what i've been up to...

just a bunch of recent stuff i've been working on :)










(this was inspired by the fantabulous shanah. the CT at designer digitals did an inspiration swap...and i got paired with shanah. i was very inspired by the way she blows up her photos to take up the entire span of her page...i hardly ever enlarge photos. i struggle with enlarged photos (and people complain that 4x6 is hard to work with?!). so it was fun to try something different.

(the rest are crop addict stuff with the october kit!)










this week has been good to me. very good to me.
including some very exciting things.
next month is going to be crazy busy...
but i'm so looking forward to it.

i've got lots of new goodies to play with.
yay!!!

i FINALLY cut my hair today.
it only took me, what? a year? ha.
i'm too lazy to take a pics (plus i'm in PJs)
maybe i'll get one tomorrow...which is my cousin's wedding
(hey i can toast with champagne now!!)
i bought a cuuuuute dress (the navy blue one).

i've got a canker sore. two actually.
i was eating korean BBQ and bit myself
OUCH. it hurts :(

and the dodgers can clinch tomorrow.
i'm pretty sure they will.
tied for the division lead too.
lose padres. come on.
anyways. better get to bed because i have to wake up for above-mentioned wedding.

real-life goldDIGGAS

my dad has a new hobby.

my dad likes some unusal hobbies- record collecting, match collecting, map collecting. now he has added gold panning to the list.



back in may, while going to vegas and visiting my aunt in bullhead city, we took a little side trip to tonopah, NV (basically in the middle of nowhere!). they had this festival, and they had free gold panning. i mentioned it here. my dad must have really become hooked then, because for labor day (when i was in nrocal) and while visiting my aunt again, my parents (plus my aunt) took another little trip to some other obscure little nevada town to bring home some gravel to pan at home. next thing you know, dad starts collecting all of this -

and starts surfing the net for gold panning information. he came across the gold panning association website, and discovered that you can pan for gold locally. so on sunday, we took a little drive up into the angeles national forest, to this stream and became real-life gold diggers.


of course, i had to tag along to take pictures.




(my mom joined in on the fun too)

it was hot (not excruciatingly hot, but the sun was hitting me all day long), i got really wet, my back hurt from hunching overand these bees kept chasing me. but 'twas fun. we brought back two buckets of dirt to go through at home (or shall i say, grandma's house. she has more room).

oh. and you're probably wondering we found gold....

yeah we did. a couple of these teeny tiny little flakes. from about 4 full buckets of gravel. apparently, the nuggets tend to be found right after it rains.

and i leave you with some random scenic shots -






good times.

officially fall.

and it sure did feel like fall today. cooler weather - cloudy on and off throught the day. don't know how long that's going to last - it seems like it's cold for a few days, then it's back to hot so-cal weather.

i'm a picky one - i don't like hot weather and i don't like cold weather, either. of course everyone loves to remind me that because i live in southern california, i don't know what cold is. well, i've been in snow (i spent a week in the mountains in 6th grade for science camp. and every time i've gone skiing, it's emded up snowing on me in the afternoon!), but that is true. i don't know what "real" weather is. i'd eventually love to live in new york one day...but i'm sure i would have a hard time surviving the seasonal weather.

most of my friends have gone back to school (a handful don't start til monday), and i miss them. it's strange, because for most of them, this is their last year. and i'm sure this time next year will be.....well, even stranger. at least, i'll FINALLY be moving on too.

so this has been a really good week. except for the procrastination of homework from my women's lit class on wednesday (that was definitely NOT good). first there was that cover thing (which isn't that huge a deal for me, but it's cool. way cool). then there was the five layouts scrapbook trends picked up (i guess when i started to remember to attach my files again, they started giving me love). and then i'm the october guest design team member at KMA. way cool. love their existing DT...and i'm stoked to joing them for a month! just started hanging out there recently, and it's a cool little place. oh, and i might be able to get to do what i really, really, really want to do. this would be really, really, really good. we'll see.

so the grey's premiere was yesterday...and all i gotta say is that shonda rimes is genius. the show is brilliant. 'nuff said. i have all these random little thoughts about it, but they're not very cohesive so i'll just leave them inside my head. all i'll say is that mcdreamy made me melt (*sigh*) but i still love finn (*sigh* again), the sight of izzie was heartbreaking, george is hilarious, cristina made me cry, and alex just intrigues me. yep. god, i so love this show.

i leave you with this - a little mini book i did for crop addict. i'm always inspired by the super gorgeous ones that gen and kristina always come up with. the little cosmo cricket minibook thing that came in this month's kit was just the perfect push i needed to make one for myself. so you know how i ate a ton of food in norcal? well, this album is about that.








anyways. hoping to scrap up a storm this weekend. i've been itching to all week.

oh, and looksie! :)

have a good one!! :)

holy WOW.

first things first, though....i'm a cover girl.

moving right along....



i just got back from the most incredible dodger game of the year.
actually, it was probably the most incredible game that i've ever been to.

to you, the scoreboard probably just shows that this game was a wild one.
a wild one, it was for sure.

but. for the dodgers, this was the biggest game of the year.
this series was the most important of the season.
this series WAS their season.
i believe that the season hung on this one game.
the dodgers had the NL west division lead since august 10. they lost that to the padres sunday.
they NEEDED to win this. not only to get the lead back, but for momentum.

we'd nabbed tickets to this game in july, since it was blanket night, and well, i just love collecting these blankets. little did i know it was going to end up being what it did.

like typical LA fans, linh and i showed up 30 minutes late (we'd eaten at costco and ran into to traffic on the way over to the stadium).
when we got there, it was still the first inning - but the dodgers were already down 4-0.
when we were walking into the gate, they scored one. little by little, they chipped away at that deficit, and it was 4-4 by the third inning.

no action for awhile. it was a slow game. i was getting antsy. bored even.
then. top of the 8th inning. jonathan broxton gives up 2 runs to the padres.
i was miffed. around then, this photographer came around taking fan photos for the dodger website. he took ours. (we'll be on there tomorrow). i was like, "dude. everyone is just going to look depressed."

dodgers scored 1 in the bottom of the 8th.
i thought, okay, so they have a chance.
top 9th - san diego scored 3 runs. dodgers were down 9-5.
i thought, this is just SAD.
a bunch of fans, being the typical LA fans, started to leave around then.
this guy that was sitting next to us was like "you guys are going to miss the comeback. kent, drew, and martin are coming up next."
like everyone else, i thought, yeah right.

but. he was right.
and the people who had left, slowly started coming back.
rick monday said on the post game show that he saw all the cars make u-turns in the parking lot.

back-to-back-to-back-to-back home runs by jeff kent, j.d. drew, russell martin, and marlon anderson.
i cheered. loudly. i jumped. every single time. it was crazy. little did i know, there was more to come.

top 10th. padres score a run.
well that's just great, i thought. all that effort for this?
my doubts were quickly reversed when kenny lofton led off the bottom of the 10th with a walk.
up next was nomar garciaparra. on a 3-and-1 count, he connected. and then...



the whole place went insane.
it was so....incredibly unbelievable.
i started screaming like crazy. jumping for joy like a mad fool.
i couldn't believe it. no one could believe it. the whole thing seemed so....imposssible.
everyone started high-fiving each other. cheering wildly. chanting "no-mar, no-mar."
people started taking pictures of the scoreboard. i hadn't thought of it, but i had to.

it was more than one big game in a season, although the dodgers definitely NEEDED to win this one.
it was a defining moment.
it was a once-in-a-lifetime moment.
a moment that went down in dodger history.
a moment people are going to be talking about forever, just like steve finley's grand-slam two years ago, or kirk gibson's home run in the 1988 world series.
and i was there.
and i am damn glad that i was.

i got free hooter's wings thanks to the dodgers scoring over 10 runs.
but what that game was is more than that.
it is something i will remember forever.
something i can look back on and say, "i was there."
and i am so thankful that i was.

i am so happy to be a dodger fan right now.
being a dodger fan has so many ups and downs, and this is definitely a huge high.

seriously. tonight was awesome.
and now i have bored all you non-baseball fans to tears, so i am off to bed.

cool things.

you know. like this and this.

this kit is just the coolest thing ever and i just NEED to play with it. it also has an accompanying brush set, which is equally cool. and this is the cutest thing EVER. lots of cool new stuff coming sunday too. lots to play with, yay!

i've been scrapping my little butt off this week - the mojo has been a'flowing. especially the 2 page mojo, for the CK birthday call. been enjoying them 2-pagers. wha?! i never thought i would EVER say that. let's just say it's FUN to push yourself out of your comfort zone every once in awhile. fun stuff. also been diving straight into next month's crop addict kit. let's just say, it's a whole lotta good stuff in one place. love it.

rocking out to new music. j.timberlake and plain white t's! i wanted the john mayer too, but it was sold out. boo hiss. j.t. is sexy fo sho. and i haven't fallen in LOVE with the PWT's CD but it is cute, and i do like it. so i think it's a matter of time. lol.

tootles!

....and there was this one time..... (my KI album)

so i've been lazy with the blogging this week. not that i was incredibly busy last week, but it wasn't incredibly interesting either. lol.

here's my album! i was sort of disappointed that i didn't win, but a. i was in norcal having a blast, and b. this project ended up having way more meaning than a contest entry. so. it was fun. and i still love my album. :)


(this was the cover. i redid it 3 times until i came up with this and was happy with it)







the rest is over here.

random thoughts -
i really should stop trying to play scrabble. (or monopoly) I get way vicious, give people dirty looks, always end up with craptacular letters, and i ALWAYS end up losing. grrrrrrr.

so i was working on a layout today .... and i realized that the 50 sheets or so of cardstock that i had in my DCWV stack was CROOKED. what the.....?

nichole tagged me...will do that later, i promise!! :)

gotta love norcal.

i really, really fell in love with berkeley. it was just totally not what i was expecting when i heard "hippie." berkeley was so cute - quaint, charming.





i loved the little shops (especially on telegraph), and how there were a lot of little independent places - not very many chains (though they were a few). loved the people, the street vendors, and especially the atmosphere. it was totally chill and casual.

and i ended up really loving the campus. lots of life to it. lots of beautiful old buildings too. just really cool. totally considering transferring there. it's now up there with UCLA and UCSD (i'd applied the last time, but i really had no huge plans of going there).




(this guy is apparently an on-campus celebrity. they call him the "happy happy man")



berkeley also had a bunch of paper stores (paper source, impressions ink, a couple of papyruses, and this place with the most gorgeous handmade japanese paper), including a HUGE scrapbook store in scrapbook territory. i wish i went on the last day instead of the first. so hard to restrain myself. must go back next time.

anyways. what we ended up doing most of our time in norcal - eating. and shopping. but lots and lots of eating. the food up there is just amazing. yummmm. lots of cool little places in berkeley (yay for elaine and linda for knowing of all these places), and then there is the kickass seafood at fisherman's wharf in san francisco. yummmmmmy clam chowder. so good, especially because it was FREEZING there.


(awesome gourmet burgers at barney's. their fries were GOOD too)


(top dog. AWESOME hot dogs)


(crepes. with nutella. are you salivating, yet?)


(bread bowl clam chowder. mmmmm)

the shopping in san francisco is amazing too. every store there is HUGE - 3 floors at gap and forever 21, 4 floors of old navy, a humongous h&m, and a 6-floor macy's men and 8-floor macy's women (which we didn't go to but it's there). it was nuts.







i hadn't been to san francisco in about 10 years, so i loved being there again. i wish i got to spend more time there, though. next time! even though it was COLD. the one thing i didn't like about norcal was the colder weather. awesome in the daytime, but too cold at night. brr.









one of my favorite parts about the trip - going to an a's game! i'm on this quest to go to all the MLB ballparks in my lifetime, AND the a's are my favorite AL team, so this was supercool. mcaffee is small, though (well, they block off a third of the seats). and oakland fans are SO chill compared to LA fans. totally different atmosphere.




(we all have a's gear. we were gonna go to friday's game, so we went to buy tickets, but found out they only had expensive tickets left. on the way back, we saw them selling old merchandise for like $3. so we picked some up)

we went to lawrence lab, which is on this huge hill on campus. there is a viewing area overlooking all of the bay area. unfortunately, it wasn't that clear of a day, so it wasn't a great view, but still cool.



they had these fountains there. we took jumping pics on them. they also had this huge whale thing for kids to climb on. they also had this DNA model-turned-playground equipment. we kept taking pictures, and we basically scared all the kids away. lol.

















so yeah. lots of pics. lots of fun. LOVED norcal.