Here's what I've been up to.......

Here's what I've been up to in the last two weeks:
My husband and I went to see Carrie Underwood at the Savemart Center on May 18th. She played with opening acts Craig Morgan and Sons of Sylvia. Carrie was awesome! I cried twice: once when she sang "Mama's Song" to a slideshow of pictures of her and her mother from childhood to now, ending with a picture of her with her fiancé Mike Fisher. And again, when she sang "Temporary Home." We had excellent seats and sat right under Carrie as she road in the back of a vintage blue pickup suspended from the ceiling of the auditorium. Wow!
Two nights later my children were in their school musical, and I was one proud mama! Of course, we had to go out for some Cold Stone Creamery ice cream after the play.
Two days later, I took a one day road trip to San Mateo to attend this year's Maker Faire. My friend Pattie and I went to check out DIY trends and anything else we found inspiring! If you've never been to Maker Faire before you really should go. It's like a tech-geek meets indie artist thing. There are delightful roving cupcakes, indie arts and crafts at Bazaar Bizarre, incredible foods to eat, Steampunk followers, and all kinds of interactive contraptions to boggle your mind.
Here I am almost at the end of a busy work week looking forward to a 3-day holiday. Tonight we are heading to one of my favorite places each summer - the Clovis Farmers Market. Lots of fresh produce, live music, yummy foods and a great street faire vibe where I always run into at least three friends. It's the best!

Beauty Art

Yesterday I received Sephora's latest catalog in the mail. It is pure eye candy! Their exclusive beauty products are every big girls' dress up dream. Check out the new Tokidoki line. The containers alone make me want to buy the product. And I LOVE these bevel-edged pens. You'll want to channel your inner artist with these eight bold shades. They are perfect for lining my blue eyes AND for doodling on my skin. Being a doodler at heart, I can't wait to buy these and get going!

Escapism

This Sunday is Mother's Day, and I am privileged to be interviewed on Fave Crafts Radio with Tiffany Windsor. I'll be talking about the trend, Escapism. What do I mean by 'escapism'? Well, did you know that in the 1930's, horror films like Dracula, The Mummy, and Frankenstein were created so that people could go to the movies to escape from their real fears of the Great Depression? Are we doing the same thing today with 3D movies, science fiction and dark romances? Hear more about this trend on Sunday evening.

Chanel Body Art

I am in the middle of writing a trend article for Paintworks magazine and my topic is 'Keepin' It Real.' It's about the trend in realism in fashion art. In my research, I found these fabulous temporary tattoos by Chanel. Not being one to lock into anything (besides marriage and motherhood) too permanently, I must say I absolutely love these! The wrist tattoos are my favorites.

These Les Trompe L’Oeil de CHANEL Temporary tattoos are only $75 for a limited time.
The set includes fifty-five temporary tattoos, which have been hand-drawn by the Global Creative Director of CHANEL Makeup, Peter Philips.
These tattoos were shown at the Spring Summer 2010 Paris show.

Get your tattoos here.

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Good Old Days on the Peninsula

A couple of weeks ago I finally had the opportunity to get over to the coast for some much-needed "sister time." My family is sort of scattered around, with none of them living in my town. So when I can, I head over to the Monterey Peninsula to see my oldest sister. I love it there: the weather is always cooler, the flowers are always in bloom, and everyone seems really friendly - very 'small town'. We happened to arrive on the weekend when Pacific Grove celebrates "Good Old Days." There was a parade and street fair filled with artsy booths and delicious foods. I think my favorite thing to do is to drive around to Asilomar, park the car and hike down to the rocks where we love to look for sea glass, shells, and other treasures. I love to close my eyes and listen to wind. And then open them to see the ocean crash up against the rocks. I don't know how people can live in the center of the United States and rarely, if ever, visit the ocean. Here are some of the highlights of our trip.

The first thing we did on Saturday morning was head to Lighthouse Coffee, where my niece, Kate, makes the most delicious coffee drinks. Yummy!

Next we headed over to my sister's house and watched the parade from the front yard. It was freezing out! These were just some of the wicked cool cars that were in the parade. My husband has a hot rod, so this was definitely his favorite part of the parade.Then off we went to the Good Old Days craft fair to wander around, do a little shopping, eating, etc. Here, the boys got to hold some of the rescue birds that were in the parade. I bought a ring made from seaglass. We even saw a blue dog. Yes, a blue dog! The next day the weather was quite blustery. My sister took us for a drive to see the ocean along the peninsula. We drove to Carmel, hoping for the sun to appear, but it didn't happen. Oh, well........Did I mention that deer wander around in abundance here in Pacific Grove?Noah, walking with uncle Des in the rain.Here's my sweet sister in the rear-view mirror. She was telling us all about the town she loves so much! And here are my guys hanging out in the back seat.
On our final day, the sun did appear enough so that we could take a quick trip down to the beach so the boys could hike around on the rocks while we collected sea glass. Is there anything better than watching your children enjoying life's simple pleasures?

I snapped a picture of this cool little house ... unfortunately, a big truck pulled up and parked in front of it so I didn't get to take the picture from the angle I wanted. I would love to know what it looks like inside.

Back home we traveled. Rested. Relaxed. Thankful for our time together, enjoying our family.