a bag of chips

Life.

I bought Makena a flute the other day during a serious momentary lapse of reason.  She loves her "fwoot." My ears do not.

Is this not the most adorable sad face ever? Now that she's officially 18 months old (how the hell did that happen so fast?) and throwing curve-ball tantrums, we see this face a lot around here.

Little miss chow-hound wrapping up some lunch. I want to repaint my kitchen (now a fun lime green) and my dining room which is currently some sort of burnt orange that turned out nothing like I hoped it would. I'm seriously color-challenged when it comes to the walls in my house.

Giving daddy a through-the-screen kiss. Be still my heart.

Tomorrow's my last day hosting the Simple Studio blog so I should be a bit more present back here at ny own little bit of blogdom.

Easter Birthday.

On Easter Sunday, after mass and a lovely, healthy Easter lunch at McDonald's which we ate in the car, we headed up to Los Angeles to celebrate not only Easter with my family, but my grandfather's 82nd birthday, too.  Almost everyone was there and it was, as it always is, a treat to see everyone and catch up. And my aunt Judi made corned beef and cabbage, one of my all-time favorite meals. YUM!

It's also always a treat to photograph my family, and they are (usually) very patient and willing to let me. I love all my sweet cousins and my darling aunts and uncles, and my grandparents are so sweet and (usually) enjoy the chaos in their home that comes with the arrival of their progeny. I'm blessed beyond measure to be a part of such an awesome family.

So here's a glimpse at the Champlin family Easter Birthday celebration:

Uncle Coco wth Makena on the back porch.

The birthday boy himself, waiting patiently for some cake. He's 82 years old and took out all his candles with a single breath.  Impressive!

My cousin Sean's lovely girlfriend, Tawnya. This was my first time meeting her. She is utterly delightful and loves being in front of the camera. Lucky me!

My youngest cousin JoJo with Nadia.  They were so cute together!

And the dudes, JoJo and Aidan. They always enjoy each other.

The Desmond clan - Terry, Bob, Tawnya, Sean and Judi. Sean is leaving next week for two weeks in Thailand. Be safe Sean and have fun!

Stacy Julian Week.

Stacy Julian, founding editor of Simple Scrapbooks magazine, co-founder of Big Picture Scrapbooking, mother of five, author, scrapbooker and all-around wonder woman, is cutting back on her involvement with the daily grind at the magazine to pursue some other exciting opportunities.  So I'm here to share a bit of how I feel about Stacy.

Stacy is amazing. She is sweet and caring, bubbly and personable, genuine and truthful. She has this way of giving you her undivided attention when speaking with you that is so refreshing from someone who is always being pulled in a million directions. She has handled herself with poise and respect, class and care, and has been especially humble and sincere during tough times - a true role model. She has helped make scrapbooking as an industry what it is today, and to say she has been an inspiration to many is an understatement. For me, her philosophies and processes have helped make scrapbooking more manageable, fun and meaningful, and her columns, books and classes have been the backbone of how and why I continue to enjoy scrapbooking. I will miss her regular columns and amazing books, and I hope the staff at the magazine wrangle something out of her now and then to keep me and the rest of her fans happy.

Stacy has been my unofficial mentor for a while now and it has been my honor to know her and to work with her wonderful magazine and its talented staff.  I know that whatever she does from here on out will be just as fabulous and as beautiful as she is. Thank you so much, Stacy! Best of luck and lots of love to you, my friend!

Now, it's your turn. Call 888-HUG-STACY and leave her a message. Go on! You know you want to!

My new business card!

(The black line around it is just for ease of viewing.)

Thank you so much to everyone who helped in picking these images and making my new cards so beautiful. And many thanks to Chris Ford for her awesome design work.

Back soon!

Chalk it up.

My kids love chalk. They love making designs in the driveway, and they usually do this after a bike ride with dad. But really, the whole world is their canvas when it comes to chalk. And after a while, they, especially Makena, will have chalk from head to toe and look almost ghostly.

And on Saturday morning they took to covering the play structure in the backyard in chalk:

And, since I love their stinky, wrinkly feet so much, I took this:

I'm still hosting the Simple Studio Blog and will be there until the end of March. So if it's quiet around here, pop on over there to see what I've been up to.

Have a great week, and a Happy St. Patty's Day to you all!

Random Facts Layout. And some other stuff.

Here it is, a day or so late, but late is better than never, right?

Chris and Aidan got in late yesterday from Trinidad. It was unbelievably good to see them, both sides of my heart filling up simultaneously. You know the old adage about absence making the heart grow fonder? I totally get that. The week they were gone seemed way longer than the week we were there. Aidan did surprisingly well on all the flights, and with all the family gatherings and at the funeral. He's not too crazy about mosquitoes, though.

Today all the kids were home with me, Makena recovering from (another) cold and Aidan recovering from time zone changes and travel fatigue. We went to Costco and on several different occasions he told someone who worked there, "Good job" or "Thank you". Then he did it again at McD's at lunch to the guy taking out the trash. He's such a sweet kid (which, good for him, make up to the times when he's not so sweet).  Tomorrow will be like life back to normal (whatever "normal" is), with The Bigs in school, hubby at work, and Nadia and I hanging out together.

Adieu!

Tagged.

I got tagged!  Angie Lucas tagged me today, and this is what I have to do:

* Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
* Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
* Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Okay, here I go.  Prepared to be bored out of your skull:

1.  I have extremely ugly toes.  Trust me on this.  No photographic proof of any kind will be provided, and for that you should be eternally grateful.

2.  At 16 years old I got my first car.  A 1972 Ford Pinto, also known as Death on Wheels, was given to me by my step-grandparents who were the original owners.  The car was a hideous green and the lovely vinyl interior smelled like moth balls and Aqua Velvet.  But who was I to look a gift horse in the mouth.  A car - any car - meant freedom and endless possibilities.  At least it did for about six months until it died.

3.  In 1995 I attended the Academy Awards on the arm of my grandfather, a retired L.A. Times film and arts critic.  This was the year that "Forrest Gump" swept the majority of the Oscars and the one and only year that David Letterman hosted the show.  We sat 14 rows from the stage, in the center section on the aisle, and I spent most of the evening looking over the top of Robert Zemeckis' head.  It was an amazing night.

4.  My middle name is Margaret, after both of my grandmothers.  I guess with two grandmothers with the same name, it was a given.  Everyone always thinks the "M" stands for Marie.  Thank God it doesn't.

5.  I hate math. I don't get it, I don't understand it, I probably never will. And I married an engineer who doesn't understand why I don't understand it. Needless to say, he's the CFO of our household.

6.  I spent over 100 days in Haiti over the 11 months it took to complete our son's adoption and bring him home.  Haiti is an amazing place and its people are what make it that way. A place like Haiti changes you forever.

7.  I can touch the tip of my nose with my tongue. I'm chock full of talent, people.

So, there you have it. As promised on the Simple Studio blog, I'll be scrapping about this and I'll post it over there by tomorrow morning.

And now I get to tag seven people.  Bwahahahaha!

Christy Berkhouse

Lisa Dickinson

Lisa Tutman-Oglesby

Celeste Smith

Sara Winnick

Erin Sweeney

Stephanie

Have fun, ladies!

Thank you so much!

I'm overwhelmed by the response to my request for help in choosing the photos for my new business card.  You all are so sweet and I appreciate all your kind words about my photography.  Makes me all giddy.  =)

Here are the two winners:  #10 with 28 votes

and #11 with 22 votes:

The close runner-up is #6 with 19 votes:

#3 and #5 had 12 votes each.

And the kind folks at www.random.org came up with #31, so Anna (hannaskillet), congrats!  Email me at tcockburn@san.rr.com with your mailing address and I'll get a box of goodies out to you.

In other news, I'm hosting the Simple Studio this month, so pop on over for some scrapping and photo fun.  And go check this out:  www.tinacockburnphotography.com.  The amazing Chris Ford did this for me, too.  Woohoo!  She's super talented, she's fast and easy to work with, and she just plain KICKS ASS.  Love her. 

And thank you for your kind words and prayers from the last post.  It's been a tough week but your kindness has helped make it more bearable.

Now go enjoy your day!