Me, Myself, & Michelle

Project Runway

...just a little unsolicited insight into the many depths of my personality...

Back in middle school, circa 1980's, I wanted to be a fashion designer!  I had drawn an entire collection of dresses & such on printer paper from my mom's office, even named my collection "Share Wear".  I'm pretty sure I've heard the name used recently, but maybe it was around in my pre-teens & I just just didn't realize I had heard it before?

So anyway, the point of my rambling is that I am a Fashion Designer Wannabe and I LOVE the Bravo show "Project Runway"!!  Next to Grey's Anatomy & American Idol, Project Runway is my most Tivo-ed showed.  Love it!  I day dream about what I would design if given their circumstance, how it would do up against the other designs, and how amazing it would be to design an entire collection and have it debuted at the New York Fashion Week.

There's only one problem... I hate to sew!  Mom bought me a sewing machine one year and even signed me up for a sewing class.  I made an uber-ugly "little house on the praire" apron dress.  It was a terrible brown solid paired with an even more terrible brown print.  yuck!

Alas, my designer dreams were squashed... but I still enjoy sketching outfits every once-in-a-while, and I'm so excited to see Zoe doing the same.  Maybe she won't hate the sewing machine as much as I do.   

Make your day great.  Love you all, Michelle  :)

17 Days & Counting

It's less than 2 1/2 weeks until Ronee & I leave for CHA!! 

Woohooooo!  A week of scrapbook shopping in Sunny Southern California weather.  Be sure to let me know if y'all have any requests, cause I'll be ordering a ton of scrapilicious goodies for The Pink House. 

[ Twice a year the "Craft & Hobby Association" produces a vendor show.  The Winter show is in Anaheim, CA.  The Summer show is in Chicago, IL.  A lot of you know the whole ordeal I went thru to get to CHA Summer in Chicago last year... what a freakin' trip!  32 hours just to get to Chcago (an overnight stay in Memphis & an unexpected 8 hour detour through Detroit!) Well, wish me lots of luck for this year's trips. ]

So what's a girl to pack for Cali at this time of year?  Hoping that it won't rain on us too much.  I'll be happy though if I can break out my capri's & flip flops.  :)

Well, the count down is on... 17 days to take off.  Our flight leaves at Noon on Friday, Feb 8th.  Make plans to come see Mom, Shelley, Jean, & Shere as they hold the fort down for us.

x:)

Family Time

I've been managing to carve out some family time lately.  Ronee closed The Pink House for me last Wednesday, so I was able to leave around 3:30.  Went & picked up all the kids from school, and their dad got off work an hour early, too.  So, we went to dinner at La Hacienda, the new one near Tanger Outlet.  As we drive up passing the Star Bucks, my 4 yr old Bella says "Oooh, that's where they have the best hot chocolate for kids that's not really hot!"  Gotta love a girl who knows her Star Bucks.  :)

Dinner was great.  The kids behaved, we ate nearly an entire basket each of chips & salsa.  (That's 7 baskets!)  And the food was perfect.  I love Mexican food.  If I had to choose only one kind of food for the rest of my life it would be Mexican.  I can throw down some Japanese (love hibachi!), and the Olive Gardens' version of Italian is high on my list, but if I have to choose only one then Mexican food is it.

After dinner, we went home and played "Scene It."  It's an interactive board game that uses your tv, too.  We had such a good time, played boys vs. girls.  The girls ruled, of course!!  Guess Mommy knows her movies a little bit better than Daddy.  hehheh!

I had to work a lot this weekend, so I didn't get much play time again until yesterday.  Jean came into to work the store for me, so I was able to leave around 3:30 again.  This time I ran a couple errands first before picking up the kids.  (I still owe you a big fluffy coffee - Debbie Sue!)  Then I grabbed up the buddhas, and we headed to Coldstone.  YUMMMY!  I got a the biggest heaviest chocolate waffle cone filled with a Peanut Butter, Fudge, Chocolate concoction that could have choked a horse.  Aside from the few bites I let my kids have, I ate the whole damn thing.  Sinful!

Ronee is opening the store for me this morning, so in addition to family time that I've been carving out, I'm actually getting a few minutes of me time.  I had a whole cup of coffee this morning with my mom & then was able to take an uninterrupted shower - what a treat!

Well, now that I've squeezed in both family time & me time... guess I better get going and put in some time at work.  I think I might actually achieve "Balance" today.  Woohoo - go me!

Resolution #4

One of my resolutions was to make my day more routine, scheduling specific time each day for housework & exercise.  Well, I've managed to get a start on everything except the exercise.  Go figure!  So far, I'm squeezing in dishes & laundry... dishes in the morning before work & laundry at night while I'm watching TV.  It hasn't been every day but definitely an improvement.  Now the exercise is a whole 'nother subject.

I've got an hour each morning after the buddhas (Zane/Zophia/Zadie) leave for school and before I have to take Zoe to middle school.  I should be using that hour to burn off some of this holiday weight gain, but I don't!  Instead, I crawl back into bed for another snooze.  In my defense, I've been really tired lately... working late hours, eating terribly, and I've gone without coffee for a couple days in a row.  MADNESS!! 

As part of any weight loss program, you're suppose to cut back on caffeine, right? Evidently it encourages your body to hold on to fat.  So, I decided I would skip my 4 cups a day.   mmmmm..... big mistake!  I got a headache yesterday, and my "drass is aggin!" as my Papa would say.  So, now I'm about to make myself a big fat french vanilla cappucino and worry about exercise tomorrow.

:)

Balance

I got an idea from a friend (Ronee, of course) who got an idea from a friend (Ali Edwards - a young scrapbook superstar)...  The idea is to choose a word, one word only, to describe your goal frame of mind for the up coming year. 

For 2008, Ali chose VITALITY.   Her blog reads that "Vitality is the state of being strong and active; energy. Physically. Mentally. Spiritually. Creatively."    www.AliEdwards.typepad.com 

Ronee's word for her year is ENOUGH.  Actually, it's "Be Enough"...  "enough creatively... enough of a parent. Enough of a wife, sister, daughter, friend. Just enough!"     www.RoneeMalama.blogspot.com 

My word for 2008 is BALANCE.  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:   "balance is used to mean a point between two opposite forces that is desirable over purely one state or the other, such as a balance between the metaphysical Law and Chaos — law by itself being overly controlling, chaos being overly unmanageable, balance being the point that minimizes the negatives of both."

If you know anything about me, you probably know that I'm a control freak, yet my life is filled with choas!!  So, how appropriate is this definition of balance?  I actually chose my word for 2008 before I read this description, but it sums me up better than any way I could have written.

So, in addition to my individual resolutions, my overall goal for 2008 is to reach & maintain a healthy balance in all areas of my life.  I aim to give equally to my work as to my home & family.  I'll strive to minimize being overly controlling by delegating more (at home & at work), and I'll manage my time and energy better to help minimize the choas in my life.

Wish me luck!

Gotta love a good time!

Today was our monthly 12 Hour Crop, and we had a rockin good time as usual.  Ronee brought on the demos & mini-lessons, and I cooked.  Gasp!  Yes, I actually slaved away over the stove this morning preparing chili for lunch.  (Hubby downloaded the Wendy's chili recipe from the internet.)   And I made chicken florentine for dinner.  (It was from frozen, though.)  The even more amazing part was that everyone survived... no casualties!  I am definitely not the best cook in the world, but that chili was good.

We had a house full of regulars and some new faces, too.  Mom handed out the Bingo cards and kept the prize basket flowing.  Lorna completed the most today, 16 pages & 14 cards!  Ronee, Mom and even Zoe got some scrappin squeezed in as well.  Alas, I was too busy to get any pages attempted... somebody's gotta work around here!  (heeheee)

Happy 1/2 Birthday cake for us.  I got a mint chocolate cake (cuz it's my fave) and a strawberry cake (cuz it's PINK) to celebrate our 6 month anniversary.

I did get to show off a new layout that I finished yesterday.  Here's just a peek at my latest Bella and Zadie layouts.  You'll have to come by the store to see the finished pages.

2008 ~ Day 2

• Reolution #1: Blog more often - check
• Resolution #2: Get more pages done - scheduled to do a Bella page today
• Resolution #3: Scraplift - (I should really combine this goal with #2.)
• Resolution #4: Exercise & Housework Routine - getting started

Tomorrow is really the first day that I'll have to keep to my new schedule.  There was no school yesterday or today, so I'm not quite in the groove yet.  Check back tomorrow to see if I actually manage to cram everything in.  :)

2008 ~ Day 1

They made it! The kids stayed up long enough to see the ball drop over Times Square. They were so giddy all night long, wearing party hats & tiaras, blowing the horns and clacking those god-forsaken clappers.  Zadie (my #4) is the only one who crashed out.  We tried to wake her up just before midnight, but she wasn't havin' it.

(pictures to come)

I made frozen strawberry margaritas (my fav) around 11:00pm, and Mike poured the champagne just before midnight.  Mom and I channel surfed most of the night watching a little Law & Order, some CSI, and flipping back and forth to the Times Square coverage.  Mike kept himself busy playing golf on the Wii, and the kids bounced around the house trying to stay awake.  After the ball dropped we all watched a young guy named Robbie Maddison do an Evil Kneivel-ish motorcycle stunt.  He broke the world record for motorcycle jumps by flying across an entire football field right through the goal posts... he made it 322 ft!

My favorite part of the night was being able to start the new year with all my kids together, happy and healthy... a sweet kiss at midnight from my husband... and a champagne toast with my amazing mother.  Okay - now I'm rejuvenated for another 12 months!  :)