Well, I've been sick since last weekend and both of my children have it too. I keep expecting to wake up feeling better, but have been getting sicker every day. So excuse the lack of posts. Please send more chicken soup and NyQuil. ;)

Would you just look at this gorgeous heart-shaped box of See's chocolates! I was beyond thrilled to recieve this from my wonderful husband this Valentine's Day. I have never had a heart-shaped box of candy before and it's something I have always dreamed of. It's just not the kind of thing you ask for because that would suck all of the romance right out of it. It has to be a special surprise... and it was! I'm in love!!!

This layout featuring my niece, Val, was a Scrapper's Bliss Design Team assignment for February. I had to lift ideas from an ad, fashion, a person, etc. I was inspired by Tia Bennett's "Full Full full" layout and got her permission to use it. I think Tia is a terrific person and I was so excited to meet her at CHA in Las Vegas. It took me two days to track her down and, like a big dope, I forgot to take a photo of us once we did meet. {smacks forehead}

Another high note... my best friend and her husband just brought home a 6 month old baby girl that they are going to adopt. She is the half sister to the 5 year old boy they adopted in 2005. I have yet to meet her in person, but her photos are so cute! The baby shower is this Sunday, so I will see her then. I hope the adoption process runs as smoothly as possible for them. They deserve everything to be perfect.

On a downer note... (life isn't all peaches and cream you know) We had to cancel our scuba diving classes. I had to get a medical release, but my asthma held me back yet again. I went to see my doctor two days in a row for breathing tests and failed. I am only breathing at 58% of my lung capacity. I was floored!! I haven't had an attack in over a year, so I thought I was doing quite well. I guess "well" for me is still crappy for everyone else. Diving is too risky and he wouldn't sign the release. : { You can bet I will be working on building up my lung strength so we can give this another try in the future. I am just so disappointed that we won't be allowed to do any diving while we are in Maui this summer.

To coincide with 3Bugs in a Rug Design Team call and because they are one of the first online stores to carry their papers, Scrapper's Bliss is going to have a 3 Bugs in a Rug Contest. The Grand Prize winner will be a guest "Bliss Girl" for the month of April. Prizes will be given for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. All entries need to be posted by March 20th on the Scrappers Bliss Gallery. If you have any questions, please email info@scrappersbliss.com.
Come play at www.scrappersbliss.com!!

I have been tagged again by my friend, Shannon (Shanshanmomof3). (I would add a link to her blog, but I don't know how.)

1. When did you join 2peas? Well, it must have been 2001 because I was home with a new baby at the time, but it was slow back then and I let it go. I don't even remember what my original pea name was. I joined again on January 21, 2004 as Princess Karen and I haven't left since.

2.How did you find it? I don't even remember.

3. What is the 1st layout you ever posted there? Geesh! I don't know the answer to that either. My gallery gets changed a lot.

4. Where have you spent time at 2peas? I started out just snooping through the gallery and posting on GS. I ventured over to the Pub and decided that was home for me. Love my Pubster pals!

5. Who is the 1st friend you made at 2peas? The first IRL friend I made was Lia Potts (pea-a-lia). We are still friends today.

6. What has 2peas done for you? I have made a lot of great friends and gained a lot of self confidence about my artwork.

7. How often do you visit 2peas? every day I check in on the Pub.

8. What is your favorite thing about 2peas? the peaple and the gallery.

9. What is your least favorite thing about 2peas? the shopping experience. Nothing is ever in stock and the shipping prices are not competitive at all. I do my online shopping at www.ScrappersBliss.com or I go to my LSS The Scrapbook Oasis in irvine.

Labels: tagged

These photos were NOT taken by me. I found them online at News stations, but wanted to share them. The one of Nohl Ranch Road was taken on our corner. The fire has changed directions, but the smoke comes and goes with the winds. It is currently 20% contained and they expect to have it under control by Saturday night. They said the fire was started when leftover smoldering embers ignited. The embers were left behind when fire officials did a precautionary burn two weeks ago to prevent this type of wild fire.

Well, this has been a crazy couple of days. There are wild fires burning out of control in the canyon off the 241. In case you don't know the area... this backs up to the hill we live on. We evacuated last night, but today they let everyone go home as the fires started burning south east away from homes. The report tonight is that it is only 10% contained. I'm no fool. The trunk of my car is still filled with the essentials. i was really surprised by how much i was willing to live without. I always thought I would need to save so much in the event of fire, but faced with it I only grabbed photos, important documents and a couple changes of clothes. Makes me want to do a clean sweep of all the excess stuff we have in our home. I will unpack the car when the fire is out. The air quality is terrible, but my new asthma meds are working well.

Here are a couple of photos I took yesterday and today from upstairs at our home. The red sun looks cool, but I assure you it was very creepy to see in real life.

I am having a Stampin Up Party at my place at 7pm on Thursday, February 16th. Let me know if you want to come or need me to place an order for you. You can see their catalog online at www.stampinup.com. They have the best inks! Love the creamy caramel ink that my friend, Becky Rusher got me hooked on. :) Anyway, come for dessert and some time away from the kids. We'll have a great time!

I am just in awe of the talented and thoughtful friends I have in my life. I got the most amazing gift today!! My dear friend Patty (pschuchman to the peas) sent me a box full of lovin'!!! Not only did she send me a load of yummy Dove dark chocolates, but she made me a beautiful heart-shaped box with two layers of scrappin' goodies in little candy foils. There are heart shaped brads in various sizes and colors, chipboard hearts, ribbon and trim, tiny heart pins, X & O brads, pink red & white photo turns and round brads and even little prima flowers in two colors of pink and gray. Patty is so clever and talented and she can embellish a box like nobody's business. This box is just so pretty and frilly. The photos don't do it justice. How lucky am I? I can't even tell you how much this means to me. Patty is really a very special person. She makes my life so much sweeter!

Thank you, Patty!!! I adore you from the bottom of my heart! You are the BEST!!!!! -k

I forgot to include this photo of Nora , Teresa and I taken at CHA. The three of us never seem to run out of things to talk about. I am so glad to have real girlfriends like these two in my life. Can't wait for Teresa to come back to So Cal in March. She's going to be teaching at Scrapbook Oasis in Irvine, so don't miss it!

I'm back from CHA!!! I had such a great time traveling with my friend, Nora and I was thrilled to spend a little time with Andrea, Monica, Linda, Jlyne & Jen from Scrapper's Bliss. I also met some of my favorite pea pals, which made me really happy. We left town before the Designer Dinner... bummer! Just wish I would have remembered to take a picture with everyone. I did get some photos of some of my favorite new products. I fell in love with all of the pretties at Prima!! I wish I could have two of everything! It was so fun to see all of the awesome stuff Teresa came out with for Junkitz too. She gave Nora and I a guided tour and you could just feel her excitement over it all. Love her! Nora was ga ga over the American Crafts Bookshelf papers and letter stickers. They were really cool and I think we stopped at that booth about six times just to drool. tee hee! One of the highlights of the whole show for me was seeing the layout that Amy Howe made using a photo of my youngest son and husband on display at the BasicGrey booth. It was very cute and so cool to see it there! There was just so much to see and it's actually hard for me to remember every little thing. I did take a few photos at Prima, Junkitz & KI Memories. I'll post more photos later.... they are on Nora's camera. Here's a start.... (That is HauteRox, NoraScrapsMac and I in the photo)