Cards and Envelopes

On the mantle are some of my birthday cards from earlier this month. L-R: from Ms. Patty, Jordyn, Jessica, Michael and Dawson. I especially love the ones where pictures are drawn. When Mia sent me her graduation announcement in May, she added simple stick figures of us around Los Angeles, of whenever she visits in the future, and it was super cute. Of course this is not including the handful of nice printed cards that I got from my mom for "birthday week"!

Back in February I came across an Etsy page by SheDoodled and her cards are so amazing. I promised her that when I got a job, I would come back to her "shop" and buy one of her cards. At the time she even had one of Dorothy's dress and glittery ruby slippers, but when I checked last week, this Edward Scissorhands one was my favorite. Although I think she will take requests, I love all the detail and how it shows what can be created with just paper and scissors- twice. Once by Elizabeth (the creator) and also by Edward. ☺ I should rewatch that movie. It was far different than what I was expecting. I should start giving more things a first chance!

This "weekend" (my Monday and Tuesday off) were days where I come back to work and give my usual, "It was fine" when asked, but then after thinking further, I realize, "Wait.. No, it was a really good weekend!" Michael convinced me to go hiking for the first time in a month, then we joked about driving to Schlotzsky's for dinner before deciding we really should. And after showers and changing into dry clothes, we got in the car and drove an hour to the city of Brea in Orange County. The girl behind the counter was really nice- she reminded me of Jacquie. One of those people who, within a short conversation, you could easily see yourselves forming a solid friendship. Our sandwiches were good and the girl working held onto the biggest Cinnabon for me, as promised. Before we drove home, we stopped by Sonic because I saw their sign said you can buy a 10-pound bag of their pebble ice for $2.49. And Michael loves pebble ice, almost as much as he loves his little dram cups! He says when we get our own house, he is investing in a pebble ice maker for the freezer.

On Tuesday Michael saw the new Superman movie, Man of Steel. I stayed home but then we went to Chili's for dinner, in Encino. Michael let me run into the craft store and I picked out some thin papers because I wanted to spiff up my cards, by making my own pretty envelopes (see below). I used a simple pattern by carefully ripping apart an old envelope from Jessica and outlining it, then folding it along the necessary areas. If you have a favorite, let me know and I'll send it to you, with a letter! That night we rented Beautiful Creatures. I liked it, although that was also different and less intense than the trailer made it look. It was a sweet love story; the boyfriend was really nice. There should be a saying that goes, "You can't judge a movie by it's trailer!"

I also got my scrapbook items mailed in from Two Peas in a Bucket today. It seemed to take a while, but it was nine days from the time I ordered it.  Still I guess it's worth it since they sell items that I can't get at any of the stores around here. There is one store in Torrance called Scrampers that claims to be the best scrapbook store in Los Angeles county. It's on my mini-roadtrip list, also an hour away. I'll have to see how it compares to Scrappy Boutique in Orlando, before it went out of business at the end of the year. I got that top camera frame at Michael's, out of the two dollar bin. That bottom left area needs to be filled and I definitely need to add some pictures with Ryan before she and Ben come to stay with us for a couple days next month! They will be staying in Venice Beach for the rest of their vacation week.