ROAD TRIP!!!!!!!!!!!!

my friend barb & i are off to pasadena for a couple of days, where we suspect we won't have internet (waaaaaaahhh) or the time to use it (yaaaaaaaaaaay). howsabout a couple of links to help you while away the time? we're staying in a fab b&b, visiting a museum/botanical garden (which serves high tea!) and checking out a mystery bookshop. oh yeah, and on the way, we're stopping at in & out burger, since barbara was shocked to discover i have never been to one.

you're startin' to hate me again, aren't ya?? thought so. it's ok. i'd hate me, too, under the circumstances. if you can't tag along to pasadena, why not bop over to CAARDVARKS? ...they might just have something cool to work on in the next day or so...

the happiest place on earth...

...for ME...was not disneyworld. don't get me wrong, i liked disney--and i had a blast in orlando! but being a fairly museumy sort of a person, i would have to cast my vote for balboa park, in san diego.

you like museums? they got museums! you like science? there's a science museum! art?? yepper, got a couple o' those! anthropology? natural history? photography?? check, check & check. you name it, and balboa park probably has a museum devoted to it...maybe even two!
did i mention that it's all contained within gorgeous historic buildings, set amongst palm trees, courtyards and beautifully manicured gardenscapes? uh-huh. even if you never went IN anywhere, you could have a great touristy day just wandering around the grounds.
and if the OUTSIDE doesn't have enough glorious exotic flora for ya, just take a gander inside the botanical building! admission to which is...wait for it...FREE!!! (so are a few of the other museums and galleries; most charge a modest fee.)
if i ever run away from home...this is where you should look first!



( http://community.webshots.com/user/namastekitty has additional pics, should you need them!)

i (heart) the specific ocean

ordinarily i would view the prospect of posting a picture of myself in a bathing suit with the sort of fear and dread usually reserved for audits and root canal...together! but my friend cassie and i had sooooooo much fun swimming yesterday, that even the photos turned out ok.

i say "swimming" but really, "splashing, jumping and screaming ineffectually at the bigger waves" is probably more accurate...at least on my part. now, miss cassandra is strong, experienced & intrepid when it comes to watersports. she'd have been halfway to singapore, if she hadn't sussed pretty quickly that her companion, despite years of childhood swimming lessons, never quite made it past "minnow" level.

practical to the core, cassie kept her eye on how far we were drifting down the beach, and periodically led us back to our point of origin. she also continually assessed our distance from various bands of boogie-boarding boys to avoid collisions. "if the wave breaks in front of you, catch it with your back" she offered helpfully, at one point, along with, "if you think it's going to break right on you, dive into the bottom of the wave". (she was kind enough not to mock replies such as, "waaaaaaaaahhhh--RUN!!!" and "ummmmmm....dive into...??!?")

you know, i think if i could spend the whole summer under such expert tutelage, by august i might very nearly be ready for promotion to guppy!

...did i mention the *PRIZE*??!

there's still a little time to enter the "crop circles" challenge at CAARDVARKS, which is good b/c i think i forgot to mention that the ***prize*** this time for the winning card is $75 worth of R I B B O N from CAARDVARKS' newest sponsor, lindsay ostrom, of The Paper Rabbit. oh yeah, and the winner will also be getting a special, personalized gift from lindsay, as well! check it out!
http://caardvarks.blogspot.com/

what i did on my summer vacation

(you know, in case you're not quite envious enough yet!) :)

on wednesday i spent the morning in...

a very cool, very funky/artsy/friendly beach town near carlsbad. i had an amazing breakfast at a cafe called st. germain (where $10.37 gets you a big omlette, fruit, muffin & coffee!) and then wandered around all the little shops and boutiques.

i discovered soul scape, http://www.soulscapeonline.com/ which was full of indian, asian & new age books, art and gifts. coast highway traders--my favorite from last trip--did not disappoint either. http://www.coasthwytraders.net/ i bagged some cool postcards and little trinkets there.

then barb and i met up for a

PICNIC ON THE BEACH!!!

(life is gooooooood!)

...wouldja believe...

...that i'm entirely caught up with editing my photos of the trip so far?????! well, frankly *I* don't believe it! i have no idea how to react, since it's a phenomenon that has never happened before...and most likely never will again, but in the meantime...

can i get a *WOOHOO?!*

thank you. i've even started posting pics (can i get another, smaller, woohoo?!) in my webshots "solo" album: http://community.webshots.com/user/namastekitty

yesterday, i had the first batch all ready to go--complete with witty descriptions & repartee--on flickr. then i found out you can only make *3* sets using the free flickr membership. you can post loads more pics, but they just sit there...in a big CLUMP...until you fork over $25.

i spent half an hour deciding whether to be cheap (and re-do the work) or lazy (and commit to $25 a year...or whatever they raise it to). i settled on cheap...with a side order of moral outrage. but it's hard to sustain the "outrage" part when you're surrounded by this:

thanks, honey!

lovely husband jeff bought me this beautiful handmade moonstone & silver pendant as an early birthday present yesterday at the san diego mineral & gem society. the fact that he was 3,000 miles away and at work during the time of purchase was no impediment to LHJ because

HE IS THAT GOOD!

...of course he was very touched when i called to thank him. :)

don't hate me b/c i'm beautiful...

...hate me b/c i'm HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this is me, an hour after my plane landed in san diego (g'head & curse in my general direction...ya know you wanna...and i don't blame you!)

on the way to carlsbad we stopped at ocean beach, a funky little surfer town, where we had lunch & dabbled our toes in the water. this pretty church was several blocks inland

later we stopped at the gorgeous louis kahn-designed salk institute. i like this picture of timmy, leading the way to the fountain and a spectacular view of the sea

...did i mention the WEATHER???!!! well, maybe we should save the weather for next time...

(ok, you can stop the cursing now)

CRoP CIRCLES!

the new caardvarks challenge is up and it's AWESOME! it's called *CROP CIRCLES* and involves using circles prominently on the front of your card. you should SEE the designer ones that were posted!

(no seriously--you should go and see! http://caardvarks.blogspot.com/ )

i have two up, one of which i'm not going to display here, since it's going to be the birthday card of a certain someone later this summer (note: if you're reading this, and your birthday is in august, and you enjoy knitting, DON'T go and see!) (was that subtle, or what?!) :) but here is the other one, plus one i made that didn't get used, and a couple of "bonus" cards, that i had made earlier--not for this challenge--but which work for the theme:

...i-lust...

i soooooooo want this. sigh.

and the fact that it is being released one day before my birthday,

and one month before my verizon contract expires

surely that must be

**A SIGN**

mustn't it??!

let us peruse the pro's and con's.

the con's:

1. it's $600!!!!!
(& i'm a person who, as a point of pride, has NEVER paid for a cellphone. every two years i go to the verizon store and ask, "what's the nicest phone you will give me for free?" if there is a tie-breaker situation, i choose the one for which my current accessories will work.

yes, i am mrs. sensible. always.)
2. i DO NOT need it. i only * just barely* need a cellphone, for that matter.
3. it's a first generation product. (which again, on principle, i never,

ever buy. b/c you KNOW the next ones will be twice as good & half as expensive...)

4. it's $600!!!!!

the pro's:

1. it's very, VERRRRRRRRY cool!

2. it's really quite *magnificently* cool!

3. very nearly supernaturally cool!

4. i soooooooooooooo want one!

sigh.

...ugh...

...is it monday again, already??! didn't we just have one of these, like, a week ago????! howsabout we all agree to start off with...say...a thursday or friday? you know, sort of ease into the week with a friendlier type of day. and then, when we're kinda back in the groove, we can work up to a monday. yeah. that's much better for me.

all in favor?!!!!

...when i grow up, i wanna be heidi swapp!

to tell the truth, i was not so sure i wanted to shell out $10 for a book of JUST heidi, using just heidi products, and NO TEXT?! seriously???!



i stand corrected. this is basically scrapbook porn. every photo is lucious, every concept is liftworthy. generally, my idea books wind up festooned with posties marking the pages i think i will refer back to. this book has NONE of those...b/c frankly, there isn't a page that i don't loooove.

plus it turns out...she don't need no stinkin' text! she don't need nobody else's products! actually, i don't think she needs ANYTHING besides a pen and a few photos. because she's HEIDI!!!

...and i love her!

...have you practiced your blogging today, young lady??

so do you wanna see the card i made for my very first CAARDVARKS challenge?? i thought so! :)

the challenge was called MIX IT UP & you had to use at least 3 patterned papers from different manufacturers. so i made a birthday card for my sister using junkitz, scenic route & sei...with a bam-pop bird...and some handmade paper in there too:

that'd be the ouside...the inside looks a bit like this:

(...ok the inside looks EXACTLY like that, actually!)

you should see all the amazing ones people made!!!

...no seriously, you should GO THERE and see them! click on this link, then scroll down a post or two, and click on "MIX IT GALLERY". it's worth the trip, trust me!

http://caardvarks.blogspot.com

...did they pick the right LAUREN???

ok, so the BIG NEWS is that i was chosen to be on the CAARDVARKS http://caardvarks.blogspot.com/ design team!!!!!!!!! which is the most amazing and thrilling thing imaginable. especially when you consider that i really had NO BUSINESS even sending in my name...since i had only just discovered their awesome card-making challenge site! but i found them a couple of days before the deadline and i just thought, "OOOOOH i would sooooo love this"--never imagining i could be picked!

they selected three of us:

nathalia castellon (http://funkyphreshpapierkreations.blogspot.com/)

beatriz jennings (http://iralamija.blogspot.com/)

and...ummmmmmmm...me???

just WAIT until you see these girls' work--you will be BLOWN AWAY!!!
(eventually i will figure out how to make people's NAMES just be a hotlink, instead of having their link next to their name...but for the moment, please bear with...)

so now i just need a "headshot"...do you think it has to be of the *FRONT* of my head??? ...yeah, probably... YIKES!

...is this thing on?

goooooooooood evening, blogosphere!

honestly, i actually HAD some coherent thoughts when i started the blog-setting-up process...in the late 14th century...but oof...somehow in the few short MILLENNIA it took me to think up a name... well apparently, they have scurried off to bed and left me here on my own.

...but TOMORROW...me & my brain cells...we're a-coming back to rock this particular casbah, and that's for sure!

...goodnight my little geeks & geekettes...

headshot and sos badges