Dreams of Greece

I can't believe that it's been over six months since my last post! Whaaaaat? Life just keeps fleeting by, and yet what have I really accomplished in the past six months? Oh sure, big things have changed on the work front, and yes, I've faced some really big challenges there, and overcome them (I believe)... But personally? Let's see... Nope, not so much... Where are all the drawings and paintings I should have made? All I have to show are a few sketches and a handful of cards. Hmmm, I did start fwirling and twirling some beautiful yarn into an afghan but it's only about 8 inch's in length so far.... Singing! My other love! I finally recorded a song and put it on my Facebook page... That was one of the scariest things ever!!! I'm so afraid of rejection and I hate to make myself vulnerable to criticism... But the bliss I feel when I sing is so profound that it's worth putting myself out there.... Well if I can't live my dreams, I can at least re-dream my dreams... Lets take a visual vacation, huh?




Ahhhhh Greece..... Can you just imaging trekking through all those twisty turney little streets?... The scent of Olives and bouganvilla filling the air, brilliant blue shutters against the pristine whitewashed stucco, steps leading ever onward to ledged walkways with spectacular views of the Cyclades, soft lace dancing in the open windows? Can you hear the music off in the distance? Crisp white cotton slipped over bronzed skin....





The sun has submerged itself into the ocean and it's time to go out and party!!!!




Cheers.... I mean Opa!!!







Dawn approaches. Sleep, who needs sleep?.... A swim, perhaps?






Is it even possible that some people are actually greeted with a dawn like this? Are they blessed or what?



A warm blissful cup of coffee in my quaint little cavehouse kitchen...






Another day awaits....



Do you think if I dream this dream over and over it could come true? It's okay, even if not, there is bliss and peace enough in the dreaming alone!

Anticipation....

High School.... After thirty years, it's back... My thirtieth High School Reunion is FINALLY coming up this weekend. I've been soooo excited, and amping up with anticipation for the past couple MONTHS... I really liked high school, and I was involved in the music program so that made it really fun with lots of extra curricular activities to be involved in. My high school was "Valley High and we were the home of the Vikings" in Las Vegas... The girls were called Vikettes and I even remember this silly song we all memorized and sang...







Ala mem, ala mem, ala mem yock tempo, boom diddy boom boom, mendo mendo cocken fendo, ennie beanie pepsicinni, alla bolla booba weenie, archie barchie liberarchie and his brother George, a peach a plum a half a stick of chewing gum and if you want the other half this is what you say, a men a man a mandiego san diego, hocus pocus dominocus, sis a sis a sis coom bah, Valley Vikings, Rah Rah Rah!!!



]Isn't it crazy what you remember? Here is a little vignette of some of my favorite things during my senior year... How funny!! This picture was taken in 1979 but I wish I had those shoes still, they're perfectly in style again....





What an innocent face, youth... So critical of myself at the time, wish I could have really processed and appreciated the fact that I'd NEVER look this good again...





Always the flirt, if there was a cute boy to hug you know I was doing some huggin.




Breakfast at Denny's, this was during our Reno Jazz Festival trip...






We were all piled on the bed for the leg competition....





One of my best friends, Deanna... I miss her, we lost touch over the years.





This was taken on "Grad Night" at Disneyland '79... My senior trip was so fun... BUT THAT PERM.... Hysterical!!!










This was a group picture of my twentieth reunion in '99, can't believe how fast the past ten years have gone....

So here I am poised to party my butt off with all my old and new "old" friends... Thanks to Facebook I've reconnected with other classmates and I've even made a very special friend with someone who I went to school with, but we really never knew each other that well in H.S. a shared history is an amazing adhesive in a friendship.

The entire weekend is going to be so full of fun, 70's music, dancing, dining, hanging at the pool... It all takes place at Red Rock Resort. Now that it's finally here I'm already worried that it will be over too soon. It would sure be nice to meet some fabulous man to top it all off, but I'm going to have so much fun whether I do or don't...

I'll take lots of pictures and will fill 'yall in after the big shin dig...

Facebook Graffiti...

Hi everyone... Sorry for the long delay between posts. My "Crackbook" addiction (that would be Facebook to anyone who doesn't know) has been out of control and takes up a tremendous amount of my free time. I really can't complain because it's been a lot of fun. I've reestablished some friendships with people I went to school with. We're having our thirtieth class reunion next month and so it's been fun getting reacquainted before the big get together.

Anyway, on Facebook there is this cool application called Graffiti where you can draw pictures and send them to your friends or post them to your own profile. I'm in love with it!!!

The Raggedy Ann above is my latest creation. I just finished her up right before writing this post. It's cool because you can "play" the drawing and see how it all comes together.

This next one is a strawberry that I drew this morning:

Then last night I drew this little mermaid... She isn't as good as I'd hoped, but I'll tell ya, it's really tricky trying to be precise when you're drawing with a mouse. It's not exactly easy. I really need one of those pen and tablet things that they have now for the computer.

The very first drawing I did was this butterfly. I like the quirky way it turned out. It's kinda funny because it reminds me of a toy I had when I was a kid called "Shrinky-Dinks" you drew and colored on plastic and then baked the sheets in the oven and they shrank into smaller versions of what you drew. For some reason drawings look better when you draw them bigger and then see them in a smaller version...

So anyway that's pretty much what's new... Oh I also started a new workout program with my Wii... I bought the new E.A. Sport Active for the Wii and I just love it. I'm being really disciplined and working out 5 nights a week. I feel myself getting much stronger and my stamina is returning. It's really fun to do a workout where you feel more like you're playing a game rather than feeling like your actually exercising..

Well, that's about it for this post. I'll try write again soon....

A lovely day with nature

Today I spent a lovely, peaceful day wandering around the Springs Preserve. This Las Vegas hidden gem sprang from a strip of land known as "The Meadows", which I remember from my childhood as a cluster of mesquite trees, the tips of which you could just barely make out as you traveled on the 95 heading to either Tule Springs or Mount Charleston. There really was no other reason to go that way, because nothing else had been built WAY out there when I was a kid. I strolled around and took some shots of little vignettes that I found interesting.

When you walk in you trail along with a little flowing creek....

I loved this Horsetail Bamboo.... I need to get some of this...

Then I came upon this lovely little creature all dressed in white...

But alas her cousin "Iris" stole the show...

This was the fiery "Lady in Red"...

Then you have the "Mack-Daddy" Cacti dude....


This was one of my favorite shots... I adore paths... Any kind of PATH!!!



You can't tell from the picture, but these were huge pots...

At the rose garden section... I came upon this guy half buried in a rose bush with all his fancy pants camera equipment and tripods, taking close-ups of roses... I tried to strike up a conversation, but he was waaaaayyyy too pretentious to be talking to some amateur "point-n-click" girl.... Hmmmph....

Heading back towards the Wolfgang Puck restaurant for a little lunch... I sat on the patio which is elevated above the amphitheater and noshed on a little Caesar Salad... Cool breeze wafting around... It was such a treat... I got to listen in on two "yackety-yaks" at the next table over as they gossiped about all of their friends... (insert eye roll here)...

Finally I traipsed on down to the gift shop and bought this schmancy new ankle bracelet made in Nepal for only $3.00... Those poor Nepalese people, they work so hard and here I am having a wonderful enjoyable day, and I have the nerve to be depressed sometimes? I should be slapped!

Over and out!!! Till next time...

The Happy Gardener

I know... I fell off of the blog sphere for awhile. Well I thought I'd better get a new post written, since it's been almost two whole months.

Had to post some of my flower photos. I just love to garden. Can you imagine how happy I'd be if I lived in a climate where everything grows? We have a short spring window here, where everything is lush and new. My pink ice plants (one pictured above) are making a beautiful fuchsia spectacle of themselves. In a couple of months though, everything will be suffering as if it went through a solar fire. Luckily, my little haven of a backyard faces East, and my two story house protects most of it from the baking western exposure. This weekend, I have big plans for the backyard. New annuals and maybe I'll finally build that redwood bridge that I've been storing the wood for, for two years now. I finally finished digging trenches between all the flagstones on my patio and placing smooth river rock in between. Then I placed little turquoise, cobalt and clear marbles artfully among the rocks to simulate little glints of water. My trumpet vines are reaching up and over my wall, and I'm jealous because my neighbors to the rear get all the beauty of them on their side.




This is my little "Chaste" tree. I've been training it from a bush and I love the twisted branches.
My lovely Mesquite tree (left in the distance) is still leafless so far, but believe me, when it gets it's foliage it will blow away all it's cousins in the neighborhood. It's quite the underdog (kinda like me). When I first got it two years ago, it was nothing more than a pitiful twig. I remember my friend who procured it and planted it for me said "Sorry... it was the best one at the Nursery". Then about six months later, it got blown over by a terrible devil wind and I came home to find it laying across my driveway. I'll never forget trying to stake that poor thing, with lodge poles and a three foot sledge hammer (on a ladder and by myself) in 30 mile an hour winds. Well it's kind of like a rescued animal now, and it love's me by producing the most verdantly green leaves. I feed it Ironite and no other tree can even compare to the color. It may grow a little bit crookedly but that just adds to the charm.




Fuchsia Ice Plant, Morning Glory and Sweet Broom, make beautiful mounds around her.

I know this is a short post, but after this weekend I'll have more photos to share (hopefully).

Update: 04/20/09

Well a full weekend of gardening and my poor body is screaming... Here are a couple of new pictures.

Baby Angel Pin

This little sweetie flew all the way from Indiana to come and live with me. She is the lovely creation of a very talented artist named Pat from www.patwintergatherings.com. I was the lucky winner of Pat's giveaway, during One World One Heart. Thank you again Pat.

I've decided that she should be perched atop the bow on the headboard of my bed. It's always a good idea to have a little angel watching out for you as you sleep and to keep all your dreams safe and sound. I've decided her name will be Claire (that name just popped into my mind this morning as I was driving to work, and so that must be her name!)


Here's another little picture for you... This is my little Doj and my original "Buddy Lee" doll. He actually belonged to my momma Judi but she gave him to me many years ago. He's just priceless to me. Not too many years ago Lee Jeans made some new commercials with him as the wonder boy, who escaped all kinds of chaos (no silly, not my Buddy, but one of his clones). There were a few versions made I guess, mine was the train conductor and he used to have a little conductor's hat, but that went missing over the years.


He usually hangs with Mikey and Min atop my hutch. They love to have a few "laughs" around the old antique clock... My Grandma Nanny made the Mickey and Minnie dolls way back in about 1941, she was an amazing seamstress and doll maker.



She made Pluto too, he lives above one of my kitchen cabinets. Well I'll share some more treasures with you next time....

Until then...

Ruffles

When I was about five years old my Grandma "Nanny" started teaching me how to sew... I would spend many days and nights with her making doll clothes and over time I graduated to making some of my own clothes. In the years since then, my sewing has been restricted to mostly home decorating projects. That brings me to my new little pillow. I made it out of the same sheets that I used for the curtains, bows and tablecloth in the "Princess Bedroom", plus I added a little double ruffle made from a plain white sheet. The gathering is always so tedious for me because I'm a perfectionist and I have to have everything even. I love how it turned out... I think my Nanny's spirit was with me, watching over my shoulder to make sure my stitching was straight. I hope someday we'll be sewing together again in the beyond.

Aside from sewing the little pillow, I built this little bookcase job-ie. I used pre-painted shelving, and brackets for the middle shelf. Whipped up a little ruffle (of course) and also decorated the lamp shade. It was fun... Part of the fun of building things for me, is working in my garage workshop. I have my music blaring (I usually like to play classic rock that I loved from my high school days, like: Def Leppard, Van Halen, The Car's, Abba (I love Abba) Elton John, Earth, Wind and Fire, Heart... Well you get the picture. Anyway, I make sure my saw horse's are in the middle of the garage with the door wide open when I'm sawing and singing away. I love it when my neighbors are always driving by and I'm sure wondering "What is that girl up to now"... On a side note: Last Christmas I painted little wonderland images on the glass windows of my garage door and I remember counting over 30 cars slow down as they passed by me while I worked. It's kinda fun to be an exhibitionist. I especially loved it when I was out on a ladder in my front yard last summer trimming up my beautiful Mesquite tree.. I always feel strong and empowered when I'm able to accomplish all the tasks that most women feel they aren't capable of, like when I installed all the celling fans myself or... I bet not that many women can say that they've taken the tank completely off their toilet and replaced all the guts themselves.... (Go on with my baaad self)!!! :) Hey if you don't toot your own horn than it'll be awfully quiet. (I made that one up, can you tell?)

And lastly:

The true princess of the house's new hiding spot. From the front of the bed you can't even see her when she's back there behind the pillows... She loves her new room, and I'm sure she thinks I created it just for her.