liveSPACE

...snow on the foothills

it has been so cold (for southern California). we are definitely bringing out the long coats, gloves and boots. last night it was a bone chilling 38 degrees. and, this morning 45! we are so not used to this. but, look how beautiful.

...mambi monday's - oh la la....paper

oh la la! i love the specialty paper for the noel collection. this weekend was the first of holiday get togethers that i have to attend. and, since i am always strapped for time i thought i should bake cookies for everyone and make cute holders for them. yeah right! what was i thinking. LOL! ok, so i baked some peanut butter cookies and made little holders for them. exactly where i found the time? i have no idea. i think i stayed up all night saturday night to complete this task. it was well worth it. please note the velcro enclosure. i love velcro in times like these.

...a christmas tradition

christmas is my favorite time of the year (next to my birthday). here is one of my favorite christmas tradition. every year a week (or so) before christmas michael and i will buy a new ornament for our tree. it usually needs to have some surface area so we can write on it. because, we write a brief synopsis of how our year went and the location of where we lived (if you only new about the stories from some of the places we've lived and our luck with moving). every year before putting them on the tree we look at them and read about our previous years "out loud". we end up laughing so hard, it's an absolut crack up. i can't wait to see what we'll write this year.

...the winner is

the winner for this weeks giveaway is: Shannon Hager. CONGRATULATIONS! i can't believe it. it's going to blow your socks off. don't forget the GIVE AWAY CATCH: before the end of the year you have to email or snail mail me pictures of what you did with your new christmas collection.

remember to email me your street address in order for me to mail your prize to you.

... a prank that back fired!

my team is the best team in the world. i'm sure you know this already. but, we love to play pranks on each other. one rule, don't mess with anyone's food and don't harm anyone. i guess that would be 2 rules but, the latter is a given. louis is the biggest prankster. from making me look like barry white to scaring someone in the hallway. name it, he will do it. so last wednesday, he took the day off. big mistake! we decided to get him back for all those times. we decided to build him a fort (club house). silly us. he loved it. check out these hysterical pictures.

before; yes, he's pack rat.
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after

...mambi monday's - updates, sharing & a give away

it's been quite some time since we last spoke... i'm so glad to know that you care so much. thank you for the emails & the phone calls. but, just to let you know. i've just been super busy and i've had some heavy things i had to deal with. with my busy work schedule and the loss of michael's grandmother & my cousin in the last 6 weeks it's been hard just to keep a straight face around here. life happens when you least expect it and you are never prepared for the heavy stuff. and, i can't even begin to tell you about the flu from you-know-where. it knocked me off my feet for atleast 3 weeks. i hope you guys didn't catch that bug. OMG! it was horrible, i'm still coughing. for a whole week i didn't have a voice. my team started calling my barry white and they would play his song when i entered the room. LOL. how funny is that. and, on my birthday they super-imposed my face on one of his pictures as my birthday card. very funny, but, not flattering.

so i'm slowly getting back into the groove of things. and, yes, i ate too much turkey and cookies this past weekend. we have been so busy around here working hard on some exciting things for next year. i know you can't wait to see them. i can't. when it gets closer i'll give a sneak peek. but, for today i'm giving away the complete christmas collection.

GIVE AWAY RULE: tell me what you've been up to for the last month and on friday i will choose 1 random winner.

GIVE AWAY CATCH: before the end of the year you have to email or snail mail me pictures of what you did with your new christmas collection.