Ode to Scrappin'

Scrapbooking makes me happy. Unfortunately, taking pictures of my pages, cropping them so they look half decent, uploading the pictures off my camera and then posting them doesn't make me happy. But I really would like to do my 10 favs of 2008 before January comes and goes, so I have given myself a due date of this Sunday to get them up on the blogeroo. I also started to scrap the Thailand girlies with my January Studio Calico kit, and I am liking the results! Til then, I will leave you with some CHA sneekies that have my heart all pitter patter.

First batter up. The Sassafras sneaks. God I love Sassafras. So bright and silly. The felties are to die for!

And I know that they have done the contrasting patterned borders for a while now, but I love the piano keys!

Next up is Crate Paper. Yum!

And last but not least the Jenni Bowlin loot is looking mighty fine!

Mr. Moo

Time to wipe the dust off this old blog of mine to let everyone know that Hurricane Rowan has come to a town nearest me. He has mastered the fine art of crawling and has now set his sights on walking. What this means for James and I is that we are going to have to replace every single piece of furniture in the house within the next few years. There are lovely teeth marks decorating the coffee table in the living room. There are scuffs covering the dark hardwood floors courtesy of Rowan dragging an assortment of toys along them. Even Lola has felt the effects. She's got a new scratch right under her nose. We'll call it a Rowan love scratch.

The bright red cheeks are the result of the massive teething going on. The tangerine nose is all the sweet potato/squash/carrots we have been shoveling into him.

A Year Ago.

There was a really sweet post up on the Studio Calico blog about what was happening in a member's life about a year ago. Things have turned upside down and then right side up again in my world this past year. This is my family about a year ago (February 2008). I gained seventy pounds while I was pregnant. About 50 of them in the last three months. I ate everything. Think a box of cereal and a few gallons of milk in one day. And that was by lunch. James loved it. I think he gained a new found respect for me since I have always been a grazer when it comes to eating.


And this is us now. This is the last picture where the WHOLE family was in it. Sad I know. This is from October of 2008. Don't the adults look tired?!

I do have tons of the little bug though. After a year, this is what he looks like now. So cute. I may be a little impartial. I finally feel like I am in a place where parenting isn't so terrifying and overwhelming and I am enjoying the ride. I love this stage of Rowan's life. All full of curiosity and absolute wonder. And that smile. I fall more in love with the little critter every time he flashes it my way.

Pretty Posies

I thought I would post a few pictures of a project I have been working on lately. Some cute flowers in a vase. The perfect kind too, because they never die and you never have to get rid of that stanky water! I cut a stencil out of the flowers and then dipped into my excess supply of embellishments to decorate them. This is an excellent way to use up all that extra ribbon, stickers, and paper you have hanging around. The vase portion was essentially just a plastic cylinder that I covered with patterned paper and added some pom pom ribbon. You can never have to many pom poms in my opinion! The little birdie was just a piece of chipboard covered in paint with a sequin for an eye.

Christmas came to me early in 2008

Tara finished and sent our Thailand sessions to the girls. It was total déjà vu for me. The feeling that I get when looking at a Tara photo. She's like my crack. I can't get ENOUGH. Her blog entry about the experience was like the cherry on top. She knows how I feel about her. About our friendship. Enough said.

What does bear repeating is the pictures of the girls. May I just say....YOWZA! So allow myself to introduce...themselves! And in the order that I met them. I haven't received copies of my favs from all the girls yet, so you may need to pop over to T's blog to take a look.

Kari - The last picture of Kari is one of my favourite Whitney pics of all time. Which really bothers me since it is BLACK and WHITE! I am partial to T's color coated yumminess. The brighter the better is what I say. But as James and I were looking at the pictures, there are a lot of B&Ws that are favourites. What is up with that? Anywhoo, back to Kari. I love the quirkiness of it. The silliness. But at the same time doesn't she look fantastic?!

Amy - I guess it was no surprise that I like all of Amy's pictures. When you meet her, she just seems like a gal who can take a great photo. And I would do somersaults all day long in my string bikini if I looked like Amy in one! I love that there is not a trace of makeup on the gal. And she looks bloody brilliant.

Jo - It is no surprise that this girl has a special little place in my heart. You can't explain these things. Some people just have a profound effect on you when you meet them. Her friendship is easy. And it is because of this adoration that I love her photos. All of them. I have to admit I love this one the most because it is goofy. Goofy also has a special little place in my heart.

Clare - The first impression I had when meeting Clare is that she seems strong, confident in herself. What a turn on that is! And if I got that all wrong, Clare, keep up the good work, I bought it hook, line and sinker. This picture is another favourite. She reminds me of a superhero controlling the weather here. Like Storm from X-Men. I am jump up and down happy with this picture.

April - The first thing I thought about April after meeting her is that she had gorgeous hair. After getting to know her a little better in Krabi, the second thing I thought was this girl is a no nonsense, straight talker. OMG! I LOVE that! I was around town when she had her session with Tara and I was impressed by how in control she seemed in front of the camera. It seemed easy for her. I knew her photos would be amazing. and they were. She is such a throwback to an era when women were sexy and classy simultaneously. The bottom left picture is my favourite.

Tami - I thought I would be over the fact that Tami looks better in her bathing suit than I do. I have had a couple of days to let this go. Well. I just can't. I'm sorry. I want to be able to say that the reason Tami looks so good is that she hasn't had any kids and that she has oodles of time to work out, and I don't. But that would be a lie. She does have kids. More than I do. Sometimes life just isn't fair :) So here is a stinking picture of Tami looking fabulous in her bathing suit. My only question is why Tami didn't have bathing suit on for the entire shoot. Because I would have. The first pic is my fav...

Doña - Easy, breezy Doña. I had no idea what to expect when I met this woman. I think she likes to take the back seat and enjoy the ride. She is not the loudest gal. Or the goofiest. Or the chattiest. Thank god for people like Doña. She is the ying to my yang. The more I hung out with her the more I liked her. And she left me wanting more. That is the thing about Doña types, they leave you intrigued, and they never over stay their welcome. And what a great artist. She'd never tell you that. But she IS. This girl has my respect. This picture makes me happy!

Oh.....even though this gal didn't have a photo session in Thailand (that I am aware of anyway). I love her too!

Here's to hoping that I see these girls and get to make more magic in 2009!

Hi ho, hi ho...

It's back to work I go. More like back to my other job. Because looking after Rowan has been work these past nine months. Tomorrow is my first day back at IBM since maternity leave last March. I am actually welcoming the shake up. I will miss my little man though. I will also miss the free time spent on the computer that was completely unrelated to work. That time will come to a screeching halt tomorrow. After twelve hour days, that last thing I usually want to do is look at the computer. I guess it doesn't make much sense that I joined the Flickr 365 days challenge. There is some super duper talent on Flickr. Some by teenagers nonetheless. Any day now Rowan is going to ask me for a Pro account :) I figured it would be a great way to learn a little about my camera, and to let a little of that creative energy out. Here's my day one entry.