oh it's on.

first off i've been listening to dane cook all day so i'm kinda ridiculous right now.

but...

project runway, tonight. and yes, it's on.

not sure why or how, but when i hear heidi klum's voice this creative vortex opens up and i am inspired. i snap, i cut, i write, i doodle, i arrange, i clean, i create. it just happens. and i love it.

so yes, it's begun and i can't wait. joe's bringing home dinner, i've got the living room cleaned and tonight's possibilities are endless. plus no work tomorrow....

expect great things, lol.

back to us.

successful weekend.

after the whirlwind return home it was nice to just have some time for us to relax and re-connect. joe and i spend all saturday in the city. met up with drew and just walked and shopped.

then we went home and talked and conspired. we are both in a really great place right now creatively and want to start working together to materialize more. we do our best work independently when we work together - contradiction? i think not.

this weekend did exactly what we needed it to. inspire.

went hit up urban outfitters... love these couches and the color of them.


i'm looking for someone who can create that look from the frame of our lay-z-boy. i really love the frame of my couch but just want it to look totally different. maybe it's a diy project i just have to jump into.

on julie's suggestion i got the BIG drawer drawer unit from container store. i can't tell you how much space it's saved me already. life. much easier.

this week i have so much to get done. but i finally have some photos and stuff to scrap and a ton of notes in my book to draw from. plus i'm developing classes.

crunch time.

quick game of tag.

and then i have to get to work cleaning up my studio and my home.

i was tagged by jan!

normally i kinda hate tag games but these questions were pretty easy and interesting - they may make pretty good scrap prompts!

so if i tag you at the end of this you have to keep it going... just answer the questions about yourself and then tag another 5 or 6 people at the end of your post.

so here we go....

what were you doing ten years ago?

well i was 15.
just finished my freshman year of high school.
singing all over the place
(i was sandi in grease in high school that year and then did some community theatre too)
i got my first summer retail job at carson pierre scott in the kids dept.
took summer driving school
probably driving my parents nuts with my first "real" boyfriend

today's "to do" list?

CLEAN MY STUDIO
set up design team meeting stuff
scrap scrap scrap scrap
spend some time with my hubby

i'm addicted to:

starbucks hot chocolate (sorry could really use on right now!)
scrapbooking/paper art
my camera
owls
vintage
shopping
i'm sure there is more...

i would do if i were a millionaire:

take my mom and friends on a big design/art trip to everywhere
take my mom and dad on big trips everywhere and anywhere they wanted to go
get a hot BIG pad somewhere in NYC with tons of room and a limitless design budget
oh i guess i should pay off our bills too huh?

i've lived:

hobart, in
west lafayette, in
orlando, fl
naples, fl
jersey city, nj

i'm tagging:

the WHOLE pb design team...
kristi
julie
breanne
alexis

+

suzy
linda

so have fun!

sweet home chicago.

well i'm stuck...


it's 8:12 and i was supposed to be in the air about 30 minutes ago. they said 10:15 but it seems as thought they are running about an hour behind that. so at some point tomorrow morning i'll be back in JC. but i got my domino + a nice big bag of m&m's + a diet coke + internet... so i'm not stressing and am just going with the flow (which goes nicely with my "go with the flow" personality right mom, lol).....

it was so good being back home for a few days. i wish i could stay longer but i'm also anxious to get home and get back to work. i have a new position at anthro waiting for me, lots of work in my studio calling me, and lots of planning for the portraitbug grand opening.

plus... i miss my joey! he did such an awesome job while i was gone, kept the house clean AND GAVE BOTH DOGS A BATH!! or at least he said he kept the house clean and i totally trust him, lol. one thing i decided while i was away from joe this time was that we totally have to institute a planned date night, otherwise we are just too lazy about going places together... and after seeing dark knight with my parents this week i am so in the mood to get back into the theatre and go movie crazy again. i used to be so good about seeing all the new releases, but cruise ships made me dvd lazy.

speaking of dark knight....


omg was it an amazing movie. bale was hot, always is. my heart still goes all fluttery for him whenever i think of him in little women. but heath ledger was just amazing. it made his death an even HUGER shame because this movie so deserved a sequel with even more more more joker. and how i could still find him totally hot under all those scars and makeup don't ask me, i'm weird.

since i have a ton of time i thought i'd check out some of my favorite blogs and i've found some amazingly cool stuff....

first off at cha we ordered just about everything maya road and i am so inspired by some of the cute cute things they did with their stamps and fabric. check out these cutie little owls...

and this cupcake is so darn adorable as well...


i'm not sure what's up with me and my desire to play with anything fabric lately. it's not like i've been very pro-active in getting my machine transported from nwi to jc but i think it's definately time. check out the project that went up today on design sponge (totally an awesome and amaazing blog btw, you should be reading it every single day)...


fabric friendly inks? i didn't even know there was such a thing.... but i WANT them. in fact dare i say i NEED!

i don't even know where to begin with all the goodness being posted on print + pattern... bowie has been posting all of the pics from paris and everything is amazing. makes me want to go on a big design trip with my mom and some of my girls.

and now for a little 6 degrees, well 4 degrees....

so on decor 8 i found design freebies and from there i found nanibird and these....





i can't wait to download these little guys and put them together when i get home. maybe i'll even figure out how to design my own little nanibird.

well i think that's all the goodies i have right now. it's starting to get exhausted but it looks like the first flights in cue are finally boarding. so it should only be a matter of time before i get on the big metal bird and head back to jc via long island.

i hope everyone has a great night!

home with the 'rents.

It has been an insane two weeks. Crazy at work, crazy getting ready for CHA, CRAZY at CHA. It was so nice that my mom was able to come with us though on Saturday and Sunday to CHA. I'm in the middle of editing my photos from CHA to post on the PB Blog. There was a lot I was majorly in love with this year and I can't wait for all of our orders to start coming in. There were some amazing projects too from designers and I was so inpired by them. When I get home this week I'm making a beeline to my studio and locking the door for a few days. (Okay maybe I'll let Kim or someone in to scrap with me... but then it's on lock-down.)

So now I'm thankfully at home with my parents. I have missed them so much the past few months. I literally jumped on my mom when I saw her and gave her a huge hug. I was a little more gentle with my dad since he's still recovering from his fall/heart attack a few weeks ago. But he looks really good and his heart is A'Ok now.

I can't even explain how good it is to be home for a bit. I'm right back in the poker grove with them (we are big players and my parents are in the World Tavern Poker league), and I think we are all going to see Batman tomorrow (can't wait!) My mom and I are going to do a teenie tiny bit more scrapbook shopping/browsing. Her Big Lots are stacked here so I'm going to capitalize on that I think. I also wanted to visit a scrap store in Valpo that she goes to sometimes to see what they stock, how they stock it, and maybe ask some product movement questions. We'll see...

Well, I have to get back to work so that all the PB readers can get some CHA eye candy. Today is pretty overcast and rainy here in NWI but I'm looking forward to getting some pics of everything I love and miss here the moment the clouds break!

ttyl

life doesn't have apple+ z

sorry no pictures today but i promise i'll do another post later...

busy busy week last week. worked every day either on PB or anthro.
getting ready for CHA. can't wait!
get to go home to see the fam too, miss them terribly
+ can't wait to hug my daddy.
(mom you too!)

have my bio up on PB Blog
+ keep checking every day for each designers' bio.

stuff i'm doing today:
finishing a few layouts that have been hanging out on my desk.
cleaning this crazy apartment
(in hopes that joey will keep it minorly clean while i'm gone.)
PB ordering (yay!)
iTunes re-vamp
maybe meet up in city later with drew and joey?

happy monday!

independance day.

happy 4th of July!!

Today started out kinda gloomy. Which was actually so perfect. We are both off today so Joey and I are making good use of the hours to work on our "other" jobs. Joe is busy editing and working on new projects for NCL - I am finishing up some Portrait Bug stuff.

We have picked the Design Team and all designers have been notified and accepted! I'm so happy that part is over. Now I'm just getting ready for our first meeting and getting the Portrait Bug Blog up and running. I haven't announced the team yet - waiting on bios - hopefully I'll have them and post tomorrow.

This morning I realized that I'm not being as productive creatively as I really want to be. I sketch like a mad-woman but never really scrap or anything. But a tiny bit of work in the morning helps focus me so much, so I decided to make this....

It took less than 5 min... lol. But I've had this piece of corkboard sitting on my desk from the move where is was originally part of the cork runner I had in my studio at 751... and i thought it would make a good atc cover.

I am pretty excited about the ScrapJammies Circle Journal I'm doing. This is the cover of mine. I'll post the rest a bit later with Jan's pages too, I got her really cute CJ called "guilty pleasures". In it I make a shocking confession.


Well I have to get back to some things. Joey, the dogs, and I are heading out to Liberty State Park to see the JC and Macy's fireworks tonight. I hope hope hope they don't freak out.

Have a great 4th!