Something About Pink

It's after Christmas, so I can now post the pictures of Robyn's painting that I gave to her as a present. I am super proud of this painting, because I really wanted Robyn to love it as much I did when I finished!

Here's how I did it:



A pink base was needed, of course, and then the white bird. I topped her body with black paint as she is a robin bird and needs a colored top.

And then it was time to add the flower petals...

...with more details...

You can't have a flower without leaves...

...or the stamen...

I wanted to add more definition to the petals and the leaves, so I individually outlined them in black.

Then I wanted to give the petals one last...detail...to make them more 3-dimensional and some more pink to the background.

Some more pink design in the background and the white of the eye was added...

...and then got the eye finished up...as well as the final breast and wing/feather detail.

Again, I love how this painting ended up...and I'm happy that its now hanging above her bed at home. :-)

Jeff Dunham's Controlled Chaos

I bought tickets to see Jeff Dunham, my favorite ventriloquist. I was excited and not excited all at the same time. It was at the end of the Christmas season and work had been exhausting so I just wasn't really in the mood. But I went.

The arena was PACKED. Luckily I got tickets in the front center section. So, slowly, I made my way to our area.


Here is the stage from the seats. Not bad, right?

Here was the entire stage, so you can get the idea.

And then the show began! (Disclaimer: I don't own any form of Jeff Dunham's Controlled Chaos show or any of the dummies. I'm just a fan who was happy to be there.)

Jeff starts with his own stand up before bringing out the 'stars' of the show.

First up: Walter. I love Walter just because he is crotchety. I believe I will be this guy, just in female form, when I'm older. ;-)

Bubba J was next.

And of course, Achmed, the dead terrorist. :-)

Next, was my favorite, Peanut!! He is wild, zany, crazy...aka, me!

And the show can't be complete without Jose Jalapeno on a Stick!

We laughed a lot and had a great time. My abs and ribs were sore from the hysteria and while I had seen the Controlled Chaos show on TV, live was the way to go!

Bailey's Graduation

When we chose Bailey to be our puppy, we knew were were going to have to get her trained. There was going to be no way to do it ourselves with our schedules. The Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons were right around the corner and with work and shows, it was going to be nearly impossible if we didn't employ help.

So, we signed her up at PetsMart for their Puppy Class. This is specifically designed for puppies under 5 months old. Her trainer, Katrina, was great and over the next 6 weeks I took her in for weekly training sessions with Bailey's best friend (whom she met in class), Isabella.

I'm happy to say, Bailey passed with flying colors and even managed to win the coveted puppy push up competition! She's was super happy and loved wearing her graduation cap!




See...she's even smiling!

I was very proud of our little girl and we hope to sign her up for the intermediate class in late February! Go Bailey!!

Champagne For All

As a Christmas and New Year treat, we bought seven bottles of champagne, cava, prosecco and sparkling wine to bring and end to 2011.

Below are 6 of the bottles that we bought, from the ok stuff to the good stuff, we covered it all. Please note: the pictures are in no particular order. You decide what you think the creme de la creme is...

Can't wait to try them all!! PS...Robyn will be joining in the drinking too...so I'm not a lush, just FYI.

Sea Birds Paintings

Over the last few years, I've really gotten into painting. I'm a fan of acrylics and I've done about 20-25 for work and home. I love it.

This year for my Grandma's Christmas present...my mom suggested to me to paint her something. After thinking about it...I decided to paint some sea birds for her home in New Jersey.

Here are some basic shots of my process of the paintings.

I started with two bases for the two paintings: bluish-brown for the bottom painting and brownish-grey for the top. Then I added the birds base in white, so I could paint its coloring on top.

This painting was having the bird along the water line, so I needed to add the sea and some of the foam from the breaking tide. This took some time...and this was the final product.

For the grey bird, I wanted to add its shadow along with some dried seaweed pieces. I love this guys face...and his crime-fighter mask around his eyes.

The brown bird really took some time and major progress. He started off a little darker and I didn't like it, so I lightened him up with some white, but kept him with a darker belly.

Here's are the final products!

I placed them in a white shadow box and mailed them off to my grandma. I'm pretty sure she'll like them, but here's hoping!!

Happy Birthday to Me

For an early birthday present, my best friend Andy (come on, you've read this blog, you know him) took me to a Christmas concert. But it wasn't just any concert, it was the 96.5 TIC All-Star Christmas Concert featuring...

Christina Perri...who sang everything from Jar of Hearts, A Thousand Years, Arms and even Happy Xmas (War Is Over). She was wonderful. A great way to open the concert with true singing and a nice bubbly personality.




Gavin Degraw...who did some new and older hits, like Chariot and Not Over You. He started out pumped and never stopped. I liked that his 'mini-concert' just rolled from one song into the next with no stopping. It helped to really start to pick up the night. He even got on the piano!




The Fray...who like Gavin, really pumped up the crowd. They did all of their great songs like How To Save A Life and their new hit Heartbeat. Issac, the lead singer, even got off the stage and strolled through the entire crowd, really getting them off their feet.




and...KELLY CLARKSON. The headliner for the evening, she brought the whole evening home. Her music was really loud (I mean, beyond loud) and it made me happy that I knew the words to her songs because I couldn't always understand her. Other than that, the energy was great and honestly, I felt her best song was "I'll Be Home For Christmas".




This was one of the best Christmas gifts I have had in a while. Thank you Andy, for taking me to see some of my very favorite artists. :-)