Art Week

Good evening everyone. It was quite a busy week, specifically art-wise. I lead an exciting, fun and intense group of art lessons with some talented kids ranging from 10-14. Some of the new students remembered me from my Art Week over at Orchard Lane. The kids worked in pencil, color pencil, water colour as well as pen. My younger group thrived in water colour. We even had a special guest Mrs Weber, the art teacher from OL stop by. She herself, wanted a quick water colour lesson. Are you KIDDING ME? We did a basic sunset and the kids learned about blending while keeping the paper wet so the sky looked smooth. The kids really liked this lesson and Mrs Weber certainly enjoyed having all these kids here. My older group that day worked in pen and later, a very difficult sketch of Dumbledore. It was my student's idea to work on hair texture so as a group, they weren't too thrilled with their end results. We'll work on hair again. They want to paint next time as well, which will be fun. I personally, would like to do some painting at home as well so I can teach them new stuff. Plus, it'd be nice to do some painting with Mia as well.

This busy week gave me a creative purpose. Work drains my creativity, but when I've got 7 kids looking forward to learning and drawing/painting me, that keeps me motivated. I'm so proud of their skills and what they've learned and I look forward to more art lessons. I've got more kids looking for art lessons in the near future but this week is booked because Mia starts soccer camp.

Thursday, I cut the grass while Jill cooked some food for our first 4th of July gathering. She made Puka dogs, some imitation poke bowls (watermelon instead of raw fish) and other yummy food. There was a water balloon fight between the cousins, which was all kinds of crazy. Mia's good friend Vida stopped by with a little 4th of July gift for the diva. It was a clear jar with a ribbon for collecting things. Would be great for fireflies. Mia even played her bass guitar for everyone and practiced her scales.

Friday, Jill stayed home and worked. Saturday, we went to the zoo. The weather was absolutely perfect so it was pretty busy. Sadly, the red pandas weren't out, but Mia did enjoy checking out the fennec foxes, the baby monkey with their crazy family, the giraffes and flamingos.

Later, we went to see Toy Story 4. All of us were surprised how decent it was. Plenty of funny parts with a bit of darkness as well. After we got home, Mia and I went to the Torrent vs Green Bay Glory match. The last WPSL match for the ladies of the season. We arrived a bit late, but immediately had the crowd chanting. Green Bay had about 20 traveling fans including some young girls hanging by us waving their Glory flag. The match was pretty close and despite the hard work from the Blues, it ended 3-3 FT. There hasn't been this kind of atmosphere at a WPSL match ever, so even though we didn't win, we kept the crowd chanting and excited. Some of the men's team attended as well and from one of our die-hard fans heard from them, they really like our supporters. Great. We guarantee the same noise for you guys when the season starts! One of the highlights of the night was some of the Bayer Leverkusen coaches that flew in for camp met Mia and introduced themselves. She was shy, but when they asked "are you a bit nervous for camp?" She answered "No, not at all".

Sunday, we watched the World Cup final. USA was victorious 2-0. Immediately after the won, there was plenty of "EQUAL PAY" chanted in France. The women's team dominated the tournament and have set the standard for women's soccer on this stage. It's unreal how talented these ladies are. Later, it was time to go to work. Blah. In other news this week, Super Frank was announced as the new manager for Chelsea FC. It's going to be a very interesting season for the Blues and I can't wait to see what he brings to the table as a manager.

This week, Mia's got soccer camp every day 12-2. She's been waiting for this for MONTHS and can't wait to start. She's anticipating making some new friends this week so we'll see how it goes. She may get to see her BFF Cecilia for her birthday (Hopefully) but we'll see what happens. That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Summer's Gone, Carry On, I'm a Ghost in the Dawn

Hello  everyone. Summer Break officially ends tomorrow on Labor Day, and the diva goes back to school Tuesday. It's bittersweet for a lot of different reasons. First, Summer went by pretty quickly. Traveling a good chunk of July didn't help, but we had an amazing time and made some incredible memories so that's a good trade off :) We didn't get to do her annually lemonade stand which sucks because she always has a great time with friends doing it and loves to give all the money to HAWS. We may try to do something in the Fall if there's time and the weather is good.

She definitely needs to be back at school again. She needs to be on that routine again and having things to do. Plus, it'll be good to reunite with friends again. She had her open house this week and got to meet her new teacher. She technically already has met her at random moments at school so I'm pretty happy she's got her as a 2nd grade teacher. She found out she's got a few other friends in her class as well as some troublemakers. Hopefully there aren't any issues.

Thursday I had my art lessons. Micah worked on a very tricky horse for a friend while her sister did a cartoon of Harry Potter. These girls are super fun to work with. Micah wasn't able to finish it, however she'll get it complete for her friend's belated birthday gift at some point. She's a patient and talented artist and I look forward to seeing when it's complete. I picked up Mia later and we ran over to Ella's house for my last art lesson of the day. We did some water colour painting of some fish. Mia drew her dogs while we had fun painting. I haven't water color painted in a really really long time so it was fun to challenge myself as well as Ella. She did a great job and her fish sorta accidentally had this Japanese style of painting to it. I loved seeing how proud she was.

With school starting this week, I'm not quite sure how the art lesson schedule will work with my 3 students. I have others that are interested so I have to figure out how to work everything out. After Ella's lesson, Mia and I grabbed some snacks and made a quick drive to the zoo. The Summer has been so busy and I feel like we haven't been able to do much together. She was so awesome at Ella's lesson just hanging out, drawing and even talking to both Ella and her Mom so a trip to the zoo before soccer was a great idea.

We got a rare moment watching the lion and lioness roaring in the enclosure. It's been at least 5 years since I've seen that with the diva so it was pretty cool. I think he was irritated with all the kids waving at him. Mia loved watching the tiger playing in the water outside but was pretty bummed the red pandas were not out. The river otters were super cute playing down the slides as well as the baby giraffe attempting to eat the sign outside the habitat.

We had to book it home and get ready for our 2nd soccer practice. Plenty of teams were on the field and we split a quarter of the field with a couple teams. We met our newest addition Ainslee and she already had meshed well with our team. We ran our first scrimmage and went over positions so they get a better idea of what to expect on game day. The girls did really well and I'm most excited to see big improvements from Mia and Cecilia. Both are getting in the mix more and exploring their different skills. Cecilia really likes to play defense while using her loud voice to help and control the back line, while Mia actually is getting into the mix as a striker. I'm hoping the fields eventually dry up and we don't get rain this week. Our newest addition already likes playing goalie so we have a good list of talent for that position. Our two big goal scorers will be Sophie and Sofia. Both found the net 4 times. I hope to develop the rest of the girls into well-rounded players that can be assists in all positions while having fun in the process. My favorite moment was the big team hug after practice. These girls have only had two practices and already really getting along together and bonding.

Later, we went to StoneFire Pizza as sort of a "last night as a family to do fun stuff" before school starts. Over the weekend, I watched Chelsea beat the Cherries, and Sunday the girls drove to Illinois for a housewarming party. Today, we're visiting with my in laws for a Labor Day lunch before I go to work.

This week, possibly art lessons in-between first week of school, soccer and Mia's FIRST game of the season! That's all for now, thanks for reading!

This Party is Surreal

Good morning everyone. Phew, what a busy week(end) we had (again).  The Christmas book we're working on for Mia is taking a lot of hard work and I hope I can get it done in time. Wednesday when I picked up Mia from school, she ran out with this 1st grader named Leilani who styled Mia's hair while they wanted to be released for the day. Such a nice kid. I'm always glad when Mia makes a new friend, even if its just for a little bit.  Saturday morning I got up very early to watch Chelsea take on Man City. This match promised to be a good one and the good guys won 3-1. Chelsea came from behind (on an own goal) to take the 3 points, but not before a rather nasty skirmish. Sergio Aguero lunged at David Luiz's leg with two feet causing almost a fight among some of the players. Another player from Man City picked up a red card for grabbing Cesc Fabregas by the throat and shoving him over an advertisement board. Ugly display by the home team. Both players are out for several games, hopefully causing these twits to drop in points in the upcoming matches.

After that intense game, I had to wake up the diva for dance. She's starting to like this more advanced class more and after class, she had to change and go to her friend Noelle's 6th birthday party. She had an art party at her house with all of the girls from the class. Mia was the last one to arrive and when she came down the stairs, all of them screamed "MIA!!" and this girl Hayden ran up and gave her a very big hug. Popular little kid, I have. They painted, did sand art, decorated cup cakes, swatted at a piñata and all in all, had a blast.  Mia loves hanging out with her girls and once again, didn't want to leave.

Later, she someone had the energy to go ice skating at the Petit. She's been insisting on going for weeks. I'm the only one who can take her and skate so later that evening, she grabbed her skates and we went. Took her a bit to get used to skating again but after a lap or two, she refused to hold my hand and wanted to skate solo. I could tell this made Jill nervous, but she looked confident and did very well. Yes, she's on double blades, but she only really skates maybe twice a year, so this was pretty good. Some boy acknowledged her while we were skating, and said she was doing well. She didn't want to leave, but we were all hungry.

We went to MOD pizza later, put on a movie and called it a night. Sunday, we got some snow, so Mia and Jill were out playing in it during the day and later at my in-laws house while I went to work.

This week, work on the book, some IB 26 stuff, and start to plan Mia's holiday party with some of the parents. Thanks for reading!

Do The Penguin Slide!

Good morning everyone. Hope you all enjoyed your week, and that if you're a Packers fan, you're feeling better today :) We'll get back to that later. It was a busy week, but we had a lot of fun. Earlier in the week, I took Mia sledding. I made the attempt at this golf course real close to our house. The fresh powder was too deep and we couldn't get good tracks to get her down the hill. So, before we gave up on the day, we tried a different hill. Mia LOVED this park's sledding hill! It was big enough to get some really nice speeds down, and she only fell out once but didn't care. Wednesday (later) I took her to this man-made ice rink in New Berlin to do some skating. It was getting dark, so it was a tad cold for skating, but she did skate a little while and ended up being the only person there. She's getting more confident on skates and is starting to really impress me. Friday she had school and got to finish her snow flake she's been talking about. She told me her favorite part at school was when her friend gave her a hug goodbye when I picked her up. Awww..:)

Saturday, I got up and watched the Chelsea vs Swansea game. Wow. Opening 50 seconds and Oscar got a goal. Perfect way to start. He would finish the game with two goals, Diego Costa secured two as well as Andres Schurrle. We finished 5-0 and took the 3 points easily. What made it even better, was that Sunday morning, Man City fell to Arsenal 2-0 giving us a 5 point lead. After the game Saturday, we went sledding again, and Jill came along. They had a lot of fun. Mia discovered sledding on your belly on the sled was a LOT of fun. The temps were upper 30s so it was real nice. A little TOO warm to skate, but we tried anyway.

We should have left it at that, but we tried skating (Me and Mia did at least) The ice was horrific. If I would have remembered, we could have gotten in for free at Eble Ice Arena near our house. They had free skating Saturday. UGHHHH!!!! Saturday night, we all were working on different projects. The girls were working on custom jewelry and I was hand-painting a Tegan and Sara shirt for Mia. I'm going to have to go over the yellow in "Sara" again. I should have done all of the lettering in White. The hot-pint blank shirt was too heavy of a color to paint on. The colors I used were bright neon ones, but they look quite muted on the shirt. Oh well. Mia loves it still.

Sunday I worked. I am so glad I'm not a Packers fan,  because if I was, and had any chance of watching it post-work, every single customer came in talking about it. From the moment they were winning, to the gut-wrenching loss. The moment I found out they lost, was when this guy came in with tears running down his face, in disbelief. HOW does a team blow a 16-point lead? Did they get cocky? Overly excited for what they thought was a sure-thing? Whatever the case is, everyone is going to be hurting today, except everyone in my house. :) That's one of the many things Jill and I came together on on our "date" the first time we hung out together. She didn't like the Packers or American Football, and I clearly don't either. She even made cupcakes and delivered them to my store before the game was over "to soak up the tears and to celebrate LAST DAY OF PACKERS PLAYING" as she was broadcasting.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading!

Great Lakes/Great Escapes

Greetings. Quickly am going to get through this before crashing for the evening. Over the weekend, we went up to Madison. Jill photographed her former roomie from college's engagement photos while Mia and I hung out with my bro and his familia. I swear, Alex is the only boy that Mia can handle hanging with. Probably because they're cousins and play very well together. Later, her roomie took us out to dinner at Monty's (which NEVER disappoints) Her fiance's little 6 year old was chasing Mia around outside, which was pretty damn adorable.

Sunday, I worked 9-5pm, THEN played some futsal later :) The shift was long and boring, and all I could think about was playing futsal again. Hoped this time I'd get a goal or two (since the last time I played, I had to quit at first half because Mia was crying) Anyways, Mia and Jill didn't make it to the game, allowing me to be able to play the whole time with no problems. So I found out they typically play 3-4 games per night. Cool. First game, I didn't do as well. Wasn't getting a lot of passes to myself and didn't get a lot of chances for shots. My shift as keeper (everyone switches off every 5-6 minutes) I had let in two goals. Blah.

Second game, I did WAY better. Got a few shots off. One ALMOST goal. It went perfectly between the keeper's legs and just as it was crossing the line, the defender got it. I almost fell over in frustration. NOOO!!! Well, I ended up getting a goal off a slick volley from a teammate. FINALLY. I got the goal I've been wanting to get. 3 or 4 shots that night before getting this goal. This goal meant a lot to me. I hope that if I sub again some day, I'll get more goals. The rest of this game, I would secure about 3 assists as well. When my shift came for keeper, I let ZERO goals in and made an awesome pass to a teammate from 15 feet away. Even had everyone on the court saying "WOAHH" I don't even think the teammate was expecting it. I was loving this shift. It would get scary when a teammate would get the ball because just about EVERYONE is on the offense leaving me, the lonely keeper one-on-one with the striker. Luckily, I had some good saves.

Last game, a few shots but no goals, and I once again didn't let any goals in as keeper. Keeper because sort of a position I enjoyed towards the end because it gave me a time to chill for a moment...you know before someone starts pounding the ball at me. Before we called it quits, I had to switch colors and go to the other side, and play keeper. Let two goals in. Eh. After game time, hung around a bit for a delicious well-deserved Newcastle Ale with some of the guys. A goal never tasted so good. I was so excited to tell my Dad/Mia/Jill/Mom after the game. I called my Dad on my way home with the exciting news of my goal. He seemed uninterested and unimpressed. My Mom was happy. Jill was half asleep on the couch but thankfully Mia was excited. My number one fan. So for the last few days, I've been slowly recovering from an intense first game. Calves are store, toes are beaten (mostly from a dude stepping on them)

Wednesday, nothing too special happened. Chelsea was playing, but not on any of the channels my Dad gets. Stoked they won 3-0. :) We tried dance class again. Mia had her nap, but when we got to the class, she wouldn't participate, and eventually would cry. We're done. This is very much proof that you can't always predict what your child will do in a social setting. Because she's not in day care and has an adult figure telling her what to do (that's not her parents) she doesn't know how to respond. I'm not sure if it was the adults running it + loud music times 8 girls running around, but it was horrible. Started a brand new logo for Thrill Factory. Haven't been able to do ANY art lately, which has been driving me insane. Just too busy with other things. I swear this one's getting done. :) This weekend, I'm OFF!!!!!! Yard work day Saturday, hopefully a hair cut and we've got a "date afternoon" activity planned. Painting dog portraits at this place in Tosa'. Should be a lot of fun. Thanks for reading!

Not The Same

Hey all! As I type this, I've got my little girl sitting on my lap watching an episode of Hello Kitty on Youtube. She's like a teenager, I swear. Anyways, before I get into this week, I'd like to share a first for her and I. Friday, Mia and I went to a Friday Morning Play Group at the local library. There were a good amount of kids in this little room filled with toys. The kids get an hour to play and interact with other ones. Mia was a bit timid at first. But soon relaxed and was playing with some girls. Some were older then her. As soon as her and I sat down in the room, this little girl came right up to me, sat on my lap and complimented Mia on her princess shirt. Throughout the hour, Mia became friends with her. Her name was Grace and Mia really enjoyed playing with her, and her sister Hannah (which may actually be closer to age with Mia) Mia didn't want the playgroup to end, but we'll deffinatly be coming back this Friday. Over the weekend, we were in Illinois for my brother in law's birthday. It was a good visit, and he loved Mia's one-of-a-kind painting (including her key explaining what all of the obscure shapes and colours were). Mia has proven to be a hell of a lot easier with the 2 1/2 hour drive to and from Illinois, which is fantastic.

Today, Mia and I visited one of my best friends Jay, his wife Erin and their brand new baby Caleb. Mia didn't feel like talking, but it was good catching up and seeing their new little addition. Mia seemed more impressed with the wild turkeys wondering his back yard. She also liked Caleb's jungle nursery.  Other then a visit to Grandma and work and Grandpa at home, nothing too exciting to report. This weekend, my sister is having her bridal shower. Lots of family coming in, so it should be a lot of fun. Lastly, Chelsea FC's doing great (which is always wonderful) and the hockey season just started. That's all for now! I've got some NEW interesting freelance art I'm working on, but more on that later Thanks for reading.

Water Colour piece finished!

I don't know how I pulled it off, really. I somehow completed a water colour painting of a beach we discovered in Oahu, Hawaii. Water colour has never been my strongest medium, but I was deeply inspired by my older brother's work, that I wanted to get better at it. I did some practice stuff of some sunset images that didn't turn out that great, but basically said "screw it, I'm just going to go for it". I think in general, water colour isn't easy for anyone. I tend to like having a lot of control of the paint on my brush, so when you ad the water, it just takes away 45-50% of that control. It starts to spread out too much, thus making a mess and not getting what I want...Roughly, I probably put in 26-30 hours in the painting. I spent many late nights painting and drinking trying to capture the beauty and serenity of Hawaii. The clouds were a lot of work, and I put in some extra effort using soft sponges for the clouds, as well as the top of the waves to give them a spray-like look.

Overall, it was a challenging piece, but I'm quite happy with how it turned out. I'll be doing more paintings of Hawaii in the future.