My Thoughtful Spot

i could get more scrapbooking done if...

I got this from Jan's blog. Thought it was perfect for me! lol.

I could get more scrapbooking done if...

• I didn't work 80 hours a week.
• I didn't have to study.
• I didn't need to sleep.
• I were naturally skinny and didn't have to workout.
• I had a studio and had my stuff out all the time instead of storing it in a closet and dragging out crap when I used it.
• my sister lived closer. We always create better when we're around each other.

Play if you like! :-)

an itch i just can't scratch

I don't talk about it much here, but I am a Stampin' Up! demonstrator. That's right. I teach people how to use rubber stamps for scrapbooking and card making in the comfort of their own home. Hey, it pays for the hobby, so why not?

When I changed rotations last month, one of the surgeons remembered me talking about it from the last time I was there. Since that time, she is now a scrapbooker and wants to learn more about stamping. Cool! So I've been distributing my catalogs and promotional stuff around the hospital lately. In June, one of the surgeons hopes to host a party at her home where she promises lots of orders!

On another front, my dear sister Kate has decided to sign up as a demonstrator under me! She has been a great customer for the last year and has met a ton of teachers in the school where she works who are dying to learn how to make beautiful cards like she can. So she has decided to jump in and get some customers of her own. Which is totally great. She is far more creative than I am and this would be a really fun way of earning money during her summer break. Plus it seems like she has several people who are just waiting to place an order with her!

All of this has left me feeling quite uncreative and uni-dimensional. I haven't touched any of my stamps, ink, or paper since I made Christmas cards last December. And for good reason; I'm pretty darn busy and any extra time I have I should be studying. Plus, since we had to move out and then back into our apartment for the remodeling, all my stuff is completely disorganized. It would take me at least two whole days to go through it all, figure out what I'm keeping and what I'm selling/donating, and reorganize it in some meaningful way. And since I work 10-12 hour days and only get one day off a week, that isn't happening any time soon.

Studying is important. No. It's critical.I have a yearly exam that I really need to blow out of the water this January, and the only way to do that is to hit the books... every day. After January, I need to keep right on studying because one year from August, I will be taking the first part of the boards so that I can be a Board Certified Surgeon. Yeah. Pretty important. Who wants a surgeon who failed her boards on the first time?

This whole studying thing is so ever-present and inescapable; it's hard (and dangerous) for me to imagine a time when I don't have to study so much. I won't be doing anything crafty for a very. long. time. Which I've largely accepted. But sometimes the other half of my brain wakes up and I feel the urge to be creative. Usually the feeling doesn't last very long and if I ignore it, it goes away. But this one is hanging on for quite some time. Hopefully me putting it down on paper will help it fade...

disbelief

I almost can't believe it. I started making Christmas cards today. And made a sizable dent in the process, too. Well, I suppose the main reason I got so far was because today is the first day of my vacation, but that's beside the point. ;-) In the past few years Christmas cards have almost been an afterthought for us. December 22 rolls around and one of us says, "Crap, we forgot to mail Christmas cards again." Not this year! I'll be done by Friday and we can mail them at our leisure. Totally excited. But I also hope that most of them don't end up in the trash. If they do, I might as well just buy them.

Hmmm... I wonder if I can get all the shopping done this week? Better not press my luck. I'll just stick with the cards. (haha! That reminded me of that game show called "Press Your Luck" that was on in the 80s. "No wammies, no wammies, no WAMMIES!")

excitement, delivered

After over six long weeks of waiting, I got the new Idea Book & Catalog from Stampin' Up! today. I knew there would be hundreds of new stamp sets, but the amount of new stuff was just overwhelming! Not only that, but they've added chipboard accents/letters, new colors and a more generous hostess benefits plan.

Of course, who knows when I'll next have time to do anything crafty, but a girl can dream, can't she? ;-)

current inspiration

Everywhere I go recently, I've been noticing hibiscus flowers. It really all started when we were staying at the Polynesian at Walt Disney World on our vacation last month. The grounds there had hundreds of hibiscus bushes and they were all in bloom all the time. I saw pink, red, yellow, peach, and white. I'm not sure if there are any other colors, but they were awesome.

Since we got back, I've been noticing them everywhere...

• nurses have them on their scrub tops and hats
• I saw some on a skirt Sunday at church (and immediately thought what great patterned paper it would make)
• decals on cars
• my Do the Hula stamp set from Stampin' Up! (page 91 of the current catalog)
• bushes on the medical center campus
• Hawaiian shirts on several guys walking around

I love that they symbolize a tropical place. They're colorful. They're so beautiful they don't need to smell nice. I'm so lucky to have this current common thread in everything I do... they make me smile inside whenever I see one.

I have several pictures I took... hopefully I'll be able to edit this post with some of them soon!

new toy

Yesterday, I headed to my favorite scrapbook store with a special 25% off coupon. But I really didn't know what I was going to buy, especially since I'm so busy with work and studying that I'm not doing any scrapbooking right now. I just figured I'd head in, look at all the pretty papers and stuff, and head out with book or something.

Instead, I saw the most amazing tool. It's the Crop-a-dile from We R Memory Keepers. It's pretty big, and really ugly, but man, it is functional. A while ago, I pretty much gave up on setting eyelets on my layouts because it was a huge hassle to drag out my tool kit and fiddle with the mat and eyelet setter and hammer. But this presents a totally silent and simple way to punch holes and set multiple sizes of eyelets. It even punches holes through metal! I tried it out at the store. Well, my coupon went to buy that monster. Even though it's still in it's packaging on the table, I can't wait for the day I can bust it out and actually use it. Maybe I can finally put a dent in the hundreds of eyelets I have collected throughout the years...

happy national scrapbooking day!

Even though I'm running around like a crazy person packing for our vacation, I couldn't let this day pass without a comment. As I write this, thousands of people are involved in crops to celebrate National Scrapbooking Day. It's really becoming an international phenomenon, so mabye soon we'll have International Scrapbooking Day. :-)

Thanks to scrapbooking, I've made many friends, found a creative outlet in my over-scientific life, and, most importantly, recorded the important and every day events that make up our life. It's an amazing thing -- taking pictures, memories, paper, glue, and a pen and transforming it into something artistic, unique, and that my friends and family can enjoy. To capture a moment in time. A thought. A feeling. Because we aren't here for long and time is fleeting.

Now, I must off and finish packing. I've been looking forward to this since January. I've got an amazing week ahead of me, and if I can find a computer that won't cost me a fortune, I'll try to come back and post. If not, I'll be back on the 14th!

my promotion

I love getting the mail. When I was little and home during the summers, I would try to catch the mailman so he could actually hand me the mail instead of getting it out of the mailbox. You just never know when someone sent you something cool or when your favorite magazine is going to arrive.

Getting the mail now is kind of a pain. In my apartment complex, there are a few giant mailboxes. There's one right underneath our window, as a matter of fact. But is that where our mailbox is? Of course not. It takes about five minutes to get the mail, round trip. So sometimes we'll go for days without getting the mail. Since the box isn't that big and there is a ton of junk mail, it fills up really fast. The mailman gets mad and will just shove stuff into the mailbox... things are ripping, getting wrinkled, etc. Once he actually put this block on the box and took our mail to the post office! I don't want that to happen again, because that's even more of a pain than getting the mail. So I've been trying to get it every day.

Good thing I did -- yesterday there was a large envelope from Stampin' Up! in the mailbox. Inside was a certificate announcing my promotion to the Senior Associate level along with a really nice pin. I don't really know what that means or what I have to do to maintain it, but I thought it was cool that, after being a demonstrator for less than two months, I already got a promotion!

Shoot, that's better than what I've been able to do in medicine! lol

fun-filled evening

It's late, and I need to get to bed, but I just had to post a little something first.

Finally, after working for 12 days straight, I had a day of fun -- just for me. Today I had my second Stampin' Up! class in our home. Nine people total in attendance with cute projects for Spring. We made three cards and a little gift box -- and they loved it.  I'll take pics and update this post with them hopefully tomorrow. (I know, promises, promises.) It went for about 3-4 hours, but it was the only way to get everything done! I was so excited to see people that I worked with there -- other non-surgery residents and nurses, and we were just hanging out and being girly. It was awesome.

Chef Daniel did his usual amazing spread. We had sushi, cheese, veggies, cookies, and the world's greatest drink. I don't know how to describe it except to say it's like lemonade spiked with vodka and mint. Oh, we had non-French wine, too. (I'll talk about my boycott on France another day.) :-)

Everyone had such a great time, even though some had to leave early. I just love this opportunity, rare though it is, to explore the "left brain" side of myself. Hopefully, when I'm done with my training, it will become a more regular part of my life. But for now, it's all about hitting the books and learning how to be the kind of surgeon God wants me to be.

stampin' up! projects

Since I recently downloaded the images from my camera (an event that takes place once every few months), I thought I'd post some of the things I've been creating with my new Stampin' Up! stuff:

 

I was going to do a scrapbooking focused class this weekend, but the hostess had to cancel for family reasons. Which is kind of a relief because I was a bit stressed to complete three 12x12 layouts and class kits in a week. Now I have the stuff for when she is ready! I'm half-way prepared!

Oh, and I totally love my hair. Love the color and love the cut. But I don't have a picture of that... yet. ;-)