Been Tagged AGAIN, and a Card To Show...

Tagged yet again for the week, by my friend Peggy. I used to hate to play tag back in elementary school! I'm jus' sayin'. But this set of questions wasn't too awfully painful to answer at least. So here's my replies:

*4 JOBS THAT I'VE HAD

- Dishwasher at a Nursing Home

- Waitress

- Preschool Teacher

- Scrapbook Department Manager for A.C Moore

*4 MOVIES THAT I CAN WATCH OVER AND OVER

- Fast Times at Ridgemont High

- Pay It Forward

- Step Mom

- Ladder 49

*4 TV SHOWS THAT I WATCH

- Grey's Anatomy

- Biggest Loser

- Ghost Whisperer

- Brothers and Sisters

*4 PLACES I HAVE LIVED

- Gettysburg, PA

- Milton, PA

- Morehead, KY

- Atoona, PA

*4 FAVORITE FOODS

- Alice Springs Chicken (Aussie Chicken) from Outback Steakhouse

- Pizza (esp. Pizza Hut Meatlover's Pan or Papa John's Sausage and mushroom)

- Spinach Artichoke Dip with Chips (Applebee's is the best)

- My homemade chicken enchiladas

*4 FAVORITE COLORS

- GREEN

- PINK

- ROBIN EGG BLUE

- BROWN

*4 PLACES I WOULD LOVE TO BE NOW

- Driving along the East Coast New Englad States for Autumn site-seeing

- The Oregon Coast ( Would love to check it out...never been there!)

- Australia / Papua New Guinea ( DH's homeland)

- Greece ( It always looks fabulous in photos)

*4 NAMES I LIKE, BUT WOULD NOT NAME MY CHILDREN

- Delilah

- Christina

- Simon

- Harrison

and the 4 fabulous people I'd like to tag today are:

Suzanne

Melissa A.

Stacy

and Jen

Okay, now I'll leave you with a quick card creation that I made today. I got to play with some of the new fabulous stamps by the Kim Hughes collection for Cornish Heritage Farms.

The set I used here are the KH- 5004FUM Fall Silhouettes. Just beautiful images... and the ink really applies to the stamps well. A lot of other unmounted stamps that I've used in the past do not stamp a good quality impression, but these really DO! By the way, I used ColorBox Fluid Chalk inks (Autumn Pastels Petal Point) for this.

Other supplies used include -

Fall theme buttons: Jesse James

Patterned paper: BasicGrey (Mellow)

Velvet ribbon trim: Flair Designs

Fiber: Unknown

Tiny Tales quote: My Mind's Eye

Soft Spoken Woven Fabric embellishment: Me & My BIG Ideas!

Staples - Pounce Wheel tool - Sunflower design paper edgers (Fiskars) - Green crystals (Darice).

Thanks for taking the time to look! Hope you all have a fun weekend ahead... ENJOY!

The Weekend has Been a Special One!

This has surely been a wonderful weekend! Yesterday I had the chance to partake in our hospital's 1st Annual Walk and Service for Rememberance & Hope to Share Pregnancy & Infant Loss Support. I know this will become an event that I will look forward to now each and every October. Mugi was dissappointed that he had to work and couldn't join me, but regardless, I knew right where his heart was. He texted me a message assuring me that his heart was walking right along with Ava and I! My sister-in-law Wendy, and my niece Lera, also came along with me for the walk. Wendy and my brother also lost their infant son Isaac, 14 years ago when he was born silently due to the cord wrapped around his neck. Suffice it to say, our family has had enough grief, but we all know now that we have commonalities in this suffering, and in an odd way... we have been able to really help each other more . We don't have to grieve alone. So, I asked Wendy and Lera to walk along with me and they were more than happy to come along.

There was also a balloon release at the park during the service. We each got a balloon to release and we could sign messages onto them before letting them loose. I signed one for Ava, and Lera signed one for her brother, Isaac.

Now, onto today! Sunday... October 21, 2007. Seven years ago today, Mugi and I got hitched to each other! And to tell you the honest truth, I wouldn't want it any other way! I love this man... he's my EVERYTHING!

I can still remember the summer of 97' when we met. I had taken a break from my regular job as a Preschool Teacher. I was just getting burnt out and I desperately needed a distraction, so I took a few months leave from the Daycare and took a postition teaching Arts and Crafts to a Summer Camp ( I know... how different could THAT be?) But, I would be out in nature enjoying the great out-doors, and hey... maybe, just maybe I would meet the "Love of My Life"! Man, did I ever! I will forever be thankful that I found my distraction!

Last night Mugi brought me home another lovely dozen of roses and a nice mushy card! After he gets home from work we'll be going out for dinner to celebrate and I'm thinking and hoping that it's an "Outback" kinda night! But, I don't really care where we go. All I know is that I'm happy not to have to cook! Now that's a wife's response for ya! ;)

Okay... before I close this entry up for the weekend, and possibly the week (depending on how boring life is this week), I'll let you all know that I've been TAGGED by my good buddy Mireille !

1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself (on your blog, we all want to know them).

3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.

4. Let each person know that they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Soooo, here's 7 random facts about me... and they aren't really fascinating, believe me!

1. I DISLIKE answering questions about myself! (Lol!)

2. I like to eat hamburgers, but I loathe meatloaf!

3. I tend to stay up late at night (or until early in the morning, if that's the way you consider it), and then I like sleeping in! But I know I should train myself differently!

4. I am a "PK"...aka, a Preacher's Kid!

5. Flashback to the 80's... first concert I ever went to see was ( ohhh my), Debbie Gibson!

6. I almost failed Algebra II in High School. I hate math! I would stay almost every day after school to get extra help and instruction, and I still got D's and F's on my tests.

7. Right now I have an insane addiction for Spinach Artichoke Dip... esp. from Applebee's! I seriously could eat this stuff all the time.

Okay, enough randomness about me! I've now tagged and linked 7 other lucky peeps and they are:

Shellie

Cari

Robyn

Allison S

Kim Hughes

Wendy Malichio

lpscraps

Enjoy the rest of your day! :D

We all have hobbies and talents!

My hobby of choice is Scrapbooking... duh! But I must say that my brother has a wonderfully interesting hobby for himself, and he's so very talented at it too. Even with my Art degree, I know I could never venture into Decoy Carving. He's been an avid duck decoy carver/painter for nearly 6 years and he just gets better and better. He also carves other wild-life as well, and his work can be seen on his own web site for, Wood Wizard Decoy & Art Works. He enters many competitions and has had numerous winning pieces, and has even had his work diplayed in museums.

One of my favorite things to do in October is to attend a tiny community festival in Alexandria, PA each year. The festival is called, Hartslog Day, and there are many arts and crafts stands lined up along the street with artisians selling their beautiful work. I had attended Hartslog for a few years and told my brother Jim, that he should have a display of his ducks set up at the festival. I finally convinced him after about 2 years of nagging and he applied and was accepted. So this past Saturday was Hartslog Day and it was the 4th year for him to be involved in selling at the event. Here's a picture of his display from the day...

He couldn't attend this year though because he was selected to teach at a carving competition in Maryland, so my sister-in-law, and 2 of their friends set up for the festival, and I went along and helped a little too. All in all it was a wonderful day! He sold pretty many ducks (along with a few woodpeckers, a pufin and a rainbow trout and a bass). The weather was thee perfect Autumn day with the crisp nip in the air, just the way I like it. There was also plenty of great festival food to indulge in. I had a slice of my favorite pumpkin cream cheese roll and the ever so yummy, smothered cheese fries!

Not much else has been going on this week here with me. I've been pretty laid back with almost zero motivation... don't know why though. Yesterday Mugi had some training that he had to attend for his work and it was in Mount Pocono which is about 2 and 1/2 hours from here. He asked me to go along with him for the ride and I did... hoping there would be a nice scrapbook shop closeby. I'll just say that I sure got my share of Wal-Mart, as I walked around that place for over 2 hours! The area of Mount Pocono leaves little to be desired for me. I spent the rest of the time waiting for him in the car, looking through my scrap mags. I wish I would have Googled the area before leaving... there may have been some place close that I could have driven to. Ohhh well.

I did get a little bit of a scrap fix in the mail though. I'd been wanting the BasicGrey "Periphery", ever since it debuted, so I finally ordered the collection plus chipboard and I also ordered a bit of "Mellow" for good measure.

Then I got another super package that was sent by a sweet, sweet internet scrap-friend, Amy Tara Koeppel. More BasicGrey! She sent me a bunch of "Obscure" to play with.

Now I have lots of new goodies to use if only I could get myself some new Mo-jo!

One Chaotic Night!

Our weekend that was supposed to be all about good, fun things, ended on quite a sour note late last night (Sunday).

To begin, Mugi and I went to Altoona for the weekend for our friends Jonathan and Tanya's beautiful Fall wedding, which unfortunately was lacking the chilly Fall weather! It was a terrific evening though and they make the cutest lil' couple! We are so happy for them, and very fortunate to have them both as such good friends. Here's their photo...






















and here is their wedding cake, which was quite clever I think. It consisted of several layers of individual cupcakes!

Cute, huh?! I think October is just the perfect month to get married... that's when I did!

Ok, then on Sunday our church had a "Homecoming" celebration and a special catered lunch. We attended all that with my parents and then relaxed pretty much the rest of day. We had gotten tickets for the "MercyMe" concert at the Bryce Jorden Center in State College for the evening. We left mom and dad's at around 4:30 to grab a bite quick at McDonalds and then headed to the 6:00 concert. The concert was fabulous! MercyMe has always been a favorite group of ours and we've wanted to see them live for awhile now. They also had these guys, "Monk & Neagle" open for them. Neither of us heard of any of their songs before last night, and we were pleasantly surprised...they gave a wonderful accoustic performance that we enjoyed so much that we had to pick up their new cd, "The Twenty-First Time". Such an amazingly spiritually uplifting couple of hours, and it was definitely much needed quality time for both Mugi and I.

The concert ended at around 9:30 and we didn't get home til about 10:30. Then at around 11:00, the phone rang and I got one of those calls that you NEVER want to get! My grandmother called to tell me that my sister-in-law Wendy had just notified her that my 17 year old niece, Lera was just in a bad car accident and was being life-flighted to Geisinger Medical Center. My heart jumped out of my body. Mugi and I quick threw on some comfortable clothes and before heading out the door to get to the hospital I gave my parents a call to let them know. We didn't know any of the details of the accident...didn't know if she was alone or had others with her...didn't know if other cars were involved...didn't know her condition...nothing! All I know is that having to be "life-flighted" didn't sound like the best of scenarios, and all that my mind was preparing for was the worst. But I prayed hard from the moment I hung the phone up! I prayed like I never prayed before. I could not lose my only precious niece!

God graciously answered our prayers last night! Our Lera is banged up and bruised, but she is alive! She sustained no life-threatening injuries...and miraculously no broken bones! The reason why she was life-flighted was in case she had internal injuries or bleeding, for which there were none! Her car was the only one involved in the accident and she was driving alone, thankfully, because there was much damage to the back righthand side (doesn't look as though anyone could've survived if they had been in that back seat). It happened because she admits to driving too fast on a back road that she wasn't real familiar with. She took a turn quickly, lost control and hit a tree. She's a very lucky girl, and we are so blessed that she's still with us!
Please keep my niece in your continued thoughts and prayers. She's going to be stiff and sore for some time yet, and she will need all of our families support to bring her through this event as she emotionally heals! Thanks... and Glory to Our God!

Some Fancy Pants Just walked In My House!

What a fab mail day! I heard my doorbell ring earlier and I wasn't looking too swift with my bed-head and all, so I didn't go to answer the door right away. But when I did I was so stoked to see that the package left was full of yummy "fancy pants" goodness! A few weeks ago I found out that my favorite layout using their products which I entered into the fancy pants first blog challenge placed in the "Top 5". So today I got my winnings... all the new Botanicals papers, rub-ons, die-cuts, and ribbons. They also sent some of the Sassy buttons and posies from the Fashion Sense collection, and 2 of the fun new over-lays. Can not wait to get a chance to dive into this stuff. I just love everything that this company comes out with. In case you haven't been over to the fancy pants blog, here's my winning page...

The journaling wasn't included over on the blog, so here it is if you are interested in the story of,

"Opal and Garnets"...

"After coming home from the hospital without Ava in my arms, I knew I wanted to find a special remembrance ring to wear. I wanted it to include gemstones representing the month of October (Opal), for when she was born, and for the month of January (Garnet), for when she was expected. I really thought that I'd have to get this ring specially created, as those two stones are not commonly found set together in jewelry. It was about a week after her birth and I was at the mall on my first shopping outing, in what seemed like forever, with mom and gram. I was browsing the jewelry counter in at Bon-Ton, when to my surprise - there it was... the most perfect Opal and Garnet ring!

I felt as though an angel (our Ava), was sending me a message in disguise to let me know that everything would be fine. And it will - might just take eternity."


Well, I'm soon outta here for the weekend cause we have some fun plans...a wedding to attend on Saturday and a concert to see on Sunday! Hope everyone else has a great one too!

Heaven's Having a Birthday Party!

"To touch and to feel the memory of your smallness fills my heart with the blessing & reality of you".

Yes, today our lil' Miss Ava Noel is celebrating her first Birthday celebration up there in Heaven, and I'm sure she's flaunting those wings of hers! At least that's what I'm imagining.

I'm feeling pretty good right now. I'm sitting here thinking about her and looking at her pictures, and for right now I'm smiling. I'm not crying... I've already done plenty of that these last few days and I want this day to be a happy one... it's Ava's day!

It's been a tough week for sure. We have been recounting the arrival of Ava, and missing her immensely! We have had the challenge of being bombarded with heavy emotions this week and we have been having second, third and fourth thoughts about whether or not we should even try again to bring another child into our lives. Mugi and I are BOTH scared, but we are both strong too, and our strength combined overpowers the fear we have. So today is a GREAT day... it's a day of reflection, and a day for resolution!

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY, baby girl!!! Mama and Daddy miss you and love you!

It's Fair Week!

Yay! I love the Bloomsburg Fair! It's the largest fair in the state of Pennsylvania, and it's an event we definitely look forward to every year. We usually go twice, once through the week and then again during the weekend, but with Mugi's work schedule it looks like we'll only get there once this time around.

Mugi and I went on Tuesday afternoon. We waited until my niece, Lera finished with school and took her along with us. It's always so much fun to walk around and see all the people and of course EAT, and eat lots! We all have our favorite must-haves... he likes to go to one of the seafood stands for "oyster soup", which I find gross, but it's good to him, so that's all that matters. My absolute favorite fair food fix is, "Lora's Famous Grilled Beef and Cheddar" sandwich. It's sooo yummy! I mean I'm sure I could make these myself at home...it's only sliced french bread with sliced beef, melted cheddar, grilled onions and mushrooms and bar-b-q sauce. Not a hard combination at all... but still, I KNOW it would never ever taste quite the same ! So the beef-n-cheddar is my fair obsession every year!

We also took a stroll through the educational exhibits. We always have to go check out the largest winning pumpkins...this year's First Place ribbon winner pumpkin weighed a whopping "840 lbs"! Wheew! That's a ton of pumpkin pie!

I love the photo of my niece, Lera ...comparing her small stature to both Mugi and the 840 lb. vegetable!

She even joked that she could probably fit 3 or 4 of her inside the pumpkin!

Had Enough of the Warmth!

This past weekend was wayyy to warm for my liking (for it being late September)! I was relieved today when I could feel a slight crispness in the air flowing through the window. I need that reassurance that Autumn is officially here because it certainly does not last long enough for me. I have so many plans for October. I was just going through my calendar and noticed how much October is filled up already. Always seems to be a busy month for me and I like it because it's my favorite month, but then I hate it because the month slips by much too quick.

However, I'm a little bit in a funk though, and feeling really restless as October 1st approaches. It's so hard for me to comprehend, but it will already be one year that Ava's been gone (10-01-06). Where in the world did the time go? I've noticed that I've became more emotional and anxious these past few days and I know it's only normal. I just pray that with time things get easier, and that I can let go of some of these frustrations and resentments that I've been carrying around as baggage this past year. I know that's it's been especially hard for Mugi these past couple weeks too. All this stress and anxiety is waying heavy on Mugi too, and this became real evident when he landed himself in the hospital the other week. But, we have gotten through the worst year of our life, and even with the pain we have suffered, we are lucky and have so very much to be thankful for in our lifetimes! We have each other...we have our families...we have our health and do not suffer like many others unfortunately do from day to day...we have faith in our future, that we will one day be blessed with a child or children that we so want in our lives...we have a roof over our heads...Mugi is lucky to have a job for us to make our ends meet...we enjoy our time together...we enjoy our friends...we have wonderful hobbies...and my list could go on and on. But most of all, we have a faith in our God, and we know that He has his plans for us. It's just so hard being patient with those plans!

So, for today I'll leave you with a few more of my Fallish decorations that I have up around our home. The first picture is of my Scarecrow. This isn't new, it's a few years old and it's actually a project that my mom and I worked on together. She belongs to a craft circle at their church and the ladies there were making them to sell at their craft bazzar. I thought they were so cute and wanted to make one for myself. It's actually a 2 liter soda bottle with a styrofoam ball head form covered with burlap and material. Another must have that I have sitting around is my shadow-box. This stays up all year and I just swich the items out in it for the various holidays/seasons.



and the last picture is my lil' pumpkin dude that I got last year.


Okay, that's enough of the decorations! I won't bore you with more, as it's probably already been over-kill! Hope everyone has a great week ahead of them! Enjoy the awesome weather if it's as pretty as it is here in Pennsylvania today! :)

There's Just Something About Autumn!

It is my most favorite time of the year, and by the time September rolls around I can hardly stand it. I get so giddy and eager for October and all I can think about is getting out those fabulous Fall decorations! I love October and I wish that I could celebrate the glory and the beauty of it all year long!


And on the subject of decorations, I like to collect new ones every year. I got a few additions new for this season, and must say that they are definately some new favorites. I snapped some pictures yesterday, so thought I'd share them here in case anyone else is a Fall freak like me! This first one is so adorable...I found it when I was out shopping on Tuesday at one of my usual Primitive/Craft store haunts. With all the rage of "felt" being used in scrapbooking, I really couldn't help myself from getting this. Besides, it's perfect for holding my chocolate stash! Lol!




Here's another thing that I saw and had to have when I saw it. He's my new guy (Move over Mugi...there's a new guy in town)! I was visiting my parents a few weeks ago and we went to Cracker Barrel for dinner. Of course that place can't just have great Chicken-n-Dumplins, it has to have the cutest darn stuff to buy too! I saw Mr. Pumpkin propped up on a barrel.
I had to have him, but I didn't bring my purse with me... so my good ol' Dad bought him for me! He's perfect, as he doesn't give me any attitude...lol! Anyway, he sit's on his bench in our entry way, and he just makes me smile when I see him!



This next item, is my most favorite, as it was really one of those things that I got on the spur of the moment. It was bought on a whim, but I really wanted it because it looked so charming. I got this old rustic mirrored-door stand last October. It was shortly after losing Ava, and it was actually the first that I went out by myself for the day. I remember feeling very sorry for myself, but I had to get out and I ended up going to one of my favorite places, "The Street of Shops". This place is amazing because it has like 125 little shops all nestled together...very quaint. There's also many antique dealers there too, which I like! I came across this piece and called Mugi up right away on the cell phone to see if he'd mind if I bought it. He said, "go ahead, get whatever you want". But I quickly realized I had no way of getting it in our car for the ride home. After some quick thinking, I called up my sister-in-law, Wendy, and luckily she was at home. She promptly came over to Lewisburg with their truck and picked it up for me.

I love this, because I can imagine using it for all holidays...
Next will be Christmas!!

Well, I suppose that's enough about my decorations for now. I'll show more pix later I'm sure, but Mugi called and he's coming home from work a little earlier than expected and he's hungry. I'm off to make something quick to eat!



Later! Andrea

I've Actually Created Myself a Blog!

Wow! I'm moving on up in the world! I've really been wanting to start up my own for awhile now, so today I felt was as good a time as any. Gheesh, I procrastinate enough in life! I think I've been a little scared of getting involved in this on-line journaling process... scratch the, "I think", and make that, "I know"! But regardless, I'm glad that I am taking the leap. It's going to be rough here in the beginning as I try to learn about all this bloggity schtuff, so bare with me :) I'll be doing bunches of tweeking. Heck, I don't even have a clue of what to do for a header, so this could remain headless for quite awhile!