My trip to Paris got me thinking. What if I play tourist in my own town or area. Whenever I am out I will look with new eyes just like if I was a tourist visiting for the first time. I will post those pictures once a week or as often as I have pictures to share. Yesterday we traveled to Yakima Washington to attend a funeral of my husband's great Aunt Mabel. What a sweet lady she was and loved by her family so much. She will be missed. On the way home I took some photos of things I saw.

I stopped to take a picture of the mountains and this really cool, dilapidated house was sitting there just waiting for me to photograph it.

We could see about four mountains at one time. This one is Mt. Hood. So beautiful.

I believe this one is Mt. Adams. On a warm clear day it is refreshing to see cool, crisp snow.

An inlet along side the road as we traveled down the Gorge. I have always loved tall weeds against the blue water. We traveled down the Washington side of the Gorge on our way to Yakima and then came back on the Oregon side. I thought the rolling hills on the Washington side were so amazing. It always makes me think of a movie I saw (The Never ending Story) where the mountains just stand up and they are actual giants. We stopped to stretch our legs at Multnomah Falls. Someday I will hike up there. The sun was starting to set and cast a glow on the falls. I'm so glad that we live in such a beautiful place.

This week

I have been delinquent this week in posting. Being the introvert that I am, when I have had a lot of business and interactions I tend to have a few days of very low energy and needing to hide out. A recharging of my batteries, so to speak. Can't say that I have been able to do that yet but I am working on it. All that so say, I have not been very productive this week. I have been spending time with family, grandbaby who is sick and friends who I haven't seen in months. I even went to a huge rummage sale yesterday and got some good finds.

I found a milk glass pedestal bowl to match the plate I found a couple of weeks ago. The rubber stamps look like fun and will be showing up in my journal pages soon. There were so many more but I also picked up a huge wooden barn for my grandbaby and it was hard to look at the stamps with it in my arms. I couldn't even get down that isle, I just had to stand on the edge and reach for what I wanted. It was so crowded at this huge rummage sale that I think I will go back on Saturday when things are 50% off. I also grabbed some trim on my way out that is MY-T-Fine! The other item I purchased was a shelf that I am using to put my ribbons on.

I need to get some more containers but I think this will work quite well for getting the ribbon off the table top. I even think I might be able to hang the shelf on the wall which would make it even better.

I did work in my Paris art journal this week and added to the Bainbridge Island signature. This weekend I am going to spend a couple of days with my niece, who I went to Paris with. Her journal was destroyed on the trip and so we are going to work on re-creating it. I may have pictures on Tuesday when I get back.

Mother's Day

My Mother's Day actually started on Saturday my husband asked me what I wanted to do for Mother's Day. Since the weather was going to be nice I thought it would be fun to barbecue and sit on the patio enjoying the weather and letting my grand baby run around. For years we have had big, slobbering, in-your-face dogs and have not been able to sit outside comfortably so now that we don't have them anymore I can actually have flowers and lawn furniture. We went and picked out an umbrella table set. After we got home my daughter took me for a pedicure. It was so nice and when we got there another friend of mine was there doing the same thing with her daughter.

The lady doing mine was really into it and paint an elaborate design on my toes with a gem as the center of the flower. It was a lot of fun and relaxing too. I was so pleasantly surprised because my kids are starting to be very thoughtful as they get older. I don't expect it and I think that is even better.
Later that evening we went to dinner with my in-laws to celebrate with them. It was pleasant but the food was horrible. I was so glad that I had Sunday to look forward to.

Sunday we went to church and one of the men there bought red roses for all the ladies. He is the happiest, sweetest person you will meet and he stood at the door passing them out to all the mothers. Then it was home to barbecue steaks and try out our new table. The weather was amazing and we sat for the longest time just eating and talking and enjoying being together. I got so caught up in the moment that I forgot to take a picture of all of us at the table. This happens quite often actually.

We did have some friends come join us who had no family to spend time with and they brought bubbles. Something about bubbles brings out the kid in all of us.

Happy Mother's Day

Today. I was leaving a building and tucked into a crack in the pavement was a perfectly beautiful pansy. So sweet and small and vulnerable. Made me smile. I hope it makes you smile too.

Also:

Happy Mother's Day to all those brave, faithful women who have invested in the lives of their children. Those women who have nurtured, loved and prayed to make sure their small and vulnerable babies grew up to be responsible, loving adults. Enjoy your day and give yourself a break because you deserve it.

Bainbridge Island and friends

Sunday I headed out of town via the train. It was such a beautiful day. I was thirty minutes early for my train so I stood in the sun and just soaked up the rays. It felt so good.

The train ride was so great. I just ate my lunch and read my book and even took a short nap on the 3.5 hour ride up to Seattle, Washington. It was good to release all the worries and responsibilities of home and just enjoy the beautiful scenery going by.

My train got into the station around 4:00 in the afternoon and I headed out to the ferry terminal. It was quite a walk but I had prepared by packing light and I kept thinking that this walk was nothing like all the walking we did in Paris. Of course I wasn't carrying around a very large duffel bag either. I stopped outside the ferry terminal and bought a Starbucks coffee and then headed to the Bainbridge Island ferry were my good friends live.

I met my friend Teri and her daughter Nicole about 18 years ago when our girls were so little. They became the best of friends and so did we and our husbands. This doesn't happen very often and we have cherished their friendship all these years. It was sad when they moved away but we try and keep in touch. Nicole just graduated from college and we are so proud of her. Way to go Nicole! We wish you all the best as you pursue a career in ministry. She has traveled to Egypt, Africa, India, Turkey and Israel. I was able to hear about those trips and see some of her photos.

We went for coffee every morning and it was so fun to just sit and visit and catch up with all that has been going on not only with our travels but with family and life

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I am pretty sure Seattle and the surrounding area is the coffee capital of the world and you can get some pretty amazing coffee there. There is even an art to making lattes. It doesn't hurt to have a yummy piece of chocolate dangling off the handle either.

Her husband is into old cars and fixing them up. This is his old suburban and it actually runs. In fact, he took it to a car show while we were there. He has a corvette too but I kinda like the rustic look of this one.

I worked on a few journal pages in the afternoons. I tried to get some converts while I was there but I had no takers. We did hit a couple of art stores though. Teri is an artist too and is writing a book and illustrating it herself. No doubt, she will be famous one day.

We went to a very interesting grocery store for lunch one day. It is similar to our Whole Foods or Natures but they have a cafeteria inside the store with some really fresh food that you can either take with you or eat there.

It was fun to walk through and look at all the fresh food and I wished that I could have sampled everything.

This cake was in the bakery department and I thought it was so cute. Doesn't it just make you happy to look at it. I think I want this one for my birthday.

Bainbridge Island has a huge artist community and so we got to walk through the town and see all kinds of art up in stores and galleries. One of Teri's friends had her paintings up in a gallery for the first time and I actually got to meet her. We ran into her at the art store, go figure?

We also went to an amazing chocolate shop. I about died from the taste of their fudge because it was so good. They had so many types of licorice too and I brought some home for my husband. Teri bought some spice covered crickets for her son. I'm talking real crickets. YUCK! I couldn't even hardly look at the package. I know for sure I couldn't have eaten them. I'm still laughing about Teri screaming in the store when the package wiggled and seemed to jump off the shelf at her. So fun.

It was a fun trip and so good to see my dear friend. We were thinking we should do this more often. Why do we let time just go by and not take the time out of schedule to enjoy a few days away visiting and playing with each other. Next time it is her turn to come to my neck of the woods (literally) and we will play tourist here.

Two days away

I finished moving all my art stuff today and now the final organization will take place. I need to install a few more shelves but that will have to wait until I get back from my short trip to visit a very good friend of mine. Our kids were best buds when they were growing up. Our husbands were friends too which was such a blessing. We even share the same first name. So many good memories and now I am off to make some more. I will take some pictures and fill you in on it all when I get back on Wednesday. Au Revoir

Where I create

I have been a busy girl this week. Everyday carting loads and loads of stuff up the stairs to my new art studio/office. I so wanted to put in new flooring and paint the walls but we were is too much of a hurry since my son is sleeping on the couch until I am done. I know that teenagers like to sleep on couches but this one is not very comfortable for a 6'4" teenager who likes his privacy. So I have been working hard to get everything organized into a much smaller space than it was coming from. All that to say, don't laugh at the blue walls with purple flowers which were left-overs from when my two girls had this room. I am liking the arrangement but it is a tight fit. I tried to give the room some foofiness to make me smile and to distract me from the wall and carpet.

Here is my ribbon and wrapping center. I hope to get some shelves on this wall and get everything off the table.

This is where I paint and work on my art journal. I just bought the cute basket vase today at a garage sale and I knew right away I wanted to put my paintbrushes in it. I totally scored today at a couple of garage sales. I bought two hankies from the Philippines, this vase a pretty white scalloped plate and a couple of blouses all for the low price of $6.

I just got the cover on my Paris art journal with the Eiffel tower hanging off the spine. I love it.

Behind my painting chair is a wall of narrow shelves for all my inks, pens, adhesives and tape.

Along one wall are the bookshelves that have all my tools and art books. This is still in process so a couple of shelves still don't have anything on them. Not to worry, they will soon. I also have a group of plastic drawers with all my embellishments in them on another wall. In the walk-in-closet is my sewing stuff and a comfy chair to do my morning bible study and prayer time in. This is working out really well so far. When my daughter moves out her stuff I may move all my sewing things into the laundryroom but for now it is hiding out in the closet. It's not like I am doing a lot of sewing right now anyway. I think I should have everything moved in tomorrow and then I can take a big sigh of relief.