Vicki O'Dell

A Response...Already?

 

I posted my slide show about our visit to Dorney Park on Thursday and last night received an email from their Public Relations Manager. That was fast!

Here is the response:

Vicki,

 

I must apologize if you found our in-Park audio to be excessively loud. The control system for the audio stream is located in our Administration Offices outside of the perimeter of the Park. It should be set and left alone, but seems that it must have been mal-adjusted on the day of your visit. Just last night I hung up my name tag and radio and enjoyed the Park as a guest with my family. I can, from my first hand experience, tell you that I found the music volume at that time to be appropriate; it was audible, but unobtrusive. I have forwarded your comments along to our Park's General Manager, Director of Operations, as well as a few individuals in our Maintenance Department who are responsible for the audio systems. Upon reviewing your comments they will continue to evaluate and ensure the music is being played at an appropriate level. Please accept my apology for any inconvenience during your visit. 

 

Thank you for the opportunity to address your concerns.

 

--Chuck

 

I had thought a couple of times about finding an office and an employee to say something to about the volume of the music.  Now I wonder if our trip would have been more enjoyable if I had?  I just figured I'd go complain, get myself all worked up and some "kid" would say there was nothing they could do about it.  It could have happened that way but maybe...

Dorney Park

I've been working on uploading our vacation pictures to Flickr, and it's taking me quite some time with the schedule I've had lately, but here is a slide show of our trip to Dorney Park on June 24th. 

 

This is a park owned by Cedar Fair (the same people who own Cedar Point here in Ohio) and we had a great time except for the MUSIC!!  When did amusement parks start playing music full blast the whole day?  I felt like I was in a bar half of the time and we had to yell to hear one another.  Even the kids got sick of it pretty quick (including my metal head sons).  We noticed that the speakers were all set up around the benches and came up with the theory that in order to make more money park admin keeps you up and moving.  If you can relax on a bench you aren't getting thirsty or playing arcade games so in order to keep you moving they deafen you if you try to relax a bit.  We did find an area where the speakers were broken and would head there now and again to take a break. I know it makes me sound older than I am (and I like my music loud) but holy cow! There was a point where I was ready to go complain to management, it made a day that could have been fabulous quite distressing.  Heaven forbid you take a little one that might nap in a stroller sometime during the day. I'd not spend that kind of money on a day at Dorney Park again to leave the park half deaf and irritable from so much stimulation. If, like me, you like your loud music to be an option then you may want to skip this park. 

PS.  I have written Cedar Fair a letter of complaint regarding the loud music.  I'm sure I won't hear anything from them but I had to do it any way.  If I do hear from them I'll let you know what they said.  Don't hold your breath though.

Surprise Guests?

I had a fun dinner with a friend tonight and when we walked out of the restaurant we were greeted by a surprise.  I've always thought I might like to ride in a hot air balloon but I'm so afraid of heights I don't know if I'd be able to enjoy my time aloft.  I even thought about arranging something like this for our 10th anniversary next year...but I don't know. 

 

Vicki-fied Flamingos

I just can't leave things alone.  So many people get a pair of pink flamingos poke the long wire legs into the bodies, pop them into the yard and they are satisfied.  Not me.  I have a way of taking something eveyone else is perfectly happy with and Vicki-fying it.  I just have to change it to suit me. Which means not having what eveyone else has and probably not having what anyone else would want! :)

All together there are six flamingos (BTW it can be spelled flamingos or flamingoes...I KNOW you were wondering!) pictured here and I have eight more in various stages of paintedness.  I used about 10 different cans of spray paint for plastic and went to town.  It was easy to do and this corner of the yard makes me smile!

 

 

 

 

An Evening in Columbus

Yesterday Warren and I celebrated our 9th anniversary which was actually on 7/1.  I didn't want to do much because we have just returned from vacation and spent too much money there (you know how that goes).  So we opted for a nice, relaxing evening at The Independence Day Short North Art Walk in Columbus.  I didn't realize how close Columbus is.  We'll have to go more often. Here are a few pictures I took.  Of course I didn't take any of the art, the Drag Queens or some of the people ...not even of the guy who was riding a bicycle with a tuba strapped to his back or of the art car covered in doll heads).  Not everyone wants a stranger taking their picture. :0)  It was a lot of fun but also very relaxing and just plain old nice to spend the day together without young people. 

Long shot of the street where the art walk is held.

 

Folks dancing in the street.  Fun to watch.

 

Love this building with the ivy!

 

 

If I had to live in the city I think I'd like an ivy covered building like this one. (All three photos are of the same building) Look how green it is!

Dinner at the Columbus Fish Market.  Very good food and dinner for two with a beer was only $50.00. 

 

Giant, rusty fish sculptures out front.

 

We got back around 11pm and got to watch the fireworks of many small towns on our way along Rt.71N.

Good day. :)

I'm Such a Lucky Girl

I used to be one of those people who could say, "I never win anything" but not any more.  In the past couple of months I've been lucky enough to win a few really nice items from blog, twitter and 1000market give aways. 

The first thing I won was a book from Jennifer Perkins at Naughty Secretary Club.  (This was a couple of months ago and I didn't write about it then... Sorry Jennifer!) The book I won was Plexi Class: Cutting Edge Projects in Plastic by Tonia Davenport.

Jennifer reviewed the book on her blog and then all I had to do was make a comment and I was chosen as the winner of the book.  Really, someone else won but they didn't respond so I was second in line.  Whatever!   It's mine now. :) The photos have me dying to try some of the projects but I've had it on my shelf since I won it... I'm on the look-out for a plastic cutter next time I'm in the home improvement store.  I'm usually in one every couple of weeks but things have been pretty hectic lately. Anyway...

The second thing I won was an owl brooch from a Twitter contest from SheRidesTheLion. All I had to do was be the 30th to Re-Tweet a message about the contest and I was the winner.  Isn't it great?  I have the perfect jacket to wear it with too.  As you know, I have an etsy account but I haven't listed anything for quite a while.  This little contest got me back into the site again and I have to say that the hand printed linocuts and silkscreens at SheRidesTheLion are a lot of fun to look at.  In fact, I have my eye on another piece!  Oh, and Sonia included a post card with the owl brooch that is a linocut of a lion.  He's fierce, I love him and he's pinned to my bulletin board.

 

And there is a THIRD item I won just this week.  I don't even have it in my possession yet.  This I won from a gallery opening at 1000markets from a little shop called Ideas Inc. I follow artist Robin Maria Pedrero on Twitter and she mentioned winning a prize and I clicked on over to check it out.  I had never been to the 1000markets website before but I set up an account and went poking around.  There are some really cool shops and hand made items to be found there.  I found a whole day of the dead market! Waaayy fun!

 

So if you are on a social networking site like Twitter and someone mentions a contest don't be afraid to check it out.  Click around, you might find something you never knew you needed OR you might just get lucky and win a wonderful prize too!  Check out all of the links in this post too if you can.  There are some really talented people in the world and I've been so lucky to have some contact with many of them!

Composite Flower Cubes

I don't know why but I have this thing for composite flowers. I adore flowers in general but something about a big old composite flower is just too much fun for me to resist.

Composite flowers are easy to make and on the bottom of cube vases they become a great, low centerpiece that your guests can see one another over.

 

Here is how I made them.

Take 3-4 flowers

 

and a cube vase that has been cleaned with soap and water or Windex. Cut a few of the flowers apart, so that you have individual petals, and save one of the centers complete with stamen to use in the center of your composite.

 

Glue (I used hot glue) a circle of flowers for the outline of the flower

 

and then just keep gluing them in the circle, overlapping as shown, round and round until you get all but the center of the flower filled in; then glue in the flower center that you set aside with stamen. 

 

There you have it! One giant rose from 3 or 4 individual roses.  This composite/cube combo would look great on a reception table with a battery operated tea light inside and you could group 3-5 of them together for more impact. They might also look nice on a buffet table among some of the serving trays. 

Redundant Memo From the Department of Redundancy Department

Warren saw this sign when we got gas today. Cracked us both up!

Waiting...

This morning the guys all took off to hike the Deleware Water Gap but LeAnn and I stayed at the hotel. She had intended to go but her alarm didn't go off. So we girls had a bite of breakfast and then went to our separate rooms to get ready for the day. I'm all ready and packed up but there is no sign of the guys yet so I'm beading in the hotel. I worked on it a while last night while watching the Michael Jackson and Farah Fawcett specials but I got frustrated and put it away. I had run out of thread and tied on more but I couldn't get the beads to look right where the knot is. As soon as I started working on it this morning it went together like a charm!
When the guys get back we are checking out and going back to the house as the pipes and furnace are fixed so we can take showers there again. I'll explain more about that later. Typing on my phone isn't the easiest thing in the world.

Waiting for the Ferry

Here are my peeps waiting for the ferry. The Empire State Building is behind Tyler's big head.