The One with Blog Your Heart


Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Winner winner chicken dinner, congrats Tedi!
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You are the randomly chosen winner of Shimelle's Pretty Paper Party class! Email me (paigetaylorevans at gmail dot com) your email addy and I'll get ya hooked up :)

My hero, Stephanie Howell, has started a monthly challenge where you blog your heart.
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The point is to blog your heart. HONESTLY. It can be silly, funny, serious, short, or long... whatever you want it to be. As long as it is authentic. No sugar coating. It is what it is. So here goes!

1. I feel like I am always doing something and never have time to relax between working, mommying, and side jobs. I suppose I use up my relaxing time blogging... I need to learn how to prioritize. My list o' things to do is longer than the Nile. Sometimes I find myself dreaming that I could quit all my jobs and just live off the government. But I love my jobs. I think I'm a workaholic. I get great satisfaction crossing things off my to do list.

2. I need to learn to say no. Then maybe my list o' things to do won't be so long.

3. I have stranger and crowd anxiety and get super duper uncomfortable when I'm the center of attention. I can't seem to have a conversation with anyone besides Chris or my family or close friends. I fumble my words and sound like a dork. I know what I'd like to say, but it never comes out quite right, or I think of it only after the conversation is over. I guess practice makes perfect? Who wants to talk? :)

4. Fox is in this maddening stage where he ONLY wants ME! It makes it real hard to work when Chris is home and watching Fox but he's just screaming and reaching out for me. I need an office, off-site. Apparently Fox is grand when I'm gone, but as soon as I walk in the door it's meltdown city. It's just a phase, it's just a phase, it's just a phase. I need to remember that before I know it I'll be wishing desperately that he would still want and need me.

5. Keeping a clean and orderly house is starting to become a giant hassle with a toddler. But when the house is messy I get flustered. Not sure what to do about this one.

6. I want to drive the 60 miles to Riverside to see this phenomenon:
But I'm afraid that like with The World of Color, it won't be going on that night or there'll be technical difficulties. We seem to have bad luck with stuff like that.

7. I worry too much. I'm getting more gray hairs by the day. I get headaches almost every day because either A) I'm stressed or B) I don't drink enough water. I don't like standing in long lines. I'm still working on my bucket list item of being patient. I'm not there yet.

8. I print my blog into books using Blog2Print. I make about 3 books a year and each book costs like $120+. I wait until a coupon code shows up in my email, which happens every few months. Finally a coupon arrived so I printed my blog book that ranges from May to August of this year. When it arrived I was so happy! Only to notice it was soft cover, not hard cover. Talk about an expensive mistake! I keep doing stupid things like this, not paying attention to details, forgetting things, not remembering important dates, picking out wrong stuff. I feel like I'm losing my mind sometimes!

Okay, Blog Your Heart is over! I promise I'm a happy girl and I love my life :) It's just nice to put it all out there every once in awhile.

The One with More Disney at Halloween


Tuesday, October 25, 2011

My aunt, her daughter-in-law Ashley (so my cousin's wife (cousin-in-law?)) and Ashley's daughter Alli (so my first cousin once removed and Fox's second cousin - get it?) came down to LA to celebrate Alli's 5th birthday at Disneyland! The happiest place on earth! Of course we wanted to meet up with them and say hello.
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So. Crowded. I bet this picture gives my dad shivers. He's anti-crowds.
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Still all decked out for Halloween!
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Riding the carousel.
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The park closed early for a special Trick-or-Treat event thingy, so we went over to Disney's California Adventure. First stop: A Bug's Life. We got these awesome 3D glasses and tried to make Fox wear them.
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Hehehe.
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Fox lasted 30 seconds in the show before it got loud and he got scared.
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A Fox amongst the pumpkins.
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Our goal was to stay until the World of Color show because we STILL haven't seen it and it's on our bucket list. The show was supposed to start at 8:15. At 8:15 the lights dimmed and the music started playing. And then it stopped. 5 minutes later it started and stopped again. 5 minutes later it started and stopped again. Meanwhile Fox was having a cow because it was way past his bedtime so we said forget it and gave up. Lame-o! We'll have to come back another day.
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Total Disneyland count since we've lived here: 39
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I just noticed yesterday when I log onto Disneyland.com it keeps count of our visits. We're definitely getting our money's worth out of our annual passes!

The One with the Pretty Paper Party Class


Monday, October 24, 2011

I've got three giveaways lined up this week! (I totally forgot to do an 1100th post giveaway so hopefully this makes up for it!) First up: Shimelle's Pretty Paper Party Class.
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There are online classes for everything these days and Shimelle has been teaching online scrapbooking classes for years - but she's decided it's time to kick it up a bit and go from online class to a four-week online party, and you're invited! Pretty Paper Party is the party to attend if you have a collection of paper stacked up for a rainy day, if you have more scraps of paper than you know what to do with (but you know you don't want to throw them away!), and if you've ever put a piece of paper back in your stash because it was just too special for the photos at hand. Through printable prompts and tutorial videos, Shimelle and dozens of special party guests (including yours truly!) will share beautiful and innovative techniques you can achieve with the paper you have already collected.

The class started last Monday, but as with any good party, it's okay to arrive fashionably late. The class has no deadlines and everyone receives permanent access to all the class materials, so anyone can RSVP to the party at any time!

The layout I made for this class is based on these fabric scraps, specifically the one on the botom left corner:
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MY BOYS

Supplies: Cardstock, tearaway strip, brads (epoxy, fabric), chipboard frame, frame, pen, adhesive: American Crafts; Patterned paper: American Crafts, Studio Calico; Wood letters: Studio Calico; Floss: DMC; Sewing machine: Brother; Thread: Coats & Clark; Typewriter: Smith Corona

I don't think words can express how in love I am with the new Chap line by American Crafts! Since I mostly scrap about Fox, and this is definitely a more masculine line, I'm alllll over it. Lots more Chap pages to come, mark my words :)

Now for the giveaway! You have a chance to win a seat in this Pretty Paper Party class - simply leave a comment on this post by 8am on Wednesday October 26th 2011 letting me know what your favorite thing to scrapbook is. Good luck! This is a class you won't want to miss!

The One with the Purple Bat Mitzvah


Sunday, October 23, 2011

I worked at a purple-themed bat mitzvah last night! Random fact of the day: did you know there is no word in the English dictionary that rhymes with purple? Unless you count Dr. Seuss words or something. Anyways. The event was at a nice clubhouse in Tarzana. What a fun name for a city.
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I like it already, what with the haystacks and pumpkin decor and all!
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Gift table.
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The ceremony. Aren't all the trees and green grassy knolls beautiful?
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Walking down the long and curvy hallway to get to the main event.
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Pics of the decor.
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A table with no food but eventually is was filled to the brim with sweets and goodies.
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Bling bling!
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The brought in dance flo'.
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Test shot for the photobooth. I was just tryin' to have fun m'kay? :)
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The vendor hallway.
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Complete with basketball hoop.
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Air hockey table.
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Airbrush tattoos.
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And my scrapbook nook!
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All the prepped pages ready to go!
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The picture vendor would snap photos of the guests, print the photos right then and there, hand me a copy, and then the guests wrote notes which I glued in with their photo. Done and done!
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At the end of the night, the bat mitzvah girl had an entire album of her special day.
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I stopped by the airbrush tattoo booth on my way 0ut. When in Rome!
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Chris is always anxious to see what I'll come home with after these events. Feathers in my hair, fish tail braids, fake eyelashes, fake tattoos... you never know!

The One with Looking Forward To in 1 Second - 10 Years


Friday, October 21, 2011

What I'm looking forward to in:

1 minute: Publishing this post!
1 hour: Dinner, bath, and bedtime which means Mommy & Daddy time then watching Fringe (totally awesome show IMHO).
1 day: Working at a bat mitzvah! These never (ever!) get old. Pics to come :)
1 week: A morning "Boo at the Zoo", our ward "trunk-or-treat" at night, and then Halloween a few days later!
1 month: Going to Washington for an entire week to keep my dad company and take care of the rowdy dog while my mom is with her parents in Panama.
1 year: Finding out where we'll be living the next four years with the army. Keeping busy with a terrible two year old. Hopefully still a SAHWM (stay-at-home-working-mom).
10 years: Established in a home of our very own. A back yard. A scrap room. 4 or 5 kids (there, I said it, that's how many kids we want eventually!). A few dogs, a couple cats, maybe a pygmy goat or something'. Loving life.
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What are you looking forward to?

The One with Fox's First Steps!


Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Look out world! Here comes Fox!
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I'm so proud :)

He walks back and forth between me and Chris like 15 times and then he's had enough. We're getting there! Now the real fun begins!

The One with Underwood Family Farms


Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Last week some of the mommies and babies from our ward went to Underwood Family Farms all the way out in Simi Valley for the Fall Harvest Festival. A good time was had :)
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Pumpkins, pumpkins, everywhere I look there were pumpkins! But who says that's a bad thing? I think it's a GOOD thing!
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Someone was a little more focused on eating a treat than smiling for the camera...
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A ginormous pumpkin.
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Fresh produce.
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I spy a Fox in a cow.
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There were a lot of animals. Everything from emus and rabbits to goats, ducks, turkeys, pigs, horses, peacocks... what didn't they have is the more appropriate question it seems!
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Produce stands and the country store. And lots of food stands that are only open on the weekends.
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Pumpkin house!
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A combine turned into a slide. I took Fox down it. No reaction from him whatsoever.
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A corn maze! We didn't make it very far into it before chickening out and turning back.
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So. Many. Babies. It's what we do okay? :)
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Makes me giddy to see so many pumpkins all in one place at one time. Halloween is almost upon us!
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My li'l pum'kin.
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The farm was a lot bigger than I imagined and way more crowded - I think cuz we went on Columbus Day. Now that I know what to expect I'll be more prepared for next year. Cuz yes, we're definitely going back!
Paige Taylor Evans © // Quinn Creatives DESIGN