It was mighty cold at the beach

last week, but we managed to 'get a little sun' out on the balcony one afternoon.

Only because the wind was blocked...

 Here's a favorite of the week -- 

a little reminder that it's not 27* everywhere.

Ha.

I have a confession to make...

Last week I did something I've never [EVER] done before...

While at my conference I saw that there were two other conferences being held at the hotel during the same time... All the schedules were on scrolling screens for everyone to see... and I noticed that one conference had a painting workshop scheduled... Hmmm... 
 

I was intrigued to find out how the instructors would weave some sort of motivational / self-help discussion into a painting class...

So I crashed it.

Yes.

I wanted to observe their techniques and see what the 

possibilities might be for using art in different kinds of workshops...

So I skipped my awards luncheon and went to this group's workshop.
 I've never, ever, done anything like this...

And, y'all know me -- 
I'm such a rule-keeper...

I had to tell the instructors what I was doing and that I was there to 

observe their techniques and outline, etc. 

They welcomed me...

But, having worked for the state [which is much like a non-profit]  for 30 years, 
I'd forgotten a couple of things about the private sector  -  

1] They HAVE MONEY and 

2] They  are able to reward their staff with FUN THINGS.

I found that this painting 'seminar' was nothing more than a painting class [from some very talented instructors who run an art studio.] The company having the conference offered this time to their staff, free of charge, just for fun.

And due to a cancellation, they let me [The Crasher] join in.

Ha.

[And for the record, I did offer to pay - more than once.]
 I sat in the back and tried to stay out of the way -

I LOVE seeing how a group of people interpret an art assignment!

And this was a fun group to be with.

I've only done a class like this once before

[when I did the O'Keefe poppy at Spirited Art here in town] 

so I really enjoyed doing these sunflowers!
 

We started with just a few colors [white, teal, yellow, brown, and green] and mixed them to create these gorgeous flowers. I always love seeing how they add shadow and light in...
 

And I was happy with the way it turned out but had to add a little quote to it...
And then, 
the more I looked at it, I had to add a little more color to it -  ha.
You can see the end result at the top of this post... Love it. 
And I'll admit that mine turned out a little different from the rest of the group 
[which I didn't get a photo with, because, hey, I didn't know any of them - ha.]
Just FYI - I added the bloom and more petals to the corner flower, 
and the white splotches...
and, of course, the quote.
It's impossible to exaggerate the goodness of God.
It will probably go in my office...

Take a Sketch and Make it Yours

Here's  the sketch:

 From this advertisement:

And y'all know I'm loving these little 4x4 

[instagram] prints from Walgreen's [ready in one hour!]

So I  enjoyed pulling some of my favorites together -

 

 So, here is the start of it...
wasn't sure if I would add a large title to the bottom 
or just fill it with journaling...

But I ended up adding just a bit more to it for my finished page.- Just using stuff I already have... And I may or may not go back and add some journaling...
I kind of love how using the app from RhonnaDesigns highlights each photo...
As always... if you play along, please share a photo of your layout and you might win the box formerly known as

Post a link, here in the comments, or send me an email

Judy-at-faithbasedpages-dot-com 

and let me see!

 I'll randomly choose a participant to receive the 

OnceAMonthGiveaway Box.

Yep - making you work a bit for it this year - 

Let's go

It is the sad truth

that we now travel with our coffee pot - 

Well, not the one from our kitchen -- 

we take the little one-cup-at-a-time one from my office...

You see, we love that we can both enjoy our 

[own] favorite choices in the morning --

[Yes - we do the pods...]

So when I found this little resin coffee cup at a thrift store, I knew I wanted to use it on one of my art journal pages - 

Process: I used paper from a 7 Gypsies [8x8] paper pack, sticking them down directly on the page in my map book. Then added paint [two reds and a brown,] some alpha stickers for 'good morning,' and my scarlet lime pen for the verse / date / confession.

ha.

 A fun little page that tells a little about my life.

Right. Now.

Continuing with my

self-imposed challenge to capture a photo a day...

I really do...

[and I kind of like being out and about when the sun comes up too -]

Here's a little bird

I did this week 

[based on a drawing I found on-line]

for the 52 weeks of psalms challenge...

Psalm 13 --

Process: I covered a page in my map book with gesso 

[also used it to 'glue' two pages together -] 

And I'm kind of drawn to the white backgrounds these days - 

I drew the bird on another page in the map book and cut it out, adhered it,

 and put a little paint down. 

Then I rolled a music note stamp a [Stampin' Up] all over it 

before putting down the verse and outlining it all

with my wonderful Scarlet Lime pen...

Happy Valentine's Day to My Sweetheart!

"The Keeper Of The Stars"

[go here to hear the song !]
It was no accident me finding you
Someone had a hand in it
Long before we ever knew
Now I just can't believe you're in my life
Heaven's smilin' down on me
As I look at you tonight

I tip my hat to the keeper of the stars
He sure knew what he was doin'
When he joined these two hearts
I hold everything
When I hold you in my arms
I've got all I'll ever need
Thanks to the keeper of the stars
Soft moonlight on your face oh how you shine
It takes my breath away
Just to look into your eyes
I know I don't deserve a treasure like you
There really are no words
To show my gratitude
So I tip my hat to the keeper of the stars
He sure knew what he was doin'
When he joined these two hearts
I hold everything
When I hold you in my arms
I've got all I'll ever need
Thanks to the keeper of the stars
It was no accident me finding you
Someone had a hand in it
Long before we ever knew

After staying in Oakland we moved

to a hotel [yes, Choice] 

in downtown San Francisco - 

I think we could be here for a month and still 

not see / do all the things we wanted to do ----

 

A wonderful place with underground parking 

and a view of The Golden Gate.

[The place was completely full -

We were just a little later checking out - ha]

Seriously, how gorgeous is this?!?
[Taken from our room.]

And even though we were two floors higher than our room in Oakland - 

I never once thought about an earthquake. ha.

The fog didn't burn off until almost noon --

We were definitely within 

walking distance of lots of touristy things - 

 

So we headed down to the bay and enjoyed seeing swimmers [cRaZy]

and boats on the beautiful water. 

You can barely see the bridge behind me. 

The fog was incredible -- 

And not always in a good way - lol

 Then we walked over to Ghirardelli Square and enjoyed a yummy chocolate sundae --

And, some free samples - pumpkin spice? 

Delish.

We walked [and shopped a bit] around the area and down to The Wharf again...

We had fun taking lots of photos along the way -

 

 So much to see [and do!]

And so many people! 

So many languages!

Very different from the isolated places 

we'd been up in The Avenue of the Giants.

 Then we had the crazy idea to walk UP to Lombard Street.

Blocks and blocks - straight up.

 

And so, 

we did. 

Ha.

Had to stop for some photos along the way -

Laughed about the different modes of transportation - 

with the vacuum out there with them - made us think of Hocus Pocus.

 

More photos -

[an excuse to rest my calves - omgoodness 

that walk straight up just about killed my them...

I wasn't out of breath - just HURTING.]

 Yay. We made it!

And then we 

WALKED UP LOMBARD STREET.

Yes.

[We're crazy like that -]

It was fun.

So curvy - crazy -

  and [well... not so] steep...

It was a little easier to walk since it was not straight up...

Either that or my calves were dead by that point. Ha.

And the houses were so great tucked back into the hillside!

These are little [tiny] cars you could 

rent by the hour and drive all over town.

We didn't.

But it looked fun.

On this [not-so-crowded] street --

Later we drove down Lombard ourselves.

In our bigger car.

It was fun too.

A beautiful view of The City.

Then we headed over to Golden Gate Park [via car.]

 

[We found a sand castle contest along the way.

Kind of amazing.]

 

We wanted to get up close and personal [as possible -ha.]

We had beautiful views of the city from there as well --

[zoomed.]

It was gorgeous - but OH SO COLD...

That wind blowing in from The Pacific was freezing!

 Thank goodness we found 

The Warming Hut.

... too bad it was closed for the day... 

And  I'll admit that I was doubly thankful Craig had talked me into 

purchasing my $12 SF wind jacket - lined in fleece... I needed it.

We took one last photo together 

[swapping cameras with some girls who barley spoke English - ]

before 

catching the sunset on our way out of the city - 

So happy we got to see it before the fog started rolling back in! 

I think I'd get tired of living in the fog pretty quickly...

And then it was time to get all of THIS 

into two suitcases [each - we actually bought an 

extra at a thrift store to get us back home - lol.]

And we headed back home early the next morning -- 

It was fun to fly through Vegas and see 

The Hoover Dam and The Grand Canyon from the air...

This was such a wonderful trip and, seriously, I've only shared a bit with you - I didn't have time to mention the prairie dog that welcomed us to Carmel, or all the hippies, hikers, and [tree] huggers - and bikers we saw.... or the Italian place that wasn't...or the gorgeous flowers that seemed to be in bloom year 'round.

Oh! My!

It kind of makes me want to go back -

So I'll encourage you to think about going too!

After a little time in Carmel

we headed back up to San Francisco - 

I'd visited a couple of times before [way] back in my college days so 

I was looking forward to sharing it with Craig!

 We traveled along the coast a bit before heading in-land to acres and acres
full of vegetables and fruit. 

 [Again - gotta love my super zoom camera 
- truly.]

 It was interesting to see them harvesting the lettuce / cabbage 

straight from the field into the boxes for market - talk about farm fresh! 

 And the Farmer's Market nearby! Oh my! So full of wonderful goodness! 

Artichokes and Brussels Sprouts like I'd never seen before!

[Two of my favorite things!]

 - We even had lunch there! 

Craig had fresh tamales and I had fried artichokes.

Delish.

[We'd stopped for tea along the way -- ha.]

It'd be easy to eat healthy if you could grow your vegetables year 'round!

Going into San Francisco we were on a mission 

to find the flock of wild parrots 

that live [RIGHT] in the city! Who knew?

 

Well, I guess a lot of people -- since there are websites devoted to their sitings. Ha. The first place we went was a bust, so we decided to just park and walk a bit in the other place and the website said we'd HEAR them before we saw them - 

 

And oh, how right they were! 

There were too many to count - with both red and green faces!

 They were roosting downtown in a little park near a Tennis Center. 

In this tree -

Right in the middle of people walking by unaware...

 

Again, how wonderful is my super zoom camera?

LOVED seeing these birds!

[I told y'all we love quirky.]

 We left our car in the park space we'd found and 

took a trolley down to The Wharf to eat at 

The Boudin Bakery

where they've been making sour dough bread since 1849!

 It was a great meal!

Then we took the new Bay Bridge over to Oakland to stay the night - 

This bridge was gorgeous at night!

But I don't think I got a photo - hmmm

 

We spent the next few days in The City and there is just no way to share it all with you -- 

We'd planned to take BART in and avoid the parking stuff but they were threatening to go on strike [and in fact, did, before we left for home] so we drove in after all.

 

Our hotel in Oakland was RIGHT DOWNTOWN - a few blocks from the BART station... in an old [[old]] building. And I like old, y'all - but the elevator up to the 7th floor creeped me out - think Tower of Terror -- and the floors in our room were so uneven I almost had inner ear problems -- and all I could think about was - if there were an earthquake there was NO WAY this building would stay standing - lol.

It was an experience...

But so was San Francisco!

 We LOVED China Town!

So colorful and fun! 

And kind of amazing that some people live 

their whole lives there without ever leaving ---

Seeing the same fortune cookie factory that I visited 

over thirty years ago was a treat!

[yum!]

 It's tucked away in an alley so it took us 

a couple of walk-throughs to find it - ha.

We rode cable cars...

 

Drove up to the Painted Ladies...

 

and over to Twin Peaks for some beautiful views of the city...

and just generally had a great time meandering the streets of San Fransisco and being a tourist. One of the things I noticed while in the car - was the lack of red lights - instead there were four-way stops all over the place... and it seemed to work for them...

Again, China Town [delicious lunch there, by the way-]

and down in the shopping district -

you never know what you might see --

We walked and walked and walked - 

and had such a great time - 

I can't say it enough -

 I just really enjoy BEING with my sweetheart. 

 That evening [?] we had dinner at
The Woodhouse Fish Company
over on Market Street. 
This is possibly the best meal I had during the entire trip...
well... after that yummy breakfast --
I had grilled artichokes with shrimp and crab. 
So very nice.

 Wonderful time!