Birthday Dreamin'

Every year about this time, much like I make out a christmas wish list, I make out a birthday wish list. I thought it would be fun to show all three of my blog readers my cute finds.


Of course, my big dream is a Nikon SLR camera. I have asked a lot of researchers and this one is the best.


Since I got my laptop about a year ago, I have thought that a lap top bag would be useful and have been inactively . I think this green one is pretty and practical. Of course I would jazz it up with some ribbon or a flower.

The same store has this pad which I think is super adorable and would definately help me get more done.

My ultra fabulous and stylish friends Kristin and Anne Marie had these cool swingpacks when I went to New York and I really loved them but the price was stopping me a bit. Anne Marie's was even cooler (Gucci, I think!). This weekend I found one at the beach in this great zebra pattern for $29.00 so I can cross that off my list.

I got Southern Lady magazine for Christmas but I think this mag Shop Smart is really great. I bought a copy the other day and learned a great deal.

My friend Catherine shared her book with us in Nashville and I think I would love a copy of Show it Off! There are some really clever ideas in there! And everything Catherine does is super cute. UHOH - I think her b-day is coming up soon - I better tink of something for her.


I still want one of these a power inverter which for a few days I really thought I had invented this gadget. Come to find out those engineers at Ford or NASA were way ahead of me.


And of course a girl can never have too many mismatched stuff and they have lots of cute new patterns. They also just emailed that their warehouse is in Iowa and 10% of their sales this week are going to help those in need from the floods.

The Weekend Report

** We won!! We won!! Well rather Norma Anne and Henry won the dream wedding. Behold the power of scrapbookers! So happy for them.

Friday night, Deisel practiced his neighborhood escape plan and had me running all over to find him. I was terrified because I had no idea how to explain to Ernie. I found him seconds after he had run into the road. I sprinted to him and lucky for him people were watching! I drug him home and did not speak to him for the rest of the night cause I was laying on the coach (uh that would be couch) trying to catch my breath. God I am not in shape.

Saturday I hit one big community in a school parking lot yard sale, and got a few things. One lady had toiletries and such for a song - loved her!

Then I headed down to meet my mom and her friends to get them set up at the beach. My mom and I were on target to meet each other exactly. We met up about 12 did a tiny bit of shopping at the outlets and then headed to their cottage. Got everyone moved in and just sat around talking. Sunday we got some sun, I started to read another Jodi Picoult (her stuff is soooooooooo good), we hit the Village of Fenwick 2 or three small stores - I got a great little pocketbook that I have been looking for and a white t-shirt. Oh I made PW's Asian Noodle Salad and there was a ton of it. Everyone seemed to love it. I left the beach about 8:45 which meant I got home about midnight - 10 (uh that would be 2) hours past my bedtime (See I told you I was tired) . I was beat when I got home.

Very fun weekend!

This time yesterday I had never even heard of Norma Anne

Now her and her wedding - it is all I can think about. Yes I do have an addictive personality.



I got this email yesterday morning



Okay, this is cute but corny. I know I really should be cleaning or organizing or something! There is a couple in Florida who are trying to win a dream wedding. She is a SCRAPPER and needs our support. There is another couple who also is recieving a lot of votes. Supposedly the other couple is posting lots of trash about them and occusing them of cheating. The whole story of the drama can be read on two peas (of course!):http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/mb.asp?cmd=display&thread_id=2581568&pg=1 Anyhow, she seems to have a pretty good lead but the voting does not end until noon on the 20th. Check out the site, it has there story and of course their photo whichhappens to be a scrapbook page!http://photocontest.freedom.com/cbs12/dream-wedding/ Click on their link and it leads you to their story and the place to cast your vote. I just leave the page up and hide it in the bottom bar thingy. You can vote every 12 minuteswhich I am not asking you to sit all day at the computer, just vote when you walk buy or something. Let's help a fellow scrapper out!!!!! ;-) THanks!



It was forwarded to my friend Jeanne from a gal named Mindy who i don't know either.



So I clicked on the link and voted.



Then I clicked on the message board link and OH my god it was all down hill from there. I now know more about Norma Anne and Henry and Katrina and Matt (the 2nd place couple) and internet voting cheating and the knot.com and brides.com and WOW

We interupt this addiction for a new one - addicted and easily swayed that's me - Kristi Sikora Blankenship has a blog and a newsletter and she is teaching a class!!!!!!!! I loved her at Scrap Etc - her energy and her live this life now and her glue and go - LOVED LOVED LOVED IT all - Her summer album - cute cute cute.

Dismal yard sale finds

I was up and out at 8, had a few places set to go, and well it was dismal. Nothing just felt like I needed it. I did pick up a few books, an outfit for Sammy and the most adorable girls outfit size 18-24- I don't know who this is for but it was tooo stinking cute to pass up. A christmas ornament which Deisel already stepped up - my fault for leaving on the floor and that was about it. I did see a coach purse that I really really wanted but the lady would not waiver on the price and just kind of had an attitude and I passed. Total expenditure was $4.00 and $2.00 for a hotdog.

Sunday, we went to the river and got to do a little jetski which was really fun. I am a timid driver so when the kids wanted to ride with me I was more than happy to oblige! Then I could say I was being careful cause of the kids.

Oh and I read another good book - The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. It was a quick read and I really liked it. I am putting it up on Paper Back Swap if you want to trade. Have you tried that site - it is really good if you like to read and they have pretty new books on there.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday....

You know in the movies when they want to show how fast time goes and the pages fly off the calendar - that is my life.



Wednesday I taught a Scrapbook 101 class to my co workers. We always talk about getting together to scrap and I finally just organized it. Everyone seemed to really love it and had fun with it. We plan to get together monthly to keep working on the mini albums that they started, One of the gals even brought her two little girls and they made an album for their dad for fathers day - I loved having the little ones in the class.



Thursday I read the book Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult. I got it Express from the library which meant I only had 7 days to read and return it. I was about 150 pages into it last night when I got home from work and finished it about 10. OHH it was so good. I would love to find someone else who has read it who would like to discuss it because man I have a lot of questions. If you have read it, comment to me and let's chat.

Heat Wave

I love the summer and I love the hot but last night was the end of what I could stand and the dog was begging me - so I turned the air on! It is not pretty when a pit bull just lies in front of the fan and every once in awhile looks at you like why you trying to kill me momma? Around 9:30, when it was time to go to the bedroom and sleep, I decided the dog needed the air. And it did feel delicious.

I spent the whole day at home on Sunday I had a pile of laundry like you would not believe and the laundry room right next to the craft room - and I had a new set of Will and Grace DVD's - so in between putting stuff in the washer and the dryer, I crafted and watched Will & Grace. I was getting ready for a class I am teaching on Wednesday - oh these little creative cafe albums are going to be so cute. If you order from there, say Hi to Marty in the comments - he is so nice with the greatest southern accent! And you get your stuff fast!

Saturday I hit the yardsales and I got some GOOOOD stuff. A few baby things for Sammy, a retro pin, a book, and then the motherload of JCrew clothes 3 tshirts, a sweatshirt and 2 sweaters all for $16.00 - I was telling Ernie and said that would be like... and he said "more than $50.00 at Walmart!" He does know my love for JCrew. Then I hit a few more with nothing - then an estate type sale - evidently the folks were moving and I got a whole box of kitchen towels for a buck, and another apothacary jar (this makes 5), and a little tupperware pitcher and another Button tin. I then stopped at bath and Body works for the sale, got a pedicure and then went grocery shopping - I did not get home until 3 - yikes. We went to a local dive bar for dinner and to watch the Belmont Stakes.

I did not make it on the Harley all weekend so I can only classify the weekend as great (the pedicure really pulls up the ranking!)

Sex and the City!

I must preface this by saying - I do not go to the movies ever! The last movie I watched in the theatre was Cars. But I had to see Carrie, Miranda, Samatha and Charlotte. It had been on my calendar for weeks. I bought the tickets online around noon - I had even convinced Ernie to see it. The promise of some nudity was his draw.

It was fabulous! I do not want to give anything away but it was fabulous. The fashion delivered, oh the shoes, I laughed, I cheered and I cried. It was so good that I could have sat and watched it again. Go with your girlfriends, get dressed up, have a cosmo and then see the movie. The girls that not only made it okay to be thirty and single but the girls that made it fabulous and fashionable!!!

The rest of the weekend was perfect by my standards, yard sales Saturday morning, a rain shower in the afternoon so I got some creative time and riding the Harley all day Sunday. We got caught in the rain which did take some of the fun and coolness out of it but Ernie's mom bought us new dry clothes so it ended well. It was great to go to bed last night and be really tired from the sun and the fresh air.

Free photos!

Hey Shay, Mel and Steph,

Since you girls comment I will write to you. Anyone new reads and comments I will write to them.

Back to the free photos, I just discovered that at www.mycokerewards.com one of the rewards is 20 free prints from Snapfish (with only 64 points). I was pretty happy since I spent $35.00 at Snapfish last month.

Also if you have not signed up with mr.rebates what are you waiting for and tell them I sent you. If you do any online shopping at all, it is awesome! Shay you signed up - have you used it?

I love little extra easy ways to rack up fun freebies. Anyone know of others?

Mel - the pictures from Facebook are not a high enough resolution for me to print - can you send them to me?

Steph - send me your address, I have a surprise for you.

How I kicked off the summer of 2008!

This past Memorial Day weekend was weather wise one of the best I have ever seen. Every day was sunny and perfect temps.

I spent most of the day Saturday in my craft room. It had been quite a few weeks since I had a chance to spend any time on any creative projects and I was missing it. I worked on some thank you notes that I am really late in sending and another 6x6 scrapbook project that I have been having fun working on lately.

Sunday, Ernie and I rode the Harley to DC to be a part of Rolling Thunder "Ride for Freedom". That event is one of my most favorite. We decided to watch instead of ride in it. It ended up being just the two of us which worked out well - we did not have to worry about anyone else in the crowds and after about an hour we were ready to go. The news reports say that 350,000 bikes participate in the event in total. It is so cool to see that many bikes in one place.

We stopped home, changed cars, got the dog and drove to NJ to visit my mom. Monday, we spent the day at one of my favorite events - Bob Brooks auction in Malaga, NJ. We arrived about 9:30 not the early bird gets the worm auctioning but we were able to score some good stuff. To the lady who roots around and picks out the one thing that she wants out of the box and then holds it up for it to be bid along - thanks for taking all the fun out of an auction. Bob Brooks now has a 13% buyers premium. As we were checking out, they mentioned it. I got to say "when I first started coming here, there was no buyers premium" They said that was a long time ago, like 10 years. I said yep, I have been coming here for 12 years. OH what did I score, a cool retro pale blue fan, an apothocary jar, 4 boxes of Christmas ornaments. My mom got a glass brick (we bought that from someone on the side - I LOVE those cash transactions!) and two glass battery jars and a sewing stand. I just like to go and poke around the antiques.

When we got home, after a quick nap, we prepared a delicious dinner. Pioneer woman your jalopenos wrapped in bacon - YUMMY!

All and all - a perfect weekend - scrapping, harley riding, and juking!

By the way, if you are reading this - post a comment - I would like to know that I am not talking to myself.

$$$ saving tip!

While having some things checked at the beach house, the repairman from Del Mar Appliance was a wealth of information. He gave me two tips which made a ton of sense and I thought I would pass them along - just before you run your dishwasher (finally have one back in my kitchen!!) run the kitchen sink until the hot water comes out. That way the water that goes into the dishwasher is hot from the beginning. He said it takes a long time for the dishwasher to heat the water. I tried to find supporting research for this. He also said that you really only need about a teaspoon or two of detergent.

Jukin'!

Spring means many things for people - Baseball season or flowers, or gardening - for me it means Saturday mornings of Jukin' - my Aunt Phyl and Aunt Mary invented this word - it means shopping and junking and just checking out the local stuff. For me, it means yard sales mostly and maybe a craft fair and maybe a festival.

Last Saturday, I was up and out at 8am. I have a list of things I look for - cute clothes, vintage jewelry, anything polka dots, books, apothocary jars, tupperware, pink kitchen stuff. This week, I hit a few sales. Then I headed to the Landon Festival - and got the cutest apothocary jar. I also saw some cute ideas which added an ornate frame to my yard sale list!

This week, again up and at the neighborhood sale by 8 and I scored a Waterford vase!! since it was in the neighborhood, Ernie and Diesel came too! I got all the way home and went back for a pampered chef stone (I broke mine - FYI - they are not meant to broil on!) We also went to Wine in the Woods this year in Columbia - two words - Never Again! The lines were terrible, just not my scene. Glad I finally got to go - and check it off my list.

Scrap ETC

The whole reason I started my journey to Nashville was to attend Scrap Etc with my scrappin bff's (list is long but if you are reading this blog you are absolutely one of them!!). It was held at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel (big, pretty, expensive!) I was a member of the illustrious group C - Brittney was an awesome leader. Thursday evenings welcome ceremony was a good introuduction of everyone and then we headed to a class team-taught by Danelle Johnson and Kristi Sikora-Blankenship. This was for me the most inspiring time of the whole event - Kristi was my favorite speaker by far - she is excited and she talks FAST!! What I really related too is that now she works for a construction company and scrapbooking is a hobby - just like me! I loved her samples and her ideas and her glue and go theory really woke me up. When I scrapbook, I spend too much time focused on details and not enough time glueing stuff down.



The only repeat teacher for me was heidi. Her project was totally my colors and a very cool idea. Jenni Bowlin (sad but I slept in and missed a little of this class), Gretchen MacElveen, Vanessa Hudgen, Angelina Wiggleton, Vilna Furstenburg, and Monique McLean - each project was a unique take. SNL - let's chalk it up to it was a very long weekend and by that point things just got rough.



Two really cool things about the weekend was Amy Tan from Amy Tangerine was there selling her t-shirts and I got the cutest one (and she had a lot to choose from in my size) I have always loved her stuff! The other cool thing was a singer/song writer Amanda Hudson was there and her songs are the perfect blend of a nice message and folksy music to remind you of why you scrapbook - and her perfect scrapbook day song is sooo stinking cute. I am so glad I got to buy that CD. I really love to support artists/entrereneurs.



I got lots of fun supplies at all of the stores I was able to visit.



I drove home Sunday and honestly it wasn't too bad. I left about 7am and pulled in my parking space about 6pm. I spent most the time on the phone with my mom recapping the week. I accidently left something behind so I spent some time on the phone working to recover it. I listened to my new CD. I saw some really pretty parts of the USA - love the mountains.

Nash Trash

On Thursday in Nashville, I had signed up for the Nash Trash Tour. First we had a little contest to see who could dress the trashiest. I did not win - shoot I did not even try - but it was fun to cheer. Then we boarded the big pink bus and proceeded to laugh our heads off - those girls are so funny and they had so many great one liners - when they hooted and hollered to the Firemen to show us their hoses, and their celebrity sightings. We also stopped off quickly at the Country Music Hall of Fame - as soon as I walked in I knew that I had to see the whole place.



After the tour, Mel and I hightailed it to one of the scrapbook stores to pick up some bags, stopped at Sonic for some drive in food - LOVE that place my stomach felt funny from sitting in the back of the bus so I just had a chili cheese dog.



And then, we went back to the motherland! The Country Music Hall of Fame was amazing - and I loved it. From Elvis solid gold cadillac to Hank Williams boots to dresses from Faith Hill ( I love the costumes and the embroidered boots) - I was mesmerized. I have not always been a country music fan - I was introduced to it in college. It was the summer that Garth Brooks had the song That Summer. Since 1992, I have seen loads of shows and I do have an appreciation for the oldies. Seeing all of the memorabilia and hearing great stories about country music simply renewed my love for it. I am now a member of the museum which means I can go all I want for free for a year!! and I bought a ton of souvenirs there!

Megan's Luxury Shopping Tour

26 of my closest friends and I boarded a luxury bus (It was a party on wheels) and drank and scrapbook shopped ourselves all over Nashville. We headed to two area stores, Scrapacino and Scrap N' Memories and had a special invite to the warehouse for Scrap In Style TV! The limo was from Signature Limo, our Cutie Pie Driver was Brian. I personaly had a blast!!!

Goody Bag Sponsored by: Inspire Company (Amy made the most adorable travel scrap tins fro everyone), Scrap In Style TV (Jeanette gave us huge goodie bags filled with yummy product), Little Miss Matched (They sent a pair of socks for everyone in the group - look how Catherine decided to wear hers!), By Design sent cute shopping bags for everyone

Door Prizes Sponsored By: Bazzill Basics Paper, SRM Stickers, Making Memories, Croppin Cutie, Treasury of Memories, Cosmo Cricket, Sakura, Glue Arts, Quick Quotes

We ended the day by having a delicious albeit quick dinner at Bound'ry.

Nashville Bound Dog

So I just got back from 10 days away in Nashville. I left out of DC Friday April 11th and drove about 3 hours (traffic 4 hours) south to Steeles Tavern VA to the most delightful bed and breakfast, Sugar Tree Inn. Ernie had arrived a few hours before me and had a fire going in our room when I got there. Within moments, I was changed and in the hot tub sipping on a sweet ice tea. IT WAS PERFECT. From the drive and the long week at work we were both beat and went to bed early. The sheets on the bed were the SOFTEST sheets I have ever felt in my life - I even dreamed that I tried to buy them. IT WAS PERFECT. We got up early and got some breakfast omelettes, baked oatmeal (ok, I'll just say it - neither of us liked that) and we were back on the road to Knoxville - he on the Harley and me in the truck! About two hours later we stopped at Cracker Barrel for lunch. We arrived in Knoxville about 2pm. After all that driving we took a walk along the Tennessee River and had yummy BBQ at Calhouns. Ernie decided we had had enough driving for one day and we checked into the Knoxville Marriott downtown where we were upgraded to a bigger room. We walked to the Mast General Store. On our walk, one crazy thing, we saw a huge cloud of smoke, Ernie ran down to see what it was - a car was on fire. Come to find out, it was a guy involved in a police chase and he crashed on one of the exits. It was all over the news the next morning. Sunday morning, we treated ourselves to breakfast in bed.

Then back on the road again. Through sleet and snow, we made it to Nashville. We arrived at the Hotel Preston 2:30 our time, delightfully 1:30 Nashville time. The Hotel Preston is awesome - we knicknamed it Swanky Town. First of all they let him park the harley up on the sidewalk under the entry canopy! We were again upgraded to a bigger room. We loved it! Oh and get this, it is cheap - like $119.00 a night cheap!

We went to Lane Car Museum, the Loveless Cafe for dinner (the biscuits and jam are every bit as good as they claim.) Then went downtown and hit some of the bars spending most of our time at Coyote Ugly. (Photo courtesy of Sandy Perry cause I did not think to snap one!)

Monday, we got up headed to the harley dealership, out to breakfast, ran a few errands and then went to Cooter's - as in the Dukes of Hazzard. We went over to Opry Mills and literally ran into Mel. We hung out for a little while, played glow golf - which on a Monday during the day was just a little strange. And Monday night, we went to the CMT Awards. It was definately an experience! We were down on the floor but you won't see us among the crowd. I loved the opportunity to see so many artists in one night BUT it was definately a lot of work. Oh and the presenters were bizarre - Tom Arnold and Jewel??

Valentine's Eve

Today 50 dozen roses were delivered to me. You read it correctly - 50! No my boy does not like me that much. Instead, I organized another fundraiser for my friend and coworker Brad Benefiel. I sold roses and bought them wholesale and will deliver them tomorrow. I even stamped up cute little tags to add to the roses. It was a win/win for the guys in my office cause they helped a great cause and scored points with their sweeties!

Are these not the cutest thing?

So Stacy shared LittleMissmatched on her blog and I loved them but I never really had the need for new socks. Well I showed my wonderful friend Jennifer and she loved them and told her boyfriend he could uy her anything from that website for Christmas and HE DID! So when she came back from Christmas break I was really jealous. About a week before her bithday, she decided that she needed some taller ones and I decided to treat her for her birthday and well it was high time to treat myself too!

Now I am just as cute as the next girl!

a new blog to check out or more appropriately - how I just wasted a lot of time.

Have you seen this blog? Pioneer woman is awesome - the pictures - oh my lord - I literally changed my background on my computer four times on the first page - THEN I saw the rainbow with the shadow and I scrolled through 15 pages of bloggin to find that photo. I LOVE IT. She is funny as all get out, her photos are amazing, and the cowboys definately improve my dull life. I really want her calendar and who knows maybe I'll even cook one of her recipes.

Thanks Peggy! You always know the best stuff!

All good things must come to an end!

Today January 23rd 2008, marks my 6 year anniversary with Stampin' Up! Sadly, at the end of this month I will no longer be an active demonstrator. I am emailing you today to thank you and to make sure that you get any last orders that you would like.

Thank you all for attending workshops and classes, for placing orders, for sending beautiful handmade cards and gifts. I was able to sell over $22,000 of stamps, paper and ink and I loved every minute of it. I made so many new friends through Stampin' Up! I attended 3 fantastic conventions, Kansas City, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City which were a blast and I learned so much.

If there is anything that you would like to order at this time, please let me know right away and I will get all orders placed and shipped out to you. I do not have any of the new catalogs but I will be happy to order one for you and ship to you. The cost for that is $12.75. You can access the online catalog at www.stampinup.com .

Why do I blog?

I know that sometimes it is monthly - but it is nice to just get your thoughts down every once in awhile.

Have you joined up at www.paperbackswap.com ?- I love it and it is not just paperbacks - it is kid's books and hardbacks and non fiction. It would be great to have more scrapbookers on there swappin books. For every person that joins and puts me as a referral, I will send a scrapbook RAK!

What else can I share today? I am really looking forward to going to New York for a crop the end of March and of course Nashville in April. Any Nashville travel advice would be so appreciated!!!