30 Days of Gratitude

We just got back from Disneyland yesterday, and I could not believe how exhausted I was. I also couldn't believe that we'd just stepped into November. I always love October, but November is fun in a different way.

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) kicks off on November 1st of each year. I am sort of excited for it this year because I just took part in Novel in a Day last week, and it made me feel like I accomplished something, writing a fairly decent chapter in just a few hours. I realized that I might just be able to get a book finished at some point.

Digital Scrapbook Day is the first Saturday of November (so it fell on the first this year). So many fabulous things, so little time and money. My Paypal is screaming! Not to mention... the Lilypad has kicked off a new monthly subscription for pocket scrapping. Ugh. It is simply divine... and going to hurt my bank account. Seriously I am beginning to wonder if Laura (TLP owner) is trying to break me. Hahha.

AND I usually start my 30 Days of Gratitude practice in November. This year, I am also doing something different. I've signed up for a "detox" program through Rebelle Wellness so I can try to maintain some sanity from now on (I know... good luck with the whole sanity thing).

Just Jaimee released her November Storyteller (amazing kit). I love her kits because she includes fun page templates that make things so easy for me. And they are always chock full o' goodness. So many good things, I never get to use them all. But I managed to get a page spread done before we left for California last week. This is Week 44 from 2013. I am officially under the halfway mark for 2013! Only 25 weeks left to go. Bwahhahahahhaha. Maybe I can finish up 2013 before 2015 arrives and then I will only always be one year behind *wink wink*

Oh how I miss my furry friend. :( It has been five months since he died, and I'm still heartbroken. But I'm so thankful to have had him in my life.

Speaking of thankful...

Day 1: So glad to have arrived home after a crazy whirlwind trip to Disneyland and California Adventure. So thankful to be going to sleep in my own bed. So happy to be loving my sweet kitty (Isabella), and that the dogs were so happy to have us home. Also thankful that my mom watched out for them while we were gone AND she helped clean up the house too. Such a nice surprise.

Day 2: Thankful for an extra hour of sleep that came as a total surprise since we didn't know that daylight savings had ended. LOL. Grateful for a day to rest and recover after our trip. Glad to set aside a wee bit of time to write. Grateful for a home-cooked meal and all of the coziness of family.

So what are you up to this November?  Do you have any non-holiday traditions you participate in each year?

Project Life Tuesday: Now & Then

Well, even though the title of this post is "now & then" it is really more like "then & then." No 'now' involved. Hahaha. But this post includes a page from 2014, and one from 2013... so it is sort of a now & then... if you count all of 2014 as 'now.'

I'm not sure if the Mom Creative is doing her PL Tuesday this month, but I thought I'd be ready just in case.  My computer has been acting up, so each page takes me literally hours, and I always end up wanting to tear my own hair out or banging my mouse against the desk. It is totally frustrating, and I desperately need a new CPU, but that isn't in the cards at the moment. So I'm just looking at this as a sacrifice for my art. Hahaha.

Here are my pages for Week 16 in 2013.

 

And here are my pages for the same week (16) in 2014.  I'm not sure that I'm sold on the background for these pages, but they are what they are at the moment. I might change them later.

My credits are insane. I used so many different things. But here is a list: VW - Pockets 6, Sprinkles 24-28; Caylee Grey - Bad Day Freebie; Amie Lamm - Boston freebie; Amy Martin - 4x6 stitched, Project Grids: Sixtytwelve 2 & 3; Becky Higgens - Polka Dot Party, Flea Market, Guest Book; Allison Pennington - Super Duper Big & Bold; Just Jaimee - April, May, June, August, September &
October Storytellers; Lily - 4x6 Templates 6; Paislee Press - Today Is, In Progress, Eternal Sunshine; One Little Bird - Love List elements, story unfolds, Hopscotch; Sahlin Studio - Documentary; The Distressed Duchess - Heather Joyce.  Hopefully I didn't miss anything!






Have a fabulous week, and I will be excited to see what you have been up to!

Project Life Tuesday

I have just realized that we are entering the last part of 2014, and not only am I super behind for this year, but I am still working on 2013 pages. LOL. I thought I'd try to get back into the swing of things by participating in Project Life Tuesdays with The Mom Creative. She's doing her pages monthly now, but I'm still going to try to get mine done by Tuesdays. :)

This page spread was a fairly simple one to put together because I used Just Jaimee's October Storyteller. Yes, I did just use an October kit for February pages. But it works. I loved the colors, and the cold-weather theme... I just had to leave out all of the fun autumn-type goodies. But Jaimee packs so many things into her Storyteller collections, you could make a ton of pages before using all of the goodness tucked inside.

I've decided to add pictures of Conan (our grandson who lives across state) in when I steal them off of Facebook. I feel bad that we don't get to see him often, and I want to make sure I include him even though we aren't physically with him. 

From now on, I've decided that I am going to work on my PL pages in pairs. Up next, Week 16 from 2013 and 2014. :) It will be interesting to see the difference in a year. 

And I can't help but get excited and inspired thinking about December Daily. I know it is a huge laugh since I can't seem to keep up with anything, but it is fun to think about anyway. :)

What are you up to these days?