An art teacher's trunk

Last night was our nephew's third birthday. He is growing up so quickly! This is a great age, he's talking up a storm and just saying whatever is on his mind. The theme of the party was "Cars" (as in the Disney movie) and it was all about the cars, including this cool racecar cake!
This was a view of my trunk this morning. I just thought it was funny - ah, the life of an elementary school art teacher. My kindergarteners are painting pictures of pumpkins and the fifth graders are doing papier mache (hence the flour). This isn't even showcasing the bag full of paint and yarn I was also transporting today.

1st Anniversary

Here we are - one year from our wedding day - already! It has been a great year full of travel, work, making a home together, and just enjoying being married! Looking forward to many fun years ahead!

All in all this was a pretty regular Sunday. Bill gave me a super-pretty flowering plant and I gave him a Seinfeld season dvd set. Ah, the romance. And, we got a hilarious gift from my family - matching t-shirts! We are SO wearing them out on the town. My sister got them for us at Adventureland. funny! After I got home from working at Reminisce today Bill and I went out to dinner at a new restaurant in Iowa City called Formosa. They serve sushi and do an asian fondue - it was delicious.

sketching

In honor of the world-wide sketch crawl, I crawled all the way ... to our deck to do some sketching with my purple sharpie. First Bill's bamboo wind chimes which are being awfully noisy today because of the blustery winds. Then my trusty cell phone which is about ready for an upgrade, I want something a little sleeker, and with a camera in it! Finally, the last tomato from my summer tomato plant, still hanging on - even though the rest of the plant has wilted due to a few cold nights and a forgetful water-er. I haven't done much sketching lately. It felt good. I should do more.

My New Goal...

.... is to start reading again! When I was younger, I used to read everything that I could get my hands on. Then, when I went to college, well, reading is just part of your life. But since then, I have not been as avid of a reader as I would imagine myself to be. I'm certainly still reading - magazines, art & scrapbooking "how-to" books, texts related to art education, but not novels or other books of interest! Why? I just don't make time for it (sort of like exercise - ha ha). In my free time I'm usually making something or - more often - putzing around on my laptop or watching tv. So, I've set a goal to read one book every 2 weeks. Starting right now - I'm going to dive into Running with Scissors, a book that Wendy loaned me months ago and I've been wanting to read for a long time!

Any books that you recommend for me?

lazy Sunday

Feeling very lazy today. Must have something to do with a long week of working and the gloomy weather today. I did manage to get 2 layouts done, along with some laundry and a cleaned-out closet. The first page has one of my favorite photos - it was taken in '97, my senior year in high school. I cannot believe that was almost 10 years ago. whaaat? Anyway, effer dare #40 inspired the layout. Then I decided to use the picture of B and I from the apple store this summer. It's a fun one.

Friday on the go

Just a quick Friday post.

Finished my Chalk the Walk layout last night. I like how it turned out, and it brought back good memories of that weekend.

Also got to go out to dinner with Donna and Wendy after school. That rules. It was so good to catch up with both of them.

Sent out my online newsletter this morning. I really enjoy that outlet for posting my students' work. They love to see it online, and photographing the artwork reminds me what awesome stuff we can acheive even in the midst of the sometimes-chaos in the artroom.

Homecoming week is crazy! Today we had the parade - the kids get SO excited. Fun stuff.

Working at Reminisce tonight and tomorrow! Have a great weekend, all.

Warhol Frogs

Wendy came over today to decorate some decos with me. It is always so much fun to make art with a friend - bounce ideas off of each other, play with art supplies and chat. We got lots accomplished - including this frog stamp that I finished carving. Now I want to use it everywhere! I also managed to clean house a little, do a couple loads of laundry, get to the grocery store and have breakfast with my in-laws. Very nice way to spend a Saturday.

Reminisce class

Last night I finished the sample for a class that I'm teaching at Reminisce on October 19. I was a little concerned that it would be kinda cheesy because it was from a pre-made kit, but I was pleasantly surprised when I put it together. It turned out cute! It is a book to be filled with family recipes - it would make a nice gift, I would say!

Super Tuesday

This was a super day - beautiful and sunny morning, followed by a day of happy, creative students. I read a great book called Squarehead to the kindergarteners, and their illustrations were even more hilarious than the originals. I came home to find this delightful postcard from Zhenia in my mailbox.
Faced with a few super-ripe bananas, no good options for lunch tomorrow, and a husband who was at a fantasy football draft, I decided to do some cooking. I made banana bread, chocolate chip cookies, and pasta salad. It was more cooking than I have done in... well... let's just say a long time. It felt good - and made our kitchen smell good!
And to make the evening better, it is a four day work week! Over the holiday weekend I picked up the new quilt for the guest bedroom - notice the kitty in the window - she's not so sure about the change. I worked at Reminisce on Saturday and on Sunday we went to see Snakes on a Plane (totally entertaining) with a couple friends *and* I actually went to the *gym* (whoa). Yesterday I did a little scrapbooking and mowed the lawn. My favorite page is below - photos from when we stayed at the W hotel in Chicago in June. It is a terrible blurry photo of the layout, but I Love that patterned paper!Phew! Lots has been happening. Today we also found out that Bill's brother and his wife will be having another boy in January! Bill loaned his car to his aunt and uncle for a road trip, so he brought home a Mustang convertible from the dealership tonight. We finished the evening by driving around with the top down...

TGIF

Crafting from this week: a mini-shrine to beautiful buttons, and a goofy looking flower-shaped pincushion. But, it was my first pincushion ever, so I'm feeling pretty good about it overall. Have a happy long weekend, all!