silly as it sounds...

babylicious

isn't he beauuuuuuuutiful?????

good job, momma.

today i see the new baby and tomorrow i see my sissy again, by, me.

can't WAIT to get to rach's this afternoon to see brian for the first time!!!! i have a slide show on my email from her...but...NO!  i refuse!  i will see him live and inperson first!!  hee hee....hope he's ready for "mammarazzi".....LOL!

and bri comes to stay here in wa for awhile...should see her tomorrow!!  yay!!  here's a shot i snagged of her when we dined the the Hard Rock Cafe in Hollywood last week...

and then there's the moment my son met "Bob" for the very first time....

bob rocks, man.  :)

bohemian ribbon

that GORGEOUS ribbon atop my blog at present was a gift from em...i have stitched it to my camera strap.  i feel so bohemian.  :)  it has magic fairie dust in it and all my pictures turn out perfect now.  hah hah.  if only.  :)

speaking of gifts....here is a pic of the apron i made kim, and she was so sweet to wear it all weekend!!  besides being a total hottie, kim is SEW sweet and kind and has such an amazing ability to bring loads of calm and peace wherever she goes.  i'm SEW grateful we finally met!!!

and rhonna....it was SO fun to see her again and work with her...brings my soul much joy, that girl.  :)  i tried like the dickens to get a clear shot of the woman, but she moves like greased lightnin', that one!! LOL!  this blurry one is actually the clearest one i GOT!  hee hee:

OKAY.  and you will NOT believe what car the rental agency gave us (my family) to drive while were were down there.  are you ready for this?  you sure? 

A FORD FLIPPIN FREESTYLE!!!!!!!!  how stinkin COOL is that???!!!

alright...must leave again mid-post.  hubby gone late tonight and kiddos are neeeeeeedy.....

moooooooooooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....................................

and so it goes.  :)

freestyle weekend in the OC

this is the kind of thing that makes it all worthwhile!

even after almost 3 hours of work, work, work at my sunday album class at the Oasis, these ladies were full of nothing but energy and smiles...so grateful for them, and the inspiration they exude! 

the freestyle weekend was a smashing success, and i could not have asked for a more wonderful group of women, no, ARTISTS to share it with!!!

wendy and karen were such awesome hostesses, and em, kim, and rhonna were like family.  seriously.  it was like having a family reunion with these gals....merging and picking up the pieces just as if we'd always been together! it was awesome. and chris, too!  it was so cool to finally meet chris, and rhonnas sweetie sister in law cherie, and the totally incredible tara....oh my gosh and i think i could have camped at that gypsy cafe forever!  YUM! 

i have a gazillion pics i want to share....sooooo many fun moments and memories, and wendy was SO SWEET to even make a CD from all these different cameras of the event...thank you so much wendy!  and thank you to "cropper #16" for the yuuuummmmmmm cookies we snacked on all weekend...i confess i brought a couple home for my 2 kiddos...they were in heaven...i need cookie baking classes from you, girl!! 

OH...here's a link to the store's blog with a whole bunch of fun pics! SB Oasis Freestyle Weekend!

but seriously.  how cool was it to spend so much time with em?  like 24 hrs a day for like a week or something....she even knows i have a horrible habit of snoring when overly tired...such a good sport.  hee hee.  but she got me back with her sonic boom ipod wave machine night-time-noise-drowner-outer.  'bout peed my bed when that thing went off like a tsunami at 3 a.m.  i said ABOUT.  just about.  just like i about peed my pants when i walked into our hotel room at the 5-diamond The Island Hotel in the OC....oh. my. goodness.  the thread count in that room was higher than my mortgage.  WHOAH, BABY!!!  and check this view, baby....

it was hard to say goodbye

but it was wonderful to finally be home

emilys house is cool and my best friend is having a baby and my husband is the best man in the world. by, me.

so i'm sitting on em's couch in LA with a warm mac in my lap and my sweet husband is currently corralling the kids he just flew home (all THREE) to baggage claim in seattle after a long exhausting flight...  he says baylor chucked his binky across the plane only about 3 times...heh.  poor guys.  all of them...  such a sweet man to put up with all of that.

AND... my best friend Rachael is currently IN LABOR with her third, very LATE baby boy in Washington... my heart is wishing i were there with ALL of them.  waiting on pins and needles to get word from her ....  and word from my hubby....  :)

but don't get me wrong; i am totally loving being with em!  i can't tell you how much it just felt like "home" to walk into her house...curl up on her couch, and have a good bout of tears over missing my family.  :)  good thing she was gone at a preschool meeting rubbing shoulders with celebrities (*coughcarrieannmosscough*) LOL and wasn't home to see me sobbing...LOL.
hmm.  lets see.  what else can i record for posterity....
hmm....
OH.
baylor was counting on his FINGERS today!!!  uuuuun......duuuuuuu.......reeeeeeee......fooooooooo......fiiiiiiii......
it was SO CUTE.  cracks me up.  he can't hardly speak, and yet he counts his fingers one by one.  *shaking head* silly little cute kid.  :)
aaaargh  don't get me started...i'm missing them all over again!
my dad.
he was so awesome.
treated me and my mom and my sissy to a mani and pedi this morning.....it was AMAZINGLY wonderful!! and i finally have pretty fingers again!!!

okay....tomorrow....em and i are totally going to get our groove on prepping for teaching our classes at
scrapbook oasis ...  prepping and buying and scrapping and freaking....  LOL....  okay, so hopefully not too much of the freaking part.  :)  :P

okay....off to crop and wait for phone calls now....
xoxo
tia

feeling a little weird not connected to a computer for so long...in fact, so weird that i actually paid the whatever cents a minute just to log on for a brief moment while the kids are all still sleeping up in the room.

the funeral and burial was yesterday; in fact, my dad asked me to help dress her for burial and give the eulogy.  it was an honor.  it was HARD, but it was an honor.

sorry if post is disjointed; can't spend too much time thinking, you know, have to pay to think, hahahha... (dumb hotel business centers.)  i need a laptop.  *sigh*

it feels really good to be in socal; i spent sooooo much time here growing up both living here and visiting my grandparents regularly, it feels so much like a second home.  and i love driving like a maniac along with the traffic, hee hee hee.  my grandmother and dad taught me how to drive, you know, and they are true californians.  so you can only imagine the sweet driving skills i possess.  those are some mad skillz, man.  almost made my family pee their pants on many occasions, but, hey.  its all good.  :)  its california, man.  ;)

now the funeral is over, i think we'll all try to make it to the beach today; i'd love to get some family pics and stuff there, and i'm itching to drive down topanga canyon again.  love that drive. 

aaaaaanyway...if i owe you emails, i'll be sure to answer soon....well, later actually....when i get to emily's house later this week (yay em! totally EXCITED to see you!) and have more time to check emails and stuff.  things are so crazy; we're going a thousand miles a minute.  i don't think i've stopped to breathe really YET.  the night before the funeral i stayed up till 3 am making, you guessed it, scrapbook albums to put out on the table with pics of grandma.  i separated the HUGE pile of pics we had into 5 categories:  Daughter/Sister, Wife, Mother, Grandmother, Woman/Friend.  and then used black pages and black photo corners on all the gorgeous ooooolllllddddddddd pictures (got a kick outta her 50's and 60's looks...she was a TOTAL DIVA.  Serious.  hairpiece, 12 inch waist, and all...LOL. always coiffed and dignified and gorgeous.)  :)  it was fun.

well, best be off....i found a "scrapbook safari" store in westfield mall yesterday where i got my scrapbook fix ON, was a pretty cool store.  yum.  more supplies always make you feel better, right?  well, not QUITE as much as a coach handbag would.....hee hee hee.....i'm keeping my eye out for one that calls my name.... ;)  have a good week....i'm sure mine will be better than last.

tia....

out.

peace

finally.

peace.

grammie passed away peacefully this afternoon, with her family around her, both those seen, and those unseen, waiting to welcome her home. 

it looks like the funeral will be saturday in SoCal; we'll all fly down to lay her to body to rest.

i am so happy for her; it is so bittersweet.  the sadness was in her pain here on earth.

i am so much like her; i don't know if a part of me is gone, or if a part of her is still here in me.  that's a 'glass half-empty/half-full' kind of question.  i already know the answer.  my natural self just wants to wrestle with it a little while more, is all.  and that, i suppose, is called grief. 

it will come, it will wash over me, and i will be okay.  we will all be okay.  i know that much is true.

oh.

and my toddler has chicken pox.

when it rains, it pours, eh?

**ETA:  doctor says no chicken pox; just a nondescript rash...PSHEW!**

to pass the time

hooray!

my sissy is coming!  she arrives tonite around 11.  it'll be good to see her again.

(this is my pretend all the world is just fine and bury the previous post post)

la-

di-

da....

<<drumming fingers>>.....

okay, a picture to pass the time:

that's my grammie

on the far right.

:)

beginning a goodbye

dad just called.

grandma is dying.

those aren't the words he used, but she won't eat or drink, won't open her eyes, and the doctor has ceased all meds, but tylenol for pain.

heading there in a few minutes to see her.

i don't know if it will be the last time.  i can't believe that it would.

and yet,

i can.

happy mothers day!

new bio picture

<-------------------- over there,

taken by my lovely 8 year old niece, kayleigh!  :)  good job, kayleigh!

we had a fun evening at my mommy's house, including pretty flower gifts, dancing around to sarah brightman and andre boccelli's rendition of 'time to say goodbye' in the fashion of 'we are pretending to be the fountains at the bellagio'...hee hee... and when the sprinklers came on, the kids and grandma had an obstacle course to see who could stay the dry-est whilst running through the water.  i think my mom won, but i don't really believe the kids WANTED to stay all that dry...

she's gonna kill me for posting her 'leaping' picture, but it was TOO cute!  :P

okay....so this one will redeem me.  :)  here's my mommy...complete in her homemade apron by her granddaughter.  :)

and here are some of the pretty flowers:

i'm glad for mothers day.  i'm glad i have a mom.  a great mom.  i'm glad that everyone everywhere, no matter what, has a mom.  not everyone gets to share this day with them face to face, but we all have that connection.  we all have that in common.  i love that.

garage SAILing

fridays.  gotta love garage sale fridays.  all the sales start, but aren't too picked-over or crowded, while many are still at work...gotta love it.  i love a good deal on junk.  :)  moreover, i love finding treasure in what others consider junk.  i think its hereditary or something.

well, as the label on my new old buttons reads, today was my "lucky day" at the sales!

1.  was free.  i found it in a heap of wood in an alleyway labeled 'free wood'. SO COOL. and perfect backdrop for my climbing rosebush.

2. $3 and totally amazingly AWESOME wallhanging organizer for scrabbook goodies.  i can't wait to clean this puppy up and fill it with embellishments!

3. $2.50 and ohmygosh i'm adding a handle and putting it atop my scrapbook table for all my at-hand-tools!  this is going to be so cool...can't wait to get this baby all cleaned and filled, too!

4.  new old buttons!  i have a button obsession and was THRILLED to find these for 10 cents a card!  the lady behind me was jealous.  oops!

5.  FREE.  this HUGE planter box was in that 'free wood' pile again...it was a crack-up watching me try to fit it into my van, but where there's a will....hee hee.

6.  i FORGOT to take a picture of my $3 wood high-chair!  it is PERFECT for Baylor at the table (since its missing its original tray, i'll just push it up to the table) and i plan to do before and after pics, since i am going to paint it black and antique it!  it will look soooooo cool.  woo hoo!  and no more cheesy plastic booster chair...YES!

1.  a 1950s cigar box; have yet to explore this a bit more but can't wait to make an album to tuck inside of this cool box!

2.  okay.  amy found this and it made me laugh SO HARD i said "BUY IT! If YOU don't I WILL!"  so we went dutch and each paid 50 cents, hee hee. little do our lunch-date girls know that we are going to make them PLAY IT with us.  heh heh. 

3. i've always wanted to do some altered dominoes with stamping and stuff, so found this cool box of blank backed dominoes to play with!

4. again, the 25 cent cigar box...

5.  these are the spoils from LAST friday's sales...a WHOLE bunch of games and flash cards to use in an upcoming "Alphebetica" project...i'm so excited to have found them; and so cheap!  the flash cards are already old and yellowed from age...and i am strange enough a scrapper to LIKE that fact, lol.  (i'm not an acid-free worrier, nope, just not me. :) )

6.  my SO AMAZINGLY COOL find for my Circle Journal Album Cover!!!!  and, i'm cracking up cause i found these and decided on it BEFORE i saw erin lincoln's cool album in the new Creating Keepsakes...i'd say "great minds think alike", but i know erin's mind is <<greater>> than mine, LOL!  so i guess its just a REALLY cool idea begging into the cosmos to happen.... :)

welp, that's all of my cool finds for now....hoping to have another installment for you next friday! and check amy's blog for her finds, too...

garage sales rock, man.