Water, Water Everywhere

Randy and I were able to finally enjoy some time out on our boat last weekend. We bought our 21' Angler center console used about four years ago (chosen mainly for it's low maintenance properties) and it's been perfect for us.  We are fortunate enough to keep it in a dry storage marina only five minutes away so it's just a matter of showing up and asking them to put it in the water.  After that, it's "off we go."

We live in an area surrounded by waterways.  Most of the old bridges have been replaced with high spans but one drawbridge still remains.  Our boat will pass under it easily but the larger boats and sailboats require opening by the bridge tender.  The bridge was being lowered as we approached.

I snapped some photos as we were going under.

We spent a couple of very enjoyable hours just cruising the waterways before heading back to the docks.  Just as we do a "jump in and go" our return is as simple as "jump out and hose down."   (And by "we" I actually mean "Randy.") After we leave the dock master will put the boat back inside the building until next time.  It doesn't get much simpler than that.

Another a Card Share

The generosity shown to my sister continues to grow, so much in fact that even the forty-plus thank you cards I've made for her aren't going to be enough. Last night I whipped out sixteen of these which I must admit are my favorite set to date.

I used an older stamp set from Claudine Helmuth (So Retro) for the typewriter and a set from Hero Arts (Brush Strokes) for the smudged effect.  The vellum hearts are leftovers from a set I shared in my last blog post.


This past Sunday a group of fourteen men from my sister's late husband's Dad's Club volunteered their services for yard work and exterior maintenance.  I haven't seen the fruits of their labor yet but my sis says it's amazing.  With them in mind, I created this larger A2 size card.

I just love this sign post stamp set from Neat and Tangled called On the Corner and it's been really great for creating masculine cards.  Unfortunately I have no idea where I picked up the The Jeep Woody die, or even who makes it, but I knew I had to have it when I saw it.  


I thought this was fitting for the inside.  The stamp set is Many Thanks from Mama Elephant, another useful set to have in your stash.

Time now for Mother's Day cards !  

Card Share

My posts are much more infrequent than I'd like them to be but as we all know, life sometimes just gets in the way.

I'm going to be headed back to Tampa for the remainder of this week but wated to share some cards that I've made for my sister.  Well, true confession time, the first set was actually made in anticipation of end of the year teacher gifts but I knew they'd also be perfect for my sis.  Meg's teachers will have to wait.  *wink*

The above set was created in the smaller 4 bar size using several different color combinations.  The design was one I found online however I don't have the designer's name to give her proper credit.  

My new MISTI stamp positioning tool made the process extremely fast and easy. For all you cardmakers out there, you need this.  Trust me.



This next set is my own design.  Again it's in 4 bar notecard size and used a few different color combinations.  I didn't get a photo until I had it all boxed and ready to go but you get the idea.

This final next set is one I'll be taking with me tomorrow.  I made a few more of these (16 total), in shades of pink, aqua and green.

The amount of support my sister and her family have had from friends and neighbors is absolutely incredible and I intend to keep her well supplied.  Too many "thank yous" is a good thing.

JulieWorld Logic

Follow me on this, ok?

Earlier this week I bought a pair of shoes, a silver shawl and a pair of earrings for Meg to wear to her upcoming dance.  She wasn't with me so I knew I was taking a chance but often times it's just easier to buy and return than it is to shop with her.  (For a teenage girl, she is not a willing shopper. Go figure.) Anyway....she reluctantly agreed to the shoes but decided that she preferred to wear a shrug and earrings that she currently owns.  Works for me.

So yesterday I drove back to SteinMart to return the two items she did not want.  I made a quick cruise through the store before heading to the checkout. As many of you know I have designer purse radar and this bag totally caught my eye.

This black and white tote has "Julie" written all over it .  Because it's not leather the Michael Kors price is much more reasonable than many of his bags.

Don't have a heart attack Mom....

Ahhh....but the SteinMart price was $119.  :-)  Sold!

Now here's the part where you need to follow me.  You've all heard the term "fuzzy math."  Well today I'm going to introduce you to "JulieWorld math."  

- - I made a $39 return on items that we no longer need.
- - I used a 20% off coupon towards my new $119 purchase.
- - So how much was my $198 bag?
- - Duh....$57!

Welcome to JulieWorld.

Bigfoot

In a previous post I aluded to Meg's fascination with the legendary Bigfoot.  I really don't know for sure when her preoccupation began but I'm guessing that it occurred soon after a certain fairy, bunny, leprechaun and man in red were so abruptly taken away from her.

Meg is a believer.  100%.  We have animated debates on the likelyhood of Zombies vs. Sasquatches with neither of us ever truly "winning."  For the past several years her favorite pastime has been watching anything and everything Bigfoot related on TV.

Her favorite show is Finding Bigfoot on Animal Planet.  Over the years it has become something of a bonding time between she and Randy.  She takes this show very seriously, even going as far as to stop, rewind and pause to scrutinize and debate the footage with her daddy.  As for me, I'm usually in the other room eavesdropping.  (I absolutely refuse to watch any show that features a grown man who goes by the name Bobo.)  She has watched every episode at least a half dozen times.  Seriously?  If they didn't find him the first time do you think the outcome will change if you watch it again? ROFL!

Another show she has started watching is Survivorman Bigfoot on the Discovery Channel.  Randy has always been interested in his earlier shows (Survivorman) so it's become another father/daughter bonding time.  Again, count me out.

Her fascination isn't isolated to just cable networks.  Yesterday I tuned in to my YouTube subscriptions to watch card making videos (yes, laugh if you must) only to discover this in my "Recommendations" . . .

The only evidence I see is that "Meg was here."  

I will conclude with a conversation that she and I had last fall.  It went like this....

Meg:  "Mom, the new season of Finding Bigfoot" starts next week!"
Me:  "Seriously?  They're making another season?"
Meg:  "Duh.  They haven't found him yet."

Now who can argue with that logic.  :-)

Say Yes to the Dress

My baby girl is growing up.  Her 8th Grade Class Night Celebration is May 16 and being a formal occasion, she is in need of a long dress.  Fortunately for me one of my BFFs is now managing a gown shop here in town which made the whole experience extremely pleasant rather than our typical stressful shopping ordeal.

Because she was in good hands I was able to stand back and snap photos from my phone.  Here are a few of the runner's up.

If you are fortunate enough to be over 5'8" tall and weigh 105 pounds, everything looks good on you. In the end though she went with this one.  

Isn't she gorgeous?  *sigh*  It needs to be taken in just a bit under the arms and perhaps shortened, depending on her shoes.  She's a modest girl so she will be wearing the optional spaghetti straps and has asked that the side opening be sewn (we'll do a hand stitch) down to her knee.

We are now in search of shoes so that we can get it in for alterations.  She also needs some sort of shawl or shrug...school rules.  :-)

Is it just me or is this a far cry from anything we wore as teens?

My Absence

Many of my readers are already aware of the recent events in my extended family but those who aren't, I feel as if I should mention the reason for my sudden absence.

On April 1st, my sister's husband of 18 years passed away quite unexpectedly. As you can imagine, it's been devastating for her family.  (He left behind a 15 year old daughter and a 17 year old son.) Most of my time this month has been spent in Tampa helping out in whatever capacity I could.  I am currently back home but plan to return next week so if my posts continue to be sporadic, you now know why.  I am deeply saddened and will miss him greatly.

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I need to brighten up this post a bit so I will leave you with some photos of Fin waking up from a nap.  His parents are so good about sharing daily photos that always make me smile.

Thanks for stopping by.

Generations

I'm just popping in to share a photograph of Finley and his great-grandparents that I took this past weekend.  I know my parents do not like to be spotlighted in "internet land" but it's a really great picture so I hope they don't mind.

I got this one in the nick of time as little Fin was three seconds away from his now famous pouty boo boo lip. Thank goodness for DSLR cameras.  :-)

Fin Patrol

As I mentioned last weekend, Meg and I were on full-time Finley duty for the 14 hours that Jay and Colleen were working.  I am happy to report that we had an excellent day with no meltdowns and only a couple pouty boo-boo faces.

A little funny...

Jay was so meticulous on his instructions the night before that it bordered on complete and total OCD.  Not only did he repeat the extremely detailed directions several times but he actually quizzed me when he was done.  I kept my inner chuckling to myself because I knew he was being completely serious. Finally he took a deep breath and said "I know you have this mom, but I'm still nervous. He's my little dude."  So cute.

I reassured Jay (and Colleen, who didn't appear to be nervous at all *wink*) by texting photos throughout the day.  And not just photos of Fin but also photos of me mixing, washing, sanitizing, feeding him the bottles as per Jay's strict instructions.  I think I put his mind to ease.

Here is some Finley Goodness for you all....

Heading out for our breakfast.  It's wonderful that they live in close proximity of a small downtown area with shopping and restaurants.  It was a bit cool Sunday morning.

Getting ready for nap time....

Grandma needed a shot of post-nap caffeine.  I think the dog was very happy to get out too.  

And a quick late afternoon photo session....

It was a very, very good day.


Switching gears a bit........I will be taking a short blog break to spend some time with my family.  I hope to see you all again later next week.  As always, thanks for stopping by!

Vacation Wrap Up

We drove back to Chimney Rock on Wednesday with the hopes of going up-top, only to discover that the elevator was out of service. Total Bummer.  We spent about an hour browsing on the main strip and then decided to drive to Hendersonville to do some nosing around.

Twenty-five years ago the downtown Hendersonville was filled with antique shops.  I have distinct memories about one building that housed an antique mall filled with many dealers.  At the time I purchased a set of three books, circa 1870, and Jay bought himself a cool little carved wooden box to store his rocks. :-)  We still own both today.

I was happy to see that this particular store is still an antique mall.  The rest of the downtown however was barely recognizable.  In a good way.  Like so many small downtown areas, Hendersonville's has been totally revitalized and it's beautiful! It boasts lots of restaurants, a yogurt shop, a really great coffee shop, a wine cellar, a spice/oil/vinegar shop,  a few solo antique shops, some specialty stores and our personal favorite....Mast General Store. This store carries a whole lotta stuff but Meg and I were totally fixated on the candy.  This panorama doesn't even begin to show it all.

We were good though.  Meg picked up a couple of lollipops and some Bit O'Honey.  I've been really good about not eating sweets but the black licorice taffy was calling my name.  If you look close, you can see Meg in the back, just right of center,

Thursday ended up being cold and wet.  We opted to head back to downtown Asheville where Meg and I boarded the trolley for a historical tour of the city. Randy chose to hang out and explore on his own.

The weather cleared up on Friday so we decided to visit the Nature Center. Meg has never outgrown her love of zoos and animals.  It was larger than I expected and a good way to spend a couple of hours.  Afterward we drove up onto the Blue Ridge Parkway to take in some scenic views.  Quite surprisingly, Meg did not balk at getting her picture taken.

I'm sure if I were to go back through decades of photos I will find pictures of Jay at these very same spots.

We continued down the parkway toward Brevard stopping at familiar sites along the way, one of which was Sliding Rock.

When I texted the photo to Jay with a "Guess where we are now?" message, he knew immediately and wanted to know why no one was sliding. Ummm....'cause it's March in the NC mountains?  LOL!

We exited the parkway in Brevard where I immediately spied a scrapbook store. There was a sporting goods store in the same complex so it was a win/win for all.  :-)  I did my part to support the local economy *wink* and had a great time doing so.

We left NC the following morning and had a very uneventful trip home.  I hope I didn't bore too many of you but as I've mentioned before, this blog is now serving as my Project Life so I wanted to get the photos and details documented.  As always, thanks for taking the time to stop by.