Some projects from last year.

I've been meaning to post some of the projects that I did last year while we lived in L.A. all year long actually and just never got around to it. While organizing my photos on my computer today I saw these I thought I would put them up. :) Teacher Appreciation Week: I made this tree in the display case with Kendyl at Makenzie's elementary school. Every leaf has a different teacher or staff name on them. We just twisted up butcher paper and stapled it up. Angela got different kids to write thank you notes to the teachers and the PTA and she put them in there. I thought it was a great touch!

Here's a close up. :)

The Winter Luau: This first picture is of the volcano that we made for when you first walk in. I have a 5 light lamp that I put underneath. Then we put chairs around the lamp and covered the chairs and lamp in butcher paper. I taped different lava colored tissues to the top, put a fan underneath so it would be billowing the tissues, and draped orange lights around the volcano to look like lava pouring down.

This was how we decorated the front of the stage area where the dj was. Barb thought this one up! It looked so cool in the dark.

We drapped different colored blues and green crape paper ribbons twisting across the ceiling mixed with white twinkle lights so it would look like the ocean and light up the room. I made big palm trees for the front of the party and made huge 7 foot tiki god totum poles. Really I just drew tiki god faces on 4 foot wide butcher paper, cut out the eyes and mouths, put yellow and orange tissue paper behind it, and shone lights from behind to look like their eyes and mouths were glowing. I also hung these little asian parasols from the ceiling for fun. I hate to admit it, but I had a big stash of these because I found them for a $1.50 each in L.A. I always wanted them when I was a kid so that meant I needed to buy about 40! hahaha. I figure we'll find plenty of uses for them. Right now they are fun decorations in our girl's play room and I use them in my preschool class. :) In all it took way too long to decorate for this dance even with my committee of 10-12 people.

Halloween Dance: This was the entrance into the dance and inside we had a lights all over and a huge spider made from oversized garbage bags dangling from the ceiling. We used 50 feet long black table clothes cut into strips and attached to the spider draping out across the ceiling to the edges of the room to look like his long 8 legs.

Here's a picture of us cutting the rug at the dance. We had so much fun. We sure loved that school!

The Primary Bulletin Board At Church: Seth, Trista, and I made this for the Primary in our Los Angeles Ward. Trista found this great background paper and Seth and I sketched the people (mostly Seth). I outlined them, scanned them, colored them in photoshop, cut them out, laminated, and hung them up on the little brown path I made.

The theme this year is "I Will Follow Him In Faith" and so we pictured a bunch of kids on the path to Christ. :) At the end of the path is a painting of Christ and the Los Angeles Temple. It was so fun to work on. It was nice to not have to tear it down after a few hours like when the school parties were done and to see it every Sunday.

Running the Fall Fundraiser: This definitely took the longest time of any project. I ran the fall fundraiser and it was SUCH a headache I wont even go into details of how much work that was. Let's just say Seth was on 10-12 hour days and we worked about the same amount. :)

The reward was awesome though. Who ever sold at least 20 items won the limo ride lunch to Chuck E. Cheese. We raised over $37,000 total, which was about %40 more than any other year because of this incentive. There were 128 kids that sold over 20 items. One girl sold 144! I couldn't believe it. The kids were crazy! Because of school policy we could only fit 8-9 kids in a limo (depending on chaperones) so we did 16 limo trips! Of course Kenzie sold enough to go too. She picked out her own clothes so she could feel like a movie star. Her teacher kept teasing that she was going to Chuck E. Cheese that day to get married.

Kenzie's Classroom And Enchanted Eve: I spent every Monday playing the guitar for Kenzie's class and throughout a lot of the year I came in on Tuesdays and Thursdays to teach art. I loved these kids! (You can see me in the middle with the red hat on.)

For Enchanted Eve Heather Bradley and I pulled the kids a couple at a time and had them paint butterflies on a mail box and write letters about what they love about school. We put in a cd of Heathers that has the Cleo the Butterfly Song that she wrote and recorded.

Here is their little mailbox. We copied the letters and drawings and bound them and gave to their teacher Ms. Burns. It sold for quite a bit at the auction. It was so fun.

It's wonderful to be able to be involved in your kid's schools and lives. It doesn't have to be something huge. (You don't have to be quite as psycho as I am) :) You can spend an hour a week. Really that isn't much to sacrifice. Even if it's to help organize an event, grade papers in the classroom, serve on a site council, cut out pieces for an art project, be on a decorating committee, whatever. Just ask your child's teacher what you can help with. Let them know when you are available or join a PTA and actually go to the meetings and help in something. :) I know I'm on my soap box here, but I feel it so deeply! If more people were involved than 15 parents out of the whole school wouldn't be doing 100% if the work. I love being apart of my kids lives while they still want me apart of them and heaven knows the schools need us. :)

Funniest Mom

This is the funniest ebay posting I have EVER read. That poor mom. Bless her heart. Bless all our hearts. Get a box of tissues. I cried to tears. (Partly because I know what she's talking about).

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130144061675&ru=http%25

ICMM (I Can Manage Myself)

Am I being too ambitious? I don't think so. :) Can 4 year olds learn how to manage themselves? Meaning, keep their hands to themselves, not shout out over and over again during lesson time, push in their chairs when they get up so other kids wont trip, etc. I really think they can and after using this 1 day I can see the beginnings of it working. This is something that I made for my little preschool classroom. Some teachers at my preschool do this and I've adapted to be more "me" and fit my classroom theme. I drew and painted this big castle (3 feet tall) and attached velcro to it and little princesses and knights with photos of my students attached. I drew the little figures, scanned them in my computer and colored them in photoshop in my students favorite colors. Everyday they will take their little figure out of their cubby and attach it to the castle meaning they are ready to start the day and make good choices. I can't believe how excited they are to see their little person on this castle. It they are hitting the kids around them or trying to bug them or not listening during lesson time (which is only about 10 minutes) then I give a warning that they need to manage themselves and they know just what I mean. Quickly they straighten up, but if they don't then I have them walk over to the poster, take off their figure, put it in their cubby and sit in the "thinking chair" and think about how to fix their behavior. It's heartbreaking to see them so sad about taking their little person off, but quickly they change their attitude and modify their behavior. After they've decided to fix their behavior than they can put their little figure back up. (This makes them so happy they will jump up and down- it's pretty cute.)

This is what it looks like with all their figures on. The red knight is missing Payton's picture because he wasn't at open house when I took the photos, but don't worry... I took his picture on Friday and he will have it ready for Monday.

Here's a close up of their little faces. I'm so lucky to have such sweet little stinkers in my class.

The first day I used this I had to have two boys take their figures off and it was so shocking that no one tried to push the boundries. The two boys did so much better for the rest of the class. It's hard to be strict at the beginning, but so important so you can relax and have fun with them later without them pushing you and trying to get away with stuff because believe me, they will. I've nipped a few things in the bud and I think the kids will be surprised at how silly and fun I can be once I've "puppy-trained" them.

(P.S. Just so you know, I mostly give positive reinforcement like praising the kids who push in their chairs or sit well or are being kind and then those not doing so will quickly follow suit to receive praise as well. I just needed to make this for the special few who push and push and are too wild during un-wild times. :))

Blogs that make me smile

I've decided to spread some love. I want to let you know of a few blogs that put me in awe or a smile to my face...

1. Seth's Blog: http://flippinhippenstudios.blogspot.com/ yah, I know. I'm a little biased, but he really is one of the greatest artists I know and I get to kiss him at night. woo woo. He hasn't updated in a bit, but look out because he's been sketching and is about to. Even when he hasn't updated I love looking at the same drawings I always do. My favs are his Halloweenish ones. The posts from last Aug-last Oct. are great! That really cool one of dead couple dressed up fancy about to kiss is one of my favorites (Oct. 20). The girl's dress was inspired by the one I sewed last year for Halloween and I wore on my geeky girl trip. He's won two world wide web contests with that one. One of the prizes was a 5 by 8 foot poster of the Nightmare Before Christmas which is hanging in our garage making us the coolest people on the street I'm pretty sure.

2. Shane's Blog: http://stlewis.blogspot.com/ This is probably one of the best blogs out there. It is hillarious to me! Shane is one of our friends I'm proud to claim. He's a most marvelous artist and so funny too. He will make these little drawings every week or so and have some random story or whatever about them. Seriously, it is fun to look at for hours and hours. Check it out, make it a regular stop, leave comments, have fun.

3. Sunny Smart: http://joesmartfam.blogspot.com/ This is my brother Joe's wife. She is one talented writer. She has a way of writing about regular stuff in the most witty way. She just begun it a few weeks ago, but already it's brought much joy and I am excited to read more posts from her.

4. Emily's: http://www.embers.typepad.com/ She's amazing folks! She's one of my friends from LA. She had just moved from Australia when I first met her and she's an incredible artist. She creates layout pages for several scrapbook magazines and teaches seminars all around the world. I love how she has no boundries with what she creates. She's started an art challenge this last January where every Sunday she posts a topic and creates a small card around that topic. I participate in this but with purely painting to the topic. She's a marvelous person.

5. Shannon Hale's (Austenland and Goose Girl Author) Husbands' Blog: http://www.dreadcrumbs.com/ He's an author too, but a different sort. I've just discovered his site, but may have found my new obsession. His "micro stories" are so derranged, funny, twisted. Anyway, he posts little stories that are 500 words or so and are crazy. You just gotta try it out. A "meat baby" so weird. You'll see. Everytime I read one of his stories and see where his mind went I wonder if he is socially awkward or if he hides it.

Of course I spend a lot of time looking at my friend's blogs reading about their families and happenings. I love all the cool projects my sister does and get a kick out of the way Kristen and Jessica write. If you know of a great blog let me know in the comments. I'm always up for an entertaining new blog to explore. :)

I'm Repenting... :)

Ok. So I've decided that life has begun to settle down enough to try and get a painting in every week again. I just have to for my sanity. Yes, we still have things to do from the move, and the girls have just started school, and I have just begun a new teaching job (Preschool), but I've got to get back into my creative schedule again. I'm going bonkers. I started sketching a new painting and am going to set aside a little bit of time every night to work on it. I may not get one a week done like I use to, but if I at least work on something creative for a moment everyday- than I'll be a happier person. (My kids and dear Seth will love that). :) In honor of repenting and to get my creative juices going again I compiled this year's paintings so far to look at and get excited for my little moments everyday. It's fun to look at them all at once and remember what has happened throughout the year. I love keeping a journal this way.
P.S. The pirate one in the corner was Seth's... I just needed one more to make it even. :) Wish I could claim it. Still can't believe how quick he whipped that one out.

Week 23: Right Now

Emily's Challenge for Week 23 is "Right Now". Basically what's happening right now in my life. You can look at hers here. I feel all I've been writing about lately is what the major things in my life that have been going on. Well, I'm sick of that. :) So I decided to do a card about what is going on in the lives of those around me. Baby girls!!! :) What fun. Is there anything more lovely than a pink baby? Well except a little blue one of course.

My brother and his wife just had a little baby girl last month named Allegra. They also have one year old twins and a 10 year old daughter from his first marriage. Needless to say, they have their hands very full right now. :)

Some of my very bestest friends in the whole world (James and Martha Willis) had a baby girl last month as well and named her Lindy Carolina. (The Carolina part is named partly after me (Karalenn) and partly after where James served his LDS mission! It's true! What an honor!) They've been telling me for years that if they ever get a pink baby they are going to name her after me. James was my swing dance partner through college and one of my best friends. I met his wife in college too and have grown so close to her that I consider her one of my most cherished friendships. She is an incredible woman! Martha discovered breast cancer in her back in winter of 2004. She was in her early 20's with no history of cancer in her family. After a long battle she has come out stronger and more beautiful than ever. She has two older WONDERFUL sons Phillip and Luke, but has struggled through several miscarriages. I'm so happy that they had their little miracle girl. What a great family!

I'm so happy for Emily, Mic, and Ivy with their new little Yindi Willow. She's so beautiful. Here are pictures of her. I just wish that I could still be in California to give my kisses. I'll have to through mail. :)

Last of all my very bestest friend, my little sister is pregnant with her third child- a little girl too! She is due in 5 weeks! I can't wait to hold my new little niece and play with her when she gets a little older. I'm going to teach her all sorts of annoying tricks to play on her mom so her mom can think of her wonderful, greatest, most marvelous older sister.

I'm so happy to know such wonderful people that are bringing sweet, strong, beautiful little girls into the world! I left the top of my card blank in that gold section so that I can print copies of this card and put the names of these beautiful new little girls in there and mail them off to you all. The quote around the card is a favorite of mine. I wrote it all over the walls of one of our homes in California. It is from the play/book Peter Pan and it says, "When the first baby laughed for the first time, it's laugh broke into a thousand pieces and they all went skipping about and that was the beginning of fairies." Isn't that beautiful? Those little glowy orbs are pieces of the baby's laugh that will soon make fairies with one fairy already made watching from the toad stool. I've been daydreaming this card for a few weeks and I'm so happy to see it done and out there. It's more whimsy and fun than what was in my head, which I'm very happy about.

P.S. I just counted an embarassingly large amount of times I used the word "beautiful" in this post. Feel free to give me any alternatives I could use in the future. :) Thanks

Week 21: Your Redeeming Qualities/Qualities You Aspire Towards

Emily's Challenge for Week 21 was: "Your Redeeming Qualities/Qualities You Apsire Towards".

You can find hers here. The first thing to come into my mind were qualities that I aspire towards of course, because I am never satisfied with where I am. I always am thinking of how to improve or how to be better. Once I feel a sense of accomplishment, it is short lived. I soon am thinking how to improve the next time. That's why I love these challenges so much. It pushes me to the very core. I'm so happy to see me come out of my shell with art again. When I finish a piece of art I will feel happy and show it to who ever is around and then I begin to look at it and see what I could fix or do if I were to start over to make it better. I soon learned that the great thing about this challenge is there is always a new painting to make. I can feel happy about what I learned in that painting and not pick at it because I'll get to paint again in a few days.

So instead of picking what qualities I want, I'm going to feel happy about what qualities I have. :) I think one of my greatest traits is my desire to grow and blossom. So I made this painting to represent me as that beautiful butterfly who was not afraid of growth or change. I know I will blossom here in Utah where we have just moved. I'm not afraid of adventures and people that will come into my life. I'm not afraid of the unknown. In fact I'm excited! I will be a better person for it. Work is hard, change is hard, but who's happy with the same old blah? It's in the struggle and work and change that make us beautiful and refined. Growth to me is happiness and beauty.

Week 22: What would you like to learn?

I'm getting closer to catching up, I think. I'm skipping week 21 for now, because I finished week 22 first. :) For Emily's Art Challenge for week 22 she titled it, "What would you like to learn". I love it when I get a good drawing and watercolor painting out, so something I would like to learn is how to do acrylic or oil and make a mural in my girl's new room. They want it to be a princess room and I want to make it look like a real princess room with molding, fancy drapes and bed, a fancy little chandelier and on one side I am going to make a mural. (This painting is an idea for what I could make). Only I want to be able to keep it so I am getting a big flat piece of wood and preparing it for painting on and then painting the mural in my new art/sewing/creative room (eek!). That way I can nail it up and when we need to move I can take it with me and the next people wanting the house won’t have to paint over all my hard work with some boring shade of taupe or yellow. (Actually I really like those colors too.) :) Anyway, you get the idea. I want to learn how to paint in another medium and make something huge out of it. Probably what I will end up doing is cutting two pieces of wood in the shape of arch windows and painting a scene like they are looking out instead of a whole balcony scene.

Deck of Me- Week 20: Change

Well it's been a whirl-wind of a month and it's only going to stay that way for at least another month or two. I finally was able to get to my paints and a scanner to get back into this art challenge thing I do. I have missed being creative with my paints. I feel that all I've done is run around with half a brain trying to move to a new state, find a new house while living in temporary housing and Seth's parents', and move again.

Buying your first home is oh so exciting and insane at the same time. I feel that I have had a crash college course in the matter of a few weeks, but think I may pass with an A because we found a most wonderful home that will close on the 27th of June. (keep your fingers crossed). Everything is ready, we're just waiting now. :) We wont move in all the way until July 20th because we can stay in temporary housing that long. I'll just drive out there and paint and get it ready and then be able to crash at our nice little temporary apartment at night. I'll go less crazy and be able to pace myself better and probably get a lot more done than if we just moved in there with all of our stuff and had to paint with all of that around us.

The last challenge I left off on was Week 20: Change. Very fitting don't you think? I began sketching this card the day before we moved from LA and didn't finish until a few days ago. Now that I've found a scanner I will be trying to get all caught up as quick as I can (I'm 4 behind- eeek) and post them here. It's pretty self explanatory what my card is about. It's one of my favorites I've made I think. I saw a little picture of a tree house that I fell in love with and used for our moving announcement cards that inspired this picture. It's actually quite similar in the tree part of it with the tree house in it on my card and then I just made it me. :)

The home that we've fallen in love with is outside of Salt Lake City in the mountains a bit. The neighborhood seems to have a lot of young families with children our children's ages. From the backyard while standing on the deck you can see the entire valley and Utah Lake. For miles it's just fields and grass and from the front yard you see the little hills and mountains we are next to. It's got a covered deck for outdoor furniture and an outdoor fire pit. I plan to play my guitar out there every night I can. Also there's a hot tub which I will use on the nights I'm not serenading the crickets. It has an enclosed trampoline and fun play ground set for our girls. In fact when we were looking at houses the girls fell in love with the swings and as they were swinging declared, "If you pretty please buy this house we will never fight again. See how well we are swinging together!" So pretty much that sealed the deal for us. jk (Sorry girls, we're not falling for it. Lucky for you we like the place) :)

It is surrounded by such a beautiful garden that has won "Most Beautiful Yard" three different times. The actual house is almost 3,300 square feet with 4 rooms, a bonus loft room, two family rooms, a living room, finished basement, 3 fireplaces, jetted tub, the list goes on and on. The previous owners had a girl so one room is painted all princess and the room next to it is painted to look like a grassy forest fairy land. The girls have decided to share the princess room to sleep in and put their toys in the grassy forest fairy land. Even their bathroom is princessy. I just keep wishing I knew the mom who lived in the house before who did so many fun things to it because we seem to be kindred spirits. It's going to take a while to get all settled in, repaint, and save and buy all the things we need (a car for Seth, washer/dryer and table/chairs) and the things we want (new couches and bedroom set). We wanted to put the best down payment we could down and so for a little bit we are "house poor". We figure it's allowed.

Poor Sethy-poo will have a bit of a commute I'm afraid, but he actually wanted to search mostly in this city or on the other side of the valley and both would be long commutes into Downtown Salt Lake, so I figure I shouldn't blame myself for his terrible 45 minute commute each way. I just hope the car he buys is a good fuel efficient one that will be safe in the winter. Is that combination possible? Any ideas? It still has to look manly you know. :)

Well I'll be sure to post again soon with another painting and probably more photos of our temporary housing the fun stuff to do all around it. For now here's a few pictures of the house.

My Apologies

I think that the stress of moving has caught up to me and isn't quite done yet. We leave this next Thursday so the worst isn't over yet. I don't know when I'll be able to post next or participate in the art challenge, but I'm determined to keep up or at least catch up and post when I get to a scanner. Things are just all boxed and crazy over here. :) So we'll see... sorry for now.

Deck of Me- Week 19: Surprise!

Emily's art journal challenge this week is "Surprise". It ended up being the perfect theme for me to make this be a journal as well. My Makenzie's birthday was 2 1/2 weeks ago and we threw her a surprise party at the park. Seth took her on a daddy-daughter date for her birthday while Kendyl and I set up the party. I've put some pictures below. One of them is of all the kids waiting to surprise her as we've just seen Kenzie and Seth pulling up (you'll notice that almost all of her friends are boys). It was so cute to see her expression as she walked up. She was utterly confused! We had been telling her for the last 6 months that every other year she got to have a big party with friends and on the odd years a family party with just us, so she was not expecting it in the least because she had a big party last year. Surprising her was the best part. :) The other picture is of me lighting her candles and the kids excitedly anticipating a bite. Yum... cake.

As far as my painting goes... it's of my Makenzie throwing my Kendyl a surprise tea party. They are always planning and putting together all sorts of parties each night in the backyard. They'll set up activities and food for us and make up games for us to do. Last week they had us doing a contest where we had to trace our hose with a stick and then run over to a bowl of water and marbles. Quick as we could we were suppose to pick up as many marbles as we could in 20 seconds with our toes. (Of course I won. I have Tarzan toes.) They are such fun little sisters always planning and making sweet little surprises for each other. I'm glad I'll remember how they play together through this little painting.

(Sooz asked a few days ago what size my paintings are. I'll just say it here in case anyone else was wondering... they are 4" by 6" watercolor post cards. So not quite as small as a regular playing deck, but still tiny for trying to put detail in.)

Deck of Me- Week 18: Nature

Well my Makenzie has been begging me to paint a picture of her as a small fairy in a flower or on some flowers. I love how she balances on everything that we walk past and so I pictured her balancing down a branch of blossoms for this weeks card about "Nature". I'm glad I actually got it done. I really didn't think I would with all the craziness of moving going on, but then I realized I just needed to do this to actually help me be more sane. :) And really it worked. I feel so happy to get some creative time in. Another lesson on trying to keep balance in my life. :)

I am so inspired by Margaret Tarrant who illustrated little fairies on flowers etc. for books of poems in the 1920's. I just love her art! She's one of those artists that have made an influence in my style.

GIRLS WEEKEND!

Last Friday was my first ever GIRL'S WEEKEND! This group of us (Me, Betsey, Kristen, Nanette, Hannah, Melissa, and Robin) all went to Stephenie Meyers' ECLIPSE Prom in Tempe, Arizona. And we went in style! :) Stephenie Meyers is the fabulous author of "Twilight" and "New Moon" and is about to release her third book "Eclipse". We left our husbands and kids at home and rented a van driving from Los Angeles to Scottsdale, AZ (near Pheonix). We stayed in a beautiful time share and had lots of fun going out to eat, shopping, hanging around and talking, but most of all getting ready for the book signing (prom) and going. Here's some pictures from the main event of the trip! (My friends took pictures of Stephenie Meyers signing my "Twilight" book that I'll have to post later when I get a copy of the pic). Enjoy the rest of the pictures though.

Before we left on the trip we planned out all of our outfits and helped each other make them. I sewed this dress for Halloween this year to be a vampire after I had read Stephenie's books. I left out the vampire teeth, wig, and vampire collar that I wore for Halloween. (I wanted to feel more pretty this time- hehe). Kristen sewed Nanette's amazing flapper dress and Hannah's super cute hippy dress.

Kristen and I sewed her black and white Jane Austen style dress dress. She looked so beautiful! There's a better picture of all of our dresses a little way down. We spent several hours getting ready and while Kristen did most everyone's hair, I did most everyone's make-up. (It's so fun being a girl!)

The back of my hair. :) I didn't know quite how my hair looked until I saw the pictures that my friends took and now I think I will do my hair like this everyday. :) (I was just guessing at where to put the curls and flowers.) I wore curlers the night before and we stopped at a resturaunt and got lots of funny looks and comments. Good fun.

Here we are walking on the way to the Prom. Melissa is the one that took the picture, so she's missing :( but the order from left to right is me, Betsey, Nanette, Kristen, Hannah, and Robin. We all have dresses from different eras. Melissa (who is not pictured is 70's). Robin is one hot momma in her taffeta pencil skirt and Betsey was a knockout in that lacy number!

This is a picture someone took of me on stage at the prom. I won the runner up for costume for the night. So fun! I twirled and posed up there for everyone to take pictures of me and felt fun and silly all at once. It was embarrassing and flattering to have people coming up to me all night long taking my picture. I felt like one of those people that I see all the time in Hollywood by Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

Here is Melissa in her Gunny Sak dress that her grandma made for her mom's wedding reception 30 years ago. She looked so cute! Here she is posing with Edward Cullen and Jacob Black for those of you who have read the books :) Click on the link of her name (Melissa) highlighted above because she did such a wonderful job describing the night!

For the most part at the dance, the music wasn't very danceable. Then they played a great crazy dancing song that was from middle school- early high school for me. We screamed loudly cheering for old school and yelled for everyone to dance running out on to the floor. We made a big circle spinning and dancing and having a great time. The circle grew bigger and bigger and the next few songs were fun. I'm glad that at least we got in a little bit of dancing. I really wanted to shake it more, but am grateful for the few songs we got in. :) Maybe next time our group could plan the next one. hahaha

This is us out to eat afterwards at the Cheesecake Factory. Of course we caused a scene, but it was more fun than embarrassing (especially with 6 other girls dressed up too). fyi- it is not easy fitting/sitting at a table in a dress that has a hoop skirt and 36 yards of tulle underneath poking it out. :)

At the book signing (prom) Stephenie read the first chapter of Eclipse (book 3), but we missed it. She was selling a special version of "New Moon" (book 2) that had the first chapter in it to Eclipse and so on the way home, we stopped to read it. We actually tried to read it that night after getting back from the prom and Cheesecake Factory, but we were so exhausted that we decided to read on the way home. We found a fun little desert spot to read in and have a picnic. It was especially fun to read in the scenes that Stephenie describes about AZ in her books (most of the books take place near Seattle, but Bella is from Pheonix).

So I am showing that I am officially a nerd for all to see or else beyone cool. :) All I know is that I had the time of my life and love these girls! I will miss them SO SO SO SO SO SO much when we move in less than 3 weeks to Utah. :( I hope I can find super cool, nerdy girls to hang out with in Utah too. It was the best, fun trip ever and I want to do more like these in the future. I came back invigorated and full of gushiness for my family that I missed and gushiness for my friends.

I Should Be In A Painting :)

Who Should Paint Me? I took a quiz to see what artist should be the painter of a portrait for me.

Who Should Paint You: Tamara de Lempicka

You're universally attractive with a modern appeal A portrait of you would be both bewitching and approachable

What Artist Should Paint Your Portrait?

I like this painting that hangs in the Getty Museum here in LA. :) It's a Portrait of Leonilla, Princess of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn by Franz Xaver Winterhalter .
Although, I am also a huge fan of Edmund Blair Leighton or anything Art Nouveau.

Deck of Me- Week 17: My Bedroom

Big dilemma this week... make a painting of my room now or as a kid for Emily's Art Challenge? The reason I would want to paint it now is the ridiculously large pirate ship on our dresser that my husband put as a "decoration". I suppose it's to off-set my girly things in there. (I actually really like pirate stuff- but don't tell him that- he thinks he's getting away with something.) I even had a pirate ship on my list of what I wanted to paint at some point, so I thought it would be perfect. Then as I read about other people's bedrooms from their childhoods I had a new idea of what I wanted to paint equally as bad- a Strawberry Shortcake card!

Growing up, my room was completely Strawberry Shortcake. I had strawberry wallpaper, pink walls, bedspreads, toys, puffy sewn material cut out things of Strawberry Shortcake characters hanging on my wall, the list goes on and on. My mom sewed a life size Ragedy Anne doll in Strawberry Shortcakes dress and made me a matching dress to wear when ever I wanted. I use to wear that thing all the time. (I still have my doll and extra dress and it's been fun to dress my girls up in it). My doll, dress up clothes, and room were my pride and joy until I was about 7 years old. After that I began to shift to other interests.

Around 11 or 12 I began to beg my parents if I could re-wallpaper my walls and repaint them. They never let me. So I covered them in posters of 90210, New Kids on the Block, and Michael Jordan. My posters switched to other interests and increased throughout the years. By the time I left for college I don't think there was a spot on my wall that showed pink or strawberries. (funny enough- when ever I go back home for a visit, I still find it pink and strawberry filled). :)

So my solution to my dilemma of what I would paint you ask?... I sat down with my husband and we drew and painted side-by-side. I made a Strawberry Shortcake card and he made a pirate painting- ArrRRrrrr. It was a fun couple of hours.

Seth really only paints his drawings that he's scanned in the computer using Photoshop and Painter. It was wonderful to see him using my brushes and paints and coming up with something so beautiful and fun to me. I hope we do this more often. It was great fun. You may be wondering what the pirate in the crow's nest is searching for. Well I think I know exactly what he is searching for and it's not land!

This pirate ship on our dresser is so big that the long part that pokes out of the front of it (sorry I don't know the correct term) that usually holds a mermaid or a lady holds a skeleton body on ours. It juts out more than a half a foot and early in the morning I have to manuver my way around that without bumping into my bed. Well sometimes I'm a little more sleepy and tipsy when I first wake up and am trying to rush for my morning business. Several times a week I bump right into that stick part which is at the level of my chest if you know what I mean.

Seth has come up with a story that they look out for me and move the ship slightly to the left so they can poke my left breast as I walk past. Without fail whenever I bump into it (knocking the pirate figures over in the crows nest and hanging on the mast- how they keep getting back up there I don't know) Seth will shout out an, "Aaarrrgg, we got 'er men," in his pirate voice supposidly coming from the pirates and somehow I feel angry at those dirty pirates. hahahaha

You can check out his blog at http://www.flippinhippenstudios.blogspot.com . I recommend spending a chunk of time enjoying his stuff and especially during the end of August through October drawings. They are fun and Halloweenish. I just love those.

For kicks, here is a photo of me in Kindergarten on picture day. I insisted on wearing my Strawberry Shortcake dress my mom made. It's fun to see a little me and see that I still have those round circle cheeks.