Sunday in my Art Studio ...

I ran to the store early this morning to get last minute groceries for dinner. Grabbed a Starbucks on the way home. Threw the food in the crockpot. And headed downstairs to my refuge!

A while back Effy had mentioned little manila coin envelopes, so not wanting to miss out on anything I got some. The next day I happened upon index cards that were half-size the normal 3" x 5" and grabbed a package of those, not even putting the two items together ... until today! I  know I could have cut in two all the index cards I have laying around here from the kids' school days, but for $1.50 my time is better spent!

I watched Effy's week 2 videos over again (I started a page for this week before, but hate it!) and this is what came out. I'm pretty happy with it! You can't get the full effect of the gold veining on the heart and envelopes, but trust me, it's really cool!

A summer day at the Farmer's Market/Art Festival

This morning I took a long walk while the weather was cooler. It really started warming up on my way back to the house. And it has evolved into a gorgeous summer day!

After my walk, I immediately tackled the lawn ... well let me try that again! With so little rain this summer (we had 35 days of no measurable rain until yesterday), and we have so little grass growing through the weeds that our lawn is composed of, that I was merely mowing down the weeds' flower stalks. It's looking much better out there ... and even green in some spots, thanks to the buttercups, clover, and some other weed that's doing really well out there!

Then off to release the grime ... then I grabbed my 23 yo daughter and we headed to Edmonds for the Art Festival -- or so I thought.

It seemed more Farmer's Market to me than Art Festival. But we still had fun ... even brought home some lovely smelling soaps and yummy peaches.

Ran into one of my neighbors who has the most beautiful flower beds around. Turns out she has a glass studio in her home and makes the beautiful glass flower stakes you'll see below. I will have to be saving up for some of those! She made them so that you can completely adjust the head of the flower's angle. Love them! I don't think my quick photos do them justice, though so I'll post her website under the photos.

http://everbloominglassflowers.com/

Some more sights from today, because you cannot go to this town without seeing the water or walking on the beach, and we hadn't visited the Marsh Park in a while (where we were treated to seeing 5 Great Blue Herons):

I don't know if you can see him, but there is Great Blue Heron standing to the left of that large clump of grass near the upper left side of this photo. At the time I took the photo, I didn't realize there were four other Great Blue Herons in the tall grass (more in the center of the photo). You can kind of see two of them, if you know what you're looking for.

He is standing very tall in this one!

OK, off to check Facebook real quick, post my link and get myself into my art studio!

Speaking of this Blog Challenge from Effy Wild: I don't know how any of you are keeping up with checking out everyone's blogs, because I know I certainly don't have time to get to them all ... but I sure wish I did!!! So all that to say, I really appreciate the comments that you leave. It means a lot to me that you have come here to read AND leave a comment! 

The Glitterhood is such a unique and special community. I heart it so much!

Ahhh, rain ...

This blogging thing is hard!! Do I really have anything to say? :-)

It's raining today ... and we NEED it!!! This is Seattle after all! I cannot remember a dryer summer. I'm not complaining because I know this is not the norm. It does me good to get out of my comfort zone. The rain feels good to my soul today, though.

The odor in the air when the first drops fall is lovely ... petrichor is the term for it.

I think my daughter and I are headed to the local Arts Festival tomorrow ... rain or shine! Looking forward to seeing what everyone's been up to.

It looks like I may have time to do something in my art journal today. Hopefully that means a picture to share tomorrow. Until then, here's a picture of my three favorite little people:

Enjoy the moment you're in ...

I don't know why it always surprises me that yet another month has flown by. I feel like while I'm stalled, everything else is flying right past me. Need to find the joy and peace that's been eluding me. I know it's mostly attitude.

I've started reading "Peace Is Every Breath" by Thich Nhat Hanh. She says, "Carried away by our worries, we're unable to live fully and happily in the present. Deep down, we believe we can't really be happy just yet -- that we still have a few more boxes to be checked off before we can really enjoy life. We speculate, dream, strategize, and plan for these "conditions of happiness" we want to have in the future; and we continually chase after that future, even while we sleep. We may have many fears about the future because we don't know how it's going to turn out, and these worries and anxieties keep us from enjoying being here now."

So, working on mindfulness ... being in the present moment, enjoying the present moment because it's the only one I have RIGHT NOW! I tell myself the same things I tell my daughter when she's anxious: if you can't do anything about "it" at the moment, you have to let it go! I KNOW this ... and am wanting to make this habit.

Work is extremely slow. I had one project this morning, but alas, it is done. And I sit here for four more hours, thinking up things to do! I'm thankful to have a job, to work for a good person ... but I need something to do!

So today, I will update my friend's bookkeeping records, read, maybe pull out my art journal ... and blog! And enjoy the moment! Ha!

Last night's sunset:

Just about to head to bed but wanted to get a few thoughts down.

This weekend included a quick trip to the ocean for Craig and I so we could celebrate (quietly) our 26th wedding anniversary. He loves the ocean ... granted, he mostly loves the ocean during the stormy fall and winter months ... so what better than to stay at our favorite place. After this weekend, we were reminded why we like our favorite place in the off season! Too many people, too much noise, bad food, bad service, and a rotten frame of mind = a not so great anniversary weekend.

Ah well, we got to spend time together ... alone, no phones/computers, kids and their "things" ... just us. Should be a good thing, but honestly sometimes it's not. We're just not "geling (sp)" these days. We've been here before; I know we'll get through it, and I know we'll be here again. That's just how our relationship has ebbed and flowed over the years. BUT ... it would've been nice if THIS weekend could have been ... well, better.

So I'm left very tired, unrested, a bit stress and anxious about where we're at right now.

I brought home some sand to use in my art journal, thanks to inspiration from Mandee J.! I'm looking forward to trying this out. I'm sad that I left behind two local attractions booklets in the hotel room. I'm sure I have others around I can use though.

I posted these photos from our weekend on Facebook already, but thought I'd add them here, too.

 I was surprised to see any sunset Saturday evening,

because the marine layer had been overhead all day.

 It was really stunning how quickly

the sun sets.

There she goes!

It's always fun to find a road named after you!

I thought this was a pretty little framed path

that lead to the beach where people were digging for oysters.

Another stunning viewpoint along the way. This is along Hwy 302.

This was our first time going home this way. Neither of us had

ever driven across the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

I wish we could have gotten the entire house in the photo.

This is a 50-60's style rambler with these two restored classics parked in the driveway ...

pretty cool sight to see!

Good night!

What I did at work today ...

Not much to do today at work. So glad I brought my travel art kit! Tomorrow my hubby and I leave for the ocean for a couple days to celebrate our 26th wedding anniversary. I guess I was thinking about that when I created today's journal entry. Thank you to Melody Hahn for the happy mail that I incorporated into my entry today ... the leaves and flowers!

Here's a one-sided shot of my travel art kit. I wish it was a bit bigger, so I could bring more goodies! ;-) I got this bag here.

July 2013

July has been a fun month so far. The woman I replaced at work spent her last day on the job on the 12th, so I now have my office to myself. Tasks will be added to her duties as they present themselves. This is a very laid back office, so that is taking me time and lots of self-talk to acclimate. On the 12th, my boss gave me four cooked crabs to take home for dinner. So I made this:

Crab Quiche (recipe can be found here)

This same weekend, I drove east to visit my parents. Went by myself; had a very nice time! Love that drive ... we really are fortunate to live in a beautiful state.

On Wednesday, B and I went to Embellished in Edmonds to paint lilies on 16" x 20" canvases. I'm glad we went because I wanted to learn how they were able to teach everyone to paint the same thing. Except for that, and a good instructor, there was a lot of room for improvement. The canvases were cheap, the paint was cheap student grade, and the brushes were the worst I've ever seen (made it hard to put the paint where you wanted it to go)! And for $40, you'd think they'd include one glass of wine but that was extra. I saw a couple women in class come back to their easels with little tiny "glasses" of wine and am glad I didn't go that route. We spent three hours in class. I have a few more things to do to mine, but here are our paintings:

 The next night, I watched my grandkiddos so E and C could have a date night. They had a painting night at Palettes and Pairings in Kirkland. They bought a deal so paid half of what we did. But their event included one glass of wine or beer. Their supplies were the same quality/condition as the one in Edmonds.

In the morning, before their mother was even out of bed, my two oldest grandchildren, T and A, wrote lists of what they wanted to do with Gramma when she came over later. How sweet is that!!! Here's some of the fun we had:

Two games played outside

Snuggles and a movie (The Lorax)

 Combo art/science project

 Time to eat dinner ... one of their favorites!

Then we played Legos for a short time.

T wanted to play Skylander, but we couldn't find the game disk. :(

Then A wanted to draw (and paint ... but not enough time),

so she suggested I draw her while she drew me.

The kids were excited that I wasn't going to send them to bed at regular time,

and they elected to watch a movie instead of bedtime stories.

We watched Beverly Hills Chihuahua 3.

Right as the movie ended, Mom & Dad came home,

and our afternoon/evening of fun came to an end.

Love you guys!!

Someone posted this on Facebook, and I wanted to be able to find it again. 1962 was a good year!