I feel like I haven't posted anything creative in a while, so here are a couple of LOs that I finished tonight. Not that it really matters that much since most of the people who read this blog would see these over at TallyScrapper.

Meeting baby Alexander

And a few more pictures can be found here.

So this afternoon I went and met Alexander. Such a sweet little guy. Mel now has a computer at the hospital, so if she's feeling up to it she may post a few more pictures on the baby blog. She has over 100 on her camera, and I think Auntie Alyson took lots of pictures as well.

They'll be going home at some point on Monday, so maybe then she'll start to get into some kind of routine and we'll get regular updates. Alyson and Dan will both be home the first week, then just Dan, and then the third week it will be just Mel and Alexander on their own during the day.

Alexander is here!

So I got up to go to the bathroom and I missed Alyson's call. Good thing there's viocemail!

Alexander Christopher joined the Chiocco family at 2:08pm this afternoon. He's 5 pounds, 14 ounces and 19 inches long.

Everyone is doing well.

Woo hoo, I'm going to Chicago!

For over a year now I'm been "home-sick" for my alma mater, Valparaiso University, and in particular, it's theatre program. There were a couple of times that I almsot dragged Chris on spur of the moment trips out there, but common sense prevailed. So now, after saving our money, we're going to Chicago! We'll be spending some time at Valpo, some time in the city, and hopefully some time with friends. I just booked our flights and also tickets for two shows we're going to. Noises Off on campus, and Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead at Piccolo, which is a group founded by a bunch of other Valpo alums. In fact, one of my friends is directing the show and a few others are in the cast.

And in other travel news, the following week I'll be going to Vegas for work. April/May is going to be a busy time for me.

Some creativity

Here's what I've been up to creatively in the past week or so. all of these are up at TallyScrapper, so you may have already seen them there. This is more for the one or two people who don't go there.

So what do we have here? Layouts for FOUR different albums! (Anniversary, Book of Me, 2006, and 2007). And also a card. Enjoy!

Poking head out from under the rock that I apparently crawled under...

Hmm, ever since TallyScrapper opened it seems that we've all been neglecting our blogs- myself included. So what have I been up to this week?

• I'm becoming a knitting machine! Working away on the monkey, but then ran out of brown yarn. That was on Monday, I think. Can't get to the store until Saturday. So I finished up all the tan parts of the monkey so at lest I was still making progress.
  
• Then yesterday I picked up some other yarn so that I could start a bag for a co-worker. See, I was "supposed to" get her a disco ball for Christmas, but I never did get her that. So when she saw my bag she commented that I could make her one instead of getting the disco ball. She was kidding, but I liked the idea. So after 3 hours of knititng while watching TV last night, the bottom of the bag is finished and I've started the sides.
• My eBay Quickutz additcion flared up again. I've received three of my purchases and awaiting one more. Now I just need to actually use them.
• Sized and printed pictures for a scraplift I plan to do. Only problem is that I need to do some sewing on the LO and Andrew still has my machine.
• Sized 56 pictures for the final page of my 2006 album. (Not final as in I'll be done when this LO is completed, but final as in last page of the album). Waiting for that to be delivered and then I can finish up the page. It's also kind of a scraplift.
  
• Placed a TallyScrapper order. Bunch of fun goodies coming my way.

There might be more going on, but that's all I can remember for now. Coming up this weekend are game night with York and Carolyn tonight (I think we're playing Apples to Apples), haircut tomorrow, and a bunch of errands. Hopefully I'll be able to get some scrapping time in, too.

Weekend Creativity

Most of you have probably seen these over at TallyScrapper, but thought I would stick them here as well since I may have a couple of readers who don't scrap.

First up we have the back garden of the house we lived in in England. Looking at these pictures brough back some great memories. It's been almost 20 years since I lived in that house. Was only there for a year and still remember my phone number and so many other random obscure details. Hopefully I'll get a chance to scrap more of those photos soon.

Next up is another childhood photo. This was when I was about three. I said that this was in our garden, but I'm not 100% sur eof that. I don't really remember the big rocks that are behind me. The more I think about it the more I think that, yes, there were rocks there, but maybe that's my mind playing tricks on me.

The next layout is of a vase that Chris gave me for our anniversary last year. This was a scraplift of a LO that I saw in CK. I think it was by Jamie Waters, but I'm not sure about that. The England garden LO was also a scraplift, but when I tore the page out of my mag there was no credit on the page, so I don't know who did that one.















Next up, a couple of cards that I made last weekend. One for Mel and one for my FIL.













And to wrap up the creativity, a preview of another project that I started this weekend. See the monkey on the cover of this book? Yup, started to make him. So many cute projects in this book! Damn Donna Downey for inspiring me to knit toys!

World Domination...

So last nigth Chris' co-worker York and his girlfriend Carolyn came over for game night. We started off with Monopoly and York was kicking our butts. We ended the game because his winning was inevitable. He had too many hotels.

We decided to then play Risk and that we would all gang up on York. Yeah, that didn't work so well. After 3 hours (and it now being 12:30) we decided to call a truce. I was out of the game and the power kept going back and forth between the three left in the game. Maybe next time we'll start Risk a bit earlier?

Today's agenda? Time to do some scrapping for TallyScrapper. I have a couple of ideas going around in my head. Only time will tell how those ideas play out.

More evening creativity

Cranked out two cards last night. Both of them are up at TallyScrapper, so go check them out. I think the best part for me in getting these cards made was that I'm almost a month early with them. Love that feeling of making them when I want to, not because I need to get them done.

Title page for Anniversary Album

The ribbon on here was a scrap from my bridesmaids' bouquets. I decided I wanted ribbon and then remembered that I had it. All the other embellishments are Making Memories.

And the photo was during our first dance, to Let's Get Together from the remake of The Parent Trap.

A couple of layouts

This first layout is for an album I started a couple of years ago and then haven't really touched since. It's an 8x8 album and the idea is to have a 2 page LO for each anniversary. The journaling is about majore events of the year. So I got the idea to do this shortly after we got married and then it took me almost a year to do the LO for the first anniversary. Here we are coming up on our 4th anniversary and I just got around to doing this page. I had started the journaling way back when, so at least it was all a little bit fresher in my head. Since I know the font is tiny, here's what it says:

Our second year of marriage started on a down note since after working at Polaris for four years I was asked to leave. After being bored for the first couple of weeks, I soon adapted to the freedoms of unemployment. In some ways, this extra time was a blessing as I was able to make a number of trips to visit Andrew as he hiked the Appalachian Trail as well as design a product for scrapbooking- The Scrapper’s Toolbelt™ which is slowly proving to be quite the success. By January the unemployment checks stopped coming and it was time to get serious about finding some work. After a number of short temp assignments I landed a temp-to-perm position at Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research in Cambridge. After a few months there I am thoroughly enjoying myself.

Chris continued to work at the American Repertory Theatre although he did do some looking for other opportunities. In his spare time he continued with his model making, reading, and humoring me when I decided I wanted to start an annual tradition of having a Pinewood Derby/cookout! We held the event in August and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

In March we were informed that the condo that we had been renting from Dad for the past three years was going to be sold, so time to start looking for a new place. Although we enjoyed where we were living, the commute to work was rather long and we were glad to look for something closer to Boston.

Our anniversary was spent at home. This year we no longer had to eat at the kitchen table as we had purchased dining room furniture. Oooh, we’re moving up in the world! Dinner consisted of steak and potatoes. As to gifts, I went the “traditional” route of china, a gravy boat (when we were engaged we read an article about a newly married couple who considered themselves the proud parents of a gravy boat, and since we hadn’t received one…) and the “modern” gift of cotton, a Baseball Hall of Fame T-shirt, along with the promise of going to the Hall of Fame in the summer. Chris completely shocked me by presenting me with a pink iPod mini. I was very surprised by this gift!

I finished this next one up last night. It's pictures of all of the family from when we gathered for Chris' grandmother's funeral. And proof of why it's a good thing to document names- when I first typed up the journaling I gave someone the wrong name. Granted this was only the 3rd time I had seen them, and not for very long each time, but if I hadn't finally figured out the correct names and labeled them, years from now we never would have known who they were. (In fact, Chris didn't even remember the name of his cousin when he saw her.)

Inspired by Cathy Z...

So seeing this post over on Cathy's blog, I was inspired to make my own adorable bag. Pretty much spent all of Sunday making it and caused some issues to my writst. But I was in a groove and was determined to get it done. I had bought an extra skein of yarn, so now I'm debating making another bag or returning the yarn. Hmmm....

I also want to put a lining in the bag. I figure this will help keep it from getting all stretched out. However, Andrew has my sewing machine at the moment because he's making a backpack. Yes, you read that right. He's making a backpack. For his next hike this summer.

In other news, made two cards today. Will post them later. And am hoping to do some other scrapping. Chris will be home in about an hour and tonight is 24 and Studio 60, so I may not get all that much done.

And another word about the first photo. The roses. Chris had sent me a dozen roses to work. In 2 days they were pretty much dead. So he called them up and they said they would exchange them. personally I think they should have re-delivered them, but this was better than nothing. So Saturday we went to the florist and got new flowers.

Layout done!

I started this one at the crop on Saturday and just finished it up. Christy, it is because of you that I did this layout. :)

Journaling below:

I had posted this picture on my blog to show what a table set for 26 looked like, and I also commented about the tomato juice. Someone asked what the story was behind the juice. Not knowing, I made a phone call to Mum. Here’s what I found out.

They always had the tomato juice on Thanksgiving as well. She's not sure if it started with her grandmother or her aunt. But it was always there. Kind of like an appetizer. They would have that while Uncle Thornton would carve the turkey and then they would drink cider with their meal.

I find it interesting though, that even though people are from the same family, Aunt Cathrine serves the tomato juice, but when we have T-day at Meg’s house it isn't served. Although the sight of tomato juice on a Thanksgiving table isn't foreign to me, if I were to host it certainly would not be something that I would think to include.

Hard at work or hardly working?

So out of the 28 people that could be at work in my department today, there are 7 of us here. So of course I had to take a camera-phone self-portrait at my desk.

And the best part- they just went around annoucning that they are closing the office! Yay- I get to go home and scrap! This is what I like about crappy snow days.

Weather forecast

Some people like this kind of snowy weather- not me! I am not looking forward to shoveling the driveway and dealing with people who have forgotten how to drive. (The picture is from a storm we got last year.)

Forecast for: Belmont, MA 02478
Updated: 2/13/2007 3:45:00 AM

Important Message Winter storm warning in effect from midnight tonight to midnight est Wednesday night.

Today
Sunny this morning...then becoming partly sunny. Colder with highs in the mid 20s. North winds 5 to 10 mph. Gusts up to 20 mph this morning.

Tonight
A chance of snow in the evening...then snow after midnight. Snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches. Lows around 20. Northeast winds 10 to 15 mph. Chance of snow near 100 percent.

Wednesday
Snow in the morning...then freezing rain...rain...snow and sleet in the afternoon. Snow may be heavy at times in the morning. Additional snow and sleet accumulation of 4 to 6 inches. Brisk and not as cool with highs in the mid 30s. East winds 15 to 25 mph. Chance of precipitation near 100 percent.

Wednesday Night
Snow in the evening...then snow likely after midnight. Blowing snow. Additional moderate snow accumulation. Very windy with lows around 17. Northeast winds 25 to 30 mph with gusts up to 40 mph...becoming west 25 to 35 mph with gusts up to 50 mph after midnight. Chance of snow near 100 percent.

Thursday
Partly sunny. A chance of flurries in the afternoon. Windy and colder with highs in the lower 20s. West winds 25 to 30 mph with gusts up to 45 mph.

And another...

Here's another layout from the crop yesterday. Sorry I had to blur Hanna's face. This is one of the pictures that she took at Cookie Baking and I fell in love with the picture when I saw it. She has such a studious/determined look on her face as she looks at the camera to see if it's lined up correctly.

It's a Dance Thing

Here's my first completed layout from the crop. Hopefully I'll be able to get the others finished soon. Really just have journaling left to do on all of them. Journaling is below.

I was in second grade when I first started to take ballet. I remember the classes were in a building that was located off 122, kind of behind Statewide Glass. I don’t remember if it was that year or the next that the dance studio moved to its new location- above the Post Office Pub- where it still is today.

I also remember my first class feeling kind of lost because many of the other girls already knew the names of steps, positions, etc and I didn’t know any of that. I also remember trying to sashay across the dining room floor when I would practice at home. (It didn’t work so well.)

In second grade our recital was to the song “My Favorite Things”. And a note about the costume- The flowers that you see here in the picture did not come attached to the leotard. It was up to the moms to attach them. The leotards didn’t have anything to identify which side was front and which was back. Unfortunately for me, we realized too late that mine had been sewn to the back. If you look really closely, I think you can see n*pples. I seem to remember that in the professional pictures I’m a bit more exposed.

In third grade our routine was to “Over the Rainbow”. I believe we got to choose which color leotard we wanted and I chose blue. I remember that when the leotards were delivered I liked the other colors better. This was when Darlene and I first met, but if it weren’t for this picture, I don’t think either of us would have remembered meeting before middle school. Thanks to Darlene’s mom for writing down the names, I now know who everyone was in my class.
Back row: Nicole ____, Kerri ____, Rebecca ___, Kelly ____, Christine ____, Laura ___
Front row: Leslie ____, Darlene ____, Martha ____, Karen ____, Alana ____ (I deleted the last names here so that they won't show up in a search.)

Ballet was an activity that I remember enjoying. If we hadn’t moved to England I imagine I would have wanted to keep dancing. Since then I took a ballet class in college and an adult education class. I also have taken an adult education tap class. Maybe one day I will once again resume my dance education.

I guess my creativity appears on the weekends. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get even more done. Or maybe just start putting together some page kits for next Saturday's crop.

Anyway, when I was going through my CKU pictures and narrowing them down from 3 pages to 1 page, I had to eliminate this picture. But I did still like it. At the time an idea popped into my head, so I sketched it out and then tonight I put this together. Slightly different from my original idea, but I'm happy with how it came out. Chris doesn't like my big waves "because there aren't big dramatic waves in Boston harbor." Yes, you read that correctly. Those are dramatic waves.

And the story behind the picture. I was in one of my classes at CKU when I heard someone mention that the Constitution was passing us. I guess her husband was at the hotel and had seen it and called her. Considering the Consititution isn't normally out for a pleasure cruise at night through eel infested waters (come on, let's hear your guesses of what that's from) I knew I needed to take a picture of it.

Harry Potter

They have now officially annoucned the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- July 21st. The rumour had been that it would be two weeks earlier, which would have been 07-07-07, which would have been MUCH cooler, but I'll take what I can get. I've already preorderd my copy from Amazon as well as a copy for my FIL- it will be a birthday present for him. Which is very handy since his birthday is coming up at the end of the month and I had no idea what to get for him.

Also, FYI, this is a week after the next HP movie is to be released.

Quick question...

Babies are springing up all over the place here at work and I'm planning another shower. The mom-to-be didn't register and her "big" gift will be to a charity of her choice. However, so that there's something to open I want to get her a bunch of books. So my question is, what are the "must have" children's books? Not sure how many books I'll be getting. Probably will depend on cost.