Taking a break from the usual routines and spending some quality time with the family. They're all in town and we're out playing, gaming, camping, dancing, eating, photographing and have a super, super time.

Good Luck

It's Friday the 13th --- Make it A Good Luck Day!

4 Simple Goals

My darling daughter's blog post, Bee Keeper Studio, this morning offered an idea and a challenge. Finish 2010 with 4 simple goals under your belt, a few wishes, a few dreams, a few things you've wanted to get done before the year's end. I'm always up for a challenge and then I thought about what my 4 simple goals have been for 2010.

One - New Camera
Earn the money to purchase a super, duper, big-girl camera and then learn how to use it. I earned enough for the camera with last year's journal sales - done. I took a 7 week class with Candice Stringham at Jessica Sprague.com called "Oh Shoot". I learned what all the buttons and knobs were and how to use them - done. I'm still on a learning curve with my new super, duper, big-girl camera, but I love it and having fun taking tons of practice photos.

Two - Journal Read Books
Grabbing an idea from my Darling-Daughter-In-Law, I've kept a monthly journal (using a cute one from Sam'sStudio) of all the books I read this year. I have wanted to do this for ages and just never got around to it. I read mystery novels and I've read hundreds - sometimes forgetting what I've read and if I liked it. I've been faithful this year and have recorded what I've been reading, it's been great to remember what books I've read, new authors I've found and what books will be read again cause they were so good.

Three - Trips
With two years of taking care of my Darling Husband and all his medical needs - I decided enough was enough, I wanted to get back to traveling this year. So, after our last bout of doctors and hospitals I told him "Stay well, we're hitting the road". I wanted to fill this summer with travel. So far: A fantastic flight to Portland and trip to Sun River in Oregon. A great camping trip to the North Cascades. A wonderful drive and ferry ride in the Olympic Peninsula to the Oregon Coast for a week of beach walks. My future travels? San Francisco in October for 3 days of bluegrass music in Golden Gate Park (ticket are in hand). 4 October days in Portland, Oregon for a concert by Mumford and Sons (really excited to see this group perform & spend more time with my daughter). And I have still have my November and December calendar yet to fill.

Four - Sam'Studio to continue
I entered and was accepted in this year's Bellingham Artist Festival. I did it last year and had a blast creating and selling. This 5 week festival of the arts is a challenge. I've had to create all the journals and extra booth items, design a new booth (still to come), and think out of the box to brand my product and continue the Sam'Studio project.

I never realized that I was setting up goals for myself all year long -- until this morning when I read my daughter's blog and just how much I've accomplished, plans I set in motion and goals that are happening. It's good to stop and pat yourself on the back - set goals that are doable and be able to look back and smile. Plus, this sounds like a scrapbook page just waiting to happen.

August 9, 2010

HAPPY 8-9-10 DAY!

July's Layout

I'm still doing the Project 12 scrapbooking challenge -- to do a layout a month about each month. Here's July's layout. Great month! We got out of the house and headed to the North Cascades for a few days of camping, celebrated DD's 26th and played on the beach on the Oregon Coast for a week of sun-n-games. AND looking forward to August!!!!!
(layout inspired by a scraplift from a member of Jessica's Sprague's site)

July's Book Report

Nightlife by Thomas Perry
Another stand alone Perry book that gives us both perspectives - the chasers and the con. It starts in Portland, Oregon and moves south. Good read!

Runner by Thomas Perry
Jane is back and helping a pregnant girl run from the baby's father's family. It's a first in the Jane stories where the runner makes one big mistake.

Fidelity by Thomas Perry
Only read half of this book and that was pushing it -- no plot development

Third Person Singular by K.J. Erickson
First of the Marshall Bahr books. It got lots of awards in 2001 and it was Okay, just not a page turner, up all night book.

Strip by Thomas Perry
A strip club owner, 2 crazy robbers, an innocent bystander and a lieutenant all in the mix. A fun read - just not great.

The Dead Survivors by K.J. Erickson
Great history background to point the direction to the perp. A flag, a trip to Virginia and Bahr gets the job done.

The Last Witness by K. J. Erickson
Long, drawn out with a few clues and a snap ending. Not much of a story.

Along At Night by K. J. Erickson
Not a murder but a mystery of events. A good book, but in Erickson style = short on clues, short on discovery with a quick ending that was pulled out of the air. Her last book. K.J. Erickson is a female writing in the voice of a male hero and it shows - she just doesn't pull it off well.

GRAND OPENING!!!!!

A new Etsy shop that is well worth checking out - BeeTwixt. The beauty in blooms displayed are BEEguiling, BEEautiful, BEEtwixting. If you're looking for that little extra that BEEcomes a favorite to wear then head over to BeeTwixt and you'll find just what you're looking for.

JULY 21st 1984

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Andrea Leda!!!!
July 21, 1984
4:34 am
9 pounds 7 ounces
20 & 1/2"
the proud parents: Bruce and Sam Mansfield
May all your wishes and dreams come true, darling daughter!

Thanks to my daughter-in-law I have fallen in love with this group and particularly this song. The group: Mumford and Sons The song: The cave. It doesn't hurt that this group is really cute, have British accents and write songs with soul, meaning and has a great beat, I'd give it a 10!

Give it a listen........
(for a quick look of their other video's and songs, visit D-I-L's blog: slimartsgirl.blogspot.com/)

It's been 14 days - that's 2 weeks!

It's been 14 days since I posted a new blog entry - it's summer - it's camping time - it's trip planning time - it's clean up the yard time - it's trip time - it's pushing the forest back from driveway time - it's clean the windows time - it's get out the shorts and shades time - it's fix the tent to go again time - it's wash the car(s) time - it's iced lattes time - it's grab the maps and see where the road takes me time - it's listen to the morning bird songs time - it's eating watermelon and lemonade time - it's filling my camera with memory shots time - it's seeing my kids who live out of town time - it's lazy afternoons time - it's summer reading time - it's not June time - summer is short in the NW and I'm having a good time.......

Project 12: The month of June

I'm half way through the year creating layouts for Project 12. Yipee!!
I love doing these monthly layouts and June's was extra fun.
(for an up close and personal look - click on the pic)

June's Book Reports

61 Hours by Lee Child
The 14th in the Jack Reacher series and Jack is stranded in South Dakota where a snowstorm has a small town in lock-down and 61 hours to get it back to normal. Jack's skills put him in the mix with the local police to figure out how to protect a witness that will put the bad guys away for good. I started reading and didn't stop until I hit the last page. Fantastic book that leaves you with a cliff hanger and now waiting for the end results in his next book, "Worth Dying For" coming in October.

No Second Chance by Harlan Coben
Marc wakes in ICU from a gun shot wound, his wife is dead and his 6 month daughter has vanished. Another twist and turn Coben stand alone. Read it!

The Face Changers by Thomas Perry
Jane's doctor husband asks her to help his mentor disappear and finds another group copying Jane, but for all the wrong reasons.

Innocent by Scott Turow
I put this book down after reading two chapters --- I usually will try to finish a book, but this one wasn't one of them. A story that continues from 20 years ago and I could care less.

Blood Money by Thomas Perry
Jane gets mixed up with the mob families money man. Good story line with too many characters -- a good read if you can keep a score board of who's who.

The Rabbit Factory by Marshall Karp
Marshall's first book with Lomax and Biggs (the zany LA detectives). I love the humor that Marshall has created in this book and I'm rereading his previous 3 before hitting his new book. If you love a good belly laugh - fun characters - super story lines, then Marshall is your author.

The Spellmans Strike Again by Lisa Lutz
Once again, hang on for a roller coaster ride with the Spellmans. The totally dysfunctional detective family that turns San Francisco upside down with their escapades. This is just too funny!

Silence by Thomas Perry
A stand alone read (without Jane helping with the disappearing act). 6 years ago, Jack Till helped Wendy disappear, now Jack must find her before the tango dancing assassins, Paul and Sylvie do. A good story with similarities to the Jane stories.

Heading to Sun River for a little bit of R-N-R, snap a few pictures, explore a new place, find me some sun (and a river), chat - banter - laugh and hug my darling daughter.

Today is the Longest Day of the Year!
In Bellingham, Washington the sun rose at 5:07 a.m. and will be with us until 9:17 p.m.
That's 16:10 hours of daylight. Yipee!!!

3D is back, once more

and what's wrong with this picture? You'll notice there are no kids in the audience. 3D movies of the 50's were made to entice the movie paying audience back to the big screen. TV's were becoming popular and people were getting their visual entertainment at home on the little screen instead of shelling out a few quarters to watch a movie on the big screen. Such wonderful movies like "The Creature From The Black Lagoon" and other sci fi scripts that needed 3D to give us a thrill to watch (the scripts weren't doing it).

and now 3D is back - except for a few recent blockbusters, it's back for the kids. I saw Toy Story 3 in 3D and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. What I noticed in the theatre that night wearing my Buddy Holly 3D glasses, was that it was the adults doing the "ah- ah-ah's" and the "oh-oh-oh's" throughout the movie and the kids were just taking it in stride. Buzz and Woody in another adventure story would have been a good adventure story without 3D - it was just enhanced in 3D, fun & I actually forgot at times that I was watching it in 3D - it felt normal. And that is the difference from the 50's 3D movies to today's latest craze. Hollywood is actually using this throw-back technique to enhance the story lines instead of making the 3D technique the story line

3D movies didn't last long in the 50's -- most of the time you left the theatre with a headache and serious eye strain. But, I think 3D will be around longer this time around. We'll soon have performance movies in 3D and we can all become kids again, pop on our 3D glasses and go back to watching the movies on the big screen, instead of waiting for Netflix to deliver our small screen viewing pleasures.

When times are tough and rough - we have a tendency to grab something from our past (or any one's past) and remember how good times use to be and bring with it the feeling that things are Okay. We usually only remember the good times from the past and forget that things weren't always Okay then either. But, that's OK, too --- Mad Men gets it right, most of the time, and gives us a great example that some things are best left in the past. And that title will be used again, I'm sure, in the future when they bring back the era of the 21st century for our grand kids and great grand kids to wax nostalgic.

But, go see Toy Story 3 in 3D -- it's great!