About Me

My photo
Hi! My name is MaryAnn , in a nutshell , Im just a city gal who left the city to live life in the desert with dreams and a family I love very much. Im just an artists , tryin' to live my dreams , go where they take me , and just see what happens.

Friday, December 18, 2009

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Im A DT for Scrapbooking and Crafting Friends !

I am really really excited about this , I have been trying to get on a design team for a very long time now , and to be able to get a chance , I guess its getting on one at the right time , because all the other times I have tried to get on a design team , I always kind of knew it probably a good thing I didn't get on because things going on with family or friends , but now my life has slowed down , just a little I know this was definitely meant to be! I can't wait to show you all and bring you on board to some fun stuff in the scrapbooking and crafting world with friends. : P

Thanks Jennifer you are the best!

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

my new kitchen boys and girls!

new kitch. ; p

tryin to figure out this droid phone 4 the journey

my laundry 2 fold 4 trip. : p

final countdown 2 the journey

my painting/mixed media project I really need to finish

mixed media project

On a journey today...

I'm. Really excited to be goin on this excursion,I just got this new phone so I'm hoping I can keep you posted with all I am doin'.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

I will be workin' on teaching mixed media journaling & scrapbooking very soon!

Hi everyone , I have been contemplating some things that I have wanted to do, but didn't quite no what my nich would be , but I think I have found what I will be focusing on . I must say that Im very excited to be finally working on what kind of classes I will be teaching . I spoke to Suzi Blu and Kelly Norris , two mixed media artist on blogradio last nite and they had said you have to find what people are looking for .So last nite I thought about what they said and today it was like a lightbulb had flashed on my head. It was absolutely amazing! So I will let you know when I will be posting these new videos of my classes very soon! bye , and Muah!

Friday, November 13, 2009

Havin' a great friday and gettin' really into the whole vloggin' thang!

I realize that I sit in my little world out here in the desert , all my friends are far away and don't have much time to see them bcuz we all have busy lives , but the people who are my friends in this cyber world are special to me as well . I have gotten into this video vlogging thang and have put myself out their for the world to see . I have no fear , just excitement at the fact that I meeting people who believe and value the same things I do . This video vlog that I am putting up is basically a video telling all that when you feel down , to remember to choose to be free,be happy and live life to the fullest . Have a great weekend everyone and remember you are never to old or too young to follow your dreams! muah!



Tuesday, October 20, 2009

I am having a great day bcuz of Suzi Blu!

So yesterday was really an awful day , I just felt so crappy and I didn't know if it would get better , I thought karma was seriously gonna kick my ass , for being a meany to a misunderstanding . Well this morning I went over to the person I was evil to and apologized for being evil toward them and explained myself and they excepted my apology . After that I had submitted my artwork to Suzi Blu because Im taking one of her classes and I had been waiting for her to critique my homework , she replied back today and said she loved it very much with the much in caps . That just made my day ! I realized that karma will get ya back as long as you patch up the the wrong you did in the first place . So God is a great power of understanding that if you understand what ya did wrong and you correct it , your gonna be alright . So Im gonna continue to do my art assignments i hope to do a blog hop festival by the Bad Girls which is a mixed media project and you win some goodies on that so Im hoping to be able to finish that in time , I think thats due on the 25th of this month so wish me luck!

Thanks for listening even if I might just be talkin' to myself : P

Monday, October 19, 2009

So its been a while since I blogged , I don't know if anyone is listening or looking or watching , all I know is life truly is a big ass journey LOL! oops! Im cusing sorry , I really gotta turn over a new leaf on that if I want to be taken seriously . I have been just tryin' to get back into the swing of things , I stopped scrappin' for a while because I was missing something , I started getting into mixed media art , and got into artist such as Suzi Blu and kelly ray roberts , I find their stuff to be awesome and inspiring indeed . I love to scrap my memories and i will continue to do so I just needed my therapy away from it being that I just really needed to heal from my kids and how everything went with them after they graduated and it was just too painful to scrap all these happy memories that were gone away.Things have gotten better between them now their both off to college and my grandbaby is gona be 1yrs old . When I think about that its really weird,because a year ago we were in some bad times with our daughter , I love her very much but it was a hard time back then , now were better and we get along now , their was a time that I didn't think we would get here , but we made it.



This picture means so much to me , it signifies where I was at one time and how I would like to feel the way I felt when I was their . I am slowly but surely getting back to that place and it took 3 aganizing months to get there but I have reached a certain modicum of peace so I have grown from all the pain . I got back to feng shui and tryin' to clear out my house of all the clutter that was left behind by my kids and the years that I was away from this beautiful neglected home in the desert. I started to paint my room green and put up an organizing unit in my closet. I also got started on a painting taught by Suzi Blu , Im taking a class with her online called le petite doll class and this is what I have so far...


What ya think ? Not to shabby ay ? well I need to make it more shabby Im not even close to done with it , but doin' this mixed media art thing has been nice , its allowed me to focus on myself for a change and I have enjoyed it extremely .

So I have been busy , I have even got into vlogging which is making videos and putting them on You Tube , I haven't been able to make one in a while but they have been fun .

Life has been a bunch of different feelings and emotions and I do try to be a good human being its just hard sometimes when you have many other human beings that try to test your natural being which is being purely nice and respectful and if Im not in the right place , I loose it . Im only human ...and I know that...but it hurts when I become this monster of a being that is truly not me . I hate goin' their...I feel like a ugly person .I hope not to be jaded for too long , I know its a test to my soul . I always get over it , and become the beautiful being I am .

Thanks for listening.....

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

check out my first youtube episode! enjoy...

For my first time puttin' a video that I did or i should say " finished " I am very happy that I accomplished something today in the arts , especially in film .




My weekend getaway !

So I had to take my nephew Mikey to his school , he is off to college in East Bay which is near San Fransicsco , we were all pretty excited , I got a new camera and I didn't have the uploader so , the video & pictures will be comin' soon of the college excursion of Mikey . In the mean time I have pictures of the journey after the college excursion . So after sayin' our goodbyes to our college bound kid , we head off to Monterey Bay and end it with carmel .

I start off by taking a picture of a sunset goin' into the journey the night before.


I realized on this long ride , that life was changing very differently than it ever had in a while. For one, Mikey was no longer our responsiblity and he was going to be on his own , well... somewhat , I knew he was still gonna need our help , but he would also learn to be on his own which was very exciting and scarry at the same time. I thought this picture was symbolic , that God would be their for my kids and keep them safe .

So this was the first time Miss.Panda Woo came on a trip with us , since the boys Cootiki and Zorro have gone to the other side bless those sweet puppies , so Panda she hasn't been the same since they have been gone , so we thought it be best that she come along , she's such a good girl and she has tolerated moving from the desert where she was born , and moving to hollywood and now back to the desert after 4years , so she deserved a trip with us , and we were so excited to bring her along , I mean she's the last of our doggies and we just wanted to spend time with her . We luckily found a hotel that allowed pets so she was allowed to be in the hotel room with us and after we went to drop of Mikey to his school , we headed on out to have some fun on the coast with our Panda Woo.

Dave and Panda , we're gettin' ready to head out on our fun day.


So we were back on the road , feeling happy and sad , worried for Mikey , no matter what your still parents and even though your kids are 18 and in college you still love them and hope their gonna be ok , and we missed him already . But! when we saw this sign , we got excited to have some fun hangin' on the beach , so it helped ease our minds and just forget our worries . Off to Monterey Bay we go with Panda Woo in tow.

So we get to the beach and we were estactic! We couldn't wait to take Miss Woo out with us and go eat at this really cool place that we saw advertised on a billboard on the highway called Bubba Gumps and Dave and I had remembered that this restuarant krystal always spoke about ,it was her favorite place to go with her friends , so we were curious to why it was krystals place.

everytime I start to want to finish this something comes up where I have to go , so I will just put up what i have and just continue the story as we go mmk? I have many things I want to tell ya that I have been up to but , little time to put it all together to show you , its been crazy around here with all the remodeling and runnin' around , i really need to slow down .







Monday, September 14, 2009

I'lL tAKe YOu 2 ThE cAnDy sHOp , I'Ll ShOW yOU jUSt WAt I gOt! "


So here is my layout for the strip tease , the first Layout for Candy Shoppe Designs.The challenge was strips of papers,and the colors are also part of the challenge , This layout is about my daughter Krystal taking pictures of her friends , that is always kyrstals ritual , everybody is her muse , so I thought this was a great layout about my lil girl .


Saturday, September 12, 2009

Hey check this out at the Candy shop!

This is a new blog , its called Candy shop Designs , I really love it and they have the challenges and tasty prizes , so Im spreading the news :


The shop is 16 days old , so we're all celebrating! so go to my side link of the candy shop and click on in and get some Candy!

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

O.k. so Im behind but catchin' up! : )

So I have had a really tuff time these days tryin' to do my challenges , my remodel has been a real doozy I kid you not . So I didn't finish the colore challenge on time but I got it done and just as long as I can finish it and turn it in I still accomplished completing it so I feel good . So here is the layout I did for the color combos galore , its my friends little girl Julie at the poppy fields we went to last winter , so here ya go and sorry for the delay.




Thursday, September 3, 2009

Time for a challenge or two...

So I am soooo excited , Im about to embark on a couple of challenges , I can't wait! Im watching Rachel Ray about to go to the Food Network and put some recipes into my recipe box so I have all my recipes ready to whip out when my kitchen is done. So I am combinding two challenges into one . I usually do it with , Colors galore and Scrap out Loud! so here it is the colors are:

From Colors Galore...

So These are the colors Im gonna use and for the sketch and title will be the word of the week is:

" LISTEN "

And for the sketch is....


so this is it everyone now Im gonna continue to watch my Rachel Ray download some recipes and look at what pictures Im gonna use , talk to ya laters!



Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Well back to the scrap!

Well I helped my friends out to get out of their home due to the fires out here in cali and got to hang out with my family a lil' bit this weekend and now its the 1st again , so Im ready for a new challenge , so here is the next challenge for ,"scrapbook out loud ", the word of the week is, "SWEET", and this is the layout :

this challenge your to use your seasonal stuff like valentines ,xmas,4th of july etc.
so this should be a fun one.


Friday, August 28, 2009

I am great on this friday! : )

Well , yesterday I was bit weirry of things that I mentioned below this blog , Im better today , I know as time goes on I will get better and I will heal ,its all part of life , its the way its suppose to go . Its the big test that God /the universe has said I must learn to pass and ya know what.... I will...eventually. In the mean time I have been working on my cousins daughters baby scrapbook , wait til' ya see it ! I must say Im rather impressed with myself. I was so intimidated by it at first , I had my palette of paper that I had bought a whole pack of cuz I wanted to make sure it would be complete with color and ideas , and I definitely got that in the paper I bought , so I did the pages, so now today all I have to do is the journaling and the titles and the littles cards for the pictures to be placed on . I will put it up hopefully today if not today for sure tomorrow.

Im really excited to see my cousins . I don't see them much unless its at a wedding or baby shower , thats the only time I see them at all . all our parents are brother and sisters of a family of six , so all of us cousins their are a bunch of us. Me? well Im an only child , my mother didn't have anymore after me , but all my cousins well.. they have alot of brothers and sisters as well , so alot of cousins their is. Our parents were all kinda confused about life , while all us cousins we see life as , yeah it is what it is but ya get over it and you move on and ya have fun , you enjoy life don't look back at the past in the moment of hangin' with eachother , we are so happy when we see eachother , we seriously have a good time . Im really looking forward to see them indeed. : )

Well.... Im off to go and finish the baby scrapbook so I can come back here and show ya the final product I hope you all like it.

Off to meditate first and then get to work!

Thanks for listening and Nemaste!

Mary ann k.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

It's Thursday....

So its thursday... it was hard for me to get up today . I got to see my grandbaby yesterday , I was so excited to see her that i spaced on taking any photos of her . Its strange how , the other family doesn't feel we're good enough for her but, when they don't have anyone to take care of her , all of a sudden.... we are good enough LOL! Its rather funny really. I know i may sound jaded,crazy, and a bit unusual , because .... well... I am! I don't hold anything back and I do speak the truth about myself , I mean honestly ... why should I lie to myself or to you ?

Anyways I have been through alot in the last 2yrs and I won't denye that I should be goin' to therapy , but I have been their done that many years ago and it just doesn't do anything for me . Art on the other hand does , it brings me to understand to let it go on paper , in my hubbys music , we sing it , I should probably put it on here so you could hear it , its pretty music , we have been practicing alot lately and we're gonna be playin' out soon , so its been good , when we go to gatherings we sing them and people geniunly like them . I always remind myself that I can't look back to the past , that I have to move forward , I start to feel that way , and then I see my daughter one day , and then it all floods back . It doesn't flood back when I see her alone , but when her boyfriend comes around with her , it floods back hard . She's not her self when she's with him , I see a person trying to please him , but when she is visiting alone , just her and my grandbaby , I see my real daughter ,the earthy gal that I use to know , and thats who I like to hang out with.

As for my nephew , well he's become a real drama king . He thinks that everyone in the family is mean and cruel and now all he has is his mommy and whats funny when its time to rat her out , he will , he has , yet she's his favorite only because she's giving him money in some way . I love the kid , but if your not gonna learn how to be a good human being , and its best not to know us who took you from a heroin addicted situation and gave him everything and try to protect him from his parents . He has a girlfriend who is very pretentious and reminds him to stay away from us , so he does . He decided to go to a school in east bay , which is up north cali , just so he could be close to her , the girlfriend is goin' to Davis ,which is 2hours away , but this relationship , probably won't last , cuz I don't know how he's gonna be able to robot it for too long , and I know my nephew , even though he wouldn't admit it , I know he will get bored of being told what to do , I mean he's gonna meet new people and girlfriend isn't gonna like them cuz she had sifted through all his friends and by the time high school graduation came around , he only had 3 friends she allowed him to have and she went to the other friends and told them to stay away from him and basically told him he needed to stay away and he did it . He's also not allowed to be close to his cousin , my daughter anymore either . Thats how weird its gotten with my nephew. Thats why I know it won't last. A girl who claims to love someone is gonna say , hey , you need to make things work with your family no matter what . He's forgiven his mom ,and he should have , but he thinks the people who saved him from the addicted situation are now not worthy of his presence , is rather bizarre . Dont get me wrong , I don't mind not being bothered by him , he was hard to deal with , but we had good times and to not remember that is crazy , I guess people can block out the good times .

What I have learned though is that other families like the one that came from england , they gave me hope . That they were this sweet family , and they reminded me that to enjoy your kids while their around . I can tell they were , and I always reminded them of that , their only 14 once their only 16 once , and these kids loved their parents and I can tell their not gonna give their parents problems like mine did . Those kids they listen , they don't want to learn the hard way . I hope , for Andy and Annette that it stays that way for them , I can only imagine what it must feel like to wake up every morning knowing your kids are their and love you so much and respect you more than anything. They made me realize theirs hope for families out their all around the world , that not every kid on this planet is gonna dislike their families who loved them and wanted them to learn to be humble not think money is the way and only way to happiness.

There is hope for the children of this world . I hope theirs hope for mine....

Saturday, August 22, 2009

My weekend with my friends from Brighton,England .

So I have been speaking of my friends from Brighton and hadn't quite been able to tell or show you what kind of time we had with our wonderful friends , so here it is . I can't believe that a week ago I was having a great time showin' them around L.A. and now their already back in england. Time does fly when your having fun indeed. So here we go , they got here , I believe last two thursdays ago it would have been Aug. 15th . They came by with a taxi and we greeted them and headed out to a thai restuarant in hollywood . We were so happy to see eachother,we had a great time drinkin' some thai beer and then we headed back to the house in hollywood. Our house in Hollywood was really weird to us , because the nite before we were rushing to get it clean , not to mention get it cleaned out of the kids , because as far as they were concerned they were already out , yet their stuff was still there so i had to call both my nephew Mikey and my daughter krystal to come over and basically officialize their , " moving out ". if you will , they never want to do the grunt work , but its their stuff so they took out all their stuff one last time and both of them , even though they didn't want to let me in on their thoughts , I knew , were sad , but if they wanted to continue to live with us , they would have done so , so their was no need for the emotional depression, I was seeing from them ,but ... I was glad they still loved us even though they would never give us the time of day to know that lol! I know both of them will be back , their just teenage kids learning what the worlds about , and both of them wanted to learn the difficult way, so what are you gonna do? I guess I should give them credit for that , I mean whats so funny is they both know they can depend on us when they get in a jam , but they gotta learn! neways back to my story of my friends from england , so the next day we had to be back here for my kitchen to be approved by the permit lady so we had to wait until she came by and she took a while to get over to the house , so the mom of the bunch from England really wanted to see her friend that she hadn't seen for over 20yrs! She made it sound soooo dire , that if she left her waiting even for a minute it would be absolute sin! the drama of it all , nice lady butt... neways so she started to go into a panic and we finally got their to the hollywoood house and she was out the door waiting to get into the car saying in her accent, " we need to really get goin' because my friend is waiting for me , and i haven't seen her in over 20yrs . , " ok heard you say that a thousand times already! so I bite my lip and go with a smile , " ok lets be goin then , so we head out to Venice Beach. In this picture we were all happy to be hangin' out ,In fact, Im surprised the mama on the left is actually smiling for the picture because she was very stressed out, she was keeping her precious friend she hadn't seen for over 20yrs waiting,

So... we were having a good time and all was well.....

Now when ya come to Cali , you gotta be chill... you gotta relax , especially when your on vacation with some really fun , earthy peeps seriously , the kids understood that , the dad Andy understood that , but mama Annette , well she couldn't always dive into that mode ,especially when it came to her iceland friend buddy again, " that she hadn't seen in 20yrs!" So off we went . We're called La La Land for a reason , you gotta be chill , fall in...enjoy....


Buttt!!!! Their went Annette again , " my friend Ally is waiting we have to go", she was the most long playing record I had met at this point . Now I only met her once , and Im sure in the end she didn't care to much for me , I was totally not her type of friend , I don't think I met her maturity qualifications , she did say she was older , so....

She finally gets to her precious Ally , this woman was like a moviestar to me at this point , "Ally this! and Ally that! " ALLY!ALLY!ALLY! I was very curious to know what she was about , what made Annette just bow down so intensely , I was thinking did she come up with a cure for cancer? thats how much she looked up to this woman , I found out later , it was a bit obnoxious really , she's just like you and me.....


This was the infamous Ally , just a wanna be high class / middle class woman , single mom tryin', like the rest of us, to make it in an enteprenaur world . Beside her was her daughter Petra , who didn't care to much for us , but was very well cultured , she has traveled all around the world for only being 14yrs old . We were all kinda bored , they really should have had their time alone and we all could have checked out Venice Beach , I think they would have liked that alot more than just watching Annette converse with her Ally .


This is who I am , I don't try to be something I'm not . I love being me because I am a happier person when I can truly be myself . If someone doesn't like who I am , what I am , then it be best that ya stay away . I think at the end of their trip , mama Annette realized she probably doesn't want to know me . I am just a boheimian , hippie chic that doesn't meet her qualifications as a , " successful woman ", I mean , she couldn't even stomach my smiles thats how much she didn't like me LOL! what can I say....

Well this was part 1 of my lovely time with my friends from England , dont get me wrong ,I think they are an adorable family , it reminds me that we all tolerate one another, just so we can have a good time.I don't think I won't know these people again , I just don't think that mama Annette is really gonna be able to handle having me around , the rest of the family loved me : )
I will tell you more about this story later on... in the mean time , I got to get back to work on my lovely house , my grandbaby is comin' over to visit me tomorrow so i gotta tidy up . talk to ya laters!









Thursday, August 20, 2009

well I have been recovering...

So this week has been veggie for me , ever since my friends from england came and went , I haven't been the same . I enjoyed their company, but I guess getting the Hollywood house ready for them and being their tour guide , plus tending to my remodeling of my house up here in the desert kinda took its toll on me . I took the time to recharge by listening to my depak chopra meditation tapes to bring me back to life ,its been helping. Neways , Im heading back to hollywood again to visit my daughter Krystal and then I will be back here later . I still have my lyric challenge to work on and I need to go and see what other challenges their are for me on other sites as well. I hope all of you are doin' great and remember to regroup so you don't loose it scrap and meditate , it does the soul wonders!

Nemaste! Mary ann

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

This was a layout I did for Bombshell Stamps...


I really want to get on this design team so badly , I hope my dream comes true, we'll see. I did this layout for a stamp co. called Bombshell , I just love that tattoo , muerto sugar skull look about their stamps , they work with the line of work I'm in which is being in a rock band , hangin' out with my homegirls after painting the town red and scrap about it. This layout I did was on a band my hubby was in back in the 80's , I have to say they rocked indeed , they kicked some serious ass on stage , good times...

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Here is my layout for Cafe Mojo, Scrapout loud,dreamgirls....


Hi everyone! I hope everybody had a great weekend , I had a decent one I must say. I have been really busy with my remodeling of me casa but its movin' right along. While I have been in the mist of my remodeling , I did a couple of challenges in one layout which was really cool! I was so proud of myself that I was able to do that. Cafe Mojo wanted rub-ons , Scrapout Loud wanted the layout and word which was "listen", oh! and rip it real good! , Color Combo wanted certain colors which are in the layout , and Dreamgirls wanted wings . So I did all that hope ya all like that and can't wait for the next challenge.Thanks for the challenges , I do enjoy them very much , and I don't fear doin' a layout anymore. : P


Thursday, August 6, 2009

Hey everybody! its a lyric challenge : P

So I have fallen head over heals for Bombshell Stamps Seriously! Im just so excited about them , they ink up really well and when you stamp them on to your paper its always complete theirs no need to get your thin marker and trace over on top of the lines....their awesome! neways over at Papercraft planet they have a challenge and its called the lyric challenge , so basically your taking some bombshell stamps ( so ya gotta go over to my side bar and click onto the sacred heart tatoo & get some stamps) and your puttin' a song that you love basically, we all have our favorites so it shouldn't be a prob to find a song and scrap it! Its that fun and easy. So here is a sample from the gals over at Bomshell :




Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Im havin' a good time scrappin....

So I am having alot of fun with these challenges from all the stuff from the side bar . These are all the places I have either bought some stuff from and or do challenges on their site and they are always very challenging and fun so I suggest that you all swing on over and get your pictures out and start scrappin'. I just want to say , I always have a camera with me when I see my friends they always tell me , "why do you take pictures of everything?", I say , "because,for scrapbooking.",and I always tell them we should scrap,and for some reason it is always so hard to get them to get on board and scrap , so to all of you that inspire me all the time,hats off to ya!because that just means you make time for yourself to take your memories and make them pretty on paper. I think that lookin' at good times is such an importance to our minds , it reminds us that no matter how difficult times get , you can always look at the good times to make you feel better and that is so vital,I look at how much people are on anti-depressants and its overwhelming that theres so many people sad.I believe scrappin is Therapy. So on that note here is a sketch from Scrap out loud for this week:

The whole idea of this challenge is rip it good! so anything or everything das rip away!and the word of the week is " LISTEN " have fun cuz Im gonna! : P


Monday, August 3, 2009

Here's my layout for Scrap out loud.....

Here is my layout for Scrap Out Loud , I had fun doin' the challenge can't wait for next weeks. I did do the word of the month , and I did the sketch of the month as well , I just wanted to try the challenge in its complete form. : )





Well I didn't end up using the theme below me instead...

I decided since Dave and I have been just us now a days I thought I would focus on him and I and the journey we have been on for the last 20 years . Its funny when i look back on the day we met , we had met at the country club in reseda , his band was playing and my friend Ellis was his drummer. I remember , when I saw him on stage he was the cute singer of course LOL! , I remember telling my friend Deana that I thought he was cute. Anyways , we've been together ever since. So I thought it only be right that I focus on our love , cuz it is what has kept us goin' and we have been through soo much together and we're still together so here is a layout I did , I turned it in to a challenge for Color combo galore , but today I will be puttin' it into the scrap out loud challenge with a little more flare. so here it is not exactly done but it had to be done enough for color combo their deadline was last night and scrap out louds is tonight , I'll come back and show ya the more done up layout later on cuz Im workin' on it right now.


So here it is kinda done ,the picture above , i guess the main photo is of us today , notice dave has a long beard today LOL! and the little pictures are when we went to Europe ,these were in Italy to be exact , we were soooo happy , I remember we didn't tell anyone in the family we were goin' until like...3 days before we went because we didn't want them to try to sabatoge it cuz they would have tried if you knew our family.


Sunday, August 2, 2009

So Im workin' on a layout challenge or two...

Its sunday and a beautiful day it is , I started my day with the typical cup of coffee , watched my morning shows which are L.A. homes and Wine Country , and off I went to finish this layout I've been workin' on , again remember I call it my therapy for a reason , it helps me realize alot of things about my life , one , that I have had a great one with my daughter and my soulmate whom I love both very much with all my heart. When I look back at all these pictures that were taken 4 years ago , its astonishing how we were so happy. Family isn't always nice , I know because right now I find myself healing from sooo much anamosity and regret that has consumed so many in our family that would come back to hurt us ,but we had always just pushed it aside and continued to try to be happy. Here are some pictures that show how easy it was for us three , who use to say no matter how unhappy everybody in the family was , our little family remains unbroken.

These is one of the pictures I will be using in this next layout :


krys (chris) was so happy to be in Europe ,we took a trip out there for her graduation present from junior high , she had just turned 14. We loved Venice. Krys would say Im gonna move out here someday to study art for a summer . Well... her decisions have changed since she graduated from high school .Im off to scrap it and I will be back to show you how it turned out.

Friday, July 31, 2009

This is Challenge #2 for Sassy! : P

This is a Card I did for a challenge at Sassy Designs , I just got Dyana yesterday , so this what I came up with , the challenge asks for whimsical , I thought this was whimsy : )

As you can see on this picture I wanted to curl the edges of the paper to get a floating affect,but still have a puppet type feel.

So wish me luck everybody! : )

Mary ann k. " Da Therapy "

Thursday, July 30, 2009

My addiction is getting serious : O

So I have been around the rock n roll scene for a very long time and I have seen alot of my friends faced with being addicted to drugs and alcohol.Im fortunate enough to have never put myself into that situation and i pat myself on the back to never goin into that addictive place.BUTT!!! I think that has changed! OH MY GOSH! I am officially addicted to something!Its called Scrapbookin! Its CRazy! I find myself gettin up at 6am and then I start tidding up my house and then , I start scrappin'.Its amazing!

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Wow!

So I had a nice day reviewing what challenges on what sites I was going to atempt to do , I think I have got it going so lets see what happens , wish me luck! I have ordered some new stamps from Bombshell,so Im pretty excited about that!Well Im off to go see if my layout background is finished drying , I'll put it up when its finished : P
Talk to ya laters!

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

My day on Venice Beach : P


Well its been crazy with all the remodeling goin' on at my house ,so Dave said , " Cutie , lets go to Venice Beach ! " , I got soooo excited we used to go all the time when our daughter was small and we hadn't done it in a long time . I said , " yeah! lets go! "

Awww... Venice Beach how we have missed you! Its been so long since we had been here , it felt sooo foreign . Dave and I when we first walked in , sank right in with the rest of the people.

I know that in our state here in Cali , its been a great controversy about Marijuana , there's talk of legislators sayin' they might legalize it in Cali and then it becomes this whole , we will just have medicinal shops that allow you to get a medical card , say that you have back problems or mental problems and you can be legal. I tell ya , there must have been about 5 of these centers all up and down venice and ya know what? Everyone had a smile on their face I kid you not. I don't know... is it better to take all those meds like paxil or zoloft? or is da ganje all you need? Got to love CAli!

It was nice to see all the venders selling their stuff from art to incense , jewelry, clothes , you name it , anything crafty and neat it was all their for all to have .

This place is , what I like to call, " the Break Point ", this is like the halfway point where you start to feel tired . Its also the erea where the performers perform their music , swallowing fire , dance numbers , but on this day for some reason no one was performing , this is also where one of the scenes of Tenacious D took place , if you haven't seen this movie I suggest you go out & rent it , its very funny, one of my families favorites ,especially if you have teenagers highly recommended.

There were so many places to eat , from hamburgers to hot dogs , pizza , and some real elegant restuarants if you didn't want the junk food .

From everything from marjiuana shops to crafty stuff there was alot of tatoo/piercing shops as well and they were very packed with people also.

The murals on the walls in Venice are something to be admired . I'd like to meet the artist who created these murals and say wow! your art is beautiful!

We then decide to go kick it on the beach...

We were having such a great time and the sun was starting to set...

We were sooo happy , we're getting used to being on our own with the kids off in their own lives , it just feels so free , I mean I see what the kids feel , but its a different type of feeling , well Im sure some of you know what Im talking about.

We then decide to head back to the walk and get a beer at one of the pubs and watch the rest of the sunset.

This place , this sign , is truly a symbol of new beginnings for Dave & I . We are enjoying our first summer alone very much and we have many summers together to come . We had our daughter in our early 20's and always talked about how someday we would be alone and that we would still be young enough to enjoy a journey together by ourselves and its been a really great start .

Until next time...

























Friday, July 3, 2009

Its been a heck of a hot day !



So here it is summer and luckly my kids are off doin their stuff for the summer because my house is an absolute mess! We are doing a kitchen and add on remodel and its been a doozy to say the least. Im very excited , my hubby Dave and I have took the time to design and pick out all the stuff from the tile to the appliances on a reasonable budget so all is working out pretty well , but you really got to be hands on , you can't really just leave the guys to do all the work because they almost always forget the smallest thing like putting back the insallation or what I always ask " Thats not important right there ? " and they go , " oh yeah! your right let me ask the boss ", so Dave and I made it a point to be here through the whole day watching out for those minor details , these guys are great though , dont get me wrong , I've got to know them in the last 2 months and they are all really great guys with alot of ruff times they have been through , that I realize Im not the only one who has obstacles in my life and I feel assured that I will be ok in my hard times. So back to my house , I have no kitchen they have yanked that out , and as you can see my kitchen will now be a bigger kitchen , which use to be my porch. My new wall is going up and its about at least 100 degrees outside and these guys are workin' . I always supply them with cold water. Now this wall down below has been the biggest nightmare of all . Its been put up and taken down about 3 times because for some reason we cannot get this puppy straight . Hopefully this next time around will be all right , we're prayin' .
Anyway you all have a great 4th of july weekend and stay safe! hugs and kisses!