Thank you and New Freebie!

Hi Everyone,

We are going to be leaving soon for our 4th of July vacation. By the looks of the boards, most people have taken off. It seems really slow out there.

Anyway, I just wanted to thank everyone for the great response on Ben's Birthday Kit! As a token of my appreciation, I have posted a new freebie on my site tonight.



I hope you like it. It was inspired by our honeymoon in Venice. There are two little islands off the coast of Venice named Murano and Burano and they are populated by the most beautiful brilliant homes. Mmmm...just thinking of it makes me want to go back. I have to say that was one of the most joyful moments of my life. Below is a small picture of those houses:



Aren't they beautiful? Venice is truly a magical city. How can you NOT fall in love there?

Well, I will try to post while on vaca....but not sure how much I will have access to a computer. My music pick for the drive home is going to be The Trashcan Sinatras. Such lovely music.

Have a great 4th everyone!

Chef

The 3 List

My friend, Linda asked me to answer these questions on her Blog...so here goes:

Three screen names that you have had: Chef, sbartolini (i know...very boring), susiemac (my maiden name was McAvoy)

Three things you like about yourself: I am very compassionate, politically liberal, and tech-savvy.

Three things you don't like about yourself: Sometimes I snap at my husband, I gossip too much, and I get worked up very easily.

Three parts of your heritage: Irish, German, American

Three things that scare you: the effects of Ben's prematurity on his future, dying, Dick Cheney.

Three of your everyday essentials: kissing my son four thousand times, C2, my slippers.

Three things you are wearing right now: black t-shirt, khaki capris, wedding and engagement rings.

Three of your favorite songs: Wow...this is going to be hard...I LOVE music. So I will just choose the first 3 that come to mind. "The Christmas Song" sung by India Arie & Stevie Wonder (I LOVE ALL THINGS CHRISTMAS!!!), "As" (written by Stevie Wonder) performed by George Michael and Mary J Blige (my wedding song), and "Paul Revere" by the Beastie Boys.

Three things I want in a relationship: support, laughter, and much love.

Two truths and a lie: I love Paris, I love Baltimore, I hate Venice.

Three things you can't do without: Music, Movies and C2

Three places you want to go on vacation: Paris again, Venice again, and London

Three things you just can't do: Drink Diet Coke, Drink Pepsi, Watch Fox News

Three kids' names: Benjamin, Madeleine, Luc

Three things you want to do before you die: see my son graduate from college, see Mount Everest in person (as opposed to the iMax screen), reach enlightenment.

Three Celeb crushes: George Clooney, Justin Timberlake, Patrick Dempsey (The "Grey's Anatomy" Dempsey, not the "Can't Buy Me Love" Dempsey)

Three people you want to know these things about: hmmm...not really sure who reads my blog....but here goes: Ali Edwards, Jenn (Scraprascal), and Kim (SAHMommy.)

-Chef

Success and Lobster!

Well I weighed in this morning, as I am starting a new week on Weight Watchers. This week was a complete success! I lost 3 pounds!!! I can't believe it. I am so happy. This gives me lots of motivation to keep it going. My best friend, who is on weight watchers also, said it is common for people to drop quite a few pounds in the first week. I know that it will take more exercizing to keep it going. I want to do really well this week because next week, we are going on vacation and I know it will be much harder to stick to the program. Well, anyway, I am just happy that the first week went well.

Yesterday, my husband and I decided to drive up to the Kittery outlet malls in Maine. It's only about an hour drive from our house. We got some really great deals at Old Navy and Hanna Andersson. I LOVE HANNA! They have the nicest clothes for children. They are a Swedish company and their clothes are so durable and soft and comfy. Regularly priced, they are not the cheapest clothes in the world....but the Outlet had some nice deals.

To end the night, we decide to stop at The Weathervane restaurant for lobster dinner. It was delicious. One of the perks of living in New England is that you don't have to drive too far to get cheap lobster. Yum.

Well...that's all for now. I will be releasing my next kit, Ben's Birthday, sometime next week. Hope you all like it!

Chef

Service Announcement

Just a quick FYI. I sent out an email last night to the Newsletter Subscribers. If your email has a spam blocker feature, the email may have been filtered. Check your settings and let me know if you need me to resend the Special.

Chef

Vent

So...I have been increasingly alarmed at the extent to which corporations influence our government. I just read an article this morning regarding the link between vaccinations and autism. Let me just say that the article is shocking and infuriating. I thought I should post it on my blog since I know a lot of mothers visit. The article is by Robert Kennedy, Jr. who is an environmental activist and it appeared in the politics section of Rolling Stone magazine: Deadly Immunity.

I will be back later to post more once I have calmed down.

Chef

Hi, my name is Susan and I love food.....

Well...I have finally done it. I have joined Weight Watchers. Now, I know that I don't have a lot of weight to lose, but I just feel like I need a little more structure and to have more awareness with my food choices. I have probably put on about 15 lbs since my wedding and while its not the end of the world, it just makes me uncomfortable. And I really believe in the WW system...they really do encourage you to eat REAL food the right way and exercise. Plus, I LOVE to cook, so it will be fun experimenting with slimming down my recipes.

That said, day one (Sunday) didn't go well. I decided to join online and I had already eaten breakfast and lunch. Can you say points overload? I had to dive into my weekly allowance and basically crushed it.

Day two went much better, but my stomach was in shock! I felt hungry the entire day because I hadn't gone grocery shopping yet and didn't have any healthy snacks....and I think my body was wondering where the hell all the calories went!

Day three (today) is going much more smoothly. I went shopping this morning and loaded up on veggies and lighter options for salad dressings and such.

My son's therapist (he was a preemie and gets PT/OT weekly) cancelled today...so I am actually going to set foot on my pristine treadmill. I can actually earn a couple more points that way...which is a huge incentive.

Anyway, I am very excited about eating better and exercising. I will keep you all posted on how it is going. If there are any other WW members out there that want to share their success stories, please post!

Also working on another kit. I hope to release it next week. I'll post a preview here in a day or two. Hint: it will be specially priced for newsletter members.

Take care,
Chef

I Love My Geek Gadgets

So...I have been playing this afternoon with my computer, camera and iPod. I love all of my geek gadgets. I am what some would call an early adopter. I love to try out new gadgets and software as soon as they hit the market. My husband, on the other hand, suffers from analysis paralysis. He has to research every possible alternative device, consumer report, and do a cost analysis before he purchases anything. So, as you can imagine, we butt heads often. Because he travels so often, he frequently acquiesces so that I can have my toys while he is gone. Here is a self-portrait taken a few minutes ago in very low light. I am trying to figure out all of the settings on my new camera. This came out a bit dark and blurry....but I really didn't want to use the flash.



Anyway...off to rock out to my iTunes and play with my Wacom tablet.

Chef

Catching Up ..... and a new Freebie!!!!

Well...I have spent the day catching up on emails and such. I managed to get a new freebie up on the site. It coordinates with The Patriot Kit. Hope you all like it. I just scrapped a new layout with the Patriot Kit.



I love these pictures of my son. My new XT takes such great photos. I haven't even really learned how to use this camera yet. I am looking forward to learning about everything I can do with it.

Recently, I have noticed that my scrapping style has been evolving a bit. I am becoming a fan of simple elegant layouts. Clean lines....with the focus on the photo.

And totally off the subject of scrapping ...... can someone tell me what is up with the weather here in New England? Two weeks ago, it was cold. Last week was sweltering. Today, the high was in the 50's. I was wearing long sleeves and pants with a poncho today. It is now in the 40's and I have to turn the heat on. Bizarre.

Chef

I'm back....

I feel like I have been away forever! I went away to Baltimore for a week and then had my best friend and her family here in Boston for a week. It was so nice to not think about anything but friends and family and enjoying myself.



We really jammed packed the last two weeks with so much. We went to the beach, did some sighseeing in Boston, which included a Duck Tour and the Swan Boats in the Public Garden, went to a farm, got our hair cut and highlighted, took a lot of walks and did some gardening. Gardening is not my favorite activity in the world, but my friend helped me quite a bit with a couple beds. And I discovered that the Mosquito is the new state bird of Massachusetts.





Also, I have been telling my friends that Boston is so cold and that we don't get sweltering summers (most houses up here have no central air). Of course, the week she visits, it is almost 90 degrees everyday. Thankfully, my husband installed some window unit air conditioners and saved the day.

All in all, it was a great time and I am wiped out. I have so much to catch up on....including sleep. I promise to write more tomorrow.

Bon soir,
Chef

Whew....lots going on!

Hi everyone,

Sorry I haven't blogged in awhile. I had another very busy week. So I will update you on what's being going on.

I released two kits this week, Lemonade Stand and The Patriot Kit. They both took a long time to prepare and get up but I wanted to release them as I will be traveling next week.

We are going home for a couple reasons. My best friend and I own a small children's clothing business and we have a show this weekend. I am hoping our designs are well received and we get good traffic at our booth. Either way, I am going to have fun spending time with family and friends.

Feeling a little sad now that my two shows, Grey's Anatomy & American Idol are off for the summer. But I think I may have found my summer replacement.... Hell's Kitchen!!! How hilarous is this show? The chef has some serious anger management issues. They are calling him the Simon Cowell of restaurants. I was hooked on the first episode. Well, I still have the Daily Show at night....

Anyway, thanks to everyone that has emailed me on the new kits. It's so much fun seeing them in the galleries. Also, I have been meeting some East Coast scrappers lately. I know this hobby is big in the West and Midwest, but I am finding more and more Yankee scrappers. Yeah!!!

Well...I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I will take lots of pictures and post them on the blog when I get back.

Chef