Midweek Hump Day

Where do I begin? After zipping through Google news, I stopped at the story about the New Jersey govenor who has been in the hospital since April 12th with all kinds of broken bones from an automobile accident. At the very end of the story, it states that his Suburban was clocking 91 mph and he wasn't wearing a seat belt. Sigh. What a way to get taken down a notch. It seems that today I am spending time reading about anything but VT. I've heard bits here and there but haven't focused on it. There is so much in the air that I think I am getting it by osmosis. On the bright side, a VT alum in Houston is putting together care packages for the students. All 26,000 of them. Gotta love that.

The garage sale on Saturday at Maridawn's was a great success. I had a fun time visiting with a great bunch of women, made a new friend, learned some new stuff and swapped some stuff. It was kind of funny because everyone was doing it. It went something like this... Oh, this looks neat. Take it. Oh, no, I couldn't. Yeah, sure you can - just take it. Okay, you look at my stuff and see what you want...

I've been enjoying looking at this website, Grandinroad. It's very Pottery Barnish with some great outdoor furniture. Speaking of PB, I LOVE those people. My beautiful seagrass chair arrived today and looks comfy and wonderful in the living room. There was a tiny flub up with the delivery that I mentioned in the survey and the wonderful lady who called me today is sending a $50 gift card for my trouble. Man, I need more trouble! I love a good company who understand customer service. Makes all the difference in the world.

Saw Wicked on Sunday night and it was excellent. It was the last performance in Houston. I loved how the story was weaved and came together at the end. Very cute. I imagine you could see it several times and catch something new each time. It's that way with Phantom of the Opera for me.

I've tried several times to post pictures from different events and nothing happens so I'm going to say goodnight now.

Finding My Way Back Home

I've spent the past three days cleaning up my scrap room, getting ready for the big garage sale at Maridawn's next Saturday. I am embarressed by all the stuff I have to sell and called to see if they have another table for rent. They don't. So, I guess I will put a bunch of stuff under the table and will move it up top when space clears. I have an entire box of books and magazines. It feels really good that I committed the time this weekend to go through what I have and purge. I also feel guilty because I went through alot of projects that aren't completed.

I broke up the clean up time this weekend by ordering the armless chair from the Seagrass collection at Pottery Barn. I am redoing my living room into a reading room. We'll eventually move out the TV and the couch will go to my BFF's daughter. I'm going to have 4 comfy chairs and lots of lamps. This is chair #2. I'll probably keep a white wicker rocker that is already in there. It's funny because my BFF's daughter has a complete set of dishes from my old house and a few other items of mine. She's graduating from high school this year and when she gets her own place - I will feel right at home! She is such a sweet girl - who likes to play with scrapbook stuff!

I've been listening to my Itunes this weekend, especially Lee Ann Womack's Finding my Way Back Home. I LOVE the video for that song - it reminds me of me so much, as a child. Riding my bike and exploring. It goes so deep that it makes me cry when I watch it! I think crying is so cleansing and good for your soul.

I made several changes in my scraproom. Moved acrylix stamps to binders with page protectors and cardboard. I moved stuff around, my paints and embossing powder, flowers and changed my cardstock from a shelf to the Cropper Hopper vertical storage, just like my patterned paper. Hobby Lobby was having a great sale on Friday and I snatched up all kinds of goodness. I also started drawing in my art journal at the end of the day. It's pretty simplistic but I know it will improve over time. And the main purpose it to stay in touch with my feelings by either writing about them or illustrating them.

I've been pretty reflective this weekend. I guess cleaning and spending time with your stuff gives you ample time to think. It was one year ago last weekend that Ruth (MIL) moved in with us. I remember being totally overwhelmed that weekend and realizing, I was responsible for another human being. It was the beginning of alot of responsibility and demands being made on me. Too much but at the time I didn't know how to say no. I'm much better at it today, that is for sure! It was also crazy time - every week there was something else on the calendar, a graduation or some new drama. Man, I am so grateful my life isn't like that today. I remember I used to thrive on drama and now I don't like scheduling three things in a weekend. Which, is what is happening this weekend: all day garage sale at Maridawn's, my brother is having an open house at his new casa and Sunday Night, I am taking Nancy to see Wicked. So, boom - there's 3. That's it - no more.

Back in the USSR

....sung to the Beatle's tune...

It's my favorite kind of morning... the sun is shining, the coffee is flavored with whipped cream. I cuddled with puppies before I got out of bed, just hanging out at home. Oh wait, here - this will give you a better visual.

I love the long shadows across the grass, which is getting very very green these days. In my first house, I lived in a neighborhood I called "Pamper Box Row" because on garbage day that was all you saw - pamper boxes. It was a simple tract-home starter neighborhood with lots of babies. And I was the token single girl (see, Charleen we're all token somethings at some time). That's why I love this neighborhood so much with the big trees and tons of squirrels - it's 50 years old (like me). And it's because I stayed on PBR for 15+ years that I can live here comfortably. It all works out, which was hard to believe sometimes when everyone was moving up and out while I stayed. But I'm enjoying what I have now.

Perhaps you've noted, I went AWOL for a while - not sure really why other than life got busy. We had the Passport Saga before I went to Vancouver. Final advice - renew your passport NOW if you're planning any travel in 2007 or 08. Mine arrived less than 24 hours before I left. Nope. Not the way I like to live. But it all worked out. I met 6 friends from CE in Vancouver for an art workshop that was fantastic. Each full day with a different teacher, which I find to be an excellent format. You can play and make stuff without jumping up and rushing off + hanging out with my peeps (Charleen, Megan & Mel) was great. We made poppets with collage artist Claudine Hellmuth that look something like this. She is very sweet and loves animals. I had a great time in class playing. Also had my first class with Ali Edwards, which was terrific. She is as nice and great as everyone says. On Day 3 we had class with Donna Downey, which was great fun. I was surprised because I wasn't sure what I thought of DD - sometimes I think she's too commercial, kind of like Rachel Ray of the scrapbook world. But once I got over feeling jealous of her good fortune, I realize she's crazy and fun and has a good heart and is a good teacher. We made two projects in her class - a chipboard book on a ring and a 6 x 6 folded book. I just figured out that the chipboard project will be ideal for a project for my neighbor. Excellent!

Jeanne, Tanya, Sandy and I went up to Vancouver early so we could enjoy the city. I feel so fortunate to have met these girls and that they're willing to go and do - just my kind of people! We had a blast even with the cold and wet! You can see my pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/pegomh. Vancouver had a wicked storm earlier this year and it created chaos in Stanley Park: lots of huge, mature trees were down. Stanley Park is a gorgeous park on the edge of the city, 1000 acres and its one of my favorite parts of Vancouver. In talking to local Canadians, the damage at Stanley Park is tragic and I share their sadness. It was rainy both days we went to the park but that's okay. It's still amazing. In the past when I went to Vancouver, it was always warm and gorgeous weather. So, I finally "get it" - the pics of the flurry of colored umbrellas. I saw the winter Vancouver and it was still great fun!

Okay, I'm off on my southern tour, i.e. Scrapbook Junkie in Kemah, (my favorite LSS) and since I'm getting an early start, I'm going to stop at Michael's and use the 30% coupon on entire order and Hobby Lobby! And possibly Novel Approach and Just for Fun. Why not. Then I can focus on purging my scraproom for Maridawn's garage sale next weekend, where I will surely make big bucks selling all the stuff I don't want! Right. Happy Easter!

Few more pic... olives at Granville Island market .

A giant inukshuk at the beach. I bought one of these in glass. In 2010 the Winter Olympics are being held in Vancouver and you see this symbol everywhere. It a directional marker that signifies safety, hope and friendship. Love that..

Probably my fav pic of the weekend - Tanya looking pretty relaxed and accomplished while making a poppet of her family. I still laugh out loud when I think of Tanya's antics in the Business Center at the Hampton Inn (which was great, btw). Jeanne's on the computer, so I handed a ringing (in my mind, at least) phone to Tanya who answered with a naughty smirk on her face and a long Noooooooooooooooo. No idea who her imaginary friend was but I'm thinking the question was along the lines of what are you wearing, are you alone? It was priceless. It was so great to get to know her and Jeanne, Charleen (our favorite Canadian) and Sandy better. And we meet again in September for CE! I'm a lucky girl.