Dogs & Paint

Youuuuuu guyyyyysss.

I walked into church today, and aside from the greeter outside on the sidewalk, the very first welcome we received was from this girl: 

[this picture was after the service, though ;)]

Ya'll. My church has a DOG now, who attends regularly. I would've known this three weeks ago probably, but our annual stint of weekend travel for the holidays has kept us out of our home church for far too long. Somewhere in the middle of our absence, this sweet girl starting attending with her human, and I hear she's going to be a regular. Her name is Sadie, and she is a therapy dog [not to be confused with service dog], and she will sit with you until you are smiling, because that is her day job. And I need a dog like this to sit at my desk and stare at me all day long Monday through Friday until I am doing nothing but smiling, petting said dog and avoiding real life responsibilities.

Is that too much to ask?! ;) 

Seriously. The sun has been MIA pretty much this entire year so far, with the exception maybe of like one or two days, and we've been feeling the effects of this no-sun spell. Everything outside feels like it's the same color, and finding motivation to be productive doesn't come as easily as it usually does when there's nice vitamin D streaming through the house. 

So sunny little Sadie was my much-needed pick-me-up today, and gave me a little extra boost on top of Pastor Chad's message, to go home and do the painting we didn't do yesterday. 

Yes, painting. Our living room. We thought we'd wait at least a year to paint the thing [ok, so it wasn't planned, but we were a little busy last year...]. 

before 

Literally, white walls everywhere in this house. We've determined some of the previous colors, usually by accident; the last paint jobs are still hanging out in patches underneath the outlet and lightswitch covers, and in the tippy toppy corners of the room where the Kilz didn't reach. 

and paiiiinting... and paaaainting.. 

I'll get the finished pictures up once this room is said and done, but hey, progress is progress, right? :D

It's enough for tonight though; tomorrow starts the work day and the work week, and back to it we'll go. G'Nite! 

xo | cms 

Open House & Painting!

So yesterday, I was too caught up in sharing my excitement over Kalyn's birthday to touch on the fact that Carri and I left the office around 2 am today, after an all-nighter preparing for our office open house. Yeah... that was today.

I have to extend a huge note of gratitude to Rob, for coming along as well to assist in the late-night set-up of our space for today. Between hanging streamer's from the ceiling, posting all necessary signage, cleaning the cabinets and ensuring that all the necessary amenities were in their rightful places, it was an effort we had underestimated, and therefore were left at the last minute to accomplish. 

So to say that Carri and I were dragging a bit today was pretty fair. I think we did pretty good up until the early afternoon, when the flow of traffic finally started to slow down, and the day showed signs of ending. There was a lag period of a couple hours between the meat of today and its end, but that wasn't all there would be to it. 

cori. carri. elisa. 

 

Whew! MANY thanks to all who attended today's open house and proved our hard work's worth! It was a huge undertaking, but it was a success in the books and we all had a great time. Thanks again!

A while back, Elisa and I had arranged a surprise for Carri's birthday. We weren't initially certain what to do, but an ad on Groupon caught my eye one day for a Paint Night, and there really wasn't a second thought to it. We signed up for it, and scheduled it for tonight [originally, our open house was scheduled for yesterday, but schedules have a way of challenging us, amiright?]

So we closed up our office and made our way just up the road to Rookwood, where the class was set up in the back room of the Rookwood Pub. 

Ummm... WHY haven't I done this with friends before?! I am no artist, at least not visually the way my mom, sister & several friends are [no, I am much more successful at expression via literary & needle-based crafts.. haha]. It didn't matter, because the class was purposed as a relaxing outlet, with plenty of room for individual interpretation. Love, love, love. 

Well, that being said, the day is actually over [entirely] now, and there is a bed calling my name.

It's more my body screaming to go to the bed, than the bed calling me, but either way, that'll do for tonight. Thank Heavens tomorrow is Friday!! 

xo | cmd

Marianne Is Leaving :(

We all know I'm leaving. Most of ya'll know that Marianne... is also leaving :( She scored a sweet job with YoungLife in Virgina, so she's headed there first thing in the morning. And I do mean first. thing. Like, 2am departure mode. It's a 10 hour drive, so I would ask you to be in prayer for a safe trip and safe arrival.

I will definitely miss this girl....... :(

"let's swap contacts!" - marianne

We got the chance to finish up Marianne's painting, too. I met up with her for a little while at Starbucks [last time I'll see her, for a while, .... sad face] to add my hand-footprint to the painting she did of the world.

"your footprints don't define you; your friends do."
footprints l-r : cori. ali. marianne.

We're back at Rob's tonight. This will be my home for the next couple of weeks until I move back to Ohio. Tomorrow is Stella's first day kenneled all day [we bought her a kennel tonight... ohhh goodie!]. So far, she's done well with Sasha and Ziggy [Kelly's dog], so hopefully we can hold out for another week and a half or so.

Tomorrow I'm off work [hallelujah], but I'll be spending the entire day at the house cleaning, scrubbing, and removing every last shred of belonging I still have there.

*Sigh. I'm ready for this to be over....

xo | cmd

Throwback Thursday Pt 2: Nalom Art!

I have a couple of friends who I'm certain will one day be famous. Haha. Seriously. 

Okay.. so maybe some of them are currently just becoming professionals at embracing that whole starving artist thing, but eh. I do believe this one's got some talent for sure! 

I found an entire album of his art that I'd saved... I'm sharing this with the class (:

by nalom

catie | by nalom 

dren & cegg.. aka corin & catie | by nalom 

matt.. aka "ladd" | by nalom

nalom | by nalom

james | by nalom

corin | by nalom

I still admire how much those portraits really do resemble their models... if not exactly, then pretty daggone close. Haha. Well, except for mine, but then again I don't seem to think anything looks like me even if it's a photograph. Go fig. Haha. 

Sure brought back some great memories for me... Hope you enjoyed! ;) 

xo | cmd

BOB ROSS!!

Come on now... who doesn't remember this guy?? Personally, I remember sitting at home on a Saturday morning with an afghan and a bowl of fruit, nestled on the couch between two oversized housecats... watching Bob Ross paint happy little trees behind nice little rocks .. and all the other beauty that just is a Bob Ross painting.

Well happy stinkin' birthday, BOB ROSS!

I'm off to go YouTube some more videos of that trademark tss tss tss tssss sound that only a Bob Ross paintbrush can really make. Haha

What else do you really need on a day like that? :)

xo | cmd

Jason de Graaf

Oh, Saturdays. :)

So after last night's small group, we were all pretty wiped, so we took our leisurely time getting up and at it this morning. We decided on a late family breakfast at Crackerbarrel before Joe went his own way to the lawn & garden world of Lowe's and Sydni and I ventured into downtown Belleville for a bit.

Since today really just revolved around trying to kick back and enjoy life some, I thought I'd share some work from an artist I re-discovered recently: He's Canadian, he's talented, and he's got some new work out. For all you artsy kids, these are all acrylics, not photographs. Hard to believe, I know, but I find it even harder to process that he really is this talented.

Enjoy the work of Jason de Graaf :) I know I did! Jason is quickly becoming one of my new favorite artists. This guy is amazing.

Remember, none of these are photographs; they are ALL acrylics. Yay, hyperrealism!

Truly incredible stuff, yeah? Google this guy and see what else he's got; this is just SOME of his work.

Happy Saturday!!

xo | cmd