{ The Piano Player Initiative }

The girls are both sicker than sick. They both have ear infections and serious respiratory issues. Yuck. I feel really bad for not answering the phone or getting back to people like I should, but honestly...doing all the sneaks for the upcoming CHA on top of being up all night with the sickies and Matt having to constantly do homework...I am swamped!

I took this picture of Fifi this morning to illustrate the amount of sick this poor little girl feels. I think it's pretty much written all over her face. Does that just break your heart? P.S. I totally wiped her nose 2 seconds earlier.

Tonight Matt and I went to a dinner with the Utah Legislative Branch and the Utah Medical Association. It was very fancy-schmancy. Fancy food, fancy location...fancy everything. We sat down at a table with a bunch of other students while I decided if I wanted to try to "lobby" for something, since that was obviously the point of this dinner. After reading the cards set on the table describing the proposed bills to be passed I decided to just enjoy my sushi and keep my mouth shut.

About half way through dinner, someone sat down at the piano and began to play background music...starting with Girl From Iponema. He transitioned into Strangers in the Night and then into an array of jazz standards. The insane-o flourishes and trills were making it a bit hard to converse with the Representative sitting next to me.

The best part of the dinner, by far, was when I approached the dessert table and while the dessert guy was dishing me some pie he leaned in and whispered, "Wanna know something crazy about the piano player?" to which I replied "I guess so." to which he replied "Dude...he's not even a hired piano player, he's just a guest who decided to get up and play at random." Pretty cool.

The fancy schmancy desserts were abysmal, so after dinner we headed to Hatch Family Chocolates, which is an amazing chocolate shop in the Avenues district of Salt Lake City. There I got the most amazing concoction ever thought up. The layers of this dessert went like this. Rice crispy treat - homemade marshmallow - homemade caramel - rice crispey treat - chocolate - toasted alomond bits. And so I say with a hearty laugh Kiss Off, South Beach Diet! It was ALL worth it!

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a Prophet passes

Last night the Prophet and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints passed away. Gordon B. Hinckley was 97 years old. He had served as the Porphet for 12 years and during that time the good he did was immeasurable. I loved his quick sense of humor and his sincere passion for the gospel.

I felt so sad at his passing, but was also happy that he now rejoins his wife, who passed away last year.

I loved this man.
I felt of his spirit.
I know that he was a true Prophet of God.
He will be missed, loved and remembered.

If you are unfamiliar with Gordon B. Hinckley I would suggest reading his New York Times best seller titled Standing For Something. This book contains 10 virtues that will change our lives for the better...no matter what belief system you belong to. I plan to re-read my copy this week in honor of his lifetime of service.

One of my favorite quotes from Gordon B Hinckley...

“Faith in something greater than ourselves enables us to do what we have said we'll do, to press forward when we are tired or hurt or afraid, to keep going when the challenge seems overwhelming and the course is entirely uncertain.”

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Miss America & Scrapbooking

Everyone in my house is sicker than sick. So we spent Saturday night inside. I watched Miss America last night. Did you? It seems that after years of declining ratings and moving from major networks to CMT, now The Learning Channel has purchased it and forced the contestants to go through a reality show first...which I really liked watching, since the premise was to eliminate the fake interview answers and crazy Texas Barbie hair-do's (sorry anyone from Texas who is reading this!)

Anyhoo....last night's pageant was very interesting. Clinton Kelly from What Not to Wear (one of my fave shows) was a sort of semi-host and was there for funny quips that weren't very funny. But he did add a more realistic element since he sat down and chatted with the girls as they became eliminated. He also handed out eclairs and chocolate to the eliminated girls. Funny.

During the new and revised Interview portion, the name "Lindsay Lohan" was mentioned at least 5 times. Seems she is the new standard for poor teenage role-models. What about Britney? How come she is getting the shaft on holding that title? Sheesh!

Overall, I liked the changes. The former reigning Miss America missed the memo about the new subtle hair and showed up looking like an extra from the hit 80's TV show, Dallas (Woah...another Texas slam. I have nothing against Texas, I swear, but their hair is uncharacteristically big.)

If you missed Miss America this year they are replaying it on TLC today at 2:00 pm and on February 3rd and 4th.

So how does this relate to scrapbooking? I recently was gifted the Scrapbooker's Almanac and I love the concept of taking scrapping prompts from national events. Last night as I watched Miss America, I was inspired to make a layout about my own beauty. To read full journaling and product list click here.


Scrapbooking Tip: To cover the elaborate chipboard flourish with paper I first ran the chipboard through my Xyron 250 sticker maker facing down. Then I flipped over the paper I wanted to use and adhered the flourish onto the back. I used an x-acto knife and trimmed around the edges. Then I ran the flourish though the Xyron again to adhere to the page.

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An Altered Item...Me???

Yes people. I do occasionally do an altered item, but only if I am very inspired (or paid) to do one. So this is a rare occurance.

This past week my friend Emily inspired me with her simple gestures of kindness which made a huge impact on my life and the state of my spirit. As I sat down to create, inspired by her selfless actions, what started as a simple thank you card turned into this full fledged, altered picture frame and I think it turned out really cute.

And it's a good thing because Emily herself is really cute.



Cardstock: My Mind's Eye, Patterned Paper: My Mind's Eye, Scenic Route, Embellishments: Spoons purchased at JoAnn's Craft store, Ribbon: American Crafts, Fonts: Civilian, Adobe Carlson Pro, Brads: Making Memories, Other: wooden frame, staples, corner punch by EK Success

Quote Reads: We cannot measure the impact that one small gesture of kindness may make on another's life.

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My Life: Inspirations

Wanted to share a bunch of things that inspire me. Then maybe you'll find inspirations through my list and hopefully share your own inspirations.

Colorful photos. Like these ones found on the flickr website taken by jek in the box


Amazing friends. True friends bring all kinds of inspiration because of their goodness. Doesn't happiness just flow from happy people? Check out my friend Tessa's blog for doses of inspiration and amazingly colorful layouts.

Good tunes. Recently loving Ingrid Michaelson, Kate Walsh, the Juno soundtrack, Nouvelle Vague and Sondre Lerche.



Addictive television. Yes, you already know that I love Project Runway. But did you also know that every challenge they have inspires me to do a similar challenge on a layout? It's true. My super-fan pathetic-ness has gone just that far. Still working on a fun concept for last night's Denim Challenge.

My family. Don't children just breathe life into everything? I have been scrapping a lot of pictures of Ella lately because as her 3rd birthday approaches her little personality just shines! (see layout below)

And when all else fails, use someone else's inspiration and make it your own. Digital Templates are just wonderful. You find one you like and then you just plunk in your own elements and voila! You have a fabulous page in minutes...literally. Just wanted to share this FREE digital template I downloaded last week from designerdigitals.com. Last night I wanted something easy, clean, graphic and fun. I changed a few elements of the template, but it still only took me probably 15 minutes to complete. And I love the results.



*So I'm dying to know....what inspires YOU?


Thankful Thursday:1. Amazing scrapbooking opportunites.
2. Good friends.

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Real Friends...

take you to their house
feed you McDonalds and peanut m&m's
let you vent about your vehicular woes
tell you that you cook like a chef
lend you their car
watch your toddler while you go to your appointment
are sweet and kind and understanding

thanks Em!

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Checking Out

Do you ever need to just check out?

I do.

Today.

It started out fine, but worries about our transportation situation were weighing heavily on my mind. Eva is sick and I cannot get her to a doctor, nor can I get her any formula. Ella missed playgroup today and will miss art class tomorrow.

I thought there was a good solution, but there isn't. And to top it all off....someone I don't like gave me one more reason to dislike him.

So if you're trying to get a hold of me...

Sorry, I am not answering the phone.

People and their issues make me tired today and I've had enough.

(A very un-Ali-Edward's-like post, but hey, I'm sure people severely disappoint her sometimes too.)

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Small Phone....Big Packaging

We finally bought a new phone. It has speaker phone and an intercom system....delightful. But the best part by far was the insane-o packaging.

When Matt was in Sam's Club he kept looking for the actual boxes since this seemed like it had to be some sort of elaborate display.

But no.
This is the actual packaging.

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one of these "results" is not like the other...

Here are our celebrity Look-A-likes (try it yourself HERE). This tricks me into thinking that if I lost weight and got some serious rhinoplasty surgery I could look like Katherine Heigl. That is a cruel trick. In my dreams. I am a bit shocked that Queen Latifa didn't show up for me since multiple people say I look just like her....pre-breast-reduction of course. My jealousy rages!!!

So glad I ran these tests otherwise I might never put two and two together and likened Evangeline to the grizzled, facial hair adorned, black President of the UN.

.

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Amazon.com Wishlists

Hey Friends and Family,

Each member of our family has AMAZON.COM wish lists to make gift buying easy.  We will keep these lists constantly updated so that as the holidays draw near it will be much easier for present exchanges.

#GoTeamCici Wishlist
https://amzn.to/2DcpbLG

Family Wishlist
https://amzn.to/2Stz6AS

-    -    -    -    -    -    -

Matt's Wishlist 
https://amzn.to/2JpOb2A

Emilie's Wishlist 
https://amzn.to/2JnIx0L

-    -    -    -    -    -    -

Ella's Wishlist 
https://amzn.to/2EOydQG

Evangeline's Wishlist 
https://amzn.to/2qfRUqL

Bianca's Wishlist
https://amzn.to/2Q2u8cT

Jude's Wishlist 
https://amzn.to/2Q3GrWf

Cecilia's Wishlist  
https://amzn.to/2Jmbgmz
.
.

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Updates-A-Go-Go

Matt has three upcoming interviews for jobs. Two in Massachusetts and one in Delaware. He had a great birthday and is now in his 30's.

Ella is fully potty trained. She has had zero accidents for more than a week. It just all seemed to click in her mind and she was rocking it! I am so glad we got this all taken care of before she turned three. Her art teacher is very impressed with her art abilities and we are doing more art activities at home with Ella. She is currently obsessed with her upcoming 3rd birthday in February. She asks everyday when her birthday is. It's gunna be a long month.

Evangeline just turned 10 months old this week. She is crawling like a mad woman and has undergone a real personality change since becoming mobile. She wants badly to be in the thick of everything. She gets quite upset if we try to inhibit her exploration.

Emilie (that's me!) is furiously preparing for the upcoming CHA and furiously trying to prepare a submission for the Hall Of Fame contest deadline which is very soon. I am feeling a bit less stressed as I get more and more assignments completed and mailed off to their respective destinations. Now to find time to clean this pigsty house!




I have very much fallen off of the South Beach wagon. And so this week I have recommitted myself so I'm not the fattest scrapper at the CHA. The Tinkering Ink outfits are so cute that I need to be cute too! I have decided to make you force me to be accountable. And so I present the CHA Fat-A weightloss ticker!

This layout was featured on the Creating Keepsakes blog today as their Layout of the Day. This is my cute friend Elizabeth. I totally stole this picture off of her blog. Very stalker-ish indeed.


SIMPLE SCRAPBOOKS is running a contest to create a layout including a letter to someone. So yesterday I got out my supplies and made a fabulous layout. The problem was...it was TOO fabulous. I decided to keep it for my Hall Of Fame entry this year. That left me with no layout to submit to this contest. And so I decided to make a funny layout.

Will I keep this layout in my album? YOU BETHCA! Because it signifies the time of life we are at right now while living on student loans and having a passion that takes up every little bit of my meager spending money each month.

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Dear John Mayer,

When you sing.
Your mouth looks really creepy.
Kind of like a frog.
But you're funny and that makes it all okay.
May it please the court. I present: Exhibit A





Thankful Thursday:
1. Comcast On Demand
2. My cooky little red-heads.

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Happy Big 30th Matt!

Today was a great day because Matt is no longer in his twenties. I left the 20's in the dust 3 months ago and man....this was the longest 3 months of my life. Can't wait until the three months following my 40th birthday. We started off the day by dropping Ella off at her Art class and for a play date afterwards and Matt and I went out to lunch to a Chinese Restaurant he has always wanted to try. WAY GROSS! Get this. The egg drop soup was Campbell's chicken noodle soup that they put a thickener into and just added corn and eggs. Yucky McYuckerson.


We had a nice quiet afternoon at home and we met up with some of Matt's family for the celebratory dinner at Famous Dave's Bar-B-Q. So delicious I felt sick afterwards from stuffing myself to the max. And by "the max" I mean I almost barfed afterwards. Their bread Pudding was just that good. South Beach Diet...I'm running back to your loving arms. You complete me.

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Today...

Off to teach my class in Salt Lake City. Should be tons of fun and I love the store I'm teaching in. It's chock full of scrapping goodies.

Matt sings at the Capitol Building tonight in a special concert to re-open it after a 5 year renovation. He's getting out the "performance tux" from the back of our closet to see if it still fits. This should be interesting.

Evangeline is fully crawling now and has her very first shiner, compliments of my motherly neglect. She crawled off of the bed and whacked her eye on something. I'll accept my Mother of the Year Award now, Thank You!

And here's Ella. Kooky little chica that she is. Threw together this digital page this past week for the L.O.A.D. challenge.

(black is only to identify the edge of the layout for this blog post.)

PRODUCTS USED: Paper: PAISLEE PRESS (Artsy Fartsy) - Word Art: TAYLOR MADE DESIGNS - Label, circle stitches: PAILSEE PRESS (Modernity) - Zig Zag stitches: Lisa Whitney - Font: CK Classical

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Quote of the Day

"Oh, I don't drink coffee.
I don't drink hot liquids of any kind.
That's the Devil's temperature."

-Kenneth the Page



Just watching 30 Rock (the best new comedy in ages) and when Kenneth the Page said this I almost peed my pants laughing. Many of you probably know I am a Mormon and we don't drink coffee, tee or alcohol. Most people think this is crazy and unimaginable. No coffee in the morning? WHAT?!! People always ask me why.

For a split second I considered making this my new answer. But then I realized if people I meet aren't die hard 30 Rock fans I'll just seem like a crazed-cult-member. And enough people mistake Mormons for those anyway.

5

Potty and Crawly

Last May we attempted to potty train Ella. I got all hyped up on some crazed Mommy who insisted that if I had waited until she was two years old to start, I had blown it for leaving it too late. But if I started right away I could undo the damage! Da-da-dummmm.

Well we tried

and failed.

Last weekend we decided to try again. And I am happy to say Ella is rocking it! She even awoke in the middle of the night last night to use the potty. Hooray! We have tossed the remaining Pull-Ups and she is working the panties.

I made her an entire sheet of "Ella" stickers to put on her Potty Chart and she just loves it. I used my amaze-o-rific Xyron 250 sticker maker. Here she is proudly putting up two stickers for going above and beyond pee-pee. I think you know what I am talking about.

On Friday morning, Evangeline decided she might like to commando crawl. She is now cruising around the house commando style, pulling up on the furniture and trying to move from one piece of furniture to the next. It's so funny how quickly they catch on once they decide to get moving.

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Quote of The Day

Disney's Dumbo?

Totally depressing.

Who doesn't feel like killing themselves after watching the "Baby Mine" scene?

I feel drained right now just thinking about it.

-Me talking to my friend, Heidi about toally scary/depressing kids movies.

9

Not Yo' Mamma's Earrings

I went to Forever 21 yesterday and bought some empowering earrings.
Why empowering?
Because they are huge silver hoops.

Huge, no apologies for the size, 2.5 inch diameter, silver hoops.

And I think there is something magical about feeling like a Hoochie Mama for once in your life.



I think it's pretty clear by my facial expression how these earring make me feel.
And watch for more hoochie-hoops since I also bought a pair in black.

Mom, please forgive me for this post.

7

Thrifty Thoughts

So...we live on student loans and have been pretty strapped since...well....forever. This has made me a Thrifty Goddess and I thought I would share some old favorites and recent finds for penny pinching in life and in scrapbooking!

Online Buying Recently stumbled upon this site called Retail Me Not. It has coupon codes for all different online sites, including scrapbooking sites. The list of coupon codes also has a success rate so you know which coupons are most likely to work. I used their code on scrapbook.com recently and it totally worked and saved me about $8.

Scoring Tool for Crafting Have you ever been making a card or scrapbooking a needed a scoring tool? Don't buy a special blade for your cutter. I take a normal mechanical pencil, retract the lead all of the way and use it in my Fiskars cutter to score. it works like a charm! I discovered this tip out of sheer desperation.

Acrylic Stamping Blocks These babies are expensive, especially when you get to the larger sizes. I found blocks that were 3 inches square at JoAnns for $1 each. I bought seven of them. I kept one as it was, glued two together longways for large border stamps and glued 4 together to form a large 6 inch square for larger stamps. Just to give you a feel for the savings...a 6x6" acrylic block sells for $19.99 on scrapbook.com. My cost was $4.00 and the cost of good 'ol traditional crazy glue. Heaven.

Hope you find some of these hints helpful! When you save tons of money...throw some my way! LOL!


Thankful Thursday:1. a Husband who has great communication skills and helps me with mine.
2. my faux down comforter.

1

Knitting Damnation

Do I really need to explain the photos in the new header?
You get it right?

Well, it's basically a knitting gauge problem. The first hat has been gifted to Ella and the second hat has been gifted to an infant in our church. Attempt number 3 starts soon and I hope it falls somewhere in between the 2 previous hats! This is all because I chose a different yarn than was recommended in the pattern. But isn't the yarn I chose so dang cute?

I used to have "You're a Bum, Rock!" on the header, but sadly, I guess that quote needs explanation. Since no one has known what it is in reference to. { Go and rent Rocky people! It's a classic! }

Does this picture ring a bell? And can you totally see the resemblance between attempt #2 and Mickey, Rocky's tough loving coach, from Rocky I?

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