Project Life

Dear Project Life,

This weekend I tried to reconnect with you. You see, I've been very busy and that makes it difficult to keep up with you. I've also had trouble getting the appropriate tools i.e page protectors, in order to participate in your project the way I would like. That being said, I discovered this past weekend that our relationship is a stressful one. It leaves me frustrated and angry with myself. And that's just not what scrapbooking should be about. So, I want you to know that while your relationship with MaryAnn and Ali and even Cathy Z. may have worked out-it's not you, it's me. I'm sorry but I have to end it. Maybe I'll find a different solution to chronicle my daily life but you're just not it. I thought I could let you down easy but I have to tell it like it is. I hope I haven't hurt your feelings. Thank you for all the lovely projects that you inspire in others. I appreciate all your work but it's just not for me. Goodbye Project Life.

Bowing gracefully out,
Krista Wells

Race Day!

It's done. 21.2 km or 13.1 miles. Whatever you prefer.



*5 months of training & exercise
*27 lbs lost
*2 pairs of sneakers
*1 GPS nick-named Gubber
*countless runs & magic jelly beans/chews

I ran my last training run on Friday night-in the mist and rain.



We ate a great meal of homemade spaghetti last night to fuel ourselves.



This morning I took the obligatory before shot...



and the after...look at those medals!

My time was 2:04:44. My goal was to come in under 2:05. Nothing like coming in at the last minute. My legs are sore but my heart is light. I'm very proud of myself.

I'm just as proud of my husband who ran with me. He probably shouldn't have. You see, he had a boot on his foot (stress fracture) until two weeks ago. He hasn't trained for the last 7 weeks but he managed to pull it out today-for me. His game plan was to run the first 13km with me and then bail. Well, he figured he had gone that far so why not just finish it off right?! Truthfully, I agreed because I needed him to coach and motivate me! We finished within seconds of one another.

I figured this is one of those moments when you just get to brag so I'm giving myself a big pat on the back today.

I'm off to enjoy the last few hours of my weekend.

xoxo
K

P.S: The giveaway is still available below. I'll be drawing a name tonight!

Five for Friday

1. Everyone's talking 'Project Life' this week. Ali posted her most recent week, MaryAnn had a video up on her blog identifying all her favorite products for 'Project Life' & I've happened on a host of other people who are working on their 'Project Life' albums this week as well. So, I thought I would share where I'm at in my 'Project Life' album as well.

Yep, just got the photos in the mail-finally. Shutterfly is ubber slow to my neck of the woods here in Canada. I got the page protectors while I was at camp-had them delivered in upstate New York and I am ready to put this thing together. I desperately want one of these for this project as well.

Source: K & company

I'm setting myself a goal for my 'Project Life' right here and now on the blog so that I am accountable to it!

Goal: By June 24 (date of departure to NY for summer camp) I will be up to date to June 17.

That means I have to do:
*layout of the month for February, March, April & May
*slot in all the printed photos and date and journal the IMPORTANT events that have happened
*a little embellishment wouldn't hurt
*organize the layouts I've completed for each month and include them in the album

Making that list made me realize that I have a lot of work to do. Guess I better get started this weekend huh?!

2. Today is reveal day at Studio Calico for subscribers. I think my list for items this month is longer than it's ever been. I'm just hoping my little fingers can move quick enough to get all the product I want.

3. My husband gives the BEST gifts. He is great at remembering random things that I say and keeping them in his head for special moments. This week I celebrated my birthday and he gave me a Canon remote control for my SLR. I'm super excited about it.

Source: Amazon

4. Found this on pinterest and am obsessed with this idea. Might have to do this SOON.

source: pinterest

5. This weekend I'm running in the Ottawa Race Weekend Half Marathon. I've been training for 12 weeks now and I AM READY. Bring it. I've got my magic jelly beans packed. My tank top & shorts all clean and ready to go. The GPS is charged and the ipod is loaded with some great motivational tunes. Best of all, after it's all done I get to eat homemade crab cakes and Wavy Lays potato chips-not necessarily together or in that order mind you. But seriously, can you tell I exercise to eat?! I'm planning on doing a before/after scrapbook page with some journaling about my feelings on on the race. I think it will be fun to look back on down the road.

Bonus: This week I took a little jewelery class at a store called FLOCK. It was a lot of fun and apparently not only am I a quick study, but I can mass produce earrings like nobody's business. In a three hour class I made 12 pairs of earrings.

So, I have two pairs to giveaway here on the blog. They are for pierced ears so I'm sorry if your little ears are not pierced. But you could always give them to a friend! Here's a picture of a few pairs. I'll send the winners better pics so they can pick which ones they want.

If you would like to be entered into the draw leave a comment below telling me what you're plans are for this weekend and I will pick a winner on Sunday evening. Comments will close at 6 pm EST. I'll ship out the earrings on Monday to the two lucky winners!

Have a great weekend!

xoxo
K

Challenge: 1 Layout, 1 Hour

I challenged myself to create a layout the other day in under 1 hour. I used Studio Calico's sketch for the week and some iphone photos I had laying around from one of our weekly traditions: a walk downtown together.

Here's the link to the sketch.

And my take on it:



I loved the grid concept. It was quick and easy to put together as well.

Have a great Thursday!

xoxo
K

3 Day Weekend's Rock

So we had a great weekend! There was some sunshine, great food, good company & even some scrapbooking.

Saturday we went for a walk in Westburo and it was HOT. We both got sunburned. Oops. I took along my Instax and captured some of the fun 'all in an instant'. Here's one shot that I scanned.

Of course, life wouldn't be complete without a few Hipstamatic Iphone photos either!

We ate at Hintonburger. It was yummy. It was Ottawa's version of the Shake Shack.

We continued our quest to find delicious cupcakes in Ottawa and visited both Thimblecakes & Second Avenue Sweets. Alas, we're still looking.

We met up with our great friends Allison & Paul and had dinner at Savanna Cafe. It was delicious and we had a great time!

And the warm weather inspired M's Sunday night meal-lobster and crab legs.



And then there was some scrapbooking. There's a theme. See if you can find it.

I was recently inspired by this photo...



and wanted to translate that to a scrapbook page.



You might recognize these photos from my Mother's Day post. I turned them into polaroids in photoshop and then printed them onto 4*6 sheets.

This is a layout that used the Instax pics from our weekend walk. We had a great time. A little color blocking made this layout come together very quickly.

Favorite photo on the layout...

And then this one...

Banged out this quick one about leadership weekend last weekend at camp. It's 81/2* by 11 and I DON'T hate it. I actually think this one's laid out well. I've almost finished my SC kit 'Into the Woods' too. It feels good to kill a kit.

I made one of those tags that Gerlyn posted about on her blog. Loved them. I'm going to use this one on a NYC layout that's in the works right now.

That's it. A full weekend. Here's to four-day weeks!

xoxo
K

Five for Friday

1. Found this new blogger: Ania. Her stuff is just lovely.

2. I want to make these chocolate chip cookie bowls for some homemade ice cream.

3. Inspired this week by:

Banana Republic's window display

The Bay's window display

4.The tulips are in full bloom here in O-Town and they are just lovely.



5. It's a long weekend and that earns the #5 spot all for itself this week! I am excited to run, scrapbook, sleep in, see a movie and just plain relax! It's Friday, Friday, Friday!

Happy Friday!

xoxo
K

Right now

listening: a random mix of old & new pop songs for running i.e Brittany Spears & Bryan Adams
eating: lots of fresh cherries
drinking: an obscene amount of water
wearing: my new J. crew ‘Minnie’ pants & a shirt with storks all over it. :)
feeling: relieved it’s almost the weekend
weather: currently not raining-that could change any minute but at least it’s warm outside
wanting: a giant bag of wavy Lays chips and a comfy couch to eat them on
needing: time to work on my M. Ed paper that’s due in a week
thinking: about all the stuff that needs to get done between now and June 24
enjoying: using pinterest for recipes, fashion & scrapbooking inspiration
wondering: what I’ll have for dinner tonight

I like to chronicle this every once in a while. It's a great snapshot of life and probably something I'll use in my Project Life this week.

So, about project life...Is it bad that I'm not up to date? There are all kinds of photos on the way from Shutterfly to add in there but I have three (Feb/Mar/April) monthly layouts to do. That's the plan for the weekend-get those done. THAT and finish scrapbooking photos from our road trip this spring. I have 4 more pages till I'm done.

It's Thursday. What are your plans for the weekend?

xoxo
K

Not-So-Wordless Wednesday

Photos of a fabulous weekend:

Camp+food+NYC=Fabulous.


Hello camp. I'm back!


Favorite friends: D & Sean.


Yep, there's a new skate park. Skate park=danger in my eyes.


First bite of the summer-Birthday Cake & Fireworks ice cream from Stewarts.


Rockefeller Plaza was a stone's throw from my hotel on Sunday night.


Treats. Cupcakes: Crumbs & Magnolia; Cookies: Lanvin


My favorite. They have a new location near 30 Rockefeller Plaza.


The display case at Magnolia Bakery.


Just lovely.


Desert is anything but tiny here at Serendipity.


Found some Ben & Jerry's in Macy's.

Had a delicious burger & fires+ a shake at 'Shake Shack' in Madison Square Park.

It was a wonderful weekend despite my co-worker for the summer bailing on me! I met all my new campers-they are awesome. It's gearing up to be a great summer!

New York was filled with food...and rain. Ick. But don't worry, I still had a great time!

I'll be back later this week with some scrapbooking goodness.

xoxo
K

Dear Camp...

I Love you!

I'm here. It's awesome.



xoxo
K

Five for Friday

1. Finished reading this book the other night-hilarious.



Don't try reading it in bed though while your husband is sleeping because your uncontrollable shaking in an attempt to stifle your laughter may disrupt his beauty sleep. Looks like this might be the last book I read for a while-my M. Ed course started Monday and I've been knee deep in journal articles ever since.

2. Saw this window display in the mall this week. A little scrapbooking light bulb went off in my head! I'm envisioning polaroids, lots of polaroids, aren't you?


Credit: BCBG Max Azria
3. This magazine has been spotted all over the blogisphere this week. I'm pumped to pick up a copy.


Credit: Creating Keepsakes

4. This morning I discovered that Kelly Purkey has a class up for purchase at Big Picture Scrapbooking. It's called "A Week of Life Lists". I swear we are meant to be friends-I love lists more than anything. There's also just something gratifying about crossing things off your 'to do' list. I'll be taking that one for sure! The best part- it's a self-paced workshop so you can do it WHENEVER you want.

5. I am heading to Iroquois Springs this weekend, my summer home, to talk 'camp' and I can't wait to see this little lady tonight. We have so much fun together! I'm pumped! The best part is I get to head to Manhattan on Sunday evening. I predict delicious food and great company! Next week's 'weekend in photos' might be AWESOME.



Have a wonderful weekend!

xoxo
K

Scrappy Thursday

I've finished a few more layouts I thought I would share with you this Scrappy Thursday. I used the same sketch, just slightly altered for both layouts. I focused mainly on the photo placement and orientation but it just goes to show that you can stretch your sketches to make multiple layouts. That's why I love 'em!

Seriously, how happy does he look in that photo? M was delighted to have chowder in a bread bowl in Portland, Maine. It may have been the 'food highlight' of his road trip experience.

This one came together easily with a photo collage. I took the photos in the sketch and added another photo on the bottom then moved it off-centre and stuck a few punched pieces on the edge of it instead of the 12 by 12 page itself. Of course, it too is about food. We ate at Regina Pizzeria in Boston & it was just delightful. It was quite possibly the best Italian pizza I've ever had. Yum.

Happy Thursday! Tomorrow's Friday! Yeah!

xoxo
K