The Chronicles of Nani

Photoblog Wednesday

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:42:35 GMT

"But Mommy, you have a job!
You work for me!"

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Mon, 17 Mar 2008 22:52:10 GMT

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Photo(shop)blog Wednesday

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 17:42:04 GMT

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Monday Mug Shot

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 04:00:59 GMT

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Photoblog Wednesday

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 04:33:38 GMT

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Come on over and have a look!

A Final Move!

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 02:46:08 GMT

Okay, the Chronicles of Nani is very happy with current internet events! While I like the ease of use at Live Journal, the quality of the images on the blog is awful! The pictures on the blog are low res that you can click to see a better resolution of the pic on another page. Not acceptable when half of my blogs are Photoblogs or scrapbook pages! I really liked Google’s Blogger, but when I checked into it, it was one of those necessary to know some code t do it. As you know, time to learn code for a personal blog when I’m job-hunting is just a luxury I don’t have. But with technology, user-friendliness changes!

The Google blogs are now every bit as user-friendly and customizable as Yahoo 360 and photos on the blog look outstanding! It’s not a community with friends to connect with. I’ll still use Mash for that. But if you want a nice-looking, very you blog, try blogspot.com!

So now the home for The Chronicles of Nani is at http://chroniclesofnani.blogspot.com Please come check it out!

Due to the move blogspot, there won;t be a mug shot this week. If you haven’t seen my first digital scrapbooking kit (available to download for free) or the stunning pictures of the now rained away flocked snow from last week, check out the photos in crystal clear quality at blogspot

Okay, Now I’ve Done It!

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 05:48:36 GMT

(Freebie at end!)

This is my latest scrapbook layout taken with a fun couple of shots from last weekend. I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out...I mean the whole thing! The kit designer is Digitalegacies - ME!

Here is my very first digital scrapbooking kit, “Train, Train.” “Train, Train” also is the title of the first piece of music in my very first train show, The Railfan Intern!

I’m not figuring I’ll “go pro” with this, but I love to scrap and some of the things I scrap are a little out of the mainstream. I create elements for my own pages anyway, so why not share them? Even if there aren’t a ton of railfans who scrap out there, I bet there are plenty of scrappers who have men in their lives who are railfans, train photographers or model railroaders who could do some great layouts of their hobbies with this kit!

“Train, Train” is a combination of my original photographs and my Photoshop art. Always the producer’s brain, I take pictures when I railfan of things that would make good extras for my scrapbooks. Now this collection of authentic American freight train papers and elements is available for free download.

The kit includes:
5 weathered sold papers
5 specialty papers
2 frames
2 signals
1 crossing gate
7 flora elements
5 signs
1 train engine
1 railfan photographer

Please, if you download this kit, read the Terms Of Use - credit me in your online galleries and rather than sending a copy of the kit to a friend, please direct them back to download it here! If you do use the kit, I’d love to see your layouts! Please send me a link!

Thanks for taking a look!

Download “Train, Train”

Doldrama

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 19:00:43 GMT

Okay, remember how I told you all that I’m normally NOT a snow fan? Well, the novelty of the pretty flocked snow is gone! Actually it was gone by Tuesday night. Of course, today is another snow day. PBTZZ!

Silly snow. Where was it for Christmas? Wouldn’t that flocked snow at not subhuman temperatures have been pretty for Christmas? Instead we are treated to it to welcome in spring! PBTZZ!!!

I read a job seeker support email from one of the job boards to which I subscribe. It was a newsletter about not letting yourself get depressed or discouraged in the job hunt world. Oh, I agree with the thought completely! Potential employers can get a sign of that negativity in your voice on the phone, in person at an interview, even in the tone of your letters of interest in a position. The market is tight and there are plenty of people that are seeking, some desperately, for a job, any job. It was a pretty good cheerleader type email, one I was happy to read because I like that reinforcement now and then. Its hard to remain an optimist in the face of adversity, competition and rejection!

But the replies to that article from job seekers just killed the wind in my sails! I know it’s hard to be looking for work. I am looking for work. My knowledge is first hand! I cherish my lunch breaks and evenings because they give me a chance to do something productive or creative. It gives me the opportunity to reinforce my self worth, to show myself that I have plenty to offer. But the replies to that article were just awful! People who’d been out of work for 3 weeks crying abut how tough it is while people who’ve been out of work for over a year are blaming employers’ prejudices about gender or age for their plight. It was a giant pity-party in response to an article that says self-pity is self-destruction. I quit reading the responses after about 6 of them. I was feeling depressed reading them. I want to be a source of cheer and support for everyone I know, everyone I meet, but not at the expense of my own optimistic center!

<sigh> Sometimes it does feel good to get things off my chest. I usually do that in my personal journal, but this one effects so many that I thought I ought to speak up. The job market is awful, I mean really awful. But it’s the job market and job availability that’s awful NOT the people existing in it without a job. If you are in that job hunting population with me, know that you are strong just to be surviving. And it’s hard, but you are stronger than what you’re facing now. Remember that and present that strength of character and purpose in every interview you go to, every call you make or take and every letter you write. You’re not alone. Let that be your support. Let that support be your strength!

With a little lift at the end there, on to a few smiles with a few scrapbook layouts that reflect spring, silliness and peace. That’s what I want to share on this snowy and jobless Leap Day - HOPE!

These are all selections from my online gallery at Digital Freebies.

SPRING -

Is It Spring Yet?
Credits: Vintage Winter by Daniele Engbretson

SILLY -

Girls’ Night
Credits: Commotion On The Ocean by Danielle Engebretson, “Ian” appears courtesy of Sheri’s “Girls Night Out” CD

PEACE -

The Warm Cinnamon Swirl of a Calmed Mind
Credits: Kit - Brownie Mud Pie by Angela Sharrow, chipboard frame - Amazing by Jodie Patterson

Photoblog Wednesday

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 13:33:25 GMT

Red has a Beehive Do!

One more shot from yesterday's snow! Of course, if it was flocking on the trees and wires, it was going to fall and stick to my antenna ball, right? The height of the “hairdo” on the Red M&M, gives a great indicator of the amount of snow that fell overnight on Monday!

Flockin’ Snow!

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 00:51:01 GMT

View out front from the office window

I’m not usually star-struck about snow. Actually, I’m usually grumbly about it. But this morning, we awoke to an absolute masterpiece of God’s art!

We’d gotten about 5 inches over night. It was 30 degrees at 8 o’clock, needless to say not bitterly cold at all. The warmer air made the snow stick to everything, the trees, the wires, the world was a fine flocked masterpiece of glistening white!

It was so bright that when I took pictures out the window, I didn’t have to worry about the flash reflecting off them. There was enough light coming in that the auto-flash didn’t activate. It was just breathtaking!

The back yard

Detail of the backyard trees. It's amazing how it seems to levitate between the twigs!

The kids were fascinated by so much of the white-stuff outside too!

Kaline went out on the upstairs porch when her Daddy opened the door to take pictures. She stayed there until she was shivering before she went back inside.

Baggle preferred to park himself on my Grammy’s quilt in front of the picture window downstairs.

Monday Mug Shot

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 23:51:55 GMT

Las Vegas, Nevada

I have been to Vegas once in my entire life and still, I could write a novel based on this mug! So, I'm going to do a short Q&A session for this mug to cover a few of them!

Q. When did you go to Las Vegas?
A. May 1995

Q. Was there a wedding involved???
A. In fact there was, but not a Vegas wedding! My friend Jeff and I were going to Barstow, California, where Kelly was getting married!

When Kelly got engaged to Carl, she was excited. This was going to be the bells and whistles wedding that did NOT start off her first marriage. This was to be the send off into matrimony that would be the setting for a better future than the first time. The only thing that would twinge a littler at her heartstrings on her "perfect day" was that she wouldn't have any of her dear friends from Michigan, not even her best friend to be her maid of honor again.

She told me that she was sending the invitation anyway, not to feel obligated and she understood that I had to work that weekend. Memorial Day weekend was the big soccer tournament that I produced every year. There was no way I could just skip it. She had asked a friend from California to be the Matron of Honor in person, knowing that she had both a Maid and Matron of honor in spirit for that day.

Truth be told, in 1995, Heather had been my Associate Producer for over a half year. She had been through some of our big events and the responsibilities of the day-to-day sports coverage and she had co-produced the charity hockey game we did with the Detroit Red Wing Alumni, the biggest event the sports department had even done. I felt completely comfortable leaving the onsite executive duties in her hands for the weekend. She was a little apprehensive about that at first, but in retrospect, she felt great about how well things had gone under her direction for that big event.

After settling with Heather the details and clearing it with out boss, I put in for the long weekend off and let Kelly know I would indeed be there and Jeff was coming with me! I could hear the ear to ear smile on the phone. Her Dad wasn't able to make it out to California and she asked Jeff to give her away. She also told me that her very pregnant Matron of Honor might just end up needing a stand-in and I'd have my job after all. I did make it very clear to her that I had no qualms with not being in the position of honor. Hey, I didn't even now I'd make it until just a before the wedding!

The wedding was beautiful, outdoors with a gentle breeze that caught her veil and engulfed both her and Carl during the bridal dance. It was a breathtaking moment!

Oh, and the "Junior Maid of Honor" opted to be an interior part of the dress and wait until after the Wedding Day to make a grand appearance!

Q. So, you weren't actually IN Vegas then?
A. Oh no, we spent time in Vegas too! We extended the vacation a little, three nights at The Maxim.

Q. So, gambling? Did you play poker???
A. Well, it was long before the Texas Hold 'Em craze and my interest in it, so no, I didn't play any table games. I suppose now, I'd bring more "play money" and perhaps get into of one of the less pricey tournament. You know, the tournaments they have for tourists who won't hand over money in big sums all at once? The tournaments for those of us who prefer to give all of our money to the casino a little at a time. But on that trip I discovered video poker!

We were part of a package tour that included shuttle from the airport. When we got to the Maxim, our bags hadn't arrived to our room yet, so we went down to the casino. We sat down at the video poker machines and I was trying to figure out how to use it. I gathered from what was on the screen in front of me that I needed to put 5 quarters in it. I hadn't figured out that I could only use one to make the game work! Well, I put my dollar twenty-five in and hit the deal button. As I recall, it was hearts. I had four of them. So I hit the hold buttons for the four and hit deal again. Another heart! My first time sitting in front of a quarter poker machine, I put in the maximum bet and got a flush! Needless to say, although I tried a few slot machines, the video poker was my game for the weekend.

And the video poker was steadily good to me, too! I came out of that first evening a few quarters ahead and pretty much stayed there until Kelly met us to escort us to Barstow. After we got back from Barstow we took a little walk in Vegas. When I say a little walk, I mean five miles...one way. A Vegas block is way bigger than a common city block! And with as big as everything is in Vegas, Exalibur really looked like it was close to Maxim! We hit every casino on the way to Exalibur playing a little slots or video poker at every one of them. I bought a dollar token to take home from every casino we went to as souvenirs.

The last day, Memorial Day, I think. You lose track of hours let alone days in Vegas, we were waiting in line for brunch. As the line snaked through the video poker machines, I told Jeff I was going to stop and win the tip, how much should we leave? He laughed at me and said we'd leave however much I won. I grabbed a quarter out of my purse and said, "Be back in a minute." A few minutes later, I'd spent my quarter and won the tip. Our server got ten bucks!

We spent our last hour in the Maxim casino while we were waiting for our bus back to the airport. I still had money left, so I pulled out the stops and bought a roll of dollar tokens for the video poker machines. I was moving up from the quarters for my last hurrah. Can you say, "FULL HOUSE, BABY!"

I brought $300 with me that I'd saved to gamble away in Vegas. I came home with over $100 of it left. Like paying $300 for an event and winning a big door prize, I consider myself having been a winner on my first trip to Vegas.

Morning Musings

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 17:14:03 GMT

This is a bit Nanicentric, I know, but aren’t we all a little me-centric?

As I was combination preparing breakfast and taking grocery store notes this morning, I got to thinking about area grocery stores and how there is not just one where I can do all my shopping. This isn’t a market-size issue because I never had that luxury in Metro-Detroit either. I’m not talking about preferring fresh fruits and vegetables from a produce market or farmer’s market in season or meat from a butcher. I’m talking about not being able to buy canned soup, yogurt, coffee sweetener and frozen dinners in the same store.

Start off the day with coffee. Mmm.... This morning was the first pot of the Verona David gave me for Valentine’s Day. Interesting note on the Verona - you can buy a pound of Starbucks Verona at Starbucks... Kroger, Giant Eagle, CVS and Rite Aid! The Cinnamon Spice Splenda I prefer for a sweetener however, for that I need to go to Giant Eagle! The closest Giant Eagle to us is a few miles south. I mean, it’s a 20-minute trip to a grocery store for that one item. Kroger, of which there are several in a couple miles’ radius of our home, carries the Splenda Coffee Flavors in hazel nut, mocha and french vanilla, not cinnamon spice! I saw on the Splenda website, that the coffee flavor sticks also come in caramel, which I’d love to try but haven’t seen anywhere!

Now, I could just wait until I have a full list and do my shopping at Giant Eagle. They are the only store in this area that carries the peanut chicken Lean Cuisine, my favorite of that line, but I haven’t been able to find Creamy Latte Yoplait Whips yogurt there. That I get from the Kroger that’s the second closest to us. The closest one doesn’t carry that flavor. Of course, neither one of the Krogers carry Vegetable Medley Soup At Hand. That’s at Meijer!

So here is my request to the Toledo area grocers - Carry Nani-Food! When I grab a cart, I want to put Cinnamon Spice Splenda, Blended Vegetable Medley Campbell’s Soup at Hand , Harvest Tomato with Basil or Italian Tomato with Basil and Garlic Campbell’s select soup, Creamy Latte Yoplait Whips yogurt and Chicken in Peanut Sauce Lean Cuisine in that one cart. While you’re catering to me, make sure you have Masterpiece Barbecue Ruffles for David, Dark Chocolate Peanut M&Ms , Baci if you’re going to carry David’s Ferrero Rochers, and your should carry the Rochers, and make sure the Bananas or not green but don’t have any brown spots yet either.

:) Find me that store, and they get ALL my grocery money!

So, leave me comments! What specific items would the grocery store who wants all of your food budget carry?

Photoblog Wednesday

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:57:33 GMT

Floss EVERY Day!

Kaline takes oral hygiene very seriously!

Monday Mug Shot

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 19:00:51 GMT

This week I’m not doing the Mug Shot. My mugs are not the only ones in the house. David asked me why I didn’t do any of his mugs on for the Mug Shot. I told him because I don’t know the stories that go with the mugs he already had when I moved into this house!

I have drunk coffee, tea or hot cocoa from “David’s Cookies,” “The Cornell Homecoming” and the “Norfolk and Western” mugs, but the story from my perspective starts and ends there.

“This is David’s Mug. I brewed Peppermint tea in it yesterday afternoon. It was good.”

<crickets chirping>

Not much of a blog, huh?

So, for this week, I’m calling in a guest writer for the Mug Shot. He is a professional writer, owner of this mug and the wonderful man who shares his address with me! Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you David!!

Monday Mug Shot

“Constitution State Special”

Full 360º view of mug

On May 3, 1990, I was a guest of Conrail -- along with a whole bunch of other Connecticut media and businesspeople -- for a marketing/promotional train ride between Hartford and Danbury, Connecticut via New Haven. I was a reporter for The Middletown Press, a small-city daily newspaper, at the time and while my primary coverage area was in the lower Connecticut River valley, I also covered the occasional rail-related story. At the time, Conrail provided freight service to several shippers along the Connecticut coast and was the only interchange connection for the Connecticut Central Railroad, which operated in the Middletown area, so my work angle for the trip was to interview people about Conrail's future plans for those areas and how it and Conn. Central were getting along.

The fun part, of course, was just riding the Conrail business-car train, known officially as the Office Car Special, on a route that included some "new" mileage for me -- the line between Derby, Conn., and Danbury. At the time, a bridge over the Housatonic River at Derby that had been damaged by flooding some years earlier had just been repaired, and Conrail had begun running big freight trains over that line again after an extended period of relative dormancy. The highlight of the train for a lot of riders, me included, was the "theatre car" at the rear, which had a big plate-glass window and staged seating from which one could watch the miles roll away down the track.

Among the sights to be seen from that window were the occasional railfan photographers who showed up to document this fairly rare move. While I photographed the Conrail business train on numerous other occasions, being on board prevented me from getting many pictures of this particular Office Car Special, and never on the Danbury line, which Conrail sold off at the end of 1992 to a shortline railroad. But I did get this nifty coffee mug as a souvenir; I would later learn that Conrail had a whole bunch of those blue mugs with the train around the bottom, but the lettering was specific to this trip.

-David, guest blogger

Games Night

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 04:25:05 GMT

Here is my latest scrapbook page. I'm trying to get them all up to date. One great thing about digital scrapping is that I can go out of order to do layouts for challenges, or just because I don't feel like ding a Christmas layout tonight! This is Games night in March 2006, inspired by an advertisement in a challenge on one of the digi-scrap sites.

credits - kit - Thank You by eirene_na70, scrabble tiles alpha by Lauren Bavin (available for free at Digital Scrapbook Place), Earwig Factory alpha by Marie Stones at freedigitalscrapbooking, Other elements scanned from my paper collection

Mugblog Tuesday

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 03:27:09 GMT

“Coffee?? I thought the picture on the mug meant there’d be a BIRD in it!”

Yeah, “mugblog” is all about Nani was too busy yesterday to post the Monday Mug Shot! So this combines the photoblog and mug shot for a Tuesday posting! Thank you, Baggle!!

The NBC Sports mug was the regular coffee mug at work when I was the Sports Director at Omnicom Cable in Michigan. As a cable sports producer, the bulk of the programming we did was high school sports for our three area schools. The NBC Sports mug was part a giggle, part a delusion of grandeur and part inspiration. When the student athletes were in the studio for some other school business or for public access programming, they’d ask about the mug. I’d tell them that it’s always important to do your best in whatever you’re doing, but always have another goal to work for too. They generally thought that was “cool.”

Of course in the office I claimed that our production truck had the very same colors, just in stripes, not peacock feathers. I was going to grow into an NBC job! I cited that when I had a Chevrolet Monza, I claimed it looked like a “baby Camaro” and would one day grow into a Camaro. I was driving a Camaro by then, so it added support for my NBC claim!

Well, as I’m sure you know, I’m NOT working for NBC Sports, but I did fly out to Topeka Kansas to interview for a creative services job for the NBC affiliate there, airport sign with The Peacock and my name on it and everything! Now, that mug still brings back wonderful memories about a job I really loved, great people I enjoyed working with and the kids, who are adults and out of college by now, that I had some small part in giving a base from which to grow and succeed.

A Little of This, A Little of That

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 19:04:03 GMT

For those of you who are new to The Chronicles of Nani, I have a habit of collecting ideas for short blogs on my desktop and every now and then will do a "multi blog" with a few of them. As a rule I don't b log at work, which includes that while I am not working right now, I am a 9-5 job seeker. That has its own frustrations that I usually unload on my personal journal. Something about putting pencil to paper that is great for vaporizing negative energy!

I will sometimes blog at lunch when I'm home though. Part of controlling that frustration is making sure I take normal breaks, eat a balanced diet at normal intervals and put the whole thing, frustration and all away at the end of the day. That does a lot to keep the peace at home too!

So here is the current smattering of little things that have been on my mind and my desktop!

QBz

Thanks to Skunk Studios for the wonderful method of honing my multi-platform skills! Many evenings you can find this Mac girl typing away on a Windows-driven PC! It's not what you may think, though!

I am not a "Mac-Nazi." I am a realist in the platform wars. One has to know their way around a windows system in the larger percentage of jobs in the professional world. IBM beat Apple to the finish line. I remember the line at the end of The Pirates of Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs says to Bill Gates, commenting about his taking shortcuts to get his platform to production, "ours is better though, it's a better OS". Gates replies, "It doesn't matter Steve, it just doesn't matter!"

That's still true today, Gates won the argument and the meat of the market, American business. If you are going to be in business, you have to know Windows, unless you are in graphics. That's the main user difference between the two. Macs make better graphics and artsy stuff. Windows is better for gamin, especially online gaming. Kinda like Macs make 'em, Windows play 'em. I advise friends who are in the market, that if they are into gaming, go windows, but make sure the virus software is kept up to date!

Mac is a more solid platform. I don't spend money constantly updating virus software and the only Mac I've ever known to get a virus has been one that my Mom had. She opened on email in Softy Windows and it infected the whole Windows side of her partitioned hard drive. When she rebuilt, it was without the Windows program. My Grandma uses her computer for email, instant messaging and looking at photo intense web sites for quilting. She uses a Mac. That only makes sense! Besides, Macs are much more user friendly. Mac was a lot easier to learn how to use when she got her computer in her late 70s!

But this blurb wasn't supposed to be about Mac vs. Windows! This is supposed to be about QBz! So, QBz means I get some Windows time at home. I'm usually using Word or Firefox because QBz is on the Mac!! Although Windows are better for games, QBz plays fine on the Mac and David's older computer is too slow to keep up with the game. Of course, I can't do scrapbooking or make a movie on his computer and R2D2, my space heater, is next to the Mac, so I get cold, BUT David is a QBZ addict! I'm serious, he plays the "Game of the Day," competing with other peoples scores that are automatically posted online. It brings out the competitive animal in him!! He'll sit in front of my computer, finish 4 rounds of a ten round game and start over because he didn't get a bonus for a round. It's a sad disease. But, I have to support him on it. I HAVE to. It's my computer, my game. What's worse, we only discover the "Game of the Day" when I rebuilt my hard drive last week. It made him MORE competitive with the global high scores. I am his enabler, his pusher. I'm so ashamed. ;)

But, I get to learn new things about windows that I can chat up recruiters about!

Dark Peanut M&Ms

My new favorite pick-it-up-at-the-gas-station candy! This started at Christmas. When I was shopping for candy for the Fabulous Dessert Bar, of course, anyone that knows me or has read any of my blogs knows I HAD to have M&Ms! My favorite is…was…almond. I have loved the almond M&Ms since they first came out. This past Christmas, I bought dark chocolate peanut to add some variety to the M&M bowl which had milk chocolate and almond as well. (I put the mint ones separate in glass cups)

My goodness, what a GREAT choice to mix things up! I'd tried the plain dark chocolate ones, but I'm more of a milk chocolate fan. But the dark chocolate peanut M&Ms are AMAZING! You can find them in the Valentines Day colors, in big bags or in regular M&Ms bags. This may very well mean they are NOT a limited time deal, like the purple M&Ms were. So I'm not going to say, "Get them while they last." I'm encouraging everyone to get them SO they last!

Scrapbook Pages

I'm going to start showing off an occasional scrapbook page. I do the Mug Shot every Monday, Photoblog Wednesday and Friday By Request if I get a request, so I really don't want to schedule a "Scrapbook Day." I will make a point to post layouts that I'm proud of.

My friend Barb, from the Yahoo 360 Chronicles got me started on this. She has been doing her scrapbooking in the digital format for quite a while. In 2006, she did a page with a picture David took of me in New York. She really liked the photo and she did such a nice layout for me. I was honored that she chose that photo and put it on her blog!

Last summer, I got into it. My large bookshelf has photo albums and scrapbooks on it. The first couple shelves are straight photo albums. I started adding headings and caption handwritten on scraps of paper and they slowly morphed into scrapbooks. Now my paper scrapbooks have morphed into digital ones.

One of my 2008 goals is to get my scrapbooks caught up. At the end of last year I had JUST met this guy named David! Yeah, that David, the guy who shares his address with me. I'm a little behind. Well, I started this year going digital with my 39th birthday, July 2005. Kaline wasn't even born yet! I'm now done until just before Thanksgiving. I am 39 years old. I've admitted to David that I had fallen in love with him, we found Kaline, we've taken Rina to see her first up-close train and David's met my Aunt from Italy!

Shutterfly will print 12X12 scrapbooks up to 100 pages. The cool thing is, I can use kits I already have and do challenges in the cyber-crop clubs to earn more for free. So, with my digital camera, I can keep working on the books and store them in my hard dive until I'm back to work and can afford to get the books printed. I can NOT afford scrapbook supplies and printing costs for the paper books right now! I also think that the pages I do on the computer look better than the ones I do by hand. Well, I have a background doing graphics for TV and I flunked scissors in kindergarten. The digi-cropping is more in my nature!

So here are a couple of my latest layouts:

click image for a better view

This layout is called “Why I Scrap,” I know, ingenious title! The kit I used is called “Flyin’ High” by RCMama Designs. RCMama is Sherrie and she is my boss of sorts. I am on hr creative team! Being on a creative team is basically making a number of layouts using your designer's kits and you receive them for free. It saves you a couple bucks and makes the designer a few more sales, hopefully. If your designs are good ones they promote the kit! Right now, Sherrie’s designs are freebies as she is just getting started as a designer. It’s also my very first creative team spot, so we are helping each other build a reputation! There are 4 total artists on her team. Ideally, in the future this relationship will mean she can begin to sell her kits a and I could join additional creative teams and get a few of those 5-10 dollar kits a month. You have to apply for the CT spots just like you do for a job, so I’m building up my portfolio! :)

I do know I enjoy the creative challenge and the challenge of meeting deadlines (Oh, God, I miss working a real job!) But, I also know that RCMama Designs are some really great products for digital scrapbooking and I love that I can be part of the promoting team at the ground level. If you do digital scrapbooking or if you know someone who does, check out Sherri’s blog for some incredible freebies...while you can still get them for free!

My second layout today is called “Who’s On The Button?” No kit on this one, it’s all my design and David’s inspiration.

click image for a better view

I’m not a fan of buttons as scrapbooking elements, paper or digital. That’s just my personal preference. I don’t use them. Well, there was an element challenge with a nice freebie for a prize for posting at Digital Freebies http://www.digitalfreebies.com, the site where all of my layouts are posted first. I’ve been there the longest and have participated n the most challenges there. For the element challenge last month, it was “use big buttons in your layout.” ARGHHH!!!

David takes a moderate interest in my hobby, well a supportive interest. He is not a scrapbooking fan like I am a railfan, but the very fact that my man is casually interested in my scrapbooking is as widely admired by the scrapping gals as his railfan girlfriend is by the train guys! When I voiced my stress at having to use buttons in a layout, he asked if they had to be a particular kind of button or could I use an interpretation of button? I have such a great man! He suggested The Button, as in poker, and even let me scan his chips and card for the layout. The result was a great layout that gathered lots of positive feedback at the site!

Photoblog Wednesday

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 15:43:24 GMT

Baggle and Kaline
They make me feel all cozy and sleepy!

Monday Mug Shot

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 21:56:53 GMT

The Broadway Dinner Train
Nashville,Tennessee

Mom and I had dinner on the Broadway Dinner Train at the end of our 2-week tour of the south in 1989. She and I had taken off in my Camaro for our journey in October. When planing the trip, we decided where we’d go and our routes. We decided that we would choose two cities to be our “spoiling destinations.” We stayed at the nicer hotel and went for some really nice dinners in Atlanta, Georgia ad Nashville.

The trip took us to places in the south. We spent the night and saw the sights in Lexington, KY; Chattanooga, TN and Atlanta, GA on the 1-75 from Detroit. Then we went west to Columbus, GA, making stops at Andersonville, Americus and Plains on the way. After Columbus, we crossed the time zone line into Alabama where we visited Birmingham, Cullman and Huntsville before heading back into Tennessee where after a stop in Lynchburg, we made our last Southern stop in Nashville.

In Nashville, we visited Music Row and went on a bus sight-seeing tour. We also went to the Country Music Hall OF Fame where I learned about the longest song title ever in the Billboard Country Top-Ten, “I’ve Got Tears In My Ears From Lying On My Back Crying My Heart Out Over You.” Also, since it was our final “big spender stop,” we stayed at the Sheraton Music City! On the first of our two nights there, we ate at the very nice hotel restaurant where we were attended to by David, one of the many fantastic Southern Gentleman who absolutely spoiled two women traveling together! I mention David specifically because when we were in the restaurant the night before we left, he sent a note to our table, not his that night, thanking us for the generous tip and wishing us a safe trip back to Michigan! The tip was not overly generous, but it was well-earned. His note made us even more sure it had been deserved.

The reason we found ourselves back in the hotel restaurant the next night was dessert! After a wonderful meal, we were too full for dessert, but at the Sheraton restaurant, in 1989 at least, dessert was a pay one price full dessert bar spread! (Yes, that FABULOUS dessert bar was the eventual inspiration for my Christmas tradition!) We resolved that the following day, we’d go very light on lunch and after our planned dinner return to the hotel restaurant for the dessert bar!

Dinner on that last night was out pre-planned trip on the Broadway! Dinner train dining is an elegant evening with usually at least three-star food on fine china with a fairly strict dress-code. The meal itself is an experience! This was our second dinner train of the trip, having enjoyed hobnobbing with the Metro Atlanta upwardly mobiles on the New Georgia Railroad.

The one thing that set the Broadway above the New Georgia was the scenery! The track ran along the Cumberland River for most of the trip with the lights of Nashville shimmering around it. Dinner trains seat four to a table, so if you are a couple, you usually end up sharing a table with another couple. We shared our table with a man who was treating his wife for her birthday.

After the meal, it was retiring for a while to the dome car to watch the lights and enjoy the train ride. We also chattered about the great two weeks and lamented that they were coming to an end. It was also talking in anticipation of the dessert bar we’d had salad lunch to prepare for! I tried the chocolate cake and the cheese cake and, I confess, had a full lice of the pecan pie and went back for seconds!

The Broadway mug is a wonderful memory of that trip with my Mom, an elegant evening that ended with a to-die-for dessert experience and notching three new states onto my traveling journal!

What Do You Have To Say? - Tools of My Trade

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 19:42:09 GMT

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Word and Photoshop!

Test entry

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 04:54:58 GMT

this is a test entry. I want to see if I can add a picture...

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Now... A link!

Alexis Kaline - My World

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Okay...only thing I'm not nuts about is that my Firefox spell check doesn't seem to work when I'm editing. It sill shows something misspelled, but I can't access the dictionary with a right click on my windows mouse for my Mac. I can deal with that.

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