Belated merry christmas

and already a good 2007 for everyone!!!

Didn't imagine that I wouldn't get the chance to blog more often with Felix being around here. But it seems that I have to sneek away while he is sleeping to get some computer time. But this mostly is so short that I have to limit myself to just a few of the blogs I like to read. No more time for message boards or blogging for me! On the scrapbook side it is almost same thing: Not really time to create something.

But don't get me wrong. I'm not really complaining! I mean I miss being able to do what I want to do and when I want to do it, but Felix really makes it up to me!! He is really easygoing and sweet. A good sleeper and eater and you just want to sit there and watch him all the time. All the funny faces he makes whether sleeping or awake. It's just the normal things a parent has to go through with a newborn around: Not being able to dress somedays until noon e.g.

But I really enjoy every day and take pics for the time he is older and able to play some time on his own. I mean he is just so little and small and needs his parents for every little thing right now!!

Have a nice New Years Eve everyone!!!!!!!!

He's here!!!!!!!

Welcome the new member of our little family:

FELIX



He was born on November 25th , 52 cm and 3720 g

He is the cutest little thing you can ever imagine (of course that is what every mom thinks). He is doing really well and he sleeps a lot. That makes is easy for me to catch up on some of that missing sleep during the nighttime.

I feel like Stefan and me can't imagine ever living without him any more, even after this short time. He brings so much joy into our lives and he is the best pre- christmas - gift ever!!!!!

Ali E inspired

Started creating some christmas frames yesterday and finished them up this morning.



Ali did something very similar on her blog/ AEzine. I had these IKEA frames lying around for some time now and thought that this was a nice idea to use them. Want to sell these frames on the christmasmarket already mentioned in a post before.

It worked!!

Seems to be a creative tea I had last night!!

I finished 3 cards for the upcoming christmasmarket and - which is more amazing!! - 2 Layouts!!!

This one talks a little bit about my father and the things I remember from the 80's.


This one is about my love for fleamarket retro finds like the containers for Coffee (there is also one for tea and for sugar) I bought couple of years ago. Just love how they look in my open kitchen storage space. Clean and simple, they basically go with all the other stuff I have. Most of which is by Asa - or at least like their style.

It's just 5 pm

and it already was dark outside. At around 4 I already had to turn on the lights in order to be able to read something. Strange feeling. I feel like the day is almost over, no real motivation to do anything. So I just made myself a cup of tea and put on some candles and hopefully there is some creative juices flowing now.

Last night was the last evening of our "birth prep" class and we were only 5 women out of 12!! We knew of 5 baby girls that had been born. So there is still 2 ladies about which I don't know if they have their baby or just weren't able to make it.

I had my first Acupuncture yesterday too. Was a little afraid about it but I didn't feel anything of the needles. Don't know if it will have any effect on the birth, but I will go ahead and give it a try.

Gotta go get my tea now!!

Tell me why I don't like Mondays...

Know that song??

Today I spend close to 2 hours at a garage to get our winter tires on the car. Luckily I brought a book cause they only had car magazines there. The whole place smelled like rubber from all the tires and me and my big belly weren't the best friends today!!!

Nothing more to say for today - lets hope for a better Tuesday!!

weekend

Seems to be a lazy Saturday with not much going on:

• Slept in and read in the ew CK December that came in the mail.
  
• My SIL came over for a little chat.
• Did some paper stuff that needed to be done
• Might do some scrapping now
• Changed my blog to the new blogger beta version plus changed the LO
  
• Off to dinner with my colleagues at 9 at an italian restaurant.
  

First frost

This morning when I woke up there was the first frost outside. Seems like fall is really there. But with the sun shining it looked really nice.

Off to see the doctor this afternoon again. My due date is coming closer. Next week is the last night of our "birth-preparation" class and last Wednesday Stefan and me already visited the hospital. They show you around and explain everything so I guess you don't feel too intimidated once you are there to give birth.

Off to do some housecleaning now!!!

Mini Album

I did a little accordion like mini album 2 nights ago. Usually I have a hard time scrapping lately but that night I stayed on my desk and time went by real quick. I tried to get the facts of 2006 together in that album. Where I am right now, what I like to do, the places I love, the man I love, the things I hope for for our child, ....

Alright, you can see the whole thing here

Last Sunday ...

... I had some trouble with blogger and my pictures. That why it took me until Tuesday to write something about Sunday. Oh Well, ...

anyways it was a beautiful day last sunday and I was sitting outside, reading a good book, flipping through the new CK October issue and taking some pictures of my garden flowers and other stuff outside. I like the garden in fall (guess it really is fall now even when the weather is still pretty nice and warm), with the dahlias and sunflowers blooming , the pumpkins on the front doors everywhere. Even like the fog in the morning.

On monday i was really proud of myself finishing the cleaning sorting out in my kitchen and getting some other things done here. There are still a few things that need to be done. You know the kind of things that you didn't took care of right away. There was still a little spot to be painted in front of the new kids room - which I finally did on monday.
I guess I just want everything to get ready for the baby and to get rid of all the stuff that isn't really needed or used.
Ali talks a lot about these kinds of things too and I feel the same way about it once I tried and got rid off some stuff. I mean while checking out scrap sites on the internet I still find myself wanting to order loads of products that might never be used just because they are soo pretty, but I guess thats just human.

fleamarket finds

Went to a great fleamarket today with my sister. There are mostly kids (or mothers) that sell some of their toys or clothes. There are always great treasures for me to find. And sure I did find some today:




The little mole from the puzzle and the book was and still is part of a german children show on TV which I used to watch when I was little. And I just love this little guy!!

Eric Carle of course is a big favourite too!! Who doesn't know "The very hungry caterpillar"??

And this cute red elephant just begged me to take him home with me!!

Had a real good Moccacino with my sister in a cafe, but had to head out to see a doctor then. Woke up last night and had some breast troubles. But the doctor assured me that there is no infection. Might just be some irriation due to the pregnancy. (But is still hurts!! Ouch!)

Have a nice WE

Sunday activities

Just giving myself a little break on the computer. Doing some blogsurfing and some little games.
Stwfan got an "emergency" phonecall to help the soccer team out 'cause they were short of players. I hate when that happens. We were just starting to sort some things out, get the final touches to our new little office, finish some of the paperworks and stuff like that when his cell phone rang. And he is the kind of guy that would never ever let the team down. I mean I like that on him too but it seems to happen always onthe wrong times!!
So here I am, left alone!!
Well I did 2 loads of laundry and ironed a big basket that was already waiting for me for a couple of days. Did this while listening to an audiobook: Inkheart by Cornelia Funke.
Love to listen to audiobooks while I iron or do some crafty things where I'm able to concentrate on the book. Still have some sitting here waiting to be played and listened to.

Also started woking on some cards for the christmas market in december. Went to the store in Trier yesterday and got some more cards. I think I finished about 25 by today. Last year I had 200, so there is some more work here to be done. Specially when I want to sell more than jsut cards.

Hopefully Stefan is coming back pretty soon, so whe can get at least some of the things done.

Finally cooling down.....

....after this hot period last weekend it finally started to rain and it cooled down a little. Makes me feel a whole lot better!!

Today my sister stopped by and after Stefan and me switched the cables on Monday night to put up the PC in our bedroom we were able to move some of the office stuff in the new "bedroom-office". There are still lots of things to sort out (specially Stefans), but I guess I have to do that one at a time.

I went to a felting workshop last saturday where we made a handbag. That was really fun. I took really long to finish that bag - from 9am until 7pm and at the end it was really hard work but it was worth it. I tried felting before but didn't get the right technique out of that book I used. So I went with a friend to learn it "in real life". Now everything seems much clearer and you know all the steps better. Some things are hard to learn by yourself or out of books.

Summer in the City

This is one hot week here!! After work I just go straight for a nap because it's just too hot to do anything outside. At like 8 pm is start opening the door and go outside, water the plants, get some air, ...

Last week we (Mom and I mostly, sometimes my dad too) managed to redo our bedroom. We had to tale off the old wallpaper ( Thanks KATHA) and put new one up. Then we added some paint. Of course we had to take most of the furniture out there and did some kind of "camping" in the living room! Slept there on our matresses for the whole week!! Of course we did a trip to IKEA (the new one in Koblenz) and got some stuff for our new office that will be in the bedroom. We still need to put up some cables there for the Internet so we can finally move the computer stuff there too. but so far everathing looks good. I picked a light grey for the walls and it really makes the room look cool adnd calm.

Checked out some nice new sites -mostly blogs- today:
Claudine Hellmuth - just love her collage style
some kind of freestyle blog where e.g. Elsie Flannigan or Emliy Falconbridge post

Take care

By the way, ...

just recognized I haven't told that a second person called for my car and that we sold it last week. It was a little bit sad for me especially that the car was already gone when I got home that day! But with the new one already here I'm really happy!!

Busy week, ....

... on Monday we got our new car. Didn't take any pictures yet but I guess I will later on. It really makes fun driving it and I'm sure that we will be happy to have it once the baby is there and there is so much more stuff to take with us.

Since we were alreday spending some money on Monday I thought I could as well get myself a new mattress. My old one wasn't really good anymore - although it isn't that old. But I figured once my belly gets real big I won't be able to get out of that bed without the help of Stefan.

Tomorrow I have another doctors appointment and I'm excited to get another look of the baby!! I still can't feel any movement but when I look at my belly I'm pretty sure it's developing good, ...

Have to check out the TV with the soccer World Championship now - have been doing that a lot lately ( so no time for scrappin!!)

Take care

Car problems on Wednesday...

.... as you know by the last post our family is growing so what we need is a new car. This means we are trying to sell our 2 cars to trade them in for 1 family car. So far so good. We put my little Volkswagen Lupo in the Internet on a german car site on Monday night.

So far one person called, which is okay, but today I went to work with a coworker and left my car at his house. When we got back from work something looked weird on my car. Can't believe it, but I have a flat tire!! I just got new ones 3 or 4 weeks ago so that realy p... me off!! And after Stefan went to the garage they told him we need to buy a new one because they are not able to fix it!!! I really like my car, but today I wished it was already sold!!!!!

But to calm down I read a little bit in "The Big Picture" by Stacy Julian, which arrived in the mail yesterday. That totally took my thoughts off that stupid car thing!

Take Care!!!

100% neglected ...

... and no excuse for this. It seems like I totally forgot that I have a blog going on. So after my sister told me she keeps checking it once in a while and all she finds is Happy Easter I finally got my act together to write another post.

There is some news going on here: As of december 5th there won't be just the 2 of us. We're going to complete our family and start our live as parents. I'm 14th weeks pregnant now and just feel totally good. None of the "bad" pregnancy things going on so far - except some weight gain that doesn't look really "pregnant" right now.

Well, this means that our computer-scrap-spare-room will turn into a childrens room pretty soon. We've decided to move the computer stuff out and into our bedroom and leave my scrap stuff in there so far. I guess as long as the baby is little it won't bother that much.

So that's all the news for today. Had a little sunshine here - seems like the rain might be gone.

Happy Easter...

We had a nice Easter weekend. Had lunch at my parents on sunday and today we went to see Stefans parents and sisters. Today we even had some nice weather, before there had been too much rain - for my opinion.

So it means back to work tomorrow after 2 weeks of being home sick ( one of the reasons for not posting that much). Wasn't in a very creative mood either. Did lots of reading, TV and resting. but I promise and try to keep this blog more up to date now!

Like a kid in a candystore ...

... was how I felt on Friday!! I went to Dortmund where there was something similiar to CHA but I guess a couple of times smaller. The stores have their boothes there and you can buy their things there. But it's not like e.g. Basic Grey has it's own booth. Don't know if theres something like that in the US. Since I live in a region where it's hard to get a hold on scrap supplies I'm always waiting for the "Creativa" in Dortmund in March and the "KreativWelt" in Wiesbaden in November to get some goodies.

So check out the yummy things I treated myself to:



I give you a close up on the rubberstamps:



Can't wait to use all these things!

By the way: Did you see that fun stuff Ali Edwards is selling?? I want to have some of those mugs!!! And a shirt!! They are just awesome!!!

At Last...

... I was able to upload something on blogger again!! Well I'm honest: I didn't try after Wednesday last week because I was too busy. So here are the 2 Layouts from last week:


My favourite machine. the journaling talks about how much I always wanted a kitchenaid since I was an AuPair in the US, but they were always to expensive for me. So when DH and me got married we were able to get one from the money we received. I decided to go for the hot red one.


Seems Like I like that hot red colour for shoes, too!?! Here I talk about how difficult it is sometimes for me to get nice shoes in my size. I have a 42 - don't know what that is in US but I think it might be 11 1/2 ?? I'm really not sure - anyway it's really big feet for a girl!! But I really like these!!

Spring is in the air, ...

... and I think after posting this I have to get outside and get some fresh air.

Just wanted to show you what I did yesterday. Decided to do a 12x12 LO again since the last ones all were smaller.

Well I tried several times now to upload the LO but it seem as if blogger is against me right now. Have to check later!!

I'm out in that sunshine right now!! Have a nice Sunday!!!

The Cre8tive Juices ....

... seem to be flowing lately!!Finished two LOs today. I even tried something new on the second one! Pulled out my sewing machine and sewed the sequins on the cardstock. Was really easy so I guess I have to try that more often since I always liked it on other peoples LOs on 2peas for example.

Just wish the weather would already be as nice as the paper on the spring LO makes me feel!!

Oh yes, .... LAUNDRY!! Just ironed and fold away a huge pile today!! I just hate it. Like it though when I turn on the washing machine and the dryer and maybe also the dishwasher. Makes me feel like I already did most of my housework.

Plus I like the smell of the washing detergents. Mmmmmmh, ....

Alright, that's it for today; feel like going through my pictures again and get some ideas together...

Gotta ride that creative wave, .....

Sisters

Did some scrapping today but I'm not really satisfied with how it turned out. Don't know what I don't like about it exactly though.

I'm getting really excited about the Elsie workshop at Pien's. They told me the registration will start around the 15th so I kept checking their site so I won't miss it. Hopefully I will understand the dutch announcement!!

Alright, going back to my couch and watch TV, I'm not feeling so well, ....

Finally....

...got to see the movie "Million Dollar Baby". I've been wanting to see that movie for some time now and it totally surprised me. I didn't know much of the story before I saw it. Just like Eastwood and maybe that was one of the reasons I wanted to watch it (?). Anyway it was amazing and I really liked it. Not the "Rocky" kind of movie.

While watching this I finished a layout I had started working on in the morning:

Took that picture last June in the Netherlands. I'm the one who always wants to go to the sea when deciding where to spend the vacation. (DH is more the hiking guy so he votes for the mountains!!)
I just like the wind, the beach, taking long walks, sitting there on a blanket and read a good book. The ocean seems so endless and it just gives me peace to be there and smell the fresh air, hear the sound of the waves, .....

By the way, we haven't decided yet where to go this year!?!?!

Have a good start into the week!!!

Scrappin' Friday...

.... I finished 2 LO's this afternoon. I had the pictures sitting on my desk for some time now, but yesterday I found the time to do the journaling and today it was really easy to finish these pages. Never scrapped in that size before, but I felt really comfy with it!.It seemed easier to fill the page. The first one Talks about my husband, who isn't the one writing little notes or even loveletters. But sometimes there is a little heart somewhere, usually made out of something.

The other one talks about my new camera and how I enjoy it.


I haven't scrapped that much layouts right now and I talked about my problems on focusing on doing my own things instead of searching galleries and idea books all the time. Now this scrapping size really seemed easier to me and I think I might try and stick with a smaller size. We'll see, maybe that leads to more and faster layouts for me!!


The beautiful winter scene I posted before now looks not so pretty anymore due to the rain we're having the past 2 days. I hope that the sun wins and we're about to start spring. I'd love to see some nice flowers popping out of my garden!!

Have a nice friday!!

California Dreamin' ....

..... was what I did together with my sister today. You have to know that both of us went to live in California after finishing school and before starting university. I lived in Milpitas, CA from summer '96 until summer '97 together with a family that had two boys. I was their AuPair (like a nanny) and took care of these kids. My sister Julia lived from '99 until 2000 in San Francisco and took care of 3 boys and a baby.
I guess that is why we sometimes feel really connected to that country and feel maybe kind of "homesick". When I read in lots of blogs or message boards about cool stuff and finds at Target, a good coffee from Starbucks, Michael's, ..... I feel the need to enter a plane and just cross that ocean!!!

But maybe it is just like in that saying:

THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE

Going to bed and maybe dreaming of Target, Costco, Starbucks, In&Out, Borders, .........

Winter impressions

Went to work this morning at 7:30 am and took my camera (Nikon D50 - by the way) with me. It snowed a whole lot starting on thursday and I wanted to get some snow pictures done. I have so much winter themed papers here waiting for the snow pics to get scrapped - so here we go: Beautiful snowy german countryside:

So I'm going to try and find out how to change the banner of this blog to make it a little bit more ME.

Next week I'm waiting for a nice big box of scrap goodies from Piens in the Netherland - and of course I'm waiting for them to announce the registration for Elsies workshop!! I hope I will be fast enough to sign up for it. Too bad I didn't know earlier about hte one with Ali!! Maybe next time!

Have a nice sunday....

Step by Step

... wow, this whole blogging is going to take some time for me. Spend some hours now, trying to figure out what design I want, trying to add links.
I thought this is going to be soooo easy and I would just click here and there, but... at least the writing seems to work for me. I'll go for the design later.

Yesterday I scrapped a picture of my sister taken maybe 20 years ago during a vacation in Italy. i asked my mom for some negatives some time ago, because I wanted to develope some of the pictures from my childhood to get them scrapped. I just had to wait for these circle stamps to use on the layout. I liked the way Ali E. journals around her pictures sometimes, so I tried this, too.




I have a hard time scrapping lately. I get distracted by Internet Galleries and my magazines and books and end up searching these galleries or looking at the magazines instead of creating something myself. I don't know anybody personally here in my environment who scraps so we could get together. Maybe soon there will be more scerappers here in Germany. I never give up the hope!!!

See ya!!!....

Here I am ...

.... alright, after maybe 2-3 months of excessive blog reading I now got the guts to start blogging myself!

I sure hope to be able to post on a regular basis. Have to figure out all first how to set this thing up, so it looks nice and pretty and then we get going!!