And September... is out of here

I guess I was too busy to blog in September. Not really sure what happened there, but I certainly found time to scrapbook in September.

There were challenge entries, like She Is a Horse Lover starring Trinity.

And there were layouts for a new team - I'm guesting with DigiZines by Teri for a bit!
This layout uses Rose Wedding Scrapkit available in her wedding store.

And of course, there were layouts for my home base, E-Scape and Scrap:
First up is Tabatha 2012 using A Matter of Time by GreenEyedLady Designs.

Next is another favorite of mine from September, Brother Teaching Brother, created with a picture of Logan and Connor using It's Fall Encore by Sweet Spot Designs.

I captured some cute memories of Trinity using I'm Ill by butterfly Dsigns.

And I wrapped up the month with Grandparent layouts to showcase DigiZines by Teri's new Grandparents Scrapkit. Check out my parents and my in-laws as grandparents.

And that's September in a nutshell. Unless you wanted to hear that we hit up Sea World for Labor Day and rode Manta 3 times, or that Life After 50 Hikes continued with a fun day in Oakland at the Oakland Nature Preserve, or that Lawless was awesome, or that work was brutal but we pounded out some results. All of that is true too, but pictures of these occasions are a bit light. See you in October!

Saying Goodbye to My Birthday Month

I try to make most of the year about everyone else. I really do. I'm more than happy to celebrate people's birthdays and accomplishments, to attend their events, to show my support. But I claim August for myself. I occasionally share, and I only make people celebrate for a week, even if I celebrate all month long, so I really think I am being more than reasonable. Just a little Tania-time can go a long way. You know what? Everyone cooperates. That is how awesome my family and friends are - they don't question my over-inflated birthday ego, they just roll with it. As much as I already love them, for that I love them even more.

Someone commented this year that I love the attention. I do, but not in the way you might think. What I love is being surrounded by love. For every birthday greeting I receive, every cake someone bakes me, every phone call, every email, every text message, and of course every gift, what I feel is an overwhelming sense that people, the people most dear to my heart, care. It's not something you necessarily get the rest of the year - we're all busy with our own lives and it's easy to overlook the people we love most. But on my birthday, when people take time out of their day to remember me for no other reason that that I exist, I can literally feel just how blessed I am to have them all in my lives.

This year Mom surprised me with a gift at the beginning of the month. I was so shocked that I'm not sure she got the reaction she was looking for, so I want it stated here for the record - Thank you, I'm really touched by your thoughtfulness, Mom.

On my actual birthday I walked into work to find... a cake on my desk! My friend and co-worker had it baked especially for me, so we had an inpromptu party in the afternoon. We had some very happy teams, that was a delicious cake. Another co-worker took me to lunch at Pesos, which I love. And now I have a shopping trip at BassPro awaiting me!

In the evening, after work and an airport run, Mom and Lisa had a party for me at their house. And Tabatha made me a cake!! Isn't it awesome?!

Although I'm still celebrating my base age of 25, they put some other kind of configuration of candles to represent what they call my "age of truth." Whatever. Age is just an equation. 25+14, wahoo!

There were gifts, too, which were super-awesome. Mom got me a chainsaw! OK, it's a portable chainsaw, but it is so cool!

And even a game of real scrabble, after months of Words With Friends.

I have no complaints, my peeps are the most awesome peeps in the world. Thanks for the fun birthday!