And since the question of "10 years ago" not only came up (and is discussed on Colored White blog), and I saw it on all my fave scrap blogs, time to tag and tell again:

What were you doing 10 years ago? Getting ready to graduate from high school. More specifically, I was prepping for the Miss Black El Paso Pageant, completing my Coca-Cola Scholar Semifinalist application, waiting on my letter of admission to Cornell and just loving life as the stat keeper for my little brother's AAU basketball team.

What were you doing one year ago? In relationship counseling, "finishing up" my master's degree, trying to figure out what to do with my life

Five snacks that you enjoy:
1. uhhhmmm...I rarely eat.
2. seriously
3. really.
4. well, i eat like one big meal a day
5. most folks "snack" is typically my meal so...can't really get into this one

Five songs to which you KNOW all the lyrics: [singing along to...]
1. Check up On It (Beyonce) [goodness they play it enough on Kube 93]
2. Twinkle Twinkle Litte Star
3. My Old Cornell
4. Cornell Alama Matter (of course)
5. Star Spangled Banner

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:
1. Invest most of it so that I'd have more money to play with
2. pay off all the bills first (grad school wasn't cheap...)
3.buy the usual (house for mama, set up college plans for the nephews, take care of those who cared for me)
4. hire a lawyer to stick it to my ex landlord (I'm kidding...I'd just pay it all off and be done w/it)
5. travel, travel and then travel a bit more

Five bad habits:
1. making people wait for me
2. never saying no
3. requiring absolute perfection
4. not sticking it out with my to do lists
5. procrastinating

Five things you like doing:
1. spending time with boyfriend
2. a good job--at work, in scrapbooking, in my board work, in life.
3. organizing/REALLY cleaning something (like scrubbing, etc.)
4. hanging out on the phone (and even moreso in person) with my family (nephew, mom, etc.)
5. taking pictures

Five things you would never wear, buy or get again:
1. leg warmers (like dancers wear)
2. size 8 clothes (alas)
3. film camera
4. cheap, knock off, printer ink (like refillable cartridges)
5. a vcr tape

Five favorite toys:
1. cell phone
2. laptop
3. colored post it notes (nerdy, I know)
4. asssortment of ultra fine sharpies in wonderful colors (super nerdy, I know)
5. it is long gone and hard to replace, but I ADORED my PDA

Five people you will be emailing tomorrow:
1. random wannabe lawyer confused by the application deadline
2. random wannabe lawyer #2 worried that we didn't yet process their ap from 12/24/2005
3. BF (of course)
4. probably Andrea
5. likely Liisa

Fun times. Roll with it.

Pub me now! Wowweee...

Friday, I got a fantastic email from one of the fantastic editors at Creating Keepsakes. Guess who FINALLY got a CK page call? I thought it would never happen. I am so happy. I have some alterations to do to the page, but I love it and it will be fantastic and it will appear in the June issue. Which means it will be out in a couple of weeks (hahaha...running joke amongst those in the know that CK puts out the Feb issue in like November...).

Super psyched and it gave me the juice to create. Got all sorts of inspiration for great ideas and now just can't wait to get the time to actually do it. Might have some time tonight. I love 8.5 x 11 and odd shapes and sizes nowadays. I thought I would never stray from 12 x 12 because I loved all the space allowed, but really, space is relative.

I love how my life works. Get a bit frustrated and get to the point of just about to give up and alas, something wonderful comes along. That is how I get up every day loving life--because I know that no matter how bad it gets, a better day is coming.

Back on the horse. Saw this on my fave blog and since most people don't know me from Adam to tag me for anything, I'll tag and spread the love. Here goes!

(modified of course for threes and then some)...

Three jobs you have had in your life:
Dishwasher
Ivy League Admission Counselor
Director of Diversity & Equity

Three movies you would watch over and over:
Fargo
A Perfect Murder
A Civil Action

Three places you have lived:
El Paso, Texas
Ithaca, New York
Seattle, Washington

Three TV shows you love to watch:
West Wing
Law & Order (any version)
Rescue Me

Three places you have been on vacation:
Victoria, BC
St. Martin/St. Maarten
Big Sur, CA

Three websites I visit daily:
www.twopeasinabucket.com
www.law.seattleu.edu
www.bloglines.com

Three of my favorite foods:
sushi
pizza
pasta (just about any kind)

Three places I would rather be right now:
El Paso, Texas
in BFs arms
on the scrapworks dt (had to get it in)

Three people I need to get back in touch with:
Marc
Alex
Rachel

Okay...so, instead of tagging someone else. I'll email the three folks I need to get back in touch with. Case closed.

Well.

It's up. And I'm not on it. I don't know why I even held out hope on this one. Actually, I don't understand how I can work in the profession that I do and make the decisions I do and not be able to brace myself for this.

Obviously (smile), I didn't make the team.

Wow. This one kinda hurt. I think because I actually thought I had a shot. Not so much on talent when, sigh, when it comes right down to it is what you actually need to be a designer. Sigh. But because I really thought I had something unique and gifted to offer.

I can't do this anymore. I mean, it is in my blood to compete. So when people tell me "do it for you and your family" I get a bit angered because I have no family to do it for. I do this for this--to compete for design teams...to win contests. I don't do it to fill a book of pages. That was a bit of the "unique" I felt I had to offer. Anyhow. There are times when you just have to know that you are not it. Somewhat like when I have to tell a wannabe lawyer that really, maybe their talents are better served elsewhere, I really wish that someone, anyone would tell me that maybe my talents are better served somewhere else. I think I could withstand that so much more than "well, you should just keep trying."

The highs are high and the lows are low. Welcome to my world. I get contacted out of nowhere to send in projects off of concept sketches and to be on design teams and I win decently major contests when I know what the rules of play are. But when it is all subjective, I just cannot do it. And the lows are low. This is why despite all the hard work and inate ability I never became a musician or a dancer. And I never truly entertained the idea of professionally doing the photography or design gig and getting trained in it because I could never deal with the constant rejection. So now I see.

Sigh. Just rambling because the places I'd normally do this are so not appropriate for this.

I still love Scrapworks. Still love their amazing product. Still will try again next year. Still will cry a river when I try to break out their stuff and work with it. But such is life. Life in Contest series is back again this year and I still have a CKU Tuition credit to cash in. See--mood swings are horrendous with me. 5 minutes ago I could all but see the keyboard to type.

Thank goodness it is lunch break at work and I HAVE to pull it together.

Deep breath. Time to get back on with my real life.

T-minus three days and holding breath still. God I hope to all heaven they are not doing calls and then posting because I would be losing hope now. I really just want them to post it. And someone to email me and say "congratulations."

Kind of the whole "if it's true that I didn't make it, just let the silence envelope me" bit. Ala West Wing--if I shouldn't go to the President and tell him his son in law is sleeping with the nanny say nothing right now".

I want it. Bad. Too bad...my ap SUCKED! Pitty party tomorrow at my place. B there or B square.

Yeah.

Accepted. Well...delivery at least. I don't know if I can bare to wait until Friday to find out I didn't make it. That said, here's some of the stuff from my entry.

The absolute weakest link to my entry. See...what had happened was when I photo'd the original one pager, it came off very flat. You couldn't tell the patterned paper variations, couldn't see any of the dimension. So I started futzing with the scan in Micro Photo whatever and did a lot of the damage. Started just adding lines to the fabric letters so they would stand out and you could read that it said patch. Then started added digital brads and the journaling and the wreck just could not be turned away from. Alas. Bad thing is it is in my entry packet. Good thing is that most of the horrendousness of this layout is the digital altering sooo...I still have a really great layout I love in person that I can add the digital {s}crap to or I can love it as is. Yeah.

Project--inside the box is the actual project. It rocks. It is cool. Unfortunately, I don't think I used enough Scrapworks on it. Alas. After HoF I'll post the entire project. Really, the box is nothing. The project inside is what I am totally psyched by. I won't use this one, but I have a far more intricate version of it that I am using for my memory keepsake project for the HoF entry. I think. Yeah...should get on that I guess.

My two pager. I actually like this better in person (of course). But I printed the photo on a sheet of labels and then pieced it all back together. Lots of rubons (of course--my fave), a tailored tab, my second fave product the Scrapworks Hugs...Just like the overall feel of this one. All about life happening and just laughing and smiling and taking it all in stride.

Now, believe it or not. I hatED this when I first created it. Just figured the colors were off and there was something missing. Finally, I added the penned in lines right above the orange cardstock and it seemed to finally have a finished look. Then I sanded the edges and it really finally looked doable. Love how the hugz and patterened paper **used scrapworks with another MF...showed the versatility of their product with others cause really...who only buys from one manufacturer nowadays** worked on this one.




Took the time to pay attention to presentation on this one too. Instead of just going down the list of DT questions, I actually did a really cute word generated layout type deal. Let them know how friggin' out there I am. If only I could figure out how to turn a word file into a jpeg without scanning it, I could post it here or on twop's. Alas. I don't think I can figure it out and it is too date for me to give much of a damn anymore. I'm too frustrated with it.

Did a different take on the 200 words about ourself/stuff we wanted them to know about us. I'll just retype that here. Maybe tomorrow I'll figure out the actual questionnaire stuff.

200 words (or so...)

Are you serious? 200 words? So you really don’t want any scrappers on this team eh? Okay. 200:

B - bold, beautiful, brainy. Check out the blog @ b3designs.blogspot.com

E - ecstatic over my Best of Show win at CK WA

R - Reaaaaallllly fun[ny] all around gal w/the “Best All Around Senior” award
to prove it.

N - Non-traditional. I don’t live in Utah. I’m not married. I have no kids. I
have a bit of melanin to keep a winter tan. I work (a lot) outside the home.
I can expand your market.

A - Adaptable. I can take it down or kick it up a notch.

D - Dependable. Especially on deadline.

E - Educator. By profession, by nature.

T - Talented. Uniquely so.

T - Type A personality. But not quite retentive and always fun to be around.

E - Eclectic. What can I say. A bit funky, a bit odd. All me.

Less than 200. But those are the highlights.

Shoot. Did it. Pulled the trigger. The ap is on its merry little way to Utah. Certainly a good thing I have everything under the sun going on this coming week to keep my mind off of the non-call.

And then there is HoF. I have borrowed one of BF's cameras. It took some amazing photos of the scrapworks entry stuff. Rocks. I have to say the entry itself, rocked. There was one layout that drove me nuts and looks like crapitycrapcrapcrap, but the other three pieces rock the house. Was not loving my card until I photo'd it. Nice. Loved my two pager for a long, long time and will likely alter it for a fave/gunked up HoF entry. But I love it to pieces. And my paper project...adore it. Already have requests from others to reproduce for them and the concept will be my HoF memory keepsake. Loving it. Two HoF deals done.

Had I not been a procrastinator, I could have redone my one pager. It looks so fantastic in person. Just with the lighting and all, didn't get the depth to distinguish between all of the patterned papers evenly. And at one point, I loved the photo, but not so much now. Would have loved to have had some green hugs. And to have broken out the staples and ribbon. Perhaps another alterable LO for HoF. We'll see.

So there you have it. Scrapworks, check. Can't win if you don't compete. Not a chance in heck really, but oh my word what a year this would be if I were on their team.

Scrapworks. Whisper the name. Shhh...a moment of silence. Breath. Okay.

I so, so, so, so, so want to apply. But I really don't think I have a shot in heck and I'm scared to send it in. Sigh. The agony of defeat. Especially when you don't even try. I need to just do it already. But what if they don't like me? What if it's not a matter of there being just plain stronger scrappers, but a matter of them just not liking me?

Bad part of it all? I will never know. Gulp. My mouth is dry. I need to release the box. Send it in. Before it costs me half a fortune to do so. And then there is HoF. I guess I know I really don't have a shot in heck at that one (although my fantastically fantastic owner of FiberScraps broke down the math for us DT girls there). Kinda scary.

One day I'll make it. Right after I get internet access at home. Just found the AC adapter. One step at a time gals. One step at a time.

Space. Space...space. And more of it.

I am so excited. Not only do I have a specifically craft devoted space. But I also have plenty MORE space. I can scrap in the scrap room. I can scrap in the living room on the table (not likely). I can (once I get a dining room table) scrap in the dining room. I can even scrap on the vast floor in my bedroom.

What am I going to do with all this space? Buy lots of stuff to fill it of course. Of course.
So...scrap intentions for the coming year. Easy as pie. Wanna hear it? Here it go[es]:

1. Scrap. Yeah. As in actually do.

2. Learn. A class or two--and definitely not scrap classes because I know it all. It's just a matter of convincing the world that I know it all. Kidding. But seriously. I want to take photography and writing and designing classes. So many community colleges around here. Even some 4 years. So much time. Why not. Second degree? yeah right.

3. Buy more. Really. Seriously. You think I'm joking. Yeah, I have enough [s]crap. But I need a real camera. And I need to cease with the clearance isles and get to the current stuff. And I need to buy totally non-scrap stuff and get scrappy with it. That has been my success. Don't fight it.

4. Share. Stop hogging all the fun stuff and publish it. Yeah, big time would be nice. But on my blog. In a newsletter. On my website (note to self, launch said website). At conventions. On the street. Everywhere. Start my own little following. Who's in?

5. Stop. Halt. Cease. Wait. Fantastic. Now create. Procrastination is not your friend and
really, your best work is AFTER the deadline so no more excuses.

5...it's still odd. More than 3. Marc can stop laughing. BF can stop grinning and "yeah, uh huhhing" and I can let go. 6 is a multiple of three...but it's not an odd number. Back to work tomorrow. Scary stuff there.