Remembering June 2009.

Hung out with a bunch of friends in June 2009. I heart my friends. So much. :-)

My friend, Hillary, I've known since high school. We were in gymnastics together in Colorado, and she ended up moving to Austin a year before I did! Before I moved to Austin, I thought, "If Hillary loves Austin, I will too!" We're both total Colorado girls, so I knew I'd love it if Hillary did. :-) I love that we're able to see each other at least once a month.


I "picked up" Mark and Lindsay at The Container Store. They were newlyweds, and Lindsay and I hit it off right away. And as soon as I met her husband, Mark, I knew it was a couple-match-made-in-organizational-Heaven. ;-) We went hiking (all four of us; Jeremy is taking the photo) shortly after we met...

Mark and Lindsay are currently touring the world... for one year. *sigh* I think this is so awesome for them, but I miss them already! I can't wait till they come back for good! :D

My friend Paula wanted to do a scrapbook for her daughter for graduation, and I was happy to help. We spent FIFTEEN hours over two days working on this scrapbook, and we finally finished! It was so fun to have her over!

I don't think my scrap room has ever been that messy. Ever. LOL.

As a "thank you," Paula gave me a gift card to Kirby Lane, an Austin favorite. Jeremy and I had breakfast... with blueberry sodas. Yummm!


And my favorite layout of that month:

A pretty laid-back June. Just the way we like it. :-)

Wanting to be Part of That World...

Just call me Ariel...

So... the other day in the shower (TMI?!), I'm singing "Beauty and the Beast," and I realized that I didn't remember all the words. Then I decided to see to what Disney songs I *do* remember all the words. LOL. After several misses (umm... four...), my brain FINALLY remembered one. "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid.

I pretty much remembered it word-for-word. I couldn't believe it. As I was singing it yesterday (Again, in the shower. Again, TMI. ;-) ), I decided I'd change the words a bit. Then I thought, "Hey, that was fun. I should share this on my blog." LOL. My original idea was to SING this and post it on YouTube. Okay, I'm not Carrie Underwood, but I can carry a tune when I have to. ;-) And even though, I *recorded* myself singing... was surprised that I don't suck all that much, LOL... I can't bring myself to post it. LOL. So... here are the words to *my* version. (If you need a reminder of the tune, just click on the link above...)

Let's just say I'm bummed that I decided not to attend CHA this year. I mean, I had good reasoning (hubby and I want to use the money to take a vacation for the two of us instead), but I still am desperately missing it. And me missing CHA... well, it seemed to spawn a song... LOL.

Part of Your World (CHA Style)

Look at this stuff
Isn’t it neat?
Wouldn’t you think my collection’s complete?
Wouldn’t you think I’m the girl...
The girl who has everything?

Look at this trove
Scrap-stuff untold
How many punches can one scrap room hold?
Looking around here, you think
Sure, she’s got everything!

I’ve got paper and Thickers a-plenty,
I’ve got Copics and scissors galore.
You want Maya Road Mists?
I’ve got twenty!
But who cares?
 No big deal.
I want more.

I wanna be where the designers are.
I wanna see, wanna see the scrap celebs
Walking around in the... what do you call it?
CHA!

Not submitting, you don’t get too far,
But take a chance, make a card, a layout..
And soon I’ll design for a - what’s that word again?
TEAM!

Up where they scrap, up where they go
Up where they stay all day in that show...
Designing for BG - wish I could be
Part of that world.

What would I give if I could design for American Crafts?
Would would I pay to spend a day on the SC staff?
Betcha on the team, they understand,
That you could scrap the day away
Creative women; sick of sittin’
In front of our screens!

And ready to know what the manufacturers know,
Ask’em my questions and get some answers...
October Afternoon, we do love you, but where are new
LINES?

When’s it my time?
Wouldn’t I love, love to explore that world in Anaheim?
Last year I was,
This year I’m not...
Part of that world.

Remembering May 2009.

Phew. Took a little break from the Internet... it was nice. :D I think I'll stay away more often now. LOL. Anywho... on to May 2009!

This cute little kitty had been following us around since July 2008. This month, I finally let her spend most of her time in our house. AND I finally got some photos of her! We named her Kissa (Finnish word for "cat").


Jeremy and I decided we needed to get out more. We went to this coffee shop by our house, Bear Rock Cafe. They closed shortly after. :-( Ah well. We DID get some cute photos! (This dress I'm wearing? Navy with white embroidery. CUTE! I got it earlier that month. It was only $15 at Ross! YAY!)

And a close-up of my SUPER cute hubby, Jeremy!

Hubby worked A LOT that month, and I had three days off in a row, so I decided to drive the FIVE hours away (McAllen, Texas) to be with him when he was done with work each day. :D Five hours in a car alone (well... with the puppies) gave me A LOT of time to amuse myself...

And the puppies (Amber, left; Ruby, right) were stoked to be able to come along. They slept most the way. They're so good in the car. :-)

I also got to spend time with my friend Bethina, and her boys: Bryce (left) and Sean (right). They are SO sweet!!! Honestly, they make me feel that if I have a boy in the future, I will be just fine. LOL. I get to see them again this week (and their new baby sister!), so I'm STOKED! :-D

One day, Jeremy asked me if I wanted to "craft" with him. That meant making RJ-45 cables (ethernet). I have to admit, I complained a bit before I gave in. But I was really good at them! After we were done, I was like, "Okay... mastered that craft! Back to scrapbooking!" LOL. (Photo was turned to black and white because I had JUST woken up and had no make up or shower... LOL.)

May is the month that it starts getting HOT in Texas. I needed new clothes. For some reason, while living in Rhode Island, I had neglected to buy many tank tops or tees (or skirts, for that matter); and in Texas, that's all you live in for a good four months. I even bought some with PRINTS! LOL. (I'm a solid/stripey girl.)

And... I made this (and forgot to post it!) for my friend Selena... a gift for graduation that month. She loved it. :-)


And that's about it! Hey! What do you think of my new blog header?! I made it myself! Well, I used my Wacom pen and tablet. The font is my own too. It was SO fun. I've been meaning to for a while. New photo of myself too since I cut A LOT of my hair off this week... :-)

Remembering April 2009.

I can't believe I never blogged about this! GAH! In March 2009 (I took the photos in April, so I'm keeping this in the April post... LOL), we had a HUGE hailstorm. I've been in MANY hailstorms in Colorado, Minnesota and Rhode Island, but NONE of those compared to this one. When it was finished, I ran right outside (as did most people...) to survey the damage. I scooped up a bunch of hailstones as proof...

You can see the racquetball there for size. Also, this photo was taken a MONTH after the hailstorm. I kept these in the freezer, and they SHRUNK! So they were actually a bit bigger than the picture shows. Still. Can you believe that?!

Both our cars were totaled. Well, they were drivable, but our insurance deemed them total losses due to the golf-ball sized dents and cracks in the windshields. Ack. These babies did A LOT of damage to cars and roofs in the area. Craziness!

A super cool thing I saw that month... a cardinal!

I was STOKED! I have seen VERY few of these in my lifetime. I saw my first cardinal back in Rhode Island, only a year earlier. They seem so rare and somehow, magical to me. I know the sound of their call now, so when I hear them, I can run out and try to find them! I rarely do, so I was so excited to catch this guy!

I spent a lot of April organizing my Studio Calico kit photos into an album, along with product listings and Elle's Studio tags. :-) It was SO fun. And this is SO easy to reference now. I LOVE it. I think I *may* be a *bit* obsessed with organizing at this point...

I also got to travel to Waco to have a crop with Kelly G (who was visiting and teaching classes) and some girls from SC. It was SO fun! I was so glad I had the chance to go!

Of course, Jeremy and I played more racquetball. We would always have SO much fun... and laugh SO much.

And then, of course, the down-point of my April... my horrendous sunburn. Yes, it *is* possible to get a sunburn this bad in April... in Texas. LOL. Second-degree burns are SO not fun. The pain got so bad, I nearly passed out on several occasions. I was on Vicodin! *That's* how bad the pain was.

I STILL have tan-lines from this burn. Gosh, I'm SO glad that's over!

Remembering March 2009.

Mmmm... March. Jeremy came home! YAY! We enjoyed being together so much! Absence really does make the heart grow fonder. :-) The puppies missed him SO much! LOL. They love to lick his face...

Some nights, we just sat around. I really liked those nights. I still do. I just loved sitting there, watching him on his computer, cuddling with the puppies...

feels like home to me...

This photo makes my heart so happy. One of my favorite photos of 2009...

We also went on a few adventures. Small ones. Our near-weekly trips to Big Top Candy Shop. We LOVE that place!!

A very old-fashioned candy shop, with vintage circus decor. I LOVE to just sit in here and look around. :-)

Waiting for my Italian Cream Soda (blackberry!) and my chocolate-covered sunflower seeds. My two favorite things from Big Top. :-) (And also my favorite sweater from Anthropologie! LOVE that sweater more than anything in my wardrobe!)

We also took up racquetball! It was SO fun to walk to the court a few nights a week. I think I only beat him twice! LOL. We were always so sweaty and nasty afterward. LOL! It was a great workout. :-)

(Wow! My husband is CUTE!)

After March... 2009 was looking up! It kept going up too! :-)

Remembering February 2009.

Honestly, February is a bit of a blur. Hubby wasn't there, so I was in a slump... missing him terribly, but trying to be my independent self and find time for ME.

I know I shopped at The Container Store a bunch... LOL. Took the pups with me... usually just Ruby because Amber hates crowds and stores. Ruby LOVES people, so she loves to be out of the house... shopping or walking or whatever. LOL. On this day though, I decided Amber needed some time out too. :-)

I didn't scrap much, except for Craft Critique. This was my favorite layout of that month:

I just LOVE this photo hubby took of me with my sister's girls. It's one of my most favorite photos... of all time. :-)

Looking back, I wish I had inked the edges of the papers. LOL. At the time, I considered it, but I opted not to because I felt like I inked SO much. LOL. I'll probably go back and outline everything with a black or brown pen instead... LOL. You know, since it's too late to ink the edges. LOL.

I also remember that I ate a lot of fruit, bacon and hot dogs during this month. LOL. Those foods reminded me of visiting with my grandfather just a few weeks prior, so it was very comforting for me. LOL.

February sucked. March got better... :-)

Oh! And... this month's Studio Calico kit is AWESOME! I LOVE it! I love it so much that I'm having a hard time using it! Once I use it, it will be gone. :-( It helps, though, that my favorite papers this month are SC papers... so I have THREE sets of them! :D Tee hee.

Here's what I made yesterday...

Jeremy and I are always saying to each other, "You're my favorite!" "You're MY favorite!" LOL. So fun, so I thought I'd document that. :-) The design for this layout was inspired by a photo I saw at Paige's blog. This woman's daughter's room. SO CUTE! Totally inspiring. :-)

And then, it was like... midnight when I finished that layout, but I still wanted to scrap some more, so I did a super quick one!

(As seen in Ellaments by Ella Publishing.)

A layout of my three nieces... aka "The 3 Sillies"! LOL. I really like how it turned out... simple, but fun. And the bow I made for the center? Believe it or not, The Container Store taught me how to make that at Christmastime! LOL.

That's all for today. Let me know you stopped by! :-)

Remembering January 2009.

So... not only did I attend CHA in January of 2009, but I also did other cool things! We went to see Trans Siberian Orchestra in concert, and that was AWESOME! We look so tired here... we got home late. But SO worth it. :-)

I cut my hair short again...

After CHA, I met these adorable little girls (Avery and Erin) at my hotel. Their mom owns a scrapbook store up north, and I just had to give away some of my press kits... they were STOKED! LOL.

Also while in CA, I was able to visit my grandparents. YAY! I have such a great relationship with all four of my grandparents; I usually talk to them at least twice a week. They are the coolest! And they tell the best stories!

Another thing I look forward to when visiting Grandpa Pendzimas (mom's dad) is EATING! He's a chef by hobby. And, oh yes, just because he doesn't do it professionally, doesn't mean he's not a chef. He IS. Promise. :-) He knows more about cooking than any other person I know on the planet... including all those foodies on the Food Network. ;-) My first meal there... I told him I was *starving*! I WAS! This is what he fixed me, and save a few veggies, I ate every last bite. :-)

Was able to snap a few photos of us. Here is me with Grammy (mom's mom)...

And Grandpa (the chef)! He is so fun and so wise and so brilliant. An awesome combination! He is also 100% Polish, and I love that. :-)

While in San Diego (where Grandparents Pendzimas live), I got to also visit my cousins, Sean (right) and Ian (left). They belong to my mom's sister, Joy (my middle-name namesake). They got so OLD (In this photo, Sean is 18. Ian is 16.)! LOL.

Of course, I also had to visit my Dad's parents, Pop-Pop and Grandma. They are SO funny! We call Pop-Pop our "family cryer"... he LOVES to gossip about family (mostly good stuff)! LOL. Before taking this photo, he said, "I'll have to do my signature mouth-open smile! That's what I do in photos! Without even noticing!" LOL.

And... last, but certainly not least, I got to visit my BFF in CA. Brittany and I have been friends for about 14 years. I babysat for her younger siblings. She was there too, but too young to take care of them on her own. We kept in touch all those years, but we didn't really become close till after she graduated high school. We are SO much alike (even our life stories)... it's scary. LOL. Because I was there for CHA, Britt and I didn't get THAT much time together... just an hour or two. But we got to drink Baskin Robbins' mint chip milkshakes and hug and laugh and hug some more. :-) It was so nice to see her!

(And that sweatshirt she's wearing? That's our twinsie sweatshirt! We both have one... because we both love cozy pajamas almost more than anything in the world... LOL.)

Also at Britt's house, I got to meet Nola... A puppy that belongs to her in-laws. She's not too fond of Nola, but Nola LOVED me. Seriously, LOVED me. Case in point: When I went to the bathroom, she sat outside the door crying like a maniac! LOL. I wished I could bring her home with me!

And THAT was my January 2009. :-)

Mourning Winnie-Lou.

We were at the hospital till about nine last night. *sigh* With all the deaths of friends and family members I've had, Jeremy and I have never experienced a grandparent's death.

Winnie-Lou is just short of 84 years (April 3rd). She's been married for 67 years. I don't think she's rested in 67 years... before yesterday. She's in a coma, and she won't be waking up. She will be going to Heaven... soon.

Watching somebody die has to be one of the most horrible experiences. I had nightmares all night. I woke up feeling like I was hit by a car.

I want to remember her like this... with Morgan on Thanksgiving. I want the images of her in that hospital to be completely gone. And forever in my head, I want her to be laughing with her great grandson.

Missing him... even while he's sleeping next to me.

You know that song by Aerosmith... I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing? That is exactly how I feel lately. I know it sounds cheesy, but I honestly feel that way about Jeremy. Every. Single. Day.

"I don't wanna close my eyes
I don't wanna fall asleep
'Cause I'd miss you, babe
And I don't wanna miss a thing
'Cause even when I dream of you
The sweetest dream will never do
I'd still miss you, babe
And I don't wanna miss a thing."

*sigh* So cheesy that it makes me giggle. But there's no denying it... I'm in love with that guy. And I don't want to miss a thing...

(I wrote this same post at my Write 365 blog today. But I had to share it here too. :-)

Oh! Also... here's my latest layout... also about Jeremy. LOL. This is my first completed layout in my NEW scrap room. I'm not ready to show pics yet though. LOL. It's not QUITE finished. Okay, I'll still show pics... soon. :-)

(Paper/Chipboard alphas: Basic Grey, Cardstock/Thickers/Pen/Blue Ribbon: American Crafts,
Journaling spots: Sassafras and Jenni Bowlin, Yellow Ribbon: Maya Road, Twine: Studio Calico)

I spent longer than my usual 30-60 minutes on this layout. That drove me bonkers! LOL. I was glad to have it finished. LOL. And did you notice?! I used PATTERNED PAPER as a BACKGROUND! Go me! :-D

Remembering CHA - January 2009.

Last year, I really didn't do a re-cap of the year, but I wanted to. So I thought I'd do a few posts to re-cap the year.

This first one... well, this is LONG overdue. LONG! I should have done a CHA Winter 2009 post right after it happened, but well, I was going through a tough time, and I just couldn't. I couldn't do much of anything. LOL.

January 2009 was the worst month of my life. That being said, CHA was my favorite thing about 2009, so it all worked out. ;-)

I was really depressed before I left for CHA... I was crying a lot, and I wanted to just suck it up, do my job, have fun, and forget about the misery! That was tough. And then I met Wendy...

Wendy was with Megan right outside the press room. I had just walked out and saw them, Wendy looked at me, and at the same time, we realized we were both wearing purple tops with green blazers.

Well, that started what was one of the most amazing conversations I had at CHA. We chatted about organization (of course!), scrapbooking, Disney, The Container Store... all kinds of things. It totally made my day, and I just could have sat there ALL day talking to them. I love that out of that meeting grew two friendships I'm beyond blessed to have! (And Megan, next time I see you, we will have to get a photo of the two of us as well!)

So THEN... the next day, I was in the Ranger booth, had just gotten finished filming Donna Downey and Tim Holtz (how perfect was this trip... really?!), and I get a tap on my shoulder. I turn around to these two beautiful ladies...

Scarlet and April. *sigh* And I thought my trip couldn't get any better! HA! I was SO wrong. They are two of the sweetest (not to mention, SUPER cute accents!) girls I've ever met! I pretty much screamed and threw my arms around them! LOL.

Later on that day, I ran into Ally at the PaperCrafts booth...

This meeting started an awesome friendship (that woman is FASCINATING!), AND we got to meet again and hang out (another highlight of my year!) just last month!

I got to room with Suzy, who is totally sweet! And I didn't even realize it at the time, but when we went to the SplitCoast Stampers meetup, she was like a celebrity! Seriously, women were screaming when they met her and asking for her photo! I was like, "Oh cool! My roommate is FAMOUS!" LOL. So here's a photo of me with the famous Suzy Haghighi... a MASTER Copic stamper!

I also got to hang with the Studio Calico crew... for Reveal. *sigh* And my trip would not have been complete without running into my old friend, Kelly. On the last day, we ended up running into each other as we were each about to get lunch, so we got to have lunch together. Love impromptu lunch dates. :-)


I'm not really one to get "scrappy star-struck," but when I saw Amy Martin and CD Muckosky together, I did go up and ask for a photo. They were happy to oblige! Scrappers are so sweet!

Oh! And I almost forgot! I took this awesome (if I do say so myself...) photo of Paris Hilton while she was unveiling her new scrappy line...

She really was beautiful in real life. MUCH shorter than I thought (definitely not 5'10" like her online bio states), and she was lovely. Didn't have a clue, but lovely. ;-) I thought her interview at CHA was HILARIOUS, so I spent like 90 minutes transcribing it for Craft Critique. Priceless. LOL.

While waiting for Paris to arrive (being on time is not one of her talents...), I met the fabulous Paige. Funny... we didn't become friends until several months after CHA, but this girl... I love this girl! She has one of the best blogs on the net, and she is just as sweet and cute as can be. AND she is the best enabler! I have the cutest dishes from Target... thanks to her! ;-)

Wow... I'm just realizing that I made quite a few friends that January. I don't even have photos of Emily P. and Kirsty and Steph and Nicole H! :-( But in a time in my life when I most needed some wonderfulness, that's what I got... in several fantastic, scrappy women! Thank you ALL so much! You are all fabulous!

And that was my January 2009.

p.s. And thank you to Sarah at Craft Critique for giving me the opportunity to interview and write and make new friends... making that week one of the best weeks ever!

Celebrating 8 Years of the Twinkies!

My beautiful and fabulous nieces, Brenna (left) and Alaura (right) are EIGHT years old today. EIGHT?! When did this happen?! I'm pretty sure that they just looked like this yesterday...

Only in this photo, Brenna is on the right. Tee hee. Gosh, time flies! My little babies... all grown up... and savin' China! ;-) Okay, not *really* saving China, but I just love that line in Mulan when Mushu gets all weepy-eyed at the thought of Mulan growing up and doing great things. LOL.

Well, they are off to see New Moon in the theatre tonight. *sigh*

I'm so proud of them! They're so lovely and (generally) well-behaved (ahem... we all have our moments). Brenna was one of the few chosen from her school to attend a prestigious art school... being bussed from her school and brought to the other one, having to finish her school work later on... on her own. She's doing so well with that!

And Alaura was chosen out of her church choir to be one of only six dancers for their Christmas performance. She is quite flexible, and I think she will turn into such a lovely dancer! This video my sister posted made me smile. :-)

Have a wonderful birthday, Ladies! I hope this year is your best one yet!

Welcoming a New Year.

Last year, I decided to do a kind of "Best of/Worst of 2008" post, kinda like a letter (as Scarlet did) to 2008. I was hoping 2009 would be better than 2008... alas, it was not. LOL. It was actually the worst year of my life. There *were* some awesome times though, and I hope to re-cap those soon!

So I *know* that 2010 has to be better. I really am so blessed... I have a wonderful husband who is loving, compassionate, encouraging and supportive. I have never felt so loved, and that makes me so happy. :-) I have awesome friends, and my family is happy and healthy (for the most part... tee hee), and we all have God watching over us every day.

I only made two real promises last year. I wanted to not take on so much (which I think I accomplished, but could still work on...). I also wanted to try hard not to please everybody. Old habits die hard. ;-) I STILL need to work on that.

Last night at work, I pretty much had an epiphany. The manager on duty was busy with a customer, and he told me that the floor was my responsibility. I remember thinking, "Great! I feel very confident I can make executive decisions." I felt so "in my element"... for a whole 90 minutes. LOL. Co-workers came to me to ask advice, direction, responsibilities, etc. And it was amazing. I knew what to do in every situation. And it was great.

It left me wondering why I don't act like that on a regular basis. I tend to get intimidated or feel vulnerable when I work with certain types of personalities (or people). I talked to a friend (also a manager) at work about this, and all he said was, "Reyanna, it's a mindset." It is, and I need to have that mindset more often.

So I suppose that I'd really like to resolve to be more confident. Confident that I DO know what I'm doing. And I'm good at it. :-) I am capable. I am reliable. I am responsible. I am strong.

Also for this next year, I'd love to concentrate more on... ME. :-) That sounds so STRANGE to say! LOL. I just feel like I've completely neglected myself. I don't do any of the things I used to enjoy. And that's what I mean when I say that. I just want to do more things I enjoy... my hobbies and interests.

I want to scrapbook.

I want to submit and be published again.

I want to ride my bike.

I want to hike.

I want to rock climb.

I want to stretch.

I want to do handstands. :-D

I want to work out more.

I want to bake.

I want to write.

I want to read.

I want to speak up for myself.

I don't want to do things out of guilt.

And something we *really* want to plan for the next year or two?

A baby. :-)

That is all.

Bring it on, 2010! I. Am. Ready.

p.s. Oh! Since I really don't want to do Photo 365, I decided to try my own version of 365. I enjoy writing/journaling more than I do taking photos. So... Write 365. That's my plan. One sentence or thought per day. A thought that summed up the day. Something I learned. Something exciting that happened. A discovery made. Something. Something that is worth remembering. Because at the end of your day... there is *always* something worth remembering about your life... even if that "something" is the fact that you love watching movies all day long. LOL.