The beginning.....

I've been blessed with some extremely witty and talented friends who have inspired me to start my own blog.  Their willingness to share their humor and the craziness in their lives is humbling.  I know I definitely enjoy reading about their maddening, fun days...so why not bring them into my life?

So why would anyone want to read about my life or what I do with it?

Well....I've been fortunate to have a great career and some awesome experiences.  I will often catch myself complaining about my life, but then I'll closely look at what I've done, where I've been, who surrounds me....and all complaints cease to exist.

I have a good life - an EXTREMELY good life.  Sure, I may have money management issues, I may want things that I can't afford, I may need a new car....complaint, want, complaint.  Blah!  As some point, you have to quit whining and enjoy the life you've been given.

So within my fabulous group of friends...who am I?  Without going into a major self-reflection mode, I'll use the one qualifier that separates me from most of my friends...I'm the crafty one in the group.

My number one craft is SCRAPBOOKING and I have spent countless hours trying to convince many of my friends to join me for a night scrapping.  In some cases, I have successfully converted the non-believers....but I also have the group of friends who would prefer to pay me to make things for them.  Lazy fools!  Hee hee (just kidding).

One of my best friends even helped me set up my own s-corporation, Just Remembers Scrapbooks Inc., so that I could profit from my creativity.  Since I work at a local hospital by day in Community Affairs, the most creative I can get there has to do with formatting newsletters and designing invitations for our events.  That clearly doesn't happen often, so I started to make albums for friends....friends who were event planners...friends who knew other event planners....and POOF!  I suddenly had a business.

Currently, my business is heavily weighted in the Bar/Bat Mitzvah circuit in Chicago.  As a Mexican-Catholic, this was the last cultural group I expected to be heavily engrossed in for expanding my business!  It's been a ton of fun though....these celebrations of the Bar Mitzvahs are no joke.  After so much work, these kids deserve the fantastic fun that their families shower them with.  I'm just lucky to be a small part of it.

In launching my business and making items for my friends, I have realized two things....

Number One
There are not enough products for specific ethnic/cultural groups and it is driving me crazy!  There are some limited items out there that are pretty good, but I often find that some of the stuff is very stereotypical.

Note to scrapbooking supplies developers:  The Mexican culture is about much more than just sombreros, jalapenos and pinatas!  The Chinese culture is about much more than dragons and fortune cookies.  

I think you all get the point!  I've started to get creative when people ask for ethnic-centered items to try to help fill that void, so I hope to share some of those techniques with other scrapbookers.  My hope is that people reading this blog will point me in the direction of some cool products and/or new techniques.

Number Two

In the excitement of watching people's delight in receiving a scrapbook, I've failed myself miserably.  I DO NOT own a single scrapbook made by me, for me.

So my goal this year is to finally scrapbook SOMETHING for me!  Not quite sure what just yet...but I will make myself something. Oh the irony!

I hope you will all keep me on track...here goes nothing!