Best Friends Forever

Last week Best Friend and I celebrated our Best Friend Anniversary. We met in Junior high and became Best Friends when we were High School Freshmans. To celebrate, we had Afternoon Tea at the Huntington Tea Room, my favorite tea place of all time.

We sat in the Herb Room by the window which overlooks the herb garden.

I should have taken more pictures of the delicious petite sandwiches but I was too busy eating them. Why is this tea room my favorite? It is all you can eat!

At least I remembered to get a photo of the yummy desserts.

The first time I saw my Best Friend she sat behind me in P.E. She had on thick braces and coke bottle glasses. She was shy.

It was a perfect match because I like to jibber jabber and eventually she opened up.

The day we decided to be best friends, we bought a cheap heart charm that with the words Best Friend inscribed on it that we can split in half. Though I have no idea what happened to that crappy charm, every year we celebrate that day and I feel so lucky to have
a Best Friend to go through life with.

Missin You

Back before the man, the kids & the dogs, the Cat (!)...I used to have all this glorious time. It was time spent painting away, in fine detail, layer by layer in oil paints. First the mood was set with some romantic yet melancholy music. Then I would prepare the canvas with 3 coats of gesso, each coat sanded into a smooth porcelain finish, then 7 layers of translucent glazes...oils laid on on top of each other to produce a feast for the eyes...each layer would take at least a week to dry. A painting would be worked on for months. The result would be a painting that holds light that creates an optical illusion of luminosity...like a jewel to be treasured for all eternity.

Well that was then. Nowadays I'm lucky to be able to check my email and blog a bit. Or pee. But I do miss oil painting so much. I love the look I am getting with my digital paintings. Acrylics will do but it just doesn't have that smooth jewel-like look that lasts centuries–paintings in museums...all done in oils. In fact oil paintings only get better over time because it is ever changing and becoming more translucent over time. Hence my conflict-TIME. It takes much time to create. Time to dry. Maybe someday I can get back to it...in the meantime feast your eyes on these oldies but goodies.

I know I know, these paintings aren't exactly going to make it into the Louvre

The idea of painting something that isn't a little mischievous would be so BORING!

The following are some trouble making teenage dollfaced oil paintings

The detail is in the dollface!

Testing out the new camera...again.

I have some kind of problem where cameras just don't work for me. Let me rephrase this better: I have a problem where I kill cameras. This is my 3rd camera in 3 months! Before that I had this trusty old HP camera 5 megapixels model that I kept buying. The initial one I think came off the back of a truck because I bought it cheap from somebody at the factory where I worked who got it from his cousin's friends' brother from Mexico, or something. It never really worked and every picture I took turned out red. Then I bought a re-burbished version from the manufacturer that I messed it up taking it on a horseback riding tour in Ireland. Too much bouncing around I guess. 3rd time I dropped it and the lens wouldn't open up. Then recently I got myself a small little Canon Powershot and it only lasted a couple of weeks. It flew out of my hands twice, dropped a few times and finally died because my hand got in the way when the lens was extending. Then I borrowed the Mister's nice Olympus SLR and I tripped the tripod the 2nd day of the loan and ruined his lens. (He took that camera across country for 3 months without a scratch). He said he'd buy me the "camera of my dreams" for my birthday present but you know, I'm not sure I should handle a camera that isn't shock proof and maybe wearing a bullet proof vest. So I was looking for something that is decent enough but not really that great and inexpensive. So I went to ebay and found this 10 mega pixel Nikon CoolPixL100 for a great price. I bid on it and got it for $150 incl shipping which is not bad. It is last years model and refurbished but was used as a salesman demo. So here are a couple of close ups. Not too grainy, check. Macro function, good. Creepy doll factor, yep. I'd say I'm happy with my purchase thus far.

We shall see how long this lasts. I also have problems where I keep ruining hard drives and things disappear of my memory cards for no reason but that is for another post.

I still love Mc Donalds

My grandpa used to take us (me, my little brother and sister) to Mc Donalds and it would be such a treat. He is the kind of man that wears tweed suits with a tweed cap. He likes his vegetables steamed and bland and eats at exactly the same time everyday and drinks his carrot juice as his youth elixer...but his one vice is that he loves Mc Donalds and for me going to MC D's with Grandpa was special because he was a busy man with many many grand children. (and I really do mean MANY)

So it is no surprise that I still LOVE Mc Donalds! Yes, I've seen "Supersize Me" and maybe its not PC anymore to love places that serve foods laden with fat but it is so much fun to swing by the drive-thru after the park with the kiddies and grab a Filet O Fish, apple pie, some fries, Chicky Nuggies (as we call em) or my favorite...the Soft Serve. YUM.

Back when me and best friend used to ditch high school guess where we'd end up. You know it. Back then it cheeseburger Happy Meals for us. During my pregnancies I lived on Hot Cakes and Sausage platters. I guess I needed the 700+ calories.

I admit I do feel a slight guilt going there and I try not to toooo much and I like to tell myself that the soft serve is low fat and has only 140 calories! But as soon as I take that bite the guilt just sorta melts away.

Oh and Grandpa will be 93 this year and he still loves Mc Donalds. By love I mean he goes there EVERYDAY. His thing is to go to various Mc Donalds in the city and makes my aunts and uncles (the adults we call them) take him there and you often see the "adults" wiping the mayo off their sandwiches. He is so happy when he goes there and so they just let him. Forget the health concerns, he is 93! He rolls in there with tweed get-up and is like a big kid again eating his Filet O Fish and Apple Pie. Maybe it is the Mc Donalds that is his elixer of youth.

Luvchild Couture

Here it is, my new shop featuring my hand screen printed T-Shirts! I haven't decided if I am going to set up yet another blog or just use this mischievous one. I will be here pondering on that one for a bit.