I've also put a few favorite photos from California to the right - and Design Team Projects for April are on just below on the right. Enjoy~
Saturday, March 29, 2008
From a street vendor in Hollywood ---
Love. This. 
I've also put a few favorite photos from California to the right - and Design Team Projects for April are on just below on the right. Enjoy~
I've also put a few favorite photos from California to the right - and Design Team Projects for April are on just below on the right. Enjoy~
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Spring Break 2008
Some quick highlights -
Monday-
** we flew from Atlanta to San Diego to see some sights and enjoy time with our boys [we're really at that stage in life where every trip 'may be the last family vacation...'] - Took over an hour for our luggage to be ready... go figure...
** enjoyed staying in old town [but i can honestly say i've seen my fill of mexican day of the dead stuff.]
**Enjoyed the sunset in La Jolla [LA HOY-YA - for all you southerners out there...]
and the seals were an unexpected surprise too!
Tuesday -
** Balboa Park and The Zoo - tons of fun! i've loved koalas my whole life so to see one so active was just the best part of the day for me.[remembering how to use my backflash was also pretty neat!]
The whole park was gorgeous and alive with with flowers! [lots of photos of those that could turn into a complete mini scrap book!]
**We enjoyed the science center as well...
Wednesday -
**San Juan Capistrano - we may have seen ONE swallow - but were assured that by the end of the week there'd be plenty back in town!This bouginvilla [sp?] was just toooooo beautiful!
** Oceanside - let's just say the beaches are very different from the gorgeous white sand of The Gulf. It was VERY cool - weather wise, so it was neat to see the fire pits along the beach - and the surfers too!
** By the end of the dayI was becoming really - really sick - afraid I was getting THE BUG that so many at home have had - but afterwards believe it was just an overdose of POLLEN.
Thursday--
**DisneyLAND - and let's just say that once you've seen THE WORLD - there's little comparison. It was fun to see and experience, but 'ole Walt had no idea what he'd created when he started this little park. [FYI- disney land is right in the middle of the city, the streets lining it look like panama city in the 60s and 70s --pre-condos-- and there were even migrant workers picking strawberries in a field right across the street!] After seeing Disneyland, I can really appreciate how Walt pre-planned to make TheWorld all it is to enjoy.
Friday--
**I tried to do some shopping at the downtown Disney area, but couldn't make it - scrubbed all the plans for the day and the boys enjoyed some time without us while i spent the next 20 hours or so in bed with serious sinus problems...my voice was GONE and when I could speak i sounded like a croacking toad...still do to some degree... [Edited to NOTE: It is a BUG!!! Craig is all too sick now. Praises that neither of us were sick on the plane - and please pray with us that the boys don't get it too - although I think Drew had a bit of it back in January...]
**Drew met up with lindsey [a friend from freshman year] and they hung out a bit
**craig found a 'character outlet' for discounted disney stuff and got a few fun things
Saturday --
**HurRAY for HOLLYWOOD - not sure any of us had a real agenda for the day - other than to say 'been there - done that' so we had a fun day on hollywood Blvd,.
**Also driving through LA, seeing little italy, little japan, and YES! little ethiopia [who knew?]
** Went to the farmer's market [where it's believed walt first drew up the plans for disneyland while sitting there drinking coffee - so -- if there was ever a doubt -- now you KNOW i am a true disney fanatic!]
** Enjoyed seeing the stars on the sidewalks and the hand / foot prints at the theatre
** Bought a fun little painting from a guy on the sidewalk - he was painting with spray paint [now, you know HE enjoyed that -- all. day. long] and pressing papers / magazines, objects on it and forming the painting from the relief effect. LOVE IT - and am happy to say that it made it home safely packed in my suitcase... [may add a photo of it later...]
** Shopped at ThePaperSource - the store i've heard a bunch about from on-line friends. It was fun - and if you love hand-made papers - there's a TON to choose...bought some book-binding tape, scrapbook fun stuff, etc.
** and while we'd eaten mexican for almost every. single. meal. - we found what we called a mexican waffle house -- for tonight's meal - and it was, according to the guys [as my appetite had been GONE for several days], the. best.yet.
Sunday--
** Worshiped at Saddleback Church- pretty cool, but much-much too big for us [and we thought we went to a large church! lol - they have over 3,000 small groups!] A wonderful way to start our Easter Sunday and praising our Lord for all He's done for us!
** The BIG SURPRISE - we weren't sure if we'd be able top pull it off bc of our timing, it being Easter, etc. but Craig had given the boys a little hint Saturday evening that we had something fun planned for the next day. After church he called and confirmed and we were 'on' for 2:30 -- they just couldn't figure it out and kept begging us to tell them - that was part of the fun for us too!
** We did a segway tour of coronado island - this was just the coolest thing - EVER!!! We love these things! We were on them for about two hours and saw both tourist & residential areas [this island is really too gorgeous to put into words...] A fun ending to a great trip.
** Headed to the airport and flew out about 10 p.m/
Monday --
we arrived back in Atlanta at 5:15 a.m.Eastern, that's 4:15 our time, and 2:15 a.m. california time - so we've been napping most of the day and while it's well after 1 a.m here, i still feel like it's only 11 or so... tomorrow will be hard day...
Monday-
** we flew from Atlanta to San Diego to see some sights and enjoy time with our boys [we're really at that stage in life where every trip 'may be the last family vacation...'] - Took over an hour for our luggage to be ready... go figure...
** enjoyed staying in old town [but i can honestly say i've seen my fill of mexican day of the dead stuff.]
**Enjoyed the sunset in La Jolla [LA HOY-YA - for all you southerners out there...]
and the seals were an unexpected surprise too!
Tuesday -
** Balboa Park and The Zoo - tons of fun! i've loved koalas my whole life so to see one so active was just the best part of the day for me.[remembering how to use my backflash was also pretty neat!]
The whole park was gorgeous and alive with with flowers! [lots of photos of those that could turn into a complete mini scrap book!]**We enjoyed the science center as well...
Wednesday -
**San Juan Capistrano - we may have seen ONE swallow - but were assured that by the end of the week there'd be plenty back in town!This bouginvilla [sp?] was just toooooo beautiful!
** Oceanside - let's just say the beaches are very different from the gorgeous white sand of The Gulf. It was VERY cool - weather wise, so it was neat to see the fire pits along the beach - and the surfers too!
** By the end of the dayI was becoming really - really sick - afraid I was getting THE BUG that so many at home have had - but afterwards believe it was just an overdose of POLLEN.
Thursday--
**DisneyLAND - and let's just say that once you've seen THE WORLD - there's little comparison. It was fun to see and experience, but 'ole Walt had no idea what he'd created when he started this little park. [FYI- disney land is right in the middle of the city, the streets lining it look like panama city in the 60s and 70s --pre-condos-- and there were even migrant workers picking strawberries in a field right across the street!] After seeing Disneyland, I can really appreciate how Walt pre-planned to make TheWorld all it is to enjoy.
Friday--
**I tried to do some shopping at the downtown Disney area, but couldn't make it - scrubbed all the plans for the day and the boys enjoyed some time without us while i spent the next 20 hours or so in bed with serious sinus problems...my voice was GONE and when I could speak i sounded like a croacking toad...still do to some degree... [Edited to NOTE: It is a BUG!!! Craig is all too sick now. Praises that neither of us were sick on the plane - and please pray with us that the boys don't get it too - although I think Drew had a bit of it back in January...]
**Drew met up with lindsey [a friend from freshman year] and they hung out a bit
**craig found a 'character outlet' for discounted disney stuff and got a few fun things
Saturday --
**HurRAY for HOLLYWOOD - not sure any of us had a real agenda for the day - other than to say 'been there - done that' so we had a fun day on hollywood Blvd,.
**Also driving through LA, seeing little italy, little japan, and YES! little ethiopia [who knew?]
** Went to the farmer's market [where it's believed walt first drew up the plans for disneyland while sitting there drinking coffee - so -- if there was ever a doubt -- now you KNOW i am a true disney fanatic!]
** Enjoyed seeing the stars on the sidewalks and the hand / foot prints at the theatre
** Bought a fun little painting from a guy on the sidewalk - he was painting with spray paint [now, you know HE enjoyed that -- all. day. long] and pressing papers / magazines, objects on it and forming the painting from the relief effect. LOVE IT - and am happy to say that it made it home safely packed in my suitcase... [may add a photo of it later...]
** Shopped at ThePaperSource - the store i've heard a bunch about from on-line friends. It was fun - and if you love hand-made papers - there's a TON to choose...bought some book-binding tape, scrapbook fun stuff, etc.
** and while we'd eaten mexican for almost every. single. meal. - we found what we called a mexican waffle house -- for tonight's meal - and it was, according to the guys [as my appetite had been GONE for several days], the. best.yet.
Sunday--
** Worshiped at Saddleback Church- pretty cool, but much-much too big for us [and we thought we went to a large church! lol - they have over 3,000 small groups!] A wonderful way to start our Easter Sunday and praising our Lord for all He's done for us!
** The BIG SURPRISE - we weren't sure if we'd be able top pull it off bc of our timing, it being Easter, etc. but Craig had given the boys a little hint Saturday evening that we had something fun planned for the next day. After church he called and confirmed and we were 'on' for 2:30 -- they just couldn't figure it out and kept begging us to tell them - that was part of the fun for us too!
** We did a segway tour of coronado island - this was just the coolest thing - EVER!!! We love these things! We were on them for about two hours and saw both tourist & residential areas [this island is really too gorgeous to put into words...] A fun ending to a great trip.
** Headed to the airport and flew out about 10 p.m/
Monday --
we arrived back in Atlanta at 5:15 a.m.Eastern, that's 4:15 our time, and 2:15 a.m. california time - so we've been napping most of the day and while it's well after 1 a.m here, i still feel like it's only 11 or so... tomorrow will be hard day...
Monday, March 10, 2008
As promised
... I've delivered my cake creation! Before I share photos - let me say that this fondant stuff is a 'learning process' and I think I'll do [much] better next time. [i.e.- go with the cornstarch roll-out for all of it -] I'm sure you'll remember my brother's wonderful snowman creation he made during Christmas - just too cute! So I made a vow to myself that I'd come through with one for his birthday - figuring I had three WHOLE months to get things together... but wow! time flies! I decided to do a clown fish bc he's always enjoyed having salt water fish - and it seemed easy enough [ha.] I KNEW I wanted to use frozen pound cake bc it would be quicker. The first thing to do is make the butter cream frosting to layer and coat your cake. Kind of a mis-nomer since the recipe I used was all shortening and sugar...
After layering, I used an electric knife to carve the basic shape, then frosted the entire thing in butter cream [you have to do this so the fondant will hold to the shape.] The photo is a little dark - but you get the idea...Now it's time to make the fondant icing for the outside. This is very - very messy - but really kind of easy - just get it to the consistency of play dough.
Then you'll need to divide and add coloring to the mixture... it took a while to get 'just' the right color of orange:
And then - roll out and shape and mold to your cake. Add whatever extras [eyes and fins for me -]
And now here's the birthday boy [I delivered it to him at work] with his cake:
Fun! Now I've got to start thinking about my Christmas cake - should I try for something a little more difficult or go for something more simple?
After layering, I used an electric knife to carve the basic shape, then frosted the entire thing in butter cream [you have to do this so the fondant will hold to the shape.] The photo is a little dark - but you get the idea...Now it's time to make the fondant icing for the outside. This is very - very messy - but really kind of easy - just get it to the consistency of play dough.
Then you'll need to divide and add coloring to the mixture... it took a while to get 'just' the right color of orange:
And then - roll out and shape and mold to your cake. Add whatever extras [eyes and fins for me -]
And now here's the birthday boy [I delivered it to him at work] with his cake:
Fun! Now I've got to start thinking about my Christmas cake - should I try for something a little more difficult or go for something more simple?Friday, March 7, 2008
Been busy...
And I've gone from this:
to this:
to this:
[Four little boxes setting on my shelf!] Yippee! I've sorted / discarded/ and put photos into my own library of memories and cold storage via Stacy Julian's system in Photo Freedom. I was lucky to be able to pick up a copy at Scrap Bowl a week or so ago and she was sweet to sign it for me - even though she called me a 'cheater' in her class since I brought my own paper...
These last 1,000 or so photos went pretty quickly since I'd started a similar system when I filed them away in 1994 [!yikes!] So it was just a matter of deciding which ones one go in my library file[s] and which ones would stay in cold storage. So glad it's done and so happy to have my photos easily accessible and easy to locate when I want them.
[And I found a photo of Drew with a MOHAWK from when I was cutting his hair once - he was, maybe 7 - just shows he's had this mohawk need for many, many years...]
But now I'm thinking I want copies of the GOOD photos I've taken through the years that are now secured to scrapbook pages... do negatives last forever? I have negatives all the way [back] to 1969... will they still print a good [color] quality photo? [With the understanding that the color / photo quality of some my cameras were probably lacking, can anyone say 110?] Anyone? Because I'm thinking I'm going to have to do this to add [what I consider to be] my BEST photos to this library system.
Would love to hear what you think....
These last 1,000 or so photos went pretty quickly since I'd started a similar system when I filed them away in 1994 [!yikes!] So it was just a matter of deciding which ones one go in my library file[s] and which ones would stay in cold storage. So glad it's done and so happy to have my photos easily accessible and easy to locate when I want them.
[And I found a photo of Drew with a MOHAWK from when I was cutting his hair once - he was, maybe 7 - just shows he's had this mohawk need for many, many years...]
But now I'm thinking I want copies of the GOOD photos I've taken through the years that are now secured to scrapbook pages... do negatives last forever? I have negatives all the way [back] to 1969... will they still print a good [color] quality photo? [With the understanding that the color / photo quality of some my cameras were probably lacking, can anyone say 110?] Anyone? Because I'm thinking I'm going to have to do this to add [what I consider to be] my BEST photos to this library system.
Would love to hear what you think....
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Love my 'lil bit 'o Cream
That's the name of our favorite cat [we still have three.] After having our siamese for 16 [yes!] years - it's been hard for me to bond with these new ones.
But I do love little [not so small anymore] Cream. Had some fun taking photos of him in the daffodils today... He really has a thing for sticks... Craig was holding one above his head - he almost doesn't look real to me -- 
This too funny!! 
But it looks like he's missing some teeth - I guess he's still a 'teenager' bc he's not quite a year old... This is almost as funny to me as the smiling bobcat we saw on display over at the Guntersville Lodge this afternoon... [Joey we took this just for you - got to practice that smile when you do a taxidermy project!] - just so happy to be there to welcome visitors to the lodge [which really is beautiful btw -] 
But I do love little [not so small anymore] Cream. Had some fun taking photos of him in the daffodils today... He really has a thing for sticks... Craig was holding one above his head - he almost doesn't look real to me -- 
This too funny!! 
But it looks like he's missing some teeth - I guess he's still a 'teenager' bc he's not quite a year old... This is almost as funny to me as the smiling bobcat we saw on display over at the Guntersville Lodge this afternoon... [Joey we took this just for you - got to practice that smile when you do a taxidermy project!] - just so happy to be there to welcome visitors to the lodge [which really is beautiful btw -] 
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