family and friends

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looking around Bass Lake

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here are some of my favorites places in Bass Lake

it's all about dillon

Here's some pictures i've taken of Dillon while we've been here. he's very photogenic and instantly goes into his pose (that started when he was very young!) when i say "Dillon, smile".

scenes from my mom's house

here's a little taste of what dillon and i get to experience when we come to Bass Lake. you can see where i get my gardening and yard expertise from! mom's yard and garden are full of fun and whimsy. i'll introduce you to her little family. she's got 2 dogs, Blossom (2nd row, 3rd photo), Paddington (1st row, 1st picture). then there's the cats, all rescues: China (1st row, last picture), Sugarplum (4th row, 1st picture), Jingles, a "ragdoll cat" (last row, last picture). missing is Edith Ann, a orange and white kitty who declined to be photographed. she also has her darling little doves who make the cutest little cooing noises.

the picture with the flower and the bee is her Hollyhocks which are covered in bees right now. i just loved how the bees are covered in the pollen. guess they don't have allergies!

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erika (my niece), her friend and my sister arrived yesterday. we went for a quick swim at Falls Beach and a nice dinner at Yolanda's. It's tradition to be initiated at Bass Lake by going down the falls. dill & erika have been going down the falls forever, but it was her friends first time. she was very brave and let dill hold her hand as they went together. notice the fools gold in the 3rd picture, first row, with my footsies dipping in the lake.

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here's us stopping at the Pines Market to look at mom's card display (she sells cards of her photography). don't you love the girls in their matching dresses?

back home, but not for long

I am home. got in tonight around 6:30. what a long day! i've unpacked, did my laundry and then repacked again because i leave on Wed. for Artnsoul in Virgina, where i am selling at vendor night. after i return home, whatever jewelry did not sell i will be adding to my new website (finally)! seriously, between the laptop crash, this show and going to cali, i just haven't had the time to work on my website. but it is my # 1 goal upon returning (that and working on some online classes). i received an exciting email while i was away saying my submission to Belle Amoire jewelry had been accepted and will be in the September 2009 issue - yay, clap, clap! (i'm excited)

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here is a class picture from this weekend, hijacked from my new friend and classmate, Julie Prichard. it was a really great group of girls, very laid back, no drama, lots of sharing and caring. we had good food and the company of sweet Gigi who received so much attention. i believe we wore Gigi out! i took so many pictures of Gigi - i feel like a stalker. but every pose Gigi made was adorable, so i couldn't help it. i'm a sucker for cutie patooties! i found it interesting that 4 of the women there (including myself) have special needs children. one of the gals was really cool. her name is Lisa and i overheard her mentioning something, so i called her over and began grilling her. it turns out that Lisa decided to quit her job, get rid of most of her possessions and start living an artful life. she's traveling her car where she sleeps at campgrounds. Suzi's class was the first stop on her interesting adventure. i just think that sounds so fun. i invited her to New Jersey and do hope she takes me up on it. So did anyone see me on the streaming live video that Suzi had going during class? Deidra emailed me and said she saw me when i was wearing my blue mermaid wig!

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after class was over on the 2nd day, anyone who wasn't hitting the road headed to the beach, which was beautiful. perfect conditions: warm, no wind, sunny - it was lovely. from there my cute little friend, Kelly Snelling, called. we had made dinner plans with her and Ruth Rae, so me, Becci and Julie met them for sushi. it was a lovely dinner and the perfect way to end my time in San Diego.

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Patti and i channel our inner mermaids. (i'm a hollywood mermaid with the glam glasses) i made that crown with real shells and it was heavy!

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here is my piece from class. i still have some work to finish up on it. i wasn't getting the whole "shading" concept very well, so need to do more shading on her face before i beeswax the whole surface. oh, and i have to add my words too. i have so many more pictures, but for tonight, i'll leave you with this one of Gigi:

kudos to my mom

my mom loves photography about as much as i do. when i visit her or she visits me, we are always grabbing our cameras to take on our little side trips; whether it is into Yosemite national park to our favorite watering hole or taking Muppet and Gracie (our doggies) into Central Park. Recently she's gotten serious about trying to sell some of her images and have others be able to appreciate her photos. she lives in a small town in California, called Bass Lake, which is an beautiful place to take pictures. Currently she's got her pictures in 3 locations around the lake. she's been asked to take pictures at weddings, around local property and at the local farmers market. i'm really proud of her for taking such a huge step. good job mom!

creating a story

i've had a few inquires about how i came up with my purse story, so i thought i would share. i was born in California and lived in various areas of the state while growing up. we did use to go a place called Bass Lake, located near Yosemite National Park and Fresno (California). My mother lives there now. usually i go every summer to visit, but lately that hasn't worked out (boo hoo). When i was little we rented a house in Bass Lake. on the way there we had stopped at a gas station and at the time they use to give out little plastic toys when you filled up. It was my turn to get something special (there were 4 kids), so i got the toys, which were little animals, like a giraffe, a tiger and something else. anyway, i did indeed hide those little toys in the house where we were staying. and yes, i did forget about them when we were leaving. Also, there was a huge boulder on the side of the house that we use to play on. across the street from the house was the lake and there was a dock that belonged to the house we rented. so we would go to the dock and jump into the lake wearing our bright orange life vests. I found the water to be "creepy" and didn't like to jump off the dock. i always thought there were things under the dock and they would get me.

Another part of the story came from my stepmom, Angie, who had emailed me and told me she had a metal mesh purse like the one i picked up at the flea market when she was a little girl and that she liked putting the purse in her mouth. the "lost" part of the story came about because when i graduated from high school, my mom and stepfather moved to North Carolina. A bunch of my personal belongings were lost in that shipment; things like my beloved books and my yearbooks. So i've never gotten to look through my yearbooks again and it always really bums me out. i really wish i had them back. highschool is such an important time in your life when you are full of dreams and just enjoying life as a young teenager does. it would be fun to look at the old pictures, read all the things people "signed" in my yearbook, especially senior year. I often wonder what became of them. were they trashed? did they end up in a thrift store?

so those are the elements i combined to create my story of the lost purse.