With Pleasure Comes Pain

Well, my awesome day at the beach did not go unpunished. I have 2nd degree burns on my back and today has been the worst day to endure it all. Why didn't I listen? Why?

And now for the sweet ;0)
Yesterday I arrived home early from the pain of my burn to a sweet little package from my dear friends in New Brunswick! It was filled with some yummy scrapping goodies that I can't wait to create with!

And then today I came home from work to a sweet box on my door step. It was my preorder of Tori Amos new CD along with the long waited release (in my opinion) of Sarah Brightman's "Live in Vienna" tour. I watched that on PBS so many times that I lost count. Now I can enjoy it anytime without the interruptions of people asking for donations.

So instead of wallowing in my self pity which was my original plan, I popped in Tori's bonus DVD and soaked it all in!

Just Beachy!

I haven't been to the beach since before Maribel was born. She's 2 now so.....yeah, it's criminal. So my friend Jen and I took little Maribel to Cocoa Beach for some well needed R and R! She was sooo excited to be going to the beach that when she woke up she climbed up under my covers to wake me up she said, "I go to beach!" She never misses a beat!

Rockin' out to some Veronicas wearing some pretty sweet shades! Thanks Aunty Jen!



On our way to Cocoa we crossed several bridges and everytime Maribel saw water she got soooooooo excited and said, "BEACH!!!" Soon following some crocodile tears when we told her that we weren't there yet.


Maribel saw another little girl with her floater on and she looked at me and said, "Mine, at home." When I told her that I brought her little one, she jumped right up and ran to our spot on the beach and asked for it to be blown up. I huffed and I puffed and well, it was worth it!


The waves were a little rough but that didn't stop our little Floridian!




I can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday! Can you? Too bad I forgot to apply sunscreen to my back after I lathered up my little fair skinned princess. I will remember this day for a long time to come.

Maribel's First Trip to Sea World

Awhile back when my cousin Nichole came down to visit, I bought the Fun Card for Sea World which allows me to come back all year for the price of one ticket. Yeah baby! I really wanted to take Maribel this weekend seeing that it would be so nice out and of course Joe wanted to come too so we bought him a Fun Card too so we can come back any time the rest of the year.

It was wicked hot, actually we broke the record for the seasonal temps. It reached 99f which is pretty brutal if you ask me!

We got there and it wasn't too busy. Our first stop was to see the baby dolphins and preggy mommy dolphins in the Dolphin Nursery.


How cute is this little guy? He kept showing up and showing off his moves LOL


On our way to the Shark cavern I couldn't help but take a pic of the sweetest site ever!


In the shark zone, cavern what ever it's called Maribel held on pretty tight to us. I wonder why? Maybe it had something to do with Joe helping her "check out" the shark.


Naturally Maribel had to see the "horsies" so we went to visit the Budwisers Clydesdales.




We went looking for Shamu but he was no where insite. Go figure!



After the realization that we aren't going to see Shamu we headed over to the "Pets Ahoy" show. All the pets are rescued pets trained to put on this awesome show. Maribel really liked it! Afterwards we took Maribel to pet the pooches from the show.

Then we went to visit the Sting Rays and lucky us it was feeding time! Joe picked up some tasty fish treats for the sting rays.


They were so excited to see food that they gave Joe and Maribel a little um... welcome.




And our final stop for the day was Dolphin Cove. Maribel really loved the underground viewing, and so did Mommy and Daddy too. It was air conditioned. Ahhhh!

This is my most favorite photo of the entire day. We had the whole cove to ourselves so I took full advantage of it!



Maribel was mesmerized by all the different animals she saw. She actually fell asleep in her stroller on the way back to the car. That almost never happens.

Happy Birthday, Cupcake!!!!

24 Years ago today the world received a beautiful girl that will forever change the lives of all who meet her, and I am so blessed to call her my sister! Well by marriage anyway, and I may have chosen her brother but she was my bonus! <3

Happy Birthday Anna!


For her birthday I made her this cupcake that was soooooo fun to make! Her two favorite colours are pink and green (which are mine too so that made it even more enjoyable to make) so I thought how appropriate! It even has a secret spot for a lil' som' som';0)

Here is a close up on the tasty treat!





And this is the best part! I hooked her up with a Starbucks gift card to sweeten her day!



I met her with her coworkers at this awesome Italian resturant called Il Pescatore'which was so fun! Anna didn't know that her family was going there too, so it was a sweet surprise! I have overheard her saying more then once that this was the best birthday she has had in a long time!

YAY! Memories!!!

ROCK ON SISTA!!!!

On Friday my awesome SIL and I went to see The Veronica's out at St Pete.
YA BABY!!!
The drive down was long and with very full bladders we made it in 2 hours with three wonderful clumps of Friday rush hour traffic. But we were able to make it on time plus with Princess Parking to boot!



Of course we had to take the classic together posed picture while we waited in line. Notice the shirt Anna is wearing? Yeah, there was this chick ahead of us that had the same shirt on.
Naturally Anna wore it better ;0) Luv ya hun!



She also wore these sassy heals thinking that we would be sitting but when we got inside it was standing only so needless to say she made the mad dash to the car for comfort over fashion. Good choice Anna!
Oh and I got asked if I was 21! *sigh* I just thanked the bouncer for making my evening! Oh to be 21 again!

When the Veronica's came on stage there was the mad rush that squished us all together like crumpled sardines. I grabbed Anna's arm so I wouldn't lose her. Here are some pics from the concert! After awhile they all started looking the same. I mean what would you expect, they sing so it's not like you could tell what song was what.






I love that they wore $5 tee shirts! True rock stars!







And of course the concert rocked!!! And very hot!



Just look at that shine! No, wait. Don't look at that shine! *blush*

I Am a Negligent Posting Monster!

Sooo looking back I haven't posted anything since February. So Sorry!

The end of February was very busy for me with Maribel's birthday and my awesome cousin Nichole coming down to visit I just got all lost in playing tourist.
Then following February's madness came March's insaneness that before I knew it April rolled around.

Well now April is closing and up comes another busy month (to be sure) that I better get things back on track. So Better now then never I say!

So let the updating begin!

Oh but first here are a couple of my recent LOs to keep you busy while I gather my updating thoughts *giggle*

Here we are at Easter in our Easter dresses. I used a technique that was shared over at Skrapnchat to use a circle punch in amazing ways I never thought of!


This is one I did for April's LO tag over at Skrapnchat
I originally wanted to use these pics and pp for another challenge but as soon as I saw the LO I would be lifting I quickly changed my mind and used it for this one instead. ;0)


I did this one for a challenge to lift another's LO of my choice and so here is one that I just smile when I look at it. This is my super cute niece daydreaming away while she colours on the marker packaging. Hee hee.


and my final one for now is one I did for April's sketch over at SnC. I wanted to get all my Easter pics scrapped before I lose the desire to scrap them and want to do something else. We usually have to steal our kisses from lil' Bel so this was a pleasant surprise to have her dish out the kisses so freely ;0)



Thanks for reading and I promise to update a little more often. Pinky swear!

Maribel's 2 Year Portraits

It was that time again for Maribel's birthday portraits so we returned to Portrait Innovations to have them done. These are the ones that we picked.

She was going to wear her leg warmers on her legs, but she wanted to wear them on her arms instead. Who am I to argue?


I just love how "Rockin" she looks here. Everyone says how 'Maribel' this photo is!


She kept running back to sit in this chair after every picture so I asked her to bring it over to take a photo of her in it. She was oh too happy to comply!


The Carlberg family at the beach, so to speak. LOL


That sailor dress she's wearing is one that Grandma bought for her. Her grandpa was a Navy Chief so I really wanted to surprise them with this photo in her sweet dress.




For some reason, this one is everyone's favourite. I have no idea why but Joe really wanted this picture printed. I guess it is this years "goldfish" photo.


I saved my favourite for last. I so love this photo of us! What this picture shows, is how Maribel is to us! She is the center of our family. We love her so much and her smile makes us smile. She is our pride and joy, and I wonder everyday how I got to be so lucky!


Ahhhh family! My family!

Happy Valentine's Day

~*Happy Valentine's Day*~

Hmmm Just Thinking

I know I know! It doesn't come to much good!

I've been scrapping a lot lately and during an online crop last weekend at Skrapnchat there was this one challenge to doodle on a layout. Well this is what I came up with.


I loved doodling so much that I kept on going on some other pages too.

I got the robots from a mug I bought from Target a couple weeks back. I thought they were so cute that I had to make my own! Then I cut out the tree and put Joe to work punching out the leaves. Heh heh He was happy to play with my punches so he didn't mind. I picked a good one! ;0)

Then I had this idea here...

This was for another challenge that had a bunch of either or's in it. I wanted some journaling and stamping but I could only choose one so I decided to make my own embellies from a Pink Paisley stamp I had and that way I win either way! or both ways.....I dunno. You know what I mean! ;0)

So that got me thinking. I'm sure you can see the smoke back up in Canada LOL but I might take a crack at making my own embellies and selling them on my little Etsy shop. Of course I will have to make some prototypes but that's the fun part! I get inspired everywhere I go so why not put that to some use, eh?

Well I'm off to see what I can create! Ta Ta for now!

I am Thankful for Goodly Neighbours

This morning in Orlando the temperature read -1C (30F –ish) which is uncommon for Florida. This was our coldest morning this winter so last night I made sure I put DD in her footed fleece pjs to keep her nice and toasty.

DH is still out of town, so I have had to make sure I have extra time in the mornings to drop DD off at Gma’s house before work. This morning I woke her up, armed and locked the house and we headed out to the car. It was beyond chilly, it was c-c-c-cold!

Because I was carrying DD in my arms to keep her warm next to me, I opened her door and tossed my purse and keys in the front drivers seat. Totally normal for me. I buckled her all up and placed my winter vest over her to keep her warm (remember we are not used to this cold down here) and shut her door. I went to open my door to get in and start the car only to be denied access because somehow when my keys fell onto my purse, they locked the doors. I stood outside my car, looking inside through my tinted windows to see that yes, my power locks are all in working order and yes, I locked my baby in my freezing car with my purse, keys, and cell phone sitting in the front seat. Totally shocked that I had done this, I took a deep breath and started looking around my neighbourhood.

All was quiet on Justus Dr. Too quiet! Taking more deep breaths as to not panic, I saw that my one neighbour’s house had their TV on. I knocked and the husband came to the door. I relayed my situation and I asked if I could use his phone. Instead, of offering me his phone, he offered his AAA. I was so grateful! I quickly returned to my car so see my smiling angel. She was entertaining herself with her toys and we played peek a boo while I stared longingly at my keys and purse wondering how I could have been so bird brained. Well, while I was waiting, my neighbour came out with a jacket in hand and informed me that he was older and I was not going to argue with him and handed me the spare coat.

AAA came and popped the car locks open in under a minute and all was well. We were a little late but Maribel was safe and totally unaware of what happened this morning. My neighbour stayed outside with me while we waited for AAA to come and save the day. I asked him what I could do to repay him, he just smiled and replied, “Just be happy.”

I felt more than happiness my heart for my neighbour, I felt gratitude and love. Charity is the Pure Love of Christ and I am so blessed to have him for my neighbour.