A glimpse of my city

I thought it would be neat to share a little more about where I live :) Above is where New Port Richey is located in Florida. It's about an hour north of Tampa.

Here's the city entrance, I love all the flowers! Here's a couple stats of NPR:

Population:

16,334

Incorporated: 1924

Founder: Captain Aaron M. Richey

Unemployment: 4.4% (I think this is higher now lol)

Famous Firsts & Trivia: New Port Richey was selected as the future home site for famous silent film stars before the depression changed the economics of the plan. Silent film stars Gloria Swanson and Thomas Meighan were frequent visitors of the town. The coastline west of New Port Richey served as the location for the 1978 Lee Majors film, The Norseman.

Major Economic Engines in the Area: Citrus products, Retailing, Healthcare

Cost of Living:

93.13% of U.S. Average of 100%

Major Employers: School District, Government, Hospital

Here's one of the boating ramps, my parents in-laws have a boat, so I hope sometime we'll go on the river!

Here's a really nice mural in the downtown area.

Here's one of the nicest beaches in the area, Clearwater Beach. It's about 45 minutes south of where we live. I really hope we get to go to the beach soon! Esp. since it's getting hot now!

Mail, Swap-bot, and stuff

Hi Everyone! Finally got some time to update my blog. I had a good mail week, with 3 beautiful swaps coming in : A great group swap from Denmark :)

A lovely private swap from Germany

A really cool Easter chocolate swap from Finland! They were very different from what we have in the U.S., and I especially liked the Scandinavian looking packages :) Very cute, and yummy too! I guess I have to say I'm a CHOCOHOLIC, hahaha.. anyone with me on that one?!

I've been participating more on swap-bot, it seems to be a really cool site with lots of different swaps. I'm still waiting for 2 of my swaps to come in. I think there is a higher risk of getting ripped off on this site, or getting something that didn't meet the requirements (that happened to me this week, I got sloppy FBs instead of the High Quality that were supposed to be sent, and the swap was named that!! LOL). But it's still fun and an interesting way to meet new swappers. Has anyone else tried it out a bit?

Not too much else is new.. I applied at a few stores in the area, but never heard anything back. Guess I'm just meant to be a stay at home wife!! haha! If only I could get paid for that! :)

See you later, have a fab weekend!!! <3 Steph

Apple birds

Paul and I decided to try and make some Apple birds! We found this old Garnishing book he had and it looked like fun! It turned out ok too!! And the best part is to eat it after all your hard work, LOL :)

This weeks mail

Well had a great mail week thus far! I've received these cuties (All for Sharon FBs) from Scotland the other day:
Today I received a nice group swap from Australia:

A lovely selection via group swap from Romania:

And she included a homer for me! Thanks Laura, you are great :) I will make you some thank you FBs. This FB was made by me late 2007 themed "Candles" and it travelled to Germany, Netherlands, Finland, Indonesia, Romania, and Austria. Thanks to all who signed!

The photos are probably very high-res and the big ones might take a few to load. I'm using my scanner but I haven't figured out how to cut down the file-size yet. And my darn camera is having issues again, so I can't take pics!! Grr. Have a lovely weekend everyone! <3 Steph

Good mail day

I had a very good mail day yesterday! I received this homer made by my good friend Eniko via Swappers-world, and it was returned by dear Yuko! Thanks so much Yuko! I will make you a thank you FB :). And then I received a deco homer! I made this "Your fave celeb" deco about 3 years ago! I can tell my style has changed a bit since then, LOL but I was very happy to receive it home! And it's special because it's of the late Heath Ledger <3. Thanks to Yvonne in the U.K. for returning this sweetie home to me!

Here are the entries:

Facebook buddies request ;)

Per Sams and Mir's request (hehe!) Here's a few of the FBs I've made this week: Johnny Depp as a "Hot Guy" FB :)

Valentine's FB

Cinderella FB

Hoping to get my camera issue fixed so I can show you some of my lovely mail I've been receiving! :) Have a wonderful week!

All for One & Valentine FBs

Just finished making the Valentine FBs, and I made the All for One FBs yesterday. I'm only happy with about half of them.. LOL. It's hard sometimes! I feel I get it right on some, but definitely not on others. What inspires you?? I need some creative motivation.