Maybe It's May 2020 - The End is Near

Tomorrow will be the end of the month of May.  I've posted twice, three times if you count the first one but that was about the A to Z in April so...

What's been happening?   Well, since the Shelter-in-Place is still in effect, not much really.  I've gone to the grocery store a few times, driven my son to work and picked up some mail from my mailbox but other than that the only time I go anywhere is walking with Benny twice a day. 

Here's a few pictures from the month:

This was the sky this afternoon.  It looked like snowy mountains to me but it's all just clouds.  We did have a bit of rain today but it didn't last long.

Took a different route with one of the Benny walks and saw these two peeking out from a window.

I had a day of card making and added these to the Etsy site.  They have a more masculine feel to them so could be used for Father's Day and other occasions when you don't really want to send something too flowery.   

I even made a video about how I put them together.  

I did a bunch of coloring in the book my son got me for Christmas, Magical Jungle.  This is one page.

Took a picture of myself.  I'm documenting the weight loss and these help me keep on track.  I don't want to slide into bad habits.  This was a top I got from one of my daughter's friends and I was showing her that it was being put to good use.  Plus, I've been taking a selfie a month for a couple of years now.  It's kinda fun to look back and see the changes.   

People looking out the window are not the only things I've been noticing on the daily walks with Benny.  These spider webs were covered in dew drops and it looked like patches of diamonds in this bush.  

These looked like the rock candy sticks with the dew being the sugar.  It's hard to tell from this picture but really, that's what it reminded me of.  

It was nice to see the shelves at Safeway filling up a bit with paper products.  

After doing all the scrapbook pages for our concerts last month I realized that I need more albums to hold them all.  I got a plain album and decorated it by using some Luster Polish as a background and then using a stencil and metallic marker to detail the front.  Came out pretty good I think. 

This is Benny telling me it's time for a walk.  

Got my full moon shot.  

Loved all the different colors on this rose.  

And one more picture of me.  I really have to get some new clothes I think.  

We also had our anniversary, but I wrote about that in my last post.  I did get some more transcription work too, which is so very helpful right now.  Things are looking up a bit in my world, how about yours?  

Maybe it's May - 36th Anniversary Edition

Yep, 36 years ago yesterday at a Vista Point overlooking Lake Tahoe in Zephyr Cove, Nevada, my husband and I got married.

I say we have a fairy tale story...

Oh, those days before kids when we were kids.

I found this little couple and put them in my fairy garden in front of the studio.  Kinda looks like us, no? 

We recreated the moment at our 25th anniversary.  I didn't think about it or I'd have stood on the other side.   

One of our first "concert selfies."  I love this picture of us.

Six years ago we had this "portrait" done in Reno, one of our favorite places to spend our anniversary.

Benihana has been another of our anniversary go-to spots for many years.  We couldn't eat inside this time but we did get take out and ate at home while watching a movie, "Call of the Wild."  

Not gonna lie, the last 10 years have been really hard on a lot of levels.  It has tested me to the limit and sometimes it felt like I was just hanging on by a string.  Sometimes I even considered letting go.  But then I take a breath and realize that it is life and we'll get through it.  Here's to love and another 36 years.

     

Maybe It's May - 2020 - Escapist Coloring Club

It is May, I know because we are no longer doing the April A to Z Challenge but that is about the only way I know. 

Here is my coloring for the Escapist Coloring Club hosted by Linda.  They are all from the Magical Jungle book I got for Christmas.

 

How have you been keeping busy?  I have had some work to do and I got an order on my Etsy shop for a baby book so I've been working on that.  I also did some yard work, pulling weeds out of our backyard.  I'm about to start on some Father's Day cards and albums, also for the Etsy shop, like these:

      

Stop by and check them out!

Actually, life is pretty normal for me, and for that I am grateful.  Everyone is healthy too.  Have a great weekend!

A to Z Challenge - 2020 - Reflections

I finished another A to Z Challenge and I've got the badge to prove it!  This was my fifth year and I had set myself a monumental task of scrapbooking 26 concerts using the band names or song titles for the letters of the alphabet.  While I didn't exactly finish the whole layout for each show, I did manage to get at least the paper collections picked out and the title page done. 

In total I scrapbooked 99 pages and 25 different concerts (Up Where We Belong - Joe Cocker and Tom Petty were in the same show).  I'm pretty pleased with that and if I had been counting all along I would have at least done one more page to make an even 100.   

Here are links to all the posts in case you missed something.  Note that they will open up in my WordPress blog because apparently Blogger is having some technical issues with pictures.  In fact, I may decide to just use WordPress from now on. 

A - ABBA
B - Boston
C - Clapton
D - Daughtry
E - ELO
F - Frampton
G - Get Ready
H - Heart
I - Isaac
J - Jessie's Girl
K - Kiss On My List
L - Lynyrd Skynyrd
M - Miller
N - Nickelback
O - One More Night
P - Petty
Q - Queen
R - Richie
S - Santana
T - Toto
U - Up Where We Belong
V - VIP
W - We Belong
X - StyX
Y - You've Got A Friend
Z - Zoo

Some of the fun bloggers I found during this year's challenge were:

Joy's Book Blog:  Joy wrote about what to pack on your creative journey.  Lots of fun there.

Stepheny Forgue Houghtlin: Stepheny wrote about the glories of tea and showed some beautiful tea cups and different places you can enjoy a good cuppa.'

The DreamGirl Writes:  DreamGirl wrote a great mystery story.  Kept me hanging on to the very end!

A Unique Title For Me: Jim, who is our Song Lyric Sunday coordinator wrote terrific posts on musical groups.  They are long posts but very informative with lots of background information.  Worth the read if you have the time.

Jingle Jangle Jungle:  Mary gave us a word of the day and we were challenged to come up with songs using that word.

No Love for Fatties:  "T" wrote a story a day using the pictures from a children's alphabet.

Curious as A Cathy:  Cathy drew some great pin-up gals.

I was even featured on the A to Z official site as a blogger with 2020 vision by my friend John Holton. John and I met through the A to Z when I first started and have followed each other since.  He is a wealth of interesting information and a fun blog to read.  Thanks again!

It was fun for me to relive these concerts in this way, especially since some of the shows were from 10 years ago!  A few of my favorite layouts were:

A is for Abba

D is for Daughtry

F is for Frampton

H is for Heart

J is for Jessie's Girl

N is for Nickelback

O is for One More Night

T is for Toto

V is for VIP

As always, thanks to Arlee Bird, our A to Z Founder, John, J. Lennie Dorner, Zalka Csenge Virag, Jayden R. Vicente and Jeremy Hawkins for their terrific efforts to keep this challenge going. 

The A to Z Road Trip will be starting soon and I realized that I could do another alphabet with concerts for next year if I want to.  We'll see.  Thanks to all who came along on this journey with me.  I really appreciate all the comments and generous praise for my artistic endeavors.  Stay safe and healthy out there so we can do this again!