New site is almost ready

I can't wait. .. the new site is looking FABULOUS and I can't wait to share it with you all. The colors are great and we even have a brand new logo.
With any luck, the designers will be finished this week and we'll be live by the end of the week. Cross your fingers that all goes well. I'll be able to make changes right away. As it is, I've been locked out since Feb!! YUCK!
Can you tell I'm getting excited? :)

In other news...
We finally got all the kids well again after a week of sick children. Nicki got it first and missed her first 4 days in 2 years. It wasn't swine flu, just a very nasty cold, but she had a fever for 4 days and a terrible cough. This past weekend, Drew started a fever on Friday and kept it through Sat night. He's on the mend, but he missed a sleep over with our new neighbors. Tony got to go though and he was SO excited. He had a great time and now all three will be going to school in the morning. Andy and I have dodged it so far so with us luck.
I hope you're all doing well out there. I miss you guys.

It's WAYYYYY to late to be doing this.

But I'm gonna anyway.
I had a great time at the Croptopia event and made some new friends. At the end, instead of leaving a little bit early, I ended up changing all my plans and finding a rental car to drive to upstate New York to help out with "My Other Kitchen". My SIL had to have surgery, and with the baby, the store and school getting ready to start, they needed the help. I splurged for the GPS on the rental and I'm so glad I did. Rural New Hampshire and Vermont are no place to be if you just "think" you know where you're going. I had a GPS and still almost got lost. :) It was fun though, and I spent a week and 1/2 working at the Kitchen and looking at houses. I found a house that would work great for us, now if we can just sell something here. Our lake house is for sale, still, and we're going to go ahead and put our house in Canton up as well. Something has to give, right???

I spoke with my NEW website gurus today and they think the new site may be ready sometime in the next week or so. I am SO ready to get rid of the current site. It's horrible and I'm totally locked out and can't make any updates or changes. It still says "Happy Valentine's month" for heaven sakes, and I get calls asking if I'm still in business. YES, YES, YES!! Wish me luck that the new site comes up soon and is easier to operate.

OK, it's really getting late and I need my beauty sleep. (More than you can tell.)
Thanks for showing up even when I don't, LOL! It's good to see that my friends are still around.
Talk to ya'll soon. Good night Irene.

Scrapbook Girl website

Hi Everyone,
I'm packing again for another road trip, this time to the beautiful state of New Hampshire.
I'll be at the Manchester Radison Hotel this weekend for a CROPTOPIA Getaways retreat.
Susan does a great job, and everyone always has a good time. Come by and say hello! If you mention that you saw this post, and say the "secret word"... let me think of something and get back to you, :).

I'm working with a new company to get the Scrapbook Girl site updated. YES it is still working, and YES YES YES we're still in business, just have a sick site that can't be updated at the moment. Hang in a little longer and it'll be brand spankin' new and wonderful... I hope! LOL

OK, the secret word is "Bottle Caps". Don't ask me why, just say it and I'll have a little something for you. :) Hope I see some of you there. I'll post again soon, I hope.

Cheers!

Any Scrapbook Girl Models out there??

Calling all model wannabees. I'm looking for some help from my friends. I need you to send pictures of yourselves in Scrapbook Girl clothes and accessories. I'd like permission to post them on my new website. So, any budding models out there? :) If you'd like to see yourself on the site, send pictures of you and your crop buddies to:
Scrapbook Girl Inc.
3760 Sixes Rd, Suite 126-150
Canton, GA 30114

Please include a note or letter authorizing Scrapbook Girl Inc. use of the photos. Thank you all for your help. I'm working hard to get a new and updated look.
I'll let you know as I receive them and when to look for them online.
SAY CHEEESE!!

Long Overdue

It's August school's back in session... and I'm trying desperately to get my Scrapbook Girl website redone with a new web master. My current one has moved on to other endeavors and is no longer managing websites, and I'm locked out at the moment and can't make ANY updates... NOT good. I have a new company, ONYX Websites, working on it and it should be up within the next 60 days. Hopefully sooner, but we'll see. For anyone interested, the site IS still up even though it says Happy Valentines Month. :) You can still shop, and some things are out of stock or no longer available, and some things are back in stock, but I'll have to contact you by email if you order something in those categories. I'm so sorry for the inconvenience this has caused, and I'm doing my best to remedy the situation as fast as possible. Please bear with me a little longer and we'll all be happier. THANK YOU BRIAN!!! I met them at CHA, and almost didn't stop to talk to them since I'd just paid way too much money for a new site that never happened. But he was great and we worked out a plan and I'm sure we're all going to be excited to see what comes out of it. I know I am. LOL!!!

I hope everyone has had a great summer. It's gone by so fast this year.
We spent 2 weeks up in NY visiting grand parents, aunts, uncles and the pool. (thanks Aunt Nancy!) The boys went to the Great Escape park and had fun with their cousin Marissa. Nicki got to spend the day with their cousin Jenna at the bead store and made beautiful creations. She's got a good eye for colors. While they kept the kids occupied, Andy and I worked at the store. My Other Kitchen in Ballston Spa is holding it's own at this point, but may not for long. Poor Shannon and Roger have been working it solely with the help of her mom, brother and some wonderful friends who just help out for food. (It's very GOOD food though.) :)

I worked some shows this summer as well, and went to my first CHA as a store owner with my good friend Dee Dee. We had a lot of fun, especially since she knew just about everyone! Thanks so much Dee!!! I found several items that I'm really excited about and can't wait for them to arrive. I also WON not one... but TWO new pink SLICEs!! I haven't gotten it yet since they're going to send it to me, but I can't wait to use it. The second one I gave to my new good buddy who's name is also Lisa. She is a friend of Dees and was a roommates for the show. Several of us won something, except her, so I gave it to her.

The rest of the time was spent at our lake house which is for sale. The kids had fun swimming and tubing, and our neighbor's son had a ball learning to "lake surf", it's amazing and he's only 13!! He also barefoot ski's, knee boards and lots of other stuff. The whole family are ski GIANTS!! Enjoy the show, and I'll work on getting here more often. Cheers, Lisa!

A funny thing happened on the way to my show....

LAST MONTH!
Have you ever had one of those days that started with your wonderful husband loading up your car with your suitcases and boxes and when you get to the airport you're missing the ONE suitcase that has all of your own clothes? I couldn't believe it, and of course he felt terrible. Luckily, my room mates that weekend had an extra new toothbrush and the hotel gave me a travel size deodorant. I found a Kohls and got some new clothes and took shirts out of inventory. Everytime I was looking for something, the answer was "It must be in the suitcase."
We had fun and I learned that I can totally get by a weekend without all the crap I haul around to each show. LOL!!
Until next time...

The Bachelor just floored me.

As I'm sure it did to most of you. Man, what will happen next!! I'm not surprised I guess, but I didn't see that coming. Kinda makes you wonder what would have happened if Deanna would have done the same thing last year, would they be married now? Uuuuhhhhh!

On a more positive note, I'm finally feeling better. I was so sick last week and had to fly to Phily to work a show. I actually had the flu and was in bed with fever for 2 1/2 days. I have a bad cough a lot, but this was even bad for me. I felt horrible. I managed to work last weekend, but I also slept like a log when I finally went to bed. Then Sunday we got snowed in as our 6:30pm flight was cancelled. We got one for the next morning 6ish and it was cancelled too. Then the 12:47pm flight was delayed. We finally loaded about 1:30 then had to take another 45 mins to de-ice the plane. (couldn't complain about that!) Luckily we had no problems and got into Atlanta around 4:30. It was just so good to get home. {{I LOVE my bed!!}} lol

I did get to scrap last weekend and I'm so proud of the baby book I made for my girlfriend Marla who gave birth to a beautiful little girl, Catheryn Grace, Saturday morning. She has 2 great sons , 12yr old William, who clamped the umbilical cord, and 14 year old Kenny, who got to cut the cord. To have this little blessing is just the icing on the cake! I actually got the entire book finished, and since Marla's sent me a couple of pictures, I'm going to add them in to get her started. I'll tryto get some pictures of it before I give it to her.

Getting ready for another show.

I'm getting ready to fly to the Mystic CT Croptopia Getaway weekend. I finally got everything packed and I think I'm ready. I'm so sick it isn't even funny. I have the flu I think. I'm going to the Dr today and I'll ask for a shot of something to knock this out of me. I hate the thought of flying with a head full of crap. lol!! It won't be a very good flight that's for sure.

Shari and I are flying together to Phily, then getting a rental car and will drive to NJ to her Long Branch SDV. I'll drive up to Ct. on Thursday to get setup for my Croptopia Getaways retreat. Come see either of us if you're in the area. I'm off to finish packing, so I hope everyone has a great weekend. I'll try to stop in if I can.

Survey Question... sorry I tend to ramble

I'm sitting here vendoring a crop in Huntsville, AL and pondering the question of the day on Jessica Sprague's blog about printing pictures. How many pictures actually make it out into the "real" world? How many do you use online (blogs count) or other digital outlets, and how/where do you get them printed... home or store?

I remember when you took the film to the store and a week later, went back all anxious wondering if anything came out! LOL!! OK, not quite that bad, but close. We'd get the picture envelope and Oooh and Aaaaw all over the pictures as we passed them back and forth until we'd seen everything. We'd laugh about my brother's hair sticking up all over the place (back when he still had hair to stick up all over the place, sorry John) {{Boy that sounded like the old, "I remember when I walked 10 miles to school, uphill..." that we used to make fun of when we were kids... I can't be THAT old!}}

I found a box of pictures from my mom's house that have been in my basement for the past 4 years {Feb 27th}, and I sat in my basement and went through all of them. It's sad that it's taken me 4 years to be able to go through them, because it was really great seeing mom and John and all of us doing stuff we did when we were kids, or at the beach. Now I hardly print out anything, and almost never get a whole pack printed, but when I do I usually send them online to Wal-Mart with their matt finish. I've also printed them at Costco because they can print 12x12 and they do a good job too. Kinko's even does 12x12 and it's done on a larger page so you can actually get 1 12x12 and 2 6x6's from one sheet, so it makes it economical, especially if you want to print several copies of the same things.

Anyway, I would say that I print out maybe 2-5% of my pictures and the poor unfortunates that are left seem to stay carefully cataloged on my computer or on the backup drive. I got a new Sony 100A digital SLR last year for Christmas and I've probably taken {gulp} 18-20,000 pictures this year!!! I was looking at the folders from this summer of the kids learning to water ski and one group had almost 4,000 pictures in it! {I'm starting to understand why my laptop is running out of memory} I finally started dumping them to a portable disc drive so I could free up some much needed space. When I tried to edit in Photoshop I was starting to get the "Low memory" errors so I made the switch. I put maybe 1-2% in emails and the blog... this year! I'm doing much better so far this year than I did all year last year. More time on my hands I guess.
So, if you're still reading, maybe you'll let me know how you use your pictures... or not.
Thanks for sticking with me this long. LOL!!
PS ~ the show is slow, hence the time to write this massive blog. But the people are very nice. :)

Just had to share this picture

I found this photo and wanted to share it because it's such a wonderful picture that captured Nicki "in the moment". I think she was 3 that summer we were at Long Boat Key and she had no idea I was even watching much less taking pictures. I loved her curls when she was little. She has beautiful hair now, but I really miss her little ringlets. She was just a little angel that day on the beach.

I loved it so much I used it in a layout that is my very favorite of anything I've done.
Here it is, I just wish you could read the poem I found to go with it, so here it is.

"Seagull cries and crashing waves,

The echo of a large conch shell.
The warmth of sand between my toes,

A pool of silk within my pail.
Some surf, some sand, some water

A place to touch the sea.
And share a moment of my life

With you along the beach."

~R Dee Waltz-Daniels

We're Baaaaaaaaaaackkk. {Sortof}

We're on the road again headed home after a very enjoyable Disney cruise. Boy they know how to do it right! Everything is taken care of and they seem to think of what you need before you do. LOL! We had a wonderful time and the kids loved it. Tony kept saying, "Mom and Dad, thank you so much for bringing us on a Disney cruise!" He's just the sweetest thing sometimes.
They had fun in the kids program and made Flubber and were in the talent show. We all had fun on Castaway Cay, Disney's island, and they really loved the pools. Nassau wasn't so much fun for the kids, but I enjoyed it.

Have you ever done something and said, "What was I THINKING?" Well, after we got our luggage in our stateroom and were unpacking, I couldn't find my evening clothes that I KNEW I packed because I pulled 3 dresses out EARLY and put them in a garment bag and hung them at the front of the closet.... which is where they apparently stayed. I had NO evening clothes for our dress up night and so I just HAD to go shopping in Nassau for new dresses!! WHAT WAS I THINKING?? ;) Andy said I planned that one really well, but I forgot them, HONEST!!
{At least I bartered for the new ones so I felt good about that, and they're really nice too!}

We had a very nice Japanese family sharing our dinner table and they had a 5 yr old daughter. We saw them several times around the ship and ashore, but conversations were rather short due to a language barrier. They're moving back to Japan soon for his job, but they've been in NJ for the past 5 years. We also had awsome servers and of course they loved our kids. The assistant server was on his first real cruise with Disney. He'd worked with a different company several years ago, but his wife and 3 boys are back home in Turkey. It's amazing how friendly you get with people in such a short time. Anyway, we're home and I'm beat. Now I have to go pack up again for a show TOMORROW and Sat. {Can you say... "What were you THINKING?} LOL Good thing it was a relaxing week! :)

We're OFF!!

We left the house this morning at 6am on our way to Port Canaveral and our Disney Cruise ship WONDER! The kids are excited, we're excited.. what a way to start our winter vacation.
The last couple of days have been full to the brim getting everything and everyone ready. We had to get the dog back to the wonderful foster mom who had him before we adopted him. She agreed to watch him for us while we were gone. That was the only way we could because we told the kids we "weren't getting a dog until AFTER the cruise." So much for that thinking! lol
That's fine with me because this little dog has turned out wonderful! He doesn't bark AT ALL, and he's doing pretty good with his house training... we're still working on it, but he IS only 6 months old, so we're cutting him some slack.

We board at 4:00 and we should arrive in Port Canaveral around 3. I won't have access until Thursday, so I hope everyone has a great week and stay safe. Let me know if you stop by and leave a little note. I love seeing and hearing from my friends.
Take care and have a Blessed week!!
Lisa

PS ~ my foot is doing much better but I'm taking it easy and working my way slowly out of the boot. The dr. said to make sure I take it and my crutches with me on the trip, but I'm hoping not to have to use them much. I do have to use the boot if I'm going to be walking a lot, long trips make my foot ache like crazy, but he said I can take it off now and them. Thank goodness!