I have been wanting to do a layout for weeks… but somehow my scrapping creative muse keeps playing hide and seek with me. So I’m calling on Bert to help me. Hopefully by the time he and Ernie finish singing, I’ll be in balloon-land. đ
I love this song for its message and, even more, because it reminds me so much of my brother who’s 2 years older than me, and who now lives with his family way across the ocean in North America.  (Sometimes I just get wistful for those times when he would pass by my house unannounced and ask for a cuppa joe). When we were kids, we would fight all the time, as siblings do when they are so close to each other in age. Then we grew up and fought less and supported each other more and shared secrets that only siblings do when they are so close to each other in age.
I can’t think of my brother without hearing this playing in the background (reminds me always of the time when, as kids, we would sing this together… I can’t remember though which of us was Ernie and which was Bert… I think I’d rather have been Ernie, hahaha đ )
Here. I hope you enjoy it as much as I (always) do. And keep your fingers crossed that I find my muse real soon. đ
Temptation, quit hounding me and spree me from thy clutches! đ
Last night my darling friend J and I were having another one of our regular fun chats. For the life of me, I cannot remember how the topic came up (certainly it had a connection to Labor Day weekend and all the sales sprouting like wild mushrooms–the operative word here being WILD, hahaha) but we both decided our mantra for the night would be Whenthe going gets tough, the tough go shopping! đ
I should have recognized that portent and heeded its warning. Because today as I was cruising the boards at Jessica’s playground I happened upon a thread where some quickly-getting-digi-addicted ladies (my kind of ladies, really!) listed wonderful digishops with special sales. Sound bite: Oooh, get me away from those! Take my credit card and lock it up, quick! Threads like this are so dangerous to financial health! LOL! I mean, really, who doesn’t love shopping? (okay, you got me… groceries can be a real chore sometimes, but I’m not talking about groceries here, honeys, I’m talking DIGI-SCHTUFF!!!)
Yum, yum, yummy!
You know how it goes: you tell yourself oh, I’m just going to check out the stuff. I promise I won’t buy. This is just going to be a case of simple window-shopping. So you click on the link to the site (and yes, it just happens to be in your favorites). And you look, and you click on View larger, and you salivate, and after a while your “hmm, I could use these” magically turns into “man, I need these!” And then ka-ching! You wake up from your delusion not-a-few dollars poorer.
Empty wallet. But happy.
I don’t know about you, but I looooove digi schtuff!!! (Okay, admit it, sista, you do too đ ).
So while I was reading this enabler thread with my left hand struggling to block my right hand from getting anywhere near the sites’ links on my favorites, this song kept playing in my head: (it’s not a favorite song of mine, so I have no idea why it was lodged in my subconscious… maybe something to do with the beat and a vision of my friends and me on a shopping frenzy, snagging all the goodies we could get our hands on? LOL!!! đ )
[ Warning: This is unabashedly sooooo eighties! Kim Wilde’s hair, her dance moves… man!!! Be prepared for a total blast from the past! ]
Now what happens when you get engrossed in all this talk about shopping and sales and great prices of digital goodies? Your adrenaline starts flowing. Well. Mine did. I had two choices: go crazy shopping or distract myself by doing something that didn’t involve opening my wallet.
Guess my choice? (Hint: it was a wise, albeit difficult, one :D)
Here’s the answer:Â ( I’m delighted to announce that IÂ still have a modicum of self-control left. :D)
Click for larger view
Bar code labels, girlfriends!!! You can download them HERE. (They’re quite big, at 4×2 inches… but I like big elements because you can always downsize them without sacrificing the quality). They’re PNG files, so they’ll take on the background of whatever you’re putting them on.
ETA: Sorry, link is no longer available.
Hope you like them! Oh and the zip password is… what else? shoppingspree
Enjoy! and have a great Labor Day weekend, girlfriends in the US! đ
Indulge me please, and see this video to the end… the last part is exactly how I felt when I finished wrapping up this freebie in a zipped package for you! (Gotta love that YEAH at the end!) đ
{Click for larger view} Here’s the last of the Play With Me Kit… a slightly grungy chipboard alphabet. It includes numbers and the basic punctuation marks (sorry, there’s no question mark… the font didn’t have one đŻ ). I just added drop shadows on the preview, but it comes without drop shadows to give you more flexibility. Every letter and punctuation mark is evenly sized at 300 ppi, as usual. You’ll have to forgive me for putting the files on png sheets… I wanted to get this to you as quickly as possible; separating the letters in a file each would’ve taken me longer than the ABC song sung a hundred times đ You can use the marquee tools or the lasso tool to select each letter you want to use, control-c, on your layout control-v, and voila! (But of course, you knew that already đ ) Special thanks to atomic cupcake!
Do pass by tomorrow because I’m going to put up some masterpieces done by my dearest playmates at Jessica’s playground, so you can oooh and aaah along with me over their layouts done with some of my freebies. I wish I could accurately express how honored I feel when I see their layouts. It’s awesome. They’re awesome. Seriously. So stay tuned for that! Woohoo!
I’m feeling a bit sad that this kit is coming to an end, but I’m very excited to begin a new freebie set! I hope you’ll still want more of my freebies, and do drop by to snag them when they’re up! I’m falling a little behind in my digi-scrapping (and I so need that creative release) plus I have some other creative commitments to attend to, so I may not be posting freebies everyday… or I may… who knows? I love creating so I don’t think I could resist… LOL! If you’re a regular at Jessica’s playground, then you’ll surely hear when a freebie’s up–just look for the Laundry Piles (wink, wink!) on the General Forum board!
Alright… need to go back to my moderating duties on the playground (I love the girls who’ve joined our family! They’re such a creative, energetic, enthusiastic bunch!).
Please don’t forget to leave some love in my blog (4shared is fine too, although when the freebie has to be taken down, the comments go with it đŚ … and I would so love to be able to read your comments again and again. :D)
Here’s the link; download HERE! The zip password is letterrific (that’s a double t and a double r!) Have fun and I hope you enjoy using this!
ETA: Sorry, link has been removed.
PS. I created another lower-case alpha using the swirly-patterned paper that I made for the preview… do you think I should put it up on a link for you to download too? I hesitated because I was afraid you might scream “enough with the alphas already!!!” đ Do let me know if you want it and I’ll upload it for you. It’s not grungy… it’s cleaner and swirlier (does that word even exist?) đ
Don’t you love this? I remember loving this already as a kid, but now that I’m older, I appreciate the hilarity of it even more! Isn’t that funny (or maybe I’m really just a kid that never grew up)?
Well, lately I’ve been hearing these monsters singing this song in my mind while I make freebies for you. (Picture that big smile on my face and my feet tapping as I make these freebies, singing “You gotta count it higher, count it higher…”–if I had my way I’d keep making freebies the entire day for you, my dearest friends!)
Here’s the next freebie… it’s a slide mount frame (that seems redundant, I know… but it’s a slide design which is big enough to be a frame! LOL! đ I made it 5 inches high and wide… so that you can downsize it and turn it into a regular slide if you want, or use it as a gigantic slide-type of frame.
Download it HERE. The password for the zipfile is framed! Yes, that exclamation mark is part of the password đ Don’t forget to leave some love in the comments! And do visit again tomorrow; there’s another freebie waiting to jump into your lap! đ
You know how, when you visit a friend’s house for the first time, you are drawn to explore every room, every nook and cranny, so that you can ooh and ahh in amazement and wonder at the beauty and love that resides in there?
My girlfriends and I have been barely able to contain our excitement at the prospect of getting together as one big group of scrapping gals in Chicago next summer. I’ve been to some places, but never to Chicago, so it’s something I’m definitely looking forward to (though even more than the city, it is the thought of seeing my friends that totally excites me!)
When all this talk about getting together began, I issued a standing invitation to everyone to come see my homeland. It’s an offer without an expiration date. đ And to provide everyone of them with a sneak preview of what they could be looking forward to, I found an excellent “brochure.” It’s right here, below.
A few words, though, before you view it:
1. Photos are never really the same as the real thing, are they? In the same way, I personally feel that, though this is the best showcase (so far) of what my motherland has, there is still no substitute for seeing, tasting, smelling, and experiencing the Real Thing. And the fact that many of the best Filipino artists (including world-class Florante and Lea Salonga) are doing the story-telling is no small thing! đ
2. This is best appreciated in the native language, as there is no substitute for the beauty and color and expressiveness of a language in its original form;Â its flavor and nuances are often lost in translation. I wish I could tell you more about all the wonderful places and food that are mentioned here (like how Taal Volcano happens to be the smallest volcano in the whole world, and Mayon Volcano is known for its near-perfect cone), but it would take pages and pages and pages of writing and still I would not have scratched the surface. So I’ve just provided a link to more information–click on the “beauty of the Philippines” line in the translation below… (just put any place or item in the search box and it’ll take you to a wonderful source of information).
Enjoy the visual and auditory treat, and I hope one day to be able to enjoy all these with you, my friends, beside me. đ
Here’s my very rough and very humble translation of the song:
Are you feeling sad, bored, exhausted?
Are you tired, slaving away night and day?
Has your life lost meaning, devoid of spark and color?
Is everyday the same, like nothing ever changes?
Letâs go! Letâs travel together with our family,
Today, my 1-year-old son said No for the first time. We were reading the Ice Age 2 book after his bath, and I had to extricate myself from his embrace long enough to give my 3-year-old his bath. Trying to distract my baby long enough to make the walk to the bathroom, I suggested “Show the book to J?” (his older brother). Children are always smarter than we give them credit for; of course he knew what Mom was up to. So his reply was calm, short and succint: “No.” First time he said that word! I was delighted! I clapped my hands! I was so proud!
Then approximately 5 seconds after, a thought flashed through my mind: Should I really be rejoicing? Should I really be celebrating this milestone? Will I still be as happy when he says No a few years down the road? HAHAHA. I think I’ll worry about the repercussions of today’s latest addition to his vocabulary when the time comes. Today, it’s just perfectly wonderful and I will celebrate it for what it is! đ
Mr. Sniff-a-lot
My 5-year-old son J has a new “thing.” He likes to spend every moment he can beside me, sniffing my back, my arms, my hair… then he gets this look of rapture on his face as he exclaims, “Smells goooooood!!!” Hence my new nickname for him. This preoccupation of his with sniffing reminds me of those childhood days, when my siblings and I would love sniffing our mom’s nightgown. There was something so wonderful, so soothing, so calming, in smelling our mom’s scent left behind in a piece of cloth. Whenever she and my dad would go out of town, we would fight over who got to sleep beside Mommy’s nightgown, as if having it beside us was reassurance that she was still right there.
Funny how scent can provide such a sense of security. Though, given its peculiarity, it’s a good thing that as we grow older, we also outgrow our sniffing tendencies. đ
You Don’t Know What You’ve Got …
Last night, our airconditioner broke down without warning. Just like that. It was not a humorous thing for me. HAHAHA! Now I can laugh about it. Not last night. Last night I was not mad. I was… hmmm… resignedly disappointed. But not disappointed enough to relocate our sleeping quarters to the living room (where there were 2 airconditioners in perfect working condition). I thought of all the trouble it would take to transfer pillows, blankets, and cushions and then set everything up with the kids (they loooove the thought of having to sleep in the living room and will readily give up their own beds for the opportunity to “go camping”). Just thinking about the entire operation  made me tired.
So we spent the night lulled by the whirr of electric fans. I always try to look at the bright side of life: fans = better than power outage where there is absolutely no air and the hair sticks to the back of your neck when you wake up. Yuck. Yeah, fans rock in the absence of anything else.
But the experience was enough to get my hubby to ensure that the servicemen arrived today. So now we are again ensconced in cool comfort. SIGH. Nothing like losing something to fully appreciate it, eh? (Seriously though: Think about how this  applies to soooo many things in life as well… hopefully, we don’t have to lose much to appreciate much.) I think from this day on, everytime I pass the aircon, I’m going to blow it a flying kiss (no pun intended). đ
PS. You know that song Big Yellow Taxi? The line that goes “Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone…” kept playing in my subconscious the whole night. I’m convinced it was an ode to our aircon. Boy am I glad that it’s back and working! đ (Then again, isn’t it funny how losing such a material thing can make us ponder the more profound stuff in life?) For those who haven’t heard Big Yellow Taxi… enjoy!
I changed computers a week ago. That’s right, I dragged all my files from my 3 resident hard drives into the new resident hard drives of my new Wilson. (Did you ever see that movie of Tom Hanks, Cast Away? Remember his best friend on the island, Wilson? That’s where my Wilson got his name. On those (thankfully not very often) days when I get that “not responding message” and my files hang, I can very well pass for a Tom-Hanks lookalike screaming “Wilson! Wilson!” with that outstretched hand and that distraught look on my face  :D).
Having an updated Wilson should be a great thing, given more gigabytes to play with and just as much RAM… except that the more than 30,000 photos that I had spent months of tagging and organizing in Photoshop Elements have all vanished into thin air. Eaten up by the great abyss. All the re-organizing I have to do makes me feel like I’m about to plunge into the innards of my computer, and frankly, I’m exhausted just thinking about it. đ
Now why should this be interesting to you? hahaha. That’s easy: it’s my lame excuse for not posting in this blog for a couple of days. Lame, but true.
Anyway… I hope you’re in a forgiving mood, because… tadah, it’s my birthday tomorrow! đ (That doesn’t leave you much choice now, does it? đ )
Birthdays. Hmmm.
I don’t know when it started, but somehow my birthdays have ceased to be major events for me. When I was younger, I would wait up till midnight just so I could be the first to greet myself. (Isn’t it amazing the crazy things that you think of when you’re young and have so much time on your hands?) Nowadays… well, let’s just say I’m looking forward to a really laid-back, no-pressure-to-go-anywhere-or-do-anything type of celebration. (Man, do I sound ancient or what!?)  I suspect this change in anticipation crept in unnoticed when I had my babies. Imagine: You plan their first birthday party and go all out as tradition dictates (even if I’ll bet my little finger they will remember nothing of this, their first huge birthday bash, as they grow up)… then you plan another 3rd birthday party because you reason they’re old enough to remember and still young enough to believe in the magician’s tricks… and then you plan the 7th birthday because you celebrate the child’s coming of age…(and if you are surrounded by the culture of my people, you will understand that birthday party equals the biggest bash where there are more adult guests than child guests and there’s enough food to feed an entire community). By the time you’ve done this for each of your five kids, you’re all birthday’ed out and all partied out that you don’t have the energy or the will to plan your own. đ
But I plan to change that this year. In fact, I began today, on the eve of my birthday. The entire family went to see Ratatouille–we took up an entire row in the movie theatre! (Okay, so it’s a special movie theatre with just 100 seats, but still… isn’t it funny how you can fill an entire row with just your nuclear family?) We had the time of our lives, if you don’t count my 3 babies running back and forth (thank goodness there was just one other family in the theatre, given the early hour at which we attacked. Or we might have been attacked by that other family which had better-behaved kids. đ )
Should I admit to you now that this is the first movie I’ve seen in years decades? Seriously. As my husband and I settled into our seats in the midst of our kids, I whispered to him, “Can you believe this is the very first movie we’re seeing together in an actual movie house?” Oh yes, that’s the truth; I kid you not! And that’s why it was so exciting for me. New experiences are always exciting, aren’t they? Not that I’ve never been to a movie theatre, because I have… oh, maybe some 20 years ago? In those days, the floors were sticky with spilled soda and scattered popcorn so it really wasn’t so hard to choose to see a movie in the cool comfort of your own bedroom with the ability to press pause if you needed to take a wee-break in the middle of the movie’s climax and the ability to rewind in case anyone needed the answer to “What did he say? What did he say?” đ I was (and still am) pretty content with that set-up, but it’s always a refreshing change to step out and try something new, or at least something old-new.
So all this birthday talk should at least leave you with something fun, right? Here it is: I plan to hire these aliens for my upcoming kids’ birthdays… before they get discovered by Simon Cowell and their rates go up. đ Enjoy!
…but rather openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy.
Wonderful how this Eskimo proverb can be so visually soothing to anyone who has lost someone dear.
Disclaimer: if you’re not into diving deep or exploring caves, you may decide at this point to do a quick hello-how-are-you-see-you-soon kind of visit and come back another day. đ Not that you should be very wary … just that the following post isn’t going to be all light and happy in a fluttery fun way. Though I’ll try to keep it that way. đ haha. As if I could resist that!
Surprise, surprise. This fun-loving, laugh-loving girl is in a bit of a melancholy mood today. This morning I woke up to a text message from a dear friend that her husband’s father had just passed away. A couple of days ago, I got a message asking for prayers for the father of my eldest son’s classmate; he had had a stroke and was in the ICU of a hospital. This father is also my husband’s high school classmate. Same age. After Mass last Sunday another former classmate approached us, having heard also about the fate of this poor man, and between jokes and making light of it (as is the culture among my kind of people đ ), I could detect the undercurrent of just a tiny bit of uneasiness… it was the same kind of uneasiness one would probably feel as they open the obit and realize they actually know the people they’re reading about.
Then just about a week ago, my U&R girlfriends (at Jessica’s playground) and I had a “game” which involved each of us creating a layout with the theme Beautiful. I had wanted to push the limits of my creativity and come up with something outside the box, but no matter how many angles I viewed it from, when I thought of the word Beautiful, my mom just kept coming back to my mind. (I haven’t seen my mom since January 1977, when her first heart attack took her away from me and my 5 brothers and sisters… but then you probably already know that, if you’ve read the posts before this đ ) And then there’s the fact that in about a week’s time, I’m about to add another year to my age, the same age at which my mom went Home. To her real Home. (It’s a bit funny how all of us, her children, are queasy about turning 39… and each birthday after that makes us feel so glad, as though we’re on borrowed time. Perhaps that’s one of the side-effects of losing a parent early?)
Anyway. Isn’t it amazing how sometimes the events that happen one after the other seem to conspire to stop you in your tracks and tell you: hey, you know what? You’re not going to live forever, you’d better make the most of the time you have, you’d better do all the good you can while you can. You’re mortal. It’s a wake-up call that, though not always so attractive at first, is necessary nevertheless. At least, that’s the way I want to see it. đ
I’ve been so lucky and blessed, because even if I lost my mom at such an early age (it’s never the right age, is it, even when you’re 80 and you lose your mom?), in the wonderful way that love allows, she continues to live on in my heart. And it’s funny because each time I’d “talk” with her, it would always give me such strength and comfort (and as I grew older, I was kind of thankful even that I had her in THAT way, that I never had had to go through the rebellious years when mothers and daughters pass through that stage where they may not get along so famously). If there’s only one regret I have, it’s that she wasn’t there to physically embrace my husband on the day I took his name. But she had the singular honor of getting my bouquet of flowers, which I lay on her grave right after the wedding reception, right before my husband and I took off on our honeymoon. (That’s right, no throwing of my bouquet… what can I say, I broke all traditions when I got married… I was quite a rebellious girl! haha!)
But you know what brushing up against Death has taught me? To value what I have, right here, right now. To tell the ones you love that they mean the world to you, right here, right now. When my mom passed away that morning, I insisted on kissing her goodbye (as was the usual practice) before walking to school, which was just around the corner. My other brothers and sisters, perhaps because they were older and more thoughtful, decided not to bother her as they knew she wasn’t feeling very well. Because I was the youngest (and insistent and probably headstrong in the way that well-meaning children are), I was the last and the only one of her children who got to kiss her warm cheek on that day (a memory I would treasure forever).
I sometimes think that what we learn from the painful events of our lives sticks more with us than the lessons we get from the joyous events (maybe because pain has the power to go deeper and hit where it hurts?) The one thing I carried with me from that day on was to TREASURE everyone and everything, because… well, we never really know, do we? So my husband teases me that I’ve turned our little family into a mini-Waltons family, as it’s very common to hear my boys and me say “I love you” so often everyday. (And that’s not the only Waltons thing, but you get the picture. You will recall that I have a testosterone-filled household, being the only lady there. So I suppose it’s not “normal” for boys to be professing love so easily… but that’s the way it is, and their wives or girlfriends will thank me for the training I gave their men one day. LOL! đ )
So anyway. This is probably much much more than anyone needed to know. Sorry. The news of anyone leaving this world always makes me stop and say a little prayer for the one on his way Home, and another in gratitude for all the blessings, for the life that is still within me and around me. It is always a gift. Always. A. Gift.
And just to complete the visualization roll begun by that Eskimo proverb at the start of this post, here’s my mom, for those who are interested to know a bit about her. (It’s the layout I did for our Beautiful class, and though it seems to stick out like a sore thumb to write the credits for the layout, I have to do that to respect the wonderful work of those who shared their creations and made it possible for me to create mine. đ )
Credits:
Amanda Heimann (Unconditional Kit) – BG paper & brown ribbon / Atomic Cupcake (Heavenly Holiday)-Overlay; Chalked / Bob at designing-on-the-edge: stitches (x on buttons) RECOLORED / ameliescrap – buttons / Natali-zigzag stitches, RECOLORED / Rhonna Farrer, 2Peas in a Bucket -Memories wordart; ColorMyWorld frame RECOLORED / Ca-pris – Flower fantasy brushes / Design Fruit – Japanese Foliage brushes
And to really set the mood, here is the song that was playing on the airwaves when she left us. It was one of her favorite songs then. Can’t hear it without getting sent back to those days. Enjoy the walk down memory lane with me.
Of all the words I’ve said and all the pieces of advice I’ve given my sons, I’ve often wondered just which ones my children would remember as grown-ups. I’ve dreamed about creating a layout for each son with this theme in mind… but because it requires drawing deep into my emotional well and really laying my heart open, it’s something that I’ve put off for a period when there is more calmness, a more peaceful quiet time which will allow the heart’s sentiments to overflow and spill onto the paper (without danger of being interrupted by the everyday noise that makes thinking hard to do. haha)
My mother passed away when I was 8 (her first and last cardiac arrest), but she left with me, my brothers and sisters a precious lesson that has lasted through the years and which we have passed on to our own children as well. I distinctly remember each time, after her friends had praised her children, she would pull us close when we were finally alone and tell us: remember, the more precious and lasting beauty is that which is in your hearts, which can never be taken away by anyone. Beauty on the outside fades, grows old, can be taken away in an instant, but the beauty of your heart will always remain. So grow in beauty of heart, and the rest will follow.
What a wonderful legacy to have and to pass on.
Speaking of advice, have you seen this wonderful, inspiring video of Baz Luhrmann? I loooove it. Watching this could actually give me just the impetus I need to get started on those layouts! đ Here it is; enjoy!
PS. Here are the words:
Ladies and gentlemen of the class of ’99:
Wear sunscreen.
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they’ve faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.
Don’t worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 pm on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing every day that scares you.
Sing.
Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts. Don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.
Floss.
Don’t waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you’re ahead; sometimes you’re behind. The race is long and, in the end, it’s only with yourself.
Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch.
Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don’t.
Get plenty of calcium.
Be kind to your knees. You’ll miss them when they’re gone.
Maybe you’ll marry; maybe you won’t. Maybe you’ll have children; maybe you won’t. Maybe you’ll divorce at 40; maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else’s.
Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don’t be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own.
Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.
Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them.
Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.
Get to know your parents. You never know when they’ll be gone for good.
Be nice to your siblings. They’re your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on.
Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.
Live in New York City once but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once but leave before it makes you soft.
Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you’ll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble, and children respected their elders.
Respect your elders.
Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you’ll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.
Don’t mess too much with your hair or by the time you’re 40 it will look 85.
Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts, and recycling it for more than it’s worth.
I just have to say thank you to two more of my dearest friends from Jessica’s playground, M. & A., for coming to visit. You have made me so happy by dropping by, and I do hope you come around often!
This is for you two, for J., and for my whole U&R family and all my dearest friends who take the time to drop by… Kenny Loggins, singing Whenever I call you friend (Heck, he can call me, period, any time! đ I have been in love with this guy for forever and it’s totally okay with my dh, because this marvelous guy doesn’t even know I exist! HAHAHAHAHA!)
PS. Just imagine me in the audience, clapping for you! đ
PS. again – Continuation of last post, How I wish… How I wish I could sing like that uber-cool woman!
PS. one last time: We should really be in the audience in Janie’s desert country, listening to Kenny Loggins live. Yummy!!!
{Click for larger view} Here’s the last of the Play With Me Kit… a slightly grungy chipboard alphabet. It includes numbers and the basic punctuation marks (sorry, there’s no question mark… the font didn’t have one đŻ ). I just added drop shadows on the preview, but it comes without drop shadows to give you more flexibility. Every letter and punctuation mark is evenly sized at 300 ppi, as usual. You’ll have to forgive me for putting the files on png sheets… I wanted to get this to you as quickly as possible; separating the letters in a file each would’ve taken me longer than the ABC song sung a hundred times đ You can use the marquee tools or the lasso tool to select each letter you want to use, control-c, on your layout control-v, and voila! (But of course, you knew that already đ ) Special thanks to atomic cupcake!
liv.e simply 
