Springtime with Snow Days

February has been an interesting month here in Vegas for weather. It began with the trees blossoming in the early weeks of the month. These trees outside my work are notoriously stubborn for being the first to bloom each year.

They are pretty and imagine my happiness to see that one of my trees in my front yard is a blooming plum tree. Its little pink blossoms make me happy every time I walk out the front door.

My house...still getting used to the pink trim.

So while we have been enjoying lovely spring time weather. I decided to try my hand at painting a small little snowy scene. It turned out pretty cute and for my first attempt at snow I think it turned out very nice.

The funny thing is just a few days after I finished this piece, I was heading into work when I turned towards the mountains and was astonished to see them completely covered in snow. As the city is blooming with springtime the mountains seem convinced it still is winter.

This is looking like its going to be an interesting year. And I'm quite enjoying living in this crazy city.

The BIG Mid-Thirties Birthday

This last week I turned the big 3-5. I can't believe how time has flown by. And the fact I still don't look my age makes it even more unbelievable. But there it is. I decided to take my birthday off at work. So my lovely co-workers threw me a pre-birthday celebration. I arrived at work to find my desk covered in birthday signs.

I received a few cards and one of our COs gave me a candy bouquet. While my manager bought bagels for everyone to share.

From my boss I got a gift card to Micheal's craft store and a cute little pokka-dotted cake.

On my actual birthday, I slept in and was enjoying my relaxing morning when I got a surprise Facetime from my niece and nephews in Seattle. It was so much fun seeing them and chatting with them before they headed off to school. My oldest nephew gave me a birthday wish of: "I wish you never stop loving Star Wars." What fun! Then shortly after their call, I got a text from my other sister-in-law in South Carolina with this picture attached:

Oh the cuteness....My little nephew is getting so big. After all the fun with my kiddos, I made myself a nice breakfast of eggs, sausage and toast.

I then made my way over to my parents and me and my mom hung out for the rest of the day. I treated myself to a new haircut with highlights and then we went and used up my gift cards I had gotten from my co-workers.

 

I got a new rice cooker and some more painting canvas for my artworks. Then the fun really began that night for dinner. We went to the Excalibur Casino to see the Tournament of the Kings. It was well worth the money. It was like being thrown back into the middle ages. Our dinner was all finger food. We didn't get any silverware. It was a Cornish hen, red potatoes, broccoli, and a roll. With tomato soup and an apple turnover. So yummy and the jousting and sword fighting were awesome. Here are some photos of the night. We were sitting in the Dragon section so we were rooting for the bad guy. It was a lot of fun.

 

 

 

 

The scary looking guy was our Dragon Knight. They were doing a photo op after the show. It was so much fun I'd do it again in a heart beat.

And for my birthday treat we got ice cream bars from Dairy Queen. Over all I think I had a very fun and exciting birthday. Here is to a year of more good things.

Grandma's 87th Birthday

This week we celebrated my Grandma's 87th birthday. She had mentioned that she can only remember having one actual birthday party in her childhood. So we threw her a party. With a special party hat and everything. Here are some pictures from the day.

My cousin Holli sent a beautiful bouquet of flowers

Grandma Facetiming with my brother's family in Seattle

For dinner we had Macaroni and cheese, with Asparagus and watermelon, Grandma's favorites

Here she is reading all her Facebook happy birthday messages

We had a yummy carrot cake Mom made from scratch

 

 

I think she had a great time. Hope there will be many more birthday's to come.

Taking time to Paint

I finally made time to sit down and paint yesterday. It was nice getting back to a painting I started in November. I was able to get the finishing touches on it and here it is:

My next project is a lot smaller so I should finish it next week. I thought I try painting a snowy picture. Here is what the tiny canvas looks like on my desktop easel:

I'll post a picture when its finished. Should be fun.