Summertime adventures

Man, I suck at blogging lately! And here's my lame excuse. I use AOL for email but switched over to gmail as my email reader. And since for my blogger account, I need to be logged in with my AOL account, not my gmail.

So things are kind of crazy at work. Gannett is announcing more layoffs soon. My paper is not going to have any until August, when they plan to announce some new restructuring. It's just a never-ending feeling of dread. I'm glad I have a job.

So let's see, what have I been up too. I'll try to add some photos later.

June 24: Taylor graduated from kindergarten. Sniff, sniff. Very cute and quick ceremony.
(Don't I look like my Dad? Scary! LOL!)

June 27: We had a nice birthday dinner for Grandma. Party of 16 of us at Outback! Kylie was singing for the whole place, and she's usually pretty shy. What a nut.
Grandma's 78 year's young!
Me and my cousin Melissa.

June 28: Got to hang out with my friend LeAnne who I miss so much at open mic night. My friend Dean jumped up to sing with the players a few time. So much fun!
(I wear this shirt too much!)

June 30: I got my new iPhone!!!! I absolutely love it. I have so much fun playing with apps and I love being able to Facebook or Twitter from anywhere. (Another reason I don't blog so much!)
We also took Taylor shopping for a graduation present at Target. She picked out a stuffed doggie that came in a little bag and had an outfit. And we took her to the new Sonic on Rt. 17. We've never been to one so it was kinda fun. Taylor got a big kick out of eating in the car and the servers on rollerskates.
July 3: I went to NYC with Randi so she could get her hair chopped off! It looks really cool. I also picked up a great anti-friz product at the salon and my hair has been looking fantastic! Also had my first bad experience with the phone when we put in the wrong address for Magnolia and ended up in Chinatown!
Doesn't she look good!

July 4: Had an awesome time - barbecues at my friend Lisa's and at Randi's friend Ralph's, where I also got to see one of my favorite teachers from high school. Then we watched the fireworks over the Hudson for the first time in years. Then more celebrating with the gang at the bar.
Nory's cute pups at Lisa's bbq...
Some fireworks...

July 5: Another bbq for my cousin Corinne's 15th birthday. Betty, Fernando and Lucia came along, too, and the girls had Betty running all over and playing with them. Later, Randi and I went to see Whatever Works.

And here's some scrapping I've done lately...
I love Jessica Bolton's new PooChi kit! Seems like it was made for Penny! Credits

This wasn't as hard to do as it may look, even though there are 73 photos on here! I used a great Heart Action from Studio Arisu. Credits

And here's one celebrating the Fourth for a Red, White and Blue play day at SBG. Credits

Scrapping catch up

Time to catch up on some layouts. I am having some gallery problems so I will post credits for some of these later.

Rocky just turned 6 so Randi had a party with cupcakes for him.

My nieces' dance recital. Love K's pose! Credits

Here's a cool exhibit we saw at the top of the Met. Credits

Here's my puppy on Memorial Day. Credits

I hadn't been in a scrapping mood, so I did this page about the nasty rain we've been having. Credits
From the Gomez concert. Love that my girls Tracy, Jess and Tania are all selling at Funky Playground now. Lots of their goodies on this one. Credits

Here's one I did a the crop this weekend for a Tangie Baxter Play Day with some of the fabulous photos from the 80s party.

And here's another one from my St. Louis trip with lots of the detail shots I took.

Ok, I don't think I've every done a page with this many photos of me! It was kind of creeping me out LOL!
And here's my April 365 page.

Vacation, St. Louis, the 80s and other craziness

Oh man, I have been forgetting to blog! When I last posted, it was during my week off and I'm already forgetting what else I did during the week. Sorry if these catch ups are boring, but I like to blog about for when I get around to scrapping. :)

The rest of my vacation...
Wednesday: Saw Up in 3D
Thursday: Went to Houlihans with Randi, then we went to Crumbs in Hoboken to get cupcakes. On our way home, we got rear ended. We were ok. So was the car. But we were shook up. So after that we went for some retail therapy and I bought some new sneakers and new cons and hit the sale and Bath and Body Works. Later that night, Randi came with me to karaoke.
Friday: Went with Randi and Kerry to crash the middle school teacher's party. Then we went by Tapas, and later I hung out at the Rover, of course.
Saturday: Taylor & Kylie's dance recital. Very cute but too long and boring!
Sunday: Went to see Night at the Museum and then went to open mic night.

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So after my crazy week celebrating my birthday, I had a very shocking return to reality on Monday. My best friend Betty's mom passed away. It was an accident and it has been a very hard time for Betty. I hope you will keep her and her family in her thoughts and prayers. It seems kind of strange to include this in this long post. The week was just very crazy - work was a mess and I was worrying about Betty and trying to keep lots of our friends updated.

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After a short week at work, I left for St. Louis on Friday to hang out with my friends Holly, Amanda, Amy and Carrie. I got to the airport extra early only to find out my flight was delayed an hour. I hate flying and waiting around didn't make me feel any better. But eventually, we were off and when I got there the gals greeted me with a "Jersey Girl" sign, which I thought was super cool. We stopped for dinner at a sports bar. Poor Amanda was upset the Red Wings lost. And back at Holly's house we were up late chit chatting.

On Saturday, we did some shopping. We went to a yarn store, Archivers (never been to one before - I was like a kid in a candy store) and then Claires for some more 80s accessories. We got to see Holly cool studio where we picked up her equipments for the Lolipop Smiles shoot. Then we stocked up on snacks and booze for the 80s party that night, set up for the party and hung around with Holly's mom and some of her family.

So we dressed up all crazy for the 80s party that night. Some of the outfits were so awesome. My best friend from college David drove in from Columbia to hang out with us at the 80s party and even posed for a Lolipop. I hadn't see him in about three years. And we rocked out to 80s music and American Idol karaoke. It was such a blast. But then the party wound down and we had to take Amy to the bus stop so she could go back to Milwaukee.

On Sunday, I broke Holly's shower! I pushed down the button thingie that makes the shower stop and it got jammed up. I felt horrible! Holly is pretty handy, though and made a few trips to Lowes to get it fixed. (I hope it's working now Holly!) Good thing they have a 2nd bathroom!

In the afternoon we went down to see the Arch and took lots of photos. I wasn't up for going to the top. Those little carts looked like Ferris wheel cars and I hate those. Not for me! We checked out the gift shops and museum and took lots more photos of all the stuff in there because we are goofy like that. Then Holly drove us around downtown. We had dinner and some drinks at the Hard Rock and then took a tour through Forest Park on the way back to Holly's.

Back at Holly's we watched True Blood's season premier and then Twilight. Good vampire night.
Then in the morning, my flight left first so the girls drove me to the airport in the pouring rain. But despite the yucky weather, my plane got back in good time.
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While I was away, I missed the service on Friday night for Betty's mom. I told her I would stay, but she wanted me to go have fun. I had called Mom when I landed in St. Louis to find out how things went and I thought it was so nice that Mom, Randi, Grandma and 2 of my mom's friends went to support Betty.

She also told me that they all met up at our house and while they were leaving for the service, Penny snuck out of the house! No one closed the doors or fence and Penny was around the corner before anyone knew it. Some of my sister's students were out there and helped her catch the rotten pug!

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This week, I've been on furlough. It's been another crummy rainy week, but I don't mind being off. I haven't had a headache in ages. I'm sleeping well. Next week will probably be a different story.

I mostly hung around with Randi, did some shopping at Target, saw The Hangover (freakin' hilarious), hung out at the Rover, did a little cleaning and bummed around the house. I've been hooked on reruns of the West Wing (I stopped watching around season 4 and the Alan Alda/Jimmy Smits episodes are awesome). The big highlights of my week included ordering an iPhone (woohoo!!!!!!!!!!!) and going to a crop Saturday. I haven't been scrapping lately, so it was good to have some mojo again.

Today, I went by my brother's for Father's Day. Kylie couldn't wait to show me her new big girl bed with her new Hannah Montana bedspread. And the girls put on their recital costumes to put on a show for us. Fun stuff.

I am going to be so bummed this week going back to work. I haven't worked a full week since before Memorial Day. It's going to be rough! I'll catch up on posting my layouts soon. Tonight I'm going to hang out with Penny (who I need to feed) and watch True Blood and enjoy the last bit of my time off.

Happy birthday to me!

Oh yeah! It's my birthday week! I am off from work and I have a great few days so far! I usually get bummed out around my b'day, but this year I feel really happy. I have done lots of fun things and spent time with some of my favorite people. :) I am blown away by all the messages, calls, texts, Facebook/Twitter posts I've gotten over the last few days. I feel loved!

Here's what I've been up to...

Saturday...
Went shopping with mom. Got some new summer clothes, pair of shoes, some stuff at Michaels.
Did some scrapping.
Then I went out to the Rover to celebrate. So many of my pals came by and they bought me lots of drinks. My friend Lisa brought a cake and the whole bar sang to me. My friend Harry helped me load up the jukebox so our songs played from about 10:30 to closing. It was a good investment! Then some of us hung out at Lisa's house after and had lots of fun.

Sunday...
Slept late.
Had a visit from Betty, Fernando and Lucia.
Went to dinner with my dad at Las Palmas.
Hung out with Penny.
Went to open mic night at the Rover for more celebrating. They have some really good performers and my friend Josh does some great stand up.

Monday...
Got tickets to Bruce Springsteen for the last show at Giants Stadium.
Went back to sleep.
Hung out with Penny and checked all the messages I got from friends.
Went to NYC with my friend from work Melissa. We had an awesome dinner at Empanada Mamas. They have empanadas with all kinds of fillings, some awesome plantain chips with guacamole and sangria.
Then we headed over to Terminal 5 to see Gomez! The show was so awesome. They are so much better live!
Headed back to the Rover to pay my tab and got to see some friends I missed over the weekend.

Tuesday...
Slept in even later.
Did some laundry and hung out with Penny.
Watched Tori and Dean.
Took a nap. Missed a big storm.
Went to dinner with Mom and Randi at Tapas. Some really good Spanish food.

And I have 5 more days off. I could do nothing those days. I have already had so much fun this week!

Here are some photos from the concert. I got the set list off the internet.

Three days isn't enough!

I hope you all had a nice Memorial Day weekend! I didn't have to work today and I had the house to myself, so it's been a pretty good one here! After a really long week at work, I really needed some R&R.

It feels like it was an eventful weekend. ...
- On Saturday morning, I thought Penny was lost! When I woke up, I couldn't find her panicked! She was out in the hallway and I couldn't figure out how she got out there. I thought maybe my brother or sister had stopped by and she sneaked out. Later I finally I remembered some Jehovah Witnesses had rung the bell and I answered the door in a fog. I didn't realize she followed me out there. Poor Penny! She didn't bark or cry at all out there.
- I did some shopping with my sis. Got some books, some shirts, and a new bag.
- Saw Terminator Salvation.
- Had hot dogs at Hirams, a classic Jersey place.
- Ran into some friends while I was out walking Penny on Saturday night. I ended up hanging out with them and watched a crappy bootleg of Star Trek.
- Did a lot of cleaning around the house. (Not easy to mop the floor with Penny and Rocky here.)
- Caught up on my Entertainment weeklies. Started reading Drums of Autumn.
- Watched The Reader and Last Change Harvey from Netflix.
- Did some scrapping.
- Took Penny to the Memorial Day parade where we met up with Betty and Lucia.

Penny was really good at the parade. And she looked so cute in her flag shirt. She only whined a few times and got along well with some other dogs. The parade in town is one of our more pathetic parades. You'd miss it if you blinked and there aren't many people who come out to see it. But we did see some people we know out on the avenue or in the parade. It was such a nice day anyway so it didn't matter that the parade was an hour late! By the end of the parade, Lucia finally caught on and was clapping as the last few cars drove by. She was honking and beeping along with them. So cute!

I'm excited about the next few weeks. I've got a lot of time off coming up and my trip to St. Louis. Still have the house to myself for a few more days, too.

So here are my pages from this weekend and last week...

I usually don't like staged photos, but I got Kylie to pose like this for me. Seemed only right to give her some butterflies to play with. Did this one for the Peta Boardman Play Day. She's new to SBG! Credits
The chaos that was T's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. CreditsI did this one for a Studio Ziska Play Day with lots of cute photos of my puppy. Credits

And here's another one of Penny's adventures for an Alana McCarthy Play Day. Credits

I have actually been avoiding my computer lately. Just not feeling very social lately. I have been absorbed in reading. I finished Dragonfly in Amber, Dead and Gone and Voyager in the last week. I am behind in my Tivo viewing with all the season finales this week. Lost and Grey's Anatomy made me teary. Even the Office did. Between books and TV, I've been forgetting to check in at Facebook or Twitter and I'm behind on my emails.

I saw Star Trek today and that was such a kick ass movie. I already want to see it again! I loved Zac Quinto as Spock.

Yesterday, I went to a crop and shocked some of the ladies when I dragged in my crop bag. LOL! I brought my paper supplies to work on my hybrid album. I got them all done pretty quickly too because I had them all mapped out on the computer. I used sketches for the most part to design the pages and then printed out the pieces. And I saved the templates so that I can throw together quick digi versions for my family. I just out the pieces, glued them onto the papers and added a few embellies! Super easy!

I also got a lot of digi stuff done, too. Here are a few plus some things I did during the week. I'll link up the credits after I post them in the galleries.

The girls playing on Mother's Day. I did this one for a Studio Mystique Play Day.

The girls also did some chalk drawings. I think Taylor's Cinderella was pretty good!

The girls at the NSD crop.

Caught up on my March 365 photos.

Some photos of Penny on her birthday. I used this super cute kit my friend Tania designed for the So You Think You Can Design contest.

Looking forward to...

Since I'm such a cranky pants lately, I thought I'd list some things I'm excited about!
- The last few episodes of Lost.
- Going to see Gomez on my birthday.
- Penny's birthday next week.
- Going to St. Louis in June to hang out with my pals Holly, Amy, Amanda and Carrie and see an awesome 80s show.
- Shopping for an outfit for the 80s show.
- The new Sookie Stackhouse book. (Preorder shipped yesterday!)
- Two weeks off in June (even if one of them is unpaid).
- Cropping with my friends in a few weeks for the 2nd time in May - and hopefully getting my stuff together so I can work on hybrid stuff.

NSD wrap up and other stuff

So I hope you had a nice NSD! I gave in and did a little shopping at Scrap Artist and Sweet Shoppe. I almost bought stuff at a few other places, but shut down the browser before I could do any more damage!

I spent most of the day at at crop with Melissa, Patti, Tina and some of our cropping friends in honor of National Scrapbook Day. And it was definitely one of the most fun crops I've been to even though it wasn't a full day. The ladies running it had lots of make and takes and games planned for us. There was a tiara you got to wear when you finished a page. And I just love getting crafty and learning new things. I really enjoyed stamping and playing with paper. You should check out Elisabeth's blog and all the crafty goodies she has on there!

After the crop, I had the worst case of allergies. The sniffles and the rainy weather have knocked me out this week. I kind of want to stay in bed and keep reading Dragonfly in Amber. (I am hooked on these Outlander books!)

Still don't know what I'm going to get/make Mom for Mother's Day. I think Penny should buy me a present! It was last year on Mother's Day that we found her! I'm making May 11 her birthday since we don't know when it really is.

I only got two digi pages at the crop done because I was too busy gabbing and doing make and takes. Here are some that I got done and other from last week.One good thing about babysitting - makes a good layout! Taylor and I spent some time blowing bubbles and I turned that into this page for a Doris Castle play day. Credits

Here are some pics of Penny exhausted from the heat during the heatwave we had a few weekends ago. Used the new SBG collab, Impressions of Mother Earth. Credits
Last week was Kylie's turn - poor thing was sick. But at least she took naps, which makes Aunt Robin very happy! She can spell her name now - "with a dot." Credits
This was for a studio start about things you do to relax. Credits
This one was Birgit Kerr play day. I'm sad that all these flowers are gone already. Sigh! Credits
Here's one using Holly's new Girlfriends kit at 2 peas. Credits
And I made this ATC for Tangie's altered obsession challenge at SBG. I am obsessed with cute little birds and Twitter and had this idea! Credits

You Are Not Alone

While you're out scrapping on NSD, I hope you'll check out this collab created for one of my friends from the Crew, Anna Kovara, who was diagnosed with breast cancer. You can purchase it at Scrapbook-Bytes or Shabby Pickle.

{Inter}National Scrapbooking Day!

Stock up at Scrapbook Graphics for NSD! And if you're not sure how to stay sane with all the sales on NSD, read this article I wrote! :)

Friendship

The friends I've met through scrapping mean the world to me. I've been making some plans for this summer to hang out with some pals. So I had a lot of fun writing the story for the latest edition of the Daily Scrapper, which focuses on friendship.

Be sure to check out the interview with Maya and the free collab by the Scrapbook Graphics designers! Part 1 is available through April 30 and then the second part will be up.

Need some new tunes...

I was pretty upset when 92.3 changed formats yet again and dumped KRock for some crappy pop stuff. Because we don't have enough of those stations in the New York area already. Melissa G turned me on to 101.9 and it's now my new favorite station. Plays classic rock, new stuff and stuff I love that I usually don't hear on the radio - like Gomez and Ryan Adams. Having some new stuff to listen to had me in the mood to download some stuff from iTunes today. I just saw Adventureland this weekend (Sweet movie! Kristin Stewart needs to stop it with the hair.) And I need that cool 80s music soundtrack.

So while I'm waiting for my new tunes to download I thought I'd catch up on my pages here.
Here's one I did for this week's Studio Start about places you'd like to travel. Credits
Kim Gabriel, aka the Raven, left a comment on my Penny's house page (see my last layout post) and asked if Penny was coming to see her. So that inspired this page! Credits
This is my Auntie Annie - did this for a Berna Datema play day. Credits
Shabby Miss Jenn is a guest at SBG this month. This kit is really lovely. This is my grandma on Easter. Credits
I was in a funk on Friday - a Bella kind of mood - so I scrapped a bit to snap myself out of it with Flergs' Into the Twilight kit. Credits
And I was bored on Saturday so I decided to get crafty! This is my first hybrid layout! I printed out the photo, ticket, journaling and word cloud, cut them out and stuck them on the paper along with the little flowers! I like how it turned out - even if my cutting still isn't that good! Credits

The colors for a Studio Start challenge matched T's dress perfectly! Credits