Thanks for visiting my art blog. Here, I will post my paintings and talk a little bit about my daily life.
Visit often and stay as long as you'd like.
Enjoy!!
Sean and I didn't really have a chance to celebrate our 9 year anniversary this summer as we were leaving for Britain the next day. So we put it off until the end of the summer and did it in style...with the help of several gift cards. Hotel, spa, and dinner were taken care of. Pretty nice!
It was a beautiful August weekend. We arrived at the Ocean Pointe Resort early and checked in. Not only we did we have a gift card to cover the hotel, we also had a complimentary upgrade to the best available room. Well, the best available room that day just so happened to be the PENTHOUSE!!
[this is Sean taking my photo from down below]
[this is looking down from the penthouse]
[Victoria's beautiful harbour]
The penthouse was pretty sweet. It had a loft bedroom, 2 bathrooms, kitchen, full living room, dining room...
and of course, a gorgeous view.
That evening we went out for a fabulous dinner at Cafe Brio, thanks to our good friends, K & D.
There's nothing like a warm summer's eve downtown.
The next morning we had a couple's massage at the spa. This was our Mother & Father's Day gifts to each other this year. It was a nice way to finish up our mini vacation.
It is finally autumn and although it is still warm out, summer seems like a distant memory...but a good one.
This has definitely been my longest hiatus from blogging since I started in March 2009. I do apologize if the word "exhale" now haunts you in your sleep. It has just been one of those months [or two months, in fact] where I didn't seem to have any free time to do anything creative. Not only have I not blogged in a month, I haven't painted in almost a month, as well.
So much going on these days. After the art show at the end of May, all my efforts were put into teaching, year end school stuff for the girls [including fun day, school bbq, 2 class picnics, field trips, and a talent show in which both Macy and Emmy performed], a dance recital for Emmy, my MIL moving, a commissioned painting at the beginning of June, birthday parties, a food fest, a Norwalk-like virus hitting the females in our house, a skin infection for poor Emmy, and throw in regular life stuff. Phew! We've been busy 'round these parts.
And now we are getting ready to go away.
Yup, that's right. The girls and I are going to England and Scotland for a few weeks. Sean is staying home and getting much needed work done around the house. We are going with my mom & dad whose relatives all still live in the old country. So we are off to visit them, including my grandfather who lives in England.
So if I don't blog for a few more weeks, you will know why. If I find myself with time to spare while I am away maybe I'll post a few thing. But if not I'll have a big blog post at the end of July.
About 6 months ago my dad and I decided we'd "run" the TC10K in May. I promptly put the thought out of my head. Then in January after Sean signed me up for the 10K I thought it was time to get training. I was off and running. I started slow. Really slow. Too slow. And then I kind of stopped. By mid March I knew there was no hope of actually "running" the race, but having walked it twice before I knew I would finish just not as a runner.
Race day was Sunday morning. It was a beautiful Victoria spring morning. There were 14 000 runners/walkers. It was a really nice course to run. Everyone I know who ran did better than they had hoped. My dad came in just over an hour but could have easily done sub 60. Not bad for an old guy. Sean was sub 50...49.03 to be exact. But he has decided next year he WILL be sub 45. My friend Tanya thought she'd be about 70 minutes, finished at 54 minutes. Pretty fabulous for a 40 year old chick.
Something I know about myself is that I am a slow runner. I can brisk walk faster than I can run. I am not kidding. Although I was jogging about half the course, this didn't help my time. However, I am happy that this was my fastest time walk/jogging a 10K. I did it in 86 minutes. Yes, pretty pathetic, I know. Especially when, you will see below, larger and older people finishing ahead of me. I am okay with that.
I actually really enjoyed the race. I can't believe I just said that. But it was fun. The weather was perfect. I felt really good, despite the fact that I have had a horrible chest cold the past week and haven't slept well in weeks. I also had a bruised toenail which didn't cause me any discomfort until after the run. Now I have a pretty gnarly looking toe, all bruised and swollen and my body is aching all over.
After the 10K we met up with my mom who had brought the girls downtown to run the Family Fun Run. This was Macy's second time and Emmy's first. There was a bouncy obstacle course, face painting, and live music.
It was a nice way to start the month. Welcome, May!
Will it ever end? I mean the non-stop colds that our household has been afflicted with since winter began. Now we are into spring (although you wouldn't quite know it) and Emmy is home from school again with a leaky nose, a gravelly cough, and a warm head. Although now she seems to be full of beans and I wonder if I should have just sent her to school...always the way. She only just got over a cold two weeks ago and two weeks before that and two weeks before that and... And Macy is no different. She gets over a cold, Emmy gets it, Macy gets another one, then Emmy. Are you seeing that pattern? Well this pattern sucks and I am sick of it.
AUTISMAWARENESSWEEK
This week at Macy and Emmy's school they are having a big fundraiser for Autism Awareness Week. The school is asking for donations. The money raised will go to ACT - Autism Community Training to help support children with autism and their families in our community.
Macy and Emmy are excited to donate money that they have been saving for causes just like this one. This one is of particular interest to us as we have a couple of friends with autism. One of Macy's very good friends has autism. As a teacher, I work with children with autism all the time. In fact, with the exception of one classroom, every class that I have taught in this school year has had at least one child with autism, sometimes two.
The numbers are staggering. One in one hundred children live with autism spectrum disorder, a condition that affects more children in our province than pediatric cancer and diabetes combined.
In addition to donating their own money (and ours), the girls are also taking pledges this week. There is an added incentive for them, they can win prizes! The more money they raise, the more chances they have of winning a prize. [Just to be clear, for every $5 they raise they get a ticket which they can then enter into a draw for the individual prizes. They do not have to raise the most money in the school to win a prize.] You can only imagine how much money our school will be able to raise with chances to win an iPod Touch, Nintendo DS, Hockey gift packs, Ski Chalet rentals, and the list goes on.
If you would like to donate any amount of money, just drop me a line (by Sunday, April 17) and I'll add you to the pledge list. [But absolutely no pressure, I mean it.]
I'll let you know next week how much money our school raises.
I CANNOT wait for spring. Not because I am sick of the rain...which I am. Not because I am tired of being cold all the time...which I am. Not because I miss sunny days...which I do. I CANNOT wait for spring so we can say adios to cold and flu season. I am so sick and tired of my poor family being SICK and tired for the third go round since Christmas.
Over the holidays a nice little bug made its way through our house and through each of our intestines, if you get my drift. Then only a few weeks ago Macy was off school for a week with a fever which she passed on to Emmy. Now, after only a couple of weeks of being healthy, Emmy has the dreaded cold and cough making her a real grump. Being the generous soul that she is, she has selflessly shared this little bastard bug with her dad and Macy. And you know I will be down for the count in no time.
Thankfully, tomorrow is a day off school. We are going to chill at home all day and try to kick this cold in the rear end.
I can tell that spring is near though. Flowers are starting to pop up all over the place. My personal favourite...tulips.
Speaking of tulips, here is yet another tulip painting on display at the Boundless art show:
BE YOURSELF
12 x 12. Acrylic on Canvas.
NOW: Time to disinfect my house and pop some vitamins.
While Sean watched the dreadful Seahawks game and began work on tiling our fireplace's hearth, the girls and I set out on some much needed mother-daughter time.
We headed out to Sidney. While it rained in town, the closer we got to Sidney, the sunnier it became. Throughout our drive, rainbows kept popping up in front of us, some large and vibrant, others faint and distant. But they were always beautiful.
In Sidney, we met friends for a couple of games of 5 pin bowling. It was the first time bowling for both of the girls, other than Wii bowling ;) As it turns out, Emmy is a natural and spanked all the other girls who are at least 1 1/2 years older and 6 inches taller. She has been bragging ever since about how she won both games. Macy was really good sport considering she was no where near Emmy's scores.
After we said goodbye to our friends we had a rare visit to Ronnie Mac's. If that wasn't bad enough, after McDonald's we drove over to Dairy Queen for dessert. [McDonald's was out of ice cream and I had promised myself them a treat] I can hear you chanting "Shame, Shame..."
By this time it now felt like spring. It was at least 15 degrees outside and we had all stripped down to our t-shirts. I LOVE it!!! Nothing like spring weather to make you want to shop. We strolled around Sidney for a bit before picking up a few groceries and heading home.
As we drove towards town the skies grayed and the rains began again. Turns out it had been raining all day, in town.
We ended our day with dinner at the grandparents. A lovely end to a lovely day [and no dishes to clean].
I find it hard to believe that 5 years ago yesterday I gave birth to my youngest child. Where has the time gone?
Happy 5th Birthday to my sweet little girl, EMMY!
a.k.a.
Well I guess it's probably time to start working out and get rid of the "baby weight". Don't doctors say to wait five years after birth to start exercising again? Oh...5 weeks you say?!? Oops, better get started.
And also, Happy Birthday to my MIL, Maggie, who shares the same birthday with Emmy.
When Macy lost here 1st tooth last week I emailed the Canadian Dental Association so that they could send her a Smile Certificate. It just came in the mail this morning.
They sent a nice letter of congratulations and a bunch of activity sheets like connect the dots, word search, maze, and a colouring sheet. Nice, hey?
Macy will be pretty excited when she opens it. [Note: I did open the envelope to take this photo (and I am nosey) and then I put it back in the envelope and glued it back up. She'll never know. Please don't judge me.] Okay, no more talk about teeth.
MY ART: Tonight I will post a couple of photos of my latest painting. Today I am going to see if I can get another painting finished and maybe even start another. I am on a roll and I love it.
I am also working on updating My Gallery page. I want it to be its own separate website where I can showcase my art. And I want a more professional looking space where clients can go to see my art without having to always go through my blog. I'll let you know when it is up and running.
So far, October has been absolutely beautiful in my neck of the woods. What is the weather like where you live. I hope it is beautiful wherever you are. Have a fabulous weekend.
A few changes happened in our household this past week. First our international student went home after living with us for 6 months. The months flew by and the girls fell in love with her. It was a great experience for everyone and she will be missed.
Then after a month of waiting Macy finally lost her 1st tooth and she was vibrating with excitement for days.
The tooth fairy left her some cash under her pillow and a photograph of the tooth fairy looking over Macy as she slept. [When I mentioned in this post that Macy's tooth was loose, someone left this link to a free photo with the tooth fairy]. Pretty cute. Then I emailed the Canadian Dental Association who will be sending her a "Smile Certificate" for losing a tooth. She hasn't received it yet but she will be pretty excited about it.
She had 6 wiggly teeth total. Lost the first one last week and her next tooth is about to fall out. She is going to go from 0 to 6 in no time. She will probably have a toothless grin just in time for Christmas photos.
Thanksgiving is always the beginning of a busy couple of months. We have so many birthdays over the next month, I can barely remember them all. Then, of course, Christmas takes up all of December. So even though I know we are all going to be busy for the next little while, I am trying to make time to paint as often as I can. I have a couple of paintings that I need to finish up and new ones to start. Tomorrow I have all day to paint and I hope the creativity is flowing. I will try to show more of what I've been working on over the next couple of days.
Hope you had a fabulous Thanksgiving. Thanks for reading.
Last week Macy attended the first birthday party of the school year. This one was more fun than the regulars. The girls got to groom horses and ride ponies at a stable out near Saanichton Fairgrounds.
She absolutely loved riding the ponies and wasn't scared at all.
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Hey, I forgot to mention that I went to Cirque de Soleil - Alegria, last week. Out of the blue, one of my friends called me to say she had box seats and asked if I wanted to go. I've never seen a Cirque show before but it was amazing. Some of those performers were doing things that no human being should ever do, like folding their spines in half backwards...I can't even bend over forward and touch my toes.
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Fall is almost here but summer isn't giving up without a fight. Hallelujah. Okay so we had a thunderstorm and torrential downpour yesterday, but today was lovely. With only a couple of days until Fall makes its official arrival, I am going to enjoy what is left of summer.
And with Fall upon us I have been doing some belated spring cleaning. Washing windows, cleaning blinds, cleaning out closets, and culling toys. It feels good to get organized. I am springing into fall with a clean house. And once the deep cleaning is complete, maintenance will be much easier and I can put most of my energy into painting. I can't wait. I am almost there.
Au revoir, summer! You've been a blast. Come back soon.
Well, summer vacation has officially come to a rainy end. After a spectacular summer, weather-wise and fun-wise, we had to call it on account of rain...it's over. The rain is here and the school year is about to begin.
We had a nice weekend. The girls had an overnight at their grandparents' and Sean and I took advantage by going out for dinner. We went to Baan Thai. Spring rolls, curry, and pad thai...officially my favourite meal. YUMMMMM!!
On Sunday, we decided to end the summer with a evening at the Saanich Fair. We spent several hours and way too much money, but the girls enjoyed themselves.
They enjoyed petting the animals and watching the horses.
The midway was of course a hit as we managed to win a bunch of cheap, junky stuffed animals that we wouldn't pay money for if we saw them in a store. The girls loved the rides. The roller coaster was their favourite.
It was a nice end to the summer. We took it easy today and just lazed around the house and watched the rain outside our window. Tomorrow is the start of a new routine. May take some getting used to but we are all looking forward to it.
MY ART: only a little bit of painting this weekend and nothing to show for it. Hopefully once the week gets rolling I will try to carve out some painting time and maybe have something to show for it.
My baby is growing up. Macy has been complaining of a sore tooth for the past week. I thought it must be a cavity. Oh well, it is a baby tooth and we are going to the dentist in a couple of weeks. No biggie. I finally decided to take a closer look at this sore tooth. Turns out it is NOT a cavity...it's a LOOSE TOOTH!!!! Macy is 6 years old and hasn't lost any teeth yet. As a baby she was slow to get her baby teeth and so she is slow to lose her baby teeth. After discovering this new "looth tooth", I decided I should check the others, too. Turns out all four top teeth are wiggly. Holy crapoli!!!
She is totally excited about the fact that she is about to lose four teeth because she is going to make a lot of money. I am strangely sad about it. I feel more sad about losing these little teeth than I did when she started kindergarten.
It is going to be strange when her big, grown-up teeth grow in. I can't imagine her with my big chompers. A friend of mine once told me my teeth looked like big Chicklets.
Tonight, Sean discovered that her two bottom teeth are loose as well. She is going to have a toothless grin for school photos next month. OY!!
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Speaking of teeth, if you have a sweet tooth you would love Sean's blackberry/blueberry tart. Sean and the girls went blackberry picking along the trails by our house. Then they backed this yummy tart from scratch.
I don't usually like baked fruit, but this was good. Even Emmy liked it.
On our last full day on Thetis we wanted to cram as much into it as possible. First, the men took all four kids [2 1/2, 4 1/2, 5 & 6 years old] down the beach to collect clams and oysters for our seafood feast later that day. Upon their return, Sean and Jason hopped in the boat and went fishing.
Then they took the four kids out and each of them got to reel in their own fish including Sophie who is only 2 1/2.
Riley, 5, was proud to reel in a lingcod on his kid's rod. However, the lingcod had to be released. They did keep a couple of rockfish to add to our seafood feast.
Most people might think the boat was fun enough, but not our guys. They decided a camping trip wouldn't be complete without building a raft from a found piece of plywood and a couple of logs. Luckily Sean, for some reason, had brought some large nails with him. [This is Jason working hard]
So after constructing this seaworthy vessel, they plopped the kids on top and sailed out to sea.
I know the kids had fun, but I think the guys enjoyed the raft even more. They floated out to the crab trap and brought in a couple of crabs. Now it was time for our seafood feast. Clams, oysters, crabs, rockfish, and to make it surf n' turf, we bar-b'd up a steak as well. All of the kids tried the clams and oysters, even finicky Emmy.
After the feast, it was back on the raft. All the kids, big and small, took turns jumping/diving off the raft.
Once everyone was dry, we roasted up some s'mores and popped some Jiffy Pop. The kids were so wiped they crashed. Then it was time for the grown-ups to whoop it up with a game of Taboo. Girls vs guys. I won't tell you who won as I don't like to gloat.
Sunday was much of the same...walking the beach, playing in the water, staring out at the ocean. It was time for the students and my MIL to leave and for our friends, the Earnshaws to arrive.
The guys took to the boat and checked out the crab trap. No crabs, but a lovely big sun star.
While the Earnshaws finished settling in, Sean took the boat and set the crab trap.
After sunset, we put all the kids to bed and the grown-ups had time to enjoy the evening. We ended the night with a game of Trivial Pursuit. I won't tell you which couple won, but Sean is still sore about it.
If this view looks at all familiar to you, that is because it is theSleeping Beauty, the inspiration for this painting.
On Saturday morning while I slept, Sean and the girls picked blackberries and checked out the eagle's nest. The eagles had left the nest but there were plenty of blackberries for Sean to make a blackberry coulis for our pancake breakfast. Just as breakfast was being served, Sean's mom, our international student and her friend arrived for their stay on Thetis Island.
Once everyone's bellies were full we went for a walk along the beach looking at all the marine life we could find in the cracks and crevices along the sandstone shore. We also saw a little black mink and a lot of otter poop and eagle droppings.
The rest of the day we spent trying to keep cool...swimming and playing in the water. Sean took the students fishing in the boat and after dinner we went for another row.
Before the girls went to bed we roasted up some marshmallows and sandwiched them between chocolate and graham crackers. Camping wouldn't be complete without s'mores.
We rounded out the night as we did the night before with star gazing, bats, and phospherescence.
Thetis Island Camping - to be continued...
Sorry for the play-by-play of our trips. This is so family and friends can keep up on our lives. I will be sure to add some more art filled posts soon enough. I plan on spending this weekend with paint brush in hand.
We just got back from 5 days of camping on Thetis Island. It was a spectacular trip. Sean's family has been camping at this same, privately-owned, campsite for over 50 years. It is right on the water and with the heat we had this weekend, there is no place I'd rather be than on the ocean where we could swim or wade along the shore to cool off.DAY 1
From start to finish, this was a great family trip. We got an early start on Friday morning and pulled my inlaws' trailer over the Malahat to Chemainus to catch the ferry to Thetis Island. We made it to the ferry with plenty of time to spare so we walked up through the town looking at the murals and enjoying this quaint yet vibrant little town. And of course, as is our tradition while waiting for the ferry, we had ice cream.
After the quick ferry ride to the island we drove through the bush to campsite #4 and set up camp. This is the "Roo".
We always set up a dinning tent overlooking the water and it is where we enjoy all of our meals, wasp free.
These are all the things we enjoyed that evening after dinner:
1)Going for an after dinner row in the boat.
This is looking at our site from the boat. You can just see our chairs (left of centre) where we sit and watch the sunset from. The dinning tent (centre) you can't quite see and the little green tent (right of centre) we put up for our visitors.
2)Watching the sun set - this view never gets old.
3) We watched the moon set behind the mountains.
4)We watched Venus set. (Venus is the little white dot in the top right hand corner)
5) Once it was completely dark out, we laid down on the warm sandstone and looked up at the star filled sky. We showed the girls the different constellations - the Big Dipper, of course. Then we waited... and then the meteor shower began. We saw shooting stars and satellites (which I have always called falling stars).
6) As stars shot through the sky, bats swooped over our heads. Some even close enough for us to feel the wind from their wings. So cool. We saw geese fly just above the water, honking as they went.
7) It was an extra late night for the girls. It was now 10:30 pm and time for the girls to go to bed but not before checking out the phosphoresence. If you have never experienced this before, it is an amazing sight. As you sweep your hand through the water it glitters like hundreds of tiny, brilliant diamonds. And this night's phosphorescence was one of the best I've ever seen. Absolutely beautiful.
Here is a video I found of youtube to give you an idea of how cool it is.
We were barely home from our extra long weekend in Parksville when it was time to pack up again and head to Vancouver for 3 days. We went over for Sean's brother's wedding and thought we'd make it a bit of a birthday celebration as well. Sean and his mom share the same birthday. July 15th. So we had a couple of nice dinners and stayed in the new Delta Grand Villa in Burnaby. The girls had a fabulous time. They loved staying in the hotel, swimming in the jacuzzi, going to nice restaurants, and going to Grossology at Metrotown Mall.
Thursday was Sean's actual birthday and we packed up a picnic and went down to the beach. It was a beautiful evening and we came home to a cake made by the girls.
[I am having trouble uploading my photos to the blog, I'll try again later]
MY ART: Haven't been creative in any way for almost two weeks. Yikes! Guess we've been a bit busy. Gotta work on that. Hopefully I'll have some time, soon.
We just got home after 4 fun-filled days in Parksville. We managed to pack so much into each day.
Thursday was so hot, it was almost unbearable, so we headed down to the ocean for a evening dip and it was perfect. Warm, shallow water....aahhhhh.
Friday was another scorcher and we spent it at Paradise Fun Park on bumper boats, mini-golf, penny arcades, and ice cream. We topped it off with an evening playing at the Beach Playground and then my sister's campsite.
Of course, no trip to Parksville is complete without a trip to Coombs to see the goats on the roof.
We wrapped up the weekend with Sean and my BIL watching the World Cup in my sister's RV. Then we headed home. What fun!!
As enjoyable as our little trip was, the best part of the weekend came when we arrived home to a voicemail telling us that our best friend Kevin, who has been waiting for a kidney/pancreas transplant, finally got his transplant. He is doing very well. We are thrilled by the news and thankful to the family who through their tragedy, were still able to give this great gift. My heart goes out to them.
Today is our 8th wedding anniversary. Although we both almost forgot about it, the girls didn't and performed a little dance for us. They presented us with a homemade card with a drawing of "love tree" (with the branches being different stages of our relationship). And they requested that we end their celebration with a kiss. Too cute!
Last night I wanted to fool around with painting. I have been working on a painting for over our mantle, but that requires a lot of thought and I just wanted to do something fun and playful. This is what I came up with. Sean and Emmy think these look like popsicles. I think they are more like banners or flags each with a heart of my three favourite people. It can be anything you want it to be. love. joy. happiness. my heart.
I may paint more tonight as I am feeling inspired. Or I might just cuddle up with my hubby and watch a movie.
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Well, it finally feels like summer is here to stay. Even our garden is starting to fill out. It had a slow start. Last year at this time it was overflowing but it will get there this year, hopefully. It is nice to have salad fix'ns at our fingertips. Fresh and organic...gotta love it. This is our main garden space but we also have a nice little garden around the side and pots which are producing huge strawberries, tomatoes, beans, peas, and arugula. We are waiting for carrots (orange and purple!) and pickling cucumbers. But for now we have a steady stream of kale, beets, and peas. YUM!!
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Last Friday, I finally finished the 30 Day Shred and it only took me 32 days. Okay so I missed a couple of days but I made up for them. I have to start running again. I am feeling more toned than when I began, but I still need to keep working on shaping up.
One week of summer down, only 9 weeks till back to school. Enjoy!
If you have any questions or comments regarding anything you see here, please feel free to contact me.
You can do so by leaving a comment or emailing me.
