Mother's day gift

today i received the best gift ever and that was to spend some time with Dillon. he's very busy with school, improv, his girlfriend, his friends - you know; being a teenager. but today we got to hang out and i really enjoyed it. first we hit the dog beach to look for beach trash that i will use in an art project for COA (clean ocean act). it was really windy and chilly; so we were bundled up. and we didn't really find that much trash. i'll have to keep hitting the beaches a few more times so i have enough to do this project. We did find a bunch of tennis balls that i gathered up and left and the opening of the dog beach for owners who forgot to bring one.

then we headed home and went exploring in our own back yard. behind our house is a field that belongs to the quarry, Clayton. and if you slip behind the metal fence at the end of the field, you into what eventually becomes the quarry. lots of found object stuff back there, let me tell you you! anyway, we explored the quarry area and i watched dillon climbing on all the equipment. dillon and his friends come back here alot (well to the general area of the field, marshes, etc.) so he knows it well. there are a couple of small small bodies of water back there; which i want to figure out how to get closer to and check out the birding situation.

then we hiked over to this other area where a new home is being built next to another lake. wow, it is an amazing home and HUGE! we sort of illegally went inside and looked around. it's probably a 3 million dollar home with the house and property.

now we are back home and hanging out. all that fresh air and wind made us tired!
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this is a picture i took of dill today that i altered into a poster. pretty cool, huh?

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and this was another photo i took and then played with it in photoshop. the one on the far left is the original. i like how by adusting the lighting and contrast in the middle photo, you can now see is eye through the rock.

behind the scenes during art opera

i hosted Ruth Rae and Traci Bautista here at my house during Art Opera. i also had my friend, Jane and another couple, Scott and Taryn of Navel Jelly Studios stay here. it was a packed house, but we had a lot of fun. i enjoyed the camaraderie and it was nice to have so many art people under my roof! it was fun to show off my home and receive such warm praise for my decorating style. One day after teaching, Ruth, Traci and i had lunch, hit some antique stores before heading home. i didn't tell them, but on the way home, i did a slight detour so that i could take these guys by the beach which is quite close to my home. the beaches here in NJ are very pretty and well maintained. When we arrived at the beach, it had gotten very windy and cold and we were all under dressed. but we braved the elements to get out, take pics and put our toes in the water (well, i did not put my feet in the water - i refused!) but it was a lovely way to end the day and i'm glad we ventured out.

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after we got back home and had some dinner, traci and ruth were kind enough to autograph their books for me. can't beat your own personal book signing party!

girls day out

Today i took my friend, Michele out for her belated birthday. (it was in May and we had this same day all planned out and i goofed it all up, so it didn't work out). first we went to the flea market, which was absolutely FREEZING! we got a few things, but not much. one fun thing i got was a vinyl record of "Rocky Horror Picture Show". the graphics are really cool. i thought it'd be cool to frame and hang up in Dillon's room as art. also on the free table i got a whole bag of vintage Christmas stuff. too much to take a picture of. i guess some vendor tried to sell it today and then decided it was too cold and left it all on the table. it was like a feeding frenzy at the free table!

then we headed up north to meet Jane in Montclair. We wanted to go shopping at Parcel and then go check out Urban Outfitters and Anthropology. Parcel was so fun! friends have been telling me to go there for ages, but i rarely get up North - but i am so glad we went. my special purchase today was the darling little pink stocking in the top right corner of the collage.
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and how lovely is this little doll? my husband gave her to me yesterday as a KK. we have a tradition that started in my family years ago, called "KK", after Kris Kringle. in my family what we use to do was pick a family member name and then you were their KK. that meant that you bought them a main gift, but you also left little gifts for them throughout the season. another version of Secret Santa, i suppose! anyway, we do KK in my family now, but we do it where we give out little gifts now and then to anyone in the family. (like i recently KK'd Tucker with a cool blanket). it's a great way to let each other know that we are thinking of them. Jeff always gets me a Starbucks gift card at the beginning of December as a KK so that i can go get my eggnog lattes whenever i want to!

Art Opera 2010

I am excited to announce that the Jersey shore will be having it's own art retreat! that's right, you heard me correct. Lisa Kettell has been busy organizing this event to be held April 2010.

Art Opera 2010, which will be held at the exclusive Oyster Point Hotel on April 7, 8, 9 and 10 in Red Bank, NJ right on the Navesink River, a few miles of the beach and New Jersey shore line, with fabulous views and nestled within loads of antique stores, centers, and art trendy shops, Red Bank is known for their trendy and artsy stores, restaurants. Expect 10-15 teachers who teach everything from bookbinding, visual journaling, book arts, paper sculpting, assemblage art, metal making, jewelry, mixed media painting/illustration, vintage arts, dolls arts, sewing arts and creative inspiration. so far i know of two teachers: me and Jenny Heid!

there will be guest speakers, swaps and a vendor faire.

your airport destination would be Newark, NJ, which is about 25 minutes from Red Bank or you can fly into NYC (Kennedy or LaGuardia). There are trains (from NYC) into Red Bank and Olympic Shuttle also has a drop off location in Lincroft, NJ, which borders Red Bank. Personally, i would go with Newark. Keep an eye on Lisa's blog for more information, or email me with any questions to:

keeshagirl4@aol.com

roller derby mania!

So last night Jane and i went to see the Jersey Shore Roller Girls at the Asbury Park Convention Center. when we left the house, it was not raining. however, by the time we got to the restaurant it was coming down. we didn't have any umbrellas, but Jane had a couple of USPS priority mail boxes in her car, so we used those to cover our heads. We had a nice dinner at Langcosta Lounge. by the time we finished dinner, it was POURING buckets. water was everywhere. we were soaked by the time we got to the convention center. wet jeans, soggy heels, gross! (but our hair was dry thanks to the postal service)

trying to find a parking spot

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me and jane running for cover! (notice the priority mail box/umbrella)

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entering the convention center - the floor was soaked and slippery!

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the convention center is right on the beach in Asbury Park, so here is a view from upstairs.

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"Greetings from Asbury Park" - this was Bruce Springsteen's famous ablum

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the girls are warming up. We decided to support "Anchors Assassins"

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feeling a little soggy & cold here!

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we were surprised by an appearance of the "internationally-known dog catcher silver string submarine all-star competition bagpipe band" (that's some title, huh?) but they were really cool.

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pictures from throughout the evening of the competiton. although they played their best, "Anchors Assassins" lost to the undefeated "Right Coast Rollers" thanks to their secret weapon, #666, Chelle B Evil - who was an incredible skater. that girl was fast, coordinated and lithe!

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random photo of the Wonder Bar, but the face up top is of "Tillie" a vintage icon from the yester year of Asbury Park

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ahh, see a Little People did go to the derby, but was kind of shy. he got his pep up later for some coffee and red velvet cupcake .

an egret i spy

i've seen this guy a few times, but have never gotten a picture of him. he likes to hang out under the Belmar bridge by the Shark River Inlet. last year i saw him there when the tide was low, fishing under the bridge AND (i say that with great annoyance with myself!) i did not have my camera with me. so today i was happy to see him flying in to his regular spot.

beach, birds and fireworks

So tonight i headed back to the beach as a volunteer to watch the fenced off areas of the bird colony during the fireworks. i met more volunteers. Jan and i were position on the beach side centered in the middle of the colony (but on the other side of the fenced area). as we were walking over to our position, we noticed foot tracks inside the colony area. i mean, come one, there are signs everywhere saying "stay out, endangered birds", etc. and people are still going in there? sorry, but that makes me sick.

the fences were extended yesterday to give the birds a bigger area. we noticed tonight that the birds are venturing closer to the shore, which is a good thing. there are so many birds inside the colony that it is a bit dense. but widening the area, it gives the birds space and encourages the fledglings to venture further away and allows the chicks to have a better chance at getting fed. there seems to be a lack of food source (fish), so the fledglings are killing some of the chicks as they fight over food. (makes me want to go out and buy some fish for them). right as the birds seemed like they were settling down for the evening, the fireworks started - and that caused them to panic and fly off. i took an interesting picture of them as they were scattering. it's all good info to have, because now the woman who runs the volunteers, Nancy Maclearie-Hayduk can give all this information to the biologists involved and speak with the township about moving the fireworks down a few blocks.

here are the birds scattering

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