A couple weeks ago, my sister Kelly, my Aunt Sandy, and I went to Starved Rock, in Utica, Illinois. I haven’t been there in SO long, and I remember we used to go there with my grandparents when we were little. I was feeling really under the weather, so I wasn’t sure how I would do, with having to climb all the stairs. However, I was grateful to see that after every set of stairs, there was a landing, with several benches, where we could all sit, and catch our breath.

     We intended to go there to take photos of the color-changing leaves, but everything was still green, so it was hard to find trees that had started to change. We were too early. However, we got some amazing pictures, got a lot of exercise, and had so much fun as we walked down all of the paths, and took in the beautiful views. I think we all overcame a little bit of fear, as we all pushed ourselves to get closer to the edge of the cliffs, and look down into the river below us. It was windy, so that didn’t make it any easier, but even I can say I was proud of myself, for going to the edge of the railing that runs along the top of the cliff.

     If you’ve never been to Starved Rock, you definitely should go. It’s great if you want to get away from the city, and be closer to nature. I almost forgot—we even saw a woodchuck. I heard a noise and I was scared to look back, thinking someone was playing a trick on me. But then, when I looked, I saw a woodchuck hiding inside his house, made of boards. My sister said that he probably made it himself. Later, her husband asked me if I asked the woodchuck how much wood he could chuck. Haha!

     All in all it was a beautiful sunny, cool day, and I had such a great time. This is our second fall trip that my sister and I have done. We’ve decided to make it a tradition. Last year we went to Michigan. We still plan to go somewhere else when the leaves start to change color, more. Maybe next year, we’ll wait a little bit longer before we go. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this post!

Until next time! J

 

Just some thoughts

I haven't forgotten about the mini album photos I plan to post, but more on that soon.

Today, I am writing, I guess to get some thoughts out of my head. This past weekend, I met a guy who I really hit it off with. He said he was even taken aback by how well we hit it off. While it ended up that he wasn't looking for anything at the moment, it got me thinking about things, as I read through blogs on Bloglovin' and see all of the life lessons that those that I follow, go through.

As you may or may not know, I am single, and I'm okay with that. It's nice to feel like you can go anywhere, and do anything at the spur of the moment, without having to weigh the decision of another person. But the thing that got me thinking is how this guy, who told me after the fact, that he mentioned he was only looking for new friends, came to pick me up. Being a the type of girl who doesn't let anyone get close to me, this is where I went wrong. I should have just met him there.When he came to pick me up, I had just finished fixing my hair, but had no makeup on. I let him come in and he sat on my bed, while I finished getting ready.

 Now that everything is said and done, I am thinking about all the reasons why this man is so undeserving of my time. I wonder what it must have been like for him to sit on my bed, scanning over all of the scrapbook supplies, mini albums, stuffed animals, and decorations in my room, I wonder what he must have been thinking. I try to put myself in his shoes, sitting there, and wonder if it was too much for him to handle and if he felt overwhelmed in that moment. I think about how much I've created, and how if I were him, I would be happy to have someone that creative, and as thoughtful as I am. It is thinking through these thoughts that I realize several things:

Whoever is supposed to be with me is going to be someone who really appreciates the time I take to make such gifts. And thought I was extremely crushed at the thought of hitting it off with him as well as I did, and still having to accept that he refused to even give me a chance, I think it's a blessing in disguise. Over the last couple days, I've also accepted that if he was someone worth giving my time to, he would have given me a chance even if he wasn't looking for something at the moment. I am a true believer that God (or life) throws things in your way, that you wouldn't normally expect to show up. And that sometimes, if you don't those unexpected things, you could end up regretting it.The person I'm suppose to be with is going to be someone who also realizes that.

I am lately telling myself that I deserve much better than to be with someone who a): doesn't know what they want, and b:) I have to convince to give me a chance. At the end of the day, I have a lot of things going for myself including taking on the weight of attending two colleges for a Bachelor's Degree, and even volunteering with various charitable associations. I am already a force to reckon with, and one day, I'll find someone who is equally the same. I guess if you believe that life is filled with lessons, this is just one more to add to my experiences. In the end, I suppose i am grateful to have dodged a bullet (of sorts), and even more grateful that this helped me to realize the qualities in what I want and what I don't want in a man. Until I find it, I'll just keep finding my own adventure, one "spur of the moment", at a time...

It's adventure time! This weekend I am going to see my cousin J.R.'s wedding in St. Louis (well, not exactly St. Louis, but close enough)! What's especially great about this wedding is that a lot of my cousins and family will be together, so we're planning on bringing down the house. Also, since I'm single (which I can't say is a bad thing), I decided to invite my dad to the wedding, as he's always been close to my mother's side of the family. Therefore, a road trip is in order. It's going to be so much fun because even though it's only about a 4-hour drive, I'll spending time with my dad, which I hardly ever get to to do (even though we live in the same house). I know I can expect lots of singing from him, and music from bands like Journey, Kansas, Electric Light Orchestra, The Who, Bob Seger, the Beatles, etc. I absolutely cannot wait, and will take a million pictures to share next week.



Whatever your adventures include this weekend, I hope you have fun wherever life takes you!

May Practical Scrappers Post!

If you're following along with this month's blog hop, you should've come from Wendy's blog (Stamping Rules). If you'd like to start over, here is the link for the first post in the blog: Audrey's Reflection (Start Here!)

Now for the fun part!!!!!

This is going to be one of my absolute favorite posts, ever. I am so excited to share this layout. While it's not the layout that I care about so much, it's the photo that means the universe to me. The picture I used is one of Bean, the first dog I could call mine (and my ex-husband's, I guess), and my first collie. This picture was taken when my ex-husband was deployed in Iraq with the Army. My sister, Kelly took it, while Bean sat in the back of the vintage Monte Carlo that my ex and I owned. While my ex and obviously ended up not working out, this picture holds so much emotion that I had toward Bean, and toward the fragile situation I was in, being married to a deployed soldier. I think at that time, I knew to cherish Bean a lot more, because he was the one thing that mad me feel closer to my ex, when he couldn't be there. Bean would walk around the house behind me, and follow me into every room. I was so grateful for him. Sadly, we had to give him back to the rescue because he had medical issues that we couldn't take care of financially. However, he did get readopted to a family who was able to take care of him, much better than we could. Which leads me to  the layout part.

Some animals go through some really rough times, before they're able to find their forever home. Some are abused, and others neglected. However, for some reason they're always able to love their owners as if they've never experienced sadness, a day in their life. I'm not sure how they do this, but they are so good at it--at being happy, and running, and showing affection. If there's anything that I've learned from animals, it's that I need to learn to be more forgiving, and understanding. I need to be able to start over, and see the good in people even if they have hurt me. Not that this is something that should always be done, but if the person is genuinely trying to gain my trust back, maybe I should try harder to hear them out and meet them halfway. I've never been too great at this, but maybe it's time I start...

 

I really hope you enjoyed this post. I know I did! Now, on to your next post in the blog hop! Head on over to Lee-Ann's Blog (Love the Journey), and I can't wait to see you next month! Bye, until next time!

Blog Hop!

It's time! It's time! What time? Time for the monthly Blog Hop, of course!

If you're just arriving and would like to start at the beginning, here is the link for the Christine, the first person in the hop:
Scrapping With Christine

If you're following along with the hop, you should've come from Sandy's blog (It's a Family Affair). Her layout is absolutely beautiful!

For this month, I decided (at the last minute) to do something a little different. I decided to make two cards to show how easy it is to use the same or similar supplies, but make two completely different cards.
The card on the right is one I made for one of the attorneys, that had decided to leave the firm I work at.
The one on the right is one I made for a friend who is getting it off the Army. He's happy to be leaving (bittersweet, most likely) and I wanted something that would make him laugh.  The freedom tag will hopefully do just that, as I hope he is a little relieved that he will "never have to look at another piece of military gear for a long time." Haha

The tricky part here is that I don't often make "masculine" cards, but what I tend to do is distress the card with sandpaper and paint. I also tend to use a lot of "boy" colors, like brown blue, black, grey, and green. The bling was added when I asked my sister what she thought. After all, I didn't want it to be too dark.

Here is the next blog in the hop. It's an artsy layout by Majken (Choco Scrapaholic). I can't wait until you see it!

Well, I hope you enjoyed this blog post and I can't wait until next month.Until next time, take care! :)

February Practical Scrappers!

Wow,  this becoming a THING, in which I post every month! Yay, me!

If you just wandered in, you should've  come from Monica's blog:
http://scrapinspired.com/

Here is my layout, and I must say that the story is one even better than the layout.

I went to take out the garbage at my ex boyfriend's house and saw this little baby sitting in the strip that separates one part of the cement from the other, in the middle of the alley. What was even cuter was that his little head was resting on the raised part of the cement and he was making no attempts to get up or run away.  I knew if I left him there, there was a chance he'd be run over by a car. So I ran in the house, grabbed a shoe box, and scooped him in.  For the next several hours, I drove my dad and ex boyfriend INSANE trying to find a new home for the little guy. 
I took him to the first place, a wildlife rescue and they couldn't take him, because he was European. So they sent me to another place, where the lady told me he'd been born with splayed legs and couldn't stand like normal birds could.  Also, when Europeans would come on ships, the birds would sneak into the bird seed and travel over with the immigrants.
To this day I still wonder if he had a European accent! :) 

I plan to put a photo of the sign, where this baby found his forever home.

So it was a happy ending for this lil guy,  and though I drove everyone crazy the whole day, I probably saved his life, and was happy I could help him out of danger.  And who could say no to a face like this, right?

Well I hope you enjoyed my post this month.  The next stop in the blog hop list will be Majken:

http://chocoscrapaholic.blogspot.com

I hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for stopping by.  See you next time!  :)

Practical Scrappers January Blog Hop!

If you're following along with the blog hop, you should be coming from Monica's blog:

http://scrapinspired.com/2015/01/scrap-stash-use-up-paper-scraps/

And if you want to start from the beginning here is the link,to start from the beginning:

http://alteredplayground.blogspot.com/2015/01/scrapping-our-stash-blog-hop.html?m=1

This month, it was anything goes when it comes to a layout, and I must say I really kind of just threw this together. My awesome sister Kelsterjean gave me about $500 in supplies, (that she decided to give away) so I decided to pick through them and see what I could find, to throw together. I must say that this is the most eclectic layout that I've made in a long time. The colors and patterns seem to me that they're all over the place, and while there is a lot going on, I really love the way it turned out.
For those of you who don't know, my grandma was a librarian. Therefore, I think my favorite part of this whole layout, besides the picture of course, is the Crate Paper date stamp card, behind the bird. It's made to look like a library card in which a book has been checked out numerous times. I also really feel that the journaling perfectly describes the exact way that I felt when I saw that amazingly perfect sunset. I really love how many layers there are, as I don't really do a whole lot with layers. I'd like to add to this, maybe a banner at the top, but I'm a little undecided because I don't want to take too much from the picture, itself.

Anyway, I hope you loved this layout, and your next stop will be Jennifer's blog.

http://livethemoment-jen.blogspot.com/2015/01/scrapping-our-stash-blog-hop.html?m=1

Thank you for visiting, and I hope you really enjoyed this post! Until next time!