One day at a time...

Origami Folding Flower Tutorial...

2012-01-10T18:30:00.000-08:00

With spring just around the corner, I wanted toshare with you all an origami folding flower tutorial. I have been addicted to making these paperflowers. We even make it as a familyactivity. Hope you enjoy it!

1. Startwith a 3x3 piece of paper. I used Enchanted Garden’s Classy paper. I love all the colors.

2. Foldthe bottom corner to the top to make a triangle, this will be the side seen onthe outside of your flower so make sure you are happy with your choice.

3. Foldthe right bottom corner of the triangle to the top point.

4. Repeatfor the left side. I used a bone folderto ensure my folds and edges were flat. You should now have a square.

5. Foldthe top left flap of the square backwards as shown. This should form a little kite shape on eachflap. Repeat for the other side.

6. Fold thetop triangles as shown so that they are level with the edge of the paper.

7. Fold theright flap along the existing crease. Repeat for the other side.

8. Placeadhesive to one triangle as shown and attach to the other triangle.

9. Here isa completed petal. Repeatsteps 1-8 to create five more. Note where I placed my adhesive to adhere the petals together.

10. Adhereall six petals together. When you have adheredthree of the six petals add the floral wire in the middle as shown.

Here is what the completed flower looks like.

Once you havecreated a few flowers you can create your own bouquet of flowers. I used all 6 papers from Enchanted Garden tocreate my flowers. I also added a fewleaves using the “B” side of Exquisite and adhering them to some floral wire. Here is my completed bouquet:

Winter Wonderland...

2012-01-05T00:00:00.000-08:00

It was so great to get to work with MLS mid release: Winter Wonderland. It's perfectly whimsical and also has traditional colors. I did two cards using the more whimsical and non-traditional colors:

Using the more traditional colors; red and green, I created this wonderful wreath to hang over the door.

Here is a close-up look:

One more look, I used border punches to create the wreath.

Audrey...

2012-01-04T00:00:00.000-08:00

Audrey was one of my favorite release from CHA-S. It's has my favorite color: teal, pink & green. It's perfect to create those girly girl layouts and projects:

Love the girl silhouette from that card

another card, love those rolly flowers. so easy to use.

loved creating these layouts, they make me so happy to see these pictures of such important girls in my life.

Playtime...

2012-01-02T22:16:00.000-08:00

Working with Playtime was perfect for those anytime cards

The card below was made using the matching Cottage Cuts Die:

Destination...

2011-11-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

This month I had the wonderful time of working with MLS Destination line and also the Unity Stamps designed to coordinate with MLS Destination. I decided to create a few layouts using my favorite places that I have traveled.

First up is this road trip we did around the SF bay area; My mom likes to take a day trip on mother's day, she had no idea were we were going, started in Newark -- San Rafael -- San Francisco -- Half Moon Bay -- Santa Cruz -- Newark. It was a great day of fun.

Then I scrapped my photos from my Rome trip I did a few years ago.

Also scrapped the Eiffel Tower in Las Vegas. Wishing to travel to Paris again soon, so I can revisit the real thing, but this time spend more time.

Enjoy...

MLS and Unity Hip Hop Blog Hop...

2011-10-26T21:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome everyone to the MLS and Unity Hip Hop Blog Hop. You should be coming from Lisa Arana. If you want to start from the beginning please start at the Unity Blog.

I created this card using the MLS Destination Line and also using Unity Stamp A Little Destination stamp set. I really enjoyed the color combination. Hope you enjoy it too.

Make sure you leave a comment along the way. At the end, there is awesome prize that is up for grabs to a random commentor! Be sure to check back the Unity Blog to see if you won. Winner will be posted on October 31st.

Next on you blog hop is Maren Benedict. Hope you have a great time hip hoppin'.

Here's the blog hop order just in case:

Unity Blog - http://theunitystampco.blogspot.com/

Angie Blom – http://angieblomdesigns.blogspot.com/

Nicole Wragge - http://beingoutoftheboxcreative.blogspot.com/

Christi Snow – http://www.alteredambitions.blogspot.com/

Norine Borys- http://www.thevelvetlemon.blogspot.com/

Jen Buck – http://thebuckstampshere.blogspot.com/

Pattie Beltran- http://www.pattiebeltran.blogspot.com/

Jimmi Mayo – http://www.stampingwithjimmi.blogspot.com/

Pearl Liu- http://maisymary.blogspot.com/

Lisa Arana – http://dahlhouse-designs.com/

You Are Here ----> Rocio Duran - http://www.chiotaz.blogspot.com/

Maren Benedict – http://zanynotcrazy.blogspot.com/

Ro Philippsen - http://www.scrapbyrophilippsen.blogspot.com/

Natalie Dever – http://www.dougnat.blogspot.com/

Shelly Berg – http://shellyberg.blogspot.com/

Shemaine Smith – http://www.shemainesmith.blogspot.com/

Zoe Nemburt - http://ceydaboo.blogspot.com/

Stephanie Muzzulin - http://handmade75.blogspot.com/

My Little Shoebox Blog - http://www.mylittleshoebox.typepad.com/

More Pretty Little Things...

2011-10-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

Pretty Little Things collection from MLS is perfect for your pictures of the little ones.

I'm so in love with those rolly flowers. Can't get enough of them

And a card:

Some Enchanted Garden..

2011-10-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

My favorite MLS release this past summer was Enchanted Garden. I was so excited to work with it during CHA. Here are the projects/layouts/cards that I designed.

My cousin's wedding

My brother and I

Cute little project

And two cards

Enjoy...

Fun with MLS and Punky Sprouts...

2011-09-29T08:36:00.000-07:00

This month we had the pleasure of working with MLS and Punky Sprouts. I got to work with the Trunk Punky album and Pretty Little things collection. I created a birthday album. Some pages were painted while others were glimmer misted.

Loved all the layering options with this album. Please leave a comment behind and you will be entered to win this wonderful birthday album. I will announce the winner next week.

And the Winner of the blog hop is...

2011-08-22T08:33:00.000-07:00

Thank you all for the great "tricks" you have shared with me. Drum roll please....

Carole Lassak said...
Great banner. Thanks for sharing. My tip: look in the strangest places for ephemera to add that little zip to your art pieces.

August 19, 2011 11:27 AM

Carole contact me at chiotaz@yahoo.com so I can send you out a goodie bag of MLS collection.

MLS Trick or Trick Blog Hop...

2011-08-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

Hi all and welcome to an amazing Blog Hop featuring the MLS Summer CHA release "Trick or Trick". You should be coming from wonderful, talented Ro. If you would like to start from the beginning you can start with the MLS Blog. Also if you get lost you can always come back here and follow the links below.

A little about my project. I was so inspired by the Itsy Bitsy Spider circle paper and thus began my banner. I used all of the MLS Trick or Treat collection along with some chipboard letter, black glitter and some tulle.

Here is a full picture of the banner

And a close up of each of the components.

The witches feet, we drawn free hand. Each of the circle papers are 11" diameter so it's a pretty big banner but perfect to be displayed over a mantle.

I have trick to share with you all, don't have the perfect color ribbon for that layout? Use your glimmer mist, distress stains to create any color you need, just start with white ribbon and the options are endless.

Please share a "trick" regarding scrapbooking in the comment section and you may win a "treat". I will post the winner on Monday August 22.

And my secret letter for you is "E". Write it down and go back to the MLS Facebook wall and post the secret phrase after going thru everyone's post gathering ideas and each of the secret letters. Your next stop on the blog hop is with the amazing creative Kristine.

Here is the list for the blog hop stops:
Pearl
Shemaine
Zoe
Mandy
Pattie
Linda
Keely
Beckie
Ilene
Becky
Ro
Rocio <--You are Here
Kristine
Erin

Enjoy your blog hopping day!

Some projects with Sew Cute...

2011-08-17T22:33:00.000-07:00

This past month I to work again with the awesomely designed Sew Cute line. One of my favorites ever. We also worked with Imaginise. Totally loved working with the different flowers and the I-Rock with the templates.

Come back on Friday for a nice surprise.

Sneak Peaks of the new releases from MLS at CHA-S

2011-07-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

Drum roll please, here is the sneak peaks for all six new lines that MLS is releasing at CHA-S in just a few weeks.

In addition, MLS has partnered with Scrapping Cottage to create dies from the 6 new lines being released plus Sew Cute. Here is a sneak peak at the dies.

There is also something else in the works that I can't wait to share with you all.

Home Tweet Home...

2011-07-09T09:43:00.000-07:00

This month I got to work on the awesome Home Tweet Home Line. I had to create a project, I had been wanting to use a vintage embroidery hoop and wouldn't you know it the circle paper fit just right. I wet the circle paper and shaped it to fit the hoop and then dried it with a heat gun. Once it was dry I just decorated it using serveral die from My Favorite Things Stamps. Also the flowers were created using the McGill punches.

Love the final project. I also had to create two cards, enjoy!

Can't wait to share with you the new collections from MLS.

June CardMaps...

2011-06-25T08:33:00.000-07:00

In the month of June we had the priviledge to work with Becky from PageMaps. I got a wonderful card sketch to work with:

Here is my take on it:

I loved using MLS Home Tweet Home line. Whenever I am stuck for ideas I always refer to Pagemaps website or books and I seem to always get my creative juices going. Now go and check out what the rest of the MLS DT team did for this month. June 2011 Pagemaps.

More Heartfelt...

2011-05-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

Working with Heartfelt has been great. Love the vintage feel of this collection. My uncle has been posting old pictures of our family. He posted these two which were of my grandfather's mother and siblings and also one of my grandma with my mom and aunt when they were young. They fit so perfect on this collection. I felt in love with Heartfelt.

This month we were sponsored by Glue Arts. They are so awesome and generous, I got to play with their GlueGlider PRO, now I know why people love it so much! It's a great adhesive gun. I also got to try their other adhesives.

Here is my first layout, it's of my grandpa (right) and his siblings:

This is the layout with my mother(left) when she was around 5 years old:

I also did some cards:

Heartfelt Blog Hop Winner...

2011-05-23T23:22:00.000-07:00

And the winner is......

Sylvia Mendoza

Silvia Mendoza said...
Great layout. You are very talented. Thanks for sharing

May 22, 2011 12:10 AM

Congrats Sylvia! Please contact me at chiotaz@yahoo.com with your shipping info so I can send you your package.

Thanks for all the wonderful comments.

Heartfelt Blog Hop...

2011-05-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

Hi all and welcome to the MLS Heartfelt Blog Hop...

You should be coming from the awesome Pearl. Isn't she great. If you want to start from the beginning start at the My Little Shoebox blog.

We are using a sketch created by the talented Melinda. Here is the sketch:

And here is my take on the sketch:

Loved working with Heartfelt, such a wonderful collection. Loved the fact that I was able to scrap photos of my dad and me.

Continue to the also talented Rô. And don't forget to go back to the MLS Blog and leave a comment to be entered to win an awesome prize.

Also, leave a comment here and be entered to win the entire Oasis Collection. I will draw the winner on Monday May 23 at 8 PM PST.

Fun with redesigning...

2011-05-17T09:42:00.000-07:00

I have been learning how to use Photoshop and all of its goodness, like Brushes are so awesome. With that I wanted to redesign my blog and add some cuteness to it. When I first designed it I hardly knew anything about html. Now I know a few more things and it has been fun doing it. Most of designs are from House of 3, Rhonna Farrer and Shabby Blogs. There are still a few things I want to add but for the most part is complete. But loving the result of the blog.

In other news, this Friday MLS is doing a blog hop using Melinda's sketch and the mid release Heartfelt. Comeback and check it out. It's a going to be great.

So comeback on Friday and check it all out. Starting at the MLS Blog.

Don't Forget about the Farmer's Market Challenge...

2011-05-02T21:39:00.000-07:00

Remember to work on the Farmer's Market Challenge that was posted on the MLS Blog, you can find the details here

Hope you can enter to win some awesome prizes.

Garden Party and Sew Cute...

2011-04-25T08:45:00.000-07:00

Here is my work that I submitted for MLS DT call. Totally love working again with sew cute. Also worked with Garden Party.

Love that little "bee line" stamp from the Garden Party set.

Love this goofy photo of myself:

Dress form using Sew Cute:

Here is a close up of the dressform:

Here are a couple of cards:

Hope you have enjoyed this little week of projects.

Check out the MLS Blog all this month and a toot...

2011-04-24T00:00:00.000-07:00

Hope you have had time this month to check out the MLS Blog. They have been intoducing the MLS DT girls and their work. Try and start from the beginning but also check tomorrow and the days to come, the entire team will be featured during the month of April.

I'm so happy to share that this layout was published in the Scrapbook & Beyond Magazine in the Spring 2011 Issue

Here is the layout, this Erin's daughter walking with her daddy.

Come back tomorrow for more projects.

Fruit Basket Tutorial...

2011-04-23T00:00:00.000-07:00

This was shared in the MLS newsletter.

Create a quick basket for any occasion. You will need some My Little Shoebox paper, die cuts, cardstock stickers and letters.

First cut a 8” x 5” paper of your choice. Then score at 1.5” on each side of the paper.

Then cut at the score line of the 8” side as shown below. Add adhesive to the corners as shown.

Remove adhesive and assemble the box.

Using the about 9” of the scallop border from the diecuts staple on the box as shown.

Decorate using cardstock stickers and add some stickles and add candy or any other items. Enjoy!

CHA and Sew Cute...

2011-04-22T00:00:00.000-07:00

My fave line of all time was this. Can't wait to work on it some more:

This was my favorite layout from this line:

This was so perfect for that photo of Erin's daughters:

Using Nicole's pictures but love Addie's hair and couldn't resist:

It goes great with guy pages too:

This is all about my parents:

A few cards to share:

My fave card, love the simplicity

This was my favorite project and have already shared it:

Come back for more soon.

CHA W-2011 and Home Tweet Home...

2011-04-21T00:00:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite lines of all time. This was a pretty crazy time to come up with so many projects, layouts and cards before CHA.

Better Together, love this layout of my mom:

Love how happy Mari is in this photo:

Probably my fave layout with this line,:

Love this little birdcage mini-book:

Cloud page comes from France, Erin gave it to me from her trip, it was perfect:

Here are a couple of cards:

Come back soon to see one of my othe work from CHA.

Sharing some Green...

2011-04-20T00:00:00.000-07:00

This is a wreath I created using the 3D flowers die from Sizzix and using all MLS Green line.

Here is a close up:

Here are a couple of cards.

Comeback to check out some more projects.

Farmer's Market Challenge

2011-04-19T00:00:00.000-07:00

Did you guys know that the MLS Blog is hosting a "Farmer's Market" challenge for this month. Go check it out. Here some more details:

We love our Farmer's Market collection so we'd love to see you create a project using our Farmer's Market collection for one or all three of the categories listed below.

Layout- Create a 12x12 layout of any theme with our Farmer's Market collection utilizing the paper, cardstock stickers, acrylic stamps, glitter letters or mini alphas.

Card- Create a card of any theme with our Farmer's Market collection utilizing the paper, cardstock stickers, acrylic stamps, glitter letters or mini alphas.

Stamping- Create a stamped project of your choice with our Farmer's Market acrylic stamps and coordinating collection.

They got some great prizes, defenitely check it out.

Come back for more sharing.

Now it's time for some Simple Life...

2011-04-18T00:00:00.000-07:00

Love this layout of my dad in front of the tractor, there are some many stories of us in El Salvador and a tractor that was in the family for so many generations, this just makes those memories come back to life.

This layout is of Nicole's Grandfather and Sister, we were scrapping together and she said that this photo was perfect for this line. So a layout was born.

Totally love this 6x6 card.

Still have plenty to share so come back.

Sharing Some Sunday Market...

2011-04-17T00:00:00.000-07:00

Here are my layouts I did for MLS using Sunday Market, this line is so perfect for those little girl layouts:

This is Nicole's daughter, just love her hair and this was such an awesome picture:

This layout is Erin's daughter, loved this layout:

This is my co-worker's niece, she was modeling her hat:

This I shared earlier, it's a thank you card:

Come back and check soon for more projects to share

Sharing some more projects...

2011-04-15T23:48:00.000-07:00

I have quite a few more projects to share so I will be posting them per MLS line.

This is from the Jolly Holly Line, totally loved this line. I liked my Christmas tree layout:

Also loved this Christmas Countdown:

Finally this card was perfect for the holidays:

Check back soon for more sharing.

Enjoy!

The 2011 MLS Design Team

2011-04-01T09:09:00.001-07:00

So great news, I get to continue working with the wonderful My Little Shoebox as part of their design team for another year. I have been guest designing for Miss Helen for a few years but only last year did I join her design team. It has been so great. Love all her work, she is the one that designs all the collections. I can't wait to play some more with the new collections. Keep coming back to the blog and check out what I design for MLS. Go to the MLS blog and check out the rest of the amazing group.

I leave you with some work I have done in the past for MLS:

This is a mini grocery list that I made using Farmer's Market Line

Here is a peak of the inside:

A card using Farmer's Market

Here is another card also using Farmer's Market

My Little Shoebox Farwell Blog Hop...

2011-03-28T07:00:00.000-07:00

So it's time a bittersweet time to say good bye to the current MLS team. But MLS is doing it with style, thru a blog hop of all the designers. If you want to start at the beginning start with the MLS blog here.

You should be coming from the awesome Pattie. Isn't she great. Love her style.

I wanted to share with all of you my favorite project that I created during this term.

Loved the Sew Cute line and loved this project so much it's hanging in my craftroom. I love seeing it everyday.

Now please follow the blog to our uberly talented Shemaine to continue our blog hop.

Enjoy!

Rocio

March Sketch Challenge...

2011-03-27T12:54:00.000-07:00

MLS had a March Sketch Challenge during this month. Hop on over to the MLS blog to check out the MLS DT team interpretation of Aphra's sketch.

Here is the sketch:

And my interpretation:

Loved that crazy picture of Erin. I loved the sketch. I used MLS's Famer's Market line. Hope you liked it.

Holly Jolly Holidays with My Little Shoebox...

2010-12-01T00:01:00.000-08:00

Join us for our Holly Jolly Holidays with My Little Shoebox! Starting today December 1st thru December 15th we’ll be featuring holiday projects and gift ideas created with our newest collection Holly Jolly at the My Little Shoebox blog. Make sure you stop by each day to see all of the fabulous projects our design team has created just for you!

In addition to the festivities, we are giving you "a chance to win your choice of two My Little Shoebox collections!

Go and check it out here. Come back and check out everyday for the ideas and projects. Here is a little sneak peak of my project:

Have a Holly Jolly Holiday.

Medallion Flowers Tutorial...

2010-11-23T10:02:00.000-08:00

It’s simple and easy. All you need is some wonderful MLS paper and MLS cardstock stickers along with glue dots, stapler, scoring board, 1” circle punch and your favorite border punch.

First, cut a 1.5” x 12” strip of your favorite MLS paper, I used my favorite paper from the Harmony line called Tranquility. Using your favorite border punch, punch along a border on one side of the paper as seen below:

Then score the paper every 0.25 inches.

Then fold each of the scores to form an accordion:

Staple the ends together to form a circle

Then punch 1 inch circle and add a glue dot in the center

Place the accordion circle on top of the 1 inch circle

Here is what the back looks like

Add an MLS cardstock sticker to the center

Finish embellishing as you wish and you can create variation using different border punches.

If you get a change to try it out, go to the My Little Shoebox Facebook page and post an image of your project.

MLS Thankful Blog Hop...

2010-11-19T12:41:00.001-08:00

Hi all and welcome to the MLS Thankful Blog Hop...

You should be coming from the talented Cindy. Isn't she awesome. If you want to start from the beginning start at the My Little Shoebox blog.

I have a little thanks card to show you using the Sunday Market line.

From my blog continue to the amazing and talented Pattie.

Enjoy the blog hop.

Sweet Harmony...

2010-11-14T18:26:00.000-08:00

Here is some more work I did with my favorite MLS line ever. I'm in love with the tranquility paper. Enjoy.

My Little Shoebox and Fiskars...

2010-10-12T22:59:00.001-07:00

I got to work with the awesome Fiskars punches and the My Little Shoebox Cute as a Button line. I really enjoyed how all of these products were so good with girl layouts and also can be very masculine. Loved too working with the stamps, they are new to My Little Shoebox. Enjoy seeing my assignments:

MLS Blog Hop Winner...

2010-09-27T00:03:00.001-07:00

Thanks everyone for the wonderful comments. The winner for my blog will receive the entire MLS Summer 2010 Collection of mini letters and maybe something else might drop in the box. The winner is:

Blogger Audra said...
Sooo pretty!! love it!! :)
September 17, 2010 12:35 PM

Congrats Audra, please send me your mailing address so I can send you the precious MLS goodies to chiotaz@yahoo.com.

MLS Blog Hop...

2010-09-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the MLS Blog Hop. If you arrived here from Erin Yamabe's blog then you are right in track if not you may want to start at the beginning, go to the MLS Blog

Do you find yourself asking what is a blog hop??
It's where you will hop to each participating design team member blog. At the end of our DT members blog it will have a link to your next DT member... make sure to comment throughout the trail for a chance to win!!!

This month I was lucky enough to work with the Harmony line. It has my favorite paper ever: Tranquility. This line is so my color, teal, pink, green. Here is the little project I came up with:

Here is a little closeup:

Supply List:

My Little Shoebox Harmony Line
Various Border Punches
Bling by Creative Charms
Shadow Box Frame
Stickles

I loved so much how it all goes together and think I have come up for my Christmas gifts to my friends. Leave a comment on my blog for a chance to win some goodies from the MLS Summer 2010 Collections.

Now please continue on the MLS blog hop and go to Debbie's Blog

MLS - Green...

2010-07-23T00:01:00.000-07:00

Green line has my favorite color, teal. This was so much fun to use. My favorite project ever is the Cards tin I created. Enjoy

I used every paper line to create all the rosettes.

Enjoy!

MLS - Summer Breeze...

2010-07-22T00:01:00.000-07:00

I was so lucky to work with the new MLS Summer Breeze line. I got to work and create 3 layouts, 2 cards and a project. Here is little peak at the projects:

I can't wait to work on the rest of the lines that are being released during next week at CHA-Summer. It was so much fun to do it as a family. Come back tomorrow for more projects and layouts.

MLS New Releases...

2010-07-19T20:39:00.000-07:00

The Craft and Hobby Association (CHA) show is coming up next week. This is where the craft industry releases new products. My little shoebox is having 6 new lines debuting at the show. I'm so excited to have worked with 2 lines: Green and Summer Breeze. I just finished my projects yesterday, I will give sneak peaks as soon as we are given the clear. But for now enjoy the new lines below:

Sunday Market:

Harmony:

Green:

Cute as a Button:

Summer Breeze:

Simple Life:

Also if you are going to the CHA Summer show, MLS is teaching a class using the Green Line and designed by the awesome Pattie Beltran and Erin Yamabe. Here is the link if you want to sign up:

MLS Class at CHA-S

Also come back soon and I'll show you some of my projects.

Have a great week.

Have an announcement to make...

2010-07-05T16:17:00.000-07:00

On my birthday I got an awesome call from the crazy girls of My Little Shoebox, Erin and Pattie, they told me that I had actually been selected to be in the MLS design team. I have known Helen, owner of MLS, for a few years know. I have worked with MLS on several CHA's, Scrapbook Memories TV Show and catalog work. I feel so honored to have been one of 22 girls that get to design for such an awesome company. Here is the announcement: MLS Blog. Here are my submissions:

Dear Blog...

2010-05-11T16:55:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry you have been forgotten. I promise to try and update you more often. But you should know that work has been really crazy and will continue to be. Therefore you have been given a hello goodbye in quite a few months. I really do miss you but every time I think of updating you something else comes up.

Sincerely,

Your long lost writter

October's RR's Challenge

2009-10-30T09:23:00.000-07:00

Since the store closed I really haven't been up to doing anything. I love having deadlines, but haven't really been doing any scrapping. So a few of us around the states met up in a group and are doing challenges. A lot of the girls really enjoyed the CJ challenges and so we thought of doing this group. We call it the Rocio's Rockets or RR's. I know crazy girls, but it's fun. Now I'll have two different deadlines each month with the CJ group which we'll start in February and the RR group. I'm excited. The RR's are going to be a challenge each month. To get us started, I posted the CJ challenge I had done awhile ago. Take 3 sheets of pattern paper and use it to the fullest. Leave no scrap behind. So last time I did layouts and cards. This time I created Christmas cards using the Bo Bunny Christmas line. And doing "ala Pattie" cards with the vintage images and such that Bo Bunny had. I ended up creating a baker's dozen of Christmas cards, yep 13 cards. It's had to get a picture of them together, but I tried. Here are my cards:

October's CJ Challenge

2009-10-30T09:13:00.000-07:00

This month's CJ challenge was to make something for at least 2 people in the group and mail it to them. I couldn't make up my mind as to who I should pick, so I made one for everyone in the group. When I went to CE, I was really inspired with Tim Holtz Trunk Show. His stuff was so awesome, that I got inspired to do this little frame (he had done one similar at a past CE) and do some patching with his grungeboard paper. I inked every square with different color of distress inks, all of the embellishments are from Tim Holtz Idea-olgy line. Also added some rock candy distress stickles on the prima flowers.

It turned out really cute. As I was using the tokens, I knew that I had to give Patti the "Believe" token as this year is her word for the year. Everone else I wrapped them and randomly sent them. So I have no idea who got what. I ended up with "Artful". Such a cute little frame that I found at Michaels and here is the final project:

Hope everyone enjoys their little frame.

September's Challenge

2009-10-30T09:03:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I'm way behind in posting my challenges, see this is what happens when I have no motivation do anything. But I did complete this challenge way before it was due, I finished it on Sept 18. September's challenge was to create something using the colors brown, orange and lime green. I must admit that orange and brown was no issue, it was the lime green that really go to me. But I finished the layout below.

I'll be posting more of my challenges next.

August CJ Challenge...

2009-08-25T23:57:00.000-07:00

I totally forgot to post my August CJ challenge. This month was to create 3 cards with a given sentiment. I finished these before my trip to France. Also, tomorrow, I leave for Creative Escape. I'm really looking forward to get my creative mojo back.

Here are my cards, I used one of the newest lines from My Little Shoebox:

Long time coming...

2009-07-23T12:22:00.000-07:00

So I know that I haven't updated my blog in a long while, but the reason is the same. Always busy trying to catch up on everything.

I have been busy keeping up at work. I'm leaving to France on July 29 and come back on August 9. It will be my last trip to Toulouse. I'm going to enjoy.

I also have been to 3 concerts in 5 days, crazy. NKOTB was on July 9, American Idol on July 12 and Coldplay on July 13. This Saturday I'm excited to be going to No Doubt. I have never seen them in concert and should be awesome. Paramore is opening for them. Funny story, I was supposed to be in France this week and therefore couldn't go to No Doubt, but my trip was moved. But I already had sold my lawn ticket, it cost me $30. So I was looking for lawn tickets so I can go but on Craigslist they are going for $70-75 in the lawn, which is sold out. So I went back to Live Nation (the ones that sell the tickets for the venue) and they still had seats available for $90. Yeah, I got seats for $20 more than the lawn where you have to get there early to get the best seats, because they are first come, first serve.

I just learned that I'm allergic to Chlorine. What gives, I went swimming a while a go and got a rash, it got better in a couple of days. Last weekend I went again and this time it got so bad that over the counter meds didn't help me. So I had to go to the doctor, granted the pool was over chlorinated, I'm on meds to help me and so far I'm doing better. But makes me not want to go swimming again.

I'm so sad and happy that Suzy has decided to close her store. I'm happy for her, she will be able to spend time with her family and adventure into other things. But I'm sad for me. I have loved doing this hobby and her store was very convenient for me, 5 minutes away from home so I can always take care of my fur baby and his insulin shots and come back and continue to crop. Now the closest store to me is 20 minutes away, not so easy to go home and come back and crop. So I have to really work on cleaning my stuff and organizing it so I can crop in the garage and I can have people over. I really enjoy this craft and feel sad that I won't be challenged in my monthly assignments for Garage Girl at the store. Also I won't be teaching so less challenges for me. I have really thought it and I know that I work best if I'm being challenged. I don't want to give up on this hobby I love it so much. So I have decided that I need to sign up to one design team. It will keep me challenged and will help me continue to enjoy this hobby. Which bring me to my July CJ challenge.

This month we had to work on the theme of "My Seven Wonders". At first it was hard to come up with all of them. But I then moved away from my family and friends and into what I enjoy in my life and so here is my challenge.

I love how it turned out. This is something similar to a class I taught last year. I love the colors and I can't wait to display it in my craft room/part of the garage.

Enjoy the rest of the week.

June CJ Challenge

2009-06-25T10:33:00.000-07:00

This month's challenge was my idea, take 3 sheets of pattern paper, they can be double sided and use every little piece to create as many projects, layouts and cards. I ended up with 4 layous and 3 cards. My papers were 2 from Scenic Route Sonoma line and the other was from October Afternoon Daydream line. I have lots of fun with this, I can' believe all of these came out of 3 papers. So here is my work for the challenge.

I'll be back later to update on my mini vaca/birthday and plans for next month. For now enjoy the rest of the week.

Going to Disneyland...

2009-06-09T22:15:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to get excited about going to Disneyland this weekend. We have an aunt (my great aunt actually, who is 75 years young) who is visiting us for a month from El Salvador, she has never been to Disneyland and my mom loves Disneyland so we are going to Disney this weekend. One of my aunts who lives in LA is going with us also. So that's 3 ladies who will not go on any rides with me. I will be going by myself on Space Mountain and all the other "big" rides. My cousin might be available and join us for one day so I can actually have a partner in crime to ride the "big" rides. But I'm sure I'll still enjoy the rides and the fact that Monday is my birthday, I will have some fun.

So I have been working hard. My 30k checkout is almost done, just have a couple of more follow up appointments tomorrow and that's it. Last week I did the sleep study, it was hard sleeping with all that stuff. I'll get my results tomorrow. But so far everything is checking out good. Just got to lose some weight and eat better so my "good" cholesterol can be higher.

My kitties are doing great. My parents are doing good too. I have been trying to keep not so busy but it never works that way. I finished my GG assignments for this month. I really enjoyed them. Now on to completing the CJ challenge, I got my 3 papers ready.

Here are my GG assignments:

Also, my next class is now available for signups at Picture Me Perfect. You can see it here and sign up at the store.

CJ Challenge for May

2009-05-22T23:50:00.000-07:00

Also, here is my CJ challenge for the month of May. This month's challenge was to use 10 items from your stash. Yeah, since my stash is huge, I had no trouble doing this. I took it even further and all of my items used in the Layout are from my stash. Most of them came from Kerry Lynn's kit club - Kenner Road.

Pattern paper is October Afternoon and My Minds Eyes. Cardstock is Bazzill. Letters: American Craft and My Little Shoebox.

I love the red, white and blue, it all came together perfect for the photo of my family on Mom's and myself US Citizenship day.

Life is crazy...

2009-05-22T23:35:00.000-07:00

So I have been told that I haven't updated my blog in forever. It truly has been a long time. But I swear there has been very little time for me. I'm overwhelmed. Work is extremly busy, I have been in training for the past 2 weeks. Had tons of stuff to do for scrapbooking assingments. Completed my CJ challege for the month. So right now I'm officially burnt out. I have no creative juices, I'm overly tired. What did I do, I scheduled a weekend, more like 5 days where I have nothing to do. No places to be nothing. I will be cleaning my scrap stuff, but that is it. No work, no nothing.

I'm so grateful that everything is great. I'm in the middle of my "30k tune-up" or as everyone else knows it yearly physical, eyes, women's health, etc. Everything is good. Have to loose weight, but I knew that. Just got a few more appointments to get thru and hopefully everything comes back good. Which BTW, if you are the person who is drawing blood from me and I tell you "Ouch that hurts as you poke me with the needle" it really means that hurts can you not hurt me any more. I bruise easily. I have a bruise for over a week that it looks really bad from the girl that drew blood from me and she said to my comment of pain, "you're OK", not I'm not ok. look at my arm now. Geesh. Now I think people are thinking that someone hurt me because the bruise is really bad, it's been a week and it looks ugly.

Anyways, those are my ramblings as I'm wiped out. I hope to come out of this weekend rejuvinated. Here are some of my work for Garage Girl.

Friendship by the Sea...

2009-04-23T19:48:00.000-07:00

This month's challenge was to use as many circles as you want. I have always enjoyed how Erin does a bunch of thin circles on her LOs so I sort of did that. I used Creative Imaginations paper that went perfect with the sunset photo of the group last year at the beach house. I also used the new Hambly overlay, Creative Cafe ruler paper, Maya Road chipboard word, some stickles and glimmer mist.

I also used the new binder border punch from EK Success. I had tons of fun doing this LO, I just got to figure out how to put it in my typewriter to journal.

I had a lot of fun yesterday at the Copic Certification. I'm now certified. Watch out, LOL. What I do know is that I need to practice a lot of my techniques to get bettter. And as with anything, I'm a shopaholic step one, now I "need" more cool tools to use my copics.

As I write this, my parents are in flight, my sister called me to let me know that they had left El Salvador. If you read this before 1 am tonight, pray for them to have a safe flight. I can't wait to see them.

Have a great day.

I'm tired...

2009-04-20T07:48:00.001-07:00

Well, it has been a while since my last update. I know, I'm really busy and sometimes forget to update until someone reminds me. But my parents made it ok to El Salvador, they come back on Friday. I'm excited to see them and see all the pictures and hear the stories. Kitties are doing great. Misifu no longer has the lump on her leg. She will most likely never be vaccinated again, so we don't run the risk. Diasque is doing great with his diabetes. I think we have him under good regulation. He is not going to be seen by the vet until July. Me I'm tired, this week I will be working really early. I was at work this morning at 5 am. On Wednesday I'm going to a Copic Markers certification. I have loved these pens since I first hear about them. I have quite a collection, but don't know how to use them correctly, Maria took this cert in Vancouver last year, so I know I will be learning some cool stuff. Shelly is also going with me.

Also thanks to Laurie G. I got a spot to Creative Escape. I'm excited, I even got the time off. Hopefully nothing prevents me from going. I can't wait to get my creativeness going on.

this past weekend I taught my message board class, all of the students were great. They went home with a wonderful project. Some were even gifts. We finished the class early, which is a first for me. I never, ever finish ontime. I went home to clean up my "corner" mess in the living room and tried to pull stuff for the garage sale that started yesterday and goes until Thursday at Picture ME Perfect. There were some great deals. I came home with canvas but I need nothing else, I have way too much. Wow I probably could have a garage store like Suzy had before with all of my stuff. Let's not talk about cardstock, way too much. I don't need any cardstock, but specially pink, green, blue, orange and purple. Way too much. I'm hoping once I'm all organized and cleaned up my huge mess of scrap stuff that I will be able to kit things before going to scrap. Let's cross my fingers. So this goal of cleaning my mess is the one that is hard to keep up with. Along with exercising more.

Well hopefully everyone is having great time. I will post soon my CJ challenge, it has been done for about 3 weeks but haven't had the time to scan it in. I will share soon.

Have a great week.

Wow that took a long time...

2009-04-02T03:15:00.000-07:00

I just finished checking them in. That process bites. Their software was annoying it kept booting me out. Wow, I made a mistake and will have to get it taken care of tonight at the airport. But I got them checked in and seats where they wanted, up front, daddy on the window and mom on the aisle. Now on to sleep for the next 3.5 hours until kitty needs food/insulin. Today, shhhhhhhhhhhh don't tell my boss, I might be too tired and taking cat naps...LOL

April's GG Assignments...

2009-04-01T23:22:00.000-07:00

Since, I want to make sure I'm done with all my projects as soon as possible, I also just finished my April Garage Girls assignments.

GG March 09 Assignments...

2009-04-01T23:17:00.001-07:00

I totally forgot to post my Garage Girl Assignments. I love them, I'm so surprised that I have been getting all of my layouts done with out a problem, but I think that using 8.5" x 11" really makes it easier. I'm not stuck anymore, it must have been the "sqare" format. Anyways here are my March layouts and card:

Must keep busy until 135 am...

2009-04-01T23:06:00.000-07:00

So my parents are leaving for 3 weeks Friday (early morning, 135 am to be exact). They are going to El Salvador to visit family. I'm really excited that they are taking vacation, but I'm also really scared. El Salvador is still a country with a lot of problems, people stealing with no shame, kidnapping, etc. So I hope and pray that they are ok and enjoy themselves for 3 weeks. They have plans to spend Holy week in Guatemala, my mom says that they celebrate it beautifully. So right now, I'm staying up until 135 am to check them into the flight and get them seating together. The airline let's you check in 24 hours before the flight. GRHHHHHHHHH. So I really have to keep busy. I'm going to be posting other stuff to make time go by quickly.

Where have I been the past few weeks...

2009-03-19T14:29:00.000-07:00

FOREWARNING: Long personal post about this crazy life that is mine...

Well lets start off by saying work is incredibly busy, just like I knew it would be all this year and for a few to come. It's great to be busy and have so much to learn. But sometimes when you need time off it's not so great. You will soon know what I'm talking about. But since my work hours are flexible, I can fix my schedule as I need.

I got this terrible cold that took over me for a week. I can't even remember when, but it was bad. I was in bed for 2 days. All better now.

Misifu, my other kitty, she is a 7.5 year old Calico, has a lump on her right rear leg. When I first noticed it was pretty big. I think the vet said it was 1" x 2". I have been really watching all of my pets, checking them out being more vigilant and that's the reason why I felt that lump. We took her into the vet and she wasn't too worried and said to watch it over for a month and see if it grows or if we wanted she could aspirate it to find out what was in it. She still said she wouldn't do anything she still wanted to watch her for a month. So that's what we decided, just watch her for a month. In a week her lump has gotten smaller, I compare it now to the size of a pea. The vet is thinking is a reaction from the vaccines that she received in January. We'll know in April. But it looks good. Granted she still gave me a scare last Friday when I got home. She was limping from the same leg she has her lump. But I think she and Diasque got into a cat fight because he was crying from one eye and was a little swollen. By the next morning they were both back to normal.

Diasque has been doing great with his insulin. We have him regulated, I have been checking his urine for ketones and sugar levels. Both are negative, yippie!! He is letting us give him the shots easier than before. So a big victory there. We have had a few times when he is just fed up, but we get thru it. He is back to being an overjoyed kitty and plays all the time.

This week was especially hard. On Monday night my dad was admitted to the hospital. Around noon he was out for his normal walk, and he felt shortness of breath, chest pain and dizzy like he was going to faint. He went back to his car and he says that it just got worst, including pain down his left arm. He drove himself home and went to his room to try to get a blood pressure reading and the machine wouldn't work. I'm guessing his blood pressure was going crazy. He felt better about 20 minutes after that and was finally able to get a reading, he said that it was around 150/90. Because he felt better, he didn't tell my brother who was home, he went to pick up my mom later and didn't really tell her the full glory details. I got home around 730pm, just in time to give Diasque his insulin shot, when my mom tells me that I need to talk to my dad because he had a bad day and that he needs to tell me all of it. I tried to get him to talk to me but he wouldn't. After about 15 mins he started telling me. Suzy and Pattie were waiting for me outside to go to our usual La Fondue night. I sent my brother to tell them that I couldn't go with them. As I'm learning all of these things, I keep telling him if what he felt was the same way he felt before he had his cardiac arrest and whether his defibrillator had given him a shock. He said that it was different and that no he hadn't had a shock. But seriously, classic heart attack symptoms. Then he tells me that he still feels a little of pain on his left side of the chest. HELLO DAD let's go to the hospital right now or better yet 8 hours ago. We get at it, he is not budging, saying that they won't see him until maybe around 1 or 2 in the morning. I'm really stressed and walk away, my mom continues and she comes to me a little later and says that she almost has him convince that I should try again. I go and tell him, and he finally agrees.

We get to the ER, he is not even done with the admitting nurse and the triage nurse is calling his name. The triage nurse is not even done and he is already being taken to a trauma room. All of the nurses and doctors told him the same thing: "DO NOT WAIT THIS LONG, YOU COULD HAVE BEEN HAVING A HEART ATTACK FOR THE LAST NINE HOURS" They did an EKG within 5 minutes, had him on oxygen and a heart monitor. His BP was still pretty high 160/94 or so, 94% on oxygen, 64 heart beats per minute. They ran a bunch of labs. The time went by fairly quickly, I think the ER doctor came in about an hour after we got to the ER. She said that they weren't sure if he had a heart attack but because of his history they were going to admit him, she was going to wait on the lab results, but most likely he would be admitted. Around midnight the admitting doctor came into see him and told us he was being admitted. That the test didn't show a heart attack but they wanted to run some more test the next day and do a stress echo. They only thing they found was that his potassium was a little low, but not dangerously low. So they gave him 2 horse pills of potassium. His breathing was better quickly 99% with the oxygen tank and his chest pain was taken care by Morphine. By the next day he was breathing without the oxygen tubes. He was in the hospital until last night. They didn't find any signs of a heart attack from the lab tests and the stress echo didn't reveal anything new. So they sent him home. He is so much more happy to be there. But seriously, I hope he has learned that when it comes to the heart, don't wait, just go. I even mentioned the case of Natasha Richardson on our way home. It's such a sad story, that I'm sure happens more often than we know. My dad could have been the same too, we never know.

So after all this, if you are still reading this. Please make sure to go see a doctor whenever you feel something is not right. Don't hesitate to go the ER if it's an emergency or urgent care after hours. My dad was lucky that it wasn't a heart attack, what they believe might have happened is that he overworked himself and as he was walking he was asking too much of his heart and his heart couldn't take it, so he needs to take it easy.

I'm excited that tomorrow will be a day of scrappin' all day long. I'm going to scrapbook expo and do the 8am-1130pm all-day crop with Debbie, Rhonda, Patty and Eva. I have even asked my family to help me with Diasque's insulin shot at night so I can stay the whole entire time. It should be so much fun. I have to finish a project. Hopefully tonight I can sleep, as this entire week I haven't been sleeping much.

Take care and hug your loved ones and make sure you tell them how important they are to you.

Live today as if there is no tomorrow...

2009-03-04T15:42:00.000-08:00

Since I still don't know when I'm leaving to France, I decided to keep up with my obligations and try to finish early. With that I completed my March entry to the CJ Challenge. This month we had to use favorite quote or scripture. I decided to use a quote, "Live today as if there is no tomorrow", it really captures how I hope to live my life, hence the title of my blog.

Here is what I created:

It's a 12x12 Canvas. I used the K&Co Cut-n-Paste Paper line, I used the plain paper as my base and the glitter paper (same design) I cut it up and used pop dots to give me dimension. I also used pearls galore of all sizes. I cross-stitched over tulle and over some letters. Used some vintage music sheet, ribbon and lace. I glimmer mist the canvas with Vintage Pink, it worked so great with my colors. The chipboard letters were also glimmer misted with Olive Green. I love how it all came out. It's so shabby chic. I just love those colors, pink, green and ivory/pearl.

Enjoy.

Are you addicted to FACEBOOK?

2009-02-18T11:17:00.000-08:00

I read this article and can think of at least 2 people who are. Are you one of them? Read below:

10 warning signs that you may be addicted to Facebook

1. Facebook is your home page.

2. You update your status more than twice a day.

3. You have over 500 "friends" half of whom you've never actually met.

4. As soon as you step away from your computer you're on FB on your phone.

5. You are a FB stalker. You qualify as a FB stalker if you

a) click on someone's profile more than once a day even if they haven't messaged or tagged you in a photo.

b) have dragged and dropped more than 3 FB photos (not from your own profile)

c) actually go to a place mentioned on someone's page in hopes of seeing them in real life...creepy!

6. You change your profile picture more than a 12-year=old girl.

7. You have checked your FB page while reading this article.

8. You clean up your "wall" so it looks like you spend less time on FB.

9. You are a member of more than 10 groups and respond to every event invitation "attending" even if you have no intention of going.

10. You change your relationship status just to mess with people.

Ok, I'm not totally addicted, but I'm involved. It's pretty cool to be able to keep in tabs with old friends. This morning, even on XM radio they were talking about it. So are you addicted?

P.S. Yes, I already told one of them that she needs to say... HELLO I'M _________________ AND I'M ADDICTED TO FACEBOOK. Now the other one I won't be seeing her for a while, at least until July, she is enjoying being Irish. She is responsible for me staring Facebook.

Mini Class Kit...

2009-02-17T07:53:00.000-08:00

Thanks so much to everyone who donated the $5 mini-class at the AHA Crop for Marshall. We collected $115.00, all of it going to the American Heart Association. If you didn't attend the crop, you can still make a $5 donation and get the kit at the store. I'm so proud to have been part of such a wonderful cause, it's so dear to my heart as my dad's side of the family all have had heart issues. All in all around $2000 were raised. For those of you that were in a groove and didn't take the class. Here are the photos.

Thanks again.

Things Change...

2009-02-10T21:30:00.000-08:00

So my trip to Cannes, France has been postponed. I'm really excited that I will be at the American Heart Association Crop for Marshall on Sunday at Picture Me Perfect. It should be so much fun.

Diasque is doing ok, he has up and downs, with Diabetes we have to be very careful of his surroundings and any of his behavior. He started to drink and urinate more so I had him tested on Sunday and his blood sugar was around 350. So the vet told us to give him an additional unit of insulin at each shot. Today, I noticed that his back claw was still injured from earlier this year. So I took him in and had to stay at the vet as they were too busy to see him at his appointment time. It worked out for the best, his usual vet saw him. He was tested for glucose, ketones and looked at his claw. He is good to go and we are trying to keep him in under control. All his test were negative, no infection, no ketones and his blood sugar level is lower, around 280, not best, but he was stressed at the vet. So we are going on the right place, he still hates his shots. So if anyone has ideas on how to give him his shot without fighting and biting, please let me know.

Also, because I was leaving, I had finished all my projects ahead of time. Here are my assignments for Garage Girl, it's using one of the newest My Little Shoebox: Turtles and Trees Line

Enjoy.

February Challenge

2009-02-08T13:46:00.000-08:00

This year I knew it was going to be a busy one so I didn't want to commit to something that if I can't complete it, then someone would be short my part. So I didn't want to do any more circle journals. I guess others were in the same boat as me in the group of Seasoned Circle Journal. There are 9 girls that are participating this year. Each month one person host the challenge and we are all to complete it by the 25th of the month. This month, Patti is hosting, who is also our den mother this year as Patty is taking a well deserved break from den mother duties.

This month challenge is to create something with green, blue and brown and with a red heart. Here is my take:

I decided to do a layout about my parents. I'm so lucky to have them in my life that who else can I celebrate about love than their love for eachother.

Here are the supplies I used:

My Little Shoebox
-Enjoy Life Line - Circle of Friends
-Red Lipstick Mini letters
-Cricket Sprinkle Glazed letters

American Crafts
-Character Line - Herald
-Craft Line - Elenore Battington
-Green Ribbon

Bazzill
-In Stitchz - Formal Flourish
-Parakeet Cardstock
-Parakeet Thread
-Red Flower

Hambly Lime Green Mini Graph Transparency
Fiskars Border Punch - Scallop Sentiment
Heart Doily
Bling

I cut out the center of the Circle of friends paper. Using the green graph transparency, layer all the other pattern papers and trim around to remove the excess. Using a sewing machine stich with read thread around the entire circle. All the pattern paper is scalloped using the Fiskars border punch. I used green thread (all 6 strands) and stitched with the pattern from In Stichz on the brown, Elenore Battington paper. For the flower medallion, I cut a 1"x12" parakeet cardstock. Fold every 1/4 of a inch. Adhere both ends together and a flower medallion is made.

I just love all the layers and textures in this layout. I'm so lucky to have so many people around me that influence my creativity. I learn from each of them

Enjoy.

Prayers for my friend...

2009-02-03T07:27:00.000-08:00

My friend and her family are in real need for prayers to go thru this very trying time, her family member passed on this past weekend. She is not ready to talk about so if you can all please help me pray for her and her family. Thanks so much.

Crop in Memory of Marshall

2009-02-02T09:45:00.001-08:00

If you are one of the lucky people that is attending the Crop in Memory of Marshall at Picture Me Perfect on Sunday February 15th from 10am-8pm. Here is a little sneak of the make-n-take I have designed and will be donating to every attending cropper.

There are a few extras and we'll be offering each kit for a $5 donation to the American Heart Association.

I'm so sad that I will be missing this event. Debbie has planned a fun filled event. My job is sending for 2.5 weeks to Cannes, France from February 14th - March 3rd. So Erin is going to teach this mini class in my place. Thanks Erin for helping out.

How to personalize your blog...

2009-01-28T10:56:00.000-08:00

Well as promised, I have looked for information on how to change the layout of your blog. I found this great youtube video from http://www.digital-photography-how-to.com/.

Changing your layout

Adding/Removing/Changing page elements

Adding Widgets

I usually do a search on yahoo for "free blog templates" and find the one that I like and copy the HTML file. Make sure you do save a back up of your current blog layout in case something doesn't go right. I know it happened to me so I just restored it and started again. Enjoy. I'll be looking to see how many of you change you layouts.

Update...

2009-01-28T10:52:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone, I have been pretty busy, as always, my kitty, Diasque is doing great. His insulin shots are working out great, yesterday the vet said that she won't see him for another 2 to 3 month. Yippie!!! He now hates his carrier, where before he used to love going into it. I'm still getting used to giving him his shot, I feel bad when he meows that he doesn't like getting poked or when he looks like he's choking from him horse pill for potassium. Only 4 more days of that pill and then only insulin shots. I'm going to post about how to change your layout. Stay tuned.

Well have a great week everyone.

So Blessed...

2009-01-21T22:04:00.000-08:00

Today has been such a wonderful day. At 1027am, this morning I officially became a US Citizen. My mom and I were among 1354 people who were given the oath of naturalization, we were all from 102 different countries. It was such an emotional day. I don't have my camera right now, otherwise I would post some wonderful pictures that Suzy took of us. Also, I'm too tired right now to go and grab all the notes that Linda took for me with all the details of today, but that's how I know the time. I was way too emotional, I always cry when they sing "Proud to be an American" and today, I couldn't even sing it. I was bawling. Great day. Then the girls at PMP threw me a "Citizenship Party" at the store and it was so much fun, but couldn't stay that long as we got the greatest of all news today. Diasque was going to be released at 730pm. Thanks everyone who attended, I appreciate everyone who was there. Thanks so much.

My kitty is home, he is sleeping in my bed just like always and he is almost back to normal. He will be on insulin shots for the rest of his life. But he is alive and well. Too cute, I will try to take pics of him and his "battle wounds". But he is here and just like his old self. I'm so happy.

Thanks again for all you prayers, comments, emails, calls. They have been so great to read and to help me go thru this time.

Have a great day.

Today is a better day...

2009-01-20T16:01:00.001-08:00

Well today, we have made history. President Barrack Obama has taken office.

Diasque is doing better. He is still not eating and they are saying if we can get him to eat, then he can come home. I will visit him tonight, and try to get him to eat anything, tuna, shrimp or turkey deli slices he likes. I will talk with the vet tonight and see how his doing.

Thanks everyone for the nice thoughts calls, emails, comments and prayers. I'm so happy to have such great network of supporting friends. I'm truly blessed. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Tomorrow is going to be a good day too. It's finally the day we have been waiting my mom and I for the last nineteen years, one month and one day. I will become an official US Citizen. YEAH!!!! I'll even have my own professional photographer, LOL, my dear friend Suzy is going to be taking photos at the Oath Ceremony.

I will try to update on Diasque status. Thanks again.

When it rains it pours...

2009-01-19T14:22:00.001-08:00

My heart is so broken right now. My precious little Diasque is not doing so well. He is at the Vet hospital as we speak getting treated for Diabetes. He has a really bad case, so they are giving him IV and insulin to try to regulate his blood sugar level. He will be there for the next 3 or 4 days. If he makes it he will most likely be on insulin for the rest of his life. I had noticed the signs, drinking more, peeing more, I mentioned it to the vet on his annual checkout and she diddn't seem too concerned and did mention that maybe if he keeps peeing that much we should run some test. But things occured too quikly from then to even catch up with her. I'm writing all the details below as a way for me to track his issues.

On Friday January 9, we gave him his annual shots and he must have had an allergic/antibiotic reaction to the vaccines and he scratched a patch off his fur near where one of the shots was give on Sunday January 11. By Wednesday night, January 14 he started to sneeze, so we called his regular vet and he was seen on Thursday, January 15. He was on steroids and he seemed ok that night, little sneezing. It all started to go bad this past Friday January 16 when he stopped eating and drinking. On Saturday we tried to give him food but just didn't eat much. So we force fed him a little bit to try to get him to eat but to no help. On Sunday we took him into another vet as my vet is not open on Sunday or Monday, around 9am because he didn't look good. We explain all the symptoms and the Vet thought he would bounce back and upped his does of steroids and gave him an appetite stimulant. But still he just didn't look any better and today we took him in again in the morning. The vet was at a loss and told us that he would like to do blood work. Around noon, he called us back and told us that he has Diabetes. And it's an emergency, he needs IV and insulin to control it. He would stay in the vet hospital for 3-4 days. Tonight, I'm going to go see him and bring him some food hopefully he will want to eat and he is better.

I know I have been pretty needy in the last months about prayers, but can you please pray for Diasque that he is able to bounce back from this little detour. Here he is, one of my favorite photographs of him.

Have a good day, I'll try to keep everyone updated.

Check this out...

2009-01-13T22:48:00.000-08:00

My Little Shoebox (MLS) is releasing six different lines this CHA-W, which is at the end of the month in Anaheim, CA. Suzy is the lead designer for MLS and has asked me to design two projects using two different lines. I got my first project complete and I'm so excited as it will also be my April class at Picture me Perfect. The message board is using the line called: Flawless. Enjoy. I will post my other project when I get it finished.

Also, many of you have commented on my blog layout. I will find a mini tutorial to explain how everyone can update their layout. But it will be maybe next week, as work is really busy and have to complete other stuff too.

Have a good one.

What a start of a year...

2009-01-08T12:27:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that the new year is in full force. It's going by so quickly. I have tons of stuff to do as always, but it's coming along. So many things planned for the upcoming year, with work, with scrapping.

I have been in purging mood, since Thanksgiving, that I was hoping I would finish during the Christmas break. But it didn't happen because I got sick with a cold and just stayed in bed all day. I guess it was good I got a break, but I really want to be over with the purging and organizing. We had a garage sale this week at Picture Me Perfect. It was great to see that some of my stuff is going to be used rather than just gathering dust in my room/garage. I still have more to purge but slow steps are in order. I may even show a picture of my garage once it's all clean and organized with my scrap stuff.

Last night, I got to scrap for the first time since last year, I can't even remember since when, and it was so much fun. I finished my two garage girl assignments. They came out great. I love them. I had an idea of what I wanted to do with each of them and I love them. Check them out:

The Sparky layout was very helpful and therapeutic. It has probably the best photo I ever took of him, it's my favorite. We just got his ashes back on December 30th. It was difficult day for us, but we know he is now in a better place. So we are trying to move on. As part of my self-imposed therapy to help me move on from Sparky's passing, I went to see Marley and Me with Suzy, Janice, Victoria and Maria. I cried non-stopped, but it helped me with closure. It's a great movie, well done, I can't believe how close it is to the book. I haven't read the entire book, only the chapter that deals with Marley's passing as I got the book the day after Sparky passed. I know I will read the book soon. It's such a great book. We miss our buddy, but it's getting better everyday.

As I mentioned last week, my dear Michelle lost her superhero of a husband, Marshall, on December 27th. I'm so proud to belong to a very special group of scrapping ladies that came together and helped as much a we could. With that note, my friend, Debbie is hosting a crop in Marshall's memory at PMP on February 15th, 10am-8pm. For more details go here or email Debbie. All proceeds will go to the American Heart Association. If you are in the area and can't make it you can still donate. I will be doing a demo during the crop. So come by and check it out.

Also, my class is coming up on Saturday January 24th at 2pm. Sign up for it at the store.

So, I'm one of the thousands of people who tried to get the Becky Higgins kit for the 365 Project, luckily, I got one of the kits and have been trying to take a picture a day. If I can't take the picture that day I have a spreadsheet where I make a note of what I wanted to take the picture so I can take it on another day. So far it has been working. I'm excited to be getting the kit and completing it this year.

I have been awarded the Lovely Blog Award from my friend Patti.

Rules of this award:

1. Add the logo to your blog.
2. Link to the person from whom you received this award.
3. Nominate 7 or more blogs.
4. Leave a message on their blog, letting them know they are “One Lovely Blog”

Now to choose 7 blogs to pass this award on to:
Erin
Kristin
Nicole
Lizz
Laurie
Noel
Satyn

One last note, I'm officially becoming a US Citizen on Wednesday January 21st, 2009. I'm so excited. Can't wait for the day to come.
Hope you have a great week.

One More Angel in Heaven...

2008-12-28T09:40:00.000-08:00

I am so sad to say that my dear friend Michelle lost her husband last night. I'm a believer that God always has a purpose for us, be it that we usually don't know what it is, I know he has a plan for Marshall, Michelle and their kids. I pray that he sends them comfort during this trying. I ask if you could all please pray for her and her family.

Merry Christmas...

2008-12-25T08:38:00.000-08:00

Everyone. Hope you get all the things you wished for. It has been a hard Christmas for me since I keep missing my buddy, Sparky. I promise next year, I'll go back to updating my blog to at least once a week. I'm really excited and can't wait to see my parents open their presents. It should be such a shock for them what my brother and I got them this year.

In the middle of this holiday, I have a special request, one of my dear scrapbooking friends, her husband is in the hospital right now having heart problems, can all of you that read this please pray for her and her family that this holiday brings them health to them. Thanks.

Today, I'm going into work and delivering 7 dozen cookies to all my co-workers that have to work today, since the satellites don't take breaks from holidays. I hope that they enjoy them.

Happy Holidays.

So long good old friend...

2008-12-04T19:37:00.000-08:00

We had to put Sparky to "sleep" today. It was very difficult but we all know this day would come. May he be happy in heaven where he is no longer suffering. Sparky was with us since he was 3 months old. He was loved so much. We will miss him dearly.

Long Time Coming...

2008-12-02T15:27:00.000-08:00

I know it has been more than 2 months since my last update. But trust me it seems to have only been a week to me. So much has happened, too bad I didn't write it down so I can share it all.

This past weekend (Thanksgiving Weekend) I went a little crazy trying to organize my hobbies stuff that we donated a 2 trucks full of stuff to 2 different charities. I have some stuff still left that I need to purge and continue to clean up but I have been going crazy and needed a break. So the cleaning will have to continue in two weeks. I also have some stuff that I'm going to donate to my church for Catechism and some stuff that I want to sell at the Garage Sale at Picture Me Perfect whenever we have one. Hopefully soon. If you girls want some good paper packs make sure to get there first. I'll post as I know information. But let me tell you I have Basic Grey paper (complete lines) stashed into ziplock bags and I'll be selling those.

So to continue with my goals for '09, as Ululani said she wanted to keep track of my progress. I'm working on cleaning my mess and if anyone sees me shopping for stuff. Stop me. REMIND ME of all the product that I have at home that needs to be used. I have no room for anything else. Yeah and no buying any cardstock. I have tons and tons of cardstock. So please help me out. Need to use my stash, so then I can shop some more. I need nothing right now, not even adhesive, have too much.

So a few more tid bits, my dog, Sparky is not doing so well. We have been having issues with him since April. About 2 weeks ago we finally got an answer as to what is happening to him. He is 12 years old, 84 in dog years, and he is a large dog, a boxer/pitbull mix. The most adorable dog ever. He is just so good. So back in April we noticed that his right eye was droopy and his 3rd eyelid would stay closed when his eye was open, so we took him to the vet and she thought it was allergies. So we got an ointment and it helped him, but not completely cured him. In September, we noticed he wasn't eating and he looked really thin, so we took him again to the vet, he had lost 6 lbs in 4 months, too much for him, so we got him in a high protein diet and he got his weight back in a week. This is right before I left to France last time. Since then he's been up and down on his health. Two weeks ago, I took him in again because we felt something wasn't right and his arthritis was getting worse, his back legs were giving up on him. He also kept circling to the right. All the time. So the vet now thinks that has a partial facial paralysis probably back in April (this is why his 3rd eyelid is staying closed and eye is droopy) and he also now is showing signs of dementia (circling). So now, we have to be very careful with him, make sure he eats and drinks, he forgets to eat even if he was just eating a few seconds earlier. He goes for his walk and takes his arthritis meds. He is healthy otherwise, his coat is so shiny, so we are just watching him. So if you could all please say a prayer for him my family and I would really appreciate it. Pets are like family, and we have been with him since he was 3 months old. We understand we may loose him soon. But I hope if we have to, we can tell when it's his time to go and that we can make the decision to make sure he doesn't suffer. Thanks!

Another big note, is that this Friday, my mom and I are going for our citizenship interview. After this interview all we have left is the oath and we will be US citizens, I'm thinking sometime early next year. I will keep you all posted as to how things go.

Also, I'm leaving to go to France again, I know 3rd time this year, this Saturday and I come back on next Thursday. I'm excited to go see Toulouse in the winter and Christmas time. Not looking forward to the cold, the weather says Lows of 32 degrees highs of 45 degrees. FREEZING. I must take my heavy jacket, sweaters, warm shoes, scarfs, hats and gloves. I'm sad I will miss my daddy's birthday. In all my years, I believe I have only missed my dad's birthday one year back when I was 3 years old. I'll have to call him, but it will be weird not being there. I'm not looking forward to the 18 hours of travel time. I hurt my lower back last week lifting Sparky, so I'm not looking forward to being confined to an airline seat for 12 hours. Luckily I picked the aisle for my cross-Atlantic flights.

Also, checkout my class coming up next month at picture me perfect, it's a dates to remember organizer. It lets you keep track of all your important dates and you even get 2 cards. It's using the Basic Grey Urban Prairie line. So cute. I can't wait to get it back. Here is the link if you want to see more info.

Lastly, I do remember one of my favorite moments in October, I went to a NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK CONCERT with Suzy. Had tons of fun. It was dream come true. I really want to go to another one. They still got the right stuff.

Thanks so much for keeping up with my long post. I leave you with the last two months worth of layouts. Have a great week.

I can spill the beans now...

2008-10-01T09:57:00.000-07:00

So you know that secret assignment I couldn't talk about that I had to get done. Well the Garage Girls from Picture Me Perfect where featured on Page Maps for this month. Go and check out all the wonderful LO's everyone submitted. I'm so lucky to work so many wonderfully talented group of girls. Here is my LO that I submitted:

I had tons of fun creating this LO. I love flowers and I just have way too many prima flowers so I had to used what I had. Thanks Becky for including us in you Newsletter. I'll update on my trip to France later in the week.

Have a great week.

Bonjour de Toulouse...

2008-09-23T20:20:00.000-07:00

Well I arrived yesterday. It was a very tiring trip. I had a big sinus headache while on the plane and had no Advil to help me relieve the pain. So I could hardly move without the pounding. But after I arrived at Frankfurt, the headache was a little less pronounced. I could move. I waited 3 hours to be hauled by a bus to my tiny plane that fits like 40 people. It was crazy that it can still fly at 35000 feet. I took a nap yesterday after I arrived at the hotel. Nothing special on the hotel. The were a few things that are missing like an alarm clock, iron and the worst thing is the smell of smoke. GRRRRRHHHHHHHH I hate the smell of cigarettes. I don't think I'll stay here again. But what could I do since it was such late notice trip. I do love the location of the hotel. It's all within walking distance. It does suck to travel all this way without knowing anyone. I didn't want to have a sit down dinner, as I don't speak the language and I was quite jet lagged. So I went to McDonalds and eat a French Big Mac. Off to bed and I didn't have a good night sleep thinking that my alarms (both cell phones) wouldn't work so I woke up early 5am (could be the fact that I'm so screwed up from the travel) and I'm getting ready to go to work early.

So hopefully today everything works out and I can have some time to travel around town.

I'll take some pictures and post.

'till later.

Almost done with all the things on my list...

2008-09-18T17:24:00.000-07:00

Well the last few weeks have been so crazy. Here is an update on things I still have to finish:

1. Anniversary Crop on the 20th and 21st at PMP - That's this weekend
2. Attend orientation for Confirmation class for Gabriel on the 23rd - Can't attend
3. Back to School Night, on the 24th - Can't attend more on that later
4. Clean my mess in the garage and my scrap area (it continues) - Yeah haven't done a thing
5. Might have to travel for work - Leaving on Monday and coming back on Friday

That's life. I finished all other things. I'm so excited to be traveling again but this was such a late notice that I just booked hotel today and my flight was booked on Tuesday. Wow less than a week notice. I should have internet access while in France but will be there for so little time I'm not sure I'll have time to do anything else.

I have been so busy that I didn't even have a chance to update my blog when Erin told me that another episode of Scrapbook Memories showed the other two projects I had designed for MLS. They were the shown on episode 1305 - Favorite Colors. I haven't seen the show, I think it will be shown in two weeks here in the bay area on another PBS channel. But I did see this snapshot from the Scrapbook Memories website

You see the Sierra project is shown at the start of the episode. So exciting!

George Lopez comedy show was so funny that my stomach hurt the next day from laughing too much. I just can relate to all his jokes. Way too funny.

I leave you with some of my recent work for garage girl assignments.

Have a great weekend.

I have a list so long of things to do...

2008-09-03T09:44:00.000-07:00

Not only in work but also in the house and my scrapbook hobby. I have tons of stuff to do and no time to do it. I don't know where the time goes.

Gabriel is now a Freshman, he started High School yesterday. Never, ever go try to find school supplies one week before school starts. Specially a pad lock, it took us 3 hours to find it. Never, ever go the day school starts to get the supplies his teachers want him to have and we hadn't bought. It took us 3 different stores to find those supplies, two hours later. He is really excited about taking Art this year, it's probably his favorite class. So the only thing he is missing for school is a portfolio. So here is to hoping that he can do the best in the next four years (which are going to fly) so that he can go to college and find a career of his choice.

So back to my rant about too much to do. Here is a list of my upcoming events:

1. Go to a Giants Game this Friday night
2. Catechism starts this Saturday, I have 19 kids to teach.
3. Teach my class, This is Me at PMP on the 9th
4. CJ Crop on the 13th
5. George Lopez on the 15th
6. Anniversary Crop on the 20th and 21st at PMP
7. Attend orientation for Confirmation class for Gabriel on the 23rd
8. Back to School Night, don't even remember the date
9. Garage Girl Assignments
10. Secret Assignment that I can't share until the 1st of October. LOL
11. The demo for Anniversary Crop
12. Clean my mess in the garage and my scrap area (it continues)
13. Work and work
14. Finish my citizenship form
15. Get my car fixed
16. Attend a baby shower on the 14th, that I'm helping out at
17. Might have to travel for work

and the list goes on. I think I might forgotten a few things, but this is only September.

True lots of things are fun, but still no time to do anything else. I'm going to be so exhausted pretty soon.

My car was out for repairs last week, new clutch and motor mounts. But it has gone back again for another check out, we think my AC is going bad. And we are in the middle of another heat wave in the Bay Area, no way can I drive that car in this heat with no AC. Done and almost passed out yesterday.

Welcome to my crazy life.

Rocio

Toot...

2008-08-21T22:18:00.000-07:00

So a few months ago I was asked to design three projects for My Little Shoebox. They were for a TV show. The show is Scrapbook Memories and it runs on PBS. Well today, my TiVo finally recorded it. I'm so excited to share that one of my projects was shown it's this one:

I'm so excited to see my work on TV. I'm also so proud to work with a wonderful group of inspiring women that are in Suzy's design team. Erin, Krista, Michelle, Nichole and Pattie all have projects/layouts shown during the show. Way to go girls.

I love My Little Shoebox, seriously, they are the coolest collections I have seen, I love all their colors. My favorite new line right now is "A Little Birdie Told Me" I worked on some projets again for MLS and were displayed at their booth in CHA-Summer. Since I was in a rush, I didn't get to take a picture of them. I'm so bummed, but maybe I'll get to take them soon and share with you all.

Back to my toot, if you have DirecTV search for it. Here in the Bay Area is on DirecTV channel 22, PBS will show it again on Saturday August 23rd at 1:30pm, the title of the episode is "Favorite Vacations" episode #1302.

Here are the other two projects I did for Helen earlier in the year,

Have a fun weekend.

Busy Bee...

2008-08-19T08:48:00.000-07:00

I have been busy since my last update. I attended Scrapbook expo on August 8th and 9th. I helped out with 2 classes for Scrap for a Cure. I helped out on the Friday's class and taught the Saturday class. Wow it was tons of work and fun. I haven't taken a picture of the projects but those projects were so cull and the Scrap for a Cure girls are awesome. They give tons of product and always have neat techniques. I did go over my budget at expo, thanks to Maria who told me to pick up some nestabilities for her and then I ended getting some for me too. It was great to see so many people. I love this hobby because I have gotten to meet so many wonderful friends, I'm so lucky. I was so exhausted after the expo that I didn't want to do anything. But we had our CJ crop, good thing that I'm done so I only had pass the CJ to Veronica. I got energy after dinner, but still I was exhausted that weekend.

I have also continued to clean my mess, and slowly but surely I'm making progress. Still have tons to do until I finish and have a clean scrap area. So my aunt is in town this week, she is my dad's oldest sister so they are having tons of fun together.

I have also done my PMP's Garage Girl assignments. I'm having so much fun doing LO's. Next on my plate is creating my class for the Big Event at PMP in November. My class for September is now available for sign ups. I have gotten so many beautiful comments. Like I tell many, this is a book all about me at 31. Who I am today. So that when I read it or my family reads it later much later in life, they can see all that I was involved right now. I wish I had something like that from my mom. Wow that would have been awesome. If you click on the image on the left bar for THIS IS ME, you can sign up online.

I leave you with my assignments:

Have a great week.

Working, working....

2008-07-31T14:54:00.001-07:00

working. Really that's all I have been doing in the last week. I finished my class for September. Now I have to start working on my BIG EVENT Class in November. And my regular work has been busy too.

I did went to John Mayer's Concert last Saturday with Erin, Suzy and Janice. It was tons of fun. I had never been on the lawn at Shoreline Amphitheater. The concert was great. I needed to hear two more songs and it would have been totally AWESOME. But wow is he an AWESOME GUITARIST. He did this on one of his songs:

I was at AWE, granted we could barely see him. But we were having so much fun us girls enjoying his music. Fun times.

Have a great Thursday!

What to give the person who has given you everything...

2008-07-21T12:56:00.000-07:00

You give him THIS:

This was the best picture I could find on the net, I'll update with my own photo once I have a chance to take one.

My dad has always been there for me. Pushing me to be the best that I can be. Along with my mom, they both are my foundation. Without them I wouldn't be here today. I wouldn't have been able to pursue my dreams. So for that he got a brand new spanking 2008 Toyota Tundra Crew Max. My dad has never owned a brand new car of his own, they have always been used cars. It's also my mom's but since she doesn't drive, he'll have to take her everywhere. We had been shopping around for a few weeks or so and had walked out on deals which just weren't working for us. But yesterday was a good day, we went to Gilroy Toyota, and found that puppy just like we wanted, with all the options we wanted and the options we didn't want weren't there. It was meant to be. The only funny part is that we have way too many red cars now. It took a while to get the deal, but it was done, and my dad has now a new truck to use. Not to worry about getting broken down and him not able to fix it because he's not allowed to be near a running engine with his implanted defibrillator. We left to Gilroy around 11am and didn't get back home until 7pm. Since it took so long to settle everything, from bargaining the price of the truck and them washing it and detailing it. But my dad finally got a hold of his truck, which he has already nicknamed "Rogelio" as in rojo in Spanish or red in English.

My brother and I followed them on his new truck and he was all smiles on the drive home. My mom was too, I was surprised she wasn't crying a river, as she is really emotional, but she was just happy to see my dad so proud and happy. My brother told me something that really stuck, in his words: "Your dad isn't happy about the fact that he got the Tundra, for him it could have been a new bike, it was the fact that you bought it for him that has him so happy." It makes me so happy that I have been able to give something back to him for everything they have given me.

Thanks Papi for always believing in me and helping me be the best person I can be.

Love you both.

A Crazy Tornado...

2008-07-11T10:46:00.000-07:00

has hit my house. OK, I admit, I'm a shopaholic "Step 1". Since I love to shop it goes for everything that I'm involved. I have been shopping scrapbook supplies way too much and haven't been organizing. Really not enough time in the day. I'm way too busy. But it has gotten out of control. I swear it was a fire hazard. So last weekend was a long weekend due to the 4th of July holiday. I took a few extra days off from work so I can clean up the mess I have made. I thought 3 days will be enough to clean up. Yeah, so not the case. My family room is a mess and my bedroom is still a mess. But not fire hazard anymore. LOL. I will not be posting pictures as I'm too embarrassed that it was so out of control. I still got tons of things to organize and put in it's place, then I have to start sorting thru the things that I don't want. Yeah, it will be another month before I can even say that I'm close to being done with my scraproom.

On Tuesday, I was so fed up with the cleaning that I didn't get much done. I instead had plans to go see American Idol on Tour with Suzy. I didn't hold much for it. But it was actually pretty good. I was in love with Michael Johns, Seysha Mercado, Jason Castro, Brooke White, David Archuleta and David Cook. It was a fun concert. We were in nose bleed sections of the HP Pavillion, but had center of the stage view, not so bad.

I also posted all my LO's that I have been doing lately:

Have a great weekend.

I have been TAGGED...

2008-07-09T10:03:00.000-07:00

I was tagged by Sue. Here we go...

Each player answers the questions themselves. At the end of the post the player then tags 4 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment letting them know that they've been tagged and ask them to read your blog. Then you let the person who tagged you know when you posted your answers.

Ten Years Ago:

July, 1998 - WOW, I thought that I had great a memory, but nothing stands out. I was probably working at Mervyn's for the summer. Taking a break from college. I lived in Redwood City, CA at the time. Yeah nothing really stands out.

Five things on today's to-do list:

1. Go to work
2. Clean my tornado mess!
3. Clean!
4. Drop off the luggage scale for Erin at PMP
5. Clean some more!

Snack I Enjoy:

Skittles

Things I would do if I was a millionaire:

1. Travel all over the world.
2. Buy a house with a huge bedroom for me, a walk-in closet and a huge craft room. Also make sure my parents, brother and cousin had their great rooms too.
3. Hire someone to sort to my stuff and help me clean and organize my scrap room.

Places I have lived:

San Salvador, El Salvador (12 years)
Redwood City, CA (12 years)
Fremont, CA (1 year)
Newark, CA (6 years)

4 People I am tagging:

1. Suzy
2. Erin
3. Laurie
4. Kent

5 times in SF in less than 14 days...

2008-07-03T16:39:00.001-07:00

Yeah, I have never been to the city this much in so little time. On Wednesday June 18th for the concert. On Thursday June 19th Sailing and stayed overnight with the CJ group. On Sunday, June 22nd for my mother's birthday dinner. Last Saturday, June 28th for a crazy night with Suzy, Erin, Janice, Pattie and Becky Fleck. We walked from Pier 39 to Ghirardelli Square, just for ice cream at 10 o'clock at night. I kept telling Suzy, I was just there and that Ghirardelli square is really far away, I think it's about a mile away.

But let me back track a little, I wasn't feeling really well that night, I was tired and I went just because we had planned this little get together for a while. So I'm seating in the back seat of Suzy's van. Yeah, bad place to sit, because as anyone who knows Suzy, knows she's full of energy, well she's also full of energy while driving and the car is really moving around. And in the back, yeah not good. I ended up getting car sick. It was bad. Then we walked and walked to get ice cream. Suzy and Erin together, what more can I say. We kept saying that people would think that they were drunk. But no even a single drop of alcohol near them. They are just crazy together. We had to help Suzy go up the hill, since she has a bummed knee. Overall it was a great crazy night in the city.

Then last Tuesday, July 1st my brother got tickets to the Giants. I loved the seats we had great seats. And the Giants won. It was a great game.

After the game my brother was called into his office. Which is in the city. So we went in, his office is in the 15th floor. While he worked, I took awesome pictures of the city. So it was worth the wait.

Have a great 4th of July!

I know, I know, but I said I would be very busy...

2008-06-27T10:54:00.000-07:00

So now that the craziness that is my life has calmed down. I'm back to being able to blog. So here is a little recap of my last few weeks.

On June 7th, I taught at PMP, the "Home is Where the Heart is" class. It was such a technique oriented class that everyone went home with something new they had learned. I was so happy that everyone enjoyed it even after the little manufacturing delay. Thank you ladies for attending my class.

On Monday, June 9th, we had an issue at work that kept me busy until last Friday, 20th. So on top of my craziness of schedule, I now had to be on my toes at work, so we can all work together to fix it. I know not much info, but so is life with my work, but the good news is that I work with pretty amazing "Rocket scientists" (LOL) that are truly ala Apollo 13, if you have seen the movie, I'm referring to the part where the engineers have to make sure that the astronauts have oxygen to breathe and have to build a filter with duck tape and such supplies that were available to the astronauts on the spacecraft. I was at awe. That was really how I felt watching everyone brainstorm. It's amazing how brains working together can fix things. Truly happy to be able to learn from these guys. So I was pulling 10-12 hours shifts every day.

But I was lucky enough that I got to Gabriel's graduation. We were so proud of him. He won 4 awards at the ceremony. His awards were in Math, Social Studies, ELD-English Learning Development, and Honor Roll. He looked totally like a young man now, not the little boy we took under our wings 2 years ago. I will post a photo of him at graduation later. He even asked to go to his graduation dance party. I'm sure he had lots of fun.

So my birthday was on June 15th, which was also Father's Day. My parties began on Friday the 13th, which because of work, I almost missed. I didn't get to my "SURPRISE" party until 9pm. So they waited for me to eat cake. I'm truly blessed that I have friends that thought of me on my birthday and were willing to throw me a surprise party. Thanks, Suzy, Erin, Pattie, Christiane, Angel, Janice, Lonae, Maria, Linda, Jeani, Karen, and Gwen for a wonderful surprise. Oh yeah, and Suzy even sang a "special" birthday song for me...LOL

Saturday, 14th, we have our monthly CJ crop and I was so lucky again to have cake and celebrate my birthday again with all the CJ ladies. It was so much fun. Plus I scrapped again, and did 3 more LO's. I'll post those later too.

For the special day, I was woken up by a serenade of Happy Birthday songs in Spanish that my dad was blasting thru out the house. And guess what else, another birthday cake. My mom was so emotional, that she was crying. She is such a sweet woman, I'm so lucky to have her as a mom. I got to play Guitar Hero all day long, that I got blisters again. I'm getting so much better, I'm almost done with the "EASY" level.

On Monday Suzy, Janice, Erin, Maria, Pattie and Kent (who shares my birthday with me) and I went to La Fondue to celebrate our birthdays. We had tons of fun. Here is a photo of us at La Fondue.

On the 18th, I went to a Camila concert in SF. I had so much fun, this band is so great live, they are up and coming Mexican band. I love their music and I was so close to the stage. It was a great evening.

The next day was the beginning of our CJ Get Together from people who I had met via Patty, everyone was finally in one place so we can all meet and spend tons of time together. We started by sailing in the bay. What a gorgeous day. I so loved it. What a beautiful city. Oh, it was great. For sailing it was Lisa, Patti, Toni and Libby (owner of the sailboat) and her friend who helped us sail. Debbie, couldn't go sailing with us as she gets motion sickness. Here so photos from sailing in the bay:

After sailing we meet up with Patty and Kristi and had dinner at Cioppino's. Such awesome food. We stayed in a SF hotel and started our full day of LSS shopping on Friday. We began in Berkeley and ended in San Jose, after visiting 9 LSS stores. Rhonda met up with us in Berkley, and I was her passenger seat driver. We had so much fun and I got tons of loot. Now I just need space to keep them. Almost at the end of the shopping, Sue met up with us (she flew in from Colorado) and our group was complete. After the LSS shopping we headed down to MJ's beach house.

This house is gorgeous. Right on the beach, just a little walk over to the back from the backyard. Take a look:

Saturday was dedicated to all of us learning from each other. We ended up doing 6 classes during the day, and taking breaks in between. It was a great day full of fun and excitement. The only problem is that I got a cold. I was sick, Monday was the worst day, but now I'm better.

Sunday, June 22nd, was my mother's birthday and we took her to SF to her favorite Salvadoran Food restaurant. She was so happy. Her Birthday present was a 26" LCD TV. I'm so jelous. I still have an old tube TV. OK granted she still had the 19 year old TV we bought when we first moved to the US. I think I'm getting a 32" LCD TV for Christmas. My family has 6 months to save up for it. I'll even pitch in. Once you go widescreen, you can't go back. I'm having a hard time going back to my regular TV after playing the WII in my brother's LCD TV. On the WII note, I am so in love, we got the Rockband game and it is so much fun. I can't wait to play it more. It involves the whole family. My dad even played it and he got motion sickness. It was pretty funny. I don't think he will be playing anytime soon.

So this brings up to this week, which has been kinda slow, other than getting better from my cold and trying to catch up on everything else.

So, this weekend Suzy, Erin and a few other will be crazy and go spend an evening in SF. This should be so much fun.

Also, remember how I said that I have been creating layouts, here are this month's assignments for PMP Garage girls, I'm so excited to be scrappin' again. Here are my LO's. You can check them out at the store.

Everyone have great weekend.

Pink Persimmon Sneak Peak...

2008-06-06T13:44:00.001-07:00

Here is a sneak peak at my Make-and-take for tomorrow's Grand Opening for Pink Persimmon at Picture Me Perfect from 11am-1pm. Come by if you have time.

so much to do, so little time...

2008-06-05T13:09:00.000-07:00

Well, this past weekend was a great weekend. I got to crop and hangout with friends. I also go to see Sex and the City movie. Which was such a great movie. So if you haven't seen it; go, leave everything behind and go right now and watch it. I can't wait to see it again.

This Saturday is my Home is where the heart is class at Picture Me Perfect, which there are still a few more spaces available if you want to sign up. I have been so busy kitting it and waiting for last minute things to arrive. I'm so glad to be done. Also on Saturday, I'm doing a demo at the store for Pink Persimmon, if you have a chance come by. So many girls are doing great demos. I had a great chance to design some stuff with their new stamps. You can see one of the cards I did at the website.

Plus I have also been doing some LOs, yeah you heard it, I did 2 LOs. I will post later, when I have more time to scan them and post.

The next few weeks are going to be so crazy busy. My cousin is graduating from 8th grade on the 11th. BTW, I have no idea what to give a teenager for his 8th grade graduation, anyone have any ideas?. He actually asked to go to his graduation dance, I think there is a girl involved. My birthday is the following weekend, the 15th and I'm celebrating at La Fondue with Kent (we share the same Birthday) and a bunch of other girls from the store. I got a Camila concert on 18th. And we meet for our CJ crop reunion on the 19th-22nd for me, as my mom's birthday is on the 22nd.

I swear I'm going to be so busy, but it will be so much fun.

Have a great week everyone.

I got an early birthday present...

2008-05-27T10:44:00.001-07:00

Ok so it's a shared game console. My brother has been dying to get his hands on the Wii for a few years now. Well, he came up with a proposition that I couldn't reject.

I get an early birthday present and my share goes to buying the Wii console and accessories. While buying the Wii at Toys R Us, I come across this puppy:

And guess who has an itch to learn this game. I am HOOKED to that game too bad we have to share the Wii otherwise, I would have been playing it all night long. I'm going to try and get my little hands on a Wii Fit as well. Later on this Fall Guitar Hero is coming out with a whole band, ala Rock Band game. Since I already have Guitar Hero, I'll stick with them and get the Guitar Hero Tour.

I suck at the game right now, but I'm going to get better. It's hilarious, both my brother and cousin are pros at the game(either of them have never played the game before) while I get booed out. If you see me with blisters you will know that I have been playing this game too much. I really need to get my fingers to be more flexible so that I beat everyone.

Let the games begin.

Hopefully I can catch up...

2008-05-21T12:10:00.001-07:00

Alright let's try to catch up on the last month worth of craziness in my life. Once I'm caught up hopefully I can go back to updating more often.

Ok, so I left off on my last post about my trip to France. I returned Tuesday, April 8. On April 12th, I have my first of two "Dear Mother" classes. They went great. I had 17 people in class and it was a handful to make sure everyone was able to get enough guidance so that they didn't feel left out. I have so many friends taking this class it was wonderful seeing everyone. My highlight of this class was the two grandsons of a lady and she paid for them to make the book for her daughter. I had a poem printed out that said "when I was a little GIRL" they laughed at that one and said their mother would find it so entertaining as she only has boys. They wouldn't stop laughing at that. I guess I need to be more careful and make them more generic next time.

By next Tuesday, tax day, I was on another plane, this time only to Nashville, TN, only 4.5 hours long.

I flew with Laurie G. and we met up with Veronica L. at the hotel. Which BTW was gorgeous, we stayed at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Resort. We had dinner and off to bed as we had an exhausting day.

The next day we got up and headed to do some LSS shopping.

We ended up at 4 different LSS. All very different and unique. I think my favorite was the one in Clarksville, TN, I think it was called Memories in Bloom. While at the store, Veronica mentioned the song "Last Train to Clarksville" by the Monkees. The lady at the store says that the Clarksville in the song is the same town we were in. So it was a great trip to memory lane, given that I love the Monkees, only because my mom used to listen to them.

We had a portable GPS and noticed that Kentucky was really close we decided to cross the border and just hit another state. That was fun, we totally missed the KY border sign, so we turned back but I ended up in a road to Fort Campbell Army Base. It took me forever to get out. But we headed back and we got the picture.

After that we headed back to Nashville. We met up with Erin and Deb
at the hotel. We had dinner at Rainforest Cafe. For the first 2 days I ate at 4 different places that I had never been to. It was a great experience.

On Thursday, we got our stuff for Scrap ETC and we went again on another shopping spree. We visited another 4 stores, including the Scrap ETC on-site store at the hotel. It was a busy day. We returned to the hotel and the Scrap ETC event began. We also took our first class. By the time we finished we were exhausted.

On Friday we took more classes and Erin and I stayed up and cropped at our hotel room. We finished some of the classes we had done in the day.

Saturday was another busy day with classes. And continued shopping. I was a bad girl on shopping. I needed a whole suitcase for all my shopping. Overall the event was just ok. I think it was their first time with this large amount of people and so it was a little disorganized. Also, they are in the process of switching owners so hopefully next year it will be a better event for them. My favorite class was Heidi Swapp's Class. Which I haven't photographed it, as it's all still packed in my suitcase because I have been too busy.

On Sunday April 20, I went and took a class at Scrappuccino from Debby Schuh. She is one of "Celebrity Teachers" that I stalk her blog constantly.

That class alone was so worth the trip. She is wonderful. I love her techniques. I love the store too. Lola one of the co-owners was also so wonderful and had that "Southern hospitality"

I also visited the Belle Meade Plantation on Sunday.

It's been restored to the 1890's era when it was at it's height of purebreed horse breeding. One of it's premium horses from that era is the great-great-grandfather to Seabiscuit. It was great to relive that era. Although I must say how sadden I am at the horrible housing and treatment of slaves.

On Monday, I headed down to Memphis. On the way I stopped at the LSS it was great. My all time favorite store in TN has to be Eclectica Scrapbooks in Memphis. It was a wonderful variety, with the latest and greatest. Oh I could had done so much more damage, but by then I had put myself on a budget and did good there. I also went to an Archiver's, and it was ok for me. I think I need to go to one that is huge so I get that feeling that everyone is talking about.

While in Memphis I cross the border to Mississippi and Arkansas. I visited 4 states in one week. AWESOME! I also got to see Beale St. But it's not the same being in that area alone. But I'm glad I got to do that drive.

On Tuesday I got to do one of the highlights of that trip. I went to GRACELAND! Wow that is just amazing. I have never been a crazy fan of Elvis, OK I know his famous songs but not much more, he died when I was 2 months old. But since I was there I needed to go. I am now an Elvis crazy fan. It was a lot of fun. My favorite place in Graceland is the Racquetball room, it's where they display his gold and now platinum records. Wow, it is amazing, those 4 walls are so tall and so many records to count. I learn a fact that he one of the greatest recording artist in the world without having ever performed outside the United States. Here are some pics from my fave places in Graceland.

Check out that date, June 21, 1977, I was only 6 days old. Born on June 15.

On Wednesday, 4/23, I had to drive back to Nashville to catch a 230pm flight. Got home safe and sound. But work has been super busy and I have had to work Mids (12am-10am) shifts since I was attending meetings with the French on their regular work hours. So for the last 2 weeks I haven't really been in the office during the day.

I have also been very busy outside of work. We had NSD events at PMP the first weekend in May. I even had to work at my regular job after the all day crop at the store. I was up for more than 28 hours that day. I was exhausted. Then I had to teach my 2nd "Dear Mother" class, oh yeah, and somewhere I had to kit this class too. I have been kitting my next class which will be on June 7th.

For Mother's Day we took my mom to Napa Valley, we went to see the Old Faithful Geyser in Calistoga. We also went to the Petrified Forrest and Lake Berryessa. She had tons of fun. We had a wonderful day as a family. I will post pics later as those are at home.

Last Sunday my cousin, Gabriel and I got to go to a Giants game. They lost, but it was a great day of fun at the park.

Which brings me to yesterday, as you all know we have zoo at the house, one dog, two cats and 4 parakeets. Well one parakeet, the gray one died back in January 9, 2008. We took her to the vet and got meds for her but still only survived a few more weeks. Birds at too small of creatures to figure out what is wrong with them. Yesterday, I found the green one dead on the bottom of the cage. He had never been the same since his partner died 4 months ago. We are not sure if he was sick, he didn't seem so, or if he died of old age. But I'm really sad to see them go, they are a big part of our family. Here is an old pic of the 4 of them together.

Now we are down to 2 birds, 2 cats and one old dog (who is in excellent health, took him to the vet and got a whole workup and he is in great shape).

Well if you have survived this motherload of update, one whole month worth of info. You are a trooper. Thanks for reading my crazy life. Now I promise to give more updates more often.

TTYL.

Fitting title of my blog...

2008-05-02T15:12:00.000-07:00

So I know I haven't updated my blog since I got back from France. And I promised stories. Well life has been crazy as always. But I think I might be getting to a better place soon. So let me do a big recap of France. Next week I'll do a big recap of Tennessee and this crazy weekend coming up.

So stories. How about the one where I went to Carcassonne, I think that's where I left you all at. It was beautiful. Up on a hill 40 minute walking distance from train station, but still a beautiful walk. It was a bit chilly so I was wearing a scarf, jacket and gloves. Made it to the beautiful Carcassonne. Oh great pics. I go aroudn the castle and walk around the town that's within the Castle. So around 12:20pm, I decide to start heading back and try to get to the train station before it closes at 1pm for lunch. The TGV (the fast train) was supposed to leave at 1:15pm from Carcassonne and take me to Toulouse around 2pm. Enough time to enjoy a little of Toulouse. I still needed to find the French dictionary. Well I can see that there is a taxi and by the time I get there, it has been booked. So I wait a little to see if I can catch another one, there is also a bus station that I figured could get me to the station. Nope, it's now 12:40pm and the train station closes for lunch at 1pm to 230pm, yeah long European lunches. So I start walking down the hill and then I start running because I know I'm not going to get there in time and if I don't there is no train until 500pm. I didn't want to get stuck there for that time. So I'm out of breath and I get to the station at 101pm, thank God it's still open. With my little French I get a ticket for my planned train. But I keep reading this message on the board that I have no idea what it stands. "SUPPRIMER" I even ask the guy who helps you get to the correct track and I can't understand him. But he know little English and tells me that the train has been cancelled. CANCELLED.

How in the world am I going to get back to Toulouse, I fly out the following morning at 7am. Yeah, and my train isn't the only one who is cancelled, all of them are. So I'm at a total lost. I wait in line and I ask the girl in front of me, she was no more than 20 years old, so I figured she might know a little English or Spanish and can help me out. Luckly she does and she helps me as she is also going to Toulouse. There is a bus instead that will come around 2pm she tells me. It should take around 1.5 hours to take us to Toulouse. And she will help me. Well it turns out that I didn't have any luggage and she did so she ended up having to go on the next bus, as the first one was full and I never got to thank her in the end. She was an angel and got me back and safe to Toulouse.

I get back to my hotel around 5pm and relax a little and then I go around the town for a bit got me a baguette sandwich for a store. It was so cool. I had asked my hotel concierge to help me with finding used books. They sent me to this area which had 2 of them. I found a few used French books from the 1920s and then I also found a 1977 French dictionary and a gazillion vintage postcards, which I only bought 4-6 postcards. It was a great area. If I get to go back, I'm going to go back and get me so more postcards.

Flight back was great except for the people that were seating behind me, all three of them. They were the rudest ever. Since it's such a long flight we get served two meals. For this return flight it was lunch and dinner. Lunch happens right away after takeoff. I'm seating next to two girls who are coming to SF for the first time. We get to chatting and I give them hints of places to see and things to do. I feel this bump on my back from my chair (like someone punch the seat behind me) but I think it's just a mistake. I know it happened again, but really can't remember. So we have lunch and I get a little more comfortable and put my seat back. I sleep only 30 minutes. So I start reading Harry Potter, book 7, I know way behind but no time. We are a couple of hours away from arriving at SFO and I get sleepy again.

I fall asleep. I get awoken by this old woman (saying it nicely) hitting the back of my seat. Because she wants me to move my seat to the upright position so that she can eat in plenty of space, while I'm crunched in between my seat upright and the person infront of me having his seat back. So I do it, to be nice, but I'm upset, I have only slept another 30 minutes. I drop something and I'm reaching for and they start punching my chair again. Oh I'm boiling now. So my neighbors tell me that they are trying to eat. I tell them that I have already pulled my seat up I can't do anything else. Then I notice that my neighbors seats go about an inch more forward. So I do it to. I'm not awake and totally boiling mad. I realize that the steward probably already had asked them to move their seats forward but didn't asked me because I was sleeping. I'm enraged by now. I swear my BP was probably to the roof. And I notice that the son of the the old grouch was going to where the stewards grab our meals and set them up. I was ready to have a throw down. I hadn't said anything. I was boiling inside. The steward never came to me.

When our food was delivered, the guy who was infront of me wasn't asked to move his chair becuase he was asleep while the other weren't so they moved their chairs forward. So this confirmed my suspicions, I wasn't asked earlier because I was asleep and the grouch decided she wanted to eat in plenty room, while I was in little space and woken up. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. I'm still mad about it. How can people be so selfish. I was asleep woman!!! I paid the same amount of money for my seat, I can decide whether or not to bring my seat upright while in flight. The only times, I have to have my seats upright are for landing and takeoff. I was so mad that I didn't want to exit at the same time as them. I let them go first. These people where so uneducated. I also believe it was their first time in the country. Rude!

And to continue with rudeness. I was waiting for my bags at SFO, granted 800 bags is no easy task for them. Then another international flight comes in, another 800 bags. Wow! Anyways, I was waiting for my bags, because since I'm a resident, I don't have to wait in the long lines, it was less than 2 minutes for that matter. And the immigration officer even talked to me in Spanish. I have a Salvadorian passport. Actually everywhere that I presented my passport, they would always answer me back in Spanish. It was kind a cool. Ok back to rude people. I was waiting with some space , maybe 1.5 feet in front of me. I have 3 people sneak in there and block me and I can't even get to my bags. GRHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Trust me I was happy to see my second checked bag and head home. My flight was 45 mins late and by the time I got home it was 3pm. Wow what a way to end a great trip.

So there you have last few days in France. I'll update next week about Tennessee, because this is way too long of post.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Bad Blogger...

2008-04-14T14:35:00.001-07:00

I know I have kept you waiting on the edge of your seats and screens (LOL) so you could hear about my crazy stories. But it will have to wait. I knew April would be crazy. Really crazy. But really I didn't think it would be this crazy.

I leave tomorrow to Nashville, TN for Scrap ETC event. I can't wait to spend time on my own no worries about work (although, I'm still on-call, I'm always on call) or anything else. I get to scrap. Take classes with my friends Erin, Laurie and Veronica. I also get to meet and hang out with Deb from Scraptalk. This should be so much fun. On top of all this, we get to take classes and learn from eachother. Plus we get to go shopping on Wednesday at LSS in the area.

On Sunday, I will also take a class from Debbie Schuh. I'm really excited about this. I have been a stalker of her blog since I learned about her work in CKU-A San Jose '06. I love that her work always has neat ways to do altered stuff.

Then Monday and Tuesday of next week, I'll be in Memphis, TN visiting the king. And next Wednesday I'll fly back. And I promise, I will try to give you all an update when I return. I'm not taking a laptop this time. But I will have my cellphone with me. If anyone wants to chat, give me a ring.

TTYL

I'm back...

2008-04-09T15:40:00.000-07:00

I'm really tired, I have been up since 2am and couldn't go back to sleep. Work has been crazy. I only have 4 days before I leave again for another week and some days. So I got tons of catching up. I swear, I'll try to update with all my stories from my trip. But for now, I'm trying to get back to my old self and not being so much jet lagged.

TTYL

P.S. Patty and Lisa, I waited until everyone would be out of the picture so I could take the photos. I really like the postcard look of photos. But got tons of photos with people in them.

Carcassonne...

2008-04-07T12:28:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful city! I really enjoyed this little medieval town. I'm really tired and need to get to bed early as I have flight early very early tomorrow.

But here are some pics to keep you all up to date.

I have some stories about today but will leave those for another time.

I'll see you all soon.

Catching up...

2008-04-06T14:20:00.000-07:00

Well I have been very busy. My business meetings went well and all was done on Friday. But I really didn't have any time to sightsee. On Saturday, I was lucky enough to visit Lourdes. Being Catholic it was a very moving experience, it brought me to tears for no reason. Lourdes is where the Virgin Mary made an apparition to Bernadette back in 1858.

The journey begins with me waking up at 430am to get ready to catch a taxi at 530am so I can catch the 609am train to Lourdes. I arrive at the train station with enough time but the machine will not accept my credit card (not a single one, even though it said it would accept VISA). I went to almost every single machine (about 15) and tried it. It kept saying "CARTE NON GEREE" which I didn't know what it meant. I figured it meant that the card was not good. Check for my self, I need a french pocket dictionary along with my phrase book. I looked it up now that I'm online and it means card not managed. I'm guessing that it means they can't accept cards that aren't French banks or something like that. I had used it the previous day, so I know it works in France. I miss my train and I know not to get on it without a ticket or I would be fined. I was about to go and ask the information desk when I see that that the ticket agent booth lights turn on, they open at 7am and the next train is at 715am, so I wait by the door so I can be sure to get my ticket before the train leaves. With my little French I manage to get a ticket and I'm on my way. I get to sit with three guys but they all speak French so they little I can understand is are on their bikes and they are riding around but I wasn't sure where, they had maps of the area. One of the guys reminded me of the actor who plays Harry Potter. They get off 2 exits before Lourdes. More on them later.

Here are some pics from Lourdes. It is a beatiful town, rich in history and also very picturesque.

After an all day of walking around the sights, I returned and who do I see at the train station. Yeah, the three French guys and they start talking to me and asking me for my ticket as they are now the new "conductors" They are pretty funny and we end up on the same car, but this time we get to each have our own seats so that we can take a nap. I was exhausted by this time and finally slept. When I got back to my hotel, I slept for 12 hours. Something I had not done in over 3 weeks. I met up for lunch with one of my coworkers who works here in Toulouse, actually is 45 minutes away. Travis, his wife Stacy and their son Liam went with me to see around a little of the town and got to go to this beautiful church.

We then went on to see the gateway that is where Travis works and we get telemetry for our satellites. After dropping his family off he took me to the Space Museum in Toulouse, I had tons of fun and got to walk around different things, including the mock up of the MIR station and also the new module that was just shipped to the international space station a couple of weeks ago, it's name is Colombus.

They also have information on Globalstar, which was pretty cool to come all this way and find information on it. Turns out that in that space museum, anything that has been made here in Toulouse and it's related to space it will be shown. The payload of our satellites were made, and that's why it's shown here.

Tomorrow I will go to this town nearby it's called Carcassonne. It's a small medival town that has castles and such. I will try and update tomorrow, but if I can't I will show pics after. Here is a link to some more info on Carcassonne

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcassonne

It's 1am and I'm off to bed, I have to wake up early to make my 750am train.