Catching up (capitol, Albany, and a couple little projects, table update)

Lots been happening- and I'm afraid to admit, but the next two weeks will be the busiest yet this summer (minus the next 3 days when we are going on a mini beach vacation!!!)- ahhhhh!  SO- try to stick with me on the whirlwind wrap-up session!!

Here.... we.... gooooooo....

Tomorrow morning, Today- before my husband left for work I brought some of my paintings over to the state capitol building in Hartford for a display that will be up for the next month or so in Secretary of State- Denise Merrill's office.  How did I stumble upon this amazing opportunity you might be wondering???? Well- my friend Alexa (Denise's daughter in law) hooked me up last minute- so I had to seriously jump on the chance!  I am so very excited and grateful!

Alexa, myself and the kiddos went over to check out the space at NAP TIME last Friday- not the best idea going- but we made it out unscathed:)  Here is the documentation...

The moving walkway was quite the rage!

as were all of the beautiful sculptures and statues everywhere.

Mr.Moses was in rare form- here's a glimpse:

Here he is with one of the various strangers that he initiated wrestling games with:)

I was super-inspired by the gorgeous architecture and beautiful decorative murals- the building is so pretty! My paintings are now up- go take a peak if you happen to be in the city any time soon!  You can walk right in- the Secretary's office is on the main level on the left!

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This past weekend was spent visiting some very dear friends of ours.  Ray and Craig lived on the first floor of our old house (we lived on the top) we were both newlyweds, without children.  To this day, I miss having someone that I could run downstairs and borrow an egg from in a pinch.  Anyhow- we ended up "living together" so to speak for 4 years.  They have a son who is the same age as Mosie- who I did home daycare for when they were both infants.  We moved into a single family home and they moved away.  This was our first visit to see them up in Albany- and we had so much fun! It's so nice visiting with friends that are so familiar that they really are family- it was such a relaxing day.

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Zella made this fabulous skirt the other day-

and I fashioned a belt for it out of this equally fabulous Hello Kitty duct tape.  The idea came to me after talking with an adolescent recently who said their "secret talent" was making things out of duct tape:)  It really is quite a versatile material!!

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I created a little business card holder yesterday during rest time for my upcoming show.    The design was inspired by something I saw while browsing Etsy a couple nights ago.  I used an old stationary box as the base and cut the heavy cardboard into sections which I wrapped in origami paper, and then glued into this little contraption- it does the trick!

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as for my table project- (bad photo, it's a dark stained, pine trestle table with 2 folding side leaves, my parents got it from an unfinished furniture store as newlyweds:))

it's slow going, mostly because of my lack of time.  I have sanded it down, and I attempted the bleaching process which I read about on line (using Clorox laundry bleach, then stabilizing it with borax/water solution)- and it didn't work:( It bleached it a little- but not as much as I'd like.  So I'm moving on to the big guns...Oxcalic acid- I'll let you know how it goes (don't worry I will be well protected with gloves, mask, goggles, and long sleeves:)  I have made a deal with myself to not start on my couch...

 until the table is complete- and I'm sticking to it!!!

Hope you're still awake;)  thanks for reading.