40 Tips for a Better Life - 2009

1. Take a 10-30 minute walk every day. And while you walk, smile. It is the ultimate anti-depressant.

2. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.

3. Buy a DVR and tape your late night shows and get more sleep.

4. When you wake up in the morning complete the following statement, 'My purpose is to __________ today.'

5. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.

6. Play more games and read more books than you did in 2008.

7. Make time to practice meditation and prayer. They provide us with daily fuel for our busy lives.

8. Spend time with people over the age of 70 and under the age of six.

9. Dream more while you are awake.

10. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants. Eat less food that is manufactured in plants.

11. Drink green tea and plenty of water. Eat blueberries, wild Alaskan salmon, broccoli, almonds & walnuts.

12. Try to make at least three people smile each day.

13. Clear clutter from your house, your car, your desk and let new and flowing energy into your life.

14. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip, or issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.

15. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime .

16. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out charge card.

17. Smile and laugh more. It will keep the NEGATIVE BLUES away.

18. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

20. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

21. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

22. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.

23. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

24. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

25. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years, will this matter?'

26. Forgive everyone for everything.

27. What other people think of you is none of your business.

28. REMEMBER GOD heals everything.

29. However good or bad a situation is, it will change

30. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

31. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

32. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

33. The best is yet to come.

34. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

35. Do the right thing!

36. Call your family often. (Or email them to death!!!)

37. Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements: I am thankful for __________. Today I accomplished _________.

38. Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.

39. Enjoy the ride. Remember this is not Disney World and you certainly don't want a fast pass. You only have one ride through life, so make the most of it and enjoy the ride.

40. Give a hug a day.

May your troubles be less,
May your blessings be more,
May nothing but happiness come through your door!

Looking back at 2008

Today I thought I'd take a look back at what 2008 was like and look forward to 2009.



I worked out with Billy Blanks







I went to my first Drag Queen show at the "Baton Club" in Chicago. Thought I'd share this picture, Jen looks so tiny next to this performer.







I walked 60 miles for Breast Cancer.

I went Skydiving.

And I got a promotion "Lead Financial Analyst"!!

My son graduated 8th grade in June and started High School in the Fall. He made his High School soccer team.

What a great year, to look back at. Next year I plan on participating in an Adventure Race in Philly, go Skydiving in April, "NOT" walk the three day, possibly travel to Europe, save for 2010 trip to South Africa FIFA world cup, take a short vacation somewhere sunny with my son... Oh yeah and lose weight :o)

Have a Wonderful and Safe New Year!!!!

FELIZ NAVIDAD!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas. May you be filled with happiness, joy and wonderful memories of those lost. May you get everything your heart desires.

This year was a really tough, many people experiencing financial hardships, especially my own. The most important thing during the holidays is the gift of family and being able to spend that time with them, enjoy eachother's company and eat a lot of food :o)

Have a wonderful and Safe Christmas! - Cyndi

Finally

Hey all - I have all these pictures to share with you, but I haven't had the opportunity to download them. December sure has been a busy month for me. I have not done one lick of Christmas shopping. I'm hoping to get that done in the next three days. Today I'm getting a ROOT CANAL done. I'm really, really nervous I had a HORRIBLE experience when I got a cavity filled a few years ago, I never went back to the dentist. So wish me luck.

I finally finished all 4 books of the Twilight series. I have to say once I got to book # 3 I was pretty sick and tired of BELLA the main character. I do realize that these books are young reader books. And that's probably why I can't relate to her. By book #3, she really just needs to make up her mind. I called my sister yelling, like seriously I'm too old for this stuff. But then I can totally understand if I was 14 reading this book. Those were the days!!! LOL My sister assured me that #4 would be the BEST and I shouldn't give up just yet. #4 was definitely a good read, I won't go into the details because I know some of my readers have not gone there yet. But read it, it's good.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas. - Cyndi

Twilight

Still no cards to show everyone, work has kept me pretty busy and I've been really under the weather. So I thought I'd talk about the Twilight book series. I wanted to read the books to find out what all the hype was about. And I have to say that I love it. I read the first book, "Twilight" in less than 2 days, I know I'm crazy. I totally get addicted to reading a good book. Like I can't function as a normal human being. When it's a good book I have to finish it in 2-3 days no ifs, and or buts. I just started on the second book "New Moon". If you haven't read the series, now is your time to leave. :o)

Here are my two cents:

I'm a little disappointed, I've just started reading "New Moon", a few days ago. I'm at the part where Jacob has just fixed the motorcycles. And I'm extremely sad. I miss Edward. I know this is a young authors book, but you totally get addicted. When is Edward coming back? I don't want her to forget him.

My sister read all the books, she recommended the read. She keeps telling me that she really likes Jacob and he's good for her. I'm always the one wanting the bad guy.. I know, I thought I grew out of that!!! LOL Apparently not! I can't get over Edward and I'm so upset that she is hanging out with Jacob.

Well chicas! I just thought I'd give my input. Can't wait to finish. I know Edward will come back, I mean they made a movie out of it and he's one of the main characters.. Duh......

Business Trip

No cards to share with you. I've been out on business. But I have a very funny story to share with you guys.

On Monday afternoon I traveled down to to Columbus, Ohio on business. Flights were a little delayed, but not too bad. We'll I guess we were the last flight to Columbus that left at a decent time. Kristi, Jeannie and I traveled together. When we arrived at the Columbus airport, we picked up our luggage and we were going to catch a cab. We saw a pair of escalators that would take us there, this picture does not do the escalators any mercy, they were huge. Any how Kristi had commented on being scared of escalators and how she imagine them being these huge teeth. She's so tiny, they probaby could eat her up. So me, "Funny Gal", did the reinactment of Will Ferrel in the movie "ELF". Literaly all spread eagel with my hands cringing the side handles. There were two pairs of escalators both going down. Jeannie got on the one next to use. Kristi was in front of me and I was Will Ferrel. We were cracking up and not paying attention to the commotion going on below us. Man if we only had a camera!!!

So all of a sudden Kristi turns back around going the correct way and sees this guy with his eyes bulging telling us to turn around and start climbing the stairs backwards. Kids LOVE to do that, but not me. So this guy is yelling climb, climb. Then we realized as we looked at the bottom of the escalator that a poor little old man had fallen and created this pile of people at the bottom of the escalator. So here's me.... Climbing the "MOVING" escalator backwards, trying to juggle my suitcase which is heavy and huge. Kristi is "Yelling" at me like Jillian from the "Biggest Loser", go faster, your too slow, move it, we need to go faster!!!!!!!! Remember Kristi is scared of escalators. The guy behind Kristi was yelling at both of us telling us to go faster. So I yelled, "THIS IS NOT THE BIGGEST LOSER", the program had a competition on climbing escalators (do you remember that)... and he looked up at me and told me "NOW IT IS"!!! LOL. Finally I see a clearance and I stopped, I couldn't anymore. I think I lasted all about, hmmmmmm less than 5 minutes. Kristi stumbled, to try and not hit the man, that NO ONE had picked up off the floor yet. OMG, only if we had a camera. I think we realized that there is an "EMERGENCY BUTTON" at the bottom of the escalators the next evening on our way home! OMG. That was the funniest thing ever! I felt bad for the little old man, which I helped off the floor and we (Kristi, Jeannie and I) help him and his wife with their luggage. But the whole escalator climb, was hilarious... I just wish I had a camera.

Christmas Card Making

Yesterday a few of us got together and made our Holiday Cards. It was so much fun to have my family over. Lot's of food, wine, beer and LAUGHTER! We had a "Virgin" card maker, my brothers girlfriend, Claudia. She made 3 cards and got really addicted. That's her pictured to the right. She kept saying she was done after her first card and my sister would egg her on to make another and another.

Pictured to the left is my sister Marisol, giving you all the peace sign. She always loves to make her cards using non-traditional colors. She used a stamp set by CTMH. Cute!

Izzy made the card on your right. She didn't want to take a picture with her card. She's pictured in the background with the orange shirt, but you can't see her and I promised I would not take a picture. We also managed to capture a little bit of the Modelo Beer we were drinking too. Very good Mexican beer, hee,hee. She made this beautiful Angel. A discountinued set by Stampin' Up.

And my card. Not pictured either, I looked horrible. I don't know where this image came from. I've been looking for this cute little snowman.. FOREVER!!! So if anyone knows, please, please share. I was in a holiday swap over at "Splitcoaststampers", I received a bunch of stamped images. This is one of the many cards I made, I will be sharing the rest in the next couple of days.

My mom also made a few cards, but she sealed them before I can take pictures.

Enjoy! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with their families. - Cyndi

My Sister Mari

Hey everyone, my sister Marisol has finally made her own blog site. She is very creative, and I love her work. So go on over and welcome her to a new world of blogging.

I just got back from a wonderful weekend of cropping with friends out in Tipton, Indiana. I made 23 pages, not nearly as much as all the girls. I think someone made over 60 pages. I stood up til' 5:00a.m. every night and only had about 4 hours of sleep. It was so much fun! I don't think I'm creative enough to make that many pages, it takes me like an hour to make one. I'll be sharing those pages soon. But in the meantime. I made this card for Veterans day for a friends husband. Not sure if it's gotten to it's destination, so I won't name any names. Enjoy!

Las "Chicas" Sexy

Sorry, today I have no cards to share with you. This weekend we Melissa and I went with Kristi to run the Indianapolis Monumental marathon. This is Kristi's third marathon in less than a year. This was my very first marathon experience. It was awesome and tiredsome :o) I know I didn't have to do the running, but being a spectator is a lot of work. Melissa and I got a little lost trying to meet Kristi at Mile 9 so we waited a few hours at mile 21. The important thing was that we were, where she needed us to be. We calculated the first runner at a 5:05 pace. Can you believe that! I get tired just thinking about it. It was amazing to see these runners come through with their determination. We cheered for each individual runner that came by...let me tell you ringing the cow bell and yelling... "Great Job", "You can do it", "Your almost there", and "21 down, water around the corner", is exhausting. But I know how the spectators made me feel during the 3 day walk and I WAS NOT GIVING UP ON THEM. Seeing these runners bought tears to my eyes, I was an emotional reck! I'm way to sensitive. :o) Melissa and I attempted to run Kristi in, taking turns jumping in and out of the vehicle and running. But we had just finished a Venti "Hot Chocolate" from starbucks and boy did we feel that. Sorry for giving up Kristi. She's a CHAMPION! And I just wanted everyone to know that I'm so proud or HER and all you RUNNERS! You guys are definitely a different breed. You can read more about her run her site. Just click on her name above or down below.
(Pictured above from the left Melissa, me and Kristi)

"Champions are not made in the gym."
"Champions are made from something they have deep inside them - a desire, a dream, a vision."

- Muhammed Ali

A CHAMPION

Little Tee Swap

It's 11:49p.m. central time. Finally I finished my little tee swap that my friend Gabby is hosting over at splitcoaststampers. I couldn't come up with ideas on what to make. I had the "Hottie" one done several weeks ago for the naughty spot, which is pretty tame. But I couldn't think of anything creative for the other spots (funny and nice). My ideas came to me about 10:30p.m. tonight, it was like a light switch. This stamp set is the Little Tee set created by Melaine Muenchinger. The additional background stamps used where from Rubbernecker and CTMH. More details to come tomorrow. I'm exhausted.
Buenas Noches Amigas!!!

Blog Candy

Donna over at "Serenity in Stamping", has a chance for you to win some blog candy. Just go on over to her wonderful site and leave a comment. You have a chance to win a brand new unmounted SU! set Along the Same Lines, a brand new See-D's Inque Boutique set, Falling For You Sophia by Paper Pretties, a 2x stamper by JustRite, assortment of ribbons, some felt snowflakes, ribbon, embellishments & dp from the current holiday mini.

Good Luck.

Heat is on.

I gave in, I finally turned on my heat. I try to wait til' I absolutely have to turn it on. It's not that I'm cheap, it really is expensive and being a single mom and all, well we have to make some sacrifices. Now, don't think I freeze my butt off, the house is really comfortable. But it's the morning, when you wake up and it's a little chilly. So I've been turning the heat on at night and turning it off in the morning. I wanted to make this warm card using my new stamp set that I just purchased from stampin' up "Harvest home", isn't it a beautiful set. I paper pieced the leaves at each corner. Lots of cutting, but it's so relaxing. I wanted to make sure I stamped the leaves on watercolor paper so I can get that nice fall effect on them.

Cupcake fun.

Yummo! Making cupcake cards makes me hungry for them, and I normally don't have a sweet tooth. I made this fun card for my friend Belinda, I'm a little late in posting the image, since her birthday was in September. :o) We share the same birthday so that makes us twinkies :o) I made this card using the Birthday Cupcake stamp set from Inkadinkado. I paper pieced the foil with DCWV pattern paper as well as just plain grey paper. Enjoy the sweets!

Hola Baby!

I'm always in search for a last minute baby card, and I never, ever have any on hand. So I decided on making a few cards in blue and pink. Here's a little baby boy card using Bashful Blue and Gable green. I've used the "Hello Baby" stamp set from "The Angel Company", and the background paper is from Nana's Nursery baby boy paper package. The pattern paper already comes with glitter so all I had to do was cut the right size for the card. The scallop circle was cut out using my Spellbinders nestabilities scallop template. I love these templates, if you don't have them, GET IT! I use mine on my cuttlebug. They are so easy to use and affordable.

I'm back

My blog has been pretty sad lately. I had a huge mess to deal with at home. My son's XBOX live account got Hacked into! They stole my credit card information and charged away, so I've just been in a depressed/sad/angry/violated mood. On top of that, they sent a trojan (Virus, ladies) to his laptop and completely wiped it out. So, finally I think our lives will get back to normal. My advice to all the mom's with kids that have XBOX live accounts, DO NOT leave your credit card as a main account. Change it to a visa gift card or something else. Take my word. So onto some cards I've been making while my PC has been down. I hope you enjoy them all, because there are a few to go around :o)

This fun little guy is from Inkadinkado, I purchased him at a Stamp convention recently, I've had tons of fun with him. I created the background images using the cactus stamp from the same set. I used my watercolor pencils as well as copic markers to color images.

I received these two cards in the mail from my sister Marisol. Aren't they cute!!! She made these matching cards for Louie and I. I've never received a card in the mail for Halloween, it was so much fun opening them. Louie had a kick out of it. The stamps set she used was from stampin' up. I just love the versatility in the skull. Thanks Mari! :o)

So, Mari inspired me to make a Halloween card myself. I used the Monster Party stamp set from Storage Units, Ink & More .

Hope you enjoyed this post. More cards to come.

Cyndi

Sunshine on a cloudy day!

What a miserable day today. Rainy, cloudy and chilly. Only 3 more months left for the year to end. Where did the time go? Are you feeling the same way? I feel like I slept through this whole year. But I can't complain, I had a wonderful time this summer and gosh I love the fall. I've decided to pull out my stamped images of "By the seashore" from stampin' up, I know, I use it often. But I love it so much.

The card up above, will be sent to some lucky person that needs some cheering up. I love just making random cards I can send to folks. It's always great getting unexpected mail. The card off to the side I made and guess what, my son was looking for a birthday card to give me and he came into my craft room and took this one. LOL. So I got this for my birthday, which I created, but my wonderful son personalized it on the inside. I hope you all enjoy!

1st time JUMPER! Free Fallin.

And I'm free, free fallin

Yeah I'm free, free fallin

*Chorus to Tom Petty, Free Fallin'*

Back at home, computer up and running. It was the best experience of my life. The picture I share with you guys was taken at about 14,000 feet up, free falling at 126 miles per hour. I was the first in my group to jump out of the plane. A big thank you to my instructor JOEL and my video chica JENNY! You guys ROCKED, thank you for this wonderful experience.

The people at SKY DIVE CHICAGO were amazing, everyone was so friendly and free spirited! Loved them all. Also a big thank you to Kristi, Mel and Chris, thank you girls for sharing this experience with me.

I did it!

I went Sky Diving and I'm alive. Pictures to come. It was the best experience of my life. I'm ready to go again, anyone interested? Just thought I'd leave a comment that I was alive. I'll come back and post later.

Going Sky Diving & World Alzheimer's Day

"I went sky diving, I went rocky mountain climbing,"I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu."And I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter,"And I gave forgiveness I'd been denying."An' he said: "Some day, I hope you get the chance,"To live like you were dyin'."

I thought I'd start off with the chorus of I believe it's "Live like you were dying" by Tim McGraw.

I'm going "SKY DIVING", yes me. This Friday for my Birthday. Thanks to some friends at work that are joining me. I can't believe it, I'm actually gonna go through with it.

This year I've walked 60 miles for breast cancer, something I thought I could never accomplish. I know many people think, but you only walk. Let me tell you, when you walked 20 with blisters it's no fun. Then to wake up the next morning and walk another 20 and know you still have to do it another day. Well that's a HUGE challenge. So that for me was a Huge accomplishment. But now.. I'm going Sky diving!!! I'll have completed 2 out of the 4 things I wanted to do in this life time.

I'm really excited and very nervous. I've been looking at videos on youtube and it's making me even more nervous. My friends are all fine, no worries what so ever. And here I am, sweaty palms and jittery. LOL.

I haven't been able to upload a card, but I have many too share. I'm having issues with my computer. I'm on my son's laptop, I should have my PC up and running on Friday.

ONTO, the Blog Candy at Carolyn's site.

In celebration of World Alzheimers day. Carolyn is sharing with all of us a HUGE, HUGE blog candy. I'll be sending some cards I made to the staff at Artman home. Alzheimer's run's in my family. I remember when I was a little girl and had to help my grandma, that was a really hard time. I love my grandma Feliz. May god rest her soul.

So go and visit Cammie's site here http://myblogbycammie.blogspot.com/ for your chance to win over $1,000 in products. What a great cause to make someone's day by sending them a wonderful card. They deserve that and much more. Thanks Cammie for setting this up.

Fall is near

Fall is near. YES!!! I love this weather. It feels so great to wake up to nice crisp sheets, Don't you think? You poke one foot out of bed and bring it back in, because it's just to chilly to get up. Or simply walking out of the house and wearing a light coat. Fall colors, fall clothing...

Gosh, I love the Midwest. Well, at least this time of the year.

Today I was inspired by the weather to make a fall card. My camera was acting a little funny, so the picture is not as clear.

Enjoy and have a wonderful night.

Recipe

Stamps: Pumpkin/Stamp paper inspiration and Thoroughly thankful/SU

Paper: Topiary textured/CTMH, certainly celery/SU and close to cocoa/SU

Ribbon: American crafts

Color: Staedtler color pencils and grey flannel/CTMH

Busy bee.

Lately I've been on a scrapbook frenzy. I've learned to organize my pictures, pattern paper and embellishments in separate folders, so that when I have time, I can easily make a page.

Cool Louie is my theme. One "HOT" Summer day my son kept asking if he could get wet. I had stated that I would be right out to turn on the sprinkler. BTW, this was before we had a pool. I went in to get some sandwiches and came back out to find him in the cooler. He made his own swimming pool.



I don't have many cards to share with you. I made this very simple card. Previously stamped image, not sure what set was used.


If you'd like to know the recipe, I can find out. I know I said I'd get better at writing the recipe and I swear I will, when I become less busy. These days I stamp and run.









I've been busy with work and my son. He made his High School soccer team which was really EXCITING!!! and STRESSFUL". Tryouts had been a horrible week, waiting for the cuts. BUT he made it. He is officially a Soccer High School Player. He is #25!!

My nominations for "Brillante Weblog"

This was harder than I thought, I have so many different sites I love to visit. Or that I'm addicted too. I'm going to try my best to give some awards to folks that might've not received them in the past.

1. Bec - I live vicariously through you. I love the way you write, makes me feel like I'm actually participating. I'm so proud of you for all your accomplishments. Anyone that reads her site will get completely hooked.

2. Kristi - Another marathon runner like Rebecca. She inspires me. She doesn't update her site much, but her current stories are wonderful. Her marathon stories are hilarious.

3. Mel - Because you were my partner in crime at the 3Day. If you want to read our 60 mile adventure, she has it.

Now onto my stampin friends.

4. Gabby - Another spicy stampin Latina. :o) Her web blog is fun, fun. I love the stamp sets she uses.

5. Charmaine - Inspiration at it's best. Very clean and beautiful cards. I honestly think I need to see her blog once a day. It's like my Happy pill.

6. Melanie - You have to check out her ideas on the Little T set she created. Love it!! If you haven't purchased the set, you should.

and Finally...

7. Taylor - Cute, fun, colorful, tasteful. Love all her cards. She's an amazing stamper. She takes the icing off the cupcake :o)

The rules, if you want to play:
1) Add the logo of the award to your blog
2) Add a link to the person who awarded it to you
3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs
4) Add links to those blogs on your blog
5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs

CONGRATS CHICAS!!!!

Thanks Sandi.

I've been nominated for the "Brillante Weblog". What an honor to get a premio, thank you Sandi Brown for nominating me, it was totally unexpected. I always think no one is really reading, then I get this wonderful award. I can't wait to choose my lucky 7 bloggers. Will be posting soon.

I've finally got around to stampin'. I had stamped and watercolored this image some time ago. I really enjoy the simplicity of this stamp set, you can use it for just about any occasion. I only wish I had this very old stamp set by stampin up. But I guess I can always stamp more images if needed. The pattern paper shown is from CTMH.

Hope you all had a wonderful Tuesday!!

Showered with gifts.

My sister Marisol made me this wonderful believe card. Isn't it precious. Inside the card the both stated how proud they were and it just bought massive tears to my eyes. They got me a pink plastic carry tote for scrapbooking, a 6x6 pink album, pink glitter, pink embelishments, pink glittered stickers, a pink candle and pink ribbons. They also got me a gift certificate for a full body massage, which I've already used.. IT Was WONDERFUL and the best gift of all was the fluffy house slippers I stuffed my feet in after the walk. My friend Jennifer got me a dozen pink roses and lasted almost 2 weeks they smelled wonderful and looked beautiful and she got me some fluffy soxs which I used when I got home. The I got to work and my friend Linda got me lotion for my feet and some foot soaking salt and fluffy soxs. IT WAS THE BEST!!! Thank you to all for the wonderful gifts.

3 Day Card Care Package

Alright.. Onto stamping, no more foot pictures.. PROMISE!! Sorry if you were disgusted. I wrote in my previous blog about some wonderful cards that my BFF Belinda made for me. Each card had a special message and instructions on when I needed to open them.. The first card she made me was the priceless card and that I opened on Friday before the walk started.









The second card I opened on Friday night after all the wonderul blisters appeared and boy did I need a pick me up card. This believe card was just what I needed.









Card number 3, Hang in There!!! I opened this card on Saturday night. Each night I was exhausted and right after dinner the first thing that I would think about was opening up Belinda's card and seeing her message that evening. Just one more day that's all I kept telling myself. Just 20 more miles and I'll be home.






So here is the final card that I opened on my way
home, the "Cheer's Card". I had to open it almost
immediately, I was in the car and just needed to
see the final message. Because I did it! "BLISTER'S DON'T NEED CHEMO" and that my friends got me through each day.

Special thank you to Belinda for being a great friend.

3rd and final Day.

We woke up at 4:00a.m. in hopes to get going by 5:00a.m. We needed to take down our tent and repack it, they (3Day) donate the tents to the Girl Scouts. So we made it down to breakfast about 5:30a.m. and onto the loading buses that got us down by Lake Michigan. All I kept thinking was I only have 20 miles to go and tomorrow I can sleep in as much as I wanted too. Today Melissa was having a hard time, we kept pushing eachother to finish. I pretty much ignored the pain, because I knew that it would be over. No more waking up to do 20 miles. Thank goodness. The volunteers along the street were just wonderful people, every stop we made Mel would hug all the people. I'm a hugger, but I just couldn't do it. I was pooped. About 2 miles from lunch I got my "Comadre" and boy was that unexpected, I was so upset, first the blisters and now this. Oh geez. At lunch time I was going to see the medics, but the line was so long I decided just to forget it. This is when all the fun stuff starts. I became delirious.. well actually we both did. We started playing mind games and started power walking with like 10 miles to go :o) Melissa was screaming all the way down Michigan avenue asking for High Fives and I was chanting and making everyone cheer.. LOL... Did I say we were DELIRIOUS!!! Well let me tell you, you can't imagine how bad it got. I was leaving all the girls behind, by the time we got to the "Cheesecake Factory" at the watertower. I was like faster than all the skinny chicks, they couldn't even keep up. I just wanted to finish and I just needed to go faster and faster. If you've seen the Olympics, I was one of those Speed Walkers, yes ME!! My BFF Jennifer surprised me on Michigan and like Jackson, I couldn't stop screaming with excitement, but I also couldn't stop walking . We rested at our last and final pit stop with only 1 mile to go. I didn't want to sit because my blisters were killing me, I just wanted to keep going, but I decided to sit for a minute and that was my worst mistake. I could hardly get up. After that I think I started walking like a turtle, nice and slow. We finally made it to the finish line and there were ton of people cheering us on. I had my name on my shirt and people were screaming "Good job, Cyndi", I couldn't stop crying. It was definitely the best and worst experience of my life. I might do it again :o)

Mari, Izzy, Jennifer and my son Louie were all there for me at the end. With the final walk I heard my sister call my name and I started screaming hers but I couldn't see her and in the sea of all these people I saw my son and he was like my sun on a cloudy day. The closing ceremonies were beautiful, very emotional and inspirational. We all took off our shoes in respect to all the women and men lost to breast cancer.

The picture you see adjacent are of my feet. Swollen, bruised and blistered. You really can't see a good picture. But I had 6 toes... my pinkie had an attachement. I would show you that picture, but it's pretty disgusting.

I hope that one day, there's a cure so that all of our children or theirs would live in a world without breast cancer.

Thank you to all my donors!!!

Day 2

Day 2 started off to a rocky start. That morning I woke up I still had tons of blisters on my heals so I made the mistake and stopped at the medical tent that morning to have them looked at and they stated they needed to lance them. Well that was not good, because the blister was on the lower part of my heal. The medical team asked me to take the bus to the next stop and I refused to do it. Partially because I'm stubborn and the other cuz' I was not giving up. So we went out about a quarter of a mile and I was feeling pretty bad and saw another girl walking back so I decided to walk back with her. I was walking on my tiptoe because I couldn't plant my feet. I was crying all the way back because I felt defeated. So I took a little ride on the bus and met Melissa a few miles down the road. Waiting for the soreness of my heals to go away. I was not giving up that easy. That afternoon we took a little more stops then normal, taking off my shoes and stretching. I had steam come out of my shoe at one point. I was craking up. Melissa was also having a hard time that afternoon, her hips were bothering her and her blisters too, so it took us alot longer to get back. The last couple of miles were on gravel. WHO does that to women that have blisters. That was the longest 2 miles of my LIFE!!! The picture above are from a medical crew that would drive around all day with really loud 80's music, it was so much fun, I think the music would motivate us and keep us going. Getting back to camp was great. We ate first, I finally got a little of my appetite back, then we took a shower and went back to the medical tents to get more blisters lanced. And then went to the main tent were they had a DJ, Mel got on stage and was jacking everyone up... it was great. Yes we had the energy to continue to dance. I was on the ground level and the CHA, CHA slide started to Mel stook on top of the stage the entire time and I taught some girls how to do the slide, it was fun. After we danced a song or two, we went to look at the mail box and I had mail from Melissa's mom and sister. It was the best!! They are so sweet. Also my friend Belinda made me a card package, I had a personal greeting card for each day, I'll share as soon as I take the photos of the cards. I loved reading her messages at night, kept me going.

3 Day Completed!!

What an event. An inspirational, emotionaly event. There are just so many good people in this world. Today is Wednesday and I finally have the strength to talk about the 3 day. I really, really enjoyed it. But I didn't enjoy the blisters during and after the walk. I'm still pretty swollen.. FACE, FEET, LEGS.. You name it. But it's nothing compared to a possible world without breast cancer. 6 MILLION dollars was raised this weekend, can you believe that. The whole experience was wonderful. The crew was amazing, always happy and willing to give you a helping hand.

Day 1 Friday: Woke up at 3:00a.m. we needed to arrive at Northbrook, IL by 5:30a.m. My sister, mom and SIL dropped me off. It was really organized, there were trucks lined up taking your bags. There was probably about 2,500 walkers. The guest speaker was very motivational, I cried the whole entire time. We were (Melissa and I) so excited to start the walk. People were lined up high five'ing us. My sister, mom and SIL met us at the first cheering station and I was so excited to see them. They made us signs. My mom made a cute sign that said, "The Boobies thank you", she had all sorts of women stopping and taking pictures with her and her sign. They also appeared at our second cheering station and boy did I need them at that time, I was so happy to see them, my sister was so proud of me.... I wish I had them at every corner :o) After many hours we arrived at camp. We had to pick up our gear (luggage and tent), we had to put up our 2 dome pink tents, thank gosh we found a nice young man helping because I couldn't walk, my feet were full of blisters and swollen. After our stuff was in our tent we went to dinner, I felt like I was going to pass out. I drank alot of water and gatorade, but I don't think I drank enough. I went to the medical tent but they needed me to shower before they worked on my legs. So I showered in these little showers, no privacy!! :oS

Hitched a ride from a crew member to the medical tent and had my blisters worked on. That was pretty much the end of my evening.

Chicago Breast Cancer 3Day

No card today, just finalizing everything for the Breast Cancer 3Day walk. The day has finally arrived!! Registration is Friday at 5:30a.m. in Northbrook IL, which is a little hike for me (1.5hrs). I haven't had much time to pack. I know I always talk about not having time. But it's just a busy time for me right now.

I'm really, really excited about the walk and very nervous but I've been training, so let's hope that it's payed off.

You can visit my personal website page here and you can also visit the Supporter Guide there will be a live webcam between the hours of 2:00 pm and 9:00 pm on Friday and Saturday during the event..

It's three days of none stop walking. A good friend of mine Melissa is doing the walk with me and our team name is "Chicas 4 Tetas", we've raised a whooping $6,741.07 is that unbelieveable or what. THANK YOU!! to all of you who have donated and made a difference in someone's life.

This is our first 3day, so any, any advice on blisters or walking is much appreciated.

Hip-hippo-ray!

Hello everyone. Today I got to work at 6:15a.m. and left at 5:30p.m., what a day, I could've stay a lot longer, but I was getting a little slap happy. Another long day tomorrow. I'm not really complaining, I actually LOVE my job. And I love, love being challenged every single day. I just don't like not having enough time to stamp, or spend with my son. Sometimes, I wish I was a teacher and had the summers off, but to handle a classroom full of children all day, hmmm that's a challenge. I love kids, but I don't have the patience when they are so many. I give teachers all the praise in the world. THANK YOU!! for doing an excellent job.

So onto card making. I made this card for Selena, she turned 5 a couple of days ago. The inside of the card says "It's your Birthday"!

Hope she had a wonderful birthday.

I couldn't make it to Belinda's house this evening to actually stamp, I had to work a couple of hours today. I did stop by her house to stamp a few images on cardstock, before coming home. Belinda has "A LOT" of stamps, I wish I had half of what she had. But I just can't afford it being a single mom. :o) If I won the lottery, I would buy everything.

I created a few cards knowing the girls had fun today stamping and creating. I thought I'd post them here, so they can see that I was thinking of them, I just couldn't make it. I also got alot of watercoloring done on images that I had stamped. Here's a close up of the images. The stamps sets used were from an old Stampin' Up set and the little old ladies are from Diamond Stamps.

Here is a close up of the cards I created. The card on the left was stamped using CTMH "With love" set, which was June's SOTM; the flowers were glittered with art institute glitter. The card on the right was stamped with My Favorite Things mini set "By the Seashore". This card was my favorite card for the day.

Here is a close up of the final 2 cards I made this evening. The first on the left is from Stamping Bella she is your "Cosmobella", the olives are from Bugawumps set "Olive you". The card on the right is not a stamped image, it's just cut out cardstock and I also used a CB folder for the embossing.

I've been busy tonight :o)

I'm really excited about tomorrow, I'm going down to Chicago to watch a soccer match between Spain(Barcelona) and Mexico(Chivas) I love both teams, they are fantastic. But my heart is and will always be with LAS CHIVAS!! Hope we have wonderful weather.

Simple, yet elegant.

I was challenged by a friend to create a black, red and white card with polka dots. And this is what I came up with. I do hope that I did her idea justice. It's a very simply yet elegant card. Love CB embossing folders, they make your card "POP". I also added a glaze to the rose petals, but you really can't see the effect on here, even if click on the image, it just appears dark.

Today I'm going over to my friend Belinda's house for a creative day. She's my very good friend and my Stampin' Up demonstrator. Can't wait to hang with all the girls and be creative. I'll have to take some photos on what we all come up with. The Lake County Fair in going on this weekend. Rick Springfield and The Plain White T's are coming down to the fair grounds. I missed the Plain White T's yesterday. I just couldn't believe they were here. They also had pig racing yesterday :o) and Izzy's pig won. Congrats Izzy. poink, poink.

Cowgirl Fun

I love my cowgirl. Can you tell I'm from Indiana? Hee,hee. This was a fun little card to make. No real special occasion just wanted to say hello to an old friend and thought what better way to do it then to say it with a card. And she would totally appreciate the "howdy". I really enjoy watercoloring, it's like my zen time. I purchased a few copic markers, but I haven't gotten really into them yet. In the process of learning. I saw a site on coloring without copics on Paper Pleasing ideas site using your own SU or CTMH markers. Check it out it's really cool.

Today was another busy day at the office, so no real time to play with crafts. Maybe tomorrow. Lately my cards have been pretty simple to make. I hope you enjoy. More techniques to come in the coming weeks. My schedule at work won't permit me to really be crafty til' after September 3rd. So stay tuned.

2 cards to different occasions

Yesterday I said to myself, " I don't care how tired I am, I will be creative". I sat for hmmmmmmmm about an hour or so, before I came up with any idea. You'll see that the cards were very simple but yet it took a long time. I'm just not having a creative edge lately. I've been working alot, and some of the numbers come home with me. I dream about numbers, I day dream about numbers.. I almost called my son by his soccer jersey number.. "COME HERE #5". Seriously, I need a vacation in the sun with a nice cool margarita. So I created and I imagined. That's where the drunken bee comes to play. I wish, I wish :o) I purchased this stamp at www. rubbernecker.com they have such cute fun stamps. I stamped the inside of the card with, "Friends don't let friend drink white zen".

Now on to my second card, yes... I made two cards.

But this one is a masculine card, like I've stated in the past,

I don't make many masculine cards. Only birthdays and special occasions. I got this stamp at a convention, and it's so horrible of me, I can't remember where I got it from I thought at first it was from http://www.stampland.com/, but was wrong.. I'll figure it out one day. I'm currently working on 2 belated birthday cards. Lots of birthdays in August. I'll post them, once I'm finished. ENJOY!!