home to me right now (unrelated to the layout above) is my old red chair I picked up years ago at a garage sale.
my intention was so reupholster it but never happened.
it clashes with everything but I don't really care.
it's comfortable, perfect for reading and surfing the net.

Studio Calico is sharing part of their home with you by sponsoring a giveaway of their brand new line, Home Front.  Imagine June Cleaver styled 1950s domestic bliss.  Featuring optimistic colors and smooth vintage inspired patterns.  You’ll find fresh stained wood grain, retro home décor, an exclusive SC cardstock alpha set, and much more.  Home Front is versatile, colorful, and beautiful (can we say that?)….I think you’ll love it.
To win this collection, simply leave a comment on what home means to you and to increase your chances, visit the rest of the design team below.

April Foster
Celine Navarro
Davinie Fiero
Emily Pitts
Jenn Olson
Joy Madison
Kelly Noel
Lisa Truesdell
Maggie Holmes
Nicole Samuels
Nicole Harper
Stephanie Howell

I will announce my winner on Wednesday morning.
Good Luck!

sunday

 

photos actually taken saturday but you get the idea. same cozy mood.
today will be dedicated to laundry, SC December, my Holiday packs, and a few phone calls.
stay tuned. starting at midnight the SC DT will hold a give away for 1 Home Front kit.
be sure to check back in!

enjoy your sunday.

girl hates a downer and oh yeah...loves friday.

leave it to office poopoo head to try and break me down on this glorious friday.
not happening lady. not today.
I'm sure her fowl mood is related to something personal so I shall not take her ignoring my "good morning" greeting personally myself.

finally caught up on my Hills/City fix last night after the NBC line up.
my thoughts.
**really Audrina? you surely making everyone believe you're a masochist. Is JustinBobby worth making you look so pitiful on national tv? and does anyone every make eye contact with each other anymore?
**can Kristen find a man minus the baggage? I'm "Kristen neutral". never hated or liked her but I do have to give it up to her for sticking up for herself when the Playboy Posse came around.
**Heidi is annoying me to no end on the babymaking. No fan of Spenc but this is a sure fire way of pushing away you new husband. I'm sure this is just one big ratings hoax anyhow.
**Roxy is another annoyance. I appreciate her zest for life...we all need friends like that. I surely have one of my own but if she ever got me in trouble with my job we would have words. and she was the one who left Whit and that's just wrong. You don't ever leave your girl in some random bar/club. She broke girl code.
**I'm a Kelly fan. I know, she's not the friendliest and most would think she's the boss from hell but I would actually like to work for some one like that. She would keep me motivated and I'm sure she takes care of those who prove themselves worthy.
**Olivia...poor Olivia. I felt bad that Erin got chewed out for not being a team player but she deserved it. Olivia needs to step up as well. I mean, she basically walked into a job at Elle. I don't care if you're a rich socialite. If you have a job, do it and do it well. How many other girls would kill for that position?

onto girl loves.

Beyonce.
 
Not because Kayne says so but man she is fierce. Old news, but I loved her performance on the MTV awards. What I really love about her is that she's so fierce, she's willing to share the spotlight with a couple of dozen hot dancers and still shines. Most divas have male dancers. Beyonce doesn't need 'em.

Cosette
I stopped in yesterday and picked up a bottle of Butter nail polish in the steal gray I was hunted down forever. Also purchased the prettiest dusty lavender blouse that I'm wearing today and love. Will have to photo when I get home from work.
Wish I had photos to share from this store. It's serious eye candy, so well designed. I'm happy to see boutiques like this here in Anchorage. It's about time. Now only if I could get the store owner to let me photograph her store.

clever sandwiches.
 
(photo from Sunday Suppers blog)
I'm so intrigued by the names. 

This quote from this blog post.
"JUST BECAUSE I DON'T CALL EVERY WEEK DOESN'T MEAN I DON'T LOVE YOU ANY MORE."

This little girls room.

(photo from the JAC blog)
check out the blog for the full photo shoot. it's just so precious.

35mm film.
 
 ( Pentax Honeywell 35mm, Kodak Gold 400)
Got my film back and it works! Now to find better, lower ISO film)

and some random polas from the week...
 
 
 

calendars are still for sale! don't miss out, I'll only have a limited amount this year.

ah yes...my day is half way over. 
plans for tonight? home, nap, pizza, scraps.

happy friday!
girl

random thoughts of the day

Freddie Frakelmayer from The City eerily reminds me of Christian Bale's American Pshyco character. I cannot be the only one who thinks this.
 

wondering if it is possible to tan "safely". can you wear SPF in a tanning booth? thoughts?

coming to terms with the idea that I may be putting Polaroid to rest for awhile. why? because film is getting scarce and I'm not longer willing to pay an arm and a leg to some dude on Ebay who went to Target and bought out every single box of film when it went on clearance.

a little ticked off that HBO took the second season of True Blood off Demand. maybe this means the dvd set will come out soon. this could be a good thing.

trying to get my exercise high back but all I want to do is melt into the couch when I get home from work. will I ever be happy with my weight?

why have they not come up with non-fat eggnog? I tried cutting mine back with skim milk at starbucks but it's still loaded with calories and fat. suuuuucks. I so do love creamy frothy eggnog lattes.

anxiously awaiting for my film to be developed. 35mm may be my film fix until polaroid comes around again.

that's all.

girl is MacGyver of baking.

Our first snowfall! It's pretty. I would so much rather be at home to admire it rather than being here at work.
My post title refers to my little baking fiasco over the weekend. My father came to visit from the valley and I didn't want him to leave empty handed. I had recently come across this recipe. I'm always on the look out for recipes that have bananas as I always seem to have speckled naners on the counter.
I scanned the recipe ingredients and thought I had everything.
Mixed dry ingredients, set aside. Start in on the wet when I realize all the peanut butter had been used by my husband's pb&j addiction the week before. Also, no chocolate chips which I also thought I had. Nope, they had been eaten as well by said husband. Oats? no oats. I just remembered I threw those away because it had gone outdated. Great. Ok, time to improvise. I had Nutella. Thought that could replace not only the peanut butter but the chocolate. I had 3 small packets of regular instant oatmeal. Ok, I thought, this could work.
It wasn't my best baking masterpiece. 
It needed something more so I added some cream cheese frosting. That always makes everything taste better and it did somewhat. Again, not my best. Certainly not as good as the pumpkin cupcakes I made several weeks ago. So yes, I consider myself the Macyver of baking. Just doesn't always end up so positively.
Oh yeah, I was also out of cupcake liners so I had to dig up some Christmas one's.

Other than that, my weekend was great. We didn't get the sunshine we wanted but I had enough light to get some indoor shots.
Dinner was so good. Jeff had made reservations beforehand and mentioned it was out anniversary. We came up to our table and it was decorated in rose petals. An "aaww" moment. Even the chef came out to wish us a happy anniversary which was nice. My filet mignon was cooked to perfection. I'm funny about beef. If it's too chewy, I get turned off but my filet was like butter. delish. My absolute fav is the crab and artichoke dip. uuuhhh..I could eat it by the spoonful. girl had no shame polishing that off.
 
(date night...canon 50mm 1.4, manual)
 
I put a few of my calendars up over the weekend and they went quickly which was a pleasant surprise. I'll have more up through out the week. I'm working on some Holiday goods. Hopefully I'll have those up in the shop by the end of the week.

happy monday! 

infatuation friday

(polaroid sx 70, 600 film, taken at dusk)
lot's of of love today.
first because...well...it's FRIDAY. yes yes yes.
second because we celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary yesterday.
well, we're actually celebrating this weekend. No definite plans except for a nice dinner at Simon's.
J wants me to keep the weekend free for spontaneous jaunts out and about.
he knows we'll have lot's of sunshine so he wants to hunt for good photo ops for me.
sweet, right?
third because I'm expecting a big box of creative goodness from Studio Calico today.
We're highly anticipating this round with it being December and the release of Studio Calico'sfirst line, Home Front. I'm hearing good things from those who have received their goods already. The wait is killing me! But at least I'll have my box for the weekend when inspiration is at it's peak for me.
Remember, Home Front will only be available at your local scrapbook store so be sure to ask your lss if you're wanting the line.

what else am I loving today?

Stella McCartney making kids look oh so fabulous.
 
(images from gap.com)
seriously, skinny jeans on a toddler. cuteness.

The best Halloween costume this year.

(photo from Amanda Johnson aka CandiMandi's blog)
I love costumes that are so fitting to the wearer. I don't think anyone else could of pulled this off any better.

This chicness.

(image from the Garance blog)
I know, I reference the Garance blog a lot but it's on my daily blog roll.
I love this. A working gal out on a photo jaunt. Perhaps on her lunch break? One of my favorite things to do on my lunch break is to head out, camera in hand and getting lost for an hour. It's refreshing and a nice break from the office.

This quote.
 
(canon xti, 100mm 2.8, manual)

calendar release tomorrow!

Cost: $27
Size: 5x7
unbound, printed on pearl cardstock.

As always, happy weekend.
Tina

girl is alive and well.

last week was sort of a blur, most of which was spent in bed.
but just as I predicted, rejuvenation did occur in the most fabulous way.
I joked with my husband that I was like the wolverine and would heal within a day or 2. so not true but I think I got off pretty easy with my cold lasting less than a week.
Halloween was quiet for us considering the man and I were both still recovering. We spent then night watching season one of True Blood and Jeepers Creepers 2 which was freaky. Trick or Treat was probably the best scary movie I've seen this Halloween season.
I felt pretty damn good Sunday morning and with the extra hour gained, I accomplished a helluva lot.
My main mission was to sanitize the house and air it out. Felt so much better at the end of the day when my home was in order and smelling fresh. It's a calming feeling and certainly welcoming after a yucky week of constant sneezing and coughing.
so let's catch up a bit.
I went ahead and updated my Studio Calicogallery with my newest layouts but here are my favs.
 
 

Looks like the main kit and street fair add on is still available in the shop.
 
I will be updating the lifelovepaper shop throughout the week with new prints and holiday goods.
I also just got a proof of my 2009 calendar and I think you're going to like it! I had them printed on heavy pearl cardstock and I'm so glad I did. It gives the polaroid image such great dimension. The calendar will measure 5x7 on 12 separate cards, unbound. I'll show options on how to display later this week.
As far as the holidays go, I will have some greeting cards as well as a "girl loves holiday" limited edition pack. Some what similar to the "girl loves fall" pack. Fun stuff.

And can you believe it the start of polaroid week! so excited! I only wish film was more readily available but don't we all wish for that? hmph.

constructed my december daily over the weekend as well. 
may title it something else just to be different. 
 

ah monday....I can't hate on you today. I'm just thankful I'm 100% again. Maybe even better. 
Tina 
 

girl loves cozy bed and vicks vaporub

no girl loves friday today as I am trying to find my way out of a sea of wadded up tissues not to mention the thick haze in my head from all the cold medicines. I would rather say the sickness caught me rather than me catching the sickness. It was inevitable with everyone else being sick around me.

Good thing is I think I'm near the end. And I always feel a sense of rejuvenation afterwords so I'm looking forward to that.

I'll post my scrappies from November this weekend. I'm already out of energy just writing these few sentences.

Have a great weekend! oh and Happy Halloween!

girl loves friday

and saturday and sunday. monday not so much.
deadlines are just about met.
calendars are still up in the air but I promise they will be in the shop soon.

on to loves....

sweet proposals.

(photo from Bakerella)

Is this not the sweetest way to ask some one to marry you? You should go to her blog and read the story behind these cute wedding cake pops.

sweet treats.

(photo and recipe fromPatent and the Pantry, found on A Cup Of Jo blog)

I'm not exactly dieting but I'm just trying to make smarter choices with my food intake. These scrumptious guys look like just the reward for my change. Seriously, anything with cream cheese frosting is king.

sweet flare.

(photo by me. Canon Xti, 100mm 2.8, manual)

I'm trying this whole flare thing out inspired by MaineMomma. She really is the flare goddess and her fall photos are just stunning.

sweet little tutorial and member spotlight.
 

on the Studio Calico blog.

sweet flannel boxers.

(from aerie)
 wore these to bed last night and I llloooovvvee them. will have to purchase a few more. I think I may spend more on pj's and loungewear than work clothes.

happy happy weekend folks!

3 things.

1. It's friggin' cold out.
 
2. I'm struggling to meet a few deadlines.
3. Dare 150

typepad is wigging me out!

 

I'm going to write this fast as I have tried to update at least 10 times this morning and it keeps freezing up on me! I was trying to conveniently write down which sneak went with what kit/add on. I'll have to do this way....
1. Market Place (main kit)
2. I mixed the 2 add ons I purchased which are Bazaar and Street Fair
3. Market Place (main kit. love love love the doily rubs)
4. Street Fair
5. Bazaar (this is my favorite add on. wood veneer...swoon)
6. Market Place (main kit)

girl loves friday.

what a week.
I'm sure glad it's over. Love an extended holiday weekend but it makes for a busy work week.
On to what this girl is loving right this very moment.

Furry monstrous creatures.

I would have loved, absolutely loved being the photographer on this set. The light and muted tones look insanely beautiful. I hate to fall into the hype about this loved/hated children's book turned uber cool directed Spike Jones movie but I do really want to see it on the big screen. My heart pitter patters everytime I see the previews. Now if I could convince my dear husband to take me. :)

Knit something. 
my fingers are itching to knit something and this would be it.

yum.
 
(photo from bakerella.com)
pie making is daunting to me but these little cuties seem easy to make. I'd probably omit the sticks and make them as little cookies....I may have to do these for our holiday cookie swap at the office. or just to munch on while I catch up grey's via online and scrap.

melissa loves me!
I'm giving away one of my fall inspired polaroid prints on her oh so beautiful blog. Check it.

calendars are at the printers! they should be in the shop by the end of next week. I'm so excited...my very first polaroid calendar!

 
(polaroid sx 70)

happy friday!
tina 

girl just needed a day to realize she is loved and that hope never dies.

That day after I posted, I decided to wallow in my sorrows for bit. I headed to Barnes and Noble and spent a good hour browsing. Something about being surrounded by books and magazines and Twilight calendars makes me feel better. It calms me. After purchasing some books for myself (why did I not know about Charlaine Harris's new Sookie book?) and my niece and nephew, I headed over to spend some time with them. Another activity that calms me. Sitting there and chatting with T and getting spontaneous hugs and kisses from R made me feel so loved. I know that I will never be too far away from that little girl. I think of nothing else when I'm with her. She restores hope for me and gives me the will to continue this journey.

I cannot thank you all enough for your kind words here and the numerous emails I received over the weekend. I am lucky to have such an amazing support system around me. I'm very aware that this journey is not an uncommon one. I appreciate those who where brave enough to say "hey, I"m going through the same thing, I know how you feel". It's not easy to talk about, at least not for me. one, I feel tears welling up in my eyes when I begin to say something to some one. I will chalk that up to the clomid. two, I'm just plain tired of talking about it. I don't want this to consume me like it has. I'm ready to let go of the stress. If we're suppose to just "forget about it" and let it happen, then that's what I want to do granted I'm still at my doctors office 3 times a month and I've got a bill that makes me gasp, I'm letting it go. The stress I mean, not the bill. :)

I'm still going to have those bad days where cake and tears are necessary but then I'll pick myself up, dust myself off and try again. (wise words from Aaliyah) Because that's what we do and because hope. never. dies.

xo, girl

(polaroid sx 70, expired 600 film) 

ps..."hope never dies" was inspired by one my very favorite blogs, hope dies last. I'm so in love with her honesty and wit. Just wanted to give credit where credit it due.

girl questions future.

another failed attempt at concieving.
utter dissapointment. a few tears. red vevlet cake.
that is all.

xo,
girl

girl loves friday.

We Alaskans are busy stimulating the economy this week...or paying bills off like myself.
PFD's were released yesterday. Anchorage is usually bustling this time of year which is why I
will be staying out of any shopping center and Costco this weekend. I hate combat shopping.
Not enjoyable what-so-ever. Well...I may have to hit the new Target us southsiders recently acquired. :)

onto girl loves.

non-practical shoes.
 
I have a bit of a shoe obsession. Not that I have a massive amount like some women I know. I keep it practical and only really buy a pair of vampy heels for the company Christmas party as I do not live a glamorous lifestyle like those featured on the Garance blog. All I can do is admire these beauties. Funny, it's not really my style but they're femme and fun and red. I also have a fashion goal of owning a pair of Louboutins. Mark my words.

looking forward to this.
 
because he is my very favorite photographer.

pretty excited about my calendar debut.
 
some of the images that will be in the calendar.
hopefully it will be in production by the beginning of next week.

Also looking forward to the release of Studio Calico's Home Front line which will only be available at your local scrapbook store. Please email me at lifelovepaper@gmail.com if you are in Alaska and would like to know how you can get your hands of some of this goodness.

enjoy the weekend.
girl

shop update

recently added....

fall inspired postcards as well as some other prints.
calendars and canvas flats coming soon! 

girl loves October.

 
(true ttv with argus and canon)

Happy Friday,
girl

contents of girls bag.

 
(polaroid sx 70)

bag: Coach crossbody. love this bag, also doubles as my camera bag on the weekends.
wallet: Fossil, keeps me well organized.
music: Ipod, currently listening to the yeah yeah yeahs.
read: Club Dead, finished. I never leave home without a book.
keys: simple, only carry keys I use everyday. car, home, work along with my lucky star and auto-start for those chilly winter mornings.
phone: blackberry.
camera: canon sd790. needed a small pocket camera. it takes ok pictures.
necessities: lip balm, one clear, one with a little color. emergen c vitamin pack. small notepad for a my forgetfulness and my trusty swiss army knife because you never know when you'll need a blade or a small pair of scissors.

overall I think the contents of my bag say I'm simple & practical.

what's your in your bag?

girl loves friday.

This camera.

cute, no? I need another camera like I need a hole in the head. I'm saving up for a Hass or new lens anyway so for now, I'll just admire her on the lomo website.

This kid's mad driving skills.

a woodland inspired party.

 
(photo from the Amy Atlas blog)

October's scrapbooking kit from Studio Calico.

reveal is Sunday night! there's been a lot of talk about this being the all time favorite of SC kits. It certainly made my top 3.

figs & butters.

happy weekend,
girl

girl falls.

firsties....the winner for the Pixie Petals give-away is.............
miss Jennifer Hisi!
congrats :) Please email me at lifelovepaper@gmail.com

officially the start of fall. funny thing is, it's snowing in the mountains which only means it's just around the corner. I was checking out photos from October of last year and saw my first snow shots on the 8th.
I am so not ready for winter. Not for 7 months of it.
We will be taking a vacation to a very warm destination mid-winter although I say that every year and every year there's an excuse not to go. The main excuse being money.
I'm going to try and look at it as an investment this year. An investment to ourselves, our relationship, our well-being.

happy fall to those who are just starting to experience this beautiful season.
girl