Weekend highlights
It was a quieter than usual weekend. Since Irv works an odd schedule, every other weekend is my time to try to catch up with things while also trying to rest and relax (not an easy thing when there's not enough time to get things done.)
Yesterday was very exciting because I FINALLY finished my coyote. I've been working on him for four or five months. The next time I choose to paint something that has fur, please ask me if I'm crazy.
Here's my very impressionistic rendition of him (or her). I have to admit that I'm in love with it. I think it's my best work yet. I ordered a frame for it today and in three weeks when it's finally dry I'm going to frame it and take it to work to hang in my new office.
I must be turning into a "real" artist. A couple months ago I started a second painting that I could work on while the layers on my coyote were drying.
This is the second in my "New Mexico" series. (Who knew I had a series?) It's a work in progress and is unfinished, but it's coming along. It's my Christmas painting and maybe it will be done by then. I love luminarios when I was growing up in Albuquerque and this reminds me of those days.
After painting class I needed to finish up my 10 thousand steps for the day before meeting Irv for dinner. Although I'm not a proponent of women going hiking alone, I thought Garden of the Gods would be safe since the trails are always super crowded (unless they're covered with snow and ice).
I headed off on a trail we hadn't explored before--the foothills trail which connected up to the Dakota trail. As luck would have it I was pretty much by myself on these trails. I only encountered a runner and his dog.
Before long the trail intersected with the Palmer trail which is my favorite in the park. There isn't a view much better than this anywhere on earth. Although it was a perfect day I only ran across a handful of people on the trail. I ended up with 13 thousand steps when I left the park. I'm a happy camper if I get to spend time in nature and I get my steps done.
It was such a beautiful day that I decided to do a little shopping while I was waiting for Irv. Time to update the spring/summer wardrobe with some dresses to wear to work. I love wearing dresses, however, sometimes it's hard to wear dresses when you work in IT. I do lots of crawling under desks. That's why I have a change of clothes that I always keep at work.
I had all kinds of things planned for Sunday. I was going to get up early and go to church before running some errands and going grocery shopping. The only problem was that I woke up in the middle of the night with a migraine. Over the past several weeks I've experienced more than the usual amount of migraines, or they might better be called stress headaches. Stress is the name of the game these days which is why it's all the more important to have those trips to the mountains on the weekends.
By noon I was feeling okay so I got the house picked up and cleaned as good as possible without a vacuum. My Dyson is under the weather and is getting some work done. I feel extremely uncomfortable in a house that can't be vacuumed every couple days, but I'm learning to deal with it.
Then I decided winter was officially over and unloaded all the winter weather gear from my car (except for the snow boots--just in case). After that I drove into town and went to the full service car wash to get the inside and outside thoroughly cleaned now that I have declared winter is done.
I had to stop by the grocery store on my way home to pick up the fixings for one of my sweetie's favorite meals. When I got home I went a little crazy with the cooking/baking.
Yesterday was very exciting because I FINALLY finished my coyote. I've been working on him for four or five months. The next time I choose to paint something that has fur, please ask me if I'm crazy.
Here's the photo that I captured at Yellowstone last summer.
Here's my very impressionistic rendition of him (or her). I have to admit that I'm in love with it. I think it's my best work yet. I ordered a frame for it today and in three weeks when it's finally dry I'm going to frame it and take it to work to hang in my new office.
I must be turning into a "real" artist. A couple months ago I started a second painting that I could work on while the layers on my coyote were drying.
This is the second in my "New Mexico" series. (Who knew I had a series?) It's a work in progress and is unfinished, but it's coming along. It's my Christmas painting and maybe it will be done by then. I love luminarios when I was growing up in Albuquerque and this reminds me of those days.
After painting class I needed to finish up my 10 thousand steps for the day before meeting Irv for dinner. Although I'm not a proponent of women going hiking alone, I thought Garden of the Gods would be safe since the trails are always super crowded (unless they're covered with snow and ice).
I headed off on a trail we hadn't explored before--the foothills trail which connected up to the Dakota trail. As luck would have it I was pretty much by myself on these trails. I only encountered a runner and his dog.
Before long the trail intersected with the Palmer trail which is my favorite in the park. There isn't a view much better than this anywhere on earth. Although it was a perfect day I only ran across a handful of people on the trail. I ended up with 13 thousand steps when I left the park. I'm a happy camper if I get to spend time in nature and I get my steps done.
It was such a beautiful day that I decided to do a little shopping while I was waiting for Irv. Time to update the spring/summer wardrobe with some dresses to wear to work. I love wearing dresses, however, sometimes it's hard to wear dresses when you work in IT. I do lots of crawling under desks. That's why I have a change of clothes that I always keep at work.
I had all kinds of things planned for Sunday. I was going to get up early and go to church before running some errands and going grocery shopping. The only problem was that I woke up in the middle of the night with a migraine. Over the past several weeks I've experienced more than the usual amount of migraines, or they might better be called stress headaches. Stress is the name of the game these days which is why it's all the more important to have those trips to the mountains on the weekends.
By noon I was feeling okay so I got the house picked up and cleaned as good as possible without a vacuum. My Dyson is under the weather and is getting some work done. I feel extremely uncomfortable in a house that can't be vacuumed every couple days, but I'm learning to deal with it.
Then I decided winter was officially over and unloaded all the winter weather gear from my car (except for the snow boots--just in case). After that I drove into town and went to the full service car wash to get the inside and outside thoroughly cleaned now that I have declared winter is done.
I had to stop by the grocery store on my way home to pick up the fixings for one of my sweetie's favorite meals. When I got home I went a little crazy with the cooking/baking.
We had some bananas that were a little over ripe so I decided to whip up six dozen mini banana chocolate chip muffins. I was going to take them to work tomorrow then I realized that I wasn't going to work tomorrow. I have a State 4-H Horse Advisory Committee meeting in Fairplay tomorrow.
My chocolate craving needed to be satisfied so I make a small pan of brownies. (Mr. Beans might be jealous.)
Lastly, I had to feed my sweetie so I made a pan of Smoked Sausage Alfredo Bake with homemade Alfredo sauce. Yummy! (See my new 6-burner stove? Love it!)
So now I have an important decision to make before next Saturday.
5"x7" or 20"x24"???
I'll be starting a new painting next Saturday and I need to choose the canvas size. I've not tried a mini before. Surely that size wouldn't take five months to complete, but it might be such detailed work that it would be frustrating. Decisions, decisions, decisions.
What do you think?
Comments
I'm in major trail envy of you.