Creative Outlets

We received so many cookbooks that I keep finding excuses to entertain. So far, we've had people over for hot buttered rum and appetizers, burritos and margaritas, chili night, and home made soup and rasberry salad. Tonight is guy's night at Appalachian Brewing Company so I'm having some lovely gals over for homemade pizza and crafts. I promised to save him some BBQ chicken pizza.

I like to experiment with crafts and fool around with various art forms: jewelry making, painting, furniture decorating, mosaics, photography. Tonight, I'd like to paint some picture frames to make a display for our staircase. I'm thinking a warm gold or apricot color to compliment the red and yellow in the living room. We'd like to put pictures of family and friends in the frames along with some the "artsy" cards we got for the wedding. Here's an example of what I'm thinking. Minus the trophies. I'll post the final project.



Painting is one of those things that I missed when I was living in a one room apartment. Now that we have more room and a basement, I'd like to start painting again. My sister and I worked at an inner-city camp together in Philadelphia. Here's a painting of one of my favorite kids, Natisha. All the neighborhood kids called her "big baby", even though we tried to discourage it. We found out later that they had a good reason. Her parents told us she was old enough for the camp, but she was only 3 years old. She had eyes that were far too sad for her age.


My job is emotionally draining a lot of the time. Using my hands and being creative recharges my soul. I would write more about my job, but I promised myself I wouldn't use this blog to pour out my frustrations. We'll see how long that lasts. Matt and I went for a walk outside over our lunch break.