Justin. Justin. Stripes. Stripes.

Here is a picture I took the other day of Justin and Justin. The
Justin on the right's last name is Kolwalski. These guys are buddies.
They share a love for God, Rap and Tattoos. Even their Political views
parallel eachother. However, maybe the most obvious love they share is
a love for Stripes!

I am glad they understand eachother.

Crochet Class

My sister and I took a crochet class last night. We went to a place called Knit and Stitch in the Brockton Arcade. It cost us $15 each for two lessons. We will go back this next monday night to finish our instruction. 

Here is Casey having a great time learning to crochet. She picked out and awesome pink and orange yarn to make a scarf with.

Here is my practice piece. I learned to single crochet, double crochet, triple crochet, and how to weave in a new role of yarn. Pretty good for the first night. Now all I need to do is practice.

If anyone wants to come with us or practice with me, that would be awesome! I might even be able to teach it once I've practiced a bit :)

S&P Shaker

These are salt and pepper shakers that reminded me of Justin and I. If
we had to be S&P shakers we would be these ones. Everytime we go to
Millie's for dinner I pick a shaker set out for us... I don't buy it I
just choose it :)

This post is also for the purpose of checking to see if I can post a
blog from my phone. If you see this, then it worked!

Justin's Rear View

Justin, my husband, is pretty creative. So last night he thought of this. My sister and bro in law have a supreme minivan that features a rear view camera. This helps you see objects and people behind your vehicle as you reverse. Justin decided to test it out.

His eyes look so big and innocent.

I was laughing so hard at his face in the camera it was hard to get a non-blurry picture, but I managed to get a few clear ones.

He looks like a child with a big forehead and a goatee.

Iron and Wine

Last night Justin and I went to an Iron and wine concert at the Greek Theater. It's pretty cool because going to an Iron and wine concert is basically the first thing Justin and I ever did together. In 2005 we went with Case and Josh to the House of Blues in San Diego to see this band. So it's cool to see them again with my husband. 

Here we are at the concert. I am pretty much the Queen of taking pictures of me and Justin with my own hand (Not because they are good. Because it's convenient and fast) (Not sure why this paragraph is being underlined, but oh well.)

So four more people came with us, but one one of them got in. Jeremy was the the lucky one. (Justin and Jeremy look like two little buddies in this pic. Cute.)

 

Well, there is a bit of a story. Case and Josh drove us all up in their awesome minivan. Baby Joelle also came because the concert was going to be mellow and it was outside. However, ticket holding Case and Josh were not allowed in with the baby. So long story short, they got their money back and hung around the parking lot for 3 to 4 hours. The cars were stacked in the parking lot, meaning you can't move till everyone else leaves. 

Poor Case and Josh. It was an awesome concert! Iron and Wine opened for Swell Season. You might know that band from an Irish movie called Once (See it if you haven't). The music was incredible!

Art with Grace

This is Grace. She is my sweet 13 year old cousin.

We do art lessons together every other thursday.

Grace is a natural when it comes to art. She makes sure to keep in practice and challenge herself. I have seen her grow so much artistically over the years and I am so proud!

Yesterday, I decided to honor the Fall even though it has been 98 degrees around here. And I also decided to throw a twist on the usual paintings that we do. Instead of starting with a white canvas, we started with a peach, burnt orange canvas. Then we drew out our object and just filled in the dark and light colors. Our main color was already there so we were focusing mainly on shadow and light. Our reference photo was a autumn maple leaf. This picture shows me in the process of painting.

Here is my finished product in the below photo. Amazingly this took two hours. One of the coolest things that teaching art lessons has taught me is how you can make art as quick as you want. I used to feel like I couldn't get a painting out without spending a week on it. Now I know you just have to simplify and prioritize. For example, if you want a painting done in 2 hours you would choose a simple subject matter, smallish canvas and looser painting style.

 This is one of the ways that my art students and I can finish a wall worthy painting in one lesson. Grace's Leaf turned out great as well! I was so proud that it looked awesome and she did great on her shadow and light values.

I hope to slowly convince people that art is not just for professed artists, but anyone can make something they love and have fun doing it. All that is needed is inspiration.

The Imai baby

Justin and I went to the Imai home last night to meet and hold their new baby. His name is Evan Nobuyuki Imai. He is really pretty! 

Believe it or not. Justin is holding the 2nd baby he has ever held. He usually passes on holding the little bitty ones, but tonight he embraced it.

Justin is checking this little one out. 

Sorry I didn't get a close up pic of Evan's sweet face. Justin was letting me know in this photo that my excessive picture taking was an embarrassment to our family. I told Justin that I am a blogger now so I have to take more pictures. Kim and Derek are laughing at our ridiculous conversation.