Merry Christmas!!!

To all those who celebrate this wonderful holiday...hope you are with family, loved ones and/or friends! I'm about to wrap the last couple of presents before I head for bed :0) but wanted to wish everyone warm thoughts and memories of the day!


Merry Christmas :0)

December Babies...

A special shout out to my little brother, Dave, on his birthday (December 11th)!!! Hope you had a wonderful day...sorry I didn't call you :0(

Another December baby (22nd) is my big baby, Taka!!! This will be his 14th year on this earth. One of Hiro's friend came over to celebrate with us (so Hiro had an impromtu sleep over...gee how did that happen?! LOL!!!). So Happy Birthday to Dave & Taka...many, many more good years to come!




Taka conducting the birthday song....












Blowing a candle out on his favorite carrot cake :0)

To all my friends who are Spellbinder Wizardettes....

....is that a word?! LOL!!

Spellbinders posted that they are in search of design team members for next year!!! If you are a fan of their dies and machines like I am, you too should go for it! I want to give it a try so come join me!

Here's the link!
Good luck to you!!

Speaking of tags....

This is for the benefit of my Japanese scrappers...as promised, here's the pictures of the tags we'll be making this month (most without ribbons when I took this picture/you will have them):










上の写真は、今月のプロジェクトです。
もし興味がありましたら是非参加して下さい。
宜しくお願いします！
MargieH

This past weekend has been a rush of events for us. Saturday, my oldest DS had to skip Saturday Japanese school to take a placement test for high school (he'll be a freshman in the fall @ Schaumburg High School) - YIKES! How did he grow up that fast?! Right afterwards, I had to take DS #2 to the bus stop so that he could attend Japanese school (was not happy that big brother wasn't going...he indicated that he wanted to take the placement test! LOL!! Wait 2 years, kid! You'll have your chance! Then I rushed to get my hair done and get to the dry cleaners before picking up DS#1...didn't quite make so DH had to step in and get our little guy. Then off to a holiday party all the way downtown...love the chance to catch up on friends at this annual gathering...too much white wine & champagne ;0P But so much fun!

Sunday, it was back downtown (Wrigleyville) to Church. It was so nice to see our congregation members as some of them are close to 80s and 90s years young. The ladies made this wonderful hot ODEN (kind of like a thin brothed stew full of potatoes, vegggies and fish cakes)...great for a hangover! LOL!!! Then afterwards we went to MITSUWA for some much needed food shopping! LOL!! Then we passed out at home...it was a very quiet evening!

So how was your weekend?

Tagged By Ivy...

As I see in the comments, my dear friend Miss Ivy tagged me so here's the rules & my answers:

Here are the rules...Welcome to the 2008 edition of getting to know your friends! Try not to be lame and spoil the fun! If you get tagged, copy this entire survey and paste into your own blog, change all of the answers so that they apply to you. Then visit the profiles of some of your friends and "Tag" them by simply leaving a comment, asking them to visit your blog, and state that they have been Tagged! The theory is that you will learn a lot of little things about your friends that you might not have known! Some of you may get tagged several times, so they can always refer back to your blog for your answers.

1. What time did you get up this morning? 6am....stumbling around to brush my teeth & wash the good ole face and off downstairs to get lunch bags ready for the boys. Can you believe that Schaumburg school district does not offer hot lunch to their kids?! OY! I have to do this until the boys are in high school.

2. Diamonds or pearls? Pearls...my birth gem (June baby)!!

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? I think it was SpiderMan 3?!

4.What is your favorite TV show? Runway

5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Coffee & (maybe) toast

6. What is your middle name? It's Japanese and I don't answer when called :0P

7. What food do you dislike? Mussels = YUK!

8. What is your favorite CD at the moment? A Japanese band called UverWorld

9. What kind of car do you drive? A silver ACURA RDX...love that car!

10. Favorite sandwich? Roast Beef w/ lots of horseradish :0)

11. What characteristic do you despise? Liar

12. Favorite item of clothing? Jeans

13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? I never been to Europe so I would love to wander around that area! AND my DH promised to take me there...are you reading this Hosho?! Heehee!!

14. Favorite brand of clothing? Talbot's, Liz Caliborne

15. Where would you retire to? Somewhere warm without any natural diseasters (you know, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes - LOL!!)

16. What was your most recent memorable birthday? Two years ago when we had family from Japan over and they remembered my birthday! We had a mini impromtu party! Loved it! Great memories! Two days later, we were off to Mt. Rushmore, Yellowstone Nat'l Park & Grand Teton for a summer/birthday vacation :0)

17. Favorite sport to watch? Not into watching...

18. Furthest place you are "tagging" this? Not sure yet...

19. Person you expect to send it back first? Would be a miracle...there's a lot of these going around

20. When is your birthday? June 14th (Flag Day!)

21. Are you a morning person or a night person? Was a night owl but getting old and have to get up early for the kids so MORNING PERSON (of no choice - LOL!!)

22. What is your shoe size? 8

23. Pets? Do my kids count? If not, no.

24. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us? I'm part of an article about design teams for a Japanese scrapbook magazine that should be coming out on the 10th - so excited & honored that Emi (the editor) asked me!

25. What did you want to be when you were little? A music/theater teacher

26. How are you today? I'm great but ovewhelmed with my schedule...

27. What is your favorite candy? Altoids

28. What is your favorite flower? Oh, wow. I have two: pink roses & gerber daisies!

29. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? Tomorrow! Knowing that I survived another day to enjoy another one!

30. What's your full name? Marjorie T. Higuchi

31.What are you listening to right now? Silence..well, DH is now walking around.

32. What was the last thing you ate? Vanilla Bean Ice Cream!

33. Do you wish on stars? Sometimes

34. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Pink!

35. How is the weather right now? COLD!

36. The first person you spoke to on the phone today? My son's teacher...in trouble again that little guy! OY!

37. Favorite soft drink? Definitely COKE!

38. Favorite restaurant? Daruma Restaurant (Japanese restaurant in Hoffman Estates, IL)

39. Real hair color? Black

40. What was your favorite toy as a child? Headless Barbie...thanks to my brothers!

41. Hugs or kisses? Both!

42. Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate

43. Coffee or tea? Coffee!

44. Do you want your friends to email you back? Of course.

45. When was the last time you cried? Just an hour ago...I'm such a sap when it comes to sad stories on TV!

46. What is under your bed? Dust bunnies..probably.

47. What did you do last night? Creating some Christmas tags!

48. What are you afraid of? drowning

49. Salty or sweet? Sweet

50. How many keys on your key ring? key ring...try paper weight!

51. Favorite day of the week? Saturdays (esp evenings...the only time I can rest). Kids have Japanese school on Saturdays and we have to be downtown to officiate church. Sometimes no church, I try to schedule SB classes.

52. If you can choose your talent, what would it be? To make anything on a sewing machine!

53. Do you make friends easily? I seem outgoing but am really shy.

54. How many people will you tag this to? Not sure.

55. How many will respond? I'm hoping most.

Tag to those of you reading NOW! HA!

JOY to the world....

Heehee!!

I just finished submitting this to the TaDa folks but wanted to share this with you all! These past few weeks I've been into these door knob holders...don't ask, I don't know why! I might do a class on this one...one of these days :0)

Papers are from TaDa Creative Studios, of course!

The letters "J" & "Y" are brought to you by Spellbinder Wizard folks! Note that I was able to cut thin chipboard and the pattern papers with the Wizard....even embossed both! VERY COOL!!! SO EASY!!!!

The door knob holder is from Basic Elements.
Metallic paints & glitter are from Ranger Ink (Dabbers & Stickle)
Ribbons are from May Arts & Queen & Co.
Stick pin from Maya Road
Charm & Jingle Bell - unknown (didn't keep the package)/the bell is from Hobby Lobby
Adhesive - mostly 3M QuickDry & Glue Dots

Just love how this turned out!

Happy Holidays!!!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! For some reason this year, we had a hectic social life weekend! LOL!!

First we had a house full of friends for Thanksgiving dinner...it was WONDERFUL to have them over and to express our gratitude of their friendships :0) Our friend's eldest asked me why we celebrate Thanksgiving...we're Japanese! Her mother didn't know what to think of her daughter's question. I just smiled and told her that you don't have to be of any kind of background to express thanks for what we have...a warm home, good health, good friends and such a good life. I think she got it :0) Love teenagers...they're curious about everything...well, the ones I know at least ;0)

One day of rest (Friday) which I needed! Handwashed all the (two sets of) china, silverware and serving plates & such. Did not need to go out to stores....I think this is the weekend to stay out of stores! LOL!!

On Saturday, we went to a "reunion" lunch...hmm, maybe dinner (it was a 10 hour affair!) in Palatine. Although all have resigned from the Bank, we get together a few times during the year at each other's homes. We eat, laugh, sing, drink and eat some more. So lucky that we are able to do this. Most of them we have known for close to 20 years! Time flies! Cheers, you guys!

Sunday, I had to get some projects done. Couldn't find any of the stuff I needed without digging out from the basement! This is what happens when you have to clean the house and throw stuff downstairs! UGH! LOL!!

I had the opportunity to sit down and play with the Wizard! Love my Wizard...esp. the Nesties! With the scalloped circle and the regular circle, I made a holiday card. Notice the TaDa Creative Studios BEAUTIFUL holiday papers. The paper is printed in metallic ink! VERY cool technique! You have to see in person....just BEAUTIFUL!!!

Notice the white in the background! Yes, it snowed overnight in Chicago!! OY! But what a perfect background to my holiday card! LOL!!! All the papers (I used two different patterns) and accents are from TaDa Creative Studios. Just added a little fiber for the paper button accent.







This is the inside of the card...don't you just love two-sided papers! I cut a circle from my Wizard and you know you can emboss with the Wizard, right? Well, you can! I edge with Pebbles Inc chalk (the shimmer matches the shimmer in the papers) and stamped with Stampin' Up on StazOn Aquamarine color for a bold touch. Of course, if you're adhering with vellum, you need the Xyron!




So this is my card to you! Hope that the holiday season brings you and your family JOY throughout this festive season. Remember loved ones that are far or who have passed on (thinking of you, dear Becky!!!). Gratitude to you for visiting my blog, and/or attending any of my classes at Frozen Memories, CraftFancy or at my home!