yes, every year

I try something new. Many years, Greg does the "new thing" too, but not always. This year he actually outdid me. :-)

For Christmas of '06, I gave him a present to do this year: the King's Experience at the Richard Petty Driving Experience. That is some training in Nascar driving, then actually driving (behind a lap car) for 8 laps, then more training, then 10 more laps! woohoo!! Yes, driving on a real racetrack in a real Nascar. omg - cool. I figured that was right up G's alley. Not because he's a Nascar or racing fan, because he isn't. But because he loves to drive fast!

I was debating driving too, but I decided to just do a ride-along this year. Maybe some other year I'll actually drive. But my theory was this: the MAX speed that they let students drive is 145 mph. And knowing me, I would have been quite a bit slower. But for me to ride along with a real Nascar driver - I'd be going at least 165 mph. ROCK ON BABY!! And believe it or not - that speed difference was VERY noticeable while watching the cars whiz by - I really think they took us faster than 165!

So on our way home from our fun little vacation (which I'll post about later), we stopped Sunday at the Kentucky Speedway to do our "new thing" for 2007. It was great fun! The grins on our faces say it all....

random thought

As I was flying to Atlanta yesterday, we flew over Chicago, and we weren't really high yet. The houses looked like little square dots. I gazed at downtown for a while. My first thought when I saw downtown was "it looks like legos." No kidding. That's what went thru my mind. Now we have driven thru downtown quite a few times, even on the bike. And wow - especially on the bike - those buildings and those highways etc. are just huge. So I gazed a while at the little "legos" and I thought about how just being in the air that little distance made such an enormous difference in perspective. People can't even be seen, and large man-made creations look tiny. So then I started into my "people are mere specks of dust" mode of thinking. And really, we are. In size and in time, we are. Yet we as a group, a species, are wreaking absolute havoc on this beautiful world we live on. WHY?! Why can't we people realize the damage that we are doing? The world may never recuperate from us. Even if we totally wipe ourselves out of existence, the holes we have dug, the structures we have made, the resources we have used up... all of that will still impact the earth. wow. That thought really makes me sad. :-(

a little project

for a MAJOR event...

We're celebrating my grandma's 100th birthday tomorrow, even tho her actual birthday isn't until December. Can you even imagine?! 100 years old?! omg!

So I made a card for her; I started it in a class, I can't remember which company. Pretty cool idea, with pp flowers between two layers of transparency. I added some cool embellishments, including the G grandma rub-on from CI - I colored the flower petals with marker and dotted the centers with Tim Holtz's Stickles (glitter glue).

I've been tagged

by my dear friend Emily! :-)


Four jobs I’ve had: waitress, pea combine driver, road survey crew (stopped traffic and asked drivers questions!), accountant/analyst

Four places I’ve lived: All in WI - Lodi (hometown of 2000), Waukesha, Wind Lake and Oak Creek

Four movies I Love: Lord of the Rings Trilogy,... I can't think of any others

Four Movies I would like to see: I have absolutely no idea what the current movies are

Four Foods I Love: anything chocolate!, pasta, creamy or cheesy soups, good steak

Four Weird things about me: I don't like water in my face, I'm an adrenaline junkie, I was a great-aunt at age 22, I clean my work area after finishing each scrap project

Four places I’d rather be: on a cruise ship, at an all-inclusive on a beach, on an African safari, Angkor Wat

Four people to tag: Carrie, Amy, ???

cleaning house

Not literally. LOL I'm taking care of tasks that need to be done... well, at least some of them, bit by bit. oh, hey - I can say I was cleaning house - I finally found my desk (yes it's wood!) under the huge piles of "stuff" that had accumulated on it!!

I gave my old blog a new look. I'm groovin' on it! I may still do a little tweaking here and there, but for the most part, I think I'll stick with this look for a while.

I created a postcard for our bike club. It'll be sent to members who haven't attended events in a while, to try to entice them to join us again. This one shows pictures from last year's fundraiser, and the back talks about this year's upcoming fundraiser, our third annual murder mystery lunch. Yes, that's me in the upper right corner, planting a smooch on Bob's cheek. Last year's theme was Roarin' 20's, and I played a reporter. This year will be "Murder at Mardi Gras." I'm not sure yet, but I think I'll be playing a debutante.


I'm finding the songs I want to include in the next cj I'll be working on. I have a sketch already done. woohoo!! I just need to find the "right" paper, and I can start to scrap. I suppose I should explain about the music... the theme is "Music to Motor To" - and the owner included cds for each of us to burn our motoring tunes to. And then our LO is supposed to be about that cd, or motoring music, I guess. lol Anyway, my tunes are eclectic, so it'll be interesting. Stay tuned (haha) to find out which songs become finalists!

yes, the days of Marcia's life. Some days are more boring to read about than others. ;-o

another

cj finished. yay!! This is another one for my twopeas childfree group. The theme is "Scrapbook Retreats." Well... I obviously have attended lots of retreats! lol And I'm not even including cku, scrapfest, etc. This was a very clean and simple layout. Every time I look at it I ask myself what I could add/change, and every time I conclude that I like it the way it is. :-)


The journaling says: Scrapbook retreats are not just for scrappin', they're also for hangin' with the girls, having fun. I probably average two weekend crops each year, as well as occasional day crops.

Yes, Greg laughed when he read that - said "two each quarter" - lol. Ok, as I said, this doesn't include cku's, scrapfests, etc. So this year, yes, I've been to two weekend retreats so far. We're trying to pull another one together, but it seems unlikely at this time. Too bad...

oh my...

I received a slew of circle journal albums a couple/few weeks ago... but I was so busy I couldn't get to them. So this week, I cleaned my studio (wow - there really was carpet under there!) and I did a layout for one of the albums. yay!! This particular layout is for my twopeas childfree group. The theme is "My World." Doing the journaling was actually kinda fun - I don't generally enjoy that part of scrapping, but just rambling about my life was interesting. :-)


If you are actually interested (or really bored), this is the text:

My world… let’s see… My life tends to be very hectic. I always seem to be on the go. I play sand volleyball usually 1 or 2 nights a week, sometimes 3 – year round. There is massage therapy once every 3 weeks, and hair appointments once every 5 weeks. I donate blood platelets about once every 5 weeks. Other things fill the “free” days – work outings, doing stuff with friends, etc. Motorcycling takes a lot of weekends during the summer. I scrapbook year round – I go to conventions (inc. CKU and ScrapFest), weekend crops, day crops, and I scrap at home too. Not that I get lots done; I’m a slow scrapper! During winter I get to the gym more; last winter I took up swing dance. I think I’ll take classes this winter, something fun or creative. There are so many misc. events too: downhill skiing, holidays, beer and wine tastings, festivals and fairs, weekend getaways, family get togethers … I love to travel, especially cruises. Yeah baby, I love cruising. It’s the best thing ever. :-) I try to cruise every year – I’d prefer more, but I can’t talk DH into that – he prefers motorcycle vacations. I enjoy researching cruises, figuring out which one to take next, what to do at each port, etc. … My hubby’s name is Greg. We met at college in 1986, started dating in 1989, got married in 1994. He’s a great guy; I love him dearly. He keeps me grounded. When we first talked about having kids, he said 1, I said 2, we said none as a compromise! And now we back that up with “there’s no sidecar on the bike” and “there’s no back seat in the ‘Vette.” … I have a fab 2000 Corvette convertible, cop-target red, black ragtop, black interior. I LOVE it! It makes summer even more fun; it always puts me in a better mood!! And it’s hysterical when guys, particularly young ones, think they can race me. HAH! … My occupation isn’t the thrill of my life. I’m an accounting/finance analyst. I have worked as a contractor for 7 years now, there’s good and bad with that. I don’t have a lot of pressure and I work my 40 hrs/week and that’s it, but I don’t get very challenging work. But it’s all good. Greg has a plan – he’s always had the plan – for early retirement. We plan to retire when he’s 45, which is SIX years away! Woohoo!! That doesn’t mean we will never work again, it just means that we don’t HAVE to work, and if we do, it can be on our terms. So maybe I’ll have a career change! I often consider changing my career, but the things I am interested in would be a total change, going back to school, etc. And that would mess with “the retirement plan.” So no go – at least for now. … I love kitties (and cats) – I love their attitude, their independence – so yes, I have two orange tabbies that are fun, fun. They are brothers from the same litter, but their personalities are SO different! … I come from a large family. I am the youngest of 7 – basically my parents had a family of 5, then 10 yrs later my sis, then 5 yrs later me. I have 16 nieces and nephews, 4 of whom are older than me. I have 20 grandnieces and grandnephews, with another on the way. Yep, I’m a great aunt, and have been since I was about 22 yrs old. Weird family! And it’s super chaotic when everyone, including spouses, gets together. … I’ve always loved school. I attribute that to both my daddy, who read to me from encyclopedias rather than children’s books (heck – he sure didn’t want to read kids’ books!!) and my sis closest in age, who wanted to be a teacher. I have my BS in accounting and my MBA. I always scored really well on aptitude tests – I was in the top .5% of students who took the GMAT, the graduate business school exam. One of my big goals is to get a PHD or doctorate, but I don’t know what in yet. …
Each year I make it a point to do something new. I have gone skydiving, ziplining, hot air ballooning, parasailing, ridden the tallest ride in the U.S., walked inside the Great Pyramid, joined the polar bear club (jumped into Lake Michigan on 1/1/2000!), done an Iron Butt run (over 1000 miles on a motorcycle in less than 24 hours), held a stingray and a sloth, gone underwater in a submarine, snorkeled, etc. This year a Nascar driver will drive me around a racetrack, hurtling at speeds around 140 mph. … I am definitely a Pisces, two fish swimming opposite directions. I have so many opposing characteristics. I am creative yet analytical, versatile and intuitive, I like solitude and dreaming, am good natured and compassionate. I tend to see the good in everything, yet am still a realist. I adapt myself to suit those around me. … I am a Democrat – I believe in the rights of individuals and am a tree-hugger. It freaks me out when I think about the rate at which humans use up finite resources and destroy the natural environment. The sad part is that when earth finally gets its revenge on us, it will affect all other wildlife and vegetation. … I’m an odd female. I don’t like to shop (except for scrap stuff), I play poker, I drink beer (especially thick chewy dark beers), I whistle at hot cars and I love to motorcycle. I’m not fond of girly things or hanging with giddy giggly girls. MY female friends of course are cool, but some chicks I just can’t handle! I usually prefer hangin’ with the boys – I get them – they have one-track minds, they don’t backstab, they say what they mean. Gotta like that! … I hate cold weather. Even tho I was born in WI and have lived here all my life, I REALLY hate it! I’ve tried to talk Greg into moving somewhere warmer, but I’ve given up until retirement (SIX years! – but who’s counting?!), when we will probably snowbird. … I am totally a night owl. In some ways I’d love to be an early bird. I could hit the gym first thing, still get home early from work, have a nice early dinner before the night’s events. And early mornings can be so peaceful and beautiful. On the other hand, late nights are when I get things done. Greg’s asleep, the house and streets are quiet. I can get into super creative mode during the late hours. But whatever I think/say/do, it doesn’t matter. My internal clock keeps me up at night, and makes it hard for me to wake up in the early hours. … My daddy was my hero, still is my hero, even tho he’s been gone for almost 5 years now. He was the kind of guy that everyone liked; he gave folks more than a fair chance, he seldom got upset, he was understanding and insightful and down-to-earth. He always wanted to learn; he taught me that there is a huge world out there to explore. He was definitely the single biggest influence on my personality.

rockford crop retreat

I have to say, I had a great time at the Outlaws' weekend crop in Rockford. Even tho I didn't get to do any "real" scrapping, because Carrie and I worked on CKU stuff all weekend... But it was just so rockin' great to see everyone again. We all get along so well, it's always fun to see them and do stuff together.

The best thing about this particular retreat is that they make all the meals and clean up for us. woohoo!! Life doesn't get much better. lol I'm (obviously) not all that into cleaning, especially doing dishes, so baby, rock on. We just got to play all weekend. yay!

Here's a picture of our group that one of the owners was nice enough to take for us. From the left, there's Carrie, me, Bobi, Mackenzie (in her own terms, an Outlaw offspring! lol), Amy, Mary Kay, Dawn and Brie. Great group of gals!

woohoo

I am wigging out. Totally wired beyond belief. Why, you ask? Because at this time tomorrow, I'll be at a hotel in Indy, and the next day I'll be in Nashville for CKU! Ok, for some folks a scrapbook school may not be at the top of their want-to-do list, but for me - oh yeah! I'm all over that. I am SO looking forward to seeing Emily again, and meeting my dormies, esp. Becky.

Speaking of dorms... our dorm gets to perform this year! major woohoo!! The CKU staff selects only 3 dorms to perform at each CKU. My dorm was chosen for Provo 2005, and we WON. My 2006 Chicago dorm was not selected. :-( But YAY! we get to perform in Nashville this year, and we're gonna kick butt! Our dorm name is '007 Nashville - Live and Let Scrap. Yep, that means a Bond/spy theme. So we've been working on all the contest stuff. OMG, I can't wait. It'll be so much fun. And I think our badges and centerpiece will be great this year too.

I'm also looking forward to my classes, learning new cool stuff, seeing some of the instructors. And this year I'm participating in a state basket swap, so I'm eager for that. Ok... explanation... A state basket swap - each person who participates brings a basket (or other container) filled with goodies that represent their state, at least one item has to be scrapbook related and at least one item has to be food. Then somehow we exchange baskets, I'm not sure of the process for that. My gf Carrie and I are both in this swap, so we're making our baskets the same. We emailed and mailed a bunch of companies, and some very generous companies donated: Berres Bros Coffee Roasters, Door County Visitors Bureau, Lakefront Brewery, MacFarlane Pheasants Inc., O&H Danish Bakery, Wausau Paper, Wisconsin Dairyland Fudge, Wisconsin Dells Visitor & Convention Bureau, and Wisconsin Potato & Vegetable Growers Association. Many thanks to those companies!! Participants in this swap are only supposed to spend $25 (excluding the cost of the container), which goes really fast. The donations we received will make our baskets so great - we almost wish we could just exchange with each other! lol Anyway, the theme of our baskets is "Taste of Wisconsin" so Carrie came up with a great idea to make little recipe books (scrapped of course!) to include. Plus we're buying a little this, a little that, of food items that WI is known for: honey, cranberries, cherries, maple syrup, cheese curds, jerky, etc. I honestly do think our baskets will be the best at CKU, and I'm really looking forward to showing them off.

another layout done!

Oh, goodness. This was the absolute toughest topic for me. I had no idea what to use, where too look, anything. The topic - "Make Me Laugh." And yes... I do laugh. Quite a bit actually. People sometimes ask why I'm laughing. Guess it's because I'm usually in a good mood! But what really makes me laugh? Good question.

So I searched online, "funny" "funny pictures" "funny sayings" etc. I found some things that tickled my funny bone, and decided to scraplift a layout from twopeas, and picked out some cute paper... and this is the result:


And here are the tags for my previous two cjs:


And yes, I really like this picture of me!

woohoo!

another cj layout done! I was just a-zoomin' along last night, got into the "zone," stayed up until 3:45am. yikes. I loved what I was doing, loved the Bo-Bunny paper, loved the style, loved the flow. Then my late night delusions hit, making me think of another "great" idea - the ribbon on the top. hmm... the verdict is still out on that one. I actually do think it's a cute idea, but just not sure with this particular layout, it seems to make the whole thing top heavy. So I'm thinking and deciding if I want to keep the fringe or remove it.

This one is Carrie's, and the theme is "Crazy Little Things I Love." Trying to differentiate between that and "Things that Make Me Happy" was a little tough. She requested that the main color of the layout be our favorite color - as long as I can remember, purple's been my fave color. My fave shade is that beautiful deep royal purple. So anyway, this was kinda fun, because it isn't often that I get to use purple in my scrapping!

And if you can't read my crazy loves, they are: an organized studio, dark chocolate, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, dill pickles, a dual-control electric blanket, and a comfort grip side click mechanical pencil (I have one at work that I ADORE - it's so comfy in my little paw!).

layouts for outlaw cj's

I have two layouts with matching tags done for our outlaw cj group. Both LOs are total scraplifts of layouts I found on twopeas, love that site! The first is "My Happy Things," pretty self-explanatory. Used a couple dif paper lines, lovin' the rub-on in the upper left hand corner. The pic is of us in Istanbul in front of the Blue Mosque. I think the picture is appropriate since two of my happy things are Greg and traveling!

The second is "My Mentor" - anyone who you feel mentored you - that was tough for me, so I took the Daddy angle. Daddy loved bright colors, esp. red and yellow, so I had to incorporate those. He was very vivacious, so the patterned paper seemed to fit well too. The rub-ons are CK brand - love the font. The picture is OLD, about 8 yrs old, but it's so dang cute!! :-)


Yes, I whited out my info on the left tag, it was handwritten addy, phone and email. That pic is me on the bike of course! The back side of the colorful flowered tag has my info on it. That pic is from somewhere overseas, our 2006 cruise, I think it was taken in Egypt.

continuing the trip out east

Continuing on, the next day we went to Blackwater Falls State Park in West Virginia. The highlight is the waterfall, quite pretty. There are also some scenic overlooks into the canyon. However, I think as far as we were concerned, we saw prettier scenery just driving along. WV is truly a beautiful state, with great biking roads.


The next morning we visited Antietam National Battlefield. Now, I will display some ignorance as to American history. I knew Antietam was important in the Civil War, but I didn't know why. So that was why I wanted to stop so much - to try to understand the war and the times and the people better.

I was truly amazed at how huge Antietam is. Because most of the fighting during the Civil War was hand-to-hand combat, I didn't think one battlefield would be so large. And even more amazing was the number of deaths from one day of fighting here. The film they show in the museum/shop area is a bit hokey, but it really points out some facts that I'm guessing a lot of folks either don't know or forgot. The one that really sticks out in my memory - after the win at Antietam, Abe Lincoln wanted the Union soldiers to go after the Confederates, but the commander in charge didn't do so. The war continued for a couple years after this - could these years of bloodshed have been avoided?

These pictures show: an overview of a small part of the battlefield (the ditch along the left was an area of many deaths), an enlarged copy of a photo taken before the bodies were removed, a photo from very near that same spot, with the church still in the background, and the bridge where many Union soldiers died, trying to cross.

Visiting the battlefield was very thought-provoking to me. I wonder, as I had previously, how soldiers of that time could fight "like gentlemen" - march in a line while being shot at, not trying to avoid getting shot, just continuing onward. Where is the instinct for self-preservation? And how stupid (in my mind) to fight that way - what a waste of humans. Of course I also think of the horrific wounds and almost non-existent medical knowledge. And I think about families, torn in two, with some family members on each side of the war... and some families were never able to reconcile afterwards, each side thinking the other a traitor.

trippin' again

Literally, taking a trip. Not illegal (or legal) drug use!! ;-)

The last week of June, Greg and I determined that we could both take the week of July 4th off from work. woohoo!! So we bounced around ideas as to where to bike, because of COURSE we had to take a motorcycle vacation... lol. We decided to head east. Greg created a route that would include numerous roads from his fave book "The Most Scenic Drives in the United States" - which has 120 different suggested drives. And we decided to incorporate being in Washington DC for the July 4th fireworks - what better place to celebrate Independence Day than in our nation's capital?! I didn't take the time to update the blog as we drove along, so I'll post a few times this week.

July 1 - pretty boring... just shooting over to our first night's stay in Chillicothe, Ohio. Mostly interstate driving.

July 2 - DEFINITELY more interesting! We rode on two scenic roads, the first in south east Ohio, and the second in the very southern section of West Virginia. Great roads, twisty turny, just as we like 'em! Through trees, sometimes by water, up and down the mountains. WOOHOO!

In Ohio, we stopped at Hocking Hills State Park, and we hiked to the Rock House. We had no idea what it was, but we were intrigued. The Rock House was kinda cool, but I personally liked the House exterior better than the interior.

In West Virginia, we stopped at the New River Gorge National River. We apparently had already stopped there together several years ago, and Greg stopped there himself last year, but that was ok, it made for a nice break anyway. And Greg took me on an interesting road down under the bridge.




The scenic road ended in Lewisburg, WV, where we spent the night. And yes, the town was pretty interesting too. It's so dif here than out east - so few bldgs (if any) here were built prior to 1900. Out east a lot of houses are from the mid 1800s, there are some still from the early 1800s, and a few even from the 1700s. That is just so rockin' cool!

And yes, I know, compared to Europe, Africa, Asia, etc., our "old" is just a baby. But it's America's history. And that, my friend, is amazing.

quote unquote

woohoo!! A couple of weeks ago, I received an album from my twopeas childfree circle journal group - it was the first since October... that group has had some problems. So today I put together my layout for the cj. The topic is Quote Unquote. We are supposed to put a fave quote on the left pg, with words or pix that go with the quote, then do an "about me" page on the right. So here is my LO!

The bad photo of the right pg is due to the journaling being on a transparency I stapled on top of the paper and picture. It wasn't completely flat when I took the pictures, so shadowing is visible.

Over the photo, there are descriptors (is this a word? lol) for me: I AM Marcia Jeanne Skarda Miller, independent, inquisitive, adventurous, night owl, happily married to Greg, analytical, young-at-heart, procrastinator, child-free, cat lover, daddy's girl, impatient, creative.

The left and top says: I ENJOY motorycling, volleyball, chocolate, archaeology, traveling, beer, scrapbooking, warm weather, photography, theatre, friends, family, cruises, sci-fi, lilacs, gemstone rings, sunshine, 'Vette convertible.

The bottom and right says: RANDOM FACTS: I am an aunt to 16 folks and a great-aunt to 20 kids, I do something new every year, I see the world through rose-colored glasses, I am NOT a girly girl, I have been close to death 3 times.

This layout is using the Basic Grey Fusion collection - love that paper! The colors are so rich and vibrant irl (in real life).

yin yang

I am *almost* done with my layout for my own outlaw cj. I wanted to get pictures posted so the other outlaw participants could at least see what I had in mind. ;-) I still have a blank area at the left - that is where a photo of me will go, with some matching embellies.

Clean and simple, that's my style! I was definitely inspired by a pea (somebody from the twopeas board), but I'm sorry I don't remember who. Lovin' the Daisy D's paper - kinda exotic, dark yet bright.

Words/phrases, by pairs, left to right:
optimist - realist
sociable - introvert
scrapbooker - biker

Again, words/phrases, in pairs, left to right:
compassionate - sarcastic
intrigued with ancient events - uninformed of current events
creative - analytical
frou frou martini connoisseur - dark beer drinker
easy going - strong willed

These are some of my personality traits and things I enjoy that I see as opposites within myself - my yin yang.

new cj - for Outlaw group

Some of the members of the Outlaws - my local scrappin' buddies - have decided to do circle journals within our group. My theme is the yin/yang of our personalities. I thought this was a great idea, since so many of my personality traits and activities seem so opposite... creative vs analytical, biker vs scrapbooker, etc. I've been working, albeit slowly, on the "bones" of my cj - the cover, explanation/instruction pgs, etc. Here are pix of what I have done so far:

The cover.


The first set of pgs. The left side (inside cover) has 3 yin/yang quotes, the right side will eventually have the outlaw logo (I will be creating) and maybe the yin/yang symbol.



Close up of the left pg. The quotes:

The ten thousand things carry yin and embrace yang.
They achieve harmony by combining these forces.
~ Tao Te Ching, L'ao Tzu, #42, c 500 BC

The two principles of yin and yang never separate from each other,
but rather each follows the other - smoothly and endlessly.
~ Cheng Man-ch'ing

For everything up there is a down.
For every back there is a front.
There is no separate yin without yang or yang without yin.
The two are part of one whole...
~ John Painter


The next LO (set of pgs) .


Closeup of the left side - for the cj group members to sign in (on the striped paper).


Closeup of the right side - gives the explanation/instructions:

People often have characteristics that appear to be opposites, not necessarily good versus bad, just seemingly contradictory aspects of their personality. This yin yang is a big part of what makes people so intriguing and unpredictable.

Fellow Outlaws:

1. Make a 3x6 tag with some basic info about yourself, including your name, address, phone number and email address. It can be as simple or as elaborate as you want.

2. Create a two page layout. Tell me about the yin yang of your personality. It can be one thing or many things; it can be personality traits or activities you enjoy.

3. Requests: On either your tag or your layout, please include a photo of yourself and handwrite something, even if it’s just your signature.

4. Last, and definitely most important - HAVE FUN!

cruisin'

In both meanings of the word.... ;-)

Even tho it's only May, and weekends for the most part haven't been that great, we've still been on the bike quite a bit. We signed up for three dif "poker runs," to use the generic term. One ride is the Kilbourn Firebell Run for a Fire Dep't in Wi Dells: The Firebell Run is a road rally where participants have the whole summer to visit 60 individual stops across Southern Wisconsin. Participants drop off a ticket at each of the stops along the route for a chance to win Cash Prizes. The more stops they visit, the more chances they have to win! Our bike club is having its annual tour: The 2007 Circle Tour is the Colors of Wisconsin. Wisconsin has many towns with "colorful" names, so stops will be in some of those towns. There are two loops, each with 6 stops. Each loop covers approx 300 miles from the metro Milwaukee area. And third is a different GWRRA chapter's run: The Coordinates tour has 20 locations listed by GPS coordinate (and latitude/longitude). Find each location and answer the questions listed. If you count that up, it's 92 stops that we will be making around Wisconsin (most in the southern half)... we are about 1/3rd of the way done already. And to make that better, we have done the stops that are furthest away. Greg has been creating rides for us to hit these stops in an organized manner, and apparently three more day rides and we'll be done! wow!! Then what'll we do / where will we go on the bike??!!

In the other sense of the word cruisin'... as I posted, I have really missed taking a ship cruise this year. But now I have something to look forward to. We just booked a cruise for next January. Yes, it's a long time away. But yay!! I still get that happy feeling just knowing it's booked. We'll be taking Carnival Destiny from San Juan to: St Thomas, Dominica, St Kitts, Barbados, and La Romana (Dominican Republic). Altho we've done most of these stops, that's ok, they're all good places, haven't been in a few (or more) years. In St Thomas we'll probably ferry over to St John, since we haven't been there yet. And La Romana will be interesting, we haven't been there yet (we did goto Punta Cana, Dominican Rep, but it was a 4 day all-inclusive, and we just stayed at the resort). We pull into La Romana at 3pm one day and don't leave until 5pm the next, so there is plenty of time to see quite a few things, and even experience some nightlife off the ship. I'm not sure yet what we'll be doing at the other stops, but I have plenty of time to figure that out. Right now I'm just so dang excited to have a cruise booked. YAY!!! And we got SUCH a deal - we paid approx $485 pp (inc tax/fees) for a 7 day cruise. And because Carnie was offering a free upgrade special, we have the top level of inside cabin, which is currently being sold for $639 (PLUS tax/fees). And we picked a cabin that is larger than most inside cabins, which are large on Carnie anyway. Instead of 185 sq feet, our cabin is 220. But yes, there is a downside - we are directly underneath the gym - so we'll hear pounding on the treadmills in the morn, unless we wear earplugs. And then another aspect - our cabin is a handicapped room, which is why it's bigger... so then my question - if they have people who need a handicapped room - will they request us to give up our room? If yes, would they offer a better room (window or balcony) or give shipboard credits? Either way would be a win/win for us. So anyway... we'll see. We have a cruise booked, and the itinerary is great, and that's what matters!!

and time marches on

goodness, how time marches on... I can't believe how long it's been since I updated cyberspace. lol

So high (and low?) points:

I turned 40 this year. That sucks. I guess it really hasn't been the hardest bday for me - my 25th was kinda traumatic. I threw a party for myself - it was officially a volleyball party, but just about everyone knew it was for my bday, so there were decorations and a cake (Dean and Karen - I will get you back!), and some prezzies. We played vball for around 4 hours pretty much straight, then had a great chicken dinner. 'Twas lots o' fun!

We didn't take a cruise this year, and no plans to do so. I miss that!

Oh, the U.P. ski trip in Feb was GREAT! I actually skiied all three days, a first for me (due to my back probs). so yahoo! and the best part - I tried tree skiing. What? - you ask. OMG It is so much fun. Of course I had no clue what I was getting into when I followed Greg into the trees the first time. Ok - an explanation. In downhill skiing, between the runs are wooded/treed areas. Well some fools (heehee) make paths thru the trees, and then other fools (like us) go on those paths. Those paths are anything but straight, you have to weave in and around the trees. And they're anything but flat, you go over tree roots and shrubs then drop down, you go thru ditches, etc. And the path is literally one person wide, so no room to really slow down or stop. So you just go flying on down the hill, back and forth, up and down, bumpity bump, 90 degree turn, lol, doing anything you can to keep your speed down. And as I said OMG it was so fun! After I made it down the first tree run alive and uninjured, I had to keep going back for more.

My friend Carrie and I started a yahoo group for our little group of scrappin' friends - we call ourselves the Outlaws. We didn't like the direction taken by some of the other larger groups that we did stuff with, so decided to head out on our own. And it's great. We all get along, there's no nit-picking, no childish behavior. woohoo!!! Anyway a few of us went on a weekend scrapbook retreat - we tagged along with another group. It was in the Dells, and the place was great, and most of the folks were fun. But there was a definite them and us - we didn't mingle much - so we've decided we prefer to try to do our own day and weekend retreats from now on.

Talkin' 'bout scrappin'... I'm going to another CKU. I really had decided not to go at all this year. Some of the Provo & Chicago dormies were meeting up in Anaheim, but that just didn't thrill me. And the timing was bad. Etc, etc. But for some reason, I really wanted to go to the one in Nashville in August. The timing is even worse. But I LOVE Nashville, and I *really* LOVE the Opryland Resort, which is where the event is being held. So I was grumbling to my bud Emily from WA state that I wanted to go, blah, blah, but "no one" was going. That was my excuse, you see. I had to have an excuse so I felt ok that I wasn't going. So what does my gf Emily say? "Oh well, that sounds fun, let me check with dh." Oh, NO! That isn't what she was supposed to say. And of course her dh said "sure, go" and then Greg said "sure, go" So we're going. And I emailed Carrie saying how great it would be if she could go, and that I probably shouldn't ask, but could she go... and YES, she's going to. woohoo!! And another friend of Emily's is going too. So the four of us are going to be roomies, and we're starting in dorm, just gotta find a few more folks for that. So I'm TOTALLY excited, I'm going to CKU, I'm going to Nashville, I get to see Emily, I get to spend lots of quality time with Carrie, I get to meet my new friend Becky... woohoo!!!!

ok, the other kinda big news in my mind... After years of not really wearing much for jewelry - I just keep my earrings in - but I always have worn rings to match my clothes... I got a few things from a company called Lia Sophia. And there were so many cool things in their catalog. And they have a lifetime warranty! So I decided to have a party, thinking maybe I could get a couple free things. omg You wouldn't believe it. I got over $400 worth of stuff for free. And other stuff at big discounts. I ended up with $900 retail and spent maybe $140. That rocked! But now I'm totally hooked on their stuff. Which I guess is good and bad. I look more "polished" now, with nice necklaces, bracelets, earrings, etc. But I've spent more money, and I know I'll keep spending it because their stuff is so cool. lol

well... that was kind of a brief (for the most part) synopsis of the last several months. yikes. Altho it was way busier than just that - with the usual volleyball, and now motorcycling, and lawn work, and for a while I was learning swing and lindy dance, etc. Life is always interesting, I gotta say that!

making memories ROCKS!

Way back in Sept I went to ScrapFest at the Mall of America. One of my classes was with Making Memories... and they had a minor supply problem. They asked if there were 5 people who would volunteer to not have all the components of the project - those volunteers would get a goodie box from them later. Well, most of the class volunteered, so they chose names. And *I* was one of the lucky 5. Why do I say lucky? Check out the contents of that goodie box! ;D


Making Memories is well known for being very generous, and they proved it once again! The goodie box included:
12 x 12 Maddi Multipack
Page Kit - Classic Holiday
Calling Cards - Expressions
Velvet Alpha Stickers
Enamel metal Tiles - Expressions
Kraft 5x7 Mini Book
Flower Brad Accents - Maddi
3 pkgs of Just Numbers Stickers
Photo Cube Kit (which is what our class was based on)

YOU ROCK, MAKING MEMORIES!