Me in March - 2017

I've been spending a lot of time in my scrap room recently between my 365 pictures and getting ready for the A to Z Challenge next month and I really like listening to music while I work.  I have over 2000 songs on my iTunes playlists and a lot of times I just turn that on and let it randomly search around.  I can go from Elvis to Dean Martin, Lady Antebellum to AC/DC and all in between.  Sometimes I like to listen to things I might not necessarily have.  That's where my TV and our cable system come in.  Here is a selection of what is available to me:

There are no pictures that show on the screen, just the title of the current song and the artist.  That's okay though because I am working so I really don't need to see anything.  There are also no commercials or disc jockeys so no annoying chatter which is why I don't like listening to the radio.

My current favorite is Malt Shop Oldies:

I love those 50's songs!  American Graffiti was one of my favorite movies.  I wish I lived back in those times!  

Anyway, that's what's up with Me in March!  How about you?  Have a favorite time period of music?  Ever use the TV as a radio?

Me in March - 2017

I see that I haven't posted my 365 pictures here in a while.  In fact, I've only put the first three pictures in for March.  Some of them have been included in posts along the way, but here, for the record, are pictures 63 to 80:

#63 - This is a mini album I am making from a class I took at the recent Scrapbook Expo I attended.  The album opens up and there are spaces to put pictures and things.  It reminds me of Christmas so I'm going to continue to work on it for a while before I put it up on my Etsy Shop.



#64 - Book #6 in my reading for this year is about Al Jolson.  I got the book to use as a junk journal project but before I tear the book apart I want to read the story.

#65 - This is a collage I made for my planner.  I think the picture of the girl with the camera just fits with my year.

#66 - Speaking of collage, these are pages from magazines and other odds and ends that I am gathering to use in my junk journal.  It will be fun to see how all these bits and pieces come together.

                                                                                                                                                            #67 - There used to be a racetrack near where I live and this is a painting in a little courtyard in our town to commemorate that.  During the war the racetrack was used as an internment center for Japanese.  Lots of history there.

#68 - We took a bus trip to a local casino with the group of "Grown Ups" from our local church.  I took a picture of the first jackpot I won, just in case I didn't win another.  This one was for $16.33.  I did win some more, but not enough to quit my day job.

#69 - The next day was my birthday and I got these flowers and gifts.  

#70 - I talked about the junk journal (Picture #66 above) and this is how some of the pages are starting to come together.  Definitely not finished but I like it so far.

#71 - We went to see Michael Carbonaro at a new-to-us venue in San Francisco.  It was a great night.  He does some pretty good tricks and we found a new place to go!

#72 - It was also the full moon.  I got a picture of the moon over San Francisco but it wasn't the best so I took this one too. 

#73 - I've been trying to lose some weight and when I put my boots on I realized that I must have lost some weight in my calves.  These boots weren't always tight but they certainly hugged my leg a lot more than this!

#74 - I am working on my scrapbook album and I finally found a spot to use some of these peacock mats.  I love the colors!

#75 - I took a day and went to visit my daughter at college.  We had a great girls day!

#76 - Then I got the taxes done.  Not such a good day, but at least it's done for the year.

 #77 - One of the things we did on girl's day was go to Barnes and Noble, our favorite book store.  I got these with a gift card I got from my son for my birthday.  Another Sherlock Holmes book!

#78 - Eyewitness to America is book #8 in my challenge.  I read "The Little Prince" as #7 but it was a short one so it went fast. 

#79 - First day of spring.  My garden does not grow because I don't do yard work but I like this picture!

#80 - A new kind of tea I'm trying.  Funny name.  It does not look like Fruity Pebbles to me, but it tastes good.

Okay, all caught up for now.  We have about a week and a half left of this month and then the A to Z Challenge starts! Probably going to use a picture from my posts there as my picture of the day.  May as well kill two birds with one stone (what a terrible saying)!  How about you?  Have you tried Fruity Pebbles tea?  Ever seen a magician?  Read any good books?  Love to hear what you think!

Me in March - 2017 A to Z Theme Reveal

For those of us participating in this year's A to Z challenge, today is the day we reveal our theme, if we have one.  Personally, I found it much easier last year to keep up by having a theme.  Mine was "Music."  A month after the challenge I wrote a reflection post that captured all of my letters for the month.  It was a lot of fun and I learned so many new things and "met" a lot of other nice bloggers.

This year I wanted to write about one of my other passions, scrapbooking.  I was trying to come up with something that might interest people even if they weren't into scrapbooking because honestly, if you are not into that form of art, it can get boring (ask my husband 😂😂).  Then it came to me.  I decided to share the scrapbook album I am making documenting all the concerts we go to.  This is the outside of the first album.   

It is getting quite full already and I am only up to the year 2009!  I already have another album ready to start, but this still has room for a few more shows.  I'm hoping to at least get 2009 finished in this one so I can start the new one on a fresh year.  I'm kinda fussy about stuff like that.

This is the first page.  I love the symbol of the cleft and the way the colors surround it.  I got that picture from Google a long time ago and used it as the background on my phone for a while as well.  I think of this page as a curtain going up at a concert.  That's one of the most exciting parts of a show to me, when the performers first come out.  We've seen quite a few spectacular openings.  

I already have my alphabet set up and there are a few groups and pages that won't make the final cut, so I'll use some of them here in my reveal.  The album begins with the first concert we went to, even before my husband and I were married.  In fact, we had only been dating a few months.  With the exception of Iron Maiden (I'm not a metal fan), we've seen the other bands several times since then.

In 1983 we saw Stevie Nicks and a few years later the kids started coming so we didn't get a chance to go to concerts much.  In fact, it was 20 years later, in 2003, when we saw Fleetwood Mac.  Again a lull and the next concert was in 2006.  We only went because I won tickets from a radio station.  It was quite exciting.  The bands were Huey Lewis and the News and Chicago.  Huey rocked the house but we actually left before the end of Chicago because they just didn't sound the same to us.  My picture taking skills were in desperate need of refining and I had a camera that did not have a very good zoom but we had a great time and the pictures that I did get and the journaling I add helps us remember it.  

Going to that concert, though, got me addicted and since then we have gone to a minimum of 4 concerts a year.  Last year we attended 10!  You can see I really have my work cut out for me if I am only up to 2009 in the album!  

We've explored several different venues and the first time we went to the Mountain Winery was in 2007.  I didn't bring my camera for some reason but I pulled some images off the net and journaled about it so that worked.

When we saw Steely Dan at the Winery there were signs all over saying NO CAMERAS, so even though I brought mine, I didn't take any pictures.  Those were in the old days when I hadn't become so much of a rebel.  Again I grabbed some pictures off the net and managed to make two pages that would capture that night.  Nowadays if someone puts up signs about not taking any pictures, I've learned how to sneak some anyway.  I never use a flash and I am very careful about not taking too many on those occasions.  I'm not looking to sell them, I just want to document our experiences!

In between regular concerts, we've seen some plays like Jersey Boys, Rock of Ages and Rain to name a few.  You can't get good pictures usually at those venues either so I took the playbill and made a page for one of them that way.  The playbill is in a plastic pocket so if you want to see it, you can just pull it out from the top.  

Since I am only up to 2009 in my album and there are many bands that we have seen since then that fall into my A to Z categories, I have to start scrapbooking!  That's another reason why I chose to do my theme this way.  I really want to get those pictures out of the computer and on the pages of the album so we can enjoy them.  The only problem that I can foresee with skipping around in my documenting is that I try to have the pages coordinate.  If I end a page on the left side of the album, I want the page on the right side to match it.  I either have to get over that or come up with a "bridge" page because my first letter involves a concert that we went to last year!  There is no possible way for me to scrapbook eight years of concerts in two weeks!  My "creative process" takes longer than that, plus, I do have a day job!  I've been thinking that maybe if I need a bridge page I can describe the different venues we've seen.

Supplies are not an issue as I have a whole room dedicated to my scrapbooking:

and a whole container full of just music themed embellishments.  

   

So, there is my big theme reveal.  How about you?  Joining us on the A to Z?  Have a theme?  Want to see my concert album come to life?  I hope to see you along the way.  Click on one of the links above to follow me or sign up to get my posts by email so you don't miss any and don't forget to stop by and see some of the other bloggers on the journey.  I have a feeling it's going to be an exciting month!

Me in March - 2017

We branched out a bit last night and went to a new venue.  It was the Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco to see Michael Carbonaro, the magician.  He has a television show that my husband really likes so I thought it would be fun to see him in person.  We had never been to this historic place before and it did not disappoint.

This is the stained glass in the entryway above the bar.  It contains gravel and soil from each of the 58 counties in California.

Inside the auditorium the ceiling lights are like big flowers.

Mr. Carbonaro did not disappoint.  He did some tricks with money and cards and told some great stories. 

One of the most amazing tricks he did was to pull a fishbowl out of an empty bag.  He then signed the fishbowl and if you wanted a souvenir you could make a donation to the charity he was sponsoring.

His finale was quite interesting as well.  He took a can of shaving cream and spread it all over himself and then made himself into different characters, one of which was the devil.  He did this all without looking in a mirror.

When we got out of the show, the full moon was over the city.  I couldn't get as cool of a picture as I wanted, but I did manage to capture this.  

All in all it was a really fun night and I will for sure be looking at this venue in the future to see if there are other shows we can see.  

In addition, I finished the book "The Little Prince."  It was a cute tale and I suspect I'll be reading it again.

Next on the list is "Eyewitness to America" as edited by David Colbert.  It is taken from letters, diary entries and memoirs.  500 years of American history in the words of those who lived it.

The first thing listed as being "Included" on the back jacket is "A Salem 'Witch' Begs For Mercy."  Doesn't that sound interesting?   

I like it because most of the entries are only one or two pages so I can easily finish one before I go to sleep, which is usually when I'm reading.  

How about you?  Like magicians?  Seen Michael Carbonaro live or on TV?  Did you catch that full moon?  Please share!

Me in March - 2017

I said this was a busy month for us and we've done quite a lot so far.

My niece and I went to the Scrapbook Expo and took a class to make this mini-album.  I still need to do some more embellishments but I think it's looking quite good so far.

We went on a bus trip to a local casino.  It was with the church group called the Grown Ups.  I guess I qualify as one of those now.  Since we were not driving, we had some mimosas to pass the time.  I did win a few dollars.  This picture is slightly deceiving but if you look closely in the bottom right next to the 1 you can see it was for $16.33.  It was the first jackpot I won and I took the picture just in case I didn't win another one.

The next day was my birthday and I got some really nice gifts from my husband and kids.  I also got so many nice wishes on Facebook!  I didn't know I had that many friends!  I feel loved.

I wrote earlier about making a junk journal and this is the beginning of that.  This batch is sewn together and I am going to add it to the book I got.  I really like the way it is coming along.  The cover has an opening to make a pocket so I can slip things inside. 

And if that's not enough, I finished the book about Al Jolson.  It was very interesting.  I did not know he died in a hotel room in San Francisco!  My next book is The Little Prince.  I've heard about this book before but have never read it.  

So, that's the first 10 days of March!  Tomorrow we are going to see Michael Carbonaro.  I'll let you know how that goes.

How about you?  Busy in March?  Read the Little Prince?  Love mimosas?  Love to hear about it!