A Digital LO and other things

This is my first ever, all digital scrapbook page! Cool, huh? I have to say that I don't have a lot of digital supplies so I kind of had to do what I could. I have a lot of brushes and textures and photo enhancing stuff, but not really digital papers or embellies. I think I will definitely have to get some more stuff because I did have fun putting this together. I'm still going to do most of my stuff with paper. I really like working with the paper, glue, cutters etc. It speaks to my creative side a lot more then messing around on the computer. But, it was fun to try something new and helped me to see what I know and what I need to work on! Thanks for looking at it. Please, please leave comments and let me know what you think. Thanks so much!

Supply list-Stripe paper-Jeanine Beachtold

Blue paper-Jessica Sprague
Journal spot-Jessica Sprague-from Stories in Hand class
Flourishes brushes from misc. places
Frame-HO3 kit from Jessica Sprague class
Font-Procelain-misprintedtype.com

I have to admit that I didn't really finish the reports on our vacation! I had a couple of busy days last week and didn't take the time to finish. But, all I'm missing is our final day, which we spent making our way back home. We made a quick stop at Mystic Lake casino before we left the cities. Then we stopped in Northwood at Diamond Jo. We spent a little time there before we drove the final leg home. We got home around 9:30 that Saturday night. We were tired and slept good that night! That was our vacation! We really did enjoy it and were happy to get away from regular life for a few days.

Our Vacation Day 3

Are you anxiously awaiting the next installment of our vacation story? Well, so am I. LOL! I suppose that means I better write it, huh? Ok, here goes...

Friday we left our northern oasis to travel back a little further south. After breakfast we hit the road to Minneapolis. Why you ask? For Scrapfest of course! What is Scrapfest? Oh, let me tell you. Once a year scrapbookers from all over the world gather at the Mall of America for lots of classes, crafting, shopping, star sightings, and meetings with the product companies! This is all put on by Archivers. Which is a totally cool store that is only found in big cities, i.e. Minneapolis or Des Moines. This is my third year of going and I love it! I have so much fun going to classes and learning new things and working with new product. I also go shopping and spend lots of money on cool scrappy stuff that I can't get around home! Can you tell this excites me? LOL! While I am doing that stuff, Denny wanders around the mall and finds cool things to do and see. This year he went to a NASCAR simulator. He said it was pretty fun! The photo below shows one of the main class areas and a small shopping area. There are at least ten more class areas that are just as big and they all have classes simultaneously. It's awesome!

So, anyway, back to our scheduled vacation program. On our way to the cities, we went past Lake Mille Lacs. Oh my goodness if this isn't one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen! This lake is pretty much big enough that you can't see the other side. It's totally cool! Of course we stopped and took some photos and enjoyed the sight. While we were there, there was a guy getting ready to go wind surfing. We watched him for awhile too, although we didn't have a lot of time to spend. He got his sail up a couple of times while we watched, but didn't really get on the board. It was cool to see though.

We drove to Minneapolis and my classes were at 2 and 3:00. We almost didn't make it in time for my first one because we ran into a traffic jam or something. But, luckily, we got there. After my classes we decided to go check into our room. I had booked a room at the Hilton Homewood Inns and Suites. Well, let me tell you, it was awesome! All the rooms here are suites and I mean a full suite! A little kitchen and everything! It was a really great room and definitely worth the price. If you ever go to the mall and want to stay overnight, I recommend this place. Plus, it is right across the street. Below, the view out our window.

This is the kitchen!

The bathroom. All Neutrogena products, very nice.

After some shopping at the mall we finally went to eat supper. No, we didn't have pizza again, we went to TGIF!! I love this place and we eat there every year because it is the only time we get to eat there. They have super yummy food. And, they are right across from the mall too! After supper we ventured to Mystic Lake casino. This place is huge! I mean huge! This is biggest casino I have ever seen! We usually go our own way in casinos, but not in this one. Because, we never would have found each other again! Quite an amazing sight and especially at night! That ends our Friday, our day 3 of vacay. I will fill you in on the final day tomorrow. Stop by again.

Oh, by the way, I wanted to share with you the gift that Denny got me at the mall. Just a little something as a surprise. He is so sweet.

Our vacation Day 2

Thursday 09/17/09 was the second day of our vacation. It was also our 4 year anniversary! We spent the morning doing a little driving. Looking at lakes, and seeing the trees and forests. Such wonderful scenery, you don't really get sick of seeing it.

We had a 1:00 tee time at Golden Eagle Golf course. Wow, this was quite the place! This course was super hilly! Ten times more so then Big Rock in Fayette. It was amazing and beautiful, but to be honest, almost too hard. Some of these holes were almost ridiculous! LOL! We did the best we could though and kept plugging on. It was also hot that day which made it even harder to keep going! Who knew that northern Minnesota in September would be 85 degrees?!

Here is a shot of Hole #5. This was a par 5 that dog legged to the left.

This is a par 3. I believe it was 185 yds. from the men's tee. Isn't this hole just amazing looking? It's gorgeous, but just plain scary! LOL!

These steep grade signs were not unusual at this course! Almost every hole had a steep hill of some sorts. A couple of the cart paths were steeper then 45 degrees! No lie. Have you ever been vertical in a golf cart going up a path and hoping the darn electric cart has enough power to make it up? Well, I have now and I didn't really enjoy it! LOL!

After our golf day we were tired and beat and lazy. We had planned on getting dressed up and going for a nice supper for our anniversary. But, neither one of us really felt like it. So, we had pizza again! This time we went to Zorbaz which was kind of a unique place with very unique pizzas! We stayed pretty normal with a bacon cheeseburger pizza but they offered ones that were really different! They even had one with peanut butter on it! ??? Too weird for us!

We spent the rest of the evening in our room. Watching tv, scrapping a little and snuggling! All in all, it was a good anniversary!

Don't forget to stop in tomorrow for Day 3.

Our vacation

What I would like to do is share with you some moments, memories, and photos from our vacation. I think I will share one day at a time. A little easier for me, and a reason for you to visit back to my blog!

We drove up to northern Minnesota and stayed in Crosslake for two days. While we were there we golfed at two courses on the Brainerd golf trail and did some sight seeing. We left on Wed. 09/16/09 at 7:00 a.m. It is a six hour drive to Crosslake. Not counting potty stops and road construction. Which by the way I kept track of on the way up. We encountered construction eight times! The landscape and scenery there is beautiful. You can really see a difference once you get past the cities. You start to see more lakes and more trees and more wilderness! We really enjoyed the beauty of it all.

The first thing we did was to check in to our hotel. We stayed at the Pine Peaks Lodge in Crosslake, Mn. It was a lovely hotel and I would recommend it to anyone staying in that area.

After that we went golfing! We had a 3:00 tee time at Whitefish Golf Club. This course was gorgeous! We loved it! Every fairway was tree lined and not very wide! The fairways were sodded grass (wow) and the greens were big, well manicured and accepted balls very well! It was fun and just a great place to golf! Unfortunately we were a little tired and worn from the long drive and we didn't golf all that well. But, it doesn't matter because it was wonderful just to be there and to see it. The people there were very pleasant also.

These are pics of Hole #9 and Hole #12. The par 3 is over some water. Not too hard of a hole but very pretty! Also, Denny and I both parred that one! Yay for us!

After having some pizza for supper, we made a drive to Walker, MN and went to the casino there. It was about 45 minutes north of where we were. We had a good time although we didn't really win any big money! LOL!

Well, that was our Wednesday. I'll be back tomorrow to share some more photos and stories!

April page

Guess What? I finally did it!

I quit my job!  It finally got bad enough at work that I couldn't take it anymore!  I seriously feel so relieved!  It's like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.  I am so happy that I took this step and so is Denny.  I still have 6 days left to work and I can't wait for it to be over!  LOL!  I'll be looking for something else later in September.  For a little while I'm just going to enjoy the day to day and dabble in this and that!  I'm sure we'll have to make some changes to our lifestyle but I think we'll be happier!  Well, I will anyway!  ; )