Congratulations!

Yayyyyy!  My friend, Dennis, sent me an invitation to the opening reception of the "2011 All Media" juried exhibition for this past Friday evening at the Irvine Fine Arts Center.  It was a larger exhibit than I expected and they had a pretty nice turn out.  One of his photos was used for the announcement!  I thought that was pretty cool!  :)


Ceramics, paintings, photography, metal work, mixed media . . . a little bit for everyone.  There was a lot of really nice work there.  At 6:30 we gathered for the awards ceremony and as they announced the winners, we kept hoping his name would be called.  Nope, not the first one, nope, not the second one . . . but . . . when we finally got to the first place award, there was the briefest pause to build the suspense a bit, and then "Dennis Doran" was announced as the first place winner!  Yayyy, Dennis!  Way to go!  Wooo hooo!  * throws confetti and blows horn *


I am really enjoying his latest work!  I'm loving the light!  I can't wait to see more!  Hopefully he'll get some of it posted on his website soon!  ;)  But, in the meantime, you can see some of his previous series here!  I have a permanent link to his site in the blog list on the right hand side of my page also!  Please visit and feel free to leave him a congratulatory comment!


The exhibit runs through January 7, 2012, so if you are in the area and get a chance, I sure hope you'll stop by and check it out!

Now, for a little news of my own . . . and, I am a bit embarrassed to say, *ahem*  I'm a little late in posting about this.  I have been so busy with painting my dining room and a few other little projects, that I'm afraid I have been MIA from my posting for a while!  But, I got home one day after an especially long day at work and sat down to catch up with my blog friends.  I was reading about SpecialK's very first blog award and feeling very happy for her, and as I read, a very familiar name came up!   MINE!  I was so surprised I had to reread it to be sure she really meant me!


She was such a sweetie, she passed the award along and gave me my very first blog award, too.  *blush*  THANK YOU!  :) If you haven't already checked out her sweet little blog, A Day with SpecialK, I hope you will stop by and say hi!  She has such sweet little inspirational posts and videos to bring smiles to your face!  I hope you will take a little time to poke around and check out her whole blog!  (Oh, and a little secret about us bloggers . . . we thrive on comments!  So, leave her a note to say you dropped by!)


Now, I have to take a few minutes real soon to figure out to whom I should spread the love!   Hopefully, I won't take another week and a half to get that done!  :)


Ok, until later, lovelies!  Hope to get back here soon!

Sad, Sad, Sad!

Hello!

I have lots more pics to share of my trip . . . . however, I am sneaking this quick post in just to let you know . . . I have come home to no internet . . . AGAIN!  Verizon is sending me another modem, but I won't have it until sometime next week . . . .  :(

Also, Blogger is having issues with comments . . . they are supposedly working on it, but if you have tried to comment and don't see it, it's because of whatever issue they are having with it!  If you tried to comment in the last week or so, hopefully I'll be able to recover it when they get the issue fixed and I have access again!

I will still work on getting some posts ready for when I do get access again!  (I am stealing some internet time on my break at work right now!  shhhhhhh!  ;)

Hope you are all doing well and that I can get another post up sooooon! 

Family Ties

So far, I have only posted two things.  This will be my third.  I am brand new to this stuff.  But, already something really, really nice has happened.  I have re-established family ties with a cousin I grew up with long ago (well, . . . ok . . . since we are both still only 29, it was not THAT long ago, it was NOT 40 some years ago . . . good heavens no, since that would make us a year or two older than 29 . . .).  She has moved to a little place in the country, right snugged up to a mountain in a teeny-tiny town a long way from our home town (and I thought we grew up in a small town, but this one is literally 100 times smaller than the town we grew up in).  But, I don't mind telling you it sounds like paradise to me!  I wish I had a mountain in my back yard!

It's funny some of the paths life takes us sometimes!  We all seem to end up in different places and the routes we take to get there are sometimes even more diverse.  Then life gets hectic and you have trouble keeping up with yourself let alone everyone else!  And even with all the new-fangled things, like cell phones and email, we still have a hard time staying connected.  But, add in the Internet, blogging, Facebook and the like and all of the sudden we are sitting in each other's virtual living room sipping coffee together and getting all caught up with each other.  Go figure!

Anyway, it is really nice reading about her life there, and seeing pics of a really, really cute farm, so if you want to get a peek at life outside the city, I highly recommend dropping by her little 9 Acre Farm.  It is so cute and very charming!  And you're gonna fall in love with her dogs!

I wonder if 9 acres is enough room for all of us to move in?