Amy & Kate at Hot Sauce Festival

Amy & Kate at Hot Sauce Festival
Originally uploaded by pamplemousse2007

Ok, so just ignore the red hot tomato face thing I have going on (in reaction to the 100 degree heat), but just savor the WAY COOL FACT that Amy and I actually both live in Austin now. This is the first time I've seen her in over 20 years but I knew her immediately!

We met up at the Austin Hot Sauce Festival, which was pretty fun (and tasty) with, of course, great live music playing. Got to hear about Amy and Tim's big move to San Marcos (just south of Austin), her nursing gig, her grinder commute (bleah) and her very groovy-sounding new house. We're both eager for it to cool off around here!

We lasted about 30 minutes in the heat and then bailed for an air-conditioned restaurant to catch up. What a great thing to reconnect with Amy.

A Journal Page for Elsa's Birthday

Kate did a great job of being the "official" photographer at Elsa's party... I collected a few of the wonderful photos and made a page to remember this very special day.

Elsa at One

On Sunday (the 24th) Elsa turned ONE YEAR OLD.

And has been home with me for 5 months.

So, here are some nuggets about Elsa as she reaches this big milestone:

Big news!! She now WALKS!! God help me.

She is still in great health – well mostly. Right now, she has a cold – which is most likely the result of all the crazy traveling I’ve been forcing upon her… we both were holding up until the last trip really pushed the lack-of-sleep envelope.

She is happy, happy, happy. Remarkably. Like almost frighteningly.

She is huge (still) - official weight TBD at an upcoming doctor's appointment, but unofficial puts her near 24 pounds(!)

Consistent with the previous item, and her entire existence as far as I can tell, she continues to eat like a truck driver.

She eats anything I put in front of her, and is continuing her transition from pureed foods to table foods. She loves feeding herself and when I have the time I just let her eat her whole meal in her adorable uncoordinated manual fashion. Takes forever and is a huge mess. But makes her really happy to eat with her hands.

Except for a recent bout of late-night awakenings (because of her cold), she’s a good sleeper – sleeps through the night about 90% of the time. Thank you God.

She has two volume settings: silent (when sleeping) and really, really, REALLY loud.

Elsa loves the nanny, Marta. And so do I.

Even more than the nanny, Elsa LOVES her Aunt Kate and her Oma. And so do I. :-)

She loves to be outside. Squeals with excitement as soon as my hand touches the front door handle (if I’m holding her, that is!)

She seems to have adjusted nicely to my return to work (I, on the other hand, am still a bit wiped out by it, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it soon).

Every day brings something new, and I aspire to greet all new experiences like Elsa does: with delight.

Elsa's First Birthday party!

Fun fun fun!!

Cove at China Camp

Cove at China Camp
Originally uploaded by pamplemousse2007

This is the painting I'm happiest with from the workshop - the last one I did on Friday. The shadows really get good in the afternoon.

Wish I could have many more days painting with Tim - what a good teacher he is!!

Check him out at www.horndesign.com.

work in progress

work in progress
Originally uploaded by pamplemousse2007

Day 2 was a bit more challenging in some ways, although I felt good about the start of this painting. And I finally smartened up about standing in shade!

Second painting Aug 13

Second painting Aug 13
Originally uploaded by pamplemousse2007

If you click through on this photo, you'll go to the Flickr site where there are 40 more photos from today's workshop. Quite fun - a lot of sun for someone like me, burnt the back of my knees. Tim is a super teacher.

In-flight funny

Hopefully this strikes you as funny as it did me. I was sitting in a wonderful roomy emergency exit row on JetBlue flight 1401, still on the tarmac in Austin. As we accelerated down the runway and began liftoff, things got bumpy and for some reason, I got really nervous. (I'm usually pretty relaxed about flying and turbulence.) So my brain grabbed around for some comforting prayer to say (not out loud, thank goodness.) I started saying the 3rd step prayer to myself, but in my panicky state, here is how it came out:

"God, I offer myself to thee
To build with me and make of me what thy will;
Relieve me of the sausage of self.... wait, that's not right....
relieve me of the sausage...
oh crap... amen."

Isn't that a nice prayer?

Photo proofs

The final photos from my (free!) Celebrating Adoption shoot are finally posted!!

Go here to see, and put in the following password: CAbabyelsa (case sensitive).

I look kind of dorky in some of them (OMG, when did my wrinkles get that bad? and WHY did I wear that butt-ugly watch?!?!), but Elsa is stunning in all. Of course.

The photographer will keep the gallery up until the end of August.

10,512,000 minutes!

Ok, so for us math-challenged, that translates to 20 years... which apparently is how long I have been clean and sober. Complete miracle.

The big reminder for me is that I could never have done it alone, so I have a gratitude list a mile long, starting with my family and friends.

What a great life I have today - and it's so far from what I would have been able to imagine in 1988. My current career didn't even exist yet, for example. It would never have occurred to me that I'd like to live in Texas, far from either ocean. And on and on.

I wish I could type up the whole list of things for which I'm grateful, but I am still not the world's most patient person. Just know that if you know me, you helped me.