monday morning~

good morning people!

not much to say today but just wanted you all to keep julies mom in your thoughts...she is recovering from surgery that she had a week ago and having a little trouble getting back into the swing of things..julie is currently in the er with her as i write this..hopefully they can find the root of her pain...i know she will recover but keep her in your thoughts and prayers and hopefully she will recover all the more quickly...thanks from my heart....

xox.xox.xox

just breathe~

sitting on our back patio..just relaxing....after a long week......

valley ridge recap~

before we dropped anchor at valley ridge we spent a couple of days with our good friend beth,
she took us to a couple of goods spots and then back to her house for a little arting, laughter

and just a lot of fun and some super secret spots that she loves to photograph!!

thank you beth!
xox

a week ago today, i was sitting in the valley ridge art studio listening to nina bagley

giving instructions on our 3day journey together....
this valley ridge experience was my favorite so far!
everything was perfect, the weather, the food, the teacher, kathy & bill, the cool classmates

and the farm we stayed on!!
all glorious!!

here is kathy modeling my turquoise triple necklace that i made.

her own nina necklace is on the inside

here is a picture of my 2nd necklace that i finished

thank you to all my new and old valley ridge friends, it makes it all worthwhile...

destination wisconsin~

we arrived yesterday to our home for a week-the oriley farm..

how wonderful to wake up to the smell of french press coffee

a la julie and the sound of the high stepping rooster, being greeted

by the

hen committee and my favorite face

mamma kitty...

a little bit of heaven on earth...

roadbound

we are in the westin hotel in downtown chicago on michigan avenue.....

julie is out getting us our morning starbucks....while me and our wonderful friend sharon andrews are laying in bed talking.....

i love me some chicago....home to the cubs, white sox, da bears, awesome shopping, awesome friends, antiques, and the best darn hotdogs....

we are making our way to valley ridge art studio .. sharon and i will be taking a class with nina bagley yesterday we spent the day with more of our wonderful friends jane and laura ..going to our favorite antique mall..jackson square mall, then to an estate sale, then to a totally cool bead store called bead heaven and then next door is a wine store where we finally got to sit down and relax with some good wine and snacks...we sat and talked for awhile and laughed ourselves silly!
then we made our way to a slice of heaven...
PORTILLOS..for chicago style hotdogs....

no visit to chicago is ever complete without a stop at portillos...yummy!!

more later as class doesnt start until friday!

i LOVE me some maija~

okay who doesnt LOVE getting packages in the mail especially SURPRISE
ones..well this was one of those days!! miss maija sent me a caffeine care package

of her favorite vietnamese instant coffee..how damn awesome is that!!!

and OMG! it tastes FABULOUS!!!!

wow, i am shocked as im not a fan of instant coffees but this is delicious

i hope that i can find it here or maija will have to be my supply!!

i love you maija!!

thank you from my heart...xox

this is something i worked on the last couple days

xox

what i have been working on~

here are some things i have been working on while rehabing the knee..i am now longer using the crutches but not allowed to drive... although tomorrow morning i might sneak up to starbucks,

i havent had any coffee for 2days..damn....

anyway, sorry if this grosses anyone out but here goes..one of my stitches broke and i kinda freaked so after i calmed done, i kinda pulled at it and it didnt hurt so i just pulled the sucker out and it didnt hurt..so maybe when the doctor pulls the others out it wont hurt but every time i think about it i get a stomach ache...

this is my first handmade journal that i made for a wreck this journal round robin i am in..inside pages are file folders..pretty cool, huh...

here is the link for the easy-peasy journal..

now i did a fabric spine which is not in the tutorial

i just like to always use some fabric in my journals...

a couple of paintings that i have been working on...

again thanks for all the well wishes from you all....xox