... addicted

Who would have thought I would find such a great collection of letterpress lovelies within running distance from my parents' house! Just a little eye candy for letterpress lovers...







The S's are already locked up on a chase ready for some test prints. The K's will get locked up later this week!

photographic evidence

i look a little awkward, but whatever. i wore it. no one threw up. and i'd wear it again.

oh the suspense!

i know it's killing you... waiting to find out if i wore the blue dress or not.

i don't have photographic evidence of what i wore yet, so as soon as it hits my inbox (all processed and hopefully slightly airbrushed...) i'll post it.

but i rocked that little blue dress, y'all.
rocked. it.

or at least that's what my tipsy mind told me that nite :-)

scrapbooks, new kids and what's a girl to wear?

Last week was a blur. Literally.
I flew out of Cincinnati with a coworker on Wednesday morning to help out at the Great American Scrapbook Convention in Chantilly, Virginia. I wasn't quite sure what I was getting myself into, but I was definitely game for anything and it ended up being a lot of fun. Long days, longer nites, little sleep and overall a good weekend for GASC. I had a great time meeting and getting to know Crystal and Stacey, two of the educators for the weekend, and walked out with a renewed appreciation for the scrapboooking community.
As a trade off for leaving Chantilly early, I took a 6am flight back home to ensure I would catch my beloved New Kids concert.
Oh.
MyGod.
I can't even describe it.
Nothing can.
3rd row seats.
Meet n Greet (still waiting on the pictures to be posted).
After party.
After-after party.
Fire-blowers.
4am heart-to-hearts on the porch
Amazing.
I'd do it again next week.
'Nuff said.

I think all my antics caught up with me on Monday because I literally crashed around 7... Little Miss and I went to bed at the same time that nite. But I keep telling myself that this is what summer is for and you're never guaranteed a "next year" so do it now.
So what's up next? Too much.

Independence Day, Y'all! We'll be spending time with family mostly but it's the following weekend that's pretty big- for me at least.

If you know me outside of this blog or just started reading recently, you know my struggle with getting the baby poundage off (and yes, I'm lumping the pre-baby poundage in with the baby poundage because that makes me feel better). I made a goal and I tried hard to stick with it this time (ignore the circled date. that's back when I thought the wedding was on the 6th). Hubz has been bugging me about what tie to wear to this wedding (since it needs to be based off the dress I wear), so I had to make a quick decision last nite (and we all know I suck at decisions). It was a hard decision. I've told a few people (so don't you guys spoil it!) so far, but I'm going to wait until the following week to let everyone else know what I ended up wearing... I'm continuing to work hard this week and next with my 30 Day Shred (will Jillian ever have mercy on my thighs?) and walking to see if the decision I made was the right one.

After the wedding weekend it's off to Gaitlinburg with the Hubz family for a long weekend in the mountains. I plan on parking it on a lounge chair by the pool with a cooler full of cold ones most of the day. It's Va-ca-tion.

Laps around a concrete building

Afternoon walks with a coworker has become ritual lately (and much needed for our sanity)... and productive. We met in college thru design, but we have different paths we want to take with our talents, so bouncing ideas around and just talking about how to navigate has been a tremendous help as of lately. Our walk today was especially helpful (thank you, dear!) in just getting motivated to get organized. I try to make a 6 month timeline of key points I want to hit with Five Dot at the beginning of the year and at the beginning of the summer. Needless to say I'm way behind. Life has taken over and I'm happy to put some of it on the back-burner so I'm not working a full time job and then coming home and working another 4-5 hours every nite. BUT. I can't keep it back there forever. Eventually, it doesn't need to marinate any longer and you need to start cooking those ideas.
I'm giving myself a year to really dig in. I'm doing well with the avenue I'm taking now (word of mouth and references), but I need to step up my game and really push my limits. I need to get out of my comfort zone and I need to get some of those half started projects wrapped up and seen thru to the end result (especially one in particular that I'm SUPER excited about).
Plans are coming together. Conversations are being had. Decisions are going to have to be made- whether I like it or not. I'm getting there. I'm much more optimistic now, but I think what's more important is that I'm now working toward something a bit more tangible... and that's motivation in itself.