Boxer Scrapbooks Weblog

Recapping the week!

Hello!
What a great week it has been in the middle of November!  Here's the recap:

George and I left for Bellevue for the Seattle CK Convention Wednesday afternoon.  Mom and Laura left several hours after we did, so we met them at the hotel.  Karen was induced that morning, given pitosin at about 6pm that night, but it was taking a long time working.  Mom held off leaving town as long as she could, and ended up having to back-track to the office anyway, putting her another 2 hours behind.  OOPS!

Karen had Kaya LeeAnn at 5:389am on Thursday, November 13, 2008!  Kaya weighed in at 6# 3oz and was 19.5" long.  Here are the camera phone photos I received throughout the weekend:

Such a pretty girl!  But I'm biased!  George and I had planned on running over to their house to see her, but my cold is coming back (or allergies) and George has come down with the flu, so we're staying away for the time being...

Seattle show was wonderful!  Didn't see Wendy from Canada this year (Wendy--where were you???), but classes went great, and people loved our new booth set-up.  It worked really well for us, too, which is always nice.

Cabo spent her first time at a kennel while we were gone.  The staff at Windyridge take such good care of the puppies.  Cabo was very excited to see us, but fell asleep on the 7 minute drive on the way home, and has been napping ever since we picked her up at noon.  When I say napping, I mean crashed-out!  See?

 

This is her pink bed we got for her the first night that we brought her home.  She's a bit big for it now, but loves to lay in it when she's in the computer room with one of us.  I had another photo of her curled up in a ball and fitting into it, but i somehow deleted it when I uploaded.  :o(  Funny dog.

About the show:  As always, had some great food in Bellevue.  Ate at California Pizza Kitchen again, which is always nice.  We have one here in Tualatin now, but it's at Bridgeport Village, and the parking sucks, so we never go.  Also ate at Pogatcha.  FABULOUS Croation food, this is our second year eating there.  The wonderful quilt store from that same center is gone now, and I don't know if they moved or closed completely.  Then Saturday night, had a gathering of lots of old friends (and some new) from the show circuit.  Had a great time, and great food, served by our hostess Vicki.  Great pinata that she created too!  That was a blast! 

Our good friends Judy and Danita of Galloping Horse Productions officially celebrated their last show.  They say forever, but are also leaving the door open for a few shows here and there.  They are wonderful ladies, and we'll miss having them on the road! 

Our newly married friend, Britney, who works for SEI, also celebrated her last show.  She and her new husband Mat are moving back to Idaho next week, and we're sad to see them go.  I took their engagement photos a few months ago for them on a rainy day at the Oregon Coast, and then they just got married on Nov. 1st!  Saw the wedding photos at the show, and she was a beautiful bride!  They're coming back to town in December, and promise that we'll get together for dinner with Danita, too.

Also, our friend Terri celebrated her last show on the CKC travelling team.  She'll be working for one of the vendors next year, so we'll still get to see her on the road!

In many ways, I'm happy that show season is over for us!  We're exhausted, but have tons of work to do in the next few weeks, and for the coming year.  I'm just excited I don't have to go to the airport for almost 4 full months!

George made the decision last night at midnight when we got back to our hotel room from Vicki's that he wanted to drive home then.  We ended up getting home at 3:30am, and slept until around 10:30.  At noon we picked up Cabo, and she and I went back to bed.  George stayed up and watched football all day while checking out the new World of Warcraft expansion, and I mad a dash over to Red Robin for dinner around 7:30, after realizing we didn't have anything to make in the house!  Guess I'll be grocery shopping Monday...

Wow--I'm tired just re-reading that.  Guess its time I went to bed, too!  Have a wonderful week!

~~Angie

Ontario, CA Wrap Up...

Our flight was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, which has totally now screwed up our clocks for the week.  We never fly home on Tuesdays, always on Sunday, so it's very weird to be home two days later than normal.

But--we found a FANTASTIC QUILT SHOP on Tuesday morning, and it was less than 10 minutes from our hotel!!!!  It's called The Fabric Patch, and it was wonderful!  Mom and I both got to the business of shopping as soon as we walked in the door, and we left with tons of projects, fabrics, and a renewed sense of what a quilt shop should be!  Next time you're in the Ontario, California area, you NEED to check out this shop if you're a quilter, ever want to be a quilter, enjoy looking at fabric, or just want to check out a cool store!  (Chrys--you would LOVE this store).

We actually hit another one a town or two over, but I really just wanted to go back to The Fabric Patch!

The flight home was long, as we got in early to Oakland, which made our layover longer.  We did finally get home to Portland.

One thing about traveling on a Tuesday, and especially in the afternoon, there is hardly any traffic at the airport.  Security line literally had two, yes 2, people in front of us.  So that part was quick and painless...

All in all, very glad to be home.  George and Cabo both missed me very much.  Cabo wouldn't leave me alone for the first few hours, and even now, is glued to my side if she can be.  Such a cutie!

Have a great week!
~~Angie

Ontario, CA!

We're at the next to last show of the year.  I can't believe this year has flown by.  November is only a week away....that's amazing.

The Ontario show is fun.  Lots of people on the show floor, and many stopped by our booth for our free make & take today.  Today we had our sales rep Lorene from this area helping us with that, and she's fantastic!  Just a wonderful personality.  We made the Halloween Library Card that Laura is going to post on the Design Team Blog on Monday (check it out then)!

My classes went great too.  It's weird to think that I'm now only teaching the "In the Doghouse II" class 3 more times, and the "Perpetual Calendar" class 2 more times.  I will miss both classes, but look forward to what we're developing for next year!  Lots of great things up our sleeves for 2009!

Great thing about having a laptop on the road, is that it feeds my addiction to Facebook.  A few friends of mine totally got me addicted to it a few months ago, and recently, a bunch of high school classmates have joined.  I'm spending a lot of time catching up with old friends, and really enjoying it.  There are so many people that I've lost touch with, and really love hearing from.  I'm also working on creating a "Boxer" facebook page, and creating some "Boxer Flair".  In due time, of course.  Mostly, over the winter!

That's about it from here.  I do have to say that's it's wonderful to be in the warm sunshine, when I know it's cold and windy at home...

~~Angie

Looking Back at Kansas City...

Mom and I arrived on Tuesday (Oct 7th) at Kansas City Airport.  We picked up our rental car, and headed west toward Abeline.  Abeline is where the family farm is, where my Great Uncle Jack still lives alone at 75 years old.  It's all of a 2 hour drive there, and you see on the way out what Kansas is all about.  Its plains, with rolling hills, native grasses, wheat (which is cut for the year), oak trees, and for the most part it's pretty flat, so you can see forever.

Our first stop was in Chapman, KS.  Chapman is a town of only 1400 people, and was hit in June by a large tornado that demolished 60% of the towns buildings.  One woman was killed, and there were several injuries.  This is the town where my dad went to school, and the high school was hit pretty bad.  When we got into town, it's just amazing to see the damage.  There are full blocks in the residential neighborhood where the only thing left is driveways.  There aren't any structures at all.  Just driveways.  It was stunning to see it in person.  Here are photos:

   

We also saw some friends in town, the Londeen's.  They own the hardware store, the funeral home and have their own home in Chapman.  The hardware store was damaged at the back part of the store, and their home and funeral home were completely destroyed.  But cleanup began the day after the storm and rebuilding has begun.  The community has come together, and has been wonderful help to their neighbors.

Out to the Russell Stover Factory store and candy shop was our next stop!  Loaded up on good American chocolate.  Then we went out to the farm, leaving a box-o-chocolates with Jack, and getting caught up with him.  We also saw the area where there was a small brush fire by the house, and got more details on the event!

Back to our room in Abeline we went, cause mom needed a nap.  I did wake her up to go get dinner at DQ, and then watch tv for the night.

Wednesday morning, we drove out to the care facility where my grandmother resides, and saw her.  Once again she had no idea who we were.  Physically, she looks much better than she did last year, but mentally, she's farther gone than ever.  We stayed just until they started serving lunch, and left her to eat.

Back to Kansas City we went, checked into the hotel, then went and picked up Laura at the airport.  Took her to Hobby Lobby for the first time, and then hit Abuello's at Zona Rosa for dinner.  If you ever eat there, for an appetizer, get the 3 dip combo.  Awesome Guacamole, Bean Dip and a kickin Queso!

As for the rest of the show, it went about the same as others.  Setup went faster with the three of us, and then Friday and Saturday we had fun classes, people loved our FREE make and take, and enjoyed seeing our product line.  It still amazes me that some people charge up to $10 for a make and take.  That's not a make and take, it's a mini-class.  But--whatever.  Teardown took about the same amount of time, even though there were three of us.  LOL!  Funny how that works.

Sunday our flight wasn't until later in the afternoon, so we took Laura to Archivers for her first time.  She now knows why Kathy Jo loves that store (Hi KJ!).  It's really got a wonderful layout.

That's about it for KC, or rather, what I can remember...LOL!

We're off to Scrapbook Expo Ontario, CA tomorrow.  If you'll be there, stop by and say hi!

Have a wonderful day..

~~Angie

Greetings from Hartford, CT!

Vicki and I are in Hartford this weekend, for the Hartford CKC event.  Show was good.  It was fun to meet a lot of people who are excited about scrapbooking.

We're actually in town until Tuesday morning, and we got some great recommendations of quilt stores to visit from a customer Friday night at the crop!  We hit them both today, and picked up some very cute fabrics.  Mom also got two books that look really good.  We also found a pastry shop that was just fantastic, and had my first cannoli.  YUMMY!  Told mom I could have ate about 6 of them, but I held back!  :o)

So, while we're out of town, the design team is busy creating!  We've made some changes to the members and structure of our design team lately.  This is good news for you!  We'll be posting new projects every single day on the Design Team Blog (link to it is on the left hand nav bar).  So, check back often to see what the girls are coming up with!

On Tuesday, we head to Kansas City.  Mom and I will be driving out to see grandma at her care facility, and hopefully this year she knows who we are.  Last year's visit was so hard on mom, and I hope it's easier this year. 

Wednesday, we'll be back to pick Laura up at the airport, and check into our KC hotel for the show (Kansas City Creating Keepsakes Convention).  Should be a fun show.  The great thing about KC is I know where to go for the good food, good quilt stores, good shopping, and great scenic stuff.  I don't think Laura's been there before, so we have to do a quick tour during down times.

Going to hit a scrapbook store or two tomorrow, just to drop in and say Hi to some customers.

Will try to share some photos from the road this trip...we'll see how it goes!
Take care,
~Angie

Ohio Trip--Part 2.

The Wednesday of our trip was a very nice day for Me.  George's mom, Susan and I drove to the Longaberger Basket Factory for a day of shopping.  Apparantly Susan has a love for shopping like I do, so I was in excellent company.  It was also a 2.5 hour drive each way, so we got a lot of quality time in together.  From seeing the "Made in America" show, I knew that you could make your own basket at the factory.  I had my mom look it up online and text me the info earlier in the week, and we both decided that we'd wait and see until we got there.  Their website said you needed reservations, so we just expected that we wouldn't get to do it.  The $60 per person too, was a little off-putting.

When we got there, later than expected as we both slept in that morning after our day on the lake, there was literally only 3 people in the gift shop at the factory.  They had just got done making baskets, and they were tiny!  No way was I going to spend $60 on that.  Well--then I heard someone say there were three different baskets to choose from, and the other two were much bigger.  Seeing as we were there, and this could be a once-in-a-lifetime thing, I sprang for the both of us to do it.

Here, Susan is expertly weaving her basket.  Her's has three color bands that go thru it.

Here I am with my goofy smile.  Let me say that it was another bad hair day, as it was raining all day, and we had to walk a bit from the car to the factory due to space they reserve for the shuttle busses.  My hair was drenched.  Lovely, I know.

What's cool is that you're making your baskets right there with a bunch of the master basket makers.  In fact, the person guiding you is a master himself.  I think his name was Greg or Gary (I'm so sorry I may have the name wrong), and he was great.  He'd been with the company for 16 years, and loves it.  He was pointing out some new christmas basket one guy had just started producing that day.  Very cool, and it was super pretty!

 

So here we are with our finished baskets.  Happy as little clams!  The basket Susan made--it was the featured basket for the quarter, so the following Sunday would be the last day they were making that one.  She had little butterfly tack charms around the top edge of hers.  Mine, I did an Ohio State theme, with the red color band, and football tack charms around the edge.  I figured it was appropriate since it was going to be displayed in our house, we're in Ohio, and George is the biggest Buckeye fan on the west coast. 

Right after this, we got to run thru the factory store where they have some overstocks and second quality stuff.  I love Longaberger, but the pricing is a little out of my budget. 

Just a short drive across a large parking lot, is the Longaberger Homestead.  A gathering of shops where you could literally spend all weekend.  We only made it to one of the shops, but I did find some great things there.  Also saw this...

This was inside the Homestead area, and is just the cutest, and largest, basket I've ever seen!

Left Longaberger behind, as everything was closing, and made it back to her house at almost 10pm.  Long day, but it was wonderful.

Thursday evening we had a bbq at his mom's house, and lots of people came to visit.  I sort of forgot about my camera at this point, and let George take the reigns.  Just so you know--this never happens.  I did get one shot off before he took it from me...

Lookie there!  It's my favorite office helper, Wyatt!  Can you just say, too stinkin' cute???  Two minutes later, George grabbed the camera....

Alas, the rest of the photos are still on the memory card.  Will I ever get them off?  You'll see on the next installment of "The Ohio Trip"...

Have a wonderful week!

~Angie

Ohio Trip--Part 1.

A few weeks ago, when we got back from our trip, I said I'd share photos and memories soon.  Ummmmm, well, we got a little busy at the office.  It is calendar season, after all, and it all went kinda nuts!

So--back to the blogosphere I've come, and with highlights and photos of our trip.

We arrived in Ohio Late Sunday night (the 24th of August).  Got to his mom's house at almost 10pm, and slept in the next morning.  Monday we sat around visiting with his mom (Susan) and Bob, and later went over to his dad and Tanya's for a short visit.

Tuesday was the day out on the lake.  There were 14 of us who went, and we had a great time.  Bob and Susan took their boat, and we rented a pontoon (SP?) boat as well.  Here are the shots I got:

Here's our famous neice Emma (aka Peanut).  Isn't she sweet!  Looks can be deceiving...

You might recognize this little guy as our best office helper, Wyatt!  He enjoyed the boat a lot, and just was so tuckered out.  This was early in the day.  Holding him, that's my cousin Jena (his mommy).

This is a great photo of George and His mom.  She's a wonderful lady, and I just adore her.

Here's me and George.  I was having a horrible hair day.  Thank goodness George had bought 3 new Ohio State Hats the night before at Wal-Mart.  Angie was able to hide the hair!

OHHHH--How Cute!  One last sleepy time photo of the little monster.  Look at those squishy-cheeks!

So--after our fun on the boat, George, his cousin Jen and I stopped by his Uncle Terry's house.  Word had it that Terry had a male Boxer named Brutus.  Off we went, and this is what greeted us!

Brutus is the brindle in the front, and Maggie is the fawn female behind him.  That's George, who's head I cut off.  LOL!  We were missing Cabo so much by this point, that we just let the dogs go to town on us, giving us the Boxer Love!  They were both beautiful dogs.  If we'd known about Brutus, we would not have had Cabo fixed just 2 weeks before the trip. 

That's it for tonight...will do some more in a few days.  Took tons of photos, so I'm trying to only do highlights!

~~Angie

Back from Ohio...

George and I have returned from our Oklahoma/Ohio trip.  We're exhausted!  So, we're taking the next two days to get settled back into the home life, reunite with our puppy, and relax.  I'm off to the Home Depot (for doggie incident repair supplies) and the grocery store right now.  I'll do a couple of posts later this week with photos and stories from our adventure.

Reminder:  Couple of days to post for the RAK on the Olympic post.  You should see a link to it on the left sidebar under "recent posts".

Have a safe and happy Labor Day Weekend!

~~Angie

Hey Ya'll, It's Twister Season

Should I be worried when I walk into a hotel room, and this is the table top display placard?  Having lived in the Kansas City area for 2 years, it didn't bother me.  Kinda freaked George out a little, but then he flipped it over, and it's just basically tips on what to do if a tornado comes.

So, we arrived just fine in Tulsa.  We got really lucky in Portland this morning.  We got through security very fast this morning, and headed to Gustav's for breakfast.  Just after breakfast, we headed to our gate.  We had at least an hour wait until our flight, but as I walked by the desk, I asked the attendant if the flight was full.  She told me that not only was it full, it was overbooked.  We went and sat down, and I thought, well, I could ask...So back up to the podium I went, and asked if she moved us if we would get to Tulsa faster.  In fact we could, and the flight was now boarding!  So--instead of 8+ hours, two stops (Sacramento and Phoenix), we had one stop in Las Vegas for only about 40 minutes, and were here by 4pm.  Awesome!

It really just gets better from there.  Great hotel (so far), great food at the hotel (pricey--but worth it for one night during the stay) and very, very nice staff.  Great change from the Valley Forge Experience...

Booth setup starts in the morning, and show is Friday and Saturday.  Yeah!

In case you missed it, we've got a RAK drawing on our Olympic post from yesterday, so be sure to check that out!

Later, Ya'll!
~~Angie

Valley Forge, Baby!

We're on the road again...Vicki & I actually left last Saturday for Philadelphia.  Have had a good trip so far.  Here's the rundown of what we've been up to:

Saturday:  5 hour direct flight from Portland to Philly.  Got rental car, and headed toward Hershey, PA.  We stopped in Valley Forge (cause we kinda know the area) and had dinner.  Then, off to Hershey we went.  Arrived around 9pm, and crashed!

Sunday:  Taught two brand new classes at Times to Remember in Hershey.  Alysia (the owner of the store) is wonderful, and she has a great store.  If you're in the area, this is a "Must Stop" scrapbook store.  I hope we get to teach there again.  Great students (thanks Ladies!) and a wonderful classroom area.  Plus, it's very close to Hershey Park, and Chocolate World.  In fact, after classes, mom and I hit chocolate world, but honestly didn't buy much.  Just some Reese's Big Cups.  Between classes, I was able to hit the Reebok store in the center, and got George his Steelers Rothlisberger Jersey he's been wanting, and at a great price!  After Chocolate world, we hit Panera Bread for Dinner, and then headed down the road toward Paradise, PA, deep in Amish Country.  We met our friends Judy and Danita of Galloping Horse productions at a hotel there.  They flew in that day, and we stayed up late gabbing, and planning our Monday of sightseeing. 

Monday:  Great breakfast at Miller's, and then checked out the T-shirt store next door.  Danita got a funny shirt that I just loved.  Will get a photo of it next time she's wearing it!  Next door to that was a quilt shop.  Not a fabric shop, but finished quilts.  We saw some incredibly beautiful work there, and it's amazing to me that everything is all hand pieced and hand quilted.  Just stunning work.  We also hit the Bird-In-Hand Bake Shop (yummy goodies like apple butter, apple butter BBQ sauce, butter pretzels), another quilt store, a cool antique store, and several other gift shops.  We thought about getting pretzels, but decided that getting a nap was higher priority.

Tuesday:  We split off and went our separate ways.  Mom and I went for an Amish buggy ride, while Judy and Danita went off and played miniature golf.  We then met up for Lunch at Jakey's Amish BBQ, and later again at Flower and Craft Warehouse in Blue Ball, PA.  Between the two, mom and I hit a quilt Fabric Store in Intercourse, PA.  Oh My Gosh--I hit the mother-lode!  Quilt fabrics $3-5 less than at home, but I've recently been on a shop hop, so not needing much.  Was able to find some coordinates that I haven't been able to find at home, plus some cute seersucker and more Steelers fabric.  George is so excited. 

Wednesday (Today):  WE SLEPT IN!!!  Laura flew into Philly at around 5 so we had time to kill, but wanted to see the sights in Philly.  Judy, Danita, Mom and I went to Philly, found parking, and checked out the Liberty Bell, and the Independence Visitors Center.  We then boarded a double decker sightseeing bus, and had the MOST ANNOYING tour guide.  Judy and Danita only lasted 4 stops, and hopped off.  Mom and I soon got on the upper deck, where we could barely hear the guide, which made it a nice ride.  If you go and get on a bus with Anna as your guide, get off the bus.  She was so awful...I'm sure it's a boring job, but don't yell at your riders.  Mom and I did the 90 minute loop, and left to go get Laura at the Airport as her flight was in about half hour early.  Went back and picked up the girls, and came back to Valley Forge for dinner.

We're back in for the night, and looking forward to getting the booth set up tomorrow.  We've got a bunch of new product for this show, and alway enjoy being here!  They're telling me to put the computer to bed, so the screen light won't keep them up any longer....

Hope you have a great day, and if you're going to be at Valley Forge CKC show, stop by and say Hi!!!

~~Angie

Hersey, PA Class Info!

Vicki and I are leaving early for the Valley Forge show to teach at a great store,  Times to Remember, in Hershey, PA.  We are so excited, because we're teaching two ALL NEW classes!  Here is some info on them:

Both are on Sunday, July 26th

Boxer 8 x 8 Calendar Class: (11am to 1pm)
We'll hopefully finish all 12 monthly pages in class, with just a little bit of homework to finish the bottom part of the calendar.  We'll go over some ribbon tying techniques, and show off 12 all new page designs using our Calendar Papers, as well as integrating some other papers from the Boxer line.  Retail Value of the Class is over $75.00.  Class Fee is only $45.00 per person.

Disney Album Memories Class: (2pm to 4pm)
Create a Chipboard Album dedicated to the Happiest Place on Earth!  This album has 10 great pages, with tons of places for photos, journaling, and embellishment.  Designed by design team member Laura Nicholas, she's pulled out all her bags of tricks for this wonderful keepsake!  Whether it's been awhile since you've visited Disney, or you're planning a trip now, this is the album you'll want to show off to friends and family!  Retail Value of the Class is over $75.00.  Class Fee is only $45.00 per person.

Photos of the class projects are available in the right sidebar of this blog, in the upper right corner.  Each class has it's own album of photos for the project!

If you'd like to sign up for one or both of these classes, please call the store directly at  (717) 520-9145.

Have a great weekend....
~~Angie

Great New Class News!

We have a couple of update for you on some classes coming up!

July 19th--We'll be teaching our Disney DVD Tin Class at Scattered Pictures here in Portland.  You can sign up by calling the store at 503.252.1888.

Then, we're obviously going to the Valley Forge Show!  However, we've also booked two classes at Times To Remember in Hershey, PA before the show.  These will be two BRAND NEW classes that we're developing!  We've got an 8x8 calendar class, and a Disney Themed Chipboard album class.  The samples so far are STUNNING.  Those classes are scheduled for Sunday July 27th, and you'll soon be able to get more information by clicking here: Times to Remember.  I'll of course post here when everything is finalized (meaning, I have photos of the samples).

Have a wonderful Thursday!
~~Angie

Photos from the Arlington Trip...(catching up)

I said I would post photos of the Arlington trip about a week ago, and just never got to it.  Got laundry going right now, so I have a little bit to hang out with the computer.  Here are the few shots I took...

 

These first two were of the New Dallas Cowboys Stadium.  I know that's not the right name, but  my cousin-in-law is a HUGE Cowboys fan, so I took a couple shots for him.  Even printed them out...but George forgot to give them to him.  I'll send his wife a link, and she can show him.  (Jena--you can click the photos to enlarge.)

These two photos were out the side door of the Arlington Convention Center.  They are shots of the Texas Thunder ride at Six Flags.  I would have LOVED to go, but George wasn't with us on this trip, so no one to ride with me.  I loved every time they went down that big drop, you could hear the people on the ride screaming.  Fun stuff!

Bad shot of the booth from over my head.  That's Vicki (aka mom) in the lower left hand corner in the green shirt.  Notice the highlights in the hair....that was her Mother's Day Gift from me.  Our hairdresser and I worked together to ambush her.  She's since spent a little too much time in the sun, and they've gotten even lighter, which looks good on her.

Here I am.  In the booth, about 10 minutes to go in the show I think on the 2nd day.  I'm exhausted and we still have one more day and tear down to do.  I probably just asked if we get to sleep in the next day, as we've been getting up at 5:30 am for my 8am classes I was teaching.  I'm not a morning person....at all...ever....

And the last shot...this is not the shot I wanted of the stadium where the Texas Rangers (baseball) play.  I wanted a shot from the Convention Center Parking Lot, with the little lake in the front, with the beautiful brick stadium looming on what you could call a hill in Texas (if anyone has this shot, and would like to email it to me, I would really appreciate it).  Notice the longhorns between the window arches.  This was around the entire stadium.  It was a pretty stadium.  There was a home game there almost every night we were there.  If Baseball games didn't take 5-6 hours, we might have gone to one after the show one evening.  But we were just too exhausted.

That's it for the Arlington Shots.  Nice, eh!  I love that two of them are while I was driving, both which happen to be of sports stadiums! 

Lots more stuff coming this week...

~Angie

Howdy, Ya'll!

We're here in Arlington, TX, surrounded by heat and humidity that 3 gals from Oregon should never, ever be subjected to.  To say we're wilting is true....and not just our hair.  I actually left the show today for a bit, and went to the room, as I wasn't feeling well at all.  It's all good, Laura and mom handled the booth just fine, and I'm feeling a little better tonight.

We are just across the street from a few things.  The new Dallas Cowboys stadium is just across the street from our hotel.  It's way cool, and still under construction.  I took some photos, and will post soon...when I find the memory card reader.  The show is across the street from both Texas Rangers Stadium (a beautiful place) and Six Flags over Texas (with a cool looking roller coaster).  If George were here to ride it with me, we'd so be on it!

We did meet a new friend this trip.  Gertrude....or rather Gertie the Garmin GPS.  After driving around for almost an hour after getting the rental car lost because our mapquest directions were bad, bad, bad, we found the staples we were originally looking for.  While there, we picked up Gertie.  She's awesome, and can find lots of stuff.  We haven't been lost since.

Tired, as it's now 10pm.  Going to bed, and hoping to feel better in the morning...

Later!

~Angie

Mesa--What a fantastic town!

Vicki and I got back on Sunday afternoon from the Mesa show.  This is such a beautiful town, and we love the Mesa area.  One thing we always try to do when we're on the road is eat at places we don't have here at home.  Breakfast is difficult, because we get up so early in preparation for these shows (5:30 or 6am) that we usually just get room service, so we can eat when we're ready and not have to wait on a wait staff that doesn't care if you're in a hurry or not.  Lunch we rarely eat, cause we're busy.  So a snack here and there through the day usually keeps us going.

For dinners--that's where we find the good places.  For the Mesa Show, we had a great BBQ dinner with friends on Thursday night after set up (Famous Dave's), Friday night we went for Mexican (Mango's) and on Saturday, we hit Italian (Carabba's--suggested by a good friend of ours who knows our love of good food and good service).  Just great food for a fun trip!

It's back to work this week, with some new products arriving at the warehouse, and the design team getting geared up to work with them!

~~Angie

Enjoying the sunshine!

Vicki and I flew into Phoenix on Tuesday, and picked up our rental car.  We headed immediately down the road to Tucson to visit my Uncle John.  Uncle John is my dad's brother, and I'd say one of his best friends.  John is great, and has been incredibly supportive of mom and I in the last year and a half.  He came to visit us at mom's last Fall, and will probably come up again soon.

We had a great time visiting with him, and finally meeting his 4 1/2 year old grandsons that he lives with.  They are such cute little twin boys!  I got to watch cartoons with them, and just hang out.  But--I didn't have the camera with me--what a moron!  We met up with him again today after he dropped the boys off at preschool, and visited a few "hot spots" in Tucson.

First stop was the Saguaro National Forrest.  We found a trail head, and just walked in a short way.  One of my biggest fears is snakes, and this is prime rattlesnake country.  I really just wanted to get a few shots of cacti, and get the heck out of there.  We got some nice shots!

Here are John and Mom.

Photos are taking so incredibly long to upload, that that's all I'm going to post for now.

Other hot spots in Tucson--we hit 5, yes 5, quilt shops.  We had a great time, and found several kits that we picked up.  Mom is the prolific Quilt Kit buyer, and I think she got 3.  She buys them, but I've not seen her actually start one yet.  The running joke is at quilt stores where they have a finished sample quilt, with a sign on it saying "Kits Available".  We get all excited!  I even found a kit for a small wall hanging today, plus several patterns that I love.  The great thing about quilt shops is sometimes they have local pattern designers that you can't find in the shops around your home.  Most of the kits we liked had southwestern themes, as we always look for local themed kits and projects.  I also got a new Christmas tree skirt pattern.  I seem to be collecting these, but I enjoy making them.  I have a whole bunch of friends that are getting them for gifts this year.

We also had a great lunch at Beyond Bread.  Anything with bread in the name, I'm gonna love.  Carb-o-licious!  It was yummy, and reminded mom and I that we just got a Panera Bread by our office.  Gonna have to hit that when we get home.

Left John with tons of hugs and kisses around 2:30 and hit the last 2 of the 5 quilt shops on the way out of Tucson.  Then up the road we went.  We're here in Mesa now, and just totally wiped out.  We enjoyed such a wonderfully beautiful day with excellent company.

We set up the Mesa CKC booth tomorrow (Thursday), and are meeting with friends for dinner.  Can't wait--we actually changing the design of the booth up a little bit for this show, so it will be exciting to see how it looks.

Off to bed...may be able to write more tomorrow...

~~Angie

Boxer Seeks help in Mesa CK Convention Booth

Boxer seeks help in the booth! We're looking for an experienced demonstrator to help us all day Friday, April 18th in our booth.  Specifically, this person will run our Make & Take Table.  If you are friendly, outgoing, like to smile, laugh, and have a fun day of teaching people how to put together a fun project or two, let us know!  The position pays $10.00 per hour.  Hours are 8:30 am to 5 pm (or possbily earlier depending on traffic, and there will be some occasional breaks as well).  Entrance to the show is also included. If you are interested, please contact Angie at Toll Free: 888-625-6255 by Monday, April 14th.

Update from Pleasanton!

Well, Vicki and I are here in Pleasanton, CA this weekend, for the Scrapbook Expo!  We are so excited to be exhibiting for the first time at this show.  We're also bringing croppers the first look at Boxer classes, and we know they'd going to love them!

I talked to George just after we finished setting up the booth, and sounds like he and Cabo have had quite the adventure.  Because she usually goes to the office with me Mon-Thurs, she was spending her first days alone when he was at work.  We'd set up a 6x6 pen in the back yard, with 4 foot high walls, dogloo, full water and food facilities, tent cover, and so much more!  We'd tested it out over the weekend, left her in it for about an hour at a time (as the vet said this would also help with her separation anxiety that we're seeing).  So--George comes home from work, and she's out of the pen.  Just laying on the kitchen side of the house.  SHE CLIMBED OUT!!!  Like over the top!  So he took her back to work in my car, with the crate, and left her back there, checking on her frequently.  Well, between the last check, and the last part of the day, she went nuts.  Made such a mess in the crate, he just drove straight home, with all the windows down, and put her straight into the bathtub.  Then had to clean out the crate, and a small mess in my car.  My new car.  I told him it better have been a great cleaning job!  LOL!  Today, he left her at home, locked in the kitchen.  Supposedly it was barricaded, because she's climbed that gate twice now before!  Well--she climbed it today, and apparantly had fun with some ink pads I had sitting on the coffee table from when I was finishing up some projects.  I guess you could say she DISTRESSED MY CARPET!!!  I can't wait to get home, and see what kind of mess it is.  George said she shredded every piece of paper I had on the table, which scares me, cause I had full packs of paper sitting next to the table.

We're looking into Doggy Day Care now for when I travel, as she needs the ineraction anyway.  She's just too little yet to let loose with Molly and Koda, so dogs of a smaller size would be much better.

Well--time to finish up a final project, and get to bed.  Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

~~Angie

Sacramento, anyone?

Well, as if we weren't already crazy, we have a last minute addition to our show schedule this year!  We'll be in Sacramento, CA THIS WEEKEND for the Scrapbook Expo at the Sacramento Convention Center.  Vicki, George and I will be heading out on Wednesday for this show, and if you're planning on being there, make sure to stop by our booth.  We are a last minute addition, so we won't have any ads in the show book, but we will have TONS of end-of-year specials throughout the booth.

Big THANK YOU to the attendees of the Seattle CK Convention this last weekend!  Was sure a blast to see all the familiar faces, including my favorite student Wendy, who showed up with only 1.5 hours left in the show on Saturday!  Classes were awesome, and I loved being a part of that atmosphere.  Can't believe that show is now 10 years old.  Big kudos to Vicki Manning for starting such a fabulous event when scrapbooking was in it's infancy.

Now, if I could just get rid of this cold I got while in Seattle....working on it.  Got to get some rest!

Happy Tuesday to everyone!

~~Angie

Sea-Town this weekend!

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Seattle--Here we come!

So excited for the Seattle show this weekend.  Get to see lots of our North Washington and British Columbia Friends we've made over the years, who don't come down for the Portland show!  Looking forward to great classes, and lots of fun on the show floor, as we're next to our favorite gals from Galloping Horse Productions! 

For those of you who are coming, and know that I always put out some extra coupons, I've got them for you on the Calendar Page of our website.  Print out the whole sheet, and bring it with you to the show.  Might want to print an extra or two for your friend who will forget!

Overall, we've had a great week here at Boxer.  On Sunday, mom and I took the day to spend with Emma down at my Aunt and Uncle's house.  We got to see some cute stuff....like....

Emma posing in her new boots!

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Emma on her Horse Katy...

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Emma with Grandpa Frank (left), Grandma Kim (Right) and her mom (behind grandma) all being spotters for the few times she rode around the arena.

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And later, Emma and Gracie (the schnoodle--mini Schnauzer/Poodle mix) on the trampoline!

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Other than that, we've just been getting ready for this show.  It's our last one for 2007, and it will be good to have it off our plate.  We are so busy right now working on new products for the Winter2008 CHA show already, that I need one less thing on our plate.

If you're in Seattle, make sure you stop by, say Hi!, and use those coupons!  They can save you a bundle--plus, there are a few more in the show book, too!

Take care,

~~Angie