Daisy

Let me introduce you to Daisy! About a month ago I lost my 13 year old Yorkie. He was such a sweet dog, but he had so many health problems. After dinner one night, I came into the bedroom and I always glanced over at him in his bed to make sure he was ok and this time he wasn't breathing. I guess he just went to sleep and didn't wake up. I guess it was the best way to go, but it sure made for a horrible night. My dear friend Dr. Helvey actually came over to the house at 8:00 that night and took him. He has been such a good vet to my animals. I owe him a debt of gratitude for his many years of service. Ok enough of that! :( :(

Well, I tried, really I did, but my other dog is 15 and I couldn't bear the thought of something happening to her. So we got Daisy! She is a Shih Tzu and weighs about 3 pounds. We love her! She is so playful and happy. I have already introduced her to Dr. Helvey!

The layout of Daisy is from a class I am taking online at Big Picture Scrapbooking. The class is by Cathy Zielski and called Design Your Life. It is basically a graphic design class where she designs layouts to teach you things about color, space, and general design elements. It is really fun and at the end of class you will have a scrapbook filled with layouts that represent the elements of design. I will post more layouts from the class tomorrow........Daisy needs to go out. haha

Creative Escape

We made it to Creative Escape a day early to go on the Bazzill Warehouse Bus Tour. It was so interesting to tour the warehouse and see how the paper is cut and stored in these huge sheets. Mr. Bazzill himself gave us a tour and was so nice and answered everyone's questions. The Bazzill people take care of your EVERY need! They are so nice and make sure you have everything you need throughout the entire event. After the tour we got to shop!! We could fill Pizza boxes with any paper including the fancy edges papers for $20 a box. Each pizza box could hold around 125 pieces of paper. I love their paper! Well.......I came home with...actually I shipped home 5 pizza boxes full of paper!!! They had all kinds of things for sale like albums for $1 and chipboard and brads etc. All of it was so cheap! Needless to say I stocked up and shipped it all home. After the warehouse we went to the Scrapbooks Etc. store and it was really nice. I spent some more money there and shipped that home as well. We had a great day.

On Thursday, the registration began at noon and then we went to the Technique Boutique where you have lots of make and takes and learn some techniques that you will use in the classes. There are so many freebies that you walk away with your arms full of stuff. So fun!! After that we went to the teacher's trunk show where they set up tables full of their work and they are there to answer questions and just introduce themselves. They are always so nice and willing to get their pictures made with you.

On Friday the first day of classes we had Kolette Hall's class and her project was "The Good Book" where you write good things about every day for a year. Her husband is in a wheel chair and so funny and inspirational. The second class was Kelly Goree's class and we did 4 layout's with some really cool different ideas like weaving, a clock face layout, and this cool quilt like layout with a neat border, and another one using layering. The third class was Jessica Guthrie's class and we did an acrylic book in her class. In each class when you walk in they give you the kit and you would be amazed at how much stuff is in each kit. One kit had a huge 12x12 bazzill lickety slip album. Our last class was Heidi's class and she is so relaxed and personal in her classes. She really shares her soul with you. She is so real and inspiring. We did an interactive calendar in her class with pictures and quotes and spinning wheels to change the date and the month and a quote. She is really creative! After all of these classes during the day, we actually had a huge 3 hour card making session that night and we made like 36 cards designed by previous CE teachers from the last 2 years. We were exhausted but we made it. Everything was included for all the cards and they are so cute!

On Saturday our first class was with Jenni Bowlin. She is soo cute and calm and we loved her hodge podge book. We even used glass glitter in her class. We love her style. The second class was Laurie Stamos and we did the big Bazzill Lickety Slip Scrapbook. The page protectors have different size pockets and some you put pictures in and some journaling and just what ever you want. These come together quick. She used lists for alot of her journaling and it was such a cute and quick idea for journaling. The next class was Tim Holtz!! He is a wonderful, wonderful teacher! He is very calm and says embrace the imperfection and is so funny. We made this little fabulous pin that you can wear or hang in a little frame and sit on your desk or dresser. I have never seen anything like this and it was so much fun. He definetely got us out of our lilttle boxes and had us try new things. Our last class was Janet Hopkins. Her project was this really cool book and we used a easy and fabulous technique on the cover. She is a good teacher and this book is so cool. One of the pages inside is actually a mirror. I will post all of my projects at a later date as I finish them. That night the speaker was Kolette Hall's husband Jason and he told his story and it is truly inspirational. If you ever have the chance to hear him please do! He is very upbeat and funny and you walk away feeling inspired.

We had a great time and I tried to post the pictures in order. Sorry for the long post!

Anniversary Trip to Branson

This is the last day of the blogging blitz. John and I took a little time and spent a weekend in Branson. We stayed in the new Hilton at Branson Landing. We stayed on the top floor in a really nice room. Our balcony was right under the Hilton sign! We ate out and went to a movie and had a good time. I surprised him with a new laptop and a minature Wedding Cake! The Jewel Chest gave us bottle of champagne!! It was nice to get away.

Tomorrow I am leaving for Creative Escape in Phoenix with my cousin!!! We are so excited! We are going a day early this year to go on a tour of the Bazzill warehouse and this huge Bazzill scrapbooking store. I'll tell you all about it when I get home.

25th Surprise Party

Well first, I just hate surprises! I am sorta, kinda, a control freak! Ok, fine I said it! Anyway, my sweet husband planned a surprise party along with Lauren for our 25th anniversary. He wanted me to have an event to scrap! How sweet is that! The only problem is......I am very observant. We had planned to go out to dinner that night and then Ryan, Lauren's boyfriend got kinda dressed up for "just out to dinner". Then John comes and says, (with this funny mouth thing that he only does when he is trying to fool me), "I think I am going to go on out to Big Creek early to talk to Eddie about some golf club". THE LIGHT BULB WENT OFF IN MY HEAD!!!! Something was up!! So I started trying to get SOMEONE to tell me, and they all started having that funny mouth thing!! So I knew there was some sort of surprise. Now remember I hate surprises and being the center of attention!!!! I had envisioned 1000 people at Big Creek waiting to scream "Happy Anniversary" at me and all staring at me!!! Waiting for me to deliver some fabulous emotional speech!! Oh my gosh! Panic! Soooo they got me in the car and we got to Big Creek and they all got out of the car and I refused!!!! No I wanted to go somewhere else. Really I do! Finally I agreed and I got to the door and Michele and Traci were there and told me it was just a few really good friends. Well guess what! I had a really good time visiting with everyone. Lauren and John had gone to alot of trouble and got a cute cake with a picture of me and John at a Delta Zeta function at college. Lauren ordered these beautiful flowers and Ryan brought us some darling petit fours from Rick's Bakery decorated with our wedding date, a ring, and our initials. They also had photos of John and I through the years on the table. It was a nice night and I think I might grow to like surprises if they all turn out like this.

Travel Book

This is a little travel book. I put pictures of us in the different cities that we have traveled to recently. It's very simple and just made out of cardstock. I got the idea from one of the classes I took at Big Picture Scrapbooking. I have done a lot of scrapbooking this summer. Seth doesn't usually like us to follow him while he plays in these big golf tournaments. When I would take him I would take some scrapbooking projects and do them in the hotel rooms. In the big tournaments they have online scoring so every 3 holes they update the tournament scores, and I would follow his progress online with my laptop. I got a lot of hotel scrappin done!! I mean you can only shop sooo much before you get bored. I thought I would never say that!!!!!!!

Blogging Blitz Day 5 and 6

Sorry I missed yesterday! Seth had a High School golf match so we were out late and then I had to come home and do the payroll for the office because of the holiday on Monday. So today I added a picture of my birthday cake along with some pics of Seth and his golf tournament.

We celebrated my birthday (July 5) after we got home from Colorado Springs. We had a family dinner and Lauren decorated the kitchen. She is such a party planner and she LOVES cakes. She was so fun to have around this summer. I miss her!

Seth played in an American Junior Golf Tournament in Fayetteville and did really well! The tournament was at a very hard course called "The Blessings" built by John Tyson. It is a very exclusive private course. Kids from all over the country play in these golf tournaments. The girl that won is from Arizona. Seth tied for 4th and the top 5 are totally exempt for the 2009 season so that is a really big deal. It means he doesn't have to qualify to get into some tournaments. Lauren and I ordered the cookie cake that day as he was playing on the last day of the tournament. We didn't have any idea how he was doing but we didn't care. We still think he is the World's Best Golfer!!

Colorado Springs Vacation

This is day four of the Blogging Blitz!! We went to Colorado Springs on the 5th of July. We had a really good time and we stayed at this beautiful historic hotel called "The Broadmoor". Out our back window we had a beautiful view of the Rocky Mountains. One of the things we did was ride the Cog Train to the top of Pikes Peak. If you ever go to Colorado Springs you must do this. It was a 3 hour round trip ride. The views are just gorgeous! It takes an hour and a half to make the trip up and then another hour and a half down and you get 30 minutes at the top. They have a little snack bar up there and it is 30 degrees cooler at the top. You pass by gravesite of a couple that died on their honeymoon trying to make it to the summit and the original building that was built at the top 100 years ago.

Another day we went horseback riding. Seth was thrilled! hahaha This was serious trail riding. We rode for 2 hours and at some points the trail was about 2 feet wide. John and Seth's legs were all scratched up because they had on shorts. It was beautiful and we saw some old cabins and an old mine. It was hard to take pictures though because you had to hold on!!!

The day that John and Seth played golf Lauren and I drove around old colorado springs and had lunch in this little family owned Italian restaurant. After the golf game we went to see Garden of the Gods. It is huge red rock formations that you walk around. So unique and beautiful. We saw 3 deer just wandering around eating brush and they let us get about 5 feet from them. Evidently a family donated the land to Colorado years ago for a park and there is no charge to walk around.

At the end of the meal on our first night, John and the kids INSISTED on dessert which is really unusual. I was so shocked when he surprised me with a new wedding ring in honor of our 25th anniversary. The kids were in on the surprise and Lauren had her camera ready! I think she may turn out to be a scrapbooker after all!!! Tomorrow the blog blitz continues!!

Swimming Pool Fun

This is day three of the Blogging Blitz! I wanted to show some pictures of summer in the pool. Lauren will probably kill me for putting these pictures on my blog but her and Ryan have had so much fun in the pool this summer. These pictures are for you Lauren!! I love you sweetie! hahaha Tomorrow will be a long post with lots of pictures from our trip to Colorado Springs.

I Love My Studio

Ok, this is day 2 of the blogging blitz! I got your comment Michele and keep watching because I do believe you are going to be on here in a few days!! I actually took over our guest bedroom (which we only used maybe 2 times a year) to put in a studio for my scrapbooking and hobbies. It was my Christmas present several years ago. We put in a "murphy bed" in the cabinets just in case we needed an extra bed one day. It is a bed that folds out of the wall and then just folds back up. We have 2 sofa's that are sleepers also. Wellllll ....the scrapbooking supplies somehow expanded and I took over the closet. Then I got a bigger table to put more stuff on. Soooo I started to think.....which is a dangerous thing! We NEVER use that murphy bed, and I could sure use that space for shelving. So for my birthday this year I got this cool shelving unit from IKEA. John put it together for me and I love the functionality of it and it looks cool too. I am a freak organizer so every little thing has it's place and it's all open so I can see what I need. Tomorrow I have pool pictures of Lauren and her boyfriend Ryan so come back and check out Day 3.

Blogging Blitz

I have been such a bad blogger this summer and I apologize!! Sooooo for the next 10 days I am going to do a post!! Yes, I said 10 days....I promise, so check back everyday!! I am going to start from the beginning of summer and go in order and tell you what we have been up to. I will begin with the filling of our pool in early July (after the pizza guy drove into it). The weather finally got dry enough to put in the liner so we got our pool back. We got 2 loads of water from the Water Wagon and filled the rest up with the hose. It took about 24 hours. We were so excited!!!! Tomorrow, I am going to show you this cool shelving I ordered from Ikea for my studio. I love it!!!