Cool treats

I'm not typically one for ice cream.  It's too sweet and makes me immediately thirsty.  Todd is though.  Vanilla ice cream with berries is one of his most favorite treats. 
I admit, since we always have ice cream in the fridge I will, on a rare occassion, have a bite.  But it's not my favorite.  Imagine how weird it was for me to suggest we stop at Dairy Queen earlier this week for a "cool treat." 

We went to Verizon to donate an old cell phone, which is right next door to the DQ.  Maybe it was the very un-March-like weather we've been having; or a swell of nostalgia for my younger days when we used to hit up the DQ pretty frequently, especially after my softball games; or maybe a combo of both, but I found myself saying, "We could get a cone from Dairy Queen!"

We got into a rather long line at the drive thru and ordered two small cherry dipped cones...

The prices sure weren't nostaligic!  It was nearly $5 for two of the simplist treats they offer.  Whatever.  It was fun and tasty.  We sat in the truck and ate our cones and enjoyed the weather...

Our junk, your treasure

A couple weekends ago, Todd and I had a rather impromptu garage sale.  The weather was outstanding, and we were already mostly prepared, having spent time months ago pricing an ever growing mountain of "junk" in our basement...

Our neighbor decided to throw some stuff in his driveway too and before you knew it we were hocking ill-fitting clothes, unread books, and tools Todd had no use for, among many, many other items, like these...

And these...

The goal was to purge so we could walk through our basement to our only operating bathroom without tripping!  We had a good turnout and sold about $300 worth of stuff.  And the stuff that didn't find a good home landed at GoodWill, Craigslist and eBay.

Which is how we sold that big turquoise tub there!  That's the old tub from our main floor bathroom that is under renovation.  That tub has been taking up space in our garage for MONTHS, but thanks to Craigslist will have a new home in a cabin being built on Casper Mountain...

Even Rigby and Lulu got into it.  They were the official Garage Sale Greeters...

It might have been before the official first day of spring, but our spring cleaning sure felt good! 

"I got a ouchie."

A couple days ago, I was reading a magazine when Lulu came over and put her paw up on my knee.
I glanced down and saw a small gash on the top of her paw.  Neither Todd or I had seen it earlier and had no idea where it came from.  Poor puppy.  I swear it was like she was trying to say, "Mama...I got a ouchie."

Todd cleaned it out and fixed her up with some tape to seal it and keep her from licking on it.

She looked so cute with her little white "boot".  I've taken to calling her Boots Magee and I have no idea where it comes from...

She didn't quite know how to step on it.  She kind of threw her paw out and slapped it on the floor. And she was remarkably good about not chewing on it. 

"I need extra love, daddy.  I'm hurt and a princess..."

"How bad is it really, brother...?"

"I'm so cute..."

"And SO stoic!  Somehow, I'll live..."

(Art) crushing

I am crushing, ok, let's be real - loving, obsessing(??) - over this artist I found on Pinterest a couple days ago. 
Love her.

Love.

Love.

Love! 

She is one of my new art crushes!

Her name is Starla Halfmann and she is a burgeoning artist out of Austin, Texas. 

One day, I decided to check out the "everything" option on Pinterest and as I was scrolling down the page caught a glimpse of this painting...

Painting (c) Starla Halfmann. Photo courtesy http://paintabirdaday.com/.

I flipped! 

The color!  The whimsey!  The flowers!  

I scrolled through her whole website.  I clicked to a place where I could purchase.  After conversing with Starla on Pinterest (a very friendly, helpful gal she is too!) I bought two.  One for our living room and one for someone I can't name yet because it is a gift.  :)

Here's her current project idea according to her website:

I typically paint huge impasto oil paintings that are heavily symbolic with a dreamlike quality; however, since large scale work like this usually takes months, I’ve decided to change it up! So I’m going to challenge myself to try and paint a bird a day.  It’ll be my daily “workout” as an artist. Some days I might paint 3 – some days I might not finish one. Regardless, I will post something daily. Each bird painting will have a quote or inspirational message on the back of the canvas  depending on what I was feeling when I painted it. - Starla Halfmann

To crank out something like this daily - let alone ever! -  just blows my mind.  I could never, ever do that and I envy those that have the artistic ability to do so.

Here is today's bird.  I want it too.  In fact, I commented on her pin of this painting that I have a feeling I'll be buying a lot of her stuff this year...

Painting (c) Starla Halfmann. Photo courtesy http://paintabirdaday.com/.

Here is a painting I am DYING, absolutely DYING over, but isn't part of the Paint A Bird A Day series...

Painting (c) Starla Halfmann. Photo courtesy http://pinterest.com/pin/78601955966291135/

Take a look at her Pinterest page at her other artwork.  Isn't she amazing?  http://pinterest.com/starlahalfmann/www-starlamichelle-com/

There is another artist, of the best friend type, who's got a cool thing going on too!  Since I'm not sure if she wants to be named I will stick to her Etsy handle of sevenwing. 

I just saw her newest piece and was amazed.  Honestly, I didn't realize how much talent she had!  This is "I Love You :12 Languages."  Check out the detail behind the words (you might have to blow it up to see it better)...

Painting (c) sevenwing.  Photo courtesy http://tinyurl.com/7b4k789.

Amazing! 

Now, to find wall space for all my new art crushes!