Thoughts & Quotes

I have always loved quote books and I love the small books published by Compendium.. & also the thoughts by Sandra Magsamen. I received her book "Living Artfully" from Judy & was so excited. These books are filled with such inspiration and messages that touch my heart. I pull out the many copies that I have and peruse through them and love to use the enclosed quotes for all sorts of things; like in my classes as spots of inspiration, on my wall as reminders to me, on bulletin boards, and in talks. The thoughts are up-lifting and encouraging to me and help me to express myself and the thoughts I have. These are a couple of my favorites:

Be Excited

The minute you begin to do what

you really want to do,

it's really a different kind of life.

Buckminster Fuller

We each leave our mark on the world every moment

of every day through the choices we make

and the actions we take.

Sandra Magsamen

It's Thursday already

Judy just called and said I needed to update my blog.. and I guess that's a great idea since it is already Thursday. Weather . . . still HOT, but now we are starting into our Monsoon season and that puts moisture into the mix.. So remember how I hated the weather in Houston 3 weeks ago.. well the curl has hit the hair in Phoenix.. hate it.... (oops, not suppose to say "hate", per my grandkids).. so I get frustrated with my hair and the dips, waves and curls.. If it was really curly then that would be OK, but it is just dips and waves in all the wrong places..

I was up at 4 am this morning to be at work at W.S. by 6 am, to get the store ready for our big semi-annual sale.. worked until 11:00. Cindy our Asst. manager was just promoted to G.M. she is such a terrific girl and I'm so happy for her. I go in tomorrow at 8 to set new visuals and re-do a bulletin board.

Yesterday, my friend Connie and I went to see "Get Smart".. cute movie..laugh out loud funny. We then shopped and ran errands and finished the day, going out to dinner. We really do have so much fun together. When she and her husband first moved to Phoenix a couple years ago and she attended one of my classes, I told Judy.."you know, I could really be friends with her".. we have a great time, laughing, sharing stories and so many times one of us says something & the other says "me too".. I have met so many neat girls in my classes & have become friends. Like all the girls in my All About Me group. We are different ages and stages in our lives and still we have such a bond between us and love spending time together.

I have been working on the card samples for my July card classes and they are turning our very cute.. I'll share some sneak peeks next week. I checked the classes when I was at Mad Scrappers yesterday and I only have a couple spots left for my July Classes.. I am going to start hosting classes in my home after I return from my trip to Judy's. I will do classes on mini books, fun technique card classes, and computer classes. I want to do this so I can utilize the many supplies I have on hand and having smaller groups, allows us to do things that we can't do in a larger class. There are so many new techniques that I would love to incorporate into my classes.

well that's all the news for today..

Imagine

This morning when I awoke, I thought for some reason it was Sunday, then Jason called and reminded me not to bring a chair to the swim meet, because they had one for me. OK, I found my sunscreen, slathered it on and headed out to the pool, to see 4 of my grandchildren swim. At 8:00 am it was 94 degrees.. but I thought "well this is better than starting at 5pm". WRONG.. You put several hundred parents tightly huddled around the pool, sitting on the "HOT" deck and the sun beating down..and it is really hot. I stayed long enough to see each of them swim at least once and then Jamie said, "gee Jean your face is really getting red.. my clue to hit the road.. When I got home, I looked at the current temp and it was 101.. Hit a high of 114 today..whew..

This afternoon I worked on a new bulletin board for W.S. I really do love to put these together. this one features all the summer favorites in the store.

Tomorrow afternoon, I have to get started on creating my samples for my up-coming card classes..

Hot Tuesday

Ok.. I must say that 113 degrees is just too HOT.. It is still 95 at midnight here in our corner of the world. I worked at W.S. yesterday and got to do one of my favorite things.. Re-set the front window. We are setting all the visuals in the store in summer and American red, whit & blue theme.. so in my front window it was filled with R,W & B Kitchen Aid mixers.. with blue and white striped linens. Great window.

I have stayed in all day today, to stay out of the heat.. did laundry, paid bills, ordered books on line for Christmas, packed up some pants to send back to Coldwater Creek, and worked on the layouts for my "All About Me" class that is tomorrow night. I received some new papers from
We R Memory Keepers and decided to use them for the layouts, along with cutting out pieces with my plotter and coming up with my journaling.. Three pages that took some thought with the journaling part.

I still have to come up with some pictures for 2 of the layouts.. but can't decide what I want to do yet. so I'll hold off for now.

Just made my plane reservations to head north for a couple weeks the end of July and first of August to see Judy.. Love to get away that time of year..from the heat down here and spend time in the much cooler northwest.. & shop, go out to lunch and in general spend time with each other.

Happiness is . . . . . .

As I was thinking about what to write this morning, many things came to mind. since I use this blog as my journal, I wanted to make sure that my feelings are reflected in my writing. This Sunday, June 15th is Fathers day. As I mentioned before I had a great father and feel so lucky to have been raised by him. I married a wonderful man who was a terrific father to our three children. Even though Kent is no longer with us, I know that my children will remember him on this day. My 2 sons and my son-in-law are great fathers to my grandchildren. I am amazed as I watch them, in the way they are with their own families. Each one is so caring, generous with their time, supportive and in general great dads. They each have so much fun with their families and that makes me so happy to see. My grandchildren are very lucky to have such caring fathers.

The past two days I was attending a training class for the up-coming Creative Escape held in Sept. It was held at the Bazzill warehouse and so much fun. We were able to preview and create 7 very unique and creative projects..The teachers this year are so talented and so much fun to take a class from. What a fun weekend, Kristan, Karen, our friends Janna & Carol all rode down together. This is our 3rd year to volunteer for this event so we re-connected with many people we have worked with before. We started each day at 8 and classes ran all day and ended about 5. The event will be held at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort and Spa, Sept. 4th thru th 6th. Since the drive time to the resort is about 45 minutes to an hour we will all be staying on site. This event is attended by over 600 women and is such a fun atmosphere to be a part of, high energy, laughter and everyone excited to create the wonderful projects. We each got to request what we wanted to do at the event, either work with a specific teacher or be a group leader and rotate with that group for the 2 days of classes. Last year I was a group leader and loved it and requested that assignment again. I really bonded with the women in our group and had so much fun.

On Friday the 13th my oldest grandson turned 17 years old. Dylan will be a senior in high school next fall. He loves sports and is an excellent student in school. He is such a help to his mom and dad, with his little brothers and they really do look to him. What a wonderful grandson he is to me.. I love him so much.

A busy Wednesday

My monthly card classes were yesterday..I love teaching these classes and have the greatest girls in my classes. I teach a morning & an evening class each month on creating cards. Some of the girls in my class have taken classes from me for several years.

After class I spent the day with my friend Connie; we went to lunch at a new spot for me "The Greenhouse" at Kierland Commons.. great food and fun restaurant. We then ventured to Scottsdale Fashion Square for a day of shopping and fun. Found some great things. Our last stop before heading back up north to the evening class was the "Sprinkles" cupcake store..let me just say HEAVEN. I have heard so much about this store and was excited to finally get to see it. they have 20 flavors of cupcakes and people wait in line to get in and purchase their favorites. I chose carrot cake & milk chocolate.. Can't wait to taste them today.

When I arrived home from class I got a call from my grandaughter Morgan. She had been in California with her other grandparents for her cousins graduation and had a great week. She was panicking because her foot was red and swollen and throbbing and no-one was at home. Her dad is in California with the boy scouts and her mom had to drive a carload of girls up to church girls camp. She was in tears and scared, so I told her I would come and get her and bring her to my house for the night. When we got home I got her all settled in comfy and put on the beautiful peaceful music to lull her to sleep. She is still asleep, so I think it worked.

Friday and Saturday I get to participate in Creative Escapes Preview Day. I volunteer for the event and all the teachers and volunteers get together on Friday and Saturday to work out any kinks in the upcoming classes. Each teacher presents their class and we participate ..It is so much fun, because we get to actually take all the classes that will be taught at the event in Sept. Once we leave the preview day, we have to sign a confidentiality agreement that we will not divulge any of the activities for the event. So all of the projects we make are boxed and sealed away until September. It's such a fun day to be with friends and take classes from these amazing teachers.

Making a difference

Do your little bit of good where you are;

it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.

Desmond Tutu

Houston - Dallas - El Paso - Home

Sunday morning Kristan and I were picked up by the Houston airport shuttle at 7:00 a.m. & then arrived at the REALLY busy Houston Hobby airport around 8:00 a.m. for our 10:00 a.m. flight home. We had to change planes in Dallas and there lies the problem.. delays...delays...delays.. our flight was 3 hours late in leaving Dallas, then a brief stop in El Paso and finally arriving home 10 hours after our departure from our hotel.. Long day - but OK, since I was with Kristan and so it was great company. I love to travel with her, it is really the only time we get to spend quality time together. Houston CKU was so much fun, meeting old friends and making so many new ones.

The classes went so smooth, Kristan is an awesome teacher and everyone

loved their completed projects. Some of our new friends from Huston

Since the Westin Hotel is located in the middle of the Houston Galleria Mall.. I got to do some shopping while I was there and it was a great place to walk, and people watch. The mall is packed from the time it opens until it closes.. our rooms were on one side of the interior of the mall and the CKU activities were across the hall of the mall on the other side. So each time I would go to class or to our room I got to be in the mall. We ate at the great restaurants in the mall, Cheesecake Factory, Grand Lux & Kona Grill..so I was glad to have a place to walk it off that was so fun to look at. The Houston Galleria Mall has every store you can think of and every designer I have ever heard of and many I have never heard of.. They also have an ice rink where we could watch skaters perform.

It is always so fun to go away but wonderful to arrive back home. When I opened my curtains

was greeted by the most fabulous site. Many of the bushes on the golf course out my window are covered in the most beautiful purple flowers.. and I mean covered. There is one right off my patio and several others that I can see scattered around the course.

The flowers in the desert are truly vibrant.

I had a fun time in Houston; now I am getting my kits put together for my card classes tomorrow.. have a great day..

Happiness is . . . . . . .

Happiness is friends and family. Last week slipped by pretty fast.. On Weds. evening I hosted a get-to-gether for the gals in my "All About Me" club. Everyone brought a favorite nibble and we sat on the patio and talked and laughed and shared stories, from 7 to 11:30.. Fun, fun evening. Thursday was my daughter-in law Karen's birthday.. Such a sweetheart.. My son Steve was out of town on a scouting adventure trip, so Karen went to dinner with girlfriends.. I was at my grandson Logan's playoff baseball game. The weather was wonderful and they won their game, so they had their championship game on Friday evening.. Great game.. Then on Saturday evening I had my 3 children and 3 children-in-law over for our monthly date nite. Great evening with dinner on the patio, conversation, good food and family..what could be better.. On Sunday evening we met at my son Steve's home for our monthly birthday dinner. It is so much fun when we all get together and all 18 of us were there. We bar-b-cued and had a great evening. I worked this morning and now I'm doing all those last minute things I have to get done before I leave for Houston on Weds. morning EARLY.. I pick Kristan up at 4 am our flight is at 6 am. We have been working on the samples for her classes and they are cute. Today I have been researching the Internet to find "Pirate" jokes for a special event we are hosting at CKU for the 600 participants.. A Pirate party.. have a great week..