Disney Loves Me!

PETCO Foundation calendar now available

Ty's calendar has arrived! You can pick one up at your local PETCO or here. Mine will be open to November all year!

My new Uggs

I'm super excited about the new UGGs I ordered. They're on backorder but should be arriving in a couple weeks. I've wanted them since they came out last year.

Mine will be black, like this:
They can also be worn up, like this:

Poladroid - best thing EVAAHH!

Poladroid. You will love it as much as I do. The possibilities are endless!! Especially for a scrapbooker. See for yourself:

Petco Foundation Calendar - November Winner!

I'm excited that my photo of our yellow lab, Ty, will be featured for November in the 2009 Petco Foundation calendar! Calendar proceeds will go to the Foundation to help pets everywhere.

I entered through ZooToo. "TWELVE GRAND PRIZES will be awarded for our 12 selections for the monthly pages of our 2009 PETCO Foundation Calendar. The Winning Pet Parents will receive a bundle of goodies: $100 in pet supplies, $50 PETCO.com Gift Certificate, 5 2009 Foundation Calendars featuring their star and unlimited bragging rights for the year!"

The featured photo:

I'm not sure when they will be available, but I'll keep you posted!

Organizing your scrap stash aka I heart my CIU

Amy at Polka Dot Chicks is asking for organizing tips, so here goes. (Thanks Michelle Aguilar for the link!)

My best tip is actually a product endorsement. I eyed this puppy for a good year before I finally took the splurge and it was worth every penny.

Behold, the Simply Renee Clip It Up. I own the main base and upper tier. It's fabulous! Pre-Clip It Up, I would have to sift through 20 various envelopes/bags/etc to find just the right sticker/rubon/embellie. Now I just give my CIU a twirl and tada! the perfect item at my fingertips.

Seriously, they should pay me for this write up! Feel free to ask any questions, I will try to answer.

Please post your organizational tips on your own blog and mention me, then you too can win Amy's giveaways!

I am so in love ... with Cath Kidston

One of the ladies at Creative Escape (hi Ali!) had one of Cath Kidston's bags and I immediately fell in love. Then she told me she got it in London. But THEN she told me you could get them in the U.S. And THEN I saw them the next day at Melrose Vintage in Phoenix! But they were pretty pricey.

Just browse their web site. Everything is so lovely, I'm dying to own something!

Anyone know where else it can be purchased here in the U.S.?

Win a Handbag!

Visit Handbag Planet to win a free handbag!

I chose this one:

Which one do you like?

SIStv sneak - Urban Prep

Check out the sneak peak of the new Urban Prep collection from SIStv. Isn't it Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious? Available For PreOrder Until 8.24, Spend $50 and Get A $10 Gift Card! What's stopping you?!? GO! GO!

This time in two weeks I will be escaping ...

It's less than two weeks until Creative Escape! I'm getting really excited. I have all my supplies, just need to gather them and pack them up.

Last week I got a cute little welcome box in the mail - WARNING: if you're going, didn't receive your box yet and don't want to see the contents, STOP READING NOW!





My friends and I had an art day at our clubhouse a couple weeks ago. We had our own little paint can swap and everyone did such an excellent job! Check them out:



This is the one I made Rachel:


My friend Chris got me and made me a can to match the contents (UNBELIEVABLE!):



It's every girl's favorite box to see. This was inside:


What a special friend. Thanks Chris!

WW update: I'm up to 23 pounds!! It's very exciting. My pants are all much looser now. I'm going to go jeans shopping tonight so I have at least one pair that fits for my big trip.

Speaking of the big trip, it has expanded to LA! Itinerary:
8/30 STL to LA
9/2 LA to Phoenix
9/8 Phoenix to Vegas
9/11 Vegas to STL

Crazy, huh?!? What am I going to pack?!? If anyone has any recommendations for shopping, sights and/or food in LA or Vegas, let me know.

And finally, my cousin Laura had a baby girl today! YAY! Her name is Julie and I CAN NOT wait to meet her. A trip to Pennsylvania is in my future ...

luv, em

The best yogurt ever.

Do you want to taste a perfect combination of sweet and tart and smooth and thick and ... fabulous deliciousness?

My favorite find this year:

Oh. My. Word. I love this stuff. It's 6 WW points, but so worth it. Although, I just discovered on their site they have a 2% version, but I've never seen it in the stores here. And I'm really dying to try the walnut one. Anyone know of a better St. Louis Fage selection than Whole Foods or Trader Joes?

Emily's Flickr Mosaic

Your turn! Please share your Flickr mosaic in the comments. Here's how: Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr search, and using only the first page, choose your favorite image, copy and paste each of the URL’s into the mosaic maker (3 columns, 4 rows), and it generates the mosaic for you.

The questions & answers that generated my photos:
1. What is your first name? Emily
2. What is your favorite food? green beans
3. What high school did you attend? Eureka
4. What is your favorite color? apple green
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Jude Law
6. Favorite drink? mojito
7. Dream vacation? Italy
8. Favorite dessert? cupcake
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? mom
10.What do you love most in life? Jehovah
11. One word to describe you? generous
12. Your Flickr name? back porch poet


1. daffodil, 2. Quick overview, 3. Bee Gold Ranch - Lirio Aquatico, 4. Green Day, 5. Jude Law, 6. summer drink, 7. Positano, 8. puccho (japanese candy) cupcakes!!!, 9. بــحـط قــلـبـي بــيـن يــديـنـك هــديـه, 10. Psalm 42:8, Painting With Light Art*, 11. Cute..., 12. 28.366 | singing along with kyle

CE Sharpie RAK

This is for Creative Escape 2008 attendees only! Please leave a comment if you'd like to be in the drawing for a Sharpie RAK. Deadline is noon Thursday central time.

Everyone loves a good Sharpie right? You'll need them to get all your famous teachers' autographs! I will give away SIX 2-packs by random draw of the comments posted here. That's six winners! WOO HOO! It's only a little over a month away ladies ...

PS ... I have to approve all comments so don't worry if your comment doesn't show up right away.

Happy commenting!

Please vote for my photos!

I entered some photos in Parade's Oceans of Wonder photo contest.

Please vote for this photo here.

And this one here.

And finally this one here.
Thanks! em

7 weeks, 13.5 pounds

Pretty thrilled that I've now lost 13.5 lbs in 7 weeks on Weight Watchers. My pants are finally looser. I wish I could fast forward a couple months to an even thinner me!

Did you see Heather Bailey's new Web site? It's fab! The colors are so yummy! I made a cart with everything in it that I wanted, then deleted a bunch of stuff out of it, and still didn't buy anything. Maybe on payday Friday. Please tell me you do this too. It's like dog-earing a catalog, kinda makes you feel like you actually got it.

luv, em

Charmed, I'm sure. And other stuff.

I finally finished my charm for the CE08 charm swap. I ordered the little frame charms from Joann and designed the inside in InDesign CS3. I'm pleased with the way they turned out - an improvement from my first charm swap earlier this year for Inspired (registration opens August 1!).


I came home yesterday to my paint can from the CE08 paint can swap. Thanks Margie Rowles! I can't wait to try the Glimmer Mist - I've been wanting that for months now.


Last weekend I cleaned and organized all my CDs. All 560 are in alphabetical order by artist. Everyone says, "Why don't you just download your music from itunes?"

"Because I like CDs!" I say. I still like getting the little booklet and I like to be able to pop it in my car CD player when I leave Best Buy. And I don't like that I can only burn itunes songs a maximum of 7 times. What if I want to make a mix CD for 10 of my friends? I have to buy the song again? No thanks. I'm old-skool like that. ;-) (Note the old-skool smiley.)


Happy Friday to all. Have a good one. Leave me a comment. I so love comments. luv, em

So much to share ...

First of all, weight loss is at ... *drumroll please* ... 10 pounds!!! WOO HOO! Unfortunately, I had got so chubbo I don't even notice it in my clothes yet.

Second: Last Thursday night we went to the John Mayer concert. It was fun and I got some great shots due to our KILLER seats. Check out my faves (Click on pic for larger view):







Um, yeah, that last one I'm pretty proud of. I have videos to share as well, but I'm still working on getting them up on YouTube. If you want to see the rest of the pics, shoot me an email and I'll send you the link and password.

And check out his blog for the cool thing JM did this week. And read a follow-up from Isaac's dad here.

Also, since I last posted, we took a long weekend road trip to Kansas City. We visited the City Market twice - love that place. We had a fabulous dinner at Bo Lings on the Plaza. Spent too much money at Dean and DeLuca.

Scenes from the Market:






We visited Christopher Elbow chocolates - yum.


Then we went to the Cards/Royals game on Saturday.


Um, and check out how talented my friends are:



So, that should hold you until next time, huh? Thanks for sticking through this long post. Counting down the days until Creative Escape. I can't wait! It's less than two months.

luv, em

Weigh-in Day

So I've been doing Weight Watchers for three-and-a-half weeks now. It's going GREAT!

I weighed in this morning and ... drumroll please ...

5.5 lbs!!!!

WOO HOO!!

Heather Bailey's Freshcut Rocks My World

I want. I want.




See the whole collection here.

Beyond the Sea

Look at this gorgeous new line by Heidi Grace - Beyond the Sea ... you can preorder it here. Download PDFs of all the new lines here. Must get these for those Jamaica pictures next year!!! Love it!