Welcome To April!

Man, is April starting off busy! It’s not a bad thing! It’s just a busy thing!

Well, yesterday was April Fools Day. The first thing that means in this home is HAPPY BIRTHDAY BAGGLE!!! Our boy is 13 years old. In human math, he is a teenager. He’s as old as Kaline acts! But in the cat world, he’s an honored senior cat! David came home at lunchtime yesterday, so we sang happy birthday to him and served the crab and salmon Market Selects cat birthday cake that you saw the kids eating in the late Photoblog yesterday.

For me, April 1 was also my debut on the DST bimonthly Blog Train. I was first off, a little thrown by the color palate. You know how I am with things that have brown in them. (I do have plans to get over that hump with a kit idea I’ve been playing with!) But I was very pleased with the way my portion turned out! It’s really not stand-out-too-much different than other designers’ contributions to the kit and it’s still something I’d use to scrap with. I’m going to venture out and download some of the other parts myself! That’s something I was bummed that I didn’t do last time I was on a train. I absolutely loved the kits in Christmas Around The World, but with a new store and you know, a new marriage, I just didn’t have time to get back before they were gone! By the way, if you click on the freebies link, you’ll find that you can still get my part of Christmas Around The World, just in case you got married at Christmastime too and didn’t get to download it! ;)

April one was also the first day of my 30-day paid membership at I Hire Marketing, the launch of a new kit in my store and PayPal accounting day. In the midst of all of the other things I was doing yesterday, I got a phone call about an unpaid graphics job. I couldn't say “no” to the graphics assignment because the person requesting it kinda lives with me!

Did anyone prank anyone for April Fools Day or get pranked? Little jokes and tricks are fun as long as they don’t hurt anyone or embarrass anyone too much. We got a letter in the mail, very official-looking, that came from the department of digital compliance, something like that, specifically the household appliances department. It seems that any appliances purchased before February...hmmm..., now that I think of it, I think it said February 29, 2009... would need digital converter boxes after March of 2010. It was signed “April Fuehl” and the contact number was the IRS help line! It was a VERY well-done spoof on the conversion to HDTV, but honestly, manufactured before the end of February this year? Eeeks! I need a converter box for my popcorn popper!!

The Graphics job David had for me was to create a “New logo” for CSX. The railroad companies have been promoting how much less fuel it takes to transport goods by rail instead of by truck. David wanted to play on that and play against the Norfolk Southern horse logo asking me to create this:



Of course, horses are afraid of snakes. right? He did a very professional press release and posted it with my artwork on Train Orders. No one fell for it, but it was very appreciated as a good April Fool laugh!

Tonight, I’m having dinner with Dad and my nieces. After dinner at Cracker Barrel, Tori and Rina are coming home with me! Yay Nieci time! Tomorrow will be a nice lunch and movie day. David is not working tomorrow, so it will be our first kidnap day with them as Aunt and Uncle! We’ll likely be playing Apples to Apples tomorrow night and that game is always a laughfest. The girls go back to Indy on Saturday for a birthday party to close their spring break. I’m just happy that we get them for a couple night this year!!


(David and all the non-scrappers, this post is a scrapping post from here!)


Laura

Yes, Laura is my sister-in-law, she’s also my new scrapbook kit!




The kit turned out so pretty! I based it on the colors from their wedding and well, you know you always name a wedding thing after the bride. Besides, there is a song named Laura. I don’t know of one called Dave and I always make my kits share a name with a song. Laura is in my store now! click the preview to go to the Scrap Bird store.

You can also find Crimson and Clover in my store now! That is the former blog bonus for showing me a layout you did with Digitalegacies Designs products. It’s time for a new bonus!

I started Laura to be the new bonus. I just got carried away. So, I decided that I’d do Laura as a smaller kit and create a larger add-on for the blog bonus this quarter. So here’s the new bonus!


If you want the Laura add-on, it’s free for showing me a layout you did with any of my products! This is the bonus for April - June. There will be a new one in July and the add-on will go into the shop, but for the next three months, the only way you can have this add-on to the fabulous Laura kit, is as the bonus!! Send me your layouts or links to chroniclesofnani@gmail.com

MORE Laura?



YES! Laura Favors is the challenge bonus at Scrap Bird for the I Wanna Talk About Me Challenge. This month, we’re scrapping your wedding! That is a layout with a picture of you from your wedding, a wedding you were in or a wedding you were at. I had a few comments from people who just didn’t have wedding photos of themselves, so I added that if you don’t have wedding pictures, a photo of you dressed up or just one where you think you just look GREAT! The key here is the scrap a photo where you are shining!

There are some great challenges this month and great bonuses too! I’m really looking forward to doing my layout for the Scrap It challenge with Mamrotka. Marzena’s kit for that is wonderful with bright blues, green and flower petals. Yeah, it’s very spring, very Nani too! Come play with us at Scrap Bird!!



Add It On For FREE in April

All of my kits that have add-ons are on a special sale this month, Add It On For FREE! That’s right, free add-ons with the purchase of the full kit! When you buy One Step at a Time, Homemade Love, Because Of You or Your Own Special Way in April, make sure you have the special coupon code to get the add-ion FREE!! Just put both the kit and the add-on in your cart and use the appropriate code when you check out. The price of the add-on will be removed. Now, if you don’t have any of these kits and want all four, I love you!!! But when you make your purchase, do it four times so you can use all four coupons! You have the whole month, so you can stretch out your scrapping budget too! I share a store with some very talented designers, so you may even find some other things to spend your Digitalegacies Designs saving on! There are also some great freebies from everyone to get a sample of the tastes at our bird feeder!!

Over the course of the month I’ll show you all of the sale kits. Right now, remember Your Own Special Way?



Romance is not only for special holidays! The soft candlelit tones are great for scrapping anniversaries, romantic occasions and that even more special because it’s not so frequent date-night with your spouse without the kids!

Buy Your Own Special Way at Scrap Bird for $5.00 and get the add-on kit for FREE!


Make sure you enter coupon code lknrj37hdn when you check out!

Add It On For FREE coupon codes for April:
One Step at a Time - kjad4365
Homemade Love - lknd856hn
Because Of You - dkrj25jdh
Your Own Special Way - lknrj37hdn


And one last scrapping note! You can win Laura for free at DST! Click this link and leave a reply. I’ll be selecting 3 responses at random to get the free kit on Wednesday!

Whew! I need more coffee now! LOL Enjoy all the fun stuff and I’ll check back in soon!

Monday Mug Shot

The World of Coke
Atlanta, Georgia

The World of Coke is one of the coolest places to go in Atlanta! Okay, yes, it’s heaven for an advertising buff, with all the old, new and international ads and promotional items in Coke’s over 100 years of existence. The World of Coke moved to a new building in Atlanta’s Pemberton Place, across the street form Centennial Olympic Park. The new location is roughly twice the size of the original and houses all the old attractions plus some new ones! I’ve never even seen the new building except for pictures, but it’s a beautiful piece of architecture! I was, however at the original building which opened in 1990, several times!

The old building was in the middle of downtown at the Five Points area. There were moving exhibits showing how the bottling process worked, a model soda counter with a soda jerk who told all about the history of his job and how flavored Coca Cola was far older than the bottled Cherry and Vanilla Coke offered when John and I visited in 1991! Of course there were ads all over and a store to buy all that Coke brand merchandise, but the best, I mean the BEST, part of The World of Coke was the tasting center!

At the tasting center, you walked into a large room, usually with tons of tourists from all over the world, and sampled as much and as many coke beverages from all around the world as you’d like. It was just a room of cups, waste baskets and fountain machines under Coca Cola neon light.

I’ve sampled many of the domestic and International Coke products with many friends, but the most memorable of those tasting days was at the very end of 1995.

In 1995, a group of us decided it would be neat to celebrate the birth of the Olympic Year in the Olympic city! John, Heather, Tracy, Rich, Jeff, his then girlfriend-now wife Jeanne and I flew into Atlanta just before New Year’s Eve. My brother, his wife and their just over a year old twins drove down and we all met during the day on New Years Eve for lunch and a trip to the World of Coke!

My brother, Dave, is one of those type of insanely courageous people. Anything for a buck, anything for a laugh, anything to be Dave! When we were teens, we’d stop for coffee and dinner with friends. At the end of dinner he’d put an empty glass or cup in the middle of the table. For a dollar, anyone there could add something to the glass. In a group of six or so, he’d end up with a glass with a creamer, salt,pepper, ketchup, someone’s leftover gravy or a bit of a chocolate shake and a pile of singles. All he had to do to pocket the money, was drink what was in the glass. Everyone knew that he’d do it, so it wasn’t a bet, it was paying a dollar to be entertained. Now, with that history, people who know him should beware of anything Dave offers them to taste, no matter how convincing he may be.

At the World of Coke, there is a Coke product sold in Italy in the fountain drinks in the tasting area called Beverly. Remember, we’re talking Italian tastes and a bunch of Americans trying it. Beverly is a bitter beverage that to the American palate is something like a cross between cough syrup and unsweetened chocolate. Just awful! John and I had tried it the first time we were there and vowed never to try it again. I told Mom about it when she and I had gone and she just had to try it to be sure I wasn’t exaggerating. She sipped and told me with a grimace that it was like something awful she’d tried in Italy. Ah but this time, Dave was there!

I watched Dave pour a full glass of the Beverly and take a big sip. He smiled. He topped off his glass and walked away. I watched him work.

He’d gone to ask his wife if she’d tried the Beverly. “It’s over there in the International stuff. You’ve gotta try it! It’s awesome!”

Deanna went to the fountain dispenser and tried the Beverly. She spit it back in the cup and screeched a Dave, something about him being cruel and insane and “who can we get to try this?”

My wonderful brother went to everyone in our group and a few of the strangers there and asked them if they’d tried the Beverly, all the while holding his cup and continuing to drink it. Everyone in our group tried it except John, who remembered and sensed that Dave was up to something. Everyone had the same reaction either a gulping swallow and a run for something to wash the taste away or to spit it back in the cup.

When he finally got to Jeff, the only person I've ever seen allow a seven-year-old to feed him Bertie Bott’s Every Flavored Beans and not spit them out, Jeff got a glass of Beverly and calmly sipped at it talking to Dave.

The exchange went something like this:

“This is really disgusting stuff, Dave.” (sips the Beverly)

“Why yes it is, Jeff. I can’t believe anyone would ever drink it.” (Sip)

“How many people have you conned into trying it?” (sip)

“Everyone except John and my sister. They knew. But I got a few strangers to try it.” (sip)

“Good for you. But I’m going to get sick if I don’t throw this out now.”

“Yeah, I’ve had almost a glass of it. I think I need a beer!”

Then they both threw out the glasses and laughed at all of us. Actually, we all laughed, even Rina and Tori, they were just laughing at all the silly grownups.

By the way, Dave is a good father - he did NOT give any Beverly to the girls. They were only 15 months old! But if they went today, I am pretty confident that he would try to get his daughters to drink the Beverly. Rina knows her Dad well enough not to try it. But Tori is enough LIKE her Dad to try it and get some strangers to try it too. And the gag goes on...

World of Coke, New Years Eve, 1995