Cravings....

mmmmmm.....chocolate mmmmmm......books

The grumpy monster inside me was awake today and had two cravings that demanded to be satisfied: new reading material....and chocolate. For the reading crave I tried to pick some light summer reading. At the moment I am stuck in a very good but complicated book. When I look at this book on my days off from work, I want to pick it up and read it. It has such a pretty cover. But then I avoid it, knowing it will take more mental stamina that I can muster as of late. So we hit the book store to grab something new to feed my head (Bone is always a winner!). Next: chocolate. I wanted it bad. My teeth were aching for it. I was challenged: I wanted to stay true to a healthy way of living and put the Ben and Jerry's back in the cooler. The husband did get his own B&J pint and I opted for rainbow sherbet, organic chocolate milk, and Hit cookies. The milk and the cookies will be snacks taken separately. Even that is too much chocolate at one time for the grumpy monster. Tonight I had a pleasant bowl of the sherbet. It reminded of summers as a kid when mom would let us have a scoop to cool us off before bedtime....Nice. The grumpy monster is content.

Post!

Very swell things arrived in the mailbox today. Most were expected. One provided a jolt of surprise happiness into my day (a day that had been previously filled to the rim with a negative work experience). The Tree Reader will be a spectacular addition to my growing collection of "girls with books" art. The Scissors are sweet pink inspiration for my sewing corner (because now that the studio is basically done...I have the itch to sew again). The cherry blossom earrings are part of a quest to find the most awesome red dangling earrings available (to wear to work in order to contrast with all the blah blue that I wear). And then the very best thing...a hand drawn and inked Thank You card from my dear friend that came for a visit last weekend.
A side note on friendship: When I was an angst filled teen with britches and a sour attitude too big for a small river town, she would tell me:

"...that in life you were lucky to have a few good, true friends. Ones that you could always count on...when things were rough. You may not have or find that many. Probably just enough to count on one hand...."

She was so wise. I can do just that. I am blessed to have the good friends that I do.

Ssshhhhh.....

This snazzy new sign in front of house could only mean one thing. It was our street's turn to be repaved. When I arrived home from work a team of tanned sweaty men were hard at work making a lot of loud paving crunch noises.
It was hot. It was bright. I tossed and turned under my daisy print sheets attempting to hide from the invading outside world. Crunch*Crunch* Bang.*Crunch*Crunch. The men at work were oblivious to the woman inside the blue house trying to catch a snooze.
Grabbing the camera I headed outside to document the men that were disrupting my summer dreams.
Instead I discovered that summer was in full swing with or without me. So for a few waking moments I walked barefoot through our backyard, visited the trees and watched the clouds. I felt better. Relaxed. And came back inside ready to hunt down my slumber. I should do this more often...

Studio Details

Our his and hers Barney Miller Chairs

The blanket afghan that inspired the colors of the room. Made by a dear lady I once knew name Mavis.

The growing fabric collection patiently waiting for me to learn how to sew.

Buddha displaying his favorite pin of the day.

The Three French Hens. A holiday decoration to splendid to have hiding in a box in the attic until December.

In the Studio

This is a picture of our Center of Technical Operations. Or where we blog and such.

Our potted plants are very happy with the new and improved studio.

This is an early morning picture of my side of the studio.

Some of my favorite things are in this picture: the old school card catalog my mother purchased at auction (it houses a ton of art supplies, oh so organized!), the old looking office fan, a ceramic sculpture I made at my aunt's house when I was under the age of ten,and the wall of inspirational art from other artists.

Good Company

Sometimes it is nice to have a simple day. Initially the plans involved going to see an outdoor production of Hamlet with a friend that traveled from Pittsburgh. At close to the last minute we learned that the tickets were $36 a piece and the play took place come rain or shine. The sun predicted for the day morphed into a thunder storm. And we discovered that the play was located by a lagoon. This was a very negative factor. Point of interest about me in the summer time: Mosquitoes love, crave, destroy my skin. With that excursion dismissed, we planned for dinner and a movie in an air conditioned theater sans mosquitoes. After going grocery shopping for the details of the meal we actually made a small dinner. Yep, I turned the oven on and everything. The meal:

• Fresh squeezed lemonade
• Presbyterian Chicken (a family favorite comfort food for 20 years or more)
• Red seedless grapes
• Corn
• and Blueberry Crisp for dessert (and a little as an appetizer...we had too! It smelled so yummy.)

We made the table look lovely by including the new up-cycled napkins. To add to the social feel of the evening my sister came to visit. The conversations were so pleasant. The time ticked away. Before we knew it it was very late. The movie times had come and gone. It was just lovely to be able to have an evening to share stories, ideas, and a little art. Maybe this autumn we will plan an even bigger social dinner... Bonus: my sister did the dishes!