Kathi, the manager at the store, has organized a bunch of activities next month around Breast Cancer and Domestic Violence Awareness. Next month's swap will be on the themes of hope, strength, courage, love, and self esteem. If you are in the Richmond area and would like to participate in the swap CLICK HERE for more information on the swap and how to sign up!
We definately underestimated how cold it would be. And seriously it was the windiest day ever... it reminded us of South Dakota... and why we don't want to move back!
After the graduation we drove around Newport and walked around taking pictures.
Did I mention it was windy? Yeah my hair looked like that the entire day... and I swear I brushed it...
We definately made sure to get some seafood while we were there (though not at the place that I took this picture...)
And we saw a few trees (literally like one or two) with changing leaves...
On Saturday Dustin, Zach, and I went driving around and shopping... and I made them go to the beach... I got in the water... and it actually wasn't nearly as cold as I thought it would be...
Though Dustin and Zach refused to go in....
This is what happens when Memories Galore has a sale - 75% off all Creative Cafe Products... yeah I went a tad bit nuts and bought 21 scoops of buttons (along with a bunch of other stuff)... but I NEEDED them... I mean I don't sew and I don't ever put buttons on my scrapbook pages...but I'm pretty sure I'm going to need them... and if there is ever some sort of national button crisis I will be ready....
My plan is to buy a couple more old or oldish cameras and display them on a shelf in my scrapbook room... you know as soon as I get a scrapbook room.... 
It's an old photo album... not quite as excited as I am yet? Check out the inside:
Now you're jealous right? I have no idea what I am going to do with it though... the cover was pretty much destroyed... The stuffing was coming out and it was torn but the inside pages are intact and made of thick chipboard.. I was going to rip out the pages and turn them into covers to a mini book and then reuse the cloth and really cool latch in some other way... but then when I told the guy at the store my plan he told me the album was from the late 1800s (which may or may not be true) and that made me feel a bit of guilt...but the album really isn't in great shape .... any ideas on how I could use it?
And in other updates:
I am teaching my first scrapbook class tonight: A distress ink technique class at Memories Galore in the west end. I'm super excited about it and hoping it goes well. I also hope to post some pictures from how it went in the next couple of days. So look for that.
Immediately following the class, Dustin and I will be driving to Rhode Island. I'm pretty excited since I have never been to Rhode Island before. Look for a post on that soon as well with hopefully lots of pretty pictures!!
More random news: Dustin and I are house hunting. We have decided to stay in Virginia for a while which is a big deal for me since I have this crazy need to move every year or so. We will see how that goes.
And finally remember how I have kept talking about starting an etsy shop? Yeah well I haven't started that BUT my mom has started one. So you should check that out... HERE She has lots of cute mini albums and cards.
Linda made hers out of My Mind's Eye papers:
And I'm sure Linda would be surprised to learn that I hung mine on my door as soon as I got home:
And you should definately check out Linda's blog, she most recently took paper and modge podged a purse...yeah she's that crafty: http://diaryofacraftaholic.blogspot.com/
Oh and I went shopping this weekend for scrapbook supplies... not that I needed more... so hopefully there will be a post soon with new projects!!
See she does exist and she has a cool new camera (which oddly enough is the same one I have ... except hers is black and new)We made paperbag albums together. She made a Halloween one that she is now selling in her etsy shop ( http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6488713 ). I made one with some American Crafts paper that I've had for a while and wasn't really sure what to do with.
And then we worked on layouts. Mine isn't anywhere near done. But the other Melissa did finish a layout and I have to admit it's pretty awesome...even if it is covered in flowers... 
That's a picture of my mom in the second grade. She's the one posing on the desk. After using the picasa retouch function I am left with something that looks like this:
Is it perfect? No. Could Photoshop do it better? Probably. But it is easy, free, and no instruction manual necessary. Oh and it also works wonders on getting rid of zits too... my high school pictures now look like I had amazing skin....
