The Pursuit of Scrappy-ness

(including some of my "20 Things" book and a scrapjacked & unpubbed challenge)

I have completed three layouts on my little book of "20 Things to Do This Summer" and cannot wait to do the rest of them!

If you'll remember, I came up with a list of 20 activities (unique, adventurous, or otherwise expanding for me and the family) that I wanted to try and do this summer. I have done all of them--with the exception of four (which you will see in a layout below) and really hope to finish the album in the next week or two. I think it will be a really fun summer book to look back at over the years!

The first page I actually designed using last week's challenge at Scrapjacked. I really liked the stacked title idea and the arrangement of pictures down one side. On my page, I really like the colors--they seem to work well with the "artsy" feel I was trying to create. (And these are 81/2 x 11 pages, which are really fun to do!)

#2 on my list was "Go to the museum," and this is the page for it....

The journaling reads: "#2 on my list was to visit the art museum and we did it at the beginning of July and had a great time! What I remember most is Sydney saying over and over again (very loudly!), "She's naked, he's naked." She was right! lol We enjoyed the kids hands-on area, the outdoor sculpture garden, and finding some work by Monet. The art museum is a great place, and we should visit more often! and we will!"

Then I did a page dedicated to the 7th thing on my list, "Kiss at night on the beach." I really love the paper I used here!

You've always got to be honest in your journaling, so mine says: "I seriously thought we'd have more romantic, one-on-one time at the beach, but...we were so busy with the World Series AND it turned into such a kid-friendly vacation (I didn't even drink a pina colada while there!), that we barely shared a kiss...but, we enjoyed walking, cartwheeling, laughing, and jumping waves this night."

And then, going in to this 20 things idea, I knew that there would be some things that I WASN'T able to do, and I was right! There were four things on my list that I didn't do (I still hope to, but it may be in the Fall before I do!), but I knew I needed to scrapbook them anyway.

I won't share all the journaling here, but it tells about why I didn't do these four things--take a day trip with Angela, try my hand at painting, work on my novel, and take a picnic. For example, the journaling for #14 says: "Practicalities got in the way of this one! we may have wanted to have a picnic, but it was just so darned hot all summer long! maybe in the falll!"

I am really LOVING working on these pages. I hope this weekend to maybe work on "try at least 2 ethnic restaurants," "run through a sprinkler," and "start a family summer reading program."

I also worked on my first page dedicated to our summer vacation at the beach. This is the first page (sort of a title page) and I also did four inside pages with a lot of photos. This layout is based on the Unpubbed challenge this week. Go check it out if you're a scrapbooker (it's got some great page ideas)...

The journaling on it says: "panama city beach-- we had a wonderful trip to the beach, july 6-14, 2007. We went for Delaney's softball World Series, but had a lot of time and fun at the beach. We stayed at St. Andrew's State Park and just loved the beach we discovered there. It had gentle waves, great snorkeling areas, and the perfect sand for sand castles. The pics here and on the next page are great memories!"

Thanks for letting me share all of those with you! (If I scrap like I want to this weekend, I will probably have some more next week!)

And now for just a super-quick update...

The girls both had a GREAT first day of school! Delaney actually was saying, "I wish it was time to go again right now" by suppertime last night. I am SO thrilled! She loved changing classes, going to her locker, and having more freedom. Of course she doesn't have homework yet, so some of that could change! LOL And McKenna had a good day too. She loved seeing her friends and was excited about all of her class (except journalism, in which she thinks she's only one of the two or three who actually chose to be in there for their elective; I just told her she could excel in there!). The only kink in the day was that her locker is in a totally different building as all her classes, but last night she hunted someone down who said she could share with them! So it's all good!

I so appreciated all the comments you guys left on my post yesterday. All of you who are around my age with children know exactly how I feel, obviously, and those of you who have been through it already just reinforced all of our feelings! Isn't it great to have a support system like that in Blog Land?

I also wanted to let Stacy know that her RAK finally got sent out this past Tuesday. So you should get it soon! (I also sent a little surprise "for no reason" to Dawn and Maria, which was fun!!)

And now this weekend...

We have a double whammy birthday weekend! And they are both BIG ones!!! lol

My niece, Lori, turns the big, sweet 16 and we will celebrate with a party at Gary's parents' house. The girls came up with the idea of getting her 16 individual gifts, which I think sounds really fun!!

And then my mother turns the Big 60 this Sunday!! Wow!!!! We still don't know exactly what we're doing, but will certainly take her out to eat and have cake!

Of course there will be updates (and pictures!) on Monday!

I hope all of you have a fantastic weekend! Enjoy some time with your friends and family, stay cool (it was 103 here yesterday!!! ugh!!!), and celebrate life!!!