gone daddy gone

does this video kick ass or what? is saw it this morning for the first time. it's both funny and cool. i love when they are crawling up the chick's leg!

"go live" weekend

well, this is it . . . we go live tomorrow. we have been working our asses off lately. but expecially the past two or so weeks. and we will continue to do so for about three more weeks. normally, when you launch a website the users find all sorts of bugs that we never knew about. so since the website site will be live in production we will have to get solutions FAST!

overall, i am disappointed in this project. usually i take so much pride in my projects. but since i have not been the lead on this one, i have not been able to do some things. and this is literally the most UNORGANIZED project i've worked on in the past 8 years. i question myself because maybe i'm a control freak and since i'm not in control and i don't like the way things are going, that is why i'm disappointed. i don't know. who cares. tomorrow is the day.  we celebrate on monday! my work is having some HAWAIIAN theme thing going on. all i know is we get free breakfast and lunch. and i'm EXHAUSTED!!!

under pressure

does anyone remember the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert from the early 90s? I remember being glued to the TV and watching every moment. the annie lenox and david bowie performance totally blue me away. well, of coure "we are the champions" did too . . . but this is the one i think of whenever i think of this song or the concert.

my first impression . . . well, my first thought first: what the hell is she wearing on her eyes? why is she pretending to be a racoon. Then, I was so blown away by annie lenox's strong presence. you barley knew she was standing next to DAVID BOWIE. and at the time, i don't think I knew bowie sang the original with freddie! i knew the song, but didn't know the second person. so that was a surprise factor for me. anyways, i'm so glad i found it on youtube so i could see it again . . .

disney art -- in paris

anyone who knows me knows i love museums. not only do i like seeing interesting things from other cultures or wonderful works of art, but i love the concept of the exhibits that they put together. in chicago i always used to go checkout the "special exhibits" at the art institute and field museum when the new one came two or three times a year. as a member of the field museum, i also used to attend the lectures they would have occasionaly in the evenings. sometimes they would have professors from the University of Chicago or well-know historians or explorers come and give a lecture. a few times the curators of the exhibit would have a lecture and explain everything that went into creating the exhibit. those were SUPER interesting.

i just found out about a new exhibit that is currently in paris right now. i belive next year it will be headed to north america - in montreal. it is called "Il Etait une Fois Walt Disney" ("Once upon a time, there was Walt Disney"). the concept is very interesting. it does not just showcase lithographs or original drawings from the disney artists, but also the art that inspired them to come up with their pieces. in fact most of the items on display are actually the "concept" pieces for the disney cartoons, not the actual drawing that ended up as part of the movie. And people who have already attended are calling it "one of the greatest animation exhibits ever."

What brings the whole thing to another level is the very concept of the exhibition: it is a quest to understand what works of art (especially European ones) inspired the art of Disney artists. Based on the seminal book of Dr. Robin Allan, Walt Disney and Europe, the Grand Palais exhibition displays works by the greatest European masters, like Gustave Dore, Heinrich Kley, or even Breughel, German expressionists and French architect Viollet le Duc alongside Disney concept art, layouts and backgrounds. And as all of you know, Disney's artists works do not pale in front of those of those masters. In fact the association is mind-boggling: if you are a layman, the quality of the concept artists' works become even more obvious and you start understanding that Walt had some really outstanding individuals working for him, that he was not the only one who drew everything and that the Studio was far from being a factory. If you are a Disney enthusiast you are bound to be stunned by connections with famous or less famous works of art from the past that you were not aware of.

Check out an article about the exhibit, a slide show with lots of artwork, and a video and even more artwork. The show runs through Christmas in Paris.

six degrees

i watched six degrees again tonight. it was the second show they aired. i'm really likeing this show. it's a drama. i guess i'm liking these  "lighter" dramas they have out now. it seems for a few years i watched all the CSI and Law&Order shows. They were kind of all the same. I enjoyed them all, but i've gotten out of them. What I'm liking about some of these hour long shows is that there is a continuing story and you like all the characters so you want to find out what happens to them. it's now suspenseful or anything, it's just like you are their buddies or something.

six degrees is cool because it's focus is on six random people who live in new york and their stories randomly intertwine. lots of  'coincidences' but not in a pretensious way. just kind of cool. my favorite guy is the photographer. all the characters have secrets which i assume we will learn about as the season goes on.

ugly betty

i watched the premiere of Ugly Betty tonight. It's a cute show. Kind of funny. It reminds me a lot of The Devil Wears Prada which I loved. The premise is about an "ugly girl" who gets hired to work at a vogue-type magazine. He's hired by the editor's data who runs the magazine. his dad hired the "ugly girl" because his son kept having affairs with all his other assistants.in the first show, the editor give betty all these crazy things to do in hope she will quit. she does but it ends up he changed his mind and wants her back. the concept is that betty doesn't look that part of someone who would represend the vogue-like magazine. kind of an interesting concept of how it all plays out. i enjoyed it. it's a light, entertaining hour. i wonder how it will do this year.

bye bye harry

okay, is it pathetic or cool when i think i find an obscure band online and the next thing i know they are performing on an online reality show? i somehow found the scissor sisters and their song about a month ago online and had it as my myspace song for a few days. i thought i was all cool and they were unknown. sadly tonight i realize that my dreams of coolness are all false. the scissor sisters are singing on dancing with the stars on ABc! and what the hell is that guy wearing? they suck live. i am positive they are just lip-synching.

SpEAKING OF DANCING WITH THE STARS . . . willa ford was not voted off what is up with that. Each week the professional dancers perform a dance. this week is was the Pasadoble and it was amazing! they sang to a really popular classical song. i know it as the song from the doors movie. i looked it up and it's called Carmina Burana.

back to the contest. this damn thing is a popularity contest! and that alone should convince me stop watching it. but i love dancing and haven't watched a whole season yet so i think i'll keep watching. besides, i'm rooting for joey.

right now, harry hamlin and jerry springer are in the bottem two. oh man, harry hamlin went home. i fell bad for him. his wife won last time so he probably feels like a lose. oh well. . . the saddest part is i love his partner. she is my favorite non-celebrity on the show.

the motherload

i hit the motherload last night. i came home from work and there was a huge box of scrapbook stuff sitting by my door. of course i paid for it all, but i forgot about it. i treated myself to four awesome kits from homegrown scrapbooks about 6 weeks ago when i got a bonus.but when i never got my stuff i figured that i never really placed my order online. so i bought other stuff. so imagine my surprise when i got my package yesterday. i spent like an hour going through it all because it was the best and rarest stuff that i haven't found anyplace else yet.

this prompted me to do some purging or all my scrap stuff. i have SO MUCH stuff. i went through all my paper and have a huge stack of papers i don't like anymore. literally, it's about 7 or 8 inches high. and all good stuff. it's just that i have duplicates or i've already used some of it for other layouts. i now realize not to buy so much. but when it was new to me i bought alot of random packs of paper instead of just picking out paper i like. it's actually changed alot in the past years. so i kept one sheet of the things that i might or definately will use. and the rest is in the pile. tonight i'll go through the "embellishments" which are stickers and other stuff. when i was buying kits there were always some of those too.

i can't figure out what to do with it all. one friend told me to just hold onto it, but i'm not a pack rat and i'd rather buy new later. there's something clensing about knowing that i only have stuff i like instead of stuff i like being trown in with a bunch of junk. i wish i knew of someplace i could give it to. maybe someplace who likes to do things with paper crafts. there really is alot of nice stuff. i'd post it online to give to someone just starting out, but paper is really heavy so it'll cost me to ship it! and, there is so much that it will take up two large priority mail boxes!

oh well, i feel good that my stuff is getting organized! i can't wait until i have time to play again.

legacy site is LIVE

yeah, yeah, yeah! i got everything upand running this morning. the reason i'm so excited is that i coded a site three years ago that was so flexible it allowed me to move it to another server with another URL and still run every little part of the with no application changes. yeah me! that means i did it right :) PHEW. big exhale.

i'm severly sleep deprived however and now need to go in for a full day of work! i will definately be stopping at micky d's for an egg mcmuffin - maybe even two! I need energy for the rest of the work i need to do. Next big day is SUNDAY! lots to do between now and then. actually, i'll probably just do what i can today and tomorrow and then that will be it. the rest will just all need to flow over the weekend and i just need to sit and watch everything.

the stars were dancing

well, even with all this work i was able to watch dancing with the stars. i gotta tell ya, i am loving jerry springer. he is not the best dancer at all - but his performances are always the best. this week he danced the tango as a james bond character. he cracks me up. i want him to stay around just to see what he will do each week. i kind of feel bad for willa ford. she's just gotta go. she's a good dancer, but i just don't like her personality. she's falling in love with her dance partner and they keep making reference to it. out of all the girls, I like sara evans, the country singer, the best. harry hamlin did really well this week. he just doesn't stand out as much as the others. i'm still all for joey lawrence to take it all. He is and awesome dancer and he has a great personality during the interviews and stuff. he looks like he is having a blast. the judges reamed him though because he didn't capture the entire dance or something like that.

pasta alla indian potatoes

oh man, i just had the best lunch! and the best thing about it is that it was all kind of random and came together. last night i made some angel hair pasta with a jar of artichoke pasta sauce. BORING but i was working all night and did not want to go to get fast food again and that was all i had in the house. i got fancy and added some clams. i made the whole pound, gave some to the dogs with their dinner and i still have a huge container of it. so the doggies will be getting some more.

anyways, i brought some of the leftovers for lunch because i knew i'd have no time to try and go out. when i started to get hungry i wanted to eat just about anything except that pasta. SO BORING. i was gonna sniff around for some hotsauce thinking at least that might give it more flavor. the bollywood gal (the one that sings indian songs all day) was in the kitchen making her lunch and she had a tupperware container of some type of curry sauce. so i asked her for some. i put it all over the top of my pasta and then she insisted i take some potatoes too because she knows i like spicy food. normally, i would never eat pasta and potatoes together. it's like sacrilidge or something - two starches! but oh my god, it was SO AWESOME. the potatoes were so spicy but then the pasta tamed down the heat. perfect balance.

AND the yummy spicy lunch woke me up so much that i feel as refreshed as if i took a nap. which is good because as i was heating up my lunch i was telling one of my managers that i'm starting to hit the wall (they can tell i look exhausted). but now - all better! i have a dog and pony show from 3-4pm and i think tonight i can actually take a little break from coding. I'm going to watch dancing with the stars and will probably fall asleep on the couch.

more awesome stuart semple paintings

see more at http://www.stuartsemple.com/.

professional photography?

i just got a somewhat exciting email! i have several of my favorite photos posted on my flickr profile. i love flickr because you can search for photos on any topic and you get results from all the millions of people who have photos posted. for example, if you search for chicago, you'll get over 630,000 photos. And some of mine will be in there too!

anyways, someone saw one of my photos taken of the moon over the adler planetarium in Chicago and they asked if they could buy it! They are a freelance graphic designer and want to use it in a real estate brochure for a building in Chicago. In this picture,  i was playing with my camera and i left the lens opened along time because it was night time and i was trying to capture all the light and the stars and moon in the sky. it's a cool picture but it seems kind of pink shaded and dark to be in print. but oh well.

it's go time!

today we take down our old site! sounds easy but there is a ton of configuration we have to do on the back end. the customers will see a "site is down until 10/2" message and we will switch the URLs so that our employees can still get to a version of that site. i think it will be a total disaster. the first of many disasters of this coming week.

i'm totally giddy/punchy. i've been living on coffee and chocolate for the past several days. i coded all weekend! around 9pm last night i just got sick of looking at it all and turned everything down and watched Midsomer Murders before i fell asleep at 11. so at least i actually had a good night's sleep last night.

the reason i had to code all weekend is becuase they dropped some entire new functionality on my lap at the last minute. so instead of addressing known issues, i get to add more! makes no sense to me at all. that is so annoying.

i think i'm so flustered about this project because i have no control over it. i'm not the lead and i'm used to being the lead. i see a million things slipping through the cracks that i would have had accounted for. but oh well, i just need to let it go.

okay, back to coding! it's gonna be an interesting week.

 

angry pumpkin

this picture just cracks me up! it reminds me halloween is right around the corner. already? it's still 90 degrees down here so i'm not picking up the fall vibe. last year halloween was kind of depressing. in my neighborhood - or i guess in florida in general, everyone sits outside of their house and give stuff to the kids. barely anyone came to ring the doorbell. that was way new to me - i felt like a loser. and since i live alone, i have no one to hang outside with me :(  i guess i can go hang out with the neighbors or else i can just have another year in. it was fun when the the few kids did come cuz i had taylor dressed up in a costume and the parrot on my shoulder and they thought charlie was the coolest thing.

50 Titles of Dark Movies -- with M&M's!

there is a totally fun game at the M&M site.rhe idea to this game is to look through the painting and find a Darkly Themed movie titles. you have to find all of them and there are 50 in the painting. click on each part that you think is a movie and a dialogue box will appear for you to enter your guess. if you get it right, it will grey out the image.

it's kind of hard - but totally fun. you can zoom in and out. some of the answers just leap out at you, but i haven't gotten very far yet. if you cannot click on it, it doesnt need solving. remember, the theme is "Dark Movie Titles" so that does not mean they are always horror movies.

can you find them???  click here to play

I WON!!!

the cybercrop i was participating in for most of the week ended yesterday. there were so many more things i wanted to do but i just ran out of steam. i still have a bunch of inspiration from alot of the challenges and classes that i didn't get to. i missed the final cybercrop party last night because i was working ALL DAY and NIGHT coding things. I'm coding all day today too but i checked the boards today and it ends up I WON something! i won the pre-crop challenge which is a really good honor because it was actually judged and my name wasn't just randomly picked out of a hat.

The Pre-crop Challenge was something that we offered for the first time with this cybercrop. We were overwhelmed with the quality of the entries...

...and after much debate among our judges, it was decided that wildhoney269 (Rachel) is our pre-crop challenge winner!!!!  She has won a thinkable inkable stamper and a Deja Views Alpha Block Tablet. I encourage everyone to go take a look at her beautiful layout and the layout that inspired her, Scrappin Angie's.

5 simple ways

How to Be an Adult in Relationships: The Five Keys to Mindful Loving by David Richo

Drawing on the Buddhist concept of mindfulness, How to Be an Adult in Relationships explores five hallmarks of mindful loving and how they play a key role in our relationships throughout life:

* Attention to the present moment; observing, listening, and noticing all the feelings at play in our relationships.
* Acceptance of ourselves and others just as we are.
* Appreciation of all our gifts, our limits, our longings, and our poignant human predicament.
* Affection shown through holding and touching in respectful ways.
* Allowing life and love to be just as they are, with all their ecstasy and ache, without trying to take control.

When deeply understood and applied, these five simple concepts—what Richo calls the five A’s—form the basis of mature love. They help us to move away from judgment, fear, and blame to a position of openness, compassion, and realism about life and relationships. By giving and receiving these five A’s, relationships become deeper and more meaningful, and they become a ground for personal transformation.

today's sceince lesson

Termites - Life's Ultimate Architects

wow, this is impressive. first of all, how do they get film footage of stuff like this? and how was that guy able to crawl down into a termite nest? but the really impressive part is the termites themselves. who knew they were so complex. their nest seems way more advanced than what ants do.

are we kidding

in this video oprah pumps her own gas. it's kind of funny because she has no idea what she's doing . . . she hasn't pumped her own gas since 1983! sometimes i feel like her though. i just don't get how to do the most simple things cuz my ex used to do them and i've never done them before. my most recent episode was when i tried to move my piano myself . . . i almost tipped it over on it's side! i was pushing from the top of it and i should have put my weight in the middle of the object. I caught is just in time but i strained my wrist a little bit in the process.

eye candy

i just love this artwork from stuart semple. everytime i look at it i find something new. it's just so cool. all his stuff is so awesome. it kind of reminds me of scrapbooking cuz he always puts a bunch if different stuff together with a cool saying. he's from the UK. i'd love to see an exhibit of his work sometime.

Aidan Gibbons - The Piano

heavy tees

I am in love with Heavy Tees!   The graphics on these are very unique and well designed. They have way cool shrits for both sexes and they even have a t-shirt of the month club. how cool is that?

A Day in the Life of The Edge

singapore idol and the numa numa kid

for some reason the singapore idol clips crack me up. i knew american idol was in other countries too . . . in fact the original was from the UK. but i never saw any clips from any other countries. i'm going to have to find some on youtube.

see ya shanna

shanna got voted off dancing with the stars this week. thank god, i didn't like that beauty queen anyways.

AMA Nominees

the nominees for the american music awards were announced today. i don't pay attention to this one as much as i do the grammy's the oscar's and the VMAs. but it's interesting all the same.

is it just me, or do some of these seem like they should be nominees from last year instead of this year. wasn't kanye west bigger last year? and what the hell is up with the best pop/rock album nominees? those are the best they could come up with? that's pathetic. and how do so many of the same nominees fall under duplicate genres? i love the chili peppers, but what's up with nominating them both under pop/rock and alternative? seems they should get categorized as one and give someone else another chance in the other genre.

POP/ROCK

Favorite Male Artist:
Nick Lachey
Sean Paul
Kanye West

Favorite Female Artist:
Mariah Carey
Kelly Clarkson
Nelly Furtado

Favorite Band, Duo or Group:
Nickelback
Pussycat Dolls
Red Hot Chili Peppers

Favorite Album:
All the Right Reasons - Nickelback
Stadium Arcadium - Red Hot Chili Peppers
High School Musical - Various Artists

COUNTRY

Favorite Male Artist:
Kenny Chesney
Toby Keith
Keith Urban

Favorite Female Artist:
Faith Hill
Carrie Underwood
Gretchen Wilson

Favorite Band, Duo or Group:
Brooks & Dunn
Montgomery Gentry
Rascal Flatts

Favorite Album:
Legend of Johnny Cash - Johnny Cash
Greatest Hits Volume 2 - Tim McGraw
Me and My Gang - Rascal Flatts

SOUL/RHYTHM & BLUES

Favorite Male Artist:
Chris Brown
Jamie Foxx
NE-YO

Favorite Female Artist:
Mary J. Blige
Mariah Carey
Keyshia Cole

Favorite Band, Duo or Group:
The Black Eyed Peas
The Isley Brothers
Jagged Edge

Favorite Album:
The Breakthrough - Mary J. Blige
The Emancipation of Mimi - Mariah Carey
Unpredictable - Jamie Foxx

RAP/HIP-HOP

Favorite Male Artist:
Eminem
T.I.
Kanye West

Favorite Band, Duo or Group:
The Black Eyed Peas
Dem Franchize Boyz
Three 6 Mafia

Favorite Album:
Monkey Business - The Black Eyed Peas
Curtain Call - Eminem
King - T.I.

ADULT CONTEMPORARY

Favorite Artist:
Michael Bublé
Kelly Clarkson
Rob Thomas

ALTERNATIVE MUSIC

Favorite Artist:
Nickelback
Pearl Jam
Red Hot Chili Peppers

LATIN MUSIC

Favorite Artist:
Daddy Yankee
Don Omar
Shakira

CONTEMPORARY INSPIRATIONAL

Favorite Artist:
Aly & AJ
Casting Crowns
Kirk Franklin

FAVORITE NEW BREAKTHROUGH ARTIST (ALL GENRES)

Chamillionaire
Pussycat Dolls
Carrie Underwood

anna nicole - just nasty

oh my god, anna nicole smith is just plain nasty! not as if there was any doubt after watching he make a fool out of herself on her tv show. but come one. she had a baby the other day in the bahamas. her 20 year old son went down there to spend time with her. he died of mysterious causes - they are thinking maybe he was legally taking a deadly combo of medication but have to keep working on the autopsy. they ruled out homicide and suicide.  anyways, she SOLD thae last pictures taken of her and her son. She made $650K for it. that's just disguisting. the pictures are from the night before he was found dead. that just turns my stomach.

how i journal

i have started keeping a journal this year. what started out as therapy is no fun. i bought a few books on creativity and they all talk about drawing and writing down random things. i haven't got too far with drawing yet, but i do write down random thoughts, quotes, song lyrics and poems. in the picture above, i had my journal open on a plane ride to san francisco and just wrote lyrics i heard on my iPod.

i created this layout for a challenge called "leave your mark."  it's about the importance of your own handwriting. supposedly, after i'm dead, when others look back and see my handwriting, it will make them feel in touch with me and remember me more. i know that's morbid. and since i have no kids there will probably not be anyone to go back and see my handwriting. but it is part of me and incorporating it in my artwork makes sense. i focused on the theme of  "leaving my mark" and made that the subject of this layout. my journaling is me leaving my mark about something every time i write in it. and it something that is new to me and that i enjoy as part of my life. i purposely kept this layout "ugly" because my journal is ugly. just a bunch of random marks. this scrapbook page looks kind of like a page in my journal.

how to . . .

dancing, dancing, dancing

tonight's dancing with the stars was awesome! the boys danced the quickstep and the gals got the mambo. those are two of my favorites. all the routines were quick and alot of fun.

i am liking jerry springer. not to win or anything like that. he is not a good dancer. but he is a good performer and i find myself wondering what he is going to do and what will be in his dance.

as for true dancing, i have a handful of favorites . . .mario lopez, joey lawrence and emmitt smith. and monique has been a good dancer but i don't want her to win based on the fact that she's young and known from being in a musical. i'd prefer one of the other three to win.

i also have a few i'd like to see go home . . .vivica a. fox is just too much of a diva. i just don't like shanna but i don't have too much of a reason except she seems like a whiney bitch.

girl in the mirror

there's a girl in the mirror, i wonder who she is

i created this layout for a scraplift challenge. scraplift is the term used when you look at someone else's design and copy it. you can copy it all or just one part.

9:00 am… Pre-crop Challenge (prize involved)—Find a layout in the gallery and take an element from it to scraplift, but scraplift it by injecting your own freestyle creativity. This is a contest with a prize involved and it will be judged by how well you injected your own sense of style into the scraplift. You will need to upload a link in this thread to your layout and a link to the scraplifted layout with a description of what inspired you.

i guess i forgot about the "inject your own sense of style" part that they are judging us on. i just copied the original design. i even copied some of the doodling exactly! oops. but i was inspired by the use of cut out flowers (instead of patterned papers) in the layout i copied. I also like how they cascaded down the page.

the dog has been arrested

i found out today that dog the bounty hunter himself has been arrested. I am not a big Dog the Bounty Hunter fan. It's not that I hate him, he's just annoying. and his wife is TOTALLY anoying. I have seen the show every now and then, but I rarely ever watch it. Sometimes there is some good amusement on there though. i found out about this jail stuff because i was reading on a blog that A&E, the network which airs the Dog the Bounty Hunter show will airing some special tonight with interviews from the family.

The network non-objectively describes the episode, saying it "includes exclusive interviews offering a first hand account of the events leading to Dog, Leland and Tim's dramatic arrest stemming from their heroic capture of convicted rapist Andrew Luster in Mexico more than three years ago."

So I started to remember something about it. The guy they caught is some rich kid so it made all the news.  I didn't realize it was THE dog the bounty hunter that caught him. I had to look up the details . . . bounty hunting is illegal in Mexico, where they caught the rapist so there was a big fuss made about it all.

The shocking part is that all of a sudden last Thursday the three bounty hunter's in Dog's team were all arrested by the US Marshalls! They just got out on bail the next day.  My initial reaction is: "Come on!" why arrest him after all this time. But I guess what they did was illegal in another country. It's kind of like some crazy what comes around goes around kind of thing.

women who behave

"women who behave rarely make history"

this one was so much fun. i got the quote off the back of a t-shirt i got in st. lucia. i was getting ready for bed and threw it on cuz i'm cold. i read the saying on the back and it inspired me right away and i knew i wanted to use it for this random challenge. so i went back over to the scrap table for a few minutes just to start on this layout. of course, one thing led to another and it's all done. all the elements were really random so i just played that up and ended up with this totally random layout. for fun, and to emphasize the quote, i drew on my own picture and even gave myself a nose ring!

the challenge:
This morning’s challenge is going to be a product challenge. You need to create your layout/papercraft with each of the following:

C- corner/s made from patterned paper
R- rub-on
E- embellishment made from metal (this can be a pre-made embellishment…the way that I had to write this made it sound like something that you had to make…it’s not)
A- alphabet monogram
T- tape (decorative- if you don’t have any of this on hand, you can substitute a narrow strip of patterned paper)
E- edge treatment (i.e. inked edges, decorative scissors, etc)

purple passion

the challenge? use any color paint and design a layout based off of it. it was called the "purple passion" challenge because the creator used the color purple in her example. but we were free to use anything we wanted as long at it was paint.

kissable

Today, I want you to do "word association" journaling. Just little snippets of thoughts that tell the story of your picture(s) without being in complete sentences.

my pets
my babies
1 conure: charlie
1 mutt: taylor
1 corgi: tristen
every day laughter
every day responsibility
each one special
each one loved

before and after

photo party challenge:
All of our one photo layouts are beautiful....but these single photos are getting lonely by themselves. They want company....let's throw them a party!

This challenge is to see how many photos you can get onto a single layout.
You can crop down your pictures (At the same time using up photos that you might not normally want to use!) to the same size...or use varying sizes...it's up to you. Have fun...be creative....and let your photos join the party!

thoughts

"one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower"
hans christian anderson

this layout was created for the "chippy challenge". CHIPBOARD is a big thing in scrapbooking, so of course i simply HAD to have a bunch of it. of course, i have no idea what to do with it. basically, it's plain grey cardboard, like something that is used in a box. but it's cut into shapes and of course very expensive.

the challenge:
I just bet that you have a whole bunch of chipboard sitting there in your scraproom. I challenge you to paint some and then stamp it. I would love to see how creative you can get with this challenge.

i'm glad for this because it gave me some instructions! PAINT then STAMP. I can do that. i realized that i needed two coats of paint because the cardboard just soaks up the paint. when i originally started this challenge i thought i was going to do something really fun and crazy with the chipboard itself. but i made this picture and found the perfect paper. you can't really see it in the picture, but i spent alot of time adding some subtle doodling and stamping to the paper itself. it ended up that this layout just threw itself together but it was important that it stay as simple as possible. so i just used one small bracket. i stamped the word "thoughts" on it. i know i could have really gone crazy with this challenge, but sometimes for me simplicity is a challenge itself.

rain forest

even though i did this layout a few weeks ago, i still submitted for the cybercrop challenge. i noticed some other people submitting things they've done in the past so why not. it's impossible to do every challenge. i will just get an extra entry for today's drawing.

It's time to dust of those stamps and have some Stampin’ Fun!

We all have them but don’t use them nearly as much as we should! My challenge is for you to bring out your stamps to create a title, add accents, make embellishments or even make your own custom pattern paper! Have fun and be creative with this.

the story so far . . .

the story so far . . . sometimes i don't know if i'm COMING or GOING. i'm not suire if i want to change my entire life or just leave things how they are. i'm at the point in my life where i have achieved all my major goals. now do i sit back and ENJOY the RIDE or do i SHAKE things up?

this layout is for another challenge from the cybercrop;

So your challenge now is this: use this sketch as a basis for a layout. See how you can implement it as a basic tool to turn paper and glue into a masterpiece of your own. Put your own twist to it. Turn it on its side for a different perspective. Take a few extra moments before you glue to analyze your work and say “what is one more thing I can do to make this personal…take it up a level?”

daydream

the 11:00 am Sunday Challenge from the Cottage Cropper's Cybercrop was to do a layout based on an ad taken from a scrapbook magazing.

i must create

this is the layout i created for the first cybercrop challenge. the challenge was the describe what you like about scrapping and must use the word "create".

journanling reads: there is something in me. i'm not sure what it is, but it draws me to colorful and creative things. i never considered myself creative, but i guess i am. i choose to express my creativity through scrapbooking for so many reasons. mainly, i scrapbook because i want to record or document the events of my life. i love all the fun papers and embellishments that i get to play with when scrapping. it brings me back to art class as a child. i get to paint, tear, ink . . .

amazing inspiration

wow, the cybercrop at cropper's cottage began today and the it looks like one of the best cybercrop's i've ever participated in. the challenges are really inspirational. they are more than just "do a layout using circles."

i'm hoping to use this cybercrop as a way to focus on being about to do something like "scrap journaling" instead of my normal scrapping themes of vacation and events. i'd hoping to document my thoughts and feelings and their
first challenge is exactly that!

9:00 am, Sunday-- Opening Challenge
As the first event of our Free to Create cybercrop, we want you to focus on why you create. This challenge has two parts that you need to implement into your layout, wall art or card.

The first part is to use the word “create” somewhere on the layout/project either in your title or journaling. The second part is to document in your layout why your papercraft/creating is important to you. For all of us this represents different things (i.e. legacy for future generations, artistic ambitions, sharing with others, etc.) Remember there is no right or wrong on this...

they had  a class at 10am that i missed but i think i still want to do. it is making a banner with a word on it to hang in your "studio". i have been wanting to get a set of tibetan prayer flags for a while to hang up. but why not make my own with and inspiration word that i like? this is the sample they use in the class:

now to figure out what word in want . . .

my heart stopped today

oh my god, my bird just flew out of the house and flew away. he flew into some of the neighbor's palm trees. he's green so i could not find him. when i'd walk by he'd squawk so i could tell the general direction he was at. i finally found him up at the top of the palm tree but i couldn't get to him and he wouldn't come down. and you can't exactly climb palm trees cuz they have no branches.

i shook that palm tree and he got out and flew to another. then i had to find him again and tried to shake him out of that one. at that time i had hope that he'd come to me. but when i shook him out he flew through the back yard and around the house behind me. i could hear his wings but he was moving so fast i had no idea where he went.

he made one squawk and then stopped. i went over to where i thought it was but i just couldn't find him. i called and called him but he wouldn't make a noise. my only hope was that there were some shorter bushes over in that area. after a long time i finally found him camoflauged in the bushes.

that's it - wings getting clipped next week. i was considering letting them stay unclipped and was even a bit proud of him and him learning his flying and landing abilities.

now i'm going to go throw up cuz i am so uber-freaked. that was the scariest thing. if i loose my bird, i'll be a mess.

just breathe

Telepopmusik - Breathe (2003 Version)

girlie tv

oohh, men in trees was soo good tonight. i friggin love that show. clips looked good for next week too. and then i flipped through to see what else to put on, and the princess bride is on. i LOVE that movie and i haven't watched it in so long. or course i own the dvd, but i feel like just watching it on tv - commercials and all.

ah, such a romantic night with myself :)

new scrap space

i'm all excited. as each weekend comes i try to plan to scrap something, but it's become more of a job than fun. this is because i'm trying to focus on scrapping all my past vacations from this year instead of just scrapping what i feel at the moment. so i have decided to ditch that. this weekend i'm going to try and do something i call "scrap journaling." i made that term up myself. it kind of like doing an art journal but the end result is a scrap page instead of being in my journal. i've been having lots of different feelings about a lot of different stuff lately and i want to try to get those feelings out through art. never done it before and it's kinda scary, but i'm kinda psyched about it cuz i think it's going to be really positive.

so tonight i moved all my scrap stuff into the dining room and set up a new, comfy space. it's so fun to have everything real close. i love all my scrap stuff. i have so many fun things to play with. and i live alone so why not take over my dining room. its not like i eat on the dining room table. and actually, it will mess up the place alot less cuz i kept spreading out in the kitchen. so now i can't wait to play with all my stuff. i'm all ready for some great inspiration this coming week from the cybercrop which takes place all online.

fake cookies!

my co-worker's wife emailed me last week and asked if i would sew her daughters girl scout patches on her vest for her since she doesn't know how to so. she was nice and offered me a $15 scrapbooking gift certificate but i didn't want to take anything monetary. i figure i'm just doing her a favor. she wanted to give me something so she told me she and her daughter would make chocolate chip cookies.

now i was picturing good old nestle tollhouse or something neat. but she made me those ones out of the package! i can tell by the taste. i can't believe it! what happened to moms and daughters making cookies together where you get to get all messy adding the ingredients, sneak some extra chippers and licking the bowl?

yummy badgley mischka

oh my god, some of these badgley mischka dresses are so gorgeous. i know they are total red carpet designs and not many normal people have events to wear them too, but i like them all the same. the line is made from soft colors of white, cream, gold, a smidgen of copper, a slivery slate blue, chartreuse, and some black. most items have some shimmery details.

how cute is this chartreuse one?

this one probably costs thousands but i love the style of it. it looks fun to wear to go have lunch and do some shopping in a little beach town.

total red carpet glam or what?

weekend plans

well, it's a weekend again! and i have a ton of shit to do this weekend too. i like it better when i don't have anything to do, but oh well.

i need to do my bills, do a few hours of cleaning (wash floors, vacuum, clean kitchen and bathroom), at least 4 hours worth of WORK, and go watch my friend's daughter in a gymnastic meet. i told another friend i'd help him with a website so i'll do that too if he gets me any info. at some point i need to catch up on sleep since i'm on less than 5 hours for the past 3 nights. i also want to participate in the cybercrop. guess i should go grocery shopping too.

it's so much work but all seems to be so uneventful. just regular everyday life stuff. but life is made up of the small things i guess.

cropper's cottage cybercrop

i found a new community online called cropper's cottage from a scrapping blog. they are having a cybercrop that lasts all next week. it's REALLY a nice one. with tons of stuff going on all week.

Each day they have a "dinner" recipe of something easy to make so everyone can focus as much time possible scrapping. that's kind of fun. they also have tons of challenges and some really good classes.

Wow, if I can participate I'll get a TON done and there will be lots of inspiration for me to do new things.

Saturday, September 16th
9:00 am… Pre-crop Challenge (prize involved)

Sunday, September 17th (all times are EST)
9:00 am… Welcome to the Free to Create Cybercrop…Challenge… Christi Snow
9:00 am… What’s for Dinner?
10:00 am… Class…Signs of Inspiration …Christi Snow
11:00 am… Challenge... Inspire your Creative Muse … Kim Rayas
2:00 pm… Challenge… Freestyle Blueprints … Susie King
4:00 pm… Challenge… Impression Obsession… Linda Peterson
6:00 pm… Class… Freedom of Speech … Rita
8:00 pm… Challenge… Feeling Chippy… Shannon Allor
9:00 pm… Game… Bingo Blast (will have new words every night at 9:00)… Pam Posch
10:00 pm… Challenge…Come, Play with Me… Mou Saha


Monday, September 18th (all times are EST)
8:00 am…Challenge…Journaling with Rita Barrick
9:00 am… What’s for Dinner?
10:00 am… Class… Details & Dreams … Dianne McInrue
11:00 am… Challenge… CREATE … Christi Snow
12:00 pm… Game… So here’s the Story… … Rita Barrick
2:00 pm… Challenge… Photo Party… Dianne McInrue
4:00 pm… Challenge... Purple Passion … Mou Saha
6:00 pm… Class... Creating Art … Pam Posch
7:00 pm…Live Chat…Ana Cabrera from SBA
8:00 pm… Class… Freestyle Fun … Susie King
9:00 pm… Bingo Words
10:00 pm… Challenge… Shaping Success … Linda Peterson


Tuesday, September 19th (all times are EST)
8:00 am…Challenge…Journaling with Rita
9:00 am… What’s for Dinner?
10:00 am… Class… Coming Out of Your Box … Pam Posch
11:00 am… Challenge … Eye Catching Inspiration … Kim Rayas
12:00 pm… Game… Scramble Madness… Carolyn
2:00 pm… Challenge… Making Your Mark … Susie King
4:00 pm… Challenge… The Color Effect … Lisa Simon
6:00 pm… Class… Correspondence Art … Pam Posch
8:00 pm… Game… Guess How Many??... Shannon Allor
9:00 pm… Bingo Words
10:00 pm… Challenge… Terrific Threes … Christi Snow


Wednesday, September 20th (all times are EST)
8:00 am…Challenge…Journaling with Rita
9:00 am… What’s for Dinner?
10:00 am… Class… Old Stash, New Style … Cari Fennell
11:00 am… Challenge…Freestyle Curves… Cari Fennell
12:00 pm… Class… Creating With Color … So You Think You Can Teach Winner… Mary Jo (Acrobat)
2:00 pm… Challenge…All That Glitters Isn’t Gold…Shannon Allor
4:00 pm… Class… A New Shape for Patterned Paper … Susie King
7:00 pm… Live Chat… Leslie Ayers from SBA
8:00 pm… Class… Tag, You’re It! …Linda Peterson
9:00 pm… Bingo Words
10:00 pm… Game… Fake Product Invasion … Carolyn
10:00 pm… Deadline for pre-crop Scraplift Challenge

Thursday, September 21st (all times are EST)
8:00 am…Challenge…Journaling with Rita
9:00 am… What’s for Dinner?
10:00 am… Challenge… Technique Thursday … Christi Snow
11:00 am… Class… Recipe for Success … Marnie Bushmole
12:00 pm… Game… Product Hunt… Carolyn
2:00 pm… Challenge… Layouts Can Be Sew Wonderful… Dianne McInrue
4:00 pm… Challenge…Break a Rule … Mou Saha
6:00 pm… Class… Artsy Altered Albums … Linda Peterson
9:00 pm… Bingo Words
10:00 pm… Challenge…Crossover Creations … Kim Rayas

Friday, September 22nd (all times are EST)
8:00 am…Challenge…Journaling with Rita
9:00 am… What’s for Dinner?
10:00 am… Class… Colors of Friendship … Mou Saha
11:00 am… Challenge… Artistic Muse … Christi Snow
12:00 pm… Game…Finding the Right Word … Linda Peterson
2:00 pm… Challenge… Express Yourself… Christi Snow
4:00 pm… Challenge… Dynamic Doodles … Susie King
6:00 pm… Game… Who’s that Artist?... Carolyn
8:00 pm… Class… Designing Digitally… So You Think You Can Teach Winner…ScrappyGuy (Gary)
9:00 pm… Bingo Words
10:00 pm… Challenge… Patterned Paper Philosophy… Christi Snow

Saturday, September 23rd (all times are EST)
8:00 am…Challenge…Journaling with Rita
9:00 am… What’s for Dinner?
9:00 am… Challenge… Sketchy Solutions … Carolyn
11:00 am…Class… Ana Cabrera from SBA
12:00 pm… Challenge... Stash Be Gone… Shannon Allor
2:00 pm… Class… Ambitious Binders … Lisa Simon
5:00 pm… Final Challenge (timed!!!)… Christi Snow
8:00 pm… Party!

bob dylan -- a thief?

rollingstone.com posted a blog today titled bob dylan: joker or thief? the claim is that many of his lyics are stolen. i swear to god, if bob dylan did not write his own lyrics i give up on all hope in the world. apparently, someone made a website that compares many of his lyrics with old poems, tv shows, movies, etc. i see their point in some of the comparisons, but i believe in creative license and inspiration. just scrapbooking alone, many times i work off of someone else's design but make it my own. so i think it's still okay and i still have faith. but it's interesting because he is so well known as a lyrical genius.

“More frailer than the flowers, these precious hours,” the 65-year-old Mr. Dylan sings in “When the Deal Goes Down,” one of the songs on “Modern Times.” Compare that to these lines from Timrod’s “Rhapsody of a Southern Winter Night”:

A round of precious hours

Oh! here, where in that summer noon I basked

And strove, with logic frailer than the flowers.

surprised by Anna Sui

love, love, love anna sui's prints and babydoll styles.

she's the first one i've seen that does the hippie / caftan thing well this year.

her show looked fun with a kind of victorian / piratey thing going on.

below is one of my favorites from the collection. not something that i'd wear but just one that i think is really intereating. it's kind got a punky - piratey - maid thing going on.

Michael Kors SS/2007

Finally! they posted the picks from the Michael Kors 2007 spring/Summer Collection. The show was at 11am yesterday and i kept checkign all afternoon and evening but they would not post the pics. This morning i took a work break to be able to slowly go through and look at each item.

of course i always love his use of neutrals because that is what i wear most often. the core colors of his collection are camel, white and black.

he also uses a heather grey, an eggshell and baby pink colors as the highlight colors.

all his clothes are both modern and comfortable looking. every single item is very wearable. some people say his clothes are boring, but i think they are simple and beautiful. he always uses the most amazing fabrics and things hang SO WELL. and the best part is you can snazz them up with accessories of your own! i kind of like that because you can reuse a simple piece of clothing so many ways in so many different looks that way.

LOVE this sassy dress! it's so studio 57. this is one of his items that is so stunning it stands on its own and you barely need any accessories at all except a fun pair of shoes and some great earrings - maybe a bracelet too.

isn't this so grace kelly of the 21st century? or maybe audrey hepburn. i want to buy this dress and go to rome and sit in a cafe and drink coffe and watch the people go by and hear all the sounds of the city.

stray dogs

there are two stray dogs out in our parking lot this morning. they are so cute! i guess they have been bugging people all morning and not letting them get into the doors at work. when i saw them they were wagging their tails and stuff i feel so bad for stray dogs. stupid owners! one dog had a collar but no tags. my work is near a bunch of old trailer homes and the community is economically depressed so i often see dogs just running around the street on my way to work. i think they got in somehow and are not trapped between the fences. they must be starving! someone here has to call animal control . . . this makes me sad. i hope they find their owners and don't put them down.

tucker's out

i had to watch an entire hour of dancing with the stars again tonight just to find out who got offed. Tucker Carlson is the one that got axed.

spaghetti on a stick?

if only they could come up with some more things to put on a stick . . .

the miniature earth

view the orignal at the miniature earth project.

hell to the no!

whitney houston finally decided to get divorced from bobby brown. i think everyone will be routing for her and hoping for a comeback. at least alot of women will. everyone blames bobbie brown for getting her into drugs which were the downfall of her career. now supposedly she's clean, and she's getting rid of bobby. so if she goes into the studio and make a new album, many people will be curious to hear her golden voice again. i will give her more or a chance - i've dismissed her over the past fiew years just cuz she's so been so wierd.

whitney from the PopCandy Blog has posed a question: who should whitney date next? the comments left by people suggesting possible boyfriends are hysterical.

Rodarte

now who the hell would wear this? this is the part i hate about fashion shows . . . so many un-wearable things. i know fashion is art - and i appreciate it. but what's the point of fashion if you can't wear it. sometimes i wonder why those designers don't design tableclothes or placemats instead of dresses.

everyone is talking about the Rodarte show today. and my god, every item is HORRIBLE and completely unwearable. It is getting praise today though. because of the originality of the design and the quality of the craftmenship of the clothes. i just don't get why they don't get boo'd out of the fashion industry with shit like this. i could see if a few pieces were artsy and unwearable, but not ALL the pieces.

The shapes were full and fanciful: petal-pink rosettes and marabou feathers dotted with delicate chiffon macaroons. This extravagance, combined with feminine details, princess colors, beautiful seams, and the sisters' delicate touch, surpasses the lack of concern for practicality. Because if everything on the runway were strictly "wearable," we'd fall asleep in our little wooden chairs.

craving this little guy

for no reason what so ever, i totally love this little green horned owl from sewing stars. at $32 it's too much money to get as a gift for a child cuz they won't appreciate it. and it would just collect dust at my house. i am so drawn to it though - i just want to hold it for a little bit. but then i'd get sick of it. the only useful place for it would be at my desk at work. 

fashion week . . . so far

It's Fashion Week in NYC right now. The designers are all showcasing their Spring 2007 collections. I subscribe to some fashion blogs and have been trying to watch the new collections each day. i used to pay more attention when i sewed. I was always looking at the colors and shapes and trying to see how designers made the clothes. Once I learned what is involved in pattern making, i could see things in the clothes that i never noticed before. and the runways became more an artform to me than a shopping experience.

i also took a style class about two years ago that changed my view on fashion as well. when i look at the runway clothes, i look at a few things: the silhouette (squint eyes and look at the shape of the clothes on the body), the colors, and any interesting details.

so, it seems that 2007 will be, well, interesting. seems like the designers are all over the place. it must be that the hippy/bohemian thing of the past few years has evolved into the caftan style. i don't get it. SO MANY designers have these big, baggy, shapeless dresses and tops. the fabrics and colors are all gorgeous, but they can not be flattering on anyone.

what i call "the poof skirt" is back. ICK!!! this was popular when i was a senior in highschool. i have a few of them and i think the dress i wore to christmas dance had a poof skirt too. betsey johnson has alwasy been one of my favorites for the past 10 years or so and even she has them! hers are mild though and more wearable. bright blue and high waistlines are trendy too.

and speaking of betsy jonhson, her collection is AWESOME. she definately did not disappoint. she has these cute little baby doll dresses that i simply must get. not that they'd even look good on me or that i'd have anywhere to wear them - i'm just in love with them.  and i absolultely love her use of lilac and back to the 40s looks this year.

so far, i've been really disappointed by both Marc Jacobs and DKNY. I usually like theirs. Everyone is raving about Marc Jacobs, but I just don't get it. All the clothes are just shaggy layers and just wierd.And what the hell is up with DKNY? her designs have NO SHAPE. The one below is like a tribal dress on acid.

i really like alot of the dresses from Monique Lhuillier. They are kind of all classic styled, flowy, and they all have this kind of bohemian accent somewhere. most ofthem are a belt. i like that little touch.

I have never heard of Heatherette before, but I FUCKING LOVE their collection. Their clothes are so much fun. they are gaudy-fabulous. each outfit is a blast. i of course would never wear them, even if i could afford them because they are just too busy for me. but they are fun to look at.

and for some reason i'm really drawn to the Nanette Lepore collection, even though I think everything is ugly and i'd never wear it. I hate the colors. Don't really like the patterns. but the designs are amazingly interesting. they are just really unique.

I'm making a "fashion album" online with my favorite designs. I'll post it when fashion week is through and I have it finished. I'm really psyched for Michael Kors because I have loved his stuff the last few years. I'm also interest in seeing Cynthia Rowley, Calvin Klein, Diesel, Rebecca Taylor, Donna Karan, Chado Ralph Rucci,  and Gwen Steffani's L.A.M.B. label. The project runway team has a fashion show on Friday morning so that should be interesting as well.

men in trees

I watched the Pilot of Men in Trees last night. It was on after dancing with the stars. It will regularly be on Friday nights. I guess they will play the pilot again this friday and then the first episode.

i really liked it. i heard about it - anne heche is a single girl that goes off to alaska to learn about men. that sounded so dumb to me so i figured i'd never watch it. it just happened to be on and i got into it. Anne Heche is REALLY FUNNY. it's scripted well. i like all the characters. the guys are cute and approchable. not the OC type of guy if you know what i mean. real guys that are cute.

the premise is that she is a relationship coach - she writes books and women use her advise. she goes on speaking engagements, etc. in the pilot, she is engaged and finds out her fiance is cheating. this causes her to break off the marriage and doubt everything she has ever known about men. she feels like a fake and a failure because she is preaching to all these women who look to her for advice but she can't even pick a good man herself.

of course, as a divorcee i can relate a lot to her character. and this may end up being a total chick show. i like the writing though. there was a quote at the end where she said something like the right man will come along, but the challenge is to be alone until you find him. that one got me thinking.

she is a new york girl and she was in a small town in alaska when she found out about her fiancee. then she got stuck there for a few days due to weather. by the end of the show she realizes she needs some time alone and likes it in alaska. besides, the ratio is like 10:1 of men to women so she figures it is a good place to learn about men. and this is what she will write her next book about. so there is not only man vs. woman humor, but also small town vs. bit city humor as well. i think i'll watch a few more shows and see if it stays as good as the pilot.

dancing with the stars - season premiere

i'm watching the two-hour season premiere of dancing with the stars. i don't really have any shows i watch right now so i'm up for this one. i miss american idol! so this will do. the bad things about these shows are that they take up two tv nights each week. one night for performances, boys are dancing the cha, cha, cha and the girls are dancing the fox trot.

first up is joey lawrence. he was on that show with mel carter and blossom. at first, i was surprised that it's him. he's all bald and he has a strong face so he just looked wierd. but then they did the interview with him - he still sounds the same. and he seems fun. so he grew on me in a few seconds. he's SO CUTE! i like his personality alot andhe has an awesome body. he looked kinda pansy in his outfit though. and his partner is cute too.

sara evans is second and i have no idea who she is. her dress looks like some kind of wierd greek goddess thing. her dance was graceful but boring.

third is tucker carlson who is a bow-tie wearing journalist. his partner is gorgeous her dress is wierd around her boobs - there's too much fringe going on. anyways, tucker carlson sucks as a dancer.

Some monique girl from high school musical is dancing now. she was really good and looked great. i like her because she had a nice form. she was graceful but had some spunk and personality too.

NFL'er emmit smith is a bit rusty. he looks like he's dancing at a wedding. but he's such a cutie! he's all up there smiling and looking like he's having a blast. and that is very appealing. so far i like his performance best just cus he's having fun - not cuz he was the best dancer. woah - and he got a standing ovation from the crowd. the judges raved too. they told him he is a natural and they all wanted to get up and dance too cuz he looked like he was having so much fun.

willa ford - the bad girl of pop? i know that's what they call her but i don't know why. she's all dressed up in a ball gown and has a tatoo around her bisep. but it doesn't make her look cool. it looks out of place. she is very pretty. i really liked her orange dress. she looks kind of stiff, but the judges are saying positive things.

mario lopez! from saved by the bell. he seems kind of like a spaz in the little background piece they did. he can move though and was actually a very good dancer. he's got some natural thing. he's very smooth and also looks like he's having alot of fun. he doesn't look as scared as he says he is. he must be a natural showman. wow! judges raved and said they are the couple to beat. i think i agree.

a former miss usa is next. shanna someone. she was on some reality show with her husband but is now going through a divorce so this show is helping her focus. poor girl. she has a wierd body. her torso is wierd. it's really long or something. she kinda looks prego but i'm sure she wouldn't be doing all the greuling training that comes with this show if she was. she's not a bad dancer, but she just doesn't have anything special. oops, i think her partner just stepped on her foot. the judges don't like her. one guy said "the beauty queen turned into the ice queen."

harry hamlin has my favorite partner as her dancer. i watched her in the first season and i think she's an awesome dance and so cute. he isn't that good - but she is awesome. the judges are harsh on him. they say he's too mechanical.

vivica a. fox is paired with the ballroom champion of the world. she seems kind of like a ballbuster. total perfectionist - she seems very determined to win! and she dances well too so she may make it. she looks like she's having fun, even though the fox trot is a kind of slow dance. the judges gave her good props too.

uh, oh. jerry springer in the house. this is why i turned on the show tonight. this poor girl who has to dance with him. she is the current winner of dancing with the stars. he is totally funny in the preview where they show them practicing. their routins is really cute, but what the hell is he wearing? they are so funny! he looks like he is making a joke of it, but it's cute that they ham it up. the crowd is changing "jerry, jerry". he looks so out of breath. the judges comment on the mistakes he made but they give him props anyways.

well, now that i've seen it all... who should i vote for?

vanilla chill

this is my favorite gum in the whole world! Vanilla Chill Dentyne Ice. By chance a few months ago i got some while in the line at the grocery store. i use the vanilla toothpaste so i thought i might like it. i LOVED it. but then i couldn't find it anymore. today i saw some and got two packs. so i can't figure out if i can never find any because it is so popular it sells out, or so unpopular that stores don't buy it that often.

phosphate florida

our new website, phosphate florida, launched today. it has so much info about phosphates - i wish someone gave me the info when i started working here! i would have made my understanding of this business so much easier.

also, i was just outside and the Fox News helicopter is hoovering over our plant. I came in and asked the PR person what was up because i thought maybe something happened at the plant - like an accident. Usually, the news people are supposed to tell our PR people they are coming and they did not so now everyone is all curious. Usually, it's bad news. Hope there isn't some other story on us being bad for the environment or something like that.

bye, bye boardwalk

The new "Here and Now" version of Monopoly was revealed today and hits stores on Thursday. I am paying attention to this one because a few months ago monopoly.com allowed people to vote on their favorite landmarks to determine what will be in this new edition. Times Square replaced Boardwalk as the most expensive spot on the board.Other properties include national landmarks such as Fenway Park, the White House, Disney World and the Grand Ole Opry. I can't get to monopoly.com from here at work so i'm not sure what Chicago landmarks made it - if any. I voted for Wrigley Field but if Fenway Park is on there, Wrigley Field probably is not.

I'm liking the new properties, but I don't know about the new game pieces. Sadly, the iron and old shoe have been replaced in this edition with a New Balance sneaker, a Toyota Prius, McDonald's fries, a RAZR phone, a laptop, a labradoodle and an airplane. It just seems so wrong, doesn't it?

today is d-day

i have a dentist appointment today. i have not gone to the dentist since i've moved down here and my teeth are in severe need of cleaning. only problem is, i hate the dentist. the sound of the cleaning machine and that drill just strike the fear of god in me. however, this new guy uses lasers to fix cavities. so you don't even needs any anestesia. i'm hoping i don't have any, but if i do, at least i won't have to deal with the sound of that drill. now if they could only use lasers to clean my teeth . . .

strict machine

Death Watch '06

i'm not into tv as much as some people. i don't watch any of the sitcoms - just a few hour long dramas and reality shows. So even though I don't know most of what is on the airwaves, Death Watch '06 at Brilliant But Cancelled is looking like alot of fun. it's kind of like an alternative to fantasy football. In this game, you guess which new series will get the axed first. If you are correct in your picks, you could win a flatscreen TV as the grand prize. they also give away iPods as weekly prizes.

this week the three with the worst odds are Happy Hour, Men in Trees and Ugly Betty. It probably will be Happy Hour because of it's no-name cast, and that is the current top pick. However, I chose Ugly Betty, just cuz Betty is REALLY ugly.

google, 5 years ago

okay, so giving into this september 11 thing, and being the geek that i am, i found one new reminder from that day that resonates with me. this may not mean alot to most people, but it does to me - probably because of my involvement with the internet industry. check out the google homepage from 9/11.

 first of all, google was somewhat unknown five years ago. it was like a techy geek thing and not mainstream at all. but we all used it. and that morning we were all scrambling looking at various websites and being blown away that the there was so much traffice these major sites were down. honestly, before i knew what was going on, i was busy thinking that the shit is going to hit the fan in some I/T departments at those companies because their sites went down. of course, a few minutes later that was the furthers thing from my mind. so being able to access a cached version of the sites was comforting.

here's what is creepy about it. at that time, most people used yahoo or something like that to search - but this is a more portal search site which has tons of links all over their homepages. google always felt search is clean and even now, five years later, their homepage is a simple logo and graphic. The addition of that one sentence "Breaking News: Attacks hit U.S." totally gives me the chills.

Among the top 200 queries on Tuesday, news-related searches were 60 times greater than the number of news-related searches conducted the previous day.

More than 80 percent of the top 500 queries conducted on Tuesday were related to the terrorist attacks.

At 6:51 a.m. on Tuesday, more than 6,200 queries for "cnn" were conducted on Google. Between 6:26 a.m. and 7:06 a.m., the number of searches for "cnn" averaged approximately 6,000 queries per minute.

Other searches with instant peaks that day were "Nostradamus", "World Trade Center," "Osama bin Laden," "Pentagon" and "American Airlines." Richard W. Wiggins compiled more information on Google that day.

top 25 news stories ignored by the media this year

Each year, Project Censored compiles an annual list of 25 socially significant news stories of social significance said to have been missed, underreported or self-censored by mainstream press in the US. Here are this year's picks:

#1 Bush Administration Moves to Eliminate Open Government

#2 Media Coverage Fails on Iraq: Fallujah and the Civilian Death

#3 Another Year of Distorted Election Coverage

#4 Surveillance Society Quietly Moves In

#5 U.S. Uses Tsunami to Military Advantage in Southeast Asia

#6 The Real Oil for Food Scam

#7 Journalists Face Unprecedented Dangers to Life and Livelihood

#8 Iraqi Farmers Threatened By Bremer’s Mandates

#9 Iran’s New Oil Trade System Challenges U.S. Currency

#10 Mountaintop Removal Threatens Ecosystem and Economy

#11 Universal Mental Screening Program Usurps Parental Rights

#12 Military in Iraq Contracts Human Rights Violators

#13 Rich Countries Fail to Live up to Global Pledges

#14 Corporations Win Big on Tort Reform, Justice Suffers

#15 Conservative Plan to Override Academic Freedom in the Classroom

#16 U.S. Plans for Hemispheric Integration Include Canada

#17 U.S. Uses South American Military Bases to Expand Control of the Region

#18 Little Known Stock Fraud Could Weaken U.S. Economy

#19 Child Wards of the State Used in AIDS Experiments

#20 American Indians Sue for Resources; Compensation Provided to Others

#21 New Immigration Plan Favors Business Over People

#22 Nanotechnology Offers Exciting Possibilities But Health Effects Need Scrutiny

#23 Plight of Palestinian Child Detainees Highlights Global Problem

#24 Ethiopian Indigenous Victims of Corporate and Government Resource Aspirations

#25 Homeland Security Was Designed to Fail 

I expected many of the middle east issues. But it does seem like there are just so many - who can keep track? So expect a few of those to be ignored. However, I find #13 and #19 interesting. I have been closely following the one campaign which deals with issue #13. i was so glad when the countries all signed up to forgive the debt of poorer countries. however, i had no idea we were not following through and actually giving the money we promised! and what's up with using kids to test AIDS drugs? I'm sure there are tons of H IV positive adults that would love to participate in experimental studies. Why use kids?

9/11

so, here it is 5 years from 9/11. when i came into work today there were a bunch of people gathered around the flag pole in a moment of rememberence. i'm not sure how i'm supposed to feel today. i didn't know anyone effected by the tragedy. i feel horrible about it and actually, maybe it's becuase i'm kind of in a funk today, but i really hate it. i hate that our world has had to change so much. that now we are at war. that i think about it every time i fly. that when i'm a large gathering space i wonder how many people would die if there was a terrorist attack at that moment. that every month we hear about some terrorist attack somewhere in the world, or at least a threat. those things used to happen - but to others, not to americans. and the truth is, there is a very small chance that i will ever be involved in any terrorist incident. i'm middle-class gal in the suburbs.

i hate that the press makes such a big deal about it. i know it was horrible and deserves to be acknowledged - but i still resent it taking over the media every year. there are so many stories, and while i feel bad for people, they all seem to blend together and are quite depressing. also, i feel like there is a worldwind of politicians making statements and accusations. i don't blame our government for letting it happen but tons of people do. the thing is, there are always people in the world that want to do bad things. and we can try and prevent it as much as possible, but we can't always do so. it happened. why point fingers still? five years later.

i was more remorseful of it this past month than today. i've been watching some of the tv shows on A&E and the history channel. Shows about each flight. Shows about people who were supposed to be on the flights but missed them for some reason. And I remembered and grieved during those time. Today, it is just an overwhelming bombardment of it all. My radio alarm clock had stories about 9/11. Good Morning America was all about 9/11. The radio on the way into work was all about 9/11. My inbox is filled with things about 9/11. and i have just had too much.

i know it's selfish of me to be sick of it all. but it almost seems commercial. networks and radion stations competing to have the most original take on the tragedy to get an audience.

when i think back at 9/11 there are 2 things that really get me. 1) it was the first time in history that a major tragedy happened and the world was able to watch it real-time as it happened. the unbelievable shock of using planes to plow into buildings. we just could not comprehend it. 2) the workers. the concept that it happened with people in their normal work environment. it's hard to explain. some people were just starting their work day when the buildings got hit. the fireman and police were executing what they were trained to do. the people in air control were doing what they were trained to do. even the news people reporting as they were trained to do. it's amazing how many people just went through their tasks during all the madness. it's like everyone went on autopilot during the shock and what occurred was really a bunch of hero type behavior. i'm not sure if i'm articulating that clearly, but it is what i think of. the crazyiness that can happen to anyone during a regular work day.

i do think that united 93 is the best movie that portrayed this. i absolutely loved that movie even though it was so hard to watch. i really felt like i was either on that plane or in the control room. i thought it was so neat how the air traffic control responded. it was like a mystery because they couldn't figure out what was going on. and that captured it exactly. as it happened, the entire world wondered what was going on.

earthquake . . . in florida

there was an earthquake in the gulf of mexico this morning around 11am. I can't remember what i was doing at that time, i was probably still in bed or something. i was probably still in bed or something. i didn't feel it. i guess they felt it in ocala which is a few hours north of me so i should have felt it too. even if i did, i'd never associate an earthquake! i'd just think i was dizzy or something.

The earthquake, centered about 260 miles southwest of Tampa, was too small to trigger a tsunami or dangerous waves, the agency said. The USGS received more than 2,800 reports from people who felt the 10:56 a.m. quake.

Scientists said it was the largest and most widely felt of more than a dozen earthquakes recorded in the eastern Gulf of Mexico in the last 30 years.

okay, now i have prepared myself for hurricanes, but not tsunami's!!! holy shit, never really thought that could be one of the natural disasters down here. same for earthquakes - it seems so california . . .

good beat

Sometimes... I just want to hear a good beat.

sick and the supernanny

my "cold" must be more than a cold. it's been about a week now. i can't breathe. so what will it be this time... bronchitis, respitory infection, sinus infection? how fun.

yesterday i pushed myself too much and all i did was a little grocery shopping and scrapbooking. today, i don't feel like getting off the couch so i wont. better rest since it will be a crazy work week. i just spent the last of my money on groceries and payday isn't until friday. i need $50 to go to the walk in clinic thing to get a perscrption. i'm not like, sick, just exhausted. i feel like my lungs are filled and so are my ears. like i just got off a plane, but it's been for days.

anyways, there is a supernanny marathon on tv today. i love that show. it always starts out with these horrible kids and frustrated parents. then the supernanny tells them all how to work it out. the family gets rules adn they make a schedule which includes playtime with the parents and time for everyone on their own. then everyone ends up happy.

i think i watch it for reference in case i ever have kids. i always hear those words my mom used to tell me "just wait until you have your own kids". i truly believe what comes around goes around so i might be screwed.

jimmy carter cooking

this is so funny. jimmy and rosalind carter are on the paula dean cooking show. at first they checked out his farm, then she had him helping cook up some quail. she calls him mr. jimmy - it's so cute. he wore an apron that said "hail to the chef." rosalind, jimmy and she made some pecan dessert and there was was flouring the table and cutting out little squares of dough. when she asked where they normally ate dinner they said on tv trays in front of the tv. that's so normal! i love it. 

who is Guy Fieri?

i turned on the food netword this morning and there is some new guy on there. and what he was making was AWESOME!!!  pulled pork egg rolls, saigon sub and korean chicken wings. hello heaven! the show is called guy's big bite.

he's kind of a punky guy. so i looked him up online and it looks like he winner of the food network reality show the next food network star. i wanted to watch that one but didn't. i'm gonna have to check out his show more often cuz his food is just fun!

serenade of the seas layout

i pretty much hate this layout. that being said, it looks 10x better in person than in this photo. i don't even know why i bothered tonight. i wasn't in the mood and i should know not to scrap unless i'm in the mood. i was using someone elses sketch for the layout instead of my own. i try to do that sometimes to pick up new ideas. but it just wasn't working tonight. i'm not into the whole circle thing so i couldn't really add my own to it. and i felt restricted by the design. these are also some papers i never really liked and i wanted to use them up. well, i guess i don't hate this but it's one of my least favorites lately. i bet it would look cute without the stripped paper on the bottom half . . . hmmmm.

my scrap shak

i recently joined a forum called MY SCRAP SHAK and they're having a "Fall in Love With Scrapping" contest there, so I decided I'm going to try and participate. hehe! I doubt that I'll get all the challenges done as I'm already a week behind. But it might help inspire me to get through my huge backlog of scrapping to do. i have to finish my cruise, do all of hawaii, san fran, chicago and the rest of my summer. all and all there are probably about 30 layouts just from that i want to do and get in my books.

this weekend they are also having an online crop. they post challenges every hour from 9am to 9pm on saturday and you have until 10pm on sunday to get them completed and posted online.

with all these things you get points for each challenge and those equate to store dollars of free product - which is always fun. some of the challenges are things like, use ink, use flowers, make a layout with anything EXCEPT patterned paper, things like that. so they give you a technique to focus on which is fun.

i'm moving slow today and haven't started doing anything yet. my cold is all in my head and i just don't feel like doing anything but sleeping. not even watching tv!  but i'm trying to get motiviated. just made a big pot of coffee. i'll be happy if i get through three layouts this weekend! but would love it if i could do more.

i miss cooking

my pantry is empty so i was putting together a shopping list this morning. i have been eating a lot of junk food lately and i feel like cooking again. it bums me out though because i always end up with so much food. i miss cooking for someone. and with someone. i just saw some awesome muffins on tv that my step-kids would have loved. i used to find new recipes that i thought they'd like and then cook them up and it would make me feel so good when they'd tell me they liked it. but i don't have that anymore. i suppose i could invite some friends over, but i miss just staying in my pjs all day and cooking and it being part of the day, and just relaxing on the couch and watching tv and eating with a buddy.

i should enjoy it more since i don't have to worry about making something that no one else likes or worrying about other people's tastes. but it seems like alot of effort for something.sometimes i'd find a hard new recipe for thai food or something like that and my ex would cook with me and help me figure it all out. and then we'd mmmmmm over it while it was cooking and smelling good. i don't know, i must have woke up on the lonely side of the bed today.

san francisco highlights

since i've been sick, i haven't blogged about my san fran trip last weekend. here are some highlights. . .

upgraded to first class on the 6 hour flight from miami to san francisco and it was fabulous. unlimited wine. GOOD food. homemade cookies. and plenty of space. i was going to sleep but didn't want to miss out on my first class experience. i made friends with the two male flight attendants who were both hysterically gay. one looked kind of like benson from that tv show but sounded so femme when he spoke. it was jarring. i listened to my iPod and wrote in my journal the entire flight.

straight to a party friday night which was fun to meet new people. it was a "wig" party which was amusing. i was sans wig though - but my friend bought some sort of neon yellow stretchy toy thing to fit over his head. he looked hysterical. it was perfect. unfortunately i over-induldged and we had to leave early. but, he took me to an awesome donut place to quench our munchies - they were also our breakfast the next day.

saturday morning i met and played with gabe the terrible. actually, he wasn't that bad with me but i've heard horror stories.

saturday afternoon we headed out for some thai food (which i am depraved of in florida) and then braved san francisco traffic which was crazy since once of the bridges was closed. we went to tiburon which is supposed to be an old sailing village. we stayed at a newly remodeled hotel with super comfy beds. the town was really small with only about 3 blocks of shopping. we sat down and had some drinks and people watched for about and hour and then headed back to the hotel for a nap. later we went to a cute little pizza place for dinner. i was so exhausted i fell asleep early and left my friend to be up all night alone.

sunday morning we slept in and watched movies. at some point we went to the coffee shop to get our morning fix. we sat outside the shop drinking our coffee and talking for a while. then we went back to the hotel and sat out front in these cozy chairs and talked some more. there was some type of labor day parade that came by and they had a ton of old cars. all different sorts that i had never seen before.

that afternoon we went to some other town, one of the san towns like san jose but not that one. i wanted to check out the macy's there thinking i could get some warm clothes to bring on my upcoming trip to lake tahoe since they don't have to many warm clothes in florida - even in the winter. didn't really feel like shopping so we wandered around the mall, which they don't call a mall they call a village, and didn't end up getting anything there. We went to a different town (maybe that was the san town) which was REALLY CUTE and had lots of little restaurants. we got some goodies at a head shop and then we both got some shoes at a different shop. we ate a huge lunch down there too and then headed for another nap - a must for a great vacation.

sunday night my friend took me to the most amazing spot right next to the golden gate bridge. there is an old fort up there and you can see all of the bay area. fog was hanging over the top of the golden gate bridge but it is HUGE and we were right next to it. he had me climb down some off-limits path to get a better view with the promise of better picture taking.

monday we slept in, got packed up and headed out. we went up to napa to go pick up his son. my cold had really kicked in on monday so i was practically useless. we went back to his apartment and hung out there for a while. i didn't get to play with his son as much as i wanted cuz i was so out of it. i had nothing but cold medicine all day. later we went to mcdonald's so his son could play in the park and then they took me to the airport. i took the red-eye to miami and then hopped over to tampa and went straight to work.

ends up i didn't really take any pictures on the trip!  usually when i take pictures i'm in an observer mood and i wanted to enjoy the time with my friend. and we really had a nice and relaxing time which was great.

cat stevens is back

i just read at abc news that "the artist formerly known as cat stevens" will release a new album in november. it will be 28-years since his last album. his new name is Yusuf Islam.  now this i find interesting. i love the old cat stevens songs. they are great for listening to while driving in the car or on a rainy day. they are somehow relaxing and uplifiting at the same time.

i wonder how his music will be today. will it be neat because of all of the change in the world? or will it be like neil young and his anti-war album. i'll have to watch this one and check out some songs on iTunes when he starts releasing them. wonder if any of his stuff will get any radio play.

working again

finally, at 11:09 am I got myself setup with a working environment! i can actually do some work. i feel like the most non-productive employee in the entire united states of america. except of course for those city employee that are on the payroll but actually don't do anything. now i'm going to have to kick ass all weekend long to get caught up. i'm about 2 weeks behind and we only have 3 weeks until go live! but actually, I only have about 10 hours of work to get through.

the mail

i had a stack of mail sitting on my counter today. I didn't go through any since i was gone last weekend and the mailbox was full from the past two days that i have been sick. i have a few questions . . .

1) Why is it that the credit card companies which I already have a credit card with are the ones who send me the most offers for new credit cards.

2) How many trees do magazine publications kill trying to get renewals? each magazine that i have which comes close to expiring starts sending letters for renewal and telling me it's my last chance for the last three months of the subscritpion. sometimes twice a week.

3) Can I really cash one of those checks for $96,000 that i get from people trying to get my to take a home equity line of credit with them? And how come they don't know I already have a HELOC someplace else and stop bugging me.

4) Why does National Geographic send out it's christmas card selection in September? buzz kill. i'm not ready for the holidays.

5) Is it harassment for my electric company to keep sending me disconnect notices before they send me the monthly bill? That is what I have been getting for the last three months. My monthly bill is like $225 or something and they keep trying to double it and get me to pay $450. They send out the disconnect notice on the 15th and the regular bill on the 24th. Isn't that crap? Finally, this month it seems that I have caught up or must have overpaid becaus it's only $67. Bonus! Now I can get some snow pants for my upcoming tahoe trip.

6) Which junk mail am I actually supposed to shred? All credit card applications? Or ones that already have my name on them or something. My shredded if full and it's a mess to empty. I'm not sure what the identity theft prevention things are.

surprise engagement

i'm so excited for my friend linda! i went into her office this morning to tell her i was back and we were talking about work for a few seconds and then she turn around in her chair with her left hand out and told me she go engaged on her birthday this past weekend! i am so damn happy for her. she is older and has a grown daughter. she's beeen on her own for several years and is a tough woman. she is someone i really look up to. we started working together in chicago and we moved down to tampa together. she's like a mother figure and has me over for all the holidays and includes me in everything so i don't have to be alone. when she met anthony i could tell right away how happy she was. the two of them totally light up around each other, even when they are doing the dishes. she was totally surprised! me too but i don't count. they will probalby have a wedding in april - after the holidays. they are going to "do it right" with a chapel and nice party. i am just so happy for them both. it is so nice she has found someone to spend the rest of her life with after being alone for so long.

i have a cold

wah . . . i'm miserable. deep, annoying cough, loaded sneezes and a runny nose. they actually sent me home from work cuz i was totally spreading germs. i started getting sick saturday night when i was out in san francisco. it really kicked in sunday night and my monday i was trashed. i was bummed because i couldn't even play with my buddy's son, which i was really looking forward to. i just didn't have the energy for a 3 year old and i also didn't want to get him sick. i did however climb up inside the mcdonald's playground with him and almost passed out because my lungs were all full with gunk and i couldn't breathe. and that shit isn't as easy as it looks. i think it's so cool that kids have so much fun eating chicken mcnuggets and running around in the park for about 15 minutes. it's a total american childhood experience.

back to me and my misery . . . my pets are ALL OVER ME cuz i've been gone. on dog is up in my face and won't even let me blow my nose without trying to get in there. the other one keeps trying to get me to play with her toy with her. and the damn bird is all over me. i know humans can't get sick from birds but they can get sick from us so i'm worried that he'll get sick from me. right now he's chewing the keys on the keyboard as i type -- little shit. but every time i blow my nose he says "peekaboo" cuz he thinks i'm playing. and he looks at me all crazy when i caugh.

i do have some work to do this afternoon. i left my laptop at work while i was gone so they could install some software but after four tries it still wont' install on my pc. so this afternoon i have to research the error and try to get it installed. what a waste of time. i have tons of actual coding to do but i can't do a damn thing since they uninstalled my software.

travel days . . .

so excited i'm going to san fran for the weekend but the travel stress is already starting. this morning the news said that the air travel on the east coast may be all messed up due to the hurricanes. i may be able to make it from tampa to miami with no problem, but i may get stuck in miami if my san fran plane is supposed to come from someplace else that can't take off. and since my flight isn't until 6pm, i'm afraid of the backup effect.

also, i left my sweater at home. i brought this sweater to wear as a jacked because it gets cold in san francisco. i coordinated all my other clothes i packed with this sweater. i was going to wear it on the plan so i didn't put it in my suitcase. left it at home. now i have to get something out there or maybe at the tampa airport . . . ha, ha. maybe i can get a pick hoodie that says tampa bay on it and wear that around. o god.

it was hard to say bye to my little charlie bird today. my dog taylor totallly knew i was leaving because i have had her long enough and traveled often enough that she knows suitcases mean i won't be back. the dog sitter is good though. but charlie bird wanted to play peek-a-boo. i did it once or twice and after he says peek-a-boo i always see "yeah, good boy!". today i only said yeah. and after the second time, as i went to hide me face for the third time, he said "tell me i'm a good boy!". i cracked up. i thought dogs were the best pets ever, but i can't explain how much i enjoy this little birdie. he's the one i go through separation sadness with. maybe cuz he's such a unique pet.

brandon flowers = ian curtis

i just figured out why i like the lead singer of the killers. he remids me of Ian Curtis, the lead singer from joy division who committed suicide in 1980.