Hold Dear

Howdy!

It's been almost a week since I've popped 'round to say howdy! I've been around...it's just been one of those busy weeks!

Friday and Saturday I joined up with my neighbor, Becky, to participate in our neighborhood's annual garage sale. I made about $150. S'wheat! Last year I made $35 so I was pretty tickled with this. Most of the stuff I parted with was miscellaneous craft stuff, i.e., Creative Memories stickers, Stampin' Up stamps, and just random scrapbooking odds and ends. Not a whole lot but it felt good to be in the mindset of purging, albeit lightly, stuff that I've had for years but never used or even looked at!

The only bummer about the sale was that OF COURSE the two days we did the sale were the hottest days of the year so far! I never checked the thermometer on Friday but yesterday I checked it and it was 100 degrees at 4:00 pm! Man, no wonder we were bakin'!

Last night was a fun family evening. Glen, Miranda, and I went to dinner at Riyadh's on Hawthorne Blvd. SO GOOD!!! Then we went to a tiny theatre called Shoebox Theatre and watched She Stoops to Conquer. Hilarious! Five actors played 17 different characters...or 19, if you include the horses. And often times, one actor played different characters in one scene! Very well done and this made for some of the play's funniest moments!

Afterwards, we went to Pix Patisserie for drinks. It was SUCH a marvelous evening...Pix had the walls open so we were effectively sitting outside, there was a full moon, it was 80 degrees with a light breeze and I had the BEST margarita I've ever had! Also, Miranda gave me a belated Mother's Day card and a gift of an hour and half massage with our friend, Harriet. And another nice thing...I ran into a friend I'd lost touch with...so overall, it was a supremely lovely evening.

Okay...now that the dust has all settled from garage sale, all the prep, and I've had a chance to recover, I have now absolutely GOT to get my house cleaned and do some much needed grocery shopping. I also have bags of cans and bottles rattlin' around in the back of my wagon that I need to turn in. I pretty much have the day to myself so I hope to get it all done! Miranda is working and running around and Glen got a guaranteed ticket to go see Barack Obama at the waterfront this afternoon. He took the camera so hopefully he'll take some pictures that I can share them with you! Very cool!

12 of 12 May Style

Whoops...gotta boot, scoot and boogie and get my offering for this month's 12 of 12 up! To find out more about Chad Darnell, father of the 12 of 12, and to see posts from other 12 of 12ers, go here! :-)

First up...checking when the next bus arrives. Trying to ride public transportation as much as possible these days...

Waiting for the bus...gloomy Portland day...

On the bus...we haven't hit the stops with the school kids so it's not crowded yet.

Plugging away at the office...oh the exciting life of a Technical Writer...here's a glimpse of how I make my little home away from home cozy...

I went for a walk across the Hawthorne Bridge at lunch. A few shots...

Gotta love Portland! :-)

When I got home, I was very happy to find that my Jenni Bowlin kit had arrived.

Bastian watching me watch him watch Glen mow the lawn...

Oregon's Primary election is May 20th so we worked on our ballots. I NEVER get tired of seeing my husband's name on a ballot! And it's cool that Glen knows a lot of the people on the ballot! I'm SO proud of him! I'm also pretty jazzed that on Election Night, Glen and I will be attending Mark Hass' Election Night Party! That is just gonna be super premium!

Dinner...a flatbread with fresh tomato and mushrooms and a salad of greens with a balsalmic vinegar/Spanish olive oil/tangerine juice dressing with chopped marcona almonds. This is perfect for me but Glen also had a porkchop - he usually has some kind of meat about once a month or so.

And then lastly...when I went to go wash my face, Senor Tubbo Bubbo was in the sink...

Bonus picture...

He was in there again today...he likes it in there. :-)

happy mother's day!

Just wanted to say Happy Mother's Day to you! I've had a lovely lovely weekend so far and I hope you have too!

I volunteered at CAT yesterday. It was their 10th anniversary. SO amazing and SO cool! Then last night Glen and I went to a fundraiser and we got to see some excellent speakers including this guy and this lady.

I got to talk to my Mommy this morning - Glen and I sang her the song we've been singing to her for at least 17 years or so. She was going to The National Steinbeck Center in Salinas with my sisters and niece today. Sure wish I could have been with them!!! Wah!

I did get to spend the day with my girlie though. Miranda doesn't have to work until tonight so she and I spent the afternoon doing one of our most favorite hobbies -- thrifting! I didn't find a whole lot but at the last Goodwill we went to, I found this assortment of books...

These are going to be perfect for Nina Bagley's Gathering class I signed up for at Art and Soul in October!

I sure hope you are having a lovely day...Mothers and others!! :-)

Spring Journal Swap

I recently participated in Heather aka Speckled-Egg's Spring Journal Swap. My partner was the fabulous Stephanie. Last week or so I posted a pic of the journal that I sent to her and here's what she sent me...

Gotta love this attention to detail!

SO gorgeous!

And one of the coolest things...this journal has a friggin' handle! SO clever!

Thank you so so much Stephanie! I just love this!!!

circle journal madness

Okay so the fog is lifting. I am feeling like getting back to my crafty life. To celebrate (yay!), I have a few things to share with you.

First, I finished the last LO in the Circle Journal group I've been participating in that Andrea is hosting. This LO was in Claudine's journal and her theme was favorite recipe or favorite cookbook. You may recall I started out with these pages. Here's what I did to those painted up babies...

Okay so this isn't so much a recipe as a strategy for a food combo. But it's an amazing food combo from one of my favorite restaurants so I hope Claudine approves. :-)

And in the mail today, I actually received my Circle Journal from Andrea's group! What fabulous good Circle Journal karma that was! Oh how I love this part...you know, when you get your journal back after being off on it's journey for months and months? Remember what the journal looked like when it started on it's journey. Well, here's what it looks like now!!!

Everyone did some pretty fantastic work in this thing! Check out what the sign in page looks like now...

Isn't this so cool?! I am SO loving the way this all turned out! Thanks again to the fab Andrea for doing it again and hosting a terrific Circle Journal!

Also, in the mail today (it was a FAB mail day!), I received my journal from Stephanie! We were partners in Heather's Spring Journal Swap. Oh man...it is SO cool! But that's gonna get a post of it's very own. Stay tuned! :-)

How I Spent My Lunch Hour...

So I decided to go for a walk today on my lunch break. The weather was clear and I'm slowly getting back into a routine of taking regular walks.

I work downtown Portland and while walking through the PSU campus, I noticed a sign on the campus church marquee that read "Labyrinth Meditation." Cool! I have ALWAYS wanted to try this...even before I learned to meditate!!! :-)

Even though it took me off course of my walk (oh darn!), I decided to step inside and check it out. It turned out to be a very uplifting and renewing experience. Exactly what I needed and I just gotta tell you...I completely trust that it was the Universe watching out for me. I haven't been very committed to my meditation practice lately and after losing Tommy, I was feeling like I needed to get back to it. Seeing the marquee was like the welcoming door, slightly ajar, just waiting for me. All I had to do was recognize it was for me and walk through it.

If you've been curious about this, I highly recommend it. To find a Labyrinth near you, try this link!

I was also catching up on my DailyOms and read through this one yesterday. This is a big "wow!" for me because, well, I have never been one to deny myself tears. I am very good at completely giving in. It's comforting to know this is absolutely a process and there are lessons to be learned even through deep sadness. It's not just learning that one can never have too many Kleenex boxes in the house. :-)

Hugs to you for your kindness, thoughfulness, and love you've shared with me these past few days. I am grateful for you, dear friends.

Lonely...

The house sure feels empty tonight. And it's not just because Miranda's off with playing with friends and Glen's out of town.

I'm lonely because I'm missing our dear sweet kitty, Tommy Boy. After 17 years, he was done and passed away yesterday evening.

Tommy was absolutely the sweetest cat. All he wanted was to be on your lap. Anyone's lap. He was an equal opportunity lap cat. He didn't care if he knew you, what you smelled like, what kind of day you had, or what you were doing. He just wanted to be on.your.lap.

So...I'm keepin' myself busy tonight...planted strawberries in a whiskey barrel...

...and replenished some herbs in another whiskey barrel. The chives, parsley, oregano and rosemary from last year are doing great! I added some dill and curry.

To distract myself I went for a walk, puttered around in the garage (preparing for a garage sale in a few weekends) and did the dishes. The other two kitties, Atticus and Bastian, are being supremely well behaved and super sweet so I'm sure they know something's different.

I have a feeling it's gonna be an early night.

I miss you my Tommy Boy.

happy national scrapbooking day!

In honor of this fun fun day, I thought I'd post the scrapbooking paper I made for the last LO I'm working on in the circle journal that the lovely and talented Andrea is hosting.

I started with some basic, plain, boring scrapbook paper that I've had forever. I'm thinkin' at one time I must have liked it but at this point in time, it just ain't my style anymore.

Pardon the blurry picture, but I hope you get the idea of what the paper looked like before...

I painted the paper all up using Making Memories Acrylic Paints and Ranger Adirondack Re-inkers (I am in LOVE with this product!) The "stamp" was made from a piece of textured wallpaper.

Here is what the pages looked like after...

I'm still workin' on the LO so when I get that done, I'll come back and show you! I just wanted to get something up so I could say Happy Scrapbooking Day to you! :-)

C'mon Spring!

Man o' man, I don't know about you but I cannot wait until Spring! I'm just SO tired of being cold all the time! Yesterday it actually got to about 68 degrees but today, it's cold and raining again. Enough already! :-)

One thing that's helping me get through this last (hopefully) bit of wintry weather is we're starting to get out to see some local shows. Last Friday night Glen and I went to the Doug Fir to see The Dimes, Minus 5 and The Heavenly States. We initially got tickets because of the Minus 5; however, I ended up LOVING The Heavenly States and The Dimes the best!! It was a GREAT show!

Other springy type activities include doing some garden planning, garage sale planning, and joining in the lovely Heather's (aka Speckled Egg) Spring Journal Swap! That was fun!!!

Here is the journal I made for my swap partner, the very thoughtful Stephanie.

I am just so into the vintage velvet and millinery from this place so I had to incorporate some of those treats into this project.

Also springy...I wanted to show you some curtains I made for our Guest Room. There used to be those horrendous vertical blinds but after we painted, I just couldn't bear to put anything so ugly up. So this...

...was turned into this...

The top...

I'm really happy with how they turned out. It's funny...our Guest Room was only a Guest Room for a very short time because just one week after dear Kecia left, Miranda moved back home and right into ye olde Guest Room her former bedroom! I'm not complaining though. If that's what it took to have my girlie back home, I'm completely happy with the timing of this. :-)

So...speaking of Kecia...I totally meant to show you the phenomenally gorgeous necklace she made for me. I am so amazed at this girl's talent. What an absolutely beautiful piece.

Thanks again, Kecia. I am so in love with this necklace!

Seven Fun Facts and a LO!

Hi gang...

I been tagged by Stephanie and Dawn to do the Seven Fun/Weird Facts about myself.

When Stephanie did her tag, she posted some rules...

1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the RULES on your blog.
3. Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog.
4. Tag 7 people and link to them.
5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

Okay so here's some facts about me...

1. I used to be able to put my legs behind my head. Not anymore.

2. My very first job was a telephone solictor. That lasted two weeks.

3. I love snakes. When Glen found out about this, as an engagement present, he gave me a 5' ball python. We had "Baby" for about 20 years before he died.

4. I had a pet rat and loved her to pieces!!! Ratsy Grrrl was SUCH a sweet pet!

5. When I was in high school, my dream car was a light blue Pinto wagon.

6. After I kissed a boy for the first time, I called him a weirdo. He never kissed me again (I was 13).

7. I once flew a 1941 Stearman biplane...for about 10 seconds! :-)

Okay so I usually don't tag people but I'm gonna give it a go this time...

How about Melissa, Andrea, Claudine, Gina, Jana, Tricia, and Malou! Have fun girls!

I also finished a LO in the Round Robin I'm participating in that Elise is hosting. It's Sue's journal and her theme is "Peace." Sigh...I really enjoyed working on this one.

All the pages...

I found this picture of a water ripple and was going to journal about how I think "peace" is the ability to see an action and just observe it's effect, without necessarily reacting to it. But after I found this quote, I just let it be the star. :-)

This was the last page and I'm kinda wishin' I did this on the first page. It was fun!

And then lastly, I share with you a doodle I did at work. I sat next to a co-worker in a meeting and he had a sketchbook and just handed me a piece. It sure helped us from falling asleep!

I hope you are having a great week! Hasta la vista!