I went to Bethlehem PA to celebrate my moms birthday and had the best vacation I have had in a long long time. It was the perfect trip at the perfect time (despite it being frigid!)

We went to the casino, visited downtown a little bit, had wonderful meals both dining out and dining in (Mom even made me Frikadelu soup a favorite from my choldhood. I think I ate 5 bowls over the course of the weekend). I even bought my exercise gear and went to the local YMCA. Which is in this fabulous HUGE older building where you can actually still rent rooms! I had one of the best Zumba classes ever.

I also discovered EVERYTHING is about 10 minutes from my moms house. Food, entertainment, the airport, shopping you name it- it's 10 minutes away!

I spent part of our trip helping my mom stuff bears that she does for the local hospital. They hand these out to kids who are staying there. I had such a fun time doing it even though I had a small allergic reaction to the poly fill. I finally had to stop at 12 stuffed bears.


I am already making plans to go back sometime this spring!

As much as I hated hated hated being snowed in last week I really do love winter white clothes and accessories. There is something about the pureness I really just love.

We were lucky and got 5" of snow last night topped by 1/2" of ice. It is sooo peaceful outside. Unless it warms up considerably there is no way i am making it out of my driveway tomorrow either!

Its been a very nice peaceful day at home for which I am very grateful.

Rain. Rain to match my gray mood. Rain to make things grow. Rain to wash away anything, Rain boots to make me happy. Rain.

This year I will be heading up an All About Me challenge called Get Personal as part of Creative Soup's Mojo Monday's!!! The goal is to dig a little deeper and scrap about our memories, our personalities and ourselves! To give a small glimpse of who we are and how our lives have shaped who we have become.

At the end of the year you will wind up with 12 projects that will shed some light on who we are! If you want to make an album this is the perfect chance to do it! Chose a format you want to scrap in (12x12 8x11 or any size you want!) You could even do a large-ish mini album! Or if you are like me and want a little flexibility (or have other previously completed AAM pages from other challenges) Pick a flexible format like a 3 ring binder. I am using this one from American Crafts so i can 1- decorate it and 2- Not have to settle on one size all year.


The most important part of this journey is to really journal and document your memories and feelings so most of the challenges will have a small minimum word requirement. (Don't panic Ive let you off the hook for this first one!) So without further ado:

11 for 11
As we start the New Year off most of us make resolutions or pick one little word to guide us or maybe generally just think about what we want the year to hold for us and our families. So for this challenge I want us to be a little selfish!

For this inaugural Get Meaningful challenge I want you to scrap your wish list of 11 things you want in 2011! Big or small – serious or fun think about what 11 things you would want this year if you could have anything at all! What is it about these 11 things that make the top of your wish list? Any chances for them becoming reality??

This year I am going to make a very concerted effort in a couple of areas

1- My health! I am determined to loose 50lbs this year. To help me accomplish that I am doing Zumba 3x a week and "running" three times a week. I will be adding some weight lifting in there too. I also am thinking about joining Weight Watchers. There is a group that meets not to far from my work that I could get to on my lunch hour.

2- I AM going to create more. I love and need some sort of creative outlet for my mental health and right now that is scrapbooking. To that end I am helping run a new scrapbooking forum that is very heavily focused on getting us all to create more! (you should totally check us out!)


3. and lastly my Happiness. Ive got lots going on most of which Im not comfortable sharing on a blog but I am going to focus on what makes me happy this year! More time spent with friends, more time out doing stuff instead of witting on my butt in front of a TV, and most importantly more time spent with family. Oh and I am getting an iphone. Data plan be damned!

I can not believe this year is over. It really does seem to have just flown by. I have no idea with most of this year other than I know it was a roller coaster.

It ends on a bit of a low note. I am sick in bed with laryngitis and a nasty cold and we are still waiting on the final results from the myriad of Dr's P has seen in the last 2 weeks.

On the bright side I am starting my new years with scrapbooking and friends to set the tone for the year!

Here are some highlights from 2010:

Jan: kick off Who's that girl Design team. It really pushed me to create something every month!

Feb: Kim's visit to Atlanta, I get to see some of DaVinci's work in person, New lights and outlets = no more cold dark studio!, Lots and lots of scrapbooking!

Mar: Winning a GDT spot on Scrap Freak, Buying a Kindle, Alice in Wonderland in 3d, Fiddler on the Roof in a theater, nasty fall down the stairs

April: First trip of the year to see my family! This time off to PA to visit at moms house and celebrate Easter. Kristopher has a buzz cut and gone are the little boy days!

May: Blythe Break is officially over! our 7th wedding anniversary

June: Off to Maine to celebrate Alek's birthday and spend even more time with the kiddos. I make a vow to see them at least 3x a year if not more!

July: Annual 4th of July get together with the inlaws (Patirck is almost as tall as Paul!), midnight showing for Eclipse with Blythe in tow!

Aug: A super hot summer, lots of Blythe meets!

Sept: Lots of Blythe fun, Went to japanfest and it made me realize how much i miss Shinkendo. Several new girls including my first "investment doll"

Oct: Back to Maine for the final trip of the year. I feel like the boys finally remember me one visit to the next

Nov: I turn 38. Yellow River Game ranch trip, birthday crop, I start "running"!!! and Les Miz turns 25.

Dec: Fun with friends who treat me like family, bonding with Bella, a flexible work schedule!

So there it is just a brief recap :) See y'all next year!