Artwork

I just wanted to post a few of the things I have been working on. More to come later! (I'm dabbling in watercolors now.)

Revisiting Atlanta and the Beatles

Cliff and I drove up to Atlanta for Easter to see my family and to celebrate Mick's 17th birthday. Cliff hadn't been up there since October and I hadn't seen my Dad since Thanksgiving so we figured a trip to the ATL was due.
On the drive up (which is about 6 hrs or so,) we listened to all of the Beatles albums from "Hard Day's Night" to "Let it Be" and "Abbey Road." I've always had a casual interest in the Beatles but I don't know if I would ever have included them in my list of favorite bands. My parents never put them up there with "Led Zeppelin" as I was growing up but I've always been familiar with the majority of their songs. My passive interest in them has changed over the past few weeks though... and yes probably at least partially due to American Idol... whatever works I guess... MY POINT though, is that they have a lot of good songs! I think I had kind of taken it for granted how many songs I really really liked! Not only do I like to listen to "Got to Get You in to My Life" and "Carry That Weight," but I love to sing along with them too. My throat was getting sore by the time we got to my parents' house! I really like that Cliff loves to sing so much because it is contagious. I never used to sing at all - especially not in public. Cliff and the Beatles have changed a lot of that :) We had a great time driving up to Atlanta.
We had a pretty good time while we were there too. It's always a little disappointing to visit my old stomping ground as no one lives there any more and we are always too pressed for time to visit my few friends are still in the area. It was great, though, to spend some time with the fam and we got to go to the Temple with my mom and out to eat at the Flying Biscuit with Mick and Dad. Speaking of the Beatles again, we got my brother Revolver and Abbey Road for his birthday. He too has recently rediscovered the Beatles. Seth and Sarah came over to see us and Cliff had Jey and Geoff over too and that was fun. Cliff never gets to see his college friends anymore so I was glad they could stop by. Sarah is going to find out the sex of their baby pretty soon which is exciting. I feel like everyone and their mother is pregnant right now... but not us yet! We have to wait until we get to Japan ;)
Anyway... we will probably only visit Atlanta one more time before we move and then it could be the last time we are there for the next three years. That is really weird to think about. It's a little ironic because as I was growing up I never really though I would move out of Georgia - I mean I wasn't ever against the idea, I just didn't know if it would happen - and now... as long as Cliff is in the Navy we won't EVER live in Georgia :) It's funny how life works...

Leonard and Linus or maybe just Leonard

So about a week ago Cliff and I came home and I thought I saw a something on the floor by our kitchen table. I asked him if I saw a leaf, (my eyes aren't very good even with my glasses,) or if there was a lizard in our house. Sure enough, it was a little brown anole. I got really excited about it because the day before there was a ginormous spider on my counter... Those of you that know me well know that I don't care for spiders. I actually had to call a friend to come over and kill it. I stayed in a corner in my kitchen for 45 min because I wouldn't go near the thing - but that's another story.... Lizards... I like lizards - a lot actually. Lizards are fun and mostly clean I think and they eat spiders! Leonard (as we named him) was a welcome addition to the family right from the start. He seemed to make a home out of our water heater closet and would peek through the blinds every now and then. He even seemed to like music as he would come all the way out of the closet any time we put on a cd and especially when we sang along. A few days later, however, Cliff was on his way out the door when we saw a lizard by the laundry room door. It looked a little bigger than Leonard but we couldn't be sure. We decided to give it a day or so and see if we could spot Leonard in his area and this potentially new lizard in its area around the same time. I managed to get a pretty good picture of the one in the laundry room and I definitely think it was bigger so I have named him Linus for now. He seems a little more skittish than Leonard. He doesn't venture out much and if I steal a peek and him he will run for cover. Leonard on the other hand... is quite the little adventurer. I opened the dishwasher tonight to put a dish away and ... YIKES! he was in the dishwasher? I'll admit I was a little startled but that soon gave way to satisfaction and I pondered all of the bugs that would soon be in his blessed little stomach and NOT in my kitchen :)