flowers and quotes and maybe a freebie....

I started saving some things in the computer and the funny thing is that I have to type some of the things I printed and deleted from my computer:)... so now I type them, save them and burn them on CDs because it is easier and it takes less space to take them with me. Yes I am finally going home this winter, am moving to Jamaica where me and my husband have a house. Of course for now the house is empty - we don't even have a front door yet and there's nothing to take away from there, but little by little I am sure that we will manage to have a wonderful house filled with love and laughter from three kids.

Anyways... back to the things I found in my computer and my printed materials... I have several great quotes I want to share with you these days and a few flowers for all the people who stumble upon my blog. The first thing I want to share with you is a little poem called Nutshell and unfortunately I don't know where i took it from and who the author is - and yes, I gave a google search trying to find the poem on another site and to see who wrote it, but I wasn't successful. So thank you to whoever wrote it and if you know the name or can give me a link where I can find the poem please let me know.

Nutshell

You said “I don’t”

I said “I do.”

You said “I won’t.”

I did for you.

You said “I can’t.”

I could and did

You said “I need.”

I would not give.

Perhaps, when all

Is said, we failed

To understand

What love entails.

I have one more quote for you today - again an unknown author - and then flowers:

Though we don’t know each other for very long

You have become part of my life

Every time when the phone rings

I pray that is you

Every time we talk

I pray that we never stop

Coz my happiest times are the times that I have spent with you.

                                                                        – Unknown

and now the freebie I promised you... it's just a simple mask that you can save from my blog - but I am still working on the part with downloading from 4shared.

http://www.4shared.com/photo/6uIEFQvD/love.html

Remember tomorrow is the first day of June and also Children Day in Romania so I will be busy with my kid, but HAPPY DAY to all the children.

I did it!... sort of...

Well, after several trials I  managed to change the way my blog looks and give it a more personal touch. Once again I have to thank Katie from Just So Scrappy for her wonderful kits - I used elements and papers from two kits: Kiss me at midnight and Love always.

Last night there was thunderstorm so I didn't get a chance to post - I skipped a day, but I am glad I have something to show you :) and I also noticed that a lot of people don't post anything during the weekends - this is usually family time, I am no exception. Yesterday I took Alex, my big little girl, to watch a puppets show and try them out. She had a lot of fun and I am sorry I don't have pictures to post, but they have a no photos- rule.

Tomorrow is 1st of June, Children Day in Romania so I am going to go to Alex's kindergarten and take some pictures and then take her to a concert and some kids contests at the mall. I still have a lot to do today and I am still trying to figure out how to post something that you can download if you want, so I will post this for now and get back to you as soon as possible. Have a great day!

running late...

Today was cleaning day and after making the beds and arranging all the toys and dusting the house I found out the filter from the vacuum cleaner gave up on me so I had to mop the place and get a working vacuum cleaner from my friend... by the time I was done with the cleaning it was already evening and all my little girl kept asking was "mama, why didn't we go outside to play?"... maybe because everything was wet from the rain and because I had a lot of cleaning to do?!? anyways tomorrow I am planing to take her to the mall for a puppets show.

I still didn't figure out how to make my own blog background, but I know that besides of running late for several items on my to-do list, I am also running low on space on my computer, so I definitely have to do something about it quick... and by quick I mean starting Monday, when my little girl goes to kindergarten, I have to clean my computer and sort as much as I can to make some space for the wonderful freebies I am downloading from some of you - this would be an extremely long post if I mentioned all the blogs I am visiting, but one of the blogs I check all the time is craftcrave.com . Thank you for taking the time to make it all easier for me to find wonderful things that inspired me to start this blog.

Since I don't have anything prepared to share with you, I'll just tell you a little bit more about myself, both the old or younger me and the new or more actual me.

The old me:

100% visual: during daylight, she is in front of her computer and scanner, but enjoys more being behind the camera, video or photo, at any point in time.
Creative: writes poetry on the refrigerator door and emails to friends not shorter than 30kb.
Eccentric: when it comes to style, studying, and basically everything. She very rarely decides not to wear a hat, has dyed her hair blue, green, red, gray and variations; besides JMC, she’s majoring in American Studies, such an exotic program that it no longer exists in AUBG; generally, she adopts the noble attitude: “I don’t really care what people say”. Mariana is a full-time Underground I fan. If you see her somewhere else after nightfall, it’s not her. (written by Corina - one of my college roommates)

The new me:

Full time MOM and part time WIFE ;)
Working part time in Arad, Romania.
Still trying to be 100% visual but at a more limited scale – I’m using my younger daughter as a model – my husband calls me a “Chinese tourist”.
Creative: - still writing poems, but not on the fridge because the little pieces can be easily swollen – you parents know what I’m talking about?
Got a tattoo as a graduation gift and a nose piercing.
Spend my time between Romania, Jamaica and USA.
Have a diploma with double majors from AUBG and plan to become more professional in photography.

quick post today

I was just about to go to bed when I realized I didn't write on my blog today, but I have a fairly good excuse: I have a terrible cold and I am taking antibiotics for it; am also coughing really bad and I am afraid I'll wake up the kid. I am trying to change my blog so these days I want to look for some tutorials that teach one how to do that and once i am satisfied enough with the new look of my blog I will update it. I found several really cute blog backgrounds, but I want to make something of my own. I am also working on my first scrapbooking kit - don't know when it will be ready - and I badly need to burn some CDs and make some space in my computer (external drive is full too).

For today I'll just share with you another one of my poems and if you like it and feel like reading more you can check my website www.mariscorner.com.

You. Me. Us

Books on the desk
A semi-broken computer
Empty shakers waiting to be used
A video cam with a tape in it
On the tape: YOU.

You, always present in my thoughts
You, with the most beautiful declaration
You, with your perfect smile
You, who are always in my heart,
You.

Me, looking at your picture
Me, smiling thinking of the last talk on the phone
Me, trying to figure out my life,
Me, wanting to be with you forever
Me, who loves you like crazy,
Me, afraid of losing you
Me, being angry for not being able to help you decide,
Me.

You and me.
Us, loving each other passionately
Us, wanting to be together for eternity
Us, wishing to have someone we could call “our own”
Us, not knowing what the future will bring
Us, too busy making plans
Us, taking one day at a time
Us, learning to beat the distance
Us, together no matter what
Us and our time that no one can take apart.

You.
Me.
Us.
Praying to be together sometimes in this life;
Our life.

sounds like me...

I started working on my "to do" list which is slowly, but surely getting some items done. I am still trying to figure out how to change my website as well as the way this blog looks and I feel like I am still too far away from some of the people whose blogs inspired me, but I'll catch up...

A couple of nights ago I was looking through several blogs and one of them had a really nice "about me" paragraph as well as a wonderful post about every day things that happen in our lives and we don't notice them. The "about me" paragraph is almost an universal paragraph where most of the women can recognize themselves - I am no exception - through a simple definition of a woman it reminded me of Sheryl Crow's song:

          

"... I'm a lover,
I'm a child, I'm a mother,
I'm a sinner, I'm a saint,
I do not feel ashamed,

I'm your hell, I'm your dream,
I'm nothing in between,
You know you wouldn't want it any other way

So take me as I am
this may mean you'll
have to be a stronger man..."

As for me, I find myself in these lyrics and love the song and I gave, sort of, a definition about myself in the poem Me and somebody else . 

Since I got you used with a poem or a picture or something visual, I'll share with you some of my favorite pictures from other places I've been except Europe:

Ok, enough for today. Be safe and please leave a comment if you stumble upon my blog.

get it personalized...

One of the things I liked in some other countries I've visited, is the fact that they like to personalize and "leave their fingerprints" on all the important events in their lives including making and giving little souvenirs to friends. Where I live now, this thing is a pretty new concept and people usually use these things for weddings or baptism. Among my friends I was the one to "break" the tradition when I made little bags for my daughter's birthday and gave everybody a little souvenir. Now that I did it the second time in a row, people got used to getting personalized things for Christmas or Easter as well as personalized birthday cards. I'll post a few of the things I did, but first of all I want to say "Thank you" one more time to one of my favorites designers, Katie from Just So Scrappy for all her wonderful kits.

That's it for now - when I get a chance to take some pictures with the invitations and the whole package I will.

Be safe.

sorting through my memories

I've been sorting through my things these days trying to decide what I want to take with me to my new home, what I will leave behind and what I will throw away. It still amazes me how many things one can gather during a few years and how one's needs and usage of things changes from year to year. A couple of years ago I was buying a monthly photo magazine and now that I am packing I know I can't take it with me and yet I feel sorry throwing it away, but I have all the information I need available on the world wide web. I still have papers I wrote during my college years and those I will organize in folders in my laptop and just give up the printed copies. It's difficult for me to choose among my memories and decide which one is valuable enough to ship across the ocean at the other end of the world. Sorting through my memories I found out one of my favorite quotes and made an word-art for you. I hope you like it as much as I do.

You can download this word-art here.

Monday - let the week begin

Well Monday is almost gone, but it was a holiday here so it's kinda part of the weekend... tomorrow is a different story though... I have to wait for the plumber in the morning, then go see a lawyer with my friend and pick up some paperwork from the public notary... needing official paperwork, can be a real pain in the neck, but I have to do it. Yesterday I got a lot of message and birthday wishes from my friends on facebook and I just wanted to thank them all once again... ok, I'll keep the rambling short and share with you some pics I took in my trips through Europe.

This is it for today. Tomorrow some more pics from another part of the world... until then stay safe

Happy Birthday to... ME!:)

You can see it's Sunday cause I am posting today way early than usually. Although it's my birthday today I am still in front of the computer checking my email and replying to a lot of kind birthday wishes from my friends and colleagues. i still have to answer a couple of emails and finish this post. Today I want to brag with a few business cards I made and I'll share with you another one of my poems.

Exact science

Us 

Like 2 colors 

Black and white
But if we mix them
Do we get gray?
And in what percentages?
Us
4 years between us.
The ideal difference some say.
Us
Weeks since I last saw you
And I miss you so much… 

Us
1 day since I talked to you on the phone
Few hours till you call again.
Us
As precise and exact as math
Always dealing with numbers,
Always getting the same result:
2.
Us
2 people madly in love
2 hearts that beat for each other
2 souls that found themselves.
Us
Forever together
Until infinity.

I have to go now, but I might be back later ;)

always late with my posts....

Every time I write a post I promise myself I'll write the next one at a more decent hour (it's past midnight now) and I never manage to do it... luckily, I still have a few things that I can post so before I run out of old things to post, I have to start making some new ones. My "to do" list is getting longer and longer and it seems to me that once I finish with one of the things from the list, I have to add two more. Today I'll share with you  two things: one of them is a poem and the other one you'll see when I publish the post... 

Me and somebody else

Remember me?
I am the one, who always bothered the silence,
I am the one they used to call a dreamer,
I am the one, who offered herself without questions,
I am the one, who everybody took for a fool,
I am the one who became somebody else.

I am the one, who kisses the rain and listens to the wind with attention,
I am the one, who laughs with the moon and keeps company to the stars,
I am the one, who will touch freedom when she graduates from the university,
I am the one who loves a black-eyed guy who calls her a kid
I am the one who will cry with blue tears remembering the great time they had together
I am the one, who will forget all the bad things one day when the sun will
Smile for her,
I am the one who wants a child so that she could be called mature
I am the one who will become somebody else.
Will you remember me then?

second thing for today will be a little wordart:

till tomorrow stay safe and have a great night.

Day 3 and a picture

So here is day 3 and I am looking good - one post a day - trying to decide what picture to put up I realized I made a frame for Christmas and never wrote down where the elements i took were from... so if yo do happen to see this and recognize some of the elements I used, I have two things to say to you: THANK YOU for your freebies and SORRY for not taking the time to give you the credit - it won't happen again :)

Here comes the first frame I did after discovering the wonderful world of digital scrapping:

 - the text says "Happy Holidays!"

 - if you would like to use it for your personal projects only, email me at mariance.lewis@gmail.com

And to prove I learned from my mistakes, I am going to show you a birthday card  I did with Alex's help - she is my 4 years old baby girl... and I want to say THANK YOU to Katie from http://justsoscrappy.blogspot.com/ for her wonderful kits which I buy whenever I have money...

 - for this card I used the kit Boys Will Be Boys

I am getting ready to offer a scrapbooking freebie this Sunday, so let's hope i figure how to do it... until then be safe...

just started it and I have to be short...

My second day of having a blog and I already have to write short messages... well, in case you haven't noticed I already have a follower:) Thank you Alexandra! Why a short post? simply because I spent a lot of time on Facebook looking at pictures with the 2010 graduation from the American University in Bulgaria (AUBG) where I also spent 4 and a half years of my life - probably the most important thing after classes was the place I long most to go: Underground. Underground was and will always be THE CLUB for me and many of the people that spent a night there know why so I am not going to talk about it cause it definitely makes me too sad... but to keep it in the same AUBG lines, I'll let you read one of my favorite poems I wrote during that period.

Rooms in Volga

Rooms in Volga, people on the lobby,

My room messy 6 days a week, my roommates,

Cosmetics all over the place, too many of them

For more than 3 women.

Sun glasses on the fridge, and lights on all the time…

Empty plastic bottles in the bathroom,

Waiting to be filled with water that comes

Once a day between 5 and 10pm.

Undone beds and cloths all over,

Pictures on my desk, with two different guys;

Both of them Scorpios and blue-eyed.

Omi, my animal-toy, somewhere in the bed

That is like a boat and makes me think

I'll get seasick one day.

Hopefully I'll have more time tomorrow to post a picture or two...

first time...

This is the first time I am attempting to start a blog, but not the first time I am attempting to keep a diary, so I don't know how well it will go. I noticed that most of the time the first post of a blog is a "hello" and a short presentation of the hostess, so here it goes:

Hello and welcome to my corner of the world!

I don't know how little or how much to say about me so I'll just say the first ten things that come to my mind:

1. I am married.
2. I have three kids ages 3, 7 and 11.
3. I will be moving to Jamaica soon.
4. I love taking photos.
5. My sign is Gemini.
6. My best friend is my first roommate from university.
7. My favorite club is Underground in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria.
8. My website - needs a re-do - is www.mariscorner.com
9. I've always wanted to live close to an ocean - dream came true:)
10. I love reading and listening to music - just like everybody else.

 I will try to post at least once a day and I definitely hope at least a few of you will find something useful on this blog.