michael and i at the bar-b-que
bri lighting off fireworks on our street
here is my niece helen and briana on their decorated bikes for the 4th of july parade in our neighbor hood. we went to the community park and bar-b-qued, had our face painted and water balloon fights..which i won!!

michael decided to 'rip out' the ivy in our front yard and replace it with beauty bark, he did such a great job and it looks sooooooo much better!!
500 pounds of bark!! yikes

briana joined the swim team for the first time this year and loves it!! she has swim practice each day for an hour and a meet once a week. her favorite stroke it freestyle and least favorite is the butterfly. she had improved a great deal, learned how to dive off the block and do flip turns at the wall. she has won quite a few ribbons... 2nd and 3rd place ones!!!! i'm so proud of her for doing something new and different! -she's in the middle lane.
kidist and briana's backside.... they write 'eat my bubbles' !!!! they whole swim team does it to psyche the other team out :)
my trip to california to visit my aunties -from left to right...me, aunt betty, aunt susie, ellen and my mom. my sister and i painted 14 walls for my aunt betty, visited my grandpa, ate too much and had a blast!!

briana and i at our mother's day dinner. we were lucky to share it with josie, my sister-in-law and her family and also my mother and father-in-law patty & glenn. my mom was out of town and i got to see her later that night when i gave her a ride home from the airport :)
michael brought me these beautiful flowers, my favorite latte and made me breakfast!
bri made me these amazing flowers at school...they are plastic which is soooo cool because, i will be able to keep them forever!!

michael and i also got our new appliances this past weekend!!!! yippeeeee! i now have more than one burner to cook on....and a dishwasher that really works without having to almost pre-wash them :)

here it is!!! my new business cards....now i just need to find someone to create my website :) i designed the logo myself and i love how they turned out.
my friend jim madsen made this desk top organizer (i've been callin' it "the holes" for me and i can hardly stand it!!!! i absolutely love it, it holds some much and it's so accessible too. i painted it the same pink that i painted the stripe in my studio. so thanks jim, you ROCK!!!
when i went to visit my sister ellen this past week, we did a project and this is how mine turned out. it was a really fast and easy.

okay sisto, here we go!

1. my desk in my studio is perfectly clean right now.

2. i love it when my kitties jump on my lap when i'm sitting at my desk.

3. i love to go to the office supply store and get new 'stuff'.

4. i iron my clothes on the floor.

5. i sit on my bathroom counter to put my make-up on.

6. i seriously would not know what to do without paper towels and zip lock baggies.

7. this is the longest i have ever kept a diary/journal.

my best friend sharon came and played with me this weekend. we always have so much together...went to the mall, watched movies, went bowling, ate too much, crafted and just hung out! i am so grateful for her friendship and all of our memories together.
a little girls weekend treat!
michael, briana, sharon and i went bowling and did i mention that i won??? i did!
these are the journals i've been making for the last 2 days, i am really happy with the way they turned out.

for christmas my auntie susie gave me this beautiful PINK kunzite stone! first of all...Thank You!!!!!! michael took it in to our jeweler and had it set for me. he picked it up on thursday night...and i can not stop looking at it :)

i was watching the DIY (do it yourself) network the other day and a lady just whipped up a handmade, self-bound book...so i wanted to see if i could do it :) with some pink and a few hello kitties' later this is what i came up with
i also had the chance to use my new file folder punch.... LOVE it!!
and i just had to add some 'bling-age'

briana had an all school skate party last week at skate king. i took her and her girlfriends, kidist and fre. they were pretty excited to get there and see everyone...especially the boys
i use to go to skate king almost every weekend through out jr. high school... it was soooo wierd to walk in and see that nothing had changed (truly-nothing) it even smelled the same. i had blast putting my skates on and showing bri some pointers...and boy did my legs/feet hurt the next day. it was much easier 26 years ago......yikes
fre and lupita
briana and kiditst

here is the old downstairs bedroom... it took 2 coats of primmer

to cover all the paint.

here's the new studio pink!!!

i went from a room that was at least 3 times as big and an extra closet..it truly was my dream room. this room is slowly winning me over... it's

tiny and it's mine :) it's starting to 'feel' more like me. i'm thinkin' it's a new start and pretty soon "My Studio Pink" will be up and running!! i'll have a warehouse full of my products, a huge office with staff and maybe even a store...it sure sounds good...really good!!! I have fun ideas and the commitment to go with

-watch out --here i come!!

our family is growing!! michael brought Vali (short for valentine's -pronounced valley) and PJ (pinkie junior) home for me on Valentine's day :) pj is in my left hand and vali on the right. we are all in love with them...even maggie! the first few days were a little tense and now everyone sleeps together in maggie's dog bed... i'm gonna have to get one for a large dog so the 3 of them will fit.












this is bri on her 11th birthday...yes, i said 11 years old. YIKES where does time go??? she had the choice of a birthday party with her friends or a special day of her choice. she choose to go downtown seattle to gameworks (a huge arcade) and dinner at "the place where they cook and flip the food into your mouth" a.k.a. Benihana's. She had a blast and when i tucked her in that night she said she was staying awake so the night would never end!!!