Holiday Over

It certainly does not feel as if we have been in America for a whole month but tomorrow we fly back home to wet and windy (and very cold) England. Hard to understand that, as we bask in sunshine here in LA in shorts and t-shirt, that tomorrow we will be setting off with sweaters and jackets in our hand luggage ready to wear on our arrival in Manchester on Wednesday afternoon.

Today we fulfilled one of Mary's desires, to have a hot turkey sandwich down at Al Reads for lunch - yes, she took her tin of Cranberry Jelly - good job - they did not have any. Now Mary and the waitress thought we English were a slate loose of a shilling because we wanted fries with our hot turkey sandwich and not mashed potatoes. When asked if we wanted "gravy" we really did not know what to say so we chose one with and one without. I drew the short straw and had the one without. Now we understand the concept of the mashed potato with the turkey sandwich WITH gravy.

Some of you may know that I entered a competition at Blade Rubber before I left, only because they had only had one entry and were appealing for more. Well, this is my journal page - and it came in second place.

The subject was "where I spent my summer holidays" so this is about Happy Valley in Llandudno.

Next time I write it will be back in England - snuggling up with central heating and woolly jumpers no doubt. Roll on next January!

Stamping Day

Seeing that I had missed both the classes I had been booked into whilst staying with Mary because of being ill she kindly invited Carol (have spent many a happy time with Carol at CHA in the past) and a new friend for me, Mari, over for a day of stamping.

Each one of us was to do our own thing so I continued with these cards which I had started a couple of days ago. This was a workshop the girls had been to with Gayle (Smith) which I particularly liked and used a Stamping Up set.

Now, if some of these cards look a bit wonky it is because they are waiting for pale blue brads to be put in so the elements are only placed on with a teeny bit of sticky tape. A temporary measure - but I wanted to upload something as my blog has been so neglected whilst I have been away.

Oops! They look more than a "bit" wonky. Positively drunk!

At lunchtime we all went down to Al Reads which is just a short distance along the road that Mary lives on but when we got there Sunday lunch is not served until 4 pm! Drat! Mary had so been looking forward to a hot turkey sandwich (she'd taken her own tin of redcurrant jelly just in case ...). Decisions, decisions, decisions ... we decided to go to Coco's.

What a darlin' waitress we had there. Turned out she knew Mary from years ago - they used to go square dancing together. So after a treat from Mari we all came back and continued with our play day - well, I chickened out and went and sat on a recliner, and fell asleep!

Now, when we come back in January I have promised I will do a workshop for them ... thinking cap on ... what can I do to impress these ladies?

Not One But Two

It is ages since I posted and such a long time since I did a Challenge. Apologies, but I have been so ill. What a way to spend my time in America, sitting in a chair or in bed trying to feel better with endless medications.

Anyway, today is the first day I have felt like doing anything so here is my card for the Lots to Do Challenge - using inchies - at least I hope it counts because each square cut out was one inch but they do not have any stamping on them.

When I first got to Mary's she had some of these cards down in her stamping room so I wanted to know how to do them. It took me almost three weeks to get one done - and I much prefer the ones she did as the colours are more subtle/pastel. Kind of like one of those patchwork blankets don't you think?

I also do not like missing the Challenge on Ready Steady Stamp so this morning I set to and made a Christmas card using the required things: - lilac cardstock for my main card, lilac cardstock for my skinny, edged in black, silver tree stamped on my skinny and also silver snowflakes on my main card. The letter "C" is cut out on the Cricut using my new cartridge "Storybook" and painted with Ranger's Crackle paint in black, and the lilac square underneath is also painted in Crackle Paint. I think that is all the criteria covered.

We fly back home next Tuesday so hopefully I will be back in harness with the Challenges next time.

More from LA/San Fran

Just had to upload this picture which I should have uploaded yesterday. This is at the Andaz which was our first hotel in LA. It really was a fab hotel - we had complimentary wine on arrival (and each evening - and it was good stuff) and the mini bar was stocked with soft drinks (Coke, Sparkling and Still water, Fruit Juice, Sprite etc) and chocolate, Pringles and nuts, raisins and cranberries which were all complimentary and stocked up each day. In fact you were invited to take them out with you when you went out for the day.

Well, this was on the rooftop with the swimming pool. I just loved lounging on this great big thing which was packed with cushions and shielded from the wind (it was evening when I was up there). Fab views across LA too.

On our last day in San Fran there was an Italian Parade for St Columbus Day. Now don't ask me why we had a Chinese Float but we did - and marching bands. Thought this one was the prettiest.

This is the sexy one. It really was a good Parade, the marching bands were great, the horses were lovely to watch and so well-behaved (apart from the one that stood in front of us and relieved itself - what a lot of liquid!). The whole atmosphere was "carnival" and the children loved it.

Back in LA we went to Universal. Now Chas had not wanted to go there but I finally persuaded him and he loved every minute of it. Here am I with my favourite character, Shrek. I just love him - what was the Princess doing on the photo? Actually she was the sweetest girl.

The Simpson Ride was nowhere near as tame as I had imagined and my hands were hurting when I got off with gripping so hard. It was one of those virtual ones as well. Can really recommend it.

LA and San Francisco

This was where we went on our first day in LA. We went to see La Brea Tar Pits and these are models of mammoths as would have been caught in the tar and unable to get out. it is one of the world's most famous fossil localities. Visitors can learn about LA as it was during the Ice Age. Why not go to the website for the Page Museum and see for yourself. It was fascinating inside the museum and we spent far too much time in there.

Then we got back on the bus and went to The Grove and the Farmer's Market. We loved it there and guess who we saw - Eddie Izzard. He completed the equivalent of 43 marathons in just over seven weeks, covering a minimum of 27 miles a day. Some going eh? Chas went over to congratulate him and, of course, I had to have a photograph taken with him. He raised 200,000 pounds for Sports Relief (there's no pound sterling symbol on this keyboard in America). You might have seen him in Valkyrie with Tom Cruise.

This is the trolley bus that goes around the Grove. It really is a lovely place and I bought a Journal book in Barnes and Nobles - the biggest B & N I had seen. There are some fabulous shops - expensive ones as well and the most delicious clam chowder was served in the Farmers Market.

From LA we flew to San Francisco and stayed in a hotel down at Fisherman's Wharf. It was great down there, so lively, lots of live music, buzzing with people ... and ... of course ... the seals. Couldn't wait to see them and if you look closely to the bottom right of the picture one obliged me by taking a spell in the water - can you see him on his back with his flipper sticking up (is it called a flipper or is it his tail?) We went to see them just before we left to fly back to LA and that day - boy oh boy - did they stink!!!

Whilst in San Fran we also did a sail to Sausilito which is famous for its Mediterranean flair. It was lovely sailing across because we got a great view of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge. On the way home we stopped at Tiburon and we saw lots of Pelicans there. I was so pleased that we managed to get a picture of them.

We did a day touring the areas we wanted to see - Chinatown - Japantown and Haight Ashbury whilst in San Fran but I won't load up loads of photographs of that day.

On our last day we walked up the biggest hill(s) I have walked up in a long time. Lots of stops for me, walking backwards to try to make it easier and all that kind of thing. What was it I wanted to see? The crookedest street in San Fran. Was it worth it? Yes - and I got to see the Wild Green Parrots that I had missed getting on film on the first day when we went up to Coit Tower.

Hope you enjoy this little view of our holiday.

Card Making in America

Lucky for me my friend in America is a card maker and so she has lots of stamps for me to play around with. She showed me a recipe folder that her friend, Valetta, had made using this Chef stamp so I just had to try making a card with it. I really liked how Valetta had used this stamp.

When we get back home our Andrew and his partner Samantha are coming up for a meal so I thought this would be an ideal card to make to put the menu inside.

There was this cute stamp which I thought I could use with some of the gorgeous paper as a mount for it so here is another one I made. The washi paper is so nice I couldn't resist making the card.

The final one is a sassy looking lady and as Mary has just got this saying stamp and she loves it we had to use it on a card. Somehow I don't think this lady gorges on chocolate do you?

I have missed my blog and will try to post again with some pictures from our holiday another day. I have missed doing my challenges and I notice on Lots to Do the Challenge is "a card - any card" so I am using these three to help me keep up with the challenges a little.

I would have loved to do the RSS challenge as well but Mary does not have any hessian so that one is a 'no no' for the moment.

Touching Base

Well, here I am in America. Had a week in San Francisco (oh those hills played havoc with my feet) and now at our friend's in LA. We are off to Ventura Beach for a couple of days but when we get back I should have chance to load up a couple of pictures.

Hopefully will also get some stamping done but in the meantime pop over to Bladerubber blog and see my Alice in Wonderland entry - it is the fourth one down - a bit hard to see the writing with the background colour. The competition was to do something representing your summer holidays so I chose Llandudno and Happy Valley which is all about Alice. http://www.bladerubberstamps-blog.com/

Would you believe it - it has rained for the last two days - in Sunny California - think we brought it with us from England.