Happy Girl!

Wow, that place is so amazing, the rooms, the food, the ambiance.

Thank you Mary for going on mini-vacations with me, Thank you Carolyn at Croppin'Away retreats for having these fabulous crops!!

On Friday we are on our own for dinner so we ate at the nice restaurant there, 26, and I tried the saki salmon sushi with Mary, it was delicious!! We also ate lobster risotto, steak, and creme brulee, nice!!! Saturday we went to the spa and had manicures and pedicures, Love those!

Oh, and lets not forget the bottles of champagne and riesling we consummed!! We did get some scrapbooking in, I worked on a baseball trip scrapbook and Mary worked on her mothers album of their trip to Italy.

What a grand time, I am ready to go back, if Carolyn does not have a Newport Beach crop in March we are going back to LaQuinta for my birthday instead!

Here we are by the waterfall, with scrapbook etc magazine, we are sending this to the magazine because they publish pictures of their mag on vacations!

Ahh, this is the life, I love the desert enviroment, I am so at home and relaxed when I am in my element!

Here I am at my own 6 foot table to scrap on, the retreat had 150 scrapbookers this year!! We cropped from morning till about 11:00pm each day!

Hey Chauncey is still there, well, with a 14,000.00 dollar price tag, I think he will be there a long time!! I just love him! There is a small 7 inch version for 1400.00 dollars but I am happy with a photo every year. See you next time Chauncey!!

Over and out!

I am leaving my computer home so I can have hours and hours of un-interrupted scrapbooking time!! I will post on monday how my weekend went!! I put some new items in my etsy store to keep you busy.....ok, try not to have too much fun without me!!

I am leaving Las Vegas, I miss you already!

Heaven awaits!!

This is La Quinta Spa and resort...

Hi,
I have been busy getting ready for my trip, I can't wait!! Packing and planning...lots to work on!
Mary will pick me up friday at the OC airport and then I will get a grand tour of her and Chris's dream home they just purchased in modjeska canyon in calif...I saw some pictures but I will get to walk around in it!!
Remember to visit www.croppinaway.com or www.laquintaresort.com to schedule your own fabulous vacations!!!

Mamma-mia!!

Last night, Pat K, Pat S, Ronna and I went to see Mamma-Mia the show on stage at the Mandalay Bay. We had dinner at Noodle Shop, good food but too many knats were flying around, I am going to complain about that! I recommend the schezwan eggplant and the pad thai noodles!
The show was fun and the music was very entertaining and light, this show will be closing so go see it soon if you are in town!

Ok...Stop the bus!

I just looked at the calendar and noticed the first day of autumn is on monday.....what the blazes is going on here...summmer just started and I am not done swimming in my pool!!
Although, me and Ethan spent 2 hours swimming yesterday. The water is perfect and the sun was not too hot. And Toby even joined us, he is very calm in the water but he did not want to stay long.
Oh I dread putting sweaters back on after 4 months of tank tops and don't even mention socks and shoes to me....ugh, I miss my sandals already...oh the cruel harsh winter is almost upon us...I am off to pout in the corner today, well, actually I am going to the desert newcomer luncheon today, nowhere special just Tony Roma's.

Travis Carl is Blogging!

I got my son up and running on a blog! Awesome! I hope he keeps up on it! I put a few things on it for him to get him going, check it out...

Destruction King

Put the pedal to the metal!

Go check out www.infernomotorsports.blogspot.com and see how my hubby did racing his late model after 18 years out of a race car!!! He had a blast! He is still in one piece and I am thankful for that!

Also Travis won a Trailer race over at Irwindale, CA this weekend as well, he has more fun with those derbies!!! He plowed into a boat someone was towing, gosh, that has to be one way to take out your road rage! They hook on a boat or trailer or camper (Travis had a pop-up camper he named Pop-Tart) and then they drive around and crash into each other until only one is left running!! I hope to have photos soon!

I am on the go all week with dentist, desert newcomer luncheon, mamma mia show...so stay tuned for more fun in the hot desert sun!!!

Class!

Whew, this was a two day class...
First day: we made the peace sign out of silver art clay, it was two pieces joined, fired, cleaned and polished.
Second day: we filled the wells with paint and little itty bitty pieces of abalone we had to cut up and stick in the paint, not an easy task...then we let that dry and filled it with resin and put it under a special light to cure it.
I think this is my best silver work so far!! It is pretty clean the spots you see are reflections in the silver of me taking the photo...the abalone looks much better in person, it is very hard to get the silver art clay pieces to look good on camera!

You get the good and the bad....

Blogging can't be all fun, in life we get good news and we get bad news...

My grandma passed away yesterday...she was a person I took after and most wanted to be like, she liked to laugh and goof off but she was not a loud person, reserved, never had the best luck in life, she could have had a great life had she chose to be with her boyfriend, Dante, they dated for over 25 years that I know of...but she chose to take of her daughter (my mom) and her kids (me and my sisters and the grandkids that followed)....she sacrificed everything she had for us...

Thank you Ginia and enjoy your peace in heaven, you deserve it!!

Me and Ginia about 1969

Digital fun!

Oh wow, had fun making that header....I have to thank www.shabbyprincess.com for their free downloads of scrapbook kits, if you are into digital scrapbooking they have great free kits and amazing kits you can buy for a small amount!
I am using scrapbook papers and elements to make my headers in photoshop.
I will still scrapbook the old fashioned way, I love feeling the paper and the whole 3 dimensional feel of real scrapbooking but Hey, this digital scrapbook stuff is great for blogging!!
I will probably change my header once a month to reflect the seasons and holidays.

Photoshop beginner!

I have finally taken some time to work in Photoshop. I went online and downloaded some free digital scrapbooking graphics, lots of places supply free stuff or you can buy kits for a few dollars. I saved them, opened photoshop and played with them. I watched a digital scrapbooking video on youtube to get me going on the basics, just search digital scrapbooking on youtube.
So I made my first blog header, I know kinda simple and primitive but it ain't easy!
I will play and play when I can find some more time and I hope to get better and better so I can have real intricate and fun headers!
Stay tuned!!

Motivational Posters

You see them everywhere and now people make their own and put funny sayings, they use their own personal pictures, some are outrageous...some are just basic....
Ok, I am becoming obsessed with these, there are some really fun ones out there, just do a search for motivational posters and search images, hilarious, and you can make your own at http://www.bighugelabs.com/

So I did....

Weekend again!

Geez, time flies around here...
had lots to do this week, dentist, art group meeting at the Yard House, that place is too loud to have a meeting in!
Will try to get some pictures up later of some projects I have been working on...

Labor day...

Nothing going on, charlie and I went out last night and played a little in the casino, haven't done that in a while, no big wins but we got to go out and relax!
Back to work today (no, we don't take holidays off here), and I am getting ready for my big scrapbook trip to Palm Springs again at the end of the month...LaQuinta spa and resort, I am going with Mary, and www.croppinaway.com That place is amazing, I recommend it for anyone who needs a nice break from life!