I know it's really Day 3 but I needed more light to take a picture so I'll have to post that one tomorrow along with Day 4. In the meantime, here's my Day 2. I used the back of Day 1 for the journaling and then used a Heidi Swapp transparancy for the photo page. I really like how this page came out. It was a perfect day yesterday to take a picture of our December weather.
I'm attempting once again to create a December Daily. I tried this last year and failed miserably. If you're not familiar with the December Daily, it's a wonderful way to document your memories and events during the holidays by scrapping one thing everyday. I'm using a small 8"x8" album and there will be different size pages throughout. This one is roughly 5"x8" on white scalloped cardstock. The black is just a piece that I had behind it for scanning so you could see the scallop edge.
The hardest part for me won't be the scrapping (yeah right) but will be finding the topics. I tend to push Christmas events, decorating, etc. off to later in the month. But I'm not letting that stop me! Day One was actually easy. I found this great cup a few days ago and just had to have it...and I don't even drink coffee! I'm totally in love with those big polka dots. I found some wrapping paper a day or two later that matched and, of course, had to have it as well. Then I saw yesterday on the Creativity by Crystal blog that she's giving away a free blog makeover and I really NEED this one! Considering my current obsession, I really think I should win, don't you? ;)
If you want more information on the December Daily, check out Ali Edwards' December Daily 2009 for all the scoop. There's also a thread on Scrapfreak where members are showing off their pages. I'd love for you to join us and see what you create!
Ladybug took a turn for the worse last night so we had to say goodbye this morning. We don't know why she went downhill so fast but it truly was only a matter of time for her. We adopted her when she probably 7-8 years old and we had her with us for almost 6 years. I don't know about her life before she joined our family, but I know she lived a happy life with us. We always joked about how special she was...in every sense of that word...but she was truly the sweetest dog in the world. We loved her very much and will miss her terribly.
1. Just a typical night out in Ned. This picture can't possibly tell the story but while having dinner, a group of people came in dressed up in pretty random attire with a few musical instruments. They weren't part of the entertainment, just there. When asked the occasion, there wasn't one...it was just because it's Ned and you can. Okay then.
2. Abigail and I went to see New Moon on Friday and really enjoyed it. It was much funnier than I expected. It held pretty true to the book and any changes they made were handled very well. I imagine quite a few people have changed teams after seeing a few scenes with Jacob. I can tell you the 16-year old boys I went to school with certainly didn't look like that! I'm still on Team Edward but they need to figure out a way to at least get that vampire a tan before the next movie.
3. I have it on good authority that my mother ate a hamburger on Thanksgiving Day. If you didn't know, she's a vegetarian and SOOO busted.
4. Tuaca + Apple Cider = Amazing. Also known as a Hot Apple Pie. 10 oz. cider, 1 oz. tuaca, whip cream and cinnamon. Perfect winter drink that I'll definitely be ordering again...or making myself.
5. I loved our Thanksgiving dinner but I'm seriously leftovered out. No more please.
7. Sadly, I can't same the same for Ladybug. She's not doing well at all. She has always been a rather happy, clueless, overweight little bugaloo and over the last few weeks she's really gone downhill. She's lost a lot of weight, she's not eating, she's barely drinking, and as of today, we're having to carry her outside to go potty because she just doesn't have the strength to make it on her own. We have an appointment for her in the morning and I'm so afraid that she's not going to come home with me. Maybe it's something they can fix but she's an older dog and this might just be her time. I'll update everyone as soon as I know more.
Hope everyone has a good week. :)
Since this is our first Thanksgiving in Colorado and away from family this year, we decided to take a hike and check out some more of the landscape. We took this beautiful hike up to Lost Lake close to Eldora. It was supposedly an easy to moderate hike but I think that's by Colorado standards and not Texas standards. It wasn't really that strenuous but it's a little hard to breathe at that altitude. You feel out of breath while walking but completely rested when just standing. We were at about 9,000 ft and went up about 700 more feet. We got a late start so because of time we didn't hike all the way to the lake (3 miles roundtrip) but we did hike probably 2 miles of the trip. Breathing aside, it was still a great walk and felt great to be outdoors.
Underneath all that snow is actually a river. We were standing on a bridge looking over it. You could see the water in just a few places under the snow and you could definitely hear it.
There were some other areas that were so beautiful with all the snow that it reminded me of Narnia. I almost expected a fawn or a talking beaver to walk by.
This was the view from near the top.
Abigail was just thrilled that she finally had a cell phone signal. LOL
The only sign of wildlife was a little black squirrel watching us from the trees.
You could only get to this trail head with a 4-wheel drive and this was the icy road we drove on. It was a tad slippery and a little nerve-wracking as you crossed over some of the more icy areas of the road.
However, more nerve-wracking than that was the femur we found on the way out. I swear that thing was about 1 1/2 feet long.
And my favorite photo of the day. Eldora has a lot of history and this little section of town as all boarded up and very ghost town like. Looks like this was an old grocery market but I have no idea from how long ago.
After the hike, we cooked Thanksgiving dinner and are now all exhausted and probably heading to bed soon.
Hope everyone had a wonderful day today!
We took a drive today over to Estes Park. It's about an hour from where we live so it's a relatively quick and beautiful drive.
Along many of the roads you can see evidence of old mining towns.
You can't really tell in this picture but we drove by right as a huge cloud (?) of snow on one of the mountains was visible...maybe a small avalanche?
I believe this was Lake Lily...Lily Lake or something like that. So beautiful frozen over.
Estes Park is a cute little touristy town...lots of restaurants and shops. We spent a couple of hours walking around the town buying some cool hats and homemade taffy.
Sadly, there was a fire a few weeks ago that destroyed several of the shops. The store to the right is a scrapbook store that is no longer open due to the fire.
And this just cracked me up. Totally reminded me of the fortune teller in the movie Big except for it being a bear. LOL Abigail and I both donated a dollar to hear our fortunes. It talked and everything. Total greatness.
Thought I'd share a little tour of the town for you. I'm not kidding when I say we live in a small town.
This is the one and only grocery store. It's a little pricey and not where you want to do your main grocery shopping, but it's great to pick up last minute items.
Right next to the grocery store is a little shopping center...again, the only one in town. There's a great cafe in there that has quickly become one of my favorites, a pizza joint, a video store, the library and the police department. That's the highlights anyway. If there's anything else in there, I haven't really discovered it yet.
This is the main little touristy shopping/dining strip. It's only about a block long, has probably 4-5 gift shops and just as many restaurants. Every restaurant we've tried has been outstanding...truly some of the best foods and lots of vegetarian options which is really nice.
I've mentioned the no door-to-door mail service a few times so this is where I go every day to get our mail...and where all your Scrapfreak packages are mailed. It hasn't been too bad having to drive there. It's nice to actually get out of the house since I'm holed up in there all day working.
Across the street from the postoffice is the resevoir for Barker Dam. I haven't seen too much activity there. You can't get on the water and can only fish from the shoreline. I understand it's extrememly cold water...like instant death cold water.
There's a cool teen center in town with a skatepark next to it. No matter what the temp, there's always a few skateboarders at that park. Inside the teen center is a foam pit, a trampoline, computers, and I forget what else.
The townhall. I'm sure there's some history here but I don't really know it. All I know is that this is where I get to get my business license to operate the freak.
Speaking of history, this place I need to investigate. It's a huge old dilapidated mining operation that no longer exists. It's a spooky old building yet very intriguing.
And just to give you an idea of the neighborhood in town, this is one of the streets heading to our house. It's truly a little mountain street kind of town. the houses are all very close together although you can't really tell from this picture. All the lots are 100x40 or something crazy like that. They are all the original lot size from when the town was first founded during the old mining days.
And this is now home. Although it's smaller than what we had in Texas, I'm really liking it. It seems to have much more functional space, tons of storage, and what I always complained the houses in Texas didn't have...character. This whole town definitely has character. I'm hoping to have enough put away this weekend to take some inside pics.
So, that's basically our little town. There are no fast food restaurants, only one gas station...no, make that two, one bank, an Ace Hardware, a little business center, and that's pretty much it!
1. So it's been snowing for two days straight now. I think this is honestly the most snow I have ever seen (even though I'm sure it's only a small taste of what I will see in the future). It's so foreign to me to see snow continuously falling for so long! It is truly a beautiful sight though. I find myself just staring out the window watching it fall. Makes you want to just curl up with the fire and do nothing...or at least that's what I would do if I were still in Texas. In Colorado, life just goes on around you as if nothing is different.
2. Jason and Abigail did the shoveling while I watched. I definitely have the better end of that deal, huh? ;) Jason was a tad obsessive about the shoveling. I'm not sure I really see the point if you're not going anywhere but he wanted to stay on top of it. Supposedly, that's what you do here. Except I never noticed any other neighbors doing that but if he wants to shovel, I'll let him. It came in handy at least this afternoon when he made me get out and drive in the snow. Which I admit was probably a good idea. It was a strange feeling actually because you can kind of feel the snow crunching under the tires. It's not nearly as scary to drive in as the ice you get in Texas. Those snow tires were definitely doing their job and the snow plows were doing their job by keeping the streets clear. So, all was good and I've now officially driven in the snow. :)
3. A new Colorado bird for me...a Black-billed Magpie. It's a huge bird actually, very pretty, and there are quite a few that I see flying around. This one landed in our neighbor's yard before all the snow fall. I'll keep stalking it until I get a better picture.
4. Another new bird for me...a Hairy Woodpecker. I just love woodpeckers. Although, I'm not sure that row of holes he's drilled into the side of the chimney is going to go over well with the owner.
5. I still have lots of unpacking to do but we've definitely made some headway. There are only a few boxes left downstairs...upstairs is another story. I'm working on just unpacking everything and then I'm going to start rearranging, painting and decorating. The dining room has a lot of built in shelving and the Ikea Expedit shelves that were previously in my scraproom are now in the living room. That makes for a lot of shelving to decorate. I'll start giving some room pics later this week...I'll need opinions and advice for sure!
6. I took a break yesterday and watched Bride Wars. It wasn't as horrible as I was led to believe. I probably wouldn't have wanted to pay for it but for a free Saturday snowy day movie, it was alright.
7. I'm going to start posting my Meal Plan Mondays once again. You might not be interested but there are usually a lot of links in there to the recipes and it's alot easier to take my phone in the kitchen than my laptop. lol You can look for that to start tomorrow.
Hope everyone has a great week!
