{summer CHA must haves and a big update}

Oh my word it has been a LONG time since I last blogged, and I am so sorry to all of my loyal friends and followers out there!! I have been out of touch for many months, but I am back, and I mean business!

For those of you interested to know, I finished my very, overwhelming Spring semester with a bang; I made 4 A’s, and that means I received a 4.0. My Summer classes started that following Monday, and I completed both classes with an A, so another 4.0, now I am out of school for about 4 more weeks. I am living it up at home, in the evenings just spending time watching movies with my family, scrapbooking, swimming, and going to bed early/on-time.

Our house is still on the market. It is still in great condition, but we are getting a brand new roof due to hail and wind damage. Also, we extended our listing contract, so it will be on the market until October of 2011; at that point, we will take it off the market for the holidays.

I’ve gone through several hair transitions this summer. In the Spring, I went caramel blonde, it was very golden and gorgeous. When my roots started coming in, I drove down to San Antonio, spent time with my dear sister Megan. I went platinum blonde. It looked fantastic, and I loved it, but it was short lived. My roots came back in less than 3 weeks, so now I am a light shade of red, and I am in LOVE with it. I get tons of compliments on it, so I know it was a good move on my part.

I recently got back from my annual Summer Scrapbook Retreat at Memory Lane Inn in McKinney, TX. I had so much fun seeing my family and good friends. I didn’t get as many pages done as I did last year, but I still got a lot completed. I also reorganized all of my papers by manufacturer, created some kits out of my stash that include everything I need to travel with to crops, purchased a new trimmer from Michael’s, and I finally spent my gift card reward from Scrappin’ Bunnies on loads of new paper and accessories. I purged a ton of patterned papers, an entire Iris Container full of solid cardstock, and several stickers and accessories that I know I wouldn't use, and it FELT SO GOOD. I love to PURGE.

Now that I am back from my brief vacation from life, I am reorganizing my scrapbook room, and I am getting ready to start a new job on August 1^st. I applied to and was offered a job in the College of Education at UNT, so I am transitioning so to speak. During my free time, I am reading over the office manual, and I am getting great design ideas for my very own office. This will be the first time that I am not working in a cubicle, what fun! I am so pleased, grateful, and ready for this new challenge in my life. I look forward to my future at UNT and making new friends and colleagues. Thank the Lord; He knew just what I needed after this tough year.

And onto something a bit scrappy…

I will be posting a few layouts later on this week; I need to take pictures of my most recent works; I have several that I am very proud of. And since I don’t have super layouts to share with you today, I would love to share with you my top faves for the Summer CHA which is going on right now in Chicago; wish I was there!!!

Summer 2011 CHA Favorites:

1. Basic Grey – Nordic Holiday

2. Crate Paper – Farmhouse, Random, and Peppermint

3. Cosmo Cricket – Assorted Sized Glubers

4. Studio Calico – Memoir

5. Webster Pages – Trim, Pins, Flowers, Trinkets

6. My Mind’s Eye – Lost & Found Two Rosy

And I have several honorable mentions as well, so I've included those:

1. Pebbles – Fresh Goods

2. American Crafts – Amy Tangerine Papers & Coordinates

3. Pink Paislee - Nantucket

I am following all the CHA Summer releases at The Scrap Review, and I am definitely giving my opinions on what is hot and not this CHA, and I hope that you check them out and do the same!