2 new LOs

For TDC’s February 2nd sketch.

Credits: sketch by Christine Couch,
Cupcake by Sarah Jones and Mari Koegelenberg,
Notebook paper by Ksharonk (Rebecca’s Art 1 bonus)
Font is DJB Chloé by Darcy Baldwin,
Andrea Burns' Color Pop & Black and White Photo Action.

For SSD’s 02/04 Cookie Decorating 101.

Credits: template by Tracy Ducar, based on a LO by Lena Brandenburg,
A mojito kinda day by Eva Kipler and Amanda Heimann @ SSD,
Font is DJB Writes a Lot by Darcy Baldwin @ SSD,
Andrea Burns' Color Pop & Black and White Photo Action.

WOW

It's made with tons of pictures... Amazing, uh?

January's over

Ok, I can't believe it but I blogged EVERY SINGLE DAY in January!! Wow, I'm in shock! I'd really like to keep going, it's nice! ;-)

Thanks to breaking my camera, I couldn't keep with the one pic a day challenge, though, but I'll get back to it as soon I can buy a new lense. Still have to make some arrangements for that.

My goals for this month are only half reached:

• Collect all my loved ones' birthdays dates and prepare cards for the first trimester.

I sent cards to all those that I knew had birthdays in January, and I'm still working on the first trimester's cards. I also got mom's file with all the family's birthdays and I've been adding them to my PDA to have everything in one spot.

• Get back to exercise: work out at least 15 minutes 5 times a week.

Mmmmm... NO! I totally messed up with weight loss this month, I gained a lot (still have to figure out how much, even if I'm not sure that I want to know!)

• Collect informations about the different options I have for my career: classes, exam, etc.

I had a nice chat with my friend Lydie who's a great professional and know a lot about our status (as state employees we've got different careers than people working for normal companies). There will be some major changes next month(s) with 3 new people joining the team, so I need to see what this will bring. My boss really sucks at planning and communicating about changes, so I don't really know where we're going right now... We'll see.

• Collect informations about financial management (blogs, books, etc.)

I read several blogs about this topic, and I will set up a plan next month.

• Get back to my routines, think about giving them a twist if necessary.

I've been improving this really nicely. The only routine that I still have a hard time with is my evening routine: I keep doing the basics like brushing my teeth but I need to improve the little extras that help a lot, especially as I plan to get up earlier to workout.

Stay tune for next month's goals!!

Animator vs animation - The sequel

A very inspiring quote

"What would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?"










Think about it!

Image found through I can read... great site, and great quote!

A terrific site about organisation

Today I have a great site to share: OnlineOrganizing.com. Every time I browse it, I find new treasures to help me get organized. They have a great "blog channel" and fabulous tips. They also have lots of organizing products if you need to buy something, but even without that the free stuff is worth several visits on this site!

My favorite magazines

I usually get 3 magazines every month... I know, I know, I should get a subscription, it would be cheaper! LOL One of them is Biba, the second one is Glamour and the last one is Cosmopolitan. Glamour and Cosmo are quite similar, Biba is less "trendy" and has more articles about relationships and psychology, but I really like them all.

What's your favorite magazine? Why do you like it?

I had a great day!!

I attended my first crop ever... It was really fun! I created a mini-album about my loved ones, and even though it's not finished yet, I think it turned out great! I still have some pix and embellishements to add, and I'll post pix then.

Fun movie, and getting ready for tomorrow

We have been out of TV (and sometimes internet too) since Friday noon, but the VOD is working... Weird, I know! Anyway, we took advantage of this situation to watch Madagascar 2. I liked the first one, even if it's not my all time favorite cartoon, but the sequel is even more fun!! I especially loved the old woman and the penguins: too funny!!

Today I prepared a scrapbook meeting I'll join tomorrow. I can't wait to meet the girls I've been chatting with for several months now! I printed some pix at a mall nearby and I was really pleased with the quality. It was the first time I used this service but I will definitely get back there, even if it's a bit pricey. We will do a mini album... my first paper project! Gasp!! I also tried to print pages for a bracket album I want to do, but my printer isn't working! Grrrr! I have this album (Basic Greay Bracket Album) since forever, but I've never managed to get to it. I guess I'm scared that there's no Ctrl+Z in real life! And now that I finally felt brave enough to get started, I can't because of this stupid printer! Bummer!!!

I'll be back soon with pix of the meeting and of my mini album... Hopefully it'll turn out ok! LOL

A very fun blog

You have... I mean HAVE to have a look at Dawn's blog here. She's so smart and funny, I love how anything looks enjoyable through her way to tell the story... even being a mom to 6 kids! Yep, SIX!! She's my hero! LOL

Late post...

*yawn* It's 11:00 pm and, once again, here I am, sitting at my desk, still on the computer... Why is it that I can't seem to go to bed even if I know that I need it, even if I keep yawning and I feel tired... Oh, and the other mystery of my life: why OH WHY am I so awkward??? I keep bumping in walls and hurting myself, making things fall and break, forget my stuff everywhere. If anyone has some tips to be more... normal!, I'll take them! TIA!!

What a day!

I was so moved and proud of the American people!! This is the United States as we love them!

When being a robot is good...

Sometimes, acting like a robot is good. No, I'm not only talking about some old fashion dance moves here... LOL (And I won't show you!!! ROFLOL) For chores the robot-like approach is great. I mean, if you stay a thinking human being, with things you like and other that you dislike, there are some tasks that will never get accomplished. It's sometimes necessary to "unplug" your brain, if you know what I mean, and just do it! I don't know about you, but if I'd have to wait until I "feel like" cleaning the toilet... uh, oh, that wouldn't be pretty! So when I have to do it, I just try to stop thinking and let my body work "by itself", without involving my brain in the job. It's not needed anyway! LOL

I know it's easier to say it than to do it, so here are some tips to help you:

• put your favorite music on and focus your thoughts on the music.
• listen to an audio book
• chat with someone, either face to face or on the phone
• tell your shopping list / menus to someone that can write it down for you (I love to do that with DBF). Extra bonus: 2 brains are better than one and the other person might think to something that you'd have forgotten otherwise!
  

Please share if you have other tips for helping get those booooooring tasks done, I'd love to know what you do!!

A new LO

For SSD’s January 11th SAL.


Credits: scraplift of Junebug’s Simply Adorable LO,
Dani Mogstad’s Tropical Punch,
Andrea Burns' Color Pop & Black and White Photo Action @ TDC
Stitching by Chirpi (Mum’s the Word),
Font is Traveling Typewriter.

Yummy!!!

We went to see our friends Anne and François and their adorable 3 boys Clément (8 1/2 years old), Lucas (5 1/2 years old) and Jules (2 1/2 years old) today. François is a chef so he made a delicious meal for us... The best part was definitely the dessert: a melting chocolate cake. It's a half-cooked cake, in which the center is still melted... My all time favorite! Too bad I couldn't take pix because I had no camera!! :-(

Trying to keep up with my project 365

Despite the fact that my camera is broken, I try to keep up with my project 365. I use all opportunities I can: scanning some memorabilia (parking ticket to remind me of a trip to Strasbourg, for example), using DBF's phone (he has a 5 megapixels camera), using my work's camera... but still, it's so much more complicated than having my own camera! UGH!!! I still have to update and edit my recent pix and post them, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to do it this weekend (we're going to visit some friends tomorrow). In the meantime, they are sleeping on my EHD! LOL

Amazing animation!

There's also a sequel, and it's even more elaborate!

Happy new year... still?

Tonight my boss, the mayor, will have a little ceremony to wish all our partners a happy new year. That made me thinking: until when can you (or have you to) wish a happy new year? We still have people everyday coming at the townhall desk and wish us a happy new year. Nice, but 15 times a day... it's getting boring now!! I know you it's commonly admitted that you can wish it until the end of January, but I think I won't stand it until then! LOL

On the other hand, since I took the "it's the New Year, let's make resolution and try to keep those for more than 2 days" challenge, I think it's time to review the goals I posted here:

• Collect all my loved ones' birthdays dates and prepare cards for the first trimester.

DONE for the month of January. I still have to ask Mom for her list (more complete than mine!) and do the 2 next months

• Get back to exercise: work out at least 15 minutes 5 times a week.

HALF DONE so far... Gotta keep working on this!

• Collect informations about the different options I have for my career: classes, exam, etc.

I'll take the opportunity of seeing my friend Lydie this Friday to ask her some advice

• Collect informations about financial management (blogs, books, etc.)

I discovered some good sites... will post those for next "Tips Tuesdays"

• Get back to my routines, think about giving them a twist if necessary.

Morning routine is going pretty good, but I still struggle with the midday and the evening one! I know how useful they are, though, so I will keep working on them!

Wordless wednesday... a video!

I can easily imagine Guy in that situation with our babies one day (he can't stand the cat's poo already):



I have to admit, my favorite one is definitely the astronaut one! LMAO!!!

Getting prepared

Okay, even though I don't think I could ever need it (and even less wish I'd ever do!), I've read with attention the US governemental site about getting prepared for emergencies ready.gov. There are lots of interesting infos and, if... er, I mean WHEN I will be organized enough to take care of those extras, I'll refer to it. That's not on my top priorities list (I first want to have my kitchen and home office under control, for example!) but afterwards, it's gonna be a great resource. And you never know when you'll have to leave your home in emergency!!

We are family...

A few of my family members are artists or involved in artistic activities.

First of all, my brother organized concerts and events. I'm really glad to see him motivated about getting involved in such a project. Of course, the fact that he can party and enjoy music that he loves for free helps a lot in his commitment, but still, it's good to see his energy directed to a productive goal! Here's their myspace: Eternal Songs.

Next, my cousin Nicolas is a painter. He started with graffiti and I really love his urban style, quite cartoonish sometimes but also very graphic and modern. He's getting recognized and that's great! Here's his website nkdm.com. Just the entrance page is gorgeous!!

Finally, I recently discovered that another cousin's girlfriend Arève is also a painter. She has a contemporary graphic style, with lots of bright colors... I love it! Have a look on her site.

There you go, some inspirational materials for today!

Happy birthday Liliane!!

Today's my aunt's birthday!!

Credits:
For SSD’s January TOTM.
Scraplift of Kenna Ewing’s Joy of the Season,
Indian Summer by Eva Kipler and Scrapkitchen designs @ SSD,
Doddled square by Mikkel Paige (Doodle Me Big),
Stitched square by Jule (Acrydenkelwolke),
Andrea Burns' Color Pop & Black and White Photo Action @ TDC,
Font is Pean Whinney.

Thanks for looking!

Who stole my day??

Well, I went to 2 different shops today and apparently the broken lens isn't covered by the warranty! I'm really mad at myself!!! After that I went grocery shopping and pfffft, my day was gone! Still don't know where it went!

I'm not the worst one...

This makes me feel better for being so awkward! LOL

Call me PETA girl

Not because I got to work naked like the stars in the PETA ads, but because I "saved" a little dog tonight. A guy came in the townhall right before we close with a dog that was apparently lost. He couldn't keep it for the night, the local shelter was closed and the only possibility would have been to put the dog in a cage. The night was freeeeeezing cold, and this idea was so heartbreaking to me that I kept the dog for the night. I walked with him for 1 hour, hoping he would take me to his home... no luck. I finally installed him in my basement and a collegue brought him to the shelter the next morning. Hopefully he'll get back home very soon!

AAAAaaaaaargh!!!

I can't believe it! I broke my brand new camera... or the lens, actually! I'm so mad at myself!!! The bag with the camera fell down and it broke a little plastic piece that hold the lens and the camera together. It still works, I can still take pix, but the lens isn't attached properly and I'm afraid it'll finally break the camera! This is a BAD day!!

Handy Shopper

Okay, this is a Tip Tuesday for all you PDA users out there. Come on, I know you're there!! LOL

I've come accross a great freeware for PDA: HandyShopper. Here's a site about it, and you can download it almost everywhere.

This software was created to make shopping lists, but it's much more than that! I use it for packing lists as well (and I should have use it when I packed to come home last holidays: I forgot a sweater at my mom's home!), but my favorite use is for FLYing: I put my routines in there, as if every part of the routine was an item on my shopping list, and I cross off everything that is completed. It's sooooo useful! You can even find examples of routines on the web.

That's it for today! Take care!!

Enjoying the Project 365

It's fun! I never thought I'd like to take photos every single day, but so far, I enjoy it! Okay, okay, I know, it's only been 5 days, but still! LOL I was even brave enough to take pix at work despite my collegues laughing at me photographing my desk and through my window! LOL

I'm back at work and back at losing weight too! I'm at my highest weight I've ever been... Or I should rather say that I was last week: I lost 200g (0.5 lbs). I'm glad to see the scale moving in the right direction, but I'm still in shock: I gained 22 lbs (10 kg) over the last 5 months... How is it possible??? If anyone knows what's going on in my body, I'd love to know!

Project 365 - Day 5

The view from my office... it snowed today!

Project 365 - Day 4

Here's my pic for today: DBF reading a book. A perfect picture of our Sundays: relaxed!

Argh, darn cat!!

My beloved Flamby, aka "The Terrible" aka "PITA" just jumped on the kitchen table and put a plate down. A big oven plate in glass... I had to vacuum the whole place and picked at least 1'589'547 bits of glass everywhere... or so about! LOL I love him but sometimes I wonder why!

Project 365 - Day 3

Just a quick one for today... I'm feeling sick! Hope it's not a stomach flu!! Keep your fingers crossed!

In the meantime, I still felt good enough to go shopping and got some t-shirts (long sleeves, V-neck) and a black sweater.

Project 365 - Day 2

DBF, FIL and DBF's nephew working in our future living room.

Inspiring positive post

Brooke, a member of SSD community, posted a very inspiring and incredibly positive post about 2008 here. So touching!! Go have a look and feel happier after reading such great words!

The stupidest gadget ever...

Look at what I found in a swiss shop (the famous Migros, for those who have ever been to Switzerland):

Yup, that's a banana cutter... How useless is this? Oh, and my favorite part: the little picture on top, just in case you didn't understand how it works:
Too stupid, I love it!!

Project 365

There's a big buzz about "project 365": taking a pic a day all year long! On of my "101 in 1001" projects is to take one pic a day for a month, so we'll see if I can manage to keep going longer. Here's my pic for January 1st:

My goals for 2009... and how to get there

In 2009, I want to

• Be a better person
  
• Be in better health
• Make my career move forward
• Manage my money better
• Be more organised
  

Those are my resolution, but they will remain dreams unless I define them more precisely and turn them into goals... so here we go!

In 2009, I will (notice the subtle difference between my 1st sentence and this one! LOL)

• Thighten my relationship with the ones I love and develop my "internal life" (creativity, personal interests, culture)
• Get to a healthy BMI, that is below 72 kg (158 lbs)
  
• Decide where I want my career to move forward and take at least 2 steps in that direction
• Get educated about finance managing, define a budget, stick to it and adapt it to big changes in my life.
• Create order, beauty and peace in my home and be able to maintain neatness without too much effort
  

Now to get to that point, I need a plan. Setting goals without knowing how to achieve them is like going on a trip into an unknown country without a map: you have great chances to get lost along the way, even if you know where you're going! Since this is a long journey (a year-long one, to be precise), I will break down my plan into manageable, monthly steps.

In january, I will:

• Collect all my loved ones' birthdays dates and prepare cards for the first trimester.
  
• Get back to exercise: work out at least 15 minutes 5 times a week.
• Collect informations about the different options I have for my career: classes, exam, etc.
  
• Collect informations about financial management (blogs, books, etc.)
• Get back to my routines, think about giving them a twist if necessary.

To help me follow this plan, I have created a reminder that I will update every month and post everywhere:
Credits: papers by Victoria Greenlees (Crafty Fall@ chirpi.co.uk), stitching by Chere Kaye (Tristan's Treasures collab @ TDC), "2009" and month alpha by Victoria Greenlees (Delicate Dreams @ chirpi.co.uk), "my goals" stamps by Michelle Coleman (Stamped Alpha freebie), swirls by Christine Smith (Flourish), fonts by Darcy Baldwin (DJB Lorraine Bold and DJB Chloé).

Happy new year!!

Hope 2009 will be a fabulous year for you and all your loved ones!

Christmas pix

I had a fabulous time with my family and friends. Love you guys!!

My grandparents:
My mom:
My dad (reading a book he got for Christmas):
My brother Jeff and I:

My cousins and I (Anne, Fanny, me and Nelly):
My aunt Anne:
My grandcousins Yanis and Ugo meeting Santa for the first time (Ugo wasn't totally secure about that weird guy... LOL):
My best friend's son Tristan and I, reading the book I gave him for Christmas:
and having fun together:
My friend's Nora's daughters Zaya...
and Kimi:
My mom's dog Calypso and my grandparents' dog Bagheera having fun in the snow:
And finally a gorgeous circular rainbow I saw with my mom... just stunning!

Hold me accountable

Here are my goals for the end of my vacation (I go back to work on Januray 5th):

• clean up my home office (I've taken before pix but I'll post those only when I'm done... I'm too ashamed of this room right now!),
• decide of my 2009 goals and make plans to reach them,
• clean the remodeled room (previously a garage, soon-to-be a living room) and help DBF put the floor (and take before / after pix),
• get slowly back to a "normal" sleep routine = get to bed by 10:30 and get up around 6:30

I'll soon be back to let you know how I'm doing!

BTW, this will be my "Tips Tuesdays" post: don't make "resolutions", make goals. And, more important, make plans on how to reach them. SparkPeople has great articles about goal setting. I especially like this one, entitled "Do's and Don'ts of Goal Setting". Have a look!

Merry Christmas!!

I know I'm late, but since I was with my family for the holidays since 8 days WITHOUT INTERNET (what was I thinking????), I still wanted to wish you a merry christmas and happy holidays. Hope you and your family are safe and enjoying the season together. Take care!!

Busy, busy, busy

Oh, did I mention BUSY??? I barely had a free minute over the last week. I'm working like a mad woman to try to finish everything before the holidays. Until tonight I thought I wouldn't be able to go to my grandparents' home for the big family party on the 20th, but after talking to my boss, we may find a way... I really hope things will work out!!

On the positive note, I received my late birthday/early christmas gift: a Nikon D60 with a AF-S 18-55 mm VR lense... I'm so excited!! Lookie, lookie:
BTW, I took those pix with another camera (well, obviously) but then I put the memory card back in my camera. I wondered if having the pic of a camera into the said camera could create some space-time loop and destroy earth... or I'm just working too much and should definitely have some rest! Not sure yet! LOL

Here I am, practicing my photographer's pose (in my bathroom):
Talking about photography, I just discovered this great site by Nikon... So many fab infos there! I just had time to have a quick look but I can't wait to watch them more closely...

One last thing: we got our kitty Flamby neutred on Monday, and when he came back he had some ointement on his balls... or rather where they used to be... and this ointement was silver. Not grey, silver. Just perfect for the holidays, so festive! LOL Poor Flamby, we laughed sooooo hard. Guy even whistled "Jingle bells" every time he crossed the cat. We're mean. Oh, and of course I took a pic... Couldn't resist!!
Have a nice weekend, everyone!! Mine will be... guess what... BUSY!!!

Organizing - Where on earth do I start?

Well, this works for organizing as for any other project that seem too overwhelming... This is a tip from Marcia Francois, hope it will help you get started!

First of all, relax and take a deep breath :-)

1. Start with the area of your home or life that bothers you the most.
If you can't bear to choose clothes every morning because your wardrobe is too cluttered, then that's probably a good place to start.

2. Decide what you want to have happen in that space.
Do you only want clothes in your wardrobe, or do you want shoes and handbags in there too?

3. Declutter.
You can't organise clutter. Get rid of everything that shouldn't be there. Some things need to move to other rooms and some need to move right out of your house!

4. Organise what's left according to your personality.
Not everybody is a minimalist. Some of us need to surround ourselves with our treasures and that's okay. Your system works as long as you can find what you're looking for relatively quickly (within a minute).

5. Maintain.
Last but not least, do a quick, 5-minute maintenance session in each major space every week so that your space remains organised.

Marcia Francois is a time management and organising coach who empowers small business owners and other busy professionals who want to make the most of their time. You'll get simple, practical organising and time management secrets to help you work less and enjoy life more! Visit http://takechargesolutions.org for your free Organising Success Pack.

Talking cat

What a better way to start the weekend than with some fun? Here's a little video that is just simply hilarious...

Gratitude...

I've heard so much about being thankful and the power of gratitude, that I really would like to give it a try... ;-)

Let's see... It might be basic, but I'm really thankful to have a good health. Okay, I'm not as healthy as I could, but I can walk, I don't have any disease or disability, and if I manage to treat my body correctly I'm sure it will pay me back with a long and enjoyable life. Thank you, my body, for having been a reliable partner for the last 29 years. Except on very few occasions, you were there when I needed you, you didn't let me down, I could count on you to help me through tough times.













It feels good indeed! LOL

What are you thankful for? Please share and make me happy for you! Have a nice day!

My grandcousin Masha

Ain't she cute? She's 2 months old, she's my cousin Nicolas and his girlfriend Lara's daughter.

30 seconds rule

Here's a great tip from Sandra Felton aka The Organizer Lady: "If it takes 30 seconds or less to do it, do it now!" This can apply to many different little jobs that, when added one after the other, make a great difference in how the house look: putting a dirty plate in the dishwasher, putting things back to where they belong after using them, picking up an item that fell down (or that my lovely cat pushed down the table when playing with it! LOL), etc.

Here's the explanation of this rule by Sandra Felton herself: "Sometimes when I mention that if something takes 30 seconds or less to do that we should determine not to put it off, people object. "If I start doing everything that takes thirty seconds, I will work myself to a nub." And that is true. So let's limit how we apply it. The thirty second rule needs to be applied in two ways only. The first place we should apply it is with what happens in the future. The second place we should apply the thirty second rule is with those that are high priority needs."

I will focus on that today. Do you have any example of 30 seconds jobs that would help you have a more organized and neat home?

A very inspiring site

As I want to post more on my blog(s) but can't seem to find the time during the week to do so, I've decided to prepare my posts on weekends and let Blogger do the work for me! LOL

On Mondays I plan to post some personal things... either a LO I created, something that makes me happy or inspires me... I've entitled this category of posts My Mondays... yeah, so original, I know!! LOL

Today I'd like to share a fabulous site, very inspiring: Amy Atlas Events. Check out their Eye Candy page, they have absolutely gorgeous stuff! I especially like the Candy Shop Dessert Table (starting pic #22): so colorful and fun, plus I love the retro candies!

Have a nice day, everyone!!

My friends are helping... so cute!!

As some of you may know, we're TTC, and my friends Jean and Iris, who had a cute daughter Amandine 14 months ago, are trying to help: they offered me this box:

It's written "Love seeds" on the box and it has everything in it to grow red flowers... or babies, maybe? LOL I thought that was just too cute!!

I'll definitely keep the box to customize and make some hybrid craft... one day... maybe! LOL

New LO

For this week's scrap challenge @ TBLDS.


Journaling reads: "I know that all this hard work, all those frustrations, all those deprivations, will finally pay off. I’ve already lost those pounds... twice already!! I know it, but yet I have to keep in mind that I can do it, one habit at a time. I now have almost 14kg to lose and when I look at the big picture I feel completely overwhelmed. But when I only think about the first 4 kg, or the coming week, or simply my next workout, things seem suddenly so much more doable and I gain confidence."

Credits:
"Let's get physical" by Mandabean and Heather Roselli @ SSD,
glittered and stitched circles by Amanda Heimann (What Goes Around kit),
fonts are DJB Writes a Lot by Darcy Baldwin and Elizabeth Skinny,
Color Pop and B&W Photo Action by Andrea Burns.

Feeling so overwhelmed!

I'm having a hard time keeping up with things and, even worse, with people! I'm stressing out more and more about the coming holidays, not knowing if I'll be able to be with my family on the day we'll celebrate Christmas. Since we're a HUGE family, we rent a place the weekend before Christmas to celebrate all together. It's a giant mess full of love, of fun and of excitement, very tiring, but I love it! I wouldn't like to miss it, but since it's the busiest time of the year for me at work, I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it or not.

I'd hate not to be there, but on the other hand I have to do what's best for me. If I create more stress by trying to be there at any cost, that's not good either, right? Last year I even got terribly sick while I was there (sinusitis), probably just because my body couldn't handle the travel in addition to the stress it was already under... NOT a good way to enjoy the holidays, believe me!!

Anyway, I will call my mom tomorrow, talk to her about it and try to make a decision by the beginning of december. Wish me luck!!

Nice weekend

I had some friends over for dinner last Saturday, and we had a great evening. We hadn't seen each other for waaaaay too long, so it was really nice to catch up on everyone's life! The not-so-great part of it is about weight loss! I chose a pretty healthy meal ("chinese fondue": everyone cook it's meat in broth) but the appetizers and sides just knocked me down!! I really craved all this fat and salt, but I paid it this morning on the scale. Hopefully drinking a lot of water over the next days and watching my food carefully will help me get back on track. Wish me luck!!

I had a dream...

... and it became true! Both litterally (I dreamt of Barack Obama's victory last night) and in reality. I'm really happy that he won this election, I'm proud of the United States today!

Happy belated birthday to me!!

Yesterday was my birthday! I had a nice day, that ended with a night out with Guy... I had the best freaking chocolate cake EVER!!!! We'll celebrate tonight again with inlaws and some friends! I can't wait, it's gonna be fun!!

I'm also starting a new blog for a 101 in 1001 mission: have a look here to know more about it!

Happy DSD (digital scrapbook day) everyone!

Guess what I watched...

The Aristocats!

I used to have a tape of this movie’s soundtrack and I listened to it every night before going to bed. It was really weird to hear the exact same dialogues and songs 20+ years later! Still totally cute, though!!

Don't you just hate it...

when you're supposed to be on vacation but end up spending 2 hours at work? when your boss keep telling you that nobody's irreplaceable and that your job got done (and well done) before you were here, but he still asks you to come while you're supposed to be home for a well deserved free week? Uuuuuugh!!

On a more positive note, I ordered the food for my birthday party today. It'll be simple and casual, buffet-style, not much to do myself. I'm not the best cook, especially when I have 15 guests... Yep, FIFTEEN!!! LOL

Guy's niece Julie, who turned 18 this summer, will bring her boyfriend over. He wasn't supposed to come, but finally he'll be here. I can't wait to meet him, to be honest I'm really curious. It'll be fun to see how Guy will react too: he's not only Julie's uncle, he's also his godfather and he saw her when she was just born (he keeps reminding her that he saw her "naked, purple and in a glass box"... She loves it, as you can imagine! LOL), so he's very protective with her. He already plans to have a "guys' talk" with the poor boyfriend who doesn't even know what he'll have to face! LOL It's gonna be interesting, for sure!!

Have a nice day everyone!

A fun halloween-ish personality test

I'm all about Halloween these days... and we don't even celebrate it here! LOL

Here's a test for SSD's FOB2Y:

What Your Jack-o-Lantern Says

You tend to be a goofy, optimistic person. You enjoy Halloween more than anyone else you know. This Halloween be as silly as you can - dress up as a giant version of a small object The candy you should give out: laffy taffy

The Jack-o-Lantern Quiz

This test is funny, and this is sooooo me! I don't like to dress up usually, but I'd love to dress up as a giant version of a small object! LOL

New LO

First good news: I'm on vacation! Yayayayay!!! I had some tough days at work last week so it feels just wonderful to be home and enjoy some free time!

Second good news: I scrapped and enjoyed it! I was feeling some pressure recently when I scrapped, don't know why, but not this time: I just enjoyed it!!! How great!! Here's the LO:

For SSD’s Slogan #30 and TDC’s Scraplift challenges.

Credits: scraplift of Karen Perry’s Upside Down LO,
Robin Carlton’s Pink Ladies @ SSD,
Andrea Burns' Color Pop & Black and White Photo Action @ TDC,
font is Pea Sara.

It's a picture of my friend Lydie with our other friends Jean and Iris' daughter Amandine... How cute is this pic, really?

Have a good evening everyone!!

Sad decision but great news for you

Hey you all digiscrappers out there! LOL Unfortunately I had to make a difficult decision and leave Victoria Greenlees' CT. I'm sad because I love the team and Vici's product, but right now I don't have enough time to promote those products as they deserve. As we're several in that case, Vici is having a CT call... that's the good news! She is such a fabulous designer to work for, the team is really great and the goodies are just amazing! Take your chance and apply! Have a look here for all details. Good luck!!

I'm your hostess...

Well, actually I'll be tomorrow! LOL Get to Vici's blog tomorrow and discover the challenge I prepared! Hope you'll play!!

So mad...

I had a very hard arguement with my boss tonight. It was very violent, and I was completely freaked out afterwards. I could hardly breathe, I almost had a panic attack. He would have punched me that it wouldn't have been more shocking. Such a mean person! I went to my doc who asked if I wanted to be at home for depression, but since I took some free days (before all this happened), I will keep them and see if things get better after some rest. I didn't sleep much last night so that didn't help, but still, he's just a *%§@*#!!! Someone give me a punching ball, please!!

Ugh!!! (weigh in)

Well, after loosing 900g last week (2 lbs), I gained them back this week, plus 2 more lbs. Argh!!! I hate to think that I'm back on track and be hit back by the tough truth a week later!

I had a VERY productive weekend!

Don't you love those weekend that let you with this satisfying feeling of having many things accomplished? That's the kind of weekend I had. Among other random everyday stuff, I managed to do the following things:

• work in our garage-living room to be
• 2 law studying sessions
• hotel reservation for my trip in november
• finish invitations for my birthday and prepare them to print at work
  
• celebrate my nephew's 13th birthday
• empty my e-mails inbox
• unzip and tag 20 files in ACDSee
• cook 3 meals (1 pretty bad, but the other two were really good! LOL)
• bake cupcakes that I wanted to try before my b'day parties
• back up LOs on DVD's (last one is getting burnt right now

Not bad, uh? Pfew, I feel exhausted just by looking at this list! LOL Off to watch CSI and work on some favors for my b'day guests. Have a nice start of your week!

Party time!!

Victoria from Chirpi Designs is celebrating her birthday with a fabulous store wide sale (35% off everything). You can also win the whole store! Hurry to her blog to have a look!!

Just because...

I had a bad day at work, so I needed some fun tonight! I just found this video, which is simply hilarious!! Have a look:

ROFLOL, this sleepy kitten makes me laugh soooooo hard!!

Fast food

SSD's blog challenge last week was about fast food... BAD topic for someone like me who's trying to lose weight: it makes me hungry!!! LOL We don't have much fast foods around here: basically just Mc Donald's and Quick (a french version of Mc Donalds). I love them both, especially because I'm more a salt lover than a sweet tooth, so french fries and hamburgers are just my kind of treat. But my absolutely fave take out restaurant is a traditional one here in my small town, named "Bim Buewele". The couple that have this place are just the sweetest people ever. We feel so at home there (except the food is much better! LOL). Sometimes, when we don't feel like going out, we take food home... Yummy!!! What I love is "Bibeleskaes", some sort of yogurt served with onions, bacon, garlic, herbs and fried potatoes. Another of my favorites is "Grumberekechle" (grated potatoes, fried, like the swiss röstis) with salad. Both of those traditional alsacian meals are not very healthy, so unfortunately I try to limit the times we go to this restaurant, but it's sooooooo good. Have a look here if you wanna get hungry (and if you understand French)! LOL

Hold me accountable

Here is what I want to do today:

• 2 loads of laundry: wash and hang up #1 DONE, #2 in washer
  
• dry laundry: hang down, fold and put away DONE!
  
• b'day card for my cousin (Joyeux anniversaire, Anne!): create, send to her, post on CT forum DONE!
• fall LO combined with SSD challenge: create and post
• SSD blog challenges: typing test + fast food DONE! (see above)
  
• review town magazine I had to take pix instead!
• 1 session of law studying
• cook lunch
• cook dinner DONE!

Well, I think I've got about everything covered... I'll update this post when I get things done!

I've been thinking a lot!

I've been thinking a lot recently, reconsidering my priorities and how I want to accomplish my goals. I'm getting close to a plan, and it feels sooooo good to know where I'm going and (more or less) how I'll get there. I feel peaceful tonight because of that thinking... what a fabulous feeling, what a relief!!

A food experiment gone bad...

I'm testing some recipes for my birthday parties (yes, my house is too small to have only 1 party with everybody!) next month and yesterday evening I created a cupcake version of Two-Face...

When you look here, it is fine:

But then you turn around and you see that... Argh!!


Actually, it tasted good, but it looked terrible! LOL It's a double chocolate cupcake, with white chocolate dough in the bottom and black chocolate on top, and the white chocolate dough wanted some fresh air apparently!! LOL I will have to put less dough in there next time!!!

Martha Stewart's blog

3 days ago I posted about Martha Stewart's site, and I forgot to mention she also has a blog. I love it, lots of great infos there too! For those who don't know how to blog (and for anyone who loves great tips... who doesn't??), she has made a special post here!!

Crafty evening - the pix

Here are my creations from last night.

I'm not very productive (yet): it took me 1 hour (watching Cold Case) to create those 4 tiny pumpkins in polymere clay. One of them already has some metal wire to hand pictures, and I've prepared holes in the other ones as well. I chose one of my brother's scariest faces, to match the Halloween theme! LOL

Crafty evening

Today was a good day. I didn't started too well because I gained weight... again. But instead of making me depressed and hopeless, this weigh in made me feel energized and mad... a good (and much needed) kick in the butt!

I cleaned and re-organized my craft stuff tonight, and then did some polymere clay (fimo) pumpkins tonight. There are cooling right now, so I'll take a pic tomorrow. They turned out really cute, I'm quite proud of myself! Ok, enough teasing, wait for tomorrow and see! LOL 'Night everyone!

New LO

Vici has created a fabulous collab kit with Laura Lively Designs: How does your garden grow? It's just gorgeous, very versatile, with lots of fun and one of a kind elements! I just created this LO with it:


It's a bitter-sweet LO about being far from my family and my friends, especially my BFF Stephanie. I did this after a phonecall when her baby boy Tristan (22 months old) said "Auntie Chloé" on the phone and got me immediately into tears. I was so proud and so sad at the same time.

Credits: How does your garden grow? collab by Victoria's {chirpi} Designs and Laura Lively Designs @ chirpi.co.uk, Color Pop and B&W photo action by Andrea Burns @ TDC, font is DJB Chloé by Darcy Baldwin @ SSD.

I'm still alive

Man, the back to school time has been really crazy this year! I don't have any kid and I'm not at school anymore, but I still feel the combination of excitement and stress of this time of the year. I expecially had (and still have) a hard time with getting back to my routines and managing a big change at work. Add to that some personal issues, and you get a pretty good picture about why I didn't blog since... errrr, way too long! LOL

On my permanent quest for efficiency, I recently discovered two fabulous tools.

The first one is very inspirational (and hence help my scrapper's efficiency! LOL): it's vi.sualize.us. You can bookmark the images you like wherever on the internet and tag them, then they all get on your account there. How many times have I wished "Oh, I love this, wish I could mark this down for further notice!" I usually ended up bookmarking the page and then forgot about what took my attention on the image (if I ever think about looking at my bookmarks!). And with the tagging feature you can organize your inspirations, that's just great! Here's the link to my favorite images. You can even get a feed to people that share your interests' page!

And that leads me to my new favorite tool: feeds. Okay, I know I'm totally out of fashion here since feeds exist since a looooong time, but I just discovered this concept and I finally understood how to use the feeds. I'm using feedreader to keep track of all the blogs, sites, vi.sualize.us accounts that I like. I don't have to browse every single blog as I used to, I automatically get new posts in the feedreader. What a time saver! I can now get every update in about 15 minutes daily, when it used to take me twice as much time!

On another note, I also discovered Martha Stewart's site... Yeah, I know, it was about time! As for the feeds, I'm the trendiest girl ever, ain't I? LOL Anyway, I really like it. Of course, not everything is doable for "normal" people like me (= with only 24 hours a day and no super powers), but I found some great inspirations and tips.

That's it for now. Take care!

FOB2Y - show me happy

Kellie asked us to show a LO that makes us happy. That's tough, 'cause 99% of my LOs make me happy to look at them. I cherish almost all of the photos I scrap, especially because I cherish the memory or thoughts they bring to me. But since I had to pick one, I chose this one:


This pic is just hilarious to me. I absolutely adore the stupid face of my doggy Kira. She's smart, though, but this pic doesn't do justice to her intelligence! LOL. Hope this will make you laugh as much as it does me!

Here's a link to this LO in my SSD's gallery for credits.

FOB2Y... catching up

I'm soooooo behind with blogging! I'm on vacation this week so I enjoy catching up on everything: housework, house remodeling paperwork (much needed!), scrapping, everything! I'll post all my recent LOs (probably) tomorrow, but before that I want to catch up on SSD's From Our Blog To Yours challenges. Sooooo, here we go!

June 26th, Angela asked us to post about our favorite birthday year... Mmmm, I think my fav years were my late teenage ones, between 17 and 20 years old. I had so much fun, and I remember that time of my life as a worries-less moment. I definitely had worries, but they weren't THAT serious, and I was really not as stressed as I am now. Still, I think I love every part of my life so far: childhood, teenage, young adult, young couple life, and now that we are slowly getting ready to build a family. Ok, enough rambling! LOL

July 3rd, Meghan gave us a fun test to do. Here's my result:

What Your These Fireworks Say About You

You are jubilant and easily excited. While you aren't very intense or passionate, your happiness is abundant. You can always find cause to celebrate, laugh, or even just smile to yourself. You find that life is full of things to be happy about!

The Fireworks Test

Yep, I guess that's me... especially the last sentence! ;-)

July 10th, Karrina just came back from vacation and asked us what our favorite vacation spot is, or what our dream vacation spot would be. As much as I love my dear Normandy, where I spent aaaaaaall my summers until I turned 16, I would love to find a place with a bit more sun (when it rains there, you're stuck in the house for days!) and big cities around... Like Paris on the beach, you know? That would be the perfect spot for me because I love to relax and do nothing, but not for a very long time.

On July 17th, Mimi started to think about summer jobs and asked us to post about the ones we had as teenager. I used to work as babysitter when I was 16-17 years old (including one trip to South Italy with a crazy woman and her 2 brats... errr, I mean children). The summer before I turned 18, I started to work as waitress in bars and restaurants. The first 2 places I worked in were great, quite classy, with good bosses, but the last 2 were much less chic. I even worked in a bar right in front of a military base where the young soldiers had a free night every Tuesday. I saw them running from the other block to my bar, ready to drink as much beer as they could during those 2 free hours... I never imagined a human being could absorb that much liquid in such a short time! LOL

Finally, last week Meghan wondered what kind of music we are... Here is my result:

You Are Country Music

You are friendly, down to earth, and fairly conservative. You are true to your friends and your upbringing. Change is hard for you. But beneath your old fashioned attitude, you are expressive and artistic in your own way. Very few people can express pain and pleasure as eloquently as you can.

What Kind of Music Are You?

Those tests are usually pretty accurate, but this one is definitely not! LOL

Pfew, it's been a long time!

I've been soooo busy that I couldn't find any spare time to update this blog. All the time that I spent outside of the office was dedicated to exercising, to DBF (since we celebrated our 7th anniversary on July 8th... YAY!!!) or to scrap. Here are my latest LOs:
For TBLDS, week #2:

For SSD’s Recipe #38, TDC’s Style 101 #20 and TBLDS week 2.

Credits:
Black pp by Leah Riordan (Oooh Lala!),
Eva Kipler’s Chalking the Way @ SSD,
http://www.thedigichick.com/shop/product.php?productid=16775&cat=0&page=1" target="_blank" class="bb-url">folded paper template by Karah Fredricks @ TDC,
Michelle Coleman’s Stamped alpha,
Font is Courtney Dorkling,
Pic free from internet.

Week #3:

For SSD’s Spin-A-Lift, TDC’s Style 101 #21 and TBLDS week 2. I spin-a-lifted Gracielou’s Our Story

Journaling reads: “I think I’m doing ok this round. Not great, not terrible, or maybe both of them depending on the day. I’m still highly motivated and excited by this journey, and that’s a great point! I’m proud of myself too, because I accomplished much more than what I thought I would be able to do. I especially faced the stress of my life without turning (too much) to food for comfort, and that a great improvement! I’ve been losing 300 and 400 grams per week so far. That’s not as much as I would like to lose, but it’s already good considering the circumstances and my weight loss history. I hope that I will be able to keep the momentum and get to a healthy BMI by the end of the round, and then start to try to conceive with a healthy body, a body ready to welcome a baby!”

Credits:
Eva Kipler’s Life is a Journey @ SSD,
Andrea Burns' Color Pop & Black and White Photo Action @ TDC
Fonts are Darcy Baldwin's DJB Chloé @ TDC and Gill sans MT

I also created 2 other LOs:

For SSD’s Shutterbug Shakedown and TDC’s Anything Goes.

Journaling reads: “This song by Carl Douglas almost drove me crazy. I had to take pix at a martial arts show, and I had the song in my head for 2 days afterwards... Argh!!”

Credits:
Eva Kipler’s Wild Blueberry @ SSD,
template by Rachael Giallongo,
stamped alpha by Valerie Fowler,
Andrea Burns' Color Pop & Black and White Photo Action @ TDC,
fonts are Highland Perk and More Than Enough.

And finally a LO featuring those adorable pix of my friends' little girl Amandine:

For SSD’s SWTSB #36 and Color Confectionary challenges and TDC’s Scraplift challenge. I scraplifted Valerie’s 4th of July Food LO.

Credits:
Tamra Burwick’s Kokomo @ TDC,
Distressed Paint Stroke Brushes by Victoria’s {chirpi} Designs @ chirpi.co.uk,
Andrea Burns' Color Pop & Black and White Photo Action @ TDC,
fonts are Wendy Sue and Wasted Collection.

I survived!

The last week was completely insane, I had the town magazine to finish and the mayor (=my boss) had to review it. Problem is: he's extremely busy and we couldn't find the needed couple hours to work. We finally did Saturday at lunch time (yeah, I know, but it takes what it takes) and I was done at 1:30 pm! I only had to check the spelling mistakes this afternoon and the magazine will be at the printer's office tomorrow at midday! YAY!!!

On the weight loss front, things are going better than what I expected. With all this stress I had some emotional eating episodes and I was afraid I would gain. But since I still exercise every morning (getting up at 6 am!) and with a little help from my hormones (for once, they're useful!!), I think I should be ok tomorrow! Keeping my fingers crossed!!

I even had time to scrap for TBLDS, but I'll post tomorrow about it, right now I'm too tired of computers and writing stuff! LOL