For the Art of it ...

Marin Girls' Trip Project

Here are a few pictures of the girls' trip I took with my Mom and sister in May of 2008.  

Yes, I am that far behind in my scrapbooking projects ... tee hee, but I know that some of you are too and you know who you are!

Front cover

Inside front cover ... journaling the upcoming pictures

Stop 1 ... Timeless Treasures in San Francisco where I picked up several letters that are yet to be hung up in the house.  Yes, they have been laying around for two years and I am okay with that ...

Stop 2 ... Heath Ceramics where Mary Jon picked up tiles to use on her back splash.

Stop 3 ... Downtown Marin with an awesome view of the bay.

Stops 4 and 5 ... San Anselmo where we hit a couple of garden centers and antique stores.

Back cover ... a beautiful ending!    

   

Yosemite Trip ...

Sorry for the long absence in blogging, but I have been a little busy around here lately.

I haven't been doing a lot of card making or traditional scrapbooking, but I have been playing around with journaling, painting and other crafty projects and really enjoying learning new techniques.  I haven't taken pictures of anything recently, but will try to get some of the projects that I have been working on posted next week.

During my absence, I did turn the big 4-0 and I still can't believe that I am forty!  I have been working on my forty before forty goals and I still have quite a few left ... so some of my girlfriends decided to help me knock a few off my list.  First up was a trip to Yosemite ...

Here is shot that we snapped using the timer ... turned out pretty good, don't you think?  Can you believe that I have lived in Northern California for almost 6 years and haven't been to Yosemite yet?  Well ... another item is crossed off the goals list; however, the list is being updated for 45 before 45 and a lot of them are fairly ambitious ... can't wait to begin tackling some of them beginning next week.

This weekend I am headed to Santa Cruz for a Women's Retreat with my church.  The theme of the retreat is "FOCUS" and the good Lord knows that I need me some of that ... don't we all ...

 

My Move into Boston

This morning I got up around 9:30 and pack up all of my stuff in order to move from Woburn to downtown Boston for my next round of work. 

Before heading into the city, I finally found a laundromat that wasn't quite as scary in Reading and did a load of laundry.  Man, I didn't realize how expensive coin operated laundry is these days ... $3 per load of wash and $0.50 for every 8 minutes of dryer time and it takes approximately 24 minutes to dry a couple of pairs of jeans. 

 

While I was waiting to laundry I completed my Bible study work using the NIV Bible on my Kindle and boy, I forgot how big of a pain it was to use in this application.  So, next stop was Barnes and Noble for a NIV Thinline Bible and tabs.  It is a perfect size to keep with me in my purse ... cool, huh?

After a quick drive through at the Dunkin Donuts for coffee and a muffin, I headed into the city.  While it is only about a 15 minute drive, it seems like a world away.

I am staying at the Intercontinental and got a great city view as I am on the 10th floor.  Here are a couple of pictures of my room ...

 
Pretty cool layout, huh?  The bathroom is right behind the bed and there are sliding doors that allow you to have the city view from the soaking tub.

The super modern bathroom with marble countertops ... tub is on the right hand side, while the all glass walk in shower is behind the door and next to the commode.

The soaking tub so that you can see the pass through into the bedroom.  Pretty swanky, don't you think?

Tomorrow I have a couple of appointments at the spa for a hot stone massage and then a deep cleansing facial.  Can't wait!!  

Absolutely Everything to Rockport

I spent the morning in bed ... and loved every minute of it.  It was heavenly!

I finally drug myself out of bed around noon and made my way to Dunkin Donuts for coffee ... yum!  Then I pointed my car towards Topsfield in order to visit the infamous Absolutely Everything.  This is the largest scrapbook store in the New England area and is a must see!  I spent a couple of hours browsing through the store and I picked up a few things ... okay ... more than a few things.  They had a ton of the new CHA items, a wall of Prima flowers, loads of product from my favorite companies (7 Gypsies, Graphic 45, Jenni Bowlin, Webster's Pages, etc.), racks of stamps and inks as well as a library of all of the new idea books, including Tim Holtz' Compendium of Curiosities.  I purchase a copy of this book as well as a couple of books on visual journaling as well as a lot of journal spots and stickers for a couple of projects that I want to start.  Here are a couple of pictures that show some of the stamps and inks they carry:

 
Lots of Tim Holtz stamps, but none of them went into my basket  ... aren't you proud of me?

 
The wall of inks, washes, mists, smooches, etc. was amazing!  It ran most of the length of the store and it was quite a large store.  I actually found a blender pen which I have been looking to find for about the last 3 years.  Score!

After checking out and putting my purchases into the car, I headed up to Rockport.  It was an absolutely quaint seaport village.  Here are a couple of pictures to show you how very charming it was ...

 
This barn-red shack is known as Motif No. 1 and it said to be the most frequently painted and photographed object in town. 

 
I believe that these cages are for either lobster or crab, but they are significantly smaller than the cages on Deadliest Catch.  It was really neat to see a typical New England fishing village and especially at sunset.

Cafe Escadrille Take 2

Okay ... have you ever so enjoyed a restaurant while traveling that you just have to go back the next night?  Well, Cafe Escadrille is one of those restaurants for me and I believe that I enjoyed night 2 even more than night 1.

Laure, Deanna and I headed out to dinner after an extremely busy day of consumer research.  Stephan once again met us at the door and escorted us into the Gourmet Dining room where Lynn once again waited on us.  I actually tried Escargot Bourguignonne ... which is French Helix snails in Burgundy butter and served with garlic bread.  Can you believe it ... snails?  Laure took the picture below of me after I had consumed the first snail of my life ...

 

It is definitely an interesting food to try ... I really didn't like the texture as it is slightly rubbery and similar to clams, but the flavor was wonderful.  Definitely a new food group for me and one more thing that I can cross off my to try list ... yeah!

Tomorrow my personal time in the New England area begins and I can't wait!  I plan on heading to Absolutely Everything to check out its scrapbooking supplies prior to heading to the coast for a fun day of shopping and photography.  So, I guess I had better head to bed ...

Cafe Escadrille

Today was a fairly light day of testing, so Rhoda and I took off and did a little shopping. 

First up ... Barnes and Noble where I picked up a lot of magazines for the vision board that I am going to begin working on this weekend.  I want to develop my next set of life goals and what better place to do it than a luxury hotel in snowy New England.

Next up ... Staples where I picked up a package of large envelopes, colorful pens and scissors that will be used in the vision board work.

We stopped for lunch at Legal Seafood where I had an amazing Crabcake Salad that was super yummy and Rhoda had Scallop and Mushroom Ravioli.

Then we headed back to the agency to taste the next set of wines and do a little light work.  I actually finished up a report that has been on my desk for over 2 months and boy, did it feel good to finally get it done.

As a treat we headed to Cafe Escadrille in Burlington and had an amazing dinner.  We were met at the door by Stephane Colinet who was the Gourmet Dining Manager and were escorted to our table in the Gourmet Room ... amazing decorated and only one other group was in this dining room.  I had a Pizzaiola New York Strip ...

and boy was it delicious.  Rhoda and Deanna split a Roast Rack of Lamb and it will definitely be the dish that I have the next time we head to this restaurant.

For dessert, our amazing waitress Lynn cooked Bananas Foster tableside and it was super cool.

If you are ever in the Boston area, this restaurant is worth the drive.  But be prepared to drop some serious dough for this experience ... but it is so worth it!!

A Visit to the Summer Shack

After spending the entire day locked up in the back room at the testing agency, we headed into Boston to have dinner at Jasper White's Summer Shack. 

 
The portions were very large, the atmosphere was hopping and the music was really loud ... it would be perfect for a family vacation adventure, but wasn't the right mood for a winding down after a long work day.

Tomorrow is back to the agency for day two of the study ...

Beyond Boston ...

I flew into Boston yesterday afternoon and spent a few hour touring the coastline north of the city.  I ended up in Marblehead ... a quaint little town with some really fun shopping.  I didn't purchase anything beyond a coffee and donut at Dunkin Donuts, but had a fun day nonetheless.

I managed to take a few pictures from one of the beaches along Atlantic Drive ... love the beauty that this rugged coastline possesses ...

 
Today I slept in until 10:30 EST time and finally got out of bed to take a phone call from the office.  Around 2 I headed to the agency where we debrief about our upcoming study ... nothing too fun to report there.  Afterwards, we headed out to dinner at a place called Angelo's in Stoneham ... great Italian food, good wine and awesome conversation.  Great way to start a 10-day work trip!! 

Oakdale Adventure

Today I set my Garmin to Oakdale and did some real damage shopping at one of my new favorite shops ... I Love Paris.  If you haven't been to this shop and you leave in the area ... run, don't walk to this amazing shop.  I purchased several Christmas gifts today as well as a few baubles for me ... I will try to take a few pictures of the items that I can show you and post them tomorrow.  I can't you show you everything that I purchased as I bought multiples of one or two items as Christmas gifts and you never know who in my family is reading the blog.  However, I can show you a few pictures of the store and some of their goodies ...

 I also hit a few antique stores in Oakdale as well as Salida ...

 
The picture above is from a precious little store off of Tully road.  I didn't get the name of the store, but it was in the back of someone's home and only opened the third weekend of the month from what I can figure ... darling place!  They even had a ton of pumpkins in the front that I couldn't resist snapping a few pictures of ...

I also hit Nasco and picked up some new art supplies for a couple of projects that I have been noodling over the last couple of days.  Maybe tomorrow I will get started on them after church ...

"Art" in the City

Okay, here are a couple of photos of the art I found on the sides of buildings on my recent trip to the city.  They are definitely colorful as well as inspirational, don't you think?

 
 

And here is a picture of "interactive" art that we found and couldn't resist ... Petra and Ms. Aprilia!