Puppy Love Valentine Tag Swap

I signed up for Karla's Cottage "Puppy Love" tag swap and to tell you the truth, I became kind of afraid after I thought about what I really signed up for. hehe
Anyways, I completed my six tags. I hope whoever ends up with one of my tags in their book, likes it as much as I liked creating each of them....

I was given some really pretty pieces of old wallpaper over a year ago, and thought it would be fun to use for a tag. I can see how easy it can be, to become addicted to these beautiful papers!

We were told we could interpret "puppy love" however we wanted and so I ended up doing a couple tags more Valentine(ish) instead - I hope that's ok.

For this project, I totally stepped out of my comfort zone, and it was a lot of fun!

I'm sending my tags tomorrow in the mail,

and can't wait to see the tags I receive in return!

52Q Journal Challenge

I decided to try something new this year.

I have never kept a journal and never have learned how to do mixed media or altered art or scrapbooking for that matter... but, after coming across the blog Life=Art I decided to join in her 52Q mini art journal challenge.

Each week she presents a question and we're to create a mini card and answer.
I thought this would be a fun way for me to ease into keeping a journal and to create something simple each week. I encourage you to join in the fun too!

Last weeks question was "Do you believe in fairies?" it got me thinking about one of my most favorite stories ever, The Story of the Soap Boat, out of the book "Stories From A Magic World" published in 1933.

It is the sweetest story of Dickey Byrd who is a wonderful pretender and is visited at night by the tiniest fairy who wants to go for a ride in a boat. Dickey Byrd's real boat is broken but he has a soap boat which really isn't a boat at all, just a cake of soap with a paper sail that he plays with when he takes a bath. (Oh, and the soap boat is pink by the way - gotta love that!) The two of them have a magical adventure on the soap boat. It really is a lovely story. My girls love it too. The illustration of the soap boat was done by Gustaf Tenggren. I could look and this picture and daydream for hours...

and yes, I do believe in fairies. ;o)

Maui Trip Recap

***WARNING***

This is a long post - lots of pictures...

We are home after spending a wonderful week on Maui. We had such a fantastic vacation!!!

I took 404 pictures - this is just a sampling of what we did.

First off, it was the girls first airplane ride. They did fabulous on the 6 hour flight thanks to numerous activitites given to them by relatives. Thanks Auntie Debbie and Auntie Barbara!

Our first day playing on the beach out in front of the condo.
a view from our lanai.
walking the beach looking for a place to lay out

beautiful hibiscus

whale watching

Sydney listening intently about whales and sea turtles

watching a mama whale and her baby playing from our lanai

checking out different beaches - this is the beach at Wailea

evening shopping at Whalers Village in Ka'anapali

eating ice cream in Lahaina

jumping waves on Napili beach

enjoying the view on the beach at Papakea

playing in the sand and surf

watching a sunset with grandma

our favorite evening snack - yummy!
hangin' loose

sunset on Napili bay

eating rootbeer shave ice on top of vanilla ice cream

scrimshaw display at the Whale museum

(that's a valentine upper center made from seashells)

family pic taken during a major wind storm Friday night

sunset at Papakea
waiting to board the plane for home

Thanks Mom and Daddy for taking us to Hawaii!

We loved every single minute. We'll cherish the fun time spent with you guys forever!

We Don't Want To Leave...

We leave for home Sunday and none of us are ready to go....

This has been the most relaxing, enjoyable, WARM, and fabulous vacation ever!
We can't wait to come back to Maui!

It's Been 24 Years...

...since I've stood on these grounds. But come Sunday, that is where I'll be, because...

WE ARE GOING TO MAUI!!!!!

Can you tell I'm excited? ;o)

This years Christmas gift from my parents, was for, the four of us to join them on Maui for a week. How cool is that!?

While I was growing up, we traveled as a family to Hawaii 4 different times. Since the trips were our Christmas presents, we always went during our 2 week Christmas and New Year holiday break from school. They were the best family vacations ever, we all have such fun memories of those times.

I don't have many pictures from our trips since they are in the scrapbook albums at my parents house. These few are some that I had stuck around the mirror in my childhood bedroom (along with other pictures and a couple of peacock feathers.. :o) ) and now have stored away in a shoebox...
This picture was taken New Years Day 1981. It rained so hard all day - it never let up one bit. My two older brothers who were in high school at the time SOOO cool, dared 10 year old me to go putt around the putting green with snorkeling gear on (flippers and all). So many people were laughing, cheering, clapping, and taking my picture - definitely my "15 minutes" of fame. hehe

This picture was taken January 1985 - our last trip as a family, well actually, my oldest brother didn't go with us because he was getting married in March. He got a fancy TV for Christmas that year instead... poor guy hehe
I'm so excited that we'll be staying where I did as a kid and that my hubby and girls get to experience Maui too. I know they won't want to leave, I never did...
One of my favorite saying is "Maui No Ka Oi". It means Maui is the best - and that's so true!

Bin Diving?

Have you ever been dumpster diving? I have not, but what we did the other day is probably the closest I've ever been...

Due to the fact that we were pretty much homebound during Christmas break because of all the snow, I was dying to get out to do some thriftin' once the roads cleared up. I wanted to go downtown and check out the GW outlet because I've never been. I called up my mom to see if she was game and we were off.

This is what it looked like as we walked in. Rows and rows of blue bins, full of junk!

Sydney and Daphne jumped right in. I was intimidated at first but ended up digging through the piles and thinking how thankful I was to have antibacterial wipes to use when I was done!

Overall it was a fun adventure, even though I didn't find anything spectacular. I'm sure, great treasures are to be found if you frequent the outlet often.

Here's the pile of junk I came home with.
See the cute rubber boots? I'm going to plant them with tulips and put 'em on our front steps.
Most of what I found will be used for my crafting.

Our New Years Eve Tradition

We always used to ring in New Years with friends...

but ever since 2002, the year we had Sydney, we've kind of started having our own New Years celebration as a family. It's really nice just staying home together.

My hubby chose the menu which usually consists of his favorite hors d'oeuvres - and some of the girls favorites too... here's what I made:

caprese salsa on toasted baguettes

guacamole
pico de gallo
coconut shrimp with nam jeem (hot & sweet dipping sauce)

shrimp ceviche on tostada chips

and Thai beef skewers with peanut satay sauce

...that we rolled up in butter lettuce.

After we put the girls to bed, hubby and I toasted in the New Year with our favorite champagne, and these yummy almond truffles.

We all agree it beats going out -

and now, we have some great leftovers for New Years Day - gotta have snacks while watching football. ;o)