Photo recap

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there. Hope you have a great weekend celebrating your accomplishments.

I have a winner for the NSD gift certificate. The prize goes to redmom a.k.a. Lisa! Congrats!

Kristi & I are holding a DT call for the challenge blog Say It In Scrap. Head over to get all the details. The main stuff is that we are looking for 6 talented girls to scrap a page once a month (alternate) and help us brainstorm some new challenges. Submit your take on one of our previous challenges to the blog. Hope to see you trying out! The deadline is May 15th.

A few Friday's ago I met Courtenay, Kristi, Sandy, Marie, and Crystal at Picture Me Perfect. I love how welcoming Suzy is with all of her customers. We had an AMAZING time. We celebrated Sandy's birthday by grabbing some gelato a few doors down. I was super excited because I made bank on the most recent garage sale. I bought a ton of Hambly and then decided that I needed to fan all of my new Hambly out. I didn't buy all of this in one night. ;) Photo courtesy of Kristi.
Suzy took some goofy photos of us. I took out a D200 with an SB 800, along with a Nikon 14-24mm lens, and Nikon 10.5 fish that weekend.
I did this page for a Round Robin challenge last weekend (NSD) for Scrap Gal. I don't have a title for it and I think that its okay without one. If you are inspired with a title, let me know and I might change my mind.
I had a ton of fun lifting Chez and playing with some new Hambly. I discovered how difficult it is to photograph overlays when they are the main part of your page. I photographed this using my photo cube that I got for Christmas from Calumet. Saturday evening we drove to Sausalito for Joss's 60th birthday party. It was held at the Presidio Yacht club and it had a great view of the bay and the Golden Gate Bridge.
Sunday night we relaxed and watched movies while eating pizza. I played with a fish eye lens of course.
Lately, work has been overwhelmingly busy. Lisa captured this moment of me being completely buried by boxes. Its great for the company and that makes me thrilled. We've been having record numbers lately. I can't wait until we move into our bigger building at the end of the month.
Wednesday was a chaotic day for me. After work I met one of the new owners of Borrow Lenses at O'Neill's in San Mateo. Then I drove to meet Dan's father's family at the Cheesecake Factory across the bay. Franchesco turned 15 so we had quite the celebration. After dinner, we went home and watched American Idol. It was so hard to believe that Adam was in the bottom two. WTF? We had cake at 11pm at night before passing out.
The next morning I drove to visit my grandma, and catch up with her. It was fun, but too brief. I headed into work and met a new co-worker and got trained in some greater aspects of the company. We got in a lot more new equipment and one of the lenses was a Nikon 600mm! Look how huge that is! We had way too much fun, goofing around and taking pictures with the new lens. Now its making its way through Alaska!
Kristi came to our house on Friday night. I was so glad that she came to us because of how long my week had been. I took out a D300 and the Nikon 14-24 lens again, along with a battery grip (MB-D10) for the weekend. I can't remember why they were pointing at each other but we had a fun, silly night. We were supposed to scrap but we didn't make a damn thing.
It was raining on Saturday morning when Dan & I met Lisa and her cousin Sara at Ocean Beach. We went in search of beach glass. We found two bigger pieces, and some beautiful sand dollars on the beach. I took a small sand dollar and left the rest for others to admire.
It wasn't a bust, because I had so much fun taking photos.
This one made me wish they were in a band so we could put this photo in a CD booklet or something.
Windblown Lisa & I:
Due to my hectic schedule, I had to step down from my design team position with Scrap Mojo. I'll be back with lots more photos soon. Thanks to those of you who still stop by.

*Scrap Mojo 33* Waimea Canyon

Where have I been? Enjoying the beautiful weather! For this past week we have been enjoying high temperatures and warm nights at the beach, searching for glass. This is another obsession of mine that has resurfaced. My friend Lisa has started a really fun etsy store for beach glass. I'm really excited about Tiny Tidal Treats.

In other news, Scrap Mojo's new challenge is up. Use Peter Pan for inspiration and include a frame. I picked a quote and used the Hambly journal frame in my page about visiting the Waimea Canyon in Kauai. I loved working with the new Cosmo Cricket Snorkle line. Isn't it adorable? You can find most elements on this page in Everything Scrapp'n. Hope you have a great weekend!
Products used:
Cosmo Cricket
Snorkle-Carbonation pp
Snorkle-Schools Out pp
Snorkel-Umbrella pp
Snorkle-Elements pp
Pink Paislee Fashion Script Alpha Stickers-Blue
Hambly journal blocks/circles rub ons-Brown
Pebbles Wanderlust buttons
Heidi Swapp corner travel clear stamps
Pink Paislee On Schedule clear stamps
Karen Foster's Beach Phrase stickers
Stickles- Baby Blue, Burgundy, & Purple
Making Memories colored staples
Burgundy embriodery floss

Happy March!

Last Saturday, I went to Amy's February Social Squitten. We did some archery at a local range and then we went out for Sushi in San Francisco. We had a blast, as always. Here is a photo of a few of the girls. There were lots of guys, but they didn't actively cluster together for a photo.
Lisa came over for pizza and all around good fun on Sunday. She surprised the heck out of me with her new funky hair cut. I love how experimental she is. I'm always too scared to try anything when it comes to my hair cuts.
Monday night I joined in the fun at the Academy of Sciences in San Francisco for a lecture on asteroids. I was fully convinced that with my luck, I will die of an asteroid hitting my bedroom. ;) I really enjoyed the brand new planetarium and all of the beautiful new things that I briefly walked by. After, we went to Park Chow for dinner. I thoroughly enjoyed their house apple pie.
Tuesday was my Dad's birthday. I had fun making him this little card. I haven't really used my glimmer mist so I went all out on this one. I layered the cupcake stamp on three different papers and then layered them on top of each other.

I joined my dad at Mel's for lunch before heading out for some shopping at the local outlets. He found some Tommy Bahama shirts and we grabbed a replacement umbrella (mine broke from crazy Irish winds).
Friday morning Brewster had a small seizure that scared the heck out of me. He started falling all over the place and I had no idea what was going on. Zena explained to me that he has a tumor and suffers from seizures about once a month because of it. He seems to be okay now. Isn't his sweater cute?
Here is the simple valentine I made for Dan. I finished reading The Time Traveler's Wife the other week. I really enjoyed how it didn't follow any chronological order. Plus its a great love story. I read Stephanie Meyer's first 265 pages to Midnight Sun. It was leaked and she posted it on her website so people wouldn't go searching for it. I really love reading the story from Edward's perspective.

Lots more photos from my past few weeks

Jenna brought home two Robo dwarf hamsters. They are half the size of our other ones we've had in the past. Their names are Major Sugar Smack and Corporal Fruit Loop. She also brought home a gold fish and named it Sidney Gunggerolf.


I met Lisa on Wednesday at You Name It and we antiqued for a while. I found some great sheet music with beautiful designs and an old copy of Treasure Island.


Then we had lunch at Taco Bell. I had to take a picture of her adorable polaroid camera shirt that she got from Charlotte's Russe.

Dan & I went to Chili's for dinner and they over compensated with our drinks. I've started a new rule that I can only drink from those mini Dixie cups. I fill up on drinks before I even get my food. And in case any one is wondering, i love my strawberry lemonades!


Thursday night we did experimented with Xerox transfers in Maureen's class. I had so much fun and really miss going out on photo shoots. I'll add photos of these since i haven't finished with them yet.

We celebrated Krista's birthday on Friday night with a bunch of friends at a Mexican restaurant in San Mateo. We had a great time just goofing off.


Went to lunch with my family on Saturday afternoon to celebrate my Dad's birthday. There was a huge storm coming in so we didn't want to go out for dinner. Ended up at Rock & Rob's in Rockaway Beach. Jenna had her normal chicken tenders. Mom & I did the grilled cheese sandwich. Yum! We had a relaxing family evening in watching the movie Michael Clayton. It was better than I expected.


Met Mom & Dad at the home & garden show after I got off work on Sunday. The three of us went to celebrate Dad's birthday at Trader Vic's. He loves the Pacific Island decor and great food. The food was great and the service was refreshing. Here are Mom & Dad in front of the restaurant.


I met up with a photographer on Monday to discuss building a photo retouching relationship with him. It was a unique experience. I beat my grandma at Scrabble by 40 points on Tuesday. I beat Kelley later online. It was a great feeling!

Wednesday I found out that I was needed for photo retouching at a publishing company so I was preparing for that. Dan took me to Mel's to celebrate my new job.

Thursday I worked the morning shift at the Christmas store and then ran home. Printed out my resume and then jetted over to San Mateo for my orientation at my new job. I met a ton of great people and several sweet dogs. Brad the dog was my official interviewer. He brought me a toy to play with and he's never done that with a stranger before... I was crazy enough to go to photo lab after work to talk with Maureen.

Friday was pretty low key. I watched Rob Schneider in Deuce Bigalow Male Gigolo. That movie always makes me laugh. Went over to Kristi's on Saturday night to scrap the newest Scrap Mojo challenge. Had a great time talking and creating. I wish I took pictures but I was pretty involved in my project.

Monday was the big day for Jenna. We did presents in the morning and then we all went to work/school. I had my first full day at my new job. Met many more nice people. I really like the environment. Its really laid back and friendly. After work I met Mom, Dad, Jenna, Kelley, Aunt Sandra, Uncle Harry, Zena, & Dan at the Hong Kong Flower lounge. We had a pretty entertaining time. Jenna & Kelley managed to spill tea on the table. Aunt Sandra dropped beef into her beer and then continued to eat it. Oh and we can't forget how our waitress through Dan's napkin at him. They had different ideas of quality service.

We had dessert and more presents back at our house. Kelly & Tiffany joined in the festivities. Here's Jenna with her cake that Tiffany baked! If you're wondering about those native american dolls on the chair in the background...chalk it up to my mom's garage sale sprees.


Our required birthday goofy photo:


Went to Bing Crosby's restaurant in Walnut Creek with my grandma yesterday. She wanted to take me out to celebrate my newly acquired job. I'm so happy that Browntrout gave me a chance! And yes, that is a Shirley temple. I just love how they didn't make me dig for my cherry. Jenna must have told them I offend her with straws. ;)


Jenna, Tiffany & I drove to Redwood City to hang out with Kelly at her new studio apartment. We had a fun time eating pizza and hanging out. We watched American Idol and I am totally in love with David Archuleta's voice.

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.

Gotta Love That Extra Hour

We went to Mel's diner in the city on Friday night. We can't stay away from that place too long! I actually had a hamburger instead of breakfast for dinner. I learned that inline skates or rollerblades weren't invented far after the roller skates. The car hops at drive ins did not wear the regular roller skates,they wore inline skates, and that was a myth started by George Lucas with his movie American Graffiti.

I went to Nick's Restaurant in Pacifica to support the army mom's fundraiser. They are always mailing stuff back to our troops and they put an amazing night on. Kelly's uncle's band was playing so Jenna, Tiffany, and I met her up there. We had a lot of fun dancing with Jenna's co-worker's baby Otto (14 months old).

I love gaining an hour from daylight savings time! How did you spend yours? Usually I would answer "sleeping," but not this year, I combined two challenges together for this lo. I had so much fun playing with the colors. And I totally loved masking! I also challenged myself to get a little more carefree with the staz-on and I'm actually ok with all of the crazy inking. I stayed up and worked on this:


Dan, Lisa, and I visited Jenna who has been working at Ristorante Portofino's since August. We got wonderful food and the staff was incredibly hard working. Jenna took this photo of us at our booth.


Happy Birthday Kelley! Looking forward to celebrating with you tonight!

Coit Tower

I got some of my scanned photos off of the lab computer. This is another portrait done by Doug Yost.


I finished reading the last Harry Potter and I really enjoyed it. So much that I stayed up until 2:30am!

Dan, Toby, Lisa, and I went to North Beach last night and had dinner at Michelangelo Cafe. It took a little searching to find a place that wasn't crowded. We were originally planning to take a lot of night photos around the area but the parking lot was expensive.

Coit tower was lit with red lights so we decided to drive up Telegraph Hill and spend a little time photographing the night scape of San Francisco.



I would have taken more photos since I have such a passion for night photography but I was the driver for last nights outing. Next time I'll remember to have some one else drive so I can do the out the window shots!

I have a few other scanned photos that I'll add to my flickr account, so check that out too.

This is Friends week

I am addicted to Flickr. I love to leave positive comments for people and I get so inspired by seeing through many different perspectives. It makes me want to travel so much more!

Thursday night Dan and I went to Lisa's new house for home made pizza. It was absolutely delicious!


Lisa was a wonderful hostess. I loved how they decorated the house. The living room was my favorite because of all the colors. All of Lisa's room mates are a blast!


Yesterday I planned to finish my wire wrapped necklace with Kelly. Jenna thought she was coming over to scrapbook so she got all of her stuff out (second time to scrap).


Jenny called me and said she was Pacifica, so she joined in the creativity. I was so happy that I'm seeing nearly all of my local girlfriends in the same week. Incredible!

I love taking photos as everyone already knows. Jenny likes to draw so I gave her my art journal. Nothing wrong with having a guest artist in it, right? :)

Kelly finished her necklace and we are so proud of how beautiful it turned out. I think she's a great model!

I finished mine as well. I took the picture here at work and the lighting is not great, but I was too excited about it and wanted to share. I feel like I've grown in jewelry making now that I have learned how to wire wrap. I also expanded my color choices and feel great about them. The focal bead is a piece I made with a blowtorch (lampwork) last year. I was so happy when the class instructor on Monday complemented it!