WOYWW {178}

Happy Halloween everyone!!

My work desk this Wednesday is my actual work desk. I have so much grading (and cleaning and organizing) to do!

I hate when my work desk gets so crazy! I definitely need to catch up on this grade - the trimester ends in just a few weeks!

Well, I'm off to check out more desks at Julia's!

Wedding Trivia Layout

Yesterday, I was feeling sad that my entire family was back on the east coast and I'm living in Chicago. I usually love big storms, I find them really interesting. Even as a kid, if a storm was coming, I was glued to the Weather Channel (probably an early sign of me becoming a science teacher...)

But, yesterday's post was written when I was under the impression that Sandy would be more like all of the other hurricanes they predict...a whole lot of talk for a whole lot of rain!

Yesterday, I spoke with my parents, and my dad - aka the man who took my brother and I, both under the age of 10, outside in the middle of the blizzard of 1996, just so we could say we were out in the blizzard - said the storm was scary and out of control. Once I heard that, I knew I was lucky to be here in Chicago, where our biggest issue so far has been people surfing on Lake Michigan (not so much an issue as just really weird to me!)

If you are in any of the areas affected by Sandy, I hope that you and your family and friends are safe. We are praying for you here...

AJ and I were talking about what would we do if we were out of power. I figured I could scrapbook if it was light out. And I know my parents were playing a lot of cards. As a kid, I loved to play Brain Quest trivia whenever we were in the car, waiting around for the doctor a table at a restaurant or without electricity.

So I thought it would be fun to share a trivia layout today. While at Pre Cana, we played a trivia game. AJ and I not only won - but we got the highest score the priest had ever seen! So I decided for our engagement book, it would be fun to have a layout featuring some of the trivia questions.

This is a 12x12 page protector that is divided up into 9 boxes (I think from We R Memory Keepers...) Each of these squares pulls out of the layout using the blue diamond tabs and the answers are underneath (of course, I forgot to take a picture of that! I'll fix that later today!) All of the papers and stickers are from the wedding papers that Heather sent me.

Questions (the answers are below, in case you want to play along)
Top Row:
1. Who wrote "Here Comes the Bride"? What genre of music does it fall in? What is the name of its origin?
2. The tradition of breaking glass in a Jewish wedding is a symbol of what?
3. Which princess began the tradition of using Mendelssohn "Wedding March"?

Middle Row:
4. Where is the largest bridal salon in the world? Bonus: What is its name?
5. According to Greek tradition, what wedding related expense does the best man pay for?
6. Why does the bride traditionally stand on the groom's left side?

Bottom Row:
7. What wedding reception staple was inspired by the steeple of St. Bride's Church in London?
8. On what find did the Romans wear their wedding rings?
9. Which couple holds the record for answering the most correct trivia questions at One in Christ pre-cana? (as of September 2012)

Answers

Top Row:
1. Wagner, Opera, Lohengrin
2. The destruction of the temples in Jerusalem (this answer is a bit controversial - I've also heard that it is to symbolize that the marriage will last forever, but this is the answer the priest was looking for)
3. Princess Victoria

Middle Row:
4. New York City, Kleinfeld's
5. Liquor
6. The groom would carry his sword on his right, and would use it to protect his bride from potential attackers

Bottom Row:
7. Tiered wedding cake
8. Thumb
9. Katie and AJ


I hope you liked the trivia questions!

What is your favorite way to keep busy when the power is out?

Boardy Barn Layout

Happy (?) Monday everyone!

While we were in New York over Labor Day, we went to the Boardy Barn. It is an outdoor bar that sells incredibly inexpensive beer and plays awesome music. It is also only open in the summer on Sunday afternoons. And my parents used to hang out there. Its basically a Long Island tradition.

One that I somehow managed to miss out on while I was living on Long Island. Fortunately, Tommy and Jamie planned to take us there during our visit home - so my life was Boardy Barn-less no longer!

One other thing you need to know - its kind of a tradition to spill beer on each other there and it gets spilled all over everyone. So all electronics have to stay in plastic bags. They even hand out plastic bags as you walk in to keep your stuff safe. Also, the tent you stand under is red. So that would explain our red tint and blurries in the photos. But most of my memories from that day are a little blurry too!

Because of the red tint in the photos, I wanted to use paper that also had a reddish feel to it. I had the Sassafras Count Me In 6x6 paper pack from Christina's giveaway, and used it to create a 12x12 background to put the photos on. I also used a rounded corner punch on just two of the corners of the photos (like Kimberly did in the Halloween card she sent with her mini album). I really like how it looks, it makes the photos look special, but was very easy to do! Last, I stuck one of the Boardy Barn stickers right in the middle. Those stickers are everywhere too - I ended up covered in them by the end of the night!

So, I have a little confession. I'm a little sad that I'm not home with my family on the east coast where Hurricane Sandy is hitting! I totally love big storms like this - I always look at them like an adventure waiting to happen. AJ and I have been watching the weather channel since yesterday afternoon, because we just find it all so interesting (yeah...I never said we weren't nerdy!)

Plus all the schools have been canceled! I wouldn't mind being home riding out the storm...but I'm heading to work today instead!

If you are affected by Hurricane Sandy, I hope you are staying safe!!

Do you like crazy storms like this? Or do you hate the idea of losing power and flooding and all of the things that can (but hopefully don't!) go along with it?

Scavenger Hunt Sunday {10.28.2012}

I'm back for Scavenger Hunt Sunday again! Week 2 of my fall resolution, and I think I am doing well!

AJ really got into this hunt this week. While we were walking to church Saturday night, he found two of the prompts for me (pattern and stone). I love when he gets into the search with me, its so much fun!



Pattern 

All of the buildings by us decorated with mums for fall. This building created a pattern with their yellow and orange mums. AJ noticed this pattern from across the street, and I just had to photograph it for this prompt!

Machine

Fortunately for Scavenger Hunt Sunday, we haven't moved AJ's bike to the bike storage room yet! It was just sitting in my living room, waiting for me to photograph the gears :)

Signs or Logos

The hat from my Halloween costume.

And just for funs, a picture of our Halloween costumes, from A League of Their Own. This is one of my favorite costumes ever!

Rocks or Stones

We walk by this building almost every day. AJ pointed out that it is perfect for Halloween, and would be great for this prompt! I hope they didn't mind me kneeling on their sidewalk photographing their home!

Sparkle

We bought our wedding bands, but of course, can't wear them until the wedding. Instead, I take pictures of them all the time!

Do you ever wonder what people think while you are taking your photos? Its always in the back of my mind, but I don't really care!

Errands, Errands and More Errands!

Just popping in quickly. Last night got away from me and I wasn't able to do my Project Life page for today, but I still wanted to say hi!

Here's a little idea of what my day yesterday looked like on paper...

And that was just the shopping list. Of course, it expanded to include 5 different stores. And, the worst of all, we picked up a bottle of wine to bring to a friend's party tonight - and we left it in the store! Right on the register! Of course, I didn't realize until I was showering this morning and it occurred to me (really odd time to think of it, I know!)

But I did get to make these yummy treats from Heather's blog. So that was fun!!

And today is even crazier. Do you ever have days that just seem to fly by before you can get anything done?!

Well, I need to run and finish prepping for our school's Fall Fest today, but I'll be back on Sunday for the Scavenger Hunt - and a peak of our costumes!!

Bridesmaids Dress Shopping

Happy Weekend Eve everyone! I am so excited that it is Thursday. This has been another long week, and I'm very much looking forward to the weekend :)

While I was home in July, I also went bridesmaids dress shopping. Of course, I had to include this in my pre-wedding/engagement album too!

I had a great time shopping. Although my hair is a mess in all of these pictures because I'd been trying on veils before! Also, only one of my maid of honor was with me, so I modeled the bridesmaids dress while she modeled the maid of honor dress! (Oh yeah, and I blotted out her face because I forgot to ask her if I could use her picture on here, and its way to late to call her now - especially with the time difference!)

Journaling:
After we finalized the purchase of my wedding gown, Mom, Dad, Liz and I looked for bridesmaids dresses.
Originally I'd wanted the girls to wear short dresses, but I ended up preferring gowns (after Liz and Mom encouraged me to look at them!)
I really wanted Liz's dress to be special as maid of honor, but AJ didn't like the idea of using a different color. So, we picked a different (but similar) dress for Liz. I think all of the girls will look beautiful in their dresses!
The only issue for me was color. I'd chosen a deep green, but had second thoughts. The green w/ the oranges in the flowers reminded me of St. Patrick's Day! Mom and I went back a few days later and chose "spice" instead. I love it!

I had so much fun dressing up in all the pretty gowns that day! I wish I had an excuse to wear a gown for Halloween, they are just so fun! Are you dressing up this year? Do you have a costume picked out yet? I can't believe Halloween next week!

WOYWW {177}

Happy Wednesday! Its halfway through our week, which means its time for another WOYWW!

My desk is a disaster. I was vaccumming and picked a few things up and threw them on my desk (like the Jared's bag full of ribbons and the box of ribbons too!)

I also got a new mug from Shutterfly and opened it up at my desk, then left all of the packaging on my desk...I'm not sure why!

Last week, I had the beginnings of this layout on my desk. If you are interested, the finished layout is here.

So, my plan was to have my pumpkin picking layout started and to share the story with you today. Obviously, I didn't start the layout yet (I went to dinner with a girlfriend who just got engaged instead!)

But, I will still tell the story!

AJ and I love to go pumpkin picking. We've gone in both New Jersey and New York. We always go to big farms and orchards where there are lots and lots of pumpkins, and apples and corn and everything else.

So this year, we thought we lucked out living in Illinois. There are tons of farms out here! We researched on line and found a place that had all kinds of things - a pumpkin patch, a corn maze, even a haunted barn!

But, it was almost 2 hours away!

We decided to have an adventure and drive out there. After getting lots and taking over two hours to get there, we pulled up...and we couldn't help but laugh!

That was it! That was the entire size of the farm. It took us less than 15 minutes to walk around and look at the pumpkins. Then we got back in the car for our long trip home! Although not before we took a cute pumpkin patch picture!

That's it for me! I'm going to head over to Julia's to check out some other workdesks. If you want to join me, just click on the fabulous button below!

How to Make a Jack O'Lantern

Ohhhh, it is only Tuesday!

This is actually a layout from a few years ago! I don't think I ever posted it because I couldn't find it last week. So I couldn't resist posting it now (since we don't have any jack o lanterns for this year!)

I have no idea where I got these papers from. But the Jack O Lantern letters are cut from the Halloween and Scaredy Cat Sizzix cartridge.

The little tabs at the top pulled out to reveal the pumpkins we carved (using templates of course!)

Did you ever forget something essential for work? I totally forgot my laptop yesterday and I was thrown off all day long! I had no idea what to do with myself!

Since I'm writing this on Monday night, I'm really hoping that I remember to bring it to work tomorrow/today!

I'll be back tomorrow for WOYWW and with the pumpkin picking story (because I'm working on the pumpkin picking layout!) I feel like this story has been built up by me so much now that everyone's going be like, um, seriously Katie?! So I'm going to preface it with, its not that funny

Law School Layout

Happy Monday everyone!

You might remember last Wednesday I was working on this page during WOYWW.

Fortunately, I hadn't glued any of the letters down yet, because Mary Jo pointed out that I had spelled training wrong in my title! I am not the world's greatest speller, and my brother is always pointing out my spelling mistakes in my journaling, so it would have been pretty ironic if I spelled the title wrong in a page about him!

Journaling: This summer, Tommy had his first law school internship with (where we grew up) County Courts. One morning while I was home, I dropped him off for work. I could help from snapping a few photos as he walked up to the courthouse. I was just so proud of him. Tommy's always been a hard worker, and its so wonderful to see him chasing his dreams and succeeding! Love you T <3 i="i">


I can't believe it is already Monday!

What happened to the weekend? Why do they go so so fast?!

Ours was a little crazy. We drove 4 hours (round trip) to go pumpkin picking...but that is a story for Wednesday :)

Did your weekend fly by too? I hope not! That is so disappointing!

Scavenger Hunt Sunday {10.21.12}

It has been quite a long time since I've linked up with Scavenger Hunt Sunday. And I definitely missed it, but it got to the point where I'd been gone for so long that I felt silly coming back (yeah, dumb of me, I know!)

One of my goals for the rest of the year is to link up every Sunday. Its like a fall resolution instead of a New Year's one!





Orange or PINK in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month

These pink flowers sit in our hallway by the elevator. I've passed them a million times, and never photographed them before!

Faceless Portrait (aim for a selfie)

Wearing my favorite orange jeans, with my favorite sweater, and standing on a step stool in order to take a picture in our bathroom mirror!

View from the Top

There was no question about what I'd photograph when I read this prompt - I headed straight up to the roof. Although I didn't like taking these photos. I am afraid of heights, and being that close to the edge scared me a lot. I didn't even like looking at the photos while safely seated on my couch!

Cozy

Candles always make the apartment feel more cozy. This one is a Yankee jar candle that I altered earlier this season.

Stacked

The pumpkins we drove 4 hours round trip to get - that is a story for later this week!

I hope you all are having a wonderful Sunday! I'll be back tomorrow with some happy mail :)

Project Life 25 {Week 20}

Happy Friday everyone!

I'm so happy its Friday, its been a long week! And to make this Friday even better, we have parent-teacher conferences, which means that we get out at noon! (Of course, we were here until 7pm last night, so its a trade off!)

Top: Black stamp on gray cardstock that says: "Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life." The stamp is from this trip to Michaels. The black on gray is much easier to read in person! ~ Our coffee mugs on our commute to work ~ The journaling prompt from Ali Edwards' "Life Right Now" link up
Middle: My desk on balloon demo day
Bottom Row: Lunch from the faculty room, because I'd forgotten to pack one!

Top Row: Dressed up in my favorite fall outfit (which I am wearing right now, only with green leggings and a green sweater!)
Middle Row: Cellular Field, Home of the White Sox
Bottom Row: A banner I created for my team at school

Now that I've shared my layout, its confession time...


This post almost didn't happen.

As of last night, I still had to create my Week 20 layout. I was planning on using the words from this post for the journaling, but I just hadn't done it yet.

I planned on creating the page last night after I got home from parent-teacher conferences, but between being at work for 12 hours and this cold, I basically fell asleep right away!

AJ didn't mind going to bed early though, since he had to wake up at 4am.

And I'm not sure what happened at 4am, but I half woke up and got totally freaked out that the goblin from the scary commercials was in the room (also known as the laundry hanging on the drying rack, but I wasn't wearing my glasses at the time and it was dark. You know what, I'm just going to blame the cold here...)

Obviously I couldn't fall back asleep in case the goblin came back, so I decided to do my layout instead!

On that note, please excuse any glare on my photos. They were taken before the sun came up :)

I have to know, am I the only one, or do you get as freaked out by those scary commercials and things that go bump in the night?

Third Thursday Scrapbook Stories {10.18.2012}

Happy weekend eve everyone!

Today I'm over at A Beautiful Day sharing a 2 page collage layout about our recent trip home over Labor Day weekend.

I'll be back tomorrow with Project Life Week 20!

WOYWW {176}

Hi everyone!

I can't believe it is only Wednesday. This week is dragging on and on. But, on the bright side, its time for What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday!

Its been a long time since I linked up here...probably because my desk has been a messy mess with no room for scrapping for a long time! But thanks to a big clean up, and an even bigger burst of inspiration, my desk is a scrappy place once again!

I actually took this photo Tuesday night just before I went to bed, because let's be honest, there is no way I have enough time to take it Wednesday morning before I go to work! Its just too early in the morning. But rest assured that my desk looks exactly the same now (except for the cell phone, I brought that to work with me!)

In the middle is a layout in progress about my brother, who is in law school. I love this picture of him that I took of him after I dropped him off at his internship. I loved how the circles looked in Mary Pat's layout on Monday, and they inspired the rectangles here. I still need to add the journaling and some embellishment, but I was so exhausted that I just had to get to bed.

And everything else is left over from the layouts I'd been working on Saturday and Sunday!

Well, I'm off to go check out some other desks! If you want to see what What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday is all about, click on the button and head over to Julia's!

Pink ATG Gun

A few weeks ago, I went a little crazy at Michaels - with coupons of course!

They had two awesome coupons, 40% off any one item, and 20% off your entire purchase.

I really wanted the pink ATG gun. I'd been hesitant to buy it before, because its a big upfront cost, but it saves so much in the end on adhesive - so I decided that if they let me use my 40% coupon for it, and then my 20% coupon for everything else I'd buy it.

Shockingly, they let me use both! I was so excited!

Apparently, as long as you are using two different coupons, you are allowed to split your order up and use them both. Its only when you want to use the same coupon twice that you aren't allowed to do that. That's something to keep in mind :)

When I got home, I really wanted to alter it a bit, just to make it a little more fun (of course, it was already really fun because it was pink!)

I decided to use some of the awesome pink papers I won in Christina's giveaway.

I decided to alter that little cardboard piece that tells you how to replace the tape. If I didn't alter it and keep it there, I'd probably lose it and be lost on tape replacement forever! The heart paper, and those pretty flowers are just so cheerful! The sentiment at the top says "A;ways take time to play every single day!" And ever since I've decorated this - I have scrapbooked every single day!

Do you have an ATG gun? How do you like it?

Wedding Ring Layout

How was your weekend?

Ours was pretty low key. Friday night we started our wedding registry. We went to a Macy's Sip and Scan event. It was pretty nice, they definitely made us feel special with hors d'oeuvres and a special bag with lots of information, waters, candies and even a little shaving kit for AJ! Of course, there will be more details to come - just as soon as I can scrap the event!

The rest of the weekend was very quiet. I went to sleep at 7:30 Saturday night, and still needed a nap after church on Sunday! I hope I'm not getting sick. But, I found time to scrap around all of that sleeping, and I got lots of pages done! I can't wait to share them over the next few weeks (yes - I said WEEKS! It was that many!)

One of the first ones I did was about our wedding ring shopping day, for the scrapbook I'm doing about all the engagement/pre-wedding stuff!

This awesome pink paper and the stickers were both from a surprise package from Heather! Wasn't that sweet of her? I love how the pink looks with the silver and black in the pictures!

I still can't believe that it is Monday morning! How did that happen?! Well, it probably happened because I was asleep for most of it, but still... Did your weekend fly by too?

Project Life 25 {Week 19}

Happy Friday everyone! I am so excited that it is Friday. This has been such a crazy week. I'm so happy that it is over!

Because its Friday, I'm going to share my Project Life page for a few weeks ago - when I went on the senior retreat!

Top Row: My bunk in the cabin. I didn't realize how tiny my sleeping bag was until I unrolled it when we got there!
Middle Row: Getting ready to go on the high ropes ~ I climbed up these steps. It was really fun, but I didn't not like being up so high! ~ Everyone walking to dinner.
Bottom Row: One of the students fell on the high ropes course (don't worry, he was in a harness, so he was safe). I was so proud to see another student come to his aid and encourage him to get back up and finish the course! ~ The bonfire!

This one isn't complete yet. I want to use the last row (not pictured) to put some journaling about our first day of Pre Cana, but I haven't had a chance to ask AJ to write anything yet.
Top Row: The apartments AJ looked at while he was visiting Baton Rouge
Middle Row: Feeling tired, but accomplished, after going to a run. And feeling not so guilty about eating an entire (personal sized) pizza for dinner!
Bottom Row: An awesome pool at one of the apartments AJ toured!

Like I said earlier, I am so excited for this weekend. AJ and I are going to Macy's tonight to register for the wedding. I am very excited to look at all of the china and cookware. AJ is really excited to use the gun!

What was your favorite item from your wedding registry?