Catch Up Post

Yesterday was my birthday!! I'm now on the downward slide to 40. No worries...I still feel like a young'un!

I celebrated a little bit each day over the long Labor Day weekend. I went to a friend's house on Saturday whose son was celebrating his birthday so I got cake! and got into the festive mood. The pinata fell apart on the first turn so the duct tape came out to put his head back on. I thought it would be a great "You might be a redneck if..." joke, especially because that stereotype fits them so well! By the time we got to the end of each child getting a turn at it, most of the head and body was covered in duct tape to try to keep it together just a little bit longer!

Sunday the kids and I went to the Taste of Madison. Taking them to busy places like this can be a bit nerve-wracking, especially if they are uncooperative, but this time they did GREAT! We didn't eat a lot but what we did eat was really BAD for us. My favorite - we all split a large piece of chocolate cake with raspberry sauce drizzled overtop. YUM!!

When we got home I crashed on the couch and then woke up realizing my shoulders and chest had gotten quite sunburned.

Monday was mainly a stay home day and that felt great. We celebrated the "last" day of summer by grilling burgers and corn and eating outside on the picnic table. We played Badmitton together for an hour or so - we are a pretty sorry group so it involved a lot of running to grab the birdie. The day ended with a gorgeous sunset. Life is beautiful. :)

Yesterday the kids started their first day of school and all went well. I'm crossing my fingers that my little guy can focus better this year so we don't get calls from his teachers and principal. BOYS, I tell ya'!! He's in 2nd grade this year and my little girl is in 5th. I don't want to think about middle school coming up soon!!

I just had a chance to check out the September issue of ScrapStreet.
and if you take a look on page 16 you'll see one of my pages! I love what the editor wrote about my page too!

There were two other scrappers that caught my eye -
p. 9 "His Love" by Brianne Nevill
and
p. 38 "Crawl" by Danielle Layton. I've added Danielle to my blog roll...her work inspired me so!

What else, what else? Well, believe it or not I have a ton more to say but you've probably stopped reading by now! Right? Still with me? Okay...

Today's commitment is to SUBMIT, SUBMIT, SUBMIT. I haven't been able to for awhile--two or three months maybe?--and there's no way I'll get published if I don't submit! Duh!

Second is that I've applied for the Purple Onion Designs design team. I want to get back to basics and add more stamping to my pages, so I hope this gig works out.

I am debating on applying for the Around the Block design team as well, but haven't done so. I'm afraid of ever getting to a point where scrapping feels like a "chore" because of the deadlines I need to meet. My friend, Andrea, encouraged me to go for it reminding me that I could always step down if it didn't work out.

I go into each of these applications with my fingers crossed and that yearning in my chest. I get anxious but I also know that if the DT doesn't love my work then it's not the right fit.

Right now, this 36 year old has faith and enthusiasm so it's a good day! :)