Thank you to everyone who left feedback about the Photo Hunt. I still have a lot to think about for the next one that I will be hosting in June, but I think for now I am going to choose several (like maybe 5-10) of the categories on the Sweetsauer Photo Hunt #1 list, go through all of the entries and choose my favorite 5 participant photos from each of those categories and then put a vote together for each set. Each of those sets will be in a separate post on this blog. That will make it MUCH easier to vote (although I do realize that not everyone may have a photo included in these final rounds of voting)
Now my last question about this to you is:
Do you want me to attach names to each photo I choose, or just put a number and link it back to the original entry? I want people to vote based on their true favorites and not just for their friends, but I also want to make sure each photographer gets credit for their work.
If you would be so kind, could you please tell me how YOU spell collectible/collectable. Don't look it up, just tell me which you use when spelling this word, or if you use them interchangeably. Thanks!
After a little deliberation, I've decided to go ahead and jump on the Daily Photo bandwagon. I take a ton of pictures anyway so hopefully this will be a project I can commit to. I will officially launch the project and the blog on February 11th, in honor of my bday. Seems like a logical date to start documenting my daily photos :) Here is a sneak peak:
I would love to link to everyone else who has a Daily Photo/Project 365 blog, so please leave a link to yours in the comments!
I have been wanting to create a permanent Guest Book Log for some time now and here it is! Whether you are a long-time reader, a personal friend, family member, lurker, admirer, Google visitor, etc, I would love for you to just drop a line and say hi in the comments section of this page (just click on "comments") and please tell me where you are from. Please don't be shy!
Things with the Twin Cities Restaurant Blog have really started taking off lately! I am just a few weeks away from having all of my school stuff finished, so I will be able to devote more time to promoting that site and writing restaurant reviews. In the meantime, I am desperately needing to get my cards made up. (Like by this Thursday!!!) Thats where needing your help comes into play.... I cannot decide whether to go with black or white background. I know white is more professional, but I don't mind being different. I want the cards to give to people, to leave on tables after I finish dining, and also to send to restaurants in hopes of getting a free meal here and there. Do you think I should go with black (printed on a glossy paper or plastic)
or white?
Also, the cards will be two-sided....BUT I do not have a catchy phrase or any ideas about what to say on the back. The only suggestion I have gotten so far is "Eating is my business and business is good". I would love other ideas if anyone is inclined to help a sister out!!
If anyone has a connection to FAST business-card printing, let me know!
Also- I made the cards in CS3 and on my end the resolution looks crystal clear, but after I uploaded the image to a business card site, my resolution looks really crappy?? This is so dang frustrating! If anyone has any tips for what I may be doing wrong, please let me know.
My Gram and Gramp are celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary next weekend. 60 years of marriage!! Can you imagine?? Next weekend there will be a big party here in the Cities and all of my family is flying in from AZ and Chicago. Many, many months ago my Gramps personally called me up and asked me to help out with the party planning. (I am the #1 Grandchild). I got a great idea and committed myself to making a fabulous iMovie featuring photos of them throughout the years, as well as photos of their 8 children and their grandkids (21) and great-grandchildren. I am also planning to interview them on Monday to get some video footage to include in the movie.
Thats where I need some great ideas....
What kinds of questions should I ask them??
"Tell me about a time when you went on a special vacation together...."
"Tell me about something really sweet that Gram/Gramps has done for you....."
I thought I could do something clever and ask them questions game-show style....but what???
I need to come up with a game plan ASAP so that I can give them the questions ahead of time. My Gramps wants to prepare!
Why did I wait this stinking long to get on this??!! (Oh yeah, grad school)
Why haven't I spent more time learning iMovie? (Oh yeah, grad school)
Did I mention that I am making DVDs of my imovie for each family member?!! I think it is going to be the coolest memento!! I am really excited about how it will turn out :)
Thanks in advance for any awesome idea/questions you can help me think up!
I am curious to know who out there had to go through an internship or clinical practice placement?
If so:
Was it before or after you went to college and started your career??
In what area was your degree?
Did you have to find your own placement?
How long was your internship?
Was it paid or unpaid?
Did you get a stipend?
Did you have to pay tuition?
Did your internship play a big part in helping you find a job?
I know I have mentioned this before, but I am currently doing a 4-week clinical practice as a state requirement to add the additional two endorsements to my teaching license. (Nevermind that I already did student teaching full-time for an entire school year 10 years ago and have taught for 9 full years under contract). It has been a good experience so far (although I can honestly say I havent learned anything new), but it really stinks that I am paying tuition to work for free. $300 per week plus another $100 for gas and lunch. Its BS!!!!
But there is a light at the end of the tunnel.....I have all of next week off and then just two weeks to go until my real summer vacation starts :)
With summer and a much smaller income approaching, I have been thinking about ways that I can save money this summer on food. The amount we spend each month on food is somewhere near ridiculous. Seriously. So my goal is to spend no more than $100 a week on food. I told a friend of mine this and she was like, "whoa! That is still a lot of money" Is it??? It is a lot less than what we spend now! It costs quite a bit of money to eat like royalty and its no secret that E and I like to eat. I know this same topic must be on other people's minds too, as I saw Zoe and Elizabeth both post about ways to save money on groceries, etc.
I know this seems nosy, but can I ask how much you think you spend on groceries per week? (Please tell me how many people you are feeding on that $$). Do you use coupons? Shop for sale items, generic brands, etc? How often do you go out to eat?
Many of you who read this blog also have your own blogs. Many of the blogs that I read are on a personal level (meaning that it encompasses many aspects of a person's daily life), but there are also special interest blogs that I enjoy reading. (Photography, food/cooking related, scrapbooking/challenges, techy-stuff, education, travel etc).
Besides sweetsauer.com (this is my personal blog), many of you know that I also have a couple of special interest blogs:
Tales of an Inner-City Teacher- This is where I write about funny and interesting things that happen (or have happened in the past) in my career as an educator in the inner-city. Going to use bits and pieces of this to write my memoirs.
I also have a private weight-loss blog where I try to post progress reports, celebrations, food journaling, etc.
Blogging is time consuming, but if it weren't, I would probably have even more of them! Maybe a book review blog, a blog just to highlight my scrappies.....I could probably think of even more.
Who else has a special interest or secondary blog? What is the theme?
If time weren't an issue, what kind of special interest blog would you like to start?
I am assuming that many of you, like me, have several blogs in which you subscribe and read.
I typically like to check my Google Reader 3-4 times a day, but sometimes I can only get to it once and then I have approximately 100 new posts to read! I know I have mentioned Google Reader before, but I love how you can sort the blogs you read into folders. I love that feature! Here is my rundown of the order I usually read them in:
Quickly click on the posts/folders for blogs that I "lurk" but never comment. These are a variety of miscellaneous and random blogs of people/topics that I do not "know" (therefore I do not feel bad that I only scan them)
Next I check on some of my favorite blogs to see whats going on. If there is something I want to comment on, I might comment right then but I usually save the post so I can come back to it later and spend "quality time"
Next I go through several other blogs I enjoy reading, commenting here and there.
On Thursdays I always go to my Thoughts for Thursday folder FIRST and link TFT posts to my TFT post. I usually wait until I have "quality time" to read and comment on them
Do you have a special order that you read your blog subscriptions?
Anyone who knows me knows that I wear fun, funky jewelry every single day. I am especially partial to necklaces. Unfortunately none of my big, funky necklaces fit in my large jewelry chest, so this is my current mode of storage: 20-some necklaces hung over the knobs on my closet
I have searched high and low for the perfect way to organize them, but I haven't found anything yet.
Does anyone have any ideas?
Thanks!
After four wonderful months of being a Mac owner, I have finally gotten with it and tried iChat!! I was able to import my neglected AIM and also my Google account so I will be using those much more frequently. My screen name is ksweetsauer, leave me yours in the comments! My brother Jeff also just jumped on the Mac bandwagon (Macs are the best, you know!!!) so we figured out how to do the video chat. Super cool!!!! Please let me know if you have video chat capabilities so we can chat that way sometime!
Have any of you studied genetics? I think it is pretty cool how it works. Dominant and recessive genes, etc.
I started thinking about eye color and genetics the other day and made some interesting observations about my family
My paternal grandfather had blue eyes, My paternal grandmother had brown eyes.
Of their 7 children 4 have brown eyes, 3 have blue (one is my dad)
My maternal grandfather (Gramp) has blue eyes, my maternal grandma (Gram) has hazel.
Of their 8 children, 1 has brown eyes, 4 have greenish/hazel, 3 have blue (my mom has blue eyes with a ring of yellow in the center, makes them look teal)
Brian and I have blue eyes, Jeff has green.
Anyone care to share their family history of eye color? It would be nice to know I still have readers here......hits and comments have dropped dramatically since I put the password up
Okay, so until I get my iPhone in a few more months, I am still old school with the music. I haven't purchased more than 10 new CD's in the past 10 years (my BF buys them all), but prior to that, I had at least 300-400 CD's. Together we have about 1,000.
So anyway, I have got to get rid of my CDs, they are taking up two big drawers in my dresser that could be used to store clothes. I am in the process of converting/importing ALL of my CD's into iTunes. Then I plan to back them up on an external HD and get rid of ALL of these old-ass CDs.
Just wondering what everyone did with their CD collections when they went digital???
Anyone like old-school rap/r&b at all??? Thats the majority of my collection and I am willing to RAK some of this old school away to any takers.....??
A colleague of mine told me yesterday about something disturbing that was being reported on the radio. This is how the story went from the way it was told to me: an anonymous woman had started a blog and detailed how nothing important had happened during her lifetime and that if something major didn't happen in the next 90 days, she was going to commit suicide because she had nothing to live for. She even started calling herself 90 Day Jane. She said she wasn't depressed in any way, that this wasn't a cry for help; that she was going to live a normal life until her 90 days were up. She was even asking for ideas on how to do "the deed".
It made me sick to hear about this. Why wouldn't it??!!! My colleague and I were speculating quite a bit about the topic..... could the woman possibly go through with a suicide after publicly announcing it on her blog? Couldn't her IP be tracked down so that she could be stopped? It sounded like a horrible movie plot to me. I sat and thought about what it would be like if one of my friends or family committed suicide out of nowhere and how I would feel if that person had kept a public blog about her intentions but I never knew about it.
I had no intentions of reading this woman's blog because I do not want to be a person who feeds into that kind of sensationalized drama. Don't you know that curiosity got the better of me? I found the 90 Day Jane blog and was so glad that when I did, I discovered that "Jane" had written the blog as a HOAX, as a project for some college class. Thankfully she never had any intentions of killing herself.
Did anyone else hear about this girl and her blog?? Does this whole thing disturb anyone else??? Whether she had sincere intentions or not, it still seems like a cry for help to me.
On Monday evening we had a lengthy staff meeting at my afternoon school with our district Superintendent, five other BIG-Wigs from the district, and our school principal. It seems that because we have such declining enrollment in a large-capacity building, drastic measures need to be taken to keep our school open. The Sup's idea is to turn our school into a school driven by gender-based instruction. Put simply, we would implement both an all- boys and an all-girls "academy" of sorts for all core content areas in grades k-3, starting next school year, then adding a grade level each year until we are gender-based for k-6. Specialist classes and lunch would be co-ed.
In St Paul Public Schools we service about 41,000 students and offer a ton of school choices for students....neighborhood schools and magnet schools. Each magnet school has a specific focus (Math & Science, Technology, Creative Arts, Aerospace, communications, Museum magnet, Year-round schools, American-Indian magnet, World Cultures, French Immersion and Spanish Immersion, just to name a few. Magnets schools always perform better and have higher enrollment rates because no matter where the child lives in the district, they receive bussing to the magnet schools. Neighborhood schools don't fare as well....if a child moves out of the attendance area, they are usually forced to move to another school because transportation is NOT provided. As you can probably imagine, neighborhood schools that are in tough, transient neighborhoods with a high number of rental properties struggle because of the transition rate of kids moving in and out.
Our district has just recently implemented gender-based instruction at one of our middle schools and it is going very well, but there is nothing like it at the elementary level in our district. Research has been done on gender-based instruction and there are quite a few schools like this around the country that are showing very positive achievement outcomes because of it. It is the hope of our Superintendent and staff that providing a unique experience like this will be a big draw to our school and that it will drastically increase enrollment.
I am interested to find out more about the program and how it will work. I think there are definite benefits to providing gender-based instruction and I am kind of excited to be part of the pilot project.
What are your thoughts on gender-based instruction? Would you be willing to try it with your children if there were significant benefits?
I am talking Mac as in Apple computer. The Macbook Pro, to be exact.
I have hated Macs all my life, so what the heck spurred this sudden desire, you ask?
Well, iMovie, of course. (I want to learn sooooo bad!) And the new Mac OS X Leopard operating system that debuts this week. Watch the video and you'll want one too! OMG, and I thought the iPhone was cool....this blows everything I have seen yet away!! I can easily access and network to my PC laptop. Perfect :)
Only problem is, Macs are EXPENSIVE. Like waaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy more than a PC. I can get a teacher discount of $200, but that is it. I will also have to purchase a HD video camcorder (or why bother?). Thats like a minimum of $3K. Holy crap!!!
Not to mention my laptop is less than a year old and someone told me to buy a Mac last year when I was buying a new laptop but I didn't listen :(
Am I crazy? I don't even own an iPod (but I do use iTunes)
Now I just have to confess right here and now that when I was a child, I believed in the Boogeyman. He lived in my basement!!!! (Which was very creepy and unfinished for the most part until I was a teenager. Secret rooms and everything).
Why did I think the Boogeyman lived down there?
Because my dad told me so. Many, many times.
Why the heck would a parent tell something like that to their children????
It scared the heck out of me until I was probably 14 or so. No kidding.
If I had to go to the basement for any reason, I would run as fast as I could to the top of the stairs because I was always afraid the Boogeyman was right behind me and was going to get me.
NEVER would I sleep down there until I was a teenager, and then only if I had friends sleeping over with me.
This movie last night was pretty scray, although the Boogeyman in the movie lived in the closet, not the basement.
I am going to buy my dad this movie and make him watch it!!! I want him to get the sh*t scared out of him so he knows a little about the trauma he caused in me. (PS I love my dad, but I still don't understand why he used to say that crap.)
Anyone else care to admit they were afraid of the Boogeyman or some other creey phenomena????
Anyone scare the crap out of their kids with horror stories like that????
I need some advice here, friends. I wasn't going to write about something so personal, but I really truly need some advice and support.
Many of you know by now that I have four cats....3 males (Phoenix, Pharaoh, Dusty) and one female (Isis).
Isis was the most recent addition to my home, nearly 3 years ago. Her breed is a Manx, (a tail-less cat). I got her when she was about 6 months old, and she had come from a situation where she had very little interaction with humans. It is hard to describe her personality, but she is not friendly towards humans and runs if approached. Only on rare occasions will she approach anyone but me, and she won't let most people touch her. Usually she hisses and runs away. Her hideout is under the king-size bed in our Master bedroom. She has earned herself the nicknames "Icicle" "Icy Bitch" and "Ice Princess". She seems to get along just fine with Phoenix (actually, she is in LOVE with him) and also Dusty, but it is noticable lately that she has been picking on Pharaoh because he is so much smaller than she is. She has also picked on and attacked the neighbor's dog when he has brought him over.
None of the cats are declawed (I don't believe in it), so they have to be clippedw every 1-2 weeks. Except for with Isis this is nearly impossible. Impossible to catch the little bitch and when we do, she puts up a huge fight.
On Sunday morning I had just fed the cats and all of a sudden Isis starts chasing Pharaoh away from the food dishes and starts swatting at him, hissing. Pharaoh starts screaming bloody murder. The sounds of Isis and Pharaoh fighting woke were really loud. I hadn't clipped Isis's nails in awhile, so I trapped her in the bedroom and tried to coax her out from under the bed to clip her damn nails. Of course she wouldn't come, but she was kind of close enough for me to grab her by the scruff and drag her out. Well she didn't like this and I was probably not very gentle with her. She did not like me clipping her front claws, but I got the job done. Trying to get her back claws was a different story. She hissed, scratched and bit me a couple of times as I was trying to get the job done. I was calm with her up to this point and explained to her that if she didn't let me clip her nails, she was going to have to find a new home. I am not putting up with this crap, little girl. It isn't okay to terrorize Pharaoh.
So when I was done I head into the bathroom with wounds all up and down my arms and tears rolling down my face, cat hair stuck to every inch of me. There is no way I could continue to put up with this. Then she ran up to a friend and ferociously ATTACKED him, biting him multiple times in the hand. She left puncture holes in his hand and he was bleeding profusely for about a half hour. His hand swelled up to almost double its normal size.
I called the vet first thing Monday morning and discussed the situation with the vet tech. Her suggestion was to have Isis declawed before thinking about having her euthanized. The earliest appt. is next Tuesday. The entire situation was discussed at length last night and the conclusion is that she can no longer live in the home. If she is declawed it will eliminate the problem with her clawing and attacking me or others, but who is to say she won't resort to biting more? Will her lack of claws stop her from being aggressive toward Pharaoh and not allowing him to eat? Probably not.
I don't think it would be a good idea to surrender her (no shelters are intaking animals anyway) because I don't know how she would do in any home. She is a wild cat and I have often wondered if she has something neurologically wrong with her too. It could have something to do with her breed. Who would take on a cat that attacks and bites when scared?
I thought that maybe a farm would be the best option. She would be a great mousing cat and could do well without the human interaction, but she is also somewhat of a princess and has only lived as an inside cat. This seems to be the only option at this point that would allow her to keep her life.
The last option and one that is winning out in the options is having her euthanized later this week. It breaks my heart to think about it because she can be really sweet to me and shows affection toward me that she has shown no other human (but only when I am in bed, laying still).
Most people I know are telling me to put her down, but I don't want to regret it the rest of my life. I also know that I couldn't give her away in good conscience knowing that she is likely to bite or attack someone when she is scared. PS I know others who have way more vicious cats than Isis and they deal with it.
So what do I do??? Does anyone know any farms in MN that are willing to give her a try? She is spayed.
I saw this on Nicole's blog and had to steal it! Just click below the map where it says "Sign Guestbook" and then add a pic of yourself and your location. I hope to see many of you :)
Yesterday was such a sad day. Not only was it really depressing watching the news coverage of the bridge collapse, but I also got bad news from a couple of my friends (all unrelated to the bridge event).
**Please say prayers for the young dad in my hometown who took his own life on Monday and left behind a wife and 1 1/2 year old daughter. His friends and family are hurting really badly right now.
**Please say prayers for a friend of mine whose domestic partner was hit and dragged for hundreds of feet under a car while working in New Jersey a few weeks ago. He is now off life support but is going to need a long time to recover from all of the injuries.
**Please say a prayer for one of my college roomates who is now 34 weeks pregnant and suffering from a large cyst on her ovary and pre-term labor. She has been in/out of the hospital for the past six weeks and has been on bedrest for awhile now. Pray that she makes it another couple of weeks before giving birth.
**Please continue to say prayers for all the people affected by the bridge collapse here in Minneapolis.
To get my mind off this bad stuff, I spent quite some time yesterday with my scrap stuff :)
This is the layout I made at Archiver's the other night. I added the pics and lettering, this one is for Annika's album. I had no idea what pics I was going to add when I first made the page, and the only letter we could put on our layout was the "F". Doesn't go very well with "Easter", but oh well!
Using up most of my Love, Elsie stuff....
The pretty silk flowers (behind the paper ones) on this one were a gift to me from Sarah (birthday present) and this was the perfect LO to use them on! The right page is based on this sketch.
Going to scrap much more tonight when some of the girls come over!
I was tempted to buy it last week after my friends Kim and Bradie raved so much about it. I also saw that it is currently. #1 on the NY Times Best Seller list. I looked through the book, but didn't buy it. Seemed kind of boring to me, but then again I am not the type to buy self-help books. I guess I won't know "The Secret" unless I leave my comfort zone a little, huh?
For those who have read it, is it really life-changing????
This week marks the 2nd anniversary of this blog, Mi Vida Ocupada aka www.sweetsauer.com.
Wow, did that two years go fast!
Check out these stats...
Posts: 481 Hits: 56,622 Comments: 2511
I've even had visitors from all over the world :)
Thank you to everyone who has supported this journey. Thank you for reading, I truly appreciate the audience. This blog has been an important outlet for so many different aspects of my life and it would be weird not to have it now. What did I ever do before?!
Please help me celebrate this anniversary by leaving a comment telling me what you have enjoyed about this blog.
Is it all my pictures? Scrapbook layouts? My random thoughts? Book reviews?
Or just that it is a way to stay connected to me?
I'd love to hear from everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lurkers come out!!!! Friends. family, other bloggers. Come out, come out, whoever and where ever you are!
Last night two of my best friends and I were sitting around, and we happened to start talking about our earliest memories. They told me their memories and I told them the memory I am about to tell you. It seems that most people don't recall anything before the age of 4, but we all agreed that people may remember things that happened even earlier, especially if it was something traumatic or a life-changing event.
The earliest memory that I can recall happened when I was 3 1/2. We were living at the house I grew up in, built in the mid-70s. The thing that is important to mention about that house (as it relates to this story) is the open stairway leading to the basement with railing posts set about a foot apart. My brother Brian was exactly 1 1/2 years old when he crawled through the railing at the top of the stairs and fell a whole story to the cement floor of the basement. I don't remember every detail of the event, but I do remember my mom freaking out (what parent wouldn't under those circumstances?), the ambulance coming to get him and I remember going to the hospital.
The details that I don't exactly remember, but know about because we have recapped this story so many times, is that Brian had been eating a banana or a rice crispie bar when he fell through. When my mom raced to the bottom of the stairs, she found Brian alive, but a bloody gooey mess in his mouth...she thought at first that he had bitten off his tongue. After the ambulance came and we took Bri to the hospital, it was determined that he had not been injured at all in the fall. Thank GOD!!! The day that he fell happened to be the anniversary of my Grandma Irma's death (my dad's mom), and the half-birthday of Brian. My mom has always believed that it was Grandma Irma who helped break Brian's fall that day, that she is his guardian angel :)
So now that I have shared that story with you, anyone care to share their earliest memory with me?? Or at least tell me about how old you were.
Why is it that all the best chocolatiers in the world live somewhere other than the USA???
A quick search on the internet claims the following chocolatiers are the World's Best: Alessio Tessieri, Jacques Torres, La Maison du Chocolate, Max Brenner, Fritz Knipchildt, Noka Choclates, Godiva, DeLafee, Richart Chocolates, Green Mountain Chocolates, or Pascal Caffet.
Until today, I had never heard of any of these chocolates except for the famous Godiva. How sad is it that there are such fabulous chocolates out there that I have never had the pleasure of trying??!! I guess it is time for me to crawl out of my chocolate naiveete.
You may ask yourself...Why is Kristi writing about chocolate? Because I just spent $2 buying the worst chocolate bar in the world from a student who was selling them for a fundraiser, and it is so bad, I can't even eat it!! I guess with chocolates, you get what you pay for?!
I am not a choco-holic by any means, but if I am craving it (usually once a month), I HAVE to have it!! My personal favorites are Godiva, Dove, and Cadbury. Ghirardelli, See's and Hershey's aren't too bad either. Creamy milk chocolates are my favorite, but I also enjoy truffles!
What other chocolates are out there that are worthy of knowing about??
What are your personal favorites? This is an easy one, kids. Please leave a comment :)
Have any of you happened to catch Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern on the Travel Channel? (Its on Monday nights). In case you haven't, this guy Andrew travels all over the world with the goal of trying every kind of local food, which in many cases are things many of us wouldn't dream of eating. The show I saw earlier this week was when he was in Morocco. One of the big cities there has a big meat market where you can choose from a variety of vendors. As Andrew goes around sampling food, the cameras are there to ctach his reaction. I laughed my butt off many times at his expressions immediately following eating something that he didn't like. (Like the sheep's eyeball or the putrid meat mixed with eggs). He is pretty honest while still diplomatic about it at the same time.
My policy has always been that I am willing to try anything once, but other than exotic sushi, the most weird things I have ever eaten are alligator, frog legs, rabbit, buffalo, and carne lengua (cow's tongue). Oh, and the worm from a mezcal bottle AFTER drinking most of the tequila. I would have to change that policy if I am ever traveling abroad! You will definitely NEVER catch me eating any kind of insect or worm, or various animal body parts (like penis or brains).
Makes me even more thankful for the plethora of eating options we have here in our country!
No thanks! Would you try any of those things?? What is the most bizarre food you have ever eaten?
I want to start up and dedicate a new blog to reviewing various restaurants around the Twin Cities. Wouldn't that be cool???? I love to eat out, but I usually end up going to the same places. This would allow me to expand our options :) Thanks to the Burrito Blog once again for putting the bug in my head!
I looked to see if there were other websites like this already out there. I could only find one with this specific focus...but its not that great, IMO. I could probably do much better!
I would create a sample menu of offerings, take photos, price guide, atmosphere, and quality of food, etc.
I realize that I will not be able to update it as often as this blog (I just couldn't afford to eat out as often as I'd like), but it might also allow me to add additional authors to create reviews. Anyone interested in helping?? Jeffrey????
Is this a good idea or what?? I'd love some feedback!
First of all, I would like to give a BIG shout-out to Ms. Teague for doing up this fabulous tutorial about how to use Photoshop brushes. I finally figured it out! Here is my first simple attempt:
This is a photo I took of one of my girlfriends who has just 7 weeks to go until her baby is born! Since they chose not to know the sex of their baby, she has several thoughts on what to name the baby.
What you name your baby is very important, don't you agree? Here are some sites about names, etc that I found fun to check out!
Is anyone else out there sisterless too? I have been meaning to write about this topic for quite some time now. I thought maybe at least one of you might be able to relate to what I am talking about. I can pretty much say that all of my girlfriends have a sister(s). I have sat and thought about this quite a bit, and the only two friends of mine that I can think of that also do not have a sister are Cassie and Mandie. And these two happen to be only children, so they not only have no sisters, but they also do not have the luxury of having a brother either! Although I do not have any sisters, I am lucky enough to have two wonderful younger brothers, Brian and Jeff. I love them both to death and wouldn't trade them for anything in the world, but sometimes I think it would be great to have a sister too. I have many best friends and my very own sister in law, but like I mentioned, they all have their own sisters. Girls that grew up in the same house together. That share the unique bond of sisterhood. Something that I will never know....
What is it exactly that I feel like I am missing out on? I don't even know for sure. I just have this conception that sisters are the greatest thing to have. They grew up together, played girly toys and games together. They are always there for each other, stand up for each other, help each other, give & take advice, share, have the same values, learn from one another, and tell secrets. Talk on the phone to each other every day. I don't even think I'd mind some of the cat fights that all sisters are bound to have.
Since I will never be able to understand the bond of sisterhood, I will tell you some of the reasons why it has been great being sisterless for all these years. I never had to share my room. Never had someone raiding my closet without permission. Never been blackmailed for something stupid or naughty that I did. Never had to be jealous that she was "prettier" or "smarter". Never had to fight for attention. Never had to wear hand-me-downs. Never had to share my girl stuff.
Reasons why its been so great to have brothers: I was the big sis and had two cute little boys looking up to me. I learned to play all kinds of sports and games. Got to understand how boys think and act. Unconditional love and affection. Little brothers can grow up to be strong men. They get to be uncles to your children (someday), and they give you sweet little baby nieces (Annika!) to hug and kiss.
So I guess being sisterless isn't actually that bad after all! Is anyone else with me????
Have you ever fainted? I never have, but it seems pretty scary watching it happen....I imagine it would be even scarier if it happened to you. I am bringing this subject up because just yesterday during our winter concert at school a little girl fainted in the middle of the program (she was standing on the risers in the front row) and landed smack on her face. The poor thing! The entire audience got very quiet and we all stood there horrified....many teachers ran to her assistance but she was out for a few minutes before she regained consciousness.
Another time I was at a rally for George W Bush a few days before the last election (and no...I am not a huge fan) and they brought out all these speakers/celebrities to get the crowd going before the President arrived. One of the girls who had been speaking (not sure who she was) fainted right during Bush's speech....and she was very close to the podium so it was very obvious to the entire stadium.
Just curious if any of you have ever fainted and if you remembered it happening or what you felt like before you went down? I have felt nauseaous plenty of times, but how do you know if it might make you faint???
I am probably weird for even writing a post like this!
So anyway...I went to that Bush rally because a friend of mine got me a VIP ticket. His wife is a sign-language interpreter and he thought he'd be able to get me in to meet the President...or at least shake his hand. I had to go through high-tech security for this opportunity, but when else might I ever meet a President of the US?? Well, I didn't get to meet him, but I did touch his arm as he walked by me after the Rally! What a great pic this is, huh??!!
I am going to be pretty stereotypical here when I say that most women like to dress up their wardrobe with accessories....shoes, jewelry, hats, scarves, belts, purses, etc. It is these extras that can make or break an outfit, don't you agree?
Most women start with the outfit and then look for the accessories. But have you ever started with an accessory and then built the outfit around it? I know a lot of women who do that too! Like a friend of mine at work made this really pretty bracelet last week and then went through her whole closet trying to find something to go with it. I have also started with a pair of shoes and then gone in search of the perfect outfit to go with it! I know this is back-asswards, but it is still kind of fun.
Why am I talking about accessories? Because I think most of us (and yes, I am generalizing here because I think about 95% of my readers are women!) have a certain weakness for a particular accessory. I have gone through many over the years.....hats, bags, and jackets. My biggest one for the last several years is JEWELRY!
I love having the perfect rings, bracelets and earrings to go with an outfit....some are better with gold, some with silver/white gold. **Side note...have you all noticed how HOT gold gold is again this season??** And certain gems/beads/stones can really enhance the colors in that hot little top or that soft sweater that is hanging at the front of your closet. The thing that I like best about jewelry is that it never really goes out of style so it is worth the investment to purchase it. Not to mention that Erick loves to buy it for me and has excellent taste ;)
Are you the gal who will pay $$$$ for that cute little Coach bag without batting an eyelash? Or for the cutest little shoes?? I know I am most definitely NOT alone ladies, so please confess to me where your accessory obsessions lie........
Ever since I can remember, I have been fascinated by the paranormal. I love to hear stories of guardian angels, the sixth sense (ESP), dreams that foretell the future, and my very favorite, true ghost stories. I know there are many skeptics out there....I am not one of them. There is no doubt in my mind that ghosts exist. I had my first experience with a ghost when I was 13. I was babysitting at a neighbor's house on a stormy summer night and saw the misty figure of an old woman disappear around the corner and into another room. It scared me out of my ever loving mind and still gives me goosebumps!! The neighbor confirmed with my father that the house was indeed haunted and they moved out shortly afterward.
The second experience I had was back in college in my dorm room.... crazy stuff happened! I had originally told the story hear but didn't want ya'll to think I am a weirdo, so I erased it!
I think that the fear and acceptance that ghosts exist is part of what appeals to me. Whatever the case, the month of October seems very appropriate for seeking out a good ghost story. The Travel Channel has several programs about hauntings. Some are cheesy, but nevertheless, I would rather watch any of these than some of the other junk that is on the air. There are also several good sites where people can write in the stories of their own experiences, such as Ghost.org, The Shadowlands, and True Ghost Stories.
Now tell me, do you believe in ghosts??? Has anyone else had an experience?
I just recently received this sweet postcard from my girl Alex W who has been having the most exciting adventures in the Land Down Under. If you don't already read her blog, you should go read about how much fun she is having...makes you want to jump on a plane and join her!
So then I was reading Raina Marie's blog and she mentioned that she also got a postcard from Alex and is planning to send one back from her hometown. I told Raina I wanted one from her too!
So that got me thinking....why not do a postcard exchange with some of my other blogging/scrapping girls??? As I've mentioned before, I love hearing about different places and people and I think it would be really cool to send and receive postcards from all of you :) Leave me a comment if you think you might be interested in doing this and we can exchange addresses. If there is enough interest, I would be happy to compile a list of addresses to those interested in participating and then I will e-mail it to you all. Postcard love for all!
If you like this idea, feel free to link to my blog.....you just never know who might want in on all this post card love!
I hope to hear from you :) Non-bloggers are also welcome!
As of the time I wrote this post, there have been 4,785 visits to this site since I launched it in late April 2005. Wow!! I do know that the average # of visits per day is like 45. Please, please tell me: Who are all of you???
I have had many people tell me they visit every so often to see what I have been up to, but NONE of those people ever leave me comments, so I have NO IDEA for the most part who likes me enough (lol) to try to keep up. Many of my scrappin' girls/bloggin buddies leave comments, but none of my real-life friends. Whats up with that????? Girls, I know many of you read this, my BF and family too! So give me a shout out. Tell me who you are and how you found me if I haven't yet got to know ya...
Can you believe I have even been "googled" a number of times. Who and for what purpose has me curious. Any googlers here today?!!
So I am CALLING YOU OUT!! And I say this in the nicest possible way. Come out! Come out! Whoever you are!! Even if you are just lurking, an occasional or regular reader, or a good friend of mine, please take this opportunity to leave me a comment and say HI!! All you need to do is click on the word "comments" directly at the bottom of this post and put in your first name and e-mail address....so simple!
Thanks to all of you for reading and looking at all my pictures and scrapbooking layouts. And thanks for obliging me on this simple little request. I am going to be so sad if you don't say hi.......
I found a new hobby today.....beading! E and I went to lunch and then he had to stop at the pet store to get some feeder fish for his Piranha. Staring at fish for hours in an extremely hot and humid fish store is extremely boring to me, so instead I went across the street to the bead shop, A Beadiful World. So many beautiful colors and beads to look at!! I love jewelry, especially unique pieces, so I think this would be a great hobby for me. The problem is...I have no idea where to start! They offer classes at this shop, so I think I will sign up for at least one, and maybe buy a few books on the subject. Oh, I can already picture the cool things I could make!
Does anyone else bead?? How did you start? What do you suggest I do to start? Is it terribly expensive? Is it more addictive than scrapbooking?? I guess this summer is the best time to start!
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