my favorite christmas past time...

yawning

little baby addie!

el jaleo o o o o!

i needed a painting for the costume shop, so i took a huge canvas that we had in storage (used for the show "la cage") and painted this on it. it is bascially an absract replica of john singer sargent's el jaleo. i think it fits the shop's personality.

i have found it! the one perfect christmas candy. i am sure there are many others out there that come in at a very close second. but these, these are special.

the finer things

yesterday, on my lunch break, i walked out of my office, up the stairs, through the lobby, and entered the dark corriders of the museum (it was dark because the museum is closed on mondays). i knew that i had to go see her. some folks around here call her crazy eyes but i think she is lovely, always sitting there. poised in her beautiful white dress. her name is elsie palmer. painted by my favorite portrait artist, JSS!









Miss Elsie Palmer
John Singer Sargent -- American painter
1889-90
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center
Oil on canvas
190.8 x 114.6 cm (75 1/8 x 45 1/8 in.)
Jpg: local source




Miss Elsie Palmer later Mrs. L. H. Myers (1873-1955). She was the daughter of a wealthy expatriate American from Colorado. Mrs. Palmer had rented the Ightham Mote house near Kent of which Sargent became a frequent guest. It was here that he also painted A Game of Bowls.

At this time, Sargent was far more popular with Americans and although Elsie herself was American it would be paintings such as this that did much to break the ice with the British and eventually bring them around to Sargent style.

3 craws song

my mom sent this video of a cute little scottish girl singing. here are the lyrics:


Three Craws (crows)

Three craws sat upon the wa', (wall)
Sat upon the wa', sat upon the wa'-a'-a'-a',
Three craws sat upon the wa'
On a cold and frosty morning.

[similarly:]

The first craw was greetin (crying)for his ma

The second craw fell and broke his jaw

The third craw, he couldnae flee (fly) at a' (at all)

The fourth craw he wisnae (wasn't) there at a' (at all)

tongue twister

cookie art

turkey cookies!

what you need:

*oreos (i grabbed peanut butter this year because of the color)
*whoopers or maltesers (if you are british)
*chocolate frosting
*candy corns
*red hots (we used mini m & m 's from halloween. they work just as well)

break open the oreo and spread chocolate frosting on the side without the filling. stick that oreo on the other one, so that it is standing up. center a whooper on the oreo for the body of the turkey. push the candy corn into the frosting for the feathers. then put a small dob of frosting on the top of the whooper and put the red hot on for the gobbler. it took me about twenty minutes to do all of these. it's easy!

baby addie...

my brother ian and his brand new spoonful of sugar.

i love me some clementine

snow art

the single's ward was cancelled yesterday due to the high volume of snow here in colorado springs. i have to admit, i was a wee bit happy at the prospect of just staying home for a day. i had to work on saturday and i was in dire need of a break. as the day went on, i started to get cabin fever. my sweet little niece had it even worse. so i took here out to build a "snow-girl-man". megan has a sneaky way of renaming things. when we got outside, i tried to roll a ball of snow for the base, but it simply crumbled in my hands. then my brother-in-law, steve, started throwing snowing balls at my face. this made things harder. so instead of trying to make a large snowball for the base, i made tiny snowballs to throw at his face. (i think i won the fight because he called truce after some snow went down his collar). wow. i have really sidetracked. SO, to amend the wrongs committed, steve helped my make a base of snow for our snow-girl-man using a shovel. a few minutes later he disappeared and left wee megan and i to finish. i decided that we should make a sitting snow-girl-man. in other words, building out instead of up, because of the lame flaky snow. here is the finished product. his name is herb.

so i got a new jacket....

i was shopping for "christmas survival guide' when i came across this beauty and on a whim, I purchased it. my favorite part of this jacket is the shoulders. it is stunning! plus, it was pretty cheap considering it was originally eighty smackoroonies at the buckle and i got it for thirty at the ross. how is that for advertising!? and now i am going to put it on with my gray pashmina and brave the frosty colorado evening!

Megan's Magical Murals

in the middle of july, i called my sister to ask if i could stay with her for a few weeks in colorado springs. i needed a change of pace, utah had nothing left to offer me. as soon as my job as an actress for the summer was over, i planned to drive to colorado, which i did. and it is where i currently reside. as my sister and were talking about my visit, she explained that megan skye, my niece and her daughter (3 years old) needed something fanastic done with her room. the room had a brown lifeless color on the walls and didn't look at all like a little girl's room. my sister asked if i would be willing to paint some murals on the walls.
"OF COURSE I WILL!" i said.
so that is how this all started. we first painted the room with a fresh coat of pale yellow paint. and then i went to work! it was like having a huge canvas!
here are the walls, from start to finish.
enjoy!

Christmas crashed the shop....

This is my shop at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. Along with my duties as Costume Shop Manager, I am also currently designing a show for the FAC. The show opens on November 27, 2009. I am really excited and nervous at the same time. It has been a lot of work, but I can't wait to see it all come together on stage. The show is called "A Christmas Survival Guide." It showcases fantastic Christmas songs and fabulous characters such as a Christmas Elvis, candy cane back up dancers, reindeers doing a reindeer boogie, and more! I have enjoyed every moment of working on this show. Except when my sewing machine doesn't want to cooperate!

austin + doritos = too hot handle!

my friend austin makes his acting debut in this doritos commercial entry.
go austin!

wicked rad phone

i purchased a new phone this weekend. the reason: my old phone was on the fritz. it would lose it's charge by noon everyday. so i decided to go with something new and shiny. it was time for an upgrade anyway, so i didn't pay too much for it. i am super stoked!

something new

thanks to kim for helping me set this blog up!