At the Hop

Hello and welcome to my first ever Blog Hop!! If you are participating in the blog hop, you should have come from Dana Vincent's blog and if not, then you should start from the beginning with Samantha's blog until you come to my blog.

We are highlighting items from the holiday catalog, and there are so many things to love in there. This Santa jacket is my absolute favorite, and with a little flocking on the collar and fringe, it's just like Santa's furry jacket.

I'm starting to become the Poster Girl for Clean and Simple - this card? Two stamps, 2 pieces of Paper, and a ribbon!

[All supplies are by A Muse Studio -- Stamp set: Naughty or Nice; Ribbon: Cherry; Cardstock: Candy Cane Stripe and Onyx]

All of these supplies are available at my web site! Or please contact me to schedule a workshop! I love it!!

Thanks for stopping by!! Now on to your next stop, Karen Crisp's blog...I LOVE what she's done with Santa's Coats...I'm totally going to case (scraplift, steal) that idea!

Happy Friday!!

Cruisin!

Okay, so, I find that I'm no longer a spontaneous person. I didn't mean to become one who plans everything (and some would tell you that I'm not), but for the most part, I know what each day is going to hold. And honestly, with the schedule of being an employee, Mom, wife, cheerleader coach, and the President of "Turn the World into A Dance Floor" Movement, I'm glad about that.

However, I had to throw caution to the wind, and luckily had a sister who was feeling as spontaneous as I was. I took a road trip to Philly (well, King of Prussia) on a TUESDAY to go to a stamp workshop. A Muse has taken the show on the road, and it was SO worth it.

A Friday list -- the 10 best things, in no particular order, that made this trip, on a scale of 1 - 10, a 23.

1. ROAD TRIP = SNACKS. My workout's were extra hard this week, because I think I have calorie immunity if I'm going beyond a 50 mile radius. How I love peanut M&Ms. Oh, wait, the athlete in me struggles with listing this as #1, but it IS in no particular order.

2. Spending time with my friend Isunji. I don't get to see her enough. We laughed, we listened to Terrence Trent D'Arby - we caught up in that way that old girlfriends do. It was beautiful.

3. Linda. Linda started A Muse many years ago in her basement, and grew it into a successful business, all while raising her kids. And she's as nice as they come. I couldn't BELIEVE that she remembered me calling the store so many moons ago. Talk about customer service. I'm going to trust that she didn't remember me because I was bat sh!t crazy.

4. Heather. Heather is A Muse Studio Chief Creative Officer. Okay, first, I love that title. I want to be someone's Chief Creative Officer. I felt an immediate kinship to Heather, who has such a fun spirit (and she let me spruce up before she took my picture). Here the three of us are, at the end of a long day, still smiling!!

5. There was a HUGE mall near where I was. I didn't make it, but somehow I think I smile bigger in the presence of commerce.

6. I met some lovely people at the workshop. I've always maintained that crafty people are a friendly bunch. We are always willing to share, and laugh. It's nice to make a new connection, especially when you're nurturing an old one.

7. I remembered that I am not indispensable, and I can leave work for an afternoon and it. Will. Be. Okay. I have to keep that in mind. It's what I do, not who I am.

8. I'd be lying if I didn't say it wasn't a challenge to drive 6 hours over 12 hours. But I think every now and again it's good to push yourself to do what you think you can no longer do. It keeps you young.

9. On the way home, we stopped for a gnosh at McDonalds, and I took the liberty of getting some smurfs. When given the choice, Alex chooses where he wants to eat based on the toy that's offered, and right now, the McDonald's happy meals are offering Smurfs. I kinda love this - it's a total throwback. And the McD's in Philly had different smurfs, so I got them all (to save us a trip to McDonalds in the future). I lined them on Alex's bathroom sink, and when he discovered them the next morning, he was convinced that there were more in the house. Or, as he told Walter, it was Christmas. I love how my kid thinks there's magic all the time. That makes me happy.

10. Last but not least, I got a chance to nurture my love of my craft, some time, as my friend Alenka said, to do the things that makes me "me". I think we all need to remember what makes us who we truly are, and do the things that remind of us of that!

Happy Friday!!

Schools Out for Summer...

...but not for much longer.

A's teacher's aide has headed back to school, and I wanted a card to say thanks for everything she did! I really loved how this card turned out (all products a|s studio). Red, white, and blue is one of my all time favorite combinations and I LOVE this lined paper!

All of these products are on sale as a part of the A Muse Spotlight for August! One of the many things I love about A Muse is how they have sales...you know sales just speak to me. Along with the stamp sets, which I've listed below, they will also put the coordinating cardstock on sale - a fanTAStic way to get samples of many colors.

Here's are the stamp sets on sale - 10% off!

Stamp Sets:

School Days (used in this card)

Rock Star

Personal Stationary

The Mighty Jungle

Past Due

Coordinating Card Stock - Collegiate

One thing that I love about most of these stamp sets is that they go really well with scrapbooking!

Enjoy, and as always, contact me with any questions, or order from my website.

Colour My World

Okay, so, I can see if I keep posting my love for the crafty, finding song titles for each post is going to be hard. But I'll keep trying.

Here's a card I made using only 2 stamps, 2 ink colors, 5 pearl buttons, and some ribbon. And of course, the paper. A Muse is all about the Clean and Simple designs, which really appeals to my desire to simplify! So if you've ever thought you wanted to make cards, but didn't have time, or the inclination to sit over a craft desk for hours, I have great news for you! You don't have to!!

I love this stuff.

Side Alex Note: Does anyone else think they are raising a rock star? Seriously! After dancing his heart out yesterday, Alex is STILL asleep. And when he wakes up, he's going to want a big breakfast. Sometimes I'm a mom, sometimes I'm a roadie.

A New Thing

So, I've got this new thing going on that really excites me!! I'm a Creative Consultant for A Muse Studio. a | s is not NEW NEW -- I've been buying their rubber stamps for years, but they've recently gone home based and I...I LOVE IT! I love the quality of their paper, and their stamps, and I love that it's got me refocused on crafting. In addition to all the other things I like to communicate in this blog, I'm going to be posting the occasional project that shares my crafty love!

The other thing that's easy to love about a muse studio? They carry a large line of Copic markers. I can't tell you how much I love these markers, I'd have to show you! Here's a halloween scene I colored using my Copic markers!

Please browse the a | s catalog! I promise you, you'll be glad you did!

19th Nervous Breakdown

Subtitle: From the Alex Files - Extended Remix

Okay, so today I pick Alex up from school, and, as usual, there's a flurry of activity. I think teachers are underpaid as a whole, but Pre-K teachers who have a classroom of children that did not get to go outside and run off energy? Clearly, there's no better evidence that teaching is a labor of love.

Anyway, there's a girl in Alex's class, let's call her Reena (after my imaginary childhood friend). Reena is...um...spirited. I've seen Reena maybe 6 times during drop off, and probably four of those times she's been in the middle of a SPECTACTULAR melt down. Seriously. Tears, screaming, the whole works. And her Mom is nowhere to be found (can't blame her there), so it's not like she's crying out for parental attention (which would be sad, but still, at 6:30 in the morning? Annoying as hell.) So Reena is playing with 2 other girls when I walk in. And near Alex's cubby is the latest science experiment, an egg that's submersed in vinegar until the shell melts/disintegrates/whatever.

Oh, and this is the same child that Alex not-so-politely told that my name was Tyuana, and Walter told me that Alex has remarked to him that Reena tells on everyone, except for her one girlfriend, and sometimes even her. To quote: "Daddy, all day she's "Ms. Tynee-Ms. Neka- Ms. Tynee-Ms. Neka. She's always telling."

(I'm sure a better parent would ask the question - what material is my kid giving her for tattling, but I'm going to work on being a better parent tomorrow.)

Okay, that's the set up.

While Alex is packing his stuff, the three girls are playing with the egg, and Ms. Tynee, the teacher warns them that they have to be careful, that it's still an egg, and will crack. Of course, they are FOUR, so they are fascinated. Reena saying something kind of loud to the other kids, and Alex whispers to me "she's ALWAYS yelling about something.

As you can imagine, 6 four year old hands did not do a good job of holding onto the egg, and it breaks, in Reena's hands. The other girls run off talking about the egg. Alex, who I thought was packing his stuff while I was talking to Ms. Tynee, observes the entire thing and runs off to tell his dude friends Mason and Jackson (not their real names either, I feel compelled to protect the names of children I do not know), and I hear him saying...REENA BROKE THE EGG.

(Long set up, bear with me)

The other two girls come back to the scene of the crime, and I can see that Reena is wearing the evidence of her misfortune on her sleeve, which is wet and reeks of vinegar. Alex is packing up his stuff, and says, "Mommy, did you see Reena break the egg?" Reena gets visibly agitated and starts yelling at Alex "YOU'RE NOT A GROWN UP, ALEX! STOP IT!".

In response, Alex leans into me, I kid you not, and says "here she goes again." And she starts to cry.

So she's standing there crying to me, and I'm trying not to laugh at my kid's OBVIOUS agitation at this girls' emotions, and say -- oh your Mom can wash that up. Don't worry.

Alex: Yeah, ask your Mom to wash it.

Reena: SHE CAN'T WASH IT! I HAVE A BOO BOO.

Alex: [eye roll]

Me: [at a complete loss of words at this exchange] I'm sorry about your shirt.

What else is there to say? This kid is already like that character in Seinfeld that cried over everything.

So then, we are walking to the car, and I say, "Alex, you weren't very sympathetic to Reena".

Alex: But Mommy! She all the time doing that.

Me: Well, that's no reason to tease her.

Alex: She's always yelling at me. SERIOUSLY. She's gonna have to cut that out.

It's losing something as I'm typing it, but after I strapped him in I had to stand outside of the car for a full 2 minutes while I laughed myself silly.

So Alex and Reena should be planning the wedding around 2035.

Fumbling Toward Ecstasy

Okay, so it would appear that I *did* have a bit of a "OMG I'm 40" crisis (can't call it midlife...just yet). And since my middle name is procrastination, I only just now figured this out. Obviously, I had embraced the good changes that being 40 brought - there's a certain amount of ...well, I *AM* 40 that's starts to happen. I did begin to take, on the whole, everything less seriously. I get now that being true to who you are means that everyone may or may not be a fan, and that's not anything to take personally. I also get that you have to, more often than not, take care of your body so that your body will take care of you.

But it was the other, darker issues about turning 40 - a true confrontation with my lack of confidence, my fear that I was truly destined to be...ordinary - that started to simmer in my thoughts.

I really started asking myself "who are you?" There's one definite drawback to being what I'd call resilient. The ability to fit in many places makes it really hard to find your true nitch, to figure out where you belong. I wondered if I'd made peace with the first 40, so that I could go about enjoying the second 40.

And then a perfect storm of events kind of catapulted me into a 30,000 ft view of my life.

Sunday, I had a lovely conversation with my friend Patrick, who was in town for a weekend. Just your normal catching up, but then he said "I knew, from a very young age, when I first heard there was something called Broadway, that I wanted to be there." I'm almost positive I never said - "Mom, when I grow up, I want to be an analyst for the IRS." I never had a moment like that as a kid - I never saw something, and thought, I want to do that. Oh, sure, there was that time I was watching Dynasty and Alexis said "if you don't do as I wish, I'm simply fire you all and find someone who will". That stuck with me - I thought that was completely kick ass and wanted to be the head of my ex-husband's board so I could say that to stick it to his beautiful new wife, and then we'd go fight in the lily pond wearing tremendous shoulder pads. But back to my point, there's always this nugget burning inside of me...this thought that I'm not supposed to be doing this job.

Then, my cousin died on Wednesday. Now anyone close to me knows I have a RACK of first cousins, and that my family is huge. And not surprisingly, I'm more in touch with some cousins than others. This cousin, while I didn't see often, I truly loved, and what's more? Her dad is one of my favorites. Kiki was the first baby born after me (my family ALWAYS has babies running around), and I remember being spittin' mad that no one would let me hold her. I also remember my grandfather sneaking her onto my lap when no one was looking. I remember when Kiki's baby sister was born, I used my 8 (maybe 9)- year old wisdom to deduce that everyone would be so crazy about the NEW baby, that I could finally get to hold Kiki. And now...35 far too short years later, she's drifted out of this world, leaving her family, and my uncle, devastated. I should hope by now she's run into my Grandfather, and he's telling her that her kids and her parents will be fine, that people learn to live with broken hearts more often than is fair.

Before last week, I was thinking about flirting with some things that had always fascinated me, wanting to indulge some curiosity a bit. Nothing that would jeopardize my secret clearance, not to worry. But I definitely lived the first 40 within the constraints of what I was supposed to do...go to college, major in business, get a good government job, get married, start a family. And while all of these things have paid humongous dividends in my life (and, I think, humanity), I think the road not taken starts to loom larger the further you get away from it. And I started to wonder, had the list not been given to me, what would I have chosen to put on it?

And after a great weekend with friends, filled with laughter, shooters, and drinking games, a weekend where I returned to pre-40 Tye, it kind of all has come together for me. During the weekend, I realized that I truly missed my 40-Tye. I spent some time with some great people, revisited a couple of broken hearts of my own (as only drunk people can do), and realized that I'm not defined anymore by what I don't have, or what I am not. And I'm no longer defined by the things I wish I could have missed from my life. I am, simply, me.

I sing at the top of my lungs in the car. I dance in the elevator bay at work. I will save a blog for days to find just the write song title that fits. I love television. I cry at the drop of a hat. I am sarcastic. My heart is on the outside of my body, and can usually be found on a four year old that sings misheard lyrics better than I do (did you KNOW that the Spice Girls song says "if you wanna be my booger"!!!). I snore when I'm tired. I don't like mean people. I could probably come up with 31 more, but that would get long.

And so, here's my 40-Tye list:

- Go to college

- Get a good job

- Get married

- Start a family

- As yet, unwritten

College is this wonderful halfway house between being a kid and being an adult. Everyone doesn't need it, but I did, and I highly recommend it. And anyway, I met one of my best friends on the planet there. I would leave business off the list this time, because I have no interest in it. Money doesn't interest me anymore, beyond having enough to take care of my family (and indulge my iLife, and love of Nordstrom's). I do not define "good job" by what the job pays, but one that is completely soul satisfying. And I still don't know what that is, which is unfortunate. Maybe it's not working at all - to spend my time being a better member of the community who know? But it's immaterial - I've made some deals with some people (namely Chase Home Loans) that makes the whole "not working" idea moot. The last two things on my list are a given - I know, without a shadow of a doubt that somewhere along the line, I did something exactly right to land a husband that gets me and completes me, and a kid that truly makes me fall to my knees in gratitude every single night. Tonight, as I put Alex to bed, he said -- and I quote -- "Mommy, I really really really really missed you and I love you." And in his eyes I saw EXACTLY why I jumped out of bed this morning and made Walter drive on a snowy mountain. THIS is where I belong. Going away is wonderful; coming home is...a blessing.

From that 30,000 foot view I learned that anything that I thought I could do to infuse some excitement in my life paled in comparison to what my life already is. I have my parents - Alex is fortunate to have all of his grandparents. His weekend spent with his grannies was so much fun for him. I'm so lucky to never have to worry about my kid. I miss him when he's not around, but I never once worry about his safety (except in that psychotic way that I have of imagining the worst - a thing I'm trying to fix). I have a magnificent support group of friends, friends who are accepting, who are always willing to cheer me on, and tell me when to get my head out of my a$$. The whole job thing...? Well - definitely not a calling, but what it does give me is options. I know I could do anything I wanted to do, but right now I have a job that gets me home in time for soccer practice and dinner. Who would walk away from such? (And I just KNOW that published book is right around the corner).

From 30,000 feet, I see that some things may nor not meant to be conquered. I will probably never have the confidence that it seems other people ooze. I am never going to feel like the prettiest, or the smartest, or the skinniest, or any of the -iest things the other people have. But you know what that does give me? Kindness. Compassion. A sense of humor. I'd like to think I have just enough confidence, that with the other 3, I could maybe be okay. The liberating part if that the list doesn't have to end...ever. As long as we are lucky enough to draw breath, we can always choose to put more stuff on the list, right?

From 30,000 feet, I have pretty close to everything I ever wanted. So it turns out that maybe I wrote that list after all. The road less travelled becomes just like any other road after a while...a pretty road, with lots of sights. But it's important to keep focused on the road you're ON: it has a lot of beautiful sights too, and you don't want to miss them. And you also don't want to get blindsided because you weren't paying attention.