Blast from the Past

Several of my friends (especially the long-distance ones) have commented that even though they enjoy seeing my art on the blog, they would like to hear more about what is happening in my life.  The truth of the matter is... not much.  I work full-time (and then some!) and spend most of my spare time working on my art and moderating our Paper Traders group.

The art group is continuing to grow and expand and we created a blog this year - which is terrific, but also a lot of work.  I think we get a pretty decent level of participation in our group swaps but it's often hard to get people to host projects so that task generally falls to us moderators.  Not that hosting is difficult, but when you do it regularly, it doesn't leave much time to fit in other things.

One of the "other things" I keep telling myself I need to do is to participate in more Single Adult activities with my church.  I am perfectly happy staying in and doing the art thing but I'm never going to meet anybody at home in my pj's  =)   I did recently break out my old gypsy costume and put in an appearance at the annual Halloween dance.  It was nice to see a few old friends but I didn't really meet anybody new (it's hard to interact with people in a dark room with loud music) so my goal this next year is to get out of the house a little more before I turn into a complete recluse!

This past week, I actually did get out of the house to spend time with an old friend who was here for business.  Tim was my very best friend in high school and I haven't seen him since before graduation - 25 years ago!  Sometimes when you reconnect with old acquaintances, it's nice but a bit awkward; but this was not like that at all... instead, we were immediately able to start up a conversation almost as if no time had passed at all.  It was great to catch up and rediscover our friendship again.  Below is a picture we took when we were in high school... the other photo is (a grainy cell phone picture taken in the dark) from our meet-up this week:

It's hard to believe I've been back in San Diego for more than a year now.  Time has really flown.  I recently added more shelves to my art studio but it's STILL not clean and organized enough to unveil to the rest of the world.  I went "home" to Wyoming this summer and got to see my oldest nephew graduate from high school.  I am so proud of him and excited to see him starting college now.  I'm planning another trip for Thanksgiving this year and am really looking forward to seeing my family again.  I love being in San Diego but it's awfully far from them.

So, that should get me caught up for awhile... I promise to try to be better about keeping everyone updated  =)

Out with the old... In with the new...

On the day before leaving town to visit my family for Thanksgiving, I managed to total my car.  The accident was my fault and an embarrassingly stupid move on my part.  Thankfully, no one was seriously injured - it could have been so much worse - but my subcompact 2004 Hyundai Accent didn't fare too well against a Dodge Ram pickup!  I finally got out of my rental and into a new (at least new to me) car - a 2010 Hyundai Elantra with power, cruise, and lots of nice little amenities I had been doing without.  Alas, they came with a car payment attached but at least I have something nice, newer, and reliable to get around in.

On a lighter note, I had a wonderful time visiting my family in Wyoming over the Thanksgiving holiday.  I arrived just in time for the traditional dinner, sacrificed sleep for some Black Friday shopping deals, had a Harry Potter movie marathon with my nieces, went to kindergarten with my youngest niece, watched another niece perform admirably at her swim meet, helped my mom rearrange her art studio, and managed to read a novel and complete an art piece in the process.  Not a very restful vacation but definitely a fun and special one!

This is the art piece I completed on my vacation.  It was my birdhouse-themed contribution for the Fifth Anniversary swap on Paper Traders.  The couples featured are my grandparents and great aunt & uncle  =)

My New Nephew

While this is not a great picture of the new baby, this is a good picture of me - LOL! This is my brand new nephew, Nathaniel River Austin! He was born on Monday at 7:45 am and weighed 8 lbs 5.7 oz. As his big sister says, "he's noisy!" He sure was screaming at the hospital and apparently is still pretty fussy now that he's home. With two other bouncy toddlers, my sister has definitely got her hands full... but, oh, I think they're worth it!

Howdy from Western Wyoming

Okay, so Cody isn't THAT much farther west than Colorado... but it sure feels like it! Lots of cowboys and pickup trucks, rodeo every night, open plains and tall mountains all around, no really big cities anywhere near here.

After driving up to South Dakota for a family reunion last week, I traveled west to Wyoming to take care of my mom for a couple weeks while she is recovering from surgery. She is doing well, healing nicely, but will still be laid up for some time due to the size of her incision. I don't think my boss was too happy about me maxing out my vacation time all at once, but family is my priority. The hard part will not being able to take any more time off for the rest of the year - LOL!

Today I am going to take my nieces to the movies... we're going to go see the new Ice Age movie - should be fun =) I've managed to get a little bit of art done while I'm here but mostly have been doing work around the house (Mom & Dad's place is a lot bigger than my little apartment!) and I've become addicted to a new online video game: Bubble Town - what a time-waster but so much fun!

Well, that's a quick update on me. I'll post photos of my recent art as soon as it's all finished.

Wild Mustangs

This is the spread I made for Linda's "Where the Wild Things Are" round robin journal on Paper Traders. I chose to illustrate the wild mustangs from Red Canyon, Wyoming, which is just outside of Cody where Linda lives. My family also lives there and I've seen the wild horses for myself - very cool! I also made a tag to match...

Holiday Wrap Up

So, my holiday road trip was both good and bad - it was wonderful to spend time with my family who I only get to see about once or, if I'm lucky, maybe twice a year; it was disappointing that it went by too fast, though! It was nice to be able to drive there and thereby take as much stuff with me (and not be limited by airline bag restrictions) as well as bring lots of good stuff back, too.

But the drive home was NOT good, by any means... I raced a snowstorm all day long and it finally caught up with me about 30 miles from my home - and then I crawled through the worst traffic I have ever seen for another FOUR HOURS! At times, I wanted to cry from frustration and exhaustion but Mom reminded (via cellphone) that someone up ahead had probably had an accident and was having a much worse day than me! Actually there were several accidents, and stalled vehicles, and slide offs, and snow plows, and it just went on and on.

All told, I spent 12 hours in the car that day - the day after I had been been soooo sick with the stomach flu... so for two days, I ate little more than crackers and 7-Up. Needless to say, going back to work the next day was very difficult - difficulty concentrating, tired, weak - and here it is mid-week and I still can't stomach anything but the most bland food.

So, I guess I had more bad to say about my trip than good but really I don't feel that way about it... it just didn't end well and I guess the ending is what sticks with you. The fun stuff included a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, a mountain drive with my Dad, arting with my mom and sister, making gourmet candy apples, celebrating two family birthdays, playing with my little niece and nephew, taking my nieces to a movie, and of course listening to my Broncos win a terrific football game!

It's hard to accept that it's already December and I have so much to do before Christmas... I don't know where I'm going to find the time to get everything done - Yikes!

Wyoming Wildflowers and Landscape

I literally took several HUNDREDS of photos on our camping trip this past weekend. We went up into the Beartooth Mountains in northwestern Wyoming (and a bit of southwestern Montana). Not all of my photos came out great, but here are several that will hopefully give you an idea of all the beautiful stuff we saw...


This little chipmunk moved so fast, it was hard to catch him with my camera...

A portion of the panorama at the top of the Chief Joseph Scenic Bypass - you can see the switchbacks leading down to the valley below and, in the very far back on the right, the mountains where we camped...

Tiny little alpine flowers (Lupine?)...

Many of the flowers hadn't even started blooming yet - summer is slow coming in the highest mountain peaks...

Here's a busy little bumblebee, hard at work...

Some hardy little alpine flowers - seeming to grow right out of the rocks!

The flowers were everywhere - growing in even the most unlikely of places...

More little alpine flowers...

Indian Paintbrush...

Beartooth Lake...

A waterfall along Beartooth Creek - this is looking across a steep, wide canyon - that's a LOT of water!
Tiny little Forget-Me-Nots...

Even more alpine flowers...

Long Lake near "Top of the World"...

These are some of the smallest flowers I have ever seen...

An interesting snow melt...

In the distance, Pilot and Index peaks...

Hard to tell from this photo, but there is so much water coming down here that the creek has overflowed its banks and is pouring down the mountainside in a wide, foaming rush - that white in the background is not snow - it's water!

These pink (Wild Geraniums) and purple (I don't know what kind?) flowers were everywhere we looked...

Even the pine trees are blooming...

If you want a little perspective on this photo, check out the people standing on the bridge in the distance - the force of the water coming down here is phenomenal!

At the tippy-top of the Beartooths, looking down onto alpine lakes and glacial canyons - still a lot of snow up there for the middle of July...

These pink flowers are called Shooting Stars and they're my Dad's favorite! If you know how tiny Forget-Me-Nots are, then you'll realize that these rocket-like blossoms are only about an inch long...

There was a whole mountain meadow filled with these blooms...

A cute little visitor...

Cody Stampede Independence Day Parade

These are just a FRACTION of all that we saw in the parade on July 4th... enjoy!