Week In The Life, Friday Sep 13

* Today was AWESOME!! I mean, a day that goes in the books! Really! We had beautiful weather, my spirits were up, but most importantly, 2 of my dear friends got pinned and are now CHIEF PETTY OFFICERS in the US Navy!!!  :)  It was SO exciting to be part of their big day!

Number of photos taken: 75 (not counting what I deleted)

Don't forget: Josh and Sara are both CPOs!!!  :)

Vanilla (meal) shake

Navy Service Uniform (NSUs)- I wanted to dress up in honor of my friends

This little guy is LOVING Week In The Life and all the attention he's getting

Kathi loves Samuel like he's her own...

And we love Kathi!

PRC (AW/SW) Joshua Bolyard

Hooray!!!

NCC (AW/SW) Sara Waggoner

Hooray!!!

I got to put my new edger to work today. The initial task will be tough, but the upkeep of the grass shouldn't be too bad. Can you see where I took "bites" out of the yard??  ;)

Finally tackled the basket of laundry I've been cherry-picking out of all week

And that was my Friday! SOOO ready for the weekend!!  :)

* Ashley 

Week In The Life, Wednesday Sep. 11

The National Ensign is at Half Mast in remembrance of September 11, 2011

It's hard to believe that 12 years ago today, my life and personal mission in the Navy would change so drastically. I'd been in the Navy 1.5 years and had completed a 6 month deployment onboard the USS Truman. (My husband was on that cruise, but I didn't know this yet) When I heard the news from my Leading Petty Officer (LPO), I thought it was a joke. We got the only F-14 fighter we had at home, #114, out of the hangar and onto the flight line. Just in case. And then the base was shut down. You couldn't come on Naval Air Station Oceana, and you couldn't leave. I'll remember it like it was yesterday.

*****

So this morning, after command Physical Training (PT), the First Class Petty Officers that are preparing to become Chief Petty Officers (pinning will be Friday) performed colors outside my building at 0800. I would have given ANYTHING to be able to take pictures, but I was in formation. And taking pictures, while at attention, is a HUGE no no. (I did it once at a retirement ceremony, but I was at attention in the audience. And I STILL heard about it later!)  :(  So no pictures of that.

My day was spent inspecting one of the helicopter squadrons on base (I'm on an inspection team for my shore duty), and taking pictures while inspecting tends to make people nervous. Sigh. So no pictures there either

But here are some of the pictures I DID take...   :)

Text messages from work before I'm even out of bed...not a good sign

Getting into PT gear, hair in a ponytail

If I got a $1 each time I was told I look like a Minion... 

"Sips" and "Tee Tee on!" before leaving for Kathi's/work

6 minutes after we leave the house...and the bridge is up

$3.13 a gallon for gas on base- not too shabby!

*****

After a long day of inspecting, and dinner at church...

Happy Mail!

I ordered the Family Stories collection from Teresa Collins. The Santa's List collection, also from her, is for my Dec Daily album this year. I can't wait!!!

Happy Sam!

Stinky Diaper Genie

Shoo shoo!!

And I had to bring some work home. One of my many jobs as an Aircrew Survival Equipmentman (PR) is to maintain flight gear (helmets, vests, radios, etc.) for aircrew, as well as sew Velcro on flight suits, repair and modify gear, as well as do inspections on aircraft installed items. All that to say...one of my jobs is sewing.  :) I had to bring 2 flight suits home to sew so they'd be ready first thing tomorrow.

And that was my day! This was quite an interesting day, and I took about 35 photos. (not counting deleted photos) I don't want to forget how excited Samuel got tonight when we got home and walked to the mailbox. "May-ul! May-ul!" He's not strong enough to get the door open, but he gets SUPER excited to see all the mail IN the box. Almost like he's opened a present.  :)

Thanks for stopping by!

* Ashley

Week In The Life, Tuesday Sep 10

* I forgot my Daily Sheet this morning, so I just used a small notepad I had in the car. This evening I transcribed all the info over. Two days into the project and I'm feeling pretty positive! And I'm in pictures too!!

Number of photos taken: 39 (not counting all the ones I deleted)

Don't forget: I was blessed with a 2 hour nap from Samuel this afternoon, so I was able to Weed-eat the yard and get some vines trimmed down. My replacement cell phone arrived, my Freckled Fawn subscription started (Yeah!!), and SAMUEL got invited to a birthday party in October!  :)

5:10 AM- Camera timer is a must!

Flower at Kathi's house, got a picture after I dropped off Samuel

Naval Station Norfolk Base traffic. Sigh.

I would LOVE to have a 10-15 minute commute each day.  :(

Catching up on my blog reading with free WiFi at the car dealership while I get an oil change. For a single parent (until my husband's deployment is over), this 1.5 hours was like a vacation!!!  :)

Favorite picture of the day. I never get tired of watching this baby boy sleep.

Happy Mail!

"Mommy...mess."

Night time routine

Taking a breath...with my iPad.  :)

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

* Ashley

Project Life: Thanksgiving Edition

Due to all the excitement this past week, Project Life is ALL photos with the exception of a 3x4 spot for journaling. This is the first time I've done this, and the craziness of all the photos helps to convey the craziness of the week.

Left hand side of the week's spread.

I took a bunch of Thanksgiving stickers and covered the date card in the upper left hand corner.

I added a 4x6 horizontal page protector in the middle, and trimmed it down. I sealed the end with red washi tape. I embellished the pictures with stickers from the same Thanksgiving sticker sheet on the page protector. (I've also added stickers directly to pictures before. I just didn't think about it until I'd already sealed it with the tape.)

Backside of the insert

More stickers on the pictures

Right hand side of the spread

The extra bits and pieces from the week will go on my Nov 26- Dec 2 spread. (in the 3x4 pockets) My goal is to finish the year without adding any additional inserts. This album is already so fat, and I want to make sure it'll close!  :) Even though I added an insert this past week... I just wanted to include a lot of pictures. (20!)

Thanks for looking!

Chocolate cupcakes are the best

I made cupcakes to take to work, and let Samuel have a part of one.

It's safe to say, he enjoyed it!!  :)

Gettin' crafty

As tired as I've been the past few weeks, I've tried to fit in a little "me" time. Here's what I've been up to...

I'd been meaning to scrapbook Jacob's birthday from last year. It was on my To Scrap list.  :) Jacob took these pictures, and picked out the background paper and 3-D embellisments from Archiver's in NE.

Scrap paper

One of my 4 Rebeccas asked me to cut out some letter Bs for her. I used my Cameo and scraps.

B is for Becca Brockway (or Becca Kubo, or Becca Anderson, or Becca Ren)  :)

*****

My sister Amy just earned her CNA in Nursing (Hooray!!!) so I wanted to send her a card. This is how I did it.

I had this pack of blank card bases from Basic Grey, and I picked the orange one because I liked the scallop edge at the bottom.

I added some rosey red cardstock to the bottom, and some green to the inside to help show off the scallop.

I've had these tissue flowers from my monthly scrapbook class and I've never used them. I doubt I'll ever put them on a page because they are too puffy. I used one, pulled off 1 layer, and layered it over a circle sticker. A brad in the middle finishes it off. (on the bottom right corner)

These toothpick flags are pretty popular right now. I decided they would look nice sticking up behind the tissue flower. I put white cardstock behind a "Time to Celebrate" clear diecut to help it stand out, and glued it to the side.

I attached everything and added her name in stickers to the flag. All done!

*****

Here are the notepads and cards I made for my friend Karra to clebrate her marriage.

I started with 2 blank notebooks I bought at Target a LONG time ago.

I decided to use this vintage-y paper from Crate Paper Co.

Work in progress

Ks for Karra for the notecards

Working on the notecards- double sided paper give you more mileage out of one sheet

Notepad for her purse

Envelopes

Notecards

Journal

Inside cover

2nd tabbed pocket

3rd tabbed pocket

Back

Thanks for looking!