What have I been doing anyway???

OK, OK...here are some previews of classes I'll be teaching in 2008... Priority Mail is on the schedule a couple of times in the near future. Jen will be teaching it in Maryland & I'll be teaching it down in Waco November 3rd. But if you'd like to take all four of these in a weekend, come out to ScrapBowl in Washington DC in February. It's gonna be a great event - the other teachers are Donna Downey, Stacy Julian, Kristina Contes, Tia Bennet, Shimelle Laine, Margie Romney-Aslett. So, that's what's been keeping me so busy over here...

PB & J and other good stuff...

And, yes, I'm reffering to PAM BEESLEY & JIM!!! Way to go fancy new Beesley - what an awesome episode to kick off season 4! Watch The Office - love it & cherish it. It is the smartest comedy currently on television.


I had to throw another Feist video on here. I am so obsessed right now...I will think of this everytime I go through an airport now...

Hours in the day...

I've been thinking about the hours in a day. I always say "I wish there were more hours in the day"...but I started wondering - do I really mean it? Honestly, what would I do with more hours? I'd like to think I'd have a burst of productivity - create phenomenal designs, sort through clutter, clean, cook something fancy from a cookbook, throw a party, etc.. I really should spend more time not working or thinking about work - like reading, seeing friends & family or spending some quality alone time at the DMA, exploring the big Half Price Books looking for forgotten treasures, at the Angelika or the Inwood or just hanging with the penguins & the manatees at the the Aquarium. Here's the issue...I'm worried that if I had more hours in a day I would just spend them the same way I spend my "wasted hours" now - sleeping, running errands, looking for my shoes (or keys, or whatever), vegging out doing nothing or just "lost online". Some evenings I wonder..."what did I do? It can't possibly be time to go to bed." OK, so I was really thinking about it (this is probably how I wasted the better part of this evening coming up with these scenarios) - did I want a 30 hour day, a 48, or would 26 be enough? If I had a 48 hour day would I have to stay at work a really long time or would I have to go in twice a day? Would I choose more daylight or nighttime? Could we still supersize the week or would a week only be 3 or 4 days long? Does that mean I get older slower???

Yep. That's my brain. What I really wanted to blog about are the classes I'm working on...but I must wait so they go up on Scrapbowl first. I'm having a lot of fun with them. Can't wait to show you!

What does your music say about you?

I love music & usually have pandora or rabio blog club on in the background when I'm working. I like them for very different reasons - rbc can create a playlist of my specific favorites, but pandora...well, pandora thinks. You tell it your favorite artists and they go "OK - folk overtones, major key tonality, jazz influence, sonorous, occasionally acoustic...here you go". They play a continuous stream of music based on your tastes and you can register your likes and dislikes and it remembers you. I have found a lot of wonderful music on there.

So - I never thought of it before, but from reading my analysis based on my favorite artists I have made a few determinations about my tastes:

• folk & acoustic/jazz & swing/or rock influence
• major tonality
• subtle vocal harmony/sonorous
• breathy or dynamic female lead

Here are my favorite pandora stations right now. Who are your favorite artists? Do you know what they say about you?

• Nina Simone
• Cyndi Lauper
• Tori Amos
• Ella Fitzgerald
• Sarah McLachlan
• Evanescence
• Regina Spektor
• Feist
• Stevie Nicks
• Kate Nash
• The Decemberists
• KT Tunstall

You've been ManHandled!!!

Matt picked a winner - so congratulations...
JB HOOD!!!
Email me your mailing address & we'll ship you your prize this week. Thanks to all of you for checking out Matt's etsy shop!

"Etsy awareness" GIVEAWAY...

Matt's asked me to have an "etsy awareness day" (which is code for he's really happy he's sold 3 things from his etsy account this week). So I thought I'd run a contest. Here's how it's going to work.

Log into or create an etsy account (if you don't have one you'll want one!!!) Then go to Matt's shop, ManHandled and mark him as a favorite seller (by clicking on the right). I will pick a winner from the people who "love" his shop! Just mark him as a favorite by Sunday at midnight - I'll announce the winner next Monday on my blog! We're giving away our biggest item - a class kit for my Conquering Christmas Planner!

Thanks for taking a look at Matt's pet project. He's really adorable with the button maker & my spiral binder...I never thought I'd get a crafty man!

What I've been up to...

Shipping season at Luxe...I've been on warehouse duty for 2 days straight & I've been going straight home to bed!

Happy weekend...

Such imagery...

A friend pointed out this video to me - she knew I'd totally dig the imagery. The fish - the dinosaurs - the toothbrushes....I think it's brilliant. I had to share. (also - it's times like this I'm so glad I have such a great guy!!!)

BLOWOUT!!!

Yep, that was me yesterday. On the expressway. That's what it looks like when you "blow the sidewall" off your tire. It felt like a small explosion under the car followed by a loud, rapid whoosh of air. And it was flat within about a minute. By the time I figured out what had happened there was smoke coming off the melting rubber.

Thank God Matt was able to come & help me & I was able to pull over somewhere safe. Julie from work even passed me on the expressway and pulled over to see if there was anything she could do.

Anyway - that was my scariness...drive safe!

A weekend in September...

Yes, it has been a long time - long enough that some of you have been checking in with me. Here's what I've been up to: I've been busy at work - I've conceptualized 5 new classes and brainstormed 24 others (and yes, that's 24 class ideas on paper). I have been enjoying some "quality Matt time". He had vacation last week & I took off a few days to be with him. We got to see a movie and do some other fun stuff out & about Dallas. We got all domestic and did a big straighten up around the house & it's been really calming and wonderful. I finished all six books in the Undead series. We've had unseasonably cool weather & I've gotten to open up the windows and air out the house (so nice). Matt's allergies finally arrived with a vengeance (at least this year it was after his vacation) & now he's doped to the hilt...let's see - what else? Had a nice dinner with Martha - our schedules finally meshed on Tuesday & I cooked. Oh, and I am loving choir right now. Alto power!!!

I was watching Humberto's path last night & got the shivers when I thought it was headed for Galveston. I am a history buff and ran across the book (A Weekend in September) several years ago when my friend Angie and I went to Galveston. I have read the book at least once every hurricane season since. I was awed by the scale of a natural disaster that I knew nothing about. To put it in perspective - Katrina/1,600 deaths - the Galveston storm/8,000 deaths. It was the deadliest natural disaster to ever happen on American soil. I've even read Isaac's storm (a bit more technical than the other) about five times for a better understanding of what happened there. I was really humbled by "how soon we forget". Every time I see hurricane coverage I get a chill and think of that weekend in September and remember the graphic and sad coverage of Katrina and try to amplify that by four times over...unbelievable...God bless all hurricane survivors.

....well. That WAS a tangent. If you haven't read up on the Galveston hurricane of 1900 I think you should. It's a tragic but important part of American history we should never forget.

Jammin in the car...

It's raining hard in Dallas - it took me an hour and 20 minutes to get into the office this morning. There was some awesome music on & it really got me into an 80's jam!

Proof of Creativity...

I scrapbooked yesterday. Not on assignment. Not for a deadline. Not with anyone's products in mind. I was just inspired and had some free time and was feeling empowered. I bought the postcard {and yes, I just scrapbooked a post card} in Amsterdam, because I knew when I saw it that was how I was going to remember the city and I didn't want that beautiful memory to fade. Amsterdam was beautiful, and I was particularly charmed by the heavy graffiti there. I've never seen anything quite like it & I follow deviant arts (long, long story). So what might seem like a crazy mix of papers actually captured the complexity I saw there - classic & timeless and dark & edgy all at the same time. I felt such freedom and so strong that day - I had to scrapbook the emotion of it all.

What I did with my weekend...

Well, Matt's been gone on his annual family hunting trip {don't worry, the birds are pretty safe} and once again I've managed to fill what I anticipated would be a low-key weekend.

Friday after work I had dinner out & I saw Oceans Thirteen with my aunt, uncle & Meg. Meg is our new "packaging specialist" at Luxe and she started work this Saturday kitting Arty Parties for the next round of shipments. While she was packing I started designing for CHA. I'm so happy to be back doing artwork again. We never meant to work so long, but we barely grabbed dinner by 9 {Pei Wei} and went home to eat take out & watch Kill Bill {again}.

Sunday was church in the morning, lunch {Pei Wei} & over to my stepsister Nancy's in the afternoon for a get together on that side of the family followed by a late night run through Half Price Books {which was having their annual 20% off sale} looking for antique children's books {my weakness}. While giving the store a thorough once-over I did find a first edition {1983} paperback copy of The Life and Loves of a She-Devil by Fay Weldon which I have been trying to track down {I know, I know, amazon.com, but I wanted to FIND it} since 1989 when it became, like, one of my favorite {stupid} movies of all time. I bought it for $0.80! SCORE!

Today I woke up in time to be at Target when they opened to buy Season 3 of The Office on DVD. Which, if you were wondering, comes out tomorrow. {details, details} There's a great clip on The Office website about what everyone in the office did over the summer. Also, Creed's been blogging all summer and they've launched a Dunder-Mifflin website.

Back to reality - I took my friend Angie out to lunch for her {belated} birthday then came home and actually scrapbooked {while watching Kill Bill 2}...I wonder if I should have Pei Wei for dinner??? OK - in case you're wondering why I'm such a freak - no, I usually don't have Pei Wei every day, nor do I eat out every day - but it's kind of a Labor Day tradition since Matt isn't a big fan of Pei Wei and/or Pho, I usually eat them all weekend while he's gone.

I'll be working hard Tuesday & Wednesday then taking two {well-deserved} days off to enjoy hanging with my hubby while he finishes his vacation.