Have any of you seen The Illusionist or Hollywoodland? We're thinking of catching a late movie tonight and I can't decide.Ended up staying home last night and laying low, so I feel like we should take advantage of our Saturday night by doing something fun.

It feels very much like Fall here today. I was just outside in my sweatshirt and shorts, and it was COLD! I miss summer warm weather already. I just feel like curling up on my nonexistent couch under a heavy blanket and watching movies all night. There's just something that is less romantic about pulling two chairs together and holding hands over the arm rests in an attempt to have a romantic movie night, so I guess that's why we go to the movies. We can lift up our arm rest and presto- it's a movie theater version sofa love seat! Since it's so windy outside and the nearest movie theater is only about 8 blocks away, I'll be bundling up tonight in my warm clothes. If you see a girl with a stocking cap, gloves, scarf and winter jacket walking down Broadway, that will be me.

Homemade chili and beers, anyone?

New Etsy Shop

I just placed a number of necklaces here! Since I didn't do any art fairs this summer, I'm thinking of it as an end-of-summer virtual art fair of sorts.

Thanks for the questions, ladies! I'm going to post all the questions here and answer them one by one as inspiration strikes. Or perhaps all at once.

What do you want to be when you grow up?
An artist! Someone who remembers my passion and incorporates it into my life no matter what my other circumstances may be.

If you died at a ripe old age of 100+ what what you want your obituary to read?
Having worked with obituaries for a while, I feel like I should write out a full-fledged proper obit. In an effort to instead provide the Cliff's Notes version... I would want my obituary to express that I lived a creative life, saw art in everything and truly believed that we are all creative beings.

If you could meet anyone on earth, who would it be and why?
I would like to meet someone like Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates or Martha Stewart. I am fascinated by people who have not only achieved extraordinary power and success, but especially so by those who are able to maintain it on a long-term basis through staying relevant and one step ahead at all times. Although I would not deem any of these people my hero, per se, I would love to get an opportunity to sit down over a long dinner and ask any of these individuals questions. Find out who they are, what they attribute their successes to and what, if anything, they feel they've missed out on having lived such extraordinary lives.

If you could trade places with someone for a week who would it be and why?
A full week- yeowza! I guess it would be interesting to trade places with my boyfriend Brandon. Assuming this is a full-fledged Freaky Friday exchange of bodies, I would love to know what it's like to be him for a week. Not only for the logistics of having my feet dangle off the edge of any bed, having to duck under all doorways and experiencing clothes shopping from hell like I've never known, but also to learn how life differs for a man. Is it really easier to be a guy? Would I instead gain a new appreciation about being a woman? I really wonder.

When is the last time you performed a random act of kindess for a stranger?
Does letting someone sneak their car in when nobody else is "giving them a break" count? The day after my car broke down, I think I gave people the universal hand wave signal for "go ahead, no really..." a record number of times.

KODA
Here's a picture of Koda from this weekend. When we went to Arizona in March, Becki weighed Koda and he was around 60 pounds. Ever since, I've been weighing him once or twice per month, and he seemingly stopped growing somewhere around 62.5 lbs. I've heard that big dogs grow well through their second year, so knew he was supposed to continue growing but just hadn't seen it- until tonight.

It's quite the sight. First, I step on the scale. It's an electronic scale, so you have to tap your toe on it then wait a few seconds, then hop on it when it says "0." So it makes it a bit tricky when trying to hop up then pick up Koda. Luckily, he's a sweetie and never really squirms when I pick him up, instead just hangs there patiently for a good 12 seconds with his 4 big paws dangling in the air. And the 12 seconds feel like 3 minutes, I tell you. I really need to take a short video of this sometime, as I'm sure I look rediculous.

Anyway, I knew he'd been growing taller lately. Everyone we've seen in the past few weeks (Becki, Jennifer, Cara and Justin) have all seen Koda throughout his various stages over the past year and all said, "Oh my goodness- he's getting bigger!" on seperate occasions.

So I tapped my toe on the scale, waited the necessary 5 seconds and hopped on. Only this time, instead of dangling paws, they were actually grazing the floor. Uh-oh. It turns out that seemingly overnight, Clifford Koda has gone from eternally 62.5 to suddenly weighing nearly 70 lbs.

new necklaces

river stone necklace

broken china necklace