Lizzie Anne Designs Black Friday Sale!

We've got an awesome sale going on over at Lizzie Anne Designs this weekend. Be sure to check it out!

Christmas Cards

Have you started your Christmas cards yet? If you said no...that's okay, me neither! I did however make a card the other day for our weekly sketch challenge over at Lizzie Anne Designs. I'm not sure if I will mass produce this one or not yet. I need to make a couple more before I decide what I'm doing. In the meantime, I had fun playing with my stardust gelly roll pen. Man, I love that pen! You can't tell in the above picture how I used it, so here is a close-up.

I just drew over the tree lines to give it a little pop.

If you want to check out this week's sketch challenge, stop by our blog and take a look. Have a great day everyone!

Stamps used: Lizzie Anne Deck the Halls

6 miles

That's the furthest I've ever run, and I ran that today. The furthest I had run before that was 4.5 miles. And that was just last week. It's amazing what you can do when you set your mind to something. It's also amazing how one little thought "this is all I'm capable of doing" will stifle you and keep you from progressing. I started running about 4 1/2 years ago. My friend asked me if I wanted to train for a half marathon with her and so I said, why not? I hadn't ever run before with the exception of PE class in school, but I figured how hard could it be? Plus I really wanted to get back into shape. So we started in April and by July, our lofty goal of 11 miles was well, quite lofty. That year we ran a 5k (3.1 miles) instead. It was a big accomplishment for me and I didn't care how long it took me as long as I didn't stop and I didn't finish last. And guess what...I didn't stop, I didn't walk, and I wasn't last!

I still remember when I first started running how excited I was when I could run a whole mile without stopping. Then one mile became two, and two became three- then three and a half. And that's about where I settled in. My friend stopped running with me and so I found myself on my own. That next year I wavered there for a little bit, found excuses to not go out and run. I didn't have anyone to go with, or it was too cold outside, or too hot. But eventually I discovered that I could do it on my own and I found the desire to get going again. And so I did.

So the past two years I've been happily running but I've stayed in that 3 1/2 mile range for distance only going to 4 miles on rare occasions. I've had the goal of running a 10k (6.2 miles) race for some time now, but hadn't made much progress on my distance. For some silly reason, I was telling myself that the 3.5-4 miles was "all I'm capable of doing right now." Why was I telling myself this? I had been running for a few years and had my 3.5 miles down great, but what happened to my goal? Surely by now I have built up my endurance enough to push myself a little further. What was I afraid of? Enough of the thought "this is all I'm capable of doing." That was getting old. So, last week I decided to do just that. I pushed myself a little further and I ran 4.5 miles. The furthest I had ever gone! And you know what, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Today I decided that I was going to push myself again. I decided I would try for 5.5 miles. I knew I could do 4.5. What was one mile more? Then as I was running I thought what the heck, I'm just going to go for 6. I wanted to see if I could do it. I told myself I was going to do it. And you know, I did it. I didn't stop, I didn't walk, I just kept going. It may not have been the fastest run, but that wasn't my goal today.

I guess the whole point of this is that you never really know what you are capable of until you try. Too many times we let self doubt or our own comfort zones impede our progress and our goals. I had set the bar at 4 miles tops for so long that was all I believed I could do. Funny thing is, once I decided I could run six...I knew I would do it. My body may hate me tomorrow but that's okay because I'm now only .2 miles away from my goal, and that feels really good.

Happy Halloween!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Halloween! Hope it's fun, safe and full of yummy treats for everyone!

Oh look, a card!

We just recently had our fall release over at Lizzie Anne Designs and so of course it's always fun to play with new stamps. This card was made using our new Way Up North set. The cute little penguin gives me warm fuzzies. :) Because I like sparkly things, and who doesn't love sparkly things?..I had to add sparkly things to this card. After I had stamped the the light blue cardstock with snowflakes using Versamark, I went over the snowflakes with my gelly roll glitter pen to make the snowflakes sparkle a bit. Since you cannot see this detail in the pic, I have a close-up to share. Anyway, I'm liking how this turned out.

As winter nears and the days get shorter, I'm actually looking forward to Daylight Savings. Did I say that? Mostly because then my daughter won't grumpily accuse me of waking her up at 2:00 in the morning like she did this morning...at 7:45 am.

Road Trip

Last weekend I was enjoying beautiful California weather. We took a road trip down to LA to hear my favorite band, Travis. (See two posts below.) I love road trips. There is something soothing about driving on the highway listening to favorite tunes and enjoying the landscape around you. The drive to southern California from SLC on I-15 is my favorite. I love the desert landscape that stretches as far as you can see. I've done that drive so many times I know it like the back of my hand. I've probably done it 30+ times in my life. Each summer growing up, we'd make the annual trek to visit my grandparents in California. Some of my very favorite memories stem from those trips with my family. My grandparents have long since passed away, but I still find myself making that trip about once a year. It feels like home to me. This time was no different really. I may not have been fighting with my sisters in the back seat as to who was crossing the invisible line declaring personal space, but I found myself looking for those familiar landmarks along the way, and feeling the excitement as we neared our destination. As always, it's good to be home, but I definitely look forward to the next road trip. :)

Here are a few pics of my weekend adventure...

Spent some time hanging out at the Santa Monica Pier and beach.




Ate some yummy Pinkberry frozen yogurt...This is Pomegranate and coconut frozen yogurt with strawberries and chocolate sprinkles on top. mmmmmm!



Caught my favorite band...




Went to the Getty Museum...





On the way back home...look what we saw! I'm still cracking up about this. :) Look in the right lane way ahead.



A Wienermobile! How cool is that?!



Then as luck would have it...they stopped for gas too!




For whatever reason, this road sign always gives me a kick when we pass it!



Almost home, driving through central Utah....



The end!

Card Club Assignment

Just the other day I was driving up one of the canyons here and I noticed that the leaves are now starting to change color. Fall is approaching and I'm getting excited. It's my favorite time of year! I am a little bit sad to see summer go though. Seems like we were shorted with the unusual month of rain we had in June. The good thing about that rain though is that my grass had a little bit longer of a lifespan this summer and didn't burn up as soon as it usually does. Anyway, back to fall. I can't wait to see the mountains and valley bursting with color again. Last week, my card club got together for our monthly card exchange. Our card theme this month was to make a fall or Halloween card. Since I'm in the mood for fall, this made me happy. I decided to break in some of our new stamps that I hadn't played with yet. Here is what I made...



Stamps used: Lizzie Anne Fright Night, All Hallow's Eve, and Spooked!