Fabulous Adventures of Listgirl

2012 Project Life | Week 6

noreply@blogger.com (listgirl) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:49:00 +0000

This week’s Project Life could be subtitled, “The One With All The Cameras”. I had processed all my photos and picked out the ones I wanted to include, when I realized that the photos came from FIVE different cameras! I used photos from our Canon DSLR, Canon point-and-shoot, iPod Touch (Instagram and Hipstamatic apps), Blackberry, and my Fuji Instax 7S Mini. This is what I love about Project Life… capturing life with whatever camera is most convenient. :)

This week there was running along Harbor Drive and eating lunch at Point Loma Seafoods. There was Super Todd party. I visited my friend Sally, who is on bedrest, pregnant with twins.

Left-side page. I started printing my photos with white borders a couple of weeks ago and I really like the look. I made more photo collages in Adobe Lightroom.

I designed the "6" in my Silhouette Studio software and cut it out with my Silhouette SD digital cutter. Then I drew in the stitching outline with a white pen. The camera embellishment is a stamp called "Lovestruck" from the Amy Tangerine collection by American Crafts. I stamped onto black cardstock with Versamark ink, then heat embossed with American Crafts Zing! Embossing Powder in white. Then I adhered to the page with foam dimensional adhesives.

This week I journaled a little bit right onto the photos in Photoshop before printing them out.

The left is a Instax photo. I adhered it to the 3x4 card using washi tape.

This photo was taken with the Hipstamatic app on my iPod Touch. I journaled on it in Photoshop, then printed it out 3x3 on glossy photo paper.

Right-side page. This page was all about "Super Todd" party, with a cute photo of Noodle thrown in. :)

I created the orange "Super Todd III" in Photoshop and printed it out onto Bazzill white cardstock in orange peel texture. I did all the journaling digitally in Photoshop using "Labeled Journalers No. 4" by Katie Pertiet (I recolored them orange) and then I put both of the 3x4 sheets onto a 4x6 canvas in Photoshop and printed it out onto an American Crafts 4x6 white cardstock. Then I just trimmed them and put them into the page pockets.

And of course, a really CUTE photo of Noodle, taken with my iPod Touch using the Instagram app. I printed it out 3x3 on Canon glossy photo paper and adhered it onto a Project Life Clementine 3x4 card.

I had been spending a TON of time each week putting my Project Life pages together. (Like more than 5-6 hours.) Too much time for my busy schedule. It was getting un-doable for me and I needed to get it done faster in order for Project Life to stay a priority in my life. So this week, I thought I was going to have an extra insert with additional photos from "Super Todd". But I really wanted to keep it simple for myself and make it less work, so I just made lots of photo collages and fit everything into the standard two-page spread. This makes me happy. This year I don't want to have to do extra inserts every week. I take a lot of photos and I need to remember that this is NOT a comprehensive look into my life, but more of a "best of" the week and the month.

2012 Project Life | Week 6 Supplies:

Labeled Journalers No. 04 by Katie Pertiet	Project Life Core Kit \| Clementine Edition	Project Life \| Photo Pocket Pages - Design A	Strangelove font	Ostrich Sans font
Typewriter Scribbed font	Fujifilm Instax MINI 7s White Instant Film Camera	Canon MP620 printer	Canon Photo Paper Plus Glossy II, 4 x 6 Inches	American Crafts \| 4x6 Cardstock in white
Bazzill White Orange Peel Texture Cardstock	Bazzill Basics Kraft Cardstock 12x12	3M Scotch Adhesive Dot Roller	Tim Holtz Tonic Non Stick Micro Serrated Scissors	Fiskars - 12 inch Portable Rotary Paper Trimmer - Blade Style F
Silhouette America - SD Digital Cutting System	Martha Stewart Heating Tool	Amy Tangerine Love Struck Stamps	VersaMark Ink Pad	Zing! White Opaque Embossing Powder
Jenni Bowlin Dye Ink Pad: Fountain Pen	Adobe Lightroom 3	Uni-ball \| Signo Broad UM-153 Gel Ink Pen - White Ink	Sharpie \| Fine Point Pen, 6 Colored Pens

InLinkz.com

My Special Valentine

noreply@blogger.com (listgirl) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:12:00 +0000

Today is Valentine’s Day. Every Valentine’s Day since 2007 has been a difficult one for me. My loving mother, Grace, went to heaven on Valentine’s Day 2007. She died of cancer and I took care of her and was there until the very end of her life.

My dad is the head of a non-profit Christian organization, and my mom worked there with him. All the coworkers loved my mom and helped my dad plan the service. One of them asked me to deliver one of three eulogies at my mom’s service. My dad didn’t ask me, he knew how difficult it would be for me to stand in front of hundreds of people in such a time, and talk about my mom. I wanted to shy away and say no. But who knew my mom like I did? Who could talk about her and honor her the best way? I knew it had to be me. So I took on the responsibility despite my sadness and fear.

{Chapel at Rose Hill, where my mom’s service was held.}

{Outpouring of love and flowers for my mom. She was well-loved by everyone she knew.}

{My best friend Meera, giving my comfort and strength.}

{My dad standing in front of my mom’s casket.}

Today, five years after her passing, I thought that I would honor her by posting my eulogy. I have not opened up my speech or looked at it in five years. I also haven’t looked at photos from her memorial service and funeral in five years. I just couldn’t bear to open up that folder on my hard drive, until now.

Here is my eulogy. My mom was quite a woman and servant of Jesus. I miss her terribly but know that I will see her again in heaven.

”We are here to remember my mom Grace, and to celebrate her life, all that she had accomplished and what she means to each one of us. She was a faithful servant of Jesus Christ, beloved wife, cherished mother, beloved sister, and a good friend to so many of you. Mom’s name, Grace, really befitted her character. She was the grace of God embodied in a person. She was a gift from God to us.

When I think about my mom, I think of her many good qualities. Her gentleness, her kindness, her generosity, and her total unselfishness. But most of all, I am reminded of God’s love through her. She lived her life with her love of Jesus and God’s love shining through her. Her joy came from the Lord. Phil 4:4-5 says, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all.” This verse describes how my mom lived her life in Christ. Her gentleness was evident to all who knew her. Even though she was quiet and unassuming, her gentleness, her shy smile, and her loving kindness touched everyone who came in contact with her. Jesus wants us to live our lives so that others can see Him though us. I believe many of us met Jesus because of my mom. My mom, with the Holy Spirit in her, exhibited many of the character qualities that God truly values. According to Galatians 5:22-23, the fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control. When I think about these fruits of the Spirit, it is evident that’s how my mom lived her life. She lived according to God’s standards, not human standards.

She loved our family unconditionally. Not only that, she loved others unconditionally. I have never heard her say anything negative or complain about someone else. She always gave everyone the benefit of the doubt, even when they may not have treated her in the best way. She never held grudges against anyone, especially those in the body of Christ. One of my mom’s old friends from the Walnut Creek church came to visit her about a month ago, and she told my mom that she had never seen my mom angry with someone else. She was always concerned for others. Even her last day of life on earth, she was concerned about whether we had a chance to get a bite to eat in the midst of caring for her.

Even though she was gentle and unselfish, she was very strong in her unwavering faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Despite her condition toward the end of her life here on earth, she had faith that God could heal her of her cancer if that was His will and plan for her. While we don’t understand why God’s plan is to bring my mom Home at this time, we can trust in His omniscience that His plan is perfect and the best plan for all of us. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” He loves us and has the best plans for our lives. He is able to do in our lives more than we can ever imagine.

I believe when my mom got to heaven, she heard our Lord say to her, “Well done, my faithful servant, well done!” Those are words of honor that any one of us would love to hear from God. I, along with my family and all of you, will surely miss her very much. But we can all take comfort and rejoice that we will see her again in heaven, where there is no pain and no tears, where we will spend eternity in the presence of each other and with God.”

Super Todd III

noreply@blogger.com (listgirl) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 20:23:00 +0000

On Super Bowl Sunday, we had some friends over to celebrate Todd’s birthday and to watch the Super Bowl. We call this celebration “Super Todd”. ;) This year was Super Todd III because it’s the third time we’ve had this party, combining Todd’s birthday and the Super Bowl (They always seem to happen at the same time.)

Before the party began, we got a visit from AJ & Meera and the kids. They were going to come to the party, but AJ’s grandma passed away, so they needed to go spend some time with AJ’s grandpa. So they came before the party to visit. I love spending time with them, they’re one of my favorite peoples.

We picked up our catered food from Chile Peppers around 2:30, and the party started at 3:00. The spread included flour and corn tortillas, beans, three meats (chicken, carne asada, and carnitas), cheese enchiladas, and rice.

Also lots of fresh-made chips.

And hot sauce, sour cream, guacamole, and pico de gallo.

I made some Crunchy Asian Broccoli Slaw, which was a big hit at last year’s Super Todd!

The food was fabulous, but we enjoyed the company of our friends who came the most.

Dejah and Roby

Anne and Gilbert

Monika, who made Todd a popcorn cake! It was like a rice krispie treat, except made with popcorn.

Victoria and Anne enjoying the festivities while Todd, Monika, and Shannon gather around the food.

So glad that Cassi, Dan, and Madison could come too!

I pulled out the Super Todd banner that Todd’s sister Amy helped me make last year.

At half time, the birthday cake came out! Yum! It was a lemon cake with cream cheese frosting from Nothing Bundt Cakes. It was a hit!

And after watching Madonna vogueing in the half time show, Shannon and I can’t help mugging for the camera as well, ha ha!

It was such a wonderful time with friends. So thankful to have friends to celebrate Todd’s birthday together. We would love to continue the “Super Todd” tradition every year! :)

2012 Project Life | Week 5

noreply@blogger.com (listgirl) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 06:30:00 +0000

I had a couple of days delay in getting week 5 done due to “Super Todd”. Todd’s birthday was on Sunday, as was the Super Bowl. We had a party at our house, and the party prep and the party took almost all day. I usually work on Project Life on the weekends because I just don’t have the time on weekdays.

This week I mostly used digital journal cards. I print them out 6up onto a 8.5x11 matte photo paper. Then I use my Fiskars paper trimmer to cut them to size.

Two page spread of the week. If you remember from Week 4, on the right side I had used a Design F page protector. Which means this week’s 4x6 week title page is on the right side of the left-hand page, instead of the usual left side.

Left side. I really like having a bunch of 3x4 slots in this Design F page protector.

Once again I designed the “5” in my Silhouette software and cut it out with kraft paper. Then drew the white dotted stitching around the “5” to make it stand out more. The alpha stickers are American Crafts Amy Tangerine Hello Truffle Fabric Thickers.

On February 1st I started walking one mile at lunch at work every day. I took two Instagram photos. One of the trail I walk on at work, and another of my leg while walking. The chevron background is a cutout with my Silhouette SD digital cutter, using some new 3x4 shapes by Lori Whitlock, created especially for Project Life. The right side is a digital journal card from the “Live Free: Love Life” set by Miss Tiina. (Free!)

The left side is a kraft paper cutout I designed and cut out with my Silhouette. The right is a screenshot of the last leg of Todd’s 60 mile bike ride.

I’ve been doing a Week-In-Review 3x4 card every week now for a while. This journal card is from “Press Cards No. 1” by Paislee Press. The right side is a background cut out with my Silhouette using yellow cardstock. (From the same set of 3x4 shapes by Lori Whitlock.) The tab is “Everyday Striped Journaling Tabs” (digital) from Elle’s Studio.

The right side is journaling I typed up in Photoshop and printed out onto a Project Life 3x4 Grid Journal Card. I did a video tutorial on how to print onto 3x4 journal cards.

Right-hand page. I talked about running 5 miles for the first time since August 2010. I took Todd out to dinner to celebrate his birthday.

The journal card on the left is from the Entertainment SMASH Pad. On the right side is a journal card I created myself about Todd’s birthday dinner.

My running photo, journaling, and a screenprint of my Daily Mile training for the week.

Super-cute photo of Noodle. I used a little white tag I got on Amazon to write the caption and stapled it onto the photo.

Since this week was the end of January, I did a double-sided 8.5x11 page to summarize the month. I basically took my January month-in-review blog post and turned it into a page in my Project Life album. I created the 8.5x11 photo collage in Adobe Lightroom, then I printed it out onto Red River 66 lb Polar Pearl Metallic photo paper. I love how it turned out! Then I cut the collage into two pieces for the front and the back of my 8.5x11 insert. I used “Days + Months Hand Drawn Brushes” by Ali Edwards for the “January” script.

The backside of my January Month-In-Review insert.

Pretty happy to be still keeping up with Project Life!

I’ve decided it takes too much time to find all the images and links to products that I’ve used, like I’ve done in the past few weeks. If you have questions please leave me a comment. :)

Journaling Pens

noreply@blogger.com (listgirl) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:32:00 +0000

I have a love affair with pens. I love to collect them and use them to journal in my various notebooks, planners, and also for scrapbooking and Project Life. Also for making lists (of course!). Today I wrote a blog post at The Lilypad blog about journaling pens, and I show the various ones that I have. Please stop by The Lilypad blog and give it a read. The best thing is, Jetpens is offering to give one commenter on The Lilypad blog post a $15 GC to their store! Jetpens is one of my favorite online stores for pens, because they have so much variety and hard-to-find pens. Go here to enter for a chance to win the $15 GC to Jetpens! :D

Running in the San Diego Sunshine

noreply@blogger.com (listgirl) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 19:34:00 +0000

We moved to San Diego in mid-December 1999. There’s no way to describe the joyousness at moving from Ohio to San Diego in mid-December, and suddenly wearing shorts with sunshine on your face all the time. In fact, no joke, when we got into our rental car at the airport, the first song we heard on the radio in San Diego was Jimmy Cliff’s “Bright Sunshiny Day”. We took it as a sign that we made the right move. :)

Yesterday was like one of those days. We usually do our long runs on Saturdays and yesterday we decided to go down to Liberty Station and run from there via Harbor Drive towards downtown. It’s about as scenic a run as you can get around here. And it was sunny and 70 degrees.

All photos while running were taken with my Blackberry. I don’t have room in my running pouch for more than a key and my Blackberry. If I put my little Canon camera in there then I can’t carry my phone with me. Phone is more important on long runs than getting a good photo, so I choose my Blackberry. The photos aren’t too bad and they capture the story well enough.

We started running from the canal at Liberty Station.

Then we crossed the foot bridge and got on Harbor Drive. Running along this stretch was very scenic.

Todd and I don’t run at the same pace so I didn’t see him at all during the run, except for the first minute or so. This was the scenery near my turnaround point. I could see downtown across the water.

A couple of cruise ships were in dock.

More sunshine and more downtown views.

I ended up running 5.57 miles. I ate a vanilla GU at the mid-point turnaround. My legs felt slightly tired and it was warm for running, but I felt pretty good overall.

Afterwards, we headed over to Point Loma Seafoods, our favorite seafood place in San Diego. It was very crowded at 12:30pm. We found the last open table outside in the sunshine. Todd got his favorite halibut sandwich.

I got the special, which was Maine lobster roll. Oh goodness. I would run 5 miles every day for a lobster roll!

One of my favorite views. When you turn from Harbor Drive onto Laurel, you get this view.

Awesome day for running yesterday. Today we’re gearing up for Super Todd III, which is the third time we’ve had a party to celebrate Todd’s birthday and Super Bowl at the same time. Lots of friends will be here and we’re having catered Mexican food. It should be awesome! :)

In January…

noreply@blogger.com (listgirl) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 06:18:00 +0000

I ran 41 miles (on my way towards my goal of 366 miles in 2012)
I spent 15 hours and 58 minutes exercising
We cooked 18 meals at home
I lost zero pounds.
Todd ran 32.5 miles (wow, a category I actually beat him in!)
Todd biked 271 miles
Todd swam 10.33 miles
We took 506 photos
I read two books: “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot, and “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins.
I started listening to a different CD each day in my car.
Movies watched: You Again, Easy A, My Best Friend’s Wedding.
I journaled online daily at Oh Life 31 times.
I journaled in my Moleskine daily planner 31 times.
I finally finished the 2012 budget ($100 million) at work (after working on it for months) and officially submitted it.
I stuck to my exercise plan.
I started tracking calories at Daily Plate.
I finished four weeks of Project Life in my album.
I created two video tutorials. One for printing and cutting digital elements with the Silhouette. One for printing journaling onto 3x4 Project Life journal cards.
We watched the Sugar Bowl at Anne and Gilbert’s house and had their awesome chili for dinner. (But VA Tech lost.)
We went to Phil’s BBQ with Dejah and Roby.
We visited AJ and Meera and had cookies and tea.
Sally came over for dinner. I took some maternity photos of her and we showed her our Hawaii vacation photos.
I had breakfast with my best friend Meera.
I celebrated Chinese New Year by having lunch at Pearl with some work friends.
We went to Smashburger with Pete and Cass and gave them their baby gifts.
I ran over 5 miles for the first time since August 28, 2010.
We snuggled with Noodle a lot.
I found my new favorite sneakers for walking around, the New Balance 501. So comfortable and love the retro look.
We went to Wahini Kai for Hawaii shave ice THREE times.
We went to Safari Park and saw lots of giraffes, birds, rhinos, gorillas, meerkats, and also the cheetah run.
We went to Broadway San Diego at the Civic Theater to see “Cats”.
We watched the Buckeyes lose in the Gator Bowl.
I talked to my dad three times on the phone.
I backed up my whole computer to my 2TB external HD twice.
We survived the strong Santa Ana winds and the associated allergies.

January was a good month. Bring on February! :D

Article about Project Life at Home Is Where The Art Is

noreply@blogger.com (listgirl) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:43:00 +0000

Just wanted to jump on and mention that I wrote an article about Project Life for the February edition of My Scrapbook Art's magazine, "Home Is Where The Art Is". I'm honored that Jen Jacobowitz asked me to write the article. I will be writing quarterly articles about Project Life at the magazine in 2012! :)

{click on above image to read the article}

2012 Project Life | Week 4

noreply@blogger.com (listgirl) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:16:00 +0000

This week’s Project Life pages can be characterized as “the one with lots of Noodle photos and stories”, or “the one where I did everything digitally and printed them out”. At the beginning of the year on Facebook, I said I was getting overwhelmed with all the Project Life inspiration, which led me to become indecisive about getting my pages done. (I think I also mentioned this in my 2012 Title Page + Process post.) To combat that, I have made a big list of all the techniques I want to do with my Project Life album. Then each week, I just pick one to work on (at the most two). This way I don’t feel overwhelmed and I can just get it done. Plus, there ARE 52 weeks that I will be doing this, so I don’t see the need to pack everything I want to do into each week and burn myself out. :)

Left page documents the Chinese New Year lunch I went to with my work friends; I made a set of 12 baby thank-you cards for a friend; and we had dinner with our friends Pete & Cass at Smashburger.

I continue to use my week numbers that I cut out in kraft paper with my Silhouette digital cutter. The “January 2012” is a tag from Elle’s Studio.

I made some 3x4 templates in Photoshop this week. This 3x4 Chinese New Year photo collage was made with one of them.

I printed out one of my favorite Instagram photos of Noodle. The journaling card about Smashburger is one I made myself digitally using Kate Hadfield’s “Fast Food Doodles”. I can’t find this particular pack at The Lilypad anymore to link you, but Kate’s “Al Fresco” also has food elements.

For the first time ever, I used a Design F page protector! I wanted to put more 3x4 smaller photos and journal cards in, and more 3x4 little layouts I made myself in Photoshop. This page had a lot of cute Noodle photos, because he did a lot of cute things this week.

The “1,2,3… Smile!” journal card is a free download from the awesome Miss Tiina called “Live Free: Love Life”.

Oh and I printed photos with a white border this week. I like the look. The quote is a download I found on Pinterest.

Left is a photo to show the difference between leaving work in the dark and leaving work in the sunshine. Right is a 3x4 little photo+words layout about Noodle I made in Photoshop digitally and printed out on matte photo paper. I used a digital paper from One Little Bird’s “Westover” kit.

I took a screenshot of my Facebook status about a major milestone at work. I copied the screenshot into my 3x4 Photoshop template and added the title on top and the scribbled Facebook icon (free download from the internet).

I have another Week In Review journal card made using “Press Cards No. 1” by Paislee Press. And the sushi collage on the right that you can see half of is another 3x4 collage I made in Photoshop and I cut out the restaurant’s logo from the chopstick cover and adhered onto the bottom.

Really enjoyed doing my Project Life all digitally this week and then printing them out!

Going forward I’m only going to include the digi items plus core Project Life kits in my supply list. If you have questions you can leave a comment for me.

2012 Project Life | Week 4 Supplies:

Westover by One Little Bird	Live Free: Love Life journal cards by Miss Tinna	Press Cards No. 1 by Paislee Press	Project Life Core Kit \| Clementine Edition	Project Life \| Photo Pocket Pages - Design A
Project Life \| Photo Pocket Pages - Design F	Canon Matte Photo Paper, 8.5 x 11 Inches	Ostrich Sans font	Typewriter Scribbed font	RASDESIGN \| Mari & David font

InLinkz.com

Hello 5 Miles!

noreply@blogger.com (listgirl) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 17:44:00 +0000

Hello 5 miles!

Yesterday I ran 5.03 miles around Lake Miramar.
The weather was absolutely gorgeous due to the Santa Ana winds. It was bright, sunny, blue skies, and a perfectly clear 76 degrees.
But what motivated me even more was to make it all the way around the lake, which is five miles. You see, I haven’t run more than 4.85 miles on a run since August 28, 2010. (Exactly one year and five months ago.)

What took me so long to get back to running longer distances? It’s been a mix of injuries, illnesses, and plain old laziness. In January 2010 I started training to run the San Diego Rock N Roll Half Marathon (13.1 miles). I ran the Seattle Rock N Roll Half Marathon in June 2009, and I wanted to run the same race but in my home city in June 2010. Almost every Saturday morning I got up super-early to run my long-distance runs with West Coast Road Runners. The mileage gradually built up and the long runs got to about 12 miles. I ran the Rock N Roll San Diego successfully, but I was tired of running long distances after two years of training. A few weeks after that, I was running in Encinitas one Saturday in September when I felt like my right knee locked up. But it wasn’t my knee that was hurt. My right IT band was really tight and it hurt. So I stopped running for a couple of months and did cross training like Jillian Michaels’ “30 Day Shred” DVD. My right IT band didn’t feel much better by November 2010, so I went to see my doctor and got referred to physical therapy. I was in PT for two months. In the meantime, I started swimming at my local YMCA in January 2011. I wanted to add swimming laps to my workout repertoire, because it’s low impact and awesome exercise. I did that for a few weeks. Then I got hit with a nasty sinus infection that lasted for over a month. Throughout 2011 I would get hit with two more sinus infections, one in July and one in November. Through it all, I kept running shorter distances 1-4 miles, but never made it to five miles until yesterday.

So yesterday I started out taking it easy. I wanted to run the 5 miles without muscle fatigue and without pain. I paced myself. I started out going clockwise around the dam.

The sky was really blue and it was super-clear due to the Santa Ana winds.

So clear that I could see all the way out to the ocean.

Seeing this sign means I was almost there! (I also had my Garmin Forerunner GPS watch so I knew exactly how far I’ve run.)

I was exhilarated to make it all the way around the lake for the five mile run for the first time in 17 months! Today my legs feel fine, a little bit tired but not sore. I hope to continue to build up my weekend long-run miles until maybe up to eight miles. (I run short distances on the weekdays, mostly around two miles.) I don’t feel like running farther distances than eight miles. But I’m happy and thankful to be healthy enough to run up to five miles now. :)

2012 Project Life | Week 3

noreply@blogger.com (listgirl) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:38:00 +0000

I was looking at my Project Life title page and kept thinking something was missing. Then it hit me. Noodle wasn’t on there! So I just had to right my enormous wrong by adding him to my title page. :) I can't believe I forgot my little Noodle!

I continue to print out my photos at home. I really like the instant gratification of having them immediately available every week. And I like the control I have regarding the photo output. This week's pages took me a lot longer to make, because of the extra pages and amount of photos I had.

My main two-page spread for the week.

Left-hand page. I continued using my kraft paper week numbers that I designed myself and cut out with my Silhouette SD machine, and drew stitching around the number with my Uni-ball Signo white pen. On the lower left photo, I wrote directly on the photo with my Sharpie. I love that I got to see my two best friends in the same week.

Something new this week is that I have a "week in review" journal card, using "Press Cards No. 1" by Paislee Press.

On the left journal card, I printed the "today" frame from Ali Edwards' "Hello Life Boxes" straight onto a Becky Higgins Project Life 3x4 grid journal card. Then I stamped the eating utencils and "sit.eat.enjoy" stamp by Unity onto the card. On the right journal card, I printed my computer-typed journaling straight onto a journal card from the Clementine Core Kit. For more info on printing onto Project Life journal cards, my video tutorial on how to print onto Project Life journal cards is here.

The right-hand page has more photos of our trip to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. I just hand-wrote some additional journaling. Made a mistake and crossed a word out and wrote over it. Not worried about being a perfectionist here.

I had two extra inserts this week. The first is a 8.5x11 page protector from Staples. I cut out the playbill from the "Cats" musical that we went to and adhered the front page and the list of songs onto white cardstock.

On the back of the white cardstock I adhered out tickets, two photos, and some journaling that I printed out onto cardstock.

The second insert is all about our trip to the Safari Park. I used a We R Memory Keepers Three 4x6 One 6x12 page protector. On the 6x12 side, I folded the 12x18 Safari Park map and stuck it in there.

I did this journaling on the computer in Photoshop first, then printed it out on one of the 4x6 folded journal cards from the Clementine Core Kit. The giraffe is a Photoshop shape from "Vector African Animals" set.

The back of the insert with the map on the left and more photos on the right.

This week's pages were challenging since there was so much to do. I have to keep reminding myself to keep it simple and get it done.

2012 Project Life | Week 3 Supplies:

Press Cards No. 1 by Paislee Press	Mega Label Pack by Amy Wolff	Lili \| Customizable Journaling Cards No.2	Amber Clegg \| Date Stamps	Ali Edwards Hello Life Boxes
WRMK 12x12 3-ring album	Project Life Core Kit \| Clementine Edition	Project Life \| Photo Pocket Pages - Design A	We R Memory Keepers - Page Protectors - Three 4 x 6 One 6 x 12	StaplesÂ® Standard Sheet Protectors, 100/Pack
Project Life Scrapbook Dividers	Becky Higgins Project Life \| 3x4 Grid Journal Card	Canon PowerShot SD850 IS	Canon Photo Paper Plus Glossy II, 4 x 6 Inches	Canon MP620 printer
K & Co \| SMASH date stamp	Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher	Silhouette America - SD Digital Cutting System	Sit.Eat.Enjoy Stamp by Unity	A Date With Ali By Ali Edwards Clear Stamps
Jenni Bowlin Dye Ink Pad: Brown Sugar	Papertrey Ink Pad: Pure Poppy	Typewriter Scribbed font	Microsoft \| Courier New font	Chunk Five font
Pacifico font	African Animals Silhouettes	3M Scotch Adhesive Dot Roller	Sharpie Retractable Ultra Fine Point Permanent Markers	Sharpie \| Fine Point Pen, 6 Colored Pens
Uni-ball \| Signo Broad UM-153 Gel Ink Pen - White Ink	Bazzill Basics Kraft Cardstock 12x12	Bazzill White Orange Peel Texture Cardstock

InLinkz.com

Thinking about a Valentine’s Project?

noreply@blogger.com (listgirl) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:53:00 +0000

How about making a mini album about all the reasons you love your special someone?

I wrote a blog post at The Lilypad today about making a love-themed mini album as a gift. You can read about it here. Also, my Love You Mini Book details and process is documented here on my blog. ♥

Year of the Dragon

noreply@blogger.com (listgirl) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 05:44:00 +0000

Today was Chinese New Year and it is the Year of the Dragon!

My friend Sandra at work organized a lunch at Pearl to celebrate Chinese New Year, and of course eat some good Chinese food. I’ve been going to this celebration almost every year since it started.

There was a 20 minute presentation of dragon dance. It was choreographed and very well-done.

Tradition has it that you stuff the red envelopes into the dragon’s mouth for good luck. So this guy handed us a bunch of red envelopes and we each got to “feed” the dragon.

At the end of the show, there was also some choreographed sword swinging. He was really good!

My friend Joanne made these dragon head cake pops from scratch! They were adorable. She made a bunch of them so that we each got to take one. She’s always so creative, talented, and generous.

We ate family-style, with lots of little dishes on the table.

Yum yum yum!

The group of us at our table.

I brought my dragon cake pop back to work. He was so pretty that I felt like I shouldn’t eat him.

But I did. His head was filled with red velvet cake, and he was delicious!

Happy Chinese New Year! And happy Year of the Dragon.

San Diego Zoo Safari Park

noreply@blogger.com (listgirl) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 06:20:00 +0000

On Friday we both took the day off work so that we could go to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in Escondido. It had been a few years since we’d been there. We purchased San Diego Zoo memberships last February and they were about to expire. We had gone to Nighttime Zoo this past summer, but hadn’t been to Safari Park with our membership.
After lunch, we headed over to Safari Park (formerly Wild Animal Park). It was a gorgeous and clear day, temperature in the 60’s. The drive there was beautiful and rustic. It’s so weird to me that a couple of miles off the I-15 becomes so rural. We got to the Safari Park and parked with no problem. It was good to go on a Friday, because it was a lot less crowded than the weekend. Parking was $7 for members. They've remodeled and moved things around, such that we didn’t recognize where anything was. We walked around and saw meerkats. They were standing around, so cute!

Check out this little one… awww!

All standing up and lined up. Meerkats really crack me up!

In 2008 we had the chance to go to a meerkat reserve in the Morongo Valley, where we got to hold and feed meerkats. So our affinity for them is quite strong!

A map of the Safari Park.

I love looking at gibbons swinging around so gracefully with their long limbs.

We headed to the Safari Tram and was pleasantly surprised to find virtually no lines. A group of us waited about five minute and a tram came and we boarded.

On the Africa Tram Tour.

The exhibits at Safari Park were created to simulate real living conditions for the animals in Africa. Many different types of animals live together in peace, in the open.

A herd of giraffes.

A rare sight. A cheetah on a tree limb. Soon after we saw him he ran off and laid down in the grass.

A giraffe close-up.

Some antelope.

This giraffe family was in an enclosure because they’re new to the park and not yet acclimated.

A rhinoceros resting in a sand pit.

A family of buffaloes. Look at the little baby, he’s only 2 days old!

The zebras were the only species living in an enclosure. We were told that they don’t get along with others and will try to get in fights.

At the end of the tour, we came upon this sight. A female lion (left) and male lion (right) taking a nap. Wow!

The tram ride was 30 minutes. Then we headed over to the “Frequent Flyers” bird show, where we saw many birds including an Andean Condor.

The birds were flying too fast for my camera to get a good shot.

After that, we hung out by the gorilla enclosure and saw a family of gorillas, including mom, baby, and dad!

Size comparison between Todd and a gorilla.

We ended the visit with the Cheetah Run at 3:30, which was spectacular. The cheetah is the fastest land mammal. During the Cheetah Run, the cheetah races on a straight 330-foot-long track that allows the cheetah to really stretch its legs and reach an astounding speed: 0 to 70 miles per hour in just 4 seconds while chasing a mechanical lure attached to its favorite toy.

Here’s the track that the cheetah runs on.

Even my DSLR was too slow to capture a good shot of the cheetah running at full speed.

Here she is, after the run and after eating her treats. She’s gorgeous.

A parting photo of us in front of the Safari Park entrance.

After leaving Safari Park around 4:15, we went south on I-15 and went to Wahini Kai Shave Ice. Todd loved it the first time we went, and kept talking about going back. We shared a large (Big Kahuna) pink lemonade with azuki beans, and vanilla ice cream.

It was so good. Even better than most of the shave ice we've had in Hawaii!

We had an awesome day off on Friday. I love 3-day weekends.

2012 Project Life | Week 2 + Digi Show

noreply@blogger.com (listgirl) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 20:38:00 +0000

I've noticed recently that I have some new blog readers and I'd just like to take this time to welcome you and also thank you for stopping by. Your comments and emails are appreciated!

This week for Project Life I've kept it pretty simple again. I don't want to overwhelm myself in the first few weeks of the year with this project. I'm aiming for the victory of getting it done, rather than trying to do too many things with it and spending too much time on it. Between photo processing, picking out photos, printing them out, and doing the journaling cards, I probably spent three hours this week. One thing I actually did was round the corners of my photos and on the digital journal cards I printed out. I thought I would experiment and see if I like having all rounded corners better. Turns out it doesn't matter to me. I actually like having square corners on some photos, especially the ones that are collages. So I think I'll not make it a habit of rounding the corners going forward, since it makes no difference to me and takes time to do. :) Oh and sorry about the photos with glare on the page protectors this week. I was literally on my way out the door this morning and just didn't have time to take better photos.

Left hand page: On Sunday we went to Phil's BBQ with our friends Dejah and Roby. Todd had taken care of Roby's cats for a couple of weeks while they were out of town, so they took us out to lunch. They also brought Todd a tshirt back from Miami that makes fun of Ohio State and Jim Tressel. All in good fun!

Once again I used a mix of journaling cards from the Clementine Core Kit and from my digi supplies. I also continue to mix handwritten journaling with typed out journaling from my computer. It doesn't bother me that I don't have a uniform look. The lower left collage I made in Adobe Lightroom. This is the next video tutorial that I'll be working on.

I wanted to do a graphic for which week we're on, so I decided to design a number cutout in my Silhouette Studio software and cut it out on Bazzill kraft cardstock with my Silhouette SD. I used my Signo Broad white pen to draw stitches around the "2" to make it stand out more. I went back to my week 1 layout and did the same thing to the week header pocket page.

Again, a mix of handwritten and typed journaling. The journal card in the middle is from Clementine Core Kit. I typed out the journaling in Photoshop and then printed it out. You can see my recent video tutorial on how to print out computer journaling onto Project Life journal cards here.

I also want to point out that I journaled about starting to track my daily calorie intake on Daily Plate, even though I don't have a photo about that. I'm ok with telling stories in my album that I don't have a photo for, or showing photos that I don't journal about. I just do whatever I feel like at the time. Just remember that it's YOUR album and you can do whatever you want. There are no rules! :)

Right hand page: We hung out with our friends AJ and Meera and their kiddos. Todd made my favorite soup, Tuscan Potato Soup from Cooking Light. It is so yummy! Todd got a new Ohio State Buckeyes long-sleeve shirt and it actually fits! He has really long arms so it's hard to find longs-sleeved shirts that fit.

The labels on the soup photo and above the kid photo are digi products called "Mega Label Pack" by Amy Wolff at The Lilypad. I recorded a video tutorial for the Lilypad blog about printing and cutting digital items using the Silhouette. Those labels were the result of the tutorial.

Close up of computer journaling printed out onto a 3x4 Project Life journal card. Again, you can see a video tutorial on my blog here on how to do that.

I've included the supplies I used below. Can you let me know if it is helpful to you to include the supply list? It takes me a long time to find the images and links, so if it's not helpful to you then I may not include them anymore in the future.

2012 Project Life | Week 2 Supplies:

Lili \| Customizable Journaling Cards No.2	Valorie Wibbens \| Today Journal Cards	Violet Seeds Journal Cards by Sara Gleason	Mega Label Pack by Amy Wolff	Amber Clegg \| Date Stamps
Project Life Core Kit \| Clementine Edition	Project Life \| Photo Pocket Pages - Design A	Project Life Scrapbook Dividers	WRMK 12x12 3-ring album	Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Adobe Lightroom 3	Canon MP620 printer	Canon Photo Paper Plus Glossy II, 4 x 6 Inches	Red River Polar Matte Paper	Silhouette America - SD Digital Cutting System
Bazzill Basics Kraft Cardstock 12x12	Tim Holtz Tonic Non Stick Micro Serrated Scissors	3M Scotch Adhesive Dot Roller	Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher	We R Memory Keepers \| Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper
Zebra \| Sarasa Push Clip Gel Ink Pen - 0.7 mm - Brown	Pilot Envelope Address Writing Gel Ink Pen	Uni-ball \| Signo Broad UM-153 Gel Ink Pen - White Ink	Pacifico font	Font - Courier New
RASDESIGN \| Mari & David font	Chunk Five font	Jenni Bowlin Dye Ink Pad: Brown Sugar	Jenni Bowlin Dye Ink Pad: Fountain Pen

InLinkz.com

I also wanted to let you know that I was a guest on The Digi Show this week, discussing point-and-shoot photography tips and phone photography with Steph and Katie from The Daily Digi, and my good friend Peppermint (One Little Bird). I love capturing everyday moments with my point-and-shoot camera and my phone. You can click here to listen!

This was actually my third time on the show. I was on the show a couple of times before it was spun off from The Paperclipping Digi Show.

Here were the previous episodes that I've been on, in case you're interested in the topics.
Episode 032 | I'm Learning So Much Today (about recoloring digital scrapbooking products)
Episode 029 | The Year In Review (about creating year-in-review scrapbook pages)

On Running, Old Friendships, and Cats

noreply@blogger.com (listgirl) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 04:17:00 +0000

One of my goals this year is to run 366 miles, or one mile per day on average. This might not be a big goal to some people, but I will be happy if I can achieve 366! I only ran 234 miles in 2011 due to three bouts with sinus infections, and starting out the year in physical therapy for an IT band running over-use injury. In 2010 I ran 379 miles, so I know I can do it again.

So far this year I’ve run 19.2 miles, so I’m on track! Last week I ran 4x, did weight training 2x, and went to Zumba class once. And I started tracking calorie intake at Daily Mile. I hope to see results soon in “Operation Minimize Muffintop”! :p Seriously, my pants were getting tight and I hit my max weight again. Time to get serious after all the vacation and holiday eating.

When I’m pressed for time, I go right out the door from my house and run on the road. It’s pretty hilly, but there’s a guardrail so it’s pretty safe. I can usually squeeze a couple of miles in this way, if I don’t want to run on the treadmill at home.

On Sunday we went running at Lake Miramar and it was nearly perfect running weather. Party cloudy and around 60-65 degrees.

I ran 4.09 miles, the longest I have run in a while! But I felt pretty good and kept at a good pace.

Afterwards, I stretched to old school Hall & Oates. Oh yea!

On Saturday night my good friend Sally came over to hang out and for dinner. We’ve been friends since we were 12 years old. Sally is expecting twins and I’ve been taking some maternity photos of her. She’s progressing right along!

We got to hang out and I showed her photos from our Hawaii trip in December. Todd cooked a delicious dinner of Thai Basil Chicken with some Brussels sprouts. We forgot to cook rice so we had some bread with our meal. Yum!

On Sunday night, we went to see the production of “Cats” at the Civic Theater.

I got tickets through work so we got really good seats! Row 5 center stage.

I really enjoyed the cat costumes and the singing and dancing, but I sort of don’t “get it”. There wasn’t really a plot involved. I thought there would be more of a story. But you know what? That’s okay, because I got to experience something new and it was really cool!

Tutorial | Printing Onto Project Life Journal Cards

noreply@blogger.com (listgirl) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:41:00 +0000

I’ve been doing Project Life since May 2011 and one of my favorite things to do is to type my journaling on the computer and then print them out onto the 3x4 journal cards in the Project Life kit. I print them onto the cards with design on them, and I print them onto the grid journal cards as well. You can see some examples here.

A lot of people have asked me how to print onto the Project Life journal cards themselves, so I recorded a video of how to do this. In the tutorial, I use Photoshop CS3 to demonstrate, but you could use any version of Photoshop or Photoshop Elements for this to work. (I would imagine this would also work in MS Word if you know how to set up the document size and do a text box in that software.) Also, in order to print straight onto a 3x4 journal card, your printer will need to have a rear paper tray with an adjustable paper guide. (Many printers have this feature.) My printer is the Canon Pixma MP620, but it’s been discontinued. If it broke today and I had to buy another one, I would probably purchase the Canon Pixma MG5220. I print both my photos and my journal cards on the same printer, which is very convenient.

What if you don't have a printer that has a rear paper tray? Liz Tamanaha (Paislee Press) has written an awesome tutorial on how to print onto 3x4 journal cards by adhering them to a 8.5x11 sheet of paper. She even has offered a template for you to download. :)

For the tutorial, I’m going to print onto this piece of Project Life journal card from the Clementine core kit. It has a border on the top and the bottom.

So here’s the video. It is about 7 minutes long. If you're already familiar with setting up your document size in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, and creating text boxes, then you can skip to minute 3:55, where I start showing you how to do the print setup. :)

And here’s the journal card printed out. :)

Hope this tutorial helps you. Let me know if you have any questions or comments.
PS - I just want to add that this tutorial will work for printing on any size journal cards, as long as you specify what size it is in your PS document and also in your printer setup window.

Print & Cut Digi Elements Using the Silhouette

noreply@blogger.com (listgirl) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:45:00 +0000

Hi Everyone! I posted a video tutorial today (my first screencast!) on The Lilypad Blog on how to print & cut digital elements using the Silhouette! In it, I show step by step instructions on cutting these digi elements out for my Project Life album, using digi supplies.

You can see the blog post here.

Have a great Friday and weekend!

2012 Project Life | Week 1

noreply@blogger.com (listgirl) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 18:45:00 +0000

For Week 1 I followed my own mantra and just kept it simple and got it done. I tried not to over-think it. I mean, seriously, there’s 51 more weeks to go and there’s plenty of time to do different things in my album. :)

I started on 12/31 because my weeks go from Saturday to Friday. I did Saturday to Friday in 2011 and it worked well for me. I didn't want to start on Sunday 1/1 because that breaks up the weekend in my weekly pages and the weekend is when a lot of the photos are from, since Todd and I both work full time. Saturday to Friday also works for me because the majority of my pages will be done on the weekends. So on Friday nights I can pick out my photos from the week and work on them during the weekend.

Left-hand side has my week title page with date stamps. I included the photo of me on a run on 12/31, and I typed my 2012 theme/mantra on it. This photo was on my blog post about my 2012 Goals. I used a mix of hand-written journaling cards and digital journaling cards that I typed out in Photoshop and printed out. It doesn’t bother me to have both kinds of journaling on a page. Sure, it would look nicer if it were all uniform, but I’m not going to apply arbitrary rules that stress me out and keep me from getting it done.

The bottom left is a 4up photo collage that I created in Adobe Lightroom. I’m working on a video tutorial on how to do this, because it’s so easy once you’ve set it up! The photos are the food we had on NYE. I made super-yummy homemade cream of mushroom soup while Todd made homemade BBQ chicken sandwich (even the BBQ sauce was homemade). We got Noodle a bubbling water bowl so he would drink more water.

The left-hand side journaling is a digital journal card from the “Today Journal Cards” set by Valorie Wibbens. I opened it up in Photoshop and added the yellow color to the typewriter paper on the bottom and typed “Life is Good” on it. I date-stamped over the wash tape part of the digital journal card using Amber Clegg’s digital “Date Stamps”. I typed in the word “Saturday” to the right of that.

The journal card on the right is from a set called “Customizable Journaling Cards No.2” designed by my friend Lili! Lili is the designer behind the fabulous Project Life Clementine Edition! I’ve known Lili for several years and was on her digital creative team. She is a sweetie and I just love her. Anyway, this set of digital journal cards coordinate perfectly with the Clementine Edition of Project Life!

Right hand side has photos of good times with our friends Anne & Gilbert watching the Sugar Bowl. We found an awesome Hawaii shave ice place not too far from our house! Todd and I are super-excited to be able to enjoy shave ice right here in San Diego and relive our fond Hawaii memories over and over again. :) We tried a new burger place called “The Habit” that opened in the neighborhood. It was cheap and good and we’ll be back! I kept a menu from the restaurant and just cut out their logo and stapled it onto my burger photo.

Another digital journal card from “Customizable Journaling Cards No.2” by Lili. I blurred out some personal info on the gift receipt that came with a Cookies of the Month shipment, for privacy reasons.

What Worked For Me:

Typed journaling on digital journal cards is awesome. I’m able to play with the spacing and font size to fit my story. I’m also able to copy words straight from my blog or my Oh Life journaling and paste it right in there.
Really just keeping it simple and not over-thinking it and just getting it done.
Printing the photos at home using my Canon MP620 printer and Canon Glossy Plus II photo paper.

Looking forward to getting my Week 2 pages done this weekend! :)
I’ll also be working on the Lightroom collage video tut.

2012 Project Life | Week 1 Supplies

Lili \| Customizable Journaling Cards No.2	Valorie Wibbens \| Today Journal Cards	Amber Clegg \| Date Stamps	Project Life Core Kit \| Clementine Edition	Project Life \| Photo Pocket Pages - Design A
Project Life Scrapbook Dividers	WRMK 12x12 3-ring album	Adobe Lightroom 3	Canon MP620 printer	Canon Photo Paper Plus Glossy II, 4 x 6 Inches
Sharpie \| Fine Point Pen, 6 Colored Pens	Pacifico font	3M Scotch Adhesive Dot Roller	Tim Holtz Tonic Non Stick Micro Serrated Scissors	Font - Courier New
Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher

InLinkz.com

Making Time For Friends

noreply@blogger.com (listgirl) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 06:23:00 +0000

This past Sunday we got to hang out with some friends and reconnect, which is always fun, especially if it involves some food too!

Dejah and Roby took us to Phil’s BBQ (Todd’s favorite!) for lunch, as a thank you for Todd, who took care of their two cats every day while they were away for two weeks during the holidays. Not only did they take us out to Phil’s BBQ, they bought Todd a sarcastic Ohio State Jim Tressel shirt!

As always, Phil’s BBQ was fantastic. (Drool.)

But it was even more fun to hang out with Dejah and Roby, whom I haven’t seen since the Elf Party in early December.

Dejah’s brother gave her that hat, I think. I want one too!

After lunch, we headed to our good friends AJ and Meera’s house to visit. We haven’t seen them in forever and haven’t been up to their house in quite a while. It was so good to see them and hang out again.

Keiji chewing on some cookies… yum!

Todd hanging with AJ and Andon.

Tea time for the girls! Meera had some awesome Japanese green tea that I loved.

Sunday was awesome and good for my soul, to reconnect with our friends again. I told Meera that my New Year’s resolution is to see her more, and she thought that was an awesome resolution, ha ha. I love her. She’s one of my best friends and I don’t get to see her enough!

Project Life | 2012 Title Page + Process

noreply@blogger.com (listgirl) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 22:11:00 +0000

I started documenting my life using Project Life in May 2011. I really enjoyed the process of photos + stories. I loved looking at my album, as did my friends and family. However, in the 4th quarter of 2011, I hit a snag. I "fell behind" in my Project Life album due to busyness and "not-good-enoughness". I looked at too much Project Life inspiration on other people's blogs and on Pinterest. It overwhelmed me and I felt like my album wasn't "good enough". Instead of spending my time just getting my album pages done, I was spending time looking at other people's albums. I started comparing my pages to other people's pages and felt frozen with indecision. My tendency for perfectionism made me want my album to be perfect each week, instead of just getting it done. Thus my 2011 album lay unfinished.

I got an email newsletter from Ali Edwards yesterday that really encouraged me. In it, she talks about "creative practice". You only get good at anything when you practice, and take the time to actually do it.

Ali said, "It's easy to spend your "practice" time researching, reading, looking at images online, getting lost in other people's work and inspiration, etc. While I think there's definitely some value in that process, for me the real value is in actually doing/making/writing/photographing/etc. Don't spend all your practice time watching other people's practice."

It spoke to my heart. It resonates with my 2012 mantra of "Begin from a place of grace... and finish strong." So that's what I'm taking to heart this year so I can get my album done! :)

So here's the process I'm going to follow for my 2012 Project Life album.

Take photos on most days. Not too worried about taking a photo per day, since my Project Life album will be highlights of the week. I will use whichever camera is available to me at the time (Canon T2i, Canon SD850 IS, Blackberry phone, iPod Touch). For more on capturing memories with the camera you have with you, I wrote an article on the Lilypad blog here.
Daily journaling using Oh Life and my Moleskine daily planner.
Upload photos to computer 2-3x per week.
Process & tag photos in Adobe Lightroom 3. I love using Lightroom for my photo catalog! I use it to tag photos that I use for my blog, and the photos I want to include in my Project Life album. It makes it SO easy and painless. For Project Life I just export all my photos of the week I want to print into a "To Print" folder. It is on my to-do list to do a Lightroom screencast video tutorial about this process on my blog soon.
Make photo collages using Lightroom or Photoshop. (Screencast tutorial also coming soon.)
Print out photos at home at the end of each week, using my Canon MP620 printer and Canon Glossy Plus II photo paper. If I have a ton of photos or if I fall behind, I will send the photos to Costco and pick them up.
Handwrite journaling on the 3x4 journal cards from Project Life Clementine core kit.
Computer journaling and print out onto the 3x4 journal cards from Project Life Clementine core kit.
Computer journaling using digital items and print them out onto matte photo paper or cardstock.
Embellish and decorate as I have time, but not be afraid to just get it done with the basics.

So far I've got my title page done, as well as the first week of 2012. I will share the first week of 2012 later this week. Today it's all about the title page.

I used a combination of Project Life Clementine Core Kit and some cutouts using my Silhouette SD digital cutter.

I printed out our names onto the 4x6 journaling card. Then I added a 2x2 photo of us. I used an existing postage stamp shape in my Silhouette library and added the "2012" to it before cutting the shape out.

I designed this frame with "2012" in it myself in the Silhouette Studio software and cut it out with Bazzill kraft cardstock. The cutout is overlaid on top of the "Everyday Life" 4x6 card from Project Life Clementine Core Kit.

I designed this 3x4 frame with our names in it in the Silhouette Studio software and cut it out on kraft cardstock.

I cut out this camera shape with my Silhouette, layering different colored cardstock, using dimensional adhesive so that the heart stood out.

That is my title page for 2012! Here's to making memories and documenting it!

SUPPLIES:

Project Life Core Kit \| Clementine Edition	Project Life \| Photo Pocket Pages - Design A	WRMK 12x12 3-ring album	Silhouette America - SD Digital Cutting System	Ali Edwards Hello Life Boxes
Postage Silhouette cutting shape	AC Amy Tangerine Silhouette camera shape	Chunk Five font	Pacifico font	Bazzill Basics Kraft Cardstock 12x12
Canon MP620 printer	Canon Photo Paper Plus Glossy II, 4 x 6 Inches	3M Scotch Adhesive Dot Roller	Tim Holtz Tonic Non Stick Micro Serrated Scissors

InLinkz.com

Some Thoughts on 2012 Goals

noreply@blogger.com (listgirl) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:31:00 +0000

I always like to take some time at the end of one year and the beginning of the next to reflect on how the year went for me, and what my goals are for the coming year. Sometimes my goals don’t synthesize until a week or two into the year, as was the case this year. I like to think about them a bit.

I don’t believe in making over-reaching goals that I can’t achieve. That’s a recipe for giving up. I believe in making achievable goals, where there are little victories along the way, so that I am encouraged by my progress and want to continue.

I believe in living a balanced life. This means my goals encompass different areas of my life and not just my body. I want to take good care of my body, my mind, my soul, and my spirit.

With that in mind, I thought of a theme for my year 2012.

Some people have One Little Word (as originated by Ali Edwards), I decided to have a theme.

Begin from a place of grace… and finish strong.

I chose this because I want to change my attitude towards myself and other people. I usually come from a place of criticism, both to myself and others. I want to be gentler to myself and others this year. To come from a place of grace instead of criticism. To really think about what grace means. This is so out of the norm for me, but I think it’s really important that I concentrate on this. And the “finish strong” part is important to me because I’m really good at starting projects, but not good at finishing them! I have so many half-read books, half-finished scrapbook albums, half-finished craft projects. I think it would do my mind and soul good to finish some of these things and feel good about myself and my accomplishments.

Here are my goals for 2012.

PHYSICAL:

Get a grip on how much I’m eating. Track food intake for a few weeks to see.
Hold steadfast to exercise plan.
Run 365 miles this year. (Avg one mile per day, but doesn't have to be everyday.)
Mix it up and have fun.
Hope to lose 10 lbs, but if I can achieve the above, then I’m okay with whatever weight I am.

MENTAL:

Read at least 12 books this year. A mix of fiction and non-fiction.
Finish my half-read books!
Meet challenges at work and solve problems with innovation and patience.

EMOTIONAL:

Make more connections with people.
Come from a place of grace instead of criticism. Go easy on others and myself.

SPIRITUAL:

Attend church more regularly.
Find a home Bible study group.

CREATIVE:

Just get things done. Don't over-stimulate self with too much of other people's work.
Spend time creating instead of consuming.
Finish projects that I've started!

So, these are it. I usually tweak them during the year. I also sometimes set monthly mini-goals which I find very useful in helping me reach my bigger goals. We will see how this goes. :)

New 52 | A Year of New Experiences

noreply@blogger.com (listgirl) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 19:52:00 +0000

One of my proudest accomplishments in 2011 is my New 52 Project. I set out at the beginning of the year with the goal of experiencing at least one new thing per week. And then blogging about it. You can read more about the intent of the project here.

As I reflect about this year of new experiences, I can honestly say that it has changed my life. Some weeks the “new” came to me, while other weeks I fully planned my new experiences. Some of my planned experiences probably wouldn’t have happened but for this New 52 life project! I saw a lot more live shows and musicals. I tried a lot more scrapbooking and crafting techniques. I tried new fitness plans and stuck with them. I learned new skills. I cooked new recipes. I opened my heart to let in a cat, who’s now an integral part of our little family. It has changed me for the better. It’s given me the perspective to embrace new experiences, and that even at the ripe old age of 41, I still have a lot to learn, and a lot more room to grow.

Gone Bowling

noreply@blogger.com (listgirl) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 05:01:00 +0000

As many college football fans know, the last week of December and the first week of January is bowl time! Todd and I love snuggling on the couch and watching bowl games. But we got to experience bowl games this season in many different ways.

My good friend Minnie from high school called a few days before Christmas to say that she and her husband Mike were coming down to San Diego for the Holiday Bowl, and they had two extra tickets. Would we want to go? When I told Todd the news, he said, “Yes. Yes. Yes!" Minnie and Mike were coming because they went to Cal Berkeley and the Holiday Bowl was Cal vs Texas. So on Wednesday (12/28) afternoon, we drove to downtown to meet up with Minnie and Mike for a late lunch at Dobsons, which was near their hotel. The cool thing was, another friend from high school, Vivi, also was down in San Diego! So she and her boyfriend Tom also met up with us at the restaurant. I haven’t seen Vivi since 1998!

This was the only photo I got of the three of us, and unfortunately it was blurry. :(

Minnie’s friend Irene also met up with us. I remember Irene from high school time as well. She lives in China now!

After the late lunch, we drove down to Qualcomm Stadium for the game. We got to sit in the Plaza level and the view was great!

Todd took this photo of me and Minnie. Yay, not blurry!

Unfortunately, Cal lost to Texas. But I’m so glad that I got the chance to catch up with a good friend! I haven’t seen Minnie since November 2009, right after she had her daughter. They now have a son too!

On January 2nd, our team, The Ohio State Buckeyes, played Florida in the Gator Bowl. Our team went 6-6 in the regular season this year. We weren’t expecting them to beat up on Florida in the bowl game, but we enjoyed watching it nevertheless. It was Jan. 2nd and we had the day off work!

TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl??? Sigh. I don’t like named bowls.

Then last night, we were invited to our friends Anne & Gilbert’s house to watch the Sugar Bowl. Their team, VA Tech, was playing Michigan. We made “Sugar Bowl VA Tech” sugar cookies! Get it? Sugar cookies… Sugar Bowl. :p

I put the sugar cookies too close together on the cookie sheet, so they sort of got warped. They’re supposed to be football shaped, LOL! And I used my cookie stamps to spell out “Sugar Bowl” and “VA Tech” and stamped them on the cookies before baking.

They fed us some wonderful chili for dinner. It was so good that I ate a little bit more than one bowl.

We cheered hard but alas, VA Tech lost to Michigan in overtime.

So in this bowl season, we went 0-3! Maybe we were the unlucky charm and our friends will never want to watch another bowl game with us again? Hope not! Any time there is the Three Big F involved (Friends, Food, Football), we’re in!

2011 Year In Review

noreply@blogger.com (listgirl) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 04:03:00 +0000

{Photo collage made in Lightroom. Click on photo to see it bigger!}

I admit it. I love the Year-In-Review posts on my blog every year. It makes me really happy to go back through my favorite photos, stories, and statistics and post them. It makes me feel blessed and full of abundance. I’ve done a YIR post in 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010. Here’s to looking back at 2011! :D

In 2011:

I ran 234 miles.
I started regular strength training again.
I ate a lot. If it wasn’t for regular exercising, I’d be HUGE!
I did at least one new thing every week in my New 52 project.
I started scrapping my everyday life with Project Life.
I completed 30 Days of Lists in September.
I got three sinus infections that lasted about a month each. Ugh!
We adopted our cat Noodle.
Noodle got picked for the San Diego Humane Society’s 2012 calendar as Mr. September.
We went to a couple of plays at the Lamb’s Player Theater: Mixtape and Steel Magnolias.
We went to Anthology for live music and dinner four times. We saw Poncho Sanchez, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Fourplay, and Stanley Jordan.
I was on the Digi Show Episode 032.
Our Asian Food Club met several times. We went to Tofu House, Punjabi Tandoor, Yakyudori, and Siam Nara.
Todd’s parents and sister came from Ohio to help celebrate Todd’s 40th birthday. We had a big party which we dubbed “Super Todd” since it was held on Super Bowl Sunday.
Little Dreamer Designs store closed. My stores at Mscraps and Digital Dandelions opened. Digital Dandelions closed. I decided to close my store at Mscraps.
I celebrated my 41st birthday. I also took my friends out for dinner for my birthday.
We saw my cousin’s movie “Almost Perfect” three times. Once in San Francisco, once in LA, and once in San Diego. We also got to hang out with the stars from the movie.
Todd ran the Xterra Black Mountain 15k Trail Race, rode the San Diego Century Ride, ran the Red Dress Run, swam/bike/ran the San Diego Triathlon Classic, and ran 4 miles and ate 12 donuts at the Krispie Kreme Challenge West.
I cooked some new recipes, including an awesome scallop dish and shrimp stir fry dish from America’s Test Kitchen.
My blog and food photos appeared on the America’s Test Kitchen feed blog three times. Once for the shrimp stir fry, and twice for Pesto Alla Trapanese. (Once on the Fan Photos of the Week, and once in its own post when I was the “Blogger Spotlight”!)
Todd started a Soup Club exchange and they met several times during the year to exchange soups.
We got hooked on the HBO show “Game of Thrones” and watched most of them with Dejah and Roby.
We went whale watching but didn’t see any whales. However, we did see a lot of dolphins and even a sun fish.
I made two mini-books as gifts. The first one I gave to my friend Sally for her birthday. The second one I gave to Todd as an anniversary gift.
I totally revamped my craft studio and did a DIY craft island.
I learned to sew. My first sewing project was a bag.
I went vegetarian for a week. I also eliminated potatoes from my diet for a month.
We made Domo cookies for Monika’s birthday.
We celebrated our 17th anniversary by taking a couple of days off. We went to the beach on Summer Solstice, stayed at Hotel Indigo downtown, lunched at Bernardo Winery, and had dinner at Roy’s on our actual anniversary.
We looked back at 17 years of marriage, time machine style!
Went on several outings with my high school friends Sally and Lara. We went to lunch at Whisknladle in La Jolla in July, dinner at Café Sevilla and Siam Nara in October.
Went to two Padres games. Once in July, and once in August with Sally.
We got an ice cream machine and made chocolate raspberry ice cream, peach ice cream, and salted caramel ice cream.
I documented a Week In The Life in July.
We celebrated my dad’s birthday.
We survived the Great San Diego Blackout of 2011.
We went to Ohio in September to visit Todd’s family.
Todd dressed up as Sue Sylvester for Halloween.
We went to Dallas to spend pre-Thanksgiving with my sister’s family.
I made a handmade holiday crafting kit, which I gave away on my blog, as well as sent to a couple of friends as gifts.
We had our 2nd annual Elf Party.
I made all handmade holiday cards, which took over 20 hours.
We went to Oahu, Hawaii for a week-long vacation. We went on a food tour, hiked to a waterfall, visited Pearl Harbor, hiked to top of Diamond Head at sunrise, went to North Shore, and hiked the Makapuu Trail to the lighthouse. It was an awesome and unforgettable trip where we ate a lot but stayed active and saw lots of scenery.
We spent a quiet Christmas at home.
We went to the Holiday Bowl with our friends Minnie and Mike.
I took 7,853 photos. Actually those were the ones that I kept. I deleted some “bad” photos from my Lightroom catalog already!

These were just snippets of a wonderful and busy year. A lot more things happened and there was lots of hanging out with friends and sharing food. Not all were documented on this blog. Here’s to a great 2012!