This morning I was really in the mood to do some arts and crafts. A few months ago I was at Michael's and they had some amazing deals on frames, this white one is probably my favorite of them all.

(If you look closely you can see my Lakers shirt in the reflection)

I had all of this paper, so I brought it all out and started to rip little pieces off and lay them in a design. The frame looks beach-ish to me, so I decided to go with that.

The flash made this last picture look a little funny. but I really love all the colors. Although this art project only made want to do even more. I just have to come up with other ideas for pictures to make.

Father's Day

So in case you didn't know, I love making cards. And I love finding new ones to make, or getting new ideas. I am also addicted to Martha Stewart! I get like 5 e-mails from her daily, and I love looking at everything from food to crafts. Well, obviously Father's Day is tomorrow, so I have been getting Father's Day ideas from her. Well she sent the template for how to make this...

and given, if you look close you can see how many extra folds I made that I didn't need to, but I still love it. It is one of the cutest cards I have ever made! Now if only my father (or really any guy in general) had an appreciation for all the hard work put into it! None-the-less, I love it. Here is how to make it! Have fun!

And Violet gets her championship!

(Disclaimer: I know that Anna looks way tanner than me, but I promise she isn't that much tanner)

It was a great day over here! A little nerve racking, there were a few times during the game where I am pretty sure we all stopped breathing. But Violet was a trooper, she slept through it all. Even through my jumping up and down and all of our squealing as the last seconds ran off the clock! Now we will have to buy her a Lakers outfit. My dad bought each of us these shirts, and when I asked where Violet's was, he said that she had to wait until they won a championship for her. Well tomorrow I will make sure to tell him he better get her a shirt!

And a special shout out to Breanne and Rachel who joined us for the game. They were troopers with all of our craziness!

What a great game! The only thing that could have made it better was if Kim, Brandon and the twins were here!

I am pretty sure this might be one of the funniest things I have ever seen!

http://myexwifesweddingdress.com/

So today I experienced my first World Cup game. I don't know what I really expected, but it blew all of my preconceived notions out of the water. I stood there for 3 hours laughing to myself about what I had gotten myself into.

I should have known it was going to be quite the experience when we were pulling up to the pub and had to park on a side street and walk to get to the pub. And the fact that there were a bunch of people standing outside. But no, I didn't pick it up from that. So I went on, and we entered the pub. There was about a 10 foot walk way to where the host station is supposed to be, and from there on out, a sea of people.

My view to the left

My view to the right (there was also two other rooms behind us that looked similar)

A sea of beer to go along with those people. And what happens when you drink too much of any kind of liquid? You have to go to the bathroom? And I swear, every person in there had to go at least twice. And each and every one of those people somehow managed to step on my feet. Lesson of the day, do not wear flip flops to a crowded bar! Not only was there a ridiculous amount of beer spilled down my legs and on my feet, my toes were numb by the end of the morning.

But putting that all aside, it was a great experience. There were people decked out in some very interesting get-ups, some very loud cheering and chanting, and a passion for a sport I have never experienced. I can see why their fans are so dedicated. It is just fun. Although I still do not understand all the rules and what not, it was a really good game. And I met a lot of very interesting people. The poor man behind me that I kept getting shoved into kindly pointed out (since he could tell I was not a die hard fan, simply by the way I was dressed) that he bets I never thought I would meet so many new friends in one morning. And that is very very true. I thought we would be sitting at a table, not smashed in a mosh pit type bar area, eating breakfast, not having beer spilled down my legs, and having some nice conversations, not losing my hearing because the fans are quite loud. It is to say the least, a memory I will never forget.

Starbucks

So 3 blogs in two day, it might be a bit over the top since I haven't blogged in like....3 months or something, but what can I say? I am just in the mood lately!

So on Wednesday, I was taking Dylan to gymnastics class, and as per our regular routine, we went to Starbucks. He is the only two year old that I know that gets excited about Starbucks. But it is a good excuse for me to get it. Well, I finally got tired of paying the 50 cents to get soy in my drink, so I was talking to the barista and she was telling me that if I registered my starbucks gift card, I could get soy for free in my drink! Hello, sign me up! Free soy, that is sooo exciting. So, I put some money on a gift card, brought it home, got online and was registering, and noticed some way cool benefits to this card thing! It will automatically refill your card if you set it up. And the more drinks you buy, the more stars you get, the more points you earn. I am all about the points systems. (That is probably why I LOVE Swagbucks- by the way Kim, I have 3 people signed up under me, and it is like the greatest thing ever!) Anyways, if you are a Starbucks drinker, even on the rare occasion, I highly recommend doing this. Oh, and plus you get 2 free hours of wifi a day at Starbucks. Not that I am ever there for that long, or even would get on the internet while I was there, but it is still a cool perk!

Can you tell I am excited about this?

Baking

One of my favorite things to do is bake!

I wish I had more time. And that I didn't get yelled at every time I made something. But I push on and bake whenever I have a chance or a reason.

Recently I found a cake cookie recipe. I absolutely love it. So far I have made chocolate cookies and lemon cookies. The lemon ones were amazing! And I put a raspberry in the middle, and they looked soo cute! Not to mention, they were sooo good!

I also wish I had a camera to take pictures of the stuff I bake. Then this would be more interesting. Someday!

Thanks to Violet being born, I have a new obsession with taking photos. Well, I have always loved photos, I just don't have a camera. So I use Renee and Jon's. Anna said Violet was going to dislike me some day for all the photos I make her pose for. I highly disagree. She is going to thank me. Anna then proceeded to tell me that Violet was not a doll. To which I also disagreed. She is my little dress up doll. And she didn't fuss once during her outfit changes today! (Kim, you can just thank me now... without me you wouldn't have nearly as many photos of her!)

All that to say, I love shutterfly and their new share website feature. I can upload all the photos I want and then share them with whoever. It is GREAT! I know Kim has loved it! Well, for the two other people who might read this, here is the link. Feel free to fall in love with Violet like I have. And don't you worry, once Jackson and Cullen are here, they will be added to the website as well! I am sure a good 1000 pictures will be posted over the month of July of the boys and Violet!

http://rachelalaina.shutterfly.com/

I hope you enjoy these as much as I do!

So lots has been going on this past week. Kim and the boys were here (more to come on that later), but as always, Kim got me hooked on yet another thing. Although I do not know everything about this, she told me about this thing called swag bucks. It is a new way to google search but you can earn points which you can redeem for gift cards. Well, I am always on my computer, so I might as well earn points doing it! Call me crazy, I don't care, I am way excited about this!

So here is a modge-podge of my life. Last weekend over the holiday weekend I flew to DC, despite the ridiculous amount of snow (see photo below)! It was such a good trip, but far too short. It made me miss my nephews that much more, but I was able to spend three full days just playing with them. This is a pile of snow outside my Kim's apartment complex. If you know anything about me, you know that I think anything close to 60 degrees or below is arctic weather. I pretty much ran from the house to the car to whatever building back to the car and back to the house. The least amount of time spent outside the better!

Other than running to and from buildings and cars, this is what we did all day. The boys would rummage through my suitcase and play with whatever looked like the most fun. Here Cullen has my wallet. The other favorite was my travel toothbrush and toothbrush case. Jack spent most of his time perched above in the basket. Cullen occasionally snuck in, but Jack soon reclaimed his territory.
Cullen climbing into the basket
Jack giving me a smile. Jack is getting really good at giving hugs. It is just to die for. He will reach his arms up so you will pick him up, and then he will tightly wrap his arms around you. I never wanted to put him down. He quickly realized that I was a sucker for him and would pick him up whenever he so wanted. I really just couldn't pass up a hug.
Cullen had to give me a big smile as well!
Trying to take photos of these boys with you is a very difficult task, hence why there is only one of Jack and I.
And now to the better quality photos that I stole from Kim. My camera has decided it will only hold a charge for like 5 minutes, so I have resorted to the camera on my phone. It works, but not all that well. These are the cookies we made. We tried to make them Valentines night, but we didn't realize the dough had to cool for 3 hours. So we made the dough and because we both had a sweet tooth, we also made brownies. YUM! And then on Monday we made the cookies. They are some of the best cookies I have ever had!
And these last two photos we were in a bit of a rush to get out the door, but I am sooo thankful that Kim snapped them for us.

And on to the next event. This is what a typical Saturday night and Sunday morning look like for me. This is the elementary room at my church.
And now onto a not so typical Friday night, but such a fun one! I went to a Brad Paisley concert with some girl friends of mine. We had soooo much fun. This is Miranda Lambert who opened for him. This is the second concert of his that I have been to, and let me tell you, he puts on one amazing show!
That is Brad Paisley! Does the cowboy hat give it away?
Last but not least, (more photos will come...) this is grandma's birthday cake! AMAZING! Better than any ice cream cake I have ever had, and it was sooo easy to make. Grandma likes to tell us she can't chew her food anymore, but as soon as you bring this out, she suddenly can chew again. Most of the time we laugh at her for it. She has as much of a sweet tooth as I do.
Chocolate cake with ganache frosting and cookies and cream ice cream in the middle. DELICIOUS!
Well, that's all for now. But hopefully soon I will post the few photos of grandma that I took of her with her birthday cake. I already can't wait to get off work and go home so I can have another piece, and it is only 9 am!

So, it has been a while since I last blogged....

But, in my defense, I have been being pretty productive...

This is my new hobby, making cards!

All of these birthday ones are made with cross-stitch thread. I could spend hours doing this... oh wait... I already do!

Oh, and I spend WAY too much money at Michael's and Joanne's as well!

These baby carriage ones are Renee's baby shower invites (sorry if I ruined the surprise for anyone)! I had sooo much fun making them, but they were very hard to make as well! Hopefully they make it through our postal system in one piece! They are on pink cards, and the carriage is made out of paper that is 1/8th of an inch thick. I have this quilling tool (which is one of my favorite tools ever) which is how I got all of the cute spirals! I also made some of my Valentine cards with the same tool!

And the last of my pictures (not cards) is made out of yarn. They are super cute, but thick because you basically thread the yarn through hole punches. They turn out adorable, but you have to add a backing on the inside so you don't see the ugly side of the heart!

Every time I have a long weekend I pull out all my craft supplies, (much to my mother's dismay) and work away for a few days. I absolutely love my new hobby!

So I keep telling myself that I need to blog more, but that never seems to be what happens. Somehow time escapes me. I have been trying to figure out where it goes.

I am not sure if working 4- ten hour days, or 5- eight hour days is better for me. When I do only work four days a week, by the weekend I am exhausted and spend it trying to recuperate. When I work five days a week, well I guess I really am just lazy. And then the weekend comes, and 2/3 of the time I spend my Saturday nights/Sunday mornings at church (while I love...but none-the-less, get nothing done)!! Yet I know that I set myself up for this schedule, and love it more times than not. I hate having too much spare time, because then I really get nothing done because I am not motivated. Anyways, all that to say, it is a new year, so hopefully a new more motivated me (and not just some resolution).

Speaking of resolutions, I am not one to make one. Quite honestly, I know I will never keep with it, so I really just don't bother. But I do have a few goals that I would like to make some progress on.

*Paying off as much of my student loans as possible (speaking of which, Kim, can you send me that book??)

*With paying off student loans, that means less shopping, which I am sure my closet will thank me for.

*About every two-four months do a no-spend month (which brings me back to the book, pretty please Kim??)

*I would love to read at least one book a month, any good suggestions?

*If I say it now, maybe I will do it, but I know myself and my excuses, so do I dare? Exercise more? Or any would be a good start I guess!!

*Read my Bible much more often, and stay on top of all my Bible studies (which there are like three!)

*Eating healthier would be nice as well, but I am super picky (which all my family can attest to). Oh, by the way, I write this while I am eating a bag of chocolate covered pretzels! Pathetic, I know!

I think that about sums it up for now. But I am sure there is plenty of room for improvement on that list! I know better than to say I will do something everyday, because even if I do accomplish it for a few weeks, or even months, once I break it, it is nearly impossible to start again! I either feel guilty that I stopped which makes starting even harder, or that whole lazy/constantly tired thing kicks in again... NO GOOD!

I always do wonder how people have such self-disciple. I am constantly trying to teach myself to be better. I make deadlines for myself, have a planner, etc., but nothing really seems to be helping. Any suggestions?

Anyways, moving on. I just got back from another wonderful trip to Washington! I refer to it (more times than not) as the arctic. How I ever will survive there I do not know. People keep saying I will adapt. I sure hope so. Because I never left the house with less than two layers, not to mention a cat, boots and gloves! Today I sat in the sun, it was hovering in the high-70's to the low-80's, and it was gorgeous. I actually needed sunglasses on my drive to work! It was amazing. Oh, random side note (with my recent HORRIBLE luck with driving), I finally got a blue tooth. I had one a while back, but it didn't work properly, so my cousin graciously gave me one of the two she has yet does not use. Hopefully I will remember to use it so that this girl does not get any tickets for that. Oh yes, if you ever go to court, (even if you are innocent) plead guilty!! They are way nicer on traffic fines if you do. I faced some crazy like $1000 fine/bail when I plead not-guilty to cutting off a pedestrian. I had to pay that, then go back to court and go before a judge with the officer who pulled me over and hopefully win. If I did not win, I would have had to pay for the ticket and court fees. But I plead guilty and only paid a $200 fine. It really makes NO sense, I guess that is our court system for you. I won't even begin to talk about the interesting people I encountered while I was there. Needless to say, I will NEVER be going back to West Covina!

Oh yes, so before my wonderful trip to Washington, my sister Kim and the babies were in town for about two weeks before my brother-in-law Brandon joined them for another week. I will gladly give up sleep any day to have those two boys sleep at the end of my bed! I don't think it is possible to love them any more than I do! It is too late in this post for me to add pictures, so you will just have to look at past posts to see just how darn cute they are. Or really even easier is to just go to my sister's blog!!

This past month has been a bit of a whirlwind, with all the family in town and traveling and such, but I wouldn't have changed it for the world! Despite my crazy schedule, I love my life, family and friends and wouldn't want it any other way.

Yay for the HOLIDAYS!

So life has been non-stop lately.

Traveling to New York for work kept me pretty busy, in preparation before, while I was there, and finally recovering once I got home. I think I am mostly recovered although I began to get sick while I was there, and though it never culminated into a full blown cold, my body is still fighting off something.

The weekend after I returned from New York I took a much needed vacation to Washington. It was colder than I remember it EVER being, but I survived. I was pretty lucky that it hardly rained while I was there. There isn't much worse than being cold and wet! It was a short trip, but none-the-less rejuvenating and relaxing. There is just something about the people there!

I returned just in time for Thanksgiving. It was a great four day weekend! LOTS AND LOTS of food and desserts. Followed by the longest Black Friday of my life. It all started at 9pm on Thanksgiving night. My friends and I headed up an hour north to Los Angeles to go to the Citadell Outlets. We were there from 10pm-2:30 am. We shopped/waited in lines almost the whole time, but took a much needed rest stop at Ruby's before we headed home to get some caffeine and fries. Two or three sodas later I was hyped up for round 2! We arrived back home around 3:30 just in time to head out for the 4 am openings of stores. My friends and I parted ways for the time being and I headed to Kohls with my mom. We waited outside the store for about 20 minutes which wasn't bad at all. When we arrived people were lined up with shopping carts from the grocery store down the way. Apparently the so called carts at Kohls aren't very good. So out of laziness, my mother and I came up with an alternative (walking all that way was not an option at this time of the morning)... we went back to the car and got grandma's wheelchair. It did the trick, and one better, gave me a place to sit while we finished waiting in line! Once in it was stacked higher than eye level. But we found some great deals. I have never done Black Friday to this extent. It was crazy, but fun at the same time. I can see what all the hype is about. Who knows, maybe next year I will get even more into it! Anyways, after Kohls, the plan was to drive to the mall to shop a little more and meet up with my friends. So due to lack of sleep, I thought it would be a bad idea to drive, so my mother drove me out there and dropped me off. I arrived somewhere around 5:30 am. We stayed there till about 7am when we were all about to drop (and the mall didn't have ANY good sales)!! And somewhere around 7:15 am my head hit my pillow and I was out cold for the next 5 hours. And you ask what did I do once I woke up?!? You guessed it, I did some more shopping. Target was the main one, but Michaels, Ulta and Walmart are also on that list. Call me crazy, I partially agree! So Saturday was designated to be a day of rest and arts and crafts. Well of course I had to go to the mall to go to a paper store, but after that is was home sweet home until church at night.

My art prject of the day were inspired by my friend Katie's creativity. They are no where near as amazing as hers, but in my defense they were my first try. I am in love with the idea and can not wait to experiment further.

The background is a deep red decorative paper. The green paper is so unique, Katie used it for her wedding invitations, and was so kind to let me have some. The trunk of the tree is made out of raffia (sp?). And the gold leafs I found at Michaels were added as embellishment. These are some of my favorite colors. The first photo is probably my favorite design. There is also one more to come, but we are waiting to frame it first. It looks much better framed.

So now I believe you are caught up to date. I can't wait to see what this next month holds. Kim and the boys will be here in a little over a week, and Brandon in about three weeks. Christmas time holds lots of cookie making, and of course tamales! Two of my favorite things! Tis the season! Bring on the Christmas music!

FINALLY going home!

Well, tickets are finally bought for our return flight home! I will be arriving at 9:45, and I could not be more excited. Our original flight was scheduled for last Monday, but it got pushed out to an unofficial Thursday flight, but I was beginning to get a little scared since it is Wednesday night and nothing had been purchased.

Don't get my wrong, I am fond of New York, but trying to do anything in this city with a stroller and a toddler is nearly impossible. And I am just worn down. I have been working 16 hour days minimum. I can hardly wait to go home and be CHILDLESS! These trips always give me a new appreciation for all the work that moms actually do! And of course, thankful for cities that do NOT have stairs!

Halloween

So unlike Kim, I actually did the work myself. I think the fact that Chipotle gives away free burritos is possibly the greatest thing ever. So we wrapped ourselves in some foil, and enjoyed FREE Chipotle. Greatest thing ever!

After not being able to dress up in my childhood, these past few year I have started to embrace it. It is actually pretty fun. But I won't take the credit. My creativity still isn't very good, so I turn to friends for their ideas, and a bumblebee is what we came up with this year.

Overall, it was a fun night.