Weekend recap

What a fun Thanksgiving weekend! It's always nice to be at the lake, and this weekend was no exception. Here's a quick recap of what we did, followed by a few of my favorite pictures! :D

Thursday: ate turkey, hung out with the fam and extended fam, my little daredevil decided she'd enjoy sliding down the hill which led to Granna getting a box for a "sled" and then little sister wanting in on the action...here's my fave shot:



Friday: Josh and I drove to Oxford for our yearly pilgrammage to Oxford to watch the football game---ah the game! 45-0 was NOT what we were expecting, but so exciting to witness. And dare I say we got a little bored toward the end?!! Of course we stayed to the end--it's my rule--you don't leave early. And since the Rebs had lost the last few times we'd been to watch, it was so fun to celebrate the win!

Saturday: We took the girls to the whooping metropolis known as the Jasper Mall, and sat with Santa. We also celebrated the Bama win, and got a little scrapping done somewhere in between.

Sunday--we celebrated Granddaddy's birthday, which is actually today, then headed home. Happy Birthday 82nd Grandad!



Coming soon: Christmas projects like my December Daily, advent calendar, and more! Yay!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

With the crazy preparations, packing, cooking, traveling, etc. I thought I'd post a day early just to say Happy Thanksgiving. If you read my blog, then I'm sure I "know" you somehow either online or in real life. And I just wanted to tell everyone how thankful I am for all of you. I've only been online for a year, and I had no clue how it would change me! Not only am I inspired to scrap, but I've grown more as an "artist" (I still feel funny using that term for some reason) and as a person. I've gotten to know a lot of you fairly if not really well, and even meet some of you. I love that I've had a chance to experience the day-to-day happenings with you, and even pray for you! So all that to say, I'm thankful for you my online friends and readers!

I don't have a Thanksgiving LO to share, but I do have some fun pictures I took yesterday just trying to practice with my camera. Have I mentioned yet that Josh gave me a Nikon D60 for our anniversary and my 30th birthday?! Yeah, he did. It was a TOTAL shock and surprise, very well planned and very well hidden. I left it in the box for a week afraid to touch it! LOL! I have such a wonderful husband, who loves me enough to sell his stuff on Ebay/Craigslist just to get me a prized possession he knew I'd love! What an amazing man!

Anyway, here's what I got yesterday (still shooting in auto.) you KNOW that if I'm afraid to take it out of the box, then I'm DEFINITELY afraid to shoot on anything more than auto or the preset actions!!

okay, enough talk...Sarah Kate playing in the leaves.







I am determined to learn how to use my new camera! I was totally inspired by Elizabeth, who said that one year ago she knew nothing about photography and now she's got her own photography business! So if any of you want to tell me what I'm doing all wrong, a good class to take, where to start...I'm all ears! And I'd LOVE to know how people (coughcoughKarenRussell)take gorgeous photos of VERY active toddlers who don't pose or even stay still for a second!! So any advice in that arena is much appreciated. Oh but I don't get the whole f/2.5 ISO blah blah stuff. I know there's LOTS I don't know, and I may take my little advanced point-and-shoot with me this weekend just because I know how to use it! LOL!

Anyway, hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving! Have fun, eat well, and GO REBELS!!!

Fun little quiz

You know I love quizzes, did every one of them in every single Seventeen magazine when I was a teen, and now here's this one. Nailed me dead-on!

What Your Thanksgiving Meal Says About You


When it comes to the holidays, you follow and love the big traditions. You look forward to them every year.

You see the holidays as a time to be close to loved ones. It's a good time to reconnect and make memories.

You like the aspects of the holiday that remind you of your childhood - opening presents, treats, and old favorite foods.

During the holidays, you are likely to feel comforted. At your worst, you feel a bit over-indulgent.

You consider yourself to be a bit of a purist, and you're proud of it.

You tend to spend your holidays doing everything and anything. You really get into the holiday spirit.

What does your Thanksgiving meal say about you?

Weekend update and caught on camera!

This weekend we went to my grandparents farm in rural Alabama to celebrate an early Thanksgiving with everyone. The major highlight of going to the farm for the girls is the fact that they get to see "amals", meaning horses and cows. This trip they helped pick up pecans too.

Here are some favorite shots I got with my NEW camera!!

My sister and SK


comparing acorns and pecans


proud moment


My sister said that Caroline kept walking around with her nut bucket saying, "Twick o Tweat!" LOL! That one made me smile! :D


And I just caught this about an hour ago:


Ever since we moved her to a big girl bed, she's had rest time instead of nap time (thus the messiness of the room!). She almost always winds up falling asleep eventually. But then I almost always find her in her bed too. Apparently today she wanted to watch the rain! This one also made me smile!

Some Winter Weather and more!

But not winter weather in the traditional sense. I just got my 1st ever kit from Noel Mignon, and let me just tell ya, it's FABULOUS! Or in our house it's more commonly said, "Fabuloso". Thanks Dora! note the sarcasm ;) But Noel's "Winter Weather" kit is seriously dee-vine; it's so packed with goodies! So what'd I do? I pulled it all out and got started right away! And after an hour or two, here's what I'd created. Notice all the vintage goodies---loooove that!

1st Christmas


I did this one for Noel's challenge blog, which right now is to "lift" the layout by Anne-Marie Teo. Now that is NOT my style of scrapping, but I love her work, and I loved the challenge so I had to atleast try!

Here are some close-ups of the LO:




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In other news and fun, yesterday I was playing online when the next thing I knew both of the girls had crawled up in my lap. I guess I'd just uploaded some photos, because my camera was right in front of me and so I decided to try and get a self-portrait of the 3 of us. Both of them cooperated for the most part, and I'm so happy that I now have pictures of ME with the girls!





Aren't we silly?! I Love it! :D

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Last thing and then I'll call it a night---about the post about Swagbucks. I just realized that if you use certain online stores (the bestest being Walmart), then you earn $1 in swagbucks for every $5 you spend at the given online store. How cool is that! I think I may just have to buy my camera (which Josh bought me for our anniversary to my total and utter surprise! But I'll save that story for a different post) now at Walmart! But I think you have to go to Walmart through the Swagbucks site in order to get credit. Okay, enough about that! Sorry for pimpin' it on my blog...but I did double my swagbucks points today thanks to you guys! ;)

Hope you have a great start to your weekend!

Swagbucks search engine

Okay, so here's the deal I was referring to in yesterday's post. I stumbled across this the other day from Money Saving Mom, and thought, "It can't hurt, right?" It's a new(er) search engine called Swagbucks. It rewards you for your searches online when you use their search engine (powered by Google and Ask.com). Basically after a set number of searches, the site rewards you with what it calls a swagbuck, and after your Swagbucks have added up you can redeem them for giftcards which are sent to you in the mail.

I did some investigation and learned that Swagbucks is very simple to sign up for. In fact, it takes all of about one minute. There are no fees, no credit card required, and no phone number or address requested. After that, you are credited 3 points to your account and then download the toolbar and every day as you're searching online, you earn a few more points.

Now, you might be thinking, "What's the big deal if I only earn a $5 gift card every month?" Well, $5 isn't that exciting, you're right. But your earnings will exponentially multiply when you refer others. They multiply quickly after you've referred several people, and honestly, if you're reading this, then you probably have a blog. Just think. If you post it on your blog, send them your referral link, and you'll not only instantly earn more points when they sign up, you'll also earn points for the searching TEHY do online as well as your own! You could be receiving a WHOLE LOT more Swagbucks than just the few you make doing searches.

Before I gave you this schpeel, I thought I'd try it out for a few days. I'm not one to promote something that I'm not willing to do myself. So I signed up, Swagbucks is now my search toolbar (they use Google and Ask.com for their searches btw.) I haven't had a problem at all, in fact yesterday I earned another swagbuck just because I was researching DSLR deals. So I can't complain there. All I can think of is if you're going to be searching anyway, then why not try to get "paid" for it, ya know?

So there you have it. My Swagbucks endorsement. To me it's not any different than Google, which I use a lot. I hope that by posting this, you'll all sign up too and pass it on or post it on your blog too, and all of us who are addicted to the internet, MBs and such, will all gain some gift cards along the way!

Oh, and the gift cards? Big brand names like Starbucks, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble. Places you really do shop and eat and drink. Just thought that might be worth mentioning. So go check it out. Make it your toolbar/search engine of choice, and let's all earn some goodies in return. ;)

You can sign up for Swagbucks here.

Now back to your regularly scheduled programing....

Some vintage/heritage for ya!

Hey there everybody! Hope everyone's doing great today, I know I am. (The kids are finally napping! hehe!) The weather's great outside, so the girls and I were finally able to play a bit in the backyard. Now if only Caroline would learn how to STEER her Barbie Jeep, then we'd be in business! LOL!

I was also able to pick up lots of goodies at Ms for $1 each today and that just made my day! I got stocking stuffers for the girls and their youngest cousin Gracie. I bought a wooden frame so that I can make a little something for a friend. (She and her girls faithfully read my blog, so I can say what it's going to be. ;) ) And I also saw where Ms is having a 40% off sale on all things storage related. SOOO I may go back this weekend and grab the Making Memories embellishment shelving they've got on sale! My scraproom *needs* it badly! It needs ANY kind of organization badly!

I also wanted to share another LO using Camille's Nov. Cream 'n Sugar kit from Crop Suey. For some reason, I got all nostalgic on for one. I had some photos of my grandparents sitting around and I was inspired to do something with the vintage postcards that came in the kit. (Noel sparked some inspiration with her LO challenge for their Harvest the Crop entitled "Remember".) So I put 2 and 2 and 2 together (heritage photos, vintage postcards, and "remember" prompt), and this is what I got. A LO that shows my grandparents through the years.

"Remember the Good Times"


I really like the way it turned out, though the style is a bit out of the norm for me. But I may also love it because I love my grandparents so much! They've both had a special influence on my life. Not to mention that in the center photo Grandad is holding a wooden Cypress Garden ski, that MANY years later, I learned how to waterski on. (And he still has it in the boat now!) Just something that gives me warm fuzzies as I look back on them in the early years. Her anniversary card to us this past week said she hoped we had 60 good years together the way the 2 of them have. I hope and pray that we can sustain a marriage like theirs for half that long if not more.

Okay, enough sap. I could go on and on about my grandparents. They're special people. Of course I think that, but all my friends who've met them think that too! (They still exchange Christmas cards with my BF from high school! hehe!)

Hope you're having a great day! I'll post tomorrow about a a new deal I stumbled upon! ;)