They’re Back!

Happy dance, happy dance.  They’re back and I already have some…at least for a short time – between this addiction and the growing bambino, I have to monitor my consumption so I don’t grow to resemble a jelly bean myself.  Even though hear them calling from my desk drawer – “yoo-hoo!  Down here!  Come on, you know you want to…“

Do you have any food or candy addictions?  Cadbury cream eggs?  Zucchini?  Double cheeseburgers with extra bacon?  Do tell!

= )

 

Wordless Wednesday

(taken with my iPhone.  I miss having a regular digital, but this isn’t half bad…)

X Heart Kiss O

Greetings from the land of the spoiled!  Matt dropped a huge vase of yummy flowers off for me at work yesterday after I left, so they were here to surprise me this morning.

I sure love this guy (with or without the flowers!).

Happy Valentine’s Day!  Spread some love around, won’t you?

xoxo

 

 

Ready for Valentine’s??

Once upon a time I worked in an office with mainly men, and after listening to one after the other complain about having to do something for Valentine’s for their sweetie (oh, the horror, the toil, the pain!) I decided that was it, I wasn’t going to demand anything from my sweetie.  No strings, no expectations, nada.  Why would I want him to do something under duress, like it would be sincere and thoughtful?  I get his feeling that Valentine’s has become a commercial holiday put on this earth to torture men and force them to apparently express something they don’t feel, using copious amounts of money because that’s how best to show your love, right?  Bah.  He didn’t believe me when I said “forget about it, I don’t care, I don’t expect anything from you,” but that’s how I feel.  Of course, I love Valentine’s Day (the red and pink!  The hearts!  The chocolate!) so I try to do something fun for him but seriously, nothing is required in return.  I know he loves me.

Aaaand, off the soapbox!

Last year I got a wild hair and decided to make Reeses Roses at the last minute.  Check them out here.  This year this pregnant lady doesn’t need a lot of candy in the house so I picked up a little something else for him.  But if your sweetie likes a particular sweet, the candy bouquet is easy to put together with a few supplies – go for it!  And let me know if you do, I’d love to see what you came up with (you could do this with so many of the mini candies out there, go wild!).

On another note, does anyone else think this is about the most romantic song out there (even with a cheesy video…)?  Almost brings me to tears every time I hear it.  Of course that’s not very hard to do right now – pregnancy hormones are a-raging today, sheesh!

In case I don’t check in tomorrow, Happy Valentine’s Day my sweeties.

Monday Fix

(better toes in days past...)

What is one to do when she realizes her pedicure is long overdue and looking pretty rank?

Pat herself on the back for having the foresight to be wearing almost-black nail polish as she grabs a permanent marker for a little touch up to get through the day.  Wow, there’s a scuff in my black shoe too… Sharpie to the rescue!

Tonight I have a date with my toes.  = )

 

 

Tiny worlds beneath our feet

Once again, my OPB Click of Zen hasn’t let me down – I love collecting shells but had NO IDEA I was skipping so many!

Check out this link to some incredible beauty.  Wow.  Blows my mind.  Makes me wonder – What other little bits of beauty am I missing??

 

Tuesday Virtual Coffee #7

Good Tuesday morning and thanks for joining me for coffee (actually weak Irish Breakfast tea for me this morning – my boss bought pastries and it just doesn’t feel right to eat something that good with a Gatorade-spiked-water chaser…).  The drink above is actually a latte brewed at the bookstore/cafe a friend runs, specifically for photo purposes.  I was asked to do a little photo shoot to help them promote the espresso cart that’s now a part of the bookstore and it was fun!  Linda gave me a few ideas for shots she wanted but otherwise I was able to wander around and make lots of arty latte shots  – hence Study of Latte Sprinkled with Cinnamon on Aged Leather Ottoman, above.  <snort>

Anyway!  I’m starting a little challenge for myself for the next month – Finish February.  I have gifts from Christmas to finish, mending and altering to finish, a studio breakdown in prep for a nursery to finish (to start!), and I need to find my creative mojo again.  I know, you don’t have to remind me that last time I started an activity for myself I fizzled out pretty quickly (Self Imposed Bookarts Club, anyone?  Couldn’t even make it past June!) but this is just one month… I can do it!

With this challenge I’m setting myself in mind, I’ll be tuning out of my current daily blog rolling (I miss you all already!!) and only posting to my own blog as I have something to show or share.  I’ve read several “how to get your creativity back” posts lately and one of the common themes is stop reading others’ blogs.  Stop trying to find inspiration “out there” and get back to what you do, what your own head, heart and talents can give you, and that’s what I’m going to do for February.  Heaven knows I love seeing all the creativity out there, even though I know I’m missing a ton of it too, but I’m tired of thinking “why didn’t I think of that?  How does he/she have time to come up with this stuff?  What’s wrong with me?”

Well nothing’s wrong with me, I’m just out of the habit of thinking in creative ways.  I think I’ve said here before I used to love art classes and critiques.  I loved working in the sort of environment where the whole goal of many minds was creativity, creation, and I always found inspiration for my own work in talking to someone else about theirs.  But it doesn’t work quite the same way when I’m reading someone’s blog.  Hmmm.

Of course I’ll likely spend March 1st pretending I’m working as I feverishly catch up on everything I’ve missed over the past month.  Or maybe not.  We’ll see.

Happy Tuesday!

 

 

 

 

Brrrr

I have a thing for fog.  I love the gradually fading layers of trees in the distance that fog creates.  I love coming down off my little mountain, on the way to work, and seeing nothing but the tippy tops of a few trees because the  valley below is full of this dense, fluffy layer of lusciousness (I’ve yet to get a good picture of this).  I love that sense of being wrapped in a fuzzy blanket when the fog presses against the windows of our house.  I love that the world looks like it goes on forever when all I can see is fog in the distance.

I don’t like driving in the fog at night when it’s so dense I can barely see 5 feet in front of me, but that’s another story.

This morning as I drove up the hill on my usual shortcut to the main drag I glanced over and saw this beautiful fade over the grapevines, the blue sky trying to peek through and the faint promise of sun on the way.  I had to back down the hill a bit to get back to this spot – perfect.  It was below freezing, the roads were icy, and I bless the studs on my tires every day it’s like this… but the sun is peeking out now, gearing up for a glorious Oregon Winter day.  We’ve had a lot of rain lately – here comes the sun.

Happy Friday, friends!  Any fun plans for the weekend?

 

 

So Very Beautiful

500 years of women in art.

Stunning.

Hope you have sound – the music goes along beautifully.

 

(found via my trusty OPB newsletter “Click of Zen” – see Philip Scott Johnson‘s myspace for more gems)

 

 

Wordless Wednesday – Combating the Dreary Rain