Hurricane Sandy is gone!

Wow, these past two days have been something. Hurricane Sandy slowly made its way up the East coast making landfall at Atlantic City, shutting down everything including the casinos and NYC! Baltimore got heavy wind and rain, but thankfully my home stayed dry and the power stayed ON! I got 2 days off from work that I enjoyed although I'm afraid of what's waiting for me when I get back tomorrow. My kids are dancing because city schools are closed again tomorrow. A career in education is looking good for the snow & rain days alone. Just joking, being an educator is hard work! But back to the storm, I'm thankful it didn't hit Maryland as hard as it could have. Praying for those in NYC (my 2nd favorite place in the world) and NJ.

I did a little coloring with my sister's Prisma pencils I've borrowed. (Drea, I'll return them by Thanksgiving..lol) I'm still learning, they say practice makes perfect. I plan on getting some layouts done this weekend. I am so behind. I love Saturated Canary's digi stamps. here are a couple I worked on during the storm. Coloring is so relaxing, takes me back to my childhood. 

A Colorful Birthday

 I just celebrated my 45th birthday. I can't believe it! I feel pretty good for my age. Am I where I want to  be with my goals and dreams? No. Am I blessed to be alive and healthy with a life filled with family and friends that love and support me? Absolutely! I started my birthday off with an all day Color Me Crop, an awesome birthday gift from my bff Jenni. I learned some new techniques with coloring with Prisma pencils and I love it! Thanks Sandy for the class. I love going to crops because I am surrounded by a group of amazing, talented women who inspire me to expand my creativity. I loved coloring as a kid and still do. It's so relaxing. We had some cool digi stamps to play with.



This cutie was our project in Sandy's class.

This one is my practice girl, not bad, huh?

2 pages I did with Simple Stories Awesome line. Just have to finish up with some journaling. The pictures are from Jordan's visit to M &T Bank Stadium for Raven's rookie movie night. More layouts to come!

A New Season

8 1/2 years ago I left a pretty well paying job as an Executive Assistant at a known cable company. Great perks - free cable, internet and tickets to O's & Ravens games...Ahh those were the days. I left after my youngest Jordan was about year and half because along with that great pay and perks came much stress. A demanding boss and late work hours became a bit overwhelming. I was a working mom of a baby, a kid in both elementary and middle school. Shout out to all the working moms who handle it all, but for me it was a bit much. I found a decent paying part time job, 24 hours a week, off on Thursdays and off by 3pm on the other 4 days of the work week. It was perfect for me at that season of my life.

The season has definitely changed! My oldest son has moved out on his own, my middle son is a junior in high school and that then toddler is almost 11 years old. We've bought a house and the economy has changed drastically from when I started my part time job. Now I am at a crossroads. I need a full time job to help our family live a bit more comfortably and put away a little more for our future. The flip side is entering back into the full time rat race. I saw one of my former (and favorite) supervisors the other day and we were talking about retirement and he says, "What's wrong with work if you love what you do?" It made me realize that I need not only a full time job but also something I love doing. I tend to be my worse enemy when job searching. I'll see something that I think is perfect for me but then I talk myself out of it before I even apply. Part of it is fear of the unknown, fear of starting over at some place new and stepping out of my comfort zone. But the time has come, time for a new season. I know God will put me where I should be be. I need to just shake the fear and step out on faith! 

"You block your dream when you allow your fear to grow bigger than your faith" - Mary Manin Morrissey

Creative Slump

This has truly been a month where life is interrupting my scrapbooking. I am in a creative slump. I haven't done a layout since last month..wahh! I need to get it together. My real job (the one that pays the bills) is completely non-creative, so scrapbooking allows me to go all out and create my own masterpieces. Writing is also something I love to do but need to find the time!! I am committing at this moment to updating my blog weekly. How else do you perfect a craft other that immersing yourself in it? I just got 2 kits I can't wait to play with! Echo Park's Note to Self and Simple Stories Awesome. Let's see what I'm inspired to create!