Papertrey Ink May 2012 Blog Hop

I'm back!!  Happy Friday, everyone!  In the U.S., lots of you may be away for the long Memorial Day weekend, or about to depart.  I wish you a wonderful holiday!  Stay well, stay safe, act like a child, and remember to use sunscreen. 

I had a fantabulous time, but first to card business for those who came for that.  It felt so good to get back to my playhouse last night and make a card.  Of all the challenges, I decided to particulate in the PTI blog hop.  I have purchased just a couple (liar) new PTI products since last month's hop, so now I feel I can properly play.  The monthly blog hop is a one-day affair du juor.  Click on Nichole Heady's (capture the moment) blog for the details and the linkie and join in the fun!

This months inspiration is a unique color scheme that has been popping up everywhere this spring. A bright green (Simply Chartreuse or New Leaf) paired with bold black & white patterns.

It was a fun challenge.  Here is my take on it:

The card ingredients are below.  It was my intention to have the three white brads resemble flower stamens.  It ended up, however, looking like a bird had built a nest and laid three little eggs in the middle of the flower.  I'm down with that.

While I was away, two new followers joined!  I'm thankful and delighted to welcome Allisa Chilton of Rocky Mountain Paper Crafts and Alexandra Grape of Pinself, Schere & Co.

Please enjoy ~ and, as always, thank you for stopping by to visit.   Special thanks to you if you take the time to join as a follower or leave a comment!  (Sorry, you have to scroll down past the personal yukity-yakity to find the comments . . .)

Paper:  PTI white, true black, new leaf

  DCWV background

Stamps:  PTI Frilly Flowers and Signature Greetings

Ink:  PTI true black

Dies:  PTI flowers; Nestie pointed flower (center)

Misc.: White brads, pop dots

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Ten days away and I could, well, you can imagine how much I could write!  I'm a bit more fog-brained than normal, jet-lagged, and dog-tired, so I'll capsize it for you as best I can.  Little epistlets may come to me in the days ahead.  A few highlights:

Perfect weather.  I wouldn't have minded a small thunderstorm, Frankly, because I do miss those.  But I was over the moon not to have any humidity at all.  High wind was the only excitement weather-wise and that was only noteworthy when it made Clear Lake look like the Pacific Ocean because of all the white heads on it.  The picture below is not a good picture of me, Donna, and Dood, but you can see even our short hair stood on end or was flattened in the wind. 

Also, I had to include this picture because we peed ourselves later that night when we noticed in the picture there is guy peeking out from behind the tree like a perv!

Perfect little rental house for our sisters weekend getaway.

Surf-N-Sleep



Donna, Diana, Dood.

We enjoyed the Surf Ballroom museum and the memorial erected nearby in honor of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. (the "Big Bopper") Richardson.

We were thrilled to discover a hummingbird moth flitting about the pink flowers not a foot from our table on the patio.  My sister, Diana, is the most talented photographer among us, and I'm sure she took some great photos.  Mine are awful, so until sis has time to download hers, this is a web photo:

(Photo credit.)  Isn't it amazing how much he looks like a hummingbird?  Our little guy stayed around a long time for our enjoyment.

Here we are at lunch as we explored the town.

Donna, Darnell, Diana, Dood.

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Back at Donna's house, she suprised us all by having a nearby advertising signpost include a welcome expecially for us!

How cool was that?! 

Here is a picture of our diet.  You can see that all the food groups are represented appropriately.  I'm sorry that the photographer had accidentally moved the two-pound box of See's chocolates to her bedroom, but rest assured that the most signicant item on the food plate chart (chocolate) was also ingested with vigor.

We played cards and we played boccie ball and we talked and talked and laughed until we cried.  Here we are just chilling in Donna's screened-in porch.

Dood, Darnell, Donna, Diana. 

It was a longer time together than we normally have and I'm so grateful for that.  I miss them all so much already.  Thank you, Donna, for hosting us and Jerry for tolerating us!

I also got to get together with dear friends from high school since I'm going to miss the reunion in July.  My friend, Glenda, is like Mary Lou Henner when it comes to memory, so she's just the person to have around as we remembernisced about Days Gone By!  My overnight stay with her was so fun and way too short.  It was also a delight to see my foster sister, Connie, who drove down from Wisconsin.  And on my last night in Iowa, I enjoyed conversation and an outstanding dinner out with my BIL, Kerry.

My flights were all pretty uneventful, if you discount having to BE at the airports at 4 A.M.  I had a layover each direction, so I had to buckle and unbuckle my seat belt twice each way.  Thereovermore, when the planes landed, that was four times I tried to stand up in my seat without first unbuckling my seat belt.  Let me tell you, you can only stand up so far and then you violently plop back into your seat, red in the face, and bruised in the thighs.  Shouldn't I have learned by, say, the second or third time?!

Laundry is calling.  I've been letting it go to voice mail, but I'd better go answer it this time.