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!

Hopping Down the Mushroom Trail!

This past weekend the Bear and I walked along one of our favorite trails The BlueBell Trail. You may remember it from such posts as Cherry Blossoms, Blue Bells and Easter Eggs Oh My! This visit was a good one because of all the tiny little things that just kept catching my eye. The idea was of course to walk at a swift pace and get some excercise in but I kept stopping so often to take pictures that not many calories got burned that day. The pics were worth it though, I hope!
Can you see the little toadie in the left half of the picture? He is literally the size of one segment of you little finger!
This little guys was the same size, just a different color. A large tractor had gone down the path at some point and made ruts that had then gathered the rain water. These tiny little toadies were living around them and you could see the tadpoles that were swiming around. What a tiny magical little world they live in.Speaking of tiny magical worlds. Also all along the trail were mushrooms of all shapes and colors. They were also all very very small. I had to set my camera down on the ground to take many of these pictures. Can't you just imagine the little fairies that must come out at night when no humans are around to play amongst these wonderous little fungi?
They are little landscapes all their own. I hope you enjoyed this little hop down the mushroom trail. We certainly did!

Illustration Friday...Foggy

This is not a fresh new painting but I saw the topic for Illustration Friday and I just had to post this. For those of you new to this watercolor it was of the early morning fog over the golf course below our house in Carson City Nevada. The Bear was driving to work that morning and the scene was so wonderful he called me and I walked down to photograph it. This is a small painting, only 4X6. I hope you enjoy it!

Necro-Ornitho-Graphy or Ode to a Little Friend...

For the past week this little birdie had been coming to visit us every day to hop along the ground and eat our seed that we put out. We really enjoyed it's daily visits despite the fact that our very amature birding skills and reference guides were unable to identify what type of little birdie it was.Sadly this morning as I stepped outside to let Beanie out for her morning constitutional we found it had passed away in the night and was laying peacefully under our bush.

It's larger than a sparrow but smaller than a robin. It's tail set up high and had beautiful white markings. If any of you know what type of little birdie creature he/she was we would greatly appreciate knowing.
There was only one way that I knew to honor this beautiful little creature and that was to sit and sketch it in my moleskine.
This is in fact the first time in over two years that I have sat down and drawn without being tasked to a "Draw Break" by someone. It felt good to break out the moleskine, sketching supplies and get the old hand eye coordination going again. I think there are only 9 sketchs in this moleskine and the the first entry dates back to April 03 when I took a trip to The Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore with my mother. How sad is that? How can I call myself an artist you say? Well fortunately being an "Artist" is not based upon the amount of work you put out, you either are or you aren't.

I will be following my own advice from now on... Get out and just DRAW!

Riding back home...

The trip back from anywhere always seems longer than the trip out. I was sooooo pooped from our short whirl wind trip that when we got back home I slept for 12 hours straight! I never do that.
Here is a quick snap of The Bear driving while Beanie sleeps in the back seat in here little pillow. She sleeps most of the time when we go anywhere even just down the street to the park! Not much of a sightseer!
This is my normal travel mode. Shoes off, feet up and a good book to read. This book is the new Post Secrets book A Lifetime of Secrets and I am in LOVE with it! It's amazing to read all those intimate secrets of people from all stages of life. Go out now and check it out!

Seeing the Fam, even if only for a minute...

A rare published to the world glimpse of the Bean with no makeup! That's how much I love you guys! This is my Momma Bean. She's the greatest and everything that is cool about me started with her. She will graduate in Sept from LPN school which I am soooo very proud of her for doing.
This is my most wonderful and fabulous Grandmother, my mom's mom. She and my grandfather were the only two people that I had time to see while I was home. I miss them so much. She was making breakfast for my uncle and I and boy was it DELISH.
I could not ask for a better start to the day. Fresh fruit, blueberry jam and Grandmother's homemade bread made into toast. Oh, to die for.
This is the Bear and his mum. He was able to get in a short visit with her and a couple of his sisters as well. Aren't they just the cutest?