Look What I've Been Up To...Running

There are lots of reasons why I haven't been blogging lately, so in a concerted attempt to redeem myself and explain my absence, as well as to delight your eyes and imaginations with the magical and wonderful things that have been keeping me busy, I would like to present a new series called "Look What I've Been Up To..."

1. I trained this summer for my first marathon with veteran marathoner, and my mentor, Sheri Epps.  Our friend Amy Seed is the most encouraging runner I could ever have the privelege of knowing.  She sang, danced, and recited encouraging scripture the whole time we ran this Long Beach Marathon.  Our medals were huge by the way, proportionately so to the mercury that day.  We cried at the end.  I sat a lot at work the next day.

3. & 5. On Thanksgiving morning we move our feet before we eat.  I ran two races: a 5-miler and a 5K (3.1 miles)  I started the first race again with Amy, but she ran so fast she puked at the end.  So this is my friend, Kristen Sullivan, who I was so glad to have by my side.  And I made good time myself, but I had injured my knee a bit the week before and running these two races really screwed me up good.  I'm upset at my injury and hope it doesn't set me back for a half marathon in January.

The 5K was my one year anniversary of running as it was my first race last year.  I can hardly believe I ran two halfs and one full marathon in just my first year.  I'm so hooked.  In fact, not being able to run on my bum knee is really killing me!  Hurry up and heal, silly knee!

2. & 4. Say hello to Oceanside-Carlsbad.  This is where I get the privilege of running each weekend.  I love that I get to start my weekends like this.  I used to hate waking up early to run, but this is just so worth it.  I can't wait to be healthy and get out there again.  This makes me fall in love with God as Creator and fellow artist all over again.

Plan: Soak It All In

It's Easter Break starts this weekend!  Oh, there have been so many mornings lately when I wished I was sleeping in instead of getting up before the sun.  So this week I fully intend on taking advantage of the fact that I live at a fantastic Spring Break location of my very own.

I plan on:

1. House-sitting for the In-Laws (on the lake)
2. Swimming in said lake
3. Sunbathing next to that lake, in the back yard, and at the beach
4. Catching up on grading (ugh)
5. Finishing reading Water for Elephants (at the lake or the beach)
6. Working on my crocheted afghan
7. Painting the NURSERY!

Necklace from Louloudo

What are you going to do this Easter?  Any egg hunts?  Egg dyeing (What's your favorite, by the way)? Cadbury Cream Egg eating?  Happy Friday.

Sending Sunshine

Things have been crazy busy around here: we are doing our 27 hours of adoption classes, I'm mentoring a high school girl, leading a small group, teaching at a Spiritual Day Spa on Saturday, scrambling to get our house together to get our Foster license, and working full-time, plus what I consider the part time doings of being an artist. 

Do you ever feel like the things you do to keep sane get put on the back burner just so you can survive?  I know I'm not alone in this.  And while I don't want to wish my life away, I'm looking forward to summer.  So since there's been little time to do any new paintings, I've stocked the Etsy shop with these great new postcards which I ordered from moo.com.

They're glossy, printed on sustainably sourced paper, and they are 100% guaranteed to give a TKO to any bout of winter blues you may be feeling.  And what ever happened to mail?  It's a dying art form, I tell you.  The girls from the Valentine Swap through the Stationery Place had something to say about it, and the ladies over at The Benevolent Postcard Society are a small militia against the virtual epidemic of anti-handwriting.  When was the last time you put a postage stamp on something other than a bill?

If you are anywhere as busy as I, or have any form of email-overindulgence guilt, try sending a postcard next time. One or two sentences does the trick, and I promise, it's like sending sunshine.  Try it!  In the meantime, drool over all the new postcards I've posted for sale in the shop.

A Full Retrospective

 

Goodbye 2010.  You were a very full year.  Full of love and romance,

God provided for us, in His timing, a new house to call our own,

And to fill to the brim with sunshine, love, and too much stuff.

Lots of crafts were made...paper, stitched, crocheted.  Too many to count, in fact.

While we weren't yet blessed with little chicks of our own, we've cuddled many a good substitute.

Spring brought a new song to our hearts, full of optimism and merry-making.

Being back in Oceanside to stay meant we could act like tourists in our own town.

Arts and culture were sandwiched in between good restaurants and the good ole Coastal Lifestyle we love.

July meant discovering Portland, and rediscovering most beloved family.

August was filled with too-short days of foreign-family visits. (Seriously, too short...always is.)

I spent our summer (and our money) decorating our bedroom and I quite like the results!

Not nearly enough time was spent painting.  Lilly and I were both a bit exhausted from other responsibilities.

School means back to the grind...where even parties are work.

This girl had a milestone birthday, ushered in with a non-surprise party which ended in smiles and rollerskates.

The year ended with my first ever Christmas Eve dinner hostessing.  (It was a smash hit.)

Oasis in the Bedroom

Well, despite every aspiration I had for being the world's best blogger this summer, my efforts have fallen by the wayside as I sift through the unending to-do list during these blissful months of play, rest and work.

I did mention in my last post that I would be busy, so here is a glimpse at some of the things I have tackled and am in the midst of currently.
The most time-consuming and rewarding endeavor is our (my) ever-progressing bedroom redesign. After painting the walls a sprightly shade of yellow and my childhood nightstand and dresser a dreamy ocean blue-green, a big change has already taken shape. New bedding thrown from our bodies on these warm summer nights is refreshing, and this pillow from Amy Butler is in the works.
Speaking of, did you know Amy Butler has a bedding line at Bed Bath & Beyond? I turned the corner and blubbered like a total idiot...I couldn't have been more shocked if she had been sitting there herself. I picked up the sweet ruffled pillow and the $40 price tag quickly reminded me that I have the very pattern at home. A trip to the fabric store afforded me the opportunity to snatch up this sweet print, and it will don my mattresses soon.
Headboard fabric has been purchased and is awaiting my eager hands for assembly, curtain and bedskirt fabric is *hopefully* in the mail, and a darling antique arts and crafts dresser is all sanded down in my garage, dreaming of the yellow stripes it will soon wear.

Even unfinished, some of our Swedish friends visited last night and I spied the Mr. peeking his head in our room and, sighing, said, "I love this room!"

You will too, once I post some finished pics!

Me and the Fluffiest Around the Neighborhood

"Let's go on a walk!" I said. "We'll introduce ourselves to the new neighborhood."The little fluffy one said, "Ok, I've been feeling the need for some wind in my hair. Let's go."
"Look at those giant green leaves," the fluffy one said, "and the sun coming through them like that!""Yup," I said, "it's because we live closer to the beach. Can you smell the salt water? Feel the ocean breeze?""Oh, yes!" Said the fluffy one. And we sauntered along, admiring the beauty of springtime near the beach.
"What's that?!" shrieked the fluffiest puppy. "Oh, don't worry, that just means you know we live in California. Think of it as art."
We continued on our way, finding lots of treasures, new and old.
Amongst all the flowers, we even found some made of glass. The fluffy one tried to smell them, but they did not smell like the rest.
"Phew! That was awesome. Let's do it again tomorrow," she said.
"Ok."

What does your neighborhood look like right now? Now it's your turn to take ME on a tour!

Life Is Rough

Sunshine sunshine sunshine flip flops.

Life in Oceanside is rough. It's 72 degrees right now.

Oh, and I'm going running here this afternoon. *Don't be jealous.*

Tradition...TRADITION!

What are your Christmas Season traditions? You know, before the blessed day, what do you do in the weeks before? Do you drive around with family, noses pressed to cold windows with all the twinkling lights reflected in your wide eyes?

Do you go ice skating, mittened hands held with your favorite person? Or listen to the bell choir, attend a tree lighting, or watch the parade of boats?

We visit Point Loma lighthouse. Well, we did once. I'll call it a tradition, though...at least I'd like it to become one.

How many times do you have to do something to make it a tradition? Surely more than once...

Longest Pier on the Pacific Coast

We love our pier.
Even if it takes about a week to walk all the way to the end.And you get hit on by the surfers on either side.And this guy has his own sign that states he will bite stupid people.
And I don't know who Granny Mabel Irick is, but I bet she's cute and wears big hats.But there is a great place called Ruby's where the girls wear red and white pinstripe mini dresses and the guys wear white pants and it's a great place to get shakes and onion rings.
We love our pier, especially in the summer.

And be sure to visit my amazingly talented friend, Kotori's giveaway, celebrating the grand opening of her shop!

On Clouds

Are you a cloud watcher? I think it's really a discipline, an exercise in visual creativity, that sometimes I find taxing. I know, I'm an artist, stuff like this is supposed to be second nature to me, but like many skill sets, it is just one more thing that is a practice in keeping you sharp.
While driving the other day, I had a long, full list of rats, kites, kings, and dragons that appeared before me in the sky. My sweet, patient husband had to endure the deluge of creations I was developing since it was almost too easy to see all these wonderful things; nearly no effort at all.I remembered seeing a society on TV once whose discipline and joy it is to take time every day, not to smell the roses, but to just watch the clouds. Welcome to the Cloud Appreciation Society with their nearly 18 thousand members, an official manifesto and handbook, and whose site even features cloud artists and music to watch by.There's a scene that I love in the movie, Girl With a Pearl Earring, where Vermeer asks Scarlett Johansson's character to tell him what color the clouds are. She, of course, starts by saying that they're white...but then sees the blues and grays, and even pinks and browns in them. I often show this clip to my students when we are learning to paint white. Even white clouds have a whole rainbow in them!

Evening Show by Mark Kelvin Horton

Would you ever belong to a cloud watching society? Are you, or have you ever been, a cloud watcher? I wonder how this would cause us to slow down, admire creation, cause us to think about how small we all are...