252: A year in review!

First of the main reason why I keep this blog: Scrapping!! Here are a few things I realized this year:

• made 218 pages this year, on a side note: 52 since I have my new PC!!!!! For real!
• Published 2x in Digital artist magazine & 1x in digital artisan guilt notebook
• In August my gallery was scraplifted at Te Digichick
• Got mentioned 3x on the Gallery standouts blog
• Created 12 Quick Page albums
• Lost my scrapping mojo three times this year!!

About blogging:

• Posted 84 blogposts, including this one!
• Neglected my blog 5x times this year!
• Had my 2nd blogversary in June and made my first ever digital kit!

Well then comes real life!! :) You might find some things scrapping related that had a little impact in my life! I'm also adding a few qoutes I posted here on my blog during the year...So here goes:

January:

• Took the Canon photo course for my EOS 450D
• Was a guest for Micheline Martin (more about this later on!)
• One of my LO's got picked as layout of the week at SSD
• I bought a new 500Gig external harddrive

February:

• Carnival was here and went to two awsome parades!
• Went to see a live soccer game in our Utrecht soccer stadium
• ACDSee photo ediror 2008 beta came out!

Quote: It doesn't have to be big, it's the idea that counts!!!

March:

• I won 2 suitcages with a game from our local grocery store
• Cut 25 cm. off of my hair!!!
• Had a lovely easter brunch with my family
• My dad got a porsche from my mom!!! (still haven't sit behind the wheel and drove it!!!! )
• Made my first party invitation for a friend
• Micheline asked me to be a full time QP designer for her!!
• reached my 6.000th posts over at DST
• My photo EHD crashed, but luckily it was only the casing!

Quote: Enjoy everything while you still can! ---Mom & dad---

April:

• Had an awsome day out with the girls & coaches from softball
• Went to have a photoshoot at this farm, with the cutest little lambs!
• Took our niece & nephew to this little ferry. They still ask us everytime when we're going again! :)
• Got a new Samsung cellphone
• Live writer broke!!!!

Mei:

• Spring was finally here and the sun was finally out!!
• Our little niece Dina was born
• Had my first racing shoot, on the circuit. Took some awsome photos of my dad while racing!
• Had a wedding of one of the girls from softball (who is getting a devorce already)
• Bought my 430 EX external flash for my camera & a awsome crumpler photo back pack

Quote: I hate to get my photo taken, THAT'S why I'm ALWAYS behind the camera!!!  ---so me!!---

June:

• (LOL) Live writer got fixed with the help of this great guy!
• Had an awsome family day, where we played farm golfing
• I turned 26!!!
• Had my 2nd blogversary with awsome prizes!
• Got accepted for the shabby pickle site CT!!
• We had to say goodbye to HELLO!! Still miss it!!
• Had my first offical kids shoot with Finn! :)
• Had my first wedding!!!!! And it was awsome!!

July:

• Went on a 4 week vacation to the USA!!!!
• Tried to quit smoking! (failed, cause my brother and I got in a fight like 10 times a day!)
• We went to: Tampa- Florida, Forth Worth, San Antonio, Houston- Texas, Phoenix, Tucson- Arizona & more...
• Saw dolphins next to the boat while sailing
• Celebrated the 4th of July
• Went to Seaworld & Universal studios
• Went to a shooting range and shot with a shotgun!
• Went down the guadalupe river in an innertube
• Discovered Chilli's & Outback steakhouse!! And so wish we had those over here, love them!!
• Saw the Grand Canyon and it was amazing!!
• Went shopping big time at my all time fav, store: Micheals!
• Dressed up like cowboys & cowgirls :) LOL
• Drove almost 3000 miles during our vacation!!!

Quote: It will be over before I turn into a boy!! I always say this when I'm sick or injured! LOL

August:

• Had a jet-lag for over a week!!! LOL
• Had my first offical pregnancy shoot!
• Wrapped up some older projects, like albums & such...

September:

• Anouk, my colleagues little girl was born and had a fab shoot!
• Got RAK-ed by JanaM and asked me to come on her CT (quit that after 2,5 months)
• It was ramadan this month and harder then ever!
• Found out about after 5 designs and some of my fav scrappers had become truly amazing designers...
• including my sweet friend Amanda resende, who asked me to join her CT!!
• Our little 2nd cousin Quinn turned the BIG 1! :)
• Had two of the best 70's & 80's party's!!!

October:

• My guy turned 29, on to the 30!!!
• My softball team and I became our leagues champions!!
• Had an animal day shoot at my cousins' school
• Stared playing indoor soccer
• We finally bought a WII
• Ordered my new PC!!!!!!!!!!!
• My favorite chicken restaurant closed down still sad!! :(

November:

• National digital scrapbooking day was here!!
• Had the first snow this year (ok and the last!)
• My guy got his new car from his boss!
• We went away for a long, relaxing weekend to Eindhoven
• Had this awful knee bruise from soccer
• The WII fitness test said I was 29!!!
• Our little nieghbour boy Ihad was born &....
• Made my first ever birth announcement

Still with me?? We're almost there!! LOL

December:

• Went to Nieuwegein were they had this awsome light fest
• Got a new CT gig with Kristen Rice (K studios)
• Had sheepfest and had diner with the family all week long...
• So yeah didn't cook anything at all that week! LOL
• Finished my grandma's birthday calendar, she loved it to tears!
• Had my name all over Disney!!! LOL
• Did this cute thing on google, to see what I needed!! :)
• Finished the wedding album for my coleague and even got a copy from her for my portfolio!!
• Started on my 2nd kit, to colab with this awsome designer!!! SSSSSSssssssst!!!

Then of course I can't leave without my newyears' resolutions can I?? :) Well there aren't a lot so far, so this won't be too long!! hihi

Resolutions for 2009:

• Very excited about starting 'Project 365'. I saw so many things about it last year, I had to give it a shot and really hope I can and will finish this. I even made a special blog for it, wich you can find here: 'A photo a day!'
• Then I really need to loose some weight!!! I was thinking about 25 pounds or soemthing in that area, so going to start to eat all healthy food in the new year!
• Of course the same resolutions as every year, QUIT SMOKING for good!! I know it's going to be hard, but as soon as I have the fealing it's going to work, I WILL!!! :)
• Then try to get my photography website done and get this thing on a roll...
• Reach my 10.000th post at DST (LOL) I was sooo close, just couldn't make it before today! :)
• BUY our first house...well that's not a resolutions just a dream. Hopefully the mortgage rent will go down a bit and that we find the perfect house!

So that leaves me with wishing you all a wonderful, happy, healthy and awsome 2009. And hope all your wishes and dreams will be filled this year!!! Love you all, hugs Petra

251: Only 1 more day!!!

Or you could also say....

Only 37 more hours

Only 2263 more minutes

Only 135800 more seconds till...

It's 2009!!!!!!!

Yeah people we're close, well here in the Netherlands we are!!!! :) And I so look forward to it, it's going to be awsome! Last night I went to my brothers' house to help him out with fireworks. He made these boxes just like last year... Boxes filled with baby arrows. At 10 PM he's going to light those boxes on the roundabout and last year was awsome. Last year he used 9.000 baby arrows and this year... There are over 20.000 little arrows, it's going to rock. One of his friends' is coming over to film it and he's also going to put it on Youtube as soon as he can. So when it's there I'll show you ladies for sure!! :)

So my new header is already up... Started preparing my 'a year in review' blog post and the only thing left to do for that is hit the publish button. But not until tomorrow! It's going to be a fun, but HUGE post...so ladies be prepared!! :) LOL

Yesterday I made three pages, but only can show you one... The other two were made with new goodies by Kristen (k studios) and waiting on her to give us the OK to post them! So here's the one I can show you. It's made with a kit by MK designs, she's a guest designer over at shabby pickle this month! :) I woke up an hour ago (9.30) and didn't felt that good, but it seems like my stomach ache is slowly passing. phew! I'm going over to cut my hair in an hour, I want new hair for the new year! LOL, JK I just need to cut it a bit...nothing big! :) Not sure what I'm going to do this afternoon, wanted to go ice-skating with Robin, our little cousin. Just called him and he needs to work on his lecture for school, so not sure if we're going...we'll see! I could always clean the house some more...or just scrap!! hehe

Ok ladies, going to have a breakfast and take a shower... Will see you all tomorrow, hugs Petra

250: back to normal for a few days...

So Christmas is over and hope you all had a great time. We sure did and the food was GOOD! LOL, I just love all the special things we always eat around Christmas... On Christmas eve we went to my aunts house and did presents, I got: the ultimate collection CD from Celione Dion, 4 photo frames for my scraps, black earrings and rituals hammam delight shower foam... I truly love the last one and if you haven't tried it, you should!!! :) On the 25th we had dinner at my parents and on the 26th my guy and me just had a romantic diner together...after diner and desert we went to the casino for a little bit. Had fun, but man was it crowded in there!!

Like I said in the title normal live continues just for a few days as we're getting so close to the new year! I started my year in review thing and thought it would be fun to scrap it all, but really that would be a whole lot of work. So I'm just going to write it all down here and hope I want bore you with this huge list!!! :) We'll see, but I can tell you right now it's going to be a huge post!! LOL

Not sure what came over me the last two days, but haven't scrapped all day yesterday and did stay home all day. I cleaned a little, did the laundry and just watched tv. It was a lazy day...and usually those days include a little scrapping, but no! :) I did made a page on Friday and also made one this morning... It's Quinn and well love this page and the story behind it, make sure to read the journalling! :)

I just finished this one and love how it turned out..it's antoinette's little cutie Max. Had this kit since DSD, but never had a chance to play with it! Well to be honest I've got like 20 more kits where this came from! LOL My un-used kit stash.. So I'm going to try to use as much as I can till the end of the year, since we probably won't be getting any new CT kits before the end of the year! :)

Mmm what next... I think I'm going to scrap all day today and as you can see, I also need a new header fot eh new year! So will see you soon, hugs Petra

249: Merry Christmas...

to you and all your loved ones. The past year flew by and only 8 more days till we ring in the new year. On the 31st I thought it would be fun to a little year in review thing, bur for now...

I'm looking forward to tonight!! We celebrating Christmas eve at my aunts' house with some members of my dad's side of the family and I'm sure it will be fun. We decided to do some presents and we all needed to buy a gift of 25 euro for one member of the party. We al drew tickets to see who we needed to buy the gift for. I'm done shopping and got everything we need...Uhm no Sylvia, not sure if you're reading this, but ain't telling who we got!!! LOL

It will also be a night of rememberance, well at least in our heads...Since this is the night, 12 years ago, when my grandpa (my mom's dad) passed away. I can still remember the night as if it was yesterday! We were celebrating just with the four of us when the pone rang. I remember I just got this pretty silver necklace from my parents. It was one of my mom's brothers (or sisters) saying my GP was getting worse. He had been sick for months and they couldn't help anymore, since the cancer was all over in his body. Our parents took us to our other grandparents so we could spend the night there. I hold the necklace close to me while laying in bed... I couldn't sleep untill my grandma came in to check on us. She told me to come with her, took me on her lap and told me my GP had peacefully passed away. A family member passing away is always hard. But well as you can imagine it's even harder during this joyish time of the year. Miss you GP!!

So now I'm sitting here teary eyed... Want to show you my pages from the last couple of days and well going to try to continue in the happy mood I had when I woke up this morning... People it's Christmas!!   So here's the first, it's me...So yeah I had a little creative mood the other night and started on this... It's our neighbours little boy and really love how this turned out, isn't it cute & magical?/ I love it!! :) Then this page I made last night...uhm yeah again including the little Ihab! (going to pick him up in a bit to take some more photos and well, really hope he is asleep this time!!)

So ladies that's it for today... Oh yeah, saw my new Christmas header?? This morning we got a 20$ GC Christmas gift from weeds & wildflowers to spend at Vera Lim, well I went shopping right away!! Love her goodies :)

Want to wish you and your family a wonderful Christmas, enjoy! Hugs, Petra

248: Yeah two weeks off!!!

No not kidding here, I've got two weeks off of work and really I need it! I can sleep in late, scrap all day if I want and really I need to clean my house BIG time! Get rid of all things we don't use anymore and just sort things out! Not the best thing to do when you've got two weeks off, but well someone has to do it! :)

On Wednesday I went to this light festival nearby with my colleague and her mom and MIL. It was fun and this was my first time I went there. They do this every year and really it's awsome! All the streets, houses, gardens, boats & bridges are decorated with little candles. It's really a special thing to see...here are some photos: btw it was kind of hard to focus since I forgot to bring my tripod! Oh yeah BIG news... I got accepted to CT for Kristen Rice (K studio), how awsome is that!!?? I love it and so honored I get to create for her... Wouldn't have applies if I didn't had my new PC though, the old was waaay too slow and with 2 site CT's, a regular CT and being an album designer...well it just wouldn't work. So again, yeah for my new PC! Last night I got her cute 'this boy' kit from the store and here's my page with it: Then when I finished this one this morning I also took her sweet 'this girl' kit and made this page for my sweet friend Amanda... This is her little girl Rebeca:

So yeah it's Saturday morning...uhm forget about the morning, it's already 14.00... LOL My guy is at work and when I'm done here I'm going to put on some music and take a shower. yeah I love to shower and listen to music at the same time. So if you ever wanna hear me sing... LOL it's in the shower or when I'm driving my car!

Going over to my parents later on and get grocery's for the next couple of days. Then my mom and I are going to my aunt to talk about the christmas diner and who's making what.  Then tonight my aunt is celebrating her birthday, congrats Wilma!! Love ya! :)

Tomorrow my guy and I are going shopping and so going to spend lots of money. Yeah I got my 'end of the year' bonus and want to buy at least 2 pair of new boots!!! :)

Wish you all a great weekend and you will be seeing lots of me the next two weeks!!! Hugs, Petra

247: Some fun stuff and a couple of pages!

Nothing much exciting going on over here, just a few fun things I wanna share and a couple of pages. My guy has been sick since Saturday and had caught this nasty flu and let me tell you..not sure about your guy, but really most guys act like if they're little children when they're sick...or what, maybe even worse! LOL. Honey can you get me...uh sweetie could you maybe...coughing in between what he's saying, to sound more sickish...I don't know, but I kind of do feel for him, since it's real bad this time. Like I said he's been heavily coughing, got a high fever and well he says his body just feels hurt all over! Poor thing...

I haven't had a lot of inspiration the past few days and would rather sit in front of the tv and watch a movie.. Not sure what that is about, but I'm sure it will pass soon! Maybe I'll try to make a page when I'm done here. But let me show you this cute little movie first... Well actually it's news, BIG news!!! LOL. Karen send this to me last weekend, the mail was titled: Are you celebrating..?? LOL

Isn't that funny?? hihi... Yeah that's my name all over Disney, Yoohoooo...

At the moment I've got some pastry's in the oven...On thursday we're having a fun little party with the girls from work... We're all going to make some food for the small buffet. We also all need to bring a present...well not a new one, but something old from the shed, attic or whatever. Then we're going to play this dice game, we did this last year with new gifts! LOL. So you can end up with all the gifts, a couple or simply none...Can't wait. Today was my only day off since I have to work on Thursday so decided to start making them tonight! :)

Now on to some pages I made last week...The cute Quinn, made a fab new colab kit by Amanda & Dunia, called: 'Let's go!' Then one with our neighbours little boy... I took him to our appartment, so mom could have some rest while the other two were in school. I had a little shoot with him last week and well as he was tired after eating... He kept his eyes wide open for the whole 65 mins. I had him in front of my camera. But really wished he would've slept for a bit of it to take some cute photos of the sleeping baby... well I told his parents I'm going to borrow him again this weekend! :) Uhm yeah when he;s already asleep that it! LOL

So last week I saw this funny thing on the after5 forum and had to give it a try and well you should too!! LOL. What does google say you need?? Tried it in both English and Dutch and this is what came out:

- Petra needs a new home? (what a coincedence since we're still looking to buy our first house! LOL)
- Petra needs her own front door (LOL, how abvious! although I do have one already!)
- Petra needs better taste in men (why, I like my guy? LOL)
- Petra needs to make water, but there's a cow in front of the door (OMG, LMAO)
- Petra needs to stay
- Petra needs a moment to herself
- Petra needs up-beat music!
- Petra just needs to win!

Yeah that was fun :) Ok one more thing... Did I tell you I just loooove after 5 designs and all their awsome designers... Well Kristen (Kristenrice) had a CT call and just had to apply! She just started designing and I have always been a total fan of her amazing pages...well her designs so rock too!! Just couldn't resist! :)

Well ladies, gotta go check the overn and will see you all here this weekend! Hugs, Petra

246: why do we have to work??

Yeah I know we need to pay the bills, but really I loved being of work for 4 days!! Weekend always flies by way too fast and glad I had to extra days this week. That means I only have to work 2 more this week, since Thursday is my weekly day of! :) Yesterday we had sheep-fast, a moslim tradition to spend with your family. In the morning we had breakfast at my parents in law and went home for a few hours. At night we had diner with Abdel's brother... It's ok being with their family, but sometimes it's waaay too busy with all the little kids running around. This week we'll probably won't eat at home... Tonight we're eating over at his parents and tomorrow at my own parents, we'll see! :)

So I wanted to make this a fun post, but have no clue what I wanted to write about... Oh yeah I do know one little thing and let me tell you it's BIG!!! I'm working on another kit...with an sweet friend and/ awsome designer. I'm so excited and no intention here of becoming a designer myself, just for fun! You'll all love this!!! But that's all I'm going to tell you ladies for now! :)

Then I've got tons of pages to show you...here we go. First of I got RAK-ed by catherine & Lily designs and got their beautiful new kit, By the sea! It's gorgeous...Then this page using Julie Bullock's cute new kit 'A folk Christmas'. Our cute Quinn... Also took these photos last thursday. He din't wanted to wear the christmas hat and so we used his hat from his snow-suit...isn't he the cutest??!!Our neighbours cute little newborn, using a fab template by Nikki  Beaudreau from SPD... BTW I'm going to have a baby shoot with him on Thursday and have so many cute ideas...can't wait!Then I made another page for Pride and her cute boy...I know I had to scrap these cute photos when I saw them! :) Ok two more to go... LOL. Yeah I know I'm on a scrapping roll... have got 4 more to upload this week, made with new goodies! :) Here's a page with an old photo of my dad, his brothers and sister during the early 60's... I promissed my GM to make her a b'day calendar like 2 years ago. I know...I'm sooo ashamed!! But now it's almost done...just one more page to go! :) here's a page for it and lt me also show you two pages from the calendar...  Then my last page, wich I made this morning with Jofia's new kit 'the innocent imagination'. This kit is the custest!!! Check it out... I knew exactly how I wanted to use this kit and love how this turned out, the journal reads: ' A long, long time ago...

Say like 23 years ago,
there was this little 3 year
old girl that didn't have anything
to worry about and just be herself.

This little girl lived with her mom,
dad and baby brother in a pretty
house somewhere in the
Netherlands...

This little girl loved
playing outside and going places
with her family...
The little girl always got all the
love and affection she needed and
she loved cuddling with her parents
and her baby brother.

Every night when the little girl
went to bed, her parents always read
a little story to her. When they
finished the story, her mom and dad
tucked her in and both gave the little
girl a sweet good night kiss.

The little girl clearly had no idea
what was going on outside her world
and didn't know she was one
lucky little girl!

Now-a-days she does realize how
lucky she was and well sometimes,

sometimes

I still wish I was that little 3
year old girl again!

aaah such sentiment...Thanks for visiting and will you again soon! Gotta dye my hair and write a little for my SIL, she'll be here in 2 hours to pick it up. Have a fabulous day, hugs Petra

245: A loooong weekend!

Yeah, I've got 4 days off....First it's weekend! Then I've got Monday off since it's a moslim holiday: sheep-fest and we're going to celebrate with my guy's family..then on Tuesday is my weekly day off. So yeah I get to relax, scrap and well clean! I haven't washed the floor in 3 weeks! Uhm yeah I'm ashamed, but just didn't feel like it and have been real busy...so I really need to do that!

My colleague is coming over in a bit to finally finish her wedding album, cause it's taking way too long. First she went on two vacations and we both had a few busy months...Then the software to upload the album didn't work for 3 weeks, until the company released a new one 2 weeks ago. So today we're going to finish for sure!!! We only need like 4 more pages, so there's not much work left to do. When it's done, I'll show you ladies a couple of pages! I love how it turned out so far! :)

Then a funny thing... I just called my guy to ask him why he always tells my to close the lit of the sugar jar. Cause obviously he didn't this morning!!! I picked it up and well the sugar was everywhere, really I meane evrywhere... In my pj's, in my sweat pants pockets, all over my socks...just everywhere!!! And did you know it's pretty hard to clean it all up... yuck! But well that wasn't the funny thing though... LOL  

Abdel started working for his brother like 2 months ago. Delivering packages to people. His brother does it during the week-days and my guy does it on Saturday. A great way to make  70-100 euros in like 6 hours. He likes it, except for the fact he needs to get up at 6 every Saturday! LOL When I just called him he told me the funniest thing... Today he had to deliver 2 Christmas trees!! Uhm yeah, not kidding here! Seems like you can get a Christmas tree without even going outside! It though it was the funniest thing I've heard all week!

Now on to some pages I made last week... There are like 10 of them...Some with new goodies, wich obviously I can show just yet. So here are the ones I can show...

First off for the shabby pickle 5 discount challenge December, scraplifting a beautiful page by Bisontine... Then a page including a beautiful, sweet new kit by Kasia designs, : love is blue... featuring our neighbours' little boys :)Third up this page I made for the new 'Mosaic' challenge over at the Hodge podge blog. I really love how this page turned out!Nex is this page of our little 2nd cousin Quinn. I took some Christmas photos of him on Thursday and also took these. My cousin Sylvia ordered a shirt with the quote as seen on this page here. Had to take some photosd of that too! :) Made this page with the gorgeous new colab by Bisontine & Cinnamon designs...And last but not least this page, My lil borhter and his GF Kiki... made with the new after 5 designs colab kit called: ' Holiday on the rocks'.    Check it out...Isn't this beautiful??!! This kit is available for 5$ for 5 days only! So make sure to get it now...you've got 3 more days left!!!  Then I've got one more fun thing for you ladies! Have you girls been over to the Weeds & Wildflowers blog?? Cause we;re having a Christmas countdown... Us site creative team ladies created a fun gift for each day from now on till Christmas.. Check out the ad! :)Wish you all a great weekend and will see you all somewhere in the next few days! Hugs, petra