Sweet Sorrow

Tonia is in Orlando this week, so we got together for lunch yesterday at Crispers - I was 30 minutes late because I always forget about rush hour traffic. It was interesting to see how Crispers redid the inside to look more like a cafe, with high tables on one side and leather chairs on the other. We drove to Miriam's house at 6:30pm where she & Tonia got ready for the shoot. (It was so flattering to see pictures of baby Matilda that I took last year framed around her house. Also note how she used a stick to hold her necklaces. Very cool!)

Since we ran out of time (sunlight wise) at the first location, we drove around for a bit until we decided to stop at Leader's - a patio furniture store. The over head lighting was great against the dark sky. And I found that the lights from traffic added a cool bokeh effect in the background, so we stuck with that for a while. Miriam told me about a new editing site called Pixlr, which is what I used to edit the following photos:

I was going crazy with experimental edits and ended up loving them way more than anticipated. It may have helped more that I was listing to upbeat "club" music as I was tweaking them.

Thoughts of Home

I've been wanting to spruce up my work desk area a little to make it more personal. I did bring a few photos in the other day to show my trainer, Kristen, then let the wedding photo lean against my monitor within easy viewing distance. So last night I quickly hand-crafted this frame complete with stand.. two thin pieces of cardboard glued and taped together.  
Hey, it works!

Old Hobbies Die Hard

You may believe this is a complete lie or need to check if I have a fever, but lately I have been thinking that scrap booking is a waste of time. *insert dramatic spit-take here* I guess it's more of the small collages that I make that seem like a waste. I used to tape them to the wall, but I don't really like doing that anymore. Now I'm in a phase where I want to frame everything. And stores don't normally sell square frames, do they?

I do like the mini-books I've made (each month Michael & I were together, up until the wedding) and actual scrapbooks that I have put together (first 3 months of Full Sail, old "movie premieres" with my friends, Blood Widow). Since I'm on my Wizard of Oz kick, above are a few pages from when Michael and I kind of had a Dorothy & Scarecrow shoot in a cornfield along the main Hague road, back in October 2010.. 
Lately I have been saving all my paper and stickers to make holiday cards. That seems to be the best for now.

Important Notice.

There have many many ups and downs in our relationship over the past 3 weeks. A lot of it has to do with the stress of continuing to talk about jobs, money and eventually moving to LA. But all I keep thinking about is Valentine's Day. I'm trying to sink myself into crafts that revolve around love. I've already made a decent banner and a few cards to mail out. I framed something for Michael. I was so thrilled when I found these Wizard of Oz cards at the Dollar Store! I had just bought 70% off TinMan (Halloween) paper at Scrappy Boutique, so I loved the message that was on his Dollar Store card ~ "My Heart Belongs to YOU!" I'll probably want to keep it up all the time. I do love Michael very much. I always will. Even when I am really cranky - something he doesn't always seem to be sure of. But I have been listening to Joyce Meyer CD's in my car lately (enjoying my last week with my '95 Cutlass, which has been so good to me). I have received a bunch of good messages from Joyce - most of which seemed to be directed towards me. I really like how she was talking about how people get so bend out of shape all the time because things aren't going their way when they try to plan stuff. That is definitely me right there! Joyce said that we need to stop planning things and just go with the flow because God is the one who makes the flow. Jesus said "Follow Me", He didn't say that He would follow us. *Mind Blown!*
       Michael and I have had a couple lunch dates this week - both times at Logan's Roadhouse. I think we both like Texas Roadhouse better (because of the rolls!) but Logan's is close to where he works. Yesterday I got the lunch deal, which is good Monday through Thursday - $12 for an appetizer (I got three chicken tenders with fries), a salad (Caesar - love the croutons, but the dressing portion is far too generous), an entree with a side (salmon and mac&cheese) and a dessert (a mini strawberry cheesecake - like a shooter, which came in a small Logan's bucket). It was one of those days where I feel super hungry, but after I eat just a little, I'm full. Thank goodness for to-go boxes. I will be set for the rest of the day!