everything which is yes

Monday Morning 10

For those who are unfamiliar with how this works, it basically goes like this: I fire up my iTunes and shuffle my library and share here what ten tunes I get to enjoy this morning, at this moment.  Now as for why you really would care what I'm listening to?  Errr....maybe because it gives you a glimpse of my music tastes and personality?  Maybe because it causes you to discover new music or re-discover old tunes you love?  Maybe because you're completely bored and have nothing better to do at the moment?

And so I bring you:

1. "Policy of Truth" -- Depeche Mode (This is one of those bands that is completely reflective of my sister's influence on my music tastes.  This album Violator is fabulous).
2. "Don't Think Twice It's Alright" -- Joan Baez (brilliant cover of the Bob Dylan tune.  Joan's voice is made for folk...beautiful.  And lyrically I love this song even though it has a few of the smugest lines in a end-o-romance song ever: "you're the reason I'm traveling on, but don't think twice it's alright" or "you just kinda wasted my precious time, but don't think twice it's alright".  I like to think that Dylan was trying to console himself with these lines).
3. "Boys of Summer" -- Don Henley (for some reason I can envision the music video for this song to this day).
4. "Forever" -- Chris Tomlin (I was a little slow to warming up to contemporary Christian music, for reasons I can't fathom now that I've listened and loved it.  Anyway, this song is fantastic.  Love the gospel harmonies on this take and the lyrics are really uplifting).
5. "Play With Fire" -- The Rolling Stones (I actually think this is a rather pretty song, musically).
6. "Precious Pain" -- Melissa Etheridge (this album was my first experience with Melissa Etheridge's music.  The song is so raw and emotive, both musically and lyrically.  It's really wonderful, but definitely not a listen for when you're hoping to be uplifted from whatever blueness you're feeling.  If you're up for listening to something that will help you wallow, this one's for you).
7. "L.A. Woman" -- The Doors (the last release before Jim Morrison's death. Very blues-y, so it's one of my favorite Doors tunes.  Another interesting tidbit: One of the lyrics, repeated toward the end of the song, "Mr. Mojo Risin'" is an anagram for "Jim Morrison"...and it's a great climatic moment in the song.).
8. "That's The Way Love Goes" -- Poi Dog Pondering (another remnant of my sister's music loves.  This Chicago band (woot!) is FANTASTIC live.  So many fabulous components to their songs (strings, horns, lots of vocals), loove them.  Love the vocals on this and the violin).
9. "Jackie's Strength" -- Tori Amos (I love so many of her songs.  This is one of my faves.  The simple piano, beautiful vocals, the strings).
10. "Where The Streets Have No Name" -- U2 (one of the best.rock.bands.ever.  And this, one of the best songs from one of their-if not THE-best albums.  Ahhh, the guitar, the vocals.  Incredible.  U2 was my very first live music experience and WOW, they are fantastic live.  The energy).

Sweet Saturday

It's time for new releases at the Sweet Shoppe and the girls have just been ROCKING some amazing kits lately.  This week is no exception. 

I really love Heather's new kit Mischief & Mayhem.  The colors are fabulous and I think it's one of those kits that would work beautifully for both boy and girl pages.  Really versatile.  Loooove it!:

Here's a LO I created with it, featuring one of my favorite bugga photos.  Mischief (full credits):

Ponderings 6.7

Will I ever be able to enjoy a full night's sleep?

Do I dare to believe that this could be the Cubbies year, for really?

Why is US Weekly so infatuated with Heidi and Spencer?  Why is it that I even *know* who these people are and have to look at their completely staged photo ops every week in my magazine?

What is the fascination with Wii?  Should I even risk finding out for fear of being completely sucked in?

faves for the week

I've been infatuated with color in my layouts lately.  I don't know if it's that summer is upon us or what, but I've definitely not been my usual vanilla self with my pages lately.  Here's a few of my faves recently:

Faith (full credits) -- this is probably my favorite layout yet.  Virtually everything here can be found at {we are} storytellers (I *heart* their designs):

 

Hubby isn't crazy about this one because Bugga looks like a boy.  And because the photo isn't terribly good (but it was the only one that captured this phase, so I had to go with it).  I didn't help the whole looks-like-a-boy thing with my color scheme, but had fun with it anyway.  soooOOO big (full credits):

I'm loving Dani's new kit Deep Blue Sea and had to use it in a layout.  So I finally scrapped the bug's first kiddie pool adventure.  Splish Splash (full credits):

more little fatties

So not too long ago I was lamenting the lack of butterflies in our garden and I'm so pleased to report that I think the season is finally warming up (note to self: be patient with nature)!  The other day Bugga and I saw a beautiful swallowtail floating about in the garden and laying eggs on our fennel!  A few days have passed and here's what the critters are looking like today:

We have seven total and this morning we place some of the fatter, more ready guys in the butterfly house with some more fennel.  I bet it won't be long before they start making their chrysalises. I loooove how bugga is really excited about the caterpillars..she loves to check on them and watch them munch! 

Our garden is definitely ready for butterflies.  We have some beautiful blooms right now.  Here's a shot I captured this morning (and looking at this makes me reeeaaaaally long for a wonderful DSLR--the point and shoot can only do so much):

I've always really loved coneflowers--they are gorgeous! 

lightly nerdy

So for this week's FOBTY at Sweet Shoppe Designs, we were asked to take a sort of barometer of nerd-ness.  I thought I might be in trouble since I *am* a bit of a geek.  (A cool geek, of course).

But fortunately my disdain for mathematics saved the day!  I am, in fact, a little bit nerdy.  According to the test (here), I am "lightly nerdy" which means that 46% of respondents scored higher than me on the nerd scale, 1% scored the same, and 53% scored lower than me. Luckily for me, this quiz was clearly geared more toward the Star Trek, Dungeons and Dragons or alternately the superbly proficient in math and science, computer genius camp of nerds.  I think my favorite questions had to be: "do you have biohazard or warning signs posted in your room?" and "SHOULD you have biohazard or warning signs posted in your room?".  Haha.

Had the barometer for nerd-dom been based on things more like: "how many songs by Neil Diamond can you sing along with word for word?" or "how extensive is your knowledge of Harry Potter?" or "do you ever goofily dance to the "Backyardigans" with your daughter in the living room"? I may have been the princess of nerds.

joys o jello

So we're currently in that frustrating phase of really poor toddler eating, wherein bugga resists any food that might be you know...remotely nutritious.  And forget green.  Veggies are completely out of bounds.  And still (per the experts) we keep offering and not forcing, but offering a nice balanced variety of foods with a favorite of hers here and there, and offering again, only to be rebuffed.  It's like the worst case of unrequited love on record.  And this girl is "just not that into" good for you food.

ANYway...wish I could say this post was about a food triumph of some sort--like a "my child actually ate a vegetable" today post, but alas, no.  Actually this post is about how my child is SO picky that when I thought it would be fun to make and enjoy some fantastically gross, but delicious, Jello jigglers the other day..she didn't want to have anything to do with them. 

It was a good long while before the power of the fantastically gross, but delicious red jiggling goop swayed our bugga.  She finally decided that the food was interesting enough to try (okay maybe only after hubby snuck some onto her lips).  And then, of course, as we try to tell her with ANY food we know she'll love but is too stubborn to try, she LOVED it. 

It's no green beans, but baby steps, right?

Pickles!

I've never really liked pickles in real life. 

But I loooooooove pickles in the land of digiscrapping.  That's right...I'm SO gooped up on the gop about this.  I've been selected to be a part of the Shabby Pickle Designs site creative team!!  I'm over the moon!  I'm thrilled!  I jumped up and down like a goof when I received my invite!

I found out about this on Friday, but I'm still in shock; I'm still pinching myself.  Seriously.  I can hardly believe I was selected to be among SUCH an amazingly talented team of scrappers.  We're talking girls I've admired for a long time because their work is just brilliant.  Insanely brilliant.  I'm so blessed to have this opportunity to grow as a scrapper alongside my fellow CT girls and with these AMAZING, inspiring designers.  The talent at SPD is just incredible!!

Here are a couple of layouts I've created so far that feature SPD designs.  I canNOT wait to scrap more with the amazing creations of these fabulous Pickles!  Their work is so inspiring to so many different styles of scrapping!

Butterfly (full credits here) -- I used the SPD collab Cottage Garden and it's sooo full of fabulous that the possibilities for pages are endless:

Natural Beauty (full credits here) -- I used a fabu kit from Holly Designs and didn't even do it justice with my simple design; the elements and papers in this kit are gorgeous!:

Yayyyyy!  I'm a Baby Gerkin! 

friendlier with two

"It's so much friendlier with two," said Pooh. -- A.A. Milne

Monday Morning 10

And today's 10....

1. "Frank Sinatra"-- Cake (I've always really digged Cake's music.  For some reason it seems like a more contemporary beatnik kind of sound).
2. "Pure" -- The Lightning Seeds (One of my sweet roomates in college loved this song and I do too!  We'd always talk about how if we made a movie this song would definitely be on the soundtrack.  I don't know if this band really had any hits or other songs that I'd be into, but the melody and lyrics of this are really wonderful).
3. "Like a Star" -- Corrine Bailey Rae (I was slow to hop on the CBR bandwagon.  Glad I finally got the memo because her voice is brills).
4. "Bookends" -- Simon & Garfunkel (ahhh...there is something so beautifully melancholic about this song.  It's SO short, but tugs at me everytime.  And man those boys really compliment each other so well vocally.  So emotive).
5. "Joyride" -- Built To Spill (one of my first encounters with Indie rock in college, back when BTS really was indie).
6. "Cracklin Rosie" -- Neil Diamond (sigh.  I heart me some Neil.  He's so cheestastic.  And  because of said cheese factor and many sequined tops is also seriously underappreciated as an artist.  He really is so talented).
7. "Rhiannon" -- Fleetwood Mac (one of the best.bands.ever.  Oh and Stevie Nicks...her voice.  Wow.  She's incredible.  Trailing scarves and all).
8. "Jesus, Etc." -- Wilco (looove the strings on this).
9. "Raining in Baltimore" -- Counting Crows (oh how I would listen to this over and over in all my melancholy in HS.  The lyrics are so desperately emotional).
10. "I Just Want Some" -- Melanie Horsnell (I'll admit it, this was one of those songs I saw on Grey's Anatomy--or maybe it was a commercial?--and then googled and searched for on iTunes.  Glad I have it.)