snowy days

Today I got together with one of my very bestest friends. Actually, we've spent a lot of time together this week. She's a HS Music teacher and they have off for Christmas vacation. Anywho, we've had a LOT of snow recently and I've wanted to get out and try to get some photos. So we went to our old HS and trekked our way through the soccer field, and part of the football field to some trails that lead to a pond behind our HS. I am soooo glad that I took my very warm LLBean winter boots with. There were times I was up to my knees in snow. Man! Walking all that way through all that snow can really take a lot out of you! LOL! But we had a blast. Here is one of my favorite photos of Leah.

Tommy the Cat

I ran across a drawing that a HS friend of mine did. And then out of no where, I started signing the Primus song that went with that drawing.

Jen, this is for you! :D

" well I remember as it were a meal ago"

Said Tommy the Cat as he reeled back to clear whatever foreign matter
may have nestled its way into his mighty throat.
Many a fat alley rat had met its demise while staring point blank down
the cavernous barrel of this awesome prowling machine.
Truly a wonder of nature this urban predator.
Tommy the cat had many a story to tell,
But it was a rare occasion such as this that he did.

She came slidin' down the alleyway like butter drippin' off a hot biscuit.
The aroma, the mean scent, was enough to arouse suspicion in even the
oldest of Tigers that hung around the hot spot in those days.
The sight was beyond belief.
Many a head snapped for double - even triple - takes as this vivacious
feline made her her way into the delta of the alleyway where the most
virile of the young tabbys were known to hang out.

They hung in droves. Such a multitude of masculinity could only be
found in one place...
And that was O'malley's Alley.

The air was thick with cat calls (no pun intended),
But not even a muscle in her neck did twitch as she sauntered up into
the heart of the alleyway.
She knew what she wanted.
She was lookin' for that stud bull, she was looking for that he cat.
And that was me.

Tommy the Cat is my name and I say unto thee...

Say baby do you wanna lay down with me
Say baby do you wanna lay down by my side
Ah baby do you wanna lay down with me
Say baby?...Say baby?

Twas The Night Before Christmas (Texas Style)

Twas The Night Before Christmas (Texas Style)

'Twas the night before Christmas, in Texas, you know.
Way out on the prairie, without any snow.
Asleep in their cabin, were Buddy and Sue,
A dreamin' of Christmas, like me and you.

Not stockings, but boots, at the foot of their bed,
For this was Texas, what more need be said,
When all of a sudden, from out of the still night,
There came such a ruckus, it gave me a fright.

and I saw 'cross the prairie, like a shot from a gun,
A loaded up buckboard, come on at a run,
The driver was "Geein" and "Hawin", with a will,
The horses (not reindeer) he drove with such skill.

"Come on there Buck, Poncho, & Prince, to the right,
There'll be plenty of travelin' for you all tonight."
The driver in Levi's and a shirt that was red,
Had a ten-gallon Stetson on top of his head.

As he stepped from the buckboard, he was really a sight,
With his beard and moustache, so curly and white.
As he burst in the cabin, the children awoke,
and were so astonished, that neither one spoke.

and he filled up their boots with such presents galore,
That neither could think of a single thing more.
When Buddy recovered the use of his jaws,
He asked in a whisper, "Are you really Santa Claus?"

"Am I the real Santa? Well, what do you think?"
and he smiled as he gave a mysterious wink.
Then he leaped in his buckboard, and called back in his drawl,
"To all the children in Texas, Merry Christmas, Ya’ll"

Zona with Santa

This year's Christmas photo with Santa.


credit: QP: Pineapple Plantation Designs, font:(2007) CK Becky

blinkie

I just made my very first blinkie. HA! Isn't it annoying?!? (hee hee hee)

Happy Birthday, Zona

Happy Birthday, Zona
Originally uploaded by demaray

Zona is 2 today!!

Rock Star

Here is another LO I did with my fav pix of Ashlynn.


Credit: QP template & glitter alpha from flergsblog.blogspot.com

Hair Coloring LO

Here are some photos I took of Ashlynn getting her first highlights done. She really wanted pink and blue in her hair. And she loved it soo much that I took her back again to get the highlights added again for Halloween. That went perfect with her cheerleader costume.

Credit: template; emily boetel, paper and elements; February 2005 Freebie Kit at two peas, blue glitter swirls; Free Let It Snow Mini Kit from Lindsay Jane Designs.

Beach LO

Here is a LO from when I took Nick & Ashlynn up to Lake Puckaway. They really did have lots of fun. :D


credits: Come Sail Away Kit from Pineapple Plantation Designs

Cafe Soeurette

Last night my parents, Darnell and I went to an open house at a new restaurant that's opening in beautiful downtown West Bend. The owner, Jodi, is the daughter of my good friend Beth. We are all so happy and proud of Jodi. Here is just a little snipet of info that Beth sent out in an email to everyone about Cafe Soeurette....

Hello everyone. My daughter's dream is finally coming true. Cafe Soeurette is opening to the public on Tuesday, November 20th! Jodi (and all her family and good friends) has been working diligently for the past 6 weeks to get the restaurant up and running. We are all so excited about her new venture.

Cafe Soeurette has a beautiful, warm, inviting artfully designed French decor with a raised interior gazebo, missed-matched antique tables and chairs, and dozens of French inspired accents to enhance your dining experience. A warm palette of rust textured walls, dark woods, iron work, and rich fabrics add ambiance. The bar room is very French inspired with wine barrels on the back wall, a corner riddling room, new lighting, and antique piano. From time to time there will be live musicians performing.

Next spring and summer will bring with it options for outdoor riverside seating.

As most of you know, Jodi studied culinary arts at the Brown Institute in Minneapolis which is associated with Cordon Bleu in France. She has aproximately 12 years of restaurant experience and has previously been a pastry chef, a sous chef, and executive chef for various fine dining establishments. Jodi has volunteered for several area fund raisers, most resently designing and presenting a four-course dinner for a local area breast cancer event.

The cuisine for Cafe Soeurette is creatively designed French/American. Entrees are reasonable priced for the West Bend area. Cafe Soeurette will be open Tuesdays through Fridays for lunch, and Tuesdays through Saturdays for dinner. Reservations are encouraged. Accomodations are available for parties and business/corporate events.

Cafe Soeurette is located at 111 North Main Street in the historical old downtown West Bend area, next to the Candy Man, in the lower level of the building shared with the Baird Co.

I hope you will be able to experience dining at its best in Jodi's new restaurant. As a proud mom, I encourage you to pass this message on to any of your friends or family you think might enjoy an evening out at Cafe Soeurette.

And, yes, so you don't have to search or ask me what it means, Cafe Soeurette loosly interpreted means little sister's restaurant. Her brother named it as well as designing the logo.

Beth's stepson, Matt and his friend, are putting together the website for the restaurant. And once it's up an running, I'll be sure the post the link here.

We had a chance to sample some of the delicious appetizers of Artichoke Gratin, Pesto Shrimp, Blackened Scallops, Chicken Pot Stickers, Cider Onion Rings, and my favorite Pumpkin Ravioli. WOW!! Everything was just incredible. And the pumpkin ravioli, I've never tasted anything so yummy before. The description on the menu said Pumpkin ravioli tossed in a mascarpone cream sauce and sprinkled with candied pecans. How yummy does that sound??? :D It was so good that I just had to take a picture of it too! ;)



So if you're ever in the Milwaukee area, you must take a drive north to West Bend and try this restaurant. Soooo good!!! :D

.

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My new names....

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car)
-Muffin Expedition
2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie)
-Vanilla Chip (ice ice baby!)
3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name)
- B-Dem
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)
-Black Cat
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)
-Ann Milwaukee (that just sounds silly)
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)
-Becde
7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink)
-The Red Pop
8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)
-Clarence Clarence
9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy)
- Lily Rancher
10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names )
-Helen Tom
11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter)
-Nelson Nashville
12. SPY NAME/BOND GIRL: (your favorite season/holiday, flower)
-Halloween Lily
13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”)
- Strawberry T’y
14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree)
-Oatmeal Birch
15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”)
-The Scrapin' Snow Tour (hee hee)

Ashlynn

Here is another LO I did for an online class I'm taking at JessicaSprague.com.

doodling

I've been taking another class at bigpicturescrapbooking.com called Doodle All Day. And I haven't been able to as much as I would like to with this, but here are just some of the things I've 'doodled'.

Leah

Here is my most recent LO I did of a really good friend of mine, Leah.


credit: freebie kit from www.hm-scraps.blogspot.com

And here is another LO I did of her on a Harley ride. This was a self portrait that she took with her cell phone while on the bike.


credit: premade LO by Jessica Sprague

photo shoot

I had my very first photo shoot yesterday. I had soo much fun doing it too. I met with a friend of mine that I used to work with downtown Milwaukee. We ended up going to Basses pumpkin farm outside of the Falls. What a great spot for some photos!! Here is one of the photos that I took yesterday.

Coca-Cola Happiness Factory

another album idea

This is #26 from Handbook for Life: 52 Tips for Happiness and Productivity.

Enjoy the simple pleasures. You can find these everywhere. Food (I love berries!), sunsets, sand between your toes, fresh-cut grass, playing with your child, a good book and a warm bed, dancing in the rain, your favorite music. You could probably make a list of 20 simple pleasures right now, things you enjoy that you could find every day. Sprinkle those little pleasures throughout your day. It makes the journey much more enjoyable.

This would be a GREAT mini album idea to do. LOVE this!!

quote of the day

Photography is more than a medium
for factual communications of ideas.
It is a creative art.
~Ansel Adams

doing it digi

I'm taking an online class called 'doing it digi' from Big Picture Scrapbooking. Here are the 2 LO's I created in PSE.

I'm in Heaven

I think I've died and gone to heaven! I just tried Gelato for the first time. Oh! Yummy! I'm sitting at my desk at work eating Black Cherry Gelato and moaning about how good it is, and people are walking by asking if I'm ok. LOL! I am now!! :D

So if you're ever in Madison WI, go to Paciugo on State Street and try some Gelato. So yummy!!

Proud parent

I will always be so proud of my baby, Zona. :D

Zona photos

Senior Center Concert

Last night, I went to see my friends mom sing in her senior center concert. OMGosh! The concert was not what I had expected. In a way, it was fun! They had audience participation. During some of the songs, 2 teenage girls would come out into the audience and hand out small props that went along with that song. It was so cute! I only wish I'll have that much energy when I get to be that age. How fun for them to do this. Here are some photos from the night.

new fav

My new fav drink! SoBe Life Water. LOVE this stuff!

The time is coming

I was at a craft store Tuesday night and was walking down the isle to the front of the store to go check out when I was startled by the screaming sounds of ghosts and goblins. I stopped and slowly turned on my heels to see an isle filled full with the glittery purples, shiny black metals and flashing oranges of Halloween. I just stood there and stared in amazement at the sight of what I was looking at. I couldn't believe that they had Halloween decorations out. It's the beginning of July! We JUST celebrated America's birthday and now this! I started to walk down the isle and I was getting this giggly feeling inside. I just LOVE the Autumn season. I started getting flashbacks of the sights and smells of Autumn: baking apple pie, carving pumpkins, the cool crisp air, the leaves changing colors. I had a very big smile on my face.

As much as I like summer time, I LOVE Autumn even more. I know for most people it's a little early to see this stuff out already. But in my mind, it's never to early. YAY!! Autumn is on its way!!

Good to see family

My cousins Shelly and Tracy and their families were in town on vacation at the same time. And they wanted to get together and have a cousins cookout. Shelly started doing all the planning for this and choose Sunday, July 1. When I read that email with the info, I responded back to her telling her that day was also my dad's birthday. And we should celebrate that as well. She loved that idea. So then it ended up becoming the cousins/birthday cookout. We had so much fun. It was really nice to see people who you only get to see once a year, if that. And lately, it just seamed like the only times I see my relatives is at funerals. So it was nice that is a was positive event that got us all together!!

Here is a page I did of my cousin Shelly.

paper and brads – Sun Porch kit by Amy Teets (shabbyprincess.com), photo frame – Festival (shabbyprincess.com), font – wistful by CreatingKeepsakes











Here is a page of my cousin Tracy and her 13 month old son, Colin.

paper - Sun Porch kit by Amy Teets (shabbyprincess.com), font - wistful by CreatingKeepsakes

HB Dad!

Everyone wish my dad a very happy birthday today!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!

Love Ya!

Hot Air Balloon Ride

This past Saturday, Darnell and I went on a hot air balloon ride. I can't believe I went up in a balloon! It was sooo much fun!! I've never experienced anything like that before. I had received a GC from my friend, Leah, for my 30th Birthday last year.(Leah, you so ROCK!) So I called the guy to schedule a flight for last fall. But because of the weather, that flight had to be rescheduled a couple of times. So with a little sadness (cause I really wanted to see all the colors of Fall), I decided to wait until this spring to try again. I had a date set again for this past Saturday. And YAY! I finally was able to take the flight. And what a awesome flight it was. The company that did the flight was Flying In Harmony. The pilot's name was Nick White. What a super nice guy. Everything about the morning, from the crew, the pilot, the exceptional great weather just made the whole experience perfect. And being up in the air, it was just so completely peaceful and calm. I will truly never forget that day.

Some of the things I saw while in flight were deer running in the fields below, a turkey fling up into the trees from the ground, and the cows running for their lives because there's a funny object in the air making noise. LOL (the noise part was the the thingy that shots fire up into the balloon)

Check out some of the photos that were taken that morning.

Nick even ended up using on of the photos on his website. How cool is THAT!!

Fav quote

Recently, I read a blog talking about our favorite quotes. I thought about it and just couldn't think of any at that time that really stuck out. But tonight, while watching one of my favorite movies Hitch, did I hear that quote.....that perfect little phrase.....that I found my favorite quote.

Will Smith said it perfectly....

Never lie, steal, cheat or drink.
But if you must lie, lie in the arms of the one you love.
If you must steal, steal away from bad company.
If you must cheat, cheat death.
And if you must drink, drink in the moments that take your breath away.

First digi layout

Well, I did my very first digital scrapbook layout. Thanks Bev for showing me a few tricks on how to do this!! I know it's not the greatest, but this is just the beginning. I just love this free kit I downloaded from Creating Keepsakes.


Let me know what y'all think about them!!

Becky

Men In Trees

I just found out my all time FAV TV show, Men in Trees is finally coming back! YAY!! This makes me soo happy! You ALL should watch this show. It's the BEST!!

a great read

There are a few different blogs I try to read everyday. Most of them are my fav scrapbookers from CreatingKeepsakes mag, and I read Ali Edwards'blog today and she had a post that really made me think. Here is the post. I think you'll like it.

Hot Air Balloon Ride

I can’t believe I totally forgot to tell y'all this. (so much on my mind) But I’m going up on a hot air balloon ride the morning of the 23rd. I was supposed to do this last fall. But the 2 dates I had scheduled, we had weather conflicts. So I’m hoping the weather will cooperate for this date and I can finally do the ride. I’m so excited about it. I’ve always wanted to do this. Just think of some of the pictures I can get from up there. We will probably go out over by the Holy Hill area. That would be so sweet if I can get a good shot of the HH church. It would have the best if I could have done this in the fall – with the colors and all. That would have been so pretty. But this time of year will be fun too.

Sharing my Birthday

I found out yesterday that my sister-in-law's brother, Kevin and his girlfriend Kate, announced the arrival of their new baby girl. Annika Rune. I tried to post a picture from my cell phone, but it didn't work. I guess I can only text from the phone. I will post a picture as soon as I can.

So that makes #5 on the list of people I know who also have a June 5 Birthday. How awesome is that!!

Speaking of June Birthdays, I'm going to give a holla out to all the folks I know that have a June Birthday. Happy Birthday everyone!!

1. Marie
3. Neil
4. Susan
5. ME! Aunt DeDe, Beth, Lynn, Annika, and Emily
6. Jen
7. Lisa (my sister-in-law)
8. Mr. Buzz
13. Michaela
15. Shawn
20. Serra
25. Donna
29. Ann

Whew! That's a LOT of June Birthdays!! I always knew June was a good month!!

Birthday dinner

Here I thought I was going to be all alone tonight for my BD. I get to my apartment, open the door and turn on the light, then I hear "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU....". It was my parents and Darnell. I couldn't believe it. This made me sooo happy to see my family on my Birthday. What an awesome surprise. We ended up having dinner at Uno's on the east side of Madison. We had very yummy pizza. I just LOVE their pizza. Then we all had to say good-bye. Darnell had to work 3rd tonight so they all had to get back to West Bend. I was sad to see them go, but so happy that they came and surprised me for my Birthday. I love my family. They ROCK!!

Your cel phone says HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

It's my Birthday...my B-B-B-Birthday!!

Happy Birthday to ME! Happy Birthday to ME! Happy Birthday toooo ME! Happy Birthday to ME!

I'm 31 today and LOVING it! It's funny. I had a problem with 24....and 25....and 26.....and basically with everyone since 24. But today, I just feel GREAT about my Birthday. I don't know why. I would think I shouldn't b/c of my current living situation and with everything that's going on in our life right now. Life's to short, I just need to make it grand and not worry about the small stuff. There are just some things in life that I cannot control.

So I hope every one's day is GRAND today! Make it a good day!

Becky

Moving on....

As I sit in my little apartment, missing my hubby and home and family and friends (basically missing everything), we have decided that it is time for us to move on. So we are going to Bismarck, North Dakota. Now I get the fun joy of looking for a new job, new place to live, selling our house, and packing and moving. Yay! Fun, Fun!! Wish me luck!