Blog break's over!!! :)

I haven't updated this in awhile! We've been so busy!
This past week my nieces Keonna and Summer were here from Louisiana, it was so good to see them! They stayed at my Mom and Dad's, then on Saturday Kevin and I met my sister Stacie halfway to Louisiana for her to pick them up. It was the first time Stacie had met Katie! :) Stace has had so much going on the past year, some good, some not so good. But I am so very proud of her for keeping a smile on her face and staying positive. She inspires me. :)
And you know what I just noticed? The top two pictures and the bottom two pictures are almost alike, just different people in them! Weird! :)
The girls from Scrapbook Addiction got back from CHA this weekend!! :) I so wish I could have gone with them, I know they had a blast! I'm excited to see all of the new lines coming in to the store! I love Brandi a lot for ordering Urban Lilly, that's something I definitely have my eye on! And Love, Elsie and KI Memories, of course!! :) :)
Oooh, and speaking of Love, Elsie we drove past a Hobby Lobby on our little road trip this weekend and I scooped up a bag full of Lola! :) I was really happy because they were having a 50% off sale! :) Heck yeah! :) I ordered some prints from scrapbook pictures.com and I can't wait for them to get in so I can scrap away! If you've never tried scrapbook pictures, give them a try! Their pictures cost about half of what Wal Mart charges, and you can order fun sizes like 8x12. :) I'm excited to get them in! This is the first time for me trying them, but I've seen someone elses and they looked they are great quality!
OK, I think I am going to stop writing now. :) If you are still reading I admire you! ha ha
Have a great night!
Charin

Something to pass on....

I read this article on Tara Whitney's blog and wanted to pass it on...for those of you who have children especially please read! You can't be too careful these days. Basically if someone gets a hold of your home number and types it into a Google search it will pull up your name and a map to your house! Yikes.
You can submit a request to have your address blocked, which is what we did.
Tara explained it better, so I'm linking her blog entry here.
:) Charin

I **love** you, jclare studios!!!

Jennifer and her staff at jclare studios are amazing!!! :) I took Katie there to have to her pictures done and I absolutely think it was the coolest studio I have ever been in. Such sweet girls! And Jennifer is a scrapper, how cool is that? :) I have so many more amazing pictures that she took of my little Katie Shae, but when I scanned them to post them on here it didn't do them justice so I decided that I would just use these from the studios blog. I couldn't stop crying when I saw them for the first time, she captured every little detail of my sweet baby in such a beautiful way! (And shhhh, don't tell my husband I wrote this but he even got a little teary eyed when he saw them! Love you honey if you're reading this! ha ha)

Thank you Jennifer for being such a rock star photographer!
Charin

*23*

So today is my 23rd birthday :)
It's been a good day, really mellow. My sweet Mom treated Kevin and I to Chili's and Kevin got us a yummy ice cream cake...MAN was it rich!

Our friend Aaron is going to be here in a little bit and Katie's taking a nap. :) Good time to blog, I'm thinking! :)
Since I am all about trying to grow as an artist and trying new things, I joined a group called 52 weeks on Flickr. It's a fun concept, you take a self portrait every week for a year. I'm a little nervous about that, since I usually don't like pictures of me....but that's kind of the point. To make me take a challenge, do something different. : )
If you're on Flickr you should join in on the fun!

I also started my very first art journal, I've been wanting to do one of those for awhile now! :)
Fun stuff. :)

P.S. The top picture is my first entry for the 52 weeks group and the 2nd one is from my fun shopping trip yesterday! Can you tell I love shoes? Ha ha

:) Charin

This picture makes my heart melt! :)

I absolutely love this picture of Katie!!! :) I love it when I grab my camera and snap a picture quickly and it turns out to be a new favorite. I think my little girl is absolutely beautiful. :)
I will be sharing some pictures *soon* from her photo shoot at JClare studios! They did such an awesome job! Can't wait to share. :)
Charin

Happy Happy Monday!!

So it's Monday already! :) I hate that it rained this weekend! I had two photo shoots planned, but that didn't happen with the rain. :(
Kevin and I are going to try to take some pics this afternoon after he gets home. I am so proud of him! He knows that I am always looking for funky bright colored buildings to take pictures in front of and he pointed one out that I drive by all the time and didn't notice. :) So if any of you local girls know of any buildings like that let me know!
Hopefully I'll be able to share those pictures soon!
This is a new page from this weekend....Katie's getting so big! I can't believe she'll be 6 months old on the 4th! Time is *flying*!! :)
And don't make fun of my picture, I can't take a serious self portrait but I promised to show my new haircut so here it is. :) You can't even see all of it, but you get the idea. :)
Have a great day!!!
Charin

I've been tagged :)

My friend Amy tagged me (And I just have to share, Hambly Screen Prints chose Amy as one of their Honorable Mentions!!! You go girl :) )
I had this post all ready to go yesterday and the internet went down, so here we go again. :)
My roommate and I once: No roommates for me, just family :)
High school was : Quiet! I was homeschooled.
When I'm nervous : I get all jittery
When I was 5 : I thought I *was* Madonna! :) :)
When I turn my head left : My neck hurts! It needs to be popped.
I should be : Thinking about going to bed instead of playing on the internet.
By this time next year : Kevin and I hope to be in a bigger house! We love this one, but we want more room.
My favorite aunt is : I can't pick just one! :(
I have a hard time understanding : Why some people abuse children, it makes my heart hurt.
You know I like you if : I want us to hang out :)
My ideal breakfast is : Fresh fruit.
If you visit my home town : You better come see me! :)
If you spend the night at my house : Will you take turns rocking Katie to sleep?
My favorite blonde is : My cute niece Keonna :)
My favorite brunette is : I know too many!
The animal I would like to see flying besides birds : Ummmm?? Not sure.
I shouldn't have been : Afraid to believe in myself my whole life. Still working on that one. :)
Last night I: Worked till about 7:30, ugh.
A better name for me would be : Maybe one that people know how to pronounce? :)
I've been told I look like : Kate Winslet
If I could have any car, it would be : A Mustang!
Alright, I'm tagging Brandi and Susan for this one. :) Post it on your blog girls!

A little busy...

Hi! :)
I don't really have much to say, I've been soooo busy lately but it doesn't seem like I've done anything very exciting. :) Hmmm...that's a little depressing.
Anyway! :)
Because tomorrow is Monday and I am all about making plans to get things done and trying to keep myself motivated I am going to post a couple of my goals on here. :)
I want to stop living out of my clean laundry basket (note to self, put clothes up!) take some fun pictures this week/weekend, clean my messy scrap desk and pay bills/balance checkbooks. Not too hard, huh? Surely I can find time to get that stuff done. We'll see. :)
Oh yeah, and I got a new haircut this weekend (I have bangs and got about 4 inches cut off!) but I don't have any makeup on and look like a dead mommy right now so I don't want to take a picture. But I will share soon. :)
Have a great Monday!
Charin

Playing scrapjack :)

I love the challenge that the girls have up this week at Scrapjacked! :) So much fun.

I kinda like doing a page without pictures once in awhile, just for something different.
So here's my version...

I hope you all had a good weekend. I've been running 102 temp since Friday morning, no fun at all! I really don't even know what I have, I just feel gross. I guess I should go to a doctor, huh? :)
Charin

Hi :)

I think I have the prettiest little baby in the world. :) She was in such a happy mood when I was taking these pictures, I love her lots. :)
And my cat Shanga is cracking me up, she's sitting on top of my computer desk staring down at me while I'm typing this, so I had to snap a picture of her. I'm afraid she's getting a little tired of me not having time to devote to her like I used to, she used to be the baby in the house. :) But she's really good with Katie even though Kevin and I had *lots* of people warn us that she wouldn't be.
I can't belive that the weekend is over already! We have been so so so busy lately. I kinda wish that time would just freeze for about a week so I could catch up. :)
I'll post again soon, I'm going to try to do a little bit of cleaning before I go to bed. :)
Charin

I'm a happy girl :)

Because my sweet husband bought me a Canon Rebel and Adobe Photoshop today!!!! :) :)
I am sooo excited! I have a ton to learn about both of these, it's quite a step up from my Kodak EasyShare. :)
I've been pretty giddy about it all afternoon, I've actually taken 90 something pictures already! Some family is up from Florida, so I had a good reason to. :)
Here's a few pictures of us from today, I haven't played with Photoshop too much yet but wanted to share.

My husband is the sweetest husband in the world. :) Kevin, thank you soooo much for this wonderful anniversary/birthday present!

I would hang out in my kitchen more...

If I had cutie aprons and towels like these! :) Check out this site...http://www.bunnymaxwell.com/kiac.html

Inspiration

Some pretty pictures I found on flickr :)

1. Off she goes.........., 2. i*love*sebastian, 3. berries on plate, 4. opening, 5. best. cry. ever., 6. friends

Randomness :)

Hi! :) It's been awhile since I've posted on here! I just wanted to share some random things...the first pictures are from Katie's first time sitting in her high chair :) I love the 2nd one, it looks like she's amazed to be sitting so high up! And the other 2 pictures are from her very first time eating any solids other than cereal in her bottle. She did *so* good, I was a proud mama! :) We fed her sweet potatoes, I read that it's better to start her on veggies rather than fruits so that she would tolerate veggies. So I made a compromise, I figured that the sweet potatoes wouldn't be too bitter for her. And here's a page I made using my new Love, Elsie goodies! :) I had a lot of fun with it, the colors ROCK! :) : )
Oh, and I am so proud of myself, Kevin and I made a decision to start working out to Billy Blanks Bootcamp and so far I've actually done it every time!! (OK, so it's only been a week, but that's a *huge* improvement for me!! Lol!) It's pretty intense, he's a really good instructor, even when I feel like hitting him through the TV when he tells us to do one more set when I feel like my lungs are going to collapse. :) Just kidding.

I'm excited, my Mamaw, Aunt and Uncle and two of my little cousins are coming up from Florida tomorrow! It's been 4 years since I've seen my Mamaw! I miss her. It'll be fun.

Have a great weekend!
Charin

Hi :)

Just wanted to share some pictures from today. :) We had a little cookout over at Kevin's Mom and Dad's, very laid back and yummy. :)
Katie was so cute, she was totally into looking at all of the flowers and just discovering new things. :) I *love* looking at her and knowing that she's seeing something for the first time. :) So sweet.
In other news, I have been totally inspired by this site :) I have joined, but haven't played with it too much. If you're on it you can look for me under the username charinkellie. :)
Some of my faves so far...Elsie's, Danielle's, Ali's, and Amber's :) They rock :) Check this site out for some major photo inspiration! :)
Charin

Yay for Elsie! :)

I am so happy for this girl! Her new Love, Elsie line hit two peas today. :) Check it out here!
And that means that my lss Scrapbook Addiction will have it soon! Yay! I know that Brandi will be glad, because I've been bugging her almost every day! Ha ha
If you know me very well at all you know how much I am completely inspired by Elsie, she is so sweet and creative and fun! I had the chance to meet her in real life last July and she was so cool! I love that she's as real and fun as I expected her to be. :) I love having a scrapbook friend like her. :)
Yay Elsie! You definitely deserve all of the wonderful things coming your way! :)
Charin

Yummy :)

I absolutely *love* Dippin' Dots ice cream, but my town isn't cool enough to have any :) so I was really excited to find this rip off at Wal Mart! It's really good. Is it weird that ice cream makes me happy enough that I blog about it? Probably :)
Other than that since I am off work for the next two days I have big plans to get some major work done at home! Lots of cleaning, scrapping (I have had the hardest time finding time to do that lately!) and actually cooking real food instead of frozen pizzas. :)
Aww, and I don't think I've said this yet...Katie rolled over for the first time on Mother's Day! It was so cute, she was super proud of herself at first until she realized that she was on her stomach and then she was mad. :) She hates being on her stomach! And she's sleeping in her own room now instead of in a bassinet in our room. She's still definitely not sleeping through the night, but it's slowly getting better. :) I can't believe that she's 4 months old already!
:) Charin

Weekend picture love :)

This weekend was so much fun, and *so* busy! :) Kevin and I took Katie on her first little road trip to see our friends Magan Luke and their new baby Aya! :) Well...she's not really so new I guess, she's 2 months old now! But it's the first time we've seen her. Can you believe that she's almost as big as Katie? And Katie's twice as old as her! :) (Aya is on the left in the top picture)

Their little boy Trenton is getting so big! He's almost a year and a half, and he's such a little man. :) His mouth was covered in chocolate and he wanted to be outside all day, it was cute!
And this last picture is my two sweeties on Mother's Day! :) :) Kevin was so sweet, he set up a picnic in our living room, held Katie's hand and had her "sign" her name on a Mother's Day card, got me some yummy chocolates and way too much money to spend on scrapbook stuff! (Brandi, if you're reading this I'm coming to see you soon, girl!) Speaking of Brandi, I also got my project together for the class I'm teaching at her store here. It should be fun!
I'm getting ready to go back to work tomorrow, ready for another busy week! :)

Dreams can be really weird :)

Know who I dreamed of last night? Nope, not my husband....Joey and Jesse on Full House!!!!! I know what you're thinking, it's crazy! So in the dream I lived in the Tanner house and I was madly in love with Jesse....and Joey was in love with me. Ha ha! Whatever!!!
Joey came up to me all decked out in his hockey gear about to leave for a game and said "Charin, I have to talk to you. Just give me a chance, I love you!" and I said "Oh, Jesse, I'm sorry" and Joey yells "Jesse!?" and Jesse walks in combing his hair and says "what?" Ha ha hah ha!!!!! You would totally have to watch Full House to appreciate this. And yeah, I am a complete nerd! *Someone* needs to quit watching Full House re-runs! :) :)

I love pink :)

Hi! :) I *finally* got some new pages done last night! :) And I am noticing a major trend....PINK! :) I can't help it, I absolutely love it. And ummm...apparently I have a new favorite shirt and necklace too, since I was wearing it in the last post as well! :) :)
I hope everyone has a wonderful Thursday!! :) It's almost the weekend.
Charin

She loves the park :)

Today was a good day for Katie's first trip to the park we thought. :) She *loved* it!! :) She was very content for about an hour until she started getting too hot.

Kevin and I think that we might be permanently hunched over now though, the handles on her stroller are too low to the ground! :) We are going to try to make this a nightly thing, or at least a couple of times a week. And after seeing my big stomach in the picture up there, I think that's a good thing! Ha! :)
Other than that, I spent my weekend working Saturday morning, grocery shopping and I *finally* got my scrapbook desk cleared off so I can actually use it again! I am so glad about that, I am really wanting to scrap and it's really hard to when you can't lay your page down. :) :)

Hopefully I'll have some new pages to share soon!

I've been tagged : )

My blog friend Fauve tagged me :)
So here is my list of ten weird or random things about myself (I could probably think of a lot more! Ha! I'm pretty weird)
1. My name is pronounced "Karen" even though it commonly gets pronounced Sharon, Charmin (yes, like the toilet paper. How would you like to be one letter away from America's favorite toilet paper brand? Haha!) and lots of other variations. Thanks, Mom and Dad! Just kidding, I actually like my name now. :) It's good to be different.
2. I was homeschooled all the way until I graduated.
3. I can sing almost all of the lyrics to any song after I hear it once.
4. I can remember weird things, like what I was wearing on my 5th birthday. I'm not so good memorizing anything important, but if you want to know what you were wearing in 1995 I can help you out. :)
5. I was a ballet dancer when I was younger and absolutely *loved* it! I still wish I was in dancing sometimes.
6. I love reading books that make me cry, especially Nicholas Sparks books . :)
7. I could happily be a vegan if my hubby didn't insist that I eat meat while I was pregnant with Katie and until she's weaned. :)
8. I want to be in a play someday :)
9. My bed has to be made *just right* or I can't sleep!
10. I absolutely love 80's pop music. Love love love it. :)
OK, that was fun!! :)
I am tagging Rachel Joy Amber Leah and Jill. List ten weird or random things about yourself! :)
Have a great day!
Charin