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What a Day!

Mark and I have a friend who was an Alabama quarterback under Bear Bryant. He and his sweet wife invited us to the Alabama-LSU game played yesterday. Mark and I have sort of a mixed marriage since he is an LSU grad. However, my husband is a pretty mild-mannered fan and just likes to see me happy, so we don't experience much conflict over this. 

At one game per year, the former players get a pass for themselves and a friend to go down on the field for pre-game warmups. Our friend asked Mark to accompany him, and was probably surprised when Mark asked if I could go. This idea was vindicated on two accounts: I would enjoy it more and I have a camera. So our friend said yes.

When we got to the campus, we met up with some of the former players who were tailgating. Then we went to the "A" room for a wonderful lunch with them and their families. Then it was off to the sidelines! When we got there, the kickers were warming up, then the rest of the team came out little by little. I had to really watch out or I could have been pancaked by a wide receiver running his routes! I was just snapping pictures when my friend tapped my shoulder and said, "I'd like you to meet Johnny Musso!" Musso is one of the best running backs that Alabama has ever produced, and there I was shaking his hand! He is such a soft-spoken and kind man. 

So here are my photos (and a bit of game analysis!)

Leigh Tiffin was as usual a star in this game, with 3 field goals. We Alabama fans are usually a bit frustrated to settle for a field goal, but no one was complaining about his last one, because it iced the game.

 

Greg McElroy was off on a few key passes, but overall his play improved compared to the last few games.

 

See what I mean about watching out for those receivers?

 

I was like Greg McElroy in that Julio Jones was my favorite target, photographically that is. He of course made the play of the game with a 73-yard touchdown pass. He looked like a thoroughbred horse winning a race by 8 lengths as he sprinted down the sideline. One of the happiest moments for us fans so far this year.

 

That's Mark Ingram on the left. When you look at those calf muscles, you understand why he gets so many yards after contact! 

 

Trent Richardson up close and personal. He gave fantastic second effort running it in for a 2-point conversion after Julio's touchdown.

 

Javier Arenas gave another great performance on kickoff returns and defense. He gave us a scare when he didn't get up after one kickoff, but he was OK. We couldn't say that for several of the LSU players who went down.

 

Josh Chapman giving Terrence Cody a shove. Just two 300+ pound guys having a little fun.

 

Our fearless leader, who with this game reestablished his dominance in the SEC West, thankfully with our team this time.

 

And here I am with the Italian Stallion himself, Johnny Musso! This day was just a dream come true. Now to go get the paper and read the sports page with my coffee.

How We Spent Our Halloween

I never expected Halloween to be quite this much fun. I had a mild case of holiday burn out this year, and we were invited to a costume party, which was a bad combination. Neither did I decorate the porch with lights. So we were a little behind the 8-ball by yesterday morning.

Then Jonathan saved the day. He was going to be the only one home to hand out candy, a task he didn't seem to mind at all. So he decided to make our foyer look like a haunted house. He hung old white sheets in all the entryways and found some scary looking lighted decorations. He put purple light bulbs in the indoor light fixture.

Then he went outside and hung the lights.

Meanwhile, I carved the pumpkin.

 

As for the costumes, a friend at work gave me the idea to go as the swine flu virus. From there it was natural that Mark be the mad scientist trying to kill me. For the sake of my costume, "flu" became "flew" as I donned wings:

 

And our porch looked really great. We carved an emoticon face on our jack-o-lantern ;).

 

Jonathan opened the door to the little kids wearing a scary mask. He held out a bowl of candy and said, "Take one!" in a creepy voice. The kids seemed to love it. I heard one say to his mom as he went off, "I would have taken more than one, but he scared me too much." When I thanked Jon for all he did to make our Halloween a success, he said, "This year, I'm the man!"

At the Ready

We have a big trick-or-treat night on Halloween in our neighborhood. Jonathan has been busy getting the decorations up, and he has volunteered to give out the candy. Hope everyone has a safe and happy Halloween!

365 Project

This year I am participating in the Photo-A-Day Project that is popular among photography buffs. That is, you take a photo every day. I haven't really done that, because some days by the time I get home, I am exhausted and there just doesn't seem to be anything to shoot. But by the next day I am energized again and will take two photos to make up for the day I lost. 

I'm also scrapbooking these photos. I jot down a quick note about what they are about and compile them into 2-page spreads for each week. Then I upload these to an ongoing album I have at Shutterfly. 

There's this debate among scrapbookers regarding a project like this. Do you use the same design throughout your book for cohesiveness? Or to keep your interest going, do you vary it up risking having the end result look less refined? Having tried both approaches, I decided to make some digital templates for my book. I would have an overall balanced look while being able to change colors, papers and elements week by week.

All well and good, but now that we have just over two months to go, I am really getting burned out on making these pages. Even so, it was hard to think about just ditching the project after so much work.

Then this month I took a fun class at Jessica Sprague's site. It's called Type+Writer 2, and it's taught by Jessica and my fun friend Liv. We had lessons on creative writing and using typography on our pages. Lo and behold, one of our assignments was to take a photo every day and scrap a week of everyday pictures. Jessica provided her template for the lesson. At first I thought, well this will be good to do but I'll have to go back and put these photos into my own template for my book. But after I finished this assignment, I came to a monumental decision. 

It's hard enough to do the 365 project much less twice in one week. And Jessica's template looked so fresh after weeks and weeks of my own that I decided to junk the cohesiveness game plan and use hers in my book instead. And now I feel free to use any design I choose. My book will look a little funny toward the end I guess, but I think this is necessary if I'm going to finish it. 

Here are the two pages I made in Jessica's class for the week of October 4-10. The papers are by Katie Pertiet at Digital Scrapbooking.

 

 

This class was great and I highly recommend it along with Type+Writer 1.

Thank You For Your Vote!

You may remember that on this post I mentioned that one of my scrapbook pages was up for a vote at the Creating Keepsakes Blog. I received the news that they chose two of the pages to publish, and mine was one of them! It will be in the February 2010 issue. So thanks if you voted, or even just sent good vibes my way!

A Visit From Ali

We had a nice treat this weekend as my niece Alison came for a visit. She stayed with my mom and I got to see her several times. The first was Friday night with Jeff, Jana and Beth also in attendance. I was happy to get a photo of Beth and Ali together:

 

Mom has plush new carpet in her den and a freshly painted front door. She says she has always wanted a red door, and she painted it herself!

 

Then yesterday Matt, Mark and I went back over for a yummy brunch of sweet rolls and strawberries and cream! Alison showed us a new app on her iPhone called "Fake Conversation". You can program it to ring your phone at a preset time. You answer your phone, and repeat what you hear. It's your side of a conversation that makes you sound like an expert on a wide variety of topics you choose. You can also choose a conversation that makes it sound like there is a dire emergency and you must vacate the premises immediately! Alison chose the "doctor" call and Matt gave it a whirl. He said "Hey Bill...I'm sending you over a patient for a cardiac workup...palpitations and shortness of breath!...I prefer you over the ER..."

We were laughing so hard I realized it was a good photo op and made a page about this today (click for a larger view).

Ali left this morning; it was such a fun weekend because she came!

I Meet Detta

Last month I got the opportunity to meet someone I feel like I've known for a long time. Detta and I were friends on the Creating Keepsakes message boards for years. She lives in Texas, but her in-laws are just outside my home town. When she and her husband came to visit them last month, we arranged to meet for lunch. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them both. I knew Detta was sweet, and in person she seemed even more so. Detta, thanks so much, I just loved the experience.

Here's the page I made to commemorate this event, with all supplies from designerdigitals.com.

Check This Out!

My friend Katrina Kennedy has taught me so much about photography. She is the administrator of our Flickr Photo-A-Day group and really generates enthusiasm for us all. There are many days when taking another photo just seems like an impossibility, but a quick look through our group's most popular photos gets my juices flowing. Those of us in the group owe so much to Katrina for her contribution.

Katrina also teaches classes at Get It Scrapped!, a fun website run by another good friend, Debbie Hodge. I really enjoyed Katrina's first class, Captured Through the Lens. She has a very straightforward teaching style and is always eager to help her students. And now she will be teaching a new class, Your Kids: Captured Through the Lens, starting October 12. The list of topics sounds really intriguing. If you're interested in improving the way you photograph your kids, you should check it out!

My Layout is Up For a Vote!

There is a vote on the Creating Keepsakes Blog for the layout for of the month to be published in a future issue. They picked one of mine to be in the running. At the site, you click on the survey link to see the pages. Mine is "Proof" (by pixiedixie). You can vote if you like!

I made this layout for a blog post at Designer Digitals. I had been thinking about how much work it is to keep yourself going as you get older and thought I would scrap about it! Here's the page:

 

Proof I Have Become High Maintenance:

I buy expensive creams specially designed for “mature” skin. Reading glasses can be found in every room of the house, and those pesky grey roots must be eliminated every 5 weeks. I can no longer eat all the fat-laden sweet treats I desire. I take pills every morning. I have to work out on a regular basis to prevent sagging body parts.

I’m working on the inner beauty thing.

Happy Fall!

Last week I ushered in fall with a trip to Utah to hang with some friends. It was the second annual Spraguefest with my buddies from jessicasprague.com. We went to Provo and visited for a few days before Creating Keepsakes' Digital Scrapbook Event took place there. We went to Chicago last year, and we couldn't wait to both see old friends and meet some new ones. 

The first day was taken up with getting there and getting settled in. This was the view from my hotel room. You can't see it well, but there is a "Y" painted on the mountainside. The local schools mark the mountains with their initials, and this stands for Brigham Young University which is located in Provo.

On the second day, we went to Salt Lake City and did some sightseeing. I got this shot of the Temple; it was beautiful.

This is the choir loft in the Mormon Tabernacle. I think we missed seeing the choir practice by one day!

And here are Tori, Laurie, Liv and Kari highlighting Laurie's cute pregnant tummy.

The next morning, Jeanne and Joan rode with me to Provo Canyon. My new blog header photo is a panorama I made from 5 different shots across the canyon. The leaves were gorgeous and the sky incredibly blue.

That afternoon we met the rest of the gang for lunch and went shopping. Here I am with four of the original Chicago Spraguebabes, Jeanne, Jana, Liv and Joan.

And finally, Liv and Jana with Jessica and Candice Stringham. I have learned so much about Photoshop from Jessica that I am forever in her debt, and Candice is a wonderful photography teacher. It was really great to see them...and all the people who made the trip! Thanks to you all for a fantastic time; can't wait till next year!