I'VE MOVED!

DIVA LOCA HAS MOVED...
YOU CAN NOW FIND ME @

http://www.cestlaviestudioanddesign.com/diva_loca/

DON'T FORGET TO UPDATE YOUR LINKS!

'NIGHT LOVLIES

Jessica Sprague - Class 1

Hi lovelies.

Super fast post.

I'm doing the Jessica Sprague photo editing class this week and who knew her first lesson was exactly what i needed to learn to spruce up my NEW blog!

yahoooo

here is what i did with assignment one - is she a cutie or what????

...been slackin'!

Hi lovelies

Mea culpa. I haven't been the best blogger of late I know. Life is much different here in the 'Peg than what we are used to in Ottawa. It's busy. Well busier I guess.

There always seems to be something going on.

It's Saturday night and I'm chillin' with my main man. Nope, not Denis. He went back to Ottawa last Monday :(. Fortunately we snuck away for a romantic weekend for two at a nice lodge in the Whiteshell Provincial Park.

but I digress

Tonight I'm hangin' with the cutest of little boys - my nephew Hayden. We have been playing Wii and watching Pokeman and he's eaten enough peanut butter toast for a small army. He's been SO MUCH FUN today!

We went to Rylee's birthday party and watching Hannah Montana. "Poor" guy was surrounded by a bunch of little girls and ohhhhhhhh he loves the girls!!!

I'm actually working on a new blog on typepad so I've had less motivation to post on here. I should try to post more often in the meantime.

We are still waiting on some results for my dad. This limbo is tough. Some days we are totally optimistic and others it's not as easy to see the positive. Hopefully this week will give us more answers.

I've been wanting to do this fun little blog thing for a bit. I've seen it on a few different blogs...most recently on Dorrie's (OH HOW I MISS MY DORRIE LAURIE CATCHATORIE)...

here we go!

Outside my window...the sun is setting and the rain can't decide if it should fall...

I am thinking...it has been so much fun chillin' with Hayden today and I hope Jodi comes over tonight.

I am thankful for...my Denis...he makes this life so much better!

From the kitchen...peanut butter toast for Hayden (it's a miracle he hasn't turned into peanut butter) and leftover pizza for me with a diet grape crush!

I am wearing...COMFY CLOTHES! Yoga pants and a pink shirt.

I am creating...not much for myself lately. Did some creating with the kids on Canada Day - Rylee made pom pom creatures and I helped each of the kids decorate clipboards. SO FUN.

I am going...to get Hayden ready for bed soon.

I am reading...Lauren Conrad's new book. I think it's written for about a Grade 3 or so reading level! Ha!

I am hoping...My dad gets good news about his health.

I am hearing... Hayden playing Raving Rabbids and laughing A LOT. no better sound than children's laughter (not sure why it is underlining)...

Around the house...mess mess and more mess. but the mess can wait. i've got a hot date with a 7 year old tonight!

One of my favorite things...my new iPHONE. why the heck did i wait so long???? I heart it and i'm already SERIOUSLY addicted.

A few plans for the rest of the week: not too sure. Hopefully meeting up with Lesley and Eric at some point tomorrow...they are in from Ottawa. I'd like to see the movie Up and have asked Hayden to be my date! If it's nice there will for sure be some swimming in the mix!!!

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

Hayden and I were having some fun with Photobooth earlier. You can sort of see my new haircut. I need a better picture of it. It's short. VERY SHORT. and It's blond. I love it! It's fun and sassy for the summer and much less upkeep!

Well lovelies, I better get back to my date. Although he's enjoying himself so much (keeps repeating "THIS IS AWESOME") that he may no longer need me. :)

'night lovelies

Some more photos from the Vicki weekend...

Hi lovelies.

We are more or less settled into life in Winnipeg. It has been a whirlwind week so far between driving for 3 days and trying to help out as much as we can around here. Yesterday we spent the day helping in the yard. We're going to have to rename Denis "donkey" or something because he has been a total workhorse. Seriously. The running joke he has when my mom thinks up a new project for him is "make a list."

I don't know that they will allow him to return to Ottawa.

We are still in limbo as far as my dad is concerned. The next step in the process is to "stage" him. If he's in Stage 1 or 2 there is reason for hope but Stage 4 is quite grim.

His spirits are up and he's taking time to enjoy life and the people around him. Denis and I had an amazing day with him on Friday...he was really down in the morning so I offered to help him with his errands and D wanted to come along. We hit so many places looking for parts for the pool and everywhere we went he ran into friends and spread many hugs.

Denis and I even convinced him to join us for lunch at the Olive Garden. He was in his glory and really spreading his joy. We were definitely able to turn his mood around.

We also celebrated Rylee's birthday on Friday night so he had more fun there!

I'm finding it hard to keep on top of my blogging/e-mail/facebook/life. I rarely have time for television if you can believe that! We're really trying to spend as much time as possible helping out.

I'm adding a few more pictures from the Vicki weekend tonight and I'll maybe put together a collage or something of some Winnipeg pics so far because there are SO MANY of them!!! I must put a disclaimer on these pictures...although it may appear we had had SEVERAL pitchers of beer, we only had 2 drinks each...blame it on Smiths Falls...








LOOK! even mama is a rockstar...




Well - off to bed. I have my first day at our Winnipeg offices tomorrow. The staff there is great so I'm actually looking forward to it. My parents are picking up the kids from school so we'll have supper with them and then I have a HOT DATE with my Jodi (so very excited) to watch the Bachelorette and I FINALLY get to see her new house...

I'll try and post more often, I promise

'night lovelies...

Katie...this one's for you...

The first few seconds were accidentally cut off this video...the part that was cut off is "Katie, this one's for you..."

Hayden went all out just for you! Hope you like it...



Well, we made it safely to Winnipeg yesterday after three days of driving. I didn't mention anything on here because it was a surprise for most of the family (other than my parents)...

My niece and nephew were SO VERY EXCITED when they saw us and the feeling was DEFINITELY mutual.

I'm going to be working from Winnipeg for a while as we figure out my dad's health concerns.

I am off to get ready. We're going to run some errands and then D and I get to pick up the kids from school and I think we're going to take them to the Blue Bombers training camp.

We took some pictures last night that I'll try to post later. I'm so behind on posting. Rylee and Hayden BOTH shot AMAZING shots with our cameras. I think we have found our little assistants!

Have a great day lovelies...(hopefully it is MUCH warmer where you are - I'm pulling out the woolies)...

This one time in Smiths Falls...

Hi Lovelies

I don't have long to write...Janet and Dorrie have already headed to the store and I haven't even showered!

Just wanted to pop in quickly and say what an ABSOLUTELY AMAZING weekend we've had yet again in Smiths Falls. I have not stopped laughing since Friday night. Seriously. It feels incredibly amazing for the soul...I am so grateful for this weekend. I swear. There are no words.

And I just have to throw this out there...the weekend was 100% DRAMA FREE. ohhhhhhhhhh that feels so so so good. Just lots of creativity, laughs and wonderful friends.

Oh jeez. I think there might be some drama now...I just stole the title of Dorrie's blog post. OOops. Don't tell her ok?

Well I really must run and get cleaned up for a last little bit of cropping.

I have SO MANY STORIES TO TELL but there is no time now so I'll just leave you with a quick photo and this...we met the lead singer, he gave us a couple CDs AND he even autographed mine with a sharpie...I'll fill in the blanks at a later date!

I think this weekend just may require a mini album of its own!!!

Just one question...why do I look like the only crazy in the photo???

Thank you thank you thank you Janet and Dorrie. I seriously can't thank you enough for this weekend. SERIOUSLY.

Now move over I have four songs to listen to...

Shopping spree...

Hi blog friends

I've been MIA this week. To be honest, it has been a tough one. On Tuesday we got word that my dad has cancer. We know it is an aggressive type but other than that we don't have much more information. He is seeing his oncologist this Thursday so we should get more info then... please keep him in your thoughts.

Denis and I headed to the States yesterday for some good bargains. We wanted to check out the Waterloo Premium Outlet mall along with a few of our fave stores in Syracuse and the surrounding area.

Although we went to bed later than planned/hoped on Friday night, we did manage to wake up by 5 yesterday morning and we were on the road by 6.

Traffic was great, there was no line at the border and we reached our destination by just after 10. The outlet mall was HUGE and the deals were amazing. We both got some great stuff at a great price.

I think out biggest score was at the Nike store. We both got ipod-enabled shoes for RIDICULOUS prices. I also got the little ipod thingy...D already has one.

Here are my new shoes...(they are purple on the inside...tres funky)



After a few hours at the outlet mall in the VERY HOT SUNSHINE and crazy crowds (man it was gorgeous outside yesterday) we made our way to Fayetteville to hit the Joann's and Super TARGET. What is is about Target? I can't explain it but I sure do LOVE IT.

At Joann's we found a few fave fabrics for photoshoot backdrops...

And this Eiffel Tower wall decal - not sure where we're going to put it yet...(note, the stars and Je t'aime Paris are separate. Still not sure if we'll be adding those - they are a bit cheesy for my liking)
I hit three different Targets yesterday - did I say how much I love Target? Here are just a few of my yummy Target finds. I also managed to pick up a bathing suit, shirt and a few other odds n' ends...

A new lunch bag and purse - for some reason I TOTALLY thought of Katie when I saw this purse...

Is it just me or is YELLOW the new pink? This purse ALSO has a purple lining...

I also picked up a new green spring coat. This one made me think of my mumsy...

Next we were off to Carousel Mall where I picked up some new clothing...a few of the ones I could find online...


This jacket worked well with everything I tried on but I was a bit hesitant b/c of the price. Once D saw it on, he encouraged me to pick it up...the bonus, when the girl rang it in, it went from $89 to $19...WOW - what a deal!!! Add on a few pairs of jeans (also on clearance), some underwear, a new bathing suit and maybe an unmentionable or two, a new pair of shoes and my mall shopping was complete. I did pop into Bath and Body Works but having just stocked up in Guelph I resisted the urge...
Our next destination was D's "toy store" - Gander Mountain. I dropped him off to shop for hunting gear while I hit another Target and a Wal-mart. I was much less successful in those two but at that point we were pretty pooped from all of the miles we'd covered in "speed mode" and the lack of sleep. Something very funny/scary did happen to me while at Target. I was just wandering trying to kill some time and I ended up in the toy section (where I did find a little surprise for my friend Helene) and as I turned into an aisle ABOUT 15 DOLLS started making noise in unison. I nearly jumped out of my skin!!! It was the creepiest thing in the world. And also quite funny...

I swung back to pick D and all his new gear up and then we made our way to Watertown...

We had just enough time to hit ONE MORE TARGET (thank goodness b/c I found that yellow purse) before closing.

It was time for some supper and we hit one of my FAVOURITE restaurants...Applebees! We tallied up our expenses and our big big savings and then made our way to the border. The ride back was VERY stressful. I really hate the stretch of highway from Syracuse to Ottawa at night. I HATE IT. There are so many animals, particularly on the American side. I should have had a few drinks with supper to keep my nerves down. We did manage to make it home safely shortly after 1 a.m. (so if you are keeping track, that was nearly 24 hours) and by that point both of us were totally exhausted and spent.

We definitely managed to find some amazing deals but by far the best part of the day was the time spent together. We had great talks in the car with all the driving and lots of fun just being together. We were in great "sync" with each other's time and we both got to see and do everything we wanted to. It was just what I needed after the week I've had...

Thanks sweets - you really ARE the best.

Well, it looks like Monday is nearly here again. Yet another weekend that flew by at lightening speed. I'm looking forward to week 2 of my photography class tomorrow and of course THE BACHELORETTE...(and yes Louise I'd be happy to discuss with you ;))

I hope you all have a great week lovelies. I'll try to pop in once or twice.

'night lovelies,

Today feels just like Christmas...

I've been looking forward to today for probably close to two months now.

My excitement involves two women.


1) Maggie Holmes
2) Jillian Harris

Denis need not be afraid. I'm not switching teams so to speak. I mean these women are beautiful and all but I'm not trading in my hunka hunka burning love anytime soon!!!

I started my much anticipated online photography class today. Maggie Holmes is pretty well known in the scrapbooking world and she is also an AMAZING photographer! I have already completed all of my assignments for week 1. Yes. In the first day. Mom - pick yourself up of the floor - it's true!

I can't get over how what she writes just "makes sense." I had that same feeling when I took Kathy's class at Scrapfest.

I don't have any incredible shots to show off just yet. This week's lesson was all about ISO and how the different settings give you different pictures. I am SO PUMPED for the next six weeks...

The "other" woman is the bachelorette - Jillian. She was my absolute FAVE on the last season of the Bachelor so to know she has her very own show now...oh yeah! If only Jodi was here to watch it with me...

The countdown is on - only 35 minutes to go until showtime.

It has been a wonderful, busy, relaxing, fruitful weekend.

Friday night we ran a few errands after work and spent some time together. I got to spend lots of phone time with my girls Chris and Cawi. It was heaven.

Saturday we celebrated Kyle's first birthday. What an awesome little boy! He's such a little sweetheart and he's super easygoing and well behaved.

We bought him a Little Tikes car - at least I think it's Little Tikes. Keith sat him on the box before opening it and he kept rocking back and forth and laughing. I think he liked the box more than the car!!!

An added bonus was that we may have created some business for C'est La Vie. We put together a video slidshow of pictures of Kyle's first year set to music together. It turned out pretty good considering that we didn't start it until a few hours before the party. Talk about TEAM WORK!

We were the last stragglers at the party so we got in a nice little visit with Tanya and Keith as well - after all of the craziness!

Here are some pics...






Note to self - before having children must do some serious Michelle Obama arm work. I could barely move my arms at all and I was in EXTREME PAIN on Saturday night from lifting Kyle repeatedly over my head. Ha! D had a really good laugh at my expense...

We spent ALL DAY SUNDAY learning CS4. The primary focus was Photoshop. I am so lost but fortunately D has a much better understanding of it all and was able to help me.

We've been taking life easy today doing a bit of this and that. We read my class material and we both did the homework (seperately - I'm not cheating!!!).

We worked on our CS4 course material as well. All I can say is that Illustrator is MUCH HARDER than Photoshop!!!

This evening we've retreated to seperate areas of the house...me in the bedroom, D in the family room. He's watching the 24 Season Finale and I'm watching Dancing with the Stars and the Bachelorette. It was a tough call to determine who would get the HDTV for this evening. I mean yes 24 has high action and all that jazz but COME ON - 25 BACHELORS. I think I'M THE ONE that needs the HDTV in this case!!!

Well - 10 minutes to show time. Must be all focused and ready.

I hope you all had a wonderful and safe long weekend....

'night lovelies!

i told you so....

i knew it
i knew it
i knew it

none of you believed me but i knew it all along.

and now we have proof.

Heidi wants to be my BFF.

SO THERE.

What the world needs now...

is less...

and a little more...

In trying to find the flair I have to admit, I came across my new favourite piece of flair - this one is dedicated to MISS THANG (I swear I didn't create it sweets, I SWEAR)...

i DID it...

I did it
I broke down and I did it....

I've been a total amazing prostar when it comes to spending in the past few months. I really have.

I mean let's be serious. Less than $20 on scrapbooking supplies since January. LESS THAN $20. NO WAIT.

I lie
I forgot about scrapfest.

So really it's less than $40 in the past few months. That's pretty much a record for me. I used to spend more than that in a week.

But tonight I did it. I broke down. I've been hemming and hawing (mom please don't critique my spelling - D and I have had a bottle of wine tonight so it really doesn't count) and I FINALLY broke down just before the deadline and I ordered these....

I so heart these. I was ready to give my right arm for these. Not my left arm b/c let's be serious. I need my left arm to write. And to eat. But not to play sports b/c I play sports with my right arm. So reallly - I've traded my ability to play sports for a few wall decals. But these aren't any ordinary wall decals. These wall decals COME WITH BLING. Yes folks, you read that right...BUILT IN BLING.

Does it get any better than that? In my next life I WANT TO COME with BUILT IN BLING. Is that too much to ask?

COME ON. I'M A DIVA. A DIVA LOCA - I DESERVE TO COME WITH BUILT IN BLING in my next life.

Are you with me?

So the long and the short is my new fave online scrapbook joint (notice I said "online" Jenn so that you are not offended) is House of 3. Seriously. It does not get any better than House of 3. Well maybe it does. Maybe D and I living on a beach outside of Barcelona is about as good as it gets but I digress...

Now I just have to wait for these beauties to arrive in the mail. I believe these are the "finishing touches" so to speak on my studio. Plus - HOW FUNKY WILL THEY BE as a backdrop for photo shoots?

Too cool.

Too cool for school

'night lovelies!

this and that...

Hi blog friends

Long time no speak

I have made a few posts lately but do they really count when I'm simply sending you over to Katie's blog?

First things first....

Do you like the new blog makeover? I have Katie to partly thank for the ultra-divaesqueness of my blog! She treated me to a HOUSE OF 3 background and banner on Saturday to celebrate National Scrapbooking Day. The timing was perfect because I took a blog design class last week so I got to put it into action!!!

It's not perfect. I still have some things I'd like to tweak but it'll do for now.

I'm having a hard time remembering everything I wanted/needed to say so I'm just going to jump around a bit...

For starters the D man and I treated ourselves to new runners last week. We've both been in dire need of new runners for a while now and since they are actually being put to use, it was well worth the purchase. I tried out my new babies for the first time tonight and they are FABU. Wow - what a concept to actually have support in runners!!! They are also Nike chip enabled so I'm going to pick up one of those too so I can track my workouts.

Do not adjust your screens. These are actual size. They may look like skis but they are not...



Dorrie tried on D's size 15 men's runners (size 17 women's) on Saturday. It was quite hysterical. I think they were the size of her entire lower leg. She looked like a circus clown!!!

Speaking of Saturday, I celebrated National Scrapbooking Day with Katie, Dorrie and Steph. Unfortunately Rach could not make it because she's a sickie right now. We totally missed her but did manage to have a great, wonderful, awesome day. They are fabu girls and I'm thrilled to have them in my life!

We did a potluck and Dorrie TOTALLY WENT NUTS. She made several mexican treats (to die for) for lunch and a banana split cake thingy. OH MY GOSH. I could barely move I was so full and the food was so yum.

Katie learned the hard way that one should wear gloves when cleaning out jalepenos!!! It was well worth all of the pain and lost sleep though...her bacon wrapped jalepeno poppers were AMAZING.

And Steph hooked us up with a yummy, fresh and healthy salad to go with the lasagna and garlic bread (both store bought not homemade) that I cooked up.

Ok so get this...I took a ton of pictures of the banana split but very little else. Hmmmm. I know D and Dorrie took a ton of pictures as D gave her a crash course on photography!

Group shot at the end of the day....

And last but not least...here are my creations. Some are from Navcan and some are from this past Saturday. I even have one from Scrapfest.

I have to say I TOTALLY LOVE the scrappin' groove that has found me of late. I can't really explain it and I really don't want it to go away. I'm taking risks. I'm not second guessing my work. I'm enjoying. It's an amazing feeling.

I think the classes I've been taking lately, particularly with Vicki Boutin have really brought me out of my box. Yeah Vicki. I fight you all the time but somehow all the icky dirtiness (with and without peni$ straws) is doing the trick!!!

Katie made these oh so cool flowers - I LOVE THEM. So can't get enough of their yumminess!!!

Ok - look at all the new techniques. FABRIC for starters. On my pages. I completely crystal lacquered the damask sticker on the left. AND I SEWED. Forget adhesive. I SEWED THE DARN PICTURE ON THE PAGE. yeah baby!!! With my hands. Sewed. Did you hear me? s-e-w (oops - i almost wrote "x" instead of "w")

I must thank Miss Rach for the fabric - she treated us to fabric swatches at Navcan...they were EXACTLY what I needed for my pages...

Now I want to put fabric on EVERYTHING! I added beads to my fabric on this page...

The sticker says "freeze: i want to hold this moment in my heart forever"

a page on speeches...

sticker says "cherish: this is the good stuff"

Once again - lots and lots of crystal laquer

I really really heart this page. I love how it came together....

I still use clean lines but i'm "divafying" my pages now...

I used my absolute favourite scrapping supply EVER...(on a couple of these pages actually)...FLAIR. How great is flair?

Hearts courtesy of my Slice!

I did this page in my simple design class at Scrapfest with Kathy Thompson. Love her!

I totally scraplifted this layout from a magazine. love the way it turned out. Once again - totally out of my zone. Lots and lots of "messy" (but intentionally messy) sewing. Yes S E W I N G. This time with a machine.

I used RAFIA. Isn't that a blast from the past....

That's my dad with my nephew Hayden by the way...

This layout was tricky. I had a great idea to do a heart in buttons. easier said than done because i made a TOTAL MESS with my glue. so i had to "hide" the mess with ribbon and an acetate overlay. Steph put the ribbon down for me before I cut off my glue-filled fingers and threw the page in the garbage!

My dad always says to the kids "papa loves you" hence the title for this page...

a yes - more flair! I also managed to organize my buttons on Saturday with the handy button container Janet gave me. Thanks J - i LOVE IT. Perfect storage solution for buttons!

Well my lovelies. That's it for me. It's been a rather productive evening and yet not nearly productive enough to cross off all things I have on my "to do" list...

'night lovelies,