*I've Been Absent*

Sorry for not being around the blog and instagram much, my friends...  honestly my creative mojo has been at a low the last few months and I am barely getting my design team obligations done, let alone finding the creative spark to create just for myself.  Add on to it two long weekend trips in three weeks and coming home on Monday with a stomach bug (I can now check "use a barf bag on a plane" off my list) and I just haven't been at my desk.

I have just a few cards to share at this point, all of them (except one) are for design team obligations.  Summer is more difficult to create because there are other things I know I should be doing on my days off...  spending time on the deck with a good book, pulling weeds, going out on the bikes with the hubby, enjoying the fire pit.... and I honestly don't even feel like I've been doing enough of that either!

I was away this past weekend in southern Ontario (the St Catherines/Welland/Niagara Falls area) for a national 5-pin bowling tournament.  Back in the late winter I qualified for the "house round" of a pins over average tournament.  I haven't entered a tournament in about a decade, but my friend Adam and I both said "if you go I'll go"... so I went.  And I managed to place first in that tournament.  The top four bowlers from our bowling lanes travelled to Edmonton at the beginning of May to compete in the Alberta round of this tournament.  We rocked that tournament and became Provincial Champions!  We won a small cash prize and we also earned a trip to Ontario for the National Tournament which was held this past weekend.  Over the last several weeks I have been bowling every week or two just to keep myself in good form for the tournament.  We had an awesome day one of the tournament.... we won 6 out of 7 of our games and were in first place.  The second day a few of us struggled more than we did on the first day (I went from 6 games over my average on day one to 3 games over my average on day two) and we ended up taking the Bronze Medal.  I was disappointed to not win, but also thrilled to have placed in the top three!  Not bad for two novice bowlers (we've been bowling for a long time, but never at a National tournament) and two well-seasoned bowlers (the other two have been to a National tournament before).  

Anyway... please stick with me... there will be more to share at some point... it just might be a little quiet until I find my mojo...