Sleigh Ride Edgelits .... again!

What a busy week I have had!  I had Stamp Club on Tuesday and Thursday; Wednesday I did a Card Tin class that ended up lasting 5 hours (but we had a good time!).  Wednesday night I celebrated my nephew's 21st birthday at Carolina Ale House with family and friends.  Last night, I volunteered at the Davidson Players production of "Don't Cry for Me, Margaret Mitchell."  I worked the box office - which consisted of checking people's name off as they arrived and giving them their tickets.  I was able to see the play after I closed the box office. It was an interesting play.  Here's a brief synopsis of the story:

In "Don't Cry for Me, Margaret Mitchell," it's spring 1939, and the public is eagerly anticipating the release of "Gone With the Wind." Actors are on set; cameramen are standing by, and the bills are piling up for one of the most expensive movies ever made. The only problem? The script is a stinker!

Legendary Hollywood producer David O. Selznick grabs his new director Victor Fleming, famed scriptwriter Ben Hecht and his loyal secretary Miss Peabody, and locks himself and them in his office, ordering cases of bananas and peanuts for "brain food" until they have a new script. To make matters even more complicated, Ben Hecht has never read the novel, so Selznick and Fleming frantically act out key scenes while he types.

It's a wild and exhilarating ride as Selznick and his team race to meet their deadline and save the epic movie from becoming an epic flop. A comedy, "Don't Cry for Me, Margaret Mitchell" celebrates not just the effort, but the enormous risk that goes into creating a great work of art.

"Selznick really was losing money every day; the pressure was truly mounting, and all signs pointed to very real failure. But they succeeded - wildly succeeded! 

I have been having fun using the Sleigh Ride thinlets.  Here is another card I made below with a second image of a close up of the circle part..  .

We are headed up north to Pittsburgh this weekend.  We will be meeting Ashley there and going to the football game on Sunday.   I can't wait to have a Danny's Hoagie!!

Our trip to the beach!

We had a great time last week at Ocean Isle Beach.  Even though Sonny is not a beach lover like I am, he was a good sport and even sat out on the beach with me for a couple of hours one day.  He took his golf clubs and went to a driving range a couple of days.  He has not golfed for about 25 years and now that his hip is better, he is going to give it a try again.  We made the rounds of several beaches while we were there.  On Friday, we drive over to Calabash for some delicious seafood; Saturday, we went to Ocean Drive Beach (North Myrtle as it is called now); Sunday, we went to Carolina Beach and Wrightsville Beach.  I think on our next beach outing, we will go to Carolina Beach.  Sonny thought there was more to do there.  Admittedly, Ocean Isle is a very quiet beach with not much night life.  But we will be returning there to the Winds Resort because the day after we got home, I got an email that I had won a 4 day, 3 night stay at the Winds (where we had stayed) in an ocean front room for 4 to be used between late October and early March!  So, I will be planning a little get away again!  This has been my lucky summer - first I won the shopping spree with Stampin' Up and now a beach trip!

It rained on our last day.  I had hoped to make one more trip to lay on the beach, but Mother Nature had a different idea!

San Diego

Well, I made it home safe and sound.  We had a great time in San Diego although it was pretty chilly. So much so that Sonny and I both bought jackets!  We really needed them on Friday as it was rainy and cool until the afternoon.  The temps were in the high 60s, low 70s the whole time .... and I took my bathing suit thinking I'd be laying by the pool or on the beach!  Ha, ha!

When we arrived at the San Diego Airport Tuesday, we were meeting Ashley in the baggage area. Well, we had not seen her new hair cut and did not recognize her!  She was on one side of the room and we were way over on the other.  She kept waving at us and Sonny asked me who was that girl over there waving.  I told him I didn't know but I waved back anyway.  As we got closer, we discovered it was Ashley!!

We spent Wednesday at the San Diego Zoo.  It was great.  Ever since our trip to New Zealand, I have been a big fan of zoos!  We didn't get to see the #1 attraction though - the Panda.  There was a 30 minute wait to stand in line and we opted out of that!

These were the most gorgeous trees!  They were all over San Diego.  They are the Jackaronda Tree.

Sonny used his cane most of the time when we were walking around and did o.k.  He is penciled in for surgery on June 3 now so let's hope his cardiologist gives him the green light when he sees him on Thursday!

Greetings from San Diego

I guess you've notice my lack of posts this week.  That is because we met Ashley in San Diego on Tuesday and have been on the go ever since!  She just took the shuttle over to the airport to fly back to Texas.  We will be leaving in the morning.  

This morning we took a cab over to the U.S. Grant Hotel and explored it a bit.  Wow!  How opulent it is.  It was built by Ulysses S Grant's son and opened in 1910.  The chandeliers were just beautiful as well as the orchids and flowers everywhere. 

 

Last night we wandered around Seaport Village and discovered this huge tree growing almost sideways!

 

We had a beautiful view at dinner of the Coronado Bridge that takes you over to the quaint little town of Coronado.  The bridge is over 25 stories high and spans a little over 2 miles! 

 

 We toured the USS Midway, a Naval aircraft carrier which was commissioned towards the end of WW II.  Until 1955, it was the largest ship in the world.  I can believe it.  We were going all over that ship most of the day - about 5 hours!! 

 

This statue is the famous one of a sailor kissinga nurse in the middle of Times Square at the end of the war.  It stands 25 feet tall!!  That is the USS Midway in the background.  

Don't Ashley and Sonny look like midgets??

 

 

These are some of the flowers (orchids) on a table at the US Grant Hotel.

   

We went to this restaurant in Little Italy twice .... it was so delicious!!  

 

More of the flowers in bloom at the US Grant Hotel.  Anyone know what they are???

 

 

I'll be heading home tomorrow and opening up my box of goodies from the new Stampin' Up Catalog!!  Can't wait!

Sonny was supposed to have his hip surgery on Wednesday but it was canceled until he can get the "go ahead" from his cardiologist.  Grrrr!!  Now it looks like it will be early June before he can be scheduled.

 

MDS Monday 100th Challenge - from the West to the East

(NOTE:  This is a double page challenge)

I had time this week and decided to do another MDS Monday's sketch challenge for #100.  This time I used some of the pictures that Ashley and I took in 2006 on one of our cross country trips.  She finished her Residency at Fort Lewis in Washington state and the Army sent her to Washington DC.  So we packed the car, grabbed her cat, Taco, and headed east!  (And a few months later, Sonny and I took almost the same route as we moved from Washington state to North Carolina.)  Three years earlier, she and I had made the trip from Texas to Washington (and Sonny and I followed about six months later.)  And in another three years, she would be leaving DC, headed back to Texas and of course, I made that trip with her also!  So in six years, we hit the majority of the states in our cross country journeys. Now we just have to do the middle states (but hopefully, for fun and no more moving!!)

For this challenge, I used a Double Page Sketch from last December.  (Check out my previous sketch here when I was a guest designer.)

I wish my blog page was wider so I could put the two pages side by side so you could see how the map goes from page to page.

I used stamps and papers from various travel kits - World Traveler and Travel Journal.  I also recently downloaded the kit, Nifty Fifty which features the map of the US plus individual state outlines as a stamp and as punches!  I just did not have room to put all the states (or unfortunately, all the pictures) that we visited on this page!!  I used the dotted line from Compilation of Recipes to chart our journal from the west coast to the east coast.

This was such a fun page to make and brought back so many happy memories which is what scrapbooking is all about!!

Here is the sketch I used for this page.


There is a Blog Hop on the website for MDS Monday that you can follow along to see the designer's sketches HERE.

Girls Weekend

What a fun weekend!  Marianne and I set out Friday after my chiropractic visit a little after noon for Spartanburg and our Girls Scrappin' Weekend.  When we got to Spartanburg, our first stop had to be for lunch at Wades Family Restaurant.  Just as good as we both remembered!  In fact, we stopped again on our way out of town on Sunday and had to wait in line both times.  Sunday the line was out the door and into the parking lot!

If you are ever near Spartanburg, you need to make sure you take time to stop at Wades to eat!   Here are some facts that I found funny -

Each year, they prepare:

• Nearly 150,000 lbs of chicken (most fried chicken:  52,000 lbs of chicken breasts, 28,000 lbs of legs, 11,500 lbs of wings and 1800 lbs of thighs)
• 98,000 lbs of turkey for Turkey and Dressing
• 96,500 lbs. of fresh potatoes for creamed potatoes and potato salad
• 170,000 lbs of green beans and 108,900 lbs of sweet potatoes 

We stayed in a really nice house with lots of land around it for our cropping weekend.  Marianne's neighbor, Debbie, and her friends had won the weekend last year.  There were about 20 gals there.  We couldn't imagine how it would all work but there were 5 bedrooms with at least 2 double beds in each.   The larger rooms had four bed in them so there was plenty of sleeping space.  Most of the furniture (in the den, dining room, etc.) had been removed and there were crafting tables - long ones so everyone had their own table.

This was the area right off the kitchen and I imagine where the dining room should be.  There were two more rooms just like the one above.

Marianne and I were in this room with our tables in the foyer and butted right up to the front door!

And believe me, there was no worry about going hungry.  Several of the gals took turns preparing all the meals.  We had chili, taco salad, BBQ, chicken spaghetti, breakfast casserole, cinnamon rolls ..... and more snacks than we could ever eat!  I took my Angel Poop (corn puffs with white chocolate) and it was scooped up in record time!

This was just part of the snacks on the snack table!

I actually got a lot done.  I had a couple of kits that I had started a couple of years ago that I finished.  And I put together Stampin' Up's Perpetual Calendar Kit that is in the Occasion Catalog.  Plus when I finished all that, I made 5 or 6 cards.

When we left on Sunday, we drove down to Greenville.  I've told Marianne several times what a good job Greenville has done on their downtown area and she wanted to see it.  We parked and walked around a bit.  We really needed that walking since we'd sat on our butts all weekend!  When we left, we stopped for lunch and then drove on home.  Of course, we passed the "Peach Butt" (Peachoid water tower) right outside of Gaffney.  There had been quite a discussion of the Water Town among us gals who had spotted it on our drive to Spartanburg.  Evidently, they are doing a repair job on it and have a big plastic cover on the top.  Everyone had an idea what that plastic cover represented from a shower cap, diaper and condom!!  What do you think?

This is what it usually look like:

Hoping your Holidays were Good!

Hi friends!  I hope you have been enjoying the Holiday celebrations that this time of year brings.  I have been neglecting my blog but enjoying some nice relaxing time with my family.  I decided to  not worry about my blog  so I could enjoy Christmas and not stress out too much!  I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful time with your family and friends.  I did and am so thankful.

We went to Virginia / DC the week before Christmas to pick Ashley up after she had completed her course and took my mom.  We all had a good time.  We stopped at Monticello on our way to Ft Belvoir to tour Thomas Jefferson's home.  We visited DC taking the Metro and seeing the Christmas tree outside the White House.  It was really, really cold!!!!  We also went to the National Harbor and rode on the (climate controlled) ferris wheel.  I don't usually ride things that take me up in the air, but decided to be a sport.  It was really a lot of fun.  The view from the top was spectacular and it was a beautiful (cold) clear day.

National Harbor Christmas tree and Ferris Wheel

Selfie of Ashley and I at White House Christmas Tree

At Ashley's graduation ceremony - Ft Belvoir

The after-math of Christmas - Bogart is tired out!

Thanks for stopping by.  If you haven't already, stop by the Online Store and take a look at the year-end close outs.  There are a lot of good items as much as 80% off.

And beginning January 6, you can order from the New Spring Occasions Catalog and take advantage of the Sale-a-Bration Catalog.    During Sale-a--Bration, you can choose from a selection of great products FREE with every $50 you spend.   The Spring Catalog and SaleABration Catalog has already begun arriving in homes.  Let me know if you would like a copy.

MDS Monday 95

Time for my MDS Monday challenge.  This is my last week as guest designer for MDS Monday.  But you can believe I will continue to submit scrapbook designs for MDS Monday on my own.

This time I used a picture taken when we were in London several years ago.  It was so cool to see the Changing of the Guard up close and in person!!

Here is the sketch we were to use:



Make sure to check out the other designs submitted by the crew at MDS Monday.

Off to finish up my Christmas shopping!!

MDS Monday Double Page

I am so honored to have been asked to be a Guest Designer on the MDS Monday blog design team for the month of December.  This is my first post in that capacity.  Each Monday this month when the new challenge sketch is posted, you will see my design idea for the challenge along with those of the deign team members.  Be sure to click on the link above each week to see the challenge designs and what all the team members have created.  You can join in with your own design if you like.  If you don't have My Digital Studio (MDS) yet, you can download the free trial.  I would love to help you get started!!

 I discovered MDS Monday several months ago, and I think I have only missed one or two weeks following along with the challenge and submitting my MDS layout.  This week's challenge is for a double page spread.  I decided to use pictures from my recent New York trip - specifically, our Culinary Tour that I shared with you here.

New York, Day 2

On our second day in New York City, we took the subway over to Greenwich Village where we went on a Culinary Tour.  It was so much fun!  Our tour guide, Robin, was very knowledgeable about the area we were walking in and gave us a little history about the Village as well as pointing out some of the architecture we were walking by.  Our first stop was at Joe's Pizza where we ate a delicious piece of NY Style thin crust pizza.  Next we headed over to a Faicco's Italian Market where we had a Rice Ball.  I had never had one before but it was delicious.  It is rice mixed with Italian cheeses, rolled in bread crumbs and deep fried.  Yum!!

Next stop was to O and Co Olive Oil shop.  They had gotten some fresh Tuscan bread from the bakery across the street and we did some tasting of their various oils and vinegars.  We got quite an education regarding Olive Oil.  Did you know that if you buy olive oil in a transparent container, it is basically worthless.  When light is allowed to permeate the olive oil, it causes it to lose it's potency. So when you store your olive oil at home, you need to do so in a dark cabinet.   

Next we went to Pesce Pasta where we enjoyed a nice meatball with marinara sauce.  It was so good, Ashley and I returned on Monday for a full meal.  Next stop was Rafele Ristorante where we had a classic Eggplant Rollatini with a glass of wine.  I don't normally order eggplant but this was delicious!  We were not done yet!  Next stop was Milk and Cookies Bakery for a warm Chocolate Chip Cookie.  It was good, but nothing extra special in my opinion.  Next we went to Murray's Cheese Shop for a sampling of cheeses.  Our final stop was Rocco's Pasticceria for a mouth-watering Cannoli!  I got to eat mine and most of Ashley's - it was really good and sweet!  Needless to say, we weren't hungry at the end of the tour and even skipped dinner later.

After our tour was over, we went to a small bar in the Village and joined our tour guide, Robin, and a friend of hers for a glass of wine before heading back to our hotel for a quick nap!

Saturday morning we found the USO office and got some free tickets to an Off-Broadway Play that night as well as discounted tickets to a musical for Monday night.  The play was Livin' La Vida Imelda.  We figured if we didn't like it, we could leave since the tickets were free.  But, as it turned out, it was quite entertaining.  It was a one man show written and performed by Carlos Celdran.  The show explored the cultural sensation that has surrounded the life of Imelda Marcos, the former First Lady of the Philippines.  I knew nothing about Imelda except that she loved shoes and had thousands of them.  But I learned about the Manila Cultural Center that she had built .... without a parking lot!! Apparently, if you planned to attend a performance there, you'd better have a limo and a driver!  Also he told us about her plan, unknown to the British Royal Family, to have her daughter marry Prince Charles.  Oh there's more - Mrs. Marcos order a Folk Arts Theater built in 77 days for the 1974 Miss Universe pageant so she could put her country on the world stage.  A typhoon struck at the last minute and the story goes that she ordered the grass to be painted green and pieces of white tissue paper put into the trees to give the appearance of blossoming flowers!  The craziest thing I learned was about the Manila Film Center that Mrs. Marcos ordered built in just a few months.  It was a colossal structure modeled on the Parthenon built for the 1982 Manila International Film Festival. But, in November 1981, a section of scaffolding collapsed killing many workers who were impaled on steel bars or dropped into quick drying cement.  There was no time to excavate the bodies, the story continues, so the limbs protruding from the concrete were sawed off and the workers entombed!!  Isn't that gruesome??!!  I think she was one crazy lady!

New Photopolymer Christmas Stamp

We had a great trip but as always, it's good to be back home and sleep in my own bed!  We left home Wednesday morning and drove to Ft. Belvoir to pick up Ashley for our drive to Pittsburgh on Thursday.  Thursday started out a little rough - Ashley was supposed to meet up with her classmates to go to the State Department.  She thought they were meeting at 6:30 but turns out, they were meeting at 5:30 a.m.!  Sonny got up and took her to the Metro and as it turns out, she arrived before anyone else!  After she finished up for the day, we hit the road for Pittsburgh arriving there about 6:30 - just in time to find a parking spot downtown and a short walk to the Consol Energy Center to watch the Penguins for the first hockey have of the season.  It was a great one - high scoring.  The final score was 6-4 with the Pens winning.

I didn't get the message that we were supposed to be looking to our right!

Final score - 6-4 PENS!

This was a cool mosaic of Mario Lemieux (former player and now owner of Penguins) of a collections of photographs that have been pieced together.

The Pittsburgh PENGUINS!

No Neck Sharon!!

Stampin' Up has released a beautiful Christmas stamp - as seen below.  Gentle Peace Photopolymer stamp was designed to work with the Blendabilties to create the stained glass look.  Just when I thought I didn't need any more Christmas stamps!  This image is just gorgeous!

Here is a LINK to the flier with details.





Here are the Tuesday specials for this week.  They will be available through next Monday.

Darling Doily Thinlits Die [133736] $24.95 $18.71	Decorative Window Gift Box [132146] $4.95 $3.71	Floral Frames Framelits Dies [127012] $26.95 $20.21	Mustache Framelits Die [133741] $7.95 $5.96
Perfect Print Numbers Bigz Die [133726] $24.95 $18.71	Spooky Treats Designer Template - Digital Download [127588] $12.95 $7.77	Tiny Triangles Textured Impressions Embossing Folder [133740] $7.95 $5.96	Truly Grateful Wood-Mount Stamp Set [131730] $27.95 $20.96