Just Make Stuff

Yeah, this helps...

So I wasn't much more productive...besides a little schoolwork and shopping this 8x8 layout with my Overlooked photo is all I have to show for the day.

You see I had to get the layout done tonight for no good reason whatsoever...besides the fact that it helped me procrastinate on preparing for a group presentation I have in my Social Inequalities class tomorrow...I was really apprehensive about the idea of a group, but solved the problem (I hope) by signing up to be in the first group.  I figured the other people who volunteered to go first have to be dedicated students.  However I will be the very first person speaking tomorrow so hopefully I've prepared properly...either way at least by tomorrow afternoon it'll be over instead of having to wait until later in the semester to have it done.  Oh and I'm presenting on Walter White who I've now learned led a fascinating life and accomplished great things with the N.A.A.C.P. 

As for shopping it was a trip to Nordstroms since Mac needed new converse for his costume when he's in Bye Bye Birdie next weekend (we get all his shoes there since they are the only store that will, without any hesitation, split sizes for him since his brace always needs a larger size than he actually wears...we LOVE Nordstroms) and I needed a new bra since the under-wire on mine popped through on Tuesday at school which was super comfy...I learned from Oprah the whole invest in a bra that really fits well...I swear it's my only saving grace with my wreck of body.

That's it for today...off to bed...

Wednesday randomness...

This was my runner up photo for Overlooked this week, my collection of corks sitting on our mantle...I went with one of my necklace collection instead.

So I'm just wasting a Wednesday...jumping from one task to another but not really finishing anything...well I finished this...

a reorganized freezer...all the frozen fruit, bread, vegetables, and meat are grouped back together in their respective drawers and shelves...oh and ice cream can't forget my favorite little ice cream bites. :)

Okay now I am going to try to actually be productive so I have something to show for the day...

Oh wait speaking of randomness...just a little bit more...

I decided the way to pick up my spirits on Sunday was to stop at the Anthropologie on the way home since it's always a treat to get to wander aimlessly through the store...I found this little glass that I needed and this journal that I just loved the paper inside and thought it'd be cute on scrapbook pages...but there's so much I have to share...so if you're interested please leave a comment and I'll send out a few sheets to three people...

Project "Blend"...

I went on a hunt today...I was searching for the best, most practical yet reasonably cool backpack I could find since I have solved my parking crisis at CSUF by parking in a lot at the edge of school that is half empty...which means I am making a half mile trek to the building my classes are in...which means my Harvey's bag hung on one shoulder is no longer a practical choice for schlepping everything to class.

So this Volcom backpack seems to fit the bill...it has nice wide, padded straps and plenty of room, but isn't too big...trust me this purchase was highly scrutinized.

 

Then while I was backpack searching I came across the cutest fleece jacket...so I needed that too since it seems the uniform around school is jeans and a sweatshirt...and I have to blend in right? :)

So tomorrow starts week two of school...I was telling Sean tonight that last week I felt like such a rookie, but now I feel like an expert.  Now if I were just an expert on all that reading I need to be doing...

The 4th parent...

Okay before I go on here is a disclaimer:

Logically I know everything is fine, more than fine, and that I have nothing to worry about.  The following is just raw, illogical emotion...

This ridiculously blurry photo is my son at a Mission we all went to yesterday for his 4th grade California report holding the hand of Bryce's new girlfriend...not technically new as they have been dating for a few months and Mac met her over a month ago, but new to me since I met her yesterday...and she is extremely pretty and kind and has a great sense of humor...she's a little bit only 24 years old which must make it quite something for her that her boyfriend has an eleven year old, but I am endlessly happy for Bryce since I have wanted this for him for a very looooong time.

However...

Mac's in love with her too...which technically I want...emotionally though the actuality of it all has left an unreasonable pit in my stomach since the first moment I saw him grab her hand yesterday.

You can reassure me that I'm his mom and that ultimately can never be threatened...and trust me I know, but it's just been hard for me to get this idea through to my heart.

I always knew a fourth parent would happened...and who's to say this is even it...but I would have never guessed I would take it so hard...clearly I'm a wuss...which is fine...I will own my wussy-ness because I am confident that this is just a mere stepping stone in this whole parenthood thing.

So indulge me with this pity party...you're all invited...oh Mac also told me yesterday she's cuter than I am which we all got a good laugh out of and it was great fun to keep joking about for the rest of the afternoon...but poor Sean has been on damage control reassuring me that I am MUCH cuter than she is.

And I am...granted now she's gorgeous...but I've got the cute thing all wrapped up. :)   

The battle begins...

Schoolwork??? 

Scrapbooking???

Hmmmm...

The sweetest thing...

I could ramble about my three classes and professors, two of which are a little worrisome...or I could go on and on about the horrid parking situation where people literally double park in the aisles waiting to pounce on whoever seems to be walking to their cars to leave...or I could complain about the migraine I came home with that resulted in me being totally useless for the rest of the night.

Instead I will tell you about a little surprise yesterday that meant the world to me.

So the last couple of semesters I got a sweet, little "Good luck on your first day" post-it note from Sean hidden in my binder...and I have to admit I was disappointed when I went looking for it and didn't see one yesterday.  Then I was totally taken by surprise as I was sitting with my cell phone in my hand checking e-mail in a classroom waiting for my first class to start.   

A "Note from your husband" alarm popped up at 11:15am...

You are going to do an amazing job.  I hope that you can remember that.  When you are finished at this school they are going to put a picture of you on the wall to show future students what a real student should be like.

Remember that I am here to help you with anything that I can.  Remember that EVERYONE is proud of you.  You are going to be awesome.  Keep up all of the hard work.

I love you.  To the moon and back

I sent him a text message to tell him he was a jackass for making me cry...like literally tears streaming down my cheeks as I tried to act normal surrounded by other students...and oh man did I love him for it.

So today is officially organize-my-calendar-for-the-semester-day...figuring out how all those tests and assignments are going to line up...

As ready as I'll ever be...

So last week I kind of freaked out when I was e-mailed a syllabus from one of my classes...as I looked it over it all of a sudden struck me that I have little to no clue about Sociology.

The prerequisite for my three classes this semester is Sociology 101 and I did actually take that class...about fourteen years ago...and I'm guessing I was absent for about a third of the class and never paid much attention when I was there anyway...a lot of good that's going to do me now.

As I began to contemplate just starting Sociology 101 all over again at Cal State Fullerton I called my mom for advice...in her infinite wisdom she solved my problem...Cliff Notes...well actually she just suggested picking up something that would give me a quick overview of the subject and when she started searching for me one of the first things that came up was the Cliff Notes that arrived on my door step today...along with a couple of other books I had been wanting.

So now that I have a little sociological knowledge taken care of I got everything else ready for tomorrow...my bag is all packed and my binder is ready with some new patterned paper to look at for the semester...this is what I did with last semester's piece of patterned paper...

A five minute layout with a photo I took today of my textbooks to document how I'm feeling the night before I get started...anxious.

Just eager to get the first day over with...to start learning what these classes are all about...Social Research Methods, Sociology of Sexualities and Social Inequality...that's what you'll hear me droning on about for the next several months...the countdown is on to May 15th...the day of my last final...that date seems so far away but I'm sure it will be here before I know it...there's only just hundreds of pages of reading, multiple papers and tests and projects before then...that's all. :)     

Here's some of them...

 

Some are super simple...some I wish I had done just a little differently (like the "Parents" one...I should have used different stamps for the title but oh do I LOVE that darn tree)...some got scanned poorly (like the "Making you Laugh" page where the "L" slipped down and I didn't notice)...and some had me cleaning a ton of stamps.

So that concludes the weeks on end of me scrapbooking in my pajamas...starting tomorrow you'll have to put up with me mentioning in every freaking blog post that I should be studying...but who knows how many ways I'll figure out to procrastinate this semester. :)

I did it...

I got every layout made...plus one to celebrate the glorious feeling of being all caught up...I'll share more tomorrow...

It's the end of an era...

Today marks the last day of pajama-clad vacation-hood...it's an abrupt end, but it might be fun to wear real clothes again or actually see the light of day besides dashing out to the mailbox. 

Sean's mom is coming into town tomorrow for a funeral this weekend...her grandfather passed away a couple of days ago at age 97...I hate that it's a solemn occasion that's bringing her down for a visit, but it will be so nice to have her here over the weekend.  However it means I'd better really get dressed every morning lest she think I'm as lazy and useless as I've been the last couple of weeks...not that she's ever judged about anything despite the fact that I've given her plenty of opportunities...she's just too kind and laid back...it's easy to see where Sean inherited his easy-going demeanor from.

Hopefully I'll still be able to accomplish some scrapbooking while she's here since I'm 13 pages away from the promise land that is a up-to-date scrapbook...here's one from today...

I'm not completely thrilled with it...it kind of looks like a haphazard mess to me...especially the title...but as I often say, "Oh well, it's done".

As am I for the day...off to bed...

Ready to go...

I spent two hours this afternoon organizing layouts...this whole layout size combining thing has been very fun, however it can get super tricky since I cannot help but keep my layouts in chronological order...complicate that with having layouts to make from the last five months and it took soooo long to figure out how everything is going to fit together.

Once I was done with the seemingly endless hot pink post-it notes I made a to-do list in my palm pilot program complete with the size, date, and how many photos are going onto each layout...

The grand total was 22 layouts left to make before I am all caught up...since I'm in my final week of vacation it's a lofty goal, but I'm going to try.  Here's one from today...

I put my first parking permit and bookstore receipt inside the little file folder along with a bunch of journaling about my first day exploring the campus at Cal State Fullerton...I have to get back there in the next couple of days to figure out payment for everything, then getting my parking permit and textbooks so I'm all ready to start classes next week...

Lessons...

Oh how I hate them...I HATE that Mac got out of the car this morning almost in tears on his way into the school office since he was almost fifteen minutes late for school...because we spent that fifteen minutes looking for his glasses...which we didn't find...until I sent a text message to Sean who left his room for a minute to check in his car (thank goodness for instructional aides and having a classroom at the very front of the school) to find that Mac had left them there since he refused to put them on this morning when Sean picked him up from Bryce's house.

I hate that Mac has to learn these lessons...that being a careful, organized person who listens to his parents is probably the best way to go.  I hate that he was mad at me for reminding him of this when I know full well he was just angry with himself...I hate that there's a good chance that one morning of missing glasses won't mean that his desk is kept relatively clean or that he doesn't carry everything known to mankind in his messy backpack.

Not the best start to a Monday morning...or to a new week...but in the end it works out...

Back at home I was writing my daily e-mail exchange with my sister-in-law and was reminiscing about years back when Mac was so sick with seemingly endless colds every winter since she was telling me my poor little niece has another ear infection and was home sick...it made me really think about those years for the first time in a long while...thinking about how I had a job that I could never miss a day at without the MAJOR guilt that I left a busy OBGYN's office scrambling because I wasn't at the the front desk...thinking about how Sean was in his first year teaching as a long-term sub which meant if he missed a day his daily pay rate got bumped back down to a daily rate for two weeks and that he had a second job and was going to school at night for his teaching credential and was an assistant basketball coach and worked a third job at Christmastime AND it was at the same time of year that his car engine caught on fire and was totaled so he wrote a bike to work for weeks.

It really made me re-think this morning and start to count blessings...that Mac is healthy and that I have the immense privilege of being at home and getting to go to school and that Sean has one job that he drove a car to this morning. 

Life is good...and now if Mac could only put on his glasses. :)   

Sunday afternoon...

I only got 2 scrapbook pages done this weekend...party because today Sean and I were hanging out with this guy...

we watched our nephew for several hours and had a great time...going up our stairs and down the stairs...up, down, up, down...my card catalog was a big hit for standing with and too bad his cousin Mac was gone but his messy room was still fun to play in...it was so nice to see Caleb all smiles...well as long as he was moving or getting into something...I don't know how my sister does it all day every day...yea for being an aunt. :)

So here are the pages...the second one is another blog entry turned page...

Okay off to read in bed till I fall asleep...night. :) 

I'm cooking..

I usually only cook about once a week...and not in that once a week preparation and then be ready to make quick & delicious homemade meals every night...more like cook once a week, eat the leftovers for three days, and then be too lazy to do it again until maybe next week or so...not quite June Cleaver status.

Today though is one of those cooking days...Sean ran by my favorite grocery store for me since he was taking something Mac forgot at our house last night before he went up to Bryce's for the weekend.  I used to get to go to the store often since I was right across the street at school four days a week, but now it'll be a rare event to get my favorite Boar's Head extra sharp white American cheese.  When Sean left I was watching new episodes on Food Network and decided I have to try to make this and these for dinner tonight...I'm going to half the Chicken Florentine recipe since there is no way two people are going to eat six chicken breasts even as leftovers...if they're good I'll let you know.

Other than cooking I have nothing else planned...maybe sitting out on the front porch reading...definitely scrapbooking...so far the page count for January is 38...if I keep it up the pace during this final week of vacation I'll be caught up...we'll see...here's one simple page from yesterday with my photo collage and blog post about 2007...

Have a good weekend. :)   

Out and about...

I actually got out pajamas today and went out of the house beyond the usual running Mac to school...the whole being out in the real world thing cut into my scrapping time...I just finished one page this morning that I had started last night and then have a 12x12 two page layout sitting on my desk where I'm trying to stuff a dozen photos onto it so Mac's entire Christmas is in his book in two simple pages...

Here's last night's page...not my favorite...kind of jumbled in a not-so-good way...but I'm happy with the patterned paper and messy stitching...

So while I was out in the aforementioned real world I met my mom and sister for lunch (always love their California Citrus Salad) and then I went to Costco...

while I was there I kept laughing to myself about this article I read in Real Simple last night about Costco...if you shop there you should take a couple of minutes and read it...the author completely nails the appeal...the joy of buying 6 pounds of ground beef hamburger patties, 3 pounds of pineapple spears, printer cartridges, flannel sheets and two books (since Sean is kicking my ass in the reading challenge...I need to stop reading non-fiction otherwise I don't stand a chance) oh and a photo order...always a photo order.

We'll be out of the house again tonight...we're off to grab hot dogs for dinner and then head over to Sean's school for Star Night where apparently the science department sets up telescopes for star gazing.

Tomorrow's plans?  Pajamas and scrapbooking...again. :)

Simple stuff...

Another day at home... still cherishing the pajama-clad reclusive behavior that I can indulge in right now...I finished our Camp scrapbook...12 pages...mostly super simple 2-page layouts...it seems as if I'm channeling my inner Cathy Zielske, except I haven't a clue about graphic design and nothing I ever make is perfectly straight...or even close to it for that matter.

I just used some scraps sitting on my desk...a few letter stickers...and lots of Courier New typing...it's heavy on journaling...the details...the humor found in the experience...the blessing that these years at Camp have been.  It has hit me hard, seeing these photos and writing these thoughts, that this is the last time...that come June I won't be buying hundreds of gluesticks for the first time in ten years...I won't be worrying how to decorate a classroom with construction paper.  Instead we'll go up a night or two to help out and to visit with everyone and that will be it.

As far as scrapping goes I actually really like this whole simple thing...granted I have more fun making a mess on my layouts, but from a functional standpoint I really like how quickly these come together when you're not trying to throw everything and the kitchen sink on a page...when you concentrate on one or two simple details...

And here's the last page...the journaling probably reads as overly dramatic, but in my life and in my heart saying goodbye to Camp IS dramatic...

Sean and I just got back from a walk and he's out running a few errands like picking up the debit card he left behind when he went to get our dinner earlier tonight and then stopping by Petsmart for another one of these...we've had one for Shamrock for a couple years now, but Paddy has been in it lately when I drive Mac to school.  In the Fall I'd only take the dogs with me on Fridays since the other days I'd head up straight to school, but now with my new school schedule I can take them everyday so I want them both belted in and with this car seat contraption they can see out the window easily so it's a good thing even though it makes me feel like a major frou-frou pet owner to have car seats for our dogs.

Maybe tomorrow I'll actually not wear pajama pants and a t-shirt all day...or maybe I will. :)

I'm on vacation...

Two weeks from today I will be driving up the 57 freeway praying to the parking Gods that there might be a spot left for me on the CSUF campus as I head to my first day of class...I'll be there for seven hours on Tuesdays and five on Thursdays...only two days a week on that damn freeway though so all is well.

For now I'm on vacation...Sean and Mac are back in school with all the extras...meetings at the district office or tutoring after school, but I'm at home, in my pajamas, scrapbooking.  Vacation.  I was going to try to be all get-up-early-and-get-the-day-started, but then I decided to embrace the opportunity to not have to do that...even if it makes me feel lazy...I only have two more precious weeks of lazy before I have to attempt to be smart and hard working again.

As far as scrapbooking I made two more layouts last night while listening to 80's music way too loud...gotta love a little Bangles and Huey Lewis & the News.  I mentioned a couple of months ago about the 80% of layouts I share to the 20% that I don't bother to...these two layouts are in the top of that 80%...the ones that I cannot wait to share...the ones that I LOVE...

One is totally random...a complete mess...but these alway end up being my favorites...

I ripped the cover off Bitch magazine since I was already ripping into it to save a few articles...I loved that one tiny green person in a sea of orange and yellow...I used photos that Amber took of me last week (the scarf from my mom does wonders blocking a double chin...I think I'm going to have to wear it forever...it shouldn't be too hot in the summer, right?)...and was inspired to try the sewing machine again since Jamie has been doing such cool stitching on her layouts.

Then there's this one that I ripped apart until I got it the way I wanted...that's why the red paper is shredded on the corner...I love how colorful it came out and I love there's details...often when I'm inspired by other people's layouts it's because of the details...all the little embellishments which I usually forget since I'm busy stamping and ripping up patterned paper...

So I better get to "work" for today...I'm going to attempt to finish the last pages of our camp scrapbook...which will probably be part of the 20% I don't share since it's pretty simple stuff...we'll see... 

Civic duty...

I am a damn lucky girl.

Lucky that I was back home in pajama pants and eating lunch by one o'clock this afternoon since they called my group number at Jury Duty as the first to be released from service.  Yea for completing my civic duty while I was either reading, flipping through magazines, or crocheting as I finally listened to this podcast for the first time...one of those things I've kept meaning to do.

Oh and totally random, but on my way into the courthouse this morning I totally walked past Lauri from the OC housewives show on Bravo...which now means that I'm admitting that I watch that...which I joke melts my brain...yet I'm fascinated by it...my other joke is to say shows like these (since in the past I've been sucked into Laguna Beach and The Hills) is that they are sociological studies of our current culture and it's demise from the overgrowing sense of entitlement...that makes it sound MUCH better, huh?  No brain melting here. :) Anyways I walked past her and managed not to gawk in the two seconds it took me to realize she walking up the sidewalk in my direction...for anyone else who conducts a similar sociological survey every Tuesday night you should know that she's gorgeous in person...I was kind of surprised since it looks like on TV she wears a ton of make-up, but not at all from my brief glance this morning.  Okay now that you're probably judging me for me shameful taste in television I'm going to move on...

I'm loving the irony that I'm sharing about the 2008 Griffin Family Reading challenge in the same post as discussing smut TV...it further proves my need to read more...

I have mentioned several times that I really need/want to read more and it really goes for all three of us so I devised a plan...for every ten pages Sean and I read and for every "easy" ten (picture book) and "hard" five (chapter book) Mac reads we get a link in the new colorful paper chain that hangs in the hallway between our rooms...the hope is that it's overflowing by year's end...whoever has the most links at the end of each month gets to choose a family activity to do together (hopefully I'll win one month because I really have been wanting to plan a family fieldtrip to go see this).  So far so good...but isn't that the way it always is with a new plan...when it's all fresh and exciting...I really want to see this through this year...love that we have a visual tally to see grow and grow.

Finally speaking of visual...I joined in on this today...I don't drink coffee, but definitely had a daily drink to share.

Okay, one more thing...a layout from this weekend...the Christmas book is all caught up...I've actually scrapped nineteen pages already this month...gotta love quick layouts...

Also gotta love layering a few of the million tiny scraps I have saved up...I think this is officially my new favorite thing to do...

   

Today I...

...will stay in my pajamas, hoping it rains some more, and continue to recover from last night's migraine headache...I get them fairly often, but the "please hand my a gun because I want to take a break from my crying and dry heaving to shoot myself so that this awful pounding pain on the right side of my head will go away" variety only happens a few times a year

...will put away the stuff I bought yesterday between our trips to the Art Bar, Oasis, and antique store

...will make Beef Burgundy for dinner

...will write a note to a friend with a card quickly made with the leftover circles from the scrapbook page from the other day

...will catch-up on this week's Project Runway episode with Mac

...will enjoy the fact that I rearranged the stuff on my desk just a little

...might rearrange Mac's bedroom...haven't decided yet

...will work on setting up a little Griffin Family Challenge that Sean and I have decided the three of should attempt this year (otherwise known as Nora's crazy idea that Sean kindly agrees with) I'll share more when it's all started this week

...will try to finish more Christmas layouts

...will get going on some more of this stuff I just listed considering it's almost 2pm

I took a break...

from whipping out Christmas layouts yesterday...and I do mean whipping...like 15 minutes, slap down the photos, be barely creative, but try to write about a little memory and move on. 

So on my break I made this 23 minute layout...which I swear 22 were spent stamping the title...that was too many words to stamp...I didn't journal, but there is a story...

I saw this quote the other day...I've seen it before, but this time it struck a chord for some reason...then there was yesterday...when Sean and I started to argue and I was mean to him even though my feelings were honest behind the anger and he shut down both in defense of himself and the fact that nothing gets to me more than him not talking to me...and then I took a deep breath (that took a half hour...it was a loooong breath) and told him the feelings and he almost responded in anger, but managed to put it aside just enough for us to have a long conversation a lot of which focused on perfection...and my need to achieve it...and that he thought it is unrealistic and fairly torturous...and that I actually know that but want to aim for it anyway...I always want things to be the best they can be, I'm compulsive, I revel in the details and ask him to do the same...which 98% of the time he's good at humoring and trying and then he's not and I get hurt and lash out and he lashes back...that's pretty much a summary of Nora and Sean fights 101...same shit, different day...then we have what I call the "come to Jesus talk" and recommit to dealing with it...with each other...we come to the conclusion that I'm not a complete and total unreasonable witch and he is actually trying even though we manage to forget that at least once every couple of months...or heck a couple of times a week if things are going especially badly.  We're just damn lucky we manage to love each other through this argument...and were lucky that each couple of months or twice a week whatever it is we are getting better at listening and solving...not so much on the stubbornness that gets us there in the first place, but we'll get there.  In the end I just want to be happy...and so does he...and we want to do that together...so the quote I saw the other day takes on new meaning...it means take a deep breath and choose to focus on everything we have going right instead of the few things we struggle with.

And now I guess I have journaled for that layout...I'll have to print out that rambling paragraph and stick it on the back for posterity's sake...so that there's no mistakening the fact that we fight...and thank good God make up.

Okay, you want to see my Christmas layouts?  I just want these done...super simple...maybe one cute element like colorful mixed up letter stickers or three Santa stamps in a row and that's about it...so please don't judge my utter lack of creativity...also while we're not judging just go ahead and ignore the crappy photos because it's cloudy out and I pulled up the blinds to get enough light but am too lazy to take the pages out of the protectors so you see window reflection glaring on most of them...

So today's a big day...in approximately 70 minutes I get to register on-line for classes at CSUF...I have them all picked out and my fingers are crossed that there's room for me...then I get to hang out with Amber for the day...it's my turn to play tour guide since she was so good to Sean and I back in October. 

It's my house so I get to do what I want...

I've joked about that a dozen times this week when discussing the crazy rearranging...my favorite was when Bryce stopped by this past weekend to pick something up for Mac and when he saw the house asked, "You're rearranging AGAIN?!?"...I told him to shut up and get out :)...I should have told him he got off easy sixteen years ago when he only had to help me move furniture around a bedroom instead of a whole damn house...my rearranging addiction goes WAY back.

So my before photos are blurry shots from Christmas time...

Now the after...I tried to open up the rooms a little...I tried to simplify a little too...I love the bedroom dresser with just the three Waterford vases and gaudy gold 2-tiered plate that was my grandmothers, now it just needs a runner of some sort...I love that the armoire holds boardgames all together in one place and toys for little friends to play with as opposed to having to run upstairs to get them...and my favorite is the random conglomeration on the mantle, stuff I pulled together from all over the house, to me it's like a random scrapbook page that I love despite it's crazy ideas...

Here's the guest room that still has only one bed and our bedroom that now has two pieces of the nursery furniture that were in the guest room since we need to put our clothes into something...but I'm thinking of mixing it up a little more at some point with a different dresser in blue or maybe red because a blue and green room needs red, right?  Further proof that I can never commit to one or two colors I need them all. :)

And since there are not enough photos in this post one of our ever-growing photo wall that I think is almost full...love walking past all of these dozens of times each day...

All year...

Here's the three of us last night at our traditional New Years get-together with three of Sean's fraternity brothers and their families.

For some reason I'm endlessly entertained by this whole New Year concept...Sean pointed it out to me yesterday as I got off the phone with my sister saying, "talk to you next year"...I just love that one day it's one year and the next day it's all new.  I love that today you can make sweeping comments like...

I've barely slept all year.

The combination of a 2am bedtime, a twin air mattress in our friend's living room, not enough blankets to stay warm, Santa Ana winds blowing, and three toddlers up at 7am made for a rather sleepless night...hopefully I'll catch up tonight.

I also love that I have a blog...it's because of this blog that I take a lot of random photos of details...I realized how many yesterday when I went through my computer files to dig up some photos to use for a new banner idea...I have all these little bits of my life saved that otherwise would have totally passed by unnoticed.

Well that's enough random thoughts for a New Years morning...off to get ready for lunch with some friends...