birthday month - recap

day 1 - worked all day and spent all night (literally) helping my sister set up the reception area for my niece's wedding

day 2 - worked all day and spent the evening at a kansas winery for the rehearsal dinner - we actually found a couple wines we liked even!  this was also my sister's birthday and i got to spend it with her for once!

day 3 - spent the day celebrating young love - my niece and newest nephew got married!

day 4 - got to spend a little more quality time with my brother and his family and then spent the entire day flying back to maine

day 5 - started out as a relaxing day on the dock then we proceeded to take the sailboat and bass boat out of the water for the season (boo!).  ended the day with pat's pizza and the grocery store

day 6 - caught up on ray donovan and of course worked all day

day 7 - attended a paints and pints class with amy where we got to learn to watercolor while drinking beer - how can you go wrong?  oh, and of course there was the work thing all day

day 8 - went to a wine and cheese tasting with sean and amber and the work thing

day 9 - check out my surprise birthday getaway post

day 10 - check out my surprise birthday getaway post

day 11 - check out my surprise birthday getaway post

day 12 - attended our town selectman's meeting, finished watching the series boardwalk empire and did the work thing

day 13 - started cutting back the flower gardens and went on a final wine cruise on the pontoon boat (and the work thing) - the moon was so bright and the stars were beautiful!

day 14 - went to dinner with my honey and got caught up on ray donovan, oh and that work thing

day 15 - ran a bunch of errands with duke and went to bed early (oh that work thing)

day 16 - worked all day and then loaded up guzzy and headed near the new hampshire boarder to visit some friends

day 17 - spent the day helping friends finish getting ready for the party, lounging by the pool, visiting with old and new friends, playing corn hole, having too many beverages and staying up way too late

day 18 - spent the day recovering from the day before, lounging around watching football (yea cowboys won, although we watched the pats) and heading back home with guzzy (and the rest of the family)

day 19 - worked all day then went to check on my garden and picked the ripe tomatoes and then spent the rest of the night working on cpe - that's rude that they make your cpa license due the month of your birth and require so much cpe at the same time!

day 20 - all weekend duke was screeching whenever you would touch him.  we finally were able to get him into the vet.  still don't have any answers other than he has hurt his back.  spent the rest of the day cuddling him and having a meltdown regarding the fact that he's getting older....i'm sure i also worked and did cpe but it's all a blur...

day 21 - worked and did cpe, took the last boat out of the water and started the process of taking all the lake toys to the barn for the winter

day 22 - worked and did cpe, made dinner, went for ice cream and watched the pats (we were supposed to be at the game but with duke not feeling well and not knowing the issue we decided to stay home)

day 23 - was pretty lazy - did the work thing and some cpe, watched the season finale of ray donovan and then went to bed early to prep for the next day

day 24 - spent the entire day closing up camp - from sinking the dock to moving all the outdoor furniture to the garage.  ended the day with pizza and beers with great friends.

day 25 - did the grocery store thing, watched a niece play soccer (brrrrr!), continued camp close up and watched the cowboys!  and of course cuz it was national lobster day we ended the day with some lobster on the marina! YUM!

day 26 - cpe, cpe, cpe

day 27 - cpe, cpe, cpe

day 28 - took duke to see the doggie neurologist and more cpe...

day 29 - finally finished all my cpe!

day 30 - went apple picking!

painting my cutie

you may remember my new fave place
well, when i saw the paint your own pet class i knew i just had to go!
this is the picture i based it on

they had a person do the initial sketch
but i did all the painting
and...drum roll please.....

so what do you think?
i'm very happy with how it turned out!
now i need to figure out where it's going!

my new obsession

have you ever wanted to try to paint
but convinced you have no artistic ability?
you need painting with a twist
i don't know how they do it but they make everyone an artist!

i've already been twice
once for a private party in texas

oops - crooked picture

once while i was in tampa for work

which was fun getting back home on the plane
apparently it counts as a carry-on if it's not in another bag
whatever...

they're currently in 15 states
so go look it up and get to one in an area near you
STAT!
believe me you'll be amazed at how great your painting will look
no matter what your skill set is

there are so many more i want to do
i'll share them with you as i do more

i'd love to see yours too if you go - email it to me...

**********************************
two more things...

1. this is NOT a paid advertisement - just wanted to share a new awesome thing i found
2. to answer a reader question - duke is a yorkie-poo (yorkshire terrier and poodle mix)

birthday month celebration la fin

The birthday month celebration has come and gone.  It was a great time of focusing on myself and taking the time to do things I wanted.  If you've never tried this, I recommend it - but I tell you first hand, it's hard!

So maybe taking an entire month isn't feasible for everyone - so try a week, or even a weekend.  We're not talking a lot of time here.  Some things only took an hour, max.  Come on - give it a try - you know you want to!

So here's the low-down on the last days of the birthday month celebration.

day 22: movie night with the honey
day 23: improv
day 24: picking more apples, making applesauce, dinner with friends
day 25: painting on the dock to the sounds of nature
day 26: phone time with friends
day 27: reading magazines on the dock
day 28: ancestry researching
day 29: more ancestry researching
day 30: Pampered Chef party!

********************************
For those of you wondering, the hubs is getting better at the birthday thing!

First year we were married - not so much as a card.

This year (a mere two years later), I received a rose bush on my actual birthday that we'll plant in our new flowerbeds (pics coming soon), breakfast in bed (yum....munchkins!), an actual cooked breakfast that he made himself, going on various of the adventures with me, helping make a particular day turn out even when I screwed it up, taking a road trip (even if I did have to plan it myself).  I'm sure there's more...

all over the place

This post is going to be a little like my week - all over the place.

I finally finished my final assignment for my painting class.  What do ya think?

*********************
I've been trying to get all my "Texas friend time" in as it's about time to head north.

*********************
Still debating if I want to do this half marathon thing...

*********************
The veggie garden has begun.  Hopefully Lowe's will deliver the supplies soon so it can get finished.

*********************
I'm taking a photography class now - already a week behind - plan to get caught up this weekend.  Here are some of my "before the class" photos (it was actually our first assignment).

*********************
Duke is nosey...

********************
I'm hosting Supper Club at my house this week.  The theme is muffin tin recipes - recipes anyone, anyone???  My favorite muffin "tin" is the Pampered Chef stoneware one.  Unfortunately, Sean won't touch it and he does the dishes so I tend to not use it much.  As I was getting the link to it to attach here I saw they now have a stoneware cookie sheet.  Not sure how it's any different than the regular rectangle one except it has one side that angles up.  Why is it that cookie sheets do that anyway???

********************
We had a hail storm last night.  Some of our plants now have holes through the leaves.  So sad...

We also found out one of the gutters was somehow clogged up.  Now sure how that really happens when you have no trees big enough to get leaves in there but it happened.  Sean has cleaned it out but now we have to replace the mulch that escaped from all the water pouring over the gutters.

********************
The lake has officially thawed out!!!!!

random updates

I've still been enjoying my painting class.  I've finished week 3 and nearly done with my final project.  Here are some pics from what I did for week three.

I want to add a saying to my final project but can't decide on one.  What would you write on a painting of a bird?

******************************************
Duke has been ridiculous, needy and ridiculously needy!!!  Look how obnoxious this has gotten...

But he's just so darn cute and cuddly how can you resist him?!?!

******************************************
I don't like to follow patterns but I also don't like having to figure out a pattern on my own but I really like sewing.  I know - totally confusing.  It's taken me, like months, to finally decide on a pattern for the living room curtains.  Here's a little peek at how I've been trying to figure out the pattern.

I think Sean's pretty happy I've finally made a decision and put those new scissors to good use to cut out all the pieces.  I already have one done and only three more panels to go.  I should be posting pics this weekend of the final product.  I can't wait because I don't like having bare windows at night (as you can see in the pic of Duke above).

******************************************
We've been doing a lot of gardening lately.  I helped plant some trees for a work community day and we put in a new 90 foot (or something obnoxious like that) flower bed and have been trying to fill it in with lots of goodies.  I'll write more about both of those soon with lots of pictures.

flea market goodies and other stuff

I realized I didn't even show you the few goodies I got at the flea market.  There weren't many though.  I have a shell collection from all my different trips that have been sitting on the edge of the bathtub for years now.  It's gotten too large now so I needed something to put them in.  Found this to hang on the wall.  Now there's so few shells in it I think we need to get a ton more vacations planned!

We have our "head to Maine" date set and I can't wait to hang out in the day bed again.  Found a cute linen I'm going to make into a pillow for it.

At the last minute we found an "all things bacon" booth.  I headed home with bacon ketchup.  I've tried it out and it's not too bad.

I also picked up a hanging basket I'm going to plant an herb garden in once we get to Maine.  I'm sure there will be more about it later.  I also picked up some plants that I need to find time to plant now.

******************************************************
I finished assignment 2 for my painting class.  It was all about using stamps with your paints.  SO FUN!

******************************************************
and just because he's so cute, I'll leave you with Duke sporting his new bandanna I made from the fabric we found on our trip up to Maine last year.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend.  We are - more to come soon!

the drama is finally over

Remember the empty fridge (aside from the saved beer as was noted by some friends)?

Well, after 2 weeks it is no longer empty and will actually keep stuff cold.  You don't understand how exciting this is.  Two weeks of eating out every single meal SUCKS!!!  Besides eating out, you can't even walk into the kitchen and get something cold to drink.

But all is well now and we even have ice.  I won't go into the whole thing unless you email me and want to know about it but I'm not very pleased with the customer service Sear's service department offers these days.

TWO WHOLE WEEKS!!!

***************************************
On another note, it was brought to my attention that I may have provided some bad information about my trip to London and one of the sites we saw.  This bridge is not the London Bridge but rather the Tower Bridge.

Sean and I may or may not have gotten our picture taken on the real London Bridge.  Maybe one of the UK readers can help me out here.  Is this it???

I love that wikipedia actually helps me not look like a complete idiot.  It says the Tower Bridge is sometimes mistakenly referred to as the London Bridge and that, rumor has it, some guy bought the old London Bridge and actually thought he was buying the Tower Bridge.

I also learned that it was painted the red, white and blue colors in the 70's.  It was originally chocolate brown.  Very good decision to change the colors - it just makes it stand out so much.  Even if this wasn't the real London Bridge I still love it!  (Thanks for helping me get my "London" monuments straightened out Geo!)

***************************************
I've completed week 1 and week 2 lessons for my painting class.  So far it's been about using acrylic paints to enhance your scrapbooking.  Here are the pages of the art journal I created for week 1 lesson.  I'll add week 2 soon.

random happenings

We had some peeps over to watch the Oscars.  We learned Sean and I am NOT good at picking the winners - whatsoever.  Combined I think we got 6 right - that's out of 48 people...48!

***************************************
We finished the week up cleaning the biggest pile of puke for a 6 pound dog.  Still working on getting the stain out.  Any tricks you can share???

***************************************
Look what I found in my flowerbed over the weekend!!!

The rose bushes and lilac bushes are all getting their leaves already too.
This brings mixed emotions for me.  Happy because we'll soon be heading back to Maine but also sad because we'll soon be heading back to Maine and leaving my Texas friends (although they're already on the calendar for a visit).

***************************************
We've now officially gone a week without a fridge.  This is what it looks like.

Good thing we have a friend with room in her freezer - we only lost everything from the fridge side.  Why is it we always have such bad experience with Sears Home Service???

SOOO tired of eating out!!!

***************************************
I'm completely obsessed with iPhoto!!!
Every free moment has been spent categorizing my pictures.
I can't stop...
I should be making the living room curtains...or blogging...or replying to all your great comments...or taking more pictures...
but then I'd just have that many more to categorize...

***************************************
I signed up for this class.
I've never, ever painted before so I had to pick up all the supplies...

Almost done with the first assignment and am LOVING it!!!
You can be sure I'll post photos of my work as I'm done.