the conclusion...

... to my england & more trip, in case you were dying to know how the rest of it played out, in enhanced daily facebook status update form (i filled in some gaps & added links to photos and videos all over!

day six: dublin: rhian & i rushing to our gate & getting snagged at security because we were more than a little sleepyeyed from our 2 hours sleep, a super early arrival in Dublin, a bacon butty for breakfast, a long walk to tour the Guinness storehouse and enjoy the crazy sick 360degree view of dublin from the sky bar while having the freshest of fresh pints, we snagged lots of photos at Dublin castle, st. patrick's cathedral & trinity college along the way, Guinness stew for lunch & a little nap in our overl toasty hotel room on the river liffey. walking around temple bar & grafton street, the most amazing boxty dinner at gallagher's and early jammies & girl talk while we waited for the irish dancing show to be over downstairs because it sounded like they were putting it on in our room, haha!

day seven: dublin/bristol: a delicious amount of sleep, bad irish tellie & a relaxing morning, running to a bus, flying through fog, riding through rain/snow in another bus (i really must tally at the end) and making it back to bristol to have to say goodbye to miss rhian : ( a freshly ready dinner, lots of tea and talk, attempts at blogging, planning for the rest of my stay, some british tellie, back to back skype appointments & passing out sleepy!

day eight: bristol/bath: waking up to bright sun rather than hail and nixing our rainy day bristol aquarium plans in light of the unexpected sunny day. bristol city farm to visit nicole & milo's garden allotment, talk to animals & eat at the cafe. a trip to bath to wander, snap tons of photos & listen to lots of 90's & early 00's pop rap in the car while rapping our hearts out. just barely beating the snow & hail on our beautiful drive home. amazing dinner at planet pizza. dancing & singing along to more 90s hits including veruca salt. skype & sleepies.

day nine: bristol: walking all over bristol and shopping around the college green. working on house party hopes 5: brit edition. preliminary packing. milo's amazing dinner of a chicken roast with gravy, potatoes & parsnips, stuffing and steamed carrots & broccoli. more glee, i now have nicole & milo properly addicted. unbelievable sleepypants.

day ten: wales: roadtrip with nicole to wales & conversation so good we didn't even notice we hadn't even had any music on until we were arriving. rhian, dan & zoe picking us up after i purchased more randoms at sainsbury's. a beautiful, hilly drive to swansea to walk on the beach & up and down the awesome & relaxin winding, hilly trails with nicole, rhian, dan & zoe to see as much as we could see. lunch/dinner on the pier followed by the best ice cream ever. a quick visit to the falling mumbles castle. tea at rhian & dan's and some conversation & photo swapping before our trip back to bristol to pack my things for my journey home.

day eleven: traveling: a just-about-teary goodbye with nicole at the bristol bus station as i headed out for my full day's journey via bus, express bus & airplance back home where i was so psyched to have the boy waiting for me just outside of customs. i managed to watch the first period of the usa v. canada hockey game before jet lag set in and bedtime came at just 9:30 est, haha.

i had an amazing time and am so fortunate to have awesome friends like nicole & rhian who took me in and out & about for what ended up being an awesome 3 country tour of a little slice of europe! it was so nice to come back to home & the kitties though. definitely the perfect length of time for the trip. so amazing. lot's of scrapping to come!

friday five #18

01. skybar - rhian & i really, really lucked out with the most beautiful dublin weather on wednesday! and, because of our early (read: operating on 2 hours) flight, we had already done and experienced and absolute ton by lunch time, including a little turn about the guinness storehouse that ends in a free fresh guinness at the skybar, which is atop the storehouse with a complete 360 degree view of dublin from above. it was beyond beautiful, as evidenced in the reflection of the sky in the mirror topped table my expertly poured guinness was resting on. (also, look at this stop motion video rhian made. it causes me to explode into a semi-violent giggling fit.)

02. shreddies - i've been having these for breakfast just about every morning since i landed! they are kind of a denser version of wheat chex with a slight sweet taste, almost like a really light honey. super delicious. they may very well be added to my short list of foods that will have to start being shipped to me in the states. also, are you ready for the cutest bit? they're tag line is, "knitted by nanas!"

03. olympic hockey - this is officially the first time i've ever actually cared about anything olympic related, and it is just about completely impossible to see any of the olympic hockey games here in england. grr to that business, but yay to the fact that i've at least been able to follow the scores in real time thanks to the scorit app and team usa is winning across the board! the boy is recording all of the nasty match-ups on sunday, and you can trust that i will be watching them as soon as humanly possible upon my return to the states.

04. tea - i've only ever been a tea drinker as a last ditch effort to stave off illness... until bristol happened. maybe it's the chill i know is just outside the window, maybe it's being surrounded by interesting boxes of tea, or maybe it's simply in the air here! i'm finding it cozy, comforting and actually even pretty yummy. my favorite at the moment is clipper's organic nettle tea.

05. bristol city farm - it was supposed to be hailing today so nicole and i were readying ourselves for a day spent at the blue reef aquarium here in bristol, but what we awoke to was instead a beautiful blue skies kind of day. we threw on clothes and headed out to enjoy it for as long as it would last and our first stop was the bristol city farm! nicole & milo have a little allotment here where they work their own little bit of garden and have some veggies & such. there is also a little cafe there that serves amazing food made with ingredients grown in the allotment. and obviously i'm a fan of anywhere i can pet pig noses, talk to whooly sheep and visit with sweet little baby cows! we also went to bath, which is a story for a whole 'nother blog entry.

friday five #08

umm... we'll call this a central, mountain & pacific standard time friday five! so close...

01. "up" - i actually fell in love with "up" when kerry brought me to see it at the alamo drafthouse on my birthday, but now i'm loving the fact that it's out on dvd, and i've already seen it twice! i've been renting it from the redbox because i refuse to buy it if it's going to come out in 3d like 6 months from now, but i can't wait 'til it does.

02. work! - is it nerdy to talk about how much i love my job in my stuff-i'm-digging-on-friday-five? i don't even care if it is. i've always loved my job at scraptasia and now that we are in our new location and i get to place orders over in our new "high strung" chartreuse studio from the comfort of our new rolling chairs it's even better. obvs that's just one of the million things i'm loving at work, but it's the little thing i was thinking about when i added it to this week's five, so there it is.

03. peter bjorn and john's "living thing" - in a classic morgan maneuver... i didn't really like this album on my first couple of listens when it initially came out. but, as always, it's a few months down the line and i'm soooooo into it! it's one of 3 or 4 albums on constant rotation right now and i think it has that perfect dark, but playful feel for the fall. don't expect the whistling tv & commercial fodder type of peter bjorn & john, this is a whole different animal. i've already listed a couple of these on house party mixes here, specifically "it don't move me" and "nothing to worry about", but for a different feel also try "4 out of 5", "living thing" and "i want you".

04. dr. sheldon cooper - i am not usually a half hour sitcom kind of girl, but i am a bit of a nerd and even if you aren't, you can definitely appreciate big bang theory. this is easily one of the laugh-out-loud funniest 30 minutes of tv and sheldon totally makes it for me. i don't know that i can really describe sheldon, but you can experience him in all his matter of fact, spock-like, face popping goodness here.

05. taylor swift's snl - i was pretty disappointed by the january jones episode last week, and i haven't yet seen joseph gordon-levitt's this week, but right now my love of snl has been renewed and is being kept alive by thoughts of taylor swift's episode from the week before last. i'm not really into taylor swift or know much about her (other than the fact that i dig that she is in her mid-teens and dresses, writes songs and acts like she's in her mid-teens, which i pretty rare & cool) anyway, almost every single sketch in this episode, wether she was in them or not, was hilarious. i'm not even going to try to explain them to you, you just need to get on hulu to watch the full episode!

i know...

... i know i just did one of these, but i've had total bloggers block lately, and these little lists are the easiest kick start, so without further ado, 9 things i'm doing, loving, reading, watching, listening to & working on right about now.

01. artsy kismet -  okay, i know kismet isn't the correct word, but you'll get what i mean! so back in the beginning of june kristina gave me a bundle of cuteness, prints, cards, atc & such which all happen to be in pretty blues and creams. then, i got that melissa moss printed canvas up there on sale from urban. so, now i feel like i need to throw in my fave black & white photo booth strips and make a cute little cluster of blues somewhere in my room! it's high on my to do list post-saturday.

02. all things jenny - not that i haven't always loved jenny lewis, but lately it's been kinda non-stop. i've been belting songs from acid tongue, the execution of all things & under the blacklight at the top of my lungs in the car, wishing i could pull off little shortie jumpsuits with tights and vintage heels like she does and lately she has been serving as my inspiration to let my hair grow for as long as i can stand it, or at least until october! she is, however, also kind of making me covet all across bangs and that scares me a little.

03. bonfires - seriously? so glad that i got to check this one of my summer to do list this year! everyone's summer should include at least one bonfire, camping or otherwise. i love when i have a tummy full of s'mores, hair that smells like camp fire and ears full of great music & friends laughing . soooooo good!

04. collapse - okay, so this book may be really arduous, but it's definitely really interesting also. i have been hearing good things about it for a while, but was afraid to really dive in. but, after a whole month of reading nothing but sookie stackhouse "novels" i figured i should offset those with something serious. i'm only about a quarter of the way through, and it's slow going, but so far i would definitely recommend it for anyone patient enough to sometimes have to read things twice to really get it.

05. card camp - tomorrow's the big day! after 12+ hours of class prep and 5ish hours of other prep and packing i'm teaching "3 maximizing you paper pad classes" in one day with 29 students total! eek! i'm sure it's going to be lots of fun teaching my scrappy ladies off campus but it will be a relief to be able to think of something other than 6x6 paper pads after 4 p.m. tomorrow!

06. queen sophie ann - it wouldn't really be a list style post from me if there wasn't at least a mention of true blood, would it? i found queen sophie ann's character pretty intriguing in the sookie stackhouse books, so i'm excited to see where they take her character in the the tv series. in the books she's supposed to be about 16, which made her a little creepy and disconcerting in my mind, so i'm glad to see that evan rachel wood is playing her in the series and wonder what that means for it all. i'm super bummed that there are only two episodes left though!

07. cheeseball photos - i have a few friends who would be the first to tell you that i am no good at staying candid or having my picture taken. but, lately i've been embracing the cheesiness and rocking the top model poses (like the photo above, i'm doing the marjorie hunchback) and silly faces. i have to remember to just have fun, not be afraid to be silly and forget what others are thinking!

08. fantasy factory - okay, if you are not hooked on this show already, you need to be or we probs can't really be friends! at least catch a marathon next time there's one on because rob & drama totally kill me. the second season premiere was the other night and my face like seriously hurt from laughing/smiling so hard throughout the entire half hour. i just love that they have fun, do whatever crazy thing they cook up but they all stay supportive of one another and their fun is never at anyone else's expense. i'm not saying it's good family viewing, but it's way better than a lot of other stuff out there. i mean i really almost peed my pants during all the cheesy & swissy scenes.

09. the big relocation - things are starting to move along with the big scraptasia move! i'm so excited about all the ideas bouncing around and all the planning. i can't believe i haven't made a whole organizational binder system for the space design and move yet, i mean really. i'm sure dawn can't believe it either, she know i'm always looking for an opportunity to come up with a new organizational or binder/notebook system. it's a sickness.

10 things for now.

01. my diana+ camera rig - i caved on the instant back, and as long as i was already buying, i also bought the flash and fisheye lens, oops! i have to say though, i love my diana so much more right now! it takes some practice to get those classic diana style, dreamy shots so i'm looking at the instant back (fuji instax actually) as my training wheels. i'll use it until i get a handle on what settings and exposure lengths get all the affects i want, and for parties of course! we went instax crazy at k's birthday soiree, as evidenced by the 40ish shots lining her mirror, and it was perfection!

02. tattered angels "marshmallow" glimmer mist - there aren't even words to describe how much i'm crushing on this limited edition color, mostly i just drool over it. seriously, i dare you to shake it up, spray it on some chipboard and not fall head over heels for it's perfect snowy color & shimmer! i can't wait to go on a spraying rampage when the new mini chipboard snowflakes from maya road arrive!

03. "time to die" by the dodos - i am beyond ready for it to cool down already! airy, dreamy music like the tracks on the dodos' brand new album are for open car windows, zooming down the highway late at night, breezy hillside reading and bright days when the heat has finally broken. so, can this heat please break already? "fables" which is getting the heaviest pandora and sirius xmu play, made it's way onto my dare mix, and it's a good one to start with.

04. anthro's bold boutonniere dress - this one is high up on anthropologie wish list. i'm stalking it on the daily, hoping to be there at just the right time when it goes on sale. the mustard & plum stripes are killing me! hopefully is just as gorgeous in person. we'll see today when nat & i make a trip to short hills for american apparel and for me to check on this slate & sun jacket.

o5. eric northman - i know i've already blogged about my complete "true blood" obsession, and the fact that eric is my favorite part of the sookie stackhouse books, but the whole eric/godric story arc that just ended was completely ridic in the best of ways! loved little unassuming looking godric and his almost accent. loved the origin story of eric's transformation, and i always love eric's sassiness. you all must know by now that i'm a sucker for a guy with that classic troublemaker half smile!

06. get up kids tickets - seriously, what person my approximate age didn't at least fall a little bit in love to the sounds of the get up kid's "something to write home about"? the get up kids hold a special little piece of my nostalgic heart and they're on tour! so, obvs, kristina's birthday present had to be tickets for us to go see them in november at my favorite venue in philly, the trocadero (troc) already have late 90's emo throwback outfit planned.

07. photobooths - i can't get enough of them! they have to be the real deal, 4 photos on a textured paper strip for me to be fully in love, but like anyone else, i'll take a cheap knock off in a pinch. we found a couple along our celebration route last saturday, my favorite being the one that produced that photo strip over there <- b&w, crisp and yummy! if i ever randomly strike it rich, first purchase will be 2 photobooths (2nd will be a mega touch machine, duh!)

08. nat, vee & k visiting - seriously? i can not wait for the summer time version of that popsicle pups picture over there to happen! natalie is home from taiwan for a couple weeks and she's headed up to meet me here at work as i type! then, kristina and that precious pup, chloe rose, will head over from ny post-rush hour and vee follows close behind tomorrow morning. much catching up and fun to be had. i can't wait to be surrounded by a large portion of some of my favorite ladies in the world!

09. where the wild things are - i was super excited/incredulous about the release of this movie, but when the first trailer came out i got excited, and then... when the new extended trailer came out i freaked the heck out! it makes me tear up, love "the arcade fire" even more, which i didn't think was possible" and dance around like a total crazy lady. check it out, fall in love with it, go win us some tickets to the premiere k thx.

10. scarlett - luckily 80's/9o's cartoons were pretty good about supplying us gingers with some cool redheads like april o'neill, daphne & ariel, but my favorite cartoon ginger was  scarlett, she was kick butt, in command and super cool. i was not so sure about this "g.i.joe rise of cobra" thing, the previews made it look so cheesy, but i went to see it wednesday by myself (with coffee & animal crackers) and looooooved it. scarlett was totally awesome and the cheese was kept to a total minimum. it's a definite summer must see, and i might even go see it again myself.

+/-

i haven't done a good ol' plus/minus post in a while, or any blogging for that matter, oops!

+ current musical obsession = "pot kettle black" from the new tilly & the wall;



- it's stuck in my head like woah!

+ finally got to catch up with kristina! fun in long island followed by me kidnapping her for more fun/take your friend to work day in jersey.

+ it's officially fall since i got to have a pumpkin ale (with cinnamon sugar rim) with kristina

+ new fall clothes that i can't wait to wear (hello sweater dresses, grandpa cardigans, sweater vests and really cute flats on the cheap)

- my thirst for cute flats may be near satiated, but darn anthropologie for having the raddest selection of boots i can not afford!

+ at least i'll "totes" (hehe, k) be rockin' sweet feather headbands all fall!

+ "hometown" collection from october afternoon = love at first (well second, really) sight. it's not often that i buy a stamp set and use 5 of the stamps right off the bat!

+/- i can't stop making halloween cards! it's no secret that i'm always smitten with tons of halloween paper, but there are so many adorable halloween stamps out this year! there is really no end in sight.

+ for y'all since that means i'll be sending tons of halloween cards this year!

+ the new (october 2008) issue of nylon arrived today and zooey descganel is on the cover, love that girl!

+ fall tv is finally starting! it probably deserves it's own +/- list but for now, it simply gets a +. although, i will say this;

- i never thought that i would be so much more invested in chuck bass (a.k.a. the basstard or basshole) & b than s & lonely boy, i mean what the h?

+ my mum & i are planning a charity crop (just for this year, to help a friend out who was going to have to cancel it because of illness) and we just found a great venue for it. i've already started e-mailing companies, kit clubs & generally rockin' people for donations for baskets, door prizes and table gifts and i think it's going to be really rad.

+ i have scrappies to play with, which is exactly what i'm going to go do right this very minute!

im out.

you can bet i'll be listening to this on the plane! check you after cha!

heart happy.

here are some things that are making my heart pretty happy right now;

* making fake polaroids - i just realized that if i use the 3 x 3 layout setting on my little photo printer and then carefully crop with my trimmer they come out looking all lovely and polaroid-ish. at least as long as you don't look too too close, hehe. i'm going to use all these for the book for colin. speaking of which,

* the book for colin - it's making my heart all skippy at least. i was going to buy soem balsa wood at home depot, but couldn't find it and then i stumbled upon a 1/4 inch thick piece o4 wood that was 6 inches by 3 feet. i had the evil man, who made me wait and then forgot me, cut it into 10 inch pieces and that's what i'm using for the front and back of the book. this is both exciting, because i already made the cover and love it, and terrifying, because i am not so sure how this is actually going to work out in the end. hence, the skippy heart. we'll see. he will love it regardless, as evidenced by;

* the fact that colin still has every crafty bit i've made him in his room at his parents' house - this is especially impressive because we dated when i was 19, 6 years ago, haha. included in his morgan craft collection are the collaged cardboard stars with quotes on the back of them that i made for his ceiling. and most impressingly/horrificly a frame i had bought him to put some of the best pictures from his bands first summer tour in, but didn't have copies of the pictures yet so i drew horrible stick figures of whatever each picture looked like and he kept them in there, haha. i'll have to snap a pic next time i'm there, haha.

* watching my so called life on dvd - and most especially, one of my all time favorite my so called life moments;



oh my god, love! look for an entire love letter to my so called life someday really soon, haha. the quotes alone, y'know?

* the preview for cloverfield - ummmmmmm must see this movie asap! i don't know why i'm so excited about it, but i totally am.

* the fact that i get to head to scraptasia now to drop off my class sample and, just maybe, do a teeny tiny bit of shopping. yay!

santa's coming!

ohmygod dieing! love love love love love elf! it's part of my fool-proof get-myself-into-the-spirit-if-it-kills-me plan. this plan would work much better if it weren't for the fact that i work everyday util 7 until christmas eve. people may be getting pictures of the gifts i will be getting them when i can actually get to a store. oops!

and speaking of santa, i got a HUGE box from my secret santa sister at scrap in style and wow is it filled with yummies! she totally spoiled me with hambly transparencies and rub-ons, thickers, fontwerks labels and stamps, scenic route journaling spot stickers and rub-ons and all kinds of other fun lovelies! i was totally spoiled! and her card hints at meeting me soon, which makes me thing it's someone who is going to scrap bowl or cha! can't wait to find out who she is! thank you so much secret santa!!!

i've already put some of my goodies to good use in the super secret gift i'm making! i ended up re-do'ing page 5 and 6 of the album i'm working on, and i love them a million times more. sometimes it's so worth the re-do! finished pages 7 and 8 as well, but i might just end up re-do'ing page 8 as well. perhaps i should automatically not do whatever page i'm planning on doing last thing before bed since they seem to become a rough draft anyway. hmm.

so i was thinking, wouldn't teleportation be lovely? i would love to be able to have a holiday party with all my favorite people from all over! rhian could bring cupcakes with sprinkles, natalie could bring her wii, elise and vee could make mini party favors, kristina could bring chloe in a holiday party dress (although i can't picture chloe in a dress, maybe a santa lobster outfit, haha!) heidi, michelle r and sara could take turns dj'ing, aimee could cover the tree in fun feltie ornaments, katie couldknit us all stockings, nicole could bring the good wines and beer from her job, stacey could organize a gift swap and all my fave scrappers could come party! someday soon ladies!

grinch mail!

yeah, that's a weird combination for sure.

wednesday i got to head down to cherry hill and catch a ride with evan to jasmine's americas next top model finale party at john's house. so fun! jasmine made eveybody tyra mail cd's and we all ate junk food and had some drinks. it was way fun to have people to rip on the show and get angry with, haha. the best was totally ripping on that new show, crowned. i mean come on, "team silent but deadly!" they really had no idea what that meant? haha. we were the last people there so that we could catch the end of project runway. yeah i still don't care about any of those designers except for the fact that jack the bear is cute.

oh, and evan used my laptop to upload this weeks into it over it song and holy poo! i am blown away, by the ending especially, it makes me want to like burst! and because it's on my desktop, you can bet i've been listening to it on a pretty regular basis. go check it! he has his first live show for this project on the 28th and i can't wait! plus, i'm working on a really rad related project!


anyway, i got to drive home in this thursday morning. ick! thankfully it was just rain for the first 2/3rds of my drive, but then once it turned into ice it was way terrifying out there! it took me 3 hours to get home instead of 1 and a 1/2. insane!

so, on to the grinch-y part; i suck at christmas this year! tree? no! decorations? no! christmas cards out? no! gifts under control? no way! ugh! i just can't seem to get myself into it this year, and it's totally catching up with me! i mean christmas is in what? like 11 days! eep! i've been listening to my christmas mix on the pod (i'm a sucker for indie and alternative christmas re-do's) and that's not working! maybe i just need to force myself to start and then i'll get into it. i'm totally whelmed with christmas!

umm also, please die from laughter while watching this hilariousness that i found via donna downey's scrapbowl questionarre;



ohmygod! seriously! i don't know which part is my favorite, the dude with the huge harry potter glasses or the really ridiculous ones that no one would be able to do! there are a bunch of other episodes too! love it!

3's

so i've always been into lists and 3's seem to be everywhere lately, the stupid 333 storyline on csi: new york, tracks i'm digging and groups. anyway, here are some random lists of 3. feel free to come up with your own.

3 sequential track i dig;

from death cab for cutie's album, "transatlantacism"
6. tiny vessels
7. transatlantacism
8. passenger seat
soooooooo painfully yummy

3 things i wanted to be when i grew up;

1. singing voice for a disney character
2. childrens book author
3. rockette (stupid 3 inches)

3 lyrics that i love;

1. "there's not a lot for you to give if you're giving in."
2. "you are what you love not what loves you back."
3. "someone choose who's left and who's leaving."

3 smells i adore;

1. medicated chapstick
2. the smell right before it rains in the spring & summer
3. sleeping kitty tummy

3 websites that consume the most of my time;

1. scrap in style tv
2. trendetta
3. here

3 most recent album purchases;

1. sky blue sky by wilco
2. in our bedroom after the war - stars
3. our ill wills - the shout out louds

3 favorite things to do;

1. scrap
2. hold hands
3. take pictures

3 must watch shows right now;

1. gossip girl
2. pushing daisies
3. the soup

3 favorite songs at this instant;

1. a praise chorus by jimmy eat world
2. breakin' up by rilo kiley
3. set yourself on fire by stars

3 things on your holiday wishlist;

1. the snow & graham 2008 wall calendar
2. plush superbot from bam pop
3. wii with dance dance revolution

and now that i've been playing on youtube look for my 3's of youtube videos real soon, haha.

i need a little indie theater!

this movie look totally freaking hilarious.

happy halloween!

this just makes me giggle!



also, if you don't mind a couple of curses check out the robot chicken parody of it's the evil great pumpkin charlie brown.