I'm here!

Well it's been a pretty crazy week but I'm in Jersey City, finally back with my hubby, and getting settled. I just found a random wireless signal with my EMachine (yes it's killing me to not have my Mac-baby... but until the truck comes Friday this is what I'm living with, lol). Our internet won't be hooked up until later this week so for now I'm thankful to the wireless gods for giving me this (probably very brief) portal to the outside world.

We don't have any of our things yet but our friends were very generous to let us borrow their futon mattress for the next few days. We are roughing it but really happy and excited to be here and be starting our new lives as New Yorker/New Jersey-ers.

Tomorrow I'm heading back into the city to scope out some job opportunities. I'm taking the camera with and will have some things to share. The weather is finally nice - it rained pretty steadily the first two days we were here. So I'm excited to get back out and explore with my camera in tow.

Thank you so much to everyone who has been praying for our little family. I'll have more to report on the pups and everyone soon. My mom left yesterday and was so AMAZING. She helped me so much and I could not have gotten through the long trek to Jersey City without her. I love you mom!

{hugs}

moving countdown: 2 days till go time

Sorry, no fun pictures or anything today. Hopefully tomorrow I will have more time. Today is a BIG day in the madness that is moving week. The truck gets dropped off, I have to pull everything out of the garage and make my final trip to St. Vincent's, and then pack pack pack....

We did finally get the apartment we wanted. The landlady took forever to give us an answer and we were really shaking in our boots for a bit about it. But we have the place we wanted and now we just have to cross our fingers and hope and pray everything works perfectly (or as close to it as possible).

Tomorrow my first article goes up on Craft Critique. Be sure to check it out!

I'm off to do more packing! Hopefully I can give a better update a bit later tonight!

{hugs}

Please pray for a safe and stress-free move for us!

joey's home!

And as you can see some of us are VERY VERY happy...

I picked him up last night at midnight and it's so nice to have him here for the weekend. We just talked and talked about everything... the job, the apartment we're waiting to hear about, the neighborhoods, the city, the opportunities. It's so amazing to have my best friend back to talk about all the craziness of our life right now.

This morning we did breakfast out which we hadn't done in a long time. I love our breakfasts, I love talking to him... ahhh, sorry I'm a little smitten right now, lol!

This afternoon we've been working hard getting Joe's office all organized, cleaned up, and packed away. We are just about done which is great because we can move on to something else soon! Tonight we are doing Carrabba's for pizza with Hilda and then might go to our last neighborhood get together.

We'll see.

I hope everyone is having a beautiful Saturday no matter what you are doing! We are covered in dust and surrounded by a mess --- but we are having a blast and I'm ecstatic!

grab a snack...

because it's going to be a long one.

For the past three days I've been a packing machine, but things at the house have been crazy. It's been a very hectic week to say the least. Roxy isn't loving her collar but I think her foot is finally all better. Overall the dogs have been a pain in the butt. I think they are getting sick of just me. With all the packing upsetting their normal environment and all the people coming the house since it's been up for sale - I think they are just kinda over it all and stressed. They (and me too!) deserve some fun this weekend so I hope we can figure out something fun to do with them.

An offer went for 751 and so the house was inspected, appraised, and checked for termites all on Monday, at basically the same time. The family came too so the house was nuts for about 3 hours. I was so relieved when it was done because I could pull everything out, make a mess, and finally get really packed.

So I started in my office. Got everything in the closet packed up and ready to go. Most of the "time-capsule" stuff that we each have are in the closet so it's always interesting to look back through it all. I love all of Joe's MAD magazines, Conan the Barbarian comics... and who doesn't remember these....


I still have the Sesame Street Record player for these... I have to get it from my parents and see if it still works.

Tuesday I did a ton more packing and cleaning - but without power! About 1:00pm the power in the neighborhood went out until 6:30pm. It was a big pain in the butt, especially since I was working on some computer things when it went out, fun.

I did get into my studio though and start organizing all of my crafty mess. It's so awesome to be able to go through everything, re-organize it, and be re-inspired. I found these cards that Joe's mom gave me a few years ago. Thy are really pretty and looking at them so reminds me of dance school at Columbia. It's like each card captures a moment that I can totally relate to. I may make them into a little ATC/Journal.


One thing I noticed while organizing ephemera and things into my inspiration box (which is now overflowing!) was that the index cards on the C&T Publishing File Box were warping from not having enough support in the box.


So for a quick fix I grabbed some left over cardboard, measured to size, and adhered them to the cards. I didn't cut my cardboard really clean, but if you needed to make it look more uniform you could sand the edges to smooth them out.



Done.

(Gordon Ramsey-style crafting.)

Wednesday was another hectic day. I came back from a long and really hot walk with the dogs to find the family who is buying 751 in the driveway. No one had told me they were coming and trust me when I say that there way NO WAY the house was presentable for them to come in. I panicked a bit... and called the real estate agent. Landlord forgot to call me and tell me that he and the family were doing a walk through of some problems that came up at inspection. Ugh. So I rushed around the house while they were downstairs talking throwing clothes in hamper, picking up dogs toys and dog hair (they are shedding so bad right now), stuffing dishes into the sink. ARRRRRGGGG... I was a mess. So I had to clean myself up too. lol...

They stayed again several hours which just totally threw the day off. The dogs were nuts again the whole time... it's so stressful (for any of you who've been here you know!) to be moving, having the house sold (thank goodness we are renters), packing, raising a german shepherd pup... man I need some r&r!

And now it's FRIDAY! And my boyfriend comes home for the weekend to help me and give me a break. I'm so thankful to be seeing him. Sometimes I feel like I'm cracking up when it's just me and the dogs. Ever start talking to them like they care? Or understand? Yeah I'm there!

I'm really excited for this weekend. Yes there will be a lot of work to do Saturday but Sunday is all mine and my hubby's... I just want a cocktail, and a spot on the beach. I don't think I've wanted a beach day this bad since moving here!

I hope that everyone has had a great week and has an even better weekend!

{hugs}

my poor little roxy...

I noticed yesterday that Roxy was paying a lot of attention to one of her front paws - licking it a lot and pulling at one of the nails. So we went in to see the vet today and sure enough, she has an infection in her nail bed. Poor little girl has to wear this halo/cone thingy for the next week so that she doesn't infect it more by licking it herself, and she's on a week of antibiotics. I'm glad I took her in right away and that I *crossing my fingers* hopefully caught it before the toenail needed to be removed. I think she'll be just fine...

But I feel so bad for her in the cone. She doesn't like it and just looks sad. Plus Crystal is a little weirded out by the cone so she's kinda acting spastic around Roxy. Like she's got the plague, lol! I took it off just now so she could eat b/c she was crying by the food... but I have to get it back on her sometime. What's really sad is that we were planning on getting her spayed next week too... so she's going to be REALLY mad at us by the time we move and expect her to be good in a car for two days, lol! Oh well....

So for the rest of today I'm packing up my office closet and scrapbooking. Joe comes in next weekend so I have to be pretty much ready to go so that we can have some time to relax together and have the place packed up... I'm going to try to set up a little beach day for us next week just to soak it in and say goodbye to Naples. I still have a week after his weekend here to finish up if the moving units aren't totally packed.

Whew! There's a lot to do... But I'm really getting so excited now! Things are moving fast!

I got an invite out to Park Slope Beach today and while it's an amazing beach day I think my time is better spent packing - plus I have to watch that Crystal and Roxy don't get into it or out of the cone to her paw!

I hope everyone is having a great Saturday!

just got the news...

A little bit ago that I did not make it on the 2008 AMM DT. I'm really blown away by who was chosen for the new team and so excited for Michelle! I think they are going to have a great year and I can't wait to see what they all do with the kits. You can see the DT announcement here!

As for me... I'm totally okay with not being in the team this year. I've been a little overwhelmed the past few months and with the move know that I need some time to just chill out and get settled. Plus this means I can concentrate again on scrapping just for me!

I'm definitely not leaving AMM, the community there is the best anywhere and I love Michelle so much. So you'll still be seeing all of their fabulous kits on my blog every month, lol...

So now that that's over, I can barely hold these LO's in anymore. I really loved doing them and it haven't felt this way about my layouts for a LONG time!

*Little Me*



I have been wanting to do this layout for so long and could never get it just right. I took the Little Me class at CHA and STILL couldn't make it work. Well when I found this picture and saw my BG Mellow it finally all fell into place.

*Self 4/04/08*



Joey asked me to take a photo for him... awwww. There is actually going to be a second page to this one but it's too dark to take the picture now. I got about one shot and the rest were ruined when I was attacked by the dogs.... lol!

So I want to again congratulate the new AMM DT! Be sure to check these ladies out because they are amazing!

{hugs!}

waiting...

For the new DT to be announced at A Million Memories. More nervous this time than I was last year I think... probably because now I know what an amazing group of girls are over there and how unbelievable Michelle is to design for. I've made some really great friends over the past year and I hope I'm asked to design again for them... still crossing my fingers! lol!

For Joey to come back to Florida one last time to help me pack up and move out. I miss him so much and while him coming down to help me probably isn't the most cost effective decision in the world I NEED to see him. It's been pretty emotional for me trying to deal with all of our "stuff" alone so having him here will totally re-energize me for the trip up.

So while I'm waiting I'm finally getting started packing my closet up which is a HUGE mess. I have stuff in there from grade school - high school - all kinda of crazy stuff. This is going to be the final purge I think of stuff I know I won't use... lol. Like who really needs their high school econ notebook? Seriously...

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

{hugs}

i can see the finish line...

The past week has been so nuts. It's finally hit me just how much I have going on and how much I have to do, lol! It's finally happening, it's REALLY happening, we are moving and we are moving big. So I've been packing, cleaning, AND scrapping... yet I still feel crazy behind.

I'm excited for all of this change but at the same time I'm ready for everything to be settled into a new life. I have things to get done and I'm ready and feeling inspired to do them!

The April Kit from A Million Memories had just landed on my doorstep when I last blogged and I LOVED working with it. The colors were so fresh and I really loved the vintage feel. I want to start using vintage elements more in my scrapping because I think it freshens is up from the more bold colors I usually drift to on my own...

Here is the mini-book that came in this month's kit which is from Scenic Route and is so cool!








I am LOVING Tim Holtz's crackle paint lately. I bought a few at a store when I was visiting my mom during Christmas and couldn't believe how well "Worn Lipstick" went with this kit! I love how easy it is...



You can see all of my projects and the whole Design Team's work this month here...

You have to check out all the new upgrades over at A Million Memories... the store looks amazing and the user gallery is totally kicking! There are some really awesome scrappers over there!

Well, back to work! Happy Tuesday (and enjoy American Idol! I can't wait for tonight, lol!)

{hugs}