My head is spinning - My hands are painting - My heart is laughing ...

I just can't seem to get on the ball with daily posts ... well, weekly would almost be a better goal for me!!

Life is full of:

scraps of paper filled with thoughts and plans for book club

long-winded emails transcribed from scraps! (poor recipients...)

telephone work to establish plans

face painting designs/display board

face painting beautiful faces at book fair

face painting beautiful faces at upcoming field day

... and so on the list goes.

The most exciting project currently - which has my heart laughing :) - is the Book Club!! So many plans!

Our summer reads are ...

My plan is to start our meeting with book discussion, break for lunch and then creative time! On the agenda:

Kool Aid Tye Die T's

Acrylic Paintings on Canvas Board

Homemade Marbleized Stationary

Sand Painting

Clay Bead Jewelry

Tin Candle Luminaries

While reading the Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs, I am challenging the girls to each find one wonder of our community and create a painting to reflect that wonder. Those paintings will then be displayed in their very own art gallery at our Community's Riverside Festival, wherein we will be raffling off themed baskets of books to benefit our town's renaissance committee (which hosts the festival). Additionally, I am having postcards created with the girls' paintings printed on them to sell - all profits will be donated to another community foundation - possibly the library ... seems fitting!

Truly, I am giddy!

We will be closing our summer reads with 11 Birthdays. The plan is to have each girl purchase a gift to donate to a pre-selected organization in need, i.e., Orphans of the Storm, Women's Shelter, Nursing Home, etc. We, as a club, will deliver our presents, and thereafter, gather for a big, birthday par-tay - complete with cake, music, dancing, balloons & games!

I am soooo looking forward to summer!

How about you? :)

Then followed that beautiful season... Summer....

Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light; and the landscape Lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood.

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Heavens! Mid-May already??

I can hardly believe how much time has passed since my last post!

Let's see ... what has taken up my time these days?

More paintings ...

To complete my set ... (see prior post below)

Faith ... with wings.

These little spring birds were painted when I was inspired by a fellow artist's sculptured, feathered friends, Donna from Donna's Art. My apologies, Donna, for taking so very long in sharing!

a "Marriage of Families" Canvas Wall Hanging for the Huff Family.

I am looking forward to capturing a photo of this painting hanging within its home in the Huffs' dining room. When I do, I will share. :)

...Humph...what else?

Geez, since February? ...

Flu bugs that nested in and stayed for weeks; Birthdays that last beyond their celebratory day (as they should!); Gray hairs that screamed for coloring; Two weeks that were spent utterly consumed in the Twilight series (obsessive is more like it ... have you read them? If not, scratch out a good chunk of time and indulge yourself!! As a girlfriend of mine declared, "Edward ruined it for all men" ...(sigh) Edward .... I'll stop here - otherwise, this post will be of nothing else! (sigh) ... :)

...to continue ... Girl Scout Meetings that required lengthy planning of a World Vision Sponsorship and four badges (woo-hoo! This was a feat - trust me!); and currently, the revival of the Friends in the Park Book Club. This is a summer book club that I host for my daughter and her friends. We hope to cover four books this summer, while enjoying the lazy summer days, brown bag lunches, cherished stories, backyard games and arts & crafts. It should be fun ... :)

Of course, as every mom knows, these activities were sprinkled throughout the daily tasks of: mealtime, cleantime, playtime, mealtime, cleantime, naptime, mealtime, cleantime, playtime, bedtime ... whew! LOL!

So - in other words - life as usual. ... And, I wouldn't have it any other way.

May you live every day of your life.

-Jonathan Swift