Fundraising Update and Shoutouts!

Alexa and I have been fundraising like crazy to make her trip happen as painlessly as possible! Here is an update of what we have been up to:

OCTOBER:

-sold old SU! stamps sets to Pat, Megan, and Barbara (who included an extra $20)

-Sold hair clips to Alexa's friends (thanks Jenaye for the ideas and being so cool about us doing this!)

-Sold hair clips at a McClintock game (thanks Judy)

-Halloween Carnival through city of Tempe Parks and Rec

NOVEMBER:

-$30.00 from Robin and Denice's Pampered Chef Party (thanks Robin!)

-Amazing Amber got $42 in clips, and counting, Thanks!

-Sold clips to Denice, Robin, and Amber for $55 (thanks Denice for the extra 'tip')

-Alexa did a market research study for $75

-Alexa babysitting for Kimberly, who pays really well! Thanks!

-Selling suckers at Tempe Paintball and at New Moon Premier, thanks to my wonderful bosses who let me get them at cost from them!

UPCOMING:

-more suckers to sell

-more hair clips to sell

-4 dates to do gift wrapping at Barnes and Noble for tips

-remember, Alexa is a fabulous babysitter!

-Amber and Joanna have offered their amazing talents to help, I just need to figure out how to utilize them (raffle?)

If I forgot anyone, I am so sorry. We have been so busy with all this! And a shoutout to Alexa, who is forgoing all Christmas and 16th birthday presents to allow us to put $ toward her trip. And, for getting the free phone that she will be using for the next 2 years, instead of a cool phone. Your "sacrifices" will for sure help!

We're Ready!!!!!!!

We're so ready for the premier of New Moon. Alexa and I will be going to the midnight showing this Thursday. We got our tickets about two months ago and have both reread the book:

We've got our New Moon gear, Alexa got an official T-shirt and I have a special Twilight watch and necklace:

{Thanks Doodleedoo}

And we will attempt to sell suckers as fundraising for Alexa's trip:

So as I said, we are totally ready to see this movie!

And, go team Jacob!

Birthday Fun

Celeste just turned 12 years old. It is hard to believe that our little girl is almost a teenager! We spent Sunday celebrating her birthday. We started out in downtown Tempe to walk around and enjoy the weather. Of course I had to do a photo shoot while we were there. Here are 2 of my favorites:

While downtown we went to Coldstone for a birthday treat:

We finished our night by going to dinner at Logans Roadhouse. That was a good time, and another rare instance that all 6 of us were together. These days that is a gift in itself. Happy Birthday girlie!

Halloween

Every Halloween my family and I help do a cake walk at the Tempe Halloween Festival. It is an awesome event put on by the city as an alternative to trick or treating. It also provides a fundraising opportunity as all of the booths are run by non profit organizations. This was our La Leche League group's 12 time doing the cake walk there. We really enjoy it. This year Alexa ran a booth for her P2P trip and made $113.00. Goooo Alexa!!! I was so busy the whole night that I did not get any pictures of our booths or the event, but here are the little girls in their costumes {they are the only ones that dress up anymore :-( }.

Sophie was a zombie. Yes that's her real hair. We love making our own costumes from items we find at the Goodwill. Sophie's dress was Celeste's from her vampire costume two years ago. Alexa provided the hair and makeup:

Celeste also got her dress at the Goodwill and went as a masquerade lady. She made the mask herself:

A Beary Fun Birthday

This past Saturday we did a Build-a-Bear birthday party to celebrate Sophie's 7th birthday. She said to us that it was her first birthday party....well although not technically true {she had first and second birthday parties} it probably seemed so! The child was far overdue for a celebration.

The Invites:

I could not find a bear die cut, so Sophie and I did some old fashioned paper piecing!

The Goodies:

These were the most amazing rainbow sugar cookie-cupcakes, made by "Baked by Joanna", her blog is on my sidebar. Since we were at the Build-a-Bear store we could not do cake, so we sent the kiddos home with these yummies! Even the bear faces were edible.

The Party:

Making a wish on her bear's heart.

Hailey and Sophie, BFFs.

Happy Birthday Sophie!

Let The Fun{draising} Begin!!!!

Alexa and I have been busy this fall break making hair accessories for sale to fund raise for her people to people tuition. We made some to match the TPA school uniform, some with her school colors, some for ASU, and some black and silver for homecoming. Interested in any, just leave a comment or email/call me or Alexa!

And how could I post today without mentioning that it is Sophie's 7th birthday!!!

I can't believe my baby is 7, happy birthday baby!

And now we are off to see "Where The Wild Things Are" in celebration.

People to People Student Ambassador

This Girl:

Has been accepted as a People to People student Ambassador and has the opportunity to travel to these six countries next summer:

{and for those of you as geographically challenged as I am it is England, France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Switzerland}

Now Tony and I have to figure out how to make it happen, $wise.....more to come on that later as we start the fundraising!

Favorite Food

I am having a really hard time with these challenges! When I tried to think about my favorite food, all I could think of is that I love food! I never thought I was an indecisive person, but I haven't been able to narrow my answers down to one choice. So here is what I came up with:

One of my favorite restaurants is Pita Jungle. My family and I just love it! Close seconds were Wildflower Bread Company, Lucille's Barbecue, Sweet Tomatoes, Black Angus, Logan's and My Big Fat Greek Restaurant.

My second page is a food category. My name is Lisa and I am a carboholic. Whew! I said it. I like all things carb. Fresh bread or rolls with butter, crusty french bread dipped in olive oil and spices, not to mention yummy bakery treats. Occasionally I try to eliminate sugars and not eat anything for purely entertainment value, but man is it hard. I love my carbs!

Betsey Johnson

Gotta brag a bit about this piece if eye candy.

Betsey Johnson
	Whips & Studs E/W Tote Leather tote with pyramid stud hardware and tassel detail. Chain handle. Interior slide, zipper and cell phone pockets.

Retail: $348, my price $70!!!!!! I already have to fight Alexa for it as she informed me she will be taking it this weekend. Oh well.

I Have the Best Friends

Seriously, I do!!!

I just happen to know some of the most creative, talented and caring women EVER!

I'm just saying....

First off, my friend Amber is quite the artist. She has started painting again and is more talented than I ever knew! She surprised me at work with this amazing piece of art:

Yup, that's our Sadie, and yes she painted it! She used the photo shown with it, from one of my blog posts. Simply amazing!!!! You can see her from my sidebar "Truely Amber". Thanks for the surprise!

And then there is my friend, Toni. She is a really awesome scrapbooker, and her work has been featured on many a scrap site. I love her work, and she is such an artistic inspiration to me. She gave me a belated birthday gift of some hand made embellishments from Etsy:

I can't wait to use these beauties. Thanks Toni. {PS: she can be seen on her blog, "reconsider everything", on my sidebar, too!}

And a small shout out to my work friend, Erika, who is doing a really great thing for a local non-profit. The organization is raising money to make boxes to give to parents at the hospital who have lost their babies. They are planning events to raise money for this endeavor, so for my local friends, you can learn more at:

http://www.laneeslegacy.blogspot.com/

See? Can't argue with that! I have amazing friends!

Favorite Things- Movies

Challenge number three For the "Favorite Things" blog is favorite movie or movie quote.

Dang, another hard one for me! I can't possibly pick ONE FAVORITE MOVIE!

So, I did categories, and my top few in each category. Whew!

The categories are: Comedy, Could watch over and over, 80's, Kids, Cheesy, and Summer 2009.

Here's my page {sorry about the weird picture, 6x24 is tough to photograph!}:

The paper is Graphic 45, with old Hollywood style ladies on it, the tickets are Tim Holtz.

There are so many challenge blogs out there! A friend of mine is doing one based on the TV show Project Runway. Click on the link and vote for her (#2), it just takes a second.

http://www.projectscrapbook09.blogspot.com/

Hoover Dam

Tony had a job to do out by the Hoover Dam, fixing some equipment.

There is a large project in the area to have the highway bypass the dam. It involves rerouting a portion of the highway and building a bridge to cross the river in front of the dam.

The guys were staying just over the dam into Nevada at a fairly cheesy {yet very inexpensive} hotel/casino. Tony had a lot of fun there one evening, texting me pictures of "Liza Minnelli", "Neil Diamond", "Elvis", and more. He thought it would be fun for me to come join him for his last night, so I did! We enjoyed an $8.95 prime rib dinner, and played some slots.

The next day, on the way home, we toured the dam. It is really cool to learn about that project, what was involved in the engineering and construction of it, and how many people got work during the depression building it.

This is the main arch that will support the new bridge:

As you can see, I really enjoyed the tour {here we are underground in the generator room}:

I have no idea why, but the Hoover Dam gift shop sells these gems, alien sun glasses:

And here we are on the top of the dam, the Nevada side:

It was a pretty fun mini-vacation. In fact, I may just have to go back next time he has a job there!

First Day of School

I Just love the first day of school!

Fresh boxes of crayons,

New shoes and backpacks,

blank notebooks just waiting to be filled,

oh, and no kids at home all day!

The kids were really excited to head back to school. Sophie is in Ms. Wygle's first grade class.

Celeste is now officially in middle school, 6th grade. She changes classes every period, so grown up!

The girls were both very excited to start school again.

Alexa is now a Sophomore and still at TPA. For some reason she did not want me to follow her out of the car to take a picture of her on her first day. Huh? Michael starts at MCC on Aug 24th. Think he will pose for a picture for me for his first day? Not a chance!