THREE...

...of my ej designs on Thursday!
Well, it actually ends up being NINE designs, but enjoy!

The countdown is on...only *25* more days at my real job and then I'm relying on my new business to bring in some income for the family :) So...I'll shamelessly say, if you or anyone you know is in need of custom stationary of any kind, give me a S*H*O*U*T!! laurajmcpherson@yahoo.com

Here are THREE invites I've done in the last month
See a trend?!?! PINK is hot right now!

The birthday invite and baby shower invite were for local friends of mine.

The graduation announcement was a referral from Wichita, KS. This girl didn't want the plain jane graduation announcements everyone uses, she wanted something fun!

Here are THREE invites I'm currently working on for new clients

A Save the Date for a local client that works at my dad's office. She was open to anything, so I really got to have fun with the design of this one!


A wedding invitation for another local client that works in my dad's office...my parents are so WONDERFUL at getting business for me!

A wedding invitation for a client in Pittsburg, KS....still a work in progress
She was a referral through my "little sister," Candace.

Here are THREE invites from past clients

bridal shower invite


Save the Date for my cousin's wedding

Wedding Set (invite, reception card, rsvp postcard) for a client in Wichita

Three of ME on Thursday...

I'm super busy today!! I big storm came through our town Tuesday night and it looks like a disaster zone-trees uprooted, limbs everywhere, roofs blown off...luckily we didn't have any damage at our house and all of our family & friends are safe! BUT, all the damage as kept Justin working lots of extra hours repairing cable lines! I have hardly seen him the past few days. Poor guy didn't even see Barrett yesterday. He was still asleep when he left in the morning, and in bed when he got home. I feel like a single-parent and am exhausted trying to get everything done without Justin's help! Makes me realize how much we are a TEAM!

I'm also stressed to the max with last minute class reunion planning! My 10 year reunion is this weekend, and I am on the planning committee. I'm excited to see everyone and a little bit ready for it all to be over. It's been a lot of work, but we've had a GREAT group of gals helping plan!! The storm has thrown a few kinks into our plans, so we're trying to work around that!

Okay, so...since I'm so busy, my THREE ON THURSDAY is going to be short and sweet!

It's kind of a flashback too :) Here are three of my favorite pictures of ME as a baby! I'm not sure how old I was, I'll have to ask Mom! I think around 9-10 months.

3 Memories on Thursday!!

These are THREE not so great MEMORIES, but the reward I got from enduring them is priceless and I wouldn't change a thing!

Memory ONE~ Something is changing!! So...it was a year ago this week that I started getting a bit nauseous from the little bean growing inside me! It was the week after Memorial Day weekend, and my secretary was on vacation all week. I was the only one in the office and found myself pulling the trash can out from under my desk, or running to the bathroom on a daily basis. Nobody except my parents and my in-laws knew about the little bean, so I would call Mom and she would bring me crackers, sprite, anything to try and help curb the nauseous feeling. Nothing worked! Ahh...pregnancy!! After this week...it was all downhill for the next 3 months! More on that in a later post!

Memory TWO~Previously enjoyable and lovely scents were now unbearable! I used to love scented laundry detergent...ahh, fresh rain & lavender....then all of the sudden my senses heightened and I couldn't take it. Still to this day I don't like any scent on my fresh laundry. I use ALL Free & Clear. The only scented detergent I like is Barrett's ALL baby scent :) Once I started wearing my pre-pregnancy clothes again, I would pull a shirt off the hanger and get a whiff of the old scented detergent and the bad memories would come back...I've since had to re-wash all the clean clothes in my closet with the Free & Clear!!

Memory THREE~Gotta keep something in my stomach! Although I had no appetite, it was important to try and keep something in my stomach at all times. It was just a horrible feeling all around. I was part of a message board during this time and tried everything anyone suggested, of course nothing offered relief!

There aren't really any pleasant pictures to go with this post...so here's one of my favorites of my belly starting to grow. This was taken at 17weeks (August 3, 2007), I think. It was for a "7 days" scrapbook class I was doing with Alicia! This was around the time when I finally started to enjoy my pregnancy! This summer, I'm so happy to have my baby boy! I know all those months of sickness he put me through was just him growing into a happy, healthy, beautiful boy!!

Three on Thursday...

ONE~
I'm pretty sure I've had polish on my toenails for at least the last 15 years straight! There's nothing wrong with natural toenails, but for some reason I just HAVE to have them painted at all times :) While I was pregnant, it was quite the workout to bend over to reach them, but I kept them polished. I didn't even have to resort to having Justin paint them for me!

TWO~
I have two doggies! They used to be my "babies" and I would talk about them and take pictures of them all the time...these days something seems to have taken the spotlight! But I still love them, they'll always be my boys! Gunner is our five year old black lab. Rudy is our four year old chocolate lab. They are complete opposites!

Gunner is mellow and lazy...he loves to lay in the shade and shows little interest in swimming when we take them out. He doesn't bark unless a strange vehicle pulls into the driveway or something is wrong, and he's a mamma's boy! He'll always be my baby!!
Rudy is wild and I don't think he'll ever outgrow it...he loves to run and lick, and wherever there's water, he's in it!! He's just like a little kid and all he wants is to play, so he'll bark at anyone to get attention! He's our crazy boy and we love him!
THREE~
I love tomatoes, but I don't like ketchup! Strange, I know! Bring your own bottle of ketchup if you come to a BBQ at our house....Justin doesn't like it either!

THREE Random Fav Things on Thursday!

ONE---My Ozark Herbals beeswax lip balm stick in MINT TINGLE

I buy one stick of this every September at bluegrass and try to make it last me through the year. Well, last year I ran out in June or July. So, why didn't I buy TWO sticks this year? I'll blame it on the pregnancy brain! Ozark Herbals is a body care & fragrance vendor that comes to the festival every year to sell their herbal soaps and lip balms. They also have candles and pet soap!

TWO---OPI Dutch Tulip nail polish

My friend Christie gave me a bottle of this when I graduated from college (is that right, Christie) in 2002! I've probably bought five more since then! It's my favorite color to put on my toes! As soon as Spring comes every year, I can't wait to get that polish out and paint my toes! It's perfect for sandal season!

THREE---Cranberry Limeades from Sonic!

I'm addicted...what else is there to say! Thank you Lord for HAPPY HOUR!!!

Bluegrass THREE on Thursday :)

ONE~STAGE I
I LOVE September! When I hear September, I think BLUEGRASS! I am sooo lucky to live in the same town that hosts the Walnut Valley Festival every year, the third weekend in September. Bluegrass is always hard for me to describe! It's a 5-day vacation of music, crafts, food, camping and more! Thousands of people come to Winfield for the festival, from all 50 states and even other countries! There are 4 "official" music stages entertaining from sunrise to sunset each day. There are also several "unofficial" stages that exist within the campgrounds. One of our favorites is Stage 5! The atmosphere at Bluegrass is so friendly, it's unlike any feeling you'll ever have. Campers from all over refer to coming to the festival as 'coming home'. You can enjoy amateur music throughout the campgrounds around the clock. Some of the best tunes can be heard on the dirt road of the Pecan Grove at 3am...crowds of people will gather around to listen, as a melting pot of musicians that have never met before break out in song...guitars, banjos, mandolins, bases and more!

TWO~STAGE II

My favorite official stage is Stage II. In the middle of the day it can be HOT, but in the evenings it can be perfect, as you sit on the grassy hill under the stars! Every year, for as long as I can remember, I've been going to the Bluegrass festival. In high school...it was a good excuse to stay out really late. We'd walk the campgrounds for hours, visiting the campsites of friends. In college...I counted down the days from the start of school until it was time to go home for Bluegrass! The first day of class in the Fall, I would look over the syllabus and pray there weren't any tests that fell the third week of September. As a newlywed...My husband shares the same love of the festival. Now each year we both take off the whole week of bluegrass and the Monday after-it's our recovery day! The 2008 festival will be my first as a mom...I look forward to taking Barrett down during the days to enjoy the music and camp life. BUT hopefully we'll have some 'eager to babysit overnight' grandparents, so Mommy can really enjoy nightlife in the Grove this year. Last year, I was pregnant! So I just sat back and laughed at all my friends!

THREE-Favorite Pictures from the last few years!

These are the guys from our camp having a jam session. My hubby is on the right, playing banjo!

Jeff (Justin's brother), Bria (great family friend), Me (pregnant with Barrett)
& Justin--hanging out at camp!

Late night in the grove with my sis, Kim & friend, Tonya!

The famous post-it van...someone had a late night!

Cooking at camp...Tonya and Emily make pasta salad!

THREE on Thursday!!

ONE....
I graduated from Kansas State University in May 2002 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Interior Design. All through high school I knew I wanted to be a designer and I loved the program at K-State, despite the countless "all-nighters" I had to pull to finish projects. After graduation I worked in Wichita for a couple years as a Project Designer at an office furniture company.

TWO....
I met my husband, Justin, when I was 15 and he was 14! I worked at my parents Mini-Golf with my friend, Amber during the summer of 1995. Since he was too young to drive, Justin would ride his bike into town to see me while I was at work. It was that summer that Amber gave him the nickname 'Boy Wonder'. It was actually my youth director from church, Bill, that gave Justin my phone number! We were in the church van in the Dairy Queen drive-thru. Justin was in the DQ parking lot on his bike, so Bill called him over to tell him a girl in the van had a crush on him and here is her phone number!! The rest is history!

THREE....
I gave up drinking pop in 1999. I decided to give up pop for Lent my freshman Spring in college. After that, I started drinking ice tea. I will have an occasional sprite, but other than that, I haven't had dark soda in over 9 years! AND after 9 years of drinking tea, being pregnant made me totally lose my desire for that...so now I pretty much only drink water, and treat myself to cranberry limeades at Sonic!!