I went to Paper Tales yesterday. It’s a local scrapbook shop. They have some really great stuff there. I had an AmEx gift card that I hadn’t used yet, so I decided to use some of it there. I found some adorable decorative tape on the clearance table (that would be the tapes on the right side of the pic, minus the very bottom one, which I already had).

One thing I love about their shop is they are in our new neighborhood, so I can go any time and just drop in for a few minutes – without having to plan a trip or waste gas. They are very welcoming and friendly. And they have classes just about every week.

In fact, I am thinking about taking one of these classes next week. Specifically, the one about Grace Notes. I got to look at the sample yesterday (but forgot to snap a pic) and it is adorable. There are pics on their site, if you want to see how cute it is. I had thought about that one or the calendar book, but decided I liked the Grace Notes book better. I could use a gratitude journal for sure.

In the past I have bought pre-made journals. And I still have a ton of them, as they’re great for note taking (especially work stuff) and “just” writing to get stuff out of my head (like in The Artist’s Way). But when I want to doodle or do some art to go along with my writing, I am finding that I love making my own books. Even if some of the pages are pre-made (like some scrapbooking papers), there’s something about putting together your own book:

It’s addicting. Especially if you get involved in any of Mary Ann Moss’ online courses. You’ll never look back.

Pretty soon I’ll have a whole stack of my own books to add to the massive stash of pre-bought books I already have. Or maybe I’ll just have to sell some of those. They make great gifts, right?!

Here I am again — I finally remembered to do my review post for 2011. Once again I’m just copying my questions from last year. This retrospective was originally inspired by Linda at Sundry Mourning.

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before? I got paid to be a community manager. I’ve done online community management for, oh, well over 10 years. All that experience got me a job doing it for a paycheck. W00t! And I went to NYC for business (and had to leave the baby for more than 24 hours for the first time). And we took the family along on a biz trip to San Francisco where we made a mini vacation out of it.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Nope.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? My friend Mandy. But I didn’t get to see the baby yet. Soon!

4. Did anyone close to you die? No, fortunately.

5. What countries did you visit? Absolutely none, except in my mind. (same as last year!)

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011? A house. (That hasn’t changed.)

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? My kids’ birthdays are the only thing I can think of. And maybe the day I got laid off.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Surviving unemployment and using my network to find another job, I guess. That and keeping my sanity. Mostly. And managing to move our household while my husband was ill and mostly unable to help.

9. What was your biggest failure? Not having a backup plan in place and getting bills paid off as quickly as possible in case something like a layoff happened – which struck just a month after we moved and more than doubled our rent. Hope to do better this year.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Just my back went out after lugging all of those boxes down 2 flights of stairs. And then back up some stairs into our new place.

11. What was the best thing you bought? I got a laptop really cheap for work stuff and it has worked quite well. Oh, and I got an iPad2 while I was still employed. And an iPhone. But the jury’s still out on whether I like my iPhone better than my old Droid.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? My oldest son. He has worked SO HARD on his speech and has made tremendous progress the last several months.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Celebrities. Politicians. The usual.

14. Where did most of your money go? Paying off debt… and too slowly at that.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Moving out of the old place. I hated that apartment. The parking was horrendous and we got harassed all the time. Our new place isn’t perfect, but we have a garage (to ourselves), dishwasher, and laundry. SO MUCH BETTER.

16. What song will always remind you of 2011? The Dog Days are Over by Florence & the Machine. Because it was everywhere.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

– happier or sadder? happier, mostly.

– thinner or fatter? slightly thinner.

– richer or poorer? maybe a tiny bit richer.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Taken time to go do fun things with my son during the day.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Working my tail off for little return.

20. How did you spend Christmas? We were with family, as always. We weren’t sure we were going to get to go because of the layoff. But things came through at the last minute to make it possible.

21. Did you fall in love in 2011? Yes, more & more with my family.

22. What was your favorite TV program? I think it’s still Castle. But Grimm is giving it a run for the money.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? No, still hating on the same person for, oh, about 8 years now. Some things don’t change.

24. What was the best book you read? I didn’t get to read a whole lot, as usual. I think it was this year, though, that I finally read the Hunger Games trilogy. I enjoyed it.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery? Adele, I guess. And Florence & the Machine. (Yeah, so I’m a little late to things. I don’t get out much.)

26. What did you want and get by year’s end? I got some time off. Like a month and a half. Not exactly what I wanted, but I was very fortunate to get another job with an awesome company.

27. What did you want and not get by year’s end? Out of debt.

28. What was your favorite film of this year? I think I saw one film: The last Harry Potter.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I went to dinner by myself (yes, on purpose). 38.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Being able to buy a house. (Do I sound like a broken record yet?)

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011? Comfy & lazy.

32. What kept you sane? Hubby giving me time to get out of the house & do things by myself. Like go have a leisurely cup of coffee. Or browse the bookstore. Or go do some of my art journaling.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Nathan Fillion from Castle. Love the show & his character.

34. What political issue stirred you the most? I can’t stand politics. Truly.

35. Who did you miss? My mom – I wish we lived closer. And several out of state friends.

36. Who was the best new person you met? I met a lot of cool people through the local moms on FB and Twitter. They are pretty awesome.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011. Put money away while you have it. Because you never know when you won’t. A layoff isn’t the end of the world, even though it sure seems like it at first (during panic mode). And never underestimate the power of networking. Or kindness from the most unlikely of places.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. …I can’t think of anything right now. Didn’t listen to a whole lot of new music, either. The radio station I listen to plays older stuff.

I danced around in the kitchen to Florence & the Machine this morning as I fixed breakfast for me and the boys. For some reason, her music reminds me of my younger, carefree days. The boys just kindof looked at me for a bit, but grinned as I grabbed each of them in turn & danced around.

Those are the types of memories I want them to have. Dancing in the kitchen with mom on a random Monday.

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This morning, both boys slept in (hallelujah, I needed that). They both woke up in good moods and we’ve had a perfectly pleasant morning. I sat down with my scone and favorite Christmas coffee and watched them eat their breakfast. It was a nice respite from all the goings on around here. My older son also ran his trains all over me and gave me a running commentary about them. Not all of it was decipherable, but it was fun nonetheless.

Speaking of the older son, he is slowly starting to talk. He has quite a few words now and is mastering new sounds weekly. Is he caught up with his age group? No. But he’s on his way. I am so proud of how hard he tries. He really loves both of his speech therapists and actually wants to go. That is such a change from where we were previously (I need to write something about that). So thankful that we found something that is working. For a long time I really wasn’t sure we would.

The littlest one is growing like crazy. But he’s pretty small for his age. He’s just now reaching the upper limit of his infant car seat (at one year old), while his brother was out of it by around 7 or 8 months at the latest. But that’s okay. He’s doing well and he’s super-easy to haul around, which is good because he demands to be picked up ALL THE TIME. He’s got a temper, that one. Throws a fit when you set him down. But if you can get him interested in a toy, he’s fine. Ah, the art of distraction. Well, sometimes. Other times he will NOT be deterred. My husband swears that comes from my side of the family. As if.

I’ve been pretty silent around these parts. I know. We’ve had a lot going on and I just haven’t wanted to talk a lot about it. We moved within the same town to be closer to hubby’s work. We were handling the move ourselves and had a lot of trouble getting any help to move stuff. In the midst of that, hubby had some health issues that made it even more difficult for us to do it ourselves. He literally could not help carry things up and down the stairs (2 flights – ugh). So while we had a whole month to move, we barely made it out. We had planned to purge a bunch of stuff but didn’t get the opportunity.

And the next month after we moved (and MORE than doubled our rent, BTW) I lost my job. The Friday before Thanksgiving. The holidays have been a little tough around here. We always go to see my parents during Christmas. They only get to see the kids about once a year and with the baby just turning one I was seriously bummed that they wouldn’t get to see them. Just no money to do so. We’ll be lucky for my unemployment to cover COBRA (don’t get me started on that rant). Or rent. But certainly not both. I need something ASAP. And I have been pounding the virtual pavement nonstop. Job hunting during the holidays is super tough. Ugh, again.

But we’ve had an offer to help us make the trip and we’re considering doing it. I feel very strongly that the kids should see their grandparents. If we could afford it, it would be several times a year instead of just one. But they are so small and grow so fast that I absolutely want their grandparents to get to see them. So we’re going to see if we can make that happen. And hope it works out. As much as I love it here, I miss my family terribly. And wish we could live in two places at once. I have better job prospects out here, but it’s cheaper out there. The weather is fabulous out here, but my family is back there. It’s a no-win in so many ways.

In spite of all that, I am trying really hard to be optimistic, which is tough because it totally goes against my nature. I’m a worrier. I have tried to change that over the years and it’s really tough to do that when it pretty much denies who you are. But I am trying. The job market isn’t easy and it certainly makes it harder when you never hear back from anyone past the “we got your application” email. I know we’re all busy, but letting people know a position has been filled would be nice. Just saying.

So that’s what is going on. Fall has not been easy for us here. Let’s hope the new year shows a lot more promise.

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I am trying to practice a little more gratitude today. There have been a lot of things going on in our lives recently. So much change. It’s a little overwhelming. Family, health, jobs. I can’t imagine what the future holds right now and it’s a little scary out there.

In spite of all that, though, I am grateful for what we do have. A wonderful, supportive network of friends and family (even though most of them didn’t help us move. AHEM.). Fantastic kids: even as they drive us crazy, they are the most wonderful thing to happen to us. (And dang, our kids are FUNNY, y’all.) Great family: even as our holiday plans change unexpectedly, they worry about us and want to help. We lucked into having an awesome family, for which I am truly, truly thankful.

My sons just had birthdays, turning 4 and 1. The time goes so fast! I love those little boogers to death. I am honored to be their mom. My husband is pretty awesome, too, but don’t tell him I said that. Between his crazy kids and crazy wife, he is either crazy himself or a very, very patient man. Love you, hon.

I hope you get the time to enjoy your family and think upon all you DO have, rather than what you don’t. Happy Thanksgiving.

As you may have noticed, I have absolutely and completely lost my blogging mojo. You know what happens when you work online all day? You really don’t want to be on the computer at night. Not with two little ones tugging at you to sit on your lap.

The last few months have been busy with a move, job stuff, family health stuff. The usual. I do have some things I want to share with you, though, so I’ll try – ONCE AGAIN – to come back and let you know what’s been happening.

Next week, my oldest boy will be FOUR. And the little one will be ONE. And then it’s Thanksgiving. I swear, where did the year go? The holidays are upon us and I barely got to enjoy the summer! But I am looking forward to seeing family during the holidays, even if I don’t get to take any time off this year (that’s a whole other story, btw).

I also haven’t gotten around to everyone’s blogs like I used to. Terrible bloggy friend, I am. What’s new with you? I miss this space.

As y’all might have heard, there was a teeny-tiny women’s blogging conference this past weekend in San Diego. You know, just 3000 or so of the most amazing, dedicated, accepting, collaborative, FUN women you’ve ever met. The typical weekend.

I think just about everyone else I know has already written their BlogHer11 recaps. That’s okay, I’m always late with these things. And I prefer to mull and chew on things a bit. I’m hoping to do a little now and some more in-depth stuff later.

I was terribly excited last August when I heard that BlogHer ‘11 was going to be in San Diego. I had missed ‘10 due to my pregnancy and the expense of traveling to NYC. It’s the first one that I’ve missed since 2006, so I wasn’t about to miss a second.

Sometimes I go into things like this with a little trepidation. I always get nervous in new situations. The unknown. But since I’ve been to the convention center so many times, and BlogHer so many times, I knew where I was going. And I already knew a bunch of people–both locally and those traveling–who were coming to the conference. I was super relaxed and ready to just go with the flow. I think it made for a much more enjoyable experience.

So unlike a lot of people who worried about what they’d wear, where they’d go and what they’d see, I was chill. For once. Whether I ran around with a bunch of friends or just went to sessions on my own, it was all good. I would have been happy either way. As it turns out, though, my friend Peggy was new to the conference and I wanted to make sure she was set up. So we wound up spending a lot of time together. And it was a blast. (I may have just found a new partner in crime. Watch out, y’all.)

I went to some panels, went to some sponsor suites, hung out on the Expo floor. Hopefully I made some new connections and I definitely ran into some old friends. I honestly don’t think I can fit it all into one post. I’d like to talk about some individual companies that I saw on the floor, some of the products we got or saw demoed, and how everything is working now that we’re back home. I always have good intentions, though, so we’ll see.

I will tell you that I took the clothes I took — they were what they were. Not sponsored. Not fancy. Jeans and t-shirts. I wore a dress to one party and jeans with a nice top at a different party. That’s it. No one shunned me or made fun of me (that I know of). But I’ve *never* been a fashionista, so there’s no pressure there. Ha! (Although I did stop at the Dr. Scholl’s booth before one of the parties and got some inserts for high heels and they made a huge difference. They also gave me some ballet flats that fold up in your purse and I put those suckers on later that night. Everyone should have a pair. Really.)

The sessions I went to? Really enjoyable. There wasn’t enough time to go to everything I wanted, especially when you are still breastfeeding an 8 month old baby. I ran back to the hotel quite a few times to get in a feeding.

What’s really cool, though, is that ALL of the sessions recaps are on the BlogHer site. So although I didn’t get to attend everything, I can go back and read the transcripts. And that, my friends, is awesome.

And drama? There wasn’t any. Unless you count that Mommy Needs Coffee chick getting all up in my face. Something about trying to throw me into a hot tub. And (re)starting a tradition or something. I have NO idea what that’s about.

What was your favorite part? What would you do differently? Are you going to BlogHer12 in NYC?

(PS – buy your tix before 8/31 and use the code AugustHoliday for 20% off. Cheapest price you’ll get!)

Over six months ago, HealthNet lost some hard drives. Well, IBM lost them, but they were HealthNet drives. As in, physically cannot find them, not “lost” as in crashed. And guess what? They had personal info on them! And guess what else? I JUST GOT A LETTER FROM THEM.

HealthNet was notified in January of a potential problem, yet I didn’t get a letter until early August (dated late July, though). Do you know how much damage someone could cause in six months? Yeah.

So while I’m grateful they have set me up with two years of free identity protection, it’s entirely possible that any damage that could be done already has been done.

Now tell me, why in the world do companies wait so long to send out notices?

PS) Stuff like this is why I haven’t written a BlogHer recap, although the rest of the internet apparently has. It’s coming. I think.

I have been going to BlogHer con since 2006, one year after it started. (I missed last year and let me tell you, I was seriously bummed about that.) I have made many friends, gotten business, and so much more from this conference. It holds a special place in my heart.

So the fact that it’s in my back yard this year? Meant there was no way I was going to miss it this time. With less than a week to go, the buzz is growing from the 3000 attendees. As is my excitement.

At this point, BlogHer is almost like a family reunion for me. I get to see a bunch of amazing women all in one place, hugging and squeeing all weekend long. It’s going to be one big love-fest for me.

And to top that off, a good number of San Diego women will descend on the conference. Women I know and love.

It’s going to be awesome.

So get ready for next week, as I’ll probably be blogging some of the sessions I go to, either during or afterward (not sure yet). Maybe that’ll help me get back in the groove.

Are you going? What are you most looking forward to? Have any questions for an old timer?

Yeah, you know the one.

“I’m not dead yet.”

Really I’m not. If you’re on FB or Twitter, you probably know that. So why is it so hard to sit down here and write? It’s actually because I feel like I have so much to say that I don’t even know where to begin.

My boys are growing like crazy. The littlest is already SEVEN MONTHS old. Both are total sweethearts. Although the oldest is pushing his luck. Hello, three! Don’t let the door hit you on the way out!

I want to leave love letters to my children. I want to talk about how hard it is to work full time from home while having the kids with you AND still freelancing. And trying to keep your sanity.

So maybe I’ve given up on that sanity bit.

Because see how scattered I am? This is my brain right now. I can rarely finish a thought without stopping and trying to remember what it was I meant to say.

Where was I?

I haven’t given up completely. Not yet, anyway. I’d like to get back to posting more than once a month. Best intentions and all that.