inspired by Vermont....

Hi everyone... hope you had a great weekend?

Ready for the Presidential debate tonight? Or sick of it all? Either way, there's excitement in the air here because it's being held in our neck-of-the-woods, in Boca Raton, just down the road from us. Hoping for some SNL-worthy moments tonight, LOL !!

I was so inspired by all the wonderful fall colors and decor that I recently saw in Vermont! So over the weekend, while at the grocery store, I saw these beautiful mums {impulse purchase} and couldn't resist bringing a little bit of autumn to our Florida foyer.

Over the weekend I was also getting my new iPhone set up (thanks for all your help with that, Sal!). We (finally) upgraded to the iPhone 5... we still had iPhone 3's so we were way behind, it was definitely time to upgrade! I am loving the new HD camera (which is what I took this photo with) and I am dictating this blog post using Siri (the iPhone voice assistant) into my iPhone, directly into my Blogger app... how cool is that?!

"appy" holidays

Whew, we're already a week into 2012 !! Before we get too far into the new year I'd thought I share a few scenes of our Christmas festivities....

Sal and I had some fun with fellow faculty, staff, and grad students at the FAU Chemistry Dept's holiday party:

Santa brought iPhone 4s's to my parents, woo hoo! We all had fun downloading apps and stuff over the holidays ... I got them addicted to the Word Warp game, LOL:Buddy & Aruba had a blast opening their gifts!

Thank you, Grandma! :-)


Hope 2012 is off to a great start for you!

our anniversary celebration

I meant to post the details of our anniversary celebration sooner ... but I had such a busy Wednesday!

Sal and I began our day with breakfast at a cafe near the beach, where he gets his favorite pancakes & strawberries. We love it there, in part because we can see the ocean.

Then it was just a short stroll to the beach, where we spent hours enjoying it. Perfect weather. Warm sun. Clear water. Blue skies.

The fun continued with dinner out at an Italian restaurant on a lake, so nice. Although it was a little warm, we ate al fresco to enjoy the view and the summer evening.

That night, Sal gave me the pretty gift that had been teasing me on the kitchen counter for the previous 24 hours. Look at the beautiful wrapping that he did! And the bow is not just any bow ... it's the same fabric (shimmery white "crystal" organza) that my wedding gown was made of. So special! How did he find that???
And anytime there's a gift about to be unwrapped, Buddy comes running! He loves to unwrap (actually, I mean rip into) gifts ... he thinks any and all gifts are for him ... it's incredibly cute! So I gladly let him help me unwrap it, and eventually Aruba joined in too. Inside was a great addition to my iPhone ... a mini battery pack. The # 1 complaint of iPhone users is the limited battery capacity, and how the battery drains too quickly. This little gadget will give me hours of additional juice, especially while traveling and it's not possible to re-charge (like during a long flight). And I've been in airports where there's not an outlet to be found, grrr! So thanks, sweetheart! :-)

So we had a really nice day together ... celebrating 19 years of marriage! Love you, Sal !!!

And thanks to everyone for all of your anniverary wishes & cards ... they made our day extra special !

a RAK ... from Sal !

When Sal got home last night, I showed him the cool iPhone Life magazine that I got in the mail. I said that it must be something that they send as a freebie to new iPhone customers ... ??? ... because I didn't request it ...

He grinned, a BIG cute grin ... and then I realized ... oh, HE got it for me! How sweet, Sal surprised me with a subscription! Thank you, sweetheart! That'll be some great beach reading.

Have a great Saturday,

have iPhone, will scrapbook

So I'm getting to know my way around my new iPhone, it finally feels familiar. I learn something new every day. It's an incredible piece of technology.

Recently I used the GPS to map out all of the scrapbook stores that I want to visit when I do a "shop hop" in Phoenix during Creative Escape 2009. Way cool ! It has a powerful GPS, combining maps, turn-by-turn directions, real-time traffic info, a digital compass, and Google Earth images. WOW

Today in the mail I got a copy of iPhone Life magazine. Huh? A whole mag dedicated to the iPhone? I guess so. I didn't order it or request it, I assume they send a freebie issue to new iPhone'ers. It looks interesting, I'll peruse it this weekend.

And I'm super excited that 2 of my worlds will intersect soon ... scrapbooking, meet the iPhone! On Monday, Scrapbooks Etc. magazine is set to launch "Scrap App" (cute name) for the iPhone. It'll be the first-ever mobile scrapbooking application. Sure sounds like fun! And another developer is putting the finishing touches on a digital scrapbooking app, due in Apple's App Store in mid-August ... go HERE for a sneak peek of it on an iPhone simulator. Looks pretty COOL !!! I can already see myself scrapbooking on my iPhone while on a trip!

Enjoy the weekend (can't believe it's August!),

scrapbooking fun with Donna & Debby !!!

WHEW! What a whirlwind weekend of scrapbooking FUN! I had intended to post about it throughout the weekend, but was just too exhausted when I got home each night, sorry! I almost overslept for Sunday's workshop.

As promised, here are some highlights from the 4 workshops that I took at Cherry Blossom Studio in Coconut Creek, Florida (about 30 minutes south of me). The store has a fab classroom, with floor-to-ceiling windows allowing lots of cheery daylight to stream in, raspberry-colored walls, BIG work tables to spread out your projects on, and a flatscreen TV up front for the teacher to give her PowerPoint presentation. Slick!

Anyway ... 2 of the classes were with Donna Downey & 2 were with Debby Schuh (who'll also be teaching at Creative Escape 2009). Too. Much. Fun. (note: the projects pics here are of class samples, created by their respective teachers ... because I haven't finished mine yet!):

me & Donna Downey (if I look tired, I was!):

As a nod to the fun I'm having with my new iPhone & iPod, I just had to pick up this new "iScrap" T-shirt! It made me chuckle. :-)

In Donna's "Fabric Scrapbooking" class, we made an entire album from her new canvas & fabric scrapbooking line (by Prima). The album is a hybrid of fabric & paper, I just love it! Donna, like me, enjoys browsing fabrics and buys them just because they're pretty to look at. We played with lots of paints, and Donna introduced us to unique techniques and products to take our sb'ing up a notch ... like using gel medium and modeling paste on our pages. Here's the front cover and a few of the inside pages:

Fun stuff, right? Like I needed another excuse to go to the fabric store!

And by the way sb'ing friends ... fyi ... Donna said that she's launching a sb'ing furniture line soon. Uh-oh, MORE temptations! *wink*

getting ready for Debby's "The Places We Go" travel album class:

There along with the class kit, my distress ink, and fave adhesive, you might have noticed a bag of M&M's. But these aren't just any M&M's ... my friend and fellow CE-er Vicki kindly gave them to me (thanks!) ... they're COCONUT M&M's, yummy!!! So, if you love coconut, especially with chocolate --- and hello, who doesn't??? --- then RUN don't WALK to your local Walgreens, Target, or store of that ilk to get yours. Even the packaging is super cute ... I'm such a sucker for palm trees! They're a "limited edition", so don't miss out!
But I digress. Back to the class ... Debby modeled this project after a vintage photo album that she had. We made the cover out of Tim Holtz's grungepaper ... with some paints and distress ink, the dull, gray stuff was amazingly transformed into this:

It has the look and texture of leather, but it's totally synthetic (and you know how I'm all about being "animal-friendly"!). And it looks incredibly "vintage". Here's a sample of some of the inside pages:

Cute huh?

Here's me & Debby ... and, yes, my shirt does say "Runs with decorative scissors" ... I like to wear fun(ny) scrapbooking T-shirts to these events.

So that's only 1/2 the classes! Two more to go ...

"Bloom" by Donna was an album class with a mixed-media approach ... fabric, paint, acrylic, Glimmer Mist, etc. Loved it, especially the happy color palette ... yellow, turquoise blue, red, green. The fabrics (bold prints) that we used are by designer Heather Bailey, who's also teaching at Creative Escape next month. The incredible thing is that the album pages are all made of cardboard ... yes, as in from a box that was cut up into pieces! Here's the clear acrylic cover and a peek at some of the album pages:

OK, one more workshop to go! It was an artist trading card (ATC) class ... they are little 3.5" x 2.5" cards ... each one is like a mini scrapbook page, and they're typically put on display, hung vertically in a rotating holder, rather than in an album. This time, I did finish the project! So here are the ATCs that I made:a close-up view:
Debby gave us some great ideas for these adorable little things!

After today's workshop, Sal met me at the store and took me to lunch next door at Lime Mexican Grill. They have such fresh (!!!) salsa and some yummy vegetarian choices on the menu. What a nice way to end a fun-filled scrapping weekend!

Now I need to try to get all the paint and ink off my fingers!

Have a great week,

ArubaTube

So yesterday I decided to start playing with the video camera in my iPhone. Dang, it's so easy to figure out! ... no manual required. Love that.

Anyway, here's my first video ... of our sweet Aruba, enjoying a little time poolside:

I love that now I can so easily upload my own videos to my blog ... more to come!

Thanks for stopping by,

say cheese!

The first photo I took with the camera in my iPhone ... our furAngel, Buddy:

a rainy Monday

Hey there ~ hope you had a fab weekend!

It's a rainy Monday here in SoFla today. A good chance to get caught up on stuff "indoors" (like blogging).

Sal and I had a good weekend ... we spent most of Saturday afternoon getting our new iPhone plans set up (they finally arrived!) and ... we're also upgrading to a faster Internet connection ... finally, and thank goodness! Ours is too slow, so frustrating right? Websites are so graphic- and video-intensive now that a fast connection is almost a must. Anyway, our new connection will be activated on Tuesday and I can't wait!

We've been playing with our new iPhones ... so easy to use, right out of the box! It's such an intuitive gadget that I haven't had to refer to the manual even once. OK, I'll admit that we did attend an iPhone workshop at the Apple Store, which was a helpful overview (they offer free iPhone workshops, fyi).

I've begun building my iPod playlist ... I started with a couple of fun tunes that are always a (perfect) part of the festivities at Creative Escape (Gwen Stefani's The Sweet Escape and Natasha Bedingfield's Pocket Full of Sunshine). And adding apps is a hoot, I especially love the cool travel-themed ones like Rick Steves, Travel Channel Go!, live air traffic control tower radios ... good stuff! I enjoy customizing too ... I plan to add my fave ringtone (Lionel Richie's Hello) and some manatee wallpaper. And Sal has changed the default language for his entire iPhone to Italian (!!!) ... how cool is that?

That said, we do have a couple of complaints (gasp!) ... the clear screen protectors that we bought are, well, garbage. I'm taking them back! Anyone have a recommendation? And we wish the iPhone microphone was better ... our voices sound a bit "muffled" during phone calls. Not liking that! Anyone else experience this, and/or have suggestions? I guess no technology is perfect, but I plan to chat with Apple...

Overall, tho, we're enjoying our new phones, which left us with one dilemma...what to do with our old (ok, ancient) phones? I recently read that there are millions of used cell phones sitting in drawers or worse, in landfills (an environmental nightmare!). Instead, how about donating/recycling yours? I found a great program that makes it easy ... Cell Phones For Soldiers.

Simply print out a postage-paid shipping label, mail your cell phone (and accessories like chargers) to their recycler, and CPFS will receive the proceeds from the recycler. That money gets used to buy calling cards for troops, who can then stay in touch with their families. Everyone wins ... the troops, the recycler, and our planet.

Enjoy the week ahead ... see ya!

guess what iGot?

Sal and I had a fun holiday weekend, hope you did too! :-)

Our 4th of July was spent as planned, no glitches with the weather ... it was perfect! We played in the pool, took a nap, enjoyed fireworks at the beach.

Sunday was a more productive day, getting stuff done that we've been putting off. One of those was getting new cell phones. Gosh, I hate shopping for them (and the requisite new contract), UGH !!! Reminds me of car shopping (ick!). Nothing seems very straightforward ... so much fine print to sift through. But, an afternoon of comparison shopping led us to decide on ... iPhones! Now, iPay. *ha ha ha* No, really, we're super excited!!! We currently have cell phones that are several years old, they're electronic "dinosaurs". So, we've (finally) upgraded. Boy, we had a lot of learning and catching-up to do, technology-wise! Did you know that cell phones come with built-in cameras now? {kidding}

Actually, we don't have them yet. We chose the latest & greatest iPhone 3Gs model, which had to be pre-ordered and should arrive later this week. But I already got my SUPER-FUN lime green custom iPhone cover though!

So if you have the iPhone, I'd love to hear what you think of it? What are your favorite Apps? And any other FYI's you'd like to share in order to get me up-to-speed on my new gadget. Thanks!

The excitement of our new phones has offset the fact that Sal's Jetta wouldn't start this morning...hey, it must be Monday! But AAA Roadside got here in a flash, and we got the car to the shop.

Have a great week,