August 365 2013

August has been a super fun month! 

Wish we had more time before school starts when we get back home but it's all good! 

Six Years Of Sharing

Today marks my 6th year of blogging.

SIX years.

That just amazes me. I've been blogging and sharing my life for six whole years. I know, I haven't been blogging regularly lately, but I haven't given up. I'm still here.  Some days I wonder if I should just shut it down, but then I remember that I enjoy it. Joe will even make comments when I don't blog, asking if ill update soon.  So, I guess someone, besides me, likes reading about my life.

Yes, I read my own blog.  Some days I'll just randomly go through some of my old posts and re-live the memories. Might sound boring to some, but I enjoy it.  Sometimes, I'll just go through my old scrapbook layouts for inspiration. It's like reading an old book.

Anyway, if anyone out there is still reading this blog, Thank You. I appreciate it. 

Captured Life 2011

I've mentioned how I decided to print pictures from 2011, to turn into a daily album. First I was just playing around with the idea.  Then as I looked into it, I realized the possibility of actually doing it.

In late July, I printed my pictures. I thought about using a kit but then just decided to use all my random supplies for the flexibility it gave me. I bought two albums and got to work. 

At first things came together quick. I did the album "monthly" since I didn't have a picture for "everyday" and I'm okay with that. It worked perfectly. Of course, I couldn't work on the album everyday, but slowly, I saw progress. I kept things simple, and didn't include anything bulky. With each month that I worked on it, I got excited to see it come together. I was even thrilled when I realized that I could fit the whole year in ONE album!! 

As of Sunday, it's done! The full album, complete with cover and closing pages, all done, in one album. I am so happy to get it done before vacation too! 

Ending this with the very simple cover page....

Loving This

I haven't done one of these in awhile so I figured it was time. (Plus I have nothing scrappy to share!)

I love my family. Sure, there are times we don't all get along, but the love is always there. 

Love lazy summer days, without schedules. It's coming to an end (no more staying up till 2am) but it's been good. 

Love my FitFlops. I pretty much live in them. Walking in them all day long isn't a problem with my bad back.

Love seeing my stove all clean. It means I won't be cooking much in the next few days to "keep it clean"! 

Love my coffee. Always. 

Love that my husband no longer has to go to physical therapy for his foot (he had plantar facitis), since getting the cortisone shot and can now walk without pain! 

Love seeing the hard work paying off. Still don't love to exercise but as long as I see some results we'll be ok. 

What are you loving lately? 

Project Life 2013 Week: TWENTY-SEVEN

Week 27 brings the start to Volume 2.  I like that the new month starts the new album.  I still have to come up with a cover page, but we'll get there!

Went pretty patriotic with this week.  It's pretty hard not to!  I really like including the weather for the week with a screen shot from the weather app on my phone.  Wish I had done that the whole year, but will keep it in mind for next year.

I've been trying to include more 4x6 pictures and if need be, dress up the outside of the pocket with a little something.

This is the insert I included for the 4th of July.  Kept it very basic with red as a background.

                        FRONT:                                              BACK:

I embossed the red background with different embossing folders to make it more interesting.

Hoping to catch up on about 2 weeks or so of PL soon.  I've been steadily working on the 2011 album and I'm now up to the middle of November!  I would love to be all done with it before our trip next week.  Not sure if I'll share the 2011 album on here, probably not, but we'll see what happens.  For now I've got a to-do list that keeps getting bigger instead of shrinking!

Project Life 2013 Week: TWENTY-SIX & End of Vol. 1

Lost track of sharing my Project Life there for a bit.  Week 26 was my last week for this album.  It was FULL and I couldn't wait to start volume 2.

Used random kits on this.  From Kelly Purkey, to MAMBI, to Citrus Twist Kits.  Just kept it fun.

I've been trying to include a weekly forecast screenshot to use as a filler every week.  I like having that to look back on.

I had no idea what I wanted to do for the last page of the album so I just winged it.  I made a collage on my phone of some favorite family pics, then added some Silhouette cuts I made and added some filler cards from Echo Park I believe. Simple. Simple.

This is my favorite. I backed each month with a different color washi tape.

I still need to make an opening page in the new album, but until I think of something (I've got some ideas that involve family cooperation), I'm leaving it blank.  I've got halfway through week 29 done then I stopped to work on my 2011 Project Life album.  I went ahead and just did it.  I had almost a daily pic for the year and figured I could use up more supplies that way. (my quirky way of thinking)  I'm currently up to Sept. 2011 already but need to take a short break and catch back up on this year.  I don't want to fall too behind before our vacation at the end of the month!

Hawk Visit

While making a pot of sauce (it's SAUCE not gravy, just so you know), I saw a bird fly into the yard and land on top of the girl's swing set.  It was HUGE!!  I grabbed my iPhone and told the girls to look outside.

I'm not part of the Audubon Society or anything but I think it's a hawk.  Someone told me it was a Red Tailed Hawk, and looking it up, it probably is.

I couldn't get over how big it was and that it was just hanging out in our yard.

Eventually, it hopped down, then looked more like a big chicken.

It flew back up to the slide, and the girls kept asking what it had in its claws.  With my terrible eyesight, I thought it was just some leaves, but the girls kept saying "No, there's a tail!".  Sure enough, it was a mouse!!  EWWWW!!!!

It must've tried getting a better hold of it because it went onto the slide and struggled to grab hold of something.

Both the mouse (towards the bottom) and the hawk slid down the slide.  The bird didn't bother looking for the mouse, just ignored it and flew back to the top of the swing set.  Go figure.  I wasn't sure what happened to the mouse since I wasn't brave enough to go look. 

(ETA: Joe looked when he came home and the mouse was gone)  The bird hung around a little while longer then flew off.

So strange!  Seems like we see lots of animals and things I never thought I'd see in a backyard!  Makes me think back to the visit from the owl!  I would love to see that again!

And needless to say, my girls want nothing to do with the swing now that the mouse slid down it. Can't blame them!!

State Fair 2013

Summer isn't complete without a visit to a fair. We hit the fair in the afternoon and stayed almost until closing. It was a long day on our feet, but it was a beautiful day for it!  The sun was shining and it wasn't rally hot out.  Just perfect!

We ran through the animal part of the fair since the kids were anxious to get on the rides.

We went with my sister Marie's family, and the kids loved hanging out with them.

Thank goodness the bumper cars are meant to get hit because this girl is one crazy driver!!

Marissa will be driving in about 6 more years, she'll need all the practice she can get too!

Getting all 4 kids in one picture was hard on some of the rides.  Just have to cross my fingers and go with it.  At least I got Marissa and my niece Nikki in this one.

Sunset started falling and the temperatures fell as well.  It wasn't too bad at first but by the time we left, the kids couldn't wait to get in the car and turn on the heat!

Gianna was a daredevil this year and went on any and all rides.  She went on the "Pharaoh's Fury" in the last seat at the top on the inside.  She even sat with some unknown boy just because she wanted that seat!  Nuts!

This might be my favorite shot of the day, even if it is a little blurry.  It just says Fair.

My Goal

It's now August, and I'm starting to feel the crunch of our impending vacation at the end of the month. In other words, I need to lose some weight. Since I don't have a lot of time, I'm opting for 7lbs by the time we go away. 

I know it doesn't sound like a lot but considering I have only lost 2 lbs this summer I'll take it. I need to see the numbers move down on the scale. I figure 7 lbs is a decent start and hopefully obtainable.

I've been trying to push myself to workout more consistently lately. Trying to increase the speed or work more incline depending on how I feel that day.

                                  

The last two nights Joe wanted to go to the diner and I was a good girl and had this salad. It's huge! And very filling! 

So that's where I'm at. Trying to be good. Story of my life!