Still Falling

The prompt for DOCUMENTED LIFE (DLP) this week was "Incorporate Leaves Onto Your Page In A Creative Way" and here's what I came up with:

Ta-Da!

Has October went by at a ridiculous rate of speed to anyone else?  I feel like we should be two days in, three tops, and here it is the 29th already?  What is up with that???

Fall always goes by too fast for me anyway...but this year, it's apparently jet fueled...

"How happy I am to have fall in my life."

I suppose I should just enjoy it while I can...the leaves have been very colorful so far this year, especially in comparison to the last 3 or 4 years...a bit of a muck fest they were...

But this year, they are not disappointing me!  I've been enjoying them quite a bit on my evening/after work walks with my friend Gayle.  Today's the first day we missed walking since we started last week...because grocery shopping had to be done...and it makes me sad that this weekend with end our walks because of the time change.  We can deal with pitch black at the end, but not starting off in it!  Hopefully we will be able to find an indoor place to meander about...if not, it's already been promised that we'll start back up in the spring!  

I don't want to stop walking; it's been really awesome to have something to do after work besides just going home, so I've got a bit of a pouty face happening at the moment!  I've even started to wonder how much it would cost to join a gym that's somewhere convenient to us...a scary idea, let me just say, as I've always considered myself forcefully opposed to exercise in all it's forms...now my view of myself is being called into question!  FREAKY!

"I'm in the middle and I can't stop loving you." -Nancy Wilson

I have to say, the colors on this spread are not my usual fare...I was noticing it more and more as I've been typing...I can't decide if I like it or if they look mucky...perhaps they are that grunge thing that I've seen other people do... Grunge sounds much better than muck, as it has some good musical connotations...  So I'm going with grunge...

Speaking of good music, the lyrics on the page above are from this song that I stumbled on this morning before work:

Just adorable, right?  I think I must have the weirdest taste in music ever...because I like so many things and they're all at such opposite ends of the spectrum.  I know so many people who claim to 'love everything' and then follow it up with "except this, this and that..." and they're naming off entire genres of music...  I always want to say, "Oh, so you don't like everything then?"  But it would probably be rude and so I can't say it...  There are songs I don't like and certain singers I'm not a fan of, but I can't categorically wipe out an entire music genre!  That would be pure insanity!

At any rate, I'm happy to have crossed paths with Miss Nancy this morning, who could possibly have been related to me, because my maiden name was Wilson...and I don't know a lot of my relatives, so there's a possibility in there somewhere, right?  

Well, now I'm off to bask in the glory of this cool fall evening and possibly throttle some kittens who have decided that my studio is exclusively their playground and who keep jumping on my desk and typing all sorts of crazy things into the computer...I swear, one distracts me while the other one tries to type his own blog post!  I see a squirt bottle in these kittens future if they don't stay off my desk!

No Bambi

I'm squeezing in at the last minute for this week's DOCUMENTED LIFE (DLP) spread.  

The prompt was "Sketch What You See Right Now".  Since you're my friends, and you will in no way judge me, I will admit that I was reading about the prompt while in the bathroom (where I do all my important reading...remember, no judging...) and in my bathroom, I happen to have a cute little deer statue that looks like this (minus the bell):

This is not MY deer, although mine looks exactly like this...I meant to take a picture of mine, but forgot and now it's dark at my house and it is a dank pit of despair doesn't have the best lighting, so I found one online...

Since my eyes landed on the deer, I decided that would have to be my sketch for the week:

"I'm no Bambi"

Since my husband kept trying to call my fairy from last week "Tinkerbell", I figured I should go ahead and give him the heads up that my deer was NOT Bambi.  And then I ran off on a tangent with the thought of not being 'a Bambi'...which came in a wave all of the sudden.  I thought of naive, innocent little Bambi the cartoon...and then I thought of strippers, because Bambi seems like a total stripper name...which I always thought was kind of funny, because Bambi was a boy...he doesn't seem very boyish though and I tend to forget...  And then I remembered that when I was a kid, I had a friend named Rachel and her sister's name was Bambi.  How do parents go from naming their kid Bambi (super rare, possible stripper ) to naming the next one Rachel (every third girl in my class)?  It seems like a leap, doesn't it?  The human Bambi I knew when I was a kid was very nice though, and not a stripper at all...more like cartoon Bambi, except not a dude...

I'm lovable!

I'm pretty cool with my sketch...I like the 'extras' really well on this page... I put down torn up book pages first and then did my sketch and painted it in and then used acrylic paint for the blue wavy sky...I like the way the book pages show up between the blue...  I'm also pretty darn happy with the lettering!

I have nothing insightful to say...

For the right page, I started out with a packing tape transfer of this image:

He's not looking up her skirt...He's adoringly admiring her general awesomeness...

And then I just wanted to have a stab at making those fantastic, painty, crazy pages that I've seen other people doing quite brilliantly.  It seems like every time I try to do a page like this, I end up getting the "crazy" part right, but not so much the fantastic part...  I don't hate it...it's just...bright...  Actually, every time I attempt these kind of pages, they end up bright ( I will remind you of the TERRIFYING CHICKEN PAGE from the Alternate Amy blog...).  There has to be a secret...I just haven't figured it out yet...

In other news, the new kittens have gotten much more adventurous in the last two days and are currently having fun knocking over everything in the studio and then either hissing at it, sitting on it, hiding under it, or shoving it around the floor...it's hilarious until I remember that I have to clean up after them, then it's only funny and I get the broom...  They're out-and-about-iness calls for a studio overhaul, so I don't lose important bits or end up having kittens in casts or something...maybe that's a good plan for Sunday...

And lastly, I think you'll be shocked (and hopefully proud) because I've walked FIVE MILES in the last two days!!!  And I'm not even whimpering in pain!  A friend of mine from work, Gayle, asked if I would want to start walking with her, so right after work is over, we meet at a trail and walk a mile and a quarter down and a mile and a quarter back to the car.  We've done it twice now, and I am both proud and shocked that I haven't had a heart attack!  The plan is to keep doing it until the time change and then it will be too dark to see anything and too cold for Gayle...hopefully by the time that happens, we'll be so used to walking together that we find an alternate indoor location for the winter (aka become old lady mall walkers...) and keep going. 

I never, NEVER get any exercise, and I hate (HATE) doing healthy things by myself, so Gayle was a lifesaver with her walking suggestion!  I already feel better today than I did yesterday, and I really want to keep that trend going!  Plus, it's always been my secret dream (don't tell anybody) to have a head-turner body...  You know I'm cute (seriously, so adorable you probably couldn't stand it... :) haha), but I want, just one time in my 30s, to be a jaw-dropping, tongue wagging babe (and then to rub it in people's faces...hehehe)!  

You've seen the healthy-Amy-in-her-early-20s pictures...but I was young and stupid and didn't appreciate it then!  

Now I'm the sad-Amy-who's-knees-hurt-from-carrying-her-fat-rolls-around-all-day-Amy...  

But I'd like to be the happy-Amy-who-feels-good-and-is-comfortable-in-her-own-skin-and-remembers-the-happiness-of-finding-clothes-that-fit-and-is-healthy-Amy...

I feel like that's a lot of pressure to put on two 2.5 mile walks, but I'm being optimistic!  It really does boil down to feeling good verses feeling puny...  I've been feeling puny for a long while, and wanting to do something about it, but I am just not a good self-motivator when it comes to moving and shaking...  After walking just once, I actually sprang out of bed this morning!  It's been SO STINKING LONG since I've woken up without throwing punches towards my husband with half closed eyes that I don't even remember the last time it happened!  So I'm really hoping that Gayle and I will help each other keep up our momentum so that we can both feel healthy again!  And I'd guess Andy is hoping we keep it up so he can quit dodging my sleepy time left hook!

Freaking Magic

Let me just warn you now, there may be some ridiculous self-back patting in this post...if you're looking for humility, run...RUN...run far in the opposite direction of this post...because you will not find any of that nonsense here today!

I thoroughly blame Chelle over at JOURNAL 52, because this week's "Magic" prompt led me to create something I would probably never have done if it weren't part of my self-imposed goal to complete two year long projects (J52 and DLP)!  Here she is in all her glory:

"The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper." -W.B.Yeats

*Angels singing, birds dressing me in the morning, sunshine rays from heaven, etc.*

My husband that my husband keeps calling her Tinkerbell.  My fairy is NOT a Tinkerbell kind of girl.  She looks nothing like Tinkerbell!  Tinkerbell has nothing on my fairy!  Tinkerbell (and, by extension, my ridiculous husband) can bite me!  Tinkerbell!  TINKERBELL!!!  I never...

I suppose I can't be too mad, because Tinkerbell is probably the most famous fairy...I mean, come on, name another one...  But the fact that my awesome fairy got thrown in with the Disney lot was just too much for me to handle.

I mean, Tinkerbell's image is so white bread.  My fairy clearly...CLEARLY is anything but that.  I mean, she  completely rebels against fairy world standards by listening to punk rock and and restoring classic cars and having more than half a brain cell, giving her the ability to fully form human words, not just running around making twinkle noises and shaking her butt dust on children so that they can 'fly'...which, in my opinion, is just a metaphor for getting high...you know, you start out on fairy dust and then move on to hard drugs and before you know it, Wendy, John and poor little Michael are living in a cardboard box in an ally stealing car radios to support their habits!  And while my fairy listens to punk rock and supes up hot rods in her spare time, she's got morals and she would never be a butt dust dealer, despite the fact that she could be making bank and finally buy all those carburetors and vintage shifter knobs that she needs!  My fairy may have dirty fingernails and be able to quote Sex Pistols lyrics at the drop of a hat, but she would never sell smack to your kids.  And isn't that what we're all looking for in a good fairy?

Can you tell I'm a little excited by this page...what with the maniacally defensive rant due to my husband's besmirching?  

I can't help it...I love her so much.  I think she fully deserves to be maniacally defended...

Like I said before the rant, there's no way I would ever have drawn a fairy if it weren't for the J52 prompt, but now that she's drawn, I kind of what to put fairies on every single thing I ever do from now on...well, not just any fairy, but this fairy specifically.  *Sigh.*  She's just great...  And she's green...fantastically green...  And bright other colors...  *double sigh*  I really do enjoy her thoroughly.

Forgetting my (fabulous) fairy (for now), in my eyes, this time of year is the real magic in my world.  

I love fall, what with the leaves turning color and the crispness of it...and the way the light changes and makes everything seem a little better...  Maybe I've just accidentally breathed in some of that fairy butt dust...who knows...

All I know is that it's starting to get colder here and today as I drove around town, I suddenly wanted a gas station coffee, which should ONLY be drunk when it's cold outside.  I do love it when it's cold enough for gas station coffee...  It makes me happy and nostalgic...thinking of all the happy falls I've had thus far in life, and hoping that there will be many more extremely pleasant gas station coffee seasons to come...

What about you?  At the risk of sounding all hippy dippy, throw caution to the wind and tell me: what's magic in your world today?  

Stars and Mosaics And Getting Old

So, I've got two things to share today, and I must warn you...for good or bad...I am not feeling up to my usual Chatty Cathy level...so this could be a short one!  I hardly every have those!

For DOCUMENTED LIFE, the prompt was "Stars" and here's what happened:

"I'm restless.  Things are calling me away.  My hair is being pulled by the stars again." -Anais Nin

That's right, stars were just vomited out of my hand and across the page...  I don't know what I think about them...maybe they're a happy vomit, which isn't really in my vocabulary, but it's been typed and I can't take it back now!  I actually think the best part is the gold stars in the green hair (which is super textured, because I used modeling paste for it!), and if I were someone else, I would probably just gesso out everything except for those and try to start over...but I'm me and I think this page is done...no rework for this one...

I guess the star theme must have stuck in my head, because stars also made an appearance (albeit a much more demure one) in my Journal 52 page this week, where the actual prompt was "Mosaic Inspired" and here's what I did:

"We are mosaics-Pieces of light, love, history, stars--Glued together with magic and music and words."-Anita Krizzan

I had the idea of a stained glass mosaic for this piece, so I slapped some gold acrylic over the pencil sketch of this girl using a fine line bottle and then colored her in with Neocolor II's.  I really liked the idea of this, and the acrylic made good 'lead' for the stained glass...but I think I should have used a shinier thing to color in the girl...to make the colors more glass-like...oh well...I could always try to cut open my bottle of Gloss Medium and see if I can scrape out the last little bit of it...

I tried something new this week with my inspiration quotes...instead of writing them on the actual art, I just put them below the pictures so you could read them.  I was inspired to go sans quotes by my friend Patricia's post about words, which you can read HERE.  And while you are over there, check out THIS POST and then come back and thank me for directing you to the eye candy!

Don't tell anyone my secret, but I started watching the Gilmore Girls on Netflix...it's both taking me back to my younger years AND making me feel old at the same time.  I can remember watching this show when I was a teenager and totally identifying with the daughter...and now, several years later, I'm watching it and realize I'm identifying with the mom...it's been both fun (the nostalgia part of it) and mildly disturbing (the feeling of practically being on death's door...haha)...

And on that note, I'm off to go see what happens next in the Gilmore world...

Where My Feet Go

I'm making up for my slacktitude since vacation with this second post (that ended up pretty long!) in short succession.  Woo Hoo!

I've also got a few more vacation photos at the end of this post (though not all of them, because...lazy photo editor...), so yay for that too!

This week's Documented Life (DLP) prompt was "Polka Dots" and here's what I came up with:

How can there be so much white space and it still be so busy!?!

As you might be able to tell, I had gone a completely different direction for my first attempt at this spread...but I REALLY hated it, so I gessoed over it...one thin coat...clearly too thin...and tried again.  Even though you can see the first try through the gesso...which I didn't really pay attention to until it was too late... I like it much better now.  Mostly because of the quote:

"Your feet will take you where your heart is." -Irish Proverb
I'm giving myself high fives over my slow but steady lettering improvement...VERY slow, but when I actually take my time I can see it getting a better...in 20 or 30 years, I may be an expert letterer!

That quote makes me feel better about the busy background.  When I look at this page, it makes me think that, despite all the noise and chaos and distractions around us, there's some small piece of ourselves that keeps pushing us towards what we want without us even realizing it!  I feel so woowoo/new age/hippie weirdo saying that, but hey, even I can be blindly optimistic from time to time!  (I think the beach vacation helped...) :)

For Journal 52 (J52) this week, the prompt was "Experiment", which has to be my favorite prompt so far!  I like to think of everything I do as an experiment...because if I mess up I can just giggle and say 'Oh well...it was just an experiment...' and then experiment some more!  Experiment and Play have to be in my top art journal words...right next to Try!  Because it's all fun and doesn't have to be serious...or, in my opinion, should NEVER be serious!  (But then again, I don't think there's a whole lot out there in the world that I actually do take seriously...haha...no really...)

At any rate, because I liked this prompt so much, I have two pages ready to show you (and possibly a couple more that I'm still working on).  First page:

"I found the colors and shapes of a perfect autumn."

For this page, I started out with blank watercolor paper and used gel medium through a stencil.  Then after it dried...or more correctly after I thought it dried...I sprayed it with Dylusions ( Lemon Zest, Pure Sunshine, and Squeezed Orange).  You can tell the that some of the gel medium was still wet, because it sucked up some of the Dylusions.  In the areas that are still white, that gel medium had already dried and I could just wipe the Dylusions away.  After that layer of Dylusions dried, I doodled in some of the spaces with a white China Marker and then sprayed those doodles with Dylusions (After Midnight, Cut Grass, and Postbox Red).  The page made me think of patterns found in plants and the colors made me think of the fall, so I wrote my little journaling on a piece of gold painted book page that I had left over from another piece and used gel medium to glue it down.  You can see that the gel medium reactivated the Dylusions and made swipe marks around my triangle...which reminded me of the tiny ripples that might happen when a leaf drops into water...another lovely autumn image!

And then there's this page:

"That was just a dream some of us had." -Joni Mitchell

I got the lyrics on the page from "California" by Joni Mitchell (who, for the record, has a lot of theft-worthy lyrics...I just love her!):

I REALLY like how this page turned out, and it was all because of experimenting.  You see, I've had this tube of gloss gel medium for a LONG time, and I really don't use it...because it's so shiny...ugh.  So I thought to myself, I wonder what would happen if I stuck down some stuff (like tissue paper, napkins, oil pastels, stamping, random papers, etc) in between thick layers of gloss gel medium?  And so that's what I did...I'd stick down napkin bits, then a thick layer of the gloss medium, wait for it to dry (which basically takes overnight, by the way...as in FOREVER to an impatient sort such as myself!), add some papers and stamping, another thick layer of gloss gel medium, and so on.  I think there are either three or four layers of gloss gel...  Then I used cheapie acrylic paints and made this girl, inspired yet again by Mindy Lacefield's art (I can't get her style out of my head!), and wrote Joni Mitchell's lyrics and called it done!  

I don't know how well you can see it, but this page looks VERY different with the thick layers of gloss medium in between as opposed to if I had just glued everything down thinly and painted over that.  In person, you can see how each layer kind of pops forward from the one beneath it!  Now, even though I called it done, I'm pondering whether I should add one more thick layer of gel medium over top of the girl and journaling?  But...I kind of like how the girl and the lyrics are matte compared to the high gloss of everything else...  It makes me want to make a second page like this one, and experiment with adding the final thick layer of gloss vs. not adding it...  Which means I'll have to go buy more gloss gel medium...even though the point was to get rid of what I had because I don't use it.  Now I think I might be warming up to it...  Oh, the perils of being an art journaler!!!

And finally, here are some more vacation photos (although not all of them...):

This is an outdoor corridor at Atalaya.  You can read a little bit about Atalaya itself and see more pictures HERE.  And if you go HERE and scroll down, you can watch a short video about Atalaya.

A big fantastic part of our trip was going to an art show held at Atalaya...I didn't get too may pictures from the show, because it's frowned upon by some artists, but I did get to take a picture of our favorite pieces that I'll share with you in another post...seriously, stay tuned for that, because the artwork is AWESOME!

This bird is, I believe, called an Anhinga.  You can find out why it's sitting like this if you read the "Behavior" section of THIS article!

Please take note of the sign in the picture above...and then take note of this:

I'm an alligator.

You can read a little bit of history about Huntington Beach State Park, which is where the Anhinga and alligator pictures were taken, HERE.  

All the rest of these pictures were taken at Brookgreen Gardens, which you can read about and see more of on their WEBSITE.

I love this picture...the sculpture, I believe entitled "Diana", was one of my favorites!

Brookgreen Gardens is SO cool, and there's so much to see, especially if you enjoy art or flowers/plants...I wish we would have had more time...and that I had worn a more comfy pair of shoes!

Sign describing the really old tree you're about to see in the next picture...

Me in front of the Live Oak tree that was mentioned in the sign above.  Now, I'm a big kind of gal, but look how huge that tree trunk is!  I think it's cool to know this tree was around when the Declaration of Independence was signed!  It reminds me of the Greek proverb "A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in." 

This is my mom with another Live Oak in the background...the Live Oaks in this section of the garden are all over 250 years old...  Mom said this particular Live Oak reminded her of a 'byser', which is what my 2 year old nephew, Remy, calls spiders...Can you tell that Mugga (what Remy calls my mom) and the little man spend a lot of time together?  I think we both wanted to see his reaction to Brookgreen Gardens...he has an appreciation for nature well beyond age!

And lastly, but definitely not leastly, here is one of the SEVERAL pictures I took of my favorite statue at Brookgreen, Don Quixote:

I wish you could have been there to see him with me!

I think it's really interesting how I've branched out internally since taking up art journaling.  Whereas before, I could look at artwork and tell you I liked it or didn't like it, I now look at these works in a different, deeper way!  The statue of Diana above makes me feel energized and alert...there's something about it that makes my blood move a little faster.  The statue of Don Quixote on the other hand, has a slower, more determined air to it.  It seems to me, that he and his horse, Rocinante, plod on towards their goal.  Despite the more melancholy nature of this statue, it seems hopeful, as though they are not giving up...It makes me root for them to make it.  

Sorry, that was just a little brain fart that came to me as I was looking over the pictures...

Did I mention I was NOT ready to come home...I could have spent a whole week just at Brookgreen Gardens itself with no problem...

I'll share more vacation photos with you next post, but for now, I'm off to try and get a little bit of paint on my fingers before bedtime!

Rhyming Words

Great coogally moogallies, I've got some catching up to do!

I went to the beach and then...well then, wallowing in misery because I couldn't stay at the beach...  I've got some pictures to share, but I have to edit them a little first, so for now, let's play art journal catch-up...and I'll show you one beach picture this time (at the end).  Deal?

First, I'm going to share my JOURNAL 52 (J52) pages for two weeks ago and last week.

The first one is for the "Rhyme Time" prompt, aka the unfinished page I shared before I went to the beach, but she's finished now:

"It's never us, it's you and me -an unrequited melody."

I am still gloating to myself over FINALLY making a decent profile face!

My rhyming words came from a poem that I wrote...this is the entire thing:

I don't know how the song must sound.

Only, my dear, that you have found

a way to play, upon my skin, 

an ancient melody I held within.

As, tenderly, you strike the keys, 

I go weak in my tired knees,

but your habit is only to play the tune

when I get used to ignoring you.

If I pay too much attention

to the sweet chords I've mentioned, 

you take your hand away, 

decide that you don't want to play.

I wish that I could let it go

but you somehow tap the perfect notes

and I turn to you again, at last, 

hear the song rushing past, 

till I do some unknown harm

and you take your fingers off my arm.

It's never us, it's you and me 

-an unrequited melody.

I saw the girl's 'tattoo' on Pinterest...I totally stole somebody's tattoo...but in a complimentary way, as it was so cool that I had NO CHOICE but to steal it!

I did the page with this poem in mind, and so I had a plan of attack before I started drawing the girl.  The thought behind the page is that the girl is looking over at the guy...he's just off the edge of the page...wishing he would make a move, one way or the other, and let her know how he feels about her. She knows what she wants to happen, but his ambiguity is frustrating the crap out of this girl!


Next is my page for the J52 prompt "In the City":

"I have dreams of far off cities."

This page was simple, but I really like how it turned out!  I just cut random shapes from scrapbook papers, which hopefully give the impression of city skylines...then a rolling hill and, lastly, a small forest of pine trees (Which, for the record, used to be x-mas trees till I cut off their stars...I felt very smart about it indeed!)  Then came the point where I added the outlines in a watercolor pencil, which didn't show up that great, and then a grease pencil, which showed up a little too well...next time, I'll use my black Neocolor II (which is what I should have done this time!) and everything will be perfect.

Just for the record, I don't know if it's exactly true that I have dreams of far off cities, or if it would be more correct to say towns...or villages...aka smaller than cities...  I think I would like to see Paris...that's probably the only city I have the desire to go visit.  Otherwise, I'd much rather stick to the road less traveled and see the small towns of the world!  Although, I do have to say, I really enjoy going to Charlotte (North Carolina, USA), which is a big city (at least in my eyes anyway)...but I don't really think it feels like a big city...it's like a home-y big city.  The people there seem much classier (in a friendly/nice/elegant way) than the country bumpkin who's talking to you now...

I've also got my DOCUMENTED LIFE (DLP) spread for last week, where the prompt was to "Paint or color with three colors you never use."  And this is my page:

"Two black kitty cats"

I used pink, green and brown as my colors, but I think I use the whole rainbow of colors fairly often...  I try to mix it up when I can!  I'm not uber thrilled with the way the background turned out, but I am really enjoying the two kitten silhouettes!

This past week, my husband brought home two wild kittens from his work.  His job is on a pretty busy street and the kittens probably would not have made it if he didn't catch them.  Plus, they're both black cats, and with Halloween coming up and the fact that there are some crazy sick weirdos out in the world, they're in a safer place now.  

They're very young, so it's not been too hard to get them used to civilization.  They've only been here since Wednesday and they've already stopped hissing at us when we get near them.  (Which was actually adorable, because they're so little that their hisses sounded like "keh, keh"!)  They let us pick them up and have stopped huddling together in terror when we come in the room.  

We think we are going to call them Pauly and Fat Tony.  If you pick them up, the one likes to crawl up on your shoulder and sit there like a parrot, hence we went with Polly...but since they're both boys, we changed it to Pauly.  I said we should name the other one Vinny (because, you know, Mafia reasons)...which Andy was ok with except he said, let's call him "Fat Tony" because that's the mob boss from The Simpsons.  And my husband has a deep, deep obsession with The Simpsons.

Hey Fat Tony, we're gonna name a kitten after you!

He's cool with it.

Plus, the kitten we're calling Fat Tony has a lazy cat personality (whereas Pauly is more...adventurous and feisty), so Fat Tony will probably end up being a pudgy cat and the name will fit him well...

And lastly, as promised, here is a picture of my mom and me at the beach in Pawley's Island, South Carolina.  It was cool and overcast the whole time we were there, which was actually a-ok with me...I'll take cool and overcast over boiling lava hot and a sunburn ANY DAY (must preserve the pale)!!!

My adorable mom and, my adorable (to a lesser extent) self...

I've got a few other pictures to share with you guys, but like I said I have to do a little editing before I do.  I'll probably sneak them in with my current J52 and DLP stuff a little later this week...as soon as my DLP polka dots dry!