2nd annual "Where bloggers create" blog hop

karen valentine, of My desert cottage, is hosting a blog party, "where bloggers create". it's a big blog hop, where everyone shows off their creative working areas. you don't have to have a big studio - it's about you and your environment and how you make it work for your needs. if you go to her link, you can see all the bloggers that are participating in the right hand column. have fun looking at all that inspiration!

My art is infused all over the house. i have a little spot in my room where i make jewelry. My bedroom is my sanctuary. it is part art, part gypsy, with a big fluffy bed with lots of pillows and decoupaged (by me!) little lights/lanterns that hang over the canopy. To keep the jewelry mess from impending into my sanctuary, i put up a rattan screen to hide it. this way if i am relaxing in bed, i'm not looking at my computer or stuff i didn't put away.

I also have a small studio across from my bedroom where i do painting, mixed media and mosaics. (this use to be dillon's room til he moved to the basement). it is a small, narrow room with a low ceiling, but it is a perfect art space. the finches live in that room sitting in front of the window in their vintage bird cage on top of a dresser i found on the side of the road.


i also have a section downstairs where i do my sewing and where i host workshops. i have stenciled and handpainted many of my walls, closet doors, my bathroom and more. my house is mostly decorated with flea market/vintage /thrift store finds. it is eclectic, interesting and fun. the most common thing i hear about my house is how comfortable it is. it is inviting and soothing. it represents my outlook on life.

so you see, my creative environment is all around me. i did a little video, which i thought might be easier than scrolling through all my photos! however, all my photo "stills" can be found here on flickr.

off to the dog beach

on Sunday, i took advantage of having help with tucker and got out of the house. my main agenda was to check on the eggs in the Warbler nest that kim and i found when she was here visiting. i figured it was close to those eggs hatching. i took a nice leisurely stroll about the beach, watching the dogs playing in the surf, chasing sticks and tennis balls and in general, having the best time of their lives! i found some cool rocks and weathered bricks for my rock garden and took some photos as well.
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as i was walking along looking at all the darling paw prints, i couldn't help but think of hansel and gretel. my thought was, "lose your way on the dog beach? just follow these.

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found this heart shaped rock

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how can thistle be so overlooked for the beauty of that purple?

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i have no idea what this flower is. it was the only one growing and it was back in the dunes away from the water. big black bumblebees were intensely attracted to it and the fragrance was amazing.

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i love this little shallow section of the bay. i usually see great birds here, but none today; tide was too high...
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petite little daisies. so sweet

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more thistle about to bloom

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and as you can see, the Warbler babies hatched. i sure wish i could nab a photo of pretty momma (she's a light yellow/green color)

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also in the midst of tucker being sick, we discovered a nest of baby bunnies in a vintage wheelbarrow (now a plantar) out front. one of the babies was sickly and momma bunny had tossed it out of the nest, so i took care of it all day and into the night (feeding it pedialyte and kitten replacement milk). the next day i drove the sweet little bunny out to a bunny rehabber. she thought the bunny might have a head injury. i told her i didn't want to know anymore. i know she will do the best she can and what will be will be.

a few days after that, we noticed that momma had moved the nest to another section of the wheelbarrow, but hadn't covered up the babies, so i was suspecting that they would be leaving the nest soon. and sure enough, within 10 minutes or so, they were hopping out. i got some video of the last guy before he took the plunge.

a big thank you

i just wanted to send big thank you out to my friend, Gail, of Creative Workshops and Shabby Cottage Studio, who has been working her butt off to put tabs on my blog (the tab links that are now showing underneath my banner. i can run my blog and add photos, but that's about all i can handle. my brain in full and i'm having a hard time reading directions, understanding codes, etc. so i've admitted defeat and have outsourced to friends to help me (and they either get paid or we barter!) anyway, gail has had to study codes, find tutorials, etc. all so that i can have it the way i want it (i sound spoiled...) - but she 's finally gotten them in and i'm just so appreciated of all her hard work. friends have been going above and beyond for me with this sort of stuff and it is a huge relief off my shoulders.

another friend, Myrna of FoxgloveTonic, is helping me behind the scenes of my website to simplify it and make it more user friendly for me. When i got a peek at it the other day, i felt a huge relief and now some of the weight on my shoulders is lifting (as in me feeling pressured with all the things to keep up with; etsy, website, blogging) my brain really can't deal with all this techie stuff, i'm maxed out! i was so impressed with her descriptions of my work that will appear on the home page. Myrna has also gone above and beyond what i was expecting and i am grateful we stumbled across each other.

so heartfelt thanks to Gail and Myrna; especially after these long 3 weeks! i don't think either of them (or other friends that have been pitching in) will ever know how grateful i am. i would recommend both of them in a heart beat for any sort of computer techie/blog/digital sort of question or website design help. (and check out some of the classes that Gail's site has to offer. they are diverse, fun and interesting!)

getting there

well, unfortunately, my friend, kim, has come and gone. i told her in an email, "i waited so long for you to come visit me and it went by so fast". i feel badly that i was not 100% in a present state of mind, but i do realize that it could not be helped. she had a rare glimpse into the struggles we go through and it was hard to move between the two worlds of playing hostess and worry. she was a shoulder to lean on though and i'm glad she understood the circumstances. she knows me well and knows that i internalize all this anguish, sorry, worry and angst. she's a sweetie though. she left me a little gift in the camper that jeff only found today; a beautiful necklace that she made just for me. during her visit, she updated her facebook status, which read,
"spending the weekend at a darling faerie cottage....it's magical"

while she was here, i took her to the beach, to my favorite restaurant, Pete and Elda's, to my really junky flea market, to the Ocean Grove Flea Market, to the dog beach, Gee Gee's for pizza and skeetball and we even hit the movies (Iron Man 2, where we both declared Robert Downey, Jr. to be "hot").

we also tried to go geocaching, but the gps kept getting us lost. along the way of getting lost, we saw the cutest young man (Orion) on a skateboard, wearing a fedora, being pulled by a pit bull (kai). of course we had to pull over and take his picture. (see very last photo)

while she was here, i discovered a nest that has 6 baby wrens in it. that's a lot of babies! and then also when we were walking the dog beach, on our way back to the car, i found a nest that had 4 eggs in it. inside the nest is a beautiful blue feather (see 2nd to the last photo). the momma bird was a tiny beautiful little yellow/green bird. when i got home i got out my NJ birding book and found out that the bird saw was a yellow warbler. cool!
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ocean grove flea market
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out and about locally
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we noticed this guy right before kim was leaving. he was chirping up a storm. when i moved in close to take his pic, he hopped inside the bird house for safety!
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6 little wren babies in a house just outside my back deck
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yellow warbler nest
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Tj, Orion and Kai

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i think tuck is almost there (knock on wood for me please). we had a pretty good day today, with very little coughing. i'm hoping this is a good sign.

quiet

tuck has been quite sick. it's been 12 days now. 12 days of coughing, sneezing, suctioning, stress, fear, angst, heat, exhaustion. it's just an upper respiratory thing brought on by seasonal allergies that has gotten out of control. the air quality index around here as been alarming high and he just can not tolerate whatever it is that is outside right now. i use to joke that he was on lock down; but seriously that kid is not going outside until the weather improves. he has no fever, but an uncontrollable cough. try coughing 12 days straight in a row with very little relief. try listening to it as a parent and not be able to stop it. he cannot take any sort of codeine to quell the cough. finally yesterday, as a last result, i opted to put him on steroids since the cough is more inflammatory. today, so far, we have very little coughing. on the downside, the steroids will affect him and give him that "roid rage" as i like to call it. with tuck it will manifest itself through his body tone, which will get tight and rigid.
my friend, kim, is here visiting so i am dividing my time between showing her around, going to flea markets, etc. all at the same time as trying to maintain control of the fearful feelings i have when he is sick. it's very hard to put on a brave face and she was sweet and asked my to stop trying to be so brave. i appreciate that.
today we are going to do some art and we all know how therapeutic that is.