Green green green!

Wow... now blue is actually my favorite color (since black isn't really a COLOR) but lately... everything around me is green.

We already know about my little adventure with Wicked last week...

Then there is my growing little family of LPS turtles. (That's Emma, Bree, Jonas and Rhiannon.)
And last... but most certainly not least... The Green Fairy.

Isn't she beautiful? She's a new Dell Inspiron. The mouse came last Monday, bag on Thursday and my little fairy came on Friday. I did nothing but play with her all weekend (and go see Wicked)!

Side note on the bag. That is the Kiwi/chocolate one being offered from Mimi. They were designed with the digital scrapbooker in mind. There's extra padded pockets for my mice and tablet and disks and a camera... you get the idea. I LOVE it!! The suede is SO soft too. I bought mine from scrapaddicts.com. Their customer service was awesome! I hit a little snag while trying to purchase it (my email wasn't clicking or something weird) but Maegan was super nice and held onto the bag I wanted (she's closing these out... they're on sale) for me until her friendly tech team could fix the issue for me. I started the ordering process the same Sunday I ordered GF. They fixed problem and still got my bag to me the day before I had my computer! I had also pestered her a year ago (when I thought I was going to get my computer the first time around) for details about sizes and the such and she was as friendly as can be!!

I just wanted to gloat some more! ;)

I think I'll try defying gravity

We saw Wicked last night. Tickets landed in Trena's lap on Tuesday. I was so excited I wanted to burst! It was the best thing I've seen on stage EVER! I topped Lion King and Cats (I've seen both at the Pantages previously). I'm getting the soundtrack tomorrow! (I've been meaning to anyway, but now I HAVE to have it.)

That's us right after we got out. We wanted to take a picture but that's the best we could pull off. There were a TON of people there! So as I walked along the street I took pictures of all the different signs/posters around so that I'd have enough for a page (I'll probably actually make a 2 page spread for this one). When we got to the corner, I took a picture of the Pantages' marquee from the side but the first "A" wasn't on. I asked Trena if she minded crossing only one street (we were standing kitty-corner to the parking lot at that moment) and going back up a bit to get a better shot. She understands my obsession so she agreed.

As we're walking back up the other side of the street (which has that covered scaffolding around it) a bus pulls up. My first thought? "Great... it's going to be in the way." Trena's thought? "Great... middle of Hollywood at 11pm, what kind of crazies are we going to see?" We keep walking another 20 feet or so and are now directly across from the theater. I took this picture:

Isn't it kinda tacky looking? LOL Whatever. I'm sure the ones on Broadway look tacky too. I was perfectly happy with this shot but Trena offered to take one of me in front of it all. I handed her my camera and she took 2 shots.

I notice as she's taking my second picture that the scruffy guy we just past is walking by... pausing... now stopping, behind Trena. (I only noticed him before because I was looking at all the names on the stars on the sidewalk and carefully stepped over a mysterious "trickle" running down towards the street and saw his boots when I looked up.) So I walk over to her and offer to take HER picture now only the weird guy starts cat calling. "Hola chica. Como te llamas?" Whatever. If that was supposed to intimidate us, we live in Southern California buddy, we know BASIC Spanish. We decide to start walking back the way we came at that point because we're kinda "alone." There were people all over because it was still crowded from the show but we didn't need to encourage the guy either.

We walk away quickly and catch up with a huge group of people (back under the scaffolding again). This tweaked out 80s rocker guy is standing there (think David Bowie in Labyrinth) with his back to the plywood and since it's kind of narrow we're going to have to walk within inches of this guy. Trena is a little ahead of me and he puts his hand out to grope her! Fortunately she's got a jacket on and all he gets is her elbow. She yanked her arm away, I caught up with her, grabbed her other arm and we started to jog the rest of the way to the corner.

We were laughing so hard! We kept joking about how the boys were at home, enjoying themselves while we were getting molested and walking the dangerous streets of Hollywood. She called Aaron once we got into the car so they knew not to worry and they don't answer! He called back a little bit later and said they'd just gotten out of Good Luck Chuck. So Trena told him what happened and he said they'd just been watching a porno. Apparently it was pretty low grade sex humor. I'm glad I didn't go now. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind a little crudeness but if it made Matthew uncomfortable then I'll pass.

But that's the story of Meghan and Trena and what happens when we walk down Hollywood Blvd. after dark. :D I want to go back and take pictures of Trena in front too because that just SUCKS!

I took a few more pictures but you'll just have to wait for the scrapped page! ;)

Little Miss Allie Pants

Have I told you lately that I have THE cutest niece on the planet? I'm a little biased... but I do. ;) (Trena's niece Belen is a close 2nd though) She got her first haircut last Saturday and then as they were leaving from Sunday dinner she looked at me and told me that she had short hair just like me! I told her that I wore glasses like she did too and she said "Yeah, short hair and glasses just like you!"

Credits:
Genevieve Sass:
Be Dreamy Kit,
Tea Stained Ribbons
& Summer Soaked Alpha
Font:
CK Elsie

I also had to play with Genevieve's Wings set with this one. It was so cute!! :D

Happy Birthday Momma

Saturday was my mommy's birthday. I made her a card and I'm kinda mad at my printer now. Here's my digital preview... (they're clickable to view them MUCH larger)

Credits:
Kit by Tiff Brady and Gina Miller, "Party Bits"
Alpha by Michelle Coleman

Added:
Black Bazzill Bling
Colorbox Charcoal Chalk

See the difference? I liked it MUCH better on my computer! Anywho...

I framed a photo for her of us 5 (me, my sibbies and Matthew) at my baby sister's graduation back in June. I wanted to get her a GC for a book store but ran out of time. I'll have to belate that for her. ;) I printed this at Costco and got the white torn edge frame thinger added to it. Once it went in the frame you couldn't see it anymore, but at least she'll see it if she ever changes the frame out! LOL Aren't we just a cute family? That's Roxanne, Matthew, me, Katie and Adam (he's bent WAY over 'cause he's TALL).

Gotcha!

Hee hee! I snagged a victim. One of Trena's sister-in-laws (and one of baby Thyssen's many adorable aunties) emailed me the other night to ask about digiscrapping. You should have seen the novel of "basic links" I sent her. I sent her to the Piracy blog, Shabby Princess, GMD, DST, SB.C and Sheila's blogs (among many other useful places). I can't wait to see her first layout! The lucky duck already has REAL PhotoShop as her hubby is an extremely talented artist. Some day... *sigh*

I also got sucked into another fun blog yesterday. She had me laughing a lot. Then I got to THIS post. I laughed so hard I got a belly ache and very misty eyed. She is my new hero and I can only hope to be that awesome of a mom!!

And good old boys drinking whisky and rye

Every year I choose to try to reflect on how united our nation was in the first few weeks immediately following the attacks. And every year I sob. This year I was able to contain the tears mostly. I'm finally at a place where I feel like I can *talk* about it without getting too drained. If I let myself, the waterworks still come. I went on MSN.com and found TONS of photos in my search to make this LO. They were all flash shows so I couldn't use any of them, but I'm glad I saw them. I let myself cry then.

This year was the year to finally get all my thoughts about the whole thing down. I'm glad I'm finally able calm myself down long enough to capture my reaction to that day. It has already become the JFK assassination of my generation; this day has become the it in "where were you when it happened?" Before that, I thought it would have been Oklahoma City or Colombine, but neither of those situations came remotely close.

Here's my start at therapy and record keeping. I need to make another page to fully reflect what happened AFTER that day, but I can't do that tonight, I'm too tired.

Alpha & Papers: Gina Miller
Tears: Blue Flombingo

WE WILL NEVER FORGET!!

It's been a hard days night

I got a lot done today. Check 'em out!

Papers: GMD, Dreamer Kit
Bubble: GMD, Colorblast Kit
Fonts: SF Toontime

Kit: Shabby Princess, Modish Boy Kit
Flourish: SP, Ornate Stamps
Fonts: Scriptina, Century Gothic

Template, Papers, Bubbles, Swirl: GMD
Fonts: Artistamp, Century Gothic

Cyberspace Oddity

So I've been bouncing around the internet today and came up with some FUN links!!

This is a fun little store at etsy.com that sells jewelry made from Lego pieces! There is some REALLY cute stuff in there.

Elsie Flannigan has a new site coming! I hardly ever talk about papery scrappiness on here so I wanted put in this plug. I have her book and I just LOVE the challenges in it... plus there is a key to download several of her fonts in it too.

I also came across a cute paper kit club. Red Velvet was indirectly linked on Valerie Foster's blog (I just started clicking links and ended up there). And while we're talking about Miss Valerie, I just wanted to show you her new kit now on sale at computerscrapbook.com. Enjoy!

You spin me right round baby

Wow! Time for an update. Life has been a whirlwind lately!! I guess I'll start from this last weekend.

Matthew and I went to visit his aunt and uncle in NorCal over the long weekend. We started our 7 hour trek on Saturday morning at 4:45 am. I started taking little video clips at 5:00 and figured I'd cronacle a short clip every 30 minutes of our entire drive (like a sped-up drive up California) to capture the changes in light and landscape. Well... 2 hours later as we were about to make a breakfast stop, my battery died. And I forgot to pack the charger. D'oh!! So much for pictures all weekend. :( I was a sad little Pixie.

So I took silly notes the rest of the ride for fun.

7:05 am- realized in Carl's Jr. parking lot that my camera battery was dead.

7:25 am- realized that the guy sitting across CJ was sporting a great Flock of Seagulls haircut and I had no camera to capture it. The guy was probably younger than me too. How did he even know who FoS was?

7:30- back on the road

7:48- drove past some coyote road kill, we don't get THAT much in Anaheim!!

8:30- Stopped for gas & got raped at the pump... $3.49 a gallon!! I also got attacked by ENORMOUS flies and overwhelmed by the smell of cow @$$ everywhere... it smelled like the 909!

8:35- back on the road, 192 from San Francisco

That's all I wrote. We arrived around 11:30. Matthew drove the whole way so he took a nap and I hung out with Aunt Meg. We had a nice chat. Uncle Keith called and said he was on his way home and was picking up lunch. Matthew woke up just before our YUMMY burritos arrived. SO GOOD! We then decided that we'd go to the French cheese factory that afternoon... so off we went.

That place was so cool. Keith drove us up the back roads from Petaluma to this little old farm house in the middle of nowhere (Marin county for anyone interested). You walk in and it's a little store. Lots of yummy cheeses and cheese themed gifts (cheese knife sets, wines, crackers, shirts and aprons... you get the idea). The actual factory is in the cellar and usually you can get tours but they were on hold due to renovations going on. I'll just have to go back!! We bought close to $40 of cheese for Matthew's mom and a few little quarks for us (flavored cream cheeses). Matthew is lactose intolerant so most French cheeses make him sick, but it was a lot of fun for me because I've been wanting to go for years. Meg and Keith always bring some down with them when they come for visits.

We walked around the pond for a bit after that with Shasta (M&K's adorable dog). Keith let her off the leash and she would come running back when you called her. Such a good dog! On our way back, Keith drove us around the neighborhood pointing out fun little houses. For those of you that don't know, most of northern California has these ADORABLE little old houses EVERYWHERE. Petaluma started in the late 1800s so its like a little history lesson driving through the middle of downtown (and all over town really).

We then went back to their house and took another nap (we were TIRED). When we got up, Brad (Matthew's cousin) was over so we got to chat with him for a little bit. He's a real doll. We watched 300 that evening and just hung out. When the movie was over, off to bed. I still can't believe how tired I was that day!

The next morning Matthew and I got up and met my friend Peas for breakfast. I've been chatting with her on scrapbooking boards for almost 3 years now. We finally met in person at Disneyland in 4/06 and it was high time for another visit! We met her in her home town, Benicia, and had a yummy breakfast at a little place called Shoreline. We ate on the patio and just had a great time talking. We then walked along the street where it ends on a little "pier" (concrete walkway over the water really) and back. It was great to see her again and cannot wait for another chance to visit to come up!

Back in Petaluma we went to dinner at this Chicago pizza place that Matthew loved when he lived with M&K for a few months before he went on his mission. It's in the middle of historical downtown Petaluma (I sound like a travel guide). The restaurant actually used to be a parlor for a brothel. Funny huh? Anyway, he took me there last time and it really is GOOD pizza. We then walked around downtown taking in the sights and checking out all kinds of newer developments in the area. It was a lot of fun.

The next day was time to pack up. Meg made me a yummy breakfast of scrambled eggs and hot cocoa (I'm not much of a breakfast person, but I was actually hungry that time). We said our good-byes and were off! A very quick trip, but very relaxing and a fun visit!!

Here are my only single pictures... since Peas is a scrapbooker too, I knew I could count on her to actually have a WORKING camera with her!


Isn't she cute? :D Stay tuned... I made another card and a couple pictures to post from work from last week. We had to say good-bye to a real sweetheart that used to work with us. ;)