A Little Bit of Magic

On Monday afternoon I headed to Midtown to met up with couple of people at PolyEsther's Costume Boutique. We were picking out things for me to wear later that night. At around 5pm I was sitting in a chair back stage at Good Luck Macbeth getting makeup and hair done. Within the hour I was totally transformed from plain old me, into a fairy princess.

 

What the heck was I up to? I jumped in at the last minute as the model for Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School. See if your community has a chapter. This is a great way to get out there and draw, paint, doodle, and sketch. The theme for the evening was the work of James Jean. Modeling was really fun and look at these amazing doodles that came out of the evening! I used the two twenty minute sessions to really just sit and be calm. It was like a meditation, I would totally do it again if the opportunity should present itself. 

Artists credit: Steve Jasper, Donna Jean Koepp, and Kaleb Temple.

eat and drink

For camping, we sure do it up right in the food and drink department....

I mean, who gets home-brewed hard apple cider on tap when they camp? The Simpson's.

Who gets fresh baked Tripple Cs when they camp? The Simpson's 

Pancakes and hot coffee every morning... you guessed it? The Simpson's 

 

What about freshly cut artichokes and that day picked strawberries? uh yeah, The Simpson's

  

And when we are out and about, finding the BIGGEST ice cream cones we can find... Heck to the YES, The Simpson's 

We also held strong to tradition and made sure the nightly campfire wasn't lonely. S'mores please!

 

colorful winter

Winter color

cupcakes

candles

Flutters in the breeze.

Maybe I should have saved this post for next Thursday?!

Mission Accomplished.

Thanks to my mom who took the littles for a sleep over, we slipped away to Lake Tahoe for a bit of music and a night without kids. 

In the morning we had breakfast, visited over coffee and took an random walk. These are the sort of things that have been pushed aside in the past year, those quiet moments together without a lot of distraction.

After, we got in our separate cars and headed out for our own adventures. He, to play golf and be with the kids. Me, to head into the Bay Area and have a solo 24 hours in the city. 

I got into the Bay Area a lot earlier than I had planned, I took a nap in the big king sized bed and didn't feel one bit of guilty about it. I then got ready, pulled on my big-girl-driving-in-the-city-pants, and headed out to the art class I was taking at Teahouse Studios in Berkely.

These two shots were taken by others in the class, one of me working and one of my work.

This is such an easy process and I am really looking forward to attempting it at home- I like that I don't need to go out and buy a lot of new supplies and that the it doesn't require much more than my kitchen table for space.

It was so wonderful to see how each person explored this new technique. 

I love a good creativity mess. 

Our three hours went by incredibly fast, I think I could have been in all that good energy for another three!

After class, I made my way back to the hotel- stopping first for In-n-Out, Animal Style Fries and a chocolate shake. Totally worth the calories. I burned some of them off the next morning during a run in the fog.

My plan for Saturday was to to not really have a plan. I knew I wanted to go into San Francisco and wander around with my camera(s), but other than that, I had only a vague idea of where and what I would do.. These weren't the images I thought I would come away with, but I really like where my camera took me all the same.

The Teahouse Girls gave me some good ideas on where to go, stores to wander and bakeries to try. They told me where good places to park were and to just have a great time. I loved that they 'got it' and encouraged me to just go enjoy.

I didn't have a map, I don't really have a good sense of direction when I am away from home, but I decided I was just going to go for it.

I realized as I was driving and getting totally lost, that if I just listened to myself, believed in myself, that I would eventually find where I needed to be.

I followed the signs, stayed calm. If I missed my exit or took a wrong turn,  I could always back track.

 

Sort of like life....

I wound up in the Mission District. What a colorful, busy place it is.

I didn't take as many photos as I thought I would, but I loved taking in a part of the city that I hadn't really spent time in before.

 

It was a warm and sunny day, everyone was out enjoying there Saturday.

The people watching was phenomenal, but what I was really drawn to were patterns, shapes and colors.

I drove home with pop songs blasting from the radio and the sun roof open. I decided that the best way to finish my trip was to stop at Donner Lake for a swim.

 

I hadn't gotten into the lake all summer long, how had I let that happen?
I always feel like I can wash away anything when I hit that water.

I waded in and then plunged in head first.Just like I had when I was a kid, with my eyes wide open under the water. When I came up I let the afternoon waves lap up on my face, the smell of the pine trees dance in my nose and the late afternoon sun shine on my skin.

 

I drove the rest of the way home with nothing but my bikini and a sweat shirt on, soaking the lake water into the upholstery of my car. I turned off the music and just let my thoughts drift, they were surprisingly quiet and calm. 

Just what I had hoped for.

Day at the Museum

Friday, the new day care was closed for an in-service teacher day. I have been really missing the kids a lot lately, so I happily took half a day off with them to play and explore. My mom and I loaded up the kids and headed over to the Nevada Discovery Museum. 

The "Clouds" were closed, but Truckee Connects was open and the kids had fun playing in the water.

Then we moved upstairs where the kids played explored building paths for balls and marbles to roll down, played with wind and checked out how a house is built.

 

 

But my my favorite part of the visit was when the kids got to paint on the big window or the "Clear Canvas".

O's and Fifi's faces were priceless when she realized it was okay for them to paint somewhere other than paper.

Damned ol' Rodeo

Sometimes I scratch my head the fact that I don't bring anything but a fixed focus lens to events like the rodeo.

My zoom would be so much more appropriate, I could get closer and get some actions shots.

But, I don't like lugging around the heavy that is associated with such things.

So I just keep the trusty 50mm in my purse, and go with it.

And you know what?



When I am going through the images at the end of the evening or the next day, I am actually really happy with what I get.

This lens lets me be in low light situations.

It makes pretty bokeh and catches the light on the details the way I like.

It lets me be just a little bit more sneaky, or as sneaky as one can get with a dSLR in their hands.

 

So I can get shots that I totally wouldn't get if I had a giant lens swinging around.

 

It lets me catch the details in the stands.

Did you know you can tell where a cowboy is from, just by looking at the style of hat he wears?

So last night, I caught the rodeo in the General Admission seats. It's not just what is happening in the arena that I love.

The crowd, I love the crowd. I think half, if not 3/4 of the fun of going to the rodeo is the people watching.

Sometimes silly stuff happens, like when you might get heckled by some kids about taking photos of the cotton candy guy. Those same kids will make silly faces and ham it up for the snap of the shutter.

The Riches, Wildest, Rodeo in the West.

What a windy wonderful night it was, summer has official started.

Amen.