Will the owner of a green pinto....

Friday, August 22 was another rockin' nite at Skipper's Smokehouse. Both Scott Lynch and Mark Hanshaw were celebrating birthdays. The first video is Tinsley wishing them a happy birthday in his own special way.

The other videos are Tinsley doing what Tinsley does.... incredible guitarist. His drummer is very athletic and kicks the kit. He was dripping wet at the end of the show.

http://www.tinsleyellis.com/

WOW - Pics of ME!

Me and EVIL, Tinsley's long-time bass player.

Tinsley and his oh-so-cute keyboardist.

Start with dessert

Gam Perfect always said to start with dessert. Well, this dessert certainly qualifies. Sunday we had a mexican fiesta at mom's house. For dessert I made strawberry mango salsa.
Mom was making something she calls flan (the cake version, not creamy egg version). She adds this homemade pudding mix to the top of the homemade cake. After that she usually adds cherry pie filling.... Well, I convinced her to let me add the fruit. I used the fruit salsa I made as well as some blueberries and strawberries. Go ahead, drool. LOL

This is the first creation. After she saw mine she decided to make hers using the same fruit.


Momma Gail Penney. Note the window in the background. This will be a feature on a future blog post.


Yum Yum!

Stampaway Cincinnati August 2008

For those who really want to know.... here are my purchases from the stamp show and also a few other stamp/scrap shops around town. I was very sick the first night of the stamp show and didn't feel like shopping much. That was a good thing. I escaped with not too much on the AMEX. However, the next day I was feeling much better and did a little damage around town. I'll post some creations later.

The stamps in the upper left are by Inkadinkadoo. I've been looking for these round stamps for over a year. I found them at two different shops in Ohio - Archivers and The Color Wheel. The cuttlebug folders were purchased at Hobby Lobby in Hamilton, Ohio. the koh-i-noor pencils were purchased at Stacey's Stamps booth at convention.

Archiver has dies that are made only for that store. For some reason the store in Cincy had a palm tree and flamingo.... go figure. The other two exclusive dies were the penguin and coconut drink. Of course I had to have all of them. I have used them too - Carole brought her cuttlebug so I made a few of each for mom and her. Stamps were purchased from various booths at convention.

Wood mounted stamps were purchased at The Color Wheel in Beavercreek, Ohio and Archivers in Cincy. Ribbons from Hobby Lobby. Piercing templates from The Color Wheel. Unmounted were purchased at convention.

I guess I should have taken some pics of the convention so you could see the booths, etc. As I said earlier I was very sick and that is my excuse for not doing so. I promise to have more pics next year. :)

The Getty

Friday afternoon before the party Tawni took me to the Getty Museum. They were having an outdoor family event with live music on the patio. We listened to the first band and then went around back to the garden. I couldn't get enough of this place. It is beautiful. I highly recommend it if you ever find yourself in LA. These are just a few pictures. If you want to see more, lemme know. Also, you can click on these pics if you want to see a larger version.

Taken from one of the outside decks on the Getty that overlook LA. You can see a portion of another deck in the lower right of this pic.

Same shot - just used zoom lens for this pic.


The garden is incredible with the water, rocks, maze, etc. My fav thing was the rebar bougainvilla 'planters'. I'd love to have a couple of these in my yard - smaller versions of course!



I understand there is also an incredible art collection inside but I didn't have time for that on this visit. Guess I'll have to go back :)


Isn't she lovely? Isn't she beautiful?

I don't know this guy

But I loved his tats! Random shot of a hair stylist in LA. He said his name is Razor. The guy behind him has a HUGE spider tat under his arm. In his arm pit to be specific. Can you say OUCH??? The scissors are the best!

Yum Yum in the Tum Tum

While in LA.... Tawni and I ate lots of fun food. Lyndon (Tawni's DH) does not really like ethnic food so since he was out of town we took full advantage of finding different places to eat. The one evening he was home we met him at the Outback. Not some cool specialty Aussie restaurant, I'm talking the Outback Steakhouse, no rules, just right. I do love the chopped blue cheese salad there - Yum.

BUT.... the last day of my summer vacation we headed to Hollywood to get me drunk and get pierced. HA HA - - well, that is kinda what happened. We went to lunch at an Ethiopian restaurant. I'm not a fish eater but was convinced that I would LOVE LOVE LOVE the fish.

This is what we were served:


No mistaking it... that is a fish on the plate. It is a trout. It was very good. The waitress was correct. I didn't eat a lot - just a few bites - I have to ease into this fish eating phase of my life.... But, it was yummy.



This is the 'bread' served with the food. It is just as spongey as it looks. It is very thin. To eat, you rip pieces of the bread and scoop or grab the food with the bread. No utensils. Well, we did get a spoon with some soup we ordered.
I also sampled two versions of Honey Wine. It was very good as well and set the stage for the next event..... you already know what happened later in the day.

That is beef in the center with all sorts of veggies around the edge. It took a very long time to get our food. I think we were in the restaurant about 90 minutes and it wasn't too crowded. But, the wait was worth it. Note the 'regular' HUGE rolls in the background. Not sure why they were brought to the table!

Now, back to the LA trip....

More about what I did on one of my summer vacations.... If you remember, Tawni and I went to a party featuring belly dancers. Well, there was also a henna artist there so we both HAD to get henna. Fun!

The henna is very thick (like stickles!) and you have shouldn't touch it for about an hour or so. Then, the next day(s) it will chip off leaving the reddish color tint on your skin. It lasts about two weeks. I liked the way it looked on my feet/ankles with sandals.

Anyone want some henna art? I'll get the stuff and we'll play!

Weeds or Wheat

Found on a blog link from The Buckdad Report blog... I love this post:

http://soapboxprincess-ellie.blogspot.com/2008/07/church-sign.html

Family Reunion at Skyline

Today we had lunch with my mom's only cousin David. It was a family reunion!

Gail Penney, Shelley, and David McClain (Go BUCKS) I think this is the first time I've ever seen David not wearing an OSU shirt or cap.
David's blog: http://buckdads.blogspot.com/
I expect to see a cross post on that blog soon.


After lunch we had to go to the Hobby Lobby. David tagged along and had quite a good time searching for bargains.


We had to make one more stop at the famous Flub's ice cream shop in Hamilton, Ohio and known for the the creamy whip ice cream. Yummy!

Yes, I know.... 30 pounds.... 30 pounds.... 30 pounds.... it isn't going anywhere if I continue with Skyline and Flubs. ho hum

What did you do on your summer vacation...or... if everyone else was jumping off the bridge, would you jump too?

It would depend the bridge.... Here's a little more about what I did on my summer vacation to Los Angeles. Tawni has been encouraging this for the last few years and finally we had time to make it happen. It truly was painless. If you want to have it done, I'll enable you.


Marking and measuring. Tori, short for Victoria (that's a good sign, right!) took her time making sure the spot was just right. Or should I say Perfect.

This was prolly the worst part. I had a bruise for a few days from this clamp. It didn't really hurt, just felt weird.

Tori: "I'm going to tell you to take a deep breath and then exhale. On the exhale I'm going to do it. OK?"
Shelley: "OK"
Tori: (literally one second later) "Breathe in"
...and the deed was done. She was awesome, fast, friendly, and I was a big baby for nothing.
Notice the needle in her right hand?

All done. Now I have to lose that 30 pounds around the gut.

Lyle Lovett at the Orpheum Theatre, Los Angeles, CA

Tonight.... ahhh, tonight.... we spent the evening with Lyle and his large band at the Orpheum theatre in Los Angeles. The Orpheum has a history similar to the great Tampa Theatre. Check the links to read more about these historic places that we must support. Both theatres still have the Mightly Werlitzer organ that rises from the stage. We didn't see the organ tonight since the stage was covered with many other instruments. I'm rambling now... I'm in Lyle land.
http://www.laorpheum.com/index.html
http://www.tampatheatre.org/
Words can't really describe it so I'll just let the pics and videos do the talking.

I asked him to marry me but he just grinned.... I guess that is a 'no'.

Tawni and Lyle

Tawni, Keith, and Diane

Diane, Willie Greene Jr., and Tawni

Willie Green Jr. shoes matched his suit. Beautiful!

Belly Dancers

Tonight Tawni and I went to a party hosted by one of her dance friends. I hope you enjoy these short videos. Anyone want to take lessons with me in Tampa?

Belly Dancers!