Category Archives: Vacation

What a Difference a Day Makes!

Good evening! Really! Good evening!

What a difference a day makes, check out the view from my beach front condo:

MAN, OH MAN!!! My sweetie has brought me out to the coast with her sister and our niece and nephew! We are HAVING A BLAST, and I am tempted to never o back to town again!! If only I could figure out how to swing that!!

Anyway, we have had manicures, played all over the beach, in the ocean, in caves, tide pools, etc. etc. etc.!! OH man!! Truly, what a difference a day makes!! This is exactly what my spirit needed, I really appreciate that my husband knows exactly what his wife needs!! I really OWE this man!! 😉

I will have a ton of pics tomorrow, but in the meantime, I am going to spend some more quality time with my family!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! ;-)

Spending a Day with the Animals!

Good evening!

This evening I am going to share a bunch of pics of a super fun day we spent over at Wild Life Safari! It was quite a lovely day, and seeing that it was in the middle of the week, we pretty much had the run of the whole park!! 🙂

So without further ado, here you go!! 😉

Wild Life Safari is located in BEAUTIFUL Winston, Oregon.

Left to right: Austin, Jennifer, Gavin, Trina, and Jason, getting ready to go in.

We were very fascinated by the pink flamingos. It was my goal to get some of their interesting and unique feathers for collaging, which we did finally manage to do!! Whoo! Hoo!

We all had fun feeding the little goats. Gavin kept saying he was getting goat kisses whenever they licked his hand. LOL!! It helped that he kept refilling his hand with goat food! 😉

Jason had SO MUCH FUN with this little monkey. It was like they were long lost cousins.

It was so much fun to watch them mimic each other. This little monkey was so entranced by a weak light that Jason had in his pocket! 😉 But NOW, he wants a small monkey as a pet – I THINK I HAVE CREATED A MONSTER!!! 😉

Here is Gavin mimicking his Auntie Jennifer, she is just off camera!! 😉

We all took some time out to play on the children’s playground equipment. 😉

and after a few false starts, Gavin finally made it all the way to the top!! What a BIG boy!! 😉

Larger monkeys in another area of the park.

Koi the size of small sharks!! 😉

Then we took some time to feed some ducks, and geese.

Don’t they look like they are having fun?

I am not sure if this was a crocodile, or an alligator, but I would still hate to have found this guy on my street.

Here are the “boys” playing!

I really do love this man of mine.

Jason and our youngest sister, Trina! I LOVE this pic! 😉

And here is one of us near the end of our outing! Jennifer, Jason, Gavin, and Trina. We were all really tired, but really happy!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

Dinner with Family!

Good evening!

I am having such a WONDERFUL time hanging out with my family down here in Roseburg, so much so that it makes long to have us all living in the same city!!!

As soon as Jason and I got into town we went and picked up my second to youngest sister, Jennifer, from work, and next our youngest sister, Trina. As soon as we had all gotten together and said our hellos, we met up with our dad, and his wife Trudi for dinner over at Red Robin! 😉

I have FINALLY gotten pictures of all of us, and I am very happy to be able to share these with you! 🙂

Here is myself and my dad! Do you know how hard it is to get a normal picture of my dad. He is ever the big kid who automatically plays whenever a camera is pointed at him – it really is just too funny!! 😉

Here are my troublemakers!! Trina, my youngest sister, Jennifer, my second youngest sister, and Jason my love and sweetie! 😉

See what I mean about my dad and a normal picture – I took 5 pictures of my dad, and his wife, Trudi, and this was the best one of them all!! I am glad that these two make each other so happy – that makes me really happy too! 😉

Ok, so back to my girls!! You see our mom died when I (being the oldest of 5 girls) was 24, and my youngest sister was only 8. Even before our mother passed away, I really did my best at mothering these two since we were 10 and 15 years apart. So, I have really grown to call these two “My Girls”! and since Jason and I do not have kids of our, it has kind of become true!!

I have always referred to Trina and Jennifer to my friends who do not know them by two labels. Trina is lovingly known as the “Know it all” – because she has always seemed to know weird facts about all sorts of EVERYTHING! 😉 and Jennifer has always been the “Comedian” because ever since I can remember she always has a quick retort to anything that is going on, and you are GUARANTEED to end your conversation with her in tears from laughing sooooo much!! 😉

I am just so glad that I was able to get these candid and very real pictures of how it is to be around these two! When these two were younger, they really NEVER got along!! Matter of fact they always claimed that they would NEVER love each other, NO MATTER WHAT!! I knew that would change as soon as the older of the two moved out of the house; and sure enough it did!Matter of fact, now, as adults, they live together now, with Jennifer’s husband, Austin, and they are closer than ever. Their joy with each other is infectious, and I just LOVE the energy that all of us have when we are together!!!

What a GREAT evening we had together!! I will make sure to share more pictures of some of our adventures tomorrow!

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

She’ll Be Coming Around the Mountain!

Good afternoon!

The house is clean, the laundry is done, camping stuff is FINALLY finished being put away, and we are ready to go visit family down in Roseburg for a couple of days. We have a couple of get togethers planned with various family members, and will be staying with two of my younger sisters and one of our brother-in-laws. I can not wait to get there!! I am so excited!! Other than a couple of dinners, we really don’t have much planned, seeing that we usually play it by ear while we are there, that should be fun! I am hoping to have a ton of pictures to share with you! Especially of our two nephews, Aaron and Gavin, who I am sure are growing like weeds!! 😉

Our two four-legged girls, Fay and Sophie are going to be staying home this trip. Our friend Don is going to be coming over and keeping them company – I hope they don’t bark at him too much. For some reason he is fine as long as he is sitting down, but as soon as he stands up, Sophie starts barking at him like CRAZY!!! It is kind of funny!! 😉

Anyway, as you can tell this is going to be a short post! I have got to get on the road if we are going to get there on time!!! WHOO! HOO!

I will talk to you again tomorrow!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

Home Sweet Home!

Good evening!

My sweetie and I are finally home from the coast! I am thankful for the relaxing week we have had together, but I am really also very thankful to get back to our cozy little place in this world. OH, and when I think about sleeping in our OWN BED!!!

Oh Em Gee!

That is gonna be AWESOME!!!

Ok, so it really is the little things in life that are really the B-I-G thing!! 😉

I wanted to share with you a couple of more backgrounds that I have been playing with:

These are both 12″ x 12″ acrylic on wood.

These were created because I have been playing with mixing my acrylics to come up with new and interesting colors, and I have just started using an acrylic float medium to give the paints a lot more playing time before the colors actually dry! They remind me of flower petals, you know – he loves me, he loves me not, he loves me…etc. Plus the act of making these is very relaxing, fluid, and fun.

I actually liked the way these turned out so much that I am thinking about making a few of these to display in a grid on the wall in my office.  If I do that I will make sure to take pictures and share that with you too! 🙂

Anyway, I am off to spend some more quality time with my sweetie – our vacation is still officially on for another week! WHOO! HOO! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

It’s a Girl’s Perogative!

Good evening!

A lot has changed in the past 24 hours! Well, my sweetie and I were camping at the Oregon Coast and were actually planning on being there until Saturday. Well, a girl can only take so much, and Jason knew that I was getting more and more miserable, so we had decided to go home.

On the way home, I decided at the last minute that I didn’t want to leave the coast just yet, and my sweetie found us this sweet little hotel that we could stay at. So here we are: hot shower, ocean front view with sound proof windows!!! AAH!!! Bliss!! and to top it off I have been absolutely blocked art-wise! I don’t know what my problem has been, but I have found this GREAT collage book that has re-inspired me, and I am ready to create, create, create!!!

So, we will see what happens in the next day or so!

Anyway, Jason and I will be here for about 2 or 3 days (I am just LOVING this vacation!!), and then we will eventually mozy on home!! Until then I am planning on arting it up, enjoying this view and spend as much time bundled up in the great outdoors as I can handle!! I will make sure to have some pics to share tomorrow! 🙂

Have a  FABULOUS evening! 😉

Help Me Lady Gaga I’m A Pork Chop!

LOL!! Good evening!

Now, before you think I have totally gone and lost my mind, there is a story behind today’s post title! When I woke up this morning, at the camp site at the coast, I was awoken to some little kid yelling this at the top of his lungs:

“HELP ME LADY GAGA, I’M A PORK CHOP!!!

I am not sure what caused him to choose this particular war cry anthem, or if he somehow he has come to believe that Lady Gaga has recently been sainted as the Patron Saint of Pork, but man – it was just TOO funny!! It was really nice to wake up laughing!! and this has since become my anthem for the day, seeing that if it was good enough for that little kid, it was definitely good enough for me!!

Today has been a pretty good day! My sweetie made us breakfast, we have taken the girls on a couple of walks, I took the world’s L-O-N-G-E-S-T nap with our girls, while my sweetie went fishing, I spent a long time organizing my comp site “art studio”, which was fun! My husband assured me that having an “art studio” was sheer insanity, but that was alright because I am an artist – isn’t that sweet??? Uhmmm…I think! 😉

Anyways, tonight, we are going to go forage for food – probably eat at a local restaurant, go back to the campsite, and I am sure to at least try and kick my husband’s booty at some game, or at least not try to pout when he kicks mine!! HAHAHA!!

Oh, and I hope you enjoy today’s pictures! This is how we “rough it” while camping!! HUGE tent, two queen sized air mattresses covered in oodles, and oodles of sumptuous blankets, a thick red carpet underfoot, and the tent’s mudroom turned “art studio”!! Mama can’t help that she is spoiled!! LOL! 😉 I’m worth it!! 😉

Anyway, I should have pics of lots of art pieces in progress tomorrow – this camping trip really is all about having a mini artist retreat to just practice some of my mad-skills!! and yes, I do mean crazy! LOL! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening!!

Vacation!

Good evening!
Ok, so it is officially the first full day of my vacation isn’t going too well. It started off alright, matter of fact, I spent the ENTIRE morning in bed reading. I read the book The Power of Six (The Lorien Legacies), and it was really good!! When my sweetie finally got off of work, we got ready to go, and, well, long story short, our evening plans fell through so we decided to have a nice quiet evening out, just the two of us. Tonight Jason is out being a good friend, and I am just so ready to get out of town, and go hang out on the beach!

There is still so much to do before we actually head on Sunday morning, and to be honest with you, it is a little daunting, but I know that it will be worth it!

However, instead of dwelling on the fact that today didn’t go as planned, I thought I would share some pictures of one of the local antique/salvages stores I had gone to a while back! I have been saving these pics for just such an occasion!!

Enjoy!

I just love spending an afternoon looking at all sorts of interesting finds in architectural salvage shops, this place is no exception. I can’t remember the name of the place, but is a little place up in Aurora, Oregon.

My sweetie has just gotten home, so I am off to go spend some quality time with him before it is time for bed!

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

Weekend Update!

OK, so where do I begin!???

Well, wait – before I start, I wanted to say thank you to my two youngest sisters, Jennifer & Trina!!  I had to call them super late on Friday night to get some help getting un-lost – I KNOW SHOCKING RIGHT??? Ok, so everyone who knows me, know that is NOT shocking, but thankfully I wasn’t driving that night!!! Thank you, girls!!! You are still my saving graces! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE YOU!!!! 😉

After a whole day of driving, Jason, Fahline, and I FINALLY got home close to 2 am this morning!!! Fahline crashed on the couch and I literally don’t remember my head hitting the pillow last night!!! Last night, when we stopped for dinner, I noticed that I was experiencing some adema in my feet and ankles, which I had never experienced before but I knew what it was immediately because Jason has been having trouble with adema for about the past year. When I awoke this morning, not only was I exhausted, but my feet were sooooo swollen that it hurt to even move my toes!! OUCH!! So, apparently, I need to avoid salt for the next few days, and drink a ton of water, until my feet and ankles return back to normal!!

It was agreed that all three of us had a FANTASTIC time in California this weekend, much better than any of us could have imagined!! The resort that we stayed at, which I had mentioned previously, was just sooooo peaceful, and it was extremely easy to rest there – thank goodness!! and I had SUCH A GREAT time getting to better know Fahlene!! We have SOOOO MUCH IN COMMON, that I am STILL asking, HOW COME WE HAVE NEVER HUNG OUT MORE BEFORE???? I am going to most definitely make sure that we correct that!!!! I LOVE YOU, FAHLENE, YOU CRAZY, ZANY (& BRAVE) GIRL!!!! 😉

I do want to tell you about one person that I met. He was THE MOST AMAZING MAN!!! 😉 We hit it off almost immediately, and over classic movies of all things!!! Robert, aka Bob, is an older gentleman, and I found out later that he is and has been my adopted grandfather, Willy’s, financial advisor!! I had such a fun time getting to know him on that Saturday night, that on the next day when Adelle was trying to find a seat for him during the wedding reception dinner, I was more than happy to have him sit next to me!! by then end of the evening, it was like we had known each other my whole life!! At the end of the evening, after dinner, dancing, and have a  GREAT time!!! Bob came up to me, grabbed me by both of my shoulders, kissed me on one cheek, and then on my other cheek, and told me that I he was my new grandfather, and that he hoped I was ok with that, which you know!! I was TOTALLY EXCITED about!!! He then turned to Jason, who is almost 6′ 8″ by the way, and told him,

“You have a GREAT wife over there, if you hurt her in any way,  I will personally come to Salem and beat the sh*t out of you!!!”

I was sooooo shocked, and everyone who was standing around just paused for a moment, checked out the height difference between Jason and Bob, not to mention age difference, and we all just started laughing!!! I was COMPLETELY SMITTEN!!! and Jason reassured Bob that he was going to take FABULOUS care of me!!!

Bob is saucy, outpsoken, blunt, funny, charming, and a dear, dear man!!! Just to have met him made spending another weekend away from home was sooooo worth it!!! 😉

Jason had a tooth pulled today, and unfortunately they ended up having to remove some bone with it, so he is in A LOT of pain, and has been pretty medicated ALL DAY!!! So I really need to get going to go take care of him!!! which means I am not going to post any pics tonight, but I am hoping that I will have a whole slew of them to post tomorrow!!!

Anyway, have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉