Welcome 2012!

I love the New Year! There's just something so, well, new about it. It's a good time to re-evaluate, plan, and refresh. Here are a few things that are motivating me and that I am focusing on in 2012:

One Little Word: Bicycle. Basically, you choose a word that you can focus on, mediate on, and reflect upon as you go about your daily life. And what I want to do this year is become a cyclist. So I chose a word that would  seriously emphasize that point. I chose this word primarily because I have plantar fasciitis, and I cannot run, but I must do something. Plus, I want this cute necklace, and now I can justify buying it. It has purpose.



(Image from http://www.terrybicycles.com/Accessories/Jewelry/Le-Petite-Bike-Necklace)

Move More Eat Well: An online wellness class, with (of course) a scrapbooking component.

Twelve: An online class, entirely focused on scrapbooking. How fun is that?

Still working on my 39 Things. I will post an update soon.

And of course, various other yearly and monthly goals. The yearly ones are pretty easy, such as participate in the above online classes, and buying zero candy around all the holidays. I didn't buy any candy for Halloween or Christmas in 2011. It didn't seem to decrease my consumption of crap. But maybe for the whole year...you never know.

My monthly goal for January is to pack my lunch for work on clinic days (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday). No matter how you work it, there is no possible way that Cafe Rio is good for you on a weekly basis. Even if it is, technically, a "salad".

I share these things with the few readers of this blog (you know who you are!), so that I am accountable. I cannot, dear reader(s), let you down.

Happy New Year!

It's Been a While....

Since I have all this free time, I thought I'd get out some pictures and do a little scrappin'. I needed some inspiration, and found this sketch challenge over on the PageMaps blog. They are giving away some fun supplies to one person who enters a layout based on this sketch, so I thought I'd give it a shot:



And here's my take:

Still trying to figure out a good way to photograph layouts to post, so the colors look right. This shows the colors pretty accurately, but there are some harsh shadows.  Any suggestions?

The journaling reads:

Elliott’s third birthday was celebrated with a bit of bowling and, of course, presents. He was so cute when he opened his present from me and Mark. When he saw Cookie Monster, he grabbed him out of the gift bag and fell onto the floor with Cookie tightly wrapped in his arms. And he gave us that deceptively angelic look!

I used supplies I had on hand and the Silhouette, which is hands-down my all-time favorite tool. I am slowly learning how to do more things with it. I love using sketches...it makes it easier to move beyond the basic design of a layout and lets me get right to the fun stuff. I also love it when I see a typo only after I have glued everything down. Arrgh! Fixed it, though.

Have a good weekend!

Happy Mother's Day and a Contest!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms! (And moms-to-be!) Here's my mom with her Mother's Day gift...a little scrapbook with factoids about our family:

The scrapbook was a fun project I put together with some friends last weekend - a nine hour scrapbooking marathon!

Okay, so time for a little contest! Do you know where this sculpture is located?

Whoever guesses the closest will win a set of handmade greeting cards with some fun extra goodies thrown in. If there is a tie, I'll do a random drawing to pick the winner. Just leave a comment with your guess (or email me if you want your guess to be private: loripassey@gmail.com) and on Monday, May 19 I'll post the winner! Good luck! (Contest open to US residents only!)

L