Princesskitty

My name is Kari ... I live in Long Beach, CA. I live by the CSULB campus with my hubby of 10 years and 3 fabulous felines, Princess Kitty and Chompers and our newest baby, Sweetpea. :-) Growing up I really enjoyed letter writing and sending postcards, creating things and taking pictures.

Some of my best friends today are ones I had as pen pals at age 15. One of my best friends is the little sister of my favorite 10th grade teacher. I mean... this was my FAVORITE teacher. One day everyone was getting a Japanese penpal and for some reason they ran out when it came to me. My teacher asked me up to her desk for a chat. She asked if I wanted to write to her little sister who was my age and still lived at home in Michigan. My favorite teacher liked me enough to trust me with writing to her little sister!!!!!! Right from the first letter it was magic. She came to visit me and her sister in CA several times over the years and the adventures we had together will live with me forever as some of my most cherished moments. And I also got to know my favorite teacher on a more personal level which was a dream come true as well. I held her first born child in my arms during the 10th grade Nativity play. I was Mary and he was my baby Jesus. The birth scene alone lives in infamy. And one of the biggest honors... her little sister and I were both in each other's weddings! And I recently just returned from a visit to her childhood home in Michigan with her. Now THAT is the magic of a good penpal! :-)

I love to travel and make adventure out of everyday life. I love all animals but have a special place in my heart for all things feline, sheep and squirrel. Ha. Love to go to theme parks and ride the rides but I love love love Disneyland and live only 20 minute away from it. I have been to Disneyworld twice (the first time was my honeymoon) and only wish I had the money to go every year because it is Disneyland on steroids! I love scrapbooking and taking photos. I love throwing dinner parties for my girls and traveling with the hubby. I've been to England, Ireland and Scotland.. and Canada. And all over the USA. My most fabulous trip was in 2007 when I finally got to realize my life long dream of going to Ireland! England and Scotland were the icing on the cake! We were there for 21 days and I wish I could just jump on a plane anytime and go back. Making that fabulous trip with my best friend that I married made it even sweeter! Our next big adventure will be Germany/Austria/Switzerland! Adventure!!!! It's what life is all about... whether it involves getting on a plane or hanging out in your own backyard. It's all about your attitude and how you choose to look at life. The trick is to remind myself of those words when things get tough.

Crafts...

*I appreciate all crafts. I wish I could sew. I work with felt, Cross stitch, scrapbooking, card making, paper crafts, handmade ornaments, painting, polymer clay jewelry and I have gotten into painting wooden boxes with vintage images on them.

Favorite Things...

*I'm a holiday girl! Love all holidays and try to decorate my house and make every one special and festive.

*Especially LOVE LOVE Halloween... the cute, crafty, and/or vintage kind of Halloween not the gory, gross, dark, spooky kind. Well... a little spooky is good. I LOVE scary movies and haunted mazes. But other than that, I love it all. Decorations, jewelry, craft supplies, nick nacks, candles, candle holders, scrapbook supplies and rubber stamps... glittery Halloween goodness... it's all good. Spooky guys are ok if they are cute. My pride and joy to my Halloween collection is my village. Ah... if I could only afford a giant Dept 56 Halloween village! My newest love to my collection is the black Halloween tree with orange lights I got last year. It was my centerpiece to the dining room for my annual pumpkin lunch this past year. I am enjoying finding and making new ornaments for my tree.

*Love Martha Stewart... I'm a poor man's Martha... and I do mean poor ;-)

*Love all things cupcake... such a happy snack food. :-)

*LOVE Ireland and all things Irish! (Finally got to go there in 2007)

*Love making polymer clay cupcake earrings

*Love clay food earrings and felt food (if I can't eat it all the time, I can at least enjoy looking at it)

*Love cats, dogs... all cute critters

*Love all things Disney! (Live 20 minutes from Disneyland!)

*Have a tiara collection and have a princess fetish (not sure I should admit this one)

*Love to scrapbook and take photos

*LOVE Snoopy and Peanuts!

*Love all things ice skating... used to skate competitively until age 21.

*Get crazy excited when it's an Olympic year!

*Jolee and her darn stickers are going to put me in the poor house. As well as her sadistic cousin, K&Co.

*Love throwing my annual pumpkin lunch (must wear tiaras)

*Love creating crafts with my hands

*Love collecting those dopey squished pennies you get from the machines when you travel... have tons of them.

*Collect magnets and mini snowglobes with the place I am visiting when I travel... and this certain kind of cartoony looking mug that they usually have when I visit a place.

*Saving up for my next big adventure... Germany/Switzerland/Austria!

*Favorite color is purple... and I love lavender, pink and red.

*Love to play guitar (quite poorly)

*Glitter makes everything better! :-) Love sparkly things and glitter and bling makes life happy.

*Love a good watermelon themed item. Dishware, stationary, towels... love it all! My kitchen is done in watermelon. Been collecting different pieces since I was 15. Dishes... glasses..bowls.. you name it. Such a happy fruit. It used to be really popular at one time but now you have to search a little to find stuff.

*I get excited for cute stationary, good stickers, scrapbooking supplies, anything with a watermelon theme, Autumn and Halloween, Disney, all sorts of Disney and non Disney princess stuff, polymer clay creations, felt food creations, cats cats cats!, Snoopy (I love that dog!) and all his friends, magnets, postcards, mini snow globes, Seals, sea lions, squirrels and sheep (random, huh?)....

*Postcards... I love postcards. If given a choice I prefer them to be naked... stamped and written on. It makes it more personal and interesting to me.

*It would be fun to find some international swappers on here that live near their own Disneylands... Tokyo, China, Euro Disney, even Disneyworld. Imagine the fun private swaps we could do!!! :-)

*** I wanted to give an explanation of the 3s on my profile. I joined a private card making group and I did so at a very bad time. I was about to be moving into a new home and if you have ever moved before you know what a horrible experience it is. Well at the same time all the bad things in life snowballed on me. Swapping was the last thing on my mind at the time. I asked the women in the group if it would be ok if I was late with their cards and they said no problem. I kept in regular contact with them the entire time. Had they ever told me that they were going to rate me low for this, which they should have done from the beginning, I would have sent off much simpler cards so that they could be on time. It breaks my heart because up until I met them I had a spotless record. I am a good crafter so hopefully this will not cause you to judge me badly. If you notice under their 3 ratings... their reviews of my cards were glowing. Sigh... it is what it is in life.

Happy swapping, everyone!