MONDAY MUSIC INSPIRATION & WKND BITS

( Valentine Inspired HeartWingSister...pretty happy with how she turned out. I had her made into mini valentine cards)

Happy Monday everyone!!! Today's Monday Music Inspiration is this song...my sister Kelli chose this one for today! Great, great song! Hope you all enjoy!

Here are the lyrics... "Is there a better bet than love? What you are is what you breathe. You gotta cry before you sing."

so here are some little snapshots of my weekend....

this is my lovely "cankle" after i took a spill down our steps. note to self and to others out there...do not attempt to walk down steps in the pitch dark after a glass or two of vino....THIS COULD BE THE END RESULT!

my 3 sweet girls found these heart rocks on their beach walk yesterday....they thought i needed some extra love! i believe today is day 8 of my dear friend Chrissy's heart experiment. and then....the BEST thing...

this sweet surprise photo came to me from my dear, dear friend kelly. i asked her to make one of my paintings into a pendant and "always got your back" was the one she did. i LOVE it so much and it made my really crappy day much more beautiful and bright!

thank you SO much sweet kelly. i truly feel she is a kindred spirit to me and i absolutely positively adore her! The other pendant is one of her gor-juss goddesses...such beautiful work! She is a true goddess herself so go visit her!! she has some really beautiful jewelry and paintings and you cannot help but love her blog and what she has to say! she always makes me smile!!

happy monday friends!! loves to you! xoxoxoxo

REMEMBER WHEN...AND A HEART FIND

Remember when you went to your first high school dance??? well...even though it was quite some time ago for me...i remember it like it was yesterday.

i remember the dress i wore. i remember the way i wore my hair. i remember the perfume i put on. but what i mostly remember is HOW MUCH FUN it was!! my oldest Mackenzie experienced her first high school dance last weekend and had a blast!! this is her and i before her date arrived!
Kenzie and her beautiful girlfriends!
it was a masquerade theme....i can't tell you how much i wanted to be 15 again!!!
so, keeping in check with my heart finds....this sweet little couple showed up in my mail earlier this week from this gorgeous, cool as can be mama! i love these little hearts so much!! and i love even more that they came to my mailbox sealed with love and an awesome mix CD that i am playing over and over again!!! Thank you baby girl!!

how are you all doing on your heart hunt? happy happy saturday!

SAY WHAAAAAAAT WEDNESDAY?? VLOG!! EEEEEEEEK!

SORRY....YOU WILL HAVE TO PAUSE MY PLAYLIST TO HEAR WHAT I AM SAYING!!!!

HOPE YOU GUYS ENJOY AS IT WAS KINDA AWKWARD!

DAY TWO...HEART EXPERIMENT PARTICPATION

(my girls and i found this sweet little heart resting at the beach in carpinteria, cali)
i am happily taking part in a sweet little heart experiment 
this dear friend of mine posed to us!  
so...


go now and look for some hearts and while you are at it...
listen to this song!!!!  It is guaranteed to make you move and groove.....i HEART it!!  come play with all of us who are participating!!


after all...it's good for the heart!!!!  ; )    (sorry...couldn't resist!!)

MONDAY MUSIC INSPIRATION & A FRIENDS HEART EXPERIMENT...

HAPPY MONDAY!  

here is my inspiration for our first day of February, 2010.  this is the only version i could find since this song hasn't been released as a single although it is my favorite on this album.  I was so happy to see them get some recognition last night at the Grammys!!  


here are the lyrics...


"We'll end up hand in hand
somewhere down on the sand
just me and you."


of course i love how they incorporate a little Van Morrison in there!  


take a listen...hope you like it!


thought i would share a painting i did for my sisters as a gift...i had some prints made up for both of them to hopefully frame and hang somewhere in their house.  i really enjoyed doing this as they inspire me...they are great mamas, great wives and they both work very hard!  


also...i am taking part in an experiment this amazing, lovely friend of mine posed today on her blog...all about hearts!!!


as everyone can tell from my blog name and the girls i paint...i, too, have a passion for hearts.


so today when i woke up and as i was sitting going pee (yes...i said it!)...i noticed a heart camouflaged in the tile of my floor...it jumped out at me plain as day even through my sleepy, barely awake eyes!  and in that brief moment of looking at that heart...i told myself i was going to have more patience this morning with my 4 kiddlies.  a little more tenderness in our morning routine...thanks to that sweet bathroom heart!!  go see Chrissy's post and join in on the experiment!!  

Songbird

had such a fun day today with my hubby....

this is one of my absolute favorite songs by Fleetwood Mac although this version is sung by Eva Cassidy. (may want to pause my playlist before playing the video...)

"cuz i feel that when i'm with you...it's alright....
i KNOW it's right."

counting my blessings tonight...how about you??

xxoo

who's your biggest fan?

my youngest daughter Syd is  my BIGGEST fan in the realm of my paintings.  There isn't a painting that I have done that she doesn't love and they ALL are her favorite!!  

It is so funny...there will be a painting i do that i just completely hate...  it never seemed to move out of that "ugly phase" we speak of...but when Syd sees it....she looks at it through the eyes of love and because it was her mom that did it...well, it's gorgeous to her!!!  and she begs...mom, can i have it?  can i have it?  we all need a "biggest fan" like that, don't we??!!! 

she asked if i would do some Valentine paintings and have them made into little Valentine cards she could give to her friends and her teachers, etc...  so the picture above are the little Valentine cards for Syd!!  and as you  could guess...she loves them!!!

i hope you are all having a wonderful, productive Friday!  me, well today is "catch up " day since i am behind on what feels like EVERYTHING!  I have given NO time to Mondo Beyondo this week and have really missed it!!  

I did however get to spend two great days with a dear friend of mine who visited me.  We spent the day yesterday eating, shopping, talking, dreaming!  She is very encouraging where my artwork is concerned and even with some of my crazy mondo beyondo dreams!!  I am VERY grateful for my sweet girlfriends that are so supportive....and many i have met through the blogging world!  SO THANK YOU GIRLS...YOUR SUPPORT AND ADVICE MEAN THE WORLD TO ME!!

here's a little song for your Friday...

"You dance like no one's watching

Sing 'till the song ends

Then you sing some more"

find time today to dance and sing like no one's watching and to look through the eyes of love - it's friday!! WOOP! WOOP!

xooxxoo

new painting w/ a lil mission....

WE ALL JUST WANT TO BE...

GO GRAB SOMEONE'S HAND...AND TELL THEM THAT THEY ARE.

OR GIVE THEM A LIFT IF YOU KNOW THEY ARE DOWN...

BECAUSE AFTER ALL...

DON'T WE ALL JUST WANT TO BE LOVED...

TO GIVE LOVE AND RECEIVE IT IN RETURN???

SO TODAY HOW ARE YOU GOING TO SHOW SOMEONE THEY ARE LOVED??

ARE YOU GOING TO HUG THEM TIGHT AND TELL THEM SO, LEAVE THEM A LITTLE SWEET MESSAGE HIDDEN TO BE FOUND WHENEVER THEY STUMBLE UPON IT, DONATE TO HELP THOSE IN HAITI???

DO SOMETHING TODAY TO SHOW SOMEONE JUST HOW LOVED THEY ARE!!

REALLY...

IT ISN'T HARD TO DO!!!

XXOOXXOO

MONDAY MUSIC INSPIRATION and A YUMMY, HEALTHY-ISH DESSERT

(clearing i am working on to honor my list for the Mondo Beyondo course i have been taking...almost finished with it...i will definitely be sharing more regarding all of this)

i had trouble today just picking one song so i decided to pick two...

the first one was sung on the Hope for Haiti Now telethon that aired Friday. There were so many amazing musical acts but THIS one...definitely my favorite...WOW! This song is one of my favorites and their version is just beautiful.

here is today's 2nd choice.....how cute is she?!?!

here are the lyrics...

"A change-your-life-forever-tune

If a song could get me you"

yesterday i thoroughly enjoyed this yummy, yummy dish!! one of my absolute favs...not only is it really healthy, look how PRETTY it is!! ever since my husband and i did our detox/cleanse we have really been trying to eat much more consciously and certainly more healthily (is that a word...???) i cannot tell you how much better i feel in simply changing some eating patterns!

my contribution to our weekend was this delicious chocolate cake with cool whip....but this just isn't your ordinary chocolate cake. it is made WITHOUT eggs, WITHOUT milk....and still just as good!! the only ingredients in this cake are the cake mix (chocolate fudge) and a can of diet coke and/or diet pepsi. yup...that is it!!!! easy, peasy which is the way i choose to bake and to cook!!! my kids gobbled it up!

i hope you all had a wonder-ful weekend. i am having "one of those" Mondays and am hoping it will get better!!!

xxooxxoo

TODAY.....

i'm walking hand in hand with the one i love...

what are you doing???

ON MY SERIOUS SIDE...

(me and Channy...Christmas morning 2009)

last weekend i woke up early, piled 3 of my 4 kids into the car and drove over to the beach for the weekend. my hubby was already there since he had a meeting the day prior.

as i was driving...i kept looking in my rear view mirror checking on my kids (as a mom tends to do)...i think! right moms???

each time i would do this, my sweet Chandler would be smiling to himself, talking a bit to himself, laughing a little. it made me stop and think...

i realize the fact that he has autism would seem like a curse to many. and trust me at times it can be VERY difficult. but that day. that particular day, as i was driving and watching him i had to stop and ask myself this...

for a second i wondered...

"maybe the "non- awareness" actually is a blessing...maybe the not knowing the evils and sadness that are in our world can be a good thing??" i don't know...

i know Chandler has many struggles but quite honestly he doesn't really know that. i know by society's standards "he is different"...but quite honestly he doesn't really know that either. what i feel he does know is this...he is very loved by his family, his dad is his constant and sometimes he wishes i would have a baby (and it would be a boy) so he wouldn't be so outnumbered! (LOTS of women in this household!!!)

i am not really sure where i am going with this post...it was just something that has been "sitting" with me over the past few days. i am certainly not trying to "make light" of the fact that this precious boy was diagnosed at age 2 1/2 with autism...i am simply trying to find the blessing in it...the positive.

thank you for listening....

SAY WHAAAAAAAT WEDNESDAY??

yes. yes. yes. Wednesday again!! So today I would love to know this......

WHAT DOES A PERFECT AFTERNOON LOOK LIKE FOR YOU???

I think mine would look something like this...

* yummy salad from my favorite little italian spot with a glass of vino

* off to an afternoon matinee of something funny or romantic with my hubby...eating lots of popcorn with gobs of butter and that yummy sprinkle cheese (so unhealthy...but OH SOOOO GOOD!)

* grab a nice, warm cup of coffee and take a walk with my camera in tow

* home to do a little painting or creating of some sort

* then of course spending time with the kiddlies...laughing and dancing in the kitchen!!

i would love to hear all about yours....

thought i would share some shots of this past weekend...santa brought me a new camera for christmas that i am certain does all kinds of fun stuff...right now i am just pointing and shooting...this is what i got

(my word of 2010...NURTURE!!)

(my crazy little monkey doing cartwheels down the burm)
(my girls....two of the three anyway. the other decided to stay home with nonna and papa and go to her first highschool party!!)
(seriously...one of THEE most amazing sunsets i have ever seen in carp. - stunning and it only kept getting better)
(same sunset...look at the clouds!)
(here comes the crazy rain and wind)
(angry, angry ocean...some monsterous waves)
(lots and lots of rain)

hope you are all having a fabulous wednesday!!! loves and hugs comin at ya!!