A New Stamp Set and a Card

When I saw the post on Scrapbookers Paradise Ponderings advertising their Flouishes stamps back in February of 2010 I fell in love with the strawberries and the card that they made.   In May I had the opportunity to go to their store and bought the set for myself.  Finally in July I took the time to make a card with them.  I used a border punch to make the white border and yes, I screwed up on the corners but I don't think it is a big deal to the overall look.

Fingernail Chewing Update

It's been....how long?...since the last chewing update?  I don't remember either.

I have been off the fingernail painting wagon for some time.  Some of the good habits have stayed while others have been sliding.

If I had to walk into a spa now to get a manicure (something that I STILL haven't done before) I could hand over 6 fingernails with full confidence, 3 with some blushing/head ducking and 1 that would be covered in bandages so the staff couldn't see it.

New to this blog?  Click on the Label "Fingernails" to get caught up on my quest to someday stop chewing my nails and someday get my very first manicure.  :)

New York

Back in mid-June we had the opportunity to go to New York for half price.  My husband was sent to a conference just outside of New York so work paid for his flight and hotel.  I flew up on the last day and he met me at the airport.  We spent the next 2.5 days in New York.

I have to admit it.  New York was never high on my list of desired destinations.  It was pretty high on my husband's list though.  I'm happy to admit that I was mistaken!  I had a great time in New York.  It is a beautiful city and most people are very friendly!  We found that 2.5 days is not enough time to see everything there.  We didn't even see half of what we had wanted to see.

We bought a hop on - hop off bus pass from Grey Line tours that let us get on and off the bus whenever we wanted to.  The bus line had 3 loops around the city that stopped at various points of interest as well as a night tour.  A tour guide was on each double decker bus and spoke about the city and various sights as the bus moved along.  It was well worth our money!!

We also took a TV and Movie Sites tour from On Location tours.  Here was our bus:

We were a little leary about going on this tour but we ended up having a good time.  The tour met right outside a singing diner called Ellen's Stardust Diner.  We read about it and thought it would be a great way to have breakfast.  I get a kick out of diners and have actually decorated the craft room in my house after one.    Here is a picture of what it was like inside:

Apparently this waiter made it past the 2010 first auditions for American Idol.  I don't remember his name.  What I do remember is that the food was good but the service was terrible.  We asked to move to another table and were refused.  Service was slow and sometimes non-existent.  The singing was too loud and we saw more than one table ask them to turn it down.  Not a place I'd recommend going.

The "On Location" tour was fun though.  Most of the sites were pointed out on the bus but it did make 4-5 stops during the 3+ hour tour.  A couple of pictures from the tour:

As a huge Friends fan I was pretty happy to see the Friends apartment building.  I was surprised to learn that none of the show was actually shot here besides this building.

Do you remember this building from Ghostbusters?  This is where they put their offices!  There is a ghostbusters logo outside the main fire hall door and a no ghosts sign just inside.  :)

We also saw the Guggenheim Museum - something my husband wanted to see.

The building itself was really neat but I have  to admit that I have no idea what constitutes good or bad art.  I found it to be a little boring.  I guess I'm not sophisticated enough to get art.  ;)

We did spend half a day walking through Central Park.  It is really a beautiful place to see and it's amazing that such a nice park is right in the middle of the city.  Here is a sampling of pictures from there:

At one point we walked near the University Campus and discovered a really neat place - Peanut Butter and Company.  They had the best menu and we stopped here to order a snack:

Who doesn't like ants on a log right?  We followed up with some samples of their peanut butter and then bought a few jars to bring home.  Yummy flavors like Cinnamon Raisin Peanut Butter and Chocolate Dreams Peanut Butter....

One of the more stomach fluttering things we did was go up to the Top of the Rock.  A few people had told us to bypass the Empire state building in the interest of time and go to the Top of the Rock instead.  There really was no wait here and we went right up the super fast elevator to the top.  From there we had a spectacular view of the city.  Here are a few snapshots from our time up there near sunset:

We had a great time in New York and someday we would like to return to see the things that we missed and there are sooo many of them.  We never did see a Broadway show, the Statue of Liberty, all of Brooklynn, most of 5th ave etc.  We never even got a chance to get our shop on unless you count a couple of souvenirs in Times Square and those were mostly for the kids. 

The buildings were fascinating there.  I could look at them all day.  There was so much interesting architecture.  I can't even describe how amazing it is to see such a history in a city.

We stayed at St. James place which made me feel like I had shrunk down into a monopoly game and I kept looking for Marvin's Gardens...    The hotel was fine.  As expected the rooms were small but they were exceptional clean, super quiet, the bed was comfortable and the staff was friendly.  What more could you ask for?

I forgot to mention Weed Man and Gold Man.  Without further delay here they are:

Gold Man was working this corner...

Then Weed Man showed up....

Weed Man garnered a few laughs and a few donations.  Gold Man got upset.

Gold Man gave Weed Man a stern and loud talking to.  Just when I thought they might come to blows...Weed Man gave up and walked to another corner.  Fun.

Homework - New York

After a month of not blogging, I've assigned myself some homework.  Time to blog about the New York trip...

Coming soon...here is a teaser pic:

Origami

At work we have optional sessions called Lunch and Learn that can be taken during lunch hours (free for employees).  Look at what the last session was about-it was really fun:

Organize it!

This is how I organize my scrapbook paper.  On the left hand side is 8.5x11 cardstock.  The middle is patterned paper divided by themes such as: Baby, Christmas, Kids, Heritage, Plaids, Stripes, Sports etc.  The right side is my 12x12 cardstock.

Vegas - Stuff to See and Do...

The final of my 3 posts about Vegas.  Post one was Hotels.  Post two was food.  This is the post that talks about things to see and do.  DH and I are not big gamblers so we were looking more to experience other things in Vegas.

Some of our favorites are:
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Freemont Street.  We have visited both during the day and at night.  The night experience is definitely better.  You can buy a bus ticket for the bus that runs up and down the strip and they will go here.  At night the ceiling is alive with lights, music and pictures.   We found everything down here to cost less than being on the strip.

On the strip - make sure to stop by the Bellagio Fountains.  Every 15-30 minutes the music will start up and the fountains will dance in sync with the music.  It's fun to watch and you just can't help but smile like a little kid watching a magic trick.  Someday I would like to stay at the Bellagio to see this out my window.  :)   You can also get a good view of the fountains by eating on the patio of the hotel across the street - the Paris.

While you are at the Bellagio - take a look inside.  In 2010 - they had a garden feature.  All the flowers that you see were placed into little pots and lined up in the formations seen.  Access like the flower pot, large bugs, mushrooms etc were added as well.  Very pretty and impressive to see the work put into doing this.  Even better than visiting by day - is visiting at night...

In the Aria hotel, try to take a quick peek at the World's Largest Chocolate Fountain. 

At the MGM end of the strip, near the Aria is the M&M store and the Coke store.  Both are really fun to walk around in and span multiple levels.  At the coke store you can pay about $16 and get 2 large platters of soda samples from around the world.  Be careful about the Italian clear soda - we watched a number of people nearly spit theirs out.  It's...strong...almost like gasoline!!

From the Vegas strip you are only a short drive away from the West Rim of the Grand Canyon - home to the Skywalk.  The drive there is quite pretty with the moutains, cactuses and Joshua trees.  The road there is paved most of the way but there are a few miles of unpaved road.  If you are used to driving on unpaved roads anywhere this one is about the same and not terrible like some of the reviews I've read.  It IS very dusty though - bring water to drink!  I think if you drove it in the rain - it would be a very slippery road but when it's dry it's just fine and very scenic if you like local flora and fauna.

Once you park you are directed to get tickets and buses arrive every few minutes to take you to a viewpoint.  The viewpoint below was actually at the second viewpoint and was spectacular. 

Halfway between the strip and the grand canyon is the Hoover Dam.  In the photo below you can see the beginning of the bridge they are building to span the canyon below.  This picture was taken in late 2008 but by April 2010 - they had almost completely crossed the canyon.

This is a picture of Lake Mead - you pass this not far out of Las Vegas on the way to the Hoover Dam/Grand Canyon.

Back to the strip.   The picture below is taken at the Mirage at night.  They have a volcano outside the hotel that goes off at timed intervals throughout the evening.  This picture was taken in 2007.  It has been renovated since but in our last trip in 2010 - we never did get the time to go see it again.

  

At the Venetian they have a wax museum and everyone told us that if was one of those don't miss things.  To be honest, we weren't impressed with it and didn't think it was worth our money.  Within the Venetian they do have live statures and mini shows.

The MGM has lions inside the hotel which was interesting to see.

As for shopping we visited a few malls: The Fashion Show Mall near Treasure Island (we liked this one although it is somewhat confusing to navigate), the Outlet Mall near the car rental place past the MGM (we really liked some of the stores here), the Open Air Mall (DH liked this one but I was meh) and another one who name escapes me but since neither of us liked it - I don't suppose it matters.

Taste Test - Fruit from Thailand!

Another co-worker returned from vacation and brought some Thai fruit for us to try.

We took them home fully intending to eat them but in the end chickened out and brought them back to work.  We brought a cutting board and a knife and created our own version of the Costco sample table.    All in all the fruit was shared by 6 of us.  In the picture above the fruit are: LongKong, Rambutan and Mangosteen (although we called them the Potato, the Hairy Eyeball and the purple one.)

The Mangosteen was first.  This is what it looked like inside:

The part that you eat is the white part.  It had a pleasant taste that some described as plum like while others thought maybe like a pomegranate.

We then moved on to the Long Kong.  This one tasted the strangest having a very strange texture.  One taster, Mrs Smith almost spit hers out and another co-worker got a very strange look on his face.  The taste was actually pretty good but the texture was...odd. 

Finally we moved on to the hairy eyeball - the Rambutan.

I actually don't remember what this one tasted like but we all rated it as second best (with the purple one being the best)!

Weird Healthy Cookies Again

Mrs. Smith just put a cookie on my desk.  She made weird tree hugging healthy cookies again.  These ones have banana instead of egg, agave syrup, chia seeds (yet another chia pet murder), oats, 10 grain cereal oats and cashew butter.  Shudder of fear.

I slowly unwrapped the cookie and gave it an experimental sniff.  eek.  Nope - didn't enjoy the sniff.  On the other hand Mrs Smith told me that they remind her of Bear's Paw cookies and if my son Mr Picky likes those - I outta give it a try.

I just took a bite.  I still don't like murdered chia pet.  However- ignoring that- they do have a pleasant bear's paw taste.  I guess I should quit being frightened of Mrs.Smith's experiments.

Fingernail Update

How long has it been?  It's been a month since I declared the winner of my "stop-the-biting" competition.  It's now one month later.   I have 9 unbitten nails.  Of those 9 - 7 of them 'could' have a manicure and 2 are still growing out damage from before I started this whole journey.  The one bitten one is also a damaged one which will still need another 1-2 months to grow out all the damage done.

I had a conversation over the weekend with a friend who has recommended some products for me to try for the skin around the nails and the cuticles so I'm going to make an effort to head to Chatters this week and try to find some.  I'd tell you what that product is but i don't remember.  LOL  I do remember that it was by Opi.

In general though, I find that I have broken many of the chewing habits that I had.  I still have a lot of trouble with riding in cars AND watching movies.  I think I need gloves for those two situations.  ;)

Weird Healthy Cookies

Mrs. Smith  brought in some weird and healthy cookies today.  In an ongoing effort to make me healthier she forced me to eat one.  She says they are made of Carob chips, chia seeds (yes she murdered a chia pet for this), 10 grain cereal (plus oatmeal), banana and more.  She clearly refuses to listen to me about the fact that I am a picky eater and waited for me to eat one.  Their texture was more like a loaf than a cookie and despite my misgivings, I found the taste to be pretty good. I was pleasantly surprised by the carob chips but I wasn't a huge fan of the chia seed crunch.

I took a picture with my phone but it really just looked like a blurry blob so just imagine a tree hugging cookie and you'll have it just about right.

Cupcakes that Foam...

I went to a craft sale not so long ago.  While I was there I spent $20 to buy 4 cupcakes.  4 bath cupcakes.

I chose the divine looking and smelling flavors of Margarita, Strawberry Dacquiri, Lemon and Orange Vanilla.   They look and smell good enough to eat.  It was such a conflicting feeling.  Smelling the margarita cupcake made me drool and yet - it is for the bath!!

You peel off the plastic (not shown in the photo) and the paper cupcake holder.  Then you simply drop in into the running tub!  It was really bizarre to see a cupcake floating in the tub.

The resulting bath was foamy and great smelling.  These are fun too!  Highly recommended for the ultimate in pampering.  http://smellthesoap.com/

That last bite can really get to you....

Have I ever mentioned how much of a klutz I am? As I took the last bite of my yogurt, my bottom lip failed me and I ended up looking like this.  Sigh.   A vision of professionalism - that's me.

Luckily today is the first day of a work conference and I received a stain pen in my bag of goodies.  Thank you VMWare!!

HomeMade Granola

My co-worker Mrs.Smith made homemade granola last night and forced me to taste some (she's determined to make me healthier against my will).  It's made up of "quinoa, rolled oats, rolled friggin barley, rolled rye and rolled wheat" (yes, she said friggin' - she's profane that way)

Sorry for the blur - my blackberry photo skills are severly lacking.  I put the granola into my yogurt and let it soak there for a while.... then I tasted it....

Well actually first I smelled it.  It smelled like yogurt.  Have I mentioned that I am a....ahem...sheltered eater?

Ok...so then I tried it.  It was actually very tasty.  A fun crunch in my yougurt.  I asked her why I would want to eat granola when I thought my life was already complete without it.  She told me that this provides healthy grains in my diet, healthy fats and healthy protein.  Hmm...    Look at me all healthy like....

Vegas...the food

To continue….more about Vegas….




Places we’ve eaten:



Buffets – We tried out a few during our 3 trips and could rate all of the as either a “miss”, “awesome” and “just fine”. The Misses were breakfast at Mandalay Bay – blech and lunch at Caesar’s Palace. The “Just Fine” would be breakfast & supper at Treasure Island’s Buffet, breakfast at the Wynn, breakfast at the Paris & Dinner at the Aria. “Awesome” would be reserved for Planet Hollywood’s buffet (especially for breakfast) and the Rio buffet (for sheer size). On our trip in April 2010 – they had a great deal going. We went for breakfast at Planet Hollywood which would have cost about $27. For $30 we got a 24 hour buffet pass that was good for 7 hotel buffets. Since we typically skipped lunch it meant that we paid $3 each for supper. The pass was good for Caesar’s Palace, Flamingo, Harrah’s, Imperial Palace, Paris, The Rio and Planet Hollywood.

Some of the Non-Buffet restaurants that we’ve tried in Vegas over the years…

Treasure Island’s “Canter’s Deli” – We ate here during our first trip. It is a modernized diner. I just had Grilled Cheese and Fries. My meal was very good. The fries were shoestring type and the meal came with a GIANT pickle! We ate here again during our most recent trip and it was still good!

Treasure Island’s “Phil’s Italian Steak House” – We ate here during our first trip and thought it was very tasty. Fries ordered here come in a tiny shopping cart.

Stratosphere’s “Top of the World” – Neither of us were impressed by this restaurant. The food was only ok but the view wasn’t worth the food and ambiance we experienced.

New York’s “Broadway Burger” – A fast food burger place. It was very tasty!!

New York’s “Joey Maroni’s Sausage Kingdom” – DH ate here and said it was good

New York’s “Time Square Hot Dogs” – we both thought this place was just so-so but our friend thinks its great.

MGM’s “Rainforest Café” – We loved this restaurant the first time we went to it. The food was great, the service was great and the atmosphere was unforgettable. On a subsequent visit we were not impressed at all. The menu had shrunk considerably and the food just didn’t taste as good. Service was still pretty good.

MSM’s Studio Café (we think this is the place that we ate) – The food here was casual but yummy. Portion size is just HUGE!! The burger was as big as a dinner plate!!! It was comically huge. LOL

Luxor’s “Tender” - This is by far the best service, food and experience we had eating in Vegas. Expect to pay separately for each entrée/side and it isn’t cheap but we could almost breathe on the steak to cut it – it was THAT tender. We have visited this restaurant twice in 3 years and it was just as good the second time as it was the first!! Highly recommended.

Aria’s “Sweet Chill” – Sorbet’s and ice creams. A lot of selection and a great late night treat!!

Aria’s “Café Vettro” (we think this is the name of the place we went to) – Service was terrible but the food was pretty tasty. We saw other’s getting good service with different waiters/waitresses so we think our visit was just bad luck.

Bellagio’s “Noodles” – The food was really good here. The tables are put very close together and the portion size is very large.