Busy in Reno, but having some fun, too!!

Okay, I have been very busy here in Reno, so trying to blog here and on my MySpace page has been impossible!! Below is the most recent entry in my blog on MySpace, which I posted on December 9th:

So, Keith and I just returned from our trip to Lake Tahoe and I cannot begin to tell you how amazing it was!!

We headed out around 11:00am and at that time, there were quite a few clouds in the sky so I was a bit concerned that we would not have very good weather at the lake. Boy, was I wrong!! We had the most perfect weather!! The sky was so clear - which made the lake the most amazing shade of blue!

I had been to Lake Tahoe when I was here in Reno at the beginning of October, but did not get to see much of the lake. This time, rather than staying in South Lake Tahoe, CA, Keith and I decided to see as much of the lake as we could, so we headed north on Route 89 to travel along the west side of the lake. Although the views were absolutely beautiful, the drive itself was a bit nerve-wracking!! Route 89 is rather narrow as its winds its way up the mountains along Lake Tahoe. Lots of blind, hairpin turns and plenty of stretches without guard rails - I am pretty sure I left permanent indentations on the steering wheel from gripping it so hard!!

Although we drove for what seemed like quite a distance, as it turns out we really only travelled around about one third of the lake. From Reno, we drove south on 395 and then got on route 50 west to head to the lake. Route 50 takes you along the east side of the lake and down to Stateline, NV and through South Lake Tahoe, CA where it intersects with Route 89, which we took north along the southwest shore of Lake Tahoe to Emerald Bay (for a visual, please click here to see a map of Lake Tahoe). We stopped at quite a few spots all along our route to take pictures of the lake, but once we got to Emerald Bay, and realized we still had only driven around less than half of the lake, we decided to go back the way we came and got a late lunch at Riva Grill in South Lake Tahoe, CA before heading back to Reno.

All in all, we had an absolutely amazing day! I am so glad that I got to see more of the lake. When I saw the little of it that I did in October, I said then that it was the most beautiful place that I had ever seen and really could not imagine anything more beautiful. Well, as it turns out, Lake Tahoe is capable of improving upon itself!! To see the Lake with all of the snow on the trees and in the mountains was nothing short of astounding!!

I have plenty of pictures posted on my Flickr site, so please be sure to check them out!!

Back in Reno

First, I need to say that trying to keep two blogs going (I also blog on my MySpace page) is a bit tedious. Not sure how long I will be able to keep doing it! So, what I have included below is a post from my MySpace blog on my first morning in Reno (Tuesday, November 27th). It was very early in the morning (4:35am) and my body had not yet adjusted to being on Pacific time. Hell, even today, I woke up far earlier than I wanted to!! I will do my best to keep this blog updated, but no promises!!


We arrived in Reno yesterday with very little trouble. We were delayed by about 45 minutes flying out of Philly yesterday morning, but had plenty of time to get our connection out of Las Vegas to arrive here in Reno shortly after 3:00pm local time (Nevada is in the Pacific time zone). After picking up our luggage and the rental car, we headed on over to the hotel to check in.

Let me say, the staff working the front desk when we arrived was GREAT!!! As we were all getting checked in, we mentioned that we were talking about where we wanted to go for dinner. I mentioned The Steakhouse at Harrah's in downtown Reno, and Keith and Kavia were both up for that. Well, the kid at the front desk (I use kid here because he looked pretty young!!) heard our conversation and offered to make the dinner reservation for us - certainly not the service I expected, but it was most welcome!! With any luck, that same level of service will continue throughout our four week stay! Since it was still rather early (not even 5:00pm, local time) we decided that we should have dinner around 7:00pm so that we would have some time to get settled, freshen up, etc.

I must say, I am rather pleased with the room and the hotel. It is very clean, completely non-smoking, and rather quiet. They offer a full complimentary breakfast every morning, and happy hour nearly every weekday night with beer, wine, and soda. The services they offer are really great, too (give them your shopping list, and they will go do your grocery shopping - no fee, you only pay the cost of the groceries themselves!), since the type of hotel we are in (a Residence Inn) lends itself to longer-term stays.

So, we start work today - making sure the training room is all set up and the connections are good to go, that we have all of the supplies that we need, and taking some time to listen to the folks we will be training as they take phone calls since neither Keith nor Kavia has had the chance to do that yet. On Wednesday, we start training and I cannot wait!!


So, it is now Wednesday, we complted our first day of training and things went rather well. So far, so good!! Just 11 more days of training and a total of 17 more days with the staff. I am really enjoying being back here and know that the time is going to pass by far too quickly!!

more cards!!!

So, I have not posted any pictures of my cards recently, but that is because I have not made many cards recently! I did, however, make these cards in the last week and I am really pleased with the results. There is more information in my SCS Gallery. Not sure how much card-making I will get to do in the next few weeks, but I will do my best to post what I do make! Enjoy!

Home From Reno

So, I realize that I have not posted in quite some time. It is not because I have not wanted to post, but I have been so busy I have not had the time!! I got home from Reno last night after a GREAT trip with an amazing team!! We did a ton of really great work, but we also managed to have tons of fun, too!!

We arrived on Sunday evening and, after checking into our rooms, had a great meal at one of the hotel restaurants (we were rooming at the Eldorado Hotel & Casino). We spent a little time in the casino that night...I played some blackjack but did not win (unless you count breaking even a win!!). Monday was busy with presentations and interviews, but on Monday evening we drove to Lake Tahoe. We had heard that South Lake Tahoe was the fun place to go, so that's where we headed.

The drive to the lake was incredible!! The views kept changing and getting better and better as we drove up the mountain, and when we rounded a bend to see the lake open up in front of us, it was absolutely breath taking!! The sun was just starting to set behind the mountains, so the light was really amazing!! It really is the most beautiful place I have ever been and I cannot wait to go back!!

So, after taking some pictures on the eastern side of the lake, we headed into South Lake Tahoe. I suppose everybody has their own definition of fun, and I suppose that if we had been there on the weekend and during the day, we might have had more fun, but we were hungry and tired - not a good combination!! We did find a great restaurant just over the California border in South Lake Tahoe, though, so the evening was not a complete loss!

Tuesday was filled with interview after interview, and let me tell you, the folks that we met were amazing!! I am so thrilled about the prospect of bringing them on to work with us!! After heading back to the hotel to freshen up, we headed to dinner at the Harrah's steakhouse. We were completely blown away!! The food was delicious, the service was top-notch, and the restaurant itself was cool - it has a real "rat pack" kind of feel.

Wednesday was filled with more interviews and lots of work to wrap up and prepare for our next steps back here in PA. That evening, we again headed west into California. We were told that there was good shopping and good eating in Truckee, just a few miles west of the Nevada state line on Interstate 80. What we were not told, however, is that most of the shops close at 6pm - we got there around 6:15pm. We did find a really lovely restaurant, however, and had another fantastic meal, so the night was pretty good!!

We flew back on Thursday morning and got home to Philly around 5:30pm. While I was ready to come home, I really cannot wait to go back. I tend not to be a really "outdoorsy" type of person, but feel like I could become one! I just cannot believe how beautiful that part of the country is! Anyway, today I have been completely exhausted! Flying east totally sucks and I am still very much on Reno time!

More Reno news...

So, I mentioned earlier this week that I have been asked to go to Reno on a recruiting trip for my company. The coolest part about all of this, is that the positions we will be offering are for telecommuting jobs for folks who are facing the prospect of their office closing in just a few months. I know that we are going into a rather sensitive situation, but I love that we are giving people the opportunity to stay with the company AND to work from home.

I also found out (just today), that one of my favorite co-workers will be going with me and the other two folks going to Reno!! The team that is going on this trip is so great and I know that we are going to have a GREAT time!!

I will be sure to keep you up to date!!

Heading to Reno!!

I just got word today that I will be travelling to Reno, NV the week after next to do some recruiting for my company!! I am so excited I can hardly contain myself!! More to come...

I hate Rupert Murdoch

Granted, Sally Field did not do herself any favors by flubbing her acceptance speech and political statement, but the fact that Fox chose to censor more than just the word "goddamn" is unconscionable.

For those who do not live in Canada, where free speech seems to mean something, and did not get to her her full statement, what she actually said at the end was, "And, let's face it, if the mothers ruled the world, there would be no goddamn wars in the first place!"

I have yet to find an uncensored version of this, so here is the way it looked and sounded during the Emmy Awards last night...

Heading to Altoona

So, this is the most recent card that I completed and it is a big hit!! I love the way it turned out and so does everybody else who has seen it!! The colors are much more vibrant in real life and the sage and rust cardstock are both textured which is really nice!! Some of the details about the card are available in my SCS gallery, so be sure to check it out!!

In other news, I am at my dad's house tonight and we head out to Altoona in the morning for my nephew's wedding. Not really looking forward to the drive, but I am looking forward to the wedding!! After all, who doesn't love a wedding!! So much fun to see two people pledge to spend the rest of their lives together...

Whoa...where did that come from!! I am usually not so sappy! Besides, I am actually pretty annoyed that some of my favorite people cannot get married even if they wanted to. Even more annoying is the fact that many people feel that if my best friend should find the person that he would like to spend the rest of his life with and commits himself to that man, that their hetero-marriage would suffer in some way. So ridiculous!!

Okay, that felt better!! A bit of open-minded liberalism is always a good thing!!

Well, that is gonna do it for me for a little while. Don't know if I will get to write at all this weekend, even though Dad is bringing the laptop along on our trip, and I know for certain that I will not be doing any stamping!!

My poor neglected Blog...

So, I know that I have been completely neglecting my blog, but it has been for a worthy cause!! I have been stamping like a mad woman these days!! Last weekend I created my first One Sheet Wonder and had so much fun with it!! I have also made others (which you can see in my SCS gallery). I have even sold some of my cards - something I never really expected to do!! All in all, getting back to stamping has been great!! I know that I said this is a previous post, but I really enjoy making cards and stamping! What has been the most fun, however, is all of the inspiration I have gotten from the weekly challenges and many talented folks on SCS!!

That's all I really have time for right now, but I promise to try to keep up with my blog a bit better than I have been recently!!

Stampin' Again!!!

So, I have decided that I need to get back to stamping and making cards. It is something that I REALLY enjoy and have found that I am really pretty good at it. I am generally pleased with my results and the recipients of my cards react very favorably (who doesn't enjoy a hand-made card?!). So, after quite a hiatus, I made this card just a few days ago and really love the way it turned out!!

I usually cheat when I make my cards by using pre-cut, pre-scored cards that I purchase in packs of 50 with envelopes which I then layer, embellish, etc, and this card is no exception. I have realized, however, that the cardstock used is a bit too flimsy and will eventually need to stop cheating and use higher quality cardstock. I also tend to use the same layout. I don't know what it is, but I seem to use this layout over and over!!

As for the other materials used: Martha Stewart Crafts cardstock in Coffee Bean and Peacock Tail; SU! cardstock in Whisper White; some plaid designer paper that I have had for a LONG time and cannot remember where I got it; SU! classic ink in Tempting Turquoise; VersaMark and Silver embossing powder for the heat embossed sentiment.

I am not sure how many of my creations I will be posting here, but I intend to add lots of stuff to my gallery on Splitcoast Stampers so be sure to check it out!!

When did I become one of them?

So, I never thought that I would be the type of person who would feel paralyzed by not having my cell phone, but apparently I am!! On Friday, I had a bit of a mishap with my phone which caused it to stop functioning properly - and I freaked out. I was completely panicked, and that feeling only got worse when the guy at the phone place said that I would need to have it replaced. I freaked some more - How LONG would that take?! I can't be without my cell phone! It is my life line!!

As it turns out, I should have my new phone by the time I arrive home from work tonight. Although it will have been only about 72 hours that I was without my phone, I cannot believe how very out of touch I have felt! It has been the strangest feeling to know that I cannot just get in touch with whomever I would like whenever I would like. Even worse is the knowledge that anybody trying to get in touch with me cannot do that, either!! I mean, what calls am I currently missing?! Surely somebody is trying desperately to get in touch with me!

So, having gone through this, and come to the realization that I have become one of those people who seems to be incapable of surviving without her cell phone, I am just going to embrace it. Sure, many people in my shoes would go the other way and vow to become less dependent upon the gadgets in our lives, but not me!! I love my little phone! I love that feeling of exhilaration that washes over me each time it rings, beeps, or buzzes telling me that somebody is trying to get in touch with me...because that somebody might be you!!

Long may he reign...

Elvis Aaron Presley
January 8, 1935 - August 16, 1977

Getting Involved, Part 2

So, earlier today I met with a very small group of women to begin talking strategy for getting Hillary elected President in 2008. There were only 4 of us, but I really feel like the work we will be doing could make a real difference locally. I feel that each of us is committed to really getting the word out, not only about Hillary, but also about the more basic issue of voter registration.

We are hoping to start with voter turn out since it doesn't matter how hard you campaign for a candidate if nobody goes to the polls. So, if you are reading this, and you are not yet registered to vote, please go here and get registered!! If you are registered, share the link with your friends and ask them to do the same. It has always been my opinion that if you do not vote, you do not have a right to complain about our elected officials. I know that it can feel like your vote does not matter, particularly in light of the 2000 Presidential election, but we must continue to get out to the polls and make our voices heard

Additionally, it is time to stop standing on the sidelines (as I had been doing until today) and watching the political process happen around us. I urge you to get involved. The ONLY way any of us can really make a difference is if we get our hands dirty and really work on making change happen. I don't even care if you are not a Hillary supporter, as long as you are actively involved

If you would like to know more about Hillary and what she stands for and will work for as President, please be sure to check out her website.

Logo/HRC Democratic Candidates Forum

So, I just watched the Logo/HRC Democratic Candidates Forum focused on LGBT issues and have to say that my views about the candidates have changed very little. I do wish that Hillary's position on marriage equality was one of actual equality (civil unions, no matter how many rights they afford, are NOT marriage), but she was absolutely the most Presidential. Of course, there is still more than a year until the election, and it is possible that my opinion will change, but for now, Hillary is my girl!!

Getting Involved

So, I had always said that if Hillary Clinton ran for President, I would do all that I could to get involved in her campaign. Well, the time has finally come for me to do just that! I plan to attend my very first grassroots campaign meeting this weekend at the home of a complete stranger!

While this might not seem like a big deal to many people, to me, this is a HUGE thing. I tend to be a bit anti-social and withdrawn around people that I do not know very well, and I have frequently heard from my friends that they thought I was a snob and a bitch before they really got to know me. So, for me to go to the home of somebody I have never met for the purpose of getting some grassroots work done for Hillary, well, that just really falls far outside of my comfort zone. Not to mention the fact that I don't really feel like I am as educated about the issues and other candidates as I should be and fear that I will sound like a complete idiot!!!

I will be sure to let you know how it all goes, but if you are thinking about getting involved, and have decided, at least for now, to back Hillary, be sure to check out her website: http://www.hillaryclinton.com/