! I haven't seen them since December and I'm missing them like crazy. Unfortunately my good friend Whitney and his family who also live near Kitchener will be in Australia that weekend...bummer!

We're going to take a photography class (for scrapbookers), a simple pages class and another one of Vicki's classes. I'm not sure if she'll be able to handle the B O A sistas! Mama Sheila will also be there to keep us in line! SO CAN'T WAIT!

Ok lovelies.

I'm off to watch the new season of America's Next Top Model.

'night

Pay it forward...

2009-03-03T19:14:00.002-05:00

My lovely friend Katie posted a wonderful suggestion on her blog today. She encouraged readers to make a donation to their local foodbank. Times are tough for so many people right now. In our household we have been VERY fortunate not to have been touched by this (knock on wood). There are many many hungry bellies across our city and around our world. It is so tough to hear about all of the tiny bellies that are hungry. Katie inspired me to make a difference today. Thanks Katie.

Denis and I just set up a monthly donation to our local foodbank. If you are in Ottawa I strongly encourage you to do the same. Every little bit helps - $5, $10 or more a month can go such a long way. If you want to make a difference in Ottawa go here. It's so quick and easy to set up a montly donation and it feels pretty darn good to know you are doing something.

If you are not in Ottawa, I encourage you to make a donation to your local foodbank. I hope with this post at least one person will set up a donation. Let me know if you do and I also encourage you to post on your blog so we can keep this going...

It's Vicki time!!!

2009-02-26T19:04:00.004-05:00

JAZZ HANDS WITH VICKI!

LOVE FOR MAMA SHEILA

It's here it's here it's here. Our Vicki weekend in Smiths Falls is FINALLY here. We've been counting down for what seems like FOREVER.

I'm headed out early tomorrow morning and I'm going to make my way to Perth to visit Grandmaman Turpin and Uncle Gil. I haven't seen them since October when I went down to the last Vicki retreat!

After lunch I'm headed to Smiths Falls and I'm going to meet up with my girls Rach, Steph, Katie and Karen and Krista too (hopefully) and I'm sure I'm forgetting others but I'm just too darn excited to focus right now.

There is a downside unfortunately...

Going away means PACKING. i HATE packing more than you can imagine. You just can't fathom how much I LOATHE packing.

Fortunately I married a hunka hunka burning love who has generously offered to help me pack AND he's already doing laundry for me. Does it get any better? I have a good excuse - my back is out so I'm resting it after a long day so that I'm good to go for the weekend.

I just finished dinner and I'm going to have my first easter cream egg of the season and then it's SHOWTIME!!!

Pack, a hot bath and a good snuggle with my sweetie (hopefully while watching Grey's)

I'll try to check in Sunday night when I get home. I'm off on Monday so I can recover...PHEW.

Have a great weekend lovelies

Play Food and Wine

2009-02-25T21:18:00.008-05:00

Ouf!
I've finally gotten around to posting about last Friday night...

We celebrated Denis' big promotion at my cousin Steve's new restaurant Play Food and Wine.

I honestly didn't know what to expect. I heard it was really "interactive" but had no clue what it meant. Now I do and I totally love the concept.

It's unlike traditional dining. You do not choose an appetizer, main course and desert. You basically sample several different items on the many. As many or as few as you choose. We decided to just share everything so we could try a variety of dishes. Everything was SO DELICIOUS. It was a fun way to dine and the place was packed. We will definitely be returning!!! I'd really like to try brunch!!!

Here are some pictures from the evening...

The first dish we tried came from "charcuterie" - apparently having something salty gets your tastebuds going. We had saucisson sec / tomato-ginger ketchup. The ketchup was INSANE!

The bread. We were hoping for a little of the carmelized butter they serve at Beckta - no such luck but it was still good!

Another shot of the saucisson sec

An artsy shot of the menu - they update it daily (you can see the date on the top right)...

We each had our own Beau's onion soup / rarebit crouton - SO GOOD...althought at first I thought it said "rabbit" crouton and thought EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.

This was grilled flatbread / dipping sauces

The view outside - prime location in the market!

Digby scallops / bacon / mushroom consommé

onion fritters / tamarind dip (this is one of the side orders)

Arsty shot - Mom and I drank Angel's Gate Riesling. D and I visited Angel's Gate last year for Cawi's birthday in Niagara and LOVED IT!

This ironically was my fave dish of the night. Not something I would normally order but it came very highly recommended by the waitress...

Ontario pickerel / almond milk / lemon

curried shrimp / cashew butter / tropical fruit

Another side...frites / aioli

Shot of the menu with the wall colour in the background...

And the best course....DESSERT!

We had lattes with

doughnunts / coffee sauce

hazelnut crème brulee / biscotti

warm cookies / 3 varieties

chocolate pate / rosebuds / gelato

My cousin also sent over some yummy desert wine.

Bot the doughnuts and the chocolate pate were INSANE. OMG. The doughnuts were like timbits only 1000 times better. I'M STILL DREAMING ABOUT THEM!

A shot of the two of us. The best part of this picture is the lady's expression behind us. Must have been a great story! The red bag behind D's head is the bag they brought their wine in. It almost looks like a first aid bag!

And another...check out those dimples - *swoon*

A shot of the apron - took it for the logo

And finally a shot of mom!

So there you have it.

Our night at Play.

Well, just two more sleeps until our big weekend in Smiths Falls. I am SO LOOKING forward to it. I called Uncle Gil tonight to set up my big date to visit Grandmaman Turpin. Can't wait. I LOVE seeing her.

And I'm soooo looking forward to hanging with my girls, Steph, Katie and my roomie for the weekend Rach. I haven't seen Rach in FOREVER so I think we'll be talking eachother's ears off...AFTER her morning coffee of course! She's bringing the Tassimo so that'll be cool.

g'night lovelies

The Story of Us

2009-02-21T09:40:00.005-05:00

Hi lovelies

Wow - I've been getting better and better with the updates. I just have a quick post for today. I stumbled upon this fun marriage quiz on Dooce and I thought I'd fill it out on here. Feel free to steal it and post it on your blog - leave me a comment if you do so I can head over and read it!

What are your middle names?My middle name is Anne with an "e" and D's full name is Joseph Phillipe Patrick Denis so I'm not sure if his middle name is considered "Joseph Phillipe Patrick" or "Phillipe Patrick Denis" - funny tidbit - I am usually great with names but for some reason I ALWAYS stumble on his full name - there are so many to remember and I can never remember if the Phillipe comes before the Patrick!

How long have you been together? We've been together six years and married for three.

How long did you know each other before you started dating? We started talking online in early September 2001 and our first date was October 19.

Who asked whom out? It was basically a mutual thing. I FOUND him on the dating site and we kept trying to set up a date but one of us was always busy.

How old are each of you? I'm 33, and he's 34.

Whose siblings do you see the most? Denis is an only child and my sister lives in Winnipeg so she wins by default but we don't see her very often either.

Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple? I can't say we really have any big ones. Maybe money although now that we've created a budget it has elminated a lot of stress. I think our miscarriage was the hardest thing to get through as a couple but ultimately it brought us closer together. It was a tough time in our lives...

Did you go to the same school? Not even close. Denis went to a French Catholic high school and I went to an all-girls catholic school. I'm glad we didn't go to the same school b/c that would make him a girl!!!

Are you from the same home town? Not even close. He grew up in the National Capital Region (Ottawa, Constance Bay, Quebec side) and I grew up in Winnipeg.

Who is smarter? I think overall he's much smarter. He can learn to do pretty much ANYTHING whether it be electronics or plumbing or woodworking or even sewing. He's VERY handy. I think we are both smarter in different ways. I'm smarter when it comes to language and culture I'd say. It just goes to show you that education isn't everything! I have two university degrees and he's still smarter!

Who is the most sensitive? Yikes - this is a tough question. We're both pretty sensitive in our own ways.

Where do you eat out most as a couple? We have a few favourites - Moxies, Mexicala Rosas, the Works

Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple? Spain

Who has the worst temper? Me -- hands down. But even I'm not the crazy shouting throwing type.

Who does the cooking? We both do. Depending on who is home from work first. Some nights we cook together. I believe in an equal opportunity household. We have equal opportunity to get the work done!!!

Who is the neat-freak? That would be me. hands down.

Who is more stubborn? See previous question!!!

Who hogs the bed? I hog the physical space on the bed - I'm a bit of a crazy sleeper. He definitely hogs to "noise space" in the bed.

Who wakes up earlier? Lately it's been D because he's been working the early shift. On the weekends I'm generally the first one up.

Where was your first date? It was at O'Connor's in Kanata. We played pool and had a few drinks.

Who is more jealous? I'm a Scorpio...'nuf said!

How long did it take to get serious? Probably about an hour or two into our first date! I pretty much never left D's house after our second date. We both knew it was right immediately.

Who eats more? I would say D.

Who does the laundry? Once again - equal opportunity household. We both do.

Who's better with the computer? Considering D works in high tech, he is, hands down.

Who drives when you are together? D does. I have a very long commute to work and right now I'm totally sick of driving so I love when he drives.

Well. I think it's time for bed for me. I just got home from Katie's place. I spent the evening with her and her sweet little girls and we had such a wicked time!

Hopefully tomorrow is creativity day!!!

'night lovelies

3 cheers for Denis

2009-02-19T19:38:00.002-05:00

Good evening lovelies

I am snuggled warmly on the couch catching up on the 40 or so hours of tv we have saved on our PVR. It's been a very long, very rough day.

I headed into work early this morning to beat the traffic because of Obamamania and because I had planned to meet Janet for an early movie.

The roads were slippery. Very slippery. As I pulled into the parking lot at work and went to turn the corner, I totally lost control, slid into the back of a car and that car went sliding into the car beside it. BAM. Too much crunching for my liking.

The good news: nobody was hurt. That's the very very good news. The other good news was although the car went sliding right into the SUV beside it the SUV only ended up with the tiniest of scratches. PHEW. The other good news was that both of the people I hit were very nice and had a "these things happen" attitude. You never know how people are going to react. Fortunately I was going very slowly - it could have been much worse.

The bad news: both my Jeep and the car I hit have at least a few thousand dollars in dammage. Fortunately I have a very clean record so we just have to pay our deductible and it doesn't affect our insurance prices. Thank goodness.

I have to say the whole thing left me quite shaken. I just felt "off" all day. I was terrified for the drive home but it was just fine...thankfully.

We had a super fast supper and Denis hit the road for his poker game. He's found a great group of guys to play poker with every once in a while and I think it's fantastic!

He definitely deserves a night out. He's been working hard - so hard in fact that we got some fantastic news this week...he got a promotion! He's now a team lead. His team members will now be reporting to him along with a few other DBAs. It's so very exciting because he's been working very hard the past few years and have finally been getting recognized for it!

We are off to have dinner at my cousin Steve's new restaurant PLAY tomorrow night to celebrate. Mom Turpin is going to join us too.

I think the weekend is going to be pretty low-key. We have lots of odds and ends to do and I need to get ready for my weekend away next week!

Well lovelies
That's it for me.
I think I need a shower and some sleep...

'night

A very Valentine's weekend...

2009-02-15T20:24:00.011-05:00

Hellooooooooooo lovelies!
Are you feeling the love? Oh wow...all I can say is I sure am. We have had one of the best weekends in a while. SUCH A GREAT WEEKEND. I can't believe it's already nearly over...

Where to begin? I guess Friday would be a good start!

Denis had a work party to attend so I picked him up on my way home from work and we ran a few errands. After supper and a bit of decompression time, we both went into our respective rooms (D to his office and me to my studio) to work on Valentine's projects!

Can I just say that work right now for both of us is COMPLETELY INSANE. Oy! I hope things slow down shortly...

So there we were Friday night madly working on our presents. The coolest part was we were both in our glory and would every once in a while call out "I love this - I'm so excited to give it to you." We did a VERY LATE NIGHT cleaning blitz to the house as well so that we could enjoy V-day in a clean house!

Saturday we slept in and then got up to make our heart shaped pancakes. I loved making them but boy oh boy was it time consuming! I think it took us about an hour and a half to make the pancakes and bacon. Yes, that long. It took us a few tries to get into a good groove with making the hearts without them sticking to the cookie cutters.

The last few pancakes I gave up and made circles! Ha ha.

We kept everything in the warming drawer but by the time we ate they were sort of rubbery!!! That'll show us for making fancy pancakes. Despite the "texture" the taste was great.

Here are some shots from our adventure. I couldn't decide which shots to put in so I just added a bunch of them!

Breakfast table setting!

Once our bellies were sufficiently stuffed we spent some time playing Monopoly on Wii - we so love that game. We also made one of our favourite drinks...several times over!

And we exchanged presents.

I gave Denis a Petro Canada Olympic glass (he mentioned he remembered having the old ones and liking them), I filled a picture frame that I got him Christmas 2008 with pictures of our trip to Paris, I made him a CD of songs with "love" in the title and a love card/mini book.

Denis wrote me a little poem/page about his love and then "doctored" up some pictures. They are SO COOL. You have to look really hard to see what he did to them. I LOVE THEM! I want to frame the three pictures and the note he wrote. It was so nice to exchange meaningful gifts. He also got me Nights of Rondanthe (sp?) on Blue Ray and we watched it. What a great BUT VERY SAD movie...

Dinner was some of this...

Some of this...

Note - fresh basil from our basil plant!

COOL REFLECTION IN THE GLASS - I just noticed this...

Our main course was heart shaped spinach and ricotta stuffed ravioli

After supper we watched our movie and had chocolate fondu for desert. Next it was more Monopoly with a roaring fire in the background.

We both kept saying how it was probably the best V-day we've ever spent together. It was nice to hide out from the world just the two of us and enjoy!

Here are some pictures of the presents once unwrapped.

The CD and a few fun love coupons I printed!

This is what D wrote to me...

I'll have to upload the pictures he did later this week - he's having issues with Photoshop tonight so he can't put them on our server...

Today has been a bit of a whirlwind for both of us. D had to head into work early this morning for his monthly overtime Sunday. I took had several hours of overtime to do. I did manage to pop out quickly this afternoon though. Shoppers Drug Mart was having an Optimum points bonus day. I managed to get $200 in free stuff when I cashed in our points. I stocked up on lots and lots of makeup and won't need to buy any for a while now. I also popped into Michaels to pick up a few things for a sewing project I want to work on.

One final stop at Home Sense hoping to find V-day stuff on clearance but no such luck. I was really struck today with how evident it is in the stores that we are in a recession. Michaels has a few clearance aisles and a new "bargain basement" type aisle. Winners and Homesense both had so many different "clearance" sections. Far more than usual. Hopefully this economy will turn around sometime soon...

So there you have it lovelies. Our busy, LOVEly weekend. I'm counting down the days until Vicki Boutin in Smiths Falls - just 2 weeks to go! The great thing about working overtime this weekend is now I can take both the Friday AND Monday off for that weekend...nothing like a four-day weekend to beat the winter blahs...

I hope you all had a great weekend however you chose to spend it.

Here are a few pictures of a card I made for my boss - she is such a sweetheart and recently lost her Father...

I picked up this Umbra stand at Chapters and I just love it - perfect way to display my stuff...

Off to watch the new season of the Amazing Race with my Valentine...

'night lovelies

Our Spain Photobook

2009-02-08T21:15:00.009-05:00

Hi lovelies.

Have you noticed I tend to post on Sunday evenings lately. I'm not sure what is up with that. I need to get back to posting more often. Life is busy and yet there is nothing overly exciting going on right now so I tend not to post.

Enough about that.

Let's move on to PICTURES!!!

As promised, I did a photobook of our trip to Spain. We picked it up on Friday night and I am SO PLEASED with the final product. Seriously. Thanks to a "Happy New Year" gift from my Cuckoo Grandma, we splurged and purchased the larger format (I believe it is 12 x 14). Wow is all I can say. What a great tribute to our trip!

Once again I went crazy with collages.

Getting ready for take off

Hanging out in Granada before the wedding

The Alhambra

Flowers at the Alhambra

Architechtural details at the Alhambra. The two of us combined took HUNDREDS OF PICTURES that day. It was really hard to choose...

More Alhambra

And more Alhambra

Yup - you guessed it...

Cool buildings at the Alhambra

Love these shots...

Shots of the summer house

And more shots of the summer house at the Alhambra

The wedding and GORGEOUS BRIDE. She truly was simply stunning...

Getting into trouble at the cocktail party! Stunning location overlooking the entire city at sunset...

Dinner at the reception - we had the BEST table there!

The "party" - doesn't look like much fun does it? My fave wedding EVER after our wedding...

Granada post-wedding shots.

Group shot at the bride's parent's place before saying goodbye to Granada

Stunning boutique hotel we stayed at in Ronda. I think it was our best night sleep the entire trip! We rented a little cottage with a hot tub and a sauna and we got it to ourselves for an hour complete with some wine and goodies. Those pictures are for our private collection...ha! Just teasing. Not sure where those pictures are to tell you the truth!

Ronda by day and by night. Stunning little city. Notice the table of Sangria in the top left corner.

Seville. I really wasn't a big fan of Seville. It rained from the time we arrived until we left and I spent the entire time there in soaking wet clothes and shoes...ugh.

Feria de Abril in Seville

Details in Sevilla

Flamenco show in Sevilla - AMAZING!

Cordoba

Reliving Lucia and Mandy's wedding day near Palencia

Sunday afternoon at the bar - 9 months later little Javier was born!!!

Little Miki

The many faces of Miguel...

Madrid - the palace and gardens. This is literally Cheech's front yard. His apartment building is the pink one in the second photo from the top on the left. GORGEOUS!

More Madrid

Friends in Madrid - Cheech and Ana. And the most delicious thing...churros and chocolate. That's a cup of high quality melted chocolate - not coffee for dipping churros.

So there you have it. Thousands of pictures brought down to just 33 pages. Looking back at these makes me long to go back. I miss my friends there terribly. Mabel (the bride) will be giving birth to her first in just over two months and that will be the third baby to be born since we were there in April. Three babies I have yet to meet. I really need to start playing the lottery more often. Either that or it's time to pack up the house and move across the ocean! As it turns out Denis' company does have an office in Madrid. Wouldn't it be nice???

I can't believe it's already time to hit the sack for another week. Our weekend has been a whirlwind. Friday night we did some errands including picking up Monopoly for Wii. We had a blast playing it for hours on Friday night.

Yesterday Denis decided he wanted to plan a surprise date day. It started off with breakfast in bed and then a quick stop at the Scrapbox to pick up my Slice Toolkit and a Heidi Swapp mirror album. I finally got to use my gift cert. from Christmas.

Next it was off to the movies...all chick movies! We started with He's Just Not That Into You. Loved it. I read the book a few years ago and boy, so true. Great movie. It was hilarious because at the very end there was total silence in the theatre and this woman called out "there is hope!" It was classic.

D had planned back to back movies and our next show was Bride Wars. It was cute, quite predictable but always fun to see a wedding movie.

Finally we headed to Mexicali Rosas to share some fajitas before heading home for the evening.

Today has been rather low-key. Denis hit Starbucks this morning so I had a yummy tea latte when I woke up. We did some more errands and just chilled and did stuff around the house. I did my workout and now I'm watching the Grammys.

Tomorrow I head back into work. I've only been to work for 3 half days since the beginning of December because of the bus strike. I think I was the only person in the city disappointed to hear the strike had ended. Being able to work from home has significantly improved my quality of life. It's amazing to not have to spend 2+ hours in the car every day.

Well my lovelies, it's time for this Diva to get some beauty sleep.

'night lovelies

Great night, great friends

2009-02-03T21:28:00.004-05:00

What an awesome start to love month...a night out with girlfriends!

I met Steph, Dorrie and Karen for a yummy dinner at Moxie's tonight. Unfortunately Janet was feeling under the weather and couldn't make it. You know what that means....RAINCHECK!

I finally got to meet Dorrie's sweet Gracie. She's just lucky I didn't throw her in my giant soup case (aka purse) and bring her home with me...you wanted to know why I have such a big purse Dorrie? Well now you know!

My only complaint about the night is that it flew by much too quickly. I look forward to many more of these evenings together. I get to hang out with them in just three short weeks at the Vicki Boutin retreat. Well, most of them. Dorrie has decided she'd rather go to the Bahamas instead of Smith Falls for a weekend.

I just have one thing to say to that...

WOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO (do you need some powder for that itch?)

Here are some pics...

'night lovelies

I heart February

2009-02-01T10:27:00.012-05:00

Hi February!

So glad you could join us. I sure wish you were a little more green and a little less white but we'll still keep you!

I have a feeling you are going to fly by pretty quickly. If you are cold I sure do hope you fly by quickly. Maybe fly by all the way down to a warm sunny beach and take me with you!

This is probably going to be a big long post about nothing and everything all at once!

In true February manner, I want to start by sending lots of hugs and big sloppy kisses to Rach. I'm thinking 'bout you girl and looking forward to seeing you soon. Hopefully you can send some hugs and kisses Rach's way too!

I have a feeling this is going to be a great month. You know why? I woke to a BIG SURPRISE this morning...one of my faves is flexing her creative muscles and has created a new webiste/new concept/new goodies!

Have you heard?

House of 3 was born today. YIKES! Heidi is back at it!!!

They even have a FREE DOWNLOAD for V-day...love coupons!

I have/had big plans for the day/weekend and here we are Sunday at 11 a.m. and I haven't even started yet...

I am going to make a photobook of our trip to Spain from last year. I just recently made one for my mom's birthday and she loves it. They are on sale until tomorrow so it's now or never! I always work best under pressure...

Denis and I made up for lost time on Friday night and saw not one, not two but THREE MOVIES!

The snow was falling and the roads were rough so it was a nice way to spend a Friday night.

We started with...

So I know what you are thinking...what exactly were we thinking? This movie has gotten quite possibly the worst reviews EVER but we loved it! We laughed so much. I had no idea it was filmed in Winnipeg but the tacky 70s wall sculpture at the Winnipeg Airport was pretty hard to miss! And...in one of the opening scenes there are four women sitting around a table scrapbooking. What's not to love??? It was a nice light comedy and I SWEAR I could feel the cold of a Manitoba winter right through the screen. There is no mistaking it.

From one extreme to the other...

Wow! Slumdog. Totally amazing, moving movie. Amazing. But SO hard to watch at the same time. Unbelieveably sad, violent and true. It gave me chills...

And finally...

I honestly didn't know what to expect from Revolutionary Road but who doesn't love Kate and Leonardo on screen. Once again, this film did not disappoint. It was in your face truth. If that makes any sense.

Saturday we spent the first half of the day running errands...

We had to start the day off at Starbucks with one of these...

I always have the Vanilla Rooibus Tazo Tea Latte.

Although what I really wanted to try was one of these...

Next we did a little browsing through Chapters where I found these...

(and no, i'm not making any announcements with the little stiches one - i'm thinking more for gifts and that sort of thing...)

I actually didn't end up purchasing them at Chapters, I ordred them online when I got home because they were SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper online. And...shipping was free! So there is your tidbit of the week...before buying anything at Chapters, check the online price.

I've decided I'm going to try my hand at sewing. I have a great sewing machine that I tend to only use to sew my pages or cards and it's time to take it up a notch...

Besides. I ordered all of these pretty things last week and although I would love to just put them on the ground and roll around in them nekked, I'm sure I can find a better use for them!

I scored these amazing fabrics (mostly Heather Bailey) on a fantastic Etsy store recommended by Steph. I was SO IMPRESSED with the service. The guy even found a cheaper shipping method and reimbursed some of my money. Wha? When does that happen???

I do have a little idea up my sleeve that I'm hoping to try in the next week or two. I'm going to keep it quiet until I have something to show though...

Next it was on to KISS FM to pick up the DVD that I won...Vicky Christina Barcelona.

How delish is JAVIER BARDEM??? He totally reminds me of Denny (or Denis) from Grey's. I'm generally not a big Woody Allen fan but I have to admit, I loved this movie. It's really hard to go wrong with a movie set in Barcelona though...Javier's name in the movie is Juan Antonio so I couldn't help but think of my good friend Juanan through it all...It made me really miss Barcelona and my friends. I think it's time to start a Barcelona fund...

Well, I'm copying some pictures over and the copy is nearly done so I best get started on my photo book.

I hope your February is filled with all things red and most importantly lots of love.

'ciao lovelies

I've been tagged!

2009-01-26T15:21:00.005-05:00

Yep, that's right!

I've been tagged by Dorrie! Can I just say how much I LOVE having a friend named Dorrie. Growing up my mom always called me Laurie, Dorrie, Catchatorie. And I remember thinking I know what a Laurie is and I know what a Catchatorie is but what the heck is a Dorrie? Now I know! A smart, talented, creative, sweet and HILARIOUS chick!

So as I was saying, I've been tagged by Dorrie.

The rules are:

1. Go to your Picture Folder on your computer or wherever you store your pictures.

2. Go to the 6th Folder, then pick the 6th picture in that folder.

3. Post that picture on your blog and the story that goes along with the picture.

4.Tag 6 other people that you know or don’t know to do the same thing and leave a comment on their blog or an e-mail letting them know you chose them.

And here it is...

This pic was taken in Winnipeg last January (they should send all national offenders to Winnpeg in January - that would whip them into shape!) for my mom's 60th birthday. I can post that she's 60 on here because she's rockin' the 60. She sure doesn't look 60 to me. Ok, so maybe that'll be a few too many 60s in one paragraph for her liking but when you are 60 you tend to see double anyway so maybe she won't notice.

We went to Applebees (how is it that Winnipeg has Applebees and Ottawa doesn't) for a small family dinner before her big fiesta. Denis and I let the kids have fun with our cameras for the night although I think I actually snapped this shot of my mom with Hayden and Eebie. Eebie is Hayden's favourite thing in the world...she used to be mine. All those years until Hayden found her I thought she was hiding out in the crawlspace but apparently she spent that time in Jamaica because that girl has some wicked dreds.

Now I have to tag 6 people:

1. Even though Dorrie has already tagged her, I'm tagging her again and maybe she'll actually go for it...Steph. She has a wicked new camera so no excuses!!!

2. Miss Thang - aka Katie - she has two little sweeties - the perfect excuse to take lots of pics!

3. Rach - She too has two little sweeties and I love seeing pics of them! I love Rach's new banner b/c now there are two sweet angels smiling back at me when I go to her blog!

4. Miss Vicki! No, not the chips kids, stick to your resolutions! She's a wicked cool chick and I love seeing her pics. Here kids' eyes are so striking they jump right off the page! I can't wait to see her again at the Tomorrow's Treasure's retreat in just a month! YAHOOO. And Mama Sheila too ;)

5. Nat the fat rat. I have never met this girl and she probably has no clue I exist but I love reading her blog and seeing all of the creative stuff she's up to. She makes the CUTEST onesies!

6. Kal - another fellow Winnipegger (although she's still in the deep freeze) and all around VERY creative and talented girl. Denis got me her book last Christmas and I love it!

So there you have it kids. You've been tagged. I can't wait to see what you come up with and be sure to let me know when/if you post ok?

It's been a fairly quiet week around here. I did manage to get in a lovely visit with Steph and Katie this weekend. It was nice to have some girl time. Yesterday we spent several hours taking Christmas out of the house. I think this is one of the earliest we've ever taken stuff down. It's been up for nearly 3 months so I guess it was time. It's amazing how empty *read clean* the house looks when it is all down.

I pvr'd Ellen this afternoon and was watching while on the treadmill. Warning - Ellen and the treadmill DON'T MIX. I nearly fell right off I was laughing so hard. Denis even came over to see what was going on.

I hope you find this as enjoying as I did...

Stay warm wherever you are...

'night lovelies

CGI GALA 2009

2009-01-19T21:59:00.007-05:00

I can't believe the Gala has already come and gone for another year. Without fail it is one of my favourite nights of the year!!! I have to say, this year has been my favourite yet! They keep getting better and better every single year. We had the best table in the joint I SWEAR!

Saturday morning was chaos for us trying to get everything ready. We had enough packed to go camping for about three weeks and we were only going overnight!

Our goal was to check in my noon and we did VERY well by checking in at 12:30. Unfortunately I directed D to the wrong parking lot so we were dragging suitcases and grocery bags through the Rideau Centre!!! pretty funny.

I got everything unpacked while D moved the car to the right parking lot to unload the rest of the stuff. We zipped down to the foodcourt and picked up some Subway to take back to our room. It is SO HANDY to have a shopping centre attached to a hotel I tell you!

After lunch we made our way downstairs for some swimming and hot tub action. We are both total fish and haven't been swimming for a while so it was a nice treat.

By about 3:30 we had to head back to the room to get ourselves and the joint ready for the cocktail party we were hosting!

Denis had told people they could arrive between 4:45 and 5. By 5:15 the room was still empty and we were getting a bit scared. Next thing you know the room is PACKED. Oh and I must point out, we had the BEST room in the place - room 1313. I just doesn't get any better than that.

Here are some pictures before the story continues...
I must point out that Denis said he had to edit all of the ones he took to remove the BLOOD STAIN from the curtain! Lovely. One classy room I tell you.

The view from room 1313 - i love the blue hue to the picture...

And another - we could see the little people skating on the canal...

Denis all dressed up and ready to go!

Trying my best to pose but the rum and diet cokes by the pool took over I think!

Trying my best to stick out my chin like Denis tells me to!

Scott and another Laurie or Lori or Lorrie or...I dunno. What I do know is she scrapbooks and I nearly peed my pants when I found out! These two ROCK.

Oh la la - I could go on forever about Gary and Sandie. I met Gary a few years ago and INSTANTLY liked him. He's Irish and oh so fun. I just met his girlfriend Sandie on Saturday night and we became instant buddies and hung out all night. She's a total Scottish sweetheart! And what a great looking couple!!!

Bryan (with a "Y") and Kim! Poor Kim wasn't feeling too hot at dinner but the two of us had an awesome time at our cocktail party! This couple rocks too!

A shot of the group - it wasn't even that crowded when this pic was taken
Ok - now on to dinner we go! Cocktails were at 6, dinner was at 7. I think we made our way downstairs sometime around 6:55 or so!

We had a sweet table - right on the dancefloor where are the action was. I had to be on my best behaviour because the Vice President was seated right behind me and I didn't want to get D fired.

Once he left all bets were off!

I made immediate friends with the bartender, a nice young lad from Haiti named Elysee. As is "champs elysee" - what a cool name! He took great care of me all night!

Here are some shots of our table mates...

Scott and Laurie (excuse the red eyes in these pictures - i was using my little point and shoot for these)

Roxane and Andre - SUCH A FUN COUPLE! And total sweethearts to boot. Love hanging with them...

Jason and ??? - they showed up late and left early. They also had a room in the hotel.

Ben and ??? Sorry - one too many bevvies at that point to remember everyone's name. Both of them were total sweethearts though! I do remember that.

Andre being silly.

Supper was pretty good. We started with butternut squash soup and it was SO YUM.

Next was the salad. I remember going to the washroom and walking back into the ballroom as they were serving the salad. Two words - STINKY FEET. That's what the entire room smelled like!

Main course was chicken, potatoe and some veggies. I just wasn't feeling it so I didn't eat most of it.

Desert was blueberry maple mousse thingy. Also tres delish!

The them was Hollywood and the centrepieces were glass popcorn containers filled with candy treats, popcorn and MOVIE PASSES. At first one of the other ladies at the table won because Jason and his gf hadn't arrived yet but once they arrived I became the winner. JACKPOT. In my defence, I did tell Ben's girl she could keep it but she insisted I take it. So I did. I'm most excited about the movie passes.

Dave and Janet - they were set up. J used to work at CGI and Dave didn't have a date so he brought her. They had a blast and we had a blast harassing them!

The highlight of the night was Elvis. If you can believe it, this sucker sold for $45 and it technically wasn't even for sale. He was part of the decor but people couldn't get enough of him and one lady bought him and then promptly sold him to another lady. Classic.

We kept stealing him for photo ops and they kept stealing him back!

Kisses for Elvis (I don't want to think about how many lips were on him that night)...

"Us" girls with Elvis with the "owners" always very close behind...

Sandie gets up close and personal (don't tell Gary!)

My aim was SO FAR off at this point - I was aiming for his "bits and pieces" and ended up grabbing Sandie's ankle. Ooops!

The girls getting into trouble - can I just say I look TOTALLY POSSESSED in these pictures. I have cranberry stained lips!

New buds! I can't wait to hang out with her again...

I cannot say enough about what a great time we had. The music was phenomenal. Every request we made was played the very next song and the dance floor was always full. The night passed in a flash and it was so fun to see so many other people having such a great time.

Our table ended up shutting the place down. Literally. At one they turned on all the lights and we were the only ones left. That did not deter us. We hung out for a while more just chatting and laughing and having good times.

I met so many random and interesting people throughout that night. I love that sort of thing and tend to end up going so at the Galas. I then report back to Denis about all these people he works with and doesn't know!!!

We finally stumbled to our room and decided to order a pizza - I was starving from barely eating any dinner and I thought it would be a good idea to absorb some of the alcohol.

It was after 3 a.m. by the time we got to bed. The Westin advertises these "heavenly beds" and "heavenly sheets" and "heavenly EVERYTHING." UM...not so much! Our own bed is far more heavenly I have to say.

I had a horrible night's sleep because my loving husband treated me to his cold so I was having a hard time breathing. I finally fell into a deep sleep at around 8 a.m. only to be woken but a HORRIBLE SOUND of a jackhammer on concrete just after 9. Yes, 9 a.m. on a Sunday they are drilling through concrete. I thought it was right above our heads. I thought they were coming through the floor. At about 10:45 I called down to ask for late checkout and to complain about the noise. As it turns out it was on the 19th floor! That's how loud it was. Crazy I tell you.

Eventually we gave up trying to sleep and Denis ran down to Starbucks in the mall to get us tea lattes (our new fave) and some breakfast. We then hit the pool again and were able to escape the noise at least for a short while...

I was so looking forward to a nice warm shower when we got back to the room but alas, it was not meant to be. There was NO HOT WATER. huh? The signs in the elevator said the water was being shut off on Monday, not Sunday! GRRRRR. So frustrating. At this point I was feeling a bit ripped off. I had expected luxury and frankly I think it could have been better at a Super 8 motel!

In my frustration, I filled out the comment card and I was brutally honest about my disappointment. I did praise their employees, specifically Elysee. I said that we would not be returning and that Denis would be informing his colleagues not to make the same mistake we did at next year's Gala.

By last night the manager had sent D a message with their apologies, explaining that to complete the rennovations on time they have to work 7 days a week. BUT ON A SUNDAY??? COME ON!

Aparently the lack of hot water was because a pipe had burst. Oops. In any case, the manager was very apologetic and has invited us back for a complimentary night so they can make it up to us and hopefully change our opinion!!! Sweeeeet.

So once the rennovations are completed (sometime this summer) D and I are going to head back and check it out. If all goes well, hopefully we can make our pre-gala cocktail party an annual tradition because it was one heck of a great time!

Oh, I just remembered something (I'm sure this is going to happen quite a bit)...Denis is being mentored at work by Pablo, a sweet gentleman who has just been named a director. I have met Pablo in the past and really liked him. On Saturday night I suddently became fluent in Spanish and had a full conversation with him in Spanish. HELLO - I HAVE NEVER DONE THAT IN MY LIFE! I don't even know how to speak spanish! apparently elysee put something special in the vodka-cranberries I was drinking!!!

Ok - I must head to bed. Nyquil is calling.

Thanks for reading if you made it this far.

'night lovelies,

Long lost Christmas pictures...

2009-01-19T21:11:00.006-05:00

I have been uploading pictures from the Gala and came across the few December shots that I have. Wow - talk about a FEW shots. My poor camera must have really been feeling neglected.

I'm doing two seperate posts tonight - one for my long lost December shots and one for the Gala!

A pic of me at my Christmas party...

A beautiful long-lost friend I reconnected with - we had such a great time!

Under the tree Christmas morning...

Welcome to my world. Camera in his hand and not the cell phone and pager on his PJS!!! How cute is that?

New dishes on table for Christmas dinner...

More table pics

more table...

my dollar store homemade arrangements...

Ok - that's it for December shots. I'm not sure if I'll get the Gala posted tonight or not but I'll try...I'm waiting on D's pics and he is currently in the all-girl all-pink studio watching 24 while I watch the Bachelor!!!

'night lovelies

ooops - i forgot to add this one

Here is the new studio storage that Denis bought me for Christmas...

Wow! Time is flying...

2009-01-18T22:04:00.002-05:00

I cannot believe it has been one week since my last post.

Speaking of...

We picked up our calendars on Friday night and they turned out great! Totally love them.

I will be posting about the Gala later this week once I can upload a few pictures. We had an AMAZING time. It was seriously ridiculously amazing. I can't stop thinking of it and smiling.

The down side was the hotel turned out to be a bit of a trainwreck (will post about that later as well) and I wrote our complaints down on a comment card and we were e-mailed this evening that we are getting a FREE NIGHT to make up for it! YEAHHHHHHHHH!!!! sometimes it pays to speak up!

Ok - must get to sleep. I'm fighting traffic early tomorrow morning to head into the office...let's hope it's not too bad out there!

'night lovelies
me

A Photo Recap of 2008

2009-01-11T19:57:00.007-05:00

Kodak is having a 50% off sale on calendars until Feburary 2 so I spent the better part of the day creating photo collages from the past year to put into calendars for Denis and I.

I'm pretty excited about how it turned out. It is always so hard to pick just one picture per month every year so this was an excellent alternative!

Here it is:

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

So there you have it! Another year in pictures. I can't wait to see the finished product.

'night lovelies

Birth day

2009-01-07T12:17:00.002-05:00

Well, the day is here. Today was our due date for Patrick. We have taken the day off to be together. I just wanted to be with D and cry if I need to cry without worrying about work. As luck would have it the snow is coming down here so it's pretty much a perfect day to be home with your honey. We've been very slow moving this morning and he's just going to build a fire to warm us while we play a game or watch a movie.

I am happy to report that I have been doing much better than I expected I would be. I'm not going to lie, it hit me hard a few times this morning already and I've had a few good cries but ironically enough I am also feeling some relief in sight. I feel like tomorrow we can REALLY move on. I don't have to eye every pregnant belly I see and wonder if that's what mine would have looked like at that point.

We will always carry Patrick in our hearts but hopefully with less of the grief.

We have done something very special to honour his due date...we have started our first business together.

Late Sunday night we submitted our incorporation papers to Industry Canada and by 8:30 Monday morning we had our certificate of incorporation. We have asked them to date everything to today's date - which they have.

So something else has been born today...C'est La Vie Studio & Design Inc. We have been talking about starting this business for nearly a year now. I guess all that procrastinating paid off in the end and we were able to start on a very meaningful day.

We still have a very long way to go before the business is entirely up and running but for now, it's official.

Our main focus will be photography but we will also be doing "paper" design including invites and anything else that someone may need for a given event. In some cases we are even open to event design. The two of us did a lot of the planning for Tanya's baby shower last year and had a few people asking if it was professionally done so we think we can handle some event design as well. Like I say, we will be starting small...

I came up with the name C'est la Vie because I thought it reflected our primary focus of capturing life's moments.

With any luck we'll have some very special moments of our own to capture sometime in the near future...

Sending kisses to Patrick,
me

New Year, New Look

2009-01-02T23:22:00.002-05:00

I think I mentioned on here that just before Christmas I changed my look a bit. I went much darker.

I styled my hair and did my makeup today before going out for a bit with D so I asked him to take a picture of me so I can post and, if no one else, my mom can at least see what I look like now!

I love it. I really do. And the past few days I've been doing big bouncy curls with hot rollers.

So far the new year is off to an amazing start.

We saw Marley and Me yesterday afternoon...can we say KLEENEX? It's a sad movie to begin with but throw in the fact that she has a miscarriage and they name their firstborn Patrick and well...you can imagine!

We then had a wonderful New Year's supper at Mom Turpin's place with Aunt Lise and Uncle Phil. It was nice to catch up with them since I missed out on the Christmas Eve festivities.

Today we did some errands and then had supper at The Works. It was open - YEAH!

For the past several hours I have been in the studio creating. It feels AMAZING. Seriously. I can't wipe the smile off my face and I'm having a blast with all of my Heather Bailey stuff and my Slice! I think there is a new fave in town...look out Heidi!

I hope you are all having a great start to the new year as well.

I don't make resolutions. I make predictions.

I predict this will be the best year yet.

Tripple arm pump for 2009. Let's go!

A quick Christmas recap...

2008-12-30T22:19:00.010-05:00

Wow - can you believe Christmas has already come and gone? It seemed to go by especially quickly this year as I was sick and basically house-bound for the last ten days leading up to the big day. I seemed to miss the craziness and excitement that is Christmas.

Despite the yucky laryngitis and strep throat we still managed to have a pretty wonderful holiday.

It was VERY low key. I stayed home on Christmas Eve to try and feel better for Christmas Day and to keep my germs to myself. Denis headed to Mom Turpin's for some family time and the chance to celebrate his Godson Kyle's first Christmas. We had SO MUCH FUN spoiling him rotten!!! I just couldn't stop myself. I love spoiling kids at Christmas. LOVE IT!

We had a fantastic Christmas morning just the two of us. I was heavily sedated on Nyquil so we slept until after 10...TOTALLY UNHEARD OF FOR ME. Usually I'm up before 6 a.m. I'm like a little kid. Denis was the little kid this year! He woke up several times during the night hoping that morning had come...

We took our time getting up, sipping coffee and making a big apple pancake together. It was FINALLY time to open presents. I think this is the first year it has been just the two of us on Christmas morning and there was something really special, romantic and enjoyable about it. We took our time, sipped our coffee and just enjoyed.

A few of my presents had not yet arrived (Internet purchases from the US) so Denis printed pictures and stuffed several envelopes with them!

He got lots of little fun goodies for my stocking and TONS OF CHOCOLATE. Just call me Willy Wonka!

With our pre-Christmas purchase we have now moved into the world of Blue Ray and I got a few new movies. My biggest gift was a storage system for all of my scrapbooking paper. Denis keeps saying he's going to make me something but just doesn't have the time for it so he broke down and bought me a pre-made modular system that I can build on. He put it together over the weekend and I TOTALLY love it. I've organized all of my paper in it already!

Here are some visuals to give you an idea of what Santa brought...

Here is a picture of a bunch of the pieces he got me all put together - this is just the ad - this isn't what my room looks like! (not pink enough!!!!)

I also have some new comfy duds for cropping...A carrying case for my Clip it up (I LOVE THAT SUCKER)And two new cartridges for my Slice...
Mom Turpin joined us later in the afternoon for a Christmas sleepover. All I can say is thank goodness for Supperworks!

We feasted on chicken breasts stuffed with ricotta, spinach and mushroom in pastry, brocoli casserole (the best we've ever had) and mom's stuffing. Desert was an apple peach cobbler and vanilla ice cream.

I had to cut out of the dinner early to lie down because I was feeling horrible. After a few hours I perked up and we played some Wii. We bought a third set of controllers for when mom comes over so we can all play. We also picked up The Price is Right for the three of us and threw in some Mario Kart for good measure.

Mom totally spoiled us rotten and she found the COOLEST gifts!

I got this jewelery box of wine - HOW FUNKY and SO ME!

And a close up of what the bottles look like...

She knows we have a bit of a Starbucks addiction right now so she got each of us one of these...
I have been looking for a nice big chunky mug like this forever - this is just perfect. As I type, we are sipping this puppy and I have to tell you it is SO YUMMY...

And the smallest gift that I think I am most excited about..

A STARBUCKS CARD!!!!

I have been meaning to get one of these for the past few months to feed my Starbucks addiction! I can't wait to break it in!

Denis got clothes. Lots and lots and lots and lots of clothes. He has enough new boxers for a cross-country road trip with the runs!

We did score a great deal on the Sunday before Christmas. My mom saw a set of dishes with deer and moose on them by Gluckstein and suggested I might want to get a set for D for Christmas. I didn't get around to buying them until Sunday. Good thing I waited. They were all 50% off. We broke them in at Christmas dinner. They are pretty cute and rather festive...ours are all black and white..

We tried to do some shopping on Boxing Day but I wasn't feeling too hot and there weren't that many great deals to be had. He did treat himself to a new receiver so that we have surround sound with our new tv and blue ray. He has a new toy to program. He'll be smiling (and busy) until next year.

I picked up a few new articles of clothing and a few new CDs. I'm not sure our neighbours are too happy with us right now. We are "trying out" the new CDs on the new receiver and seeing just what it can do...at 11:17 p.m. - hey, my lucky numbers!

It almost feels like New Years Eve tonight.

Speaking of which. We're having a quiet night in. I'm still not 100% and I'm honestly looking forward to some chill time for just the two of us. We may plays some games, watch a little Dick Clark and if I'm lucky I'll get a smooch at midnight!

So there you have it. The Christmas roundup 2008.

I hope 2009 holds many big (and hopefully some small) surprises for us all. I wish you health, love, adventure and lots of creativity.

Until next year my lovelies, ,

Diva Loca

I'm a "Tia" again...

2008-12-28T17:54:00.004-05:00

My very good friend Lucia gave birth to her second son in Spain yesterday. Apparently labour was quite long and ended in a c-section. I've chatted with her brother and husband online briefly in the past couple hours. Both mama and baby are doing really well. He's totally adorable. They named him Javier - after his dad.

This is so bitter sweet. I'm over the moon excited for her because she is an amazing mother. She got pregnant with her first on our wedding night. Funny story - she wanted to start trying for her first on their trip to Canada for our wedding. We put a "loot bag" in their hotel room including Materna vitamins (they don't have them in Spain). She got pregnant the next night.

When we went to Spain earlier this year she said she was ready to try for her second so we took along another 3 bottles of Materna with us. She took one and well...here's Javier!

The reason it is so bitter sweet is we got pregnant at the very same time. Our little guy would have been born some time in the next 10 days or so...we were thrilled to be pregnant together and had so many hopes for our little ones to grow up and be good friends.

Little Javier has an angel buddy watching over him...

Here are a few pictures I stole from her Facebook page...

I just can't wait to meet him...maybe we need to plan another trip to Spain! Ole!!!

A Very Merry Chirstmas from our home to yours...

2008-12-24T10:52:00.007-05:00

Hi lovelies.

Merry Chirstmas Eve!

I was hoping to say that I'm as good as new today but unfortunately that's not the case. I'm still feeling rough although my voice has made its way back (after 10 days)...

I had a horrible night tossing and turning and coughing in D's face and he somehow managed to sleep peacefully through it all...

I hope you all have a very safe, healthy and happy Christmas.

Here are some very long overdue pictures of the decorations at our place...enjoy!

Our fireplace with decorative stockings hung - are real ones stay hidden until Chiristmas Eve...

The Christmas Village

Our family tree full of ornaments from the years of our lives...

Family tree all lit up in the family room

The main tree and staircase

Mirror at the front entrance...

All white tree in the living room...i love the reflection in the table in this shot

you can also see our Christmas Card tree on the right

more white tree

and again...

a vase of red and silver ornaments with white lights

Our newest tree this year - a pink tree for my pink studio

The pink feather boa tree decorated in pinks and black

A black wreath - i added the pink ornaments

A close up of the wreath - there is some glitter and bling in there too!

The "Turpin" Tree in our master bedroom nook...

A glittery T from the Turpin tree

Funky shot of the main tree

and another

Spare room green tree

Happy Birthday Miss Thang!!!

2008-12-23T16:46:00.004-05:00

I want to wish the wonderfully, amazingly sweet, spunky and creative Miss Thang, aka Katie, a very Happy Birthday!!! I hope you get spoiled rotten with hugs and kisses today girl!!!

Welcome to my world...

2008-12-18T20:34:00.003-05:00

Yup - still down and out

I've basically just been getting through the past few days with easy access to Dr. Rachel. She's been giving me lots and lots of great advice on how to ease the pain a bit. We called (well D called because I have no voice) Telehealth this morning and they suggested I get back to see a doc within four hours.

We got ourselves ready and headed straight to the clinic. D worked from home today just in case I needed to go back (thank goodness).

The doc took a look at me and said my throat was "crazy red" now and although I have significant pain in my ears it's all from my throat - I don't actually have an ear infection. He didn't want to bother doing a swab because the results would take 48 hours and he didn't want to wait that long. So...he put me on antibiotics immediately along with some stuff to gargle (to freeze my throat and try to ease some of the pain) plus he's upped my Tylenol to T3s. You know what that means? I'll be sleepy even more. I say sleepy and not sleeping because I'm having HORRIBLE nights. D has taken up permanent residence in the spare room so he actually gets some sleep.

If this doesn't start to break within 48 hours I have to go back to the clinic on Saturday for more tests. YUCK. This is the last thing I need the week before Christmas. We may have to celebrate Ukranian Christmas this year!!!

The worst is that I'm in so much pain and discomfort I don't feel like doing ANYTHING other than lie around watching tv/movies and taking a bath.

The doc also said it may take a while for my voice to come back and that I'm not supposed to try to speak or even whisper...hey - come to think of it, maybe that's Christmas gift enough for D!

My "nurse" has taken a much deserved night off tonight to go and play poker with guys from work.

Oh man - no fair. All the commercials are for food and I haven't really eaten much "solids" since Saturday...this is one way not to gain any weight over the holidays!

'night lovelies

Merry early Christmas to us...

2008-12-16T16:42:00.005-05:00

Denis just came home with our early Chirstmas gift to eachother...

Considering he is the most high-tech person most people know it's nearly a miracle we've been living with "old school" tvs in our house for this long. If you can believe our first and only flat screen to date was in my scrapbooking room.

Until just now that is...

Future Shop was having an unbelieveable two-day sale and we decided to take the plunge. The set included a 42 inch LCD HDTV, a blue-ray player and 3 blue-ray discs.

I'm pretty excited about this...hopefully we'll have lots of time to snuggle up and watch movies on it over the holidays.

To be honest, right now I'm doing a whole lot of nuttin'.

I tried to get supper started but had to sit down because I'm too weak. All I've had all day is a yogurt and a tea. It took me about a half an hour to get the yogurt down. D just came home with a Wendy's frosty for me. Actually, he came home with four of them so we can keep them in the freezer. They are about all I can get down right now. Even water hurts.

I hate that I'm getting worse instead of better and it's very frustrating. I managed to get some online shopping done today for D's Christmas gift. Thank goodness we have already finished everyone else's gift...

'night lovelies

Enjoy the silence...

2008-12-15T22:17:00.002-05:00

Every man's dream has officially come true for Denis. I've totally and completely lost my voice. I can force a slight whisper but that doesn't last long and it's pretty painful so I try to stick with typing messages...

I went to Urgent Care tonight and it turns out I have an upper respiratory infection. By the sounds of it I'm going to get worse before I get better. I'm in so much pain and can barely swallow. The doc says my ears and throat are quite swollen and I can expect this sore throat to carry on for a few days followed by a week or so of coughing. Good times, good times. Just before Christmas. Lovely.

And the hardest part it the only thing he could give me was pain meds. So I'm on Tylenol 2 every four hours just to get through it.

And rest. Lots and lots of rest and fluids.

Lucky me I have the hotest nurse out there and he's taking such great care of me! He just went out to get me a humidifier and a milkshake (my best friends right now)...

I wish I had something more exciting to report...

'night lovelies
me

I've been a bad blogger...

2008-12-07T21:08:00.008-05:00

But with good reason I think.

It's been busy. Oh so busy. But great!!!

My weekend in Toronto was even more fun than expected. I had an absolute blast with Chris and Cawi and even Cathy and met some new friends. I can't say enough about how great it was.

The shows were AMAZING and oh so worth it. We had a psychic come to Chris' house and that was pretty wild too.

We laughed a lot and smiled a lot and saw a lot and drank a lot and didn't sleep nearly enough!

I totally loved the One of a Kind show although I did not buy a single thing if you can believe it. I had this weird "out of body" experience where I felt I just needed to be surrounded by all of the creativity and take it in rather than turn it into a shopping day. It was a pretty wild feeling. I have something brewing in my head. Something creative. Although, I'm not quite sure what it is just yet. And the show just stirred that up even more. Like I say, pretty wild.

I was absolutey spoiled rotten by the girls between welcome presents and birthday presents. Man oh man. They are two of the most generous people I know.

I made us some "party" kits including custom-made Rockstar shirts and red feather boas. We wore our boas EVERYWHERE all weekend long. It was hilarious. We turned many heads and made many people laugh.

Here are a few shots from the weekend...

Camera war

Purdy girl

Silly sisters

Chris' friend Heather played guitar and we "sang"

Making out with Glen

Dirty girls see Dirty Dancing

I carried a watermelon...(or in Cawi's case a water bottle)

It took me most of the week to recover from the weekend. Cawi and I went to bed at 6 a.m. Saturday morning and were up by 9 a.m. for our marathon day...

Along with recovering this week I had to get the house ready for a very special Christmas gathering on Friday night.

I invited the girls over for a Very Merry Christmas Crop and slumber party.

Katie, Rach and Steph came over after work on Friday for some Christmas cheer. We all brought different appetizers and Rach also hooked us up with some crazy amazing desert. We talked, laughed and just enjoyed eachother's company. The girls did some scrappin but I wasn't in the mood so I mostly watched while flipping thru some magazines.

It was an awesome night with many laughs and you'll have to take my word on it because we didn't take any pictures!!!

We decided that rather than exchanging gifts we're all making a donation to the Children's Snowsuit Fund. There are so many kids that need much more than we did this Christmas and it's a great charity that keeps the money in our city.

We got to bed pretty late and had to be up early because the girls all had a busy day ahead and needed to get an early start on the day.

D and I made a really nice brunch together with leftovers and just hung out. We had high hopes for the day and getting lots done but in the end we were rather slothful and lazy. I had to madly rush to get ready for my Christmas party...yup - that's how slothful we were.

I wasn't sure what to expect of this year's party. It was held at a Moroccan restaurant in Gatineau. I was very pleasantly surprised. The best part of the night was reigniting an old friendship and meeting her new beau. The four of us laughed so hard the entire night. The food was great and there was even a belly dancer.

All in all much fun was had by all!

Yet another late night...

D and I slept in this morning and then got up to make brunch together once again. Just a few minutes after putting some stuff in the oven the power went out. GRRRR. We were supposed to have the power shut off from 6-10 a.m. but then they called back to say it wouldn't be turned off. Shortly after 11 down it went. Denis quickly built us a fire to keep us warm and we kept the stuff in the oven long enough that it heated although it wasn't on!

It started to get REALLY cold down here so we went up to our room and D rigged the gas fireplace on. Ah...a nice snuggle under the covers with a fire - Sunday afternoon doesn't get any better now does it?

The day was to get even better...Cawi was back in town for the weekend and we had a date planned!!!

She was dropped off late afternoon and we had a tea while catching up. Wow, what a concept. A non-alchoholic beverage!

Next we headed to Rangoli for Indian Food with Sara. I haven't seen her in a year either and it was so nice to be able to catch up.

Unfortunately the food took FOREVER to come so we had to shovel it down as quickly as possible so that I could run Cawi to the airport to catch her flight.

I came home to a roaring fire (at this point we're going to go through the wood by January) and D and I are chillin on our laptops tonight. He's working on something rather exciting...he's doing some preliminary work to get our "side business" up and running.

He's just doing a name search as we speak.

Exciting. Very exciting.

I wish I had more pictures to share but I just haven't been very shutter happy this weekend.

So there you have it. A much OVERDUE update.

I have another Christmas dinner date planned with Steph and Janet for Tuesday evening - CAN'T WAIT!

hope you all had a wonderful weekend. It is brutally cold here and if it's cold where you are too then snuggle up with your sweetie and stay nice and warm.

'night lovelies!

I am alive...

2008-12-03T21:41:00.001-05:00

Just working on recovery this week...

and gearing up for yet another crazy weekend.

pray for me

will write soon!!!

I really should...

2008-11-27T18:55:00.003-05:00

Be doing this:

But instead I'm doing this:

Yes. It's called procrastinationville and I'm the queen. Here is my crown

Ok enough slacking, off I go!

Have a great weekend everyone.

Ciao lovelies

I've been hit...

2008-11-25T13:14:00.015-05:00

With a nasty bug.

I started feeling funny on Sunday after dinner but just thought something wasn't agreeing with me.

Then on Sunday night I woke up just before 3 a.m. and I thought for sure I had been transported to a very hot beach in Hawaii. My body was on fire. The only problem with that was my skin, Denis and our room were all freezing - it was only 17 degrees!!!

So yeah. I couldn't fall back to sleep but I was too out of it to get up either so I just stayed there for hours listening to D breathe. Needless to say I didn't go into work. I spent most of the day between bed and the couch. Last night D made me a cozy fire and I stretched out on the futon matress in front of the fire sipping tea and watching tv.

I'm home again today. Still feeling horrible. I had to scramble with my client advisor to try and regnegotiate a few deadlines. This is really bad timing because I'm headed to Toronto on Friday morning and off Monday as well. I MUST be better by then I have a big weekend planned.

This is what is on the agenda:

I plan to get an early start on Friday morning with a pit stop at Michaels to pick up one of these:

It's an excellent price PLUS there is a coupon for another 20% off and my other trimmer is making me CRAZY.

Next stop will likely be Yorkdale Mall. They have one of my very favourite stores there...Bath and Body Works. I love their product and I especially love their holiday collection. Now it remains to be seen if the prices are as good in Canada as they are in the states...

After some retail therapy Cawi and I will meet up with eachother and Chris for martini hour...

There is some place near Chris' house that has a martini happy hour...martini happy hour equals T R O U B L E.

After happy hour I believe the plan is to head back to Chris' place for our own Rockstar party. I managed to find what I was looking for this weekend for our little Rockstar accessory.

Saturday morning I'm quite sure we will be draggin our butts but we will need to get ourselves into the "big city" for our theatre day.

We will start with an afternoon matinee of Dirty Dancing:

Who knows...we may just have the time of our lives...

Next it'll be off to a quick supper (destination to be determined) and then on to our next show...

I HEART the Sound of Music. I've seen the movie more times than I can count and I even travelled to Austria and did the Sound of Music tour with Ally. The two of us had tears streaming down our faces on the bus as we drove through the Austrian countryside. I can't wait to see the stage production. I watched the show to choose Maria religiously on CBC a few months ago.

I believe post-show martinis are also on the menu followed by a night at the Intercontinental Toronto Centre. I'm thinking after our busy day and night this is going to feel pretty darn good..

A hearty Sunday morning brunch is on the menu and boy are we going to need it to tackle the One of a Kind Show in Toronoto. I have heard many good things about it for many years but I have never actually attended. I'm quite excited to be hitting it with Chris and Cawi.

Sunday evening we will head back to Newmarket and try to recover before I have to drive back to Ottawa on Monday. Can everyone please pray to the sick gods that I'm feeling better in time please!! I cannot put into words how much I am looking forward to this weekend. We always joke that I'm their "other sister" and the truth is I really feel like there other sister. Which feels so nice. And I have to say when we were together in July our weekend was truly a 10/10.

I just realized I didn't post anything about this past weekend. It was great but very busy as usual...

Friday we had a date night and saw two movies. The new James Bond (it was pretty good for Friday night entertainment) and Eagle Eye.

I absolutely LOVED Eagle Eye.

It was nice because both movies (although a bit more manly) were movies we could BOTH enjoy...

Saturday was mostly spent around the house just getting stuff done and mostly organizing my new Clip it up. Why oh why did I wait so long for one of these???

I could realistically use at least two of them but for now I just doubled up. I love how accessible everything is and how easy it all is to see...

I'm hoping it will save me lots of time (and money) in the long run.

Shoppers Drug Mart was having some sort of cash in your points deal on cosmetics so we made a quick stop to pick up a few new things...

I finally broke down and got this:

I have been eyeing it for a bit but refused to pick it up because of the outrageous price. After reading what's in it I now understand the price...one of the first items listed is GOLD. That's right. There is GOLD in my makeup. Ha. I had to laugh at that one.

I also picked up something similar yet different to this...

And a little of this...

And finally one of these...(in "Snow")

So basically I have no excuse to not have a pretty "made up" face anymore!

We then made our way to Tanya and Keith's place for supper and a visit. We had such a fun relaxing time getting all caught up and playing with Kyle. He is seriously one of the absolute best babies I've ever been around and I've been around my share of babies! He's so smiley and adorable, I just love hanging with him.

Sunday D had to work and I was on a mission for a new winter jacket so I hit the stores. It was seriously the right day to shop because there were SO MANY great sales on.

And I just couldn't resist this scarf...

A cute cardigan with a little bling...

And this tunic...

I also picked up a few new bras and undies and a pair of pjs because I'm sleeping "in public" this weekend so I have to cover up! Oh and a few long sleeved t shirts and turtle neck sweaters from Old Navy. I'm telling you the sales were EVERWHERE!

I FINALLY managed to find a purse at Winners. My "dream team" gave me a gift cert for a new purse when I left the team but I haven't been able to find anything I like or the purses I love ended up being $300 and up! AT WINNERS! I saw a few that were at the $500 mark!

I can't find a picture of it online but basically it's black and it's a HUGE tote. I love it. I also treated myself to a sampler of Christmas body washes. So yum. So fun!

Last but not least I hit the grocery store and made my way home. D and I made a fire and brought down the futon matress to play some Wii and then watch the Grey Cup! It was a very good game that would have been MUCH better if the Bombers were playing...maybe next year!

So there you have it...two weekends in a nutshell.

I think I'm going to try and have a bit of a nap before D gets home. I MUST get into the office tomorrow or my coworkers may disown me...

ciao lovelies

A beautiful love story...

2008-11-20T20:45:00.004-05:00

On a sunny day at the beginning of August 2005, two beautiful souls were brought together. You may be thinking I'm referring to Denis and I...I'm not that concieted!

In the days leading up to our wedding, a little boy fell madly in love with a beautiful princess. It was definitely love at first sight. He fell truly, madly, deeply.

Over three years later and with thousands of miles seperating them, his love goes on.

I spoke with him this evening and Stef's name happened to come up. He said he had to whisper something to me so Baba (my mom) couldn't hear. He whispered "Stef's my first girlfriend." My heart melted. He then quickly followed with "Amber is my number two girlfriend." (We wouldn't want to leave Amber out!!!!)

This is definitely true love. He was only three years old when he met Stef and that was three years ago. He frequently speaks of marrying her. He has even decided they will open a glow-in-the-dark miniature golf course together. He says Stef's a smart cookie and she can be responsible for making the golf clubs!!!

When we spoke of Stef tonight I advised him she was now living in New York. He found that rather exciting and advised me there was a big Coke sign in New York (he found this out from the movie Enchanted). I suggested they migh want to consider reliving the scene from Enchanted in Central Park for their wedding.

He loved the idea.

Here is a sneak peak of what to expect...

So there you have it.

You are cordially invited to attend the most joyous wedding day of Hayden and Stef.

Just don't notify the authorities or when he learns to print he'll be sending his "wife" letters in prison...

One of those great days...

2008-11-19T18:46:00.003-05:00

I just have to say I'm in the greatest mood right now. It's been such an awesome 24 hours and for no extraordinary reason. I love those kind of days...

Last night the peeps and I hit Supperworks again and boy oh boy did we take that place by storm. I think some of the patrons may find our fun a bit annoying but the staff LOVES us! One of them actually said "I hope I'm working the next time you come in" - someone who WANTS to work? We must REALLY be entertaining.

I think Katie should be the new poster child for Supperworks. Whenever I describe the joint to someone I always mention just how CLEAN it is. I hope Katie won't kill me for telling this story because it's too funny not to share...

We were all standing around doing our thing when all of a sudden some of Katie's meat goes flying and hits the floor. Without missing a beat she bent down and picked the meat up and threw it back into her bag. We errupted in laughter. It was classic. Even the girl working lost it!

Mama Jan (she's really Rach's mama but I like to pretend she's my surrogate Ottawa mama now) also joined us. She did something incredibly special for me. She rubbed my breasts. My chicken breasts. I tried. I got through the first 5 with only minor gagging and lots of screaming. Jan offered to take over...I HEART MAMA JAN FOR THAT!

What else am I happy about???

Christmas music. Lots and lots of cheesy Christmas music on the ipod at work. I discovered new tunes on there that I have NO IDEA where they came from. They are like dancy and cheezey and I was waiting for the Very Merry Disney Parade to come marching through my office or something!

My buddy Gi Gi from work took me out for Vietnamese (YUM) at lunch to celebrate my birthday. How fun is that?

I got to talk to both mom and dad tonight on the phone and we had a nice chat and some good laughs.

And last but certainly not least my hunka hunka burning love is HOME. I have missed him so much in just the three days he's been gone. I wasn't expecting him until much later tonight but he was already home by the time I got home from work. Sweetness. I think we've given eachother about a hundred hugs and kisses in the last two hours as we made supper. He's got a fire going so we're just vegging out and listening to the crackle...ahhhh goodness.

I saw this on Miss Vicki's blog today and thought it was pretty cute. Check it out for yourself...

The Recipe For Laurie

3 parts Charisma

2 parts Tease

1 part Delight

Splash of Craftiness

Finish off with an olive

What's the Recipe for Your Personality?

Ok so I'm RATHER DISAPPOINTED. I just realized that every time you click on it it changes your personality! Darn!!! I liked the very first one I got the best and now I can't seem to get it back. BOOOOOOO

Well lovelies I must love you and leave you. Hunky hubby is waiting...

'night all

One great birthday weekend...

2008-11-17T20:05:00.009-05:00

hello lovelies

I'm all snuggled in for the evening under a blanket with some warm tea. Boy...have I gotten old. A few years ago the only tea I'd be drinking on my birthday would be a long island iced tea...FOR BREAKFAST!

I have had yet another wonderful birthday. The festivities started on Friday night much to my surprise.

I had signed up for an all night crop at the store with Janet and Steph. Steph was our hostess with the mostess. I have to admit, I've lost my scrappin mojo. I have so little time and energy for it right now with everything else we've been up to and all the decorating that I find it hard to sit down and get down to work.

I got VERY LITTLE done!

I did have a great time though. Janet and Krista kept me laughing all night long. Krista was so flippin highly productive I wanted to start passing my stuff down to her to do!

Shortly after midnight the lights suddently went out and all the ladies around the table pulled out little plastic tiaras and noise makers. I was given a "queen" crown and a super duper fluffy pink cupcake cake made it's entrance while the girls sang happy birthday. It was such a great surprise and treat...so "me."

Speaking of surprises...

I knew Denis had something up his sleeve for my birthday because he asked for my friends' contact info. While we were chillin on Friday night Janet casually asked what we were up to for my birthday. I said "oh, that's right, I guess I'll see you at my party tomorrow night." Janet said "you know about it" and I replied "I didn't know FOR SURE but now I do!!!!!!"

He he, sneaky.

Then Steph made a comment to the effect of "so you know we're coming over to your place tomorrow." Once again I said "well I didn't but now I do!!!"

Ha ha. I had a good chuckle.

I didn't last quite as late as I thought I would and by 2 or so Janet and I were packing up and heading out.

I wasn't able to sleep when I got home so D and I ended up talking for about an hour or so. That just ROYALLY threw off my schedule. I suggested we might want to tidy up the house since we were having people over - I just can't let go!

Saturday morning my WONDERFUL man let me catch up on sleep while he straightened up. We got dressed and fed and made our way to the photography show for a few hours. I have to be honest, I wasn't as into it this year as last year. I think my pure exhaustion from lack of solid sleep had something to do with it too. I ended up taking a nap in the car while Denis attended the final workshop because I wanted to be on top of my "game" for the evening.

We made our way home and Mom Turpin, Tante Lise and Uncle Phil were already here. Shortly after others started arriving. Unfortunately most of my friends already had plans so we were an intimate but still GREAT crew. Stephanie and Stephane (big surprise he was supposed to be hunting) joined us!!!

It was a mellow night with drinks and finger foods, delicous chocolate cake, lots of laughs and some presents!

My D spoiled me rotten as usual and I finally have the much coveted SLICE BY MAKING MEMORIES!!!

We've already played with it a few times and can I just say I LOVE IT!!!

He also got me the Clip it up with a bunch of accessories - it's going to keep me organized!!!

Here are some pictures of the crew...
Me on Rockstar...notice the tiara - from Friday night

Blowing out the candles - it feels great to be 6!

i LOVE that the cake says Diva Loca - D is too cute...

Bryan (with a "y") he needs you to know that...

Bryan's girlfriend Kim - she's a keeper!

Uncle Phil

Stephanie

Stephane

Scott

Tante Lise

Mom Turpin

Opening a big bag of scrappin treats from Steph squared...

Don't they look fascinated by all of the scrapbookin' gear??

Rockstar makes my crown go wonky...

Are they cute or what?

Doesn't he look thrilled about having his picture taken again!!!

Well I should get showered and make my way to bed. Once again D is hunting and I can't sleep beside my teddy bear beside me. I have to get into work early because I'm off to Supperworks with the girls again tomorrow night and this time we're bringing Rach's sweet mama Jan. I heart Jan...she's like the female version of my dad...

Night lovelies

Thank you for all of your sweet birthday wishes and for making this yet another memorable year. I look forward to many more memories...

'night lovelies

Last few minutes as a 32 year old...

2008-11-16T23:28:00.004-05:00

In exactly 30 minutes I will turn 33. Well, technically not until 4 p.m. tomorrow but close enough.

As I ponder my 32nd year I would have to say it had some of my highest highs and lowest lows. I managed to make it through smiling.

Let's hope for an even better year this year...

I had such a wonderful weekend and I will post about it in a day or two.

For now I need my beauty sleep...

'night lovelies

Photography contest results...

2008-11-13T21:08:00.002-05:00

Just before leaving the office today we got our weekly e-mail from the Department. I was anxious to see if the photography contest results had been posted.

Sure enough there they were...

And I wasn't there.

BUT...

I absolutely agree with the winners that were chosen - the six finalists' pictures were SPECTACULAR.

I did find that I'm pretty sure most of them did some post processing - I didn't touch mine at all. The colours in all of them were SO WOW.

I was so not in that league...and I'm ok with that because I can appreciate great photography.

We've been doing odd n' ends around here tonight so the pictures did not get taken.

I'm off to an all-night crop at the Scrapbox tomorrow night and then we have a Henry's Photography show all weekend...CAN'T WAIT!

That's it for me

'night lovelies...