Pink Goodies

My friend Erin was on a trip with her family recently and she brought back some scrappy goodies for a few of us! She got me a pretty pink Making Memories set of ribbons and fabric covered brads. Thank you Erin! I can’t wait to use these!

3 Random Facts (I've been tagged)

My friend Claude tagged me on her blog for this, so here goes. Here are three random facts about me:

1. I get my hair cut once every 12-18 months when I think about it, and I get about 6-8 inches cut off each time.


2. I’ve fallen out of more trees than most people ever climb


3. Surprisingly enough, the only broken bones I’ve had, had nothing to do with falling out of the tree(s).

I know, you were hoping for something a little more juicy. She did say random, you know... :P

An Easier Glucose Test?

Today I had to go for some standard pregnancy blood tests at the hospital, including the dreaded glucose test. The glucose test (for those of you who never had to endure it) is for the purpose of testing for gestational diabetes. OK , so I can’t argue with the reasoning. I just remember it was really gross the last time. When I was pregnant with Liam, I had a different doctor, and I was dealing with a different hospital for my tests.

The glucose test consists of the following steps, keeping in mind that you are allowed no food or beverages from midnight the night before:

1. The nurses take blood sample number 1
2. You drink a room temperature, icky, orange syrup that tastes like orange pop, but the concentrate that is normally mixed with carbonated water before being considered palatable for humans. Ewwwwww!
3. You wait an hour, (still having nothing to eat or drink), then they take the second blood sample.

Presumably some very smart person in a lab will then compare the two samples to see how your body deals with sugar. Then you eat and drink like a crazed animal, because it’s been more than 12 hours, and hello - pregnant!

Now, you’re probably wondering when I will get to the Good Thing in all of this (because it doesn’t sound like a lot fun, right?). Here’s the thing - at this hospital, they give you a COLD, CARBONATED version of the syrup!! Woot! This stuff just tastes like drinking Orange Crush (but the way it’s meant to be served !)

Ahhhhh - finally somebody realized that it would be easier to have a nauseous Prego drink and keep it down this way! Thank you Hopital Lasalle!

The Paper Element Design Team!

I have been busting a gut trying to keep this secret until the official announcement was made. (One Good Thing is that I could gush about it to my cats, with no fear of it being spread around, LOL!)

This week I was asked to join the very first design team for the scrapbook manufacturer: The Paper Element! They are a relatively new scrapbook company, with their first collections being released at CHA 2007. This summer they will release their 3rd collection at CHA Summer, and I can’t wait to see what we will be designing with! We expect to get our first kit sometime in June, so the wait shouldn’t be too long.

When I saw the DT call for this manufacturer, I checked out their site and loved their papers right away. I figured I didn’t have a great chance of being selected, but I applied anyway, and look what happened! I’m super excited about this new challenge / opportunity! And I can’t wait to work with this talented group of designers.

Click here to see the official announcement at The Paper Element.

Friday Night Crop at Scrapbook Centrale

In addition to enjoying the company of some scrappy friends tonight, I actually accomplished something, LOL! I got three pages done in an evening, which hasn’t happened in a while. Hello Mojo - I’ve missed you!

Qui a peur du grand loup Garou??

Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

Even though I’m a bloke, and grew up in a very Anglophone area of Nova Scotia, I’ve long had a fascination with Francophone rock music, particularly from Quebec. As a teen in Truro I listened to Veronique Beliveau & Mitsou, among others.

Mitsou on Youtube
And some more...

In my twenties, when I moved to Québec, I found artists like Eric Lapointe and Jean LeLoup. I still listen to them, and have added artists like Bruno Pelletier, Kevin Parent & La Chicane to my collection.

Eric Lapointe (sorry, not a real video for this one)
Bruno Pelletier
Jean LeLoup
La Chicane

An artist that quickly became one of my favourites is Garou. His music career really shot into the stratosphere when he was picked to play the lead role of Quasimodo in the original production of Notre Dame de Paris. I have loved to listen to him sing ever since, and have bought all of his albums.

Imagine my surprise and delight to find his new album this week, and it’s in English! The first single is called “Stand Up!” and was written by Rob Thomas. Let me tell you - this is a great match for Garou’s voice and style. I really hope that Rob Thomas writes more songs for Garou.

I’m thoroughly enjoying this new album (and it’s a little easier for me to sing along this time, ha, ha!).

Garou "Stand Up"
Garou "Gitan"
And here for others. Enjoy!

Chocolate Whip Cream?!?

How come I never knew this existed?

New Starbucks summer drink - Mint Mocha Chip Frappuccino. Pretty much diabetes in a plastic glass. Oh my that chocolate whip cream is good.

How could this NOT be a good thing?

(OK - don't answer that. I just read the calorie content. But I'm caffeinating for two now, right?)

Shopping Success

Well, after finally choosing all the papers that I wanted to use for my baby announcements, and calculating the quantities I would need, the next step was to go shopping. I was worried that my local store (Scrapbook Centrale) would be out of the papers that I wanted to use.

But I was wrong! They had everything I needed (even if I ended up taking the last sheets on a couple of papers, LOL!). Ah, that's better. One less thing to stress about.

Prince Caspian

C.S. Lewis has long been my favourite author. I’ve seen several screen adaptations of his books over the years, and been completely disappointed each time. Not so anymore.

These new versions (from Walden Media) that are in production now are making this fan very happy. I'm sure that a large part of this new-found sastifaction stems from the fact that Douglas Gresham (C.S. Lewis' stepson) is co-producer, and a fan of the books. I loved “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” and now I also love the new “Prince Caspian”.

My friend Laurie and I went to see “Prince Caspian” today, which was nice, because I don’t get out to the movies very much any more, especially with a friend. The movie was so well done, and even though it strayed from the book in parts, it didn’t do the book a disservice. I loved it. Thank you Hollywood for finally getting it right!

Creative Scrappers DT!

WOOT!! I’ve been selected as a member of the first Design Team for the Creative Scrappers sketch blog!

Check out the announcement - it will be exciting to work with these talented ladies from all over the world!

Love sketches? Come check the weekly sketch challenges at Creative Scrappers. Keep an eye out for some of the contests too - Kristine has some awesome sponsors lined up!

A Visit from a Dear Friend

My best friend Laurie and I don’t get to see each other very often. She lives in Mississauga, which is a 6 hour drive from Montreal. We try to get together when we can, but real world commitments often get in the way.

Well, my dear friend Laurie was able to come to visit me and my family for the May long weekend. I was soooo happy to see her! It was wonderful to get to spend so much time together. You can tell that we are both a little older now, ‘cause we didn’t stay up talking ‘til 4am, like we’ve been known to do in the past, LOL! But it was a great visit!

Publication Request!

I am sooooooo excited! I just got an email from Canadian Scrapbooker magazine requesting to publish one of my layouts! Woo hoo!

This will be my first layout published in a magazine! I can’t show the layout here until after the magazine comes out, but it features a heritage photo of my grandfather in uniform, so it’s a special layout to me.

Today Liam had his 3-year check up at the doctor. Everything looks good; his doctor is very happy with his health and his growth. He’s now 36 lbs and 3’1”. No wonder I have a hard time lifting this kid!! And he grew 2.5 inches this past year. The boy’s going to be taller than me by the time he’s 10, ha ha ha! I can see it now - I’ll be staring him square in the chest when I’m grounding him, LOL!

On another note, my prize pack from Scrapbook Star arrived today. It’s even better than the pictures, and I can’t wait to use it!

Liam’s 3rd Birthday

My little guy is three years old today. I know every parent says this, but I can’t believe how fast the last three years have gone by! It seems so recent that I was pregnant with Liam, now I’m preparing for baby #2.

And what a little (or not so little) bundle of energy. We’re so blessed that he’s so healthy. Sometimes I have to remind myself that not all parents are so lucky - I need to remember to be grateful.

I won some scrappy goodness!

Last week I entered a contest at Creative Scrappers sketch blog. Today I got an email telling me that I won the draw!

I won a fun scrapbook kit from one of their sponsors: Scrapbook Star. I can’t wait to get it - it looks like it’s full of great goodies!

Mother's Day

Today I got kisses from Liam and he 'drew' in my card. Apparently it's a "Big Loch Ness Monster", LOL! He also insisted that Papa (André) draw me a car. Too cute!

We had a pleasant visit with the in-laws (where I also took some pictures of this lovely tree in their front yard - I want a flowering tree like this!). It was another lovely sunny day today.

On our way home we stopped at Chapters and Starbucks, and I tried a Passion Tea Lemonade. Yummmmm! I think I've found a new favorite summer drink!

Day at the Park

Today we went to the park. Well, Liam and André went to the park while I was still asleep, ha ha ha! When I got up, I called the cell to if they were still there or heading home, then I grabbed my camera and headed out to meet them.

Liam loves the park. He loves playing outdoors in general. So I had fun taking pictures and practicing with my new zoom lens. I can't wait to scrap some of these new pics.

The weather was perfect - bright and sunny, but not too hot. Just the way I like it.

Doctor's Visit - 24 week Checkup

I had a pre-natal visit today at the doctor's office. One Good Thing is that the receptionist called to let me know that the appointments were running late, so to come an hour later. This lead to me spending only 20 minutes in the waiting room instead of an hour and 20 minutes. I am so grateful for considerate & helpful receptionists!

Oh - and the checkup went well - Mommy and Baby are both healthy.

National Scrapbooking Day Crop

14 hours of cropping fun, hosted by Scrapbook Centrale. Good company, some good news from a friend, and I actually got a few layouts done, LOL! The goody bags were awesome (Nathalie never disappoints!) I won some great raffle prizes and I bought a new crop tote with my 30% off coupon. Woo hoo! It was a fun (but tiring for me) day!

This was my favorite raffle win - a Doodlebug Doodlebag!! Isn't it the cutest thing ever?!

Ready for the big crop!

Tomorrow is the NSD crop hosted by Scrapbook Centrale. One Good Thing is that I'm packed and ready to go. It's so good to not be packing my bags (or printing photos!!) half an hour before I'm supposed to leave the house!