My Interview and a Layout

I don't think I've ever been that nervous for something in my whole life! I went to bed the night before the interview calm and relaxed. When I woke up the next morning my stomach was just one big knot of nerves. As the day went on and the closer it got to my interview time it just kept getting worse and worse. I figured that this is it. This is my big chance. To me this is not a contest. This is a job opportunity that I could only dream of and I was sitting there terrified that I would screw that up.

About five minutes before my scheduled interview time I locked myself in our master bathroom so that I could be as far away from distractions possible. Stacey had come over to watch Drew for me so I didn't have to worry about him screaming, like he so often does when I'm on the phone. I had to look like the biggest dork sitting on the bathroom floor with all my notes spread out around me.

Finally my phone rang and I didn't think my hands were going to stop shaking! When I answered I didn't think I would be able to find my voice or be able to say anything that the interviewers could understand. I was hoping that my mouth wouldn't get ahead of my brain and that my voice didn't shake too much. My nerves didn't get much better when I found out that the interviewers were Britney Mellen, Brittany Beattie and Ali Edwards! Ali Edwards! The funny thing was somewhere in my notes for the question about finding inspiration I had written really big I love Ali Edwards! I had the chance to meet Britney Mellen at CHA and I've worked with Brittany Beattie on a few things so I felt pretty comfortable with them.

Overall I think the interview went pretty good. Of course I'm doing the playback in my head and there are things that I wish I would have said. They were all really good at making you feel at ease...at least a little bit! I was still nervous through the whole thing! I think that they got a good sense of what I was trying to say and I feel good with everything I said...except "Woohoo Vegas!" Why do I say that when I get nervous! I said the same thing during my SOY finalist call!

So all that is left is the big announcement in Vegas! Everything is now out of my hands and up to Creating Keepsakes.

Well, I'm not a big fan of posting without a picture or layout so here's one of my latest layouts! I haven't scrapbooked in the last week and I'm starting to have withdraws. I think I'll do a lot this evening!



Journaling:
Chances are that sometimes you aren’t going to like me. Chances are that sometimes you won’t agree with me. Chances are that sometimes you won’t want to hug me. Chances are that sometimes you will think I’m just being mean. Chances are that sometimes you
won’t always want me around. Anytime you feel like this I want you to come back to this page. Know that I love you and only have the best intentions in my heart for you. That I would do anything to make you happy and that you are my reason for happiness. I’m not the enemy. I’m the one that you can come to for anything and I will always try to understand and reason with you. Chances are you won’t want to hear that but hopefully one day you will understand.

Well I hope everyone has a great weekend!!

I've been slacking in the blog posting department. Cleaning house (esp. my scrapbook room) has been a large task plus I've been finishing up my SOY stuff and now it's time to work on class stuff. I got a chance to stop by the store yesterday and I couldn't believe all the new stuff. There is a ton of Fancy Pants (on of my personal favorites) and My Mind's Eye. I think I bought almost all of it. There's nothing like some new goodies to get you motivated.

This weekend we went to watch the UFC fight and I'm openly admitting that I actually had a good time. It wasn't exactly what I had in mind for our anniversary weekend but we still had a great time. Mike talked me into shooting skeet with the boys and I was surprised at how fun it was. I don't think the boys were to happy with the fact that I kicked some skeet ass!

Switching Drew to the toddler bed has it's ups and downs. He now loves going to bed since he has "a big boy bed" but he also enjoys getting out of it. He'll get up at 1:00 a.m. and come into our room and crawl into bed with us. We put him back in his own bed immediatly. As tempting as it is to let him sleep with us I just don't want to have a kid that can't sleep in his own bed. I had a friend that struggled with that for years. We used to love that Drew would sleep in till 8:30 - 9:00, but those days are over. He's an early riser now that he can get out on his own. I luck out and get to sleep in since this is the only time of day that Mike gets to see Drew.

I found out on Monday that our SOY phone interviews are on Wednesday. I'm a little nervous but at the same time it will be nice to have it all done and know that it is out of my hands. I really feel that I've done my best so far and I hope I don't mess up the interview. Either way, I'll just be glad that it's done. I'm getting very anxious to experience what all they have in store for us in Vegas and can't wait to hear who wins.

Well, I really need to get back to work. Enjoy the week!

Tagged

Here are the rules:

1. You have to post these rules before you give the facts.

2. Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of their middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had. ***IF you have already done your middle name than do the State that you live in with new adjectives!*****

3. When you are tagged you need to write your own blog-post containing your own middle name game facts. ***Or state if you have already been tagged before!***

4. At the end of your blog-post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag.

5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.Here is mine:

R - Reality shows. Love them!! My favorites are Big Brother, America's Next Top Model, and The Hills (yes, I realize that anyone over the age of 21 shouldn't be interested in that show, but sadly I am.)

E - Ear Piercing. I used to work at Claire's in the mall and they MAKE you pierce ears. I thought it would be something that you could decide on your own if you felt comfortable with it or not. They even give you a fake ear to practice on. I was really good with the normal piercing gun but they had a special gun for piercing the top part of the ear that I was not so good at. I ended up quiting that job because I kept piercing the middle of the ear with the harder gun. It scared the crap out of me that I would do that to a real ear.

N - Neighbor. I used to have the best neighbor a couple of years ago. It was a little old lady that used to invite me over and make these brownie sundaes that were the best. She made the best brownies I have ever had! I was so sad when I had to move, I miss her! She was the best neighbor ever!

E - Exercise. Oh, I goofed. These are suppose to be things that are somewhat relevant to me. I guess, that fact that I don't is relevant. Right?

E - Easter bunny. When I was little I was terrified of the Easter bunny! Every picture we have is Stacey smiling and me with a scared, tear-streaked face. They are hilarious to look at now!

I'm tagging: Amy, Kodi, Holly and Stacey. I'm breaking the rules a little but oh well!

Well I'm off to do some much needed house cleaning!

Race Weekend Pictures

There are very few pictures of Drew actually watching the races. Most of the time he just wanted to run up and down the hill in the grandstands. The loud cars got his attention long enough for me to get a few good pictures.


This is the shirt that I made for Drew. It turned out a hundred times better than I thought it would. It was my first attempt at iron-ons, so I really didn't know what to expect. It made me want to make him a bunch more! By the end of the night the shirt didn't look so good. It was caked in dirt, sweat, and orange soda.


I've finally come to the conclusion that there will never be a good picture of Drew and I in existence. I guess it's just not meant to be! It would have turned out to be a great picture if he would have looked up! His mind was wandering to the hill he so badly wanted to run up and down.

Drew has begun a new toddler adventure...climbing out of his crib. To put it nicely, it sucks! Yesterday I was working when Mike put Drew down for his nap. Mike went out to mow the yard and the next thing I know, Drew is standing in the hallway. It's almost impossible to get him to stay in there now. It's taking forever to get him to simply take a nap. I'm just waiting for the morning that I wake up and he's got the couch covered with peanut butter or some strange toddler concoction.

I've got a class tonight so I've got to get ready for it! Hope you all had a great weekend! **Whoops! I forgot that I have been tagged by my CKMB buddy, Liz! I'll post it in the next day or two!

It's Hall of Fame product challenge time at Creating Keepsakes again! This month we are featuring Tinkering Ink and one of my all time favorites, Scenic Route. If you want to play along, just get your hands on some Tinkering Ink or Scenic Route and head on over to Creating Keepsakes.

The 15th of the month also means that it's challenge time at Consider Yourself Challenged. I'm so thankful for Marti's challenge this week, if it weren't for her I would have never thought to do a page on this subject. It's one of my favorite memories of Drew! Thank you so much Marti for inspiring me to think out of the scrappy box!!

The design of my layout is also inspired by Jessica Sprague's Creating Keepsakes August cover. Because of that layout I keep wanting to add scalloped edges on everything! (I actually used a circle punch to cut out a cardstock circle and then I cut the circles in half and adhered them in a line. )

It looks like it's just going to be Stacey and I in Vegas. That's asking for trouble, I know! Mom really wanted to go but I was in desperate need for someone to watch Drew. We didn't realize that Memory Trends is in the middle of the week. I really wish Mike would go but apparently spending his vacation days that are set aside for hunting is out of the question. Seriously, hunting over Vegas. What is wrong with him!

I've been working really hard on phase #2 of the Scrapbooker of the Year contest. I don't know if I'm allowed to tell what we have to do so I'll just keep quiet about it! I will tell you this, it's something that I am really enjoying. If I won, this is one of the parts that I would love most about it, what I would really feel at home with. What I feel I can do and do well. I know that doesn't really paint a picture of what I'm working on but that's all I should probably say!

Big Brother is getting crazy!! I can't believe how cruel Dick was! Even though he was being a complete ass I still kind of like him. I'm pretty sure Dustin is going home, based off of the way America has been voting for Eric. Poor Eric! If that happens, I'm afraid everyone will be after him. I'm looking forward to tonight's show!!

Well it's 3:00 a.m. and time for this girl to go to bed! Hope everyone is staying cool in this crazy heat wave we've had!

Random Stuff

It seems like it's been forever since I posted last! I've got a stressful week ahead of me so I've don't have much time to post.

Last Thursday Mom, Karin, Grandma, Stacey, Drew, and I went out to dinner at Zio's for my very belated birthday. The funniest thing was Drew only wanted to be around Karin or Kanin as he says. It was pretty cute. He would yell across the table to get her attention. I don't think she got to eat much of her dinner! He also covered everyone with stickers that came in the kids menu. Not one of us left without a lady bug or flower on their arm or shirt.

Friday night we went to Flippin AR. for the Benny Arnall (my dad) memorial race. It was a good turn out considering the hot temperatures and we gave out a ton of bikes that went home with some very happy kids! Drew didn't enjoy the races as much as I had hoped. As much as he likes cars and is constantly saying "watch race cars!", I figured he would love it! All he really wanted to do was run up and down the hill in the grandstands. It was so hot and with him running so much, he ended up pretty much soaked in sweat. Wait till you see the shirt I made him for the race. It was so cute! I'll try to post some pictures of it soon. I was really proud of it.

Speaking of racing, Stacey and I officially sold our race car, Eugene. Yes, we named our race car. We also talked to "him" before each race! We were/are such goofballs. Every racer has their little traditions and superstitions. It was sad to sell him but we just don't have the time for it anymore and he's going to a good home.

The rest of the weekend I worked in a mad dash to get some work done. I am finally caught up and a even a little bit ahead. Woohoo!

I hope everyone had a great weekend. Time for me to get back to work!

When I finally got a computer at home and I starting checking out a few scrapbooking message boards, I quickly found that I felt most welcome at the Creating Keepsakes message board. Don't get me wrong, I like other message boards but at CK I found others who seemed to have the same sense of humor as me and I just really enjoyed hanging out there. The other day I was checking out the CK message board and saw that someone had posted a thread about scraplifting me. Well today when I was checking the board I saw that someone else had scraplifted the scraplift of my page. I thought both pages were great and thought it would be cool to post them.

Here's my page. This has always been a favorite page of mine. It was right about the time that I was really getting comfortable with my style.



This is the first scraplift done by scrapthat from the CK message board. I love what she did with the layout. Those hearts are so awesome and she added so many great little details. I also love how she added her own style with the patterned paper strips slanted. I love her gallery too! Such a variety of projects other than scrapbooking pages. Be sure to check out the Cutie Catcher!! I remember making those things in JR. High and thinking that they told the truth!! Kind of like the old school version of the Magic 8 ball.


This is the scraplift of scrapthat's scraplift of me by Scrappin DebH. Now that could be a tongue twister!! First of all that picture is so adorable, how could you not instantly love this page! I love the stitches on the hearts, you all know me and my addiction to stitching. I also think the addition of flowers in the corners is a nice touch to the layout. Her gallery is amazing with not just great pages but lots of crochet projects! Definitely check out the floral scarf, it is so cute!

Thank you to both of you for lifting me! You made my day and put the biggest smile on my face. Also, thanks for letting me post them on here and for saying such nice things about me!

I hope everyone enjoys the weekend!!

Pictures!

Finally I am posting pictures of Chicago. (I really didn't take very many!) I had been really busy and after seeing that my undeveloped film rolls were really starting to take up a lot of space, I figured it was time to take them in. It was kind of fun since I didn't remember half the things on them! I dropped off more today and will hopefully pick them up soon. It was too much to drop them all off at once...would have cost me a small fortune to have them all developed at once! I'm so ready for a digital camera!!

Chicago

Mom at the airport trying to figure out Sudoku puzzles. It was funny that she couldn't figure them out. I tried to tell her that it was taking her way too long to get one done. I had to step in and show her how it's done!

The HOF girls at the CK booth at CHA. It was so much fun to meet them all in person!

The Navy Pier. Well, the view from the pier. I wish I would have taken more pictures here but all I kept seeing were families walking around and I was missing Drew horribly. It was here that I hit that ready to be home point.

If I wouldn't had been so ready to go home I would have loved to take a ride on one of these boats! They were so big and it just looked like fun!

Random Drew pictures

What a goofy kid! Drew was playing in his sand box and decided it would be fun to try and surprise me.

Animal lovin'. At the zoo Drew thought that it was necessary to kiss each animal we came across. He even threw out a few "I lub yous" to certain ones.

Finally a smiling picture!! I have been waiting so long to get a cute smile picture! Maybe he's decided to just give in to my constant picture taking!

Close.

Closer.

Too close!

Happy Monday! Every time Monday rolls around I always think about the movie "Office Space" Love that movie!

**I got distracted and forgot to say thank you to everyone who left such nice comments about Scrapbooker of the Year!! You guys made the day even more special!!!


It's Halloween in August!! I am definitely not one of those scrap in order kind of people. I just can't do it!! This is my layout for the Consider Yourself Challenged SG DT blog! Challenge #2 was ad inspiration and it was a good one!! I actually flipped mine and turned it into a 2 page layout. I've had these pictures sitting on my table for months just waiting for the perfect layout to pop in my head. When I saw the ad that Laura had picked I knew these pictures would be perfect for it! Make sure you head over to the challenge blog and check out what the other DT girls did and play along with us!!

My weekend was pretty boring. I mostly worked on my class stuff. I did a little freaking out about a layout I have to do and I can't find pictures to go with the theme/colors!! I'm so close to being caught up and actually on the way to being ahead. It's been a long time since that has happened!

This Friday we are going to the races at North Central Arkansas Speedway. Every year they have a Benny Arnall (my dad) memorial race. Dad organized a bike giveaway every year for the kids at the track. After a couple of years it turned into a huge thing and the bike count would get bigger and bigger. After he died they decided to keep it going and named that evening after him. Last year was the first one and they had a ton of bikes donated! I don't think there was a kid that walked out empty handed. It was a great feeling to see so many people get involved.

Drew's picked up a "bad" word from someone. Mike's blaming me but I know it came from him! Mike's been telling me the last few weeks that he has been hearing Drew say this word but I've never heard him say it until this weekend. My theory is that he says it around Mike because he has heard him say it and thinks that it's okay to say it around him. I don't really know what to do to get him to stop saying it!!

This is totally random but I saw this question and it made me laugh.
What would you do if a leprechaun jumped out of the bushes and stole your wallet?
Laugh because it's empty and then run off with the pot of gold he left sitting in the bushes. hehehe
What would your answer be?

It's time to confess...

No, I didn't get "the call".........to confirm Drew's doctor appointment.
No, I'm not a SOY..........milk drinker
No, I'm not excited.........about cleaning my messy house.
No, I don't have any secrets......about my scrapbooking addiction.

Hehehe

Yes, I got "the call" from Creating Keepsakes!
Yes, I am a Scrapbooker of the Year finalist!
Yes, I am super excited!
Yes, it was torture keeping quiet about it!!!
(You guys know I'm all about the lame delivery of good news. I didn't feel that this should be any different. Packed full of lameness just for you!!!)

After lunch on Tuesday I decided to check out the CK message boards and see if anything was going on yet. Erin had started a thread that said "SOY calls starting soon!" I hit refresh and there was a new thread that said "Britney's making the first call..."! After staring at my phone for about 10 seconds trying to will it to ring, I decided that it would be best if I just walked away from the computer.

I took Drew in his room to change his stinky diaper and when I've got handful of dirty wipes in my hand this, of all times, is when my phone decides to ring. I jumped so big that I'm lucky I didn't fling the yucky wipes across the room. I grabbed the phone out of my pocket and saw the "801" area code. I knew right there at that point what the call was about. Here's a little replay of what was going on in my head:

"Relax. Don't answer on the first ring. Relax. Calm down. RELAX. Okay, answer it before she hangs up! Oh wait, set down the poop. REEEELLLAAXXXX!! Answer it!"

The sad part was that somewhere in the conversation with Britney I said "woohoo Vegas!" Little embarassed about that one! What can I say...this girl loves Vegas and the fact that this has a trip to Vegas attached to it is fabulous!

I never expected Hall of Fame to happen and then this!! I'm am just above and beyond excited. I can't even wrap my brain around the possiblity of more to come. Right now I'm just too excited to even think about that. I'm just happy to be where I am now.

Thanks to all that where wondering if I got the call! Believe me, if I could have I would have told you!
And yes, I was **SOYfinalist** on the CK message board. lol

Huge CONGRATS to my fellow SOY finalists!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!!

It's challenge time again at Consider Yourself Challenged! Go check it out and play along with us! Hope to see you there!

Kits are done! Finally! I have no idea how late I would have had to stay up last night if Mom hadn't helped me. One of the cards this month had teeny tiny beads on it and it was not a fun experience to count them out for each kit!

Nothing much going on here today. I'm just going to relax, be lazy and hang with Drew. I got him a new box of crayons and a coloring book and I'm ready to do some coloring! I don't think I'm ever going to grow up. Drew's either going to think I'm the funnest mom or the dorkiest! Maybe a little bit of both!

I promise I'll be a better blogger in a couple of days. After today I'm going to work on my class stuff and get caught up. After that I'll blog better!