I Won!!!!

I was doing my usual bit of blog reading this afternoon and happen to check out one of my favorite blogs, Speckled Nest and found that I won the Itsy Bitsy Giveaway. I was so stunned to see Pink Petunia Designs on there, I about tipped over. I never win anything so you can imagine my surprise. Lauren of Speckled Hen, the author of Speckled Nest, is also a Craft Mafia sister of mine. She is a very talented seamstress and makes everything from handbags to aprons as well as many other great finds. I can't wait to get my little prize in the mail. I will take a pic and show it off when it arrives. Thanks Speckled Hen!!!!
Please check out her blog at:
http://www.specklednest.blogspot.com/ and http://speckledhen.etsy.com/

The Tudors is Smokin

Wow! Two postings in a row regarding T.V. shows. I really don't watch that much T.V., just an hour or two at night after the Scout goes night night. I love On Demand. I watch old movies on Turner Classic Movies and all the freebie movies because hey, they're free! I just saw a preview on On Demand for The Tudors under Top Picks. I tried at first to open up the one in HD, but I guess you need some sort of special box, and we don't have it. But then I found it a little further down on the list and started watching Episode 1. It is sooooooooo good. Its a little love story(o.k. big love stories, yes stories) lots of history, drama, violence. Just a little bit of everything wrapped in a blanket for you. Not to mention super hot actors - always a plus in my book. So far I am on Episode 4 and I wish that I could stay up later tonight, because I am dying to see Episode 5. So check it out if you get a chance. Its On Demand till March 5th. I guess the new season will be starting on Showtime soon. Wish I had it, but I will have to wait till the next season is On Demand again.

Quarterlife Cool

Tonight was the premiere of Quarterlife. Definitely a good one. I checked it out and loved it. Check it out on Sunday. Definitely worth the watch!

The Crafty Chica

I was so excited to find a comment today from the Crafty Chica, Kathy Cano-Murillo who is a talented artist, author of five fabulous books, national craft columnist and has also appeared on the DIY network as well as having her own webisodes on Lifetime TV.com. She has an amazing website and blog and a list of crafty credentials that will blow you away. I just wanted to post it so you could all check out the Crafty Chica. It's the coolest thing, because I was just at the bookstore the other day and spotted two of her books and was immediately drawn to the covers to check them out. Thank you Kathy for your nice comment. It means a lot.

Her site is http://www.craftychica.com/ & http://www.thecraftychica.blogspot.com/

Nail Salon - Anjelah Johnson - Comedy Time

Deb & Kim's Adventure #2

My friend Kim and I decided to start a tradition last month. We got together for a kid-free outing to Chilis for lunch and then to get our eyebrows waxed from our buddy Cass. Kim and I don't get out much, so an eyebrow waxing is like a day at Disneyland. We had a blast with each other and thought we would do it again this month. I have known Kim forever and a day. We actually knew each other while still in the womb, as our mom's worked together at Sac States library. We have had many adventures together. We had a great memory that we talked about the other night, this is of course prior to being married and having little ones..... I remember partying it up with Kim at Fanny Ann's in Old Sac and I fell down the stairs (I'm super klutzy for those who don't know me) and Kim had some guy drinking a beer out of her shoe, and then we got into a pushing and shoving match with some girls on the dance floor. Thank God my kids are not quite old enough to read my blog yet. Good times. So anyway, back to our now less aggressive mommy adventures that involve an afternoon without kids. We decided to make it a once a month tradition. We don't get to see each other very often, so we both really look forward to getting together. This time we decided to catch some lunch at Felipes. Its kinda in the ghetto, but those are always the places that have the best food! We of course order bean and cheese burritos because that's what we love and then from there headed off to get our pedicures. Kim and I both talked about how long it had been since we have actually had a pedicure, and lets just say it has been a while. She was worried about her big toe that had a dollop of old polish left on it and I was worried about my unshaven legs, but we braved it anyway. The experience was.....hmmm...interesting I guess you would say. The woman that Kim had was determined to up sell Kim on getting the $44 pedicure as well as her toenails painted a "beuful red colo" and she was insistent. If you know Kim, Kim is extremely diplomatic and said, "Uh, no, I don't think I want that red, I would really like this red." The lady said, "No, no, you like beful red colo." Kim maintained her composure much better than I would and ended up taking the "beful red colo." It was really beautiful on her. The guy that I had was massaging my feet so hard that I thought that my toes were going to come off and the massage chair that I was sitting in had these magical fingers that were jabbing into my spine as well as other places that they should not have been jabbing. The polish never really dried and I smudged mine on the way out and to top it all off you couldn't use card slide and no checks, only cash...Hmmmm quite suspicious. Maybe the IRS should check them out. They of course conveniently put an ATM machine right next to the register, that charged you $1.50 for every transaction plus $2.00 that my bank charged me. So all in all the pedicure that now looks crappy was $27.00 + $3.00 tip for killing my feet. I seriously thought my feet were going to fall off last night they hurt so bad + $1.50 for the transaction fee + $2.00 from my bank charge all for a suckie pedicure. Kim and I had to balance out our lousy pedicure by getting a Starbucks next door at Barnes & Noble and when I placed my order Kim was laughing hysterically. Here is my order. I want a Venti Decaf Nonfat 6 Pump Vanilla Latte at 130 degrees please. Yes, I am one of those pain in the but people at Starbucks. So all in all are date was fun minus the adventures at the nail place and we can't wait to get together again next month. We decided we would visit The Green Tangerine http://www.mygreentangerines.com/for an evening of scrapbooking. I can't wait. Here is a little treat from U-tube per Kim's suggestion of our nail salon adventure.

Folk Art Primitives Collection

Here is one of my newest paintings that I have added to my etsy shop. She is one of my folk art primitives collection. It combines my love of folk art as well as my love of altered art. My little primitive girl is in love with love. She is wearing a red dress made out of vintage style paper that has been embellished and distressed with inks by Tim Holtz as well as my favorite art supply, a Sharpee marker. Her hair (though hard to see in my picture) has also been embellished with my favorite art supply. I have now painted about five of these little primitives but the other four have been given away as gifts. I am trying to expand the collection a little in the next month or so. I have been working on a primitive for an auction for a school that involves books and reading. The other that I have been working on is a breast cancer primitive painting that will be auctioned and half the money donated to breast cancer research, a cause that is dear to my heart. I will post them as I finish them up. I am thinking that I really need to invest in a light box. The camera thing is just getting me down. You can't see the cool color of my paintings. This one is actually very camel in color but looks a little dark due to the bad lighting.

The Dog and Bikinis

I have been promising my Dad that I was going to blog about him for the last week, so Dad, I am finally getting to it. My Dad just came back from a trip to Hawaii with his best friend Hap and Hap's son Matt. Why not my Mom you ask? You would have had to liquor her up really well to get her anywhere near the airport. It just wasn't happening. So my Dad made the trip bachelor style. They went to the Pro-Bowl and Pearl Harbor and the Missouri and took a ride in a catamaran(sorry if that's spelled wrong) all while sipping mai tais and checking out girls that were too young for them in bikinis. They had a blast. I made my Dad promise me that he would go to the office of Dog the Bounty Hunter because it is one of my favorite shows to watch and they are located on the island that they visited. Hap has been to Hawaii several times and knows the neighborhood pretty well. He followed through on his promise and got me a picture or two of Dog the Bounty Hunters office. Its so cool. I know what you are thinking? Isn't that the guy with the mullet. Yes, its him and I LOVE that show. So here is a pic of my Dad standing right in front of his office. I was really hoping that he would run into the Dog going out on a mission to catch a fugitive, but alas, there was nobody in the office. He said they ran into a couple that had knocked on the door and a guy let them in for a tour. How cool would that have been? You should have asked Dad!!!!! Well I guess that will be as close to becoming a bounty hunter as I will get. My Dad also brought us home some really cool gifts. He brought the girls two Hawaiian dolls named Niki and Loni and me an awesome shell necklace and the best gift of all a Hawaii Starbucks card that you can only get in Hawaii. He even loaded it. Thanks Dad. And of course the best gift of all according to my husband, is the Hawaiian bikini girl calendar he brought back for him. Boys! I don't know if I will be thanking him for that one, but my husband certainly is. Ha Ha.

Craziness

Craziness!!!! I know.... No blogging for like a week straight. What up dog? Well, lots actually. The Peanut started Little League this last week and what fun!!!! The Peanut is only one of two girls on her team and she (to my surprise) is hustling and paying attention more than the boys out there. Most of the boys had even a few tears shed, but the Peanut, she just went out and had a great time playing. I think being in soccer this year really helped. It always amazes me how quickly kids can make friends with other kids. Adults can't even hold a small conversation with a stranger and kids just gather and in less than five minutes they have a game going and chatting it up with the other kids. Adults should take note.

On the craft front: The Sac Craft Mafia meeting was fabulous. It was a pretty small group due to a lot of the rampant illness flying around Sac town, but it was fun. I told you about our two challenges that we had. One, was to make a gavel for our current president Amy. Our Craft Mafia colors are pink and black so I definetly wanted to try to incorporate that into the challenge. I wanted to make it as crafty as possible so I headed to Michaels (I know I said that I was supposed to stay out of there, but it was for club business, so it was allowed) and picked up a few small wooden pots and a wooden thread spool. Painted them, super glued them together, added some ribbon and embellished with my favorite tool in the whole world - a Sharpee marker! It came out pretty cute. I am really not into to many wood crafts, but it came out o.k. I was surprised when they asked if anyone did the gavel challenge and I raised my hand, but nobody else did! Mine was the only one there and everybody said it turned out cute so I was pleased. Our second challenge of the night was not really a challenge, but more of a swap, a Valentine swap. It could be a card or a favor. Now, I really love anything paper, and my first reaction was to do a fantastic card, but I decided instead to do one of my paper topiaries on a small scale. I have made a few of these now, all of them rather large. They usually take me about three days to complete, but because this one was so small, I completed it in just one day. It came out cute. I still tried to use pink and black and of course hearts, its for Valentines Day. Here are a few pics. We chose names and swapped our items, so much fun. Guess what I got............. I got the most fabulous pair of heart earrings made by Craft Mafia sister Lorain of Rain's Embellishments: http://www.myspace.com/rainsembellishments & http://www.rainsembellishments.etsy.com/. Here is a pic. Aren't they awesome? Please check out her sites. She is one very talented jewelry designer! Thank you Rain!!!!!! I have worn them almost everyday since. Especially in the spirit of Valentines Day! Speaking of jewelry, the hubby gave me a huge surprise Valentines morning - a beautiful gold heart necklace with lots of bling. Wow! We usually just exchange cards with flowers or a coffee from Starbucks which I love, so you can imagine my surprise when I saw a little box next to my card. Thank you cute husband of mine!

On the scoping front: I finished my final, yea!!!!!!!!! And, I got a B. I was a little disappointed because the two questions that I missed, I second guessed myself and should have gone with my gut. I always do that on tests. But, I passed, and that is the most important thing. I already began the next class which is Transcript Production. I have been producing transcripts for reporters for over five years now so I thought this section would be a breeze, but so far, not the case. Its hard when you have to learn a different style of doing things than you are used to. So only nine chapters in this one. Hopefully, I will have it wiped out in two weeks or so.

On the personal front: I did it, I went out and chopped my hair. I have to do this every now and then. It makes me feel like I am a completely new person every time I cut my hair. My first idea was to cut it and give it either to Locks of Love or to the Pantene program for women with breast cancer, but no dice. I guess that I can't have color treated hair. It has to be au natural in order to donate, and sadly enough, I have to color mine because of my quickly becoming evident, premature graying. I know, I am only 31, but it is coming in fast and furious thanks to my great gene pool. I was bummed not to donate my hair. It seems like such a waste. I had close to nine inches taken off. Wow! So here are my before and after pics. None of them are great pics of me. It could be the light, and my lack of camera intelligence and the fact that I held the camera up and took it myself, but at least you get the idea. I brought in a picture of Jenny McCarthy. I covet her hairstyle. Isabel over at our local Ulta in Birdcage on Sunrise in Citrus Heights did a fantastic job on my cut. I have had several bobs, but this one is so nice because she thinned it out a ton so I don't look like my head exploded. Thank you Isabel at Ulta. Go visit her she is fantastic!

On the kiddo front: We finally made it to see our friends in Redding this weekend. Their daughter was turning the big 03 and the party was at a jumphouse place. Kids love it. Actually, the husband had more fun than the kids and even broke out into a full blown sweat. I was loosing my pants climbing under the poofy things on the obstacle course. So much fun. The party theme was Backyardigans. One of our daughters' fave cartoons. Here are the party masks that they passed out as favors.

We tried to avoid it, but its here, the Peanut has caught the coughing virus that is going around. I was hoping it was just hayfever, but the poor kid hasn't stopped coughing all week. I finally took her to the doctor today and they confirmed it wasn't anything to worry about. She hasn't run a fever but her chest and her throat are killing her. We sat on the couch most of the day and drank 7-up and watched about a billion Sponge Bob episodes On Demand(Thank You Comcast!!!) and then the movie Deck the Halls. Too cute. I love Danny DeVito.

O.k. so that is the week in a nut shell. On to the next one. I am really glad that tomorrow is a holiday and the office is closed and the hubby is off. I need a holiday! P.S. I am pretty sure that my spell check is not working. I know that my spelling can't be that fantastic that I don't have any misspelled words in my post, but when I hit the button nothing happens so bear with me.

I finally fixed my links

Wow! I am just on an organizational overload.

Getting the carpets cleaned tomorrow
Taking the cat to the vet on Friday for vaccination update
Getting my hair chopped this weekend.
Getting my eye appointment/physical done next Tuesday

and tonight....
I finally jazzed up my blog a bit with links that actually work now. Sorry about that. You can now check out all of my favorite blogs that I read when I get a chance. Also a pic of me (not a great one) and of the Scout (did I mention that she is the comedian of the family)! Also updated the books that I am currently reading. Too cool for school. Gotta get to bed its after 12:00 and I gotta work at the Peanuts class tomorrow.

Folk Art - A love of mine!

O.k. , so I procrastinated. I didn't get my paintings on etsy or on my blog last night. So tonight I am taking tons of pictures (because we know what a whiz I am with a camera; see previous posts) just to get a good shot. I experimented with lighting, flash, no flash, guides for the close-up. You can see the color difference in the two pictures. Crazy, huh, or just my bad photography. I am just not good at this stuff. So I finally get a couple of semi-decent shots and I go to load them on etsy and I continually get an error message of "ERROR SAVED IMAGE." What the heck does that mean? I tried to troubleshoot it, and after a half an hour of messing with it and consulting a "not so helpful" help menu. I gave up--but just for tonight. I will try listing them again tomorrow. Did I say that I even resized them but, no go. So here are my two folk art paintings. I love painting. I have been painting since I was a kid and many of you might think, "They look like they were done by a kid," but that is my love of folk art. I have never been into the modern or the realistic. I love folk art because it really shows each artists individuality and fun in their paintings. Folk art is always so whimsical and unpredictable. At least, that is my take on it. I have been a collector of folk art for quite some time now and have an ever expanding collection of items hanging on my walls. My all time favorite is actually hanging in my bathroom. I know, a weird place, but it fits in there. It is actually a piece that was made with old pieces of barn wood collaged together to make a great American flag. It was super expensive, but I just had to have it and bought it for myself pre-kids, pre-husband. I will always treasure it! These two pieces that I painted were of two things that I can't live without. The first one is crows, yep, crows, they are my favorite. I just love those big happy birds. They have such unique personalities and I always get a little smile when I see one on a walk in our front yard. This crow in my painting is quite the Diva. She has a silver princess crown and holds a bag in her beak from the jewelry store Tiffany's. My second painting is entitled Mamas Cookin, and it speaks for itself. Big Mama is stirring up her biscuit dough in a green bowl while wearing her favorite red and orange polka-dot dress and white utilitarian apron. How chic! This painting was inspired by all the women in my family who have a love of food and cooking for their families. If you know my family, you would know that most every gathering revolves around the meals and snacks.

So here is a couple of pics to keep you busy till I get them up in my etsy shop.

On another note, I received my final for my Medical Terminology class and it is rather easy and short, a nice change from the other two finals that I had to take in the last three months. I will let you know what my grade is soon. Hopefully good. I plan on starting my scoping business as soon as I possibly can. My friend Ruth has a few juicy cases she is working on and we talked about me scoping them. Yay!

Just a Quickie!

Just a quickie update while I have a brief moment.

I finished the last quiz in my Medical Terminology Class! Yeah!!!!!!! Just waiting to recieve the final exam and I am on to my transcript production class. I have been producing transcripts for the past five years so hopefully this one will be a quick class, but you never know.

I just updated my flickr account because it was getting oldy and moldy with no pics in there. Here it is:
www.flickr.com/photos/pinkpetuniadesigns/

I am working on two very fun crafty projects for the Craft Mafia meeting this week. I will post photos both on flickr and the blog after the meeting because they are a super secret surprise. We had two challenges for this next meeting. One, to make a gavel for our current president Amy and two, to make a Valentine card or favor. Too much fun. Can't wait to show you.

Paintings will be on my etsy shop as well as my flickr account tonight and I am working on two new ones that I will hopefully finish by next week.

I am having one of those days where I am tying up a bunch of loose ends that I should have gotten to like a month ago. I am feeling very accomplished today in all of my organization. Although, I just realized I have been so busy today I didn't even think about making dinner yet and its now almost 4 pm. Gotta go. Yeah for me in all my organization!