My Daily Drive

Yep I finished another challenge today. This is Thursday's "This is Me" challenge. You have to do something about your Daily Drive/or Ride.

Here is my take on it. Nothing special, but it will work. I scanned the lo and then enhanced it. Not sure which one looks better on the computer. So here are both of them. The second one you can read better that is for sure.

Memories

2 peas challenge for today: Blog about a childhood memory you have, good or bad. Sentimental or sappy, whatever you choose. This is so difficult. There are sooooo many memories which do I choose? Do I choose one from a young age of like 6-7 or one from older years? Do I pick one that is happy or sad? Ahhh the choices. I think I will go with one from a younger age and happy.

Lets see.... My dad decided back in 1969 to move the entire family to Miami, FL from Baldwin, NY. At the time I was just 5 years old. My siblings were brothers Michael (4), Steven (3), and Kelly (1 1/2), plus mom was expecting my little sister Tracy. I remember not being to happy about the move. That ment I was going to be very far away from my grandpa who was like my best friend.

Back then, Miami was more of a vacation spot, but this is where dad decided to try to get his construction company going. Things were building up down there and it was perfect for him. I got to celebrate my 6th birthday at the beach. I remember that was pretty fun. My dad knew that I really wanted a puppy for my birthday and that is exactly what I got. My dad surprised me with the most beautiful puppy a St. Bernard! She was so adorable, so fluffy, so playful who knew she was going to grow up to be a horse! My dad that's who! So we are sitting out in the front yard and trying to think of names for this beautiful puppy. I was coming up with all the usual names that a little kid would come up with like Fluffy, Princess, and Lady. Then I started to watch what she was doing. While we were outside, she was trying to eat all the kids candy. She was very sly about sneaking up and trying to grab it. I thought that was cute and at that moment decided to name her Candy! That was her name for 13 years! She was everyones best friend. She was my protector. She is truly missed even after all these years.

Like Father....

Like son! Today I'm thinking about my ds DJ. I don't know why. Maybe it's because he is starting college in 5 short days. I'm a little nervous and I really don't know why. He is kid #3 to go through this. DJ is the one kid that is just like Danny. The only difference is DJ has blue eyes and his hair is lighter! I think they look just alike, but others seem to think DJ looks more like me. I really don't see it except for the blue eyes. I guess I picked the right kid to name after him after all, lol.

They both have the same "bulldog" body, very witty, fast to come up with a comeback, and both are KNOW it ALL's. They are never wrong! Both are very shy and quiet unless they really know you. They both make me laugh at the dumbiest things. They have alot of the same interests like: boating, cars, motorcycles, fishing, tennis, handball, racquet ball, fixing stuff (like cars, boats, motorcycles) and radio controlled toys ie: helicopters, planes, boats, cars. They both have a wonderful soft, loving, kind heart deep down inside (sometimes you just really have to look a little harder for it). Its funny, because they both want to come off as "tough guys". I just lol at that.

Here is one of my favorite photos of DJ when he was little. He was just 2 years old here. Look at that face! Isn't he just adorable? Then........

this happened! Out of the blue he was grown man! Where did those 16 years go? They just flew by. When they are little we wish for them to grow up and when they finally do.. we want them to go back to be those sweet, angelic little kids.And this is Danny competing with DJ! I didn't have the heart to tell him that DJ is now a little bigger than he is. Although, Danny was bigger in his prime. Plus... Danny doesn't lift weights anymore. So I think he looks pretty good for 50 year old guy!And then you have the pose down on the beach! Men... they never really grow up. Well... lucky me... they are all mine! Ok... I've got to get out of here today. I don't feel like doing a thing, but I have to. Hope everyone has a Terrific Thursday!

Favorite Friend of the Moment

Well, as some of you may know... I am doing the This is Me... blog challenge. I'm really loving this. There are 2 challenges a week. I'm so excited to say that I have done all the challenges so far. This is of course only week 2, so we will have to see what happens once wrestling season gets started.

This challenge was to scrap/journal about your "Favorite Friend of the Moment" FFOTM. Here is my take on this challenge. My Best Friend is my little sister. She has been my best friend since she was born pretty much. Tracy is 6 years younger than me and we have always been very close. When I had my first child, she was only 13 and became my live in babysister if you know what I mean. My son Jonathon and her have a very close bond. She did everything with Jonathon when he was little. To this day she still calls him "her" son,lol. She even has photos done of him and her daughter like they are brother and sister. She kills me. When we are together, we are usually inseparable. We web cam all the time and call each other about dumb stuff and just make each other laugh. I really hate being soooo far away from her. I used my Cricut for the title and "Tracy's" name, using the Stamped cartridge. This was a pretty bad scan due to the bow on the lo. I guess I should take a photo also.

Now... the 2 peas challenge for Wednesday: What's the cutest thing you've ever heard someone say? Kinda like kids say the darndest things..?anything?? blog about it!....Hmmmmm, this is kind of hard. There are so many! But I think the one that always sticks out in my mind is something my ds Jonathon said many, many years ago. He was about 6 years old and my sil was going to be babysitting the kids while dh and I went out for the evening. So my sil gets to the house a little early so that I could get ready without kids jumping all over me. She asks Jonathon if he wanted a PB&J sandwich. He was so excited and said Yes! so she makes him a sandwich and asks him if he wants it cut in half or in 4's. He gives her a long look and says... You know Aunt Angela... you better just cut it in half, I think 4 will be too much for me to eat. lol. I just love that. So innocent,,, yeah right.

Ok... I better try to get some sleep tonight. It is almost midnight. I hope everyone has a great day!

What a Saturday Night!

Oh my! Saturday night was an evening spent with some great friends, good food, awesome drinks and incredible conversation. I was with my Wrestling Parents. Now normally this is just a "MOM's NIGHT OUT" but the host for the evening really wanted to have mom's, dad's, coaches, and their wives. I was not so gung ho for this, but it really turned out awesome! It was a small group of us and boy did the time fly! We started about 8:30pm and let me just say when I decided to finally look at a clock it was freakin' 4:30am! I couldn't believe it. We were having soooo much fun just hanging out and talking that we didn't even know what time it was. Needless to say, when I announced what time it was, several people retreated home. There of course were still some of us that remained and well..... we didn't leave until 5:30am! I finally fell asleep about 7am and then woke up at 11am. Now of course, I needed a nap in the afternoon, lol. So I passed out at about 5:30pm and woke back up at 7pm. Not to bad. Boy we really had fun. I don't know who was mixing those Mudslide's, but OMG!

Now back to reality! I have work today, which will be good. Then I really need to come home and do laundry, clean up this house a little and get everything ready for the boys return to school next week. The summer has just flown by. I've also got to get this ready for my party on the 8th. Plus, ds Jonathon is coming home for a few days! I haven't seen him since April! Miss him sooo much.

Now for the 2 peas challenge: With all these local scrap stores closing their doors. What is one thing that keeps you going back to a local store over a chain store? I love going to LSS mainly because it is more personable. They know about your craft. They know what you are looking for. They know what prima flowers are! If you are looking for something in particular that is where you need to go. A chain has no clue what you are talking about. I mean really.... I went to AC Moore (which is really nice) to buy my Cricut and the girl was like .... Oh you are buy the cricket! I just looked at her and said yes I am.

On that note... I hope everyone has a great day!

Check out my Slide Show!

Hobbies

I'm doing the "This is Me" blog challenge's which started last week. I think this will help in getting me out of my slump that I've been in. If you would like to join us in the all the fun check them out here:http://thisismejournal.blogspot.com/ Thursday, August 23rd's, challenge was Hobbies. So this is the page I did for my book. I couldn't believe how fast I actually got done with this one. I really amazed myself.

2 peas challenge for Friday: What do you think is one thing your children will say about you when they are grown adults? Hmmmm besides that I was a big pain in the a$$ when they wanted to do something I didn't want them to do. I guess they might say that I attended every single one of their sports events! Even if it was all day and 8 hours after I had major surgery! Even if 4 different kids were in 4 different gyms about 30 mins -40 mins away from each other, I still managed to make it to support them and the team. At least I hope it will be something good like that, lol.

Have a great day everyone. And enjoy your weekend!

Just a Start

Ok... I've mentioned the past few days about finally getting down stairs into my scraproom and doing something. My dh bought me the Cricut Machine about 2 weeks ago and well... I started to play. I didn't get a lot done, but I did get these finished. I think I really like the way came out.

This first lo is of my baby Lacey! At any given moment this is pretty much how you can find her..... Fast Asleep! She will sleep almost anywhere. At night though she loves to sleep with me and dh right by our feet or right between our legs. The title was done with my Cricut using the George font. My journaling reads: This is our baby Lacey! She is god’s gift to us. Lacey just brightens up everyone’s day from the minute she finally get’s up In the morning (or afternoon, lol). She LOVES to sleep! And let me tell you, she is darn good at it too. Lacey is not to picky in where she sleeps, but at night she is usually sound asleep in my bed. During the day she will go on the rocker or one of the couches to "catch up on her Z’s".

The second lo is a photo of me and my dh. We really never get to have a photo of us together. I'm usually the one taking a photo. This photos was taken by my dd Shannon when we went out to dinner with her and her bf. That night we went to the Outback, which we never really go to much. We really had a great time. The title as well as the tags were done with my Cricut. It reads: Don't FEED the Animals (done with the Jasmine font). Now this one was done for the This is Me- Challenge group that I heard about on 2 peas and it just started this week. I thought it would be good to try and get me out of my funk. I'm not thrilled with this lo, but it will have to do. The blog challenge was : IMHO (In My Honest Opinion). Here is what I did. Some of my IMHO are: Everyone needs LOVE!, We need better teachers, We give our kids to much, The cost of living is too high, Gas prices are HIGH, We need a strong President in control.

2 peas challenge for today: Share one of your fondest memories of a special time with one of your grandparents.. This is very difficult for me. I loved every single moment I had with my maternal grandparents that I would could be here all day. I think one memory would be when I was about 8 years old we went to Parrot Jungle in Miami, FL and my grandmother was in a wheelchair. The people who worked there put a huge parrot on top of my grandmothers head. She couldn't stop laughing. I remember needing to use both of my arms to hold up the parrot when they put it on my arm. We had soooo much fun there.

Ok... I'm done here for tonight. Going to watch Top Chef and then Rescue Me!

Pampered

Ok... yesterday the 2 peas challenge was how do you pamper yourself. Well as I said everyone has a different on pampering. I know that I get a manicure usually every 2 weeks and well I was in dire need of one 2 days earlier than normal! So .. yes! I did get a manicure yesterday. For once I even took photos to document it!

Now... For everyone who has been so supportive to me the last few months while I've been in my state of depression and rut of scrapbooking, I've been downstairs playing with my Cricut! I just love it! I even made a template for dh the other day! He was so excited. I'm going to take photos of my creations tonight and post them for tomorrow! Now I just really need to organize my space down there. Everything is all over the place.

Well... I've got to get my butt moving today. The weather here has been horrible the last few days and boy I am feeling it! What the heck happened to SUMMER! I'm sure that August should not be 56 degrees! Well, not in NY anyway.

Top of the Rock

I'm finally getting back on her after a hectic weekend. Last week I went into NYC with my sister, her dh, and my niece. We had such a great time. We did finally make it to Rockefeller Center and the "Top of the Rock", which we were looking so forward to. It was the most beautiful day to be there. It wasn't too hot or humid which is really nice especially in the city. We did ton's of walking! I haven't done that much walking in about 2-3 months. It kind of felt good to do it though.

All the photo's are from the Top of the Rock. The observation decks are on floors 69 & 70. It really is amazing to see out over the city like that. This first picture is just looking out over the city.

Here are my niece and bil looking out at the city.

If I remember correctly, this is the Hudson River and I just loved that building with the pointy roof. I had to zoom all the way in for this photo.

Here are my bil, niece, and sister with the Empire State Building behind them.

I think we stayed up there for at least an hour! It was really beautiful. This is a pretty good shot of the Empire State Building. We never made it over to that area to get a really good look. Something to do next year.
Ugh.... here I am, looking horrible and taking my own photo!
And once we decided to go on down we of course hit the shops inside the Top of the Rock building and yep.... There was good ole' GODIVA! OMG!!!! I got some dark chocolate truffles with gnache... can you say "to die for!" and they made the best chocolate drink (I just can't remember what the heck they called it!) Yummy. My niece was drinking all of mine. She loved it. Here is my sister posing for a Godiva moment!
Well that is all for today about the Top of the Rock. It was pretty interesting to see all the photos of when they built the building. If you are every here you should try to check it out.

Now for the 2 peas challenge: How often do you take time out for you to get pampered? Well.... I think everyone has a different view of pampered. Some it would just be getting a manicure and/or pedicure others it would be a massage or some other indulgence. I can honestly say that I really don't consider getting a manicure a form of pampering, but I will also tell you that I do get a manicure usually every 2 weeks. Now a massage is considered a form of pampering in my book and lately I'm lucky if I do that 2 times a year (hello... and my dd is a massage thearpist! go figure). I really don't do anything else to pamper myself. I do get my hair cut about 2-3 times a year so that could be considered pampering I guess. Heck... I'm always looking for ideas so you can pass them this way!

Ok... I've got to get out of here for now. Hope everyone has a great day

In NYC!

As stated yesterday, I went into the city with my sister, her dh, and my niece. We had perfect weather for the occassion. We left Long Island at 10:13am on the train into Penn Station. So we headed up through the 37th St. exit to start on our adventure. We had a plan (yeah right). You can't have plans if you give my sister the map for a city that she hasn't really been in for 13 years! So we start walking and get to 48th St. This is when my sister says I think we went the wrong way! I was like... give that damn map. You don't even know which way N,S,E, or W is here! Needless to say, yes we were walking the wrong way. So we start heading back. We wanted to get to Rockerfeller Center (hello). Now also mind you... I have not been to city in about 13 years, pretty much because she is not here. I won't go by myself. We did get to see Times Square not just once, but twice! yeah On our way back towards Rockerfeller Center we decided to stop at the Manhattan Mall. It is pretty big and they have a great food court! Oh.. yeah and the best Cinnamon/Sugar Pretzels! I was dying for one. We decided to do a little shopping and hit the Steve and Barry's store. This is where I get some great T-shirts for the boys and jeans (very reasonable!). I actually got myself 2 new tops and a great pair of crop pants! Hopefully they will fit.

Once we were done shopping we headed out for Rockerfeller Center. We wanted to go to "The top of the Rock" As we walked I got a great photo of my sister and niece in front of Radio City. My niece was all excited because her dance instructor was a Rockette many, many years ago and she has photos all over the studio.

The Top of the Rock was awesome! You could see for miles. You don't really know what the city looks like from down below, but once you get up 70 stories it is beautiful. I took a bunch of photos up there. We also stopped at M&M World and kinda lost track of time. I zoomed in for this photo of Central Park! It is breathtaking!This is my sister, her dh, and niece with the Empire State Building behind them on Top of the Rock.
Here I am with my sister. We don't usually have many photos with us together, we are the 2 photographers in the family! So its rare. I look horrible, but I can only work so much magic lately. I always have a building coming out the top of my head! You think my bil would've said move over a little, but noooo he lets a building grow out of me. oh well.
Here is my sister taking a photo with Ms. Green! This is a photo of my mood color from the M&M factory. This was cute. You stand under this weird machine and lights shine down on you and then the machine picks which mood color you are. As you can tell I'm GOLD!

We of course hit the gift shop on our way down and got a few items and then we headed for the Subway! Yes the subway, ugh. It really wasn't that bad. We needed to go uptown to Serendipity's. We were dying for it. Of course, there was a 3 1/2 hour wait! I was like we are not waiting 3 1/2 hours to eat. So we walked a little to Dylans. Dylans is a little Candy shoppe. It has 2 floors to it. Upstairs has like a little ice cream shope. Downstairs has all the candy. They had Jelly Bellies jelly beans. Of course I had to get some. I got Red Hot, Watermelon, and Green Apple. Yummy. They had a really cool motorcycle on display there which was made by the OCC (Orange County Choppers, I love that show). The theme was Pez candy.

Once outside of Dylans we noticed this picture in the window of ELVIS! My niece just loves Elvis so of course we had to do a photo opt! That photo is made with all Jelly Bellie jelly beans! It is Awesome!

Well, I've got to cut this short, but I have more photos to share. Joseph has to get to school today early, the last day and big test. I hope he passes this thing!

2 peas challenge today: Do you feel more creative in the morning or evenings? I'd have to say I think I'm more creative in the late afternoon and evening! I don't know why, but I am.

Hope everyone has a Terrific Weekend!

What a week!

As some of you may know, my sister, her dh and dd came for an 8 day visit. I love it when they are here. We really had a lot of fun. We try to see each other at least 2 times a year. They live in Las Vegas so it is hard being so far away, especially when we are very close. This is why we web cam almost everyday.

We had a very quite week, but hectic. Thursday, I went to work and they went to visit her inlaws. She was not too happy about that. Needless to say they were only there for about 2 hours and they couldn't wait to leave there. I lol when they tell me that they just couldn't bare to stay there another minute. Friday, pretty much the same thing, except they went to visit an old friend which was really nice.

Now Saturday we had big plans! It was Lacey's Birthday and we always have a little party for my baby. My niece was so excited about Lacey's party that that was all she talked about all day! The morning started with us doing a bagel breakfast at my sisters friends house. Very nice time there. Then we of course had to go gift shopping for Lacey! Then, I guess, my sister fell in love with my Cricut that we ran to AC Moore to get her one so we could crop all day on Sunday! Then it was party time! Lacey had her usual... vanilla ice cream and we had fudge cake. It was very quick. My dd and ds Joseph were at a graduation party and forgot to come home. So, it was just my dh, me, ds DJ, my sister, her dh, and my niece. It was very cute though. Here are some of the photos from Laceys Birthday.

Sunday, my sister and I took over the hotel room and kicked her dh and daughter out for the entire day! We had so much fun. I of course did not get much done, but I did help my sister get a lot done! We had paper, embellies, glue sticks, adhesives, scissors, pens, trimmers and etc. all over the place! It was great. I can't wait to just finish my journaling on my lo's that I did and get them posted on here. Hopefully, I will be able to get that all done this weekend.

Ok, I've got to get moving here.... I will continue tomorrow about our day at the beach and the full day we spent in NYC!

Photos

2 peas challenge for today: How often do you try to clear pictures off your comptuer to a storage file? That could be either cd,memory stick or another form .
This is the thing, I have very little clue about computers and really should take some classes or something because I have tons of photos on here that I would love to clean off and just can't seem to figure out how. I look all over the place for a delete button and there is not one. I have over 800 photos of wrestling from this year and don't need them on here on anymore. I think I'm going to get one of my son's friends (he knows alot about computers) to just come over and clean out everything for me.

I've been pretty busy with work and then my sister arrived from Las Vegas on Wednesday night at 11:30pm. I was up til the wee hours in the morning and then had to go work yesterday exhausted! Yesterday after work, we went for mani's & pedi's. I only got a mani and eyebrow wax. I don't let them do pedi's anymore after a bad incident. Then we ordered pizza for dinner and my dh but the firepit up so we could roast marshmallows! OMG, I just love roasted marshmallows. After that we headed over to my sisters hotel and went in the pool and jacuzzi! I really should just say jacuzzi because that is where my tired body sat and didn't move for about 1 hour.

Today, my sister has plans with some friends. I'm off to work in a few mins. It is pouring rain right now, ugh. I'm hoping that my sister and I get to attend a crop later tonight. Not really sure, but we will see. Other than that ,...nothing else going on here!

Finally!

Yes, I have finally done something creative! Yahoo is all I can say. I was downstairs playing with my new toy (the Cricut) and decided I should just do some stuff. So that is what I did. I finished up a lo with photos of my sister that I started months ago! And no ... the layouts are not off centered.. That would be off centered to take the photos of them as they stood up. I should really practice just taking photos of my lo's.

Then I decided to do a layout with my baby Lacey. Isn't she just so adorable? I used my Cricut to cut out the { } in great escape and also used it for the bubbles under the photos.

And then I was going through some photos of dd and this one just seemed to talk to me. Here I used my Cricut to cut out the flowers on the vellum and the title. Ok..... I'm out of here for now. I just wanted to share finally and now its 11:00pm, I'm sweating to death, because my dh doesn't want the air tonight (he is getting sick, I think, plus we had a power outage earlier tonight for about 15 mins). I might sneak the air on after he falls asleep tonight or else I'll never get to sleep.

Ta,Ta, for now! Hope you have a Wonderful Wednesday.

BTW- Did I mention my sister is coming in Wednesday night at 11pm! So looking forward to that!

My new toy!

Ohhhh yes,,, my dh told me to go and get it. I got the Cricut! I've been drooling over it for over a year now, but just didn't have the funds for it. I was bidding on ebay, but they went way to high (I would rather just by it at Walmart for that price). Then on Sunday I got the email from AC Moore and it was on sale for 139.99! Well I started to drool again. lol. I really didn't expect them to have any left to be honest, by the time I got there which was 12 noon. But I'm so happy they did. I couldn't wait to get it home and play with it. I just love it. I spent some time down in my room and hopefully something creative will pop out of me this week.

Speaking of this week.... My sister will be here tomorrow night! I can't wait. We always have a great time together. She can't wait to play with my Cricut either! lol

Well, I have to make this short. Have to get Joseph to school and then off to work for me. Hope you all have a great day!

Scrappin'

2 peas challenge for today: Are you the type of scrapper that likes to use one photo or multi photos on your layouts? If your a one photo scrapper do you feel its harder to come up with multi photo pages?

I have to say that I enjoy doing mult-photo layouts the most. Of course that is not to say that I have never done a single photo layout. I actually find it a little more difficult to do a single photo layout for some weird reason. This sounds strange... I know, but its the truth.

No big plans for this weekend. Just really need to clean this house a little. Its been negelected a little lately since I've started working p/t and I seem to be exhausted and just don't want to do a thing when I get home. I guess now would be as good a time as any to get started. Especially since my sister will be here in 4 days. Very much looking forward to this visit. It never seems to be long enough though. I was just visiting her at Easter time for 8 days and didn't want to leave. Oh well, life must go on.
ok.. Have a great weekend everyone.

Journaling

2 peas challenge for Friday 8/3/07- What do you do when your in a journaling slump. How you do get out of it? Ohhh boy, this is going to be short and sweet I think. Well, as some of you may have read in my previous posts... I'm in a rut or slump as you might say. I have not done any scrapbooking in ohhh about 6-7 weeks now, with the exception of a mug for dh. I'm hoping to get out of this slump real soon. I have tons that I can scrap and just haven't. I'm accepting any and all suggestions, lol.
Hope everyone has a great Friday!

Jet Skiing

Ok, as promised... here are a few photo's of 2 of my guys on the jet ski the other night! They have soooo much on this thing.

First up is DJ. This kid loves being on the water. Sometimes I think he should've been a fish.

Next up is Danny! This man is just plain crazy and this is where my kids get it from!Well, this is going to be short and sweet this morning as I have to get myself moving!

Hope everyone has a Wonderful day!