be inspired...

zoe after "swimming"

and after swimming they have their cardio workout!


and peace at the end of the day......

ok...i have attempted to blog a couple times. just hasn't worked out....for various reasons that i won't go into...

did the show in grapevine a couple weeks ago. stayed at mary kay's house...linda was there too...had big fun. felt like we were not really there for work. was awesome...really wish we were able to get together more often.

a view from the grapevine show:

darlene from "stampland" does these fab demo's....i always love to see her table. these are so cute lined up so perfectly. and this is the "trash"....the paper that catches the edges of what she is doing. i call it "magic"....or you can look at it as "accidental art". whatever it is beautiful.

darlene and william are multi talented....william has an extensive rubber stamp collection that is museum quality....we had breakfast with them at the most yummiest place in texas. the main street bakery. i'm talking almond croissants that are unbelievable. anyway...always a great time and conversations with them.

last weekend i did "art unraveled" in phoenix. i LOVE this show. the customers have been there taking classes and are totally on creative highs which is nice to be around. very inspiring. the show is a beautiful mix of vendors. lots of artists...all good.
hung out with linda all weekend. we had more fun....i feel very grateful for the good friends i have.

so. now we are readying for the show in novi this weekend. i am teaching a colored pencil class that i'm looking forward to....come and see us!

creatively i have been busy. more about that later. i have to take some photos.

check back tomorrow....you will see what the dogs have been up to!

this was an amazing find at target last year after the christmas season. i loved them so much i couldn't stand to leave them on the shelves when i found them at clearance..( like somehow i was "saving" them)...i have really never been THAT attached to anything i found at target. (not to slam target at all) but.... you know, an "emotional" attachment. so i now have 4...in various rooms of the house. i did have 5. i talked mandy into taking one. it's so funny....you know you find something that you just can't believe how amazing it is....and not everyone else thinks so....really....why would these ever be clearanced....enough of that. i am revealing my wierdness about these bird globes....reason for bringing them up? well....i just unpacked them and i think they are awesome all over again!

and...i have been collecting (in a small way) pieces from this amazing artist from arizona.
http://www.njmetals.net/ i see her when i do the rio grande arts festival in albuquerque. any way....i have one of her cool bird tables. and then i got these two pieces for the garden. my daughter said....hey...that will make a cool head board. so here it is. (i need to straighten it a bit but you get the picture.

i may have to get a third piece from her to make it a little larger.

so...project runway. wow. it will be interesting to see how this season progresses. i thought there were 3 clear ones to kick off last night....and one of those did go. but the other two....sheesh....making a last minute piece from a roll of garbage bags????? could have been ok if she had done something to disguise the fact that they were actually garbage bags, which she didn't. but honey....this is project runway. you are gonna have to step it up a bit. and then the other guy, blane, i think. his was so "creative" (not in a good way) that i don't think the judges even knew what to do with him. the other designers show some promise. and maybe the 3 i didn't like last night...well it could have been a fluke. i will be looking forward to wednesdays!!! what a dream show to be on....

ok...working on stuff for the grapevine show this weekend.

yeah! season 5 starts tonight! i can hardly wait.
i've already watched some reruns this morning...this has to be my favorite show ever. well...that and six feet under.

anyway...the house is pretty much settled. and the studio is not far behind. it is a little (ok more than a little) frustrating to work in the studio when it isn't quite right yet. today i should pretty much have the whole thing together.

i am finally seeing light at the end of the "moving tunnel". and none too soon. i am so over unpacking boxes. moving is just not that much fun.

so....last night we had a monsoon storm. the weather here is very interesting and dramatic. very captivating to watch. the wildlife here is great too....so far we've had a coyote, a few roadrunners and lots of bunnies....both jack rabbits and small bunnies with white tails.

we unfortunately had to miss the carson convention last weekend. the vulcanizers were not running yet and there was no way to pull it together without them.....so, on friday i got a crazy idea. i used miles and did a quick one day trip home....

after 3 weeks, i was missing my kids in a big way....so in two hours time i booked my filght....took a shower, packed and made it to the airport in time. it was the best! i only had saturday but we packed so much in and it was awesome to be with all of them again. especially zach and mandy. we spent the whole day together......

we are off to do the grapevine rubber stamp show this weekend. i'm inspired to make some fun earrings today....

don't forget to watch project runway tonight on bravo!

happy me....i have millions of emails to deal with...well, hundreds....so if you are waiting to hear from me please be patient.
also....i will have some interesting blog entries coming soon.

ha! there is nothing "quick" about this move situation. it is a one step forward and two steps backwards situation.

but....in a nutshell....we FINALLY got here. we left at 7 pm saturday night. arrived at the new place at 10 sunday night. it was an ugly trip. first of all i hate long car trips. and 26 hours with no sleep and all the cats and the dog with me....it was one of the most unpleasant days i've spent. we were in 2 vehicles. stopped for two short 1/2 hour "naps". not near long enough. i had to sing to the cats to keep awake....they somehow seemed to like that. had to stop to get the dogs out every couple hours....and on and on....

don't really want to dwell on that....this whole thing has been quite the experience....

mainly i just wanted to say that i have no internet connection until next monday. so now i'm in a starbucks in albuquerque. will check email again in a day or so.

so that is why no one has heard from us....

we are pretty ok....it's HOT here. putting one foot in front of another to get it all done.

it is what it is.

will update soon.

the second of 2 pods on their way to new mexico....it looks so serene making it's way up the street to start it's journey.

this "adventure" has been anything but "serene". it has been big drama. i ended up journaling the whole thing in detail because so much stuff has gone on. makes for a great story and a complicated reality.

way to much to put on the blog.

so....i'll just start with what i was up against today. the modem for the computer decided to pick this time to die. with only being here 2 more days it seemed pointless to get it taken care of here. so now it is almost 1:30 in the morning and T and i are sitting out in front of starbucks in the dark parking lot using their wireless connection to catch up on things.

so also i am sitting in a rental car. my car was involved in an accident on saturday. the guy that hit my car is 100% at fault. so now i am dealing with his insurance company to get a car big enough to hold my cat carriers and big dog....that took up most of my day.....and added a fair amount of stress to my already stress overload. well "it is what it is".... i'm dealing with it and moving forward....there isn't much choice to do anything but move forward.

my fascination with window display...here is a spectacular window by keith dillion in southern calif.

so...what a week it has been....exhausting....i have been working on packing up the studio. i am taking advantage of some time to organize everything that has gotten out of control in the past few months in there. it will make for a better transition on the other end.

congrats to obama....

spent a great day with ben, christy and my sweet little lilah. we had an unexpected free day in the middle of the week and went to lunch at mandy's "cafe sparrow" together and it was just what i needed.

mandy and nick had me for dinner. i love hanging out there with them...relaxing, inspiring and just all around good.

my week apparently revolved around eating good stuff.

and...had a wonderful and yummy "good-bye" dinner at our neighbors house last week... so many things i will miss about here. sometimes i question my sanity about the decision to "uproot". but on the other hand... i know in my heart it was meant to be on so many levels. an adventure for sure.

and for the most part hasn't really been easy. i reached a new low yesterday....i didn't do well with the "zach moving out thing"....not well at all...i won't dwell on it as i'm totally trying to just get through it. he is in a great house in aptos and it is such a good thing for him...but seems to be a crappy thing for me. i can't believe how much i am going to miss him..moving on.....

good byes are have never been an easy thing for me.

moving on.....

so....one week to go and we are off. hopefully we will be done with the packing up and loading of the pods. at this point it seems like we could use a couple more weeks. i look around me here at all the stuff that needs to be dealt with and it makes me want to take a big nap!

moving on again....

zach just snapped this shot of zoe peeking in his bedroom window.

so many changes are happening here. i am about to have "the empty nest" thing going on. zach is starting his move out today. makes me happy and sad. happy for him and sad for me. i will miss him terribly. it's hard for the mama bird when the baby bird flies away....trying not to dwell on it or i will be a mess.....

we have 3 llamas going to a new home today...

had our show in san jose yesterday. it went well and we are always happy to see some of our favorite customers there....one of which is cheryl from sacramento. she has the best laugh ever...would love to have it for my phone ring tone but for some reason the iphone doesn't seem to have recording capability. oh well...

it is very strange and a little unsettling for me not to be deep in preparation for the bead and button show next weekend in milwaukee. i will miss being there. for the selling/buying/teaching and hanging out with friends... i just couldn't seem to figure a way to make that fit in with all that is happening.

so now we will be in full moving mode....found out that the llamas need shots and paperwork to cross state borders. which really seems ridiculous to me. it put us behind schedule about 4 days to take care of all that. one of those bumps in the road that can come up with big life changes it seems.

plan to take the first batch of llamas after their friday vet appointment. luckily zach will stay here to take care of the other creatures during the moving thing.

i have my huge butterfly skeleton painting almost done. my goal is to have it finished before i move it. i am tired of looking at it "undone". so that is moving along nicely. also am finishing painting my kitchen chairs....i seem to always have so many art projects in various stages of completion.

so lots of "movement" here in all sorts of directions....

it is an exciting time.

this was a beautiful sight after a long weekend....

kicking back in one of my favorite airports....seatac...waiting to go home...so we can leave again!!!
set out on a 16 hour drive to the new place in rio rancho (albuquerque)...left at 4 am and arrived at 9:30 pm....i "don't do" long car trips...i get bored and sleepy and just plain "antsy". i am proud to say i survived the trip. decided that this is not something i'm going to choose to do often. a plane trip back home to see "my people" is what i will be doing....
anyway...we have spent 3 long days putting up fencing for the llamas and T's horse. and now will work on the dog yard today...then drive back...then the san jose show next weekend....then we seriously move everything to the new place. makes me tired just thinking about all that is ahead.
here is the new view for the llamas....and yes, the sky here is that blue.