Happy Halloween!

This is one of my favorite things that our neighbors do.

We live in a condo complex and a couple of years ago, someone bought those plastic pumpkin buckets and put them over the lanterns in front of the garage. Pretty soon others started. Now the whole street hangs pumpkins over the lanterns by the garages. The bottoms are cut out so that they don't collect rain, and so that the lights can still illuminate the ground, but there's this awesome warm glow when you come down the street.

Last week we even noticed that it's catching. The neighbors around the corner are starting to hang pumpkins on their lights too.

Planning a Wedding

Sorry for the absence. Our computer had a virus and we had to take it in for repair. But I'm back now, and can also share that there will be a wedding in my family soon. My sister is planning her upcoming wedding, and I'll be showing my ideas for invitations and favor boxes over the next couple of days.

The wedding dress has already been chosen, but since I can't share a picture of that, I have a picture of my niece in a flower girl dress that I just love, so I thought I'd share that, until the crafty things are ready.

Patience Pays Off, or How I Spent My Lunch Hour

On my lunch hour yesterday, I thought I'd go for a walk downtown. The plan was to get some exercise before all the forecasted rain came. However, because I rarely go anywhere without my camera, instead of exercising, I spent most of my lunch hour crouched by some flower boxes trying to capture a picture of a Monarch butterfly that was flitting from one flower to the next. It took a bunch of time, but I think my picture was totally worth it! Here it is:



Feel free to ooooh and aaaah. Especially after you find out that I deleted a ton of pictures from my camera of the sidewalk, peoples' legs, car tires, and flowers that had absolutely no butterfly in them, or shots of a partial butterfly flying out of the frame because I wasn't quick enough on the draw.

Here's Something You Don't See Everyday

I suppose for a select few, this might be ordinary, but not for me. My husband and I went out shopping yesterday and right over our heads flew a stealth fighter. Of course, he was the first one to notice it, and while I have my camera close at hand most of the time, I didn't get it out fast enough to capture it right away. They're a little quick! However, it circled our area for a few minutes and we were able to take a few pictures. That's a trip to the store that became out of the ordinary.









I'm not going to ask why we had a fighter flying around over our hosue.

Another Awesome Trip to San Antonio!

Well I'm back from another awesome trip to San Antonio, Texas for the Angel Company's winter retreat. Several girls from the SASSY team I'm on made the trip, and we had a wonderful time, as always. Get a group of SASSYs together and you're bound to have fun.

The whole thing kicked off with the Club MED (Managers, Executives, Directors) dinner. We started with a huge piece of chocolate fudgy wudgy cake, because sometimes you just gotta break the rules. We also got big purple bling rings to wear all weekend.



The next day, we received a copy of the new magalogue. (Well, O.K., Club MED got a sneak preview, but we had to give it back). The Angel Company is returning to a yearly catalogue, which will be supplemented with a magalogue - combination magazine and catalogue. The magalogue has new stamp sets, embellishment ideas, samples on how to put a final polish on your creations, and even some technique tips. There are 44 new stamps in this magalogue, including new hostess sets. I think it serves a wide variety of tastes too. There are some cutesie stamps, collage stamps, elegant stamps, border stamps, retro stamps....something for everyone. I'm really excited about it. I've got a $300 wish list going for myself already.



We also had a couple of great speakers (my very own stamp-mom included) that shared with us their success stories, including how they manage their teams, and some of their party/class ideas.

We had some time to wander and enjoy the city too before going off to our own classes where we learned how to make some new projects.

Here are some of the general pictures I have from the trip:

On the bridge over the Riverwalk.



At the entrance to La Vallita, the craft market.



At the Scent-Chips factory and store.



Contemplating a Texas-sized sundae.



Then my camera ran out of batteries, and I brought the wrong charger. So I'll have to rely on the kindness of other angels to help me complete my scrapbook. But my SASSY sisters will come through. They always do :)

The American Club

This weekend my husband and I went away to Kohler, Wisconsin to spend the weekend at The American Club for his 40th birthday. He had been reading about The American Club somewhere years ago, and said that someday he wanted to go there. I tried to think of a bunch of things to do for his birthday, but finally settled on asking him what he wanted to do (how novel). Since we'd had this in the back of our minds for a while, we decided that Tom's birthday would be the perfect occasion, and away we went.



The American Club is supposed to be very cool in that it's right across from the Kohler factory and every bathroom in the hotel is different. While we would have loved to have had a room with it's own steam room/shower, that was a bit out of our price range, and we settled for an average room upgrade, which was actually it's own suite (sweet!) and had a HUGE whirlpool tub that I took full advantage of.





The hotel is very old and is set up so that all rooms look out over various courtyards filled with beautiful flowers and foliage.









It's also next door to the Kohler Waters Spa that boasts all the regular spa amenities, but also has some unique water treatments (that we didn't take part in) and various steam rooms, saunas, pools and hot tubs.

We spent yesterday checking out the Kohler Design Store that had every kind of kitchen sink, bathroom set up and water decoration imaginable, including the tub that is filled by water pouring from a hole in the ceiling. I just had to stick my hand under that spout, just like everyone else did! It was a lot of fun to see all the kinds of things that are out there for kitchens and bathrooms, even if most of them are things I probably will never have in my home (like the toilet that had a blue light under the rim and wafted warm air across your bum when you sat on the seat).

It was a really great trip and we had a lot of fun. It'll be a memorable birthday for Tom.

Hannah Montana Inspired Card and Giftwrap

Last weekend was my niece's birthday party. She just turned six and is a Hannah Montana NUT!

We went bowling for her party. (Note the Hannah Montana shirt).



and had a Hannah Montana cupcake cake.



So it was only fitting that I made her a card and wrapping paper that were Hannah Montana inspired. Her bedroom is decorated in purple and sea foam blue with Hannah Montana cling stickers all over it. So this is the card I made for her using the Archiver's exclusive Rock Out clear stamps by Stampendous. (Now you know where my post about clear stamps came from last week).



I colored the guitar with my Copic Markers. And thought the "shred six" phrase was especially fun because it was her sixth birthday. Not that she'll get the guitar reference, but my husband did. The edges of the scalloped rectangle were highlighted with Crystal Stickles. Amazingly, the glitter in the Stickles picked up the mint coloring of the blue and seemed as though they were made to match.

I also stamped the guitar and the You Rock wording onto some blue wrapping paper I had in my stash, and wrapped it with a purple ribbon so that it matched the card.



My niece was very happy with the card and the wrapping. (She's actually one of my biggest fans, and gets very excited about the cards I make for her)

And now off to play!

Pictures from Seminar

We are back from seminar. What an awesome trip! This was definitely my favorite seminar ever - and not just because I got to go to the Club MED luncheon or because I got to walk across the stage at the awards ceremony. This was just a super great, relaxing and most of all FUN time. I got to catch up with friends that I've made in the company and see only rarely. We had lots of time to socialize and talk to people and did some great projects and attended classes too. I got a sneak peak at the catalogue at the Club MED luncheon and received the Hostess Level D stamp set. Here's a picture of Lezli and Leah holding theirs up for me.



I got to participate in the Club MED prop swap, and the person that received the star book I made told me it was the best Club MED gift she'd ever gotten (and she's been in Club MED for several years now). And the gift I received, was from my very own friend, Leah! A beautifully decorated picture frame.

The new inspiration book/catalogue was officially released on my birthday. It's a great catalogue, and Leah and I were both honored to have cards and scrapbook pages in this one too! So far there has been no bigger thrill than seeing your samples in the catalogue at the sneak peak.

Because it was my 40th birthday, my super wonderful Mom,(real mother, not stamp mother), whom I love with all my heart, set it up so that lots and lots of friends from The Angel Company made me cards and helped me celebrate my birthday in a big way. It was so much fun, and really touching. Every time I turned around, someone was wishing me a great birthday. My friend Leah even made me a scrapbook of "40 reasons why I like Meri" :) It was cute, funny and so much fun to go through with reasons from "She wears a crown and pink sweatpants when she buys beer at a gas station" (and yes I really did that at last year's seminar) to "She is my angel goal buddy. We seem to follow the same path and reach the same milestones together, and that makes those accomplishments even more special. She is the best!" I think Leah's the best too, and I will cherish her present forever!



We had a great banquet where my stamp mom was on stage for just about every award you can think of, and several members of the team I'm on got to walk across the stage and announce their promotions and team names. Leah and I also got recognized for being in the catalogue. Here's a picture of Leah and I in front of the stage after announcing our names.



We even did some crazy stuff as a group, like participate in bling night and play in the waterfall fountain in front of the hotel.



We also went to a couple of great scrapbook stores in Wichita: Scrapbook Garden and Mrs. O'Leary's. Scrapbook Garden is a good sized store with lots of different product, and Mrs. O'Leary's was a small shop with an eclectic feel where they treated us exceptionally well. We even got to take pictures of samples they had in the store, which is so refreshing compared to many other places you go. If you're in Wichita, you should check both places out.

Overall, this was the best trip. Between stamping, shopping, partying and recognizing each other's accomplishments, we had the most awesome time. It is the perfect example of why I LOVE being an Angel.

Off to Seminar!

Well, tomorrow morning we leave for Wichita, Kansas to attend The Angel Company's yearly seminar and award ceremony. Above is a picture of some of the girls and I being paparazzi for the Club MED (Managers, Executives, and Directors) luncheon last year. We had an awesome time getting in the spirit and whooping it up for all the Club MED attendees. This year, I will get to be one of the Club MED attendees, and see it from another perspective. In fact, three of the four of us shown in this picture became Managers this year and will get to see the paparazzi from the middle of the red carpet. What fun!

Anyway, I will be away this weekend and not posting, so I thought I'd just post this as a reminder. If you're looking to order any of the retiring stamps before the new catalogue comes out, you'll have until 4:00 on Friday to order through my website at http://meri.ismyangel.net.

Talk to you all when I get back, when I'll be sure to share my take on the new catalogue and the awesome new products we'll be offering.

Back from San Antonio

We are back from an AWESOME trip to San Antonio, Texas. My husband and I flew out to San Antonio for an Angel Company event where I got to see products from the new catalogue, get new project ideas and visit with friends I've made though the company. The winter events may be the only things that are more fun than Seminar, just because they're more intimate. This is especially true now that there is a catalogue released right before the event.

This year, it was a smaller than average group, but that meant even more time to visit with old friends and make new ones. We got to visit the Alamo too, and spent a bunch of time at all of the wonderful restaurants along the Riverwalk.

San Antonio is definitely one of my favorite cities in the U.S. and rumor has it that The Angel Company will host another event there sometime in the future. I can't wait.

My Cat is Royalty

"Dogs have masters. Cats have staff." Ever hear that expression? Well, around our house it's absolutely true. My cat rules the roost. I won a tiara comb at our team meeting for being #3 in sales for the group, but guess who wears the crown in this family? My cat Lexis loves the little tiara. We brush her with it and then she wears it. My husband says "when I come home and both of you are wearing crowns, I know it's going to be a bad day." He's such a good servant.

I am just back from our company's yearly seminar where I just had an awesome time! Seminar to me is like a trip to Disney. There is so much to see, and do, and learn and so many friends to visit with that I haven't seen in person for a while. It's exhausting in it's own way, but I wouldn't miss it for the world. Attending seminar and other angel gatherings is my very favorite part of being an angel. I just love catching up with all of the friends I've made within this company.

Here are some of the pictures I took at seminar.



Julie, me and Annette. Julie and Annette are two of the first people (outside of my own team) that I met at an angel gathering a few years ago. Both of them are inspirational to me for their talent and their friendship.



Me and my stamp sister Leah. Leah and I are on the same team (we signed up under the same person). As soon as I met Leah, I knew we would be great friends. For me it was an instant recognition. I just knew we would click. Leah is my goal buddy, and my voice of reason as well as being my friend.




The S.A.S.S.Y (Serindipity Angel Stampers Staying Young) team I'm part of. This is a picture of the team I'm part of on "bling night" by the cardboard cutout of the stamping girl we have on the back of out team shirts. One day I will be the leader of my own team, I just need a few more recruits.




Me and my stamp mom, Pat. I've known Pat for years. She's been doing my nails for me since I don't even know when. When she joined The Angel Company she was obviously having so much fun that I had to consider it. It took about a year before I decided to take the plunge, but I've never been sorry that I did.

Now that seminar is behind me, I can't wait until January when the company's Leadership Retreat is being held in San Antonio, Texas. Leadership Retreat was held in San Antonio a few retreats back. It was my first trip to San Antonio, and it quickly became one of my favorite cities in the world. I can't wait to go back! The prospect of a trip to one of my favorite cities, filled with angel friends is just too exciting!

Well, that's it for now. I hope you enjoyed my pictures and hearing a little about my awesome seminar trip.