I did something fun...

Over the weekend my hubbie went away with the guys camping. I had a lot of work to do, so that was fine...but I was so bored at the same time! After watching Amélie Friday night I felt inspired to do a random act of fun! I had seen these "Free Compliment" signs here and there on the internet, and always thought it would be fun to hang one! So found THIS blog post with a free download. LOL! I was set. It was so fun! I went all stealth-like after dark to the nearby bus stop. I quickly stuck it up with painters tape and took off. I honestly expected no one to ever take one, or it would be gone in a day or two. Well, it's still there today and four compliments have been taken!!! I check on it every time I take the dogs on a walk. It brings such joy and amusement to my heart when I see another slip of paper torn off. It makes me wonder if the person needed that particular compliment, or were they taking it to give to someone else? I guess I won't know...but it's so fun dreaming about it! You should try it!



The ones that have been taken said:

-I think you're awesome
-You look great today!
-You are beautiful exactly as you are.
-What you are doing matters.

 ❤

Lomo Saturday - It's been a while.

I sort of forgot about posting these. In fact, I forgot about actually taking pictures with my toy cameras.
What a shame! I gotta get back to it. I love them so much!

These pictures are from about a year ago already. What in the world?

Current music obsessions.

The Last Unicorn

On Sunday I got to do something so epic...in my eyes anyway! Travis and I went to see The Last Unicorn on the big screen and got to meet the author Peter S. Beagle. I don't know what it is about this movie, but when I watch it I'm a kid again. It has had a huge influence on me as a person and an artist. I used to watch it over and over, studying and admiring the art, and taking in the music. I used to draw unicorns over and over and over as a kid! I would love to have those drawings again! Maybe they will turn up someday. :)



Before the movie began, the author did a Q&A session which was really interesting.
They also had prizes, alas I did not win any.


We stood in line after to meet Mr. Beagle and of course I forgot to get a picture. I guess I was sort of star struck. LOL. I mean, being an introvert it took everything I had just to meet him in the first place! He was very sweet. Anyway, I ended up buying this extremely awesome hardback book full of amazing art. I had him sign both that and my 1978 paperback.


I'm not kidding, when this scene started, I cried like a baby. I hid it well...but it was hard. I had tears streaming down my cheeks. I couldn't help it. The nostalgia is so strong it just melts me into a big puddle of mush.


And this.


So guess what I'm reading right now! I feel totally ashamed to say, this is my first time reading this book.
So far it's amazing. How did I wait so long?
There is definitely The Last Unicorn related art in my future.

"Your Kiss Is On My List"

My newest painting inspired by one of my favorite Hall & Oats songs! 

"Your Kiss Is On My List"

11"x14"

acrylic on canvas

Print available HERE.

Bike Trip Critters

I can't even tell you how many turtles we saw!! They were SO cute!


A couple more little dudes from my break while Travis changed flat tires.

Dustin's 20th Birthday....

So my son is 20.

His birthday was September 7th.

MY son. 20.

What the heck? How did this even happen? 

 

Hope you had a great birthday Dustin! 

God has blessed me beyond my wildest dreams! You're amazing!

Pittsburgh to DC Bike trip in a massive nut shell

If you have been following me on Facebook, it's possible you are sick of hearing about this. Alas, I need to do an "official blog post" about it! My husband and I have been planning and training for about a year for this! When we first started riding our bikes more often, 20 miles felt like SO FAR. When Travis mentioned that he wanted to ride his bike from Pittsburgh to DC Labor Day 2013, I thought that was a crazy idea. I mean...I knew I could do it if I trained, but it just seemed like a little much. LOL! But yea, Travis and I have this problem with goals. If we get one, we usually make it happen.

So after many weekend rides and lots of preparations...we were ready and on our way!    

We left Pittsburgh September 1st. We originally planned on leaving from Point State Park, but silly Siri couldn't get us there (I decided that everything that goes wrong on our phone is Siri's fault). We just decided to start at Station Square instead. It would be easier for us to park and Dustin to drive home after we unloaded anyway.

Day 1: Pittsburgh, PA to Connellsville, PA - 60 miles.

The day over all was very easy. Right before we came into Connellsville, Travis broke a spoke. Thank goodness we caught Bikes Unlimited still open! They stayed late just to fix his bike. We were so thankful!

Day 2: Connellsville, PA to Frostburg, MD - 76 miles.

The second day was tough. The elevation hike was a little harder, and we also had two flats. It was also the hottest day of our ride. Other than that, the trail was great! If you ever get a chance to ride the Great Allegheny Passage...do it!

When we finally got to Frostburg we were flippin TIRED. To our dismay, Frostburg is a city on a mountain. Before we got to our B&B, we had to climb this switchback.

Then to get to the rest of the town for dinner, we had to climb this:

Needless to say, our legs weren't working so well at the end of the day. LOL!

Day 3: Frostburg, MD to Hancock, MD - 76 miles.

Ah!!! Down hill for 15 miles. Exactly what we needed after a hard first two days. Not to mention it was beautiful! We did end up having one flat...no biggie. 

Cumberland is where the Great Allegheny Passage ends and the C&O Canal Towpath begins.

Almost half way there!

The C&O Canal Towpath was really interesting. I didn't know anything about the canal until our ride!

My body was ready.

Tons of old locks and misc ruins along the way.

This tunnel was SUPER CREEPY. It was really really long, wet, deep and dark. The floor was really uneven so you had to walk your bike through. I did not like it one bit! :p

Poor Travis. He got really good at changing inner tubes!

Day 4: Hancock, MD to Harpers Ferry, WV - 64 Miles

This was the first "uneventful day". Lots of pretty stuff again. Long long trails in the woods. That's about it! 

Harpers Ferry was a pretty cool place. Lots of history and nice scenery.

My only complaint was...everything was closed in the evening! We were lucky to find one place to eat.

All we wanted was dinner and a beer. . . God Bless Secret Six Tavern!

Day 5: Harpers Ferry, WV to Washington DC to home in Alexandria, VA -  74 miles

WOOHOO! Last day! This day was really pleasant.

Probably because we knew that there wasn't much more. 

 

Found this awesome tree! You know this one will show up in a painting sooner or later! 

 

Finally made it to mile marker ZERO! The bike trail didn't exactly lead up to it. Some nice trail patrol guy named "Norman" gave us a paper with directions on how to find it. Kind of tricky!  Right before we got to Mile -0- Travis broke his bike again. Poor guy! We were riding and I suddenly heard a loud sound and saw a puff of dust coming off of his back tire. We originally thought he broke another spoke, but it was the metal part that the spoke attaches onto at the hub. HA! He wobbled all the way home. 

 

Heck yes. Notice awkward photobomb in the back.

A couple peacefully basking in the shade, gazing into each others eyes.  

About 10 more miles...and we're home!! WOOHOOOO!

It was quite anticlimactic. We rolled into the parking lot, took a selfie and put our bikes in the basement. 

It was definitely an amazing adventure I will never forget. We were blown away by the perfect weather too! The first two days were supposed to have rain, but we managed to miss it all. While we were riding, we decided to make a goal...bike tour in New Zealand! Well, we'll see. That's wayyyy in the future. But we will do it. Oh yes we will.