Here comes the bride!

This is a picture of my good friend, Nikki. We did a bridal session on Sunday and she is so much fun to take pictures of. She is up for anything and just lets me play and have fun. Love her! You can check out her wedding website here.

Isn't she

the cutest thing you've ever seen? I love this baby girl! I can't believe how big she is getting. She looks more and more like Levi every day.

Did you all know...

That there is a scrapbooking store in Wytheville? Amy Lynn's Attic opened recently on Main Street. There are some really cool workshops on May 3rd (National Scrapbooking Day) and I am thinking about attending the one where you make an Exploding Box. You can see it on the website.
You all give me a shout if you want to go. I will call the store and get us signed up. I think the cost is $15.00 for the Exploding Box workshop.

We're going

to trade vehicles tomorrow. Not mine or Chris' favorite thing to do. Poor salesman. Then we are off to Claytor Lake for the weekend to camp so I'll talk to you all on Monday. Saturday we are going to the Virgina Tech spring scrimmage. VT vs. VT. VT has 100 % chance of winning. :)

Anniversary 4/16/08

It seems unbelievable to me that today is the one year anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings. The pain and grief that arises when thinking about the victims and their families still seems so raw that it is hard for me to believe that a year has gone by. There are 3 different things that still haunt me everytime I think about it and I won't discuss them because I don't even like thinking about it much less to actually write about it. Maybe one day...
One thing that I do remember and that I am so proud of Hokie Nation for is the way the students conducted themselves when being interviewed by the media. All the news broadcasters and media big shots were trying to coerce students into blaming VT administration for this or that. I fondly remember one student saying this: "One thing you have to understand about Hokie nation is that we are united. We don't place blame on fellow Hokies, including the shooter, we are all in this together. Cho was a victim of a mental illness and everyone who was affected is a victim of Cho's mental illness. Hokies are Hokies, period." That really spoke volumes to me about the character of VT students, faculty, and staff. Enough said, you fine young man, whomever you are.

Today is April 15th?

Have you filed your taxes?

The trash nazi and baby steps

Some of you may recall way back last spring when I decided I was going to start recycling. I stopped at the trash collection center to get a brochure about how to seperate my items. I read the brochure cover to cover and hung it on my fridge for reference. I bought bins to seperate my aluminum cans, my plastic, and paper. I faithfully rinsed out my bottles and kept a close inspection on everything that Chris was throwing away. I felt so good about it and I could just feel Mother Nature wrapping her arms around me. I was so proud the day I sent Chris to the trash center with my perfectly clean, perfectly seperated trash. Imagine my disappointment when Chris came back home and said he ended up throwing everything in the "regular" trash. See, the trash nazi (you know the lady I am talking about if you live in or around Rural Retreat) rejected most of our recyclables. The aluminum cans needed to be crushed. The white plastic ring around the plastic bottles needed to be removed, etc. etc. I asked Chris if he told the trash police that none of that stuff was mentioned on the handy dandy recycling brochure that I had read cover to cover and posted on my fridge for reference. And sarcastically Chris replies, "Yes Heidi, I stood there for 10 minutes debating on the behalf of you and Mother Nature." Long story short: My recycling bins have become great laundry sorting devices in my laundry room.

But, as spring approaches and I feel guilty because the trees and grass are coming back green, I am making a second, smaller attempt at saving the planet. I picked up these cute green bags at Food City yesterday. I am renewing my commitment to do my small part. Now, if I can remember to get these little suckers in the car when we go to the grocery store.

My new guilty pleasure...

I am so hooked on "Don't Forget the Lyrics." Fox - Thursday nights. I loved Wayne Brady from "Who's Line is it Anyways" and he hosts this new show. It is kind of like "Name that Tune" from the good ole days but without all the crappy songs. :) Well, there are some crappy songs on Don't Forget the Lyrics too but at least I know most of them. I so need to be on that show. Chris, on the other hand, FORGETS THE LYRICS, or maybe he just never knew them to start with. He did get one song right tonight: Islands in the Stream by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. But seriously, how could you not know that one unless you've been living under a rock your whole life. I was a little bummed that I didn't know the lyrics to "Stuck on You" by Lionel Richie. I mean, I stole the record (wow, that makes me sound old) from my sister's room a hundred times and played it over and over. Had it been "Penny Lover" or "Hello", I might have stood a chance. Rock on, Lionel! Or should I say Soft Rock on, Lionel! Damn, I love 80's music. And now that you have "Islands in the Stream" stuck in your head, I bid you good night.

Yankees aren't all that bad! :)

I had the pleasure of meeting the nicest people this weekend at Jill and Justin's wedding. I have to admit I was a little nervous going to spend a weekend in a cabin with a bunch of people that we didn't know. I was pleasantly surprised and we had a great time. So here is a shout out to the new friends that Chris and I made. All of them are from Vermont except for me, Chris and Jill, Fred and Deb. They are cool for a bunch of Yankees. Just kidding. It was so funny because me and Chris, Jill and Justin were all complaining about how cold it was and all the guys from Vermont were in t-shirts and flip flops and loving the "summer" weather.
From left to right, bottom row: Kenny (Justin's dad), David, and Derek.
Middle row: Deb, Fred, Jill, Justin, Janice (Justin's mom), Ashley and Billy.
Top row: Chris, me, and Tammy.

Nice meeting you all and we had a wonderful time. Hope spring visits soon in the lovely state of Vermont.

Inspired...

I got a Land's End catalog in the mail today at work and I was seriously inspired by the front cover. I ripped the front off of the catalog and brought it home with me, not knowing was I was going to use it for, but knowing I was going to use it. I figured I could use the idea for a scrapbook page.

Then, as I was editing pictures from Jill's wedding this weekend I came across this one. Perfect. I figured that with Photoshop I could make a similar photo as the one on the front on the Land's End catalog.

I used Photoshop to add a picture from the ceremony to the original picture of Jill and Justin holding the "Just Married" sign. I changed the bottom picture to black and white and then erased some on the color picture so their fingers would look like they were holding the ceremony picture instead of the sign. I hope they like it.

So, yes. It was my friend Jill that got married this weekend to a great guy named Justin. I think all of the in-laws have been informed so I feel okay about letting the cat out of the bag. We had a great weekend and I have a lot more pictures to share. Hopefully I can get that done tomorrow. I have to get in the bed. Good night all!

Check her out!

My friend Sarah has joined the wonderful world of blogging. Don't believe anything she says about me on her blog, unless it is good stuff. Sarah would be the smartass I have featured a few posts down. :)

Getting ready...

The last thing I should be doing tonight is posting on my blog, but nevertheless, here I am. Tomorrow Chris and I are heading to Gatlinburg, TN for the wedding of a friend who shall remain nameless (because the mom and dad are unaware of the exchange of nuptuals). I am going to be photographing the weekend long event. I still need to pack our things and pack up somethings for Brady. He will be spending the weekend chasing kitty cats at his Granny Doris' house. I will post when we return home unless I can find an internet connection there (highly unlikely). I will leave you with this picture of my sweet pup. Have a great weekend everyone.

Love,

Heidi

Teacher, Am I going to have to use the computer today?

So my sister is bragging on her blog about teaching some students about web page development today but lets see if she can teach this old dog some new tricks...

These are her instructions to me on how to name my link. Let's just see how I do.

"Type the text you want to link.Heidi's BlogSelect the text you want to link, in this case Heidi's Blog.Then click on the hyperlink button on the toolbar. It's the globe with the paperclip.Write or paste the link in the box, then click ok.Heidi's Blogall doneIf you copy a link and then just past it to the screen, it will "name" the link the same as the URL.http://heidi1977.blogspot.com/"

Testing... testing... 1 2 1 2

You should all go check out the Willow Traders website if you want to meet some cool scrapbooking chicks. (Okay so I have my text Willow Traders website selected and here is where I run into the first problem. I don't see a hyperlink button that looks like a globe with a paperclip... don't panic, Heidi, don't panic. It's here somewhere. Just keep looking. Don't get pissed off and say "screw it". Just scroll over everything til you see something that says hyperlink. Oh, there it is. Globe with a paperclip, my ass. I thought it was a frog with really big eyes. No wonder I couldn't find a d#$%@ globe. Why didn't she say the frog with big eyes) Okay. I got it. I feel so dang smart. I hope I get an A for today. I'll bring her an apple to class tomorrow.

The question is, do I feel like going back and fixing all of my old hyperlinks? Nah, but from here forward, won't I be cool?

In other news... Today was the Annual Stockholder's Meeting for the Bank. And to prove I was there (in body at least) I saved the brochure. How is this for ephemera, Mom? Dang, I just realized I forgot to add my credentials on to my name after I worked so hard getting them.

Heidi Robertson, PHR, IMABAWITPCHS

For those of you who are unfamiliar with my credentials that would be:

PHR, Professional of Human Resources

IMABAWITPCHS, I May Already be a Winner in the Publisher's Clearing House Sweepstakes

In case you were wondering

where all of my mom's writing talent went you should check out my sister's blog post from March 31st, and that's no April Fools. http://sharon1972.blogspot.com/