since I've been back...

I did a wedding video on Valentine's Day in Jenner (near Bodega Bay). Valerie and I drove up there early in the morning so we'd have plenty of time to set up. It was gorgeous lighting and I wanted to stop and take photos but I conveniently left my camera at home. Its best that I did since we needed to get to the wedding. I definitely plan to go back and take some photos!

It was an incredible experience. The bride had Cherokee heritage so they had two ceremonies. The first one was my dream wedding. They did the ceremony at Goat Rock Beach and then the photographer brought them onto the beach and had a mini photo shoot. I got some great footage of the couple walking to and from the water. The only thing that's going to make the video difficult was the wind. I think we'll have to put some music over to cover up the bad audio.

The second ceremony was up at the house. They changed into Native American regalia and did something out on the deck that overlooked the ocean. I'm not entirely sure how to explain it. They poured different things into small glass viles and then the officiant played the flute. He and his family were dressed in full Native American regalia for both ceremonies. I felt so lucky to be included in the bride & grooms day (their were 15 of us total).

I was tired after that so Dan & I just went out to Chevy's for dinner. We had a pretty quite evening.

Saturday was a hectic day in a wonderful way. After I got off work I drove to Picture Me Perfect in Fremont to meet Marie. I was so happy to finally meet in person. She was just as cool as I imagined! We had a great time goofing off. I met a lot of great people and hope to visit again.


We took a class with Kerry Lynn Yeary making a fun mini book. I made a mess and had a blast doing it. I'll post pictures of it when I complete it.


Here's a picture Marie took of me with Kerry Lynn. She is an incredible teacher. I love how she didn't rush me (I am such a slow scrapper).


I also met the amazing Nikki Peterson. She was wearing a yummy camera shirt that I decided I have to get. I asked her where she got it and she said Thailand! I'll be searching for that one for a while!

I was sad to say goodbye, but I had to rush back to San Francisco for a night at the symphony with Dan and Zena. We heard beautiful movements by Tchaikovsky. It took half the night for me to pronounce it correctly. My favorite part was intermission when I went to the balcony for some night shots of City Hall. I adore my gorillapod!


Jessica called me and we hung out a lot on Monday. I got an itching for an adventure, so we drove south along the coast to Half Moon Bay and had lunch at a cute little deli that I adore. We couldn't be leave without checking out this amazing antique store called Half to Have It. I thought of Michelle while we rummaged through vintage post cards. I didn't find anything that really jumped out at me. I was really just looking for an old book to tear into. I think I'll be checking out garage sales with my mom.

As we were walking back on main street this cute little store front caught my eye. Made me think of scrapbooking. Big surprise!



We decided it would be fun to go bowling. I called up a few people to see who would be interested in some late night bowling at Serra Bowl. Jason was in the bay area for a smog test so he joined us. I tried to get Kelley to join but she already had plans. That's what happens when I'm spontaneous! We had a fun time bowling to the music. I really can't bowl but enjoy it anyway.


Tuesday was a day to go down in in history. I beat my grandma at Scrabble! Only by 9 points but I was so happy that I can finally give her a challenge!

I have been watching a lot of movies like crazy because I wanted to put my netflix on hold for a while. My most favorite was Across the Universe. I heard it was great but I had no idea that it was a musical of entirely Beatles music. How much happier could I get? the cinematography was incredible. I urge you to go out and rent it if you haven't seen it yet.

Finally saw Becoming Jane. I've been waiting forever since no local theaters showed this. I have to say I was a bit disappointed in it. It wasn't as great as other Jane Austen movies. It did motivate me to read up on her a bit to see if Hollywood took liberties (and I knew they would). I really want to read her books now!

I'll have more pictures and stories soon of what else I've been up to. I'm going to go try catching up on blog reading that I've been neglecting.

More stuff from CHA

I tried to minimize the amount of free stuff that I picked up because I traveled lightly. Here is a picture of the stuff that made it home with me. I also got some Staedtler pens and a few other books. My favorite thing I got was the Pink Paislee stamps since I was at there booth for so long. I practically felt like their mascot. I keep getting these hints from Julie over at EBB that they'll be in March's kit.

Of course I stopped by the Hambly booth to visit Allison and see their beautiful new product. She hooked Heather & I up with some limited editions. I know I can't believe I haven't done something with them yet. I've been incredibly busy with job hunting and finishing up some mini books. I can't wait to play with this yummy new product!



Epson & Advantus has a special make and take set up. I took a picture with Heidi Swapp and then brought my memory card over to Epson. We printed out a digital 12x12 page and then brought it back to Advantus for embellishments. I had fun with this and would have liked to spend more time with the program and change some stuff around. Although I much prefer that hands on traditional scrapbooking, I can see a place for digital scrapbooking.



The best make-n-take at Winter CHA 2008 was the mini book at Pink Paislee's booth. Surely you can see why I was third to get one of the kits!





I have another mini book that I made during my Prima class with Michelle Van Etten. I'm still putting a few more embellishments on it. I hope to have it up with my next post.

Also, I start a contractual job as a photo retoucher tomorrow afternoon. Its for a publishing company that makes calendars. My job is supposed to last through the end of March. If they are still behind I could get signed on for longer. I'm so excited to have this opportunity. Thanks Valerie!

EBB's February Main dish kit

Today is my Dad's birthday so Happy Birthday DAD!

I have been a bad blogger lately. I have been trying to stuff too many things into a day and I am trying to not do that. Tomorrow I will finish my post on my trip to Anaheim and then I have a lot to share from my regularly scheduled life. :) I've been up to some fun stuff!

And for now, here is the February Main Dish kit from EBB Creations.



My mini book on my first time baking cupcakes:







I still have a few little things that I want to add to this but I couldn't wait any longer to post seeing how its almost March. EeK! Jenna's 20th birthday is one week from today.

Disneyland!

Sorry it took me so long to get this post up. I've spent the past few days editing photos. I have uploaded a few pictures from CHA to my flickr account. Check them out here. Also, if you want to see a funny Discover commercial, check it out on you tube here.

I arrived in Anaheim Thursday evening and dropped off my luggage at Eva's hotel room at Paradise Pier Resort. I met Eva, Josiah, and Elizabeth for dinner at the Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney and then we did a little bit of window shopping.

We woke up incredibly early because we were excited about going to Disneyland. We got early entrance into Disneyland for out Minnie & Friends breakfast. We took a ton of pictures with my polaroid camera with all of the characters. Here is my favorite photo of Josiah & Eva.


We spent most of our time in Fantasyland but Elizabeth wanted to ride the rockets first. Eva took this fun photo for us! We also went on the Buzz Lightyear ride and I loved it!


Josh arrived in the afternoon so Eva and I went on Splash Mountain. We had two young guys in the front of the log. They rocked us the whole time and we managed to get pretty wet. My whole right shoe was completely soaked as well as my legs. I had a nice long walk back to meet Heather at the Annabella hotel (where I stayed for the remaining 4 days). By the time I arrived I was completely dry.

Heather and I had dinner at a cute little ice cream parlor next to the hotel and crashed pretty early. We went to our Prima class in the am and then I hung out by the pool while reading Life Artist by Ali Edwards. My cousin Dominique goes to school at LMU so we got together Saturday afternoon and went back to Disneyland. We did all the adult rides and ran through the park. We had such a blast talking and just hanging out.


I had never stayed at Disneyland until after closing and I have to say it was my favorite to be at the park until 11:30. That's when we got off of Space Mountain. I loved taking night photos there!


I hung out at CHA on Monday morning until my friend John from SFSU Animation could meet me. He is studying animation at USC now. We got to Disneyland around 2:30ish and I played tour guide Barbie since John hadn't been in 18 years.
John was constantly taking pictures which forced me to stop and look around. Since this was my third day being there I was happy to slow down and see things and not just go on rides. we happened to be at the Castle during the perfect lighting!


We were lucky to see Tinker bell fly along the zip line during fireworks that night. It was so special!

Tuesday was my fourth day in Disneyland. I was incredibly lucky to go there 4 days! I sent out emails to all the people I knew down in the Los Angeles area and several people wanted to go to Disneyland but on different days. Heather and I got to the gates at 8:30am to find out that Disneyland didn't open until 10am.

While we were waiting in line for the gates to open, we met a wonderful girl from India named Sangeetha. My friend Jason studies animation at UCLA (went to SFSU together) and he met us at the gates too. I went to City Hall and got him a Happy Birthday pin because he was celebrating his birthday the following day. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Every Disneyland ride operator wished him a Happy Birthday.

We went on several rides but got pretty wet on Splash Mountain. It was great that we had Sangeetha with us because she got pictures and we got pictures and it made us 4 which was great for all the rides. We laughed so hard on Indiana Jones, it was great. I nearly lost my voice from screaming so much.

Jason & I left Heather and Sangeetha to go to California Adventure before I had to leave for my flight. We went on California Screamin' twice and on Soarin' Over California. Of course we spent a decent amount of time at the Animation Academy and the animation store called Off the Page. Here's Jason in front of the incredible store front.


My trip home was safe and thankfully uneventful. My Dad was waiting for me and I was so happy to see him. I really missed my Mom, Dad, Jenna, and Dan while I was on my trip.

If you've read to the end of this post, I'm impressed! I will have pictures of the freebies and catalogs that I got from CHA, as well as the two mini books I made while I was there.

Winter CHA 2008 (picture heavy)

The Anaheim Convention Center is 815,000 square ft. Here is the welcome sign at night:


Heather and I took Michelle Van Etten & Trisha Ladouceur's Prima Valentine Album class on Saturday morning. I thought it was so cool that we both signed up for it without knowing the other person was taking the class. We had a wonderful time using the new acrylic build a book pages by Prima. My favorite was the 6x12 page! I'll be posting pictures after I complete it. Here is the line we used!


Heather and I had so much fun ordering for Everything Scrapp'n, her online scrapbooking store. I have assisted in the buying decisions at the Christmas store and I have learned a lot from that over the years. I was thrilled to help Heather make decisions on which product to order.

Of course my number one priority was to head over to the Love Elsie booth and meet Rachel and Elsie. I got so many positive comments on my polaroid camera. I was really excited when I called Rachel over to jump in the picture and she knew my name! And even better she complemented my new hair cut! She's such a sweetie. I was talking to her and Elsie about my plans to design my own paper and Rachel said she'd include my designs in a Red Velvet Art Kit!!!!!!!! That made my trip so now I just have to get designing. And I totally love Elsie's new lines Forrest and Claire too.



I have to admit I was really excited that Heidi Swapp came from China for CHA! She is so beautiful and incredibly modest its ridiculous. I especially loved her outfit. I can't wait to share the make-n-take I made at her booth with the help of Epson. Her papers are so gorgeous. I told her it was about time that she released paper and she laughed. :)

I was registered for Kristina Contes' Dare's class for Sunday afternoon. Due to some bad nachos and various other catastrophes I got to it 30 minutes late (2 hour class). I was told that the instructors wouldn't let anyone in late, as I expected. When I asked for the kit/products that I paid for I was told that I "wouldn't know how to use them without the class, but could have a catalog." So now I have a paint and paint brush catalog with Bob Ross on the cover. I am trying to get this situation worked out.

As I was trying to meet back up with Heather, I ran into Sheri & Daniella from my Daughter's Wish. I told them about the whole class situation and they agreed that I should have been given my kit. I also mentioned that I wanted to meet Ali and they pointed behind me and said "she's right there!"

Without having realized it, I had gotten lost right in front of the CK Media booth. My first reaction was that she's tall! I loved that she was wearing orange too. We talked about how polaroid just announced that they are discontinuing the camera and the film. I told her how amazing her book Life Artist is. The chapter on perfectionism has really helped me. Not just as a scrapbooker, but with life in general. She was the most down to earth real person and I really enjoyed chatting with her.


I dragged Heather down to the new exhibitors so I could meet JJ & Steve of Bam Pop. I have to say they were both caught off guard when I asked to get pictures with them and have them sign it too. JJ is adorable!
I met the EBB family for dinner at Alcatraz Brewing Company on Sunday night. I couldn't help but laugh because I come to Anaheim and have San Francisco themed dinner. I really enjoyed chatting with Julie, Scott, Enrique, Candice, and Kathy. It was so fun to learn more about EBB Creations. Thanks for the incredible night guys!


Monday morning we rushed to CHA to nab a sweet make n take. We were the 3rd & 4th people to arrive at the booth. Then we went to Maya Road to order some yummy new products. Suzy Plantamura took our order and she was so fun. I love seeing her incredible dt work for Maya Road & Love Elsie.


I loved seeing Allison Kreft at Hambly's booth. Houndstooth was everywhere. I even got some beautiful limited edition stuff from Hambly and I'm hoping to play with it tonight. And Allison noticed my hair cut too!

I spent several hours waiting in line for an adorable make-n-take and met Rachel from Canada. I'll be looking for her blog to start up shortly. We had a blast passing time. I love making new friends!


My most favorite new product at CHA was Pink Paisley's Office Lingo and Spring Fling lines. I adore the stamps even more. Their make-n-take was the best of the entire show. I was in line so long they gave me two yummy stamps!


It took me a few minutes to realize that Holly McCaig, the designer of Pink Pasiley's products was standing right in front of me. I told her that we had to take a picture together because Michelle Clement would die. We had so much fun talking about our polaroid cameras that Michelle made for us. I told both Holly and Rachel they need to get Michelle back on their design team (I really sounded like her agent or something). Of course I told them I'd love to work with them too. ;).

And to top it off, I'm even on Holly's blog!

Overall, my CHA experience was even better than I could have dreamed. I am so lucky to go and will always remember meeting so many incredible people! I'll have more pictures of projects and my Disneyland experience soon.

Just walked in

Thanks for all the great comments. I just got home less than an hour ago and I'm going to be incredibly busy trying to get a blog up tomorrow. I can't promise one big blog but we'll see. Dan got xbox live finally. What are your user names? Also, MC, you're going to be super jealous of someone I met. You should have gone! Pictures and stories once I've caught up on sleep. And yes, my trip was FAB-U-LOUS!

Leaving for Anaheim

Tomorrow morning. I have lots of little things that I'm trying to get done before tomorrow. Like packing. EEK! I'm so excited I get easily distracted. I'm still trying to decide if I'll bring the laptop or not. We'll see how much room I have in my luggage and if I want to take a chance with transporting it again... Looking forward to lots of Nintendo DS in the airport!

Yesterday was Kristi's birthday. Happy Birthday Kristi! I meant to post specially yesterday but life happened. So here she is with her balloons and flowers at work. Yes I'm horribly mean and surprised her because Kelly asked me to. I have a hard time saying no. Doesn't she look happy?



Had a quick visit with my grandma in the East Bay. I always enjoy seeing her and it gives me that little break from the computer. I think she's just as excited about my trip to Anaheim as I am.

I've applied to a job and put lots of effort into it. Keep your fingers crossed because I think I have a chance! I've also been busy procrastinating by organizing my embroidery floss onto DMC cards. Its been in lots of ziplock bags for way too long.

I voted last night and couldn't help feeling old because I couldn't figure out how to use the new contraption. The pamphlet was trying to say it was like a click wheel on an iPod. I couldn't help but think it absurd that our government expects everyone to know how one of those work. I use one frequently and it took me at least 2 minutes longer than I wanted it to.

Expect lots of pictures and stories in my next post. I return Tuesday evening.

Confectionery Savage

I finally broke into my November Red Velvet Art Kit this weekend. I added a few other Love Elsie things to the mix. This is one of my favorite layouts right now. I did it as a lift challenge from our myspace group and as a challenge for EBB. Check out the challenge here.

Since I haven't figured out how to journal on the page yet, I'll explain. This is my friend Lisa eating cake at our graduation party in May. Jenna dared Lisa to eat the whole frosting flower off the cake. She told her she'd be a savage if she did. Lisa did and it was caught on memory card. I adore the photos and the saturated colors.


Friday was my first time to bake cupcakes. How did I get to be 23 without ever having made cupcakes? Either my mom or Jenna always made them. But one of my things that I want to do before 24 is to learn to cook. Baking is close to that so I thought I'd start off easy. I had a lot of fun with it.


I brought the outcome to Kristi's Friday night shindig. Dan & Bob played XBox 360 while Kristi, Krista, and I scrapped. The cupcake that has pink and blue was supposed to be a yin yang sign but I messed up and it became spumoni or something...


Kristi and her purple light saber. May the force be with her on Tuesday! :)



Saturday was a low key day. Hung out with Kelly and organized my scrap stuff a bit. Sunday Dan took me to lunch at Jeffrey's Hamburgers in San Mateo. I heart diners! Can't go wrong with my favorite grilled cheese sandwich.
Jenna called me when I returned to work. Banana Hammock's life had run its course and it was a long one. Dwarf hamster's life expectancy is 2 years maximum and he was much older. He will be missed. I don't have many photos of him because he was always moving so quickly but I plan to make a page just for him.