I'm Moving!!

No, not picking up and moving residence again (I shudder at the thought!!) My blog is moving--or some of my posts at least. I've been invited by a very good friend to co-author on her blog, Melissa's Musings (now Melissa's and Dawn's Musings!) We'll be doing book and product reviews--I'm so excited! And I'm sure I'll prattle on nonsensically from time to time as well--would you expect anything less?? So be sure to swing on by--just click the link above and follow along on our new blogging adventures!

xoxo 

Painted Rocks!

We have another snow day today--a good foot of snow fell last night, leaving school and activities cancelled. Bug is grounded from the computer, so he's been trying to get out of the house to go play on a friend's computer and I had lost all my Harry Potters in an ugly fried DVR incident (not naming names, Bill *cough*sputter*flicking eyes in the hubster's generally guilty direction*cough*) So I needed to come up with some sort of 'busy' activity to distract me from wanting, well, brownies. Not that we have any brownies in the house or anything at all resembling brownies, or even potential brownies (did I mention that I'm 17lbs down?? Yeah--go Skinny Rules!!) It's the wanting that drives me crazy. Not far of a drive...BUT! I digress...

I've had these awesome rocks that we found while playing at Horseneck Beach last summer, and, inspired by fellow artist, Denthe, who paints beautiful rocks and lots of other beautiful pretties, I thought I'd try my hand at painting up some myself! I had emailed Denise (Denthe) earlier to scope out her favorite paints and toys for painting the rocks, but as she's currently living in Australia, she uses paints I'd never even heard of, so I simply used the Americana and Delta acrylics I've had hoarded up for years. My friend, Dawn, (such a great name--I swear she's like my twin sister I never had--both beach addicts, snow addicts, rock addicts--she's me living in RI) asked for a tutorial, which there's not much to tutor about, but it made for an excuse to blog, and here I am!

The Rocks:

Okay, not a rock--just Loki being a ham...

Rocks!

First things first: you need to find rocks. Rocks are at the beach. You must take me with you because I always need to be at the beach. Give all your rocks a nice coat of gesso. One coat'll do. Gesso is a simple surface prep that helps your paints be more vibrant and also need less coats. Then, pick your paint colors--something bright and happy, preferably opaque (again, less coats, less work, more happy) Paint a nice base coat, let dry.

I've been lettering happy for the past year or so and I have words planned for each of these rocks above. Once my basecoat was dry, I used a white colored pencil to sketch my word Joy, then with a little thinned paint and a teensy brush to go over the letters, added some dots and swirls. Let dry, then added a little pink, a little rose (simply a circle with a swirl and a leaf attached) and shazah! JOY!

 

The top two rocks I'd painted some time last year, just playing with colors....

And, since I'm on here, I figured I'd post a few other things I've managed to get done lately:

 

A little painting of Sconticut Neck in Fairhaven

And these are a few pages I've done in Joanne Sharpe's Draw Your Awesome Year course:

 

My mantra page: Dream, Create, Love, Believe, and the Table of Contents--can't wait to fill all this stuff in!! Joanne's courses are so much fun--love her!!

 

I'm hoping to paint in the courage quote page after I get off of here (the kiddo just managed to escape and go play at his buddy's house for the rest of the afternoon...peace at last!)


And these are a few shots of Water St downtown, looking out to the harbor, and a few of the shops that I want to paint...next?...Though I might play with another painting first...?? We'll see.

 

So there you have it, happy pretty painted rocks and other silliness! Hope everybody's bundled up cozy and warm wherever you are! Time for cocoa and some Shahs of Sunset!

xoxo

Zendala Dare 79

It has been forever and a day since I've done a zendala dare, but I saw this week's template and thought I'd give it a go:

I've started to color it in so may post that picture later on when it's finished...I've also been busy getting in gear for Christmas, addressing envies and wrapping everything I've bought so far--it's all coming right along! I could use a little snow to really get the spirit flowing--haha!

Today we have bowling bright 'n early for Bug, then we're off to go rowing shopping for some warmer clothes and a life vest--I'm completely hooked! Going rowing tomorrow morning and then Wednesday again--life is good!

Scattered Life Collective

Ah! I was so happy to pop over to Cindy's Spirit Uncaged blog to find a new Scattered Life Collective this morning! So...I shall share mine:

 

current time: 5:17 am (did you remember to change your clocks?)

on the menu: Dinner plans are Stove Top Stuffing and Chicken Bake...the rest of the day is feeling like a 'Fend for Yourself Where You Can'...There is entirely too much Halloween candy haunting me yet...ugh!!

out the window: Early morning darkness, wind scuffling leaves in the driveway (oh! And my new car! LOVE!!)

A 2006 Silver Moss Honda CR-V (does anybody know what CR-V stands for? It's making me crazy...But isn't she purty??)

reading: Finally!! I finished Winter of the World by Ken Follett (I give it four stars...Liked it better than the first in this trilogy, Fall of Giants) I love Holocaust novels and this came at WWII from a different perspective, let you watch as the tensions and terror built...Definitely looking forward to book three.

So--at long last, I'd been dying to begin And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini--aahh! I love, love, love his books! A quick review from Amazon:
"Khaled Hosseini’s And the Mountains Echoed begins simply enough, with a father recounting a folktale to his two young children. The tale is about a young boy who is taken by a div (a sort of ogre), and how that fate might not be as terrible as it first seems—a brilliant device that firmly sets the tone for the rest of this sweeping, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting novel. A day after he tells the tale of the div, the father gives away his own daughter to a wealthy man in Kabul. What follows is a series of stories within the story, told through multiple viewpoints, spanning more than half a century, and shifting across continents. The novel moves through war, separation, birth, death, deceit, and love, illustrating again and again how people’s actions, even the seemingly selfless ones, are shrouded in ambiguity. This is a masterwork by a master storyteller. —Chris Schluep"

I also downloaded Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven for free on my Kindle. Bug 'n I have read this before at Halloween but I had to leave my paperback version of Poe's Complete Collection behind when we moved from PA (*gasp!* so devastating to let go of so many beautiful books...) But it's nice to have this favorite poem for spooky reading once again..."Quoth the raven, 'Nevermore'...."

listening:  Haha--I have my Christmas CD's going already...I love Charlie Brown!



watching: One of my guilty pleasures is ANTM...seriously the show doesn't have much in the way of intelligence to offer but it's a fun watch and this season it's guys vs the girls...and I wouldn't be surprised if a guy walks away with the title this round!



good things: 

• ROWING!!! I am love, love, loving rowing! I went out for my second open row yesterday morning--I can't get enough! First, the wharf was beautiful in the overcast grey of the morning:
  
  
  
  

Then, while waiting for the row, I got to watch as one of the huge fishing boats was lifted by this giant crane for winter dry dock:

So cool--and really loud!

And and and!!! We saw seals this week!!!! Three fat swimmy lovelies!! They poke their chubby cheeks up out of the water and eye spy you, then quickly duck away--but one did a bit of a full belly float for us...aahhh! These guys are HUGE!! I won't bring my phone out on the boat (I've already lost one phone to the water up here) but I snagged a couple pics online to show how cute these babies are:

Adorable, yes???? Omigosh--I'm so in love!!

• Family Bowling Night! We decided to begin a monthly Family Bowling Night--first Saturday of the month, to just go play, be goofy, and have some fun--success! Bill's sister, Cindy, won the first game and Bug, of course, won the second, then off we went to Café Roma for dinner--starved!! Hoping Ash and Kyle can join us next month--the more whackos, the merrier!
• Wooly Bear Caterpillars EVERYWHERE!! Too cute!
• Making excellent progress with Christmas shopping, planning, wrapping...Got my little weekly planner all filled in and checking off! Have you started?

icky things and their silver linings:

• I really don't have any icky things to share this week...aside from too much Halloween candy still haunting me--silver lining: Christmas is coming??

Around and About

• Ann Voskamp's Thanksgiving Tree We had a crazy wind storm the other day that blew down a ton of perfect little branches (and almost our entire back fence--I had to bungee cord the posts to the neighbor's fence behind it to hold it up-yikes!) and I found just the right vase at Michael's for $3! I'll post some pics later as the tree fills up with thanks...

That's it this week...The sun is starting to lighten the sky, though it's gonna be a chilly forty-five degrees today. Leaves to rake in the back yard. Football to be watched on TV and chicken and stuffing to roast in the oven. I completely love fall! Have a great week! Thanks for stopping by!

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Diva Challenge #141 and the Weekend's Excursions

It feels like it's been forever since I've done a Diva's Challenge or any tangling at all lately, so I headed over to see what Laura had planned for everyone this week to find a Duo Tangle challenge to combine the lovely Fengle and Quandary-two of my favorites together in one challenge! I had visions of Quandary spilling out of the Fengle wings but couldn't quite get it to come out just right on paper, so ended up using Quandary as a fill...then added zippy little zingers for the Fengle tips--ah, fun!

 

So it's almost Halloween and I let my dear husband talk me into going to a haunted house last night--I hate haunted houses...Scary, ghoulie people dripping in blood and wielding chain saws, hiding behind every shadow and tucked in every corner waiting to jump out at you, scaring, screaming, cackling...No sir, not my cup of tea...But, off we went. Took along a friend of Bug's--who, as luck would have it, was just as scared as I was--we held on to each other with a death grip while Bill and Bug laughed and had a grand old time...fiends...Really, for the most part, it was a lot of fun. I haven't been to a haunted house in at least fifteen to twenty years (good heavens that makes me feel old!!) and we did laugh and jump and scurry our winding way through the dark passages--just 'til we got to the room where the chainsaw massacre guys were and they scared the living daylights out of me and wouldn't let up (I cried...a little...it was awful...) Okay, and the laughing clowns were kinda creepy, too...But, it's Halloween--everyone needs a little creeping, crawling, good old fashioned scaring for Halloween and I'll definitely go again next year.

The coolest thing I'm looking forward to this weekend, though, is tomorrow! I'm heading down to the Buzzard's Bay Rowing Club for a free open row. They row whaling boats every morning and anyone can come out to join them. You get three free open rows before you have decide to join the club (though I'm already like 99.9% there and I've not even rowed yet--haha!) They row out on Buzzard's Bay, year round, participate in rowing races, hang out at the lighthouse, get to see seals playing in the water--seriously, I am so there!! Can't wait to get out on the bay--too super cool!! I love Massachusetts more and more every day!!

Now I really need to scoot and get ready for bowling here--thanks for stopping by! Have a fantastic weekend and a spook-tacular Halloween!!

 

Scattered Life Collective

current time: 6:21

on the menu: coffee, coffee, then a little more coffee

out the window: the neighbor's flashing Halloween lights

reading: you guessed it, still working on Winter of the World but making good progress!

listening:  Overcomer by Mandisa--such an inspiring song! And it gets ya' movin' too...

 

watching: Project Runway Season 12--we're down to the final episode!! I knew Helen wouldn't make it to Fashion Week and I'm really relieved that Alexandria did--she is such an inspiration to all those little Camp Couture peanuts! I'm totally rooting for her--though I believe Dom can completely sweep the win this year. All four finalists are fabulous--no matter who wins, I love them all!

 

good things: 

• Bug's teacher has invited him to join the Math Counts Club at school! He's so smart and I'm super proud!!
• Ooo! I found the most awesome jade plant at Avant Gardens last week (really should have a picture to plug in here...sorry...) They're actually closed for the season and we completely barged in on owner, Kathy, who was absolutely just kind and gracious and let us browse all the greenhouses anyway. Can't wait to go back in the spring--and in the meantime, you can check out her awesome blog: Garden Foreplay
• mums, mums, everywhere
• mellowcreme pumpkins....aaahhh...

icky things and their silver linings:

• mellowcreme pumpkins....only available for a couple more weeks then I can safely return to the grocery stores
• yeah, I've abandoned my 31 Days of restaurant reviews--it just felt lame and stupid...onward to other ventures!

Around and About

• We are off to the Cranberry Harvest Celebration today!
• Tomorrow we head to Boston with the family to spend a day out 'n about with our nephew, Ryan, who leaves for Hong Kong at the end of the month for work. So celebrating and enjoying the day with the ones we love--and oyster shooters!!

Have a great weekend--enjoy this gorgeous fall weather and the beautiful foliage all around! Hope to see you soon!

Day Five: Lukulos Pizza

We were introduced to Lukulos Pizza by our new neighbors whose son was also on Michael's bowling team last year. The late morning league always finished up a little past lunch time, so one day we all decided to grab a bite at Lukulos, a quiet little pizza shop tucked right around the corner from the bowling alley. They run some super cheap lunch deals that are unbeatable, and they also make some pretty amazing Greek style pizza! The crust is thin and chewy, toppings galore--among those being our yummy linguica and chourico (still no banana peppers, though...hmmm...) with over a dozen specialty pizzas to chose from. And they also have quite a list of subs, sandwiches, salads, and dinners to choose from including New Bedford seafood entrees of fish and chips, scallops, shrimp and a Fisherman's platter--mm, mm, delicious! If you're lucky, you might get to try some Portuguese kale soup--they don't have it every day so if you see it on the menu, order some. So good and so good for you!

 

 

Lukulos was truly a pleasant surprise. Super great pizza and amazingly great prices. It's a little family run shop with warm and friendly service. A wonderful place with wonderful food. Can't beat it!