Saturday, October 11, 2008

Playing Around with My New Graphics Software

Happiest Place on Earth...?

Has it been two years already? From the minute our Disneyland trip ended in January 2007, my daughter has continually asked us "when are we going back?" After two years of tense interrogation, we've finally decided to go again.

The Fioresi clan will be loading up their trusty Dodge Magnum to make the 350-mile trek to Disneyland in January. I was stashing funds away to take a trip Italy however, with the strange turns and twists taking place with the US dollar, dear hubby and I have decided that rather than saving for our dream vacation, we would give our daughter her dream vacation - besides dear hubby turns into a kid the minute he enters the gate to the Magic Kingdom.

So I'll don my Mickey ears and put on a brave smile and wind my way through the tens of thousands of folks making the same journey all to see the pleasure on their sweet child's face.

Friday, October 10, 2008

My six month old kitten "Ollie"


He's going in this morning to get neutered. Wish him luck!

......And We Have Lift Off to New Kitchen Remodel!

My "wunnerful" husband and I had a long talk last night and we've FINALLY decided after three years of living in our "NEW" home, we are gonna do a full remodel of our kitchen! I am so excited to undertake this venture - - and a little scared.

Our kitchen was probably remodeled in the late 70's/early 80's and it's very dingy and tired. In addition to that, our linoleum floor is peeling away from the floor, our counter tile with dingy grout drives me nuts and our oven door is being held closed with a bungee cord! Yes, a bungee cord!

See WHY this needs to happen sooner than later. Note the gawd-awful tile, the peeling linoleum and our hokey oven!

A complete remodel means no use of the kitchen for an inordinate amount of time coupled with an extraordinary amount of dust!

Hubby and I both have two must haves: I want a slate kitchen tile floor:


and he must have an "apron style" sink(see below):

This picture is a close representation of the elements I'd like for my kitchen including the drop-lights, stainless steel appliances and wooden pillar.

There are going to be so many decisions to make! I know for certain that we will have granite countertops as my husband is in the monument industry. He deals with granite suppliers (our eldest child being a granite supplier himself) on a daily basis. The only thing I have to decide is the color scheme. Do you know how many colors/patterns of granite there are??

As most of our home is in beige/sage/cream colors, I will have to veer away from my choice of a black and white kitchen; I think it would be too much contrast. I favor melamine cabinetry over wood but yet again, I think that would conflict with the rest of the house.

During our last kitchen remodel at our previous home, we had 24 cabinets/drawers and two pantries. It was a kitchen straight out of a home decorating magazine! Due to a substantially smaller kitchen in the new house, we are going to have to remove two walls to open up the kitchen.

I will post pictures of our work in progress. Wish us luck!

Sunday, October 5, 2008

I finally finished my banner


In addition to selling my items on eBay and Etsy, come fall, I will also be selling my items on Lollishops.

After about three weeks of design, I FINALLY finished my banner for Lollishops (see the banner above).  I know that the design does NOT warrant three weeks of time but I am NOT a graphic designer.  There are several designers out there but the only way to guarantee that my banner wouldn't look like anyone else's, was to design it myself.  It's nothing special but after ten different layouts, I hope it's one that I can live with at least for awhile.

Hope everyone has had a pleasant weekend!!