The greatest birthday gift I have ever received or ever will receive is my daughter Ella. She was born the day before my birthday 6 years ago. Six years. Doesn't seem possible. We celebrated our birthdays this past weekend and I couldn't have asked for a better weekend. Beautiful weather and filled with fun and family.
One of the many highlights was roller skating together. Our new favorite thing to do!
2 weeks ago today we brought our newest family member home, Dexter! It's been great but not without it's challenges of course. Kinda forgot how much work a puppy is and he is certainly a feisty one. It's like we brought an 18 month old home with vampire teeth! He can be such a sweety though and everywhere we've brought him people just melt.
Our yellow lab Molly however, is just not that impressed with him and isn't all that too bothered by his presence, at least not as jealous as I thought she'd be. She does get irritated by the pestering, but Dexter is well on his way as asserting himself as top dog. Poor Molly just isn't aggressive enough.
Our cat Max is definitely keeping his distance. He's having some health issues and can't be bothered by a pesky puppy.
Now the kids on the other hand can't get enough of loving him! He has definitely become the number one plaything around here and I hear them say "I Love You" to him many times a day. Puppies and children...so sweet!
A moment of sweetness between Dexter and Molly...
As per this post.... Tara's Personal Project Challenge.... we took our family portrait this past weekend. We cheated a little bit because this is supposed to be for January and technically we didn't have our newest family member (Oooops I haven't posted about his arrival yet!), but now that he's here I couldn't not have him in the picture.
January Notes:
Made the ultimate decision to adopt a new puppy...found and 'reserved' a pug puppy we named Dexter
Bad weather kept us from the ski park all month. Sad, but the rain/snow was much needed.
Ella lost her first tooth, Jacob lost a couple more.
Sickness consumed a couple of the weeks of January...at least one of us seemed to be sick with something most of the month.
Our cat, Max, has been having some health issues of his own. He has stopped eating and has gone on 3 weeks of no food. He won't eat anything and drinks very little. Other than that he seems healthy and content. Our cat Coco, passed away last year so I am concerned.
I started a new hobby of running after hating it my whole life. It's going well so far and I feel I have to run 5 times a week. Not sure that I've become addicted yet but I do like it.
Ella took a break from dance. She's been taking dance since she was about 2 and a half. I only want her to do what she wants but I secretly do hope she will want to dance again in the fall.
Lisa of The Little Green Button shop! I had my daughter draw a number and 
That was fun--I'll be offering more giveaways in the future...thanks for playing everyone!
You know, earrings? (wink, wink!) The other afternoon I fired up the ol' torch which had been cool since before Christmas and had a hot (hardy, har) time making these studs. You can find some of them (already sold a couple!) in my Etsy shop.
Every Christmas I like to make a handmade ornament of some kind. I like to switch it up every year...glass balls one year, painted ornaments another, photo frames yet another, etc. This past year I came upon the House of 3 blog and website and saw a tutorial for the sassiest ornaments that reminded me of "jewelry for your tree"....which I guess is what ornaments are anyhow...LOL! But anyhow these looked like you could even wear them for jewelry if so inclined. I downloaded the printable and hit up Michaels for the adornments. It was a lot of fun. Here are some of my creations...
We delivered these to friends with a little ding-dong-ditch which was even more fun then making them!
The Valentine tie-in....so I see that House of 3 now offers the same set of printables for Valentine's Day. I wish that I had the time to make them, because they are oh so cute, but this year I unfortunately do not. I wanted to share because maybe someone out there does. [And if you do, I'd love to see your finished product!] Click here to see some of the fun House of 3 Valentine printables
You know on second thought...now that I see them, I may find the time to make them! :-)
Feel free to contact me via email for any questions or comments.
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Happy to be notified a piece of mine was featured on The Curious Pug!
And how curious is the name, considering we have a pug on the way?!
I just saw this so I don't have mine yet, but I'm going to do this personal project as challenged on Tara's Whitney's blog.
One self portrait of the family each month along with tidbits from the past month. Will make a great end of the year book. Love it.
One of my pieces was featured in an Etsy Treasury today. Love what Mitchell & Dent put together!
Here's a link to the treasury........for the modern mod...
UPDATE: It is actually strep. Yea me.
So I wasn't going to let the constant rain stop me, but I got interrupted anyhow. 
Easing back into the routine with some yoga today.
No more excuses...run on.
I met with Chrystal the other night and her enthusiasm is infectious! It was such fun talking to her and she is even more socially media conscious than me, it was great! We talked about what we see for the team and what we can offer other team members, as well as Redding. The initial draw for me, is the opportunity to meet with local like minded people who also make handcrafted items available on Etsy. So often I'm in my little studio creating alone. As much as I like being a sole proprietorship, it can get lonely at times. Chrystal's idea for starting this team is much more generous....it's to share the love of handcrafting with others and to help others grow their own Etsy businesses, so they too can achieve a sort of freedom.
The possibilities for this team are so great.
I hope you can come check us out. And if you live near or in Redding and either have an Etsy shop or want to start one, please join us!
For more information on ReddingHandmade...
Facebook Fan Page
With our new little one on the way I had to window shop my favorite place for handmade and personalized goods, Etsy of course! Here are some of my favorites so far....
A couple of these goodies are on their way to me!
We will soon be welcoming a new addition to our family...a puppy pug named Dexter! We have been talking about adopting another puppy for well over a year and after seriously talking and researching, for probably the last 4 months, we found Dexter. He was born on December 16th and will be coming to live with us in the next couple of weeks. The kids are beyond excited!
Dexter's Mom and Dad
Tiny running recap--still doing it but missed the last couple of days because of the crazy rain storms we are experiencing all throughout California. I vow to run outside today rain or no rain however.
In addition, it needs to be prepared just so. My favorite way to make it is with 80% water, 20% non-fat milk, splash of vanilla creamer AND made in my machine. If you haven't heard of a Cocomotion it is simply the best way ever to make a hot powdered mix drink. The machine mixes and heats the drink simultaneously and when it's done it has a bonus yummy frothy top. Love it.
And to make this a 'triple play' favorite thing...I prefer to drink my chai out of my "I Wanna Be Sookie" mug! Aaron gave this to me for Christmas, he purchased it on Etsy from MaidofClay and it's the absolute best mug, such great quality and so unique...I can't help but hear Vampire Bill say "Oh...Sookie" every time I drink out of it. Cracks me up!
Unbelievably, I'm still at it. I can honestly say I have NEVER run for 2 weeks consistently in my life. Ever. For me it is such a mind thing and I'm proud of myself for keeping at it for this long. My legs can go much farther than my head will let me. One thing and one thing only is keeping me running...my iPod Nano with Nike + iPod Sport Kit! I want to do an ad for this thing. I'm a gadget girl and the fact that there is a gadget like this for running, I'm in. I won mine for free from the MommyCast Podcast but I'm buying Aaron one now. If I could, I'd buy everyone one! I would think it would be interesting for walkers too. It's basically a high-tech pedometer...at the push of a button you can hear how far you've run (time and miles) and your current pace. The best thing ever for making personal goals for yourself. I just finished a 2 mile run and I did not stop to walk once (that is a MAJOR accomplishment for me).
One thing you're 'supposed' to have when using this Nike + Sport Kit is the special Nike running shoes to hold the sensor. Eh, I'm just not a fan of Nike shoes. I have never found a pair that fit me comfortably. Sorry Nike. Instead I purchased a little velcro pouch to hold the sensor and it's worked out perfect so far.
Part 2 of my love for the iPod Nano with Nike + Sport Kit is that I HAVE to have music when I run. And it HAS to be the right music. I've found that I run better with fast hip/hop music. The second it slows down, so do I. I'm still narrowing down the best running playlist but for now here is what I have:
Any suggestions are very much appreciated!
For fun (and to stop talking about running for the moment), I thought I'd periodically post some of "My Favorite Things" to my blog. I always love reading other blogs and finding other's favorite things. My bank account doesn't usually love it but that's another matter entirely!
Photography is a big love of mine. It's a hobby that has sadly fallen to the wayside in the last year or so. Well I take that back, my camera has seen a whole lot of action in the way of jewelry photography (which is an entire beast in itself!)...this year I intend to focus more on broadening what I capture with my camera.
In addition to taking photograph's, I love to look at others work. Last year we had Heather Armstrong, a local photographer, who's blog I stalk frequently, take our family portraits. I love, love, love every photo she took! Here's a video I put together of some of the ones we chose, she took hundreds of photos so it was really hard to narrow down to just these ones.
Family Portraits from Heather Armstrong June 09 from LISA LEE on Vimeo.
For more info on Heather and her photography, please check here..... Heather Armstrong Photography
Another one of my favorite family photographers is Tara Whitney. She is located in Orange County, California and one day I hope we can book a session with her. Here is her blog...Tara Whitney...Just be blogged...
So I did it. Ran for one week and I'm still alive! And guess what? I kinda like it now. Kinda. One thing is for sure, it has gotten much easier and I also feel like I HAVE to do it. It feels good, like Debbie wrote in a comment when I started this, something about, "clearing the cobwebs out." Perfect way to describe it.
I managed to run over 9 miles this past week. And I'm averaging a 12 minute mile. Good considering my first run I was running a 14 minute mile. Bad in that I have yet to run more than a mile and a half at once! This week my goal is to run no less than 2 miles per day and see if I can keep my average.
I guess I'll do my weigh-ins on Monday too....today I'm at 166.5. Down 1 pound.
Word Art made at Wordle
I have been thinking hard about coming up with a word for the year. A word that would sum up what I would like this year to represent. I wanted a word that would mean so much that I was tempted to even have it tattooed onto my body. That way I could never forget it. No excuse. A permanent reminder. Some words that crossed my mind: exercise, health, simplify, save, slow down, self.
The word that I have chosen is the word balance. I want to balance it all this year...fitness, health, family, friends, work, hobbies. I'm self-diagnosed obsessive-compulsive with some attention deficit disorder thrown in which makes balance a definite challenge! Ten days into the new year and I'm feeling pretty good about how I've managed to balance it all so far. "They" say it takes 2 weeks for something to become a habit and a way of life...is balance too lofty of a goal?
I still hate it but I'm happy to see improvement already! I'm a gadget girl so being able to track my runs and really see how I'm doing is a HUGE motivator. This time I ran around my neighborhood and I'm happy to know that if I go around all the cul-de-sacs it is exactly 1.54 miles.
Also another huge motivator--a friend and I just made a healthy living contract/pact so that when we both make our goals we will have a day at the spa. A full day-the whole she-bang! It's a ways down the road, but I can't wait for that.
My ultimate goal is to HAPPILY run a 10 minute mile. I'm not big on making weight goals because it can be so misleading. I'd rather be healthy and feel good at a higher weight then loose 30 pounds and feel like garbage. With that being said I will track my weekly weight-loss and just see what happens. Currently I weigh 167.5 pounds and I am 5'10". According to various websites my ideal weight would be between 132 and 175. I'm going to go for 148 and see how I feel.
My ultimate, end all goal is to just feel good. Physically AND mentally.
This was pathetic. I gotta admit it felt good to get out though and it was a beautiful day.
Scratch my last goal. My new goal is to run a 12 minute mile.
In my previous post I mentioned making this blog a challenge to me. I have decided to take a cue from a recent movie and some other blogs and do my own version. A personal journey I will share most at least some of it here. I vow to make myself a runner. There I said it.
For those that know me, I'm not a runner. I hate it. I can't do it. The few times I've tried it, I constantly have, "I hate this.When can I stop?This sucks.Is it over yet?" on constant rotation in my head. Not to mention it is so freaking boring.
So why am I doing this? Most sane people don't have the need. (Though first disclosure--no saying I'm sane.) I have a multitude of reasons:
So how do I start this journey? I don't really know. I will start with a small goal. Run a mile without stopping to rest.
Wish me luck.
Third disclosure - This is not me.
OK. After a LOT of thought, I have come to a decision about this blog. I'm going to keep it, but I'm going to change it. This blog initially started as a way to post my family happenings to family and friends near and far. I also used it as an outlet to get out and share some of my wacky obsessions--Rob Thomas being a big one.
I love that I have a place to share 'Pieces of Me' and I don't want to give that up. I've kept this blog going since October 2005 and I have printed out every single entry and photo. That's also about the time I gave up traditional scrapbooking so in a big way this blog has been my life scrapbook. Well I shouldn't say that...this blog is only a small portion of my life and my family life, but a lot of the big events have been chronicled. That is at least something! Whether many people have read it or not doesn't really matter. I've read it and I have it documented for me. That being said, I do love each and every comment I have received. Blog reading is a favorite past time of mine, yet I'm still amazed people want to read what I write.
So what does the future bring for this blog? In some ways I plan to simplify it, but in some ways I'm really going to make it challenging to myself to maintain it. Stay tuned....
OK, here come the excuses....This is my busiest season with Juella Designs so I haven't been posting much (obviously!). Speaking of--The last day to place custom orders will be this Friday, December 11th.
After I finish up with the last of the holiday orders, I have big plans for my blog. Complete overhaul. First I'm realizing I need to learn the 'New Typepad'...forever changing.
Off to make more jewelry....
Wow, Thanksgiving came and went and now we're into the Christmas season. How in the world did that happen? This was the first year since the kids were born that we didn't participate in the Turkey Trot and you know what? We didn't miss it...LOL! It was nice to just sleep in and be lazy. We made a big breakfast and tried to get the kids excited about the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade but it just didn't have as big of a draw as cartoons.
We had Thanksgiving dinner at home....Grandma Jeanne and Uncle Jeff joined us, as well as Cindy and Noah. It was so great they could come up and spend a couple days with us! The kids had a blast having a cousin to play with and they played lots of video games and laser tag. Molly even had some company, Dharma and Yoda/Pedro, Cindy's dogs. She wasn't as thrilled as we were to have company! Aaron went back to work on Friday but we took Cindy and Noah on a mini tour of Redding. We hit Turtle Bay, the Sundial Bridge (though it started to rain on us), McDonald's (but of course) and Aaron's Fire Station.
I've had a busy couple of weeks with Juella Designs! I've had 2 shows...both which I think were successful and a lot of fun. The first one was a Holiday Boutique I put together at the Vintage Wine Bar & Restaurant (the place where my brother is the chef)...we had 11 different vendors and artists selling their wares and it was a crazy-fun-crowded time! Here's a quick pic from that show...
The second show was one I joined at the last minute...it was in a local hair salon and was only for other local jewelry artists. It was a long day but it was also fun..I don't get to hang around with other jewelry artists very often and that was great.
My Mom and I took the kids away for a fun getaway to San Francisco. It was a beautiful weekend and we saw some new sights we haven't seen in the Bay before. We visited some old favorite spots too....Chinatown, beach near the Golden Gate, Palace of Fine Arts, Lombard St and Union Square. We even took a ride on the world famous trolley car!
We finished up the weekend at the Bay Area Bead Expo (BABE) show. It was a successful show and even the kids seemed to enjoy it. I got lots of new products I'm excited to work with.
Sunday was my Mom's birthday...and I'm not telling her age! We had a yummy lunch at Red Robin and then back home for banana cream pie and chocolate bon bons...mmmm! 
Ella's fall soccer season came to end. Could have been a better season but she had fun and it allowed us to meet some new friends.
Jacob is now a Cub Scout Wolf and Ella is a first year Daisy!
Weekend in Reno with friends! Saw Rob Thomas, Carolina Liar and One Republic. Lots of shopping and lots of eating....good times!
2nd Annual Guns and Hoses Football Game. Sadly the Hoses lost. :-(
Some other highlights:
