Love Card

I forgot to post the card I made for John for our anniversary (at the end of July).

Supplies Used:
Paper: Life of the Party from Basic Grey
Card Stock: Crumb Cake (kraft) from Stampin' Up!
Stamp: Hero Arts Graph Background
Inks: Fired Brick Distress Ink & Chestnut Roan chalk ink from Color Box
Stickers: EK Success
Corner Rounder: Crop-a-dile Corner Chomper from We R Memory Keepers

These seemed to be my "go-to" supplies last summer, and now I am obsessed with butterflies!

Color Combo Blog Hop

I can't believe that it is already the middle of October! It is time for another Color Combo Blog Hop. I will have the entire list of participants at the end of the hop so that you don't miss a stop.

For October, we chose between three fall color combinations from Design Seeds. Here is the one that I chose:

After reading this article earlier in the week on Scrapbook Update, I was attracted to the combination with grays and yellows. Last night, I scrapped one of my favorite photos of Alex from the summer.

This is a digital page designed in My Digital Studio, and most supplies are from Stampin' Up. I also used a stamp designed by Ali Edwards available at Designer Digitals.

The journaling reads:
Our neighbor was nice enough to let you help water his lawn on some hot summer evenings. You had fun watering the plants and playing with the hose. One day, you exclaimed, "My belly's wet!" We could not help but laugh! Not only was your belly wet, but you were soaked from head to toe.

Our neighbor also blogs, and you can read his great food blog at http://www.sanantoniojoe.com/ .

Your next stop on the blog hop is http://sugarandscrap.blogspot.com

You can see more ways to use this color combination and two others by following the entire hop:
http://www.abstractsmixedwithextracts.com
http://suealthouse.blogspot.com
http://xnomads.typepad.com
http://michelleroycroft.blogspot.com
http://throughthecameralens.typepad.com/
http://scrapyourlife.net
http://spud-pickle.blogspot.com/
http://curlyscrapbooker.blogspot.com
http://1200somemiles.com (You are here.)
http://sugarandscrap.blogspot.com
http://alyssephotographs.blogspot.com
http://handmadebykirsty.blogspot.com
http://adriennefalzon.blogspot.com/
http://helenascreativemaven.blogspot.com
http://digipage-blog.everything-digital-scrapbooking.com/
ttp://scribblesstickingstitchingstroking.blogspot.com/

Thank you for stopping by!

Ten Conference Highlights

For my October Ten Things on the Tenth of the Month post, I want to share highlights from the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA) Conference that I attended in Denver, Colorado from October 1-5, 2011. This was a wonderful conference!

1. One of my favorite sessions from the conference was on "Women Thriving in Higher Education." An extraordinary panel of women honestly shared their career experiences and advice. One woman pointed out that in your career sometimes you do things out of desire and sometimes you have to do it out of need. They discussed changing positions to stay in line with your core values and the topics of taking a pay cut or a part-time position. They shared their various experiences with completing a doctorate degree. Their willingness to honestly share their experiences made this session so valuable.

2. I was happily surprised to see my graduate school advisor at the conference. I did not pre-select my conference sessions, so I did not know that she was presenting. She has served as a reference for me and we email occasionally, but I had not seen her in seven years. Of course, I attended her presentation.

3. Since I did not pre-select my sessions, I took advantage of going with the flow and attended great sessions on a variety of topics: Sophomores/Second Year Students, Assessment, Technology in Advising, First Year Students, and Graduate Interns.

4. I hung out with two conference buddies in Denver. I enjoyed spending time with these ladies.

5. I also had the opportunity to connect with other UTSA advisors who I do not regularly get to see at work. We enjoyed getting together for dinner two nights in a row.

6. The weather was beautiful and I enjoyed walking around Downtown Denver.

7. A friend introduced me to Pinkberry frozen yogurt. If you have one in your area, go get some peanut butter yogurt with your favorite topping for me. There are not any locations in San Antonio. (Someone with more money than an Academic Advisor should start a franchise here!)

8. I got to meet other academic advisors from all over the U.S. and the world. I chatted with advisors from Ohio, California, Hawaii, North Carolina, Florida, Colorado, Indiana, Kentucky, Texas, Oklahoma, and Hong Kong.

9. I learned so much, including more about Sophomores/Second Year students and Assessment. I have taken a lot of ideas home with me and hope to use and implement them.

10. I am finally on Twitter and looking forward to the Academic Advising Chat each Tuesday.

For more Ten Things on the Tenth of the Month posts, visit shimelle.com

Thanks to one of my conference buddies for taking my photo at our hotel.

While I Was Away...

I uploaded some photos from our camera and found this one that was taken while I was away at a conference.

I'll be saving this one for when Alex is in high school. :)
Photo taken 10/2/11.

September Expenses

I give myself a monthly budget of $40 to spend on craft supplies (including classes, idea books/magazines, photo printing etc.), and I was under budget for September. I have done some fall cleaning and condensed my supplies.

Early in the month I spent about $3.05 on adhesive. I used some Michael's store credit on this purchase, so it would have been about $10 normally. Later in the month, I spent $3 on a butterfly stamp, which I have already used.

My local stamp store, Stamp Antonio Arts, did a great job organizing their first ever "garage sale." I shared a table with a friend and made $20 by selling some craft supplies that I was longer using. I also swapped some card stock with a friend at no cost.

Alex Stories

By the end of the day, I had three stories to share about Alex. There is a lot of personality in that two and a half year old!

This morning, Alex's teacher mentioned that Alex started opening the door from the playground to inside the classroom when he is done playing outside even though it is not time to go in yet... The teachers catch him, but now we need to watch all of the doors!

I picked up Alex a little early today and he was playing with a doll. His teacher walked over to tell me a story. Alex and a little girl both wanted to play with the doll. They went back-and-forth staying "My baby" and "No, my baby." Then, Alex said, "It's our baby." Well, at least he is learning to share!

We are seeing Alex's sense of humor develop. Alex usually tells me that his banana peel goes in the compost. Tonight I asked him where the banana peel goes, and he proceeded to give me a variety of answers each time I asked: ear, head, knee, sky, etc. We both thought that it was funny.

Thankful Thought #1

One of the first blogs I read was Ali Edward's, and I am still reading it regularly since she shares valuable information and insight on scrapbooking, family, motherhood, and life in general. She started sharing Thankful Thoughts and I related to her post today. She wrote about keeping in touch with her family across the country on Facetime. I have not tried that program yet, but we Skype with my brother on some Sundays. Alex brings out his stuffed Skrek while he talks to Uncle Shrek, and they make silly faces on the video chat. Yesterday, Alex wanted to stay by the computer instead of taking a bath. Alex wanted to count and sing his ABC's but not talk sports. I am thankful for all of the technology that helps us keep in touch with our family and friends.

Alexander

We mainly call the little man "Alex," but sometimes we call him by his full name, Alexander. Actually, it makes a fun song if you sing Alexander over and over. He calls himself "Alex", but recently he has caught onto the idea of his full name. He decided that John and I need full names too. I am "Mommy-zander" and John is "Daddy-zander."

Alex is pictured on 9/18/11 standing on a stool and playing with the printer.