Happy New Year!

Happy New Year all!  Not soon enough to get rid of 2020!!

I will be spending New Year's Eve at my favorite place of all - the beach!  Just have to get out of town to ring in 2021 and there is no better place than the Oregon coast!!

Where Art Goeth I Shall Follow

Art Project #1

Ran across the monthly newspaper The Columbia Reader and saw they were holding the annual HaikuFest poetry contest. Only had a few days left until the deadline so not much time to ponder and count syllables on my fingers. The theme this year was to focus on glimmers of light during the Covid quarantine.  Here's my best effort that I submitted today.

1.

Rhinestone, leopard, plaid,
Camo, cartoon, basic black
Masks now high fashion

2.
Among the heartache
They still sang from balconies
Italian courage

3.
Winter hummingbird
Lovely visitor provides
Surprise distraction

4.
Cooking shows are my
Guilty indulgence during
Covid quarantine

5.
The secret is out
Angels not just in heaven
They work in healthcare

Art Project #2

Saw an art contest on Facebook that called to me, perhaps due to the $1,000 honorarium prize.  It is to design a cover for, of all things, a utility box.  The focus needed to be on "A Healthy Future For All of Us" along with diversity. Well, that could be interpreted pretty broadly.  

I went through my acrylic pour painting files and selected one.  Had to fit the jpg file onto a template to determine what it would look like when wrapped.  Submitted the template along with a short essay behind the meaning of the art. I described it as all sorts of diverse colors flowing together to create a piece of art which is representative of the community.  Or something to that effect.  Let's cross our fingers to see if my submittal is chosen as one of the winners!

Here's the painting:

And here's the wrap:

Reface Me!

Sis Erin shared with me a cool app called Reface. You can plug in your face or someone else's face to create a GIF, image, or video. So funny!!

I couldn't get the GIFs to upload so here are a few creations - me as Harley Quinn and a couple channeling Sophia Loren.

Christmas has come and gone and now looking forward to the new year.  One of the best memories from the holiday was having our first ever family Zoom call!  It was awesome and so great to see everyone!  I still missed the hugs but in this quarantine way of life it was the best option out there.  Just may start scheduling these calls on a regular basis as it was so much fun.

Happy New Year!!

2020 Has Been Hard On All of Us!

 

Holiday Lunch with the Best!

Friday met up with most of the work team for a holiday lunch. Original plan was to meet at Twig in Vancouver; unfortunately, this restaurant was closed due to Covid restrictions.  We ended up meeting at Guadalajara in Longview, which has a heated tent outside.

Food was terrific, including their chunky guacamole, which I love. Anthony and I arrived early so we had plenty of time to gorge on the chips, salsa, bean dip, and guacamole before M.J. and Pam arrived. Danielle and Deb unable to attend and they were missed.

Delivered to a gal at one of the nearby tables was a huge bowl of soup. Looked so tasty and light I ordered it to make up for the avalanche of chips I had inhaled. Hit the spot!

Received a bottle of German Christmas wine, Glühwein, from M.J.  Think I'll test it out on Christmas Eve.

We also played the white elephant game. So much fun! I ended up with a basket stuffed with all sorts of fun, such as wine spritzers, coloring book, pens, notepads, and chocolate! The gift I brought appeared to be the big hit. Containing an ice cream maker, scoop, bowls, chocolate syrup and maraschino cherries, it was stolen again and again.

The best part was being able to gift my co-workers the paintings I had created for each one. 

Loved the chicken pic so much had to paint myself a similar rock!

Gifting Art - It's A Good Thing

Haven't seen my regular hairdresser since January. Covid hit then when salons opened up she had broken her wrist so was sidelined. Have an appointment with her tomorrow so decided to make her a Christmas gift.

Grabbed an acrylic pour painting I previously did in the summer.  Decided to top it with a hairdresser in her style - funky, colored hair, tattoo, piercings.  Finished it tonight and it turned out great if I do say so myself!  I'm going to start digging out my stack of pour paintings to add some similar oomph to them!

I currently belong to a rock painting group on Facebook.  I posted a few of my recent projects and one lady contacted me as she wanted to buy the Santa rock!  It gives me more pleasure to make someone happy than to charge so I told her to consider it a Christmas gift.  I told Sam about this and he said "Mother..if someone offers to buy something always accept."  Words of wisdom from a fellow artist who sells his work!

Rock Art

Been a long time since I've painted rocks but it called me so I had to go.  Took Stubbs to the Toutle River below the Mickey Mouse Bridge to obtain a supply of rocks.  Those river banks have the best pebbles for painting!

And here you go!  There's just something undeniably calming about painting, be it on canvas or rocks.  I also discovered a new painting tool - the tooth flosser.  It's got a thin tip that comes in handy for those tiny jobs, like painting the white reflection on eyeballs.

They need to be varnished then they will be hidden in the community for someone to find.  Well, maybe not the chicken as it's my favorite! 

Holiday Time Wasters

Oh that Elf on the Shelf cracks me up, especially when he is up to no good.  Ended up going down a rabbit hole on Pinterest, finding all of these hilarious elves.

Ashamed to say I was sucked into watching not one but two Hallmark-type holiday movies.  Ran across Princess Switch with Vanessa Hudgens on Netflix.  Watched it over the weekend then watched Princess Switch 2 tonight!  Going to have to watch It's A Wonderful Life about six times to make up for that drivel.

Ended up watching a Great British Bake Off special starring castmates of The Derry Girls.  The show is about a group of Catholic high school girfriends as they grow up in a world of armed police and British checkpoints in the 1990's in Northern Ireland. Decided to check it out and it is hilarious! 

 

June Taylor and Me

Sometimes it's hard to fall asleep. Sometimes it's hard to stay asleep. And sometimes sleep contains really bizarre dreams!

The other night my dream involved walking amongst many people. Perhaps it was in the city, in a mall, or perhaps a large function. Whereever it was, there were a ton of people. As I meandered through the crowd, people starting grabbing me saying "OMG you look just like June Taylor!"  "Has anyone said you look like June Taylor?"  Uh, nope no one has ever said that and by the way, who is June Taylor?

When I awoke from this very realistic nighttime vision of oddity, I immediately had to Google my doppelganger June Taylor. Who is she and do we look alike.

June Taylor was a dancer and choreographer who performed in France, a Chicago club, and formed her own dance troupe which performed on The Jackie Gleason Show in the 1940's.  

Are we twins? Not on your life!  Well perhaps our big smiles are similar but that's where the likeness ends. And why was June Taylor on my mind that she would peek out from the crooks and crannies of my subconscious to make an appearance in my dream?  Such are the mysteries of sleep.

S'More Time

Ran across a field full of marshmallow hay bales and couldn't get them off my mind. So here you go!

Outlander Obsession

Outlander has become my new obsession!

Have had it on my watch list forever.  After finishing the new season of The Crown (which includes Princess Diana in the storyline), decided to give it a go. After the first episode I was sucked in like a spider down the drain.  Jamie and Claire and Frank and Black Jack! Scotland and Highlands to Haiti and America.  Throw in time travel, romance, and the Scottish brogue and it's absolutely fabulous!

Have just started season 4. If you haven't seen it, watch it now. You'll thank me!

Hangin with My Gnomies

Flu is never fun but it sure works out to be a good diet plan!!

Spent 10 days with the plague subsisting on 7-Up and Popsicles.  Did not miss any work but spent pretty much every lunch break napping.  Quarantined myself in my room so as not to spread my germs to the rest of the household.  It was not a good time!

Thankfully I'm 90% recovered.  However, I don't have much of an appetite.  Ordered Mexican from Door Dash, took a couple bites and I was done.  So now still living on orange juice, Popsicles, water, and Crackers which may explain my 15 lb weight loss.  

But I can tell I'm on the upswing simply because the craft bug has returned.  Spent $6 on supplies at Dollar Tree and whipped up these Christmas gnomes last night.  These are my first tries and I'm eager to make some more. 

Being quarantined means my Viking wasn't able to see me until tonight!  Had to work until 6pm attending a webinar then he arrived and spoiled me with dinner at Parker's.  So nice to be able to catch up in person rather than just on the phone. 

And tomorrow is Friday!  Cheers to a memorable weekend for all of us!

Happy Birthday Mom and Flu Saga Continues

First off, happy birthday to my wonderful Mom today. You are so missed!

Second, the flu has continued its vengeance on me all weekend. The barfing commenced and my skin has raged from hot to chills.  Have been confined to my bed, taking respite from the covers only to let Stubbs outside or refill my ice glass. Even those small efforts make me feel like I've run a marathon.

In between sleep have entertained myself with a variety of shows - Chopped, Dine In, Drive Thrus, and Dives, even Catfish.  Got close to the end of one thriller, "Bad Hair" about a vengeful set of weave hair. I mean really? You can see how sick I've become.

Today son Jordan arrived to my rescue. Upon request, he delivered some fruit Popsicles to the front door. I was craving these so bad and they hit the spot. So far no sign of rejection so there's definitely hope for my recovery. 

I'm Sick...Wahhhh!

 I don't like being sick!

House to myself this weekend so Viking stayed Thursday and we were ready for a trip to Costco on Friday when I got off work. We spent the evening cooking our first meal together. He even gifted me lip gloss and a hockey jersey he got back in the day the overseas.

Waking up Friday morning I was not feeling well - hot, cold, nauseous, headache. I barreled through work and participated in our Friday Zoom call as one of the Clue suspects, M. Burnette with the knife. Viking even made me breakfast.

However, the illness did not subside so we threw in the towel, he headed home and I've spent the day in bed sipping 7-Up.  Thankfully have not thrown up although I wonder if that would make me feel better.  And I even got a flu shot a few weeks ago damnit!!

Here's to feeling better tomorrow!

Photogrid Fabulous

Discovered a new process using the app Photogrid.  When editing my photos, I'm able to "lasso" an image, cut it and save it as a new file. Then, via Photogrid, I'm able to overlay the picture on top of a new picture to create something fantastical! Here are a few of my latest projects.