Pics of late. New one at my photoblog, Beyond Focus, several below. :o)

[ click on images to embiggen ;o) ]

Yes, that's a victory cheer above, while playing horseshoes. Ah, the days of summer. :o)

"Hi! You've reached Zee. Sorry, I can't come to the phone right now. I'm completelty absorbed watching Danica Patrick kick some ass at the Indy 500. However, your call is very important to me, so please leave a message after the tone. I promise to call you back as soon as I am able."

*Edited: She didn't win, but... She.Is.Amazing.

Wake up call this morning, doorbell rings. FedEx making a delivery -to the wrong house. *grumble*

As I close the door I notice a small envelope on the corner by the door. I open it, it's the Norah Jones Feels Like Home CD. No note on the envelope, so I don't know who it's from. So, to whoever it was, a great big "Thank You! How did you know?" Talk about turning your day around, eh? :o)

Off to make my morning coffee, and give my little princess some breakfast. Kiki says she has a plan. She's getting a band together. She wants to play electric guitar and drums. She may be watching my Eagles: Hell Freezes Over CD a little too much. ;o) I tell her she should blog about her new band, and she says she will, but it's going to be a surprise for all of you. She said she'd draw you a picture of what her electric guitar will look like, and then she'll have me put that up with no writing. (That would be my child figuring out a way to not write today... heh.) So it's up, go by The Secret Garden and check out her Surprise Entry.

Hubby is in North Carolina somewhere, hiking with friends/co-workers. Left Thursday morning, and will be returning Monday evening. Hope he's doing well, as we don't have a way to get in touch. Still, I know how much he was looking forward to a little adventure, and what better way to go hang with the boys.

Doing some spring cleaning these past several days, as well as some gardening. My spirit, it seems needs to find some order and enjoy some time outdoors.

My painting. I'm trying to be nice to myself, as I know the ebb and flow is necessary in all things, particularly when it pertains to creativity. It's great to receive email from other artists stuggling through the same ups and downs, to know that we can nurture and give each other that little nudge or extra push, even if it comes in the way of an email, a letter, and even a comment. The weather is improving and you are headed outside with the kids and looking forward to setting up for painting en plein air, you are recovering from recent illness and introducing me to ATC's, or you are online looking for inspiration, or dreaming of what your future can be... Ladies, you know who you are, consider this a group hug.

Upon waking, I felt sad, miserable, tired. I didn't want to bother going about the day ahead. Crawling back in bed seemed like a great idea. I felt... 'bleh'. Last thing I wanted to do was go out for my morning bike ride, but that's exactly what I did.

After getting the kids ready and walking them to school, I returned home, and looked at myself in the mirror. Some inner dialog commenced, I turned around, and chose some nice clothes to wear. I wanted something light and comfortable, yet nice. I got myself into a pair of Capri pants, and a fresh white shirt. Braided my hair, washed my face again, and applied sunblock lotion. I applied some lip-gloss, and glanced at myself again. Little more inner dialog as I put on my helmet and adjusted the straps. Darted for the door -no whining, no place for doubts. I felt like I just wanted to cry, for no reason but perhaps a sense of sadness, but didn't... and off I went.

Little did I know that out of the 16 days since I received my bike and done my daily riding, today would turn out to be the best yet.

I have serious fears of riding my bike, which is both a bit funnny and ironic, seeing as how I don't think twice about taking my hubby's motorcycle out for a spin. You see fourteen years ago, I suffered a bike accident that not only bruised my ego, it also broke my nose. Because of this, I haven't taken my camera with me on a ride yet, for fear that if I fall, I won't ruin my little baby. ;o) But today I realized I'm getting over the fear quicker than I thought I would. Soon enough, you’ll see pictures!

So far, motorists have been kind to not follow too closely when I hit the road, and I'm doing better at keeping my straight line in such little space (there are a several main roads around here that don't have a bike route, and it adds a bit of nervousness on my part to share the road with a motored vehicle.)

Pushing myself beyond my limits was the order of the day, and it felt great! I chose a route with a pretty high hill, and it hurt... oh, it hurt so good; used higher gears the entire time, and kept pedaling throughout the entire ride -non stop- until I reached my destination. Honestly, I didn't think I would be able to do it, but it was an awesome goal for me, and I rode it out -I did it! Also went the farthest and fastest today, so I’m extra pleased.

I arrived at Starbucks panting like a thirsty puppy. “Venti iced water, please!” That’s right, no water bottle. Why? Cause I’m a loser… and I just can’t be bothered to go shopping for a water bottle holder. BikeTown gifted us water bottles, coffee mugs, shirts… yeah, we got spoiled. But since I had not yet done more than two miles a day, basically covering a stretch in my neighborhood, with a handful of rides between 3 and 5 miles. Those longer rides have mostly been in the afternoon, so it’s been quite cool, and the thirst factor hadn’t really kicked in. I can be real dense at times. However, today was a different story. Damn, it hot out there! Still, I was grateful it was not as hot as yesterday. That S-SW wind can be a killer, blowing such hot air this way. Wasn’t as hot today, and the swiftness in my ride provided for some pleasingly cool breezes. Still, the ride back was ahead of me, and the day was only getting hotter. So, I pedaled my way into the bike shop, and pedaled out with new gear. *grin* Water bottle holder and a small zippered bag which expands… to fit my camera! Now I don’t have to go around carrying my backpack on my rides.

Highlights of today’s ride: pushing myself out of my comfort zone; the sound of the wind as I pedal faster and faster; the chirping of the birds and the warmth of the sun; having a butterfly flutter the way ahead of me for almost a whole block, which seemed, for a moment, eternal. I remembered my daughter chasing her two butterflies. Three crossed my path today… truly a sign of transformation and change ahead.

I’m going to embrace it.

It was a wonderful day outside, a day fit for swimming in the pool. After splish-splashing around for 2 hours, my kids take their respective showers and we all head outside... yes, next to Kiki's willow. I'll have to shoot a picture of my Willow, so you can appreciate how out of control she is... yes, ever-reaching-for-the-sky limbs everywhere. She needs a bigger pot, to further spread her roots.

Anyhew...

Bryan: looks at me and smiles. He's just basking, soaking up the sun. One cool dude.
Kiki: decides she wants to follow two litte butterflies around. Yes, it's a garden girl's prerogative. ;o)
Me: ever thoughtful... I count my blessings.
...
Kiki: "Mom, which butterfly should I follow, they're going to different homes now."
Me: "Follow this one, I think she still wants to play." (What? You didn't know all butterflies are girls, it is so according to Kiki. Consider yourself enlightened in the world of one little girl.)
Kiki: Carefully follows the closest butterfly, staying close to home. "Mom, I'm sneaking right behind her!
Me: "I see... you are doing a good job!"
Kiki: "Yup! Wow, I'm a good sneaker, right mom?"

So, today I'm fiddling around with Audioscrobbler. Another 3AM kinda night for me. I blame Darth for it. ;o) Thank goodness, 'cause boy, am I out of it. Plus, there's Technorati tags for Audioscrobbler to work with it. Nice. On a mission to increase the embarrasing amount of song files existing in my computer.

Other than that, I'm cleaning some very, very old computer files, and trying to set my webcam up again. ;o/

Very important: email a few very close friends today.

Then onto the canvas, hopefully get a good couple of hours in. Wish me luck.

The wonderfully brilliant Arethusa tagged me, so now I'm it. The meme follows:

01. Total volume of music files on my computer?

• 147 files (on this computer); my laptop has another couple hundred

02. The last CD I bought was?

• Rise, by Kim Richey

03. Song playing right now:

• Electric Green -Kim Richey and Pete Droge .

04. Five songs I listen to a lot or that mean a lot to me (in no particular order):

• A Case Of You -Joni Mitchell .
• Gira Con Me Questa Notte -Josh Groban .
• Fallen - Sarah McLachlan .
• The Mystic's Dream -Loreena McKennitt .
• Walk On -U2 .

05. Which 5 people are you passing this baton to, and why?

• Quirky: Because I love, love, LOVE her playlist! *completed!*
• Jen: She's an inspiration, and I KNOW that's not just my opinion... ;o) *completed!*
• Cailani: Well, her days begin around the time mine ends, so she'll probably do this while I'm sleeping, plus she's younger than I am and I'd like to know what's going on in her head. ;o) *completed!*
• Muzik: Because I don't recall him ever doing a meme, and since he is the MuzikDude...
• Miss Franchini! because she enjoyed my answers to the meme, and because she's the birthday girl... ;o) *completed!*

*Daria chose to pass on this meme because she's done it already, and honestly, who wants to do the same meme over and over and over. So I gave someone else a try. Thanks Daria!

:::

** Very important: that period at the end of each song above is a link to the song itself. I was moved to share. Be kind, right click and save, will ya?

My thoughts on this meme:

Only five songs? How unfair...

Music is very much alike visual art -every song holds quite a unique meaning to whoever is enjoying it; it transforms, and transcends.

The songs I listed above are the ones I listen to daily and have special meaning to me.

My days are not complete if I haven't indulged in a little Enya, Eagles, Clannad, and Deep Relaxation (this last one by Dr. Jeffrey Thompson, which is wonderful for painting and meditating...)

I'm always have music in the background, unless I'm sitting outside, in that case, I'm doing the singing. ;o)

:::

I'll be updating as those I tagged complete the meme.

... goes surfing around the blogosphere leaving compliments, casting smiles on your face, and brightening your day.

What a wonderful concept! Last night, in just 3 weeks, the Complimenting Commenter reached 1,000 compliments. Truly an inspiration. :o)

Go, pay The Complimenting Commenter a visit, and leave your own complimenting comment!

Tonight's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation two hour season finale:

What can I say?

Nick Stokes -not dead- and I'm incredibly grateful.
I'm terrified of ants -phobic; I would have shot myself.
I've never shaken or cried so much during a TV show.
I've already drugged myself because my head is about to explode.
Taking a shower, and headed for bed.
I hope to wake up without a migraine.

Quentin Tarantino, I hate you because you are so good at what you do.

[for behind the scenes click here]

Me: "Hey, what's that on your dress?" (as I point onto a trickle of stains on it)

Kiki: "Oh, mom, that's ' the dirtiness'."

You scored as Cultural Creative.

Cultural Creatives are probably the newest group to enter this realm.
You are a modern thinker who tends to shy away from organized religion
but still feels as if there is something greater than ourselves.
You are very spiritual, even if you are not religious.
Life has a meaning outside of the rational.

:::
By far, my favorite quiz to date.
Go on, take it. And remember to share your results. :o)

both the good and the not so good. ;o)

What's yours?

via EtherealGirl.

He're a new favorite quote, which I'll be adding to my random quote script there on the left:

Look how pretty! Thanks for sharing the link, Monique. It arrived, and is just as beautiful as the picture. I thought it was too good to be true, but succumbed when I saw this piece. It was one of those "I've just got to have that" moments, which I usually never have unless it's books or art supplies. Go check it out for yourself: SilverJewelryClub.com

Onto other important things... how the hell did I miss this??

These past few days have been good to me, especially for my mind, heart and spirit. I was delighted to attend a most wonderful musical play Thursday evening, archy & mehitabel, with my friend Man About Town (you can read his review when you follow the link). Then the highlight of my weekend- my Dad's visit- which was oh-so-wonderful, as we had much to talk about and catch up on, and I enjoyed really meaningful and deep conversations with him, particularly since we had not spoken since I went to him and Grandma (his mom) passed away (thanks to all of you who emailed me and commented about his time with me). It was certainly a time of healing for each of us, and both of us together. To top it all off, much action in front of my canvas today! I'm inspired! :o)

Today I have been incredibly happy, much so that it stuck me, and for a small while made me cry, as I realized that it's been many, many months since I've actually awoken in the morning, gone thru my day, and have actually thought to myself "I feel happy".

I've had very little time to spend online today, mostly answering a few messages. There is so much blog reading for me to catch up on, I promise, I'll be visiting you all soon. For those of you who have emailed me that I didn't get to reply to today, I'll be replying tomorrow. Right now, I must head for bed. I'm exhausted and in need of rest. Hopefully I can count tonight as good a sleep as last night. Haven't had one of those in a very long time.

Hugs to all.

I'm tickled!

Arethusa came up with most wonderful questions, and you can see both Q's & A's in the interview. Check it out!

:::

In other news, I'll be a bit scarce this weekend, as my dad dropped by today for a visit and will stay the weekend. He flew in from Puerto Rico on business, and is off until Sunday, when he resumes his business travels which nudge him further North.

Can I just share how incredibly happy I'm feeling right now, to have my daddy home with me?

I know you'll read this, because you'll be using my computer while here, and my home page is, well, my page, so here's my shout out to you: I love you, Dad.

Last Wednesday I received notice that I had been selected to receive one of 50 Giant Bicycles to be given away here in Orlando as part of Bicycling's BikeTown USA 2005 program. I was so excited, and couldn't believe it, so I didn't really tell anyone about it. Blame the skeptic in me, never having really won anything in my life. I did, of course, do my research, and exchanged emails with several winners from past years in other cities across the U.S. I was beside myself with joy! Still, the only thing I shared about this you can find at Metroblogging Orlando.

So today was the day we would attend the ceremony that took place at 5:00PM in Baldwin Park. Sick as I still feel, nothing was going to stop me from being there today. ;o) So out we went, kids and I, played in the park and soaked up some sun. When the time came for the event to begin, I was surprised that I didn't see any news teams there. Maybe I should've given them the heads up? After all, there's a WFTV crew member who lives in my neighborhood. Not that I wanted to jump up and down in front of the TV camera or anything like that; I did get more than my share of pictures by one of the photographers there, I'm surprised all that glass didn't break. He was kind enough to amuse me asking if my camera was a FujiFilm FinePix, and that "those are pretty good". Yeah, sure, he can say that while he gets to carry those two wonderful Nikon cameras with all that pretty glass, shoot pictures, AND get paid for it. ;o) I'm hoping to get at least one of those pictues in my mailbox. I did shoot some pictures of the event, which you can see in the extended section of this entry. And of course, the one photo of yours truly along with my two treasures that were as jazzed as I was that I won a bike!

In all, it was truly wonderful to be there with so many different people sharing the plans and goals each of us has with our new bikes, and being part of such a great program as is BikeTown USA. Some of them will use them for commuting to work, others for mobility and similar daily activities, some of us to incorporate it with a more healthy lifestyle and lose weight. I even gave my new bike a spin in the park, which I will definitely be visiting again.

Ok, 'nough chit chat. Tomorrow, I ride! And now pictures, for your viewing pleasure!

At BikeTown ceremony. Kiki, BlogBoy and me.

Katie and Kiki with my new bike.

That would be Chris, the wonderful photographer. ;o)
Wish I had a better shot of him.

City of Orlando Representative

Giant Bicycles Representative

Katie Kirwan, Special Projects Manager, BikeTown,
who I'll be in contact with.

Fellow BikeTown winners

Darth World. He's on the air, following Arethusa. Man, are they treating me royal or what?!

More Ramones, (thank you Darth!), and some Shatner funnies. Some David Soul playing now. (Wheee... how romantic!)

I need to wean myself off this bottle of wine, because it's getting increasingly hard to type. Hm.

Honestly, I can't think of a better way to spend my Saturday night. I hope you all tune in, too.

A shout out here to Arethusa, who's on the air with her radio show!! You rock, lady!

Among what she's playing tonight that I LOVE, the Ramones. So, if you happen to be home on this Saturday night, head over to her pad on the web, and enjoy Radio Arethusa. :o)

Oooohhhh! Evil Woman, by Black Sabbath!!! Woohoo! She's spoiling me!

Rock on!

Than again, maybe not.

You see, my sweet little princess is having problems in school, same ones all year: "does not listen attentively, and works extremely slowly." Put quite simply, she's gets bored in half a second. Whenever she doesn't finish work in school, when circle time or recess comes around, my daughter sits while her peers play and read. Does she care that she's in this chair, not playing or reading or interacting with the rest of the kids? NO. She's perfectly fine in her own little world. It is of no consequence to her, whatsoever. This will of course be a serious concern come first grade.

As parents, we've taken measures and made arrangements, taken away priviledges, and sit down daily to do homework with her. So she gets double homework on a daily basis. Not an easy task. Her blogging? It's grand, because it's another tool in my arsenal with which she can practice her writing. It has taken her 40 minutes to write a sentence on her own -that's 40 minutes of me sitting next to her, patiently. (On a sidenote, yes, feel free to find a therapist who can make housecalls... to see me!)

My daughter's homework for today: Write her name in proper manner, first capital, then lowercase letters, 12 times. Piece of cake, right? Riiight! I did not sit with her today. I thought she would be able to do this, as she had done so yesterday. After half an hour, I come to the page, and that is what I find.

Me: "Kristen!? What's this??"

Kiki: [Pointing with her finger, from the bottom, right to left; then up one line, left to right; up to top line, right to left] "Oh Mom, you see, this is one bottle of water, and one gallon of water, and little lollipop, and macaroni and cheeze, and a balloon, and a heart, and whipped cream, and cherries, and a dragonfly, and a ladybug, and a butterfly, and a flower with the nectar in the middle, and a flower people."

:::
When she's done, she looks my way, and flashes me the brightest smile I've seen all week.

*sigh*

Anyway, thought I'd share the scene here, since I can't seem to work on the blog designs today, and my canvas isn't really talking to me. Hmm.

Cinco de Mayo!

5 Things On My Desk Right Now:
Candles
A vase with dried flowers from my Grandma's grave
Thing 1 and Thing 2
A wand I'm working from a branch from my daughter's willow tree
A wooden flute

5 Things I'd Like to Do Tonight:
Enjoy a nice walk
Go to the bookstore
Go out for dinner
Hang out at Starbucks with friends
Get some sleep

5 Things I'll Probably Actually Be Doing:
Watch CSI
Reading blogs
Sketching or painting
Read a book with my kids before tucking them in
Curl up with a cup of tea and a book

5 Things I'm Currently Wearing:
Glasses
T-shirt
Sweatpants
Earings
Necklace

5 Things I'd Like to See Happen in the Near Future:
Paint a garden in my daughter's room
See my landscape plan come together
Finish the blog designs I'm working on
Have my paintings show in a gallery in my town
Finally get together with the MetroBlogging Orlando gang

via QuirkyChick

Slept very little during the weekend, still if I’m going to be honest. Funny how being sick makes you feel so incredibly exhausted. My little princess woke us up with her cries very early on Saturday morning. She’d had a nightmare. I’d slept a couple of hours, so I decided to watch a movie, since I was unable to fall back asleep. I watched Mr. Holland’s Opus. Now please tell me, how on earth did I ever miss a movie as wonderful as this one? This was the time I was catching up on all the movies I’d never seen growing up! Maybe I wouldn’t have appreciated it as much back in 1995 as I did last Saturday. A very moving and inspiring movie. Plus, it touches close, very close to my heart. I’m hoping my kids can watch it with me next weekend. I’d love to hear what they think about it. :o)

I’m carrying on with my Spring Cleaning as best I can, one room at a time. Done with all the bathrooms in the house, and will soon plan how to decorate those. Yeah, still haven’t gotten around to that. I want to at least put some paint up, and a little organizer cabinet that stands on the floor.

Funny how there’s paint and curtains and décor around the house except the bathrooms and the place I spend the most time in, my studio. All I have is my curtains there, which I love. Well, my studio I don’t really want to decorate, I’d just like to add some paint (make cleanup easy, since I do have a little artist in the house. ;o) My art can then both decorate and inspire me some more, so some shelves will have to go up. I’m not sure I’ll be changing this room around, because my table and easel are already perfectly located to make the best use of northern light. But perhaps some lighting in my reading corner?
What I do need to start considering is storage, for my paper. I need to lay the papers flat both before and after I’ve worked on them, and honestly, the floor is a hazard for my art, especially pastel. I have a really nice piece in mind, but it’s fairly expensive. It would provide for additional workspace, though. So, it’s high up there in my wish list. All in good time.

Have tons of laundry, but my dryer died. Nice, eh? Where the heck is my clothesline? Oh wait- it is raining outside, besides, my neighbors would kill me.

Blog-wise, I’m working on my son’s redesign, but I’m not aiming to finish it in one day. My son’s fine with that, says he’s in no rush, which makes me feel good, because it means he’s happy with his current one. But I know how excited he is about the one I’m working on. *grin*

I wanted to thank you all for your visits and comments on my children’s blogs, Blog Boy Blues and The Secret Garden. My kids get SO EXCITED when they receive your comments! Just seeing them so jazzed brings a smile to my face. Did you know that alone makes my days so much brighter? Well, it does. Thank you! We’ll have to work something out in regards to my daughter replying, probably I type as she dictates. My son takes care of his own replies, weekly.

Well, I do have to catch up with reading ALL who are in my blogroll, so if you’re on the list, I’ll be stopping by today. And if you’re not on my list, uh… why?

Off to lunch, then some blog reads, some painting, then more cleaning, homework with the kids, dinner, dishes, more blog reads. I need want more time during the day. I hope you have a good one!