So today was a strange and random day. My friend Kristina Contes was here visiting and we went to Benihana for lunch. Lunch began very uneventfully. We sat down, ordered, ate our soup and salad and they began cooking the fried rice (my favorite part) and all of a sudden the power goes out in the city of Coral Gables. HOW ODD???? Well, to say the least, I didn’t get to eat the scallops I ordered, but I was full anyway from the rice. We walked back to feed the meter where Kristi’s car was parked and she couldn’t resist snapping this photo. Not quite sure what caused the power failure, but the wind was blowing so we look like we’ve been riding around in the convertible all afternoon.
The remaining part of the day was interesting too and it involved very large beach balls for the party on Friday at Nikki Beach and A LOT of foosball since the power was out and we couldn’t use our computers. I ended up winding up the day by taking my hubby shopping for new duds to wear. I can’t wait to see what happens tomorrow!

I am starting to think I just enjoy being tortured. I just spent the last 20 minutes cutting out the stamp sets I recently purchased from Stampin’ Up. I heart stamps (obviously, b/c I have over 200 of them). I hate cutting them out. I should just buy the ones already cut, but I see my catalog and I can’t resist!  Now I just need to make some wonderful projects with these cool stamps.

I received my 9,000 piece Cosmo Cricket kit that was the TSV on QVC a few weeks ago. I decided I really wanted to see if I can make something using every single piece. We will see how this goes… I am starting by creating the peek-a-boo album. If you know of anyone doing something cool with the kit, I’d love a link.Here’s what the album looks like naked. I am not sure who I’m giving this album to yet, so I made it somewhat generic.  I love all of CC’s papers.  This kit I can tell is not the same manufacturer that does their regular line, but I like the more subdued colors of the papers. I picked out 5 of the 8×8 papers that I wanted to use for the album and I got started. My Quick Quotes Powder puff inks are the perfect color pallet for this project.  The page 3 paper is one of my favorites from the kit.  I have to distress everything and the paper has a white core, so it’s easy to ink after sanding. I messed up the holes, but they won’t be noticeable on the finished album (oops!) On pages 5 & 6 I wanted to use these cute GIANT numbers from the kit.  I had to ink the edges a few times because the color just wasn’t right.  I’m not sure if I’m 100% happy with it, but it is what it is for now!The little chipboard tabs are uber-cutie!! I pushed the beads from the kit into the holes of the tabs, I didn’t even really need glue, they fit snugly.  Who doesn’t love polkadots? Ok, here’s where I try to get more creative.  I love the way the page looked after I punched a bunch of the paper flowers from it.  I used the left over pieces of patterned paper behind, so the patterns peek through the flowers.  I inked the entire page with blue.  The back page of the album I simply matched to the front.  I think my second project will be the cards from the kit.  Stay tuned. Here’s the final album.  I’m very happy with the final result.  Yea, Cosmo Cricket - you’re super cool.  

Today was about as perfect as it gets, above is the view as I was sitting on the back patio this afternoon. I got up early to meet my friend Kristy. I was thinking as I looked at my clock at 7am that I should be going diving. I was meeting her to do a community service project with my former coworkers at Royal Caribbean. It’s fun to get out on a Saturday and give back a little to our community. When I came home I decided to get my camera out and take of few shots of this beautiful day.Here is our friendly spider that hangs out in front of the house. He and Chris have an understanding that he will not build a web in front of the door and Chris will not kill him. Here’s our quaint little grovey front door.One of my favorite things about the grove is the landscape. Here are the palm trees in our yard and our new patio umbrella we purchased at home depot.KC and Midnight enjoyed the day too. They love to hang out on the patio. It’s funny because they smell so good after they have been outside for awhile. It’s like the air gets in their fur, it’s the best smell in the world. Well, I also love the way my skin smells after I’ve been to the beach.So as I was enjoying my day outside with the cats, where might Chris be???? HMMMMMM, let’s see. Wouldn’t you know it, he is taking a well deserved break from work, playing a little Quake 3. Thanks to our friend Bob who was recently in town, he reminded Chris what an awesome game Quake 3 is, so downloading happened soon after their visit.Well, now that my mom is totally wishing she was here instead of in snowy Ohio, I wanted to leave with the final photo of our cute little bell. Wish you were here!

I’ve had a whirlwind last few weeks. I have managed to create a few things and work on some of my layouts and of course, I want to do more. Since moving, I’ve been itching to complete my craft room so my desk is open and ready again for scrapbook supplies. Chris and I have totally fallen in love with Ikea since it opened in November. We have fought the crowds half a dozen times and we finally decided on the Billy Bookcase system as the best way to organize our office space. Here’s a photo. I still want to do some tweeking, but overall I love the space. I can see all of my tools and stamps. It’s great.  Have a great, crafty weekend!

It seems that lately everyone is having a baby. If I knew mine would be as cute as Raven, I’s totally get on the train. For right now, I’m just going to admire my friend’s little girl. Isn’t she adorable???? I’m in LOVE.

Here is the start to my scrapblog about our trip.  All the hotels have such unique personalities.  I wish I didn’t have the flu, I would have had more opportunities to play and enjoy myself.  All in all it was a great conference. 

The past couple of weeks have been full of traveling and recovering from traveling.  I did mange to eek out a single birthday card using the cuttlebug and my stampin’ up products. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to snap a photo before giving it to it’s owner.  This week my sister is visiting from Ohio and we are planning a fun filled trip to the beach and hanging out.  On Sunday, I am leaving for CHA, so I am looking forward to drowning in scrapbook stuff! Should be a wonderful trip.  I’ll post more when I get back.  

One of our favorite users of scrapblog created this really amazing memorial scrapblog of Heath Ledger. I had to share it with you, not only because Heath was such a wonderful actor and he deserves some love, but because I wanted to showcase Peg’s amazing online scrapbooking talent. Enjoy and please leave Peg a comment.

Having a Valentine is indeed a special thing.  I am definitely looking forward to February 14th this year.  We just moved into our cute little place in the Grove, and we spend our mornings together.  Our lives are finally in non-chaos mode for the moment.  As I prepare my Valentine’s Day projects, I am feeling my heart flutter again as I realize how dear my own special Valentine is to me.  This weekend I am heading to my Stampin’ Up meeting and I am planning to create my Valentine’s Day cards.  Here’s to having a goal! :)