Tales from the Trip

Presented here are the rest of the pictures from my wonderful trip to Bainbridge Island. Everything was in bloom and gorgeous!
See....here is a picture of gorgeous Noreen and blooming flowers!
On every trip to my Dad's we make an excursion to this nursery, which is the best one I have ever seen in the world! Bainbridge Gardens is the name....it is a must visit if you get to the island! We bought these flowers for Mary's birthday! Rununculas! (that is the name of the flower, and not some weird exclamation!)
These looked like Fall leaves in a planter. I am not sure what they were, but they were so cool!
This photo is of a truck in the parking lot at the nursery, I was fancying myself as a bit of an artistic photographer on this one!
Here are the best buddies at Bainbridge Gardens!
Here we are at Cafe Nola in Bainbridge. We were celebrating Mary's birthday. We thought we ordered one piece of cake to split, except we all ended up getting the richest chocolate cake known to mankind and boy, were we stuffed!
Best buddies eating cake.

One of the highlights was a walk through the Great Forest. (Nan, click on this link for some answers to your question about the island!) It is close to my Dad and Mary's house and just beautiful.
Noreen and I got stuck in a tree!
Okay, there is this neighborhood of new houses near my Dad's. It has the coolest looking houses, and everytime we are there (well, twice now), Noreen and I drive around and pick out which house we want. I would like all my family and friends to live in this subdivision! This would be Noreen's house. Mine would be next door.
On Wednesday of my visit I had the great good fortune to spend the day with Carolyn!!! She is a great friend whom I know because she is one of my Mom's best friends! I drove to Bremerton to meet Carolyn. We had such a great good long visit. First stop was one of the best stamp stores in the country! The Embossible Dream in Bremerton. Please go if you are in that city. We had our picture taken in front of the wall of stamps! We also went to several antique shops, had lunch at the very cool restaurant, The Boat Shack (best clam chowder ever!), and then had a lengthy visit over Starbucks and molasses cookies!!! Great fun!
On April 20th it was my Dad's birthday!! This is he and Mary at Point No Point where we visited after breakfast in Port Ludlow. As you can tell, it was totally gorgeous and scenic there! We had a ton of fun that day, and then had a really great dinner at a sophisticated, but fun, restaurant back in town. The Four Swallows.
Everything was in bloom!!!!
Whenever Noreen and I get together on vacation, shopping ensues! It seems like every gathering has a shopping theme, past themes being sunglasses, books, antiques, and purses. The theme this time was shoes!!!!! I got two pairs. This pair for fun and kicking around....They are Privos by Clarks. So comfortable!
This is a pair of Dansko clogs. Believe it or not, I have looked at these shoes for three years! Everytime I go to my Dad's I say I am going to get them, well this time I did.

Also, Noreen and I are now on a hunt for some really cool Spanish shoes! We found them in a shop, but they did not have our size! I was really trying for a hat trick (hockey reference made especially for Diane Duda!) on shoe buying, but no luck. They are made by El Naturalista and they are red! I will have them soon though because I am on a mission!
On my last full day in Bainbridge, my Dad and I ran around and hung out. Here we are on his sailboat, Widgeon!!! It is so gorgeous! My Dad loves to sail and when not sailing, he is very good at making improvements on his boat.
Here is my Dad at one of his favorite places!!
Here is the marina and you can see Seattle in the background.
Here is another instance of me playing professional photographer! My favorite flowers are tulips!
One of the most fun things we did was look at old slides. I have poured through family pictures over the years and have seen each one multiple times, but these slides I had never seen!!! So it was truely like looking through time. We are getting everything organized for a big viewing of them later this year.
Okay, I know no one else can tell what this is, but I had to put it on my blog for my Mom. This is a slide of me going home from the hospital. I am the baby in the middle that the unknown nurse is holding. On either side of her are my Mom and my Grandma Bates!!!! My Mom looks a bit nervous in this picture! She is saying in her head to her mother, Don't go home until Laura is a one-year-old!!!"
This is the view from my Dad's reading chair. It looks like Japanese wood cutting to me. So gorgeous!!

So, now I have been home for a week. I am starting to get back into the swing of my daily routine, although it has been hard. I am back to work and that is good. I really like my new job. Jane and I have already been on a toot too!!! Mike and I spent the day together yesterday shopping and visiting his parents. Today I hope to get some stamping done and then later this evening I will have the great good fortune to meet Anjali from Lotus Reads!!!! She is in town for a book conference and we are going to be able to squeeze in a quick get together. I am thrilled to meet her as I love her blog and she seems like such a warm and generous person!!! Also, this week I am excited because a new book is coming out by my favorite author, Elizabeth Berg. I am hoping to attend one of her readings at a local bookstore this week.

I love to travel and I already miss Bainbridge Island. I hope to go back soon. In the meantime, it is great to be home with Mike, Buddy, and Pal. We sure have a great life together!

Back Home Again in Illinois

I had a wonderful trip to Bainbridge Island, Washington!!! I had a long and relaxed visit with my Dad, and his wife, Mary. And as an extra-added surprise....my lifelong best buddy, Noreen, flew up from Los Angeles to spend a long weekend with me! We did our usual routine of running around shopping for purses, shoes, and antiques and had a blast!!!

I would love to present a very organized travelouge, but just can't bear to be that organized, so I will put up some pictures over the next few days and tell some stories, out of order most likely, but what does it matter really?
Noreen arrived on day #2 of my visit. This is the second time that we have met on Bainbridge Island, so we knew some of the places we wanted to hit. First stop, Town and Country Market. This is the local grocery store which is filled with good food, flowers, and trinkets downstairs. All of the flower pictures on this entry were taken at Town and Country. If you go to Bainbridge Island, don't miss it! It is an attraction in itself.
Here are Noreen and Mary gazing at all of the lovely produce! At this exact moment I was looking at bread and chocolate!!! Oh, and I was searching for Tab and root beer!! Such refined tastes!!
Noreen picked out something called "rappini" (I know I have that wrong, sorry Nor!). It was some kind of Italian green that she cooked and made me try. It was heinous!!!
This is my Dad's cabinet of "sea going" books. He has the complete series of Patrick O'Brien works on the top. Isn't this a beautiful piece of furniture?
Here is the upstairs sitting area where one can listen to music, watch TV or read!!!
These two little paintings were done by my Great-Great Aunt! She was a wonderful person and a talented artist!
Mary always has the bathroom set up so nicely for me with yellow tulips!!! Please note the cross-stiched lambs in the background!! I made that many years ago.

I am glad to be back home, but I will miss "The Island." It is so beautiful there!!! All the trees and the sea-smell!!!! I will show some more pictures over the coming days. I am having a bit of a hard time with my re-entry into the real world, but I am anxious to hear from all of you wonderful people out in blogland!! I missed you guys!

Going on Vacation!!!

I will be taking a bit of a blog break as I am going on vacation! I will be gone for approximately two weeks. I am going to Bainbridge Island, Washington to visit my Dad and Mary. Pictured here is the ferry that I take from Seattle over to the island! It is great fun to take the 35 minute ferry ride over. Very relaxing. Mike is staying home as he just started a new job. I will miss him terribly, but also it will be fun to visit out there just by myself as it will be kind of like a retreat. I can go for walks in the woods with Dad and Mary, go out on their sailboat, and spend lots of time reading and listening to music. I have already planned about three books to take with me and there is a great bookstore on the island.....Also, I looked at what movie is playing at the local artsy theater and it is "The Namesake" which is a movie I really want to see! And, as an extra added bonus, my Mom's very dear friend Carolyn lives in Bremerton, Washington so I will be able to visit with her for a day. I leave on Thursday, 4/12 and return on 4/23. I won't be blogging while I am gone as I just want to totally immerse myself in the surroundings there.
Below is my addition to Kim Kwan's Alphabetica journal. I must say I really like it. I love stamping phrases on people!
Her journal, Alpha Bitty, is just the coolest! It is made up of old Bingo cards. Great size and so much fun to work in! Below is the back of my card and the little story that goes with it.
Below is a totally wonderful and gorgeous card that my internet friend Jennifer sent me. The stamp she used is from a fun and whimsical company called Stamping Bella. Jennifer's coloring on this card is out of this world! Great shading and use of glitter!
I am really loving collecting vintage patterns! Not for the pattern inside, but for the images on the front. Isn't this one cute? When I return from vacation I want to start using these for cards and round robin journals.
Yesterday my Mom came over for a card making session. We had a great time. She made 11 cards!
Here she is holding up one of her masterpieces!!!
Out of this chaos came her creations!
Cute cards!!!!!!!!

And while I am gone......Mr. Pal will be watching all of you! So behave yourselves!

Books, Fries, and Stamps

I had a wonderfully fun weekend! On Saturday morning I woke up to find that there was a trunk show of B-Line Designs rubber stamps at a nearby stamp store!!!!! I called Jane up and demanded that she drop everything and go with me as I love their stamps! Well, after seeing three tables full of their stamps and many amazing card samples, they are now hands down my favorite stamp company of all time!!!! We just stood in front of the display with mouths agape in disbelief at the sheer beauty of these stamps!!!! I was actually about to hyperventilate at one point as I was so in love with the images. After picking out a few of our favorites it was back to reality......

Or should I say back to the regularly scheduled portion of the day.........Mike read an article in a magazine that said that the best french fries in Chicago were at a place called Susie's Drive-In in the neighborhood where he grew up.

So, he and I took a drive into Chicago for French fries! They were great, especially when consumed with a hot dog and a banana-Oreo milkshake!!!! Woohoo!!!

Prior to our French Fry extravaganza Mike and I went to two bookstores and a magazine store where they have every magazine known to man!!! I ended up with several new books! It was a really great day....I daresay a "toot" was definitely had!!!!

RED ALERT!

RED ALERT!!!!!

Jane has some ATCs published in this book which is hot off the presses!!! Please see page 135 for her totally great art work!! I have not really looked through the book yet, but Mike and I flipped through it and he found Jane's name!!! How cool!!!! So, run, don't walk, to your nearest store or go to the website to order one of your own! I predict this will bring on a resurgence of ATC trading!

Congratulations Jane!!!!!

Saturday Night

- Reading Entertainment Weekly
-Reading my current book
-Watching TV with Mike
-Listening to my Ipod on my fabulous Klipsh speakers (Rod Stewart, Ramones, Paul McCartney, Flatt and Scruggs, Celia Cruz, REM)
-Working on the Faux Family Album project to send into Somerset Memories magazine
-Petting cats
-Taking a nap

I LOVE SATURDAY NIGHTS!!!!!!!

Club!

This past Saturday we had Club!! Above pictured are me, John, Bertha, Patti, Stan, Joyce, and Trish in the front. 20 years ago (that is an obscene amount of time!) we all worked together at Ingalls Hospital in the Psychiatric Unit!!!! Oh, the fond memories we have!!!! Anyway, we started meeting once a month or so and called it club. Now we are lucky to get together two to three times a year, but it is always such a joy when we do. Together we have been through the deepest tragedies that life has to offer and we have also celebrated all of life's joys. I would be lost in a world without these people!
On the work front my new job is going very well. It is only the end of day #2, but I am enjoying it so far. Jane is a great teacher, and it is so wonderful to work in an office with a bunch of nice people and no Crabby/Debbie Downer types!!!!

What Am I Going to Be When I Grow Up?

Well, I am back in the ranks of the employed. It has been three weeks, and I kind of hoped I would have several months off, but that was quite unrealistic! My dear friend Jane (of Stop, Drop, and Crop fame) got me a job in the law office where she works! I shall be her Gal Friday! Helping, assisting, and learning legalese! We are going to be working side by side, and for those of you who know us personally, that is going to be quite a hoot! Seriously, though we plan to run that office like a tight ship!!! There will be no ringing of the dysfunction junction bell! I will have a ton to learn but I am very excited and grateful for this opportunity! I am even going to have to wear "dress up"clothes! At least that is what I am calling clothing other than the scrubs I got away with wearing to the hospital.

I felt like a total "career woman" today as I wore my fancy pants and shoes and clicked around those wooden floors! Click, click, click....hear me roar, I am a professional career woman people!" This might lead to daily mascara wearing!!!! Yikes! Not to mention under eye cover up!

This all got me to thinking of what I wanted to be when I was growing up:

Ballerina
Stewardess (there were no flight attendents then!)
Barbra Streisand
Nurse
Police Woman (ala Angie Dickinson, remember her cool pantsuits??)
and more recently...
Librarian
Reading Specialist

Since those last two require more schooling, I have opted to jump into the law office gig!!

I start next Monday.

Pray for Jane..........

CREDIT INFORMATION: The first two images were found in Google and are from Soule Mama's blog.

Double Dose of Happy

This is a card I made at Stamp Camp last week. I sent it to my Mom! The stamp I used is from Stamping Up and is owned by Lorie. I think I need it!

My scanner is broken and in the shop! So, no scanning for about two months....I will have to become more proficient at picture taking! I would have loved to scan something I got in the mail today from Nan of Letters from a Hill Farm! She sent me the coolest stickers from Cavallini and Company. They are the Bird and Nest Stickers! Absolutely gorgeous and the coolest thing is that they have been on my "want it" radar for some time!!!

AND IN ADDITION TO THAT, Nan listed my blog for the Thinking Blogger Award!!! Okay, I am not sure of all that this entails, but the most important thing for me is that she listed my blog and what she said about it.......oh, it made me so happy! She described me in ways that I don't usually think of myself.

When someone lists your blog, you are to list five of the blogs that make you think and bring you joy for the same award. Five blogs that have not previously been chosen for this award.

The participation rules are simple:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote.

Here are five of the many blogs that I love that make me think:

LOTUS READS: Oh, how I love this blog! It is so exciting to find a new entry by Anjali! She is so smart and well-read. She is so well-versed in so many areas. She is a great reader and gives excellent book reviews. She sees interesting movies and talks about those. And really smart people leave great comments on her blog. Plus, she is a peach of a person!!

STUDIO STUFF: This is a blog by a very talented artist!!! I love her artwork and I love reading about her children/grandchildren. This blog never fails to inspire me and get me dreaming about things I could make.

WEE WONDERFULS: This blog makes me want to learn to embroider right this instant! Always full of eye candy and great ideas, and such a lovely feeling of comfort found right here!

PRAIRIE PAPER AND INK: Here is total inspiration for the card maker!!! Everytime I visit I am so excited by the great combinations of colors, stamps, and paper that Amy puts together!!!!!! She also has a lot of tutorials on her blog that are so helpful! Smart cookie!!

BLUHM STUDIOS: Here is the blog that really got me going! Heather helped me figure out some blog stuff and she also makes my totally cool banners for me! She puts out a zine, Portals, that is so smart and chock full of ideas and inspiration. Always inspiring, and always ready to lend a helping hand, such a sweetie!

There are many more blogs that I could list, really all the blogs on my blog roll fit the bill! Please visit as many as you can!

Viva la inspiration!!!!

Stamp Camp- March 10, 2007

Yesterday we had a very special Stamp Camp which included some very special people!!! Above pictured are Trish (the lone adult in this picture), James, Christopher, and Kathryn. Trish is teaching her project in this shot.

See, once a month we have Stamp Camp. We get to go to Lorie's house where we relax, laugh, eat, and create!!! It is a blast! Lorie is a Stamping Up demonstrator, but more imporantly she is one of my very best friends! Oh, she also happens to be Mike's aunt. That is how I first met her, but through the years we have become friends more than anything else. Lorie is the person who introduced me to stamping and got me hooked!!! At first I told her I did not need another craft, boy was I wrong!!! I need to stamp!!

Our stamp camps are usually adults only, but yesterday we had a treat because Lorie's grandkids and their lovely Moms came over too!! So we each "taught" a project. The kids had us make something that they made up and visa versa. It was a total blast and so darn cute!
Here is Christopher working on Trish's card!
DANCE BREAK!!!!! Here are Lorie and James dancing to the Arthur Godfrey Orchestra's Slowpoke!! That is one of Lorie's Dad's favorite songs!
Miss Kathryn is an accomplished dancer and here she is delighting us with one of her routines to Born to be Wild!!!! Action shot!
Darling kids with cool finished projects!!!
Miss Trish and Miss Laura had to horn in on this cute picture!!!! Please note that the very cute Mr. Sam (aged 2) could not be pinned down for any pictures (nor could Susan or Jaime the very lovely mothers of these kids!) . Great day people!!!!

Tootfest 2007!!!!

We had a fabulous time this weekend at Tootfest 2007!!! We all beat the weather odds and made it to the hotel.......which was fabulous mostly for the big table in our room. We were all able to gather around and create! Pictured above is Beth working on a journal cover. She showed a really cool way to cover the journal with precisely measured scraps of paper. Totally great!
Jane made this wonderful collage and then covered it with beeswax per the wonderful Kim!
Here are some of the most wonderful projects done by Trish (AKA Trixie). These are gorgeous!
Here is a picture of our table in use!!
Here Kim and I are going through our many vintage pictures that give us inspiration!

We had a perfect weekend of bonding, eating good food, drinking good drinks, making cool art, shopping for antiques and supplies, and just generally girlfriending!!!! Perfect weekend!!! I am ready to do it again!!!!!!

March 1st!!!!!! New month, new life!

Artwork by Kim of Art Dog's Life This is SO gorgeous!!! Thank you Kim!!!!

Thank you everyone for your invaluable and supportive comments! You all helped me so much. I am not clear on what my new path will be yet. I am slowly working on it, but also taking in a healthy dose of relaxation. The cool thing is that Mike is between jobs too, so he is home for a couple of weeks. We are finally getting some much needed time to do house repairs and generally getting our life in order.

However, first order of business is TOOTFEST 2007! Okay, this is the scoop, Julie and Kim were going to be in Chicago this weekend......so we decided to hang out....then Beth could also come down, and of course, Trish and Jane live here....so we decided to rent a suite with a conference room table in the room so that we could have a pajama party and our own little art retreat!!! So the plan is on Saturday we are going antique shopping and then back to our room to hang out and create!!! Do you all remember that a toot is the coin phrased by Mike and I to describe a day of doing all the stuff you love the best (mainly for us it referred to going to multiple bookstores!)?

Oh, I forgot to tell about the opera!!! Well, it was fantastic! I started out my solo trip to the opera with a two block walk from the opera house to Starbucks!! As you may remember, I have recently found the joy in drinking a latte!!! Then back to the opera house to sip my latte and people watch prior to finding my seat, which was perfect! Dress Circle, right above the box seats, clear view..........the house lights dimmed and we were off! The music was amazing! (Poulenc). The story (as most opera stories are) was convoluted and strange, but the singing and the staging were amazing!!!! If you ever get a chance to see an opera, try it......Here is a list of some of my favorite operas:

The Magic Flute
La Traviata
Gotterdamerung
Cosi Fan Tutte
Rusalka
The Ghosts of Versailles
Aida
Don Giovanni

Today my Mom is coming over so we can stamp and work on our art journals!!! That will be lots of fun!!!!

Yesterday we had to run errands and we ended up at Barnes and Noble. In our new frugal era we each were alloted one book.....this is the one I ended up with. It looks so totally interesting, it is a memoir about a family from Vietnam who came to live in America in 1975.