Spending the day with the young & reckless.......

umm...that's what his shirt says and if the shirt fits......well that's my boy. lol!!!! He's doing well, living with dad and we had great fun yesterday. DH and I went to hang w/Shane and get his some new shoes and clothes for Christmas at the mall. Which I might say was INSANE. (What was I thinking). However, we weren't INTENSE about the whole experience, so being patient, all things did come in its time and we were in and out pretty darn quick. Shane was fun, funny and pretending reluctance at the picture taking....He was so excited about his new clothes that when we stopped at Starbucks for my BIG CHEAT, He changed in the car. Of course the camera caught all the action. I used my newly purchased Canon Powershot A1100 IS which has 12.1 mp. MORE than my Rebel (which I'll never give up). I like that I can carry it in my purse. I like that its stealthy because you never know when it'll be pointed at you. Click.

mmmmmmmmm...DH gets a triple shot latte, and I LOVE the mocha frappachino lite w/the gingerbread cake. OHMYYUM. So glad that puppy is seasonal!

Flashback Friday 12.11.09.....I went Digi Again!!

What can I say except that when some challenges come around I'm exceptionally chatty. Really. And "what I wanted to be when I was growing up..... was it. So of course I made a long story even longer bwahahaha! However, I'm liking the way it came out. Fits in with my Hybrid-(now)DIGI all about me book. and WA-LA. Scrappin' at its finest. Snort. Now all I have to do is figure out how to PRINT it with TOP in tact. and OH YEAH...borderless. However, I digress once again whining about this and that. lmao.....so for your reading pleasure (war and peace) bwahaha....OH Cottage Arts comes through again........

journaling: When I was growing up I had no clue what I wanted to be or do. Career wise or work wise. As most of you know, watching Perry Mason one of my favorite shows, I found Della Street his secretary extrordinaire. And for some reason I found that fascinating and something I could maybe do. So beginning in 9th grade I signed up for typewriting and shorthand classes, and loved them both. Excelled actually. What a surprise. So after graduation, perusing the wanted ads, I KNEW that I could then be the secretary to President of Florida Steel. Naive that I was it didn’t occur to me that I would actually NEED to work my way into that position. LOL. So in the meantime, I put my application into the local phone company GTE. They were only hiring operators, and the wonderful lady in HR told me to get my foot “in the door” by taking the job and I could then be ”promoted within” to other departments. So that became the start of my career. I was an operator for 9 months and the supervisor decided I needed more of a challenge than being “Hang man champ” of the section; I was promoted to a clerical position in Engineering, I was then promoted (after about 6 years) to secretary in Transition Management (cutovers), veered off to Service Rep, went back to being a Secretary in Accounting, which was a perfect move. THC”d (higher temporary classification) to become a Secretary to Director of Accounting which was my stepping stone into management. FINALLY!!!! After 19 years I FINALLY MADE IT!! Believe it or not I had issues with umm....playing the games. I know that was a surprise. After reading the writing on the wall with the new technology coming out, secretaries or Administrative Assistants as it was then known then was really on its way out. People answered their own phones, voicemail took the message, and email and word processing was available to everyone. I then took another tack and applied for and became a sales assistant to the equipment side of the company. Another advancement in management. Then after a couple of years as a sales assistant, I MADE IT TO MIDDLE MANAGEMENT as

project manager. It was then I felt that I finally “made it.” I had a career, money to raise my kids with benefits to take care of our needs, and a job that I had to idea I would absolutely LOVE. I remained in that position until I retired in 2002. Had not GTE sold to Bell Atlantic to became Verizon, I would have not considered retiring. Because changing circumstances made it impossible to do the best job I could, I took the option to leave/retire while I was still successful, after 30 years. Journaling 12.16.09

Rock On.......

Love the SBE templates (219) and yes I'm almost through them. bwahaha!!! Which I'm sure you'll appreciate when I'm done. However, it was very cool to use in telling this story. My DH's parents would come down to visit every year and the last time they actually drove (which was a good thing it was their last for all other drivers on the road), they brought Tom's rocking chair and a fire engine he used to play with. (The fire engine lives on our shelf in the living room. Very cool vintage). Anyhoo, the chair was in really really bad shape. Our good friend Bill, a carpenter fixed the things that were falling off. And SHOOT ME as the family documenter that I didn't take a picture of it in that sad state. GRRRR!!!! However, I did pick it up prior to the sanding, and painting, and sanding and painting. SHOOT ME again I didn't photos of the packing and sending either. Sigh. BUT Tom got to see and take photos of his little man sitting in his chair. I'm so glad it was saved, and was able to be fixed and passed on to the next generation. Rocking awesome.

Materials: bo bunny pp (yum-0), ki chipboard, cosmo alpha chipboard. noteworthy, qk vixen (yes, again). I'm a creature of habit when it continues to work. SHOOT ME. bwahahaha! (I also put a "child's book" together for Owen through Kodak and it came out beautifully. It was really fun to write the story......of Owen's Little Red Rocking Chair.

Wedding Album...........Cover

new and improved. Took Rita's suggestion and added the flower, toille and button to the front just gave it that lil something extra. Thanks my friend. Love the new look.

Flashback Friday 11.20.09.....I went Digi Again!!

Which seriously when I'm less than chatty. bwahaha! As if. So the challenge was to scrap about games we played when we were young. Of course I couldn't pick one, but I did pick like the top 5. I downloaded the images from the internet and actually used PSE 6 for the ENTIRE THING. gasp.faint.thud. lmao......

So I made the images transparent so I could write over top of them and it was stark white. So AFTER it was ALL said and done, of course I decided it needed something more. So I went to my paltry choices of digi stuff and found a background from Cottage arts FREE. I also used TXT Jersey for the title and used Stone Sans ITC TT that I downloaded somewhere free and the site escapes me. Sigh. If someone pops on here that knows it feel free to let me know. (I do know it wasNOT free fonts). It was a designer from 2 peas. It took a bit of manipulating. Well ok I had to start the design from scratch to add the background, HOWEVER, PSE 6 was not as annoying as it had been. GASP. WOW. FAINT. THUD.

Wedding Album...........

oooooooooooo don't cha just love this Bo Bunny Edgy album. Wow!!! Anyway I thought it was perfect especially since the bride loves green. Used a lot of my stash too which is a plus. The Deja View rubons - I had a love/hate relationship w/them. I love how they look - they just don't go on easy. Lots of bling, ribbon.

However, the think the pages need something more. Of course I left out a journaling block. Sigh But the bride can always write on the book itself. Anyway I love the overall look, there's just something missing. HELP!

Goth on.....

get it??? game on, goth on. Well alrighty then, had to be there. snort. Anyway.....I had a blast this Halloween dressing up. It's been years. Really. So I jumped in, and wanted something that I could do my job w/o a costume getting in the way. Only problem was the fake lip ring, which was really an earring prop made it difficult to talk so I had to take it out, and it was also against store policy. Leave it to me to unwittingly break a rule or two. Anyway the peeps at work are still stunned. The ole lady went goth. bwahaha. Keeps them on their toes. Love that.

I FINALLY GOT TO USE MY TIM HOLTZ GRUNGEBOARD SKULL & CROSSBONES. WOOO HOOOO!!! It took me awhile b/c I couldn't decide what colors I wanted. I didn't have any Halloween paper, but the colors on this awesome die cut circle by MM were perfect. So I could be goth and girlie at the same time. Can we say oxymoron??????snort. Anyway a little sassafrass lass, primas (no lo is perfect w/o them) bling (again) and qk Vixen font. Vixen get it. like all girlie and sexy. SNORT. (laughing uncontrollable here-feel free to jump in). However I am liking the black hair. Wouldn't that be a change. {{{{CHHAANNGGEEE}}}} whole 'nother ball o' wax. guffaw.

flashback Friday the 13th.

The challenge was to do a lo of a veteran. I chose to go back to my "wayback" machine lol!!! and dig in my Roots Journal (that was Year's in the making) for this challenge.

Charles Altemus is my great grandfather and a handsome man. There is debate on which National Guard, Infantry, Calvary he served in. I have 3 different accounts all documented here. He was an interesting man.

My roots journal is a very informal, diary style book that has stories based on what my aunts, documentation, and ancestory.com could tell me. It was years in the making researching, confiscating pix and rooting out long forgotten stories. I consider this one of my best accomplishments based on the fact when I took it to a family reunion I had to watch it like a hawk. People lusted after it. No better praise than that. Smirk.

journaling: My handsome, manly great grandfather was quite the adventurer. According to Aunt Florence he was either in the NJ or PA Nat'l Guard. According to an online source, Charles was in the infantry - the crossed rifles - and the photo was taken about 1885 (id'd by the cream/white chevrons). Charles may also have been in the calvary as well. He also traved to California and Alaska to find his fortune. At one time Charles & Ida owned Altermus Haberdashery on Northampton St., Easton PA from 1910-1918. He also had a clothing store in the early 1900's. According to Aunt Florence they were well off until the stock market fell. According to a newspaper article interviewing my nana (his daughter) Charles served in the Easton Nat'l Guard. He died of a stroke while working on their farm later in life.

Flashback Friday - on Sunday

because that's when I got it done. Took a couple of days to do because I couldn't make up my mind on the photo, as the challenge was to use a less than stellar photo and there were lots to choose from. lol! AND, I couldn't decide on the papers, design, embellies. AND the title. I'm sure your appreciate the creativeness that went into that title. Snort.

However, you can't go wrong w/CI die cut pp, Foofala (yum), primas (so very necessary), Melissa Frances photo turn & card, QK katie (love that font too) & swirl, and Tim Holtz grunge board. Bling lots of bling is an absolute must. And walnut stain by Ranger. Yum-o. My go to ink next to Van Dyke Brown. bwahahaha. Teresa Collins ruler and MM noteworthy (those are so cool). Love that it all came together.

This is a photo of my great great grandparents Anderson's home. It appears that the entire family is having a great time on the porch spilling out into the yard. I can sort of identify a couple of people but because its soooo blurry, ID's are tough at best, and some I really don't know who they are.

Nostalgia! -Not my Atlantic City!

When my DH and I went to Ocean Beach my SIL's decided we needed a girl's day. So Atlantic City was on the agenda because they do love to gamble. They are a lot of fun so really we had a great ride down and back, and when we got there we each had our own mission! Their's of course was to gamble. Mine was two-fold. First I needed to get warm duds because alas to my surprise the weather turned cold and I was not prepared, and DH were headed to NY for dinner and a play. SO...they had cool little shops (not there when I was young) that I got some great deals; slacks, shoes, long sleeve shirt. WOO HOO!!! I looked sharp! bwahahaha! So after that mission was completed, I decided I wanted to see if I could find any landmarks from yesteryear. Of course Steel Pier was different- its an arcade. No more diving horses or celebrities. Sigh. BUT I did find the jitneys (small buses) that my dad thought were the coolest and EVERY one should have them in their cities, the rides still remain, a fudge shop and the world famous Salt Water Taffy. I didn't get any because A. its really NOT good for the teeth and B. its really not good for my teeth. I had visions of all my caps just being ripped out. NOT pretty. And the board walk was still the board. walk. Different shops, different - yet the same. Its still a cool walk or ride. Because the dudes and now dudettes still do the rickshaw rides. In amongst the glitz and glitter it was really cool to find some nostalgia.

Used some stash on this - my mind's eye pp & brad, sassafrass lass pp & paper whimsies, elle's studio label, sticko bingo card, sbe template 211 (yes i'm almost thru them bwahhahahaha! NOT!!! amer crafts rubons that worked WAY better than the last ones. some of the products were from kenner road kits.

Flashback Friday - 10.23.09 Cherish

It wasn't much of a flashback, but the challenge was to use a favorite picture (hey it does go ALL the way back to last year!). This is a favorite because young teenage boys rarely snuggle w/mom. So there ya go. I even got a little mushy. (I'm talking little-I try to leave the mush alone LOL!). So ok I brought the mush in. I had possession of his cell phone. So there's a bit of bribery there. Hey, you gotta use every tool you got w/teenage boys. I'm just happy my favorite SIL was fast with the shutter. I used pink because I rarely get to use it. I didn't think Shane would mind, after all he had a pink bike (because MOOOOOM chicks dig pink) Sigh.

Anyway basic grey , creative imaginations flower, qk flower, michael's ribbon, mm definitions, buttons? prima journaling notes, noteworthy and played with FANCY that tape. What fun! Of course you may need to tilt you head a tad to make it less crooked. Snort. Part of my charm. bwahahaha!

Surf was up at the Venice Jetty on Sunday!!

Totally BIG news for the west coast - especially Gulf waters. Surf!!! and it was totally rockin' and rollin' and the surfers were out making it sooooo very easy. The water was freezing as was the 15 mph winds that day. It was not a good day for small crafts or any type of craft for that matter. I took 18-55 lens - wanting the challenge of not doing close ups all the time. I do have the 28-300 tamron and I do love it. It's not perfect but I love it as an all purpose lens - however, I do tend to go close up instead of standing back. So I HAD to stand back. Except for the surfers looking like bugs riding the waves, I enjoyed standing back. Getting the BIG picture. What a concept (said dryly).

Also got a shot of one of my favorite birds dipping and wheeling in the water. It was funny to watch because they had to wait until the wind died down and then they'd launch into the air or bounce from rock to rock.

We then headed to Caspersen beach and it was there I played w/the camera settings. The sun was shining through the

clouds and photograph the light. I get emails from photographer Darren Rowse and he gives all kinds of tips and tricks. It would totally help if I could remember stuff from one minute to the next, but I used the ole clicking and method - rebel style. lol!!!! I came close - but most importantly I messed with the settings. Since the pix weren't GOTTA HAVE ONE TIME SHOTS GET IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME no pressure there. Love that. There's also a boardwalk/nature walk behind the beach that's very cool. Then other than the scenery was the photo op of the run aground sail boat. Can't go wrong w/something like that. It was abandoned and it looks like the anchor didn't hold. If the beach bums play their cards right it could be a tourist attraction. bwahahaha!

B is for Boy......

and what a cutie-patootie he is. Got this adorable photo via email along w/a note that mommy helped my boy to write. So I copied the email and added it as journaling. What fun!!!! I also didn't want to have the "obvious title" so Cosmo Cricket Just your type came in handy. Love the MME brad - cute touch, and of course qk hearts, kaiser swirl, pink paisley and amer craft pp. added some walnut ink an doodling which never turns out the way I think it will. Doh!!! But overall awesome photo by daddy! He has grown so much. Already a year old. He looks like quite the lil man. Sigh.

Once again Flashback Friday 10.16

The challenge!!! Scrap about your childhood stuffed animal. Since I didn't have a photo of mine. I used Nick because the name of the stuffed animal has been passed down. My brother and I had matching rabbits and both were named BunBun. Yeah I know. LOL!!! AND we knew who's was who's. It always freaked my mom out. bwahahaha!!!

Anyway I adore Fancy Pants kraft kuts, qk blossom - what would I do w/out this font? and bazzill.

Carrying on tradition, when my son acquired a stuffed rabbit, it was creatively named BunBun. Like my brother and I before, BunBun was loved to the point of extinction. As with all BunBun’s, he was a sidekick in pretend play, nap time, and joy riding. BunBun was dragged by his ears, held up by his tail and lost his eyes, yet he remained a best bud. He was further embarrassed by being thrown in the washer, tumbled in the dryer, or in my day, hung by his ears on the clothes line. BunBun quietly disappeared as his stuffing was lost. BunBun will always be remembered fondly.

Relative Fun.......

Believe it or not. The exercise in frustration for this lo was NOT PSE 6.onmynerves. BUT the title. I know I know but there it is. It took a week to figure out a title that wasn't obvious. Here were are at Ocean Beach which has become a tradition for us to meet up w/family over the Labor Day holiday (taking the place of Thanksgiving since I can't get more than the day off now). I adore Labor Day at Ocean Beach - my SIL's have little cottages there and the families swarm in and are happy to jump in the freezing water. LOL!!! Anyway I didn't do much journaling here because I have like 5 years worth and its getting redundant. But I digress. Again. And you're surprised I know.

Back to the title. So I decided Relative Fun which may have been used before, tells it all w/o being oooooooooooooooo say our Labor Day at the Shore blah blah blah that's been done oh a 500 times in my books. HOWEVER, I had a vision. About how THAT should look. So in my infinite wisdom I started with Deja View rubons which worked quite well. I wanted to OVERLAY part of the title and decided that red American Craft was the perfect size because FUN was BIG. WELL....these are OLD Amer Craft and I forgot how sucky they were to rub on (and have since been trashed), but once I was committed I kept going. It looked really REALLY awful. So I took the same colored paper (BG LimeRickey btw) and overlaid with TACKY GLUE, and giving up the title, I decided to use a foam stamp, with black paint that said "loving the moment" . WEEEELLLLLLLLLL that bit the HORRID WTH was I thinking DUST. Of course it was glued down. So because I was a tad annoyed *insert eyeroll* I ripped it UP(that stuff dries really really fast. Really. Sigh. So now I needed a BIGGER piece to cover it. AND decided to put the title on BEFORE I glued the damn thing down. What a concept. Snort. I used Tech Tuesday alpha stamp, overlaid w/MM rub ons (which I dearly love and of course are now discontinued-which also bites). And then added some swirly s**t that looks like waves to hopefully NOT POINT OUT that the paper was overlaid AGAIN. Third time - the charm. bwahahaha. GEEZ but seriously how painful was all that??????Snort. I have a gift for painful. lmao.......

Basic Grey Lime Rickey - pp & embellies

SPE template 106 (and yes I believe eventually I'll be using them all) snort.

fishnet

bellesimo rub ons

tech tues stamp-catalina

mm rub ons heidi

Flashback Friday - 10.9.09

The challenge was to chat about how technology has changed in our lifetime. Gasp. I don't even wanna go there but alas, I did.

My first ALL DIGI=layout. I know this surprises some, however, for those of you who know how chatty I can be there is no other way. Seriously.

So PSE 6 and I have reached an understanding. I keep clicking and it keeps on keeping on. Works for us. I used reflections cardstock and didn't have to whack it down. Hate doing that to a 12x12. Seriously. Then a few million years ago I downloaded some free stuff from Cottage Arts and after 6 or 7 okay maybe 8 printings, I decided more was needed, and started to play around. With the digi stuff - outta the gutters my friends. lol!! I did download all the other images from the internet which were quite necessary to tell my story which is windy at best. and then messed w/the fonts. American Typewriter and Zarafino which was downloaded free from probably DAfonts.

I'm sooooo diggin it. Hope you do as well.

journaling: All within a span of 100 years.

I began my typewriting journey on a manual Underwood typewriter. You had to REALLY mash the keys. Mashing + Rhythm = Speed. I loved it. I began my journey to become the next Della Street (an awesome secretary to Perry Mason - the greatest lawyer of ALL TV) in the ninth grade. So I learned the keyboard, with many exercises, including the “quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” Know why that sentence???? Its a pangram , a sentence containing all letters in english alphabet. The school had a mixture of typewriters and it was there I learned of “electric.” Whoa.

Remember having to fling the paten back to the left edge?

Having to find the middle of the paper and counting every two letters to find the center?

Remember the keys jamming when you typed too fast?

As I entered the workforce, there too was a mix of typewriters but mostly were newer than I was used to. Which was cool. The difference in the workforce was that you had to be PERFECT. And if it wasn’t perfect you had to type it OVER, and OVER. Until it was. Back then if you wanted multiple copies - you used carbon papers. And you had to type HARD enough to make sure ALL the copies were readable. AND you had different color and/or watermarked because they were filed in different folders and sent to different people identified in the CC’s (carbon copies) plainly identified. But there were also BCC’s (blind carbon copies) which were secret to the addressees. Liquid paper was my friend. Whoa.

Then IBM became the king of electric typewriters:

you could back space to make a correction - it typed the ink of the same letter perfectly and you could then type the correct letter. No one would know.

you could record standard greetings and phrases to play back.

you could change the balls to different fonts for snappy titles.

At the same time word processing machines were used mostly in secretarial pools because of the expense.

Then came the computer. But not as we know it now. It was a stand alone high powered word processor that caused wide panic because cc’s & bcc’s had to be revised. Most of the software was a nightmare to use because you had to make a two-three keystroke command for italics, underscore, bold, and center. My employer used SAMNA word processing which wasn’t wide spread but it was the easiest. Whatever you wanted to do - you hit THE F key and when you wanted turn the function off. You hit the SAME F key. Amazing.

å

I have to admit that I sometimes don’t do change well. And honestly, I loved the typewriter, however, it only took about a week to decide that the computer totally rocked. It checked spelling, the multitude of fonts was mind boggling, but the BEST of ALL, was you didn’t have to retype the whole document when you made a mistake. You called up your document, made the correction and reprinted. What a concept!

I don’t know about other employers but mine was slow to evolve the intranet and move on the internet. But it happened and now The computer today. WOW!!! I wouldn’t know what to do without it. Especially the INTERNET.

And cell phones (another animal) you can use your typewriting skills to text. Anyone.Anytime.Anywhere. journalng 10.7.09

A couple of cuties......

celebrating their birthdays within a week of each other. Connor was too funny on the video. I'm bummed I didn't get to celebrate with him in person. I love 6x12 design and when I saw his outfit, BG Lime Rickey was the go-to line. I love that line. A QK heart, lemonade font, and the word. So I decided to give the ole sewing machine a whirl. Whatever made me think I could do straight lines w/that????? Just tilt your head. Snort. Anyway crooked is part of my charm bwhahahaha and it needed to be more than just a journaling square. So I can now say been there - done that. lol!!!! Finishing it off Amer Craft corners. Photo by Melissa Collins.

Owen came and hung out w/us at Ocean Beach and he was too adorable. I BELIEVE I HAVE CONQUERED TEMPLATES IN PSE 7. WOO HOO!!! I'M JAZZED I'M JAZZED!!!! Dancing about deliriously Now onto other things in photoshop. I goof w/every video and tutorial that come my way. Anyhoo, I dug into my STASH for this and it goes way back in the time machine. This is EK Success Beach (which was a long time coming) thinking it'll work because although in Jersey you're technically at the shore - hairsplitting. bwahahahaha. More stash - Heidi Grace alphas - perfect. I think they're Around the Block brads. Lil Davis chipboard. I used the timepiece in QK to make the balloons and embossed them w/the alpha, and the arrow. I also "lifted" the curled vellum trick from Amy Tara Koeppel. Very fun technique. Photos by Kevin Duffy Photography

Flashback Friday 9-25 Postcards from the Past

oooooooooooooo Had this going on - perfect for the challenge. My favorite gram, w/her boy Nick who called her mammy - she loved that he had his own name for her. A hybrid-very simple really - wanted to focus on the picture, and of course Nick's handwritten note. QK blossom (I love that font) and some bo-bunny.

journaling: Nick’s dad relocated to Virginia when he was a small boy, which invoked the divorce clause that “dad was allowed to have Nick for 6 weeks in the summer.” (I put that in there w/the thought it would never happen-so imagine my surprise) Well...because Ed had family in Florida we could either do a pickup or drop off and trip included a trip to Mammy’s (PA) one way or the other. it took nick awhile to settle in with dad - he was sooooo homesick and before the age of *gasp* emails, instant messaging and cell phones, all we had was snail mail and long distance phone calls. So mom, mammy and me would write to him telling him it was okay to have fun, love his dad’s new wife (he already had a relationship with janet) and track the days when we would pick him up.Occasionally (which is really being too kind) he would write back. And he did write a note to mammy which stated the essentials in a less than chatty way and she cherished it.

U.S. Capitol

Well.................I fought PSE 7 and PSE 7 WON! Sigh. I surrender!!! (waving white flag). bwahaha!!! So this was sorta/kinda vision I had for this. Actually I was trying to use the panorama feature. I wanted the 2 houses beside the capitol and use a BIGGER capitol - because well it's very cool.

SOOOOOO....I stole this idea from "My Parents House" They did a photo collage of a building (I think) and just printed a bunch of pix and cropped different parts and just plopped it on there, popped some out. It was very cool. Mine looks nothing like that. lol! I did pop out the dome. I connected all the parts with Daisy D hinge, and to offset the fact that I got graphic again, I used a half circle for the journaling, our BADGE for the title (ephemera rocks!) and wouldn't be done w/o prima - STARs!! ON MM 5th avenue papers, along w/some bazzill. The lo does not do the magnificence of this structure justice. Inside is just as awesome and awe inspiring. I don't have a vision for that page. Which is probably a good thing at this point. Snort.

Oh what a night..............................

by starting w/the photoshop elements template. I have to admit this was a lot LESS PAINFUL than the last time I attempted this. AND I'm in the zone so I'll be doing a few more. What can I say. It's how I roll.

SOOOOOOOOOOOO.......the photos tell the story...gasp. What a concept. We took the train, rode the subway-and what an experience that was. Another great people watching experience. We dined at Bobby Flay's Bar Americain restaurant. DH (he's just too adorable for words) snagged a business card so I could scrap it. The food and service was totally exceptional from appetizer to dessert. It was such a wonderful experience.

I took my little Nikon Coolpix camera because it was just easier and of course had to adjust. lol!!! What's an adventure w/o an adjustment or two. Maybe three.

We lingered in time square after dining. What fun it was to people watch there. Lots and Lots of people and they were out LATE too. Amazing. No one's on our streets at that time.

So I had this vision of the title I wanted and it came sorta/kinda close. The paper-MME & BG as well as the swirl came from a Kenner Road kit. I wanted the title to be fun and funky - which only foam stamps (and maybe some digi fonts-which one digi adventure atta time folks-there is only so much wine I can drink) lol!!! can do. I love the swirl which implies melody - so feel free to sing. Really Really loud because everyone has to know this song. And of course a perfect title. I'm not too proud to swipe it. bwahahaha! prima flower, a ticket that matched the colors - b/c can I FIND our tickets to the awesome play of the Jersey Boys???? NOOOOOOOOOOOO! Come to think of it I can't locate the program either. *insert eyeroll* OMG if you get to see it - GO! The actors were wonderful, they nailed the sound. It was captivating the moment they stepped on stage. I did brag about knowing every word to every song, but one snuck in there. I planned on singing along w/them BUT I was just sucked into the story, I forgot. This was a totally incredible experience.

9.12 tea party express

and we were there with a few 100 thousand of our closest friends. lol!!! It was GREAT and AWESOME. It was really like a tea party. People chatted about ideas, exchanged pleasantries. Flew kites. Ate pbj's. or just sat and watched and listened. There was passion, ideas, and knowledge. You couldn't help but soak it up and in. It was electric.

I have never participated in anything like this and didn't really know what to expect. (Tom did but he was tear gassed the last time. ack). There were people from the top of the capitol to the Washington monument. There were babies and old people. What a mob. snort. There was fun and laughter too. As well as concerns. There were signs and flags. Yeah baby! This is what America is all about.

Gifted!

Which I wish I was with PSE 6. Even armed with the book for dummies and watching Melissa Ingman's video (and downloading a couple of her free digital templates) 102 times AND taking notes was an exercise in extreme frustration. Even with a glass of wine or two, okay 3. (sighing heavily). Of course MY ADOBE was DIFFERENT from HER ADOBE so I had to figure that out. She said press a key. WHAT KEY??? (Guessing here). Using the ever popular clicking method, stuff started happening, however, I clicked so many I couldn't remember what the sequence was. (could've been that 3rd glass *insert eyeroll*). However, I persevered with clicking, hair pulling and muttering to myself LOUDLY, I can say I'm pleased with the result. A collage was perfect because there were so many fun photos that my fav's got in. Bwahaha. If they want THEIR fav's. THEY can mess with the template and scrap their own page. LOL!!!! Used the My Mind's Eye pattern paper which is totally fun and implied movement which is what most of the photos were about & MME brads from my Kenner Road kit. AND let me tell you that kit totally rocks. Added some primas, and cut the cute lil out of prima journaling blocks. And QK emily - can't ever go wrong with that font.

You Make My Heart Soar

I love Cosmo Cricket and thanks to my pal Brookie - who had this in her stash and gave it to me - bwahahahaha!!! In hunting through my stash I found the adorable CC blackboard mini album and wa-la. Of course Owen is just too stinkin' cute and makes the book shine!!! Hopefully mom and dad w/love the book. If not, I'll keep it. Bwahahahaha!

There's a bit of fishnet, some QK crabs & starfish. I even dragged out a punch or two. Yeah Yeah I know the paper has an airplane on it and he DID fly down so that takes care of that, but the rest of the time, we played on the boat and in the pool. Mom and dad did take him to the beach. Some photos by dad . Umm...maybe all the photos. Dang. Thought I snuck on or two in there. Figures.

Flashback Friday 8.28 on Childhood Fears

I didn't have many of them but the biggest one of all involved the two favorite people in my life. The influence was tremendous although when push came to shove I seemed to have forgotten all I learned. I "knew" better, and could "change" things. DOH!! Anyway this was an emotional one. It brought back all the fears, but mostly the lack of faith. It's simple, it's a hybrid (again) bazzil, mm-defined, prima and 7 g's rubons w/some inking all the way around.

journaling: My biggest fear when I was younger that these two people would be taken from me before I knew how to cope. Each hospital stay one would have would turn my thoughts to the “inevitable”. Each heart attack my Grandpop had would turn me to mush. Each time he had a panic attack I would hyperventilate with him - but not near him I knew that wouldn’t be good for either of us. When my family moved from PA to FL it was the most gut wrenching thing ever. I cried when I spoke to them. We visited them - it was never long enough, it broke my heart to leave. Every single time. When Grandpop succumbed finally, I could tell by his voice that he had had enough. It broke my heart I didn’t make it in time to say goodbye. He was brave, faithful, and so worried how Gram would be without him. I then watched as my strong Gram fell completely apart. Mom and I helped as best we could from afar. My Grandpop’s sisters and their kids helped in our stead AND she was blessed. So then every summer I would go up and stay with her on my two week vacation. Sometimes mom would come with me. After I was divorced it was even more imperative I get there, I took my kids and mom. It was like a pilgrimage. I still cried every time I left. They were blessed to know her. Finally after 20 years she moved down here, first with me, then mom. She admitted she should’ve done it along time ago. ACK. Her worst fear was dying and being buried in FL and not next to her husband. So we resolved that prior to her move. Both were such a steady, wonderful influence on me and I was so blessed to have them. My one wish was that my kids would know them. But they only knew one. That was good. They’ve both been gone a long time, I think about them everyday, I miss them everyday, and still cry. It’s still so hard to talk about them. God Blessed me though - because He put them in my life and knew I’d have to older in age, knowledge and most of all faith. Journal - August 2009

Photo taken at Tampa International Airport - June 1973. They flew down for my brother’s HS graduation.

Surprise!!!!

LOL!! Since I wasn't able to make Clara's baby shower, she graciously met me at Mickey D's where the lil guy could run around and have a great time. It wouldn't be complete w/o her mom and my pal Barbara and surprise - Shane came along. Who knew????? So to keep the kidlets occupied, I brought my camera - which Shane loves to use but RARELY gets to touch my baby, lol!!! Handed my camera to him and the kids were off. JP is quite a hambone, and fortunately Shane is skinny enough to still make the tunnels. He took some great photos and I love the "MOTION" ones - as it showed JP never stopped moving. Shane didn't either. AND every time he tried = JP was 'get me, get me.' They were fast friends, and it was w/an awesome, fun, good natured spirit that Shane hung out w/JP, and I was totally pleased and impressed. It was a two-fold trip, getting to the shower and seeing Shane. Shane and I then went and did his favorite thing - shopping!!! He has new sneaks, levi's and tee. AND he signed up for night school = MAJOR WOO HOO!!! Pray that he finishes. Clara LOVED the lil baby book and SAID, I buy all this scrapbooking stuff and don't have time to do anything - she teaches virtual school year round w/a 2 year old now, how about I give my stuff to YOU and you make the pages. As any cool scrapper would say, I told her 'BRING IT ON!!!" Barbara quick to help - said we'll meet halfway and I'll pass it over to you Wednesday - your next day off. Snort. Both are quick. lol!