Oh The Wonder...

My favorite picture of this Christmas season.

I can't believe it's already a New Year!

Time really does fly when you're having fun!

A Big Shout Out & Thank you! goes to Anna's Adornments, Tirabaralla, Baby's Breath Homemade & The Acorn Owl for featuring my art in their fantastic Etsy Treasuries!

To stop by their shops just click on their names.

♦ Wishing you the Happiest New Year ♦

A Photo Journey...

...of my weekend.

2010 Artist Studio Tour; Haunted Hotel~ Cary House in Placerville, CA; Olive Hyde Gallery & Mission San Jose in Fremont, CA ; Bancheros~ our favorite restaurant in Hayward, CA & a road side stop for Pepsi with Alien crash landing :)

Self Portraits

I love finding these precious little self portrait surprises on my camera when I go to download my photos! He may be a budding Photographer, Blogger & Tweeter! hahaha

I have been doing a few lino cuts and crocheting. My back has been bothering me and I can't sit & do nothing so I picked up my crochet hook. I listed some crochet patterns in my empty ArtFire shop. I have sold a few on Etsy already. Several years ago I was selling these ponchos as fast as I could make them on Ebay. They really are cute if I say so myself, you can wear them almost all year round. I wish I had time to crochet more than I do. I don't have too many days left until the big opening in the bay area so I am stressing myself out a little by not getting any painting done, but at the same time, sitting quietly crocheting is very healing. Last night I stayed up until the wii hours watching Netflix movies & designing an easy hand warmer that can have several different looks. I am going to keep some and sell a few, and sell the pattern. I have searched & searched and can't find any patterns like this one so I think I can call it my own. All creative people take inspiration from something, and my own poncho pattern inspired these. Click HERE to see my poncho pattern & hat pattern. I should have the hand warmer pattern listed by this evening on ArtFire & Etsy.

A Big Shout Out & Thank You goes to SantosLeather for featuring my art in her Etsy Treasury!

Finally Feeling Like Fall

Wednesday JJ & I had a blast being "Explorers" in the backyard. These are a few of the things we found out there. It's been a while since I posted his picture. Can you believe he just celebrated his 2nd birthday?! He's an "Amma's" boy and I love it! He copies everything I do, says everything I say (which may not be a good thing sometimes!) I treasure my Wednesdays with him. We are getting a lot of great big acorns this year. They are everywhere. Maybe that means lots of rain!? I sure am looking forward to the first rainy day.

Happy 4th of July!

Oscar Meyer hot dogs on the grill, my homemade hot dog chili, coleslaw, corn on the cob, dill pickle potato salad, chips & homemade lentil dip (I added a little garlic, salt & pepper) and blueberry cobbler with french vanilla ice cream. What's on your plate today? Hope you are having a wonderful holiday!

Come Go With Me ...

...to Petaluma & The Great Pacific!

Last week flew by! Hubby's band played a big wedding in Sonoma on Saturday and so we took this opportunity to take a little weekend vacation. His great aunt used to live in Petaluma and on the couple of occasions we visited her years ago, we never went downtown, it was many many years later that we went through downtown Petaluma and it was then that I fell in love with it. Some towns have a good feeling to them and some not so much. Petaluma is a good feeling town. The people are very friendly, there are great restaurants, architecture, cute shops, lots of antiques, the river, and the weather seems to always be perfect when we are there. Next time we go I think I will spend more time taking photographs. While he played I kept myself busy doing a few pastel paintings which I will share soon. Petaluma is famous for it's chickens & eggs, another reason for me to love it. haha

You know how I love to drive, go places I've never been, fly by the seat of my pants with no plans, well my husband hates that. He's a planner. I used to hate that he's a planner but because of it, I have ended up with a lot of great experiences & we've got a lot done that we probably wouldn't have had I been in charge. haha I'd say we balance each other out. Him being a planner is what made yesterday so special because he didn't plan & we ended up going somewhere we'd never been! I love that & he knows it! We left Petaluma and headed for the beach. We ended up at Drake's Beach & the Point Reyes Lighthouse, the windiest spot on the west coast and the 2nd foggiest. Not sure how they measure that but that's what they claim. As you can see it was a beautiful cloudless, fogless day. We approached Tomales Bay on a 2 lane road with the banks covered in eucalyptus trees & wild fennel. The smell was instantly soul healing. It's chilly at the beach unless you are in So Cal so taking the 1/2 mile jaunt up the cliff to the lighthouse without a sweater was a little rough at times with that wind blowing. At the top we were greeted by a big whale skull & blow you over wind that rattled the chain link fencing like a musical instrument. I started down the 300+ steps to the lighthouse but had to gingerly turn around trying not to embarrass myself. I'm afraid of heights & with the ocean moving on both sides of the cliff, the tiny & ladder steep stairs, the wind, ugh, I got verdigo so badly that I thought I was going to fall down or have to come back up on my butt one step at a time. That would have been a sight! I would have been the main attraction! haha

I was surprised the entire day at how many beautiful plants & flowers there were growing on the cliffs and around the beaches. I had to stop & take pictures of them all. I've got too many to share in just one post. I may do a few in black & white to post on my black & white blog.

On the way home we went through the cute little town of Fairfax. I'd love to go back & hang out, maybe camp in the big grove of redwood trees that are just outside of town that we didn't know existed, at the Samuel P Taylor state park.

Awwwwww Yes he did! :)

He even let me pick out dinner... my choice Chipotle burrito bowl with lots & lots of their hottest sauce! Yum! (I ate the leftovers for breakfast) AND he stopped at my favorite produce place in Dixon on the way home! Until yesterday who knew eating cornbread, popcorn & beer bread was such a problem for people! hahaha

A Big Shout Out goes to Paigeweasel, LoftyAmbitions, DownstreamDiva, LuvZit, and WhatsHerName for including my artwork in their Etsy Treasury collections! Thank you so much! Please stop by their Etsy Shops by clicking on their names. It's sweet people such as these that make Etsy a truly special place.

Friday In The Backyard

My yard is full of "Miner's Lettuce". (This plant is the inspiration for my wonky flowers.)

I Love Sticks... Hum....