finishing up about my trip to ohio

Well now that i can upload pictures again, i can catch up a little on my blog. So my friend, Kim has 5 dogs. in a few previous posts, i had shown pictures of 4 of the dogs. this is the 5th dog, Chance, who (and don't tell the other dogs, is the princess in the family!) you can see why - she is so cute! she is a border collie/chow mix.

The picture above Chance is me with some horse mascot that was walking around the little complex where we would go to Starbuck's every morning. Above the horse photo is Shara, Julie and Kim clowning around in the halloween section at yet another Hobby Lobby. (i think we hit them all!) Kim is a big fan of halloween, so she loves to be in that section. (kim, don't forget to watch and see if that tree goes on clearance for me!) Above that photo is a picture of the earrings i made while we made a stop at Allie's Beads. Kim and Julie are taking some classes there this weekend. so while they got that all organized, i decided i wanted to create some jewelry. so this is what i made.

Above the earring picture is when we went out for lunch. We went to this really cool restaurant that had a lot of pop art for its decor. it was really funky and very open, which i like. While we were there we saw a group of "Red Hat Society" ladies lunching and i asked if i could take their photo. They were quite sweet. Then i decided to go back and get a picture of Paula, by herself. She has a very regal, refined and elegant look to her. She was very sweet. Hi Paula, if you have indeed stopped by my blog!

Upon returning from lunch and after unloading all our packages, i decided to take my camera around their yard. they had some huge grasshoppers that i was hoping to capture (didn't happen). we only have brown crickets in our yard. But i did see some cool spiders and loved how the grass was blowing in the wind against the blue sky.

Finally a couple of parting shots of the dogs. Biggie wants to start his own blog, so i was giving him instructions and Chance, well, Chance was just being a cutie pie as always!

The day i was leaving, we went shopping (again!). i picked up some things at World Market (which we don't have!) Then we headed into Columbus to have lunch with Julie at their favorite restaurant. We had yummy chicken salad sandwiches with a hot macroni dish on the side (can't remember what kim called it, but the waitress called it a "type of gulosh".

After lunch we still had time to kill so we stopped at a Marshall's, where i bought kim a teddy bear and hid in her car. we were stuffing all my last minute buys into my suitcase (oh, and kim had to give me another suitcase cuz mine was so heavy i thought i'd get charged for the extra weight!) While organizing my luggage, kim found the teddy bear! oh well. i wanted her to find it when she got home.

yay! i can post pictures again! here is the altered business card/moo card holder that Miss Rella of FaerieLuna has won!

the winner is:

well, i still can't post any photos (since i am at my alloted space allowance) - so i'll have to have photoless posts until my payment for more space goes through -grrrrrr!)

anyway, after taking all the entries and putting them on little pieces of paper, i crumpled them up and put them in a hat. then i had tucker (with me helping him), put his hand in and pull out a name.

the winner is: Rella of Faerieluna. she wins an altered business card (or moo card holder!) i'll post a picture of the card holder soon.

congrats rella!

home again home again

Well i am back from my visit to "Good Manor" in Ohio. I went to visit Kim and Julie who live just outside Columbus. I met Kim and Julie at Artiscape this past year. We really hit it off and as kim says, "it seems like we've been friends forever".

I arrived at breakfast time, so after getting my luggage, we went for a bite at Bob Evans. After eating it was straight onto Hobby Lobby! i love that store. i stocked up on a lot of stuff. As kim was probably sick of hearing, but i'll tell you all since you don't know, the shopping in New Jersey for craft/art/altered art stuff is LAME. I think the state has 3 stamping stores left - the rest went out of business. Our choices for craft/art supply stuff is ACMoore and Michael's. We used to have the Rag Shop,but they went out of business last month (not that they were very good!) I've been to other Michael's in different states and our Michael's are not like that. They are smaller and don't have as much merchandise. So the pickings are slim! So my point is, that when i say, "i'm stocking up" at hobby lobby, that is why!

After Hobby Lobby we went to an antique mall, which is was enourmous! i bought an old cookbook with a gazillion pages that i thought would be fun to alter. i also bought an set of water colors that i thought i'd squeeze my tube watercolors into when i use them. I also bought an old tin container, old rootbeer bottle caps and some vintage milk lids.

The dogs above are 4 of their 5 dogs. (blogger won't let me load any more pictures saying i'm at my alloted space! so as soon as picasa updates my space, i'll post more pics). All of their dogs are rescue/unwanted dogs. the top picture is Nelly. Nelly for some reason really took to me. she followed me every where, waited outside my room for me and if she could, she would have slept on my bed! the next dog after Nelly is Ruby. Ruby is a great dane. Ruby has her own couch and when others are near it or playing near her when she is on her couch, she gets slightly annoyed! the next dog is the saint bernard, Biggie. Biggie is the newest addition to the family. Biggie likes to eat grass. The last picture (but not the last dog!) is Kaj. Kaj is also a great dane and he is big! he is very mellow and likes to go upstairs and sleep in peace and quiet. At night when i get up to go to the bathroom, he's always outside my door on his bed. I felt as if he was the protector of my room. Kaj is very sweet. I think he enjoyed it when i would let him outside in the morning by himself. all that yard to himself! i had a hard time getting him to come back in!

more of my trip later. (birthday girl tomorrow!)

Only 7 more days until my birthday!

that's me when i lived in Monterey, California. i think i was around 6 or 7. My grandma had done my hair in those french braids. I had very tempermental hair and i remembered she used TONS of dippity-do and had to really pull on my hair to get it to stay in the braid. i think i had a headache when it was all said and done! i am wearing a shirt that i loved and wish i had today to use the material in some keepsake project!

but what is it about birthdays that we no longer get into them? i know so many women who say "i hate my birthday" or "i don't celebrate it anymore". Why not? I don't like getting older any more than the rest of us do, but it is my one special day (although i do have to share it with my twin brother.....). I embrace my day and love parading around in all my birthday glory! this wear i will be wearing my newly soldered tiara! I think i deserve one special day out of 365 days! Every 5 years i like to throw myself a party - unfortunately, i am 3 years away from another one of those! This year for my birthday i am heading to Ohio to stay with my friend, Kim Bueme and Julie. I met Kim online through a yahoo group and then we got to meet for the first time at Artiscape this past spring. Artiscape was held in Ohio and i drove 10 hours there by myself. it was really fun finally seeing her and then we chatted like we knew each other forever. We both even won an award for our trades, which was cool. (grin, grin, kim!) I rarely get to spend a lot of time with girlfriends, so i am looking forward to hanging out with her and julie and their 5 doggies! Pretty soon i will be doing the same thing with all my Artnsoul online buddies: Lennea Michelle, Laurel, Adrienne & Jean, Laura Bray and then all the Charmsters, of course! The most exciting part will be to finally meet my new BFF, Jan of Polkadotbarn. Again, we met online and have just hit it off. we email anywhere from 3 times a day (a slow day for us) to 9 times a day! we have fun talking about our charms, our projects, or sending each other cool links, our lives, etc. We have a lot in common, so it is easy to relate.

anyway, back to my birthday! i wanted to do another "blog candy" giveaway in honor of me and my special day. So i've been trying to figure out what i would do for a contest and what the prize will be. the prize will remain a secret until i pick a winner of the 19th (my actual birthday). Here is what i decided was to be the contest:

I am big into Random acts of kindness or "RAK's". So i would like for you to share with me a RAK that you've done for someone else. I will begin with myself. I enjoy doing RAK's. the world needs more of them as far as i am concerned! it is a way to say here, let me help with no obligation. because let's face it, everyone has a moment in time, where they could use a little help. I like to give people change or a few dollars in line, when they come up short. especially children, who might be trying to by some candy with there friend and they don't have enough $. so i'll give it to them. Or the lady in the grocery line in front of me is short $2, whatever. the point is, is that i've got it and she needs it - why not share? i'm sure they will remember and do the same for the next person. My favorite though, is when i lived in Las Vegas. I was at Kmart shopping and it was close to Thanksgiving. When i was leaving, i noticed a couple with a child living behind the store in boxes. It was heartbreaking, especially to see the child. So I immediately went to a grocery store and bought some things for them and brought it to them. I know it was only a short term solution, but i felt good that i didn't just walk by without lending a hand. I woke up a homeless young man in Philadelphia one cold morning to give him a nice cup of coffee and a doughnut. I wish i had more with me (like a blanket and a pillow) to give to him. I especially love to do these things when my son ,dillon, is with me - because it teaches him how to give. and i've seen him do it. He'll pull out change from his pocket and give it to someone on the street, etc. and without being asked! the last story to share was the time i was out to eat with dillon and my friend, michelle. it was the holidays and we were enjoying our lunch and some shopping. I saw an older woman eating her meal alone and for some reason, i felt kind of sad that here in the hustle and bustle of the season, she was by herself. (now granted, she could have been relishing her alone time!) So i decided i wanted to buy her meal for her. So that is what i did. i always wondered "what did she think of that?" If i had a lot of money, i would definitely be the type who did a lot of anonymous type of things like that. now it is your turn! So keep posting your comments to me about RAK's and then on the 19th, with the help of Tucker (who recently benefit from the donation of a hot tub), i will pick a winner.