August 2021 Highlights

 The highlight of August 2021 was getting rescue sister kittens, Amy & Jill! Those are Rachel's sisters' names on our favorite TV show, Friends. It just seemed perfect to name them after Rachel's sisters.

The very first picture I ever took of Amy & Jill, bringing them home. The first of hopefully thousands and thousands of pics to come! I took about 1700 pics of Rachel in her 14 years according to my Picasa folder.

They are soooooo tiny and can fit into the smallest spaces, including behind the piano.

It's almost like having newborn babies (but still much much easier lol). We have to constantly keep an eye on them to make sure they're not up to no good, they eat and poop all the time, they're tiny & fragile, and I actually have to work to keep them alive! Unlike Rachel who barely moved at the end, these kittens are go go go. We went from 0 to 60 (or 120 since there are TWO!)

I mean, does that face say mischievous or what? :)

They are always together. It warms my heart. They eat together, sleep together, explore together, play together.

They are very timid and shy and scared of all of us and run at any sound or sudden movement. I never dealt with that with Rachel, she was older when we took her in and slept in my arms from night one. So it's a bit of an adjustment. I want them to love me as much as I love them :) Chris says to give it time. BUT! We have been able to get both of them to purrrrr! So there's hope!

We have slowly been introducing them to more spaces in the house. I'm scared if we let them roam free we'd never find them again because they're so tiny!

Double trouble! :)

I'm happy :)

I still miss my Rachel oh so much. I don't think that will ever go away. I am happy to have new fur babies to project my love onto and keep me company :)

Onto the recap of our month, the last day in July I was in Utah with my sister and dad. We went straight to the BYU Creamery, J Dawgs, and then up to Y Mountain to see the view.

The next day, August 1st, we went all around Grandpa John's house picking out some things to take and pass down to our families and helping organize their belongings for an estate sale and donating. My treasured piece is this painting by Monte DeGraw.

The Taylors are hyper-organized. There was a google spreadsheet created with thousands of items on it, photos, descriptions, origins, the works. Sticky notes in all the colors designated by family.

My dad made me breakfast! Such a treat!

Grandpa adding his stickers to a book Allie took home.

My dad has started scanning his parent's old slides and came across one from when they lived in Cincinnati and we were visiting. My grandma has always had impeccable taste and class. I'd like to think some of her genes for style were passed down and I noticed our kitchen corners are similar in design and only differ in color :)

I also took home this bench and am trying to make my porch more like Vicki Boutin's :)

Dear sweet Aspen moved to Utah last May. She visited and dropped off a painting of Rachel she made. How thoughtful. The kids loved seeing their old babysitter.

Cafe Rio, always!

We tried the new mac'n'cheese at Texas Roadhouse. I like the addition of crunchy bits.

Mall food court for dinner!

When I was at a crop, Chris took the kids to the pool for one last hoorah before school started.

1st day of school! Fox is in 5th grade and Jane is in 4th. I dunno how that even happened.

Cuties!

Jane and Fox with their teachers.

Janey and I got our ears pierced together! She was very brave, no tears were shed, and has been so great about reminding me to clean our ears daily. She can't wait to switch out the temporary studs to little pink Eiffel Tower earrings in a few weeks.

Jane has started going to therapy. Because life is hard and only gets harder and we need help.

I saw an ad on Facebook for a candy corn sweater and had to get it. Is it October yet?! :) And another selfie just for fun.

The flowers in the rocks have flourished and I am so excited to make this an annual thing!

These flowers have grown as weeds in our neighbor's yard and I love them!

Pretty view.

The view I always love to see.

Nightly walks with Joey.

Love all this.

Jane when we picked up the kittens :)

Chris and I went to a pre-season NFL Broncos game! It was quite the adventure getting there. The traffic was sooooo bad, we couldn't find anywhere to park, let alone even drive around to try and find parking.

So we got back on the freeway and headed south to an RTD to take the train to a stop close to the stadium. This was Chris' very first time going to this stadium. Since he's from here, it's rare to do new to him things and I was so glad to be apart of this experience! Kinda lol.

Anyway, we hopped on the train along with a million other Broncos fans and rode for about 25 minutes to the "Empower Field at Mile High Stadium" stop which was still about a 15 minute walk away.

Almost there!

We made it!

Of course our seats were on the polar opposite side of where we walked into and three floors up lol.

Pretty view of Denver and Elitch Gardens.

We were literally in our seats for 10 minutes before we had to start heading back hahahaha.

Luckily enough, during those 10 minutes we were in our seats we witnessed a touchdown! Go Broncos!

We missed our stop on the train back (I know right!), so we got off at the next stop and luckily a train going back was only 3 minutes away. We hopped back on, got off at our stop, got into our car, and made our way home. Phew!! Now we know! We'll just get on the RTD at the mall and make our way there and back easy peasy and plan accordingly. Next time :)

The next morning I took Fox to an outdoor market with dozens of booths of artists selling their works.

It was so fun and awesome. I got one painting and Fox got a print.

I need more space on this wall for floral paintings :)

The entryway project is nearly finished. I got a few samples of blue paint and chose the 2nd one down called Ombre Blue.

Progress.

We're waiting for a piece of molding that will bend to the curve of the stairs and then the area around where the scones will go needs to be cut in, and then re-painted. I might have them repaint it all white... this blue is sooooooo blue. 

Right? Maybe it'll grow on me. The workmanship is incredible and impeccable and exactly what I wanted with this space! It's just a mybad for picking the wrong color....

And then I got this chandelier from Craigslist, cleaned it, fixed it, and now I want to install it in the entryway as the finishing touch. 

We saw four movies in August: Jungle Cruise (entertaining but I don't need to see it again), Free Guy (also pretty funny but I don't need to see it again), 12 Mighty Orphans which was amazing and I purchased it in iTunes so I can watch it whenever I want, and....

We saw Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory in theaters for the 50th anniversary! I had a huge smile on my face the entire time. Such a classic.

Pink Jeep?! Yes please! Chris says no lol.

On the scrappy front!

I made and shared 6 projects on the blog in August:
Lucky in Love Layout // Bungalow Lane Coptic Book // Hello & Thank You Cards
Scrap Smarter Experience Layout Sneak // August Layout for Cocoa Daisy // Sweet Aspen Layout for Cocoa Daisy

I announced my 9th cut file bundle which begins on September 22nd - 20 Days of Fall Cut Files!

You can grab the 8 other sets HERE in my Etsy shop! I am planning to film through all of my cut file bundles and share them on YouTube so you can see them better as well as examples my design teams and I have made with the cut files.

Speaking of YouTube, I filmed through my entire Bungalow Lane collection - watch it HERE.

I designed and gave away 8 free cut files in August: 5 in my Happy Scrappy Place Facebook Group, 2 in my weekly Newsletter, and 1 for Scrapbook & Cards Today!

On Saturday August 21st I participated in the ScrapSmarter Experience and took a pic of the Zoom class in progress.

I taught a virtual class on Saturday August 28th which is still available for purchase HERE. In the class YouTube video, I demonstrate how to create the foundation for a double saddle stitch mini album. A link to the video, list of supplies, photo sizes, instructions, and templates will be emailed within 24 hours of purchasing.

Happy mail from Emily Inspired Designs! Soooo cute for 4th of July mini albums!

I loooove making coptic books! I have some kits available HERE. 

On the first Saturday in August I got together with my scrappy gal pals at Andrea's hotel in Thornton.

While there we all pitched in to collate the kits for Andrea's mini album class. Our workshop in November is sold out but we'll definitely be planning more!

Scrappy friends: Rosie, Danielle, Isa, Valorie, Andrea, and me!

So good to hang out with the people who "get" me :)

Can't wait to have new kitties to keep me company all day, every day, in my happy place!

Here's to a great September!