whew

Well, it's August and I'm so glad. Although this month is going to be as crazy as the last one... Ben and I decided that we were OVER July.

My co-worker has had a emergency that requires him to return to India for a few weeks - I am his backup so that means I do 2 jobs this month. Fine by me - I just hope his family gets well. I am also supposed to take vacation one of those weeks - thank goodness my boss says I still can. I am willing to work from TN one or two days but not the whole week, because this is for our wedding reception. So that's kind of more important - so glad she understands.

In other news, we're halfway through obedience class which is nice but it's going by too fast - I guess if I practised more with Mina I would feel like we're getting more out of it... I am having a craft gathering this weekend - hope it goes well. I think it will be fun - I am always impressed by the different crafts that people do. My neighbor makes needle-felted purses, and another neighbor paints watercolor, another one embroiders, and yet another makes bead jewelry. Too cool! And there are a few people who are interested in making a scrapbook for this or that...so I am looking forward to sharing what little I know about it with them.

Yay friends!

Love this pic! And I love my friends! 

a smile today

I am having a crappy day - work is really stressful right now, so I thought looking through last weekend's photos for a minute would help me clear my brain and have a little smile. This is J and C along with my husband who went to Ga Tech with J. I am very proud of them for everything. 

Mina likes Hawaii

Well, she would, if she had ever been there. This shirt was too cute to pass up, especially since it was only 9 bucks! So I got the largest size possible and it's barely big enough. But I think she looks just adorable in it! (Yes, there's something WRONG with me, I know)I also got her a pair of doggles, doggy sunglasses. It's going to take a little while for her to get used to those, but I'll post a pic soon! 

the A-T-L

Heading there this weekend for a close friends' wedding. Should be fun! Have a great weekend!

Mina loves sand.

She loves to dig in it and EAT it...and run around...

I love how it's on her nose and whiskers and around her mouth! 

Mom's birthday present

Shh, don't tell! Or send her the web address, LOL... This is a book (matchbook album from Lil Davis, actually) of inspirational/leadership quotes that I've made my mom for her birthday. I used the Basic Grey Hang 10 collection, cause I thought it would sort of match her office. I wasn't going to leave space for photos, but I decided that might be good afterall, so I left places for her to put photos of the bank and her co-workers in there. I hope she likes it well enough to put it on her desk.

For Connie - sorry I'm posting these pics so late - it took me forever, I kept waiting on the Mod Podge to dry :)

We live in a beautiful place...

I love where we live - I open the windows and hear the birds (although I think there's a hawk's nest close by cause I hear more screeching these days than usual), and when I look out my windows I see beautiful pine trees and tops of houses. It's still a bit cloudy so I can't see the hills past our neighborhood, but that's OK.

I turned down Banfield again. I think/hope that I left it open enough so that if something unexpected happens, then I will have maybe an option, but I also made it clear that I am not comfortable changing jobs right now. I think it's the best decision. Now I just have to seriously consider the merit of going back to school online. Right now I can't get past the cost, and how we'll pay for that - I am a terrible financials person. I had hoped that Ben would take that over, but he doesn't seem to have any interest in it either. And I'm interested in managing it, but have no willpower. Blech...hate talking about money!

Anyway, Mina is still snoozin - we contacted a playmate of hers from back in Atlanta who was a little younger. A full Dane named Marley - they played together often at our local dog park and were in puppy kindergarten together. Marley is TALL now, 34" at the shoulders. Parkey, her "mom", sent me some pics back. She's totally adorable. Mina has definitely turned us onto Danes as a breed. But we're staying a one dog family for awhile longer, that's for sure.

Lovely rain

It is raining today, the first time in a few weeks. Today it is nice; it makes me feel peaceful. And Mina isn't being a pain cause she's still tired from playing all day at "doggie day care" yesterday. I realised I need to do something for Mom cause her birthday's next week. I think I'll create something - lord knows I have plenty of stuff already here to do that with.

Everyone is talking about sneak peeks for the CHA Summer show...that would be so fun to attend. And I have to miss the CKU-Atlanta this year, it's the weekend after I'll be there for A and P's wedding. Oh well - I think it would be fun to go to a different place altogether for it. Maybe somewhere in CA...anyway...

I made a book for my MIL the other day but forgot to take pictures of it. LOL, I also forgot to send any sort of note explaining what it was to her either, but surely she'll figure it out. I can be such a ditz sometimes.

Cutie pie!

Isn't he cute? This is my neighbor's grandson - he's like 4 months old..maybe 3. Such a good baby! They have asked me to take some pictures of him, like some formal ones, which will be fun I think!

I have a couple of good, candid ones like this from our BBQ on the 4th.

I would like a better close up lens, I think...but this one is working well for now.

In scrap-related news, I didn't create anything this weekend but I did tie up some loose ends. I finished a flip book for Ben's mom, and put all my recent pages in albums! I organized them into groups like 1) People 2) Me and Ben 3) Family Christmas (over the years) 4) Me and 5) Pets. I also finished putting our San Francisco trip together - still have some journaling but I'm getting there. It felt great to get that accomplished! 

Job at Banfield

Well, I thought about it over the weekend and decided to decline their offer - I am not ready to change into a more restrictive job yet. I love the freedom I have now with time off and stuff, and I love the people I work with, so I'm going to stick around :) It was kind of hard telling the folks at Banfield that I didn't want their job after all, but I was honest about why. Turns out they can negotiate a little bit with the paid time off, but not telecommuting. Because both are important to me - the telecommuting is probably #1, I said no thanks. But I was impressed with the way the whole thing was handled and their people in general. I would definitely apply there again if something happens to my current job (of course they will not have an opening then but hey that's how it works, LOL).

I am so turned around with what day it is this week...today's Thursday right? That's a nice thing to remember :)

my first 8x8, themed album of a child

This was too fun! My co-worker's stepdaughter, sort of...she's such a cutie and I made this for them. Totally awesome learning experience - I used paint....LOL

Another kit from ScrapMuse of course! The colors just went so well together...

Leo

Isn't he cute? He's the first mostly quiet Cocker Spaniel I have ever met - he and Mina really get along well, and we have been pet sitting him a couple of days this week. They have lots of fun.

It's so cute to see them both running around - a tall black and white dog with a short black and white dog running along side... 

My parents came to visit

I totally didn't think my mom would get on a plane, but she did and my parents came to visit over the weekend! We had so much fun, and it was SO GREAT to see them relaxing a little. We went and did some tourist-y stuff, like Multnomah Falls, Latourell Falls, and Wakheena Falls, and then we drove up to Mt St Helens - all of these things were just so beautiful. I will post some pics later of the falls, and Mt St Helens. I also realised where my friend M's granparents live and it's pretty close to us.

Anyway, they left early Sunday morning, so I decided to get some yard work done, and my neighbor who is a landscaper helped, in exchange for some computer lessons/repair. I think that deal is going to work out well! My yard already looks 100% better and I am teaching him about CDs versus DVDs currently.

Happy 4th of July everyone!

stuff...

Well, today will probably be the 4th day in a row that it has hit 100+ degrees here. Yesterday and Sunday it was 111 in the parking lots...and 105 or so just in the yard. It's dry heat but that's still freakin' hot. I hope it goes back down in the 70s soon..

Mom and Dad arrive tomorrow night. I'm excited but also nervous as I really need to bring up some topics that aren't going to be all that comfortable..like my little brother's future....I am really nervous about that because I really want them to hear what I have to say and I don't want to mess it up by getting frustrated..

The Banfield interview went pretty well I thought. I liked the team alot and felt like they liked me - I was honest when I told them what I did and didn't know - they're working in a newer technology than I do right now...but I am really not sure if I'm ready to leave my current job. The interview was from 9 until almost 1:30 so that was long - and I was really tired yesterday.

Mina got sick while I was gone - thank goodness it was on the pergot flooring downstairs and not the carpet. Her tummy has been sick since 4:30 Monday morning, because on Sunday she ate some things out of her norm... We'll not do that ever again! Ben came home at lunch and cleaned it up since I was gone - bless his heart. Sick doggies, esp 85 pound sick doggies are no fun!

another one of Mina :)

This might be my favorite LO of the week - I thought the beauty one was cool but I think I like this one better... it just feels AWESOME to me when I actually like my finished work - all too often when I finish a page I hate it but don't know how to go back and make it better...

Anyway, the journaling is: "My family laughs at how we treat our dog - she eats veggies, goes to "doggie day care", graduated from kindergarten, has set naps, the whole nine yards. And I do admit that we probably go overboard with it. But in the eleven months she's been withus, we have developed such a bond of companionship, loyalty, and friendship with her, that the lengths we go to with her aren't anything out of the ordinary for us. We love her so much and love the fullness she has brought to our lives. She has her moments, yes, where I want to scream because she's just destroyed something valuable, but the majority of the time, she's wonderful to be around. She is so much more than just a pet to us - she's a companion, friend, confidante, playmate. We are grateful that she is in our lives." 

Love the new workspace!

After I put the craft room back together a little bit, I sat down and actually USED the room and it felt AWESOME! I got so much done, because I was able to spread out like I like to do...
I tried my hand at writing (well doodling) on a photo...it was OK...I was really nervous about it!



And then I did one about piercing my nose - I love scrapbooking any which way - no set dates to go by, don't go in order...just DO IT! That's so freeing!

Possibly my favorite...the June Muse totally inspired me!
















And a lesson from Ali Edwards about circles...love those underneath the title! 

some layouts

These photos are horrible - I need a good wide scanner, but oh well. This is an old layout about my temp apartment in SC. I didn't realise until I was moving out how truly small it was. All my stuff, including me and 2 cats, fit in my MINI Cooper when I left. God I hated that place.

And the other LO is our group of ATL friends and a favorite sushi hangout. I love them AND RuSans!