Stories from today and yore

So after a lovely birthday adventure in Tucson with Stacy and a jam-packed 5 days in D.C. with my main squeeze, I'm back home and nesting for a week before heading back to the ol' grind. It feels so GOOD to spend hours doing whatever I fancy, my to-do list pushed aside for a bit. Creativity comes to the forefront and the desire to express myself peeks out from behind the responsibility of hawking someone else's key messages ... ahhhhh, I am no one but myself today, and it is glorious!

I am proud, if just a little self-conscious, to share that an article I wrote currently resides on the home page of my favorite design site, jessicasprague.com. I'm not exactly sure why I am shy about that - God knows I earned the right to tell that story - but it still feels a little funny. I do so appreciate those who left comments. And let me put in my plug for the site as having the best learning and supportive community I've found on the wide, wide Web. If you've ever even considered learning Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, or even how to take and edit better photos, RUN to this place. It's not only fun and quality learning; it's the best value around.

Ok, so I got on the site this morning and considering it's been ages since I made a layout, let alone posted one here or in the site gallery, I decided to join in on the week's challenge. Participants were to use a "text sticker" technique and create a layout of 1-3 photos. Here is mine:

 A little explanation probably is in order as Pirate Day may not be an official holiday in your home ;-)

Driving home from a 3-day visit to Disneyland in February, I was lamenting the fact that I love the place so damn much and it would be forever (or at least six months) before we got there again. I especially adore Pirates of the Caribbean, and Scott had spent a ridiculous amount of money on a Lego pirate ship kit for Chas and Chloe while we shopped in Downtown Disney.

Somewhere in the desert between there and Phoenix, I came up with this idea to host a Pirate Day sleepover with the kids. We reserved the date with them, made and mailed invitations (here's Chloe's) and got to work with preparations.

We managed to fill an entire day and then some with our activities, shown here on our Pirate Day itinerary. And let's not forget the all-night-before construction of our own Black Pearl, the 592-piece Lego pirate ship Scott had bought at Downtown Disney. (Actually, Scott and I have decided to heck with the kids on these Lego toys - we loved it and plan to get our own collection, probably starting with the Death Star battleship from Star Wars.)  

I'm still working on a gift album for the kids (I'm so SLOW!) but we sure had a great time.

Comments

[Liz]

Wow! That's so cool. Can't wait to see the album.

[gwen]

i love it! you r just so creative! i can't wait until i have time to breath again, let alone focus on something fun for more than 2 1/2 minutes! ;-)