Busy Weekend

What a weekend! Friends visiting from Seattle and then my husband & I headed over to Seattle for a baseball game on Sunday with friends that were in town from Michigan. It was busy, busy and a lot of fun!

Butchart Garden in Victoria, BC Canada on Friday

Love this view of the Sunken Garden out of the little cabin window atop the hill. Wish I had a backyard like this!


My favorite statue at the garden. I always am captured by her peace and the way her hands seem to be ready to give a gift. Maybe the gift of her heart, of love to another.

Pink roses are my favorite flower and there are so many to enjoy there.

This rose is from the USA and had such an unusual color. We were describing it as a steel grey red. The rose is named Hot Chocolate.

My friend was snapping photos and I managed to end up in one of the. Odd to see myself in a photo as I am so very often the only one with a camera. So the red head in the red jacket? Yep that is me checking out the flowers.

Here Leslie and I are at Hurricane Ridge. 18 miles to the top from Port Angeles. It is a world away up into the mountains. We were up there on Saturday to enjoy a beautiful early afternoon as her husband had never gotten to enjoy the Olympic mountains up close.

Here we are doing what old friends do...tease and laugh down by the ocean. One of the amazing things about Port Angeles is that within 30 minutes you can go from the mountains to the salt water.

Sunday found us in Seattle at Safeco Field the home of the Seattle Mariner's. They were playing my team, the Minnesota Twins!

Some of the action on the field.

Twilight Humor

I like Twilight. I have read the books and I liked them. I have seen the movies and I liked them. That said I am NOT a Twihard. I do live in the land of Twilight though and daily I am surrounded by people traveling to Port Angeles and Forks for no other reason than the books. It is great they are here. Really. Tourism is wonderful. All I ask is don't drive the wrong way on the one way streets, think twice about using the bike lanes (we have log trucks here) and pretty please drive the speed limit.

If you have read the books then you know in a couple of them Bella goes to the movies in Port Angeles at the Lincoln Theater. This is a real place at the corner of Lincoln and First here in Port Angeles. As I was walking up First Street this weekend with some friends that were visiting for the weekend I pointed out the marquee because I thought the order of the movie listing was kind of humorous.

I chuckle when I read that...Twilight Saga Eclipse Vampires Suck. Couldn't they have put that in a different order or did they want people like me to laugh each time they drive through downtown?!?!

Healthy

Healthy is a topic that has been on my mind a lot this year. Not only physical health but mental health. They can be intertwined with each other. Being healthy in both respects makes for the happiest, truest form of yourself. It allows you to do and be more for yourself and for those around you. I came across this video today and it reminded me of how we shouldn't let other peoples opinions of ourselves affect us nor should we judge others as we have no way to truly understand their life and understand the impact we could have. Our goal should always be to lift each other up and to be kind.



Yesterday while at the local shopping mall I saw an example of this. It was a mother and a daughter doing their back to school shopping. The daughter is twelve. I remember this age so well. You aren't a teenager yet and as a girl you just feel so awkward. Are you a child or are you a woman? Your body thinks it is a woman. Your parents think you are a child. You are caught somewhere in this odd middle stage. This mother and daughter had obviously been having this battle of wills all day. Daughter says something about boys. Mom says you don't need the attention of boys. Girl wants a real bra. Mother wants her just to get a sports bra. Girl wants lace. Mother wants cotton. I just smiled at the girl as we passed. It was all I could do. I wanted to say more to the Mother because this is the age where roads diverge and a girl either turns to her Mother or away from her Mother. This girl looked a bit lost already. She needed an older sister someone who would show her the middle ground and help her feel good and healthy about all these changes. After I had left the store I have to say it made me grateful for my Mother and how she handled that time in my life. How I managed to come out of it healthy both physically and mentally. Being a woman is difficult and being a Mom must be at times the most difficult job on the planet with so much riding on getting those kids healthy and keeping them healthy.

In the eye

They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Sometimes the person who will become the beholder must see the possibilities for that beauty. Sometimes that beauty can be quite hidden for whatever reason. This is true for people and also for the things around us. In this case for a house that I've mentioned before that my family worked on a couple of summers ago. From the street you had to wonder if there was a house back there. Really what had we just bought?!

They say there is a house back there. Apparently we have just purchased it. It has come with some landscaping and a some large trees in need of trimming too!

Trees trimmed and landscaping pruned. There is a house back there and at this point was being primed by yours truly. I won't say how much primer I put on this house. I will just leave it at A LOT. When I thought I was done I wasn't.

What could be a lovely courtyard area between the garage and the house. Came with a fountain that was covered in more layers of paint that I'd like to remember as I had to remove them!

The garage that was saved as it didn't look like much!

Painted and ready for the first open house!

The courtyard ready to enjoy

The garage that looks like a garage instead of a place to avoid.

That summer was a lot of hard work however since it was done beside my family it was a lot of fun too. Also being able to go home at the end of each day and see exactly how much progress was made was very rewarding. After years working at a desk it was nice to work with my hands that way for a few months. The other side benefit was the gal that works the gate here for our local waste transfer station, aka the dump, got to be on a first name basis with us. 17 truck loads of trash left this adorable place before we were done. That doesn't count the yard waste that went into compost.

Another One

Yep! I know! Another Ryan Star song. This one is called Breathe and the song is wonderful. It is about a girl that is doing her best yet sometimes finds herself overwhelmed. He knows this and says put your burdens on me and just breathe. What woman doesn't want to hear that?! He doesn't think less of you, he just knows you need some support and a moment to breathe. Now the video was done to help people that have the burden of needing to find a new job. Love the video! Love the song!

To see it though you have to follow this link to YouTube. I can't embed it this time. It is worth it though. So take a few minutes out of your day and do it. Even if the song isn't your style I think it is a great message to remember how many, many of those that are out of work are desperate to find a new job. They are hard working people with families to support.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUKO6yOWm-g

Perks

When you own your own business everyone seems to think that it is just this wonderfully amazing thing. You make your own schedule. You are your own boss. That might be true for some small business owner out there some place in the world. However for every small business owner I have ever known this is the truth...

Your boss is your customer and your customer makes your schedule. You, the owner do your very best to carve a life out of the middle of that schedule. The first years are the most grueling with the later years when you can, if you want, hire more staff. Staff of course comes with its own headaches. I stray from my purpose I wanted to discuss the perks!

My family for years owned a business and as such there were some perks. Traveling to visit clients. Business dinners at our favorite Mexican place. Hey, we did talk business. I promise we did! One of my favorite perks was being able to have our dogs with us in the office. The employees enjoyed it and the dogs enjoyed not being left at home during the long hours we spent at the office. When I got a new puppy I have to say it made all that puppy stuff easier as well. That was until she ate the cord that connected my PC to the time clock just before payday. The cord had to be special ordered from the east coast and overnighted at my expense. Good thing said puppy was cute! As I said having her there was a perk...most days. See here she was in her spot under my desk at about 12 weeks old looking so very innocent. I hope someday I am lucky enough to have a job with such nice perks again.

Natasha - The "innocent" Rat Terrier

Unbreakable Bond

Some bonds can never be broken. They are much too strong. No matter what may pass the bond holds true. For me this is true for the bond of brother and sister. I was able to remind my brother of this today. Many years have passed since the photos below were taken but trust me that little girl still looks up to her big brother and needs her big brother. He is a good guy!

Christmas 1980

Showing him some love on his 16th birthday back in 1981


Christmas 1986

Dave Matthews Band

I'll start this off by saying I love them. One of the many, many bands I do love. Tonight I had their songs playing and the song Lover Lay Down came on. It was a live version from 1995 played at a concert in Red Rocks Colorado. This go me to thinking about DMB live and I headed off to Youtube. I found a wonderful version of Lover Lay Down with Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds I had not seen before. I really enjoyed getting to hear it so here it is posted in case you haven't heard it before either.

A First

Never before have a created something in my scrap room with the intention of tossing it on the ground and having it get trampled on. Last night I did just this. My husband loves to joke and tease. We had some friends coming over for dinner and there had been some teasing going on for a couple of days about invitations to dinner and how a real one would be nice. So my husband asked me to make a couple. One for his best friend and a separate one for his wife. The one for his friend would be tossed outside and walked on. Made to look like it was forgotten. A good use for some of the scrap paper in the my stash, yes??? I thought so!

So here it is. Nice and simple tossed out in our driveway to get walked upon! Isn't this just silly?!

The walking upon!

A trampled and forgotten invitation.

I was busy in the kitchen when our friends arrived. I hear though that this created quite a laugh. So the joke turned out well in the end!

Trip Back

I know that I live in a beautiful state and I don't take that for granted. Having said that every once and a while I will pass something that takes my breath away. This is one of them.

Lake Diablo

Lake Diablo is at about 1200 ft above sea level in the Cascade Mountains off of Hwy 20. Its beauty, the color of the water set against the trees and mountains, is best seen on a sunny day. It is "rock flour", as it is called, from the glaciers wearing against the mountains that gives the water this color. I had passed it several times when my brother was living in Eastern Washington and I was always waiting for the right sunny days to stop and get a few photos. This is one place I would like to make a trip back to.

Ryan Star

Music is a big part of my day. Something is constantly playing. Classical, jazz, rock, pop and country are my big favorites. Currently my addiction is Ryan Star. Downloaded his EP a little more than a month ago and his full length new album 11:59 just came out this week. It is awesome! He will be in Seattle as the opening act for another artist that I'll be honest I don't know. Yep I am going just for the opening act and I can't wait! Here is one of my favorite songs of his. I've posted one before "Right Now" and this is another that I just love.

Back in the Saddle...

Okay well at least back in the scrap room. I haven't been in a saddle in more than two decades! This past weekend I hosted my groups crop and when they left the house the bug didn't leave with them. I think it helps that I have a friend that has jumped in head first to making cards and I have been helping her get started on her stash. The joys of hanging out in craft stores!! Tonight I have spent hours up in my scrap room and my scrap desk shows the damage. There are buttons, bling, flowers and papers about as well as a smile upon my face. Two cards already in the mail. One more soon to be on the way and a scrap page done.

I couldn't help but think of a certain gal who used to be my almost constant scrap buddy when her husband still had the night patrol shift in Alabama. My webcam still seems too quiet when I am scrapping without her on there chatting with me! It is funny when I was working on a card tonight I couldn't find the right stamp but I know she has it in her stash! That is how often we scrapped together.

Here is some of what I was working on tonight...

I lifted this idea, sort of, from the March 2009 Cards edition. I changed the size, papers, colors, and layout a bit. Other than that it is EXACTLY the same card!

This is a page for an album on a trip to Mazatlan in February 2007 with my husband's family. I got to use my new EK punch on it that folds flat. I am loving those for storage and wish they had come out about 10 years ago when I first started buying punches!

Informed Voter

I like to be an informed voter. I am aware of what is going on in my state, county and city. Local elections are in many ways just as important or more important than national elections. There are an awful lot of layers of government between you and the president but if there is a problem here in the county you can actually go and see the commissioner. It is very important that you vote and that it be an informed vote. This person will have a direct, and sometimes immediate, effect on your life even if it just in local codes yet it could be in the number of deputies on the streets.

This week the ballots arrived in the mail for my state's primary. I opened mine and was amazed at two of the names on the ballot...Goodspaceguy and Mikethemover. They are running to be my Senator. They would like me to vote for them so they can represent me in D.C. See the photo below out of my friends voters guide. No joke. It is real. They paid the filing fee. Unreal!

It goes without saying they do not have my vote! lol