Confessions of a Scrapaholic

I will admit it. I am a scrapaholic. I have recently spent a lot of money and time on scrapbooking, and I loved every minute of it! I bought a cool new stack of speciality paper from MAMBI, which finally inspired me to scrapbook my wedding! I have been putting this off because I have such a beautiful professional wedding album that I couldn't make anything look quite as nice as that. I also didn't want to make my wedding scrapbook pages too cutesy either though. I think these pages strike the right balance.

Updated Car Poll - Please Help

As you may know, we are in the market for a new car. You may also know that all our decisions in life are made after a long period of great agonizing over our various choices. That is where you come in. We would like your input on our four top contenders, so please vote for your favorite in the above poll. We aren't promising to choose the car you recommend, but we will certainly consider your input. Without further adieu, here are the choices (in no particular order) WITH AN IMPORTANT UPDATE TO THE 2010 MAZDA PRICING:

Option 1: 2009 Mazda Mazda6

Cost: Around $19,500
Pros: Roomy interior, new design, most American
Cons: Large exterior (Krystle CANNOT park large cars)


Option 2: 2009 Mazda Mazda3

Cost: Around $19,300
Pros: Fun to drive, small and easy to park
Cons: Old design


Option 3: 2010 Mazda Mazda3

Cost: Around $18,300
Pros: Brand new design, gotta-have-it factor; CHEAP!
Cons: Not available until March/April


Option 4: 2009 Volkswagen Jetta











Cost: Around $18,500
Pros: Less expensive, most luxurious, safest
Cons: Not at all American, least reliable

Our Living Room Transformation

After months of waiting, our living room furniture has finally arrived! I love the look, smell, and feel our of lovely leather couches. As you can see, we got a loveseat, chair, and ottoman to coordinate with our existing couch.

We have also made our first real art purchase. We bought this original encaustic painting by Canadian artist Stacy Hollinger (encaustic is a method of painting using molten beeswax and pigment fused together). I found her work on the website http://www.etsy.com/. It is a great place to find artwork and homemade crafts, and you buy the art directly from the seller (kind of like a specialized ebay without the bidding nonsense).

So, without further adieu, here is what our living room looks like with its new furniture and art!

Skiing Taos

One perk of living in New Mexico is that I can ski world class mountains on a day's notice. Here are a few pictures from a trip to Taos:

Calling All Pictures

I have done a lot of scrapbooking over the past two weeks, which is great -- it's very relaxing. I was also impressed how quickly I was catching up to the present, until I realized that the reason I am moving through the years so swiftly is that I have almost NO pictures from the fall of 2003 to the spring of 2006. Crazy! So if any of you, my dear family and friends, have pictures of us from that time period that you don't see below, I would LOVE a copy to record for posterity.

Stuff White People Like

Check it out: Stuff White People Like

My favourite quote from the author Christian Lander in the recent CNN interview:

People send in stuff all the time ... The one I reject a lot is people say, "Well, you know what, 'Stuff White People Like' should be on the list of 'Stuff White People Like.' " I'm just like, "All right, postmodern hero, you're not the first person to send this in. I'm not putting it on the list."