25 years strong

Here's the fella that's put up with me for over 25 years---Tuesday is our 25th anniversary, and life together is better now than ever! He's the person I'm most comfortable with, he knows me, gets me, and we connect in so many great ways---it's so terrific to be married to my best friend! He played too much this past week so is spending most of the weekend working and catching up. I'm trying to figure how to honor our 25 years...what to give him that's not just a token gift but something that shows the love we've shared for so long. With him out in the shop working I can try and create something that would be easy to tuck away when I hear him come inside (which he does a lot, heating water for tea, getting a snack, needing some connectivity...). Toying with a small mini album, but being a procrastinator, not sure I can pull it off in less than 3 days. I'll see what photos I can find---wonder if we have a shot from each anniversary...time to start my research. Happy Memorial weekend!

Prom is over

It's the day after and the "princess" is snoozing upstairs in her castle :). She had a blast at dinner with 9 other couples, a terrific time at the dance and popped home to change before going camping at a friend's house with a pack of buddies. Back home at 7:30 she promptly fell asleep and is still sawing logs at almost 2:00. Looking forward to her awakening for more evening details. In the meantime, here are some photos before she left---without permission I'm just including a suggestion of her date---he arrived all dapper with a lovely corsage in hand and damp freshly showered hair. As we started shooting photos he ran out to his car to get his Mom's camera---she'd requested pics. Lucky her, he forgot the tickets to the prom so they had to zip back and pick them up, so she got to see both kids in their finery too.







This last one shows some of her goofy personality...she was boogie-ing with a friend to some music sifting out the shop door...

Mother's Day, Prom, what's goin' on...

Dress shopping, (she looks like she's about to grab someone's rear...random shot!). We love this dress, it's cotton, just below knee length & can be dressed up or down depending on the accessories (denim jacket would be adorable w/flip flops, or fancy jewelry & high heeled sandals to spiff it up). She's so excited to go to prom mainly because of whom she's going with! She's been to several other formal dances, but this is the first I think that she's going with a true "crush" & the feeling is mutual :).




The flowers are from Mother's Day (along with a darling baby iPod which has become motivation to go walking!). Had fun shooting photos outside of the flowers---nice little digital camera my oldest daughter loaned me for the day. Sun is gone today tho, first threat of rain in weeks---we can use a good soaking.

Hair appt. for youngest daughter tomorrow morning, starting the prep for Prom. She's having dinner at friends cooked by another senior boy---they're all supposed to bring something to share---her date is bringing lasagna. I love the idea of high school kids doing a potluck! How cool is that? Should be fun!

My latest finished painting

Finished this up a bit ago---first time I've worked on Ampersand Claybord (no it's not spelled wrong!). This is their "Textured" surface which works well with watercolor. I sprayed the finished painting with a UV sealer several times (it didn't make the watercolor bleed at all :)) and then painted the blond birch wood frame with black acrylic paint (two coats of thinned fine art acrylic paint, one coat of black acrylic house paint---I like the more opaque house paint with a touch of shine). First photo shows the painting from the front, second photo shows the frame. I've been wanting to try a system that eliminates the hassles of framing with glass---think I've found it! Now to order some more in a larger size :)