Totally Random Thought Monday (weekend recap and some things I love ...)

(edited to verify, i did NOT make these amazing cupcakes or cake! Alas, I can only take credit for the photo. my dear friend Michele is the inspired baker and what is even more impossible to believe is these taste EVEN BETTER than they look! yes, that good!)

Okay, so brevity isn't my strong suit! But with summer in full swing, I am having to prioritize things in order to cram in all the goodness. Cowgirls' social schedule is packed with swimming, birthday parties, catching up with school friends and outings with cousins and grandparents. I have flung myself into the eye of the creative storm and have signed up for the Sketchbook Project which means I now have ah, um, FIVE sketchbooks I can be working in at any given time never mind painting for BIG and one more painting for our Painting with a Purpose Campaign. YIKES!

So today I will try to economize here and share just a taste of our life here amongst all the dandelion seeds ...

(are you getting some fluff in your eyes?)

The lovely Faerwillow has hosted a trinket trade and I was the first recipient of her box of traveling goodies. There are five items inside and I could take up to three but I had to replace them with an equal number of trinkets to pass on. I mailed the box on today to Cottage Garden Studios and cannot wait to see all the changes as the box makes its way around the world!

Amanda over at Kre8ive Life gifted me this lovely award which really does sum up my experience here in bloggyland:




I am perpetually amazed by the circle of inspiration and support that moves through our lovely community and feel blessed and fortunate to be sharing in the magic that everyone is stirring up with their words, images and art. As part of the award I am instructed to write or show five things I love and then pass the award along to five bloggers I love.

So here they are, in no particular order, the things that are giving me great joy at the moment (I am taking creative license with the question):

Toy Story 3 - We went as a family this weekend and we are giving it six enthusiastic thumbs up! I particularly enjoyed the scenes that show the kids engaged in wildly imaginative play with the toys (versus the destructive play seen in the dreaded Caterpillar room.) I laughed and yes, I cried at the end (but I also cried when Tom Hanks lost Wilson in "Castaway" so take that into account) and there are scary scenes in the Daycare which had me and Cowgirl clutching at each other for support. Apparently I had a restless sleep last night and the only thing I remember from my dreams was the bitter Teddy Bear Lots-O' but Cowgirl didn't seem to be bothered at all. I was aware in the movie of Cowgirl taking her cues from us. Even when things got tense, there usually is some kind of comic relief that lightens things up. It seems to me that what we love about scary movies is how they help us experience fear in a controlled way. We experience being both afraid and then amused, learning we can hold more than one emotion at a time and that is a pretty useful thing to know. (And I am aware of my veering off topic here and away from brevity ...)

Painting - I've said it before. I am having a blast painting with Cowgirl, painting on the floor, painting postcards, painting in my journals. It's all about the color.

Ricky Gervais and Elmo - Of course! And the podcasts and animated show with Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington are brilliant. Or maybe The Husband and I are the only ones sitting on the couch snorting as we laugh?

Wrap-N-Mats - I got these for Cowgirl's lunch box to cut down on plastic baggies for cookies and crackers. The inside is a heavy low density plastic (LDPE #4) and the outside is fabric with velcro closures. They can be used for sandwiches as well and open up as a mat to place food upon, eliminating the need for a plate. What I am not loving is next year I will have to make five lunches a week versus four, so send me your menu ideas!

Dan Zanes - The first CD I bought for Cowgirl was Dan Zanes' Night Time and it has been in our car player for 4 years now. And I still enjoy listening to it. Maybe I am crazy, or maybe it is just the great message and fun sing a-long quality of the songs but we both love his music.

And here are some blogs that I have been loving a lot lately. Hard to limit myself to five!

Kim Klassen Cafe - http://www.kimklassencafe.com/
(sign up for her gorgeous photo textures)

flowers using Kim Klassen's "Random Inspiration" texture

Kristen - http://www.kristenwalker.com/
(an inspired life in progress!)

Tracie - http://www.mybloominglife.com/
(Fellow BIG Tribe member and Creative goddess)

Amelia/101 Bird Tales - http://101birdtales.blogspot.com/
(check out her fantastic Artist Manifesto on the left hand link)

Nolwenn - http://inner-voices.net/blog/
(Another lovely from my BIG Tribe making amazing videos to excite and inspire us all.)



And since I've failed miserably at brevity here (if you have read this far, then know I truly love you!) I am adding a sixth item to my list of things that give me joy. I am always amazed and forever in love with these faces:

What are you loving today?