“Serena”Well, after months and months of procrastinating, I have finally launched my personal stamping blog. This new blog is in addition to my Stampin’ Up! website. It is a place where I can upload my projects and share what I love. I am hopeful that it will also serve as a way to not only keep my Stampin’ Up! business strong but also to help my business grow.
I am thisclose to being promoted to Manager. I have set a goal to accomplish this feat by October 31st. If I meet that deadline I will be able to attend Manager’s Reception at the Stampin’ Up! Leadership Conference in Orlando in January. (Keep your fingers crossed for me!)
The new blog is very anemic, but once I get a new camera I hope to add projects every day. In the meantime, click HERE to take a look! Please let me know what you think!!!
I am also offering a “Help LEAD Me!” promotion for the month of September where I am offering FREE standard shipping on all orders over $25! There are some new stamp sets on special right now for 15% off, so click HERE to take a look at the online catalog. (Click on the “Catalog” icon in the upper right corner underneath my name.) We have lots of stuff from glue sticks to card stock to envelopes to paper cutters to scissors to tattoo kits… so even if you aren’t a stamper you may find something you need!
The day after our adventures in Washington, DC, Neil and the girls took a day trip to Philadelphia to visit the University of Pennsylvania. We have now visited six of the eight Ivy League Schools. In case you were wondering, this is what they are (in no particular order):
1) Harvard
2) Princeton
3) Yale
4) Brown
5) University of Pennsylvania
6) Columbia
7) Dartmouth
8) Cornell
Visiting Cornell is a possibility because Neil travels to Ithaca every few months, but I don’t think Dartmouth is on our list.
We came up with the idea to incorporate college visits into our family vacations last year. Neil’s good friend was kind enough to give us tickets to Mary Poppins on Broadway and that was how our whole northeastern USA road trip sprung into action. Now whenever we go anywhere we see what college is nearby and pop by to visit. I highly recommend doing this!!!! (The most interesting thing that has happened along the way is that we stumble upon a church meetinghouse on every campus without even looking for one. We see this as a sign that there are several choices for colleges, not just one!!!!! However, Adrienne enjoyed exploring the campus of BYU this summer while she was at Especially for Youth, so going there is not entirely out of the question! She was a little turned off, though, by how far away from home it is.)
While we were in NJ this summer we took a day trip to Washington, DC to visit Georgetown University. They offer a degree in International Studies and Adrienne wanted to check it out.
After a nice morning of walking around the campus, we decided to head over to the Holocaust Museum. Yes, it was very sad, but YES it was soooo worth going to see. I should say I hated it because of course I hate what it memorializes, but in reality I absolutely LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it. I don’t mean ANY insensitivity when I say that the museum is absolutely the best scrapbook of an event that there is. Do you know what I mean? I just don’t know how to explain what I mean.
While we were walking back to our car and talking about the experience (and wondering why in the world the Department of Agriculture is so big) Neil suddenly yelled out, “@#*&…we’re getting towed!”
Luckily Neil got to the tow man just in time to pay him enough cash to convince him to let Neil back the car off the tow bed. We were too late to avoid getting a $100 ticket for leaving our car parked at a meter during rush hour. See the small red print? 
On our way home we swung by American University. Erica saw something about it on TV and remembered how cool the dorms are. Erica and I jumped out of the car and ran across the street to take this picture. Guess what? While Neil and Adrienne waited in the car, a cop pulled up behind them and put the blue lights on. Neil somehow escaped another ticket.
We stopped at IHOP on the way home. This made it all better: