I'll be doing this tommorow! www.shimelle.com
and
I will blog about my excellent birthday weekend!!

The other side

So far...30 feels just like 29

but i did put on extra moisturizer this morning :)

thank you blogland for all the well wishes...they made me smiley.
thank you IRL friends for phone calls, texts, and meals...love you all!!

And so it begins...

Saturday was my first 30th birthday party! (because i believe in celebrating my birthday as many times as possible) I showed up for scrapping and got a little birthday party too...complete with tiara :)

They planned all my favorite foods so we basically ate ALL DAY! Should i list them all? yeah...

Homemade banana bread...still warm (the way i like it) slathered with butter
sausage gravy and cornbread (better than biscuits, trust me)
grilled hamburgers ( i am never eating hamburger anywhere else...GOOD beef)
twice baked potatoes
asparagus (omg...it was perfect)
homemade salsa
ranch dip and veggies
deviled eggs
little smokies wrapped in bacon (haahaahaa...yeah...ALL pork ALL the time)
macaroni salad
swedish EFFIN fish
red licorice
AND birthday cake OF COURSE...lol Amy made this scrumptious banana cake with cream cheese frosting...i ate it ALL day...seriously...it was so funny...you know how you take a little sliver...and then KEEP taking little slivers...over and over and over...haahaaa. seriously one of my new favorite cakes!

omg...im so full just looking at all of that but it was a GREAT party...thank you BFF's
oh...and the scrapping? SOME of us got like 12 pages done...but NO that was NOT me...haahaa

i miss my hermiston girls...if i could be two places at once that would DEFINITELY be the second!
xoxoxo

going down...

My debts are decreasing at a slow but steady pace! Having just paid one off this month i wanted to do a little recap...

starting last year in Aug I paid off Target, September was Sallie Mae (that one had been around since 1995!!!) November was a doctor bill, February was a dentist bill, March was HSBC credit card, April was Neiman Marcus card, and May was Old Navy card!! Next up...gas card and Macys!

Im not going to depress myself with how many more i have to go!

So...YAY me :)

oh...and since my sisser is coming home to me im NOT going to europe. dave ramsey says i have to pay off bills and then go when i can PAY CASH. hes entirely TOO SENSIBLE sometimes :)

Have you met my niece yet?

(shes 6 weeks old now and i JUST figured out how to "steal" pictures from facebook & post them)

~~~~Rebecca Joyce~~~~
(her onesie was homemade by me...it says "My Aunty {hearts} Me alot")

Here she is with Mommy
(isnt my sister RADIANT? seriously...she was born for this!)

Here she is with Daddy
(doesnt she have a CUTE daddy ;) )

...and the best news of all? They are COMING HOME to me this fall!!!!!!! I'm so thrilled I can barely talk about it for fear of crying happy tears! It has been TWO YEARS since I've seen my sister and ALOT longer than that since we spent any REAL TIME together! I miss her sooooo much and i really really cant wait to have hours of snuggle time with miss cutie patootie there!!

its already the 25th!

More picture taking all day!! YAH!!

scrappy slump again...

do i have too much stuff or not enough?

all day scrapping and im still not even done with one...

have i lost it?

If you were here...

I would go to church with you in the morning and be proud to sit next to you.

I would buy you flowers

I would take you out for steak and eggs and biscuits with lots of gravy

I would make you a mini album with pictures of all your kids and grandkids, so you could cry and hug me.

I would spend more time hugging you.

You were in all of my dreams last night, it made me desperately happy and desperately sad.

the BEST holiday EVER...

tommorow is NATIONAL SCRAPBOOKING DAY!!

im so excited i dont even CARE how many people have made fun of me today!!!

im just so thrilled to hang with my girlies tommorow and play with paper and glue!!!

Im stocked up on cardstock, have pictures uploaded and CUPCAKES ready to go...

tommorow is gonna ROCK!!!

i shall share the goodness on sunday cause i dont plan on being home while its still saturday...lol

oh AND i have a very special piece of artwork on its way too me...from a special artist!!!

and can you believe that i REALLY made the cupcakes?? i KNOW...amylynn didnt believe it either....haaahaaa!!!

todays post is brought to you by WAY TOO MANY EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!
xoxo

A project I might complete?

SCRAP YOUR DAY

Every month, on the 25th, take pictures all day...make an album. First part easy, second part HARD...haahaa

In love with....

• babies- three new ones in the last two weeks! wow! two of them are far away from me so i'll love on the third one EXTRA

• google reader - i swear they read my mind!! it tells me when people post to their blog!! seriously...i dont have to check them ALL i just subscribe and bam...there they are! i have a shameful amount in my list...haahaa

• reading - devouring books again is so so cool!! i might have to fall back in love with the library and forgive them for being JERKS

• art - i totally want some of other peoples art to hang on my walls!! and ETSY omg...i'll take one of everything

tommorow is FRIDAY...i cant wait! a fun little party after work with my girls, a two year old party on saturday...and maybe some scrappy time <3

xoxo

Good bye

1924-2008
I love you grama!

Bravely NOT spending money

can budgeting be considered brave?

i know that going to portland for girls weekend with ONLY cash and not even my debit card would be considered brave!! and i came home with 4 dollars...whoohoo

this financial peace thing is HARD. sometimes i feel like im getting the hang of it and sometimes i feel totally overwhelmed. good thing i have friends in the class that are helping me with the hard parts.

getting my money under control will DEFINITELY be the most significant thing i do this year!

My sister turned 28 yesterday...ummm...what?? i was twenty eight not that long ago! what is going on with the world!! i feel like Joey..."we had a deal God" haahaahaa

oh...and shes very very pregnant! lol...i love love love seeing her get as big as a house...shhh...dont tell her i said that! its so cool to see her looking like a mom it makes me smily inside and i cannot WAIT to see my neice!

one more thing....trader joes was everything i imagined and more...i will be sending a shopping list with amylynn whenever she goes

xoxo my girlies!

girls i heart...alot

ok...so im sure you have noticed that i have a list of my best girls on the side of the blog now.

i need to clarify that this list is limited to girls who blog...now i realize not everyone blogs...and certainly not everyone i love blogs...

so this is dedicated to my "other" girls...you ARE my heart...

I cooked!

Apparently i can actually cook if im motivated enough!

Took a couple things out of the freezer, steamed a pot of rice and voila!















Why am I motivated to cook? Ummm...its a BLIZZARD out there. I feel so lucky to be home safe and warm.



















These were taken 2 hours ago and it is STILL COMING DOWN!

When I have to be at work at 630 tommorow morning i probably wont feel that lucky...

More bravery

So...I gave a boy my phone number! Eeek!

I know its ridiculous that it should be this big a deal at my advanced age but it turns out romantically I'm stuck somewhere in early high school. Literally if I could have gotten away with a "check yes if you like me" note I would have gone that route. Instead I have friends that threatened me with bodily harm and all kinds of extreme embarrassment if I didnt JUST DO IT. So i saw him, gave him my number, and then ran away! haaahaa...seriously i thought i was going to puke afterwards or have a heart attack.

are you starting to get why BE BRAVE is going to be something i have to work on for a freakin YEAR?

Im pathetic...but I DID IT!!!