[Fitness, Health and Happiness]

What makes a day fabulous? A day when you lay your head down on the pillow to go to sleep and you literally smile.

It could be any number of reasons. A great dinner out and Barnes and Noble with Chad, Alec and Alyssa. Accomplishing almost everything on our to-do list at work. New running shoes. 

But, what I really think it was that made Friday so great was this...

Going from weeks and weeks of this

 

to this (view from the front door of our house)

 

and this (view from the deck behind our house)

 

I'd never really given it much thought but there really is something to the concept of Winter Blues. So of course I had to google it for more information... Seasonal Affect Disorder (SAD)
 
 
 

A Prized Possession

I've spent the last few weeks sorting, organizing, and scanning old photos for my latest online class, Yesterday and Today. Imagine my surprise when I found an album that I didn't remember having.

 

When I opened the pages I found photos of my dad...

 

A few scanned favorites...

My dad's middle name is Phillip. I had no idea he ever went by the name Phil. And as a person who hates her handwriting, I love turning the pages and seeing what I would recognize anywhere as my dad's handwriting. 

 

December 1961 (love it when I have dates).The writing on the back of this photo was great. It was a photo given to my mom and the words and the way thoughts are expressed is so much my dad. This is one of my favorites.

 

He loved his cars...

 

On the back a note for my mom to give a message to his brother...

 

 

A note to my mom on the back of the above photo. I think the date is March 1964...

 

And one last of the many scanned. I have a lot of questions to ask my dad about this photo.

 

See why this is a prized possession.

 

A Digital Challenge

The more I learn about digital scrapbooking the more I love it. 

This week's challenge at JessicaSprague dot com. You can get the details and the template here Spraground Challenge. 

Finished an Album and Making Changes

The season ended. End of the year celebration. Rewards for a job well done. And now Alyssa's 2008-09 Documenting Cheer album is complete. A peek at a few of the photos...

 

You can see the entire album here 2008-09 Documenting Cheer. I'll create the same type of album for the upcoming 2009-10 season.

A few changes in my studio...

Chad repurposed a desk hutch that fits perfectly. More storage space and a work space for stamping, inks, paints, and embossing. 

And thanks to my father-in-law I now have a second printer's tray for my most often used stamps.

One final change. About a week ago Alyssa asked if she could move her desk into her room. Kind of bittersweet. I miss having her share the space with me. Sitting across from me while we create and chat. On the other hand, she loves having a creative space in her own room and I love the extra space of not having a second desk :)

More updated studio photos here Studio

Today? My first trail run. More creating. Picture taking of nothing in particular. Trying to decide if I want to take this class at Big Picture Scrapbooking Great Photos with any Camera.

Photoshop and My First Digital Shares

Taking classes, reading, googling. All to learn what I can do with Photoshop. 

The Brushabilities class at JessicSprague is awesome. The things you can do with Photoshop brushes!

A few of my favorite projects and my very first digital share :)

I still can't believe I made these frame overlays. I buy and download shares all the time. With a little practice and perfecting I can see myself saving money on buying digi downloads. How cool is that :)

And finally my first digi shares

Frame- Spider Web download here 4Shared

Frame- Floral download here 4Shared

I'm new to sharing digi files and my 4Shared account. Let me know if there is a problem with the links/downloads. 

In honor of our 16th anniversary...

13 Photos of Chad and Jill

A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person. ~Mignon McLaughlin

Celebrating July 24, 1993

So many things I want to do and trying to do it all! 

Playing/learning PSE6...I could easily spend hours doing just this. Next on my PSE list is to play with Overlays with the intent of using them for journaling and photo frames. Bought a few from Designer Digitals  to play with...

 

Creating...another favorite that I could easily spend hours doing. My latest project is a canvas. A little reminder of my word for 2009, SIMPLIFY

A few close ups because of I love the textures.

   

And my current in-the-works project is an album for Alyssa's first year of competitive cheer. 

This album

and I'm going to incorporate 12x12, 8x8, 12x6 and 12x12 divided for multiple 4x6 photos pages. 

And last but not least running. Until 2 weeks ago I wasn't able to run at all due to a stress fracture. It seemed like forever. Not a single step. Now I'm running pain free!! Yes, I could spend hours doing this too but the doc gave me a stern warning "Jill listen to me. Do not push it." So, as hard as it is for now I'm running according to his plan. So happy to be running again :)

Gratitude and Creating!

Project Gratitude: Week 2

Family. The 3 of them make me a better person.

Creating!

Except for the gym and going to the grocery store (and Facebook) I spent the entire weekend creating! I decided to place one big order of photos for all of my in-the-works-projects (too many photos to print at home). On Friday my order came!! Throughout the weekend I've been creating a 2009 Goals mini album, Project Gratitude, Family Gratitude Spinner and December Daily 2009. It was awesome! The Gratitude Spinner and December Daily are almost done so I can share a few peeks. 

December Daily 2009

Day 1

Day 2

Day 9

Family Gratitude Spinner

Embellished pocket pages

Quote

Embellished transparencies. One for each of us.

Alec and Alyssa

Chad and Jill

I need to add a few things to both projects. Final touches. I was so happy with how they're turning out I couldn't wait to share. A perfect weekend...time in my studio, Alyssa had a sleepover and Alec and Chad have football (and from the sound of them downstairs I'm guessing the Steelers are winning)!

Have a great Monday!

A Merry early Christmas...

After debating and researching for about a year I've finally gone Mac! From my dad and my husband...

I love it and it's so flippin' fast! With that said...I'm way out of my comfort zone! In fact, I'm blogging now from my old PC just for a bit of comfort LOL I woke up at 3:10 yesterday a.m. thinking I figured out how to do something on the Mac that I was trying to do the night before. Just to find out no, it didn't work. No regrets but man it's frustrating. Now shopping for a new Photoshop program.

And a little more merry!

Alec and Alyssa both had their art displayed at the annual art show at their school. I didn't get to go, but I was pleasantly surprised when Chad, Alec and Alyssa came home from the show with their art work in hand! I have the perfect place to hang them both!

Alec's desert (and notice the very artsy signature at the bottom right)...

Alyssa's poison dart frog...

On my studio to do list...

1. finish Daily December album
2. make Christmas cards
3. make a cheer mini album
4. start the Family Gratitude Spinner BPS project
5. make sleepover invitations

With a two day work week and cooking plans for a "Thanksgiving Made Easy" I'll have some extra time to work on this to do list.

Alyssa had another cheer competition yesterday. About 6 hours of 1000+ cheerleaders. They worked so hard at practice on this particular stunt and they nailed it :)