I looked at the calendar today...

...and realized that in three weeks, I will be in Poland! I seriously did not realize our mission trip is so close! Wow. Lots of firsts - first mission trip, first time overseas, first stamp on my passport... I am very excited, and freaking out just a little bit. But only a little bit. :)

A few things going on right now:

• SIStv is having a 20% off sale today. So I browsed through the boutique and saw this! Yeah, that's me! That totally made me smile! So, should I add "t-shirt model" to my resume? :D (ETA: I just checked back, and they changed the photo. And that was the story of my short-lived career as a t-shirt model.)
• I got bored and bought two new rolls of duct tape today. Purple and turquoise. So pretty.
• I've been trying to leave lots of flickr love lately...flickr is one of those things that I forget is social from time to time. Sometimes I treat it like photo storage, but there is so much to see there!
• Oh Traci, I forgot to get back with you about the photo editing website...www.picnik.com. I've been having so much fun with it lately!
• Check out this girl's tutorial -- super cute, simple albums for ATC cards. I heart you, Brandy! :D

Would anyone be interested in an ATC swap? I know a few people have mentioned doing this on their own blogs, but that was back when I had no time to read blogs, so I found out about it a month or so after the fact. I have gotten out of the habit of making ATCs (though I love making them), and would love to make some that didn't have a theme. Let me know if you're interested. I'm feeling the need to challenge myself!

Oh, and my birthday is tomorrow!!!

The SISiversary post, and more...

So I'm finally getting around to posting about last weekend. I had so much fun -- I'm already starting my fund for next year's event! There was so much going on -- I'm actually kind of glad I didn't take any classes, because I would have missed out on so much! I met so many amazing people -- I don't think I'll list them because (1) the list is soooo long and (2) I'm afraid I'll leave someone out. I didn't sleep much -- my brain was on overdrive! And I became very familiar with Steel Magnolias, thanks to my fantastic roommates! :)

On the way there, I ran over a freshly blown-out tire from the tractor trailer in front of me. $731.90 worth of damage. Nothing major, mainly body. Yay for deductables! (Still waiting on the insurance adjustor to grace us with his/her presence...)

Here is the link to my SISiversary mini book. It was a make-and-take from the event, and I added in a bunch of other make-and-takes. It was a fun, random little project!

And here are my photos from SISiversary.

I'm so glad I went -- I can't believe I was a little nervous about going! That feeling went away almost as soon as I got there -- I was hugged so many times before I even got inside the hotel! :D

Some randoms:

• I have a new goal of collecting duct tape in every color. Can't get enough of the stuff for my layouts.
• I have to work for the next three days. Curriculum planning. Ugh.
• I am playing with the new scrapstars kit. It's so fab -- and it's available in a couple of weeks.
• My head hurts. Sinuses. I opted to skip church this morning and sleep it off. Felt bad about that, but still enjoyed the sleep.
• Our phone number is very close to the phone number of a taxi service in a nearby town. Drunk people + inaccurate dialing = my phone ringing at 3 am. I was surprisingly cheery to the person who woke me up at an odd hour last night...at least he was calling for a cab and not driving.
• We're going to buy a point and shoot camera before our trip to Poland next month. Any suggestions?
• I really want to add a Flip to that purchase. :)

Well, I think I'm off to evening church services. During the summer, they are held at the church park (lots of cooking out, volleyball, and ultimate frisbee!) But it looks like it's going to storm, so maybe we won't...

Happy Anniversary, Mike!!!

Gonna post about SISiversary soon...

...I promise. Still trying to get all my thoughts (and photos) organized. It was a wonderful, crazy, sleepless weekend, and I loved every second of it!

But first, I want to let you all know that the new Scrapstars challenge is up! This time we're going platinum -- so be sure to add lots of bling to your layout! Here's my page (that's little sis at graduation):

Tomorrow is a big day -- I have a special page to honor the occasion. Maybe a couple of "blast from the past" photos...who knows. I'll definitely post tomorrow! (Yay -- a guaranteed blog post!!!)

Today was a lot of fun. Mike has been "porch-scaping" (because we don't have land to scape) . :) So we bought some flowers. Then he decided we needed some flat stones to stack around the pots. Apparently the perfect place to find these stones is along the side of the highway, about 20 minutes from here. Then we went for a hike at a nearby trail -- it felt great! Came home, finished planting flowers and stacking stones. Took a nap. Watched X-files (so creepy today). Then we went to a small groups study at a friend's church. Very thought-provoking study. More about that later.

Oh -- I was almost late for class the other day. Online class. My last grad class. I thought it started next month. No, it was this week. I finished this week's work just under the wire! :O

Happy Birthday, Mike!!!

Today my husband enters the final year of his twenties. He doesn't get excited about birthdays (especially those so close to 30). He doesn't like cake. He doesn't want gifts.

Of course, I enjoy all of those things. :)

I think I will make a pie in honor of today. And quietly order a few things from Amazon that I know he wants. He can't technically call it a birthday gift if it arrives a few days later...

<------Look at him...how could I NOT want to celebrate the birth of this guy? He's handsome, thoughtful, entertaining, encouraging, supportive, and so much fun to be with. And he likes the cat.

Still here!

I know my blog-negligence has run most of you away! If you still read, please leave a comment! I miss each and every one of you!


In my world: I've been enjoying a few days off.



I went to my first Arbonne party. Apparently it was the first of many. We all decided to host our own parties. So come to mine in September! :D (I have NEVER done the selling-things party. Swore I never would. But they all said they would come. And it was so much fun!!!)



Closing day and graduation was Friday! (Woohoo!) As much as I am tiring of graduations, it was actually one of the nicest graduations my school has had (imho).



Speaking of graduation -- I promised little sis I would post some of the photos I took from her college graduation. (Forgive me for forgetting, Britt!)





So I've been relaxing since Saturday. Got my hair cut and a spa manicure. The mani was a Christmas gift from my bff Jeannine. She's moving in August -- what am I gonna do?!?!? Oh, right -- visit her. She'll only be 4 hours away.


I got an A in the grad class I took last month. One more A, and I'll graduate in August with a 4.0!!! (I don't think this really means anything, but it's the first time that I can say that!)

The cicadas are driving me crazy. We seem to have them worse than some of the surrounding areas. Together, they're annoying. Individually, they're scary little buggers! One of them got in my car and really freaked me out -- I thought something was happening to the engine!

I made a new scrapblog last night:

I'm going to a 3-day conference on Wednesday. Presenting on the second day. (Wish me luck -- I've never done that before!) Skipping the third day altogether...

...but I have a great reason.

SISiversary, baby!!! I can't wait!!! Just a few more days! The blog will be on photo-overload when I get back!

So I think I will get back to prepping for Thursday's presentation. I think it will be okay -- my topic is Free Tools for Teachers. Lots of fun stuff that I've used in my classes. So I know my content. I don't know if I'm a good presenter, though.

What have I gotten myself into?