Saturday, November 17, 2012

Personalized Greeting Card from Treat for FREE

Hey!  Have you heard to Treat??  Treat is Shutterfly's greeting card brand.  You can make totally personalized cards quickly, easily, and uniquely and you don't have to stand in a line or even put on pants if you don't want to.  Sounds lovely right?

Last year I sent out Thanksgiving cards and it was so much fun!  My friend Jen said that no one sends out Thanksgiving cards.  Wrong-o Jen!  Everyone should send out a Thanksgiving card.

Treat is giving away cards for two days.  Giving them away!  Free!  No cost to you.  Go make a card, make it your own, and give it away, for free.  Make someone's day.  Prove Jen wrong.  She's right so much, she won't mind a bit.

So, it couldn't be easier, on Monday the 19th or Tuesday the 20th, go to the TREAT website and make a card.  Use the code:  TREATBLOGR and make someone's day.

This one makes me think of my friend Jaclyn.  She loves this old pyrex.  She would love this card.


My friend Sarah is stuck in the bed after knee surgery!  I bet she makes one!!  Let me know if you make one, and remember to spread the word.  What a great price:  FREE

New York, New York

So, as most of you know, I went to NY!  I went to NY to learn Google Analytics, which for the record, was HARD.  If those people over at Google ever team up with that dude over at Facebook, that creepy movie with Bruce Willis just might become our reality.  I am just sayin' they are stinkin' smart.  They are measuring stuff that never even occurred to me.  Amazing!

In typical Ouida fashion, a weather event delayed my trip by a day, but not in the neat tidy, your flight has been cancelled hang out in the city another day and watch the beautiful snow kind of way.  Nope, more like race to the airport in a cab with a grumpy cabbie who wants you to kneel down and thank him driving you to the airport, which be definition, is exactly what you are paying him to do (for realz?) only to get your hopes up, move your gate, then your terminal, only to tell you that your flight has been cancelled, but you are rebooked for the first flight out, just kidding we cancelled that one too, and all of the hotel rooms have now been booked kind of way. You  know that way right???

Other than the whole airport fiasco, the trip was great.  The class was great, the city was great, the food was great, the company was great, the sites were GREAT!

I got to see my cousin Ryan who I have not seen in years.  Probably 10 to be exact.  He's a male model.   Really.  How many people get to say that?  I am super proud of him.  He really is living the dream.  He lives in a tiny little apartment in Astoria, just a really quick cab ride from LaGuardia and he makes a living smiling, pouting, looking pensive, playful, whatever the shoot calls for.  He hangs out with celebrities and skateboards through NYC.  Quite the gig if you can get it.  He went with me to check in to the hotel and I am pretty sure the lady checking me in thought I was living a reverse Pretty Woman scenario.  I mentioned this to Ryan and he didn't get it.  Twenty two year old men aren't familiar with Pretty Woman.  Who knew?  Anyhow, we hung out in the city for a while, then he ditched me to go smile for the camera.  It was fun while it lasted.  Then I was lost.  Hopelessly, but I stumbled upon the Apple store, and from my research realized that I had also found FAO Schwarz.  All was right with the world.  Well, mostly.  I was still lost, but I found a really cool toy store, so it didn't seem as hopeless.


  The city is like an assault on your senses, especially if everything you see is a postcard in your head.  I left my nice camera behind.  I had to have my laptop count as my other carry on, and there is no way I would check it, so I had to count of my phone and my little Canon point and shoot.  Less that ideal, but what I had.  There were a million scenes I wanted to snap, but I also forgot my battery charger, so I was always afraid I would miss the next best thing.  I especially loved this bike.  Pretty right??


And this gate.  This was at the Met.  I didn't get to go in, but I could have stared for days.  There was so much detail, and it was just amazing.  I could have stayed for weeks.  As cheesy as it sounds the city really does make you feel alive.  It is so darn exciting!


The whole story of the trip, the airport, the snow, the hurricane.........it is a doozie.  For now, I will leave you with this teaser!  

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Shutterfly Wants You to Thank the Troops

Today is Veteran's Day.  My grandfather is a veteran.  He very proudly fought for our country many, many moons ago. Greg's grandfather was a real American hero.  There is a story of him saving his entire flight crew.  Today we have lots of men and women doing the same things, and it is much easier to tell them THANKS!  I can't imagine what it would have mean to our grandfather's to have been thanked on a day like today.

Shutterfly has made it really easy this year.  Just go Thank the Troops and create your own card.  Shutterly will print and ship the cards.  Their goal?  No biggie.  They just want to send a card to every American hero.  The cost to you?  A couple of minutes of your time.

My friend Summer has a husband in the Army.  He is gone for up to a year at a time.  My friend Jennifer photographs soldiers returning home, or more sadly, leaving their family for a deployment with a program called Op Love.

This is a very small, very easy, very awesome thing you can do with just a few clicks.  Come on, you can do it.  Send me your card so I can see what it looks like!!  Here is the inside of mine!



Sunday, October 28, 2012

I Love Halloween

So, we went for it today.  We kept Avery inside, warm, and rested, and at 1 o'clock we headed down to The Children's Museum for Truck-or-Treat.  Avery had a hoot.  Glad we went.  I loved the Ghost Busters car complete with the whole set of Ghost Busters (2 of them were on a break).  How cool is this car?  Superb!!


From there it was over to Mellow Mushroom for a late lunch.  Mmm, Mellow delivers.  Y-U-M-M-Y

Next we headed to Old Salem for a little old school trick-or-treating.  Good gracious, Old Salem, you brought it.  We will have to do this every year.  I think the pumpkin party a week earlier will be a recurring event.  We really enjoyed this day.  My favorite pumpkins were:

I loved this guy's stem!!  



Way to think outside the box.  Love the stem nose!



Someone is super talented.  This one was a fan favorite.  I had to wait my turn to take this pic!

Upside down.  Clever!!

When we got in the car Avery said, shew, I had a long day, then he promptly passed out.  Yep, well done.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Jack-o-Lantern

We had the best plans for this weekend.  Today it was going to be Carowinds for the kid friendly Halloween party.  Tomorrow was Truck-or-Treat at the Children's Museum, followed by pumpkin carving and trick-or-treating at Old Salem.  I mean, honestly, short of winning the lottery, this is a pretty banner weekend for me.  Really!  Until........Avery got a cough, and a wheeze, and freakin' strep throat.  Blerg!!

I had a hunch his congestion was not run of the mill, so I scheduled an appointment as late as possible, Friday at 5.  We were home by 8 with 2 kinds of medicine, not counting the nebulizer, and a diagnosis of strep throat.  UGH!

Well, we carved a pumpkin anyway.  On our very own front porch, in the oddly warm weather.  So there!!



Monday, October 22, 2012

This is Halloween

We had the BEST weekend.  It was the Annual Linkous Family Pumpkin Party.  I probably shouldn't put words in Greg's mouth, but it is such a fun day for the whole family.  These are some of my favorite shots of the day, but not the complete list by FAR!


Team Newsom Fagan or Fagan Newsom


2 Captain Americas - Holding Hands


Newly Engaged - Michelle and Jerry


Team Wood - so Happy Together


Buddies


Team Nixon - and almost Eleanor


Ginger's big smile


Hulk Spider Girl


New Boos


Besties from Charlotte


And baby 3 makes us complete



Just one America


And a princess vampire?


Daddy's Girl


Girl Crush


Miss Personality


My birthday buddy - Sweet Logan


Happiest Baby Ever!


He melts my heart, she makes me smile!


Sweet Couple


with Logan


Families that smile together, stay together!


Where's my big sister?


New York In November

So, I am going to New York.  In less than two weeks.  I am freaking out.  I hate traveling without Greg and Avery.  My stomach hurts the whole time and I feel like I might die.  I am not kidding.  It is like torture.  Judge me if you need to.  I really don't care.  I really dig my spouse and I love my child.  I work full time, and I resent having to spend even more time away from them than I already do.  Can't relate?  I am not asking you to.

The point is, it makes my darn heart hurt.  I am scared to death something horrible will happen while I am gone.  Please don't tell me to have faith or not to worry, it only pisses me off.  The reality is really bad stuff happens every day.  I cherish our time together.  I don't consider Greg or Avery a nuisance.  I don't "need" time away.  Again, I make NO apologies.

So, this trip is for work.  I do appreciate the opportunity to learn new stuff so that makes this trip more bearable.  I also will not be subjected to mandatory "work" dinners. I won't be surrounded by tons of people drinking, smoking, acting a fool.  It will just be me, and one other co-worker who will have his wife along.

I am very much looking forward to seeing my cousin Ryan (if it works out).  He's kind of a big deal, so I am not counting on it, but most of all, I am looking forward to seeing a couple of my pals complete the NYC Marathon.  I will be keeping one of their wives company and cheering them both on as loudly as this little southern voice of mine can!

I am also kind of hoping I see this guy: