i do love painting...

i really do, now if only i could make more time to sit and do it. this week i am home with the kids 3 of the 4 days left for painting, so i think i will get a good bit done. i have been working on my peacock feathers and a new piece. both still a work in progress. here they are:

it has also been a birthday weekend. my oldest, Lily, turned 10! double digits. we had quite a girly party here. my mom brought over lots of decorations and we had a HonFest themed party. HonFest is a Baltimore thing, from Hampden, the neighborhood we lived in there. is also goes along well with the movie/musical Hairspray...which we also watched at the sleep-over party. there were pink flamingos everywhere and i did all the girl's hair up in beehives. we all had a great time. the girls were up pretty late squealing and "selling" gossip, whatever that means! i heard 2:30am was the record set that night. i was fast asleep in bed, although i do wish i had stayed up and eavesdropped on the gossip.

oh, and i didn't tell you all about the last place we went after our class. shoot, or did it? not again. ok...i'll do this again. we went to Oddfellows. right across the street from Cal Anderson park and underneath the century Ballroom. great place. I didn't think it was going to be good, but we loved it. the bartender was really nice. we now sit at the bar everytime. something about it seemed to make our night more fun. we had homemade ricotta crostini with fresh peas and mint....soooooo good! garlic chard...mmmmmm. and dina had a minestrone soup. i also had a negroni. i always wanted to try one. and i didn't know i was headed toward one that ngiht, but i asked about the Cynar. an artichoke liqueur. and i lead down a conversation path straight to a negroni. it was herbal and strong, with a hit of sweet...but not too sweet. i hate sweet cocktails. it was a tasty evening, and so satisfying to have finished learning that dance. i promise we will post a video. i am so flipping self conscious about it i could throw up. tuesday. tuesday. tuesday. we will film and post. i promise. well, unless i get hit by a bus before then, or get a flesh eating virus and die. then, sorry.