View from the Cooper Mountain Trail

View from the Cooper Mountain Trail
Originally uploaded by Rachel Houghton

A brand new nature park opened up today in Aloha, Oregon.

http://www.oregonmetro.gov/index.cfm/go/by.web/id=16016

Cooper Mountain Nature Park has three trails. My husband and I walked the Cooper Mountain Trail, which is the longest trail. It was an absolutely gorgeous morning to go for a walk. Of course, the later half of the loop is pretty steep, but it was well worthwhile. Probably took us about an hour, and that was with me stopping every so often to get photos with my new camera lens (18-55mm DX VR lens from Nikon).

World of Coca-Cola

World of Coca-Cola
Originally uploaded by Rachel Houghton

This is one of my photos from the world of coca-cola in Atlanta, GA. I used the "300 Look" Lightroom preset from Matt Kloskowski (free from http://lightroomkillertips.com) - it pops out the red and adds a nice sepia tone to the background.

All right, since I was asked so nicely, I'm posting my "scrapbook sale ready" items on the blog.

Mostly Stampin' Up rubber stamps, but there are some acrylic stamps and quote books in the mix.

Shipping is USPS Flat Rate Priority Mail rates as listed here (depends on size and amount of stamps):

http://www.usps.com/prices/priority-mail-prices.htm

I'll only accept PayPal. When I accept the saljavascript:void(0)e, I'll give you my PayPal email address.

I'll edit this post as stuff sells, or point to a new post.

Stampin' Up Rubber stamps

Best Bar Codes (set of 4, never used, unmounted) $8
Stamped From the Heart (Set of 4, never used, unmounted) $8
A Light Heart (Set of 7, never used, unmounted) $15
Happy Harmony (Set of 6, never used, unmounted) $10
Tagger's Dozen (Set of 12, never used, unmounted) $10
Holiday Tag Team (Set of 14, never used, unmounted) $10
A Grateful Heart (Set of 6, lightly used, mounted) $8
A Perfect Princess (Set of 7, never used, unmounted) $15
Holiday Happiness (Two Step Stamping, Set of 8, never used, unmounted) $15
Riveting (Set of 8, never used, unmounted) $8
Sketch an Event (Set of 8, never used, unmounted) $15
Stardust (Set of 4, lightly used, mounted) $10

Fontwerks Rubber Stamps (ALL UNMOUNTED, NOT SEPARATED)

Henna (Tia Bennett) $20 (new in package, never used)
Flower Power (Elsie Flannigan, now Elsie Cake) $20 (new in package, never used)

Acrylic Stamps

All My Love (Heidi Swapp, 1 phrase stamp, never used) $2
Crowns (Heidi Swapp, Set of 4 crowns, never used) $5

Heart Smudge (Basic Grey, never used, new in package) $10
Swirlie (Basic Grey, never used, new in package) $10

Journal Stamp (Rusty Pickle, never used, new in package) $10

Friend (7 Gypsies, 97% Complete Stamp, never used, new in package) $10

Books

Quote Unquote, Volume 1, $5
Quote Unquote, Volume 2, $5
Quote Unquote, Volume 3, $5

Chihuly

Chihuly
Originally uploaded by Rachel Houghton

Prior to the conference in Atlanta, my friend Jackie and I went to the Atlanta Botanical Garden. As soon as I saw this glass on the fountain, I *knew* it was Chihuly glass! It's definitely a center piece.

Cleo looking innocent

Cleo
Originally uploaded by Rachel Houghton

Yep, she's got that innocent "I'm lovable and how could you believe anything bad about me" look on her face!

Impromptu photo shoot this morning with all three cats and a sunbeam.

Me at the Atlanta Hard Rock Cafe

Me at the Atlanta Hard Rock Cafe
Originally uploaded by Rachel Houghton

My STC friend and colleague, Nathaniel Lim, took this photo of me in front of the window at the Hard Rock Cafe in Atlanta, GA. We were amused - maybe we were so tired from the conference that it was amusing, but nonetheless! :)

Murphy in her sheepskin

Murphy in her sheepskin
Originally uploaded by Rachel Houghton

This is our oldest cat, Murphy. She's 10 years old.

She loves to sleep in her sheepskin, it's one of her favorite places. She has other sleeping places, but this one is all hers. None of the other cats sleep in this sheepskin.

Tiptoe through the tulips with me

Yellow Tulips with 1 White Tulip
Originally uploaded by Rachel Houghton

One of our out of town friends went with us to the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm in Woodburn, Oregon. Every year in March and April this farm has a Tulip Festival. We were down that way, checking out Fry's and other stores, when we decided to go there on a whim.

Even though it's near the end of the festival (it was supposed to end today, but they extended it a week), there were still some awesome blooms.

I took this with my dad's Nikon D50, which he graciously loaned me to go to the STC conference in Atlanta. His D50 is much much lighter than my D100, and both cameras use the same batteries and chargers. His camera will make it easy to take photos without worrying about the weight of the camera with my shoulder recovery.