Beach, BBQ, and Flower Bed

Friday afternoon Manny and I took a quick trip to Willow Grove so I could stock up on my driftwood supply. Sunny but pretty empty, which is my favorite kind of beach. 

I'd been putting it off since I moved in but finally decided to clean up my flower bed on Saturday. It was full of weeds, grass and strawberry plants that needed to vacate.

Before

During

After

So much better! Once we cover it with bark dust or something similar it's going to be perfect!

Later on went to a birthday party and housewarming BBQ. Friends of mine just purchased a home which turns out to be right next door to a house my dad previously owned. Gorgeous location and right by Coal Creek. 

Today was filled with additional productive tasks. Labeled the spices and moved them to an empty drawer so they would be easier to locate and not take up so much space in the cupboard.  Next, tackled my room. Went through my dresser and closet and cleaned out all the clothes I don't wear. Wound up with five bags of jeans, sweaters, dresses, tee shirts and more which I gave away to Candy.  Finished up the bedroom by making the bed with clean sheets so that project was done. Jordan and Candy actually stopped by so those five bags didn't hang around the room for long.

On to crafting! Had started two different driftwood projects - a driftwood boat and a driftwood swing along with a figure to go with it.

Finished the boat fairly quickly then moved on to the swing. Revised it some then moved on to the figure. Candy gave me a bag of scarves so dug through and located a perfect one to use as the figures dress. Tacked on the dress, glued hair, added glasses and crown and she was ready to swing!

My driftwood and figure art is beginning to overtake my office table! Need to investigate bazaars or rent a space to sell some of them.

Painted my fingernails Friday and finished up the weekend by painting my toenails tonight

Here's to having a great week ahead!!

Figures, Football, and Fire

Saturday morning ran over to Walgreens to pick up a few prints of baby Hazely. On my way to Dollar Tree for frames, saw a Garage Sale sign so drove to investigate.  Ended up grabbing two shovels, a plant stand, a vase filled with shells, several ten cent frames and a like-new dress mannequin for only $5. Quite the score. Future plans are to decorate the mannequin in an artful way but for now she's hanging out in the garage.  Here's one similar to my yard sale find.

Pinterest mannequin art ideas:

We had plans to enjoy the 90 degree weather on Saturday; however, the fires in Kalama ruined most of our day. The haze filled the sky with an amber color, darkening our living room where we had to turn on lights in the middle of the day.  It lightened up some later in the day so we were able to hit Willow Grove and I even swam in the river, my favorite activity!

The haze produced an incredible sunset where the sun was glowing orange. Had to take a few pictures but they come nowhere close to the in-person view. Grabbed Manny to take a pic of his fingers on the sun - after about 20 shots with me saying "up, down, close your fingers, up, to the left, open your fingers" was finally able to take an acceptable one.

Yesterday we swung by Jimmy and Lexii's so Manny could meet Hazely. He thought she was beyond beautiful. Because he's Portugese, sometimes he can't find quite the right English word to use as a descriptor. He said to Jimmy that Hazely was such a delicacy!  Pretty sure he meant delicate but it was funny how it came out.

Have continued my recent obsession with making figures using air dry clay, wire, and now bottles and mod podge. 

Here's my opera singer.

I finished a little rainy cloud lady after work today.

Picked up some driftwood at Willow Grove to make some more sailboats. Brought home the following piece that, to me anyway, looks just like a wolf so decided to paint it.

My first attempt at a Salvador Dali clock. Not quite enough bend in it but fun to experiment.

And that's it for now! Football back in season so we are relaxing this Monday evening watching the Seahawks. Fall is coming!

Pool, Painting, and Panko

September is here!  Days are getting shorter but thankfully we're still keeping warm!

Last weekend Manny's youngest daughter Tina and her son Cooper from California came to visit. We met them for dinner on Thursday then attended a barbecue at Manny's oldest daughter Monica's house in Rose Valley. I made a huge, and I mean HUGE, batch of shrimp pasta salad along with layered taco dip. Big hits.

Saturday had a craft inspiration to attach metal using velcro to the inside of the cupboard then glue magnets to the spice canisters.  Hung them up and they looked great. Unfortunately,  when we came home later that evening, all the spices had fallen. Ugh. So back to the drawing board but first need to deal with all the magnets glued to my spice bottles!

Last Tuesday we went up to Sam's boss Brady's house for barbecue and pool. Great food and serious competition with the billiards!  Manny was in his element!

Jimmy has been storing his quad in our garage. He dropped it off the other day and I couldn't help but take a pic.

Whipped up a canvas painting then embellished it with bumble bees and Hazely for Jimmy and Lexii's baby to be.  Manny got to witness my whole acrylic pour process so that was something new to him.  He's more into sports than art.

Also made last week some Beach Broads using wire figures wrapped in clay. Unfortunately, they cracked so I made them older beach babes.  Painted bathing suits, wrapped their heads in balloons for swimming caps, then glued on pom-poms to give them that 60's vibe.

Manny and I have been visiting Willow Grove during the recent hot weather. During one of our recent trips I stumbled across an awesome piece of driftwood. Sprayed it with verathane, attached fake succulents, and created a waterfall and river with pool using crushed blue glass and clear marbles. Strung a few lights and added it to my front porch beach window box. Love it!

Speaking of Jimmy and Lexii's baby, Hazely Louann McCoy, 5lbs 3oz was born on Saturday September 3, 2022!  She is precious! Can't wait to meet her in person!

Today we ran an errand to Ridgefield and we realized neither of us had ever been in the city center of the town. We drove through it and if we blinked we would have missed it! Just underwhelming but it's now off our bucket list (Ridgefield was probably bucket list #2,472.)

Today is Jordan and Candy's 7th anniversary so we invited them for dinner. I made mustard-dipped and panko-crusted chicken breast, pesto and parmesan linguini, and for desert made a lemon cheesecake trifle decorated with chocolate hearts. All homemade! It was a great celebration and they enjoyed the dinner, of which I sent the majority of leftovers home with them.

The highlight of my day? I was carded at Walmart!!

Tomorrow is Labor Day so no work! Whoopee! Manny's playing golf early in the morning so I may just break out a new craft project.

Enjoy your Monday, fellow Diva's!!