Allison's Birthday 2002

I have found myself, of late, describing my scrapbooking style as clean, uncluttered, simple.....

Then I did this two page spread. Not sure what happened but the paper and embellishments got away on me and I couldn't get stopped. But then this is a birthday and birthdays are loud and crazy and fun and a party!!!

Yes this is my daughters 13th birthday celebrated with the family and a few strangers at Fuddruckers. I remember it being rather fun if not embarressing for the poor girl.

This is the girl getting married in 17 days!

I used the new Basic Grey Lime Rickey line "Fruit Fizzy", Cherry Cola" and Hobokin" 

I also used the Basic Grey birthday chipboard from the cupcake line which is a perfect match for the lime rickey match and we happen to have about four more of these packages on sale right now at the store. 

For fun I added a strip of paper from the Bo bunny line "It's my Party" how appropriate! I threw on a few flowers from K & Co Citronella.  

And this is the confusion that ensued. But it captures the moment. 

Have a blessed day everyone and remember....You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth. Deut  8:17-18a (NIV)

That's My King

And He is my KING!!!
Ask me about Him sometime.... I will do my best to describe the Creator of this world.

JSI spring Fling!

Hollywood glamour.... another fun day. 

Here are the pics. 

Sorry no pics of the big prize winners because I was on opening shift today which means that when I left, the party was still in full swing and the gals were enjoying all the wonderful hor d'oerves. 

Here ya go!

Okay - we did more than just eat....

Tim Holtz stamp'n

Make and takes

Prizes

Contests and lots of fun!

...and glamour!!!

And even I was there wearing my new cool sunglasses.

 Thanks to April for this shot. 

MMMM Good

MMMMM isn't that a lovely photo? It goes with the chocolate in my last post. 

I am dumping photos off my camera card this morning and just wanted to share this lovely one with you. Since I am running out the door 5 min ago, I will post further on the new roasting machine at Intermission Coffee House on central. 

I am dumping because I need a full 2 GB for the day. yes the convention at JSI is on and and the theme is Hollywood glamour!! The bling is out and we have turned on the class. 

So stay tuned because I will be taking a ton of photos and catching the "stars" as they work. 

I will post tonight...... because posting is such a breeze with my super dooper fast MAC!! ....and I know you want in on all the Hollywood glam stuff!!

5 Min chocolate cake? For Real!!

I saw this recipe for chocolate cake cooked in a mug in the microwave on Kate's blog and thought...can this be so????! But Kate said it worked so.....I thought I will have to try it. 

And the very next day we had guests for supper. Can I call my daughtrs fiance a guest anymore? I make him set the table now!!! And our good friend Ken the bachelor who needs to be fed now and then...well okay Ken is not lacking in the food dept - just the HOMEMADE food dept. Seriously, Ken, you are just fun to have over!!

So, after a stop at Cosco for the first time in 10 years (except to get my new glasses which is why I renewed my membership) I came home with $349 worth of stuff - BIG stuff. Dear husband reminded me of why I did not renew my membership 10 years ago. A whole other Blog item!!

I digress!

You would think I would have thought of something for dessert but the bulk buying kind of distracted me. 

Dinner was delicious.....fabulous!

After supper the guys settle in for a little hockey (the sit on the couch kind), but dear husband was craving something sweet (and not his wife at this particular moment)

 

He discovers that the chocolate covered almonds secretly stashed are gone from the bottom drawer of the dining room buffet - my fault! Dear daughter points out his upset mood at this discovery which really means "MOM where did the choc covered almonds go?" 

Some hiding place eh? The whole world now knows where they are - or were. 

So I get on the computer and download this recipe from Kates blog. 

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE
4 tablespoons flour 
4 tablespoons sugar 
2 tablespoons cocoa 
1 egg 
3 tablespoons milk 
3 tablespoons oil 
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional) 
A small splash of vanilla extract 
1 large coffee mug (MicroSafe)

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly.
Pour in the milk and oil and mix well..
Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again. Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts.
The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!
Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.EAT ! (this can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous).
And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world? Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night! 

Wonderful with vanilla ice Cream! The recipe is now in the kitchen basket of fav's! 

I followed it to the "T" - okay I added a little more chocolate chips - because!

And no, I did not eat the chocolate covered almonds -  I have a dress to fit into in three weeks remember? The chocolate covered almonds are, as I type, on a greyhound bus on their way to Thompson, Manitoba because what mother sends a package to her son and doesn't include some chocolate treats!!! I mean really!

The rest of the family will just have to get over it....and the chocolate in a mug I think softened the blow!

This is a must try treat. 

And you MUST let me know if you try it!!

Blessings to y'all!

More MAC progress

There hasn't been much time for laundry let alone blogging but I thought I would check in with y'all before heading to JSI for the day. 

Speaking of JSI - the place is abuzz  these days. The spring fling is this weekend and I tell ya the store is sooo busy we are having trouble getting all our fabulous and fun make 'n takes together...but it will all happen! 

Besides being at JSI I am picking up extra shifts at SHR as well since there is

  ahem....(cough, cough)  a new Mac to pay for, not to mention a wedding coming up in less than FOUR weeks. Am I ready? NO!!

David and I visited the almost newlyweds little basement apartment this Sunday and , well it is really cute.. and very small. They are both so thrilled with the gifts that are pouring in for them and their kitchen while teeny weeny, is getting well stocked with dishes, cutlery, pots and pans and a variety of other items. 

The Mac - well I have now converted all my Outlook files, addresses, sub files and sub, sub files over to Mac Mail thanks to a nifty program called O2M

I also have converted all my Word Doc and they are nicely installed on the MAC and workable in NeoOffice. 

My photos are all on the Mac too and Photoshop and Lightroom installed and working. YEAH!!!! 

Internet  - Safari is working beautifully and I was able to figure out (thanks to a very helpful Mac site) how to transfer all my millions of saved favs from Firefox on my PC to Safari on my Mac. 

Mac also has a very nifty feature called Time Machine which continually keeps my Mac copied onto an external hard drive - and it is up and running .

All this to say that I am pretty darn impressed with myself....although it has meant spending a LOT of time in the help menus!!! And figuring out why my HP Photosmart printer files look soooo very different on my MAC - I will accept it though because the printer is working and I was able to print off pictures of the almost newlyweds last night. 

I am still having some issues with my Mac recognizing my Wacom tabet - it did beautifully.... until  I rebooted and then it went back to the Mac mouse and forgot the tablet was there. hmmmmm

All right then - that brings you up to date on this exciting life of mine!! 

Off for the wedding gown fitting (if the bride gets out of bed in the next 15 min) and then to work.  

Hope you are enjoying the beginnings of spring. Time to get those bicycles out of the garage! .....and rake the garden, wash off the deck furniture, hose the grime off the house, check those down spouts and re-shingle the house. Yup - we let that one go for the past two years and it REALLY needs doing on this 30 year old home...so when we have recovered from the wedding we will be re-shingling!!! maybe in 2015? haha.

Have a blessed day everyone. 

Blessings!

Julie

A man's pride brings him low, but a man of lowly spirit gains honor. Proverbs 29:23  (NIV)

Love my MAC

I am spending every available evening hour of this current six day work week (yes I even worked Easter Monday) on my new Mac.... and loving it! Wow... this machine is just so much fun! I am in the process, thanks to my computer genius friend Clay, of converting all my Outlook and Word docs over to my Mac. Learning lots as I go and still so much more to learn. My brain is on overload. But oh this computer is fast! 

And I am so looking forward to doing some creative stuff on this computer!!

So much to discover...so little time. 

So here are a few pics from our recent whirlwind visit to Victoria to see my Mom and Dad and our kids. 

David's morning mocha at Serious Coffee!

My Latte with David's whipping cream on it. 

Some views from our morning walks along the ocean

Victoria harbor with the Empress Hotel on the right. 

B.C. Legislative buildings

Niagra Falls

Have a blessed day everyone. 

Spring WILL come.

My tulips WILL poke through one of these days....

MIA, Computer woes, painting and Fed Ex.

I have been MIA - because my lemon of a computer is just giving up the ghost. It has been a lemon since I purchased it three years plus ago. But just got slower and s l o w e r and s l o w e r and I could stand it no more!!!

My son has revamped it three times and it works just fine for two weeks and then goes back to molasses mode.








It is painful. Painfully s l o w.....


AVG takes over seven hours to complete for just one example of what slow mode is. ..... This is down right painful for a type A like me.

I mean, how long can a person wait for her blog to open let alone post to it!!! I have over 200 posts in my Google Reader I have not read yet. I am totally disconnected from the world and it is....well it is actually allowing me to get a few things done around here. ...like argue on the phone with fed Ex..

The Fed Ex Story.

This will be one short lived account with this company.

While in Victoria last week my sweetheart thought we should look at Mac Computers (isn't this guy just a gem!!! - and he is all mine!!!)

Victoria has about 15 Mac stores. Saskatoon has one! Yes ONE!!! I see a business opportunity here in this growing metropolis!!

With computer expert son Paul along, DH and I visited the biggest Mac store there called SOHO and they had a VERY good salesman - Greg.

Greg was Soooo good that he had my PC accountant type husband and my totally PC Linux son sold on an Apple computer in about 35 minutes. I just stood there with my mouth open.

It took my son and husband about 5 min to convince me that yes I should buy this fantabulous loaded Mac and ship it to Saskatoon. Aint she a beaut!!!

Um, like was this really happening???

Enter FedEx woes. They messed up on the pick up - adamantly refused to admit it and so my computer is supposed to arrive today, Monday - and I have to be at work by 11:30 so it had better be here by then.

I am paying big bucks for a two day delivery - It was supposed to be picked up last Tuesday for delivery LAST Thursday!! But they picked it up on Wednesday and what with Easter weekend that two day delivery charge means it arrives Monday - today.

Suffice it to say I am fed Up with Fed Ex - unless my complaint is appropriately dealt with. But seriously - what does Fed Ex care about little ol me. Some day however, I may be rich and famous and shipping tons of framed photos around the world - then they will be sorry!!!

I have some really cool photos from our Victoria visit - however until I am up and running on my Mac, they will stay on my compact flash.

This is a huge transition for me....... like I will now need Photoshop for Mac. Working on that now.

So san computer I have been painting walls and ceilings instead.

Yup - the almost newlyweds have taken our old queen waterbed for their new 400 sq ft aprt (without a dishwasher) (insert chuckling from the parents here)

And the parents now have a new very cushy KING bed. And man is it a big bed! WOW ...hello??? are you there dear????

But first I needed to paint the bedroom - including the ceiling - NEVER again will I paint a ceiling with thick gooey white oil paint. Although this may mean I get a new floor in the bedroom since getting oil paint out of carpet requires a whole lot of elbow grease and mineral spirits.
Next time, however, I will hire the pros. But it is done and those white spots on the carpet are...well there, but probably only I will notice them.

The new wall colour (Elk) is spectacular - thanks to the fantastic advice from Debbie and the Benjamin Moore store!!! We both love it!

Yeah!!! We bought and installed new blinds and white sheers from Home Depot - steal of a deal especially after getting a quote from a drapery place. Um like are you kidding??? We are talking one window here, not the whole house!

Friday night after two frantic days of painting my love of 30 years and I installed the window dressings ourselves....yes there were some testy moments - all my fault - but I am blaming it on the type A and blogging withdrawal not to mention an hours worth of "discussion" with very stubborn Fed Ex "people" the day before. Oh and five nights on the hide-a-bed which can push anyone over the limit!!

We reconciled quickly!! DH and I that is. I mean - really the King bed was arriving Saturday morning!!!

Add two new lamps, and a spectacular teeny chandelier still to arrive and be installed by future son-in-law soon to be electrician (my daughter chose wisely). I can't wait to post a photo of the chandelier. Our room looks soooo romantic!!

I will post the before and aft pics as soon as it is all done.

And now I am going to attempt to upload this to the blog.....It may still be uploading when I get home from work but I will try anyways.

Have a blessed day everyone.

Victoria 2009

I am sharing some Pictures I took the other day at Niagara Falls - not the Ontario Niagara Falls - the Victoria B.C. Niagara Falls.

It is beautiful there and I had a chance to take in my tripod and try out some slow shutter speed.

The spray was so refreshing! The air was full of Oxygen.

So pretty!

My sweetheart and I ran away for five days thanks to Kayak. Check it out!

I am here to see my Mom and Dad which I need to do at least once a year. We also get to see my son and d-in-law too - and feed them because they like to go out for Sushi too!!

What is it about food that I just love to photograph!!

Love my tripod and remote trigger!

Back to reality tomorrow.


Wedding plans and too many things to book for that momentous day.
Since we gave our bed to the "almost" newlyweds, (we are sleeping on the hide-a-bed when at home) our new bed will be delivered in five days - I have two days to paint the whole bedroom and get new curtains up. And I am in Victoria right now.


I am milking these five days away for all it's worth...long walks and too much food. Good long visits with Mom and Dad.


Life is good! I am blessed!
I hope you all find joy in your day today.

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.1 John 4:11 (NIV)