October Vacation

I had some time off from work so I decided to do a weeklong Project 9 and take photos every day. Here's how my week went!

SATURDAY:

I got to hang out with Melissa and some of the other girls at our monthly crop. I brought along my scanner to scan some photos of Derek - but didn't scrap any of them! Did get a bunch of pages done though.

SUNDAY:
Vez hosted a Lia Sophia jewelery party and I treated myself to a few necklaces and a pair of earings. I had fun hanging out with this little guy - even if he's a Cowboys fan and even though he threw up on me! Gross! Some of the other ladies brought their little babies - all boys - and Derek was as big or bigger than all of them even though he's much younger. He's about 6 months now.

MONDAY:
Randi and I went into NYC and had an early dinner at Schnipper's. This place has great burgers and shakes - I had the salted caramel shake. We shared some sloppy joe fries and mac and cheese.

Then to work some of that off we walked down to Chelsea Market, which looked pretty much just like it did last fall when I went there with Tara, Amy, Amanda, Haley & Chris.

A nice little posh bakery had these cute cookies. The prices were crazy and the place smelled like someone spilled bleach all over the place. Make it pretty easy to resist sweets when a place stinks!

Next door was this super cute brownie shop called Fat Witch. They make a Wicked-inspired brownie that was just awesome. Mint chocolate chips and green glittery sugar on top. Yum!

TUESDAY:

Tuesday was Randi's 30th birthday! So we celebrated with a bunch of friends at Tapas.


WEDNESDAY:
On Wednesday, I was a bum. But I unpacked the new EHD I got the day before! It's got 2TB and cost just $100 at Best Buy. My computer has been groaning since it's running out of memory and the two other EHDs I have are running out of space so it was time for something more roomy!

THURSDAY:

On Thursday, Randi and I went to New Brunswick to see Craig Ferguson!!!

We had dinner at Stuff Yer Face - a New Brunswick institution where the menu is mostly bolis. It was featured on Man vs. Food! And we stopped at the bookstore and a few other shops to check out the Rutgers gear. Since RU has gotten better at football, the stuff has gotten so much cooler! We both got new t-shirts.

Then it was off to see one of my favorite comedians. I really love his show and book so it was awesome to see Craig live. He's even crazier in person. We had pretty good seats up in the balcony.

FRIDAY:
Friday was another lazy day. I worked on some crafty stuff. I think I watched some movies. I don't even remember!

SATURDAY:

I went to see my nieces play soccer. You can really see how different the girls are on the field. T was happy doing cartwheels on the sidelines, while Kylie looked like Rambo and played tough. She had scored 7 goals the week before!







Then I finished up a little project! I love these little bears. They are another American Girl project.

SUNDAY:
Sunday was another lazy day. I forgot all about taking photos until I was at the Rover for open mic and I snapped this one.

Happy haunting

I am really looking forward to Halloween this weekend! I've got my costume mostly ready for the party this weekend at the Rover and I've been driving some people crazy with the secret! I need to get myself to the store today or tomorrow to find a magnifying glass. Since Halloween is on Sunday, I hope I get to see my nieces and nephew dressed up. Taylor is going to be a vampire cheerleader, Kylie is going to be Super Mario and Derek is following in the family tradition and being Tigger. Penny's going to be a witch.

I tried carving pumpkins a few weeks ago for the first time and made a big old mess, but I think they turned out cute. The big one is long gone, but I put the little one outside the house since it's still in good shape.


And I'm going to try to check out some of the fun this weekend at The Lily Pad.



Now if I can just avoid candy, this is going to be a great weekend!

My new hereos

I think it's pretty sad that even today in 2010 there aren't many women action heroes in movies. I can't remember seeing many movies lately in which the women really kicked ass other than Kill Bill or Charlies Angels. Maybe in Harry Potter (how about that Mrs. Weasley in the last book!), Buffy the Vampire Slayer or the Incredibles. Wonder Women or Xena? Even the women in Heroes on TV or the X Men movies were pretty wussy.

So this week, I saw two movies with the most bad ass chicks I've seen.

Last night I watched Kick Ass from Netflix and while it's disturbing to see a little girl curse and kill people, Hit Girl was pretty freakin' cool! She is tougher than any of the guys and her purple costume is awesome. Don't let the kids watch this one!

And I also saw Reds, which is probably one of my favorite movies I've seen all year. I'm not even usually a big fan of action movies, but this one had such a great cast and it's so funny. And Helen Mirren is awesome!!! I mean, this is the same lady who won an Oscar for playing the queen of England. She is pretty great with a machine gun! Don't mess with her.

If you can think of any kick ass women for my list let me know!

Jen Caputo's retirement sale

I don't know how I'm going to scrap without Jen! I've been a fan of hers since she started designing and I've been lucky to meet here a few times in Chicago. She's having a huge sale at her SBG studio so go stock up!!!

Helping Hands

These last few weeks have been sad for several people I know. I'm very sad for their losses and have been thinking about them all. One of them is Mary, who some of you may know is Marnel in the digiscrapping community. She lost her beautiful daughter, Charlie. My heart just breaks for her. I was so happy to see that designers in the digi community have put together this kit, Helping Hands - available at Sweet Shoppe, in Charlie's memory. The kit will help Mary and her family cover expenses.

Happy birthday John!

Today would have been John Lennon's 70th birthday. Isn't that crazy? I can't picture him getting older - like Paul and Ringo. My iTunes is acting up today and I really want to listen to some Beatles. So I've been looking up songs on YouTube and going through some of my photos and thinking about my favorite band of all time. I thought I'd share some of my Beatles' stories and stuff.

A few years ago, I was in New York City on this day. I had gone to the Met with some friends from work. We were cutting across the park to go back to the westside and I didn't realize it was John's birthday until we reached Strawberry Field. There was a big gathering of fans singing John's songs and Beatles songs. It was a gorgeous day, just like today. If you ever happen to be in NYC on the day of John's birth or death, it's worth a visit. I just find it amazing to see people of all ages gathered together because of the love of the music and man behind it.

The little area of the park is right across from the Dakota building, where John lived.

On my birthday a few years ago, my friend took me to see Strawberry Field at BB King's. It was an awesome show. The band dressed up like the Beatles and did some costume changes to reflect the music.
Now, since my iTunes isn't working, I could just go upstairs and grab one of my CDs. These are all Beatles - some bootlegs, some solo stuff. Of course, I could also just grab my ipod or my phone for some songs, too, but I'm lazy!

This was a photo from my old apartment. I had a china closet and the bottom shelf was dedicated to my Beatles memorabilia. This is why I don't go on Ebay anymore!

Did you know my dog's full name is Penny Lane?

I have a lot of my mom's old 45s - she didn't have too many Beatles records, but she did have Nowhere Man and Revolution.

And I love these little guys. It's a Christmas ornament - but I keep them on my dresser.

So who's your favorite Beatle and what's your favorite song - from the band or solo years. My favorite Beatle is actually Paul, followed by George, but I still love the other guys a lot, too!
And I don't have a favorite song. My favorite always depends on my mood. When I'm sad, I love Across the Universe. When I'm happy, I like She Loves You or Good Day Sunshine. Lately, I've been humming Happiness is a Warm Gun a lot. My favorite changes all the time!

Here's one that's been on my mind today.


Oh, and if you're reading this today - go check out the logo on Google!

Derek's baptism and Saturday night crafts

Derek's baptism was last weekend and the ceremony was a bit weird. The other family that was supposed to be there didn't show up. The parents and godparents (and big sisters) were seated in the front row where the priest mumbled through the ceremony. He had us get up a few times for different things. Would have been easier - and everyone could have watched - if we stood up in front or something. And at the end, the priest just said, "Ok, we're done." At least Derek was good - he was smiling and laughing through the whole thing - even when he had water poured over his head.

When we have big events in my family and I have to take part in them, I end up with no or lousy photos. My sister took a bunch, but she didn't know how to adjust the camera for the church lighting so I didn't get too many nice shots.



Aren't my nieces looking so big!!!

And here's the boy of honor - knocked out in his stroller at the lunch after the ceremony. The lunch was in a restaurant and we took up three tables set up in a line. It was hard to talk to anyone on the other side of the room - so my sister and I texted our cousins on the other side of the room to gossip. It was a weird day. Plus I wore a dress, which makes it even weirder!

Today, I ran some errands and hung out with the doggies. I used treats to get them to pose for me.

Here's my handsome buddy Rocky.

And this photo cracked me up because Rocky had lost interest and was creeping around in my mom's flower bed.

Penny was begging for more treats. They were on the table. She always looks so super cute when she's being rotten!

Tonight I wanted to finish up some frames that I making for my friends who are expecting babies. Check out my craft space - a corner of our dining room table. The rest of the table is my mom's mess!

Here's what the dogs were doing while I worked...


And here are the finished frames. I really like the purple one, which is for my friend Steph who's having a girl. The one with the star is going to my friend Zinnia, who's having a boy. And I'm not sure who's getting the sheep.