PAD 12/31/2010

It's the last day of 2010 and here is my picture of the day. Anyone care to take a guess where I took this photo?

Leave a comment with your guess and I will send a little prize to the first person who guesses correctly.

Happy New Year to all of you!

12/30/2010 Picture of the Day

Title fun with the Cricut

Here is something really fun that I like to do once in a while with my cricut and that is to cut letters out of actual photos and use them as your titles! It is pretty easy once you get the hang of it and the first thing you want to do is make an actual template to work with so for this I cut a piece to the exact size of my photo from a scrap piece of paper or cardstock, whatever you have around. I did this about 3 different times until I got the right size and location of the letters on my piece. What you do is put your paper on your mat and just align the blade where you think the best place will be for the letters to be cut based on the length of your word and if you want it centered on the photo or not. If you are simply going to use the letters that you cut out as your title and not the negative space it doesn't really matter if the cut is centered but for this I wanted it to be pretty centered since I was using one of my panoramic photos and I will be using the actual photo as part of the layout.

So here is my piece once is it cut and now this will be my template that I can work from to see where I need to line my photo up on my mat so that it will cut in the exact place I want the letters to be.


What I do is take the photo and place it behind the template and lay it down on my mat exactly where I had the template and press the photo down and take the template off. I remembered where I had positioned my blade (in this case I had counted how many times I moved it across and down) and I pressed cut once I was sure of the location of the blade. So here is my photo under the template here.

Here is a quick video showing the photo being cut by the cricut and the letters are exactly where I want them to be. I then was able to use the photo as part of my title.

I cut the word Canyon from another photo (back in the 90's we used to get free double prints all the time so I was lucky to have doubles of a lot of these photos to play with) and just put it under the cut photo to complete the title, this is just the beginning of this layout but I wanted to show the technique of cutting our your letters from photos.

PAD 12/29/2010

Alex and I spent the afternoon shopping together and I really enjoyed it. We stopped in at Guitar Center to look around so that he could see which one he wants to save up for...it was a hard choice but I think he knows what he wants and now to save up a little more money.

PAD 12/28/2010

Insanity...this is what I saw when I was coming down the stairs this morning at work. All I could say was "Oh my GOD..." and pretty much everyone coming down the stairs had the same reaction! Our drop boxes were overflowing! We also had newspapers from the last 4 days to sort through...let's just say I hit the ground running and didn't stop until I left to go home at the end of my shift.

12/27/2010 PAD

Not much to say about this one...just a kid having fun in the snow...lots and LOTS of snow. We had us quite the blizzard here between yesterday and today...amazing amounts of snow!! Alex was loving every minute of it and even helped shovel the driveway, what a good boy. :)

PAD 12/26/2010

Alex's science experiment, what happens to an egg when you put it in vinegar? It was interesting to watch, first it just sat with bubbles all over it and then it would spin by itself from time to time. This morning the shell had been removed and it left behind this yellow egg and if you hold it up to the light you can see the yolk in the middle of it.

Cool stuff!!!

Christmas Day and PAD for 12/25

We really had a wonderful day with family, I just wish that Robert was with us but I am sure that there will be many more holidays to celebrate together.

My photo for today is of me and Jim, we don't take that many of the two of us so I am glad that I have this to remember our Christmas this year.

Alex added $100 to his "guitar fund" today so he was thrilled with that and I know he is saving up his allowance money so that he can buy the guitar that he wants! We will see how long it takes him to get it. He really had a great time playing with his little cousins, I guess it is pretty cool that he's the older one now. Matthew will be 5 in January and he just loves to hang out with his big cousin, Alex. Abby will be 3 in April and I can't get over her, she is so smart and her speech is amazing for that age. And then there is Lily who turned 3 in September, she is just so precious and playful. It really is a blessing to see the next generation of our family growing up before our eyes.

PAD 12/24/2010

It's Christmas eve and time to enjoy the family. Keeping this simple today I decided to go with the crock pot so that I could relax and enjoy the day with everyone.

It's a Back to the Future marathon today, we have already watched the first 2 and now I'm heading back to the living room to start watching the last of the trilogy.

Merry Christmas Eve!!

PAD 12/23/2010

Thursday 12/23

Thursdays I am the official "greeter" at work, I sit at my podium and greet people as they come in the door, answer phones and help patrons renew library material or answer questions that they may have and also help patrons check out at the self check machines that are just to my left (you can see the pad on the desk where they put their material to be checked out.) It's a fun time for me, sort of brings me back to my days in customer service when I worked at American Express before I had my children so that was a million years ago. ;)

Picture a Day 12/22

I love my E Reader and it stands up perfectly atop my bathroom sink so that I can read my book while I blow dry my hair!! HAHAHA! Hey, sometimes you have to grab a few free moments when you can get them. I love to read and don't find I have nearly enough time to do it these days.

How many of you have an E Reader? What kind do you have? For me the choice was pretty easy because my library offers the ability to borrow E Books with my library card and in fact just a couple of days ago started supporting even Iphone and Ipod so I was able to download a book that I had in my 'cart' right to my iPod touch which I think is fantastic!!! I have wanted an Ereader but not one where I have to purchase the books so that is how I based my decision. My reader has a color touch screen and WIFI build in as well, I guess you can say it is like a small Ipad, in a way.

Picture a Day or PAD

I watched a few of my scrappin' sisters do this in the past and thought about trying it out even if it is just to chronicle things we do while Robert is away overseas because I know he reads my blog. :)

Friday the 17th of December I didn't have to go to work until the evening so it was a good opportunity for a day of shopping since Alex was in desperate need of long sleeved shirts and as luck would have it I got a $10 off coupon in the mail from JC Penneys so off I went to the mall and along the way I made a few stops at the craft stores, of course. I did great at the mall and saved over $100 off regular prices at JC Penneys! In the end I spent $35.60 and got 3 shirts for Alex and a nice sweater for myself. After that I was starving so I treated myself to a salad at Panera Bread with dressing on the side, of course. One the way home I stopped off to pick up some photos I had uploaded to print at Sam's Club and then into the Starbucks inside the Target store next door. I have to say that I'm not a big SB girl but this is my indulgence during the holiday season, a tall peppermint mocha with extra peppermint...boy was it ever good and so worth the wait. I just might have to snag another one before the new year.


That evening I worked at the annual holiday party for all of our literacy students and tutors at the library! I love working this party every year because it is so rewarding to see all of the smiling faces on the people that our program serves and helps year after year! As someone whose first language was not english I really love seeing someone learn to speak english and watch as they come to classes every week with a huge smile on their face. My library ROCKS!!!!


December 20th


Just a picture of me wearing the beautiful scarf that Nancy made for me, I got so many compliments at work that day and I told everyone that it was handmade by my little sister and I know mom would be so proud of her at how much her knitting skills have improved over the past couple of years!! Nancy always jumps into everything 200% and now I fear she might have been bitten with the scrapbooking bug...might have something to do with my old Cricut that I gave her. We will see where this leads.


December 21st


Another day at work just like any other...with the digital age upon us we are having to make room for more and more computers and that means removing books that are not circulating and let me tell you it is a huge undertaking!! I filled up 2 carts with books that will be deleted from our collection and sadly most if not all of them are being taken away because they have not been checked out in 3 years or more. Our shelves are just bursting at the seams as you can see from the photos I have here, just showing one shelf before and after I pulled out the books that are going away. So that's just a glimpse of me at work.


AC Moore had a 60% coupon and I couldn't let that opportunity pass me by!!! I have my eye on some scrapbook albums that are in the $20-$30 range and since I have so many scrapbook pages to put into albums I know I need quite a few so I stock up whenever I can get a good deal!! AC Moore has a rewards card and I've been using it and getting my points every single time I shop and as luck would have it I got my first $10 reward certificate in the mail yesterday!! So off I went with those things in my hand and picked up the scrapbook I wanted and it was $24.99. Imagine my joy when I got to the register and realized that I was getting it for FREE!!!! With the 60% off it came to $10 and I gave her my rewards certificate and grinned like an idiot all the way out of the store!!

It was a great shopping day for me all around because after that I went into the grocery store to get some cookie dough for Alex to bake over the vacation next week and they were having a special deal from Pillsbury so I bought 4 batches of ready to bake cookies and with that I got a gallon of milk ($3.99) for FREE!!! Whoooo!! It was a good day!!

Scrapbooking

So it's been a while since I posted anything that I've made since I've been so busy with holiday stuff and parties at work, etc. I finally started to clean and reorganize my scrapbook room after the mess of making the centerpieces for my work holiday party! I am really loving this layout and just got my pictures printed out to put on it so it will go in my power layout box that I am prepping to bring to my weekend crop in January!! Yay! I can't wait for that and this one is close to home so there will not be tons of driving involved and I am staying at the hotel, as well, so I can stay up late to scrap and not have to worry about driving home tired and waking up early to drive back to my scrap stuff. I love the hotel, been going to this crop for a few years now and it's a really nice group of ladies.

Mom's Bucket List

Dear Mom,

I really miss you lately, I started crying at work yesterday because I had a flashback of driving you to the hospital because you were having some speech problems one morning and you had a seizure in the passenger seat right next to me. I don't know if it is the holidays or what but you have been on my mind so much more lately and I am more emotional. Right now I'm watching a show on NBC called "The Sing-off" and it is all groups singing acapella and it is making me teary because I know how much you would have loved watching this with me.

Guess what, mom? Today I got up at 4:30 in the morning (boy was I tired!!) and it was freezing cold (only 20 degrees when I got in my car) but I drove to the train station and parked my car and took a train into NYC to meet my friend, Sandi. I was wearing your coat and your very warm scarf so I was pretty safe from the cold. We took the subway to Rockefeller Center and had fun taking pictures and looking at the amazingly huge tree they have up there this year...I think this one is the biggest I have ever seen!! The tree came from Mahopac...not too far from where we used to live in Mt. Vernon, right? I think it is so festive and I really love watching the skaters on the rink because every time I do it reminds me of skating there in 2003 with my very dear friend, Mary...I scratched something off dad's bucket list that day didn't I, mom? :) I'll never forget that day as long as I live.

So I bet you're wondering what I was doing there, huh? Well you know NBC Studios are there and guess who tapes his TV show there, as luck would have it? You know I can still hear your voice..."He's my man!!!" whenever you would see him on Oprah. I never would have guessed what the segments on the show would be about today and I actually had tickets for last month but at the last minute they emailed to say that they wouldn't be taping that day (I guess a heart surgeon turned TV star still has patients to attend to) so I got tickets for a different day. The opening segment started and when Dr. Oz came out I thought about you and wished you could have been with me but when they started to talk about pancreatic cancer I shifted gears and got very emotional about dad...there was no way I could have known that the show would cover that horrible cancer on the day that I was in the audience!! It was so surreal for me, everything he talked about just made me nod in agreement and dad had a lot of the warning signs early on and I wish I had known more back then but I don't know if it would have changed the outcome. They are actually working on a vaccine to treat patients who have cancer of the pancreas now so it is really very promising and I hope that I see a cure for this cancer in my lifetime.

The rest of the show was about Weight Watchers (this show is going to air in January so it is fitting since so many people make New Year's resolutions to lose weight) and that was really interesting and fun to watch. I'm so glad I went and I really had a great time.

So for now there is only one more thing left on your list, mom...and I don't know if I'll be able to do it but I will try if the opportunity comes up. It's Tina Turner and I'm keeping my eyes and ears peeled...but you know she toured when you were battling your brain cancer so I wasn't able to take you to see her, you were just not well enough. I give you my word, if she tours again...I will be there and you will be with me...I will feel your spirit with me just like I felt you with me today.

It's a DIG!

I seriously have no idea what is going on but I hear rumors that there will be electricity being fed out to the yet unfinished tree house...said tree house has been an ongoing project for over 3 years now...in fact I believe the scrapbook page I did for the beginning of the construction is collecting dust!!

So I have no idea if this is going to get done anytime soon but Alex has been out in the yard digging and digging...to somehow bury a PVC pipe in which the electrical wire will be run from the house to the tree house...should be interesting...updates will follow as this progresses. Of course it could be years...but just stay tuned, as always.

It always makes me laugh at all of the unfinished projects we have around here and yet there are always more NEW ideas and projects introduced constantly...usually with the beginning of the spring season every year I will get, "Oh I have to put in that bay window I wanted to do." or, "We have to replace the fence in the front of the house." But...this tree house took over and we will see if it ever gets finished!! :)


In other household news Alex came home from school and handed me an envelope with an ominous look on his face but he was being quite the actor because when I opened it I was very happy and surprised to see his certificate for his achieving honor roll for the first marking period! Not bad for a kid with ADHD and no longer taking any medication, huh? I think he is going to be just fine.

Hooray for organization!!

Thank you to whoever invented these awesome shoe storage things because they work great for storing craft punches!! I used to store these in a drawer and honestly I never remembered what I had and now that they are out so I can see them I feel like I will use them so much more!! I got this storage idea on another blog that I happened to stumble upon and I had been looking for the shoe storage with the clear plastic so that I could see my punches!! Thank you, Walmart. :)

Report card!

Just in case a certain big brother passes through my blog to check out the happenings back home I thought I would post this for you (and all) to see. Alex's report card came in the mail today. I would have to say that he earned that Christmas present he asked for, don't you? His lowest grade was an 82 and that was in music class...hahaha, that just made me laugh, last year his lowest grade was in art!! Now when you have a musician for a dad (who also happens to be an artist) and a mom who is pretty crafty and loves to scrapbook it is just too funny that his lowest grades would be in those subjects but I guess we'll deal with it.

Either way we are very proud of him for doing so well, especially given the fact that he has asked not to take his strattera anymore and we agreed to try it out for the beginning of the school year.

Jim was home yesterday and worked on raking more leaves, it seems like a never ending battle every year...these trees are getting bigger and bigger!! I am really happy that he made a nice sliding gate with a leftover piece of lattice we had laying around so that Pookie stays away from Daisy and won't try to attack her or eat her food! Sadly she is old and can't see well and in recent months has started going to the bathroom wherever she feels like it so we have had to keep her in the back room with Daisy but make separate areas for each of them. I think the last straw for me was when she pooped on top of 2 of my blankets that I keep folded under a table in the living room and before that I would constantly find her on top of the dining room table...it just got to be too much to constantly having to be cleaning up after her.

I spent a little bit of time tonight working on the centerpieces that I am doing for our staff holiday party/meeting at work. I am enjoying the process of putting them together and I have been using both my Sizzix and my new Cricut Expression. I am making 10 of the centerpieces and there are 2 other people that are making other designs so that we will have a total of 30 centerpieces. Our theme this year is candyland. I will take another photo when I am completely done with all of them, I still have to add the glitter to the swirls and then glue everything on and put the rest of the "candy" in the vases.

Well I think it's about time to go relax and watch the Season Finale of Dancing with the Stars. Goodnight...............

Monday and the start of the Thanksgiving week

I think I'm ready for Thanksgiving, all except for the fact that Robert won't be with us this year. Yesterday Jim and Alex went to spend some time with Jack and while they were gone I prepared a zucchini bake to have with our Sunday dinner. The rotisserie chicken I picked up at Sam's Club was delicious, they make the best chicken there and it is really cheap!

Jesse was doing his laundry when I got home and he sat and ate with us, I was impressed that he ate the zucchini bake and wanted the recipe but he's going to make it with chicken instead of the zucchini, he's not a big fan of vegetables but at least he tried it.

The library newsletter came in the mail and imagine my surprise when I turned to the back page and saw this photo!! Yea that kid in the photo next to the librarians is my Jesse. :-) We have started some new programs for our "In betweens" or 18-24 year old patrons, when they 'age out' of the teen department they have no where to go and expressed an interest in having programs geared just for them and my library rocks so hard that of course we had to do something. They have been having game nights and Magic the Gathering nights among other things. Even though Jesse is a bit older my department head wanted him to come and bring some of his friends so that the program could get off the ground and he seemed to have a good time.

We've been very busy weeding old material to shift books and make a space for this age group to be able to hang out in and call their own, I cannot wait to see how it all turns out for them. I will be sure to post photos when that happens.

Well, I guess it's about time to go relax with my book and wait for the season finale of Dancing with the Stars. I also plan to check out Skating with the Stars and see if that is worth watching...hey nothing else on until the new season of American Idol starts in January so I might as well check it out, right?

The 2nd half of my summer

As I write it is almost the middle of September but I still have fond memories of my summer months and all of the wonderful things I did.

August 7th Jim and I got in the car and drove down to Atlantic City for our weekend getaway that I planned for our anniversary and also to celebrate both of us turning 50 this year...we really didn't know what we wanted to do to celebrate our birthdays and when I asked Jim he said, "Go to Atlantic City?" and I said, "Yeah...no, I don't think so!!" he always loses a ton of money there and well...I wanted something different. The next day I happened to get an email about a concert at the Tropicana hotel and I thought it was a 'sign' so I called Jim and said, "You can get your Atlantic City trip and I can get to see one of my favorite bands, Daughtry!!" So we made the plans and off we went. Of course, Jim lost a few hundred dollars but I have to say I couldn't believe my luck, I won $106.60 in a PENNY slot machine! Whooo hooo! I cashed in and walked away because I knew I could take that money and use it for something I had coming up the following week and I wasn't about to give it back! The concert was excellent and I had a great time!

On the 11th I went to Jones Beach again with my friend, Paula, and we saw Maroon 5...what an incredible concert that was...I absolutely love them live!! Owl City opened for them and if you're a fan of their hit song, "Fireflies" as many people are...I am sorry but they weren't that good live...every song sounded the same and I was bored and couldn't wait for them to be done so that M5 could take the stage!


The next morning I worked from 9-12 and then I came home to pack up my car and hit the road for my much anticipated long weekend in Trumbull, Connecticut where I spent the next 4 days scrapbooking and getting some much need "ME" time. I had a beautiful king size bed all to myself at the hotel, I enjoyed using the gym a bit, sat by the pool, did a little bit of shopping and of course scrapped to my heart's content!! This has become one of my favorite crops to attend and I am already anticipating and looking forward to next summer and going again. I am planning to take Alex with me next year because I think that he would enjoy spending time at the 2 pools that the hotel has to offer and not to mention that Mike and Mindi who run the crop bring their kids who are his age and he would have a great time hanging out with Mitchell and Cali. I suppose we will see what next year brings but I know that he will be almost 14 and the time where he will want to hang out with mom will be limited...I cherish each and every moment I get to spend with my sons because I know how quickly life can just pass you by.

I was so pleasantly surprised when my friend, Regina and her daughter Emma walked into the crop room on thursday and I realized they were sitting just next to me!! I hadn't talked to Regina in a while because when I lost some email addresses on my old laptop I couldn't get in touch with her and I wasn't sure if she would be there this year. I found out the next day when her friend, Karen, arrived that she had told Mindi to seat me near them if I registered so that was so nice to be able to hang out with them a bit. All in all it was a super great weekend and I got lots done!! I am so thrilled that I have finished Robert's 1st deployment and now I'm on the hunt for the perfect album to put all of the layouts in.

Somewhere in all of this busy month my baby turned 13 years old...I have no idea how that happened and it was way too fast!! He wanted to go to the chinese buffet for his birthday dinner and we were happy to do that for him. Since Robert wasn't going to be home he had gotten him a cake the week before and Jesse was sleeping because he works nights so it was just mom and dad with Alex when he gave him his gift...I think he was happy!!

After another busy work week upon returning from Trumbull I grabbed Alex and jumped in the car once again to head south to visit Nancy, Paul and baby Cole!! It had been way too long and I was itching to get me some baby loving!! This was going to be a longer weekend visit than normal because I had tied this in with a concert that was near Nancy's house...about 20 minutes away, actually...a venue called Wolf Trap was hosting one of my favorite bands, Train, and I just had to see them and I worked it into my plans!

It was really cute when we picked up Cole from day care because he really didn't know us that well since we hadn't seen him since June and his face was priceless!!
It took a little while but once we got him home and he was back in his familiar surroundings he warmed up to Alex and I and we really enjoyed spending some quality time with him that weekend especially because Nancy and Paul left friday night to head to their boat and didn't come back until Sunday...whooohooo...it gave me plenty of time to spoil my nephew without mom's prying eyes!! Heehee! Alex had loads of fun with his little cousin and I'm glad we made those memories!


On sunday my friend, Paula, arrived with her son Andrew and we spent monday afternoon enjoying the community pool in my sister's complex while Cole took his nap at day care. Monday night Paula and I went to Wolf Trap and had a blast seeing Train perform...what a great venue...it was raining for a bit but we were in the covered seats so we were good. I had purchased 19th row seats when they went on sale but as luck would have it Paula has someone through her job who knows one of the sound guys from Train and he left tickets at the Will Call for her...amazing...we had 7th row dead center whooohoooooooooooooo! So of course I had to "Pay it Forward" and I went on the hunt and we found a mom with a little girl sitting on the lawn section under and umbrella and we gave her our 19th row 'covered' seats.

On the morning of the 24th we hit the road to head home because we had tickets to a concert that night at Jones Beach so I wanted to get home early enough to be able to get a nap in and relax a bit. It was a little sketchy getting out of there because someone needed coffee (not me) and she got lost and I couldn't leave her but finally we were on the road and did well time wise and made it to Cracker Barrel for breakfast by just a little after 9:30ish. I love Cracker Barrel...it reminds me of mom and I have such fond memories of going there with her whenever we would visit her in Florida.

The Creed concert that night was so off the hook...I loved it!! Paula had to leave a little earlier than she hoped and she missed a few of their hits that they saved for the end of the concert but I really enjoyed it! The vibe with Creed is so different now that they are back together, I can feel that they are tight and they are really enjoying themselves on stage again. I'm so glad I got to see them!

I spent the last week of August just really trying to hang on to summer with all my might...the weather was glorious...a perfect gift from GOD really. I took Alex to the beach on the 30th and since I have the best job in the world and the most amazing and understanding boss ever I was able to push my shift from 5pm to 6pm so that I didn't have to rush off the beach to get home for work that night. We got to the beach fairly early ( I think about 9:30am) and Alex just really enjoyed spending time in the water the entire day! Paula and Andrew got there about 11:30 and once Alex had his buddy he really started to have fun out there. They did some boogie boarding and just spent almost the whole day in the water.

On the 1st of September I had the day off from work and I originally planned to hit the beach one more time but then Paula and I talked and decided to meet at the town pool where she lives and Alex was all for it and I wasn't going to complain...no sand? I'm all for that!! HAHAHA!! We had an incredible day, the pool was pristine and Alex went off the diving board over 100 times, I'm quite sure!! I couldn't get him out of that pool! Paula left at 3pm because her cousin was doing a show in the city (he's a stand up comic) and Andrew went home with another friend who was at the pool that day since he had a baseball practice but Alex and I stayed way past 6:00 and I was totally ok with that...just trying to enjoy the last bits of summer with my son and I wasn't in any rush to get home, that is for sure...I knew that school was starting in a few days and I didn't want the fun to end.

That's it for August...September has already been a busy and fun filled month so I will post about that next. :)

Time for an update!!

Wow...summer sure has a way of flying by, doesn't it? What did you all do this summer, anything fun? I sure hope that you were able to make some great memories and that you all took plenty of photos to remember every moment!

I can't believe that Alex will be starting the 8th grade on friday, first time that our school district has started school before Labor Day to my knowledge and I know a lot of people typically will go on vacation the week before school starts so I'll be very interested to see how many kids do not attend on friday.We did a TON of stuff this summer so I am feeling pretty good about that whereas last summer I felt that we didn't get as much done and that was in part due to the crappy weather we had last year but we really did have a wonderful summer here in the northeast so I can't complain. For scrapbooking journaling purposes I am going to head on back to the beginning of the summer now...


July 1st


I took Alex to a park nearby where we like to feed the ducks and have a picnic lunch from time to time, it is called Kahler's Pond and Alex enjoys going there to hang out and I love to sit and watch him play. We brought along a fishing pole with us this time but eventually the line got caught in one of the bushes and it snapped so that was the end of the fishing that day.



July 4th

I actually wasn't surprised that Alex wasn't really interested in "watching" fireworks but rather wanted to make his own and Jim had bought a few small things from a guy off a job so they had fun lighting bottle rockets and firecrackers in the driveway. I was a bit disappointed that he wasn't able to get any sparklers because those always make for awesome photos but I guess that's the way it goes. I've already scrapped the photos from this 4th of July so here is that 2 page layout. I love the picture of Alex with his fireworks.



July 7th

We finished off the little league season and overall our team had a good season, they started off really strong and then lost a few toward the end but we had a good time this year and had a good group of kids. Next year Alex will be moving up to the Junior division and we still don't know if Jim will be moving up with him or staying down in the midgets with his team...we will find that all out in the spring and it all depends on how many kids sign up and if they need Jim to take a team up in the juniors...otherwise Alex will have a new coach until his dad moves up.



To start off the summer concert season at Jones Beach which had such an amazing line up this year ( I would have gone to probably twice the amount of shows I went to if I had more money!!) I went to see the American Idols tour with my friends Paula and Arlene and we had a great time together!!



It was great that all 3 of us liked the same contestants this season too! Casey James who is super cute and of course Lee Dewyze who was the winner this year we all loved! Overall it was a great concert and I hope that the promoters decide to bring the Idols tour back to Jones Beach again next summer because I would go again but this time I would wait until closer to the date because we were able to upgrade our seats for only $10 and I am pretty sure we would be able to buy $10 or $20 seats again if they come back next summer.

I don't ever sit in the mezzanine at Jones Beach but I thought it would be cool to go up there and get a shot of the entire venue with my night feature on my camera and I love the way it turned out!! You can see the water on the bay side and in the horizon beyond the lights is the ocean. There is no better place for a concert, in my opinion.



July 7-14th

Uncle Robert came for a visit for the week and we took him to Kahler's pond for lunch one day and had a good time.





He also got to attend a Mets game with Jesse, of course!! We had a nice visit with him and look forward to seeing him in December again when we are planning to travel to Nancy and Paul's to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas all at once since Nancy and Paul will be in Montana for Christmas this year we will be doing something a little different and that's fine.


July 16th

I had been planning this for a while now, a surprise night out for Alex and at the last minute Jim had a gig and couldn't join us and I was a bit disappointed but Alex and I set off in the car for the secret surprise and he had no idea where I was taking him and I couldn't wait to see his reaction!! Alex has been into The Beatles lately and I wanted to take him to see a really cool tribute band and it just so happens there was a free outdoor concert about 15 minutes from where we live so it was a perfect opportunity!!



I think he had a great time, when he saw the performers come up on the stage he was thrilled!! I found a video on You Tube which is a great montage of what we saw that night!

The concert season continued on that following week with one of my favorite bands, Train, opening for John Mayer on July 21st. Train's set was awesome albeit too short for me but I am glad that I went to see them either way because it was close to home and again it was a fantastic night out with Paula plus we got to hang out and tailgate a bit with my friend Laura and her husband Mark which was fun.

John Mayer...meh...it was the first time I saw him live and I will probably never see him again because to be honest he spends way too much time playing guitar and not enough time singing...I am not into watching him lay on the stage for 10 minutes playing his guitar, sorry...a bit too much into himself and not enough with the crowd. But having said that and even though we left about halfway into his set I'm glad I saw him because at least now I know what his shows are like...I enjoy his CD's but I guess he's not someone I'm into seeing live again.





On July 22nd I took Nicole (my future daughter) to see The Altar Boyz at a local theatre and we had a really nice time together! I saw the show off Broadway and really liked it and I knew she would enjoy it too plus the price was cheap and it was 10 minutes from home so you can't beat that!! The picture of us that we took didn't really come out good so I guess I can't really scrap that but I will keep the ticket and playbill to remember the day.

July 23

A wonderful day at the beach with friends, it doesn't get any better than that does it? We took the ferry over to Sailor's Haven and had a truly fun day even though it was a little bit chilly for us. Alex always manages to find something to keep him busy and today was no different, he spent a couple of hours finding sticks and other things and built this amazing little beach fort and he had so many people stopping to see what he did, it was pretty funny.

Even after his friend, Andrew, left to go home Alex still entertained himself with his fort up until the very end when I had to drag him off the beach so we could catch the ferry home.

The only bad part about that whole day was that it had been so humid the past few days that I was attacked by mosquitoes and was I miserable on the way home!! I had anti itch spray but no allergy medicine with me so as soon as we got over to the other side I stopped at a CVS and took a pill right away! Phew!! Being allergic to bugs really sucks!!



July 25-28

One of the first things that Alex said to me when mom got sick and we knew that we would have to sell her home in Florida and move her to live with us was, "We will never be able to go to Disney World again, will we?" and I promised him that we would and that I would do whatever it took to make it happen. This past spring Alex and I volunteered at the nursing home where mom spent 2 weeks about a month before she passed away and as a result of that we were both awarded with a free ticket to any Disney park of our choosing and I let Alex choose and as luck would have it he picked EPCOT which is my favorite of the parks. I also made plans to stay at a hotel that we had never stayed at with mom so that we could make some new memories, even going to Downtown Disney would be different on this trip and we would explore the other parts that we had never been to before like Pleasure Island and the other side of the downtown disney area.

We left on sunday and got a ride to the airport from dad. Too bad he got to miss out on the trip but I guess someone has to stay with the dogs and keep watch on the house.


Alex had asked me if he could bring his scooter along on the trip and at first I resisted but I realized that we were staying at a resort that had a lake and there was a promenade around the lake area that he would enjoy riding his scooter on so I told him to find a bag and we packed it and boy was he glad to have it!! I took my walks and he joined me with his scooter, it was loads of fun! We were staying at the Caribbean Beach Resort and I had been there in the past with Jim, Jesse and Robert when the boys were very young so it had been quite a while but I knew it was a very nice place and Alex would enjoy it.



I really tried to let Alex lead me on this trip after the initial planning, I wanted this to be about him and what he wanted to do so that he would have fond memories of this vacation even if grandma wasn't with us. There were boat rentals on the lake at the resort and he asked me if he could do the small speed boats and he said he would pay for it out of his own money which I thought was very grown up of him so when we went to the marina I told him that it was my treat as part of his birthday present and he was very excited.






Monday was our day to visit downtown Disney and we took the Disney bus and instead of getting off where we would normally always go with grandma I told Alex we would stay on the bus and explore the other side so that we could make some brand new memories and he was ok with that.




We walked around and checked out some of the places we had never seen before and then we decided to have our lunch in the T-Rex restaurant and of course we talked about how when we ate at the Rainforest cafe we ordered the volcano dessert and Aunt Nancy went to the bathroom and when she came back it was all gone...her face was priceless and so was my mom's! That was the trip we took to Disney in December of 2007 right before mom's diagnosis. Alex asked if we could have one of those special desserts and I couldn't say no to him even though I knew we would barely eat 1/4 of it...it was fun all the same and he loved it! We hit up a few more shops along the way and Alex bought a Mickey Mouse chocolate covered apple to enjoy back at the hotel...yummy!!! Of course we stopped at Legoland and that pretty much wiped out all of the rest of Alex's money that he had brought with him and I had to laugh because he had told me he wasn't going to bring his money because there was nothing he wanted to buy but meanwhile he had $90 with him and it was all gone by the time we went home!



After our day at downtown Disney we went back to the hotel and Alex asked if he could have his drawing done by the artist in the foodcourt area and I thought it would be a good memory of the trip so I agreed and let him do it, he had a good time getting that done and he told me that there was a man standing behind the artist teasing him saying, "Did you want her to draw you as a MERMAID?" HAHA! I think his caricature turned out great and he loves it!! Of course he had to keep his glasses on the whole time! He loves his "John Lennon" rainbow glasses that I got him on Ebay and he wore them almost the whole trip.



Tuesday was our day to visit Epcot Center and I chose that day because it was the day there were 3 extra hours for guests of the Disney resorts and I thought it would be nice to have the extra time, as it turned out we did and saw everything by 7pm and went back to the hotel and Alex swam in the pool until 10pm that night but I was ok with that, I had my book and my iPod and I relaxed while he enjoyed swimming with his friends (Alex always manages to make friends no matter where we go!!)


Check out our "Voluntear" buttons that they gave us when we checked in at the gate with our vouchers for "Give a Day, Get a Day"!! Alex was actually moved up to the front of the line on one of the rides he went on because he was wearing his button and I thought that was so cool! A few of the Disney cast members asked us what we did to volunteer when they saw our buttons, it was really fun to be treated like sort of royalty because we gave our time to others. A great lesson for my son to learn. :)

We headed on over to the World showcase (my most favorite part of Epcot) and visited all of the countries and had a great time!! As luck would have it, there was a Beatles tribute band playing and Alex and I really enjoyed their set...I found it fascinating that my son was able to sing all of the songs...he knew more Beatles songs than I did!!






Wednesday was our last day and we spent it just enjoying the pool at the resort, Alex really loved the water slide and the water cannons, the theme of the pool was pirates and that was loads of fun.

I thought it would be fun to ask him some questions.

What was your favorite part of your trip to Disney? The pool.

What was your least favorite part? When I had to leave the pool.

What is your best memory of the trip? The hotel because it had the pool.

Ok...so I guess he liked the pool!

July 30th-August 1st

This was my No Frills weekend crop that I love to do every summer and I was able to enjoy myself and scrap 49 pages between friday and sunday and considering the fact that I didn't stay overnight at the hotel I think that is pretty good! On friday I actually got there in the morning but left at 5:00pm because I had tickets to see the Goo Goo Dolls that night at Jones Beach so I met up with Paula at about 6:00 and we tailgated a bit and then went inside to check out the opening band, Switchfoot and then the main event which was awesome!! We had seen the Goos before and I really love them live...their bass player, Rob, is fantastic!!

I went back to the hotel first thing in the morning and scrapped until about 11:00pm that night and when home to sleep and returned on sunday morning for another full day of scrapping! Here are just a few layouts that I did that weekend.







Ok...so that was my July and I am tired from just posting and reliving it...haha...but it was a full and busy July for sure. I will post my August happenings next so stay tuned.