Tower of the Americas, San Antonio, TX

 

On our visit to San Antonio for the Stampin' Up! Leadership Conference, I wanted to go up the 750 foot tall Tower of the Americas.  Gloria and I went to the top in the super fast elevator and enjoyed taking photos of the surrounding area. What a fun experience!

 

I know one thing is for sure... San Antonio is VERY FLAT...

 

 

 

Yep, it was JUST A LITTLE WINDY up there!

 

 

 

 

 
Hope you enjoyed that little trip to the Tower of the Americas!

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Stampin' Up! Leadership 2012 - sightseeing in beautiful San Antonio

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 Occasions Mini Accessory share

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Wow.. after many full days here in San Antonio for the Stampin' Up! Leadership Conference, I just had to share a sampling of the 1500 photos I took.. yes, 1500 in 4 days.  :)

We spent each evening outdoors walking around the city and exploring.. from the Tower of the Americas to they city Riverwalk, to the Alamo and more... so I hope you will enjoy these photos from our walking excursions and our river boat ride around San Antonio!

the view of the Riverwalk and Downtown San Antonio from my hotel room at the Marriott Riverwalk (dusk):

The gorgeous Riverwalk in San Antonio.. it's like walking in the Pirates of the Caribbean :)

We took a river boat (taxi) on the 30 minute tour on our 2nd night in San Antonio... it was very informative and really fun!

 

Tower of the Americas behind the Convention Center at dusk

The Alamo at night.. really cool!
 

The Emily Morgan hotel and the Alamo

I was fascinated by the beautiful top of the Emily Morgan hotel.. i just loved the architecture and the lighting at night! (Just ask Steph and Cindee.. they patiently waited while I kept taking photos of it)

Shop online for Stampin' Up! Supplies 24/7

NEED A new STAMPIN' UP! CATALOG?

Join my Luv 2 Stamp Group as a demonstrator! {then click Join Now}

MDS Overview Lesson on DVD only $19.95

Tutorials & Kits available from Patty Bennett

Clearance Rack ... Limited quantities.. shop now

 

 

Blue Angels in San Francisco - 2009

We were really lucky to go see the Blue Angels in San Francisco on Friday... we heard that the show was cut very short on Saturday due to fog... so we were extra excited that we got to see the whole show!  It is so cool to see them flying over the bay with Alcatraz in the background.  I hope you enjoy the photos!

My son and I took over 300 photos that afternoon, and I've put a few of them into scrapbook pages using My Digital Studio to share with you.  You can journey through our day with us... after the air show we walked along Pier 39 and had a wonderful dinner with an awesome view at Bubba Gumps.  We shopped and "played tourist" for the afternoon and evening and then drove over the bridge to home (about a 20 minute drive).  It was a wonderful day spent with my hubby and son ... love it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Have a wonderful weekend my friends!

 
 
 

 
 

San Francisco Visit - long post! :)

We got the chance to play tourist in San Francisco TWICE this weekend.. too fun!!  We live about 25 miles from downtown and try to go a few times a year, but twice in a weekend was TOO fun!  We went over the 3 main bridges today that connect us to SF.  (usually we just go back and forth over one bridge). 

So here are photos from both visits this weekend...

Golden Gate Bridge:

 

 

Alcatraz Island:

 

 

Alcatraz in the distance... Jason and his cousin David at Bubba Gumps on Pier 39:

 

 

 

Lizzy's amazing shrimp dinner!

 

Jenny and her pop up Cake Die Graduation card from Auntie Patty :)

 

Jason & Jenny - cousins born 41 minutes apart - both Graduates this month!  "The World" cruise ship in the background - docked in SF for the weekend.

We were eating at the restaurant at the tip of this pier right in the center of the photo... Bubba Gumps is our favorite for family celebrations! The Bay Bridge is on either side of Treasure Island, you can see it on the left and right side of the photo.

 

Transamerica Pyramid Tower:

  

Coit Tower and Transamerica Pyramid Tower:

 

SF Skyline from the water - not your typical view of the skyline:

We toured the SS Jeremiah O'Brien:

 

It is NOT made for TALL people!

 

Definitely NOT a Royal Caribbean ship - most rooms had 4 bunks!! ... Yikes! LOL

 

My new friend on deck:

 

I tried my hand at a couple "artsy" photos of Jason in SF:

 

OK, enough touristy photos... hope you enjoyed that little vacation to San Francisco!

Back to stampin' tomorrow...

Scalloped Corners

On one of my email groups we were discussing ways to get scalloped corners on our projects.. I played with my Scallop Edge punch and my Eyelet Border punch and came up with this....

if you snip off a corner of your cardstock, and slip that into either of the above punches, you can get fun scalloped corners... give it a try!

(click to enlarge if needed)

Cruise to Bermuda - NYC Sail Away

The day we left NYC was a gorgeous day.. chilly but beautiful and sunny.  We love sitting in the Crow's Nest to relax, snack, drink, take photos, socialize, etc., and this "sail away" was no exception. 

View from the Crow's Nest windows:

Here are some photos of the NYC skyline as we set sail to Bermuda...

Empire State Building:

Behind the domed top buildings is the "Ground Zero" area where they are building new structures.

Here is the tip of Manhattan where we caught the ferry to the Statue of LIberty:

Going under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge.. "out to sea":

Taking part in the manditory Muster Drill as we set out to sea:

Cruise - NYC

Well, no, we didn't cruise TO NYC, but we flew there before our Stampin' Up! cruise to Bermuda.  The Cruise ship left out of NYC, so we spent a day and a half+ in NYC before the Cruise. It was awesome and made it like 2 vacations in one!

Here are some sights from our "pre cruise" days in NYC:

Times Square:

and the M&M store at Times Square.. what a hoot! 

View from our Hotel room:

We took a carriage ride in Central Park:

I LOVED the architectural detail on this building:

More from NY next time....

Bermuda Cruise - dinners, food, fun, friends

The title says it all... dinners, food, fun, friends.... the best parts of the annual Stampin' Up! Cruise!  This year we had a great time dining each night with the McClurgs and Wakelands (Janice & Paul... we MISSED YOU!).

Here are a few photos of our wonderful dinner experiences.

Yummmmmmm the best shrimp cocktail around!

Surf & Turf night:

Dining in the Pinnacle Grill one night:

"OK, wait.. are you serious... no McNuggets on the menu??"

LOL - Just kidding!

Janice.. I had to have an "umbrella drink" for you...

and Eric had a "non" umbrella drink for you..

and just for laughs.. we got a kick out of this "Charlie Brown Tree" sticking out of Jim's potato! What's up with that?

and to leave you on a "yummy note"....

Bermuda Cruise - Fantasy Caves

While in Bermuda in 2002, we visited the Crystal Caves, which were wonderful! So this time, we decided to visit the neighboring Fantasy Caves.  They are really so very interesting, and beautiful inside.  They are 88 steps down to sea level under this piece of property.  (of course, that means 88 steps back up!) 

Here we are before entering the caves:

Here are some of the steep steps descending down to sea level:

Oh ya, did I mention we had to climb the 88 steps back UP?  LOL

Hope you've enjoyed your travelog for today!

Bermuda Cruise - the Unfinished Church

While on our cruise to Bermuda, we ventured to the other end of the island to St. Georges and walked up a little hill to the "Unfinished Church".  It was really a neat place... I could have taken 100 photos in there.  I hope you enjoy these.

L to R: Eric, Jason, Jim and Doug posing on the empty column pedestals.

Bermuda Cruise - calendar gift - new papers

One of the gifts we received on the Stampin' Up! Bermuda cruise was this cute CD holder Calendar.  It goes from April 2008 to April 2009 - (from cruise to the Hawaii Incentive trip). 

What I loved about it was the designs on the calendar pages and all the fun (NEW!?) designer papers on the back!!  Some prints look familiar but are in alternate color schemes from what we have now.. enjoy this sneak peek!

all images copyright Stampin' Up! 1990-2008

Bermuda Cruise - Stampin' Relay Race

On the last day of the Stampin' Up! cruise, we had an "at sea day" travelling from Bermuda to NYC across the Atlantic Ocean... the boat was "a rockin' " at times... but not nearly as bad as in 2002 when we did the same cruise with Stampin' Up!.  Anyway.. Stampin' Up! organized a "Relay Race" next to the pool on the Lido deck... we weren't sure what it would be, but my friend Deann and I decided to go check it out... FIRST.. we were watching the kids in the pool.. this video (I know.. can you believe I finally uploaded a video? thanks to DAWN!) shows how much the water in the pool was moving... it's NOT a wave pool.. the ship was rockin' and rollin', and the pool was movin'...  now.. keep in mind the ship was moving this much, and then you'll have more appreciation for my "Relay Race" photos below...

They closed the pool shortly after that so the kids wouldn't get tossed against the side of the pool and get hurt!  Now that you've seen what the ship was doing, you'll appreciate how much we were rockin' when we were trying to stamp this card.  Stampin' Up! paired us with another demonstrator and TIED 2 of our hands together...  we had to copy/stamp a card using our 2 tied hands.. and get this ... NO SNAIL.. only Sticky Strip.. that was MEAN!  So here we are in our efforts to stamp a card.. pretty funny!

We each won a Pretties Kit for our stamping efforts.. thanks Stampin' Up!

Bermuda Cruise - Fabulous Colors! and some Samples

Shouldn't every morning begin like this??  Coffee and danish delivered to your Verandah??  I think so!! 

I wanted to share some fun SAMPLES with you from the display boards on the cruise, but also wanted to share the gorgeous COLORS of BERMUDA...  and no.. I did not retouch these with photoshop.. the sky really IS this blue!

And now for some fun samples from the cruise:

more tomorrow... stay tuned.. or keep checking back I guess I should say!

Bermuda Cruise - Husband Swap

Remember the card my husband made to swap on the Stampin' Up! cruise? (view HERE)  Well, with Ann Clemmer at the helm, the Husband Swap went very smoothly and they all swapped their creations in an orderly manner!

That's my husband in the stripes.. check out that one-handed swapping action!

Thanks ANN for hosting this swap! She made sure everyone lined up properly for an orderly swap!

Pick a card - any card... oh.. they are all the same.. well, pick one anyway! :)

The Husband Swap group and their cards!

FABULOUS JOB men!!!  We are proud of you!

The cards:

My husband's favorite one:

Survival Guide book by John Poehnelt.  Boxes from Oriental Trading Company.  VERY clever John!

Bermuda Cruise - Make & Takes

EDIT 4/8/08: many of you have asked if the new set we got on the cruise was die cut.. YES IT WAS!!  We were speculating if that meant all the sets in the new (Aug. 11, 2008) catalog would be die cut... they did not tell us.. but it would appear that at least THIS new set will be!  yahoo!

One of the highlights on the Stampin' Up! Cruise each year is our Make & Take session. Stampin' Up! gives us a new set and some accessories to make our projects.  This year we got a new set called  "Owl Together Now", seen here:

We were also given the markers and 2 pads in the CUTE tote!!

Here are the projects we worked on during our "at sea day" make & take session.

EDIT: several of you have asked for the pattern for the card below... it couldn't be easier.. it's our mini 3x3 envelope with the flap tucked inside!!  yahooo!  too cute, huh?  :)

enjoy!