Wow! My photo was chosen as Photo of the Week at My Digital Muse! You can see the thread here:

Photo of the Week Thread

I feel so honored. I know it was a good photo, but Andie Smith's presets made it look that much better. :)

I want this book:

That's Life



Just released yesterday, by one of the scrapbookers on 2peas, Nic Howard.

This is the last time I took pictures of fireworks, in 2004. Created using Ronee Parsons' "StarStruck" kit and "Scrapper's Muse 6" template.

This kit, created by the amazing team of TDC designers, celebrates the best parts of summer... the cool, early mornings, the beautiful colors all around, the wonders of nature. It's perfect for so many different types of pages. What's the best thing about this kit? It's FREE! That's right, with your purchase of $10 or more through July 8, 2007, you receive this HUGE kit absolutely free.




To receive this kit free, simply fill your shopping cart with $10 or more in yummy goodies, then add this kit for a total order of $20 or more. At checkout, enter coupon code sweetsummer-0607 to subtract the cost of the kit.

Visit the TDC boutique for more information.

Later today, I'll post a layout I did with this kit. :)

Here's a layout I did about my mom's surprise birthday party this year:



I used the "Petites Fleurs" kit from Songbird Avenue. Gorgeous colors and papers - I just couldn't resist! :)

Another layout for Ronee Parsons, using the "Sky" kit and a template from "Scrapper's Muse 1," both available at Oscraps.




It's been a long week. Been working steadily towards end of project milestones at work, and I'm almost done with the 2nd project, which I'm leading. The STC nominating committee work is proceeding for the upcoming special election, and we are learning lessons that can be applied to the 2008 election. Notice how I really can't say specifics? :) Nothing is sacred out on the Internet...and you never know who is watching (or doing a Google alert).. :)

Here's a CT layout I did for the Ronee Parsons CT (creative team) I'm on:



I love the colors of the kit so much, I turned the photo b/w to make sure the photo stood out among the brightness. Plus you can't see my red cheeks from dancing (or that Long Island Iced tea drink I had... :))

Yippee! TGIF! :)

It seems like it has been a long week. Mostly work related, but some of it personal. I went to the dentist this week, because the filling on top of one tooth felt "open" - it turns out that the filling has a hairline crack, which needs to be replaced. There is also a very tiny cavity that needs a filling on the same tooth.

I can't wait for tomorrow. We are going to head to the Rose Festival and see if we can get in on a public tour of one of the tall ships in town. If we can't, we'll check out other stuff, like the dragon boat races. My friend Amy is a dragon boat racer, so that will be fun. Navy ships are in town too. One thing I won't be doing is going to the Grand Floral parade. That is going to be *interesting* with all the tape/reserving your spot frenzy going on.

I'm also heading to a friend's house to scrapbook, so that will be fun.

Aw man, they just found the missing 18 year old girl, dead. :(

I just don't get it. What possesses someone to do something like this?

Life sure can change in an instant....

A lightning strike hits a 110 foot Douglas Fir tree and only damages the roofs of three houses.

A teenager runs into Target to get a gift and is abducted as she puts her purchases into her car.

A woman smokes crack all day, then drives her car into a crowd of folks attending a festival, injuring at least 40 people.

Sometimes I think I read too much news, but I know I'm a news and information junkie, so it would be hard to give up the habit of checking the news.

Yeah, yeah, I know...it's been a while! :)

Here's a layout I did yesterday, my first digital layout in 2 months:



As you can tell, we went to the Oregon Coast last weekend. This time, we were joined by some friends from the Portland area.

Coming up next weekend, I'll be scrapping with a group of ladies at another house, after my husband and I go to see the tall ships in town for the Rose Festival.

It's been a really busy last three weeks or so!

Lots of tasks on my plate got accomplished, the last one just this afternoon. I also realized that I was way overcommitted this spring, and am taking baby steps to trim my obligations down to a manageable level. I'm learning how to say "no" which is something my husband has been saying I need to learn for months. :)

I found out that I will be receiving a service award at the STC conference in May. This award was totally unexpected - I didn't even find out until it was published in the monthly leadership newsletter. I hadn't even known I was nominated for it! :) And late last week, as I was looking at board meeting minutes for the last few months, I found out that my manager (who attended the last "in-person" board meeting in February) had known for 2 months, because he'd been at the board meeting where they granted the awards. Guess I better read those board meeting minutes a little bit sooner... :D

I'll be in Minneapolis in two weeks, attending the conference and taking pictures. I've been asked to post an "online diary with pics" on the Online SIG wiki, and also to take pictures that will be in the closing keynote session slide show.

Teaching is going well....now. I won't say anything more. :)

I'm attending one of Karen Russell's classes on National Scrapbook Day (May 5) where she is debuting a new class, "Snapshots of a Good Life"...looks like a fun mini-album project.

Well, Saturday at the coast started out rainy. :)

As I told my husband, it wouldn't be a vacation on the coast without rain....

Here's one of the pictures I took today, at Short Sands Beach in Oswald West State Park.

I've been tagged by Becky! :)

I'm sitting here at the beach, just relaxing.

- I hate being late. I hate it when others are late, because usually they've had plenty of time to get ready. I understand the occasional late thing, but both my sister and one of my friends are always late, and it's not always their kids who are the cause. My sister has even been late for Christmas morning at my folks house!

- I love reading. I don't think a day goes by that I don't read a book for at least 20 minutes (and I"m not talking work related stuff). For me, reading right before bed is my body's "cue" to my mind that it's time to stop whirring and shutdown for the night, instead of thinking and obsessing.

- I love it when I have short hair, but I also look too boyish, so once every year or two, I try to grow my hair. Right now, it's "long" to me, but it's not even shoulder length. This is the hardest part, getting past the point where I can do nothing with it (can't pull it back, must dry it to style, etc).

- I confess, I can't take a vacation without taking the laptop with me. :)

- I love naps. Naps were not made for the young. :D

- I can't sleep on soft beds - I won't sleep as deeply as I can sleeping on a firmer mattress.

- I almost always buy a book on vacation, even if I brought one with me.

I don't know who to tag, so I'll leave it at that....

Well now!

I am going to be teaching Adobe Creative Suite 2 at Portland State University, as of spring term! Starting April 2, every Monday night (except for Memorial Day and the day I'm at the STC conference) until June 11, I'll be teaching at least 16 students (3 undergrad, 13 grad so far) about Adobe CS2. Wow! If this works out, and the students want more classes, I could potentially have a sideline career. My manager, who recommended me to the university, heartily approves of this development, as he also teaches technical writing at the same university. We won't be teaching on the same nights, but at least I have a resource to talk to about grading and the "back end stuff" of the university system (dropping folks, adding grades, etc).

We are having movers come tomorrow and clean out our storage room to take the contents to our house. We are going too slow on getting stuff out of storage, and I want that "line item" off of our budget. Let's just say a 10x20 storage room is not cheap and is the equivalent of our car payment. Ouch! Means we can save more, or put more money towards an extra payment for the mortgage or vehicle.

BUSTED! Someone finally noticed (and commented) that I haven't posted for a while. Oops!

I've been a busy little beaver... :)

In case you're wondering, this is what I have on my schedule:

- Creative Team for two designers (Ronee Parsons & Marsha Zepeda)
- Creative Team for The Digi Chick
- Webmaster for the Willamette Valley Chapter STC website
- Judge for the STC International Tech Pubs Competition (lead judge of my team)
- Judge for the STC Newsletter Competition
- Judge for the STC Public Relations Competition
- Judge for the STC Community Achievement Award competition
- Member of the STC LCR
- Candidate for the 2007 STC election for one of two "Nominating Committee" positions

And just today, I got offered another opportunity - can't say much about it now, but after May I can...

Oh yeah, I work too...no wonder my creative energy seems a bit lost these days!

I promise, I'll be better about updating at least once a week! :D

My husband tells me I do too much. I know he's proud of me, but he's probably right. And he doesn't even know the half of what I do sometimes. I suppose it's part of the heritage my grandmother instilled in us - the spirit of volunteering. I've been involved in the Society for Technical Communication since 1998, and I wouldn't change a thing - I've learned a lot, and had lots of opportunities to manage and lead other people. That's not something I could have ever envisioned when I was 18 and fresh out of high school. I know I need to learn to say no...

Well, enough of the serious stuff! :)

My friend Becky T encouraged me to enter a contest with her, the Funk It Up! contest at scrapforums. She's doing the paper scrapping contest, I'm doing the digital contest. The first challenge is:

Use the lyrics of the song "Photograph" by Nickelback to inspire a fabulous layout!

With the following rules:

*You must use (at least) one complete line from the song somewhere (visible) on the layout. It can be the title, in your journaling or as an accent.

*At least one photo must be used.

*One or two page layouts are good and all size layouts are accepted.

*the layout must have journaling.

*The rest is up to you! Be creative, have fun and FUNK IT UP!

I think I know which lyrics to use, but I'm still hunting for the perfect picture. I guess it's a good excuse to finally hook up the scanner. :D

Bad bad blogger!

Life has been pretty busy in the last few weeks. On Monday nights, we go to ballroom dancing class, held through the parks and recreation district. It's pretty fun, even if we both feel like we have left feet (him more so than me). It gets us out of the house, and it's not too far away from home - we'll be able to easily bicycle there in the spring and summer.

On weekends, we've been kept busy unloading the storage room. We average at least 2 loads a weekend, but that's a glacial pace for someone who wants that storage room payment off the books. :) We can see the halfway mark - we're not there, but we can see it! We can also see the framed artwork boxes, and hopefully will get them out this weekend. That way we can put them up in time for our housewarming party on the 24th.

I'm also working on layouts for my creative teams. One of the designers I create layouts for is taking a breather, so that load will ease some. I survived all the way through the Amazing Digiscrapping Race, with the able help of my partner Dawn. We did not win the grand prize, but we completed the race - which was fun all the way around! :)

So much fun, that I decided to sign up for the Funk It Up contest on scrapforums.com. No idea if I will make it past round 1 there, but I at least entered. :)

The election I am running in has had some changes as well. First, I was one of two candidates for two positions. Then I was one of three candidates for two positions. And now I'm one of two candidates, which means unless we get a late petition entry, I'll be elected this year. Third time's the charm, right? :) I need to register for the conference in Minneapolis before the end of February, so I can take advantage of early bird rates.

Oh, and another thing...someone finally took on organizing the 20 year high school reunion. I missed out on the 10-year reunion, so I was determined to go to the 20-year this year. Of course, I don't think anyone but my two friends Lisa and Amy (we're still all friends) will remember me, but it will be fun!

I've been very very bad about updating my blog. I've been sick with bronchitis, and life has also been busy! I made it to week 3 of the Amazing Race, and have done two layouts this, for challenges #5 and #6.

Challenge #5 was to do a layout about books, in some form or fashion - no other requirements.



And challenge #6 was to scrap your partner's pictures. My partner is dawnmcd, and these are pictures of her daughter.

We are out of the apartment, at long last. No more Mr Stomper, no more constant road noise, no more Mr Cougher next door. Ah! That's a huge sigh of relief you hear... :)

Tomorrow, we'll be going to see Barry Manilow in concert. I've been a fan of Barry for a long time (probably since I heard "I Write the Songs" when I was a child), and I know I'd never want to pay the prices to see him at his show in Las Vegas, so this is the perfect compromise. He is doing a special concert to benefit cystic fibrosis, and I pretty much bought tickets the moment I got the email from K103 with the link to buy. My husband and I are sitting in the 20th row on the floor, those are pretty good seats at the Rose Garden Arena! :D

In return for my husband suffering through Manilow with me, we are going to see "A Night of Improv" in February, with the cast of Whose Line Is It Anyway (minus Drew Carey). The tickets sold out so fast, a 2nd show was added for later the same evening!