Busy scrap weekend!

This may have been one of my busiest scrap weekends in recent history! I feel like I haven't been scrapping much lately, so it was nice to get into the groove a bit.
There's no place like home
Mt. Baldy
Chicago- The Bean
Chicago Skyline
Hogwarts Square

Our visit to Hogwarts Square

So on Friday night Chris and I went to Harvard Square which had been renamed "Hogwarts Square". There were a number of places that would be selling the book at midnight, contests, etc.


There also was a concert with the band Harry and the Potters. On the left is a picture of the concert crows during one of the opening acts (The Hungarian Horntails and Draco and the Malfoys both performed.)



Here's a clip from one of their shows, although not the one that we attended. In fact, we liked the show enough that we picked up two of their CDs.





I also present to you a number of my favorite costumes while we were there.


(The quidditch team seems to be short a keeper.)


I had thought about going in costume, but until about an hour before I wasn't sure that we would be going. However, I think that if I had dressed up I would have been Tonks. What was interesting, is that since this was Harvard Square it was a little difficult to tell who was dressed as Tonks and who just had colored hair. If I had gone in costume I probably would have put on a pink wig since my color is pretty subtle.

I also liked that people chose to dress as some of the less popular characters or as villains. (There actually were large numbers of Slytherins, but I don't think I saw any Hufflepuff.) We also saw people dressed as Umbridge, Luna, Padma and Parvati Patil, as well as other lesser known characters.



Other businesses in the area also got in on the fun. Harvard's Natural History Museum had a scavenger hunt for owls, sorcerers stones, etc and a number of the eateries had butterbeer and other "wizard" themed food. Here are some of the flavors offered by a local icecream shop. I love the name of the last one!

Playing with the new camera lens

My new lens arrived today for my camera, so naturally I had to go outside and play.

I tried taking a self-portrait and discovered that I can't do that with this lens. It kept chopping off half my head. Oh well. You may also see that my pink dye is fading. :( Good thing I have plenty of extra dye. One of these day's I'll get around to touching it up. I was thinking it would be this evening, but now I'm rethinking that. Maybe tomorrow?

The new camera has been giving me lots of excuses to get out and take pictures if the garden. Not sure why, but today I got down on a lower level and took my pictures at a different angle than I normally do. I love the results! It makes the garden look much more full and lush.

Check out all of those herbs! We've got chives, parsley, basil, lemon balm, and then some snow peas on the trellis and some other flowers in the front.



Here we've got my two tomato plants, my cucumbers, and my peppers. In the front is some iceberg lettuce that didn't do too well. Anyone know the secret to growing good heads of lettuce?


And finally here we have the tomatoes. two different kinds- Better Boy and Sweet 100's. Can't wait until they ripen!

On Wednesday, to celebrate the 4th, we went to Old Sturbridge Village- a recreation village set between 1790 and 1840. All of the pictures on this post are from our visit there. It was a great chance to play with the camera and try to learn the settings. Unfortunately I over-exposed one event. I thought I had fixed the settings halfway through, but apparently not. Nothing major, so I'm not too concerned. I'll just have to practice more so that don't mess things up on our upcoming vacations.

While we were there, we rediscovered badminton, although at the Village it was Battledore and Shuttlecock and was played with paddles (similar in size to ping pong paddles). On the way home we stopped at the store to pick up our own badminton set. And since Wednesday we have played almost every day- and twice on Saturday.

There was another game there called The Graces that we also enjoyed- and picked up a set to play at home (although we haven't played yet). However, my skills at badminton are far superior to my skills at the Graces.

It's weird to me to be so into a sport- I am not an athletic person at all. If we keep up with the badminton I may even get a better racket. I question the quality of the racket that came in the set for $12. The racket I want is pink and costs about $50.


This weekend I also got a new bikini. It's very cute- black with a skull and crossbones on the top front and another on the bottom back. And since I already had purchased pirate scrapbook paper with no use in sight, I now have a reason to use that paper. Right?

However, I am realizing that perhaps my time for wearing a bikini is coming to an end. It's hardly a skimpy one, yet I seem to have some rolls of fat hanging out. Aaargh! I'm not used to that at all!

So, any suggestions on ways to loose a few pounds- especially in the tummy, butt, or hips? I guess I knew this was happening as I've noticed my weight gaining and my old clothes no longer fitting, but it still comes as a shock to me.


And my final update for the weekend-I finally got some scrapping done! Christmas Album, Mom's birthday, and Easter. The Christmas Album had been dragging for weeks and weeks. Such a weight off my shoulders to have that done. The other two layouts- nothing spectacular about them, but I was able to use some new products on them and it was a nice way to get the creative juices flowing a bit. Next up on the scrapping front is my trip to Chicago in April. I think I have about 4 pages worth of photos. Just one problem- no room for journaling. Not so sure what I want to do about that. The journaling that was on my blog earlier this month is about 4 pages long. I may just print out the journaling and tuck it into the page protector behind the LO. Either that or LOTS of hidden journaling.

My month for Stampers 5

Any of you out there in blog-land interested in buying some rubber stamps? This is my month for "hosting" in my Stampin' Up group. (For 5 months we each agreed to spend a certain amount per month, and we each are assigned one month to be the "hostess" and get the benefits.)

If you're interested, please consider placing your order through Melissa Barlow. The catalog is available here. Just let her know to apply the order to my "party".

Thanks!!!!

New camera

Yay! We got a Canon Digital Rebel XTi today! I LOVE it almost as much as I LOVE my pink hair. :)

I love that I can finally take pictures like this one where the flower is in focus and the background is blurry. I had lots of fun out in my garden taking pictures of the flowers and veggies.

And then I came inside and took some self portraits. So much easier with an SLR than my old point and shoot. (Just look for your reflection in the lens in the mirror and you'll know it's lined up properly.)