Chasing Bluebirds

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.

candy sales have arrived

since my new years resolution is to be more flakey, less ocd, it is fitting i am just now (two weeks into the sale) selling candy with emily. we are going to go gang busters the second half of the selling month so beware, you will see us hounding the neighbors soon. here is our first store sale, in the wind and rain, didnt last long but still managed to sell a bunch.

cute babies and preschoolers are always good for selling candy, ha ha!

working on some future gifts and trying to "capture" the girls in a picture together. harder than it looks, someone is always clowning around, lots of goofiness, lots of grumpiness, pushing and shoving, whining, crying. who are these kids i wonder?

poor emily has had the on again, off again rash around her mouth for like months now. poor kid, she just cant seem to get rid of it.

typical liz shot, perfect! ugh!

finally i give you the first pair of pants i have ever made. i tried to make them a tad bigger (the pattern was 3t) and here are the list of goofs i made: didnt make the legs wide enough when enlarging the pattern so they taper in too much at the ankle, one leg is wider than the other ( how the heck did i do that?), had to chop the top off, the crotch was way to low, overall these are too short (thank goodness they are just pajama bottoms).... lets see, what else? oh, sewed the inseams up incorrectly (sorta made a skirt at first) having to start over again.... there is seriously 4 steps to making these and i goofed on all 4! i am a totally "jump in feet first" kind of person and in sewing i guess thats just my style. i have it all figured out now, so you might be seeing more pajama bottoms soon. unless i jump into something else (i would bank on something else).

emily's "new" camera

part of our christmas tradition was to give some recycled gifts... this tradition was started by my grandmother and continued with my parents....you know the story. anyways, emily was given my mother's older digital camera and she brought it with us to colorado. it was one of those things that needed a ton of batteries and then no one could find the cord to download the pictures (oh and it took forever to find the right photo card to use with it). poor thing kept hearing excuses for every little glitch that came up, i started wondering if it was worth all the trouble. somehow she needled all the right stuff to get up and running and she popped up everywhere snapping photos.

what a surprise it was to finally see what she had taken. she admitted getting help here in there, but for the most part these were all taken by her. we watched the photos downloading and she screamed out as each one came up, telling us where she took it and what she was aiming for. i was so taken aback and wowed by her great technique and style. here are a few and i will post more on flickr:

here you go, and remember this is a pretty old camera and emily is just 7 years old. i am so proud of her!

Laguna Love

Decided my hacking cough needed some fresh air, did wonders! Laguna Beach is the most fabulous place i know, if i had millions, a house here would be in order. There are miles of rocky coves with quirky houses of all shapes and sizes clinging to the cliffs, tangled stairs leading to hidden beaches where you are sure to find a cave or two. Somehow the umbrella was left at home so three hours of sun was our max, an ice-cream for the ride home and we called it a day.

flickr favorites... recovering from a graveyard shift

Whitstable: Cottages (County of Kent UK), originally uploaded by steffanmacmillan.

Whitstable: cottages (county of kent, uk)

when i have to work a graveyard shift, i am such a zombie the next day... finding solace in some cool flickr photos... doesn't take much effort to look through all these lovely images. :)