Scrapbooking: New Goodies and More

So. It is Saturday and almost 2 am on my side of the world. It feels like it has been longer than a couple of days but Aida and I went out for breakfast Thursday morning. We went to IHOP. I decided to wait to go to the two local places I had scouted to try. We did go to a local cupcake & cafe afterwards just to try the cupcakes that got them named in the newspaper for three years. The cupcakes were delicious but the lady that actually helped my child and I was just not that friendly. I almost tired of hearing myself say that. And I do need to clarify.

I myself, when I am around people I do not know, I am quiet. I smile, greet them will respond in conversation if we happen to start talking. I do not have a problem with others that are just like me - kind of hesitant to speak to someone else, because I understand being that way...but a business owner being that way is kind of odd. You have a business, which means you would like customers and that should mean at least being cordial. You do not have to speak to me like I am your best friend but please do not look at my child and I like you wish we would run out the front door. Now I will say it was rather humid inside the place. They had fans on but it was still hot. No need for AC because it was barely 50 degrees, rainy and very windy. I thought that maybe the lady was flustered because it was hot and she was doing a lot of moving around. Either way, I will not be going back. Good cupcakes...perfect amount of sweetness...and not too much icing.Oh well! Not like I needed them. (lol!)

This girl!

My daughter and I have been enjoying our time together these days. I am still trying to find my 'fit' as a stay-at-home-mom. Gosh! I am not really sure I am even worthy of that label. I hate labels but it is what it is. I am a mama and very grateful to have this man in my life that says "take care of the child and I will take care of you all." My little ladybug, on the other hand, is taking advantage of mama. At least I think so....lol! Every day starts with breakfast of her choosing. It is either cereal with fruit or waffles/pancakes with fruit. At some point during the day, she tells me "I am tired of this." I know that means she is bored, so I try to find us something to do.

This Monday I beat her to the punch and decided to wash her hair. At first, I was going to style her hair as normal with mini twists, but instead, I decided to straighten it (temporarily) with flat irons. We deep conditioned, conditioned again after washing and applied my favorite leave-in. Since my hair is natural and I use no heat, it was weird to smell that familiar scent of heat being applied to hair. It will be a long while (years...yearrrrss...) before we do this again, but I thought it would be fun. She loved her hair once it was done...and there is a lot of it. This is just one of the photos I got of her before she made outfit changes (photos to come later).

I used grapeseed oil, coconut oil and Camille Rose Naturals Moisture milk as I blew her hair dry. Then before flat-ironing each section, I used a dab of shea butter and Darcy's Botanicals Madagascar Vanilla styling creme. I love love Darcy's and Camille Rose's product lines for our hair, so I had to experiment with them when styling my daughter's hair this time around. Her hair was still big but it was also soft and bouncy. Detangling, as usual, was torture. I need to find an easier way for both of us. I can use my fingers to detangle when our hair is wet and it is super easy, but as soon as it dries, those little curls bunch back together. It really drives me crazy. Maybe one day I will solve that dilemma. :-)

Lots of Blue

Not sure why I am so obsessed with blue lately. Funny thing. I was on Education.com with Aida the other day and they had these mask templates for the Chinese birth year animals. My daughter, fiance and I are all born in the year of the rat. One of our "colors" is blue. I was thinking maybe that is why I am so into blue. I mean, I love colors-most of them, but I was never fond of blue until I was trying to find blog colors and I realized I needed blue. Then, I got to thinking about my project life album and how it is mostly shades of blue and yellow. I thought that was kind of cool. Probably just my weirdness to connect all of that....lol!

I have been happily scrapping these past few days and have a few pages to share. This first page uses photos I recently converted. I have been converting my RAW files to DNG, and I was looking at a few and figured I really need to get to processing and using these photos. I tried to do a nice, clean edit on these which I posted on my photo blog. 

Cold, maybe?

Looking through photos and I realize why I do not post nearly as many as I have taken. I hate converting and editing! Lately, I have not done much editing to my photos but even the little touch ups on white balance or the brightness or adding a little matte finish or even converting to black and white, I just do not have the drive to do it. It has been a very rainy week and I was hoping that we would be able to get out and explore. It would be nice to take photos elsewhere and maybe of some things, so that my daughter is not bombarded and so that I can have some to look back on of where we lived for this time. 

I do have one to share today of my daughter. This was taken at the end of March. She had gotten some new boots in a larger size for next winter, but she really wanted to try them on. I kept telling her it may be cold. Well, she ran outside so quickly and once she felt the wind, it was over. I told her we would make it quick and this is all she would do.

Decision Made...

Since I have had more time to actually think through things, I have come to a decision. I have a Marketing degree. When I was about 14 or 15, I said I wanted to be in advertising. I grew up and learned that I am too much of an introvert for that. I could never be easily sociable and explain to others the ideas in my head. For a long time I had a cloud over my thoughts. Like I was afraid to process and sort through them..in my own mind, which is just crazy. I know why I chose Marketing. I get bored easily. I change my mind frequently. Marketing was the one area of study that could be used in any field I ever decided to learn more about. My first thought upon entering college in the Fall of 2002 was that I should do something computer related. 

First two years of college are like a "buffer" zone, so I had that time to really decide what my major would be. I stuck with Marketing. Now...I wish I had done web design or something programming related. Those things speak to me. Computer geek stuff excites me. It is like breathing for me. So why did I not do that? It seemed like so many people were going to school for that. What would set me apart? Knowing how to market myself. My favorite professor at UAB taught my International Business course, Mr. Pang. He would always ask us: "What is Marketing?" I would never respond...quiet old me..and most everyone would look around in a daze or confused or just sleep...mostly because that's what we were there to find out...and he would laugh and tell us that it was easy, it was "market things." Really and truly...that is all it is. Market things...whatever your business is..market it...sell it...make someone else want it. I wish I had opened up more in class because now I get it...I get the point of it all, the big picture. So! Know how to market your skills and no matter if you are the best or moderately good, if you market yourself the right way....it will work.