My blind date...

So, my dear friend Doris set me up with Cheryl. Doris knew that Cheryl moved somewhere to the DC area within the last year, also "in between DC and Baltimore." Well, as these "small world" things go, it turns out that Cheryl lives in the very same town as me! And only about 5 minutes away lol!

So, after e-mailing for several weeks, Cheryl and I had our first date lol. I knew the second I saw her carrying the very same pink water bottle that I have, that we'd hit it off lol. We went to Hampden, which is a little section of Baltimore city full of antique stores, cafes, novelty shops, etc. and known for it's quirky and kitsch factor. We had a blast! Of course, we were there for almost 5 hours and didn't get very far into Hampden due to a long lunch, browsing at a select number of stores for a long time, and a 1, 3, and 5 year old slowing us down (but mainly the whiney, defiant 3 year old who I get to call mine! ;-)

Cheryl takes awesome photos, and she got way more than me, but here are some of my favs...

Cheryl hanging with one of the locals:
Cheryl's little guy London, who is so stinkin' cute!
The aforementioned whiney 3 year old ;-) with London (sorry about the wonky color, I tried fixing it, but to no avail!):
Ice cream - always the best part!

Cheryl in front of the cool store window at a cool store we stayed at for awhile:
LB wearing Noah's hat :-)
I love this one! The boys got along famously...
So sweet!
We take a lot of these types of photos in our house, and it was cool to catch it from a different persective ;-)
Ok, ok, so the mustache is upside down, but you get the point, lol!
It's been real... see you all later!
Speaking of Cheryl, she and a bunch of other awesome scrappy designers recently started an online art magazine, full of awesome inspiration and articles every single day. I love it, and I highly reccommend you check it out here.

So, a big thank you to Doris for playing matchmaker. And now, speaking of Doris, I have to emphasize the fact that I blogged about mine and Cheryl's date very quickly. Can you believe my dear friend doubted my ability to recap our day in a timely manner?! Such lack of faith, I tell you.... ;-)

How time flies...

It's hard to believe that it's been 3 years since this photo was taken of me and baby Chloe on our first trip to the beach as a family of four. Even crazier to think that next year if we go to the beach, we'll be a family of five! This is another layout I made with the very gorgeous AMM June kit. It feels so good to finally want to scrap again!! :-)



In other exciting news, Michelle made the DT announcement over at AMM. Carole Janson, Jennifer Longenecker, Kay Rogers and Zoe Nemburt have now joined our team. They all do gorgeous work, and I can't wait to see what they create with Michelle's kits! Congrats, ladies!!

We have a busy weekend ahead... hope you all have a great one!

ETA: Ginny asked me about the punch in my Summer Treat layout. It is a new Martha Stewart border punch that I bought at Michael's - it is called Rain Drop. Hope that helps! :-)

Have silly bandz hit your house yet?

So, who else is in the middle of the silly bandz craze? It cracks me up that this trend spans all ages, from the older kids all the way down to preschool! They surfaced in Noah's preschool class during his last week of school a couple of weeks ago, and my boy has been obsessed with them since lol. He loves trading them with all his n'hood friends, so, of course, i had to document this newest fad ;-)

I used the gorgeous AMM kit for this layout. I'm having so much fun with this kit - I finished another layout tonight which I will post soon, as well.

Hope everyone is having a great week! The weather has been fabulous here! We went berry picking today, which is always a great activity for the kids and me - who doesn't like getting to eat their reward for hard work? :-)

Summer treats....

Who doesn't like them? Especially yummy, cold, dripping ice cream.... I had so much fun watching Chloe destroy that ice cream cone last summer lol. The AMM June kit was perfect to help me document it :-) I used my favorite Tattered Angels color (Patina) to spray on the background, and I used one of the triangles from the banner to make a little ice cream cone.
So, how is everyone's weekend going? Lovely one here! Yesterday was busy with my nephew's 4th b-day party and a baby shower for one of my good friends. Today has been laaaazy combined with lots of loads of laundry and lots of giggles from the kids :-) And both Noah and Chloe felt the baby kick for the first time today - very exciting! Enjoy the rest of your weekend, friends!

AMM June kit and a photo update

Ok, you seriously do not want to miss out on AMM's gorgeous June kit! I loved it from the picture, but when I opened the box of goodies today, I was totally blown away! I love everything about this kit - great mix of manufacturers and goodies! I've already started to dig in :-) If you're interested, you can get one here.

Ok, I know my poor neglected blog is way behind on photos, so here goes...

Preschool graduation day - the kids sang a song to their parents about how much they loved us, and they brought us a rose... so sweet!
This photo cracks me up every.single.time.! This just screams preschool to me - after they got their diplomas, this was the first thing they did with them, LOL!
My handsome little man.
Chloe was showing Noah how proud of him she was ;-)
And, of course, little miss thang had to get in on the action.
Yep, silly bandz have hit the Taylor home!!
So, it's way hot here already, and being that i'm way big (and uncomfortable) already, we bought one of those cheesy inflatable backyard pools the other day. And it's even big enough for me to lay in it heheha. Chloe decided to dive in before we added water ;-) And yes, that is a bathing suit (Tony asked why I got her dressed in her leotard to go swimming...)!
The next day, after the water was added...
Well, friends, I will be back soon with some scrappies to share. Happy Friday!!

Wishful thinking....

Oh my goodness, I am totally in love with the two new Fancy Pants lines, Wishful Thinking and Like Father, Like Son. This layout uses the Wishful Thinking line:

I had fun handcutting the flower out, as well as the adorable banner paper. There are a lot of soft colors, but yet, also some darker colors, so I think you could get some boy layouts out of this line, too ;-)

So, what is everyone up to this holiday weekend? I am leaving in a couple of hours to head to New York City for a girl's weekend. I'll make sure to take lots of pics :-)

Noah's graduation from preschool was seriously the cutest thing ever! I don't have the pics on this computer, so when I get back from my trip, i'll be sure to post some! Have a GREAT weekend, everyone!

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaack....

Ok, ok, so I didn't actually go anywhere, but I feel like I should make something up to explain my long blogging absence ;-) Blah blah blah, yadda yadda yadda, you all know I don't have a good reason other than being pregnant and feeling unmotivated these days, so i'll leave it at that lol.

Much has happened in the 3 weeks since i've been here. Let's see....
1. We went cold turkey on Chloe's paci (she was using one for bedtime still)
2. I've spent a lot of time feeling completely and utterly exhausted (see #1 to figure out partly why lol - Chloe's bedtime habits have gone in the toilet now that she's lost her comfort)
3. My belly has grown about twice in size ;-)
4. Tony and I had our 8th wedding anniversary
5. I started nesting and totally cleaned out the baby's room (formerly known as our guest room) and GET THIS - my scrap room!! (So excited that I can see the floor again!)
6. We've been getting ready for Noah's preschool graduation in two days - tomorrow is his last day of preschool forever!
7. We ordered Chloe big girl furniture - can't wait for it to come in so I can fix up her "big girl" room and then start on the nursery.
8. Thanks to my awesome friend Doris sending me some gorgeous new Jenni Bowlin and Fancy Pants sending me the fantastic new lines, i've even been motivated to scrap some!

Here is a FP layout using the About a Girl line, including the flocked transparency and the glitter die-cut wings:

This weekend was SO much fun! We had a n'hood party Saturday night and then did backyard camping, ending with a big outdoor breakfast Sunday morning. Tony and I sort of cheated by putting an air mattress in the tent, but the kids roughed it completely by sleeping on the ground. We all had a blast!! The kids were so excited, and they keep asking when we can do it again :-)

Here is me and down-the-street-Heather and next-door Lisa:
Tony and Chloe during tent set-up time:
Roasting the marshmallows to make s'mores. Yuuuuuum.
Chilling in the tent:
Although I was very sore and veeery tired on Sunday, it was well worth it. Such great memories! I ended the weekend by getting a table at my LSS's scrappy yardsale. I ended up earning quite a lot of money in trade for stuff that was just sitting in my room gathering dust, so i'm happy.

I hope you all have had a wonderful few weeks, and i'll be around soon to catch up with you all!