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)

Penny Lane

I finished another page Sunday evening. It works well to scrapbook while you are waiting for the dryer to finish and get those permanent Press shirts out fast.

It is always fun to use new paper and I am liking the new My Mind's Eye Penny Lane line. It is also a bonus to be using photos from the past year!! The flowers are from K and Company and Bazzill. Remember when metal was the rage?? Well I came across some in the stash and so I am restarting the fad again. Dig out those metal embellishments ladies!!

David and I like to take the bicycles out for a ride on Saturday mornings. I take my camera knapsack and stop often for photos - David is very patient with me. I think he just appreciates the opportunity to catch his breath. hehe

So here we are along the river paths - just one picture of me because I am the one with the camera.

the journaling reads...

David and I enjoy our Saturday morning dates. Usually it is a walk up to Intermission House for a coffee and biscuit. But when the roads are clear of ice and snow, we get our bikes out and go for a ride. On this summer morning we headed north on Central Ave and then headed down to the paths along the Saskatchewan River. The hour out on our bikes is a good enough work out for us and always involves a stop at Rob’s Intermission House for a coffee before heading back home and into our day.

more Bisous PDQ Shabby line

You know, the trouble with this line of paper is that both side are so gorgeous and I want to use them both. I hate to put the back side face down in the album. What a waste of beautiful paper.

I hear this often at the store and I have told numerous customers that "you just have to get over it".

I should take my own advice, but I am having trouble doing that this time. I love the other side of this paper. I may just have to get some and use it!!

OR figure out what will go next in the scrapbook and scrapbook the back - however I do dislike being limited to where I put my pages and this efficient method does that to me.

Isn't this just fun paper?? I just have so many ideas for it and I love the colors...so I am going to have to buy this again because right now this beautiful paper is on the back side of my recent two page layout. What a shame. Do any of you struggle with this??

This is the other side and what I started with....

I had eleven pictures to squeeze on to two pages so a lot of neat stuff was covered up. But c'est la vie ~ another 2002 summer afternoon up at Emerald lake eating too much food, sitting in the sun and water skiing is now in the archives.

The end result.... Friends, Food, Fun Emerald Lake 2002

Penny Lane from My Mind's Eye

I managed to squeeze in one more layout and this time I used current photos and the new Penny Lane line from my Mind's Eye. Love the girly colours in this line and so much fun to do.

Allison got a nice bouquet of Gerber daisies from her fiance.

My scan cut off the bottom a tad.

bZoo PDQ means Pretty Darn Quick!

If you are in a bit of a creative funk...or even if you aren't, I have THE line of paper for you. bZOO (bisous) PDQ "shabby" line is pretty new in at JSI and it really does all the creative thinking for you. Just find the best place to lay your photos, distress the edges a tad and then add your own embellishments and you have a layout 'pretty darn quick'(ly). :)
Rub-ons, flowers, tags, a little felt fusion - just go through the stash and have fun!

I had some old photos from 2002 that left much to be desired and this paper just brought them alive! I love all three of these layouts and was very surprised at how well these old, poor photos turned out.

...love this fun birthday page. I had only three pictures and was really wondering how I was going to make Mark's birthday into something fun - voila!

I used alcohol ink on the heart to tie it in with the word 'family' on this tag from the stash, added some rub-ons and she was done.

And the irony of it all? Do you know where I got my inspiration from? The back cover of the recent Canadian Scrapbooker Basics vol 3. I noticed a cool layout on the back cover and wondered how they had done the layout - bZoo paper with added embellishments.
Hey! I thought. I have that paper.
I had three layouts in a couple of hours. And if you are stuck for embellishment ideas, bZoo has some chipboard embellies that match the paper (just above the paper at JSI). Now, how easy and cool is that?

I am working this evening and so you know I will be grabbing a few more papers for my 2002 photos.

And a HAPPY ST PATRICKS DAY to all of you.
Our background will be green today....or until I have time to change it back!

Who was St Patrick? He was a missionary to Ireland between 457-492. He used the indigenous shamrock (three-leaf clover) to explain the Trinity to the Celts. Three leaves, one clover; three persons, one God. Smart guy!

The Monitor Wins!

I got my new monitor.... a Samsung SyncMaster T240 24-inch Widescreen LCD Monitor.
London Drugs had a very nice sale on in the computer department this weekend and I was able to get a my new monitor at a great price. My sweetheart also picked me up a 500 Gb portable external hard drive (I hinted - actually I phoned LD and had it put aside because the price was an incredible $130.00).

I am calling it all part of the birthday package along with the monitor. Dear husband is happy that I am happy and I am happy that he is happy and it is all good! Everybody is happy!!!
Now not only can I see all the photos I am editing in Lightroom 2, I can save all those precious photos to a hard drive outside my computer because if I ever lost my computer - yikes - I don't want to think about it!

And isn't that all just so much more practical then a diamond ring??

My new monitor is, well, big and pretty and wow so fun to work on.

Aint she a beaut.

Spent an evening on the phone with computer expert son walking me through an upgrade for my graphics card to get er working. This 52 year old soon to be a grandma can now open a computer and tell you the difference between the motherboard and the graphics card ~ very proud of myself. Even more proud of the fact that I was able to crawl under my desk with a flashlight holding a phone under my chin- to figure this all out and get back out again without getting stuck - it was close I tell ya. Note to self - add a few more yoga classes to the gym schedule!

The specs because I know you are dieing to know!

• Resolution: 1920 x 1200 (WUXGA)
• Brightness: 300 cd/m²
• Contrast Ratio: DC 20000:1 (1000:1) (Typ.) THIS is good!!
• Viewing Angle(Horizontal/Vertical): 160º/160º (CR>10)
• Response time: 5 ms that's milliseconds - this is pretty good - but not so important for photo editing. Gamers on the other hand would be impressed but MY computer is off limits to all gamers. Ya hear? Off limits!!
• Stand function: Swivel, tilt

Birthdays are fun especially when you get to pick out your own birthday present. I have learned that waiting for a surprise from my dear husband does not bring about the best results... remember last years birthday???
So this year I was prepared!! And it worked out just fine!

Hard to believe another year has flown by. A few more wrinkles/grey hairs. A few more experiences. Many more blessings. But the best blessing of all - His son Jesus Christ. God is so good to me!!

Have a wonderful day everyone.

Cool photos

Photographer Neil Creek was invited into the town of Kinglake to photograph the destruction of the devastating bush fires of Black Saturday that engulfed much of Victoria, Australia.

Visit his blog and read his very interesting and humbling account of this photographic journey.

His article can also be found at Digital Photography School

Photo by Neil Creek

Planet S magazine is looking for the Best of Saskatoon ...and other stuff.

I know, I have been MIA...but with work at two jobs, workouts in the wee hours of the morning and working bees of cutting and gluing wedding invitations...well there has been little time at the keyboard; except for those wedding invitations and photo editing and all that stuff.
But it is Friday - YAHOO!! And I have an hour or so here. I also have a few piles of dirty laundry...especially that gym gear!

But on to the important things...

Planet S magazine is looking for your opinion on the “Best of Saskatoon.” Voting is easier than ever – you can submit your choices by email. Here are the rules:
1. Click on the email link below and then send.
2. They send a return message to your in box.
3. You Click Reply and a list of the categories will appear along with space for you to tell them who you are.
4. Fill out at least 30 categories, your name, address, phone and email.
5. Click Send!

You get to vote on all your fave places in this great city of Saskatoon...sorry this leaves all you non Saskatoonians out of the game.
Your ballot automatically enters you to win a food & fashion prize package.
More than $700 worth of Saskatoon’s best dining and fashion!
Here is the link: bestof@planetsmag.com


My birthday is on Monday - I will be 52 and proud of it!! Dear husband is wracking his brain about what to get me and I, being practical as I am, have my eye on a gorgeous diamond ring!! But as a backup I am asking for a new computer monitor so I can see all my work so much better as I figure out Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.
I'll let you know the verdict on Tuesday. We are going to Truffles for supper Monday night!!

If you have any expertise in the area of monitors for photo editing, please leave me a comment with any suggestions, warnings or otherwise helpful ideas. And the budget is less than the diamond ring.

Speaking of Lightroom - I lied. I have been doing more than just typing wedding invitations. I have spent some time clicking my way around Lightroom 2 and many tutorials. This program is looking pretty slick!!

Now I am back to thinking about that Olympus E-3 again...or the E-30????

Boy, just how much stuff can you pack into one week. I feel like I need another holiday especially with the weather this week!! But it was good to see the temps inch their ways to the melting point today.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone. Get out and enjoy this balmy weather!