More about ME!

I've been tagged again. Diane had this list on her blog and tagged me to do it too. For the record, I'm pretty sure that I've already done this one. But for HER, I'll do it again :-).
NOTE: Diane, Ijust checked and I DID do one VERY similar to this back on January 12th. Feel free to see if some of my answers have changed.

Ok, here goes:

4 jobs I've had in my life:
1. Cake Decorator @ Kroger
2. Receptionist @ JCPenney Insurance Company
3. Accounts Payable @ BellSouth Information Systems
4. IT Directors Assistance @ Cingular Wireless

4 movies I can watch over and over:
1. The Color Purple
2. Jerry McGuire
3. Shawshank Redemption
4. True Lies

4 TV shows I love to watch:
1. The Backyardigans...I just can't help it, this is a kids show that I just LOVE!
2. The First 48
3. American Justice
4. Design on a Dime

4 Places I've been on vacation:
1. Jamaica
2. Destin, FL
3. Cruise to St. Thomas, San Juan, & The Bahamas
4. Did I mention Destin, FL? :-)

4 Places I would like to go but haven't:
1. The scrapbook store that Adrienne shops at :-)
2. Hawaii
3. Greece
4. Italy

Welp, that'll do it! Not sure if anyone else needs to be tagged on this one. As MOST OF US DID IT ALREADY back in January :-). However, if anyone does feel need, go for it! :-)

I told you I LOVE flowers...

My goodness, wouldja take a look at these BIG ole things? Adrienne came through for me again. Thanks, A, you ROCK girly!
These have got to be the coolest thing I've seen in a long time. I tell ya, I am really getting into the Heidi Swapp line of SB supplies. And for those of you who don't scrapbook (or don't care) you can stop reading right here. For those that do, you may proceed :-). Adrienne finds the neatest things at her local stores. Not just her local scrapbook store, but at places like AC Moore, Michaels and Hobby Lobby. Sure, we have Michaels and Hobby Lobby here. But obviously the truck that delivers to Alabama ain't the same one that delivers to Georgia. That ain't cool! And trust me when I say I DO look!!! I do think Adrienne and I have just started this....thing...where she'll grab something there for me that she KNOWS I can't get here. And I've found myself doing the same for her (although not quite as often). We're keeping the postal service in business.
Anyway, I just wanted to share with all my fans, my new toy. And if you've never seen these flowers in person, they're HUGE! They are literally 4 1/2 inches in diameter! I simply CANNOT wait to use them. Hopefully, the layout that I do use them on will please me enough that I'll be willing to share it :-).
Ya'll have a great weekend! And until next time...Be Inspired...I AM!!!

Check Me OUT!!!

Ok, now I've gotta send out another Thank you shout out to Diane! Girl, you ROCK!!! Ya'll, check out my new colors and my banner! How stinkin cool is THAT??? I love it!!! The purple is gorgeous and now the tulips really look like tulips. I even kinda like it with the tan accents.

Thank you again girl, I owe you big time!!!!

I've Been Tagged (Thanks Renee)

Alrighty, Renee, I'll bite. Here are my answers to your questionnaire. Happy reading everyone.

1. What time did you get up this morning? 9:15
2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds. And I think I'm due for an upgrade :-).
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Polar Express...over the summer no less.
4. What is your favorite TV show? The First 48, Law & Order (SVU & Criminal Intent), American Justice & The Backyardigans...no shame in my game :-).
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Breakfast, I've heard of that. Don't normally eat in the mornings
6. Favorite cuisine? Seafood
7. What is your middle name? Monique
8. What food do you dislike? French, Cuban & Mexican ( But I do LOVE Moe's...does that count at Mexican??)
9. What is your favorite CD at the moment? I can't tell you the last time I bought a CD. I don't even know what's out these days.
10. What kind of car do you drive? A Nissan Quest (a soccer mom vehicle)
11. Favorite sandwich? Chick Fil A and Ham & Swiss
12. What characteristic do you despise? Hatefulness, selfishness, fakeness, acting "ghetto" & racist
13. Favorite item of clothing? These days, whatever fits :-)
14. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, wherewould you go? Hawaii
15.What color is your bathroom? Builders white (aka...ugly & unpainted)
16. Favorite brand of clothing? Not into brand names (see # 13)
17. Where would you retire to? I'm already "retired" so I guess home with my family
18. What was your most recent memorable birthday? Recent? Who knows. But my sweet 16 was pretty memorable.
19. Favorite sport to watch? U6 & U12 soccer and pro football
20. Favorite saying? "Get OUT!!!!!!!!" (not in the "get out of the house sense. But like a surprised "I can't believe it" kinda way), "I know, Right?!?" and "I love you!"
21. When is your birthday? November 17th
22. Are you a morning person or a night person? Evening/night
23. What is your shoe size? 9.5 to 10
24. Pets? Yep. My doggie, Trae
25. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us? My basement is being finished and I now have real WALLS!

Well, Renee, there you have it. That was fun. Ok, my turn to tag some people. Diane & Adrienne (tag #2).

Thank you DIANE!!!

Yay, I finally got me a banner on my BLOG. All the other ladies had one on their blog, so I wanted one too. However, between me and Adrienne, we could never get it to work. Thank you though, Adrienne, for trying.

Diane has been working to get this thing done for me for the past 2 days. And she finally got 'er done! :-) I wasn't able to use the picture that I wanted to use of me and kids. But I simply love PURPLE Tulips, so we went with that. Just like my family, purple and tulips inspire me. So this'll work . Now I just need to figure out how to change the colors of my blog so that it will compliment my new banner. One thing at a time, I guess. The easy thing would be to just change the template. But I don't like any of the other choices they have.

Anyway, I'm a happy blogger for now. Thanks again, Diane, for all your work. You ROCK!!!

Isn't She Lovely...

I know, you're shocked. Two posts from me (again) in one day. Ya know, sometimes you get on a roll.

Anyhoo, I wanted to take a minute to share something beautiful with you. My oldest daughter. I think I did a post of her a few months back (Dec. 7th), on her 21st birthday. But I thought I do another quick one as this photo is worthy of sharing.
Briyanna does a little modeling on the side and did a photo shoot last summer for Upscale magazine. This particular shot was used for the Bronner Brothers Hair Show here in Atlanta. She's done some other shoots in the past. But by FAR, this one is my favorite. So I thought I'd share it.

Thanks for viewing.

Happy Valentines Day!!!

Hello all my fellow fans :-). Happy Valentines Day to you!
I went to JoAnns today to search for scrapbook stuff....I didn't NEED anything... But I had TWO coupons to use. Anyhoo, I run into this lady and her daughter. What's so weird about this is that I've run into them 4 times already within the past year. It's now funny to us that we keep seeing eachother and the girls always seem to enjoy eachother's company. Hopefully, this time, we'll actually call eachother and get the girls together to play and maybe she and I can scrap together. I gave her my phone numbers again and also the address to my BLOG. So maybe she'll read this and will call me :-).
Ok, back to Valentines Day. Do you know they've already got Easter stuff out? It's kinda hard to focus on colored eggs and bunnies when there's still so many red hearts and candy out.
Anyway, I hope everyone has a wonderful day today. Go give someone you love a great big ole Valentines KISS!!!

Love is in the air

Ok, Diane. I'm not sure you knew what you were doing in your last post. But I sensed a "tag" or a challenge. And I don't normally back down from a challenge. Therefore, I'm gonna follow your lead...since it is the month of LOVE, and do my list of what makes me love my husband. Your list was great and actually helped me put some of my own thoughts into words. So without further hesitation, here goes:

What makes me love my husband:

~ His sense of humor. He's hilarious and will laugh with me sometimes until be both are in tears. Nothing better than a good belly laugh.

~ He's stong, both physically and emotionally. He makes me feel safe and secure. When he gets home from work, all is right with the world. I feel safe and protected when he's around.

~He's brilliant. He knows what he knows and is very good at what he does as a career. And it helps that he loves his work.

~He's confident and composed. He even has a confident walk. May be those years of training in ROTC :-).

~He's handsome and sexy - physically and emotionally. To this very day, even after almost 20 years, he can still catch my eye from across a crowded room.

~He fears and loves the Lord and teaches our family to do the same.

~He's an AWESOME father. That was proven to me even before he and I had a child together. He has loved my daughter from the beginning and has always treated her as his own. Same with my nephew, he loves him as his own son. He simply loves kids and even acts like one sometimes :-).

~He's very respectful of women. In his eyes, his mother hung the moon (and I hung the sun).

~He can be very sensitive. He's not affraid to cry or tell me he loves me in front of his friends and/or co-workers.

~He's very wise. Again, he knows what he knows and always has some words of wisdom to share.

~He's kind and caring. He's very friendly and is a good friend.

~He's my best friend and I am his. We enjoy eachothers company and love to spend "alone" time together. We still hold hands and kiss in public (the kids think that's gross)

~He's very family oriented. His family ALWAYS comes first.

~He cares about how I feel about things. He'll talk to me when I need to listen and he'll listen to me when I need to talk (unless he's on his computer...hee hee)

~He's supportive of whatever I choose to do. He knows I'm my worst critic. But he praises me in spite of myself.

~He loves me for me. He has always loved me exactly the way I am. He thinks I'm a natural beauty...at all times. He lets me be ME.

That's all I can think of right now. But I'm sure there's more. However, I don't wanna get too mushy :-).

I'm sure he'll never read this. But if he does, he'll be able to see in writing what I've been telling him for the past 19+ years. Love you Marque.

Alrighty, it's time to tag some people. Remember, it's February and Love is in the air. So Adrienne, Tangee, Renee and Tiffany, it's on you!

These are so fun!

Your Fashion Style is Sporty

You're a natural beauty who doesn't need fancy clothes to look goodYou prefer your clothes to be comfortable, so you can stay on the goFor you, femininity is not how you wear - but how you wear it.Still, don't be afraid to show off that great body in a dress or skirt!

What's" Your Fashion Style?

I love doing these things. But this one is a little off with regards to me. ESPECIALLY the part about the "great" body. Gimme a break :-). Even though I do like a dress or a skirt every once in a while.

Ok, I'm tagging you, Diane!!!

I've changed my title...

For those who have known and gotten to know me since I started scrapbooking a little over 4 years ago, you may also know that my "slogan" has been "Be Inspired!". Well, the more I thought about it the more it made sense that my Blog title should reflect that "advice".

There are several things that inspire me. Some of which are; my husband, my kids, my life, my family, my friends and the color purple (not the movie...the actual COLOR). Doesn't it seem fitting that I let those in my life know that they inspire me? I think so. One day, when I get my own "scrap/work room", that slogan will be up...somewhere on my wall. That way, I CAN be inspired and hopefully it will show in my day to day walk and in my creative work.

So there you have it, Be Inspired....I am!!!

Not your average 6 Month old

Posting twice in one day...I'm trying to be a better blogger :-).

Anyway, the reason for this particular post is to show off my baby.
Remember our puppy, Trae? Well, he's 6 months old today and even HUGER than when I said he HUGE a few months ago (that didn't make too much sense, did it?) Oh well, you know what I mean.

Trae has really made himself comfy in our home. Or, have we made ourselves comfy in HIS home? Not sure which. Either way, we are just loving his presence here. Like I said, he's 6 months old today and as of last night, he weighs in at a teeny tiny 45 pounds :-). What's scary is, he isn't even a year old yet and he's already a big ole boy!!! And what's even funnier, he truly thinks he's little. He has lost his canine teeth and he looks so funny. But the "big dog" ones are rapidly coming in.
My 4 year old is just beside herself with joy with regards to Trae. She says she is the "specialist" girl because she has the cutest "little" puppy. He's now taller than she is on his hind legs. But of course, she looks at this as an opportunity to "dance" with him :-). Markell on the other hand is thrilled that he has someone to wrestle with. But Trae puts a stop to that by actually sitting on Markell's chest :-).

Well, enough talking about him. Ain't he cute??? Thanks for viewing!

I'm such a slacker!

My goodness, I haven't posted anything since the first of the month. Fortunately, it's only the 6th! But I sure do feel like a slacker. Guess I haven't had much to say lately.

However, now that the weekend is over, I do have something to share. Over the weekend, me and my sister, Kimmy, went to see the Alvin Ailey dancers perform at the Fox Theater (www.alvinailey.org). Oh my goodness, it was wonderful! We went to see them a couple years ago and it was just as great then. Those dancers are really impressive. I've often wondered how one can remember ALL those moves. I mean, I've got a pretty good memory...I think. But c'mon now! They performed several different dances, all of which are very different from one another. I think back to when I was a cheerleader. It was hard enough then to remember each cheer. But to remember all those dance steps...I was in AWE!!! I wasn't successful in talking my husband into going with us. He has this thing about seeing those...um, "men" dancing like that. I personally had NO problems watching them...SMILE!!! It was beautiful though. For those reading, if you ever get a chance to see them, GO! It's worth the time and money. Thanks Kimmy, I had a ball!!!

New Layout - My Girls

Alright, I admit it, I'm a slacker. I took these pictures of my girls, Briyanna and Jayla back in November of 2004. I've been "almost" stressing over how I wanted the LO to look. Well, I must say, I am VERY pleased with how it turned out. It was a little hard to do a LO of sisters who are so far apart in age, 17 years to be exact. I even looked at several "sisters" LO's for some ideas and none really "grabbed" me because they were all of girls/ladies who were closer in age.

However, like I mentioned, I'm really pleased with it. Fortunately, my oldest daughter likes pink now and even had it on in these pictures. Otherwise, I would've had to do this with Pull-Ups as the background! Ha-Ha - Just kidding.

Thanks for viewing!