It's just a Tuesday

Ugh. I'm having re-entry issues. Getting back to normal living after an idyllic weekend in the country with scrapping and peeps and the breeze. Here's another photo to smooth out the bumpy ride back onto my earth. This is the outdoor fireplace which is next to the hot tub. We had lunch out here on Saturday. We ate every meal outside this weekend - so enjoyable. Notice the carving? Yeah. Way cool.
Speaking of Earth, I'm missing the end of the Eckard Tolle classes on Oprah.com on Monday night - it's so nice that they are recorded and we can view them whenver we want. I'm glad Oprah isn't a money whore and tried to sell it - she's giving it away. Very kind. It's funny because the same mantra that is discussed in A New Earth - I keep hearing it other places too. Like the Max Lucado quote.

I saw on Jeanette's blog that Anna Griffin has a blog, which is nice to read. I love her paper and her rub ons are some of the best (Jenni Bowlins are #1 in my book). Too bad her designer doesn't follow her class act.

I really liked the mini-album that Donna Downey has on her blog last week (on the 7th). I love how she calls it "alligatoring" - when a mini album is fatter than its spine. What a great term and we've all made those kind of books. The book in the video looks really cute. I know some people are not fond of Donna and I do get put off with her selling but I will say, she has some very cute ideas and I like her creativity. Okay, I'm getting loosey goosey so I'm going to try to sleep. Good night.

I Scrapped!

therefore I am... or something like that. What a relaxing, enjoyable weekend I had at Las Brisas near Fayetteville with the lovely and exciting Michelle and crew. We had a wonderful time at an idyllic inn where we scrapped til midnight or so and ate outside every meal - things like homemade peach yogurt and fresh fruit, porkloin and grilled zuchinni -and watched cardinals and golden retrievers and never once thought about life's difficulties. I laughed and cried and scrapped and made projects and yet, it also felt great to pull into the driveway today. Here are a few photos of the weekend. This photo gives me that peaceful feeling of being up at Las Brisas. It's only about 1 1/2 hours west of Houston. This is Harriet, my neighbor of 18 years who makes me laugh and is such a great person to hang out. I am so happy that she is happy. Her daughters are amazing and I loved all the laughing we did this weekend. They are so crazy.
It felt so good just to scrap again - pages, of my photos. I love putting together the paper and the embellishments and also that I don't overdo it like you do when you start out. When you're a newbie, you want to put every damn embelly you have on a page. Now I like to just tell the story.

I also made it to the Urban Market today which was soggy but fun. Apparently a huge and I mean really BIG thunderstorm dumped barrels of rain in the Heights (and our house too) and so walking around the market was skawishy but once you got over getting your toes wet - it was great. My friend Karen met me out there and I'm telling ya - she is such a BAD influence on me. It was so fun to have somebody on your wavelength - looking at everything and thinking - what can I make with this? Too crazy... I found several cool finds - my santos angel lady was there - Joyce Schilling and I picked up a couple of hand carved angel busts and a couple of great vintage story books with great pics for collage. And a fantastic childrens book with great vintage type and photos - its an ABC book too - just amazing. I felt a little bit bad for the vendors because the crowd was a bit sidetracked with the dampness so they had to reduce their prices. Next time will be better. The new location is really hidden - which I guess is good - more stuff for us. I love that it happens 3 times a year.

I didn't get much sleep so I'm going to go lay my head down. Make it a great week.

From Las Brisas - God loves you personally, powerfully and passionately. Live loved.

-Max Lucado

The unthankful heart discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!
— Henry Ward Beecher

Urban Market is Sunday

Just a reminder - Sunday is Mother's Day and The Urban Market in the Heights from 10-4. It is a great shopping excursion at a new location - I can't wait! Urban Market is where I found my santos angels last time... amazing treasures - like a small-scale Round Top. I will be driving back from Las Brisas and an all weekend crop with my CM peeps!

Dr. Jill

WOW. What a riveting talk... Not being able to sleep, I was clicking through my usual blogs and stopped at Ali Edwards and found this most influential talk by Jill Bolte Taylor. I'd heard Oprah talk about JBT during A New Earth but never experienced her. WOW. When she started talking about her schizophrenic brother, I could immediately relate (my sister was PS). This site, TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) looks amazing. I don't think I'll be going back to bed now.. Oprah will be continuing Monday Night classes for 4 weeks with Dr. Jill. This is going to be GREAT! It's cute - on her blog page she's just found out she's one of Time's 100 Most Influential for 2008. Way cool.

Also wanted to include a photo of this adorable little blue and white bird pitcher I picked up at the Guild. I think it is so cute and sweet!

All of April

Where shall I start? Back to April 11th? I have a wonderful friend in Canada named Charleen, a skate coach who made her first journey to Texas so that we could invigorate the Texas scrapbook economy and that we did! That girl kept me hopping every minute of the visit – I have finally met my match and she wins… I was worn out. She started at the Galleria on Friday afternoon, unfortunately I had to work. Saturday we went south to Scrapbook Junkie, Tuesday Morning, Burlington Coat Factory, a nice lunch at Cracker Barrel and then on to Novel Approach and By Design. By then it was noon… okay, not really but whew, it was a lot of fun. We headed out to Archiver’s, Kohls and Hobby Lobby in the evening with a final stop at Chipolte. Sunday we took a photo with our beautiful CE aprons from Jeanne Kelly:

We went to the opening of the new downtown park, Discovery Green and then out to Cypress for the new outlet mall. See – I’m not kidding! Monday, she walked over to IKEA and then to Memorial City Mall. You’d think we forgot the whole purpose of the trip was Bruce Springsteen but we didn’t. He was amazing, even from the nosebleed seats behind the stage. I’m so glad I went – there is nothing more invigorating than live music – it is pure joy down to your core. I’m so thrilled because Tina Turner announced this week she’s back on tour and I will travel wherever I need to see her. That is one final tour I regret missing.
Okay back to mid April, on Thursday I left for Nashville and reunion of my peeps from CE at Scrap Etc that was held at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel. Wow, what a place! Correction – what a beautiful and expensive place. The event was good fun although I feel very tainted these days, a little burned out by events. I still have a couple in 2008 but I think I will be slow it down in 09, so that I can savor each one. Here are a few things I loved about SE: my Houston homies (Kristin, Karen, Sandy, Sandy) attended and loved it, the classes were all good and I was relaxed doing them, seeing Donna and Ann again from 2006 – my first event ever and I knew no one, seeing Megan and Mel, hanging with Jeanne and getting to meet Cathy and Nan (hearing about Cathy’s business was very interesting), seeing Debby Schuh and Pam.

In completing a recent circle journal about Simple Joys, I know that scrapbooking gives me that - wholly (holy!) and completely on such a deep level. Connecting with other women and laughing and playing with paper - what's not to love! But I digress...

Sandy Horton gave me a tiny clay book that is the finest crafted gift I have ever received, it really is amazing. It is stamped with a dragonfly and has tiny gold dragonflys attached on the cover and with the ribbons on the spine. Phenomenal. I wish I had visited more with different folks but there’s only so much time. We had the best group leader, Brittney Smith and I’m not just saying that. That girl had a fantastic attitude and kept us all on track. I even won an Epson picture mate printer, which was so shocking and amazing all at once. They said I had the Miss America look – happiness and shock at the same time. I was honestly looking at buying one so this was such a great gift. Jeanne had a new Sony camera and when I got home, I ordered one also. Very cool 2 pound point and shoot at 10MP, 5X zoom and the 3.5” screen is what captured me. I keep it in my purse and love being able to shoot anywhere I go.
Since then life has been keeping pace – took an acrylic album class at Archiver’s last night – cute little project for only $15 – what’s not to like? Saturday I am taking all 3 of Debby Schuh’s class at By Design – can’t wait. Saw samples at SE (thanks, Josie for bringing them!) and they look amazing. I love her techniques – I always learn something new.
Work has been less than satisfying and I am wondering why I stay at such an abysmal place. I was asked to travel the weekend Charleen was visiting and said no. I’m glad I’m not a workaholic anymore. Scrapbooking has taught me many things.
And finally, I am loving Oprah’s online class and Eckard Tolle’s A New Earth. It is so calming and peaceful to participate in the class, although I’ve missed several. I can still go back and watch on line. I wish I had time to participate on those message boards. It makes me appreciate Oprah even more. Hope you are having a great week!

Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart

Still loving our beautiful downtown park, can't wait for the opening a week from Sunday. My Favorite Canadian, Charleen will be here all the way from Halifax, Nova Scotia for a visit with Mr. Bruce Springsteen. Okay, so he may not see us up in the nosebleed section, but we'll be there! The local economy will get a nice boost from her visit, especially all of our LSSs.

We took Gracie girl to Memorial Park on Sunday and Killer showed her the ropes. She didn't quite make it around the three miles, so I had to carry her a bit. She saw a pit bull and went after him, slipping out of her collar - I caught her within inches of his jaws. Okay, so he was just kind of looking at her but still... It was fun observing them at the park, but I think we'll have to stick with smaller venues. Maybe Discovery Green?

The house painters are in session - its looking great - hopefully, they will finish by Friday. Stop by and see us!

I drove by the Co-Cathedral tonight and after seeing the photos on the Chronicle site, wish I had been there today. Even if just out on the street, watching the procession. It looks so amazing and I can't wait to go inside it. Houston has alot of reasons to be proud these days.

Got a very interesting email yesterday from a lady, Gayle who has TWO Japanese doll vases, right here in West U. She found them at a garage sale, then she sent a link to an online auction where there is another one! Amazing. I asked the auction seller where she found it and she said Bakersfield, CA. So cool! I think I will have to get it... wish I could find out where they originate and the artist.

I ~ heart ~ Houston.

I am in LOVE, People!

We've been having some pretty amazing weather here in Houston - a bit chilly in the mornings but so nice all day long. We had a nice Easter - relaxed and shared a meal that everyone helped prepare. It was nice to be off of work on Friday, although I ran out of steam on Saturday and didn't make it to the Houston & Beyond crop. But I knew better than to schedule it - it just seems like I can't do alot on the weekends.

I did get to check out the new park downtown called Discovery Green. I am absolutely in love with it. And forgive me but I have to bubble on about it and tell you how amazing it is! It's 12 acres and it has everything - my favorite is oak alley (below) and the gardens and I haven't seen the fountains in actions, just pictures of it. There's also a dog park and two restaurants and a boat pond and a couple of ampitheatres where they'll have concerts on Sunday afternoons. Oh and an urban market on Thursdays. Its just going to be amazing. It opens April 13th. These partridge family fixtures are staircases to the parking garage. Next to them are wooden structures that act as ventilation for the garage - they're beautiful - made of a Brazilian hardwood called IPE. I took about 4 photos and my camera died and I didn't feel like going all the way back to the car for batteries so I only got these two shots to give.

I mean to tell you that Houston will be so proud of this park when its opens (on the 13th) and it gets to fall in love with it all on their own. I am very proud of my husband and his company for building it.

This fountain is called a Mist Tree and this photo (below) belongs to Sabotai on flickr. You will also find some FANTASTIC shots taken by Pixeltopia of the park - not sure when they were taken, maybe at the preview party.

A big shout out to my friend, Karen who is celebrating a birthday today! We are celebrating her birthday Saturday at Scrapbook Village along with Sandy Horton - will be fun! And then in two weeks we're off to Nashville for Scrap etc!