Build-A-Flower

Today started off just hideously! Somehow yesterday I manged to set my wristwatch alarm for 4:15 a.m. and the stupid thing went off in the middle of the night! Adding insult to injury, every time I thought I turned it off apparently I only activated the snooze function, because 10 minutes later it went off again, and then again 10 minutes after that, each time just as I was falling asleep! I finally got up and put the watch in another room where I wouldn't be able to hear it. GRRRR.

Fortunately things did get better after that! This morning I picked up Eileen from the airport and before we even came home we stopped at a local Greek store to pick up some home-made Greek yogurt, fresh-baked Greek bread (it was still piping hot!) and Greek honey with mixed nuts! Then we went home to meet up with Bill where we added some freshly ground Mackinaw Island Fudge coffee and chocolate covered strawberries and had ourselves a super little feast for breakfast! Yum!

After breakfast we sat around a bit while I told Eileen all about stamping and what's been happening in the year since I last saw her. And she is such a good friend that not only did she listen patiently while I rambled on and looked at all of the stuff i showed her, but she actually asked me more questions after I offered to stop talking! WOW!

It was a simply gorgeous fall day, so we decided to spend the afternoon at the Morton Arboretum. We had a blast! We walked through the hedge maze and the children's garden, watched a drum concert (I think the drummers were Chinese and the whole thing was as much of a dance as it as a concert -- really fun to listen to and watch!) and participated in an Autumn Equinox walk. Eileen even got to play the part of the North star in the part of the walk where the arboretum docent explained what the equinox was all about. She had to wear the sillies head gear and sunglasses -- if only I hadn't left the camera at home!

In the evening we went to Tree Guys Pizza (continuing with the arboretum theme!) and had an awesome Chicago-Style deep dish pie for dinner! MMMMM. . . it was delish!

After dinner I drove Eileen to her hotel downtown so that she can get some rest before her meeting starts tomorrow (unlike me, she actually woke up at 3:30 a.m. central time in order to catch her early morning flight to Chicago). As usual, the visit was too short, but it was so great to see her. Of course, we are now way overdue for a visit to NYC, so maybe you'll be hearing about that in the coming months!

Because Eileen was in town I did not spend a lot of time in the stamp room, but since I wanted to show you something new tonight I actually took out my Build-a-Flower Accents and Elements tin and put together these two cards. Neither of them are particularly difficult and obviously the only thing stamped on each card is the sentiment, but I have to admit that nothing beats these fun adhesive die cards for making a super fast and cute cards.

In fact, I liked making these cards so much that I decided to offer a stamps by mail class that will incorporate this accents and elements tin. Watch this blog in the next few days for more details!