Today was a travel day for me. I’m in Ontario for the week.

I don’t eat a lot on travel days until AFTER I’ve arrived at my final destination. And I admit, most of those times, dinner involves a drive through. It just does. It’s a habit I need to break … and it’s on “the list”.

I ran through McD’s on my drive to the town I’m staying in this week. As I’m perusing the menu, and I assure it’s quite a bit smaller than it is in the US, I came across something that couldn’t possibly be right. I had to order it. Evil. That’s all I have to say about it. Thankfully it appears to only be a Canadian thing (at least, when I looked at the US McDonalds menu it didn’t appear on it).

For those interested, WWP+ = 8. Yeah, you heard me right. E.V.I.L.

Here are a couple of pictures to share.

Yesterday I took a bit of a drive (ok, ok … I went to Starbucks … what are you gonna do??), and saw this and just had to turn around and take a picture. When I first saw it there were two geese standing on top of it, but when I got back the geese had flown away!

And from today, when I drove over to St. Louis to pick Jill up, I looked down and saw this:

I actually saw 75 degrees at one point, but couldn’t get a picture of it! It’s February people! When I got here 10 days ago there was 18 inches of snow on the ground! It’s completely gone! Crazy-ass weather here in Missouri!

Yes, truly crying over spilled milk.

When I was in Iowa I got a call about halfway through my trip from Mom stating that the inside of my car smelled horrid. I had left my car at their house while I was gone and they had moved it.

Thinking back, I realized that when I was home after Christmas and picked up some groceries, the milk gallon was tipped over when I got home. I didn’t realize it, but some milk must have leaked out, and thankfully it couldn’t have been a lot – but even so, it was more than enough.

My Dad, bless his kind soul, scrubbed out the back floorboards of my car – it had started to mold and mildew. Awesome. He used hot water and oxy clean and then wet-vac’ed up what he could. Then he added a really great vanilla pine tree to the mix. While I’m sure that all his hard work made the situation much better than it was, it was still not good.

When I picked my car up from their house on Saturday, you can imagine the awesome smell that greeted me! I honestly think the vanilla tree made the whole thing worse. I tossed that thing quickly. And the worst part of the whole thing is that after you sat in the car for a couple of minutes you actually couldn’t smell it anymore – which makes me think that I must smell like sour milk when I step out of it!!!

Anyway, so yesterday I took my car to a Detail Shop. He shampoo’ed the entire back seat floorboards. He also put an enzyme odor killer on it. At this point, the smell doesn’t hit you over the head when you open the door, but it’s definitely still there. After I got back from the shop I took Clorox wipes down and wiped every hard surface and leather surface in my car down. Also cleaned all the glass. My car is C.L.E.A.N. on the inside – and it would smell clean too if it weren’t for the sour milk smell.

Tonight I purchased two packages of Fridge/Freezer Baking Soda and put those in the back seat floorboards, and also bought a Renuzit Odor Killer thing. At this point, there isn’t much more that I can do – other than wait the smell out I guess, or trade the damn thing in on a new clean car (don’t think the thought didn’t cross my mind LOL). In the meantime, I’m literally crying over spilled milk and I would highly encourage everyone to make sure they N.E.V.E.R. spill milk in any form in your car and leave it.

That’s your PSA for the day! Good evening!

So, because I made this big proclaimation in the middle of a road-trip to Blog more, I find that I don’t have a lot of crafty things to Blog about! I’ll be home on this Saturday though, and will stock up on said crafty items to post while I’m out of town!

That being said, I decided to share some of my favorite crafty links instead today!

For those that don’t know, not only do I make cards and scrapbook (in theory anyway), I also like to cross stitch (again, in theory!!). I’ve actually decided that more than anything I’m a collector of the aforementioned crafts and their supplies. Moving in September was a real eye-opener to my addiction spending habits.

As I packed to move I made several trips to the Goodwill. I think there are about 5 Goodwills throughout the state of Washington that were benefactors of my moving. The hardest part of the purging process for me was my craft supplies. You just never know when you might want to use something!

The last part of the organizing in my new apartment that needs to be done is the 2nd Bedroom – which is strictly a craft room. I’ve started boxes – stuff that I for sure want to keep but don’t need instant access to, those will go into the storage that I’m renting on a monthly basis thank-you-very-much! Then I’ve started a box of “stuff” that I just don’t need at all, and likely never did, and that stuff will go to Goodwill. Then there’s the other box – in that box is the stuff I hate to get rid of, but I know that I’ll never use it. But that’s also the box that has the stuff in it that I’ve spend the most money on. *sigh* I’m going to need to make a decision on that stuff … some of it I might throw up in the Garage Sale section (mostly wood mounted stamps and that type of stuff), and some of it I might do a Blog Giveaway on or something. I’m not sure yet! Stay tuned on that!

All that being said, here are my favorite craft sights, stores and Blogs!

Little House Needleworks – LHN is by far my favorite cross stitch designer out there! I love just about everything they do! In 2010 she did a monthly Ornament – and she’s doing it again this year! Guess who collected them all last year? And who will collect them again this year! It’s a sad, sad addiction!

Needlecraft Corner – Most of the cross stitch stuff I get, I order online! This is my favorite shop! She is quick and efficient. And she sends the previously mentioned Monthly Ornaments to you in a kit! It’s so easy!

Close to my Heart – A big old Duh! I know! It’s ok, you can groan now! But they always have been, and likely always will be my favorite card and scrapbooking supplies!

Fabulously Artsy – Tresa is a CTMH Consultant. She does a some beautiful artwork, and she also does a weekly TV Show online that you can watch either Live or through Archives!

Freedom in Creating – Michelle does the most amazing cards. And she shows you every stop in order to create the effect that she’s going for. She almost always uses a brayer! She offers classes where she travels around. One of these days I’ll make it to one when she’s in Washington.

Fresh & Fun – Beate does some gorgeous cards, I always love looking at her cards.

Confessions of a Ribbon Addict – Jody is another that does really great cards!

And finally, this is one of my new favorite Blogs – Crafty Storage – There are always great storage and organizational tips and tricks for crafters on this Blog! I highly recommend you follow this one!

And as an added bonus, some of my other favorite Blogs that aren’t really craft related:

If you are a Kindle owner, or any other e-Reader really, you really should be reading Books on the Knob. She lists free books almost daily. And while it’s geared primiarly for the Kindle, she has started collecting for all e-Reader formats! It’s a great site!

Another great e-Reader site, and I think she does primarily cater to Kindle readers, is Pixel of Ink. She does free books as well, and a lot are duplicates of the previous site, however she also does a ton of Bargain type priced books as well. While you’ll find a lot of duplication between these two sites, it’s nice to keep an eye on both them!

And then of course there’s always Post Secret. I always look forward to Saturday night for the new Sunday secrets to be posted. Some are silly, some are serious, some make you cry, but a lot of times you walk away realizing that there are a lot of people who share a lot of the same secrets that you yourself hold!

The Catalog Living blog is hilarious to follow! They post all kind of funny catalog pictures with their own little running commentary!

And my biggest guilty pleasure when it comes to Blog reading … People of Wal Mart. I know, don’t judge!

Alright, that’s all I got for today I think! In the next couple of days I’ll post about my favorite Health related links!

My friend Melissa sent an email today with this Meme, and I figured I’d do it, but Blog it instead! See – living up to my posting more “promise”.

Three names I go by: Tracy, Tracylynn, Trace

Three places I have lived: Covington, Ellensburg, Richland (all in Washington)

Three places I have worked: L & R Burger Stop (Quincy), DSHS (Ellensburg), CWU Dining Services (Ellensburg)

Three places I have been: Grand Cayman, Italy, Spain

Three people who email me regularly: Melissa, Jill, Mom

Three things I love to eat: Mac & Cheese, French Fries, Cheese

Three things I am looking foward to: Being home each month, Spring (warmer weather!!!), Moving out of the apartment and into a Condo!

Friday, our last full day in San Fran, we decided to walk down to Ghirardelli Square which is only a block from where we are staying, and then buy an all-day Muni pass andd go see some of the sights that we hadn’t seen yet.

They had another beautiful tree put up – they are all over this city!!

We then grabbed a bite to eat and walked over to the Cable Carn Turn Around (one block away) and grabbed our Muni Pass. You can ride the cable car for $5 one way, or buy an all day Muni for $11 which allows you to ride all of the transportation systems for the day that you buy them. It’s pretty cool really.

We got off the Cable Car just a few blocks up Hyde (a few very steep blocks though) at Lombard street.

This is the view of a Cable car coming UP Hyde stree towards Lombard. You can even see Alcatraz in the background!

And here are a couple of pictures of Lombard street – one from the top, and the other from the bottom (we walked down it).

When we were done snapping pics at Lombard we walked a few blocks down to Starbucks … yes … the same ‘Bucks that was closed on us the night before! LOL The Barista there was pretty cute though – she asked us our favorite animal. The gal in front of me told me to say Giraffe – so I did! This is what I got on my Venti Iced Chai!

After that we hopped on the Powell-Mason Cable Car line (we had always rode the Powell-Hyde one to this point and thought we were now going to have ridden BOTH lines that San Fran had – much to our dismay we found out later that there is actually a THIRD cable car line that we didn’t know about until it was too late!! D’oh!!)

We rode all the way to the end of this line and got off at Powell street. Then we walked over and caught the #21 Bus and headed out. We were making our way to Alamo Square and the Painted Ladies.
They look just like all the pictures you ever see of them. It didn’t take us long to get our pictures and head back!

At this point we made our way back to our Hotel and spent the night hanging our, packing and cleaning up. Generally just getting ready to go! I’m sad that our vaca is over – it always goes way too fast!

Yesterday (Thursday) our good friend Kelly came into the city and we were able to visit and hang out with her for the day! Hooray! We realized it had been over 5 years since we’d seen her. Way too long!

Anyway, since the weather was beautiful we decided to head to the Golden Gate Bridge and walk it. It was sooo beautiful. It was a little breazy and frankly if I got too close to the edge I got a little queezy, but it was still good to do. We actually didn’t make it all the way across. We got about 3/4 of the way and had to turn around – Melissa forgot her coat at the hotel and was frozen. So back we went. From start to finish the bridge is 1.7 miles long and we figure we did a total of about 2.8 or so of those miles (there and back). So we were close.

After the Bridge we hung out for a bit and then headed down to In N Out for lunch. Man that place is good!

Then we went our seperate ways – Kel back home and Melissa and I walked down to Pier 33 to catch the Alcatraz Clipper for our night Tour of the famous prison.

This picture was taken on the Ferry on the way out to the Island:

The Welcome Sign – Historical Note – For those that didn’t know (I didn’t) Alcatraz was occupied by American Indians starting in 1969 (6 years after the Prison was closed). They occupied the Island for 19 months before being escorted off by the Military. They were protesting the Governments practive of reclaiming Reservations. That’s why you see the red paint behind the Welcome sign.

The Guard Tower:

The Cell House from down below:

Here’s a Cell – they measured about 5×7 or so:

Someone said this at one point – and it’s all over the Island:

Here’s a picture of downtown from the Island after dark:

Overall, yesterday was a great and very busy day!!! We ended up walking back to our Hotel after the Cruise because we had grand plans at stopping by the Starbucks to get a hot drink (we were quite cold by the end of the night). Much to our chagrin they had just closed. Grrr … there’s gotta be an app for that right?!?!?!!! LOL

We headed to bed early – with over 19,000 steps taken for the day. Needless to say, sleep was most welcome!

Yesterday (Tuesday) was a lay-low type of day. We slept in and then headed over to Alameda/Oakland to take in Needle in a Haystack. It’s the “local” stitching shop up in this neck of the woods and Melissa definitely wanted to stop by. It was a fairly large store – the biggest cross stitching/needle work store I’ve ever been in for sure. I picked up a few things, including the following two charts – but this stop was really Melissa’s weakness.

Today we had big plans. We were first going to head over to the California Academy of Sciences, then head over to the Golden Gate Bridge and walk across it. Imagine are dismay when we woke up to rain/mist. But we headed out anyway. We started with the CAofS – which includes among other things an Aquarium, an actual living Rainforest and Planetarium.

There were a ton of great pictures taken, but here are a few:

When we left there we decided to head to the Bridge, even if it was still crummy weather. We figured if nothing else we should be able to get some pictures taken today. Well, we hadn’t really intended on CROSSING the bridge, as there is a $6 return toll to get back, but somehow the exit was missed and over we went. So we stopped at the viewing point on the other side and took some pictures. The fog was still low, but it made for a cool picture – unfortuatnely we coudn’t see much else!

Tomorrow we’re hanging out with our good friend Kelly!! We can’t wait!

So, since it’s been confirmed that it was in fact ME who purchased Pearls, I’ll go ahead and show the pictures.

This is probably the 5th or 6th time that I’ve been to The Pearl Factory. I found it for the first time when I was traveling for my first job out of college. For those of you who don’t know – you basically get to pick your oyster out of the bucket and then go from there.

The oyster is opened in front of you and you get what you get – you can have it set, or not, but where they hard sell you and make their money is in the settings.

Based on the great Pearl debacle of 2008, I was determined not to go overboard.

As we walked in I told Melissa, ONE pearl – that was it. So, we go through the hoops, and I pick my oyster. (Hint – go for the hairy ones – they are definitely the ugliest, but trust me, it works). Low and behold, when she opens it up there sits a nice blue/black pearl. Holy crud. Melissa can’t believe it. She opened no less than 6 oysters last year in Hawai’i before she got one.

So, I had that set in a pendant (of course, not as an expensive one as the lady would have liked, but still nice none the less).

While she still was holding the pendant hostage she insisted that I pick another oyster for free. I told her no to begin with, but she insisted. I told her fine, but I would NOT be having it set. So, we go through the hoops – I pick my (hairy) oyster and she opens it. Damnit. Are you kidding me? Seriously. Yep. There it is. Another blue/black pearl. This time with a pink/purple luster to it. Damnit. This time I looked at the sterling silver settings and have it set it a simple ring.

All in all, it was a fairly successful trip – and not horrible expensive really. Plus I came out with two new pearls to boot!

Last night (Monday) we took the Cable Car to Union Square and met our friend Brenda for dinner at Lori’s Diner. I coudn’t believe how few people were actually in there to begin with considering how many people were out and about but we had a really nice time visiting with Brenda!

We then walked up the next blockto Union Square and saw the Christmas Tree that was there all lit up!

After that we hopped back on the Cable car and rode it all the way back with drop off service right at our front door. It was pretty sweet! We also rode in the very back this time so got some great views!

Yesterday was a fairly uneventful day. We hung out for the most part but did adventure out as far as the Safeway which is about 4 blocks and 2 long hills away. By the time we got home, weighed down with 2 sacks of groceries and Starbucks it was dark. We pretty much watched TV, stitched and hung out the rest of the evening.

This morning we did get up and get out. Our goal was to go to Boudin’s for Clam Chowder in Sourdough bowls for Lunch. We headed North down Hyde Street from our Condo and our first stop (1 block down) was the Trolley Car stop/start point to check out rates, etc.

From there we got a great view on of the Bridge:

From there we walked down the Hyde Street Pier. You could a great view looking back up Hyde Street! Our Condo is on the corner of the level where the Streetcar is sitting in this picture.

As we left the Pier to find Boudin’s there may or may not have been a stop made at the Pearl Factory where someone may or may not have gotten two, yes I said TWO, black pearls just randomly. Again, like I said, that may or may not have happened. It is not confirmed. I repeat – NOT confirmed.

After we had Boudin’s we decided to walk down to Pier 39. On our way we had a great view of Alcatraz.

On our walk down the Wharf we noticed we were seeing A LOT of people in Football Jersey’s! Imagine our surprise when we figured out that Monday Night Football is in SF tonight – 49ers against the Cardinals!! And we don’t have tickets! Bummer!

But here’s proof that yes indeed, MNF IS in SF this week:

Coors Light is INDEED the best beer (if you like Beer I guess – they didn’t ask me).

And finally, when we got all the way down to Pier 39 we saw the beatufiul Christmas tree that they put up.

Anyway – we’re just taking a breather before we head out to catch the Trolley so we can meet our friend Brenda for dinner tonight!

Well – it’s vacation time again.

I arrived in San Fran today for a week of vacation before Christmas. I’m really looking forward to it. Besides the fact that I only have to work 6.5 more days between now and January 3rd. Can’t beat that.

After a little over an hour delay out of Seattle because of weather delays in San Fran I finally made it here. Luckily I only had to wait for a few minutes for Melissa to get here – she drove up from Anahiem for the week!

We finally found our way to the hotel after a bit of a wrong turn. The condo we are staying at is really nice and comfortable and it’s right off the Powell-Hyde Cable car line – in fact we are one block up from the beginning of the line. We plan on taking that as much as possible for transportation (that and walking of course).

Once we got ourselves unloaded we went on the hunt for food. Melissa had seen an In and Out Burger. I’ve never been to an In and Out much to the chagrin of Melissa. So off we went.

Here’s my first In and Out experience — a Double Double Animal Style (for those not in the know, that means w/ grilled onions). YUMMY!

Once we ate we walked down a block and picked up a few essentials at the Walgreens and made our way back to the Condo. On our walk back it started to rain, but for the most part we were able to stay out of it. We’ve just been hangin’ out for the most part tonight and are now Blogging/Facebooking and watching SNL with hottie Taylor Lautner! (You definitely should catch the Team Jacob/Team Edward sketch on HULU if you missed it!)

Here’s a view from our balcony! Have a great weekend everyone!

If so, one of my bestest friendsMelissa is having a really good Blog Candy! Sign ups end Wednesday the 26th at 11pm PDT.

Here’s a quick peek of what you could win – it’s a great stash if you’re a stitcher!

Amanda asked how I made my light box. I have to admit, I found the idea on this blog. I didn’t go find the instructions that she used, I just looked at her picture and made my own up!

I initially made it out of cardstock and that just didn’t work – not firm enough, although it did do what I wanted. I took the Thank You card picture from last week using that! Since it did what I wanted it to do I decided to buy some Foam Board at Wal-Mart and re-make it this weekend. I just used packing tape to tape everything together. That is just a piece of tissue paper over the hole cut in the one side (the hole is cut the size of 11×11 inches). It works perfectly! I just shine my Ott Lite through the tissue paper and it gives it the perfect amount of diffused light to take a great picture. No glare or shadows!

I made this one 12×12 inches, but I’m thinking of doing another one that is big enough to do a full 12×12 scrapbook page.

Here’s another page from my Hawai’i book!

And it’s true, shopping really does wear you out! After we all spent way more money at the Pearl Factor than we had intended, we walked over to the Tree House Cafe and had some fruit smoothies! They were yummy!

This layout is just a really simple layout. I decided to keep it for the most part simple with this book.

When I was in Hawai’i my goal was to find something scrapbook related that you could only get in Hawai’i! Well – it was harder than I thought it would be. Wherever I saw scrapbooking stuff, most of it was stuff you could get back on the Mainland! BUT, I did find these buttons that were made out of coconuts! They are so pretty – I took a close up picture of them!

Enjoy!