The Fair Didn't Disappoint!

Homemade corn dogs, fresh lemonade, hot out of the oven cinnamon rolls, great music, animals: cows, pigs, goats, sheep and baby animals of all kinds including camels and bison. We walked, ate, stood in lines, ran into family friends and all in all enjoyed ourselves. Today we are just relaxing, reading, and making homemade bing cherry ice cream. Do you think were a family that goes through life on its stomach?

I MADE IT!!!

I am finally on VACATION! Two whole weeks! There were moments when I didnt know if I would make it... work has been extremely stressful for quite awhile now. BUT, here I am... on vacation AND in Nevada City.

Ovid and I left right after work yesterday and slowly (lots of Friday night traffic) made our way up to see my brother Michael and his partner Richard. I love coming up here! Its peaceful, quiet, and smells fresh and clean like only the country can. And of course, I love my being with my brother. They have a beautiful house in the foothills so there are lots of pine trees. We mainly come up here to do nothing... hang out, read, relax, eat... but the county fair is here this weekend so we'll go to that later today. That means CORN DOGS!! Whooohooo. I did remember my camera this time so I will upload pictures when we get back tomorrow.

SuN TeA

We have been having some wonderfully warm weather so I have been making sun tea. I made one batch with white hibiscus aone batch with Celestial Seasonings Tension Tamer.... YuMMy!

A Cleaning Machine

I am not! I don't like to clean... and certainly can't afford someone else to come in and do it for me ... so today while I was cleaning the shower I had an epiphany! I used to live in a beautiful 1920's apartment. But, when I moved into my current place which was only 5 years old at the time. I remember thinking how easy it was to keep clean! Now, 14 years later I was thinking about my brother Michael's place which is only a year or two old and easier to keep clean than this place. So, here's the epiphany... if I moved into a NEW place every 5 years I wouldn't have to clean as much!! Brilliant isn't it??

Ok, if that isn't feasible then check out http://flylady.net to help you keep things organized and clean. My friend Laura sent this site to me, bless her heart!

Encaustic Painting Class

Here are my paintings from yesterday:

Encaustic Painting Class

I have always wanted to learn how to use encaustic paints, and since my usual art camp isn't until October, I signed up for a one day workshop. Here are a couple of photos from my day (I was too busy playing to take many pictures):

I had a great time.... even learned how to use a propane torch which was scary at first. That's it in the right hand corner of the above picture. In fact, the teacher began our class by telling us that the first piece of equipment you have to buy is antibiotic burn cream! When I saw the torch, I thought this may not be for me. LOL! But, I got over that. Tomorrow I will upload some pictures of my finished pieces.

This is making me...

so very, very happy!