Getting up at 4:45 AM 3 days a week is tough, but it was definitely worth it today! As I hurried to get my usual early morning activities done such as getting ready to school, taking the dogs out then feeding them and then letting them go back to bed (haha), I  couldn’t wait to leave for school. I rushed out of the house just before 6 am with my shoelaces still untied and a protein shake in my hand. Today we actually get to touch an animal at the zoo!!! In fact we get to hold Owls on our arms!!

Every other early morning at the zoo, our group of 25 students pile into the classroom for role call, usually tired and trying to hide in our hoodies. Today there was excitement in the room! We all got to go down to the Mews where the Birds of Prey reside, and 2 of them were taken out for us. We have recently learned how to tie a Falconry Knot and we had to demonstrate this first, then we got to go line up to take turns holding each of the owls on one arm, then tynig the knot with the other hand. Nova was the Great Horned Owl and Sweet Pea was the Barn Owl. This experience was awesome and really reminds me of why I am here and what is yet to come : )

The hardest part of this week has been the weather – its been SO incredibly hot here. It was over 90 degrees in the shade yesterday at the zoo.

We have just learned about Animal Attacks and what to do if we get attacked by various animals. Nothing has happened yet but it can happen and probably WILL happen. When we’re working with dangerous animals, anything can happen. Even a seemingly nice and calm animal can suddenly change.

The only thing so far that’s happened to me since I got here is I was bitten by a rat. It bled, it hurt for several days but in the grand scheme of things it’s incredibly minor as I’m sure much worse will happen….

I’ve been getting some emails regarding the mini book challenges and some of you have already completed them – way to go!! But some need a little more time (me included – haha) so since I started them late this month, I’m going to extend this first challenge to the end of September. I will start the next challenge (we’ll just technically skip Sept and call it the October challenge) September 20 – that way you’ll have over a month to get it completed. So please have your current challenge completed by September 29 and I’ll announce the winner on September 30.

Now as far as the prizes go for the challenges, this is how it will work: if you complete the challenge, you automatically get 2 entries into the draw. If you just want to enter for the giveaway, then go ahead and leave a comment here for 1 entry. The winner will be selected by random.org.

This months prize is:  2 packages of the American Crafts Mini Marks Rub On Booklets, and 1 package of Making Memories Word Fetti (Beach) stickers. These products are all some of my favorites to use in mini albums : )

If you don’t mind me posting pictures of your completed mini albums on my blog here, please email me photos when you have completed the challenge. I will post photos of everyone’s albums throughout the month.

Here is a mini album I made before I moved away – it’s an example of this month’s shape album challenge : )

I’ve been here almost 5 weeks already, school has officially started and things are insanely busy already. I have a feeling that time is going to just fly by so I want to make sure I take in as much as I can and really enjoy my time in California.

I do really like it here but I’m still getting used to the heat, it has been so hot here and constantly too. I haven’t seen rain since I was back home in Vancouver. (although we did get a few – and I mean a few drops of rain this morning!).

Classes started this week so from here on in, I will be spending most of my time at school/the zoo. The good thing is that I do have some breaks between some classes so I’m able to come home and let the dogs out half way through the day. ( It’s only a 7 minute drive from my house to the college so its quite close. )

I only had to be at the zoo this morning so the rest of the day I am spending at home, hanging out with my puppies and doing homework (we already have several tests coming up this week!). There is so much information we have been learning this past week it’s a little overwhelming, but I keep thinking how amazing it is to be here and how lucky I am to have this opportunity.  The hardest thing is not being able to talk to any of the animals yet, but I did get to go on a couple walks with the Emu, Julietta!

Zoey and Angus in our backyard today. They are so so happy here : )

Not sure if these are going to limes or oranges but we have a tree full of them right in our backyard!

This is a bit of a mixed random post today – now I’m going to switch over into scrapbooking stuff.  The newest (and sadly the very last issue) of Memory Makers Magazine is now available! I wrote an article in it, on of course,  Mini albums – there are several new ones I made just for the article. I will be back later to post about the monthly mini album challenges : )

Totally loved looking at everyone’s links to their current projects! Here are a few of my favorites – check them out!

Christine’s mini album on the 5 senses: I love the randomness of the paint/ink on the cover – so cool!!!

Sabrina’s awesome Anniversary card that she made for her hubby: Such a cool design – looks so complicated!

Renne’s newest project is her new blog – I think it looks great! I really love her header

There are more too – I’ve got to get back to school but I will post some more links later : )

The winner for last week’s giveaway is:

Maria S. Says:
August 11th, 2009 at 3:07 pm edit

Congrats Maria! Please email me your address : )

Lots of stuff to put in this post, but I will try not to make it tooooo long. : )

First up – a new giveaway!! I finally unpacked some of my scrapbook stuff today and found some fab Jenni Bowlin Studio stuff – so it’s up for grabs this week!

Just leave me a comment here by Sunday, August 16 and I will announce a winner on Monday. (chosen by Random.org). What are you working on right now or what was your latest project that you completed? I’d love to see some pics, so please leave a link if you can.

For all of you who wanted to join in on my monthly mini book challenges, they are starting now! Except for August, the rest of the months will begin on the 1st of the month, and you will have until the 29th of the same month to post a link to your mini book. One winner will be chosen to receive the prize of the month (also chosen by random.org).

How it works: each month I will post a 2 part challenge: one will be to create a certain type of mini album, and the other will be the theme. You can choose to do just one part of the challenge or both. I’m going to be doing this along with you so I will post my album as soon as I get it completed. : )

August’s Challenge

For this month the type of mini album is going to be a simple shape. This can be a heart, a circle or a square. You can used a pre-made bought mini album (such as the maya road chipboard albums or any other brand), or you can be extra creative and cut the shapes yourself. Try to keep this one simple and focus on the journaling.

The theme: Changes. Take that any way you like. Changes in your life this summer from this time last year, changes in your house as your kids get ready to go back to school, changes in goals, anything. This does not have to be the title of your album.

Let me know if you plan to play along in these challenges : ) (and feel free to email me anytime if you have any questions).

I will post a pic of the prize tomorrow.

Free Technique Classes

I have been getting some people asking if I’m going to run my series of free technique classes again. I would love to start them again this Fall. Please let me know if you are interested.

Now an update on what’s been going on here (for those who are interested)

thank you so much to everyone who left a comment here, emailed me, and messeged me on facebook to see how I was doing after the “nightmare” of a couple weeks ago. It was indeed quite the stressful ordeal but I did find another place to live and it’s a much nicer place too!

I have 3 roommates and they are awesome! I’ve never had girl roommates before so this is all new to me but so far its been a lot of fun – we get along really well and it’s been great having a couple weeks before school started so we could get to know each other. The dogs are doing great, they are enjoying all the extra attention, especially Angus who is loving his new role of “man of the house”.
Fro (the guinea pig) is doing good too and we have a new pet in the house now – a rat named Huxley. 3 more rats will be joining us in the next several months as we each have to train a rat for a class next semester.

School starts tomorrow. Part of me is super excited for it to start, and part of me is terrified. To document this whole new adventure, I have started a new blog just for the Exotic Animal Training & Management program over view. If you are interested in following along in my adventures, you can view them here
I will try to keep this blog more scrapbook related with just a little bit of my life thrown in now and again :)

here is a short slideshow of my first month here in California (minus the horrible house drama!)

California Adventures