Food Fun

Here's a fun little game different bloggers have been sending to each other this week. You're supposed to take each letter of your name and write a food related factoid that starts with that letter. Let's see:

M -- I don't really care for macaroni and cheese. I know everybody is supposed to love it, but I just never have. Sometimes my mom makes baked mac and cheese and I like that pretty well, but I just don't like the regular cheesy stuff.

A -- I love apple pie. It's one of my favorite types of pie. I want to find a recipe and try to make one for Christmas this year.

N -- Nachos are great. Mexican food is my favorite, anyway.

D -- Dr. Pepper is the best soft drink ever. Does that count as food? I think so.

Y -- Yogurt has never been my favorite thing. You know, the kind in the little containers at the grocery store? The only way I like it is with granola and fruit. I do like frozen yogurt pretty well, but I prefer ice cream. :)

I had some tough letters in my name! How many types of food can you think of that start with "Y" or "D"?

More Drawing

Here's a picture of my finished pirate ship. I've been wanting to draw a picture of a ship for a long time (years) but I haven't been able to find any reference photos that weren't copyrighted. One of my friends at church got married this summer and went to Aruba on her honeymoon. While they were there, she saw this ship sailing on the ocean and took pictures of it! Isn't that neat? I was so glad she let me copy the picture to draw. The rocky background is something I put in myself. I wanted to add something in the distance to break up the monotony of the water, so I looked up pictures of cliffs online to get a general idea for these. I still need to work on them a little more, put in more shadows, etc.

I have so much drawing to do. I'm working on three pictures now and I work on them every spare minute - even while I watch television - so I can finish them and have plenty of time to work on all the smaller details before the art show. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with all that I have left to do, so I'm really pushing myself hard to keep working at a steady pace. I hope that by my next art lesson ( two weeks from now) I will have made a lot of progress on those pieces.

New Music and Christmas Decorations

My new music book finally came in this week. It's a book of hymn arrangements. I had never played anything by this composer before, so I was a little worried that I wouldn't like his style of arranging, but as I've played through the melodies of the different hymns in the book, I'm very happy with it. Just as I hoped, the arrangements are pretty, but not so difficult that they bother the carpal tunnel syndrome in my left hand. I've decided to start working on "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing" so that I can possibly have it ready by Thanksgiving. It has been two years since the problem with my hands caused me to stop playing the piano and I have only played a little off and on all this time. I have really missed being able to play! I hope that my left hand will get stronger as I continue to practice and that I'll be able to play classical music and difficult hymns arrangements again.
Can you believe there are already Christmas decorations in stores? They were actually putting Christmas trees up in department stores the last week in September, before we left for vacation. I like to see the decorations go up in November so I have plenty of time to enjoy them, but September is a little too soon. Maybe this happens every year and I've just never noticed before, but I think this is the first time I've seen grocery stores with the disgusting ghosts and monsters for Halloween on one aisle and then Christmas trees and wreaths on the next. Somehow that just seems strange to me. It really seems strange now that the weather is back up to eighty degrees to walk into stores and see snowy trees and and sleds. It just doesn't seem like the right time of year for Christmas decorations. It also reminds me a little too soon of all the Christmas shopping that's coming up and trying to figure out what the people on my list would like for a present.

Artwork

I managed to get a lot of artwork done while we were away. This was the first time I'd actually taken the trouble to pack up all my art supplies and bring them. I'm so glad I did because I managed to finish TWO 8x10 drawings last week. My art show is coming up at the beginning of November and I still have a lot of work to do. To be exact, I have at least five projects that I'd like to finish before then. So, finishing those two pictures was a big relief. One project that I want to do is a series of musical drawings. I've already photographed my dad's guitar, now I need to take some shots of the piano keys, and I'm hoping that my cousin Kristen will be able to photograph her flute for me and email the picture. If she can't, I can work with the guitar/piano theme. I also want to draw the picture of the bridge that I took when we went to the aquarium. I can't decide if I should make it large or small, though. The main problem now is that my camera charger is not working, so I can't take any pictures until I get a new one. The drawing of Princess above is one I finished this summer. I'll post pictures of my new drawings as soon as I can get my camera charged.

Somebody Looks Comfortable........

What Happened On Vacation

This trip was a lot more relaxed than the last one. We spent the first Sunday afternoon with my dad's side of the family to celebrate my grandma's 84th birthday. They had a nice dinner and we spent the afternoon looking at pictures from Lesley's wedding.

Thursday was really fun. Gabrielle's sixteenth birthday was in July during our last vacation. Even though we did take her out to eat and give her presents, we never did anything really special to celebrate because we were so busy. Our Aunt Sherry decided to throw a little surprise party for her. I met Aunt Sherry and my cousin Kristen at her office and we went to a town an hour away to go buy decorations and pick up her ice cream cake. The ice cream cake was the most important part. Gabrielle had specifically requested an ice cream cake for her birthday, but we forgot that they have to be ordered a few days in advance so she ended up with a flavor she didn't like as much. This time, we were going to make sure she got the cake she wanted. First, we went to the party supply store and picked out a bunch of Sweet Sixteen stuff, then stopped at the mall to buy her a present, then went to a store to pick up chips and candy, and then finally rushed to the ice cream parlour to get the cake. It was ready for us, decorated in her favorite color as requested, and they spelled her name right. Then we were worried that it would melt on the hour-long drive home so we rode all the way back with the air conditioner on freezing. As soon as we got back, Kristen and I started putting up decorations. Gabrielle had been at our Aunt Johnice's house all afternoon, so we called and told her we were ready. When Gabrielle walked in, she didn't even see the sweet sixteen banner on the doorway. She didn't even notice that Kati kept asking "What's that on the door?" over and over. When she finally looked over, this was her reaction:

She was totally surprised. She hadn't even suspected anything. And she loved the orange cake.

Friday night Aunt Sherry took Gabrielle and I to the mall, then to a movie and dinner. We spend a day doing fun stuff like that every time we visit. The next Sunday my mom cooked dinner for her side of the family and all my aunts, uncles and cousins -- twenty-six people altogether!-- came over. Yesterday we came back home. Thanksgiving is the next time we're supposed to travel back and it's not very far away.

Home Again!

We're back home at last! We spent practically all day travelling so now I'm completely exhausted. As soon as I got here, I unpacked both my suitcases and put everything back where it belonged so I wouldn't have to tomorrow. Now I can relax -- or start uploading and editing all the pictures I took while we were away. : )