Cairo!!!!!

Where do I start? Getting to Cairo was one of the longest 1.5 days ever. We left Bowling Green at 4:00am on Thursday morning, flew to JFK in NY for a looooooooooong layover. Our flight from JFK to Milan left at 7:00pm and was a 6.5 hour flight. I will say, the layover in Milan was quite interesting. I guess they decided the airport didn't need to be expanded in the last 20 years, which was a bad idea. To get to your gate, you could take stairs or an escalator. We hopped on the escalator, but about halfway down, I realized the area below us was completely crowded with people, so much so, there was no room to get off the moving escalator. You can imagine the pile-up!!! So, while we were waiting on our plane, we had the best time watching other groups come down the escalator then falling all over each other. 2 guys even thought it best to start trying to climb up it. Too funny!!! If only I had the camera ready for that one! From Milan to Cairo, it was about 4 hours by plane, and by that time, I was so confused what day it was. We left the airport at 3:00pm and were able to do a couple of fun things the first day that weren't originally on the itinerary.

In the picture below, clockwise from the left:
leaving the airport
the "president" of Egypt (he loves himself because his picture is everywhere)
Erlene (one of my parents' friends) with a guard at the tomb for the unknown soldier
the lower class section of town (let me tell you, the middle class section didn't look much better!)
Also, on the first day, we got to sail up the Nile. I don't know Cap'n Ahab's name (just an affectionate name since I love his namesake paper line :) but this is a money shot, don't ya think?

It was very overcast, not from the clouds, but from the blowing sand.
Now, onto day 2. We might have found something for some Studio Calico lovers.....
Clockwise from left:
Mom and Dad at the Pyramids right outside Cairo (it's amazing how close to town they are)
The pyramids (the large one, we got to crawl down into. Let me tell you: I can't even describe how hot it was in there and suffocating. The space to crawl down was about 4x3' and descended about 50-75' then ascended about the same before opening into a large area where the tomb would be. Amazing!)
A shiny shot at the pyramid Kyssop
The Sphinx

On the left, Louetta, who is Greg's "hero." She's 76 years old and didn't let age stop her from anything. Not only did she crawl down inside the pyramid above, but she hopped on the camel like she had done it a million times before.

Our last stop of the day was the oldest pyramid, called a "step pyramid" named Sakkura. The palms in the picture are date palms and they're supposed to be an aphrodisiac. I guess that's why the average family size in Egypt is 6.
We're off to the wilderness tomorrow. Seriously. So, I probably won't be able to update until Monday. Shalom!

How much is too much???

Not only is this the name of a popular challenge, but, this is exactly how I feel right now. And, the reason I've been a bad blogger lately. Well, Studio Calico has been keeping me extremely busy, plus a whitewater rafting/camping trip (pictures later) and my real job.

But, since I had a minute, I did want to share my latest LO for the HMITM challenge using my Oct Studio Calico kit.

Going Camping!

Well, if you know me, just the title of this post is shocking. Yes, I'm going real camping, none of those rv's, or electricity or anything like that this weekend. We're getting together with some college friends to go to WV this weekend for some rafting and decided we'd camp out and make a weekend out of it. So, bugs, sweat, and stinkiness, here I come!

I'm sure I'll have some hilarious pictures for you when I come back. Till then!

CHA!!!!

Wow, am I ever tired. Tonight will be the first night I sleep in greater than 4 hour increments since Thursday. But, CHA was loads of fun between seeing all the new product and meeting people I "know" from message boards and such. One person I met was Emily Pitts who was tons of fun. We met at the 2peas reception and had to borrow her cell (Scarlet and I both left ours at the hotel) to call in a pizza order. When we picked up the pizza we noticed it had her # on the receipt, so we decided to prank her -- which I'm totally not good at, I just can't keep from laughing so I give myself away. I called from my cell and said I was Molly from Giordano's and that we had her order ready. Emily was so sweet and said that she hadn't ordered the pizza, but that her friends had and she had no way of getting in touch with us. I proceeded to tell her that we had a pizza that either needed to be picked up or paid for, but she was so sweet, I just couldn't continue. Sorry Emily! You can see a picture of us here and below is my HM group that met at the same reception. (L to R: Sherry, Janet, April, Becky, Christine) More pics later!

Fun Stuff

So I've been in the creating mood lately, especially after visiting some thrift stores this weekend. My hubby and I made a day of it, some of which I can show, but others will have to wait, because we found some goodness for Studio Calico.
Here's some of what we found:

And, I found this cool vintage record holder to make my idea book for CHA this year:

And, if that wasn't enough, we spent Saturday night celebrating our friend, Clayton's 22nd birthday. Count the candles if you don't believe me!

Here's the birthday boy! (Can you tell his idol is Tony Rice?)

Anyway, to end this everlasting post, he's in a band called 'The Farewell Drifters' and they play more contemporary bluegrass music. It has a different sound than true bluegrass. Check them out on their site, if you want, but they have older stuff on there. They'll have it updated on Wednesday when their new album comes out. Oh, and if you're in Nashville this Friday (the 19th), they have a CD release Party at Station Inn, which you can read about on their site if you're interested in going. I would so be there, but I'll be having a blast at CHA instead.

Back to the party..... In true country fashion, after eating cake and homemade ice cream, the guys headed out to the back porch to practice:

Thanks for stopping by!

A couple LOs with some scraps

Just thought I'd get a head start on the weekend by blogging late tonight (early Sat. morning). Here's a couple LOs I did while waiting for the August sneak peek to post.

a tag and a bottle

First off, I need your help. Have you seen this Jones bottle?

If so, our web-designer, Stephen, at Studio Calico took this photo and missed the offering to purchase. So, if you have it or have seen it, please leave a comment and Stephen has offered to pay a ransom for it.

Next, I've been tagged by Caroline, so here goes:

My roommate and I once: got into an argument because I asked her how her day was and she told me never to ask that because "Sometimes it's not good and I don't want to talk about it." That roommate didn't last long. She was living by herself in no time :)

Never in my life have I: smoked a cigarette -- and proud of it!

High school was : over before I knew it.

When I'm nervous : I work even harder.

My hair : is frizzy and wavy and thick and when it's humid it grows, not down, but out -- think Chia pet :)

When I was 5 : I thought I was a ballerina even though I never had a dance class in my life.

When I turn my head left : I see my diet vanilla DP from Sonic

I should be : exactly where I am at this point in my life.

By this time next year : I will have traveled to Egypt and Israel - really looking forward to it.

My favorite aunt is : Jeana - love her and she's the only aunt who reads this.

I have a hard time understanding : why some people don't take pride in their work.

You know I like you if : well, I pretty much like everyone.

My ideal breakfast is : yogurt Cheerios and skim milk (I get on these kicks where I eat the same thing every morning until I get burnt out on it, wierd, huh?)

If you visit my home town : you'll discover the first capitol of TX.

If you spend the night at my house : you'll be treated very well - we call our house the Foster Hilton.

My Favorite blonde is : don't really have one.

My favorite brunette is : my husband :)

The animal I would like to see flying besides birds : my dog

I shouldn't have been : at Banana Republic this week, or Archiver's for that matter.

Last night I: hosted a dinner program for my company.

A better name for me would be : hmmm...I've never really been thrilled with my name, but I don't know what I'd name myself.

I've been told I look like : Lindsey Lohan (pre-weightloss and massive drug use) Oh, and my identical twin gets told that too :)

Michelle Hill is Awesome!!!

I love watching Scrapbook Lifestyles. They have such cool ideas and this week is even better because Studio Calico's guest designer, Michelle Hill, was featured. I'm sure you remember her scraproom, the pink one with green accents and so much product it will blow your mind. Anyway, she is amazing and gave great tips -- my personal favorite being to only get out the product you are going to use so that you're not so overwhelmed. So take a look and see if you can spot the Studio Calico LOs, there's 3!!!

And, because it's my favorite, I'll share one with you.

Happy 4th!!!

Happy 4th of July everyone! I will be spending my day of freedom scrapping and doing laundry and cleaning the house and I couldn't be happier!!! Here are some fun little things in honor of the holiday:

this one is for my grandfather who served aboard the USS Alden. The journaling discusses him escorting ships to the Normandy coast on D-day.

this one is a fun little photo-folder using a picture from last year's hot, humid 4th of July in Texas with my family.

More SC goodness + some willpower

Okay, so here are some more of my Studio Calico layouts. I just loved playing with this one!

my sister and I at the Grand Canyon - such a perfect label to use for this page!
Just a fun, quick card:

Another card using those super cool crochet flowers - made for my husband's grandmother. The '80' came from the Imagination Project paper. I used a regular hole-punch.

This is Caroline's birthday card:

One of Greg and I - not too sappy.

Now, on to the will-power. I have had such good intentions about working out while I'm on the road for my job, but something always creeps up and I make excuses and don't do it. I am, however, better at working out at my own gym (mainly because I'm a treadmill snob and I like the fans, the padding, the settings on certain ones). Anyway, tonight, while in Lexington, I made up my mind to work out and I did 3.5 miles on the hot, nasty treadmill here. That's a full mile over what I have been doing at my gym. (I did have the room all to myself and was watching America's Next Top Model) Anyway, I'm so proud of myself, I just had to brag to someone....now to continue this habit....