Where Did January Go????

OK, whoever took the calm and quiet month of January, I WANT IT BACK!!!!!!

After Christmas is supposed to be calm and peaceful, nest at home, get extra sleep, ..... well, let's see what's happened since we went to the Kimmel for the bagpipes.

On Sunday, after church and lunch, we all zipped out to the Philadelphia Zoo for a members only event. Sandy's been a zoo member for years and so we get invited to all these cool events. Today we got to go behind the scenes at Big Cat Falls, got to visit the commissary where all the food is portioned out, and the veterinary center where the animals are cared for in a state of the art setting.

Spent many hours working on and finishing the tapestry for the Ladies Retreat. I probably spent about 60 hours on the project although I didn't actually keep track. The few people that have seen it loved it.

Finished altering a dress that I've had for months for one of my associates---its actually a gauze sundress that she's going to use as a wedding dress. No date set, just a courthouse thing, many complications, don't ask.

Actually scrapped last Saturday!!! Yea!!! Hooray!!! Got my Christmas photos from Snapfish and printed some small sizes here at home. HP photo paper is nice but none of the regualer adhesives work well. Ended up Xyroning all the little photos after they fell off the layout. So annoying! Got about 6 pages done and I'm taking it for free time this weekend. I really wanted to finish before Scrapbowl on the 15th but that's probably not going to happen.

Jared and Abany, no make that Claudia are arriving on the 19th, no make that the 16th, so Jared can start his training at the Audi Academy in Exton, PA and get settled into his living quarters. That weekend will be crazy as we don't get home until dinnertime on the 17th. And Dad will be laid up as he now has surgery scheduled for the 14th for carpal tunnel in his left hand.

Must stop rambling and go pack for retreat. Sandy has to be there for a 1:30 pm rehearsal so we'll probably leave about 11am. The tapestry is already in the car since it's supposed to rain all day tomorrow. At least it's not snow!!!! And it's supposed to be in the upper 40's both days which is way better than last year. And no registering for CE during the retreat.

More later,

Janet

Pipes and Parmesan

.....bagpipes that is!! We spent Saturday afternoon at the Kimmel Center for a concert of the Regimental Band of Her Majesty's Coldstream Guards and the Pipes, Drums and Highland Dancers of the Royal Scots Dragoons. This was another of our gifts to Mom and Dad for Christmas. The Kimmel Center also programs free events on the great plaza inside in conjunction with ticketed events so at 1:30pm the Pipes and Drums of the Atlantic Watch performed. Such a cool way to spend the afternoon. Our tickets were 2nd balcony directly over/behind the stage---a wonderful location for this performance.

Then we came home and after a brief stop at the house, we walked uptown to our favorite Italian restuarant, Villa Barone. Dad had a number of gift certificates for there so we decided to use some of them!!! And now there's great leftovers in the fridge!

The tapestry is almost done and I'm loving the effect. Took today off from the project after working on it every night. And I got fabric to start making my charms and we ordered paper for the page swap. Life is good----

Enjoy,

Janet

Applecores, YoYos, and Tapestries

..... seems I'm having a real "love affair" with fabric these days. Maybe I've OD'ed on the scrapbooking and need a creative change. Signed up for a class at the local quilt shop (it's not until the end of March but you got 20% off if you registered in person this past weekend) and it's made from scraps using the lovely Applecore template. And then there's that cute little yo-yo maker that is probably going to play a large part in my charms for ScrapEtc. Currently working on some ideas.

As promised, here's some shots of the tapestry in progress. I was asked by the organizers of our church ladies retreat to create a banner/wall hanging. This year's theme, Tapestry of Love, is taken from the book of Colossians 2 (The Message.) Anyway, I'm collaborating with another gal who did the sketch and is working on some 3D embellishments for the piece. My job was to create the main part of the piece. Spent LOTS of time this past weekend getting it to this point. Sandy and I have been shooting pics throughout the process and she is using those shots as backgrounds for the weekend's powerpoints. Anyway, here's some in progress shots:

Tonight I'll be back at Mom's working on the cross that will be applied on top of this layer. Gave a sneak peek to Jess(the chairman) and Becky(my collaborator) yesterday and they were thrilled! It's always nice to know you've captured it right!!!!

In other creative matters, I've finished 1 page and have two others in progress for my Christmas journal. Maybe I'll sit and order photos from Snapfish tonight. It's so hard to totally create without the photos in hand.

Off to cook dinner!

Enjoy,

Janet

New Year's Day

Usually I work on New Year's Day, and normally it's the day shift because most of my kiddos have been out partying overnight and aren't functioning yet. And of course, New Year's Day is one of the days that's time and a half pay so that sweetens the deal!

This year though Jerry and Lynne, our choir director and his wife, decided to have a New Years Open House Brunch for the choir instead of an evening party. Great idea!!! Lots of food, fellowship and fun and a great atmosphere. They live out in the woods about 45 minutes away from our house and raise alpacas. All the photos are from Tuesday.

Spent some time on Tuesday afternoon working on the tapestry. Then had dinner at Mom and Dad's before going into work 7-midnight. It was SO slow and boring!

I've never been one to make resolutions. But this year I've created a "50 THINGS to do in my 50th YEAR" list. Some are serious, some are fun, some are travel related, and some are hobby related. We'll see how well I succeed as the year progresses.

Off to Mom and Dad's for dinner since it's Sandy's night to work. I think I'll take my sewing machine and work on the tapestry. Yes I promise I'll post some pics soon.

Enjoy,
Janet

It's a New Year....

and time to be more diligent in blogging. I'm going to try and update on a daily basis--no promises though! December is always such a busy month--I realized somewhere along the line that it was my 26th year working in retail during the holidays YIKES!!!!----and of course all the church activities including 4 nights of cantata and then our normal weekend of 4 services. This shot is from my view during our Tuesday night warm-up. Yes, it's tuxs for the men and fancy black for the ladies. We really do "clean up" nicely!Got my Angel Tree gifts in on time, mailed my ScrapEtc Secret Santa in time, made a ton of candy for gifts (thanks Becca for the Oreo fudge and Susan for the Chocolate Crack), didn't bake much :( , mailed Christmas cards the week after Christmas, and I'm just starting to actually do the pages of Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas album. I have a goal for that since I'm taking a class with her at Scrapbowl in mid February and I want to take it! These are the wonderful gifts I got from by Secret Santa, the very sneaky Gloria B. All kinds of fun stuff including a mannequin for my evergrowing collection and a super cute handmade album all ready for photos. Can't wait to meet her at ScrapEtc. This is the annual photo from Christmas night with Mom and Dad, Sandy and Chris and his dad. Been having them for dinner for a number of years now. The last photo is one of the things we gave Mom and Dad for Christmas--- a photo collage of us with the pics from our photo shoot with the fabulous Becky Novacek! They're currently rearranging their wall grouping to hang this!

More about what's coming for the new year and the choir New Years' brunch tomorrow. I'm off to work to take down all the holiday music and signage and set up for the BIG Buy 2, Get the 3rd FREE DVD sale!!!

Enjoy,

Janet