Chasing Bluebirds

Springtime

We took a trip to Utah over spring break, I hope to have a full post on that trip with lots of photos. One of my favorites was this one:

we were beat but happy, can you tell? Utah is just so gorgeous and the springtime is a great time to visit because it's not too hot. I did one quickie painting and really enjoyed all the orange and blue combos with sky and rock. It is also the end of our camp fire year, end of the school year with lots of camp fire events going on:
not just cleaning up the wetlands, we are PLANTING now!!

my favorite wetlands event yet. we also had the camp fire grand council fire event that celebrates all the kids who make their "wo he lo" the highest honor in camp fire. 11 this year! wow!

Spring camp out was a hit too, this is a time for families to camp out together at camp shiwaka... not just with their group and leader



i'm pretty nuts for instagram these days!
an art installation at the wetlands
and i started doing cross fit, ouch but so much fun! i am really enjoying the new friends i have made and how much better i feel. more to come on our utah trip! happy springtime everyone!

mish mash

i am still struggling to get decent interesting posts up regularly here... i find i take the coolest photos on my phone and then i post the most god awful crappy ones here on the blog. here goes with a few favorites from a recent phone download...

lots of cloud photos to inspire me to get back to painting


new car love
kitty love
milestones
embracing tweendom
miss maggie
getting the backyard in shape for some major plant redo and finding a way to paint again in my own personal outside studio
black bamboo... best choice ever
fathers and daughters... love! gotta get to school, working on our garden club...it's coming along s l o w l y... cheers!

christmas 2010

just a few snapshots of christmas... we had a nice quiet one, chilly weather and only a visit to my parents house on the schedule... today is chris' 39th birthday and we are all feeling a bit lazy. maybe a trip to see harry potter is in order? dinner out? we'll see.
merry merry!

"secret" beach

so i learned a valuable lesson last week, when after several months of communication with a blogger i loved, i found out the hard way that you just can't predict how people will react. when someone has a blog that has picture after picture and post after post about the beach, their flickr pages littered with wonderful trips to the beach... you would think if you inquired where the beach they loved might be that they would just tell you... well you would be wrong. instead you would get a response about how what makes a beach attractive is unique to an individual (?????) and that this very special beach is their very special secret so you better "google" up a beach for yourself. ok, i live on the west coast, this person lives on the east coast. i am not hopping on a plane anytime soon and taking over their special beach... so i decided to go to a beach near me today and just relax a little.

 

 

wouldn't you know there are colored rocks here on the west coast too? amazing! emily loved the beach glass

the girls had fun making a color wheel with their rocks and since there is a "no collecting" rule here, we left our design for the tides to take back out
lots of people made nice comments about our rock collection and design, it was a fun winter day here after the rain, laguna canyon was green, skies were blue and the air surprisingly warm


and one more shot of a super cool pad with a super cool view
if anyone is curious, i was at LAGUNA BEACH today, probably the most gorgeous beach in southern california and public, so please enjoy. :)

whirlwind

my blog has definitely taken a back seat to this rummage sale (and facebook) but i am still here!! we are doing our guerilla art along the street trying to spread the word, i feel a mad dash feeling with one week left to the sale, hope i can pull this off! lizzies graduation was today, from pre kindergarten (preschool really) which made me tearful. emily went here first, this summer will be the last for liz, she is starting public school in the fall (can't say i will miss the tuition! but this was a very special place for both girls. if you are local i can let you know more about it!) congrats liz! boy was she excited! but the day wasn't over, we still had her dance recital to go to: at her preschool there is a dance school that teaches once a week. emily did this as well and it was such a great idea. you dont have to take your kid anywhere, they come to the school each week and teach. to me, it was the best kind of multi tasking! they run a swim school during the summer which incorporates the same idea, the kids are pulled from class each day for swimming lessons. this kind of thing isnt cheap, but there is zero hassle and i love the variety the girls get with different kinds of lessons. swim lessons are a must to me. i forgot to mention the frantic friendship bracelet making we are up to, we will be selling these at the rummage sale and offering "lessons" and i have to admit this was HARD to learn. as crafty as people may think i am, if i cant learn something fast i usually lose interest. the problem is i COMMITTED to this project BEFORE i learned so i was stuck. this was actually a good thing because i am forcing myself to learn and i am finally getting the hang of it! i found a few books on it (one was in my daughters bookshelf, she remembered getting some kind of kit once) and this post was the original inspiration. here is another link too. i will leave you with this lovely chalk drawing: chalk art on the sidewalk is working really well for us right now. its cheap, easy and the girls can really spread out. not as much bickering. we had a pretty rough day yesterday (an overscheduled day at the end of a busy week with a to-do list a mile long is not something i recommend) at one point i had a major meltdown but somehow we made it through and so far today is much better.

back to work

wow, what a fun week we had! i highly recommend a road trip between colorado and california if you live in either state. the one thing that was really amazing this trip was the girls, they hardly fought at all. i think we hit some kind of plateau with lizzie, she was sweet and caring and able to entertain herself for hours. i packed pads of paper and a variety of drawing tools along with some old workbooks that needed to be finished off. they filled up everything and asked for more and more. 

     two days before we were to leave, chris had put some portable dvd players in the truck (a super find at the thrift store my dad works at) and our truck was broken into (both back windows smashed) and the dvd player stolen. such a bummer! we had to buy a really cheapo player and i have to say, that was a really good thing. the girls watched movies and it helped entertain chris and i as well (just listening to movies). i dont think we will be watching movies any time soon, but for a 16 hour drive, you cant beat it. i think the girls are ready for more travel and you know i am already planning the next trip! we loved arches national park (the spring weather was pleasant) and i think zion and bryce would be a good choice next time, maybe lake powell as well. i have to say utah was a real surprise! just gorgeous with lots of colors, greens and pinks, reds and yellows. i had a blast sending pictures in real time on facebook to chris' family as we drove, love the camera on iphone. it makes some interesting effects with brightness and contrast. so here are a few more pictures and i may bore you with more as well. as i always say, i am hoping to get some of these images onto canvas!! clouds clouds clouds!

the grizzly rest stop in colorado, lovely! sunsets were spectacular and lasted for hours

stormy

happy for rain, this is the best time here in southern california, clear air, bright skies, less traffic, fresh and clean, feeling very thankful today

taken with chris' new phone...i am so tempted to get one of these but the price, yikes!!! i dont have email access at work though, it would be so convenient...

favorite photos

trying to keep up with the 365:2009

so you want an avocado tree on your patio?? magnolia love rainbows on the way to work... thank god its friday!

halloween birthday in january

since my birthday is on halloween, this seems pretty normal to me

of course the last one is my favorite, i always like the strange ones. i just love the details rather than the whole picture. happy birthday sean!

yosemite, what took me so long?

we are back from a much needed vacation at yosemite. all i can say is WOW!!! for years i have heard all about yosemite, living in california it is relatively close by. i have good friends who have invited us every august to camp with them and year after year we couldnt coordinate a trip. in january, after returning from colorado, i just reserved a housekeeping cabin at yosemite for august. i had no idea what to expect or what the housekeeping cabins would be like, there are very few pictures of them out there that i could find. this month has been so hectic, i barely had time to pack and left everything for chris (who did an amazing job getting it together, good boy scout that he is). i thought august would be crazy busy but found it wasnt, i guess everyone wants to see the waterfalls (i seriously didnt realize the waterfalls would be dried up in august, thats typical me when it comes to planning!) even without the waterfalls, yosemite is the most beautiful place i have ever seen, it blows away any mountain destination i have visited. 

i had no idea how the layout of yosemite valley was, that it is actually a valley with cliffs all around. it is organized in the most fantastic way, you can park your car for the entire week and use the free bus shuttle to see every site. bike trails are abundant and well connected. its the perfect place for families because you can move around so easily. 

there are meadows and rock cliffs, wild flowers and super tall pine trees, oaks and aspen trees. even in summer it was bright green and lush, hot as hell with a cool river to splash in (we took lots of afternoon dips) the staff at the park keeps it clean, the buses come and go like clockwork, there are shops and casual places to eat (ice-cream!) and at the housekeeping cabins we had showers (they even give you a clean towel to use!) and a laundromat (loved this since we ran out of socks quickly). there is just too much to post all in one go so i will do this yosemite trip in several parts... these are just a few of the many views around the valley.