Sunday Rewind: Squeeze

Now, y’all didn’t think I’d let Sunday go by without a little 80’s, did you? 

Today (or tonight, since it’s 11 o’clock) it’s one of the great post-punk English bands, Squeeze.  They’re still around, but Squeeze will always be the 80’s to me.  I was the only one of my friends to have any of their albums back in the day (unless I had any closeted Squeeze fan friends), but I was used to being out on a limb with bands I liked back in the day.  You know the song “Tempted,” and you’ve heard “893-5937” (which is oddly one number off from my home phone number, weird) but I thought I’d share a couple of my favorite Squeeze tunes.  Here are “Black Coffee in Bed” and “Annie Get Your Gun.”  Okay, and because it’s one of the best songs in the history of ever and was produced by the fab Elvis Costello, “Tempted.”  It’s still on my list of best songs of all time.  And I could so be a back-up singer in that video.  Oh, and here’s  a little useless Kerry Fact: singer Glenn Tilbrook is one of the only blonds I’ve ever crushed on.  Ever.  Come on, total cutie. 



buzz buzz

Dude, it's been a busy week for the queen bee.  We got back from Atlanta Sunday evening and I started working to finish the ScrapFest! website for the re-launch.  I had Andrew's speech evaluation Monday (which I had totally forgotten about until Sunday night), Mother's Day gifts to buy, gifts to mail, and the re-launch this week.  The website takes up a ton of my time at two points during the months leading up to the event — right now being one of them, getting the whole damn thing changed, colors, background, fonts, dates, the PayPal store, and all the Photoshop that goes with that.  All of the elements were created in Photoshop I learned a few new tricks for making things like the torn notepaper and the new scalloped menu buttons.  I'm pleased.  Last weekend at ScrapEtc. we took a class from the fabulous Jessica Sprague and I got the chance to ask her some Photoshop questions, which for a self-taught girl like myself, that was a great experience.  I so wish when I had started working with da Shop I knew about Jessica's online classes.  She has lovely classes that teach digital/hybrid scrapbooking using Photoshop Elements and they are fantastic.  If you're interested in learning from one of the masters, visit her site, you'll be glad you did. 

And so, we're off to Houston for the weekend for some time with the hubs.  We'll be heading to Kemah tomorrow for Boardwalk fun with the munchkins and good food.  Scott said he wants to go to Joe's Crab Shack, but I'm thinking the kids would love The Aquarium.  I would much rather go to Caddilac for Mexican food because I'm trying to stretch Cinco de Mayo to include the entire month. 

Here's a sneek peek at the new ScrapFest! site.  Y'all have a fab weekend and a wonderful Mother's Day. 

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excuse me?

Leaving my subdivision today, I noticed a new sign. On Tuesday there were dudes putting up the new signs, but I didn’t get a good look until today. It reads “begin speed limit 25.”. This confused me since the two signs before it said “speed limit 25” — WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?! I can’t begin to go 25 if I was already going 25. I suppose it shoud say “continue”. I’m going to put up my own signs. excuse me?

the awesomeness that is Sky Mall

Y'all know I love some shopping. 

So, what's a girl today when she's on a plane for a while and forgets her newly purchased magazines, the book she's reading, and anything else she thought she packed to keep her entertained?   Why the Sky Mall catalog, of course!

Are you familiar with Sky Mall?  Sky Mall brings you products you never knew existed, much less need.  At all.  At any time.  I love the Sky Mall catalog.  Where else can you shop for pet products, Lord of the Rings jewelry, hammocks, wine chillers, and bizarre spa items?  Bizarre is putting it nicely.  

I never got into the finger-less gloves.  I'm not sure if that's surprising or not.  I've seen  them in various stores and catalogs and on celebrities that really should know better.  What I  haven't seen are toe-less sock-type things.  Foot gloves?  No idea.  Let's take a look.  

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The description says they are for hammertoes.  I don't know what those are.  Melissa sat next to me on the plane and gave me the impression said toes are not desirable, but this toe-less sock thing looks uncomfortable.   I like that the toes are nicely painted.  What attention to detail the photography director for Sky Mall must have.  "No, don't use the model with the ugly hammertoes — get some pedicured tootsies for the Happy Feet toe-less socks!"   

For some reason the Sky Mall people think those of us who travel by plane are quite the afflicted group.  That's the only logic behind all the bizarre health-related products for sale.  For instance, here's the home acupuncture thingamajig.  

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I don't know about you, but I'm an American medicine kind of girl.  I'm not hanging around the acupuncturist's office/batcave.  Call me crazy, but I'm just a little iffy on the whole needles in my skin thing unless I'm getting a shot by a nurse in scrubs who knows my name in a doctor's office with a diploma hanging on the wall from a university in this country.  And I don't mean a correspondence school either.   For realz.

Sky Mall even has something for the hypochondriac in your life.  Or maybe that's you.  I'm just saying.  There's no judging on The Kerry Blog — just love and stuff.  And a maybe a little judging.  So, who cares if you think you have every disease known to man?  Sky Mall cares.  They want you to order this:

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Note the tag line: A Guide to Self-Diagnosis for Hypochondriacs.  And all this time I thought that was called WebMD.  I would buy this for a couple of people I know, but I wouldn't want to encourage the crazy. 

Speaking of crazy.  

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I'm all about comfort, but damn.  When I was pregnant with Katie I had an extremely hard time getting comfortable at night and found a maternity pillow shaped like candy cane that allowed me to get some sleep.  I loved that pillow.  After Katie was born the pillow and I parted ways.  There is nothing wrong with having a comfy pillow, even if it's shaped like a U.  But sleeping with the long stem rose is just plain weird.  And rose petals stain. 

When it comes to sleeping, people have all kinds of weird quirks, don't they?  I have to have complete darkness, my sound machine, 4 pillows, the ceiling fan on, and my bedroom has to be nice and cool — I'd have the thermostat at 60 if the hubs didn't freeze to death.  So, yeah, I'm kind of high maintenance in the sleep department, but not on planes.  I've never been able to sleep on planes.  But I never had this either:

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Seriously?  It's an inflatable pillow for your face.  Mr.  Mustache here needs his beauty rest, so he brings his teal velour  pillow onboard, spends an hour blowing it up and annoying the people next to him, then has a nice restful nap, just in time for the announcement to put your tray tables in their upright position and wake the hell up.  

Don't tell me the pillow is a good idea or it's practical or convienent, because I'm not buying it.  In fact, I'm not buying any of these either:

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Why so many solutions for the common litter box?  Is there some kind of litter box crisis going on in America that I'm not privy to since our cat ran away?  Are cat owners rebeling?  Do today's cats have needs beyond Tidy Cat Crystals and a scooper?  Damn right they do.  Cats today need a concealed litter box or one that looks like the space ship from Mork & Mindy.  

But maybe you're not a cat owner and you're on a plane shopping for something unique.  Maybe you've been thinking about taking the pink flamingos out of the front yard and tossing the garden gnomes in favor of something more edgy.  You could go with either of these bad boys:

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You couldn't go wrong with either monster.  Personally, I would purchase both and put the zombie coming out of the ground to the side of Bigfoot as if Bigfoot isn't watching where he's going and is going to step on him.  I have a couple of friends with birthdays coming up and I think these would be just perfect.  They would also make a great housewarming gift.  If you order these for a housewarming, have it delivered to your house, then under the cover of night go set them up on your friends' lawn so they can be surprised in the morning.  Nothing says "welcome to the neighborhood" like a couple of monsters on the lawn. 

Depending on how you look at it, this is either the best or the worst of the Sky Mall catalog.  It's one of those "is the glass half empty or half full" things.  

Georgia on my mind

When I heard Scrap Etc.'s event was going to be held in Atlanta, I knew I wanted to go.  Atlanta is one of my favorite places.  The hubs and I lived north of Atlanta when we were newlyweds back in 1997-98 in Gwinnett County.  It was a great place to live and we had heaps of fun each weekend exploring the area. 

This weekend some of my favorite peeps and I will be exploring the Crowne Plaza Resort for Scrap Etc.'s "Wishful Thinking: the art of creating memories."  I couldn't  be more excited to be spending the weekend with my girlfriends (even the fabulous Lisa is meeting us all the way from Connecticut) and we will see lots of scrapbooking friends we've made over the years.  This event is much different from ScrapFest! in the way that we will be in classes from 9am 'til 5:30 each day with cropping at night.  Most of us are used to the open-crop sort of retreats, so we're hoping to learn fun new techniques from some of the best in the industry. 

We're also hoping to get some good shopping in on this trip as well.  Can I tell you how much I love Phipps Plaza and Lennox Square?  Bloomingdale's, Nieman Marcus, Kate Spade, Louis Vuitton, Crate & Barrel (my favorite), Burberry, Nordstrom, Vera Bradley, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Tiffany & Co.  Y'all.  Oh, and Teavana — it's like tea heaven.  Love that.  And Perimeter Mall is close to our hotel, where there is a Nordstrom, so I may have to get the Mrs. Robinson dress.  And we can get an Orange Julius too.  Is there anything better than a scrapbooking weekend, fab shopping, and an Orange Julius?  Okay, dinner at The Melting Pot.  I'm pretty sure we're going for some fondue.  It's going to be a good weekend. 

Check out Scrap Etc.'s site to see the instructors and their blogs for some creative inspiration.

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