Duke

Don't let the regal posture fool you. 

He's a monster I tell you, a monster!

Hip Hero's

 Hubbie and I were "Cool"...at least in my mind we were.

That was until we had kids reminding us everyday we seemed to lack in the "Hip" department 

(my word not theirs). 

I think theirs might be "Rad" or "Phatt". 

Since I am at an age where weight and awareness go hand in hand,

being called "Phatt" is not my idea of "Cool".

Officially this week, I believe I am an "empty nester". 

Not too sure since I still can not see the floor in her room. 

 So with an empty house, we now can get back to the foundation of who we really are. 

It seemed appropriate to recreate our true identities....

We decided to paint life size figures first.

As our "Phattness" might get in the way of our "Hipness" inside spandex, at this time.

Action Hero ties the knot

He danced.

 

He frolicked.

 She swooned.

 He proposed.

Today they're married!

Happy Wedding day, Action Hero.

Flickr photos by: Ballet-school.ru

Royal Wedding and Peru

Wedding, Peru, wedding, Peru, wedding, Peru this what consumes my days now, planning a wedding and preparing to go on-line with the Peruvian hand knits for Our Hands For Hope, LLC.

So, I've found a great way a to "marry" the two...so to speak.

With wedding plans in action for my daughter and the overwhelming publicity for the 

William and Kate Royal wedding,

I was struck by the two smartly costumed William and Kate Peruvian cuy's.

Photo: Sky News

 The Cuy, which is an important animal to the Peruvian culture is highly honored at a festival in Huacho, Peru.

 Photo: It's Called Wonders

These cute little guinea pigs are costumed and paraded

to compete for best dressed.

 Awards are given for Best Dressed, Couture, and

Flickr photo: Butch Osborne (Back Soon)

Best Dressed, Epicurean!

They say they taste like chicken. Yum.

It's "Tradition"

Now that the big Spring Trunk Show is over I now am ready to concentrate on my daughters wedding.
Well, "kind of", wedding. You see they are already married. 

Let me back up 5 months....

You may remember Burbank  Baby who soon graduated to Action Hero status when she decided to ramp up her life by jumping out of flying things.

Well, her "friend" who was around "visiting" for about a year was announced that he had moved up the ranks into "Boy Friend" status. Not more than three weeks later we were told that it once again had moved up into "Engagement". 

The Friend was soon to become my first Son in Law!

His name is Jesus, pronounced "Hey Seuss" as in Doctor Seuss. That should make it very easy for me to remember his name. 

So, do you think I could call him that?

 

....Noooo...

I, for some reason refer to him as Jesus when speaking to others correctly but, when I am face to face,
I call him Jose!

I have no idea why and it now has become quite embarrassing. I would love to blame it on something profound but I have not come up with anything good as of yet. If you have any ideas, please let me know.

Now this is where the fun begins....

 On any ol', regular November  morning, I awoke and made myself a cup of coffee. I picked up my phone to see if I had received any messages over night because I have become quite a social networking kind of gal.

Oh, look. I have a text from Action Hero. 

It reads, "Getting married at the recorders office at 10:30 am today. Be there."

I turn to Hubbie and say, "Hun, get up were going to a wedding!"

I phoned a friend and asked her what she was doing at that moment. 

Her reply, "Making eggs". 

Which I then asked if she would run quickly to Safeway and pick me up a dozen roses and meet me in the Second Street parking garage.
The great and dutiful friend she is, followed direction and asked very few questions.

I then made a phone call to Action Hero and asked her what she was wearing.
She replies," I don't know yet. I'm at Target. It is the only place open right now besides Wal-Mart".

Within the next hour I am dressed, holding a mini bouquet of Safeway roses, wrapped in a left over cream ribbon that I found in the backseat of the car and sitting inside a 12 x 15 foot room inside our County Recorders office. Decorated with maroon carpeting, dusty rose chairs, two perfectly pleated burgundy polyester drapes, lovingly tied back to expose a photo mural of Napa Valley grapevines with mustard in bloom and a fake green plant sitting on top of a white wicker stand.

My daughter, beautifully adorned in her early morning Target attire and my new son in law Jose...I mean Jesus repeated their vows both in English and in Spanish for the five witnesses present.

 The entire ceremony took three minutes. The fact that it was bilingual helped extend the time.

 We took a hand full of pictures against the vineyard wall art and were then kicked out of the room because there was another wedding waiting.

"Anyone up for breakfast?" says, the new Father of the Bride.

Now for all of you who think we got off easy and are forwarding this post to your daughters in hopes that they will follow suit and relishing the good fortune we had with the lack of emotions, shopping, tastings, dress shops, bridesmaids, family dramas, cake, invitations etc.....

We are now in the throws of having a wedding. Not your ordinary wedding like you see in the movies or on the wedding blogs. 

This is what is called an authentic Latino Catholic wedding....well, kind of. 

 

 The words authentic or traditional are "Not" in Action Heros vocabulary. 

So, the wedding is becoming more and more interesting each day. 

 It seems that there are very  "traditional" ceremonial events that will need to be taking place. These have been requested by the new inlaws.
Each time something is questioned the answer is, 

"it's tradition".

 Action Hero and her lack of "Tradition" seems to be countering by expressing
her creative abilities in strange and unique ways.

This is the cover of the wedding invitations that were just mailed. Action Hero with her ability to photoshop any face into any photo has created what I have to admit is the most creative wedding invitation I have ever seen.

I was just informed that the first dance song was chosen by running through the Nokia phone ring tones and "Fur elise" was the song of choice.

 It's "tradition", from what I am told.
Not sure if it's the choosing a song from a phone or the song itself that is "tradition".

 

 Action Hero having the ability then to choose the second song has  now chosen,
"Move, Shake and Drop" by DJ Laz FT. Pitbull & Flo Rida. 

It was either that or "Get Low" by Flo Rida,
for Hubbie and I, to attend to the dance floor with our new family. 

No matter what, we lack the ability to roll with the  Rumba, Sumba or Salsa but, promise to make a valiant effort for our daughter.

I was holding out for a little "Night Moves," by Bob Segar or

 "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy," by Rod Stewart. 

 At least that way in my mind I will look just as cool 

as I thought I looked
when I danced to them the last time.......30 years ago!

Now that's "Tradition"!

Still a Burden

I wrote this exactly 3 years ago today...

Sometimes a painting can speak volumes to you. This one, "The Burden of the Materialistic Man" was done by my hubby, Dave, the world's famous artist. It holds alot of meaning for me. My burden is not the "stuff" as much as the "stuff that could be". You know...If I glued this with this it could be a ......If I painted this it could be a.....If ever I need something it could be a.....I think I'll ask him to do a painting titled, "The Burden of a Junk Junkie Woman".

I guess some things never change.

Technorati 100

Yep, that would be me number

photo: Leo Reynolds

Top 100 in Arts and Home
Technorati rankings

Now in the grand scheme of things that makes me 46,811 out of 1,252,211 blogs
So what if the Huffington Post is number 1
and
Celebrity Dirty Scandals is ahead of me.

Can they make a bubble bee out of a pipe cleaner?

Enough said.

It's my Blogoversary

3 years



Today 0n 1-11-11

Oh NO!

If it wasn't enough trying to keep track of all the jewels here in blogland by playing "hop blog". Moving from one site to the next by each blogs links.
Discovering treasures here and there and establish new friendships with like minded souls.

Then came the "follower" button where they just begin to "appear" in a cohesive manner on your personal dashboard.
Today I find this:
Stumble Upon.
Oh great, in the first 5 stumbles I find 4 that are sites I can't wait to visit again! I am torn between sifting slowly within the new found site or hurrying to "stumble upon" the next jewel.
What is a girl to do?
Too many visual sites to see and not enough hours in the day.

Running With Scissors...

Should only be done by a highly skilled professional.

Sadly, she was NOT.

Artwork by Patricia Waller

Changing things up

I learned to sew right around the time I leaned to walk.
My mom taught me, NOT while wearing an apron...it was more like instead of wearing one!

My first sewing machine was a Singer 401, new on the market the same year that I was born.
I still have it today.
It has seen many miles of thread pass through it.
I've sewn professionally for what seems like forever. From swimsuits to wedding dresses, costumes to cushions, I have sewn it all.

I have now come to the time in life that I realized grace and dignity are lacking when I attempt to stand upright after marking a hem.
Groaning on the way down, then the attempted roll to the side, to the knees then slowly up just does not have that, "I'm a professional" look to it.

So I'm changing things up. The last wedding has been completed.
My apron is coming off....

and I am passing the pin cushion and seam ripper to the next generation.

Sewing will no longer be creating stress.
It will only be for releasing it.