Christmas 2011

We spent Christmas morning at our son and daughter-in-laws home this year. Andrew and Ursula's house was decorated just perfectly amd we really enjoyed their hospitality. Pictured above is their tree.

They fixed us a yummy brunch and the table was just beautiful!

We had lots of fun opening our gifts to each other!

There was much laughter over some of members of the Elmer family's lack of gift wrapping skills! (Sorry Ethan!)

Kellie had so much fun sharing in the gift un-wrapping. She really loves to inspect all the gifts. She needed a little nap after all the festivities.

Woody, our grand-dog, had so much fun, he needed a nap too. His new bed was perfect for that! It was a wonderful, memorable Christmas this year. The only thing that would have made it better, was if little Cooper could have been there. We miss you Mr. Cooper. We hope there is Christmas in doggie heaven!

Dog Sitting

We are dog sitting our "grand-dog" for a few days. Woody has helped our scottie, Kellie to stop being so clingy since our little Cooper passed away. Woody has been a welcome distraction for her. Notice how "neglected" these two look! :)

Life Goes On

Cooper's grave is down near the woods in our backyard. I want to put a little plaque on his grave, but for now a twig cross will do. We put an antique squirrel yard ornament on his grave. He loved to sit outside on "squirrel watch" and chase after and bark at any squirrel that he saw.

Meanwhile, we are all adjusting to being a one dog family. Kellie our 10 year old scottie is having a really hard time adjusting. She is really clingy and won't let me out of her sight. She got a new toy and is having fun playing with it and I snapped this picture of her in her little bed resting after playing with it.
I know life goes on and we will all cope and adjust but I don't know if Christmas will be very merry for all of us in this household.

Passages and Pain

Today I am blogging with a broken and heavy heart. Today is the day my father passed away 3 years ago. I know time heals the pain and the tears lessen but I don't think the sadness ever ends. I have a new pain to add to this sad anniversery. We had to put our sweet little wheaten scottie down yesterday. He was so very sick and in so much pain, that we had to do what was best for him, not for us. I wish my dad was here to give me some words of wisdom like only he knew how to do so well. Daddy I hope Cooper is with you right now getting a belly rub. xxoo Jeanne

All I want for Christmas!

My sweet 7 year old wheaten scottie is seriously sick. We have been so worried about him for days. Our dogs are such an important part of our family, and its heartbreaking when they get sick. Cooper is in some sort of liver/gallbladder failure or crisis. Needless to say, much $$$$ has been spent trying to keep him alive. As of this minute, we have had a slight improvement in his bilirubin levels, but he is not out of the woods yet. Hopefully our little rascal will be able to get better by the holidays. That's all I want for Christmas!

I'm a BAD, BAD Blogger!

Its been a LONG time since I blogged, sorry to say. Not that I've been doing nothing but quite the opposite! BUSY: subbing, traveling,having the flu (thanks to subbing!), creating and basically attending to life! So in my first post in quite a long time I must share a you tube video that my sister shared with me. My family and I have had a blast watching and re-watching this clip! Enjoy!

Great words of advice

I listened to a segment on the NBC National news tonight about Steve Jobs passing. They featured his Commencement speech at Stanford University. I loved his words of advice and want to share them here. I think his words on mortality are especially touching.

911 Water Lily

My husband and I built a water garden about 8 years ago. We had the area landscaped and planted new little birch trees. Over the years we loved to watch the water lily's bloom and open all summer long. 8 years later, those little birches are now mature, very large trees. Our water garden is now pretty much a shade garden and without much sun, lily's don't bloom. We did not get one bloom this season. In July, we had one of the trees cut down to increase the sunlight to our little pond.

I looked for potential blooms everyday, but even though the pond now gets much more sun and the lily pads have grown and increased, there have been no flowers. Until today. I just happened to glance at the pond today, when I took a break from watching 911 coverage and there it was. A beautiful, lush, yellow lily flower, to remind me that while today is a sad anniversary of a tragic event; there is still much beauty around us everyday.

Cool scarf tying video

I found this cool video about scarf tying on the Bonjour Paris newsletter. I will use these techniques next May on my return trip to Paris!

Reliquary Shrine

This lovely little shrine is coming with me to Chicago. I teach this class at art conventions and this sample piece is going to be for sale at CREATE Mixed Media Artist Faire! Come check it out next Friday in Chicago.

Pictured here are the 2 Reliquary necklaces that come with the shrine, one piece to wear and one to display!

More Reliquary Pendant Necklaces for CREATE Mixed Media Artist Fair

Here are some of my soldered glass Reliquary pendants that I am bringing to the CREATE Mixed Media event! These little ( 1 1/2 inch square) glass shadow boxes are double sided and have jump rings at the top for attaching the necklace chain that I sell seperately. Stop by my table and see these pendants, each one is unique and one of a kind!

Getting ready for CREATE vendor event!

I'm getting excited about about my upcoming trip to Chicago for the CREATE Mixed Media vendor event. Pictured above are some new goodies I'm taking with me. Several of the pendants in this photo have little trinkets in them that I picked up at the flea markets I visited in Paris!

 I always love to visit Chicago and even though this will be a very quick trip I am planning some trips to my favorites stops: Chicago antique malls, Bucktown and the Eileen Fisher outlet!!! Hope to see you at CREATE! If you read my blog and visit my table at CREATE mention Art Girl Adventures and you will receive a special freebie with your purchase!

My Sister's Etsy Shop!

My sister just opened a Etsy shop selling her soaps and jewelry. I really like the soap, I have the Chamomile and Pet soap and they are great! Check them out here:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/78905597/oatmeal-milk-honey-soap

KCAI Class Project

I took a class at the Kansas City Art Institute recently, to get graduate credit.The class was called Personal Shrines and it was taught by my friend Dan Dakotas. It was really fun! Here is the shrine I made. My shrine theme was nature and nests. There was also an egg theme going on. I'm including some pics of some other student's projects as well.

Paris Adventures: The End!

Jeff and I headed to Versailles today. We took the metro to Concorde station to catch the RER train. The trains were not marked too well and after almost hopping on the wrong train, we asked someone and as luck would have it, they spoke English and told us what train we needed.
The lines to get into Versailles were LONG, like 1 1/2 hours of waiting long! We made it in and toured the main castle. I kept thinking about what it must have been like to live there and how many people might have passed through the halls.

We walked out into the gardens past the Grand Canal and out to Marie Antoinette's little Chateau, where she liked to dress as a peasant. We really enjoyed the more casual and down to earth landscaping and appeal of the "peasant" buildings.

This is the "Temple of Love" that was built by Marie Antoinette's chateau.
After touring Versailles all day we headed back to our apartment and rested a bit before joining the other ladies for dinner at "Le Grand Colbert". If you have seen the movie "Something's Gotta Give" with Diane Keeton and Jack Nicholson, this restaurant is the one featured at the end of the movie. We had a great meal and I ordered the "roast chicken" that Diane Keeton's character raved about.

Metro Station that we passed on the way to dinner.

Jeff and I goofing around at the Palais Royal on the way to dinner.
Our last day in Paris was spent doing what we liked the most.... wandering. We walked the Rue de Rivoli again, and went to the Marais area. We went into BHV, a most unusual department store, that carried hardware, housewares and clothing. Jeff bought some French clothing and a scarf!

Our last dinner was at a hole in the wall North African Couscouserie restaurant around the corner from our apartment. We had the best couscous and lamb meal!! Yum!

We had a wonderful time in Paris. It really is a romantic, magical place. If it wasn't for the jet lag we've suffered upon our return, I'd go back again next week!! I discovered some things were not like the guidebooks I'd read beforehand had warned:
You can find toilets easily and there was plenty of toilet paper.
French people were very friendly, helpful and most spoke English.
Pick pockets were not everywhere and the metro was safe.
I hope you've enjoyed following along on our adventures! Check out my Etsy shop to see some of the goodies I bought at the flea markets! Au revoir! Jeanne

Paris Adventures Part 7

Today Jeff and I headed to the Louvre! I wanted to say I saw the "Mona Lisa" in my lifetime, so we metro-ed down to the famous museum. Of all my adventures, I think the Louvre was the biggest disappointment. Crowded, hot, stuffy, muggy and did I say crowded? We fought our way into the museum, dodging Japanese tourists and their cameras and French school field trip groups. The maps provided by the museum were not really user friendly and Jeff and I spent a great deal of our time trying to figure out where we were.

Here she is! I think a more interesting shot is of all the tourists trying to get a picture!

Some more Louvre pictures:

One thing that amazed me when we toured the Louvre, was the lack of climate-regulated conditions. Most musuems keep their art works displayed in humidity controlled environments. The Louvre was hot and steamy inside, I can't imagine that is good for all those priceless works of art! After we had fought the crowds long enough, we headed to the basement cafe to eat a very expensive sandwich lunch. Next we headed outside to hop on a Le'Tour double decker bus for a riding tour of the rest of the sights around the Champs-Elysees and the Eiffel Tower. It was nice to not have to walk for awhile. Jeff got pretty sun burned though!

The lines to get into and up the Eiffel Tower were so long (3-4 hours) that we opted to enjoy the views from the top of our open air bus! Maybe another trip when its not so crowded!

We hopped off the bus at Musee' de l' Armee' to see Napolean's Tomb. Again, lots of school tours!

Back on another bus that took us back to Montemarte. Pictured above is the famous Moulin Rouge. We rested up a bit, then got dressed up and headed off for a dinner in St. Michel and an evening Seine River Cruise. I think the cruise was one of my favorite parts of the trip. All the sights looked different in the dark. I enjoyed seeing all the young Parisians lining the banks of the Seine, yelling hello to the tourists in the boats!