Family Beach Trip

The kids had a 3 day weekend so we planned our first "family" trip together to Nags Head. Danny got us the same house he and I stayed in over the summer for our anniversary. The weather varied, but on the last day we got some warmth and sun. The rainy hours were great for all of us to hang out, give Lauren the opportunity to work on scholarship/college apps, and of course watch the Redskins kindly let the Lions win their first game in 2 years.

We had expected Michael to be in the water and Lauren to make sand castles. Lauren ended up spending the most time in the water and really got "our money's worth" from her boogie boarding. BamBam as usual could not resist the water especially when there was a ball thrown in.
At one point, while he was paw deep in the ocean another dog walked by and BamBam cocked his leg and pee-ed in the ocean to mark it. Brilliant dog.

Here are some other highlights:

• we saw a bear cub on our way there
• we saw 2 deer in the back and a fox
• BamBam caught a couple of crabs on the beach
• we made smores in the microwave
• Michael won at Monopoly
  
• a seagull pooped on my back

Here are pics from our trip:

Supervisor Dude!

Congratulations to Danny
and praises to God!
My man was promoted last week to some sort of supervisor dude as part of a re-org and now oversees two teams: Network Development Team and Network Security Team. And how fortunate is he that his wife still has some techie-ness in her that she actually understands what that means!

In an economy where many have lost jobs, we are humbled that Danny's employer (Administrative Office of the Courts for the state of North Carolina) has promoted him in his first year there. Hate to be all corny and stuff, but Danny is a natural born leader and has an enthusiasm to motivate people around him. I am so proud of him! Now you can be too! Go Danny! Go Danny! Go, go, go!

Painting #5

I haven't talked about painting much, but I am STILL painting and this is one I finally finished on Monday. It was inspired by a photo of my mom (LEFT) in her brightly flower patterned outfit so completely 70's hip. I love this photo of her --- she looks gorgeous, stylish, and so happy.

The painting is not necessarily a portrait of her, but eludes to it. It includes images of Lauren and myself and the idea that all three "women" are connected and separate. Who looks like who, who acts like who, who is the image of the other both in physical feature or mannerisms, who is in the past and who is in the present and will be in the future.

I am still playing with the grid and layering and transparency and which layer is "concrete" and where the pattern begins and ends.

As usual the image online doesn't seem to translate the paint and their colors well. I am have mixed feelings about this piece. At certain points I loved it and was disappointed with it. I think overall, I am moving in a more sophisticated direction with my work.