He really DID make it up to me!

If you read my post HERE, you will know that I said DH made the fact that I had gone with him to a concert (to see a band I didn't particularly like) up to me. Apart from generally making sure we saw as much as possible...and fitted in a good bit of shopping...he sat through not one, but TWO Broadway Musicals- and believe me, this man doesn't like  Musicals!

The first one was CHICAGO, which I was surprised  shocked to discover that he had actually enjoyed as much as I did! We had really good seats for it..just a few rows from the front, and at the end of the show a single (silk) red rose was thrown to the audience. There was a Chinese guy sitting in front of us, and he leapt to his feet to try and catch it ...but he was just too slow...DH had leapt to his too- and just about flattened the poor soul as he reached over to grab it....but the rose was mine!!!

layout made in 2010

Having enjoyed Chicago so much, I managed to talk him into going to see 'Phantom of the Opera'...THAT, however, was a big mistake as he hated it (and, to be honest, I was a bit disappointed in it myself), and he very quickly became anti-Musicals again!

On a totally different subject, GINGER from GINGER'S LIFE OF SPICE has just announced she's organising another MAIL ART EXCHANGE.  If you fancy joining in this time, you can find the details  HERE.

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

Storytelling Sundays Yr2 - A CHANGE OF PLAN

Firstly let me say how grateful I am to RINDA, whose post on Friday gave me the inspiration for today's story....AND to get a Layout I'd been meaning to do for YONKS done!


You may remember way back last year, I shared my travels through the SW of the USA, ending with THIS POST, in which I intended to be back to share why our plans changed..and where we ended up. Eight months later (give or take), Rinda has unwittingly reminded me to do just that!


In that last post, we had spent a few days in Colorado Springs with the intention of driving south  to Austin TX, to visit with another friend and colleague of DH's. Whilst there though, DH stumbled upon an article about the 'jazz fusion' group RETURN TO FOREVER. They had reformed for the first time to tour...unfortunately nowhere near where we were, but they WERE playing in NYC the following week. 


Although I like some of their music, I am/never was a great fan....but DH is..there was no way I could deny him this (and I DO have to confess that the thought of a week in NY was no hardship for me either!) . 


As I mentioned before, we didn't do much planning ahead on this trip, and hadn't yet booked a hotel in Austin...as our plan had been to drive,  there was no air travel to cancel, nor had we made any firm arrangements for when we were actually IN  Austin...there was no reason we couldn't change our mind about where we were going next! Admittedly, we weren't going to drive to NY and we DID have to change our return flights out of JFK instead of Austin, but after sorting that out we just dropped the car at Denver Airport before flying East. I managed to find us an apt in the Upper West Side, which was really handy for walking everywhere and the weather was glorious. Our previous experience of NY had been in the Winter ( and I had had a broken toe, thus there hadn't been an awful lot of walking!), so it was a totally different experience for us!


Theconcert itself was pretty good OK, but DH did make it up to me...more about that in another post, which I promise shan't be eight months away!


As this was my chosen story, I was inspired to get a LO ( for which the photographs have been printed for about two years!) completed.

I used Shimelle's STARTING POINT for this LO

Why don't you pop on over HERE, where you will find a plethora of tales from Bloggers all over the globe, who come together on the first Sunday of every month for STORYTELLING SUNDAY, hosted by the lovely Sian.

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison x

A couple of Layouts

I managed to get some pics of the LOs I spoke about in yesterday's post .........




I made this one a few years ago and would probably do something a bit different with it , had I been scrapping it now.

This one is a bit more recent and probably more like what  I might produce now....

Today's news is that I GAINED three quarters of a pound :( but I've decided not to stress about it and just try better this coming week!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

USA Trip 2008- Colorado Springs

Thought it was time for the next installment of our Road Trip through SW USA.


 We left Santa Fe (you can read about that part of the trip  HERE) and headed north, to Colorado Springs. 


The Company DH had worked for had offices in Colorado Springs, so he had visited a couple of times before, but it was a first for me. The first thing I noticed about it, was that it looked like a typical town from a 'cowboy' movie.....I was just waiting for John Wayne to show up, or a bar-room brawl to start!

The other thing I loved were the metal sculptures, which were everywhere you turned

Our main reason for visiting was to see a colleague of DH's and his wife, who we had befriended on their visits to the UK. We spent a lovely day with them, not only going for lunch  and visiting their home, but they also took us to the American Airforce Academy...which is on the most incredible grounds and has the most awesome Cathedral I have ever seen! The light inside is beautiful..the whole place is bathed in shades of purple..it must be a wonderful place to worship.

I have made LOs of the visit, but the light isn't good for photographing just now..I shall try to remember to do so tomorrow and post them then.

After lunch, they then took us to The Garden of the Gods, a National, natural landmark, which reminded me of the red rocks round about Sedona, in Arizona.

'Kissing Camels'

'Weeping Indian'

All in all, we really enjoyed our visit to Colorado Springs...and were looking forward to heading off to Austin, Texas next- until a sudden change of plan!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

USA Trip 2008- Santa Fe

I thought it was time to continue with the tale of our US trip.


We left beautiful Arizona,and headed west again..this time towards Santa Fe in New Mexico. Our reason for this visit was to visit my Godmother's sister, Dianna, who has lived there for many years. Again, DH did all the driving (and to be honest I don't remember much about this part of the trip). 


We had decided to stay in a Hotel this time, as we were only going to be there for three nights. We arrived fairly late at night, and on going to check in (after, of course, the SatNav getting us lost a few times) discovered that our room had been double-booked...not what we wanted to hear! They managed to get us booked into their 'sister' hotel for one night, but that meant another half hour of getting lost before we found it, fairly far off the beaten track..and of course the restaurant was closed for the night. This wasn't turning out too well! We checked in and then, (midnight by this time and we had travelled for most of the day) the very understanding girl at Reception turned up at our door with cereal(!) and milk, which was all she had been able to find for us to eat.

After a decent night's sleep, everything looked much better. We got ourselves up and headed over to the other Hotel, then went  for a quick wander before meeting Dianna for lunch. This Hotel was in the little Main Street and was a really cute,adobe style building.

Even though I hadn't seen Dianna for about 18 years, we recognized each other right away. We spent a lovely afternoon with her and she insisted that she 'show us the sights' the next day.

Santa Fe itself was a really quaint little town, with some beautiful art and sculpture Galleries. I have to confess that my favourite shop was the 'Year Round Christmas Shop' (Why don't we have them in the UK?!), where I added a few lot of dollars to the Visa card bill..... I don't know if I've mentioned that I LOVE Christmas and American Christmas Stores!

The other thing that sticks in my mind, is that on the Saturday night, when we were crossing the town square on our way to eat, there were couples dancing to the music coming from one of the restaurants..it was just so darned romantic!

So ends our Santa FE trip..next time we're off to- well check back to find out!

Thanks for dropping by!

take care of you

Alison xx

Scottsdale Layout

As promised yesterday, the LO I made for the Scottsdale part of our trip

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

U.S. Trip 2008- Scottsdale AZ

Yes, we left L.A. and drove east across California and into Arizona. Including a couple of stops, the trip took about six hours.


I am very fortunate that DH actually enjoys driving, and doesn't expect me to share in the task (not that I wouldn't, or couldn't- he just prefers it that way!),so I get to look out the window and enjoy the changing scenery. And it really does change...California is fairly lush and green and then you hit the much drier, more desert-like scenery of Arizona.


DD was still with us, and we had, once again, booked a private home to stay in ( I forgot to say that in all this travelling, we were so grateful for the invention of SATNAV....mapreading is not my forte, and we would have been heading for divorce by the end  this point of the trip!).


This one was much more 'us'....a modest (well, by American standards) little bungalow/villa

with a fab pool area and exceptionally well-presented and comfortable interior. Bearing in mind that we were there in the height of the summer and that the temperature hit 100 degrees most days, we got great use of said pool!

DD (despondently) headed back to the UK after a week - which was just as well,as I was all shopped out, and even though our plan had been to move on at that point, DH and I decided to stay on for another four days.....we needed to chill after all that retail therapy!   

Apart from the fact we had previously visited (and loved) Scottsdale, one of our aims whilst there, was to meet up with a lovely lady , whom we had met through my Godmother. She was just approaching her eightieth Birthday, and was still driving the length and breadth of the United States visiting family and friends..she is a remarkable and very interesting lady.

After recharging our batteries, we packed up again and headed off to......drop by again to find out!

I DO have a LO to go with this, but it's too dark to get a decent pic, so will post it tomorrow!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

USA Trip 2008- Los Angeles

For the next part of our trip, we drove down to Los Angeles. Because DD was joining us for a couple of weeks, instead of booking a hotel, we had decided to rent a private home. Although we had seen some photos on the website, we were stunned when we (eventually) found the house, high in the Hollywood hills. It was a beautiful, Italian- type villa...beautifully decorated- and, to be honest, a bit too posh for us!

I don't really like this LO..it was done for a Challenge a couple of years ago

 We were only there for about five days, but I never felt quite comfortable in the house. We had  a wonderful view over L.A. itself, though the smog was always hanging above the city, so it was hard to get a good photo

The highlight of the visit, for me, was

seeing the musical'WICKED' for the first time-if you have never seen it, and get the opportunity to, you should take it..it's a wonderful story of love and friendship-and I LOVE the music from it..but let's not get waylaid! (for the eagle-eyed among you, this billboard was from NYC, not LA)

As I said, we were stunned by the house..and almost as stunned when  DD got the  flip-flops out- she had only gone and had a tattoo on  her right foot!  What could we say..she was almost nineteen, with a mind of her own-and at this point in time she was working, so it was her own money she had spent...didn't make me a happy bunny, though!

It's at this point that I realise how much more I would have noticed and photographed, had I had a Blog in those day..and also how much I have forgotten of the trip( Note to self....Blogging is a VERY GOOD THING!)

I know that we enjoyed the shopping and re-visiting Santa Monica, and before we knew it we were heading off to.....come back soon to find out!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

U.S. Trip 2008- Madonna Inn

Journalling reads:

We picked Kirsty up from San Francisco airport and drove down to L.A., stopping the night at the quirky Madonna Inn.....I have never seen anything so OTT- it was like Disney on drugs!

It really was the most quirky hotel we had ever been to! We were told about it, by a gentleman we sat beside on the flight over to the US. We checked the website and decided we just HAD  to stop there, as it was on our way to Los Angeles! We booked the 'Safari Room', as seen above.

The unfortunate thing was that, as Kirsty had just arrived, by the time we got there she collapsed and slept right through till the next morning, thus missing having a good nosey around!

NOTE: I have used BBfs Prompt 4 here, and have made my pictures bigger by adapting my Blogger Template...would appreciate any feedback, as I'm not too sure of it!

Happy Easter to you all- and enjoy whatever you are planning.

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

U.S. Trip 2008

  After reading  Mel's post on her upcoming trip to LA, I started thinking about my own trips to the USA and remembered that I had started to make an album of a trip we made in 2008.


 DH had just been made redundant, and had six weeks 'vacation'  between finishing up and starting his new job. We both love to travel, and DH had always had a hankering to do some driving through America; we reckoned we wouldn't have this opportunity again for quite some time, and decided to plan a trip!


We decided that we would like to use our trip to catch up with friends and colleagues we hadn't seen for some years, and that led us to plan our trip round the south west corner of the States. I LOVE planning trips, so was in my element checking hotels and private homes where we could stay during each stop on our itinerary.


Eventually , we set off...flying from London to San Francisco. Our first stop was San Jose, where the HQ of the Company that DH had worked for was based. He had a few things to finalise there, and it gave him a chance to say goodbye to people he had worked with for a few years.


We stayed in a hotel we had stayed at on previous visits -and which is a particular favourite of mine.


I'll continue this travel tale in other posts, especially now I've got the album back out and intend to try and get it completed!


This will be the first LO in my album

I used Shimelle's sketch from her 4x6 Photo Love class. I also used it for a challenge over at Scrap-friendzy, where you had to use something musical on your page( my title is a song-title...have some of you 'young ones' even heard of THE MAMAS &THE PAPAS?)

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx