Wow! This has been a really full day!

I had to attend to real life stuff–cleaning out storage rooms, entertaining guests, taking care of nephew and nieces who came over to play with their cousins (my boys), and other blah blah blah stuff that would probably bore you to tears so I won’t even mention it. Regular stuff that, now and then, requires us to pull ourselves away from our beloved compy, difficult though it may be. 😆

BUT! Two interesting things, before I go back to my other deadlines.

Layout Of the Day Number 4

Am so delighted that I was finally able to finish my second Daily December page layout. Thank you, LOAD, for that proverbial kick in the butt that I needed. I don’t think I would’ve been able to finish this without the challenge to spur me on and push me down the path that didn’t have the Procrastination Street sign on it. 🙂

Thank you also, my dear Noel, for nudging me to post my LOAD layout here already… I would’ve forgotten to post it here if not for your comment! {I can almost hear you saying: What would you do without me? 😆 }

So here’s my Daily December 2, my LOAD No. 4:

Journaling reads:

ah yes, how absolutely wonderful it is to wake up to the aroma of coffee brewing on these cool christmas mornings. the precious bonding moments in between sips bring far greater warmth to the heart than the heat that rises from our mugs.

CREDITS:

Jessica Sprague – Daily December Template + Katie Pertiet’s Topper, Mindy Armour’s Christmas papers, and Mindy Terasawa’s Merry & Bright Accent overlay (recolored slightly).

I am totally dependent on my Solis coffee making machine. I love that it cleans itself each time you turn it on and then again when you turn it off (loooove that I don’t have to clean it manually!!!). I love that you have the option to put in ground coffee or pour in beans (it has a built-in grinder that grinds just enough beans for a cup right before it starts brewing–I never use the ground coffee options as I prefer freshly ground beans). I love that it has a hotplate above where I can keep little espresso cups warm, so that I don’t have to drink hot coffee from a cold cup. I love that I can make myself a regular brew, an espresso, or a capuccino at the touch of a button.

Another thing I love are the two cups that my dear hubby got for us some Christmases ago. We inevitably end up teasing each other about which cup should belong to whom. I of course lay claim to the Nice with the halo and always assign the Naughty with the horns to my hubby. He is convinced it should be the other way around. In the interest of keeping peace, I will allow him his conviction. After all, being naughty adds a hint of spice to my personality, doesn’t it? (Ha! Though seriously, he really is much nicer than I am, and I probably am much naughtier than he is). 😉

I’m hoping that at the end of LOAD I would also have completed the Daily December album (and it will be my first theme album ever! Woohoo!)

I up and ran, I rocked, and I’m going to dig in deep!

With Jessica’s newest advanced course, Digi: In Deep, coming in March! Am so looking forward to this, because I looooove taking journeys with Jessica and my playground family. One always comes out of the class gaining sooooo much more than one could have dreamed possible. (Ask any of my playground sisters and they will easily attest to this).

I am also very excited about the upcoming Up & Running course (on its third run) that will be offered in January for digital scrapbooking beginners, and the advanced Now We’re Rockin’ course (on its second run) that will be offered in February. Read more about it in Jessica’s blog and on our playground! And for my friends hopping over here who have not taken either or both of those classes, take note of the sign-up period, set reminders on your calendars, join the throngs waiting for sign-up day, and come join us! It’s a journey you will take that will change your life in more ways than you can ever imagine–I kid you not. Everyone on our playground will attest to this.

Jason Gaylor rocks!

Just heard from Jason and he has allowed me to use his brushes for the shutters plopper that I created. So if you aren’t sick of the plopper yet, head on over for the original version (I’m thinking of giving it in a different shade so that it won’t be too much like the one you downloaded yesterday). That is, unless you’re sick of the plopper already? 😆

Thank you, Jason. You rock.

Resolutions, resolutions

New year, new resolutions.

In the past couple of years, I have not really attached importance to making resolutions on New Year’s Day, since I make resolutions daily. I believe in making daily resolutions because they’re easier to remember on a daily basis (have a little notebook to remind me throughout the day). Daily resolutions also make it easier for me to check my progress (did I fulfill them or did I fail today?), and it’s less of a letdown when I fall short of achieving them (hey, didn’t do too well on this one today; I’ll try again tomorrow).

But this year, I decided to experiment with having BOTH: New Year’s Resolutions and Daily Resolutions, for no other reason than to spice things up a bit (and also… because I may have masochistic tendencies that push me to keep loading my plate, even when it’s already full, if you know what I mean. 😆 )

Here are my New Year’s Resolutions:

1. Make a layout a day (LOAD has inspired me to do this. I may not succeed at it everyday, but I’d like to think that it’s the effort is what counts 😛 )

2. Lose 10-20 pounds. (I need to unload all that holiday sweetness that stayed a minute on my lips and took up residence forever on my hips). By the way… my sisters just reminded me–trust me to forget this–that my skipping meals (oops) was actually the worst thing I could do in an effort to lose weight. Apparently, when you skip a meal, your body goes into starvation mode; it says “woops, we don’t know when she’s going to shovel food into her mouth next, so let’s store all the fat we can to help her survive.” So what happens is, instead of burning calories, your body actually stores your fat to keep you warm and comfy even when you’re starving… which you are, only because you’re skipping meals.

Notice how I’m using “your body, your stored fats”… could it be an attempt for me to escape the fact that it’s my body and it’s my stored fats? 😆

3. Give out at least one freebie a week. Maybe more. (Love creating, love sharing what I create with you. Need I say more?)

4. Seriously consider finally getting that Lasik operation done on my eyes. This month. Go see the top specialist in the country on Monday. (I have always been deathly afraid of having this operation, despite the fact that two of my sisters have had it successfully, and my brother is going to have his on Monday. I am totally dependent on my sense of sight, myopic it may be, and I can imagine surviving with the loss of all the other four senses, but not the sense of sight. I would absolutely go insane without sight: how will I read? how will I scrap? how will I take photos? No eyes = No life. So I’ve stayed away from Lasik as much as I can. But… if I don’t do it now, when? When I’m too old for it to be successful? Besides, I’m thinking of how cool it would be to open my eyes in the morning without having to grope around for my glasses, no matter how cool and chic they are. 😆 Also, my sister tells me, 10 minutes after the operation, I can go back to my compy and play. How bad could that be, huh?) Cheer me on, my friends. I’ve got the resolve now, but I may not be so resolute come Monday. hehe

5. Clean and organize all the stuff in all the other storage areas. (Discard what must go and donate what is good but not used: clean out and make space… so I can hoard more stuff. 😆 ) Seriously, though: today I started with cleaning out one of the 4 storage rooms we have… and had the pure pleasure of donating and discarding. How liberating to keep only what you know must be kept, and sharing the rest, whether with the garbage collector or with needy ones!

6. Clean and organize my compy. ACDSee, we really must make friends with each other. I truly must go beyond the 10 kits I’ve organized since June. (And must delete all the useless stuff on my compy as well). This is totally daunting, considering that I have 1,100,000 GB of stuff to deal with (does that make 1.1 Tetrabytes?). SIGH. This is not going to be easy, folks. Already I’m exhausted, just thinking about it.

7. Learn some more, play some more, pray some more. (In reverse order).

8. Stop pushing things to the last minute and try doing them in advance.

I should stop here. 8 resolutions for 2008. Sounds good. Hope the results are just as good. hehe.

Okay, now I need to go… got an article to write for a big magazine that was due a week ago. Hey, that’s New Year’s Resolution No. 8 about to be fulfilled right now! Woohoo!

I’ll be back tomorrow with the other-version plopper freebie. Today, all I can offer you is some coffee. But it’s wonderful coffee (decaf for those who need it, and hot chocolate for those who don’t want caffeine), with whipped cream on top. I’ll even serve it to you in the Nice cup. 😉

Enjoy today, my sweeties! (((hugs)))

PS. Noel… the cups you want: I got them from Starbucks some years back. 😉

PS. For those who asked where they could get the awesome Scrappin’ Shoes that I wrote about yesterday: They’re adidas. I wish I could say you can find them at Target or Amazon, but… fact is, I got these from the adidas store at the mall. 🙂