Waiting for WALL*E

The date, June 27th, has been circled on our calendar for months. He makes me pull down the calendar at least once a week to count down the days. Ever since he saw the preview on one of his DVDs, my little guy has been anxiously awaiting the arrival of Pixar's new movie, WALL*E. Or as he likes to say, "Coming soon to theatres" (or pronounced more like "fee-ah-ters") I think he has the "fee" part down!

Disney Store online just had a special promotion. Spend $75 and get two free WALL*E tickets so I bought some things to put away for Christmas (yes, really, Christmas presents in July!). He has a new WALL*E shirt waiting in his closet to wear to the movies that he picked out at Wal-Mart months ago. My friend thinks it's so weird that people will buy promotional things before you've even seen the movie. It's such a kid-thing; it's all about the hype, putting those fun new toys in the stores, images on food packaging, getting the kids to recognize the characters, to do to their parents just what my son does to me ("Can we go see WALL*E yet? Is this the week we get to see WALL*E? When are we going to see it?!")

Unfortunately, I can't take him on opening day Friday but we will go on the next Monday. He's so excited...hope it lives up to the hype!

Here is my guy, modeling for Queen*Bree*Designs this past weekend.

Red, White and Blue!

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Swimming into Summer!

We don't have a pool, we are one of only a handful of people in our neighborhood who do not have a swimming pool. My little guy is appeased with occasional swims at the YMCA, the pool at my brother's apartment complex or at hotel pools. So, needless to say, he's not learned how to swim yet.
I took him to swimming lessons at the Y last year but not so sure that after the experience last year we'll be doing that again this year. Last year, there were about 8 little kids in the class, all around 3 or 4. My guy was just 3 and it was his first swimming class. There was only one teacher and she would have the kids sit on the first step in the pool while she worked with one student at a time. All the kids sat wiggling on the step of the pool, anxiously awaiting their turn with the teacher. My little guy wiggled a bit too much because he wiggled right off the step and his head went under the water. The teacher was across the pool with another student, she didn't even notice. I jumped up out of my chair and ran to the side of the pool. He was under the water, staring up at me, unable to touch the bottom and not knowing how to get up to the surface. The panic on his face was unbearable. I heard another parent shout and just as I was about to jump into the pool fully clothed, a lifeguard ran over and jumped in. The lifeguard lifted my guy up and out of the water and my scared little guy gave me a big hug. After a few minutes, he was relaxed and went back to the class. It was terrifying, seeing his face and not being able to reach him.
So, we'll have to see how I feel about going back to the Y for swim lessons again this year. I know that he needs them and that he's older this year, so he'd probably learn quicker this time around. But I'm not sure I've recovered from last year yet!

Here is my guy, sliding down the twisty tube at Disneyland's Paradise Pier hotel pool earlier this month.

Journal Modiste

Thank you for the feature, Blog of the Week! What a surprise to see my new logo there when I went to get my daily boutique fix :)
If you've never checked out the Journal Modiste before, their link is on the left of my blog (below my Etsy & Ebay links). Read about the Featured Designers and get direct links to current auctions.

Project Peek

I just finished these short sets for a friend's daughters trip to Walt Disney World. If I can't go myself, I will live vicariously through her! :)
If you are interested in having me create a custom for your next trip to the World or Land, email me at paintedbutterflystudio@yahoo.com and I can design something special!

I like...Golf?!

Okay, so I LOVE to watch sports. I love baseball, football, just about any Olympic sport that's on but this weekend we got wrapped up into a whole new sporting world... golf! I've never watched it before. Always looked slow as molasses and boring. So this weekend the US Open is at Torrey Pines, just a hop-skip-and-jump down the freeway from me, exciting! Our city looked beautiful, the ocean shots are gorgeous and apparantly golfer like the marine layer? At least that is what the broadcasters said, they like that cool, foggy, overcast gloom? Probably the only people that do!
We watched on Saturday, all day. My dad started chanting, "Come on Tiger, come on Tiger, you can do it". My mom was rooting for Mediate, the underdog. These people, watching GOLF, we've never even watched one moment of it in our lives and here we were, cheering them on! I was sewing and would tell my mom to tell me when Tiger came up to putt so I could look up and see it.
A few notes about golf: It moves faster than you would think. I expected it to be a slow paced games but watching it on TV, they are cutting back and forth from each golfer so there is always something going on. On that note, there are also not a lot of commercials, a big difference from football which practically takes commercial breaks during their commercial breaks! And surprisingly, golf is pretty darned exciting, lots of oohs and ahhs when putts would rim the cup and sunk into a sandtrap. We jumped up and clapped when Tiger tied the match just like we did when the Padres hit the grand slam the other night!
In any case, I guess I'm more open to learning about new things. Golf first, what's next?

Father's Day

Years ago on a Father's Day Sunday in church, the priest told this homily. It's always stuck with me on the importance of strong male role models.

The story goes...A card company decided one Mother's Day to take some of their cards to a local prison so that inmates could write to their mothers. They set up a table with the cards and the inmates lined up by the hundreds. The card company even had to go back to their warehouse for more cards, they'd not brought enough. The Mother's Day event was a huge success. When Father's Day rolled around, the card company decided to revist the prison and brought plenty of Father's Day cards this time. However not one of the inmates lined up to send a Father's Day card.

My own father has always been a major influence in my life. He was my first art teacher, showing me how to draw, watercolor, and see the world with an artistic eye. He's always encouraged my creativity and even today, will stand next to me in my studio and want to see what I'm making. Just over a month ago, my dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Our Father's Day will be particularly bittersweet, not knowing if this will be our last one with him. We've been living every day that way lately, letting him know how much we love and appreciate him, caring for him, taking the time to make sure he's comfortable and pain-free. It's how we all should live every day with those we love.

Here is a photo of my dad, taken last week on our trip to Disneyland.

Voila! The new ME IS revealed!

Hurray! I am ready to reveal the new ME, my updates and beautiful ME page as designed by Traci of leeziebee. She did a fantastic job of listening to what colors and style I wanted for the page and created a whimsical but sophisticated look for me. Check it all out by following the link.

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A little bit of Pixie Dust

We spent the weekend at Disneyland, my parents, my boys and my brother and sister-in-law and their son. We had such a good time, swimming, eating and enjoying the rides. My nephew is a bit sensitive to motion, noise and too much action, so I spent time outside with him so the rest of the family could go on the rides. That was okay with me, as I've been to Disney a lot in the last year and I don't think he should be pressured to ride anything he's not ready for yet.

In any case, he loves Peter Pan so I made him this appliqued shirt to wear to the Park. He was so excited! And he was absolutely starstruck when Wendy appeared at our table for dinner at Goofy's Kitchen.

All that worry...

for nothing! Our recital on Friday went great, no major issues. There is something about when the kids put on their costumes that just unifies them, they look more coordinated, they get a little more serious, they really did fantastic. There were two students that didn't show up, which was very unusual. We put off the show for about 5 minutes, waiting and then calling their houses. So that was odd. And it was so flipping HOT in that gym, all steamed up with the 100+ people inside. One lady said, "What? No air conditioning?!" Yeah, no A/C...this is a city gym, so unless they really hack the budget somewhere they aren't putting in an air conditioner! LOL In any case, the show went very nicely, I'm soooo relieved!

Playing in the "grass"

Last year my parents decided to overhaul the front yard and put in grass. Being water conscience and also not having the energy to put into caring for a full lawn, they chose Easy Turf, our "faux grass". It looks pretty real from the street, feels nice on the feet and the kids loving having a soft place to play outside under our huge tree. Here is my guy yesterday, enjoying a rest on the "grass".

Recital time!

So, in addition to being a single mom, full-time employee at a catalog company and part-time seamstress/artist, I also teach children's tumbling classes at a local rec center. I used to teach lots more classes: ballet, tap, jazz, toddler movement, gymnastics and tumbling (about 11 classes a week) but cut back to just 2 classes a week many years ago after my son was born. My broken down body just couldn't handle the physicality of it all anymore. I've been teaching for 18 years and I will say that I'm a pretty darned good teacher! Over the years, I've learned what works with the kids and what doesn't.
Tomorrow is our 9th Annual Rec Center Recital! It should be our 10th but I took time off when I had my son and we didn't have a recital one of those years. In any case, this is the first year that I feel totally unprepared!! We had to push back the date of the show a few weeks later than usual so that should have given us more time, but I still feel like we aren't quite ready. The kids still look at each other a little bit lost sometimes, like they don't know what part comes next. We combine the ballet classes with the tumbling classes to have one big show and even the ballet teacher says that her kids don't really know their routine very well....eek! Oh well, I guess we'll see what happens tomorrow. One year, a tape broke and the kid's didn't have any music to dance to do. I ended up singing the song out loud, in front of about 200 people just so the kids could keep the beat! That was embarrassing. At least now there is another teacher and not just me, so I have some assistance and don't run around like a nut. I even used to make all the costumes, thank goodness I don't do that anymore! Wish us luck, I think we are going to need it tomorrow!

Read it again...and again...and again!

My officemate has been on a reading frenzy lately, scooping up new books from our bookshelf here at work. On our business trip last Friday, she bought a new book at Union Station and finished it over the weekend. She's never been a very big reader, so this is new for her.
I just can't seem to get myself into reading anything new. The last new book series I picked up was Harry Potter, which I devoured but that was the last new book. Anything current just doesn't interest me. I guess I'm so worried that I will have invested hours of time reading only to be disappointed by the ending and feel like I wasted time I could have spent reading something I liked.
So here's my plug for the classics! I read, reread, and read-again the same books over and over. There is just something about reading the same books again that makes me feel safe and warm. I know I'll love it, because I've read it 10 times already! When I want a crime-drama, I escape into Scout and Gem's world in To Kill a Mockingbird or The Great Gatsby. Ready for a tearjerker? Bring on The Yearling or The Grapes of Wrath. You can't beat Rebecca for a great mystery. A Room with a View is oh-so romantic. And you were probably forced to read these in high school, so try them again on your own time: The Catcher in the Rye, East of Eden and Of Mice and Men.
I don't have much time to read lately but occassional when I feel the urge, I'll grab one of my favorites off my shelf and dive in. Just like being with an old friend...I know the plot, I'm invested in the characters, no fuss, no mess, I can just ENJOY!

Summer is coming!

I'm not a "warm-weather" gal. I'm not really the one to sit outside tanning or swimming (I'm the one under the umbrella, wearing SPF 60). I'd much prefer being bundled up under a blanket, sewing all day than at the beach shaking sand out of my hair! But there are some things I do like about summer...I like that the sun stays up later so that the kids can play outside longer (and I can sew a few extra minutes!). I like that we use the BBQ more often. I like that the amusement parks we frequent have summer-hours and stay open later into the night. I like that the summer holidays often include swimming for the boys, cute sandals and twirly skirts for me and it's an excuse to break out my big straw hat. So, three cheers for summer!!

Two of my special boys enjoyed a popsicle outside this weekend.