I Inspire!

Kat over at Candles, Crafts and Whatnot bestowed this award on me and many others a few weeks ago and this time I wanted to get to it sooner rather than later. I have to say that this is a really cool award and much appreciated Kat. Of course, now the hard part is who to give it to since I think I've seen it given to most of the blogs I would have given it too already. To be honest all the blogs I visit regularly inspire me in some way, shape or form. So I'll have to be lazy and say ... if you haven't received it already from someone else and you stop by here regularly then consider yourself my inspiration!



Now to our trip. If you haven't been to New York City recently then let me tell you that the hotel operators there obviously don't realize what the economy is like. Luckily for us, we only paid for one of three nights hotels since we won a night at a LaQuinta and had accrued enough nights at Hotels.com that we had earned a free night. It's amazing how much extra you have to pay just to have your own bathroom!! The photo above of the Empire State Building was from the second hotel from our room. Sadly, when we got in the room it was a mess and they ended up moving us but I did manage to snap this shot before we moved since the next room had a view of a brick wall. One thing I will say is you CAN actually do NYC for cheap as far as eating at least for breakfast. There are loads of guys on the corners selling bagels with cream cheese for $1.50. We stopped by those and that fills you up pretty good for a while.



This is me with my freshly dyed hair in front of Giants Stadium on Friday morning. We had General Admission tickets and you had to get there by 1pm to get a wristband to get in the "pit". Being in the pit means you are closest to the stage which of course means being nearer to Bruce. The husband did manage to give him a tap on the back on Friday night and touch him on Saturday night! Friday night we had more energy and were dancing a lot. At one point I happened to notice a very conservative looking guy next to us and I looked harder and realized it was Brian Williams the anchor for the NBC Nightly News. If I had known he was a Bruce fan I might have actually watched the news a bit more....lol.

All in all we managed to have a good time fairly cheaply in New York which is pretty difficult but can be done. The only complaints were the airlines but I won't even bore you with that since I am sure everyone else has their airline horror stories lately. Worst part of traveling is the "getting there".

I Love Lucy Award

I was actually given this award by Kat over at Candle, Crafts and Whatnot back at the end of August so I profusely apologize to her for not getting to it sooner. I have to admit I'm more of a Ralph Kramden (The Honeymooners) fan but hey, it's all about awarding people and their blogs for cheering people up. So of course, I was honored to have Kat bestow me with this award. This award is probably the hardest for me to give out since there are so many blogs out there that I stop by that cheer me up but I'll try to pick a few. Lin over at a Duck and Wheel with String always manages to come up with some great posts that make me laugh as does Don over at Beyond Left Field.

Those are the funny ones that always cheer me up but all the animal blogs also work wonders. Nothing cheers me up more than cute animals such as those llamas over at Split Rock Ranch or Pricilla and the other goats here. I also include all of you who post photos of your cats or dogs for all of us to see. I probably should have done a job working with animals because they cheer me up the most. So thanks Kat and thanks to everyone who has managed to be able to cheer me up during these rotten times....goodness knows I've needed it at!

Another Award!

I guess I'm doing something right since I have another award. This one is from Audrey over at Audrey's Country Crafts. Check out her blog and tell her I sent ya. The catch is I have to tell you 7 interesting things about myself. So here I go:

1. I took dance lessons from the age of 5 until I was 20 years old. Started with ballet and tap and a bit of modern/jazz thrown in.
2. Sewing was one of the first crafts I did and when I took it as a class in Junior High it was the only class I got an A+ in ever.
3. I was a punk in High School complete with hair of varying shades (much to my parents dismay).
4. One thing I have never done and would love to before I die, is sky-diving. Just once.
5. I had my hair dresser's license in the State of California a few months before I received my High School Diploma.
6. I love spicy food, especially an Indian or Thai Curry.
7. Got married at 9am on a Saturday in England and after a small "reception" at my sister-in-law's, we went to a soccer (football) match in the afternoon. Couldn't have had a better wedding day!

As always with awards I am supposed to tag 7 others but I stink at that. Plus, every time my computer dies on me. So as I have done previously I am tagging ALL of you who stop by and read my blog and if you wish to take me up on the award just stop by and let me know so I can see. Besides, it is so darn hard to pick just 7 as I have SO many favorite blogs now. I'd feel guilty....that is my excuse and I'm sticking to it!! Thanks again Audrey.

New Treasures and an Award

I've been trying to create a bit more rather than sit on the computer or in front of the tv all the time. The above pendant was one that I had actually started probably about 4-5 months ago. It was all done except for the bail which I finally got off my lazy butt and finished this past weekend. It wasn't like it was difficult either. This was a complete departure for me as far as the colors I used in it. I admit it, I like pink (the brighter, the better), orange, turquoise, purple and green but it has to be neon green. For this pendant I used a Swarovski Rivoli which is called Sahara but in layman's terms, it's green with golds and browns depending on which way you move it. The smaller Swarovski bicones around the edge are Colorado Topaz and Smoked Topaz Light and I used gold seed beads. Gold is not a color or metal I wear at all, other than my wedding band and a pair of opal earrings I wear all the time and the only reason I wear the earrings is because my dad went to Australia when I was about 12 and brought back 3 pairs of opals which he had made into earrings for my mother, one of his sisters and me (no wonder my sister hates me..lol). I have to say that I was quite happy with how it came out seeing as I'm not used to working with this combination of colors.

I also managed to get a few more cabochons made and wrapped one so far. Now, when I was done with this one I was pretty happy with how it turned out. That balloon soon burst when I showed it to my husband and he says "It looks like a Christmas Tree". Then again, I could take it as a compliment....right? You'd think after 20 years of marriage I should know better than to expect him to NOT say something like that. Don't worry, I'm used to it and just laughed it off just like he does when I say something about sports that he thinks it's ridiculous. I did have to get the opinion of my friend Jennifer as to whether it was too much at the top and luckily she lied like a good friend should and said it looked fine! I've got more wire on the way to me so I'm hoping to get a few more done and maybe do a few other wire projects.


Well, as I was in the middle of this post, writing about my great award from PJ who has a great blog that I love to read here....my darn Firefox crashed! Must be telling me something! So, PJ I apologize but I am not going to pass it on but I will tell you the 7 things I love (if I can remember them lol).

1. My Husband - Yes, it's sloppy and obvious but he is my best friend as well as all the other things that go along with being a husband. I couldn't have wished for a better partner in life.
2. Music - Yes of course, The Boss comes first in this category but he isn't the only one. Music means so much to me.
3. Creating - It's a part of me that I lost along the way in life and found again.
4. Travel - My travels have shaped me as a person. It has meant more for me to stand looking up at the Sistine Chapel or view the Sydney Harbour Bridge in person rather than to read about them in books or online.
5. Sports - Watching (in person, preferably) NOT playing!
6. Nature - It's just so darn cool and amazing.
7. Animals - Mostly dogs but all animals. If I'm ever down, all I have to do is watch Animal Planet and I am instantly cheered up.

So, as I say, I was in the process of getting blogs I wanted to give this award to which was a task in itself since there are so many out there that I really enjoy and then the darn browser crashed. Luckily most of this post was saved. That will teach me to save it every once in a while rather than just keep on typing. Needless to say, I hope all of you out there enjoy my blog half as much as I enjoy reading yours. Actually, consider yourselves ALL tagged with this award!!