It really is a small world!!!

Most of you who read this know that I grew up in a teeny tiny town about 50 miles north of New York City. Orange County New York is a very rural community with many farms still active. Over the last 20 years the population has grown a bit as some NYC commuters, but for the most part this area is still small town living. As a kid, we lived in a couple different towns within the area and my mom moved to her current house in Montgomery (population ~3,000) when I was a junior in high school. When I left for college they has just built a McDonalds in the town (you would have thought I won the lottery with how happy I was at that) and a few years later they build a grocery store both of these saved my mom the 20 minute drive to Middletown.

During a visit to see me out here in California in late 2001 I introduced my mom to scrapbooking and cardmaking. She instantly picked up the hobby and became just about as obsessed as me. The problem for her is that the closest craft store is a 20 minute drive and there were no LSS at all. About a year later I was going through the store listings in CK and saw a new store listed **creative gatherings in Goshen, NY** Woo Hoo, that is only a 25 minute drive from my mom's house. I am amazed at how good this little store is for having no competition (other than the big craft stores) not to mention the owner and staff are really nice, helpful, and friendly. My mom makes a lot of trips out that way and I go at least once everytime I visit.

Just this past Thursday I was lurking at 2peas pub and saw a thread titled "Fairyscrapmother I am taking your classes in Goshen, NY". I had to read it 20 times to believe that I was reading a thread about this tiny little town. You know how quickly topics drop off the main page over there so it is just amazing to me that I just happen to be lurking when this was posted.

No back to my small world theme. Fairyscrapmother is Suzy West from Fremont CA and runs a kick ass store out of her garage. She is the lead designer for canvas concepts and has been published all over. Danea and I went to the store a few months ago and I am hoping to go back today. So not only did I see a post on 2peas about my moms LSS, I actually know the person giving the classes.

I sent Suzy an email and asked when she was going to be out there and what she would be teaching. She prompltly sent back a "no-way" message and some details about the 3 classes she is teaching at creative gatherings next Saturday. So I decided to surprise my mom with a full day of scrapping on canvas. After checking with my stepdad that nothing was planned for the weekend I called the owner of the LSS and booked my mom for all 3 classes. I did tell my mom that I had a surprise for her and she needed to plan to be away all day. She is so excited now. I will call her later next week and tell her what is going on so that she can gather pictures and the supplies she will need for the class.

I just can't believe that Suzy West from Fremont CA is going to be teaching a scrapbook class in Goshen NY.....it really is a small world!!!!

For a short week it sure was long

It never fails.....for every single day of vacation it seems like two days of work pile up on my desk. I was out of the office on Monday and Tuesday of this week, just two little days, and it was like all hell broke loose. I came in to a very large handwritten note from my bosses boss saying "welcome back, can you attend a meeting with me from 8-10am, SV". Lucky for me I got into the office early and had plenty of time to get to the 8:00am meeting. What I didn't realize is the meeting was with his boss...and he wanted me to present something I had put together over a month ago. Although I am very familiar with the topic being discussed I wish I could have had a bit more time to dust the cobwebs off and refresh myself on the content....especially when presenting to a VP of our company. The good news is the presnetation went fine and I came out with only a few small things to work on (not bad given the usual outcome of meetings with the big boss). Unfortunately the next 3 days were just jam packed with cathing up on other work and new fires to put out. What make this even worse is that I am taking 4 days off next week as well. I can't tell you how many people asked me how much vacation I have.....geez, I have been with the company for over 10 year and have 4 weeks of vacation of which I have taken less than 1/2.

The good news is I am home now and getting ready for a 5 day visit with my mom. I am so excited for her visit and we have a lot of fun things planned....and I am not going to think about the work that will be waiting me me until Friday morning!!!!

"it's Aunt Missy"

Woo Hoo....you would think I won the lottery with how happy I was to hear those words. My mom had William and Sarina for a sleepover this weekend so I decided to give them a call. William answered the phone like a big boy, "hello". I said "Hi William, what are you doing" he preceded to tell me all about playing hide and seek with Grandma and making cards for mommy and daddy. Then I hear my mom in the background ask him who was on the phone. With great enthusiasm her said "it's Aunt Missy". I had not said who I was, so he recognized my voice and knew who it was. Woo Hoo....this is the first time he has ever done that. William is well over 3 years old and very familiar with all his family that he sees regularly, but since we only see them 2 or 3 times a year he has trouble remembering us. So when he recognized my voice and was obviously very excited to talk to me I was overjoyed. It really brought a smile to my face today.

Good News, Bad News

The good news is the Redsox lost last night and are now eliminated from the playoffs. The bad news is the Yankees lost last night 11 to 7. Now the yanks need to win tonight to stay in the series and then go to Anaheim and win one more....they have a tough road to climb out of this one.

Let's Go Yankees!!!!

Both Jim and I are sports fanatics. Next to March Madness (which no sporting event can top) the world series is one of my favorite events of the year. First is signifies the start of fall, which is my favorite season, and I just love that crisp cool feel in the air when we get close to world series time. This year my beloved Yankees have won their division and are in the playoffs. They are currently tied with Anaheim 1 to 1 in the first playoff series and are headed home to play the next 2 games. If they win tonight and tomorrow they will advance to the league championship series. What's even better about being a Yankee fan this year is that Boston (the evil arch-rival) is getting it's butt kicked by Chicago. So the league championship series will not likely be a rematch of last years epic Yankees/Boston matchup.

For most baseball fans the Yankees are a team that you either love or love to hate. They have an outrageous payroll and with so many past world series victories they are often hated by their rivals. Being a Yankees fan in California is sometimes a hard role to have, but I just love them.

Now I have to find and excuse to leave work a little early so that I can make it home in time to see the game tonight. Our big $$ pitcher Randy Johnson throws tonight, so I am hoping for a big victory.

{hip} is expensive!!!

Woo Hoo....I am getting so excited for Memory Trends this weekend. Danea, Susanne and I are going to hit Vegas by storm (still so sad that Wendy can't make it).

Now getting to my point. I have seen so many pictures of CHA and other trade shows were everyone is dressed in the hottest fashion and the cutest new cloths and I want to fit in. Unfortunately my wardrobe made for an Engineer does not lend itself well for this purpose. So I pleaded with Danea to go shopping with me this past Saturday to pick out so {hip} {hot} cloths for the coming weekend.

It was a great day. We started with lunch where Danea treated me for my birthday, then a quick stop at the LSS where she used to work to pick up the new foofala and MOD papers. Then it was off to Loehmanns. Whoa, this store was great and after 3+ hours of shopping I was walking out the store with a heap full of cloths, feeling good, but still needing a "few" more things. After dropping Danea at home I decided to swing by dress barn for a quick look. That was a very quick trip and I came out with 2 new pair of jeans, but still needing a "few" more things. Later that night Danea and her MIL were at dress barn when I happened to call her...since this is literally just around the corner from me I went to meet them and take another quick look. With two more enablers to find things that looked good for Vegas I came out with another pair of jeans and 2 more tops, but still needing a "few" more things.

Fast forward to Tuesday. Work was really slow and I was able to get out a little early. DH was in Arizona for the day and wasn't going to be home until 6:30pm. So I thought I would run by the mall to see if I could pick up a "few" remaining items I needed. I called my self titled personal shopper, Danea, who agreed to go with me again. This time 3+ hours of shopping with stops a target, Nordstrom rack, and a bunch of little stores in the mall yielded me a couple more shirts, some bling, sunglasses, a clear strap bra, and a pair of shoes (this deserves it's own paragraph), but still needing a "few" more things.

A sidebar about finding shoes. I will admit that my normally conservative self has had a hard time accepting that I can wear "cute" cloths....I love the way they look, just not on me. But I kept an open mind and was really happy with my purchases, but shoes are still an issue. Danea kept picking up shoes with bright colors and lots of sequins and beads and I was picking up comfy "clark-like" shoes. At one point she said to me "if it looks like something even close to what you already have, don't even pick it up". After looking at a zillion pair of shoes we finally found a pair that we both agreed on...but I still need brown ones.

What makes this even funnier is that I originally Danea that I didn't want to spend a lot on cloths that I would probably only wear this weekend, and would like to get 2 outfits for the and stay under $100. The budget was out the window with the leather jacket I picked up within 10 minutes of being at the first store. I will now also have to change 3 times a day in vegas to get a wearing out of all my new stuff.....and I STILL need a pair of cute brown shoes. I really don't want to see my credit card bill this month....Yikes!!!

I better darn well be the most {hip} dressed person at MT!

I have joined the 21st Century

I have never been good at keeping a journal or diary, I have started many times just to go a few day or at most a few weeks then stop. But once again I am going to throw my hat into the ring and start a blog. I more than welcome gentle encouragement if I start slacking on my blogging responsibilities. Now I just need to figure out how to make this personalized and I'll be off to a good start.