Ahhh, fall. Our weather jumped from hot to cold in just days...And I'm loving it! I now have much more time to relax and scrap =)

My work updated its Websense service a few weeks ago - and now both flickr and most blogs are blocked at work. It's kind of frustrating, because I tend to come across blogs when searching for things that will help me out at work. In addition, when I need a break, I like to browse some of my favorite personal blogs.

Now that it's getting dark so early (4:45 ...and it'll still get earlier for one more month), it's hard for me to find some sunny time to photograph my pages. I don't like taking photos with lights on, because the colors always get messed up. So, the photos below are all a little blurry.

The first layouts are from our trip to Kauai. I can't believe that trip was a year ago...


Exploring Kauai on our first day. We drove around the southern half of the island and visited a few different beaches and sights.


Our Resort


Shave Ice. Shave ice, not to be mistaken with "Shaved Ice." The ice is shaved thinly into a big cup - over ice cream (usually vanilla or macadamia nut). Lots of syrup is poured over it. On some of the combinations, they pour cream over the top. There are about 60 flavors at Jo Jo's (one of the most famous shave ice shops in Kauai). We stopped to get this on our first full day on Kauai. On our last day, we stopped at a little stand in Hanalei (Puff the Magic Dragon, lived by the sea......) for some more.


Relaxing at the resort at night. We loved just sitting by the beach and watching the sunset


Helicopter Ride over Kauai




Where we enjoyed drinking coconuts with lime.


The grounds are gorgeous - with waterfalls, flowers, and beautiful views. The new temple is being hand constructed from white granite, which is quarried and hand carved in a village in India. . After the stone arrives in Kauai, the carving is completed. The only tools used are hammers and chisels.





Ziplining was so much fun! We went on a zipline tour on the northern side of the island. I think we did about 10 ziplines during the tour.









How we spent our last Thanksgiving - driving up the Waimea Canyon road..!


And some random other pages from the last year...


The annual slumber party !


Random Snow - In April!!!


My 28th Birthday


We flew down to Georgia to surprise my mom for her 60th birthday!


Hanging out in Augusta. My first 8.5 x 11 page. I'm trying out different page sizes and am thinking of mixing them all in a 3 ring scrapbook album.

Randomness

So, it's been a while since I've posted. I had kind of forgotten about this blog until SC asked me to post something new. So this is for her =) I've been posting photos to flickr regularly, so if you want to know what's I've been up to, it's a good place to check.

My summer has been good - busy with work and life, with a few trips thrown in for fun.

Things I've been up to include:

Visiting Rome:


Coliseum and the Arch of Titus taken from the Roman Forum


Cute little side street



Visiting Venice:


Unfortunately it rained a lot while we were in Venice



Visiting Florence:


Pretty Tuscan buildings



And just hanging out =)

How is it already the end of May??

This year has been flying by! I wish I still got a 3 month summer vacation. Anyway, the weather is so nice these days! As a result, I'm much happier and more active. I tend to scrap less when it's warm. However, I do have some pages to share that I created a few months ago. I have a few more that I need to photograph and crop.

I haven't really downloaded and sifted through my pictures in forever. However, after a busy weekend where I took tons of pictures (2 graduations , a museum, and an airshow), I think I'll need to start editing soon. Stay tuned :)


We had an extremely low-key Christmas. I used some more of my glitter on the letters on this page. I love using it, but it's so messy!


Fixing the Car: Our car failed it's safety inspection this year due to headlights that were bent the wrong way. My husband ordered new headlights , removed the bumper, and installed them.


Winter Sunset - pics taken from the deck


Superbowl 2007


Our surprise snow storm at the end of February. These pages are actually straight .


Afternoon Tea at the Mansion on O Street. This place was so much fun! There were tons of desserts, fruit, cheese, tea, champagne, etc. We'll have to go back!


Exploring the Mansion on O Street. This hotel was crazy - themed rooms, doors everywhere, tons of books and knicknacks. We had a blast exploring the mansion after our afternoon tea


Ice Storm - February 2007


Kauai Sunrise - Our first morning in Kauai, November 2006

Boring Days

I haven't posted in a while...because, I haven't really been up to that much these days. So, instead of playing catch up, I'll post a few pics. And now that the weather is getting warmer, I'm sure I'll be up to much more ! I tend to be a hermit in the winter :)


Birthday Tulips


I went "home" to Augusta in March - for the first time in over a year and a half. It's amazing how much this small town has changed. Anyway, we went downtown for lunch one day and wandered around. I know I think Augusta is so "uncool" because it's where I grew up. But, looking around now, I realize that it really is a cute place.


See those houses across the river (in SC)? Those houses weren't there the last time I was at the Riverwalk (a few years ago).


More of the Riverwalk


This is a crappy picture taken out of a moving car. However, I just had to capture this sign. Everytime I pass this church (near the airport in Columbia, SC) it makes me laugh.

By the way, if you are an Amazon user like me, turn of your one click settings. Otherwise, you may end up with 12 boxes of Orville Redenbacher Movie Theater Butter popcorn that you CAN'T return - since it's a grocery item ;-)

Scanned Scraps

The last pages I photographed came out horrible - so I decided to try scanning my next batch of pages. It ended up being more difficult than I thought. My scanner only scans 8.5 by 11.7. My pages are 12 x 12. So, I have to scan 4 times and then stitch together the images. Some of the images didn't stitch together correctly, so I would have to rescan. Anyhow, I think I'm getting the hang of it. The pages do look a lot better when scanned!


I went to Luray Caverns in November with some friends. It was a beautiful (but cold) fall day. After visiting the caverns, we stopped at a local glassmaking factory


The delicious truffles my husband gave me for Valentine's Day


Our awesome popcorn popper


Rosslyn - Pictures taken in Rosslyn before leaving my job in November


My sister and brother-in-law came to visit in December. We went downtown for a bit to tour some monuments. I forgot to stitch these 2 pages together.. They actually fit together nicely, not like they look in these 2 pics


Ringing in 2007

Latest Scraps

Some new layouts from January :) I had some trouble photographing these - they are all overexposed and full of shadows. Maybe next time I should just scan them and stitch the two pieces together.


Hilton Head Island


I don't know if you can tell in this photo, but the title (Sunrise) is made of glitter. I bought these great Making Memory glimmer kits - it's a double-sided sticky rubon. You then shake any color ultra-fine glitter on it and tap off the excess. I love these!


Hilton Head Island, September 2007
The colors are totally off on this set of layouts. The chipboard on the Beach layout is actually a deep pink.


My husband got me beautiful flowers to celebrate my new job.
I used prima flowers and brads on top of the patterned paper.


This layout is not crooked, as it looks in the picture. The background is a deep brownish red.

Talented weather forecasters...

I know, I know - the weather is HARD to forecast. It's not an exact science. There is only so much the doppler 10,000 can predict.

Anyway, we were supposed to get a bit of freezing rain changing over to rain today. What we got - snow. A decent amount of it (5 to 6 inches). We weren't supposed to get any...

When I woke up, it was falling lightly.


Around 10:30, it got heavier:



Still falling, at noon:



Days like this really make me miss Georgia!

Snow Days

Lucky kids. Growing up in Georgia, I never got to experience snow days. Sure, we had the occasional day off for flooding or cold temperatures (don't laugh!), but not many...Anyway, we had an odd snow/sleet/ice storm on Tuesday night. At my place, we got about 1 inch of snow and 4/5 inches of ice. The roads are still a mess here. I worked from home on Wednesday, but made it into the office today. I had a dentist appointment this morning and slipped and fell as I got out of my car. Oops. The plows are usually pretty good, but they didn't come into my neighborhood until 4 pm yesterday. Of course, all of that packed in ice is now stuck behind the cars. Many cars on my street have gotten stuck getting in and out. Anyway, we've gotten much more snow before (like the 17 inches when I first moved to Arlington), but this ice is the worst! Fairfax County kids are loving it , though. They got out of school early on Tuesday and were out yesterday and today. This afternoon, it was announced that they'd be out tomorrow. And this weekend is a long weekend....These kids got an entire week off!


Our side of the street doesn't get much sun. Actually, we still had some snow from the snowfall LAST week. Here is a picture of the street when it first started snowing on Tuesday. Note how clean the other side is!


Seriously, where is the snow plow? A portion of our HOA fees go toward a snow plow. Where was it yesterday? Not too much to see, but most of this was all ICE.

With the highs hovering in the 20s for the last 2 weeks, what I have been doing? Eating chocolates! My husband got me these yummy Vosges truffles that I've been craving for a while. I heard about them on the food network. They're delicious - the best chocolates I've ever had. The flavors I got include: Indian Curry and Coconut, Hungarian Paprika, Ginger & Wasabi, Macadamia and Cointreau, Anise and Fennel, etc. YUM.



What else? I scrapbooked last weekend...first time in a long time. I purchased a lot of paper in November and this was my first time using it! I also purchased a wonderful Tonic Guillotine trimmer. All my paper cutting woes are finally solved.

I've been a hermit lately, but my husband did convince me to go downtown for dinner on Saturday. Indique for dinner and Bardeo for drinks and a cheese plate. It was lots of fun, but we are soo lazy when it's cold. We were done with dinner around 9:30 and I was soo ready to be back home!

I'm definitely looking forward to this long weekend, which includes afternoon tea downtown with friends. Tea, champagne, cheese, dessert, and good friends. Sounds perfect!


I'm REALLY ready for spring....

Kauai Botanical Gardens

While in Kauai, we toured the botanical gardens. The botanical gardens actually consists of two gardens: Lawa'i and Alberton Gardens. Lawa'i was chartered by the U.S. Congress in 1964. Together, the gardens claim the world's largest collection of rare and endangered plants.

Unfortunately, I don't remember the name of most of these plants ...




The Noni Plant




This spider positions itself on the web so it appears larger than it is


Moreton Bay Fig Tree featured in the Jurassic Park movies - Allerton Botanical Garden, Kauai


This little fruit was VERY tart


Chocolate orchid. Well, it smelled like chocolate...

I had a lot of fun taking photographs during this visit.

Helicopter Ride Over Kauai (Kauai, Day 3)

My first helicopter ride was definitely not tame - it was in a doorless helicopter. I was able to get some great shots, but the motion sickness started to kick in by the end. Luckily, the ride was only an hour and I was able to keep from getting too ill.


The helicopter. Look how close you sit to the open doors....!


Waimea Canyon - the Grand Canyon of the pacific. It was carved thousands of years ago by rivers and floods. The lines in the canyon walls depict different volcanic eruptions and lava flows. This was our first sight during the helicopter tour. The canyon is on the western side of the island.





The Na'apali Coastline. The 22 mile Na'apali Coast in Kauai is amazing. It's been featured in many movies, including Jurassic Park, King Kong, and Raiders of the Lost Ark.

The coastline cannot be reached by automobile - only helicopter, boat, or hiking.


Waterfalls pictured in the Jurassic Park movies. There was a scene where a helicopter landed at the base of the falls. By the time in the flight, we had crossed over the north of the island and were making our way back south. The wind direction was working against us and I started to feel sick. I didn't take too many pics after this


Another view of the Waimea Canyon on the way back

More helicopters pics are found on flickr.