A lazy Sunday hike with friends followed by a most yummy dinner. We spent the afternoon hiking the trails in Mandeville Canyon, something I need much more of in my life this year. It was such a lovely day, there was none of that nasty L.A. fog to impede our view, you could see Catalina Island so clearly. This was two firsts today, hiking a trail I've never been on and hiking with Little Man. He added a 20+ lbs of resistance so it was also a good workout. The workout of course was completely negated by the rich dinner I ate of halibut with crab and a herb butter sauce, red cabbage with goat cheese and of course there was an artichoke dip to start. I've only eaten at Houston's twice now but I was quite impressed. Top it all off with good company and it was by far one of the better Sundays I've had in a while.
(Little Man really did not want to wear his hat but unfortunately for him he inherited my Nordic fair skin and a sun burnt baby was not one of the firsts I wanted to experience today.)

On another note Elsie over at A Beautiful Mess is treating herself to a reward if she completes her goal of 10 paintings this week. She's inviting everyone to challenge themselves along with her and I am ecstatically/hesitantly jumping on that bandwagon. It's a good way to motivate, I just hope I don't drop the ball on this. So my goal is to get my garage cleaned out this week. This will help check a few things off my list like getting organized and being able to park in the garage (which will hopefully motivate me to wash my car).
Now the reward for completing this goal was inspired by ROOTMIX. It's been quite a long time since I last worked with my encaustics and I found myself longing to dig them out again. So once the garage is finished,which will yield boxes of said encaustic equipment, I have the perfect spot picked out to set up a workspace. A reward that will hopefully inspire more creativity this year.

small town (on a box)

Whenever I'm in Az one of my favorite things to do is to go thrifting with my mom. It's her fault I'm so addicted to thrift stores and yard sales. It's something we've been doing all my life. This past Thanksgiving while I was visiting, one of my favorite finds was a vintage tin recipe box with the loveliest little village scene on it from the SYNDICATE MFG. CO.


Getting organized and keeping written records of my ideas and projects are among my goals for this new year. I will be using this treasure to hold my ideas. I've decided that all my ideas will get written down on its own 3x5 index card and kept safely in my recipe box. As I go through each card and test out my ideas the ones that actually workout will then be documented with instructions and pictures in my project journal (more about this later) for safe keeping.

If I'm feeling crafty and want to make something but not sure what, I can reach in and find a box full o inspiration. Plus I won't lose ideas anymore. I can't tell you how many times I've had an idea and didn't write it down and then forgotten what it was. Well no more. Now they will all have a home.

2010 the blogyssey

I can't believe another year has gone by.Time really does go by faster as you get older. Why is that I wonder? Every year it seems there are more responsibilities, obligations, goals, dreams and ideas. It seems there are never enough hours in the day to fit in all that I want to do. Then of course I have to throw blogging into the mix, like I need another item on my to do list! I'm optimistic though, I think it will be a good experience for me this year. I'm all about trying new things in 2010. I want to do things I've never done, experience things I've never experienced, go places I've never been as well as hopefully meeting some amazing new people to inspire and and encourage me and maybe I'll be able to do the same for you.
Tomorrow I'll show you one of my latest thrifting treasures and how it's going to help me with another resolution: getting organized.
Also stay tuned for the aforementioned vintage furniture finds and their makeovers. It's taken much longer than I anticipated but I haven't abandoned them and I will show you just as soon as the paint dries, I promise.