31.1.11

Cricut Birthday Bash Party at CHA Winter 2011

Friday night I was invited to attend the Cricut Birthday Party at the Congo Room downtown at LA Live. And we were so excited when we found out that the entertainment that night were many awesome dancers from So You Think You Can Dance. Holy cow I think I turned into a teenager...I rushed the stage and jumped up and down. I reached out to try and touch the dancers, because YES I was that close. But even better, we got to have our pictures taken with them. I have a great one of Twitch on my phone, so I'll have to post that one later. 

But here I am with Joshua...winner of one season of SYTYCD. Holy cow he's darling in person and sweaty!
Here's my cute friend Sharlene with Comfort...she was a teenager too...so excited!!




Here's my friend Bridget with Joshua too. I'll post some of the great video I too later too when I get home.

Thanks Provo Craft for another AWESOME party!

28.1.11

Lunch with the Echo Park boys at Malawi Pizza

Back in December my friend and co-worker Bridget had to go to Provo for a meeting. We then went to check out our friends at Echo Park. Madison wanted me to see his swanky offices and I jumped at the chance. But the best part of the visit was where went to lunch. The EP boys introduced us to a yummy place called Malawi's Pizza

First, don't you love their tag line...this was destine to be my favorite new find with a tag line that read "Pizza with a Purpose!" What they mean by that, is for every meal you purchase they will turn around and feed a family a meal in Malawi, Africa. How cool is that?? 
 The food choices were amazing. I love pizza, but they have gorgeous looking salads (haven't tried one). We also ordered lasagna...yum! Their menu was vast and also included tons of pasta and sandwich choices as well. The prices are typically around $10 and well worth every penny.

Here's some pictures of the yummy flat cheese bread and my check pesto pizza (with asparagus).
 Isn't the interior gorgeous!! Thanks Madison and Jody for a fun lunch (a month ago). If you live in the area, I would highly recommend stopping by Malawi Pizza.

26.1.11

Rock Princess Cricut Cart Winner

Congrats goes out to Theresa for checking out my blog and leaving a comment!! I hope you enjoy your new Rock Princess cartridge!!  


24.1.11

YouTube and Me (with giveway)

Have you seen the crazy fun videos I did with Kristine McKay. We were shooting the same day was Shannon Lerner from Provo Craft and boy do the three of us have fun when we get together. Here's a link to some of those videos....luckily you can't see any of the out takes because that would be crazy (and embarrassing).

WIN A FREE CART
And because I think the three of us ROCKED IT and had such a fun time, I wanted to give away a Cricut Cart: Rock Princess to my blog followers. Just FOLLOW my blog and then leave a comment that you are a following...if you're already a follower, then jumped over the video page on my blog and I'll pick a lucky winner by Wednesday!
Thanks for stopping by!!

20.1.11

Reality and Redheads


I come from a long line of redheaded women and they are everything you imagine a redhead would be; very independent, self-reliant, strong, opinionated and stubborn. I have a mother that is my rock and an 88 year old grandmother (soon to be 89) that doesn’t act a day over 70. But today I  was reminded that even redheads falter and for me today was hard….

Seriously I feel like a complete whiner about this. I get that so many people out there have suffered so much worse. There is so much tragedy in the world, in our neighborhoods and families. My situation is so temporary and will soon be fine, but right now, I just need to type it out, so bare with me. I feel alone and really need to get this out of my head and yes my bloggers, you are the lucky listeners to my rant.

First I want to thank many great online and offline friends. I have received countless text messages, emails and facebook messages telling me to hang in there. Your love and support has meant the world to me. And yes, the Dr. Pepper helped too (wink).

Anyway, today I had to see my mother so weak, helpless and just out of it that I was completely blindsided. My mom hates the idea of other people having to take care of her and I just keep forgetting that with each year she gets older she loses a little of that independence. It’s so hard to explain. But I was not at all prepared today to be the “strong one”…to be the person who made the decisions and took care of my her. Sorry, in my world, my mother was never going to be old or needy like she was today at the hospital…never.

She recently had a total knee replacement on one leg and on her other the doctor had convinced her to let him fix the “padding” from a total replacement he’d done two years earlier. He assured her the partial fix was less evasive and her recovery would be simple. All I have to say is, WHY THE CRAP would any doctor recommend for a single, 65 year old, less active woman to let him work on BOTH knees at the same time? Seriously?? Nothing has worked out as planned…for two days I’ve been awaiting the call to come get her and take her home. No big deal, easy…NOT. Today when I called her I could barely understand what she was saying and she fell asleep on the phone. After tracking down the nurse I was informed that they were not going to let her go home, instead they wanted to move her to a rehab place for up to 6 more days, but could I come get her and take her to the new facility. Seriously….the doctor couldn’t possibly anticipate this?? Oh and she might have a touch of pneumonia.

So I went to pick up reinforcements, which would be my 88 year old grandmother (my mom’s mom) before heading to visit her. Not sure that was a good idea. My mother was unable to wake up long enough to say anything that made sense. She did ask if it was Friday, but overall we spent more time drilling the nurse then anything. And for me, seeing her did not help. Oh how I understand so much that friends of mine have gone through with their mothers in similar situations and how I owe my friends a huge hug. I left the hospital completely drained of all my emotional energy. I held it together while I had my grandma with me.

After returning my grandma to her home, I cried in the car and haven’t really stopped.

Today sucked.

The worse part is…normally when I feel this way, I call my mom.

17.1.11

Knee Replacement #3

Three knees might make you wonder, wouldn't it...since knees typically come in pairs. What I mean by three is that this is my third time over the past 2 years hanging at hospitals while my grandma or my mom have their knees replaced!

So today is my mom's second knee replacement...although my third time dealing with her knees and hospitals. She actually blew out her "other" knee a week after having her first knee operation and that was by far the worst experience of them all.

Why am I blogging about this? Well mainly because I am BORED waiting and second because I wanted to see if I could actually blog on my iPod Touch...thank heavens for wifi!

9.1.11

My Favorite Imaginisce Project: B-Day Bash Card Bucket

This is one of my most favorite Imaginisce projects I create recently. Many Imaginisce fans might be stopping by because of a post I created on the Imaginisce blog called, 10 Things I Didn't Know About Lori Allred.  Since I do the social media and coordinate the Imaginisce design team I thought this would be a fun way to get to know the entire 2011 team, and figured we'd start with me. So check back often this week to learn about the amazingly talented people I have the lucky pleasure to work with every day!

Anyway, I found these pictures while I was cleaning up my folders on my computer and realized I hadn't shared them yet. I originally made this fun project using the B-Day Bash Collection from Imaginisce. I then cute the scallop boarder and title on the clear can with brown vinyl using my Cricut Expression. It's been a while, so I can't for sure tell you which carts these are from. But vinyl is still my most favorite thing to cut on my Cricut!
Oh the bucket is filled with BIRTHDAY CARDS...made with coordinating papers, etc. And one of my favorite i-rock tool techniques is to add bling to "vinyl" and it worked amazingly on this fun project. I've never tried adding bling to vinyl directly on my wall, so I'll have to get back to you on that one.

Thanks for stopping by today. If you didn't come to my blog by way of Imaginisce's blog, then be sure to check out my 10 Things You Didn't Know About Lori Allred post. You too can win an i-rock tool if you leave a comment on my blog today and then return to the Imaginisce blog and let them know you stopped by my blog. Thanks so much for coming to see one of my favorite Imaginisce projects! 

Allred Design, mommy blogger, scrapbook, paper crafts

7.1.11

B-Day Bash Scrapbook Double-Page Layout - Free Download!

I was playing with a new online publishing site this morning and loved this new one. So I uploaded a fun double-page layout instruction sheet I created featuring Imaginisce's B-Day Bash Collection for everyone to check out too!! 

For additional inspiration, check out the online Gallery of Imaginisce ideas too!
Allred Design, mommy blogger, scrapbook, paper crafts

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