7 Random Facts

I was tagged by Jen, Cecelia and Maria to do 7 Random facts about myself so here goes :

1. When I was in 5th grade, a nocturnal tumble from my loft bed left me with a head injury that required pretty major surgery and a half-shaved head. It really wasn't so bad for me--I enjoyed the weeks at the hospital, off from school watching daytime tv. An interesting part though was the fact that I left if half-shaved for a few months, until it could be a regular short haircut. We lived in NY at the time and made frequent trips to the city. Most of the time, people gave my parents dirty looks, as in "How could you let her cut her hair like that?!" but occasionally someone cool would approach me and say, "Wow, your are so lucky your parents let you do that--it's looks rad!"

2. I much prefer something savory than sweet. Don't have much of a sweet tooth, but I do love to eat.

3. I worked as a secretary at a Funeral Home for about 3 years. It was both interesting and boring.

4. My parents went vegetarian when I was 5 . Not only had I already tasted and liked meat at this point, but back then there were wasn't all these yummy meat substitutes and my mom wasn't too great at cooking. And this was back when parents made you finish your (Lentil patties) dinner before you got up from the table!
I still eat meat but not very often-I think it's given me more of a range of foods to like.

5. I just love the sound of rolling deep bass (base). I actually really enjoy when cars with great systems drive by, even if the whole car is rattling.

6. When I was 2 weeks away from my due date (pregnant with Enzo) a category 4 Hurricane passed directly over our town, a bit unexpectedly (we thought it would come in as a 2 and a lot further south). It was the scariest thing I've ever been through.

7. When I was 5 I declared I wanted to be a Clammer when I grew up. I still love clams (with garlic butter) but only want to eat them if I can eat dozens and dozens :) !!

OK, then seven people I tag are : Anne, Cara, Fliss, Esti, Leen, Samantha and Mieke & Veronik if you all are feeling up to it :)

And thanks to Jen, Cecilia and Maria for including me.

Lunchtime visit

Today Enzo and I went to visit Tony for lunch. It's really a beautiful long drive into the country, but Tony's so sick of it.

anniversary of sorts

Yesterday Tony and I celebrated a decade of being together. It's the one we count, more so than our wedding one. Our history actually goes back seventeen years ago when we were best friends as teenagers, both secretly in love with the other but afraid to tell the other. Well, ten years ago is when we finally admitted it :).


The above photo is of us, maybe 7 years ago? Crappy photo but fun times.
Happy weekend everyone!

6 Things I Like Today

6 Things I Like Today:

1. Tony. I didn't actually get to see him much today, but I really like him.
2. Enzo's foot is finally all healed up so today we sailed the walnut sailboats which really ended up being lots of jumping and splashing in the puddle.
3. My new dress. It's not a style I would normally love, but it's gauzy, soft, grey, and feels like I'm wearing a nightgown.
4. Working on my ongoing project, which hopefully I'll have something to show for-soon(ish). I am so lucky Enzo still naps which allows me studio time.
5. Doing a picnic dinner at the park, in our favorite spot.
6. These pretty little flowers Enzo picked for me there.

I was tagged by the creative and talented fliss, thanks so much!
I tag : Anne, Cara, Maud, Heidi and Veja Cecelia (only if you want to play along).

week in review :)

Tuesday: Went to the Italian Bakery we love for some yummy treats and fresh bread.
Discovered a warehouse that sells all the county school's old supplies. Both are only about a mile away from my house!
Wednesday: Celebrated my sisters birthday-Enzo always shares the candle blowing responsibilty.
Thursday: Went to a movie with the boys.
Friday: Made some cherry/lemon "layered" slushies. The layering didn't do so well, but it was fun and they were good.

Hope everyone has a nice holiday/weekend.

I saw some bags of mixed nuts on sale a few weeks back and since then we've been cracking and eating them like a nice 1978 family. This weekend Enzo is couch-bound because of a foot injury so I decided it was a perfect time to make these little sailboats with the walnut halves we've been saving for just this thing. We did a trial run in the puddle in our driveway but it was a bit too shallow and they kept banking. (BUT surprisingly enough, they do sail pretty well). We plan on waiting until after the inevitable rainstorm today for a deeper puddle and some smooth sailin'....

minor surgery is an oxymoron

I'm back!!! After a crazy couple of weeks including some minor surgery, I'm on the up n' up...feeling better. I'll be returning emails as I can. And now to dive into some projects that need attention quickly.( More on that later.)
p.s. surgery is CRAZY. I guess this was my first time "going under" since I've been an adult and I'm obsessed with all the details of it, keep making tony tell me his side. I could go on about it forever, but I'll spare you.


Oh, and I did this crappy illustration last week while I was still all ailing, sitting at the table with Enzo and cutting out pieces of paper. Someone totally should've made fun of me.

Friends

Two of my most favorite people in the world came for a visit with their beautiful baby. Love!

A couple of pictures from a visit to my mom's house this week. Hope everyone has a great extended long weekend. I have a couple of my most favorite people coming for a visit and that makes me very happy!

(p.s. while at Dunkin Donuts, I was informed that they no longer make my favorite and only donut I really love, the French Cruller. hmph.)

the little things

Found: bird skull.
Rejected: miniature shirts.....it's too hard.
Made: mushroom cluster.


Or as Anne might have titled this : Watch out for them bears.

Heaven

Above is my submission for this weeks Archival Friday. It's an illustration done of Tony and I on our wedding day, made for the cover of a CD we sent out to a small group of friends and relatives that attended. It included all the signature songs from our wedding and was done in the style of old jazz records (titled after the first song we played after the ceremony)..that whole weekend really was heaven. Thought it was nice to show too as our anniversary is coming up next week.

Yesterday, my mom called and told us about a Manatee release--she's been a volunteer for Sea Turtle Patrol for many years as well as other organizations, so she's in the loop about stuff like this. So we had the rare opportunity of seeing the release and Enzo got to pet the manatee for a moment (see below) which was really special. The last picture is of the "media frenzy":)
It was so funny watching them scramble for their sound bytes and perfect footage, they numbered us almost 1:1. In the end, Enzo did make it into a small segment of the news and apparently in the paper today. (On the news it was the clip they used for fade-out, he was wading around, splashing in the water, oblivious to their greedy lenses)
The manatee was really cute.

poorest tony

So it's been a crappy week, to say the least. My poorest Tony would up unexpectedly in the hospital for 4 long days. He's on the mend and today has been his first day home. Between running around cleaning a neglected house keeping the boys happy, I cut bunches of gardenias and placed them around the house. And I should say Tony will be fine (It wasn't VERY serious or life threatening), it's just so nice to have him home again.

scenes from another Tuesday

Just posting some pictures again from our Tuesday morning.
Trying to find a good substitute for our Lair, we (Enzo and my sisters and I) went to the dock at the end of the street (first picture) and then onward to the Riverside house (second picture).
After cutting my toe on a barnacle while snail searching, we went home and discovered our new camera had been delivered! Our current one is barely hanging on, with the door to the battery compartment missing big pieces. I then potted some plants in my new pot set, a gift from my friend Karla after her recent ikea trip.
I'm looking forward to trying out the camera later.

OH, and something else that is making me happy: a new project that Cara is doing, such a great, fun concept.

face painting and kids' birthday parties, chaos

Always trying to improve upon my illustration skills (or lack thereof...illustration is my newest medium, but yet the one I tend to show the most on this blog, hmmm) I decided to do a quick, "looser" one of the birthday party where I did face-painting this weekend. My neighbor Sam, who I really like and therefor try to impress, asked me if I'd do face-painting at her kids birthday party Sunday. I said, "Sure, no problem!" and then brooded about it all week :). It was total chaos for a bit, as usual but in the end I was happy to have done it. And I was nice to the kids, don't worry.

Lair Tuesday

Since my last post about the lair a few months ago, we've been going over every week on "Lair Tuesday" to hang out in our super cool spot. Pictures just don't do it justice, it sprawls. It has rooms, trails, swings, bridges and there is always planning for more. Well today was somewhat bittersweet as we went over for what may be the last Lair Tuesday for a long while. While other parts of the world are just now welcoming weather that makes you want to be outside, here we are starting to experience the weather Florida is famous for:hot, humid, mosquito-ey. And our lair is in prime mosquito territory. Amongst other things, today we finally baked and put our little clay guys out in their caves and nooks, which was my favorite part. (there were more, but my pictures were bad)
We may brave it out a few more times over summer as we all love it so much but today we enjoyed it with the last of the cool bug-free days.

The Gardenia bush outside my bedroom window has started blooming......smells so good.

just a morning..

Didn't have anything worthwhile to post about today so I just took my camera along during a somewhat typical morning for us (if we decide to venture out). Enzo munched on some homemade egg bread before leaving. We stopped at Goodwill as I had 2 big boxes to drop off and then onward to the library where we read one of our favorites, Chicken Soup with Rice. Dropped by my moms house where I raided her leftovers (some cornbread with a face on it and her yummy relish) and watched as my sister Cassidy wrestled with some goo she made (she says it was corn starch and glue). Then back home where I was forced into making the lime slushies I had promised Enzo we'd make today. I put Enzo down for his nap and here it is, no longer morning.