holiday soldered ornament

there are 2 spots left in my holiday ornament class on learning how to solder. here is an ornament that i made the other day using items from my Christmas stash. the class ornament will be a little different (no bow tie and a 2x3 square), but we will have fun using vintage fabrics, old Holiday greeting cards, learning how to attach bulbs to the bottom, etc. email me for details if you are interested at keeshagirl4@aol.com. class is sunday dec. 13th from 1:00-4:30/5:00. you need to put down a deposit to reserve your seat.

Fall 2009

here's what Fall typically looks like around our house - one word: LEAVES! we are surrounded by 40 foot oak trees in front, on each side and in the back yard. we have piles and piles of leaves and then there are leaves on those piles! right now they are all wet and many leaves came down after our last storm (but trust me, there are many more yet to come down!) my neighbors tend to blow their leaves everyday where as jeff likes to wait til they are almost all down and do them in one day. they get blown to the street, where the township comes by and sucks them up and then turns them into mulch.

suze, margot and sallianne

So on Sunday, i had a few minutes to spare and i had heard via the grape vine that there was some cool art happening in my neck of the woods - so i stopped by Suze's studio to see what was going down. i got to see a flock of art chicks surrounded by art supplies and working on a super fab necklace being taught to them by none other than Margot, the impatient crafter! Margot is a facebook buddy and we've yet to meet face to face, so it was nice to surprise her by stopping in for a quick hello! i was also pleasantly surprised to see Sallianne of, Art-is-you, sitting amongst the happy art girlies getting their art on! and of course, as always, it was fun to see Suze!

The importance of being Earnest

Dillon's play was this past weekend. he played the role of Jack/Earnest, in "The Importance of being Earnest". it was so good and all the actors did an amazing job. i have to say the costumes for the girls were gorgeous! it is so cool to get to watch your child on stage. i was glowing in pride. what made it even funner was that my sister and niece were here to see it with us. Erika, who is also in theater, gave Dillon a bouquet after the show. Next up for the drama club, "The Wizard of Oz"; with tryouts coming up soon. i think dill is going for the part of the Scarecrow.

family is gone

Well, the girls have gone. i took them to the airport yesterday morning (4:30am - ick!) we had such a nice time and packed a lot of fun in a short amount of time. the day before they left, we spent the day driving around, running errands, etc. we went to Marshall's to check out their Christmas section, ran to Petsmart to get a bigger cage for Tuck's finches. i also got them a nest for inside the cage, but so far they haven't figured out that they can go inside of it!
i also took them down to the Asbury Park boardwalk. i've lived in NJ for 12 years and every time my sister has come, i have taken her down there to look around. it's been awhile since she has been here, so there were a lot of new changes. they are in the midst of a revitalization and it is going quite well. new buildings, new stores, new restaurants, new condos, etc. i took them by this one store called "Bodega Shoppe" (website is currently under production). I've been in there a few times and just loved it; but was happy to learn from my Country Living Fair trip with the *Summerhouse girls, Kathe and Joanna*, that they are good friends with the store owner, Michael. (did you get all that?) So when i was in there, i made a point to introduce myself to Michael, who i found to be super charming, pleasant and friendly. he has amazing style and we were oohing and aahing over much of the store. lots of Parisian influence (Marie Antoinette action figures with removable heads for god's sake!), a delicious line of Scandinavian holiday gifts and so much more. his theme this year was, Swans, stemming from Asbury Park's boardwalk heyday, when they had actual swan boats. i never saw the swan boats, but have seen pictures and would love to see them come out of storage and make a come back. anyway, i was just loving the swan idea given its historical sentiment. i bought one of his bigger swans and immediately put it on the top of one of my Christmas trees, now dubbed "the peacock tree".





*the Summerhouse girls, as of yet don't have a blog or website (it's in the works), but you can read Jenny Heid's visit to their store on her blog which is linked in their name.

p.s. i'm having a blog giveaway soon, so stayed tuned!

tuck's b-day bash and other fun things

On Wednesday, we went into NYC to see Wicked. we had such a great time. it wasn't very cold or windy; so the walk around the city was nice. My niece is into Project Runway, so we took her to Mood. she was quite thrilled and promptly called her best friend in California to tell her where she was. Wicked was AMAZING. the set, the costumes, the acting, the singing, the story - Oh My! it was really great. i'm thinking of taking dillon to it for his birthday this spring. we finished up our day with a trip to the Hershey and the M&M store before meeting my BIL for dinner.



and how funny is this? we are at the train station in Seacucus when i hear someone say, "are you Kecia"? it's always an odd sense to be out in the world and away from your home turf and hear someone calling your name. it was Karen Cole, who i met this summer in Pennsylvania at Judy Wilkenfeld's book class. she was the one who pointed us in the direction of Mood.

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we had a small party for tucker with some family and friends. we enjoyed yummy food and my delicious cupcakes (if i do say so myself!) the birds were a hit. tucker gets quite wide eyed when they started making their little chirpy noises.

happy birthday, Tucker!

sent tuck off to school with much fanfare and singing. we will have a little pizza party tonight with a few friends and family over to celebrate.

goings on - monday 11/09/09

ran Grace to the vet this morning. fully expected a Lyme's disease diagnosis, but instead found out that Gracie had fractured one of her toenails and was in quite a lot of pain. poor little bugger. the nail was hidden under her fur, so when we were palpating her paw, we weren't really see it under all the fur. she's on meds and is to take it easy for a few days.

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So tomorrow is Tucker's birthday. for those of you who don't know, Tucker is special needs. He was a victim of medical malpractice at the age of 16 months old and due to negligence was left severely brain injured. it is difficult to talk about, so i often skim over it as if telling a story that happened to someone else, not me. i try not to let this tragedy dictate my life and work hard to find peace with the hand i have been dealt. so my sweet boy is turning 20 tomorrow and i wanted to give him a gift that had meaning and purpose. i thought long and hard and discussed my idea with Dillon (my younger son), who whole heartedly approved my idea. tucker is classified as cortically blind, which is a yet another side affect of a brain injury. so he does not see well. but his auditory skills are absolutely amazing. so my idea was to give him some little birds who make enough noise and chatter to amuse and delight him, but not enough to overwhelm him after awhile. dillon and i picked out these 2 zebra finches and will be picking them up tomorrow while tuck is in school. i let dillon name them, so i chose to call them "Gambit and Rogue" after some X-men characters.

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in other news, this BEAUTIFUL ring arrived in the mail today. it was from my friend, Barbe St. John. We both realized that each of us had an article in the Dec. issue of Belle Amoire Jewelry, so we emailed each other our article proofs and i just adored the ring she made. sure looks pretty on my hand! i am quite lucky to have such thoughtful and generous friends.
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Company is here!

My sister, niece and brother-in-law arrived this morning after taking the red eye in from California. they weren't here an hour before we were leaving and heading to the flea market. jeff slipped my niece $20 to spend there and she made it go far. she had a great time and found some wonderful purchases. i usually don't go on Sundays as i have found the Sunday crowd to be "not to my liking". but today was different, there were tons of vendors and great stuff was out. everyone seemed like they wanted to sell and make deals. i only saw one case of someone "not to my liking". (who is the person that i do not like? it is the parents that drag their children to these things and then proceed to yell at them and treat them like crap. for the most part as well, these poor kids are usually improperly dressed. i don't understand these parents that speak to their children in this way. (now mind you, i am not referring to the misbehaving child that needs to be scolded. this is just downright wrong and mean). i just find it upsetting. Okay, enough of that. so we hit the flea running and it turned out to be a gorgeous day. it got so warm and i am so glad i had them bundle up, as i swore up and down the wind would be in high gear and we'd be freezing. NOT! we couldn't peel off our layers fast enough.
then we came home, got something to eat, grabbed dillon and then headed into the back field on a nest hunt. it was fun. we ended up finding 4 nests; although 3 of them were a few seasons old. (meaning they were falling apart). not sure what is on the agenda tomorrow. have some silly errands to run (bank, post office) and then need to get Gracie to the vet as she's not feeling well again - i'm making the call now that she's got that darn Lymes disease again (and yes, we have them on tick meds).

and check out that awesome bug that showed up on my porch today (am thinking it is a katydid....) i was going crazy taking pictures of it when it jumped onto my camera and then flew at me. talk about a wuss - i SCREAMED so loud! i didn't even know i could scream that loud. it was hilarious!

whatcha doin in August?

This summer i have been invited to Charleston, Maine to teach at Art-in-the-Rough. "Art in the rough" is the brainchild of my friend, Taryn Reece, of Naval Jelly Studios. It is 2 days of classes. The retreat is held on their property and is a camping retreat. Do not fear, though, you will be provided unique & elegant amenities. It's successful debut last year earned a new nickname of "glamping" (glamour camping!) here's what to expect:

"imagine bunking in a large tent house, snuggling into an oversized, comfy cot with crisp linens and warm blankets. You will be surrounded by special, luxurious touches including a complimentary welcome basket brimming with goodies, fresh towels & sundries" - I'm sold!

the minute i read about this retreat, i wanted to go. it reminded me of my sweet childhood memories of girl scout camp. I was so lucky to be a girl scout when i lived in Guam (yes, Guam!) and have the fondest memories of camping out with girlfriends and wonderful women full of encouragement and leadership. here is the other reasons i want to go:
facilities: private hot water outdoor showers, wash up stations, changing areas and bathrooms, accented with cool decorative touches & funky- junk! surrounded by picturesque gardens and breathtaking views of the mountains woods & fields. Be prepared for the treat of taking at shower outdoors! you can go on a nature walk or lounge by the pool. there is an art barn open 24 hours and campfire, twinkling lights and lanterns complete the magical setting.

go check out this page to see the fun lineup of how we will be spending our time. seriously, i just can't wait!

here is where you can see the workshop line up. it 'll be me, Taryn and Robin Betterley. Now i have just have to figure out how to be in 3 places at one time, since i really want to take both Taryn and Robin's classes! the dates are August 13- 16th. seating is limited, so be sure and register early! feel free to email me at keeshagirl4@aol.com or taryn at njs@naveljellystudios.com if you have any questions. hope to see you there!

jellystudios.comnjs@naveljellystudios.comnjs@naveljellystudios.com