I actually AM still alive!

Hello, hello! I'm still here! For those of you who did not know, back in January I ran off to California for a couple weeks. I had had a realle emotionally difficult week and one night I got on Facebook and a friend had mentioned it was in the 80s!! That did it. I had been dreaming about a tropical vacation for months and decided this was the closest I was going to get. So the next day I packed up my car and my dog and off I went!! I didn't tell my family until I got there! My friends were kind enough to take me in with less than 12 hours notice!

Some may not know that I am from Orange County, so I have lots of dear friends to visit there! I REALLY needed it. I had also REALLY been missing California the last year. Not just the beach and my friends, but everything about it! My friends were good enought to go with me to all the places I wanted to revisit, much of which was delicious food!! AND, I finally got to go to a LUSH store!! I took my camera with me to California, but did exactly what I always do and was too lazy to take any pictures. Luckily my friend, Dina who is a professional photographer, had her camera with her whenever we were together. So those are the things I have pictures of. Check out her website at dinalovephotography.blogspot.com.

I have to say that going to LUSH was a bit anti-climatic. It was quite small compared to many I had seen online and I decided I have pretty much everything I actually like! They were having a huge soap sale, so they were out of many of them that I wanted to smell. We got great the equivalent of a facial for our hands. It was lovely but just too much to buy all the products. I was disappointed that she was stingy about giving samples of things. That's one of the reasons I was so excited to go, because I had heard they were really good about that, but the sales girl was not about to give me anything. It was still fun to see and I got a couple small things.

One of the things I experienced from the time I drove into Orange County was that I was IN LOVE with the palm trees!! Really. I got so much joy from them I can't even explain! They're just such a huge part of Southern California and memories of my life there.

This is at some of the Laguna tide pools with Dina and her kids. So nice to be at the beach! My first day there I had taken Petey to the dog beach, but he was NOT a fan!! The waves were too loud and one got him, so he was traumatized! Also, the first he said hello to, snapped at him!

I love poking the sea anemones. I like there texture and the way they feel when the close around your fingers!

While I was there I also enjoyed going to the swap meet, tanning at my friend's salon and going shopping with her in downtown LA for jewelry and purses for her boutique, farmer's markets, and spending time with all my lovely friends and eating, eating, eating!!

Prompt #3

OK, I promise to get pictures up very soon! I had an unexpected trip to California, so I should have some time here to catch up on things. The next prompt is:
"your mood." Good or bad, just choose a time and sit down and create a page about how you are feeling.
I think this one will be much easier than the last. I have to admit, I haven't even started the last one!It was a tough one. I'll talk to you all soon!

Art Journal Prompt #2

OK, I'm really sorry I'm so late on this. I've had a hairy few days! My plan is to post the new prompts on Sundays. I will try to post a picture of my last pages later this afternoon.

The prompt for this week, I got while watching Oprah on Monday.
What are you really hungry for?

Its a good one! Have fun and I'll post pics soon!

Art Journal Prompt #1 - Your Initial

So I had a request to post art journal prompts or challenges here to help people get started and so we can share our work. I was waiting to start the first week in January, but decided to give you a little extra time on this one. I would love to have as many people as possible play along. I know I keep saying this, but I really do recommend art journaling to everyone. It is so therapeutic and freeing! Please do not limit your creating to just the prompts I give. Play and experiment as much as possible!
I may be swiping some of my prompts from Emily at www.embers.typepad.com, but I will try to be as original as possible. This first one is from her and it is simply, "your intitial." So mine will be a page with the letter "D" on it. You can take these prompts and interpret them anyway you want. Do with them whatever you like! I thought this was a good one to start with and one I hadn't done myself yet. So over the next few days I will be working on this one.
The nice thing about prompts is that they can sometimes give you just a little needed nudge of inspiration when you may be stuck. I will try to do a post soon on some of my favorite art supplies, but nothing fancy is needed. Grab any kind of sketchpad, notebook, journal, etc. and get to it! You can start by using crayons, kids or craft paints magazine images...whatever you have on hand. If you have any questions, please, please, please just ask! Remember, THERE ARE NO RULES!!! Just let yourself be free and most importantly, HAVE FUN!

Mamma Mia

December 16th Mamma Mia came out on DVD. I loved the movie and saw it 5 times in the theater! I decided to have a party to watch it with yummy appetizers and lots of fun drinks!


The room looks really bright because of the flash, but really I just had candles and some hanging Christmas lights, there was just a nice glow. You can see the drink table with Red Hot Punch, Mock Margaritas and Virgin Pina Colada. It was all very yummy!


Kristin, Ileana and Alisa (Lucinda came a little later and I never got a picture of her.) :(


Me and my best friend, Russ. (He and Lucinda were the only ones who took full advantage of the lyrics on the screen for singing along!)

Merry Christmas!

Hello Everyone and a belated Merry Christmas! Sorry its been a while since I've posted, but here I am! I've really been enjoying the Holidays, spending lots of time with family and friends! At the end of November I decided I wanted to squeeze every bit of joy out of December that I could and I sure have! I only wish that I could be with more of you! One of the first Christmas activities that I did was go to A Candlelight Christmas at This is the Place Heritage Park. I had a really good time and highly recommend it to everyone, especially those with children. Very, very fun! Here are a few pictures.


This part of the live Nativity. I really liked how they did it. There was a path you had to go on and their were shepherds along the path with fires going. When you came to the last one, he asked if we came seeking the Christ Child and then led us the rest of the way to the barn. When he entered, he knelt before the baby Jesus. It made it feel very sacred. I almost didn't take a picture, because it somehow felt inappropriate. There were lots of animals in the stalls.

This is Ileana and mom on the train that takes you around the village. They even provided blankets because it was verrrrry chilly!!


Jackie and Stephen and myself up in the front of the train. (I look a little strange.)


Ileana and Stephen participating in an old-fashion dance at the School House. There was a little band there and it was very festive!


At Brigham Young's house the kids could write letters to Father Christmas. Then, we could take them to him in the barn and get your picture taken with him. There were reindeer there while you waited in line. I couldn't believe how big they were!
There were crafts for kids in about six different houses and carolers in the streets and a puppet show and several other fun things. I would love to go back!

Art Journal Pages

Hello! Sorry I haven't been posting, but here are a few more of my recent journal pages. I hope you enjoy them!


I worked on this one the week of Thanksgiving. I really enjoyed doing it and it helped me remember all that I have that makes my life rich! If you are thinking of art journaling, this is a GREAT page to do.


I did these pages when I was REALLY not doing well. I thought it was interesting that even though I used all the black I also had the flowers that may have represented the desire to feel better.

This is kind of a random crazy page, but I like it!

This is an old one, but I loved the colors!