The "PURCHASE NOW" button has been pushed! It's official, I'm goin to Ireland!

Well last weekend while out walking Weiner the Wonder Dog I picked up the Sunday paper which I almost never do. While fliping through the pages of the travel section this is what I found. It might as well have read "Rachel, here's you ticket"! I couldn't belive it. I just couldn't pass this up. I looked over at The Bear and declared "I'm goin to Ireland"! He just smiled and said "Happy Birthday babe". How cool is that?
Here are the two Fabulous people I will be traveling to see in Feb. My best gal pal E who 3 1/2yrs ago left me here all alone in the states for the Fabulous D! These two are wonderfully remarkeable people who I just can't wait to travel 7hrs by plane to see! Woo Hoo, Kiltimaugh here I come.
Also while there here is the Mac Daddy Mini I'll get to ride in. I can't wait to sit in the passenger seat on the Wrong Side of the car! Yippie!
Also I hope to get to ride on the back of E's hog. She says she's asking for the seat for christmas so fingers crossed that I get the privilage of riding in the B&*ch seat! E, I can't wait to have the wind in my hair while seeing the sights around town!
You just can't go wrong with this kind of Birthday present, can you?

Day at the Beach!

For those of you unfamiliar with Weiner the Wonder Dog...here she is at her FIRST EVER beach visit. Saturday Brian had an all day class on Maryland Boundary Law (yeah I know but he LOVES that stuff) in Ocean City. So, of course Weiner and I decided to tag along and spend the day relaxing and enjoying the sights. She had a wonderful time smelling all of the new and exciting smells and trying to figure out just how to run up a sand dune. I'm not sure she ever really figured out why the ground moved beneath her feet as she tried to climb. Really funny watching her figure that out!
She wanted to know if we could stay there forever. I think she gets that from her father, he LOVES the water and salty ocean air.
Since we spend most of our time indoors and in a basement apartment to boot we don't get much sun. So to make sure that we didn't get sunburnt even on this beautiful October day Weiner and I spent our time under an umbrella. The weather could not have been more perfect. Clear blue skies, 70's in the sun, breezy and cool in our man made shade. Oh how relaxing.
These are some of the treasures that we came across during the afternoon.
Nothing sums up our day more than this picture. It was so nice to just sit relax and kick off the shoes and dig our toes into the cool sand. Nope, it wasn't warm enough even to get the sand warm. All in all you couldn't ask for anything more and I think even Weiner the Wonder Dog would agree. Well I guess she did ask to move there. Maybe someday Weiner my babe.

World's Greatest Birthday Card from my Biggest Fan!

Yesterday I recieved in the mail the single greatest birthday card I could ever have hoped for. Back in my hometown of North Canton Ohio, there is a very special little girl that I just adore. I send her little letters and postcards in the mail and the occasional t-shirt that I've painted on. Well she made this oh so special card just for me. I was informed by her most wonderful mom that Kayleigh picked out the construction paper color herself and all the crayon colors as well. It was quite the serious art project that I as a fellow artist can totally appreciate.
I will forever cherish this handmade card as long as I live. It just goes to show you that making something yourself for someone you love is well worth the time. This treasure literally brought tears to my eyes. Thank you so much Kayleigh. You will forever have a special place in my heart! Hugs!

Better One...or Two? How about now?

Yesterday I had my first ever eye exam. I have never needed glasses and prided myself on being The Bear's long range eyes. For example when we are driving down the road he'll see a sign for something of interest and quickly turn to me and ask "What did that say?" Well most of the time I'll have caught a glimps of it and distractively (is that a word?) replay what the sign stated while looking out the opposite window at what ever else caught my eye at the time. Ok, I'm rambling here. Anyways, over the last year I had noticed that I was holding things a tich farther away to read them. Example: why in the world do they make the labels on pain reliever bottles so that only microscopic amoebae can read them? Well, to make an already long story slightly shorter, I got a very thorough eye exam including dilating my eyes so that I looked like a HUGE pot smoker. Making The Bear breakout into belly laughs whenever I looked over at him. Well after the exam I ended up with RX reading glasses. I hadn't really realized just how fuzzy the words had gotten over the years. WOW! It's like a miracle! I could read for over a hour today without a headache or neck strain! Aren't these the cutest glasses ever? One of my two favorite colors is Lime Green! Yay! The other color as you no doubt are asking, is Orange.
Now I can finish A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY with ease!
Here's a look at me The Bean with my new glasses. I think they look pretty snazy! What do you think? Is it just me or did my IQ just go up?

Slimy Slugs and Slug Slime

The other night while letting The Wee go out for a potty break I discovered this little or not so little guy/gal. I had to go grab my camera to capture this amazing creature! Also I knew no one would belive it's size so I grabbed this match box to show you perspective! Neat huh? I'm sure that my flashlight and the flash from my camera must have totally confused him/her into thinking that the world was coming to and end. Imagine some giant thing standing over you and throwing your world into blinding light!
I followed it along it's slow but steady escape out into the yard. What an amazing creature. It still amazes us, all the creatures that we encounter here in the city from our little apartment porch.
What little creatures have you encountered in your neck of the woods?

Moleskine's Day Out!

While at back home in Ohio for a my visit, the wonderful Moleskiner's took a day to have a creative adventure! The day started out at a wonderful coffee shop in Canton Ohio called Muggswigz! Some time ago my friend Barb gave me some fresh roasted coffee from here and I have been craving it ever since. I just had to go there and get some more to bring back with me. Here is a picture of my oh so yummy spiced latte. Oh the creamy goodness! Here is a picture that Barb took of my mother and I enjoying our drinks. I with my latte and my mum with her Jasmine tea which she let me taste and oh how delicious it was. You must go check out Muggswigz.
Here is the wonderful Barb taking time over our coffee and muffins to actually pull out her Moleskine and sketch the tea pot. It seems to me that for some reason Barb is the only one to pull out her Moleskine and do any sketching that day. Hmmm, note to self, be more like Barb!In the bathroom at Muggswigz I made an awsome discovery! For all of you fellow art/color/coffee lovers out there isn't this thing just the greatest? Where can I get one? It's a color wheel of taste. How cool does that sound?

After Muggswigz we went down to New Philly and wandered around the largest Antique mall I have ever been to. I just LOVE this place! I now totally regret not getting this dress. I LOVED it and never should have passed it up. Oh well, maybe next time. Okay, here's the back story...I had been told about this plastic inflateable stool with the tackiest flowers inside. Well what do you know, it was still there when we went! It's the greatest tackiest thing I have ever seen. I just LOVED it. No one however remembered it being so expensive, the tag currently reads $75. I was so upset. I would have loved to have bought it just for the story alone and made all my friends share it. It could have spent the rest of it's life traveling from house to house, making fun stories all along the way. Thank you Barb for ever so carefully sitting on it to give the world perspective on the greatest little stool alive!
Here is a close-up of the wonderful stool. I just think it's ever so adorable. If anyone wants to go in together to get this for me as a house warming gift I will squeal with glee!
After hours and hours of wandering around the antique mall we of course had worked up an appetite. So we wandered into a little cafe for some nourishment. This was the cutest little place. The photo above their heads is of a man who looks like Einstein surrounded by pigeons! It was totally out of place since ALL the other pictures that were hanging were posters. We took it as some sort of sign that we sat under it as Bruce (in the picture below) raises pigeons! Does anyone notice that yet again, Barb is the only one sketching? Boy she makes us look like slackers! Keep up the good work Barb!
After filling our tummies we had more energy and wandered over to a used book store which we never seem to keep out of. This place was so neat inside. I just love little places with tons of character don't you?Here's the group again! They always find the nature section and fight for position to find the best books. But it's all in fun because they always end up sharing what they find anyways! Part of the bookstore used to be an icecream parlor. I can not express just how much I loved the colors in this room. Do you think The Bear will let me paint our house like this? Fingers crossed!Here's the children's section. Oh what a feast for the eyes eh?
And here we are full circle back to coffee again. Don't you just love a great day with great friends? Nothing can be better than that.

Her First Photo Shoot!

The day after her party I took my mother to buy her the camera that she had been waiting so long for. After purchasing it and waiting what seemed like an eternity for the battery to charge myself and Bob took her to her beloved park Quail Hollow for her first photo shoot before the last rays of light disapeared. Here is her first picture she took. That is Bob up ahead walking Casper the wonder dog and myself with my own camera ready to capture the moment.
I'm sure that everyone heard all the OOO's and Ahhh's as she wandered around the Herb Garden capturing everything in sight with the satisfaction that can only come from instant gradification of a high end digital camera. Finally I no longer have to watch her use film!

Here she is running off the trail into a dry stream bed to capture some Cardinal Flowers.
Here are some more of her first ever digital pics!


As the light began to fail, I took her camera and snapped this shot of her walking off into the sunset at the end of probably the best day in a long time. Congrats Mom. I hope you enjoy the new universe you've found yourself in. Enjoy every single pixel.

Surprise!! It's a Party!!!!!!

To celebrate the my mother's Graduation and upcoming 50th Birthday we decided to throw her a surprise party. Everyone came together beautifully to make the occasion oh so very special. In lou of a cake I chose to hire the wonderfully fabulously talented Sabrina to provide cupcakes! PLEASE go to her website Sabrina Cupcakes and if you are anywhere in her delivery area you MUST get some for yourself. They are soooo mouth watering! ! And here she is. After 2 months of careful planning the moment finally arrived! Surprise! Doesn't she just look like the happiest woman alive?
It took her a few minutes to catch her breath and take it all in. Everyone had the most wonderful time coming together for this occasion. Who doesn't like planning a secret party?
Instead of everyone giving her individual gifts everyone donated towards the purchase of a Nikon D80 SLR camera. My mother's long time dream gift that she thought was still atleast a year away from being purchased. Trust me, there were tears, hugs and more tears and hugs. This is a picture of me presenting her with the names of all who made the camera possible and the check she would use the very next day to purchase it!
THANK YOU EVERYONE who came together and helped make this party and gift possible. I could never have done all of the work myself. It was a great party, one that won't easily be forgotten. You all are so very precious to me. I thank each and every one of you.

"The" Art Opening of the Year!

My very long time friend Jeff of Columbus fame had his first One Man Art Show opening on Friday Sept. 5th at Kafe Kerouac. Doesn't he look just over the moon happy? I was very happy to be able to be there for support. Way to go buddy! Keep up the good work at making me look bad for not lifting a paintbrush in years! Good Job! Here is a little corner of the Kafe. Isn't it just the cutest? I so wish that I lived in town so that I could go and sit in the comfy chairs and hang out. Yep that is some of Jeff's art on the wall.
Here is a little set up that Jeff put together with his business cards. How cute! I helped to pick just the perfect Buddha for the occasion.
Please stop by his site to see what he's all about. The link to his site is Jeff O's Art! Go and support the work he puts his heart and soul into.

We love you buddy!

It was a long road but she made it with Honors!!!!

My mother graduated from nursing school on Thurdsay Sept. 4th! This is a picture of her making her most wonderful speach as she had been selected to say a few words on behalf of the graduating class. It was a most wonderfully eloquent speach. GO MOM!!!!!!! Here she is accepting her diploma!
Here she is accepting her pin!
A view of some of the students saying the class pledge.
Here we all are except for the two wonderful people behind the camera. Thank you Judy and Rachel for taking pictures of the group. So sorry I don't have a photo with you both in it. You both were very important parts in supporting her along this journey.
From left to right...
Grandpa, Sarah, Nancy, Susan, Grandma, Barb, My mother the graduate, me the Bean, Bob and Bruce.
For anyone who's counting, yes she was only allowed to invite 10 people but she's a rebel and invited 11!