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I don't know her very well but I have bumped into her here and there on message boards and even at trade shows and she seems like a pretty cool chick.... so when I saw her clever request... I couldn't resist.... So in the spirit of trying to help a fellow scrapper:
crowdSPRING, hire Kelly Purkey for your new Community Marketing Manager!
Here are more Senior pics (yes... I'm still editing the SAME blue sweater photos but we did do 2 other changes of clothes... just haven't gotten there yet... )
I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've tried to post only to get distracted by something else. Life is crazy as always but I usually manage a post every 5 or 6 days. I've been trying...unsuccessfully! So here it goes... A post... and TONS of pictures to add to it as well....
Our business
I don't typically share too much about this aspect of our lives but I do work in our office (within our home, how convenient for me) and so it does take up a portion of my day. The economy is affecting us but not nearly as much as the onset of the Winter season. Nobody is thinking about grass or patios when they just want to cozy up next to the fireplace. We feel very grateful for the work that we do have but it makes us realize that we are in a scary place with the economy like it is. You just never know what is waiting around the corner (or in our case... NOT waiting). So... I found out that timing really IS everything and as luck would have it... I have an opportunity to step into an established business and start running it within 2 months. NOW> when I tell you what it is, you may laugh. Really. I laughed! It is a house cleaning business. Yea. Me... clean! But seriously. It is a friend of mine who I used to help out occasionally in the winter time (when things were slower for us and she wanted to get done a little quicker to attend to other things). I called her yesterday hoping that she could use my help again this winter and found out that they sold their house to move to Raleigh (2hours away) so that her husband could be closer to his job. She won't be leaving the area for about a month. So, I dreaded asking but I had to know. The answer to my question "Do you have someone who taking over your clients?" was "NO". Timing REALLY is everything. I asked if she would be willing to train me to take over her clients and if they liked what I did, I could take them on permanetly after she left. She was all for it! Just like that. I fell into my own business. What is really nice is that THIS is Jason's area of expertise. If business is really slow... he can help me (these were his words, not mine.. seriously). While this isn't a quick fix solution to the problems of cash flow, it really is a huge sense of relief to know that I will contribute in a small way, monetarily.
The adventures of Madison and I
LOST! and not the TV show (although.. I am itching for it to be back... another post another time)... no.. that's what my middle name should be. Seriously it's becoming a bit of a joke. Ridiculous in fact that I venture out into the highways of this great nation and I manage to get lost EVERYTIME. I don't mean... once here once there. No! EVERYTIME! Come on... the irony of it is that I had JUST commented that I found my way back from downtown Charlotte and was headed on the right road only minutes later to get off course again. Rand McNally has a curse on me. This I am very sure of. You may be wondering... why was I in Charlotte (and WHY on earth don't I have GPS.... I'm working on it folks.... if I get my way.. the upgraded phone that I'm looking at will be GPS right at my fingertips... another story again!). FOR SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE the tour!!! So my little detour took 45min's. Not that big of a deal if you are traveling home during the day. Not... at 12:30 at night on a trip that takes 3.5-4 hours. yea. We got home at 5am.
But I did manage to get a FEW decent pic's of our favorite dancers until my camera battery died (can you HEAR Homer Simpson in your head "DOH"). Here's what I did get and we will have more to share another time from a friends camera.
Madison brought her friend Hayley
These were some of our favorite dances but the ones we had REALLY looked foreward to seeing happened after my battery died. Forever, Bleeding Love, No Air. Then we stayed after for autographs and Madison got a photo with almost everyone from the top 10. We missed Will (didn't come out, didn't feel well) and Chelsea (it was getting too late by the time she started making her way around to us). So, when I get those emailed to me, I will post.
It really was an awesome night and in the end (after a horrible ride home in pitch black roads, rain and overly exhausted) it really was worth it to go and see this amazing show. I'll never forget it and I know Madison won't either.
Senior Pics
So the reason that my battery died halfway through the show was because the day before I had taken Jacob's senior pics. I didn't (obviously) remember to charge my battery the night before (won't make that mistake again). So I took over 300 photos and picked out 100 that I LOVED. I've only edited 18 so far. NOW... I have done several versions of each pose (black and whites, color popping, vignettes, etc.) so I have a variety to chose from but it is taking quite a long time to do the edits so I will share a few that I have done and then eventually will load them all to an album slider to place on my tool bar. Here's Jacob, 17.
That's all I can post for now. Apparently Typepad doesn't WANT me to post a boatload of photos in ONE post. More later.
Other things
Hockey starts this weekend. 3 games and one at the butt crack of dawn Sunday morning (6am.... come on people... that means we have to be there at 5:30, which means we get up at 5:00... FAH RIGGIN>>> WHAT!) and Madison is in a school play which has 3 performances this weekend along with an actor's workshop. Somebody kill me now!
So, one last thing on the scrapbooking front...
Scrapbook related
I have been in a creative slump lately. I am grateful for my manufacturer design teams because without the required deadlines, I may not have the motivation to scrap. I haven't created anything lately but I have some projects in the works that I will share soon. In the meantime, I encourage you to check out Luxe Designs new giveaway on their blog.. I mean... you just post and get entered into a drawing.. doesn't get much easier than that.
I promise to try to post sooner...I will have a ton of other pictures to share as well!
I've ran 2 and 3 miles many times since August (when this whole process of trying to get into shape began) but nothing QUITE felt as good as THIS run. What an incredible feeling to cross that finish line. More incredible was the fact that I beat my training time. I will confess that I haven't quite accomplished the running speed that would make anyone OOOH and AAAH over. Quite pathetically I have been training to run at a more JOG-like speed. 14-15 minute miles. However, I maintained it pretty much throughout the run when I'm in my neighborhood or in the gym. So, I'm feeling pretty good about the building of stamina that is critical for learning to run distance. When I got to this race, I knew we would be running up hill (a bridge to be exact) but I had no idea I would be doing that TWICE! Up.... and down... turn around at the bottom of that hill and go back up and down. WOW! Not something I had trained for nor was really prepared for. So imagine running on your treadmill and pushing that incline up to say... 8! THEN run full out. Yea... that's what it felt like. WHEW! But to finish up that race UNDER my normal training time.. that made this race feel INCREDIBLY rewarding
See... see that time? 12.5 minute miles... NOW> before you get impressed. The first place finisher of this race finished the ENTIRE race in 15 minutes. How's that for fast? Out of 259 participants of this race I finished 200th... not that it really matters but it does give me some stats to improve. It gives me a goal to shoot for. Like 10 minute miles and finishing in the top 100. That's what these races are supposed to do. Stretch you. Make you push yourself to places you never thought you could go (trust me.. I was certain I couldn't GO much further in this race but I pushed beyond it).
So, Jason and Fletcher were the only one's brave enough to get up at 6am and brave the artic chill of 55 degrees (which warmed up to about 60 by the time I ran!). I am so glad that he got to see me accomplish this. Just the first in a series of races that I'm about to embark on. Next one happens Dec. 6th and then January 24th. I'll run 5K each time. THEN. If I improve my time to where I want to be then I will move on to a 10K.
Just a note to anyone out there reading this that thinks... no way man... Let me just say. I was you. I never thought this would be ME> Out there... among runners. Doing this in the name of accomplishment. Overcoming that voice in me that says... YOu are not an athlete or a distance runner. The self-doubt that creeps in when runners passed me... and continued to pass me. Even KIDS passed me (yes... there were little kids in this race and I got passed by them..) but I kept putting one foot in front of the other knowing that it was a journey. That the end of the journey would be the amazing accomplishment. Knowing that I wasn't going to be first (nor second.. third and so on.... but hopefully not last) and all that really mattered was that I DID it. I really did do it. For a woman like me who feels that her list of accomplishments rests on the shoulders of others (mom, wife) doing this as a personal accomplishment for myself has a greater reward than is possible for me to put into words. It is line to cross off the bucket list towards a greater goal.
Just know that if I can do this... so can you. Trust me!
I am pretty sure I would do great in a high stressed job that made me work under intense stress and pressure to get things done by a deadline. Case in point... I got a reminder email from the DT coordinator of Clear Scraps that all of our projects were due today... that was a layout, a project and a mini album.... all due in 24 hours... and guess how many I had done when I read that email..
Goose egg, nada. ZILCH.... ZIPPPO.... a big fat NONE!
Now, this may make me look like a complete and utter slacker (yes, yes... I'll take the title and wear it proudly!) BUT! I did pull a rabbit out of my hat AND... I even finished up 2 more projects for Luxe. (actually I made one assignment from Clear Scraps cross over and work for Luxe too.. the beauty of working for an acrylic company AND a paper company) AND Paper Trunk products were used on the mini album... Knocking it all outta the park in one fail swoop!
SO... as to PROVE that I would be the queen of cooporate america (or at least my own little scrap cave)... here are my projects.
I have another mini album to share but I will post that another day. I'm really thrilled to have completed so much in just a couple of days (really less than 48 hours). I had been in a scrappin' rut lately and it felt good to jump back on the creativity horse... er...wheel... er... WHATEVER.. be creative again.
NOTE: if I owe you a book to arrive in the mail, they will be sent Monday. Apologies to all that I'm over due mailing out to. Getting caught up has been my #1 priority and I"m FINALLY feeling that I'm getting back on track.
