The One with the 2Peas Gardeners' Digest May 2013 Blog Hop

The 22nd of the month means it's time for another 2Peas Gardeners' Digest - a monthly blog hop hosted by the 2Peas Garden Girls! Below you will find a sneak of one of my upcoming layouts for the 2Peas Project Gallery,  a couple of projects from a scrapbooker that inspires me, a list of 5 items that I've placed in my shopping cart, and a giveaway!

Shimelle Laine
Melissa Stinson
***Paige Evans***
Jen Kinkade
Lilith Eeckels
Lexi Bridges
Michelle De Leon
Jen Gallacher
Marcy Penner
Jill Sprott
Janna Warner
Lisa Dickinson
Shannon Tidwell
Nancy Damiano
Celine Navarro
Wilna Furstenberg
2Peas

Here is a little sneak of the milestones-themed layout that I created for the June 1st Garden debut. Check out the rest of my Garden Girl creations HERE.

Entire layout to be revealed June 1st!

I've been a fan of Heidi Sonboul's work for a LOOOOONG time. Each and every one of her layouts has something awe-inspiring and amazing. This layout is no exception! Check out the chevron patterned paper work! L-O-V-E!

And - I'll put a plug in here for her - she has a brand new website and her very own Signature Series Idea Book available for purchase through Northridge Publishing. 

I've taken a good look through it and it's awesome!

Be sure to check out more of Heidi's projects on her blog and her 2Peas Gallery.

I'm LOVING the new Lakeside collection by Pebbles. Camping season is almost upon us, so all 5 of my "products I love" are coming from this line :)
Lakeside 12x12 Paper Pad

A bag of Chips - or rather, chipboard shapes! So cute'n'clever!

If this Chalkboard paper isn't cute, I don't know what is! I kind of just want to frame it and hang it on the wall...

What's a collection without a bunch of matching stickers?

And last but certainly not least, my favorite product these days, a 6x6 patterned paper pad!

When's payday?

I've got a giveaway to go along with this post! It's a seat in Jen Gallacher's new 2Peas Tool School Workshop!

Here is a bit about the class: We all have them: punches, die cut machines, die cut shapes, and even our most basic tools. And while some of these tools get more use than others, some get completely neglected. Garden Girl Jen Gallacher comes to the rescue with this workshop designed to help you use your tools in creative new ways. The "Tool School" workshop includes over 100 creative ideas for using your tools. Whether you're looking to purchase and use new tools, or whether you're looking to stretch your tool supplies even further, this fun and exciting workshop will give you plenty of ideas to choose from. Lessons can be completed at your own pace. A private message board forum is also available to ask questions of both Jen and to connect with other participants. Join in on the fun!

To enter this workshop giveaway, leave a comment on this post (make sure to include your 2Peas username!) by Wednesday May 29th 2013! Easy peasy! I'll announce the winner that same day!

Next on the hop: Jen Kinkade!

The One with Our Last Disneyland Day

Aaaand the lasts just keep on going. 

Today was our last trip to Disneyland for who knows how long. 

Waaaaaaaaaah.

Our passes don't expire until February of 2014 so maybe we'll have to come back :)

I looked up how many times we went to Disneyland in the 4 years we lived here: 

80.

80!!!!!!

That's 20 times a year!

We have been so incredibly lucky to have lived so close to the happiest place on earth. I know that some people never get to go once in their entire lifetime, some people only 2 or 3 times, and some people way more than us. But while living so close, we definitely took advantage of it!

Here's how our final day at Disneyland played out:

1) Me'n'Jane on the tram. 2) Chris'n'Fox on the tram. 3) Jane's ready to be there! 4) It didn't look very crowded at all! 5) Walking through the entrance. 6) Welcome to Disneyland! 7) My favorite quote about Disneyland. 8) Main Street. 9) Pretty flowers galore.

1) Walt Disney in front of Sleeping Beauty's Castle. 2) More flowers. 3) The iconic Sleeping Beauty Castle. 4) Authorized Cast Members Only - looks like one of my favorite Thickers fonts :) 5) We thought since it didn't look very busy we'd be able to get on Peter Pan without a hitch. Not so my friends. The line was already 45 minutes long. We didn't go on it. That's okay, we've been on it before. 6) Pinocchio. 7) Waiting for the Casey Junior Train. 8) On the Casey Junior Train. 9) Ditto.

1) Looks like Bavaria! 2) Even more flowers. 3) Fox was so happy to ride King Arthur's Carousel! 4) Ditto. 5) Janey was pretty stoked too. 6) Stained glass in Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. 7) In line for Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. 8) Whatdoyaknow, more flowers! 9) On the Storybook Boats, about to be eaten by a whale!

1) And even more flowers. 2) Everything is miniature on Storybook Boats, it's so fun. 3) Agraba (or however you spell it) from Aladdin. 4) Under the pretty vines. 5) The lamp in the Cave of Wonders. 6) Cinderella's Castle. 7) Fox's cute little hand on my lap. 8) More miniature villages. 9) Fox and Zurg - one of his favorite characters!

1) Jane taking a nap in Chris's arms. 2) The Buzz ride got stuck a couple of times so I was able to shoot high value targets repeatedly and got the highest score I've ever gotten! AAAND I was in the top ten for the day! Pretty cool!  4) Haunted Mansion. Fox wanted to go there first thing but we had to knock out the kiddie rides first. Is it weird that he loves ghosts and skeletons so much? It must be genetic because Haunted Mansion was my favorite ride growing up too. 5) Creepy chandelier in the Haunted Mansion. 6) We at lunch at the Hungry Bear Restaurant and I noticed they had buttons - I got Chris a "Just Graduated!" button! 7) My new favorite thing to eat at Disneyland, which I've gotten the past three times in a row, is a turkey and provolone sandwich with sweet potato fries. Nummy. 8) Jane just being cute. 9) Fox doesn't understand personal space yet so he's always up in everyone's business while waiting our turn in line.

 1) Winnie the Pooh. 2) Pirates of the Caribbean. Fox is so funny about this ride. He watches a YouTube video of the entire ride about 5 times every day. He loves singing "Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life "sa me!" He used to love this ride. Now he's afraid of it. Actually, he's only afraid of the two drops at the beginning. So he cries and cries until after the drops and then he laughs his head off and loves it the rest of the time and comes out saying, "Pirates so fun!". Silly boy. 3) Cool Pirate sign. 4) Captain Jack Sparrow. 5) It's a Small World. So, after the Buzz ride we got Fox a set of four Toy Story-themed cars. He was holding two in each hand and I told him to hold onto them tight. As we were getting off the Small World boat the Woody-themed car fell into the water. Shoot! The employees tried to find it but were unsuccessful so they gave us this "No Strings Attached" voucher which we took back to the store and they gave us a new car! Wow! Thank you Disneyland! 6) The "No Strings Attached" voucher. 7) Fox with his new car and his idol. 8) Train around the park. 9) We sat behind one of the conductors and he was telling us a bunch of random trivia and even pointed out a couple "Hidden Mickeys"! What a nice guy. 

1) The dinosaurs on the train. Fox LOOOOOVES that part of the ride. 2) Then we headed over to California Adventure to go on Monster's Inc. Fox really loves monsters. He loves a lot of things... 3) Jane taking her second nap. 4) The conductor on the train asked if it was anybody's birthday and it just so happens to be mine a week from today so he gave me a birthday button which Fox wanted to wear and show off. 5) Awesomely shaped speakers on Monsters, Inc. 6) Fox climbing the railing waiting our turn. 7) Pretty tile-work. 8) Our only family photo of the day at Cars Land. 9) On the tram back to the car.

What an amazing time we've had at Disneyland the past 4 years! I cried and cried on the way back to the car. Especially because Fox kept saying, "Bye Disneyland!" Deep down he knows it was our last time for a long time. Or maybe we can hit up Euro-Disney ASAP!

The One with the Swimming-Themed Bar Mitzvah

Saturday night I worked at my last event (waaaaaaaaaah!!!!). So many lasts these days, I can't handle it! 

It was a Bar Mitzvah at the Skirball Cultural Center. 

 I've worked one other Bat Mitzvah here in September 2011, but the Skirball Cultural Center is so ginormous it was in a completely different place so it felt all new.

 I came prepped with 40 layouts with a "blue/swimming" theme.

Here's where I scrapbooked and right next to me was a photobooth where guests got their pictures taken and then they handed me a copy of their photo strip and wrote a note to include with their picture which I then glued into the scrapbook for the guest of honor. At the end of the night he had an entire album filmed with memories!

Don't mind if I do!

 Aside from scrapbooking there were video games aplenty.

 A main area for dancing. 

The Etch A Sketch Man!

Jewelry makers. 

And that candy sucker guy from last Saturday was there too, but I didn't get any pics. I should have because it's so impressive.

Before the party started I had time to walk around and take in my surroundings. The adults were outside while the kids horsed around inside.

 I don't even know what kind of food was kept fresh under the saran wrap but it looked yummy!

And the inside: pretty dang awesome! It looked like we were under water in a giant shell - super appropriate for the swimming theme. 

There was a second level which I walked up to and got some sweet views of the getup. 

Sparkly pillows! Ooooh!

 I had a blast working playing! These things are always so much fun. Living the life of the upperclass for a few nights over the past 4 years has been one of my most favorite things about living in Los Angeles! Thanks Amy for the opportunities :)

The One with the Last Saturday

Saturday was our last Saturday in Los Angeles. I really need to start carrying tissues with me everywhere because I'm crying so much from sadness! Chris' parents were still in town and wanted to go and do something fun - more specifically, go to the beach! Chris' favorite place in the whole wide world! (NOT! I think this is his 5th or 6th time in all the 4 years we lived here :) And so we were off to Manhattan Beach! We threw caution to the wind and ditched our shoes in the plants.

It was a BEAUTIFUL and PERFECT day at the beach. 

Janey - always getting into mischief!

 Fox found some toys to play with. He has a radar and can detect toys from a mile away.

Our family of four | May 18th 2013 | Manhattan Beach, California

 And then we went to Cafe Rio for a delicious lunch. What a way to spend our last Saturday in L.A.!