Kendall

I haven't been blogging because I'm really into a book, "Vanishing Acts" by my favorite author, Jodi Picoult. Here is a line that I really like and relate to:

When you're pregnant, you can think of nothing but having your own body to
yourself again; yet after giving birth you realize that the biggest part of
you is now somehow external, subject to all sorts of dangers and
disappearance, so you spend the rest of your life trying to figure out how to
keep her close enough for comfort.

Brian weighed Kendall yesterday and we were worried that she hadn't gained enough weight so I made an appointment with her doctor today. Brian also wanted to talk to her about Kendall's sleeping habits (short naps, still waking in the night). Turns out she is maintaining her tenth percentile in weight so no worries there but she said I shouldn't feed her in the night when she wakes. Sadness. Teaching her to sleep independently is the hardest thing I've had to do as a mother, quite possibly the hardest thing I've ever done!

Back to my book now.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

Well Kendall has officially had her first Christmas. Here is just a sampling of the pictures taken (130ish total!). We had such a wonderful time with each of our families. Kendall did really well in the car, amazing considering she spent about 35 hours in her carseat. She is all set for new toys now so she'll be occupied for some time. Nights were a little rough and I'm happy to have her back at home in her own bed with the hope of that returning to normal.

In Pensacola Kendall was fascinated by watching her cousins Kelly and Patrick. I like to imagine them playing together as they get older. I think that Kelly will be able to teach Kendall some new tricks and they'll certainly be able to expand her vocabulary :)

In Ohio she never lacked for kisses!! She was able to get lots of love from her Great Gram, Gram and Pop as well as her aunts and uncles. She was a good baby and loved showing off tricks of her own. Only one time did she decide to have a bit of a temper tantrum and her poor Gram and Aunt Kim were stuck in the backseat feeling helpless.

I'm trying to get things back to normal here with the suitcases unpacked and laundry already going. My studio is a bit of a mess but in the good way that I love. Gram gave me lots of her old ribbons and scrapbooking things that she won't be using and my mom also passed on some cute old buttons and trims so I am going to be doing some organizing over the next couple of days.

10 hours!

We made the ten hour car ride with Kendall and are having fun in Pensacola. It's in the 50's and they keep complaining that it is cold, sheesh. Kendall is loving her Memaw and the small black doggy that pays her absolutely no attention. Off to brave the Target madness now.

Merry Christmas

Signing out until after the holidays. Have a safe and blessed Christmas!
Ashley

I love...my soft bed

I feel I have been a poor blogger lately and tonight will not be an improvement, ha. I'm exhausted I cleaned all day, finished decorating my Christmas cookies with Alex (lots of fun), cooked dinner, and prepared for my Bible Study tomorrow. My bed is calling my name or maybe that is Brian.

I love:
*Gingerbread men that wear ties (see far right cookie)
*That all I have to do is LOOK at Kendall and she laughs
*The anticipation of visiting family
*Wrapping presents

There are so many more things but I just can't think clearly at the moment. Must...go...to...bed

Christmas album

Kendall and I did some running around today. I bought some yarn so that I can knit during our drive to Florida. I also picked up a few Christmas gifts for Kendall, it is easy to shop for her at this age she actually played with the toy as we shopped and by the time she opens it for Christmas she will have forgotten all about it! Tonight I did a little work on her first Christmas album, these pictures are of the outside cover and the first page. The first page has the picture of her on Santa's lap but the photo lifts to reveal the journaling.

All I Want for Christmas....

Saturday Fun

I had a fun night. Alex and I started some Christmas baking! We have sugar cookie dough made for tomorrow and we made a really yummy peanut butter cheesecake with a graham cracker crust. Tonight Lorie, Dani, Alex, and I all went to see the movie "Yours, Mine and Ours" it was really cute. I could definitely see some parallels between Brian and I (minus the 18 kids). He was the structured one that made schedules and liked the bathroom sink perfectly clean and she was the artsy, messy one that squeezed the toothpaste in the middle.

Come Play Scrapbook with Me

Okay, something new here at the Paper Chick. This is going to be fun, I want you to play scrapbooking with me! There is a new website where you can take virtual classes for a fee but they are offering a free class since it is new. Go to this site, click on "classes and workshops" scroll to the bottom where it says "Give Us A Try" and click on the words "Virtual classroom". You can download a supply list & step by step instructions on how to make a little tin accordion album about you! I'm going to do it, hope you join me.

http://bigpicturescrapbooking.com/

New Haircut

So I like it! Really, it's kind of hard to tell until I can get in there and play with it myself so I'll know better tomorrow morning how much I really like it. Brian is still learning the fine art of complimenting his wife but there has been an improvement. He did say it was "cutie" (after a lot of probing) but then he had to add that it "wasn't great before" since it was at an in between stage. Thanks honey, a whole lot. Kendall got to spend the afternoon with her faux grandma (Lorie) and her gang and she'll get a repeat of the evening on Friday when we go to Brian's work Christmas party (think I'll look silly if I take the camera, ya probably).

For some reason I couldn't post the pictures last night, so here they are. I styled it myself this morning and I made it a little more "flippy" in the back. I don't think that I gave Brian enough credit last night he did tell me that he liked it. :) Kendall had a rough morning we were up so early that I have already showered, had breakfast, washed clothes, folded laundry, and have Kendall down for her first nap. Poor little thing had an upset belly this morning, evidently that is what happens when you hold your #2 for a week! The doctor says not to worry though he thinks it is normal, she isn't fussy until it comes out and then she wants that diaper OFF!

We're supposed to have up to 7" of snow today so we are going to stick around the house. I'm actually looking forward to it. I have my day's to do list that includes both housework and fun stuff. I have supplies to make Kendall a little "First Christmas" accordion album. I'm going to put the album together now and then just add the pictures from all the season's events. I also borrowed the first season of Lost since I have never seen it. People are talking about it a lot lately and I want to know what all this fuss is about.

Maybe peas are an acquired taste.

Look, a Cute Binky!

Here are a couple pics from Sunday morning. I pulled out one of the old binkies to see if Kendall would take it and amazingly she did (for a very short while). Actually, I think that it is too short because it keeps popping out of her mouth. She even sported a stylish ponytail for a little while!

I have a haircut appointment tomorrow and I'm one of those people that gets really excited over haircuts. The anticipation gets my blood flowing and when I get home I like people (Brian) to make a big deal out of it (hint, hint honey). My least favorite comment is, "I can't tell you got it cut." That comment is right up there with, "Don't you have another pair of shoes (or purse) just like that?"

Office Envy

I'm really wanting to organize my studio. I've been browsing the 2peas website looking at other peoples space and I have to keep chanting to myself, "Do not covet your neighbors studio space, do not covet your neighbors studio space." Note: in Boston after I would park my car and start the one mile trek through the three feet of snow to our apartment I would have to chant, "Do not covet your neighbor's driveway." But, back to studio spaces. Here is one that I really love...
http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/pg.asp?cmd=display&layout_id=696960
However, my husband doesn't want to paint the walls or put in a nail for a shelf so I think that this won't be a possibility. I've given him until Christmas (well really until we know for sure that we won't be moving) and then I am going to start painting.

I'm so exhausted, Kendall has had two bad sleeping nights so I have been a complete grump today. Tomorrow will be crazy busy with lots of errands to run but hopefully we'll have a good nights rest tonight to prepare for the mayhem, ha.

Love that hasn't Faded

Today is the anniversary of my dad's death. I stayed busy today so I didn't really think of it but tonight as I was nursing Kendall before putting her to bed thoughts of him kept going through my mind. I was thirteen when he died and I realized tonight that when I think of him it's almost like photographs in my mind and I can't remember many "videos". I sometimes wonder what he would think of me as an adult. How would he and Brian like one another, would he sing "Hound Dog in the Window" to Kendall, would he be proud of the adult that I have become? I think that when you are young your parents are just these adult figures in your life and you don't really know them. I hate that I didn't get to know him from an adult standpoint. I do know that he was very hardworking, strong, and he was proud. I remember that he loved steak, he loved big glasses of ice water, that his feet were really smelly (maybe Kendall takes after him a little), that he told the same joke every time we passed a round building and the one memory that always makes me smile is that anytime that "Faded Love" or "The Tennessee Waltz" was playing he would pull my mom out to dance.

So the next time you see a round building think of this...."Did you know someone died in that building? He ran himself to death trying to find a corner to pee in. ha, ha, ha" And he ALWAYS laughed at his own jokes.

Friday Fun

I had a great day today. The Bible Study gals (almost all of them)came over to make cards and we had a blast just creating and chatting. Here are a couple pictures from the day...
Afterwards I was really exhausted but we had a yummy dinner, I took a hot bath, and then I curled up on the couch with a nice mug of hot tea and watched one of my favorite movies with Brian, "You've Got Mail." I have two favorite lines from this movie and they both come from Joe Fox played by Tom Hanks. The first is in the very beginning of the movie when Joe and Kathleen are exchanging emails, Joe writes: "Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly-sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address." I think this appeals to me because of my love of school supplies but it just creates this vivid picture in my mind of long, yellow pencils that are tied together with a beautiful ribbon. The second line that I really really love is at the very end of the movie when Joe and Kathleen have become friends and she is about to go to the park to meet NY152 and he is telling her how he wishes they had met under different circumstances and says, "I would have asked for your phone number and I wouldn't have been able to wait 24 hours before calling and asking, "How about coffee, drinks, dinner, a movie (pauses) for as long as we both shall live?" How sweet is that? It's just so honest, maybe I like it because saying that makes him vulnerable. I imagine him thinking about how hurt he could come out of this situation but he knows that if he doesn't say it he may always wonder, what if??

Big day of art fairing tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Zippy

Just one really quick post. Remember how I wished I had gotten the one sock wonder picture...well after nap time we were running out to do some errands and I caught this:



Also, I just received these pictures today, they are from last February at the cabin. Guess which one of us isn't pregnant :) Hard to tell, huh?

Have to go watch Survivor now.

Sense of Wonder

This is the first time in a very long time that I took a picture that I can not wait to scrapbook (however, it's going to have to wait until after this weekend).

I was nursing Kendall in her room and I happened to glance out the window and see all of this snow! We ran downstairs grabbed the camera (luckily Brian charged the battery last night) and plopped her on the front porch. This was her very first time seeing snow and I caught it on film! So excited. What you don't see is that one of her socks had fallen off in the crib so she has one bare foot...I wish I had taken a picture of that too. Now it's less than an hour later and all the snow has melted. What a special moment!

Priceless

Success. I don't know if it was the more expensive baby food, the type of fruit chosen, or being able to feed herself but Kendall is finally eating baby food happily. Having her open her mouth willingly to eat the peaches made my day.

I had a bit of a crazy morning with an emergency trip to the pediatrician which led to the resolution of Kendall's #2 problems (we'll just say that she ended up going what I would call a #4 which resulted in both of us needing a change of outfits), missing Bible Study but running up there to confirm everything for our card party here on Friday, gathering supplies for said party and then cleaning up the house.

Also, I mentioned that I'm in another art fair this weekend and I made these super sassy little pad covers (note the velcro closure) in all different papers and most of them have matching post-it note covers. Love it, keeping one for myself. notepad $6, matching post-it note $4, writing in a super sassy paper chick product...priceless. Let me know if you want one!

Who are Your 10 Most Fascinating People?

Okay, so tonight is Barbara Walters 10 Most Fascinating People of 2005 and I have to say that the 10 people that she choose (at least the ones that they are revealing) are not nearly fascinating enough to make me want to watch the show. a) Kayne West: he has been in the media one time this year and that was to make a completely idiotic remark about President Bush b) Tom Cruise: More fascinating is why Katie Holmes has decided to marry him c) Dakota Fanning d) Jamie Foxx e)Lance Armstrong (I have to admit I am intrigued by what he is capable of) e) Thomas Meserau (Michael Jackson defender) f) Beth Halloway Twitty: I'm not so against this one because I do think that she is the most real of them all.
What is fascinating to me (or more so troubling) is America's absorption in Hollywood. What is it really that makes us so curious about these people? Honestly, even if we read everything that is printed about them, we don't know them. I will admit that I occasionally read a People magazine but I compare it to rubbernecking at an automobile accident. However, who am I to judge? The person that I find most fascinating drools and thinks it is hilarious when I make stupid noises.

PS I signed up for another art fair that is this Saturday

Scrapbookin'

I finally completed a page for Kendall! These little tissue flowers are one of the things that I have been wanting to do. The photos and papers are all stitched on with my sewing machine and the photo on the bottom left is actually a flip book that you can flip through and see her learning to put her pacifier in her mouth. The journaling talks about how I had envisioned her using cute pacifiers but that she only liked this kind :)
We had a good day today, Kendall and I did a lot of running around but she was incredibly good. I did make it home in time for her naps so that helped a lot. I'm off to work on a special album now. I'm so excited about it, I think it's going to look so cute. I'll post pictures after Christmas. We still have time so if there is someone special in your life that would like a customized album let me know!! :)(Shameless self advertisement)

Brian went back to work today. It was so nice to have him home & we had such a good week. Yesterday we worked on the landscaping in the front, it felt great (well other than the cold and rain part). The manual labor felt great though, it's sort of like the feeling that you get after exercising with the tired muscles. Afterwards you feel like you really accomplished something and you feel so strong! We still have a little left to do, I'm going to put down the weed barrier and mulch some day this week.

I finished my scarf and made five rice pouches this weekend. We also ordered our Christmas cards. It was so hard to decide on which picture to use since we had so many good ones (thanks Lorie!). Anyway, here are two that we did not choose...



Kendall is taking a nap and then we are running to Dee's (one of my very favorite stores) to get some supplies for the gift album that I'm working on.

A Couple of Paper Chick's Favorites

Kendall had her first taste of juice today and boy did she love it! She is having a good day today and is actually taking quite a long nap right now, a rarity. I'm afraid seperation anxiety may be setting in...all is well and good in her world until I walk out of the room.

Okay, here is a paper chick favorite...Lists. I love lists. Today, it's a list of things that I want to make:
a) a scarf, loving knitting right now (thanks alex for re-teaching me how).
b) gift tags for the Christmas presents
c) scrapbook pages. My scrapbooking well has been dry lately but I keep thinking of things I want to try.
d) a recreation of the expensive garland I saw at Target yesterday for my outside tree.
e) a little pouch to hold rice that I can microwave to warm my feet (I'm using one of Brian's socks right now, not so attractive.

Another favorite right now is Target but this is nothing new. They have so many cute things! I could make a whole list of favorite Target things...but maybe later I actually want to start doing some of the things on my list now. Live life, don't just blog it :)

Gobble, gobble

It's almost Turkey Day!!! I love this time of year, I love twinkling lights, fire places, hot chocolate, nippy weather, cute sweaters, bundled babies...I could go on and on.

I had a doctors appointment this morning. The nurse asked for my business card because she (and other people at the hospital may be interested in my clipboards). Yippee!! That would be very cool. I came home and sent her some pictures of my product and offered to come to the hospital or office to show samples.

I went to Books-A-Million, Michael's, & Target with Lorie, Alex, & CJ and we got a few things to take pictures of Kendall tomorrow. I probably won't post them though because I'm going to use them for our Christmas card.

I have SO MUCH to be thankful for this year. It's fantastic to be spending Thanksgiving with family, can you believe that for the last three years we've had Thanksgiving with just the two of us? It will be fun to hang out and have a big meal. I'll take pictures, actually, Lorie is the photographer so I bet she'll be taking pictures.

Here is an older picture of Kendall in honor of the holidays. Her Gram gave her this bib that says, "Are these people really my relatives?"

Mmmmm mango

This is going to be short and sweet. Brian is home for the rest of the week, yippee. We went and bought our first Christmas tree today. I think that Kendall likes it, yes, I already have it set up. It's a little early but I get so excited with the holidays coming. We also bought some plants for our front yard (finally). We've been talking about doing this forever but of course waited until it is painfully cold to do it.

Kendall tried mango today, I think she liked it. Yes, this is the face of a girl liking her food. You should see her eat what she doesn't like.

On the Agenda **Updated

I realize it has been a few days since I posted a picture. I can't download the pics from our camera on my computer (until Brian loads some program on it) and he is on his computer now but tomorrow I will do it. Brian will be home for the rest of the week so at some point he can fix it so I can download them here. For some reason once we got married I completely became computer illiterate. That is okay because for some reason Brian completely forgot how to cook and how to put dishes into the sink or dishwasher so it all evens out.

I did take my camera to the grocery store today and took a couple pictures of Kendall riding in the shopping cart. She has started riding in the front of the cart now which is so cute. We have one of those little mats that you put in the buggy that has toys attached to it so she never actually comes into contact with the nasty cart. However, she finds the grocery list that I carry around ten times more interesting then the toys and is constantly trying to grab it out of my hand. She was such a good baby today. She was so giggly and talkative we had fun just playing together all afternoon.

I've decided that tonight I'm going to do a little scrapbooking in her baby album. Tomorrow I will get supplies for an album that someone ordered from me(whose name will remain anonymous just in case the recipient is reading the blog, hmmmm is it you???).


I found this picture that I took one day (a long time ago it seems) when she was having a little tummy time. I love this little skirt and the way her diaper sticks out the side. The socks that are too big for her in this picture are already too small, it's actually kind of makes me sad, she is growing up so fast!

Fair Wrap Up

I was so exhausted last night. I did okay at the fair, but turnout was really low so I didn't do as well as I had anticipated. I did get a lot of great information on stores that sell local artists work and I plan on following up with them over the next couple of weeks. One customer was telling me that she had been published twice in magazines and that I absolutely had to start submitting my work because she thought that I would get published (most magazines pay money too so that would be nice). I really can't complain I did make a lot of sells I think that I just had my expectations set so high that I kind of set my self up to be a little disappointed. I am not giving up on art fairs though and I have already started my research on other opportunities to display my stuff.

Today though, I plan on recovering. Passion and excitement is really tiring.

Art Fair High

I'm revved up, I really don't think that I'm going to be able to sleep tonight. What a fun experience talking to other crafty people, getting endless compliments on my work, making money. I could get hooked on this. Traffic was a little low, but the craft fair experts say it will be better tomorrow. Sold a good amount of stuff, the post-it note things are almost gone and I've had people ask if I have more. I may have to run get some supplies on my way there tomorrow and make them there. You know the "tool belt" thing I mentioned that I made?? Well, I have two orders for them, too funny. Actually, one of them I bartered with another vendor for one of her bracelets (really cute). It's hard not to buy stuff while I'm there. I've got a lot of good information about how to get connected with other fairs and a woman asked for my business card because her friend that owns a card shop wants to call me, very cool.

Brian had a good night with Kendall, what a relief! Evidently she likes his singing. I'm really glad that it went well for him. When I got home he had some shoes that I had left out at the bottom of the stairs and on the next step up he had put her tiny little shoes, loved it!

I think I'm going to try to go to bed now. I'll post pics tomorrow.

Blog Wisdom

I was emailing with my sister Nancy about blogging and I was telling her that when you have a blog you are more aware of what is going on during your day. You are looking for something meaningful to talk about that night and I really like that. Pre-blogging it happened too often that Brian would come home from work and ask what I did that day, I would have to think about it for awhile and finally reply, "I don't really know, nothing I guess, but I know I was busy!" It is just making me think more, 'hmmm, what can I send out into the blog world tonight?'

I tend to visit scrapbookers blogs. There are four or five women that have blogs that actually have scrapbooking careers that I follow (they are on design teams for websites, work for magazines, write their own books...). I've seen their scrapbooking pages for years so you kind of feel like you know them and then you actually get to read their thoughts on their blogs. Very neat for me. Anyway, one of the ladies that I follow is Cathy Zielske and today on her blog she wrote this:
When you see passion in action—in whatever form it takes—you cannot help but to feel inspired. You cannot help it. There are goosebumps that run the length of your spine. You feel it. You dream it. You wish it upon yourself.
No, i'm not saying that after I learn to play the guitar, i'm going on the road.
I'm saying this:
get excited about something to the point where you're talking louder than anyone else in the room
act like you just discovered something for the first time and cannot believe that you never before knew and tell everyone you know who will listen
clap your hands when you're happy about something
sing along to songs you love, loudly
get engrossed in something until you realize it's 2 p.m. and you haven't eaten lunch
talk to yourself more when you are alone
don't take advice you read on blogs unless it seems to make sense.
then by all means....do

I really liked that because I think that I've been doing it lately. Well, we Kelly girls have always talked louder than anyone else in the room but that has nothing to do with excitement it has to do with being one of eight children and having to yell just to be heard. But, just the whole becoming passionate about something gets me excited. I love to see passionate people. I think that when Brian and I met he was really passionate about his job and at business school he was passionate about school and the possiblities of his future. It's so easy to get excited with someone when they are passionate. This morning I was so excited about the whole art fair thing that I found I was holding my breath and smiling and I didn't eat anything until after noon because I was just so busy building the table.

Anyway, just wanted to share this bit of blog wisdom. Thanks Cathy!

Art Fair Display

I did my test run today. The pictures don't do it justice but here they are anyway. I'm glad that I did this because I didn't have enough fabric. Now I just have to measure it to ensure I have stayed within my booth size. I also emailed the lady in charge of the fair to see if my booth is along a wall (so my frames will be propped up) if not I'll have to devise some sort of plan.
I wish it didn't all look so crowded but next time I'll know to get a bigger booth! I'm a little nervous about the setup since I'll have Kendall with me, say a little prayer for me! Pray for Brian too because he is going to have to put her to bed tomorrow night, ha. I'm so excited but I'm already so tired. I have stayed up way too late the last two nights and I'm sure that I won't be able to sleep again tonight.

By the way, if you see something that you like you can place an order by either emailing me or leaving a comment with your email address. You can click on a picture and they will get bigger. The pricing guide is at the bottom of this post.
I made the cutest little waist apron (sort of like the nail aprons from Home Depot) to hold my money at the fair, too cute. It was the first time my sewing machine actually touched fabric, it has only been used on paper up until this point. It was fairly painless, I only sewed it to itself in one place and sewed the apron strings so they went into the apron instead of on the outside but it looks fine now. I'm sure I will get pictures at the fair with it on me and I'll post it to show you. Pretty proud of myself though. It may not work as well as I have hoped it would since I will probably be wearing Kendall in her Snugli as well, ha.

Speaking of the Little Bug she does the cutest thing now. Anytime she gets her hand on anything she swings it back and forth immediately. What is really cute is sometimes even when nothing is in her hand she balls her little fist and shakes it back and forth, I just imagine her saying, "Why I oughtta..." It always cracks me up.

Well, I think that I might try to grab a ten minute nap before she wakes up. By the way the laundry on the guest bed is folded and I'm making a yummy slow roasted beef with mashed potatoes, look out Martha!

Cards $5 each or 10 for $40
Large gift albums $80
Accordion albums $50
Altered Clipboards: Large $10 Small $8
Altered Paintcans Large $13 small $10 ( I think, I'll have to verify that one)
Post-it note with cover $4 each (you can throw them in your purse and they won't stick all over the bag, I will also put a magnet on the back so you can hang them on your fridge)

To Have and to Hold

We have officially been married three years today. I heard a quote from Dr. Phil the other day that I really liked, he said that in order to be half of a couple you don't have to give up half of yourself (insert Texas twang). It's nice to be reminded of that every once in awhile. I think that women especially are in danger of giving up all of their self for their families. It's possible that our culture encourages it, we want to be the perfect CEO of our homes like Martha Stewart (maybe that is a really bad example since she is a)divorced and b)a convicted felon but you catch my drift). Regardless, I think it's an important point and one that I have been embracing recently. Maybe that is why The Paper Chick has become so important to me. It's my own, it's time spent doing something that I love and a dream that could come true. So, to Brian: Thank you for encouraging my dream, thanks for not saying anything about the pile of laundry that is sitting on the guest bed while I make cards, and thanks for 'parenting' (it's not babysitting if it's your own child)every so often while I create....and dream. I love you!

Update on progress, I have officially completed one entire framed chicken wire and it looks fabulous, if I do say so myself. Tomorrow I will finish the other and actually put together my 'tablescape' (to quote the Food Network's Sandra Lee). Some of the ladies from Bible Study are going to come to the fair, very cool of them. Speaking of the Bible Study ladies I had a great time lunching with all of them today!



What an amazing group of women, I really enjoy my Wednesday mornings studying with them. They are what I think of as 'transparent' women, they are open, honest, and not trying to hide portions of themselves from you, and I respect that.

Special thanks to Lorie and the family for watching the Little Bug while we dined at the oh so trendy Outback Steakhouse.

I feel like I had so much more to say tonight. I'm sure that I'll think of it later, if so I'll be back.