Chicago is…

Pretty darn awesome!

(this is the view from my room)

Arrived today for an HR conference – excited to see old friends & to get to stay in such a great city!

Was that a challenge?

Jen-Jen suggested that I take part in Ali Edwards’ Weekend Creative. Even though she simply suggested that I do it, I kinda felt like I had been challenged. (Jen-Jen is great at getting our creative juices flowing!) The competitive (sick) part of me kicked in… which meant that I HAD to do it. (I know, I know – there’s something really wrong with me.)

Anyway…here’s what I came up with:

It’s not quite all nice and neat and symmetric. Okay – it’s no where near all nice and neat and symmetric. We all know how much I hate measuring, well, anything. However, I did measure (sort of) the photos. When I say “measure,” I mean that I cut the photo so I could get them on the page & then cut all the other photos to that same width and height.

I probably should have also measured exactly how the photos were going to fit across the page in an even sort of way. I kinda missed that part & therein lies the problem. Notice the double lines? Yeah. A mistake. Trying to figure it out was making my hair hurt. So then I had to repeat it to make it look like I did it on purpose. After that, putting the photos *in* the squares wasn’t going to work… so, that’s why they’re all willy-nilly and askew. (no measuring or having to line anything up that way – whew – more my style)

From now on I’m going to focus on layouts that involve LESS math.

Like this easy-peasy-super-simple one:

No Math – No Measuring – Not much of anything… as a matter of fact.

Hmmm…maybe I can find a middle ground somewhere. (as long as there isn’t any long division)

Another Mommy Blogger

I stumbled upon her story while surfing etsy the other night & felt compelled to share it with those (few) who read my blog.

nieniedialoges <– scroll down to August 16-17 for the story.

All of us can help by sending prayers and thoughts their way. There are people raising money for them as well, if you feel so inclined. Updates are being posted on her sister’s blog: cjanerun

I think that once you hear the story, “meet” the family, you’ll feel it in your heart as I did. I know from personal experience that prayers can help in a time of need. And this family can use as many as we can send.

Hiyyyy-yah!

My hotel is filled to the brim with some crazy characters. CUH-RAY-ZEE. I think it’s a hotel-thing. You have to be a little off your rocker to work in one of these buildings. I must admit that I’m probably lumped into that category myself. But, whatever. I like to keep people on their toes.

The other day I started to notice how some of my colleagues reminded me of characters from The Muppets. My assistant and I started to discuss exactly who we thought they most resembled… and I’m not kidding when I say some of the characteristics are spot on!

Fozie Bear, Sam the Eagle, the two old guys in the balcony (Statler & Waldorf), Kermit, and Oscar the Grouch. I work with all of them. Every day. Those are the ones on my team. I sit in meetings with those guys. (did I mention that I’m also the only female on the team?)

And yeah, it’s just as crazy as it looks. The picture above kind of sums up my job…and certainly what it’s like to work in a hotel. Maybe I can add “Muppet-Wrangler” to my resume. Some days, that’s exactly what it feels like.

Then a realization came to me - if we assigned my entire executive team muppets, who does that make me? 

And then it hit me.

And all of a sudden it wasn’t so funny.

Here’s what I did:

If you haven’t been to visit the new Serendipity Kits Design Team blog - here’s what I did with this month’s kit:

That’s what I did over the weekend… the kit was SO fun to work with – I enjoyed it A LOT… in fact, there are bits and pieces of this kit all over my scraproom! (need to do a clean-up)

Awesome New Blog!

Milissa at Serendipity Kits has created a new blog! It’s going to be a great place to check out her amazing kits & all the creativity from the Design Team.

Looking for some inspiration? Creative ideas? Awesome kits?

Check it out here: Serendipity Kits Design Team Blog

Never shop on an empty stomach.

I went to the grocery store to get some Ranch Dressing.

I came home with:

• Nectarines
• Pita chips
• Baby Greens
• Gorganzola Cheese
• Garlic & Herb Cheese
• Pecans
• Genoa Salami
• Sushi

And yes,

• Ranch Dressing

At least they were somewhat healthy items. Somewhat. The Ranch Dressing is “lite”.

(to me “healthy” is an absence of chocolate)  

From the Boy

“I think would protest voting for president. The votes don’t count;

they end up going to the electrical college.”

***************

“Beverly Hills is a city? I thought it was the name of a lady.”

I thought I was going to have to hand over my first born.

The other day I went to the kiosk at the mall… you know, the kiosk with the big cell phone company sign over it. I told the girl there that I wanted to upgrade my phone.

Sounds simple, right? Yeah. I thought so too.

An hour later I left the mall… with my same old phone. It was an hour of my life that I’ll never get back. No new phone. No nothing. Just frustration and instructions to visit the “corporate store.”

O-M-G.

I wasn’t trying to buy a new car or refinance my house. All I wanted was a new phone. An upgrade – not canceling my coverage, not changing my plan… just a freakin’ upgrade. That’s all!

Why do these cockamamie phone companies have to make it so freaking difficult!?

The story is that because my husband has “met” his contract but I haven’t (because I had to replace my phone when it was STOLEN just a year ago - my contract started all over again) the franchise kiosk couldn’t help me. Huh?

Why have a kiosk with the big sign over it if they can’t do these kinds of things? 

Maybe if I gave them a DNA sample or a lock of hair or a limb I would’ve gotten some help. Or at least a blackberry.

A Pinch of Creativity

This album was made a few weeks ago… it was almost a YEAR ago that we visited Chattanooga! Good grief! It took a while for me to find the inspiration to get it done – but I’m happy with the results.

I needed to add some pages to this album- I had a lot of photos! There are a few envelope pages, a file folder and a postcard. The envelope pages have the brochures from the parks in them. (thanks for those  Jen-Jen !)