I love Fridays!

One of the weird things about having a blog is that if I go too long without blogging, it's really awkward to come back to it. It's like anything else, I guess. Practice makes perfect, but I'm lazy lazy lazy.

So we are going for random today. Bear with me.

I just love it when my kids come home from school, and my husband comes home from work, and we just dive right into the weekend. Together.

I've recently contributed this challenge to the ClubCK blog. It's about using Microsoft Word to edit photos. Who knew one could use Word for photo editing? Not everyone has Photoshop, so this is great for small tweaks and quick editing.

New Lawn Fawn stamps! Well, these are clues to what the new stamps are.

Lawn Fawn is debuting its new line of stamps starting today. Well, what's happening today is a sneak peek, and if you go by and leave a comment, you could win new goodies. Trust me, I have these, and you will want them! (*cough*numbers*cough*)

I finally started my Project Life. I've had the goods since the beginning of the year, but never felt inspired to get started. Lisa finally came over with her book (which I love) and kicked my butt. She's right, it has nothing to do with creating perfect pages, it's all about recording the mundane. I'm not loving each spread, but I know I'm going to love the end product.

My dad trying to get my youngest to do a serious face.

My parents are here visiting from China (via Houston). Just a quick trip, but it's always nice to see them. They are intrepid travelers, adventurers, fiercely loyal, great eating companions, and have a very kooky sense of humor. Not many people have lived in Kazakhstan, traveled extensively to Istanbul, or trekked through Mongolia. Every time they visit, I interview my dad about his life. It's my best story keeping project yet.

I come by my maniacal laugh honestly. See my father above. (Please ignore horrible horrendous chandelier - it's not mine!)

My oldest (who's 13) went from being 1 inch shorter than me last September (when he turned 13) to being 3 inches taller than me. Being 13, he hates posing for photos, and usually pulls a Calvin. But we stood there in front of the mirror, started to crack up and ended up having a great moment together. Love this crazy blurry photo. We look like maniacs.

On that note, I'm off to do a little work before the crew comes home, so I can dive right into the weekend with them. Have a great one!

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Weekends in Photos: So Random!

I didn't take a lot photos this weekend. That's because I spent most of it in bed. Pretty much all day Saturday. Reading, napping, reading, napping. It does the body and soul good! So on Sunday, I forced myself out of bed, and we took the kids to grab some dim sum in the San Gabriel Valley. For you non-SoCal folks, it's an area in LA with amazing Asian restaurants. Did I say amazing? Yeah. I don't eat Chinese or Vietnamese food outside of that area. Really.

I had to bribe the kids with boba to get them to not do Calvin faces for this shot.

Later on, the little and I headed out to take some practice shots. I've been trying forever to take good panning photos, and it's a real hit or miss. A good friend of mine, who's race car photographer, was kind enough to explain it to me. It sounded simple enough... But it's not. So I did more googling, and found this article. The author suggests to practice by swinging a kid and turning with the kid. Well, my smallest kid is NOT small, so swinging him was out. But I did get him to hold my free hand, and we spun together, resulting in this photo, which I love! I love how his hair is taking flight, how happy he looks, how the background is swirling around him. Love this frozen moment of happiness. I need more practice.

We also have a new family member: Billy, the pacman frog. He's not the cutest critter around, but I'm beginning to warm up to him. I tried to pet him today. He tried to bite my finger. I guess we are not friends yet.

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Yikes! It's Wednesday. Again.

I seriously need to get a grip on my to do list. And start checking things off it. Here are some things going on in my life.

1. Craft Beach Retreat. Totally excited, and a bit scared. Rachel asked me to teach a class for her retreat, and I'm a little nervous. I was checking the event blog today, and the photos are amazing. I'm in love with the location, hotel, and hello, Urth is catering? Love their bobas. I hope they are bringing bobas. If you watch Entourage, then you know the characters are at Urth all the time. I never see anyone famous when I'm there. But I digress...

2. Me and mine went to visit the La Brea Tar Pits this past weekend. Uhm... Can't say that I needed to see that. Big pools of tar. Gurgling. Uhm... That said, I'm still taking everyone who comes to visit me there. You've been forewarned. And you know who you are.

Don't worry. That is just a re-enactment using a highly trained stunt mastodon.

3. We also went to The Counter for burgers. Uhm... Not the best. But not the worst. On a burger scale, it's better than 5 Guys, less than In-N-Out. But way more expensive than both. However, their sweet potato fries and onion strings were some of the best I've ever had though. So I'd definitely go back for those.

I was going to take a photo of the yummy sweet potato fried and onion strings, but locusts attacked before I had a chance.

Burgers were tall. Very tall.

4.  Here are some layouts I created for Jillibean Soup.

Don't freak out! Yes, I used flowers in a layout. And I made those!

A little layout about my trip to visit KP in NY.

5. What my scrap room looks like right now. Ugh. Not the most productive place.

And I'll leave you with that lovely image burnt in your retina. Sorry. Hopefully, I'll be all organized by next week. And I'll share another photo of the space. Next week. Hopefully.

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I know I said I was going to stay off the computer...

But I'm still procrastinating. So indulge me here.

I went through my medicine cabinet, cleaned it out and packed it. I went through my makeup clutter and cleared that out. I've hosted several dozen children for playdates. And I've finished all my scrappy assignments. I realize some people do these things on a daily basis, but we are talking about me. As in, me, the lazy person. So woohoo, go me!

OK. Enough self-praise. Moving onto Friday random fun.

1. I posted about Julia Stainton's studio on the Lily Bee blog. Holy cow! It's amazing! A dream space. So organized, such beautiful light. I want to move in.

2. Jillibean Soup has a mid-season release! So stinkin' cute. I love that the Yellow Bell Pepper paper is all red. Go by the blog,  and leave a comment to win it!


3. Creating Keepsakes and Big Picture Classes have joined forces (of good!) and are hosting a National Scrapbooking Day online crop with challenges, chats, and giveaways. I'll be hanging out there all day. You can sign up by clicking here. May 7th, peoples! Be there.

4. And lastly, a card I created for Jillibean. I'm not a huge card maker, but I noticed that if I include lots of paper piecing, it's actually really fun. I even inked the edges of the clouds!

Everything Jillibean Soup, except, pink polka dot paper is Lily Bee, cloud punch is Fiskars, heart punch is Marvy, font is p22 Typewriter, ink is Clearsnaps (those Cat's Eyes things. Love those!)

Now, I'm off to work on what has to be done. Really. I am. (I haven't taken any naps this week! Are you proud?)

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Random. With Flowers.

Eek. I'm super busy. But I'm a major procrastinator too. So I thought I'd post a few more random bits along with photos of flowers. I'm using them for a layout, so heck I thought I'd share them here too.

Random bit #1. My friend Teri Anderson is doing a giveaway at the Paper Crafts blog. Two words: Divine Twine. (Did I hear a woohoo?)You have til the end of tonight to enter to win. I wish I could enter. Grrr.

Random bit #2. Speaking of giveaways, Creating Keepsakes is giving away some good stuff too. Cuttlebug, anyone? Again, I wish I could enter. Bah.

Random bit #3. I found this Angry Birds softies tutorial. How freakin' cute are they? I want one of each. My kids have assigned each of us a character from the game. And apparently I'm the bomb bird (black quail). I'm told that it's because I'm volatile and prone to explosions. Nice. Thanks kids. I'll be remembering you in my will. NOT! (At least I'm one of the good guys. My husband got assigned the pig with the mustache!)

OK. Ran out of randomness for today. I know. Lame. Let's move onto flowers photos, shall we? The hydrangea, the tulips, and the lily of valley are from my yard. But I think ranunculus are definitely going to be in my garden in the near future. (Plural of ranunculus? Ranunculuses? Ranunculi?)

Random out. (Til next week, anyway.)

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Ridiculously Random

1. Don't fall off your chair. I'm actually scrapping today. I know, huh? Such a rare thing for me. But I'm working on some technique-related things for CK, which is kinda funny, isn't it? I'm not a technique person at all.

2. Kelly has posted about my visit to NY on her blog. Her photos are WAY better. Go check it out.

(Stole this photo from Kelly.)

3. I finally spruced up Mel's blog. She asked me months ago, but I was, uh, busy. Truth is, I'm just a lazy friend! But if I may say so myself, I think it looks good. But now my blog looks blah.

4. I was watching The Godfather a few weeks ago, and wondering about the location used for Jack Woltz's house. You know, he's the guy who refuses the godfather and wakes up with a horse's head on his bed? Fast forward to a few days ago, when I'm looking for a rental in Los Angeles, and for fun, I decide to check out the most expensive houses in town instead. (I like to torture myself like that). And guess what I found? Jack Woltz's house. Going for only $95M.

(I "borrowed" this photo from the Hilton-Hiland site.)

5. I'm having lunch with Lisa in two Mondays. I'm so excited to finally meet her. I'm writing this here, so she can't cancel on me last second. Because now all of you, my faithful blog readers, will know about it. And expect a report when I get back. (Yes, all ten of you!)

Good stuff, huh? Thank goodness it's Friday. And thank you for reading this. Have a great weekend.

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