My First Card!!

I've been inspired by all of the amazing artists on the scrapbooking website that I'm a part of. Alot of the ladies there also make cards. Cards for everything...birthdays, thank-you's, Christmas, sympathy, love...any card you can think of, they make it! Anyhow, I decided to start making my own cards to see how much fun it is...
My mom's birthday is on Labor Day so last week I went to Hobby Lobby (my favorite store EVER) and of course I didn't walk out without spending $50. BUT I bought LOTS of new fun stuff including card-making stuff! Here is the final product...




I kept it pretty simple. I need to start paying attention to other cards to get more ideas. I always feel stumpped when I get in the mood to start. Anyway, on the inside it just says Happy Birthday using on of my pretty rub-on stickers. Of course I wrote on the other blank side. On the back (where Hallmark usually puts their logo) I wrote "handmade by Erika".

Recently.

This last weekend the Women of Faith Conference came to Dallas, TX!!! It was just amazing. This is an all-women Christian conference that tours to over 30 cities in the US! It's all day Friday and all day Saturday. I eneded up going by myself this year and last year. I was able to get into a zone and really focus on what I was being taught. All of the speakers were amazing. Marilyn Meberg and Patsy Clairmont were my favorites! I've read many of their books over the past few years and I love them all. I laugh, I cry and learn so much from what they write. At the conference was also wonderful musicians including Natalie Grant, Sandi Patty and Nicole C Mullen!

YAY! It's finally Friday AND we have a long weekend! Tonight Mike and I are going bowling with our friends and their baby. FUN! I haven't been bowling in FOR-EV-R! My moms birthday is on Labor Day-we are heading over to her house Sunday night to celebrate and have dinner. Other than that...we will just relax. Probably head to the lake and OH, I forgot I'm hosting a DUAL Bridal & Baby shower in TWO weeks! I'm pretty nervous about it. Things are sort of coming together but still lots to do. I'm sure I'll do some planning on that this weekend! First I have to figure out how all these people are going to fit in my house! Yikes! I'll be moving furniture, that's forsure! Hope yall have a good weekend! Happy Labor Day, or something! xo.

*Austyn*

Here are some pictures of my newborn niece. She's so pretty, I can't wait to meet her!!

Daddy holding Baby.

Baby and Mommy

Cory (dad) & Aunt Jodi --my brother & sister

Baby & Aunt Jodi

Baby & Mommy

Happy Birthday to Austyn Jane!!

My precious niece was born today after a 30-hour long (natural, by choice!) birth. My SIL Cassy was such a trooper. She was able to keep calm and focused with the help of Cory and few others in the room including my sister Jodi. These are the times I lived in California...closer to my siblings. :o/
Austyn is so cute! I've only seen 2 pictures when she was just born. I'm waiting for them to send me more and then I'll share. :o] She was 21in long and weighed 8lbs 11oz!! Ouch! Everybody is healthy and doing well at the hospital. Mike and I are hoping to visit in December.

That's all for now! Cheers to babies!!

Diaper Cake!

Here is the diaper cake that made for my best friend for her baby shower. I kept it pretty simple but it was much harder to make than it looks. ha!
She ended up having her baby 2 months before she was due SO unfortunately we hadn't even had her Baby Shower yet. We ended up bringing all of the decor, gifts and even cupcakes to her hospital room while she was on bedrest. She loved it! Kendall Grace was released home one month later and is a growing, healthy baby now!

La Di Da...

Well I took another 1/2 day off work today. I went to Central Market (LOVE IT) to do some QUICK shopping and ended up spending 70 bucks...how did that happen?!? O well :o]. Life is good these days. We had a great time in the Hill Country this weekend. We visited vineyards and did wine tastings. It was delish and we bought lots of wine. mmm!
Nothing else is new...here's my plans for the next few days (jic you care, HA!).
I had dinner last night with a friend--I love catching up over dinner :o)
Tomorrow is the monthly BUNCO. I get SO excited over my bunco nights! A night with 11 other girls and lots of food and wine! Could it be any better?!?
Friday night Mike and I are going to Ruth's Chris with my parents for dinner. MMM! I love a good steak cooked medium-rare with a big, fat baked potato! Can't wait!
Saturday my mom and step dad are coming to our house to ride the waverunners with us. YAY! I love it! The summer is passing by so fast, but of course here in Texas the heat isn't going anywhere anytime soon. So we have lots of lake time left!
Sunday Mike and I are going to Fearings for dinner at the Ritz Carlton Hotel with a group of friends. Dang...all we do is EAT and DRINK! Love it! :o]
Humm, that's about it on my side of town. It's 3ish I'm bout to go lay in bed and watch Ellen--LOVE HER!

I'm ready for the weekend!

We are headed to the Hill Country near Austin, TX tomorrow. Mike and I are both working 1/2 day at work then heading straight to The Hollows on Lake Travis. We will have a long weekend vacation with his side of the family. They are bringing their ski boat and we'll bring the jet skis. We are renting out a house RIGHT on the water. By looking at the pics on the website it looks SO relaxing! There is a winery about 20 minutes away so YOU KNOW I'll be hitting that up on Saturday afternoon/evening to take the tour and wine taste! I told the rest of the crew about it and they are excited too! Leave it up to ME to find the winery close by! HA!
These Summer Months are soaking up all of my time and I haven't set any time aside to scrap! I need to get back into the groove! I seem to spend most of my weekends on the lake and out in the sun. Maybe that's a good thing and come winter, I'll be cooped up in the scrap room?! Sounds like a good deal to me!
Well, today my office relocated. They are actually doing it right now as I type away. It had to be done after hours so it did not interfere with our business hours, of course! My new office is about 15 minutes FURTHER from me! :o[ I already had an HOUR commute ONE way! Yikes! I need to find a job or get pregnant FAST! haha! I'm pushing for the later of the 2! ;o]

xo,
erika

It's AUGUST Already!!

I can't believe this year is flying by so quickly! It's already August and the Christmas decor is out at the local shops!! Crazy! This weekend was great! Friday night Mike and I relaxed after work and went through some drawers and closets in order to give some stuff away! Saturday we went to the Harbor in our town and walked around in the 102 degree heat! Call me crazy! The Harbor looks over the lake that we live near...there are lots of shops, restaurants, and coffee/ice cream shops. It's fun! Later on in the evening we went to my MIL's house for ribs and brisket! It was DELISH! I need to learn how to cook like that! MMM MMM! We returned home around 8 and then our friends from Plano (about 35 min. away) came over for wine and hor dourves. They got here around 8:30pm and stayed till 3AM!!! Yikes! I don't think I've stayed up that late--let alone have friends over that late in a REALLY long time! It was good times though! We went through 5 bottles of wine...with 4 of us! :o] Today we were planning on going to the lake but we decided that 108 degrees does not sound fun! Sooo, we are staying in our PJ's all day and we will order The Bucket List movie from PayPerView after dinner! Can't wait! I've been waiting to see that movie! Well, that just about wraps up my weekend. I have another super busy work week ahead of me. We are moving offices this Thursday. So now my 50 minute commute will be even FURTHER! Yuck! I need to get back to scrapping someday soon! I have no motivation recently. I need to get my creative juices flowing! Help!

Here are a few of my favorite wines. Cheers!!

The first wine pictured is Seven Heavenly Chards.
The second wine pictured is Danzante Pinot Grigio.
The thrid wine pictured is Ecco Domani Pinot Grigio.