things are looking up!

in little ways and big ways!

01. first, and most importantly, nicole is in england! okay, you may be saying to yourself, "you do know you don't live there, right morgan?" well, yes. but somehow this seems closer to me than greece. maybe because i know that the states is the next stop from england, even if that will be a few weeks from now. still, yay! i am so envious of nicole's world traveler ways, but she is one of my very closest friends and it's hard not having her around. we are so going to take a fun road trip somewhere, not sure where yet.

02. i am totally caught up with my entries for the this is me challenge blog. that doodle one kicked my butt in a major way, but i'm just glad it's done!

03. thanks to teaching 9 ten year old girl scouts how to scrapbook yesterday, i got the extra money i needed to sign up for the first of 5 classes on my scrap bowl wishlist. it's kristina's inspire me class. i'm so psyched to finally get to work with one of those awesome acrylic albums! next on the wishlist, shimelle laine's i'm just a girl class. yeah, it's super pink and girly, but i need that every now and then! i'm so psyched on the killer group of girls headed to dulles, va for this event already and the list just keeps getting better and better.

04. jack & abby, owl pals, sweet skully & bunch more sassafras lass, figgy pudding and tons of heidi swapp are all headed for the store. maybe it will all come fedex, our fedex guy is kinda cute.

and since there happen to have been four prrofs that things are looking up, i might as well fill out that 4's survey that everyone is doing. epecially since i love top 4's so much more that 5's.

jobs i've had:

01. scrapbooker
02. barista
03. preschool teachers assistant
04. bookseller

movies i do, or could, watch over & over"

01. boondock saints
02. little miss sunshine
03. jay & silent bob strike back
04. better off dead

tv shows i watch:

01. heroes
02. pushing daisies
03. lost
04. gossip girl

places i've lived:

01. helena, montana
02. philadelphia, pa
03. flemington, nj
04. nazareth, pa

favorite foods:

01. honey mustard garlic pretzels
02. chicken & brocolli
03. bbq tofu quesadilla
04. coconut mahi mahi

favorite colors (i'm going to cheat, this is my fave 4 color combo):

01. raspberry pink (razleberry)
02. un-obnoxious lime green
03. white white
04. teal

places i'd love to be now:

01. olympia, washington
02. hanging out with the east coast scrappers
03. england catching up with nicole
04. ireland

names i like but would not use for my children:

01. milton
02. fiona
03. gage
04. fairlight

okay worlds longest blog entry, oops.

whirlwind...

... wow! so i just got done teaching 9 ten year old girl scouts how to scrapbook. it's amazing how well kids roll with the punches. where most adult beginning scrappers would be asking, "can i put this here?" and "now what?" these girls were scrapping away on their own terms and coming up with some amazing stuff. it was so cool to watch.

plus, i made enough money to sign up for one of the many scrap bowl classes i want to take, haha. actually, there are only 4 and we decided to cut out the crop expense by bringin a fold out table to crop in our, hopefully ajoining, rooms. i'm teaching a halloween mini on the 25th too, so here's to hoping that the classes i want don't sell out before i can get to them!

ooh, craziness! miss courtney delaura picked my, "into it over it" layout in the post below for this weeks catwalk over at scrap in style. this is totally the raddest thing ever for the following reasons;

1. courtney is totally one of my fave scrappers! she is totally fun and her style is killer! plus, we are into a lot of the same books, bands and whatnot.

2. this is my first time on the catwalk!!!

3. it means even more people checking out into it over it which i am pimping like nobodies business because i think it's one of the most awesome things ever.

anyway, i'm off to read, and probably finish, eclipse. yeah i know it's young adult, but i love this trilogy, and i am so not a wishy washy person! this is the last in the trilogy and i've been putting it off because i don't want it to be over, but i finally gave in and have been inhaling it! i also got special topics in calamity physics. has anyone read it yet? it looks interesting to me and i wanted something to read after eclipse. any idead for what should be next?

sooooooo into it...

... and nowhere near over it!

so, i think i wrote about this before, but my friend evan is writing, recording and posting a song every week for an entire year. the project is called "into it over it" and he started 3 weeks ago during his birthday week and he is doing a totally killer job so far. i'm so psyched for him because this is such a perfect project for him. anyway, i snapped this pic of him while he was on the phone scheduling studio time with a friend a few weeks ago and had to do this layout;



anyway, everyone ever should go check it out. it's in my sidebar over there, but if you're lazy it's also right here. tell everyone you know and enjoy it as much as i am.

p.s. i used label love, kristina's collection with the paper she designed and embellies she picked and i am totally loving it so far. i want to scrap everything ever with it.

dirty dancing for sure!

so the ladies over at scrap mojo are really bringing the toughie challenges. the first one was to use, "nobody puts baby in a corner" as the title and use your own handmade felt embellies. sheesh! a toughie but def awesome creative excercise! here's mine;



i used one of my pics from the rilo kiley show a couple of weeks a go. man do i love that girlie! totally dug this challenge and i really want to be watching that movie right now, but i'm at work so instead i'll get some more scrappin' done.

finally...

... it's fallish, autumnesque and whatever other forms of those words you want to make up! i am sooooo psyched that it's actually starting to feel like fall! granted it's a kind of wet cold, rather than a crisp autumn feeling, but i'll take what i can get right now! that 90 degrees in october thing was killin me! so, here's to thermals with thumb holes, boots over jeans and switching from iced to hot coffee.

also, it's totally one of those weeks. i'm fighting off the depression at the edge of everything and am just feeling pretty bummed and grey day in general. i got a little bit of it out in my scrapping yesterday, but it's still biting at my heels in a major way. ugh!

so i got a lot done yesterday, it felt nice. i finished three circle journals for the group i'm in over at story of my life and i did the latest challenge from this is me. the topic was your collection(s). it was pretty funny to think of all the things i've gone crazy over in the past few years. i really am loving these challenges.

oooh, also i finally gave in and watched everything is illuminated the other night. it's been on my netflix queue for a while, but i looooooooove the book and movies are never as good as books, plus i had heard that it kind of ruins the book. anyway, i gave it a try and it was amazing! like it made my breathing slower and i was totally captivated amazing. it was hilarious, heartbreaking and lovely. it's right up there with fur: an imaginary portrait of diane arbus as one of the most captivating movies of the past couple of years for me.

and speaking of captivating, is anyone else watching pushing daisies? this show is quirky, funny and charming. all while being totally visually stunning. it's about this piemakes, ned, who has the power to bring people back from the dead with just one touch, but if he keeps them alive for more than a minute someone else will die in their place. he, "puts them back how they belong" simply by touching them again, and then it's for good. he is tied up with a private investegator who uses ned's powers to help him find out what happened to murder victims so that he can collect the reward. it all goes amiss when his childhood love, and first kiss, who he hasn't seen since he was 10 is killed and he wakes her and can't bring himself to "put her back" needless to say, it's hard to be in love and not be able to touch at all. you really have to see it! it reminds me of the new charlie and the chocolate factory visually, six feet under quirk wise and it's adorable. plus the girl who plays chuck reminds me of jenny lewis, kristen chenowith is in it and i think the piemaker is kind of adorable in a weird way. sorry for the ramble, but after only two episodes it is quickly becoming one of my new favorite shows of this season.

anyway, time for me to stop said rambling and get a little creativity going.

..::edit::.. they just put up a new this is me challenge and it's a total toughie! doodle a whole page?!?!?!? don't know if i can handle that today!

monday mix # 8

yeah, i know it's tuesday. yeah, it's been one of those days already. and yeah, i'm just a little hormonal! yeah, ugh!!!

anyway, i think that one of the coolest jobs in the world to have would be a music supervisor for tv shows and movies. and one of my fave music supervisors is alex patsavas who has done the music for some of the most awesomely soundtracked tv shows of all time like the o.c. and greys anatomy. right now she is working on chuck and gossip girl. and, in just three episodes she has managed to cram some amazing music in to gossip girl already. and has anyone else noticed how that show just gets better and better with every episode? anyway, here are some of my fave songs that have been on gossip girl so far.

monday mix #8 - alex patsavas is a goddess (gossip girl edition)

01. hang me up to dry - cold war kids
02. i feel it all - feist
03. the gift - angels and airwaves
04. young folks - peter, bjorn and john
05. believe - the bravery
06. when did your heart go missing - rooney
07. ballad of gus and same - ferraby lionheart
08. tell me about it - joss stone
09. dusk till dawn - ladyhawke
10. glamarous - constance billiard choir
11. 99% - the mooney suzuki
12. photograph - air
13. hard to live in the city - alberd hammond jr.

p.s. got kristina's collection this morning! yay! at least there is that bright shiny spot in an already really crappy day.

hapiness is___________

g*town! yes, i know that we were only in georgetown the one day, but i couldn't very well list like 3 towns on the cover of this mini, could i?



if you move your mouse over the picture you can go to the next page in the book.

worked on this little one yesterday at the sis crop at mlpa. it was a fun day; scrapping, cute tattooed boy to look at while we had lunch at arby's, curly fries, and prizes for all! not to mention scrapping with cool ladies!

this is just my first set of layouts in this book. i'm going to combine the stuff that came in the kit with some randoms from my stash and kristina's awesome new collection over at scrap in style, label love. i won the paper pack at the crop yesterday, so i got a peak of the paper and it's so fun! love all the papers named after designers and it just made me even more psyched to see the full collection when it shows up at my door. i'm real psyched on that thick wood postcard! plus, it will be so much easier cutting in to the paper knowing that i have a second sheet. haha.

ooh, the friday before the crop i went and scrapped at trish's with some of the sassy scrappers and totally caught up on the, this is me challenge. it feels so good to be caught up, especially when i really love all my layouts for it. they are so relazing to do because i don't feel any pressure at all, it's totally up to me wether i want it to look really art journal-y or like a layout layout. and, some of them have been really theraputic to do too. here are all my pages for it so far. the only stinky part about being caught up though is that now i have to wait for the new challenges, haha.

a catch up list!

yeah, things have been crazy, so here are a few things that have been going on and some random thoughts;

* the scrap pink crop @ mlpa with the east coast girls was actually pretty productive for me and the sleepover party was lots of fun!

* did anyone else notice that on that new show, "chuck" when they are trying to figure out how much info has been uploaded to his brain they show him lot's of images to see if they prompt anything and when he starts listing tons of government secrets one of them is, "oceanic flight 815 was shot down from the sky on..." holy lost reference!!! shot down?!?!? what?!?!?

* i bought myself the "employee of the year" office mug in the dollar section at target, haha.

* i got the bottom tier of the clip it up and the whole thing is filled with just my alphas!!! oops! this was disturning enough to me when i thought the bottom tier had 40 clips, then i realized it actually has 80!!! jeez!

* i just made really cute leaves out of daisy d's autumn paper for the front window of the store.

* i am still trying to figure out how to make the fisheye/lomo pictures i take look as good as they do in the examples.

* i love that i'm evan's go to girl for metalcore shows, haha.

* annabelle, my 3yo still a kitten, is being a total cuddlebug lately, y'know, in her own way.

* i am absolutly in love with the, "this is me" challenges!

* yeah, i'll admit it, i'm totally digging gossip girl! can't believe that people let their teenage and younger girls read these books!

* it's thursday and i already know what i'm bringing to the SIS crop @ mlpa saturday!

* speaking of crops, have you seen the classes for scrapbowl '08? holy heck! they are awesome. right now there are 4 i want to take, plus the crop time. anyone want to buy a kidney?

* i'm finally used to my hair being dark, but still get a little sad when i think about not being a redhead anymore, atleast i still have the attitude!

* i got the absolute most amazing happy mail package ever yesterday!!!

* i soooooo am going crazy waiting for my orders from SIS and hambly.

* thanks to katie i am on the lookout for a typewriter for journaling fun.

* i'm totally not a fan of the fact that the leaves are starting to change and it's still close to 90 out! that's not how it's supposed to happen! it doesn't even smell like fall yet!

* i just put out all the thanksgiving and holiday stuff for the store, and it looks totally adorable. and now i'm off to rotate some more stuff to keep it fresh!

new hair!

sorry this took me a few days, i didn't take any pictures on my digital that day and haven't styled it until today, haha. yeah i like to wake up late, haha. i'm pretty sure evan got some cool ones on his fisheye though. anyway, here is the before;



and, the after;



i'm totally in love with it! it feels so much healthier. the girl who cuts my hair is amazing and really takes the time to get you what you want, combined with what will work with the shape of your face and the texture of your hair, love her!

i'm getting used to being a brunette, i think it will be fun for the fall, but i think i'll need to go back to my natural reddish in the winter or spring. it feels weird not being a redhead!

monday mix #7

yeah i know it's thursday, but it's been a total whirlwind since saturday, including going to see rilo kiley at the trocadero on tuesday. the trocadero is totally my favorite venue in philly and rilo kiley is def one of my top 10 bands of all time, mostly due to the amazing jenny lewis;



that's her playing keyboards, she also rocked the bass, tambourine and she plays a mean mouth piano thingy! i don't think you can tell from the photo, but she is totally wearing glittery silver high heels and shiny silver hot pants! yeah, only jenny could pull that off in an indie way, haha. so here comes the theme of my mix, the amazingly talented. redheaded former child star;

monday mix #7- my 11 fave tracks featuring jenny lewis (i so couldn't narrow it to 10, 11 was torterous enough!)

01. wires and waves - rilo kiley
02. a better son/daughter - rilo kiley
03. nothing better - the postal service
04. with arms outstretched - rilo kiley
05. the recluse - cursive
06. we will become silhouettes - the postal service
07. a man/me/then jim - rilo kiley
08. handle me with care - jenny lewis & the watson twins
09. portions for foxes - rilo kiley
10. rise up with fists!!! - jenny lewis & the watson twins
11. breakin' up - rilo kiley