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You don't really want to be around here today.
I'm grumpy.
I don't like leaving the house.
But then I get something well organized or I pull out some of the ridiculous amount of travel supplies I've amassed considering we only go somewhere every couple of years.
And I remember that I love to travel.
Which makes leaving the house totally worth it.
Tomorrow starts travel blogging 2010.
Twenty-four years ago my mother planned the best birthday ever and surprised me with a limousine. I was endlessly excited to drive around with my friends and it was such a hit that my sister and brother both got their own limo parties too.
I always knew one day that Mac would get his limo party...so this year when he asked for a surprise party I knew it was time.
I didn't make invitations...I didn't cook a thing...no decorations to worry about either.
Best party ever.
Mac was surprised...he and his friends seemed to enjoy the fast food progressive dinner (fries at McDonald's, hamburgers at In & Out, frozen yogurt and a last stop at Starbucks) and then we took everyone back to their houses. We brainstormed a few games they could play along the drive to ensure there was no boredom on our five hour trip. Oh and we were lucky enough to have friends and family meet up to surprise him at each stop too.
In the words of the "Who can text the fastest" game they played...
Mac is cool, but his parents are even cooler. :)
As hard as it can be in the moments where I realize how fast he's growing up, I really love this teenager person.
I love his humor, his enthusiasm, his tenacity, and especially his talkative nature.
I could kind of do without his temper.
(too bad he got it from me)
Today's a day to celebrate Mac and how far he's come from the two-pound baby he started out as.
Tomorrow is the day to finally spill the beans about his surprise party.
Mac once told me that his dad's family was talking about me and said I was "over the top"...I figured that was a pretty good description of my enthusiasm for details and typical crazy ideas.
So I think this one falls into the "over the top" category. After my adding to my washi tape collection on Saturday it wouldn't fit in a little bowl that's been holding it for over a year as I've collected a roll here and there. It was time for a new organizational plan.
Because having decorative tape well organized is really a matter of necessity, right?
Like I said, over the top.
A small curtain rod did the trick...and pretty much makes me inordinately happy.
So glad I got this handled before we leave on the trip...what a disaster it would be to have rolls of tape sitting around.
Maybe I should pack now.
I decided to share this card since today is the last day I will have a 13 year old. I actually made this for one of Mac's fellow teenager friend's a couple of weeks ago. I used their texting "language" and everything. :)
1. I could make a list of all the things I'm working on that that do not need to be done before we leave on our trip. For instance, making a smaller variation of these for little first day of school teacher gifts. That could probably wait.
2. Speaking of the trip, thank you so much for the all the suggestions. I plan on printing a lot of them out (like I did for our trip a couple of years ago) and including them in our travel binder.
3.I spent pretty much from 9am until 5pm yesterday researching/booking hotels and everything else we need. This is going to be a GOOD little adventure.
4. Of course that is if you define "adventure" as flea markets or high tea.
5. I was almost in tears as I got everything organized...feeling super lucky that we get to travel and looking forward to our plans.
6. Please remind me of how happy I am to go when I'm freaking out about leaving the house and making sure I've packed everything we could ever need.
7. I'll stop talking about the trip now...especially since soon you'll be listening to me talk about it every darn day or so.
8. CHA started today and I'm happy to think that these layouts are there...
9. The "if you're counting" layout is about the fact that I have two bachelor's degrees and Sean only has one. He is ready for me to stop teasing him about that anytime now.
10. I have another didn't-need-to-do-this-now project to share tomorrow.
Here's what I was lucky enough to get at this year's Renegade...
Oh hello friend is always a major favorite of mine...I picked up a little teacup saucer cake plate and earrings. I got another pair of fabric earrings from Cookie & the Dude. The best little hair clip ever from Cakies. A print from Jen Skelley. And just maybe I got five rolls of washi tape from Tinted Mint.
This time next week we'll be up here...so Sean and I are burning the midnight oil trying to figure out the ferry situation. I thought it might be a good idea to ask if anyone has any advice.
We would like to get to Victoria...and we will have our car. What is the easiest port to get out of?
We had thought we'd try Seattle to Victoria, but we can also do Vancouver BC to Victoria or really anything else to Victoria we just need to know what that would be.
And while I'm asking for advice...any tips, ideas or suggestions for being up in the Seattle/Vancouver BC areas would be wonderful since this will be uncharted territory for us.
Nice hotels...cute areas...really good food??? Please fill me in.
Thanks for taking your time to help point us in the right direction.
There were some homemade sunshine cupcakes to surprise Mac on his last day of summer school.
There was the croquet set I found (and had to have) at an estate sale in our neighborhood when we were on our way to deliver those sunshine cupcakes.
There was the almost 14 year old blowing out his candle as his classmates sang happy birthday.
There was Renegade (I'll share what I got tomorrow)
There was cucumber mint lemonade (and a cheesecake brownie).
There were self-portraits.
There was an amazing burger and Woodchuck on tap. Not that I would usually ever get excited over anything on tap...but my sister introduced us to it way back on a trip in Michigan and it's been a favorite (and hard to find) ever since.
There was Sean circling the streets of Venice as I ran in here like a happy maniac.
There were Sunday morning crafts.
There was also Sunday morning cleaning up after taking out a monster bush on the side of our house.
There was a good weekend..
All kinds of stuff this week...although no scrapbooking which is kind of weird for me...but here's the favorites from my Google Reader...
I was looking for photos yesterday to share as a photo of the day and stumbled across this...
The back porch of my first apartment. A one bedroom built out of cinder-blocks that I filled with hand-me-downs and things found at the local thrift store.
I loved this porch.I love that mom gave me our old picnic bench...and that I would sit around it with my friends.
I love that I had plants (successfully) growing.
I love that the wagon is parked there with the inter-tube...everyday that summer an almost one-year-old McIntosh and I walked down to the university's pool to float around.
I love that the umbrella stroller is folded up on the ground...everyday McIntosh and I would go on a long walk.
I love that you can see the Smokey Joe in the right hand corner...my mom got that for me for my 21st birthday along with a pack of steaks from Costco.
(Incidentally I had a little BBQ with my friends to eat those steaks...and one of those friends brought a guy named Sean Griffin over to my house for the very first time)
I love that I still have the sign that says "Welcome Friends" (that you can barely see through the screen door). It has been hanging next to our garage door here in our house all these years.
Not too crazy about the ceramic ashtray on the table...I didn't ever smoke a cigarette, but might have thought I was a little too cool as I sat out on my porch writing in my journal and smoking a cigar.
Ah, youth.
Thanks for looking back with me...can't wait to share the updated porch from around here sometime soon...
I grew up with a mom and sister that make sure things match impeccably. I don't usually adhere to their "matchy, matchy" rules as well, but this card does. I'll have to save it to send to one of them at some point.
1. I have turned the teacher planner forms I mentioned a couple days ago into PDF's...
Download Monday Tuesday Wednesday Download Thursday Friday Weekend Download I talked to Mom or Dad Download Staff Meeting Notes
2. Probably shouldn't discuss it too much, but my neighbors and I have been working with a federal investigator for a couple of months about some mail theft and it was solved today. The investigator said he was going to get us commemorative badges. You can call me Deputy Griffin from now on.
3. When I've not been busy fighting crime, I've been scrapbooking. Using my Studio Calico June kit to get caught up on stuff before we leave on our road trip and I'm taking a 100 photos a day for 17 days straight.
4. I also made my blog banner for August...pretty excited to use some wildlife on it in honor of the week I'll be spending at my in-laws where it's not unusual to see this kind of stuff...here's a peek...
5. I have been strangely infatuated with deer since this past Christmas. I even thought this might be fun to get, but Sean put his foot down...a rare occurrence when it comes to my crazy ideas.
6. I think he might have been worried about losing his former Oregon resident membership card or something.
7. As for the other person in the house, he turns 14 next week (14!) and has requested a surprise party. Because that's the way surprise parties work, right? You ask for them. Well he's getting one someway, somehow and it's torturing him.
8. And it's kind of torturing me not to talk about it.
9. Here's one more layout...
10. I have plans to go to Ikea tomorrow. Danger. Danger.
I liked this weekend...granted it was pretty full, but it was all good stuff.
The house became even more colorful with the great paint debate of 2010. It seeped into other areas of the house as the colors were carefully considered and narrowed down. Colors even ended up on the porch...can you see them tucked under there? I'll admit with a friend's suggestion purple even was briefly considered...it didn't make the cut, but it did remind me of one of my favorite children's books.
I can't tell you how much I appreciate all the input I received when I asked...one of the very best aspects of having a blog is what an amazing resource the people who read it are. And all the yellow votes made my mom very happy. The color is officially decided and I was about to spill the beans, but then it occurred to me to wait for a big reveal. I will say though that some might think boring won out in the end. Hopefully I'll be sharing this week.
Speaking of this week I'll have a couple of projects up on the Cartwheels blog...sharing a little something tomorrow...
And later this week the next installment of my Happy Everything article with a big travel project...
Other projects this weekend included designing various elements of a teacher lesson plan book with a family friend. The cuteness almost had me wanting to be a kindergarten teacher instead of a community college professor...almost. If you're interested in it please let me know and I'd be happy to share what we came up with.
Last night was a BBQ with friends which meant more potato salad and baked beans. And a champagne toast to celebrate new babies, engagements and graduations...I may have enjoyed my own glass and stole Sean's too.
Then we spent this morning helping my brother organize the new room he's renting in a pretty prime location down by the beach. I resisted the temptation to put his t-shirt collection in rainbow order, but he officially has a spotless room and just maybe a new appreciation for his super annoying older sister that always used to get upset when he made a mess...maybe.
The weekend finished up a with Sean's summer league basketball game and onion rings...we have to stop at Portillo's if we're in a five mile radius of the place. Then there was a long walk when we got home.
Hopefully we can follow-up this weekend with a good and productive week.
1. Nesting Dolls Baby Shower, 2. Wednesday Inspiration, 3. Garden bouquet, 4. Alvhem, 5. Whit's Knits: Woven Flower Necklace, 6. an 'ordinarily extraordinary' blanket..., 7. Summer Time Pom Poms, 8. inspired
Here's all of the recent favorites...
The multicolor look has been up for just over a day. Thankfully our neighbors haven't stopped to ask, "What the heck are you thinking???"
The "color specialists" are in agreement with Sean and I that green seems to be the front runner...however one of them is still surprising dedicated to yellow (my mom). I've been teased that we just have to paint all the vinyl a darker gray to get it to really work.
I thought it'd be fun to ask what you think...I've numbered the five choices...
Color sample #6 (Lincoln Cottage Black) will be going up tomorrow before the final decision.
When I had my first blog garage sale it didn't really include rubber stamps...and we all know I have an obscene amount.
Some of them are officially on the market in a grab bag way...if you'd like you can get a box here....or there is one really big box if you're as much of an addict as I am. :)
They are all packaged up and ready to be sent out to new homes.
File this card under "You can never have enough thank you notes" since it's stamped on the inside too.
1. Summer status could not be more official around here because of one thing...paint.
2. It annual painting season...something around the house has to be painted. But this is the first time that something truly HAS to be painted...the thirty-six other times was just because I wanted to.
3. When we got vinyl siding several years ago we left some wood uncovered on the house so we could change the color if we wanted to. Well now the wood is looking worn and dingy so it's time.
4. We have had two rounds of consultation with color specialists (a.k.a. my mom and her best friend). Here's the pile of rejects from today...
5. Round three will consist of prospective colors being painted onto the wood up by the 2nd story windows since that wood needs to be replaced altogether.
6. My color specialists and I have narrowed the choices down to blue, green, red and yellow.
7. Which pretty much sounds like a preschool classroom.
8. As I told the color specialists today I am willing to do ridiculous things inside (for instance I'll move bedroom furniture into the dining room...create numerous painted squares and rectangles...and now even hang a chalkboard in the living room) but outside is a completely different story.
9. Which is why I'll be worried when my neighbor's see a romper room's worth of paint samples going up.
10. But I can't wait to take a picture of our (temporary) technicolor dream house.
I was too busy eating and scrapbooking. Well cooking and then eating...some of it was this, these, and a recipe from here that I have to share soon.
Thankfully this post won't be the most boring ever because I never shared my minor living room rearranging project.
Although maybe talking about yet another rearrange IS the most boring thing ever.
I mentioned in this post that we purchased our home from original owners who were both teachers...they left a few things behind, one of which was the chalkboard hanging in the garage. It stayed right there for ten years until I got a typical crazy idea.
I decided it needed to hang in our living room.
Other crazy ideas included the need to gather the collection of globes I've amassed over the last several years (a blatant copy of so many of my favorite Flickr photos) and to tuck our bookcases of albums perfectly into the corner.
It felt like a whole new room for free...just one of the many reasons I am hopelessly addicted to rearranging.
This week's favorites...
This patterned paper had me digging into a collection of buttons I have from a Great-Aunt...I added the green details to coordinate with the inside.
1. Here are the phone calls I made this morning...called school to double check that that I am not required to pay an extra professional fee at $200 a unit--crisis averted...called Canada border patrol about the proper documentation for Mac since we need permission from his dad...and called to book a water slide for July 4, 2011.
2. Here's next year's water slide...
3. The one phone call I received was a request for Sean to be a substitute teacher tomorrow...I may have told the person calling that Sean would be thrilled because he has been almost depressed that he doesn't get to work this summer.
4. I made this for dinner tonight...it's officially on my list of favorite meals.
5. I really want to make a yellow and gray blanket with this yarn even though I have no reason to.
6. I have layouts to share...they were shared here and here...
7. Please ignore any and all typos in my layouts...they seem to be inevitable despite my best efforts...that and I need to change the correction tape in my typewriter.
8. Okay another recipe...Toffee Bars...if you like butter and brown sugar as much as I do then these are for you.
9. Thanks for your comments last week...Mac officially has a password protected blog...
10. And speaking of blogs...I'll have my first Nice to Greet You article up tomorrow on Cartwheels.
The 4th was a long, fantastic celebration...it included lots of water sliding, the world's longest basketball game, an obscene amount of food and a hootenanny that my mother arranged with our family friends...
At one point Mac went down the slide in his jeans, I went down in my pajamas (no, you are not getting photos of that) and Sean took my niece and nephew numerous times. We had baked beans, potato salad, a strawberry/blueberry trifle, and dill dip. There were homemade pompoms hanging in the kitchen, which was an utter-disaster by the end of the night.
Thank goodness for today...there was perfect cool, cloudy weather...time to clean the house, pack away party supplies and relax. Sean napped while I watched Food network and crocheted...meanwhile Mac could be heard dancing around to music in his room...so we were all doing some of our favorite activities.
Now we're ready for the 6th of July. :)
This week's favorite stuff...
