I am Alive

How horrible of a blogger am I? Having a career seriously cuts into time that is normally spent doing fun things. I might have to rethink this whole having a job thing. However, I am hoping to get with the program and start updating this thing and visiting all of my scrappin and stampin friends more. I miss ya'll!

At my online scrapping group, I am hosting a monthly scrappin challenge. The challenge this month was presented by a lovely lady, Sandy, and her challenge goes as follows:

Are you ready for the January 2009 Scrappin Challenge?
January is the month everyone seems to be into goals and
resolutions.......feeling the need for a new start......decluttering their
lives.

My challenge is a one or two page LO (digital or traditional) of your goals
for 2009. I don't care what kind of photos you add to your LO, be they
objects, scenery, etc....But, there must be one current photo of yourself on
the LO.

Most scrappers find themselves behind the camera, not in the photos at all.
I know I just printed 200 photos from March-June 2008 and I am in only one
of the photos. It will be hard for my family to find out what I looked like
last year. This way we can leave at least one for 2009.

Also in keeping with the decluttering theme you must only use supplies from
your stash - no purchases!!!

REMINDERS:
1. Scrapbook goals for 2009
2. At least one current photo of yourself
3. Only stash - no purchases

So lets get started and remember you must have your LO posted by January
31st at midnight.

Here is the page I created for the challenge. I used all scraps and things I recieved from my Secret Santa this year. She did a fabulous job getting me things like those cute chipboard buttons. The paper is from TLC - the Sweet Pea kit - which I receieved from my friend M-C but hadn't used yet. I took mty Storylines Stencil and created the wavy edge of the patterned paper just to break up the colors some. The photo frame is also from the kit. Speaking of the photo, this was taken on New Year's Eve so I thought it appropriate to place on my first layout of the new year. It is also one of my favorite photos of Brian, Shrek, and myself.



I used these great chipboard buttons that I got when I was living in Hawaii. I can't believe I still have letters left! I thought Goals was a more appropriate term since I can't seem to actually keep a resolution. Perhaps it is the wording, right? I really like how the chipboard buttons and letters add depth to the page. I added two tags to the page; one says Happy New Year! and the other says 2009. I used white ribbon to attach those to the "L" chipboard letter and placed another chipboard button in the middle of the "O". I suppose you guys are wondering what my goals are. Thank goodness for my digital camera because now you can just read them youself...

I added the definition of goals to the journaling. Now sure why but I thought it was appropriate. If you are interested I am posting my progress on my goals at my other blog, Carolina Transplant.


Now this page is, in my honest opinion, too cute to place in an album. Plus, I think having your goals in a place that you can see them and be reminded every now and then is a good thing. Therefore, I placed them on the side of my scrapping storage bins. I really like how it looks there.



For the readers:

1)What are your New Year's Resolutions or Goals?
2)How are you putting those on paper, whether on a scrap page or in a journal?
3)If you have scrapped a page, share it in my comments. I would love to feature them!

Happy Late Birthday To Me

This past Friday was MY BIRTHDAY! I turned the big 2-4. We spent the day in downtown Denver shopping (mostly browsing) the stores on the 16th St. Mall. I fell in love with Breaking the Mold Candle Company when my Mom was visiting and decided my b-day present was going to be a locally made Vanilla-Tahitian candle. Isn't it gorgeous?!? The holder is made locally as well from the same shop. If you are ever in Denver you must visit this place; the candles are delicious! You would have to smell it to believe it. We finished up my day at the Cheesecake Factory where I had a yummy lunch and Chocolate Godiva Cheesecake.

I GoT a MasTeR'S DeGReE!

This past Sunday was the big day. I officially walked across the stage and received my 'diploma'. Of course, it wasn't an actual diploma; instead there was a piece of paper from Chancellor Hinshaw congratulating us. Not very exciting considering I worked my behind off for 2 years but it works for now. The official documentation arrives in several weeks, like 10.

The ceremony was okay. It felt very, very long. Those who received certificates walked first, followed by us Master's students, law degrees, medical degrees, then the big kahunas - PhD students. Hearing the medical degrees was pretty interesting but having to sit through the reading of dissertation's by the doctoral students was a HUGE snore. Granted they worked very hard and deserve the moment, I had no clue what any of the studies were with the exception of one and that was only because I had a class with him.

Anyway I thought I would leave you with a few of the photos from my big day. You can click on any of them for a bigger view. The first photo above was of my dress when I was getting ready. I just loved the color.

Can you spot me? It's like playing Where's Waldo

I'm not trying to turn ya'll on to the bald guy. Instead, take a look at the different colors on all the graduates. Mine were black, white, and green.

Shaka with all my beautiful leis and my slippahs.

My partner in crime...I mean the title sponsor of my research.

My diploma, cap and tassel and all my leis. I got photoshop so I have been playing.

Thanks so stopping by and sharing in my moment. We didn't have graduation dinner last night because I wanted to make it home in time to watch the season finales of Extreme Home Makeover and Desperate Housewives. How sad is that??? Anyway, tonight we are headed to Cheeseburger in Paradise for a little celebratory indulging.

Aiea Loop and the Battle with Nature

It shouldn't have surprised me but amazingly enough I woke up Saturday with clogged sinuses. It seems that this time of year has my number. I am always getting sinus infections or the flu or some other tyrant of a disease that forces me back into bed. Not that I can complain about being able to lie around all day either. As luck would have it we had planned to do the Aiea Loop Hike on Saturday and since I am used to this whole being sick part of life I decided I was well enough to battle the great outdoors. So off we headed to Aiea and the 4.5 mile loop that was supposedly going to be a great hike. We parked the car and headed to the trail head which was straight uphill so by the time the trail beckoned my call I was already pooped. Not to mentioanl my nose was running faster than I was. The trail proved to be just okay. There were never any steep grades along the way but because the brush was so thick it was difficult to get any good views of the island. I suppose the best part of this day was the cloudy skies that kept the trail cool for the most part so we could enjoy our leisurly stroll. It is sometimes difficult to remember that Oahu actually has lots of greenery when you live in the concrete jungle known as Honolulu. It proved to be rather refreshing to be able to smell the outdoors and peer off at nothingness. Hues of green line the trail and off in the distance the lighter shades of green look like popcorn scattered among the trees. But even on top of a mountain the city can not be fully escaped when there are power lines running atop ridges and around the trail. It has been a rather rainy week making large portions of the trail seem like nothing but one giant mud pie. There were points that my shoes were completely under a puddle of mud and slowly sinking further. Needless to say I escaped having mud only up to my lower back. All in all however, it was an okay hike. I think it would have been a better trip had my nose not been the enemy.

Thunderbirds Perform Over Oahu

This Saturday was very busy, well busier than usual, and we were able to see a performance of the Thunderbird Jets. Instead of lying around doing absolutely nothing with our lives on a rainy Saturday we fight the worse traffic ever to go stand in the rain to watch 6 jets perform stunts over Waikiki and Magic Island. Was it worth it, you ask? Oh yea!!! These guys were amazing and while the show didn't last as long as they had advertised, those 30 minutes of my life were something that I thoroughly enjoyed and dream to see again. There is something about jets playing a rousing game of Chicken, flying upside down, and darting around the city that makes everyone, young and old, male and female, dream of flying. Or maybe that is just me. At any rate, the performance was spectacular. I was able to catch some video of the performance that I wanted to share with everyone. You can check those videos out on the web at Crystal's Photos along with photos of the Flower Parade that took place before the Thunderbirds.

In the meantime, check out a couple of photos I was able to get. They definitely do nothing to demonstrate the excitement of the show, but it is incredibly hard to capture the true essence of six jets flying at hundreds of miles an hour.



These were the four jets that ran formations and enabled the other two to perform death-defying stunts. (That might be a little bit of an exaggeration, but that is the way I saw the show)



This jet had just finished barrel roles which, by the way, are quite amazing.