Christmas In July!!

www.,I have named today's post Christmas in July for many reasons. One reason is that I am participating in the Etsy-wide sale of the same name.  All of the items in my Etsy shop will be offered for 20% off this month; you need only input the coupon code CIJ20 at checkout. So happy shopping at my shop and thousands of others who are participating this month!

The sale is only one of the many reasons July is feeling like Christmas.  This month is shaping up quite nicely:

• I got a library card and have been exercising this fine privilege.
• I have begun a workout regimine with a dear friend
• My book (the one I have begun writing) is coming along swimmingly!
• I am feeling a huge creative surge, and have been able to bring many ideas to fruition.

Some reasons I am not at liberty to speak of, but as soon as I am, I will be posting here immediately.... 

Another 4th of July has come and gone...

Yesterday was the 4th of July.  Austin was fairly dead.  There were no festivities to be had, so many of the the folks that normally crowd the streets of our fair city did not come into town.  I didn't much mind this.  I prefer less people in most situations.

Most of the day, the family and I lounged around the yard.  I put up the hammock and relaxed.  I have realized that there have not been enough hours spent on that hammock. I am going to have to make up for that in the coming weeks.

In the evening, a good friend joined us for a trip out to Georgetown, where they were still having a fireworks display.  Here are some of the resulting photos.

I love the many colors in this photo....

 

This photo reminds me of a jellyfish.....

How about this for a bit of crazy fun?

 

And this looks like the Big Finale......

Much fun was had by all.  What did you do on your 4th?

Grandma's Cookbook Collection Part II

Today I am featuring another of Grandma's exquisite cookbooks.  This one is from 1958 and is put out by Good Housekeeping.  The title is Book of Salads.  Check out the front cover, super chic.

 

 Note that this sold for only $.39. What a steal!  I really love the artwork in this cookbook.  It takes kitsch to a higher level.

 

This very precious book has illustrations of this sort on every page.  My favorite, however, is the one for Green Goddess Salad.  Honestly, I though this sort of salad was a modern invention... Learn something new every day....

And, finally, a peek at one of the fabulous full color photos....

My Morning Routine

     I am not a morning person, never have been. However, being the mother of school age children, I must put on a "morning face" and enter the world hours before I would care to.  The way I am able to do this is by getting up obscenely early.  If I am able to have my breakfast, meditate or read, and watch the sun rise, all before waking my children, I find that I am much easier to be around. 
      Summer has lessened this burden a bit, though, since our time constraints are not as rigid.  Now I get up around 7:30 and eat my breakfast, perhaps do a bit of writing.  Then I go outside and water that plants.  This is one of my favorite times of the day.  Here I can see all the changes that took place as I slept.  It may not seem possible, but new worlds can open over night.  In fact, I recently scattered some loofah seeds, on a whim.  My friend was clearing out some boxes and happened upon a plastic bag of these seeds that someone had given her years ago.  I thought they were likely goners, but decided to scatter a few to see.  This is what I discovered this morn:  

     There are several spots where the loofah seeds are sprouting.  I am pleasantly surprised.
    
      I have also found that my beloved Aloe is doing well after the last rain.

       She had babies!!

And remember yesterday?  I mentioned that I LOVE chocolate?  Well my chocolate mint plant is taking off, and I am absolutely thrilled.  I planted her below my kitchen window so that I can catch a whiff of her sweetness each time I open the window.

Sketch #3 - Favorite Food

 

     Chocolate is most definitely my favorite food, though I don't eat it very often.  I try not to, so that it remains a sacred, treasured food.  I only eat the finest of dark, bitter chocolate as well.  This also ensures the maximum amount of enjoyment.

     Have you ever eaten anything you love so often that the thrill and pleasure of it no longer holds the same intensity?  I have, and I want that never to happen with chocolate.  Practicing restraint allows me to always feel that charge and mouthwatering goodness as I bring the first piece of chocolate to my lips.....

Favorite Animal - Sketch #2

There simply aren't enough Giraffes in my life.  They live so far from my own residence that I only have wee stuffed versions of them about the house.  *sigh* 

Sketching

I have been working on my sketch challenge.  I have finished 3 to the degree that I am ready to share them.  Today I will share the first; it is my self portrait.  The face may not be mine, but various symbols in and around my hair are me.  Let me explain a bit. 

In my hair, at the bottom right, I have done my best to mimic the drawings of my daughter.  She is, quite honestly, one of my favorite artists.  Her characters have such style and whimsy. 

Up from my daughter's drawings are expressions in Arabic.  These expressions are not only common phrases in Arabic, but they are also mottoes I live by and through which I navigate the world.

The animals (frog, owl, giraffe, and bee) are my totem animals. 

On the opposite side (left), you will see the stars and moon.  I am a night person and stargazer.  I look to the heavens constantly.



The tree is one of my favorite subjects in my art - drawing, photography, etc.  I feel most comfortable in the mountains amongst skyscraping trees.

I am holding a book, of course while wearing the jade necklace that my beloved gave me when he first professed his love, and my throat chakra is glowing because I love to express myself through language and by singing.