The One With My New Phone

Yes, I finally joined the rest of the century and got an android phone. This is my LG Optimus....isn't it gorgeous?




I am in love with it! I have downloaded a few fun games, but wondering if anyone has any apps that they love or can't live without? Please share, I would love some tips on fun games or things that make your life easier.

Thanks!

The One With Some Layouts

I went to a retreat a couple of weeks ago and finished 6 whole pages plus a card! I got a ton of inspiration from a certain talented scrapper and was extremely productive. (For ME! One of my friends finished 20+ pages!!)

The One With the Flowers

My amazing boyfriend bought me the prettiest flowers in the whole world last week. And for no other reason than because he loves me!




And then, he bought me OWL potholders from Target. Aren't they the cutest?


I am a very lucky girl! He is so incredible.

The One With Balance

For the last several years, I have followed many scrapbookers and bloggers who choose a word every year and then make that word a large part of their year going forward. I always wanted to participate, but kept putting it off--though I'm not really sure why. Possibly because it was intimidating to me, to choose a word and then focus a year of my life around it. But this year, 2011, I feel like I need a bit more guidance. I feel like 2010 was such a huge struggle each day just to keep it together, to keep getting up in the morning and I want this year to be amazing. I know that I can make it amazing, and I think doing this project will help. So, here's to 2011, may I find balance. Balance between friends, family and my boyfriend; between work and play; between all of my many hobbies.



Picture from Ali's blog. Finding balance isn't going to be easy, but I have no doubt that it's going to be incredibly rewarding.

Did you choose a word for 2011? If you care to share, I'd love to hear!

The One With Some Goals

Well, let me just say 2010 was one of the craziest, busiest, saddest, most hectic years of my life. So, I will not apologize for my lack of blogging, I will just say that I hope to be much better in 2011. I think I can stick with it this year....I'm sure 2011 will be a better year for me. Here's hoping! So, I thought I'd share my goals, since many others on the innerwebs are doing the same and have inspired me.

11 goals for 2011.....

1.) Blog more. I'd like to try for once a week or atleast 4x per month, on average.
2.) Get and stay caught up on reading (and commmenting on!) blogs. I love visiting all of my favorites but don't make enough time to do so.
3.) Finish 75 books this year. My goal for last year was 52 and I made it to 65, so I am upping the ante this year.
4.) Spend more time on Ravelry updating my projects and visiting forums. And PR. I need to get (and stay) caught up there too!
5.) Make up a stockpile of birthday, wedding, sympathy etc and have them ready for special occassions. I always run out of time to make cards for people!
6.) Sell my snowmobile, assorted gear, wedding dress and several other things on Craigslist or Ebay.
7.) Take a trip to two places I've never been before. First up: Vegas in March for my 30th birthday! Can't wait! Not sure yet where the other one will be yet.
8.) Finish 10 knitting (or possibly crochet) projects and 25 scrapbook pages. This will be a large step up from this year, so we will see how well I can do.
9.) Find a new place to live. My lease is up in June and I will definitely be moving.
10.) Teach myself to crochet. And possibly sew. (I have a new, way awesome teacher for the sewing part, so hopefully....!)
11.) Take more pictures.

There you have it! I hope I can accomplish most or all of these things this year. What are your goals or resolutions for 2011? I'd love to hear!

The One Where I've Been Crafty

Oh that's right, I'm a crafter! The craziness of the last 4 months has made me push crafting to the back burner. Not only was most of my stuff in storage, but I just didn't feel like even thinking about knitting or scrapping. Then, once I got all settled in my new place, it hit me like a mack truck. I SO missed creating things. I do have a few LO's to share and (gasp) some knitting.

I think this one might be my most favorite LO I've ever done. It used a ridiculous amount of ribbon but I absolutely adore how it turned out.


One of my good friends and I. A super simple LO, but very fun to make.


This one I made at a retreat back in April, but don't think I ever shared.


And this is one that I made just a couple weeks ago. My creativity is coming back!


I was actually a bit worried that I wouldn't want to be crafty at all, ever again. But, I proved myself wrong and I couldn't be happier about it.

As for knitting, I am easing myself into it, LOL. I had been looking at patterns for lace shawls and they are really intimidating to me. So, I kept pushing knitting off and putting it to the side. Then, I found this cute pattern for a mesh dishcloth on another friends blog and started it immediately. It's super simple, but it makes me happy to be playing with needles and yarn again.



I've been working my way through a delicious stack of books. Mostly borrowed from friends or the library, which is even more awesome.

Right now I'm reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett, which is very good but a little heavy for me so I'm also indulging in The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer at the same time. Any book recommendations for me? I'll read almost anything. (Not that I don't have about 100 books waiting for me at home....)

Other than that, summer has been pretty uneventful, and I am so grateful for that. I've had enough drama in my life in the last 4 months than I want to have in the next 4 years! Except, the boyfriend has mono, yuck! But that's not too dramatic, just painful and tiresome for him. Hope you are all having a wonderful summer!

The One With a Ball Game

Last month was the boyfriend's birthday. We haven't been dating all that long and I wasn't quite sure what to get him. Our Minnesota Twins recently built a new stadium up in the Twin Cities, so I thought why not take him to a game? He absolutely loves baseball, so this was the perfect gift.



We had a blast! I haven't been to a baseball game in atleast 10 years and we had incredible seats. I bought them on Craigslist from someone who is a season ticket holder for an insanely good price.



The stadium is gorgeous. The game started at 7:10, so we got to watch the game go from day to night. It was so much fun because I grew up in Milwaukee, where the Brewers used to have an outdoor stadium. I remember many nights as a kid watching ball games, the bugs, the wind, the sun--it was all part of the experience. So, the game took me back to my childhood a little bit.



The Twins won, 2-1 which was great too. MN fans are so awesome to watch--they just really get into the game. I love it. (Here we are in our matching Twins gear. Dorky? Yes. But I love it. :)



The boyfriend said he had a great time and an awesome birthday, and so did I. Overall, an unforgettable day. I can't wait to go back again!