The Bear & The Mountain

We had an absolutely amazing time in the Olympic National Forest. The views from Hurricane Ridge are breathtaking!


You are literally on top of the world! We were so fortunate to have nice weather.......hot actually, as you can see by my tank-top!

The park is so beautiful and filled with wonderful hiking trails! After we did some hiking & exploring we returned to the car. Just as we started driving down the road I spotted this bear!

He's just over the bank...(that gravel along the bottom of the photo is the shoulder of the roadway.) So of course we stop to snap some pictures. First we looked around for cubs or additional bears. Since the coast looked clear we got out of the car to get a closer look. Not sure if that was crazy or not, but it was exciting! I was shaking like a leaf and snapping pictures like a mad woman!!

The closer we got to the bear, the closer it walked towards us! As you can see the ground was steep & gravely. I was afraid of slipping & falling, but so excited at the same time!


We finally got to about 100 feet from the bear. I took this shot of the back of hubby's head just to help give perspective of the distance between us and the bear.


I think he or she really does look snuggley....(from a distance!) Thankfully it seemed more interested in dinner than in us.....but we were ready to run at a moments notice!!

Signature

Today Oprah's show was The World's Got Talent with Simon Cowell. She had on this fantastic dancing duo called 'Signature'. These guys originally appeared on Britain's Got Talent! All I can say is Awesome!!!

Digging in the Dirt

OMGosh!! What a weekend!! We've had the water leak from hell! The past few days have been spent digging in the dirt, and chipping away at concrete!! Literally from 'sun up, til sun down' we have been busting our butts!!! Well, actually hubby's been doing the back breaking work, I'm just his chief gopher....(go-fer-this & go-fer-that)!!! I can't do a lot of the hard physical stuff really, other than shallow digging with the shovel; but fortunately hubby taught me how to operate a tractor & hoe at an early age, so I can help with that! Being without water for days really sucks!! Having a very costly repair bill sucks even more!!

Having almost a 1/4 mile of waterline to check and isolate is time consuming. There's a reprieve in the rain storms, so it's time to get digging! Having one of the wettest months on record didn't help the situation any. The ground is saturated, but this was the most logical section for the leak. The ground is soggy and has experienced a lot of settling.

Time to isolate another section and install another gate valve.
The closer to the house we get, the more frustrating the situation. Oh please don't let the leak be under the porch!!



Listening to the saw, drill & jack hammer is bad enough. But listening to all that loud noise echo & vibrate off the house and porch is like being in a drum with someone pounding on it with a lead pipe! Seriously it makes your head & ears ring for days!Well $h@@t! Finally located it and it's at the point of transition where the copper pipe in the house meets the PVC outside.....and it's in the worst possible place ever!!! Under the front porch which is concrete!!!!

The sun has set and the tools are put away! Still no water, but the glue is drying!!! We'll see what happens tomorrow when we pressurize the line and the house! Hopefully it's all fixed!!

Adam Lambert's Mad World

I ♥ ♥ ♥ American Idol! This years competition has been amazing to say the least....so many uber talented contestants! Adam Lambert though, is by fay my favorite! He is so full of talent & confidence! He's authentic & unique! Reminds me a little of Elvis Presley & Billy Idol!! I love his rendition of 'Mad World' by Tears For Fears!





Below are some additional links in case you'd like to listen to more of his performances.

Ring Of Fire

Black or White

Tracks Of My Tears

Play That Funky Music

I Just Love You

It's Reveal Day at MCS

Yippie!!! It's Reveal Day at My Creative Scrapbook!!!! It's always so exciting to share with you all the projects we have been working on for the past few weeks. The May kit is fabulous and once again Pam really out did herself putting these kits together!!



Here's Miss Riley playing on the beach. For this layout I used my Retro flower punches to make the dimensional flowers. I will be posting a tutorial later this week; so stay tuned for that. The flourish was cut with my Cricut.....finally dusted that puppy off....LOL. The papers in the kit are double-sided...yay...love that!! ♥ ♥ ♥


I love the papers & die cuts in the kit this month! Everything here is from the kit except for the tiny blue alphas. (they are from a past kit) Seriously Pam fills the kits with so many goodies, this just goes to show ya that you will have lots of left overs to use on future projects!






I found the perfect little black dress while at the Gap recently and for less that $30. I also picked up a cute yellow leather Coach bag that matched perfectly with this paper! The May kit also includes tons of really nice chipboard shapes. Two 12x12 sheets actually! Here I simply colored them with Cat Eye chalk ink and mounted with 3-D pop dots.

The DT really knocked themselves out this month. Take a peek at the gallery and see all the wonderful ways they used the kits!! You'll surely be inspired!!

Pandora Give Away

Look at this delicious blog candy!! What girl doesn't love jewelry......I know I do! For a chance to win pay a visit to Kami's blog. But hurry, her contest closes Monday, May 4th at midnight. Good luck to all of you....but I'm really hoping I win this one!!

Goldsmith is the exclusive dealer of Pandora Jewelry in Utah, specifically the Pandora Bracelets and many of the darling charms. If you are not familiar with these bracelets; You start with the chain and then you can build your own customized bracelet by adding charms over time.

You can view all of the charms here.

Isn't this one pretty all loaded with charms!!

My Creative Scrapbook Celebrates National Scrapbook Day

In honor of National Scrapbooking Day, My Creative Scrapbook is celebrating by having another 'Lift the Design Team' challenge! This was such a popular challenge the first time around, that we're bringing it back!! The contest starts today and runs until the end of the month (May 31).

The rules are simple! Just lift any layout made by the Design Team! It can be an exact lift, or you can just lift certain aspects of the design!! You can view the DT Gallery here.

Also anyone who visits My Creative Scrapbook on Saturday, May 2nd, and leaves a comment in the National Scrapbook Day thead, will be entered into a drawing for a sweet RAK!!!

Remember, you have all month to complete your challenge layout. The winner will be announced by June 2nd!