Summer break at home

Well halfway through my first full week at home on summer vacation - it's very relaxing but I sure wish I could motivate myself to get more done - I did do some laundry and dishes today - gotta make todo lists each day I think so I accomplish more than just sitting at the computer. I did this scrapbook CJ spread last night for a friend - thought I'd share it!

We did get in our pool for the first time yesterday - felt great! Not as hot today and breezy so am not sure if I'm going in or not!

A quiz for today

Well I'm not sure about this but oh well - see link at bottom to play!

You Belong in 1971

If you scored... 1950 - 1959: You're fun loving, romantic, and more than a little innocent. See you at the drive in! 1960 - 1969: You are a free spirit with a huge heart. Love, peace, and happiness rule - oh, and drugs too. 1970 - 1979: Bold and brash, you take life by the horns. Whether you're partying or protesting, you give it your all! 1980 - 1989: Wild, over the top, and just a little bit cheesy. You're colorful at night - and successful during the day. 1990 - 1999: With you anything goes! You're grunge one day, ghetto fabulous the next. It's all good!

What Year Do You Belong In?

More trip photos - see details below

Ok here are a few more...this tree made me feel skinnier that's for sure! Oh and I replaced the video for awhile - this is what our trip was like - Beautiful Days! My favorite band - ok video doesn't totally match, but the song does!

Trip photos

Well they didn't show up in the thread below, so I'll try in a new thread.....

Vacation fun!

Well, just got back from a week trip to California and Oregon. My brother got married a block from Malibu beach, which was the reason for going down! So I flew into LAX on Thursday and bam! LA hit me - smog (ick), palm trees (cool), expensive vehicles everywhere (wow!), heat (ick).........but we had so much fun!

The wedding was simple, they went to the beach for pictures after - then we went to a Greek restaurant (The Great Greek) on Ventura Blvd (fun street) for the reception - oh my - it was so fun and the food was amazing - there was a two man band playing Greek music - the waiters would get up and dance and pull others into it - soooooo fun, sooooooo "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"!!! I wound up escorting the bride and groom back to the hotel in their rented convertible Sebring (I WANT ONE!) - Friday night meant Ventura Blvd. was busy - it was really fun! Then we did some visiting and shopping on Saturday and saw family Saturday night in Camarillo. Sunday we headed to Santa Barbara - my dad had scheduled us in for brunch at this Christian conference - it was very nice............OMG Santa Barbara is so pretty - to get to the college where the events were, we drove up in the hills past MANY gated estates - I was taking pictures of just the gates - lol - a local told me that Oprah and Brad Pitt among others have a place up there we may have passed by (I try to say celebrity doesn't impress me, but these homes and the beautiful landscaping did).......we also drove through part of the town area which was very nice with lots of shopping (I couldn't afford a tissue in those places)........

Then we headed north after brunch - we kept driving north as far as we could and wound up staying in Fairfield a little north of Oakland - turns out it's the home of the Jelly Belly factory! So the next morning we went to visit - sadly they were doing maintenance so we didn't tour, but we took pictures outside and in of silly things and bought some goodies. Then north up through the pass to Mt. Shasta; here I met up with Jeff, who had gone to his mom's on the Oregon Coast and borrowed her 2004 Thunderbird convertible - mint green, and with that cool retro look - we drove almost the rest of the trip top down - it was AWESOME!!!!!!!! Perfect weather for it! I'll share pics of my sunburn, heehe...We stayed in Acosta (near Eureka) and the next morning drove down to the Avenue of the Giants to see the Redwoods - amazing - I'll share pics of these too! We even drove through a tree, lol! Then we headed north on 101 up to Newport OR - driving along the coast most of the way - it was sooooo nice - at this point my face was pink so I wore the hood on my jacket most of the time but we still had top down.........I have never seen the OREGON coast with such nice weather for more than a few hours at a time! So then we stayed with MIL for a few days in Newport and headed home Thursday!

It really was a great trip for Jeff and I; we both needed to relax and enjoy each other again! Now it's time to get some stuff done at home while I'm off for summer vacation! Woohoo!

Ok, here come some pictures too....

10 Things about me

Ok I'm posting this in response to a blog challenge on TTS.......so here goes:

1. Purple is, was, and always will be my favorite color!
2. I'm a sports nut (Go Seahawks, Huskies!)
3. I've had my picture in a major scrapbook magazine (we modeled shopping in a store)
4. I'm mom of an angel; my little girl passed away when she was 5 months old of a rare disease
5. I have had several surgeries for a recurring cyst on my neck (it still comes back on occasion)
6. I met my husband in a bar of all places (NEVER my intention! lol)
7. I've been through 44 of the 50 states but my only steps outside the US have been to Canada and Mexico
8. I love reading - many genres from the guilty pleasures to books that are so full of heavy vocabulary they give me a headache! I adore children's literature too - there are so many great stories put out each year for kids!
9. I am a confessed scrapaholic - and shopaholic - I am constantly trying to lessen this, but it's never gonna happen! The outcome of the scrapping and shopping is good when my family enjoys reliving memories through my albums!
10. I teach, therefore I am - I just finished living and breathing my 5th graders for 9 months!

Ahh weekends

Here's my new shelving Jeff built me for my birthday for my craft room! I'm so excited; it's gotten me MUCH more organized!

So onto weekends as the title says.....A great time to relax - well this weekend; I'm saving my energy for the last week of school - we lose most of our planning due to assemblies and stuff so I don't have much time to clean up and pack - I'm moving to another classroom next year so I really gotta pack - I'm glad to switch as it gives me a clean slate for setting up! Part of next week is a fashion show that the teachers are doing - it's going to be silly and fun! I will be modeling jammies, sports stuff, "spy" wear and anything purple...

Am plugging away at these circle journals for my gf on a yahoo group - it's hard to keep doing pages about yourself! I wanna do some different pages but I must get these done in the next week or two!!!!! I just got my order of all the new Tim Holtz Distress inks - they are awesome! I can't wait to play with them!

To help a friend

My friend Tracey owns this site and I'm glad to give them some advertising! Fun people, lots of talent at their forums......it's where I go after I'm done with the Jungle! I met T thru CKU and have since stayed at her home in Utah twice when going down for Provo CKUs! She's awesome! More blogging later.....