I'm so EXCITED!!!

Ok for those of you who grew up in Sacramento, do you remember Captain Mitch?? Or maybe Captain Delta will ring a bell? He was the captain of The Valley Queen, an imaginary boat that floated down the lazy river, kids that were chosen to be on the show would use the spyglass and introduce cartoons with the "cartoon ahoy!" cheer, and off we go to watch our favorite cartoons. Mr. Magoo and Bugs were my favorites. Oh how I wanted to be on that show!!! My brother and I applied but were never chosen, :( But I loved Captain Mitch!! He has such a great smile!!

Well, 2 years ago at my in-laws wedding I got to meet him! Yes Captain Mitch is alive and well!! They have been friends for many years which I didn't know until their wedding. I was like a kid when I met him the first time! My daughter thought I was nuts she just kept shaking her head at me and laughing. A kid in a candy store I was!!! I got to spend time with him again since then, he attended a dinner party at my in-laws which was also fun, and exciting but there were many people there so I didn't get much of a chance to talk to him.

But… tonight… we are going to dinner over their house and it will be just the 5 of us!!! I get Captain Mitch all to myself!! I'm so very excited!! Is that weird? :o

Here is a photo of me and Captain Mitch 2 years ago when I first met him. (Wow my hair has really grown!)

I don't look happy do I?? :) Yahoo!!!!!!!! Yipee!!!!!!

Ok, be well, Tj.

My soon to be art studio and more!!

I am getting soooo close to having my own art studio!! I am so excited, I just can't wait! The office is totally moved… so… my art studio is being prepped for paint! I chose a golden yellow color. I hope it isn't too bright, it's called sunrise beach. The color of the walls was such a difficult decision! I wanted something that would look good behind my art. Something not too bright but not dull either. I guess if it is too much I can always paint again! Our house is such a mess right now. Stuff piled up everywhere, but I guess that is natural when you are moving things around. It will be great to have our living room be just our living room and get all my art supplies out of the corner!
I really feel like I'm moving in the right direction now, I ordered business cards which should be here any day now! And I ordered post cards, not sure what I'll do with them, but I got them for practically nothing. Just shipping! If you need cards or stickers or magnets I absolutely suggest vista print. http://www.vistaprint.com/ Their prices can't be beat, they have a great selection of templates, the website is easy to understand. Anyway, check these out…
My business card:
My post card:

Don't be surprised if you get one in the mail!!!

Anyway, the foundation for my art career is being laid. Once my studio is done I can start painting again… I haven't been doing much because we have been working on the house. And well I work full time, and there has been much going on with the swell sisters! The Swell Sister Society is such a great group of women. I am learning so much and just drawing inspiration from them ALL. Last week, Cheryl, one of the Swell Sisters, graciously opened her home and taught a group of us how to do gourd art! I'll have to post a photo of my bird house gourd I made. It was fun, and came out much better than I would have imagined! I really enjoyed it! The wood burning, carving, diviting and staining! Oh what sights and smells!! I hope we do gourds again, it was a blast!

We had our monthly Swell Sister meeting last week also, we had a guest speaker, Gioia Fonda who is one of the owners of Tangent gallery here in Sacramento. http://www.tangent-gallery.com/ She spoke to us about pink week. The Pink Week holiday's main purpose is to celebrate, observe and commemorate the color pink for pink's sake. Pink Week is a non-profit art piece with absolutely no political, religious or social agenda other than pink. Not to be confused with pink ribbons for breast cancer awareness or pink triangles representing homosexual identity, though both have great value in the world. During Pink Week, pink just means pink. For more info on pink week or how you can participate go to http://www.pinkweek.org/

Ok, that's it for today, be well. Tj.

52 wait what????

Ok, I turned 52 two days ago. This is the second time I typed that and it still looks and sounds really strange! 52, how does that happen? But I guess really it's a great thing right! I have all those years of expierencing life and I am just that much closer to retirement! It could be worse. So yes it was my birthday, and I had a great weekend. Spent time with lots of family and friends.

Friday, Joe and I went to the Sacramento song circle. I took my ukulele and played with other people in the room for the first time. It was scary and exciting all at the same time! And we sang our butts off as usual. Always fun.

Saturday, Lindsey and I joined some of my Swell Sisters and went to the opening of the Verge Gallery. They had their Circus show. It was full of great art, preformers, games. I won a ping pong ball in a bag o water! The show was all about animal abuse in the circus. The game I played was tossing a gold fish (plastic of course) into a bowl with a ping pong ball. And I won! Funny twist on the ping pong ball toss into a bowl with goldfish! The art was disturbing and grand, artists from all over came together for this show. The Verge is a huge space! Lindsey wasn't feeling good, so I took her home and Joe returned from a gig as I was about to go back so he went with me! I was glad, he got to meet some of my swell sisters, and spend the rest of the evening with me! One of my swell sisters Laurelin Gilmore was having her first Second Saturday art show. So we all went to go share the expierence with her! She did great, sold many of her works, had lots of people come through, got lots of great compliments!! Way to go Laurelin!

Sunday, my actually BD, I went to brunch with my family including my brother Tim and nephew Thaddeus. We went to Pancake Circus. They have the best pancakes in town!!! Yum! After, Lindsey and I went to the 24th street Theater to see Anything Goes. It was a fun show! Brought back some memories for us, Lindsey was in that show in high school, she played one of the angels. Sunday night I went to the Torch Club. Joe was playing with Stacie Eakes and the Superfreaks. My birthday was announced over and over! I really felt loved!!!!

I took off yesterday to rest, whew. Today I went to a birthday lunch with my co-workers. Wow! How many days does a birthday last anyway!!!

On another front... we are almost done moving our office! Just some of the left over don't know what to do with stuff left to figure out. Then, I have to come up with a paint color for my new studio!!! I am having a hard time because I love color. But since I'll be working in there I don't want the wall color to affect my work. Anyone have any suggestions???

Ok, that's it for today. Be well!! Tj.