Obsessed with Organizers

I love organizers! They inspire me to clean . I completely re did my closet because of my beautiful new scrapbook organizer. I even bought new hangers from Target that are too cute (turquoise and pink).


My mom took Jenna, Dan, and I to the Giants game on Wednesday night (thanks to our contractor Jeff). We had amazing seats (11th row from first base). We even met up with my Uncle Harry who was working that night.


Saturday Dan and I went to the Elephant Bar for dinner, said hi to Lisa at Ritz, and went to our favorite place after our date, TARGET! I went to buy some hangers and found some really reasonably priced organizers and they were purple! Check your local Target in the dollar section for these:


I had to buy two new shirts since I bought more hangers than I needed. So happy with these ultra cute shirts. My style has changed so much since I started scrapping!


Yes, that is a camera on my shirt. How perfect is that?


After work on Sunday, Dan and I met my family at Dan's father's house in Danville. We had a great time and the food was delicious. I took pictures of everything, but my favorite was the most colorful cups they own!

My boss Leo from the Christmas store loaned me a copy of Harry Potter, so I am slowly fitting that into my schedule. Eva came over today with Elizabeth and Josiah. We hung out for about an hour while Eva journaled on a page for her mother for her birthday. I was going to take a picture but they had to leave so Josiah could be changed.

I've been working on my art journal a little and some other things. No pictures of those today though. I have to get ready for a very exciting class at the Bead Shop in Palo Alto tonight.

some fun stuff

Some garden glass from my mom's backyard:
Dan and I went to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on Monday. The special effects amazed me. I would love to read the book, but I think I'll wait until it becomes available at the library. I added a lot more photos to my flickr account and joined a group that requires me to take self portraits every day for a year. Here is my first one taken in my backyard.And here is one from last night. I'm learning how to use a flash!
I met some friends for a quick bite at a Salvadorian restaurant in the Mission. I tried papusas for the first time and I loved them. Found a brightly painted house that I couldn't pass up using as a great background.

The Poetic Cole and Laughing Jenny
I'm happy that I was able to list some of my textbooks and sell them so quickly. I still have a few left, but I'm thrilled to have the space back. I drove Virginia to the airport today and ran a million errands. Looking forward to working on a little something tomorrow after work. Oh how I love to play!

Virginia's Visit

Friday night my family went over to the Franco's house (my aunt & uncle) to celebrate Aunt Virgina's long trek out from Texas. We had a delicious fruit salad, along with some great ribs. Safeway has these chocolate brownie-esque cookies that are to die for! I'm not sure what they are called, but I'll definitely be looking for them the next time.
From left to right: Kelley, Jenna, Harry, Bev, Dan, Aunt Virginia, Sandy. Aren't they a lively group?

We celebrated our 11th anniversary at Christmas by the Cove on Saturday. It was a zoo. I didn't leave until 4:30pm. I definitely got my work out! After work, I met the family in Redwood City at a cute Mexican restaurant Milagros. We went to surprise Aunt Virginia's grandson Ben. He is a waiter there and had no idea that his grandma was even visiting in the bay area. Boy we surprised him alright! He was a great waiter and incredibly sweet. The food was yummy and the atmosphere was perfect. We had a great time. Virginia is now visiting with my grandma in Walnut Creek.


I went to Joann's yesterday to use a 50% off coupon. I was slightly disappointed because almost everything in the store was on sale for 25%, which normally is cool, but I had a 50% off coupon that can only be used on non sale items! I did manage to find some cute stuff and a much needed scrap organizer by Iris. It holds 6 containers that you can pull all the way out.
I have a few chores to do today before I can list some more photos on etsy and scrapbook. Hope your day is great!

I've taken 959 photos since Monday

Thanks for all the great comments! I feel so loved. Kristi is wearing some BBQ contraption that allows you to flip burgers without being burned or feeling the intense heat of the grill.

What a whirlwind this week had been. Jenna's childhood friend Autumn came to visit from Las Vegas. She brought her 1 1/2 year old son Conner with her. He's become obsessed with opening and closing doors.

We celebrated my cousin Dominique's 20th birthday in Redwood City on Monday night.

My Uncle Pat makes the best "cake" ever. It is the most delicious desert I've ever had. The bottom is a thick layer of crushed Oreo cookie , then vanilla ice cream, an amazing chocolate and caramel hardened goo, and then whipped cream. It is really special to my family since my Uncle Pat only makes it once a year.

My cousin Christina is going to be a senior in high school this coming August so I was preparing her for all the poses they make you do for yearbook. Got this cute photo of her. She's growing up into a beautiful young woman!








I remembered to bring a camera to Danville to capture some fun jumping moments on the new trampoline. Next time I'll remember to wear something that doesn't blend in with the background! This pose reminds me of one of those wooden models that is used to sketch gesture drawings.




I took Jenna, Autumn, and Conner to the San Francisco Zoo on Wednesday. We were so lucky to have such beautiful weather. Conner's favorites were the lemurs and the penguins. We had a blast shopping in the gift shop. I even found a patch!












These are such cute shoes I couldn't help photographing them for my art journal. Skulls are so popular right now.













Autumn and Conner are leaving today. I know I'll miss his laughter in our house. Autumn asked me to take a few photos of her with Conner since she has so few. I certainly did take a few!







I saw Jenny for a brief time yesterday. We tried to fit in a quick shoot before she had to meet her family for dinner.



We arrived at the Pulgas Water Temple in San Carlos only 40 minutes before it closed. The lighting was not so great since it closes at 4pm, but I did enjoy introducing something new to Jenny. I definitely want to try a photo shoot there during early March when the sun sets earlier in the day.


I'm off to clean for our new house guest from Texas. My Aunt Virginia will be staying for two nights and I want to spiff up my room a bit for her. More photos to come!

BBQ!

Since I recently graduated I thought it would be fun to document my hopes for my future. I found a contest for using transparencies on a layout so I painted on a transparency and applied it onto my picture. I also traced the pattern from the paper onto a transparency and used it as my own embellishment.
Saturday night Dan and I went to Kristi's for a BBQ. It was really fun meeting some new people and just hanging out. It was a little overcast but we made the best of it.
Expert Chef Kristi at the BBQ! The turkey burgers were yummy!





Tiffany brought me back these adorable socks from Alaska. I got to choose before my mom and Sara. I was so excited I had to take a picture.

Friday the 13th

I had the pleasure of going to the beach and getting some sun yesterday. It felt so wonderful to be outside listening to the waves. I feel so revitalized after hanging out with Jenna and Sara.

My cousin Dominique has a birthday coming up on Monday and I felt like making her a card using my photo corners. I figure that I should use the stuff that I make!



While I was making this I realized that I had put together a bunch of stuff to make a Valentine's card way back in January. I was in a card making mood since I'm waiting on a few photos for the current lo that I'm working on. This is scraplifted from Melissa.


I decided to restring a vintage necklace that my mom purchased for me at a killer garage sale. I had cleaned them thoroughly about a year ago and finally put it back together last night. Right now it is an empire style necklace. I'm thinking I might take it apart again and make it into the double stranded choker it was when I originally got it. What do you think?

A new addition to my "studio"

It arrived yesterday. My dream printer, the Epson Stylus Photo R1800, is now happily stationed in my room after a few hours of dusting last night. The box was so heavy I couldn't lift it so I had to wait until morning to set my baby up. I can't wait to order paper so I can decide which is my favorite. Epson sent glossy and matte test paper, but didn't send lustre. I have a feeling that lustre is the one I'll love.
Today was an incredibly busy day of trying to get as much off of my to do list done. I got the majority of the wine label designed. I should have the finishing touches done tomorrow. I can't wait to be done with my to do list so I can start designing my own stuff! I added something new to my esty store today. I'm starting to get more traffic. YAY!
I have been given a plane ticket on Southwest to any where in the contiguous U.S. that I must use by October. I'm having a little difficulty in deciding where to go. There are so many places! I have been thinking New York or Washington D.C. I'm leaning towards the latter since I probably wouldn't buy a ticket there, but I would buy a ticket to N.Y.C. Any suggestions?

Yay for Photos!

Today was a relaxing day around the house. I took care of Jenna and even took a nap with her. I made her some beautiful Jello that I must admit, I am quite happy with how it turned out. This event shall go down in history as the day I found something creative to do in the kitchen! Of course my real reason for making it was so I could take pictures of it! Still playing with Lisa's lens and falling hard for it.


I went on a photo shoot for a short break to get in a walk before dinner today. I really appreciate where I live. I live two blocks from Linda Mar Beach.

Here is Rockaway Beach which is just on the north side of the hill. I took these pictures within minutes of each other. Rockaway Beach happens to be one of the places that I have the pleasure of working near. I can see the waves from my window. I know, I'm really lucky!

I took these pictures because I've been commissioned to make a wine bottle label for a local wine shop in Rockaway. This is the tourist location for Pacifica. we have 5 hotels in Rockaway.

This morning's events and more

I've been working a lot lately. We had a 26 box shipment to the Christmas store on Friday. I left at 7pm to have a wonderful time with Valerie and Anders. Their car needed to be charged and I managed to find a 6 volt battery charger for them. I think we were all really surprised that I was able to find one for them. Thanks to my neighbor Judy for helping!

I finished the book Nighttime is My Time by Mary Higgins Clark. I'm so happy that I finished it since I started it two months ago! I love her mystery novels because I can't figure out who the murder is. Usually I'm really great at it too. Must have been all those Nancy Drew books I read as a kid.

This morning was very interesting. One of those days that was so bizarre you had to laugh. Jenna had an appointment at 9am to have her 4 wisdom teeth removed.
My dad took her there and I was supposed to arrive a few minutes before she came out of the procedure. I got there to find that she hadn't been taken in yet because they had to reshoot the x-rays our dentist had taken previously. When we compared the two x-rays it was quite obvious to the untrained eye that the ones our dentist had sent were not her teeth! Apparently the dentist thought Jenna had 4 wisdom teeth that needed to be removed and the new x-rays showed that she only had two wisdom teeth!

Jenna is in great spirits. When the doctor asked how she felt she gave him a thumbs up sign and said "spectacular." She tried skipping down the hall way to show that she was fine but dad and I decided that she should walk slowly since the anesthesia had not worn off and she was seeing double.

I love summer!

I had a relaxing evening watching fireworks and taking a ton of photographs. I realized that I never take photos of the people watching them so that was my goal for myself this year.























For dessert we had delicious peach pie from Ikeda's and had a blast with the whipped cream.



I listed a necklace on etsy. I really think the composition of the item is way more important than what the item actually is. As long as it's eye catching people will look.

Happy 4th of July!

I saw the best animated feature film EVER on Monday night. Ratatouille is an amazing film in all aspects of filmmaking. The animation is incredible, the story couldn't be better, and the acting is sensational! Pixar is definitely on top of the computer animated world right now. This movie really makes it clear to me that I need to be working for them because I want to inspire the world in the ways that they do. Go see it if you haven't already!

Yesterday Dan & I went to the east bay to visit my grandma and then to see his dad. The kids were rewarded for their excellent grades with a huge trampoline. Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera and missed my photo op. How unlike me! I'll definitely bring it next week. I helped Gabriella scrap her first page last night. We didn't get done until 11:45pm!
I worked on my personal challenge that Cathy gave me. I'm so in love with color that she limited me to a monochromatic layout. This was definitely one of those that I had to put away and come back to a few times. Partially because I don't own a ton of just one color embellishments.

On a totally random note, I am really excited to say that I sold my very first item on etsy and it was to a person in Australia!
I really enjoyed spending time in our backyard today. My mom loves to garden and it was a beautiful day in Pacifica. I adore sunflowers so I was really happy when she brought it home recently. My friend Lisa lent me an amazing macro lens that allows me to take really close photos. I'm so in love!

I took photos of Jenna in the backyard as well. She always captures my interest because she is so incredibly girly. Here she is giving herself a facial.
I was looking at the few photos I took last year on July 4th and it really motivated me to take more of people instead of the silly fireworks. Who needs more pictures of the same thing anyway? I'm off to Dan's house to celebrate our freedom.

Happy Summer!

Yay, July is here and it is a beautiful day. I thought I'd post some more pictures today since I can finally show some things I've been up to. I keep forgetting to post what I made my mom for Mother's Day.
I gave it to her almost a month late since I started it while I was in school and didn't have time until I graduated. It is inspired by something I saw as a make and take from my local scrapbook store and Elsie Flannigan. I really have a ton of fun hand sewing with embroidery floss. It was a big hit since my mom is a huge garden buff. She'll stay out in the garden until we make her come in at 10pm at night!

I wasn't able to show this album until my secret sister received it and she did, so yay! I have to admit it was hard giving it up since I love purple so much! I designed the light pink paper especially for Misty. When I start making a line I suppose I'll have her name somehow in the title of the paper.
The Trendy girl tag is made by Kellie from Every Jot & Tittle. Check her etsy store out! She is so talented and people love her stuff so much that you have to check her store early in the morning or else it will be sold out for the day. I also made the pink photo corner myself. I really get a wonderful feeling knowing I've pout a part of me into each project that I complete.

Last night I had so much fun with Dan. We decided to have a date night at Mel's on Geary St. in San Francisco. It is one of our favorite spots that we frequent.
I decided I wanted to sit in a different booth and boy did we regret it. Every once in a while our table started vibrating and we didn't even have to put quarters in it! We thought it was a dishwasher or some other kitchen appliance. Eventually Dan realized it was the hand dryer from the men's bathroom because it was so infrequent. I had waffles with yummy strawberries and whipped cream.

Thanks to everyone for the sweet comments. I'm glad that people actually come to read or at least look at the pretty pictures. I'm out to go sew a new project that I've been itching to start.