Makings of a great weekend

Sleeping in, hiking, napping, scrapbooking, watching movies (Catch and Release and Wedding Crashers - no we had not seen this one yet) - all things that make a pretty good weekend. We even got a little bit of rain this weekend (which makes for great conditions for napping and scrapbookig). Usually, rain would not be part of a 'good' weekend, however, this is something that was much needed in our area - we are currently in a drought and are on water restrictions right now - no washing of cars, and only watering the yard on Thursdays and Sundays.

I finally finished the layout from our Seattle trip.














Hope you all had a great weekend.

Happy Birthday, Kim!!

Why can't I seem to wish people a Happy Birthday on the actual day?? This is definitely a character flaw of mine. It's not because I don't remember when their birthday is or that I don't think about them on their actual birthday! I just never get around to saying something on the actual day.

Yesterday was our brother-in-law, Kim's, birthday - a significant, milestone birthday, nonetheless. Although I won't tell you which one it is, since I don't know how he truly feels about it, but I'm sure you are able to guess.

I'm disappointed in myself as a scrapbooker because as I was going through all my pictures, I realized that I do not have a good recent picture of Kim. So here is a picture of him and Tina from our cruise four years ago. (As a disclaimer - I do have more recent pictures of Kim, just not ones that he is looking directly into the camera, so I thought this would be the best bet!)

Kim - We hope you had a great day, yesterday, and you have many more wonderful birthday's to come. Please forgive the tardiness of the well wishes.

Sensory Overload...

That is the only way I can think of to describe Las Vegas, NV. This was my first trip there, and I must say, I don't think I will be going back any time soon. Maybe it was just because I was there for so long (arrived on Monday, left on Saturday), or maybe it was just that I was completely out of my element...not sure. The conference I went for - the APA Congress - was pretty good and I did have a good time while I was there, but I was definitely ready to come home by the end of the week (really before then...)

Here are a few pictures of my trip...I stayed at the Planet Hollywood...

while my good friend, Chris, from OH, who I got to meet up with there...

stayed at the Paris, where most of the conference was held...

Her manager was not able to go at the last minute with her, so I got to tag along with her to her vendor party with ADP. They bought tickets for all their clients to go see The Producers - and yes, I got to tag along to that, too! It was a very good show - very funy! Thanks, Chris, for letting me tag along!!

We had several opportunities to do quite a bit of shopping...I brought home A LOT more than I went with. I'm still amazed that I was able to fit it all in my suitcase.

One of the best events of the week was Chris and I decided to treat ourselves to tickets to go see Celine Dion's A New Day show on the last night we were there. This is Celine's last year of performing at the Colosseum in Caesar's Palace. It was a REALLY good show. I'm so glad we splurged and did that.

All in all it was a good trip...and what made it especially good was being able to spend the whole week with Chris!

Here is one last picture of the fountains in front of the Bellagio, with the Paris in the background. The fountains spray to music - very cool!

P.S.

We did attend the conference most of the time - just didn't want to bore you with the details about the payroll classes that were actually pretty good! :o)

Can you believe, though, I didn't gamble once - not even the slots!! What kind of nerd am I??

Weekend Project

I got to do some scrapbooking this past weekend. I started a layout for our Seattle trip, but haven't finished that one yet. I'll share when I do. I did finish this project, though.

I was asked to make the group card for my boss's wife's baby shower. She is having her third child, but first girl. Not my best work, but other's seemed to like it.

Off to watch the rest of my recently discovered new favorite TV show - House.

It's coming!!!

This past week was a very long week, it seemed, however, it was broken up by something very exciting!! You see, August 2 through August 4 is earmarked for the very highly anticipated event - The Creating Keepsakes Scarpbooking Convention!!!!!! Wednesday of this week we were finally able to register for classes for this thrilling affair! And what makes it even more exciting (if that is even possible)...is one of my best friends from Ohio, Karie, is coming to visit that weekend to go with me!!!

So these are the fun classes we registered for:

Friday
8:30 - 9:30 Everything Embellished (Karie is actually taking 5 in 1 SEI at this time - a class I wanted, but sold out before I could register! (Heavy Sigh!))
9:50 - 10:50 A Thing or Two about Girls
12:30 - 1:30 Finished in a Flash
3:10 - 5:10 Focus on Friends and Family

Saturday
8:30 - 9:30 Thru the years
9:50 - 10:50 10 Things Every Scrapbooker Should Know
11:10 - 12:10 You've Been Framed
3:10 -4:40 The Choice is Yours

Of course this leaves us plenty of time to shop at the Vendor Faire! I get so excited about this event every year, but it is always so much more fun when you have someone to go with! Thank you, Karie, for coming to Charlotte for this! (It's about time - it only took you seven years! :o)!!)

Does anyone else want to join us?

Happy Belated Birthday, Bruce!!

A big shout out to Bruce, our brother-in-law, for his birthday, which was yesterday! Sorry for the late greetings, Bruce! Hope you had a great birtday!

For those of you who are wondering about the picture above - you can read the story HERE

Poor Pitiful Me...

It is amazing what I can get away with when I'm sick. I've somehow caught myself a pretty bad cold. I tried to convince myself that it was just allergies (something I never had before moving to North Carolina), but now I believe it really is a cold...the sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever, having problems resting kind of cold (actually, without the fever, but couldn't leave that off the description). Anyway, I played the "oh, poor pitiful me" card and Del took the pictures I've wanting to take for about four days now so I could finally post them. (He's so good to me!!!)

While we were in Seattle a couple weekends ago, we bought two accessories for the house. The glass one was shipped home, which is part of the reason why it has taken two weeks to post these - we just got it on Tuesday.

We have this one in our fairly newly painted bedroom.



We found this at Pike's Market from one of the local artists selling there. A really nice lady that seemed to have a lot of passion for what she did.




And this one on our dining room table.





I fell in love with this piece while on my tour of the city and had to drag Del back to the Glasshouse Studio to see if he loved it as much as I did. I'm not sure he did, but it ended up on our table anyway.


So, tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo! Of course, everyone knows that, however...did you also know it is NATIONAL SCRAPBOOKING DAY?!??!? To celebrate this joyous ocassion (hee hee!), QVC is having a special day of scrapbooking treasures - can't wait!!!!!! The fun starts at 2:00 a.m., however, with the way I'm feeling right now, I don't think I'll be staying up for that two hour stretch (heavy sigh!!) , but there is plenty more throughout the rest of the day to make up fo it!

Also to celebrate, I am having a few friends over tomorrow for a Scrapbooking Cinco de Mayo party. I may need to make this an annual event! Should be fun.


Until next time...

Initials with meaning

So I was reading on another blog today about someone who felt her initials meant something other than the first letters of her name. And it got me thinking about what my initials would stand for. Although I'm stealing one of her words, I believe my initials stand for

"Truly Blessed."

I have the most adoring husband.

The cutest kitty on the planet.

A family that loves me.

The best in-laws a girl could ask for.

The house of my childhood dreams.

A fabulous career. The best of friends...the list could go on and on...What more could a girl possibly want or need!?!?

God has truly blessed me!

What do your initials stand for?

Home..safe and sound...

There is a lot to do in Seattle - more than a weekend will allow. And surprisingly enough - it didn't rain!!

Here are a few pictures from our trip.

We got in a little late Wednesday, so we just went to dinner and explored the Grand Hyatt.

Del was tied up all day Thursday with his conference, so I was on my own. I did some shopping and then I took a tour of Seattle. It really has a lot to offer. It reminded me in some ways of Chicago, with a lot of charm. The pictures above include the famous market place sign - what a hoppin' place that is with all local vendors from fresh seafood, to a bazillion fresh cut flowers to bouquets of chili peppers and home of the very first Starbucks Coffee. The tour took us by the floating houses - the one Tom Hanks was on in Sleepless in Seattle is across the lake (barely visible in the picture). There were several fishing boats in the harbor just like the ones you see on Discovery Channel's The Deadliest Catch. The Gothic style building is on the campus of University of Washington - it was such a beautiful building and a beautiful campus. There is a little town just north of Seattle that has this huge statue of a troll under a viaduct - that was fun. The tall white building is the Smith Tower. The lobby of this building is amazing - marble walls, brass mailboxes, but the most quaint detail is the hand operated elevators.

Del still had a 1/2 day at his conference on Friday, so I spent the morning at the spa getting a massage and a facial. We then spent the entire afternoon walking around Seattle - all around Seattle.

Del and I didn't leave the state of Washington without getting at least one hike in. Saturday we hiked the Rattlesnake Ledge Trail, which did not disappoint in the way of views. On the way back to the hotel, we happened by a couple scrapbook stores - the Paper Zone and Bee's Knee's - (hmm...wonder how that happened??)

Although our bodies are a little messed up from the time zone differences, it was a very good trip all in all.

Only two days of work this week...

...before we head to Seattle, WA for the weekend. But until then....

...some pictures from this weekend.

Del got up a little earlier than usual on Saturday morning to go to Bruegger's to get breakfast since he had to be back home to play a Starfleet Battles tournment game. While he was gone, Chalupa and I were awakened by an odd tapping on the bedroom window. Chalupa became vey alert and did not budge from this spot for several hours.

So what held her attention for so long, you ask? This little fella...

I was so pleased to capture the moment, since I thought it wouldn't happen again. Wrong!! The next morning he came back - so we had to name him. Meet Bob the Blue Bird. He is a very pretty bird, but we cannot figure out why he keeps tapping on our window with his beak - constantly!!! I'm guessing he sees his reflection in the window - but that's all I got. Anyone have any other ideas? Here are a few other shots that I got of our new feathered friend and Del took the one of Chalupa intently watching Bob.

How cute is that??


I also got to do some scrapbooking this weekend - something I feel like I haven't done in forever...no excuse really - just haven't felt that creative lately. I did my side of the family's 2006 Christmas gathering. I had some fun using the sewing machine a little on this layout.






















I will try to post some while on the road this week. I'm realy excited about Seattle - I've never been to the state of Washington.

Until next time...