The Power of Print

Pin It Now! have you seen this ad campaign about print magazine? i love it 
it is clearly an effort by publishers to promote the print medium over the online world but i really like the message. 
don't get me wrong - i love the internet.  i love to shop, connect, browse online. 
but there is something more relaxed about print.

as the internet continues to explode there is something so nice about sitting down with a coffee and a magazine.

latley i've been travelling with hardcopies of Travel and Leisure (even though we have NO trips planned it's fun to read about all the places we may some day go), relaxing with Real Simple and getting recipe ideas from Everyday Food

the internet is still my "go to" quick fix for last minute ideas for dinner etc. but i think there is something to be said about the real deal.

i have been keeping my scrap on (ha!) by participating in some challenges lately like this one over at the Studio Calico blog:

and this one from Crate Paper

i am loving the way these challenges get me to just pick up my supplies and go for it.
have a great day
xoxo

This is What Summer Looks Like

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I don't normally do 2 page layouts but when I got these fab pics from Nicole i combined them with a few of my own and it was just too many to do only one page

we have a fun weekend lined up - can't believe it's one of the last of the summer already!
have a great day
xoxo

Sleepy Saturday Morning

Pin It Now! we were supposed to go up north this weekend but because i had a busy week at work and am heading out west on my last business trip before mat leave early Mon am we decided to stay home and i am relishing in this low key saturday morning (i'll take 'em when i can).

rignt now am blogging in bed, watching he's just not that into you and laughing at lines like "so i also have a magical name - it's brother phoenix east horse"

here is recent page i made of the benster. speaking of ben - he too is enjoying his lazy saturday. he decided to take over my snoggle pillow (aka best preggo invention of all time - thanks meags!) and he's curled up in it in bed ha! makes me laugh.

we get baby's furniture delivered today - so excited!

have a great day
xoxo

b is for boy!

Pin It Now! at first we thought for sure we'd find out if we were having a girl or a boy. then i spoke to a few people who hadn't and wasn't as convinced. in the end we did find out and my gut was right - i knew we were expecting a boy.

in retrospect i'm so glad we did find out for sure - for me this entire pregnancy has finally sunk in but for the longest time i was in a bit of denial so for me knowing has been a great way to be able to bond with the baby and i can't imagine at this point not knowing.

i can't wait to meet our little man and see him for the first time. there is so much i'm looking forward to about becoming a mom.

here are baby's first layouts:
from the first ultrasound -


this is the day we found out he's a boy - he's pseudo waving to us in the top shot - so funny!

and is it just me or is this the world's hottest summer!? Try to stay cool today have a great day xoxo

Right now

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loving: banana nut cheerios and raspberries

wondering: how i can stay on top of arranging photos and printing on a regular basis (hard for me now as i don't have a set "system" but i know will be even harder once the baby gets here)

waiting: for so many etsy purchases to arrive for baby's room i feel like i may burst.

nervous: for one more work trip far away (am going to make someone come with me b/c can't bear the thought of going by myself)

here are some old projects that i haven't shared yet:

my first 5km run (i was SO proud!)

This pic below is one of my fave's - we took it on our last day in Vancouver - the city skyline is in the back. We had to climb up a huge hill in a park to get to this point - at the time I wondered why i was so winded - now I know -- i was pregnant!

Just a simple page of my two little sweetie pies - these two crack me up

Gearing up for a night of trashy TV thanks to the Bachelor Pad! are you going to tune in?

Nesting

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I think i am in full fledged nesting mode - this morning I was up at 5am and HAD to steam mop the entire floor (even though it had been done yesterday), then i had to clean under the sink, i felt like Magda from Something about Mary

....I also made these magnolia bakery cupcakes today for my cousins who are coming over shortly for lunch.

i had tried them once before and didn't think they were as moist as they should be so this time around I added a vanilla snack pack to the recipe and i think it did the trick! the icing was a bit runny - too much milk i think, next time i'll put in less or do a blend of butter and shortening to stiffen it up a bit (thanks J for that suggestion!)

the humidity has finally broke here so i think we are going to be able to enjoy lunch outside!

have a great day

xoxo

why i create

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sometimes i forget why i create. i look at a layout after i'm done with it and i think it just looks like poop and i want to rip it up and start again.

do you ever do that? i do it with photos of myself too. most times i see myself in a picture i instantly decide i don't like it and want to delete it from the camera. then when i go back to my past photos i think -my hair looked pretty like that or those jeans looked goooood. but at the time i NEVER think that!

what i remember about the past are the good things like how it was so fun when we used to go for 2 hr lunches every day in high school and buy a latte and a bagel every day for lunch and how when we were in university how what i was going to wear to the bar that night was a really critical decision in my day. or just sitting and talking for hours. about nothing. about everything.

when i look to the future i do the same thing, i anticipate all the good that will come like how it will be so fun when we all have kids and can all do holidays together or how it will be so great when we dont' have to work 12 hr days and we can go on vacations to faraway places.

when i think about the now i always have something pressing that i'm worried about ....so that's one of the reasons i create.

it helps me focus on the now and appreciate it. and that's really why i scrapbook.

sometimes i get so overwhelmed by all the stuff.

by all the people that are SO good

by the thought that i'll never get it all down on paper

but i won't

there's just no way - life is too full for that

life is too busy for that and life also too big for pieces of paper

but in the pieces of paper i can show pieces of my life

and that's why i create.