back to work

I am back to work, feeling the stress of a busy schedule again, ugh! we are finally getting our living room painted, it's more like a major restoration project and costing a small fortune. i am super excited and enjoy the progress. it is a bit of a mess though, kicking my OCD into top gear. since i had to work this weekend the kids went to the desert with their dad and cousins, here's a few shots sent to me: 

looks like everyone is having a great time! i have never been with them, working weekends is such a drag but i am sure i will get a chance someday. here's a photo of our living room in progress:


i love my house, really love it but it has a lot of quirks and nothing is a simple fix. the doors need to be replaced but the door guy says they weren't made correctly in the first place, the dimensions are off that hold the glass. so dilemma, do them right or keep with the design of the entire house? of course we need to to keep them the same but it's hard to tell a professional who knows what he is doing that. in other news:



i took a painting workshop and jumped right in, very fun and very inspiring. i found a local artist (who is also a yoga instructor, good move!) and she very kindly helped me get back in the groove. i am now back and ready to go! i splurged on some new paints from here and dug out all my old supplies. i had been wanting a new plein air easel/setup and splurged on that as well. everything is working as planned and i am so glad i spent a little more. i have had two cheapo plein air easels in the past that were wobbly and fell apart after a few years. at $100 each, really not so cheap when you add it up. i am hoping to get out to the wetlands asap and start on some of the paintings i have dreamed about for years now.






lots of walking around the park lately and happy my youngest is joining me now



i think that fitting into her older sisters running shoes might have something to do with it. :)

time warp

having a few more days off, i was ablet to FINALLY go through my iphotos and fix many of the goof ups that happened when i tried to put all of my photos from my old comuter onto the new. for some reason i had random duplicates all over the place, probably 1/3 of my storage taken up by this goof. i still haven't finished, but i have put a dent into it. along the way i came across lots of fun photos so i thought i'd do a little time warp for 2013:

photos of the mountains and our catalina trip from several years ago (that was a pet cemetery we stumbled on during a hike)...plus one of maggie as a puppy.
healing up and getting ready to get back to it!

Slip/Fall

So i had a slip and fall accident this week in the shower (!!!) and rapped my head on our glass shower door (not recommended) thank goodness i didnt break it, but i came away with a nasty cut over my eye. At first i thought that was it, but by morning i had two black eyes and a goose egg over my nose. Unbelieveable! Very humbling to say the least and very very embarrassing. Sure people fall all the time but i have never injured my face like this before, never, even as a kid! I have instantly become house arrested as every day my bruises go from pink to purple to greenish and yellow and quite shocking i must say. The kids are nice and make their funny comments to make me feel better. Being housebound has had its ups and downs. For the first two days i was in too much pain to really do a whole lot, but by day 3 i was cleaning the house like a freak and trying to get through a zillion "to do" lists. Today is day 4 and i have cabin fever like crazy. I am supposed to be back at work in 2 days but i am so freaking scared these bruises will remain. I am not a vain person but to be honest i don't want anything to draw attention to myself. I prefer to just muddle through my work and get back to what i want to do each day. 

before my accident, i had spent some time walking with the girls out in the on and off rain to sell candy and stumbled onto some fun landscape ideas






I have only recently become a fan of this type of native gardening. I still have a love for the "tropical" look so i am trying to see if i can mix a little



I took a walk around our local park yesterday, for the first time really getting out of the house. Felt so good! Our weather has been amazing. I say it over and over again, California is best in the winter. Cool nights, warm days... just perfect!