Uh, yeah...

I'm still around. I guess not being able to upload pictures prevented me from posting at all, ever. Here's my comeback:

Friday Fill-Ins.

1. Laughter is big in my life right now, with a new puppy.

2. Hi I would are the three words that started off the last email I sent.

3. What I'm most looking forward to today is coming home and relaxing.

4. Peri, my new puppy puts a smile on my face.

5. Where in the world can I find my dream job?

6. My boyfriend knew just what I needed!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to relaxing, maybe doing some party planning, tomorrow my plans include nothing special and Sunday, I want to do more of nothing!

So, my new puppy! I will try to upload a picture right now..

Holy cow it worked. It screwed with the font, but I'm not going to attempt to fix that right now. Anyway! My birthday was Wednesday, and last Saturday my boyfriend surprised me with a new puppy for my birthday.

This is pretty amazing, because my boyfriend pretty much said he was never getting a dog. And if by some miracle he did get a dog, it would be a Lab. I don't know, it's a country boy thing.

But instead he got a Jack Russell. The most hyper dog there is, apparently, because everyone in the world has let us know that fact since Saturday. But I don't care, because look at that face!! And my boyfriend picked her out all by himself! And left to "hit golf balls" and instead came home with a puppy! I was so surprised and happy.

Her name is Peri, short for peridot, which is my birthstone.

Life in our house has been a little crazy since last Saturday, obviously. Uh, puppies? They're hard work. They're like human babies. They wake up in the night to go to the bathroom, and they cry when you put them in their crate for the night (we laid in bed that first night listening to "our baby" cry, and it was so sad to me).

It's been funny, though, to see how the boy interacts with the puppy. I feel like it's a tiny glimpse into what he'll be like as a dad, and I love it. It makes me look forward to having babies one day with even more excitement.

Now that I know I can upload pictures again, I'll come back and update with all of the journal pages I've done (the class is almost over!). Soon.

Journaling for a Cause Day 15

Today was rough. It's so hard going back to work after the weekend, especially a good weekend. Hopefully this means the week will only get better.

The journal prompt for today was 50 random things about yourself. These were harder to think of than I imagined they would be! Also, I have a small journal, so it was impossible to fit 50 things onto one page... or even two. I had to tape three pages together! I kind of like the way it looks.

Okay so I've been trying since last night to upload the pictures, and every time I try, my internet connection changes to "limited connectivity." I don't know what's going on, but I'm giving up on trying for now. There is a picture at flickr, but I had to take it with my phone, so it's not a great picture.

Journaling for a Cause Days 11-14

I had a kind of busy end of week/weekend. Didn't so much get behind on my journal; just on taking pictures and uploading.

Day 11, Thursday, was "3 Things I Can't Live Without":

I decided to focus on things rather than the obvious here (family, friends, food, water, etc.).

For day 12, it was all about today. What did you do today? How was your day? Good thing this fell on a Friday, or else I would have had a rather boring journal page for this prompt!

I had a really good day Friday, hanging out with my mom. I really do hope to make that happen more often.

Day 13 was a page about your childhood dreams. Thinking of my childhood always makes me think of my cousin, "Sally." We were so close when we were younger, always at my grandmother's house together, spending the weekend there. We argued like sisters (she is 2 or 3 years younger than I am), but otherwise played really well together, with lots of pretending. Even though we are completely different people now (both different from our childhood selves, and different as in complete opposites of each other), when we do get together, it's like no time has passed.

And finally, day 14. This was a fun challenge. Find 5 things lying around to use on your journal page. I used a cute card I bought in the dollar section of Target Friday, a piece of ribbon I love, a piece of a tag from the purse I bought a few weeks ago, some shrinky dink charms I made that were useless because I forgot to punch holes in them, and a piece of woodgrain scrapbook paper. I love how it all seems to go together so well! Then I just wrote a little bit about how I'm feeling today. It's been a pretty great weekend.

Friday Again, Thank Goodness

Time for another Friday Fill-In. Sometimes they're really lame and I don't know what to put in the blanks. I thought I'd give it a shot again this week.

1. Life is not exactly where I want it to be right now.

2. But I'm trying to keep going.

3. My last text message (or IM) ended in these three words: swing. Robert. Naps.

4. Cracker Barrel is what I'm thinking about for dinner sometime soon (but not tonight).

5. On the 1st day of August I was riding home from a weekend beach trip.

6. I can't remember the last time I felt lively and energetic.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to maybe hanging out with my mom, tomorrow my plans include hopefully getting a new phone and Sunday, I want to rest!

Journal for a Cause Day 10

This was a fun one. Create a list that deals with books. I decided to make a list of my favorite children's books. Some of these are favorites from my childhood, and some are new favorites that I've discovered while buying books for my nephew and niece. The two newest favorites on the list are The Gruffalo and Goodnight, Gorilla.

Caught Up

Here are my pages for Journaling for a Cause, Days 7-9. And with this, I am caught up again. Feels great!

Day 7. Pretty self-explanatory. What are you thankful for? I listed a bunch of stuff, big and small. Punched the border with two different sized hole punches.

Here's Day 8, what are your go-to clothes? Mine are pretty simple--t-shirts, jeans, cotton skirts, tank tops, and flip flops. This was supposed to look like a paper doll page.

Finally, Day 9. If a book was written about you, what would the cover look like? Mine is pretty simple, with a (very crude) copy of the tattoo that is on my shoulder. Each star stands for someone in my life. I love that tattoo.

Journaling for a Cause Days 5 & 6

Once again, a trip to the beach has set me a little bit behind. I did take some paper and my pens to attempt to work on Day 5 on the trip down, but the entire ride was spent deep in great conversation with great friends, and I'm so glad. The beach was HOT, but the trip was a good one, and I'm so thankful for the weekend getaway.

Here are my pages for Days 5 and 6.

Day 5 was "all about the details," whatever details we wanted to write about. I decided to write about some of the details that make up me.

For Day 6, we had a "free page." A chance to write or draw whatever came to mind. I decided to just write what came out. These are some of the things running through my head tonight.

I'm hoping to get completely caught up tomorrow afternoon. I don't like falling behind!