Quiet thoughts after a long day

That's Sam and me. We're in front of Mondavi at Disney's California Adventure. We're both Disney nuts, scrapping fanatics and just love to talk. We have very similar thoughts on most topics and just totally enjoy talking together.

She and I bonded on a small scrapping chat board over the last (almost) 2 years. Her husband's family was going to do a family vacation in San Diego this upcoming week and she convinced her hubby to come a few days early so that she could go to Disneyland and meet me! Since she lives in the Atlanta area and I'm here in the OC... what were the chances we'd ever get to meet up again? (I would have driven down to San Diego during the week if it hadn't worked out. No way was she going to be in CA and I NOT meet her!) I had a blast with her. Her hubby and little boy were fun too. I know I've said this before but it's so weird to meet someone for the first time face to face when you've already "met" them online. It's crazy how we make friends with people all across the country without ever seeing their faces. The world really is getting smaller in some ways. Now to start bugging Matthew about making a few days stop in Atlanta when we eventually go to Disney World. Or better yet, plan a WDW trip together!

Here's what we were waiting for. Cool huh? We actually got to see Lightning McQueen! T. Mater was there too. Disney never fails to amaze me. The fireworks show at Disneyland are just amazing for the 50th celebration. She got a cute streaky picture of Tinkerbell last night (the only kind you can get because it's dark and she moves so fast)... I couldn't get one at all! I'm going to get one, one day!! I did get a couple fun ones of the show though.

We also came across "Jack Sparrow" in New Orleans yesterday. He was cute, but just wasn't the same. I'm going to make a point to go back and take a picture with him though. *sigh* I'm really glad they've done more to play up the whole Pirates thing there. The ride had a mile long line... 5 people deep. No thanks! I can always catch it later. But they also had pirate singers on the street and the Jack guy running around. Awesome! Even if I don't catch him this year... the third movie is out next summer!

Huh?

Person: Who's blue beemer?
Me: It's ***'s. He's been driving it for 2 weeks, you hadn't seen it yet?
Person: Huh. I thought they only came in black and white.

Friggin hot

It's gotta cool down sometime... soon I hope. Yesterday was especially nasty with the added mugginess of a thunderstorm and torrential downpour. EWWW!

I had to adjust my MySpace account for internet scary-people. :( That's really too bad too. What can you do though? There are some real nut-jobs out there. I'm removing my link too. Sorry folks!

On a lighter note...

And then there was that sea-monster asking for tree-fiddy.

Money sucks

I registered for school this week. 9 units=$1,505. That's right. I have to pay the full-time rate, eventhough by all other counts, full time is 12 units, not 7+. I wouldn't mind so much if I really could AFFORD it but somehow the government has decided that I'm not broke enough to constitute giving me help. I find it especially aggravating because I know people who have a higher combined income, rent nicer places than I do, have kids and still have more money to get by... but because they're not married to their significant other they classify as an unemployed single mother, therefore get school money. WTF?!?! And they wonder why the divorce rate is higher and there are more single parents out there... because it pays to be in that situation. I work full time, go to school "full time" (or at least PAY like I do), I'm just BARELY scraping by and I don't qualify for financial aid!?!?!?!?!?

Let's also not forget that because I am married but have no kids that I'm not getting a tax break. Let me see... I'm married, can't afford to have kids, so I'm on the pill. You'd think that because I'm being responsible and not bringing children that I can't afford into this world that I'd get some incentive. I want a pat on the back for not being on welfare thank you very much. Where's my friggin hand out? Everyone else gets one... where's mine?

I work hard for what I do. I want to be able to say I paid my way through school, but c'mon. I should get a tuition break or SOMETHING for being self sufficient. It's not like I'm going to an expensive private university... I'm going to a state college. Not even a state university... COLLEGE. Not UC Fullerton... CSU Fullerton. Do we see the difference? C'mon give a girl break folks! And what am I going for? Teaching... so I can slave away for the state and give other kids a free education. I thought we had this system built upon the concept that everyone deserves an education. Why are they making it so freaking hard for me to get one then? And I'm not going into a field that will just make me rake in the big bucks either... I'm going to turn my education around and perpetuate the system... I think I should be going for free thanks! Veterans and teachers get free school!

For those that are still here. Thanks for bearing with me. It's been a crazy week.

DSFX is moving... we're getting ever closer to opening. Laura got my 1st item up. I thought I'd have more quickpages ready to go by now but I've hit a snag. Seems that eventhough I've set my defaults to 300 dpi... they haven't been saving there. UGH! Thank heaven I've been saving my PNG and my JPG files for my LO's! I'm going to have to remake a bunch of Instant FX pages though. GRRR!

Today I've been trying to re-organize all my digital kits and such. The way I've been doing it was essentially saving onto the hard drive 2x each. So now I'm trying to cut back on the excess file usage. My Picture It has been freezing a lot lately and I'm hoping its due to that. If it's another issue I don't know HOW I'm going to be able to run PSE4 when I get it. *fingers crossed that it helps*

Love you all... thanks for reading my rant! ;)

PixieMegh

Dang it all!

Well, I tried to set up my designer name as just Pixie... back to the drawing board... there's already a "Pixels by Pixie" and that means that if another designer is going by Pixie I'll have to stick to my usual alias. I actually liked her blog (that I skimmed). She reads similar stuff to what I do and it's actually kinda freaky if you think about it. Her pixels of choice are actually web design. Something I know nothing about. Perhaps someday you'll see a newly designed blog here... by her. LOL

In the meantime I think I'll go back to PixieMegh Designs. This way I'll have a name that isn't out there yet by someone else (I googled it... I'm the only one that's popping up). Sheila is going to love this. LOL She's already set me up in the store as Pixie... guess we'll have to adjust that now won't we? Grrr!

Lost

In thought today...

If you would have told me in HS that the girl I fought the most with would end up being my best friend I would have fallen down dead from laughter. Now what's our friendship like? I called her from work at lunch to B&M about some drama going on. My other best friend has been there off and on for years (since 5th grade really). I'm really glad I still have her... those 2 are what's keeping me sane lately. Except scrappin' of course... then I've got my SL/DSFX girls. They've got my back! Internet friends are just so different from "real life" friends.

OMIGOSH! I LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE Dooce today. I only wish I could have been there to watch those boys’ faces as they ate the “guacamole”. That woman is a riot.

*Sigh* Oasis- Champagne SuperNova... that song just takes me home.

Another iPod moment... I just hadda add

Michael Jackson. WOW all the scary gross stuff aside... his music still makes me wanna dance. It's really sad that someone so talented could go so wrong. I don't blame him completely, he had a really screwed up childhood. Honestly... I think he really believes that there's nothing wrong with him or his life, and that's why he makes me sad. I'm not condoning it, I'm not saying it's okay or that I don't believe all that's happened and rumors/truth whatever, I'm just saying he's messed up and REALLY believes he's "normal". I think that's worse than any other type of mental illness in some ways.

Someone I know well changed dramatically in his teen years and then after several years of him acting weird, he broke. Turned out that he has schizophrenia and didn't know. All this horrible stuff was going through his head and he just withdrew into himself because he didn't know what was going on or if it was "normal" or what. Now that he's been diagnosed and is on a medication that works for him, he's back to the same person he used to be. It's so refreshing to see him happy again these last several years. It just makes me sad that he went untreated for so long because of all the living he missed out on during that time. He's moving on and making up for it though and that's all that matters right? Taking what life throws you, dealing with it, and then moving on.

As I listen to my iPod.

Okay so I totally enjoy Johnny Cash's songs... but so much more with Joaquin Phoenix singing. I think it's that "hotness" factor that's getting in the way. Cash did a great cover of a NIN song shortly before he died. I really like it... in fact ever since Walk the Line came out KROQ plays it quite often. When they play NIN's version I find myself getting annoyed because I wanna hear Johnny. But then if I hear the REAL Johnny singing Walk the Line or Ring of Fire (which I still LOVE the Social D version) it's not as cool.

Britney. Spears. Yes, I occasionally enjoy her old pop stuff... not any of that post-Madonna/Federline whorish crap (essentially her first 2 albums). This song in particular... Lucky... somehow strikes a chord with me. I actually bought (and listened to quite often) her first album I gave it away after she went all weird. Another song by her, Stronger, is a great girl power anthem. And no matter what, I'll always love her videos. Her singing may be fakish but that girl can DANCE.

Yellow Submarine. The Beatles. What else can I say? Ringo is my favorite. It used to be Paul, but then I grew up and realized that looks aren't everything. Granted, the man still is a great person and he's awesome blah blah but for whatever I just seem to GET Ringo more. This is of course all shallowness anyway as I don't really KNOW these men. Ringo was Mr. Conductor for a bit on Shining Time Station (before the Thomas the Tank Engine cartoons stood all by themselves). He did a kids show... loved it! This song makes me think of my teenage years as I bought the movie on VHS for my dad's birthday gift when I got my first job. That was my link to him... music.

The Unforgiven, Metallica. *Sigh* I always feel guilty for calling their music a spiritual experience, but I have no other way to describe that feeling I get at a show or when I hear one of their songs at the perfect music. They've been the background soundtrack to my life for close to 10 years now. I know there are fans out there that have listened since the beginning and they trump me in that way... but I feel them down to my core, I think that should be a good indicator of my dedication. We don't really buy music DVD's in this house... but I've got S&M and Some Kind of Monster... and I actually WATCH them. SKM scares me though... they were so close to collapsing. That movie made me love Rob all the more. His addition marked a new era with them, and boy am I glad that Jason's departure didn't ultimately break the band, because then I'd have to hate him and I really don't want to do that.

"Take a bow, the night is over..." Madonna... wow. An icon, but yet I'm so pretty much over her. I mean, I'll still listen to her if she's on the radio (cause you know my rock station plays her always... oh wait... no, not at all) but yeah. That aspiration to see her in concert is gone. She's just not my thing anymore. I like her older stuff better any how. Ray of Light was good... I'm just not into that newer stuff... anti-American, look at me I'm "British" now crap.

No Doubt. Took the world by storm and Gwen became the it girl. I still love her. I'm glad she's doing her side work and I like that album too. The Alice in Wonderland theme sure helped too. I really like Alice. I may blog about that another time. They're another band that seems to be the background for key moments of my life. Most of it was from Tragic Kingdom. I like ND as a whole... the "they're not ska anymore" argument doesn't bother me. Eric left... they had to change... get over it. Their cover of It's My Life is brilliant. I love it, the original leaves me cold... it just sounds vintage 80s, ND's version sounds so much MORE 80s somehow... I think it's the major presence of syths. Either way, I really liked it.

Matisyahu. Another WOW. A total whitey singing awesome reggae. Another spiritual experience in music. I normally avoid religious music but this guy is amazing and he seems to leave out the specifics... it's probably because he's Jewish and not Christian... it's amazing how that can make such a HUGE difference. Kudos to him. I think it's awesome that he does it.

Blue Monday- New Order... can you get any more 80s than this? 80s music baffles me sometimes. I love it all, but I never really listened to music at that stage in my life (I was born in '81 if that helps put it in perspective) but I'll hear some songs that just blast me away to being little and playing on McDonalds playgrounds, rubber bracelets, "favas" (what as a small child I dubbed those neon colored spiral-Slinky like bracelets), My Little Pony and She-Ra. I remember 21 Jump Street and CHiPs... I knew ERIC ESTRADA and JOHNNY DEPP before I could write my name in cursive. Ha ha! I guess I always had a sense of the music that was around me, without ever acknowledging it.

The Killers... oh how I love them. From the moment I first heard them I was in love. I can't wait for their new album (I just don't want to have to buy it 3 times like the last one). They became superstars almost instantly. They're HUGE. I don't think it could have happened to a nicer group of guys either. They're unbelievable. *Sigh* Click the link... it'll play their new song for you.

Ooop! Another Metallica song... I guess we're done with the blog as I said I'd type until it repeated. ;D So someone go ahead and tell me again about how iTunes DOES shuffle... no it doesn't.

New LO

I was so proud of my first attempts at doodles that I HAD to come on here and post it before going to bed... Not bad if I say so myself!

It's from DSFX (of course) the Faith line. Well the flowers are at least. I shape cropped them from the beautiful papers. And the ribbon is from DSFX too... although I enhanced the pink a little. Sheila's original has a beautiful pink/yellow irredescent look to it... I needed more pink this time though.

Fonts: Bickley Script & Century Gothic

I've been wanting to do a layout to commemorate Momma Sue for awhile now but I just didn't have the pictures. She was very BEHIND the scenes. It makes me sad now since I don't have many pictures of her now. I have a few of her at my wedding and that's really it. This photo was taken in January after Malia's birthday dinner. It was a nice touch. I think I'll make a 2nd page to go with it that will have a picture of my pal Erin in it. I think the *perfect* one is yet to be taken... but I do have a cute one with her that I've scrapped in the past that I could use too. *Yawn* Time for bed!

We just keep plodding along

Server issues had to push DSFX back again. Laura has been plugging along in the store as well. I've really gotta get my arse in gear for example LO's and our Intant FX pages. I thought summer was supposed to be lower key than during the semester!

Anam ("Oh to sit still" to the right in my links) pointed me towards another lovely blog today. Great insight as to what we need to remember when we scrap. I've been doing more artsy fartsy pages lately due to the fact that they look better to sell for DSFX... I think my digi LO's in general journal less. There are a few where I've got blocks of journaling, but I need to work on that more.

My poor paper has been severely neglected lately. I think there's a scrapping shindig at church this afternoon... maybe I'll throw some paper in my tote and go for a bit. I can't wait for a laptop... then I can do all the chatty stuff that goes with a crop... and use my tools of choice... a lot more compact than a wall full of shelving units. Paper still grabs at me though. It's that HOLDING it in your hand thing I guess. I think I'll be doing the whole print/cut/paste look more too. Sheila's stuff is so yummy I could easily see myself using it as printables for the stacks of pictures I have from the previous 24 years to do. What a chore finishing all those books will be. Someday I'll start moving on it too. LOL

The answer to all the worlds problems...

can currently be bought on Ebay.

I thought I'd just spread the word.

One red paperclip

Today is the day! This is the day that this guy trades his one red paperclip for a HOUSE! I’ve checked in on his blog on occasion for about 7 months now. I say congrats on your big trade! You can read the back story there on his blog. Really cool!!

KROQ world premiered The Killer’s new song, “When You Were Young”. Awesome! The new album comes out in October. If you listen to the stream long enough I’m sure they’ll play it again… if not, most rock stations will probably be getting it in really soon too.

Today sucks

Anyone that talks to me long enough to know me at all, will know that breast cancer is a huge deal to me. I’m pink ribbon obsessed. I pretty much all the chat boards I visit consistently have pink ribbon blinkies. If you go to my house I have 2 couches… one is always draped with a fleece pink ribbon blanket and has 2 bears from Build-a-Bear all decked out in pink. A pink ribbon pin lives on the sweater that I wear everyday. I am one of those women who HATED the color pink… until someone important in my life died from breast cancer.

On the first day of 2nd grade I was a new kid. We had just moved to Downey over the summer and I didn’t know anyone at my new school yet. I was a very sad little girl when recess came. I didn’t know anyone and it really seemed like everyone already had their little group of friends, no room for me. Then another little girl walked up to me and asked me if I’d like to join her and her friends. That was the beginning of my friendship with my dear Malia. Malia (aka Mia) lived down the street from me even! How exciting! We grew up together, from Mrs. Francisco’s 2nd grade class, to taking crazy routes home from middle school and to Senior awards and marching band (well, color guard for her). Because of this simple, kind act I have gained some of my closest and dearest friends. We were a very close group as high school came to a close. And like most childhood friendships we have kinda grown apart, but I still see her on a semi-regular basis, and she’s only a MySpace Top 8 click away. ;)

How do these two tie in? Momma Sue. Remember the kindness of a little girl? Those types of qualities don’t always happen in a vacuum. Malia’s mother, Sue, was one of the kindest, most service oriented people I’ve ever met. She was very dedicated to her children (Malia also has a little sister that’s the same age as my younger brother). Whatever activities Malia and Heather wanted to do, Sue and Howie (their dad) threw themselves into. Whether it was PTA, dance shows, softball league boards, band/color guard boosters or Job’s Daughters parent councils, Sue and Howard would get INVOLVED!

Sue was actually dedicated to ALL children. She ran a preschool and baby-sat a lot of kids after school. If you ever drove through Downey in the late 80s/early 90s and saw a brown pick-up with a bunch of kids playing in the back under a camper shell… that was Sue (this of course was before seat belt laws ruined our fun!). Since Malia lived just down the street, I rode in that thing a LOT. I remember one of my proudest moments was being dubbed “one of Sue’s kids.” Sue really was like a 2nd mother to a lot of Malia and Heather’s friends.

Since Malia and I went to all the same schools and events, like my real parents, Momma Sue was present at the key events in my life: 8th grade promotion, Sweepstakes at our main band competition, high school graduation, even my wedding. That last item brings a smile to my face as well as tears. You see, 2002 was a bittersweet year. I got married in January, my brother and Heather graduated in June, and Momma Sue left us in July.

She just got really sick one day. She fought really hard for what seemed like forever and then she was gone. She used to tell us all the time that life wasn’t fair, and we got the ultimate lesson in that when she passed.

I get to go to dinner tonight with everyone. We’re going to Sue’s favorite restaurant. It’ll be fun, I just wish it was for a happier occasion. We miss you Sue, but your memory and all that you taught us, lives on.

It's coming!

We're putting in the finishing touches and getting ready. We'll be open next week! Happy happy joy joy!

My boyfriend Johnny has a new movie out starting today. You may have heard of it... a little number called The Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest. Go see it! (Graphic is not mine... courtesy of Christy Sturm)

I'm totally flattered

I was googling my screen name to try and remember what other sites I'm registered at to do some more promo work for DSFX and I came across this blog. What a sweetie she is! *blushing*

I've also found that I like her sarcasm... so I'll be adding her to my favorite links here... if nothing else it'll be nice to remind myself to read her musings. Fun fun!

Back to DSFX... we're busy little bees right now. I'm getting sooooo excited for our opening!! What a blast we're all going to have. Please drop in and check us out and keep checking in for details!

God Bless the USA

On today, the birthday of our nation, I just wanted to reflect on the many blessings and freedoms I enjoy.

First off, thank you to all the troops and their families, past, present and future. If it weren't for their sacrifices, today wouldn't be possible any longer and the freedoms that I have (and admittedly take for granted on occasion) every day wouldn't be here for me to enjoy.

If it weren't for this great nation and it's constitution I wouldn't have the faith that I have today. I truly believe that an "unseen hand" was guiding our forefathers to write that great document that caused us to break away from the "mother country", then several years later they re-established our needs and freedoms in what is the foundation of our government today.

My ancestors came here upon the Mayflower in search of religious freedom and they found it. I have ancestors that fought in the Revolutionary War to preserve that freedom. I've since had other branches of my ancestry come to America for that very reason... freedom. They've come from Poland, England and it's various sisters in the UK. They crossed the plains to preserve that freedom that was truly theirs and prepared to fight for it again. I'm proud to be an American. I'm proud of the heritage that I have that has brought me to this point as well. It's what makes this country great.

I think that in this time of dissent that we've forgotten what's important as a nation. I really wish we could go back to the unity of September 12, 2001. When this nation stood together in pain and the face of trajedy. We forgot our differences and united as a nation to stand against our newly realized enemy.

On a day like this, I hope we're able to stand together again and show our thankfulness for being able to stand up and criticize and realize that the very thing we're doing is using the right that people are fighting to preserve.

Thank you for giving me the ability to to type my silly

little rants, post my views and blast at others.

You are true heroes and because if it I'm grateful!