You may remember the invitations I’ve been working on for my sister-in-law Reneé and her fiancé Pete.  Well, production is in full swing now and I am printing, trimming and assembling like a crazy lady.  Below is a look at the final monogram seal that will be used on the outside of the pocket folder. (All staged on “Big Bertha” my affectionately named paper trimmer.)

A couple weeks ago I had the privilege of taking a mini-vaycay to So Cal with my dear friend Rose to celebrate her turning the big three-oh. We hit up Disneyland, California Adventure, and Long Beach and laughed like crazy the whole way there and back. Here’s a couple fun photos from our girls only weekend (except for Mickey of course!).

And last but not least, I thought I’d share a picture with you of the cutest dog in the world (I might be a bit biased on that). This is where Hunter spends most of his day; under my desk sleeping the day away and patiently waiting for a play break. My days wouldn’t be the same without him keeping my feet warm!

So that’s what is going on around here. How about you? What’s on your plate for the week?

I spent four weeks traveling around Japan during my “gap year” between high school and college and I too can proudly claim to have been stuffed into a train by an Japan Rail employee.  What does this have to do with anything?  This is kind of what my week has felt like.  I’ve gotten a record number of wedding invitation and save-the-date orders this week (thank you, thank you, thank you to my lovely clients!) but that means that all of those people standing outside of the train are you, my faithful blog readers.  I could only stuff so much into my schedule, and unfortunately, you are the ones that got squeezed out.  So instead of “working for the weekend” I’ll be working through the weekend, and hopefully things will be back on track next week.  Are you joining me on plowing through this Saturday & Sunday or do you have better plans?  (If you do, lie to me, and tell me you’re doing some terrible house project or something.)  TGIF!

If you follow me on Twitter you’ve likely already heard about the fire this morning at Neighborhood Ministries. I wanted to take a minute to expound on the 140 character blurbs and let you know how important Neighborhood is to me personally.

This past school year my husband, Ryan, and I spent every Wednesday night at Neighborhood as “leaders” in their program for high school students . I use the term “leader” very loosely because we generally had no idea what we were doing.  But we felt a connection with the heart and mission of Neighborhood and were up front with the people running the show there about our lack of Spanish skills and suburbanite upbringing and they still welcomed us to get involved wherever we felt comfortable.  We spent two semesters in a class with students who are learning to be leaders in their community and break the cycle of poverty in their lives and families.  These kids are amazing.  All year long they blew us away with their passion, motivation, dedication and innovation.  If only the media were reporting on these kids who are beating the odds rather than the ones that are beating each other up, we would all have a lot more hope for the future of this country and our world.

This morning a fire broke out in a warehouse on the Neighborhood Ministries property that destroyed a warehouse where they stored donations that had been collecting for over a year to supply their new micro-business enterprises, a Thrift Store and Mercado (a “store” where families can “buy” things they need by volunteering their time).  Thankfully the fire was contained to that one building, but the loss is still devastating.

All of the latest updates regarding how you can help are going up on Neighborhood’s Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/nmphx) where there is also an extensive list of the items they most need to replenish their stock (if you happen to live in PHX, this is huge!).   There is also a huge need for cold hard cash as they are now going to have to rebuild their warehouse.  You can make monetary donations online at their website  www.neighborhoodministries.org and you will receive a receipt for tax purposes.  Make sure to put “Fire” on the memo line.

Thanks for taking the time to read this!  This has been a tremendous hit to an organization that is important to Ryan and I personally and vital to the larger Metro Phoenix area.  Please forward this blog on to anyone you think would be able to help in any way.  Like, for instance, if you know Bill Gates or Oprah.  :)

We had a few hours to kill on Sunday before all of the LOST festivities kicked off and found ourselves roaming around Little Tokyo. Aside from stumbling upon some great food, and one of the most ridiculous one-man-band acts I’ve ever seen, we found this. Just in case anyone was looking to rent a bidet.

The Shirtless Men of ‘Lost’

Posted to New York Magazine by video on May 21, 2010

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This One’s For the Ladies!

Today has officially been deemed, “Thanks to LOST Day” on Twitter and I thought I’d jump on the band wagon and share some thoughts about what is probably going to go down as my favorite show of all time. You know, that show where when someone asks, “If you were stranded on a deserted island and could only take one TV series on DVD…” (sorry, couldn’t help it.)  So, here goes…

+ Thanks to LOST I wonder what my flash sideways life looks like.

+ Thanks to LOST I’ve embraced my inner geek and love it when people make fun of me for reading LOST blogs.

+ Thanks to LOST I interrupt the beginning of friends’ stories with “Wait, don’t spoil me!”.

+ Thanks to LOST I spent an entire weekend watching seasons 1 and 2 on DVD with a boy that would eventually become my husband.

+ Thanks to LOST I learned what “penultimate” means.

+ Thanks to LOST I’ve had a few sleepless nights

+ Thanks to LOST I discovered the LOST podcast with Jay and Jack which has been part of my weekly podcast routine for 3+ years.

+ Thanks to LOST I’m in love with Michael Giacchino

and last but not least

+ Thanks to LOST and the Lost Podcast with Jay and Jack, today I’m headed to L.A. today to be a part of the most epic series finale event ever! And to celebrate my birthday, which just happens to be on Sunday.  Coincidence?

Share your “Thanks to LOST” moments in the comments or send them to @papermango and let’s enjoy this weekend and the last 2 and 1/2 hours of LOST ever!

Hi friends, just a little note to say this lovely lady has taken me away with her and, well, I’m swamped.  Things will be pretty sparse around the blog until 2010.  Which thankfully (and amazingly) is only a couple weeks away.   I’m so fortunate to be gearing up for my parents, brother & sister-in-law to be joining us from Dallas for Christmas.   Pair that with a couple of huge wedding invitation deadlines and I’m sure you understand the reason for the break! :)  I hope whatever holiday you celebrate this time of year (Festivus anyone?) is spent with good friends, family and food and that you look forward to all it brings.

See you in January!

Today my husband and I are celebrating our two year anniversary.  I can’t imagine life without him and I’m so thankful for his love, support, friendship, encouragement and laughter!  Just last night he was assembling programs for a wedding that I have to get shipped out today while watching Monday Night Football.  I couldn’t ask for more!  Above is a picture of us on our anniversary trip to Vancouver, Canada last month.  I love you, Ryan.

Caffe Fiore has three locations in the Seattle area and I managed to conquer two of the three.  Their beans are locally roasted and they use local, organic and sustainable products whenever possible.  This is also where I got my only “souvenir” (an awesome orange travel mug).

Not the best picture of all time (sorry), but I was surprised at how good this cappuccino at the Elliott Bay Book Cafe in downtown Seattle was that I had to include it.  We stopped there for a bite to eat at the recommendation of a few locals and loved the food and the atmosphere of this basement level eatery.

On our way to Victoria, B.C. we had a couple hours to kill in Port Angeles before hopping on the ferry.  We were fortunate enough to stumble upon the Port Angeles Farmers Market where my good friend Christian and I were lucky enough to enjoy a guided tasting of some locally roasted blends. (Side Note: Christian just started a fabulous new blog to share some of his writing and general hilarity with the world. A good read you should check out here.)

Once in Victoria, our first stop was for (of course) coffee!  At the recommendation of our friends/tour guides who had been there before I ventured out of my normal cappuccino order and got a mocha at Mirage Coffee which was definitely the right choice.  Full of delicious chocolately flavor whithout being disgustingly sweet.

Next up on the vaycay recap will be highlights of The Butchart Gardens.  One of the most beautiful places I’ve visited ever.

I’ve been a bit out of the interwebs loop this week as I’ve been playing catch up from being in the Pacific Northwest (and subsequently getting terribly sick the second I sat on the plane heading home) but I wanted to whet your appetite for things to come with this photo from the trip.  The hubby took this in Downtown Seattle (he’s the creative one when it comes to photography) and I added a little Photoshop trickery to make it shine.  I hope to have a full recap next week that promises more eye candy where this came from.

Happy Weekend!