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California: Part 2

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We arrived home safe and sound last night. Since I am not a fan of flying I am always grateful for smooth flights which we had both ways this time. It was over 80° today, warmer than any of our days in California, but there is no green yet.

Sarah asked if she could have her birthday gift early this year. She and Adam rent a lovely little house in Livermore. They have a huge paved patio and a remodeled room in the garage, but very little actual yard. She really wanted her own garden. Since Tracy and Matt are both expert gardeners, it seemed like perfect timing. (I hope it’s all doing well in August on her real birthday!) She found a lovely nursery nearby and picked out a combination of vegetables and flowers for her containers. She also found a great book called Grow Great Grub which I have ordered from Amazon. We’re still waiting to hear, but are hoping to get a plot in our Community Garden this year.

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The Alden Nursery. The people here were very knowledgeable and helpful.

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Sadie was thrilled to be able to go on an outing!

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Just behind Sarah’s house is a lovely path along a creek. Matt and I took Sadie for a walk one afternoon. The path is paved on one side of the creek, and appears to go for many miles.

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Sadie was a very happy lady.

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We spent a lot of time just hanging out, playing games, doing crosswords, and reading. It was so good to just be with family.

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Adam had just gotten this new game, Corn Hole. The guys really enjoyed it.

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We are all big fans of Sadie, but Matt is especially fond of her. She slept on the couch with him every night.

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 BananaGrams:  lots of fun, but it could be pretty frustrating as well.

In addition to his job as pastor for youth and young adults at a Methodist church, Adam also works as a social media person for the Wente Vineyards in Livermore. He twitters for them and keeps them active on the social media sites. Tracy and Matt were the lucky recipients of a round of golf at the Wente golf course. They had a beautiful day for it.

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We’ve only been to California in the summer before this trip. The hills are always golden by then. They are a beautiful green in the spring.

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I still have photos to edit from the last few days of the trip. Today just flew by with unpacking, grocery shopping, organizing, and ironing. I really thought I’d get a chance to play with some new scrapbooking & stamping goodies I brought back with me. Maybe tomorrow.

California: Part 1

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It’s hard to believe, but we’ve been in California for a week now. I’ve deliberately taken time off from browsing blogs and posting while we’ve been here. This is a recap of the first part of our trip (lots of photos). We left Rochester very early (a 6 am flight, meaning we were out of the house around 4:30). Luckily we had great flying weather. Our layover was at JFK and we had a great view of Manhattan as we left.

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Our flight arrived in San Francisco an hour EARLY! Tracy and Matt kindly waited for me as I ran into the Scrapbook Expo in Pleasanton to meet Howard and Laura of Scrap-Mart. They were just as wonderful in person as they are through the internet, and I got a short look at the fabulous booth they maintain at the scrapbook shows. I also got a demo of the new eclipse electric cutting machine from Sizzix that will soon be released. It’s quite impressive!

We arrived at Sarah and Adam’s around 3:00. Early the next morning we headed out for Disneyland, making a stop at the Getty Center on our way. The Getty Center is truly amazing, and we didn’t begin to see all of the art and exhibits. The architecture and gardens alone are worth the trip, but we also enjoyed the photography exhibits and the small, but lovely, collection of Impressionist art.

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It was time for dinner by the time we finished at The Getty Center so we drove up to Malibu and found Dukes. We had an window table, a delightful waitress, and the food was great.

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We spent the next two days at Disneyland and California Adventure. All five of us had a great time, proving that you don’t have to be a kid to enjoy Disney! I’m not a big fan of amusement-type rides, but the kids actually got me on Space Mountain which I have to say was my favorite ride of all. I did skip the big roller coasters, the very tall Ferris Wheel, and the Tower of Terror in California Adventure, though.

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The entrance to Disneyland. Everything about Disney is clean and well-maintained. The flower gardens everywhere were beautiful.

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 Believe it or not, this is NOT the Tower of Terror, but it sure would be for me! The rest of them thought it was just fine.

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There were plenty of rides that were not at all scary, but delightful even for adults.

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The family portrait in front of Cinderella’s castle.

The first day I was quite disappointed as we s
aw no Disney characters. When we were at Disney World many years ago, Mickey, Minnie, and friends were everywhere. Finally on Tuesday, we got to see quite a few of them, but only Adam (who had to leave early to get home for a meeting) got his photo taken with one.

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Sarah, Tracy, Matt, and I stayed on in California Adventure until lunchtime. We had a lovely lunch in Disney Town, and then drove over to the coast. It probably wasn’t our best idea as it added several hours to the trip home. We did have a great dinner in Morro Bay and were there for the sunset.

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And my two great kids. It’s been so nice to have everyone together. They are great travelers, make us laugh a lot, and are truly flexible and easy-going. It’s been a great trip so far. More to come . . .

Happy Birthday, Tracy!

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all of you, and Happy Birthday to Tracy! Here’s his card:

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New Papertrey stamp, “Luck of the Irish,” and Hero Arts sentiment. Jillibean patterned paper and New Leaf (PTI) cardstock and black twill (PTI). The inside sentiment says, “You’re my pot of gold.” Truly.

So here’s my Weekly Gratitude a few days early:

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Weekly Gratitude

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I’m slowly catching up after several very busy days. Here’s last week’s Weekly Gratitude page.

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The photo was taken Saturday when we were in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario with our good friends, Karen and Mike. It was our annual spring trip to pick up tickets for the Shaw Festival in October.

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We’ll be seeing The Ideal Wife by Oscar Wilde this year. Some years we see two plays, but this year there was only one that interested all four of us on the weekend we’ll be there.

We had a fabulous lunch at the Irish Harp . . . bangers and champ for three of us while Tracy ordered his favorite, Shepard’s Pie.

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We always visit our favorite wineries:  Strewn for their Semi-dry Reisling, Jackson-Trigg for Shiraz, and Vineland for Baco Noir. Karen took our photo next to the ice wine barrel outside the Jackson-Trigg Winery.

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Although it was still quite chilly in the wind, it was warm enough that neither Tracy or Mike wore their jackets most of the day.

We also made a stop in Port Dalhousie to enjoy the beautiful day and the numerous waterfowl in the harbor. There were lots of ducks, gulls, geese, and swans gathered by the walkway where folks were feeding them.

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We finished our day at The Pie Plate in Virgil, but I forgot to take a photo. We almost always bring home a pie, (this time it was cherry which I froze for our book group this Friday), but Saturday we all enjoyed dessert and coffee before we headed home. Crossing the border was amazing. The average wait is usually about 20 minutes, but we’ve waited as long as an hour and a half. Saturday there was NO ONE in front of us, and we breezed right through thanks to one of the friendliest border agents ever.

Waiting for Spring

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We’re waiting, but the weather is not cooperating. We’ve had about 8-9 more inches of snow since I took these photos yesterday morning.

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Fortunately we’ve not lost power, and the snow hasn’t prevented me from getting to a concert at the Rochester Philharmonic last night, or to a Church Leadership Conference this morning. Tracy used the snow blower three times yesterday, and again this morning.

The Friday challenge on my photo board this week was “vintage.” I used an antique cup that belonged to my great-aunts and put it on a beautiful hand-embroidered tablecloth that was made as a wedding gift to my parents. I used it as an opportunity to work on the fourth Develop on Friday lesson on changing your angle. Here are my two favorites.

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I’m way behind in reading blogs, so I know there’s new Develop on Friday lesson ready to try this week. I’ve just about finished all the lessons for Jessica Spragues’s Wacom Tablet course. I didn’t do the layouts since I’m not interested in doing that kind of total digital layout, but I will certainly use many of the techniques she demonstrated. One of the lessons was on photo editing a portrait, and the results were incredible. I have to say her courses provide a lot of “bang for the buck!” My goal was to learn to use my pen and tablet, and I’ve been using them exclusively since the first week of class.

Happy Mail

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In January, I was the lucky winner on the Papercrafts blog of two Anna Griffin binders for storing clear stamps. They have worked out wonderfully.

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Shortly thereafter, I won a set of Jillibean embellishments on Bean Talk. Jill emailed me a couple of weeks later and apologized for not getting it out right away, but said she was waiting for some more samples to arrive. Well, the package arrived today, and she absolutely stuffed it with new Jillibean products. I can’t wait to get busy creating with them.

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There are three sets of clear stamps, four sets of Journaling Sprouts, five cards of ribbons and twine, canvas flowers, tags, and buttons. Oh, my!

And then, my Papertrey Ink order arrived today as well. I hope I can find some extended creating time in the next few days!

Weekend Projects

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First of all, the Weekly Gratitude pages for the last two weeks. I’m not sure why last week’s never got posted.

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And this week’s–I used just the journaling part of the Weekly Gratitude template so I could put it on the back of last week’s page. I’m liking how flexible this album is turning out to be.

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Now for my favorites from this week’s Project 365. Despite my “note to self,” once again I didn’t take as many photos as I’d wished. I’m taking “Moving into Manual” at Big Picture Scrapbooking now. There are just two assignments this week, both of which I’ve done previously to help you evaluate the light in different settings and to see the effect of changing the ISO in a setting with the same lighting. I’ll do both again because every time I work with the photographic triangle of shutter speed, aperture, and ISO I learn a little more. 

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1. I finished two books this week. Both were memoirs, one of my favorite genres. They couldn’t have been more different, and I really enjoyed reading both of them. 2. A vintage-style phone at Donut Delite. 3. Ice Dancing during the 2010 Olympics. 4. Shrimp and vegetable chowder from a new Crock Pot cookbook.        5. The beautiful sky taken from inside my car as I drove down the street one night. It’s hard to see in the collage but there’s a sliver of a moon just above a tree in the middle of the photograph. Taken with my point and shoot through the windshield. I’m always amazed that this works.

And last, but not least, two scrapbook layouts, neither of which photographed straight. Sigh.

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 I did get my hot cross buns, and they were delicious!

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Tracy and I spent the afternoon on Friday with his best friend and his wife in the Finger Lakes. We had a wonderful lunch in Hammondsport, and visited three of our favorite wineries.

I’m finally getting the hang of the hybrid layout. The first uses a digital template from Cathy Z. I used only four of the layers before printing it out. The second uses Katie Pertiet’s clustered frames. I’ve seen Paula Gilarde use these over and over on her blog and decided to give it a try myself.

Cards

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It’s been a busy, but fun-filled couple of days. Thursday I spent the afternoon with two friends crafting. Yesterday Tracy and I went to the Fingerlakes region with two good friends for lunch and a visit to a couple of favorite wineries. I’m hoping to scrap a few photos from the trip this afternoon. I’ve also been watching a lot of television thanks to the Olympics. Because it’s hard to me to just watch TV, I’ve been making some cards as I watch.

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Cardstock (Rustic Cream & Ripe Avocado-PTI), stamps (Memory Box “Vintage Notes” & Cavallini “Birds & Nests”), Antique Linen distress ink, Prisma colored pencils, Amuse Creative Candy, ribbon from stash

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Cardstock from stash, Midori ribbon, “In Bloom” stamp (PTI), Copic markers, Hero Arts pearls, Bitty Dots patterned paper (PTI), Nestabilities scalloped circle

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Raspberry Fizz cardstock (PTI), Patterned papers ( Soup Staples-Jillibean), gems (Michaels), AC Thickers fabric alpha

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Pure Poppy & Vintage Cream cardstock (PTI), Early Bird patterned papers (Cosmo Cricket), sentiment from “In Bloom” (PTI), Amuse Creative Candy, rickrack from stash

And a card I made earlier for the Scrap-Mart Design team with the new Impressability plate and Spellbinders die.

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Sentiment “Everday Button Bits” (PTI), Core’dinations cardstock (embossed and sanded), Nestabilities oval and scalloped ovals, ribbon from stash.

And last, but not least, a long overdue photo for Rhona who wanted to see the quilt that hangs over our fireplace. I bought it over 15 years ago in Pennsylvania when we were visiting Amish country.

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Lent

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I grew up as a Presbyterian (and still am), but I don’t recall any traditions from my family involving Lent. When I got older, many of my Catholic friends gave up something for Lent. I tried it a few times, but it didn’t seem to hold any spiritual or religious significance to me. In 1999, Sarah was attending Boston University, and we were lucky enough to hear Peter Gomes preach at Harvard Chapel on several occasions, once during Lent. Gomes suggested (and I have since heard other preachers suggest the same), that instead of giving up for Lent, that you take on something on.

I picked up his pamphlet “How to Keep a Good Lent,” and have used it every year since. He suggests you organize your observance of Lent (if you do, in fact, observe Lent) around three S’s:  Silence, Study, and Service. His plan is very doable. Although I find this the most difficult of the three, Gomes proposes that you “secure fifteen minutes of absolute silence during at least one day each week in Lent.” One day a week I can do, and I usually try for two or three. Study is easier for me, and I typically choose a book I want to read during Lent. Again Gomes suggests reading or studying just one day a week for fifteen minutes. I definitely spend more that fifteen minutes a week on this, and my goal is to finish a book. This year I’ve chosen Barbara Brown Taylor’s An Altar in the World. 

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I’ve previously read her book Leaving Church as well as a book of her sermons. She writes beautifully and always raises important questions for me about my faith. In addition, I’ll try to get to some of the Thursday Lenten Sermon discussions at my church. I went to most of them last year. The discussions were lively and thoughtful. This year our church is focusing on a theme of “water” during Lent, so each of the sermons chosen for discussion incorporates that theme. We’re also doing an all-church read of “A River Runs Through It.” I have a library copy on my shelf to read.

Gomes’ third “S” is Service. He lists a series of questions to answer: “Where can you do some good? Who needs your help? What might you do if, for instance, you have spare change? Is there some person or place waiting for your particular skills and graces? Thinking soberly and creatively about these things for fifteen minutes each week is time well spent, and very well spent indeed if it leads you to action.” I try to add to my volunteer commitments during Lent. In the past, I’ve taken on some that remained longer term, but this year I’m looking to do some shorter term projects. One that I’ve already started is to devote some time each Saturday helping to pack boxes at church for storage during a major renovation project that begins in March.

And one more frivolous intention for Lent is to get to Donuts Delite for their hot-cross buns. They are reputed to have the best in the city, but I’ve never had one. Tracy and I are planning to go to the public market tomorrow, and I’m hoping for a stop there on our way home. Since I’m the only one who eats them, making them or buying a whole pack at the grocery store (Wegmans’ are not bad) is not a good idea. One will do.

Happy Valentine’s Day

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I have some Valentines and Valentine treats to share today. First a couple of cards; one for my daughter and son-in-law and one for my son. Tracy’s card is one I made awhile ago, and knew I would use for Valentine’s Day.

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This Memory Box tree is such a versatile stamp. I have another idea for it that I hope to make this week.


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 I found the dimensions for this clever gift card holder here. Coming up with a valentine for an adult son is a bit tricky, but this seemed quite appropriate and I know he’ll enjoy the iTunes gift card.

I also made some treats for Valentine’s Day. The graphic for these cute bags was downloaded here.

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Each bag held two heart brownies:

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We were invited to friends for dinner last night, and I brought dessert.

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Two little heart-shaped cakes with raspberry sauce, whipped cream and fresh raspberries. Yum! I had extra batter so I made some cupcakes for a friend and his family (since neither Tracy or I want extra treats hanging around here!)

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Last, but not least, my beautiful valentine from Tracy.

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I’m loving that it’s a plant, and we’ll be able to enjoy it for weeks. Since spring is still many weeks away, we’ll be in need of some bright, cheery flowers. Hope you have a Happy Heart Day!

Crafty Road Trip

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Yesterday two friends and I went on a little road trip to Buffalo, NY, about an hour from here, to visit Buffalo Stamps and Stuff. Sharon has a wonderful little store that is crammed with good things. It’s hard to restrain yourself when faced with so many goodies for crafting.

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I managed not to buy any 12X12 paper since I have enough to last me a lifetime. I went with a list, and found almost everything on it. Here are my major finds:

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I did buy two packages of the new Memory Box 6X6 papers. They are so soft and beautiful. One is shades of pink and the other blues, greens, and purple. The big find was the boxed set of Cavallini stamps. Earlier in the week I saw a beautiful card using one of these stamps, and added a “realistic bird” stamp to my list. Just as I was getting ready to check out, I looked on the floor and there was the exact set I was looking for. I added the new Memory Box stamp to the basket, thinking it will make a good background for some of the lovely stamps in this set. I don’t have anything like these, and best of all, I had a 20% off coupon that I was able to use for the set of stamps. Here’s a look at the stamps:

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Some adhesives & colorful pearls, two containers of Ultra Fine Flower Soft, and a set of Twinkling H2O’s rounded out my purchases. Afterwards we went to Pano’s for lunch. We’re always happy with the delicious food and relaxing atmosphere here.

Great day and then came home to dinner out with Tracy and two good friends at a new restaurant, The French Quarter Cafe–fabulous New Orleans style food.

Weekly Gratitude

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A friend of ours recommended a travel agent to us, and I am so grateful to have found her. Gretchen Rubin talks about the importance of anticipation in enjoying a happy event in her book The Happiness Project. A few weeks ago, I  purchased The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland (we used the same guide with great success years ago in Disney World), but when I got to the section on hotels I was totally overwhelmed. Finding affordable accommodations for five adults seemed daunting. And frankly, it was keeping me from enjoying any sense of anticipation. Our travel agent found a two-bedroom, two bath suite with kitchenette and a sofa-bed which will allow all of us to be together, but everyone will have their own space for sleeping. The hotel and tickets work as a package, so we have some very nice benefits (including free parking) as well. Last night, I started reading about the park and getting excited about whole trip which will take us to San Francisco, Livermore, Disneyland, and Sacramento. Best of all, the whole family will be together for a week.

Bamboo Fun

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For my birthday last May, Tracy gave me a Bamboo Fun pen tablet from Wacom. I opened it up, looked through the printed literature, and put it all back in the box. It really look intimidating. So when I heard Jessica Sprague was running a class on pen tablets, I signed right up. I took the photo on Monday, and you can see that the mouse was still sitting on the tablet. I’ve since put both my original mouse and this mouse in a drawer. It really hasn’t taken me long to figure out how to use it. Tonight Tracy and I customized the buttons on the tablet and on the pen. I’ll be anxious to see how that all works out.

I also finally made a watermark (see above). I thought I wanted one with a flourish or some decorative design, but in my typical style, I ended up with “clean and simple.” I got the idea for it from a stamp Jennifer McGuire showed on her blog. I tried a couple different fonts, but I’m pretty happy with this one. I made both a black and a white version. Tracy bought me a set of actions from the CoffeeShop blog which apply the watermark as well as sharpen the photo. There are four versions of the action. The one here adds a drop shadow. It all happens like magic!

Two Parties

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I subbed for my friend today in her special needs first grade. I volunteer there every week, so the kids are very comfortable with me. I love the time I spend there. They are the kindest group of children you could ask to have in a classroom, and my friend is a fantastic teacher so they are making such good progress. One reason I don’t miss teaching is that each week I get my “kid fix” and “colleague fix.” And then I get to go home without the paperwork, political hassles, and worries of a full-time job.

Yesterday I spent most of the day working on the computer trying to learn some more features in Photoshop Elements 8. I made some progress, and spent a good amount of time working on a watermark for my photographs. Tracy gave me a set of actions for Christmas that will resize, sharpen, and add a watermark to your photographs before you upload them to the web. I’ve yet to come up with a watermark I really like, so it’s a work in progress.

I do have two layouts to share.The first one is from my mother-in-law’s 80th birthday party in June. As I was going through some papers recently I found a Doodlebug paper with pennants, and it seemed the perfect embellishment for the photograph that had been in the “to scrap” pile for several months.

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Basic Grey and Doodlebug papers, tag and ribbon from stash, American Craft “Jewelry Box” chipboard alphas 

The second layout I did for a sketch that will be posted at Scrap-Mart tomorrow morning. It’s another party layout from this summer.

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Scenic Route, Sassafrass Lass, &  Collage Press papers, title cut from Making Memories Slice “Calendar,” Sassafrass Lass border “Gum Drop Garden,” circle cut from Nestabilities die, Papertrey cardstock, buttons from stash, Jolee’s sticker (I think.)

Right Now

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I just found these sentence starters on Jocelyn's blog and decided it would be fun to finish them myself.

Outside my window . . . gray skies and cold temperatures

I am thinking . . . I am ready for spring three months early

I am thankful for . . . a warm house and a loving family

I am wearing . . . a turtleneck, fleece, and jeans

I am remembering . . . I have to get up early tomorrow

I am going . . . to dinner with a good friend tomorrow

I am currently reading . . . "The Happiness Project"

I am hoping . . . to get going on the layouts for "Yesterday and Today" that I let go in 2009

On my mind . . . getting back to the gym as soon as the physical therapist gives me the OK

Noticing that . . . I am being more productive since I set my intentions for 2010

Pondering these words . . . "enthusiasm is more important to mastery than innate ability" (Gretchen Rubin: "The Happiness Project")

From the kitchen . . . cheeseburger pie (from a cookbook I bought on our honeymoon 36 years ago)

Around our house . . . lots of projects

One of my favorite things . . . snack mix from my mother's recipe (one reason I need to get back to the gym)

From The Simple Woman's Daybook