Opa!

"Automakers on Verge of Bankruptcy!", "Detroit Mayor to Serve Time in Prison!", "State May Take Over Detroit Finances!". These are an example of the kinds of headlines we have seen in our local newspapers and on our local news broadcasts. Kind of makes you want to run for the hills or go somewhere and hide out doesn't it? Well, the way I see it, these kind of headlines is what sells newspapers and improves ratings on newscasts. Recently, we saw a side of Detroit that does not make the headlines, but is buried somewhere in the middle of the paper in a tiny article.

Dear friends of ours who moved out of state came back to Michigan for a visit. We arranged to meet in Detroit for good times and good food. One of our favorite places to visit is Greektown. And one of our favorite places to eat at while visiting this historic neighborhood is the Pegasus restaurant. We always order saganaki so we can hear the waiter proclaim, "Opa!".

After stuffing ourselves with tasty Greek cuisine, we headed down the street to pick out a sweet treat for dessert.

We then boarded the PeopleMover and took it to the waterfront. Situated there is the Renaissance Center and a lovely riverwalk.

We were saying that we always wondered what it would be like to go to the top of the RenCen and look around the city. Well, you will never know unless you try it. So we did!

This was taken in the elevator on our way to the top. Our ears were actually popping! There is an upscale restaurant situated there, and they were kind enough to let our motley crew in for a round of soft drinks.

We were typical tourists with our cameras, taking pictures of the spectacular view. Unfortunately, the pictures did not turn out the greatest. :-( But this one is one of my favorites:

Sadly, we had to part ways with our friends and head home. As we wound our way out of the city, I could not help but think that despite the depressing headlines there are some gems to be found in the heart of Detroit. Sometimes you just have to dig a little deeper to find it.

Thanks for looking in!

Outside The Box

Jeez, Louise! You mean it's been over three weeks since my last "Outside The Box" entry? Well, I'm afraid that I've had a wicked case of Spring Fever. It seems that every year when the time change rolls around, it takes me a few weeks to get adjusted to the new time, plus the seasonal allergies start to kick in. So I lay around like a slug with a box of kleenex at the ready. And with the awesome warm weather we've been having, all of the trees and flower are budding. Can't complain about that one little bit! :-)

So I've put some of my scrapbooking aside for a couple of weeks. Not that I haven't thought about it. I've actually been taking a peek through a couple of my sketch books for inspiration. For this latest layout, I had a layout in mind that I was going to scrap lift from PageMaps, but decided to make it my own. Besides, there is an original work of art included in this layout, so I tried to be original too. ;-)

Actually, there is not too much to this layout. Pretty simple.  But first let's have a look at my little Picasso's  work of art.

You got a sneak peek at it in my Sunday Inspiration post a few weeks ago. This piece is much too large to fit in a regular layout and I was not willing to cut it apart. So I took a picture and printed 2x3 and 2x2 prints on my photo printer.

I then cut these out and made a Springtime layout.  Love those butterflies!

Here is a closer look.

Here is hoping that your days be filled with sunshine, flowers and beautiful butterflies! :-)

Thanks for looking in!

Sunday Inspiration

The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day He created Spring.

Bern Williams

Sunday Inspiration

Divine creation can be seen painted on the canvas of a butterflies wing.

K. D'Angelo

Sunday Inspiration

Outside The Box

Last week, when visiting my mom, she had a box that she had kept under her bed. Inside were old pictures, cards and mementos. It was fun taking a trip down memory lane. She wanted us kids to take whatever pictures or mementos that pertained to us to take home. I'm thinking, "Do I really want to take home yet more memorabilia to add to my collection?".  The answer was, "Yes!". ;-)

It really wasn't that much. Enough to fit in a manila envelope. That I can handle. One of the items was a card that I had given to my mom for her birthday. It was a pretty card that she couldn't bear to part with at the time.

Here you can see I gave it to her in "1992". I really need to get her a Project Life kit.  :-)

So being that I am my mother's daughter after all, I couldn't part with this either. So what to do, what to do....Hey! I'll cut it apart and put it in a layout!

Here it is "before".

All cut apart, ready to put on a layout.

And here is the finished layout. See that little bird on the left side of the layout? I "fussy-cut" it out of the card and glued it on the layout. I was so happy to finally scrapbook in pink! I  had no pink whatsoever in my stash (being I have a houseful of males, including the dog) and had to take a trip to Hobby Lobby. Darn! ;-)  

So here is another idea to preserve that special card from a special someone and getting it outside the box.

Thanks for looking in!