Abandoned Mines and Mountains

 Gilman County abandoned mining town

 Eagle Mine

Scenes on our way to Vail.

Where we missed a turn and wound up in Minturn.

Mountains and valleys and mines oh my.

You never know what you'll see when you turn a corner.

And its almost always beautiful!

Conquering the gondolas at Vail Mountain

As you may or may not know.

I HATE HEIGHTS.

 Yet here I am on a gondola heading up Vail Mountain.

Looking down - thankfully, its not a glass bottom gondola.

 The views are gorgeous and as long as I don't look down things are good.

 Not even half way yet.

It rises and dips.

And its really really fast.

Fast is good.

 Vintage gondola - and there is no way. Nuh uh.

 And there are crazy people that go higher only to come back down.

On skis.

 Of course it was sunny on the way up.

 Dramatic skies on the way down.

After lunch of BBQ - pulled park at Sarge's that was amazing.

With the price of the ride, you can pay an additional $6 per person for lunch discount.

Worth it.

 Mountains everywhere you look. And of course the dramatic skies were moving in.

 What goes up. Must Come down.

 And the mountains are just are pretty going down.

 And here's the town of Vail.

More or less.

It involved looking way down.

 A beautiful sculpture to honor Alpine skiers past, present and future.

It's called THE EDGE.

Very cool name and very cool piece.

And there's where its happening for the ride.

Actually the ride wasn't bad.

(And It wasn't my first rodeo - I conquered Cannon Mtn in NH).

Tom and I were alone in the gondola which can seat 10.

I'm not sure about the count, but if they say.

As long as I kept looking at the horizon or looked up.

Things were good.

The altitude is killer. 

Vail is 8150 ft.

Not bad for a couple of flatlanders from subtropical Florida.

If you're really ambitious you can hike or bike up the mountain.

My ambition was to get up the mountain on 

the gondola without wigging out. 

Everyone has their mission.

Scoping out Red Rock

The photos don't do it justice.

There's Tom in our seats

There's Tom on stage.

There's a view. What you don't see is me clinging

to the rock because I'm on a ledge and I hate heights.

Lots of BIG rocks.

That are red.

And I diorama inside the museum because

I was too busy clinging to a rock on a ledge

to find my way down.

I have no idea how I'll get to our seats.

Still can't wait.........

Drive by photos

for your viewing pleasure. 

Of course, it was a dark and stormy day, with a hint of blue. 

Sun came out after we were done sightseeing. 

Going to see Joe tonight at a smaller venue. 

Can't wait..

This last photo the rock is called the finger. 

There are a lot of ranches and open ranges that the cows were

freely moving across the road.

Alas, none were ranging when we drove by.

And railroad tracks.

Looking at the terrain I can't imagine 100+ years ago

traversing it by wagon nor horse.

Those folks were a hardy lot.

Our suite at the Westin, Riverfront

My DH travels alot and has signed up to earn points on airlines and hotels. Since he travels so much he earned enough points for us to not only stay in this swanky hotel, he is a preferred members so we have this lovely suite FREE for 5 days, paying only for 1 day. Earning points is really worth it. We also do points for airlines - and that allowed us to fly both ways first class.

My advice - sign up!!!

 This is what you see when you walk in. Stunning.

And a dining room, living room combo...with a balcony.

The bedroom has a little office to it.

And the bathroom is more of a spa.

The bedroom also has a balcony, and the windows will make you swoon. They are huge and the views amazing.

And a fireplace that makes it all cozy and warm. 6 days of this amazing vacation. 

And to top it off - we're going to Red Rock to see my man Joe Bonnamassa - the best blues man EVER. and I can't wait. We also did a preview of Red Rock - haven't processed the photos.

Of course it rained. LOL.

View from our hotel room

Which is actually more like a one bedroom apartment. Its a beautiful view. 

One we will never get in Florida. And it changes minute-by-minute. 

The clouds do amazing things. 

They kiss, they cover and they envelop and it never fails to amaze.

Another beautiful sight. It followed us all about town and it was difficult to take my eyes off it.

A mis-spelled title or is it?

The photo is hysterical.

Makes me laugh out loud.

A play doh beard.

Very creative.

AND

I got to use another little bow.

Don't they make you swoon?

And that wooden thingy that looks like a tree trunk.

bwahahaha!!!

Couldn't find a mushroom.

SO

Let's address the title...I realized that after I stuck all the letters down.

And they weren't coming up.

 I didn't want them to come up actually because

I love the spelling.

Play on my last name.

Love it.

Cosmo Cricket and Studio Calico.

Going manly

Since all my remaining papers from my Studio Calico kit are girlie,

I pawed through my stash and wa-la Cosmo Cricket.

Very manly.

Perfect for Cavin who's growing up way to fast.

I have always loved Cosmo - my favorite line was the Wanted line.

Used some of the negative from the die cuts.

Still loving the Evalicious arrows.

And snuck in my new instagram diecut.

Crossfit - After the boot

Sporting my Keith Richards look I was all set to jump back in. However, jumping, squatting and running were taken off the list for 2 weeks. I also have to admit I was a bit  okay alot timid after the boot came off. I was afraid that any sudden move would break the stupid thing and I'd have to start all over again. I found that bones are stronger than my sudden moves.

SO no practicing squats like this one, casually done by one of the grands, and one that could only happen in my wildest dreams, I decided to not focus on what I couldn't do, but what I could.

Therefore, with the exuberance of a 3 year old who knows she's a super hero, I couldn't wait to go to OPEN GYM. woooooo weeeeeeeee! 

Open gym awesome moments.

• Its where the cool kids hang.
• Its also those same cool kids, who are sporting the most improvements, are the ones working after to class to master them. (I am seriously amazed at their energy & fortitude).
• The cool kids also make up WODs they missed.
• Cool kids are totally inspiring and I'm proud they let me hang with them.
• During open gym means you do your own thing. 
• It can also be chit chat time. That's fun too - getting to know everyone while breathing normal.
• I wanna be a cool kid.

I also found:

• that I set up my own WODs and so as not look wimpy I did everything that had nothing to do with running, jumping or squatting. 
• timed WODs didn't happen - mostly because I forgot to set my phone.
• and while I hung in there for 2 weeks, it just wasn't as fun as doing a class.There's alot to be said for having others around suffering the same fate as you.

It's lonely on your own.

After 8 weeks of no crossfitting, I was shocked at how much I had lost.

I forgot the warmup routine. 

How wrong is that.

And then once I did remember I had to omit a few things.

I couldn't do a sit up. They were totally pathetic.

Ring rows. So not pretty.

There was a aerodyne bike and after 3 minutes of riding

I sounded like an obscene phone call.

And I tossed wallballs while sitting on the floor.

 I have to admit the wallballs from the floor were kinda fun.

Shhh!!! Our little secret.

Threw some barbells around and found my arms were in quite the wimpy state 

I'm talking 10 lbs were doing me in and 

modified pushups made me feel like a humped back whale. 

All very disconcerting and discouraging however, I persevered.

And steadily improved each day.

Also true I found - Routine is the enemy.

I found myself doing a lot of the same things everyday mostly because I'm 

not that creative in thinking outside the box. (crossfit joke).

Snort.

And it was boring.

I did become braver going into the 2nd week, once I found that my foot could take it.

I added modified rope climps, leg lifts, and tricep work, along with some strict presses.

I'm glad I worked it this way, boredom and all, because my foot had extra time to get stronger.

And I became stronger faster than I thought. 

None of the above sucked wind after those 2 weeks.

 Although I was still somewhat pampering the ole piglet.

I was so glad to get back to the classes.

Having others around can really affect your WODs.

There's nothing better than rockin' a WOD with others.

http://crossfitmurdock.com/main1/

A Cutout title can totally work

First off are those bows and the instagram camera just the cutest ever?

Now that that's out of the way - this page was the easiest I've ever done.

I started with the base and pulled out papers and

just went with it. 

I wasn't concerned with matchy matchy or colors.

Totally fun!

AND I'm gonna do it again.

So Tom and I hanging with the grands. 

I thought putting the photo near the cutout title would hide all my sins

but noooooooo and Sam ain't doin' his part either. LOL!

So the cutout Title kinda looks like a ticket,

has a cute sentiment on it,

and for once I didn't overthink or ponder or anything goofy like that.

I just used it.

And it all worked.

And see there are times I fret over nothing.

Silver and sequins and feathers

What a combination. 

Always fun on a date, a go-go dancer or a scrapbook page.

This page was so much fun to do and I really tried not to over think it.

Which, for me, is tough to do.
It started with the silver doily - mostly because I wanted to use it.
And you can't have silver without more bling going on.
I actually misted first and the sequins were a last minute touch

letting them drop where they may and quickly gluing them done.
One.at.a.time.

The vellum envelop had been floating around for awhile and with some journaling
I thought it would be perfect for the page.
I can remember when vellum envelops were as popular as
the word strips for titles that I referenced in Going back old school.
Its fun to see some of the "old" stuff make a come back.

For the title I took my cue from the bows next to Anniegirl.

Annie loves Minnie. Annie makes an adorable Minnie.

And how fun is that?

I hunted down that heart in my grungeboard stack and added some
liquid pearl. Both items were from stash older than dirt so I'm
really impressed with myself that stuff like that is finally getting used.
The blingy pink thickers is in that stash too.
Why I hoard that stuff - I don't know.
Raise your hand if you do the same.
I know I'm not alone!!!

On a side note :

I think I used to puchase stuff like that because everyone else did and then I had no idea

what to do with it. This was also back in the day when anything new

came out I jumped all over it. Mostly because I worked at a SB shop and tried

to keep up with all the new stuff in case customer's had questions.

 I'm a lot pickier on what I purchase now, learning a lot

from those I follow in using my purchasing power more wisely and not

having a lot of stuff laying around unused.

Although....just sayin'....

My stash is like a bowl of spaghetti - it just keeps growing no matter how

much I use. I'm thinking another purge is in order.
AND

 I am almost done with my August SC KIT which is soooo cool.

WOW!

Studio Calico, thickers, Tim Holtz grungeboard, dear lizzy stamp, american craft bow, spare parts, heidi swapp mists and liquid pearl.

Check out my tutorial at Off the Rails Scrapbooking!!! Its actually up now on OTR...

What does a lousy photo and a sketch or two

WITH some flags/banners

have in common???

Head on over to Off the Rails Scrapbooking and

read all about it!!!

JUST SAYIN...

It appears I need a visual aid for time zones.
My bad. :|