Wildflowers and other stuff

I'm back! Last Thursday I was able to visit the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, Texas. It was wonderful - just as I thought. Do you like my top? Yes, they had a gift shop! Yes, I contributed to their profits! For those not from Texas... the maroon ones were developed by Texas A&M University. Whoop! Those are Bluebonnets among the Indian Paintbrush. These are prolific on the highways here this time of year. And at night....

I'm in Austin

I'm at the OGEI Invitational at Barton Creek Resort in Austin. It's an annual event we attend and is always a highlight of our year. I'll post pictures when I get back next week. Tomorrow the wives (me) are going to lunch at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Museum. This has to be one of the best times of year to visit there as we all know it's Bluebonnet time in Texas! The wildflowers were gorgeous driving west from Houston to Austin today! I restrained myself and didn't take any pictures.... believe me I have enough. But I bet I'll take some up close tomorrow. And...there's a gift shop! On Friday we go to Gruene, Texas to shop and have lunch at The Gristmill. I got a great rusty birdcage in Gruene a few years ago (the Windell twins were in high school). So guess it's been awhile. I bet no one that reads my blog knows who they are. (local church girls) Anyway.... I went with the senior highs on a rafting trip down the Guadalupe and we stayed at a church in Gruene. Then Saturday is spa day and shopping. Each night there is a theme and entertainment. Tomorrow night is country western and Gary P. Nunn will perform for us. Tonight was just tropical, poolside dinner. Friday night is Black and White Casino Night and Saturday is black tie. I'll be back to posting Sunday or Monday!

Bird Inchies!!!

These are SOME of the bird inchies I made for the recent swap I hosted on Christian Paper Artists yahoo group. I will scan the ones I got in the swap very soon.... I will, really! Now I'm hosting a dog inchie swap and a butterfly/bug inchie swap. You should join!

Have a Blessed Easter...

The winner is....

Yeah, Anna! You are a winner! Anna moved from my hometown to Bakersfield, CA last summer. She is a major blessing in my life. I will have your package in the mail soon! I know she is busy running wild with one of the other blessings in my life this week. Amanda and her son have gone to spend this Spring Break week with Anna and her boys.

Found Treasures!

This past weekend my hubby and I cleaned out the "storage room" at my FIL's house. We brought back a lot of tools from a long time ago. Some boxes - things like his dad's footlocker from WWII, etc. But I retrieved two boxes of the stuff that you and I search endlessly for. This first box is full of school stuff. My MIL was a school teacher and this box is full of things she used. She started teaching in the 40's and retired in the 70's. So some of that will go in my 100th Post GiveAway! The drawing is tonight - the post is down below to comment on. I will also add you in if you just comment on this one - but only one entry per person. Then there was the box of Christmas ornaments. These are the ones that I had never seen used in my over 30 years in the family. But some are not worth keeping - but then some are...like these in the first picture!!!! How awesome! And what a blessing that I'm the only one in the family that cares about this kind of thing! Sometimes it's good to be alone in your obessions. rotfl

22

TWENTY IN A ROW!

100th BLOG POST!!!

I can't believe it! 100 posts on my blog! I love reading blogs and it helps to leave a comment if you have a blog yourself.... so therefore I started a blog! And now here we are .... So to celebrate it is customary to do a "giveaway"! So..... since I'm going out of town Friday - Sunday.... let's say that if you leave a comment between now and Monday you are eligible for my "giveaway"! I will do the drawing on Monday night. Not sure what all it will be ... but you know it'll be good, right? ha It will definitely include some of the goodies from "the old scrapbook" I bought in Omaha.

I finally added the scripture to those ATCs for the "Woman" swap. So here are a few of those:

The faces are from Nordstrom's print ads in fashion magazines.

Artist Trading Cards and Italian Fashion and Diva Birthday

I have my atcs finished for the "women atc" swap over on Christian Paper Artists yahoo group. Nathalie is hosting the swap. I love these faces...they are from Nordstrom ads. I use those ads a lot. I scanned them before I added scripture to them. I wasn't sure what scripture to use...but at bible study on Wednesday I found it. I'll scan one later with the scripture on it. You are going to love it! The snow got close last night! This picture is from the Bryan/College Station, TX area ... which is where I go to those football and basketball games! Snow flurries were predicted as a POSSIBILITY in my area last night.... but I don't think they happened. The sun is shining brightly now and I think it's in the 50's. I haven't ventured outside today yet. Yesterday I met my sister-in-law at a fancy clothing store at The Galleria for a style show and luncheon. Max Mara, or The House of Max Mara, is an upscale, luxury Italian women's fashion house most famous today for its high-fashion ready-to-wear clothing. I copied that sentence off the internet. That stuff is so wasted on me. I tried to be pleasant... I smiled a lot and I think I was nice enough. My sil loves that stuff. I did get a great goodie bag out of it! Yes, I love to watch Project Runway - and I'm so glad Christian won! But what I love about it is watching the creative process - the clothes are definitely not for me. Anyway.... my sil is a sweetheart and I love her - I appreciate she drags me to these things and puts up with me. Then I had the Dirt Divas over at 5 to celebrate Lori's birthday. Did I take any pictures? No! I do not know why..... but only 4 of us were there and one was in San Diego and another went to see "Hello Dolly!" at the theatre - oh, puhleeze .... where are their priorities? We are getting VERY CLOSE to Post #100!

Rope in your antlers?

Do you ever get rope in your antlers? It makes you feel a litle fuzzy I think and you are pretty much stuck with it for awhile.... for one thing you will simply NOT allow anyone to help you get it out. Why don't you stop now and check to see if YOU have rope in your antlers.

Okay...back with me? These guys were trying to act disinterested. But they couldn't stand it ... they had to turn and look! Yeah, I spent the weekend at a friend's ranch. We had a party for another friend that is retiring. Upon coming to breakfast on Sunday morning, Sue, Ida and I discovered we are definitely in the know when it comes to the color of the day!

I have lots more animal shots (shots is probably not a good word to use around them) but I will put them in my Flickr account very soon. Our friend raises exotics and we got a tour of the place on Saturday afternoon in some kind of "range rovers". I didn't take any pictures of cattle or horses.....sorry.. There were about 26 of us there and we had a great time. Our friend's ranch is just west of Schulenburg, TX.... and I'm in Houston. Remember ... you can click on the pics and see them larger!

I thought my next post was my 100th....but I had an extra draft that was in the files. So this is just Number 98! Happy Trails to you.......until we meet again....