I heart scrapbooking

I got a really fun toy last week.

The Making Memories Slice.

It is amazing.

Basically it cuts out everything I want for me.

I like things that do menial tasks for me.

So in honor of my new fun toy, here are two recent paper scrapbooking pages (as opposed to the digital route I've been going lately).

First one: Me and the OSF

Second one: Ryan and I on an infamous friend date.

Lizzie and Brad get hitched

So Lizzie asked me back in March or April if I'd help out taking pictures at her wedding, first for the guest book pics, and second as a back-up to the actual photographer, a girl from our church named Katherine. Of course I said yes; there's nothing better than getting to take pictures at a wedding without the stress of actually being the real photographer!

(Sidenote: I could probably never be a wedding photographer. I'm pretty sure the stress of having someone's wedding pictures in my control would be way too much for me. I'm happy enough taking backseat pictures.)

But the very first thing I thought of when Liz asked me was, "Excellent! There's a fun wedding picture project I've been wanting to try!" (See link for project original.)

Lizzie was not impressed with wedding picture projects. "Do whatever you want," she said. "Just make sure to focus on the guest book pictures."

I assured her I could do both. In fact, the guest book pictures where what I needed for my little project anyway. She still didn't sound enthused.

Well, the project came out 10 times better than I expected; hopefully Lizzie will finally understand why I wanted to try this so badly-- it turned out so darn cute!!!

If only I could have gotten Liz and Brad against the same backdrop as everyone else, it would have been perfect. They were just too busy with the whole getting married thing to come out for a mini photo shoot. Oh well.

Since I was outside taking guest book pics for the forty-five minutes before the ceremony, I didn't get too many pre-wedding pictures other than the couple here of Liz's shoes, and her bridesmaids doing some last minutes primping.

How cute are those fans? The church has no air conditioning, so the fans were a major necessity to making it through that ceremony- for everyone involved, not just the bridesmaids. :)

Here's some of the test shots Brittany (my co-guest book photographer) and I did with our fun brick wall background and the fans.

Getting ready to go in...

The ceremony!
It was so hot in there, I couldn't handle it; I went back out to the foyer to grab shots of little things like the basket full of fans for the guests, the picture of Liz and Brad that everyone was signing, and the guest book itself. And since I was already out there, I was in a prime spot to catch the newlyweds coming out the door.

Reception time! We all headed down to the Lakeside Community Center (Britt and I stopping at McD's for 79 cent cokes along the way- did I mention it was HOT and we were DEHYDRATED?)

Here's some fun shots of guests, family members, and our gang of friends enjoying the appetizers before the wedding party arrived.

Jarrod and I. Look at him with his stylish new glasses!

Jesse and Lily. Jesse talked with me at length about the myriad of problems that could be possessing the White Demon. He's such a great friend.

Virginia with the newly-turned-one Lucy Goosey! If you can't tell, Virginia's about to have a kid herself; it's hard to tell because she's so stinking little and cute still!

DJ Jarrod rocking the tunes.

Ryan Poole... posing for a picture?

This is one of my favorites: Can't you just see the thought bubble over Lucy's head? "Get your own cracker, buddy."
Weston Stecklair, Cassie Labbe, and- look at that!- David Stuckey jumped into the frame too!

The wedding party arrives; looking stylist in sunglasses and rocking out as they are introduced. Here we've got Nathan and Genisee, who I'm sure were probably the most fun couple out there.
Jessica and Mikey wait to make their grand entrance, with flower girl Gwen waiting in the wings.

Lizzie was just the cutest bride ever. She just had this goofy smile plastered on her face for the entire reception.

The flowers...

More Lucy. (I can't help it- she's too cute not to photograph!)

Jess and Gwen at the wedding party table.

Genesee and Brandi.

Michelle, Lizzie's youngest sister, and Bethany, one of her good friends. (Can I just say it really makes me feel old that I've known Bethany since she was in fifth grade? And I was in my last years of high school at that point?)

And finally, what wedding is complete without the circle of dancing high school girls? Complete with a younger cousin in pink trying to keep up and looking adorable in her Mary Janes.

And that was Lizzie's wedding. Well, what I saw of it anyway. I had to leave right before the first dance to make it to Mandy's bridal shower in time.... which I still haven't blogged about....

Coming up next: Mandy's bridal shower!

Five on Friday

1) I know, I did Ten on Tuesday already. But I've got more to say!

2) I got a haircut. And a perm. Because I decided to give perming one more try, since when I did it four years ago it fell out immediately. Twice. Decided to try it again at the hair school, since they were having a special last Friday. It's been exactly a week, and while they're definitely a little waviness and body to my hair still, there's no curl. But I really wasn't expecting much anyway, so a little extra body is fine with me! And it's not like they didn't try over at the school; I had a student and two supervisors trying to get my hair to curl. It's just a lost cause.

3) I've been on more of a scrapbooking kick than writing kick lately. It seems I can only concentrate on one creative outlet at a time, or I just start feeling overwhelmed with all the stuff I want to do.

4) Because of that overwhelming feeling (which I've been getting A LOT lately), I've decided to pick just one thing to accomplish each day, instead of having this idea in my head of completing four or five things each evening. Because I've realized nothing gets done when I do that; I just get little parts of a lot of things completed. No whole projects. Wednesday I decided I would finish up one whole project- getting my rough draft novel ready to turn into a Blurb book- and then whatever time I had left over could be spent working on other things. And you know what? I finished the book, made the cover, and was able to order it that night. And move on to working on Lizzie's wedding pictures. I just love finding my productive modes.

5) So I haven't been getting as many comments as I have been... just wondering if anyone's still reading this. Not that I'm planning to stop if no one out there's paying attention to me... but it's always nice to see a comment or two. :) If you're out there, please leave me a comment! Tell me what you like reading about, what you couldn't care less about, if you'd like to see more pictures of that cute OSF boy, etc. I'm open to suggestions!

One thing off my list...

... and that's updating the blog! Hurray!

I know some of you might not really care. But I write my blog so I can look back and remember someday, and it stinks when I think about all the things I'm forgetting to include, things that are making life just so darn memorable right now!

Okay, we'll start at last Saturday. Lizzie and Brad got hitched, and Lizzie was a beautiful, stunning, calm, picture of elegance kind of bride. You could just tell all day that she was having the best time. So beautiful, Liz. My picture of the day for the fifth is Lizzie getting ready to eat her wedding dinner, with her special Bride apron, and the glowing, floating candles behind her.

I've still got a few more to go through for the actual wedding post, but hopefully soon! I think I've still got a bit of time before she and Brad get back.

Sunday night Ryan came over to Chris' with the best idea: weekend road trip to central California to catch Spring Awakening in San Jose, and a new musical in previews called American Idiot, starring John Gallagher, Jr., who just happens to be an original Spring Awakening cast member himself. Best idea of the year! So far it's Chris and I, Ryan and Sarah, and two of Ryan's other friends. We'll do Spring on Friday night, American Idiot on Saturday afternoon, and then have Saturday evening and Sunday to explore and do touristy things in San Francisco.

We are all very excited about these plans. Too bad we have to wait until the end of October!

Ryan made the picture of the day with his L&L meal. L&L is a Hawaiian barbecue place just down the street from Chris', and the boys love it. Sunday night was my first taste of "Hawaiian cuisine" and sadly I can't say I'm a real fan. It was a lot of food, but I thought it was just too overpriced for not enough yummy goodness.

Ryan and I voted two against one to rent 17 Again. Chris was opposed when he heard the reviews weren't stellar, but it ended up being really cute and funny, and he eventually admitted he liked it. If you haven't seen it yet, go rent it! Definitely a must see fun family flick. (A triple F if you will.)

Oh, White Demon. Why do you insist on being broken? I just want to love you and play with you and show you the sites of San Diego. But you're going to have to start cooperating.

My dad and I took it to the Chevy dealer to run an official diagnostic on it, since my dad was out of ideas of what could possibly be wrong with the thing. The verdict came Tuesday morning: bad fuel pump. Cost: $640 for Chevy to fix it.

My dad said he could do it cheap over the weekend. From what I heard from my sister, he found a great pump at the wrecking yard but the guy somehow broke it when selling it to him.

Sigh.

This is me in the bathroom mirror.

Not everything in my life is as exciting as weddings and babies and demon cars.

And me again. For first official TV Thursday of the season, Chris tried to brand my computer with his Apple sticker. When I wasn't going for that, he branded me instead.

Like my new necklace?
Then he insisted on taking a picture of me like that, and I insisted at the last minute of holding up my beautiful PC. Take that, Mac Boy.

Below are the onesies I made for Mel and Chris Holz, who are expecting at the end of October. Chris Holz is one of the four Chris' that comprise my Chris' inner circle of best friends. We went to their coed baby shower on Saturday (kind of like Justin and Jen's baby barbecue), and had a great time eating yummy appetizers, watching Mel open adorable presents while Holz modeled (or demonstrated how to use), and figured out scrambled words like cinsavtanscoi.
(The scrambled word is vaccinations, by the way. No one got that one during the actual game, and the ones like me who can't go on with life until we know the answers to things took quite awhile figuring that one out.)

Here's one of the reasons I like that OSF boy: we spent our Saturday afternoon with him in the kitchen, baking cookies for a community service project they're doing at work, and me at the table scrapbooking to my heart's content. It was perfect.

Sunday. Yet another reason I like that OSF boy: He made me 'breakfast' at 1:3o in the afternoon! Eggs, bacon, toast, and he even cut open a pomegranate! Then he insisted on taking a picture of me for my picture of the day!

Let the record show: I really like that OSF.

(I'm generally a fan of people who feed me. )

And finally, yesterday's picture: my delightful youth venture thugs.

Okay, they're not really thugs. They're actually very sweet. Especially these four. But for some reason junior highers just won't look normal in pictures, no matter how many you take.

Ten on Tuesday

1) My current mission in life is to beat Chris' weekly Farkle score. It's very, very sad.

2) I currently despise Ryan and Chris for introducing this horridly time consuming game into my life.

3) Popping bubble wrap irritates the skin after awhile; my fingers are so sensitive now!

4) Really looking forward to getting some computer stuff done today: wedding pics, blog updates, writing, and research. Yes, I am a complete and total geek.

5) Got to go up to Sorrento Mesa today for work. That's $22 to go toward my new/old car fund!

6) Speaking of the new/old car, I've decided to name it the White Demon. Hopefully WD will be ready to go by the weekend, and I can finally test out my ipod on the new stereo.

7) Fighting a cold still; hasn't hit yet, but it's pestering me to slow down just a bit so it can get me the second I start to think about it. That's right, I'm on to you, Mr. Virus.

8) I decided to start stealing Chris' facebook friends for my own. So far I've collected Cody, Emily, and Melody... oh so many more to gather!

9) When going through some clothes last night, I came across a white skirt that I think I've worn once in the past three years. Wore it to work today; it is delightful. Definitely going into the main group of clothes.

10) Listening to the Rent soundtrack over and over at work... because I keep forgetting to bring my work ipod back from home, and Rent's the only CD I've got in here. Well, that and West Side Story.

So much to write about

Yet so little time! It's almost midnight, and I'm exhausted, but I feel like I haven't written here in awhile. Much to add soon, including Lizzie's wedding pictures which came out GREAT. I'm so very pleased with myself over then, actually. Hopefully I'll get a spare moment this week to catch up; perhaps if these cold-like symptoms I'm currently experiencing decide to officially kick into a full blown debilitating bug, I'll find some time to log on as I sip orange juice and chicken noodle soup from the comfort of my bed.

Mmmmm... chicken noodle soup....

The OSF has already been knocked out by this cold thingie. He doesn't want me around in case I get it too, which is sweet of course, except that I was the one a couple days ago saying, "I feel like I'm fighting a cold." So I may have given it to him in the first place. Sorry, boyfriend.

I just like to share with you.

Loser Cake

We had loser cake at school today.

Loser cake, for those unfamiliar, is when one person in a specific location is a 49'ers fan in a sea of Chargers diehards, and the 49'ers get their behinds kicked by said Chargers.

It probably didn't help of course that on Friday Anthony decorated one of the teacher's chairs with a 49'ers jersey and changed her desktop background to some kind of red and gold backdrop. Everyone laughed at that, but we really laughed when Erin brought in this beautiful masterpiece (whipped up this morning before work, I might add).

Losing has never been so delicious.

TGIF

You know what I like about that OSF boy?

It's Friday night, and the text I get from him says, "Ryan's hanging out with work friends tonight. It's just you and me. Can we just stay home?"

And then I respond, "A big, huge, gigantic YES!"

Because we're both kind of nerds who'd rather stay home on a Friday night. Maybe watch a movie. Maybe upload pictures from the week. Maybe watch Brian Regan's Epitome of Hyperbole DVD while uploading pictures from the week. And learning how to make fonts of our own handwriting.

Yes. We are that cool.

So while I wait for him to print off the font template, I'll just go ahead and update the last ten days' worth of Picture of the Day's.

Day 238: I get my official name badge for the Charter School of San Diego, because the time has come to go to an official meeting. The annual fall meeting was held at the Sorrento Mesa office, with everyone from all the locations required to be in attendance. For a four hour meeting, I have to admit there was not one moment when I felt myself getting distracted or falling asleep. We played the personality test game, only instead of golden retriever, beaver, otter, lion (like at camp), we were just normal colors. I was blue, which is golden retriever, and gold, which is (GASP) beaver! Somewhere between summer 2005 and this very moment, I've become more of an an ornery beaver than a fun-loving otter!

A cool thing I noticed was that each of the CAs matched the teachers they worked for in personality, down to the final color. Weird, huh?

Day 239: Chris and I start making this crazy pasta dish for our night to bring Jen and Justin dinner. (Gotta love the new baby/free meals church thing.) Chris decided we were going all out, and Thursday night we started out making just the meatballs for this dish. The rest was completed frantically in between work on Friday and actually going to Jen and Justin's for dinner.

Day 240: Okay, I do finally see a little bit of Justin in her here. I think it's the eyes.

Day 241: 3 months! Woot! Chris found this great restaurant in Point Loma called The Pearl. We had a buy one entree get one free coupon, so we both got the top sirloin-- the most expensive dish on the menu. It. Was. Amazing. You know how usually you can't get a dish with all delicious things? There's usually one thing at least that doesn't appeal to you? Not the case here. It was all delicious. We are definitely hitting that place up again. Along with the nice bar/restaurant, there's a little back room with shag carpeting and pillows on the floor where you can play board games and cards. Chris beat me twice at chess, and we had fun taking pictures of ourselves in the ceiling mirrors.

Day 242: Another painting day.

Day 243: Well, we thought this was the last day with my truck. We were mistaken.

Day 244: For some reason, I was just really enthralled with the line of birds on the sign post.

Day 245: A little discovery when I went to check our community calendar; looks like Jen was there!

Day 246: Adventure at work! Brittany and I head down to the Old Town office so she can show me what mail runs entail. Good thing I went with her too-- this was the day the mailboxes were crammed full of new lesson plans for all our teachers.

Day 247: Today! After second work, I headed over to the church across from the library to find out what Liz's plans were for Brittany and me tomorrow. She asked us months ago if we would take care of photography for the guest book, as well as doing backup photographs for the actual wedding. Sadly, Lizzie was running too late for her own rehearsal, so I snapped some wedding-ish pictures and scoped out a good spot to take our pictures. I know it's hard to believe, but I've chosen a brick wall as my official guest book photo backdrop.

Well, Chris has scanned in my handwriting, so I'm off to figure out how to make my own Jordan font!