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Moving Day is Tomorrow

To college, that is. So to honor the event, I made this page about how your kids just seem to clear out your home so as to furnish their new one. My friend who is also going through this stage said she feels like a new bride trying to decorate her first home. 

I got the definition for this from dictionary.com and added the following journaling: Or: In anticipation of leaving for college, Jonathan confiscated all the available household furnishings stored in the attic, rock room and hall closets. All supplies Digital Scrapbooking.

The truck is rented and will be loaded tomorrow and we'll be off.

 

Thanks Katrina

My friend Katrina is such a wonderful friend, photographer and teacher. Last week she asked me if she could interview me for her blog for her series "Behind the Lens". Forgive me if you have already seen the post, but I thought I would share it. I was so honored to be a part of this! Plus, it gave me a good excuse for a new avatar photo.

Katrina's blog post

My Page is at GSO!

This may not mean much if you're not a digital scrapbooker, but Gallery Standouts is a site that features digital scrapbook pages from around the Internet on a daily basis. Today I'm proud to say they picked this page (second from the bottom if you scroll down):

 

It's for another All About Me Challenge, on "The Music of My Life" at Digital Scrapbooking. (The link is to the challenge page where you can see the other pages posted for this challenge.) This really made me think. In the '70s, I knew just about every pop/rock song on the radio. The albums on the left side of this page were part of my coming of age, and are just mind melded into my consciousness. I didn't listen to music too much in the '80s, as I was busy with medical school, internship, and bringing 4 sons into the world. (My sons now tell me that I didn't miss too much in that decade as far as music goes.) Then as they got older and started listening to music, I got back into it too. And now I am rediscovering how much I like pop music and I have some new favorite artists. I listen to Pandora while I work out and the XM pop channels in my car. I still like the old stuff too. Hence the layout of this page; a really fun one to create.

Fruit of the Week

strawberries, originally uploaded by Amy LJ.

In the Seinfeld episode called “The Mango”, Kramer offends the owner of a fruit shop and gets banned from shopping there. In a moment of desperation, he tells Jerry, “Where am I going to get good fruit?”

We can relate. We buy what looks like perfectly good fruit at the grocery store, only to get it home and find that it’s tasteless. It’s not cheap, and we end up throwing it out.

We recently joined Costco and their fruit looks beautiful; the problem is that you have to buy it in bulk. It’s a sizable up front expense followed by the pressure to eat it before it goes bad. In its favor it actually tastes good. So our strategy for Costco fruit purchasing is to just get one kind at a time. Last week it was peaches; this week it’s strawberries. We’re doing a pretty good job of finishing it off, so the guilt factor is much less. I really have my eye on those Gala apples for next week.


We can relate. We buy what looks like perfectly good fruit at the grocery store, only to get it home and find that it’s tasteless. We end up throwing so much of it out, and it’s not cheap.

We recently joined Costco and their fruit looks beautiful; the problem is that you have to buy it in bulk. It’s a sizable up front expense followed by the pressure to eat it before it goes bad. But so far what we have tried has been really tasty. So our strategy for Costco fruit purchasing is to just get one kind at a time. Last week it was peaches; this week it’s strawberries. We’re doing a pretty good job of finishing it off, so the guilt factor is much less. And I really have my eye on those Gala apples for next week.

Jon's Orientation

Yesterday Mark, Jonathan and I went to Tuscaloosa for Jon's transfer orientation. He went to UAB for his freshman year and did well enough that he is ready for the big time. He is very excited about the school year. I was worried that most of the classes that he needed would be closed by now, but he was able to get his schedule without any problem and is pretty much good to go.

To say it was sweltering would be an understatement. I had wanted to go around campus and get some shots while Jon was in meetings, but thankfully the meetings were brief, because I don't think we could have stayed outside much longer. All in all a fantastic trip.

 

Jon getting his ACT card made.

 

There are a few Alabama items for sale at the bookstore! The houndstooth theme is my favorite; the pattern reminiscent of Bear Bryant's famous hat. We even passed a new development called Houndstooth Condominiums.

 

What a great book title.

 

This was a fun way to take a break.

A few of the sights. Do you see the squirrel in the lower left of this photo! They were everywhere and allowed us to get pretty close:

I really think he was trying to spread out on the shaded walk for some relief from the heat!   

 

 We got to leave by around 3:00. Next step is getting him and his brother moved into their respective residences!

  
 
 

A Couple of Layouts

We had a wonderful 4th of July weekend. One of the nicest things was that our nephew Kevin and his wife Mandy had their baby boy on the 4th! We thought they might name him "Sam"! They chose "Caleb", which is so sweet. We got to see pictures of him on Facebook and he is a doll. Of course I remember Kevin as a baby so it just makes it all the more incredible. To celebrate, I pulled out this photo of Kevin and Mandy that I took this spring. For my layout, I used a color scheme from Kuler called "Born on the Fourth of July". 

 

I love Kuler because you can take a screenshot of the color scheme and open it in Photoshop, then use the eyedropper tool to sample the colors for your page.

At Digital Scrapbooking, we have an All About Me Challenge going on. I have posted a few of the pages I made for this before. This week we are scrapping our nicknames. At first, I thought I didn't have enough to mention, but I guess you do accumulate more than you think. I had a blast with this one!

 

All supplies designerdigitals.com. Thanks for looking!

  
 

Florida Sunset

Florida Sunset, originally uploaded by Amy LJ.

One of the sunset photos I took at Panama City Beach last week.

Flower Pot

flower pot, originally uploaded by Amy LJ.

This is the pot on my porch...caladiums, impatiens, vinca and begonias.

Camouflage

camoflage, originally uploaded by Amy LJ.

Can you see this little guy? He was stuck on this lantana leaf for awhile. That's basil to his left. I am just amazed that a bug knows how to hide like this.

Snapshot of Summer

I made this layout for a challenge at Designer Digitals to scrap a food you like. While we were visiting friends last month, we were served this beautiful assortment of fruit. The photo really makes me think of summer. I quoted Mark Twain who said, "When one has tasted watermelon he knows what the angels eat."