2:08 NYC bound

Can you tell I've been a bit single minded lately?
I have a zillion things on my to-do list, haven't sat down for more than 10 minutes since I got home at 2:30. But somehow I managed to find the time to make this little Daily Card/ATC and blog about it. I have to wake up in 6 hours, of course my typical MO is not enough sleep before a trip. "I can sleep on the plane" is my motto. I can never sleep on the plane. Can anyone? I had to let go of a few items on my list that I know won't happen, but my house is clean (by my standards) and I'm almost packed.

A few things on our agenda:
-Browsing through the New York Public Library
-Food and History walking tour of Greenwich Village
-Going to the Top of the Rock
-Cupcakes at Magnolia Bakery
-Xanadu, the musical on Broadway
-eating at the Grand Central Oyster Bar

With all this and more, you can see why I've been so focused.

Have laptop will travel...hopefully I'll be able to update my blog a few times.

Have a wonderful week!
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2:7 The last time I was in NYC

Getting very excited about my trip to NYC. The last time I went was the summer of 2004. That time I pretty much took the city in alone. Jimmy was on a business trip and I tagged along. While he was working, I explored. This time I'll be with my sister-in-law, who has lived in the city since the fall of 2006. A couple of you might remember my cross country trip with her.
It'll be awesome exploring NYC with a local.
In the meantime, here are just a few of my favorite photos from that trip.The architecture in NYC is as phenomenal as you'd expect it to be. I swear I had a neck ache every evening from looking up all day.

Famous Radio City Music Hall, just a few blocks from the hotel where we were staying.

A tribute to John Lennon in Central Park.

The Brooklyn Bridge.

Sitting on the Cosby's front stoop. This is the house where the Huxtable's lived in The Cosby Show.

The Ed Sullivan Theater where David Letterman does his Late Show.

The Empire State Building.

For any Seinfeld fans. The real Soup Nazi's restaurant.

The "Friends" apartment on the corner of Bedford and Grove.

Lady Liberty herself.

More pictures on my family website here.
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2:6 frantic cleaning and organizing

It took 4 hours to get one tiny coffee table that looked like this:
into this:Because, stop me if I'm alone here, once you start putting things away, isn't it just natural to filter and re-filter, move and remove, sort and weed out?

Well, as I mentioned, I'm leaving on Saturday. And my home is always the cleanest when I'm gone. It's not because I fear that if something happens to me (knock on wood), good Lord my mother-in-law will have to go thru all my s**t, (altho that has crossed my mind, I admit it), it's just that when I come home i feel so much more at ease if my home isn't chaotic. Please tell me I'm not the only one who does this. There's gotta be other people who do the same thing, right? My kitchen will be clean, the floors swiffered, and the living room will be liveable. And there will be loads of food and tangerine juice in the fridge. Because Jimmy's not coming with me (boo) and the boy won't survive on cereal alone for 6 days. Which reminds me, we're out of raisin bran.

After my 4 hour cleaning duty, I plopped on the couch admiring the maple wood table, which I haven't seen since August because that's when Jimmy's parents came over for his birthday. With such a clean table, I felt inspired, so I made a supa kute scrapbook page of my niece:
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2:5 Yes I did

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2:4 Stamp Club

Learned a background technique at stamp club this evening.Using a crinkled piece of plastic wrap, randomly stamp onto glossy cardstock using pearlized acrylic paints. Allow to dry, then brayer over cardstock using 2 contrasting or coordinating inks. Before ink dries, wipe the cardstock so the pearly paints show through (like a resist).

During club we only had time to make the backgrounds so I finished the cards when I got home. I just stamped the images in black and layered onto cardstock.


While we were waiting for the acrylic paint to dry, we made this:
A crane pocket kimono.
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Billy Bad Cat

She's an awesome kitteh. The best we've ever known. She's got an amazing personality. She's a lap kitty. She'll come when you call her. Is very loving and affectionate. She even likes strangers. She sleeps next to my head and at Jimmy's feet. She's healthy. Always uses the litter box (not some corner of the house...you pet owners know what i mean). Never gets an attitude with us even when we torture her and is just well, a very happy cat. She's 17 years old and it's my duty to spoil her for the rest of her days.
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2:3 Superbowl Sunday

I only watch the commercials so while Jimmy watched the game, I made a few things.


And I also made a new blog banner for February:

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Creative Everyday

It turns out that I enjoyed doing the daily photos and want to continue challenging myself each day in some fashion. As I wondered what I would do now, I was led to this website via Andrea, another one of my creative and talented bloggy friends. My personal "Creative Everyday" would include photography, cooking, arts and crafts, traveling, reading, writing and...I know this is stretching but it's my challenge, my way...playing Rock Band. Which, btw, I found out that my TMJ is related to wearing the guitar strap around my neck, not the actual playing of the guitar. Hurray, I'm back in the band!

So I thought I would start myself off with a month of doing something creative every day. It's the beginning of February so it's a good time to start. I won't be able to post every day but I'll backtrack and show my daily creations.

Yesterday, February 1st, so Day 1, I spent most of the day shopping w/ Phin then we went to see Sweeny Todd. Lawsie mercy that is a lot of blood. And they kept the theater so stinking cold. But I swear they HAD to keep it cold otherwise the entire theater would have started puking from how graphic it was. Not my favorite Tim Burton film. but it was fun seeing it with Phin because we were laughing so much because of how Over.The.Top the blood was. And we joked about it the rest of the night, especially at dinner. After I came home, I planned on making a birthday card for my sister in law. But I had just finished checking my mail when the phone rang and it was my cousin-in-law Andrew. And we talked for 3 hours. So technically, I didn't get to create anything, but talking to Andrew about the most bizarre things and shopping and going to the movies with Phin was, in my opinion a very creative day.

Day 2, today, I spent most of the day celebrating my sister-in-law's birthday. Since last night I didn't get off the phone till 1:30am and had to leave by 9am, I didn't make my SIL a brand-fresh-new card. I had to take from my stash. Which was this:but since I didn't create it today. So it doesn't count.
Instead I played with Photoshop:February = hearts!
Oh, and I've played Rock Band about an hour so far today, too.
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