 |
| After an hour of erasing I finally got the 2nd side to match! |
And finally......
 |
| "The Butterfly" - 11" x 14" Acrylic |
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Butterfly
I have a new hatred of symmetry after this one. Drawing a mirror image of something is ridiculously hard! Oh, how I hate having to tap into my shallow reservoir of patience.
And finally......
And finally......
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Happy Anniversary!
October 23, 2010
Oh, how far we've come...............
 |
| Over the threshold after the honeymoon |
 |
| Toy Story Mania |
 |
| Just another day at the Tink & Turtle household |
 |
| Autobots |
 |
| Wedding Cake: 1 year later |
 |
| The Hulk at Universal |
 |
| Disney World Half Marathon 2012 |
 |
| A typical night |
Happy 2 Year Anniversary Turtle!
Monday, October 22, 2012
Messy, Messy
While I'm all about organization and order(especially in my schedule!), I have a much higher tolerance for messes than the Turtle. Sure, clutter on the counter is bothersome....but I'm ok with letting it bathe in our kitchen's lovely flourescent lighting for a few days. At least, a few days longer than he can stand.
That brings us to this weekend's trip to IKEA.
 |
| Test-driving all seating apparatus |
 |
| Kid in the candy store |
Then he spent all day yesterday putting together all of his new organizational toys....and I did my best to stay out of the way :-)
 |
| What? It's a different kind of work! |
All of that not helping business sucked up all of my motivation to pack. Guess I better get around to it soon or I'll be traveling super light! New painting to come soon!
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
The Dolphins
Ugh.
 |
| Suddenly, that 36" x 48" canvas isn't looking so bad |
I prefer painting on canvas. I like my canvases. When I paint, I paint big, so the bigger the space the better. In order for me to paint on paper, I have to get heavy duty watercolor paper, which can be purchased in notebooks. I've never seen any much bigger than 11" x 17", and, I have to keep in mind that it needs to be framed. I'm cheap, so for the contest I choose my subject and the size based on what can fit in the less expensive on-the-shelf frames at Michaels, rather than custom framing it.
On the plus side, the smaller size does help it get done a lot faster.
I would love, love, love to have one of my pieces accepted into the contest. Sure, there's a prize for the winner, but I just want to get one of my pieces in. It would be so awesome to have one of my pieces hanging in a show and would get me exposure I could really use.
Anyway, you can submit 3 entries per entry fee, and here is my 1st! It's pretty simple, but I like it.
And the finished product.....
 |
| "The Dolphins" - 10" x 13" Acrylic |
I've already sketched out my 2nd entry, so I'm just zooming along!
Monday, October 15, 2012
Jungle Bird
Running to Cleveland the last 3 weekends put this painting on the back burner for awhile. Then last week I had a sudden realization that the annual Postcards for the Edge auction and the Works on Paper contest are coming up and my freak out began. I don't think I've ever made such fast progress on a painting in my life! Here are the results of my Painting Weekend Extravaganza:
This has a really complicated background that I attempted to sketch out...until my eyes started crossing. I very uneasily decided to wing it instead of driving myself crazy erasing for the next century.
And the above is how far I got before my Cleveland hat trick. I got really sick of seeing this half-painted bird laying around the last 3 weeks.
And now starts all the work I accomplished this weekend...
Surprisingly, the bird ended up being the easiest part! Figuring out the background and mixing the different shades of green made me batty. The Turtle kept asking me if I was ok after hearing me dramatically sigh every 5 minutes. But on the bright side, I'm really improving my 'winging it' skills. Maybe one day I won't need to pencil things on canvas at all anymore (yeah, right).
Geeking out to my Disney playlist (because I'm not excited enough), I finished "Jungle Bird"
This has a really complicated background that I attempted to sketch out...until my eyes started crossing. I very uneasily decided to wing it instead of driving myself crazy erasing for the next century.
And the above is how far I got before my Cleveland hat trick. I got really sick of seeing this half-painted bird laying around the last 3 weeks.
And now starts all the work I accomplished this weekend...
Surprisingly, the bird ended up being the easiest part! Figuring out the background and mixing the different shades of green made me batty. The Turtle kept asking me if I was ok after hearing me dramatically sigh every 5 minutes. But on the bright side, I'm really improving my 'winging it' skills. Maybe one day I won't need to pencil things on canvas at all anymore (yeah, right).
Geeking out to my Disney playlist (because I'm not excited enough), I finished "Jungle Bird"
 |
| "Jungle Bird" - 18" x 24" Acrylic |
And I was feeling so inspired when I finished, I hopped over to Michael's to grab some heavy duty paper (and replenish my green paint stock which seems to have mysteriously diminished), and completed my first entry for the WOP Contest! I am on a roll! Pictures of that painting to come!
Thursday, October 11, 2012
SuckFest 2012
I'm tired! I think my body has finally realized I snuck in 2 Half Marathons in 3 weeks and it's letting me know.
"Seriously, what the heck, woman?! You may be half freak and half robot, but come on!"
And since I haven't taken any days for recovery in between, my legs are finally feeling it.
With that said, I had a feeling yesterday's run was going to be a major suck fest. I was dreading it all morning at work, despite knowing I'd have my mom-tourage, and I had the grouchy mood to go with it. Could I just fast forward to when I'm at my 9?
To make matters worse, I could hear the wind whistling over my sunroof while I drove home and the temperature was only a mere 53 degrees. Oh this is going to be fantastic.
We got down to the straighter-than-a-needle bike path (double yuck) and started SuckFest 2012. Have you ever noticed when you're running on a completely straight path it feels like you're making absolutely no progress?
Not even a mile into the run mom asked me a question and I could barely squeak out a one-word reply. Geez. The wind is at my back and already I'm sucking wind? Ahhhhhhhhhh!
We managed to make it to the turnaround and it was all downhill from there....Ha!
The second we faced the other direction, hurricane-force winds beared down on us and it was all my mom and I could do to stay straight. If the creek had been closer, mom would have found her way in it. This suuuuuuuuucks.
Somehow, we made it back to the parking lot and when I mustered up the courage to look at my Garmin, I burst out laughing. 7:18 pace! No wonder it sucked so much!!! How on earth did I manage to hit that speed when I was barely moving at all?
Mom, however, didn't seem to find my achievement quite so funny. Actually, she may or may not have threatened my life for making her match that speed....
And now, I am a very short distance away from my Disney vacation (yippee!) and I (and my legs) are looking foward to 6 days off....well, "off " if you don't count the 8 billion miles we'll cover in the parks, of course!
I don't know about you guys, but this weekend, I am taking a nap!
"Seriously, what the heck, woman?! You may be half freak and half robot, but come on!"
And since I haven't taken any days for recovery in between, my legs are finally feeling it.
With that said, I had a feeling yesterday's run was going to be a major suck fest. I was dreading it all morning at work, despite knowing I'd have my mom-tourage, and I had the grouchy mood to go with it. Could I just fast forward to when I'm at my 9?
To make matters worse, I could hear the wind whistling over my sunroof while I drove home and the temperature was only a mere 53 degrees. Oh this is going to be fantastic.
 |
| Crazy humans |
We got down to the straighter-than-a-needle bike path (double yuck) and started SuckFest 2012. Have you ever noticed when you're running on a completely straight path it feels like you're making absolutely no progress?
 |
| Yeah, that smile won't last |
Not even a mile into the run mom asked me a question and I could barely squeak out a one-word reply. Geez. The wind is at my back and already I'm sucking wind? Ahhhhhhhhhh!
We managed to make it to the turnaround and it was all downhill from there....Ha!
The second we faced the other direction, hurricane-force winds beared down on us and it was all my mom and I could do to stay straight. If the creek had been closer, mom would have found her way in it. This suuuuuuuuucks.
 |
| Before getting battered by the wind |
Somehow, we made it back to the parking lot and when I mustered up the courage to look at my Garmin, I burst out laughing. 7:18 pace! No wonder it sucked so much!!! How on earth did I manage to hit that speed when I was barely moving at all?
Mom, however, didn't seem to find my achievement quite so funny. Actually, she may or may not have threatened my life for making her match that speed....
 |
| Good thing the bike was between us |
And now, I am a very short distance away from my Disney vacation (yippee!) and I (and my legs) are looking foward to 6 days off....well, "off " if you don't count the 8 billion miles we'll cover in the parks, of course!
I don't know about you guys, but this weekend, I am taking a nap!
Monday, October 8, 2012
Towpath Half Marathon Recap
Since I signed up 3 weeks ago, I have thought of little else but this race. I was putting so much pressure on myself to make this my Redemption Race, to make up for those extra 2.02 miles! Though I didn't want to say it out loud, my goal was to place in my division. The Towpath Marathon races are small, with about 1,000 people (there were 1,092 finishers for the half yesterday), so placing is completely reasonable and I've done it before (2008, when I last ran in it).
Annnnd... I really really wanted it. It was super important to me to prove to myself that I could still place since getting married, that married life hadn't washed me up (and yes, I realize I am very fast to a lot of people, but I put unreasonable expectations on myself).
So, no pressure, right? Thanks to all that and my usual race nerves, I spent a lot of the weekend getting to know the bathroom extremely well. Well, at least I'll be lighter on race day!
Mom and I headed out at 6am, after I gleefully assaulted her with boxing gloves as her complimentary wakeup call.
Since the road to the start closed an hour before the race began, we had 90 minutes to kill waiting for the 8am gun (cowbell). We hung out in the car until my twitchiness couldn't take it anymore and we headed to the race start to the tune of.....James Taylor?!?! Really!?! Who's in charge here!?!
As mom and I headed to the portapotty lines, we considered sabatoging the sound system. Thankfully they switched over to techno shortly after.
People were scurrying all over, huddled in their fleeces and coats. It was a crisp 44 degrees, a whopping 8 degrees warmer than predicted. Phew! But I was still reluctant to hand over my coat to mom while I shivered thru the National Anthem.
I'd positioned myself right at the front of the pack so I didn't have to deal with weaving thru the masses, as most of the course is only on a 12 ft wide trail. The 1/2 and 10k racers start together, and after MUCH pouring over the course map, I knew exactly where I was going. No extra miles this day, not this girl!
3, 2, 1, GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
And we're off!
Mile 1: The first 3.5 miles are on the road and a potholed, rutted road at that. I successfully manuevered my way down a particularly rutted and gravely dip that had almost wiped me out in previous years. Score! I was feeling good and finally warming up.
Mile 2: As I approach the first water stop I see a woman topple to the ground. OMG!!! Oh. No. Wait. It's just Flo. Progressive was a race sponsor and life-size cutouts of Flo were everywhere. This Flo obviously couldn't hold her Gatorade.
Mile 3: A short girl in a tank top and tie-dyed socks slowly passes me and cuts in front of me. Let it go, Tink, let it go. It's only mile 3. She'll wear out soon enough.
But, blast it! Once she got in front of me, Little Miss Thang dialed it down to exactly my pace so we were running with a perfect 10 feet between us. Oh, this is going to get old fast. We made the turn to the towpath and LMT was totally ruining my groove. Rarrrr!
Mile 4: Side stitch! Crap! I knew I should have taken one more gulp of the Powerade before I tossed it. I tried leaning to the left a little as I ran to stretch it out and prayed it would please, please, please go away! 5 minutes later it was gone and I was back to focusing on LMT.
I couldn't help but notice she'd started to slow down. Ha! That's what you get! But I wasn't sure I wanted to pass her so early on, knowing she'd be right on my heels for the remaining 9 miles. However, good sense never seems to be around when you run, so off I went, leaving her in the dust. Then I tossed off my gloves for good measure. That's right. I threw down.
Mile 5-7: Mwahahahaha! Mile 5 and still going the right way! Yes!
Mile 8: Closing in on the turnaround...finally! Time to start thinking about this race being over! The turn-around is a bitch. It's just a cone plopped in the middle of the trail that you scoot around. You have to come to almost a screeching hault to cut the corner without taking yourself out! Definitely screws with your flow.
Mile 8.5: Damn it!!! Gatorade to the eye! That stuff stings!
Mile 9: Heading back, I'm now passing 1/2ers still making their way to the turnaround (and man do they hog up the path, single file people!)
Suddenly some girls shout at me "You're the 5th woman!"
Whhhhhat!??!?!
Awesome!!!!..........oh shit...............
That means LMT and the women behind me have 4 miles to catch up...Dammit! I do not need to be thinking about this! Talk about pressure! I couldn't help but notice at the turn around that LMT was only about 1/4 mile behind me, with 2 women 1/4 behind her. Grrrrrrrreat. Now I get to feel like I'm being chased for the rest of the race.
Mile 10: Get me off this crazy train! I'm tired! The stress of knowing I was so close but also so far from doing so awesome (coupled with it being mile 10 for goodness sake) was wearing me down. Every person that passes me (which aren't many) I frantically check for gender. OMG, just get me to the finish.
Mile 11: I could really go for some chocolate milk. Surely they'll have some at the end. Mmmmmm....chocolatey milk. Yummmmmmmy. Drrrrrrrooooooool....
Mile 12: As usual, the last 2 miles or so I've been running in a bubble with no one really close to me at all. This always happens to me in races. I might have been doing a regular everyday run from the looks of things!
Finally the home stretch comes into view. Thank goodness. Linkin Park switches on and I'm pumped as I obsessively start checking my Garmin every .05 miles. About 1/2 mile before the finish, a woman cheering on the side shouts at me that I'm the 4th woman.
Whoa, really? But I didn't pass any girls since I was in 5th!
As I reached the finish line I spot my mom and sister in-law (yay, she came!) cheering me on and shouting that I was in 4th. Wahoo!
I crossed the finish in 1:35:22:14, chip time. That's a 7:17 pace (though my Garmin said it was a 7:15 pace).
Annnnnnd....I only ran 13.1 miles! Success!
My mom, sis in-law and I snapped some pics and huddled in our coats for the next hour as we waited for the Half Marathon awards ceremony to begin. I stumbled on a fellow AF Half Marathon runner (survivor) and another round of "How far did you go?" followed. Seriously, this game will never get old (he clocked in 14.5 miles).
When the 25-29 women's age division got called, my breathing stopped as I listened for my name. 3rd place....not me. My heart sunk a little. 2nd place......not me. My head hung low.
And the division winner is........................ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WHOOOOOOP!!!!!
I jumped up and ran to get my award (a framed picture of the Towpath) faster than you could blink! I did it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm not washed up after all!
I am so so happy! If you would have told me this would be happening a year ago, I never would have believed you. I am beyond ecstatic!
And as soon as we got to our car, the heavens opened and it poured all the way until I left for Dayton that afternoon (poor marathoners still had to truck thru that). On my drive home, I passed by a fellow racer who spotted my new towpath marathon sticker on my window and held up his race medal for me to see! I, of course, was wearing mine, so we waggled our medals at eachother before we continued on our way. How cool!
And when I got home, I had a hero's welcome!
And best yet? My mom's coming in tonight to keep me company while the Turtle is away for work. Wooop! I see a week full of DWTS, TLC Channel and mom-touraging!
Oh yeah, and that 1:35:22.....totally qualifies me for Corral A in the Disney. Disney World Half Marathon 2014, here I COME!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Annnnd... I really really wanted it. It was super important to me to prove to myself that I could still place since getting married, that married life hadn't washed me up (and yes, I realize I am very fast to a lot of people, but I put unreasonable expectations on myself).
So, no pressure, right? Thanks to all that and my usual race nerves, I spent a lot of the weekend getting to know the bathroom extremely well. Well, at least I'll be lighter on race day!
Mom and I headed out at 6am, after I gleefully assaulted her with boxing gloves as her complimentary wakeup call.
 |
| Morning person |
As mom and I headed to the portapotty lines, we considered sabatoging the sound system. Thankfully they switched over to techno shortly after.
People were scurrying all over, huddled in their fleeces and coats. It was a crisp 44 degrees, a whopping 8 degrees warmer than predicted. Phew! But I was still reluctant to hand over my coat to mom while I shivered thru the National Anthem.
 |
| My Mary Catherine Gallagher impression |
I'd positioned myself right at the front of the pack so I didn't have to deal with weaving thru the masses, as most of the course is only on a 12 ft wide trail. The 1/2 and 10k racers start together, and after MUCH pouring over the course map, I knew exactly where I was going. No extra miles this day, not this girl!
3, 2, 1, GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
And we're off!
 |
| Yes, I always grin like a maniac at race starts |
Mile 1: The first 3.5 miles are on the road and a potholed, rutted road at that. I successfully manuevered my way down a particularly rutted and gravely dip that had almost wiped me out in previous years. Score! I was feeling good and finally warming up.
Mile 2: As I approach the first water stop I see a woman topple to the ground. OMG!!! Oh. No. Wait. It's just Flo. Progressive was a race sponsor and life-size cutouts of Flo were everywhere. This Flo obviously couldn't hold her Gatorade.
Mile 3: A short girl in a tank top and tie-dyed socks slowly passes me and cuts in front of me. Let it go, Tink, let it go. It's only mile 3. She'll wear out soon enough.
But, blast it! Once she got in front of me, Little Miss Thang dialed it down to exactly my pace so we were running with a perfect 10 feet between us. Oh, this is going to get old fast. We made the turn to the towpath and LMT was totally ruining my groove. Rarrrr!
Mile 4: Side stitch! Crap! I knew I should have taken one more gulp of the Powerade before I tossed it. I tried leaning to the left a little as I ran to stretch it out and prayed it would please, please, please go away! 5 minutes later it was gone and I was back to focusing on LMT.
I couldn't help but notice she'd started to slow down. Ha! That's what you get! But I wasn't sure I wanted to pass her so early on, knowing she'd be right on my heels for the remaining 9 miles. However, good sense never seems to be around when you run, so off I went, leaving her in the dust. Then I tossed off my gloves for good measure. That's right. I threw down.
Mile 5-7: Mwahahahaha! Mile 5 and still going the right way! Yes!
Mile 8: Closing in on the turnaround...finally! Time to start thinking about this race being over! The turn-around is a bitch. It's just a cone plopped in the middle of the trail that you scoot around. You have to come to almost a screeching hault to cut the corner without taking yourself out! Definitely screws with your flow.
Mile 8.5: Damn it!!! Gatorade to the eye! That stuff stings!
Mile 9: Heading back, I'm now passing 1/2ers still making their way to the turnaround (and man do they hog up the path, single file people!)
Suddenly some girls shout at me "You're the 5th woman!"
Whhhhhat!??!?!
Awesome!!!!..........oh shit...............
That means LMT and the women behind me have 4 miles to catch up...Dammit! I do not need to be thinking about this! Talk about pressure! I couldn't help but notice at the turn around that LMT was only about 1/4 mile behind me, with 2 women 1/4 behind her. Grrrrrrrreat. Now I get to feel like I'm being chased for the rest of the race.
Mile 10: Get me off this crazy train! I'm tired! The stress of knowing I was so close but also so far from doing so awesome (coupled with it being mile 10 for goodness sake) was wearing me down. Every person that passes me (which aren't many) I frantically check for gender. OMG, just get me to the finish.
Mile 11: I could really go for some chocolate milk. Surely they'll have some at the end. Mmmmmm....chocolatey milk. Yummmmmmmy. Drrrrrrrooooooool....
Mile 12: As usual, the last 2 miles or so I've been running in a bubble with no one really close to me at all. This always happens to me in races. I might have been doing a regular everyday run from the looks of things!
Finally the home stretch comes into view. Thank goodness. Linkin Park switches on and I'm pumped as I obsessively start checking my Garmin every .05 miles. About 1/2 mile before the finish, a woman cheering on the side shouts at me that I'm the 4th woman.
Whoa, really? But I didn't pass any girls since I was in 5th!
As I reached the finish line I spot my mom and sister in-law (yay, she came!) cheering me on and shouting that I was in 4th. Wahoo!
 |
| Almost there! |
I crossed the finish in 1:35:22:14, chip time. That's a 7:17 pace (though my Garmin said it was a 7:15 pace).
Annnnnnd....I only ran 13.1 miles! Success!
My mom, sis in-law and I snapped some pics and huddled in our coats for the next hour as we waited for the Half Marathon awards ceremony to begin. I stumbled on a fellow AF Half Marathon runner (survivor) and another round of "How far did you go?" followed. Seriously, this game will never get old (he clocked in 14.5 miles).
 |
| Runner's high going strong! |
When the 25-29 women's age division got called, my breathing stopped as I listened for my name. 3rd place....not me. My heart sunk a little. 2nd place......not me. My head hung low.
And the division winner is........................ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WHOOOOOOP!!!!!
I jumped up and ran to get my award (a framed picture of the Towpath) faster than you could blink! I did it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm not washed up after all!
I am so so happy! If you would have told me this would be happening a year ago, I never would have believed you. I am beyond ecstatic!
 |
| My loot |
And as soon as we got to our car, the heavens opened and it poured all the way until I left for Dayton that afternoon (poor marathoners still had to truck thru that). On my drive home, I passed by a fellow racer who spotted my new towpath marathon sticker on my window and held up his race medal for me to see! I, of course, was wearing mine, so we waggled our medals at eachother before we continued on our way. How cool!
And when I got home, I had a hero's welcome!
 |
| Isn't he sweet!!! |
And best yet? My mom's coming in tonight to keep me company while the Turtle is away for work. Wooop! I see a week full of DWTS, TLC Channel and mom-touraging!
Oh yeah, and that 1:35:22.....totally qualifies me for Corral A in the Disney. Disney World Half Marathon 2014, here I COME!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Almost Race Time!
Sunday's Towpath Half Marathon is quickly approaching....and the frequency of my obsessive forecast checks have increased just as fast.
Had a FANTASTIC mom-tourage run on Sunday on the Towpath to prep, and I was visualizing it being the race the whole time. Clocked in 9.11 miles at a 7:15 pace, wahoo!
Couple other tidbits:
1. New Songs on the Playlist
- "Is This Thing On?" - Pink
- "Feel Again" - OneRepublic
- "Say Red" - Blaqk Audio
- "Hide & Seek" (Fishfood Techno Mix) - Imogen Heap
- "Devil Inside" - Powerman 5000
2. Another one bites the dust
Yet another pair of headphones have fallen victim to my toxic sweat. Adidas' Sweatproof headphones are no match for what I've got going on. Only the left ear bud works, so I gotta go pick up another pair (or steal the Turtle's....oh wait, I think this IS his pair), while we send these back since they're under warranty! Wahoo! Bet Adidas never thought anyone would end up using that! Ha!
3. My Sticker is here!
Because I just couldn't seem to find any stickers for 15.02 half marathons, I made one myself. Seriously, I couldn't pass this up.
4. Cuddle time
All these extra trips home the last few weekends have given me more cuddle time with my cuddle muffin!
Just one more 9 miler tomorrow, and an eliptical run on Thursday and I'll be on my way!
Definitely not the greatest outlook and I'm starting to get nervous that rain/cold could hamper my speed. Grrrrrrrr. And of course, the great debate of short sleeves with arm socks or long-sleeve T has already begun (ok, I've been mulling this over for 2 weeks already)
Had a FANTASTIC mom-tourage run on Sunday on the Towpath to prep, and I was visualizing it being the race the whole time. Clocked in 9.11 miles at a 7:15 pace, wahoo!
Couple other tidbits:
1. New Songs on the Playlist
- "Is This Thing On?" - Pink
- "Feel Again" - OneRepublic
- "Say Red" - Blaqk Audio
- "Hide & Seek" (Fishfood Techno Mix) - Imogen Heap
- "Devil Inside" - Powerman 5000
2. Another one bites the dust
Yet another pair of headphones have fallen victim to my toxic sweat. Adidas' Sweatproof headphones are no match for what I've got going on. Only the left ear bud works, so I gotta go pick up another pair (or steal the Turtle's....oh wait, I think this IS his pair), while we send these back since they're under warranty! Wahoo! Bet Adidas never thought anyone would end up using that! Ha!
3. My Sticker is here!
Because I just couldn't seem to find any stickers for 15.02 half marathons, I made one myself. Seriously, I couldn't pass this up.
4. Cuddle time
All these extra trips home the last few weekends have given me more cuddle time with my cuddle muffin!
Just one more 9 miler tomorrow, and an eliptical run on Thursday and I'll be on my way!
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