this is halloween...

we went for a long hike yesterday (more on that another day).  by the time we got home we were so tired that we almost forgot to carve pumpkins.  that's crazy because i've only been talking about it for the entire month.  we have a tradition that started last year, to watch nightmare before christmas while we carve our pumpkins.  i find that little tradition of ours to be incredibly fun.  as soon as our festivities began i forgot how tired i was and carved two pumpkins then stayed up late roasting the seeds and being silly. 

yes, we take our designing and carving really serious around here.

 

it is pretty easy to tell which ones i carved and which one za husband carved. 

when i was a kid it was the same way.  my brother always carved some scary face and mine were always happy faces. 

maybe later i'll tell you a little more about how silly i really did get last night.  my case of the sillies carried over into the morning and they could have involved a little singing and dancing, a lot of laughing, and a video that i begged za husband to never share.

but for now.....happy halloween!!!

party time

                      what a fun filled weekend it has been and there is more fun on the horizon.
                           we had my mom's 50th birthday party at our house friday night. 

i was a little nervous because much of the preparation was done last minute and i had never hosted such a big event.  it almost felt like a house warming party at the same time since we've only been in our home a few months.  i had people asking for the tour every other minute so i missed out on the arrival or departure of some guests but i tried to talk to every person.  

we had over 50 people that celebrated with us through the night. 

i must say that my silly nerves about all the little details were ridiculous because  all anyone really cared about was enjoying the moment.  we had so much fun.  our home felt so alive with all of the chatter and laughter of family and friends. 

 (here's the guest of honor feeling a little shy while the huge group sang so wonderfully)

(since her babes couldn't be there in person we had them there in a sugar version on her cake...which she loved)

now the pictures can do the rest of the talking....

party at our house.....more often!

50 is beautiful

my wonderful beautiful mom is 50 today!  i was so excited to visit her at work this morning and take her the presents she already knew about (slight detour)
a couple weeks ago my mom was in the art room at my house and i was in the kitchen.  i heard her ask what was in the closet to which i responded....you better stay out of there!  being the naughty person she is she opened the closet and found 2 of her 3 gifts just as i was running from the kitchen to stop her.  i'm used to antics like that from her.  she taught me to be the same way.  i drive za husband crazy because i always discover gifts before he can surprise me with them.
here she is opening the painting i made for her...

on each of the skeleton keys there are names.  my mom is all about her family and dogs so i added that little touch which she loved.  unfortunately i forgot my camera so i didn't get really good pictures of the details on the painting or of the rest of her stuff. 

my mom is such a loved lady and i understand why. 

a few people at work decorated her office all cute and there were homemade goodies, presents, and cards all over the place from so many of her friends. 

my mom is the most down-to-earth, loving, honest, person.  she is so giving and i think she deserves the world.  she is very magnetic...everyone wants to be her friend, and everyone gets to be her friend because she is nice to all.    she is funny because she says the things everyone else is thinking....who doesn't love someone that is real?  she has always been really motherly to my brother and i and now to za husband who she loves as if he were her own.  plus she is extremely motherly to her fur babies....this morning she said the dogs seemed to know it was her birthday.  they greeted her in an extra excited sort of way.  they love her so much and so do i and so does the rest of the world.  we could ask for a better muzza!  

tomorrow is the big party where friends and family will gather at our house and celebrate stacy!  i can't wait to be a part of honoring this very special lady.

i love you so much mom!  thank you for being the person you are!  happy birthday! 

clamshell headlights

right now i should be working on the billion things i need to get done prior to my mom's 50th birthday bash on friday but i've missed the blogworld so here goes a quick post. 

last night za husband asked if i'd like to go out for dinner.  i was cool with that idea especially since he mentioned we'd be taking out the '65 riviera.  it's his moms car but it's been living at our house the past couple weeks while he works on it.  za husband already knows this but you don't until now, i'd love to own this car.  i drove it once back when we were dating and basically fell in love with it on the spot. 

 

there are a few things that i think are extra special about this car. 

1. the inside of it smells like the pirates of the caribbean ride at disneyland. 

(weird i know, i love that smell so i love the car.

za husband doesn't quite understand this one but he will

very soon since our disneyland trip is right around the corner...so excited!)

2.  i love anything vintage.  

(this car came with power windows and other fancy things that seem so luxurious for 1965 and all this stuff works.)

3. this is the only year the buick riviera feautured clamshell headlights.....

(what's this???  not sure i'll describe it well but basically the lights are hidden under metal covers.  there is a switch inside the car that moves the metal covers and reveals the light.  this is probably my favorite thing about the car because it looks like it's blinking when you open/close the covers.)

 

after dinner i decided it was my turn to drive.  i get in the drivers seat, turn on the lights, then flip the switch to open the covers.  guess what......they didn't open.  weird because they worked when we were driving just a little bit ago. 

now they refused to open.

much like a clam....guess that's where they got the name.

za husband tried and tried to get them working because how were we supposed to get home without headlights in the dark?

after much prying he got one open....

so now the car was winking which was kind of cute but it meant i didnt' get to drive home.

the wink worked for a minute but it wasn't really getting us home safely so he pulled over and tried again and finally got a wink and a half so we made it to the house safely. 

we seem to always have adventures.

i'm glad i have such a cool adventure partner.   

this little owlie has made her way to the shop

the big reveal

are you ready for this? 

i'm not sure if you are so i'll give the painting to you in small doses...

 for a couple reasons. 

revealing my latest creation compares to telling your best friend a really good secret. 

you don't just want to scream out the goodness...you want to let it spill out drop by drop, slowly.  it's just better that way.

the other reason is, i don't think you can get the full idea of how amazing this giant painting is unless you see it in sections.  i had to stand on the bed to get the whole thing in one shot and i want you to see some of the details.  however, i'm convinced it's impossible to translate the beauty of it in a photo, especially when you have an old dinosaur camera like mine.  you'll all just have to come over and see it. 

i can have a really good idea of how i want a painting to look and all the elements it will have as i'm starting on it.  then with each brush stroke it transforms into something a little different than what i envisioned.  sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse.  this time it was certainly for the better.  my paintings usually have a story behind them and i would say this one does.  there are certain messages i tried to convey with the different things i painted on this big canvas but i won't share.  that way you can get your own idea and message from it.

i wanted the text to appear exactly this way and when i started out with it i wasn't sure it would end up the way i wanted but, it did.  just in case you are having trouble reading it i'll tell you what it says...

"if you live to be a hundred, i want to live to be a hundred minus one day, so i never have to live without you." -winnie the pooh

man, winnie the pooh really knows how to say it.  this painting was a bit of a collaboration.  while i was working on it i asked za husband to find a really awesome love quote.  this was the first one he brought to me and i was instantly sold on it.  because the truth is, i feel that exact way with him.  this morning we talked about how we would most likely fight over who got the "minus one day". 

i'll take a better big picture once it has finished drying and we get it hung up in the spot it was intended for. 

a painting of gigantic proportions

hi!

it's me....standing on a chair....to paint the biggest canvas i've painted to date. 

my art room really is that messy.  when i'm working on a project it looks like a tornado has gone through the room.  then i finish the project and eventually put every item back where it belongs, only to tornado the room again with the next project.  i've tried keeping the room tidy while working but it just isn't the way i do things.  creativity is messy in my world. 

anyway i can't wait to reveal this project of mine.  i've worked on it for several hours tonight pretty much non-stop.  hopefully it will make a debut tomorrow.  i'm really loving it!

 

coming soon...

once the finishing touches are added this little owlie is going to be available in the shop.

stealing pictures

the sneaky camera guy strikes again

 za husband really has a thing for stealing pictures of me while i get ready. 

one of these days i might catch him.  although highly unlikely since it takes him about 5 minutes to ready himself for a night on the town and me just a few more than him. 

i eventually snap out of my own little getting ready world and notice him.

i sure do love that sneaky camera guy.

happiness overload

as i have mentioned before i LOVE getting something special in the mail.  it's so uplifting to get a little letter or card from a friend amongst the usual pile of bills and junk mail.  let me tell you....this week must be my lucky week because i've received a few wonderful things in the mail.  it all started with an adorable handmade invitation to a halloween dinner, a super cute post card, then two more wonderful things this evening. 
we walk to the mailbox in the cool rainy weather (which puts me in a good mood all on it's own) then we open the mailbox and i see something from my lovely friend jennifer. 

she sent me the sweetest customized card.  her words are thoughtful and the card is beautiful.  the card is a collage of my artwork plus she added pictures of will and i.  wow!  it was so wonderful and completely made my day.  thank you so much jennifer! i don't really know what else to say about it except i love it!

on top of all that we get this....

the package which holds hotel room information, tickets, and other special items for our upcoming vacation to disneyland (one of my most favorite places in the world).

we decided to plan this fun trip to celebrate our first fantastic year of marriage.  

i'm so excited about going because it will be our first time there together.  in fact za husband hasn't been since he was a kid.  i've been lots of times in my life because it was a place i went with my family since i was 4 years old.  which is definitely part of the reason i love it so much.  it holds millions of happy memories.  hooray!!!  pretty soon we will be celebrating our first year of magic at a very magical location!  i'm so excited about it that i've already started to have disneyland dreams at night.  amongst my hiding from a bear nightmare last night was a dream of being at disneyland.  i'm just silly like that. 

today has pretty much been happiness overload.