Monday Update!

Okay so maybe I should have considered how busy I'd be with my Mom's visit when I was making my schedule. I guess I should of just had planned to start it on an even day, like August 1st instead of... June 25th? Guess I was just anxious.

I got a few of my things done here and there. But mostly I was just so happy to be with my mom and the blog kind of went to the back of my mind.

But I had an amazing weekend.

We got some great food, went thrifting, shopping, flea markets, watched the Olympics, and just bonded and talked. I actually cried saying goodbye to Bernadette at the airport. And usually it's me yelling at her to stop crying and she's sobbing. Yesterday was the opposite. I guess that I've just grown up so much in the past couple of months that I just missed having my mom take care of me. Now instead of me telling her about stupid girl dramas, I'm talking about the bills and grocery shopping and cleaning and my work schedule and this and that. Instead of arguing about stupid things, we both fought over washing the dishes.

I didn't even take pictures! The weather wasn't the greatest so I wasn't too motivated to do that. But, like I said, I was just so into the moment and hanging with my mom.

I showed her the scrapbook I was making for her. She couldn't stop looking at the three pages I made and told her that made her night and she couldn't wait for me to finish it. She's going to mail up some baby pictures she loves, too. She wants a little of everything in her scrapbook and I think that's an awesome idea.

My mom was also so impressed and interested in my little craft life! She was asking me questions and really into it when I showed her some of my favorite blogs. She actually asked me to email her the links!! It was so great to have her behind me with all of this. Usually she's like "oh you won't do that" and now she's like "oh can you make me something like that?!" and I love it! I even showed her Project Life and she thought the idea was really cool. She doesn't think I'll be able to keep up week to week but also agrees it's pretty simple to document each week so she has some faith in me. I can't wait till the new products are available to buy! Ah!

My boss is so good to me. He let me have Monday off so I could spend the day with my mom. He even made sure I got a pay for it :) So thankful how lucky I've been. Except now my week is a day behind. My Tuesday feels like Monday. But that's okay, I can't complain :)

SO! For the UpDaTe!
Today, before I go home from work, I plan to....

• Rearrange the Calendar
• Create 2 goals for the month
• PostalPix order
• Finalize Financial Aid things for the Fall 2012 semester
• Insta update
• Work on some formatting of the blog

 For after work I plan to...

• Catch up on some at home projects 
• Work out "What I Wore" for the first post on Friday
• Clean
• BE PRODUCTIVE!

I can do this!
I know I've been slacking and not doing everything I've wanted, but it's not like I'm sitting around doing nothing. I've just been so busy with things I just need to take care of first. That's life. I know when classes start I'll have way more free time to do all the things I want.

As for home life, there's good news!!! Alex is moving in! So I'm so glad I sacrificed one of my days last week to spend the day with him and Ben and talk to him about moving in. I love Jack but I'm over living with him... I'm excited that the house is about to change up a little bit. Yay!

Scrapbooking Adventure 1

Last night I scrapbooked!!!

I started the scrapbook I'm making for my Mom. I ended up making 5 pages last night! And I actually used up all the photos I ordered from PostalPix that were for my Mom's scrapbook. So, I couldn't even continue if I wanted :)

I have pictures on my phone, but they don't do justice. I'll leave them up for now, and I'll replace them with better quality photos later this weekend.

Page 1 : Family
I really like how this page came out! I used PostalPix's 4x4 prints for these. I cut the tops off of my Mom's photo (left), the sides on my Sister's (right), and two corners off of my photo (bottom) I used some scrap fabric I had to help decorate. It's a pink floral :) I have our names written by our photos Bernadette is Mom, Samantha is sister, and I'm Victoria. I also have the date and occasion of the photo (Bernadette just learned how to use the gas pump in Massachusetts, her and my sister were moving me out of school and we're from Jersey and Jersey girls don't pump gas!! and the two other photo's are from Sam's 18th Birthday dinner at Outback) The stickers are also significant, too. We all have swallow tattoos because of their traditional loyalty and love meaning, so there are two swallows next to family. Sam and I also have matching rose tattoos, so I have the rose in the corner, and my mom loves stars and has a few little tattoos of those so I have stars on the page as well.

Page 2 and 3 : Gigi
So, as I'm sure many of you can relate, our dog was our best friend. Gigi was my Mom's companion. After Sam and I left for college, my mom was all by herself and Gigi was really her best friend. It was heartbreaking when my mom had to put her down, Sam and I couldn't even be with her, and I told my mom I was gonna make her a scrapbook, and she made me promise I'd put a Gigi page in. In the corner, it says "and we can't forget.. the baby jesus!" (this has NO religious affiliation, whatsoever. One time my mom was going to call Gigi, Baby Gigi, but she somehow said Jesus instead. I guess the whole juh sound threw her off. She just said "Oh my... I can't believe I just called our dog Baby Jesus." It was one of the funniest things ever. Either way, it's always been an inside joke and somehow became one of the many nicknames we had for Gigi) Then on the opposite page, it has her date of birth and date of rest. These are some of the best pictures I had on of her on my iPhone. She was a cockapoo and was 12 years old. Love you, Gigi! Miss you always <3

Page 4 and 5 : Ortley Beach Vacation Summer 2011
Us three LOVE the beach... and growing up in Jersey, we were spoiled with the Jersey Shore. Say what you will, but it's beautiful. Go anywhere but Seaside Heights and I promise you won't be let down. Every summer we'd rent a house for the week and just hang out and be beach bums. Friends would always drive down and stay for a night or just meet at the boardwalk and walk down the beach at night. There's nothing better. I really like how this page came out, too. I wish I had more photos of us dts (down the shore!) but this is what had to do. The writing on the top left page says, "Gordon Vacation. Ortley Beach 2011" The stickers on the left page say, (top left of page) "BEACH", then (middle of page) "Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much" and then (bottom of page) "Simplify". The stickers on the right page say, (top right) "Life is Good at the Beach" and then (bottom left of page) "R E L A X" each letter a different font. This is the first year we didn't take this vacation. I wish I had the time to give up a week and sit on the beach. I sure took that for granted!

And there's my first couple pages of scrapbooking, ever! I'm pretty proud with myself! I really can't complain with the outcome. Though, I am going to order 4x6s instead of 5x7s next time. I love the 5x7, but they're a little hard to work with. I just don't want to end up cutting down most of the photo to fit somewhere when I could of cut way less of a 4x6, and pay less. I'll keep 5x7s for frames for now on. I guess that's my only little thing about this. Oh, and I need to invest in plain colored paper. And some more glue and fancy scissors. Other than that, I am content!! I can't wait to order more pictures and keep at this for my mom. Only 2 weeks until she flies in!

about Victoria

Hopefully I could think of something a little more original than Victoria for the title of this blog. Oh well. It'll come to me. I was really just excited to get a couple posts up, see how the page looks, and customize the layout a little bit.

But, allow me to introduce myself...

I'm Victoria. I'm 20 years old, entering my junior of college at Wentworth Institute of Technology. I'm studying management and will have a concentration in either project leadership or entrepreneurship. I was born and raised in northern New Jersey but moved to Boston to go to WIT. I lived on campus for two years and just recently moved in with my boyfriend, Benjamin, and our friend Jack to a four bedroom apartment near campus. Right now I'm working full time on Co-Op at my school as a Research Analyst for the Office of Institutional Research.

I have a mother, Bernadette, and sister, Samantha whom I am very close with. Sam is actually flying out to Hawaii today (lucky, lucky girl!) to spend the better part of her summer with her boyfriend Dan. It's actually her second time flying out to Hawaii THIS YEAR so I'm a bit jealous. But, I have school and work, as does Ben. We'll make it out there one day. But otherwise, it's just my mom, my sister, and I. My father passed away almost 9 years ago. It was a horrible time in my life but I am thankful for the relationship and bond that I have with my mom and Sam. They're my best friends.

As for Ben, he's my other half. We've been together for almost 10 months and are very sure of our relationship. I'm lucky to be in love with my best friend.

That's me in a nutshell. My life is work/school, boyfriend, family... and I'm okay with that. I'm very happy in my life right now.

Hello there.

This isn't my first blog, but it is my first blogspot account. I was a loyal Tumblr user and endlessly scrolled through photos and reblogged my favorite eye candy. Though lately, I've been following lovely lifestyle, craft, and DIY blogs and got really inspired. My boyfriend's sister is also a SCAD graduate and their home is filled with scrapbooks and things she made and put together. His mother is also a sewing teacher and has taken the task of teaching me how to sew. I've already sewed my first skirt ^.^

I've just been doing a lot of the sitting around, browsing, and thinking "I should do something like that". I'm almost starting to overwhelm myself with little projects to start but it's really because I'm excited. Slowly, I'm accumulating the basics to start my new endeavors. Luckily I have my boyfriend's mother and sister for help and as resources.

I hope to see success out of this blog... not to be popular amongst readers but to actually find my inner creativity and do these projects and successfully document them. I want to make something out of nothing, decorate my home, document my little life, wear things I designed and made... it'll cost a little money now but I'll save later in the long run.

So that's what this is about. I hope it works.