i leave in about 2 hours for the airport. i am so excited to spend the weekend in san jose at Scrapbook Island! i am teaching my fabric scrapbooking workshop for the first time and i cannot wait to see how each student adds their personal flair to it. i have been excited about teaching this workshop for months. i am also teaching my other favorite creative workshop, Paint, Watercolor, Doodle on sunday so bring on the creativity people it is going to be an amazing weekend in cali!
doctor update: went to the doctor yesterday, lots of blood tests and an ekg. they scheduled me for a stress test june 11. seams like my issues breathing (while running) may be related somehow to a combination of anxiety and low heart rate, i'll find out more after the tests.
week 2: day 12 - 6 mile run
time: 1 hour 11 min
distance: 6.26 miles
this was a tough run for me today! notice the pee stop and the water stop.
firstly i, well actually payton, would like to announce the lucky winner of the Shey B camera strap cover. (payton called dibs on this after watching her sister do the last one)
(winner comment #163)
congratulations jen!! you win one of Shealynn's beautiful camera strap covers! go ahead and email shealynn directly at
shealynn@gmail.com to request your winning giveaway order girl!
so about the doctors office. i made an appointment for the doctor, just a routine check, couple allergy issues, anxiety...nothing major. my appointment was at 10:30 AM. i also had a hair and caterpillar removal (aka hairy lip waxing) appointment at 11:30. so i made sure i was up and completed my run before the day got crazy. showered and made it to my doctors appointment, knowing full well i might be a bit late for my hair appointment so i called barb (my hairdresser also one of my best girlfriends to let her know).
i walked into the office and saw a cute little monk all wrapped in orange and it made me feel good. i have this thing about always seeing priests and nuns in the airport when i travel and it always makes me feel safe...silly i know, but the monk made me feel the same.
ok that is where the story takes a turn. i was weighed (lets not talk about the 5 pounds i gained OKAY!), temperature checked, blood pressure taken and cheerfully escorted to one of the doctor rooms to wait to see the doctor.
i read entertainment weekly with adam lambert on the front...totally enjoyed that, checked my emails, deleted some old ones and 48 minutes later i was still sitting in the room and had not seen anyone, let alone the doctor. it was 11:28 and not that my hair appointment was more important (ok maybe the caterpillar removal was), but i did something i never did before...
i went to the desk and simply rescheduled. it kinda felt good. just calmly asked the receptionist if i could reschedule because i needed to get to another appointment and i think she was shocked?
now truth be told if my doctors visit had just run long i would never have left to go to my hair appointment, knowing that barb had given me the ok on time, but i just never thought to do that before.
they were so sweet at the desk and i think is was just a case of oops, we over booked. instead of sitting there getting irritated, i chose to do what made sense.
it was just that easy! so tomorrow at 11 AM with my cute little haircut and un-fuzzy lip, i am going to try again!
i have been working a lot lately on developing my concepts of what living a life inspired means...and more and more i am reminded that choosing to live inspired doesn't just mean with paints and colors, but also looking at life more creatively...finding creative ways to look at situations with a more positive outlook or in this case solution.
creativity lies in the tiny moments when we decide to do something differently and try new things...stretching outside of our comfort zones on all levels and accepting the things we cannot change.
i love this message today...simply accepting the things we cannot change. the next step forward can be the moment that can often redefine how we see the world.
i am so honored that i have been fortunate enough to cross paths with some of the most incredibly talented, entrepreneurial and truly inspiring of woman via the internet.
Shealynn is a photographer from Arizona. While doing a photo shoot the idea came to her - camera strap covers that slip onto your strap for a more comfortable fit and that easily slide off to change the look. The slipcovers come in many of the most popular and modern fabrics available and custom requests are welcome. She also has the option to add even more uniqueness to them by adding yoyo's, lens cap pockets and personalization. Shealynn says, "We all love our cameras, so why not 'dress them up'."
i love the idea of added the softness of fabric as well as a little personality to a rather boring looking piece of machinery that most times is attached to my body and i am even thinking i could coordinate them to my outfits.
and today, Shealynn, is offering to create one lucky blog reader their very own camera strap cover! WHAHOO! you're awesome for doing this Shealynn!
this is how it will work, check out her camera strap cover fabric choices and include your favorite one in today's comments.
Tomorrow one lucky blog reader will receive their choice of a camera strap slip cover from *Shey*[B]'s Etsy Shop (note: this excludes minky, Limited Editions, Lens Sleeves & personalization)
P.S. don't forget to soak in that fabric inspiration goodness too, she has some pretty fabrics there to look at!
Happy Memorial day and my prayers for all the courageous men and woman who have served and are currently serving in our armed forces and for their safe return!
congratulationd clare! email me (donna@donnadowney.com) your address and we will get your new jewelry piece out to you!
and THIS!! also wanted to share this mind-blowingly amazing fabric scrapbooking album with you. Revlie is part of the Creative Team over at One Little Word. The word this round was: Reflect. just look at what she has done with one little word and my new canvas scrapbooking album and embellishments. (the journaling is stamped in Dutch, but on her weblog she has an English translation in case you want to read it.) WOW! this is pure creative inspiration from the layout of using the page protectors as transparencies to the bright colors, hand stamping and designs. revlie, you rocked it girl!
i want to introduce you to beth quinn, the owner of beth quinn designs. beth takes her passion for paper, fabric, metals and anything vintage and creates beautiful wearable art pieces, as well as customized pieces, that express empowering sentiments from the heart. to get the holiday weekend started off in an inspired way, beth has designed this piece especially for you and will be giving it away to one very lucky blog reader this weekend.
oh you so know you want in on this one!!
all you have to do to be entered to win is to post your comment over the weekend and on monday, to celebrate memorial day we will choose a winner at random!
thank you beth for sharing your talents and art with us. whoo hoo, good luck everyone!
i moved to NC 12 years ago. a sun loving beach girl from the jersey shore my only requirement was that wherever we moved there needed to be a Target.
it took a while to get adjusted to the southern lifestyle. i was ok with the occasional harmless snake that would slither through the yard i freaked out the first year we owned our home when i saw my first palmetto bug. (ok actually i panicked, i killed it slid it in a baggie and scanned it to my husbands uncle who is an entomologist and asked him if i need to move.) i am ok with the mosquito's, the hornets, the fire ants...even the spiders (ok i am working on that one.)
however, yesterday as i was typing emails from my computer, kicked back, shoes off i felt something ever so lightly brush over my toes. i didn't even look down it was so light, i just kinda rubbed my feet together and kept typing. but a few seconds later i felt it again...
when i looked down this was on my foot! i swear to you i lost 3.5 years of my life in that instant. its not that he is scary, but holy crap i wasn't expecting a lizard to be on my foot. the scream that emerged from me was probably heard within a 2 mile radius of my studio.
i dumped out the wipes from the box of baby wipes off of my work table, trapped him in the corner and called the only person that could help me in this situation, PAYTON.
payton loves bugs, and she loved the lizard. i told her she could have him, but he would have to be her outside off our property pet. she knew what i meant, LOL!
she took him outside to show her friends and let him slither away (thank god!).
i am wearing slippers and typing this post, lol! here is to a lizard free thursday
congratulations laura! email me your address and i will forward it to pickled pear lane for your new fabric bundle!
++ edited: i see some of your comments that say on your computers laura isn't comment number 262, not sure what the reason for the discrepancy is? this is what i see on mine when i view the comments.
Pickled Pear Lane has everything fabric goodness. one of my favorite things about using fabrics (ok buying fabrics) is putting together the patterns and color palettes and seeing how well they work together. Marianne Johnson does an amazing job of this and assembles theses bright colorful collections of fabrics as bundle sets on her site. it makes total sense to me to see them stacked together like pattern papers and tugs at my "must have Now" impulses!
even if you are not into fabrics you can totally appreciate the collections as inspiration. today is an amazing giveaway day because Pickled Pear Lane is giving away 9 fat quarters from Dena Designs latest fabric line, Monaco, in both Fuchsia and Blue colorways to one REALLY LUCKY blog commenter today!
all you need to do is leave a comment today and tell me if you have ever used fabric in your craft projects before and if so, share with us how. i will post the winner tomorrow!
good luck and thanks so much to Marianne for being so generous. to see more inspirational fabric bundles check out her etsy shop here.
{photo taken after day 1, 1/2 marathon training - 4 mile run }
after 3 1/2 weeks of no exercise i can without a doubt feel the difference. i am starting over again building up my respiratory fitness and to be completely honest with you if it wasn't for the whole breathing thing i would be a really fast runner! (note to self, do not stop exercising because it is a bitch to start back up with it again!!)
i have officially started training today for the 1/2 marathon sept. 20th in Philly. bill, my neighbor chris and i ran 4 miles this morning and conquered "the mountain". ok, it is just a really steep section of road that comes at about mile 2.5 and it kills us. but i didn't stop and walk so i consider it a victory!
i really want to run (ok, jog at a pace faster than walking) the entire 13.2 miles. so i am all in.
just a quick post today i have been meaning to post this picture of this absolutely gorgeous album sent to me by Michelle McCosh. she is the owner of Everything Scrapbook & Stamps in lake worth, florida and said when her Prima shipment arrived she immediately went to work on this and she wanted to share it with me.
i immediately emailed her back and asked if i could share it and quite honestly the whole fish net lace ribbon with the charms on it that she used to bind the pages in makes me a bit giddy with inspiration.
it is so fun to see how each person interprets this line, of course florida...beach! canvas means beach chairs, umbrellas, sand and sandal, but the flowers and seashells...just WOW! way to go michelle!
please feel free to send me your creative ideas and interpretation using my new fabric scrapbooking line. i cannot wait to see what you come up with.
