Lottery Fever!

We rarely buy lottery tickets. It seems like such a long shot, such a waste of money.

But we got caught up in it this time. It was just soooooooooo much money. And SOMEONE is going to win it, why couldn’t it be us? I mean the only sure thing is that if you don’t buy one, there’s no way you can win! So we succumbed.

We bought 20 tickets. And then we waited. And did a little dreaming.

Of course there would be a charitable foundation. Maybe a nice piece of waterfront property and house on Maui. Probably a plane. I would think we’d buy a family compound, where each of the kids would have a house in addition to ours, with plenty of room to add more for the grandkids when they grow up. Everyone would be able to quit their regular job and do whatever job they’d like. I would have an amazing studio – huge – with a separate room for each of my artistic interests. And a business. I wouldn’t have to wait to see if anyone wanted to license me, I’d license myself. And my friends. I’d set up a manufacturing company for producing licensed art in this country – one that gave the artist a much larger cut of the action. And I’d have horses. And stop coloring my own hair. That’s about as far as I got before the results were announced.

Huh! Didn’t even come close. Not even 2 numbers in the same row.

Can’t really say I’m disappointed. I mean really…they say that kind of money ruins people. I know everyone says it wouldn’t, and then it does. But, I know money doesn’t buy happiness. I’m already happy. And I have a healthy relationship with money. It doesn’t rule my life.  I wouldn’t have minded testing the theory.

Darling Owls!

My friend, Jacquie Williamson, is an amazing artist. She posted some quick sketches onto my art group facebook page a few days ago.

Hannah (my 7 year old granddaughter) came over to the computer when I was looking at the photo, commented how cute the owl was, and grabbed a sheet of paper and a pencil. The next thing I knew she had done this sketch.

Of course, I was so proud I immediately ran for the camera and snapped a quick picture. Then I went back to the computer and she went back to finish her picture…

She’s just turning into such a little artist…

To see more of Jacquie’s work visit her blog...you’ll be amazed at the company I’m keeping!

New Toys

Today was supposed to be a productive art day, but somehow it slipped away, lost to a series of little chores.

I really did TRY to get some art going, but when I looked at the studio it was just a disaster, and I wasn’t up for cleaning it up, so I closed the door and found other things to occupy my time.

It was a gloomy, rainy day (I’m not complaining – we need the water desperately!) so I turned on the gas fireplace and did mundane things like dust,  finished sorting all the memorabilia from 2011 and filed it away in its’ album and started the 2012 album (it’s about time!) cleaned the junk out of the trunk of the car…you know, boring stuff that just NEEDS to be done. I even emptied the last suitcase (didn’t put everything away, but at least I got it emptied so it can be put away.) But since the last suitcase was full of art supplies, it made the mess in the studio even worse.

 

When I have such a disaster going in there, I don’t know what would possess me to add even more to it – yes I do, it was that big coupon from Michael’s – anyway, I ended up with some new toys. Lots of new canvases…

Some sepia pitt pens (I was SOOOOOOO happy to find those!) and some yummy crocheted flowers…

 

Then this afternoon the mailman brought some fun, fun, fun stamps I ordered from Christy Tomlinson…

Now THOSE might be enough to get me in the studio mess, or not!

AND! I got my inspiration deck from Jessica Brogan! It is so cool!

 

All in all, not a bad day!

 

 

It Ain’t All Sunshine and Roses…

When I first decided to do this blog, one of the things I promised myself was that I would not be fake about it, pretend to be someone I’m not. So that means fessin’ up when I’m not feeling like my usual happy self. Yeah, Miss Sunshine and Roses has had a less than shiny and rosy day today.

There were several contributing factors (I won’t bore you with the details) and I’m sure the day after day pain of my ailing back has contributed to putting me in a more vulnerable state, but man I was in a funk. Nothing was going right -  there’s a possibility I was being too sensitive to things that normally wouldn’t have bothered me. I finally had to give in and have a good cry.

Why is that such a release, I wonder?

I hate crying. I am not a pretty crying person. My nose gets all red and my already small eyes puff into practically disappearing. I end my pity party with a visit to a mirror which never fails to make me laugh, and then it’s over. I pick myself up by my bootstraps (or in this case my fuzzy socks) and get on with it.

So my normal MO would be to go into hyper-drive and clean house or work in the yard or exercise hard, but said ailing back prohibits that. So, instead I’m just chillin’. It seems to be working!

I guess the point is, we all have off days, but they don’t need to throw us off our game for long. Deal with it, and get back to life. It is just too short to spend it feeling sorry for yourself!

So. Tonight I’m getting together my unfinished canvases to participate in a two-week challenge to get caught up!

I only have 7 so it it is not a difficult challenge. But it’s nice to get a little jump start! I’m glad I have something to look forward to working on tomorrow. Hopefully it will be a better day!

The Best Me I Can Be

In addition to being on a creative journey, I am in search of the best me I can be. I am almost obsessed with surrounding myself with positive affirmations. These usually are in the form of sayings that I seem to collect. Some make their way onto my art work and some don’t.

But I recently discovered a little affirming video. Well, I didn’t actually find it. One of my Fly Girls, Rachel Payne, found it and posted it on our facebook page. I just love, love, love it and wanted to share it with you!

The song is by Mindy Gledhill, and the more I listen to it, the more goosebumply I get.

“Maybe I’m just a little girl, a little girl with great big plans.”

Yeah, I kinda love it!

You can read more about Mindy here.

Tag, I’m It!

Yikers!  Today I’ve been tagged by Lori Moon Studio…she is a fabulous photographer! I’m going to play along (in spite of the fact that I’m up to my eyeballs trying to get settled in after being gone!) and if I tag you – I hope you’ll play too.

The Rules
…you must post the rules
…answer 11 questions the tagger posted for you
…create 11 questions to ask the people you tag
…tag 11 people
…let them know you’ve tagged them

Here are the questions I was asked:

1. Coffee or Tea? Definitely coffee…every day or I get a horrible headache! Addicted much?
2. What’s your favorite color? RED!
3. What’s your least favorite color? Hmmmmm, orange? It rarely shows up in my world until Fall…
4. Do you use your favorite color more in your art?  Only if I’m creating for myself…doesn’t seem like a popular decorating color, so I use it sparingly.
5. Are you a cat or a dog person? Dog!
6. If you could have lunch with one person (alive or dead) who would it be? Barack Obama
7. Carnivore, Vegetarian, or Vegan? Vegetarian struggling to be vegan.
8. What’s your favorite piece of clothing that you wear often? A cotton “over blouse” (which I lovingly call my “bat-wing cover.”) Actually, I have the same one in many colors…it’s become practically my uniform!
9. What’s your favorite way to spend a rainy afternoon? Painting!
10. Snow or Sand? After 25 years of shoveling snow, it’s definitely sand!
11. If you had 12 hours in between flights in NYC, what would you do? Wander around taking pictures!

Now, “Tag! You’re it!” I hope you’ll play!

These are the lovely ladies I’ve tagged! I hope you’ll visit them, whether they play or not!

1. Linda Barutha
http://www.baruthadesigns.com

2. Kris Lanae Binsfeld
http://www.cherishdesigns.wordpress.com/

3. Lori Leissner
http://leissnerart.blogspot.com/

4. Sylvia Drown –
http://baxtersmom1.blogspot.com/

5. Linda Kinnaman
http://lindakaysart.com/

6. Carol Kovach Bray
http://theredpaintedcottage.blogspot.com/

7. Patti Pruhs –
http://threebeadsandastring.blogspot.com/

8. Siobhán Jordan –
http://siobhanjordan.blogspot.com/

9. Kathleen Conard –
http://newfromoldcreations.blogspot.com

10. Helen A Naylor. –
http://findingmycreativewings.blogspot.com/

11. Christina Basso-Lenz  –
https://christinaville.wordpress.com/

The questions I’ve asked them:

1. If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?

2. When you are creating, what do you have going in the background?

3. Do you have a decorating style, and if so, what is it?

4. If you could live anywhere in world, where would it be?

5. What would you do with your lottery winnings?

6. What is you very favorite saying?

7. What are you most looking forward to?

8. What is your favorite outdoor activity?

9. Do you consider yourself politically aware?

10. What is your most prized possession?

11. If you knew the world would end tomorrow, how would you spend today?

Have fun!

Friday’s Bliss List – Saturday Version!

I don’t know why I have such a hard time remembering every week to do the Friday Bliss List, but every Saturday morning I get my e-mail notification of Lori Moon’s Bliss List blog, reminding me once again that I forgot!

So, in keeping with the old saying “better late than never,” here I am a couple of days late.

This week I’ve had much that was blissful.

Our last luscious meal out with the whole family on Maui…the goat cheese and Maui onion tart was simply de-vine!

Our last sunset of this year’s trip…

Our return home to the first signs of spring…

Then there were those few pain free hours I’ve had since my rafting injury, and walking in the door after weeks away and appreciating my darling little house…

It’s been a good week.

Go on over to Liv Lane’s blog to see what others’ are feeling blissful about!

Painting in Maui!

We spent some time in Maui recently. We go every year, so it isn’t exactly a vacation for us, we just live there for a few weeks each year. And normally our family joins us for at least a portion of the time, which makes it even more special.

We have a storage unit where we keep all the things that make our time there more comfortable – beach towels, snorkel gear, most of our clothes, a printer, computer monitor, night lights…you know, stuff we use every day and don’t want to/or can’t haul back and forth. Since we’re just living there, rather than doing the tourist stuff over and over, we spend a lot of time hanging out at the condo, so we need stuff to do, and we use our suitcases to take some of it over there with us.

In year’s past, that has been a ton of books (before the Kindle days!) or stuff to scrapbook. This year it was my painting that had my attention, so I took plenty of canvases and supplies…

After all was said and done, I didn’t get as much painting done as I had planned, but at least I had my stuff with me, and when the urge struck I could play!

It wasn’t a total waste of a suitcase full of supplies, because while I was playing one day, I finally came up with the look I had been trying to find – a little less “Pier One”

and a little more “tattered ‘n worn.”

It’s not that I don’t like the earlier work, because I do. It’s just not as representative of ME as the new one is…

Anyway, I’m glad I had the quiet time to let the new style come out.

We had so many wonderful times it will be hard to decide which few pictures and stories to share, so I’ll start with a photo that speaks for itself, and get to the stories another day…

Aloha!

 

Cute Shoes Trauma!

Okay, so if you saw my post a few days ago on cute shoes, you saw that I half LIVE in these shoes…

I wear them from the time it is warm enough for sandals, ’till the day it is too cold again, and for where I live,  and including the time we spend in Maui, that is a big chunk of the year. They are a sorta fake cork look, and the straps are a velour type fabric instead of leather or plastic so they don’t rub or chafe. They are practical, comfortable and even a little sexy. You can wear them with jeans, shorts, cropped pants, and dresses. They can be casual or even a little dressy. I just love them to pieces. And from the pile of older ratty looking ones I still have, you can tell!

Well, each year before we leave Maui, I stop in at Maui Clothing Company to replenish my supply for the rest of the year. As much as I love them, they are inexpensive, and therefore the quality isn’t fabulous. As hard as I am on shoes, I go through 2-3 pairs a year.

Imagine my horror when I went in the day before we left and they have been discontinued! ACK! I suppose I always knew in the back of my mind that this day would come eventually, but these shoes are so simple they are timeless, and I sorta thought they’d be around for a long, long, time!

One of the clerks was super nice and called all the other shops on the island, and no one had them. She even got out the vendor list for me and found out who the distributor was so I could try to track them down somewhere else.

I came back to the condo and got on the internet, to no avail. I cannot find them, and I am nearly heartbroken. There is something sad about being this attached to something, but I am. My only other option as I can see it is to take them by my shoe repair guy and see if they can be resoled. They are such cheap shoes he will probably laugh at me, but the ridicule will be worth it just to know I did everything I could think of to keep them in my life. And maybe, just maybe, he’ll be able to do it.

Now to work up the courage to do it. Right now, I have hope. If he says no, the hope is gone. Do I really want to know there is no hope? Seriously? Am I really making myself this crazy over a silly pair of sandals? It appears I am.

On a happy note, when I was digging out all the “used” pairs, I found a brand new pair, thus extending the amount of time before I have find an alternative!

And best yet, they have a tag showing a different vendor than what the clerk told me, so I have another avenue for investigation…woohoo!  Didn’t find the actual shoes on their website, but I e-mailed them…Maybe persistence will pay off!

Back To Reality

Well, as some of you know, we’ve been in Maui for awhile, and just returned home.

I know I didn’t blog about it while we were away, and that must seem a little odd. But, there are those creepy people out there in the world that mine blogs for information about people being on vacation and use it for burglarizing their homes. My husband is a bit more concerned about it than I am, but if something had happened, I would have been held responsible, so I agreed to not make it completely public until we returned home.

So here we are, and I’m bursting at the seams to share some stories and photos, but not tonight.

Even though the flight was only 4 hours and 16 minutes (we had a GREAT tail wind!) I’m beat. So I’ll leave with a picture of one of our last sunsets, then I’m going to hit the sack and I’ll see you tomorrow!