Wish No. 3 - Tradition { December Daily 2010 }

Every year my sister, aunts, and cousins plan an annual Christmas shopping trip to an outlet mall. This year I decided I wanted to go to Aurora (Chicago Premium Outlets) because they have a Vera Bradley outlet. For some strange reason I've been longing for a vibrant, outrageous quilted bag. And I got one! Plus more. It was a cold day -- below freezing -- but definitely bearable going in and out of stores. We should have tallied our total spending for posterity... then again, who cares! This trip is more about spending time together, snagging a few good deals, and snacking on pop and chocolate chip cookies. I'm thrilled I was able to make it this year. A big thanks to my hubby who stayed home with Sean.

This was the only picture I snapped all day, but glad I thought to do it! My Aunt Susie took the picture because the ones I took turned out yucky. I brought along my point-and-shoot so I'll take what I can get. It's about documenting, right?

Wish No. 2 - Sparkle { December Daily 2010 }

Journaling: Our lives were pretty much on hold while Sean was sick. And things around the house went undone. Such as laudry, mail, dishes... you name it. Today we started to chip away at some things such as cleaning the kitchen and sorting the mail. Meanwhile, our Christmas tree is slowly coming together, literally. Only a picture of the lights would suffice for today. Little by little the sparkle is coming back into the house.

I didn't snap any pictures today because I was knee-deep in catching up with things around the house and with school work. After the sun went down I remembered to pick up my camera, and then I was overwhelmed with the thought that it's only day #2 and I've already screwed up this project. Ugh. I'm always quick to beat myself up. But then I realized this is what this project is all about. Our every day. every. day. So I pulled myself back up and I started to think about what I wanted to write about today - cleaning and organizing - and the word *sparkle* came to mind. And staring at our half built ten-foot Christmas tree inspired me to take a picture of the lights out of focus. It sums up my day. We're in transition around here but things are starting to come together.

Wish No. 1 - Magic { December Daily 2010 }

Guess what? It's December 1. And yep, my fourth of july bunting is still on my front porch. I think we're just going to drape the evergreen boughs over the top of it for a real holiday feel. What do you think? Well, this time we have a good excuse and it's that Sean has been really sick for a few weeks. He has mono (not a penicillin allergy as we first suspected), and my poor little buddy has never been sicker. Hives all over his little body, fever spiking over 104, sleeping all the time, forcing him to take medication. I was moments away from taking him to be admitted to the hospital. There is no worse feeling than watching your child feel miserable. It's my first real glimpse of this, and I'm sure I'll have more but I pray not many. The good news is he is feeling LOTS better today, and is practically himself. He's still running a low-grade fever but you'd never know it by watching him today -- playing, laughing, eating, dancing, and smiling. Ah, to see that glimmer in his eyes again. Thank you, Jesus!

And today marks my first day documenting our "every day" this month. And Jingle the Magic Elf gets opening credits. He was delivered to our house this evening via FedEx Home Delivery (who conveniently happened to be dropping off another Christmas package). At first Sean was very excited, and then he was a little bewildered (and possibly upset) asking, "is today Christmas day?"... "is this my dinosaurs?" ... almost as if saying, "really, this is it? all this hype for a lousy little brown box from FedEx?" We explained no, not yet - just open it! And then he did and the smile never left his face. We read the story (*wink* I pulled together a quick board book) about how Jingle is here to see all the good things he does and report back to Santa every night.   Later on tonight we found Sean talking with Jingle. We're not sure what was said, but I distinctly heard "hi Jingle" when he walked into the living room. Yep, my heart melted just a tiny bit.

I'm really happy with how my opening spread looks. Simple, bold, colorful. What do you think?

paislee press: Journal your Christmas Giveaway

I'm excited about all the workshops and help online to document your december "every day-ness". If you are a newbie to this concept, you might consider taking Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas 2010 online class.

And you can win a spot in the class for free by entering Paislee Press' giveaway here:

paislee press: Journal your Christmas Giveaway:

December Daily 2010

Um... hello? it's Thanksgiving week people! When the hell did that happen? Wasn't I just talking about the fourth of july bunting on my front porch? (which is still there BTW!) This year has FLOWN by me. And I won't get all whiny, but I really don't have much to show it. C'est la vie. That's why we have new years, right?

So let's see what's happening right now (this probably sums up my year too)...

1. Sean is having an allergic reaction to penicillin. Which sucks. But the good news is he is almost three and never had to have an antibiotic. Three cheers for me!
2. My house is an absolute disaster, and we're having Thanksgiving dinner for both families
3. I'm falling behind on my grading for the week
4. I've run out of chocolate
5. I cancelled my personal training session for tonight because of points 1, 2, 3 & 4 above. Tomorrow is a new day, right?

And December is right around the corner (honestly, how did that happen?). Which means that I'm gearing up to document my every day in a December Daily album. Last year I really enjoyed the process and creativity, but it was pretty time consuming. And considering my day (and year) I decided to keep this year's simple, simple, simple. I present to you my six templates titled "Simplicity"...

It's an all-digital book that I'm planning on printing through Adoramapix.com -- 8x8 album, 50 pages. I've never printed through them but have read only rave reviews so I'm anxious to try them out. All of the ugly gray & white boxes you see will be brilliant, gorgeous photos (well, maybe). No elements or embellishments. Just graphic colors (red and white and silver) and photos. I'm using my own designed digital papers as well as those of TaylorMade Designs called Shine On.

My goal with December Daily this year is to choose one photo a day that defines something I wish for this year. I have to admit my idea is not original, but inspired from another fellow December Daily pursuer on flickr. And knowing myself, on some days I may not be able to choose just one photo so I designed a few templates that can feature 3-6 photos per spread. It will definitely be an organic process, and one I look forward to for its simplicity and ease. Through it all I hope to capture the essence of our month as well as work on my photography skills. We'll see how it goes!

Halloween 2010 Photo Book { Hello You Books }

Halloween totally snuck up on me. I mean, I knew it was coming and Sean has been talking about it, like, forever. But we still have the red, white & blue bunting on our front porch. 


Seriously. 


So, on Saturday (October 30, mind you) I insisted we at least go to a pumpkin patch to buy pumpkins. How could we have Halloween without carving a pumpkin? So we did. And we carved. And we bought candy. And I went crazy and made 100 treat bags for trick or treaters. And we were ready. Kind of. Except for the fourth of july bunting on our front porch.

In honor of my last minute Halloween, I quickly designed a Halloween photo book. And tonight I sorted through my photos, picked my favorites, and plopped them into my album. Voila. Easy as pumpkin pie. No red, white and blue in this book of memories!

Would you like to document your Halloween (which I'm sure was much better planned than mine) in a photo album? Shutterfly has their 7x9 photo books on sale right now for $8 + shipping (through Nov 3). And I'll do all the work for you for $19.99. If you're interested, drop me an email.

Click here to view this photo book larger

Credits: 

Halloween 08 Brushes by Jen Furlotte (www.pixelsandicecream.com)

Tree brush by Horhew on deviantArt.com

MDS_Halloween_Ps_Brushes_by_MorfineDoll on deviantArt.com

Font: Freeze from www.freescrapbookfonts.com

Happy Halloween!

7:30am, bright and early... "is it time for trick or treating, mommy?"... ah, the joys of mommyhood. Fingers crossed he doesn't yell that out during the consecration at mass this morning. But I'm not placing any bets.

Plenty of things to share with you about Hello You Design. Stay tuned!

Meanwhile, a big BOO to you!