Time to defrost this place...

O.K. Where do I start? I guess I need to start with a warmer picture first.

or two...
... one more. This one is not as warm, but I like these little ones. A stick and a pile of leftover snow - that's all they needed for happiness.

Next thing on my list is an apology. This has probably been the longest break I ever took. This totally doesn't mean that I give up blogging or scrapbooking. I love this outlet, but even more I love people who visit this place! But I do have a few good reasons for my disappearance. One of them is that my laptop was having some hiccups lately, and in the fear of loosing a year worth of pictures I had to go through each and every folder to review, decide, combine, sort, delete, and repeat. Two hundred seventy two folders - did you hear? 272. My camera saves photos by dates automatically. Some folders had only three pictures, others had three hundred. It takes a long time to go through them all, plus you can't do that for a very long period of time, since you stop seeing differences between pictures.

I don't have a backup for my pictures and for now all I do is sort them by months, type brief descriptions of the content on cardstock which turns into a little pocket. Then I save the pictures on DVDs - making two copies of each. One is for me to work with and another goes into our safe. It may not be the best way to store pictures, but it works for me right now.

I decided to take a picture of these pockets, so it'll make more sense to you. Here are the once from last year, since my new ones aren't printed yet:

A lot more things have been happening here, like a camera review with my cousin. Having three cameras and six lenses on one couch was a little confusing, but it was fun. I'm a little jealous of her new Cannon 60D. Can't wait to see her pictures from overseas.

... or some sewing. I made a new skirt for my daughter and worked on some fixes for a good friend...

... or a fall photo shoot of this gorgeous couple:

... or baking Zebra cake over and over again:

... and trying out new recipes like these Bacon Wrapped Chicken Rolls:

In the midst of this all I made a page too. I'll share just a sneak peak of it today. It needs some journaling yet. And yes, this page features summer pictures.

And a few more random things:

Fun video here - http://www.paperclipping.com/free-video-repurposing-stuff-into-scrapbooking/ by sweet Noel. After watching it, I remembered a page that I did over the summer using some of the every day items, that I never shared. I need to find it and post it.

Tempted to do one of these - http://www.beckyhiggins.com/products/ next year. Especially seeing some people like Ali going so strong. Anyone wants to join? I need some motivation along the way.

And... в русском магазине очень вкусные сливы по $0.49 lb. I know, that is so random, but I just felt like I needed to share.

One more link. My sister told me to listen to it. I wish there were more songs like this one - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBh8b4qQs2Y&feature=related . Worth listening to.

Until next time!