Tropical Sea Breeze

I'm so excited-my Tropical Sea Breeze Earrings are featured in this lovely Treasury by fashionfucsia.  Thank You! 

Coastal Beauty

From season to season, it's always fascinating to see the changes on 'our' Manzanita beach. Not too many years ago this rock was about 15' high, now it's only visible at minus tide. It's easy to see that this particular spot caused some notable shipwrecks. 

Photo:  OK, so I tried to be 'Arty.' It's supposed to be this way!  I love low tides, when you can see the beach from a whole new angle.  Not too long ago, you would be able to see pools teeming with sea life-starfish, sea anemones, etc.  This time, I collected pieces of twine, an old sock, pieces from a wet suit, and plastic bottles to dispose of.   I'm glad in the Pacific NW that there's groups like SOLV [Stop Oregon Litter and Vandalism], that encourage beach clean-up's so that generations can enjoy the beauty here. Not to mention that many people pick up beach trash on their beach walk.  Maybe someday the sea life will return.

I didn't find any starfish to photograph, but I was rewarded with a cool Japanese float, complete with barnacles.

The Queen Party

Ever had an amazing, fun night with your girlfriends?

About four years ago, at our Riverdale School Auction, my friends, Martha, Barb and I bid on a Queen Party. Everyone who attended was to dress up as a Queen, so I was the Queen of Clubs. There was an Egptyian Queen, Anne Boleyn, Queen Elizabeth, a Queen Bee...you get the picture! Then there was Velma!    (my friend Barb's alter ego).

The party was held at a beautiful Palace home, with Queenly vignettes everywhere!

Lovely thing to eat!

white chocolate and strawberries, anyone?

As you can tell, there was lots of glamour at the Palace.

Velma checking out the throne!  LOL The winner of the Best Queen Contest received a feather boa, plunger and a photo frame, and the honor of sitting on the pink Throne!  Guess who won?  Crazy Velma, of course!

The husbands were recruited to keep up the libations, and announce the names of the Queens as we entered the party!

All the Queen's in their finery.

Lively karaoke for entertainment

Everyone left with one of these cute little goodie bags.  It was definitely royal night to remember. What is your favorite girlfriend party memory? 

Spring Locket Madness

Signs of Spring are showing up everywhere.  We dragged up the patio chairs to the top deck, and I planted the last of my tulips.  OK, I know it's a long shot, but I found a bag of bulbs starting to sprout in the garage, so I figured I might as well plant them.  I'll share what turns up!  Meanwhile, don't you just love the profusion of daffodils you see everywhere?

more signs of Spring...

Also, I came across a bag of lockets in the Bead Tower ....Hmmm, I'm starting to see a trend of undiscovered treasures.   I had arranged them on a plate after photographing them indiviually for my Etsy site, and had to post.  My art buddy, JoAnn paints jewelry and I thought these might be fun to paint eventually with watercolors.

Watercolor Journey-Show and Tell

It was my turn to host our watercolor meeting.  I had missed our last gathering and it was fun to catch up with my art buddies and see what everyone's been up to.  At our last session (which I missed), everyone taped a photo to a piece of watercolor paper, and then painted an extension of the photo.  Dinah painted a garden scene that reminds me of 'Where's Waldo?'  It's hard to see where her photo ends and the painting begins:

There were lots of "Oohs" and Ah's" as we tried to find the original picture?

Judy shared this photo of branches

This looks like a fun technique to try.

  Below, Joanie, who just returned from Mexico, had a tropical painting to share.  I loved how she used both a dry brush technique and wet brush on wet paper, to give the effect of a breezy sunny day.

Joanie, also shared this great sunflower from Jude Siegel's last class, where everyone used glitter to enhance aspects of their paintings.  Cute idea for a greeting card or tag.

Below, JoAnn shared the detail in her painting of Russian Dolls.  It's hard to imagine that JoAnn never painted before, although her Mom is an artist so it must be in her genes.

When I see her amazing work, I always think she could be an illustrator.  Note the cool borders, which are a often part of her style. 

Below, Roberta and I share our rendition of wine bottles painted from a photograph.  Roberta heard somewhere that it's always better to show the illusion of writing, rather than the words themselves, otherwise the writing is the focal point!   Oops!  I didn't get the memo...it does make sense though. 

Roberta used white crayon to keep the white places white. 

If you find yourself in the Portland area between March 29 and April 27th, check out the Docent Art Show.  Judy's awesome original painting was chosen for the invitation!! 

Lemon Chicken

This morning I had on the Today Show, as I often do while I'm working on some mindless task like editing photos, or listing jewelry on my Etsy site.  Mario Batali was on talking about pork, but since I wasn't paying attention, I thought it was chicken.  The recipe that he was preparing sounded interesting and I spent about 30 minutes searching the Web for it before I realized that I was looking for the wrong thing!  What I really wanted was Lemon Chicken, and most of the recipes that I found just called for a combination of lemons, herbs and chicken.  What I had in mind, had a little more depth of flavor. 

When I was a child in California, lemons were plentiful and grew in our yard with a little help from my Dad who loved to garden. I used to walk outside in the yard and pick them whenever I wanted.  Of course, I didn't cook back then, so I took their availability for granted!

I ended up adding my own ingredients to a basic recipe, and this is what I came up with:

Cut up a whole chicken and leave the skin on. Make up the following ingredients, add to chicken and marinate in a large Baggie for an hour:  The juice of three Lemons. 3 pressed cloves of Garlic, and 1/4 c. Capers.

Add 1/2 c. cooking Sherry, salt and pepper, 1 tsp. Dill, and 1 tsp. Rosemary.  Place in a roasting pan, adding 4 pats of butter to the chicken. Bake for 30 minutes, and then baste with the pan juices and sprinkle with sweet Paprika.  Bake for another 20 minutes, and then let sit for 10 minutes, add Italian Parsley and serve.

Great with fresh Pesto Pasta, and steamed Asparagus, and a glass of Chardonnay.