Twelve Dates of Christmas

Instead of exchanging traditional gifts with Henry this year, I decided that it would be more fun and productive (you know, quality time together, strengthening our relationship, yada, yada)for us to go on a dating spree. Digital scrapbooking wasn't the only thing that suffered during this past semester of school; date night fell by the wayside too. So, this Christmas season we're attempting to go on twelve dates.

Why twelve? Contrary to what this blog may be leading you to believe, 12 is not my favorite number. It's twelve dates to go along with the twelve days of Christmas, which, according to Wikipedia, are "the festive days beginning the evening of Christmas Day through the morning of Epiphany." (I really don't know anything about the day of Epiphany. Does anyone celebrate that? Basically, I just got the 12 date idea from Oprah and I think it'll be fun.)

We've gone on three dates so far, and I'm going to try to scrapbook each one.

Here is the first date of Christmas:



My parents live about twenty minutes from the Johnson Space Center, but it'd been years since I'd been. We had fun on the tram tour though I have to say it was a wee bit chilly outside. Our favorite part was playing around with the indoor exhibits.

Credits:
Template-Little Dreamer Designs "Love"
Ornament png-Fei Fei's Stuff
Christmas trees-SP Seasonal Sampler
Dark green bg-Designer Digitals color challenge 12-7-08
Light green bg-2 ps Martha Stewart kit
Red polka dot paper-Designer Digitals Everyday Inspiration 11-23
Red and Brown dots-SP "Sunporch"

October 12th

My parents came to visit for the weekend, and we made a special dinner to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary!

Credits:
-template: Little Dreamer Designs "My Boy"
-bg paper: Shabby Princess "Promise" Paper Leaf
-other papers: SP "Vintage Floral" Paper Dots, SP Kristie SF Orange Paper, Designer Digitals dz ad challenge 5-4 Paper 3
-"Sunday": Little Dreamer Designs, Michelle Coleman Hand Stamped alpha
-other text: Rosewood Std

Back in the Saddle Again

Hi. I know it's been a while. A little thing called grad school, which turns out, is not for the faint of heart, came between me and digital scrapbooking. But now I'm out of school for a whole month and there are new layouts on the horizon.

Today I did a page for Thanksgiving. It was my first time ever to use a layered template. Not as self-explanatory as I thought it'd be, but after a quick tutorial I was in business. It was definitely faster than creating a layout from scratch, but it also doesn't feel as personalized.



This was a Thanksgiving of firsts: my first Thanksgiving away from my parents, first with my in-laws, and first to host in my home. For the first time ever I was in charge of planning and cooking the meal though Henry helped a lot. It was really a team effort. We made turkey (we stuck to just cooking a breast. maybe next year we'll go for a whole bird), sweet potatoes, a pineapple cheese log, corn on the cob, cheesy potatoes, rolls, and a pumpkin pie. Our family brought over brisket, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, more rolls and bread, and about six pies! Everything was delish, and I think everyone had a good time too. We played Cranium, Clue, and Worst Case Survival game before heading over to Lara and William's to watch a movie. It was a nice day.

Materials:
Template: Designer Digitals Ad Challenge 2-10-08
Ribbon: Shabby Princess "Festival Ric Rac Coral"
Font: Vaguely Repulsive

September 12 of 12

I finally finished my 12-of-12 for last month! I made it hurricane themed since I spent most of September 12th glued to my TV, wondering what was going to happen to my hometown.


Got up that morning and worked out. Went to Friday Forum and played a little pool at the Institute. Came home and read a forever long chapter. Watched minute-by-minute coverage of Hurricane Ike for about 8 hours (yikes!). No sign of rain in Austin. Picked Henry up from work. Thought they'd closed early because the windows were boarded up. Apparently there was a mix up with a store in Houston, so they got sandbags and boarded windows at their store...to weather the half inch of rain we got. lol. Gas shortages. Brought the plants inside to protect them from high winds that never came. But really I am thankful. My parents' and other family members' houses were spared from any major damage. It could've been a lot worse.

Materials:

-bg paper: worn teal from SP's "Spontaneous Delight"

-grid lines "splotch02" from 2ps Future Rockstar

-Grunge overlay from 2ps Future Rockstar

-Inksplotch "splotch01" from 2ps Future Rockstar

-Font: Rosewood Std