Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Every year, we host a HUGE family party to celebrate our Irish heritage... good food, good company, and good drinks! :-) I must say, that being in the middle of another of my weight loss challenges, I was presented with a difficult decision... be good... or be bad... so what is any good Irish Catholic to do? I set the table with my late "Papa's" orchids and Irish china, I ate a good breakfast, went to the gym and worked out REALLY hard, and then celebrated for the rest of the day! :-)

Our celebration started with a special school day (we home-school preschool for Anna, Cat, and Robbie). We worked on writing exercises, made special Irish bracelets, learned about Ireland, St. Patrick, snakes and leprechauns during circle time, and performed "The Three Little Pigs" for the whole party! The kids had been planning this performance for a few weeks (since our pig/farm study) and Miss Penny did a FANTASTIC job getting the "costumes" together!

We had another great party, leftovers for 3 days, and are just now finishing the dishes... just in time for me to wish each of you a FANTASTIC, MISCHIEVOUS, and BLESSED St. Patrick's Day!

GCD Studios...

An editor friend of mine just brought to my attention a new company... about 2 years old... new to me... GCD Studios... based in Lake Forest, CA... only about 1 hour from me and 5 minutes from where I grew up!!! I have been checking them out and found some of their first release to play with (none of my LSS have their newly released stuff yet... coming SOON, I hope!) I have added their link to their blog here and under the "Places I Like to Visit." Here is the first of my audition pieces for their Design Team Audition called, "24 Hours a Day." Thanks for looking and have a GREAT day!

Anna and the Dentist...

Ohhhh... all these firsts that are flying by... like a leaf that barely opens to the sunlight and falls to the ground and blows away... This week was Anna's first trip to the dentist! She was prepared and very excited because she saw on TV that she would be getting a BRAND NEW TOOTHBRUSH... like the special princess brush she currently has isn't enough... :-) Better yet, her "Grand Aunt Sarah" is her dental hygienist, so there was nothing to worry about! It was funny, sitting there watching Anna get her teeth cleaned, Aunt Sarah said she was having flashbacks to when I was in the chair, at Anna's age, and she was cleaning MY teeth for the first time. (It sure is nice that the older family members are around to remember these things for we youngsters... ha, ha, ha... I LOVE you, Aunt Sarah!!!) Anna did a FANTASTIC job and we were THRILLED that she didn't have a single cavity! Woo Hoo!!!

Playing with a new company... GRAPHIC 45!

Alright, Graphic 45 is not exactly a brand new company, but it is new to me. I just discovered them a few weeks ago when reading about Winter CHA and saw their papers for the first time at Ever After last week. I LOVE THIS STUFF!! The paper is very thick and the colors and designs are vibrant, fun and oh so vintage! Check out Graphic 45! You will love it, too!!! Make it a "Wooooo Hooooo" kind of day!

OH... and I FINALLY have posted my Resume Blog. Check it out! :-)

Biggest Loser Challenge, Rusty Pickle and Australian company, Kaiser...

FIRST... I have been working VERY HARD for the past 6 weeks participating in a "Biggest Loser" type team challenge at my local YMCA. Teams are assigned personal trainers for 6 weeks and compete to see which team has the highest overall percentage of weight loss. I ate right, I worked my BUMB off and LOST 17.5 POUNDS AND 4" IN 6 WEEKS!!! WOOOOO HOOOOO! I have one week to regroup and then I'm starting the next 6-week challenge!!! Watch out... SEXY TRACEY is coming back! :-)

I took 2 whole days off from the gym and got some scrapping done... and developed a few new classes that I will be teaching at Ever After in the next month or so! Enjoy!

Thanks to friend, Dan Kirksey, for these great pics of Anna... soooo cute!

This layout was published in Spain a few months ago... I'm just now allowed to post it on my blog...

Sorry, you only get a teaser of this layout using the new "Brass Knuckles" line by Rusty Pickle... it has already been picked up for publication... (Woo Hoo!)

The Tour of California ROCKED Escondido!!!

WOW, what a weekend! We have been looking forward to the Tour of California to come to Escondido for MONTHS! And knowing we were going to party like rock stars in the VIP tent... ahhhhh... we couldn't WAIT! Sunday was AMAZING! Our day began at 9AM at the start line in Rancho Bernardo... checking out the scene... getting some cow bells, chalk, boomers and posters... checking out the VIP tent. We took Anna with us to the start so she could see what Mommy and Daddy were so excited about... she LOVED it!

After dropping Anna back at home with Jessica, we drove about 2 miles from our house to the finish line. We checked out the cool lifestyle fair and then went to our party... SOOOO COOL! Yeah for 3-time winner of the Tour of California, Levi Leipheimer, and Team Astana, who TOTALLY ROCKED! The rest of the story can be told with pictures... enjoy!
Jeff with Lance's bike... the one that was stolen... it's back!

The next 4 photos are from friend and photographer, Dan Kirksey, taken about 2 blocks from our house. Here are the two stage leaders racing toward the finish.

Nice shot of Tour winner, Levi Leipheimer (3rd from back, in yellow)... Lance is right in front of Levi.

Cool shot of the peleton riding on the streets in our neighborhood and all the support vehicles right behind the riders.

Woo Hoo!! Going to our party... :-)

Jeff was drinking red wine while I was enjoying some cold beer. We noshed all afternoon on appetizers, fruit and cheese. They served warm cookies after the race.

That is me (with my back to the camera)... live race feed and stats in the tent, nice company... a great afternoon!

THE FINISH! Top right is the stage winner.

The overall jersey winners.

ROCKING Team Astana! There's Lance, right in the middle.

... and the traditional explosion and spray of champagne.

(again, Lance in the middle.)

Hope DOES ride again, Sweetheart! Can't wait to watch you ride your next century in about 2 months! Thank you for sharing this AMAZING day with me, Sweetheart! I love you!

Last game of the Regular Season - OGHS Varsity Basketball

Oceanside, you can try to swat Chris while he is shooting 3's,

but it won't work... :-)

Last night was the final game of the regular basketball season for our Varsity OGHS Patriots. As I am typing this, we are waiting to find out if we qualified for CIF Playoffs... enjoy these shots of the game and Anna being... well... Anna... :-)

What else do 4-year old cheerleaders do at a game...?

They break out the dolls!

Peyton and Anna... yeah, they are just toooooo cute!

I LOVE this picture of Dor... with the little cheerleaders in the welcome line with the big cheerleaders in the background... SO CUTE!

Come on, Chris, rain some points for OGHS!!!

The big cheerleaders preparing to perform at halftime...

... and the little cheerleaders (and Peyton) getting ready to perform from the sidelines...

Anna doing one of her favorite cheers for the crowd.

Oh, the attitude already... Lord help us... :-)