HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I feel a little lame this year because I'm totally not prepared. I didn't put out any decorations and I'm not even dressing up to hand out candy. Bummer, I know.
Usually we go all out. We decorate, we have spooky music, red lights, fog machines. We do the Flaming Lips March of a 1000 skeletons, we dress up, I do candy treat bags. This year, not so much. Yes, I'm handing out candy but not in cute little treat bags, and I'm not dressing up.... I just haven't been able to muster up the Halloween Spirit.
Oh well ~ there is always next year. At least we are having Halloween. My family in Connecticut is not. Their Halloween has been cancelled due to snow and power outages.
So - I hope you all enjoy your evening and have a safe, fun holiday. I'll be enjoying all the little ghouls who come this way!

Back from Connecticut

So, just back from A Wicked Tea in Texas and Doug and I headed off to Connecticut. We had alot to squeeze in on this trip - It was Joao's first birthday which we celebrated by going to The Rainforest Cafe.

Both of my nephews just loved it. It was so cute to see their reactions when the lightening and thunderstorms would come and the monkeys in the trees would start shaking - the boys would get all wide eyed. So cute! And how cute is it that they love each other so much?

Jess & Joao:

Doug had read in one of his Golf magazines that the Yale Golf Course was rated the number one collegiate course. We took a drive and went to see what the fuss was all about. The people we met at the golf course were so friendly and accommodating. They let us take a cart and drive around to see just how beautiful this place really is. Here is a picture of Doug standing at a hole that has a two story drop. Some friendly golfers invited him to tee off just to experience it but he declined. Maybe next time. ;)

Last Friday, Doug and I took the train into NYC. We ate pizza at the famous Lombardi's then went on to shop at our usual places: Kate's Paperie, Tinsel Trading, Fred Perry, Kid Robot, Supreme Skateboard Shop, Ben Sherman, and the various bead and trim shops around 38th street. I wanted to go to Mood (the fabric shop shown on Project Runway) but we were too tired and simply ran out of time.
Here I'm looking at ribbon at Kate's Paperie. I didn't end up buying any ribbon there just a few sheets of gorgeous paper.

We zipped around the city on the Subway - here's Doug waiting to board at the Prince Street stop.

Some people are scared of the subway but I love it. To me, it is so much a part of the NYC experience. If it is not freezing out I would rather take the subway than a cab. Cabs are so expensive - the second that meter is turned on and starts ticking it makes me anxious. I think of all the money I'm wasting and could be spending on something fun! Plus, they are so dirty - I know the subway can be dirty too but for some reason I feel that cabs are worse.
We went down to the area around Ground Zero but we couldn't get to the area where the memorial is. It was frightening to think of all that chaos there ten years ago, but amazing to see all the regrowth.

Saturday night, my cousin Nicole got married. It was a huge, beautiful affair and it was nice to see some of my family I haven't seen in years.

Bobby (my brother) & Jess; Ray & January (my sister):

Me & Jess:

Me and my sweet Gram. Today is her birthday. Happy Birthday Gram!!

My cousin Tammy, Me and Gram:

Me with my honey:

So, in addition to all that we also squeezed in Pizza at Pepe's, Pastries at Libby's, Pizza at Modern, lots of Dunkin Donuts, eating at Educated Burgher on the Yale Campus, driving around to see the beautiful foliage (which we were lucky was in full color while we were home!) and just hanging out and catching up. Another whirlwind trip.

A Wicked Tea!

I made my way to Roanoke, Texas this weekend to attend A Wicked Tea at Ann-Denise Anderson's new studio: P'Arty Place. It is located in the back of an awesome creative "mall" called The Plaid Peacock.

I was so excited that I arrived an hour early for the festivities and went next door to this adorable Book Store and Coffee Shop.

Look how cute - I could have spent hours here if I didn't have an art event to attend!

Ann-Denise created such a fun and whimsical setting and there were delicious treats everywhere you looked!





View from my seat - don't you just love our clock face place mats and our customized cauldrons? The adorable tag was made by my friend Cami.

Sandra Feazel taught this fun stuffed pillow. We took a simple white bag and painted it, stamped it, glittered it and mod podged it to create a custom paper to attach to our pillow form. The ones shown are of my classmates. I need to finish embellishing mine.

Our class kits were in these hand painted buckets.

Lisa McIlvain taught this spooky Raven Assemblage.

I've always wanted to work with wax and had so much fun doing so. I've already asked Doug to buy me a heat gun for Christmas. :)
Our final class of the day was a cotton spun doll taught by Ann-Denise. This is the incredibly detailed doll that Ann-Denise made - her crepe paper outfit is adorable!

I was able to create my doll out of the spun cotton but didn't get a chance to finish dressing her because I ran out of time. Honestly, by the end of the day I was exhausted! As soon as she is complete, I will post a picture.

Ready for a Wicked Tea!

So I made it to Texas and am waiting to go in to A Wicked Tea! I know it's going to be so much fun and I will try to take a bunch of pictures to share.
This is my first attempt at blogging from my iPad so hopefully this will work!
Have a great weekend!

We're Going To See Dolly!

Tomorrow is our two year anniversary and Doug surprised me with tickets to see Dolly Parton at the BOK! I've always wanted to see her but when I saw the tickets were going on sale and the date of her performance was going to be October 8th, I thought I would catch her the next time. Doug is not a fan of country music but he pulled a few strings and got us awesome tickets! Thank you baby!
Can't wait!

Been Busy

Sorry for the lack of posts but things have been c.r.a.z.y. around here. Here is a synopsis of all the activity:
Moved my office to a new location
Had my home office painted a new color
Had our garage doors painted (they look great!)
Went to the Tulsa State Fair (my first time ever and Doug won me a goldfish!)
Cleaned my master closet (actually, I pulled everything out and am slowly putting some back in!)
Went to The Indie Emporium Craft fair
Went to Brushy Creek Craft Fair
Took a trip to OKC for a hearing and pizza at the Wedge.
Gave the dogs a bath
Took my little sister to the Ballet (The Merry Widow)
Planted pansies around the front tree
Participated in a Halloween Mini Book Swap (waiting for my books to arrive!)

Feels like I haven't sat still in a while. But I've got some crafting to do this weekend! I'm going to do a Military Themed Fabric Collage like the one I did in KC Willis' class. The Oklahoma Bar Association is having its annual meeting and art show and I want to submit a fabric collage of my cousin who was in the Marines. Also, I am participating in a fall themed tag swap so I need to get those finished.

In addition, the next few weeks are going to be busy, busy, busy as I am headed to Texas for A Wicked Tea, then to Connecticut to see my family and a side trip to NYC. Finally, back to Nebraska for Rachel's wedding so I'll have lots to blog about. :)