What would you do.....

with a plethora of frames like this...?  I love them ALL...  I can't get rid of them....  I was going to paint them all gold back in the day... that day has passed.... then I was going to paint them white...  and still might...  then I thought to paint them all black as a base coat, and then paint them with colors and sand it off so the black shows through... which I could also do with the white. 

Here is my delimma....  I have no artwork hanging in my house, no photos, nothing... I hung a couple of pictures I like, but they don't go with the house...  it is a ranch style house with a hideous wallpaper of blue and gray marble texture in the dining room and kitchen wall...  All my stuff is green, paintings with green, furniture that is shades of sage and celery green... and lots of white frames... (I had pale yellow walls at my old house and it looked GREAT!) so this blue gray thing just ain't workin' for me...  I have one large wall that I thought I could hang the frames on temporarily until I figure out what to do with them, thus killing the proverbial two birds with one stone.  Getting the frames out of storage while putting something on the walls... but I am unsure...  I would love some advice people...  I have posted a previous post on the 15th about the wine and glass cabinet I made in the dining room, and you can see the ugly wallpaper behind it...  I need serious decorating help from all you artistical and decorational types... I am good at making the stuff, and merchandising a store, but not when it comes to my home...  why is that?  Maybe because it is a rental, and I am stuck with this wallpaper as it is... and I really don't like it... maybe I am just feeling stuck in general when it comes to decorating.  I am loving the clean uncluttered feel of everything... Having not much stuff to begin with really gives you a clean slate... but it does make it hard when you try to do something with very little... Am I overthinking this? 

So far I have come up with 2 possibilities...  paint them all black and fill them with family photos in black and white and hang them in a grouping on the wall to create a gallery wall... the other is to paint them the soft aqua blue color I am in love with right now, and hang them all on the wall empty, and just appreciate all the lovely detail on them....  Anyone wanna give me an opinion?

Repurposed Sideboard and shelf unit = china wine and glass cabinet

I got rid of a great china cabinet on Craigslist before I moved, and now have no space to store my china and favorite pieces.  My mom  was visiting a couple weeks ago, and was scrounging through my garage for things to help me decorate, when she saw this sideboard and shelf unit I had buried in the back of the garage.  I said, "Hey mom, what if we put that on top of the sideboard in the kitchen and use it for glasses and wine and stuff?"  She measures, and then she and my stepdad brought it in, cleaned it up and did this with it!  How great is that?  A garage sale sideboard we bought for $40 and had shoved in the garage, along with a bookshelf my neighbor gave me when he moved a couple years ago...  2 unrelated pieces, that when put together, made a very functional and cool looking piece in my dining room!  I am stoked!  Now I am on a mission to see what else I can make with what I already have lying around!  Check back soon for more thrifting and repurposing ideas.

Repurposed Tackle Box



I picked up this tackle box a couple weeks ago at a church rummage sale for $5  It was full of gas powered remote control car parts.  This little case had seen a lot of use.  I spray painted it white, and then painted the drawers with flat black.  Now it is a perfect traveling case for all the art retreats and classes I plan on attending in the future.  It holds all my necessary supplies and is compact and portable.  So remember next time you see something at a yard sale that you might not usually buy (I always pass by the "guy" stuff) think of it from another perspective.  What could I do with that...?  It could be an art kit for your kids holding all their crayons, pencils, stickers and such.  It could be a jewelry making supplies case...  or embellishments for scrapbooking.  The possibilities are endless, if you think outside the box.

upcycled garden art

How cute are these?  I met this lady at Swan Day in Martinez last year.  She made all these things from stuff she diverted from landfill... Old broken and chipped plates, soda bottles, water bottles, aluminum cans and golf clubs...  I am going to make some to add color to my backyard.  I will be posting the results, what I learned while making them, and the actual how to's of doing it step by step in an upcoming post. 

Thrifty Valentines Day Treats

I have to check my blog archives. I may have posted this before... I took an old heart shaped box and deconstructed it, covered it with a world map tissue paper and filled it with candy for my husband. I saved the box from a couple of years ago and just reused it again. He didn't care that it was reused and regifted. The contents were new...

And here is something my daughter and I made after seeing this on a blog somewhere. We bought Jolly Rancher flavored candy canes after christmas for like 10 cents a box, layed them in a heart shape and filled them with melted chocolate chips.  We put the melted chocolate in a ziploc bag, cut off the corner and squeezed it into the heart.  She held the heart together while I squeezed.  Then we added a lolipop stick and some colorful sprinkles and made valentines giveaways for all her friends. The kids loved them, being in Jr. High, food and candy are more appreciated than cards. It was easy and so cheap. A great way to repurpose leftover holiday candy. Another thing I do is buy after christmas candy like hersheys kisses and peanut butter cups. I sort out the colors, red, green gold and silver and use the gold and silver for New Years, the red for Valentines Day and the green for St. Patricks day. If you think ahead, you can really plan it so your party favors and little giftie treats cost almost nothing...

The handmade truffles recipe follows here:

Liquor Truffles

8 oz chocolate (I use the large dark chocolate bars from Trader Joe's)
1 cube of butter at room temperature
1/2 cup liquor (I used Macadamia Nut, but you can use Amaretto, Frangelico or Kaluah)
1 pound of chocolate for coating

Melt 8 oz of chocolate in double boiler.  If you don't have one, a metal bowl floated in a pot of boiling water will work just as well.  Remove from heat.  Be careful not to let ANY water come in contact with the chocolate or it will sieze up and glob together.

Vigorously beat butter in to melted chocolate until light and fluffy (mine never got light and fluffy, but well mixed and it was still ok)

Continue beating slowly and add liquor slowly to chocolate mixture.

Chill for 1-3 hours.  I did one hour in the freezer.

Dig a melon baller into the frozen mixture, creating balls and place in a bowl or on a wax paper lined baking sheet and re-freeze.  Melt rest of chocolate, and coat frozen truffle balls with melted chocolate.  I use 2 bamboo skewers.  I stab one into the top of the truffle, dip it, tap off the excess chocolate, and then set on the wax paper lined baking sheet, using the other skewer to hold it in place while I twist the other one out of the truffle..  You must work quickly and leave most of them in the freezer until ready to dip.  If you don't tap off the excess, you will have a large "foot" underneath your truffle where the excess chocolate will pool.  When ready to decorate, dip top into more melted chocolate (I used white) and then dip immediately into sprinkles.  Or cover skewer hole in top with a candy conversation heart or other festive decoration.  Place in paper candy cups, available in the treat aisle or at Michaels in the baking section.  These truffles are3 really yummy, but for adult consumption only.  I will post a non-alcoholic recipe later this week that is great for easter treats.

Playing Card ATC's

Artist Trading Cards (ATC's) are very popular at art retreats as trades. I know a lot of artists who trade these cards religiously. It is really cool, to have a little piece of art created by an artist you admire.

I like to use old playing cards as the base for my ATC's. Collect images from your stash that are the right proportion to use on a playing card. I use the decorated side of the card as the back, and put a sticker with my name, the date and if a series, the series number. On the face side of the card, I lightly sand the plastic coating off and gesso the card. I use white, clear or black gesso, depending on my mood that day. Then I use paint, ink, stamps etc to color the background. Sometimes I use a magazine image or patterned paper as the background. Then I collage the rest of the images on the background, finishing with some text cut from an old book.

These can be glued to the front of a handmade card and used to make a lovely greeting card. They can also be used in small frames for home decor. Try a few for yourself and discover how addicting they can be.

One World One Heart

UPDATE****  The winners of my giveaway are...  Just Jenn  Designs, Bliss Angels and Electra.  I have notified all the winners by email.  Congratulations, and thanks so much to everyone who liked my stuff enough to enter my drawing, and a big thanks to those who are now following me.  I love having visitors, and plan on visiting all the blogs of the people who stopped by in the next couple of weeks.  Thanks again to everyone!


I am late to post this, but I am participating in the One World One Heart blog giveaway.  You can read about it here.  I have participated in  years past, and it is a great event.   I have met some really amazing people over the years through it.  Since this is the last one, I would like to be a part of it.  I will be giving away 3 prizes from the studio...

A journal made with recycled clothing, ribbons and notebooks.

A soldered glass pendant

A fused glass heart made with dichroic glass (much prettier in person)

All you have to do is post something in the comments section of this post.  Names will be drawn randomly and posted on the morning of the 18th, since the event ends on the 17th of February.

I am a mixed media artist living in Orange County California.  I recently moved from the San Francisco Bay Area, and I am still in transition.  I blog about art, travel, kid crafts, reuse crafts, decorating, and thoughtful musings about life in general.  Poke around my blog a bit and see what I am about.  Thanks so much for taking the time to visit!  I look forward to meeting many of you through your blogs in the coming weeks and months.  (I have found it takes a while to really "visit" all the blogs on here during the event)

Spa box made with recycled goods

This beautiful spa box was created with all reused materials. I started out with a pretty box that I could recover with beautiful gift wrap. It had stationery in it, and a cool removable lining that would hold all the spa materials perfectly. I deconstructed the box, and recovered it carefully with gift wrap glued down with soft gel medium. I like gel medium, but you can use wallpaper paste, or glue sticks. Liquid glues cause the gift wrap to bubble... Gel medium is perfect, doesn't wrinkle or bubble. I used a credit card to burnish it down well to the surfaces, and then used heavy gel medium to glue the box back together.

Take some used dryer sheets. Make sure all the softener is off the sheets. I run them through the washer once after using them to dry. This gets any residual softener smell off the sheets. Press them lightly with a low iron and set aside. In a glass bowl combine 1/2 cup of rock salt, 1/4 cup epsom salts, and 1/4 cup existing bath salts that you have laying around. Add a few drops of food coloring to tint the salts the desired color. Add a few drops of essential oil or perfume oil if you have it lying around. Scoop 1/8 cup of the salts onto a dryer sheet. Tie up into a tight bundle. Trim the top of the bundle into a round shape, tie a bow and finish up with a satin rose glued on with a glue gun.

Next, take some of those watch part tins or mini tins you have in your scrapbooking stash that held eyelets back in the day, and fill each one with different kinds of bath salts. I have TONS of different kinds of mud bath, clay mud mask, healing herbal bath etc. You can use epsom salts tinted different colors if you don't have any bath supplies at home. You can get a 1/2 gallon of epsom salts at the Dollar Store. I cut strips off of one of the dryer sheets and rolled it on my pants to create a shabby looking ribbon/twine. Glue a punched circle of the coordinating gift wrap on the top of the tin, then tie it up like a little package, finish off with satin rose. Write the name of the bath product on the bottom of the tin.  Now dig out those hotel toiletries you have laying in the bottom of the bathroom drawer, and cut matching paper to cover the existing labels. Glue the papers on to the toiletries.

Spray paint some poker chips with gold paint, punch a circle out and write the name of the product on the poker chip tag. You can cut circles out of cardstock or chipboard if you prefer. Tie label tags around the neck of the bottles, glue ribbons down with a dot of hot glue and embellish with roses.

Arrange items inside box, tie with a big bow and give to a friend who really needs some pampering. These gifts are always a big hit, and people are blown away that you made it all... Start looking for boxes and little containers at yard sales, and around your house that could be used for a similar project.



Placemat Beads

I love to buy placemats at the local discount and thrift stores. Ross and TJ Maxx seem to usually carry an interesting assortment. But I buy them wherever I find them. Usually one placemat will cost between $1.99 and $10 depending on the material it is made from. But you will get over 100 pieces from one mat. I also buy purses, trivets, coasters etc. from thrift stores and garage sales and deconstruct them for the pieces.

These beads were made from a placemat made with wooden circles. They had brown and black, I bought one of each. I punched out circles with a circle punch sized to fit on top of the wood circles. I glued them down with Gel Medium, and when they were dry, I topped them with Crystal Laquer. You can use Diamond Glaze, gloss gel medium, polymer acrylic, spray varathane, or any kind of glossy sealer. I am so excited to make something with these beads. I will post some projects with them later in the month. Bear in mind when using vintage papers, sometimes the gloss finish changes the look of the paper significantly. You never know what you will get, which is part of what I find so fun about this project.  Check out my etsy site if you would like to purchase these beads.

Peanut Brittle

It's the holiday time again, and we are sweet makers, cookie bakers, candy breakers around here...  I started making cookies when I was a kid...  and still have the cookie book my grandma bought me when I was a teenager and inscribed this lovely note to me...  I admit, I was her favorite...  I think she tried to make up to my mom through me, but however it happened, she had a special spot for me, and I worshipped her.  Baking and making candy always brings me back to those days I spent at her house, testing cookie recipes, learning how to cook standing on a chair pulled up to the stove next to her.  She taught me how to make Rouladen when I was in the 3rd grade and I won a blue ribbon at the 4-H cooking contest with it.  She was so proud! 

I made this peanut brittle recipe today, it is from the family cookbook I made a while back.  It is from my cousin Donna Wrfight, who I think got it from the Joy of Cooking...  Let me say it BLOWS AWAY the Sees peanut brittle if you are a fan... here is a photo, and the recipe follows.  It calls for 1 lb of peanuts.  This makes a very peanutty brittle... you could use 1/2 pound and be fine.  I have also made it with other nuts and it is just as good.  Try your own version using macadamias, marcona almonds, pecans, pistacios, cashews, whatever nuts are your favorite.  I make one batch at a time, because the pot I have boils over when I add the baking soda mixture if I double it...  so beware of the foaming in the end....

I will be posting more family favorite holiday recipes all this month, so check back.... or subscribe and follow me on facebook....

Happy Holidays!

Ingredients:

1 ½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp water
1 tsp vanilla
1 ½ cups sugar
1 cups light corn syrup
1 cup water
3 Tbspns butter
1/2 lb shelled unroasted peanuts (I have used the roasted salted ones too and it comes out fine)

Butter 2 cookie sheets and set aside.
Mix baking soda, vanilla and 1 tsp water together, set aside
Mix sugar, water and corn syrup together in 3 qt saucepan. Cook over medium heat stirring occasionally until 240 degrees or soft ball stage. Stir in butter and then peanuts. (recipe calls for 1 lb but I use a ½ lb and make a double batch that way I get more and it is still just as good) Continue cooking to 300 degrees, or hard crack stage. Be careful as it can burn easily at this stage… remove from heat and add in vanilla baking soda mixture. Candy will foam up and double in volume as well as darken, quickly spread out on cookie sheets and stretch with wooden spoon to desired thinness. You must work fast. Allow to cool. Break into pieces and serve. Can be stored in an airtight bag for 2 weeks.

Ode to my uterus

This is an art piece I did when I found out I was having a hysterectomy.  I was really bummed out about it for a lot of reasons...  Mostly I was angry and resentful at my ex for insisting I have my tubes tied cause he was too chickenshit to get a vasectomy... because I really wanted 2 more kids...  I would have them now and they would be 5 and 3...  little versions of me and Paskie...  with big eyes and dark curly hair and chubby cheeks...  probably fluent in english and spanish...  I cried for those babies that would never be born.  I cried for being so controlled by my ex that I allowed HIM to decide what would happen to my body, instead of taking a stand and saying, "No, you get snipped if you don't want more."  But then he never would have had his other daughter, who was a miracle, since the new wife wasn't supposed to be able to have kids... so she never would have existed if another choice was made...  I started to be sad for the loss of the should haves and could haves, and got so lost in it, that for a time, I had to just be with it and cry. Then I decided I had mourned enough.  I needed to find the gifts.  So I looked at all the things my uterus had accomplished and been through during her working years...  So here is my eulogy for Aunt Mary...

Aunt Mary we affectionately called her here in our house... her and her monthly visits. She loved to go on trips, and always managed to show up just as we were leaving so she could tag along for most of it.,  She had a rocky start in the early years as a teen.  We had endometriosis and a couple of surgeries, and wondered if we could even carry a baby... But like the little engine that could...  she chugged along in spite of the doctors warnings. She provided me with four awesome kids.  She and I survived induced labor, pitocin and no epidural (ouch) and a beautiful quiet easy breezy natural delivery without a doctor for the first half of delivery.  We had our water broke, and she hung in there like a champ as she pushed baby number 3 out with one push.  She was poked and prodded and  cut open with a c-section when baby number 4 decided she liked her butt tucked snugly under my pelvic bone.  She watched her friends Fallopian Tubes and Ovaries say a final goodbye, as I debated with the doctor over tying both tubes or only doing one and rolling the dice.  I wish I had been a gambler.  She worked very hard to help 3 different couples become a family through surrogacy.  She did her part, but their eggs just weren't healthy enough to implant in her...... 

Then a few months ago, I started noticing she was tired...  worn out, and literally falling out of me...  Poor Mary.  We had a good run... Wish I could have put you up in a hammock with a mai tai and let you retire in style...  but we had to part...  you and I... I will miss you.  You were very good to me.  I will remember you fondly.  I never thought of you as a curse.  I celebrated every single time you visited.  and also the times you didn't..  I wish you well Mary.  Rest In Peace....

Classes with the Fabulous Katherine England

So I took some classes this past weekend at Katherine England's studio in Fullerton.  She is such a sweet person.  Spent Saturday doing a fused glass class, and Sunday making a Wizard of Oz journal.  Learned some great techniques and made some really cool stuff.  If you are ever in the area and want to take a fun class, check her out...  http://www.katherineengland.com/ I am planning taking some of the classes next year. 

The journal was a color copy of the book front and back, glued to birch boards 1/4 inch thick.  We used PVA and a credit card to stick it down, and then minwax polycrylic to seal it.  Then we used the 140 lb watercolor paper sheets to make 6 signatures, and sewed it together using the coptic stitch technique.  She gives you all the materials you need to make the book.  I would suggest if you want to add jewels and bling bling to the stitches, you bring that along with you.  I bought this sparkly red faux leather at the fabric store with one of those... "I don't know what I will use it for but I am getting it anyway" kind of moments... and LOVE how the sparkly red looks on the spine.

The houses were all made with Dichroic glass.  I cut and nipped the pieces, and made a holy ton of houses for a future mosaic piece.  I also experimented with making pendants, sandwiching 2 pieces of glass, dichro to dichro with clear on top, and got some pretty cool results.  I can't wait to get more and make a ton more things.  I want to make pendants for my etsy shop...  I have some steampunk themed ideas rolling around in my head that would be really cool....

Surrendering

Remember when we were kids and would play tag or capture the flag and you would hate to be the kid who yelled "I surrender!" because it made you the "loser"?  I have been experiencing these "loser" feelings a lot lately... Buckling under the weight of all the things I need to do, but have yet to accomplish, I feel overwhelmed.  In a new town with absolutely no friends...  Alone in ways I have never experienced before, I am faced daily with medical issues, doctor visits, insurance company and attorney phone calls... Some days, it is hard to get out of bed...  I was trying to remember if I have ever felt like this before, and then I remembered the post partum depression I experienced with Kayleigh...  No... It couldn't be THAT...  not the D word... But then I just let go once I recognized it...  It is depression...  It is a lot of things, all rolled into a big ball of surrender...  and I think that is what is depressing me... The surrendering... as if by surrendering to my life and my current limitations, I am a loser...  Intellectually I know this is not the case...  But the fighter in me says, "that's it, it's all over once you surrender.."  

Will the world stop turning if I don't get my boxes unpacked?  Will the art supplies shrivel up and blow away waiting for me to use them?  Can a person actually die from too many unexpressed creative ideas?  These questions haunt me, and keep me awake all night...  What I really need right now is some grandma therapy...  When I was a teen ager and feeling blue, I would visit my grandma, and tell her all my troubles... she always had wise advice on how to help me, and if she couldn't think of anything else to say, she would put her arm around me and pat my back and say, "then just have a good cry, let yourself really feel it... you will feel better."  So here I sit, a box of permission slips (tissue) on the table next to me...  trying to have a good cry...  I have my grandma's permission....  and I feel like if I start to cry...  I might crack apart and never stop...

I feel blocked at every turn...  In more ways than I even want to put out there into the world in print... but some, like decorating my home, getting organized, creating a nurturing environment for my family, starting the Christmas gift making, and creating my "Creative Business" I started so many moons ago and never finished...  these are the things that frustrate the hell out of me... because all these physical limitations and other things are happening that prevent me from doing the things that are literally BURNING in my soul to do... And every time I come up with a solution, it involves getting or hiring help, and that appears to not be an option.... So I am stuck here... Knowing I need to just give up and let it go for a while, and refusing to let go because then I will be a loser...

I am trying a new tactic today...  Little by little, every single day, I will try to create one thing in my life that is a step toward the life I want... I can see it so clearly, what it looks like, what it feels like, even what it tastes and smells like...  So instead of focusing on how far away it is, I will focus on how much closer I am getting to it every day.  Accepting myself the way I am now, and embracing my limitations is a step in the right direction.  Taking the time to nurture myself and care for my poor body right now when it really needs some kindness and love is another step... Doing little, manageable projects that I can accomplish on my own, will give me a sense of satisfaction, and quiet the creative whispers that are becoming screams in my heart.  I can only do what I can do, which is my best...  the rest will just have to wait...  and every day I repeat these words to myself over and over....

"What God leads us to... He leads us through...." I saw it on a church billboard here in town the other day... and it really jolted me... So I am surrendering it all to God... I am letting Him handle the details for me, because it is just too big a job for me on my own right now...

Healing Journal Day 1 (how to make it)

I took this Dollar Store journal filled with brown paper, and flipped it over so the pattern on the cover wouldn't show through the semi transparent fabric. 

Then I deconstructed my daughters t-shirt so I had a front, back and sleeves.

I put a generous coat of heavy gel medium on the cover, pressed the fabric on to the book board, then flipped it over. 

Using more gel medium around the edges, I folded the extra around the edge, being careful to make sure the corners stayed really flat. I then took one of the book pages from the book, lined it up with the holes and covered it with gel medium, sticking it down over the inside of the cover.  This gives you a very nice custom finished look. 

Here is my finished journal, ready to be hole punched through the fabric in the existing holes, and tied with some cool fibres I have... This project is very easy, and the cool part is, if you mess it up, pull it off and do it again.  This one took me 10 minutes start to finish including taking the photos.  You can use old book boards if you want, just be sure to cut a strip 1/2 inch thick and the same length as the book board before covering with fabric.  This will allow you to open the book without damaging pages or the cover.

Healing Journal Challenge...

I looked up all the things that are wrong with me in the Heal Your Body Book by Louise Hay the other day... I found it really interesting that everything boiled down to the same core issues... I decided to create a healing journal with the illness/diagnosis, the metaphysical reason for the illness, and the affirmation to change the belief causing the issue... I will be posting it here. My friend Danita is joining me in a healing journal project as well... Anyone else out there have some body issues they want to look at more closely and release? I am hopeful that the process of making the journal, really looking at the issue and then releasing it will help me to heal myself and my life in ways I am not even able to imagine... Stay tuned in the weeks to come as I share what I learn here....

First step is creating the journal....  I bought a TON of these little books at the dollar store about 7 years ago and have had them in a box all this time...  I had been covering them with recycled clothing from the depot and selling them at art fairs and craft boutiques...  So I am starting with one of these... covering it with an old T-shirt and then gessoing the pages to give them strength....  I will post the finished book tomorrow with instructions...

Looking for the pony

I know I have told the story before... but for those who don't know it, my grandma was always an optomist...  She loved to tell this story about the identical twins, one was a pessemist and one was an optomist. Their mother took them in  for a medical study, and they put the pessemist kid in a room full of toys, and the optomist kid in a room full of horse poo.... They left them alone for 15 minutes and went back to check on them...  The pessemist kid was crying in the middle of the room, saying that there was no use playing with the toys because they were just going to make him leave anyway and he couldn't really enjoy them if he couldn't keep them... Then they went to check on the optomist kid, he was nowhere in sight.  In the far corner of the room, they saw movement, and he was elbows deep in the poop, scooping it up and throwing it over his shoulder, digging another huge scoop and flinging it over his shoulder.  The doctor asked him what he was doing, and the little boy wiped an arm across his sweaty brow and stated "With all this horse shit, there has GOT to be a pony in here SOMEWHERE!"

That is my life these days...  Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes your the bug... I just keep looking for the pony, and hoping and trusting that it will all be so much better on the other side of the room full of horse poo....

Family, Friends, shopping and cocktails

I spent the day yesterday with my friends  Pat, Debi, Joanne and Mel...  As always, we had a really great time eating, power shopping and getting caught up on all our lives...  We only see each other about once or twice a year, but when we do, the fun is ON...  I love that we can come together, appreciate seeing one another and catch up, and then go on with our lives, picking up where we leave off the next time we see each other.  They are incredibly sweet and talented ladies with the greatest sense of humor...  I LOVE being around them... 

Then I spent a few days of quality time with my mom, stepdad and nieces....  and a day with my wonderful daughter Megan... Nothing beats hanging out with two of your favorite females on the planet. Megan, Mom and I went and saw Inception... what a GREAT movie... You can't really describe it, you have to just experience it...  Megan was on the edge of her seat in the theatre...  Mom and I got a kick out of her.

After the trip up north this time...  I realized that I am missing a sense of belonging somewhere.  I don't really belong here yet... and with constantly taking a trip up there every 2 weeks, I am not really here or there....  I am in limbo, still living out of boxes, struggling to unpack things between various doctor appointments and making sure not to overdo it with the arm...  Taking the time to take care of myself has been one of my hardest life lessons... and I think I am still not learning it very well...  But I am also getting clear that part of settling in and getting comfortable with a place comes with time... I just need to learn to flow with the timeframes a little better.  Patience.... I need it... and I need it NOW!

I haven't had much opportunity to make friends here in the OC. I did meet one sweet lady named Danette from the Kelly Rae Roberts flying lessons class that lives about 40 minutes from me... She was really lovely, and we chatted for a couple hours at Barnes and Noble about art, and our dreams of where we want to take our art... We are planning on creating some art dates to get together and actually DO art here soon. I have been trying to create some community for myself down here... I went to Katherine England's studio, which is in Fullerton, and met some gals in her Monday Nite Class that were a hoot... She is an incredible artist. I knew it was her house before the GPS told me... It is Periwinkle blue with chartreuse green trim with the cutest whimsical fence... I went to check out the studio and see if it was a class I would be interested in taking. I felt really honored, because she told me initially that I couldn't be in that class because it was full, but several of them talked to her and voted me in... I was stoked about that... They were so welcoming and fun... Eating dessert and drinking wine... My kind of gals! I am looking forward to getting to know them better. I also posted a note on the Artfest website about looking for OC artists that wanted to get together regularly for art play dates... I had a few people respond, and I am collecting names so I can start a group. I even met a scrapbooker at the Wal Mart in the magazine aisle who I plan to call and contact about getting together to scrapbook... So it is all coming together slowly...  I think things will pick up once the kids get here at the end of the month....

God Bless America and Flea Markets...

We spent the morning at the Pasadena City College Flea Market...  Let me tell you, these people got it going on... They have the actual market at the college.  You park in the far parking structure and ride the golf cart shuttles in the the market.  There are 2 lots on either side of a 3 story parking structure.  The market is inside the parking structure, and in the 2 outside lots.  There is no admission charge like Long Beach, Rose Bowl, Alameda and some of the other antiques markets I have been to.  They do require the vendors to sell items at least 20 years old and the prices are the best I have found down here so far.  Lots of record dealers, and vintage clothing people... And jewelry vendors galore with all the fun costume jewelry from the 30's thru 60's.  I did see some great furniture buys too, but was not there for furniture that day.  Definately check it out.  It is worth the trip....  It happens on the 1st Sunday of every month. 

We spent the evening at the park in Yorba Linda with our friends Mike and Claire and all their British friends.  It was a fun way to kick off our first official holiday here in So Cal.  Really great fireworks show.