Travels

Texas heat. What can you say about it ... my neighbor says its better than snow, you don't have to shovel hot. I can go with that but dang, it is just stiffling right now... I had a great trip to Long Beach and Chicago and the work part was good too. I stayed over the weekend in Long Beach and visited Fabric Barn - a great warehouse of ribbons, trims etc. that are cheap! I picked up some tulle also in lucious summer colors of melon, lemon and peach. I took a chance on the hotel and stayed here. Its a bit scary at first - on the roof is a sign that says BATH IN EVERY ROOM. The Varden is a historic building (thus the sign stays) that's been modernized in modern European style and I loved it. The staff treat you like family and it was quiet - I abhor slamming doors and noisy children. The room was like a comfy cocoon and everything had its place (plugs for cellphone). For a neat freak like me - that works! Saturday I spent at the Tall Mouse in Cerritos and downtown Orange which has lots of antiques include Country Roads. I found a few tidbits but was saving my $ for the Long Beach Flea and its a good thing because it was FANTASTIC. It was vintage and cheap from A-Z - I was in heaven for 5 hours plus the weather was nice and breezy. I found all kinds of goodies and my feet hurt more than my arms so I wouldn't make a trip back to the car to drop my stash. I found vintage children's books for $5, stitchery, linens, cream colored iron picture frame. What was fun was hearing the conversations - seems that everyone knows each other - dealers and customers. So interesting. I even ran into SB Mary Smilove from Sweetpeas and Snapshots. Small world. I would definitely recommend the LBF and hope to go back again. (I'm having trouble with Blogger now).

This weekend included two classes at By Design with Debby Schuh. You can always count on Debby to include some nifty pages and this time was no different. My favorite was the second class - a vintage travel album that started off with grungepaper. The end result is just too cool - with some paint and ink - voila! a vintage look. And it was nice to finish both of the projects the same day (a little bit at home). Bonus was spending time with Ronda, Cindy and seeing Gigi.

My friend, Laurel has been on my mind all day. Her husband died suddenly last Sunday and I am keeping her in my thoughts. So amazed at her strength and wisdom. She is so beautiful and keeps talking about how proud she was to be Mrs. Gregg Witwen. Lovely and graceful. I am at a loss for words.

Oh those Boys

Forgive me for not being able to place this You Tube video in my blog. some people just can't!

Tell me if you can only watch THIS once... I couldn't. I think it's just the funniest - thanks to Silver Bella local, Linda for posting it on her blog. She always has clever stuff... pics, videos, projects... Love to read what she's doing. I'm off to Long Beach, CA and Chicago - both for work. I wrote my presentation for Chicago at 4:30 today... what can you do... I am staying over the weekend and going to the Long Beach flea on Sunday morning at 6:30 am! Looking forward to seeing what's out there in Cali. Hope you enjoy your weekend!

Ketchup

Here's a hint. Before you send that email... about some great Internet revelation or some awful thing that can happen if you wear your underwear backwards... go here first and type in a few words to see if it's real. or Internet fodder. It'll save you lots of time. and embarressment.

I'd also like to suggest that you consider Be The Match - the National Bone Marrow Donor program. I joined several years ago after being a stem cell donor for my brother, who had Hodgkins Disease. In the past, obtaining bone marrow was a painful process - it isn't anymore. For me it consisted of taking 5 shots to build up my stem cell count (we got it up to 9 million!) and then the transfer process is about 4 hours and it's easy peasy. The worst discomfort is that you're cold - I mean really cold - so they cover you with warm blankets. Hmmm. I keep hoping they will contact me - I would do it again in an instant.

I'll share a funny story that happened after I donated the cells to my brother. It was right before Thanksgiving and they run your blood through TONS of checks, of course, HIV. Mine came back Positive and it was just so comical (now). I had just gotten married and so thinking about HIV was the farthest thing from my mind. They treat it very seriously (at the VA) and they warn you TO TELL NO ONE. NOT EVER YOUR HUSBAND. As if. (I'm lousy at secrets). Their logic was powerful - you're damned either way - if you've positive, you've got a whole world of changes coming about and if you're negative - after the holiday, you'll have to call all those people and say - guess what, False Positive, folks! And it was a 3 hour drive back to Houston - alone so I could ponder the possibilities. But I didn't. What was the point. It is just funny - looking back on it. The good news was that they couldn't transfer the cells to my brother, so he got to come home for the holidays. and it was his last - and that guy enjoyed his food. So we were all together at Thanksgiving. Good stuff. On Saturday I got the call from the head of the BMT unit that I was not HIV positive. Such a nice doctor - to call me at home - during his holidays. Very cool dude.

Memorial Day was vacation week for me and my hubby in Destin, Florida. Well, actually it was a week long vacation that included my favorite places: New Orleans, Destin and Canton... how's that for a home run! We spent the night in NOLA at my cousin's and enjoyed some amazing charbroiled oysters at Dragos (best ever!) and then spent 4 days at the beach - exploring new beaches (Grayton, Santa Rosa, Seaside) and a bit of shopping (Zoo Gallery, Belks). We took our time driving to all 3 destinations - stopping at a casino or antique store, whatever struck our fancy - all the way across Mississippi and Louisiana. Good fun. And great meals in Destin - at Bonefish Grill and The Back Porch. We had fun rummaging through the junk in Canton but I think I'm maxing out on "stuff" right now - I really need to open an etsy shop and unload some of this stuff... So, on Saturday we headed over to the Crafty Scrapper in Waxahachie. Man, I just love that store. And the Robin's Nest next door - both are just amazing places. (It's a good thing I received Karen Russell's online photography class book this weekend - all of my beach photos were overexposed. ugh.)

In my world, there is no such thing as a bad blogger. Blogging is optional. Guess I should put that on today's grateful list - since I'm not self-employed and it doesn't affect my livelihood - I can do it if I please. or not. Even though I am Catholic, I cannot go there - blogger's guilt. Nope.

So that's what I've been up to... All good stuff. I'm headed to Bahamas tomorrow for work. Wish me luck - last time didn't go so well so I'm hoping for a better outcome this week.