The Scrapping Rican

Aleida Franklin (1967 ~ 2008)

The Franklin family is very appreciative of everyone's support and condolences throughout this difficult time.  Aleida was loved by so many people.  We wanted to share the obituary from the Dallas News:

Aleida Franklin, of Lewisville, TX passed away on Friday, September 12, 2008. She was born on May 16, 1967 in Chicago, IL to Tomas Ramos and Carmen Morales.  

Aleida loved to spend time with her family, scrapbooking, music, and photography.  She was employed with Tollefson, Bradley, Ball & Mitchell L.L.P as a legal administrative assistant.

She is survived by her husband Brandon Franklin of 8 years; daughter Isabella Noelle, son Joshua Reed; parents Tomas Ramos of Puerto Rico and Carmen Morales of Chicago, IL; sister Maritza Ramos and brother Stephen Ramos of Chicago, IL; cousin Sonia Avila and numerous extended family members in Chicago and Puerto Rico. She is also survived by her longtime friends, whom she called her spiritual sisters, Soraida Garcia, Jackie Acevedo, Araceli Cano.

Visitation will be from 2:00-6:00 p.m., Friday, September 19, 2008 at Mulkey-Mason Funeral Home of Lewisville with private services being held from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. for immediate family and close friends.

In lieu of flowers contributions may be made to the Franklin Family, 1201 Whitehorse Drive, Lewisville, TX 75077.

To Everyone Who Knew and Loved Aleida I Want to Share This With You

Police: Light-runner caused fatal crash

A 41-year-old woman was killed Friday in downtown Dallas when her vehicle was hit by a driver who ran a red light, police said.

Aleida Franklin of Lewisville died at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas less than an hour after the crash, which occurred at 7:15 a.m., according to the Dallas County medical examiner's office.

According to investigators, the woman's vehicle was hit on Olive Street near Woodall Rodgers Freeway.

The driver, Amy Allen, 22, was being held at the Dallas County Jail on suspicion of negligent homicide. The investigation is ongoing.

7 years ago.....

although I could swear it was yesterday. I will never forget. NEVER!

6 months pregnant with Joshua. Riding the Green line to downtown Chicago, on route to work, train car buzzing with numerous conversations.  All of a sudden a stockbroker who was talking on his cell phones screams out that an airplane flew into the World Trade Center.  The train became a buzz with various reports.........

made it into my office, report that a second airplane hit another tower........

plane flew into the Pentagon....what the he.......?

Office email alert, everyone is to leave and go home.  Mayor Daley is shutting down the city.  I am lucky to be among the first ones out, make it home.  Scared, confused, scared alone.

T.V. reports, I do not turn off the t.v. I barely sleep, when I do for a few hours, I awake as scared and confused and hoping it was all a nightmare.

The newscaster assures me it was not.

My thoughts on those that lost their lives that day. My thoughts on those whose lives would forever change.

Peace,

A.

Weekend wrap-up?...

yeah, I know, technically it's Monday but ssshhh don't tell.

It's 2:00 a.m. and I'm up because I am sick.  Making some thera-flu sore throat drink as I compose this post. 

Did you all have a nice weekend?  I did and it went by way too fast for me.  So not looking forward to go to the office in a few hours. 

I did some scrapping and completed two projects.  The first being I finally did my entry for Dedra's amazing circle journal for group 2 and it's going to go postal in the morning.  Be looking out for it Diana.  Here are my pages:

 

 
 

The theme of Dedra's journal is to share your favorite memory(ies).  Choosing my favorite memory was easy.  Being pregnant with Joshua and then with Isabella and their birth.  I relive that memory in my mind quite often and am very thankful for my two little blessings.

The second scrapping assignment was my layout for Scrapping the Music.  The new challenge went up tonight and we are celebrating the 80's by featuring 80's music during the month.  This week is "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" by Cyndi Lauper.  Here is my layout:

 

Also we have a new guest designer, Tammy Kay!  She is the inspiration for the birth of STM and we are thrilled she is designing for us this month.  Welcome Tammy. 

Well gotta run, my thera-flu is ready.

Have a great Monday everyone. 

A.

Saturday wipe out....

oh man I am sooooooooo exhausted!  Spent the most part of my day in the southern Dallas area attending a birthday party for two beautiful little princesses at their ranch.  I am not an outdoorsey person, so it's a miracle I lasted as long as I did outside.  With the bugs a-flying around me, I kept my composure.  Aleida does not do bugs.

Here are some pics of the day's festivities:

 

 

 

I finished off my layout for tomorrow's Scrapping the Music challenge.  I had a good start because this is a layout that had been sitting on my dining room table waiting for me to complete for over a month.  I like how it turned out.  Of course the subject is very dear and close to my heart.  Here's a sneak. 

 

Before I bid you all farewell, that photo I posted in my prior post below, well that was a happy accident.  You see I was eating breakfast at my kitchen table and looking outside through my glass door, watching the sun rise.  It was so beautiful and calm, God at work so to speak, that I picked up my Canon and snapped. Just a reflex.  I love how I captured my image, the outside elements and my kitchen on one photo. 

Pretty damn wicked, don't you think?

Good night my friends,

A.

We've made it...

My Mosaic...

1. Musique Gable 1, 2. Hazara, Northern Indian food, 3. Prologue, 4. I s o l a t e d, 5. actors..., 6. "Just call me Bubbles darling, everyone does!", 7. Europe, Greece, Santorini, Greek islands, Oia, 8. treat !, 9. Childhood, 10. african children, 11. Call of the Raven (formerly Nature's Special Effects), 12. Puerto Rican Day Parade 2007 [161/365]

I saw this on Michelle G. and Michele S. respective blogs and decided to give it a whirl.  I like how mine turned out. It really is very me.

If you'd like to make one of your own, here's how you do it:

Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr search, using only the first page, choose your favorite image, copy and paste each of the URL’s into the mosaic maker (4 columns, 3 rows).

The questions:

1. What is your first name? (Aleida)
2. What is your favorite food? (Indian Food)
3. What high school did you attend? (Prologue)
4. What is your favorite color? (Green)
5. Who is your celebrity crush? (Javier Bardem)
6. Favorite drink? (Lemon Drop Martini)
7. Dream vacation? (Greek Islands)
8. Favorite dessert? (French Apple)
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? (Graphic Designer)
10.What do you love most in life? (Children)
11. One word to describe you. (Interesting)
12. Your Flickr name. (Ricanlaw)

New addition....

my cousin Mateo and his beautiful wife Lilly had their first child, a baby girl which they named Naima.  I made this card for them:

I am  happy to learn that my very good friend Judi and her family survived that terrible Gustav.  Gosh, I just can't imagine.  I'm very thankful.

I'm also thankful to Tina for this little lovely.

The rules for the "Brilliante Weblog" award are:

The winner can put the logo on his/her blog.

Link to the person you received your award from.

Nominate at least 7 other blogs.

Put links to those blogs on yours.

Leave a message on the blogs of the people you have nominated.

Here are my 7 (drumroll)....

1. Christiane.

2. Nathalie.

3. Lisa.

4. Jessi.

5. Sasha.

6. LaVerne; and

7. Nicole.

Check them out to see them strut their stuff.

Laters,

A.

Hot, fiery and sexy...

is what I like to call my Circle Journal entry for Group 1.  I have Dawn's journal which needs to be shipped out today.  I'm happy that I finished it on time.  It took me a lot time to think about the approach I was going to take with her journal.  Her theme is on music.  Well I love all kinds of music!  Funny cause the next journal I'm to receive for Circle Journal 2 from her, is also about music.  Too funny.

Okay back to Dawn's journal.  Well I decided to do an entry about Salsa music.  I know there is a strong likelihood Ms. Thang knows squat about Salsa which was the deciding factor for me to go that route.  In addition to the pages, I made a CD for her containing my favorite old school Salsa tunes.  I hope she does give it a listen. I know she will not understand the lyrics, but listen to the music.

So here is my entry in its entirety:

Journaling:  Anyone who knows me, knows that I have a deep love and appreciation for all types of music.  I’m always blasting music, either in my car, in my home and especially while I scrap.  I love to go to concerts, etc.  However, if I had to narrow it to one genre of music, that resonates with me, it would be Salsa. 

I grew up listening to Salsa. Every time I hear it playing it takes me way back to when I was a little girl and going to family parties and watching the elders dance.  They were always having a good time, their intricate steps hard for me to follow, but mesmerizing nonetheless.  My favorite would be around Christmas time, when family and friends would gather together and go on our parrandas (Puerto Rican caroling) from house to house, singing, dancing, playing our musical instruments from the island, singing folklore and sharing stories.  This was to be followed by lots and lots of eating.  Food was plentiful and my belly was very appreciative.

In my adulthood, I still have not learned how to dance Salsa, but enjoy the music and people watch.  I love to watch others, their movements, they way the dress, very sexy, very intimate and always passionate. 

I’ve included in my circle journal entry a CD containing some of my favorite old school Salsa songs. I hope you give it a listen.

So that is it and off it goes. 

So this site is up and running. 

Hope you can check it out.  I tried to post my introduction days ago and low and behold, Typepad didn't like my post and refused to post it.  So in the meantime I have to figure out how to post.  Always something with me, things are never easy. 

I'm at home today taking care of Josh.  His fever has gone down, but he still had a vomiting spell so we are keeping him under careful observation for another day.  Pumping the meds and the liquids.  Thanks to all for the kind thoughts and prayers.

Later,

A. 

Lot's to share....

hey all.  I'm back.  I have lots to say, so get ready for a rather lengthy post.  I promise to throw in some photos too.

Let's start off with my layout for Scrapping the Music.  The new challenge is up.  The song is "It's My Life" by BonJovi. 

I'm so loving the colors choices I made for this layout. Bold and risky, but I think it's stunning.  Plus that's a good photograph of me and that is a rarity. Ha, ha, ha.  This week marks the end of Kristii Lockart's guest design work for STM and I want to thank her on my behalf and those at STM. She really knocked it out of the ballpark each and every week and we are thankful for it. 

So in case you are wondering, YES, I did finish the mini-book!!! Patting myself on the back.  Get ready for photo overload cause here it comes:

Question: What is in your refrigerator?

Question: What if your favorite accessory of choice?

Question: What or who are you crushing on right now?

Question: What is your favorite childhood memory?

Question: Who do you miss the most? (I changed mine to "what").

Question: Who is your BFF?

Question: What are you learning right now?

Question: What is your favorite smell?

Question: What three words describe you best?

Question: What is your most "valuable" possession?

Because Typepad runs funky for me and I just don't have the patience, I decided not to include the more detailed pics.  You can see the album in more detail here. 

So I have a new online friend who is amazing and talented.  I love going to her blog and she recently made the team at Hambly. So I am looking to her for inspiration on how to use their product as I find it to be a little intimidating for me.  It was a nice surprise to see that she reads my blog and bestowed me with this award:

So the rules are:

The rules for the award are - (1) The winner can put the logo on their blog. (2) Link the person you received your award from. (3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs. (4) Put links of those on yours. (5) Leave a message on the blogs of the girls or boys you’ve nominated.

Now I get to nominate 7 people.  So here goes:

1.  Liz Ness

2. LaVerne Boese

3. Dedra Long

4. Yvonne Berry-Wunderlich

5. Liz Mataraza

6. Greta Baksa

7. Denise Nichols

Now about a week ago, Bella and I went to our mail box to retrieve the mail for the day and there was an envelope addressed to Ms. Bella from our friend Jessi.  Here is what Bella found inside:

A beautiful handmade birthday card!  She was so thrilled she asked me to take her picture holding her card.

So there was another surprise, this time an envelope for me which contained this beautiful card:

that also included this note:

Ah, SAY WHAT?  I had to read, read and re-read it several times before it sunk in.  You see, I had to cancel my sub to my favorite kit club Studio Calico last month and it really, really stung.  I guess Jessi realized how much so that she decided to give me such a generous gift. I had no idea and was shocked, delighted, grateful but not sure about her giving me such a gift.  So after chatting with her, she convinced me to accept it and man-oh-man, because of her I get to continue to enjoy the subs and will be getting this in the mail soon.

This is the September kit.  I've officially been a member of Studio Calico for a year now. Happy anniversary to me!  Thanks Jessi, I don't know how or when, but you will be repaid somehow. 

Joy-oh-Joy!

I have more to post, but seriously I'm about to hit my computer because of the Typepad issue.  So I'll be back tomorrow.

I have a request before I go.  My son is still very sick and has been in and out of the shower and tub all day and I'll spare you the grossly details, but will you please say a prayer for him.  This virus is really kicking his butt good.

Night all.

A.