More is More

Yes, we actually went to Club 33 last night!  

We saw it as once in a lifetime opportunity.  We were invited by friends Dave and Dana who had a cancellation in a party of 10 they were going with.  One of the guys in the party had the tickets through a corporate membership and they had been to dinner there before.  Three of the couples (including us) were Club 33 newbies.  Boy were we wide eyed and in awe!

This door is next to the Blue Bayou Restaurant.  You put a key card in a slot and push an intercom button.  Once they confirmed our reservation a hostess came and escorted us in.  We then had the choice of walking up a staircase or going up the glass elevator two at a time.  Of course Curt and I wanted to go in the old elevator!  There are two dining rooms once you get upstairs – the main dining room and the trophy room where we sat.  The Trophy Room is smaller and was originally designed to be Walt Disney’s private entertaining space.  The Pirates of the Caribbean ride is just on the other side of the wall of this room and we got to peek through a door onto a balcony and into the ride.

I must say that the service at Club 33 was the best service I have ever had in any restaurant!  Our waiter Louis told us that he has worked at Disneyland for 17 years and over 15 of those years have been at Club 33 AND he’s low man in seniority on the wait staff there.  Wow!  We were able to get up and walk around to look at things any time throughout dinner which lasted about 3 1/2 hours.  The funny thing was that any time you left your seat, when you returned you would find your napkin re-folded and sitting on the table in a little tent fold shape.  One of the girls in our group mentioned that she felt really bad that she kept getting up and Louis had to keep re-folding her napkin, so the next time she left the table, he came and did a super fancy fold for her which totally cracked me up.

The food was certainly yummy.  I had a New York Strip and Curt had Duck.  Several people in our party had a 5 course pre-fixe menu with a wine pairing.  I don’t drink much and certainly couldn’t appreciate a wine pairing.  Instead I got a non-alcoholic Pirate Punch with light up Tink!  🙂 Oh and I wasn’t the only one at the table to get one of these.  You can’t tell in the photo, but Tink lit up a bright green!  For dessert we had a creme brulee (because all the chocolate options seemed to have fruit associated with them – blech!).

I have to share something funny – the bathroom freaked me out slightly.  It was beautiful, but when I went in the stall the toilet looked almost like a big wicker chair/throne type thing.  The first stall I went in had the lid down and it literally looked like a chair.  I was so confused!  I went to the next stall where the lid was up.  *phew*  I’ve never seen such a thing!  LOL!

There were several souvineers with the “33” logo available for purchase, but we decided we didn’t need any of those (espeically after we paid the dinner tab – yikes!).  We did get a few little freebies though.  Little matchbook like notepads came along with chocolates at the end of the meal.  And when the waiter brought the credit cards slips for everyone to sign he brought each couple a Club 33 pen for us to keep.  I’m a total pen freak so this would be my first choice souvineer anyway!  He told us that up until about 10 years ago the matchbooks would be embossed with each person’s name, but it was such a tedious task that they finally stopped doing it.  I asked if they still had the embosser because I’d be more than happy to do mine myself!  LOL!

  I also took a couple of logo paper hand towels from the bathroom.  We kept joking all night about the things we were going to take to sell on ebay so Louis told us the hot tip was to take the hand towels – that they sell well.  Too funny!

Here’s a picture of us with our friends Dave and Dana.  Curt has been friends with Dave since Jr. High and I’ve been friends with Dana since first grade.  We fixed them up on a blind date (a classic pay it forward if you know our story) about 8 years ago.  The funny thing is that it was my Mom’s idea. I don’t think it would have ever occured to me to put them together.

Speaking of blind dates – if you are following my Blind Date Saga from March 11 – 20 years ago today it is Tuesday – 10 days after our blind date – and HALLELUJAH Curt called!  Apparantly Bill waited till the very end of the work day and as he was leaving he threw out a casual “hey you should really call Jami”.  Curt hadn’t been at all sure that I liked him so he had been hesitant to call.  Not sure how that happened – I thought I was clear with my signals, but I guess not.  I worked evenings at Arthur Murray so he called me at work that evening and asked me out for the upcoming Saturday night.  Let me tell you, for this date I planned to get a new outfit and put in a little more effort!  WooHoo!!  So check back with me on the 25th for our Second First Date!

Hope you are having a great weekend.  We have another dinner out with friends tonight and poor Curt has an awful cold. I’ve got to run change my clothes and get going.  Thanks for stopping by!

-Jami

I was issued a little challenge by a friend who’s working on a project.  She asked me to create a masculine 3×3 card using the color Artichoke.  Here’s what I came up with.   Base is Artichoke edged with white craft ink  and then layered with Riding Hood Red, Black and Mellow Moss.  The Moss panel was stamped collage style with images from a couple of sets, but mostly the new set in the upcoming Occasions Mini Sense of Time.  Floral rub-on is SU and the bird rub-on is Maya Road.  Ribbon is black velvet for a feeling of richness.  Little red pearls are Kaiser Craft.  I didn’t have quite the shade I wanted so I colored white ones with a Copic marker.  Sentiment (also from Sense of Time)was embossed with black craft ink and clear embossing powder, then punched with my SU 1 3/4″ circle, sponged and popped up on foam tape.  The idea of this seemed intimidating at first, but I really ended up having fun creating it.

For those of you here for a Blind Date Saga installment (start at my post on 3/11 if you don’t know what I’m talking about) – 20 years ago today – it’s Sunday and the weekend is coming to an end.  No call.  *sigh*  I did what I swore I wouldn’t do – I sat home on Saturday night just hoping.  I swore I would not be pathetic like that any more, but gosh I really liked this guy!  I have spoken to Marcia, and Bill is still not wanting to get involved although he did say that it seems Curt is interested and did like me.  I implore (that sounds much better than “beg”, doesn’t it?) Bill to say something to Curt to encourage him to call me!  This is no time to step away Bill!  Seriously – see it through!

More to come.  Thanks for stopping by.

-Jami

 Yep – Curt and I met on a blind date 20 years ago today!

(fuzzy swirly things like when a tv character thinks back…)

My friend Marcia wanted to fix me up with a guy her husband, Bill, worked with.  She told me what a great guy he was, but I wasn’t really interested.  You see Marcia and Bill had fixed me up on a horrendous blind date about a year earlier so I wasn’t excited about trying another.  I had helped to fix up Marcia with Bill about 7 years earlier and they had been married about 5 years and looking to repay me I guess.  I was pretty much the last of all my friends to remain unmarried.  Anyway she finally convinced me to go out with Curt on a double date with them.

I was still fairly disinterested in the whole thing the day of the date and didn’t put much thought into my outfit or hair (I know – shocking!)  But when the three of them arrived at my condo to pick me up my first thought was “hmmmm he’s cute…he just needs a haircut.”  ( I later found out he had just had a haircut – LOL!)  We went to dinner at the Spaghetti Factory in Newport Beach and I had a signal worked out with Bill and Marcia.  After dinner they were supposed to ask me if I wanted to go  on the ferry over to Balboa Island.  If I said “yes” that would mean I liked Curt and things were going well, but if I said “no” that would mean “You’re in trouble!  Take me home now!”  Well I did like him and I was dying for one of them to ask me the magic question, but they forgot until we were on the freeway and almost home when finally Bill said “oh I forgot I was going to see if you wanted to go on the ferry.”  Curt said he remembers my response because it was so strange – something like an exagerated “why yes Bill…I would have very much enjoyed going on the ferry!!!”

Now here’s the really fun thing – to celebrate tonight we went with Bill and Marcia to the Spaghetti Factory in Newport Beach and had the exact same dinner we had 20 years ago!  Our 22 year old waiter thought he whole thing was pretty funny.  We had so much fun!  And the best part is that tonight we actually did take the ferry across to Balboa Island!

I wish I had a photo from that first night, but of course people rarely take photos on a first date!

When we got back to my place that night 20 years ago, I was wishing I could talk to Curt longer, but I had insisted that Bill and Marcia bring Curt with them to my condo so I wouldn’t be *stuck* with him if things didn’t go well.  As they left I told Curt to get my phone number from Bill and give me a call.  (Dang – why didn’t I pick out a better outfit to wear to and really do my hair??? Will I get a second chance?)

And so the waiting began…

Check back later for the rest of the story.  *wink*  And stop by tomorrow to see one of my samples for my class coming up on Friday.

-Jami

I’m home from CHA!  Wow – talk about tired!!!  I didn’t drink at all, but I still have a hangover!  CHA is the Craft and Hobby Association trade show where crafting manufacturers of all kinds display their products for retailers to order.  There is nothing available for immediate consumer purchase, but some booths do offer make & takes and/or give-aways.  Probably 75% of the show is made up of papercrafting/scrapbooking booths.  It’s hard to describe just how huge the show is, but I’ll just say that it took us almost 2 full days (9:00am – 5:30pm) to cover the entire show.  We actually spent 3 full days at the show and I spent most of my time with Taylor.  Be on the lookout at the Taylored Expressions store….she has some really fun new products coming soon.  *wink*

For 4 nights (starting on Saturday) we had a dinner or party to attend.  The very best thing about the show is getting to see (and meet IRL for the first time) friends who come in from around the country.  Unfortunately my camera did not work for the entire show.  I do have a few pics to share today that were graciously sent to me by awesome friends Lori and Jenn.

Here I am with Taylor – we had soooo much FUN!

and here I am with Debbie Olson, Jenn, Taylor, Lori and Sharon Harnist.  Jenn and Lori and I were all in bright pink ’cause GMTA!!  LOL!

I am so proud of my wonderful friends Joy and Cami along with their partner Kimberly who I finally got to meet.  Their new company Our Craft Lounge had a fabulous booth in the new exhibitors section.  It was by far the best looking booth in that area!  Congrats girls!

I’ve got to get back to my regular *day job* today.  Just wanted to remind you that you have until 6 pm Pacific tonight to play my sketch from Taylor’s big celebration last Friday.  You MUST upload to the SCS gallery with keyword TECC52JS to be entered into my drawing.  Be sure to check your keyword! Scroll down for all the details.  I haven’t had a chance to view all the entries yet, but I look forward to doing that over the next couple of days.  The drawing winner will be announced tomorrow so please be sure to check back.

It’s such a sad day at our house.  Last night our little Love Bird, Parsley, passed away.  She was over 15 years old (well over the life expectancy of a Love Bird).  It’s hit us both pretty hard – harder than we thought it would actually.  We could see this coming yesterday and we held her most of the afternoon and evening.

Here is a photo taken Easter ’08 – she’s sitting in Curt’s shirt pocket.

We got her back in ’93 from a neighbor who was a kindergarten teacher.  She had been given a pair of love birds for her classroom and they had a clutch of chicks.  We had only had Beaker (our Red Fronted Macaw) for about 6 months at that point and weren’t in the market for another bird, but we thought she would be good companionship for my great-aunt who lived alone.  Our plan was to keep Parsley for 3 months till Christmas and during that time Curt would work on getting her hand-tamed since she was a parent raised bird.  Well, Curt has an incredible way with birds – they pretty much all love him and Parsley was no exception.  She fell in love with Curt immediately and really wanted no one else.  We did give her to my aunt that Christmas, but Parsley bit her on about the 3rd or 4th day and my aunt who was in her 70’s was done with her.  She then went to live with my parents where she unfortunately continued to enforce her reputation as a biter.  She needed someone to work with her.  So she made her way back to our house.  And she really was a very good little girl.

She always loved Curt and was happy to be back with him and over time she came to love me too.  She loved to sit on the couch with either of us and although she would not allow us to pet her, she did like for Curt to cover her with his whole hand.  She was also very much in love with R.B. our HUGE Green Wing Macaw.  His play tree is just behind the couch and she would often want to climb to the back of the couch to get to him. In fact last night when she was so weak she could barely stand at one point she got really squirmy and started to try to climb from Curt’s chest to the back of the couch.  At first we could figure out what she was doing and then we realized she wanted to be closer to R.B. – so Curt took her over and held her next to him.  R.B. never quite understood how a bird could be so small and we were always careful not to let Parsley too close to him.  

She didn’t talk like our big birds, but she always whistled at bedtime (something my Dad taught her when she lived with them) and she had the sweetest little chirp.

Here are a couple of photos of her Christmas ’07 when she was *helping me* wrap gifts.

She was a good little bird and we will miss her a lot!

  I had planned to stamp the monthly DDA Challenge last night to post this morning, but I just had no heart for stamping yesterday.  I’m sure you understand.

-Jami

Thought I’d share just a few notes on the Accessories section of the new catty (to read my thoughts on the main part of the new catty please scroll down a couple of posts.)  This is by no means an exhaustive list – just a few things that caught my eye…

designer papers – there are 16 different packages of designer paper plus 14 colors of Patterns Designer Series.  But in addition to that SU has introduced 3 packages of Specialty dp in textured cover-weight cardstock and 1 in gloss.  I’m very interested to see and feel these in person!

scrappin’ kits – I’ve never ordered one of these, but I’m seeing lots of possibilites for Sweet Nothings which coordinates with the new stamp set Friends 24-7 and features Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette, Kiwi Kiss and Chocolate Chip.

simply sent card elements – love the printed and embossed notecards.  I probably won’t buy them, but the set with the little *thank you* stamps would make a great gift or a good purchase for someone who is a little tentative about getting started in stamping.

rub-ons – Bright Delights comes in COLOR (Rose Red, Tangerine Tango, Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip) and goes with the Retro Fresh Trend Watch.  Very cool!

brads – Jumbo in chocolate, vanilla, white and silver.  Flowers in Pumpkin, Saffron, Chocolate, Pretty in Pink.  Rhinestone brads in CLEAR – finally!!!!

buttons – corduroy in 6 different single color packs – designer buttons added in a latte assortment.

fleurettes – crocheted flowers – pink/red/white

on board chipboard – So Tweet – yep you guessed it – birds!!!!

 MY TOP PICK – the Eyelet Border Punch – that will be on my first order for sure!

I’d love to hear your thoughts and faves!

This post will contain spoilers, so if you don’t want info till you see your new SU catalog for yourself (like me) then skip over this post.  I so wasn’t expecting to have my catalog this weekend…I hadn’t even thought much about it and didn’t think I would be nearly as excited as I am.  But I have to tell you that I found plenty to love in the Spring/Summer Idea Book and Catalog and it makes me remember why my heart is still with Stampin’ Up!

I just wanted to share a few of my first impressions and things that jumped out at me.

***lots of sets have really beautiful sentiments.  My favorite is “JOY is to behold GOD in everything.” from Wonderful Watercolors on page 85.  This set is in the same stamp style as Heartfelt Thanks, but I think the images are actually prettier.  The set also has the sentiment “Thinking of You”

***several new masculine sets including: Totally Tool (with cute punny sayings), Backwoods (includes a cabin, pines trees, fish, bird, buck all to be watercolored), Hit the Road (includes a cute off-road jeep driven by a dog), Hoppy for You (a super cute frog set – not traditionally masculine, but I can imagine possibilities.  Love the sentiment “times fun when you’re having flies”  LOL!)

***a few more vintage style sets have been added.  Vintage with a little different twist perhaps, but it’s nice to see some more sets in that vein.  *Friends 24-7*  and the coordinating jumbo wheel are my favorites of the vintage lot and I plan to get them.  I love the beautiful bird on the branch and the shabby flourish.  Plus the floral image is one that can stand alone on a card.  Another wonderful sentiment here “The happiest business in the world is that of making friends – Anne S. Eaton”  The jumbo wheel Friendly Words has the look of a background stamp with words like “confidant, kindred spirits, true friends” and so on in varying fonts.  Other vinatgey sets are: Ever After (heart made of floral vines, flower stalk, “L”- Love), Bird on a Branch (kind of a cross between Eastern Influence and Eastern Blooms – silhouette of a branch and a bird with separate flowers for the branch.), Music Expressions (a large violin with a flourish of flowers), Classic Sketches (Greek/Roman looking colums and sculptures.  Reminds me of the travel set from a few years ago.)

***for those that like the Magnolia/Sugar Nellie/Holly Hobby look that has become popular from European companies there is a set that might appeal called A Kind Word. It includes two images of little girls – one of them is on a swing the other has a basket of flowers.  There’s also an image of kittens in this set.  It’s not my cup of tea, but I can certainly see why others would like it.

 ***dogs – everyone is always begging SU for a cute dog set.  The new one this year is cute I think, but still not *doing it* for me.  The dogs are solid and stylized (like Wild About You) and there are 4 of them (weiner dog, chihuahua – looks more like a fox to me, scottie, and I’m not sure about the 4th – maybe a lab?).  There’s also a fire hydrant.

***scary stuff – seems like every new catty there is one *what were they thinking* set.  For me this year it’s Animal Crackers.  It reminds me a little bit of You’re Neat – which I bought.  There are 5 cartoon animals with balloon-like heads and I honestly thought it was cute till I looked at the last one which is a giraffe and he’s just disturbing.  And the more I look, the scarier he gets!  Yikes!

 ***missing – we are down to only 11 full sized background stamps and none of them are new.  We have no fabric/texture stamps like Canvas, Linen or Twill anymore.  Sanded is the only thing that comes close.  I guess I shouldn’t be surprised as I find myself using dp so much now and background stamps not nearly as often.  Still I have always LOVED background stamps and looked forward to the new ones.  I guess I need to make a point to actually use the ones I have.  At least I won’t have to deal with the storage issue of where to put more since that drawer is full to the gills!

***coffee – I love the new set Sip by Sip.  It has a retro lady very similar to the Crafty Secrets set I always wanted but never got.  It also has: percolator, 3 cute coffee cups in a row, a cofee cup stain/ring, sentiments (enjoy life sip by sip, not gulp by gulp  AND Chocolate, coffee and men – some things are better rich.  That made me LOL!)

***favorite – my very favorite two-page spread is pages 90-91 which includes: Petal Pizzazz (got it in my preview order), Cheep Talk, Good Friend, Trendy Trees, Funky Forest Wheel. These are all solid sets with a funky retro style.  Trendy Trees is small in size and has 2 different tree trunks to be used with 4 different tree tops.  Funky Forest is basically the same images only smaller and in a wheel.  Cheep Talk and Good Friend are coordinating sets – Good Friend being much larger in image size.  Cheep Talk is my absolute favorite set and will be on my first order no matter what!  It includes two adorable funky birds, a branch, a flower, a pear, a heart, and 3 sentiments curved to go with the branch.  There is also a set of On Board chipboard that coordinates with these sets.

There’s lots more, but that’s enough typing for me for now.  I’m anxious to hear what your favorites are when you see the catalog.  Let me know!  I’ll be back later with a sweet SASI Valentine.  Thanks for stopping by.