So Friday went a bit like this...

I got up early and went to physical therapy to take care of this...

I've got one more week of therapy left and two more weeks until I find out if I can finally get out of the air cast!

From therapy it was on to work (sorry, no pictures there) where I was almost the only person there. The joys of being the new girl- I don't have a ton of vacation time to take off right now.

After work it was off to BodyPump class...yes, I still lift weights, even with the boot on. It's actually not that much harder.

 

After I finished at the gym, Darren and I went to Bridge Street so I could buy a pair of these...

 

Yes, I got some funky toe shoes!! Vibram Five Fingers Bikilas, to be exact. They are soooo incredibly comfortable, and I can't wait until the achilles is cleared for me to run again so I can really try them out.

Since we were going to be at Bridge Street anyway, I made an appointment with the Apple Store's Genius Bar to have a problem looked at with this...

My iPhone 4S was having serious volume control issues (it would turn itself up for no reason at all), so it got replaced. Again. Yes, this is the third 4S I've had since they were released. The first just quit connecting to the network for no good reason.

Finally, we had dinner at Viet Huong, which Darren hadn't been to before. Soothing warm soup was the perfect thing for both of us after a long day.

Oh, and I left out one little thing that happened between the gym and the toe shoes...this!!!

 

I nearly ran screaming across the gym lobby when I saw the email from Rebecca on my iPhone, inviting me to join the 2012 Design Team at Pink Paislee! I'm so excited...and shocked. I honestly did not expect to make it, but somehow I did. I'm looking forward to a year of working with this amazing team and Pink Paislee's wonderful products. They're like the Doctor Who of scrapbooking- constantly reinventing themselves with each release. I can't wait!

friday favorites | december 30, 2011

Happy New Year's Eve Eve, everyone! I hope you've all had a relaxing week. I think that the week between Christmas and New Year is one of my favorite weeks of the year (even though I hate winter). It's sort of like the calm after the storm. A very merry, fun, sparkly storm, but a storm nonetheless. It's a time when Christmas crafting gives way to a mix of wintery motifs (helllooooooo, snowflakes- my favorite) and pink (my not-so-favorite) projects.

In that vein, I've gathered up an interesting mix for you this week- party backdrop ideas, a sweet winter scarf (since it finally got cold here- we just pulled out the down comforter and put it on the bed this week!), a snowflake garland, and, of course, a couple of mini albums tossed into the mix!

 

From the top left:

• Find out how to make these sweet, subtle snowflake garlands at Oh Happy Day.
• 100 Layer Cake has a tutorial showing how to make the fun, fringed crepe paper backdrop behind this dessert table. What a great idea for those hosting (or helping host) New Year's Eve parties!
• This fun felt scarf requires zero sewing! Learn how to make your own at Giver's Log.
• Love Instagram? Love photo collages? Michelle Wooderson shows you how to combine the two using just your iPhone. That's right, no fancy computer required- what a perfect tutorial for those tackling Project Life next year.
• Christmas may be over, but gift-giving (and thus gift wrapping) is a year-round thing. Check out this awesome gift wrapping room and get some great package decorating tips at Celebrate Creativity.
• Traveling Mama posted a lovely travel mini album. You can also check out another post with more photos of the mini here.
• Turn your discarded wine corks into DIY stamps! Sweet Spot shows you how.
• These "jotter" notebooks at Design Sponge were made using vintage Christmas cards, but you could easily do the same thing with any of the Christmas greetings you may have received this season. 
• American Crafts has a great mini album posted using tons of Instagram photos.

Have a scrappy weekend, and happy new year!

scrapbook update layouts | part 2

As promised, here's the second half of my roundup of all the layouts that I posted on Scrapbook Update this year. If you missed the first half, check out yesterday's post.

From my trend piece on the gray and yellow color palette.

From the first kit I ever designed from scratch!

From my review of the Sew Easy by We R Memory Keepers. Tool reviews are a lot of work, but also really fun!

From my review of the Sew Ribbon by We R Memory Keepers.

From the second kit I designed for Scrapbook Update. This is definitely my favorite of the two, and I did a ton of layouts for it!

http://www.scrapbookupdate.com/2011/12/01/more-merry-bright-deck-the-halls-kit-layouts/

So there you have my year of layouts at Scrapbook Update. I wonder how many I'll end up doing for them next year?

scrapbook update layouts | part 1

I've posted a ton of layouts over at Scrapbook Update since I started writing for the site in March, but I think I've only ever posted one of those pages here. As part of my wrap-up posts for 2011 (you'll be seeing more of those as I have time- books I've read, number of layouts made, etc.), I thought I'd bring all those layouts home to live on my own blog. There are so many that it'll have to be done in two posts, so please enjoy this first one, and the second will be up tomorrow!

My very first layout for Scrapbook Update was for my review of the Papertrey Ink Banner Builder die set. Even after all these months, that's still one of my most-used die sets, and I love this layout because it's one of the very first that I made without scraplifting or using a sketch, and it really started something for me.

From my Decorative Tape Trend Watch post- perhaps the first time that stormtroopers have been used in a Scrapbook Update article (and as long as I'm still there, I'm sure it won't be the last :) ).

From my Trend Watch article on clouds.

From my review of several button making tools. Boy, did the comments ever get "fun" on this one!

From my Trend Watch article on honeycombs, hexagons, and lattices. One of my absolute favorite pages I've made all year.

Oh, look, more Stormtroopers! As seen in my article about fashion and home decor motifs in Halloween lines.

From my article about scrapbooking with your more challenging pretty papers.

Back with more tomorrow!