Blue Skies Smiling at Me :)

It's Shutter Love Tuesday, and the theme is

BLUE!
Here are 2 pictures I took while I watched the sunset at Dead Horse Point in Moab, Utah. I thought they would also count for Sweet Shot Tuesday!...

Happy Tuesday!

US Open!

New York City 9.11.10 - 9.13.10

Nights 70 & 71

The US Open Men's Finals weather gods and I have a little tradition that goes something like this:

1. On Saturday morning I take the train to New york City to catch the match on Sunday.

 2. It is absolutely beautiful all day Saturday, and I have a great time exploring the city as usual.

3. I wake up excited as can be on Sunday morning and head to the stadium around 2:00 pm.

 4. It starts pouring.

I am not kidding. I have attended the US Open Men's Finals for the past 3 years, and 

all three years 

it has been postponed to Monday due to rain.

Do you want to know when the last time was that this happened BEFORE three years ago?

1986.

I was three.

I would laugh if it just wasn't so ridiculous.  

And don't worry- I know what you're thinking: 

Stop attending the US Open.

Not happening.

And in my defense, I specifically got us tickets this year thinking, 'there is NO WAY in a million years that it will get rained out again'.

Wrong.

The kicker this year was that after waiting in the rain for 5 1/2 hours for the match to start on Sunday, (just to be told we'd have to come back on Monday),

 it started raining during the rescheduled match on Monday as well.

I mean really.

Anyway, the match was so, so worth the wait, and the entire weekend was an absolute blast. Here are just a few of the pictures that I took while I was there :).

This week the Simplicity Photo Challenge is MOOD, SO I linked up the picture of us waiting for the US Open to resume. We waited in anticipation for the match to continue :)

Rock Star

My oldest brother is a rock star. Well, he's actually a musical theater star, but for me that's as good as it gets. He can literally 

sing his face off. 

He lives in New York City, and every summer he teaches voice to children at a summer arts camp. He chooses the coolest songs for them to sing (think Bad Romance and Unwritten) and helps kids of all ages fall in love with music.
I sat in on a class this summer and literally wished I was a camper- it was SO fun.
He has the rare talent of creating an environment where kids feel safe enough to
sing their hearts out.
And what's better than singing your heart out?
Anyway, the camp was featured on the news in New York!
Here's the clip.
He's the one teaching a group of ten year olds to sing
Journey's Don't Stop Believin'...

How cool is that?!

Cork Wreath Feature!

Guess what?!! Amanda at Craft Gossip has featured my wine cork wreath on her website!

Click here for that post at Craft Gossip!

Amanda- thank you SO MUCH! You made my day! 

Sweet Maryland Escape

Baltimore, Solomons, and Annaplis, MD 9.3.10 - 9.5.10

Nights 68 & 69

For our Labor Day weekend adventure, we played a game called

'How many Maryland cities can we hang out in in one weekend'.

The answer was 3 :).

We watched the Rays beat the Orioles in Baltimore on Friday, attended the beautiful wedding of our friends Karen and Matt in Solomons on Saturday, and spent the day relaxing and boating at my aunt and uncle's house in Annapolis on Sunday. 

The weather was absolutely beautiful the entire weekend, and I have to say:

Maryland ain't too shabby!

B & W Wednesday

horse and carriage ride in Galway, Ireland

The incredible Cliffs of Moher

Cork Wreath Tutorial

Well, it's my third day back to work after an awesome summer vacation, and I'm already exhausted! :)

I have spent the past 72 hours lifting, moving, organizing, creating, gluing, arranging, and rearranging my new classroom (WHICH, by the way, is HUGE and BRIGHT!)

Somewhere between tripping over a cardboard box and burning my finger on a hot glue gun, I thought-

OOH! I gotta write that tutorial I've been promising!

So here it is!

Thank you so much for your comments about how the wreath turned out! 

Here is how I made it...

Supplies: Corks, Straw Wreath, Toothpicks, Hot Glue Gun

1. Collect as many corks as you can find, and by that I mean literally ask for them from everyone you know! You'll need as many as you can get your hands on.

2. Buy a straw wreath (I bought one with a 14 inch diameter from Michaels) and leave the plastic on the wreath. You won't be taking it off.

3. Take a toothpick, put a dab of hot glue on one end of it, and stick it into one end of a cork. Then put a dab of glue on the other end of the toothpick and stick that end into the wreath. Start inside the wreath and go all the way around the circle like my picture shows below.

4. Make sure you put each toothpick in at an angle- *do not stick them straight into the wreath*.

Don't be fooled by the number of corks in this picture. I also had an entire shoebox full off to the side :).

5. After you've finished the first circle layer and your wreath looks like mine above, begin building outwards by making another circle of corks, and another, until you've reached the outer edge of the wreath. Make sure you angle all of the corks in the same direction as best you can. It took me 8 layers of circles to reach the outer side of the wreath.

6. Don't get discouraged if you think it doesn't look quite right as you're making it. Mine didn't really start looking like anything until the 5th layer of corks. So just keep going!!

7. Because then, before you know it, TA-DAAAA! You'll have created your very own masterpiece! 

I chose to use all natural colored corks, with the exception of one with a leopard print to add a little sparkle. But I'm sure it would look great with different colored corks as well!

GREAT luck with your wreaths, and please let me know if you have any questions!

P.S. To see my original post about my wreath, just click on the DIY label under this post!

Happily linking up to: