Christmas Eve 2009

the presents are wrapped, the stockings are hung. jeff is on the phone, tuck is listening to music and dillon is playing a new video game from his nana. i am upstairs blogging, looking at all the pictures i've taken in the last few days of the snow and enjoying the quiet. it was hard to pick a favorite photo from them all, but picked this one as my Christmas wish to all. Happy Holidays!

"Little Dog, a holiday story"

Today i granted a Christmas wish.

I met a little doggie this summer at the flea market. he came home with me in a bag of "stuff". He went to live on a shelf i have over my kitchen sink. I started calling him Little Dog. I'd come wash my hands and say, "how ya doing little dog"? he was pretty quiet for awhile, as it turns out that he is shy. then one day he answered me and told me that he was "doing quite well, thank you very much". after that, we became good friends. he just needed to build up his trust in me.

Early this fall, during one of our many conversations at the kitchen sink, he told me of a wish he had. I was honored that he trusted me so much to share something so important with me. He told me that when he grew up, he wanted to be a reindeer. he wanted to fly with the other reindeer and help Santa pull his sleigh. after thinking for a minute, i said, "so what's stopping you"? he was quiet and said, "i don't know".

a few weeks later, we talked about it again. this time, he surprised me and said, " i am ready to be a reindeer, but i need your help". it was hard for Little Dog to ask me for help and i was proud that he worked up the courage to do so. So i said, "let's get to work". We worked hard over the next few weeks, getting him gear ready, practicing flying, fashioning his antlers, etc. I began to see Little Dog come alive in front of my eyes as his dream became a reality.

Sometimes we have dreams and if all it takes is a little help, that shouldn't stop us from trying to get there!

This story is symbolic of my growth as an artist: taking baby steps, recovering from a devastating, life altering event and venturing out into the world on my own terms.

So i am proud to present to you, Little Dog the reindeer, making his world debut Christmas eve Dec. 24, 2010.



Little Dog in all his glory
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the flying lessons have been going really well!
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here's Little Dog relaxing with some of his new friends; a supportive, nuturing and caring group.

wish him luck!

black friday continued!

Today was black friday open house at Summerhouse. it was a fun day. lots of festive wares to look at, yummy red velvet cupcakes, hot apple cider and more. weather wise, the day started off pretty nice. then later, it turned a bitter cold with a nasty wind whipping through the town. Brrrrrr! But Santa stopped by for the tree lighting ceremony, we saw elves and fairies, a beautiful horse pulling a lighted buggy and lots of participants wearing Santa hats. My girlfriend Jane, her daughter Claudia and sister stopped by for a hello and some shopping. Also my friend, Marlene, came in, good to see her again. Thanks for the support ladies!



I want to dress like this manikin.
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Jane, Claudia and I
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Marlene and I
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Joanna, Kathe and I
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button bracelets
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snowman bottles and one of my collages
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glass tiles necklaces
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more button bracelets
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in other news, if you missed the post about my blog giveaway, you can read about it here.

blog giveaway!

I've been feeling a little lonely on my blog lately as i've noticed the comments dropping off considerably. supposedly there are 181 readers blog readers out there and i want to hear from you! i know many of you like to stay quiet and just read, but once in awhile, it is nice to know if someone is paying attention to what i am saying! I've decided to give back and am hosting a blog giveaway starting tonight until Friday, Dec. 11th. you will win a pendant similar to the one in the picture below (that comes on a chain), only using the initials of your choice. you can give this as a gift or keep for yourself - it is up to you. i will create it in enough time to get it to you in case you want to give it as a gift.
what do you have to do? just leave me a comment. let me know that you are here and keeping up with me! i thought it'd be fun to talk about our Christmas wish lists. what is on your wish list this year? it can be ridiculous, silly, practical, wishful thinking - whatever! i just want to hear from you. my only other rule is that you have to comment here, on my blog, not on my facebook page when the feed shows up on my wall!



So what is on my christmas wish list this year? I would love a gift certificate to dick blick and then walk into their store and buy anything i wanted without worrying about the final tally! my fantasy Christmas wish would be to go to Spain with a group of artsy girls who also have the same desire to go there. i also have a secret Christmas wish that i will keep to myself as it is a wish just for me. feel free to pass this blog giveaway along in the spirit of giving.

And to my regular commenters, i just want to say thank you!

blog giveaway

well, i 've been quiet for a few days and that usually means that either i'm not feeling well or Tucker isn't feeling well. well, Tucker, it turned out, has bronchitis. wednesday night he was up til 5am coughing, coughing and coughing. i stayed up with him, suctioning, singing to him, talking to him, keep him company, etc. and then i spent the next few days trying to recover! we took him to the doctor on friday and she started him on an antibotic. i swear a few hours after the first dose, he was already sounding better. Friday i ended up sleeping in until 11:00am, something that rarely ever happens. i'm just not one to sleep in. i have some many things i want to get done on a daily basis and usually sleeping isn't one of them! but i was exhausted, had a horrible headache and needed to rest. so rest i did. i'm still a bit tired, but getting there!

my project for the last few days was working on a wreath. i decided i wanted to make a wreath using vintage ornaments. i've been collecting these for awhile, so i had plenty on hand. i started it last night and got about 1/2 done before i ran out of glue stix. stopped at Michale's this morning to restock my stix and back to work (why is that they only had 1 cashier on a saturday morning, a few days before Christmas and with a line 12 people deep? ugh!)

i made my first wreath when i was in college and had gone home for Christmas break (that was also the time i made all these adorable "gingerbread people" ornaments out of felt. ) my mom was making them and she showed me how. we would go deep into their property (she was living in Greensboro, NC at the time) and we would look for grapevine. then we would wrap it in a circle and begin the decorating. we used a glue gun and whatever supplies she had on hand (i really don't remember what it looked like!) i just fondly remember the time. so now that my wreath is completed, i thought it'd be fun to guess how many ornaments it took to fill in this wreath? whoever comes comes the closest will win a prize (a prize i am still determining)

i'm bummed

Well i got the phone call today from the data recovery service. I had sent them my external hard drive that houses all my pictures as it wasn't working ever since i accidently dropped it on the ground. he told me that my photos were not recoverable as some thingy-ma-gig suffered a traumatic blow when it fell. BUMMER! so here's some advice to you - make sure you back up your photos! i have many photos stored on flickr and there are many pics on my blog, but still there are so many that are just gone. so that' s my news.

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also, here's a holiday tip i thought i'd share with you. a few years ago, i started saving some of the tags that my mom uses when she wraps my holiday gifts. she usually has them all done up in lots of ribbon that she has curled. i save them and hang them on the tree. i wanted to do this because as my parents get older, i realize how fast time is going by and i like the thought of her writing out that tag for me as she wrapped my gift and i know she put a lot of love into it. i like seeing her handwriting as it is such a reflection of her. my dad doesn't wrap gifts, but i've been saving his letters and cards for the same reason, to have his handwriting and pieces of him.

holiday photos, Christmas '08

thanks for all the nice compliments on our photo. someone asked me who took the picture - well i did! i set up my tripod, set a little scene in front of the chair, got everyone postion, viewed the shot and hit the timer - viola! then i'd check the pic to see how the positioning of the camera was; make any changes and take some more! i've been doing it this way for years. oh, but the last shot here with tuck on my lap, i had dillon's friend, Adrianne snap some shots after i got it all ready for her (she takes lots of pictures, so she got my vote of confidence!)