Quick! Somebody buy me a lottery ticket!

Seriously. I never win anything. I could enter 10 contests where only one other person entered in each contest, and I wouldn't win a thing. Until the past couple of months, when I have won a ton of stuff. A book from Memory Makers Magazine, two $10 gift cards to scrapbook.com, a $25 Starbucks gift card, and now this...



A handmade Bolsa clutch from Becky OH!. It won't necessarily be this particular design, but I like to imagine that it will be since it's my favorite. ;0) But, seriously...go check out Jen Wallace's blog: Indie Fixx. She's doing a "12 Days of Indie Holiday Shopping. So, not only can you scope out some cool indie gifts for those special someones on your list, but you can enter for a chance to win some cool indie stuffs for yourself (or to give as gifts). She posts a new contest every day. What are you waiting for??? Check it out!

If I was back in North Carolina, I would be down playing the lotto. But, sadly, Alaska doesn't have a lottery. So, here's hoping that my lucky streak will continue through when I get home.

In other news, I finally finished up making some pretty feltie stockings to stuff with goodies for some swaps that I am participating in:



All I have to do now is wrap the stuffins', and get them in the mail. My goal is to have all handmade gifts out the door by Saturday. Wish me luck. I'm pretty much done with everything except those darn napkins. But, I DID manage to sew one napkin all together last night. Only 7 more to go! By the way, anyone have any tips for stopping rick-rac from fraying? I've got the ends all taped right now, but I have to find a permanent solution, or these napkins won't be going anywhere for Christmas. I'm still new to this whole sewing thing, so I need some tips. I tried to Google it, but couldn't really find anything helpful.

And, Luka has learned a new trick (I'm sure much to my husband's excitement). My parents are football nuts. So, they taught Luka to stick his hands straight up in the air all referee-style when the yell "TOUCH DOWN!" He's got it down now, and does it quite often, simply because I think he's figured out he's pretty cute. Of course, once I pull the camera out, he won't do it. This is the best that I got:



So, today is November 26th. Hard to believe, isn't it? Not only because this month has FLOWN by. But because in exactly one month, I'll be 30. Eek! Back in August, Elsie posted a challenge to list so many things that you wanted to do before your next birthday. Just for fun, let's see what I have actually accomplished, and what I have left to bang out in a month.

29 things I want to do before I turn 30:
* Take some fun, scrappy pictures with Tina. Not so much. We forget to take pics every time we're together. But, I still have time to accomplish this.

* Get my hollyhocks to grow in the backyard. Ha! Due to the fact that back in North Carolina, there was a MAJOR drought after I came to visit my mom, I seriously doubt they even emerged from the ground. We'll try that again in the spring.

* Make some crafty, hand-made gifts for Christmas. Obviously, I've managed this and more!

* Join the flickr 365 days challenge (you take a self-portrait every day for a year). Did it. Got bored with it. It's just not for me. At least I tried.

* Get a new hairstyle (new color, new cut). Check.

* Go to Alaska to visit my mom. There's snow out every window that I look. So, I must be in Alaska.

* Do some modeling for Anya E.'s portfolio. Had to leave town for a family emergency before that happened. We'll try again after I get home.

* To actually go through Elsie's "52 Scrapbooking Challenges," and get one challenge a week completed. Haven't even cracked the spine. I'll be doing this come the first week of 2008. 52 challenges. 52 weeks in the year. Let's talk about this come December of next year.

* Remodel and reorganize my studio. Again with the family emergency. And, now that we're moving to Alabama, I'll be putting this off until we find a new home.

* Get my daughter completely potty-trained (going through the night without an accident). Woot! Woot! Done, done, done!

* Stop eating so much fast food...maybe only once or twice a month. Ummmm. Let's save this for my new year's resolutions.

* Start doing yoga again. Again, new year's resolution.

* Actually keep this blog updated regularly (I was always so bad about writing in my journals when I was younger. I'd start off with a bang, but then just quit doing it all together, only to start the cycle again the next year). Well, I'm still here, aren't I?

* Get my work out there more...maybe enter some of the dares or some of the scrapjacked challenges. Did a couple. Been taking a breather during the holidays, though.

* Make more crafty things with my daughter. We've done our fair share. She really enjoys it, so we'll be doing more. And, I certainly have some Christmasy ones planned.

* Finish decorating my paper mache letters for "HAZEL" so that I can put them up in her room. Had to leave these at home when I came to Alaska.

* Work on my "me" book that my mom made for me. I do have THAT with me, but I haven't touched it. Boo.

* Save up for a new lens for my camera. Not so much. Lots of unforeseen expenses this year. The money for my lens was spent on going back/forth to Spokane when Bryan's dad was dying. Now, I want a sewing machine more than a lens.

* Get one of the new d reeves clear acrylic albums, and actually make something out of it! Got the album. Haven't had time to play with it. I was going to make Bryan a mini-album for Christmas, but I'm running out of time. Maybe for Father's Day?

* Get my house all neat and tidy before I go to Alaska for 4 months, so that I come home to a perfectly clean home, and not have to worry about anything. Well, it's as neat and tidy as it could be when we had to rush out of town for Rick's funeral. I'll still have lots of cleaning to do when I get home. :0(

* Get my septic tank pumped (Yuck! But, for some reason, I keep forgetting to do it, and it's about that time!) We'll be taking care of that come January.

* Pay off my credit card. Debt free, and proud!!!

* Have a garage sale, and get rid of all this baby stuff that we don't need anymore. Again, with the leaving town in a rush when Rick died.

* Spend some quality time with all of my old friends back in Alaska. Lovin' every minute of it!

* Get my filthy Jeep cleaned out! Errr...the whole leaving in a rush thing AGAIN.

* Do a few more RAK's (random acts of kindness) here and there. I'm well on my way to completing my first one. Had lots of fun with RAK's this year. I need to get Gina's finished tonight, and pop it in the mail. That will probably be all until next year. Well, except for the little things that I try to do everyday.

* Get started on some entries for next year's Creating Keepsakes Hall of Fame and SOY contests. I've got 2 pages done, and a couple more in the works. But, I'm not sure if they'll be going to those contests yet.

* Buy a new Holga camera (what the heck happened to my old one?), and take some pics with Tina. Don't quite have the money for that right now. Maybe next year.

* Pull out my Sublime Stitching patterns, and get to cracking on some embroidery projects. I think I'll be saving that for next year too.

Not bad. In my defense, there were a lot of things that didn't get done because Bryan's father died, and we had to rush out of North Carolina in such a hurry. And, instead of going back home, we just came up to Alaska to visit my mom for the rest of the year. I'll definitely have quite the list of "30 Things" before I turn 31, though. LOL! Well, I'm off to do some more sewing. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend. Back to the grind...