Wow, Christmas is practically here! Thank goodness I finished printing the holiday cards. I also designed matching return address labels. I still have to address the envelopes since I go all old-school and do NOT print the "to" address labels like so many people seem to do these days.

Can I just say that I'm a bit saddened by the trends in holiday cards that I am seeing. First of all, I'm all for adorable photos of kids, truly I am. And I'm VERY understanding of being busy this time of year. But there are two trends that really bum me out:

1) Holiday cards printed by places like Snapfish, Shutterfly, etc. with no handwritten note, no holiday letter giving me info on what people have been up to, and printed "to" and "from" address labels on the envelope. It feels so impersonal. Some of these people I don't get to see regularly at all, so a little bit of "hey, here's what we've been up to" would be SO NICE! Maybe that's why I still hand-write the address on the envelopes myself. For that personal touch. Don't get me wrong -- love getting the cards. But I am bit bummed when that's all there is.

And as I said earlier, I understand being busy. I know this is as a result of that. But still... send 'em later and let me know what you've been up to! Please!

[Edited: I just want to say that every year, Mike and I send out a two-sided extensive holiday newsletter with multiple photos. It's quite the undertaking, but we continue to do it every year because we actually get a ton of requests and/or "can't wait to see the holiday" newsletter notes from people this time of year...]

2) Holiday cards printed by places like Snapfish, Shutterfly, etc. that are photos just of the kids. People exempt from my ranting on this topic are: people I see on a regular basis AND people who blog and thus show me photos of themselves on a somewhat regular basis. Now, here's why this bothers me. I'm friends with (or Mike is friends with) the person sending the card. Not the kids. Actually, it would be REALLY creepy if we were friends with the kids in the photo and not their parents, right? See, I want to see what YOU look like now IN ADDITION to seeing your kids. Seeing your offspring is cool -- I get to do the old, "Oh, junior looks so much like his daddy!" routine. This amuses me.

But I also want to see what my friends look like now, too. If I haven't seen you in a few years, this is important to me. Mike and I have both moved around a lot, so we have friends scattered all over the place. I don't care if you think you look old or fat or worse-for-the-wear. I do too, and I show you what I look like in my holiday card, so I want to see you in yours. Take a FAMILY photo, PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(And throw a quick xeroxed note in there about what you've been doing, too, while you're at it. A pox on people who make fun of holiday newsletters -- I don't live in the same place as most of my friends, so I value newsletters highly... even the ones where it's all roses and puppy dogs and happiness and kids that excel at everything they do... [ok, I would, just once, love to get a holiday newsletter that was totally honest like mine always are... do it, people! C'mon!!!! A few of Mike's friends send holiday newsletters that are witty and real and I love reading them every year.])

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When we were growing up, there was a long-standing family joke -- I have no idea where/when/how it started, that we would send a parcel of joke cards to my aunt. My mom would save the freebie sample cards that came in the mail with faux names printed in them. And we'd gather around the table, the four of us, and write faux holiday notes in each of them based on a completely fictional family. We'd end up giggling like maniacs as we composed them.

They were hysterically funny -- the kids were always screwed up, as were the parents, and the notes talked about their foibles and follies and fake achievements too. The sorts of things you'd never tell people about were always fair game in these cards, and we'd spin yarns and more yarns about these faux people. This amused us endlessly, probably even moreso than it did my aunt who received them in one envelope in the mail. We stopped doing that when my brother and I graduated and moved out of the house, but maybe next year I'll surprise my aunt and send her an envelope full of faux cards with fictional families' years documented therein. And maybe I'll send some to my brother and my parents too, for old times' sake.

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I'm making GREAT progress on the one remaining holiday gift I am making. I can't say anything else here about it because the recipient does read my blog on occasion. Suffice it to say, I've known I wanted to do this for months now and am FINALLY getting it done. I have a little bit more to do on the computer, and then the rest is all hybrid, baby! Break out the glue and the scissors and the ribbon and doo-dads. I hope to finish the digital portion in the next few hours, print all of the pieces, and then assemble it tomorrow afternoon. Thank goodness I'm officially on vacation today! So I can do this without any day-job guilt.

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The Altered Art Chicks first annual holiday extravaganza Wednesday night was a blast! I cleaned my house for the chicks, set a table with placemats, Santa napkins, holiday plates and bowls, and everything. Yeah, I know... craziness. I'm sure they thought they were in the wrong house. Our usual gatherings are more along the lines of going over to somebody's house, no cleaning done beforehand, eating off of the paper plates, etc. So I glammed it up a bit and would have gone all Martha and decorated the table if I'd had easier access to holiday decor items. Instead I put a lovely Christmas spice candle on the table and a poinsettia plant our neighbors gave us. Very festive.

Audrey brought firecracker favors, but none of us could get ours to do the loud "pop" sound they were supposed to do. Darn! Still, they were filled with goofy little surprises. It's a toss-up who had the best thing: Melissa's wacky whistle or Audrey's pirate tattoos. All of the favors had paper crowns in them, which we all decided was very altered, so we wore them for dinner AND for photos later. You didn't think we wouldn't photograph the event, now, did you? Yes, here are the chicks, crowns and all (left to right: Melissa, Krista, Audrey) -- how cute are we? (Rhetorical question!)

I had a LONG list of holiday stuff I needed to get done over the weekend, and I made a really good dent in it. Right now, I'm printing the holiday letter/cards. This is quite the endeavor because the double-sided matte photo paper I love (Staples brand) refuses to feed in my printer. So I have to HAND-FEED. This gets REALLY tedious when you have 150 double-sided cards to print. So I reach over every minute and push the next sheet in. I think I'm getting a great workout in my left arm. Maybe I'll have to sit with my back to the computer when I print the other side so that I don't have much larger muscles in my left arm from all of that reaching and pushing I'm doing.

So, I still have to do a major craft gift. I won't get to it until Thursday at the earliest, so I'm a wee bit freaked out by the fact that I will be putting it together so late. I never do things this late. I simply haven't had time to get to it sooner. I almost finished the other craft gift over the weekend, so I am making some progress.

The reason I won't get to it sooner is because tonight I have a holiday party. Wednesday night I have a holiday party. And tomorrow night I will be cleaning and baking cookies since Wednesday's party is here.

I'll probably still be printing holiday cards at that point. It's a loooooong process. So, if you are expecting a card from me, it'll likely be late. And if you get a card from me, you are a very lucky individual because I cut my list down a bit this year to save a few trees (people I hadn't heard from in years? Off the list...).

On a somewhat related topic, my brother got his cards on Friday and he said they turned out AWESOME! Like really really really super great. So I can't wait to get the one he sends me in the mail to see the results. I'll probably go that route next year -- I just have to have myself in gear earlier on that particular front is all. So, here's some free advertising for the company who printed them: Overnight Prints. They printed full-color, full-bleed, double-sided cards (only place I could find online who would do that)... outside is glossy, inside is matte. And apparently gorgeous. So use them!!!

Yes, I'm here, serving a warm slice of life, a la mode if you want it.

What I am doing right now, in the midst of the excitement that is my life:

1) eating a Braeburn apple with a little peanut butter on it for lunch.

2) listening to aural yumminess on my iTunes in the form of Neil Finn (HUGE surprise, that, huh?), The Tragically Hip, Gomez, Collective Soul, and lots of others. Great soundtrack. My iTunes is scarily Neil-heavy though, so I'm slowly rectifying that even though I have no more room on my Nano. I listen to iTunes all the time during my work day now, so I need to stock it more/better/deeper. I also linked it to Last.fm for when I want someone else to give me some musical surprises based on stuff I like. Fun!

3) contemplating what I'm going to write for the holiday letter... still need to do that.

4) contemplating the two crafty gifts I still need to finish VERY soon.

5) going through a few work emails and glancing at my long to-do list for the rest of the afternoon.

6) listening to the rain/sleet combo hitting my window and hoping the power stays on in this ice/rain/snow storm.

7) charging my cell phone (in case the power does indeed go out so I'll have a fully charged phone).

8) trying to decide what treats to make for the Altered Art Chicks holiday party next week (Audrey's bringing the penne with vodka sauce, Melissa's bringing the salad, and I'm in charge of "treats").

9) wondering when I'm going to have time to do my part of the next SBG collaborative kit (I have started my portion, but when will I finish it in time for the deadline?????).

10) trying to get over the fact that Madonna is being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame next year when Rush hasn't even been nominated yet. Don't get me wrong, I like me some Madonna (especially early stuff), but Rush has egregiously been overlooked for the Rock Hall thus far. That's all I'm sayin'...

Hope your a la mode hasn't melted already. Eat up.

And share your current slice of life in the comments... What're you doing right now/thinking about/concentrating on?

The "h" is in the subject line for a reason... I'll get to that in a few...

But first, I wanted to answer Rachelle's question, who asked where we had my brother's holiday cards printed... I went with Overnight Prints, as it was the first and only place I could find online (and we didn't have time to research local options) that would print both sides full-bleed and full color. Most other places would print the front and maybe one panel inside. But that left a good bit of the design out in the dust. Never used this place before, so we'll find out soon if it was worthy or not. My brother should be getting his cards early next week, I believe.

I'm still working on my card. I got the lion's share of the design done, but I still have to write my portion of the letter, and Mike has to write his portion as well. A few years ago, when I started designing my own stuff, I combined the card and the letter into one piece. So it's a holiday card... but wait, there's more... it's also a holiday letter. Two great tastes that taste great together. Yeah, we do the old holiday letter routine. I still get a ton of "can't wait to read your letter" comments from friends, so I hope we're not annoying everyone with them. I know people who find holiday letters obnoxious. Me, I think they're a great way to catch up with people we don't see that often, so I like them and continue to send them.

Although this year's letter is bound to be a little bit of a downer, but it can't be helped.

Ok, now on to the topic at hand. I've actually had this topic in my back pocket for a while now. Just waiting for the day that I would unleash it on my poor unsuspecting blog readers. (Kidding.)

I don't mean to go off on a rant here (yes, quoting my man Dennis Miller!), but what is up with everyone adding an "h" to words where it doesn't belong? Since when did "straight" come to be pronounced "shtraight"? When did "strong" segue to "shtrong"? And on a similar topic, when did "forward" drop the first R to become "foward" in pronunciation circles????? This is a pet peeve of mine... this H adding and R dropping. I feel like one of the only people on the planet who still keeps that first R in "forward." I have noticed both of these things many, many, MANY times on TV, radio, in movies... it's everywhere, it seems. I notice it because it drives me batty.

I'm sure I say things that other people think sound weird or stupid. I'll be the first to admit that I use the word "like" entirely too much when I... like... talk. My Dad busts me on that one regularly. But please, people, I beg of you, don't add extra letters where they weren't before this when you say words!

Hands up who does this H adding and/or R dropping. I know there have to be some of you reading this who do. When did you start and why? I'm very curious how this happened...

**Special note: Anyone from Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Ireland are exempt from the above. Many of you have always said an "h" in those words for as long as I can remember. Apparently your friends in the United States picked it up within the last year or two as well... It doesn't seem to be a regional thing either -- I hear people from all over the country doing it...**

Rant over.

You know, I spend so much of my day job reaching out to press people, only to get no reply back. No acknowledgment, no response, no "thanks, but no thanks." Don't get me wrong, I hear back from plenty of folks. But at the same time, there are those who just don't give me any indication of whether they have an iota of interest in the artist I'm contacting them about.

It's fine. I'm used to it. It's part and parcel of what I do.

Aside from getting to babble on a daily basis about music and get paid for it, I think the most satisfying thing about my job is when a really great press placement happens. I get almost giddy when I see my band's name in print and know that I am responsible for it being there.

So imagine my giddiness when one of the bands on the label I work with, a band called Psychostick, was mentioned in USA Today today (4th paragraph). Ah yeah, pretty darn happy!

That is my satisfaction in my day job. Stuff like that. So today was pretty groovy day job-wise.

My brother would probably not admit it willingly, but I really do rock. I spent a large portion of my weekend working on a holiday card for him and my sister-in-law (third year in a row). This is no simple only-the-front-is-decorated card. No, no, no... it's the front, it's the back, and it's the entire inside. A double-sided masterpiece. I finished and got final approval (after three drafts) last night.

And then because I'm even cooler, better, and more awesome still, I found a site that would print them and uploaded the order for my brother (because the site I'd originally sent him to to print it wouldn't do full front/back and full inside printing that he needed). I did all of this before I even THOUGHT about my own holiday card/letter.

I am an awesome sister. I say this here because I fully intend to send a link to this blog post to my brother and he really SHOULD leave me a comment telling me, in a public forum, how awesome I really am. I deserve it.

I won't share the results of my hard work here, though, because it's his to send out. But it turned out really sweet. The inside looks like a gallery with all of the photos in frames.

So, I still have to do my own card. And then, maybe, just maybe, I'll get back to the kit I started designing last month and deserted due to holiday insanity and busy-ness.

In the interest of sharing some eye candy today, though, how about some goodies from my Creative Team chickadees?!?!?

First up is this gorgeousness from Melinda Staley:

(full credits here)

And then there's this beauty from Lilian:

(full credits here)

Yes, I realized recently that I'm getting old. Don't get me wrong... I still feel like I'm 25 most days. But I'll get these occasional smack-me-upside-the-head reminders that time marches on and stops for nothing and nobody.

No, no, I'm not ready for AARP... yet. But in my quest for healthier living, I've been trying to find some additional exercise things that float my boat. Besides walking and Pilates. Things I can do at home, because I am just not the type to go somewhere to exercise. Well, I thought to myself, "Self, what do you like to do?" Besides swimming, that is, which requires a pool. Don't have one of those. I used to love to do stuff like cartwheels and gymnastics on the lawn when I was younger. Somehow, the thought of trying that now gives me visions of emergency room visits, so probably not the best idea. I used to love jumping rope when I was younger, but then puberty hit, and well, suffice it to say, jumping rope isn't the most comfortable endeavor anymore.

So, what was left? Hula hoop! (Sometimes spelled Hoola... either is considered acceptable -- I checked.) I used to be REALLY good at hula hooping when I was younger. I could hula hoop for a really long time. And I thought it would be a really good ab workout. Hula hoop in front of the TV for a half hour. Fun and almost not like exercise, I thought. I tried to buy one in September, only to find out that they are considered a "seasonal" item and they were out of them after what was a apparently a big summer rush on hula hoops. So I asked my Mom if she still had my old hula hoop. She said she did. Score!

Well, when I was home for Thanksgiving, I was playing in the basement with my nephews. Saw the hula hoop. Tried the hula hoop. Realized very quickly that the herniated disc I had from a car accident over ten years ago (which occasionally gives me grief but is usually fine) was NOT going to allow me to hula hoop for more than about 20 seconds without doing some serious damage. So, I quickly hung up said hoop and called it a day.

Goodbye, sweet hula hoop. We had so much fun back in the day, didn't we? I'm afraid we can't hang out anymore like we used to though. Sad, really. I would have liked to be friends again.

And I'm still seeking another workout option... Too bad my Mom doesn't have my old Lemon Twist.

So while we were driving to Boston on Saturday, a song came on Sirius that I've heard a gazillion times... I adore it to pieces. It's called "Alex Chilton" and it's by The Replacements. And part of the chorus goes like this:

They sing I'm in love
What's that song
I'm in love
With that song

And as I watched the landscape of Connecticut slide past the car window, I pondered those lyrics. They've always resonated with me. I've blogged about the way some music makes me feel... like I have a serious crush on the music. And then there are times when you just love a certain song so much.

In the interest of full disclosure, I was going to Boston to see the band I'm going to talk about here when that Replacements song just filled my ears and my mind with thoughts about how there are certain songs I love so very much. I've known Sister Hazel for years now -- I was their first publicist and I worked with them during the "All For You" era. You know the song... you've probably heard it a zillion times over the years. I always felt like they were my brothers. We're all a similar age and I always had a blast when I spent time with them.

Fast forward to last year, and I got the chance to work with them again (and still am). There is a certain comfort level there, having known them for so long... there is a lot of mutual admiration and respect between them and me. I realized that night at the show that, even though I have always liked Sister Hazel's music a great deal and adore the guys in the band, there are two songs of theirs that have crossed the line for me: they are songs about which I could say "I'm in love with that song."

Which ones are they? The first is a song called "Champagne High." I first heard that song live long before it was released on an album. I'd flown down to Nashville just for a quick overnight trip to take the booker for Conan O'Brien's show to see the band. And I remember being utterly gobsmacked by that song the first time I heard it. Like jaw on the floor, "I can't believe how good this song is" sort of thing. I still prefer the song live to the version that ended up on their album "Fortress" (although I do love the strings on that version and hearing Emily of the Indigo Girls on backing vocals is pretty darn sweet). Somewhere in my office I have an even earlier demo version of the song on a disc, and I played it over and over and over again. That song still, to this day, gives me all sorts of chills to hear it. I'm in love with that song.

The other song is called "Your Winter." The song also first appeared on "Fortress" (and was also in the movie "10 Things I Hate About You"). The first time I heard the song, I was driving home from my last day of work at the label, ready to embark on my indie publicity career, and the A&R guy for the band had dubbed a copy of the album for me to hear super early. I remember being blown away by the song the first time I heard it, but this one was a bit more of a grower too and really got under my skin on repeated listens. It would be safe to say I am very much in love with that song.

So while I was at the show Saturday night, I videotaped the performance of that song. I'm sorry to say that the people in the row in front of me talked during part of it, but it's still a great video and the audio turned out pretty well considering I shot it on my point-and-shoot Canon.

I also took some still photos at the show... here is a slide show of them:

Any other Sister Hazel fans out there?

Not much new and exciting out this way. Had a whirlwind of a weekend... VERY fun, but I came home from my trip utterly exhausted. Was still tired yesterday...

Right now, I'm waiting for a work call. You know, when you are expecting the phone to ring any second and you just know if you start something else, the phone will ring and you'll be interrupted. So I'm doing puttering stuff until the phone does ring. With my luck, it won't ring. At least I'm being remotely productive (does blogging count in the productive realm?).

I finally feel like I have a handle on my holiday gift list after doing some online shopping (only have a few more things to get). And I'm wondering what books my Mom got me for Christmas because she has called me five times in the past few days to ask, "Do you have this book?" And she's asked about so many at this point that I could be getting virtually anything (well, anything in the scrapbooking/altered art/ATC/hybrid crafting categories). I'm pretty sure she didn't get me "War & Peace." Very exciting stuff!!

Yes, consider that subject line to be said in the vein of "Hello, Cleveland!" from the too-brilliant-for-words movie, This Is Spinal Tap. If you haven't seen it, run, now, and get it from Netflix or your movie purveyor of choice. The DVD version has THE FUNNIEST commentary track I've ever heard. The actors do the entire thing IN CHARACTER! I feel like I've already blogged about this. Forgive me if I'm repeating myself. It's just a REALLY FUNNY MOVIE, and it bears seeing if you dig music.

So, I'm here, but just for a moment. I have meetings and a photo shoot and all sorts of stuff dragging me out of the office today (photo shoot, I might add, is of one of my bands... not of me). I say dragging because I have SOMUCHWORK to do that I'm stressed out that I won't be in the office to do some of it. Which is why I've already been on the computer for a few hours this morning... Frantically trying to get ahead, which we all know is an exercise in the impossible. I only have a few minutes before I have to run upstairs and finish getting ready. Not enough time to start a work task, but just enough time to babble here for five minutes. Good thing I type fast.

It's going to be a busy weekend. Mike and I are headed up to Boston to see Sister Hazel, which is a work trip for me. While we are there, we are having dinner with my Crowded House/Neil Finn fan pal, Sarah. When we get back, we promptly head off to Melissa G's birthday celebration on Sunday. It's going to be a very busy weekend.

I'm a bit freaked out when I look at my holiday list and realize how far behind I am on everything this year. I'm one of those freaky people who is usually done with her gift shopping by Thanksgiving. And this year? Not even close. I need to get a move on, but the soonest I can do anything shopping-esque is not until NEXT weekend. I hope to finish then, but we'll see.

Ok, my five minutes is up. Better scoot. Have a good day and a good weekend all!

Greetings and salutations from chilly but sunny New Jersey. Please disregard the remaining leaves on the lawn... they blew there from the neighbors' yards. Really. (Ok, maybe half of them did.) It's getting so late in the season that they may not be raked until spring. Because there is the off-chance that the wind could blow them BACK into the neighbors' yards and then we won't have to rake them at all, right?

So I got home Sunday night, and I spent virtually ALL DAY Monday catching up on email. Because, you see, I did the unthinkable. I didn't turn on, think about, or get near my laptop the ENTIRE FOUR DAYS I WAS GONE. Yeah, go back and read that sentence again. I know it's unbelievable. I usually at least download my emails even if I don't read them. But I realized I really hadn't had "vacation" time this year... even when I'd been traveling, I was still working and extremely connected. This was my first real time for vacation... where it would be perfectly acceptable and understood that I would not respond until Monday. So I took advantage of that fact... to the extreme. It was blissful and wonderful, but it also meant a LOT of catch-up on Monday when I finally did turn the thing on.

And I've spent the past two days frazzled and crazed at my day job. This is supposed to be a quiet time of year for me. Things are supposed to be winding down. Two of my bands have holiday albums out and they are both touring in support of them, so to say things are a bit nutty is grossly understating the entire scenario. So I may be a little bit... incommunicado... over the next few weeks. I'll do my best to post here, because, frankly, I find it way fun to just mouth off at nobody in particular here. Therapeutic even. But you might not see me here every day. I'm sure you won't shed crocodile tears over that one.

So I had a nice Thanksgiving trip, but it flew by. Lots of time spent talking with family, laughing together, playing with all of the kids in the extended family, and taking a few outings (no, I didn't get anywhere NEAR a store on Black Friday!).

Everyone gathered at my grandparents' house that Saturday morning to figure out who was getting what and to do it all together so that it would be fair. It was bizarre and weird, and I felt like I was snooping as I went through things. It was three hours of adults trying not to cry in front of the great grandchildren, basically. You never knew what item you found that would set you off. For me, it was the bowl my Grandma always put her tuna salad in, and she ALWAYS made it for me because it was my favorite. So my cousins and brother decided among themselves that I should have it, and then when I saw it sitting on the kitchen table, I had to go into the bedroom and sit there for a few minutes to compose myself.

We came home with a car loaded to the gills with stuff. But as I said to Mike when I finally broke down and really bawled on the way home, I don't really care about the stuff. I'd rather have the people back. He said that it would make them happy to know that I had some of it and would give it a good home and remember the good times when I saw those things.

Anyway, the whole thing was very sad and difficult. I'll be going back over there one more time at New Years to go through some things I ran out of time to go through. I took really random, strange stuff in additional to the sentimental and family-related things... like a slew of old keys and game pieces, which I thought I could use for crafting.

They've decided to sell the house, so I think that saddened me even more. I was hoping it would be able to stay in the family somehow, but I just don't think that is possible. I wish it was possible to bottle the way their house smells. It has always smelled the same and it's one of my favorite smells in the world.

Aieeeeeeee.... I've gone all sad and weepy now...

Ok, yes, I did say I hate Black Friday yesterday. I will not deny that. However, I DID say that I love a good bargain (who doesn't?), so I've gone and put EVERYTHING in my studio at Scrapbookgraphics.com on 30% off sale through Sunday (sale started about two hours ago when I finished changing the prices...). You can consider it the play-along-at-home version of Black Friday! No crowds, no lines, and EVERYTHING is in stock!!!!

So I was just perusing the blogs I read every day, and I'm starting to wonder if I'm doing it all wrong... this blogging thing. Lots of people have photos ALL of the time on their blogs. Folks like Heather Ann Melzer, Tara Whitney (ok, the woman IS a photographer after all, so probably not the best example)... even my good pal Cathy Zielske usually has something photo-ish (or a flippin' funny video... you have to check THIS out immediately -- the chick is a comedian! Or should that be comedienne?) on her blog.

I don't usually have photos. Well, unless I've been to a concert. Or I have something new in the digi store to pimp. Or I have a freebie... Otherwise, I have no show part of the show and tell. Is this bad? Should I have photos? I don't know WHAT I'd have photos OF, mind you. I don't think you'd want to see me every day, and I know Mike would get tired of me taking his picture all of the time. I don't have cute kids or pets to snap away at. The plethora of pictures elsewhere just got me thinking that I could be doing this ALL WRONG and nobody has told me.

I obsess about the stupidest stuff sometimes.

So I have to get up at the ungodly hour of 4:45 (yes, a.m.) tomorrow morning so that we can leave early enough to get to my parents house in time for Thanksgiving dinner. They decided this year to go out to eat rather than have anyone responsible for cooking (don't blame them a bit), but that leaves us with a specific seating time, so we gotta really get a move on to get there in time (traveling today was out of the question due to Mike's work schedule).

And it's a sorta dressy place, so we will probably have to travel dressed up. Since I can't stomach the thought of either traveling in pantyhose for seven hours NOR consuming a large meal wearing them, I'm trying to come up with a dressy pants solution. I've been pondering this since yesterday. Wish me luck, or I'll be a total grouch when I get there. Since I've worked at home for seven years, I don't really do pantyhose anymore. Nor do I want to. So I'm hopeful that I can dig something out of the bowels of my closet that will a) fit, b) look cute, and c) be conducive to sitting for a long time in the car.

At least we're not flying today. The reports I saw while at the post office earlier showed Newark Airport with the worst delays in the country. Yes, my post office is kind enough to have a TV so that you can be entertained while you wait in line. It showed up around tax time this year and it's still there. This is good because there is usually a line and it usually moves VERY slowly. The travel report made me glad I'm not flying anywhere today.

Wishing everyone in the U.S. safe travels, good times with friends and family, or at the very least, something yummy to eat tomorrow. C'mon, big group hug... everybody in!

(And if I don't post for a few days, I'm just off having fun with my family and ignoring my computer...)

Before I get to the gist of this post, I wanted to say a big public thanks to blog reader Meg for sending my the color palette to jump-start my creative mojo! That was so sweet of you. I've been meaning to thank you for almost a week and kept forgetting each time I posted on the blog. Your palette is very cool and bright and NOT the kind of palette I would have come up with on my own, but I really love it and hope to play with it soon. You can name the kit for me when I'm done! Thanks again!

Soooo... I may be in the minority here and I may get blasted for even saying this, but to me, Black Friday is a huge nightmare. Evilness. Gives me the willies. I can't fathom someone wanting to get up in the middle of the night to be there when a store opens at 4 a.m. I can't fathom wanting to run around with all of those other shoppers (I have a big problem with crowds in general though... can't stand 'em). I'm all for a good bargain, but the way this has become such an "event" that it has a name kinda skeeves me out more than just a little bit. I know plenty of people who love it and brave the crowds. Ick!

You will find me far, far, far away from stores on Friday, enjoying what I am going to call a very, very colorful Friday (the antithesis of black, ha ha!) with my family, enjoying their company. That, to me, is the way the Friday after Thanksgiving should be spent.

So, am I the only one who thinks Black Friday, with all of its crass commercialism (it's so spend spend spend) and insane crowds, is yucky? Do tell, do tell.

My other pet peeve of late, besides the fact that Christmas/holiday commercials have been on TV for weeks now, is all of the car commercials this time of year. You know, the ones where there is a big bow on the new car sitting in someone's driveway... because it's the gift that's just too big to be parked under the Christmas tree... Well, I don't know about you, but have you EVER known anyone who got a car for Christmas????? Yeah, I didn't think so. 'Nuff said.

So I'm still sticking to my healthy eating kick, albeit in fits and starts. I'm doing pretty well over all. I would estimate that I've lost 15 pounds. I saw myself on camera this past weekend and didn't completely hate my appearance (just sorta). I have to share with you the greatest thing ever...

100 calorie Hostess Cupcake Packs

They are yummy chocolate goodness and I know exactly how much I'm eating, calorie-wise. It's a divine snack, and not much of a cheat. I love love love them so much. I do much better at this stuff if I let myself have small treats. Less apt to fall completely off the wagon... like I did on Saturday.

You see, I had my fellow Altered Art Chicks over all day Saturday for an altered art play day. Stupid me didn't prepare properly, so instead of getting all glue and ink-covered, I made some updates to the site. Needed to be done, so I felt it was time well-spent. Anyway, I bought snacks. Because when one creates, one needs fuel, right? So we ate WAY too many Cheetos and cinnamon Sun Chips and stuff like that. Yeah, I know. Bad, bad, bad. That's what I meant when I said I fell off the wagon. But I think doing that every once in a while isn't bad.

So Melissa alternated between doing stuff on the computer and actual paper crafting endeavors. Audrey came prepared with a project box full of stuff to work on -- chipboard stars, happy birthday cards... she was a woman with an altered art-y mission. As per usual when the Chicks gather, we laughed a ton and got a lot done. And had a blast. And learned that chipboard is a big fan of Audrey's! Who knew??????

So Friday night, I was playing on my computer late late late and put together a playlist for myself. I call it "Sing Along With Neil." And it's up on iTunes if you wanna give it a spin. It's my favorite Neil Finn songs to sing along to (yes, my title for said list should have already been a giveaway, huh?). I'm a car singer. Love to sing in the car. Love to make up new harmony lines each time I sing along with a song.

I'm not a good singer by any stretch, but I don't totally suck either. So I like to think that someday, when Neil pulls me up on stage (as he's been known to do on many occasions [not pull me specifically up on stage... would be nice, but it hasn't happened yet... I meant that he does often pull audience members up on stage]), I can impress the entire audience with my mad harmony skills. It's not the full playlist -- not all of the songs I selected are available on iTunes. But it's about half of them. I believe you have to have iTunes to listen. But it's a great mix. Go ahead and listen and let me know if you come up with any good harmony lines. I'm always up for some new ones! And if you ever see me singing my heart out at a red light, you can be fairly certain I'm harmonizing with Neil!

Twice in one week... popping on here... feeling like blogging, but nothing much to say. I'm not sure what that means -- the need to babble when I don't know what to babble about. I guess sometimes I'm full of words and they need to come out somewhere. And not in the form of an email pitch to a writer or an editor asking them (very nicely) to write about my band(s). Those are fun a lot of the time. But sometimes, words escape me in that context. Oh, don't get me wrong. I have plenty of words. But, at this particular moment, they're refusing to comport themselves properly. They're not spewing out of my keyboard in a well-written, concise, witty fashion. It's times like that when I have to take a step back and not do work emails.

So what do I do instead? I write on here. Which is a more public forum and therefore should be reserved for times when the words are not only comporting themselves properly, but are also cavorting and frolicking in the best way possible. Is that happening now? Not so much. So forgive me my lack of frolic. It's not because I love you less than the writers and editors. I just have to put the words somewhere. I'm sure you understand.

For as long as I can remember, I have been a writer. People find it strange that I can be a writer and a designer. Something about right brain/left brain, I guess. Words and language are left brain. Symbols, images and visual stuff is right brain. So I guess I'm a bit of an anomaly. I flip-flop between the two with a great deal of ease. Not sure how I manage that. I'm not a math/science person, and that is left brain. If I were to guess, I would imagine I'd be right brain dominant, but I have no idea really.

So I Googled, as one does to find out more, and I found this: right vs. left brain. Interestingly enough, the first response I had was left brained. She was turning counter-clockwise. But when I looked at her again, she was turning clockwise. I'm not sure what this means. Perhaps I do jump between the two. Looking at the left brain list, I am very much a logical person. Very detail oriented. But on the right brain side, I'm very strong on the imagination and spatial perception fronts (I scored ridiculously high on a standardized test in school on "spatial relationships"). So maybe the fact that writing and design are both passions of mine makes sense.

So I'm going to let you in on a little secret. I wrote a book. I started it in 1997. Finished it in 2003 (took me forever if you look at it, but I really wrote it in two concentrated several-month-long spurts... took me maybe seven or eight months all total). I had some people read it, critique it, give me feedback. Overwhelming positive comments. I started looking around for an agent, because to get a book published, you really need one.

But then life and my day job and a move in the middle of all of that really brought the process to a grinding halt. I put the book aside. Hadn't even LOOKED at the manuscript in the past four years. And suddenly, I wanted to take it out again last night and read it. See if it stood up to the test of time... would it still be ok all these years later or would I read it, snicker, and wonder what the hell I was thinking by writing it in the first place...

Well, 80 pages later, I am completely caught up in my own manuscript! Oy. I can't believe I'm admitting this here. It sounds so blatantly egotistical, but you have to realize, I haven't looked at this thing in YEARS. Not a glance in its general direction. I know the whole story. I know what happens. But I forgot all of the great and laugh-out-loud funny details I put in there. I found myself saying to myself, "I can't believe I wrote this." I sound so completely full of myself. And I'm not really. I guess I'm kinda proud of it, truth be told. Even if it never gets published, I wrote a book. How many people can say that? I'll have to let you know how the rest of it seems once I finish it. It could suck by the end of it. Who knows.

So I started having this little fantasy of having my book published last night while I was trying to fall asleep (and really wanting to sneak downstairs and keep reading, but it was already 1:30 a.m. and I needed rest). And it made me start thinking that I might want to try. I don't know. I'm not sure I'm up for the rejection that is certain to follow. Who wants to set themselves up for that willingly? My other big issue is severe lack of time. I would, of course, curtail my Mental Blocks playing on Facebook to make something like this happen. But how do I do that AND my day job AND continue to design? I need the former to pay the bills. I need the latter for my mental health (because nothing de-stresses me like a good PhotoShop session...therapy in software form). But writing... playing with words... that feeds my soul too...

I'll continue reading. See if it's worth my time. It does need one more edit before I'd send it off, but I have to say that so far, I don't have a lot to tweak. Minimal things... some culture references that need to be updated, a detail here or there that I want to fiddle with, but so far, I'm digging the book.

And I got the genesis of a plot for a second book as I was falling asleep last night. I might have to write another one soon. Maybe that's why the words are wanting to come out. The writing muse has awoken from her long-time slumber.

We shall see.

So now you know my secret. Well, one of them, anyway. Surprised?

Ah, the old conundrum... feel like blogging, nothing to say. At least no topic pops into my mind. Been feeling a bit blah the past few days and I'm trying to figure out why. Haven't put my finger on it yet. Something's bugging me, but it hasn't had the decency to really register fully in my brain yet.

Not sure what will give me clarity either... so if you see me around, looking mopey, well, now you won't know why, since I don't know why either.

But one thing that IS bugging me that I am aware of is this... holiday commercials on TV already. I'm all for being jolly, but I prefer to limit said holiday jolly-ness to the window between Thanksgiving and New Year's, thankyouverymuch. IT'S STARTING TOO EARLY. Didn't the advertisers get the memo????

I don't mean this in a bah, humbug sort of way. Au contraire. I am coming from a "could this holiday get any more commercial than it already is?" sort of place. After next week, this will all be a moot point, really, won't it? But for now, and for the past week at least, this has been annoying me mightily.

I'm also going to go on the record and say that I really have been a crappy designer lately. No, I don't mean designing crap. I mean doing a crappy job of being a designer. I think maybe my mojo is on hiatus. I can design in small bursts. Very small bursts. But then I find myself wanting to play "Mental Blocks" on Facebook instead (it's similar to this game). I could sit and play it for hours, and lately I have been. In the evenings. When I should be designing.

I'm not sure what is making me practice this avoidance behavior. Maybe I'm tired of giving my "free" time to something that has become a second job for me. Maybe I'm just being lazy. I don't know. So I am trying not to force myself to mosey on over to Photoshop unless I want to, because I'm certain that the results wouldn't be worth the time I spend on them. Not that playing Mental Blocks is a good way to spend time. But I do it while I watch TV.

So I'm a multi-tasking time-waster of the first order.

And now you know.

I said it recently, but I really do seem to have the best friends. Mike and I finally got together with Bill and Melissa on Saturday night. This celebration of my birthday (and Mike's birthday, and now Melissa's birthday) had to be rescheduled no less than six times due to scheduling conflicts, people getting sick, my Grandpa's funeral, etc. Not only did Melissa get me the Tim Holtz "An Altered Journey" video as a birthday gift, but she also made me the COOLEST book EVER celebrating our friendship. Here's a photo of the cover of it:

Well, needless to say it brought tears to my eyes. Because, you see, Melissa is a very linear scrapper. I am sure it gives her angst to put a photo on a page at an angle. See that title on the front? ANGLED, right? Go Melissa! And not only did she put photos on pages at angles, she did all sorts of quirky, Krista-esque things with ribbon and doo-dads... I was so touched that Melissa made a book for me in my style. Because our styles are quite dissimilar, I know it was a challenge for her, and she just put together the coolest keepsake. Thanks, M. You already know I love you, but I'm surprised our shared brain didn't notify me sooner that you'd been so hard at work on this book. I'll bet you were so anxious to give it to me!

The goodies didn't stop there, though. No, Melissa had contacted my good buddy Cathy Zielske to let her know I was having a birthday, and Cathy got all crafty and sent Melissa a layout to give to me as a gift. Well, as you know, my birthday was almost two months ago. Melissa has been harboring this secret gift for those two months. And I gather that top-secret exchanges between M & C were something along the lines of: "Did you give it to her?" "No, we haven't gotten together yet." And they both kept this a secret for two months! (Heck, I had a hard enough time keeping the tote bag I had Neil sign for Cathy a secret until she got it in the mail a few days later....) Who knew that life would throw so many obstacles in the way of our birthday extravaganza? Better late than never, I say, as I am now the proud owner of an original piece of Cathy artwork, which shall be framed in a shadow box and hung on my office wall... AND she included EYE CANDY in the form of Neil Finn on the layout! Wanna see it? Of course I'll share it with you:

Isn't it awesome, in the totally "CZ Simple" way that she has about everything she does????? Ok, I know I've never met you in person, Cathy, but that doesn't mean that I don't think we aren't separated-at-birth music soul mates of the first order. The fact that you crack me up on a daily basis is just a groovy bonus. We will see Neil live together one day. Thank you for my birthday present. Belated, sure, but that's not your fault! I'm awfully glad I started reading your blog and we became pals! You make me smile.

The Paper-Palooza sale at Audrey's barn on Saturday was a rousing success! She sold boatloads of paper and despite the way-chilly temps, we had a great time hanging out and eating a few too many ginger snaps between customers. Woohoo!

Two posts in one day... shocking, I know. What can I say? I'm feeling chatty or some such.

While clicking on Dictionary.com just now to check the spelling on something (because I was too lazy [see I TOLD you I was lazy] to get up and walk the three steps to my bookshelf to get out a real dictionary IN BOOK FORM!), I realized that, while handy, Dictionary.com would never take the place in my heart of the real McCoy, old-school, book version. Why? Because of Dictionary Smell. Have you ever noticed that all dictionaries smell the same? Slightly musty, but with a hint of the knowledge incorporated in its pages. I love that dictionary smell. It makes me feel smarter, somehow. Which is really counter to having to use the book in the first place, if you think about it. If I was smart enough, I wouldn't need to look the word up at all, now, would I?

So, yeah, Dictionary Smell. Good stuff to the word smiths of the world!

A friend of mine sent me an email forward this morning. I found it completely hysterical and realized by the way that it was written, it was actually a blog post. Being the author of a blog myself, I know how important it is to actually direct people to the blog. Give 'em the traffic, I say! So, without further ado, I absolutely insist you check out: Strap in, shut up and hold on. We're going back. Somebody got their hands on a 1977 JCPenney catalog. The photos alone are worth a visit, but the commentary is great too. I'm totally adding this blog to my Bloglines.

Ok, now that you are back, and have visions of mint green leisure suits dancing in your brain (and you know you want that matching cowboy shirt duo for you and your significant other), I just need to vent. In the interest of being a nice person, I won't out the company that did this to me. Unless they piss me off again, then all bets are off. But in last night's mail, I got a package. In the package was a DVD. A DVD I didn't order. Didn't want. And if I keep the DVD, I have to pay for it. If I don't want to have to pay for it, I HAVE TO RETURN IT!

Ok, fine. I'll return it. I don't want it. Make me go to the post office, why don't you! But, I ask, WHY does somebody think it's ok to send something like this to me and make me have to do something and, if I don't, I have to pay for something I didn't ask for??????????? That's just wrong. I know, I know, I sound lazy. I'm not really. (Ok, maybe I am sometimes.) (Ok, a lot of the time.) (Well, pretty much all of the time, but you didn't hear it from me.) I just resent having to package this sucker up and having to take it to the post office. I don't have to pay for said shipment -- the company I shall not mention was kind enough to include a postage-paid envelope. But, I implore you, if you work in marketing and your company thinks something like this would be a snazzy idea, please tell them it's NOT!

All of this talk made me think of something: does Publishers Clearinghouse still do their million-dollar giveaway? If so, why haven't I gotten an entry in years? Am I not worthy? Do I look like I don't need a million dollars? I remember I used to actually fill mine out and put the little sticker on the outside saying I wasn't ordering anything, but enter me in the contest anyway. And we all know that sticker was the kiss of death to my chances of winning, but I still had to send it in anyway, because, as they say, you've gotta be in it to win it. And I always kinda hoped on the big day that the announcer with the bundle of balloons in hand would show up on my doorstep. I've had no such fun in years though, because I stopped getting entry forms. Perhaps my years of "not ordering anything, but enter me in the contest anyway" knocked me off the list. But I could definitely still use that million. So if you win PowerBall and win a billion dollars, I hope you'll remember me in a monetary way.

Have a super weekend. We'll be kickin' it at the Paper-palooza extravaganza in Audrey's barn this weekend. Seriously, if you live nearby, come get some stuff. We're going to have crazy good prices to make room for our 2008 products. If that isn't enough incentive, we'll also have snacks and warm beverages. Yippee!

If you are in the NJ/NY/CT/PA area, Mootsie & Altered Art Chicks invite you to attend our
year-end Paper-Palooza Clearance Sale!

We need to clear out some old stock to make room for our new product line for 2008!

Saturday November 10th
10:00 am - 5:00 pm
1141 Madison Hill Road, Rahway, NJ ...exit 135 off the Garden State Parkway

View Larger Map

(The sale is located in our backyard horse stable ... look for balloons!!! Parking is on the street.)

Featuring:
* Textured cardstock
* Digital kits
* Cards, envelopes
* Mini-books
* Mini-book kits
* Bulk Paper by the box
* Embellishments
* Altered Items
* Vintage Items
* Wire Paper racks
* Acrylic Paper racks
* Gently-used rubber stamps
* $1 bin

This is a CASH only sale, doors open promptly at 10:00 a.m.!

Ah yes, good show last night. The theater was wonderfully small and intimate. We were in the fifteenth row. They played the entire new album, "Red Carpet Massacre" (which I really liked a great deal) which comes out next week. They played an "electro" mini set, composed of funky versions of a handful of songs, then they did a "hits" set. It was awesome, it was great, I danced, I sang along, and I had a blast!!!! I took a bunch of pictures... you can see them in this slide show:

And I even shot some video... not the best quality, but still lots of fun:

REALLY GOOD STUFF!!!!!

So, did anybody miss me? I was away for four days for a family wedding (and, wouldn't you know, The Tragically Hip were kind enough to schedule two dates in the area we were visiting, so we managed to squeeze those in too!), and spent yesterday playing catch-up. It was a great trip, albeit very whirlwind, as I flip-flopped between family commitments and rocking out and getting very little sleep in the process!

So now I'm back. I totally missed Digital Scrapbooking Day on Saturday since I was away. I trust everyone had fun checking out the sales and events all of the sites had cooked up! The day at Scrapbookgraphics was a smashing success from all I heard about it. Wish I could have been there! Our launch sale at Altered Art Chicks was a huge success. Thanks to everyone who visited and bought some goodies!

My subject line refers to my destination this evening. I'm going to see my teen idols Duran Duran... they are doing a string of shows in a Broadway theater. I'm so excited I can't sit still. We are in the 16th row, I think. Attending with me are Mike (maybe he was worried I'd run away with Simon if he didn't come with me), Melissa, Jenn, and Melissa's friend Maureen. Back before I was ga-ga over the music of Neil Finn, The Tragically Hip, Matthew Sweet and the like, Duran Duran had my music-loving heart. My friend Marcie has been to several shows in the past week and said they are amazing. So I'm very hyped up and excited, and I haven't even had any caffeine yet today.

So, today's question is: who was your teen idol? Who was in those posters on your bedroom wall back in the day? And don't you still have a teeny-tiny crush on that person still? (I know I'm not the only one!)

Over at Altered Art Chicks, we're going to be celebrating our grand opening beginning on Halloween! Starting on Wednesday, October 31st through Sunday, November 4th, we'll be having a storewide sale -- five days only -- and everything is 31% off! Also, we're offering a very fun, altered-riffic FREEBIE (it's in the emporium). Oh, heck, we won't keep you waiting... you can see a sneak peak of the freebie now and make plans to stop by on Halloween to pick it up!

It includes some very fun goodies: some hand drawn pumpkins and Witchie Poo from Audrey, all in digi "sticker" form (and the pumpkins come in both uncolored and colored versions), as well as a Vintage Halloween collage paper, a Witchie Poo background paper, and a Witchie Poo card from Melissa G. Cuteness!

In preparation for our big sale, we've loaded the store chock full of stuff that is perfect for digi scrappers, hybrid scrappers, altered artists, and paper crafters. Here's a mere sampling of some of the cool products we're offering (and they'll all be 31% off!):

We hope you'll come by and check out all of our goodies!!!!

Mike and I were driving home on Saturday after both getting haircuts, and we passed an Ikea billboard that simply said: "Home is the most important thing in the world." And it smacked me upside the head, right then and there... an epiphany of sorts... but let me backtrack before I share what that is.

Since my Grandpa passed away earlier this month, I have had dreams almost every night of being at my grandparents' house (yeah, I guess you can tell I've been struggling with the loss of both of them since I keep talking about it here). Sometimes the dream is just that I'm there, another time the house was for sale and someone was buying it and I was trying to talk the buyer into letting me live upstairs in the house, and other times the dreams have included my grandparents there in the house. I can hardly call it a recurring dream, as the dreams are different every night, but it is definitely a recurring theme.

Seeing my grandparents while I'm asleep is always a very soothing and reassuring thing to me (it's like I get to have a nice visit with them), but the stuff about the house has left me... uneasy and upset. It's not like anything bad is happening in these dreams at all to cause the unease. When I was back for the funeral several weeks ago, I asked my Mom if they had decided what was being done with the house. She said they weren't sure yet. I also had a very touching conversation with my brother in which we admitted to each other that, because we lived in six different houses in four different cities while growing up, my grandparents house always seemed like home to both of us. It's the place we always went back to visit. To both of us, that house is home to us and always will be (even though we both have homes with our respective spouses and "home" where our parents are... if that makes sense).

I know it's just a house, really. Walls, a front door, windows, a roof... a separate garage... a semi-circular gravel driveway. But to me, it will always be home. It will always be the place I loved most, the place of my fondest childhood memories, the place I could always go back to. I realized when I passed that Ikea billboard that all of the dreams I've been having have been my way of mourning the loss of that home. I don't know why I didn't realize it sooner.

I'm having a hard time verbalizing the import of this realization and the accompanying feelings I've had about it. I suppose I have to allow myself to mourn that, in addition to mourning my grandparents. I hadn't let myself do that in my waking hours, so obviously my dreams were taking over in that regard. The truth of the matter is, I will miss the people the very most, not the place, and it's a whole lot of nostalgia and sentimentality fueling whatever I feel about that house... but I feel it nonetheless and mourn the loss of that home.

On a completely unrelated note, I was part of a collaborative kit for Scrapbookgraphics called Impressions of... Gratitude (it's the first in a series). I had great fun working with this palette... see if you can find my stuff among the preview:

It's a lovely array of goodies and it goes into the SBG store on Digital Scrapbooking Day (November 3rd). Here are some layouts my creative team has already made with it. Lilian has done two already:

(full credits here)

(full credits here)

And Robin had some fun with my Boo! Paper Pack:

(full credits here)

And Lilian made the gorgeously moody piece with the Boo! papers:

(full credits here)

I had the best blog post going in my head while I drove to and from the post office a short while ago. Of course now that I'm sitting here typing it, it won't be nearly as well-written, witty, or thought-provoking. Then again, I don't think either of the latter two descriptors would really apply to the topic at hand.

While driving, I kept smelling my old favorite fabric softener. It was really weird, because it's been discontinued and I haven't been able to use it for months now. How could I be smelling it? Was I imagining it? I was thoroughly perplexed until I got home, bent over to pick up something up that I'd dropped on the floor while sitting at my desk, and realized that the corduroys I'm wearing today, which have been folded up in my closet since winter time, still smelled strongly of the fabric softener. I'm not sure how they retained the scent so long, but the smell of it is making me supremely happy.

It was liquid fabric softener from Arm & Hammer, fresh scent. I just loved it. The scent is just beautiful, and people would smell it on my clothes and tell me I smelled good! Earlier this year, A&H discontinued all of their liquid fabric softeners (I was so sad and the $10 coupon they sent me for asking didn't make up for the loss in my mind), so I hadn't smelled this smell in months and months.

It made me think about things that make me really happy. Things that make me feel good... things like:

smells I like (my discontinued fabric softener, freshly-mown grass, autumn morning air, pine trees, the ocean, the smell of my grandparents' house, the way my nephews' heads smelled when they were babies, Mike, Savannah Garden scent from Crabtree & Evelyn [also, sadly, discontinued, I believe], cinnamon, baking cookies, etc.)

music I like (sometimes it's hearing an old favorite song, listening to a new favorite over and over, discovering a wonderful lyrical twist of phrase in a song I've heard a million times, or the live concert experience for bands I really love... you've heard me talk about them and this topic a lot, so I won't list them here)

books I like (sometimes the book is so good, you simply want to jump into it, a la Jasper Fforde, or you just want it to keep going and going and going... Pride & Prejudice, anything by Bill Bryson or David Sedaris or the aforementioned Jasper Fforde, the Tolkein books, Alice In Wonderland, and so many more than I could ever list)

TV shows I like (I get almost giddy when my favorite shows are going to be on and I love discussing them afterwards with other people who watch them... The Office, 30 Rock, Flight of the Conchords, and It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia all have made me giddy in recent months)

movies I like (there are some I have watched more times than I can count but I never, ever get tired of them... Bridget Jones' Diary, Clueless, When Harry Met Sally, Dirty Dancing, Spinal Tap, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Pride & Prejudice, Singin' In The Rain, The Sound of Music, The Princess Bride, etc.)

people I like and love (friends, family... there is nothing better than spending time with people who are special to me)

places I like (my house; Scotland; Niagara Falls; my parents' and grandparents' houses; Athens, GA; Mount Rainier; Toronto)

things I like to do (reading, sleeping, designing, digi scrapping, photography, travel)

food I like (chocolate, roasted red peppers, pizza, a really good salad, etc.)

Think about the things you like... and this brings me to today's question for you: What is at the top of your list right now and why? And why not do or experience one today... to make yourself happy... like I am... smelling my fabric softener and wishing they still made it!

I was going to post this yesterday, but I got caught in the tour press vortex (for some reason when I work on tour press for my bands, I become insanely focused and single-minded and lose track of time), and before I knew it the day had turned to night and I needed to step away from the computer...

Before I talk about the subject above, I have to sidetrack for one moment. As I type this, I have my iTunes playing in the background and Liam Finn's new album is pouring out of my computer speakers. Yes, you may recognize the last name. Liam is Neil's son. So I suppose I was pre-destined to love this album. But to be honest, I think I judged it much more critically because of who his father is. The best part? The album stood up to every expectation I had and far surpassed them all. I've decided he plays something I like to call "noise pop." Brilliant stuff... quirky, yet still very accessible. And every once in a while, he'll sing a note and his voice sounds so eerily like his father's that it's startling, yet not. The album isn't available in the U.S. until January, but Mike bought me a copy from New Zealand online. "I'll Be Lightning" is the name of it. Here's a sample for ya:

So, back to my subject line... Mike and I went to see our old pals The Tragically Hip on Tuesday night. It had been six months since we'd seen them, although I did get happy birthday emails from both Gord Downie and Gord Sinclair.

It's times like Tuesday night that I'm glad to have passes which grant me access to the seated area in the balcony... I could be out of the fray, close to the stage, and I had a seat to use when I wanted to sit down. Usually I'll stand for an entire show, but on occasion my back will get funky (I herniated a disc years ago and sometimes it reminds me), and I need to sit for a few minutes before getting back up to dance again.

The show was great. The room was full. And the band played some super stuff: "Gus," "Nautical Disaster," perhaps one of the greatest live songs ever (and the song that boasts my favorite rock lyric: "We live to survive our paradoxes") "Springtime in Vienna." But the nicest surprise of the evening was "Fiddler's Green" (this clip from a show earlier this year):

Couldn't tell you the last time we heard that live and it was lovely. I was able to take some decent photos as well (I'll include some below). We'll get to see them again twice next week, so I'll have to email some song requests. Last time I did that, they played a song for me, which is always great fun. We hung around for a bit after the show and spent a short while chatting with Rob, Gord S., and Paul. And, as always, we found endless amusement in the folks who somehow ended up with passes but didn't really know how to comport themselves. I don't mean that in a snooty way at all. It's just that some people (often they are drunk) get too loud and obnoxious, and they'd be amusing in almost any setting, really.

Photo time!

Got a few things to talk about... and you know what that means! I'm gonna number my items!

1) Neil Finn: So it should probably come as no surprise that I have Google Alerts and Yahoo Alerts set for both Neil Finn and Crowded House... that way I can read everything being written about the man (OCD much?). So recently, I stumbled upon a blog post by a girl named Annie, who, apparently loves Neil as much as I do. I love finding these sorts of random blog posts that really seem to justify what I already know and hold dear: Neil is a songwriting god. Well, it turned out Annie was at the same NYC show I was, and one of her friends was sitting right next to the guy who was hollering at some of us to sit down. It's a small, small, small Neil Finn world, isn't it? So, Annie... hi, and nice to have "met" you! You have most excellent taste in music!

2) Creative Team: My creative team member, Lilian, posted this visual loveliness recently, using some of my designs:

(full credits here)

3) My designs: Holy Hiatus, Batman, could it be true? Why, yes, Robin, it is indeed correct. Krista has DESIGNED SOMETHING!!!!!! Ok, I'll stop talking about myself in the third person now. I have a new paper pack in the Altered Art Chicks and Scrapbookgraphics stores. It's call Boo! and it's my take on some basics for Halloween. In great Halloween-y colors so that the costumes in the photos on your layouts can really shine... And, frankly, any of these could be used for non-Halloween layouts too (so it's a very versatile pack). And it's on sale right now for $2! Here's a preview:

4) Altered Art Chicks: look for the official site launch at Halloween time complete with a freebie (preview coming soon). And Audrey is having a warehouse sale on November 10th. I'll post an ad for it later this week. If you are anywhere near Rahway, NJ, you'll want to come by... she's going to have all kinds of great stuff on the cheap... have to make room for new stuff we're doing at Altered Art Chicks!

5) Porcupine Tree: This past Saturday night, Mike and I roadtripped down to Atlantic City to see one of his favorite bands, Porcupine Tree, in concert. We'd just seen them the week prior for his birthday when they played in NYC, but we missed a big chunk of that show because we got caught in insane traffic due to road construction. So a trek down the shore was in order big time. I have to say PT is not a band I likely would have found on my own... although I do have an affinity for prog rock (I like me some funky time signatures sometimes!), I doubt they would have shown up on my radar if Mike hadn't introduced me to them. The more I listen, the more I like them. Some of the stuff is a bit hard rock, some of it dreamy and soundscape-y, all of it very compelling. I'll leave you today with a clip of a song of theirs that I love called "Lazarus"...

And if you wanna hear a heavier song of theirs, check out this from their latest album, a song called "Fear Of A Blank Planet"...

Seriously... I am one lucky chick. I have the best friends. Last night at our Altered Art Chicks meeting, Audrey brought me a belated birthday present (which was fine, because I gave her her birthday present a few weeks ago finally, and her birthday was in JUNE!). One of the things she gave me is a joke and wouldn't make sense to anyone outside of the three chicks, but she made me two utterly amazing gifts:

A bumpy gourd (he's made out of CLAY):

Audrey sells these and other clay creations on eBay and will be selling them soon on Etsy too. She has made witches, wacky pumpkins, a mad scientist, all kinds of gourds, a mummy... they are so quirky and amazingly detailed and SO VERY COOL!

Then, she also made me my very own art doll!!! Check this out:

I have to find a place of honor in which to display it proudly.

Audrey rocks!

... I think I might have a few more minutes before my Altered Art Chicks girls arrive here for a pow wow. We're planning and brainstorming, organizing and making sure we're all on track with the list of projects and opportunities we're working on. Love getting together with the Chicks! Of course, we end up laughing a lot and getting way off-topic sometimes. That's just the way it goes...

I got the most lovely compliment on my designs today. It's stuff like that that really keeps me eager to do what I do. Somebody, out of the blue, saying, "Hey, what you do is awesome!" I never expect it, mind you, I'm not THAT full of myself. But compliments are a good thing.

Besides that, I think I jinxed the weather by writing about how nice and cool it had gotten (I'm sure putting out my fall outdoor decor on Monday probably did it too)... today it's well into the 70's here, and tomorrow I believe we'll be flirting with the 80's. (insert large sigh here) My favorite season is fall. Why, oh why, can't we have fall weather in the fall? Is that too much to ask for? Is the person in charge of the weather toying with me? Sure, I hadn't put away my summer clothes yet, so it's not a big deal, really. But I operate at maximum capacity and feel happiest when it's in the 50's and 60's outside. When the weather requires a nice, lightweight jacket? LOVE IT! Cool enough to be a little chilly with the windows open? I'm in heaven. So, Mother Nature... c'mon already! Give me back my fall weather.

For those who are curious, my outdoor fall decor amounts to: my autumn Snoopy flag (Snoopy and Woodstock jumping into a pile of leaves) (and, by the way, can I just say I always vowed I'd never have decorative flags, until we bought a house with a flagpole already on the tree in the front yard and whaddaya know -- I have flags for every season and holiday now -- I got sucked in by suburban peer pressure or something), two faux pumpkins for the front steps (since the squirrels around here LOVE to eat my real pumpkins, I can't get those anymore), and Indian corn (wait, should that be Native American corn????) hanging on the front door. As you can tell, I really go all out with the decorations.

So, that brings me to another question for you guys... do you decorate your house (inside or outside) for fall and/or Halloween, and if you do, what decorations do you have?

Yeah, I'm here. I know, I know... It's been a while...

Last week was a bit nutty. We had to go out of town for my Grandpa's wake and funeral for several days, and since I got very little done in the way of work while I was away (understandably), Thursday and Friday were insane "must catch up" days here.

Thank you so much for the many kinds comments I got about my Grandpa. I have to say that my own comment in that blog post about being at peace was really spot-on and has continued to be so. When talking to my Mom while we were there, she said to me, "He was ready to go be with Grandma." And my Aunt mentioned that wanting to have him with us for more time was selfish, really, when he missed my Grandma so very much. So it was with many tears, sure, that I paid my last respects, but I haven't found myself breaking down into tears repeatedly every day since like I did when my Grandma passed away. This is not to say I miss him less... I surely miss him just as much, but it's been a wee bit easier in some ways. I know that the sadness will come in waves in the future, that the ache of missing him will never, ever go away. But I also hold close to my heart the fact that I was able to make a trip to visit him not long before he passed away. And that even though he is no longer with us, I still think about him every single day. And have so many wonderful memories of time spent with him.

Saturday was Mike's 40th... now the "you're so much older than me" jokes can stop for another year (until I turn 41 a month before he does). It was so nice to be able to spend the entire day together on such a big-deal birthday!

Yesterday and today, I was supposed to have jury duty. However, my group was excused BOTH DAYS! Thank goodness, because my day job has been insanely busy. I feel like a train that is close to running off the tracks... barely keeping it all under control. Just a lot of stuff on my plate at the moment. I'm trying to be mindful of this and not let everything overwhelm me.

I am loving the fall weather. It has finally gotten to the point where the air is really chilly in the mornings when I take Mike to the train station, and even though I'm shivering, I love it!!! And, boy, whoever said the sense most strongly tied to memory is smell was soooo right... the smell of the air in the mornings takes me right back to walking to the school bus when I was younger. I love that little rush of nostalgia and comfort that brings (yeah, I liked going to school).

That's all the news that's fit to print today. More to come, soonish.

I got the call early this morning from my Dad that my Grandpa, James Russell Johnstone (1918-2007), passed away in the wee hours of the morning... around 4 a.m. He came down with pneumonia about a week and a half ago, and his weakened body simply couldn't fight it any longer. My Mom and my Aunts were with him, but everyone had fallen asleep. My Mom woke up at 4 a.m. and noticed that the oxygen machine was still going, but she couldn't hear my Grandpa breathing anymore. I'm just glad that he had all three of his girls with him. And I'm glad that he can be with my Grandma again now, as they were virtually inseparable and I think the months since her passing were incredibly difficult for him.

So I'm at peace. I was able to have a fantastic visit with him over my birthday weekend several weeks ago, and I spoke to him almost every day on the phone while he was in the hospital, most recently on Tuesday evening when he had a room full of visitors. We were both joking on the phone: me - that I was upset that I hadn't been invited to the party in his room; he - that he was going to beat me at cards next time he saw me. At the end of the conversation, he told me to take good care of myself and that he loved me. I have to wonder, in retrospect, if he knew he was going to be too weak to talk on the phone again after that.

My Grandpa was a wickedly funny guy. You could always count on him to make you laugh. I'll miss the long-running contest he and I had going for years and years with the card game, Snap. We'd play whenever we saw each other, and between "championship games," we'd trash talk or call in our bragging rights, depending on who had won most recently. I even took playing cards with me to the hospital when I went to see him a few weeks ago, but he wasn't up to playing then. I held them up so he could see them and said, "Just in case you want to play a quick game..."

And I realized earlier today that if he saw me now, he'd say something like, "Ah, Kris, don't cry for me. It's ok. I'm fine and dandy now." So I'm trying not to. But that's easier said than done.

Still have all of the things that go along with it -- the wake and the funeral -- and even though it's under such circumstances, I'm still excited to be seeing my family.

So I'll close this post with a picture of my Grandpa, taken (I believe) in the Philippines when he was stationed there during World War II. In this photo, he could be the twin of my cousin, Mark. Good looking fellow, wasn't he?

I miss you already, Grandpa, and I love you. And you are the reigning Snap Champion of the Universe. You get to keep the title, since you won it fair and square back in June.

Ya know, I've been wanting to blog all week. Just pour myself out, so to speak, in a fingers-on-the-keyboard, cyber-rific sort of way. But I, every time I logged on here to start typing, clammed right up, deleted what I wrote, and went on to do other stuff (i.e. day job work). I said to a friend of mine that it's like I've really wanted to talk, but I've instead put myself into a self-imposed coccoon. Sometimes you just have to insulate. And grieve. And not tell everyone you know about how you are feeling.

My Grandpa's health has taken a serious decline in the past week. (And to the further-flung relatives who read my blog -- those cousins of mine several times removed -- he got your cards and letters and they meant the world to him.) He's in hospice care now, and I'll let that first part of the sentence say everything on its own.

So in the midst of my cocooning and crying and general moping this week, a friend of mine (who I used to work with at RCA Records), sent me flowers, out of the blue, to thank me for giving her some great press leads for one of her projects. She's a good friend and, like me, is an indie publicist, so we share info with each other.

And I have to say, those flowers really meant the world when they arrived. And they cheered me up at a time I needed cheering. Gave me comfort. Warmed my heart. I told her when I thanked her that she couldn't have picked a better time to send me flowers.

Thoroughly unexpected loveliness. Thanks, Jenn!

They say good things come to those who wait. So, finally the waiting is over. And I hope this paper was worth the wait. At the risk of sounding completely full of myself, I love this paper. It's got all sorts of color going on. Here's a preview:

If you want it, you can download it here. And if you do, tell me what you had for lunch today. (Ok, I stole that question from one of my fave blogs, Journal Revolution, who asked the same question recently.) For those of you with inquiring minds, I had a bowl of Oat Cluster Cheerios Crunch cereal. YUM!

I didn't have time to post the paper on Friday. I'll post it tomorrow. I only have a few moments to post now, so I figured I'd quickly share some great scraps from my creative team! Woohoo!

Lilian has created a few things that I haven't shared with you yet...

First is this lovely layout:

Full credits here.

And this fab creation:

Full credits here.

And my guest CT member Muka sent this way-fun layout:

Full credits here.

And finally, the Little Darlin' kit I created with Jessica Bolton got a pick here recently. How cool is that?

Freebie tomorrow, freebie tomorrow... really... Gotta run for now!

Check back tomorrow for another freebie... I'll have a great paper for you then!

So today would have been my Grandma's 88th birthday. I'm feeling a little blue today, missing her. Here is a photo I took of her when she was visiting my house a few years ago:

If she was still here with us, I would have called her this afternoon to wish her a happy birthday and to sing to her and chat a bit. Since I can't do that, I figured I'd send her cyber greetings via my blog, just in case she makes it to some heavenly cyber cafe today to read my blog post. I miss you so much, Grandma!

In honor of her birthday, I thought I'd share a little something about her. My Grandma was notorious in my family for muddling up phrases, mixing up names, and saying funny stuff. Some of them have gone down in the family history books and we use them regularly in conversation. Here are a few of her best (funniest) ones:

- when Princess Diana died and the news was saying the paparazzi was to blame, my Grandma said, "Why would Pavarotti kill Princess Di? He seems like such a nice man."

- her name for architect Frank Lloyd Wright? Floyd Wright. (Combine the first two -- it's shorter that way.)

- one time when discussing something that ran in the family, she said it was "generic" instead of "genetic." We use that one all of the time now... i.e. "John has red hair like his uncle. Must be generic."

Good news on my Grandpa's health -- he continues to do well and came through his surgery yesterday smoothly. That one was a concern and could have been a stumbling block. That will have to heal, then he'll go to rehab since he's been stuck in bed at the hospital with a gout flare-up. I've called him every day to chat, and his voice sounds strong and he's been cracking jokes. He's also been showing the goofy card I sent him earlier this week to all of his nurses and aides, so that made me very happy to hear. Thank you all so much for your good wishes, thoughts, and prayers. It means so much to know there are a lot of people out there pulling for him.

You know, looking back on the post yesterday, it looks like all I do is watch TV. We often have it on for a few hours in the evening, and sometimes for an afternoon during the weekend, but we don't watch TV all of the time. And just because something is on the list doesn't mean I watched every episode... LOL. Also, I don't have kids, which I know makes a big difference. And I have to say thanks to everyone who posted their awesome Barbie stories... they were SO MUCH FUN to read and I was so excited to see that so many others out there made furniture and clothes for their Barbies too! Very, very cool!!!!

Tonight we are going to see Genesis. It's an outdoor stadium show and rain is in the forecast. If you are inclined, I'd appreciate a no-rain-tonight dance. I THINK we're under cover, but I'm not totally sure. I'll be taking a slicker with me, just in case.

I have been chatting back and forth via email with my friend Robin this week about the new fall television season starting and how thrilled we both are that some of our favorite shows will be back on. It turns out we have a lot of the same shows on our list of favorites, along with enough differences to keep it interesting. And our respective lists were pretty long... which made me wonder if I watch too much TV.

The truth of the matter is, though, that I am completely incapable of watching TV without doing something else... I'm usually on the computer designing or doing site admin or emailing. Or I'm looking through a pile of magazines for work. Mike has to review a lot of TV-on-DVD for work, so I often find myself completely roped into shows I would have never watched otherwise (case in point: the first season of Dexter, which we finished watching this past Sunday night -- it is an amazing show and so twisted but extremely well-done and compelling. Would I have normally chosen it to watch of my own accord? Doubtful. But there are a number of shows that I didn't think I'd get into and Mike watching them got me hooked -- The Sopranos, Carnivale, Lost, Heroes, The Shield, Mad Men -- the list is actually pretty long...). So while I do end up watching a lot of TV, it's not completely mindlessly staring at the screen, I'm almost 99.9% of the time also occupied with something else.

An article appeared in the NY Times earlier this week entitled "You Are What You Watch." Given my conversations with Robin (in which we both determined that we are complete and utter TV dorks), I found it a fascinating read. Because it appears that I'm not the only one watching a lot of shows on TV (and I certainly wouldn't be watching as much as I do if we didn't have DVR!). There are so many options, and there is so much more quality television than there has been in the past. More channels, more choices, more segmenting of audiences. We can all find plenty to love on the old tube, no matter what our preferences may be. So I decided to come clean and put together a list of all of the shows I've watched with more than a passing interest in the past 12 months. Guilty pleasures and all. Why? Because, like the NY Times says, I am what I watch. Wonder what this list actually says about me? (These are in no particular order.)

24
Lost
The Shield
It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia
Flight of the Conchords
Entourage
The Sopranos
Mad Men
Psych
Jericho
Heroes
Eureka
The Unit
Weeds
Californication
The Office
My Name Is Earl
Design Star
Scrubs
Ugly Betty
The Bachelor
Prison Break
Dexter
30 Rock
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Damages
Burn Notice
Robot Chicken
Rescue Me
Big Love
The Tudors
Dirt
Sarah Silverman Show
Extras

New Shows We/I Plan To Check Out This Season:
Dirty Sexy Money
Journeyman
Reaper
Chuck
Gossip Girl
Pushing Daisies

And I've probably forgotten some!!!! Tell me what you watch and how -- do you DVR things or do you have stuff that you watch when it airs?

[Edited 9/26, 11:30 p.m. I knew I forgot some! Saving Grace and The Riches. And I actually DVR a lot of stuff on HGTV and the DIY Network that I watch when I have time: reZoned {my fave}, Color Splash, Creative Juice, Scrapbooking, B Original, Carol Duvall, Craft Lab, Crafters Coast to Coast, and I also tape old episodes of Changing Rooms on BBC America.]

So while I sit here and try to take my mind off of the surgery my Grandpa will have today or tomorrow (still not sure yet when it will be because he needs more transfusions first), I thought I'd do a little blogging.

Recently, my pal Melinda (she of the incredibly creative hybrid projects!) was blogging about finding some of her old toys as they were unpacking things in her mom's new house. She specifically mentioned her Sunshine Family dolls, and I used to have those too. I also had Barbies and Dawn Dolls (which had the coolest clothes). I was never lucky enough to have anything super cool for my Barbies, like the townhouse (which was huge), the boat, the camper, the car... I had two Barbie dolls and some clothes for them. If I wanted to start thinking abodes, I had to get creative.

I was never size-ist with my dolls. The Sunshine Family, Barbie, and the Dawn Dolls (which are all different sizes) could and did live in the same neighborhood and on the same street. I would create entire "homes" or the equivalent of a studio apartment inside of a cardboard box, complete with cardboard furniture with cushions I'd constructed out of cut up trash bags stuffed with kleenex that I then taped shut, or that I made out of fabric scraps I'd not-so-beautifully hand-stitched. Fabric scraps could also turn into blankets, rugs, curtains... as did paper towels. I may not have had the townhouse, but what I created was just as cool to me. I'd make similar set-ups for the Dawn Dolls and the Sunshine Family, the latter of which came with some stuff for the babies (high chair, cradle). I have some recollection of a Sunshine Family house, but if there was one, it hasn't been found among my old toys. It could have been a friend who had a house for them... I don't recall...

As I said, Barbie(s), Dawn Dolls, and the Sunshine Family lived in the same neighborhood, and even in my young mind, they were quite different. The Sunshine Family, perhaps purely because of their rather old-fashioned clothes were the Cleaver family... buttoned-down and family-oriented, squeaky-clean... (or maybe not... I already had been given the birds and bees talk at that point, so I do recall sending the parents in the Sunshine Family to bed together without clothes on to do what they would do because "when the Mommy and Daddy love each other" blah blah blah... and I would make them kiss each other...). It was all very tame, really, but I also didn't have them sleeping in separate beds like "I Love Lucy."

On the flip side, I always imagined my two Barbies and my Dawn Dolls would be wearing their cool boots and work-friendly mini dresses to cool jobs a la the "Mary Tyler Moore Show" (insert spin and beret toss here). Never had any Ken dolls. As I said, I wasn't size-ist, so both Barbies and the Dawn Dolls would sometimes date my brother's Action Jackson, GI Joe, or Stretch Armstrong dolls. It was never serious, and in retrospect there was probably a whole lot of "friends with benefits" and/or "booty call" going on because sometimes GI Joe or one of the other guy dolls would sleep in the same bed as Barbie. Even though they were just dating and weren't married. Hmmmm... Maybe Barbie and the Dawn Dolls were more "Sex And The City" than "Mary Tyler Moore Show." I just didn't know it then.

The two Barbies and the Dawn Dolls were all friends and they would go to parties together and SOMETIMES the Sunshine Family would have parties and invite Barbie(s) and the Dawn Dolls. Sometimes the Sunshine Family parents and Grandparents would go out and Barbie might babysit the Sunshine Family babies. I remember having a vivid imagination with all of this and having story lines about what everybody was doing.

What does this have to do with scrapbooking? Stick with me here for a moment... I'll come to that. As I remembered my creativity with making houses and furniture and living quarters for the aforementioned dolls, I was, in retrospect, pretty impressed with what I actually came up with. I recently went shopping for Barbies for my friend's daughter... and was FLOORED at all of the STUFF you can get for Barbies these days. And I wondered to myself if kids today are just as creative as we were if they get all of the accessories and the house and way more stuff than was available when I was young, or if giving them everything makes them less creative. Maybe it channels their creativity elsewhere.

With scrapbooking, I started paper scrapping in 1999. There wasn't much in the way of supplies out there. The first paper scrapbook I did was pretty basic, but I realized recently that I used what I did have access to VERY creatively when I put that book together... With the sheer volume now of scrapping STUFF and supplies and "things already made so you don't have to," I wonder if scrappers now are less creative because of it, or, like I said earlier with the toys, if that latent creativity is just channeled elsewhere?

I don't know the answers here. Just something I wanted to share with you guys... see what you thought.

And finally, today's freebie. It's another salted watercolor paper... I just love how soothing the colors are in this one:

You can download it here. And if you do, tell me if you used to play with Barbies and what your memory is of them!

Ok, I've been back since Monday night... I am such a freakin' slacker. Seriously, I could have come back to put a freebie up here as early as, well, ok, WEDNESDAY because it took me all day Tuesday to play catch-up. But did I? No. I'm not apologizing. Not making excuses. Just sayin'... And I've been hanging out at that little place called Facebook the past two nights... doing heaven only knows what with my time... bad habit to have gotten into, but dang, that place is FUN with all caps!

So, I'll get to the freebie eventually, but first I'm going to wax on (wax off) about various and sundry other things kicking around in this brain I inhabit. Maybe I will number my topics. For some reason, that helps me stay more organized and get everything in...

1) My Grandpa... is pretty much status quo. No better, no worse. He was thrilled to see us and even my brother came to visit too, so I think that helped his spirits a lot. He's still in the hospital. Have talked to him a few times on the phone since I got home. Your continued positive thoughts are prayers in his general direction are much-appreciated. We got to have a little birthday party in his room and he even got to have a sliver of cake. I was so happy to be able to spend that time with him AND to be able to see my entire immediate family on my birthday, which pretty much never happens anymore since we're all scattered geographically. Which actually brings me to topic #2...

2) My birthday. The big 4-0. I don't know what the hype is all about, frankly. I still feel 26, and they (whoever they are) say you're only as old as you feel, so I guess that makes me 26. (Which is interesting, considering I've been married 15 years... I guess I got married really young then, huh?) So my birthday was actually really nice. Watched football with Mike and my Dad, spent a few hours at the hospital with my Grandpa, got to see my brother, had cake, presents... all good stuff. My husband, in his never-ending creativity and pre-planning finesse got me some totally cool stuff which I must share with you now... (these are just the top two of things he got -- he always seems to get me way more stuff than he should...)

He scored this book for me, which is huge since it's only available overseas and with the cost of shipping is quite pricey:

And then, while I was off talking to the drummer backstage at the Crowded House show back in August (y'know, the night I MET NEIL FINN!), Mike had Neil sign this CD single for me... how cool is this?

I was pretty floored, to say the least! I had no clue he'd done it. It now happily resides on the shelf in my office so that I may admire Neil's signature on a regular basis. And the fact that he wrote my name. On the single for my favorite song of all time by anyone. (Freaky fan much? Nah, not moi!)

3) Designing -- gosh, I have to get back into it. I was feeling most creative when my other computer was down and the addictive Facebook has since reeled me into its evil (ok, not really evil, but definitely time-wasting) but oh-so-fun clutches. I will get back to it, perhaps as soon as this weekend.

4) Freebie -- today's freebie is one that was supposed to go out last week... better late than never, right? It's this groovy brown swirly designs with just the tiniest hints of blue in it. Here's what it looks like:

You can download it here. If you do, please leave me a comment and tell me what you are doing this weekend!!!!

I got a bit sidetracked with the freebies this week. My Grandpa ended up in the hospital again and, long story short, we are taking a very last-minute trip to go see him. I do have three more freebie papers and I'll post them next week when I have time. I was also going to have a b-day sale on my stuff at Scrapbookgraphics, but I may just have that belatedly now since I never got it together in time. Sorry to anyone who came by scouting freebies that I'd promised and didn't post... please come back starting next Tuesday. Thanks for understanding!!!!

Hey there!

It's a gray, rainy day here. Hope you are having better weather in your neck of the woods. I'm checking in with the second freebie paper in my series this week... Yeah, I know, it's my birthday and I'm giving away the gifts...

Today's paper is a blue and green extravaganza... I like how it almost looks like salted watercolors... Here's a wee preview:

You can grab it here. And if you do, please tell me what your favorite birthday memory is. Mine would be my 17th birthday when my best friend at the time planned a surprise party for me that was a total and complete surprise. So awesome! I had no inkling, which made it so great.

Ok, I made a decision over the weekend do freebies this week leading up to my birthday (which is Sunday). So here is the first of the series. I made some watercolor art papers that all sort of work together. Today's is blue:

Like it? You can download it here. If you do, please leave a comment! Thanks! Hope everyone had a groovy weekend!

So, in the midst of all of my Facebook-ing, I did actually get a few cool things made that I will be sharing very soon. Perhaps as early as tonight if I have a moment to name and zip files and all of that good stuff. No way to get it done now or anytime during my work day, but consider this a big heads-up. Some cool art papers are comin'...

Woohooo!

Ok, there, I've admitted it. I signed up for Facebook almost a month ago, but it wasn't until last week that I really got active updating my profile and having fun with it. I actually signed up and forgot about it until some friends found me on there and reminded me.

Well, what can I say? A week and a half later and I'm officially over MySpace (where I loved finding new bands to add to my friends list) and on Facebook all of the time. To send a cyber drink to a friend or throw a cow at someone (yes, really) I love or create lists of my favorite things. It's so much fun. So, if you are on Facebook and want to be friends, look me up and maybe I'll throw a cow at you. Or send you a fruity drink. If you aren't on there, what are you waiting for?

For some reason, I have had a ton of fun putting together my favorite books list and my Hot List. But what I've had the most fun with is signing up for groups. Not because I expect to meet people through them, but because it's fun to find topics I love or that I share with other people (you'll see what I mean below). I realized when I looked at my list last night that it was a big ol' meme, just in a different format. Here's my list of groups, which actually says a lot about me:

1) 'Flight Of The Conchords' Makes My World A Brighter Place [love that show]
2) Bagpipes Are Awesome [have always adored bagpipe music; my cell phone ringtone was Scotland the Brave for the longest time]
3) Addicted To 'Pride and Prejudice' ['nuff said]
4) Addicted To '30 Rock' [Alec Baldwin is a comic genius]
5) I Am Fluent In Sarcasm [ah, yes, I'm just a wee bit sarcastic most of the time]
6) I'd Rather Be In Scotland [yes, I really would]
7) And WHY Can't My Life Be A Musical? [says she who walks around singing all of the time]
8) I'm Tall, Therefore I'm Better Than You [well, probably not, but it sounded good... refer to #5]
9) But.... This One Goes To Eleven (Spinal Tap) [one of the funniest movies ever]
10) Bill Bryson Is A Genius [and I wish I could write as well as he does]
11) Book Jumping With Thursday Next [Jasper Fforde is an amazing author and his Thursday Next books are da bomb.] [Did I just say something is da bomb? Yikes!]
12) I Judge You When You Use Poor Grammar [ok, yeah, I probably do, but I can't help it.]
13) Michael Scott: That's What She Said [The Office... one of my fave shows]
14) Cows [I collect cows and have for years]
15) Digi Rocks Da House [it does, doesn't it?]
16) Digital Scrapbooking Magazine
17) Good Typography Is Hot [somehow I don't think Paris Hilton would say that though]
18) I Frequently Quote Princess Bride [as you wish]
19) I Will Go Slightly Out Of My Way To Step On That Crunchy-Looking Leaf [and I always have]
20) I Want To Be A Sedaris: The Club [because David AND Amy are brilliant]
21) Johnstone Clan [my claim to Scotland fame on the family tree]
22) Neil Finn (Crowded House) Fan Club [as if you didn't already know about this one...]
23) Ricky Gervais Is A Legend [The UK Office, Extras... legend indeed]
24) Unlike 99.99% of the Facebook population, I was born in the 60s. [yikes... and I just admitted it in public]
25) Rock Ridge Music [a music client of mine]
26) When Harry Met Sally [one of the best movies EVER]
27) All Us Curly-Haired People [whose hair frizzes like crazy this time of year]
28) Best Show Ever: Robot Chicken [love it!]
29) Grand Island: Better Than The Mainland [the place I spent the first five years of my life]
30) I'm A Klutz And I'm OK With That [says she who recently fell down the stairs]
31) Digital Scrapbooking
32) Yinz guys speak Pittsburghese N'at? [a tribute to the place where I spent my middle school and high school years]
33) Best Decade Ever: The 80s In Music [two words for you: Duran Duran]
34) It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia [love this show]
35) Actually NO ~ I am not attempting to impress you with my eloquent vocabulary [well, maybe I am, kinda]
36) Crowded House Appreciation Group
37) EVERYBODY LOVES A ∆Z [still claiming my allegiance, despite the recent brou ha ha]
38) Digital Scrapbooking (yes a second one by the same name)
39) Cinnabon Lovers [a million calories of cinnamon goodness in every bun]
40) If You Think Krista Is A Beautiful Name [it is, isn't it?]
41) Do They Turn Niagara Falls Off At Night? [because somebody really did ask me that once...]
42) My middle name is Marie.....oh yours is too?! [anyone else reading this share it with me?]
43) It's Cause I'm Tall [I blame all sorts of stuff on my height.]

I'm popping in to say hello on a Saturday. I know, I know... crazy. After running some errands earlier, Mike and I spent a lovely afternoon next door at a cookout at our neighbors' house. They have a fantastic group of friends who we've gotten to know in the four years we've lived here, and we always have a great time when we hang out at their house. We spent the afternoon laughing and enjoying watching the kids run around. Kids are more entertaining than movies or TV any day.

So I've been thinking about my blog a lot lately. Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. I read a comment somewhere recently (don't recall where offhand) where someone was saying that they hated when bloggers apologized for not posting. Gosh, I'm guilty of that... a LOT. Well, that got me to thinking. That and reading Somerset Studio's new magazine, Artful Blogging.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about why I blog. Why I enjoy it. And how, since this blog is for ME, I don't have to apologize to anyone when I don't post. I don't have to apologize to anyone when I don't have freebies. I don't have to apologize to anyone when I talk way more about Neil Finn than a person should (although, frankly, I don't think it's possible to have too much Neil, well, EVER). These things are hard for me to admit. I'm a Virgo. I'm anal retentive. And very demanding of myself. A perfectionist, if you will.

I've been reminding myself the past few days that this blog is something I do for fun. It's something I do for me. The fact that there are people reading it is way cool, but that's not why I blog. Blogging for me is my version of journaling. I never kept a diary or a journal growing up, but I have come to realize, in the almost year and a half of blogging I've been doing, that I really enjoy the process. I love just popping on here to babble about whatever. I've always been a writer, and being able to do something for me, with words, is just yummy. And necessary.

It's been a trying week. The computer shift (old to new) took a lot of time and effort. I was forgetting to smell the flowers a lot this past week. I've been in a bit of a funk anyway (hormonal mostly) and missing my Grandma a lot lately. I think about her every day. I have things that I want to tell her about and stuff that I want to show her. Things that happen that I know she would find funny. And I can hear her laugh in my head. I've been dreaming dreams with her in them really frequently. I find this both reassuring (because I've gotten to see her) and very sad, because I wake up and she's gone.

The other night, we were going to bed, and I'd opened the windows in the bedroom since it had gotten cooler outside. I could hear the crickets outside... they were really loud. And I said to Mike that the sound of crickets reminds me of my grandparents' house. I have very fond memories of visits to my grandparents' house when I was growing up, and we'd often sit out on their screened-in porch after dark, rocking in those chairs made out of that webbed criss-crossed material on metal frames. They'd often be squeaky. And the crickets, oh, the crickets would be loud because it was summer. Sometimes you could hear the bullfrogs at the creek a few doors down.

And we'd sit out there for hours sometimes. Telling stories. Talking. Laughing. The sound of crickets makes me think of those wonderful times. The sound of crickets the other night made me think of my Grandma. And it actually made me smile... to have such wonderful memories of time I got to spend with her.

Isn't it so very cool how small details can ignite memories like that?

So, I'm posting this from my brand-spanking-new Toshiba widescreen laptop. I finally went and bought a Toshiba at Best Buy the other night and had the pleasure of telling Dell where to stick their delays and cancelled that order.

I've spent the past few days loading software and transferring files. It's a drag and it seemed to take forever, but I think I'm officially DONE and working on the new one full time as of today. YAY! Very exciting stuff.

So I sat down to make a surprise freebie for you guys last night, only to have PSCS3 pitch a fit and not want to open. I had to uninstall and reinstall SEVERAL times before I could get it to take properly. That basically ate up my entire evening, so no designing was completed. I still have to reload my presets and stuff because those got wiped out in the process. Maybe tonight I'll get to be a designing fool. There is going to be a learning curve, because this software has a lot more doo-dads and bells and whistles than CS did. Still, I'm very excited to play.

For those of you in the U.S., I hope you have a fun holiday weekend planned. We're going to a cookout at our neighbors' house for a little while tomorrow and have some yardwork to get done. And maybe, just maybe, I'll get some freebies made. 'Cause I'm in a sharing mood.

I thank you all for doing your computer dances for me... really very cool of you. I'm sorry to say I got another email this morning from the company I ordered my computer from: DELL (I was trying to be nice and not out them in a public forum, but I've had it at this point). And my computer is on backorder for another week. I cannot wait another week. I haven't been able to design in a month.

I even found this link where they talk about why the delays. Seems LOTS of folks are having them. Mine, I believe (since they refuse to actually TELL me when I call to ask), is related to the color I chose (spring green) and the LCD monitor. Soooooo, long story short, I think I'm going to go buy a Toshiba at a local store and cancel my Dell order later. Dell has just lost a long-time customer, and the person I spoke to in customer service didn't really seem to care too much.

What I don't understand is WHY they didn't put a moratorium on orders for certain products until they could get their backlog worked out. People are still ordering computers, completely unaware that it could take months to get them. That's just wrong to me. They mention halting production on their white finish, but what about the other colors that are delayed? And I'm sorry, but WHY can't they tell me if the projected ship date is reliable or not? The CS person I spoke to told me my computer was under construction, but the CS person I spoke to on 7/31 told me the exact same thing. I also never got the promised follow-up from the original calls I placed prior to calling today. So, I've had enough.

After I get the Toshiba tonight, I'm cancelling my Dell order. And I'm never ordering from them again. And I suggest you think long and hard before you order from them too. They've upset me in the past, and this was the last straw for me. And it looks like some of the folks commenting on the link I included above have been waiting a lot longer than I have.

Bye, Dell. It hasn't been so nice knowing you.

Of course, it's going to take me a lot of time to transfer all of my files (particularly with my crappy USB ports on my current computer) and load all of the new software in that I have to purchase AGAIN because most of what I have isn't Vista compatible. But I will be up and running soon, I hope.

So disregard my post about the newsletter. I was finally able to get the rest of my existing list moved over to my new interface, so it looks like we're back in business.

No, in response to my subject line above, I don't have a dancing computer. I am hoping that if everyone does a little "new computer will show up this week" dance with me, my new computer will actually arrive before the end of the week. You know, like a rain dance, but different since we're not trying to affect meteorological change... just for my new computer to be finished and shipped. Because I ordered it a MONTH AGO! Sheesh! Good thing I'm patient. Of course, I'm losing blog readers left and right since I've had no freebies in eons. And I won't have any until the new computer arrives and I get everything migrated over to it and the new software installed... and Vista playing nice with everything (and from what I've heard, that last part is by far the hardest).

So, let's all do a little "computer dance." It's good exercise. I promise.

And maybe, just maybe, if it shows up this week, I could freebies as soon as next week! No promises, of course. But it's very possible!

Hey there,

So the lovely and helpful Kim Jensen gave me the heads-up earlier that the link to my newsletter sign-up was the fritz. And it seems to be down entirely. The interface I'm using for it, that is.

So I've created a new interface. New sign-up. The catch is I wasn't able to retrieve my entire list, so I was only able to resubscribe a very small number of you guys. If you signed up for my list already, can you go ahead and sign up again? I'm so sorry to do this, but the subscriber list is all messed up. Thanks for your understanding. The link is in the left column of my blog here.

Gee, sounds ominous, doesn't it? Or maybe I've been watching too many hour-long dramas on TV. Insert heavy music here...

I got called for jury duty!

I knew it was a matter of time, really. We moved into our current house four years ago, and I knew the county would eventually become hip to the fact that I now live here. Mike got called last year, so I knew it would happen sooner than later... once he got summoned, I knew that THEY knew we live here.

So, yeah, I have to report for jury duty in mid-October. I've only been called two other times in the past. The first time, I was dismissed, as was my whole group, because they didn't need us. The second time, I ended up on a jury for a civil case that lasted for a week.

I know it's hard for most people, but being an independent contractor means that if I don't do my work, it doesn't get done. So I have to come home and do an entire day's work after sitting in a courthouse all day. Kind of sucks. But I'll do it.

Anybody out there have any crazy jury duty stories?

Absolutely nothing new to report. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Just been working. Working hard. Working really, really hard. So I have no cute stories, no rock shows to blather on about...

So instead, I'll take a moment to comment on some comments!

Robin said she would have to watch "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia." Robin, you DEFINITELY should. I think it's right up your alley.

Melinda didn't comment on my blog about this, but she did email me to say she is sick. So I'm sending out public get well wishes to her.

Erin said she'd trade her Atlanta weather for ours lately (today's high is supposed to be 75 and still no sun). Uh, thanks, but no thanks. I spent enough summers in Georgia that you can keep them, thanks. Nice of you to offer. But I'll take the cool weather ANY DAY! LOL Besides, it's supposed to be 90 again on Saturday, so we're on our way back up the thermometer.

One of my readers asked if the Birthdayz Mega Kit was still for sale anywhere. The answer to that is no. We retired that kit. But I may still re-release my portion of the kit at some point. So keep an eye out for that. It's on the to-do list (you know, the one that I'll get back to when my new computer shows up sometime this century).

Lastly, Melissa's mom is back in the hospital and is going to have another heart-related procedure tomorrow. Sending out my best wishes to her...

Gosh, it was hard to get my butt out of bed this morning. Rain just makes me want to sleep. It's the negative ions in the air. No, really, it is. When it rains, there are more negative ions in the air than usual. And that makes me want to sleep and sleep some more, since negative ions help you sleep better. I'm not making this up. Read this here for more info.

But I did get up, showered, dressed (no working in my pajamas today) and have been busy at work for a long time now. Those negatives ions also make me very productive. I feel like I get more done on gray, rainy days at work than I do on bright sunny days. Those wild and crazy negative ions also give you energy.

That's the extent of my science lesson for the day. Mike came home with a copy of the "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" DVD last night, and, boy howdy, I cannot wait to dive into that pool! That show (which at least once during an episode one of us will say to the other, "Oh, that is so wrong!"), my gosh, it's WICKEDLY funny. And it's the "wrong" that is so funny. Seriously, I laugh during an entire episode sometimes. I think it requires a somewhat twisted sense of humor to appreciate, but it is laugh-out-loud funny. To us. And apparently enough people that it's back for a third season on September 13th on F/X. You might wanna check it out. You'll thank me later.

Also in the hip hip hooray category, HBO has renewed "Flight Of The Conchords" for a second season. This is another show I adore so very much. It's simply brilliant. I'm so glad Bret and Jemaine will be back for more! Because it's "Business Time."

Yes, it's rather gray outside today. Lightly raining right now. Downright chilly (not even 70 degrees). Dreary. Sometimes I like days like this. We had one like it yesterday, and Mike and I had a blast watching Heroes on DVD all afternoon (WHAT? How is this possible, you wonder... It's not available in stores yet. Well, Mike got an advance copy for work... And I'm finally starting to understand the show. I missed the first 10 or so episodes in the season when it aired, so I never quite understood what was going on). Good stuff.

Then, last night we went over to Melissa's house to surprise her hubby Bill for his birthday (which is actually today). I was so good. I only had a half-serving of penne with vodka sauce (Melissa made it - yummy!) and a sliver of cheesecake. It's all about willpower. I wanted MORE of that pasta, but I wouldn't let myself have any. I think Bill was genuinely surprised and happy when we showed up.

I also beat him not once but TWICE at Scrabble. This is monumental. Bill NEVER loses at Scrabble. He always beats all three of us. Always. I don't know what I did differently, so I'll attribute it to the luck of the draw with which tiles I got.

My CT member Robin has been hard at work with some of my designs. I just had to share these here with you guys:

First is this groovy hybrid project (LOVE hybrid!) that used stuff from the Bohemian Peddler kit Jess Bolton and I designed together. I'm so proud of Robin for doing this hybrid project and hope she got the hankering to do more!

(full credits here)

And then this utterly adorable layout of her niece, using my Laughter kit:

(full credits here)

And a few more items of note:

1) My computer has been delayed another week. I almost cried when I got the email earlier today. I've waited this long, I can wait another week. But not being able to do anything design-related is driving me nuts. NUTS!

2) Have you hopped on the Funky Train yet? It's a groovy collaborative kit available now at Scrapbookgraphics. And if you use the coupon code allaboard you can get it for $9.99. This kit is HUGE! (The coupon code is only good until September 15th.)

3) Please vote for Altered Art Chicks! We've been nominated in several categories for the Creating Keepsakes Readers Choice Awards! WOW WOW WOW! You can vote here: CK Readers Choice. We've been nominated in the following categories:

- Adhesives (Mootsie Bookbinding glue)
- Internet Retailers (Altered Art Chicks.com)
- Internet Sites (Altered Art Chicks.com)
- Page Enhancements (Altered Art Chicks Art Clipz Series)

You can also do write-in votes in any categories you think our products fit into if you'd like to do so! Thanks for your support!

So, I decided earlier this evening to change out the little banner to sign up for my newsletter (left column; I thought the old one was hard-to-read the more I looked at it). Three and a half hours later, I have totally revamped my blog -- new header, new colors, changed the Krista avatar to match, changed the width of my overall blog so it would be narrower, got rid of the background. I wanted something cleaner looking.

Mike's working late on magazine deadlines tonight, so I just kept going once I got started. I have my YouTube playlist going in the background (see previous post), and I've been rocking, singing, and redesigning.

What do you think?

[Edited 8/18: Yeah, apparently I wasn't done yet. I got rid of the right column entirely. I hope this makes my blog easier to read and navigate! Like it?]

Do any of you remember the skit Mike Myers used to do on Saturday Night Live, Sprockets? He'd play this black-clad, bored German talk show host, very minimalist and disinterested in most everything. Here's a Wiki on it in case you don't know what I'm talking about. I always found it wickedly funny, since he'd usually tell his guests things like "I find you both vapid and uninteresting." At the end of every skit, he'd announce, "Now is the time on Sprockets when we dance," and he'd break into this jerky movement thing that was all angles and hard lines, nothing fluid in the least about it.

What does that have to do with anything? Well, I have spent the past two weeks doing a lot of dancing. At concerts. And the last of the concerts for a little while happened Wednesday night, so I thought I'd be done with the dancing for a bit. But no. Cathy and I got into an email discussion yesterday prompted by her YouTube trip down memory lane with Bauhaus. And we talked about how we both have a little bit of the goth in us, even if you'd never guess it in a million years by looking at either of us.

Well, all that poking around on YouTube, viewing the links she sent me, made me think about other stuff I hadn't listened to in a while. And hours later, I had put together a playlist of some of my favorite songs of all-time. This is by no means comprehensive, although I will say the first five songs are my top songs of all-time, in order. After that, the order is completely random. One band would make me think of another, and then another... Anyway, I made the playlist public so I could share it with you guys (what fun is it if you don't share it?). I'm embedding it here in this post, but I'm also embedding it at the bottom of my blog so you can listen to it anytime you want to. 'Cause it's really great shtuff!

I'm sure I'll have to do some of the same hocus pocus I had to do earlier this week to get the Neil Finn clip to post, but it's so worth it.

Anyway, putting this playlist together was totally making me want to dance (through much of it, except maybe the slower songs). And dancing is good. It's part of my healthy living lifestyle (I got into even smaller pants yesterday, so I'm pretty darn thrilled at the moment).

So I had two awesome shows this week... both were Styx/Def Leppard/Foreigner. The second one was especially fun because Melissa and her hubby Bill came with us. We took them backstage to meet Tommy Shaw of Styx, and when we were walking back out to our seats during Def Leppard's set, we had to walk on the side of the stage to get back out and Melissa said it was like we were onstage with them for a moment. And technically we were.

Wanna see some pictures? Of course you do! (Sorry, don't have time to add the cute white borders and drop shadow I've gotten in the habit of doing...)

Here's Def Leppard the first night:

Here's Tommy Shaw of Styx the second night:

Here's Lawrence Gowan of Styx the second night (he's standing up on his keyboards):

And here's a photo of my better half, Mike, with Tommy Shaw after Styx's set the second night. Tommy's holding a CD Mike had given to him (a Vivian Campbell - guitarist for Def Lappard - solo album):

Good times!

Still no word on my new computer. This is getting old fast! I'm ready to have it already and be done with the whole stupid USB disconnects my current laptop is having. It's such a drag!

Hope you all have a great weekend, and have fun rocking out to my playlist!

Yes, I stand by my favorite songwriter moniker for Mr. Finn.

A fabulous example:

Neil Finn - Try whistling this

Add to My Profile | More Videos

(Yay, I finally figured out how to embed videos on here! Took me long enough!)

Five concerts in a week is enough to tire anyone out. Yeah, I know, hardly something to complain about, and I'm not complaining in the least. But I am indeed tired. Good tired. Also got together with friends (Adam and Laurie) last night and had lunch with Melissa and her daughter Gracie, Robin, and Mike today, so I'm just sitting and vegging out for the rest of today. Maybe I'll do a little scrapping later. Still waiting for the new computer to arrive.

As of this Thursday, I will have been on my healthy living kick for a full month, and I'm happy to say that I am indeed seeing results. Much healthier food choices, smaller portions, no snacking, no regular soda (bye bye Coke Classic), drinking lots of water. I'm able to wear several pairs of pants I haven't been able to wear for two years now, and a lot of my pants are now quite big on me. Hopefully in another week, I will be able to wear some of my other smaller pants. Still not my skinny clothes, but well on my way. I have no idea how much weight I've lost -- I never weighed myself when I started, and I'm not stepping on a scale as I go along. But when I start needing a belt, I think I'm doing well. Still have a ways to go, but I feel strong and able to meet my goals.

And in case any of you want to go along for the rest of the Crowded House ride with me, the shows last week were pretty fantastic.

Crowded House NYC, night 1 - a.k.a. crossing the barrier

So the first night, our seats were 15 rows back, and near the left center aisle. It seemed so far away, but also not really. We got there plenty early as I told Mike I really wanted to see Neil’s son, Liam, live – he was one of two opening acts. What he does live is very cool -- he plays a guitar line, creates a loop out of it, starts that loop back up on repeat and layers more guitar parts on it, creating additional loops... He has a great voice (often sounds a lot like his dad). And he’ll jump back and forth between guitar and drums, and keep the guitar loops going while he drums over them. It is SO VERY COOL to watch. Definitely quirky stuff… I called it noise pop the other day, and I think that’s pretty apt, especially when he starts wailing on the guitar and playing with really fuzzy tones and stuff. VERY COOL STUFF!

Pete Yorn also opened and he was really great. I just really like his whole vibe and he has such a great voice. Really enjoyed it. Had to listen to the guy next to me, who came in during Pete’s set, try to tell his wife that Pete was actually Liam because he didn’t look like Pete at all and Pete was older than that. DUH! Finally, he figured it out. But he was talking REALLY loudly. ANNOYING!

So with all of the openers, CH didn’t actually go on until 9:50-ish. But they did end up playing for two hours, so it was worth the wait. There was some great comedic patter from the stage. About halfway through the show, or maybe earlier than halfway, actually, Neil was chit-chatting from stage and he was lamenting the huge gap between the stage and the audience (which Mike and I don’t remember having been there at past shows) – it was a good 8 feet between the front lip of the stage and the barrier in front of the first row.

So Neil said, “You know, if anyone wants to come hop over the barrier and hang out up front, be my guest.” I looked at Mike, like “Let’s go” and he just gave me a look like, “No, not yet.” So Neil says to Nick, the bassist, “Ah, guess we don’t have any brave ones tonight.” And then I saw two guys from behind us walking down, so I said to Mike “I’m going down there, want to come with me?” He was up for it. So we went down, climbed over the barrier as the band was playing, and got up to the second row. BLISS! I had room to dance so much more here (the guy next to me back at our seats was very bulky and wide and I kept hitting him every time I’d move at all). HEAVEN!

So after that song, Neil said, “It’s so nice so see all of your smiling faces so close. That’s more like it.” They played “Don’t Dream It’s Over” next. And about 3/4 of the way through the song, security started forcing us out of the pit. And Neil was playing guitar with his eyes closed and didn’t even realize what was happening. Mike and I got pushed out, but we stayed off to the side… we had just enough room to step into the front row and Neil was saying, “Wait, don’t leave. Come back down here…” And when he realized security was still making people leave, he whipped off his guitar and jumped off the stage and got into it with security. Heated words. I was waiting for it to get ugly. Finally, he hopped back up on stage and rather sheepishly said, “Well, my tour manager assures me that you guys do indeed have to leave that area. Apparently, the floor isn’t meant to hold that many people. I think it’s better to not have you fall through the floor, right?” But you could tell he was frustrated. We went back to our seats (WAH!), but damn, it had felt good to jump the barrier. You can see video of it here.

The guys standing behind me were some of the only people who wanted to stand during the whole show, just like me. And so as they were leaving, the one guy taps me on the shoulder and goes, “You rock for standing up!” and high-fived me. It was pretty funny.

Crowded House in NYC, night 2 - aka StubHub rules!

So, yeah, StubHub… I was crazy enough to upgrade myself to the fourth row via StubHub for the second show. I still can’t believe I did that, but I am SO GLAD I DID. Going to get the tix was a bit of a drag, due to midtown traffic and the location of the place I had to pick up the tickets, but we got to sit so much closer than we would have otherwise. I got Mike at the office and we just drove over there, because taking a cab would have cost a fortune in that traffic (the meter doesn't stop running if the cab is idling in traffic). Got the tix. They were actually excellent seats! Yippee!

CH played for two hours again and the setlist deviated CONSIDERABLY from the previous night. Neil came out and joked almost immediately about how they’d beefed up security so that the crazy Crowded House fans wouldn’t rush the stage again. He said he was wishing he could be closer to the crowd, but that safety had to come first.

Before “Don’t Dream It’s Over,” Neil said he wanted to have people closer to him and would it be ok with security if he invited two people from the audience up to sit on the road cases in the empty area in front of the barrier so that he could sing to them – they’d represent everyone in the audience. So I raise my hand and Mike is pointing to my head, but he wasn’t picking people (a number of other hands shot up too), it was just whoever came up front. I couldn’t get out of my row because everyone next to me was sitting and I was the 6th person in from the aisle. So, Neil actually came out, sans instruments, and stood on another case right near the barrier and sang the song up to the guitar solo part, just holding the microphone. And he even said, “If I look really uncomfortable up here, it’s because I never sing without a guitar or a piano in front of me and I don’t know what to do with my hands or my body.”

Later in the show, Neil mentioned the show in NYC a number of years ago where he’d called his dad and had the audience sing to him. And he said he wanted to do it again. So he got his tour manager to ring his dad on his phone, and Neil brings it over to the microphone and he’s listening to it, saying it’s ringing, and then he goes, “Oh, darn, we got the answer machine. Listen to his message…” and he holds the phone up to the mic (but you couldn’t hear anything), and after the tone, he says into the phone, “Hi Dad, I’m here in New York again and I was just going to have the crowd say hello to you …” and he says to the crowd… “say hi to my dad…” and the place goes INSANE… I got chills. It was so very sweet. (And I’d been at the other show when we actually sang to his dad, so it was a nice thing to have him do it again…)

Oh, early in the show… third song maybe the fourth-ish… Neil was sitting at the piano and some guy behind us had been yelling at those of us standing up to sit down. I couldn’t see if I sat since the people in front of me were standing. And the yeller behind us threw an empty plastic cup at the guy near me who was standing, but it hit his girlfriend, who was sitting next to me. SO UNCOOL! So in the quiet between songs, the guy behind us yells out, “Neil, make the people on the right sit down.” And I swear Neil looked right at me (since I was standing up) and he goes, “I can’t do that. They want to stand up and enjoy themselves.” And then he got on the topic of a free society where not everyone is happy all of the time and it was just as much our right to stand as it was his right to sit. I hate blocking anyone's view, but the people in front of me stood up through much of the show, so I had to stand to be able to see as well.

Overall, the shows were just amazingly fun, and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to see four shows in several weeks' time!!!!!

Because I seem to be incapable of discussing anything else this week...

Last night's show was amazing. I don't have a ton of time right now to blog about it, unfortunately, because I have to leave soon to go into the city for Crowded House show #2. So I'll just do a wrap up report about both shows either tomorrow or over the weekend when I have some time. Really great stuff, so far!

But I wanted to pop on here, albeit briefly, to finally spill the beans on something. I couldn't mention it sooner because the person I was trying to surprise reads my blog. When I met Neil Finn last week, I had him sign a tote bag for Cathy Zielske, my music soulmate and fellow HUGE Neil Finn fan. I'd said to her, "Oh yeah, when I meet Neil, I'll have him sign something for you." But that was a good few weeks before I actually met him, and I think she forgot about it. I intended to keep it that way! So, in all of the emails I sent to her about the show, and in my blog post here, I didn't want to say a peep about Neil signing anything. I wanted the surprise to be completely and utterly that: a surprise.

He very happily signed it for her (visit her blog to see the photos if you like). I mailed it off to her on Monday, and to cover the secret even more, I told her I'd mailed her some CDs (which were also in the package). I didn't want her to get hip to the fact that I was sending something Neil had signed.

Yesterday afternoon, immediately before I left to head into the city to go to last night's show, I got the first of a number of emails from her. She'd gotten the package and the surprise was indeed just that... a complete and total surprise. To be honest, it was almost as much fun as meeting Neil to surprise her like that. I love doing things for other people that will make them happy, make their day, whatever. To me, that is just the best.

So, Cathy (with a C), to you I say kiaora. And may your concert a month from today be utterly magical, Miss Crowded House Front Row Ticketholder!!! I'm very glad we've become friends.

(Missed the Neil meeting post? Cursor down a bit... I posted it on August 4th.)

Yikes, I go and meet Neil Finn, tell you all about it, then I float around in this haze of happiness and contentment for three days and completely ignore my blog. Bad, bad blogger. I'm still on a bit of an adrenaline rush from Friday night's meeting, let me tell ya. Wow. I guess because I wanted to meet him for so long, it's taking me a while to float back down to earth or something.

I have two more Crowded House shows this week. If there are any other meet and greets, I don't know what I would do with myself. I maintained my composure for 20 minutes in front of him, but I don't know if I could repeat that feat. Mike asked me as we were driving home from that show who would be on my "I want to meet them" list now that I'd met Neil, and I really had no answer for him. Neil was the only one on that list for me. Although, I suppose, I really wouldn't MIND talking to him again... LOL!

Anyway, I am in a bit of a design lag at the moment, although it's through no fault of my own. My current computer is misbehaving so much that until the new one comes in (and it's been delayed until later in August due to the model that I ordered), I'm basically not doing any designing. Which is hard for me because I am actually feeling quite creative at the moment. I also have PSCS3 just waiting to be loaded onto the new computer. I don't even want to bother putting it on this computer, really, because my USB port cuts out so much that I wouldn't be able to use it. I can do my day-to-day stuff on here with the touchpad, but I have to design with the mouse or the Wacom (both of which require the USB connection). So I won't have any freebies for a while. Sorry!

Sunday night, we went to see The Police at Giants Stadium. It was a fun show, and the band sounded really tight. I was just glad they've managed to stay together long enough for us to see them live on this tour. I was supposed to see them on the Synchronicity tour and for the life of me I can't remember now why I couldn't go to the show back in the day. Regardless, Sunday night was fun and they pretty much played everything I wanted to hear (although I really could have done without "Every Breath You Take," but I have a feeling there were people in the audience who would have rioted if they hadn't played it). I didn't take any photos, though, as I forgot to charge my cell phone on the way to the show.

Tonight is Deep Purple at Radio City. I'm looking forward to it. I just want to hear "Hush" live and then I'll be happy... Wednesday and Thursday nights are the Crowded House shows. Then I will sleep a lot until next week, when we go to see Styx/Def Leppard/Foreigner with Melissa and her hubby Bill. Woohoo! Concert-o-rama!

Yes, it's time... I have to tell you about last night. The Crowded House show. Oh man, how to encapsulate so that I don't ramble on for days here... ?!?!?!

Well, the show was at a casino called Foxwoods in CT. Which should be about 3 hours from our house. But it was a Friday afternoon in the summer and, well, traffic just sucked. I mean, really sucked. Traffic volume, lots of construction, it was just crawling for miles in spots. It took us 5 hours to go the distance that should have only taken 3, basically. Luckily, we left SUPER early knowing we'd hit traffic. We met a friend of mine from a Boston newspaper for dinner and the show, and it was so much fun!

But let me backtrack just a wee, tiny, little bit. After the last NYC show we went to, I emailed the band's publicist, who also happens to be a long-time industry friend of mine, and thanked him for putting us on the list. And I asked, because I figured I had nothing to lose, if he could hook us up with passes at one of the shows we were going to to say hi to the band. He knew I was a huge fan. He said he would "make it happen." So I had two weeks to contemplate this possibility AND to hope it would actually come to pass.

While we were on our VERY LONG DRIVE, my pal called my cell phone and told me he'd taken care of us. Gave me the name of the tour manager and said we were all set to meet the band after the show. Yes, I had several hours before we got to the venue to really think about the fact that I was going to get to meet my songwriting hero that very evening. At least, I hoped it would happen. Sometimes these sorts of things derail. I'd had after-show passes at a Finn Brothers show several years ago, and that meet and greet never happened.

We had a great dinner... went over to pick up our passes and there were none there. Luckily, we were able to track down a phone number with some phone calls and we left a message on the tour manager's cell phone to call us with more info after the show since there were no passes waiting for us.

I have to say, I was still hopeful, but not expecting ANYTHING at this point. We got to our seats and were able to move down about six rows because of some empty seats. Yay! My friend and I stood and danced to many of the songs and just had a super time enjoying the great music, the hysterical between-song banter among the band and with the audience, and I continued to hope for the best with the passes for after the show.

Perhaps the funniest part of the show was when the bassist said he wanted an order of fish and chips and some tequila brought to him on stage. And a bit later, a room service tray was rolled out with fish and chips and tequila on it. The bassist, Nick, ate some fish and chips, the band did a tequila shot, and Neil brought the plate of chips out to the front of the stage and invited the audience up to have some. Some people went up right away, but quite possibly the funniest part was when an older gentleman moseyed up front during a song and took one chip and walked back to his seat while eating it. It was so, so funny! Here's a photo of Nick, the bassist, getting his snack, and Neil, seated at the piano, talking to the audience:

I took a bunch of photos (big surprise... right?) on my new camera -- no flash and from pretty far back, so they're not stellar. But they are better quality than my cell phone photos of last time around. Here's a sampling:

Well, by the time the show was over, my pal had a message on her cell phone from the tour manager who told us to just hang out and wait for him for about 10 minutes and he'd come out and escort us back to the dressing room. I was strangely calm. I have wanted to meet Neil Finn for so long that it should have been surreal and almost freaking me out, right? But I was very Zen. Very excited, yes, but oh-so-calm. No freaking out actually happened.

The tour manager brought us back to the dressing room, and literally the only people in there were the band, and two significant others. Besides that, it was just us and them. (Three other people came in later, but not immediately.) Got to meet Neil right away and he couldn't have been nicer and more warm. He shook my hand and we all talked among the four of us for a good 15 minutes or so (I wasn't watching the clock at all). I was completely capable of not only coherent speech, I talked plenty and I even made Neil laugh. And I got a few minutes of time with just the two of us, sitting on a couch, talking. I mean, seriously, I never could have imagined in a million years or in my wildest dreams that it would be so easy to talk to him. I mean for me to be able to talk so easily.

I had my picture taken with him:

If I tried to imagine a better meeting, I don't think I could. All totaled, I got a good 20 minutes with Neil, and I got to meet the rest of the band too. It was beyond anything I'd even hoped for, as I truly didn't expect it and was just hopeful, really, until the tour manager was actually leading us back to the dressing room. Then it suddenly became very, very real.

At the risk of sounding remarkably dorky, I'm thrilled to have met my songwriting hero. I'll seriously never forget it. And I'm still a bit beside myself that it actually happened!!!! Exactly 24 hours ago, I was talking to Neil Finn..... so very cool!

So my buddy Robin tagged me yesterday. But first, I must mention: T minus 9.5 hours and counting. Till tonight's Crowded House show. Not that I'm keeping track or anything like that!

Now, on to the tag:

4 Jobs I've Had:
copy editor
marketing assistant
publicist
nanny

4 Favorite T.V. Shows:
The Flight of the Conchords
The Office
24
ReZoned

4 Favorite Foods:
braeburn apple w/peanut butter
guacamole
roasted red peppers
anything CHOCOLATE!

4 Websites I frequent:
Bloglines
my blog (it doesn't update itself... LOL!)
ScrapbookGraphics.com
Newslink.org

4 Places I'd Rather be Right Now:
sleeping
the Isle of Skye in Scotland
visiting my family
visiting faraway friends

4 Movies I LOVE:
The Princess Bride
The Sound of Music
Lord of the Rings trilogy (ok, that's three, kind of cheating...)
Bridget Jones' Diary

And I'm going to tag:
Cathy Z
AmyK
Becky
Jessica

I feel like I have lots of stuff to show off today, thus my post title. Before I get around to that, though, some of you have emailed to ask how I am feeling after last week's fall, and I'm happy to say: much better. The bruises on my arm are still very lovely, but almost all of the pain is gone. Yay! Hopefully, I can get the railing fixed in the next two weekends (ish).

Tomorrow night is the first of my three Crowded House shows in a week. Not like I'm excited about it or anything like that. Should be lots of fun. Mike is coming with me, of course, but we're also meeting up with a friend of mine who is a huge fan for dinner before the show. Yay! Good times!

Ok, first section of show and tell is Creative Team goodies! I adore my creative team girls. They do such FUN STUFF with my designs!

First off is yet another creation by Lilian, who always does such amazing work that I'm blown away every time she sends me a new link. This one features stuff from my Laughter Kit:

Next is, well, this just made me laugh. AmyK is such a gem. I love her quirkiness so much! Check this out:

(full credits here)

Last, but certainly not least, is this AMAZING photo cube that Melinda Staley made, using my Laughter Kit, plus the Mootsie Chipboard Tiles (full credits here). How ADORABLE is this??????

However, I'm still not done with my show & tell, because.... are you sitting down? Really... are you sitting down? I SCRAPPED. And not one, but TWO NEW LAYOUTS! Here they are:

Credits (all are from my kits): word art, background paper, bingo card, vintage slide mount, vintage postcard, blue grungy dots paper, and grunge border - Laughter Kit; grungy tab - Joyful Heart Kit; screw, masking tape photo corners, staple circle, cardboard arrow - Artistry Element Pack; torn envelope, blue swirly paper, grungy vintage journaling paper, walnut-stained tag - Little Darlin' 1/2 Kit; ledger paper, 2 envelopes - You've Got Mail Kit; font - JI - Pentad

Credits (all are from my kits): background green paper, medallion paper (strip) - Joyful Heart Kit; brown background paper - Bohemian Peddler 1/2 Kit; screw - Artistry Element Pack; clear decorative corners - Artful Life Kit; font - Dirty Ego

I may, I know -- CRAZY -- do another one tonight. We'll see if the spirit moves me yet again. I had such a great time just scrapping for fun the past two nights. It felt almost decadent since virtually all of my "scrap time" goes to designing or Altered Art Chicks site admin.

And, if you haven't already, don't forget to check out the previous post -- the Blog Carnival. OMG, such great links abounding in that thing. Thanks to all who submitted stuff for it. Blogs rock, don't they?!?

Big thanks to the lovely and talented Hummie for bringing the Blog Carnival fun back around. A few words about the Blog Carnival, then I'll get to all of the way-cool links!

We're looking for volunteers for future hosting... the first date someone is needed is September 1st. If you are interested in hosting the carnival (great traffic for your blog, and it's so easy to do since the entries are emailed to you), please email Hummie here. AND if you want to help out the Blog Carnival cause and spread the word about it, please add the widget (right column of my blog, click the link beneath the image) to your blog as well. The more people hear about it and submit things for it, the better it will be! You don't have to be a host to add it to your blog, either! The carnivals are on the 1st and 15th of each month, with deadlines of the 28th and 12th each month.

And if you stumble upon something cool, add it via the handy widget so it can appear in the next version of the Carnival! Or submit your blog article to the next edition of digital scrapbooking using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on the blog carnival index page and on the widget too. Now, on to the good stuff!

Traci Sims brought this one to my attention and I just had to share it here. Christine Middlecamp posts a step-by-step, page-by-page tutorial on how to do an AMAZING clear book here.

Hummie shared this great one: Hummie's World Shutter Speed Challenge posted at Danielle's Scrapbooking Pages. She said she just loved Danielle's sharing of her playing with shutter speed on her camera. It turned out so well!

Cindy Angiel submitted this set of online tools to help you get the perfect colors for your next scrappy project! Get the Perfect Color Mix! posted at dsd-professionals.com.

Hummie sent in this gem from Jessica Sprague's blog, which outlines 100 cool things you can do to pump up your layouts. This link is for the second set of ten, but just click through in either direction to see all 100! 100 in 10, day 2. posted at SpragueLab - A Little Studio of Scrapbook Alchemy.

Isn't it hard to stay on top of magazine page calls? Molly Newman's blog lists the latest calls from Digital Scrapbooking magazine, and Hummie was kind enough to point this out to us! Submit, submit, submit!

Monique Patry sent us this very helpful link to where Jen explains how she uses 1 layout multiple times to get more layouts scrapped in a short period of time for her many albums: A Cherry On Top, Scrapbook Shoppe posted at Tutorials - Digital - A Cherry On Top, Scrapbook Shoppe.

Hummie shared this awesome link to a tutorial on blend modes on MissMint's blog! The Art of Digital Scrapbooking Continued posted at BLOG | Miss Mint: Backstage Pass.

Momof9Blessings submitted this link to one designer's store-opening experiences: LAImel Designs Digital Scrapbook Store posted at Living 4 HIM2.

Hummie sent in this link to Vickie's list of other ways to use digital scrapbooking supplies. Here Are A Few Other Ways To Use Your Scrapbooking Creativity posted at Dreamin Tradigital Dreams.

Alvaro Fernandez submitted a link to a story about why hobbies such as scrapbooking are so good for our brains. Yaakov Stern: Build Your Cognitive Reserve posted at Brain Health blog.

Hummie shared this great blog post with many examples of the same photo at different shutter speeds from Claudette's blog. Camera settings.... posted at DigitalGator.

Karen (aka Karooch) pointed us to this post about understanding what RSS is about and how it can help you keep track of what's happening on your favorite blogs: Keep up to date with your favourite blogs using RSS posted at Scraps Of Mind.

Hummie sent in this great tutorial on overlays: How to use overlays/papermakers part3 posted at Scrap Your Art Out!.

Karen (aka Karooch) thinks black and white is the new black! She says: "Black & White has become a big Fashion trend and it's no surprise that Scrapbooking has followed suit. So I thought it might be fun to set up a Gallery of Black and White. And this can include scrapbook layouts, ATCs, cards, altered objects. The full spectrum of scrapbooking artistry. So do something in black and white and post it on your blog. Link it to my blog. I’ll post your layout (or whatever) on in the Gallery with a link back to your blog." Details are here: Black is the new Black posted at Scraps Of Mind.

Hummie submitted this interesting post about cloning: ::Cloning:: posted at My Sweet Life.

How much time do you spend at your computer? Connie shares some thoughts on Computer Time Management at DigiScrapInfo.com

If you blog have you ever wondered about tags, categories, trackbacks & pingbacks? DigiScrapInfo.com's series on blogging continues with a post on those topics.

Katie, aka stampnbug, guest blogs at DigiScrapInfo.com. She describes how she organizes her digiscrapping supplies in Shoebox on her Mac.

Heidi tells about how to create a wonderful album of your children's school work & artwork in her blog series at DigiScrapInfo.com on creating Personal School Photobooks..

Are you interested in getting a digital SLR camera? Connie talks about some of the options & links to informative articles to help you choose.

Connie provides a follow up on Windows Live Writer at DigiScrapInfo.com There are links to the first two posts on this must have tool if you're blogging!

Karen (aka Karooch) sent in this tutorial to help you understand the power and value of the layers function in photo editing software: Top 10 Tips for Working with Layers in Photoshop Elements (PSE) posted at Scraps Of Mind.

I hope everyone had a good weekend! I was still moving slowly after my big tumble down the stairs on Friday. I'm feeling much better every day. The only visual bruises I have are on my inner right wrist and my right elbow (the latter being particularly large and ugly), but I really only needed ibuprofen the first day and I've been toughing it out since then. Sometimes I forget, plop down on my desk chair, and my butt reminds me that it took the brunt of the fall and will likely continue to hurt for at least several more days. But I am counting my blessings and happy I didn't hurt myself worse. I'm very lucky I didn't break something. Seriously. I think I had a guardian angel or two helping me land in the best way possible to minimize injury. Thanks, Grandma & Granny!

Melissa's husband Bill stopped by yesterday to be my construction/repair sounding board on putting the railing back up. Since it tore huge holes in the drywall, my mom's idea of mounting decorative pieces of wood over the damage, then mounting the railing on the wood pieces met with Bill's approval as well (I wanted someone who knows about such things to look at it and tell me what my options might be... much as I love Mike, he is not one to use power tools... LOL!).

So I got some decorative panels today -- two different options -- and once we decide which ones we'll use, I'll get some paint that is the same color as our trim and paint them to match. Or I may just use a clear sealer on them, since the railing isn't stained either... just natural wood color. And I'll glue as much of the wallpaper back down as I can. And I'm hoping the wood panels (they're not that large, but big enough to cover most of the damage) look nice. I've seen railings mounted that way before, now I know why! We'll also probably install a runner down the upstairs hall and down the stairs to offer some traction on those stairs (which are just plain wood -- and I was walking in socks -- so it kind of makes sense that I slipped. Mike said I need to wear slippers with rubber soles around the house. I think he was more shook up by it all than I was.

Bill said he'd come back to do the installation with me. Which makes me feel so much better because I don't trust myself to do it right. Actually, this will be sturdier with the wood panels behind it, which is good. In case I decide to go flying down my stairs again!

In other news, I've ordered a new laptop because mine has been giving me fits for a few months now. The USB ports are wonky, and whatever is plugged into them disconnects and reconnects randomly, sometimes repeatedly. It's gotten to the point that it's affecting my work, and of course it happened after my computer was off-warranty. The person at the help desk said that if the thing we did to fix it on Saturday didn't work, I'd need a new motherboard and I'd have to reinstall Windows. Made sense at that point just to get a new one. I'm pretty hard on my laptops since I use them SOOOOO much for my day job and my designing. I can't wait to get the new one -- I was able to select a color and I chose spring green! Very stylish! They're building it out to my specifications. Woohoo!

Hello there! I hope everyone is having a lovely Friday! I had promised a coupon code for my blog readers this week for my new "Laughter" kit, which I stocked in the store recently. You can buy it here, and when you do, use coupon code KMLaughBlog (code is good for ScrapbookGraphics store ONLY), you can get the whole kit for $3. The coupon code is good through Sunday night (July 29th) until midnight eastern time. I'm only offering this special code to my blog readers!

My CT member Lilian has already done some layouts using some bits and pieces from the kit. I'll share them with you now -- they are, as usual, just gorgeous:

(full credits here)

(full credits here)

I especially love the second one -- isn't it fantastic?

In the "I am truly a klutz of the first order" category, I fell down the stairs this morning. Yes, you read that right. I was walking down the stairs when suddenly I found myself airborne, clutching the railing for all I was worth and hoping I landed right. Well, I managed to yank 2/3 of the railing from the wall (lovely), but I think it saved me a trip to the hospital as I just landed on my butt (not my tailbone or my back, thank goodness), and bruised it pretty royally. I also bruised my elbow and one of my heels, as one foot and one arm landed at the same time my butt did. OW. So now I’m really sore. I’m going to be sporting some really lovely bruises I’m sure. Just glad it wasn’t worse. The railing, though, is toast, and I tore big swatches of wallpaper off with it, so I don’t know what I’m going to do about that. Haven’t really thought about it yet, to be honest. Since we live in a split level, our sets of stairs are all short sets (six or seven steps each), so it's not like I fell that far. But man, I landed hard on my poor butt!

Ok, I've been reticent to mention this here, because mentioning it in a public forum makes me more accountable. Or something. But I have begun a serious change in my day-to-day, and because I really mean to do it this time, I think I can mention it here AND be accountable for it. I'm not calling it a diet -- that, to me, sets one up for failure somehow. Rather, I have instituted a healthy lifestyle change. I hope to get back into Pilates in the next few weeks, I'm walking daily (an hour), and for the past 11 days, I've completely morphed my eating habits from moderately ok to as healthy as I can be. This includes:

- giving up regular Coca-Cola cold turkey (I am now drinking Coke Zero to get my caffeine fix, but I'm doing it in decreasingly smaller amounts so I can go off of caffeine entirely -- have to do it slowly though)
- drinking lots more water
- only eating at mealtimes (no snacking allowed)
- no dessert (although I will allow myself one 100-calorie package of cinnamon graham Goldfish crackers a day if I really want something sweet)
- small portions (I'm already, and always have been, the queen of small portions, but I'm making them smaller)

I told my mom over the weekend that I just want to be healthier than I have been lately. Have more energy and pep. I hope this will do it. I finally took the plunge. I did not weigh myself before I started (and I must mention that I am hardly huge... just heavier than I want to be) and I won't weigh myself as I go. I don't want that pressure. Instead, my success will be judged on how my clothes fit.

I think a conversation with my nephew last month really sparked my determination this time. He asked me why I was drinking regular Coke if it's bad for me (he'd heard that somewhere). My answer to him was that it was because I liked it. And as I examined that conversation more thoroughly after the fact, I realized that liking something that was bad for me wasn't a good enough reason to partake in it.

So, I've been REALLY good for almost two weeks. I'll let you know about my progress as I notice my clothes getting bigger. Thanks in advance for any encouragement!

P.S. Big prayers to my Grandpa, who turned 89 last week... he's in the hospital with low blood pressure right now and they are tweaking his meds. Hope he's home and that he's up and at 'em again really soon. When I spoke to him this morning, he said he felt terrible. The low BP is making him dizzy. As someone who suffers from vertigo, I know how miserable that is. Love you, Grandpa!

Crowded House
Time On Earth
(released July 10, 2007 on ATO Records)

It’s funny how first impressions aren’t always lasting. I’m a huge Crowded House and Neil Finn fan, so I suppose my expectations were higher and perhaps more difficult to meet when I got my hands on this record. On first listen, I had to deem this album a “grower,” one that would, on repeated listens, start to come together for me as a listener and really become something I loved as much as the rest of the Crowded House catalog.

And grow it did. I changed my mind about some of the songs that didn’t capture my interest quite as much on first listen, and those that I loved immediately engrained themselves even more. Mr. Finn and his reconvened House cohorts Nick Seymour and Mark Hart, along with newly-tapped drummer Matt Sherrod, have crafted an album that deftly weaves pop sensibilities with a healthy dose of melancholy. Yes, it started out as a Neil Finn solo album, and at times that is evident (as some of the whimsy that marked past CH outings is missing – but that is ok). I don’t expect artists I admire to keep doing the same thing over and over again. And one must remember that Crowded House was largely propelled, on the songwriting front, by Neil Finn’s craft anyway, and this album seems to be a logical progression from his solo work.

Immediate stunner “Nobody Wants To,” a song of mourning and perhaps even regret, opens the disc. In fact much of the album, as the title tellingly alludes, deals with the topics of loss, change, the passing of time and mortality, but it’s cloaked in sometimes upbeat music that often belies the topics at hand. It’s hard to imagine that the loss of former band drummer, Paul Hester (to a suicide several years ago), wasn’t factoring into a number of songs written for this record. The album isn’t a downer, though, by any stretch of the imagination, as witnessed by the sing-along bounce of “She Called Up,” the strummy shimmer of “Even A Child,” or even the subtle pep of the first single “Don’t Stop Now.”

Where the album truly shines for me, though, are some of the less sunny, more desolate moments: the elegiac “Pour Le Monde;” the dark funk of “Heaven That I’m Making” and “Walked Her Way Down;” the gorgeously-orchestrated, sad-yet-hopeful “People Are Like Suns;” and the reassuring lament of “Silent House” (co-written by Finn and the Dixie Chicks), which sports a dirty guitar tone throughout and jam at the end that would make Daniel Lanois smile. It’s when the sadness and melancholy, so evident in many of the lyrics, are manifested in the music that this incarnation of Crowded House creates aural manna.

Highly recommended... but give it time to grow. It's worth it.

While I'm thinking about it, I wanted to post these very lovely layouts my CT member Lilian did a while back... I've been meaning to post them for a few weeks now...

First is this very cool vintage-y piece. Love the photo...

(credits are here)

And this gorgeous anniversary card:

(credits are here)

Lilian, I've said it before, but I'll say it again -- you rock!

Also, I got a new Canon PowerShot camera the other day -- I really needed a smaller point-and-shoot. I've gotten it out of the box and have been playing with it today. Since I am home by myself, I have been amusing myself by taking photos of me, stuff on my desk, and stuff around the house. Really exciting, right? So here's a photo of me, listening to Crowded House on my headphones (since it sounds so much better on headphones than it does on my crappy laptop speakers):

And last thing for today is a photo of my new guitar that Mike surprised me with for our anniversary (signed by Styx). Isn't it purty?

Of course I don't have the first idea how to play it. I don't even know how to tune it. Must learn very soon. I think I will need to learn how to tune it first, eh?

P.S. Don't freak out that I'm posting twice in one day. I know, it's a huge shock and all...

Howdy peeps!

Hope everyone is doing well. I was so busy getting my new kit into the store this weekend that... duh... I failed to remember to post on my blog about it. Well, that should be rectified right about now. This is a re-do of my portion of the Spring ThingZ mega kit from last year. I really liked the colors of the kit and some of my elements, but I basically deconstructed and re-did most of the papers. I re-did a number of the elements as well. Added some other bits and pieces from some other retired kits, and voila... "Laughter" was born. Here's a preview:

And a better peek at the papers:

Hope you dig it. I may actually have a little sale on it later this week -- still deciding. It's available at both ScrapbookGraphics and Altered Art Chicks!

I still seem to be on a bit of a post-concert high from my Crowded House show last week. I still have three more shows I'm going to on this tour, so I'm a bit overwhelmed at the prospect of seeing them three more times in the next few weeks. The first show is coming up in a week and a half. Ah, the waiting is torture. Good torture. To get through it, I have immersed myself in Crowded House and Neil Finn music like crazy the past few days. I have a playlist called "Neil Goodness" that I just keep cycling through on my computer as I sit here and work. And it never grows old. I never get tired of it. Instead, it fills me up and makes me happy. Isn't it so awesome that music can do that for us?

I also am feeling the urge to review the new record on here, which I will do soon (sometime this week). I don't usually review stuff on here... I spend my days trying to get other people to do that for my clients, so maybe that's why I've never been compelled to do it myself. I may actually start. Why not, right? Heaven only knows I spend enough time writing about music in my day-to-day stuff for my job (artist bios, press releases, so many emails to writers and editors). So I may get crazy and actually do a review or two on here. I know I chat about music and often talk about shows I've gone to. But never to the point that I'm playing music journalist (although my magazine journalism college degree certainly means I prepared for such a thing... I just happened to get into the other side, the PR side).

Ok, enough babbling for one day. Thanks for the sweet comments on the redecorating I did. It was time for a new look. Glad you are digging it as much as I do.

Later, taters!

I redecorated... new blog header, new background color. What do you think? I used the newest kit, Little Darlin', for the blog header.

Thought it was time for a change of scenery...

Ok, hands up who wants to hear about the show last night? Ok, great, you guys can read on. Everyone else -- I fear I will blather on. And on. And on. So, you know, I won't take offense if you don't want to read said blathering. I know you aren't all Neil Finn and Crowded House fans. I mean, you should be. I think so. I'll convert you yet. When you least expect it...

I've been trying to think of a way to synopsize (is that even a word?) the show in a nice, blog-length package, and I don't know how well I'll do with it. Here goes...

For those of you who have been reading my blog this week, you are fully aware of a) how utterly cool Mike is, and b) that I got to see Crowded House at a very special, private show LAST NIGHT because Mike is so cool. We actually tried to get tickets when we got the email newsletter about the show, but neither of us scored them. I had high hopes, but it didn't work out. I'd resigned myself, quite unhappily, to not going. Then my wonderful husband tells me on the evening of our anniversary that he got us on the list via the publicist (who is a friend of ours, so why I didn't think of this sooner is completely beyond me). Holy crap, Batman! I think I was alternating between disbelief and euphoria for the 24 hours before the show. By mid-afternoon, I had excitement butterflies in my stomach.

The show, which was being filmed for something for the Ovation channel (hello, Comcast, I don't think I have that channel and I NEED it before this airs, thanks!), was held at the Grand Masons Lodge on W. 23rd Street. The actual room was quite ornate and pretty, and because we got there early and waited in line for the doors to open, we got to stand right up front (two-to-three people from the front -- depending on the ebb and flow of the audience around us). The band played for 2 hours and 15 minutes-ish... maybe a little bit more... and the crowd was totally into it. It was especially great to see the wonderful responses some of the new songs got. I always find it sort of sad when I go to a show and new stuff just falls kind of flat for whoever is playing.

They played a lot of songs from the new album, "Time On Earth," which just came out July 10th. Like the fan that I am, I sang along to every song. On the several occasions that Neil encouraged the audience to sing, I got to practice the harmonies I've completely perfected in the privacy of my car (yes, I car sing... loudly... and I like to sing the harmony line a lot of the time, instead of the main melody line... and I don't always do it well, especially if it's music I don't know super well... but I have Crowded House stuff down, man!). I think the audience actually blew the band away with the multi-part harmonies we (the audience) did on "Fall At Your Feet." It gave me goosebumps.

I think I picked the perfect spot to stand. Or perhaps the fact that I'm a 6'2" tall chick who was wearing a bright red shirt and standing 8-10 feet away factored into it, but I got to exchange quite a lot of meaningful eye contact (as Cathy quoted me on her blog today) with Neil. Even Mike commented on him looking at me (so I wasn't imagining it after all).

The show was complete with all of the jocularity (ah, I can't believe I got to work that word into a blog post -- go me!) you'd expect at a Crowded House show, songs made up on the spot (including an entire song about the room the show was in with a chorus along the lines of "the room is great now"). Lots of audience participation. Lots of "wow, I can't believe I'm here moments." So I was trying so hard not to look like it, but inside, I was absolutely freaking out, and it was like I might as well have been on stage with them last night. I felt like I was out of my body and up on stage with them. Like the music was just connecting all of us into one big heap of cosmic togetherness. Yeah, it was one of those magic connection shows. LOVE when that happens. It doesn’t happen often, but it did last night.

If you'd like to see Mike's review of the show, it's here. Leave him a comment and say hi if you go read it! And I'll leave you with some goodies from the show. I got the set list that was taped to Neil's piano (and I must say they ended up not sticking to the order listed here -- it got shuffled a good bit during the latter portion of the show and things were added, including an impromptu cover of the Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows"):

And I took a slew of photos, of which only a handful turned out decently enough to post here. Not too bad for cell phone photos though! (And you can see how close I really was!)

...and that's putting it mildly. Firstly, there's this guy called Neil Finn, who you all know I adore. How can you not love this? Neil/CH live goodness (I tried to embed one of these and my blog software kept giving me error messages... argh!)

Well, my wonderful husband scored guest list slots for a very small, special Crowded House show in NYC tonight. As an annivesary surprise for me! I will be seeing Neil live in about eight and a half hours. Not that I'm counting or anything. That would be so freaky fan-ish, right?

Apparently Mike is just trying to enable the freaky fan in me or something. I've been flipping out since he told me last night.

For our anniversary, we'd agreed not to exchange gifts or buy each other anything. This is not to say that we weren't acknowledging the day, because we certainly were. I think we both thought that we didn't need to exchange gifts. A card and a nice meal would be sufficient. So I treated Mike to dinner last night. Nowhere fancy, just a place we like nearby. Then he proceeds to surprise me with three things (none of which required him to buy me a gift, as he reminded me -- he just "sent emails"):

1) He contacted The Tragically Hip's manager to have the band do something for me as a surprise. The manager had them sign a box set for me and he sent t-shirts for both of us.

2) Mike also contacted Tommy Shaw of Styx (who is a friend of his) and asked if the band could sign something to surprise me -- a photo or t-shirt or something. Apparently Tommy's reply was: "Oh, I have the perfect thing." The perfect thing turned out to be a FENDER GUITAR SIGNED BY THE BAND. OMG! I have to figure out where to display it. And how to PLAY it! I just sent Tommy a thank you note and was like, “So, do guitar lessons come with this or what?” I was kidding… but still... a GUITAR!

3) And last, but hardly least, the Neil/Crowded House thing. For which I almost have no words. I've been having a major back-and-forth email freak-out with Cathy since last night about it. I think it's possible she's as excited that I'm going tonight as I am.

All I did was get Mike a card and take him out to dinner. I think I'll have to blow the roof off with something amazing for his birthday this year to catch up to this. He is such a keeper.

Holy cow, Quirky Kristen thinks I'm rockin'! She's nominated me for a "Rockin' Girl Blogger Award." How cool is that???? Thank you so much, Kristen... I'm really honored. You can see my "trophy" banner on the right side of my blog.

This means I get to nominate five people... 5 rockin' girl bloggers! If I nominate you, it's your turn to nominate five others. Let's see, I'm going to nominate:

Melissa
Jessica
Cathy
Becky
Robyn

I still want to give awards to like 10 more people... yikes! (Like Robin C, Amy K, Melinda, Erin, and a bunch of other folks...) Can I do more than 5?

And today is my 15th wedding anniversary, so happy anniversary to me and Mike! We have no big plans, although we may go out for a special dinner this weekend since Mike's on deadline this week and will have to work late. Boy, did I luck out when I married him!!!!! He's such a fantastic guy. Love you, Mike!

I just got an email newsletter from one of my most favoritest authors, Jasper Fforde, whose new book in the Thursday Next series, "First Among Sequels," is coming out NEXT WEEK! Oh. My. God. I've been living under a ROCK! How could I have not known this was coming out??????? (And no, it's not because I've been caught up in Harry Potter mania either.) I think I'm most intrigued because this time around, he plays with "Pride & Prejudice," which is one of my favorite books EVER.

If you aren't familiar with Jasper Fforde, it's almost impossible to explain his books to someone who hasn't read them. They are very quirky, funny in a very dry, British humor sort of way, and he completely turns everything upside down. They require complete suspension of disbelief, but it's so worth the ride. Characters jump in and out of books we all know and love... meaning they become part of the story line... sometimes altering the course of the book. Fictional characters sometimes jump out of their own books and enter into the "reality" of Thursday Next's day-to-day life. It's wacky, it's laugh-out-loud funny, and if you are a bookaholic like I am, I cannot recommend these books highly enough ("The Eyre Affair," "Lost In A Good Book," "The Well Of Lost Plots," and "Something Rotten" - click on the book title to be taken to the Amazon page for it). Brilliant, brilliant stuff. Hooray for the next Thursday next book!

Have any of you read them?????

P.S. I'm taking the freebies for Little Darlin' down soon -- grab them if you want them!
P.P.S. My water has been turned off at the curb and I'm waiting for the plumber to return to fix the rest of the stuff in the basement. Hope he gets here soon!

OMG, where has today gone? I started posting this blog post this morning, HOURS ago, had the open window close when the computer rebooted itself unexpectedly, and I'm just now getting back to it. YIKES! Best intentions went flying out the window.

So, yep, I have freebie goodness for you today. It's at the bottom of this post! This is the final freebie for the Little Darlin' kit. Even if you missed the super sale earlier this week, the kit is still an amazing deal for the price. Hope you'll pick it up AND share some layouts with me. I think I might scrap with it again over the weekend when I have some time!!! Melissa gave us a Digi Pick today... YIPPEE!

I have to say the layouts being done with this kit are just blowing me away. Seriously good stuff! Speaking of which, it appears that my CT member Lilian has been scrapping with this kit NON-STOP since she got it. I've already shared several layouts she done with it... but wait, there's more!!! She just sent me links to these two today (and, I warn you now, the "awwwww, so cute" factor is high with these two!):

The powder on her face just SLAYS me! And here's another one:

Lilian is a superstar!!!

I won't bore you guys with the details of my week behind the scenes here... Suffice it to say, my cable modem has been FIXED (too many things on one line, so they ran a second line into the house -- yay!). I've been in plumbing hell with some things needing to be fixed, them being fixed, the fixed part LEAKING... yeah, it's been a bit of a mess. I was cranky to end all crankiness by the time the plumber left yesterday. He'll be back next week to fix the leak. But I'm just so over needing to have things fixed right now! All of my appliances/home systems/my car/my computer -- you all better be listening, ok? Nobody needs fixing for a LONG TIME, got it?

Ok, you've waited oh-so-patiently, so here is today's freebie! And it's a SURPRISE! I'm not telling you what you are getting! (So sneaky, eh? I actually don't have PhotoShop open right now, don't feel like waiting for it load, and I haven't done a preview yet, and I still have to zip it and upload it, so I'm pretending like I meant this to be a surprise...) The freebie does match Little Darlin'. That's all I'm sayin'. LOL

Thank you for your interest in my freebies. This download link has expired. is a link to download: DOWNLOAD FREEBIE HERE. And if you dig it, well, leave me a comment and tell me what you wanted to be when you grew up (yeah, I know, some of us are still growing up). I wanted to be a "book writer." My mom has a drawing I did in grade school of me sitting at a typewriter (it was grade school - I didn't know what computers were back then in the Dark Ages) and the header on the page said "When I grow up, I want to be.... a book writer." So there you have it. I was maybe 7 or 8 when I drew it. What did you want to be? (I don't think I've asked this question yet.)

Wow, looks like Little Darlin' is a huge hit. It's so exciting when something you spend so much time and effort on really takes off. The one-day sale yesterday was crazy -- I get email notifications each time something of mine sells, and they were literally pouring in for much of the day. I have another matching freebie today, so stick around to the end of this post for that!

Didn't get the kit yesterday? Fear not. It's still in the store, just at full price. But the truth of the matter is that we both feel that each half is a steal even at full price. Wanna see what the whole kit is all about finally? We've stopped with all the secrecy today, so here are some previews for your viewing pleasure.

Here's my half:

Here's a preview of just my papers:

And a "details" close-up of some of the goodies so you can see textures and whatnot:

And here's Jessica's half:

A preview of Jessica's papers:

And a "details" preview of Jessica's half:

You can purchase them here:
Krista's half
Jessica's half

I have more CT layouts to share that were done with the kit... I'm just loving everything that folks are doing!

AmyK did this gorgeous layout of her little Emma:

Melinda did this amazing double-page spread about a Christmas past (how awesome is that ORANGE OUTFIT?!?!?!):

Lilian did this awesome heritage layout:

(full credits here)

And Robin did this very sweet father-daughter layout about her brother and niece:

And since you may have come looking for it, here is today's freebie that matches Little Darlin'. Tomorrow there will be one last one, so be sure to stop by tomorrow too. I'll leave these up for a few days, then they're going to be disabled.

Today's freebie is this groovy green/brown distressed funky paper. I just like all of the visual texture on it. And I coupled that with this vintage ledger book and a cool old stickpin. Here's a preview:

Thank you for your interest in my freebies. This download link has expired.can download it here. If you do grab it, leave me a comment here and tell me what your favorite thing to do outside on a summer day is. Me, I would be content to swing in a hammock in the shade, sipping something cool and reading a good book (and maybe taking a nap too). Yesterday's comments about the weather were interesting. Had I asked that earlier in the week, I could have mentioned the day it was 101 in the shade on my back deck. But today is really nice... low 80's and sunny. Much nicer!

Little Darlin' has been delivered...and it's happily cooing away at Scrapbookgraphics! Here are links to both halves:

Krista's half
Jessica's half

DON'T FORGET: today is the day it's on super special introductory sale. Each half is only $2 today. Tomorrow, both go up to $5 each!!! So you might wanna do a little shopping today, hint hint!

I have a matching freebie at the end of this post... keep reading!

To give you a little more to go on than the sneak peek, I've got some layouts to show you! Here's a compilation of layouts Jessica put together of layouts from her CT and mine (some of which I'll show bigger versions of below):

Yes, one of those layouts is actually mine! Shocking, I know, since I seem to scrap so infrequently sometimes. I did this last night to play with the new kit and am so pleased with how it turned out (all elements and papers from Little Darlin'):

I need to scrap more often. I had so much fun putting that together!

Here are some lovely layouts from my way-cool creative team! Lilian went nuts and did two layouts for us (thank you so much!) -- and her work is as beautiful as ever:

And Melinda put together this awesome page about her and her sister (so cute!):

And if you are looking for today's freebie, well, look no further! I have a paper for you that I think is just yummy and a matching embroidered flower to go with it:

Thank you for your interest in my freebies. This download link has expired.can download it here. If you do, let me know what your weather is like today. Here, it's a bit overcast, and we're supposed to get thunderstorms later. Not as hot as it has been -- it's in the 80's today.

Oh, and don't forget! Jessica has a freebie on her blog today too that matches the kit!!!

Hi all!

Hope you are having a good day! Me, I'm still in an epic battle with my internet connections (like Lord of The Rings for ISP's or something). Here's the latest for those keeping track at home:

- cable came back up late yesterday afternoon
- cable went back down this morning
- DSL is back up this morning, so I haven't had to resort to dial-up yet today (thank goodness)
- cable technician comes out Thursday afternoon to figure out what is going on...

And thank goodness I kept my DSL account for a little while, you know? I just don't understand why I am having so many issues.

That being said, well, there is big excitement brewing on many levels here at Skye Scrapz central. First and most pressing: the collaborative kit that hits the store TOMORROW. Here's a little sneak peek:

That's just a mere sampling of Little Darlin'. Jessica and I will each have our respective halves for sale in our respective studios at ScrapbookGraphics. Here are handy-dandy links to said studios:

Krista's Studio
Jessica's Studio

So, the BIG SCOOP: tomorrow, we are each offering our halves of the kit for $2 (super special sale price). ONE DAY ONLY for the sale price! On Thursday, midnight eastern, each half goes up to full price ($5 per half). The catch is that you won't be able to see the full kit or know the complete contents until Thursday -- tomorrow's super sale will only feature the sneak peek image in the store. I can honestly say that you are getting more like $7 worth of stuff for $2. Seriously.

The kit is a baby kit... kinda-sorta. It's unlike any baby kit you've ever seen, I'm sure! And really, only the word art and one paper are baby-related. EVERYTHING else in both halves of the kit could be used for any sort of layout. We created this kit in honor of Tania Cordova's soon-to-be-born little one Talulah!

Starting tomorrow and for a few days, I'll have coordinating freebies here, so be sure to stop by for those!

In other news, Melissa and I are moving DigiScrapZ to a new location and giving it a new name! We have started working with our friend Audrey at Mootsie, and we have put together an e-store that includes all of the digi goodness of DigiScrapZ with way-cool, hybrid-friendly mini-books, chipboard products, paper crafting supplies, ephemera, trinkets, rubber stamps... basically it's DigiScrapZ with a whole lot more goodies! So Altered Art Chicks was born! Here's the announcement splash image:

Even though we'll have a new name, Altered Art Chicks will offer the same great products and service you've come to know and expect from DigiScrapZ. In fact, we've named the section in the store that features digital scrapbooking supplies "DigiScrapZ" so you'll know where to go for your favorite stuff. We've officially disabled the store at DigiScrapZ, but if you have any questions about past orders, we're keeping the site active until the end of July.

FYI, AAC will be doing a big launch in September, so look for info on that coming up soon. Until then, we're continuing to stock the emporium, load product-in-use examples into the studio gallery, and we'll be rolling with our blog soon. The store at AAC (aka the emporium) is open and ready to shop in now! Can't wait to hear what you think of it! And tell me what you think of my chick site design!

So my DSL went down again for much of last week. I got cable modem installed on Friday, and now that is acting up too. I'm posting this via dial-up. What is it with me and ISP's? I don't get it. A technician is coming out Thursday. And in the meantime, I'll just be sitting here systematically pulling my hair out bit by bit.

In the down time, I was able to finish the collaborative kit I have been mentioning. Yes, Jessica Bolton and I have teamed up again (we had so much fun the first time, we wanted to do it again!). We'll be unveiling "Little Darlin'" on Wednesday -- it will be sold in two halves -- half in each of our studios at ScrapbookGraphics. I'll have a teaser image for you to see tomorrow. Here's the exciting info: the first day it's for sale (Wednesday, July 11th), each half will only be $2. After that, each half goes up to $5 (each half is REALLY big so it's a total steal). Jess and I will both have freebies on our blogs too. So please check in tomorrow to get the skinny on Wednesday's sale and to see the sneak peek. Woohoo!

P.S. The kit was designed in honor of Tania Cordova's forthcoming little one, Talulah! Can't wait to see what Tania scraps with the kit!

Ok, maybe it's a small slew. Mini slew. Slew-let. I have a bunch of things knocking around in my head, all ready to be poured out in blog format. I have no idea how long this will be, but, hey, it should be fun. I'll number items (more for me, really)...

1) My hubby, Mike, is blogging now. He and his staff (he's Editor-in-Chief of Sound & Vision Magazine) can be found waxing poetic about all things music, home theater, home stereo and entertainment-esque here: Sound & Vision blog. If you read something you like and comment, please tell them I sent ya.

2) On said blog, you can read Mike's review of last night's Rush show we attended. He even included some photos he took on his phone's camera. I may have gotten some better ones though, I think.

They're not great. Our seats were a section further back than we thought they were, so, well, we're not talking award-winning photography here. But they're kinda sorta cool:

I told a friend of mine this morning that I’m always a sucker for bands that get all crazy with their time signatures like they do. I dig that kind of stuff... a LOT! I have come to appreciate them even more since being married to Mike. Like Neal Peart is a drumming GOD. He is seriously amazingly awesome.

3) It's official. I cannot do it all. I thought I could. I tried, for a long time. But I couldn't continue selling at three online locations without stressing myself out. So, you will, going forward, only be able to find my stuff at Altered Art Chicks and ScrapbookGraphics. Unfortunately, I won't be selling with the awesome ladies at ScrapDish any longer, which breaks my heart. But a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do to keep herself from stressing out too much, you know?

4) There's a new kit brewing. It's collaborative. It's coming soon. Within the next two weeks. That's all the info I'm giving out for now, but it's already shaping up to be way cool. Want a peek? Here's a very small snippet of my portion:

5) I'm getting a cable modem installed on Friday, finally. My DSL is still giving me hassles and I've had enough. So my email address will be changing soon.

You know, I've had to spend more time this week archiving stuff off of my hard drive in order to get anything done. Yeah, I probably need more GB of memory. But I don't necessarily want to install more memory in this computer. It's two years old. It'll probably need replacing in the next year or so. So I'm staggering along with a measly 55GB hard drive on this puppy, and I've cleaned off all of the extraneous programs I possibly can (everything still on here is stuff I use regularly). I've archived any files I can. And now, yes it's been my life for the past two days, I'm archiving emails. It's a slow process because I need to keep some stuff on here for reference. I still have a lot more to do, but I've managed to free up almost 4 GB of space with all of my tweaking and archiving so far. I was getting that horrid, "Hey, you... yeah, you... the one using the mouse there... This C drive is ready to explode with the amount of stuff you have crammed on here and so um, the scratch disc is full and the computer is going to hobble along REALLLLLLLY SLOWLY until you get rid of some of the crap on here." (Ok, it was much more succinct than that, but still...)

So I've been housecleaning... electronically speaking.

And I'm trying to figure out how I can afford to have a plumber come out next week to replace some of the pipes in our finished basement near the water meter. They're seriously corroded and, well, water in the basement would suck royally. So I have to figure that puzzle out rather soon. It wouldn't be such an issue if our mortgage wasn't due right now (meaning the bank will be getting all of the money in my checking account, basically). Yeah, it's hard being an independent contractor sometimes. I never know quite when I'll have money in my account. Or not.

It's always something when you own a house, isn't it?

On a more positive note, Mike and I are going to a wedding tomorrow. Our friend Adam is getting married, and I'm so excited for him. He's a great catch (I was trying to find someone to set him up with for the longest time before he met Laurie), so I'm really thrilled he's found his soulmate. And she's awesome too, so it's definitely a great cause for much celebration.

Hope everyone had a great week. Still have Melissa G and her mom in my prayers, as well as Melinda and her son, who had to go in for an EEG yesterday. Big hugs and lots of positive thoughts all around, my friends!

I don't know what is wrong with me. I have had every good intention of blogging every day this week, but I've gotten bogged down with work and before I know it, each day has rolled into evening and I'm up to my eyeballs in designing at that point (yes, believe the rumors... ok, no rumors yet... I'll start one now... I will have something new out soon-ish). And I'm still being dogged by this cold/flu thingie that I had last week. I feel pretty ok, but I'm still blowing my nose like crazy and I have a lingering cough that is annoying the crap out of me. And I still sound very husky, which is great for the sympathy factor with day job folks. ("Oh, you sound so sick." Wah, poor me... yeah, right...) So it's not like I'm really still sick, just still dragging from it. I've been hard-pressed to stay up much past 11 p.m., which is really tough in the designing category because I do a lot of designing well into the night a lot of the time... because there aren't enough hours in the day otherwise.

(Rumor number two... I should have some freebies coming to accompany the new stuff... I've designed more than I think I will put in the kit.)

I'm sending healing and positive vibes the way of Melissa G, whose Mom is in the hospital right now.

I picked up another day-job client, which means my schedule will officially become insane on July 9th. Heaven only knows what that will mean for my blogging... since I can't seem to keep it together this week while I'm not as busy.

It's hot as Hades here today. It was 99 degrees when I ran an errand earlier today (I needed a new postal scale as my old one was telling me stuff was WAY heavier than I knew it should be -- who knew postal scales were so freakin' expensive? I had no idea... The one I got is more than $60 and I open it to find that it doesn't come with an A/C adaptor -- that is sold separately... WTF? For $60, I expect a power cord!!!! I'm going to have to just use 9 volt batteries because there is no way I'm dropping more money on this scale...). Yesterday was in the mid-90s. Ick. Our neighbors are away and I have been responsible for feeding their cats and watering their plants, and the past two days of plant-watering have been downright brutal. You just stand there and sweat! Yuck.

Oh! My guest CT Muka posted the COOLEST layout the other day! Check this out:

(credits here)

I just adore the animation... it's very clever!

Happy Friday! I'm so glad it's Friday. This week has seemed so long since I haven't been up to snuff. Lots to do this weekend, but the fact that it's Saturday and Sunday just seems to make things a whole lot better overall.

Earlier in the week, I promised to share links to some of our favorite vendors at the Renegade Craft Fair this past weekend. Well, I finally got out the cards and stuff I accumulated during our stroll of the fair and it's time to give you some fun places to click to!

Very cool, funky jewelry

fun felted wool stuff (sis-in-law and I got matching rings -- very cool!)

all kinds of groovy stuff in a very clean, spare style (we were coveting the Kleenex box covers -- so awesome! They turned humdrum boxes of Kleenex into very chic works of art!)

Etsy, because it totally rocks for handmade art!
(and they gave us cool bandanas!)

and my most favoritest booth was this one: old books made into bags (she had this Pride & Prejudice bag there, and I WANTED it so badly!)

this booth took my breath away -- the jewelry, the small artworks... it was simply stunning stuff!

On a completely unrelated note, my cousin sent me this link and I was just transfixed watching it, so I must share it here:
Art Portraits

My CT Lilian, bless her heart, has sent me links to tons of layouts she has done, and I haven't shared a one here. So I'll do that now, without further ado. Her layouts just make me smile. It's as simple as that!

(credits)

How adorable is this?????

(credits)

(credits)

(credits)

Thank you so much for doing such inspiring, fantastic layouts with my designs, Lilian! Truly works of art!

Gotta love it when something is on the downswing and you start feeling more like yourself. I really do today. Yay! Of course my goofy back thing is still bugging me, but my head feels so much better and I no longer sound like a bullfrog (now just have a sorta husky sexy voice, or so I've been told). I hope I have more juice at the end of the day today to start some designing... I sat down to do some stuff last night and didn't get very far before I conked out.

My guest CT Muka tagged me the other day, and I realized last night that I'd forgotten to do the tag thus far. So, without further ado...

Your Partner?
The wonderful, talented, and extraordinarily funny Mike, with whom I will celebrate 15 years of marriage in July. Yay!

Your hair?
Dark blonde. I've been getting highlights to bring it back more to my childhood color for a number of years now. I think I look better lighter blonde. But I am indeed a natural blonde!

Your Mama?
My mom is seriously the BEST! She is very giving, fun, funny, a great listener, always cheerful, fantastic, terrific, great... seriously, I want to be more like her when I grow up and I tell her that all the time!

Your Dad?
A bit high-strung, but he's mellowing as he gets older and I'm finding as we both get older, he's really quite a lot like me in a number of ways. He's also very funny, a bit quieter than my mom, a bit of a goofball, very interested in reading and learning new things.

Your dream last night?
I had a dream about a day job client and a concert of his... I was running around trying to find the photographer who was supposed to be there. Nothing exciting, not close to anything that has happened recently, yet another example of how day job stress works itself out while I sleep, I guess.

Your favorite drink?
Coca-Cola, fully caffeinated and full of sugar, thanks! I also ADORE Propel Water, black cherry flavor. I can drink that by the gallon.

In which room are you now?
My home office. Where I spend way too much of my time... LOL!

Your fear?
Losing people I love.

What do you wanna be in 10 years?
I hope I have kids at that point. I can't say what I want to be besides that, happy, healthy... that's what it's all about, really.

With whom did you spend the last evening?
Mike. We watched a bit of TV, I tried to design, and I fell asleep on the couch at 10 p.m. I'm SOOOO exciting!

What are you not?
Short!!!!!!! (I'm 6'2")

Your favorite book?
This is a tough question because I read soooooo much. I have favorite authors: Jasper Fforde, Bill Bryson, Jane Austen... I love everything, really. I love to read. Total bookaholic.

Last thing you ate?
Some cinnamon pita chips as a pseudo breakfast.

Your mood?
Content.

Your friends?
The best. I have them all over the world, really, at this point, and I am so grateful to have each and every one of them in my life. They are a true blessing and one I never take lightly. They mean everything to me.

Your summer?
Summer so far has been really busy!!! Wonderfully so. And, thank goodness, not unbearably hot for more than a day or two yet.

When did you cry the last time?
Monday morning when my brother and his family left. I always cry when I have to say goodbye to my family. I don't get to see them nearly as much as I would like.

Favorite weekend hobby?
Playing in PhotoShop - designing [Completely unrelated: the neighbor's cat is standing on my office window ledge, outside, and looking at me... so funny!], reading, hanging out with Mike and watching DVD's.

Job you dream of?
I'm already doing it, although truth be told, I'd still like to publish a book someday.

Your Computer?
Dell Inspiron 5150 Laptop. It does the trick!

Winter?
Love it! I love cold weather and I love snow.

Religion?
Methodist, although not exactly a regular church-goer.

Holidays?
We always split Thanksgiving and Christmas to be fair -- one year, it's T-giving with my family, Christmas with Mike's, and the next year we flip-flop.

On your bed?
sheet, one blanket (it is summer after all). I have two pillows, Mike sleeps with three. (I know, weird, right?)

Love?
...is all you need... (didn't somebody sing a song about that?)

I am tagging: Melissa, Robin, Susie, Melinda, Erin (even though she went to the enemy school, GA Tech - LOL).

Otherwise known as "I have a cold in my nose." Actually, I might have a bit of a flu... I was achy and feverish yesterday... today I'm feeling a bit better because I slept so much yesterday. However, the truly klutzy side of me reared its head this morning... I was bending down to turn on the shower and something tweaked in my back -- it's very twinge-y and bugging me now. I think it's just nuts how you can throw your back out of whack with the stupidest stuff sometimes. It's rideeeeeeeeekulous!

And I'm nearing real disaster zone... I may have to run out and buy more Kleenex soon. I'm going through it so fast it's crazy.

Thanks so much for your comments and well-wishes. I must say that being sick in summer is just so much worse somehow. It sounded like some of you weren't feeling so hot either, so I feel bad for complaining even an iota. I'll pretend I feel really peppy instead!

So I mentioned on Monday where I've been. Had a GREAT visit with my family (including a very fun surprise 60th bday party for my uncle and LOTS of time spent with my Grandpa, who seems to be doing ok in the wake of my Grandma's passing a few months ago). It was nice to spend a lot of time with family, even though I still had to work.

But coming home to find my DSL down... ugh... The DSL thing was ridiculous, frankly, because I've had tech people out several times in the past and never did they tell me that there was something wrong with the way stuff was wired. The guy rewired everything and that seemed to do the trick (knock on wood). The clincher which is making me seriously consider cable modem (pros/cons for those who have it?) is that the dial-up option I have with my account was spotty at best too. So I had to schlep out to Panera a few times to use their WiFi to send large files for work. It really sucked.

Had a fab visit with my brother, sister-in-law and nephews who visited this past weekend. We even took the boys into NYC and they loved the tall buildings and noise and people and just the general craziness of it all. Oldest nephew told me we could never move because he wants to come to NYC every time he visits us. Well, alrighty then, I guess we're staying in NJ!

On Saturday, my sister-in-law and I went here: Renegade Craft Fair. It was a trek out to Brooklyn, to be sure, but it was so worth the trip. We loved it - all of the handmade, quirky, artsy goodness of everything was so inspiring and downright cool. Plus the fact that they had it in an old, HUGE neighborhood pool that closed in the '80s (and was sans water, of course) just made it even cooler. (Yes, the booths were set up IN the pool!) Over the coming days and weeks, I'll share some links to the websites of some of my fave vendors from the fair.

My CT member Lilian has been busy scrapping stuff with my designs; I'll share some of her creations with you guys soon! Very soon!

My alma mater (University of Georgia -- go Dawgs!) has an alumni magazine that goes out quarterly to over 200,000 readers. Well, guess who's featured in the June issue? Yours truly! Check it out:

Krista in UGA Alumni Magazine

(I wish my blog was still getting that many visitors, but it's not. It was when I did the interview for the feature back in the winter though! It pretty much petered out when I slacked off on the freebies. I know those of you reading this don't care whether I offer freebies or not and that makes me so very happy!) (Also not crazy about the photos -- the photographer was an awesome chick and we've stayed in touch [shout out to Dot in Athens!], but I just don't like the number of chins I'm sporting lately. I sooooo need to lose some weight!)

Will write more soon, but thanks to those who where asking where I was...

The last time I posted, I was off visiting family and didn't really have much time to blog at all. When I got home a week ago Sunday night, my DSL was down. And my dial-up was spotty. And it took them until Wednesday to get a technician out to fix it. At which point I was so behind on stuff that I was frantically trying to get stuff done like a maniac once I was back up in the land of high-speed internet connections.

Thursday, I had out of town company arrive. They just left this morning.

To say I'm exhausted, well, that's an understatement. I'd be tired anyway, but I came down with a head cold yesterday and I'm miserable today.

So, I am alive. I just had zero time to even think about my blog for the past few days (or when I did have time to think about it, I couldn't even connect to the Internet).

My apologies for vanishing like that. I'll post more tomorrow when I'm feeling more human. Thanks again for checking up on me!

So I'm sitting here cranking on my day job work while I have the house to myself. And I just got a rather awesome bit of news. Those of you who know our Neil Finn adoration will understand... Cathy Zielske just emailed me that she got FRONT ROW SEATS to the Crowded House show in Minneapolis via ticket presale. How huge and awesome is that? I told her I'm wickedly jealous but so stinkin' excited for her it's not even funny. Apparently, right after she emailed me, she blogged about it. I wonder if she'd let me go with her instead of her hubby, Dan????????

Yes, I'm in the lovely state of New York for the week, visiting my family and working from their house. So I haven't had a lot of time to pop on here until now. Been spending some time with my Grandpa (he LOVED the digital art I made from the photo of his house!) and my extended family and getting my day job work done in between visits. I get to glom off my parents' neighbor's WiFI, so I can stay connected and operational...

My creative team has been hard at work and they've created some lovely things lately that I'd like to share. First off is a wonderfully introspective layout from the recent-birthday girl, Robin.

(Full credits here.)

Next is from Lilian, a beautiful vintage-y layout:

(Full credits here.)

And last but never least, Muka sent me a link to this quirky goodness last night, which made me laugh out loud in the best way:

(Full credits here.)

Not much else is new. Been trying to sneak some designing time in while I'm here but haven't been able to yet. Maybe tonight I will be able to do so. I hope everyone is having a great week!

Oh, I know what I can tell you... the present for my parents that I was working on has finally been given, so I can talk about it here. My brother and I got them a really awesome (and pretty high-end) digital picture frame, and I spent a LOT of time gathering photos for the 4GB-worth of memory cards we bought for the frame... editing, cropping, cleaning up, resizing, and doing PhotoShop magic on them. I am starting with 700 photos for them, but I'm really just getting started and will add more images as I have more time to scan photos in, etc. I told my parents I'd add new photos to the frame every time I visit. A lot of the older family photos that were scanned in needed a lot of work -- color correction, scratch-fixing, getting rid of dust, etc. To be honest, it was a blast to work with all of the pictures. It just took me a long time to edit them the way I wanted them, since I'm such a perfectionist. It's very entertaining to just sit and wathc the frame cycle through the photos. I included stuff as far back as great great grandparents to present, so it's a family tree, in digital shuffle slideshow mode!

Today is a great day because it is Robin Cabana's birthday! She's not only on my CT, but she is an awesome friend to boot! Melissa G and I were going to take her out to lunch tomorrow to celebrate, but we had to reschedule, so we are looking forward to showering Robin with birthday chips and salsa in a few weeks! In the meantime, have a superb day, my friend, and thanks for always making me smile!

Credits: background paper from my Artistry: Redux paper pack; flower, stem, and leaves from my Bohemian Peddler add-on kit (recolored); button from my Bohemian Peddler add-on kit; fonts - Incognitype, JI-Pentad.

It's Friday, my A/C is humming away (had to wait this year for our A/C guy to come out and refill our refrigerant -- we have a very slow leak that needs to be repaired at some point), so I am no longer sitting at my desk sweating all day long, and I'm smiling. Why am I smiling? Because I logged on to blog about a particular topic, only to find my Neil Finn-loving doppleganger Cathy Zielske (ok, yeah, I know, we look NOTHING alike, but personality and likes-wise, it's getting a little bit scary how much we have in common) beat me to it. And she name-checked me too.

So, what's it all about? Neil Finn, bay-bee. The video for the new Crowded House single can be viewed online (go here: Don't Stop Now) and I really think you need to watch it. And not just because it's Neil and Co. looking especially dapper in suits (which, of course, Cathy and I had to discuss) and playing in a faux forest. No, it's because the backgrounds and images in the entire video remind me of PAPER PIECINGS! It's like a quirky, freestyle scrapbook page behind them as they play! Right? Am I right? Yes, I am! I said to Cathy as we emailed back and forth about the video yesterday, that I couldn't shut off the scrapbooker/designer in my brain even when I'm watching a rock video from my favorite songwriter. Am I the only one who walks around noticing design and scrapbook-y stuff everywhere? (Stuff like, "Gee, those flowers over there would make awesome embellishments... why don't I have my camera?" or "Gosh, that pile of dirt is a really cool visual texture...")

Neil. Yeah. Good video. I actually had to watch it on Mike's computer because my REAL Player wouldn't play it and my Windows Media Player is totally wonky lately (even after a reinstall). I also had to watch the Coachella Crowded House clips Cathy so wonderfully sent me links for. (If you are interested, they are here [click on Coachella and select Crowded House from the side menu that pops up].) The "Silent House" clip is great... I got a kick out something Mike said he saw somewhere and the journalist said something to Neil about covering the Dixie Chicks (who covered "Silent House" on their last album) on the new Crowded House album, and Neil was like, "Uh, I wrote that song." It's an amazing song... he should be very proud of it.

And I have heard snippets of things from the new Crowded House album and am loving what I've heard. I can't wait for it to come out now. And I especially can't wait to see the two NYC shows in August. I broke down and bought tickets for two shows at the Beacon Theater. One was pre-sale and I was really bummed I couldn't get better seats than I did. I took my chance on regular sale with the second show and got similar seats, just a bit cheaper as I got the first "cheaper row" in the orchestra section. Front row was going for $350 per ticket on Stub Hub when Mike checked just for fun. I love Neil, yeah, but I can't swallow shelling out that kind of money for front row seats (neither can my checkbook). I got SO SPOILED on the last solo tour. I got front row seats on pre-sale, which ruined me for ever being further back in the crowd for him.

Ok, I didn't log on JUST to talk about Neil today, honest. I actually have something else to share with you that I think is WAY COOL (I read about it on my writer pal Jeff's blog yesterday). HELVETICA: THE MOVIE. Yes, it's a feature-length film about a font. A font we all know and love. I'm going to have to watch this. I know, I figured if ANYONE would understand my fascination with fonts, it would be you guys, right? Hands up who else wants to see this now that they know about it? It's not just about Helvetica (well, it is), but it really explores the world of design. Here's what the site says about the film: "a feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface (which is celebrating its 50th birthday this year) as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives." How could we not want to watch that if we have any interest in graphic design? I'm a font junkie. I'm the person whose PhotoShop takes five years to load because I have so many fonts. This one could possibly be an Academy Award-winner in my book, and I haven't even seen it yet. So, look for it at an art movie house near you. Me, I'll probably get the DVD when it comes out. To anyone else, that would sound REALLY DORKY, but I know you guys get it.

Well, ok, to be specific, I created some digital art. I had so much fun. I let myself just sit down with the laptop and make whatever I felt like making. It was pretty darn awesome.

I'd taken some photos of my grandparents' house a few years ago with which to do a "my favorite place" layout at some point. I've been missing my Grandma a lot the past two weeks, so I thought playing with those photos finally might be therapeutic. So here is the original photo:

And I wanted to amp it up... visually fill the house with all of the color and laughter and light I know it is filled with when I visit it. A bunch of tears later, here is what I came up with (digital art as therapy, but I felt so close to my Grandma while I was working on it):

Credits: "background papers" used to funk up the photo from my Artistry: Redux paper pack and from my Urban Grunge backpack. Font is AquilineTwo. Quote reads: Home, the spot of earth supremely blest, A dearer, sweeter spot than all the rest. - Robert Montgomery

I'm printing it on great photo paper to frame and give to my Grandpa for Father's Day. I love that it looks like a painting.

Ah, the old conundrum... I feel like blogging but have nothing to type about. I have spent all day working on tour press outreach (from places as far-flung as Boston, Salt Lake City, Fullerton, CA, Charlotte, NC, and Peoria, IL -- that's just a mere sampling -- I felt like I was atlas-hopping all day long). I try to get people to write about my bands' upcoming shows. Or have them on their local morning TV show. Or get them out to review the show. It's not as easy as it would seem -- you'd think it would be a given that they'd want to write about a band coming to town, right? Not so much. 'Cause there are SO MANY OTHER bands on tour at any given time that my bands are competing with other touring bands in the same markets. So I try to start a month before the show -- any earlier and it gets lost in the shuffle, any later, and the editorial space may already be allocated to something else (yes, even in daily papers it can happen well in advance). So I literally spent all day working on that. I feel like I've been all over the country. In a manner of speaking, anyway...

Aside from that, I've been doing a little bit of introspection lately (perhaps fueled by PMS, and I can't decide if that is a good thing or a bad thing... ). Evaluating. Trying to figure some things out. Mentally organizing myself and my priorities. It's hard trying to run two businesses. I probably spend way too much time working, and I'm not sure how healthy that is. I am happy doing it, so I have to think it's good. The scrap stuff especially makes me really happy. I get frustrated by my lack of time off sometimes. With that being said, I have no plans to throttle back on anything. I've just been doing some thinking about workload and is it working for me. I've come to the conclusion that it is.

I need to get busy with some designing soon.... no two ways about it. BUT I have to say that working on that book I was hired to do made me really want to just sit and scrap in my allotted scrap time, as opposed to designing or working on site admin stuff, or whatever things I have on my plate. Maybe I just have to step back and scrap more. Create more just for me. When I design, yes, it's for me. But it's for everyone else too because I do design with an eye toward what people might find useful and practical and nice to look at. Layouts that I do of my own accord are really very self-centered things if you think about it (unless you are scrapping for someone else, but we usually aren't doing that when we scrap). I don't use the term 'self-centered' in a bad way, either. The act of creating a layout will cause you to look inward, reflect, and express yourself in a visual fashion. What comes out can be very personal in a lot of ways, even if it's just what you would consider a garden-variety layout. Think of where your brain goes when you scrap. Why you do it. How it makes you feel. It's a very personal thing, isn't it? I think I need to explore more of that "me" art sometime soon. Stuff that is just for me, or just for my family. Not for anyone else. I think it will be good for me. Heaven only knows the stuff I did and posted at DAQ last year totally stoked my creative fire in so many awesome ways. Maybe I'll make some ATC's. Just because I want to. Not because I have to for a deadline or because somebody else said I had to.

Gosh, I'm getting very deep and philosophical here. I didn't intend to. I sat down with nothing much to say, yet I still managed to write a few paragraphs. The writer in me can never be quelled for very long, I guess; or I just have an endless stream of words looking to find their way out somehow.

So, today's question is multi-pronged: do you find the art of making layouts a very personal exercise? Who do you scrap for? How does it make you feel? What drives you to create layouts? What inspires you?

Hey everybody!

I hope those of you in the U.S. had a lovely holiday weekend. I got my garden beds mulched! It made my front yard look very snazzy. Green Shirt Guy should REALLY come see my yard now. Lookin' good!

Not much else is new on this end. I spent a LOT of time getting a gift book done that I'd been hired to do, and I finished that on Saturday night. Mike and I went to see Spiderman 3 (not all that great -- we liked 1 & 2 a lot more) finally. Just spent a lot of time catching up on stuff around the house that always seems to pile up and not get done. Little things. And running errands. We knocked out a TON of errands over the weekend, some of which had been on the to-do list for a long while. So now I feel semi-organized (although I never feel totally organized EVER).

I have a guest CT member to share with you... she's on board for the next month or so, and then she'll be back again next year. The wonderful and very talented Muka is playing with my designs! And when I say playing, I mean playing. How fun are these?

(Credits here.)

(Credits here.)

Cool, no?

And my CT member Lilian has been busy. She apologized for her English on the one layout, but isn't it pretty? I'll bet her friend LOVED the layout. And anyone who can speak another language well is so cool in my book. Actually, I've been plying the poor girl with questions about her country via email. It's fascinating to me to learn about other places and she has so much interesting stuff to share with me! Thanks, Lilian!

(Credits here.)

And here's the new member of her family (her sister just had a baby):

(Credits here.)

I am so eager to share the book I was working on, but I have to get permission from the recipient (whose photos were used throughout) before I can post it online. I cranked out 18 layouts, printed them, and made a 6x6 chipboard book out of them in 2 evenings and an afternoon. And I'm really proud of some of the layouts (no two are similar). I hope I get permission to share them here! It will be a few weeks before the gift is given and I'll know if it's ok.

Howdy!

Boy, I take Monday off from my day job and I spend the rest of the week catching up from it. I had the best intentions of posting on here yesterday and never made it onto my blog at all. That was also partly due to some server hiccups, but it seems to be fine today.

Wanted to let you guys know about a crazy-awesome sale we're having for ONE WEEK ONLY! Check this out:

That's right... after this week, those mega kits on clearance are being retired! So, be sure to grab them now at 50% off before they are gone! They are available at either DigiScrapZ or ScrapDish. Also, don't forget, a bunch of my kits are on clearance for $1 as part of a retirement sale (also until June 1st). Same thing - after that day, they are gone for good. So stock up now if there are kits in the clearance section at either site that catch your fancy, either the megas or my own clearance items!

I've added another Creative Team member this week. I'd like to welcome the amazingly talented Lilian (aka malacima) to my Creative Team. To kick off her involvement, she put together this stunning layout:

You can see full credits for it here. Welcome, Lilian and I cannot wait to see what else you dream up!

I haven't had a question of the day in a while, so just when you thought it was safe to read my blog, I've decided it's time for another one. What is your favorite piece of clothing or apparel that you own? I have a pair of black low-heel, rounded-toe boots that I adore (and I wish I could find another pair because I love them so much I will wear them out at some point). I love my really dark jeans. I love my granny apple green shirt (which I happen to be wearing today and thus thought of the question in the first place). And I have an old gray sweatshirt on which the cuff and hem are totally unraveling and messy and it's just SO COMFORTABLE!

Yep, that's me. Weary, but smiling. I just spent the past two days at the annual National Stationery Show in New York City. Wow. So much to take in and digest and look at! We had a blast though, and I think it was SO WORTH IT to go!

You haven't heard from me in a bit because: a) at the end of last week, I was busy getting ready to attend the show. I had meetings galore I reconfirming since we were packing everything into two days, and I wanted to have materials to show to the people we met with, so I needed to get all of that in order; and b) because I was then at the show itself.

I wish I knew how big the place actually is, square footage-wise. I can show you the crazy floorplan (yes, look at ALL OF THOSE BOOTHS) here. Melissa printed out a floorplan to bring with us only to find out she couldn't even read the numbers on it! So we had to figure out where we were and get our bearings on Sunday as soon as we got there. We walked the ENTIRE FLOOR on Sunday AND found time for meetings too (I'm not sure how we managed to do both, in retrospect, but somehow we did!). Monday, our colleague Audrey came with us, and we went back to spend more time at a bunch of places and managed to squeeze in a number of meetings that day too. Gotta love the booths that have special secret conference rooms for meetings -- we felt so important or something! It was so interesting to walk around and just see all of the products, the trends in design and color, the nifty new lines -- everything was very cool.

One of my favorite things was chatting for a while with the owners of Cosmo Cricket. I'm such a huge fan of their stuff to begin with, and Eric and Julie are such sweet people. We LOVED getting a special sneak peak at their fall line, which Julie had kept hidden to show only to select people. SO COOL!

So we had a blast. So much fun. Awesome meetings. Amazing ideas with which to move forward. And, maybe, just maybe I lost a pound from so much walking!

Hey everyone...

Sorry I've been incommunicado for a few days. Busy with day job work, and have been spending my evenings and a lot of my weekend working on the top secret, hush-hush gift for my parents that I already mentioned. I don't dare say what it is here, because it would be just my luck that my Mom would pop in here and read it. When I set out to do this for them, I don't think I realized how much work would have to go into it. My brother (who went in with me on the gift) got off easily -- he just wrote a check to me for his half of the present. I'm the one doing all of the work on it though! I should have charged him more since my time is valuable, right?

So, I have no freebies right now. But I have a some admin stuff to mention/talk about, so here we go:

1) My map: I love it that so many of you have added yourselves to the map at the bottom of my blog. At the risk of sounding VERY dorky, I will say that about once a week, I just sit and watch it to see where everyone is. Yeah, that sounds just as dorky written out as it did in my head. Oh well. If you haven't signed onto my map to share with me where you are, I would love it if you did.

2) Showing the love: I have a list of reader's blog on the left side of my blog. This is just a reminder that I'd love to swap links with your blog if we haven't done so already. Comment or email me and let me know and I'll add your blog to my list! Let's share some traffic and I love being able to give you guys a shout-out too!

3) My CT: the oh-so-talented Melinda made me cry with her latest creation using my designs... Check this out:

Credits are here. It's a tribute layout to her Dad, who passed away recently. When I read the credits about when she took the photo and that coupled with the lyrics -- I was totally bawling. I love that you used my designs to preserve such an emotional and important memory, Melinda! WOW!

4) Ok, this isn't an admin thing at all. But I feel like talking about it and can't BELIEVE I haven't mentioned it sooner! You guys all know how much I love Neil Finn if you've been reading my blog for some time now. I've made no secret about it. His old band, Crowded House, has reformed and they have a new album coming out in July and a tour to boot. Full tour dates were just announced earlier this week, and my pal Cathy Zielske and I devolved into squealing teenagers over this announcement via a series of emails. She even blogged about the tour and her desire for tickets in the link I just used to her blog in the last sentence. So yes, she and I are on the prowl for tickets. Excellent seats. Just different shows. I hope to go to both NYC shows, as well as Philly, while she is hitting Minneapolis and possibly Chicago. So, does anyone have any connections? I got so spoiled the last time I saw Neil on tour solo -- I scored front row seats via a fluke that I don't think I could repeat in a million years. I've been officially spoiled and I want to be spoiled again. My only hope is that my pal, who is doing PR for this record, can hook me up with after-show passes. That, my friends, would lead to hollering in addition to the squealing.

What's really funny is that the tour dates were announced the same day I'd just had a dream that Cathy met me for lunch in NYC and we ended up having lunch (in the dream) with Neil Finn and his publicist (who is a friend of mine IRL). And when I relayed said dream to Cathy, her response was three words: "best. dream. ever." I would have to agree, although some fairly hot dreams I've had in the past about Adrian Paul from Highlander: The Series might be in serious contention for "best dream ever" status. I have to think that going to see a show with Cathy would be one of the funnest things ever. And no, we've never met in person. We just obsess (errr... admire mightily) together via email. I love it that she gets it when I talk about Neil. {cyber hugs for Ms. Z}

What is really funny is that a writer I've known for a number of years because of my day job -- one who works at a major metropolitan daily newspaper (city and name shall not be spoken to protect her identity as I am happy to admit my dorky behavior but will protect her in this public arena) is also a HUGE fan and she emailed me and said:

"I think when they play NYC/{her city here} we might need to meet up and indulge our utter CH geekiness."

Unfortunately, their show in her city is the same night that I am going to see The Police here in NJ. Otherwise, I was seriously considering a little road trip to her city to behave in a manner befitting someone less than half my age with another person close to my age. I'll have to see if she'd consider coming to NYC instead. Poor Mike has already gotten to see me do the giddy teenager thing when I went to see Duran Duran a few years ago with Melissa and my friend Jenn. We were like 14 year olds or something. He's very tolerant, but I feel that goes both ways since I'll be accompanying him to THREE Rush shows this summer. (Although I do really like Rush, so it's not like I'm barely tolerating going in the least... they put on an amazing live show.)

I can't decide if the fact that I still have this totally geeky fan thing going on with some bands is:

a) a bad thing, since I'm a professional in the music business and shouldn't behave in such a manner, or b) a good thing, because I've been in the business for over 16 years and I've managed to not be so jaded by it all that I can still GET this excited about music.

So anyway, that's my very long-winded way of saying I'm pleased as punch that my boy Neil will not only have new music out very soon, but he'll also be playing at a venue near me very soon. That's simply brilliant.

I thought I'd share with you some of the lovely things they've been doing with my designs lately!

First off is AmyK...a quirkster at heart. Her ATC creation just made me smile:

The papers are from my Artsong Trilogy, the girl and the guitar are from my Art Clipz series, and the font she used is Highland Perk. Love it!

Slight pause in the CT festivities here. I just realized that the attic fan (which I had cranked up on high to pull the rain-cooled air into the house) was also sucking raindrops in too and stuff was getting wet. I had to wipe down my dresser up in my bedroom so the wood wouldn't be messed up. Turned off the attic fan, too, while I was at it. It just seems silly to me to turn on the A/C today when it's only supposed to be 70 degrees tomorrow (today it's in the low 80's).

Ok, next on the visual goodness list (I'm putting these up in random order, girls, I promise! The order that I have the links sitting my email, basically!) is Robin's take on the men in her family:

You can see the credits here.

And Melinda went all bubbly with my Artistry: Redux Paper Pack and Super Fuzzy White Alpha:

You can see the credits here.

You guys are the bestest!

I sincerely hope to get some more freebies done for next week at some point over the weekend. Stay tuned!

I've been meaning to blog about this for a while. Mike and I went to see several Tragically Hip shows back in April, and longtime readers of my blog will know they are one of my favorite bands AND I had the pleasure of working with them for a while too. This time around, I got to attend the shows as a fan and a friend of the band, which relieved a lot of the pressure on me. Pressure to deliver lots of press coverage for them (mostly self-imposed because I wanted to do right by my pals). It was rather glorious to just go and immerse myself in the shows.

Since we knew the NYC shows would be crazy busy, we decided that, in addition to those, we'd attend the Atlantic City and Philadelphia shows, both of which are not that far from us. Management got us all-access laminates, so we were covered for as many shows as we wanted to attend. We had to pick up tickets or special additional passes at some shows, including the Atlantic City show. We got special pink passes and we assumed they were for use after the show.

Well, we enjoyed a fab show, front row of the balcony. They even played the song I'd requested via email earlier that afternoon ("Pigeon Camera"), which was a wonderful surprise. We gathered at the side door to the backstage area after the show and waited for the tour manager to come out to take us backstage to say hello. Two other friends of the band's were with us (both of whom we've known for years).

When the tour manager didn't appear after we waited for a while, we decided to venture back on our own. Of course security stopped us. Remember that Mike and I were both wearing all-access laminates, so we showed those to him. He asked to see pink passes. We got them out. We had the wrong pink passes. He called his supervisor on the walkie talkie, and she finally came out. She looked at our all access passes (which should have gotten us anywhere we wanted to go) and asked for pink passes. We showed them to her and she said we had the wrong ones (uh, yeah, we already knew that). She asked who we knew. And we're both thinking, "Um, the whole band. The tour manager. The guitar tech. The bus driver. Their security guy. Their wives and kids. Some of their parents and siblings. Their last two managers and their current manager..." It would have been more accurate to ask who we DIDN'T know, actually.

She was only doing her job. I know that. But she said she was afraid she couldn't let us back without the right pink passes. WHAT? I asked her to speak to the tour manager. I said I didn't understand why all-access didn't mean all access. Apparently the venue has their own way of doing things, though.

Finally, the tour manager came out. She couldn't believe we'd been made to wait there all that time! Apparently, the box office had given us the wrong passes when we'd checked in. Security immediately took us to the VIP room with the other after show folks. Funny how things changed once we got the green light. We got to talk to several of the band members and we were quite comfortably hanging out when their security guy came over to us and whisper-whisper, hush-hush told us he needed to take us to the bus. The fans who were back in the VIP room (contest winners, I would guess) were a bit on the rowdy side and not all of the band was coming out. But they still wanted to see us. So we were escorted to the bus.

So we literally went from being not allowed to go backstage to sitting on their tour bus (not an uncommon place for us to be -- we've spent many an hour hanging with them there in the past), watching hockey and enjoying a rousing game of iPod wars. The iPod wars were conducted by three band members taking turns picking a song off of their iPods to play on the bus stereo -- the idea was to impress/thrill the listeners with their cool/awesome song picks. So it was like listening to a great radio station -- with songs jumping from Hunters and Collectors to Springsteen to the Hold Steady to Ricky Nelson... it was so much fun. Needless to say, we got home VERY late that night.

So that brings me to today's burning blog question: tell me about your coolest concert experience ever... your favorite live show, something that happened at a show, hearing your favorite song live, whatever it might be. I have a bunch:

1) U2 on the Unforgettable Fire tour... I was still in high school and I was BLOWN away. This may be the best concert I've ever been to. Or close to it.
2) Neil Finn recording his Sessions at West 54th TV special (the one you can see me in the audience on the DVD). It was such an intimate show and I had chills almost the whole time.
3) Standing side-stage at Woodstock '99 for a number of bands I love... The Tragically Hip being one of them.
4) Ringing in the new century with The Tragically Hip at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.
5) The time that Matthew Sweet opened for Crowded House. Two of my favorite bands/performers on the same bill. Yowza.
6) Duran Duran on the Seven and the Ragged Tiger tour. I was 16 years old, and I had 8th row seats. I was in my glory.

I have a number of other shows that were just transcendent concert experiences: Price, Peter Gabriel, David Bowie, the Secret Machines, Gomez... just the right mix of awesome music, great audience, great performances... the perfect alignment of all of the above.

So Melissa and I are throwing a big ol' blowout sale at DigiScrapZ right now. I decided I wanted to retire a bunch of my older kits and so did she, so we've got stuff on CLEARANCE for the rest of this month. After that, they're gone!

Here's my ad I put together for my stuff:

Stop on over and do a little bit o' shopping!

And, in the reminder category:

Don't forget the first round of voting for the Queen of the Crop Contest at ScrapbookGraphics.com ends at 11:59 p.m. EST on May 11th. I have to say I was utterly blown away by the layouts submitted for this first round. Some had remarkable journaling, some were visually stunning, some were thought-provoking, some were wonderfully quirky. Cast your vote (it costs $2 but you get an AWESOME goody bag full of stuff -- a different bag each week -- that is worth WAY more than the $2 you spend on your vote. Rumor has it the designs from somebody who might be writing this are in this week's bag... hint hint...) before this week's deadline!! Vote now. Vote more than once if you want to.

And in the funny, ha ha category:

A friend of mine that I used to work with at one of my record label jobs, Teddy, posted some hysterical calls that he taped when telemarketers called his apartment. Apparently, he likes to mess with them for a laugh. These really are funny, and that really is his voice (FYI for the Tivo one -- a Metro card is a pre-paid card you can use in NYC for subway/train/bus fare).

Tivo
Shopping Survey

I hope Teddy doesn't mind me sharing them here. They are too funny not to.

Today's burning question: favorite flower? I love hydrangeas, peonies, the smell of hyacinths, calla lilies (love the shape of them), queen anne's lace, black eyed susans (I have four of those growing in one or more places in my yard).