Do not adjust your blog settings ...

... I am actually updating after a month of absence.

Many things have been going on. Nothing of great significance for most but alot for me, none the less. I continue on my journey to a healthier me - mentally, emotionally and physically. Mentally I have taken on a new attitude towards most things/people/situations/experiences. (not sure what to call it ... 'life' would sum it up, I suppose). Emotionally I continue to struggle with certain aspects of my life - the same aspects that I have now been dealing with for 9 years. The optimism is fading and is now being replaced with realizations that things will likely never be. Physically, I feel *great.* I have lost 50 lbs. I work out, doing deep water aquafit classes, 3 to 5 times/week and my body craves it when I can't make a class. What an amazing feeling that is. My newest venture will be trying something called "Zumba" which looks like alot of fun and to be a great workout. It's a Latin-American inspired fitness based on dances like the Meringue and the Samba. Look out Baby ... Johnny may be taking me out of the corner soon!! First, a much more supportive bra is a necessity. Can't scare the other class goers. Fortunately I have a wonderful husband, great family and the sweetest friend who have been there with me on this journey. They have hugged, laughed, supported and encouraged me the whole way through and I couldnt be more grateful.

On a scrapping level ... HA! Funny!! I really haven't done much. Scrapping has gone to the way side for the past few months, taking a backseat to my life. I have been busy and, when I am home, haven't felt like scrapping to be honest. In a nutshell, I spent two days with the most talented Donna Downey. As I am sure you read on Stephanie's blog, she was FABULOUS! Her creativity oozes out of her pores. I left there feeling inspired and refreshed and excited about creating again. The following weekend was spent at NavCan. I really didn't do much, to be honest. Not sure where the time went. I spent Friday night making an apron out of canvas. Saturday, I put the finishing touches on the embroidery hoop class from the week before. Because I went completely out of my box and used my own handwriting, that took some time. I also used india ink and a calligraphy pen ... that was an experience unto itself but I did enjoy it. All I need to do is put some pictures on one of the hoops and it will be all done. Right now Tanya's most wonderful husband had committed a great deal of time, energy and thought into trying to save my seriously infected computer and has all the important stuff saved. I don't know how he was able to do it since it was in incredibly bad shape but I am very, very thankful. (Thank you, my Jedi Master). Once those are complete, I will post photos of them here. Tanya and I also did some beading while at NavCan. We made the pendant portion of necklaces using all of the same stones. All that is left is to make the actual necklace in which to hold our pendants. Because we used copper, it is something that Marlene doesn't have as readily available as the gold or silver so we shall peruse her catalogue and pick what is best for our necklaces, finishing them when the order arrives.

Today I spent the day on a photography outing with Marlene. (if you have a moment and haven't already, browse her flickr streams. Her work is stunning) Our intentions were to go to the Tulip Festival however, when parking the parking lot was full, Marlene took me to the Arboretum to see the Magnolia trees. Beautiful and fragrant. She graciously let me attach her macro lense to my XTi and wow - was that fun. It took a few minutes to adjust myself to using it but I am happy with some of the photos I took. After the Arboretum, we crossed over to the Experimental Farm. We took some photos but the onset of rain had us heading back to her car. Fortunately, it passed quickly and we found parking for the Tulip Festival. 286 flower photos later, we called it a day and headed back to Orleans where we enjoyed some Booster Juice eats and drink before heading back to her place where Kevin picked me up All in all, it was a great day and I am happy with the results. I absolutely love going on these outings with Marlene and am itching to head out on another one. In the meantime, I will leave you with some photos that I took today. All are untouched and as I took them, straight from the card to the laptop to you.

Happy National Scrapbooking Day.