I’ve been totally inspired by some of the LOs people have been posting lately. Thought I’d post a few of my recent absolute favorites. This is one that Shari showed me awhile back but I’m saving it in my inspiration folder to scraplift sometime if I can ever get THAT fabulous of a photo of one of the neats. :)

Then there’s this one from Amy that she posted the other day at SBB and I just LOVE what she does with photo filtering and just the placement of things in each LO. Plus I’m lovin’ the idea of a phonetic album with all the cute words a kiddo says!

And one of my absolute favorite scrappers, Lauren. I love every LO this girl posts. LOVE em! It brightens my day to see a new creation of hers in the gallery. :) Plus she used some of Ali’s new stuff and I just LOVE the colors and patterns in this kit! :)

And then Dawn posted this journal page that I’m still trying to figure out if it’s something she’s going to do every day. I’m such a procrastinator when it comes to doing chores around the house so I’m thinkin maybe if I incorporate scrapping into the list making portion of it maybe I’ll get more done??? Naaahhh, probably not, but it’d be fun. LOL Problem is it takes me like 2 or more days to do one LO so my day 10 would actually get done more like around day 20 or 30. Still would like to know more about this journal though. And as always her style and composition inspires me. :)

Other than that, been doing some creating and hoping to have an alpha uploaded for the store tonight. I know, it’s been a long time. I’ve got 2 kits and 2 alphas all in the works but I’m so gosh darn picky about getting things just so that they take me forever. Paige & Corbin showed up tonight on the gator on their way to grammy and grappy’s so I took a little break and walked over with them. Got TONS of pics of them down by the creek at my parents so I’ll be trying to pick a favorite next to post for my pic of the day. :)

Been having kindof a miss Jacob feeling lately and not quite sure what I want to say about it. Just felt the need to put it out there. I’m so bad at putting my feelings into words. I’ve posted a few LOs for Jacob’s album and somehow sweet encouraging comments tend to trickle in even weeks after I’ve posted them. I love the fact that people take the time to see our pictures of him and the lyrics or journaling (mostly lyrics) that I post on his pages. I swear sometimes those comments bring out the tears more than creating the page itself. I really have to be careful when to read them (at the office is usually a bad idea).

Anyway, I can’t imagine how big the waves of tears must be for my sister and BIL and I hope they know I’m here for a hug or to sift through photos and talk about those nights of holding him, of how he had the sweetest smile and the softest skin. I know it’s selfish ‘cuz he’s in a much better place but I sure wish he were here givin’ these two little munchkins a run for their money.

Miss ya like crazy bud.

Sorry for the emotional post. I’ll be back tomorrow and promise a much cheerier post (if that’s a word). And if anyone has figured out how to post a photo of the day after midnight I’d love to know the trick. Got a super cute pic of my little lovebirds (Koda & Tori) cuddling tonight and got sidetracked and missed the deadline. :(

Tonight I’ve been watching ‘Inside 9/11′ on the National Geographic Channel. Hearing the voices of the firefighters and the conversations of the brave men who took down the 4th plane in a field in Pennsylvania just brings back that empty pit in your stomach feeling. I remember driving to work that morning, listening to the radio in disbelief at the reports of the 1st airplane hitting the world trade center and then just in shock and confusion when they said that the 2nd world trade center had now been hit. When I arrived at the office my co-workers had heard from spouses and were all talking about it and we decided to borrow a television from our receptionists mother who lived close by. We watched as the towers collapsed. I remember thinking, how could they possibly think they wouldn’t collapse? I mean 2 airplanes just crashed right through them! We were glued to the television but all I wanted to do was go home and be with my family. I remember all of us getting together at my parents’ house that night and hugging each one of them with tears. Tears of relief that everyone in my family was safe and tears for all of those people across the country who had just lost someone from their family, some of them who probably wouldn’t even know it for days and weeks after.

That night we watched as President Bush addressed our nation. In it he said, "Today, our nation saw evil, the very worst of human nature, and we responded with the best of America, with the daring of our rescue workers, with the caring for strangers and neighbors who came to give blood and help in any way they could." The next morning and in the following days across America we drove with headlights on even through the daylight hours. There were large cranes working on a highway nearby that I saw each day on the way to work but that week they raised flags to the tops of each crane. Those flags stayed there at the top of each crane until they were tattered and worn. A local factory on my way home had put up a flag made of seperate painted banners on their lawn facing the highway. Almost every car I drove by had either a flag sticker in their window or a waving flag attached to the car door. The local country radio station started playing the national anthem or some other patriotic song EACH day at noon and has been doing it every day since.

I don’t think it took more than 24 hours for Mary and I to start making plans to fly to New York. Within a week we’d booked our flight and reserved a hotel room in Manhattan for a long weekend stay just 1 month after the attacks. It is a trip I’ll never forget. The day we arrived, the air was still thick with the strong smell that New Yorkers had talked about. Seemed to be mostly smoldering concrete from what I could tell. There were still people walking around with face masks and there were service men walking the streets with large guns and army vehicles passing by back and forth to Ground Zero. The trees and bushes in the boulevards were still covered in ash. And when a fire truck would drive by it seemed like everything should stop, like it was an honor just to have been on the sidewalk as they passed by.

Anyway, I wanted to get down some of the personal memories that came flooding back while watching the National Geographic special. I’m going to say a special prayer tonight for all those who lost loved ones that day and for those who have fought to defend our country since. I hope everyone who reads this will do the same. Another quote from President Bush’s speech on the night of September 11th says it better than I ever could (probably because he’s got some amazing speech writers):

"Tonight I ask for your prayers for all those who grieve, for the children whose worlds have been shattered, for all whose sense of safety and security has been threatened. And I pray they will be comforted by a power greater than any of us spoken through the ages in Psalm 23: "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil for you are with me."

Kay, so the other day I get this e-mail that Trish had commented on my ‘recent obsessions’ post. She finishes her comment with (and I quote) ‘the french rawk’. Since I’d forgotten my mention of France in my post I could only assume she was making reference to the Mini Cooper being made in France because I was quite certain the Fuze drinks aren’t made in France. My heart sank. I must say, I would ‘probably’ still buy a Mini Cooper but it sure would’ve put a bit of a cloud over it. I certainly don’t want to turn this blog into a politicized thing and, if anyone reading is from france, I have nothing against you personally, I just disagree strongly with the French position on international affairs. There was a time when Paris was at the top of my list of places to visit someday but in recent years it’s lost it’s position on that list to about 50 places I’d rather see before it. The most disappointing thing about this move on the list would be the fact that I am a HUGE fanatic about castles and, lets face it, the BEST castles seem to be located in France. BUT, I’ve done a lot of research and have found that there are plenty castles in other countries such as this one in Holland, Netherlands which would be kinda neat to see since my family is originally from the Netherlands. Still trying to find some castles that I could visit in my top 2 destinations (Greece & Italy) but I gotta believe I’ll find them. :) Anyway, I’m certain there ARE french people who rawk and they DO have a beautiful language but I’m glad to not be buying a car that was made there. Not that Germany, where they are made, is a much better option but for some reason it wouldn’t bother me as much. :)

Well, thanks to Claudia (Sproutwish) I had to check into the typepad calendar feature to try my hand at the whole ‘daily photo’ thing. It’ll be quite a challenge for me because first of all it means actually taking a photo each day and I’m pretty much used to only photographing my nieces and nephews. They’re around me and my camera quite a lot but not every day. It also means actually posting to my blog each day. From what I can tell I’ll actually have to post the photo of the day on the day itself for it to work correctly with the calendar. I also struggled with the header again. I know I had that whole thing figured out for the main blog but somehow it was trickier with this calendar template. Eventually I’m thinking I’d like to use an actual photo I’ve taken up there. Maybe of a flower or something interesting looking. For now this one will have to do though. :) Anyway, still have some figuring out to do but so far it seems like a great tool that typepad has available. I figure if I’m gonna pay for my blog I better use as many of the extra features I can. :) Now to figure out what that ipod feed thing is. :)

Kay, first of all, have you tried the new fruit drinks called Fuze?! I’m not sure just how  new they are but I just recently discovered them. These things are heaven in a glass bottle!

My absolute favorite is the Strawberry Guava with the Bananacolada being a close 2nd. I’ve been trying for months to give up pepsi and, although I still have a hard time finding a substitution when eating out, I’ve done much better at home and on lunches since finding this awesome stuff. Give me a banana and my fuze and I’m set!

Then there’s the mini cooper.

I have wanted one of these cars since the day the started selling them here in the states. I love everything European (well, except the french) and I love the idea of getting into a car that every time I get into it I feel just a little bit like I’m experiencing a whole different country/culture. Sounds pretty ridiculous I know but is it not the funnest looking car you’ve ever seen?! Now just to convince DH that taking over my VW is a much more economic decision than buying a gas guzzling truck.

Wish me luck!!! 

Big thanks to Amy for the tutorial on the smilies! I’ll try and control myself on using them. LOL