Santa is Coming!

In my last post, I showed a picture of my Santa collection and this  new addition to the crew.  Within a few hours my sister was calling me and asking the who, what and how of this canvas.

So here you go… 

Usually we have another painting that I made to go there in order to cover up the cable and electrical outlets that are mounted on the wall.  Here is a picture from 2012 where you can see it up there {and look how cute and sweet Jackson was then}

Please allow me to rant….Who puts a cable and electrical outlet over seven feet off the ground and does not even center it?  Who puts something like that in a cinderblock wall that would require a really crazy TV mount situation…to be mounted there (not centered) and then decide that an entertainment center is just easier to figure out? 

Someone who cares nothing for my state of mind, that’s who!  Yeah let’s just leave it there and call it a day!

So for a few years I’ve had it covered up.  This year I changed some of my Christmas decorations  and decided to put the Santas there and have the nativity down where the boys can see it better.  So the usual canvas looks awful with the Santas and of course like any perfectly sane person I knew I had to create a new canvas to cover the outlets.

Yes, I am very good at making extra work for myself.  So I Googled “Santa picture” and finally came to one that I liked and I thought I could execute. 

It turns out that Pottery Barn had something similar (for $250) a few years ago and it had been copied all over the internet.  So I printed out a copy and set up a grid on my canvas and got to work.

I lightened this one so you can see it better.

It is pretty simple if you just put a grid on your paper and then do a little math to find out the grid on your canvas.  After that is done you just draw each square exactly as it looks in the original.

Then you just get to coloring.  I used a silver Sharpie.  I have an extensive collection of Sharpies and I’m not afraid to admit it!

{I decided to do this before my Christmas decorations were really finished and there were still boxes in the Dining room.  I have no idea why I needed to get this done so desperately….}

I got about half way through when my marker died.  I had another one, but when I opened it, the new one was dried up.   Womp, womp womp!  So the next day I trotted myself all the way across the island to get another silver Sharpie.  It turned out that they didn’t have the same one as I had before.  Why would they?  That would be way too easy. 

They did have a silver paint pen.  I love paint pens.  Well I did when I was 12, which is also when I loved White Out so much I painted my lampshade in my bedroom with White Out…so yeah, I love paint pens.

Bada bing bada boom!

The paint pen has a different sheen on the canvas and it irks me some to look at it and see two different shades of silver on there.  But sometimes you just have to call it done and move on…

There is always next year to improve it and make it even better!  I’m thinking glitter!

Oh and I’d be lying if I didn’t show you this.  It turns out that this canvas is just a bitty bit smaller than the one I usually have up there.  So the outlets show.  Let’s take a moment to mourn for my precarious mental health…

I’m looking for an easel to put it on…. maybe one I can have to fix up and make more work for myself.

Friday Night Art

The art teacher for the boys school is such a fun talented artist. When I heard that she was doing Art classes for adults on Friday nights, I was all in.  Her classes for children are amazing too!

The first class I went to we worked on Madalas.  I had never done one before and it was a total blast!  It is kind of like fancy doodling.  {I’ve probably spent more time in my life doodling than studying, so I was giddy about this project}

Mine was kind of crooked, but it was just so fun I didn’t mind.I think I could spend lots of time doing these!  I’m kind of itching to do one with colors too!

We also did some drawing that I didn’t love as much as the mandalas, but were still lots of fun.  The continuous contour drawing you never take your pencil up off of the paper…for the entire drawing.  That was tough, but a fun exercise too.

I took a few weeks off as I waited for Allen to get home from California since getting a babysitter every Friday night is pricey.  When I went back they were doing linocut prints.

We us special tools to cut into linoleum essentially creating a stamp.  Then you ink the stamp with special paints and rollers and press it to make the print.

Can you guess which one is mine?

Mine turned out well and I just got it back from the framer.

Last time we worked on making a paper mache mask.  I’ve still got a lot of work to do, but I think it will be really fun when it’s done.

In the meantime I’ve been doing a little painting.  While I love painting, I’m just not that in love with the products I make.  Here is one I recently did.

I ended up painting over it because the perspective and it being off center bugged me….This was the third crab I have painted on this same canvas.  We will just have to see if the fourth crab is the one!

Mother’s Day 2014

Every year on Mother’s Day it gets better than the last.  This year Jackson came and loudly told me “Happy Mother’s Day!” at about 6:14 a.m. and was so excited to give me his poem that I couldn’t even be mad.  Miller was right behind him with his Mother’s Day painting of flowers.  So cute!

I have a soft spot in my heart for kids crafts and Mother’s Day kids crafts are just the sweetest!

Allen and the boys made me a fantastic breakfast that we enjoyed al fresco.  While I was waiting for breakfast the boys were hard at work.
Miller decided he was going to clean the windows—with a broom.

Jackson learned to make a terrific latte.  I’m spoiled, right!

Then we packed up a lunch and headed to our favorite beach.

It was so crowded…

We ended the day with a delicious dinner of stone crab legs, filet mignons, and corn on the cob!  I am spoiled!

Thank you Allen, for making it all happen!

A Little Recap

As I told you last week, I recently attended my Alma Mater’s reunion.  It was even better than I expected.

We arrived late Friday morning, just in time to walk around campus and enjoy an al fresco lunch.  We were thrilled to see some faculty and staff from our day still there.

Actually the picture looks like we ate lunch alone, but we arrived too late for the Founder’s Day Service  and ended up being a few minutes early for lunch.  Since they can’t fine us anymore for skipping, we lived on the wild side!

We saw our Freshman dorm, which is being renovated.

We were happy to see that the statues were still in Main Hall.  For some reason we used to put little things in the dish of the statue and then go back and see if it was still there. 

We totally didn’t appreciate the beauty of our college while we were there.  We did this weekend.

Have I told you how amazing my college experience was?  Yes, I thought so, but so many others think so too.  Here is another article that was recently written.

Friday night was our class dinner and the only picture I have of all of us is a bit blurry {and y’all won’t even believe it, but this isn’t even MY blurry picture}.

Oh wait, I do have this one, but we are inside and the lighting is not very flattering.  We are posing with Dr. McDaniel here.  He was interim president while we were there and we all adore him.  It was so sweet of him to come to our class dinner.  He kind of likes us too.  He said we are “His” class.

Roomies forever!  One day I am going to tell you all about this girl and our friendship.

Saturday we had a small baby shower for our friend who is expecting (Surprise!) in the summer.  We had a nice lunch and then headed back to the college for our class meeting. 

Mary Ames and I are so thrilled in this picture because we were re-elected as class reps. 

Yeah.  That is a joke.  We do it for the love and money that goes along with such a prestigious position.  Again, I kid.

Saturday night we had a fun dinner at the college and then it was followed by a concert by Daughtry.

Then all too soon it was over.  I love coming home to my guys, but I miss my girls when I leave.  Then I remember that I’ll get to see my girls again over the summer or here and there and my classmates…well we get to do it all over again in five years!

125 Years of Educating Women

Today I leave my island home to go visit my Alma Mater, Converse College.  Most people have never heard of it, but I am so proud that I graduated from such a fine college.  This year marks 20 {GASP!} years since I graduated as well as the 125th anniversary of the college.

There are three things that I’ve done that have made me the person I am today.  One of them is graduating from Converse. If you know nothing about Converse College this video might pique your interest.

This article came out recently and it describes some of the history that has been uncovered as they have been renovating Pell Hall, where I lived as a freshman.  If those walls could talk!
I am helping to plan our reunion and have asked classmates to send me photos from our college years.  I have laughed until I cried at some of the pictures, but out of respect, I’ll just share the ones that show us being “collegiate”.


Yes. there are only two.  In my defense I have all my pictures in storage and can’t get to them now.  I’m sure there are plenty more of them there.
Because Converse is a private women's college they could place all sorts of rules on us.  They were just protecting us from ourselves, but we did in fact need that protection.  In addition to protecting us those rules also made us so very close.  My Converse friends will be there if I need them.  Period.
The first 6 weeks of our Freshman year we had a curfew.  Of midnight.  We did it too.  After the first six weeks we got our curfews extended until 2 a.m.  Can you imagine?  I can, and looking back on it, I’m so glad we had a curfew.  As my mama always says, “Nothing good ever happens after midnight.”  Truer words have never been spoken!
Our entire four years were had to live on campus.  We ate most of our meals in the the Dining Hall {not a cafeteria}  and were had a sit down dinner every night.  At the time that was unusual, but now it is un heard of.  It gave us such a strong bond.  We really knew our classmates.
Every college has convocation, and other ceremonies, but we were required to attend six a year and we would have to pay a fine or do labor if we missed them.  We had to go to Convocation, Festival of Lessons and Carols, May Day and Founder’s Day.  We detested dressing for all the ceremonies, but it was really special.
Another special tradition at Converse is the Big Sis/ Little Sis tradition.  During the first few weeks, freshman, juniors and transfers attend a series of mixers and fun activity nights.  Each Freshman is chosen by a Junior to be a little sis.  During Big Sis Lil Sis Week, the big sister’s identity is a carefully guarded secret. At night, mysterious runners deliver presents and goodies.  The even number classes are Pink Panthers and the odd numbered classes are Red Devils.  Of course I was a Pink Panther.  Pink is much better than red.  Old loyalties die hard.
So this weekend I will be reconnecting with women who share a common experience with me, but also love for the college who made us into the women we are today.

Lucky #13

Today is our 13th wedding anniversary.  I can hardly believe that it has been so long.

Looking back on it, I think of how unprepared we were for marriage.  We both had our own ideas and way of doing things and it took some adjustment.

For heaven’s sake, look how young we were!

As Allen likes to say… We’ve been married for 12 good years.  The first year was our adjustment year!

Thankfully we were both serious about the forever thing because there have been plenty of times we could have given up!

We are always telling our boys that if you want to get better at anything you have to practice and work hard.  That is just what we are doing with our marriage…practicing and working hard for it.

Now that we have been at this for a while I can say it is so much more than what I ever hoped for.  It is richer, fuller and messier than I ever dreamed.

Happy Anniversary Allen

Every once in a while

Since moving here we have had the opportunity to dress up for a few events.
Last week was a Gala for the opening of the new airport.  We were there with a about 1500 of our closest friends here in the Bahamas.
We had lots of fun because most of the friends that we have made here were invited.  I was just happy to be the guest of an invitee (Allen).
The invitations really set the tone for a memorable evening, and we were not let down one bit.

 
Lenny Kravitz was the surprise entertainer and even though we are old and left before it was over, we still loved being there!
Here is a video of the concert.

A little Obsession

I have a little obsession. I love baby feet. is that weird? But look at them! They are so delicious!

CHOOSE

Nobody guessed that my word this year is CHOOSE! I love that this word is really what you make of it.
I choose what kind of mother, wife, daughter, sister, friend, business person, I want to be.
I choose how I run the house, whether or not chores are done and how I go about them.
But most importantly...
I choose to be happy, to see the bright side of things and always look for the positive in people.
I choose to have my cake and eat it too!
Did you come up with your own word? What did you CHOOSE?

Thinking...

This time of year gets me thinking of all I have accomplished (or not) and all I hope to accomplish in the coming year. Life often brings surprises, but it is important to set goals for yourself. Making resloutions don't seem to work out for me. I usually make my resolutions but then when I break it, I just give up. lame, I know. So last year I decided to give myself a single word that I wanted to be my theme for the year. Last year I chose "thrive". It was good and so many ways I did thrive. However, I think I can do better (better is a good one).
Now I am pondering an appropriate word for the coming year.
It is important to make it not just a good word, but one that I can really embrace (embrace is a good one) and let it sink into many aspects of my life.
Have you ever done this? What word would you choose?
I think I have my word. It is in one of these sentences. Can you figure it out?

New Year, New Look

I've been contemplating this for a long time, and I finally took the plunge. It will take some getting used to for sure!


Before from the front

side


back

the new front

the new side

the new back- you can see some of the different shades in this picture