A new contest started today at Scrap Galaxy - it’s called Spring Bling and the winner will recieve Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0

There is also another contest (Seeing Stars) going on that’s sponsored by the Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine - the winning layout will be published in the fall issue of the magazine!!

Check these out!!

Spring Bling Contest

Seeing Stars Contest

The last 4 days or so have been very blah days - I had some sort of stomach bug since we returned home Monday and it got significantly worse by Wednesday. I spent the better part of the week lying on the couch with my laptop. The only good thing about that was I was able to catch up on both the SG forums and the latest 3 episodes of Desperate Housewives that I had on the PVR! Multi-tasking - working on the computer and watching tv while still resting - lol!

Last night I finally dragged myself upstairs to my scrap room to get some actual scrapping done - I really wanted to participate in the online crop that is going on at Scrap Galaxy this weekend. Deanne and Carla have put a ton of work into it and so far it’s a huge hit! Way to go girls!! If you haven’t already checked it out - have a look: Online Crop

I did manage to get one layout done for Challenge #6 of the crop. It is the first layout that I have done just about myself.

Then of course, I got sidetracked and wound up making an entire coaster mini album (which has nothing to do with the crop). It’s more of a Valentine’s gift album for Brent. I made it using the coasters we got last weekend at Outback Steakhouse - hehe. (I knew they would come in handy!)

I also scanned the individual pages before I punched holes in them. They can be seen in my Gallery at SG: My Gallery

One more thing: Lisa and I are having our own competition this weekend to see who can get more scrapping done. So far I think she is in the lead but I intend to stay up late tonight to get some more done. (and yes, this time I will try to stick to the challenges in the crop and not veer off on my own thing….)

I am losing track now of the days… I don’t think I have updated for days 12, 13 and 14 yet. It feels like we have been away for ages, not just 2 weeks.

Quickly a recap of the past couple days: Thursday we spent our last day in Anaheim at the Disney parks - going between California Adventure Park and Disneyland. I could tell we were both just exhausted and (I can’t believe I am admitting this) Disney’d-out. Never thought I’d say that! We didn’t go on many rides but we did a couple things we hadn’t yet like watch the Aladdin show at DCAP, it was a live show in a theatre and it was very well done! I totally recommend it!! We also went to the Animation Academy that was hosted by a Disney Animator and we learned how to draw Mickey Mouse. We kept our drawings and will take them home for souvenirs. That was actually a lot of fun and we wished we had done it sooner, as they rotate between which characters they teach you. We didn’t have time to do any others though.

At DL, we treated ourselves to dinner at the Blue Bayou restaurant which is actually located inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride building. The atmosphere is so cool as it feels like you are outside but you’re really not of course, and you can watch the boats full of people sailing by on their way to the first waterfall. We made reservations earlier in the day and we were able to get a seat right beside the water - it was awesome! The food on the other hand was not worth the $$. We stayed to watch the parade then we left and walked back to the hotel to pack. Oh, oops, I forgot to mention something - it was our 2nd Anniversary! We had both forgotten what date it was until the day before so we thought it was very cool that we got to spend our 2nd anniversary at the Disney resort! Too bad we were so tired and worn out, lol. Happy Anniversary sweetie!!

Friday we got up and headed north towards San Francisco. We made a quick stop in Santa Cruz and were really disappointed. It was like a ghost town, completely deserted. I guess it must be very different in the summer when it is busy, but nothing was open, the entire boardwalk was closed down. It was almost eerie. The rides looked very old and in need of some updating. Perhaps we saw it this way as we had just come from Disney, and I believe that Disney modeled their rollercoaster area of the “Pier” at DCAP after the Santa Cruz boardwalk. Well, um, we couldn’t help thinking that Disney did a WAY better job of it!

We arrived in San Francisco at our friends Jen & Peter’s house at 7pm. We stayed overnight and this morning we headed over to the San Francisco Zoo - it was great! Brent took a ton of pictures so I’ll post them later. I put too much in my purse (heavy stuff, I always do this), like my camera, a bottle of water, my big wallet, etc. So we’re standing there viewing the giraffes and my purse strap breaks! I had 2 long thin straps and one broke, I guess because of the weight. Damn. So all day long (we were out until 10:30pm) I had to walk around with this dumb looking purse with only one strap. I did mention to Brent that now I can get a new purse- what a perfect excuse! He says “You don’t need a new purse - you can just sew the strap back on”. Gee, lovely…. I’d rather have a new purse of course! He just doesn’t get it….

We had a really fun day though, Jen and Peter spoiled us! After the Zoo, we went to Fisherman’s wharf, then across the Bay bridge to some neat little shops (and the Crate and Barrel outlet store), then back to downtown and to this huge mall (where we hit up the regular Crate and Barrel store as well as lots of other cool stores). Jen and I ditched the guys for an hour so we could go shop without them, hehe. We finished the day off with a fabulous dinner at Outback Steakhouse. Lisa - I thought about you - the whole thing was done in an Australian theme!

Tomorrow we leave for the rest of the drive home, I think we will take the I-5 the entire way so it will take us about 11-12 hours probably. I am really looking forward to sleeping in my own bed again (even if it does mean that I will have to share my pillow with 2 dogs, hehe).

It’s our last day in Anaheim and we’re heading off to Disney in a bit, but first I wanted to add some more pics of CHA. (Click on the pics below to make them bigger). There are also new ones added to the CHA page on SG http://www.scrapgalaxy.com/chapreview.html

Elsie Flannigan

7 Gypsies

Prima

Just jumping on the laptop to do a quick update about the rest of the day today. CHA is now over but it was a ton of fun! I hope I can go to the next one - I met a ton of cool people and we made some great contacts too.

We did in fact make it to the Disney Parks after we left CHA - we didn’t get their until 4 though so it only gave us 4 hours until both parks closed. We turned into power riders!!! Yah! Starting out at California Adventure Park, we hit up Tower of Terror first, then hurried over to Soarin over California. I am pleased to say the 2nd time around didn’t freak me out as much as the first time. I only gripped the side bar with one hand and the other I used to cling to Brent’s arm. After that we road the big rollercoaster (California Screamin’) twice in a row - SO much fun!! I had a major head rush after but it was worth it. I now want to visit Six Flags to ride all their rollercoasters! We managed to squeeze in one last ride before the park closed at 6 - we went on the Maliboomer ride - the one where you are seated in rows and they shoot you straight up, then drop you, then straight up again. At first it wouldn’t work properly, so they moved us to the other tower, then the ride was so short! What a waste of time, and it was not thrilling at all.

The best thing of all was the first time we went on the rollercoaster- the sun was just setting so we had this gorgeous sunset to look at - it just seemed so perfect.

Disneyland was still open until 8, so we rushed over there and went directly to Indian Jones - we basically just walked right on the ride, there were no lines! Fabulous!! Except the walk to the ride (from the entrance of the ride) was about twice as long as the actual ride itself! We got off that one and went directly onto Pirates of the Caribbean - sat in the front row of the boat. Note to self: never sit in the front of the boat. We got drenched during the first little hill - which is odd I thought cause we never got wet before on that ride. I guess it’s just the front row of the boat…maybe?

Space Mountain was next and it seemed so slow compared to California Screamin. Brent and Scott made me sit all by myself in the very front of the coaster. The ride attendant told them that they’d have more leg room if they sat in row 2, which was right behind me. I think she must have made a mistake cause I seemed to have a ton of leg room and then I turned around to see these 2 tall guys (Scott is 6′5 and Brent is 6′4) trying to cram themselves into the tiny car. It was too late for them to switch with me cause they pulled the bars up and off we went! Poor guys…hehe

We also rode Star Tours once and watched part of the parade - not by choice - but we were heading to Frontierland and we couldn’t get across to it as they blocked the street cause of the parade. We were stuck there so we watched and I’m glad we did as it was pretty good. Those floats are just fantastic - just the amount of detail on them is insane. We made it to one more ride before the park closed - Haunted Mansion. So in 4 hours we made it onto 10 rides. That’s not so bad.

Scott took us out for an awesome dinner to Catal in Downtown Disney - delicious!!!

Here we are on the Tower of Terror - sorry the photo is such bad quality. We are right in the front- see how I am clinging to Brent for dear life? lol

Brent and I on California Screamin’ Totally, absolutely love love LOVE this ride!

Here it is, the last day of CHA! This show has gone really well for us and we now have an exciting venture in our future which I cannot make public as of yet. But as soon as I can, I will tell everyone!!! Promise!!

We have been away from home for a week and a half now and we aren’t due home until Sunday or Monday still. I am so ready to go home - this trip has been a ton of fun but its also been incredibly exhausting. I thought I would enjoy getting many nights of uninterrupted sleep. No dogs to wake me up in the middle of the night when they jump on the bed. Or those wonderful times at 2am when Angus wakes me up scratching at the door to go out, then there I am out on the sidewalk with him in the cold telling him to hurry up so we can go back to bed. None of that lately, but isn’t it crazy that I actually miss all that?

Yesterday after the show, we went out to Downtown Disney to the CHA party that was being held at the House of Blues. The food was really good and it was a lot of fun. The entertainers they had were awesome - everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Now we are back at CHA for the last part of the show. It’s 1:20pm and already the booths are all starting to pack up, a lot of people have already left and the show was much quieter today then it was the other days. We are going to help pack up the NSA booth then Brent, Scott and I are heading over to California Adventure Park to ride the Tower of Terror and the rollercoaster - woohoo!!! Too bad the park closes at 6 tonight.

One more day left to spend at Disney - tomorrow- then we head out first thing Friday morning for our trek back to Canada. I can’t wait…. Let’s hope we don’t run into any more car problems.

Here are some more pics of the show! Enjoy - we have lots more to upload too so check back soon!

These are some of the displays at the K & Company booth - they had one of the most gorgeous booths out of all of them!

Some of the Basic Grey displays

I love photoshop!!! But I am such a beginner on it still, there is so much to learn. If anyone knows of a good photoshop CS2 book please let me know.

Anyway I was playing around last night trying to come up with a good logo for some t-shirts we’re having printed and this is what I came up with. Let me know what you think!!