Blog Archives January 2008

So, we’re officially in our “mid-thirties,”huh?  In honor of the days of yesteryear, I thought I would put together a list of random memories to take you back and make you smile.  Enjoy!

1. V-66.
2. “Unbirthdays.” If you still live by the tradition, you should be out buying me a present right now.
3. Remember when you stole my ID on 4th of July so you could go out and I drove all the way down the Cape only to have to turn around and drive right home ‘cuz I couldn’t get in ‘da club.
4. When mom used to make colored pancakes and milk, depending on the holiday
5. Remember my prized Prince poster in the back of the closet?
6. Puh!
7. Yes, you DID have big hair and I have the photos to prove it.
8. “You’re good every damn day!”
9. Chair #7
10. Anna’s Donuts
11. My broccoli hair-do
12. The fake dog poop that we used to randomly place at Grammie’s and Nana’s. Remember when Nana tried to wash it off the deck with the hose and it shot like 40 feet across the yard?

I hope you have a great day and you’re able to get out and do something fun! Were it not for the 3,000 miles between us, I’d take you out to dinner. Love you!

I love days like this…days when the world is blanketed in white. Days when there is a certain calm and quiet that hangs in the air. Peaceful days. Serene days. Days filled with snowballs, snuggling, story time, grilled cheese sandwiches, and hot chocolate.

Today was a day like that. A snow day – the whole family home from work and school. Aside from the exuberance of my children, the typical sounds of a weekday morning were muffled by the freshly fallen snow. I couldn’t help but smile as we watched the school cancellations on the morning news. My kids take me back. The joys they feel as kids in 2008 are the same joys that I felt in the 70’s. Snow days were as high on the list as they are now.

There’s just something magical about winter in New England. Have a great day!

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With my new Canon Pixma Pro 9000 professional wide-format printer. Oh my Gawd – it is AWESOME!! It’s humungous and it takes up 1/3 of my living room, but I still love it. I love it so much I might marry it. (Thanks Lisa and G for such an awesome Christmas gift!!)

If you are looking for a wide-format photo printer, I recommend this one. It prints vibrant pics, it’s quick, it’s quiet, and I don’t know how I scrapbooked without it for all these years.

Jenn + Pixma 4eva.

It’s been a while since I read anything for the sake of reading it. Sure, I read magazines (lots of magazines – guilty pleasure), and I read Web site content for work, but months had gone by since I read anything for pleasure.

However, I had some time off in December and I was longing for a good read. I took down The Kite Runner in a couple of days. It was impeccably written and I was emotionally entrenched from the first page. I liked it so much that I read the follow up, A Thousand Splendid Suns – another incredible book that I was unable to put down. As good as The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splended Suns were, they were wrought with unpleasant topics and I was longing for something a bit lighter – something not as heart-wrenching. So, I moved on to Playing For Pizza by John Grisham. It was fun and entertaining and helped to fuel my already strong desire to travel to Italy.

But, as good as all those other books are, I am captivated by 101 Things You Should Do Before Your Kids Leave Home (thanks for getting it for me, Bobby). I am not at all religious, and there is a very hefty religious component to the book. But, I am able to put that aside and focus on the sentiment and the meaning in this tiny book.

Time is fleeting. We give our children wings and they are going to leave the nest – that is a certainty. This book gives you 101 truly awesome ideas of things to do with and for your children before that inevitable day occurs. They include small things like having movie nights, taking walks in the rain, hiking a mountain, and searching for a double rainbow. Then there are ideas like making your kids the star of their own movie, having your own special joke and family song, reading poetry, teaching your kids to weather life’s storms, searching for a double rainbow and learning to just be still and listen (something that doesn’t occur too much in the digital era we are living in).

It’s a great book. It brings a tear to my eye – partially because it emphasizes the fact that our time with our children is finite and fleeting. These things are so easy (and inexpensive) to accomplish that there is no reason why we can’t do these 101 things, and 101 cool things of our own. It’s about laying roots, creating traditions, and finding out what your own family values are.

Like I said, I am not religious, but I love my kids with every ounce of my being. This book is a true testament to investing in family and children (and in God, if that is your belief). It’s about enjoying the everyday and giving your family a wealth of lasting memories. Pick it up…you won’t be sorry.

Have a great day!

I’ve been at it again — planning my next class. I can’t wait…this is going to be a fun one. It’s on a much smaller scale than the window class, but equally as cool. This class is called “A Life Well Lived” and will be taking place at the Franklin Mill Store (MA) on Sunday, January 27 from 12 – 3:30 p.m.

We’ll be creating a chipboard cigar box and a couple mini scrapbook layouts. The box is adorable and is meant be left on a coffee table or desk, not hidden away in a drawer. It’s the perfect size for a time capsule, or it could house mini layouts, memorabilia, or trinkets. The kit from 7 Gypsies is so easy to work with and the papers from Cosmo Cricket are stunning! We’ll combine a little decoupage, some scrapbook basics, and a couple surprises in this great class. I can’t wait to teach it and hope to see you soon.

You can find additional details and online registration here.

Wow! It’s really been a long time since I blogged. I don’t think I realized how long until tonight (could be some kind of record). So, where have I been, you ask? Well, for the first 2.5 weeks of December, I was quite literally getting my ass kicked at my day job. Saying I was working “a lot of overtime” doesn’t even begin to describe what was going down. Then, I had some time off in mid-December…but I had to mentally and physically recover from the corporate ass-whoopin’. And get ready for Christmas. And clean and decorate and shop and wrap and bake and entertain and give. And, I volunteered at my daughter’s school and was finishing up a project for her elementary school yearbook (very fun). It was hectic…but tolerable, because I was on vacation from the aforementioned day job.

Then, we celebrated Christmas (it was awesome) and focused on 2 weeks of family time. It was sheer bliss. We went bowling. We ice skated. We played outside. We watched movies. We read books. We snuggled. We napped. We played board games. We got to know each other as a family again – not in the frenetic way we have been operating lately (with the stress and the bickering); but in a calmer, more relaxed family environment with no deadlines, no agenda, and no rushing. We recharged and renewed and it was truly hard to go back to the grind after having such a relaxing and enjoyable spell at home.

But, we’re all back to work and school and sports, and we survived the first week unscathed. I think we all needed to regroup and rethink. It was just what the doctor ordered.

Happy New Year to all!! May you have a year full of good health, happiness, and occasional spells of total relaxation.