Happy Father's Day! (Day Seven)

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!! (Day Seven)

We miss our daddy so much here at the Nevill household. It has now been a full week away and I am feeling the distance.

In other news, I finished my articles for the July issue of Scrapstreet and I really like them. I was lucky enough to have the priviledge to interview another great challenge site and those girls are just awe-inspiring. Make sure you check it out July 1st at http://www.scrapstreet.com/!!

I am also in the process of totally organizing our office/scrap room. Should be an interesting project. We have so much stuff that we have brough from every duty station we have been at that is has become suffocating in here. No more. I am letting go of the packrat mentality and pushing foward. Need some room to create and live.

No pictures today, Daddy. Matthew did not feel like posing so we are taking a day off and will get you some tomorrow.

Here are a few recent layouts that I love (all three published in the June issue of SS):

Ok, tired here in OK and Army Wives will be starting in a few.

Love you, miss you!

-Brianne (& Matthew)

Day(s) Four, Five, and Six! (Daddy's Birthday!!!!)

Day(s) Four, Five and Six!!

Absolutely nothing exciting to report, other than terrible two's in full swing. A little boy, who will remain nameless, has been experiencing fits of giggles at running away from me in public places. This has become somewhat troublesome to me and my patience with said child. One day at a time, right?


Also, Daddy's 35th Birthday (Day Five)! Stinks being away from him but we love you just the same baby! We hope you are having a GRRRRRREAT day at school and we miss you so much.

Day Six brought us EXTREMELY hot weather and due to the shine on my face their will be no picture documenting this day LOL! We went to a BBQ at my bosses house. Nice to get out and be around other people socially. Was just a quiet afternoon at home for Matthew and I after that. Sun wore us out.

We love you and are thinking of you Daddy! Stay safe and be strong!

Love you!

-Brianne (& Matthew)

Day Three

Day Three


Someone once told me that God fuzzies women's brains after they have their first child so that they will not remember any bad of the experience and they will want to have more children after. Do you think thats true? Matthew is 2.5 and I still remember EVERY bad moment of my pregnancy and delivery with him and it makes me dread being pregnant again. I SO want another baby, but I just don't want to go through pregnancy again

So Day Three has come and gone. Leaving me with a few things of concern on my mind.

1. Matthew misses daddy. A lot. So much so that he is starting to act out at daycare and at home. I know a lot of kids do this when daddy goes away for a while but I was SO hoping that Matthew would not go through this.

2. Had to hire someone to mow our lawn because I could not figure out how to start the lawnmower and weedeater. Also, two lightbulbs have gone dead and the dishwasher is making funny noises. Why does all this happen when the hubby goes away?! I think they feel the lack of testosterone in the house.

Ok need to go finish a diaper cake and card for a shower on Friday.

Here you go baby!

Day Three:

We love you daddy! Missing you and thinking of you all the time!

-Brianne (& Matthew)

Day Two

So we made it through another day. Good right? So why did a Tuesday have the Monday's written all over it. People were OUT to give me a hard time today at work.

Got some scrapping done over the weekend, cannot wait to show them here. I LOVE one of the layouts I came up with. Going to push myself again this weekend to scrap a few more.

Grocery shopping is coming up this Saturday with Matthew. I have not had to do that by myself with him for MONTHS. Normally he stays home with Rich while I shop and then we all put the groceries away when I get home. This should be interesting.

We have a bbq to go to on Saturday at my boss's house so that will tie up a few hours on our first weekend alone.

Day two. PHEW. Let's review.

Here you go baby! I will keep them coming!

Day Two:

We love you so much! And miss you like crazy!

-Brianne (& Matthew)

Missing Daddy

Well it is officially the end of day one without Daddy here. It's been rough. Being at work most of the day helped, but it still just isn't the same coming home and not being able to get a big hug and kiss.

Here you go, Daddy, we miss you!!

Day One:

They are fuzzy because Mojo kept jumping on the camera strap LOL!

We love you babe! Keep your smile and stay focused!

-Brianne (& Matthew)

Bumming

Well its 6 days and counting until Rich leaves for 30 days. I honestly don't know what I will do without him. Don't get me wrong, we have our tough moments, but he is my rock. Whenever I have an issue and get too worked up over it, he is the one that brings me down and makes me see reality. I know that he will be able to do that over the phone, but its just not the same. Gonna be a tearfest this weekend.

Ok, really need to try to focus on layouts before my dh leaves with my mojo.

-B

ONE MORE WEEK!

One more week...

One more week and we will be in WA state! I am SO incredibly excited! 10 whole days of being around family (which makes me miss my own very much)!!! Being a military family, you end up being alone a lot more often than not. It does wear on you after a while, but you adapt. When you get to go home, you are SO much more appreciative for the things you go without for so long.

On a side note, has anyone ever flown with a two/three year old? What sort of things should we know, aside of the obvious? We will be bringing our portable DVD player, crayons and colorbooks, and snacks. Anyone else have a brilliant idea to keep him occupied?

Rain, rain, go away...

It has been raining in OK a lot lately. Not nearly as much as last year around this time (knock on wood) but still a lot. Big storms roll through and scare the ever-living out of Matthew. Caught a few pictures of Matthew and Daddy getting the mail for me on a rainy day.

Video of Matthew and Daddy:

http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y254/bmclean710/?action=view&current=100_0998.flv

Scrapstreet.com:

Have you checked out this month's calls? Only two weeks left to get those July calls in!

Check them out here: July's Calls

Also, the hybrid team is hosting SNS this weekend! Make sure you come check it out.

You can find all of the challenges posted HERE on Saturday night!

3rd Anniversary!

We have made it 3 years! WOO HOO! Yesterday was our 3rd wedding anniversary. Rich bought me the most amazing earrings. I will post a picture of them soon. I got him a watch he had been eyeing and he loves it (shows it off to everyone to the point of annoyance). He even has Matthew calling it "Daddy's bling". (The picture above was taken on May 12, 2005. The evening before our wedding. Rich's Mom and all of her sisters had come down to Tampa to celebrate with us. We all had dinner and drinks (well everyone but me) and just hung out. )

New Magazines!

I LOVE getting new magazines in the mail. More inspiration and sweet ideas! LOVE magazine day! CK and Papercrafts came in the mail yesterday. This would have to be one of my main goals now. I would love to be published in CK!

Parting thoughts:

Life is tough. Plain and simple. I honestly believe, though, that if we work together and support one another, everything does work out. Just need to keep pushing and stop focusing on what is not there and maintain what is.

Smile. Love. And Live.


-Brianne

Happy Mother's Day

Dear Lord,

Today we pray for mothers--

our own mothers, and mothers everywhere,

who have made such a major contribution to the good qualities we have.

Sometimes through genetics, more often through great effort and patient instruction ,and who have done their best to gently polish away our rough edges.

Lord, please bless our mothers for the endless hours of time they spent and the boundless energy they invested in us.

Bless our mothers for their sacrifices on our behalf as they often gave up or deferred their own dreams so that we could have ours.

Bless our mothers for always being there for us, for being the person we know we can turn to when we need comfort, encouragement, or just a hug.

Bless our mothers for making a home for us where we could feel safe, where we felt we belonged.

Most of all, Lord,bless our mothers for their unconditional love, for loving us no matter what, and for frequently showing love in ways that make us feel valued and cherished.

Lord, please bless our mothers mightily.

Strengthen them, soothe them, wrap them in Your infinite love and shower them with blessings too numerous to count, too magnificent to describe.

We love them, admire them, respect them, and we wish that You would give them back many times the good they gave to us.

In Jesus' name we pray;

Amen.

By Joanna Fuchs

Happy Mother's Day to all of the Mother's reading this. You are truly special and loved.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom. I love you so much.

-Brianne

Fun Stuff!

Today was wonder woman day. One of my coworkers was out and so on went the cape. Wow. I was like SUPER Loan Processor. Too many files and too many phone calls. Being wonder woman is tiring. (Ok cape off now)

This past weekend's crop was fabulous. The girls at Scrapbook N' Such really did a great job. Unfortunately that will probably be my last crop that I am able to attend. With Rich leaving in a couple weeks, I will not have anyone to cover me for an overnight crop. I did get 5 layouts and three mini-albums done though! Go me! Just a few minor finishing touches on the mini-albums and they will be ready for gifts!

Journal with me started this past Sunday, did you write with us? If not, check out the site and catch up! Its a great excersise for your brain and your soul!

Did anyone see this movie? I will be renting it tomorrow and I am SO excited to see it. I LOVE the previews and I am such a sucker for a good chick flick.

Also saw Iron Man this weekend! I admit it, I am a HUGE nerd when it comes to comic book movies and/or science fiction/fantasy. LOVED it! Would totally go see it again. Preview for the Incredible Hulk played before it and that looks good as well.

Ok tired here and need to catch up on a few things. Will post more scrapbook related items soon!

-B

Bad Blogger

Grrrr! I am such a bad blogger.

I constantly stalk my favorite blogs everyday and completely forget about my own.

Today was a HAPPY MAIL day! I received my prizes from ScrapStreet.com's Star contest as well as my May kit! YAY! So much fun to play with this coming weekend when we head out for a 3 day crop with Scrapbook 'n Such.

All of my scrapbooking supplies are packed up (or at least the ones I will attempt to use) but my scrap room still looks like a scrapper lives there. How is that possible? I have no idea how I have accumilated so much stuff! (I think it breeds....or at least that is what I tell my husband)

We watched the Golden Compass tonight. LOVED this movie. Was so impressed with it. Cannot wait for the sequels.

Well, off to watch 27 Dresses. Will let you know how that one turns out.

Love ya!

-B

AND THE WINNER IS....

Me!

Omg.

Can you believe it?

A year ago at this time, I was congratulating Janneke on her win. I had been knocked out in the third round and was playing along in the green room.

I am SO honored to be asked to be on ScrapStreet's staff as well! These girls are AMAZING and now I am a TOTALLY thrilled PitCrew member too!

My brain is going about a million miles a minute right now so its hard for me to concentrate on writing down thoughts I am having. I will post more tomorrow night, as well as update all of the 30 days of change posts. I do have them, just have not posted them. Been doing well!!

Love you all and I am SO thankful to each and every one of you that voted for me. You honestly have no idea how thankful I am for you.

-Brianne

Final Round Voting!

Final Round Voting at ScrapStreet.com

Remember, tomorrow marks the opening day of voting for your #1 pick of the final five. Voting opens at 6 pm Central time and closes at NOON on Sunday, April 27th. Get those votes in!!!!

You will be able to find the post here at or around 6 pm:

Round Five Voting

Thanks for your continued support, I could not have made it this far without you!

-Brinane

Day Two: REthink, REdefine, REnew

RE:

The dictionary defines the prefix "re" as "again" or "anew". In order to really face this change head on, we have to begin anew. I think "re" is a pretty good fit for Day Two.

Rethink:

It's time to face that change head on.
WHY this change?
WHO will this affect?
WHAT are my possible road blocks to success?

Redefine:

What is the ultimate goal?
STATE IT! Be strong in it.
Let it be your mantra.

Renew:

Give yourself credit for the small goals reached.
Don't get discouraged if the change doesn't come quickly.
BELIEVE in the possiblity of the change and it will happen.


As I stated before, mine change is my lifestyle and the way it surrounds food.
I need to change for myself and my family.
I want to be around in years to come to see my children grow.
This change will only affect my family and myself for the better!
Road blocks will come in many different forms. Travel, seperation from my husband for training, and a two-year old's tantrums.
My ultimate goal is to change the way I live. I want my family to eat healthy and BE healthy.
CHANGE IS OK! LOVE YOUR LIFE!

Quote of the day:

"A person who aims at nothing is sure to hit it!"

Love life, be strong, and have fun!

-Brianne

30 Days of Change (Day One)

"Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending." - Maria Robinson

For the next 30 days, its about change. It can be a change in the way we think, the way we live, the way we connect, or even the way we scrap.


It's about breaking out of a shell; rethinking and redefining the way we do something.


For me its eating. In all honesty, I am an emotional eater. I eat when I am bored...I eat when I am happy, sad, or even just content. I eat just to eat and its time to break the cycle.


For the next 30 days, I challenge YOU to come with me on this journey. It doesn't have to be a big change or even something LIFE changing, but challenge yourself to make that change. Break out of that box.


Each day a new idea will be given. Some days it will come in the form of a challenge, other days it will come as a quote or a love note from me. Every day you will hear from me on my journey and I would love to hear from you.


Even if you don't need this yourself, I could really use my sister's (that being YOU) support in this. I am going to document my journey on my blog and pose the "ideas" here. Follow me and cheer me on!! :)


Change begins with you.

Final Round *THUD*

Stunned:

I cannot believe it. I made the final round of Star. I am in the top five.

Wow. Just wow.

Ok first, thank you again to my family and friends that have been voting for me. You all ROCK! I could not have made it this far without you! Remember that this week Friday starts the voting for the FINAL ROUND!! WOO HOO!!

The above layout is my final round entry. If you click the image, it will take you to the site to check out the details.

Round Five:

Round Five is about challenges. You had to create a challenge, have another scrapper complete it, and then complete it yourself. I created a Slogan/Logo Challenge. The objective was to take a company's slogan and use it as your title. Next, you had to use their colors AND you had to use an element of their logo's design and use it on your layout. I had picked GE for myself. You can read more about it by clicking the picture.

New Quote:

If you noticed, I have a new quote at the top of my page. I am a lover of quotes, but never in my life have I ever run into one that sums it all up perfectly for me. This one does. Thank you Beckie!!!

Additional Images from other's challenges:

I did a few layouts for others to help them complete their objective. Here they are:

Again you can click on these images for more details.

There are a few more I am going to complete before the end of the week. Some of those challenges are too good to pass up!


Words of wisdom for your week:

"If every word I said could make you laugh, I would talk forever..." - Author Unknown


"The person who knows how to laugh at themselves will never cease to be amused." - Shirley MacLaine


Go out, create laughter, and enjoy it yourself!


-Brianne

On my mind...

It's been a while since I just posted my random mussings....

In my ears:

I have said it before but I will say it again, Jordin Sparks is, by far, one of my favorite singers. She sings about topics that are SO real to me and I just love her voice. Her name may sound familiar to you because of American Idol. She was the 2007 winner. If you haven't heard any of her music, hit up Youtube.com and check her out.


On my table:

I just finished up a layout for the kit club section of the May ScrapStreet E-zine. The challenge was to ONLY use 5 products (as if you walked into a scrap store and put 5 items into your cart). It was a VERY difficult layout to finish, but I am very pleased with the results. I cannot post it at this point due to it being submitted for publishing.


Round 4 of Star at ScrapStreet.com is in full swing. You can check out my layout in the post below. I am really happy with the way that one turned out as well. My family humbles me beyond words with their wonderful support and beautiful comments. They bring tears to my eyes with every little word they say about my work (thank you ladies!).


Wearing me out:



I think Matthew is going through a growth spurt. He is SO argumentative, eating like a cow, and sleeping a lot. Poor kid. The arguing is starting to wear on me, but I am totally believing it is just karma's way of getting back at me for being a headstrong kid myself (right Mom?).

We painted tonight and he did such an awesome job! I will post pictures of that later. I am going to use them on an up-coming layout so I don't want to spoil the surprise.


In my heart:



Every day is another day closer to my husband leaving for training and then Korea. He will be gone from us almost two years when all is said and done. It's really hard living this lifestyle but I am positive we are strong enough to do it. I think that Matthew will take it the hardest, with Dad coming in a close second. I really need to focus on being strong for the both of them but I have such a great support system to lean on that I will be ok. Keep us in your prayers for strength and safety please?


In my cup:

Lemonade. Ahhhh. I love lemonade. It reminds me of summer. Yum.


Parting Thoughts:



Well, that is it for me tonight. Time to go to bed. As always, I will leave you with a few parting words of wisdom:


"Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower." - Steve Jobs

"Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will." -George Bernard Shaw

Have a great rest of the week!


-Brianne

Clunky Hybrid "Ink Slinger"

Round Four Layout & Article

"Ten years from now, when my extended family opens up my old scrapbooks and takes a look at my past work, what will they take from it? Will they look at my work and wonder WHY I would create a layout on this subject, or will they be sincerely thankful that I took the time to scrapbook such a moment or event? These questions are what drives my scrapbooking and inspire my style. They mold my layouts and push me to create works of art that my family will treasure forever.


I would clearly define my scrapbook “style”, and myself as a “Clunky (Clean, yet funky) Hybrid Ink Slinger”. Now that I have your complete attention and your laughter, let me explain what I mean. Clean lines & white space draw my reader’s attention to the subject of my layout. I love paper and embellishments as much as anyone else, but I really try to keep the amount I use to a good balance with my topic and contents of my layout. Combining both the clean lines and right amount of embellishments, I can leave my reader with a lasting impression of the subject and design, as opposed to the overwhelming hunch that I have WAY too many scrapbook supplies (which I do, but that is beside the point).


My journaling takes my reader to a place in my heart where I keep these loving memories under lock and key. I let them see into my life and really get to know how special my family is to me and how valuable each breath-taking moment truly is to my life. I find that by using hybrid techniques for my journaling and page design, it gives my reader a clear, unobstructed view into these memories by flowing with the clean lines and not veering from the page’s substance. Each page I create is a souvenir of the moments I am genuinely blessed to experience. I create to give my future generations a glimpse into how truly special life is."

These are my Round Four entries at ScrapStreet.com. I have really enjoyed the challenges they keep coming up with and I am SO blessed to have had this experience. It has made me look into myself and really pull this art out of my soul. Thank you ladies, you rock!

Other Notes of interest:


I have added a few galleries on the side. One contains pictures of another passion of mine, cakes.

Will add more later. Off to pick up my little man!


-Brianne

Round Three Voting

Round Three voting at Scrapstreet.com is now open.

Check out the link and vote for your favorites!

------->Round Three Voting<--------

You can fly!!

Round Three at ScrapStreet.com

Round three is about stars. The shape itself and incorporating it onto a layout and three cards. The challenge itself sounded great to me at first, until I started to sketch. Where to put the star? Tried small, tried tiny, but went with large! Overall, very happy with it. For my three cards, I was just in a Peter Pan mindframe. Kept the trend going...

More from me later. Weekend was not refreshing in terms of sleep so I am going to bed early.

Parting Quote: (this one hits home for me)

"Forget about the consequences of failure. Failure is only a temporary change in direction to set you straight for your next success." - Dennis Waitley

Keep smiling and keep focused.

Love you all!

-Brianne

To baby again or not...

So Rich and I have been talking about trying for another baby soon. I know this will thrill our families to no end, but I am totally scared about it. I did not really enjoy my first pregnancy and am very hesitant to take care of a toddler and baby on my own while Rich is deployed. I had to take care of Matthew (3 months old) by myself for 8 weeks while he was TDY. That was one of the scariest times in my life LOL! I feel like we have finally created a nice little "flow" to our lives and I am scared to disrupt that. On the flip side of that, we both had one other sibling and cannot imagine our lives without that other person.

Tell me what you think?