Hmmmm.... oh yeah... I have a blog.
Yeah, I guess maybe I should utilize this and get some of those deep thoughts out of my head. Or, just use it like I intended and share my latest creative happenings with everyone.
Silly Karen. Its not like you haven't been constructive or haven't gone anywhere...
You'd think that I really do live under a rock and only come out when the weather is agreeable.
Okay...I won't bore everyone with what's happened over the past 4 MONTHS!!???
I will update on what I've been up to/obsessing over/and kicking around lately though.
I am coming along on the Paris Scrapbooks. I am almost finished documenting day 8 of our trip. The big tourist day, Pont Alexandre III, the Liberty Flame, Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, and more. So I'm really excited that I see the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. I have only a few more days to capture and then I'll be completed with the project.
I am truly hoping to have it completed by the end of this year.
What's really interesting about the last few days of the trip is the lack of the amount of pictures that we took. I know it was because we were concerned about saving battery power in the camera, plus after the ninth day we were soooo tired and overwhelmed, not to mention John coming down with that terrible flu!
But as I've always said, I love all the photos we took no matter how many there are!
Another really interesting thing about reflecting on the trip is that I flipped foward in the travel journal and realized that I never completed it!
In the last few days of the journey I slipped up and never wrote down what all had taken place and I started to panic. Of course this panic was so silly because its not like I don't remember what happened - I was there for crying out loud.
But then I had a moment of clarity when I realized - oh yeah... I was going to spend the time on the flight home updating the journal - I mean, it was a fifteen hour flight - there was pleanty of time!
Now, of course I didn't know then that I would be getting sick on the flight.
Looking back I think part of my getting sick was in sympathy for John being so darn miserable, and the fact that I was exhausted. Deliriously happy and in disbelief, but exhausted all-in-all
Luckily I kept cryptic notes to help with the actual journal entries.
Sooo.. I need to go back and write in the last bit and the reflections of the trip itself, another personal task for me to accomplish before the end of the year!
One of the layouts I have been working on is the arial pictures of the city from the top of the Eiffel Tower. My idea is to put little tags on the side of the pics that show the landmarks of the city. Places that we actually visited will be in one color, while other known landmarks we missed will be in another color, more for points of interest and such.
So in order to make sure that I have the correct places labeled I've been spending time on Google Earth. Man, I love it! Its so much fun to go virtually wandering around and revisiting the places we were at.
So when I got to having trouble seeing things in my pictures; my poor tired eyeballs, I decided to fly to other places I'd been to and check in there. Again, I so enjoy peeking in on places like Savannah, Georgia and Seattle, Washington, oh and there was Rock City, Tennessee and Gatlinburg, Tennessee. It was even a lot of fun, although a little cheesy, to check in on my neighborhood. So I have successfully spent some hours there lately.
Changing Topic:
I've recently did a little baking, which turned out to be more of a failed experiement of strange serendipitous proportions. The people that I chat with everyday have already heard this story, but I'll retell it anyway.
I made a pineapple upside down cake, and after putting it on the glass platter I didn't put it on a cooling rack - and the heat from the cake shattered the platter. Scary and frustrating all at the same time.
So as upset as I was about the experience luckily my fabulous support team around me rallied my spirits and I surprisingly moved on with ease.
BUT I am planning a rematch with the baking fates! John and I have a Geek event on Saturday night, and although I will be spending time with my Mom between Thursday night and Saturday afternoon I'm going to try to squeeze in some baking time early Friday morning. I am hoping to make a creme filled Devil's Food cake that is topped with faux ganache and decorated with a lacy frosting top. Imagine a giant Hostess Ding Dong, but in 9 1/2 x 13 inch form. If I can pull it off I will regain confidence in my baking self esteem!
The Geek group will be my taste testers to see if it goes into rotation, mwahhh haaa haaa ha ha!!!!!
This is the time of year that my mind starts to turn to baking and candy making, that's when I really start getting into the holiday spirit!
So what else has been happening???
Oh, Rock Band. I have become obsessed with it!!!
It started out simply as just being a roadie/groupie for John and has now turned into my personal mini ego-fest!
I decided a while ago that I was going to try things that I'm intimidated by. So I started singing along one night during a family Rock Band party, then I tried the guitar one day when I was home alone. I started on "easy" and have now worked my way up to "medium" and am now comfortable to play with other people, and pardon me as I pat myself on the back to say, "I've gotten pretty decent at it."
Either way its been a lot of fun, and even though I get a little frustrated sometimes when I forget where and what my fingers are supposed to do - it actually relaxes me.
The only problem is that it has taken away some of my attention from scrapbooking...
oh yeah, the Paris project... Gotta get that wrapped up!
Well, its been fun catching up. I think I will make it my goal to try to put something one here more often, wait? Haven't I already said that once before??? Well, we'll see how it goes...
Have a great day!
Ren :)
