Random Saturday stuff

I am bored here at home tonight. I'm staying in because Derek's baptism is tomorrow and I want to be a well-rested godmother tomorrow. So I figure I'd catch up on some blogging. Here's some random stuff...

*********

I am such a TV junkie. With the fall season starting back up again, I'm already behind on my TV watching. I am annoyed that so many of my shows are on at the same time (Big Bang Theory on Thursday - WTF!!!) and that my Tivo isn't compatible with Fios. So I've been catching up on my shows on Hulu. Here are a few things I love about the new season so far...

- Billy Baldwin has joined his Dirty Sexy Money co-star Peter Krause on Parenthood.
- The cold open of the Office season premire was hilarious. The show has been so lackluster lately so at least that part was fun.
- It's Always Sunny in Philidelphia makes me laugh so much it hurts.
- Betty White on Community - awesome!
- Can't wait for Dexter tomorrow.
- I didn't like the premier of Glee! I hate when they do wrap songs. And that new girl singer is too good. Maybe I need to watch it again.
- I love how Vampire Diaries moves ahead with plot every week. Most shows would stretch these stories out for weeks. Plus, I love Damon.

Here's my lineup. Don't know when I'm going to watch them all!
Mondays: How I met your mother, Chuck, Castle, Hawaii 5-0, Weeds, Big C
Tuesdays: No Ordinary Family, Glee, The Good Wife, Life Unexpected
Wednesdays: Cougar Town, Modern Family, Top Chef: Just Desserts
Thursdays: Grey's Anatomy, The Office, 30 Rock, Community, Vampire Diaries, Big Bang Theory, It's Always Sunny in Philidelphia
Saturday: SNL
Sunday: Dexter, Bored to Death, Boardwalk Empire, the Simpsons, Desperate Houswives

*********

I saw the cutest little collie puppies at PetSmart today. They were just so sweet. Wish I had my camera. One of them was giving me lots of kisses. An animal rescuer had taken the three pups in. They were found under a porch somewhere in Newark. I'm glad there are people who take care of animals. And I'm glad Rocky is here with us this weekend - more dogs for me to love!

*********

I have been having a Liz Taylor-Richard Burton movie marathon. I figured out how to use my Tivo to find their movies and have streamed a few thanks to Netflix. This new obession started because of "Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and the Marriage of the Century." So far, I've watched Father's Little Dividend, Cleopatra, Taming of the Shrew and The Misfits (no Burtons involved, but starring Liz's good friend Montgomery Clift) and my Tivo will be recording a string of her movies that will be on early tomorrow.

I've been in awe of the Burtons since discovering Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. My friend David and I used to watch it over and over in college. I was shocked to learn that Liz was younger than I was when she made that movie - she just looked older thanks to makeup and wigs. I felt sorry for them having to live their lives constantly in the spotlight. Their affair seems to have triggered the paparazzi mania we know so well today. And I am fascinated by their crazy, world traveling, boozing lifestyle, the details from Richard's diaries and letters, and the facts thrown in like Liz's daughter couldn't read at 7 because she didn't go to school and her mother spent too much time drunk! I listened to the audiobook - and I hated the narrator. He did accents for every British or Aussie person mentioned and then did a horrible impression of Liz and other women. He was also one of those people who had to pronounce every foreign word or city name with an accent - I hate that!!! But otherwise, it was a great story.

*********

I won an award! I was honored by the New York State APA for spot news design. At first I didn't even know why I won. I couldn't remember the pages. This was a pretty big story back in January involving officials selling their votes. The front page looks kind of boring, but the package inside was good. (Sorry for the small images!)


On Wednesday, I drove up to Albany - a three hour ride - for the awards presentation and a very boring conference. But I did have fun hanging out with some of my co-workers. Then it was a very long trip home.

*********

I went to a crop a few weeks ago and have been doing a bit of scrapping here and there. If you can't tell, I'm obsessed with the Lily Pad lately! I'm on teams for Amy Wolff and PixelWorks, so I've started hanging out there a bit. The challenges there helped me get a lot of scrapping done this month. Here are some new pages...

Here's one of my favorite little cuties, Haley, from my trip to NYC with Amy, Amanda and Tara last fall. I used PixelWorks' new Kitschy Fall papers and Kitschy Stitchy elements. Credits

Another road trip page featuring the flowers at the Roosevelt garden and using Amy W's Time Flies. Credits


A two-pager for my friend Steph's baby shower. Credits

I did this one for a TLP journaling challenge to use the alphabet to make a list. I went through my iTunes to find some random songs, which also shows my crazy taste in music. Credits

I had some fun playing with PixelWork's Don't Rain on my Parade. Credits

I've been wanting to scrap these photos forever. Of course, my mom has just told me this was her College of Regents ceremony so I'll have to do some new title work! The moose is from PixelWorks' I am Canadian kit. Credits

I had to scrap this yummy recipe. I used PixelWork's Love Blooms Here and Big Stampy Alpha. Credits

And I scrapped these sweet photos of mom and D for TLP's template challenge. Credits

Thanks for reading my big long ramble! Hope you're having a great weekend. :)

St. Patrick's Day poster

On St. Patrick's Day this year, my friend Oscar and I took a ton of photos. We made sure to capture all of our friends but also some of the other regulars who hang out at the Wild Rover. There's an old poster at the bar - made a few year's ago for the 10th anniversary - featuring a bunch of people who used to hang out at the bar, including my brother, and who haven't set foot in the place for years. So, using all of our St. Pat's photos I got to work on a new poster. It took me forever - but I love how it turned out. I used some sketch templates to help me get all of these photos on here. There are about 80! I orded the 30 x 20 poster from Shutterfly and the print looked fabulous. Some of the photos are a little dark - because I didn't use a flash on them. But they were the only shots I had of some people. I got a frame for it and my mom helped me mat it. Oscar and I presented it to Sean last weekend at the Halfway to St. Patrick's party and everyone has been really excited to see themselves on here.

Remembering

I spent Saturday scrapbooking with my friends at the crop. After 9/11, I made a lot of bad decisions, spurred by the depression and stress I felt. And when I finally dug myself out of the hole a few years later, one of the things that changed my life was scrapping. I met lots of friends and found ways to express myself. So I thought it was a good way to spend the day this year.

On my way home, I drove down to Boulevard East and it was crowded with people looking out at the New York City skyline, many of them taking pictures. I wanted to take some myself and then my camera's battery died.

The Empire State Building shone red, white and blue. The weather was really beautiful - just like it was nine years ago on 9/11.

And this didn't come out so well, but you can see the beacons of light.

And here's a page I did a few days ago. I had found this photo in a photo album. My dad probably took it in the early 1980s. I often find photos like this in our albums - where the towers are just there in the background. It is still pretty hard to believe they are gone. And it's hard not to get sad when I see photos like this.

I can't believe summer is over. I'm usually not even a fan of summer, but this was a great one. I had to work on Labor Day, but still had a great weekend. I did some shopping, hung out with my nieces & nephew, saw Going the Distance (cute movie!) and had some yummy gelato. But I'm glad fall is coming. I just love the colors and cooler weather. The weather here has been so great. I was in Manhattan last night with an old friend and the night was just perfect.


Here are some new pages...

Amy Wolff's papers and elements in the Sept BOYC kit at Lily Pad were perfect for scrapping my road trip and stop at the Eveready Diner. Credits

Amy also has a new doggie kit called Ziggy! Doesn't Rocky look sad. He's been moody lately, seriously! Credits

And Michelle Godin has opened up shop at Lily Pad! I did this page with her BOYC items. I was inspired to create a page about stuff I like because of the red sneaker in her Teen Sceen Doodles and Things. Credits

My Easter album

I know it's a little late for Easter, but I finally finished my hybrid Easter album and then finally took some photos of it!

I started this project mostly because I found a super cute pack of papers from Sassafras! That gave me an excuse to finally try some hybrid scrapping. I always take a lot of photos at Easter - which is a big fun family holiday for us. So I thought an Easter book would be a good fit for the fun designs.

I started out by scrapping my pages on the computer using templates - mostly by Janet Phillips. I added journaling, a few embellies and solid or slightly patterned papers - stuff by Holly McCaig, Ellie Lash, Gina Miller and Baers Garten. Then I deconstructed those pages and elements onto 8x10 pages so I could print them. Of course, my printer is EVIL so I only got a few pages done at first. But a few months later, I really focused on designing the rest of the pages and then I ordered the prints from Scrapbook Pictures.

Once I had the prints, I cut them up, reassembled the pieces on the paper backgrounds, added my real elements and alphas and had fun getting messy! I did most of the work at a crop sitting at a table of gals who used to look at me funny because I digiscrap and who now were sitting there with their laptops. So here are the pages. I'm sorry for the lousy photos and bits of my couches LOL! I really love how the book turned out!

Taylor and Danielle's birthdays are a day a part and often fall right around Easter.

The boys.


Rocky having fun.

Some funtivities

Our Easter bonnet parade

Playing on the swingset

Counting eggs

The hunt
Some of the scenery