Black Belt Scrapping

Hello Blog!

Wow, it's a little dusty around here! Time for some housecleaning! If you haven't figured it out, I've been on vacation for a bit over a week at a family reunion, and while I had good intentions of updating, it just didn't happen. 

 

Here's a bit of a summary of our trip with numbers attached.....

• Great house with 7 bedroom and 7 bathrooms
  
• 12 people in our house
  
• 128 family members attending for the week
  
• 1500+ miles driven
  
• 27 hours in the car
  
• 2 cameras
  
• 3 iPods
  
• 4 books read
  
• 6 Macs in the house
  
• 575 pics taken by me
  
• 10,000,000,000 calories consumed
  
• 2 family portrait shoots
  
• 2 get togethers with dear friends
• 3 celebrity deaths 
• 1 scary trip to Children's Hospital (right before we left)

  

That about sums things up! I'll be posting more pictures and telling you a bit more about the trip, including our amazing family photo shoot with Deb & Grant Perry later in the week. In the meantime, I've got some photo editing to do! I have about ten days to catch up on over on the photo blog too, and I promise that I'll be getting that done. 

We hit the ground running this week too, as Shannon is going to golf camp again, and we'll be getting her ready to leave for sleep-away camp for two weeks starting this coming Sunday. I see lots of laundry in my future!

It's also carb detox week....glad that it's summer and the produce is getting better. I see a future filled with nothing but fish and veggies. 

At the Moment...

When stalking Lisa Russo's photo blog for more super fabulous photos (check her out people!), I found this today and thought I'd steal it!

Outside my window.....my pretty deck and patio. The birds and mosquitos are enjoying it today. And look, I have baby tomatoes on the way!

I am thinking.....I have a lot to do before Saturday.

I am thankful for....family and good health.

From the kitchen.....leftovers galore, we need to clear out the fridge!

I am wearing....my jammies, for a few more minutes

I am creating.....a new corporate logo for ACME

I am going....to the beach, SOON!

I am reading....The Thornbirds by Colleen McCullough

I am hoping....that Olive won't freak while we're gone

I am hearing....my TweetDeck chirping at me

Around the house....a fridge that needs cleaning and bags that need to be packed

One of my favorite things...Olive the Wonder Dog, of course!

Plans for the rest of the week....take more photos like this! Different state, but same ocean!

 

And speaking of great pics and great people, I'm hoping that we'll get to see Deb & Grant next week! I'm trying to talk them into coming down to the beach to hang with us for a day or so! Wahoo!

Digital Art Back in the House

I haven't done any digital scrapbooking in months, and I've missed it!  This week I did a layout and found that I was pretty rusty. 

Here's my new layout...kind of quirky and weird, but still fun.

It's been a really long time since I've put up some layouts and in a cruise through my galleries last night, I found a bunch that I had forgotten about, so I thought I'd put them up today just for fun. I might have put a few of these up before and if I have, well....I guess you get to see them again. Some of these have been published, and some were submitted for contests, but I can't remember which were which!

Still awake? I hope so! My rental lens arrived yesterday, so I'm hoping to get some great new pics to play with in the next few weeks. Yay! 

Recipe Tuesday ~ Chicken Pasta Salad with a Twist

Last week when we had dinner after Shannon's piano recital, our gracious hostess Janet served up a super delicious, main dish chicken pasta salad. I'm not a big olive fan, but I still really loved it. She served another great one as well and I'll be passing that along to you in a couple of weeks.  

I hope you'll give it a try. I think I'll make it when we're all on vacation - it'll be perfect!

Chicken Pasta Salad with a Twist

• 2 large amish chicken breasts, on the bone
• 2 ribs of celery with leaves
• 2 large carrots, rough chopped
• 1 vidalia onion, chopped
• salt and pepper
• 1 1lb. box veggie rotini pasta
• 3 bell peppers, diced
• 1 rib celery, diced
• 1 bunch green onions, chopped
• 1/2 jar green olives, sliced
• 1/2 can black olives, sliced
• 6 oz. garlic cheese cut into chunks (or you can substitute crumbled feta cheese)
• 2 packets Good Seasons Italian Salad Dressing
• olive oil
• vinegar

In a large pot of water, add 2 ribs of celery with leaves, carrots, onion, and salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Add chicken and turn down to a simmer. Simmer chicken in the broth for about 45 minutes. Remove chicken from the pot, and remove about 6 tablespoons for later. Remove the veggies from the broth. 

Add the pasta to the broth and cook until al dente. In the meantime, remove chicken from the bone and tear it into bite sized pieces. Set the chicken aside. 

Mix salad dressing packets with olive oil and vinegar according to directions. Use the reserved broth as a substitute for the water. 

Gently mix the pasta and chicken with the remaining peppers, celery, onions, olives, and salad dressing. Chill for an hour before serving. 

Delish! A guaranteed winner, this one!

Paw Paw and Grampy

It's become a bit of a tradition to have both families over to our place on Father's Day to watch the US Open golf tournament, eat ribs and salmon, and generally just have a great time. Yesterday was no exception!

I've been taking a bunch of pics lately, but not that many of the really important people in our lives. Take Paw Paw (my dad) and Grampy (Andy's Dad). Now it's not like they're going anywhere any time soon, but you just never know. If you've got the opportunity to snap some pics of the people in your lives, do it, because down the road those pretty pictures of your flowers aren't going to be the ones that you care about!

Grampy was in both the Army and the seminary - now there are two polar opposite experiences for you!

Paw Paw has been a teacher, athlete, and a coach all of his life. He now keeps the young sales associates in line at the golf shop. Grampy was a university professor and now teaches religion to Catholic homeschooled kids during the school year. 

Both Paw Paw and Grampy are cancer survivors. Here's hoping that they've both kicked it for good. 

And finally, happy Father's Day to the Big Daddy in our house. We love you!

 * * *

Speaking of photos, I rented my dream lens for our upcoming vacation and it is being delivered tomorrow. I'm giddy with excitement.  No, really. I am seriously excited about it. For me, it's like renting a really hot sports car for a week or two. I can NOT wait to try it out. You'll hear all about it on Wednesday I'm sure. 

Tomorrow's recipe is a kick ass pasta salad that's probably different than what you're used to, and different in a REALLY delicious way!

Pianist

When I was growing up, I was a flute player. I always wanted to learn how to play piano as well, but the house I grew up had only about 1000 square feet, and every square inch was taken by things that were necessary for a family of four to function. There just wasn't any room for a piano. 

 

I never lost my desire to learn to play, however, and when I was turning 40, I got a piano for Christmas! It's a used beauty, and used to be one of the warm up pianos down at the Aranoff Center for the Performing Arts for the visiting artists. It's got a lovely sound, and an interesting history. How many people can claim that Billy Joel played their piano?  Well I can!  Isn't that cool? It's got some scratches and dents, but I thing that those are just part of it's history.

Shannon and I both started taking lessons at that time. I kept going, but she wasn't ready. She loved her lessons but refused to practice, so she had to stop. We got her started again this January and she's just doing fantastic. She has perfect pitch and is one of those lucky piano students who holds her hands in perfect position, unlike her mother who has iron fingers. She's showing the ability to play pieces by ear, which is both good and bad when you're trying to learn the fundamentals. 

Yesterday she had her first recital and did great!  She played a few solos, and had a few duets with Janet, her instructor (and one of my best girlfriends). 

Janet is our ridiculously talented music director at St. John Fisher. She's also a highly accomplished musician, composer, and playwrite. The girlfriend sells books and recordings on Amazon. She's published in your missal at church. And when it comes to playing the piano, she's phenominal! Janet only has a few piano students (I'm not one of them, I wasn't accepted!), so we're very fortunate to have her as Shannon's instructor.

Janet hosted the recital at her studio (house!) yesterday for our family and grandparents, and we had a lovely light summer dinner afterwards and it was really great!

I'm not taking lessons right now, but I'd love to get back to it. I miss it. Playing piano really challenges my brain, expands my music skills (obviously!), and is a great stress reliever for me.  I really hope that Shannon keeps it up because she could be really, really good, and that's something that you take with you forever. Kind of like riding a bike.