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

Reminder...

Saw this photo online today and it reminded me that you just have to get out there sometimes. You just have to risk. Life can be safe however the best things in life often involve some risk. So like a ship you have to leave the harbor and sail the sea.

Somewhere Beautiful

A song came on tonight that got me to thinking about being on the coast of somewhere beautiful like this...

A secluded beach on the Mexican island of Cozumel.

Or to be here off the coast of somewhere beautiful...

Diving off the coast of Ambergris Caye, an island of Belize.

Full of Nurse Sharks, Fish and Sting Ray. It is somewhere beautiful!

Or here...

The Mayan City of Tulum just over an hour out of Cancun, Mexico. It is perched on the cliffs of somewhere beautiful.

Kenny singing the song...

A Girlfriend?!

I've talked about them before...my deer. I live on a bluff so the area towards the water is very much the way God intended it to be, natural. Trees, bushes and lots of greenery. This also means there is wildlife. Mainly a few deer and some quail. For the first 3 summers living on the bluff There was a Mama deer that each spring gave birth to twin fawns. Last spring being her last set before she was killed. They are a pair of identical male twins. The photo below is them snacking on the blackberry bushes.

So adorable with their white spots!

Now here they are tonight near the apple trees. I love them for this snacking as they save me from having to pick up the fallen apples! They were "sharing" the last fallen apple. Now just over a year old they are still together. Occasionally I spot them with their half brother from the year before who is just over two years old.

Now enter the newest addition...one of the boys got a girlfriend!!! ;)
Only has eyes for one of them too!

The three of them together this evening.

( The deer looking at the camera is not the one that has caught the girl's eye. )

I can't help but check on them and worry about them when I see them. Come fall I like to see that they have eaten well during the summer and have a good coat so I know they will make it through the winter. This is why I don't hunt. I suppose if I was starving I could do it, however I think I would become a vegetarian first! LOL!

Happy Dog

Rom is 12 and for the last few months he has mostly been confined to the main floor of our multi-level home. He can't or I should say won't do the stairs anymore. He is able to go down fine and does require assistance going up, but really doesn't like it. So the difficult call was made that he would stay on the main floor which allows him access to the fenced back yard but not the bedrooms or the family room in the basement.

Well a couple of weeks ago my husband began building a new deck in the fenced back yard. This has been planned for some time because we realized after removing some trees that there was quite a view to be had from that area and a deck would be nice. My husband took Rom into consideration while building this deck and designed steps that he can climb. They are 2 feet deep. The depth of the each step allows Rom to climb them one at a time without any outside assistance. Rom now has the freedom to go for a walk around the block or just climb up there and survey his domain.

Getting ready to smile for the camera! ;)

Smiling while surveying his domain

Just happy to be up on the deck!