Then...Now...And A New Beginning

NOW

I have lots to share today. To start things off, I want to share the layouts I completed for a few online challenges. So many of you have inspired me with your submissions to these challenge blogs. Scrapping the Music. One Little Word. Ad This. So Sketchy. These are a few that keep leaping out from your blog posts. Lately, a few have really spoken to me, Scrapping the Music in particular. I've visited the site often and printed the lyrics for my inspiration files to be used at a later date. But this past week's song lyrics to "Secret Valentine" grabbed me. I knew immediately what I wanted to create.

The words "When guilt fills your head, brush off, rise up..." spoke to me on every level. So often guilt has played a major role in my life. And I've worked hard over the years to box it up and put it in its place. I found it only fitting that I create a page using these words. While it is no masterpiece, it is a powerful reminder to me to continue to not let guilt get in the way of what I want to accomplish.

Another challenge that had significant meaning to me was the One Little Word challenge. They are celebrating their second birthday and have chosen the word "two" this time around. Again, I immediately had an idea come to mind. To be honest here, this is a new experience for me....this instant creative vision. At first, I found it a bit scary. Kind of like living in the dark all your life and suddenly being exposed to the light. lol! Picture a caricature of me with a light bulb going off over my head and you will know what I'm talking about.

The word/number "2" conjures up images of the early days with Keith...the days when it felt like just the two of us. But very early in our relationship life threw us a curve ball and the time-for-two became a rare commodity. I had to document my feelings for those special times when it can be "Just the 2 of us".

THEN

I have been tagged! Scrapping Supergirl, Jill, tagged me recently and requested a peek at my first layout. My, oh my, was this a blast from the past! I started scrapping over 10 years ago with Creative Memories. Can anyone say stickers, stickers and more stickers? I'm not sure this is THE first page, but it certainly one of the first. It is the left hand side of a two page spread.



I wanted to include a few more early pages as I couldn't help but notice a few of the "techniques" I used. This was my first attempt at breaking free from the CM style. I remember being so proud of these pages. Look at all the stitching on this one.



Not totally away from the CM era, but starting to see the dawning of a new day. lol!

Can you believe I was doodling borders waaaaayyy before it was all the rage! lol!



I had so much fun flipping through my old albums, vowing with each turn of the page to re-scrap these photos. But you know what, I don't think I will. I am certain I will re-do a few of my most favorite ones, but I think it is so important to look back and see how I've evolved.

A New Beginning

Time to discuss my 30 day wellness challenge. It is definitely time for a new beginning. Time to let go of some baggage and create a new way of living. This is not just a diet/fitness challenge. This is a brand-new life challenge. A way of spreading "wellness" to every area of my life. While a big part will focus on the physical changes I want to make, I plan to devote time to developing a healthy spiritual and emotional life. I've spent this week reflecting and planning, making mental notes of where I am currently. I've taken stock of what comprises my day...what I eat, when I eat it...why I eat it. I've also looked at how I spend my time. What do I accomplish with my time and is it useful...beneficial. Now that I've done this, I want to spend the next few days pinpointing a few changes I can make the first week. And come Monday morning, I will begin to incorporate those changes into my everyday life.

So how about it? Anyone what to join me? I think if we all work together, we can accomplish some great things! My first challenge to you is to spend the next few days thinking about what you want to change. Then I feel it is really important to look at what you are currently doing. Ask yourself what is keeping you from making those changes. It's like those maps on the large directories in the mall. The ones that denote "You Are Here" with a star. They have to show your starting point as a reference. If we don't know where we are starting, how can we know how to get where we are going? One more thing. Be sure to be realistic in the changes you want to make. I am soooo bad about setting grandiose goals only to be sorely disappointed when I fail to meet them. This time around, I'm throwing out the impossible and grabbing onto the possible.

Lastly, this next 30 days is about making positive changes...emphasis on positive. No more dwelling on the negative. I want to focus on the good stuff!

NO, I Have NOT Been Eaten By My Sweats!!!

I'm still here. I'm sure some of you thought I either passed on from malnutrion, was hospitalized with some flesh eating fungus contracted from my unlaundered sweats or lay passed out on my living room floor after inhaling noxious fumes from a recent burping and farting fest. While all of those could be in the running for the most plausible reason for my absence on the ol' blog scene, none would actually be correct. Over the past 7 days, I have been busy working overtime, preparing my personal tax documents...better late than never...working out, fighting off an VERY nasty stomach virus, and best of all - visiting with my baby girl. Keri has been home for Spring Break and it has been a fabulous week! Despite my 24 hour love affair with the toilet, you know, hugging the thing while puking my guts out, life has been filled with good things. We had some much needed mother/daughter time. And the revolving door was back in action. Lots of friends running in and out. Chaos of the most awesome kind!

I want to send a massive and very heartfelt thank you for all of the comments left on my last post. I feel I need to clarify a few things. My whole intention with that post was to try to make light of a challenging phase in any mother's life. We tend to wrap ourselves in the motherly robe and when it is time for the birdies to flee the nest, we can't really figure out what our role is. Change of any sort is tough. No doubt about it. One of my main reasons for blogging was to document my journey through this phase of life. It is everything I thought it would be. Like I tried to portray in my last post, it can suck! No better word for it. But I do see and appreciate the beauty of getting to remake myself. To find out who I am. Once stripped of that motherly robe, you feel a bit exposed and vulnerable. But rest assured, I am not one to go down without a fight. Many of you offered some wonderful suggestions on how to redefine myself. Several of them have already been attempted...some with success and some without. But hey, that's how it goes. And for all of you who are totally disgusted with my lack of personal grooming habits, please know that I have not worn the sweats all week. I said my good-byes, held a mourning ritual then tossed them in the laundry.

I also need to mention for the sake of my newest blog friends that I do have a wonderful fiance. However, he does live 3 states away with a 3 hour commute between us. To prove that life can have an evil sense of humor, his world got turned upside down right as mine did. When I became an empty-nester, he became a full-time single parent. That has added to our inability to move forward with our plans to marry as we are awaiting the final court decision. Our weekend visits are not as frequent as they once were and the opportunity for lengthy phone calls has been phased out. So I guess I was having myself a good ol' pity party. Missing the busy-ness of my old life and realizing it will be a while before I can fully move into my new world. But as always is the case with pity parties, they can only last so long. Mine lasted a mere 24 hours. Now I am back to grabbing life by the horns and making the best of it. You will have to stay tuned to see how well I tackle this bugger of a challenge and what trouble I get into while doing it. I can bet you one thing, it will be a wild and crazy ride.

Before I go, I thought I would share a layout of me and my guy that I did for Antonello's Pinkilicous Sketch Challenge.




Hope you all have a super fantastic Monday! Hugs to you all!

It's All About Me...well, not really

I cannot believe it is already Wednesday night! I knew I had a very busy week, but my goodness how time has rushed by! By the way, does anyone else walk around all day wondering what day it is? LOL! I seem to be doing that more and more lately. It is Wednesday, right? Is it an age thing, or a sign of brain overload? Probably a combination of both.

Now for the "all about me" part. All the busy-ness I just mentioned has nothing to do with anything other than placating and pampering me! Time with MY friends. Trip to MY not-so-local scrapbook store. Two hour gym sessions. Manicure and pedicure. Travel to Athens to see MY baby girl and MY man! What, pray tell, have I left out? Is there any other thing I could possibly do just for me...hmmmm.

Oh yeah! Remember that I mentioned a recent purchase I made just for me? The thing that had me so excited I was about to burst. Well, I think it is high time I share. If you love this scrappin' hobby as much as I do, you will understand my enthusiasm. Ready?



That's right, friends, I am the proud, very proud, owner of a brand new Canon EOS D40! I did countless hours of research and worked diligently to juggle my budget in order to make it happen. And just when I thought it couldn't get any better, I was able to register for Karen Russell's photography class starting in June! This is such a hard class to get into...super long waiting list. But I have secured my spot and I am working very hard to learn as much as I can about my new toy before class starts. Good thing I didn't get in the March class, huh?

If you knew me, you would know how hard it was to pull the trigger on this purchase. I rarely, if ever, make big purchases that are for my benefit only. I didn't even get on the digital bandwagon for years because I couldn't justify the cost. But this new phase of life I am in - the part where I am redefining who I am - has me thinking that I need to now focus on some of those things that I've always wanted to do. Perfecting my photography skills is high on my list. So...new camera in hand...photography class coming up...and I am on my way to marking one thing off my bucket list!

Because I am making this post all about me, I thought I would throw a question out there for all you scrappy ladies. The reason I made the 45-minute trek to my not-so-local scrapbook store is because of a challenge they are currently doing. I have only participated in something such as this one other time but this one sounded too fun to not participate. The challenge requires the use of one of 2 new Basic Grey lines, Marrakech or Porcelain, Core-dinations card stock and any item from Technique Tuesday. The question I pose to you is, which line do you think you would enjoy scrapping? Guess you can tell I couldn't make up my mind. Anyone have a favorite? BTW, the winner of the challenge gets $100.00 - $50.00 cash and $50.00 in store credit! Pretty good, wouldn't you say?

Happy day to you all!

P.S. Just so you know I am definitely NOT an all-about-me kind of girl, I would love to do a give-away with a fabulous stamp & paper kit. However, given my recent issues with blogger and the inability to post comments, I thought it best to wait and see if the issue has been resolved. So stay tuned!