The 70s Were a Crazy Time...

Man...the 70s were just a crazy time...how did we survive... Platform shoes...pet rocks...real wood-like paneling...Crazy man, just crazy...

Hee-hee! Naw, this is just one of my favorite Halloween pics EVER. Doesn't everyone have a picture just like this?

Back to work, you! You've only a few days left to complete your Halloween costumes!!

Sister's Fall Visit!

My sweet sister came to visit over the weekend! We had such fun, tho we didn't do a whole lot of note.

We did go to Rite Aid tho.

And we did paw through the items in our Halloween costume bin.









We went to Miracle Hot Springs about two hours southeast of Boise. It was awesome!

Plus...GATORS!!! I've seen tons of gators in Florida and Louisiana, but we think sister had never seen a gator outside of a zoo. They weren't very social on Saturday.
And we had a lot of creative time. Sister just whipped up this awesome candy corn scarf for me! She's so talented.

She was happy with her fall visit...not too busy, not too cold, not too hot.

Just right. :)

Auntie Poo is Here! Auntie Poo is Here!!

I love Auntie Poo! Auntie Poo is my favorite!! We have our own secret handshake!!

Rub my belly rub my belly rub my belly!!

It's kissing time, Auntie Poo! Kissssinnnng tiiiiiime!!!

(In unison) Ptooie!!

A Long Weekend in Sunriver

Speaking of busy families, the three of us were off to Sunriver for a long weekend!

Us hiking in front of Mount Bachelor. I got back to the truck and my hair looked great. I have no idea what happened in this photo.

Messy, messy, messy!
We stayed here. Central Oregon is just lovely.

My sweet husband on the mighty Deschutes!
A glorious day at Sparks Lake.

Miss G (and her shadow!) by the sparkly water. She enjoyed our adventure.

Another unusual family photo. :)

Saturday Morning Soccer

While in PDX, I was able to attend one of Taline's soccer games...and see how the other half live...

The Blue Bells were able to defend against the Pixies....not the Pansies...which is what I initially heard.

I didn't catch the ball in motion, but I did catch the girl in action!

I think I'm not "around" enough for Tiny Tim to quite trust me yet.

I am a little shady, I'll admit.

You know I loves me some pictures of brothers. :)

This is one busy family, and I got them all in one frame. OK, none of them is going to want this one framed.

But I love it.

An Impromptu Visit to Portland!

Unfortunately, my Tiny Momma came down with a terrible case of pneumonia...DOUBLE pneumonia. Luckily, with a lot of high-powered antibiotics and a lot of poster coloring, she's come through on the other side and is safely at home, continuing to recover!

Hospitals are weird.
Black velvet posters will help anyone feel better. Even if you have only 8 colors to work with.

A good Snuggie ad featuring a wiener dog in the monk get-up helps too.
We also did a modeling clay kit. Creative endeavors are very therapeutic.

These are the flowers I got Momma, and the pumpkin-butt Pooh sister got her. And the purple heart necklace I made her. And the Hello Kitty bandage I snagged from Stacey and then neglected to ask her about.

Stace...can I take one of these pink Hello Kitty bandages to my mom?

Thanks.

Clearly, it helped. :)

Undergarments in the Window

A friend of mine works for Komen, and asked me to participate as one of 50 artists who decorated bras that are on display around downtown as part of breast cancer awareness month.

While it looks black in the picture, it's actaully brown faux suede. The decor is done in Swarovski crystals.

My piece is called "Nice Rack."
Alternate title: "Deer in the Headlights."

We had been talking hunting a lot during its creation. :)
I felt fortunate to be assigned such a high-profile window -- Macy's downtown!

They will be auctioned off next week at the Komen "Pink Party" to raise money for Komen, of course.

A friend at work thought the placement of my "artist's statement" was an added touch." ;)
Here's the "before." An undergarment company donated them so everyone started from the same base. The silly transparent straps were not helpful.

During the early design stages it had a bit of a "long-horn" look that I liked too.
And when we were downtown at first Thursday perusing the "bra competition," who did we spy but our next door neighbor, wee baby Helen, out doing the bra walk!

Helen was born about a month after we bought our house. She's not really a baby anymore, but we will likely always refer to her as That Baby Helen. She is simultaneously a great source of amusement, and also our arch-nemesis. She represents the whole of her household in our conversations. As in, "Oooh That Baby Helen, she remembers to put her garbage out first each week..." Or "Did you know that That Baby Helen is off to Moab this weekend?" Or "That Baby Helen's yardwork puts us to shame...."

I hope that That Baby Helen voted for my bra.

A Little Slice of Heaven

Well, it's been nearly a month since our marriage contract negotiations. They went pretty smoothly. There weren't any breakdowns, and no picketing.

My husband's company happened to be celebrating their 8th anniversary on the evening of our 9th anniversary, so we celebrated out with them. It was anniversaries all around!

We both re-upped! Yay!! Another year of wedded bliss.
In honor of our achievement, my husband received a bottle of port from the year of our nuptials.

My husband wooed me with a new ring! A custom-designed ring. A customed-designed ring made from a river rock. A river rock he pulled from the Nehalem River, out in front of my parents' house. A river rock he tumbled in his rock tumbler for a month until it was smooth enough to be set in jewelry.
Here's a sketch done by the jeweler, of my husband's vision.

Here's the the test model, cast in green wax, with two Montana river sapphires on the side.

Here's the final piece, set in white gold! Pay you no nevermind to my sausage fingers...I've been in grad school for three years.

I'm simply smitten with it...the top view, and also the design of the ring proper. A little square, and a little wavy. Sigh...it's dreamy...

In addition to the porto, my husband also received this awesome chicken. I don't know...feather encrusted chicken....river-rock and sapphire-encrusted custom-designed jewelry...seems as good a match as us... :) Thanks honey. xx

Jason... Mraz... is.... so... Awesome...

Jason opened for DMB in Vegas back in May, but he just didn't play long enough for any of us.

Luckily, he came to Idaho to visit! The show was grrrrrreat. And outdoors, to boot.

I would be such a better person if I could go to a Jason Mraz concert every night... or at least every week.

Live righteously. :)

Out with the Hated Tile, in with the Stock Hardwood!

I'm back, dear readers. Fell off the face of the earth again. Work. School. You know the drill. I'll try to get caught up...

While I was over on the coast preserving the wily tuna, my sweet husband worked his heiney off busting up the hated tile in the living room, and sanding the floor. It took ALL weekend.

And it looks sooooo prettttty. :)