tbr challenge*

This new year I want to read more, not just magazines, but actual books. I received several books last year for Christmas but they have just been gathering dust.....so for 2007 at the suggesting of Laura I am putting forth the effort and will commit to the TBR challenge.

The following is my compilation of books for the TBR ~~~
**Enchantment of the Faerie Realm -- Ted Andrews
**Cesar's Way -- Cesar Millan
**Valiant-A Modern Tale of Faerie -- Holly Black
**Cottage Witchery -- Ellen Dugan
**Animal Speak -- Ted Andrews
**Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince -- JK Rowling
**The Chronicles of Narnia
1. The Magician's Nephew
2. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
3. The Horse and his Boy
4. Prince Caspien
5. The Voyage of the Dawn Trader
6. The Silver Chair
7. The Last Battle




Alternates include:
**Wicked
**Poem Crazy -- Susan Goldsmith Woolridge
**Eragon -- Christopher Paolini



Julie is also joining in on the fun, her selections include:
**The Chronicles of Narnia -- see above for the seven specific books
**Freakonomics - Steven Levitt
**The Iraq Report
**Uncle Tom's Cabin -- Harriet Beecher Stowe
**The Brothers Karamazov -- Fyodor Dostoevsky
**Oliver Twist -- Charles Dickens
**Starting your own Retail Business

PS -- Today is Julie's birthday --we celebrated at her favorite mexican restaurant.

nala~*~

this is NALA, she was rescued from an animal shelter in Stark County up by Cleveland.
she lives with my daughter and is pregnant! we had no idea when we rescued her(not
that it would had made any difference) that she was, we thought she just looked like she
might had had a litter..boy, were we wrong!! she is a tiny dog, she weighs 51pounds as
of yesterday and she doesnt look this big in real lfe, she is a tiny girl and so so sweet..
she was at our home over christmas and if she had any type of aggressive it would had
shown given the 24family members running around the house mixed in with our 4dogs
on christmas day..she was angel, in fact when my daughter left for work at 6am on
christmas day, she put nala in my bedroom and she jumped up on the bed and curled up
right next to me and went to sleep for 3more hours..i love her so much, she is just SWEET!
so will keep everyone updated on the progress..dogs are pregnant for 62days-give or
take a few. so were are figuring maybe 3rd or 4th week of january we will have the puppies!

old friends~

remember my old friend, my old teddy bear from an august post....
well, i gave him to my mom and knew she would fix him.......

well, my mom gave him a new nose, stitched some holes up, gave him a brand new sweater
and added a little bracelet i made for myself years ago that she obviously kept
all these years..when i opened the package, the tear showers started, i was a mess and
touched so deeply, my mom will never know..this was the best present, thinking of it
still makes me cry and i am still a mess.....

my mom also got me this great faerie journal, it is
full of faerie business and the like.....another favorite

this blanket in the picture my daughter gave me!! it is so yummy i cannot begin to tell

you all, the yarn is so soft and the cabling is beautiful, it is like an old friend.....she got it at

marshalls..i want to wear it like a cape.......when i get presents that touch me, i want to carry

them everywhere i go....i think i really could be a bag lady or the dog bag lady at that....

anyway, my christmas was so wonderful, i want to wrap everyone up in my blankie and carry

you all around....xoxoxo

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

WISHING YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

artfest charms

just finished these last night and thought i would share...................

i am in a 8person charm swap at artfest2007, it was a little tough for me to come up with something, why? ..i do not know, it just was, so i looked over some blogs that had some

charms for inspiration and lo and behold, someone had used the twinkle christmas lights.

my inspiration had been looking at me all along sitting on my tree....so, i pulled 8lights out, wrapped the tops with 24gauge wire, attached jump ring, took the word "enlighten" from

dictionary, printed it 8times, torn each word and lightly glued to lightbulb, then dipped each

one in my beeswax..i am quite pleased with them and hope the participants like them to...

i might even consider doing these with a different word on them for my artfest trades....xox

kringle-tini

went to dinner tonight with julie and our good friend eric(who we both work with)...
we dined at smith & wollensky's-famous for their steaks..i had filet mignon-oscar style
with crabmeat and asparagus stems...gawd, so yummy..but the best thing was my
kringle-tini....pomegranate liqueur and champagne....OMG-it was heaven rimmed in a
chilled glass with green & red sugar crystals..heaven(in my best singing voice) i will
be going out and buying the liqueur and i also have a bottle of my favorite champagne
in stock...try it is a 1/2 & 1/2 ratio mixture, the pomegranate is shaken with ice and
poured into the glass first and then topped with the champage..heaven!!!!!!

merci~

le merci pour être mon ami....translation..thank you for being my friend..

i am taking some time to reflect on all the wonderful friends and new

life- long friendships that i have met and made over the past year..i really am

truly blessed and the richest woman in the world..oprah aint got nothin' on me!

you know who you are sandy, laura, jane, anne, susie, heather, dot, julieh & all my KF

faeries & all those inspiring blogs that are done the side of my blog page, i stop there

every morning and read you while i sip my starbucks, youso inspire me....

lookingforward to an art-infused new year and

meeting new friends and continuing the life-long friendships and lots of new adventures

in new cities!!! merry christmas and happy new year!!! xoxoxox

away in a manger~

i received this box of christmas cards in the mail
yesterday from my dear faerie friend, she is a total
dog lover like myself...how perfect!!!!

holiday swap atcs~*~

everyone loved my holiday swap atcs, good thing i made lots of copies...
below are the ones i scored..very nice all of them...

holiday atc~

my 3rd tuesday of the month artful evenings is tomorrow and it is a holiday themed evening..we have a holiday themed atc swap and the below is my offering...we are to bring a brown paper bag full of scraps and things we do not use in our art, this is hard for me as i do not throw anything away on my tables but i will fill the bag and we are learning how to make snowglobes, so it should be cool for the yule!! hehehe, i sleigh myself, hey another funny, hehehehe..xoxox

treasure hunt~

went to a monthly antique flea market that is held at our state fair location, it was so great, i could so have spent double what i did!! how do you like my stable of deer, i decided to collect these this year and got some great deals on them..the bird house is handmade And was $8. couldnt resist the bottle brush wreath and the #3 typewriter key at the pitch of the roof....behind big bambi is a silver candlestick with a silver tray on it and on that is a 4footed little sauce/bowlish thing ..$5bucks a piece on the silver..i thought i would hot glue or (solder if the glue doesnt hold) the tray to the candlestick for a cake pedestal like holder and footed bowl will hold all my jewelry in the bathroom..tends to collect there!!

how bout these photos!! the gals in the glasses are for miss maude & mozart..thought they were perfect for her!!

how bout this pensive old broad, but she didnt see alot of action in her day! look how her one eybrow is raised up!!

now these 4photos of old paris, i LOVE!! they so depict how paris was back in the day...see the eiffel tower in the background of the one photo, love it!! i didnt even finish out the antique looking, i had to leave or i was in for T-R-O-U-B-L-E!!

au revoir! xoxox

black & white*

i received from

TEESHA MOORE

her newest edition of art & life..and man is in great!!!i love the trees so much that i copied the back page as my background...i had a real crapper of a day today and making this actually did make me feel better, so i hope you all approve, but i wouldnt know BECAUSE that DAMN comment thing is still broken...~@#$%^&*(++~~~*^%

ps and s..the red is down with colored pencils, stubby thing and gamsol taught by a wonderful teacher named

MAUDE & MOZART

candy canes~

first of all, i do not know what the hell is going on with the comments sectionof my blog and of course, i cannot contact anyone about because the blogger people
do not make that easy for anyone that uses this damn blogspot..are you sensing my
anger today??/ anyway, i am sorry...so enjoy the candy canes~*~*~*~*~

good night's sleep*

wow! what a difference a good night sleep makes, went straight to bed after watching the remake of "the year without santa claus" and i feel great~


me preparing to leave for airport in my faux fur coat which i never wore, but god knows if i didnt take it, i would had needed it!!!!
this is the beautiful hotel we stayed at, which was a half block from michigan avenue.
looking down michigan avenue
beautiful christmas at the john hancock building couple blocks from our hotel

horse carriages waiting our shoppers to board right in front of the water tower



julie in front of lego reindeer at the lego store..very cool designs from lego


okay, this is infamous portillo's cago-style hotdog..sesame seed bun, beef hotdog, relish, mustard, onions , tomatoes and a big dill spear..YUMMO~!!!! i am in heaven..
i love these and want one everyday!! the italian beef isnt too shabby either...



our shopping treasures........




dinner at hotel restaurant friday night with my good bestest friends!!!
xoxox~^*^~

real friendship~*~

well, i made it safely back home, but am very cranky and tired today..
our plane was an hour and a half late , so i didnt get to bed before 2AM
i will post more tomorrow, i am just tired and want to lay my head on my
desk and nap...but it was so wonderful and fun and goofy and silly and good food,
converstaion and hugs and antiquing and food and starbucks..time of my life!!!
xoxoxox~*~*~*~*~

heading out to the windy city*

received this wonderful card in the mail today from my windy city friend-

laura

who i will be spending the next three days with here..this is my christmas present to shop on the magnificent mile and how coincedinky is it that she lives there. we will be doing lots of eating, drinking tab and starbucks maybe a few martinis, our hotel has a famous martini bar and maybe doing a little art and of course some antiquing..so be back at blogging on monday...have a great weekend and stay warm...xoxoxox

mail call~

i love getting anything other that a bill in the mail & today i got
a little parcel from my friend

beecharmer

who is also one of my faerie friends from kirks folly.......
anyway, i am interupting my regularly scheduled art that i made
last night to show you what she sent me because most of it
was handmade........and i just adore it all!!!!
how cool is this holiday card personalized just for me
with my favorite coffee shop....excellent!
and this is the best, this sambucca ornament, you know
i cried, it is the spitting image of him, if he was made into an ornament..just perfect bee!!!

hey, she made a magnet out of an old tab ad...no laura
you cannot have it!!!!

and this is my faerie name..shocking, right! L-O-V-E IT!
BEE THANK-YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART.............XOXOXOX

starry night**

i love the inspiration that magazines give me..nothing pleases me more that taking a
picture of a model and plopping a big head on its shoulders..i really love this one..xox