Oh the Cuteness!

Instead of my usual Fancy Friday post, I wanted to take a moment to talk about a special lady. My grandma Gloria passed away last Friday, so needless to say I was in no mood to get fancy or do a photo shoot. She was 91 years old and had a stroke a couple months back that left her mostly paralyzed, and she had another a few days before she passed away that left her in a coma till the end. She was a very special lady and will be sorely missed by everyone who knew her. Almost two years ago we all got together to celebrate her 90th birthday party in southern California and it was a wonderful event, and I'm so very glad I took the time to travel there as it was the last time I saw her. A lot of people in my family say I take after her and I like to think it's true. I don't know if she ever knew it, but having people tell me that I was most like her out of all the kids and grandkids was always a major point of pride for me. She was always so positive, sharp as a tack, and sw...

One of the things I truly love about Dennis is his willingness to share in my hobbies. We used to craft together a lot more before he got so into Magic the Gathering , which I personally think is an awesome hobby and I'm glad he's doing so well at it. I've chronicled some of our crafty exploits here , here , here , here , and here . Yup, that's a lot of cutesy-pootsy crafting together. But all those posts are a little old, and when I mentioned to him how much I missed doing art with him he told me I should bust out the Hama Beads (also known as Perler Beads and fuse beads), so we could work on something together. Oh Dennis, you are awesome! For those of you who didn't have the pleasure of playing with these beautiful little choking hazards as children, they're basically little plastic beads that you arrange on a pegboard and then melt them together with an iron. My generation seems to have a penchant for taking these nostalgic goodies and crafting great...

 As Valentine's Day approaches I've been getting a hankering to bake cute sweets and make nice things. I know a lot of people out there aren't really into V-Day, but I think it's a sweet holiday. The historical background is very romantic, and in modern times I see it as a nice way to spoil the person you love for no reason. Dennis and I usually keep it low-key and as of right now we don't even have any concrete plans but I know it will be a nice day all the same. I've been feeling kind of nostalgic lately, as I usually do during the first few months of a new year - I go through old stuff and get rid of things without sentimental value, and rediscover those items that do hold meaning in the process. I've been starting to post old pictures of me and my friends from high school on my Facebook account and everyone is loving it! That inspired me to pick up my scrapbooking endeavors: I have two other two-page layouts of stuff Dennis and I have done that I...

... And we're back on track! We got back from Portland the day before New Year's Eve and my sister came into town about an hour behind us so I got to spend the New Year with her! We went to a party thrown by my friends Vanessa and Glen. Good times: a balloon drop, party poppers, good food and champagne, and pretty people! But sissy made it extra special for me by doing my hair and makeup. For anyone who knows me this is a big deal! Fake eyelashes even, which took some getting used to but were really fun, and I felt very pretty. It was a great start to what is sure to be a very interesting year, but more on that later. Cheers everyone!