A 30th Birthday!

Hello stampin' friends. Most of you know that I have a daughter living in Germany. She celebrated her 30th birthday this past week and I thought I'd share a few things with you. (I was unable to be with her for this special birthday this year - boo hoo). First off - THANK YOU to the dozens of you who responded to my RAK request to send her a card (or two or thirty!!) At last count she had received 40 cards!!! (My goal was at least 30 - I told her to save 10 of them for the big 4-0 *tee hee*)

Here's some background - Amber asked me to make the invitations to her party being thrown by a co-worker. I had to make them fairly quickly so I kept them simple but had to make them in her favorite color, purple! (see pics of the outside and inside - she nearly killed me when I used a picture of her at age 3 on the inside) but then - check out the cake! Wow - did you ever have one of your cards made into a cake??? It's hard as a mom to not be able to celebrate something as special as this with one of your kids but I'm glad I got to be there in other ways :-) All in all she had a great birthday and I was able to Skype with her on her actual birthday to watch her open her presents - so it was better than nothing!

Here's to you Amber - I love you!!

To Warm a Mother's Heart

Ok all you crafting women - you will LOVE this - the picture here is of my Mother's Day gift and how it was packaged by my 20 year old son, Kevin! Now is that just TOO COOL or what?!?!?

Kevin ventured into my stamp room (originally he thought he would MAKE me a card but was so totally overwhelmed that he gave up LOL) and got some tissue paper to wrap my gift. Well this is what he came up with - he told me that he thought (after he cut off the extra from the top) that it almost looked like a flower - so he grabbed one of my markers and started dabbing on color - reds and pink then some lower green for the bottom. SO I got my very own, beautifully custom packaged mother's day gift - talk about tugging on a mom's heart strings - the even better part was that he had gone (on his own) and bought me a charm for my Pandora bracelet - he got me the "Forget me Knot" charm (looks like a sailor's knot) so how's that for bringing him up right??? LOL

I had a wonderful mother's day - beautiful flowers from Amber in Germany, lunch brought in by Deanna and her fiancé, Justin (and a wedding cake Pandora charm to boot Woo Hoo!), my son's fab gift AND time to enjoy the kids and play some games as a family after lunch. Can't ask for a better day. I am truly blessed with wonderful children and husband who all made my Mother's Day a day to remember!

Germany and Amsterdam

Where does one begin to share a 10 day travel experiences in one simple post? I've tried to posting a small sampling of photos to share a bit of my experience here in Germany so here goes:

A mere 15 hours after arriving in Germany, my daughter and I got on a bus and took a USO trip up to Amsterdam. We met up with Hanne, a fellow stamper who lives in the Netherlands. She was our tour guide for the day. I met Hanne through the Papertrey Forums - isn't it amazing how our stampin hobby can lead to making of new friends around the world???

This next photo is of me on the Eiserner Steg (Bridge) along the River Main in downtown Frankfurt and you can see the Frankfurt skyline in the background. Frankfurt is nicknamed Mainhatten because it has the most prestigious skyline in all of Germany. I did not get the opportunity on this trip to go up to the viewing platform on the Main tower. Next time maybe.

Next you'll see Burg (Castle) Frankenstein in the town of Darmstadt. It was a fascinating small old castle. There was a lovely outdoor dining deck where we were able to enjoy lunch in the 60º sunshine!! (NO coat in that kind of weather).

In downtown Frankfurt there is a typical German square called Römer Square. It is home to a large Christmas market each November/December and is a place for people to gather, eat, shop and explore. I snagged another tourist to snap my picture here. Again, this day was sunny, warm and breezy. Perfect day for exploring.




The NEXT photo is of my daughter with her brand new car! Wow was she excited to pick this beauty up. We had a lot of fun driving on the Autobahn (and yes, they do drive 90 miles per hour pretty routinely.) One rule of German driving is you may never pass a car on the right so you learn to pass left then move right so the really crazy autobahn drivers (who are going well over 100 MPH) can zoom past you.


The final two pics were taken during our trip to Bingen am Rhine (on the Rhine River). Here we met up with a friend of a friend, (Silke and her two boys, Pascal and Dominik). They graciously showed us around Bingen and then we took a ferry across the Rhine - note the castle on the hillside. This is apparently very common along the Rhine. The street photo is of a little street called Drosselgasse in the town of Rüdesheim. We took a gondola ride up to the top of the mountain here where we could see for miles and miles. The hillsides are covered with vineyards. It was a beautiful day and our new friends were just delightful. I spent much of the day conversing with Pascal who is 12. He is learning English and I am learning German (although his English is better than my German!).

We drove home in Amber's new car and collapsed for the night. These last two days will be spent getting my girl settled in. We must buy curtains, rugs, and small things to make her apartment better. It is the first time we have had time to go to the base to get the things she will need.

Then, Monday afternoon I'll be back home in Chicago - the change in temperature from 60s here to 30s in Chicago will be a shock to my system.

Thanks for taking time to stop by. I'm looking forward to stampin again when I return home.

We have a WINNER!

My very talented daughter, Deanna, recently submitted a logo idea for a contest by the Color Marketing Group. They needed a logo for their fall international conference to be held in New Orleans. Although Dee is not a graphic designer per se, (she is actually an Industrial Designer for a medical company), her logo was selected as the winner! Congratulations Dee. We're all so proud of you. I am especially thankful that you pursued your interest in art and design even though it prolonged your college years - it was SO worth it.

Wishes for my daughter

This is my first non-card blog topic. My oldest daughter left for Germany last night. She will be gone a minimum of two years. SO... I am a wee bit sad. Even though she has been living in Washington DC for the past 2 years I always knew she was a quick plane ride away and I often made 4 day weekend jaunts to visit her. It will be a little harder now to have those visits. Also - the time difference and her lack of email ability at work will make our regular communication more of a challenge. I am going to go visit her at the end of March so that will be exciting. Thank goodness for Skype and iChat!!

I miss her already and am praying that her trip was uneventful (she was also traveling with her two cats!) and smooth. I won't hear from her for a couple of days until she's settled so I'll spend some time this weekend and make her a "welcome to your new home" card.

Watching our "babies" spread their wings and fly is such an amazing emotion. It's exhilarating, heartwarming yet a little bittersweet too. So - this post is for you my beautiful and precious daughter. May you find abundant blessings in your new home. May you make new friends quickly and easily and may you embark on grand and wondrous adventures. Ich liebe dich!

9:00 am Edited to add: Just heard from my girl via video chat - she arrived fine and managed to get cats and all to the hotel. Whew - she is safe and sound and I'm sure a little scared on her end but ready for a new chapter in her life. Hugs and kisses sweet daughter of mine. XOXOXO