Throwback Thursday - My McBug

What was your first car?

For me, it was my 1967 powder blue Volkswagen Beetle. My mother had purchased it in the Spring of 1990 for $800 from an auto shop owner who tinkered around with Beetles. Her old car had been totaled in a 6-car pile-up on the frozen 6th Street overpass in March. But that's a story for another Throwback Thursday.

Mom bought her first brand new car in the Fall of 1990 and gave Rob and me the Beetle. Zack was a couple months old and we didn't have a car, so this was a welcome gift.

We named the Beetle "McBug." This term held several meanings. First, Rob was a manager at McDonald's (a restaurant known for adding the prefix "Mc" to every word imaginable). Second, growing up with the last name "McLaughlin" also led to adding the "Mc" to "Bug."

But mostly, I was 19 and liked having cute names for my car!

McBug was a total lemon of a car. I think it ran reliably only a fraction of the time that we owned it. Either the timing was off, the brake fluid was leaking, the brake discs needed to be replaced, or the engine itself was in need of rebuilding.

But, I loved this car. It was unusual. It was cute. It made that trademark "Volkswagen" sound when it ran.

Alas - McBug became too expensive for us to try to upkeep. So we bought a newer car & ended up selling McBug to a Volkswagen enthusiast who could afford to give it the attention it needed.

Ironically, the car that replaced McBug also sucked. Such is the life of a young adult!

Project Life 2014: Week 7

Yes, I know I'm rather behind on my Project Life posts. I have weeks 4-6 completed, but they're not my favorite layouts & that ol' perfectionist in me sometimes takes over.

So, here's Week 7:


Valentine's Day was on Friday during this week. Rob and I realized that it was the 25th Valentine's Day that we've celebrated together, which made us pause and go "hmmm....wow!" We had Italian food at Bruno's and then came home to watch Iron Man 2. Romantic, I know!

Alyssa had a 3 day weekend, so she came home from Bozeman. She also has a new boyfriend and it was Valentine's Day. Go figure...

Montana was in a massive thaw that week, which turned our unplowed residential streets into a total slush-fest. Maybe Spring is actually coming (she hopes naively)?

The weekend was filled with Zumba. I helped a bit with the Basic Leader training on Saturday, and then participated in a Master Class Saturday night, even leading a song that I choreographed (with some inspiration from YouTube videos LOL).

I used the Jade Core Kit this week. I like using cards that are similar to give the layouts a unified look. The cards can either be the same design, or can be the same color. This time, I went with all "jade" colored cards.


The heart and camera dimentional stickers are from Crate Paper's Close Knit line. I loved how they coordinated so well with the Jade cards.


The heart cross-stitch design came from Amy Tangerine's Yes, Please stencil set. I've been a cross-stitcher forever, so I loved the opportunity to combine my two crafty passions.

And that's Week 7. I will publish weeks 4-6, I promise!

What They Thought - Romantic Scrapbooking Course Layout

Here is my latest installment of my Romantic Scrapbooking catalog. The prompt for this challenge was to scrap what our first impressions were of each other. This was rather difficult for both Rob & me, seeing as we met back in 1987, but didn't really begin a friendship until a year later. I decided to keep it simple & just include 3 items for each person in a bullet-point list.

Here's the layout:


Sorry for the poor photography - the bottom left corner kept curling up on me. Oh well!

The photos I chose represent how we looked at the time we met, even though the photos themselves weren't from that exact moment in time. The photo of Rob was actually taken in 1990 on his first day as a shift manager at McDonald's. I liked this because he and I actually met while working at McDonald's.

The photo of me was taken in early 1987, so about 6 months before we met.

First impressions aren't always accurate. Rob thought I was nerdy, but to this day he won't tell me how I was nerdy except that I had short hair. I thought he was cute, but stuck up & out of my league. Luckily, we got to know each other later on, during the summer of 1988, and our impressions of each other changed drastically. Plus, I grew out my hair. :)

The majority of this layout was completed with parts from Studio Calico's Sugar Rush kit. I cut the pink background using my brand spanking-new Silhouette Cameo (love this thing!!!!). The journal cards are from the Dear Lizzy Project Life Core Kit. The glitter Thickers are from American Crafts.

Well, on to the next challenge.....

When I Knew - Romantic Scrapbooking Course Layout


I am taking part in the "Romantic Scrapbooking" course run by Noell Hyman at Paperclipping.com. If you have a significant other, I highly recommend it. Just by watching her videos and hearing the story of her and her husband, it immediately gave me a deeper appreciation for my 24-year marriage.

Here is the first layout I did for this course. The challenge was to scrapbook how or when we knew our significant other was "the one."



The picture I used was taken in August of 1989, when Rob and I went to Denver for the first time. It is one of my favorite pictures of us - it conveys such a youthfulness yet commitment to each other. Plus, we look damn cute, don't you think?

The papers and most of the embellishments were part of Studio Calico's Sugar Rush kit. Mom gifted me a kit subscription this month - thanks Mom!  The wood veneers are all Studio Calico as well.

My journaling is brief. I think I have troubles communicating to others what I feel for my husband, and this journaling reflects that. I'm hoping that this course helps me to overcome that.


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