Georgia O'Keeffe's Paintbox

Home again Home again Jiggity Jig...

Me & T at a gas station somewhere in CO
This is the view behind us (in that gas station in the middle of nowhere in CO)


The view from the backseat
A site seen often in UT and CO this time of year (Grrr!!) 10 miles of "40 mph only" zones and one lanes (often the breakdown lane)...getting stuck behind a truck was not fun. Ce la vie.

The light at the end of the tunnel...

I am HOME. I had the most awesome time (as usual) visiting my friends and teaching at The Artists' Nook in Fort Collins. I LOVE that store. Huge HUGE thanks to Christine as always for hostessing a fabulous weekend. Big hugs and even bigger thanks to my friends like Venita, Marcy, Lynn, Tracey and ALL of you guys for taking the classes. Damn, there must be something in the water there or something 'cause I had lots of laughs and the artists there just rocked my world.

It was a long but BEAUTIFUL drive.

We left last Wednesday (Tristan's last day of school) taking Tristan out of school a wee bit early. It was smart that we did that as Budget (AGAIN) gave us a car that needed something done to it (A pimp car as Venita lovingly referred to it-a Monte Carlo with sucky trunk room)...about 90 minutes outside of Vegas the dashboard said 'Check front right tire pressure'. Huh? If you slowed down to 60 or so it made a noise. The closer we got to Vegas it made a different noise. Shit. It didn't make a "flat tire noise" and it didn't drive like a flat tire. Outside of Vegas, we phoned Budget who said to bring it to the airport...so we did that and they gave us a new car (woo hoo!) A Grand Marquis. Now, we're styling. Surprisingly, it was better on gas then the Monte Carlo. After our Budget excursion (they also like to give me cars that need oil services a lot)...we decided we were hungry and hit our favorite pizza place, Metro. Bellies, full we hit the road again.

We drove til about 12:30 in the morning as our reservation was for the Best Western in Salina, UT. It was clean, comfortable and got us enough R & R for the night. We hit the road at 10 the next morning (Thurs). I did get a "wicked" Charley Horse type thing in my foot (it woke me up Saturday at 4:30 in the morning) from all of the driving but luckily I am fine now (that was the ONLY bad thing the whole trip other then the stupid "road construction"). The ride on the 70 is frickin' amazing and I don't care how long it takes, it is something that one should do at least once in their lifetime (watch out during the winter though LOL).

We arrived in Fort Collins (Christine had us at the Marriott-niceeeeeeeeee) around 7 that evening. Upon check in, I was told that Christine wouldn't be paying for my "Naughty movies" WHAT A HOOT. Christine had me laughing and she wasn't even there. I'm still laughing about it!!! The look on my face "HUH??" must've been priceless... We ate dinner in the Marriott that night. I did trek on over to Barnes & Noble (dragging Mom and Tristan with me) to see if they had In This House or Cloth Paper Scissors or Somerset yet...no luck.

Woo hoo-I got to sleep in a little late this morning as class didn't start til 1. The classes were awesome-full of laughs and lots of amazing artwork. Everyone was inspiring and sharing as usual!! My basket was nice and full before I started teaching at 1. Christine and Michael DeMeng have opened their own online shop where you can find lots of the treasures that I found (I will post pictures of those tomorrow). As usual, The Artists Nook has LOTS of goodies to choose from. Christine walked in to the classroom about an hour after I had seen the UPS man arrive touting what I thought was Somerset Studio (she had received Cloth Paper Scissors-yay-and had held a copy for me-what a sweetie!) Christine says "He didn't bring Somerset but I do have this." and she holds up a copy of In This House, which I had yet to see. I SCREAMED (I do apologize to those next door taking their tests at the time if I made you screw up, I'm sorry...)

**Side note: I am one of the artists who contributed to the In This House project and I am AMAZED at the book. It is definitely unlike any of the other books on the market and I am THRILLED to have been a part of it and LOVE how it came out. Thank you Angela & Sarah!!**

Classes were awesome. The whole weekend seemed to fly by extremely fast. I'm still trying to play "catch up". Oh, the hotels on the ride home were just as awesome. We stayed at the Antlers in Vail Sunday night (damn, nice "hotel" though we discovered it wasn't a "hotel" but someone's second home...it was awesome). In Vegas (Monday night) we stayed at The Stratosphere. Vegas is Vegas and not one of my favorite places. The check out line was an hour long and moved slow. Yet, the room was clean and had a damn good view of the Strip (pretty at night with the lights). Tristan and I drove Mom to the airport after we did a few errands on the strip (like Mom wanted Margaritaville glasses) and we ate a delish dish at Bahama Breeze (I could survive on their strawberry milkshakes alone). It was sad saying bye but we are looking forward to seeing both Mom & Dad in August for Art Unraveled (Woo HOO!!)

I am getting ready now for my workshops this weekend in San Anselmo at Sanctuary Studios. I am REALLY looking forward to it. One of the Journals from the 1000 Journals Project will be there!! I am hoping to have some time on Friday for Flax, Kinokuniya. Saturday and Sunday I will be busy teaching. Sunday night I am thinking of staying in Berkeley and going to Moe's and 4th street and Stampers Warehouse on Monday before I leave for the ride home. Any other suggestions for places to go/see in No CA? I am hoping to arrive in SF around 3 on Friday...I am teaching 10 to 6:30 Sat & Sun. That leaves me night time and Monday morning (I am hoping to leave Berkeley no later then 11 a.m. Monday). Any must see places?? Thanks :)