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.