Safari anyone?

Okay, not a true safari, more of a quaint German afternoon drive with wildlife, but still... Animals!!

We went to Daun Wildpark yesterday for the (shockingly) first time. I've driven past it 567,894 times on my way to work but we never made it there as tourists. Yesterday was gorgeous so we HAD to go somewhere!

Three minutes into the trip I got poo on my dress, because that's how I roll.

There was a petting zoo. This wise old goat said, "Bleat."

This asshole spit corn in my face.

We won't mention the emu that tried to peck my eyes out.

But, Johnny fed the piggies.

That's corn.

I fed a lot of it to this adorable guy.

And THEN! We drove the eight km around the park where the wild animals roam. That was the super cool part, and the first animal we encountered was another llama, a BIG one.

He put his head INSIDE my car. See that pink in his eye? That's my camera strap. And the grey behind his head is the interior roof of my tiny VW. Yea. I wasn't freaked out. Pfft...

This is him as he chased us down the road. I don't know why I ever let that llama into my life.

Here's Bambi's dad.

And family, I presume.

A different, more bubble-friendly llama.

A boar. He was kind of cute and actually sweet. Johnny loved him and learned how to snort. We thought he was cool, not too big, ya know, an ideal boar.

And then we saw these gals.

That first boar? He was the same size as ONE HEAD of these boar. And these ones had babies!!! They were not thrilled that I got out of the car to take photos of the babies.

But they were.... Really. Freakin. Cute. Babies.

And as we were leaving I said, "Now all we need to see is a fawn and I'll be happy!"

Que fawn!! Squeeelllllllll!!!!

I love, love, love living here!

A wedding dress.

I was thinking about my wedding dress the other night, discussing with a friend the idea of making it into a keepsake quilt and we got on the subject of handmade dresses.

My mom and dad were married in New Hampshire, in either 1979 or 1980, I can't remember. They are no longer together and haven't been for about 23 years, so that is the reason I don't know their marriage year. Anyway, I've had my mom's handmade wedding dress for most of my life. I don't know why she let me have it or what I will do with it, but every time I come across it again I'm happy it's here and this time I want to share it with you.

My mom is really talented- pretty much anything she tries she excels at, especially if it is art/craft related. She made her own dress, down to the little button loops on the sleeves and back. 

The lace flowers and vines are painstakingly hand-sewn onto their sheer base and along the full hem of the dress.

I love the creamy buttery color of the fabric and the tone-on-tone flowers woven throughout. I used to put this on (I think the last time was when I was 12- I then grew out of it!) and I thought it was the dreamiest dress I'd ever seen. I still think so, partly because of nostalgia, but at this point I know the work that went into it and I'm ever so thankful to have grownup around this handiwork and to have been inspired to grow up and create my own handiwork someday. It's a dream within a dress.

Spring is here!

 ....As evidenced by my bright green hens & chickens :)

And while playing today I noticed J is in dire need for pants that fit (that aren't jeans). Guess I better get to sewing!

My son is amazing.

(My attempt to placate J during our trip to the Dortmund Creativia show)

We had a very long weekend and I put little Javi (this is what his 'aunt' Brenda calls him) through the ringer when all was said and done. Traveling with a toddler is not easy, although he is one of the most amazing traveling toddlers ever (not that I've traveled with many, but I imagine this to be true!).

Being with such a little person for so many hours in the day really puts things into perspective. It wears you out as well, emotionally and physically. By dinner time on Saturday I was ready to give up. By 10 p.m. I was hoping, wishing, dreaming that he would just go to sleep already. By 5 a.m. I. Was. Done.

And then he went to sleep. Glorious, quiet, restful sleep- for both him and I.

Three hours later I was ready to cuddle him up all over again and take on the new day, which was equally as long, as it turned out. I did learn that holding and walking with an over-tired boy while someone pushes his new bike in a stroller ahead of us really doesn't get us very far in his eyes. He will want that bike- RIGHT NOW.

But really, it all just enforces what I think to be truest in parenting so far. Don't wear your kid out and everything will be fine. Wearing your kid out also wears you out (about 150x's faster) and the negative/drained energy just multiplies from there. Who needs that?

I had a lot of fun this weekend and will go on that trip again (and many more) but I will plan around my son a lot more. His needs, even as a one year old, are above mine (and really, can I list a 'need' as walking around ogling fabric for 6 hours?). I kick myself for knowing his schedule and knowing his habits and ignoring them, hoping he'll just adjust. Next time we will go to the zoo and he will sign kitty or elephant at every animal and run around for hours before I stuff him back into the car for even more hours!

He is amazing for teaching me how to be a better, more compassionate parent every day. I can't imagine how I was ever fully human before him.

Setting the wheel of truth rolling.

I did this a few months back for a friend, finally remembered to ask him to take a photo of it :) It's one of the symbols of Buddhism, the deer, and the first sermon that was spoken in the deer park.

Also, today I learned a fun photography trick, no photoshop needed. Check out 'freelensing' on Flickr to see some really cool photos!

Here are some pussy-willows I picked last week (while thinking of the pussy-willows my grandmother always picks out of my great-grandmother's yard each winter):

I've never seen this plant here, I was excited and did a little jump. I'm sure Chris thought I was crazy.

Practice.

The one medium I've never really used in art is water colors. I find them tricky and intimidating.  I figured it was time to learn them, and here is project #1:

I do like how clean they are to work with!

Also, I feel like a numbskull. We've lived twenty minutes from the European Academy of Fine Arts all these years and I've never known or taken advantage of it :( While driving around Trier this past weekend I saw a sign and flipped! I just looked it up and registration is first come first serve, by the class or the semester, I'm thinking I'll be signing up for a class soon :)

I did it!

I have art prints for sale!

Well, AN art print, haha...

Check out the 'Buy Art Prints' tab above :)

I will be working on some more paintings soon!

Grab this link and share it with EVERYONE!
http://artofthecow.blogspot.com/p/buy-art-prints.html

THANK YOU!!

Growing our family (with adoption).

This is an abnormal post as of late. I haven't gotten into any of our hopes and dreams since before Johnny was born, we've been living so much in the moment that thinking past the next year is pretty far-fetched.

Before I got pregnant we had the paperwork for adopting in Europe, we started to fill it out and then it got tossed aside as our family unexpectedly grew. Adoption is something I've thought about for over 12 years, it's something that has been a part of me since I was a teenager and it didn't feel unnatural at all to begin that process. It does feel unnatural to stop now that our son is here.

We do want more kids, biological or not (or both?). I am not betting on ever getting pregnant again after the span of time it took for J to get here, so we've been talking about starting the adoption process again. It's a long, slow process if you have money, if you don't it's doubly so. We don't, so now my mind is starting in a different place than it did the first time and I'm trying to have a realistic take on this whole thing. The first time I was just ready to jump in and see where it would have taken us. Well, it would have been a big fat dead end.

Without money it just won't happen. My husband is a mid-level military guy and I'm a stay at home mom, we have no delusions of grander. We have normal debts and normal dreams and there's not much wiggle room to go off and simply adopt a child. So, what do we do?

The internet suggests good ol' fashioned fundraising. Bake sales, rummage sales, you know, the kind of things you do in Jr. High for your drama or band class. This seems weird and brilliant to me at the same time. I saw a family on the internet selling coloring books they created to raise money for the adoption of a Russian girl, in fact I bought one. I love, love that idea and think I may try to work something up like that.

Even more so, though, I was thinking about the Cupcake Barn and the cupcakes I've been making lately. Selling cupcakes isn't a career choice, I was really just trying to think of something that I could do here at home that would be fun and easy, and now it seems to be getting me out of the house every so often with craft fairs and tasting parties, which is a great thing as well!

I'm thinking the Cupcake Barn, along with various other options, could be our ticket to adoption; a happy surprise side-effect to wanting to eat cupcakes!

There are also grants that we can apply for that I am looking into now. There are actually a lot of options, it seems that people really want to unite kids with families. :)

I truly hope that someday we will be one of those families!

Sh-sh-sh-sugar high!

Fasching was this weekend! It's the equivalent of Carnival in Italy, or Mardi Gras in the States, although a bit more child-friendly than Mardi Gras.

So Megan and Miss Elli and I packed up the kids and toted them to the town center and watched the goofballs come out! 

Everyone dresses up like it's Halloween (I even saw Harry Potter!) even the adults, and then they all line up along the parade route and scramble for candy and/ or alcohol that is thrown into the crowd. Mom's fight over little goodies for their kids and older women fight over little liquor bottles. 

This is easily the most adorable thing I've ever seen, it's the local playgroup kids and their parents:

A pretty good Italian Karaoke float:

A REALLY cool train!

And the prince himself with his loyal (and a little drunk) attendee:

The boys got to eat all the candy they could find, which turned out to be a lot once people just started dumping handfuls of it into their wagon!!

Homegrown children.

Something I'm working on:

More details later ;}

Doing a wordless Wednesday...

...because this is just too cute ;)

On to March.

My month with Katie is over, and I'm looking forward to the next visit! Johnny loved Genny and vice versa, as we had hoped! It went too fast but we had a ton of fun in places like France, the Netherlands and good ol' Germany. 

(Bottom photo by Jessica Ceason)

Dang, I'm lucky to have such amazing friends (who also qualify as family, for sure!!). 

Now, back to the grind. But now it will be a more light-hearted, inspired grind. ;D

Birthday love.

I am missing a photo of the amazing scarf Katie made for me, but here are two lovelies for you to gaze upon....

Hedgie pin cushion made by Rebekah:

Brenda's amazing pistachio rose water cupcake interpreted by Jessica:

Sigh.... ;}

For myself I bought a new camera lens and have been playing with it. It's fun and I like how I can take photos at night without a flash. Not perfect, but different.

happiness.

I love my friends. I love my friends for being here when they can, and thinking of me all the time (as I do them!) and for being immensely talented and sharing that talent with me, and you. 

So happy Katie is here, and so happy Jessica took the time to visit us and document it! 

~~~~~~

I feel very proud of my creative friends. Any time someone leaves their comfort zone to put their heart out into the world through art or creation it is a very hard process. It's hard on the mind and spirit as you are potentially bearing all to a sometimes (and also usually) unappreciative and critical audience. Criticism shouldn't deter anyone from a dream, but the path to being comfortable with your own art is a long and winding one that many, many artists struggle with. Not to mention that artists' worst critics are themselves and self-doubt can crush a dream quicker than any other outside influence.

So every time I see a friend of mine taking a step towards creativity, further out of the 'safe' comfort zone of what they are accustomed to,  my heart really swells for them. I want them all to be happy and to succeed and I truly believe they all can and will. Nothing makes me happier than to see someone I love discovering and using talents that many people never even bother to look for. It's in all of us, and we all could make the world a better place if we just discovered it and shared it! 

Together!

Katie said to me, as we were strapping the kids into the car, "Remember when you're young and you always make plans with your best friend to raise your kids together? Well, we're doing it now!"

I want it forever.

February.

February is a magical month, it's my birthday month so of course I've always loved it.
It's the worst month ever when it comes to winter though! This is when it starts really dragging on and I start dreaming of sunbathing on the roof of my high-school best friend's house... We were in Florida, we could do stuff like that in February.

But this February will be the best one yet.

My cohort and counterpart Katie will be here tomorrow at 1 p.m., all the way from Las Vegas! She and her daughter are staying more than three weeks and we plan on getting A LOT done, so there may not be much time for blogging. Not that I'm around much lately, but I'll probably be around even less this month.

You should look forward to when she leaves though (I won't!) as I should then be able to reveal some fantastic top-secret plans and share some great times that we are sure to be having in the coming weeks.

See you then :)

P.s. I'm really missing all my other cohorts!! You know who you are! Xo!!

About a bag.

 Gah, my blog is being totally boring and sporadic lately. Just not feeling it I think. I barely even feel like voicing my opinion on things lately, even in real life, which is way surprising.
I miss the old days with tons of time to upload (or even TAKE) photos, long rambling thought processes, ideas and ambition. Hah. Ambition.
Okay, no, the ambition is still there, it's just quietly lurking in the shadows while I am washing diapers and cooking breakfast and trying to remember to walk the dogs.

We've had a really good bout of sickness this past week. I've said on more than one occasion over the past few days that I think the evilest thing in the world is being sick with a toddler that seems to be feeling fine. He was sick first and just passed it to me (which he ALWAYS does) but this time it hit pretty hard. Add to that a husband that actually isn't allowed to leave work (thank you, Air Force) and it's a big, weepy, full-of-emotion snot fest.
Anyway, it has passed and hopefully it'll stay at bay for a few months at least.

While stuck in this house I actually managed to tackle a project I've been thinking about for quite some time. I wanted to make a diaper bag back when I still needed one and never got around to it. You know how it goes, just because you can make something doesn't mean you ever will for yourself. I've been using a backpack and an old messenger bag I bought in Maastricht that looks worse for the wear. So finally I gathered up all my favorite things and swiflty pieced them together into a new messenger bag.

I had to think long and hard on what type of bag to make. Of all of the ones I have I always gravitate back to that kind- so easy to throw on and cart around whatever you need, I can reach into it easily with Johnny in the sling and it won't fall off my shoulders ever. I went against my better judgement and added two huge open pockets to the outside for things I need to reach quickly. I love them and have tested them enough to not regret them, but in Europe pick-pockets are a true problem so we'll see how they hold up- although I don't think anyone would really want a sippy cup of watered-down juice that badly.

There are no pockets on the inside but I'm thinking of making a little removable zipper pouch and a matching padded camera bag. See? Ambition ;}



The fabrics are:
Silver and pink sari from a German thrift store,
Rainbow plaid shirting from Katie,
Unfinished quilt peices from a 1930's quilt off of Ebay,
Batik from the Base craft store,
Fruit and flower fabric from my Grandmother (I think),
Yoga monkey fabric (interior) from Kat as a baby shower gift,
The felted strawberry panel was a gift from Emily. I've had it for several years and have never done anything with it because it needed that perfect home where I could look at it all the time :)

So there you have it, thought about for nearly two years and made in a day and a half. I like it better than my L.A. Betsey Johnson bag, and that's saying a lot! I feel like Betsey herself would want to comission me to make one of these, haha!

Learning some more.

I signed up for this E-course and I really can't wait for it to start!

Playful Learning Spaces

I'm all gung-ho trying to get the house in perfect order. I'm so fed up with it never being clean all the way and never being able to find anything. It has come a long, long way since Johnny was born but I'd like to get the hang of it before he starts 'school' (it took me 10 years to get this far, so I am not jumping the gun here).

Now that we will be having a regular art group I am trying to find ways to incorporate it into the house as well, so it's not just a coffee table in the kitchen. I suppose I'll get into that more once the course starts.

I am pretty happy with the toy system and I've been pretty diligent about going through them every few months to weed out what isn't played with or is just junk after awhile. It helps that we are not overloaded AT ALL by toys. J is not deprived but we do keep it to a minimum as much as possible.

My mom bought him a learning tower for Christmas! He lovesloves it, which is no surprise, he's been interested in what's going on above his head since day one.

I lovelove him by the way. He'll be 15 months in 3 days. That seems really young but to me it seems like he's been around forever. We have conversations and adventures and he is my little sidekick. I think being a parent is even better than I expected. :)

All is right with the world.

I made a dress this week for ten year old girl, she will be wearing it to her first dance tonight.
We had a very successful toddler art group this week and I managed to make it to craft night! Then I sat around with my sister and her great friend as we watched chick flicks and painted our toenails.
Tonight I had dinner with my husband and son in our favorite Italian restaurant.

One of my parents told me I make their heart swell. I'm not sure which one, but thank you- you do the same to mine!

There is much more but we have to go video chat with family now.  Have a nice weekend! xoxoxo...

Mission statement.

I created this at http://www.franklincovey.com/msb about 6 hours ago. Already, I've used it to hash out a plan. It put into focus things I've always tried to see but just didn't know how to find them. I'm amazed and invigorated! I love it and it feels exact and will be a perfect stepping-off point for the rest of my adult life.


My personal mission statement:


I am at my best when I am rested and feeling creative.
I will try to prevent times when I become overwhelmed.
I will enjoy my work by finding employment where I can create.
I will find enjoyment in my personal life through teaching and learning.
I will find opportunities to use my natural talents and gifts such as art and creative problem solving. 
I can do anything I set my mind to. I will write a series of kids books, start an eco-creative magazine and start a co-op!
My life's journey is providing for my family the best life possible, creating goodness around me by helping others smile and make their own way and teaching others by example that what they dream can come true.
I will be a person who my family admires. I want them to say that I loved and led in a compassionate manner, allowing them all to blossom into their truest selves.
My most important future contribution to others will be the idea that they are amazing and individual and can honestly make a difference in the word around them just by being themselves.

I will stop procrastinating and start working on:

• Organizing my house, mind and future plans.
• Taking more responsibility for my thoughts.
• Living on less.

I will strive to incorporate the following attributes into my life:

• Ingenuity
• Drive
• Compassion

I will constantly renew myself by focusing on the four dimensions of my life:

• Exercising
• Resting
• Giving
• Loving

~~~~~~

Here's my morning drawing (it was more like 1 p.m. but that's when I finally got to eat the oatmeal I had been dreaming of all night..)

And Johnny's...

Johnny enjoying said oatmeal:

:)

2011.

Cut and paste clouds.

I dislike odd numbers. I couldn't begin to tell you why, all I know is that 2011 doesn't sit well with me. Yea, yea, it's silly. 

Thinking about this the other day, though, brought me to a pretty obvious realization: 99% of my bad days begin with me. I am to blame for my lack of patience, motivation and understanding and there is only one way to change all that. I cannot begin this year out with the thought that this will be a weird and  unlikeable year simply because I don't like the number!

So, my only resolution this year is to take responsibility and make the best and most of every single day. I thought a cute way to start our day would be to draw a little picture of how we think the day will go, and hopefully Johnny will get in on the act when he's a little older. I think that an optomistic attitude would carry over into the rest of the day quite easily. I'd love to commit to 365 days of morning drawings! We'll see though.... (how cute would that be?) Not to mention, I MISS ART. I do something every so often and get so engulfed, I'd really like to include it into every single day.

Happy New Year and best wishes on your own resolutions!

xo!