{a} My World

christmas sights...

i love all the christmas sights. i love the colors. i love the lights. i love everything about christmas. i love vintage christmas. i love modern christmas. i love tacky christmas. i love it all! one thing i really love about christmas are the holiday issues of all of my favorite magazines. they are the only issues i save all year. every year. martha stewart. blue print (before they shut down. sad.). country living. southern living. real simple. better homes and gardens. i love them all. 

what are your favorite holiday sights? are you like me and love it all? or do you have certain things you particularly love about christmas? do tell. :)

day 8 ~ my favorite holiday sights
 


here it is in the book. :)

ok. off to work. at least it's wednesday and i've got great plans for saturday. more about that later. :) have a good day!

 

  

still to do...

 
do you still have stuff to do before christmas? i know i do. and, if i don't get it written down, i just might forget something. i am a list maker. love my lists. love crossing things off my list. it's such a feeling of accomplishment. what do you do to stay organized throughout the holidays? i write lists. :)

day 7 ~ still to do.
 
the tags in the pocket have the lists on them. this one is a little thick for my book. i am going to have to be more mindful of thickness from here on out. :)

 

alright. have a great tuesday. i found out last night that my niece and her family are coming from boise for new years. i CAN'T wait! can't wait to see the kids and meet my newest niece from india. CAN. NOT. WAIT.

  
  

christmas memories...

 

christmas memories. we all have them. the good and the bad (or the not so good and not so bad). i know i've had both in my many years on this earth. one year, i had both in the same christmas. i've written about it 2 of the 4 journals. i think i'm over it now. thanks, shimelle, for helping me get over it. to finally let it go. i think it is important to get it out and to move on. the bad experiences are just as important in forming us as humans as the good ones, right?

day 7 ~ a tale of 2 christmases

this is the front. it's a baseball card page cut down to fit in my book. some of the elements are on the top of the page protector.

 
here's the back. the snowflake is a metal ornament i found at target in a little set of 9 (3 trees (there's one on day 4), 3 snowflakes & 3 hearts). i think it was something like $5 and then on sale. :) i LOVE target!

back to work today. i hate when weekends end. really, i do. have a great monday!

  
   

advent...

 
otherwise known as counting down to christmas. counting down to jesus' birthday celebration. i love advent. as a kid, we did not focus too much time on advent (at home) but, it was always a focus in the sunday church services. love that. today, i love all the little advent calendars and the purpose behind them. counting down the days. this journal is kind of an advent project. aren't we counting down the days to christmas and then the 12 days of christmas? :)

yesterday's prompt was about advent. i got this cool advent tree at starbucks a few ears ago and i look forward to filling it up each year! lately, i have been using it at work. it helps to keep the focus on the season and to not get too wrapped up in the stress of work. it should be a fun place. :)

day 5 ~ advent

another 8x8 page that slips in the page protector behind day 4.

today, i'd love to hear about your advent. do you celebrate advent? do you make a calendar or buy one? what are your traditions?

have a fabulous sunday!

   

perfection...

the subject of the "perfect" christmas is one that always congers up images from magazines, like martha stewart living. but, that's not what everyone's perfect christmas is all about. i always strive for the "perfect" christmas. in my mind, for it to be perfect, i would need to take the month of december off from work. since that's not really an option, i do other things. one of them is journaling my christmas with shimelle and all the girls in the JYC class.

day 4 ~ dreams of perfection

this one goes in one of the 8x8 page protectors on the album

the ones i altered a bit. here's what it looks like in the pp. :)

that b&w drawing was a card the fell out of one of my holiday catalogs that have been filling my mailbox of the past couple months. i think it was penzy's spices. i love the card and i love penzy's spices, but that's a blog post for another day.

have a great saturday. mom and i are going to breakfast and then off to a couple holiday open houses.

 

christmas cards...

 

do you send christmas cards? do you make them or buy them ready made? if you make them, do you make them all different or all the same? i make mine. i don't mail many. most of mine are hand delivered and i have about 50 people/families on my list. have you ever done the digital photo ones? i hadn't. this year i did but still wanted it to be an open card. so, i trimmed my "photo" down and adhered them to a 5x7 card with a stamped sentiment inside and a bit of bling added to the front. i like them. easy to make in multiples and still my "style".

day 3 ~ christmas cards

the entry is actually one of the cards. here it is in the book

 

 
here's the inside. 

here's the back of the weather page, all done this time. :)

have a great friday. we're off to take my brother in law to seattle to the UW for his daily radiation appointment this afternoon.

we decorated my mother in law's christmas tree last night. fun stuff. it's one of our newer traditions. hannah was even helping tonight. so cute!

   
   
  

christmas weather...

 
christmas weather. usually we have rain. or fog. or snow. well, not usually snow. last year, we had enough snow for 5 or 6 christmases. pretty? yep. cold? yep. frustrating? most definitely! every year i write, "will this be the year?". wrote it last year, too. it was. THE year! this year i am not asking. i'm just going to embrace whatever we get. :)

these are the front and the back and a shot of the page in the book.

day 2 ~ christmas weather

the front


the back. i added a little photo tucked in under the big snowflake in that empty space on the bottom left. too lazy to take a new photo. ;)

 
in the book.

have a great thursday. we're putting up and decorating steve's mom's tree tonight. it's one of our newer family traditions. dinner and family. should be a fun night!

  
 

   

my declaration...

 

the manifesto... my declaration to journal my christmas. who would have thought? of course i will declare it. i've been waiting for months. :) i love this idea. a declaration to the world and yourself to make the time to journal your christmas. to take time to do something you love for a short time each day through the holidays with a promise of making it a better christmas. gives me goosebumps. it's true. you've heard me before and i believe it. THIS project made 2008 the BEST christmas ever! really! :) ok. off the soapbox. on to the pages.

day 1 ~ this, i declare
 

 

 
see, it's 2 little pages. the clock bit and the piperlime box bit. love that the 1st page/entry is small and you can see the stuff behind. :) (ok. already added something else to this little page, but don't want to take a new photo. i added a little green word strip sticker in the awkward space under "declare". it looks much better.)

can't wait to see what everyone else has done.

have a great wednesday!

 

and so it begins...

 

today is the day. the first prompt from shimelle arrives. i can't wait to get home tonight to work on my little page. here's the last 2008 page.

day 37 ~ it worked.

and i hope it works, again, this year. i've had a few road blocks in my efforts to get ahead this holiday season and i started to stress about it yesterday afternoon. i was talking to julie about it and complaining that i didn't want to be stressed, i wanted it to be just like last year. remembering why i do this project every year kind of brought me off the ledge. it will be ok. even better than ok. i know it!

alright. see you tomorrow with today's page.

 

happy jyc eve...

it's the eve of the start of the 2009 version of JYC!!! woohoo! so exciting. tonight i will post a page from 2008 and then tomorrow the last page of 2008 and then the 2009 pages will start on wednesday, dec 2. because i work full time monday-friday, i have to create my pages in the evenings when i get home from work and then will post the next morning. on the weekend, and on my vacation, will probably post earlier. exciting, right?

day 36 ~ pack it up.
 
this one was sad at the time. i hate to pack up the holiday stuff. the good news is, i got to go through a lot of it this weekend and tonight and it's time to put it back out. yay!

alright. i've got stuff to do tonight. :) have a good one. see you all tomorrow!

ps. check the new banner out. i put it up a day early. just for you, michelle. :) 
pss. check this out. i {heart} shimelle. so much. :)

hello sunday...

the last day of my long weekend. that's ok. only 3 more weeks until my vacation and i have something super fun and christmasy planned every weekend from now until christmas. not too bad, eh? but, as i wish the time away, i need to get things done. get presents finished and presents bought and presents wrapped. make candy cane bark. find wax paper sandwich bags for said candy cane bark. finish my christmas cards and get them mailed/delivered. and, work on my christmas journal! woohoo! starts on tuesday! are you all as excited as i am? i know a lot of you are also in class and i can't wait to see all of yours, too.

ok. maria's birthday party/dinner last night was fabulous. hannah was adorable.
 
here's the birthday girl and her grandma. (my MIL)

 
hannah and her silly half smile.

i think this one is my favorite from the night. love that she's in focus and they are not. :)

day 35 ~ don't forget

 
i need to get this page out and review what i thought i shouldn't forget this year. :)

lastly, look at these fun digi kits from 2peas. now, they aren't new. just new to me. they are designed by sande krieger. i love her. her designs, anyways. she's no longer designing digital for 2peas. makes me a bit sad. at least i have all of these and any others on 2peas i want. also, i get a lot of questions about the cool frames i've been using on my christmas posts. they are also designed by sande. go get them on 2peas. :)

 

 

 
 
here's a preview of the frames i use.
 

these cards are fun, too. (mine might just be one of these ;) )

or these...
 

enough with the christmas, already, alissa. :) have a great sunday night! i need to work on my december banner.

   
 
 

another celebration today...

hello, saturday. happy day 4 of the long weekend. today will be celebration #3 of the weekend. maria's birthday party/dinner at mom's. should be a good time. i am looking forward to it. looking forward to seeing hannah, taking photos and enjoying some BBQ'd tri tip. yum!

this morning i've been working on a christmas planner book. i try to make them each year. they keep me organized and at the end of the season i go back and add photos. so, it becomes a mini book. :)

here's a shot of last year's

 
this year's version is a little larger and is landscape. when i get it completed, i will post a photo for you to see. 

i also created a new book for my christmas cards. do you remember this one i made last year?

it turned out pretty full of lovely christmas cards from friends and family. i liked the idea so much (to make my cards into a mini book), that i made another one for this year.

 
cute, right? ;)

and, finally, another entry in the 2008 jyc book. just 1 left for each day until dec 1. i'm getting so excited for this year's class. are you?

day 34 ~ my joy
 

ok. enough christmas already. :) have a great saturday. take photos wherever you are!

  
  

black friday...

i, myself, refrain from participating in the madness. it was brought to my attention last year that i am claustrophobic. i always had the symptoms but wasn't really recognizing it, until i had to do a nuclear test on my thyroid and i completely freaked out. so, explains my aversion to black friday. for me, there is NO amount of savings worth my sanity! NONE! besides, you can still get stuff online at amazing deals and most of the retailers are doing free shipping. i'd much rather let the postman bring the gifts to me. no parking issues. no crazy shopper issues. NO LINES!!!! so worth it!

we had a fabulous thanksgiving. we went to my sister in law's house and had a wonderful meal. it was also my niece maria's birthday. her actual party will be tomorrow but we couldn't let the day pass without recognition.

have you ever seen pumpkin/pecan pie with birthday candles? :)

 
the birthday girl. isn't she pretty? :)

today, we will have dinner with my mom and step dad. we're going out. we've got enough turkey leftovers and want something else today. tomorrow is mars' birthday dinner. can't wait. hopefully, i'll get some cute shots of little miss hannah. (she was sleeping yesterday afternoon)

more JYC 2008. (we are getting close to starting 2009)

day 32 ~ my goals for 2009

day 33 ~ my 2 angels

have a great black friday! get photos. i want to see. :)

  
 
  

happy thanksgiving...

to all you you out there in blogland. i hope you have a wonderful day with family and friends. so many things to be grateful for this year. :)

just a quick post with the next 2 2008 JYC entries.

day 30 ~ 2008 a year in review
  

day 31 ~ NYE
 
 

have a great day, everyone! enjoy your turkey and stuffing!
   

welcome...

to the first day of my 5 day weekend! woohoo!!! i made it. and, when this is over, it's only a few weeks until my week long (9 day) vacation!!!

i've got a couple things this morning. i'll end with a few more entries in my 2008 JYC book. i really love that thing. i really should get it out and look over it, again. the photos i mention in all of these pics are actually in the book and adhered to the backs of the pages. i got all of those done by mid january. :) go me!

anyways, i digress. the first thing i wanted to share with you is this...

my best girl, julie, did this. she's good. :) it's so adorable, right? and, there's room to include 12 years of school photos for each child. i bet there's even room for retakes. LOL! remember those? i think i must have done them every year. i just always want options. LOL!

the good news is, this is a kit! yep! you heard me right! you can get yourself one! you better hurry, though. there are limits and this girl's kits are pretty popular around here.

where do you get one? i'm glad you asked. all you need to do is head over to treasury's blog and read this post. you send an email to elizabeth, or give her a call, and the girls will ship one out to you next week. what a great gift, huh? i know my grandma would have loved one of these with all of my school photos in one place. retakes and all. :) 

ok. moving on to christmas. :)

day 28 ~ my holiday weaknesses

day 29 ~ the red cups

 

ok. i need to get going. i've got a busy day ahead of me.

• grocery shop/thank you gift shop, in bellingham, for tomorrow
• drop the car off in lynden for a service
• thirft store, knit shop & lunch with julie
• dinner/appetizers in bellingham with the chattanooga girls

i'm super excited! have a great thanksgiving eve.