Today

Well, "today" started out with the first 3 hours (yep, midnight to 3 a.m.) at the Old Mill Playhouse movie theater in The Villages to see the 3rd Twilight movie, Eclipse. I not only took Andrea who met her friend Alexa, but I joined about 35 faculty and staff members from my school. Although the movie got started late because it was so crowded (sold out, all 1200 seats) and some technical glitch, it really was fun and I'm glad we did it.

However, thanks to the 40 minute drive home and of course I couldn't fall asleep right away, I got to bed about 4:30 and then back up again at 8:30 for McKenna's eye doctor appointment. (Which went great - although McKenna was disappointed, I was not; she does not need glasses.)
Actually, all in all I'm doing pretty darn good and even have been working on some "digital education" this afternoon. (of course that is because I have neglected ALL household responsibilities and the girls have been entertaining themselves since Alexa is here visiting).

For now, please try to imagine these cut in half and folded. These were created with "digital paper"and a digital card template. Not a big deal really since I can make these with real paper!

These however, for me, are a real treat because it means I can design cards using my own photos. (again, my apologies, try to imagine these cut in half and folded).

Now the next step in this "great plan" of designing my own cards is I'm going to have these printed at Staples. I'll let you know how that goes. I just can't imagine printing these at home.
Love to all,
Melle

Surprise Grandma!

Well, we schemed and plotted for weeks, we meet in secret at a local diner, told a few little white lies, but we did it! Friends and family came together to give one very special lady a surprise birthday party.

We waited...

We surprised...


We hugged...


We ate...
We drank...

and we ate some more...

Some swam...

and swam...

and swam some more...

Some danced...

and danced...

and danced some more...

We ate cake...

and played "cornhole"!!!

We gals, Connie, Melle and Lisa became closer friends

and helped a whole bunch of people celebrate their love for one wonderful person.

Happy Birthday Gail! We love you!

Photos - so valuable; Journaling - so important

I just wanted to share a few observations I've made about photos and journaling in the last few days.

• well, while looking for a "daddy with daughters photo" to post this past weekend for Father's Day, I realized I really don't have any photos of them together - how is that possible?! I have two cameras in this house and I'm snapping and downloading and editing photos all the time, how is that possible?! So that is something I want to improve on.
• then, while looking for a "wedding photo" to also post this past weekend in honor of our anniversary, I was reminded how I have NOT scrapbooked my wedding photos yet (I know, I know!) I realized two things! One, I didn't have a wedding photo "handy". I mean, I do have one 8 x 10 framed in the hallway, and I found a 5 x 7 in a smaller frame, but the photo is stuck to the glass. Second, I found a lot of photos with guests at the wedding that I forgot were there! Isn't that awful?! Only 18 years ago, and I truly forgot who was there! Oh my gosh, I've got to get these journaled.
• on a good note, my mom and I (thanks mom!) are now going through some of her childhood photos (which have been in a box) and are now scanning them and journaling their stories. Of course the dates of these events in the photos are important, but I find myself wanting to know, who took the photo? was there a theme for the birthday party? what flavor was the cake?
• my mom has also found some of my childhood (and teenage) photos that I thought were long lost, so I'm glad to see them, but that has brought up some interesting things as well. One, it's weird how you might have photos of people you still really don't want to see anymore; some photos of people you really miss and are so grateful you do have a photo of them, even if it is blurry or in an odd camera angle; and some photos still remind me how poor my memory is!! Let me tell you, there are two photos of some fella holding my hand and I don't even remember who he is or the event he would of been with me!!! Holy Cow!!!

So I say to you.......TAKE those photos!!!!! They will be so important one day and, JOURNAL!!!!!! Please, really. Journal the cool little stuff like how much did that new outfit cost; was there a special place you bought it or was it for a special reason; mention what flavor you loved for birthday cakes, did you make them or did you only buy them from one favorite place; pictures of the house you or your children live in and take them often and in different seasons. We Googled my mom's house in Bethesda, MD and although in many ways it was the same, in so many ways it really looked different now.

And yes, please feel free to help hold me accountable to my own advice!!!!
Just think, many of you are my closest, closest friends and do I have a pictures of you and I together?? I know, we don't want to right now, but one day, I will cherish these memories and our times together so very, very much.

Love you!!!
Melle

Happy's Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to the best daddy I know!

And Happy Anniversary to the best husband in the world!

Can you believe it? Eighteen short years ago, on this day, June 20th, we said "I do".
And now look at us, still bringing out the best in each other and two beautiful daughters later;
Thank you God for all my blessings.

The Wizarding World

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter opens today at Universal's Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Florida. The little girl in me wishes I could be there; the 20 year old in me probably would be, but the old lady in me is happy I'm not.....too, too hot today and too, too crowded!

However, I thought I'd post a few of our wizarding pictures from the past that I remembered I had:
This was taken in 2005, McKenna was 4 and was trying on mommy's Professor McGonagall's costume.
Too sweet.
And here is me, Professor McGonagall, in 2006 at our annual Book-a-ween parade. ("Harry" was one of my favorite 2nd grade students).

So all you wizards, witches and muggles out there, may you have a magical day!
Love,
Melle

In the zone - woohoo!!

Maybe it's because my day started with my very first pedicure (which was AMAZING), I'm not sure, but this afternoon, I was totally able to get in the zone and finish a canvas piece requested by my mom and two more I've been wanting to finish now for about a month.

My mom's high school has a reunion coming up and her former journalism staff is especially looking forward to getting together and want to honor their journalism adviser. Well, naturally when they found out that my mother was still a practicing artist they asked her to create a "card" for everyone to sign. Well, my mother then turned to ME and asked ME to create a "card", or at least something everyone could sign. I was honored.

Their school colors were yellow and purple (which there is just a hint of it on the edges) and the name of their school paper was The Owl. (if you want to click on the photo to enlarge, my mom is the third person in the last row). All the blank yellow space is for everyone to sign. Totally fun to do!

I then finished this one. The little girl on the right is Kendra's daughter Kaycee. This was her from her 7th birthday party; American Girl Doll was the theme. It was a sweet, sweet party.
Kendra, this one is for you. :o)
I'd love to do one for Carter and Braden as well, I just need you to help me pick which photo.

Then I finished this one. My wonderful friend Sue Anne volunteers about 50 hours a month (in addition to running her own medical billing company with her husband) at Big Cat Rescue in Tampa, FL. Last summer she took us on our first tour. This was one of my favorite photos.


Sue, this one is for you. :o)

The next one I want to do is one of my grandfather, then I'm open for request! :o)
I really think these photo collage canvases are my thing. They include everything I love.
I love using my photography; the canvas reminds me of when my mother painted on canvas with oil paint during my childhood-I actually loved the smell of turpentine; the swirls and embellishments are inspired by my Tim Holtz classes and the watercolor is inspired by Donna Downey - I'm certain that experience is what has led me down this creative path. Thank you Yvonne and Stephanie! Thank you She Scrapbooks!

Night everyone, sweet dreams.
Melle

Signs of summer and things I forgot to share....

Signs of summer I loved today:
1. McKenna making sno-cones in our new sno-cone machine,
2. sitting in the bookstore thumbing through scrapbook magazines in the middle of the day,
3. and worked in the studio today for friends and loved ones.

Things I forgot to share:
I made this for a friend at work who won't be teaching with us next year.

And I never shared my critique of the movie Fireproof. Although it was a little too long in the beginning, I'm really glad I saw it through to the end. And I bet the book (The Love Dare) is even better which I have it on hold at the library. It is a Christian based movie, with several really good messages for couples. For example, although a marriage might be "fireproof" it doesn't mean that the fire won't come and you never leave your partner alone, especially in a "fire". Don't forget, you marriage vows are a covenant, not a contract. There was also this very pivotal point in the movie when Kirk Cameron's character is going on and on about all the things he has done for his wife and how they have gone unnoticed or unappreciated......when his dad looks at him and says "Look around you, God has done all of these things for you because he loves you....have you noticed them?"......whew, powerful.

Love you all.
Sweet dreams.
Melle

Photoshop Progress!

From Wikipedia:
To "bite the bullet" is to endure a painful or otherwise unpleasant situation that is seen as unavoidable. The phrase was coined by ^[3][1]Rudyard Kipling in his 1891 novel The Light That Failed.^[1] It is often stated that it is derived historically from the practice of having a patient clench a bullet in his or her teeth as a way to cope with the extreme pain of a surgical procedure without anesthetic though evidence for biting a bullet, rather than a leather strap, during surgery is sparse.<sup>[2]

Well, I have been avoiding "biting the bullet" and purchasing yet another software program to "scrapbook" my digital photos with for a while now, however, I think I will be at peace when I final purchase this Photoshop Elements 8.

-I am still extremely happy with my Corel Paint Shop Pro. It is so easy to use when it comes to editing the actual photo (red eye, teeth whitening, blemish remover; fun photo effects such as sepia and infrared- a cool black and white effect) and I am happy I have that program.

- I still like my original scrapbooking software "Lifetimez" and will still use it from time to time.

-I will no longer try to get by with my older version of Photoshop. Although I know it must be a really good one, it takes a much high I.Q. then I have to operate it!

And so, here is what I completed this morning with my Photoshop Elements 8:</sup>

I know, it probably doesn't really look all that different from anything else I've already posted before, but believe me, once I learned how to use it, it is much easier (and fun) to create with and better yet, a whole new world of creative possibilities are now available to me thanks to the internet. Oh, I should confess, I still haven't "bitten the bullet". I downloaded the free 30 day trial version of PSE. I'm going to put off actually purchasing it for a few more weeks. :o)

It's the weekend everyone! May it be a good one full of wonderful memories!
Melle

Signs of summer.....

Awww, signs of summer I loved today:
1. washing the car
2. getting a frozen treat from the ice cream truck
3. McKenna returning to swim lessons at Ms. Perry's Swim School

Progress toward goals:
I still haven't started a book yet, and I've had a set back with the Photoshop class I downloaded. Apparently the version of PS I have is too old to support the free brush downloads. Since I wanted to learn "how to use brushes", that has been a little detail that is holding up my progress - urgh! Need not worry though, I will persevere and go with a plan B. (just have to think of it!) :o)

I rented "Motherhood" w/ Uma Thurman and Anthony Edwards and although she is a mother of two and a blogger, I still didn't really like the movie, so I'll have to give it a "thumbs down".
Tomorrow I should receive the movie "Fireproof". I'm looking forward to that one. I'll return w/ my review as soon as I see it.
Love to all!
Melle

Yippee! It's summertime!

Tuesday, June 8th and yep, I can finally say it, "I am on Summer vacation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
(don't worry my good friends who still have just a few days left to go, when I am back in August you'll still have two weeks of summer left to go :O) )
I'm celebrating today with two new things to the blog, I imagine you have noticed already. One, is a new banner across the top and two, a new list of goals in the column on the left. I have plenty of other goals to achieve this summer, such as clean the closets, get the carpet cleaned, make tons and tons of cards, scrapbooks many, many pages and paint some Halloween and Christmas bags so I am not overwhelmed when the season gets here, but the list of goals in the left are things I've always wanted to do or they could even be things that I didn't know I wanted to do but they are something I've never done before. A list of "firsts" I guess. I am so happy it is Summer 2010, I just can't stand it. I just feel it is going to be great! And am so grateful to you my faithful blog readers, that most of this summer's memories will be made with you!

Okay, I'm off to play a game with the girl's on the Wii, or maybe read a book. Perhaps I'll make some cards, or take a nap......it doesn't matter what I do 'cause I am on vacation!!!
Love to all,
Melle

Reasons to celebrate!

Hello All! Well, reasons to celebrate, yes in deed!
#1. Let's celebrate that I'm posting before two weeks have gone by! Hee, hee
For someone who has no more students this week (reason #2 to celebrate), I still haven't made it home before 6:00 pm. I guess that leads me to #3 reason to celebrate, I got to sign my contract today so I still have an ART job next year and, yep, I got a great evaluation! :o) I have to admit that Art teacher must really be the right place for me because I was looking back over my evaluations and initially, years ago, as a classroom teacher I received "Satisfactorys" and thought that was pretty good, 'cause "Outstandings" must be impossible to get. Well, I'm grateful to say, that although, keeping my "outstandings" as an art teacher from year to year is almost as difficult to keep as it was to earn them in the first place, I have earned them and have kept them now for several years.
(sorry, didn't mean to blab on about me, me, me.....I just felt it important to journal about that)

And so, #4 reason to celebrate, after Andrea's award night a few weeks ago, McKenna's award ceremony went very well too. I am so blessed.

We even checked out Andrea from high school so she could be there with us. Andrea is wearing McKenna's lanyard which was filled with Citizenship pins and several Principal's list pins. The end of the lanyard also dangled with several Accelerator Reader tokens. McKenna's award folder was filled with awards from Science and Math. She also received a "Mother Hen" award. It was explained that from day one in class, McKenna was ready to help anyone (esp. her teacher) with anything they needed, or helped keep them in line with anything they should be doing. Hee, hee, I was so proud.

Love to all,
Melle