Awarding.

The Academy Awards.

Hearing the mere words causes my heart to skip a beat. Seriously, I think it's the only thing on television that I simply can NOT miss. I never watch any other award shows. I don't like them. I don't even watch that much television (American Idol [though this is my first year], Ellen DeGeneres... and the occasional House).

It used to be my goal to see as many nominated movies as I could... so I'd be able to enjoy the show more, as well as have an opinion for most categories. And this year... I only saw a few of them. Juno and Ratatouille (which, in my opinion were two of the best movies of the year) included!

I love the montages, the jokes, the mention of Jack Nicholson (always!), the political controversy (always leaning toward the democratic party), and of course, the attire. (Was it just me... or was red the most popular color this year?) And I paid close attention so that I could report my favorites:

Favorite dress: Miley Cyrus (OK, I'm a HUGE Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana fan, but really... that aside... I really did think her dress was the most beautiful. :) )

Favorite necklace: Jennifer Garner

Favorite earrings: Cameron Diaz (yes, please!)

Worst dress: Rebecca Miller (wife of Daniel Day Lewis... seriously, what was she thinking?! Those rhinestone flowers? Ho.ly.Cow.)

"Should have checked with each other" Award: Katherine Heigl and Anne Hathaway (Sure, Anne has ruffles on hers, but really... that shoulder thing? It's not like it's a popular trend. It's just CRAZY to me how similar the two dresses are!)

Most deserving of an Oscar: Diablo Cody (Juno is seriously the most well-written film I've ever seen. If it was possible to get two Oscars for one category... you know, for going above and beyond... I believe she could have gotten them. Her first screenplay [written in her mid-twenties, no less], gets on Oscar?! She rocks my world.)

"Truly shocked to the core of her being" Award: Tilda Swinton and Marion Cotillard (There's nothing more impressive to me than an actress who is truly humble, thankful and appreciative. I have so much respect for these two actresses.)

There were some great jokes too. And though I was really worried that they were written in 12 days (due to the writer's strike) when they're usually written in several weeks, I was quite impressed and laughed out loud quite a bit.

All in all, a great Oscar show. Can't wait till next year! :D

Recuperating.

I don't have kids... unless you count my 26-year-old husband, who up until a couple months ago, couldn't even pour his own cereal. But I love to cook so I didn't really have a problem with it. I mean, I always thought that if I got really sick... I *would* have a problem.

A few months ago, I came home from work one day, and the toaster was sitting on the counter (it's usually stored in a cupboard). Toaster on the counter could only mean one thing... Jeremy made his own breakfast! I stopped dead in my tracks and tried to come to the realization that Jeremy had, in fact, done something for himself.

"Honey?" With a HUGE grin on my face, "Did you make your own breakfast?! I'm SO proud of you!" I run to him with open arms and squeeze him tightly.

He looked at me sheepishly. "I... uhhh... I scared the puppies..."

Pause.

"I made the smoke alarm go off."

I stare blankly at him. Blink. Blink. I'm speechless.

I try to muster some words. "Uhh... you made the smoke alarm go off?" I peer around him again to see if I missed anything. All I saw was the *toaster* on the counter. Toaster. Smoke alarm. Huh?!

The sheepish look from Jeremy continued. "Well, see, I wanted to make an English Muffin. And I guess... well, I guess you're supposed to put the butter on *after* you take it out of the toaster."

[Enter hysterical laughter from me here.]

And finally... three weeks ago... I got VERY ill. Two ER visits, convulsions, about ten fainting bouts, fever, don't turn the lights on unless you want to be beaten, couldn't even sit on my own and had to pee in a bed-pan-kind-of-sick. Yeah, sick.

My husband finally had to say, "Holy Crap! She's really sick this time! She has to stay in bed for two weeks. And not only do I have to pour my own cereal and make my own toast, but I have to *make* and *bring* her food and Gatorade!"

I am pleased to say he made it through with flying colors! I mean, so what if I lived on bean soup and toast! *He* made them! Well, okay he didn't technically *make* soup. He opened a can of Campbell's Condensed and poured it in a bowl... but still!

So the sickness has ended, and I have quite the independent husband. ;) And even though my entire life, I was thinking, "Why can't somebody take care of *me* when I'm sick?!" when I finally DID get sick enough that somebody had to take care of me... I wanted to scream. Granted, I was too weak to scream... or sit... or open my eyes... but it was so frustrating not to be able to do *anything* because I always do *everything*, that I hated every moment of it, and thank GOD I'm just about back to normal! :D

And it really made me realize how independent I am, and wow, I love that feeling! *sigh* I feel better now.

Tagging.

Tagged by Jaime Lynne Lea. :D

TEN YEARS AGO…
I was in my junior year of high school. I lived in the middle of the National Forest at a Christian retreat center, where my parents worked. It was fabulous. I helped them almost every day after school (if I had time after gymnastics) and on weekends. We got TONS of snow and sometimes so much that we had to leave our car at the entrance of the camp and hike 1/2 mile up to our house. Uh-huh, that was fun...

FIVE THINGS ON MY TO DO LIST TODAY…
1. Get paperwork ready for something I'm working on...
2. Try out a new super-tasty Mexican food recipe. (just finished... it's divine!)
3. Call former gymnast of mine (I babysat for them too, and I'm still really close with their family) because it's her 17th birthday today. :)
4. Put away my new cardstock.
5. Put away laundry (and do dishes if we have time).

THINGS I ENJOY…
being with Jeremy and the puppies
finding new recipes I actually want to make again
scrapbooking
cooking
writing
reading blogs and home/organization/scrapbooking magazines
browsing scrapbooking galleries
rock climbing
looking out my window to see the ocean
making people smile
altering items
shades of blue
new scrapbook paper
ice cream
chocolate chip cookies fresh out of the oven
watching a favorite movie when I haven't seen it in a while
the fact that Jeremy and I have the same birthday
organizing and/or cleaning my house
comfy pants
phone calls from my nieces

THREE BAD HABITS…
1. Being honest (too often)
2. Finger Disease (a term coined by my husband: I rub my middle and pointer fingers together on each hand)
3. Not wiping the kitchen counter as much as Jeremy would like me to...

FIVE PLACES I’VE LIVED…
1. Anaheim, California (Disneyland, yeah!)
2. Pagosa Springs, Colorado (which I miss dearly... can't wait to go home!)
3. Winona, Minnesota
4. Albuquerque, New Mexico (only for one summer)
5. North Kingstown, Rhode Island

FIVE JOBS I’VE HAD... (these are in order of which I liked best... 1 being the best)
1. Gymnastics Coach
2. Disneyland Vacation Planner (being a Cast Member with Disney had the BEST perks!)
3. Production Assistant for a magazine
4. Pet Sitter
5. Revenue and Reservations Manager (for a hotel)

FIVE THINGS PEOPLE DON’T KNOW ABOUT ME…
1. I can hold a handstand for quite a while.
2. I walk with a cane or crutches.
3. I LOVE meeting new scrapper friends. I get all giddy. LOL.
4. I sleep with a teddy bear every night.
5. My husband and I remained virgins until marriage.

OK, so if you're reading this... you do one too! Tagging you! :)

Unveiling.

This has been such a great week (despite the fact that I've been extremely ill)! OK, not only are there the FABULOUS sneak peeks for CHA, but I booked my first "official" Memory Works party (I'm a consultant), AND my first publication came out today. So this LO has never been seen before today.



Yay! Used some wonderful Tinkering Ink, Heidi Swapp, and my beloved white cardstock. :) Aren't my nieces the cutest?! I was published in Ready, Set, Create. Yay. :D I really started this blog so I could do mostly scrapping stuff, but I haven't. I really wanted to wait until my first publication to post my first LO here. So I'll be posting more LOs and how-tos and other projects too now. :D

So... there is another awesome thing even! I know you're thinking to yourself, "Self, how could there possibly be one more amazing thing happening in the life of Reyanna?!" And I'm staying, "Oh, but there is!"

One of my favorite scrappers EVER... the totally awesome and amazing Kelly Goree is going to be in my neck of the woods, and I've signed up for a mini-book class she's teaching. Huzzah! AND she will be attending a crop (or so they tell me), which I signed up for. I signed up hubby too, actually. He'll bring his laptop and do his digi scrapping thing. :D

So yes, a fabulous week indeed. And would you like to know about some of the *wonderful* things I can't wait to get my hands on after CHA?! Well, of course you do! I have great taste! ;)

American Crafts already has some AMAZING stuff, but I'm really looking forward to their new collection called Amplified. Yay. :)

Tinkering Ink has tied with American Crafts as my two new favorite companies (new to me, that is) this last year. And they have completely outdone themselves with their new beauty, Provincial Fare. Navy is one of my FAVORITE shades of my favorite color so I'm totally psyched about this!

There is a new company in the world of scrapbooking, and they're starting off with a BAM! GCD Studios is unveiling TEN new lines! WOW! Can't wait to see these in real life. :)

Another totally fun one is Piggy Tales! I'm excited for their new Cinderella line!

I'll probably be posting more as I see them. Some great stuff this year!